Rootborn Defenses

Instant

Populate. Creatures you control are indestructible this turn. (To populate, create a token that's a copy of a creature token you control.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	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
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

sanddeviljack on Order of Trostani

4 weeks ago

I think you could take out all the go-wide stuff and use those cards for the bones of a sweet Rhys deck: anything making 1/1s, Cathars' Crusade, stuff like that. I would save Divine Visitation for this other build, now that I think about it.

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove is not as likely to ramp you--even if you increase the land count--as either Mirari's Wake or Mana Reflection, and is easier for your opponents to remove.

Tuskcaller is certainly a fun card, but consider if a 3/3 elephant token is worth 6 mana and a full turn cycle (minimum). My experience with Cradle of Vitality is that I never seem to have the mana available to pay the 2--your mileage may vary. Similarly, Emmara Tandris is an expensive way to try to protect only part of your board--she doesn't protect Trostani. Privileged Position and Asceticism cover all that. If you find yourself missing her, you can always look for some cheaper Instants like Rootborn Defenses or Dauntless Escort type creatures.

I just noticed you have Sting in your sideboard/maybe board section. That is a cool idea, and I would try hard to fit in. Any way to untap Trostani is awesome. I didn't want to "suggest" the token doublers because they are both pricey and obvious, but I see them there, too. If/when those make sense to you, go for it.

Good luck!

shock7123 on The Four Horsemen

5 months ago

You have a solid deck concept, but I have a couple options you might consider throwing in at some point:

Cut Thran Dynamo and toss in a Land Tax. Colored mana means more than colorless mana in the long run. Land Tax also has the added benefit of letting you get lands out of your deck, making it harder to miss land drops, and is a solid tutor target early on.

Weathered Wayfarer and Deep Gnome Terramancer are excellent adds that let you try to keep up with your opponents, especially if you have a green player at the table that's ramping out of control.

I know some people don't like cheap "you win the game" cards, but lifegain goes well with things like Aetherflux Reservoir and Felidar Sovereign. You still have to work to meet the win condition of Sovereign, since most players will be focusing on trying to keep your life total down.

Smothering Tithe is a card I personally refuse to run, since I don't like asking people if they want to pay for me not to get a treasure constantly, but it is another solid early-game engine that can help you keep up with your opponents.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth pairs really well with Cabal Coffers and allows you to dump a ton of black mana into your mana pool at a time.

Making your wipes one-sided with things like Eerie Interlude and Rootborn Defenses can be incredibly helpful. You may be able to rebuild quickly, but there's no need to rebuild when you can just not have your creatures destroyed in the first place. Alternately, if you don't want to pay ridiculous levels of commander tax, a Command Beacon can help in a pinch.

Other extort effects like Crypt Ghast can really stack up quickly if you have multiple of them out at a time. Gaining 3 life every time you cast a spell works wonders, especially when your opponents are each losing one.

Crow_Umbra on The Norn Identity

9 months ago

Thank you for all of your suggestions today SufferFromEDHD. Lol I originally had Rootborn Defenses in deck and swapped it for Teferi's Protection, but I think I'll likely swap them around again.

Skyclave Apparition is a cool one. I used to run it in the last iteration of my Alesha deck, Awkward Eye Contact with Death (retired), before I deconstructed it to use the mana base and removal for my Isshin deck.

SufferFromEDHD on The Norn Identity

9 months ago

One last round of suggestions haha

Galepowder Mage is the original Restoration Angel. Not as easy to abuse but it still has its place in the blink strategy. Skyclave Apparition is an amazing card and even makes an illusion token! but can't be abused and you can't make use of it.

Rootborn Defenses over Teferi's Protection. I know TP is a superior card but in this deck we want Preston triggers and phasing doesn't work. Indestructible is a close second and Populate is pure value.

king-saproling on The Newspaper

9 months ago

Sure thing Benjimain! I think you picked a great partner pair. They offer the late-game resilence that Orzhov (WB) decks are known for while also enabling big combat damage which is rare in WB.

Here are some other swaps I would make:

Quag Sickness -> Plaguecrafter
Underworld Dreams -> Bitterblossom
Forever Young -> Black Market
Pick the Brain -> Grand Crescendo
Artificer's Hex -> Lightning Coils
Duress -> Rootborn Defenses
Pit Keeper -> Captain's Claws
Triad of Fates -> Haunted Library
Deathpact Angel -> Mardu Strike Leader
Mark of the Vampire -> Blight Mound
Confront the Assault -> Veteran Soldier
Primevals' Glorious Rebirth -> Spirit Bonds
Soul Salvage -> Militia's Pride
Alchemist's Gift -> Oketra's Monument
Lash of Thorns -> Wand of Orcus
Village Rites -> Grim Haruspex

lhetrick13 on For Honor and Glory!!!

1 year ago

Thanks for the love KBK7101 & Yogei!

@ Yogei - The deck plays pretty quick with Collected Company being the only 3+ CMC card in the deck. It is a shame Thalia's Lieutenant is not a knight as it actually does work in this deck with the strong human presence and Worthy Knight.

I have looked at the Populate mechanic but never really considered it for this deck. With only Worthy Knight and Selesnya Charm being the only token creation, I feel like the Populate would wiff the majority of the time. The deck I actually considered using the cards you suggest is my cat token deck Feline Feelings, which is a cat tribal built around cats and their ability to make kittens. That deck does not have a SB, which I need to fix, but this is where you would see at lot of these cards at. Rootborn Defenses could be swapped out for Heroic Intervention but losing Hexproof is a large tradeoff...Nothing worse than casting Leonin Warleader the turn prior, then casting Anointed Procession to gear up for an attack only to have Warleader get exiled or destroyed by an instant spell :(

Yogie on For Honor and Glory!!!

1 year ago

I really like the look of this deck, it seems thoughtfully put together with strong synergies and a clear strategy. Plenty of lords rarely go wrong and I can imagine the deck having a strong board presence. The Thalia's Lieutenant + Worthy Knight combo seems particularly strong. It’s also interesting to see Knight Exemplar and Dauntless Bodyguard used in a different way from how I play them myself.

I have one suggestion for you. Since you seem unsure about Selesnya Charm have you looked at the populate mechanic? Rootborn Defenses or Growing Ranks come to mind, but there are other cards too. You would loose some utility yes, but in the case of Rootborn Defences protection via indestructibility is powerful, and populate could work well together with your creature tokens. Best case scenario you’d populate a Human Token which triggers Thalia's Lieutenant.

Good luck with the deck, I’ll have a look at your other knight decks when I’m able ;)

Slashdance on Endless Assault

1 year ago

So, in order to get copies of our addtional attack phase-creating creatures, via Duke Ulder Ravengard or other myriad source, we're going to have to also fit in cards like: Rootborn Defenses and Trostani's Judgment

We'll try some builds and see if it's all worth it. Not sure yet.