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Format | Legality |
1v1 Commander | Legal |
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Block Constructed | Legal |
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Casual | Legal |
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Oathbreaker | Legal |
Planechase | Legal |
Quest Magic | Legal |
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Vintage | Legal |
Scourge of Kher Ridges
Creature — Dragon
Flying
(1)(Red): Scourge of Kher Ridges deals 2 damage to each creature without flying.
(5)(Red): Scourge of Kher Ridges deals 6 damage to each other creature with flying.
Tur on Hidden Power - Mono-Color - …
3 months ago
Hello everyone! This will be a forum post for a "Commander - Hidden Power" series. My goal is to show relatively inexpensive cards which are often overlooked by commander players in semi-competitive and casual play. (This post is not designed for competitive play.) If you enjoy the topic, please upvote the post or provide positive feedback and I will consider creating similar posts.
The powerful cards I plan on discussing are mono-color cards which are strong with big mana in commander.
I will provide one card per mono-color identity. These cards will not include x-spells nor multi-color identity spells. (I.e. no Torment of Hailfire nor Zacama, Primal Calamity)
It is obvious that big mana is a huge part of semi-competitive play. Whether it is from ramping through creatures, artifacts, enchantments, instants, sorceries, or lands. Big mana is pretty fun. Mana doubling effects from lands are especially useful. In this article, I'll be focusing on mana doubling from lands, but other ways to generate big mana are always possible
Here are some common big mana effects for each mono-color identity:
- White (W) : Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, Extraplanar Lens
- Blue (U) : Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, Extraplanar Lens, High Tide
- Black (B) : Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, Extraplanar Lens, Crypt Ghast, Nirkana Revenant, Cabal Coffers, Magus of the Coffers
- Red (R) : Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Might
- Green (G) : Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, Extraplanar Lens, Mana Reflection, Zendikar Resurgent, Nyxbloom Ancient, Vernal Bloom
This is not an all inclusive list as Mana Flare, Heartbeat of Spring, Keeper of Progenitus, Sword of Feast and Famine, et cetera would work just as well. In each mono-color identity the artifacts Caged Sun, Gauntlet of Power, and Extraplanar Lens can be used, however the black and green color identities have an advantage for mono-color double mana effects. Furthermore, green contains cards such as Seedborn Muse, Awakening, and Wilderness Reclamation which allow for more interactions.
Well, let us begin in WUBRG order!
White: Sacred Mesa
This card is relatively unused. According to EDHREC, Sacred Mesa is played in 1511/849227 (0%) decklists and is under one dollar. You'd be surpized how powerful this card is with double mana. Imagine making some number of pegasus at instant speed as either blockers or attackers for your next turn. (The upkeep cost can be paid by making a summoning sick pegasus during your turn.) Not to mention power and toughness buffing effects are ideal with Sacred Mesa, examples include Dictate of Heliod, Cathars' Crusade, Caged Sun, or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite.
It is often compared to Luminarch Ascension because they have similar effects. Yes, it makes a 4/4 angel instead of a 1/1 pegasus.
However, Luminarch Ascension has many downsides:
- You have to have four quest counters to use the ability. (That is, you have to not lose life during an opponents turn four times.) This creates a huge target on your life total and you'll see it surely chip away.
- Bounce effects, such as Cyclonic Rift really mess it up. Welcome back to square one!
- Common cards, such as Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider prevent quest counters from even occurring. Vampire Hexmage or Hex Parasite are also options to remove the counters.
Sacred Mesa is way more versatile and does not have such downsides. Not to mention is it only three mana, ideal for Sun Titan recursion.
Blue: Compulsion
It is very rare to see this wonderful card. According to EDHREC, Compulsion is played in 1000/945324 (0%) decklists and is under one dollar. Having an activated draw ability with very little downside on a blue enchantment is insane. Ideal when paired with Teferi's Ageless Insight or Thought Reflection. There are a few cards which have a similar effect, such as Triskaidekaphile or Kefnet the Mindful without having to discard a card, but having a two mana activation is much more versatile. I suppose that an argument could be made with Training Grounds, but that is too much just to make the Kefnet the Mindful ability more cost effective. Furthermore, discarding a specific card like Echo of Eons, Wonder, or a shuffle Eldrazi such as Kozilek, Butcher of Truth has some nice synergy. (In fact, it should be played in most bant enchantress decks, such as the commander Tuvasa the Sunlit. Replenish for life!)
Black: Chainer, Dementia Master
This is a wonderful card, but a little pricey compared to the previous two cards. According to EDHREC, Chainer, Dementia Master is played in 6344/983251 (1%) decklists and is approximately ten dollars. Yes, we all know that you can abuse Chainer, Dementia Master with Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Kokusho, the Evening Star with sacrifice outlets such as Phyrexian Altar. Suppose we don't want to abuse this card into the ground is it still just good card? Yes. We can fill up or graveyard with Buried Alive or Entomb and get back a creature card, or we can grab a creature card from an opponents graveyard. It can also be used to interrupt graveyard combos, such as Aristocrats by using the ability on an opponents Butcher Ghoul with the undying trigger on the stack.
An extremely powerful and undervalued card. According to EDHREC, Scourge of Kher Ridges is played in 1005/912333 (0%) decklists and is under three dollars. If you're able to untap with Sourge of Kher Ridges and double mana, your opponents are going to have a rough time. As you can put multiple activations on the stack, it provides you with a very high on-board presence. Even within a response to removal. I've heard players complain that Scourge of Kher Ridges dies too quick to removal and my answer is "from your opponents perspective it needs to die before you're able to untap". Ideal with lifelink (and deathtouch) equipment such as Basilisk Collar or Shadowspear.
Green: Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
Typically unseen in play. According to EDHREC, Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is played in 4786/880991 (1%) decklists and is approximately five dollars. It is odd how unused Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is compared to Ezuri, Renegade Leader when they basically have the same effect. Overrun as an activated ability which is stackable multiple times. I agree that Ezuri, Renegade Leader is better in elf tribal decks, however Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is great in most big mana decks. Ideal for wide aggro. Tall aggro will gain the benefit of trample. If you don't have extra creatures you can animate your lands as 1/1 attackers, correction 7/7 attackers. (Pretty interesting because these attackers get around Cyclonic Rift, they're lands.) You can also get some payback by animating your opponents lands in response to a creature board wipe. (From that reasoning it can be paired with cards such as Ascendant Evincar and Crovax, Ascendant Hero to destroy opponents lands through animation.)
All in all, these are relatively unused cards which have a lot hidden power with big mana. If your deck is mono-colored and designed for big mana spells or abilities, think about giving these cards a chance. See if they work well for you and your playgroup.
GoldenDiggle on Building a new deck.
1 year ago
Hey Man! Cool deck idea, perhaps I can help a bit.
First off, both Pyrohemia and Scourge of Kher Ridges as well as any way to recur them (in case they are destroyed or the board is wiped) are probably best here.
Obviously Firespout , Pyroclasm , Crush the Weak , Fiery Confluence and Anger of the Gods are good options for you to ping or clear boards. Some of the odd ones are Hail Storm and Magma Vein . Chaos Maw and Cinder Giant are cool options here as well.
Fights are great if you pick on smaller creatures, Gruul Ragebeast and Magus of the Arena come to mind here. As far as other creatures go, Raging Swordtooth is cool too.
Devastate is pricey but lets you build a board first. I'm not sure if Sporeweb Weaver is on your radar or not, but I hope it is now!
X-Factor11105 on
Lurid Revival
2 years ago
Hey! I'm happy to share suggestions, as I've thrown out a few ideas and tried to chat about insight so far. You may want to try and isolate cards you're willing to remove - that way you can still feel like the deck is yours, while being open to prospective ideas / outside perspective ya know?
I'll try to make suggestions with budget in mind!
- Get the same effect with a higher upside and immediately get to discard a Dragon. Non-artifact so it's harder to remove. Mid and late-game card-drawing machine with an evasive Dragon.
Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion > Terramorphic Expanse
- This Neheb is too slow and while the synergy is there, it's going to have trouble making a consistent impact. Even an ETB tapped fetch still keeps you getting the color mana you need while (statistically marginally) thinning your deck and cleaning your future draws.
Hollowhead Sliver > Evolving Wilds ,
Rummaging Goblin > Daretti, Scrap Savant ,
Mad Prophet
>
Chainer, Nightmare Adept
- Overall, these edits reduce your cumulative curve, provide similar (if not more consistent) discard ability, and much higher ceilings for providing value. Evolving Wilds is your 2nd fetch, so you can keep improving the lands you're getting into play. Daretti lets you move through the deck quicker AND has artifact synergies if you choose to lean into that line of play. Chainer is a discard outlet and haste enabler the turn he comes down, so he's already got the same floor as Mad Prophet with the opportunity to be impactful if he stays on the board.
Ox of Agonas > Drownyard Temple
- Since you've enjoyed leaning heavily into the discard aspect, Temple makes a lot of sense for you to have access to a mid or late-game land to ramp a bit. With all these expensive Dragons, I'm sure you've had a turn or two with plenty of un-used mana (I have!), so this gives you a way to maximize the discard AND set yourself up to keep having access to mana!
Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded > Myriad Landscape
- The five-mana CMC for a less-efficient Sneak Attack just feels heavy in this build. Adding Landscape gives you another opportunity to pull lands out of your deck and keep having colors on the battlefield - I'm sure you've noticed but the double and triple-pips of the deck can be VERY challenging at times. Being able to get two Mountains (or your two Swamps) will hugely impact your ability to play relevant spells on time. As far as getting one more haste enabler, even with Chainer already in...
Dragon Tyrant > Dragonlord Kolaghan
- Tyrant is a win-more and a payoff card. It's a fun ambition, but in a deck chock-full of power and crazy cool Dragons, we don't need this. Instead, big Kolaghan comes down much earlier AND hastes our entire squad.
Thundermaw Hellkite > Hellkite Courser
- Courser enables shenanigans and fantastic temporary Commander fun. It's effect can be much more impactful than Thundermaw Hellkite's in the long-run, and essentially acts as another reanimation spell. Thundermaw's effect is pretty narrow, while Courser's lets us go into the graveyard for a more toolbox-like approach, depending on what we've been able to get into the graveyard so far.
Stormbreath Dragon > Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge
- This might be a little bit of personal preference, and with how many ways this deck has to kill opponents' creatures on your turn, I think it provides a great ceiling while also acting as an early-game blocker. Mana that you can do anything with is so precious in this deck, and it happens to synergize nicely with the best addition to this deck in Kaldheim...
Lathliss, Dragon Queen > Goldspan Dragon
- I personally don't think this deck needs to go wide, otherwise you'd be running more cost reduction ( Urza's Incubator , Dragonspeaker Shaman ) as well as Nesting Dragon . Big-mana decks are always going to need mana, and Goldspan makes it in spades.
Zirilan of the Claw > Feldon of the Third Path
- This is a different style of play, I'd just rather avoid exiling my Dragons or only getting a single use out of them...for a minimum of 8 mana and two turns. Feldon has more flexibility in coming down quicker and activating sooner. You're packing High Market and Phyrexian Tower here for sac outlets to get rid of the tokens (same as the Dragons from Zirilan realistically), but you're doing it much earlier in the game, or with mana to spare, with no downside of losing a Dragon for the rest of the game.
Hagra Mauling Flip > Malakir Rebirth Flip
- Between all of the Dragon ETB damage and the removal suite available to Rakdos, you don't need more removal, I'm sure you've noticed this! Especially cost-inefficient removal. Having more reanimation effects, especially to act as a or flicker effect? There's WAY more flexibility here for how the Dragon reanimator wants to succeed. I agree that more removal is always good though! With that in mind...
Stolen Strategy > Kolaghan's Command
- Play faster, and play with more flexibility. Command will give you options based on how the game's playing, and playing at instant-speed ensures you can be more interactive. Along that same line...
Tormenting Voice > Rakdos Charm
- Flexibility in usage! More than likely this will get rid of a troublesome artifact, and wouldn't you know it that some of the best graveyard hate is on artifacts! The graveyard hosing can also be key and, again, playing at instant-speed gives you more opportunities to disrupt opponents. For a high-curve deck like this, that's really important!
Phyrexian Arena > Valakut Exploration
- Let's help Rakdos players see that Arena isn't the powerhouse everyone thinks it is! Exploration does EVERYTHING we could need - especially in your build, which has a higher concentration of Dragons, there's a greater likelihood for you to fill your graveyard quicker! Please give this a shot and let me know what you think!
Fractured Powerstone > Exotic Orchard ,
Fire Diamond > Swamp ,
Temple of Malice > Wayfarer's Bauble ,
Coldsteel Heart > Hedron Archive
Four of these cards ETB tapped and make you a turn slower, AND they're bad in the late-game since they have little utility. There's no snow synergy here to justify Coldsteel. Having more land ensures you'll hit your drops throughout the game. Wayfarer's lets you keep some ramp (I prefer Expedition Map, but one discussion at a time) while Archive has mana utility and lets you cash in when you have leftover mana. Smooth out your hands, get more consistent draws and turns, and have the ability to draw more cards.
Underworld Connections > Victimize
- All of these Dragons in the yard are going to go to waste if you can't get them out onto the field! This is my favorite low-cost reanimator aside from the namesake - if you wanted to make a case for Stitch Together I wouldn't argue it. Being able to get two Dragons out, albeit tapped, ensures you can keep some board presence. It also lets you use up some of those Sneak Attack / token creations in an efficient way. I know losing some card draw feels a bit weird, and based on how the deck's built up, and from what you've described about your playstyle, it sounds like you may have an over-abundance of card-draw and not enough interaction. Hopefully this changes things!
Foreboding Ruins > Luxury Suite
Non-budget upgrade, and more likely to consistently come down untapped and provide the same color flexibility. If budget doesn't allow this edit, I'd say the non-budget move could be Path of Ancestry .
I do think you need to find room for one of the game-winning, mass-reanimators like Living Death or Patriarch's Bidding , or the new Kaldheim one, I'm blanking on the name. I'd take out Scourge of Kher Ridges for it to give yourself a win condition out of nowhere!
Hopefully these ideas help, or at least spark some further ideation for you to think about! If you want to chat about Bladewing in real-time over Discord or Reddit I'm on both sites as ThePillowman :)
Idoneity on
Lurid Revival
2 years ago
X-Factor11105 - Ah, thank you for the comment, as they are always appreciated.
Land Count
So, lands are a thing with which I have tumbled for quite some time. I have considered MDFCs to be 50% of a land, thus I deem the count to be around thirty-three. I advocate highly against tap lands, yet
Bladewing
has a late-game plan as averse to an early game plan. Its first turns are rummaging and ramping, and only on turn four or five does it threaten life totals.
Most of my decks have thirty-four lands, but they also have an unreasonable amount of card draw/filtering. I subvert large amounts of lands in favour of the utility of card filtration and advantage spells, as they hold more value at all points of the game. Having more nonlands ensures more action over the course of a match, even in a deck fraught with seven-drops .
Rummaging
As aforesaid with card filtration, it is never a bad thing. If I flood, I discard the land and find a more relevant spell, and vise versa. It just gives the deck something to do at all times, and makes hands more reasonable. If I have two eight- drops and a Faithless Looting in my opener, this sets up reanimation and allows for more early-game.
The deck also has many ways to find Squee to turn my card filtering into card advantage. Rummaging does everything the deck desires, being graveyard engines and reanimation . If I ever have too many rummage effects, I can simply discard them away.
Card Suggestions
I am not the largest fanatic of
undying
effects unless they are incidentally attached to a creature (such as
Strangleroot Geist
). The deck does not have a specific dragon that allows me to win the game by itself, and my
commander
can always return them to the field.
Patriarch's Bidding is an interesting one. I already own the card, thus price is not an issue, yet mass reanimation did not feel quite right in the strategy. It is probably correct to include it, but I prefer large idiots to be in the list as opposed to more reanimation. I am unwilling to cut any more dragons, for I always need them, and I am fond of the amounts in ramp, card draw, wraths, removal, and tutors. If I find space, perhaps, but there are still other cards I would like to include ahead of it, given the opportunity.
In Summation
The lands have been fine, rummaging is good at all times, and I may or mayn't include Patriarch's Bidding in my list.
Thank you very much for the comment and, please, do pardon the overlong response. I enjoy being thorough in my explanations and understandings.
Have a lovely day.
[email protected]_only on
Lathliss, Ramp Queen
2 years ago
some other dragons you might consider:
Nesting Dragon - Pricey, but gives decent return for otherwise dead draws late game
Scourge of Kher Ridges - personally love this guy - built-in Pyroclasm, plus an anti-air effect in red if needed
Steel Hellkite - colorless enchantment removal. often overlooked
Territorial Hellkite - 6/5 flying haste for 4. aim is a bit wonky, but still a solid card for its cost
odd ramp to consider: Mana Geyser, Corrupted Grafstone,Foriysian Totem, Pillar of Origins, Star Compass, Heart of Ramos, and / or Pyramid of the Pantheon.
fun deck, keep us posted with how it does!
mitcho78 on
2 years ago
protection Hammer of Nazahn Darksteel Plate Shield of the Oversoul Indestructibility Timely Ward Bastion Protector Boros Charm Heroic Intervention Valorous Stance Inspiring Call Flawless Maneuver Deflecting Swat
wipe boad and boost yourself Subterranean Tremors Storm's Wrath Deafening Clarion Hammerfist Giant Fault Line Warmonger Starstorm Scourge of Kher Ridges Pyrohemia Chain Reaction Ryusei, the Falling Star Lavabrink Floodgates Into the Maw of Hell Shivan Meteor Star of Extinction Blasphemous Act Volcanic Offering
other fun card Coalhauler Swine
fighting for exemple Titanic Brawl Dromoka's Command Khalni Ambush Flip Inscription of Abundance Ulvenwald Tracker
redirection Spitemare Boros Reckoner Rite of Passage Pariah's Shield Pariah
same effect Vigor Retaliator Griffin The Ozolith Phytohydra
get back monarch Soltari Visionary Zealot il-Vec Loyal Apprentice Lieutenant Kirtar Selfless Spirit Blinkmoth Nexus and all flying creature Academy Raider Haunted Cloak Shadowspear get trample Captain's Hook Cobbled Wings Pyreheart Wolf Trailblazer's Boots Frontier Warmonger Court of Ire Regal Behemoth and creature with trigger
boost and finish Pathbreaker Ibex Thunderfoot Baloth
become huge Inquisitor's Flail Solidarity of Heroes Hydra's Growth Invigorating Surge Furnace of Rath Kalonian Hydra Duelist's Heritage on yours creatures and on a creature attacking you
Block more or become blocked Bloodthirsty Blade and all goad Nemesis Mask Lure Brave the Sands can block 2 creatures with your commander Entangler Goblin Diplomats
juste some exemple, make a choice now :)
DrukenReaps on
Should I Pretend This Or That?
3 years ago
Considering some more red options. The following kinda stood out to me:
Dwarven Strike Force, Goblin Welder, Hammer Mage, Heartless Hidetsugu, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Scourge of Kher Ridges.
It occurs to me that kiki might make Helm of the Host much more attractive to me for this deck. It has never been a bad idea, I just tend to bounce Mairsil a lot.
NinjaKitty778 on
Gym Leader Mayael Wants to Battle
3 years ago
Chhris Thanks for the +1 dude :) Actually I find I use Scourge of Kher Ridges ’ ability quick frequently but that’s most likely because of my meta; a lot of people I play with like to run token decks so I included him in there alongside Balefire Dragon to be able to deal with them.
Yea I like how Mayael decks can be so different in strategy yet pack the same punch LOL I like your deck a lot and it seems real solid. Only real difference I see in it (besides a few choice of creatures/spells) is how we like to cheat in our monsters. I like going more for top deck manipulators while you just straight up cheat them in from the deck/hand alongside Mayael. I can respect that :) I loved the deck. +1 from me!