Cursed Totem

Artifact

Activated abilities of creatures can't be played.

Discussion (51)

SynergyBuild on How do You determine the ...

4 days ago

I think, though my presence here was meant to be comedic and non-aggressive, I am going to side with Dango, and a lot of others in that I believe your idea of cEDH is a little too simplistic.

Imagine it like modern. While the faster decks can piece together protected combos or storm off in earlier turns, and occasionally it works, that is rare. Generally proper interaction, especially after side-boarding will allow for long drawn-out matches that use card advantage, control-y engines, and well-built synergies to end the game.

The main difference is in that in EDH more players have more interaction, so each player has to get through 3 others to end the game immediately. More often people team up against others, and just like in normal EDH, politics comes into play. Using these factors actually makes cEDH quite a slow format.

I don't mean only slow in terms of where people win, but where the winner is decided.

If an artifact-stax build, like a Teferi or Urza list gets down Cursed Totem and Winter Orb and 3 protective counterspells or something against a group of Selvalas and Yisans you know who is favored tremendously, but in cEDH that situation rarely occurs, and setting up a boardstate properly that, in a stax deck, allows you to out-control and out-value your opponents will take many more turns to set up than you make it sound.

Additionally, if you want to test decks without opponents, play yourself. Run multiple lists against eachother, play all 4, or get some others on skype and go ham, or on MTGO, or on Cockatrice or Untap, etc. You can test lists with much more ease than attempting an overly complex goldfishing system like you have.

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Now back to my unBEARable comedy (for you, Caerwyn). It was raining earlier so I felt like a Drizzly bear, now I am at my house, watching some classic movies and feeling like a Panda Bear because they are in black and white. While watching movies I like to have some stuff to snack on, so I am drinking a Coca Koala and eating a blue-BEARy pie. I hope they don't rot my teeth though, or else I'll just be a gummy bear.

SideBae on Alela, control-aggro

1 week ago

Hey! So I have some suggestions: feel free to ignore any/all of them.

1. There's a reason Ponder and Preordain are banned in Modern, and it's because they're stupid-good cards. Being able to dig you to what you need and past what you don't for one blue mana is a REALLY powerful effect, even if the cards themselves may not look as powerful as they are. I highly suggest including them. I like that you're already running Brainstorm , though I think running two+ more fetches would be ideal; you don't want to get locked with two dead cards on top of your deck.

2. I do not think Path to Exile is good in EDH. Ramping your opponent in a format with everyone trying to do busted things is rarely anything short of a bad idea, and is frequently dangerous. (Note that your Ashiok, Dream Render does not stop opponents searching off YOUR spells.) As I see it, you may be better off just running another card-draw spell, which would dig you to more potent removal; I suggest Painful Truths . Three-mana: draw-three is a hard rate to beat, and I've been very impressed with it in my Tasigur, the Golden Fang list.

3. You have some good artifact ramp, but I think it can be improved. I really like that all your rocks are two or less mana -- three-mana mana-rocks are simply not good enough a lot of the time, especially with a four-mana commander. Unfortunately, a lot of the best ramp in EDH is very expensive: Mana Crypt and Mox Diamond come to mind. I do have some other suggestions though. Consider at least a few of the following: Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Hierarchy , Talisman of Progress , Fellwar Stone (which is admittedly a worse Arcane Signet , but still good), Mind Stone , Everflowing Chalice and/or Thought Vessel .

4. Whir of Invention is a card you may wish to consider. It can grab your Bolas's Citadel late-game, but more importantly it acts as a to-battlefield tutor for things like your Cursed Totem or Skullclamp . Also, it's instant speed.

5. If you want to run things like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Consecrated Sphinx , I suggest you think about a reanimation package. In general, these duders will be tough to cast, and being able to cheat them into play will give you a competitive advantage. Entomb and Buried Alive are the best ways to bin your targets (though there are others, like Liliana of the Veil or your maybe-board Frantic Search ), and you can then use spells like Animate Dead , Dance of the Dead , Necromancy , Reanimate or Unburial Rites to profit for less mana than usual. Intuition is a fun (if not cheap) card to pair with Unburial Rites and some reanimation targets, thought the precise pile may be tough to determine. Also, due to your colors, you may even consider Dreams of the Dead . The cumulative upkeep can be tough, but if you run something like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur then you'll be able to do your damage within a turn-cycle or so, and the upkeep won't matter.

6. Your mana curve is pretty consistently low. I think you should at least playtest Counterbalance , since you already have the Sensei's Divining Top . Counterbalance does tend to be a high variance card, and it may end up being more of a preference-call than a meta-call. But I like it, so I figured I'd mention it.

7. I'm not sure how good Hushbringer is, since it stops your Skullclamp from triggering... You may be better off with just a Spirit of the Labyrinth or such.

8. Depending on how often you get to five mana, Divine Visitation could be a win-condition in itself in this deck. Making a 4/4 every time you cast an artifact or enchantment seems... good.

9. Mystic Remora is good. In less-experienced metas, it is often an Ancestral Recall ; even if people know that it's better just to wait it out, Mystic Remora will still buy you time to develop your board and make land-drops while opponents try to outlast it. Being one mana was a mistake, but it's here, so what the hell.

Right. That's all I got. Good luck!

GhostChieftain on Mill, Mill, Mill for a Million

4 weeks ago

I am not sure if you actually want to make this competitive or if you were just mentioning that the competitive gauge is silly. I am just going to yeet in assuming the former.

First thing I would do is scrap everything 4 cmc or greater that doesn't almost immediately win me the game. I would cut your creature count by about half if not more. Lastly for cuts, I would put at the very most 33 lands in here and replace the ones you take out with some rocks.

As a mill deck, you will want to shut off your opponent's access to their graveyards. Planar Void is my fav for lazav, but Grafdigger's Cage , Nihil Spellbomb , Relic of Progenitus , and Silent Gravestone all really do the trick.

Your counterspell package should probably drop all of the ones greater than 2 cmc and add in Swan Song , Delay , Flusterstorm , Pact of Negation , Mana Drain , Mana Leak , Mental Misstep , Muddle the Mixture , Tale's End , Force of Will .

Tutors and draw are very quick ways to make an okay deck much better. For draw you can have Necropotence , Mystic Remora , Rhystic Study , Consecrated Sphinx , Brainstorm , Search for Azcanta  ^Flip, Wheel and Deal . The wheel effects are particularly nice because they bring down your opponent's deck size as well. For tutors ya get Demonic Tutor , Vampiric Tutor , Imperial Seal , Mystical Tutor , Fabricate , Intuition , Merchant Scroll , Whir of Invention .

I would add in artifacts and enchantments that slow your opponents to a point that they can't do much and your counterspells can really devastate them. Cursed Totem , Winter Orb , Static Orb , Trinisphere , Back to Basics , Pithing Needle , Sorcerous Spyglass , Torpor Orb , Nether Void

Lastly I would probably run a lab man consultation package as an extra win con Laboratory Maniac , Jace, Wielder of Mysteries , Demonic Consultation , Tainted Pact .

I hope even if you don't go quite in this direction that this gives you a glimpse into a spikier mindset and can give you some ideas for this and future decks. Cheers!

GhostChieftain on Lazav,Dimir Mastermind

4 weeks ago

I am not sure if you actually want to make this competitive or if you were just mentioning that the competitive gauge is silly. I am just going to yeet in assuming the former.

First thing I would do is scrap everything 5 cmc or greater that doesn't almost immediately win me the game. I would cut your creature count by about half if not more. Lastly for cuts, I would put at the very most 33 lands in here (i.e. cut 7 and add in mana rocks like Dimir Signet , Fellwar Stone , and Talisman of Dominance )

As a mill deck, you will want to shut off your opponent's access to their graveyards. Planar Void is my fav for lazav, but Grafdigger's Cage , Nihil Spellbomb , Relic of Progenitus , and Silent Gravestone all really do the trick.

Your counterspell package should probably drop all of the ones greater than 2 cmc and add in Swan Song , Delay , Flusterstorm , Pact of Negation , Mana Drain , Mana Leak , Mental Misstep , Muddle the Mixture , Tale's End , Force of Will .

Tutors and draw are very quick ways to make an okay deck much better. For draw you can have necropotence, Mystic Remora , Rhystic Study , Consecrated Sphinx , Brainstorm , Search for Azcanta  ^Flip, Dark Deal , Wheel and Deal , Whispering Madness , and Windfall . The wheel effects are particularly nice because they bring down your opponent's deck size as well. For tutors ya get Demonic Tutor , Vampiric Tutor , Imperial Seal , Mystical Tutor , Fabricate , Intuition , Merchant Scroll , Whir of Invention .

I would add in artifacts and enchantments that slow your opponents to a point that they can't do much and your counterspells can really devastate them. Null Rod , Cursed Totem , Winter Orb , Static Orb , Trinisphere , Back to Basics , Pithing Needle , Sorcerous Spyglass , Torpor Orb , Nether Void

Lastly I would probably run a lab man consultation package as an extra win con Laboratory Maniac , Jace, Wielder of Mysteries , Demonic Consultation , Tainted Pact .

I hope even if you don't go quite in this direction that this gives you a glimpse into a spikier mindset and can give you some ideas for this and future decks. Cheers!

Fenryr on Eternally Cursed | Primer

1 month ago

Shit last one (waited too long to edit.. sry!)

I don't run much removal just because of how early I expect things to happen, but also my meta didn't have much stax until recently one of the guys acquired a fully tuned Urza and a Derevi player joined in. Now I'll probably add Cursed Totem , Force of Vigor and some more removal.

I rely heavily on Boseiju, Pyroblast, Red/blast, and Veil on/around the turns I expect to go off.

What do you think?

Kiyomei on 京 An illusion? What are you hiding? (CEDH-$T4KS) 京

1 month ago

@IsThisWolfe Hi there, Thanks for the comment!

Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir : Is indeed too mana intensive + and at that cost you want to play key cards that either just lock out or shut down entire strategies or play multiple cards that add up to 5cmc and have more efficient hate as this could potentially lose you games as well because no one can respond anymore...

Teferi, Time Raveler : Baby Teferi is possible but with how most strategies work people can get around this very easily while one spell per turn for example would shut down decks far more efficiently and can't be attacked into as easily as walkers.

For example, the new one that has been spoiled at 1 Mana (if you run a lot more counter magic it could justify the baby Jace but still no one can respond ti anything anymore)

Deafening Silence

W

Enchantment

Each player can't cast more than one non-creature spell each turn.

"They have forsaken their vows. The edict of the Circle demands their voices be silenced." -Syr Tasdale, knight of Ardenvale

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@ Limejuice Hey there man! thanks for the comment as well!

Nature's Will is a card I've toyed with before and played in najeela as well... it's a great card that synergies really well with orbs and can generate multiple triggers if multiple opponents are open for attacks. But without the other lock cards it ends up being a dead card draw at any stage of the game hence why i don't consider it. I'm not looking to combo of with orb-will for example , I'd rather play one card and have people struggle and delayed a turn and next turn play 2 more hate cards or so and just shut down entire strategies without these cards having to be dependant on one another...

Ulvenwald Tracker is great at dork heavy meta and a good meta call if you face a lot of those. but a bit less reliable in blind meta and tournaments. Linvala, Keeper of Silence , Dream Tides and Cursed Totem work as well but 2/3 here would also slow us down too much to be effective! Jitte could be good but also requires it sticking haven't tried it but if it works you and nets you games easier of dork reliant decks then consider it a good flex slot!

Fenryr on Smaug's Everlasting Avarice | Primer

1 month ago

lllol I was literally just tryna remember the '2 or 3 mana artifact that was monumental in anti storm from Dominaria that I still haven't seen in a deck yet' so thanks a lot for that. I haven't actually seen the Godo deck win yet, so I'm not too worried about that. As for Urza, I've found Cursed Totem to be game changing and hate inducing. Thanks again for the suggestions, I think I'll hold off on Ouphe and Null Rod and the Sphere until I can test the deck on Friday, but thanks for reminding me about stax lol!

dingusdingo on Gravy Garfield Lazav cEDH

1 month ago

drunksementhrowr take as much time as you need with replies! Real life takes priority

Labman is an extremely safe card for this deck specifically, because it aims to exploit creature based combos to fill the graveyard and the commander can act as a duplicate. That's why I preferred Lazav over another UB commander for this build. Being able to Dread Return your lab man after you copy it with Lazav adds in some serious redundancy to your win, which is a nice feeling with 3 hostile players staring you down. The move away from labman will simply need testing to see if it will work. This build with or without labman is correct either way, because I think you can make a strong case for or against it. The Doomsday brew I have (on private still sry lol) uses labman as well as Jace, Wielder of Mysteries with Demonic Consultation Tainted Pact and the unbelievably spicy Divining Witch for more direct A+B combos, and honestly they may have a place in this build.

I would definitely say this is an Ad Nauseam deck. With a single tutor in hand, it becomes a race for as a strong line to winning. Any combo piece + any tutor and you've guaranteed your winning line, and it lets you refill your hand with control and removal. Our curve is super low to fit the Ad Naus, which causes us to make sacrifices in other spots. We are primarily a layered Ad Naus list, with a value generator from the command zone. We can't guarantee advantage like Tymna the Weaver with 2-3 extra cards every turn, we don't have free tutors like Yisan, the Wanderer Bard , and we don't threaten wins with our commander alone like Najeela, the Blade-Blossom . What we DO have is both a combo enabler AND a combo finisher in the command zone. Ad Naus gives us a reachable goal at 5 mana to find a way to exploit the one card our deck always has available to play.

I really like the inclusion of the small sacrifice creatures. With infinite mana, they guarantee a win. They are pretty much the cards that replaced labman.

Cathartic adept is a spicy tech to shit on top-of-deck tutors. Vampiric Tutor Worldly Tutor Mystical Tutor Enlightened Tutor are played in almost every competitive deck that runs those colors. It hates on Sensei's Divining Top . Arguably Codex Shredder could be better here, as its online turn 1, but being a creature gives us more flexibility with Lazav. Pretty easy card to let go of for draw cards, especially if topdeck tutors aren't in your meta.

Dread Return loves Narcomoeba . The mill combos pretty much require a creature (unless you do Mesmeric + basalt monolith), so lazav + mill creature + narcomoeba would guarantee the flashback cost. Must have missed this when I removed Narcomoeba. Sorcery speed does make this a bummer, but we can always have Lazav in play before we flip so we can instant speed make a copy of labman if someone forces us to draw.

Scepter combo is extremely helpful against Cursed Totem and other creature based hate strategies. It gives us a discrete way to end the game, while being made from two cards with EXTREMELY high utility outside the winning combo, you can definitely value imprint something on Isochron early to help with favorable board state. I wouldn't recommend removing it. Any creature with the word "sacrifice" in your graveyard also means you will mill through your deck with Lazav to an outlet for a win.

I think one of the best ways to layer this deck further will be labman + pact lines. I would recommend giving those a serious consideration if you want to drop isochron + reversal. I also think adding more draw and removal is wise,

I enjoyed the anecdote! Glad to see my deck made it into the wild hahahaha! I look forward to your brewing and testing results!