Artful Dodge

Sorcery

Target creature is unblockable this turn.

Flashback {{U}} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (46)

wthompson714 on Custom Commander Brew

1 month ago

Some thoughts:

Since your commander already gives evasion, I don't think you need both Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves.

The group decided Cyclonic Rift is banned in tier 3. I don't know what tier these decks are considered...

Burgeoning is less good the fewer lands you have in the deck. I don't think you will find it as helpful as you would want it to be. I think you have enough ramp to not need it, but if you want something that will ramp similarly to that, consider Carpet of Flowers or Utopia Sprawl.

I like Distortion Strike and Artful Dodge in more casual decks, but I think they are simply less good in commander. I think it would be better to have creatures that simply are unblockable. I do see the value of making anything (including your stand alone commander) unblockable, but only being able to do it twice isn't good enough in my mind. Aqueous Form is great! But some suggested replacements (with extra upsides) for the others are Invisible Stalker, Flitterstep Eidolon, Mercurial Spelldancer, Suspicious Stowaway  ^Flip, Silhana Ledgewalker, Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun, Surge Engine. I also think these cards would be better than Wu Light Cavalry, Treetop Scout, and Nettle Sentinel (not sure why this is in the deck).

I like a little bit of additional flicker magic for value, but I think Yorion, Sky Nomad and Roon of the Hidden Realm are too slow. I like Brago, King Eternal and Displacer Kitten.

Mavinda, Students' Advocate doesn't seem to fit here. It only works with instant and sorceries that are targeting creatures you control. Yes, it works with Distortion Strike, but Artful Dodge already has flashback, and it isn't good enough to include mavinda only for Cloudshift and Distortion Strike. I think it can go along with the other two.

You have 18 instances of ramp. I think this may be too much. initial cuts: Llanowar Elves, Ranger's Path, and Burgeoning. Growth Spiral is good, but I think you need to be playing 2 more lands to include. Nature's Lore and Three Visits are great, but you need more dual lands with basic land types to make those good. Otherwise, Rampant Growth is better. Other thing to consider here: If you have fewer mana rocks, the better chance that your commander's ability will help you blow up artifacts. I guess in general, you may want to try to limit the number of card types you play.

Treva's Ruins and Flood Plain seem too slow. And again, as a midrange value deck, I think you need to be playing at least 38 lands.

I think Venser, the Sojourner is better here than Sun Quan, Lord of Wu. You can make the team unblockable for one less mana, and if that isn't helpful at the time, you can flicker stuff while you wait. Ultimating is just an insane bonus.

I gotta go, but I will try to come back and offer some suggestions on other cards you should include!

MeneerDutchy on Noyan Dar

6 months ago

1. Founding the Third Path
2. Silver Scrutiny
3. Shore Up
4. Walking Atlas
5. Weathered Wayfarer
6. Teferi's Response
7. Mirrorweave Dit is ook wel een leuke boardwipe, dan worden alle andere creatures 0/0's, of je kan iemand anders zijn nasty creature copieren en met een paar landen aanvallen.
8. Azorius Charm
9. Reality Shift
10. Quicken
11. Slip Through Space
12. Artful Dodge
13. Gift of Estates
14. Skyclave Relic
15. Darksteel Ingot
16. Razortide Bridge

TheOfficialCreator on Eight Legs To The Wall

9 months ago

Aqueous Form might be better than Artful Dodge, and have you Considered a bit more mill? I see you have Thought Scour but something like Deranged Assistant or Hedron Crab might go a long way; I'd give it a spin and see what you think.

And Spark Double is always a solid inclusion.

flowersforjane on Kraken Control

9 months ago

wallisface Thank you for the advice! I also posted this deck to Reddit, and the consensus I got was that Nadir Kraken is way too slow to survive in any sort of meta. I definitely can see this, and from feedback I've gotten it seems as if I'd have better luck playing Pioneer, Standard, or Draft starting out. With that said, I'd love to attempt to play my first FNM this week just for the experience, and I've changed some cards around your suggestions/what I have available! If you have any more suggestions I would very very much appreciate it as well.

The only cards I haven't taken out/slightly changed are Artful Dodge and Swiftfoot Boots. The former I swapped with Aqueous Form, because in casual games I've played with my friends, I've often found myself with a 20-21 or higher Nadir Kraken, yet I can't manage to break through chump blockers. The latter, Swiftfoot Boots, I've always tried to play when I have enough mana for it and a counter. I guess both have helped in casual games so far, but if you have pointers as to why either card might not work as well as I thought I'll absolutely remove them.

wallisface on Kraken Control

9 months ago

Some thoughts:

• You don’t have any kind of reliable way to ramp lands. Dreamscape Artist is insufficient for this because the mana investment he requires will put your opponent too far ahead on boardstate. Because you’re not a ramp deck, i think all those cards you have costing over 4 mana are unrealistic, and should be ditched.

• The Magic Mirror also feels unrealistic because you just don’t have enough instant/sorcery density to get its cost down. Though this feels like something that could be addressed if you really wanted to run this card.

• other cards i’d suggest ditch are Dreamscape Artist (requires too much mana to do anything, likely to mess up your own tempo more than help you), Swiftfoot Boots (opponents can always kill your creature un response to the equip. But also these would be better served as more countermagic), Artful Dodge (there’s zero reason to run this), and Wall of Frost (casting it just leaves your shields down for the opponent to cast what they want, and as this card does nothing, it can be dealt with at your opponents leisure, or just ignored if they go-wide or use flyers).

• Mana Leak is better than Dissolve.

I think overall you need to focus a lot more on the control elements of your deck, and less so on the gimmicks. At the moment your deck looks too slow to be able to establish a presence before being run-over.

Icbrgr on Fleet Eater Mill

1 year ago

neat maybe Artful Dodge or Aqueous Form?

wallisface on

1 year ago

I can see running 1 copy of Artful Dodge and 3 copies of Slip Through Space working, as casting it from grave is defo a good option, but drawing multiple of these effects without a way to filter them out for better cards is terrible (i don't think you ever really want to be using these outside of for winning the game with the combo).

I still think Smuggler's Copter beats Mask of Memory in every situation just because its less dependent on a bunch of other cards being in your hand to do anything. The Copter is a much more reliable looting effect, where as Mask forces you to use some of your resources to get any value from it. I also think the equip cost is relevant (especially as it feels like the deck wants a low land count).

wallisface on

1 year ago

I like the new direction a lot! Feels a lot more competitive! Here are some thoughts on ways to improve:

• If you ditch the Languish, then everything you cast costs 2 or less mana. That would let you go down to 20 lands, which I think will be important as your deck probably wants a very high density of spells.

• Removing the above lands and spells will leave you with 5 free slots, which I think you should use to get some more creatures. I would personally be doing some 3-2 mix of Golgari Thug and Stinkweed Imp - both of these can quickly get Phage into the grave (just be aware that if Golgari Thug on the battlefield, you HAVE to put a creature card on top of your deck - this can sometimes be awkward, but is usually fine).

• Mask of Memory is interesting, but not great as it requires you using you Dermotaxi on Stitcher's Supplier and then somehow getting through with damage on it. I would suggest running Smuggler's Copter instead of Mask of Memory, it gives you the same effect without requiring the equip cost, and has a much better time staying alive & dealing damage (while letting you discard towards your combo).

• I would recommend Slip Through Space over Artful Dodge as it lets you draw a different card if you don't need it.

• I don't think you need Negate, as you already have hand-disruption and killspells, you should be able to ensure your opponent can't be too annoying. I'd move Negate to your sideboard, and run Otherworldly Gaze instead, which can do a lot for setting you up for victory.

• With the above suggestions you have awesome odds of getting Phage into the grave, and pretty decent odds of getting Dermotaxi into hand - but to increase those Dermotaxi odds slightly i'd suggest replacing 2 of your 20 lands with Buried Ruin. This will let you grab a taxi from the grave in a pinch, if the game has gone late and you really need one.

• I think overall your sideboard should focus on counterspells and ways to avoid opponent hate. Between games you always want to leaving all your combo-finding pieces in, so the cards you'll be swapping in-and-out are the hand-disruption and killspells. In that vein you don't need additional killspells in the side. Dispel is a great sideboard card, as it will deal with most threats. Welding Jar could also be good for protecting the taxi. Annul is probably also a great sideboard card for dealing with any weird stuff your opponent might be up to.