Combat Research

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature has "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, draw a card."

As long as enchanted creature is legendary, it gets +1/+1 and has ward {1}. (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays {1})

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (14)

NV_1980 on Kotis, He of the Dance

4 months ago

I like this deck! You've got plenty of methods included to slow down opponents, while you make sure Kotis is ready to strike. The one thing I'd spend a bit more attention on though, is stuff that enables you to draw a few more cards per turn. Right now, you're featuring three, but the average EDH deck features about ten, so this is just to make sure others don't outpace you too much. Considering your budget and Kotis being your main attacker, I'd go for options like Cartouche of Knowledge, Combat Research, Curiosity, Keen Sense or Mask of Riddles. Draw options that can be activated before Kotis is online might work too. My go-to favorites in that sense would be Brainstorm, Ponder and Preordain.

Also, as an FYI, there are some easy ways to have Kotis trigger twice per attack. Giving him double strike (with something like Fireshrieker would do this, but you can also go for options like Felix Five-Boots or Strionic Resonator. Good luck with this brew!

doc_frank_18 on Desperaux

5 months ago

Maybe take out quintessential-katana and put in Combat Research

NV_1980 on Kotis, the Critterkeeper

1 year ago

This look like a very interesting budget version of Kotis. I've been playing him for some time and I think I'd add the following to your list (I've tried to keep the maximum price at around 5 dollars per card):

• Aqueous Form: a very simple enchantment that simply makes Kotis unblockable.
• Arcane Flight: very cheap to cast and an excellent addition to making Kotis harder to block.
• Combat Research: draw cards upon damage and grants Kotis some boost and protection.
• Curiosity: why not draw some cards upon damaging opponents?
• Elusive Otter: its sorcery-adventure side (Grove's Bounty) is a great way to make Kotis a little stronger, and you can still summon a prowess-Otter afterwards.
• Eternal Thirst: creatures tend to die a lot in a game of commander, so banking on that with this enchantment for Kotis seems to make sense. The lifegain is fun too.
• Felix Five-Boots: what's better than stealing stuff once per attack? Stealing stuff twice per attack of course!
• Gonti, Night Minister: this card is ideal in a four-player (or more) pod. Gonti diverts attention away from you because he makes it much more lucrative for all your opponents to attack anyone but you. The fact that for every spell that you don't own but cast, you also receive a treasure token just synergizes extremely well with Kotis.
• Hydra's Growth: doubling Kotis' power/toughness every once in a while seems very beneficial.
• Strong Back: insanely powerful in that it acts as an Ancestral Mask that also cheapens all further aura casting and equipping.
• Tarrian's Soulcleaver: something dies, Kotis gets stronger. Vigilance is also very strong on a being like Kotis.
• The Thirteenth Doctor: so for every spell that you cast from opponents' libraries, Kotis can gain more power/toughness. To top it off, the doctor allows you to untap Kotis after an attack; double trouble for your opponents!
• Villainous Wealth: basically Kotis in sorcery form.
• Well Rested: one of the most ridiculously strong auras I've ever seen, especially considering its cost to cast. For just two mana, every time Kotis untaps you gain life, draw a card and you make Kotis stronger!
• Wrecking Ball arm: instead of bae power/toughness 2/1, why not make it 7/7? Also makes him a bit less blockable.

Hope this helps you in some way; good luck!

DrSnipy on Book Tribal - Narset goes to the library

1 year ago

Cool idea, I play narset too, may I recommend Pore Over the Pages and Combat Research as a flavorfull ways to draw cards :)

NV_1980 on Kesita The Cultivator EDH

1 year ago

Looks nice. Some ideas worth considering:

• Aqueous Form: cheap to cast and makes something straight up unblockable; very useful for a commander.
• Archon of Sun's Grace: powerful token generator in a deck with this much enchantment casting.
• Combat Research: cheap to cast, provides draw and on Tuvasa it also provides a p/t enhancement and some ward.
• Daybreak Coronet: fullfilling this card's requirement is easy in this deck, and it's so much bang for your buck.
• Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr  ^Flip: strong creature that can come back as a strong aura.
• Sphere of Safety: excellent protection against attacks in an enchantment-focused deck. Becomes completely ridiculous when combined with Enchanted Evening.
• Spirit Mantle: cheap anti-creature protection.
• Strong Back: essentially a much better version of Ancestral Mask.
• Well Rested: extremely useful for a creature you regularly attack with (or tap for other reasons).

amarthaler on EDH Geist of Saint Traft

1 year ago

Update!

Out: Thieving Skydiver... Curiosity... Wedding Ring... Commander's Sphere

In: Dorothea, Vengeful Victim  ^Flip... Combat Research... Trouble in PairsGC... Grand Arbiter Augustin IVGC

GregariousG on You Wouldn't Download A Spell | *Primer*

2 years ago

To Lastline77,

I’ve never liked the look of tags in my posted lists. I just use a separate Word document to making categories for ramp, draw, interaction, etc. That’s just easier for me. For me, deckbuilding is just as entertaining as playing. I really enjoy making a concept, playing it, and moving pieces around. I started a long time ago so I’ve gotten better, hopefully. After building , playing, and tweeking, I can just know what each piece is supposed to do and whether it is effective or not. I can walk you through my thought process for this Ivy build. When I saw Ivy, I knew off the jump that she would make a good tempo commander because of her low cost and copying ability. Because this was going to be Simic Tempo, I need a low curve. Thus, most of my cards should sit between {1} and {3} and very few high cost cards. If you look through my editing history, you can see the few amount of high end creatures and spells were continuously cut. As well, tempo decks want to draw a lot of cards. Because of that, I stacked the deck with Combat Research-effects and looked for new ones with each set. The ETB draw enchants are also good, which is why there are so many. At first, I had the stereotypical ramp package, with mana dorks and land fetches like Cultivate. However, I noticed that drawing cards is just as good as some of the classic ramp spells. For example, Enter the Unknown is probably one of the best ramp pieces in this deck. The ability to have an extra land drop per target for just {G}. is busted. Thus, there is no point to have Three Visits when I can drop two or more additional lands. As well, ramp that copies, like Migratory Greathorn is just better than Three Visits because it can be copied. Besides card draw, this deck needs all of the interactions, aka counterspells and protection. This is one of the reasons why there is so much draw; this deck needs interaction. I always want a counter or protection in my hand. Two reasons. First, a tempo deck that gets interacted with early generally doesn’t do anything for the rest of the game. You want to control the pace as much as possible. Second, Ivy tempo is a major problem once it gets going and people will notice. That’s when the removal and the board wipes start to fly. However, this is Ivy tempo. With overwhelming card draw and interaction, you probably won’t care what the opponent is doing. Opponent going to Farewell the board. That’s great because you have Slip Out the Back to phase out or just a counter. However, you need that card advantage. As for switching out cards, this comes best through playing testing. For example, Double Major is in 50% of the 8,378 Ivy decks recorded by EDHREC. As of a few days ago, my deck was included in that number. However, Double Major has always been on the chopping block. Great on paper, awkward in play. This might not be true for others, but Double Major was rarely worth it. There are easier and more curve-friendly ways to get copies of Ivy. This was a long rant but I hope it kinda helped.

Breakaway on Ultra Budget Mono-Blue Spirits

2 years ago

Hi nuperokaso,

Thank you for the recommendations!

I like Hidden Strings as it super-charges everything that your cards want to do: it "ramps" by untapping lands, gives "vigilance" by allowing you to both attack and stay on defense. This creates additional creature synergies as you it untaps creatures for Shacklegeist or lands to draw with Spectral Sailor. It also lets you cast more spells while untapping lands so that you can counter things on your opponent's turn.

I sometimes use You See a Guard Approach to tap down a big attacker and save myself from a beating or to get a problematic blocker out of the way so that Combat Research or Hidden Strings can do their thing. I agree that Shore Up is better, but I like the flexibility of You See a Guard Approach.