City of Brass

Land

Whenever City of Brass becomes tapped, it deals 1 damage to you.

: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

Discussion (51)

Vlasiax on The Ur-Dragon

1 day ago

Hmm... I actually think that Gemstone Mine doesn't belong here because we need EVERY. SINGLE. MANA. every turn so losing a land after 3 usages might hurt more than help. Tarnished Citadel might be third copy of City of Brass , however, I don't like this card and it's 3 life cost per color at all - we're already losing too much life from fetches and shocks (or at least me since you've upgraded your deck with ABUR duals) to take more masochistic steps towards perfect fixing. Especially in (as you've correctly stated) midrange deck like this, where we might get punished for slower start. That's why there's a need to rely a little more on dorks and artifacts.

SideBae on Derevi Fat Stax

2 days ago

Right off the bat, you should strongly consider Smothering Tithe to run alongside your Stasis . Each turn cycle, all three of your opponents have to pay to cut you off one blue, meaning Stasis is very likely to stay put.

Second, instead of running Bident of Thassa , you should consider running a Green Sun's Zenith to fetch your Edric, Spymaster of Trest . This gives you the redundancy that two of the 'hit OP draw' effect while allowing you to fetch other things with GSZ, including a Dryad Arbor turn 1, if you choose to run that, or Reclamation Sage to take out a pesky artifact/enchantment.

Similarly, I always feel weird running signets or Commander's Sphere in a green deck. If you have access to green, you have access to dorks (which are way better than signets). Avacyn's Pilgrim , Fyndhorn Elves , Birds of Paradise and Noble Hierarch are all REALLY powerful. Priest of Titania and Bloom Tender are both two-drops that make enough mana to be busted as well. Similarly, I don't think Solemn Simulacrum is ideal in this deck. If you cut the artifact ramp for dork ramp, you can run Kataki, War's Wage or Energy Flux to great effect. Also, Stony Silence becomes just... real good.

Suppression Field is also an excellent card. You aren't running fetches, which is fine, but decks that DO run fetches despise Suppression Field -- AND it hoses 'walkers, which you run 0 of.

Playing lock pieces, you're going to draw a lot of counter magic. I advise Dispel as an efficient piece of counter-counter magic, as well as Flusterstorm if possible. In the vein of counter magic, I don't think Hinder is very good. If you're afraid of an opponent just getting value out of the spell in the graveyard, Void Shatter ensures that your opponent doesn't just tutor it back later.

I think Supreme Verdict is better than Wrath of God , if only because it dodges counter magic. You probably don't want to run two wrath effects (because you're a go-wide creature deck), so I advise just replacing wrath with the verdict.

Tutor-wise, Mystical Tutor and Enlightened Tutor would be great for this deck. Mystical can get any instant or sorcery you need, be it wrath or ramp, while enlightened can find you lock pieces fast. I highly suggest them both.

Brainstorm , Ponder and Preordain are all excellent cards that make a borderline hand into a good hand. I think all blue decks should run these Xerox pieces, as they find lands and/or important spells at a very low cost.

Depending on how prevalent blue is in your meta, consider Carpet of Flowers . It is a REALLY good card.

I'd replace Cultivate and Kodama's Reach with Nature's Lore and Farseek , and Explosive Vegetation with Skyshroud Claim . The suggested cards to not require the 'Basic' supertype, meaning they can grab your duals without a problem. Also, Nature's Lore and Skyshroud Claim allow for your lands to enter untapped, reducing their net mana cost.

I advise running Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth . With Derevi triggers targeting the enchanted land, these produce extra mana. Also, if you run Arbor Elf , they make it tap for extra mana as well. Notably, the sprawl can only target a forest. This isn't really a problem, as I think you should try to make your land base lean green anyways. Early in a game, you want to ramp first, which requires green and then enables you to find your other colors.

Grasp of Fate is probably better than Return to Dust . It has a wider range of targets, and tends to hit more permanents for less mana.

I think people tend to underestimate the power of soft-counters in EDH games. In the late game, when players have ramped their entire decks out, they do tend to be somewhat useless. However, early interaction is invaluable. I recommend at least trying Spell Pierce in a few games, as this can counter an early Sol Ring and make all the difference.

Speaking of odd EDH counterspells, Mental Misstep is another tremendously undervalued card. If your meta is fast, it can be a complete game changer; if your meta is slow, it is indeed useless. That's a meta call, but I put it out there because I've had great success with it.

Mystic Remora is a good way to draw cards if it comes down turn 2 or 3. You should consider running it.

I would suggest running Sower of Temptation over Keiga, the Tide Star . It is vulnerable to removal, but gaining control of a creature and impacting the board right away is worth it, at least in my opinion. Similarly, if you want to lay down some real cash, Gilded Drake is a good option.

You should at least consider running Thalia, Guardian of Thraben . With dorks and the untap abilities from your general, you're likely to have more mana than your opponents, making her ability more and more one-sided.

I think Reflecting Pool is probably better than Meteor Crater . You might also consider running City of Brass and Mana Confluence , as I've had good success with these in 3-color decks. Exotic Orchard and Forbidden Orchard are also considerations for mana fixing.

Mother of Runes is a D&T staple you might want to consider. She's very good for protecting your creatures, although she is a nonbo with the aforementioned Suppression Field .

I feel that Mulldrifter is included because it can be flickered with Roon of the Hidden Realm and Brago, King Eternal . Seeing as the blink effects aren't in the command zone, I think just running Fact or Fiction and/or Dig Through Time would be better, as they are instants and let you leave up counter magic. Treasure Cruise is good too, although this is a sorcery. Chart a Course , Slate of Ancestry and Shamanic Revelation are also good cards for this deck.

You may wish to consider Howling Mine . It will always draw you a card on your draw step, as the untap step comes first. However, if you tap it down with your general's ability, the effect becomes asymmetric.

Good luck with deck building!

multimedia on A Smile a Day Keeps Death Away (Alesha Primer)

3 days ago

Hey, your deck is great, but where's Command Tower ? Nice primer lots of work went into, it's well organized and written :)

Upgrades to consider:

• Command Tower > 1x Swamp
• City of Brass > 1x Plains
• Luxury Suite > 1x Swamp
• Enlightened Tutor > Ravos, Soultender
• Selfless Spirit > Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
• Yahenni, Undying Partisan > Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
• Palace Jailer > Twilight Prophet
• Cruel Celebrant > Phyrexian Arena

Enlightened Tutor has many powerful cards that it can tutor for especially a sac outlet, Skullclamp or Reconnaissance . Cruel Celebrant is another aristocrat. Selfless Spirit is a nice support creature with Alesha and Lark. Palace Jailer can be reanimated by Alesha, gives you the monarch (your end step draw) and can exile an opponent's creature; that's a lot of interaction for a four drop. Yahenni, Undying Partisan is a fantastic sac outlet in Commander because board wipes are going to happen with multiple opponents. He's also a another creature sac outlet which is important with Alesha. Only currently having Seer as the only creature sac outlet is risky.

---

I don't think Ravos, Soultender is worth playing he's another five drop and his recursion is worse compared to Lark and Guide's reanimation who are also five drops. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord is lackluster compared to all the other reanimation here because many creatures you want to reanimate have high CMCs which doesn't play well with his -X ability. Out of all the four drops Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice doesn't do much. It's nice that she can be reanimated by Alesha, but why would you choose to reanimate her out of all the other creatures? I don't think she's worth playing for that reason. Twilight Prophet has a powerful ability, but only if you have the city's blessing which without a token strategy is slow. I'm not a fan of Phyrexian Arena in Commander it's too slow. I think you're much better off getting draw from creatures with Alesha especially with Skullclamp . Good luck with your deck.

SideBae on Breya, Artifact Shaper Synergies

4 days ago

Breya is always an interesting deck. I personally like the infinite-mana options; repeatedly casting Breya, then sac-ing her and one of the thopters to bolt an opponent results in game over immediately. I see three ways that are easiest to achieve that goal.

First, the bomberman combo: Auriok Salvagers with Lion's Eye Diamond . LED is an infamously expensive card though, so the other two may be easier to get ahold of.

Second, reanimated dragon combo: Worldgorger Dragon with Animate Dead , Necromancy , Dance of the Dead , or any other reanimating enchantment. The Worldgorger (which is reanimated from the yard) trigger exiles the reanimation enchantment, which lets it die, which returns the enchantment, which brings back the dragon... tapping all your lands/mana rocks for mana when they flicker in results in infinite mana. You really need another creature to target to end the loop, but it isn't too difficult to make sure this is the case.

Third, Dramatic Reversal with Isochron Scepter . You'll need 3+ mana from the rocks, but that also shouldn't be too hard.

Note that combos 1 and 2 accommodate Entomb effects as a tutor. So if you want to run those combos, Entomb , Buried Alive and/or Faithless Looting and the like are your friends. Note also that 1 and 2 generate infinite ETB triggers. Pairing them with Altar of the Brood allows you to win even if your commander has been countered or removed to oblivion. Furthermore, running Sculpting Steel or Phyrexian Metamorph to copy Sharuum the Hegemon creates a loop where you sac one to the legend rule and then bring back either the original or copying artifact. That also generates infinite ETB triggers, and is a pet combo of mine.

I strongly advise tutors outside the transmute ones. Demonic Tutor , Vampiric Tutor , Imperial Seal , Enlightened Tutor , Reshape , Whir of Invention , Gamble and Transmute Artifact are all in your colors (though some are more easily obtained than others). These will increase your deck's consistency, regardless of whether you decide to use the combo-build.

Depending on your deck's budget, you might want to consider your mana base as a work-in-progress. Slow Fetches like Rocky Tar Pit and Flood Plain are well under a dollar, and work well enough as a replacement for Bloodstained Mire or Flooded Strand . Mana Confluence and City of Brass are also powerhouses in a 4-color deck. You should at least consider Forbidden Orchard .

I advise Swords to Plowshares over Path to Exile . Ramping your opponent is especially dangerous in EDH, but the life-gain is typically not relevant.

Ramp is important in any EDH deck. Mind Stone is a good addition, along with Ancient Tomb . I typically don't care for 3-mana rocks, but Chromatic Lantern is good in 4- or 5-color decks. Izzet Signet is a good idea in addition to the other two signets you're running. Non-blue ones aren't nearly as good, but if you really need another, I advise Orzhov Signet over Boros Signet or Rakdos Signet . Sculpting Steel and Phyrexian Metamorph are good ways to copy opponents' rocks as well as your own, or even creatures in the case of the metamorph. Copy Artifact is another option.

Because you're in black, you have access to some real good card draw. Phyrexian Arena and Staff of Nin are good as permanent sources of card-advantage. Ambition's Cost , Ancient Craving , Painful Truths and Chart a Course are all good ways to draw cards as well.

If you're running Eldrazi Displacer , I suggest also running Containment Priest . That becomes {2}{C}: Exile target creature.

Good luck with deck building.

Ferlin on Niv Mizzet Reborn

5 days ago

2 Forest and no City of Brass ?

zrob on The Ten Plagues: Locust God cEDH | *PRIMER*

1 week ago

Daedalus19876: Thanks! I'm currently testing out Metalworker right now, just need to play a few more games to solidify my opinion on it. It hasn't been amazing, but a few times it's explosive. It really only nets me an average of 2 mana to be honest.

I tried Verity Circle , but it just doesn't seem to work in my meta. I have it in the sideboard for now, as Rhystic Study overperforms in my meta currently.

As for the landbase, I actually need to go ahead and update that on the site...I just need to go through and see what exact changes I've made. The main ones IIRC are going down to 2 mountains and adding all the fetches, and replacing Reliquary Tower (this card sucks) with Academy Ruins . Also adding City of Brass somewhere.

Also, I thought I linked to this deck but apparently not. I will go ahead and do that!

I appreciate the opinions and help! Would love to discuss to talk more EDH with you as time goes on.

Jayd0nlink on Sen Triplets EDH

1 week ago

Hi lifemtg!

I was looking at your deck since I also have a Sen Triplets deck in the works, and I thought up some potentially helpful information. For instance, a nice budget way to fix all your mana to cast your opponent's spells would be Chromatic Lantern . It taps for any colour of mana as well. Down that route, I would also suggest Mycosynth Lattice , as there are some fun shenanigans that you can do once everything is an artifact. However, it has been shooting up in price recently, so if you don't already have one it might be too expensive.

For your land base, I recommend removing lands that come in tapped unless they are the ones that gives you any colour of mana. (Since you're on a budget, I understand why you put those in, but in my opinion, basic lands would just be better, unless you want to replace them with shocklands or checklands, etc.) I also recommend adding Cascading Cataracts as a way to fix mana on a budget. Adding lands that tap for any colour is a big thing in your deck, and I can see you've already been trying to do that. A few more options, depending on your budget, are Gemstone Mine , City of Brass , Mana Confluence , Spire of Industry , and Forbidden Orchard . You could also add in Reflecting Pool , because although it doesn't always tap for any colour, it's a great land. Another couple of easy includes are the three esper artifact lands: Ancient Den , Seat of the Synod , and Vault of Whispers . This is important especially with your artifact subtheme. You also might want to reduce black land mana and replace that with blue. Finally, your avaerage CMC is very high, at around 4 CMC. I recommend trying to lower your curve by cutting some high CMC cards that don't enhance your strategy. Some recommendations for cuts could ve Oloro, Ageless Ascetic , and Colossus of Akros .

Anyway, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask!

BUDGETIDEAS on 5-Color Bad Monetary Decisions

1 week ago

Hoobynobber7395yes! some budget lands that i would recommend to replace the shocks with are the bfz ally (e.g. Sunken Hollow ) and the amonkhet cycle (e.g. Canyon Slough ) or the tri lands(e.g. Frontier Bivouac ). instead of City of Brass or Mana Confluence i would recommend Gateway Plaza and Rupture Spire . however, casual doesn't have to mean budget, i have the lands, picking them up shocks now while there still cheap(ish)