Portcullis

Artifact

Whenever a creature enters the battlefield, if there are two or more other creatures in play, remove that creature from the game.

When Portcullis leaves the battlefield, return to play under their owners' control all creatures removed from the game with Portcullis.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Big Apple Highlander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (43)

milohenry13 on Hallway of Fiery Doom-Death

3 weeks ago

Idoneity

Thanks for the suggestions and +1!

I LOVE Caverns of Despair and am brainstorming on how to add it!

You might not have seen but, Ward of Bones was already on my list; it's a card that I adore (in foil), and was responsible for an epic win in a game at my local meet up in San Francisco.

I am interested in Planar Atlas - however I NEED red mana. I have Iron Myr in there because I feel more comfortable with the red mana production over something like Mind Stone. Mindstone is great for the draw and Myr is good for a block and red mana.

I had Crawlspace in the deck but it always felt kinda meh - taking up space for something better. I think this was because the other stax and prison pieces felt more impactful - especially with Gloin, Dwarf Emissary in there. Omitting Crawlspce frees me up to add more offense.

I also own Portcullis and it was also in the deck at one point. But it never really felt impactful either. I really had to think about and balance Prison/Stax, with enough damage spells and payoffs - so Portcullis probably got the boot over better prison cards and cards that provide offense. BTW, ever heard of Noetic Scales?? A card I used to try and make work in the Legacy version.

Torpor Orb and Meekstone are okay but risky in my build. Meekstone stops Gloin from untapping. The Orb is playable for sure... but non-bos hard with a few cards in the deck. I think I looked at Orb and made a tough decision... But I love switching cards around and trying them out for awhile.

So this deck has a long history. I've been playing since middle school in 94. I have two legacy decks, but they're both mono colored - Merfolk and Red Prison Burn. This deck is an homage to that Legacy build. I've been brewing these Legacy decks since I was a kid and continue to update them. Ensnaring Bridge has a special place in my heart cause I felt like I was playing it before it got big. I'm especially proud of my Legacy Red Prison Burn deck because it was a original homebrew concept I came up with as a kid. I've been building alongside my Merfolk deck all this time. I was an early innovator with the Red Prison build.

My Legacy Decks:

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Murmaid Murder

Legacy milohenry13

SCORE: 2 | 548 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS

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My deck:

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Ensnaring Flames of Burn

Legacy milohenry13

SCORE: 2 | 491 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

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(And I take my Merfolk mono-blue Commander deck to actual cEDH tournaments and it holds its own, getting some wins sometimes and totally original and unique, My deck:

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Murmaid Murder

Commander / EDH milohenry13

SCORE: 16 | 4 COMMENTS | 2903 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS

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Thanks again for the like and input!

Idoneity on Hallway of Fiery Doom-Death

4 weeks ago

Oooooh! I do love mono-Red prison! Cool choice of commmander for it too.

I have some recommendations. >:)

If you want to lock out creatures, I highly recommend Meekstone and Portcullis. It is very difficult for most creature-based strategies to operate until they are removed.

Ward of Bones is funny. People hate it.

Torpor Orb is miserable. People really hate it.

I am curious why you are on Iron Myr! Why not a Mind Stone? I have been partial to Planar Atlas, though it enters tapped.

For one last silly card, Caverns of Despair is a Crawlspace that protects your planeswalkers.

Love the deck! Easy +1!

austintayshus on Commodore Guff is sexy af

1 month ago

Idoneity thank you for the suggestions. I def need to look into the white fog effects, I know I've seen Dawn Charm and Ethereal Haze and Holy Day before, and I probably even have multiple copies of them, but I forgot they existed until now. I'll have to look through my commons boxes.

Portcullis seems mean in a good way. I ahve cards like Meekstone and Smoke as pseudo-planeswalker protection, but maybe adding more stax would make the deck more powerful, though maybe less fun to play against.

Idoneity on Commodore Guff is sexy af

1 month ago

Hello hello! Love me a good Guff list. I have some propositions given your description.

To protect your 'walkers, Disrupt Decorum and Taunt from the Rampart each deny your opponents from attacking them for a turn. In the same lens, Bothersome Quasit is a little more pricey but pairs well with your swath of instant-speed interaction.

Do you like your planeswalkers living? Well then I have the cheap solution for you! Fog. It's pretty good, but Green, right? Thankfully, White has some pretty good options that may be right up your alley. To be clear, some of these suck, but there's 15 for you.

Lastly, if you really want to hate out creatures on a budget, try Portcullis. It's terrible to play against. You'll have a great time.

That's all, folk! Maybe one or two of these will make it in, but I enjoyed the deck regardless. Easy +1.

hootsnag on Oloro White Blue Black Creatureless Control

2 years ago

Of course. I don't mind explaining my thought process. I've had friends play goblin decks, merfolk, token decks, etc. Against decks that just jam out lots of creatures, Portcullis just shuts those down pretty hard. There really isn't a situation where Portcullis isn't useful except against decks that only have one or two creatures at a time on the battlefield. Chances are that someone in your play group will have lots of creatures in their deck and Portcullis is very cheap and effective.

Profet93 on Oloro White Blue Black Creatureless Control

2 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to write your detailed response. More specifically, can you tell me how Portcullis has been instrumental in your build? Can you tell me of a time or 2 it really helped you? Another time it backfired (such as ETB effects).

I really want to add it to my build

hootsnag on Oloro White Blue Black Creatureless Control

2 years ago

Glad you enjoy seeing the decks I make. I will answer your questions and give some insight into my decision making. First, I considered Expedition Map a long time ago and decided to go with more normal tutor cards such as Demonic Tutor etc. The map only grabs a land so it is limited in use. Mindslaver is one of those cards that can definitely cause all kinds of chaos but I chose to go for a faster win condition and less of cards like this. It takes too long to set up and get going. Lethal Vapors isn't a card I would run honestly. I would prefer a card like Spreading Plague or The Abyss instead. I chose exile as my main removal in this deck. Doing so counters graveyard strategies somewhat and indestructible. As for Static Orb and Winter Orb, these also interfere with my own win conditions. I'm trying to cast Approach of the Second Sun as fast as possible. This deck is very much control based and not really built to be a stax deck. Lastly, I've been asked before about why I don't run Yawgmoth's Will. I just don't think this particular deck is built to get value from it. It's an amazing card but I just didn't build this deck to support using such a card. Honestly, it would be more of a filler card for me.

Now, for the next set of questions. You are correct when you say that someone can still play one creature with Ward of Bones in play. The idea is to stop people from flooding the board with more than one. It is just a card to stall my opponents until I can draw or tutor my win conditions. This is the same reason why I use Portcullis. It keeps more than two creatures from being on the battlefield. Any creatures played on the battlefield beyond two get exiled until Portcullis leaves the battlefield. Again, I'm just slowing down and stalling my opponents so I can tutor or draw my win conditions. I feel that any creatureless deck should always run Portcullis. The value is just too insane. Energy Field is a card that I use to stall as well. It may last a couple of turns and that may be just enough to survive and tutor/cast my win condition. Null Brooch is such a fantastic card. A colorless artifact ability that just counters a non-creature spell is insane. It also combos crazy good with Ensnaring Bridge so that no creatures can attack because you have zero cards in hand. Witchbane Orb is just nice to have. It prevents a lot of bad things targeting you. It comes in handy more than you realize. You can't die to Grapeshot or other things with it in play. Norn's Annex forces people into a bad decision. They either pay white mana, lose life, or they can't attack you at all. Also, because of the Phyrexian Mana cost, you can play this fast to get value out of it quicker. Remember, if you make someone lose at least 8-10 life just to attack you, they are more vulnerable to other players killing them. The only other card I would put in place of this is No Mercy. Lastly, Mox Tantalite and Lotus Bloom are great for this deck. If I play them early enough, they allow me to cast Approach of the Second Sun very fast. Also, both suspend cards synergize with Tolaria West. Since the cards have a mana value of zero, you can use transmute from Tolaria West to search for them. I hope that shows you some of my reasoning and decision making. If you need to know anything further, feel free to ask.

hootsnag on Hurkyl, Tempo Master Wizard

2 years ago

Portent, Crawlspace, Web of Inertia, Dream Tides, War Tax, Glacial Chasm, Monastery Siege, Cryptic Command, Extract, Portcullis, Dissipation Field, Overburden, Archmage Ascension, Frozen Aether, Reins of Power, Rapid Hybridization, Siren's Call, Cyclonic Rift, Mission Briefing, Reality Shift, and Resculpt are just a few you could potentially use. You can very easily go creatureless if you want to. You just have to lean on different win conditions and use cards like Ward of Bones /etc.