Raise the Alarm

Instant

Create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.

Discussion (51)

InzHornet4 on Need help finding a focus …

21 hours ago

If you'd want to use him, you would need fast access to a lot of tokens to be able to play him as soon as possible, maybe by turns 4 or 5. You could make it a bant list, because green white is pretty good at making tokens. I like planeswalkers that make tokens. If you can get enough on board, they get harder to deal with. Plus if you play that Saheeli, they count as non-returnable spells, so she'd make a token as you cast them. I wouldn't play that the Hero of the Precinct One honestly. I would suggest adding Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. They are very good in modern, and make tokens very reliably. Dovin, Grand Arbiter could be a cool addition, gaining some extra loyalty on the first turn he comes in, then start making tokens and gaining some life. For instants and sorceries, Raise the Alarm and Verdant Command are amazing low mana ways to get a couple tokens. The command would also give you an added second effect to help you out. If you draw one of those and a Nissa, Saheeli or Dovin, you could have 4 tokens on turn 4, then drop the Junk Winder. If you wanted to spend $9 on a card, you could get a few Cryptolith Rite and a few X spells and go that route. A Cryptolith Rite followed by a Raise the Alarm or Verdant Command would also get you a turn 4 Junk Winder. I would give you some more ideas, but I'm thinking of more budget friendly ways to make tokens. U do have a GW Walker Token deck for Modern if you want to check that out, but it isn't very budget friendly. Sorry if this is long btw, I love playing token decks.

gavriel1136 on Balancing my 2 decks against …

1 month ago

Just from glancing at the two decks, they don't seem very balanced, with the blue deck being much stronger. Right off the bat, with so many counterspells plus boardwipes, you're gonna frustrate the heck out of the white deck.

Additionally, the blue deck has really good early plays that grow stronger, while the white deck mostly has high CMC plays (I do see you added a few Raise the Alarm, which is good).

With so many high CMC spells, those counterspells hurt even more, making it difficult to do anything.

Lastly, the blue deck has more boardwipes, and better ones than the white deck. Especially for a token deck, particularly one that is focusing on one-time token making effects, this is devastating. These one-sided wipes in combination with your 12 counterpells means that the white deck will likely never get to do anything ever.

Here are my suggestions: For white, add more low-to the-ground token makers. Also add repeatable token effects, like Castle Ardenvale or Thraben Doomsayer. Maybe throw in a better boardwipe or way to protect from so many counterspells, like with extra utility cards with flashback or escape.

P.S. Shalai literally does nothing for the deck since blue deck has no spells that target anything she protects. I know you were thinking of her pump effect, but that is incredibly mana intensive. I'd replace her with an anthem, especially a 2 CMC or 3 CMC one.

For the blue deck, I recommend lowering the number of counterspells. I think having 2 of each is PLENTY. Focusing on sea creatures is fine, maybe have only 1 boardwipe in the entire deck, since they can be a little too devastating.

I guess the core issue with the blue deck is that the white one has no way to interact with it. There is no anti-counterspell suite, white doesn't have ways to untap to undo Sleep, and you aren't running any type of removal that 'Protection from X' could be helpful with. For the decks to be fun, you both need threats that the other can answer.

I know this was long, feel free to ask any questions.

Godo on Replacement effects that would replace …

2 months ago

So how would for instance Divine Visitation and Chatterfang, Squirrel General react to me casting Raise the Alarm? Do both try to replace the effect of raise the alarm but only one gets to do it and the other just goes to waste? But then doesn't the other card want to re-replace and so forth? Thanks!

multimedia on Elspeth Token Surge

2 months ago

Hey, some advice is think more about the mana curve and Soldier interactions you can curve into earlier in the game. Your deck is not aggressive because other than Raise the Alarm all the other token sources come from higher CMC cards. Consistently, it looks like if you don't draw Raise in your opening hand then you're not casting an impactful spell for Soldiers until turn four or after and that's if you make all your land drops.

Consul's Lieutenant into Field Marshal is an example of Soldier curve that can give you an advantage. Both of these Soldiers are good with tokens since they're anthem effects. Marshal giving all Soldiers you control first strike makes it easier to do combat damage to your opponent. Lieutenant when it's renowned is repeatable pump for all your other attacking creatures and 3 power first strike, 4 power with Marshal, lets Lieutenant keep attacking. The more renowned Lieutenants you have in your control the more pump that all other attacking creatures get including two Lieutenants or more pump each other when they attack. Two or more Marshals anthem each other and give each other first strike.

Field Marshal giving first strike is very good with Catapult Squad since these two cards can kill a 5 toughness or less creature without either one dying. Squad blocks at first strike combat step doing 3 damage to opponent's attacker, then tap Squad + Marshal to do 2 more damage to that creature. If the creature has 5 or less toughness and doesn't have first strike then it dies before it even does damage to Squad. Squad is nice with tokens as a repeatable damage source to opponents creatures.

Brave the Elements is a powerful one mana instant effect to make all Soldiers you control unblockable for a big attack. This card even with a small army can win the game. Since the protection is at instant speed then you can also use it to protect your creatures from targeted removal or removal that does damage such as red burn from Anger of the Gods. Protection from a color protects against damage, being blocked, being targeted, enchanted/equipped from that color. Anger is doing the damage and it's red thus name red with Elements and none of your creatures take damage.

Swords to Plowshares is the most powerful one mana instant creature removal spell in Magic. The mana efficiency and versatility of Swords far outweighs giving your opponent some life.

Good luck with your deck.

zapyourtumor on White Therefore Superior

3 months ago

Maybe consider splashing B?

Gives you access to Lingering Souls, Bitterblossom (synergizes with Timely Reinforcements), Zealous Persecution, Sorin, Solemn Visitor

If you stay mono white: Raise the Alarm, Venerated Loxodon

Skinken on

6 months ago

Birds is a surprisingly well supported tribe, and flying tribal has been getting a fair bit of support recently. So building birds in commander can be both fun and powerful because you can combine old and new cards.

A creature has to be a Legendary creature to be legal as your commander. The classic option for birds would be Kangee, Aerie Keeper . Some other options that are more "Flying tribal" than bird tribal could be Kangee, Sky Warden (a very budget-friendly option), Isperia the Inscrutable , Akim, the Soaring Wind , Derevi, Empyrial Tactician or Alela, Artful Provocateur .

Now you should decide whether you want cards that support having Birds specifically: Aven Brigadier , Celestial Gatekeeper , Crookclaw Elder , Seaside Haven , Soulcatchers' Aerie , Airborne Aid , Migratory Route , Animal Sanctuary etc. Or if you just want cheap flyers that may or may not be birds and just play flying tribal: Battle Screech , Favorable Winds , Gravitational Shift , Gust of Wind , Island Sanctuary , Kangee's Lieutenant , Lofty Denial , Pride of the Clouds , Rally of Wings , Sephara, Sky's Blade , Siani, Eye of the Storm , Skycat Sovereign , Soulcatcher , The Raven's Warning , Thunderclap Wyvern , Tide Skimmer , Warden of Evos Isle , Watcher of the Spheres , Waterkin Shaman , Windstorm Drake , Winged Words , Battle Screech .

Your list has a lot of pretty bad cards that don't support your strategy. I would cut Healing Salve , Resupply , Take Up Arms , Call to Mind , Survival Cache , Refurbish (has 4 targets in your deck and no matter what you get you pay more mana than you should), Siegecraft etc. Pure lifegain spells are bad unless you build around them, and this is supposed to be a bird/flying deck right? Cards that make tokens without flying are not great because your lords and synergy don't make them better. So even though Raise the Alarm is a solid magic card, you would prolly rather have like a Mistral Charger because you can build synergy around it.

Removal is always good. You can almost never have too much of it. However, if you are really cool, you can try to play removal and card draw that is flavorful and synergistic as well: Ravenform , Wing Shards , Aerial Assault , Swan Song , Winged Words , Gust of Wind , Lofty Denial . Also, sol ring is great but more ramp is usually a good idea in commander, and Azorius Keyrune is also a bird!

Good luck with the screechy dudes!

Garretthook on Creativity Combo

7 months ago

Grubbernaut you certainly could, and I considered it, but the deck is actually pretty hungry for white mana. The Raise the Alarm , The Birth of Meletis , Omen of the Sun , and Secure the Wastes give so many reliable tokens already that it isn’t really worth making the mana potentially worse for 1 token. If this were a heavier red spells build, then I’d say for go for it. But as is I can’t afford any other lands that mostly ETB tappedand only produce one color. I even cut out Castle Ardenvale for that same reason.

Tyrant-Thanatos on Hello, how does Cathar's Crusade …

7 months ago

Not in this case, no. Because the tokens are not being created simultaneously. You have two different triggered abilities triggering off of the same event, they will go onto the stack and resolve separately, and as each of them resolves, Cathars' Crusade will trigger and go on the stack before the next can resolve. So for example, if you stack them so that Spirit Cairn resolves first, you'll create a 1/1 flying spirit, and Crusade will trigger, going onto the stack and putting a +1/+1 on each creature you control, THEN Haven will resolve, creating a 2/2 flying drake, and Crusade will trigger again.

If you were creating more than one token with a single effect, such as something like say Raise the Alarm , it would function as you described and both tokens would get 2 counters.