Phyrexian Arena

Enchantment

At the beginning of your upkeep, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.

Discussion (51)

SleeplessPr1nce on Ladies & Gentlemen, Mister Konrad Twitty..

1 day ago

It's always good to see another Konrad player; he's become one of my favorite decks.

I like your list; you've got a lot of bombs but you really need some more card draw. Even a little Phyrexian Arena or Dread Presence can go a long way. Even some one-off spells like Ransack the Lab or Funeral Rites could help too.

You might also think about investing in some mass reanimator like Living Death or Wake the Dead. But the one card that put my Konrad deck over the top was Heartless Summoning. The mana reduction is great and even though it'll just kill your 1/1 creatures, their deaths are more valuable than their lives anyway. Hope this helps.

Joe_Ken_ on The Scarab God

1 week ago

I would drop a few creatures to focus more on other cards that have synergy with zombies and have some cards that have interaction.

Rooftop Storm is a good enchantment since it will make all you zombie creatures cost so you can focus more on dumping mana into Scarab god.

Whip of Erebos is a good card for your creature focused deck since it will keep your life total at a nice spot

Endless ranks of the damned is pretty much a card that will build you a massive army of zombie if it’s not dealt with quickly.

Some removal would be good for the deck like Murder , Hero's Downfall , and Go for the Throat since Scarab god can target creatures in your opponent's graveyards as well.

Tutors are always good to have, but I would assume you’d like to stay on the low end for costs so I’ll just recommend Diabolic Tutor , Scheming Symmetry , and Razaketh's Rite

Board wipes are almost a must in edh so one I can recommend is Kindred Dominance and Decree of Pain

Phyrexian Arena , Kindred Discovery , and Vanquisher's Banner are good for some card draw for the deck.

You can also use Altar of Dementia to sacrifice your board in response to a board wipe to fill your opponent’s graveyards to give Scarab god more targets.

hkhssweiss on hkhssweiss

1 week ago

SirChris39 I would recommend adding in Twilight Prophet, usually with Orzhov decks they have a distinct lack of card advantage and any card advantage engine is useful. Even adding in a Phyrexian Arena or Necropotence would be very helpful.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is also a good card in general for multiplayer, especially since there are some ways you can recur it back over and over again. Tymna the Weaver gives you additional card draw with all the spirit tokens you will be making. I am however curious to why you are running Painter's Servant, I see the synergy with OG Teysa, but is that all your using it for?

korlicday on Syr Konrad the Grind (by Sequeira)

2 weeks ago

Love the show! And this is a cool list. Some items I have included:

• Tortured Existence instead of Phyrexian Reclamation. With only 10 mana, you can already do 20 points of damage.

• Deserted Temple (doubling Nykthos or Cabal Coffers is just too good!) and Cavern of Souls, just to protect Syr Konrad. You could also go for: Rings of Brighthearth + Deserted Temple + Cabal Coffers/Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to reach infinite black mana and utilize the ability of our good Syr Konrad

• Undead Gladiator because you can cycle it for card draw and it pings your opponents. You can even recur it. Reassembling Skeleton is good yes. But this one also gives you a card draw.

• Mana Web is just too good. Most of the time people will be fully tapped out by this card; Also it is a rock star when Mesmeric Orb is out on the table.

• some more card draw as well, like: Dark Confidant, Arterial Flow, Sign in Blood If you want to go a slower route: Phyrexian Arena

• Protect Morality Shift with Imp's Mischief

I Hope you like these ideas.

slashdotdash on Ramos The Sparkle Dragon

2 weeks ago

Hi there West,

As a player who specializes in WUBRG big mana, I'd like to add a few suggestions.

Board Wipes

First off, let's look at a robust boardwipe package. I recommend 3 to 6 Sweepers total for a big, slower deck like this.

Disclaimer - while boardwipes can be a big feel bad for some, they are often extremely helpful to prevent slower decks from getting #WREKT by faster, lighter decks. Just make sure your playgroup is okay with you leaning into a slower playstyle that uses boardwipes to keep the nonsense at bay (this will really depend on your meta). Keep in mind boardwipes also help you get in for Voltron damage, assuming you sequence your plays correctly.

• Crux of Fate
• Ixidron: Looks strange, acts stranger. This thing is in my top 5 for favorite creatures, as it deals a crippling blow to most enemy decks.
• Cataclysmic Gearhulk: Thins the board without killing your best things. Beware, the opponent will still have stuff, but you're betting that Ramos can take 'em.
• Sublime Exhalation
• Day of Judgment
• Wrath of God
• Phyrexian Rebirth: If your deck is ramping enough (I think your deck can probably do it) then this spell is bananas.
• Flood of Tears: It is easy to overlook the second sentence...
• Time Wipe: A bit meh with Ramos himself, but keep in mind you can utilize this before Ramos even comes out to save your best creature while clearing the way for big mana spells.
• Phyrexian Scriptures: DANGER!!! This one is so slow that it can straight-up get you killed. It might be okay with Ramos, but it could also aggro everybody. I only include it because it synergizes a little bit with Ramos.

Card Draw

So one reason your deck might be "sputtering", as you put it, is simply the lack of Card Draw. With about 12 Card Draw sources you should be more able to keep yourself going and avoid sputtering.

Generically good card draw happens to be mostly black. Don't worry about life loss here, especially if you do end up adding board wipes.

• Syphon Mind
• Painful Truths
• Read the Bones
• Ambition's Cost
• Ancient Craving
• Underworld Connections
• Harmonize
• Urban Evolution
• Recurring Insight
• Phyrexian Arena
• Kumena's Awakening

Removal

Your removal package is one of the strong things I see here. My only comment is that Vindicate looks good but its sorcery speed, so a Beast Within or Generous Gift is better in my opinion. Nice job on this section though :D

It's a Trap!!!

Alright, so I'd like to help you identify the "trap" cards. My playgroup calls a card a trap if it looks good in the deck in theory but is actually quite bad in practice.

I strongly recommend against Morophon, the Boundless because you will be getting at best one or two creatures from him. I don't believe your deck is (or should be) tribal enough to take advantage of him.

Ponder and Preordain are unlikely to do as much work as real card draw spells, at least from what I gather skimming over your list. Your deck is going to be naturally slower (and that's fine if you have enough Removal and Sweepers to keep yourself alive) so don't sweat cutting the 1-drops for card draw spells. I would instantly run Painful Truths and Read the Bones in place of these.

Voltron: This is just an opinion, but your Voltron section looks too big. I think the best thing about Ramos as a Voltron commander is his ability to naturally acquire a threatening amount of power as a side effect of you playing a really good Rainbow deck! Lean into that. I know it feels bad to cut some of the artifacts, but you may find it better to have other threats or support for your threats, instead of relying on your commander (who is already a bit of a priority target if I'm being honest). Now granted I am not sure that you've got too much Voltron stuff, but my instincts tell me to avoid committing too much to Voltron. I have seen it end terribly many times and this deck has the luxury of Incidental Voltron, so I would take advantage of what your commander is already doing.

Also, just a general trap for big mana decks is choosing too many "Payload" cards (like Maelstrom Wanderer, Nicol Bolas, etc) while not including enough support for them. I don't think you've got an issue with that, but stay vigliant - you're the only one who can stop you from going overboard.

Other Quick Additions

Kessig Wolf Run: Supports the Voltron, lets you sink that excess mana, and only takes a land slot to boot! Simply a great card for the Voltron portion of your strategy.

Wrap Up

Overall, this is an interesting deck design though I do think it could benefit from a more focused game plan.

Don't get me wrong, this is good stuff - I think you've created a nice first version. Please don't take my criticism of your card choices personally, these are after all just my opinions and I am very passionate about making WUBRG work well. That doesn't mean I know best, though I'm trying to share what tips I can on the topic. At the end of the day choose the cards you want, but please do add more draw spells ;)

Cool deck and nice first draft.

Cheers and have fun :D

Heliogabale on Thantis, the Warweaver: Tokens out of Control

2 weeks ago

Cool idea for a deck. it does feel a bit confusing though, giving your opponent all these tokens without being sure you won't be the target of attacks. You are going to be dependent on cards like Crawlspace and No Mercy for your survival, which could be tricky once your friends get to know the deck.

The Karoo lands (like Golgari Rot Farm and the such) are bad here, because you are not playing Exploration or Burgeoning, so you are just bouncing lands to your hand and playing lands tapped. I would replace these with Filter Lands (Graven Cairns, Fire-Lit Thicket and Twilight Mire). I am also not a fan of Temples, you could go a long way with Myriad Landscape and some basics instead.

Decimate is not great, you need four targets when it resolves or it fizzles. I prefer Gaze of Granite that will destroy all these pesky tokens if needed.

Harmonize and Read the Bones are both single-use cards that could make way for repeat draw engines of other. I feel Rhythm of the Wild could be a great addition. Sylvan Library is auto-include for me in green; if you don't have that, maybe get a Phyrexian Arena in there.

Ring of Xathrid also looks like a low-value card that could make way to something impactful like a Steel Hellkite, again a great card to manage your opponent's tokens.

Hope this is helpful!

pokey on Spirited Rage

2 weeks ago

king-saprolingSuper spicy suggestions. I'd runPhyrexian Arena if I could

billy21 on Hate me

2 weeks ago

Orzhov Signet

Exquisite Blood

Phyrexian Arena

Sun Titan

Authority of the Consuls

Smothering Tithe