Gyre Sage

Creature — Elf Druid

Evolve (Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, if it has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)

Add for each +1/+1 counter on this creature.

Discussion (50)

eliakimras on Ghired - Precon Primal Genesis - Heavy Upgrade

4 days ago

Hey! Kinda late, but I would like to suggest some stuff:

(Disclaimer: I have a budget way lower than yours, but I've been tinkering with Ghired for almost two years - he's my favorite commander. I'll break the suggested upgrades down into categories for better organization.)

Haste enablers:

• You need them for Ghired and his tokens to attack right away, as well as to use your creatures with tap abilities on demand. Please consider Hammer of Purphoros in addition to Lightning Greaves and Fires of Yavimaya. The Hammer can even create tokens if needed.

Ramp: Run at least 15 ramp cards to make your deck flow smoother and faster.

• As an aggressive deck, speed is fundamental. Fellwar Stone, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Skyshroud Elf, Bloom Tender, Faeburrow Elder, Chromatic Lantern, Coalition Relic, Wood Elves, Skyshroud Claim and Mirari's Wake can ramp and heavily fix your mana, taking the place of Gyre Sage, Solemn Simulacrum, Rampant Growth, Sakura-Tribe Elder and Xenagos, the Reveler - the latter is a win-more ramp, and his 2/2 token is not large enough to synergize with the power-based card draw, while the other four fix for a single color of mana (Ghired decks can sometimes be color-hungry), and this deck can't abuse the sad robot for value.

• In the land department, Krosan Verge and Blighted Woodland pull their weight, and synergize greatly with Avenger of Zendikar and Rampaging Baloths. Maybe remove Cascading Cataracts? (Your spells are not THAT color hungry.)

Direct damage:

• Have you considered Warstorm Surge and Terror of the Peaks as a mean to do damage even before attacking? The dragon can even be cloned with Flamerush Rider, Flameshadow Conjuring and Soul Foundry for extra copies of the same effect (the game ends quiiiickly after that). I'd remove Dragonmaster Outcast for that, since its effect is slow (albeit amazing if he lasts on the field).

• Talking about damage, how about doubling it? Gratuitous Violence, Fiery Emancipation, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Angrath's Marauders and True Conviction can assist you on that.

Extra combats: You don't have to worry about your opponents' answers if they never get to their turn, so...

• Moraug, Fury of Akoum, Aurelia, the Warleader, Combat Celebrant, Scourge of the Throne (I believe there is an infinite combo involving those two), Savage Beating, Response / Resurgence, Breath of Fury (always attach it to your disposable tokens to keep attacking).

Boardwipes:

• Winds of Abandon might replace Hour of Reckoning. I don't really like to lose Ghired on a boardwipe, since he costs 7 mana to recast. Winds of Abandon also works as evasion for your creatures, since your opponents won't have creatures to block. As for the ramp it offers, an opponent can't do anything with the extra lands if he/she's dead, right? :-)

• Blasphemous Act/Vanquish the Horde plus Boros Charm/Heroic Intervention is a good combo that saves your creatures while taking your opponents' creatures out for not a lot of mana.

Card draw: Alongside ramp, it is my main concern with Ghired. I want to be able to rebuild my board after a boardwipe.

• Garruk's Uprising is a better Colossal Majesty, even giving evasion to your creatures.

• I believe that Camaraderie can be substituted for Shamanic Revelation as the latter cost less mana. Mouth / Feed is another option that creates its own big token. Return of the Wildspeaker can either draw cards or buff creatures for an alpha strike.

• Keeper of Fables triggers all other power-based card draw, while giving easy draw triggers to all your trampling creatures. Elder Gargaroth is a buffed, more versatile version of it. And remember: both can be cloned for extra juicy draw or extra tokens.

• Sylvan Library is an overall great card filter for your regular draws. It gets better with shufflers like fetchlands and tutors.

• Since your deck is focused on attacking and getting extra combat steps, Etali, Primal Storm might be a fun way to play your opponents' cards while lowering their life points.

Some cards I suggest you to remove:

• Sundering Growth: you already have enough flexible removal. You will almost never be in a situation in which the token to copy and the artifact/enchantment to remove are optimal choices. Since you're running Eladamri's Call, Reclamation Sage might be worth including (and cloned for the enjoyment of your friends).
• Starnheim Unleashed: one token is too little for a whole card slot in the deck. If you're foretelling, it costs a lot of mana to be worthwhile. The game might be over before that.
• Growing Ranks: waiting a whole rotation to get a token which does not even have haste is not ideal.
• Ghired's Belligerence, Full Flowering: good for a late game play, mostly dead until then. I like those, but I removed them in favor of more mid-game cards, since I might not last until 9+ mana.
• Trostani, Selesnya's Voice: while on-theme, it does little to advance your win condition.
• Thunderfoot Baloth: not an amazing buff. Your creatures are big already, and Garruk's Uprising takes care of the evasion.
• Feldon of the Third Path: all-star when there is a lot of graveyard filling - there is none in this deck. (I really tried to keep him on my deck because I like the card, but most of the time there was no creature in my graveyard.)
• Eldrazi Displacer: are you using it for a combo? I couldn't identify it.

Some cool lands for you to try out: (landbase is my favorite part of deckbuilding)

• Castle Garenbrig: how easily do you have access to a Forest for it to be worth including in your deck?
• Rogue's Passage: can sometimes help you to finish an opponent.
• Scavenger Grounds: if you face graveyard-centric decks (you don't seem to use your graveyard much).
• Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld: another haste enabler.
• Gargoyle Castle: sometimes you need a flying token. (I rarely use it, but I like to have the option.)
• Gemstone Caverns: a turn-0 ramp when the first turn is not yours.
• Bonders' Enclave: card draw on a land (easily accessible).
• Mana Confluence, Battlefield Forge, Karplusan Forest, Brushland, Horizon Canopy, Sunbaked Canyon, Prismatic Vista, Cragcrown Pathway  ^Flip, Branchloft Pathway  ^Flip, Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip: more untapped dual lands.

I hope I've been of some help to you. I didn't suggest many token-related cards because I believe that, as long as you have decent ramp, draw and removal in your deck, you can win to your heart's content. Wanna throw in a Godsire? Do it. Prefer to clone your opponents' creatures with Hate Mirage? Go ahead. But the fundamentals of the deck is what makes it flow consistently. Have fun and smash 'em all (and run Doubling Season for extra fun) ;-)

wallisface on Mono-Green counters

1 month ago

The deck looks fine. There are a bunch of cards that feel too slow to run personally (most notably Gyre Sage, Swarm Shambler, Tireless Tracker, Voracious Hydra). There’re also a bunch of cards i’d be expecting a deck like this to have which appear to be missing (Pelt Collector, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Cloudfin Raptor, Thrummingbird). So the list overall feels ok, but not as fine-tuned as it could be, imo.

As far as bad matchups, that’s where your sideboard comes in - at the moment I would suggest this is the spot that needs the most attention if you’re getting competitive.

Some sideboard cards to consider:

• Void Mirror for Crashing Footfalls and Living End

• fast graveyard removal. Scavenging Ooze is alright, but there are many 0-1 mana artifacts that can get the job done better. Surgical Extraction is also good.

• anti-combo, I’m thinking Damping Sphere, and Dismember.

• artifact hate.

Now, the quantities of the above will depend on your own local meta, as well as how badly they scare your deck. Sideboard choices should always be focused towards your local competitive playgroup. Saying that, the above mentioned suggestions are likely to come in handy.

Other things to consider as far as good-vs-bad matchups, for your sideboard choices:

• don’t worry about control, imo. You should be aiming to be fast enough to have the advantage. Saying that, do consider the likes of Veil of Summer if it’s an issue (though i would say, if it is an issue, it’s because your mainboard isn’t tuned enough).

• Board wipes feel like they could pose a big threat for you

• Burn, and other hyper-aggro decks are probably going to have an advantage

flytyer97 on Big Mana Dryads

4 months ago

Might I recommend the following cards? Hamza, Guardian of Arashin, Mindless Automaton, Juniper Order Ranger, Iridescent Hornbeetle, Ridgescale Tusker, and Fertilid. Here are some cheaper rares that would make good additions if you desire! Felidar Retreat, Cathars' Crusade, and Gyre Sage

carpecanum on

4 months ago

Llanowar Reborn and Nesting Grounds to bring your lands up to 34.

Gyre Sage in place of another mana dork

Cytoplast Root-Kin, Primeval Protector, Ridgescale Tusker

There are a couple other decent creatures with "Graft" and there are a ton of artifact creatures that enter the battlefield with counters

KayneMarco on All Hail Zaxara!

4 months ago

Have got some cards ideas to think about possibly adding to your list

• Doubling Cube to double your mana
• Elementalist's Palette and
• Empowered Autogenerator will produce more and more mana every time you use them
• Bloom Tender
• Circle of Dreams Druid produces more mana for every creature you control
• Gyre Sage produces more mana for every creature or token you cast or make
• Incubation Druid
• Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
• Esix, Fractal Bloom to make copies of mana dorks

Another thing to consider is replacing your counterspells and creature removal with X drop versions for producing more hydra tokens.

raefgall on Infect & Proliferate

5 months ago

This looks like it could definitely be scary once it gets going. Very dedicated to its theme.

From a general construction sense, it could probably use a few less lands, a bit more ramp and card draw, and a few less cards on the top end (the mana curve leans high).

Some good mana staples that would help and fit the theme: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Commander's Sphere, Fellwar Stone, Everflowing Chalice, Astral Cornucopia, Solemn Simulacrum, Fertilid, Gyre Sage, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Incubation Druid, Rampant Growth

Since your goal is to get poison counters on ASAP (so that proliferate matters), stuff like Ichor Rats and Plague Stinger would be good additions. Grafted Exoskeleton and Phyresis can make it so some of your other creatures can contribute to the poison damage count. Viridian Corrupter and Relic Putrescence both give you a way to give poison counters while also serving as artifact removal of a sort.

For cards to potentially remove, there are a few that fit the theme, but may be harder to get the benefit from. Melira, Sylvok Outcast and Second Chance don't do too much for you. Door of Destinies doesn't really have a good tribe to name.

There is a sort of sacrifice sub-theme going on that doesn't feel like it fully pans out. The Arcbound creatures are on the expensive side and you don't have a ton of artifact creatures to move the counters onto. Plus, if they hit for regular damage, they're not going to contribute to your infect plan. Throne of Geth and Plaguemaw Beast give repeatable proliferate, but you don't have a ton of things that you want to sacrifice, or ways to get things back from the graveyard to recur them. Martyr for the Cause and Roalesk, Apex Hybrid are only really good if you get exactly Plaguemaw Beast.

zapyourtumor on Modern Hydra

5 months ago

Ram Through > Rabid Bite

I don't see why you shouldn't go 4x Hardened Scales. Also I'd drop Llanowar Elves for a full playset of Utopia Sprawl.

Gyre Sage seems like another funny ramp option here. And I'd definitely move the Kalonian Hydra from maybeboard to mainboard it's just such a must-answer threat.

Mtydemon on Attack of the Hydra

5 months ago

Not sure about Simic hydra? never checked it as green ramp can be really fast.

I used to play the Utopia Sprawl but it didn't feel as fast as those Elvish Archdruid . I like the suggestion of Voyaging Satyr as it works like an Arbor Elf . Gyre Sage also is a bit to slow i think as you have to spawn creatures first to ramp the mana while the goal should be to ramp mana to spawn creatures but will play test it.

Deff gonna swap Pit Fight for Ram Through , seems like a good hitter.

Not sure about Hydra Broodmaster because of the lack of trample and the usability of the already added hydras. It will be a full turn to use the monstrosity and then a full turn to attack. I'm thinking to sideboard 2 of them for multiplayer or against non-blue decks and swap them with Mistcutter Hydra .

Unbound Flourishing I will deff add.