Ponder

Sorcery

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Discussion (51)

ulticam on Varina Zombos

4 days ago

Here are some suggestions:

You would probably benefit the most from a better ramp-package. Since you don't want to bother buying expensive lands, I'd recommend signets (which are really good for fixing colors) and talismans: Orzhov Signet , Azorius Signet , Dimir Signet , Talisman of Progress , Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Hierarchy , & Smothering Tithe has powerful potential as well.

Ponder and Preordain are extremely powerful in helping you fix colors in the early game. They allow you to dig for the right lands. They're also good at any point in a game. Gitaxian Probe is easy to cast (at basically no cost) since you gain life.

Speaking of life-gain, you have some good ways to gain but no payoffs for it. Alhammarret's Archive seems to combo well with your general. Other ones that come to mind are Graveborn Muse , Greed , and Necropotence

I'd cut Crush Dissent and No Escape for cheaper counterspells. Lower CMC instants give you more opportunities to use them. Swan Song is BROKEN. Counterspell is good. Dispel is amazing but only if you feel your meta is threatening you with counter magic of their own. Muddle the Mixture and Narset's Reversal are unreal. Sometimes you'll misplay them though - they require some experience.

I'd cut Spark Harvest for Swords to Plowshares . Exiling is better than killing (avoids indestructibility), and you can even use swords on yourself if you need life in a pinch.

Diabolic Tutor and Long-Term Plans are cheap to buy. Tutors are necessary in control if you want to effectively answer your opponent's threats.

Dig Through Time might be nice for you, but I can't say for sure. And since you told me you were concerned of decking yourself: Elixir of Immortality

Here are some more expensive cards if you ever wanted to upgrade: Rhystic Study , Phyrexian Arena , Watery Grave , Godless Shrine , & Hallowed Fountain

exalted_k1d on Kess Control/Storm...Needs Work...

1 week ago

Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal

Dualcaster Mage and Twinflame

more mana artifacts

Sol Ring Fellwar Stone Star Compass Sky Diamond Fire Diamond Charcoal Diamond , Mind Stone Arcane Signet Talisman of Creativity Talisman of Dominance Talisman of Indulgence

Aetherflux Reservoir

Search for Azcanta  ^Flip

also you should run atleast 9 counterspells

Arcane Denial Mystic Confluence Counterflux Muddle the Mixture Stifle Disallow Izzet Charm Counterspell Swan Song

Control Spells

Crosis's Charm Bedevil Rakdos Charm Vandalblast Chain of Smog

Board wipes

Blasphemous Act Sweltering Suns Starstorm

Should try to get tutors

Gamble Demonic Tutor Mystical Tutor Spellseeker Fabricate Tribute Mage

more draw spells

Thought Scour Ponder Preordain Serum Visions Dig Through Time Artificer's Epiphany Thirst for Knowledge Tragic Lesson Windfall Rhystic Study Mystic Remora

Narset, Parter of Veils Ashiok, Dream Render Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Chandra, Flamecaller Dack Fayden

TheMazter13 on Artifact Storm

1 week ago

Mainly Improvements I think you can make / Problems that I've found / Why this is a bad storm deck | Skip to the bottom for the Conclusion

3 BIG PROBLEMS > Mana, Consistency, and Modern itself

I will preface this with a statement, Modern HATES Storm. Almost all of the storm cards that Modern used to play are banned. Seething Song , Rite of Flame , Treasure Cruise , Dig Through Time , Ponder , Preordain , Faithless Looting , and Gitaxian Probe are all banned because of Storm and their use in or / storm decks. A lot of what I'll say will have relevance to Modern, but Storm is best in Vintage with access to the older Storm Cards. Some of the CARDS I mention will only be legal in Vintage, but the ideas/problems with this deck all have relevance to Modern

Differences I've found

Storm needs mana to do all the things it does. Do you know why Seething Song and Rite of Flame are banned? Because Storm took them and won on turn 1-2 and then kept winning on turn 1-2. However, because those things are banned, we need a compromise: Cards that make mana. Cards like Manamorphose , Desperate Ritual , and Pyretic Ritual can all get you the Generic portion of spells.

A difference between this deck and most Storm decks is that a) it doesn't win with Tendrils of Agony , which, although a black card, is way more efficient than Grapeshot but I'll talk about Winning later b) the cards that up the storm count don't do anything. Your Memnites, Ornithopters, and Darksteel Relics don't do anything on their own, they just cost 0. In other Storm decks, cards like Serum Visions , Manamorphose , Opt , and Deep Analysis all draw more cards while being cheap and upping the storm count.

Storm can win through other things too. Things like I dunno, creatures that DO things. Delver of Secrets  ^Flip, Thing in the Ice  ^Flip, and Baral, Chief of Compliance all a) do things and b) can ATTACK (Well, not Baral). If your Storm count fizzles, you still have a 3/2 flyer or a 7/8. Also, fizzling. In this deck, it's not so bad because your win condition is Aetherflux Reservoir , but fizzling is either because of a) not cards in hand or b) no mana. I've playtested this deck a few times, and what happens is I'm either top-decking, or I have no lands, both of which are TERRIBLE for a storm deck. This deck barely wins before turn 7-9, which in Modern is abysmally bad.

Your Win-Condition. You chose probably the hardest win condition in Storm. In a perfect game, where all the spells to setup are cast WHILE Aetherflux Reservoir is in play, you need to cast 8 spells to get to >50 life (56 to be exact; 20+1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8=56). So before you start going off, you need to get 4 mana and then live long enough to untap. It is very possible to get to 8 spells, but in this deck, it isn't. The way you cast spells, and the way those spells let you cast other spells means that you'll almost never have enough cards in hand to win. The ONLY line that I see is, yes, Retract , but that bounces Aetherflux Reservoir too, and we just spent 4 mana putting that thing in play. Even if we put Aetherflux into play again, we need 4 zero mana artifacts that WEREN'T in play last turn, which isn't impossible per se. So the things that this deck needs to win are a) Aetherflux Reservoir ALREADY IN PLAY b) Retract in hand c) 4 zero mana artifacts in hand d) Mana to both cast Retract AND Aetherflux Reservoir and e) a life total of at least 15. That's 5 things that this deck needs. 5 things in ONE HUNDRED CARDS!? Also, Aetherflux Reservoir isn't even a 4-of??! Not only would making you draw it easier, but 2 Aetherfluxes in play is not that bad if your win condition is >50 life. For storm it's bad, but for this, it's okay (Keep in mind a good thing in a bad deck is bad).

So, Aetherflux Reservoir sucks. What else is there?

Tendrils of Agony -

PROS: 1) Can be cast multiple times throughout the game. The difference with Tendrils and Reservoir is that Reservoir is all or nothing; you NEED >50 life to win. Tendrils can be cast multiple times to win. If you cast tendrils for only say StormCount™ is 4, that's 8 life down for our opponent. Then, you can keep casting it. Maybe later you cast it for StormCount™ 5, that's 10 life down and 10 life gained. It's also a better thing for fizzling. If you even think you're going to fizzle, keep mana for tendrils. Tendrils should always be the last thing you cast each turn to maximize the StormCount™ 2) It's efficient. For the same mana cost as Reservoir, you get an immediate effect that drains your opponent. Also, each life that our opponent loses is great for us because instead of us gaining life, we're draining our opponent. In a format of Fetches and Shocks, 2 life is very easy to lose. Each 2 life our opponent loses is 1 less copy of tendrils we need.

CONS: 1) It's black, and quite a bit at that. We need 2 black mana to cast this thing. But, cards like Manamorphose , the Moxen that you have, Black Dual Lands, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or even just good old fashion Basic Swamp are all better than what you have right now. 16 Basics + 6 Basic Fetches is a lot for Modern. I know you're playing 100 cards, but that is still a lot. No Scalding Tarn s? No Fiery Islet s? Not even playing other duals? The Fast Lands, the Pain Lands, The Battle Lands, The Check Lands? All of these are not only but have black variants too.

Grapeshot -

PROS: 1) Cheaper, only needing to cast 2) Already in your colors / In the deck, so just needs more copies 3) Hits creatures to make way for creature damage to get through 4) Great support Card, makes Tendrils better by needing fewer copies and can chip away at a life total and help your creatures kill your opponent

CONS: 1) Really inefficient. You need to one-for-one your opponent's life total with StormCount™ if this is the MAIN win-con

Brain Freeze -

PROS: 1) Cheap, needing to cast and already in your colors 2) Mill is a lot easier in Modern than Commander. Not only is every card our opponent draws good for us, but they only have ~60 cards to mill 3) Goes great with High Tide WHICH YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY BE PLAYING TO HELP YOUR AWFUL MANA

CONS: 1) Also pretty inefficient, milling 3 per StormCount™. However, unlike Grapeshot, players are constantly drawing cards and are probably drawing more than 1 per turn. 2) Completely dies to "Shuffle your graveyard into your library..." effects, so probably not a main win-con, but something to keep cards away from your opponents by milling them

Mind's Desire -

PROS: 1) Very powerful at high storm count. Even with low storm count, if you can hit a Tendrils, a Grapeshot, or another Mind's Desire, then you can not only keep adding to the StormCount™ but kill your opponent 2) Adds to the StormCount™ because you cast the card

CONS: 1) A bit expensive mana-wise, but if you can be making mana with rituals or casting High Tide , then it's no problem

Empty the Warrens -

PROS: 1) On Color, Average cost 2) It makes a lot of creatures that can attack OR block. Also, unlike Awoken Horror , it is very hard to block all of them at once

CONS: 1) Summoning Sickness

CONCLUSION Read this if you only care about what I think of the deck and not on improvements

Honestly, the deck sucks. Aetherflux Reservoir is slow enough on its own, but the mana base, the support cards, and the number of cards make it even worse. With 100 cards, you can almost never get the pieces to fall into place right. You have very little card-draw and none of your cards replace themselves. You have to wait to at least turn 4 to cast Reservoir, and before that, you can't do anything. You can't cast your Memnite on turn 1 because that's less card to have on turn 4-5 when you have Aetherflux. Waiting until turn 4-5 to dump your hand of do-nothings is not the best. A hand dump of anything is probably not great, but in this deck of cards that don't replace themselves, it's extra bad. You'll almost never have enough cards after a hand dump. 1/3 of your deck is 0 mana artifacts. 1 card does anything on its own and you only have two copies of it. Mox Opal is the only card of the THIRD of your deck that does anything on its own. Mox Amber can only tap for mana if you have one of only FIVE legendary creatures/planeswalkers in play. With 100 cards, that never happens. Memnite and Ornithopter are never winning a game on their own in this deck. Darksteel Relic has no activated abilities. If Everflowing Chalice and Astral Cornucopia are 0 mana artifacts, then they also have no activated abilities. Paradise Mantle needs a creature. Spellbook does basically nothing because you aren't drawing cards. A lot of the other cards don't do anything either. I don't know why you are playing 100 cards if not a lot of them do things.

• Unwinding Clock - What are you untapping that you need on your opponent's turn?

• Paradox Engine - You have very little good mana rocks. You've got Mox Opal, Mox Amber, and Mana Geode , that's it. Everflowing Chalice is usually gonna be a 0 mana artifact as is Astral Cornucopia .

• Isochron Scepter - a total of 12 cards and they are Vandalblast , which is NOT main-deck playable, Grapeshot , Rapid Hybridization , Dramatic Reversal , which, while it does untap the Sceptor, does very little in this deck, Cyclonic Rift , which can't be overloaded, and Retract , which bounces the Scepter and leaves Retract in exile. Not only is it rare to have an imprint target, but that target sucks.

• Shimmer Myr - You don't need flash if you're doing everything on your turn

• Erayo, Soratami Ascendant - You don't need its flip side

Now, a lot of these cards are 1-of's which is good. But there are cards that you have 1 of which are amazing. Most of them are legendary creatures, which drawing 2 of kinda sucks, but in 100 cards (which is still dumb) you'll never get them if you only have one copy

• Urza, Lord High Artificer - Lets your do-nothing artifacts tap for ! Also, he gets you a creature that, with a lot of artifacts, can attack for lethal. ALSO, he has an activated ability which, with excess dumb artifacts, can keep you casting spells

• Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain - DRAWS YOU SO MANY CARDS!! Is also a 3/3

100 cards is a bad idea in general. Consistency is a big part of any format. Even with 100 cards, you can still up consistency. Splash for tutors, White or Black, to find the cards you need.

Sideboards are a thing and can have up to 15 cards. Put targeting removal like Vandalblast there instead of your main deck. The "hate" cards of MTG go in the sideboard

SideBae on Yarok, but I'm Paper

1 week ago

I mean, I'm surprised no one mentioned any cantrips yet... Ponder and Preordain are pretty easily two of the best cards in EDH (there's a reason they're banned in Modern), so I think you should stick them in there. multimedia's suggestion of a Flash line is a good plan, and adding the cantrips can help you find it (or whatever combo). Since you're not running fetchlands, I don't think Brainstorm is a good idea. If you do run things like Polluted Delta , it gets REALLY good.

I would also like to point out that, being as creature heavy as you are, you may have trouble with boardwipes. I think you should consider backup cards, like Living Death or Heroic Intervention , since they'll let you survive if you get hit with a Toxic Deluge or Supreme Verdict .

I like that you're running Deathrite Shaman and Birds of Paradise , but you should run some other dorks as well. Arbor Elf is good, especially with duals like your Overgrown Tomb . I'm also a big fan of Elves of Deep Shadow or the classical-era Fyndhorn Elves / Llanowar Elves / Elvish Mystic . Running dorks gets your general down that much faster, meaning your deck overall becomes exponentially more powerful.

If you run the dorks, you can cut cards like Chromatic Lantern in order to make Collector Ouphe viable. Collector Ouphe is a brutal card, especially since you can find it off of your Green Sun's Zenith .

You're running a lot of basics for a tri-color deck without Back to Basics or Blood Moon . There're some cards you may want to look into, like Mana Confluence , City of Brass , Reflecting Pool ... These'll smooth out your mana nicely.

Efficient counterspells can help protect your general and slow down your opponents. I suggest considering some of the following: Spell Snare , Spell Pierce , Delay , Dispel , Swan Song , Veil of Summer , Narset's Reversal or even Mental Misstep , depending upon your meta.

SideBae on Urza, Sort of budget-ish

1 week ago

Hey! So I have a few suggestions. Feel free to ignore any/all of them:

1. Cantrips are your friend in combo decks. Preordain and Ponder are the gold-standard here, since they dig pretty deep for one mana. You're including Brainstorm is good, but I'm not sure it's good enough without non-mana intensive shuffle effects (i.e. some form of fetch lands) to make sure you don't accidentally lock yourself with two cards you don't want on top. While cards like Prismatic Vista and Scalding Tarn can be expensive, depending on your meta something like Terramorphic Expanse or Evolving Wilds might be good enough. Flood Plain and Bad River are also worth considering. Other cantrips ( Opt , Sleight of Hand , Serum Visions ...) are ok but should be considered secondary to Preordain and friends.

2. Grafdigger's Cage is currently one of the best hosers in EDH, and it does not stop Urza's ability (since Urza's ability exiles the card before casting it, you never cast spells directly from your library). I think it's better than Darksteel Relic , since it still taps for mana and can be a turn one play while having a direct effect on the board state. Tormod's Crypt is a similar card you may want to consider. I think Relic of Progenitus is better than Phyrexian Furnace , especially since you're not running Snapcaster Mage .

3. Everflowing Chalice seems like a good rock. I've never been a fan of Mox Tantalite , since taking several turns to hit the board is a major drawback. Everflowing Chalice is a slightly worse Mind Stone , but you can cast it for zero when Urza is on the field and have a build-your-own Mox Sapphire .

4. Retract and/or Hurkyl's Recall can act as pseudo- Paradoxical Outcome s for the purposes of rebuilding mana or building storm-count for Temporal Fissure . They're admittedly not as good, but since you're already running Paradoxical Outcome you may want a redundant card for that effect.

5. You may want to revisit your counter-suite. Consider substituting more efficient cards for Dissolve and/or Exclude , since three mana is a lot to pay for a counterspell. Things like Spell Snare , Dispel , Spell Pierce , Swan Song , Pact of Negation and/or Delay are all good ways to protect your combo without using too much mana.

6. I think Mystic Remora is probably better than Rhystic Study . First, it comes down faster (T1 or T2), which means it catches your opponents' rocks when they're casting them in the first few turns. Second, four mana is a lot less payable than one, so you're more likely to draw even in experienced metas. Finally, your strategy is typically going to be a combo strategy -- so you don't need a PERMANENT shield, just one that will last long enough to protect you until you go off with Urza.

7. Cyclonic Rift is the best board wipe in blue. It's $20 nowadays, but if you can afford one you should definitely run it.

8. Dig Through Time is an excellent card, as is Treasure Cruise (though I don't like cruise as much as dig in combo decks like this, since it sees fewer cards). Running one of them seems like a good idea.

9. Chain of Vapor is REALLY good. If you can cast it and bounce an opposing stax piece ( Cursed Totem , Collector Ouphe , Damping Sphere ), it rarely gets reflected. And even if it is, you're likely to just be able to recast whatever they bounce on your board. More importantly, you can use it to bounce a bunch of your low-cost artifacts to both net mana and build storm. So... yea.

Good luck!

Annnd-I-Lost-Again on Rafiq of the Many, full write up

2 weeks ago

Wolfpig Thank for the suggestions! Been racking my brain trying to keep this deck my style but run smoothly and was coming up short lol. Well Birds of Paradise , Ponder , and Plasm Capture are on the way. Indomitable Archangel will come out for BoP. Now to figure in the other 2

WickedlyRested on "And now I sac my 7 Doom Engines to Ashnod's..."

2 weeks ago

I'm under the belief that card quality is better than quantity, you shouldn't need more than 7 cards in your hand at a time. I would go with the Fellwar Stone for the colored mana. A sometimes overlooked thing with blue suns is that with infinite mana and a few draw spells you can draw your deck, put Blue Sun's Zenith back, draw it, then mill the table out one by one. You just need a way to draw it again for each opponent, like Ponder or Preordain . Its an infinite mana outlet that has more mid-game utility than Comet Storm in my opinion. Lastly, I would recommend Rhystic Study over Consecrated Sphinx , as you can land it much earlier, it'll slow the good players at your table down, and will punish the less good ones by letting you draw cards; also it draws slightly less threat.

Wolfpig on Rafiq of the Many, full write up

2 weeks ago

This deck needs more Birds of Paradise IMO.

I love Voltron, one of my favs. This one though is kind of all over the place from what I can see. If you want to run something to a smoother degree, I suggest whittling down your creatures to smaller units like riteoff69 has suggested.

Replace Elspeth, Knight-Errant with Elspeth, Sun's Champion give yourself some Skullclamp .

Running anything blue with Ponder is never a bad idea, I see you have alot of counter and removal, I would suggest Mana Drain and Plasm Capture to nab up any big casts your opponents are playing.

Use this mana to flood thie field with Equipment and Equip abilities so when you get your army/attacker set up, you can just flow all your equipment onto them. I would suggest a few mana rocks also to promote flow.

You have the shell here for a kick ass voltron deck it seems like the cracks are full of bricks you might not eventually end up playing, or having the situational use for. This deck concept is what I would call a high power concept. You have to have A LOT happening by 5th-8th turn in order to keep up and stay alive. So more token aspects will help. Kudos for building bant, its my fav color combo. +1 from me.