Lifecrafter's Bestiary

Artifact

At the beginning of your upkeep, scry 1.

Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may pay . If you do, draw a card.

Discussion (51)

Osbert on Dame Drain

5 days ago

Ayara doesn't seem like a good fit since you only have 7 black creatures including herself and your commander.

Selvala also seems out of place here since you arent playing many large power power creatures. I think I would cut her because on average she won't make more than 3 mana (so 2 because you pay G for the ability) and you'll be handing most of the card draw to opponents. Similarly Hunter's Insight, Life's Legacy, Garruk Primal Hunter face the same problems. These cards feel terrible when they draw you 2-3 cards. Instead I suggest drawing cards or creature casts like Guardian Project, Zendikar Resurgent, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, etc.

If you like storming off with creatures maybe consider Tangleroot. Sure it helps opponents but it makes elf decks vomit their hands and with a creature draw engine on board it might as well be a Primal Surge.

Your deck currently has 1 piece of grave recursion which would make a lot of black mana lovers sad. Some good options are Patriarch's Bidding, Rise of the Dark Realms, Finale of Eternity, & Oversold Cemetery.

Your deck also has a very few ways to disrupt opponents which can be problematic. Reclamation Sage, Attrition, gravepact, Toxic Deluge, Decree of Pain, Viridian Corrupter, and Viridian Zealot are good options to consider.

You seem to have abundant ways to produce mana but not a lot of ways to use it. I suggest the classic Staff of Domination as a combo piece and maybe some X spells like Torment of Hailfire. Other mana sinks like Temur Sabertooth can help you dig with draw engines while abusing EtBs.

Dunx on +1/+1 Selesnya Commander

2 weeks ago

Here are some cards you should consider

Travel Preparations

Llanowar Reborn

Rogue's Passage

Glare of Subdual

card draw

Runic Armasaur

Harmonize

Lifecrafter's Bestiary

Warriors' Lesson

Hunter's Insight

ramp

Sword of the Animist

Kodama's Reach

Elmoisamac on dmereel

1 month ago

Great start! There are a few categories of stuff I would add, I will start with budget options:

Ramp - Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Farseek, Rampant Growth will fix your colors.

Removal - Reclamation Sage, Swords to Plowshares, Austere Command, Wrath of God, Wear / Tear, Sundering Growth

Card Draw - Guardian Project, Shamanic Revelation, Beast Whisperer. Lifecrafter's Bestiary

Lands - Cinder Glade, Canopy Vista

Win Conditions: Overwhelming Stampede, Chord of Calling to tutor out a win

Other good cards: Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Rootborn Defenses

Other good cards, but not as budge

Xenagos, God of Revels, Token Doublers Anointed Procession, Coat of Arms, Heroic Intervention,

Cards to Consider Cutting:

Veteran Warleader, Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Gruul War Plow, Ajani, Inspiring Leader

That is all for now, but I can suggest more later.

smilodex on Ishkanah, Grafwidow Commander COMBO Deck

1 month ago

Thanks for your comment. I am very happy about such comments, as it is difficult to keep an eye on every possible combination with over a thousand commanders, especially with such a commander like Ishkanah, which you don't meet in your LGS every day. Thanks to your comment, I can see more of the potential of Ishkanah. I you want to tune up your deck, I have some recommendations for that:

I would exchange:

• Panharmonicon has only 3 targets + your commander... I think that's not efficien enough I would rather play this beast of a card: Ohran Frostfang because this card converts your spiders into carddrawing killer spiders.
• Far Wanderings for Cultivate because it's more reliable and effective
• Vessel of Nascency for Jarad's Orders because this card is just a perfect tutor for decks like this
• Blood for Bones for Victimize
• Is Witchbane Orb one of your meta picks, because a lot of your opponents play curses or burn? If not, I would rather play more carddraw because you have to less of it in your deck. Play Sylvan Library (or Phyrexian Arena) instead
• Drown in Filth with either another good removal like Abrupt Decay; Caustic Caterpillar; Plaguecrafter (Force of Despair, Darkblast, Snuff Out, Force of Vigor, Tragic Slip etc.)
• Cut 2 Forests and a Swamp for Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip, Khalni Ambush  ^Flip & Hagra Mauling  ^Flip
• Grapple with the Past for Fiend Artisan/Phyrexian Arena/Opposition Agent
• Entomb for any other tutor like Demonic, Vampiric, Grim Worldly Tutor etc. or Buried Alive

I would play as many cool utility lands with a sacrifice effect and as many fetch lands as possible because they're needed for Delirium and have also great potential with the MVP in every graveyard deck Life from the Loam:

• Evolving Wilds/Terramorphic Expanse/Ash Barrens/Jund Panorama
• Prismatic Vista/Verdant Catacombs; Windswept Heath/Wooded Foothills/Bloodstained Mire etc. (If they're out of budget, you just can play the cool and cheaper utility lands and you'll be fine) Other cool lands: Grim Backwoods!!; Geier Reach Sanitarium, Drownyard Temple Phyrexian Tower, Emergence Zone, Haunted Fengraf, Buried Ruin I would also add Deserted Temple because it can produce together with Cabal Coffers + Rings of Brighthearth infinite black mana.

Carddraw or Cardadvantage:

• Ohran Frostfang!!
• Driven / Despair!!
• Sylvan Library!!
• Night's Whisper
• Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• Phyrexian Arena!!
• Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• Phyrexian Reclamation
• Genesis
• Fauna Shaman/Birthing Pod/Fiend Artisan/Survival of the Fittest/Yisan, the Wanderer Bard

Other good finishers/ combo pieces:

• Altar of the Brood / Blood Artist / Zulaport Cutthroat
• Craterhoof Behemoth or the budget version: End-Raze Forerunners / Overrun
• Triumph of the Hordes

Well, I'm sure that you already know what other options there are to tune up the deck. If you want to win consitenly I would add more ways to produce infinte mana like Nim Deathmantle + Priest of Gix + Ashnod's Altar or Magus of the Coffers + Staff of Domination OR another unigue and complicated way to filter infinite colorless mana with Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth is together with Mirage Mirror and a Swamp...

To make the whole thing more consistent you have play all green and black tutors, play fast mana like the Moxes, Mana Crypt/-Vault, Manadorks (Elvish Mystic/Elves of Deep Shadow/Llanowar Elves etc. and pack some premium removal in the deck to raise the power level. If you're interested we can brew a fringe competetive list together.

DCdude5117 on Giant's Lair

1 month ago

Might want to look into adding these cards for combat step potency. Berserkers' Onslaught, Aggravated Assault, Domri, Anarch of Bolas, Savage Ventmaw, Rampaging Baloths, Skarrgan Hellkite, End-Raze Forerunners, terrastodon, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Scourge of the Throne

And these cards for card-draw and mana ramp Beast Whisperer, Garruk's Uprising, Castle Garenbrig, Llanowar Elves, Temple of Abandon, Gruul Turf, Sheltered Thicket, Cragcrown Pathway  ^Flip, Return of the Wildspeaker, Elvish Mystic, Hunter's Insight, Ilysian Caryatid, Guardian Project, Bonders' Enclave, Nylea, Keen-Eyed,Lifecrafter's Bestiary

And the cuts I were thinking of could be Vivien, Champion of the Wilds, Spearbreaker Behemoth, Giant Adephage, Spidersilk Armor, Mistcutter Hydra, Shifting Ceratops, Sunder Shaman, Voracious Hydra, Rhonas's Monument, Blood Mist

This are just my first initial thoughts on the deck.

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Pokemon-themed Deck

1 month ago

Don't be a thief, you can't catch opponents's pokemon ;)

I have two suggestions for you:

a fight-centric deck, e.g. Neyith of the Dire Hunt. Your commander would be the only human or humanoid. You include many fight spells and Lure effects, because you want your pokemon to fight other's pokemon. Also, definitely include Lifecrafter's Bestiary, as it's basically a pokedex.

Second suggestion: Legendary tribal with Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, where you only include legendary Non-humans.

OR, if you really wanna do the theft-deck, maybe Sen Triplets as Team Rocket?

Optimator on Giant's Deck

2 months ago

The amount of utility cards that facilitates for a large-creature/stompy deck (like giant tribal) is completely unparalleled and unrivaled. There are things--both budget and expensive--like Garruk's Uprising, Soul's Majesty, Hunter's Insight, Snake Umbra, Triumph of Ferocity, Lead the Stampede, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Return of the Wildspeaker, Abundance, Rhythm of the Wild, Selvala's Stampede, Shamanic Revelation, Elemental Bond, Colossal Majesty, Guardian Project, Rancor, Primal Rage, Heroic Intervention, Wrap in Vigor, Golgari Charm, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Canopy Cover, Aspect of Mongoose, Alpha Authority, Asceticism, Defense of the Heart, Lignify, Lurking Predators, Bow of Nylea, The Great Henge, Eerie Ultimatum, Reap, Creeping Renaissance, Seasons Past, Reap the Past, Genesis Ultimatum, Beastmaster Ascension, Overwhelming Stampede...

The list is huge, and it grows every year.

This is on top of the superior ramping ability of Green and it's above-average removal options. One big advantage of Green's land-based ramp is things like Planar Cleansing, Hour of Revelation, Play of the Game, Bane of Progress, Creeping Corrosion, and Merciless Eviction can't send you back to the stone age by destroying all your mana rocks.

Everything you will want to be doing with Giant Tribal, Green supports and supports well. I cannot stress this enough. Not to mention the good green giants that keep getting printed.

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Black doesn't provide too much in the way of utility specific to giant tribal or stompy decks other than recursion and good card draw like Greed, Phyrexian Arena, and Erebos, God of the Dead. Personally I like cards like Damnable Pact, Read the Bones, Ancient Craving and Ambition's Cost but if you're running Green and/or Blue you shouldn't need to lose life to draw cards. Painful Truths might still be useful due to it's great rate (three cards for three mana is good). Syphon Mind is a great rate and has the upside of making your opponents discard.

Obviously Black specializes in removal (but so does White!) so you could run things like Mortify, Despark, Utter End, Vindicate, Anguished Unmaking, Dreadbore, Terminate, Bedevil and Ruinous Ultimatum. In Garruk's Wake and Decree of Pain are probably good in your giant deck since you're ramping so hard. Since you're running White you shouldn't need Black's wraths, but those two stood out.

Things like Phyrexian Reclamation, Animate Dead, and Reanimate are great for creature decks. Palace Siege is all right on a budget. So is Twilight's Call. It's no Oversold Cemetery or Meren of Clan Nel Toth or Rise of the Dark Realms but those are pricey. Recovering from boardwipes will be important.

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Blue has some interesting removal options like Curse of the Swine, Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, and Reality Shift. You have some Cyclonic Rifts in your trade binder, right? That alone is a great reason to run Blue in your deck (it's literally one of the best cards in EDH straight-up). Do it!

Blue also has all the card-draw--from per-turn stuff like Kumena's Awakening and Mind Unbound; chunks of cards like Concentrate, Treasure Cruise, Fact or Fiction, Fathom Trawl, and Tidings; huge hand-refillers like Overflowing Insight, Mind Spring, Stroke of Genius, and Pull from Tomorrow; and some sneaky stuff like Windfall, Keep Watch, Drawn from Dreams, Verity Circle, and Insight. Green has some amazing card-draw already but it wouldn't be a terrible idea to supplement it with Blue cards. Rush of Knowledge would be REALLY good in a giant-tribal deck--especially with Morophon, the Boundless at the helm.

Counterspells are very much not Giant/Stompy but I have a few aggro decks that run a silver-bullet copy of Negate or Swan Song just as anti-boardwipe tech. Not necessary though. Boros Charm, Golgari Charm, and Wrap in Vigor work well in that capacity. There are lots of 3-cmc options too but the mana difference between 2 and 3 is huge.

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You could even run some interesting charms like Abzan Charm or Esper Charm. There are some surprisingly potent options. Some are stinkers of course.

Temur Ascendancy would be reason alone to run five colors and be utterly fantastic in this deck.

Garruk's Uprising alone is reason to run at least Green.

Merciless Eviction is one of the best removal spells in the game. Four or five colors would allow you to run that.

Urban Evolution would be good in a big-mana deck like this. Inspired Ultimatum, while not amazing, is playable.

You get the idea.

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As you can see, there is a myriad of reasons to run more colors. Honestly, I really can't recommend it enough if true Giant-Tribal is the goal--whether Naya giants or five-color giants.

One extremely important thing for large-creature decks is to consider how you're going to recover from board wipes. Superior card-draw from Green, Black, and Blue cards will help immensely. Card advantage like Phyrexian Reclamation, Palace Siege, Seasons Past, All Suns' Dawn, Reap the Past, Reap, Creeping Renaissance, Eerie Ultimatum, and abilities like Mayael the Anima's, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim's, and Kenrith, the Returned King's reanimate ability will help you recover. These are things that Red and White simply can't do well. Sure there's Resurrection and Reya Dawnbringer, but they aren't great.

Brion Stoutarm is a legitimately good general--he really is!--but not for giant tribal. He brings nothing to the table for giant tribal other than being a decently-statted Giant himself and pigeonholes you into the worst color pair in EDH for essentially no benefit. As I mentioned, Iroas, God of Victory and, to a lesser extent, Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas would make better commanders if you are dead-set on Boros colors (which I do not recommend if you want to play maximum giants). If you were building around Brion's ability and had some giants around as support that would be one thing, but it seems that's not the goal. As such, please consider switching commanders :) I think that if you want Brion Stoutarm as the commander, you should make a Brion deck.

I really do think you'll be happier in the long run with a different commander It doesn't have to be expensive. Most of what you would need I can trade to you, including Morophon, the Boundless, and most supplemental cards I don't have are in the 25-cent to $1 range (Realm-Cloaked Giant, Mayael the Anima, etc). I actually have a shitload of this utility stuff on-hand, and you have some great staples like Cyclonic Rift on-hand--and probably more! I want you to be satisfied with your deck! It doesn't have to be competitive to be fun, but it doesn't have to be expensive to work better and smoother and be more competitive.

Optimator on 6 year old me would be proud

2 months ago

Everything looks really quite good except you have really low ramp. You have a few cost-reducers and two mana rocks, one of which doesn't necessarily come out early. Personally, I aim for at least eight pieces in all my decks. For an expensive deck like this I might go for ten. Land is queen with Zacama so I'd recommend the classics like Rampant Growth, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Thunderherd Migration, Explosive Vegetation, Migration Path, Nissa's Pilgrimage, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Vastwood Surge are all good choices that aren't too expensive. Ranger's Path is good too since you have lands with multiple types. Nissa's Renewal might be good in this deck, since it's budget and getting to nine mana is indeed a goal. Frontier Siege is good on a budget too.

You don't have much in the way of card-draw or card-advantage either. Look into Harmonize, Return of the Wildspeaker, Soul's Majesty, Elemental Bond, Colossal Majesty, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, Shamanic Revelation, Bonders' Enclave, and Garruk's Uprising in particular. Adding a few of these will smooth out your games for sure. Draw also helps with land drops.

Keep up the good work and happy planeswalking!