Nephalia Academy

Land

If a spell or ability an opponent controls causes you to discard a card, you may reveal that card and put it on top of your library instead of putting it anywhere else.

{T}: Add {C} to your mana pool.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

Max_Hammer on I’m Rick Grimes, Bitch 2.0

2 years ago

Howdy, I think your mana base could use some work-shopping. As for what you have right now, it's good. You don't need to remove anything, nothing here is hurting you. However, there might be something you missed. The only reason I can see for having this number of basics is for Emeria, but I think you could get even more value elsewhere. For the record, I'm not saying to include all of these, but I am giving you some choices as to what you might wanna include. I suggested the ones that seemed like the best choices.

Removal:

For removal, we have a few choices. Scavenger Grounds is graveyard hate, which is fine because we only have one piece of recursion and it's Emeria. Blast Zone is pretty solid removal, just in case. Field of Ruin can get rid of someone else's Emeria or other problem land. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire can be removal when you need it, and a land when you don't. And lastly, Kabira Takedown  ^Flip in a token deck takes down pretty much anything without hexproof.

Protection:

Your stuff is important! Keep it safe with these cards. Eiganjo Castle is nice for anyone especially important, as can Karakas, if you can swallow the high pricetag. Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip can keep a creature safe once, assuming you don't need the mana. Nephalia Academy is fun when playing against specific deck strategies. Now, for a lot of them all at once, Kor Haven, Mystifying Maze, and Labyrinth of Skophos (With a shoutout to Maze of Ith) all prevent people from bonking you too hard.

Misc.

Everything else that wasn't in those two categories. Windbrisk Heights can play you a free Mass Calcify when you need it, just for swinging with 3 tokens. Reliquary Tower because this is Commander. War Room, depending on how much draw you need. Idyllic Grange may as well replace a Plains if you plan to keep focusing on Emeria. Arcane Lighthouse is just another Detection Tower effect. And for the final one, Karoo. I dig the bouncelands. They're perfect turn 2 plays and might help you ramp a little bit extra.

And one more thing aside from all of this! Caged Sun is, in my opinion, better than Gauntlet of Power. One extra mana for blocking out my opponents feels worth it.

Flavuss on Myrtron

2 years ago

Max_Hammer I will test more with the Myr Turbine too see if I can drop the number to 2. The fact is that card becomes good once battlesphere hit the battlefield , the 4 token generation makes the tutor easier to play. On top of that Forsaken Monument alone makes the tokens 3/3. I thought of The Mightstone and Weakstone  ^Meld as versatile card for his removal / draw when it hits the battlefield plus its ability to generate mana helps to no rely purely on tron. Sculpting Steel can be used to chose again one of the 2 effects at 3 cost . I will try to play without basic lands but I dont know it will be a good choice, everyone i'm playin with plays boseiju at least ahahha. Nephalia Academy looks good! THanks again for your comment!

Max_Hammer on Myrtron

2 years ago

Yeah, Saga is way too expensive, it needs some reprints. And I'm just now realizes the only 1 cmc card you have in your deck is a land fetch, so it's probably not all that helpful.

As for what to remove, Myr Turbine doesn't seem too useful. I've never run it before, but five mana for one 1/1 a turn, seems... Not great. The tutor is cool, but it seems kinda meh, too. That card is probably meant more for commander or something to that end. Maybe the Might/Weakstone, too.

As for the basics and land removal, it doesn't really look like there's any reason. If you have Darksteel Citadel it's indestructible, so removal doesn't matter anyway, and Modern doesn't have very much nonbasic specific land removal. If they're gonna blow up a land, it doesn't really matter if it's basic or not. That said, sometimes cards will let you search for a basic, but with 19 mana, playing against land destruction probably screws you anyway, and being able to search for the 1 basic wouldn't be too helpful. Anyway, here's the scryfall link to it.

https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=%28oracle%3Adestroy+oracle%3Anonbasic%29+legal%3Amodern

As for nonbasic lands you could also use, here are some of my favorites. The aforementioned Darksteel Citadel and Field of Ruin are both good. Labyrinth of Skophos is pretty casual, but it's surprisingly not awful. For the creature light meta of Modern it doesn't really matter, but for casual it's fun. Nephalia Academy is fun if you're vulnerable to discard strategies, which Mystic Forge could prevent, maybe. Blast Zone is also pretty effective removal for a color that doesn't have much removal.

Sorry for the paragraph, or several, and good luck!!

Lankhmar on For Honor and Glory!!!

2 years ago

lhetrick13

I'll do that soon! We run essentially the same things with only a few exceptions-most of which I have shared. I like the effects of History of Benalia and ran it for awhile but eventually pulled it out. The reason was it competes in that 3rd drop slot with Knight Exemplar then requires a couple more turns to be a win-con. Plus Acclaimed Contender doesn't "fetch" it. In my local meta a lot (most probably) modern decks look to win by turn 5-6. Most are net-decks (nobody home brews anymore sadly) and aggro. Some of the "storm" (combo) decks are even faster. A turn 3 History of Benalia drop just never felt satisfying or felt like a true win-con. Your mileage may vary. My deck is more "front loaded" due to how fast most modern decks are. Instead of History of Benalia I run Noble Hierarch. She's a human so she fits the paradigm, she is a one drop, she fixes a bad mana situation and she's a lightning rod too like Mother of Runes. No matter what happens I always feel good about getting her in my opening hand and putting her into play. She has that nasty little "exalted" keyword and she's gives us a little ramp. I run the Dauntless Bodyguard too but he's a terrible drop in that one slot. Much better to pull him with CoCo turn 4 (or just hold him and hard cast him and play another card as well) and cover your Exemplar.

Mother is a beast add. Trust me! Total lightning rod (and usually does get removed) but any given deck only has so much removal and I'm ok with her getting "burned" and, potentially, saving Exemplar. If she doesn't, even better. Either way she's a benefit.

LOL. This type of aggro deck you kinda WANT to "vomit" your creatures out. That's your win-con. Guardian of Faith and Dauntless Bodyguard would be the exceptions. Holding them in hand until you need them is the best move. It's super satisfying to pull one of them on a CoCo hit when things get desperate. Having him AND Dauntless Bodyguard increases your chances of salvation.

Nephalia Academy has helped a lot. I don't see it every game and I'm thinking about putting another copy or two in my SB because there is so much discard. I've gone back and forth with Leyline of Sanctity in my SB. I can run Nephalia safely partly because Noble Hierarch can fix my mana (assuming she doesn't get removed). I still think you can find room for it though. the mana curve isn't THAT high in this deck.

Aether Vial is amazing with decks that focus on ETB but Knights are more aggro. I'd really rather drop a Noble or Mother than a vial turn one. Call me crazy.

I think part of the reason you are struggling with SB is how you're playing. Playing a single game against a random opponent isn't going to teach you about the effectiveness of your sideboard or help you to tweak it or see what your opponents bring in against you. Full matches are the key. You'll probably sacrifice a bit of your win percentage initially bc your opponents will have some answers in their SB most likely but eventually you'll have an even better deck as you learn from your mistakes and figure out what belongs in the SB against various archetypes and decide what to pull out from your main and what to leave in. I've been playing off and on since Revised and I still struggle sometimes to put together a great SB and determine what goes in and what comes out.

Happy brewing amigo!

lhetrick13 on For Honor and Glory!!!

2 years ago

Lankhmar - You should post your deck, it would be interesting to compare!

• I will take a look at Mother of Runes. I play MTGO exclusively and she is not bad at ~1.25 tix. Not a knight but like you said does still hit the human type. She would likely get removed right away considering her ability but like you menitoned, that is one less burn spell they would have in their hand to use on a bigger piece like Knight Exemplar.

• Cavern of Souls would be sooooo nice to get my hands on but my monthly budget is 20 tix (roughly $20) a month and at ~16 tix per card, that is likely out of my buget for a while. You are right that it would solve much of my issues with counter decks as I rarely see a counter deck run Field of Ruin or something similar.

• Guardian of Faith has been a difference maker for you huh? Good to known. I have a full playset of it but never actually play-tested it. Its ability to flash in and save an army from ANY mass removal spell is pretty epic. I will have to give him a try...and maybe learn to be a better player and not vomit all my creatures out ASAP!

• Nephalia Academy is another new one for me and I like it. Discard runs pretty heavy in modern and that would shut it down hard. Since this is only a two color deck, I bet I can make room for it. Thanks for the suggestion!

• I feel you about Aether Vial. It jsut does not feel right with this deck as you kinda have to build for it and I built this around Collected Company. I do use it in a soldier deck (Boots on the Ground) and a re-animator knight deck (Beyond the Grave (Abzan)) but both those decks are still in their infancy and need more play-testing to really feel it out.

• Thanks for all the sideboard suggestions. I really do need to sit down and actually decide what to put in that. Usually, I play just a single game against random opponents via MTGO so never use the sideboard but it does kinda feel like not doing it leaves the deck unfinished and naked. I will take a stab at filling that out this week!

• I feel you about them feeling competitive. This is arguable my best deck I have built and it is my go to if I just feel like winning a game :) With the number of netdecks on MTGO, having any deck with a winning record is an accomplishment and this deck is like a 60-70% win rate for me against randoms and I do not play it against my buddies as it is a little too aggressive of a deck for a casual game.

Thanks for the suggestions! Check in again in the near future to see the edits!

Lankhmar on For Honor and Glory!!!

2 years ago

Knights need some love brother! LOL. I have a similar deck and spot removal and board wipes (not as common) are problematic but Mother of Runes has helped a LOT! She's less than 2 bucks and is a one drop and human-which fits. I know you're a budget builder-I am not LOL. Cavern of Souls would be a great investment, if you're willing to pony up, and will stop counter magic until they Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin it. Still, would buy you some time. Any of the pro-red knights would be good in SB for burn. Guardian of Faith will stop board wipes or even spot removal since you get to choose your targets so you don't HAVE to phase out your whole field. That card was a game changer for me and it's a knight and cheap (also less than 2 bucks). Nice shenanigans too since he has "flash". For a 3 mana 3/2 that is white and cheap, a knight, AND flashes in to prevent removal he's pretty much the MVP of my deck (between him and Exemplar). I've read through your iterations and it feels like you landed on the right mix!! Your deck is essentially the same as mine except I do run Caverns, Mother and Guardian and a few more fetches to thin the deck. Nephalia Academy is SUPER CHEAP and, while it does not take the place of Leyline of Sanctity it does deal with discard strategies and used to sit in my SB but I run a couple copies main now. I have run this deck with Aether Vial but it just gets too "muddy" on early drops and invariably almost every competitive deck runs Stony Silence in SB so that makes vials pretty useless. Auriok Champion is a great (human) SB card and so is Sanctifier en-Vec especially with dredge decks. Paladin en-Vec is another good choice and kills Rakdos strategies. A lot of people will say that Knights isn't competitive in the current modern meta but I have a pretty competitive location where they get roughly 50 participants every Friday night for FNM and my knights never go worse than 2-2. I've had a few 4-0 nights and a lot of 3-1 finishes. I don't always play knights but when I do it's competitive enough to feel good.

DreadKhan on green machine

2 years ago

Hey, I think I understand you correctly when I say you want more utility/non-basic lands you can use in here? Do you have a budget in mind?

First off, I personally don't love Arcane Signet in a mono-Green deck, that shouldn't hurt to remove as a start? Sol Ring is probably good enough to keep. As for some non-basics you could look at, Wirewood Lodge is a good Elf land, Gilt-Leaf Palace is a good land maybe, not too cheap though. Tainted Wood might work, I'd consider Blighted Woodland, Tyrite Sanctum can make your Commander Indestructible, Mortuary Mire or Witch's Cottage can get you back a creature, I like to include bounce lands like Guildless Commons in decks short on lands (they count as 2 drops effectively), Nephalia Academy is probably useful if you face discard decks (bad if not though), Woodland Chasm can be found with Wood Elves (but comes in tapped unfortunately), Mosswort Bridge is a good Green land on a budget, War Room is a good one if you're splurging, Castle Locthwain can draw as well, but it's clunkier than War Room most of the time, Jungle Basin might be fine as a bounce land if you've got lots of basic forests, Castle Garenbrig has potential relevance, Buried Ruin can get back an artifact (if you add Vanquisher's Banner, or Staff of Domination, which combos very well with Elves), Scavenger Grounds can exile graveyards, and Bojuka Bog exiles 1 graveyard when it enters.

If you end up liking basics more than you expect, you could also go low on non-basic lands and use Primal Order, which can cause some decks considerable grief. I'll check in later, hope these give you something to think about at least!

9-lives on

2 years ago

Also, if I don't run Eidolon of the Great Revel, wouldn't it be better to not play Soulfire Grand Master? I don't plan on playing a long game, as I'm trying to win as fast as possible, and extra life would just make me last longer. I don't have any cards that have a lifegain advantage pairing with lifelink instants/sorceries. I also currently don't own any shock lands. I think Soul-Scar Mage would be more useful in my burn deck than Soulfire Grand Master, especially if I face a large card and need to make it weaker, and even there the 2 damage from Izzet Charm and Shock would be useful. Not many people have a strategy against hate, I think, right? Also, Soulfire Grand Master's ability to copy is prohibitively mana intesnive. The only reason I'm running Nephalia Academy is for the ability to mitigate hand control. I can't stand it when I am facing hand control, and it seems that many people like to do that.