Lorien Revealed

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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander 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
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vintage Legal

Lorien Revealed

Sorcery

Draw three cards.

Islandcycling (, Discard this card: Search your library for an Island card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.)

IHATENAMES on i like draw card

3 weeks ago

Wizard Class powerful finisher

Leyline of Singularity unique way to decimate token/treasure/clone decks

Perplexing Test my favorite blue boardwipe

Candlekeep Inspirationpotential game ender w/many instant sorcerys

Minn, Wily Illusionist board state maker. Can put permanents into play like lands

Lorien Revealed 1 mana cantrips for a land. Otherwise 5 mana draw 3. Not bad early or late game.

JustJohn97 on Mono Blue Delving Terror

2 months ago

Balaam__ I agree Lorien Revealed is good for a ramp shell or for color fixing. The thought process here is that I am pseudo ramping towards my goal of casting creatures like Tolarian Terror, especially since I often don't have a 1 drop. I can spend mana to cycle Lorien Revealed and put a sorcery in the graveyard and have effectively reduced the cost of my creatures while also securing a land drop. Perhaps running Thought Scour may be better, which would add to your argument of running more Island, but I can't say for certain. It does have the upside of flipping Delver of Secrets  Flip, shuffling Brainstorm, and filling the graveyard while also still being good late game. I don't have a lot of T1 plays, so I'm ok with sinking mana at the beginning for later plays when I'm in top deck mode.

I love having interaction and would love to run more bounce spells, I just don't know how I would fit them in haha! This is actually my honest attempt of shoving in as much interaction while still having something to execute my gameplan with. Typically my game plan is to stall and use interaction until I can throw down a Tolarian Terror. That's actually where the Desert lands come in. I can use them as repeatable interaction without spending a card. It also allows me to cast all my sorcery spells, a third of my instants, and my big creatures if my graveyard isn't large enough. Again it's very match dependent, but sometimes I view holding up the colorless mana as basically holding up something like Vapor Snag. If I were to replace them with interaction, I don't think the mana would be there, so this was my compromise of opportunity for mana and interaction. I'm sure there's a build where Vapor Snag or Unsummon fit in, but I'm not sure what to cut for them after replacing Desert with Island.

Thanks again for the suggestions! Definitely something for me to think about. I'm looking forward to more future games and figuring out what works well and what needs to change.

Balaam__ on Mono Blue Delving Terror

2 months ago

Fair enough. I do like the core functionality of the deck, but don’t give up trying to streamline it. I think there’s still opportunity for refinement, and the more games you get under your belt the more valuable info you’ll have to be able to determine what to cut/add.

A card like Lorien Revealed coming in at , for instance, is really only playable in a ramp shell or in an excessively grindy matchup. Using it for Islandcycling early on is nowhere near as efficient as just replacing it with an actual Island, as you’re paying to search for an Island that now gets you back the one mana you just spent that turn (and bear in mind if you just played a land, it can’t even be played until next turn). In other words it has a place, but I don’t think it belongs in the current iteration of what you have here.

As far as the Deserts are concerned, it’s sound logic to want to deal with pingers but there are other options. Bounce spells might be something to look into. A Vapor Snag or even an Unsummon will mess with your opponent’s tempo, temporarily removing the threat. This is not as good as killing it with a Desert true, but that mana doesn’t do you any favors. I’d still advocate for replacing them with basic Islands but ultimately the choice is yours. And that’s really what it’s all about here: you can build whatever you want, and no deck is ever “finished”. It’s a game of constant analysis and refinement. If this is performing to your standards, don’t fix what isn’t broke. If you think you can squeeze some more efficiency out of it, try some new approaches.

JustJohn97 on Mono Blue Delving Terror

2 months ago

Hey Balaam__ thanks for stopping by!

I'll keep your suggestions in mind. When constructing this deck I counted Lorien Revealed as a mana source, so I saw this deck as having 18 sources of . I counted it as a for two main reasons: 1) for the island cycling, but also because 2) it adds to the sorcery count and reduces the casting cost for my creatures early on. I think 18 blue sources is a reasonable number to expect to play by turn 2/3, but if I have a string of games where this is not the case I will have to reevaluate. So far it has not been a huge issue in my games.

I will concede the Desert is very much match dependent, but in the games they were relevant I was happy to draw them. My initial impression of a decklist like this was it could be susceptible to go wide decks, or those with fliers, and I don't know of a lot of ways to deal with those in monoblue once the spells resolve (I could Snap then Counterspell but that seems like a lot of resources to spend and not guaranteed removal). In matchups against decks with bulkier creatures, they can be more awkward, but typically by that time I had the for Counterspell or use Snap for a bigger tempo play.

I agree Foil is probably the most awkward card at the moment. I have cycled Lorien Revealed to grab an Island to pitch to Foil, but usually I just don't want to use 3 cards to answer 1 threat unless I'm dumping a flashback card like Deep Analysis. If I were to cut something/move it around, I would probably start there.

Thanks again for your suggestions, and I hope you have a pleasant rest of your day!

wallisface on Eldrazi 60 card V2

6 months ago

One more last minute suggestion to my own thoughts - instead of running 10 Island it’s probably better to run 8 and then 2x Lorien Revealed, as this will lessen the odds of you mana-flooding.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

7 months ago

GHoag thank you for your most critical feedback. I agree with a lot you have to say on this. There are a few things I'd like to discuss further. I'll mirror your format so you know how I am responding to what. Thank you for the praise on the list so far, there is definitely some things to be worked out still. "The pinnacle is a concept only to the unambitious" -flavor text from a card I don't remember lol. (sorry for the novel below)

Regarding Fetchlands, I think the deck thinning is negligible or very hard to notice at most. This aspect of them definitely can't be a bad thing. But playtesting has shown that the negative effects of including them are negligible. I have never been upset about running all 4. Also, the synergy these lands has with Vantress Visions (Virtue of Knowledge) feels reeeally good.

Rite of Replication is expensive mana wise. The purpose of Rite is to get through your whole deck in one go assuming Unesh is on the field, which is not always the case. In my playtesting, it has been very hard to resolve due to mana cost, and when you do meet the mana requirement it is never safe from interaction. Given these flaws, this card might as well say "if you are targetting Unesh and this card resolves, you win the game." With the FOFs, you can pick up all counter magic and free mana rocks on the way down your deck to cast & protect Thassa's Oracle. A non-negligible side effect, this makes choosing piles easier to do because you no longer have to grab sphinxs or other wincons. This wincon is still relevant at this mana cost. I think the jury is still out if this is the best choice though. With inifinite mana you can do something similar, and I'll talk more about this below. Q: Why not add Personal Tutor? Simply because you don't need 3 copies of Rite. I already don't like Mystical Tutor, but the versatility to grab any instant makes it worth it. By the time you meet the mana requirement, you will have seen Rite or Mystical Tutor. Personal Tutor is too narrow to have in a slot, even on the 'Rite' plan.

cEDH meta talk, there is Turbo, midrange, and stax (early win, midgame win, lategame win respectively.) The average win without any interaction is turn 6-7 on this revision. This solidly puts Unesh into midrange. I think he can be sped up a bit with more revisions. Turn 4 is a late win for Turbo, but with enough interaction to stop the turbo player we can get to the midrange and win the game. Unesh suffers against a a few stax pieces. The main ones being Torpor Orb (which doesn't see a ton of play these days), and Null Rod and Collector Ouphe. Collectore Ouphe doesn't feel so bad with our interaction suite, and Null Rod is even more of a nuissance. If both are on the field, it is an absolute nightmare for Unesh.

Creatures: Yes a lot of fat was trimmed, and it took some time to really narrow down the best Sphinxs in these slots. There is still room for improvement here. For instance Vexing Sphinx feels awful. The reason I added it a while back was because he can be played early game for a bit of card draw. The card draw from this is not worth the mana spent, the fact that even with Unesh out he is 2 blue to cast also feels very bad. I will definitely replace him with another Sphinx, probably Argent Sphinx or Metallic Mimic. For 2 blue I am much happier to see the mana sink on Argent Sphinx. And for 2 colorless I am happy to see possibly the next cheapest sphinx not already in the deck. Enigma Thief though high CMC, I can reliably cast him for his prowl cost at 2 cmc, and his removal is top notch. Dream Eater though the removal is not the best, it is still good. The kicker here is honestly the surveil 4. You do Unesh FOF first, then surveil 4 and hopefully you can put all 4 in the graveyard. Still dream eater does feel a bit slower than everything else. Scholar of the Lost Trove, upfront I feel very strongly about this card. It's not because this is a pet card, it's because I think its very powerful in this deck. Even at 5cmc which is what I normally cast it for, it feels like insane value. You get the Unesh trigger, and a wincon from the graveyard that the opponents thought they didn't have to deal with anymore. After doing some math on this, the average cost of an Unesh trigger with Unesh on the field is ~2.25 cmc in the current revision (that is the cmc of a card generating the FOF divided by the total number of things generating FOFs excluding Rite). At 5 cmc, casting the Scholar gives you a 4 cmc game winning artifact and a ~2.25 cmc Unesh trigger. Not to mention, it gives you flexibility in choosing piles. For instance, If an opponent erroneously puts Panharmonicon in a pile by itself, you can shamelessly take the other 3 cards in that FOF. Palinchron is also rather expensive to set up, but not as expensive as Rite. I think it is a good back up win condition. If Rite doesn't resolve, or if Isochron w/ dramatic reversal doesn't resolve, we need at least one other way to combo off. With ways to tutor for High Tide this win condition has been online surprisingly often, and is definitely threatening. That said having this AND Rite feels too heavy mana wise. I think I am pretty much sold on Isoscepter because of how inexpensive it is. With recent mana rock additions as well as Mox Diamond and Grim Monolith (mentioned below) the wincon is online for far cheaper than Rite and effectively does the same job, also dramatic reversal can be used as a one time use now which makes it good on it's own.

Lands: After a day of listening to cEDH podcasts, this is what I came up with. Urza's Saga is nuts. After playtesting with these lands I felt a big power spike. Thank you for mentioning Mystic Sanctuary again. I didn't think about it being able to retrieve a wincon which is pretty relevant. I will consider slipping this one back in there. I also think that losing just one more Island wouldn't be very impactful. What do you think about Command Beacon? After playtesting, I think there is such a niche case when this card is good in cEDH. I think I prefer an Island here given the more recent revisions.

Enchantments: Agreed, all of these are great cards. Not much to change here.

Instants: I don't think there are any cuts to be made here. After playtesting I think I need to add more Instants to more reliably shut off early combo wins. Demonic Consultation and Ad Nauseum are rampant. Even fitting in a Dispel or Spell Pierce to the deck would go a long way.

Artifacts: Work needs to be done here. I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Lightning Greaves feels bad because board interaction is light and stack interaction is high in cEDH. Caged Sun is usually too expensive to play without cheating it in with Scholar. But scholar wants to hit other game winning cards anyway, so Caged sun needs to go. Grim Monolith and Mox Diamond need to go in. I have been reluctant to add them to the list because I don't have paper copies. You are spot on with these two though. I am not high on Moonsilver Key, but I do like Wayfarer's Bauble. The bauble putting a land into play is important to getting palinchron online, and this also sees great synergy with Vantress Visions similar to the fetch lands. Though bauable is definitely worse than mox diamond and grim monolith, it would be my last cut. Mox Amber indeed doesn't power Unesh out, but we don't need it to. I will say that my playtests have really favored this card. Being able to play more mana artifacts after a FOF for free will keep the FOFs rolling. Mox Amber feels very good. Mox diamond is superior, but I won't take out Mox Amber for it.

REVISION: After synthesizing both our viewpoints, here is a revision that I will go ahead and push. I think you will like this mostly, but let me know your doubts.

EXPLANAITION: This rev cuts the Rite wincon and adds the less expensive Isoscepter wincon. There is still backup wincon in Aetherflux. Isoscepter is backed up by Palinchron, and Aetherflux is supported by Palinchron. Obviously, the goal with infinite mana is to play Thassa's eventually. Dramatic Reversal is good enough on its own now because of the artifacts added recently. I honestly think this is the cheapest that the wincon package can be while still being robust enough to not fizzle out. With these wincons, Unesh doesn't have to be on the field, which makes the deck less reliant on him, mitigating one of the deck's biggest flaws. Cutting Lightning Greaves will likely be inconsequential due to low board state interaction. Muddle and Spell pierce add some more stack interaction while Muddle can find combo pieces. I went with Spell pierce over Dispel because it can hit stax pieces as well as stopping an early combo win. Cutting a sphinx now relies on Ghostly Flicker to be part of the 20%. Mystic Sanctuary and Scholar of the Lost Trove are used to retrieve wincons from the grave if necessary.

I heavily considered subbing Dream Eater for Argent Sphinx. I will need to playtest that change before committing to it.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

7 months ago

One more rev and talk about a strong new Synergy

  • Take out Nexus of Fate for Ledger Shredder and move Back to Basics to the sideboard. The Nexus is great casually, but if I am paying 7 mana for a spell it better win me the game. Nexus of fate just doesn’t do that. Ledger Shredder is another card draw engine, it gets you deeper in to the deck. In cases where nexus of fate sits dead in your hand doing nothing, ledger shredder can be on the field generating excellent value, and it is 5 cmc less. I understand that infinite turns will no longer be wincon, and I think that’s okay. Thassa’s and Aetherflux fill those roles well enough. I will be updating the guide soon to talk about these recent additions as well as remove irrelevant info.
  • Take out an Island for Lorien Revealed. Another deck thinning card that is basically still a land, but it has other synergies. The island cycling is another effect that can be copied by Virtue of Knowledge. This card can also be cast from the graveyard by Scholar of the Lost Trove. You will rarely hard cast this card, but you can in dire straits.

Speaking of Scholar of the Lost Trove, this card has some great synergy with recently added Orvar, the All-Form. When you cast Scholar of the lost trove while Orvar is on the battlefield, you can cast all bounce spells in your graveyard, then still get your value engine from the graveyard after that. If Unesh is on the field when this happens, you can get through a lot of your deck. If Aetherflux Reservoir is on the field you can get a large storm count. The cycle goes like this:

  1. Cast Scholar of the Lost Trove while Orvar, the All-Form is on the field.
  2. Scholar ETB cast a bounce spell from graveyard targeting Scholar.
  3. This triggers Orvar and makes a token copy of scholar.
  4. Return to step 2 for all bounce spells in your graveyard. If there are no bounce spells proceed to step 5.
  5. Cast a big payoff artifact like Caged Sun or Aetherflux Reservoir to end the cycle.

So in this stage of revision where I am ruthlessly cutting high cmc cards, I will probably not cut Scholar of the Lost Trove because it can be such a huge payoff card. It also makes you less likely to care about tossing your big artifacts in the bin during your BFOF because you might be able to get them back later with this card.

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