Path of Ancestry
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Alchemy Legal
Arena 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
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vintage Legal

Path of Ancestry

Land

Path of Ancestry enters the battlefield tapped.

: Add one mana of any colour in your commander's colour identity. When that mana is spent to cast a creature spell that shares a creature type with your commander, scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card onto the bottom of your library.)

multimedia on Urza, Chief Artificer

4 days ago

Hey, you're welcome.

If you wanted to a couple of lesser lands here could be upgraded within the budget?

Other options are to replace them for some less expensive utility lands?

These land options are lower priced ones, there's many others that are higher price that are better such as Inventors' Fair and City of Brass.

The Talismans in the sideboard could replace some of the Signets?

You're light here with low mana cost ramp and have a pretty high mana curve. More ramp could help gameplay. These are better ramp options specifically with Urza as Commander than the other Signets/mana rocks. The 2 drop artifact creature mana dorks can be helpful to cast Urza quicker since they count towards his artifact creature affinity and can make colored mana.

This is a ramp package to consider? It's 16 sources, most important 14 sources of low mana cost ramp with Urza, Monument and Tezz at high end. Thought Vessel is a good card, but it turns off discarding hand down to 7 cards which can fuel artifact reanimation. Solemn Simulacrum is another good card, but I think it's too much mana here since there's better 4 drops for power and/or help more Urza and Constructs. Sculpting Steel is excellent in multiplayer Commander and it can count towards ramp because it can become an artifact ramp source.

kirbysan on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

6 days ago

Guerric

My typical decks are Muldrotha, the Gravetide recursion, Teysa Karlov aristocrats and a Shorikai, Genesis Engine mechs. Those three usually have big flashy plays for instant wins so this deck definitely plays different. I looked over your whole primer and took your advice to heart to reduce the number of changes and focus only on your new additions and lands. I ran a few games using your methodology for mid-range aggro decks and listed how the deck performed. Let me know if this helps helm the host!

Opponents: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain & Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Starting hand was very strong, I held a Youthful Valkyrie, Bishop of Wings, Righteous Valkyrie, Vanquisher's Banner as my draw card and 3 lands which included a fetch and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.

T1 - Fetch to Plains

T2 - Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx + Giada, Font of Hope

T3 - Plains + Bishop of Wings + Youthful Valkyrie

T4 - Plains + Using Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to cast Pearl Medallion & Mangara, the Diplomat which I had drawn into.

T5 - I drew 1 off Mangara, the Diplomat. Jhoira had played a Words of Wind forcing us to bounce Pearl Medallion. Yuriko saw our scary board state and hit us with a few unblockables but we still remained above 40 life.

Land + Pearl Medallion + Smuggler's Share (drew) + Starnheim Aspirant (drew) + Righteous Valkyrie.

T6 - I drew 1 off Smuggler's Share and 2 off Mangara, the Diplomat. Jhoira started building their boardstate with their commander out and a bunch of rocks. Yuriko had a few creatures out and was chipping away at our life totals.

At this point I could've slow played it further but with 2 draw engines out I felt comfortable in restocking my hand.

I played Vanquisher's Banner + Archangel of Thune + Valkyrie Harbinger drawing 2 and swung in for a bunch bringing both of them to their low 20's while I shot up to 60+ life.

I drew 1 off Smuggler's Share and 1 off Mangara, the Diplomat but Yuriko played a Toxic Deluge for 11 wiping our creatures and bringing their life total into the low 10s.

T7+ - At this point my memory is foggy, I replayed Giada and a few low cost angels with Vanquisher's Banner which refilled my hand a bit. But Yuriko miracled a Devastation Tide and played an overloaded Damn. Eventually Jhoira got knocked out by Yuriko after trying to rebuild their board state twice. By the end I had whittled Yuriko down to lethal and played Bruna, the Fading Light  Meld reanimating Gisela, the Broken Blade  Meld from the graveyard but never got to swing with it as Yuriko conceded.

Opponents: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain & Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Starting hand was decent but I don't remember much of it since it got wheeled away with a turn 3 Windfall.

T1 - Fetch to Plains + Soul Warden

T2 - Seraph Sanctuary + Giada, Font of Hope

T3 - Plains + Crucible of Worlds

Lost 5 cards in hand to Windfall and drew a new 5. Jhoira played a Winter Orb and Yuriko played a Null Rod to shut down Jhoira's mana rocks. It also shut down my equipment in hand which was a Sword of the Animist and Mask of Memory. I stopped keeping track of the turns and cards played since the whole game slowed to a crawl. The one saving grace was that I never missed a land drop with the fetch land in the graveyard.

Yuriko kept playing Thieves' Guild Enforcer and changelings to try an alternate mill win strategy. I was hit with a board wipe and Giada was targeted twice. I overloaded Winds of Abandon which left the Jhoira open to be killed. I attempted to cast Emeria Shepherd which would've been perfect with my fetch land and 20+ cards in the graveyard but it was removed after it hit the board. Yuriko played 4 extra turns spells to try and whittle me down from high 30's to 8 but they ran out of answers and were dead on the crackback.

Opponents: Marneus Calgar, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger & Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

I should've mulliganed this hand as it didn't have a draw spell but I didn't want to hold up the table and the curve looked good.

2x Plains, Teferi's Protection, Angel of Condemnation, Starnheim Unleashed, Resplendent Angel, Herald of War

I was able to build up a decent board state and there were no wipes all game. However, Faldron played a Wand of Wonder and began using my removal spells against my angels. Marneus dropped a Divine Visitation mid-game and started pumping out 4/4 Angels w/ Vigilance which stalled my attacks towards him signifcantly.

Towards the end of the game I was able to tap Starnheim Unleashed for 9 creating 4 Angels with Giada on the board pumping them to double digit beasts. Marneus had the scariest board state but only 4 Angels at the time so I figured I could swing wide and knock them out.

Unfortunately the Ulamog player attacked with a single unblockable voltroned Wurmcoil Engine against Marneus who cast an Entrapment Maneuver netting 10 4/4 Angels.

In the end Marneus had 16 Angels attacking me and I tried to buy time with a Teferi's Protection which got countered with a Dovin's Veto.

Opponents: Shorikai, Genesis Engine, Muldrotha, the Gravetide & Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Starting hand was great against these commanders:

4x Plains, Dowsing Dagger  Flip, Battle Angels of Tyr, Smuggler's Share

T1 - Plains

T2 - Plains + Giada, Font of Hope

T3 - Plains + Smuggler's Share

T4 - Plains + Dowsing Dagger  Flip & equipped, swing and flip to Lost Vale, cast Battle Angels of Tyr with Giada and Vale.

Mid-game Shorikai played an Organic Extinction doing a one-sided board wipe and started hitting for double digits with vehicles. I tried to rebuild with Emeria Shepherd but she was countered by Aesi. Fortunately, Shorikai ended up scooping to play Warhammer making it a 3-man pod and all our board states were pretty even. I had drawn a card on each of his turns due to their Shorikai ability. Aesi had provided me a couple treasures but wised up and started dropping lands on opponents turns with Burgeoning.

This game lasted quite awhile so there was plenty of back and forth and a lot of answers were used on my board. Both Muldrotha and Aesi had an Unnatural Growth and were staring down each other. I patiently waited until they were both tapped out and had no answers to pull off this sweet combo:

I had Bishop of Wings & Giada, Font of Hope on the battlefield and tons of mana. I cast Bruna, the Fading Light  Meld into Emeria Shepherd. Cracked a Myriad Landscape for 2 Plains bringing back Righteous Valkyrie & Gisela, the Broken Blade  Meld. Since they had no responses I was able to merge to Brisela, Voice of Nightmares  Meld  Meld. Due to all the Giada triggers and lifegain I shot up from 20 life to 62.

Aesi was hamstrung due to Brisela's static ability and their creatures weren't big enough to swing into my massive angels. Muldrotha on the other hand attempted to swing in for a massive 59 damage due to Unnatural Growth but I used Teferi's Protection and won the game on my turn.

Opponents: Isshin, Two Heavens as One, The Scarab God & Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Starting hand had no draw again but did have lifegain synergies so I decided to keep.

2x Plains, Cavern of Souls, Windswept Heath, The Book of Exalted Deeds, Archangel of Thune, Angelic Field Marshal.

I was only able to get one use out of The Book of Exalted Deeds trigger before Archangel of Thune was blown up and The Scarab God exiled it and copied it for their board. I actually drew a Mutavault and decided to do the combo of putting the Enlightened Counter on it. However when we got to the mid-game I felt like that was the wrong move to do so early.

Late game I had the following:

Giada, Font of Hope

Soul Warden

Seraph Sanctuary & a bunch of other lands

Angel of Vitality w/ 3 +1/+1 counters

Angelic Field Marshal w/ 4 +1/+1 Counters

Thorough Investigation

4x Clue Tokens

Between the Soul Warden, Angel of Vitality and Seraph Sanctuary I was gaining 2 life whenever they cast a creature and 3 whenever I cast an angel. If I'd let the book stay on the battlefield longer I could've had a free 3/3 angel on each of my turns. Instead I cracked clues rather than play out my hand to draw into more answers and win the game. The Enlightened Counter never came into play, but I reminded the table at the end that without any land destruction, I could've gone to negative life and still not lose.

Opponents: Lazav, the Multifarious, Delina, Wild Mage & Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald

Forgot to take a picture of my hand this game but I kept Smuggler's Share as my draw card which ended up doing nothing. The Faldron player had already played a few games against the Giada deck so purposely missed double land drops to not give me a treasure.

Faldron cast an Etali, Primal Storm turn 6 with no haste enablers so I blew it up my turn. However, Lazav decided to copy it and the board had no answers. Lazav began swinging and got 2 rounds of Etali triggers which was pretty brutal. Since Lazav became archenemy, we teamed up to take him down bringing his life total to 4.

Perhaps the most memorable moment this game was that Faldron had suspended a Wheel of Fate so the whole table was playing out their hands for 4 turns, completely expecting to draw 7. When he went to removing the last suspend counter, Lazav cast Notion Thief so instead of us each drawing 7, he drew 28 cards. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have any way to use those cards to stop the flood of salt from the table and was killed shortly after by a pissed angel.

I was able to clean up the table after a few rounds with this final board state:

Giada, Font of Hope

Angel of Jubilation - just an anthem and would've shut down my fetches but I played it late game

Serra Avenger

Angelic Skirmisher

Angelic Sleuth

Linvala, Keeper of Silence - didn't stop anything on my opponent's board because they were all triggered abilities

Smuggler's Share

Thorough Investigation

Opponents: Lazav, the Multifarious, Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder & Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Starting hand was top heavy but decided to keep:

Plains, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Pearl Medallion, Sword of Hearth and Home, Well of Lost Dreams, Sword of the Animist, Archangel of Thune

I figured with 2 ramp equipments and lifegain comboed with the well I'd be setup for mid-game pretty nicely. What I didn't plan for was missing land drops for 2 turns and having Giada blown up twice. By this time, the Aesi/Faldron player had figured out that Giada was consistently winning and decided to put a stop to it.

However, that let Ydris really take the game away. By the end I only had 4 lands, Archangel of Thune equipped with Sword of Hearth and Home and a Pearl Medallion. Aesi died to a single 30+ swing from Ydris leaving myself and Lazav to deal with the massive board state.

I thought I slowed him down by playing Darksteel Mutation on Ydris when he had no cards in hand but he topdecked Sakashima's Protege to copy Ydris and start the pain all over again. With Ydris having lethal on board next turn the only way to stop it would be to top deck the one board-wipe in the deck. But Lazav shot himself in the foot by playing Gyruda, Doom of Depths tossing my top 4 cards into the graveyard. The top card was Winds of Abandon and Lazav whiffed on the Gyruda trigger much to his chagrin.

Opponents: Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph & Roon of the Hidden Realm

Starting hand was decent: Plains, Plains, Thorough Investigation, Thraben Watcher, Search for Glory, Dowsing Dagger  Flip, Sword of Fire and Ice

T1 - Plains

T2 - Plains + Giada, Font of Hope

T3 - Plains + Thorough Investigation

T4 - Plains + Thraben Watcher

T5 - Nykthos + Dowsing Dagger  Flip & equipped, flipped to Lost Vale, Sword of Fire and Ice

On turn 6 I was able to knock out Ghyrson Starn, Kelermorph with the sword setting him back a turn. He responded the next turn by blowing up my sword. After a 2 board wipes Ghyrson was back in a threatening position. I cast Darksteel Mutation on Ghyrson which completely shut down his strategy.

Closed out the game with an overloaded Winds of Abandon and swung lethal at Roon. I was also able to hardcast Sephara, Sky's Blade which would've stopped any board wipe coming from Ghyrson. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx was amazing yet again this game. I was able to tap it for 10 white using 8 to pay for the Winds and God-Pharaoh's Statue tax.

Opponents: Jared Carthalion & Isshin, Two Heavens as One

Starting hand was strong if a little slow: Fabled Passage, Windbrisk Heights, Eye of Vecna, Sanctuary Warden, Pearl Medallion, Battle Angels of Tyr, Serra Avenger

Ramp wasn't ideal and I saw the limitations of having too much colorless sources. The Plains, Windbrisk Heights and Giada, Font of Hope were the only 3 sources of white most of the game.

There were some pretty wild swings this game as Jared got all 5 colors turn 4 with some ramp and started dropping Kavu's. He played Knight of New Alara turning them into 8/8 tramplers and started swinging in for 24 damage each turn. Isshin dropped a Tectonic Giant, Fervent Charge & Aurelia, the Warleader to swing in with 21 damage each combat & an additional 6 to the face. With so much damage flying around, the loss life from Eye of Vecna was actually pretty annoying. I used it 4 times during the course of the game when I probably should've played the bigger threats since a board wipe seemed unlikely.

Battle Angels of Tyr was blown up immediately but I was able to drop a Angelic Skirmisher & Righteous Valkyrie mid-game. If I had attacked more early game with Skirmisher out I could've had this one but I made a huge misplay. Jared swung in with everything at me after pumping 2 Kavu's up to 13/13's. As I was only at 46 life, I didn't get the anthem off Righteous Valkyrie so I had to take 26 bringing me down to 20. Isshin swung in everything at Jared knocking them out and on second combat came at me when I was at 8. As Righteous Valkyrie was only a 6/7 blocking into their 7/8's I figured I could survive the turn with one unblocked and just gain the life back next turn. Isshin was tapped out but had 2 treasures that I forgot and used a Boros Charm to get lethal.

Opponents: Jared Carthalion, Isshin, Two Heavens as One & Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools partnered w/ Armix, Filigree Thrasher

Starting hand was ok, no draw engine but great lifegain:

Flooded Strand, Secluded Steppe, Emergence Zone, Soul Warden, Starnheim Aspirant, Angelic Skirmisher, Segovian Angel

T1 Soul Warden netted me a ton of life over the course of the game as Jared & Isshin did not play any board wipes. After playing Angelic Skirmisher as well and a couple angels, I was developing an oppressive board state.

Tevesh/Arminx drew a lot of hate early game because they played a strong ramp turn with a bunch of expensive mana rocks but then durdled for most of the game. Jared played a Two-Headed Hellkite that they pumped to 10/10 and just started swinging. Isshin tried going wide with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and a few combat tricks but with Soul Warden on the field I ended up always being net positive after thier attacks.

Eventually the board grew massive and any one of us could've knocked out Tevesh/Arminx as they were wide open. I was sitting comfortably at 60+ life due to Soul Warden and Angelic Skirmisher. Tevesh/Arminx ended up playing Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and wiping all our creatures.

We all rebuilt our boards pretty quickly with Tevesh only having Armix, Filigree Thrasher and a couple equipments. Isshin tried going for the combo and knock out 2 of us with Godo, Bandit Warlord & Helm of the Host but misplayed and couldn't equip Godo.

Jared and I knocked out the Isshin player because of the obvious combo but Tevesh/Arminx equipped their commander with Commander's Plate, Cranial Plating, Skullclamp and swung 17 commander damage at Jared. I blew up their Cranial Plating with a Generous Gift and brought them down to lethal. The game ended next turn like dominoes, Arminx killed Jared and I killed Arminx.

Out of the 10 games played, I won 7 so those odds are pretty good and I'm happy with the result.

Game 3 loss was due to Marneus just having the better plays here. Even if I were able to prevent some of their bigger combos, they could've won off straight value. Removal and threat assessment by the other 2 were pretty light towards Marneus which definitely helped them win.

Game 7 loss was due to 2 players getting mana screwed. After not being able to curve out with Giada it was almost impossible to come back. Top-decking that Winds of Abandon may have helped but they were so far ahead it's doubtful.

Game 9 was a misplay. Playing against the Isshin deck I should've known that there would be combat tricks but I was used to slow battlecruiser decks and not 2 mid-range aggro decks.

Smuggler's Share has been hit or miss. If I'm playing against blue, I'll typically get the draw, if I'm playing against green, I'll get the treasures. However, if the opponents aren't playing either of those colors and/or play smart, they can often get around it and it's a dead enchantment on board. I'm still leaving it in because when it does work, it works very well.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx has been great overall. Early game it may not do much but mid to late game it really shines. I usually leave 2 lands and Nykthos up after T5/6 fully expecting a board wipe and using it to activate abilities or crack clues. I'd highly recommend this land over a basic plains.

Crucible of Worlds was a powerhouse in Game 2. Unfortunately I only ever drew it in 1 other game and it was immediately blown up after I used it once. I think it's worth it because if left unchecked provides you tons of ramp and if it draws out a threat then our draw artifacts or equipments live.

Emeria Shepherd is a bomb. 2 games it was instantly blown up because of how big a threat it was. When it was left unanswered, it absolutely carried the game. I think it's a definite swap for Karmic Guide to get that last push end game.

Darksteel Mutation was great the 2 times I used it. I think there's a need for another one-sided board wipe against decks that go wide and have flyers. In game 3 Marneus out angeled the angel deck and we simply didn't have enough token generation to get through.

Folk Hero wasn't mentioned in the gameplay reviews but I did draw and play it a few games. Unfortunately it was played later in the game when I already had other draw engines on board so its impact was minimal. However, it's definitely an improvement over Dawn of Hope as I didn't have to pay mana for the few cards I did draw.

You've mentioned that Avacyn, Angel of Hope deserves a place in this deck and I wholeheartedly agree, mostly because I bought the new borderless version from double masters specifically for this deck. However, her close cousin Sephara, Sky's Blade almost accomplishes the same thing except she only protects creatures. I think the only reason to end up running Avacyn is to lean into the land destruction that she's known for.

multimedia on Kalamax Instants

1 week ago

Hey, nice upgrades to the precon on a budget.

With Kalamax I find that instants that can give him evasion while also draw a card are excellent. It's the draw that's makes 1 mana and 2 mana spells like this busted with Kalamax. Kalamax is a great attacker to do real Commander damage if he has evasion.

Kalamax is a mana hungry Commander because to take advantage of his abilities you want to cast an instant on each player's turn and to do this consistently requires having a lot of mana. Consider more ramp?

Relic of Legends is ramp and a source to tap Kalamax that makes mana. Storm-Kiln Artist is more magecraft, ramp with treasures. Roiling Regrowth is like Harrow except the basic lands ETB tapped. From the precon Haldan, Avid Arcanist + Pako, Arcane Retriever aren't needed, they belong in their own deck, with their own strategies.

Three, four or five color Precon manabases are subpar with too many basic lands which makes color fixing from lands quite poor. On a budget there's several land upgrades to consider, replacing not just some basic lands, but other lands that always ETB tapped for lands that don't?

Holdout Settlement and Survivors' Encampment can tap Kalamax to make mana. This is important since relying only on tapping Kalamax because you attacked can be problematic because what if Kalamax can't attack?

Good luck with your deck.

ACapo18 on Jared Carthalion, True Monarch

2 weeks ago

Absolutely Love this Jared. Been trying to brew a deck with him, but he never seems to fit my play style. I really like this build and think it is very well done. It has more overall control than mine did. You have a lot of tapped lands here, so my only real advice would be to increase the number of lands that enter untapped. Look at the Pain Lands, their recent reprints will make them nice and cheap. I like the bounce lands better than generic tapped lands because they will help you not miss land drops. I'd swap uncharted haven for a Path of Ancestry as well. Maybe look into more vigilance for Jared to make keeping the monarchy easier. Otherwise, Great Build!

multimedia on Muldrotha: Budget Elemental Tribe!

3 weeks ago

Hey, you've moved on from snow :) Nice version on budget, interesting strategy of proliferate. Unique combination of Muldrotha with Elementals and proliferate.

Consider less basic Forests? Get more green sources from budget dual lands to help color fixing? Command Tower is a staple land in Commander for multicolored decks. Exotic Orchard in multiplayer Commander will rarely not make the color of mana you need. Path of Ancestry is a Tri land that also provides repeatable scry when used to cast an Elemental.

The Pain lands ETB untapped and in my opinion they're among the best budget dual lands in Commander. Wastes and River have just been reprinted in the latest Standard set Brother's War.

Even cutting some basic Forests for dual lands you'll still have many basic lands therefore consider some dual lands that care about basic lands? The Snarls care about basic Forest in hand and you'll have many of them.

These are staple budget mana rocks in Commander. Sol Ring can be really helpful to cast Muldrotha.

Improving color fixing from lands can also help to cast the five drop budget Cavalier Elementals who have nice ETB trigger and die trigger, that's good with Muldrotha. Cavalier of Night is also a sac source to sac a creature you control to cast it again with Muldrotha.

These are excellent budget cards with Muldrotha and have synergy. The creature you get with Neoform ETB with a counter, ready for proliferate. Jarad's Orders can tutor for Witness and another creature.

Good luck with your deck.

SufferFromEDHD on Firja, Judge of Valor

1 month ago

Somehow I missed this commander during Kaldheim. I really like the idea of Orzhov spellslinger. Your build is solid.

Incarnation Technique seems like an auto include. Reanimate 2 plus a Firja trigger. Corpse Dance is the same with the guaranteed trigger.

Scroll Rack is like PB&J with that Land Tax. Helps put things in the yard that might be in your hand.

Rumor Gatherer scry and card draw are useful to the strategy.

Golgari Thug the best black dredge card for the decks theme.

Silent Clearing more draw never hurts.

Silverquill Campus expensive scry but valuable to Orzhov.

Path of Ancestry pure value.

Imp's Mischief Izzet value in mono black.

Pull from Eternity potential secret tech. Something to ponder.

Vindicate to round out the playset of the best spot removal in the game.

multimedia on I want this deck to …

1 month ago

Hey, this is by far your best deck of the decks you've asked for help on. There's good deck building with a purpose.

The area that needs improvement is the manabase. 16x basic Plains is not going to cut it compared to many less Forests and Islands. The color pie of your deck shows primary white, but it's deceiving since you want a more balanced amount of land sources for each color to consistently cast Arcades. I say consistently because you need to control Arcades or most of your defenders are really not worth it.

Because you're playing green defenders who ramp and green ramp spells then it's important to have green mana more than the other colors in the early game, this isn't shown by the color pie. White and green are the two most important colors then blue. The majority of blue sources should come from dual lands that way the land can make another color except just blue. 8 sources of blue is not enough sources, you want more sources of blue which at the same time will increase sources of each other color.

On a low budget to balance the manabase for equal color fixing play some more always ETB tapped lands. This can unfortunately slow the game down some which means you want to make up for it with card quality.

Why are you playing so many cards that give you hexproof? Leyline of Sanctity and Shalai, Voice of Plenty are second and third most expensive price cards, but they don't help the strategy or have really any interaction with Arcades. If playing Leyline and Shalai then Ivory Mask and Aegis of the Gods aren't needed. Teyo, the Shieldmage is fine since it at least does something else, creating up to two defenders for draw with Arcades. Honestly, keep Shalai for this effect plus other effects and cut the others?

Max_Hammer on These silly hoomans - Need Help

1 month ago

Well hello there! I had way too much time on my hands, so here’s this. By the way, it’s all ordered best to worst. (:

Pay less to play more.

  • Circle of Dreams Druid is going to drop loads of mana, assuming you can pay the three green.
  • Fallaji Wayfarer is going to give all of your stuff (including your commander) convoke! Not all, but a lot.
  • Hamza, Guardian of Arashin is going to make a lot of your creatures cost a lot less.
  • Herald of War makes all of your humans dirt cheap if he gets counters. But, oh, what’s that? This deck loves making counters for creatures? Perfect.
  • Nissa's Expedition is just Cultivate but it potentially costs a lot less.
  • Gaea's Cradle is perfect if you have a small fortune laying around and you’re in need of mana.
I need more! More!!!

  • Bennie Bracks, Zoologist every time you make a token? So every turn? Alright, sick.
  • Ulvenwald Mysteries lets you investigate the murder of your entire army. A board wipe kills this deck, but this (plus loads of mana) could help bring it back.
  • Season of Growth lets you scry a lot, letting you look for pretty much whatever and just pull it out.
No, you’re not allowed to have that! Because I said so! Exile it! Now!

  • Devouring Light, Conclave Tribunal, Hour of Reckoning are all removal spells but if you’re on a mana budget with a lot of 1/1’s.
  • Elspeth Tirel is a board wipe, if you manage to keep her around for long enough. If that’s not what you need, though, she’s got plenty of utility otherwise.
  • Coordinated Barrage, Kabira Takedown  Flip, and Outflank aren’t super powerful, but can destroy pretty much anything that comes your way. If it’s not hexproofed, shrouded, or indestructible, it will be killed.
  • Devout Chaplain says “The power of Christ compels you! Begone!” but this time it actually works.
  • Sanctuary Lockdown lets you say “Not this combat phase, Satan,” and if you have enough mana, you can do that again and again and again. Plus, if you decide you can’t, then it’s still a big boy.
  • Kamahl's Will will destroy just about anything in sight and can give you extra attacking force, if you can manage a way to keep all of your lands safe.
Gotta keep your stuff safe, yeah?

  • Loxodon Hierarch is going to save your deck (which is very sensitive to board wipes) from a board wipe, judy once. Use wisely.
  • Scapegoat won’t save your tokens, but it will save everyone else, commander included.
  • Kindred Boon can slowly but surely make literally every creature you own indestructible.
  • Ephemeral Shields is extra protection that can easily be pulled out of your back pocket.
  • Basri's Lieutenant isn’t going to save your deck, but it will buy you time or give you a chance next turn at a kill, if the board wiper was low.
Make all of your stuff bigger!

Make more stuff! The theme of these suggestions is Give me more, if you couldn’t have guessed.

Might of the Masses is always fun in a creature deck, one green for a massive “Fuck you” at instant speed is great. Now here’s a bunch of Might of the Masses style cards.

I was looking for cards with the keyword “Human” and a million Gideon cards came up, so here’s all of the Gideon Planeswalkers. None of them are bad, per se, but all Gideon cards are not made equal.

  • Gideon, the Oathsworn just happens to slip and give all of your creatures an absurd number of counters. Not to mention the big body (noticing a pattern yet?) and the one-sided board wipe! He’s got a weird face again, sadly, pass.
  • Gideon, Champion of Justice is a board wipe and a big, bad creature all wrapped into one. 7/10, he can dominate me.
  • Gideon Jura can goad and destroy stuff. Perfect for removal and instigating fights when you know you’ll win. Not to mention the big scary 6/6 lurking beneath. Also a weird face, pass.
  • Gideon of the Trials reads “Fuck your biggest creature, he’s not going to do anything, and also, as long as I’m around, fuck you more.” Nothing crazy, but can definitely make you public enemy #1 for having an effect like that. Pretty normal face, but that ability makes him a dick. 3.4/10
  • Kytheon, Hero of Akros  Flip is just some kid. Ignore him. This is a child, pass.
  • Gideon, Battle-Forged!? Where did you come from? Nothing super interesting here, but for one mana not bad. Weird face, pass.
  • Gideon, Martial Paragon can give buffs to all of your stuff, which is definitely not bad at all, and your opponents are automatically dead if he gets that ten ability off. That said, this Gideon can get it. 10/10.
  • Gideon Blackblade is eh. He’s okay. He can get it, though. 7/10.
  • Gideon, Ally of Zendikar can do some generic Gideon stuff. Make tokens, give buffs, be a 4/4. Eh. 6.7/10.
This is just stuff I couldn’t find a specific panel for, so yeah.

Your deck is pretty spotless, so unless some of these are direct upgrades or you know what you want to take out, then this is all I have for you here.

  • Thraben Doomsayer’s first ability can be easily beaten by other cards, and his second ability is mostly useless, since you’re pretty screwed at 5 HP either way.
  • Heron's Grace Champion Lifelink is cool, but not something you super need. It’d be worth it if it was permanent, but it’s not, so pass.
  • Maja, Bretagard Protector just feels a little expensive for such a lackluster ability, Idunno.

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