Baleful Strix

Artifact Creature — Bird

Flying, deathtouch

When Baleful Strix enters the battlefield, draw a card.

Discussion (51)

skibulk on Milly Vanilly

1 hour ago

Some possibilities: Mirrormade , Baleful Strix , Profane Memento , Essence Harvest , Sun Droplet

SideBae on

1 week ago

Hey man! I got some suggestions. Feel free to ignore any/all of them:

1. There's a reason Ponder and Preordain are banned in Modern, and it's because they're good. I highly suggest running both in any blue deck -- they may not look like much, but being able to dig to what you need and past what you don't for one mana is a deal I'll take any day. You're running a good number of fetch lands, so Brainstorm is one you may want to add in there as well.

2. I don't know what your meta is like, but in general people need to draw a bunch of cards to win the game. Narset, Parter of Veils brings back thoughts of when Leovold, Emissary of Trest was legal... I think almost any blue deck should run her, especially since if you run Windfall (I think you should), she can win you the game. Or your Wheel of Fortune .

3. I don't know how this deck plays, but I suspect you'll have at least one or two creatures out at a time. If you do, Azra Oddsmaker can be a good source of card-advantage; Edric, Spymaster of Trest is similar, though better if you have dorks (see (5)). Painful Truths is another favorite of mine, as are Treasure Cruise , Dark Confidant , Dig Through Time and Thirst for Knowledge . Faithless Looting can also be pretty good.

4. A lot of decks run a lot of artifact ramp. Dack Fayden is a great way to capitalize on that, and if you run Notion Thief (which also pairs with your Windfall ), targeting your opponent with Dack's +1 can produce a four card swing.

5. Dorks. You're in green, so you have access to the best ramp in the game, aside from Sol Ring (which I think you should run). I highly suggest including any/all of the following in addition to your Deathrite Shaman : Birds of Paradise , Elves of Deep Shadow , Orcish Lumberjack , Llanowar Elves , Fyndhorn Elves , Elvish Mystic , Bloom Tender , Arbor Elf ... Though they may not be 'dork'-ramp, I've also been impressed with Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth , not least because these double the mana from Arbor Elf . If you end up running Edric, Spymaster of Trest , the dorks will draw you cards when you're not using them for mana.

6. If you're looking for the best way to generate infinite mana with your general, I think Isochron Scepter with Dramatic Reversal is the best way. You'd need to run either artifact ramp or dorks (I highly advise the latter), but it's a pretty busted combo and I think you should put some ramp in anyway. This lets you draw your deck with Thrasios, Triton Hero and then win through Torment of Hailfire or the like.

7. Another way to win, if you do end up running dorks, is Craterhoof Behemoth . Pair this with Natural Order for instant fun.

8. Green Sun's Zenith can grab your Azusa, Lost but Seeking and your Ramunap Excavator , as well as Dryad Arbor on turn one (if you end up running Dryad Arbor ).

9. Reflecting Pool is an often-chromatic land you may wish to consider, and Exotic Orchard is frequently at least a tri-land. I may be missing something, but running Strip Mine and Wasteland to pair with your Crucible of Worlds and Ramunap Excavator seems... good.

10. You're running two artifacts (three, if you run the aforementioned Sol Ring ): You should give strong consideration to things like Collector Ouphe (if you don't like the Isochron Scepter loop) or even a janky Energy Flux . These'll make sure opponents don't do nasty things with their own Isochron Scepter while hardly touching you. Also, things like Ancient Grudge or By Force are powerful magic cards.

11. Spell Snare is a counterspell you may want to consider, as it counters a wide range of frequently played cards in EDH like Demonic Tutor , Cyclonic Rift (overloaded or not), Winter Orb , all the talismans/signets, Counterspell , Mana Drain , Arcane Denial , Sylvan Library , Chains of Mephistopheles , Abeyance , Baleful Strix , Nature's Lore ... Also, if you're in an Ad Nauseam -heavy meta (I sure as hell am), consider things like Dispel to keep those decks in check.

12. Lim-Dul's Vault , Dark Petition and Mystical Tutor are some tutors you may wish to consider.

13. If your meta is blue-heavy (most are), consider some second-order countermagic. Things like Veil of Summer and Vexing Shusher can both make sure your spells resolve. Similarly, Carpet of Flowers is a good way to get free mana from blue opponents, and Pyroblast tends to be good as well.

14. Personally, I've found Mystic Remora to be better than Rhystic Study , if only because it is one mana. People are way less likely to pay four mana than one, and in less experienced metas people tend to let you pull off an Ancestral Recall or two in two-ish turn cycles. In more experienced metas, Mystic Remora slows the game down as your opponents wait for it to go away and you just make sure you hit your land-drops.

15. Multi-for-ones are pretty important in a format with three opponents. Fire Covenant has been a favorite piece of removal in my meta since it'll clear out opponents' creatures while leaving yours untouched. Hull Breach and Decimate are also good, although it is important to bare in mind that Decimate requires a bunch of different targets in order to be castable. Windgrace's Judgment and even Casualties of War are also good.

16. If you want to go deep into magic history, there's another way to make infinite mana in your colors in addition to (6): Worldgorger Dragon . Entomb , Buried Alive or Faithless Looting to the graveyard this mo-fo, then cast Animate Dead , Necromancy or Dance of the Dead targeting him, and BOOM you win. (In case you aren't familiar with the combo, Animate Dead returns Worldgorger Dragon to the battlefield, and then Worldgorger Dragon triggers to exile Animate Dead . Animate Dead leaving then makes you sacrifice Worldgorger Dragon , bringing back Animate Dead and then Worldgorger Dragon ... rinse and repeat. Tapping your lands for mana in between each exile trigger yields infinite mana. WARNINGS: 1. You need a second creature in a graveyard to end the loop, or the game is a draw; 2. If someone Nature's Claim s your Animate Dead while the Worldgorger Dragon is entering the battlefield, you lose everything and you're boned. So make sure either your opponents are out of mana/counterspells or you've got your own protective backup.)

I think that's all I got. Good luck!

king-saproling on Silas and Sidar Boppers

1 week ago

Neat deck! You might like these: Baleful Strix , Dreamstealer , Cephalid Constable , Trinket Mage , Druids' Repository , One with Nature , True Conviction , Auriok Replica , Sylvok Replica Neurok Replica , Wizard Replica , Soldier Replica

SideBae on Pretty Provocative Provocateur

2 weeks ago

So I'm kinda surprised no one has suggested this (apologies if someone did and I didn't notice while I looked at the other comments), but Skullclamp seems stupid-good with an X/1 token producer in the command zone.

I really like RNR_Gaming's comment. Retract and (especially) Paradoxical Outcome seem really powerful here. He gives good advice.

You may want to revisit your artifact-ramp suite. I see you've included the signets, but I think the talismans ( Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Progress and Talisman of Hierarchy ) are probably better. You may want to run all three of both -- that's a call playtesting will help a lot with. In general, two-mana mana-rocks are a lot better than three- or four-mana rocks, and that rule is especially true with four-mana generals. (...because landing a rock turn two into a land-drop turn three means you're casting your general a turn early.)

Though it may go without saying, I feel like I should mention that tutors are good cards. If you have access, you should consider running Enlightened Tutor and/or Demonic Tutor . If not (or even if you do have access to the former and just want more tutors), consider Dark Petition , Diabolic Intent , Diabolic Tutor , Beseech the Queen and/or Lim-Dul's Vault . The more tutors you have, the more consistent your deck will be. More importantly (at least in my opinion), you have to have fewer redundant effects, since you'll just tutor a card when necessary. This frees up card slots for more powerful spells.

In a similar vein, I see you're running Cloudstone Curio . I've obviously never played your list, but intuition tells me that that card is pretty busted in this deck. I suggest you try running something like Whir of Invention to tutor it to the battlefield at instant speed. Also worth considering is Reshape or, if you have a few spare kidneys to sell, Transmute Artifact . Granted, this does not get you a cast-trigger for the Cloudstone Curio itself, but I think the effect more than makes up for that fact.

I feel like I suggest these in every blue-deck comment I make, but I really, really think Ponder , Preordain and (if you have fetches/other reliable shuffle effects) Brainstorm belong in every blue deck. They're just that good. Having one of them in your opening seven means that a borderline hand goes from OK to good pretty easily, since they'll dig you to land if that's what you need, or past land if you don't. Your Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds are good for shuffle, but I'd add two or three more fetch-type lands before I'd add Brainstorm .

I'm unsure of what your meta is like, but I think you may have luck running Ghostly Prison instead of Hissing Miasma . Unless you're facing something like a Splinter Twin combo-kill, I feel like having a second Propaganda -effect is a better deterrent for potential attackers. Worth noting is that if you don't want to run two Propaganda effects, I think Ghostly Prison is better than Propaganda itself since Ghostly Prison does not die to Red Elemental Blast or Pyroblast .

I've always LOVED Tidespout Tyrant . You should consider a reanimation package, in order to turbo that mo' fo' out onto the field. Buried Alive or Entomb are good ways to put him in the graveyard, and running Animate Dead , Necromancy and/or Dance of the Dead will all bring him back while triggering your general.

Depending on how much mana you have access to in a typical game, you might want to think about a Words of Wind loop. ( Words of Wind has, since I first saw it, been one of my favorite cards.) If you pair it with a permanent you can trigger your general with that draws a card on ETB, you can make your opponents return their stuff all while netting faeries. Some such ETBers to consider: Ichor Wellspring , Alchemist's Vial , Baleful Strix and Disinformation Campaign . I especially like Disinformation Campaign .

Idk how many creatures you usually have on the field, but I have a feeling that Slate of Ancestry is worth running if you have 3+ creatures out on a routine basis.

Right. That's all I got. Good luck, man! Looks like a fun deck.

jconeil1988 on Alela, Tinker Faerie Extraordinaire

2 weeks ago

like70bunnies thanks for the like. At first, I initially had it mapped out to be stax, then thought against it. I don't want to lose friends. My one friend showed me the commanders quarters mini episode of their budget edh 40 cards to add and I liked the idea of going with a Grand Architect build. While I haven't ruled out putting him back in for his anthem, focusing on him to generate mana didn't seem optimal since the only thing I had in here to pump that mana into was Steel Hellkite and while that is a nice effect, there wasn't much else to do with it. I looked into more artifact creatures, and saw how expensive the CCs for most are and my heart sunk, until my eyes landed on Master Transmuter . And, there we are. She's searchable and tutorable, cheats in big creatures, recast the cheap artifacts she switches out for the creatures with to still get my faeries, and creates sooo much value with transmuting out Baleful Strix .

Obviously, we are on the same page with upping the anthem package. I don't want to convolute the slots with anthems, so I guess, I'm asking what do you think is the ideal number. 5 Anthems, 5 Removals, 3 Bounce, 7 counters, 7 draw, plus the rest of the deck.

Then remove some faeries for the mana dork myrs, and a couple more big artifact creatures.

Lokotor on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

3 weeks ago

Hellfiend

Marchesa brings the creature back at End of Turn, so Arcbound Worker is not actually that useful with Goblin Bombardment . It is great when you have a Baleful Strix , Wurmcoil Engine , or Solemn Simulacrum you're looking to recur a few times though.

Generally Goblin Bombardment is a good sacrifice outlet though, and I'd recommend it. Especially if you're on a budget. I've had a Phyrexian Altar forever though, so I went with that instead since the mana is usually more impactful than the 1 damage.

mattzim666 on Scarab God Future

1 month ago

Adds: Kokusho, the Evening Star , Ravenous Chupacabra , Go for the Throat , Hero's Downfall , Murder , Snuff Out , Solemn Simulacrum , Sidisi, Undead Vizier , Crux of Fate , Baleful Strix , Rapid Hybridization , Disallow , Negate , Beacon of Unrest , Rise of the Dark Realms (if you still have one), Ashnod's Altar , Hedron Archive , Gray Merchant of Asphodel , Buried Alive , Read the Bones , Deep Analysis , Night's Whisper , Swan Song , Meteor Golem , Living Death , Wayfarer's Bauble , Razaketh, the Foulblooded , Illusionist's Bracers , Training Grounds

Cuts: Body Double , Clone , Consuming Aberration , Necropolis Regent , Phenax, God of Deception , Sire of Stagnation , Stitcher Geralf , Syr Konrad, the Grim , Wrexial, the Risen Deep , Dire Undercurrents , Propaganda , Steal Enchantment , Blustersquall , Countersquall , Grisly Spectacle , Psychic Strike , Pull from Tomorrow , Sinister Sabotage , Thought Collapse , Undermine , In Garruk's Wake , Kindred Dominance , Psychic Drain , Time Warp

Tortun on

1 month ago

Card draw forslag:

• Hoarding Dragon : Fungerer som en draw mechanic fordi du går ind og finder en artifact som du potentielt set får på hånden på et senere tidspunkt.
• Rhystic Study : Selvforklarende.
• Solemn Simulacrum : God til et langsommere deck da det både giver land ramp og card draw.
• Burnished Hart : God lamp ramp til et langsommere deck der ikke er grønt.
• Isochron Scepter : Man kan bruge den til at Imprint et instant kort som har noget card draw.
• Sea Gate Wreckage : Okay kort hvis man ikke har nogle kort på hånden (tror ikke den er relevant til dig).
• Baleful Strix : Solid 1/1 med card draw, som kan give noget flexibility ved også at være en blocker.
• Karn, the Great Creator : Noget alternativt card draw på dens -2 loyalty ability.

Alternativ kan du kigge efter noget graveyard retrieval.