Command Tower

Land

: Gain one mana of any colour in your commander's colour identity.

Discussion (51)

dingusdingo on Opinion: Banning Tutors in EDH

2 days ago

Magic is a game with elements outside your control. Your deck is bigger than your starting hand size. This randomness helps balance skill between deck building as well as piloting, and has been noted in a few places. Simply put, even a deck that is only winning 25% of games against a 75% winrate deck still is getting wins when the great deck gets bad hands, or bad draws, and the weaker deck can have their own great starting hands or lucky top decks.

Tutors are seen as one of the ways to reduce variance, and increase skill. If I have 1 card that says "I win when I cast this" and I have 1 Vampiric Tutor, my deck now has 2 cards that lead to winning. If I add Demonic Tutor to the mix, now I have 3 cards that are leading to winning.

Drawing extra cards has a similar effect, but that effect is much more pronounced in a 60 card format with 4x of any specific card. By running cards like Brainstorm or Ponder you gain access to more cards, and get to make meaningful choices about the cards available to you. To put it another way, you're reducing variance in available resources from your total possible resources. Tutors do the same thing. Tutors reduce variance in the game overall, by dramatically increasing the card quality of available cards for a small premium on whichever card you wish to play. A Llanowar Elves that was fetched by a Demonic Tutor cost you to cast, and there were two different points in getting the Elf from the library onto the battlefield where a player could have interacted with you. Big shout out to TypicalTimmy for also understanding this and putting it in a concise way. All tutors do is improve your card quality or give you access to cards. The thing you should be looking at are the combos themselves, and culling the ones that are too hard or too cumbersome to interact with.

Tutors also give information to opponents, especially in EDH where information can be used by more opponents than a 1 on 1 game. Consider the following: Outside of Vampiric Tutor Imperial Seal Demonic Tutor Grim Tutor and Diabolic Intent (and a handful of others), all the other tutors are conditional. Being conditional, the opponents have to know you satisfied the condition for searching. What do these have on common? The word reveal. If someone uses a Worldly Tutor to fetch Protean Hulk, all of their opponents have just received very important information about the options available to the pilot. Any player worth their salt will use this information to hold up counterspells or prioritize playing pieces that shut off Hulk combos, like Cursed Totem

Tutors serve as the missing piece. Sometimes it can be correct to tutor up your combo as fast as you possibly can and cast it. Other times, I expend tutors on finding more mana (I literally used Imperial Seal to find Command Tower three hours ago at my LGS). Sometimes I'll use that tutor to get Dark Confidant early, to help me control other players and stay ahead in cards. Other times I search up protection like Pact of Negation. As it turns out, double tutoring is a BIG TELL for opponents, and anyone who has played this game for a couple years is going to make the intentional choice to hold up mana to stop you. Simply jamming and racing doesn't work in every game, or every deck, even decks designed to do exactly that.

Tutors cost the same mana as Counterspell and all the other 0 or 1 or 2 mana variants that counter spells. You're getting more points during the process of the combo to use that counterspell. Many combos can be stopped by easy includes like Tormod's Crypt or Disenchant or whatever. Many players choose not to slot cards that interact with other players, and this is why tutors are seen to be a problem. If you basically let players Goldfish for 5 turns in a row, they can assemble a win. I don't think players really understand how meaningless inflicting damage to players is when you have to do 120 to win. That is 6x what you do in every other format, and cards are balanced around 20 life, not 120. When you get 30 damage to them by turn 5, they've drawn and tutored cards willy nilly without you busting them apart by killing their creatures, or removing enchantments/artifacts, or forcing them to discard cards or turning off their combos. They can just, combo off.

I firmly believe that tutors are very healthy for the format. If I know my opponent is capable of assembling and executing a combo, it forces me to consider how I'm going to react or respond to them. Opponents who tutor cards are broadcasting their ability to win, and this causes interesting dynamics around the table about expending or saving mana. It causes more dynamic interaction besides simply attacking and blocking. I don't know about you, but games of Magic are more fun when players interact with each other and threaten to win and stop other players from winning.

multimedia on Ravos/Tymna commander

3 days ago

Hey, since your deck is low budget consider adding more cards to take advantage of your best card? Your best card is Tymna :)

You have the right idea with wanting to add Kunoros and Kambal. Kunoros because of menace evasion, lifelink and it's a hatebear. Kambal because he can be a repeatable source of life gain. With Tymna you want more creatures who have evasion so they can more easily do combat damage.

White has many good budget flying creatures. Hatebears who fly and can also disrupt your opponents are good in multiplayer Commander: Aven Mindcensor, Kinjalli's Sunwing, Hushbringer, Tomik, Distinguished Advokist, Archon of Absolution. Flying creatures who can create flying tokens: Emeria Angel, Archon of Sun's Grace can be repeatable sources of flying creatures. You also want more repeatable sources of life gain to safely keep triggering Tymna: Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Wingmate Roc, Answered Prayers.

Cards that create flying tokens are nice to go wide which helps to attack more than one opponent. Spirit Bonds and Sacred Mesa can be repeatable source of flying tokens. Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, Battle Screech, Midnight Haunting create flying tokens. Entreat the Angels can create a lot of 4/4 Angels. With more creatures with flying then you can play Sephara, Sky's Blade who has a powerful effect for flying creatures, has lifelink and other flying creatures reduce her casting cost.

Other budget cards ($1-$2 or less each) to consider adding:

• Lands: Command Tower, Tainted Field, Esper Panorama, Terramorphic Expanse, Ash Barrens, Orzhov Basilica
• Ramp: Talisman of Hierarchy, Dark Ritual, Heraldic Banner
• Fliers: Remorseful Cleric, Healer's Hawk, Vampire Nighthawk, Aerial Responder
• Tutors: Diabolic Tutor
• Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Kaya's Guile, Mortify
• Removal: Heliod's Intervention, Cleansing Nova

I offer more advice including what cards to cut. Would you like more advice?

Good luck with your deck.

ToxicMCTV on Titania Depths

4 days ago

MarcusTruman I am confused on how the Command Tower and Food Chain combo works

Joe_Ken_ on A rose by any other name

4 days ago

Nightscape Familiar would be a great addition since it will make your red and blue spells cost less.

Some zombie lords like Undead Warchief, Lord of the Accursed , Diregraf Captain , Cemetery Reaper, and Death Baron would be good for making your entire board stronger. Liliana's Mastery also has a similar effect.

Diregraf Colossus is good for making a small army of tokens as the game goes on.

Some cheap removal like Terminate , Crosis's Charm , Murder , and Dreadbore would be good to add.

A cheap tutor or two would also be good like Diabolic Tutor.

Crumbling Necropolis Command Tower are some good lands to add and some budget dual color lands like Dimir Guildgate , Rakdos Guildgate , and Izzet Guildgate would be good as well as Izzet Boilerworks , Dimir Aqueduct , and Rakdos Carnarium would be good additions.

multimedia on Naya Commander

1 week ago

Hey, good start and budget version.

If you want to be quicker than consider reducing the avg. CMC? It's currently too high at 3.6. Reducing the avg. CMC makes it so you can play cards faster. In the case here getting more creatures onto the battlefield before Marisi. Consider more one/two/three drops creatures? One drop mana dorks are good with Marisi because they make ramp to help to cast him faster and they can also be attackers with or without cards that give evasion.

Creatures who are just attackers and don't do anything else are less good then others that can attack while also doing something else. In Commander you want the creatures you play to give you more value then just being a creature who can attack. The manabase can be much faster since all the dual lands you're playing always ETB tapped.

Some budget cards ($5 or less each) to consider adding:

Lands

• Command Tower
• Exotic Orchard
• Karplusan Forest
• Battlefield Forge
• Brushland

One drops

• Sol Ring
• Avacyn's Pilgrim
• Elvish Mystic, Llanowar Elves
• Mother of Runes: protection and evasion.
• Swords to Plowshares
• Rancor: trample.
• Sixth Sense: draw.

Two drops

• Eladamri's Call: creature tutor.
• Hushbringer: flying.
• Remorseful Cleric: flying.
• Loyal Apprentice: repeatable flying tokens.
• Mask of Memory: draw.
• Boros Charm: protection or double strike.
• Regrowth: recursion.
• Luminarch Ascension: repeatable flying tokens, can activate fast since looks at each opponents end step. If your opponents are not able to attack you then this makes it more likely that you will not lose life.

Three drops

• Spirit en-Dal: shadow or give another creature shadow.
• Aven Mindcensor: flying.
• Soltari Visionary: shadow.
• Champion of Lambholt: make all your creatures unblockable.
• Silverblade Paladin: double strike.
• Duelist's Heritage: double strike.
• Snake Umbra: draw.
• Beast Within and Generous Gift

More creatures with evasion and effects that can improve combat/attacking are cards to consider because you need to do combat damage to a player to goad that player. More creatures with flying and creatures with shadow is evasion to consider adding. Drawing cards with creatures who do combat damage to a player can be helpful to stay ahead. Double strike is a good ability for an attacking creature.

Shadow is a unique creature ability that makes the creature unblockable because your opponents are not going to have any creatures with shadow. Spirit en-Dal has shadow, but the reason to play it is to repeatedly reveal it from your hand at your upkeep to give a target creature shadow until end of turn. For two mana it can give Marisi shadow making him unblockable.

The manabase can be improved because there's a lot of subpar lands which will always ETB tapped. Dual lands that can ETB untapped can speed up game play letting you cast spells faster. Command Tower is a staple land for multicolored decks. There's a lot of basic lands in the manabase therefore consider adding others lands that have good interaction with basic lands?

Good luck with your deck.

Izzy- on RNG-sus Take The Wheel (Coins are a wheel right?)

1 week ago

Overall I have some comments and some questions.

Deprive seems a little rough to run in this deck personally, I would maybe consider just a plain old Counterspell at least since its the same but no potential downside. The same can be said for Foil, Thwart, where I'm not sure what is making you value off of bouncing your lands. There are equally cheap and powerful counterspells without hurting your boardstate. Arcane Denial, Memory Lapse, simply for example.

If the deck is mainly budget then the landbase is fine, but even cards that provide some color-fixing would help the deck. From Evolving Wilds to Command Tower to provide some consistency.

Possibility Storm here seems less like it interacts well with the deck, and more disruptive and prone to create chaos. Which again if that is what you want, then it fits well. However, depending on your meta, your playgroup may not enjoy pure chaos too much. So ultimately what do you want from this deck. I understand its coin flipping based, but do you wish to kill with commander damage? Inflict chaos on the table?

Honestly I could come up with other cards and suggestions, but I don't know enough about the deck and if you are constrained by a budget.

multimedia on Zombie Deck 1.1

2 weeks ago

Hey, nice start, welcome to Commander and TappedOut :)

You can't play 2x Plague Wight in a Commander deck. Can only play 1x of every card except basic lands. The Scarab God is a powerful card as Commander General and at $30 it's not a budget card so it's great that you have it to make your first deck with.

Commander's Quarters has good overall ideas for decks, but best to not use the manabases they provide as good examples of manabases. Quarters makes budget decks, but it's deceiving because the manabases that they use are terrible since they don't allocate any of the budget for lands. Manabases are an afterthought in decks Quarters makes which is not good when the majority of people that view their content are new players who need guidance in how to best play Commander on a budget. Manabases are just as important in Commander then what creatures or other spells you play because you can't cast those cards if you don't have the right mana.

29x basic lands is fine for a one color deck, but when you're playing a second color you need more dual lands that make both colors that way you don't get color screwed having only one color of lands, but cards in your hand are the other color. As you play more Commander you will see that the majority of expense of a deck comes from the manabase because good lands in Magic are damn expensive. Most lands are expensive price, but there's still budget lands that are good such as Command Tower which is $1 and is one of the best, if not the best land, for multicolored decks in Commander.

Lands to consider adding:

• Command Tower
• Sunken Hollow
• Fetid Pools
• Tainted Isle
• Choked Estuary
• Darkwater Catacombs
• Esper Panorama
• /////////////////////////////////////////////
• Dimir Aqueduct
• Temple of Deceit
• Evolving Wilds

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Other budget cards to consider adding (ordered by importance/price lowest ($1 or less) to highest ($3)):

• Diregraf Captain
• Lord of the Accursed
• Undead Augur
• Dreadhorde Invasion
• Mausoleum Secrets
• Carrion Feeder
• Dark Ritual
• Countersquall
• Wonder
• Gleaming Overseer
• /////////////////////////////////////////////
• Rooftop Storm
• Dimir Signet
• Death Baron
• Cemetery Reaper
• Midnight Reaper
• Graveborn Muse
• Negate
• Dread Wanderer
• Buried Alive
• Fleshbag Marauder
• Ransack the Lab
• Final Parting
• Defile
• Mutilate

Other than Scarab God you only need a few budget blue Zombies and a few other budget blue cards, you don't need very much blue because the majority of Zombies are all black. Budget blue Zombies that are worth including are Diregraf Captain and Gleaming Overseer, that's it. Other budget blue cards that are worth including are Rooftop Storm, Countersquall, Negate and Wonder.

Because of the land situation not being ideal then consider cutting all cards with double blue mana costs? Cards with single blue and double black are fine, but double blue is too difficult to make with so many Swamps. Cards such as Pondering Mage, Curse of the Swine, Didn't Say Please could be cut.

Lords help to make your Zombies bigger by increasing their power/toughness (anthem) or giving them all other abilities. The four budget Lords (Captain, Accursed, Baron and Cemetery) are a good place to start to make upgrades. Captain and Lord are each $1 or less making them excellent first upgrades on a budget. Captain, Undead and Midnight are Zombies who give you value when your Zombies die and your Zombies are going to die especially from board wipes.

Buried, Ransack and Parting help to put creatures into your graveyard to use Scarab's activated ability with. Buried and Parting can tutor for and put Wonder into your graveyard which can be a win condition with Zombies giving them all flying. Parting can do both for Wonder, putting it into your graveyard and tutoring for an Island if you need it to activate it.

I offer more advice. Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on Phenax Mill (NEEDS HELP!)

2 weeks ago

Hey, Persistent Petitioners with Ashiok, Dream Render and Planar Void make a deadly combination for mill. Ashiok is good because for one loyalty he can exile all your opponents graveyards and you can do this up to 5 times. Mill is risky as a main strategy in multiple player Commander because graveyards are a huge resource for most decks; an extensive of an opponents hand. Exiling graveyards means opponents can't use graveyards as a resource after you mill them. Void exiles any card that's put into a graveyard, this includes your own cards, but this hurts your opponents much more than you because of mill.

You can have any number of Petitioners in your deck and they're two drops with 3 toughness. Tapping four Petitioners makes an opponent mill 12 cards. This is a good backup plan for Phenax who will not always be on the battlefield to mill your opponents. You can tap four Petitioners even if some of the them have summoning sickness which can speed up the mill of your opponents. 20x Petitioners is $20 which is budget, Ashiok is $2 and Void is less than $1.

Command Tower, Sunken Hollow, Darkwater Catacombs, Esper Panorama, Grixis Panorama, Ash Barrens are budget land upgrades to consider. Nephalia Drownyard is repeatable mill from a land that less than $1.

Good luck with your deck.