Pongify

Instant

Destroy target creature. It can't be regenerated. That creature's controller puts a 3/3 green Ape creature token into play.

Discussion (51)

Nodrog666 on Numot Stax

3 days ago

Hey man! Good first draft! I like some of the ideas in here. I have some constructive criticism for you, so, as brutally honest as I will be with my suggestions, keep in mind I’m just offering my best advice on how to improve this list. I tested this deck a bit and here’s some thoughts I have:

More Tutor / Draw: You’re running very little card advantage, which I noticed when I was testing this deck. There isn’t enough dig or deck manipulation going on here. Basically every time I found myself durdling. Here are some suggestions:

• Sensei's Divining Top
• Scroll Rack
• Crystal Ball
• Courier's Capsule
• Wheel of Fortune
• Windfall
• Stroke of Genius
• Mystic Remora
• Mulldrifter
• Ponder
• Jace Beleren
• Long-Term Plans
• Fabricate
• Land Tax
• Academy Rector
• Idyllic Tutor
• Madblind Mountain
• Fetch Lands. Literally any fetches.

More spot removal: Your deck doesn’t have a lot of ways of dealing out targeted removal. Mass Land D and other sweeper spells are great and all, but you also need ways of handling individual problems as they arrive. Here are some suggestions I have:

• Path to Exile / Swords to Plowshares
• Seal of Cleansing / Dispeller's Capsule
• Return to Dust
• Crush Contraband
• Capsize
• Boomerang
• Shattering Pulse
• Shattering Spree
• Oblation
• Chaos Warp
• Lightning Bolt
• Pongify

More Persistent harassment: You’re running MLD, Tax, but you aren’t running a whole lot of effects to consistently torment the opponent. Smokestack, Pendrell Mists, Kataki, War's Wage, Manabarbs keep pressure on your opponents. Even just running more stuff to slow things down (Winter Orb, Tangle Wire, Kismet, Rule of Law, Stranglehold etc.) would be useful here.

Consider less creatures, more enchantments: Hatebears are cool, but consider the fact that they are easier to kill than their enchantment counterparts. Magus of the Moon dies much easier than Blood Moon and you want these effects to have a good return on investment. This one is more food for thought than actual criticism.

Suggestions for cuts: Hall of Heliod's Generosity (?): It’s a great card, but right now you aren’t running enough Enchantments to justify it. Most of the time it’s going to just tap for colorless. If you run more Enchantments, it’s a keeper! (I think I’m going to try and find a slot for my own deck)

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain: This is pretty vestigial. It’s not really pulling much weight. Cut it.

Karn, Silver Golem: See above.

Remorseful Cleric: This is too squishy. Run Tormod's Crypt instead. Just as easy to recur (moreso, in fact, cause Academy Ruins sees it) and it lowers your curve.

Tomik, Distinguished Advokist: I get what you’re going with here, but you’re blowing up your lands anyway, making them untargetable is kind of moot. There’s a bunch of hatebears I’d rather run in this slot.

Burning of Xinye / Wildfire: These are weak, you can do way better for MLD in your colors. Add Sunder (Cheaper at Instant speed!).

Saltblast: This card is kind of bad. Costs waaay too much for targeted removal. Also, is completely dead against decks that run white. I’d honestly remove this and replace it with Wrath of God instead.

Karn, the Great Creator: Not doing enough. I see the combo with Mycosynth Lattice, but Hellkite Tyrant is a much better combo.

Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis: This card isn't great. If you want Elspeth, put in Elspeth, Knight-Errant or Elspeth, Sun's Champion instead. Both make tokens as a +1 ability.

Empowered Autogenerator: Too slow, too expensive. It’s not as good as it looks. Ideally, rocks should slot into the 0-3 CC range. If you desperately wanted something in the 4 slot, why not just run Thran Dynamo instead? It’s more consistent.

Firemind Vessel – See above.

Joker4242 on Island Secrets

6 days ago

My sideboard continues to change frequently. I have a 4th Archmage's Charm, Cyclonic Rift, and Day's Undoing at the ready. Surgical Extraction seems likely to stay in. But the rest are merely placeholders. I’m not exactly sure what I should replace them with. Pongify is still a valid option. Having early removal may prove highly beneficial. Mystical Dispute and Stubborn Denial are also useful counters against other blue/counter decks.

Now Relic of Progenitus is a very useful card, although is does have its drawbacks.

It can consistently remove cards from your opponents graveyard. But it’s second ability works against you because it will exile your graveyard as well. It does not work well with Day's Undoing. It is also not blue, nor is it an instant or sorcery, therefore you cannot combo it with Thing in the Ice  ^Flip or exile it with Force of Negation.

Surgical Extraction Is nice, it can be cast for free, it can be cast at any time, it can also be recycled with Mystic Sanctuary. The downside is that you must always pay 2 life to cast it (this deck has no lifegain whatsoever). Both cards have their downsides and neither one fits exactly, although Surgical Extraction works slightly better for this kind of deck.

Vendilion Clique is a useful card on its own, yet it doesn’t fit exactly into the deck. I don’t have enough bounce in the deck to consistently utilize Clique’s ability several times over. Now the 3/1 flying is nice, but I already have that with Brazen Borrower. The upside to the Clique is that you get to look at your opponents Hand and get rid of a problematic card. However, Borrower can act as an Instant spell (Which can trigger Thing in the Ice  ^Flip. Borrower can also remain in exile, this way it won’t be Bounced by Thing in the Ice nor will it be shuffled back into the deck by a Day's Undoing.

Venser, Shaper Savant is certainly a placeholder, it does pretty much what Cryptic Command will be doing (but with less options).

Kefnet the Mindful used to be in the deck. It was paired with Day’s Undoing to immediately become a 5/5 flyer. The problem is that he takes to long to setup. His 4 mana draw/land bounce ability won’t be useful until the late game. In the end, he ends up taking space in the hand or field, but doesn’t actually do anything (with a hand of 7 cards Kefnet is formidable, as soon as you start to play spells, Kefnet is useless again, essentially, Kefnet discourages spellcasting).

Aether Spellbomb was a card I enjoyed playing in the main deck. However, I found that it couldn’t combat every situation. Eventually it made its way into the sideboard as I needed to make space for Brazen Borrower (a mich more useful and potent card). Even though it has saved me in the past, I am thinking that it just can’t keep up with the rest of the deck. For one, it cannot be exiled with Force of Negation, for another, it is not an instant or sorcery, therefore it cannot trigger Thing in the Ice  ^Flip. I think it has served it’s purpose in the past, but I don’t see it coming back into the deck.

This is what I would end up with when considering what I want to keep in my sideboard:

1x Archmage’s Charm 1x Cyclonic Rift 1x Day’s Undoing 3x Surgical Extraction 4x Mystical Dispute

I still have 5 slots left to fill.

I’m thinking about perhaps adding some sort of protection against burn decks, maybe some more countermeasures against other counter/control decks, and I also feel like my defenses against Aggro may need to be tightened up.

Specter_Of_Communism on Бюджетная Кесс

6 days ago

Я не играю через Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation по причине иррациональной перфекционизма, т.к. нужено будет переделать колоду под Tainted Pact. т.е. вкладываться в манабазу. А также пока тир-2 мета позволяет халявить.

Dark Deal лежит в основном потому что нарсет/вор, по своему прямому применению карта имеет порог полезности, после которого она скорее плоха чем хороша. К примеру, когда у тебя всего три карты на руке, но в этом случае скорее у тебя уже всё не очень, если ты не закрутился. Whispering Madness лежит как бюджетная замена Wheel of Fortune. Underworld Breach лежит под комбу с колёсами и Dramatic Reversal. Это бюджетная замена комбы с Lion's Eye Diamond и просто хорошая дешёвая реанимация кладбища, может достать тот же Isochron Scepter и Bolas's Citadel.

Различного рода контрспеллов у меня 15 штук, не уверен, что этого мало, а начинать игру без манакамня или Ancient Tomb - как правило плохой план, т.к. ты будешь медленнее оппонентов. Dockside Extortionist, Spellseeker - пока просто не позволял бюджет забрать, вполне очевидно, что он нужен как и некоторые другие стейплы в пределах 20 долларов. Underworld Breach намного лучше Past in Flames, последняя слишком медленная.

Реанимацию кесс как идея мне не очень нравится по причине личных вкусов. Учитывая, что туту таких листов очень мало, то наверняка есть и ещё причины, на вроде дополнительной уязвимости к таким картам как Pongify. + Игра через изохрон, цитадель или нарсет/вора с руки дешевле по мане.

Bolas's Citadel + Sensei's Divining Top + Aetherflux Reservoir - весьма неплохая комба, иногда встречается даже в тир-1 листах. Это чисто шторм, ты быстро ставишь через ритуал цитадель и дальше смотришь что у тебя выпало. Закручивался на 3-4-й ход так, к примеру.

Seat of the Synod - просто нулевой артефактный манаразгон, которых должно быть хотя бы два в колоде чтобы доставать в случае чего с артефактных тюторов. Иногда это очень помогает. Lotus Petal нужен, просто не успел достать. Chrome Mox тащит игры, потому что быстрая мана. Убыль карт в руке восполняется колёсами, такие колоды про то как мы умеем лучше использовать ресурсы на руке и на кладбище чем оппоненты.

Если собираешься собрать тир-1 Кесс шторм, то ты должен стремиться находить быстро Thassa's Oracle + Demonic Consultation и очень часто ты будешь это делать при помощи Ad Nauseam(её вообще при любой возможности надо играть), поэтому в идеале ты должен убрать всё что не способствует этой стратегии, либо не помогает её реализовать.

LeoSushi on Atraxa v1.0

1 week ago

Starting with wraths. Cut them all. I'd go with Planar Collapse, austere command (Or Catastrophe), and Nevinyrral's Disk.

For single target removal I'd add Dismember, Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Cyclonic Rift, Darksteel Mutation

Lets see, You want protection for your general and board. Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Diplomatic Immunity, Mother of Runes/Giver of Runes, Counterspell. Swan Song, Drown in the Loch are usually the best in their field.

As far as good cards you want Serra Ascendant, Smothering Tithe, Reclamation Sage, Birds of Paradise, Rishkar's Expertise, Plaguecrafter, Guardian Project, Beast Whisperer, Narset, Parter of Veils, Triumph of the Hordes, Pathbreaker Ibex, Eldritch Evolution

xaarvaxus on 3 Headed Niv-Mizzet

1 week ago

You have Thought Reflection listed twice. Good spot to fit in another counter, say Disallow.

Some cards that have particularly good interaction with Niv:

Curiosity for additional card draw using his ping ability against players.

Basilisk Collar and/or Gorgon Flail deathtouch makes his ping lethal while gaining you a little life. I'd swap out Spinehorn Minotaur for Trinket Mage to fetch the Collar.

Riptide Laboratory to reuse some of those supporting wizards.

You could also use some more general removal spells:

Chaos Warp, Vandalblast, By Force, Curse of the Swine which is good because it exiles, Pongify [you don't care about the token], Blasphemous Act

Direct Current doesn't do enough to warrant inclusion. Despite its efficiency, you very rarely see Lightning Bolt or similar effects getting played in EDH. The size of the creatures that get played and joint pool of 120 starting life relegate these effects to other formats. Dragon Fodder doesn't really do much either but if its a flavor inclusion, then keep, maybe Niv needs minions to fetch him things or just wants snack food handy. Stealth Mission would probably be better served becoming something like Lazotep Plating. Capture Sphere might be better as Deep Freeze if opposing commanders having activated abilities that don't require tapping. I know I wouldn't care if Sphere hit my Tasigur, the Golden Fang

I have a deck using this same commander if you want more ideas.

Azeworai on Animar Elemental Tribal

1 week ago

Okay, so I am quite fond of brews that are delectation to pilot, but I am beholden to recommend some changes.

Now, Panharmonicon is a fantastic card, but there are only eleven ways to trigger the thing in this deck. Two of those are Draining Whelk and Grave Sifter, so, whilst they may have their moments, they seem lacking for doubling _ETB_s. This is my same opinion for Conjurer's Closet; what value is blinking something? Flameshadow Conjuring is in the same boat. These all become useless far too quickly, save for maybe Risen Reef shenanigans. Bramble Sovereign somewhat falls under the same folly, but I don't believe it to be as narrow.

Another thing to consider is the mana costs of cards. The majority of your curve is at three, which is probably when you would want to cast your commander. Ramp at two mana is far more ideal, as athwart to Keyrunes and Cluestones. I'd cut Temur Banner, Harrow, Gruul Keyrune for Talisman of Curiosity, Talisman of Impulse, and Rampant Growth. Wayfarer's Bauble is also of note. Llanowar Elves, Fyndhorn Elves, and Elvish Mystic each can draw cards off of some of your effects late-game whilst being incredibly effective early.

Pillar of Origins is a fine card, but it only produces mana for elemental, being twenty cards in your deck and the commander. This leaves seven lands with activated abilities and forty-two nonland, non-elemental cards that cannot be used with the Pillar. I would just use Talisman of Creativity.

Seeing as that you have ramp in the command zone, doubling down on card draw seems important. Guardian Project, Beast Whisperer, Garruk, Caller of Beasts, Primordial Sage, and Vanquisher's Banner can draw off of each creature. Kindred Discovery is an especially potent one. Shamanic Revelation and Collective Unconscious each can refill the hand well, but Tishana, Voice of Thunder may just be the best form of this effect.

I would perhaps include more elementals and/or more creature tutors. Perhaps specific creatures for situations, such as Collector Ouphe and Reclamation Sage.

If budget so allows, Thassa, God of the Sea, Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, and Cyclonic Rift are as good as they are played.

Specific to your deck, Vivien, Champion of the Wilds just seems lovely.

Seeing the decklist, it seems to have a sparse amount of interaction. Reality Shift, Incubation / Incongruity, Imprisoned in the Moon, Song of the Dryads, Lignify, Pongify, and Rapid Hybridization are some to consider. Kenrith's Transformation even replaces itself.

I run Decimate in every deck I can. It is absolutely amazing and has literally never been lacking.

Some counter magic is always great; Supreme Will, Counterspell, and Forbid are some favourites of mine.

That shall be all from me!

I do have a couple of tribal decks along the same route as this if you so wish to peer upon them: Eladamri, Leader of Skyshroud The River Anew

Good luck and happy casting.

GhostChieftain on Es-cop-ay

1 week ago

Rather than just cantrips you can also do things like removal Berserk, Pongify, Nature's Claim, Rapid Hybridization etc. There also appears to be room for more countermagic.

Life from the Loam seems very strong with your fetch lands and a commander that draws as well as utilizes graveyard.

Joker4242 on Island Secrets

2 weeks ago

Sideboard is a work in progress. For now, these are the cards I have. I'm still thinking about adding Pongify. I am also thinking about adding one or two more Force of Negation. Perhaps another two Relic of Progenitus.