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Discussion (50)

Azeworai on Radha, The Lands Matter To Me!

3 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!

DeinoStinkus on EDH Thriss, Nantuko Primus Infect …

4 weeks ago

Ramp spells: Rampant Growth, Nature's Lore, Explore.

Mana dorks: Llanowar Tribe, Beanstalk Giant(?), Llanowar Elves, Druid of the Cowl, Sakura-Tribe Elder.

Mana doubles (pricey): Zendikar Resurgent, Mana Reflection, Leyline of Abundance, Nyxbloom Ancient.

AceVonDuck on Tazri/Zada

1 month ago

Hmm...and it looks like now my spoiler isn't working. Alright, well, the cards were the following:

Everdream

Everdream is basically an updated Evermind, but it allows you to splice onto any instant or sorcery (not just Arcane) for one extra mana than Evermind. This means you could use it in conjunction with other non-arcane spells you control, such as splicing it onto Ajani's Presence, Defiant Strike, Twinflame, etc. You could also cast it normally from your hand for the same cost as Evermind's splice cost, which might be nice if you're desperate or in dire need of card draw.

(There's only one other card that can splice onto instants or sorceries, Splicer's Skill, but it's expensive to splice and doesn't really synergize with what you're trying to do.)

Blossoming Defense

Blossoming Defense: only one green mana for an instant! It could theoretically pump up your tokens enough for a lethal combat phase, depending on how many creatures you have. The main reason I brought it up though is that in quite a few situations it could be used as an alternative to your Protection cards, although you won't get the card draw or scry effects, which I assume is the primary reason for their inclusion. Similar to this card, though not as good in my opinion, is Dive Down.

Enter the Unknown

Okay, so Enter the Unknown in particular really caught my eye, and is one card I would personally put in the deck, were I to purchase and assemble it to play with my own playgroup.

Comparing it to Explore, it's cheaper, but you lose the flat card draw. HOWEVER, it targets a creature, meaning if it targets Zada, every creature you control will Explore. For each Explore trigger, if the card you reveal from the top of your library is a land, you immediately put it into your hand (note, this is mandatory and doesn't count as drawing a card, which may be useful in some niche situations, such as an opponent controlling a Consecrated Sphinx or Smothering Tithe). You may then play that land (once the stack is empty) thanks to the secondary effect of being able to play an extra land this turn, same as Explore. But unlike Explore, you would get to play an extra land for every creature you control. So that's neat. However, if the card you reveal from exploring is NOT a land, the creature that the spell (or copy) is targeting immediately gets a +1/+1 counter. THEN, you may choose to either put the revealed card back on top of your library, OR into your graveyard. And then you still get to play additional lands for each copy of Enter the Unknown.

What's more, as long as you don't get rid of Elixir of Immortality, you can intentionally put revealed non-land cards that you don't desperately need into your graveyard. This gives you more opportunities to Explore (the keyword) into more lands to play, or more opportunities to buff your creatures, or it could even simply serve as library / graveyard filter.

One more card I'd like to mention in relation to Enter the Unknown is Gaea's Blessing. I don't think it would be worth including without Enter the Unknown, but if run together, could serve as a backup plan / alternative to Elixir of Immortality, since Exploring into it can immediately recover your graveyard into your library, including Gaea's Blessing itself. However, it would almost certainly be a wasted slot by itself (except to fetch Elixir of Immortality but that's still too niche), which is why I'm mentioning it here instead of in its own entry.

All in all, I honestly feel that Enter the Unknown is worth considering the most out of any of the others I've mentioned so far. That said, I don't want you to feel obligated to include it. After all, I haven't playtested the current decklist on TappedOut yet, so I have no idea if it's even a necessary inclusion. You've had a few chances to play and even win, now. It's your deck, and you know it the best, so it's totally up to you.

Crypsis

Crypsis doesn't really synergize with your deck since it doesn't include a card advantage (or similar) effect, but it is a way of safely swinging at opponents or reacting to a creature's targeted ability (or Crypt Rats-esque abilities) without also preventing yourself from targeting your own stuff. It also has the added benefit of untapping all of your creatures, but overall it may be too situational or non-synergistic to put it in the deck. Still, thought it was worth mentioning.

Hundred-Talon Strike

Hundred-Talon Strike: I'm sure you're aware of this card already, I just wanted to be sure. That splice cost seems really nice, considering Tazra herself, tokens made by Battle Screech or Raise the Alarm, and any copies of those you make, would all be able to pay for the splice cost, rather than having to spend mana. The downside is that it forces you to have at least one white creature to pay its splice cost, making it slightly less flexible than some other options. Still, I wanted to at least be sure you were aware of it.

Adverse Conditions

Adverse Conditions is another card that still doesn't quite synergize with what you're doing, and it has CMC 4, which is expensive for your mana curve. Still, it could be simultaneous ramp and token population (of sorts). Cast this when you have a ton of creatures, targeting only Zada, and you immediately get a bunch of untapped 1/1s equal to the number of creatures you already control, which could exponentially grow your board for more Zada triggers, or you can just use them to sac for to pay for more spells.

AceVonDuck on Tazri/Zada

1 month ago

(Hah! TappedOut ate my comment. Let's try again.)

In regards to appreciating the deck, of course, haha! I absolutely adore janky and unique play styles. I get so tired of seeing the same tired deck concepts and "high salt" (according to EDHRec) cards in my playgroup, it's always super refreshing to see new, unconventional ways to play. ALSO HOOOOOOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED HOW Rite of Replication WORKS WITH ZADA, WOOOOOW! I have no idea why that didn't click when I first saw it in the deck! If you can resolve it, that's so beautifully evil, oh my god!

Er, anyway, regaining my composure, heh. As far as the protection thing goes, it shouldn't be too much of a problem, so long as you're careful with it and only use it to wrap up your comboing or in response to a threat. Did it find solid use (or potential for use) in your matches with your group? I also had another question: is there any reason in particular that you haven't included any enchantments whatsoever? I can't help but wonder how Parallel Lives or Mana Reflection (especially considering you already have Basalt Monolith in the deck) would perform, despite their comparatively expensive CMCs to the rest of your mana curve. I realize they're both a bit pricey to purchase, but oh man, regardless, I can't help but envision Rite of Replication and Zada going off while Parallel Lives is on the field. Again, not sure if there's a specific reason you haven't included enchantments, was just wondering.

One last thing I noted upon reading the entire decklist again: unless I'm missing something, in the deck's current state, Manamorphose, Explore, and most of your token generating cards only get their "as designed" single use before you have to shuffle them back out of your graveyard with Elixir of Immortality and hope to draw them again. Am I missing anything, or is that correct?

Anyway, that's awesome to hear about the win. I'm sure the expressions on your playgroup's faces were priceless!

Here are some cards that came to mind and some others that I stumbled across:

Card Suggestions Show

Please bear in mind that these are only for your consideration or cards I simply thought would interact interestingly with the deck. I should note, most of these are NOT Arcane spells. Please don't feel obligated to include any of them, nor that I'm trying to pressure you into changing cards. I just wanted to give you some card ideas which I personally think sound neat and wanted your opinions on.

(With that said I think you should definitely check out Enter the Unknown under the "Alternatives / Supplements" panel. Seems like a worthy inclusion.)

Again, sorry for how lengthy and wordy this entire response is. Hope I haven't overdone it or bored you to tears here.

Possible alternatives / supplements to current cards:

Everdream

Everdream is basically an updated Evermind, but it allows you to splice onto any instant or sorcery (not just Arcane) for one extra mana than Evermind. This means you could use it in conjunction with other non-arcane spells you control, such as splicing it onto Ajani's Presence, Defiant Strike, Twinflame, etc. You could also cast it normally from your hand for the same cost as Evermind's splice cost, which might be nice if you're desperate or in dire need of card draw.

(There's only one other card that can splice onto instants or sorceries, Splicer's Skill, but it's expensive to splice and doesn't really synergize with what you're trying to do.)

Blossoming Defense

Blossoming Defense: only one green mana for an instant! It could theoretically pump up your tokens enough for a lethal combat phase, depending on how many creatures you have. The main reason I brought it up though is that in quite a few situations it could be used as an alternative to your Protection cards, although you won't get the card draw or scry effects, which I assume is the primary reason for their inclusion. Similar to this card, though not as good in my opinion, is Dive Down.

Enter the Unknown

Okay, so Enter the Unknown in particular really caught my eye, and is one card I would personally put in the deck, were I to purchase and assemble it to play with my own playgroup.

Comparing it to Explore, it's cheaper, but you lose the flat card draw. HOWEVER, it targets a creature, meaning if it targets Zada, every creature you control will Explore. For each Explore trigger, if the card you reveal from the top of your library is a land, you immediately put it into your hand (note, this is mandatory and doesn't count as drawing a card, which may be useful in some niche situations, such as an opponent controlling a Consecrated Sphinx or Smothering Tithe). You may then play that land (once the stack is empty) thanks to the secondary effect of being able to play an extra land this turn, same as Explore. But unlike Explore, you would get to play an extra land for every creature you control. So that's neat. However, if the card you reveal from exploring is NOT a land, the creature that the spell (or copy) is targeting immediately gets a +1/+1 counter. THEN, you may choose to either put the revealed card back on top of your library, OR into your graveyard. And then you still get to play additional lands for each copy of Enter the Unknown.

What's more, as long as you don't get rid of Elixir of Immortality, you can intentionally put revealed non-land cards that you don't desperately need into your graveyard. This gives you more opportunities to Explore (the keyword) into more lands to play, or more opportunities to buff your creatures, or it could even simply serve as library / graveyard filter.

One more card I'd like to mention in relation to Enter the Unknown is Gaea's Blessing. I don't think it would be worth including without Enter the Unknown, but if run together, could serve as a backup plan / alternative to Elixir of Immortality, since Exploring into it can immediately recover your graveyard into your library, including Gaea's Blessing itself. However, it would almost certainly be a wasted slot by itself (except to fetch Elixir of Immortality but that's still too niche), which is why I'm mentioning it here instead of in its own entry.

All in all, I honestly feel that Enter the Unknown is worth considering the most out of any of the others I've mentioned so far. That said, I don't want you to feel obligated to include it. After all, I haven't playtested the current decklist on TappedOut yet, so I have no idea if it's even a necessary inclusion. You've had a few chances to play and even win, now. It's your deck, and you know it the best, so it's totally up to you.

Possible new inclusions / cards I thought were neat:

Crypsis

Crypsis doesn't really synergize with your deck since it doesn't include a card advantage (or similar) effect, but it is a way of safely swinging at opponents or reacting to a creature's targeted ability (or Crypt Rats-esque abilities) without also preventing yourself from targeting your own stuff. It also has the added benefit of untapping all of your creatures, but overall it may be too situational or non-synergistic to put it in the deck. Still, thought it was worth mentioning.

Hundred-Talon Strike

Hundred-Talon Strike: I'm sure you're aware of this card already, I just wanted to be sure. That splice cost seems really nice, considering Tazra herself, tokens made by Battle Screech or Raise the Alarm, and any copies of those you make, would all be able to pay for the splice cost, rather than having to spend mana. The downside is that it forces you to have at least one white creature to pay its splice cost, making it slightly less flexible than some other options. Still, I wanted to at least be sure you were aware of it.

Adverse Conditions

Adverse Conditions is another card that still doesn't quite synergize with what you're doing, and it has CMC 4, which is expensive for your mana curve. Still, it could be simultaneous ramp and token population (of sorts). Cast this when you have a ton of creatures, targeting only Zada, and you immediately get a bunch of untapped 1/1s equal to the number of creatures you already control, which could exponentially grow your board for more Zada triggers, or you can just use them to sac for to pay for more spells.

Anyway, that's all for me today. I'm certain there are plenty more cool or even better cards to include, but if I research any more right now, I'll likely be up all not, haha.

Congrats again on the win! Lemme know what you think of the cards I mentioned. I'll keep my eye on this deck as well as new cards for it, since I really love how silly this concept is.

AceVonDuck on Tazri/Zada

1 month ago

(I'm going to apologize in advance right now, since I was studying for an exam earlier and took some Adderall to help me focus. As a result, this comment is about to get a super wordy. Very sorry.

dichia on Tribal Plants

1 month ago

I considered Wall of Roots in the building. Eventually I chose Gatecreeper Vine because it gives me a land to drop with Explore, which would be useless if I don't have additional lands to play.

I see that Wall of Roots would mean having five more mana turn 3 though, which could help me getting a higher rate of turn 3 Avenger of Zendikar. I will try it out.

For Genesis Hydra, I was thinking of reducing its copies to 2 because to get some value out of it, it has to be very expensive and it still has a chance of not finding what I look for.

Thanks for the help

dichia on How to ramp fast

1 month ago

GoblinElectromancer, I was using Rampant Growth but I changed it for Explore cause it was slow and cause the latter has a better synergy with Gatecreeper Vine. The elves, birds, prism, hierarch give me more mana, but I need more lands. Sakura-Tribe Elder,Sakura-Tribe Scout, Azusa, Lost but Seeking and Arboreal Grazer are good and I already considered them. The problem is that I would need more cards that put lands in my hand. That would be a lot of slots and I don't really know what cards to remove to make space.

dichia on How to ramp fast

1 month ago

So I add the crazy idea of making a Tribal Plants Deck and I need to cast Avenger of Zendikar as fast as possible. I'm running mono green, and I need suggests on how to ramp. For now I'm running Search for Tomorrow and Explore that has a synergy with Gatecreeper Vine and makes me draw. But I'm not fast enough. Best I could do is six lands turn 3, but in the best case. Usually I'm able to drop seven lands (which is my aim) between turn 4 and 6. If there is a way to achieve that earlier and more often it would be great. Otherwise I will have to go for a more defensive style of play. Thanks for the help.