Sakura-Tribe Elder

Creature — Snake Shaman

Sacrifice this: Search your library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle your library.

Discussion (50)

Last_Laugh on Animar, morph scute swarm

1 week ago

27 non-creatures is crazy high. I understand you wanting counters to boardwipes but there's zero reason to run Cultivate type effects here. I'd also suggest counterspells over something like Akroma's Memorial. Swan Song and Stubborn Denial are 2 really good ones here.

Sakura-Tribe Elder, Wood Elves, Birds of Paradise, Beastcaller Savant (works like morph thanks to haste), and even stuff like Cloud of Faeries/Peregrine Drake (which also work with Morph/Cloudstone) will serve you much much better.

Feel free to check out my list for ideas. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Animar, Gaea's Hemorrhoid ⫷PRIMER⫸

multimedia on Draconic Rage Precon Upgraded

1 week ago

Hey, well done with upgrading the precon on a budget.

Greater Good and Goblin Bombardment let you abuse Dragon Spirits before they're saced after doing damage. When a Dragon Spirit does damage it makes a sacrifice trigger that has to resolve from the stack before the token is saced. When the trigger is on the stack you can response to it by sacing the token for value. Greater is draw 5 cards and Bombardment is do 1 damage to Vrondiss to create another Dragon Spirit. When Vrondiss is indestructible, Bombardment can be part a combo to do infinite damage to opponents with any two of Dragon Tempest, Scourge of Valkas, Terror of the Peaks, Outpost Siege or Warstorm Surge.

• Greater Good --> Wild Endeavor
• Goblin Bombardment --> Indomitable Might

Wild Endeavor is a six mana ramp spell with only d4 rolls, you don't really want to be casting ramp with six mana.

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Consider more repeatable draw sources which the precon really lacks. More effects that draw a card whenever a Spirit Dragon is created and from other enrage: Ripjaw Raptor, Garruk's Packleader, Elemental Bond.

Ripjaw Raptor is another good creature to make indestructible because then you can draw cards by doing damage to it. Garruk's Packleader draw is a may, you can stop drawing at any time. With Packleader in your control and Vrondiss is indestructible then one of Dragon Tempest, Scourge of Valkas, Terror of the Peaks, Outpost Siege or Warstorm Surge will create as many Dragon Spirits who will do damage/sac itself as you want which is draw as many cards as you want.

• Ripjaw Raptor --> Wulfgar of Icewind Dale
• Garruk's Packleader --> Chameleon Colossus
• Elemental Bond --> Neverwinter Hydra

Wulfgar of Icewind Dale is out of place in the precon and here because there's very few cards that trigger when the creature attacks. He's not worth keeping really just for Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient.

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One area from the precon you haven't upgraded is the manabase, it's still 39 lands and 27 basic lands. Some lands to consider adding in place of some basic lands and Underdark Rift:

• Karplusan Forest
• Fire-Lit Thicket
• Grove of the Burnwillows
• Rootbound Crag
• Rockfall Vale
• Cragcrown Pathway  ^Flip
• Highland Forest
• Naya Panorama
• Jund Panorama
• Tyrite Sanctum
• Rogue's Passage
• Bonders' Enclave

I don't think you need 39 lands, some of them could be cut for lower CMC ramp such as Farseek, Talisman of Impulse and Sakura-Tribe Elder. Because you have Cinder Glade and could add Highland Forest then Farseek has a dual land to search for. For two mana Tyrite Sanctum can repeatedly put a counter on Vrondiss to make him bigger. Once he's a God then Sanctum can be saced to make Vrondiss indestructible. Both these effects are helpful coming from a land.

I offer more advice. Good luck with your deck.

Balaam__ on Nifty Thrifty Reanimation

3 weeks ago

Thanks for the suggestions Pezz22, but this one is fairly well optimized with what’s currently available (and for the budget allotted).

The high cmc of Spirit of the Hearth doesn’t matter here, since we’ll be fielding it through other means (I’m assuming that’s what you meant when you said “cheaper”, since both Spirit of the Hearth and Aegis of the Gods are financially quite cheap). The Aegis lacks the Spirit creature type so it won’t function as intended in this build.

Which brings us to Call of the Death-Dweller. It’s a solid reanimation spell, but it is indeed too expensive to run in this particular deck. It could return both Carrion Feeder and Lotleth Troll to play, but that’s too situational to justify the extra price tag over Unearth.

Sakura-Tribe Elder is a no-go too; it’s not a spirit, and its ability to self sacrifice doesn’t mean much here—the reason for Carrion Feeder is to sac specific spirits so that they don’t become exiled due to Goryo's Vengeance, and thus we’re able to reuse them. Sacrifice isn’t to buff Carrion Feeder or for any other reason. In short both Lotleth Troll and Carrion Feeder are here for the sole purpose of putting particular things in the graveyard. The +1/+1 counters they create are just incidental.

I do thank you for your interest in the deck. A case could definitely be made for utilizing your ideas here and radically altering the deck to incorporate them, but I’d like to keep the core functionality of the deck as intended above all else.

Pezz22 on Nifty Thrifty Reanimation

3 weeks ago

This deck looks like fun too! If you are looking for a cheaper (CMC) version of your Spirit of the Hearth, Aegis of the Gods will do the trick. Aegis of the Gods will also be cheap enough to use your Unearth on. Only down side is he is a weakling lol. I'm assuming you are using Carrion Feeder for its sacrifice ability. Since you have Lotleth Troll who does something similar with +1/+1 counters, you can look at Viscera Seer. I have a loosely similar style of deck that utilizes Viscera Seer over Carrion Feeder. I found the Scry ability to more valuable than the added offensive firepower of the Feeder. If the Feeder could block that may be a tipping point back to it, but the Seer's ability to block and sacrifice whenever you need to far outweighs the Feeder's benefits IMO. I'm assuming you are using the Unearth's mainly for the Doomed Necromancer. Another potential suggestion might be to use Call of the Death-Dweller. Both are Sorcerys but Call will give you the potential option to bring back two creatures with the added bonus of either Menace or Deathtouch. Likewise, you can still choose one creature and slap Menace or Deathtouch on them as well. I like the deck! There are so many Legendary Spirits thanks to the Kamigawa block. I'm sure it's a headache trying to narrow those down to what is playable. Time of Need is a super clutch card too. In fact! (Inspiration just hit me lol) If you want a cheap block/sacker Sakura-Tribe Elder gives you a blocker, and the ability to get a basic land of the color you need. Sorry for the novel of a comment, good stuff though!

Master_J on Aesi physical copy

1 month ago

Some upgrades, things to look for and think about:

First, your commander Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait wants you to play lands and draw cards. Anything you can change towards that theme will help your deck run better. Also, there's some "sub-optimal" choices that could be upgraded for other things, some of which may have come with other commander precons, are really cheap, etc. Lastly, it looks like your paper version here has some token and +1/+1 counters sub-themes, which I'd bet would make your deck less focused, leading to more random things going on or you not being able to execute a game plan consistently.

So, with all that in mind, I would suggest some of the following changes, and my reasoning behind them:

Change Arcane Signet for Thought Vessel. Arcane Signet is good and all, but Thought Vessel will help with the unlimited hand size for the same amount of mana.

Change Wolfwillow Haven and Gift of Paradise for things like Kodama's Reach and Cultivate. Again, enchantments tend to eat removal, sometimes just by accident, where as lands generally don't.

Change Migration Path, Explosive Vegetation, and Vastwood Surge for things like Nature's Lore, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Three Visits, or Sakura-Tribe Elder.

You could change Crushing Vines for Beast Within, since Beast Within is more versatile, and it looks like you have enough bodies to protect yourself from a 3/3.

If you can get your hands on a Scute Swarm, you'll have some awesome token stuff to go on.

Also, if you can get your hands on a Tatyova, Benthic Druid, you'll have some redundancy and not have to rely solely upon your commander (for when it's died too many times, or you don't have the extra lands / fetch to keep your commander chugging along.

Ghost Town is a cheaper land that will let you pick it up on opponents turns, so you'll always have at least one land to play on your turn.

You might want to change some other bodies like Ornery Dilophosaur and Wren's Run Hydra for bodies that fetch lands like Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, or others like it (like Elvish Rejuvenator and Springbloom Druid). This will give you blockers earlier, help you ramp, and make use of your commander later in the game too.

You could possibly upgrade your land base a little (in case you find yourself without the right colors often enough?). Some include Breeding Pool (which is on the $$ side), Hinterland Harbor, Rejuvenating Springs, Command Tower, and maybe a few more.

If you want a few bigger bodies to make use of your lands, I'd suggest Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar and Ulvenwald Hydra.

Hopefully this helps with how you think about your deck, some choices of cards, what you ultimately want the deck to do, and things to look for. Let me know if you have questions on choices or anything else.

Vessiliana on RISE!

1 month ago

Have you considered replacing some of your artifact ramp with something like Sakura-Tribe Elder or Yavimaya Granger? They get the Meren experience counters up and give you land in the process, and can be reanimated later for more value and fun!

GrimlockVIII on Goreclaw's Wild Kingdom

1 month ago

I'd replace Bristling Hydra with something else since you don't seem to have any other energy counter synergies.

Universal creature buffs like Return of the Wildspeaker and Overrun will help you feel more confident about swinging in with all your creatures.

Fog will always be a great for saving your ass in a pinch.

I'd focus a bit more on land ramp like Cultivate , Sakura-Tribe Elder and Kodama's Reach since relying on mana dorks in a deck full of expensive CMC creatures might make it more difficult for you to recover in the event of a board wipe. Vastwood Surge is actually really good too in the late-game since you can kick it to buff all your creatures.

Scavenging Ooze and Deathgorge Scavenger are great options for graveyard hate.

I would add in a few cheap Eldrazi for their Annihilater abilities. Bane of Bala Ged and Ulamog's Crusher come to mind.

Display of Dominance and Wrap in Vigor are decent budget alternatives to Heroic Intervention .

multimedia on Aesi heavy

1 month ago

Hey, much improved version, good job.

Aesi looks like she belongs as the Commander of this version. You have several excellent cards, much more than the other version, but you forgot Sol Ring . What this version needs now is consider more low CMC ramp?

The creatures who can put a land from your hand onto the battlefield are good, but they're only ramp if you have lands in your hand making them some times inconsistent sources. You want reliable ramp sources to be able to consistently cast Aesi and other higher CMC cards as well as cards with X mana costs which you want to pay a lot of mana for them. Land ramp spells have interaction with Aesi because it puts a land onto the battlefield.

• Sol Ring --> Scute Mob
• Arcane Signet --> Eternity Vessel
• Farseek --> Beacon of Tomorrows
• Nature's Lore --> Path of Discovery
• Three Visits --> Mass Manipulation
• Lotus Cobra --> Hooded Hydra
• Sakura-Tribe Elder --> Gelatinous Genesis

In my last comment, at your other version, I suggested that low CMC ramp could replace little creatures to have more overall interaction with Aesi. These suggestions are examples, they're low CMC ramp sources that you can hopefully cast early. By adding Rimewood Falls then Farseek, Lore, Visits can search for a Simic dual land to help ramp and color fixing. Breeding Pool is the more expensive price Shock land that can also be searched for.

In the above suggestions I've also suggested cards that could be cut. The majority of the cards to cut are higher CMC than the ramp sources. Most of the suggested cuts are worse cards than other cards, they're redundancy that's not needed or have effects that are subpar.

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A process that should be a big part of deck building is streamlining. Streamlining is keeping all the best cards at each CMC and cutting the lesser cards. Another name for this process is "cutting the fat" meaning you're cutting out unnecessary cards because you have better cards that do the same thing or are just much more powerful no matter the CMC.

The process also is meant to help the mana curve by cutting redundancy, many high CMC cards which reduces the average CMC of the deck that will make gameplay better. At higher budgets it's easier to streamline because you have access to more cards, but at lower budget you sometimes need to use some lesser cards as filler. Filler is not needed when you have a $400+ budget.

An example of a streamlined creature base using cards already in your version and some cards I've suggested.

• Sakura-Tribe Scout
• Sylvan Safekeeper
• Genesis Hydra
• Llanowar Scout
• Lotus Cobra
• Sakura-Tribe Elder
• Steelbane Hydra
• Azusa, Lost but Seeking
• Courser of Kruphix
• Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• Scute Swarm
• Altered Ego
• Tatyova, Benthic Druid
• Ancient Greenwarden
• Hydra Broodmaster
• Rampaging Baloths
• Roil Elemental
• Avenger of Zendikar

Example of streamlined enchantments.

• Burgeoning
• Exploration
• Manabond
• Druid Class
• Elfhame Sanctuary
• Overburden
• Mana Breach
• Propaganda
• Rhystic Study
• Teferi's Ageless Insight

Cards that were cut from these examples.

• Hooded Hydra
• Primordial Hydra
• Cosima, God of the Voyage
• Guardian of Tazeem
• Archetype of Endurance
• Liege of the Tangle
• Dissipation Field
• Path of Discovery
• Abundance
• Court of Bounty

Good luck with your deck.