Brainstone

Artifact

{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this: Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.

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
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (23)

TheOfficialCreator on I solved mana screw and …

5 months ago

"Unplayable chaff Brainstone"

Emry, Lurker of the Loch, Sharuum the Hegemon, Zur the Enchanter, mid-power affinity decks... it's not going to be winning any tournaments anytime soon but it is certainly not unplayable.

estoner on I solved mana screw and …

5 months ago

My apologies, I'll elaborate. Artifacts should cost any kind of mana but be weak while colored spells are more powerful but harder to cast. The design space of most artifacts is negated by the existence of most spells that are colored but splashable.

Look at unplayable chaff Brainstone. In the current ruleset, you would never play a card that is just an overcosted jank version of a U instant. If the game used color screw as negative variance instead of manascrew, suddenly a control deck could run one or two as insurance in case they were drawing badly.

Cards that require heavy devotion SHOULD be more powerful. Look at Necropotence. I think all cards that take three or more pips should be pushed just as much as high CMC cards are, because then you have to balance ramp against your color access, making power levels a graph with both an X and Y axis instead of just an exponential curve that goes parabolic at 7, where any spell instantly wins the game.

I was testing variants of the manabase rules in paper. Obviously I couldn't play as both players AND record at the same time. I was just commenting on my observations.

Wastes is the best-designed card in the game. By incorporating it in the structure of the game as the default land, suddenly even drawing a basic Island feels like a relief. If I can just play fetches and 4x Trop, 4x U-sea, 4x Volcanic, why do we even have colors at all?

Choosing between land and nonland on draw when you have a 5-drop in hand you lack the colors for and you're losing on board is interesting. Do you gamble on hitting the the correct colored mana source from your manabase or just take a spell from your library you know you can cast?

Regarding Khans of Tarkir, you have to remember that most 3+ color lands either come in tapped or ping you like City of Brass. Colorless cards being easy to cast but weak while colored spells are sick but hard to cast is interesting, and that's how the game was meant to be played anyway.

Brimaz is a great example. No deck that runs Brimaz would ever be screwed off casting him because YOU WOULD BE PLAYING DUALS ANYWAY. And why would 3+c control want a 1CC potato that dies to Day of Judgment?

I still believe that color screw should replace mana screw and bad artifacts like Armillary Sphere should get another chance

Andramalech on Dingus Tribal

6 months ago

Found some!

• Necrogoyf
• Profane Tutor
• Force of Vigor
• Terminal Agony
• Ignoble Hierarch
• Tourach, Dread Cantor
• Sword of Sinew and Steel
• Persist
• Dismember
• Dauthi Voidwalker
• Ornithopter of Paradise
• Nested Shambler
• Brainstone

Formatting won't allow me to show the retro frame, but all of these do various bits to your end, and have a retro-framed alternative printing. And minus Force of Vigor, most of these are relatively cheap. I hope it helps!

Coco910 on The Weenie Hut General

7 months ago

Brainstone, Wayfarer's Bauble, and Ancient Den could be solid ramp and draw additions to grab with urza saga

lagotripha on Modern Mono Green

10 months ago

If you want judge/denizen to be more reliable, you can grab some Oran-Rief, the Vastwood or lean into spells running Hall of Oracles/Inspiring Call. There are some great budget counters cards in the 1 mana slot - Experiment One, Generous Visitor, Willow Geist etc. Mutant's Prey offers light removal and Servant of the Scale/Swarm Shambler some survivability.

Other sources of cardraw exist - Brainstone is notable, as is Harmonize.

hiddengibbons on Rakdos Wheel

11 months ago

@ Balaam__: I have thought about that. I think it would be more useful than the Hellspark Elemental, but drawing a Reforge the Soul off of it is a possibility I’m not thrilled about. Brainstone would then become more important in the deck.

Omniscience_is_life on Wait wait wrong egg WRONG EGG | **Primer**

1 year ago

Here's what I'm currently thinking the plan'll be:

Once and Future will be cut for Noxious Revival

Emeria Shepherd will be cut for Flawless Maneuver

Nyxbloom Ancient will be cut for Protean Hulk

Return of the Wildspeaker will be cut for Brainstone

Sneak Attack will be cut for Combustible Gearhulk

Austere Command will be cut for Winds of Abandon

Should anyone find themselves in a state of astonished disagreement, please feel free to air your grievances in the comment section down below ;)

Omniscience_is_life on Wait wait wrong egg WRONG EGG | **Primer**

1 year ago

Some cuts/adds I'm pondering at the moment, getting back into this deck:

1. My whole recursion package needs to go. Emeria Shepherd doesn't have enough Plains to function properly, and the days of the Zacama, Primal Calamity combo are long since past. Once and Future is overcosted and replaceable... with the lovely Noxious Revival. This is probably the most direct upgrade, all the other cards I'm cutting (e.g. Shepherd) don't have straight-across replacements.

2. Nyxbloom Ancient may well be cut if I decide a card like Protean Hulk, Treeshaker Chimera, Voice of Many, or Combustible Gearhulk is better. The Ancient is just a generic value piece, and I'm trying to cut down as much on those as I can. It does, however, allow for some of the crazy-long turns that I take to work, so I'm really unsure if it's gonna go or not.

3. Brainstone, Kavu Lair, and Flawless Maneuver are all looking really spicy right now. Unsure as to what cuts would allow them to come in.

4. Greater Gargadon might come out for Towering Titan, as cracking into a vanilla 9/7 is a bit underwhelming. The Gargadon is great at being an uninteractable sac outlet, but I do like the trample grant on Towering Titan. Again, unsure.