Assemble the Players

Enchantment

You may look at the top card of your library at any time.

Once each turn, you may cast a creature spell with power 2 or less from the top of your library.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	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
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (13)

kamarupa on Martyr Life

1 month ago

I'm so glad/grateful you're not offended by my urge to have a back and forth!

Ephemerate would be another somewhat decent way to trigger to Tocasia's Welcome and it plays nicely with Soul Sisters. The fact that you lack any creatures with their own ETB triggers is why I didn't suggest it earlier.

Also, I had to look this up to remember the exact name of the spell and what it did, but maybe Assemble the Players would be more to your taste? It's 1 more MV to cast than Recruitment Officer but it's WAY cheaper to 'activate' and gets you every creature in your deck, albeit only once per turn. It's just a little sad there's no cheap way in mono-white to give your creatures flash! The best I could find was Emergence Zone (only works once - boooo!) and Vedalken Orrery (too much to cast!)

Another removal option to consider: Sheltered by Ghosts - I don't like that it's 2MV to cast, but lifelink and ward seem well aligned with your brew. (and it doesn't give opponents a land, so there's that upside, too)

Apoptosis on Gear Up!

5 months ago

Specific changes. All of these changes optimize card draw, tutoring, protection to board state, create synergies and infinite combos, and optimization to allow instant speed responses.

OUT: Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist (thought this would be awesome, disappointed in performance) Assemble the Players (sub-optimal card draw) Aurelia's Fury Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus (land drops have not been a problem and by the time I draw it, I needed something else) Brimaz, King of Oreskos (love this guy, but had to cut) Chained to the Rocks Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip (obtained better equipment) Fellwar Stone Hixus, Prison Warden (never happy when I had this in hand because you need to let the damage land, plus you fail to build board state when waiting to draw a punch) Illusionist's Bracers (I realized there was little in this deck that this could help) Kemba, Kha Enduring (I want the option of where the equipment goes) Kjeldoran Outpost (did help create a chump blocker and spend unused mana, but I didn't like losing the land) Lapse of Certainty (replaced with better options, but I love this card) Lightning Helix Path of Mettle  ^Flip (never had good results) Prophetic Flamespeaker (under-performed) Puresteel Paladin (tough cut) Purphoros, God of the Forge (under-performed) Rogue's Passage Sea Gate Wreckage Silverblade Paladin (love this guy, tough cut) Sram, Senior Edificer (very tough and recent cut for Leonin Shikari and Merry, who are just better but I may put back in) Sword of the Animist (land drops have not been a problem and by the time I draw it, I needed something else) Wingmate Roc (love it but under-performed)

In: Esper Sentinel (card draw) Leonin Shikari (instant speed equiping is amazing) Merry, Esquire of Rohan (card draw) Enlightened Tutor (great for combos/synergies) Sigarda's Aid (so great) Pyrohemia (this card is a beast with Iroas! Even without Iroas must people don't have easy ways to deal with enchantments and this is a wraith on a stick. I've added it to all of my red decks and it's cousin (Pestilence) to my black decks in a slot I would normally hold for a wraith) Teferi's Protection (protect the board state) Excalibur, Sword of Eden Fighter Class (tutor!) Angelic Skirmisher (lifelink to stretch game and facilitates infinite combos) Splendor Mare (put it on Reckoner or Spitemare, give them indestructable, and gain infinite life, or move it to pyrohemia with nesting grounds to get massive amounts of life as you flamethrower the whole table!!) Mask of Avacyn (better option then shroud from boots, you need to be able to dynamically react/voltron) Mob Rule (this just finishes games) Smothering Tithe (ramp) Sunforger (some say you must build around this, I say you use this as a key tutor for when you need an instant) Nesting Grounds Spitemare The One Ring (card draw, duh) Minas Tirith (card draw) Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion (value engine, mana dump) Phyrexian Vindicator (beefy flier, helps get Iroas online, and difficult to remove) War of the Last Alliance (tutor) Hall of Heliod's Generosity (bring back pyrohemia and flamethrower the world all over again!!) Mask of Memory (card draw) Boromir, Warden of the Tower (protect board state)

wallisface on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

1 year ago

9-lives Cool, i'll keep all my card suggestions to $3-or-less per card.

Being one card-down is not worth it for only really knowing what your topdeck is. If you are using Assemble the Players you are wasting resources for almost no gain. Added to this a point which hasn't been mentioned yet - drawing a second copy of this card is absolutely disastrous, as you can't do anything useful with it.

Lawmage's Binding is worse that Oppressive Rays because 3 mana for a card that's still not removing a creature is just really bad value. Far better spells to remove the opponents creatures are Skyclave Apparition, Stasis Snare, Oblivion Ring, Fateful Absence, Declaration in Stone, Prismatic Ending, and Path to Exile

Opt, Preordain, Serum Visions, and Consider are all cheap and are overwhelmingly better than Defiant Strike.

If you're trying to be aggressive with control, your current creatures are really lacking. The current creatures you're running would fit better in a tax-like build, where the aim is to mess with your opponents tempo but ultimately just slowly chip-through damage. If you're trying to play an aggressive-control deck (like the Murktide Regent list) in {W}{U}, then your best bet for creatures on a budget would probably be Tolarian Terror, Delver of Secrets  ^Flip, Spell Queller, Haughty Djinn, and maybe Lion Sash

9-lives on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

1 year ago

wallisface Thanks for your advice and persistence!

Ohhh! Now I see where I went wrong in my thinking. I thought that Assemble the Players would give me a free cast for the card's presence. I literally read it as "Once each turn you can cast a creature spell with 2 mana or less" for free. Huge mistake on my part. Sorry. Nevertheless, I still would like to run it, considering how it will give me a heads up to what is next in the game.

Oppressive Rays I could get rid of for something else. Do you think Lawmage's Binding is much better? What card would you recommend?

I don't mind getting rid of Defiant Strike for something budget.

My budget is to just use cards that you know will be as low as below 3 dollars per card. Even if that is so, I don't want to spend 12 dollars for 4 cards.

I'm really trying to use budget cards for my deck, and I don't know what I should use for an aggro deck that is control. Do you think that I shouldn't run the artifact-creature stuff? I'm really putting my hope into Ethersworn Canonist, Esper Sentinel and Skrelv, Defector Mite. All of these cards are great for me.

wallisface on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

1 year ago

9-lives

• I feel like you are misunderstanding how Assemble the Players. You still need to pay for the mana cost of the creatures you cast with it. Also, you can only cast creatures with it from the top of your deck. With less than 23% of your deck being creatures, it's only going to be relevant at-all roughly 1-in-4 turns. The first time it's relevant, you're only breaking-even on the card (except that it has cost you additional time and mana). To be card positive will require having two creatures on your topdeck, which on average could take between 5-8 turns. The card is bad.

• I don't get your obsession with "tying up mana" with Oppressive Rays when you could just remove the creature entirely! You're just giving your opponent the ability to keep using their creature if they want... but also, they're not forced to - you haven't gained anything by keeping it alive instead of just removing it. This is an entirely pointless endeavor when removal spells exist.

• I never argued against Mishra's Bauble, it's a great card - I was only stating the rules text of it because your previous post seemed to indicate you didn't know how the card worked. I would also say, that while the card is awesome, it's often used competitively only because it either adds a cast trigger, and/or effectively gives you a 56 card deck. Your deck doesn't need cast-triggers as you're doing nothing with them, and your deck is already far too bloated with cards (being at 70), so it's not giving you the benefit of being able to "virtually play with a 56 card deck".

• On Defiant Strike, as I stated at the beginning of this thread, your current creature selection is not remotely aggro at all - they're all far too passive and non-impactful... nothing applies pressure. The +1 damage from Defiant Strike doesn't change anything about that. You're always better off fixing your deck for a better draw, than drawing something entirely random for a poultry 1 extra-damage-dealt.

• For your question of a "card for granting haste in Azorius colors" - for what purpose? Your creatures pose no threat, and haste isn't going to change that. You need to refine your decks scope to something feasible, not keep adding more cogs to an already difunctional machine.

• I do "have the entirety of your deck in mind", and understand what is going on. It currently doesn't work and I'm trying to show you that, so it can be taken in a direction that does actually work. I have tried giving you suggestions but you still haven't told me what your budget is so you're making it really impossible to do that!!

9-lives on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

1 year ago

What I'm saying about Assemble the Players is that since it is automatically casting on my turn a creature spell of, say 2 mana, it is not a loss at all even if I only spend 1 turn with it on the field. Thus, it is no loss at all, and if it stays on the field for 2 turns, then it gives an advantage.

Ahh. I agree that Spell Pierce is better! Thank you for recommending it, because I'll be running it!

Oppressive Rays is good considering that I want to tie up as much mana as possible. 3 mana per creature is really nice, considering that oppressive rays is 1 mana cost. I have played this card whenever I was running my Azorius Defender-Damage deck, and it worked really well. Can you recommend any mana-tying up cards that are like Oppressive Rays but better?! I'm thinking Lawmage's Binding is nice, but I really want a mana-intensive card that ties up mana.

Ahh, you're right about Urza's Saga. I was thinking that it would allow me to search for 1 white mana cards, but yeah. So, I'll just use it to tutor out Mishra's Bauble, I guess.

Mishra's Bauble is amazing. I really don't know why you're arguing against it, considering that it is a staple in a lot of competitive decks. And, yes, they may shuffle, but I'm counting on that they don't, and looking at the top card is great for predicting what will happen. Do you think this hand-knowledge is good? I think it will give me the heads-up for using counterspells on the opponent's turn.

Defiant Strike is just a suboptimal draw card, and adds +1 power. Nothing too bad or too good about it. I don't mind running it, considering that I need to increase the power of my creatures as a support for my aggro-control archetype.

I have a question for you! What is a good card for granting haste in Azorius colors?? I don't even know if they have this type of card available.

wallisface on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

1 year ago

9-lives

For Defiant Strike you yourself even admit that Opt and Preordain are better - and that's the exact reason why this card is bad.

I have no idea what you mean by "And, no, I don't have to cast two creatures for it to be worthwhile, as whenever i cast it I would lose nothing if I didn't keep it for over 2 turns.". Assemble the Players does effectively nothing on its own. You play it, and now you have 1-less resource in-hand, for no inherent board-state advantage. Once you play the first creature from the top of your deck with it, now you've at-least "broken even" - that is, the cards you've invested into it have equaled the gain in boardstate you have acquired (albeit, costing 2 additional mana and having to wait an undetermined number of turns, so still being more hassle-than-value). Only once you've cast your second creature from the topdeck, has the card made any kind of net-advantage. The problem is that the sheer amount of time it would take to achieve that is ridiculous.

You are saying "Oppressive Rays is far underrated" but this is just your unfounded opinion. There's good reason why it sees no play at all, even in budget decks or in Pauper (where you can only play commons... if it's not even seeing play there then alarm bells should be ringing!).

Spell Pierce is infinitely better than Miscast, simply because it hits a much, much wider berth of spells. The difference between an opponent paying {2} or {3} is far less-wide of a gap than the one between only being able to target instants and sorceries, versus being able to target instants, sorceries, planeswalkers, enchantments, artifacts, and battles.

Mishra's Bauble doesn't let you look at the opponents hand at all, just their topdeck (which may get shuffled away before they draw anyway). Urza's Saga can only specifically search for artifacts costing exactly {0} or {1}, which none of your artifact creatures are, so you cannot grab them with this card.

I am looking at the whole deck. Some of the cards I have said are bad here can conceivably work in different shells. Just not remotely this one.

---

I have asked you twice now already what your budget is for this deck, so that people giving you card suggestions can cater this for what you are wanting to spend. If you want people to be able to help you, you need to include this information!

The biggest problem holding your decks back at the moment, as far as I can see, is that their constructor is too stubborn and not-open enough to feedback. By getting super-combative with every suggestion/response people give you, these decks are not going to be able to improve, and instead cycle around in a rut indefinitely. The best thing you can do to help strengthen your deckbuilding is learning to be more open to healthy non-combative discussion, and being more open to listening to others ideas. Coming to a pre-determined decision that everything you've done is correct from the start only serves to leave you exactly where you began.

wallisface on Azorius Aggro-Control deck

1 year ago

To counter your points:

• You've changed the list since first read as Defiant Strike wasn't initially there - but this should never be in any deck aside from maybe some super-janky prowess build. But my point on Assemble the Players is that you need at least 2 creatures to make it worthwhile (which was the 5 turn estimate, re-read my post because I think you've misunderstood). Furthermore, you can only cast this card reasonably once you also have the mana to control your opponents turn as-well, so it's a super late game tool which won't really give you the value you're wanting. Mishra's Bauble doesn't help Assemble the Players at all because you have no flash-creatures, so there's no interval where you can make use of Assemble the Players with it.

• Your argument for keeping Oppressive Rays isn't a valid one, and shows a clear misunderstanding of how games typically play out. I feel like you're just digging-your-heels-in as opposed to taking-in actual advice and well-meaning criticism.

• With 11 counterspells, 16% of your cards are countermagic, which is a low-enough density that you can't assume to be reliably countering magic for long.

I've just noticed you're at 68 cards. Get down to 60. I remember having this discussion before with you - but if you're even remotely trying to take deck-building seriously, this is the first thing you need to do.

I see you've added Miscast to the deck... this is just a worse Spell Pierce.

I think Sorcerous Spyglass was in the deck initially but I should call out this is a sideboard-card at best. The vast majority of decks won't care at all about this card - a lot of cards don't have activated abilities.

Urza's Saga can only grab Mishra's Bauble so seems unideal to have here, but it's no biggie either way.

You still haven't let anyone know what your budget is!!