Callous Oppressor

Creature — Cephalid

You may choose not to untap Callous Oppressor during your untap step.

As Callous Oppressor enters the battlefield, an opponent chooses a creature type.

{T}: Gain control of target creature that isn't of the chosen type as long as Callous Oppressor remains tapped.

Legality

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

Discussion (28)

DreadKhan on Fun cards make fun decks

3 days ago

When you talk about 'fun cards', it makes me think of political stuff, nothing makes for memorable games like politics showing up. I'm a fan of Axis of Mortality and Exquisite Blood, either is a useful card on it's own, but combined they can be really, really fun (opponent's exchanging life totals is treated as one gaining and the other losing life, so it'll trigger Esquisite). War Tax is a fun political trick, not sure if I prefer Tax or Flood, both can actually do valuable work.

Fractured Identity is a nice Azorius card that can both remove a problem card while also making a whole bunch MORE problems! Very weird with Strixhaven Stadium for example. Visions of Duplicity is an interesting spell if your Commander has a fairly high MV, the effect is quite strong potentially. If you like the idea of giving opponent's some choices to keep things interesting, there are also Callous Oppressor and the very $$$ Preacher. Fealty to the Realm is the final relevant theft effect that comes to mind, not sure if it's good enough.

I'm one of few people who cape for them, but some of the Advocates are very strong repeatable effects; I like Pulsemage Advocate, and I love Spurnmage Advocate. I love how vs some people you can actually hurt them by putting stuff they need in the graveyard into their hand, and that you can also give the player who's fallen behind a tiny leg up.

Oh, and if you ever feel like having a blocker that can feed people cards, there is Flumph, yet also Soldevi Sentry (which is a 'combo' with Smothering TitheGC in the sense that you can just feed someone as many cards as both people want, handy if you're helping them dig for a solution fwiw). Coveted Jewel is hilarious in the right meta, a real joy to see in action.

Dawnbreak Reclaimer can do a shocking amount of work sometimes, as can a World Queller (even funnier with Martyr's Bond).

You might want to look into the Hunted creatures, Hunted Horror is probably the best, but there some others that work a bit differently.

DreadKhan on Outlaw Communism

1 month ago

Neat deck idea, but I feel like you probably want more mana sources, definitely some more lands (I'd aim for 36-40 for a 4 mana Esper Commander that you 'need' to have out for your deck to work), and possibly some of the Talismans (some or all of Talisman of Dominance, Talisman of Hierarchy, and Talisman of Progress would be obvious options to consider that help with fixing). My issue is that it's pretty easy to just kill your Commander, at which point you've got a bunch of auras that do very little. You can also throw in some cards to help protect your Commander, more of those could also shave off recasting, but remember something like Swiftfoot Boots needs adds an effective mana to the cost of your Commander (where Lightning Greaves does not), effectively adding 1 to her cost.

You're also pretty light on interaction of some sorts, but I'm guessing you're really, really counting on having your Commander out and stealing the problem creatures, but not everything is a creature in my experience! In White you have access to Generous Gift and Stroke of Midnight, this kind of card can solve a lot of stuff if you're desperate, regardless of the card's type. Maybe removal could be 'Secret Police', ie those who make problems 'go away' forever? I guess you could have Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker in charge?

Eldrazi Conscription can steal something bigger for you, and make it a HUGE problem fwiw.

Weird idea, but have you thought about some cards that can steal creatures for you regardless of the creature's scale? Sower of Temptation, Callous Oppressor, and Thalakos Deceiver are pretty cheap for what they do. You might also try something like Rite of Replication or Cryptoplasm, copying something like a Blightsteel Colossus can also solve the issue, at least for you.

KongMing on An Actual Robin Hood Deck

5 months ago

Oh! And one last stealing and blinking forbidden lore card is Nephalia Smuggler. Note that its effect returns the card to your control, not its owner's!!! So you can bounce a creature that is stolen temporarily by an effect like Callous Oppressor, and then it comes back under your control for good...

Well, until you give it away of course.

Recommend cutting Inspiring Refrain for it.

DreadKhan on I'm Playing Blue So...

11 months ago

Pet decks are so much fun to play, just drawing into certain art (even if they're dead cards at the time) can feel pretty sweet. Here are a few of my favorite Blue cards that can also make an opponent's life difficult! War Tax can be really crazy, you can use it during anyone's turn to limit their attacks. Cultural Exchange can let someone else enjoy your Seacoast Drake (it seems mean to hog fun cards like that, right?), it can also generate a lot of advantage. Mass Diminish is a weird card even by the standards of weird cards, the effect last for a REALLY long time in a bigger game, and it inexplicably has Flashback at a low MV. I'm not sure if it needs support to 'work', but not many cards are as annoying to a table as a resolved Counterbalance. She used to be pricey, but Empress Galina is a REALLY weird Blue card to throw in, if people can't answer it they are going to lose their Commanders. Callous Oppressor is pretty good, steal the best thing and then use it to chump the new biggest thing (and then steal that thing with Oppressor). Fatespinner is a nifty Stax piece that can slow your opponent's game plan quite a bit (but it doesn't nothing if they're wildly ahead, so it's still 'fun'). Not sure if you want the removal, but Transmogrifying Wand is a very good effect if it sticks around, but Oxing even 1 creature can be pretty helpful.

DreadKhan on Jinx Master of Chaos

1 year ago

I could be wrong, but I think part of your problem is that you can't run enough wipes to keep pressure down but also cannot run enough creatures to deal with aggro. Some stuff that can help with this include Propaganda, maybe War Tax do a good job at deterring early aggro. Callous Oppressor type cards are pretty powerful, creature theft effects allow you to keep up with aggressive decks running powerful creatures without having to run or cast them yourselves. There might be a couple useful token generators that might fit, Ophiomancer and Ogre Slumlord both provide endless Deathtouch blockers and can deter attacks. My final suggestion to help prevent losses is dedicated blockers, cards like Brash Taunter, this sweet blocker survives many wipes and can make brute force risky to use vs you. There are also cards like Fog Bank that can block fairly well, but remember that low toughness means you're vulnerable to Trample.

I would try out Rite of the Raging Storm, it puts a lot of pressure on the board for anyone but you who can't block a 5/1 trample. Mask of Griselbrand works really well with Rite, but it also works well with any other non-flyer you want to attack with, and helps incase you get wiped/targeted with removal since it can draw cards. The lifegain is a nice perk. Viashino Heretic is a way to blow up artifacts repeatedly that also can deal some damage, if people use large artifacts it can be a lot of damage for mana.

FormOverFunction on Bureaucracy!

1 year ago

GrimlockVIII I think that fits perfectly, both in theme and with the fact that most of my creatures have more impressive toughness than power (especially with cards like Abbey Matron!). Good call!

DreadKhan these are great recommendations! I think I only have one Callous Oppressor and he’s currently camped out in my Torture deck. Some of these others are, as you mentioned, a little pricey and (more importantly) not already in my garbage bags of cards. Definitely will be keeping an eye out for some of them though, in case they become available!! Thank you both for the recommendations!

DreadKhan on Please help me improve my …

1 year ago

If you like stealing creatures and have access to Blink Thassa, you might like Callous Oppressor. I'd also look at Helm of Possession for the same reasons. TBH I think I'd run Sower of Temptation over Gilded Drake with your Commander (Drake is a great card, but at least if you kill off Sower's creature you can just flicker Sower to get a new creature, at which point you can flicker Sower to steal something else), either way it's also worth a look.

If you're looking for ramp in Blue, I'm a fan of the usually clowned-on Dreamscape Artist, Myriad Landscape and Retraced Image, but I think it's probably a reasonable choice to run stuff like Arcane Signet/Fellwar Stone if you're struggling to get your ramp numbers high enough. A sneaky trick I heard about from The Command Zone (it's a Youtube EDH channel) is that you can use creature lands like Mishra's Factory or Faerie Conclave as a form of Blue ramp if you can copy them when they are creatures, Magic has few issues with cloning/copying lands if they are also creatures. Another unusual form of 'ramp' is to use the odd card like Walking Atlas to cheat extra lands in, but you probably would want a few more lands or card draw.

As one-off theft effects go, I find Bribery, Inevitable Betrayal and Cultural Exchange to all be pretty solid, Exchange does want you to have token generators, but Blue isn't bad at making small tokens. Bribery effects can be a LOT bigger than a theft effect, so Betrayal is deceptively powerful vs the right type of deck, but most decks have a few really strong creatures at least, and you should have multiple opponents to choose from.

It's not a Theft effect, but Rite of Replication is hilarious in practice, getting a single copy for 4 is pretty much market rate, getting 5 copies for 9 is crazy when it happens.

DreadKhan on Bureaucracy!

1 year ago

I didn't realize your deck had a fairly low budget when I first started typing, so a few cards I mention might be out of your budget, but I think some of the stuff might fit.

I have an Azorius deck that has an aspect of bureaucracy in it, have you thought about Preacher and Callous Oppressor? I think they might fit flavor-wise, clergy are in part bureaucrats, and arguably the main part of being a bureaucrat is callously oppressing people/destroying their wills to enable control over them. I also like Bribery and War Tax, maybe Spurnmage Advocate and Pulsemage Advocate, advocacy is common in bureaucracies, as are bribery and taxes.

I'm not sure how eager you are to throw more interaction in, but Dovin's Veto and Disdainful Stroke feel fairly bureaucratic, maybe Generous Gift as removal? Is Visions of Duplicity on theme enough? Duplicity seems pretty on theme, and shuffling other people's creatures is the annoying crap officials get up to when bored.

Cool Vorthos idea, hope you have good match ups in your area!