Damping Sphere

Artifact

If a land is tapped for two or more mana, it produces instead of any other type and amount.

Each spell a player casts costs more to cast for each other spell that player has cast this turn.

Discussion (51)

JW398 on Twiddle Storm - The Worst Oiled Machine

1 week ago

Lowenstein,

Makes sense, I just wasn't sure what to bring it in on. In my experience, I always see at least Damping Sphere or some form of graveyard hate come in against me for game 2.

Do you happen to know why it's not main decked? Just curious because I'm all about spicy tech.

CodeKain on God-Eternal hatebears

1 week ago

Really nice list, I love hatebears, heheh.

Unless you are particularly on a budget, I'd advise you to add some other bears, such as Alms Collector, Leonin Arbiter, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Linvala, Keeper of Silence, and Glowrider.

Suppression Field (hits fetchlands too) and Aura of Silence may also be highly desirable.

For artifacts, you may consider also Damping Sphere to hose storm decks, and Pearl Medallion to reduce the cost of basically everything you play.

Some of them are quite pricey though, I know, but with time this deck will become a force to be reckoned with!

zAzen7977 on Alchemy Balcony

2 weeks ago

Next I suggest swapping out expensive utility cards like Drift of Phantasms, Perplex, Muddle the Mixture, etc. for 1 drops to reduce your mana curve and allow turn 1 plays. Good candidates include Mishra's Bauble, Serum Visions, and Opt, which do not tutor for a card, but the additional card draw accomplishes the same objective without setting you back a whole turn.

You need to protect your combo proactively instead of reactively, so I suggest running Thoughtseize and/or Inquisition of Kozilek to remove threats before they are played. Force Spike and Spell Pierce are the best 1-drop counterspells, you may consider incorporating some into the main deck or sideboard. Removal like Fatal Push (in conjunction with fetchlands to trigger revolt) and Dismember are critical for dealing with creature-based decks and you should run at least 2 mainboard or on the side.

As far as the sideboard goes, great Karn targets are Wurmcoil Engine and/or Batterskull to gain life, which is critical against aggro and especially burn. Damping Sphere shuts down storm and ramp/Tron simultaneously. Ratchet Bomb wipes tokens or low cost permanents...

zAzen7977 on extraterrestrials

4 weeks ago

Hey RipGut-Gway, your deck looks interesting, back in the day I had a sliver deck and it was a lot of fun. I second Balaam__. I think the deck is strong fundamentally but needs more removal/opponent interaction. Since you are white dominant, I suggest a full set of Path to Exile instead of Adaptive Automaton, which seems like overkill in this build, or instead of a few white protection spells. Plus I think your sideboard could use some artifact/enchantment hate Disenchant or Revoke Existence, some way to deal with graveyard decks (Rest in Peace, Surgical Extraction), some way to deal with Tron/Ramp/Storm (Damping Sphere), and maybe even defense against burn/discard (Leyline of Sanctity). Another option is Aether Vial to pump out free slivers by turn 2.

zAzen7977 on Trouble at the Old Mill!

4 weeks ago

That’s a good point about the Shores, and the risk/reward calculation between fastlands like Shores and checklands is something I’ve struggled with in my builds as well. I think it depends on a particular build’s mana curve, and whether a tapped fastland on Turn 4 will result in a loss. I run 2-4 fastlands in my builds that max out at 3-4 lands in play, and I only have problems 1% of the time. For some reason I always have had bad luck with checklands, so I try to avoid them, especially with builds with several non basic lands.

For this build, I think having access to an untapped U/B for no life cost during turns 1-3 is critical against burn or super fast aggro, so I would recommend Shores over Catacombs, especially since you are running Ghost Quarters. This will also matter when bringing in sideboarded cards. But ultimately it is a matter of personal taste.

Regardless if you choose the Shores or the Catacombs, I do think you need at least a couple U/B lands that don’t hurt when entering play to balance with the Watery Graves.

Also, here are some other suggestions for the sideboard: Spell Pierce (cheap protection against lots of threats), Force of Negation (amazing counterspell), Dismember (amazing creature removal), Echoing Truth (for tokens/creatures/artifacts/enchantments), Nihil Spellbomb (graveyard hate), Ratchet Bomb (for tokens/enchantments/artifacts), Spellskite (for burn), and Damping Sphere (for ramp/tron/storm)). Plus the new Feed the Swarm is interesting, you may consider that as well.

Poseidon31 on Mardu Reanimator

1 month ago

Damping Sphere against Tron and Storm. Fulminator Mage against Tron and other Decks with special lands, like an Azcanta. Infernal Reckoning against tron or Eldrazi. Pithing Needle or Murderous Rider against Planeswalker heavy decks. Nihil Spellbomb against Dredge or just for grave hate. Ashiok, Dream Render for grave hate. Damping Matrix against Affintiy/Eggs. Dash Hopes for surprise Counter Magic (I Like this alot, espacially in aggro styled decks). Spellskite against Burn, Boggles or Infect. Abrade against Artifacts. Disenchant against Artifacts and Enchantments. Leave No Trace against Enchantments. Kambal, Consul of Allocation against Burn or Control. Collective Brutality against Burn or Control. Rakdos Charm against creature heavy decks like Elfes or Tokens or Artifacts or for grave hate. Wear / Tear against Artifacts or Enchantments. Crumble to Dust Against Tron.

Depends on your meta, what decks you want to side against and what do you need in addition to your main 60. Which Match ups are bad for you and ho to play against that. I play the following Sideboard in my Mardu Vehicle Deck: 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1x Collective Brutality 3x Duress 2x Kambal, Consul of Allocation 1x Nahiri, the Harbinger 2x Nihil Spellbomb 1x Rakdos Charm 1x Settle the Wreckage 2x Wear 1x Wrath of God

smilodex on Ezuri Combo Elves *Primer*

1 month ago

Wow what a cool looking Primer. Solid deck, you did an absolutely great job! I'm a big Elf tribal fan, because Elves where my first deck ever.

Cool cards that I personally enjoyed playing:

• Vivien, Monsters' Advocate = best green planeswalker atm! Cut Yeva and a Forest for Vivien and one/two of the following lands:
• Emergence Zone / Winding Canyons = instead of some Forests
• Sylvan Messenger / Collected Company / Lead the Stampede = much needed carddraw
• Survival of the Fittest / Birthing Pod / Yisan, the Wanderer Bard = best green Tutor-engines
• Ohran Frostfang / Runic Armasaur = really solid carddraw (/Rishkar's Expertise / Return of the Wildspeaker)
• Bane of Progress / Lignify / Song of the Dryads = very good green removal
• Isolated Watchtower / Terrain Generator / Path of Ancestry = cool lands you should consider instead of forests
• Aether Vial + enough draw can snowball really fast
• Cloudstone Curio = an insane combo piece/enabler, especially with: Aluren or Concordant Crossroads

This deck looks already pretty strong, if you want to play on a cEDH table, you just should do some small adjustments:

• Allosaurus Shepherd / Destiny Spinner = instead of the Herald
• Null Rod + Collector Ouphe!!
• Mana Crypt!!
• Chrome Mox / Mox Diamond
• Gemstone Caverns / Ancient Tomb
• Damping Sphere / Thorn of Amethyst = to stop storm decks and slow down other decks
• Sylvan Scrying = to tutor for Cradle or Cavern
• Carpet of Flowers/Wild Growth/Utopia Sprawl

I played elves in almost every format and cool combo from modern was: Cloudstone Curio + Heritage Druid + Nettle Sentinel = infinite mana or with something like Elvish Visionary or Beast Whisperer you can also draw your entire deck if you want

Archon_Bel on Athenian Legacy (Ephara, God of the Polis)

1 month ago

I've made a few changed to the deck in an effort to lower the mana curve and also include some more hatebear elements to try and slow down the game to give me more time to catch up.

Flickerwisp swapped for Aven Mindcensor

Whirler Rogue swapped for Fatespinner

Harmonious Archon swapped for Thalia, Heretic Cathar

Mind Stone swapped for Sapphire Medallion

Altar of Dementia swapped for Damping Sphere

Karmic Guide swapped for Peregrine Drake

Reveillark swapped for Capsize