Helm of Awakening

Artifact

Spells cost less to play.

Discussion (51)

Optimator on Giant's Deck

1 week ago

So let's start with ramp.

Quicksilver Amulet and Belbe's Portal are great and what I call "pseudo-ramp". Definitely worth having but you will still want a full compliment of regular ramp cards. I don't love Cryptic Gateway nearly as much. Even though giants are expensive, you aren't always going to have two out, and tapping them down to bring one out means you can't attack with them unless you have mass vigilance (which is not a bad idea though--I see you have Brave the Sands; a card I love). It's not awful though, but I'd rather have regular ramp. It's better in decks with cheap AND expensive creatures.

I love that you have a Semblance Anvil. Sol Ring is obvious. I would drop Helm of Awakening. It will help your opponents significantly more than you. If you're only casting one big giant a turn then it's the same as a small mana rock.

I would drop Pyretic Ritual as well.

hejtmane on Infinite Combo Help

4 weeks ago

on the Senei top Mystic Forge also allows for top casting is colorless Cloud Key andHelm of Awakening having Leyline of Anticipation or Vedalken Orrery allow for playing of the top of the library at flash

RiotRunner789 on

1 month ago

Painful Quandary is perfect for life drain, as is Bloodchief Ascension (which also gives you life).

I would also caution against Helm of Awakening. I know it is there to help you storm off but it will help the izzit players or other storm players more.

Expedition Map would be good here to grab your coffers.

Massacar on Budget Kozilek Ramp

2 months ago

I would consider adding more artifact ramp cards to increase the speed you can cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion.

All of these cards are relatively budget (they cost between 1-4 dollars on average), I could suggest more depending on how "budget" this deck is.

Basalt Monolith, Fellwar Stone, Fractured Powerstone, Gilded Lotus, Lotus Petal, Ur-Golem's Eye

Also Helm of Awakening to lower all of your mana costs.

Tylord2894 on Fox Offering+Commander tax?

2 months ago

Commander tax is just like any other taxing effect. It does not affect the CMC of a spell nor does it bar you from casting a spell "without paying its mana cost".

When determining what you have to pay for a spell, there are four steps. First, determine the "base cost" of the spell by taking the printed cost or alternative cost, if applicable, and substituting any with the chosen value. Next, take the base cost of the spell and add any taxes, such as the Command tax but also effects like Sphere of Resistance. Then, subtract any discounts, such as Helm of Awakening and the Fox Offering effect of Patron of the Kitsune. Lastly, apply the effect of Trinisphere if it's out.

In short, the Command Tax is just like any other taxing effect. It does not change the CMC of a spell/permanent. One of the only times that a spell's CMC differs from what's printed on its card is when there is an in the mana cost.

Hope this helps!!

Phroggy1 on talrand 100 buck's

2 months ago

0rc thank you for commenting and replying on the deck. so in consideration to your Mass Polymorph and Synthetic Destiny lines of play and why i don't run them in this deck. #1 is BUDGET. the fact we don't have access to the mox's, crypts, vaults, petals and other costly fast mana we need to be blistering fast at getting the combo pieces together consistently, we are confined into shifting to a slower, grindier gameplan, relying on our control magic to draw longer games. we do not win turn 3 with this deck, but neither do our opponents. #2 is the extreme cost to cast these cards (again lack of solid ramp) means we don't typically get those cast off till later in the game and with the amount of cards we draw through recur able permanent based spells, possibility of these cards whiffing does exist. i have honestly thought about Dizzy Spell and Drift of Phantasms the dizzy spell main mode by itself is very rarely relevant so i have not included it, both cards are certainly slot-table via pilots choice. FOR THE REST OF THE SUGGESTION,many are decent options Delay especially solid i may look for a copy and then try to determine where a slot may exist. things to remeber 4 mana counters are BAD. overwhelming denial may seem to be a great card, but we are not using our counterspells for protection 99% of the time, in those instances likely we will not get to pay the surge cost for the card, as well we shy away from double blue pips in our 2 and 3 mana spells as much as possible to be able to get the mana reduction benefits from Baral, Chief of Compliance, Jace's Sanctum Helm of Awakening these cards can make so much impact on our deck allowing us to play spells like Snap Unwind and actually be mana positive. lol TCG low has me almost 5 bucks under, and i can't change the title now because the links i have posted would no longer work,. :D cheers

jaymc1130 on

3 months ago

So, the first thing to consider about Consult Oracle lines of play in strictly Dimir lists is does the commander offer a significantly better reason to play them over the default Dimir option in Yuriko. In the case of Dralnu the answer is actually yes. While Yuriko is liable to be the better over all performer against the meta at large, Dralnu offers the opportunity to play a more control/stax oriented role effectively in a way that Yuriko struggles with and be potentially more effective in longer grindier affairs.

At first glance, some of the things that strike me as potential card slots that could be put to a better purpose are the sorcery speed draw effects like Night's Whisper and Shimmer of Possibility. 2 mana for card selection generally isn't where a competitive list wants to be as it becomes difficult to keep up mana to also interact or threaten interaction in a color set up that lacks access to green ramp sources for the most consistent mana resource build up. This is likely to be a bit less than as ideal as a pilot would want in a large sample size of games. The 3 mana tutors are also a bit out of place in a competitive list as they tend not to be effective enough in competitive settings.

The second thing that jumps out at me is the land count in a deck that again lacks access to quality green ramp play patterns. Most competitive decks have moved to land counts of 29 and 30 as baseline since the days of the "games end on turn 3 or 4" meta state (which in itself was never really true in the most competitive settings) are long past and it's important for a deck to make land drops consistently in games that will commonly be going 5-10 turns in the most competitive settings as players jockey for position in "mexican standoff" game states to set up a game winning turn. In general, competitive decks are going to want to run about 46 total mana sources as a rule of thumb, with about 15 or 16 of those sources coming from various ramping methods like dorks, rocks, and enchantments (rocks being the only real option in Dimir colors, and 16 a count that can't realistically be reached with quality rocks).

3 important cards to consider given what's already in this list would be Counterbalance, Mystic Forge, and any artifact cost reducer such as Helm of Awakening as these cards offer additional control elements and an additional combo line that allows the player to draw out the deck for the win (either by looping a win condition and adding loop enabling pieces in place of less live win conditions like Aetherflux Reservoir, or by playing the primary win conditions in Oracle and Jace Maniac).

With both Twister and Windfall also in this list it would be of great benefit to enable wheel win lines with the inclusion of Notion Thief and Narset, Parter of Veils as these cards are extremely strong performing stax pieces that are universally effective (every deck in the format needs to draw more cards) in addition to comboing with wheel lines of play to establish massive advantages that consistently lead to winning game states.

Toxic Deluge is an effective sweeper piece that should be considered in place of, or in addition to, Damnation.

Ashiok, Dream Render is an incredibly potent card in the competitive meta these days that warrants inclusion in any deck in Dimir colors. It's a universal hate piece along two different angles of attack: preventing tutoring of the deck for opponents, and exiling graveyards stocked with critical pieces.

Scroll Rack becomes a powerful tool with the inclusion of Counterbalance and these two should often be considered together as part of a Counterbalance Package to cement the control/lockdown game plan in games where this line of play is the one drawn in the early stages.

Gush without Doomsday is generally a slot that could also be better served by a different card.

At first glance, these are the things that kind of jump out at me and some of them may not be options for you based on budget or playgroup decisions. But it's a list that looks mostly very solid from a competitive standpoint and with a couple of tweaks something that could be strong enough to keep up with Kess Consult, Urza Tyrant, or Gitrog Dredge in the third tier of competitive decks where there are is a large number of archetypes that consistently best the meta at large and hold their own against tier 3, 2, and 1 decks.

Serabelle on Avacyn Worldslayer

3 months ago

Hey, nice to see someone else is trying to make Avacyn competitive! Here are some thoughts from my own Avacyn deck, I’m still in the process of building it as well. :)

Ramp:

• Rocks such as Fractured Powerstone over Worn Powerstone may be helpful (just because the latter comes in tapped which kinda delays your board setup)

• Personally I like Helm of Awakening, Thought Vessel and Arcane Signet. These are cheap rocks that don’t come in tapped allowing you to ramp a little more efficiently (especially since white needs all the help it can get with ramp)

Card Quality:

• Card Draw options for white: The Immortal Sun, Illuminated Folio, Endless Atlas, Mangara, the Diplomat, Mind's Eye and Treasure Map  ^Flip (combos very nicely with Smothering Tithes)

• Scroll Rack combos well with Land Tax and helps with card quality

• Sensei's Divining Top (Card quality)

Protecting Avacyn:

• Avacyn is a huge threat and most people will definitely try to stop you from using her by: countering her summoning, exiling her, -x/-x, sacrifice, copying or stealing her.

• Teferi's Protection is complete board protection. Probably the best defense white has.

• Effects like Otherworldly Journey or Long Road Home allow you to save her from exile board wipes, Cyclonic Rift and the like.

• Arcane Lighthouse is useful in circumstances that someone copies or steals your Avacyn.

• Whispersilk Cloak can also combo well with Worldslayer (just be sure to equip Worldslayer first).

Spot Removal:

• Oblation (shuffles back into deck)

• Condemn (puts attacking creature at the bottom of its owner’s library)

Counter Spells: (Not that there are many in white).

• Lapse of Certainty

• Mana Tithe

Stax:

• Ghostly Prison (useful with low monster count decks)

• Angel of Jubilation

• Deafening Silence or Rule of Law

• Blind Obedience

• Crackdown

• Void Winnower (works well with Avacyn)

• Angelic Arbiter

Potential Planeswalkers:

• Elspeth Tirel (Token blockers, board wipes)

• Elspeth, Sun's Champion (token blockers, board wipes)

• Elspeth, Knight-Errant (“Avacyn” emblem, which could help take some focus off her)

Good Luck! I hope the deck building goes well! :)