Old Rutstein

Legendary Creature — Human Peasant

When this enters the battlefield or at the beginning of your upkeep, mill a card. (Put the top card of your library into your graveyard.) If a land card is milled this way, creature a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this: Add one mana of any colour.") If a creature card is milled this way, create a 1/1 green Insect creature token. It a noncreature, nonland card is milled this way, create a Blood token. (It's an artifact with "{1}, {T}, Discard a card, Sacrifice this: Draw a card.")

Tokens

• Insect 1/1 G
• Blood
• Treasure

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	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
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (15)

legendofa on BBEG Deck Ideas

2 months ago

For my breakdown here, I'm focusing on characters who are villains in their story arc and characters who don't have much specific backstory. Pretty much any legendary creature can be flavored as a villain in front of the right deck. I'm also not focusing on the Forgotten Realms sets, I'm broadening the net.

What's available:

{C}: Eldrazi or artifacts. Most of the artifacts are either hero-aligned or not an independent threat, like Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut. If you want a challenge, Omarthis, Ghostfire Initiate, but I wouldn't, just for lack of depth.

{W}: Villains are oddly centered on Old Kamigawa. Konda, Lord of Eiganjo is a near-immortal emperor and master duelist. Hokori, Dust Drinker is destroying resources and the land. And, of course, there's the apocalyptic, unrelenting evil that is Hazduhr the Abbot.

{U}: Heidar, Rimewind Master is an elementalist fanatic. The manipulations of Orvar, the All-Form or Kami of the Crescent Moon could cause problems, as could a big sea creature like Tromokratis or Charix, the Raging Isle.

{B}: Pretty much everyone. It's easier to count the people who aren't outright villains.

{R}: Relatively few actual villains, but a bunch of manipulators, dragons, and angry people that could fill the role.

{G}: A bunch of wild animals and nature types. No scheming villains, but a good selection of rampaging monsters. Meng Huo, Barbarian King would be a unique choice (if you're willing to.proxy or drop $150+).

{G}{W}: Polukranos Reborn  ^Flip is the most (only?) villainous character in these colors.

{U}{B}: Lots of options, from the behind-the-scenes manipulation of Lazav, Dimir Mastermind to the illithid Captain N'ghathrod, Gisa and Geralf's necromancer army, whatever Umbris, Fear Manifest is, and a lot more.

{G}{U}: A few options, but lots of depth in them. Insane biologist Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and his magnum opus Experiment Kraj, nature's avenger Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, or maybe Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is flooding the area.

{B}{R}: A very deep and wide pool for villains. Vampires, demons, dragons, demon dragons, warlords, torturers...

{B}{G}: Grakmaw, Skyclave Ravager joins the ranks of the big scary monsters. A more calculating BBEG would probably be one of the death lords like Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. Vhati il-Dal or Old Rutstein or probably more storyline villains than BBEG material.

{G}{W}{U}: A very shallow pool. Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl, Rubinia Soulsinger, and maybe Falco Spara, Pactweaver or Katilda and Lier (mostly because of Lier) are the best options for an Archenemy villain. I'd throw Kros, Defense Contractor in, but goading is kind of limited when you're the Archenemy.

{W}{U}{B}: This color set will probably be either a cold, distant, merciless villain or a manipulative puppet master. Raffine, Scheming Seer and Oloro, Ageless Ascetic fall into the first category, and Sen Triplets and The Ever-Changing 'Dane in the second. Varina, Lich Queen is another option for a zombie army.

{B}{R}{G}: Big, angry, and violent, with some good dragons. Xira, the Golden Sting and Vazi, Keen Negotiator break out of this mold, but they strike me as more lieutenant-types, not arc villains by themselves.

{R}{G}{W}: Not much; these tend to be either heroic or big smashy monsters. Uril, the Miststalker could work.

{R}{W}{B}: Queen Marchesa is a classic, as you mentioned, and Edgar Markov is right there, too. Actually, this color set has some good depth and variety for an Archenemy. Some are more overtly villainous, and some are just very martial. My top picks would be Edgar, Licia, Sanguine Tribune, or Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.

{G}{U}{R}: Mostly either weird esotericism or "nature's avenger" types. I don't think any of these are outright villainous in-story, but most of them have loose or vague stories. With the right deck, this could be a unique and interesting villain. Riku of Two Reflections is my top pick.

Four-color sets in general: Any of them would work, except for a couple of the {R}{G}{W}{U}.

{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Use this color set if you want a truly apocalyptic feel. saluma mentioned Tiamat, which is a very good choice, and finding a way to get through Progenitus or O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami is a story of epic scale.

RangerOfPower on 7-Drop Tribal

2 months ago

Made_Compleat I was skeptical about Old Rutstein since it doesn't mill that many cards for 3 mana, but after thinking about it more I think its upsides make it worth trying out. And you're definitely right about the tutors, the deck could use some more.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Made_Compleat on 7-Drop Tribal

2 months ago

Cool deck! This is a really creative strategy, and I might have to make a similar deck. I love the synergy!

Perhaps you could use Old Rutstein? He fills your yard while giving you benefits. Also, it seems to me like you might want more tutors.

GodzSoldier on Slender Man Grist

7 months ago

Firstly, I love the deck, truly do. But I feel unless youre actually creating tons of value, which Id like to point out the obvious, ZERO CARD DRAW in the command zone can backfire. If you really want the creature tokens, I think Old Rutstein would be a way better alternative. It gives Sudo card draw, ramp and chump blockers. And then you don't have to run bad insects like zask haha. But obviously if you love Grist, I can't change your mind. I like her to, but I personally hate having a hand with no card draw while having her on the field :p

KongMing on Fungi Garden

9 months ago

I recommend Krav, the Unredeemed as a way to draw cards without dumping a bunch of mana into it. Also gains you life. Only downside is it's not a Fungus.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General is great in this deck for many obvious reasons.

And hey, since there's so much sacrifice going on, why not Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest?

Now, your graveyard. Seems to me you need more steady ways to toss Fungus in there. How about Cemetery Tampering, Crawling Infestation, Crawling Sensation, Crop Sigil, Uurg, Spawn of Turg, Deathbonnet Sprout  ^Flip, Nyx Weaver, Old Rutstein, Out of the Tombs, Splinterfright, and Throne of Death  ^Flip.

Deadbridge Chant isn't steady, but it's great explosive mill.

wallisface on Help Tweaking a Golgari Standard …

11 months ago

Are you playing games with Sideboards? Because a lot of decks are able to shore-up their weaknesses by utilizing sideboards, and you'd also be able to gain some extra ground against those bad-matchups by doing so.

Other than that I think the biggest recommendation is something you've already eluded to in your commentary here & on the deck - there's too many different things going on here. The deck would really benefit from cutting-out the average/mediocre cards and running more playsets of the "goodstuff".

Without knowing too much about standard (I only play Modern) my gut instinct is that the following cards are probably a bit weak to be in the deck, and should probably be ditched: Dreadhound (soo much mana for such a meh effect), Graveyard Trespasser  ^Flip (doesn't seem to be helping your deck out that much), Old Rutstein (seems odd in this shell), Outland Liberator  ^Flip (it just feels like a sideboard card to me), Skyfisher Spider (mana cost seems too high for what it does).

I feel like Golgari decks do well from interacting with the opponent and grinding them down. In that regard, I'd prioritize making playsets of your current selection of instant spells (Tear Asunder, Infernal Grasp in particular seem strong for helping the game go longer so your creatures can get bigger. I'm not sure how relevant Cut Down is in your format).

CDClarke on

1 year ago

Old Rutstein and Tireless Provisioner seem like really strong new support cards for a lands strategy

Rhadamanthus on Can I cast an instant …

1 year ago

Yes that works. Upkeep and draw are two separate steps of the beginning phase. After the Upkeep trigger from Old Rutstein finishes resolving in your example, players will get priority to take actions again before the game moves on to the Draw step (it can only move on if everyone passes instead of taking any action).