Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur

Legendary Creature — Praetor

Flash

At the beginning of your end step, draw seven cards.

Each opponent's maximum hand size is reduced by seven.

Discussion (51)

bossomus on Wheelin' & Dealin' (Damage)

2 days ago

Thanks for the suggestions king-saproling!

I decided that of your suggestions, I do like Burning Inquiry , Dream Salvage , Psychic Possession , and Forced Fruition . However, I'm having a hard time figuring out what to cut for a lot of these cards? I'm thinking that Prosperity could easily be cut as can Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur , but other than those two, I have no idea.

Also, the rest of the cards you recommended fit the theme great, but I don't like having lots of synergy pieces that rely on creatures staying on the board. That's why I try to mostly use pieces like Spiteful Visions and Underworld Dreams which are a bit harder to remove and don't die to board wipe.

Thanks for all your help!

SideBae on Alela, control-aggro

1 week ago

Hey! So I have some suggestions: feel free to ignore any/all of them.

1. There's a reason Ponder and Preordain are banned in Modern, and it's because they're stupid-good cards. Being able to dig you to what you need and past what you don't for one blue mana is a REALLY powerful effect, even if the cards themselves may not look as powerful as they are. I highly suggest including them. I like that you're already running Brainstorm , though I think running two+ more fetches would be ideal; you don't want to get locked with two dead cards on top of your deck.

2. I do not think Path to Exile is good in EDH. Ramping your opponent in a format with everyone trying to do busted things is rarely anything short of a bad idea, and is frequently dangerous. (Note that your Ashiok, Dream Render does not stop opponents searching off YOUR spells.) As I see it, you may be better off just running another card-draw spell, which would dig you to more potent removal; I suggest Painful Truths . Three-mana: draw-three is a hard rate to beat, and I've been very impressed with it in my Tasigur, the Golden Fang list.

3. You have some good artifact ramp, but I think it can be improved. I really like that all your rocks are two or less mana -- three-mana mana-rocks are simply not good enough a lot of the time, especially with a four-mana commander. Unfortunately, a lot of the best ramp in EDH is very expensive: Mana Crypt and Mox Diamond come to mind. I do have some other suggestions though. Consider at least a few of the following: Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Hierarchy , Talisman of Progress , Fellwar Stone (which is admittedly a worse Arcane Signet , but still good), Mind Stone , Everflowing Chalice and/or Thought Vessel .

4. Whir of Invention is a card you may wish to consider. It can grab your Bolas's Citadel late-game, but more importantly it acts as a to-battlefield tutor for things like your Cursed Totem or Skullclamp . Also, it's instant speed.

5. If you want to run things like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Consecrated Sphinx , I suggest you think about a reanimation package. In general, these duders will be tough to cast, and being able to cheat them into play will give you a competitive advantage. Entomb and Buried Alive are the best ways to bin your targets (though there are others, like Liliana of the Veil or your maybe-board Frantic Search ), and you can then use spells like Animate Dead , Dance of the Dead , Necromancy , Reanimate or Unburial Rites to profit for less mana than usual. Intuition is a fun (if not cheap) card to pair with Unburial Rites and some reanimation targets, thought the precise pile may be tough to determine. Also, due to your colors, you may even consider Dreams of the Dead . The cumulative upkeep can be tough, but if you run something like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur then you'll be able to do your damage within a turn-cycle or so, and the upkeep won't matter.

6. Your mana curve is pretty consistently low. I think you should at least playtest Counterbalance , since you already have the Sensei's Divining Top . Counterbalance does tend to be a high variance card, and it may end up being more of a preference-call than a meta-call. But I like it, so I figured I'd mention it.

7. I'm not sure how good Hushbringer is, since it stops your Skullclamp from triggering... You may be better off with just a Spirit of the Labyrinth or such.

8. Depending on how often you get to five mana, Divine Visitation could be a win-condition in itself in this deck. Making a 4/4 every time you cast an artifact or enchantment seems... good.

9. Mystic Remora is good. In less-experienced metas, it is often an Ancestral Recall ; even if people know that it's better just to wait it out, Mystic Remora will still buy you time to develop your board and make land-drops while opponents try to outlast it. Being one mana was a mistake, but it's here, so what the hell.

Right. That's all I got. Good luck!

SideBae on [cEDH] Chulane's Bounce House

3 weeks ago

I highly, highly suggest putting in Ponder , Preordain and Brainstorm . These may not look like much, but they belong in every blue deck -- Brainstorm especially since you already have fetches like Wooded Foothills . They dig for whatever you need whenever you need it.

Narset, Parter of Veils is very quickly becoming a staple in blue. Since you're running a largely creature-based deck, her minus ability will not likely be relevant; however, her static ability more than makes up for that, especially if you choose to run something like Windfall (you should).

I think you'll probably have more luck with Craterhoof Behemoth and Natural Order than with Finale of Devastation . Also, Triumph of the Hordes is kinda stupid-good.

With your Arbor Elf , consider Utopia Sprawl and Wild Growth . By themselves these enchantments represent the same value as a one-mana mana dork (occasionally more), but with Arbor Elf out they become particularly good.

Words of Wind is a great card I've always enjoyed. In all likelihood, you'll have better things to do with Aluren while your general is out, but this may be fine in itself as a method of slowing down your opponents. This becomes especially powerful if you run something like Elvish Visionary , which in turn is powerful if you run Wirewood Symbiote . (For more on Visionary, Symbiote and friends, see Legacy Elves.)

If you're planning on fetching Aluren with Academy Rector , you should at least consider Omniscience . It's more mana to cast, but its better if you fetch it off Rector and with the amount of mana I suspect this deck is capable of generating, hardcasting it is totally conceivable.

If you meta is heavy with the counter-magic, Veil of Summer is REALLY good. Similarly, Carpet of Flowers and Compost can be powerful in the right meta. Aura Shards is similarly powerful, the difference being that it is pretty much good in ANY meta. In more powerful metas, you may have luck with Lavinia, Azorius Renegade -- I know I have.

Survival of the Fittest is a fun card. Consider including Loyal Retainers for a reanimation package. Pitching a creature to find a legendary creature, then pitching the legendary creature to find the retainers means that you can pretty easily reanimate Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur . Though this does not necessarily go with your combo-win condition, both of these can end a game on their own and may be worth including anyways. (Historical note: This combo is why Iona, Shield of Emeria is now banned.)

I don't know your budget, but since you're already running Force of Will I feel I should point out that Mana Drain is a strictly better Counterspell . If you have access, including it or sub-ing it in seem good.

You may want to consider actually REMOVING some combo pieces. In my experience, combo decks lose power with more than two or sometimes three combo win-conditions, simply because they end up with higher likelihoods of drawing into non-compatible halves of combos. If you choose to go this route and remove something like Isochron Scepter , Collector Ouphe and Stony Silence seem like really, really good cards to include.

Cyclonic Rift is an amazing boardwipe, at instant speed.

Waterlogged Grove is a good land to consider, as is Horizon Canopy if you have access to it. Command Tower , City of Brass and Mana Confluence also fix your mana really well.

Right. That's all I got. Good luck!

Lordeh on Nicol Bolas, the Ravager - Discard

1 month ago

Have a look at Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur . Your opponents having to discard their hands unless they have no maximum hand size can be back breaking.

LVL_666 on The Song of Phyresis

1 month ago

PHATJER, a shame your playgroup doesn't like Stax :( If anything, this deck relies more on soft locks - nothing like Winter Orb , Static Orb , or Sphere of Resistance ...but I digress. So to make sure we're on the same page, the Stax elements of the deck are 7 cards, specifically:

• Tangle Wire
• Parallax Tide
• Parallax Wave
• Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
• Sheoldred, Whispering One
• Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

We cut all the Praetors and the Artifact/Enchantments that synergize with proliferation triggers, what does that leave? Well that opens up slots to dive deeper into the remaining themes of the deck: proliferate, -1/-1 counters, +1/+1 counters, and infect. I'd recommend building out into all three, while still maintaining that sweet sweet vorthos - of course i'm going to suggest Yawgmoth, Thran Physician . To accompany him, the following infect creatures need to be added as well: Necropede , Corpse Cur and Core Prowler to gain more value for Yawgmoth's " Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card."

So now, that leaves us with 3 slots left. What should we fill those slots with? If you're going for flavor over function there's the very fun Fuel for the Cause . Then you could toss in an additional bomb in the form of Cathars' Crusade . Last, but definitely not least i'd probably toss in Beast Within for a bit more interaction, which never hurts. What's best about the previously mentioned is that it has a New Phyrexia printing which keeps things on flavor. So a quick recap of my suggested replacements:

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• Necropede
• Corpse Cur
• Core Prowler
• Fuel for the Cause
• Cathars' Crusade
• Beast Within

Alternatively, you could opt for creatures that have more synergy with Yawgmoth, pretty much anything in the archetype of Reassembling Skeleton . That's pretty much all the ideas I could come up with off the top of my head. What do you think? Also, thanks for the +1.

l13199l on Wizards of the Combos

1 month ago

Why the forbidden tutors? Also scheming symmetry in cEDH sounds like a terrible idea. Unearth also doesn't reanimate prophets or bloodline.

I recommend Careful Study , and Vilis, Broker of Blood or Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur as a backup plan

I-Rex on Big Bad Walls (Arcades)

2 months ago

Phule451 You just absolutely blew my mind. These suggestions are amazingly helpful and I really appreciate it. You are right about Dive Down and Drift of Phantasms . I really like Wall of Junk and have considered it before but never realized how great that would be with arcades and his triggers. I will replace Divination with Winged Words . Jungle Barrier is in the deck but I appreciate the suggestion. Fell the Mighty is a good idea because... wells it's commander. Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive is really good and I will probably replace Huatli, the Sun's Heart for it. Marble Titan is super good and will definitely go in. Enter the Infinite is there for the mass card draw and the combo with Laboratory Maniac but they are on the cutting board. Arcanis the Omnipotent is heavy on blue, but give me such great card draw that it is worth it. Arbor Elf is to untap the lands that give me extra manna like lands enchanted by Fertile Ground or lands that fix colours like ones enchanted my Abundant Growth . Things like Triumph of the Hordes and Command Tower were considered but were pretty expensive (he says with a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur in his deck). Other Cards I'm considering are Mentor of the Meek , Wall of Runes and Dusk / Dawn . Thanks for helping me.

ahobrien on Tassigur Havin' a Blastigur

2 months ago

Running 12 creatures while everyone else is running ~24 doesn't make Living Death look statistically appealing, right? If I pivot this to a dedicated reanimator deck with a Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur include or somethin I would definitely go the Living Death mass-reanimation / Exhume route. Animate Dead is more in-line with this decklist I would think.

I just know I'd play a Living Death into a Hostage Taker or something lol. I have mixed feelings about this one