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.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

ProgramIncomplete on The Mycotyrant

2 months ago

Sure thing!

When I decided to build this deck I really wanted to lean into the descend theme so I challenged myself to run as few non-permanent spells as possible. I think my initial list had like 1 or 2. Overtime, I ended up adding more since I realized I needed efficient self mill payoff cards like Reanimate and Overwhelming Remorse or else the deck was a little too clunky. Currently I'm running 9 but I'm looking for oppurtunites to cut some without losing power or efficiency.

But still, even though it isn't "pure permanents" I still tried my best to cover all of the deck's bases with permanent spells. We have permanents that can remove threats like Chupacabra Echo and Reclamation Sage; permanents that can draw cards like Skullclamp and Izoni, Thousand-Eyed; permanents that can ramp us like Sakura-Tribe Elder and Aftermath Analyst; permanents that mill like Mesmeric Orb and Ripples of Undeath; permanents that can bring stuff back from the grave like Journey to Eternity  ^Flip and Animate Dead; we even have The Meathook Massacre and Invasion of Fiora  ^Flip as our boardwipes.

One really nice upside to having everything our deck wants to do on permanent spells is that it makes cards like Malevolent Rumble and Cache Grab really consistent at grabbing something useful. And I recently added Revival Experiment which seems like a really nice payoff for going all in on permanents.

Anyway, the basic idea of this deck is self-milling and using my commander's ability to swarm the board with tokens. Usually we want to spend the first couple turns setting up, hopefully getting a repeatable mill effect on the battlefield like Mesmeric Orb or by pairing one of our dredge cards with a discard outlet like Matzalantli, the Great Door  ^Flip or Geier Reach Sanitarium. Once we've got our mill engine set up, then we can cast our commander. We want to make sure he triggers his end step ability the turn he enters so we can start getting our tokens online.

The tokens really are the core pillar of the deck. They can be sacrificed for value with cards like Skullclamp and Wight of the Reliquary; we can turn them into mana dorks with Insidious Roots; they can gain us a ton of life off of Essence Warden and Ayara, First of Locthwain; and they can present lethal by giving our Craterhoof Behemoth an army to buff. We also have the ability to drain the table to death with the aforementioned Ayara or Mirkwood Bats if we manage to mill enough cards. And of course, since they pump our commander, we can also win with commander damage.

Since we're milling so much the deck also has a reanimator subtheme. Reanimate and Animate Dead can bring back wincon creatures like Craterhoof and Ayara. Squirming Emergence can reanimate any permanent so it's an awesome way to put planeswalkers into play or snag an engine piece or even wipe the board with Invasion of Fiora  ^Flip. Similarly, Rise of the Witch-king let's us bring back any permanent while also forcing our opponents to sack a creature which is nice.

A new card that I'm actually testing right now is Chthonian Nightmare. The fact that it's a repeatable reanimate effect for only 2 mana seems really strong. And even if you don't "charge it up" by repeatedly reanimating creatures that cost less than 3, roughly 75% of the creatures in my deck are 3 or less anyway and among those are some really impactful targets like Eternal Witness, Reclamation Sage, Six, and Accursed Marauder just to name a few. Very excited to see how it performs!

Alongside the reanimator subtheme we have an aristocrats subtheme. As mentioned earlier the tokens make great fodder for stuff like Skullcamp and Wight. And we have creatures that either sack themselves, like Sakura-Tribe Elder and Aftermath Analyst, or want to be sacrificed, like World Shaper. All that sacrificing can net us additional value off of Liliana, Dreadhorde General or Mirkwood Bats since he triggers on token sacrifice as well. We also have Disciple of Freyalise  ^Flip, a great reanimation target that can draw us a ton of cards by sacrificing our creatures that grow in size as our graveyard does like Splinterfright and Souls of the Lost.

So yeah, that's the deck. It can be a bit slow and the lack of instant speed interaction is definitely a drawback but overall I like it a lot and it can have some explosive turns. You just have to be careful not to mill yourself out which is why I added in Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. He's a bit random so I might replace him with Elixir of Immortality. We'll see.

P.S. Apologies for the long winded reply, hopefully it was insightful.

DarkKiridon on Bro Will Trample You

3 months ago

Cool Budget deck!

Some ideas:

Red Elemental Blast

Brawn maybe??

Hunter's Insight

Garruk's Uprising or Colossal Majesty

Overwhelming Stampede

Heroic Intervention

Chaos Warp

Blasphemous Act + Wrap in Vigor is fun

Sakura-Tribe Elder

Managorger Hydra

Happy brewing!!

DatShepTho on Groundshake

4 months ago

@NV_1980 Nice suggestions. 100% agree with the Sakura-Tribe Elder, and I've got one on the way already. The deck could do with one more two-drop. I'm reluctant on the Explore and Growth Spiral, because in my experience it can be inconsistent (sometimes it becomes only a two mana cantrip when you get land screwed).

Wood Elves is a decent suggestion that could work, but it feels slow and this deck can't abuse it enough.

I love Utopia Sprawl, and use it in a couple of my other decks. I'm not a fan that it won't trigger my landfall though.

I can't justify making the space in the deck for a Brainstorm or Druid Class, neither being creature spells

NV_1980 on Groundshake

4 months ago

Great start, but I think it could use some more speed (in terms of ramping and card-draw). Some ideas to imrpove on this, without spending a large sum of money:

• Brainstorm: just an excellent draw/filter card at negligible casting cost.
• Druid Class: excellent land-fall enabler and allows more land-drops per turn.
• Explore/Growth Spiral: instant draw and as well as some land-drop.
• Sakura-Tribe Elder: just a good ramp creature.
• Utopia Sprawl: helps with whatever other color of mana you need at the time of casting.
• Wood Elves: limited to tutoring for a Forest, but it enters the battlefield untapped so you can immediately use it.

Hope this helped; happy brewing!

Elhoggerino on Blood Blatter Beast of Bhaal

5 months ago

I also don't really understand Fog or Spore Frog but I know you like politics so maybe they'll be fun in order to get favours from people. Loads of card draw which is nice but again I can see you running out of creatures to sac for Village Rites and Deadly Dispute type cards. You generally need to draw cards while behind and while behind you might be suffering from graveyard hate agaist your skeletons or other effects - just something to consider. Also Damnation might be something to consider switching for a different boardwioe if you are gonna put some regenerate creatures in (Toxic Deluge turns off regenerate aswell - but it's such a good card it's probably worth it)

In terms of cuts to make to make space for more dummies, Shadow in the Warp doesn't really fit much in the deck - you have so many cheap creatures that you'll probably be casting more than one a turn and it will rarely help that much - and the 2 damage is pretty insignificant compared to your other effects. I would favour Llanowar Elves type cards over Fertile Ground as again, creatures are what you want and they give you the oppurtunity to sac them if you need.

Some good cards to consider:

Victimize - brings back your Sakura-Tribe Elder type cards and is a sac outlet at the same time

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger - just great value aswell as triggering Bhaal. A good reanimator target aswell.

Recurring Nightmares - Reanimator + sac outlet + it doesn't die? This card's great.

Dread Wanderer? Not the best but helps you out in a pinch if you have a Village Rites and nothing else

Nether Traitor - I don't know why this isn't in there already

austintayshus on The ol Lady

5 months ago

I just recently rebuilt a trostani deck too!

Have you considered Desolation Twin

Also, One fun interaction you might like is Emeria Shepherd and Sakura-Tribe Elder.

Crow_Umbra on Petrified by the Gorgussy [Primer]

5 months ago

Thank you for taking the time to offer your feedback, and for reading through the primer Profet93, I appreciate it.

I like what you've suggested and wanted to offer my thoughts in turn:

Potential Considerations

• Skullclamp - A great card draw staple. I think I didn't initially consider this one mostly because I currently have ~8 creatures with 1 toughness, & don't really make small 1/1 tokens besides Preacher of the Schism. High likelihood for revisiting & inclusion.

• Sakura-Tribe Elder/Rampant Growth - I could see Steve slotting in over Farseek. I have Farseek in here as a means of grabbing Overgrown Tomb for quick fixing.

• Viridian Longbow - This was also suggested by UltimateRoxas40. Definitely a kind of cheeky include. I used to run it in an early version of my Prosper, Tome-Bound deck. The higher concentration of Deathtouch in this deck raises its ceiling. I don't play with equipment much beyond Skullclamp, Lightning Greaves, & Swiftfoot Boots, but might consider swapping one of the instant/sorcery removal spells depending on how first irl playthroughs go.

• Academy Manufactor - I considered this for the deck initially, but it turns out it would be a non-bo with Vraska, the Silencer. Her wording reads "Whenever a nontoken creature an opponent controls dies, you may pay {1}. If you do, return that card to the battlefield tapped under your control. It's a Treasure artifact" Manufactor only makes its plethora of tokens whenever an effect creates a Treasure, Food, or Clue token. Currently, Deadly Dispute, Tireless Provisioner, & Revel in Riches are my only cards that make treasure tokens.

• Mastermind Plum - He has replaced Preacher of the Schism in a couple of my other decks already, so I guess I might as well continue the trend. I think I picked Preacher mostly because I have copies on hand, & my Mastermind Plum is already in another deck.

• Infectious Bite - Forgot about this card & must have overlooked it in my initial brewing. Will likely swap out with Bite Down.

• Bootleggers' Stash/Parallel Lives - Ehhhhh, I kinda like Revel in Riches as my awkward value 5 drop more than Bootlegger's Stash. I don't think I'd consider Parallel Lives for similar reasons listed as Academy Manufactor.

Regarding all the anti-token stuff you mentioned, I agree that Pernicious Deed is what I'm most likely to include. I had it in the initial draft of this deck, but swapped it for some other removal.

Addressing Questions

• Liquimetal Torque - Definitely a case of "I know I have this on hand". I was also considering Fellwar Stone for this slot. As cool as Jet & Emerald Medallion are, I don't have a copy of either yet. I usually try to focus on what I have initially, then save stuff like the medallions for future upgrades if I like a deck enough to continue investing in it.

• Kura, the Boundless Sky - I typically play against a Kangee, Sky Warden deck quite frequently in my meta. My friend that pilots the deck will frequently go after decks that don't have flying defenses up, & tends to avoid swinging at boards that will stop the flyers. So Kura is here to play mind games with him & deter aggro as a deathtouch flyer, but also is just a bigger body that can help soar over defenses & chip people for 4 damage until they can do something about it. Once he does die, I will pick the land option.

• Saryth, the Viper's Fang - I feel like I tend to see 1-2 wipes per game, but much more targeted removal. Wipes are inevitable, so I don't really worry about them. I'd rather dissuade targeted removal, or at least speedbump folks by offering Saryth up as the bottleneck to the rest of my board without a wipe. If she is too redundant, this could be a potential swap out.

• Questing Beast - I like it for being a haste-y body that also blocks well against aggro crack back. More importantly it helps negate the occasional Fog effect. Because of my main meta being more aggro, I'd rather have bodies on board than to a certain extent than a higher volume of kill spells. The deck started off with more instant & sorcery speed removal, but felt anemic for board presence.

• Guardian Project - Don't think I've ever encountered anyone killing creatures in response to the trigger for denial. Maybe it's happened once or twice, but I don't think it's happened with any kind of consistency to make me worried about it.

• As for the 3 X finishers, this is definitely another case of "I have these on hand". Most of the time Damnable Pact will be a draw spell for myself, but does have that corner case potential to finish off someone that's low enough. I've seen Exsanguinate enough in my meta, & if it hasn't acted as a finisher, it helps its caster stabilize enough to attrition everyone else out. I think I'd rather include Rise of the Dark Realms over Finale, mostly for budget purposes.

Thank you for the questions and suggestions! Definitely a fun thought exercise to get my day started.

Profet93 on Petrified by the Gorgussy [Primer]

5 months ago

Crow_Umbra, I apologize in advance for the wall of text below. Your deck is very interesting and got me thinking. If you don't want to respond to each point below, I can't blame you. In the end, I hope these suggestions help or at least get the gears turning. Looking forward to your response.

Potential Considerations

Skullclamp - Draw

Sakura-Tribe Elder/Rampant Growth > Farseek - Rampant growth gives you the option to get either a basic forest or basic swamp tapped. Farseek is only a swamp tapped. Rampant growth is a strict upgrade given you have no swamps aside from a basic swamp would benefit from the distinction.

Viridian Longbow - Idk if this is too cheeky but given all your deathtouch, this might be worth considering.

Academy Manufactor - This card seems perfect for the deck. You make a lot of treasures, you get more artifacts. You also occasionally make food tokens. If you added tireless tracker (not saying you should per say) then it triggers on clues. All around seems solid. Is this a reason I'm missing for why this isn't included?

Mastermind Plum > Preacher of the Schism - Seems kind of cool, got some synergy. Your description mentioned this is potentially on the cutting block. Given you already have enough deathtouch, would draw not outweigh the redundancy?

Infectious Bite > Bite Down - Given that this is removal 95% of the time according to your description, would the potential for a poison counter to fuel fin outweigh the possibility of killing a PW that isn't there 19/20 times?

Bootleggers' Stash - At the risk of being too on the nose/winmore, could this help? Same question with Parallel Lives.

I read your description regarding the token meta. Below are some anti token suggestions. Some of them are straight up hate, other of them are flexible, depends on what you're going for (in order of most token hate to flexibility)....

Virulent Plague - Straight up hate

Bile Blight - Removal with token emphasis

Maelstrom Pulse - Flexible removal spell (works well against clones too!)

Pernicious Deed - X = 0, bye bye tokens. Or use it normally to wipe when things get out of hand. I see its in your maybeboard, I believe this card warrants a spot the most out of any suggestion above or below.

Questions

Liquimetal Torque - What do you primarily use its second ability for? I get that you can make something an artifact to trigger some life loss. Given this deck is low to the ground, would you not be potentially better served with a Jet Medallion or Emerald Medallion? I suppose it depends on how much you value the lifeloss from artifacts + politic to make something artifact for other removal over the additional ramp the medallions can provide.

Kura, the Boundless Sky - What does this provide? I see no anti token, treasure or land token aspect. Perhaps I'm missing somehting?

Saryth, the Viper's Fang - I understand the deathctouch and hexproof anthem. Given your meta is mostly aggro, how many wipes do people typically use? Given your deck already goes wide, wouldn't most people just wipe the board anyways? I definitely see the benefit for sure, just wondering how this card performs and if it could be swapped for something either more impactful such as a Demonic Tutor or something more on theme in your maybeboard?

Questing Beast - I get that it likely wouldn't be blocked by tokens, is that it's primary purpose? Given that you also mentioned there are not a lot of PW's in the meta, would you not be better served with a general removal spell such as Hero's Downfall?

Guardian Project - How often do people kill your creature in response to the trigger to deny you card draw? Not saying to remove it, just curious is all.

I noticed you run torment, exsanguinate and damnable pact. While the latter can be used for an alt wincon, is it not draw most of the time? Assuming this, you run 2 X finishers and if not 3. Do you really need the redundancy? I believe another spell like Rise of the Dark Realms (also in maybeboard) could warrant an inclusion, especially given your aggro meta. I can understand the reluctance given that you are already taking their creatures anyways. If that's an issue, then maybe a Finale of Devastation? Recur/Tutor for a creature and go for the win through smashing face.