Probe

Sorcery

Kicker {{1,B}} (You may pay an additional {{1,B}} as you cast this spell.)

Draw three cards, then discard two cards.

If Probe was kicked, target player discards two cards.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (17)

Darb_the_Bard on Codie: Hypergenesis

2 years ago

Thanks, harkness, for the upvote and the comment. Jegantha, the Wellspring definitely looks like a good fit. I may have to make room for it in my list. I would ignore the Companion portion and just play it as a regular card, but it also has the possibility of being an alternate commander, which always makes me happy (even if I don't play with it as a commander much I like having the option - the more variety the better). I also like your budget-friendly replacements for the praetors. We could obviously make the deck better by adding all of the most powerful creatures in the game (usually also the most expensive), but it takes a different kind of skill to build decks on a budget. I like your mentality!

As for draw, at least on paper the deck appears to have a good amount of draw options to me. I count 11 cards in the current list that have the potential to net you cards, not including Fierce Empath or Sultai Charm (which don't technically net you cards but do improve the value of the cards you keep). The rule of thumb I try to follow is to have 10-12 draw spells in the deck so it's right there. And I do think it's very valuable to have plenty of draw after your Hypergenesis turn as it usually leaves you with an empty or near-empty hand and you want to be able to recover from potential board wipes.

That said, you're right that most of the card draw is in the form of creatures or enchantments that come down after Hypergenesis . And it would obviously be ideal to draw before your Hypergenesis turn to make sure you have a hand full of threats to lay down. So I did a search for all 3-mana sorceries and instants that draw two or more cards. The best options, in my opinion, are the following: Abzan Charm , Esper Charm , Field Research , Ingenious Mastery , Probe , and Read the Bones . You could also try Fiery Gambit if you have good luck with coin flips (not a card I would want but I imagine some folks would find it fun, and it would be fantastic every time you actually pull it off).

It might be worth it to swap some of the other instants and sorceries for these, so I will definitely consider it myself. I already have one similar card in the list with Dismantling Blow so I'm not sure how many more I would want or which cards I would want to take out. I believe with these cards you would get to draw the cards first and then do Codie's ability to find and play Hypergenesis, but hopefully someone can correct me if I'm wrong. Of course, this also has the potential downside of drawing Hypergenesis and then not being able to find it, which gives me pause. So I'm not sure if it's worth it or not, but it's at least worth considering and testing!

Spell_Slam on

4 years ago

Grixis is always fun.

You are running a few sub-optimal cards that have strict upgrades. Quench could easily be Mana Leak. Shock could be an extra copy of Lightning Bolt and maybe a Firebolt or Flame Slash. I personally recommend Firebolt.

One of the greatest strengths of Blue is its cantrips. I would cut the Faithless looting to have a full playset of Preordain and even add Ponders to the list. This gives you a lot to do to fill out your curve every turn and can help prepare a Delver to flip.

One of the cool things about being Grixis is being able to play cards like Terminate, Jilt and Probe all in the same deck. The last two are for a more controlling approach, but Terminate fits in your tempo deck very well and could take the place of some of your burn and/or Edicts.

If ever you want another good, flexible creature to play, Mulldrifter is great for this kind of strategy. It draws you cards for cheap in the early game and is also a great threat in the late game.

You are playing a very balanced mana base that doesn't quite reflect your deck's colour composition. You have very few red cards. You probably don't need any Swiftwater Cliffs and could be playing more basic islands to speed up your deck instead. Rupture Spire is also unnecessary fixing. It could easily be more copies of other duals or just more basics.

Spell_Slam on Suffering and Smiling: Grixis PDH

4 years ago

PDH needs a good grixis control deck.

I like a lot of the elements in your deck; mass discard, ETB creatures, board wipes and some of the most effective card draw and removal in Pauper.

Now, being in Blue and Black, I wonder about some of your card draw choices. You seem to play a lot of the rummaging spells like Cathartic Reunion when you could just be playing better Divination effects. Artificer's Epiphany seenms like a solid choice since you have a good number of artifacts. Compulsive Research is excellent for raw card draw. If you're going to rummage, you might as well be looting... for free. Frantic Search is great. I am not sure you run enough islands for it, but Gush is a busted card to have if you can pull it off. You could also run Hypothesizzle which does a lot of what you want to be doing. This deck in particular might be a good home for Krovikan Sorcerer. Also, no Mulldrifter? It seems perfect for this deck! I've been Probed a few more times then I'd like and I think your opponents would feel the same way. Tragic Lesson has a pretty soft drawback that you can actually take advantage of. Rhystic Study should be in your maindeck!

There's tons of good card draw out there, so it would be pretty easy to replace Cathartic Reunion, Wild Guess, Scarscale Ritual Tormenting Voice, Thrill of Possibility and Funeral Rites with basically strict upgrades.

So your main win condition is to kill the opponent with Commander damage on an empty board? You're scraping the bottom of the barrel for equipment to get there. Cranial Plating would be an excellent option for you. Copper Carapace is just as good as Vulshok Morninstar since you probably won't do much blocking and it can also be fetched with Trinket Mage. Giant's Skewer seems like it could be good with your first-striking commander. Neurok Stealthsuit is pretty much an auto-include in my deck as soon as I play Blue. Lastly Vorrac Battlehorns is great on a first-strike Creature and prevents you from being gang-blocked or chump-blocked, which is often equal to (or better than) a Bonesplitter effect.

ZendikariWol on Tasigur Reanimator

5 years ago

Dark Petition is a weak link. Sure it gives you mana back but you have to cast it on TURN 5 (probably turn 4, given ramp), and those are the turns you should be playing Tasigur so you'll probably be casting this on 6 or 7.

Decree of Pain is a really sad wrath. It's either being cast for eight mana or you're cycling it and the cycle is garbage. It's just wicked expensive, and by the time it could be cast, you probably don't need it anymore.

How often do you have a creature for Diabolic Intent or Eldritch Evolution?

Pore Over the Pages is too costly, you want to be doing your looting BEFORE Tasigur hits the board to get the most use out of him. Same deal with Probe.

This deck runs very similarly to most Feldon of the Third Path decks, but red has a LOT more/better discard than sultai. All of your looting should be replaced with stuff like Satyr Wayfinder and Grisly Salvage, imo.

SynergyBuild on how much impact do people …

5 years ago

Blue-Black or Mono-Black, with some in Jeskai, Rakdos, Grixis, and Izzet

Really, blue has some reasonably good card draw, specifically Augur of Bolas, Mulldrifter, Preordain, Ponder, and interaction in the form of Counterspell and the occasional Deprive. Otherwise, they don't have a great set of wincons, sweepers, or removal, so they need another color to get those.

In comparison, black has Gurmag Angler, a great wincon, and the best removal in the forms of Evincar's Justice, Echoing Decay, Shrivel, Pestilence, Cuombajj Witches, Disfigure, Chainer's Edict, Oubliette, Doom Blade, they have lifegain, discard like Duress, Distress, Chittering Rats, card draw like Phyrexian Rager, Thorn of the Black Rose, Sign in Blood, and mono-colored payoffs like Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Tendrils of Corruption. There are even more great control cards from hate like Nihil Spellbomb, efficient spells like Cartouche of Ambition that just do a lot, land destruction like Choking Sands, more discard that is splashable like Addle, and the other following cards:

Diabolic Edict, Wrench Mind, Raven's Crime, Innocent Blood (for creatureless lists), Dead Weight, Crypt Incursion, Complete Disregard, Nausea, Reaping the Graves, Undying Evil, Read the Bones, Divest, Rancid Earth, Icequake, Dusk Legion Zealot, Okiba-Gang Shinobi, Tragic Slip, Crypt Rats, Stinkweed Imp

That isn't to say a good mix of both isn't the best option, it probably is. You lose the mono-black payoffs, but get Probe, Forbidden Alchemy, Soul Manipulation. Really though, black is more useful than blue.

Dankey on Dimir Flicker Control (Paper Pauper)

5 years ago

Chainer's Edict really shines in UB Gurmag Angler decks that fill their graveyard with Forbidden Alchemy and Probe . I tend to avoid decks that are overly dependent on their graveyard because of all the graveyard hate, which we can play around at instant speed.

Dankey on Dimir Flicker Control (Paper Pauper)

5 years ago

How is Mystical Teachings worse with the exclusion of a card it can't tutor? I feel Chainer's Edict really shines in UB Gurmag Angler decks that fill their graveyard with Forbidden Alchemy and Probe. I also feel decks that are overly dependent on their graveyard lose even harder to graveyard hate, which we can play around at instant speed.

KingOfWhales on Self-Mill Tribal!

5 years ago

No, not brainstorm. Brainstorm doesn’t put any of the cards in your graveyard.

Frantic Search is one. Then there are a ton of variations on Probe: Draw 3, discard 1-2 is what you are looking for