Brainstorm
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy 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 Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Brainstorm

Instant

Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.

kamarupa on Uren8

1 month ago

Oh boy. I have... uh... a lot of thoughts.

I'm going to start with ramp and mana base. I've been commenting something along these lines on a lot of decks lately. Ramp isn't much of a ramp if you're missing land drops regularly. Getting to, say 3 available mana on t2 is nice, but if you don't hit a land drop or dork on the next 3 turns, the ramp didn't really help. I'm generally not a fan of spells like Arboreal Grazer and even less a fan when there aren't a substantial number of lands in a deck to start with. At a mere 20 lands, you're going to be have to be very lucky to get both Arboreal Grazer AND 2+ lands in an opening hand. And even if you do, the likelihood of you continuing to draw lands just isn't very high. Basically, any effect that lets you "play an additional land" is just way too conditional to be consistent in my view, and therefore, I prefer to run with dorks and enchantments and rarely, rocks. You do have an enchantment that tutors you 2 lands, but at a pretty steep 4MV, I think it's going to function as much as a 'thinner' as it will a ramp spell. I do see some redundancy there with Prime Time, so I could see it be a useful spell. I should state that Prime Time isn't a creature I have much experience with, so I don't know much about what other spells synergize with it best, but I have a gut feeling that what you've brewed could have better synergy with it. It seems like it might be getting included because it's a well known and feared threat more than being a perfect fit. You also have Flare of Cultivation, which seems like your 3rd best ramp spell after your two dorks. While I like that you can cheat it into play, I don't like the required sac cost to do so as the only really good target is the Arboreal Grazer and that's just too conditional to be consistent. It's not a spell I have lot of experience with, and while I'm not a big deck thinner, I can't deny it has a lot of powerful potential. But I want more good targets for it, preferably ones that actually WANT to be sacrificed. The best part of your ramp is that you have 8 1MV dorks. Given your EXTREMELY high average MV of 4.35, I think 8-10 is probably the right number. To sum up, I would cut Arboreal Grazer and possibly reconsider both Prime Time and Encroaching Dragonstorm, either leaning into Prime Times most classically defined deck elements or cutting it. I'd try to find another 1MV creature for your Flare of Cultivation to target (6-8x 1MV non-dorks that want to be sacced) or I'd look for some other ramp choices. I'd also consider adding in something like Fertile Ground, or maybe Utopia Sprawl, as you do already have a good number of lands with the basic Forest type. If you do go for the Sprawl, then perhaps Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth might be a smart add. Finally, I'd like to see this deck reach for at least 22 lands if not 24. You've just got a hell of a lot of very high MV spells and these days I strive for 22 lands as my minimum. It's just more consistent.

Next, I want to follow up on some of what Balaam__ brought up - disruption. Disruption doesn't do much good in a sidebaord. It needs to be mainboarded or else your deck will not only end up unbalanced when sideboarding, but you'll also be tempted not to sideboard as much as you struggle to choose what spells to swap out of the mainboard. I believe almost all decks need at least 4x disruption spells in the mainboard, with 8 being best. Disruption comes in a lot of forms - counterspell is great, but I don't like tieing up mana playing the waiting game. Removal is classic for reason. Usually half of 8 disruption spells are a form a removal. Sideboards offer us different methods of removal so you can get past all the defenses opponents might use to prevent that removal. That makes sideboarding a lot easier to pull off, swapping removal for removal. I really like protection spells Heroic Intervention - while defensively, it can function like a counterspell, offensively it can do things counterspell can't. It largely comes down to preference, but disruption beyond removal is almost always essential. Of course, there's also discard, which is a solid choice, too, though I don't prefer it because it misses cards drawn after it's cast and so isn't as foolproof as a pre-emptive defensive play. I also like squeezing in 1x Fog spell when I can. I love the comedic flavor of it, but again, that's just my preference/sense of humor. Assuming you cut Arboreal Grazer, Flare of Cultivation, and at least a few copies of Encroaching Dragon Storm, even after adding 2x land, you should have room for at least 4x disruption spells in your mainboard. Incidentally, all these changes should also help bring down your average MV, which will make the deck not only faster, but more resilient as it will be able to respond to opponents.

One thing I do think you have right here is the number of creatures. But I'd like to see tighter choices that play off each other a bit more. I get that Prime Time and Flare of Cultivation support Ureni, the Song Unending, but at 3 copies and Legendary status, I'd want to solely focus on that creature or abandon that whole strategy - it's all or nothing with spells like that - run 4x of Ureni to maximize its odds it comes up when Breaching Dragonstorm when that hits. Maybe even look for spells that let you tutor it to the top of your library - Scheming Symmetry comes to mind, though I don't think that's exactly the right spell for this brew. Brainstorm might be a good option - not really a path to card advantage, but it would be useful in setting up Breaching Dragonstorm.

To return to Balaam__'s feedback, I also agree with him that Breaching Dragonstorm, especially at 5MV is too easy a target for opponents to thwart. I do think you've got enough ramp to hardcast some of your threats at least some of the time, but adding in a secondary (or even primary?) cheat-in spell would almost certainly make the deck more consistent. Elvish Piper, for example might be just as fast or even more consistent, though it wouldn't help with your big sorcery spells. Although I think this would be a significant departure from your current brew, Maelstrom Archangel would be a nearly identical backup to Breaching Dragonstorm. I'd probably go for 6-8 total "cheat-in" spells.

Overall, I feel like this deck isn't quite focused enough. It's not clear what it really wants to accomplish and doesn't seem completely committed to any one goal. At the same time, it also seems a little over-gunned - I sometimes say, "you don't need to bring a tank to a water-pistol fight to get a win" - when it comes to successful brewing, it's not the biggest threat that wins, it's the fastest fully effective one. So my broadstroke advice is to try to narrow the deck down to the core you really want to win with and try to support that core as much as you can.

I do love me some card advantage and I can see how Up the Beanstalk could have been useful here. As alternatives, you might consider Garruk's Uprising, Tribute to the World Tree, or even just plain old Harmonize

Sometimes I find I'll start a brew like this and realize I might have tried to squeeze 2 or more decks into one. It might be useful to fork this once or twice and explore different aspects in each fork. Make one with a lot more disruption mainboard, one with different ramp spells, one that really focuses on Prime Time, etc etc.

I hope some of this is helpful. I'm just spitballing off the top of my head. Don't take it as me being too critical. I'm really just throwing out the first thoughts that came to mind and I'm very likely to have missed nuances, etc.

jaymc1130 on

6 months ago

Seems like too many medium knight creatures and too little consistent value generation to really pop. Sidar just plain isn’t particularly good in EDH settings from a competitive standpoint, but can be much more effective in Duel Commander where it’s much less important to be able to play at instant speed with shields up at all times.

A couple generic suggestions.

  1. Currency Converter, looting effects go great with converter, and with a looting effect from eminence this card is going to be a must include for any Sidar deck.

  2. Call the Bloodline, Chivalric Alliance is great in a Sidar deck, why not a second copy of something similar? Both of these token generators also pair extremely well with Currency Converter as two card combos that can put in some real work. 1 mana and a card for a 1/1 and a 2/2 or 2 mana and a card for 2 2/2s are great deals in terms of mana investment.

  3. Containment Construct, pitching lands and playing them from the yard? Yes please. Pitching spells and playing them from the yard? Yes please. So much value to grind out opponents with and an excellent way to generate card advantage by using the yard as a second pseudo hand. Crucible of Worlds can also help get value from looting away lands in a similar manner.

  4. Virtue of Loyalty, a 2/2 for 2 mana at instant speed can be considered removal for creatures attacking you while just being generically on rate for spending 2 mana (much more applicable to Duel Commander than EDH or cEDH) and the second casting provides a powerful enchantment finisher that can get pretty out of hand if left alone for more than one turn cycle of buffing the whole squad.

  5. Reanimates in general. Unearth, Animate Dead, Necromancy, Jolted Awake, Agadeem's Awakening  Flip, etc. Slap some more of these effects into the deck so it’s not as reliant on Sidar reanimating things to generate value from the yard.

  6. More interaction. Fatal Push effects and some more counters like Drown in the Loch can help improve your chances of creating winning board states. Just playing some generic knight idiots and sitting around waiting for an opportunity to turn the team sideways is a pretty passive way to play. Generate some opportunities for yourself by adding some ways to affect the board in a favorable manner and protect the squad as you assemble it.

  7. Cantrips. Ponder, Preordain, Brainstorm (if you can swing adding in the 9 fetchland package) and the like will help smooth out draws, make the deck more consistent, and give you things to do on early turns that proactively progress your game plan.

There’s a lot more I could add, but these are some basic things that could improve functionality without breaking the bank.

plakjekaas on Could Uro come back to …

6 months ago

Icbrgr the two pieces you named are banned because of their interaction with other cards, that aren't legal in Modern or Pioneer.

If Basalt Monolithfoil was legal in Modern or Pioneer, Zirda, the Dawnwaker would be banned there too. Same goes for Brainstorm and Dreadhorde Arcanist.

Uro is banned because it doesn't actually need any other cards to be constant value, a late-game & recurring threat, and repeated lifegain to hose most aggro strategies. Because the presence of the card by itself distorts the metagame around it, you need to either be playing Uro, or have a plan to combat Uro, or your deck is not viable at all. That's what format warping means.

BirdieGirlie on Spiteful Avatar

7 months ago

Intrigued by the new turn into blue/black/green! I think this is shaping up really well!!!

A few thoughts:

I think you might speed up the deck a lot by getting rid of the two Avatar of Might and just running 4 copies of Hunted Phantasm. That's the best card in the deck! Avatar is the only card on the list that can't just be played when drawn. There's a condition that needs to be met. The rest have no condition and should come out on the field ASAP.

Swan Song and Strix Serenade are both fantastic for the deck and strictly better than Into the Flood Maw which you have in right now. Amulet of Safekeeping is also kind of a dead/do nothing card, because it sits on the field and provides passive support. I think you should swap those pairs of cards.

Blood Seeker is a worse Blood Artist in exchange for 1 power and I don't think that's worth it to you. I think you should replace that with one of the blue 1 mana instant draw spells -- Brainstorm, Opt, something like that. It will get more cards into your hand and make your play faster! The more card draw you have, the more likely you are to hit Blood Artist at all to get her onto the field!

Also those two legendary lands are awesome, but not worthwhile in this deck. You're running 3 Prismatic Vista with exactly 3 basic lands in the deck. You draw those lands and all three vistas become a dead draw. You need basic lands. You need fetchable lands at least. There are basic dual lands out there! Put in some Swamp/Islands, Swamp/Forests, and Forest/Islands instead. I still think you should take out the Cavern of Souls in favor of colored mana-generating lands as well. So many of your cards require 2 colored mana, after all!

Excited to see where you take the deck from here!!!

KongMing on Imoti Cascade V3

7 months ago

Oh, you should definitely add a copy of Brainstorm too, for another way to cheat stuff onto the field from your hand and potentially trigger Imoti more.

sergiodelrio on Goblin Storm

8 months ago

Disclaimer: While some of the following statements might seem like they're meant to be objectively true, they are in fact a subjective opinion based on my design philosophy

I feel like some cards in this deck are a trap.

  • Faithless Looting - As wallisface mentioned before, this is pure card disadvantage. You don't gain anything by just digging and here's why. This deck wants to be as economical with its cards as possible, since you want your cards to either net goblins, net mana or net cards as efficiently as possible in order for you to keep up with opponent's speed. You are spending 1 (4) mana to see 2 (4) cards, but you also discard 3 (5) cards in the process and they don't even do anything in the GY. If you want to stay in blue Brainstormfoil or the likes might serve you much better.

  • Springleaf Drum - So this one fixes your colors, will ramp some, and can sac to Kuldotha Rebirth. But, imho, this is only good on paper. Your deck has a number of sequencing issues, and this is one of them. Playing it early means you likely have to wait to use it. You need to have played goblin producing spells by the time you want to tap it, but you also likely want to sac this to Kuldotha Rebirth over a land. At the same time tapping that goblin is competing with Shared Discovery. If you draw it later, or when you're actually going off, this is kind of awkward too, because it will only ever fix that one mana pip on the same turn and that's the best case scenario. Now you might say, 'but hey, I'm still sacing this to make 3 goblins', now we back to card economics. All of a sudden your 3 goblins cost 2 mana and 2 cards.

  • Distant Melody. Please put the gun down xD. This card can only ever shine when you're already ahead imho, especially the way this deck is set up. It's only ever good when it draws at least 4 cards, but since this is a core RED deck, it will also draw some of your infrastructure cards that will simply force you to delay your plan. This card is awesome when it can draw like 7, but at the time it would/could, you'd be better of casting some kind of finishing spell.

  • Manamorphose. I have taken this card out of every deck I made that had it because I always realized it was never worth the slot (*unless you are playing a deck that has Goblin Electromancer clones and Morphose becomes a ramp spell). Yes, it cycles for free. But ultimately, this is one of your infrastructure cards that you only need because you play U

If I were you I'd consider an alternative way to build the deck in mono R and see what you end up with. That way, you need less infrastructure cards of a certain type, and will naturally draw into combo cards more often, without needing to draw 7 from a 4 mana off color spell.

The best thing you could possibly sac to Rebirth are expendabe Artifacts. Experimental Synthesizer is the best thing for that. (And you might want to look out for more, since IF you go mono R you will lose the ability to sac the blue lands, because you will probably want them out of the deck, but maybe not... but sacing lands to Rebirth feels wrong as well most of the time)

A 1-to-1 replacement for your blue draw spells is tricky. Glimpse the Impossible could be a powerhouse in your deck, tho. It draws cards, if you can't go off that turn or can't cast the cards it becomes ramp in the form of creatures, which in turn power up Battle Hymn (maybe up this to 4 copies as well). Consider also adding Wrenn's Resolve and/or Reckless Impulse, yes, those are not 'draw 3 or more' but they don't require much setup and you can reliably cast them even when you're not stabilized yet.

This would be my draft of this, leaving as much intact as possible, and even leaving the U artifact lands ... just to have sth to look at mono r goblin combo

zemen on That Fishy Flashy Situation

9 months ago

Some card suggestions in case you don't have any of the put creature into play cheat cards, you could use cards that put cards from your hand onto the top of your library and use your commander's ability:

You could also maybe slip some miracle cards in there too since you are constantly manipulating the top of the library:

leovolt884_ on

9 months ago

Okay so pivoting the deck I could go for Izzet walls, or something along the lines wiht cards like About Face and just Flinging walls around. Wall of Torches is an okay fling on its own (ig) and Wall of Fire is an okay mana sink into fling. This kind of deck could make a lot more use out of Wall of Runes and Mnemonic Wall to find flings and other card selection like Brainstorm imo kinda boring but if you want a "viable" walls deck this or a defender combo deck would be it. Mordor Trebuchet is really funny flavorwise but loses out on requiring non wall creatures to function... Though it should be noted that you can trigger it with Mistform Wall I suppose.

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