Key to the City

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Key to the City

Artifact

, Discard a card: Up to one target creature can't be blocked this turn.

Whenever this becomes untapped, you may pay . If you do, draw a card.

Balaam__ on Balaam__

5 months ago

@legendofa I salted my eyes by looking through the Kaladesh sets (tqlk about going from the peak of a mountain down to the bottom of a valley...), but I found a few good ones not in your current list.

Rush of Vitality

Wildest Dreams

•The Implement cycle. You had one or two, but I think all should qualify. Implement of Combustion, Examination, Ferocity, Improvement, Malice.

Lifecrafter's Bestiary

Take into Custody


These I’m not so sure about.

Key to the City isn’t really 1st person.

Ovalchase Dragster ignoring the questionable ‘Hey! You got your anachronistic piece of high technology in my dark medieval fantasy card game’ decisions here, I at first thought we were seeing this from the point of view of someone reaching out toward the car, but the top of the head is clearly visible. So not FPP

Underhanded Designs is too side-on the be first person, I think.

Battle at the Bridge At first I thought these were somebody’s tentacles reaching out toward the man in the picture, but I think they’re coming from him instead. Again, I don’t know the lore for this crap so if that’s obvious I wouldn’t know it.

Ice Over seems possible, but that perspective is slightly off I think.

BirdieGirlie on Charge of the (Newly Promoted) Colossus

5 months ago

Oh I'd also maybe put in something like Harmonize for card draw. You're basically waiting around for 7 mana, you'll have 4 to spare on one turn before then.

Using the mana you have before your big Colossification turn effectively will be key. Looking for ways to pay mana then and then activate the unblockable effect you need for free later, I came across Key to the City, it just makes you tap and discard of a card. There are a few cards like this that will probably work.

Scryb Ranger is a cheap flyer (with protection from blue!) that allows you to untap target creature by returning a forest to hand. I see no reason why that creature cannot be itself, if you put the enchantment on it! Again there are several ways of achieving this effect, take your pick.

luizfpa on Alesha, Who Blinks at Death EDH

1 year ago

@king-saproling thanks for the suggestions! I think I’ll try some of them, like Goldhound and Gravelighter, but it seems that most of them do not bring in the kind of sinnergy I’m looking for here.

I won’t part with Key to the City because it helps to keep the commander alive and feed the graveyard mostly every game.

Pitiless Plunderer would be great, but it’s quite pricey here where I live.

capwner on "Master of Cruelties" - Budget but Strong?

1 year ago

As an x/4 in a no fury meta I think this card could potentially be good. The deck really wants Ragavan but yeah that's not very budget. Bowmasters too.

About 'understanding what to replace,' the way I think of it is, you know there are always more potential good cards than you can actually run in any deck, usually there are multiple good ways to build a deck. Every card should play into your synergy, except for sideboard cards which can attack something very specifically. And every card should be the best possible option for its slot (most versatility, most synergies with your other cards, most favorable in specific interactions vs. specific cards). Example, this is why I love Apostle's Blessing in here, it's versatile because it protects and evades, and these are both things your deck REALLY needs. And it's a cheap instant. Great card.

But now look at Goblin Tunneler, I see a card that is part of the gameplan, but it's also an x/1 non hasty creature and a 2 drop. This is going to fall short a lot of the time. Maybe a card like Wedding Invitation or Key to the City could be better in this slot. Generator Servant is great for the haste but it has the same weakness. Splitting that with artifact ramp like you did is good, maybe consider options like Pentad Prism but go with what you think plays the best. Molten Collapse is a strictly better Dreadbore and not expensive. Sunken Citadel might be a good land to combo with Rogue's Passage, maybe then Field of Ruin instead of Ghost Quarter? And Graven Cairns? On the lands topic I really like the idea posted above of adding Leechridden Swamp but you do need the fetches to really make it work.

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death has a nice effect but doesn't really synergize with anything besides bringing your Master back, which it can't even do vs. LB and Solitude. Maybe adding cards that combo with her like Fulminator Mage or Augur of Skulls could make her better. Lightning Greaves also makes her and a lot of your other creatures better too, this is a card I'd consider for a 1 or 2 of. But without adding more support, you might consider cutting Alesha and adding something along another angle.

I like Brainspoil, the tutor is nice because finding the Master is definitely a bottlneck in the deck. Grim Tutor is an option but a bit more expensive, Profane Tutor is affordable but has some problems. Having at least one other tutorable 5 drop would make your BS a lot better. 1 of Glarewielder would be kind of cute.

Hand disruption is another angle you might consider, it's really good for a slightly slower combo deck like this to nullify your opponent's big early plays and buy you a couple extra turns to combo them out. Collective Brutality is a pretty decent flexible card that also finishes your opponent.

In the end I think tuning your list and making cuts is about trying to make as many of these meaningful synergy connections between different cards as possible, getting the right amount of each type of effect you want (3 vs 4 of a specific effect like Dreadbore matters a lot vs some decks!), and then you cut either your lowest synergy cards, or effects you think you could safely go down a count on. Usually you want 6-8 ways of getting your key card in action, or 6+ of each combo piece/synergy if it involves multiple cards, and in a perfect world you want 4+ post board copies of HATE for particular meta decks, like 4 Leyline of the Void vs. Living End, or 8 killspells that can kill a Primeval Titan or Sheoldred. Your board cards should address aspects of other decks that really threaten you, no need to run those Leylines if you already beat that deck most of the time. It often comes down to having the right reactive cards, so you want good numbers of the ones you'll need the most.

Sorry for the whole ass book! It seemed like you wanted the help and I liked the concept/got into it a bit once I started looking. I think there's a lot of work and playtesting you could do to really optimize this, and maybe it could end up being pretty good+still affordable!

KingKilvas on

1 year ago

A few nice cards to add unblockability: Rogue's Passage, Key to the City, Sonic Screwdriver, and Whispersilk Cloak.

Brefin on Rex Nebula go Boom

1 year ago

Got a real nice game in with the deck last night. Circumstances setup an early God-Pharaoh's Gift and Key to the City. There was a Shu Yun, so I wasn't swinging out. But keeping that Gift out, even retrieving it from my grave and casting it again off a Sanctum Gargoyle kept the pressure on and value flowing.

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