Connecting the Dots

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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

Connecting the Dots

Enchantment

Whenever a creature you control attacks, exile the top card of your library face down. (You can't look at it.)

, Discard your hand, Sacrifice Connecting the Dots: Put all cards exiled with Connecting the Dots into their owners' hands.

Optimator on

3 months ago

Connecting the Dots is decent in an aggro deck

Worrad75 on Pia-tiful Impulse Control

4 months ago

The name of the game for this round of changes is simple: MORE EXILE.

Long-Range Sensor for Count on Luck: Let me just say, I have a soft spot for Loot as a character (so cute!), so this swap is difficult on a strictly art-based level. However, if we're comparing 3-mana long-term value pieces, its not even a competition. LRS is super slick; 4 mana (3 to cast + 1 to activate, 3 colorless) for your first discover 4 as compared to 3 mana (no colorless) for an impulse draw on upkeep is about equal, but then you factor that LRS can both store its counters and also activate more than once a turn. This would be useful if we have a dominant boardstate but are afraid of a board wipe, we could sandbag the activations. The impulse draw from Count on Luck is nice but 3 red pips is also just way too restrictive to consistently cast on turn 3, which is when youd like to cast it to get max value.

Warleader's Call for Painter's Studio / Defaced Gallery: Lets not get it twisted; Warleader's Call is a great card. But this deck needs more exile, and so more exile is what it'll get. Studio gives us the card advantage and access to exile we crave, while Defaced Gallery gives us that extra reach that we need to close out a game. Obviously, WC is better when all you need is damage, but this deck has a fail rate and we need to respect that by finding ways to deal damage while keeping the cards flowing. For what its worth, 3 mana -> 2 mana (and dropping a pip) isn't insignificant as a 'Im casting this from exile for as little as possible' metric, and the on-attack buff from Galleryrather than the constant one from Call can avoid anti-synergy with cards like The Battle of Bywater and Delney, Streetwise Lookout, which comes up more often than you would think.

Glimpse the Impossible for Reconstruct History: This is my hardest cut. I love Reconstruct History as a reload-and-do-it-again effect. It gives the deck its only recursion, and when it has its high points (like picking up Battle Hymn, Jeska's Will, Lantern of Insight, Connecting the Dots, and Quintorius Kand from your graveyard for 4 mana) it feels like the best card in the deck. However, that pendulum swings both ways; its not uncommon to impulse draw this early in the game and have nothing but an Infernal Plunge in your graveyard. Glimpse the Impossible is also card advantage, but it specifically circumvents the possibility of a wasting the spell by refunding you for un-used cards in the form of Scion tokens. Mondrak, Glory Dominus gets even happier with this swap, we go down in CMC and a color pip, and overall the deck should run a bit smoother with this. That said, There's a high chance I revert this change, as this deck has pretty close to the perfect card type distribution for a card like Reconstruct History to really shine.

And yes, I'm officially cutting Hidden Volcano and Cori Mountain Monastery for Mountains. Got burned in-game by the Volcano already, and we have cards like Clifftop Retreat to consider. The flavor win is there, but its time to be realistic; I've seen these cards a combined 15+ times in games and never activated their abilities.

Worrad75 on Pia-tiful Impulse Control

4 months ago

The deck has been through quite a few iterations. Here are the changes at a macro level:

Interaction

Get Lost: flexible, cheap removal. Maps aren't so bad to gve because we're going FAST.

Case of the Gateway Express: getting a free anthem stapled to a Doom Blade is great. Sorcery speed is a downside but well worth it

Requisition Raid: Same as the Case above, but for artifacts + enchantments. Super nice that there's only 1 pip in the cost (Commander Liara Portyr can let us cast this from exile with all 3 modes for a single white mana!)

Damage

Delney, Streetwise Lookout, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Stridehangar Automaton: Double tokens = good. Delney has overlapping synergy with a few notable cards (Professional Face-Breaker and Grenzo, Havoc Raiser chief amoung them) and is essentially exactly what we wanted from Cursed Mirror in the initial build but WAY better. The new build has a greater diversity of tokens as well, so Mondrak isnt just here to 2x Pia. Automaton doubling Pia AND triggering off of other artifact tokens is incredible (more on that below).

Illustrious Wanderglyph, Charismatic Conqueror, Dollmaker's Shop / Porcelain Gallery: token diversity is important to this deck; it helps take heat off of our commander (who previously was the only thing producing a meaningful boardstate), and offers us another way to make tokens if our exile plan isn't fully getting off the ground. Wanderglyph buffs our thopters and the Shop tokens (both have incredible synergy with Stridehangar Automaton), Conqueror's tokens give us a bit of much needed lifegain (and synergize with the newly added Case of the Gateway Express), but the biggest add here is the Shop: measly 2 mana investment up front for some free chump blockers/Impact Tremorsfoil triggers, and a MASSIVE threat whenever you have 6 mana for the Gallery. Its comically easy to attack with a handful of thopters and have EACH of them hit for 10+ damage, especially because on attack the 3 tokens you get essentially give +3/+3. thats a free Skyhunter Strike Force every turn!

Unstable Amulet, Warleader's Call: Impact Tremorsfoil is already a fantastic card that we run. Amulet is essentially a Tremors that also draws us a card and gives us a body thanks to Pia. Warleader's Call is a Tremors stapled to a Glorious Anthem. The passive burn damage with continue until morale improves!

Cards

Connecting the Dots: This seemingly innocuous card is an example of 'layering' at its finest. This deck's ability to build a boardstate is impressive, but it isn't the best at protecting it (using impulse draw as your primary advantage engine makes cards like the now-removed Boros Charmfoil worse than they normally are, as you usually can't use them at the perfect time, and your opponents will see it coming). On top of that, you are usually "spending" the cards in your hand to exile cards from your deck; its not uncommon for this deck to impulse draw 3+ cards a turn while also only having <=3 cards actually in hand. Similar to Skullclamp, CtD allows you to convert your boardstate back into card advantage, but this time its 'delayed' and doesn't require continuous mana investment or for you to get rid of your creatures. Its not uncommon to swing out after playing this, get board-wiped on someone else's turn, only to crack this right before you untap and essentially draw 10+ cards to rebuild with. Low initial mana investment for a huge upside swing that refills the only resource we often get low on; cards in our actual hand.

legendofa on Enygma, Deceiver of Truths

1 year ago

TypicalTimmy I'm assuming you've already checked out the rulings, so this is for anyone else with questions.

You can look at face-down cards you control on the battlefield whenever you want to. You can only look at face-down exiled cards if the effect allows you to look at them. Connecting the Dots has this in the reminder text, while Jester's Scepter has the "You may look at those cards" phrase.

From Ethereal Ambush: At any time, you can look at a face-down permanent you control. You can’t look at face-down permanents you don’t control unless an effect allows you to or instructs you to.

From Asmodeus the Archfiend: If a card is exiled face-down and no player has been given permission to look at it, no player is allowed to look at it as long as it remains exiled face-down.

Liquidbeaver on Ib Halfheart, Goblin Sac-tician [PRIMER]

1 year ago

Everybody knows being illiterate is the coolest, but it also means you can't read. This leads to things like putting Broadside Bombardiers into the deck even though Boast is bad poopoo garbage for us. We use good garbage around here!

Swapped out for Connecting the Dots.

In other news, Maskwood Nexus has been very fun, leading to interesting lines and interactions in every game it was played. Best one was against slivers making all my Goblins swole af, and then dodging The Argent Etchings  Flipboard wipe because they were Phyrexian Goblins too. I haven't yet grabbed a Purphoros, God of the Forge or a Toralf, God of Fury  Flip off of Moggcatcher or Goblin Matron because of the Nexus, but soon!

Crow_Umbra on Isshin Semi-budget

1 year ago

Of course, I'm glad those recs were to your liking. If you're looking to trim down at your 6 slot a bit more, I think you could probably swap out Etali & Gleam of Battle. I used to play Etali and it felt very boom or bust. The times it popped off were memorable, but more often than not it just sat a turn rotation & ate removal before it could swing.

  • Connecting the Dots is something I've been looking at as a kinda Bomat Courier effect for all your creatures. Could be worth for those times you're in topdeck mode.

  • The new Agrus Kos, Spirit of Justice is also another 4 drop that could be worth checking out for the removal & politicking. The cool thing about Suspect is that you could technically use it on your own creatures for the Menace evasion.

I'm sure you'll have a blast with this once you have it built in paper. The kind of combats this deck can have once it gets its motors going are a lot of fun