Knight of Cliffhaven

Creature — Kor Knight

Level up {3} ({3}: Put a level counter on this. Level up only as a sorcery.) [2/2]

[Level 1-3]: Flying [2/3]

[Level 4+]: Flying, vigilance [4/4]

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (9)

Lanzo493 on High-cost abilities

3 years ago

Almighty Brushwag, Anointed Chorister, Knight of the Ebon Legion and Spectral Sailor are good 1 drops due to their solid abilities. At 2 mana you have Coralhelm Guide that can get all that damage through, too. Knight of Cliffhaven is a good mana sink for extra mana you don’t use, as well as Null Champion. Oran-Rief Invoker is a decent card in the invoker cycle. You’ve also got Dawnglare Invoker, Flamewave Invoker, Starlight Invoker, and Frostwind Invoker. For a top end card there’s Shalai, Voice of Plenty.

I’m going to make an assumption that you’d play bant. This lets you play Training Grounds, Biomancer's Familiar and Zirda, the Dawnwaker using some of the best and most aggressive 1 drop and 2 drop creatures. That’s what I would do anyway.

MasterTaco on

5 years ago

So with the theme of being aggro/removal, and keeping the deck at a budget I'll try and list some budget alternatives that can be upgrades, off the cards I can think of off the top of my head. I'm also noticing a trend with +1/+1 counters so I'll consider those as well

Remove:

Arbor Colossus: He's basically an 11 cost 9/9 that removes one single flying creature

Druid of the Cowl: Two drop mana dork that can be replaced by Llanowar Elves or Elvish Mystic. Though Druid of the Cowl has more toughness, playing one of the others turn 1 helps accelerate you better.

Experiment One: Cool one drop that gives himself counters and can regenerate, but the downside is that your deck does run a lot of creatures with similar low power/toughness creatures making this hard to get passed more than 3 counters without the aid of using resources on him.

Greenwarden of Murasa: I would keep him if you can't get your hands on a Eternal Witness because 3 > 6 mana wise.

Kabira Vindicator: Level up is a cool mechanic, but having to spend 4 mana to cast him and then another 6 mana to give your creatures +1/+1 is pretty bad. Glorious Anthem would already give them +1/+1 OR you can always get Gideon, Ally of Zendikar use his -4 ability immediately and have the emblem to have an almost permanent buff to your creatures.

Knight of Cliffhaven: Same reason as Kabira, 5 mana to have a flying 2/3 is pretty meh. and 14 mana total to have a flying, vigilant 4/4 is the worst.

Sunscorch Regent may not have vigilance, but he does have flying, and gets stronger the more spells that cast as well as gaining you life.

Master of Pearls: Has to be morphed and flipped to have any real usage. Overwhelming Stampede gives your creatures trample on top of whoever has the highest power on your board.

Nekrataal: 4 drop creature version of the 2 drop Terror. Avatar of Woe may not have the etb, but she can become a 2 drop pretty easy and can destroy a creature for you each turn.

Netcaster Spider: Would just replace this with

Longshot Squad, would synergize more with the deck and grants your other creatures +1/+1

Phytotitan

Salt Road Patrol: For aggro, this card is too slow and only boost itself.

Sporemound: You don't have any mana accelerators or extra land drop enablers

Scapeshift: This spells rocks if you Golgari Rot Farm, Selesnya Sanctuary, Orzhov Basilica

Oath of Ajani: Would replace with Abzan Ascendancy, one extra mana for the same first ability, but the second ability will have more usage since you don't run any planeswalkers in the deck which makes the oath just a dead card on the field.

Zendikar's Roil: As mentioned with Sporemound, an alternative with a better landfall effect is Rampaging Baloths

Consume the Meek: This kills your commander and most of your creatures

Cards I would consider adding:

Pir, Imaginative Rascal & Hardened Scales work almost the same way your Winding Constrictor work

Cathars' Crusade: Considered a staple in most creature decks that use +1/+1 counter things

Ivorytusk Fortress: The budget version of Seedborn Muse and synergy with counters

Forgotten Ancient: Allows itself to gain more counters on it while the game continues and can move them to other creatures

Retribution of the Ancients: Great kill enchantment that revolves around +1/+1 counters

Oran-Rief, the Vastwood: Just an all around decent land that gives counters to all your creatures that entered on the same turn.

zachi on STAND FIRM FOR SIR SHANDLAR!

5 years ago

Knight of Cliffhaven could be a potential cut, in my book. If there are very little goblins Tivadar of Thorn could also be a possible cut.

Boza on Need removal pieces...help!

5 years ago

Vapor snag is decent, since you can bounce your own Venerated Teacher. The problem with level up are that the creatures are bad and venerated teacher does not help a lot, since it is the only enabler. Random proliferate things like Tezzeret's Gambit will help, but for example Knight of Cliffhaven is a Serra Angel for 14 mana. Even with venerated teacher, it still is a Serra Angel for 8 mana.

The only decent level up creature is Halimar Wavewatch that synergizes well with Convincing Mirage-type cards.

I would recommend limiting the level up theme to halimar wavewatch, but if you do get more than those, be aware that the payoff is not substantial.

OOBS on Knightly workout buddies

7 years ago

Personally, I'd take out Knight of Cliffhaven for 1 more Student of Warfare and another 2 Knight of the White Orchid. Knight of Cliffhaven doesn't seem that good at all compared to the other stuff you can be playing. As for sideboard cards, Mirran Crusader can be brutal against matchups like Jund and Infect.

NensouHiebara on Valor & Vanity | Foil Knight Tribal

7 years ago

@berryjon

I really like Accorder Paladin's 3 power and battle cry. It hits harder and boosts my other Knights. I'm only going to replace it with something that at least can hit as hard.

Knight of Meadowgrain is an OK creature, I simply prefer Accorder.

Knight of Cliffhaven needs way too much mana. It's not as efficient as Student of Warfare is. Spending 3 mana to add +0/+1 and flying and another 9 just to have a Serra Angel is terrible.

Lone Rider  ^Flip could work if I modify the deck to gain 3 life whenever I need to, but that would be cumbersome.

Spectral Rider is boring. It doesn't offer any benefits or hit hard. It's just a bear with evasion.

berryjon on Valor & Vanity | Foil Knight Tribal

7 years ago

On the other hand, there aren't a lot of 2-drop Knights that seem to meet your criteria to displace Accorder Paladin. Knight of Meadowgrain was already suggested by MetaphysicalxProdigy, though I don't see your response to that suggestion in your reply to him. Knight of Cliffhaven is another Level-Up, but one that provides Flying and Vigilance, rather than First/Double Strike.

I think that Lone Rider  ^Flip wouldn't be an appropriate choice for this deck, despite filling the two-drop slot you were talking about fixing up. It's a 1/1, and your deck isn't geared to flip it.

Spectral Rider is another evasion choice, and Intimidate is a lot harder to deal with than its replacement mechanic Menace.

DraxLord on Silent Knight... Holy Knight...

8 years ago

You might also want to consider running Knight of Cliffhaven in place of your Leonin Skyhunters. It may be a little slower, but I have found that it is usually a better card. And then you also wouldn't have to remove your flying capabilities.