Nameless Inversion

Tribal Instant — Shapeshifter

Changeling (This card is every creature type at all times.)

Target creature gets +3/-3 and loses all creature types until end of turn.

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 (49)

lhetrick13 on Beyond the Grave (Mardu)

4 months ago

Dead_Blue_ - Good stuff, given me some things to think about!

For Oliva, I liked the Mobilized for War variant as she is cheap for her strength, I like the Flying for evasion, and her ability to discard/pump creatures and add pressure by giving them Haste. The discard is handy for Haakan or just to get creatures in the graveyard for Breathless Knight's benefit. I have an aristocrat/counters vampire themed deck that Olivia Voldaren would likely fit in better with her ability to put +1/+1 counters on herself and steal opponent's creatures that could then be sacrificed for additional benefits. I will add that to the maybe board there!

I know what you mean about the "draining resources" with the discard enablers. It is a double-sided sword as at times, it is helpful but others...not so much. Nameless Inversion is a great card for this deck as its Shapeshifter class allows me to recast it unlimited times as long as Haakon is in play. A single copy of that can literally clear an opponent's creature board in a single turn if I have the mana to burn. Finding the balance of discard spells will be something I will experiment with so thanks for the spell suggestions!

I never even thought about Hollow One for this deck. Shame it is not a Knight but with Collective Brutality, under most circumstances, you could cast Hollow One for free or 1 CMC...that would be pretty nice!

Dead_Blue_ on Beyond the Grave (Mardu)

4 months ago

I think Olivia should be Olivia Voldaren instead and that your removal suite should be completely overhauled. I get it that you want discard enablers but there are many situations where you will not want to drain your own resources to cast spells. I’d probably run Lightning Bolt, Unholy Heat & Terminate over Bone Shards, Lightning Axe & Nameless Inversion

I’d also think 4x Hollow One needs to be a must

DaringApprentice on Every Rose Has Its Thorns V2

5 months ago

I'm not sure what the combo lines are in your deck, but my recommendations for cuts are Rakdos Charm, Village Rites, Nameless Inversion, and Captain Lannery Storm.

squiGGhetti on Beyond the Grave (Abzan)

5 months ago

lhetrick13,

I told you Pyre of Heroes is super good in tribal decks! lol

AHHHHHHHHHH now I get why you like Nameless Inversion so much! I didn't even think about it being a "knigt card."

If you go down to 3 Haakon, Stromgald Scourge you'll have room for that single copy of Knight of the Reliquary, and you can go down to 2 Aether Vials and go up to 3 Pyre of Heroes wink wink

On a serious note, after seeing the way Pyre of Heroes performs, do you intend on keeping Fiend Artisan or maybe using its slots for Pyre of Heroes and finding two more somethings? maybe... Unearth? or... ya know... whatever floats the boat better.

The more you play this deck, I'm certain you will see more weight behind my recomendations. lol I really don't want people to waste 3 years figuring out their decks/sideboards. Even if I only cut off a year, conversations like this are always welcome.

Thank you for finding my Cleric Tempo deck.

GLHF!

P.S. 20 lands, Knight of the Reliquary, and Life from the Loam. Just saying... even one copy of each is stronk.

lhetrick13 on Beyond the Grave (Abzan)

5 months ago

squiGGhetti - Since Nameless Inversion is a shapeshifter tribal instant, it is technically a knight which means when Haakon is on the field, I can cast it from my graveyard again and again and again as long as I have mana to cast it. That is why I love it for this deck. It is cheap removal with essentially unlimited Flashback.

Hmmm...I see your point with the fetch lands and Knight of the Reliquary. Play four fetch lands and you remove eight lands from the deck increase the odds of not drawing a land when you do not want to draw land. With the tutoring ability of the deck, perhaps I will add a single copy of Knight of the Reliquary back in. As I mentioned, I originally had her but dropped her for other creatures.

I wanted this deck to focus less on the self-mill/discard as I felt that was more of the strength of the Mardu version of the deck (which I will eventually work on similar to this deck). I was wanting this deck to focus on other methods of getting Haakon out. I am seeing your point with Pyre of Heroes, I do think I will be very happy with that in the deck. I will likely drop Eldritch Evolution and add in Pyre of Heroes in the near future and see how it performs, then I can actually make some edits with confidence!

Only reason I am running a full playset of Haakon is just to maximize the ability of finding him but you are right that with the amount of "tutoring" I have perhaps I could drop it down to three copies.

I will see what direction the deck takes for the 20 land argument. If vials stay in, I think you have a valid argument but if I drop a copy or all, I think the land count will likely stay the same.

Thanks again for all the feedback, really enjoying it!

squiGGhetti on Beyond the Grave (Abzan)

5 months ago

lhetrick13,

I'm not quite sure what you mean by using Nameless Inversion over and over again. It's a one time use spell. Sure you have a full playset, but... it only effects one creature, and even then only does a reduction of stats. Fatal Push destroys based of CMC. Could you explain?

As far as your lands are concerened, I know what you mean when it comes to being on T2 or T3 and only having colorless mana. Never a good feeling. I also understand your hesitation with going down to 20. However, when you have consistent means of thining your deck with cards like Marsh Flats, Windswept Heath, and Pyre of Heroes (as you will later read, I'm gonna really push it) neither finding land nor creature becomes a problem. Which actually goes into why Unearth and Knight of the Reliquary are good for your deck. The dual use of Unearth allowing you to resurect a creature or cycle and draw a card is money. The ability of Knight of the Reliquary allowing you to search for any land (including fetch lands) is OP. Because of such I would even recommend removing any land that doesn't say forest or plains on it (with fetch lands being the obvious exception). Deck thinning/tutoring is HUGE! Effectively, your odds exponentially increase to draw cards you want by removing the cards you don't want to draw from the deck.

And now my case against Aether Vial lol

Considering how easy it would be to get Haakon, Stromgald Scourge onto the battlefield with Pyre of Heroes, I'm actually more curious as to why you aren't looking for more self discard/mill mechanics. Especially after the recent reprint of Liliana of the Veil. In all honesty, with something like her, you could change your removal spells to target more permanents with things like Assassin's Trophy, Despark, or Rite of Oblivion. That way you already have answeres for people who run graveyard hate in the sideboard, and you will run into them. Sure Aether Vial is great for getting out a creature from your hand for free, but let's say you're top decking and you draw a land. Three Pyre of Heroes would not care. They would only care about the creatures you have on the battlefield. Getting Haakon, Stromgald Scourge out is easy, and that land is more usefull to you than having three stagnant Aether Vials.

lhetrick13 on Beyond the Grave (Abzan)

5 months ago

squiGGhetti - Good stuff! Thanks for taking a look!

Hmmm...maybe I will drop the filter lands like Twilight Mire, Wooded Bastion, and Fetid Heath and double the shock lands I am currently running. I will say I have had games where I start with like 3 lands in my hand but they only can generate colorless mana which kills the hand. Adding the shock lands would give me more to fetch and still provides me the option to play fast or treat it as a tap land if speed is not of the essence. I am not sure on dropping it down to only 20 lands though, with an average CMC of 2.23, I want to hedge that bet. 21 lands is pretty optimal for starting with 2-3 lands in hand with good odds of drawing an additional land in the next three turns making it so the deck SHOULD be able to play anything by turn 4...should being the key word...

Two people now pushing for Unearth now huh? I do like the card as it provides a cheap return for a 3 CMC creature or provides you a draw if not needed but I am just not understanding why it seems like a good fit for this deck. Generally, I have a lot of ways to cheat or force Haakon, Stromgald Scourge to the field and at that point, as long as he is not exiled, I can continue to cast him or another as needed. Can you expand on why Unearth is a good fit?

You are not wrong that there are better removal spells out there than Nameless Inversion. I mean Dismember comes to mind for a similar card that is more effective and potentially less mana intensive to boot! However, what I LOVE about Nameless Inversion is its ability to be recast over and over. Bar Hexproof this can remove any creature from the board if I have the mana for it or I can remove multiple weaker creatures on the same turn. Trust me, if the game last more that 5-6 turns, Nameless Inversion will greatly outplay any other standard removal spell out there in this deck.

I do love Collected Company. I built my first tribal knight deck around it (For Honor and Glory!!!) and try to find a place for it where ever I can! I was running a full playset but dropped two copies to make room for Eldritch Evolution as I wanted to try that out to see how it faired. Now you have caused the dilemma of having to test drive Pyre of Heroes as well!

Agreed on Knight of Autumn. She is actually the only reason I created this Abzan version of the Haakon deck. The original was the Mardu version but I lover her versatility. Few things are more rewarding that watching my opponent cast a high CMC enchantment or artifact only to destroy it with Knight of Autumn!

On the debate of Pyre of Heroes vs Eldritch Evolution I think you may be right...I like the idea of being able to cast it T2 and use it on T3 with any creature I sacrifice being able to be resurrected whenever I desire. Definitely going to try it out over the next couple of weeks as it as merit. Not sure I would drop Aether Vial for it though, those free up my mana for dropping creatures and spells or just let me drop multiple creatures per turn if needed.

Two of the four honorary mentions you listed originally were in the deck. I dropped Knight of the Ebon Legion and Knight of the Reliquary as they just did not feel optimal in this deck. Murderous Rider is great but when he dies he gets shuffled into the library which is counter-productive for this deck but I do love that card. I have a similar relationship with Knights' Charge, love the card on principal but just seems so slow in practice. I do see your point though in terms of it having some merit in a aggro knight deck built around letting creatures die or be sacrificed...I will add that to the maybe list...liking it more as I think about the possibilities.

Sorry for the long comment but thanks for the feedback and suggestions! As I mentioned, good stuff!

squiGGhetti on Beyond the Grave (Abzan)

5 months ago

lhetrick13,

I must agree with to_regatha_and_beyond about the manabase. With more fetch lands and more copies of Indatha Triome, Godless Shrine, Overgrown Tomb, and Temple Garden, it is a great way to improve consistency and speed the deck up. With that said, I completely understand why you have lands like Nurturing Peatland to get the card draw you need with such a low mana curve. Also, I would probably go down to 20 lands since your most expensive card is only 4 CMC.

Yogei made an excelent suggestion with Unearth! I highly recomend finding room for it.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Nameless Inversion. There are far better means of removal. Fatal Push with a sacrifce deck is probably your best bet.

I would consider putting in more copies of Collected Company, mainly because it's insanely strong.

My favorite card you have in this deck is definately Knight of Autumn. The fact that it offers removal and is a creature is fantastic.

All that to get to the main reason I'm here! The debate btween Pyre of Heroes and Eldritch Evolution. I think with this deck, Pyre of Heroes might be a better option. It is technically a slower play, however something I've found with tutor mechanics like this needing a lot of card draw is not really needed. I would also venture to say that having Pyre of Heroes would eleminate your need for Aether Vial.

Lastly, a few cards worth looking into are: Knight of the Ebon Legion, Murderous Rider, Knight of the Reliquary, and Knights' Charge