Emberwilde Captain
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Freeform Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Emberwilde Captain

Creature — Djinn Pirate

When this enters, you become the monarch.

Whenever an opponent attacks you while you're the monarch, this deals damage to that player equal to the number of cards in their hand.

Crow_Umbra on End_Of_The_Line

2 months ago

It's all good. That experience was one of the odder interactions I've had in my time here.

Cool, glad you have proxies available to you. I try to hone in any recs based on potential budget.

Even personal play groups develop their own little meta over time. To that end, besides the commanders listed in your primer, are there any others that you regularly encounter?

Here are some ideas I have, I'll put them in accordions so I don't blow up your wall:

Since you have proxies at your disposal, I think you can swap in some more utility lands to get even more value out of some of those basic land slots:

I totally agree that swinging in with a huge Kratos is a fun way to pilot this deck, but I think you can lean more into the forced combat element of it. Since you play against things like Ur-Dragon, Eldrazi, & Sheoldred, forcing them into combat could be super beneficial:

  • Ur-Dragon and (maybe) the Eldrazi, need to get their color fixing right in order to start taking off (assuming this is a five color Drazi), which means they may rely on mana dorks and other smaller utility creatures to help get them running.

  • Sheoldred may be in a similar position, if it isn't a creature or token heavy deck, may have a smaller board that also relies on squishier utility creatures

  • Kratos' damage effect "encourages" opponents to not leave their creatures untapped. Kratos is one big Punisher effect, so your opponents will have to weigh cost benefit of not attacking or tapping their creatures somehow.

  • Red has plenty of access to Goad effects, giving you another means of forcing attacks.

  • All of this is to say that I think the Kratos damage should take a more secondary priority to forced combat control.

I think you've received some solid recommendations from the other comments already on your deck. I'll try not to suggest anything that's already there.

Generally speaking, I think cutting back on red Auras that mostly focus on Kratos could be helpful. Some other standouts that I think can be swapped:

  • Icy Manipulator - Seems kinda slow for a single target effect.

  • Liquimetal Coating - I can see the cheeky line of play with turning something into an artifact in response to a Vandal Blast, but I think this could be another spot for something more consistently beneficial.

One of my homies runs a Deimos deck that's pretty fun, but he doesn't have a list online yet. He does have a Kardur deck that could be another source for forced combat ideas.

Hope this all helped

trippy_mcfly on Cumly Cube

5 months ago

Introducing Cumly Cube 1.4.2! 4 months ago, Cumly Cube 1.4.1 was released. This was the first minor update. As promised, minor tweaks would continue, both to fix any remaining imbalances and keep the card pool fresh. The following 36 swaps were made to remove two strategies that never found a home in Cumly Cube -- enchantments matter and Centaurs. Instead of trying to make them work, it was easier to remove them. On the other end of the spectrum, a few problematic cards were removed for being too powerful or annoying to play against. Some new cards bolster tribal synergies, while others search for specific planeswalkers, providing an interesting dynamic to look out for while drafting.

Here are the changes, provided with brief justifications:

REMOVED:

  1. Aether Vial: too powerful
  2. Ajani's Chosen: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  3. Baral's Expertise: too powerful
  4. Captivating Unicorn: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  5. Centaur Battlemaster: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  6. Centaur Rootcaster: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  7. Chronicler of Heroes: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  8. Conclave Cavalier: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  9. Conclave Mentor: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  10. Dawn's Reflection: too much general utility
  11. Dawnhart Geist: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  12. Duergar Hedge-Mage: too obvious a choice of Cumly
  13. Eidolon of Blossoms: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  14. Garruk, Apex Predator: cut to make room for another planeswalker
  15. Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea: too powerful
  16. Hedonist's Trove: too weak
  17. Herald of the Pantheon: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  18. Humble Naturalist: too obvious a choice of Cumly
  19. Imi Statue: too weak
  20. Kataki, War's Wage: too strong against artifact decks
  21. Kindred Discovery: too weak (in the event where it fits a deck very well, you run a high risk of decking yourself)
  22. Lagonna-Band Trailblazer: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  23. Many Partings: too much general utility
  24. Marwyn, the Nurturer: elves are too commonly known for making mana, but they serve other roles in Cumly Cube!
  25. Mayhem Devil: too powerful
  26. Moldervine Reclamation: too weak
  27. Nikya of the Old Ways: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  28. Pheres-Band Raiders: Centaurs are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  29. Recoil: too powerful
  30. Serra's Sanctum: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  31. Sludge Monster: received complaints about unfun gameplay patterns
  32. Teferi, Master of Time: cut to make room for another planeswalker
  33. Tireless Provisioner: too powerful
  34. Trace of Abundance: too much general utility
  35. Tuvasa the Sunlitfoil: enchantment matters cards are no longer part of Cumly Cube
  36. Verdant Haven: too much general utility

ADDED:

  1. Basri's Aegis: searches for a specific planeswalker
  2. Batterhorn: supports the Beast creature type
  3. Brightmare: supports the Unicorn creature type
  4. Changeling Wayfinder: supports tribal synergies
  5. Dance with Devils: supports the Devil creature type
  6. Dissension in the Ranks: a fun and unique red card
  7. Domri's Nodorog: supports the Beast creature type
  8. Dovin's Dismissal: searches for a specific planeswalker
  9. Eldrazi Obligator: supports the Eldrazi creature type
  10. Emberwilde Captain: supports the Pirate creature type and is another monarch card
  11. Flock Impostor: supports tribal synergies
  12. Footlight Fiend: supports the Devil creature type
  13. Frondland Felidar: supports the Beast creature type
  14. Gathering Stone: supports tribal synergies
  15. Ghor-Clan Rampager: supports the Beast creature type
  16. Grasping Current: searches for a specific planeswalker
  17. Havoc Jester: supports the Devil creature type
  18. Huatli, Dinosaur Knight: supports the Dinosaur creature type and is searchable by a specific card added to Cumly Cube 1.4.2
  19. Infernal Captor: supports the Devil creature type
  20. Jace's Ruse: searches for a specific planeswalker
  21. Krosan Warchief: supports the Beast creature type
  22. Leaf-Crowned Visionary: supports the Elf creature type
  23. Liberating Combustion: searches for a specific planeswalker
  24. Living Lightning: supports the Elemental creature type and instant/sorcery synergies
  25. Medicine Runner: supports the Elf creature type
  26. Niambi, Faithful Healer: searches for a specific planeswalker and supports the Human creature type
  27. Oko's Hospitality: searches for a specific planeswalker
  28. Pulse of the Tangle: supports the Beast creature type
  29. Selesnya Evangel: supports the Elf creature type and the Saproling creature type
  30. Splendor Mare: supports the Unicorn creature type
  31. Sun-Blessed Mount: supports the Dinosaur creature type
  32. Teferi, Timeless Voyager: is searchable by a specific card added to Cumly Cube 1.4.2
  33. Teferi's Wavecaster: searches for a specific planeswalker and supports the Merfolk creature type
  34. Triassic Egg: a slow but powerful artifact to be used in reanimator decks or other strategies
  35. Unknown Shores: offers colorless mana for Eldrazi cards and bad mana fixing for decks that need help
  36. Yanling's Harbinger: searches for a specific planeswalker and supports the Bird creature type

TheoryCrafter on Attack of the Attacks

6 months ago

Have you considered replacing a couple of your mana rocks with Gruul Signet and Rakdos Signet this will give you more mana for the cost. Also, your deck is missing out on cards that can punish opponents for attacking you. May I suggest any combination of Crown of Doom, Emberwilde Captain, Marchesa's Decree and Revenge of Ravens? Finally, some Eldrazi cards have Annihilator, which causes opponents to sacrifice cards. My favorites are Ulamog's Crusher and Eldrazi Conscription. I hope this helps. Thank you for reading me out. Happy Hunting!

Veghelia on Combat Superiority

1 year ago

Hey Crow_Umbra, sorry for the radio silence. Become a bit more busy with non-MTG stuff, so I got less time for brewing, sadly.

"Support" suspicions are just going to be part of playing this deck, so I've accepted that's going to be something I'm gonna run into. I do mostly play with a relatively consistent group of friends (read: like 5 different groups, some with some overlapping players, but all with similar vibes), and they do look at me with suspicion, but are most of the time greedy enough that they'll take advantage of my almost-symmetrical support cards. If they ever choose to destroy them or otherwise turn them off for the others, that tends to draw the table's ire, so most of the time they don't unless everyone agrees they're becoming an issue, in which case I can hardly blame them. I'm currently still mostly feeling that I'm going to try to leave goad out of it as much as possible, safe for a few choice cards (Taunt from the Rampart hasn't shined yet, but I'm feeling it will at some point).

Alright, now on to the card discussions.

  • I'm leaving Xantcha, Sleeper Agentfoil and Emberwilde Captain in the maybeboard. Your arguments are very valid, but I do feel like the don't vibe enough with the "support" idea.

  • I had Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuserfoil in my deck before and removed her, because she's an odd play. With my lack of goad or other ways to force attacks, I have very little control over the amount of cards I draw with her, if I draw any. I imagine she'd work great as a commander, since you can reliably have her on the field in the early to mid game, where plenty of people attack each other, but I think she does a lot worse as a late-game topdeck.

  • Kambal, Profiteering Mayor feels like a "one step too far" kinda card. If my entire point was to give my opponents tokens, then he'd be amazing, but I feel like he's going to not do anything far too often (although I will admit that I don't quite now how often my playgroups play tokens).

  • Master Warcraft has one mayor flaw that I'm pretty sure a good chunk of my playgroup will notice: I can force an attack, but I can't force them to not attack me, and my playgroups are spiteful enough that that is exactly what will happen :P

  • Batwing Brume is interesting. It's going on the maybeboard for now, since I'm not sure if the problem it fixes is one I run into all that often, but it does feel like a beautiful blindside.

Currently, Ghostly Prison and Brutal Hordechief are most likely going to be in the next version.

Besides that, I'm reviewing:

  1. The beaters I have in the deck, since they don't feel strong enough. It's not like I didn't know Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and Tajic, Blade of the Legion weren't the best in slot, but the little hope I had for them has been dashed.
  2. Different graveyard hate (I'm recently formed the opinion that Bojuka Bog really only works in a lands deck), and Kutzil's Flanker is currently my most considered option.
  3. Lands and ramp. Thran Dynamo was way better when Endbringer was going to be a part of the deck, and the deck feels too color-heavy to run it otherwise. Similar thoughts about the pain-lands. Also, I've adopted the "Chromatic Lantern is bad" position.

Veghelia on Combat Superiority

1 year ago

Crow_Umbra, thank you for your feedback and suggestions!

If you're interested in sparring a bit, I've looked into your feedback and I have some thoughts. If any of this brings up other ideas or you have other suggestions, I’d love to hear it.

Regarding using more goad and embracing "being the villain":

I'm very much still experimenting with being as "supportive" with this deck as I can be, since that is really the desire I have that got me to make this deck. I derive enjoyment from seeing the table enjoy what I do and playing with me, and not forcing them to play along is an important part of that. I've made another deck (Death or Mogis) that a lot of my friends love to play against or play themselves, and I'm trying to do a similar thing here, but more combat-focused. I’ll leave the idea of embracing "being the villain" open, but I first want to figure out if I can make the "I'm your best friend in a game without allies" approach work before I fully switch (or more honestly, probably retire the deck).

Regarding Boros Battleshaper and Endbringer:

Yeah, you're right. I've noticed in goldfishing already that they don't feel good enough. Boros Battleshaper just feels like a cool idea that could work but doesn't, and Endbringer really is a remnant of the older version of this deck where I was more going for a mafia-style “broker” vibe, capable of “solving problems” on other people’s turns. Sadly, that’s a couple of steps removed from what the deck is now. I want them to be cool, but you’re right in that they really don't work in the deck.

Regarding your suggestions:

  • Xantcha, Sleeper Agentfoil creates a bit of a weird situation. I have to give it to someone, making me the bad guy in their eyes, and then they do get to benefit from my attack triggers (forcibly), but they are also the victim of the "drain and draw" ability. I think it's a bit too much of a mixed bag emotionally, and although it is not a bad card, I'll probably leave it out of the maybeboard, at least for a while or until I switch to embracing villainhood.
  • Slicer, Hired Muscle  Flip is just not my jam aesthetically. I can appreciate some Universes Beyond stuff, but this is a no-go for me. I also think he might be too good and closing out the game himself, drawing too much ire as a result.
  • Assault Suit has been on my list for a long time, and I've only really removed it from this deck's maybeboard because I'm thinking of trying it in a different, more equipment focused deck. I might re-add it later though.
  • Ghostly Prison feels spot on. I hadn't considered it yet, and it feels like it would slot in reaaaaal good.
  • Emberwilde Captain goes back on the maybeboard. It also gives a reason to attack me, and that's anti-syngery, but it could also be good recurring draw + punishment for trying to take it from me, and the deck is likely good enough at taking the crown back if necessary.
  • Kardur, Doomscourge also goes back on the maybeboard. By far the best way to force my opponents to fight each other and have them break parity rather than have to try doing it myself :P. I had removed it together with some other goad cards, but he could be one of the few that still make the deck.
  • Vengeful Ancestor has my doubts, mostly because its effect doesn't really excite me. I'm leaving it out for now, but I'll look down here if I ever can't find other good options.
  • Brutal Hordechief is probably also a great suggestion. As I mentioned, I want Boros Battleshaper to work, but I've already noticed that it doesn't really, and I'm currently more fighting with the copium than leaving it in for good reasons. This would probably be the replacement. Both having some drain to add to the combat damage pressure is nice, and I could also force blocks on somebody else's turn, which is pretty cool.
  • Enduring Courage is a great option. I've mostly not included it yet because it feels a bit off aesthetically, but it might just be the best option. The deck can use more haste enablers, and I’ve really just not found the one that feels the best yet.
  • Hellrider probably doesn't make the cut, since the deck doesn't go-wide enough IMO, and the tokens I put in during combat don't trigger this effect, where I can buff them to hit harder.

Again, thanks for the feedback and the suggestions!

Crow_Umbra on Combat Superiority

1 year ago

I don't see combat control variants of Isshin as often as I do other variants, so kudos to you for taking a less conventional build path. My main play group plays with Goad pretty frequently, and Aggro in general, and I understand your concerns about "being the villain" for playing a lot of it. In all honesty, I think it's something that you should lean into if you're going to do it. Being the "table villain" can be fun.

I haven't read through all of your change logs, so my bad if I missed them as past edits, but have you considered any of the following:

  • If you want a couple more "donation" creatures to support your Alexios, both Xantcha, Sleeper Agentfoil and Slicer, Hired Muscle  Flip could be worth checking out. Assault Suit is also in line with this theme and what you're going for.

  • It might be worth it to throw in a Ghostly Prison to further deter attacks at you. Emberwilde Captain is another deterrent that triggers with Isshin.

  • Depending on the success you have had with them, it could be worth considering swapping out Boros Battleshaper and Endbringer for creatures in the 3-4 cmc range that can produce more tokens for your own defensive/aggro purposes. Kardur, Doomscourge and Vengeful Ancestor could be additional Goad pieces worth including as potential swaps if you don't go the token support route.

  • Looking at stuff already in your Maybeboard, I think Brutal Hordechief or Enduring Courage could be worthy inclusions. Hordechief and similar group slug/drain effects, like Hellrider can help send damage straight to faces, especially since Isshin gives them an additional trigger. Takes some of the pressure off your reliance on combat damage for a deck like this.

Best of luck with the deck. I think a bit more Goad could help spice your deck up, especially if other players don't really want to "buy into" the support that you're offering them. Sometimes you have to pivot from suggesting they fight each other to actively forcing them to do so lol.

Crow_Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

2 years ago

Thank you for checking out the deck and offering some suggestions, Craeter, I appreciate it. I'm overdue on doing a year end wrap up of the various changes I've made this year. Definitely overdue for a primer update in general; I've been meaning to expand on a couple of sections and clean up organization in general. In regards to your suggestions:

  • I used to play Sword of the Animist in some of the earliest iterations of this deck, from like February 2022 to at most the following year. A core memory was an early game where I pulled all of the basics out of my deck with the Sword, & my play group saw how this would be a problem. Over time, I've moved away from playing equipment much beyond the Lightning Greaves variants and Skullclamp, especially outside of dedicated Equipment strats. They're useful, but I don't like the play pattern of equipment costs, especially when I run lots of cheap instant speed interaction, that I feel those costs can compete with. I think as I optimized my mana base, Land Tax effectively took the slot that Sword used to be in.

  • I'll keep that Kaya in mind. I played Kaya, Geist Hunter for a bit for her anthem effect and token doubling. Planeswalkers don't see a whole lot of play in my play groups because of how aggro and go-wide they primarily lean. Walkers tend to get attacked and removed very quickly.

  • Nahiri's Resolve is interesting as an anthem & means of re-setting creatures at end of turn. For a Haste anthem, 5 mana feels kind of slow, especially when there are other haste anthems in the 3-4 cmc range that also offer a power buff in addition to haste. I think this could be a stronger piece in a deck with a more dedicated suite of creatures or artifacts with ETB effects.

  • Etali, Primal Storm is another card I used to play in Isshin. There were turns where it popped off & got some really cool pulls off its doubled trigger. The majority of the time I played it, Etali tended to eat targeted removal and board wipes, or the attack triggers whiffed. It's a fun card, but very boom or bust. Big Red effects are fun, but after a while I craved more consistency.

  • Mangara, the Diplomat was in some of the earliest iterations of this deck (maybe like the first 4 months). I found that my playgroup would play around Mangara in a way that he didn't feel super impactful. Some of the earliest archetype shifts that I made for this deck were cutting the more defensive pillow-fort effects like Mangara and Emberwilde Captain, and leaning much more into being proactive with my own aggro. I've found that Authority of the Consuls and similar effects have been wonderful here because they hamper early aggro, or cheaply come down when the table is in board-wipe recovery mode and helps me get out ahead.

  • I played Gloin briefly in my old Prosper, Tome-Boundfoil deck. Gimli feels like it could be a budget alternative to Professional Face-Breaker, or put in work in a more Legendary focused deck, like you suggested. I toyed around with the idea of a Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge Mardu Legends deck about a year ago, and I think these two Dwarves and Galadriel's Mirror would be more at home there.

Thank you again for the suggestions.

Last_Laugh on Isshin, Two Whoopins as One

2 years ago

The other thing I'm noticing now that I take a closer look is you're very light on card draw. You only have 5 cards that draw right now including 2x that are just a 1 time use (Jeska's/Fable).

Breena, the Demagogue, Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant, Emberwilde Captain, Tocasia's Welcome, Skullclamp, Chivalric Alliance, and Plumb the Forbidden are all solid options here that won't break the bank.

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