Helm of Obedience

Artifact

(X), Tap: Target opponent puts cards from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard until a creature card or X cards are put into that graveyard this way, whichever comes first. If a creature card is put into that graveyard this way, sacrifice Helm of Obedience and put that card into play under your control. X can't be 0.

Legality

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

Discussion (45)

wolfhead on Modern Horizons 3 Predictions/Wishlist

1 month ago

I've been hoping for fireblast for a few horizons now,

With all the free spells in modern now, why the hell not.

Would Goblin Welder be too far?

I think another free creature like one of the kobolds or Phyrexian Walker would be interesting.

The Fiery Confluence cycle would be cool and I don't think would affect much,

(I'm basically using that as a placeholder because there's been a couple commander-product cards printed over the last few years I've thought would be cool in modern but I can't remember any of them right now)

I would love to see pyroblast but I don't know if they'll feel obligated to print hydro too,

Personally, I would also love to see an interesting combo piece like Helm of Obedience,

And maybe something weird for combo/control like Arcane Denial.

I think a second Gravecrawler might be interesting and hopefully wouldn't lead to superlong turns,

I would LOVE a two-mana Doran, the Siege Tower more than any other card,

I think a strictly-better Wild Nacatl / Kird Ape wouldn't hurt nobody,

And I think Chain Lightning would be sweet.

I KIND of want that legacy infect spell that gains the opponent life, but that might be too far. Maybe Berserk? Deaths shadow wouldn't mind

I think there's design space for a bauble-like enchantment, but unholy heat kind of ruined that.

An electromancer with ward would be sweet, but wizards would never encourage storm gameplay so maybe with the text "you can only cast two spells a turn"?

Also, I think back to basics would be awesome, I don't care what would happen.

OUTinMinnesota on Deny & Delete

3 months ago

As of Jun 28, 2023, updates have been made to improve playability of this deck.

Playtesting with 2 opponents (3-player games) had revealed that the deck needed multiple methods that allow me to sacrifice Toluz, Clever Conductor when:

• I'm ready to; maybe because I want to scoop up all the cards being held in exile (ability of this commander)
• I need to short-circuit an opponent's attempt to exile Toluz, Clever Conductor

The deck now contains three cards to enable creature sacrifice:

• Ashnod's Altar
• Helm of Obedience
• Martyr's Cause

Other (Additional) Deck Changes:

New MTG creature cards have been released which allow the player to momentarily exile their own creatures:

• Gilraen, Dunedain Protector
• Oji, the Exquisite Blade

That's powerful for this deck, so those two cards have been added. They work well with the deck's function of sending permanents into exile, turn after turn:

• Angel of the Ruins
• Ashen Rider
• Basilica Bell-Haunt
• Soulherder

I'm eager to play this deck again.

Ammonzy on Temptation and Depravity [Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]

9 months ago

Profet93

Yes, I enjoy the redundancy of the maximum hand size effect as it's not unusual for the deck to have 7+ cards in hand. Especially once you have about 3-4 evasive creatures on board, Im more looking towards spamming Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor rather than play the deck itself. I believe the biggest strength of Gix as a commander is that the 99 is capable of investing into creatures, removal, and whatever subtheme you desire while not worrying about card draw cards or really win-con cards.

I'm also at a stage in my Magic life where I wish to play with more interesting cards rather than tried-and-true staples. Im even thinking of replacing Torment of Hailfire with Vorpal Sword as that would be a much more satisfying way to win or at least have impact on a game.

Helm of Obedience is cool but doesnt do enough for me to wish to spend $29 for a damaged copy minimum or around $40 for a moderated played lol.

Rings of Brighthearth definitely is a great card & I appreciate you teaching me about the possible interaction with fetchlands as I never thought about that. But I know most ppl associate Rings with a combo piece and draws lots of hate. But the ability to double Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor's ability for only an extra {2} is very sexy and aligns with what I want to do, so its more about what would I swap out for it.

Discard is a subtheme of the deck so I dont believe singular discard cards like Mind Twist are worth a slot because we dont have enough benefits from it. The discard theme is more so to play psychological games with our opponents. So for this, I only picked the best of the discard cards. I made an exception for Overwhelming Forces from my typical removal choices because I find myself in situations where 1 player is the obvious threat and I'm 2nd place, so I dont really wish to erase my board so that the whole table is equal.

Its a pretty greedy card but I think playing EDH requires a certain amount of greed in order to pull through certain games of (high powered) casual.

Contamination and Infernal Darkness probably would be great picks to make the deck more competitive. However I believe those cards would make my friends and other players hate this deck combined with the already high-salt theme of discard haha.

Profet93 on Temptation and Depravity [Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor]

9 months ago

Ammonzy

Thought Vessel > Spellbook. You also already have Vensers Journal. Given you have the journal, why not add Necropotence to synergize with it and for it's own benefit? Given you draw so much Alhammarret's Archive might be worth considering as well.

Helm of Obedience - Given it's on theme, can mess with topdeck tutors and is combo with leyline/Daruthi, it might be worth considering.

Your wincons are what I call "Big Black Mana." As such, Rings of Brighthearth would serve you well. Doubling your commander's activated ability, as well as it's combo with Coffers + Deserted temple to make infinite black mana, it should not be overlooked. If you were to add fetchlands, it's value would only increase.

Decree of Pain > Overwhelming forces - IMO, I would much rather destroy all creatures, even my own if it means digging further into my deck. Cycling is nice as it can be done at instant speed if needed.

Profet93 on You're Dun'd

9 months ago

You state it's a midrange deck, but with a combo wincon and an avg cmc of 2.14, this definitely seems like a control + combo deck IMO. I see you're trying to make infinite black mana, but the pieces utilized are several and are easy to disrupt, especially after your meta adjusts to your shenanigans. Rather than relying on rituals in conjunction with rings + basalt, why not utilize Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple + Rings = Infinite black mana? This eliminates the need for basalt monolith, which provides room for other cards. Furthermore, by having 2 pieces as lands, the combo is less susceptible to disruption.

You mention hand hate in your single card discussion in order to prevent removal for your combos. If your goal is to truly be a midrange deck, then adding higher CMC cards will allow you to be more resilient and more impactful during the mid-late game, as midrange decks thrive. As such, swapping in some of the 1 cmc hand hate cards for Mind Twist or my personal favorite silver bullet, Thought Distortion, you eliminate the potential of not discarding anything. Not to mention, distortion exiles graves too of all non-creature cards, so necrotic ooze can still utilize opponents activated abilities in grave. Mind twist is the better of the 2, especially if you can ramp into it early game.

You run contamination lock, awesome! You might want to consider redundancy in the form of Infernal Darkness. At best, it gives you a turn or 2. At worst, it's counterspell bait and force them to tap out during the main phase.

While not an entirely serious suggestion, something worth considering is Helm of Obedience, given you already run leyline void and the creature form of it. This redundancy will allow you to combo out more easily. Not to mention, helm disrupts topdeck tutors and can potentially get you something in a pinch should you need.

I prefer Soul-Guide Lantern > Tormods Crpyt, as it effects all opponents rather than 1 and be utilized for draw should grave hate not be needed.

I know Bolas Citadel is a combo with Aetherflux Reservoir but I don't see it in the list, does it combo with something else I am unaware of? I don't see it listed in the description.

Speaking of combos, unsure regarding your budget per card but Yawgmoth's Will (or the creature form whose name eludes me at midnight) might be worth considering to recur combo pieces like rings or help establish massive value given your artifact ramp and low cmc.

Volrath's Stronghold > Command Beacon. This allows you to keep your commander in grave and at the cost of your draw, you can get him back to recur another card (say, demonic tutor).

Buried Ruin - Recur rings

Deliver Unto Evil - Politics. I know most people hate cards that give opponents choices, but this can target A) Tutor B) Draw C) Combo D) Utility. It's another way of saying Damned if you do, damned if you don't except it doesn't cost 6 mana like choice of damnations

Feed the Swarm - Enchantment removal is nice, removes a pesky rest in peace. I see no artifact or enchantment removal, so having one silver bullet to enchantments could prove worthwhile depending on your meta.

I dont think you have enough artifacts for metalcraft to work on mox opal. How has it played for you? Would you not be better off served by something more consistent?

I used to run Xiahou dun until I changed it to Sidisi. Always love helping another Xiahou dun player win! Looking forward to your response for each item

Squee_Spirit_Guide on Magus of the Owls

11 months ago

Aah, of course! I had forgotten about the Leyline of the Void / Helm of Obedience combo. You'd actually need {5} because the Helm can't be activated for {0}, but it's still a possible turn 1 kill. It definitely fits with the "this combo will never actually work, but if it does that would be legend" theme of my deck :).

Andramalech on Magus of the Owls

11 months ago

• Leyline of the Void
• Demonic Consultation
• Spoils of the Vault
• Dark Ritual
• Helm of Obedience

You need some source of fast-mana that can net you into {4}, because having LoTV down turn 0 is key to winning on turn 1.

The next key piece is to have Helm of Obedience come down, resolve the ability with {0} as the cost, and tap.

The fun part is that when Helm's ability goes to resolve, no cards will ever technically hit the graveyard.. so..

..you mill out your opponent and they go for OTD (on the draw) and lose to having no draw.

This works assuming you're not up against a free cast counterspell.

DreadKhan on Zur The Enchanter - casual stax

1 year ago

I don't think you can use Vanishing to be unblockable, but I think you could wait until someone decides to block him, and if Zur would die, you can Phase him out and he's removed from combat, you'll still have gotten his attack trigger though.

You've got quite a few solid stax creatures (people often call them Hatebears) in here already, but I run Opposition Agent, Dauthi Voidwalker, Drannith Magistrate, Malevolent Hermit  ^Flip, and Archon of Emeria, as well as Wandering Archaic  ^Flip, which is very effective piece if people run lots of non-creature counters, such as more competitive playgroups.

Well, there are various ways you can win via Zur's ability, in my Zur deck my plan is to lock up the board and then win from a fairly safe position. To go with Spirit of the Labyrinth you could run Teferi's Puzzle Box and Necropotence to lock people out of having cards except you, who can draw via Necropotence. I also use Walking Ballista and Heliod, Sun-Crowned as a half-fetched combo. Because it only needed 1 card, I use Second Chance + Hall of Heliod's Generosity + Necropotence to get infinite extra turns, but you might need a way to get rid of Necropotence to let you draw cards normally, a thing Zur can also help with. Another option that people use (but is pricey) is Rest in Peace (or Voidwalker) and Helm of Obedience, which can help remove players by milling them out, if this seems bad keep in mind that with Mirrormade you can duplicate the Helm on the 2nd turn and eliminate up to 2 players that turn, which should close out a game. While it won't quite win you the game on the spot, there is (back of Hermit) Benevolent Geist and Dovescape so that only you can cast non-creatures. If you're worried about birds you can just use Detention Sphere to clear them out each turn via Estrid's Invocation, but if you've got the most birds, you can keep them around. I like my Zur decks to have a janky feel, so I also don't run Thassa's Oracle.

One of my favourite ways to win is All That Glitters with stuff like Copy Enchantment, Estrid's Invocation and Mirrormade to generate a Voltron win off of Zur's ability. For protection I just run Greater Auramancy, which helps both my Voltron and my general supply of enchantments I don't want targeted. The already mentioned Luminarch Ascension can be a solid win con once it's set up, 1W for a 4/4 flyer is really, really good value, even in cEDH people play the card in control decks.