Dark Ritual

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Discussion (51)

Torekai92 on Crosis, Hand of Blood

1 day ago

multimedia, thanks for all of the feedback! We are thinking more or less along the same lines. The cards you suggested cutting are on the chopping block for sure, along with a few more. Talisman of Creativity, Dark Ritual, Thief of Sanity, Kess, Dissident Mage, and Whispering Madness are all good suggestions I think. I hadn't thought of Dragon Tempest so thats a good idea. I for sure plan on grabbing most of the specters at some point.

I'll comb through all of your suggestions and see what I like. Thanks again!

multimedia on Crosis, Hand of Blood

1 day ago

Hey, I agree Nicol Bolas can be devastating repeatable discard in multiplayer Commander. It's a more powerful Grixis Commander then Crosis.

No matter the Commander choice here's some budget cards $2 or less each to consider adding. Several of these suggestions are in the maybeboard. When you're playing a high CMC Commander then more low CMC ramp helps.

• Talisman of Creativity
• Dark Ritual
• Izzet Signet
• Rakdos Signet

Crosis has flying and most Specters also have flying which makes Dragon Tempest a two drop haste enabler for the majority of your creatures. Consider cutting the other Dragons and high CMC creatures for more Specters or creature that can give you more value?

• Thief of Sanity: amazing in multiplayer Commander since you have more opponents to steal cards from.
• Kess, Dissident Mage: get more value out of draw spells and discard spells, she's a very good Grixis flying creature.
• Sedraxis Specter
• Needle Specter
• Blizzard Specter
• Scythe Specter
• Fell Specter

Whispering Madness is a wheel and it can be repeatable with cipher which can be powerful with flying creatures. Read the Bones, Painful Truths, Brainstorm are mana efficient draw spells. In multiplayer Commander the versatility of Mirrormade is great, especially on a budget. With all the discard from multiple opponents The Eldest Reborn can do a lot and have many targets to choose from to reanimate.

Mask of Memory and Mask of Riddles is low CMC equipment that can be repeatable draw with flying creatures. Sunken Hollow, Dragonskull Summit, Grixis Panorama, Ash Barrens are lands to consider adding.

Cards to consider cutting:

• Hideous Visage
• Slate Street Ruffian
• Fill with Fright
• Traveler's Amulet
• Phantasmal Dragon
• Territorial Hellkite
• Boltwing Marauder
• Hypersonic Dragon
• Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
• Arcanis the Omnipotent
• Moltensteel Dragon
• Tyrant's Familiar
• Gruesome Deformity
• Fear
• Foresee
• Ambition's Cost
• Mind Rot

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on "Library.exe has stopped working" | Phenax Primer

2 days ago

Hey, you're welcome :)

Good eye, Naru + Flicker + Phenax + Elixir to tap Naru to mill before it's blinked with Flicker, nice work. You're right, Altar of the Brood combos with Naru + Flicker and it's also a good card outside of the combo since it's repeatable. In fact Altar could replace Apprentice or another creature that has an ETB mill ability because outside of the combo these creatures are less good then what Altar does.

A reason to add more mana rocks is because the avg. CMC is high, rounded up it's 3.7 and there's a lot of four drops. When you have a lot of four drops then being able to play turn two ramp is very helpful. Phenax + Eater + Elixir is your main combo and it's a mana expensive combo. If adding Naru + Flicker combos then having more ramp makes them better too because the combo costs seven mana. Dark Ritual is a card to consider adding.

Cards to consider cutting to add Naru, Flicker, Altar, Zenith and Zone:

• Submerged Boneyard
• Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker
• Keening Stone
• Into the Story
• Dauthi Embrace

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I think you can push your deck a lot further even with the low budget. Ideally if you're playing combos you want tutors especially since you're playing black, but I understand not including them because of the lower budget. Scheming Symmetry and Diabolic Tutor are both worth adding. Mana efficient draw spells or repeatable draw sources can't completely replace tutors, but they can sure help.

• Mystic Remora
• Ponder
• Brainstorm
• Windfall
• Whispering Madness
• Read the Bones
• Impulse
• Drift of Phantasms
• Muddle the Mixture

These cards can be excellent support because they help to draw into or find the better cards in your deck. Wheels are good with Notion Thief and Psychic Corrosion. Madness can be repeatable with cipher. Drift can transmute to get one of Elixir, Flicker, Freed or Alarm. Muddle can transmute to get one of Guildmage, Greaves, Mindcrank, Orb or Rift. If not transmuting then both Drift and Muddle are fine since Drift has 5 toughness/flying and Muddle is a pseudo Negate.

With the lower budget draw spells and mana rocks are your best early game plays. These can help to setup combos, make land drops and have ramp for mid and late game, the stages of the game when your deck performs the best. Consider streamlining the creature base? Keep the creatures that are part of combos and cut a lot of the others?

Streamlined creature base example:

• Guildmage
• Drift
• Thief
• Naru
• Notion
• Alchemist
• King
• Tree
• Eater
• Syr
• Aberration
• Hightower

Bonehoard is the best card of the cards that are creatures who have power/toughness equal to all creatures in all graveyards. Because of it's ability to equip to another creature then in my opinion you don't need to also play Wright, Mortivore, Nighthowler. Hightower (flying, huge power/toughness) and Abrerration (mill, huge power/toughness) are the better high CMC creatures who are not part of combos because they can become huge and do something without having to attack.

Apollo_Paladin on Divinity Rush (Pauper Build)

1 week ago

Thanks for the suggestions, certainly worth taking a look at.

As to the "80% Dark Ritual Deck" comment, I was speaking specifically about my playgroup & that is not an exaggeration or estimate. Pauper games in our group were getting really repetitive and predictable so we opted to do away with them; I can totally recognize that is by no means a universal standard.

I've got some Extort already on Tithe Drinker but another source from Kingpin's Pet isn't an awful idea. I'm not sold that Dark Ritual fits here since I've got relatively low mana costs and very little cyclical card draw. It's not an entirely bad idea, but it'd only really be useful when playing a Night's Whisper imo.

Nightsky Mimic is a great suggestion, and I'm surprised I forgot about him considering I used him in an old deck.

I don't like the idea of running 4 Castigate because it's mainly a deterrent against things my creature can't handle or against counterspell effects. I guess I just don't see another copy making or breaking the deck.

Took some of your suggestions to heart though, going to give it a try in this current updated incarnation and see how it goes. Thanks again!

Boza on Divinity Rush (Pauper Build)

1 week ago

That description is very amusing - 80% of pauper decks using Dark Ritual is just not the case - not even mono-black control plays a single copy of the card, let alone any other tier 1 or tier 2 archetype.

Regardless, the dark ritual would be probably be a good addition here, but there are multiple better ones.

First, a fourth copy of the namesake card of the deck - Edge of Divinity there is no way to play less than 4 in this deck. Second, you need 4 copies of Nightsky Mimic - the best creature for that archetype.

Since mimic needs orzhov colored spells to work I suggest kicking out any non-orzhov cards as well. - 4 pilgrim (too slow anyways), - 3 umbra (that is just a much worse version of Edge), - 4 charms. Night's whisper is the only good mono-color card, but no room for non-orzhov. Since we are getting rid of bad cards, -2 harvest gwyllon as well, one of the worst orzhov cards.

That is a total of 17 cards to get rid of and I already suggested 5, so you need 12 more.

• 4 Gift of Orzhova - now that is an aura worth its salt.
• 1 castigate - might as well play the full 4.
• 4 Kingpin's Pet - a flier and a source of damage even when not attacking.
• 3 Unmake - get that removal in there

The sideboard could also be orzhov only, but that might be a bit too much. And I would not play so many comes into play tapped lands.

In addition, I think this pauper version of the deck is probably better than the non-pauper one in every metric other than mana base.

multimedia on Ravos/Tymna commander

1 week ago

Hey, since your deck is low budget consider adding more cards to take advantage of your best card? Your best card is Tymna :)

You have the right idea with wanting to add Kunoros and Kambal. Kunoros because of menace evasion, lifelink and it's a hatebear. Kambal because he can be a repeatable source of life gain. With Tymna you want more creatures who have evasion so they can more easily do combat damage.

White has many good budget flying creatures. Hatebears who fly and can also disrupt your opponents are good in multiplayer Commander: Aven Mindcensor, Kinjalli's Sunwing, Hushbringer, Tomik, Distinguished Advokist, Archon of Absolution. Flying creatures who can create flying tokens: Emeria Angel, Archon of Sun's Grace can be repeatable sources of flying creatures. You also want more repeatable sources of life gain to safely keep triggering Tymna: Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, Wingmate Roc, Answered Prayers.

Cards that create flying tokens are nice to go wide which helps to attack more than one opponent. Spirit Bonds and Sacred Mesa can be repeatable source of flying tokens. Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, Battle Screech, Midnight Haunting create flying tokens. Entreat the Angels can create a lot of 4/4 Angels. With more creatures with flying then you can play Sephara, Sky's Blade who has a powerful effect for flying creatures, has lifelink and other flying creatures reduce her casting cost.

Other budget cards ($1-$2 or less each) to consider adding:

• Lands: Command Tower, Tainted Field, Esper Panorama, Terramorphic Expanse, Ash Barrens, Orzhov Basilica
• Ramp: Talisman of Hierarchy, Dark Ritual, Heraldic Banner
• Fliers: Remorseful Cleric, Healer's Hawk, Vampire Nighthawk, Aerial Responder
• Tutors: Diabolic Tutor
• Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Kaya's Guile, Mortify
• Removal: Heliod's Intervention, Cleansing Nova

I offer more advice including what cards to cut. Would you like more advice?

Good luck with your deck.

enpc on Oracle Core

1 week ago

Quick other question to the group (and I know the question has been asked before however I am asking in a different light) on the topic of Blood Pet vs Nomads en-Kor + Cephalid Illusionist:

I know that the preferred option is Cephalid Illusionist + Nomads en-Kor over Blood Pet. I'm guessing the primary reason is for the inclusion of Jace, Wielder of Mysteries, since the two creatures work well with him outside of the hulk combo. I also understand that the benefit they provide is that once Flash resolves, you don't have to cast any more spells (meaning that you can rock Boseiju, Who Shelters All if you really want to, which this list does).

On the topic of Blood Pet though, the comments say it is a dip in card quality outside of combo. Is this purely due to Cephalid Illusionist's ability to prevent damage? Outside of this ability, I would have thought that Blood Pet actiing as a "for future use" mini Dark Ritual was actually the better of the abilities.

On top of this, generally the deployment lines for hulk are either Nomads en-Kor, Cephalid Illusionist and Thassa's Oracle (+ any 1 drop creature); or Blood Pet, Spellseeker (getting Consultation) and Thassa's Oracle. This would imply that the two creature pairs for the combo are either pet/seeker or illusionist/nomads, since you only need one of the two to make the combo work. Of the two of those pairings, the otuside of combo value pairing to me would heavily lean towards seeker/pet as you have a mana source and a tutor on a stick. On top of that, against cards like Linvala, Keeper of Silence or Cursed Totem, you just need to add to make the combo work. And while I know the pet/seeker line gets shut down by Rule of Law type effects, I would think that a stax deck would either run both (Blood Pod) or would rahter shut down creature abilities (GAAIV) rather than limit their spell count.

So is the main tipping point here ultimately just the ability to pair with Boseiju?

On a semi related note, how does this change with addition of red to the deck, since Wild Cantor can take the place of Blood Pet (and is a much stronger card). I recently put together a (completely untested) list for Najeela, the Blade-Blossom which sports the cantor/seeker hulk line: Najeela Fish Hulk and is running sans Jace. In this case, is the cantor/seeker better than the iilusionist/nomads line here or am I still better off swapping?

skoobysnackz on New Gitrog Edh

1 week ago

I see what you mean about the ramp. Not sure mana rocks are where you want to be though. I think you want to be pumping out as many lands as you can as early as you can. Rampant Growth, Cultivate etc. are what I would look at for more ramp. Rituals like Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual are also pretty commonly used in these decks. As far as cuts go, I would suggest World Shaper, not that it's a bad card, but I have generally not been very impressed with it every time it shows up in my games. It's really hard to actually attack with, and you kind of have to jump through hoops for the death trigger. Also if you don't want to go the combo route, you could definitely cut the titans (or at least one of them) and Skirge Familiar as it isn't really great at ramping in the early game and there are much more efficient discard outlets out there. Hope this helps :)