Inquisition of Kozilek

Sorcery

Target player reveals his or her hand. You choose a nonland card from it with converted mana cost 3 or less. That player discards that card.

Discussion (51)

LVL_666 on Sorin to victory (orzhov vampires)

1 week ago

Hey Sorin_Markov_1947, I picked up on your deck from the "Advertise your Deck!" forum. Modern is not my format- but i'll critique it as best as I can to give you a meaningful comment. I've noticed your deck has a serious lack of interaction. You have very little in the way of removing obstacles for your vampires, or disrupting your opponent - and you're in Black- the color that's perfect for that. I'm not sure if the following suggestions deviate too far from intent/playstyle of your deck, but might you consider:

• Thoughtseize
• Inquisition of Kozilek

Additional note - you don't have a sideboard. At the very least you could include the previously mentioned as sideboard options. Additionally, with the lack of interaction you have zero recursion in the deck. Some of those vampires would really benefit your boardstate if you were to have them die in combat only to come right back during your 2nd main phase. The option i'd suggest is Call to the Netherworld . That, I would definitely try and work into the deck proper as opposed to just being a sideboard card.

Also, +1 for Sorin.

nUKe13 on nUKe13 Mardu Pyromancer

1 week ago

I have been AFK testing this new variant of Mardu Pyromancer and I think I have the ratios and inclusions that bring back that old familiar feeling of Mardu Pyromancer! I want to address some of the previous comments that I have now archived. Everything here on is brand spanking new!

JacenSolo29 I want to address some of the suggestions you made. As you can see, I actually did include one of them, so thank you for the suggestion! Kaya's Guile is a magnificent midrange/control inclusion that just fits perfectly in the sideboard against grave decks (few and far between, but still existent) and against burn for the life gain, edict/sacrifice effect, and chump blocking token. I usually bring it in in place of Kolaghan's Command or Bedlam Reveler for extra sustain. Honestly, a perfect inclusion for Mardu Pyromancer that just screams: "I do Orzhov things"! As for Monastery Mentor , it is always on my radar. I want it to work, but it just seems like an extra Young Pyromancer and always feels a turn late. I want to keep working on it, but it just doesn't fit, especially with being a splash color in the overall theme of the deck, it needs more testing.

YamishiTheWickedOne I want to try to address all your previous comments, that are under the first "update" tab. First, Seasoned Pyromancer is straight GAS. Literally, the nuts and the perfect breath of life that the deck needed to remain competitive. It's so good, that I've even seen it in Jund and Grixis Control decks as a sideboard option for card draw. Honestly, we need the full 4 copies and I would never EVER side out any of them!

YamishiTheWickedOne I tried Dreadhorde Arcanist , and it works well if you max out on every 1 cmc drop, like Inquisition of Kozilek , Thoughtseize , Fatal Push , and Path to Exile . However, since Faithless Looting got the ban axe, we need Ransack the Lab for card draw and it is 2 cmc and doesn't fit well with Dreadhorde Arcanist . It's an honest maybeboard card, but with the current build, it doesn't work.

YamishiTheWickedOne Blood Moon delays the inevitable against big mana decks. We need proactive choices that don't stall, like Fulminator Mage , Molten Rain , or Pillage . I've opted for Pillage so as to also kick some artifact behind, like Tron's plethora of artifacts and the occasional Affinity, since we can also destroy their manlands. Also, having sorcery spells help for all our creatures to trigger some type of additional VALUE advantage, minus Hazoret the Fervent .

YamishiTheWickedOne as for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician ... I don't like it, personally... it feels very "win-more" and doesn't work with the consistent in all the cmc of the cards. Besides, Plague Engineer literally takes a Phyrexian dump all over Human and other tribal decks. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician might need more testing, but I have not been excited to play him on turn 4 compared to other cards and combinations. Maybe one day he will be "emergency ban worthy" (really funny reference since I also was a Yugioh player before MtG), but as for now, he's "meh".

Thank you all for being so interested in the build and keeping the comment section alive and thriving! I appreciate the support and the enthusiasm! Here's to the future of Mardu Pyromancer!

Skullblade248 on Riftfire

1 week ago

You missed two important things Scarlet2009. Tron isn't some fast aggro deck. I would know, as I have tangled with it many times and won. Although you would probably call my tribal decks unfit for Modern or even Frontier (what they were designed for), I have beaten it. Generally, it requires an aggressive strategy. By going into Mono-Red, or even Rakdos, Wuzibo is opened up to cheap removal, and by going nearly creature-less, he could simply burn away most small creatures. He has a pretty good late game.

I'm not saying play Dark Petition on curve. No. You play it with spell mastery. Search for either Rift Bolt or Worldfire , depending on what you need. You get three black mana, which goes toward part of Worldfire's colorless cost. In one turn for 12 mana, you have the opponent screwed and with a near perfect way of assembling the combo.

Stormfist Crusader is card advantage and burn in one neat package. It's also a blocker. I wanted to suggest a way to draw into answers, tron, or the combo itself. It gives you an alternate way to kill the opponent. And by adding black, you can include hand attack for control such as Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek . And you say Stormfist Crusader isn't Modern viable? They said the same about Death's Shadow . Throne of Eldraine has been out for three days. THREE. DAYS. If I were you, I wouldn't put the card down yet.

I hope this explanation helps. It's one thing to make a toxic deck and another to call it bad, cute, or non-viable. I would know. That's all I was told when I started with my insane ambitions and look at me now. I can play decks made for other formats with Planeswalker decks inside and take first at FNM, an environment riddled with infinite combos, Tron, Infect, Affinity, Jund, and whatever the hell they call the deck with Wrenn and Six , As Foretold , and Progressive Stage IV Rhino Disease.

Sorry for rambling.

Saljen on BW Knights

1 week ago

I'd drop the Anguished Unmaking and Mortify for Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek . The former are cards that would be better suited for your sideboard, you've got 4x Path to Exile for removal. This will also drastically lower your average CMC, letting you cast more things per turn and have more efficient disruption in game 1. Honestly, I'd drop Gideon of the Trials as well and just run 3x Thoughtseize and 3x Inquisition of Kozilek in the mainboard.

ToolmasterOfBrainerd on Flame On (Grixis Control)

1 week ago

alexjustdoit Unfortunately, I don't have time to play modern during the school year. And frankly, I don't think this decklist is very good.

But I've been thinking about Grixis in my free time, and I think Unearth should be incorporated into the deck. Graveyard hate has declined, so we can start dipping into graveyard synergies again.

I've become convinced that Force of Negation is not the way to go. I like the card, but modern doesn't require it. It doesn't counter creatures, and Wurmcoil Engine and Primeval Titan are creatures that we want to counter.

I think Inquisition of Kozilek , Kolaghan's Command , and Tasigur, the Golden Fang have never been better. Tasigur and Inquisition are really good vs Burn, which is the most popular deck right now. K-command beats artifacts and midrange, aka Whirza and Jund, so it's really good. Tron is the only problem, but Fulminator Mage out of the sideboard can make the matchup passable.

I really like the idea of Nimble Obstructionist , and I'm going to keep testing it, but I think it's a little too slow in practice. Unearth might be able to fix its problems.

I'm not sure where counterspells fit into Grixis right now. We need to play a few, or we're playing a worse deck than Jund. I think 2 Spell Snare is the best way to start, with a split of Mana Leak and Countersquall , and maybe 2 Cryptic. And I like Force or Dispel or Countersquall or Disdainful Stroke in the sideboard, depending mostly on how the Tron and Burn matchups feel.

If you want to play grixis with counterspells, I highly highly recommend 6-8 counterspells in the main with another 3-4 in the sideboard.

DuTogira on So I have an interesting ...

2 weeks ago

I’ve been out of the modern meta for way too long to make any definitive statements here... but your burn matchup looks really rough. No removal before turn 3 if you don’t draw Fatal Push , forced discard is notoriously lackluster against a deck of basically all Lightning Bolt , little in the way of blockers... I mean yeah you could always get lucky and take the play with Inquisition of Kozilek , Snapcaster Mage x2, and a Bolas to try to close the game fast... but that’s not a consistent gameplan.
Spell Snare stands out as an interesting call to me. Has modern really returned to a spot where snare is good again?
The most valuable feedback you could get regarding modern Grixis would come from ToolmasterOfBrainerd.

ToolmasterOfBrainerd on Grixis Control

2 weeks ago

I'm down for that.

Concerning counterspells, a lot of my opinions of counterspells in modern are shaped by the old meta of Humans and Phoenix. Phoenix ate the hammer and Humans has basically died. Looking at the metagame, counterspells look really good right now. So they are probably as good as you say and my reluctance is an artifact of being out-of-touch with the meta.

I do want to say that counterspells are a terrible way to answer creatures. Creature-heavy decks tend to rely on Aether Vial and Cavern of Souls . Again, Humans is basically gone, so you can actually mana leak creatures again, but I'm still wary of the lingering anti-countermagic cards. Spell Snaring a Tarmogoyf , Stoneforge Mystic , or Eidolon of the Great Revel are among the best feelings in modern. Especially Eidolon. Historically I've loved Terminate ; these days Dreadbore is decent.

Targeted discard I can swing over and agree. If you're trying to set up to slam Bolas, discard spells look a lot better.

I still disagree on cantrips. They are good precisely because you have diversity in your answers. You will invariably need to find a particular card or card type. If you need to kill a Tarmogoyf, then you want to use your cantrips to find Fatal Push and avoid hitting, say, Inquisition of Kozilek or Mana Leak when it's already too late. Opt is very lackluster in general. I'd play Serum Visions instead. It feels so much better to cast. Sorcery-speed is fine; especially if you already have Inquisition and Thoughtseize.

I still think Vraska's Contempt is standard crap. It seems very very mediocre vs Jund. Against Jund, efficiency is where you can stay ahead. That matchup is won by trading favorably early (spell snare the Wrenn and Six , bolt the Bob, push the Scooze, mana leak the Liliana), and then pulling way ahead with Snapcaster Mage , Kolaghan's Command , Cryptic Command , and planeswalkers. Vraska's Contempt is so mana-inefficient. And it doesn't do anything meaningfully better than Lightning Bolt .

On the flip side, there are so many problems with Vraska's Contempt vs Tron, and that approach to Tron as a whole. Without testing the matchup, I expect that your Tron matchup is nearly unwinnable in game 1. Even if you can counter the planeswalkers, they will get you with Ulamog or Wurmcoil. In the long run, they almost always have more threats than you have answers. I have found that keeping them off of tron is the best way to beat them, but it's never better than 50/50.

Going 14 turns is fine, but the big mana decks love to feast on this style of deck. Especially Amulet Titan and Tron. Amulet Titan can fetch Cavern of Souls to push Titans through, and once the chain starts it's almost impossible to keep up with removal spells.

ToolmasterOfBrainerd on Grixis Control

2 weeks ago

So, I've played a lot of Grixis, and I am very supportive of Bolas in Grixis.

I have a few inputs. First, you have a lot of counterspells. I've had very good luck by playing a little heavier on the removal in game 1 and then packing more counterspells in the sideboard for when you want them. There are too many matchups where counterspells are dead. Humans is the biggest offender, but it has fallen off in popularity. You can maybe get away with the counterspells now, but the meta has been very hostile to them for a long time.

I don't like your particular split of counterspells. You should want to counter Primeval Titan , Reality Smasher , Wurmcoil Engine . Cryptic Command is the best for doing this. I like 3 copies in a grixis control deck, but 4 might be fine in your list.

I'm very on the fence about whether I like Force of Negation . I find myself casting it for 3 mana almost always, and I don't exactly enjoy it even when I pitch to cast it for free. I almost want like 2 Spell Snare , 3 Mana Leak , and 3 Cryptic Command in the main with 2 Countersquall and 2 Dispel or Disdainful Stroke in the board.

So, the thing with grixis and hard control is that we don't have anything like Assassin's Trophy or Detention Sphere . We can't deal with any permanent. I solve this by playing tempo. Tasigur, the Golden Fang is, in my opinion, one of the best cards in Grixis. By playing an early Tasigur, trading for a few turns, and then going Bolt-Snap-Bolt on their endstep into swinging with Tasigur, Snap, and Tar Pit, you can close games out of nowhere. Of course, this isn't the same hard control as you initially set out to play.

Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are pretty bad in hard control. They're crappy topdecks and tempo-negative. I totally agree that they're powerful and probably make the deck better, but there's merit to adjusting the deck to support them better.

I advocate for cantrips. Drawing what you want is really helpful. I'm highly opposed to Vraska's Contempt .

Sorry if this is rambly. I'm writing it in a really distracting environment.