Lignify

Tribal Enchantment — Treefolk Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature loses all abilities and is a Treefolk with base power and toughness 0/4.

Discussion (50)

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 7: Dimir …

3 weeks ago

Ah, Dimir. Blue-black is where you come to turn an opponent’s soul these exact colors, sidestepping their defenses in order to slip a scalpel right in their feels. Combining the thematic terror of black with all the manipulations of blue, if you think about it, is one of the most disturbing, creepy tactics in magic. Forget psychological warfare: blue-black is about marinating the psyche of your opponent in anxiety, slow-roasting it over the fires of depression, lathering it in the sauce of their own inadequacy, and finally feeding them their own deliciously barbecued will to live. Think I'm exaggerating? Consider these titles. Glimpse the Unthinkable. Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. Freaking Brainbite!!!

If you think this comes from a place of dislike, think again. I have a deep affection for this nasty little mix. Making opponents flip their collective gourds in a sporting way makes me very, very happy. Today, we’ll be going over three primary themes of commanders who embody Dimir chicanery: Mill, Rogues, and Theft. As always, please bear in mind the point isn’t to discuss the competitive but rather to celebrate the thematic.

Mill

The magic equivalent of memory loss, mill suffers in commander: eating through 99 cards is a tall order, and opponents with an original eldrazi titan somewhere in there may well fetch you the worst insult of all and ignore you. There are ways around that, of course, but this is an inarguably uphill climb. Which, of course, makes for a delightful challenge the Dimir will gleefully help you meet. Just ask Nemesis of Reason. It’s very, very hard to protect one’s library, and there’s something truly horrible in watching all your goodies piff away without even hitting your hand.

If you’ve read this series through, you might remember that my oldest deck is mono-green. It’ll be no surprise to you, then, that when I was learning commander I lived in abject horror of Oona. Anyone running a mono-colored deck is going to feel targeted by this hideously nasty commander. Do you even need a strategy to play her, beyond ramp? Honestly, she rather plays herself: even outside her chosen prey, “Exile X” on a stick is very, very spicy, and when you’ve got your chosen prey they may well scoop when you play Kindred Discovery. Remember those eldrazi? Screw those eldrazi.

Hail the mighty poo beetle. No, it doesn’t actively mill, but HOLY BALLS OF ROLLING SHIT does it reward milling! There is a fine, fine pool of zombies in dimir colors, and when that palls you can make your own. I’ve never seen this played, but to be honest I don’t want to, especially since the mighty poo beetle will always be five mana… maybe I want to see this played. By me. Scry X? Bleed X? Army of the Damned, anyone?

Now this is general damage. This is also, in my opinion, a genuinely bad idea for those who aim for winning rather than fun. Seven mana for a 5/5 flyer who doesn’t actually do damage to opponents? Less than competitive, shall we say, but certainly neat and themey. Stuff like Dauthi Voidwalker or Leyline of the Void do nothing to undermine Szadek’s growing spree, and embiggening this already self-embiggening boi could make for a very, very scary board presence. And seeing this work, making this work, would be undeniably fun.

Rogues

I say ‘rogues’ not as the creature type, but as the overall concept of sneaky sneaks sneaking off to perpetrate sneakiness. See Rogue Class or Dimir Cutpurse and you’ll get where I’m coming from. Dimir is the guild of spies and intrigue, so it’s no surprise that blue-black rewards the “Doink! Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk” playstyle. If your passion drives you toward little bodies that pilfer, plunder, or otherwise profit on the swing, look no further.

Zareth is an odd choice to be commander. He functionally has Ninjutsu, but unlike a certain upcoming favorite has no provision for command zones. If you like thinking around corners, there is actually a fair bit of support to be found. Run an aura theme, for instance, and stick Necromancer's Magemark on a spare dude. Or Phantom Wings on the man himself. Zareth will reward you, and as for the second half of his text, it’s a doozy. Mill/kill your opponent’s stuff, then steal it. Good times.

This is a heavily themed card, combining tribal, milling, and draw elements in a nice little vampiric package. Not quite the unpleasant beast that the original Anowon is, but still nice. Be sure to include Notorious Throng.

Instead of a profitable army of petty thugs, you may prefer just the one guy. For actual command damage, Szadek’s replacement has an inarguably better grasp of the job. Mill yourself. You know you can. Clone yourself an unblockable midget, then switch into a Phyrexian Dreadnought (or something similarly large but more affordable) before you tag them. This guy is an absurdly versatile toolkit. Just avoid jerks with Lignify. Hehehe…

Theft

We’ve talked thieves, now let’s talk actual yoink. Blue and black are the only colors with access to consistent, long-term swipage, and combining them inevitably brings you to a natural conclusion: why make a plan when you can steal someone else’s?

Keiga, the Tide Star called. She’s pressing charges on the grounds of copyright infringement. Dragon? Check. Six mana? Check. Theft? Big ol’ check. When combined with blink and a sac outlet, this big and greedy cheese can steal an army. And, if you do this to a super-friends player, maybe lose you a friendship.

This guy’s just neat, especially if there’s some cocky twit in your local meta who likes taking extra turns. Mill him a bit, then tag him. He’ll stop that right quick. Bonus points if you get somebody to make a custom version of this guy as a certain cosmic entity. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh, Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

Do you like Sen Triplets, but not artifacts, white, or being thrown out of playgroups? Xanathar doesn’t pilfer hands, but libraries are fair game. The utility of certain tutors is suddenly very, very much in the eye of the beholder (sorry, I had to). Run stuff like Thoughtpicker Witch, Painful Memories, or Sealed Fate, and enjoy your monopoly on topdecks… I kind of want this one too.

And, for my personal favorite...

My darling, dearest Yuriko. Readers know my love for Kamigawa, so imagine my roaring delight when this beauty was released. There are 346 rogues currently in print. There are only 22 ninjas, and not all of them are good, but even the piddliest ninja becomes horrifying when Yuriko is out (and thanks to ninjutsu, she’s ALWAYS out). There’s a weird imbalance encouraged here: lots of inexpensive bodies digging for absurdly expensive spells. At the worst, you draw some cards. At absolute best, you smack the table for eleven damage by revealing Temporal Trespass… which you then cast for three mana, you magnificent bastard.

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Rakdos!

Prior Articles:

Green, with links to the other mono-colors

Azorius

Stardragon on Help with Oko trickery

1 month ago

Looking for more cards like Kenrith's Transformation for my wonky transmog deck

so far I have Beast Within, Dance of the Skywise,Gift of Tusks,Mordenkainen's Polymorph,Ovinize,Polymorphist's Jest,Pongify,Rampage of the Clans,Rapid Hybridization,Snakeform,Startling Development,Turn to Frog,Frogify,Ichthyomorphosis,Lignify,Curse of the Swine,Transmogrifying Wand,Oko, Thief of Crowns and Terastodon in my main deck and

Here's a Link to my deck in case you need it Transforming Oneself . PS. if you think of clever or funny name for this let know as well

Yumaddah on The Hidden Life of Trees [Primer]

2 months ago

Nice list. Have you considered swapping Lignify for Song of the Dryads? The best way of dealing with opponents' Commanders :)

king-saproling on Galea, Kindler of Hope

2 months ago

Some aura-based interaction could be cool to include here, and there are a lot of options: Song of the Dryads , Darksteel Mutation , Reprobation , Frogify , Kasmina's Transmutation , Lignify , Mystic Subdual , Heliod's Punishment , Imprisoned in the Moon , Ichthyomorphosis , Deep Freeze , Minimus Containment , Faith Unbroken , Disruption Aura , Mark of Eviction

goodair on Ruric Thar

6 months ago

ramp:
Font of Fertility , Wayfarer's Bauble , Beanstalk Giant , Sakura-Tribe Elder Khalni Heart Expedition you can store the charges on it until you want to trigger landfall
draw:
Seer's Sundial , Colossal Majesty , Aid from the Cowl (fetchlands make this happen), Beast Whisperer , Guardian Project ,

land: Kessig Wolf Run , Castle Garenbrig , Mosswort Bridge , Gruul Turf , Guildless Commons . The 2 bounce lands can target themselves, so you can reuse next turn if you don,t have lands in hand lategame. With Azusa, you can bounce it 3x for 3 landfall triggers.

extra: Hammer of Purphoros Fires of Yavimaya Radha, Heart of Keld , Kenrith's Transformation , Song of the Dryads , Vivien, Champion of the Wilds , Lignify , Vivien, Monsters' Advocate , Cindervines , Bonecrusher Giant

maybe: Garruk's Uprising , Gruul Ragebeast , Lifecrafter's Bestiary , Yeva, Nature's Herald

DemMeowsephs on Shaman Mana Ramp

9 months ago

Hey there! I have a few suggestions you might just like!

• Fauna Shaman : It's a shaman, it's a great tutor, and it's cheap in mana. Seems like it would fit in great!
• Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx : Fits in great with any mono-colored deck!
• Strip Mine : Great in any deck, especially in mono-colored ones where you almost always have the colors you need available anyway
• Ancient Tomb : Could easily be that two mana in your commander's mana cost, and is great EDH staple.
• Lignify , Song of the Dryads , Kenrith's Transformation : A great form of creature hate in mono-green. This can be horrible on someone's commander especially if they have no means of removing it. The same goes for a combo piece or just any great creature.
• Heroic Intervention : A great way of protecting your pieces, since it would seriously suck if all the shamans got wiped out
• Collective Unconscious : Another form of shamanic revelation, both of which are reasons to include Reliquary Tower
• Triumph of the Hordes : Could be an entire other wincon if you have a bunch of shamans out
• Wild Growth / Utopia Sprawl : Great ways to ramp in small amounts before you put your commander out
• Sol Ring : It's not a shaman, but still one of the most powerful cards in edh. Definitely add it.
• Three Visits / Nature's Lore : Just like the previous two, these are great ways to ramp before you put out shamans, speeding up your game by a ton
• Jeweled Lotus : I hate that they made this card, but it could basically let you play your commander turn 1. Definitely add it if you have the budget.
• Extraplanar Lens : Kill a forest, and double THEM ALL. You have a lot of basic forests, and I think this card could work very well for you because of that.
• Nissa, Who Shakes the World : This one is much more debatable, but the regular ability is great for ramping and the final ability is just wonderful for you because of all of the forests you have.
• Helix Pinnacle : You have so much ramp and Nissa as previously mentioned would be insane. This guy could be a great win con and act as something to pool all your mana into.
• Nyxbloom Ancient : All your shamans tap for 6?!?!?! Seems great- especially since you can ramp to put it out and fit with the decks theme.
• Caged Sun : Great in a mono-colored deck, buffs all the shamans, and gives you more mana. Could be a great option if you like these sort of doubling and tripling cards.
• Wolf-Skull Shaman : You run a LOT of shamans, and this guy lets you take that fact and benefit it, giving you a ton of tokens over time.
• Birds of Paradise : A great way of building the ramp base from early on, and works as a great blocker if you need to block something big over time since it has flying.
• Burgeoning / Exploration : If you keep the amount of lands you have at the moment, using these guys could make you go crazy and have a bunch of lands. In a four player game, Burgeoning could give you 5 mana turn 2.
• Arcane Signet : Another great way of supporting the mana base early on

I'm afraid that's all I have, just keep in mind, I recommended a lot of stuff that helps you PRE shaman ramp, and if you include too much of that you start drifting away from the shaman theme- don't do that. However just including a few of the better ones might help a ton. And so, good luck on your deck my friend it seems super cool, consider checking out some of my decks, hope this helps, and have a wonderful day. Happy tapping!

RNR_Gaming on [PEDH] - Hamza Elephant in the Room

9 months ago

MrXilas - haven't had a chance to run any pedh. Though I assure you this list has both ramp and removal. Though I have gold fished it a few times and found its main flaw being draw engines.

Removal:

Afterlife

Journey to Nowhere

Luminous Bonds

Bonds of Faith

Lignify

Oblivion Ring

Pacifism

Ramp:

Wild Growth

Utopia Sprawl

Arcane Signet

Llanowar Elves

Elvish Mystic

Avacyn's Pilgrim

Boreal Druid

Priest of Titania

86419851 on Willowmaker

10 months ago

i don't understand why you don't have Wickerbough Elder. it's a treefolk and artifact or enchantment removal. also Lignify or Song of the Dryads, as flavor cards too.