Crop Rotation

Instant

As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a land.

Search your library for a land card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle your library.

Discussion (51)

SynergyBuild on Spellchaser Revisited

1 week ago

I mean, sort of, you forgot a ton of the rules, and randomly tossed in pet cards. 75 cards, not 70 as you stated, interrupts aren't cards anymore, I actually briefly mentioned AEther Snap separately, and you assumed that Chaplain's Blessing is useful, despite 0 lifegain synergies existing that I know of, outside of False Cure, which would theoretically be used with Beacon of Immortality, additionally Angel's Grace/Ad Nauseam will likely be a popular build, and so will Scapeshift lists.

I honestly don't think you meant to put Rakdos Charm as relevant, I mean, it hits graveyards, but Scavenger Grounds does it, is useful in other situations, and is colorless, and gives mana, and every deck can use it. Overrun wouldn't be competitive if we even did have creatures and Fog seems like you are completely kidding. There are no non token creatures, only bad token producers outside of lands and a few possibly useable builds as side wincons. Anger of the Gods is again, not a relevant card really either.

Similarly, Swords, Push and Path (Especially Path) are really bad cards in this format, where there are only tokens. Effects that are more versatile specifically and can hit lands, as each deck is effectively required to be based on those has to run them, and few decks really even use manlands, as they slow the list, and land destruction does it better.

Remember that Swan Song also will often be a worse Flusterstorm that just gets hit by Mental Misstep (This is a Misstep format, so the entirety of the format is based around it) and Veil of Summer. Due to Life from the Loam being the only real engine aside from flashback based cards, and the fact that ever single spell hits the yard upon resolution rather than the battlefield, and most people will see the graveyard as a resource outside of Loam too. The best abusers are Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, and Cling to Dust, which cleans up loams and acts as a draw engine for cheap black discard decks based on Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, etc. Then there is Mystic Sanctuary, which adds so much flame to the fire, as it layers with both Scapeshift and Life from the Loam builds.

That backbone, along with some control tech for the format (Force of Will, Force of Negation, Miscast, Echoing Truth, Cryptic Command, Archmage's Charm, etc.) made the Simic Land Control build you claim I made, and called "loam". I turned it for the meta game's adjustment to it after building the rest of the possibly abuseable archetypes.

One of these tests included tons of Ad Nauseam Storm builds, but it flopped with the Mental Missteps in the format. They can take the loss of some rituals going, or even trade them for their own missteps occasionally, but the fact that every half decent list ran 4 free counterspells just meant that wheel-based builds flopped too.

In fact the format is so aggressively focused on lands being engines, loam, Scapeshift, and the other land builds that the only reasonable combos, which were depths, that got crushed by Archmage's Charm and Cryptic Command in the Control builds, and most other lists packed enough Field of Ruins or Ghost Quarters to still be just fine.

Look, you didn't really read up on GoblinElectromancer's format, you misread what shadow63 said, as he never implicated that he solved the format, just said, quote: "So burn or mill or tokens?" And nothing else on it, and you seemingly tossed a ton of janky filler cards as your choices for powerhouse cards, using the same terminology I used to describe a completely separate group of cards, and then miscredited me on multiple points claiming random things I think everyone immediately knew as "breakthroughs."

Despite the 10+ hours straight I spent since the banlist of the format's release designing and using multiple geometric calculators (had to make one on my own for Loam calculations and 75 card opener testers), attempting to check which build had the most room to improve and grow, I landed on Simic/Bant Lands Control, and solved the format's boogeyman. Yes you still somehow claim the only two decks are yours and mine, despite me proposing over 8 decks and in this bringing up another I didn't feel the need to previously. There are many more than 2 decks, one of which being a worse version of a good deck.

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P.S. for all people that want to try the format.

Don't assume the format is solved for good, just that a singular deck seems to be absolutely busted and will beat everything else we have come up with. Intuition depths is my current brainchild, working to take Dark Depths, Life from the Loam, and Thespian Stage, in a Sultai build optimized to cheaply interact while having a list almost entirely based on card advantage and disruption, a more tempo based build rather than just wincons and control like Simic/Bant.

If the shell just gets added to Simic/Bant, I won't be surprised. Surgical Extraction is currently the best anti-loam card I know of, with Extirpate and Cling to Dust being strong avenues the decks trying to counter Loam can use as well. Divert and Misdirection are incredibly powerful however and can be used against them, as they also hit all of the counter magic, burn, discard, etc. in the format.

The format is cool to tinker with but is mostly done currently. If a ban comes tinker around in it, it seems cool!

The Stifle -> Lotus Field -> arcane storm is super viable, and Sylvan Scrying, Crop Rotation and Past in Flames are all in the format, so try it. It doesn't work amazingly because of how much free countermagic is in the format, Flusterstorm, etc. but still, resolve a Veil of Summer in an opportune moment and go for it!

Azeworai on Radha, The Lands Matter To Me!

2 weeks ago

Ah, lands. An archetype with which I consider myself quite adroit. I play a Naya version, but Gruul bears the majority of the value.

If you opt for a strategy more anent utility lands, there is a multitude of options that become available.

Inkmoth Nexus can combo superbly well withal Kessig Wolf Run, oft murdering someone on the spot.

Of course, Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage is just another threat for the opponents to answer.

Glacial Chasm has saved me more times than I would care to admit, and Drownyard Temple is fun with sacrifce effects.

Sheltered Thicket is probably just better than an Evolving Wilds.

Sylvan Safekeeper is a little too perfect here. Defend the commander, aggressively costed, and perfidious for the opponents to remove.

I have a lands deck myself, bearing Vital Force and Vivien Reid as splendidly potent engines.

Nissa, Vastwood Seer  ^Flip is a card that literally never feels bad. It's great at all points of the match.

For assembling your land base, Realms Uncharted carries its weight, Hour of Promise is fantastic evermore, Crop Rotation can be a surprise, Elvish Reclaimer is as powerful as it reads, and Expedition Map is cheap and efficient. Sylvan Scrying is also fine.

Given enow utility lands, Field of the Dead becomes one of the very best cards. You could try snow basics for additional names to support it. This also opens Into the North as a possible ramp spell.

'Tis a little selcouth, but I enjoy Throes of Chaos for decks with many lands, as it makes dead draws less possible.

Cantrips make every deck work! Once Upon a Time is banned and broken, Winding Way grants a refill, and Life from the Loam with a cycling land is an engine by itself, and one quite difficult for anyone to intercede upon. Explore is also effective.

One more interactive spell would be nice. Beast Within does the job.

World Shaper has proven itself with High Market for additional control.

There are some things I'd recommend you ablate:

1. Yavimaya Elder is overplayed. It's five mana to draw two lands and a card. Unless you can reliably sacrifice it to alternate effects, don't play it.

2. Skullwinder... Why not Reap or Regrowth? I don't see any effects that care about the body, so you may as well not help the opponents and gain a cheaper casting cost.

3. Tunneling Geopede is not one I enjoy very much, but I can see its applications in murdering.

4. Ghirapur Orrery is just too slow. If you need the card draw, run Harmonize. If you need the land drops, try a creature tutor for Azusa. If you are playing lands, the primary goal is assembling an engine and staying ahead of the opposition. Why aid those inimical to your goal?

5. Nissa's Renewal is so slow! Six-mana?! Come on. You're ramping into seven-drops. Add a Kozilek if you want to do that.

6. Rites of Flourishing. Tsk tsk. I'd recommend murdering this, but I suppose it earns the graces of the table.

Try fewer lands and more large threats. You have an ungodly amount of ramp yet the only thing reqiring much mana is Radha's second ability. Try some eldrazi, Apex Altisaur does work, Borborygmos Enraged is on theme and always sweet, and fun times is the scariest card on any table, no matter what. Ignore that Teferi. Radha is huge!

Insurrection is oft dispraised, but it ends games a lot of the time. In fact, it has bean so thoroughly unloved by the community as of late that no one expects it. Nice!

The combat package is nice, but it falls apart very quickly to a removal spell. Though, Raking Claws could be fun. :)

In summation, add more angles of attack than voltron, some more card draw would be great, have better ways to spend your mana, and just stick the cheaper ramp. Four mana or less is ideal.

Oh, add some wraths. Blasphemous Act and Ezuri's Predation are each solid. Put them in and don't look back.

Good luck and happy cartography!

hubatish on Instants & Untaps

2 weeks ago

Played the deck for reals today. I Crop Rotationed out Lotus Field early ish but it + Utopia Sprawl put awkward limits on my Mana. Sol Ring was pretty bad, since my playgroup treats it as tap for 1 & I needed colors.

Evacuation rebuying Spellseeker into Reset and a lot of big expensive instants was great. The big Finale of Devastation into Earthshaker Giant didn't quite get there (killed one player) but still won.

I think Sol Ring will be coming out & maybe some flashback spells going in to help recover from an empty hand.

multimedia on Kalamax Almost Precon

2 weeks ago

Hey, on a budget something that the precon lacks are ways to tap Kalamax. Attacking is the best way to tap Kalamax, but if you can't attack then you want to be able to tap Kalamax other ways.

• Springleaf Drum
• Holdout Settlement
• Survivors' Encampment
• Cultivator's Caravan: crew can tap Kalamax.

These cards can make mana that gives them other uses then just tapping Kalamax. Settlement/Encampment are nice because they're lands, they don't use valuable spots in the deck and Crop Rotation can search for one of them.

You've already added Reverberate for a Fork effect which is great, but the other piece of the combo is Ral, Storm Conduit which is the win condition when you make the copy Reverberate loop with Kalamax. Even without the Fork combo, Ral is a good card because he too can be a repeatable source to copy an instant or even a sorcery you cast. Expansion / Explosion, Increasing Vengeance and Insidious Will are other budget instant Forks.

Your own sorceries are very good with Fork effects and tapped Kalamax. This combination lets you resolve three copies of a sorcery (original and two copies of it). If you have three opponents then Gravitic Punch can be a win condition with a Fork and an infinite power Kalamax. The jumpstart lets you cast it again if that is needed. Reclaim and Regrowth are helpful to recur cards especially a Fork or draw spell, but they can also recur a creature.

Return of the Wildspeaker modes are good with Kalamax. The first one can draw a lot of cards with a high power Kalamax and the second can give all nonHuman creatures +6/+6. This second mode can be a potential win condition with cards that can create tokens such as Talrand, Murmuring, Xyris, Young Pyromancer and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer.

Capsize can be powerful with Kalamax. For five mana cast it with buyback, bounce any two permanents and then return it to your hand.

Good luck with your deck.

SynergyBuild on Attempt for a new format

2 weeks ago

Okay, did the geometric testing, I was done 6 minutes before writing this comment, which I started at 10:28, that means I think I solved the base of the format in 7 hours and 5 minutes.

I tested the shells against eachtlother, the most consistent was the GU list, after tuning the other lists against it, it was easy to break the simple Life from the Loam, Growth Spiral, Field of the Dead list. All you needed was a Cling to Dust or Surgical Extraction Luckily Extraction meant every color had the option. Both also got around Veil of Summer, which is huge in the format. What else gets around it? Divert and Misdirection, who cards that break the Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Hymn to Tourach, Sinkhole piles that were beating UG the most, and were a Golgari Depths list. Before Divert, Golgari lists basically just had to fight Veil of Summer, often with Mental Missteps.

This meant UG could side in the redirects and crush the Black lists. I tried Sultai, so Flusterstorm, Miscast, etc. could disrupt the combo, but sadly they couldn't hit the mana consistently enough anymore. Even when they did the deck was sloppy. A countered Crop Rotation was really bad, and Mental Misstepping one was such a tempo swing, it was almost game over. Most lists could use mana on end steps pretty easily, UW control could at least Brainstorm, UG could Growth Spiral or crack a Waterlogged Grove to dredge a Life from the Loam. Black builds could Cling to Dust to draw. Decks had the means to use tempo, easily turning tempo into massive swings. Mystic Sanctuary is huge for UG and UW builds, Entreat the Angels needs it to function, and Cryptic Command/Deprive loops are big.

Muddle the Mixture let UG have too much redundancy, grab a Loam to grind? On it! Be a Echoing Truth to wipe a Dark Depths token or Field of the Dead army? On it. Use it to get a Living Wish to grab a Field of the Dead from your sideboard if your opponent Surgical Extractioned all of the ones in your deck.

It is an absurd card. It can be looped with Mystic Sanctuary. It can get it if it finds a Sylvan Scrying or Living Wish.

Then all that is needed is backup for this stupid deck.

Mystic Sanctuary for Cryptic Command, opponent on Depths? Echoing Truth, want better? Why not steal it with Archmage's Charm. Stupid. The deck was considering without that upside. Field of Ruin, Miscast, Veil of Summer, a sideboard of lands for Living Wish and more choice cards. Gitaxian Probe, great to judge when to do anything, if you are ever afraid of a Veil of Summer, target yourself. Force of Negation can exile opposing Life from the Loams, Boseiju, Who Shelters All, Growth Spiral, etc.

Now onto if they have an answer to tokens, because at this point Lumbering Falls is our best backup. UW gets Celestial Colonnade, which straight up wins in a fight. So we play a Hallowed Fountain and run a couple Colonnade's ourselves. Easy. Plus, unlike UW, we have Loam to recur our Colonades.

Now Bant, with a light splash for colonnade just beat everything. I just found variation of it could be tuned to beat itself, but worse against the field. The deck was evil, super gross to pilot against, felt even worse to play.

It was perfect. I'll write it up and post it.

SynergyBuild on Attempt for a new format

2 weeks ago

The best end game wincons so far: Angel's Grace/Ad Nauseam, Field of the Dead or Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle with Scapeshift or on their own. Dark Depths/Thespian Stage also is amazing in the format. Remember to use manlands, like Creeping Tar Pit or whatever you find fun. I know I'll look at Mutavault heavily for the format. Tokens can also do well, Commence the Endgame seems great!

Engines outside of it that can grind games are Mystic Sanctuary and Cryptic Command/Tragic Lesson/Daze/Gush, Life from the Loam and Horizon Canopy/Tranquil Thicket (Or any other cycling lands, but honestly Lftl works amazing on it's own).

What cards are really good to know about? Unsummon and effects like it should really be good, as all non-land permanents are tokens. Sinkhole and land destruction must be realized to be a very powerful effect, and Thoughtseize style discard is great!

Remember that Negate is just a cheaper Cancel and Miscast is a cheaper Mana Leak. Additionally Muddle the Mixture can both be a Counterspell or a Life from the Loam, and can be returned with Mystic Sanctuary.

Veil of Summer, Lightning Bolt, Silence, Stifle, Miscast, Flusterstorm, Dovin's Veto, Surgical Extraction & Cling to Dust (Amazing against Loam decks and some Sanctuary decks, as well as shutting off backup combos from recursive loops)

Currently Noxious Revival, Echoing Truth, Divert/Misdirection (against discard and burn), most discard, burn, Merchant Scroll, Entreat the Angels (Works well with Brainstorm, Mystic Sanctuary, etc.), and more are all strong.

Overall, it seems like a format where blue dominated, with green engines and tutors like Crop Rotation or Sylvan Scrying can set up the easy combos. Entomb for Life from the Loam, maybe Mission Briefing can do well too.

The best decks seem to be Bant Control, Simic Scapshift (sultai?), Sultai Loam Depths, Golgari Depths (Hymn to Tourach style list), Azorius Control (Entreat Sanctuary style) and Dimir+ Control (No idea the wincon, but a 2-4 color list, aimed at Miscast, Cling to Dust, and Thoughtseize as a base). A ramp build for field outside of Scapeshift, perhaps running it as only a backup, or perhaps a Sultai Loam Field Ramp list could work.

Sadly if you memorize the 6ish real wincons, the 4 bases, and understand the few counterplays the format is solved

Slimo106 on The K Man

2 weeks ago

Nice list man. I have a Kalamax deck myself, so I want to ask you a few questions:

-I think spellslinger decks can have a problem against token decks or decks with lots of creatures. Anything that tries to go wide can be a problem. I've found Field of the Dead can help (you should be running Harrow and Crop Rotation anyway. But since this deck tends to favour instants and most boardwipes are sorceries, it can be tough. How has your deck been handling that?

-Are cantrips and instants that draw cards enough to not run things like Rhystic Study? I've been debating wether or not to take out the latter in favour of yet another instant.

RubenWaters on Neyith of the Dire Hunt EDH: Beastmaster

2 weeks ago

multimedia oh boy I am playing the same deck and I have some suggestions on what to cut and suggestions on what to put in as well

Cut/ Add

Arlinn Kord  ^Flip = Domri, Anarch of Bolas

Vivien, Champion of the Wilds = Aggravated Assault

Atarka, World Render = Savage Ventmaw

Ulvenwald Tracker = Brash Taunter

Regrowth = Noxious Revival

Champion of Lambholt = Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Grand Warlord Radha = Dockside Extortionist

Gruul Beastmaster = Manglehorn

Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip = Zealous Conscripts

Nikya of the Old Ways = Apex Altisaur

Pathbreaker Ibex = Craterhoof Behemoth

Quartzwood Crasher = Polyraptor

End-Raze Forerunners = Prowling Serpopard

Rubblebelt Raiders = Ilharg, the Raze-Boar

Somberwald Sage = Birds of Paradise

Surrak, the Hunt Caller = Woodfall Primus

Gruul Guildgate = Winding Canyons

Temple of Abandon = Emergence Zone

Concordant Crossroads = Sneak Attack

Gruul War Chant = Invasion Plans

Gruul Signet = Wild Growth

Lightning Greaves = Shadowspear

Sol Ring = Utopia Sprawl

Savage Punch = Green Sun's Zenith

Shamanic Revelation = Momentous Fall

Soul's Majesty = Return of the Wildspeaker

Cultivate = Harrow

Decimate = Chaos Warp

Domri's Ambush = Ancient Animus

Hunter's Prowess = Gamble

Kodama's Reach = Crop Rotation

Shared Summons = Tooth and Nail

Temur Battle Rage = Titanic Brawl

Berserk = Pounce

Hunter's Insight = Pit Fight

Growing Rites of Itlimoc  ^Flip = Carpet of Flowers

Game Trail = Mountain

Mossfire Valley = Arid Mesa

Mosswort Bridge = Gaea's Cradle

Sheltered Thicket = Fabled Passage

Fire-Lit Thicket = Taiga

Spire Garden = Prismatic Vista

Eldritch Evolution = Heroic Intervention

Forest = Dryad Arbor

Aggressive Mammoth = Ohran Frostfang

Etali, Primal Storm = Inferno Titan

Fierce Empath = Krosan Grip

BUT these are just a suggestion