Oreskos Explorer

Creature — Cat Scout

When this enters the battlefield, search your library for up to X Plains cards, where X is the number of players who control more lands than you. Reveal those cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle your library.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

eliakimras on Wyleth, Boros Voltron

1 year ago

Hello fellow Wyleth, Soul of Card Draw player!

I'm glad you got both Wyleth's and Aesi's precons for a good price. They are reeeeally explosive in gameplay with a few upgrades.

I play a lot of this bad boy, and I want to suggest some swaps below 3 USD for you to take it to a higher ground:

First of all, the ramp. I found out that 2 CMC, untapped ramp is the best for Wyleth. Since he draws so many cards, he can chain rocks and voltron pieces in the same turn, so his next turn is even more explosive than the last one. I almost always have more mana than the Green decks in my pod.

• Oreskos Explorer -> Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip (you can get this to flip easily on turn 4)
• Kor Cartographer (too slow) -> Arcane Signet
• Emeria Shepherd (Voltron decks need a REALLY good reason to run cards above 3 mana in their builds) -> Starnheim Courser (this allows you to storm out of control. It is another body to voltron if needed)
• Keeper of the Accord (the token is irrelevant for you and, with Wyleth's card draw, you won't be behind in land drops) -> Talisman of Conviction

You should run boardwipes that hits your stuff the least:

• Tragic Arrogance (no need to destroy your own stuff) -> The Eternal Wanderer's ult
• Disenchant -> Heliod's Intervention
• Ironclad Slayer (we'll compensate him in the landbase) -> Vandalblast

Also, you can streamline your removal package. All of those are fetchable by Sunforger:

• Wear / Tear (good removal, but you already have more flexible options) -> Reprieve (that's one hell of a card to fetch out with Sunforger)
• Hyena Umbra (still vulnerable to exile and bounce effects) -> Blacksmith's Skill (all-around protection)

More/better auras and equipment

• Temur Battle Rage is a cute combat trick, but Battle Mastery is permanent and triggers Wyleth.

• Same to Reyav, Master Smith: one thing I've learned is to only rely on other card types for things Auras and Equipments can't do. All That Glitters, most of the time, performs better than him.

• Infuriate -> Thran Power Suit (same reason as above)

• Adeline, Resplendent Cathar (lost to her yesterday, but she does not give value here) -> Empyrial Armor (Wyleth gets huge with this)

• Kor Duelist -> Empyrial Plate (same as above)

• Ring of Thune -> Shielded by Faith

• Gimli's Axe -> Maul of the Skyclaves
• Argentum Armor (too expensive to cast) -> Mirror Shield (hexproof is crucial on a Voltron build)

Cheating equip costs

• Brass Squire (having to wait a turn to use his ability is rough) -> Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist
• Kemba, Kha Regent (too slow for a Voltron build) -> Bruenor Battlehammer

If you really need to protect yourself against attacks, Ghostly Prison is a way better Palace Guard.

More utility lands

• Minas Tirith (Wyleth draws enough cards already. Also, most of the time, you will only have a single creature on the field) -> Axgard Armory (tutor on a land)
• Plains -> Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip (a protection spell stapled onto a land)
• Mountain -> Buried Ruin (Ironclad Slayer's removal is avenged!)
• Plains -> Mistveil Plains (it can return instants back to the deck to be fetched again by Sunforger)
• Mountain -> Great Furnace (synergy with All That Glitters and Puresteel Paladin)
• Plains -> Ancient Den (same as above)

treeforcorvus on Mardu Vehicles Commander

1 year ago

This deck looks really cool! I really love how incredibly affordable your deck is. For a few more dollars you can add amazing improvements that will significantly improve your deck's power. There's two cards, however, that are a must:

First, Sunforger will cast ANY instant you run, allowing answers straight from your deck AND enables Vial Smasher the Fierce if used outside your turn. Path of Mettle  ^Flip is a decent repellant, but only if you flip it. More likely it will be an inconsistent killer or chip damage, which will only antagonize your foes, and worse it doesn't synergize with either Partner. Sunforger also makes Akiri and Jor kadeen happy, and its versatility will serve you more accurately.

Second, Mistveil Plains (searchable by Oreskos Explorer btw) pairs spectacularly with Sunforger, allowing you to recycle spent instants. Spectacular.

I recommend these replacements, which give big improvements:

• Mercadian Bazaar and Subterranean Hangar perform better than Dwarven Hold and Bottomless Vault, and are cheaper to boot!
• Terramorphic Expanse for 1 plains: better mana fixing means less mulligans. You only have 1 card that casts for W (Skullclamp), which makes Terra Expanse's versatility a superior pick.
• Clifftop Retreat for Battlefield Forge: you have nothing that requires glass.
• Isolated Chapel instead of Caves of Koilos: same as above.
• Molten Slagheap instead of Icatian Store: you still have enough plains.
• Conspiracy Theorist repaces Underworld Rage-Hound: Theorist give its 2nd option to most discard you make, can be buffed by Olivia, is cheaper to enable & is more durable than the Hound.
• Demonic Collusion or Increasing Ambition instead of Diabolic Tutor: the first synergizes with your discard theme & the second one gives more searches in a more flexible mana cost.
• Phyrexian Arena instead of Dark Tutelage. Unless your pod runs only wheel decks, Arena is far superior.
• Greasefang, Okiba Boss replaces Pyre Zombie (not enough synergy, too expensive*).

*First of all, Sun Titan and Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle will almost always better targets to reanimate. Second, compare Pyre Zombie to Torment of Hailfire: For 7BB (the cost of return/cast/sac), you'd get 7 instances of "Each opponent loses 3 life unless that player sacrifices a nonland permanent or discards a card". While Hailfire is a prohibitively expensive card, it still highlights how inefficient Pyre Zombie is without your reanimators. Considering the # of vehicles you run, Greasefang is much better.

Terrashock on Rin and Seri

1 year ago

Hello, fellow cat and dog enjoyer. I noticed that you pretty much stuffed every cat or dog in naya colors in that you could find but not a single changeling. While changelings might not be satisfying since they don't look like a cat or a dog, they provide great value because they actually trigger Rin & Seris ability twice generating two tokens instead of just one. They also benefit from both lord effects. Notable examples of changelings are:

• Realmwalker
• Taurean Mauler
• Irregular Cohort
• Masked Vandal
• Impostor of the Sixth Pride (actually looks like a cat!)
• Chameleon Colossus
• Crib Swap : Removal that also nets you two tokens!
• Maskwood Nexus : Everything becomes a changeling. This means that every creature you cast will generate two tokens. For you deck, this is just a better Parallel Lives!

Additionally, you seem to have missed (or purposfully no included?) some rather powerful cats and dogs:

• Black Market Tycoon : Not the best ramp card, but it's ramp that is on theme!
• Oreskos Explorer : This dude gets better the more expensive your mana base is as he does fetch every Plain card not just basics.
• Qasali Pridemage : Suprised to see that one missing.
• Brimaz, King of Oreskos : It's just a good card for 3 mana, honestly.
• Feline Sovereign : Lord, you can never have enough of those
• Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist : Don't forget our favorite cursed cat. Her effect is actually really strong
• Prava of the Steel Legion : Lord
• Skyhunter Strike Force : Lord
• Alms Collector : On theme draw effect that can absolutely wreck your opponent if you flash it into a wheel effect. The secret lair artwork is also the most adorable cat you will ever own.
• Leonin Warleader : Stronk
• Qasali Slingers : Very good artifact and enchantment hate. Basically an on theme Aura Shards
• Loyal Warhound : On theme ramp.

Just a few for you to consider. I have a list of all good (in my opinion) cats and dogs in my Rin & Seri list: Rin and Seri

Now, let's be real: Its not the best tribal. So I wouldn't force cat and dogs as hard as you do and also supplement with normal creatures like Mondrak, Glory Dominus or Bloom Tender .

You also do not seem to have a lot of draw options in your deck. Depending on the pod you are playing in, board wipes might be present and can absolutely wreck your game plan. Draw effects help you recover from this. Sadly, Naya is not the best color combination for drawing cards and most of the good draw effects are really expensive. You can see some suggestions for draw effects in my deck list: Rin and Seri

I would highly recommend proxying if your pod allows it. Be careful with draw effect like Camaraderie or Shamanic Revelation. They look good on paper in a token theme but they are "win more" cards in my opinion. If your board got wiped and you draw into those cards, they will not do a thing to help you recover. A wheel effect like Wheel of Misfortune however, will draw you 7 fresh cards to start again.

Lastly, I would recommend getting some tutors in there. Eladamri's Call, Green Sun's Zenith, Natural Order and the like. The best card in your deck by far is Jetmir, Nexus of Revels. He is basically your secret commander. If you can resolve him with 9 creatures on the board, you can devastate your opponents out of the blue. All the more important to be able to find him if you need him.

That's all for now. Have fun!

zretrareo27 on RW EDH Brion Stoutarm 2022

2 years ago

09/03/2022
Old > New
Aimed at reducing mana cost
Portent of Betrayal > Goatnap
Malevolent Whispers > Mascot Interception
Returned Pastcaller > Opportunistic Dragon
Emeria Shepherd > Capashen Unicorn

09/05/2022
Testing the following swaps:
Akroma, Angel of Fury > Desolation Giant
Akroma, Angel of Wrath > Eternal Dragon
Tragic Poet > Fellwar Stone
Ryusei, the Falling Star > Taurean Mauler
Skullclamp > Oreskos Explorer

temeref on Taunts & Trickery

2 years ago

Talanar Sentinel is a nice addition -- as for the cards mentioned, I didn't include them since I didn't have em/intend on getting them due to their price; I'd bet they're perfect includes, and since you've got em, absolutely slot em in! Could easily swap out that Oreskos Explorer for Flawless Maneuver, probably along-side Ghostway in place of Favorable Destiny and you'd be in a better state defense-wise. Oreskos was intended to be a non- Land Tax method of making sure my lower land count doesn't brick me as often, and flickering it seemed like a fun way to ensure that, but hey, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work! Not gonna pretend like my decks are perfect haha.

And yeah! I love building weirder cards to try and make em' work. This deck's probably one of my favorites I've done for that concept; the Wild Pair & 4 total power/toughness shenanigans finally put my itch to build around the dang card to rest. Failed so many times trying it lol but I feel like this deck's finally the one.

Talanar on Taunts & Trickery

2 years ago

@temeref No big deal, I never left a comment on this page and didn't realize that you probably should tag people. :D

I'd really like to give you some proper feedback about my experience with the deck, but to be honest, the majority of the games were a trainwreck. The reason is really simple though: I'm compeletly new to Magic and, therefore, lack any skill to pilot this deck properly. Hence, my feedback would be nothing but a guide on how to brutally butcher your finely tuned deck. :P

The only thing I replaced was Garruk, Primal Hunter. Instead, I put in Esper Sentinel for early card draw. It was laying around here, so I figured why not. Moreover, I wasn't able to benefit from Oreskos Explorer in any of the games. Never got me more than 2 lands when I didn't even need them in my hand. I guess this card is there to help fixing mana issues/prevent mana screws and slim out the deck in later stages of the game. How do you utilize this card properly?

Ghostway sounds like a perfect fit for this deck. I also have an unused Flawless Maneuver in my collection which could be some nice and cheap protection. Your choice of cards for this deck seems quite unconventional though. That's why I assume you want to avoid some of those overused/boring staple cards? Makes perfect sense, the whole deck idea is to do something different than the usual.

freezerboy on No Man's Land (Mageta) [[Primer]]

2 years ago

That does sound tough since each of those tend to take a bit of time. You could get some payoff from Cleansing and Planar Birth to massively buff Ondu Greathorn or Retreat to Emeria, allowing you to only target your basic lands. Or even target only lands with a Balancing Act.

If you're going the landfall route, which may work if you add some more options like Boreas Charger if you've sacrificed your lands or Crucible of Worlds, Oreskos Explorer, Stoic Farmer, Eternal Dragon, Timeless Dragon or anything else with plainscycling. More buffing cards like Canyon Jerboa or Felidar Retreat could help with the subtheme, and as many options with landfall like Fearless Fledgling, Prowling Felidar, Emeria Angel, and Emeria Shepherd. The Shepherd is very strong recursion, though sadly doesn't target lands.

Eternity Vessel could even give you some defense while keeping with the theme and Trove Warden looks viable as well.

All in all, with the basic land angle there are a lot of options for landfall abilities in white, so may as well make use of those for a more immediate power buff than something slow like Elspeth, Sun's Champion.

eliakimras on Breena - Silverquill Statement Upgrade

2 years ago

Hey, me again! I really like Breena, the Demagogue's premise. I want to build her in the future, since I'm cultivating a combat metagame. But I have some ideas that can make your deck funnier and stronger:

I imagine you're trying to keep the idea of giving gifts to your opponents for them to killing each other, while reaping benefits to you.

One way is to force combat. You might want to put Martial Impetus and Parasitic Impetus back to deflect attacks and get draws off Breena. (Too bad goad is a blue-red thing - come on Wizards, give us on other colors). Otherwise, they buff Breena to hit harder.

Another thing you should consider is protection for your creatures:

• Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip and Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip can be slotted as lands.
• Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Whispersilk Cloak, Darksteel Plate and Hammer of Nazahn are great utility artifacts.
• Timely Ward has flash.
• Dawn Charm doubles as a fog.
• Valorous Stance doubles as a removal spell.

How about protection to you?

• No Mercy, Dread, Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts deter attackers.
• Koskun Falls is a second Ghostly Prison if you can pay its upkeep cost. Solitary Confinement is even more efficient, as long as you can keep up with its cost.
• No one will mess with you again once you cast Hellish Rebuke. Darien, King of Kjeldor also shows them why attacking you is not advisable.
• If you prefer the way of taxing opponents, Sphere of Safety synergize with your other pillowfort enchantments.

About recursion:

• You run a lot of permanents that might die. How about getting them back with Sun Titan or Emeria Shepherd?
• Mistveil Plains has good synergy with tutors.
• Liesa, Forgotten Archangel also acts as graveyard hate.

About card draw:

• Breena costs 3 mana and it is easy to recast, but you can't rely on your opponents wanting (or being able) to attack each other. Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper, Read the Bones, Treacherous Blessing, War Room and Castle Locthwain can be great options (it is good to lower your life total to trigger Breena). Erebos, God of the Dead can also act as a blocker and life-gain hater.
• Skullclamp is good if you can reliably generate X/1 tokens.
• Syphon Mind is a favorite of mine.
• Mangara, the Diplomat... The name says it all. #bffBreena
• Shadrix Silverquill is not only on-theme, but on-school aswell.
• Endless Atlas and Dread Presence require many basic lands.
• The cards above can replace Ambition's Cost, Ancient Craving and Secret Rendezvous (if they want free cards, may they attack each other).

About your ramp:

• I see you run cards that ramp you if an opponent has more lands than you, a la Knight of the White Orchid. Your Lotus Field is great for setting that up. You might also consider putting Orzhov Basilica back for the same effect.
• Loyal Warhound, Verge Rangers, Weathered Wayfarer, Archaeomancer's Map and Isolated Watchtower also capitalize on opponents ramping. I recommend replacing Boreas Charger (if you can't kill it easily), Scholarship Sponsor (not advisable to give ramp AND card draw to your opponents) and Oreskos Explorer (it is better to get lands on the battlefield instead of on hand, unless it is an unrestricted tutor like Weathered Wayfarer).
• If you ramp using the cards above, you will have a lot of Plains on the battlefield. Emeria, The Sky Ruin is free recursion on a land - enjoy ;-)
• You might also consider Fellwar Stone and Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip as ramp options. Breena has flying, so it is easy to transform the artifact.

Sorry for not commenting on your whole deck. Since I have not played her myself, I could only suggest more general things. I hope the suggestions have inspired you somehow. As always, have fun with the Demagogue!