Concentrate

Sorcery

Draw three cards.

Discussion (51)

SideBae on Derevi, Holder of Lanterns

1 week ago

Yo... I've always loved lantern-control in EDH! I have a few suggestions:

1. So the easiest ways to increase consistency are either to run tutors or to run redundant pieces. I see you're running a lot of tutors already, which is good; one redundant piece I think you missed is Field of Dreams. It's about $60, which can be a lot if you don't want to invest in EDH. Personally, I think proxies are unfairly treated in EDH, since it's not a paid event (typically), so I recommend them. If your playgroup doesn't allow them, tho... well, $60 is doable.

2. Another way to increase consistency is to run cantrips. I highly suggest running Ponder and Preordain. If you run fetches, Brainstorm is also a powerhouse. Of course, the zendikar/onslaught fetches are a fortune; consider Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Fabled Passage, Grasslands, Bad River, Flood Plain and/or Mountain Valley. These are perfectly acceptable alternatives.

3. When games go long, you'll need a way to recoup cards. Consider big-draws like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time (which are good when you're filling your yard with Ghoulcaller's Bell), Fact or Fiction or even Concentrate.

4. I like that you're running Emry, Lurker of the Loch. Have you considered Academy Ruins as another form of recursion? You can also try using Aether Spellbomb as a cheap recurrable.

5. Speaking of Emry, Lurker of the Loch, have you thought about Mindslaver? I used to play a lantern-control EDH list, and I used Mindslaver with Emry to strong effect. Generally, you can lock out one of your opponents and make him do whatever you want, including win for you. That's generally fun.

6. You're in green -- USE DORKS! This is easily the most overlooked part of green decks, which is sad because dorks are the best reason to be in green. Turn one ramp is better than artifacts can do most of the time, plus it gives you pokers if you need to use them with Derevi later. I highly recommend running at least four of the following: Birds of Paradise, Avacyn's Pilgrim, Noble Hierarch, Arbor Elf, Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, Elvish Mystic... Even Boreal Druid and Joraga Treespeaker are good. You can also consider non-creature options, like Wild Growth and/or Utopia Sprawl.

7. Winter Orb. You can tap opponents' lands with Derevi. Enough said.

8. Finally, two walkers to consider are Oko, Thief of Crowns and Teferi, Time Raveler. Oko is great removal for opponents' problem cards (he nerfs all fatties into Trained Armodons) while occasionally producing a clock for you. Teferi nails opposing Counterspells, while producing a small amount of card advantage with his minus and allowing you to recast something if you bounce your own permanent.

9. Finally, while they're expensive, I think the latest cycle of free spells from Ikoria Commander are bombs. Fierce Guardianship and Flawless Maneuver are great cards which you should run if you can.

Right. That's all I got. Hope this helps!

i0nix1 on Nekusar

1 month ago

• Gem of Becoming >> Geth's Grimoire
• Launch Party >> Molten Psyche
• Perilous Vault >> Sol Ring
• Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind >> Command Tower
• Iron Myr >> Damnable Pact
• Lightning Bolt? >> Dragon Mage
• Concentrate? >> Magus of the Wheel
• Sign in Blood? >> Perplex
• Seizan, Perverter of Truth, Jace Beleren, The Locust God

Tzefick on How would you give white ...

2 months ago

TL;DR: The pre-text is LONG. Sorry about that, but there's a lot to unfold about the subject. If you just want to skip down to the suggestions I brainstormed, go below the first set of 3 lines.

It is no secret that the Commander community for a long time has regarded white as one of the weaker colors in Commander, especially as a monocolor. Many have pointed their fingers at how well the color achieves mana ramp and card draw/advantage.

White actually do have a small slew of card advantage and ramp cards or cards that in essence cheats the requirement for mana.

White has raw card draw in Mentor of the Meek and Dawn of Hope, although hidden behind a requirement in form of a trigger. Both are triggers that are fairly easy to achieve but not without costs. Not to forget Sram, Senior Edificer (and Puresteel Paladin) - but again behind a trigger requiring a very specific type of deck building. White has additional card advantage through regaining access to cards once lost, like through a Sun Titan getting back small permanents, or Nomad Mythmaker, Order of Whiteclay, or Bishop of Rebirth.

White has ramp in form of Knight of the White Orchid and Kor Cartographer and pseudo card advantage in good ol' Land Tax. The knight has a requirement that you need to be behind to actually ramp, and that aspect goes again in many of white's attempts to imitate ramp and card draw. White can only catch up, they cannot get ahead. These aspects are most recently seen through Verge Rangers (pseudo card advantage - not ramp, you don't get access to more lands than 1 per turn) and through Cartographer's Hawk. There's also Oath of Lieges but that is a symmetrical effect and may as well just benefit some of your opponents as much as it does you.

White can cheat the requirement for mana in a few instances, like casting Resurrection on a higher costing creature, an aspect they share with black and often a favorite when the two are paired. Where they differ is that black usually does it for less mana at another resource expense, and that black has different means to get those creatures out into your graveyard to set it all up. White has none of these opportunities/advantages.

This thread mainly aims to discuss white getting card draw/advantage in the Commander format and how they would achieve it to fit their color identity, but we can talk about the Commander format in general as well. To clarify, the topic is aimed at discussing how white could get card draw/advantage and not really whether or not they should - do feel free to voice your opinion for or against but please keep it limited and instead focus on how card draw could fit into white's color identity. It doesn't necessarily have to be from a place within the current color identity, but could be exploring new design space that hasn't been seen before.

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Let's examine how other colors achieve card advantage:

Blue is super easy and the main color that achieves it, they usually do it straight as an investment for the specific purpose of gaining more resources; Concentrate. Blue also has access to looting options where they draw cards and discard cards (or the other way around); Merfolk Looter / Tolarian Winds. Blue also has the largest collection of cards with Flashback, so even once Blue uses a resource from their hand, they can do it again from their graveyard; Deep Analysis - although these cards are usually more costly than their non-flashback peers.

Black is also relatively easy as they imitate blue's investment but at an additional cost; Night's Whisper. As previously stated black can also access their graveyard like white and reuse mainly creatures that have died or otherwise put into the graveyard (from say an Entomb) by using Animate Dead or Zombify. Black's ability even goes beyond their own graveyard and dip into their opponent's graveyard. Black also have some aspect of self-discarding, usually as a symmetrical effect that aims at harming their opponents while still being able to access the cards they lost themselves; like Cunning Lethemancer.

Red is relatively new on this block, as they have for a long while had many of the same issues as white. Red did however have cards that looted (drawing and discarding cards) in the concept of picking up the strongest of a larger selection of cards - this is also called card filtering as you don't get an advantage in resources, only the selection. However red also has a selection of cards with flashback or activated or triggered abilities from the graveyard. With the introduction of impulse draw - so named from Act on Impulse, where red exiles a number of cards from the top of their library for the ability to play those for a limited time. Thus red has achieved temporary card draw.

Green is one of the richest colors in the color pie at the moment, having access to a lot of control cards, protective measures, card advantage, ramp and swingy plays. It is no wonder to me how green is one of the stronger colors in Commander. Green has access to some very strong card advantage cards that fits right into the slow format of Commander. Rishkar's Expertise is a favorite as it combines the Commander format's slow pace, green's affinity for big creatures, and a powerful swing in resources, all in one card. Another is the ability to draw from creatures being cast or entering the battlefield. Outside the slow Commander format, you don't really see these types of cards, but within the format they are strong and valuable. Green also has access to the most flexible way to reuse cards from the graveyard through Eternal Witness, Greenwarden of Murasa, Road of Return - road and Myth Unbound are even commander specific benefits that makes casting your commander cheaper, within the color with the most access to mana acceleration. So the color that needs it the least has ways to reduce their mana demand on casting their commander. I would argue this aspect should have been placed within white and/or blue more than in green. Black is getting in on it with Netherborn Altar, so in the future we might see the other colors circumventing the commander tax in some fashion.

White has very few card draw cards (the best of which are mentioned above) and all are locked behind some kind of condition that is not insignificant, compared to something like Beast Whisperer.

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It would seem white lacks behind quite a bit in this aspect. When a color cannot do something itself or not very well, they usually seek toward artifacts to fix their issues. Here you can utilize Mind's Eye or Loreseeker's Stone or Arcane Encyclopedia or Book of Rass or Endless Atlas or Skullclamp or Tome of Legends to name a handful of the better variants. What most of these have in common is that they are expense to cast or maintain or require some specific deck building choices to function.

If the general consensus of Commander players are to be taken into account along with the perceived strength of each color, it would seem these artifacts are not enough to help white overcome its lack of card draw. Furthermore white's other strengths doesn't seem to have enough impact to offset this lack.

The general argument I have seen against providing white with card advantage is; it breaks the color pie, white can utilize artifacts to fix their weaknesses to some extend, white's strengths comes from mass land destruction, taxing (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben) and hatebears (Aven Mindcensor). Again I don't really want this thread to be overshadowed about arguing for/against White getting card draw into their color identity, let's just assume white eventually will get card draw - how would that look like?

Brief discussion on the counter arguments Show

• It breaks the color pie

Drawing cards is an essential part of the game's core mechanics. All other colors have come up with a fashion to draw cards that is now implemented into that color's design. Keeping white from attaining their seat in the circle seems like playing favorites.

• White can substitute through the use of artifacts

I already listed a good bunch of the better variants of artifact draw up above and one of the main problems is that artifact card draw is expensive, it is slow, or it requires a specific deck building design. Another issue is simply critical mass of card draw. You need a handful of cards to draw you cards in Commander to consistently have a chance to get to them during a game. The time between investment and break-even in terms of input versus output makes artifact draw vulnerable to removal / counterplays that say a Divination isn't.

• White's strengths comes from mass land destruction, taxing and hatebears

This is a paraphrased argument but somewhat sums up what I hear as the main strengths that are somewhat unique to white. Mass land destruction is seen by many as a break in the social contract that many players of the Commander format adhere to. It slows down the format and can only be leveraged if you're significantly ahead on the board - something that might be hard considering white doesn't have card draw nor ramp.

Hatebears and taxing are indeed some of the stronger and more unique aspects of white's color pie, but it does have an issue. Being the person who limits your opponents can often be seen as dragging others down to your level - a premise that not many players are interested in enduring. You can be seen as an nuisance or hindrance rather than attempting to leveling the playing field so white has a chance. This is often seen as a negative impact and it is persistent. If an opponent blows up your Mana Reflection you might dislike that player for a while, but the deed is done. You might even have ways to get it back or replace it with a Mirari's Wake. If that opponent instead plays a Copy Enchantment they effectively pulls themselves up to your level, but it doesn't have a negative impact on you, so you might not care (too much). If that opponent instead played something like Damping Sphere, you're repeatedly reminded that that opponent hinders your Mana Reflection. You're more likely to target the latter player; for one because if he dies, you can use your Mana Reflection again, and two you might build up more "resentment" (strong term but in context of an opponent in a game) towards him than someone who would blow it up.

That's at least my 2 cents about the counter arguments.

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I really like the way WotC incorporated card draw into red, as impulse draw feels red but it is card draw and it helps red smooth out some edges it may have in especially multiplayer formats, such as Commander.

So, if we assume white is eventually going to get card draw, how would it look like? Here's a couple of ideas for concepts on how to incorporate a card draw mechanic with white flavor.

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Taxing

Good ol' taxing. We already have Smothering Tithe, so something similar to Rhystic Study could be a possibility. It could be an aura you put on a land, so whenever it is tapped that opponent pays mana or grants you card draw. It doesn't necessarily have to be mana that is taxed, it could also just be the action/trigger itself that is the tax.

A taxing example Show

Gathering Support at Court

Enchantment

Whenever one or more creatures attack you, draw a card. If three or more creatures attack you, draw two cards instead.

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Warring / "spoils of war"

White is the most militarized color that deals in organized military strategy, being the main color for the creature types Soldier and Knight. White is often associated with combat and attacking as well. Perhaps it should be used to its advantage and provide some means to acquire card draw - figure it a substitute for roleplay wise gaining lands / trade routes / power / intelligence.

Example of war "spoils" Show

Kelmar, First Scout

Legendary Creature - Human Soldier

Whenever a creature you control attacks, put a Scout counter on Kelmar.

Remove two Scout counters from Kelmar: Draw a card.

2/3

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Trading

I actually really like the idea of this one, although it may be harder to properly accomplish.

White has before had trades happening like Armistice and Bargain. There's also the advocates and Benevolent Offering but they are not unique to white and is a set mechanic. It's been a while since this was part of white's color pie, but it could be again.

Example on trading Show

Perjuan Goods

Sorcery

Target opponent creates two Food tokens.

Until end of turn, Clue tokens you control have ", sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card."

Choose two. You may choose the same mode more than once.

• Create a Treasure token
• Create a Clue token
• Create a 1/1 white Human Soldier

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You trade food for coin, knowledge or muscle. (For some reason you can link treasures as a card directly from Scryfall but not clues nor food) Clue token link and Food token link.

It would be more flavorful with gold tokens, but I think from a design perspective, treasure tokens are the less broken variant. Initially I would have the second mode be "draw a card", but a 2 CMC draw 2 with a slight downside is simply too good.

I could make it 3 CMC to have it reflect a Divination with downside but being more flexible. I think this is more fitting and it has more cross-over potential.

The reason for using Clue token is because Clues are already a thing, enabling some cross-over synergy - and I know Clues are incorporated through the Investigate mechanic and haven't before been referenced directly. Clues fit white in the sense that they gather intelligence/reconnaissance - being the more military styled color, white shares with green the most mentions of scouts/rangers.

However just generating Clue tokens would result in 2 mana spent per card draw in addition to the initial 2 mana investment to get the clue tokens, that would be too inefficient by itself as a 6 mana draw 2. I think a 4 cost draw 2 with slight downside (or political influence) in white is acceptable, with the possibility to build more Clue synergy within white.

I guess this suggestion ended up as a double suggestion by also suggesting Clue tokens should be integrated more with white. This particular card example aims to solve both of white's most pressing issues in multiplayer formats, but it is still slow and inefficient enough to not have any kind of impact outside casual formats.

The flavor is there, as white is a color of community and peace, so trading seems like a natural byproduct. I really like the political aspect from this mechanic when considering multiplayer formats.

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Divination

An alternative to direct card draw; you choose a card type (instant, sorcery, creature, land, artifact, enchantment, planeswalker) and then look at top X cards of your library, you may reveal a card of the chosen type and put it into hand, put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

This reflects the Commune with Nature (which is a green card I know) but it seems to fit white's color pie as the more religious color, to ask the gods/divine/faith for a boon and maybe it is answered, maybe not. Obviously you can deck tech to increase your chances but the idea is a card draw that is not guaranteed. Under the right circumstances it can be stronger than a card draw as it may filter.

Example on Divination Show

Boon of the Gods

Sorcery

Choose a card type, then look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a card of the chosen type from among them and put into your hand. Put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in any order.

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Cleric of White Fields

Creature - Human Cleric

At the beginning of your upkeep Divine 1 - (Choose a card type, then look at the top card of your library. You may reveal a card of the chosen type and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.)

2/3

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Just a few examples to show you can scale it. The deeper your dig, the higher chance to hit your mark. But no matter how high the Divine factor is, you only ever get one card - unless you trigger Divine multiple times; "Divine 1, then divine 1" - as you would "Scry 1, then scry 1".

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Honor the ancestors

I really wanted to create some kind of mechanic that allowed white to dump cards into their graveyard, to synergize with white's inherent ability to generate card advantage through recurring permanents, especially low CMC permanents. As it stands white needs to cast those smaller permanents and have them put into the graveyard from the battlefield - thus making these recurring effects a lot more narrow than their black and even green brethren, who can more easily set up these beneficial plays. But it doesn't seem very much like a white thing to self-mill, ala Surveil, nor do they discard. For white to have this particular synergy you would have to make them gain it without much prior precedent.

One thing that seemed sort of within the flavor of white would be to honor the ancestors, remember the history, keep to the traditions. I think you could work that flavor into some kind of mechanic that could work to white's advantage.

Examples on Honoring the Ancestors Show

Crypt Attendant

Creature - Human

When ~ enters the battlefield exile the bottom five cards of your library, then put any number of permanent cards from among them into your graveyard.

Crypt Attendant has first strike and vigilance as long as there are four or more creature cards in your graveyard.

2/1

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Call on the Past

Sorcery

Exile the bottom five cards of your library, then put any number of permanent cards from among them into your graveyard. Put a permanent card with converted mana cost up to X plus 2 from your graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.

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The latter can even double as mana ramp. It's not guaranteed and TBH an interesting little interaction. It's obviously not an evergreen mechanic as such, and will require some meaningful synergies to be made within the product. The mechanic could also just double as a downside, like;

Downside Honoring

Creature - Giant

When ~ enters the battlefield exile the bottom ten cards of your library, then put any number of permanent cards from among them into your graveyard.

4/6

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Without any actual benefit it just removes a large portion of your deck, especially dangerous in limited. Any synergies with graveyard interactions can just be a benefit, but the card itself reads as a downside effect. These cards are usually also more interesting when dealing in constructed formats because you can turn the downside into an upside.

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Anyway, that's just what I brainstormed for. Like I said before I really liked the flavor on red's card draw and I want white to get something similar. Do you like any of my suggestions or think you can refine them? How would you give white card draw that is flavorful?

slashdotdash on 5 color no theme deck

2 months ago

Dear Kronhamilton

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is my favorite commander, and I've been brewing around him ever since he was teased. Let me just say you've chosen an excellent commander.

(I’ve written quite a lot in an attempt to make a sort of guide for you, so if you want the short version, check out the Suggestions panel)

Intro

Golos can be tricky to build around since he can do literally anything pretty well. The easiest way to make an effective Golos deck is to lean into Golos's 7 Mana Rainbow Wheel Of Death. Before getting into that though, we need to cover some EDH deckbuilding basics.

I think the most useful advice I can give someone who is just beginning to explore the deck-building territory of EDH is to structure your deck and mind your Ratios. By this I mean it is useful to categorize the cards in your deck according to the role they fulfill.

We’ll begin by looking at some core categories that you’ll want to make your deck function effectively. Then I’ll present the Ratios (how many of each category of card) you will want to make a generic Golos deck function effectively. Next, I’ll include a detailed (but not totally complete, because I’d be here all day) catalogue of cards within some of those categories. I’ll also offer up some suggestions and input about some of your specific card choices. Lastly, since I’m about to unpack a lot of information, I will include a brief list of suggestions (see the bottom) for a generically good Golos ‘Shell’ that should be able to support most Golos strategies.

Categories

Categories

• Draw

• Ramp

• Removal

• Sweepers

• Threats

• Support

• Land

Draw Show

Draw cards are cards that draw you additional cards. There are two subcategories for Draw cards; Draw Spells and Draw Engines.

• Draw Spells are one-time use cards that immediately get you 2 to 3 cards.

• Draw Engines are cards that might not get you cards immediately but will gradually draw you cards as you play your deck and the game goes longer.

Either variety of Draw card may either be generically powerful or may instead be dependent on synergy (meaning you need to do something specific in order to draw cards). Some cards are hybrids that are generically powerful but get better with additional synergy.

Ramp Show

Ramp cards are cards that increase your capacity to produce mana while also accelerating the pace of your mana production. This is generally done by either the card acting as a permanent that creates mana or by finding a land card from your deck and putting it into play. By definition, a Ramp card should be cast within the first 3 turns of the game in order to allow you to cast more/larger spells sooner in the game. For a Golos deck, you should try to ramp once by turn 3 so that you can cast Golos on turn 4 (this won’t always happen, but your deck should be able to do it regularly – see Ratios for more).

There are 3 main subcategories of Ramp; Ramp Spells, Mana Rocks, and Mana Dorks.

• Ramp Spells are one-time use cards that find a land from your deck and put it into play (usually tapped).

• Mana Rocks are artifacts that produce mana.

• Mana Dorks are creatures that produce mana.

Resilience, Speed, and Synergy of Ramp Cards

Ramp Spells are the most Resilient type of Ramp card, as lands are not usually destroyed in EDH. Ramp Spells also trigger Landfall Synergies (Rampaging Baloths, Avenger of Zendikar, Tatyova, Benthic Druid, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, Field of the Dead) which can be incredibly powerful over the course of a longer game. Ramp Spells can also “Color Fix” by finding specific basic lands that you might need to cast a spell or complete the Rainbow to activate Golos’s Rainbow Wheel of Death. However, it should be noted that Ramp Spells are purely slower than Mana Rocks as they almost always bring lands into play tapped.

Mana Rocks are not especially resilient due to the presence of cards that destroy artifacts(Reclamation Sage, Bane of Progress, Acidic Slime, Hellkite Tyrant, Hostage Taker). They do synergize with Artifact themed decks though, making them extremely useful in Artifact-heavy decks (Metalwork Colossus, Shimmer Dragon, Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Sai, Master Thopterist, Inventors' Fair). Mana Rocks also possess a distinct advantage in being the fastest type of Ramp, since most Mana Rocks come into play untapped, allowing you to use them immediately.

Mana Dorks are extremely fragile, as they die to Sweepers (Board Wipes like Wrath of God), Combat, and Combat Triggers (Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, Balefire Dragon, Silumgar, the Drifting Death). That being said, Mana Dorks definitely have a place in Green-Creature-heavy decks that enjoy the effects of Creature synergy (Beast Whisperer, Soul of the Harvest, Pathbreaker Ibex). Without haste, Mana Dorks cannot activate their mana producing abilities the turn they enter the battlefield, making them slow like Ramp Spells. Think of them like fragile lands – very risky to invest in.

Removal Show

Removal spells are Instants that destroy a target (typically a creature). These are essential for survival, as you can defend yourself or dismantle an opponent’s plans at a crucial moment and most often during their turn.

The Importance of Instants

Non-instant spells that destroy creatures are never considered Removal because you cannot count on them to save you if your opponent has an explosive turn (for example, they resolve Ghalta, Primal Hunger with Lightning Greaves on the board and they immediately equip the boots and attack you. Only an Instant could respond to the equipping of the boots and destroy Ghalta before it acquired Haste and Shroud.)

Sweepers Show

Sweepers are spells that destroy or ‘bounce’ (return to hand) all creatures and/or other permanents.

These may also be referred to as ‘Boardwipes’.

Deciding to play Sweepers

The decision to include Sweepers may depend on the state of your playgroup (your Meta). For example, if someone in your playgroup is playing an Ezuri, Renegade Leader deck (or similar) then you will almost definitely need to include Sweepers just to keep the nonsense at bay, because otherwise that opponent will likely overwhelm you with a small mountain of creatures. While that is a fun and powerful strategy, it can be counteracted by the presence of a few Sweepers in your deck. A well-built creature deck with the appropriate amount of Draw will still be able to recover, so this isn’t necessarily going to force your opponent to have a miserable time. Think of Sweepers as a way to buy time against faster, more aggressive decks – something that you’ll need to be wary of since you are playing a 5 color deck with a 5 Converted Mana Cost Commander.

Threats Show

Threats are cards that present a challenge to your opponents, most often in the form of a large creature that is capable of killing them and/or smashing their plans to pieces. Threats may take a different form though, such as enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers, or even lands.

Golos in particular loves threats because of the simple, spicy fact that he can hit them with his Rainbow Wheel Of Death. This makes building a threat-centric Golos deck both incredibly fun and terrifyingly effective.

Support Show

Support cards are somewhat obscure cards that don’t fulfill any of the usual roles, but instead enhance some aspect of your deck by improving your Engines (such as Draw Engines or other Value Engines like a Token Generator) or Threats.

Generally speaking, support cards are the cards that make your deck go from good to crazy and they often empower you to win the game if uninterrupted.

• An example of a support card is Leyline of Anticipation which allows you to cast your spells at any time, but doesn’t do anything by itself.

• In a Blink deck, Panharmonicon (Yarok, the Desecrated too) makes an appearance as the premium support card, doubling Enter-The-Battlefield effects (ETB’s).

• For a Reanimation deck, you might see Deadbridge Chant or Debtors' Knell make an appearance.

Almost any Golos deck particularly enjoys the inclusion of incredibly powerful support cards such as Zendikar Resurgent, Mirari's Wake, Nyxbloom Ancient, or other options that increase the amount of mana you can create to use with Golos’s Rainbow Wheel Of Death.

Land Show

Lands are an obvious inclusion for most Magic decks, but I will mention them anyway.

I am familiar with three main categories of lands; Basic Lands, Utility Lands, and Color Fixing Lands.

Basic Lands are always useful in small quantities for decks that play many Ramp Spells (I recommend this for most Golos decks).

Utility Lands may or may not generate colored mana (for our purposes, we will assume they only generate colorless mana) but they come equipped with a powerful ability.

Color Fixing Lands are lands that are nonbasic but allow us to ‘fix’ our colors by providing us with an option of mana to choose from. These are very helpful for most Golos decks.

Cascading Cataracts

I will mention right now that Cascading Cataracts is the ultimate Color Fixing Land because it can be immediately fetched by Golos and it allows you to consistently Spin The Wheel regardless of your color availability (note that you need 7 mana plus the Cascading Cataracts, which often implies you need 8 lands). If you are plan on playing a deck with few color requirements (mostly one or two primary colors) then this card can singlehandedly enable The Wheel.

Ratios

The art of Ratios is all about determining what combination of cards from each category makes your deck run the most smoothly.

Please note that these Ratios will not total to 99 cards. This is because you will invariably have extra flexibility to choose how your deck behaves even after establishing functional Ratios. Also keep in mind that although these Ratios do recommend you adhere to the minimum number of cards in each category, you still can choose which cards will fill those slots. The point is not to restrict your options, but instead to create a ‘Shell’ that is reliable enough to power your Threats cards, Support cards, and other cards. Whatever you do, make sure you have at least the minimum number of Draw and Ramp cards. THE MOST IMPORTANT CARDS IN THE DECK ARE DRAW AND RAMP!!!

While I ultimately suggest Ratios resembling the Basic Golos Shell, I will lay out the Ratios for several different Shells;

• Template: a sort of baseline beginner’s guide which is commonly promoted as a place to start.

• Basic Golos: a modified version of the Template that suites most Golos decks.

• Control: a version tailored for a slower game with many Sweepers.

• Aggro: a version designed to act quickly and deploy Threats before the opponents are prepared.

• Big Mana: a version invested heavily into Ramp with the goal of deploying many end-game Threats.

• Mega Mana: an even more extreme version of Big Mana with extremely expensive Threats.

Template Show

• Ramp – 10-12

• Draw – 10-12

• Removal – 6-8

• Sweepers – 1-3

• Threats – 8-13

• Support – 5-10

• Land – 35-37

Basic Golos Show

• Ramp – 12

• Draw – 13

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 12

• Support – 7

• Land – 36

Total: 89

Control Show

• Ramp – 8

• Draw – 15

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 6

• Threats – 10

• Support – 10

• Land – 36

Total: 92

Aggro Show

• Ramp – 15

• Draw – 8

• Removal – 6

• Sweepers – 0

• Threats – 20

• Support – 8

• Land – 35

Total: 92

Big Mana Show

• Ramp – 14

• Draw – 14

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 16

• Support – 8

• Land – 36

Total: 97

Mega Mana Show

• Ramp – 20

• Draw – 13

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 12

• Support – 8

• Land – 36

Total: 98

Catalogue

Draw Show

Generic Draw Spells

• Read the Bones

• Drawn from Dreams

• Urban Evolution

• Harmonize

• Ambition's Cost

• Ancient Craving

• Syphon Mind

• Concentrate

• Ugin's Insight

• Rush of Knowledge

Synergy Draw Spells

(Many Creatures)

• Shamanic Revelation

• Tishana, Voice of Thunder

• Regal Force

• Voice of Many

(Big Creatures)

• Rishkar's Expertise

• Return of the Wildspeaker

• Soul's Majesty

• Keruga, the Macrosage

(Blink – using effects like Ephemerate to ‘Blink’ or ‘Flicker’ cards for enter-the-battlefield [ETB] effects)

• Mulldrifter (if you cast an Ephemerate after Mulldrifter ETB’s but before it sacrifices itself, you can stop it from dying and draw four cards)

• Cloudblazer

• Cavalier of Gales

• Wall of Blossoms

• Wall of Omens

• Elvish Visionary

• Watcher for Tomorrow

• Generous Patron (I promise you, the two cards is worth giving away two counters)

(Tribal – Many creatures of one type, such as elementals or goblins)

• Risen Reef

• Distant Melody

Generic Draw Engines

• Underworld Connections

• Phyrexian Arena

• Bringer of the Blue Dawn

• Vilis, Broker of Blood

• Mind Unbound

• The Magic Mirror

• Thought Reflection

• Damia, Sage of Stone

• The Ur-Dragon

Synergy Draw Engines

(Many Creatures)

• Beast Whisperer

• Primordial Sage

• Soul of the Harvest

• Guardian Project

• Chulane, Teller of Tales

(Big Creatures)

• Elemental Bond

• Temur Ascendancy

• Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

• Garruk, Primal Hunter

• Colossal Majesty

• Drumhunter

(Combat Matters)

• Reconnaissance Mission

• Bident of Thassa

• Ohran Viper

• Ohran Frostfang

• Keeper of Fables

• Oakhame Adversary

• Cold-Eyed Selkie

• Coastal Piracy

Ramp Show

Ramp Spells

• Rampant Growth

• Farseek

• Into the North

• Nature's Lore

• Search for Tomorrow

• Sakura-Tribe Elder

• Growth Spasm

• Beanstalk Giant

• Far Wanderings

• Harrow

• Cultivate

• Kodama's Reach

• Explosive Vegetation

• Skyshroud Claim

• Migration Path

• Circuitous Route

• Wood Elves

• Springbloom Druid

• Yavimaya Dryad

• Farhaven Elf

Mana Rocks

• Sol Ring

• Fellwar Stone

• Arcane Signet

• Simic Signet (also see signets for: Azorius, Rakdos, Gruul, Golgari, Dimir, Boros, Izzet, Selesnya, Orzhov)

• Everflowing Chalice

• Mind Stone

• Chromatic Lantern

Mana Dorks

• Birds of Paradise

• Arbor Elf

• Llanowar Elves

• Llanowar Tribe

• Faeburrow Elder

• Elvish Mystic

• Paradise Druid

• Sylvan Caryatid

• Ilysian Caryatid

• Leafkin Druid

• Leyline Prowler

Removal Show

• Swords to Plowshares

• Dire Tactics

• Heartless Act

• Rapid Hybridization

• Pongify

• Terminate

• Despark

• Putrefy

• Mortify

• Price of Fame

• Path to Exile

• Utter End

Sweepers Show

• Wrath of God

• Day of Judgment

• Fumigate

• Supreme Verdict

• Flood of Tears

• Sublime Exhalation

• Coastal Breach

• Time Wipe

• Duneblast

• In Garruk's Wake

• Plague Wind

• Cataclysmic Gearhulk

• Mythos of Snapdax

• Massacre Girl

Threats Show

• Quartzwood Crasher

• Avenger of Zendikar

• Rampaging Baloths

• Artisan of Kozilek

• Kogla, the Titan Ape

• Tendershoot Dryad

• Many, many, many more…

Support Show

• Zendikar Resurgent

• Nyxbloom Ancient

• Mirari's Wake

• Sunbird's Invocation

• Maelstrom Nexus

• Support cards often depend on the deck…

Land Show

Utility Lands

• Field of the Dead

• Reliquary Tower (only if you expect to draw a billion cards)

• Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

• Kessig Wolf Run

• Slayers' Stronghold

• Vault of the Archangel

• Alchemist's Refuge

• Temple of the False God

• Halimar Depths

Color Fixing Lands

• Command Tower

• Evolving Wilds

• Terramorphic Expanse

• Ash Barrens

• Exotic Orchard

• Krosan Verge

• Sandsteppe Citadel

• Savage Lands

• Seaside Citadel

• Opulent Palace

• Nomad Outpost

• Crumbling Necropolis

• Arcane Sanctum

• Jungle Shrine

• Mystic Monastery

• Frontier Bivouac

• Indatha Triome

• Ketria Triome

• Raugrin Triome

• Zagoth Triome

• Savai Triome

• Cinder Glade

• Canopy Vista

• Prairie Stream

• Sunken Hollow

• Smoldering Marsh

• Fabled Passage

Suggestions

Please remember that any suggestions I make are because I am trying to help. Ultimately, the choices you make with your deck are up to you, and I can only provide constructive criticism based on my own experience and opinions.

Good luck :)

Ratio Fixing

The most effective change to your deck would probably be adjusting the Ratios, especially with regard to your Draw cards. Applying the most basic Template Shell, you want to have at least these three quantities nailed down for a smoother and reasonably powerful deck;

• Lands – 36 --> You have 40 Lands (Cut 4 Lands)

• Ramp – 10 --> You have 5 true Ramp cards (Add 5 to 8 Ramp cards)

• Draw – 10 --> You have 3 true Draw cards (Add 7 to 10 Draw cards)

Ramp & Draw Additions Show

Ramp

• 1 Rampant Growth

• 2 Farseek

• 3 Sakura-Tribe Elder

• 4 Sol Ring

• 5 Cultivate

• 6 Kodama's Reach

• 7 Springbloom Druid

• 8 Search for Tomorrow

Draw

• 1 Read the Bones

• 2 Harmonize

• 3 Drawn from Dreams

• 4 Syphon Mind

• 5 Ugin's Insight

• 6 Ambition's Cost

• 7 Ancient Craving

• 8 Underworld Connections

• 9 Elemental Bond

• 10 Urban Evolution

What I counted in your deck Show

Under the Ramp category I counted:

• Humble Naturalist

• Fertilid

• Dimir Locket

• Ketria Crystal

• Raugrin Crystal

These cards are NOT Ramp cards:

• Farfinder

• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (fantastic Support card)

• Migratory Greathorn

• Parcelbeast

• Adventurous Impulse

Under the Draw category I counted:

• Reconnaissance Mission

• Chevill, Bane of Monsters (this is not a good Draw card)

• Dreamtail Heron (well, maybe)

These cards are NOT Draw cards:

• Farfinder

• Adventurous Impulse

• Cathartic Reunion

• Channeled Force

• and others

I see a few cards that Recover cards from the graveyard and that is fine but it is not Draw.

Cycling cards are not Draw cards if we define Draw cards as being able to find you 2 or 3 cards and thus help refill your hand.

Mutate

Depending on how strong your Mutate subtheme is, some of your Mutate inclusions may act as engines. However, I must state that Mutate is a VERY risky and even fragile strategy since your Mutate ‘Pile’ of creatures will all be destroyed at once if your opponent uses a Removal spell or a Sweeper. For that reason, I recommend leaning out of the Mutate theme (unless the Mutate card is just straight-up insane, as in the example of Nethroi, Apex of Death).

With that said, playing a Mutate theme is your decision and I totally respect that and if you want to stick to a Mutate theme then by all means do so. I just want to be sure you know that Mutate is a risky strategy that you cannot depend on to fulfill your Ramp and Draw slots (so you’ll just need to supplement it with other cards).

Cut or Include?

At a glance your deck seems like something you have created using just your collection – and that’s great! However, if you want to incrementally upgrade your deck, then I recommend replacing most of the cards in your deck with more powerful options over time.

Here is a list of cards you should probably keep playing: - Barrier Breach (Removal, because exiling 3 enchantments is helpful in some situations)

• Reconnaissance Mission (Draw, especially if you plan on attacking constantly)

• Ruinous Ultimatum (Sweeper)

• Mythos of Illuna (Other, sometimes Removal)

• Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger (Threat)

• Klothys, God of Destiny (Support)

• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove (Support)

• Drakuseth, Maw of Flames (Threat)

• Extinction Event (Sweeper)

• Titanoth Rex (Threat)

In my opinion, there are other, better options for all of the other nonland cards in the deck, however it is up to you to decide on how you would like to proceed so I won’t intrude.

I strongly recommend cutting the Planeswalkers though – Calix, Destiny's Hand doesn’t seem to synergize much with the deck and I feel that Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast is not very potent.

Lands

Just as a recommendation, I would suggest the following spread of Basic Lands;

• 8 Basic Forests

• 3 of each other Basic Land

The remainder of your lands could be either more basics (which is really, really, risky if you don’t have tons of Ramp – think like 15 Ramp cards and about 12 Basic Forests) or Color Fixing Lands (see the Catalogue for more options). It is rough to have your lands enter the battlefield tapped, but unless you want to either lean into Green or spend a lot of money on lands, you will just have to live with it (I play around 5-10 tapped lands in a normal Golos deck and it isn’t really that bad).

Shell

In this section, I will list out an example of the Basic Golos Shell complete with the necessary Ratios and some examples of good/fun cards in each category. I’ll try to keep it relatively Budget sensitive and most of these cards will be relatively random – this won’t be based on any particular theme so don’t expect it to be optimal.

As a reminder:

Basic Golos Show

• Ramp – 12

• Draw – 13

• Removal – 7

• Sweepers – 2

• Threats – 12

• Support – 7

• Land – 36

Total: 89

The Shell

Ramp – 12

• Farseek

• Rampant Growth

• Springbloom Druid

• Wood Elves

• Sakura-Tribe Elder

• Cultivate

• Farseek

• Sol Ring

• Search for Tomorrow

• Paradise Druid

• Into the North

• Migration Path

Draw – 13

• Harmonize

• Read the Bones

• Syphon Mind

• Ancient Craving

• Ambition's Cost

• Drawn from Dreams

• Ugin's Insight

• Rush of Knowledge

• Urban Evolution

• Elemental Bond

• Underworld Connections

• Kumena's Awakening

• Concentrate

Removal – 7

• Dire Tactics

• Heartless Act

• Despark

• Beast Within

• Terminate

• Price of Fame

• Reality Shift

Sweepers – 2

• Ruinous Ultimatum

• Plague Wind

Threats – 12

• Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger

• Quartzwood Crasher

• Kogla, the Titan Ape

• Artisan of Kozilek

• Drakuseth, Maw of Flames

• Sephara, Sky's Blade

• Vilis, Broker of Blood

• Tyrant's Familiar

• Teneb, the Harvester

• Scute Mob

• Blood Tyrant

• Rampaging Baloths

Support – 7

• Klothys, God of Destiny

• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove

• Inspired Ultimatum

• Genesis Ultimatum

• Emergent Ultimatum

• Eerie Ultimatum

• Brainstorm

Land – 36

• Command Tower

• Ash Barrens

• Exotic Orchard

• Krosan Verge

• Terramorphic Expanse

• Evolving Wilds

• Sandsteppe Citadel

• Savage Lands

• Jungle Shrine

• Frontier Bivouac

• Opulent Palace

• Temple of the False God

• 4 Forest

• 2Snow-Covered Forest

• 1 Plains

• 2 Snow-Covered Plains

• 1 Mountain

• 2 Snow-Covered Mountain

• 1 Swamp

• 2 Snow-Covered Swamp

• Cinder Glade

• Scattered Groves

• Prairie Stream

• Smoldering Marsh

• Sunken Hollow

• Nomad Outpost

• Mystic Monastery

• Crumbling Necropolis

• Cascading Cataracts

Good Luck :)

-Slashdotdash

Tzefick on Card Draw Custom Cards

3 months ago

Boza There is no way that card A and B has no plausible mana cost. Concentrate draws 3 for 4 mana. Put either of A and B into a 4 CMC and it will never see play. That means for it to be worthwhile it would need a CMC of 3 or less. Now a 2 CMC draw 3 is almost certainly too good, riding dangerously close to Ancestral Recall, so I'd think 3 CMC is where these would be at.

Card C, I agree on 3 CMC, be it or . It rides close to Remand but is borderline a functional reprint of Lapse of Certainty or Memory Lapse. You will almost always shuffle and draw, while the opponent will have to value the countered card against card draw.

Card D. Cheap is where it's at. You provide your opponents with additional options and only if they take advantage of it do you gain a benefit. Only other situation is when you Braingeyser a player to push for lethal.

Actually the more I think about it, the more it seems like a Nekusar, the Mindrazer card where you just want to wheel and make people draw with Teferi's Puzzle Box to mill them out if the damage plan doesn't work out.

Card E: I would go for a 4 CMC. Vigilance and Deathtouch are a powerful combination and losing Deathtouch (for all creatures, not just yours) in trade of a card seems like a fair trade in many situations. The wording would have to specify that the controller of Card E draws a card - otherwise the opponent who activates it draws the card.

"All creatures lose deathtouch until end of turn and Card E's controller draw a card. Only your opponents can activate this ability and no more than once each turn."

Since deathtouch is very much a black/green ability and vigilance is present in white/green, you can go for either a monogreen version or a combination of black and white or black and green. I would never make it green and white as it doesn't have the right flavor. That color combination is often more about building up, community and society - not tricks (outside stat buffing combat tricks). To me the black and white pairing is the most flavorful, as black grants the deathtouch but is also willing to trade an advantage/resource for power - hence the card draw. The flavor in a monogreen seems a bit off. So I would go with .

Card F, I don't like the specification on the owner instead of controller of the equipment. If an opponent yoinks it with say Grip of Phyresis, they don't get any benefit from the card's abilities. I would make it somewhat like this:

Card F Show

Card F

Artifact - Equipment

Equipped creature has hexproof, indestructible and can't attack you or planeswalkers you control.

Equip - Discard a card.

: Attach to target creature you control, Card F's controller draws a card. Only any opponent may activate this ability, they may only activate it during their turn and at any point where they could cast a sorcery, and only once per turn.

This is more a shared Lightning Greaves for the protective measures it grants than any offensive capabilities like Assault Suit - I view in the perspective of multiplayer. I doubt it'll do more than allow people to save a creature they control when they decide to board wipe. The opponents will immediately realize (hopefully) that if they fight for use of it, they'll give the controller way too much value, so they'll just ignore it. At least that's my take on it. But then again I've been in plenty of games where people take the offer of Tempt with Discovery and I facepalm every time, when the caster goes to find Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Gaea's Cradle or similar.

Tzefick on Wheel of Life and Death

3 months ago

The revised version seems fair, almost too fair to the point that I'd still not play it unless we're in a limited format.

I'd say you might still lower the activation to 1 colored for each trigger. Or alternatively reduce the cost to 2 hybrid from 3.

It's a 3 mana do-nothing enchantment that requires a creature enter or die and then a hefty payment per trigger. At the current level you pay 7 mana to draw 2 cards, the equivalent of a Divination. I know blue is the best at drawing cards and this is continuous advantage, but you pay so much. If you draw 4, you pay 11 mana.

For 6 you can play Rishkar's Expertise and draw way more AND get a free 5- CMC spell cast.

If you reduced the trigger costs to 1 each, you'd need 5 mana to equate a Divination, 6 for a Concentrate. It would follow the alignment of Stroke of Genius but you're not necessarily master of getting the triggers or having the mana available to take advantage of it.

If we're worried about taking advantage of the token generation, there's way better cards to take advantage of that, like Species Specialist, Moldervine Reclamation, Kindred Discovery, Mentor of the Meek, Elemental Bond (if we go the higher power route).

If there is a need to tone down the power, then axe the token-trigger or increase the cost to . For a continuous effect I think you'd rather pay a hefty price to buy in, for the benefit of cheaper fuel. Or you want a relatively cheap buy-in (2 mana CMC) at the expense of more costly fuel (2 mana activation). A semi-expensive CMC (3) coupled with expensive fuel (2) is unlikely to be attractive.

And take the above into perspective, you can tell how I feel about the original suggestion.

king-saproling on Atemsis, All-Seeing

7 months ago

Atemsis is very neat. I like the way you organized your list.

You might consider these cards: Coalition Relic (can get Atemsis out on turn 4), Urza's Incubator , Muddle the Mixture (finds either piece of dramatic scepter), Spellseeker (finds Muddle), Rush of Knowledge , Assert Authority , Thoughtcast , Concentrate , Vedalken Mastermind , AEthersnipe , River Serpent , Lay Claim , Striped Riverwinder , Floodwaters , Windcaller Aven , New Perspectives

triproberts12 on How to design white card ...

7 months ago

I don't honestly think it's that hard to make white card draw, if it could just beat out priorities no one cares about like Happily Ever After. Here's my solution, a white version of Syphon Mind based on the card Truce : [CARD NAME], 2WW, Sorcery, "Starting with you, each player may draw a card. Draw a card for each card drawn this way." 18 words. Doesn't step on blues' toes, since it's way underpowered relative to Concentrate or Trade Secrets . It feels very white-forward, being about generosity. Finally, a Touch of Brilliance with a punisher effect and two white pips isn't going to warp Limited color identity by encouraging players to splash white for card draw, but it could be the top end of a white or Boros aggro deck packed with 2 and 3-drops. Much like Crush Contraband , the effect is mediocre enough to print at uncommon for Limited play, but it becomes one of the best budget cards in mono-white EDH once it leaves the draft table.