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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 |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Rules Q&A
Scytheclaw
Artifact — Equipment
Living weapon (When this Equipment enters the battlefield, create a 0/0 black Germ creature token, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1.
Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up.
Equip (: Attach this to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery. This enters the battlefield unattached and stays on the battlefield if the creature this card is attached to leaves the battlefield.)
slasherturtle on
Equip Me Daddy
2 years ago
This will be long, probably.
The first thing I notice is your land base. It's pretty important for this deck to reliably get Jor out on turn 2 consistently, and you may be a bit short on lands for that. To that point, you also want to limit lands that tap for colorless or enter tapped to only the ones you absolutely need. While the lands that tap for both and enter tapped (like Alpine Meadow or Sacred Peaks) are nice for fixing, they are slow and ultimately it's up to you whether to run those or not. The biggest one that pokes out to me is Reliquary Tower. Not only does it only tap for colorless, I'm also not sure you're going to be drawing enough cards for it to be any better than a basic Plains or Mountain. I'd keep an eye out for Slayers' Stronghold and Sandstone Bridge in playtesting, depending on how often they go off they might also be worse than a basic. All in all though, land base is pretty good, you just need more. Maybe 2-3 more of each basic to get started and tweak from there.
I really like the amount of nonland cards that grab you lands you have (like Wayfarer's Bauble and Navigation Orb). They're better than Evolving Wilds and cheaper than fetch lands, but if you ever do get the chance to pack some fetches in here, I think you could take one or two of those out and replace them with some more equipment or creatures that like them. You can also never go wrong with adding a Solemn Simulacrum.
I really like almost all of your nonland cards and can think of very few cards I'd want to swap for better alternatives, but I think some are pretty safe cuts if you're trying to trim down to 100 cards.
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Some of your Living Weapon cards are really expensive and don't do much other than make an equipped creature, but their cost is so high that you should already have enough to trigger Jor by the time you can even cast them. Others just feel like they won't impact the board enough to warrant a spot in the 99. The ones that stick out to me are:
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Mortarpod, which takes up a 2 drop spot and conflicts with casting Jor
- Sickleslicer, which just feels a bit underwhelming
- Skinwing, which feels exceptionally steeply priced, even for an equipment that grants flying
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Strandwalker, which is also very steep
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There are also some cards which I think either hurt more than they help or don't do you much at all:
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Prophetic Prism doesn't offer you any ramp and takes up a 2-drop spot. As someone with a 2-drop commander, you want to minimize the amount of other 2CMC cards in the deck because they get really awkward, especially in the first four turns. Turn two you're forced to choose between playing your 2-drop and your commander, and then turn 3 you have to decide between whichever you didn't choose and whatever good 3-drops you may have access to. It fucks up your whole curve.
- Shuko equips for free but basically does nothing else after that. The same is true for Leather Armor. It may or may not be worth it, up to you.
- Invulnerability may be slightly overcosted with buyback and you may be better running retroactive protection like Norn's Annex or Ghostly Prison.
- Keen-Eared Sentry may not do as much as it seems. Having Hexproof is nice and makes you feel safe, but I ran Aegis of the Gods in Azor for years and it almost never saved me from anything, not only because having hexproof isn't as strong as it seems but also because people will want to kill it very quickly if they do need to target you.
- I love the amount of repeatable combat effects in this deck, but they are worse than nothing if you don't have a board state that can take advantage of it. Some of those slots may be better used on other equipment or cards that care about them. If I were to cut any, it'd probably be Relentless Assault because it's not repeatable like Akki Battle Squad, Aurelia, and Waves of Aggression. This may also apply to Response / Resurgence since you can't fetch it with Sunforger and it's other half isn't super great.
- As wonderful as Lightning Greaves is for commander protection, it also prevents you from being able to attach any more auras or equipment to whichever creature it's attached to due to Shroud and I tend to not recommend it in Voltron decks. It's also a 2-drop. That one is just personal choice though.
- You may have one or two too many cards that reduce the cost of your artifacts. Yours are all so cheap and you may find yourself better off having something that draws you cards or cares about equipment than a card that only helps if you're trying to cast expensive artifacts. Since it's easy to kill and doesn't do much else, Starnheim Courser may at least be worth a cut, if not also Jhoira's Familiar due to mana cost alone.
- Quietus Spike and Scytheclaw have the same effect, which also isn't good enough to win the game on it's own since the damage cut happens after you deal damage, meaning you can literally never kill someone off of that trigger alone unless you leave them with exactly one life. Since Scytheclaw at least has Living Weapon, you may want to consider cutting Quietus Spike.
- Sword of Feast and Famine is good, but it isn't insane. If you don't already have one it's probably not worth spending 50 bucks on.
- The Ward you get from Amulet of Safekeeping in your Maybeboard might not be worth making all of your living weapon and Assemble the Legion tokens weaker.
- I love Assemble the Legion so much. It is one of my favorite cards in Magic. It may be my favorite enchantment period. It is also balls ass slow, expensive to cast, and doesn't synergize with your strategy. That one is up to you. I'd run it just because I like it, but it'd be the first card I cut if I needed to trim some fat.
- Mask of Immolation gives you an equipped creature, but it doesn't do much else for 2 mana. If it equipped for free it'd be different, but it's equip cost isn't cheap given how weak it's effect is. It's also a 2 drop.
- Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith is much better when you can throw his rocks, which you don't want to do in this deck because you want to keep them attached to things for Jor - meaning you're spending three mana for a guy who gives you one equipment that does nothing a turn.
- Leonin Shikari isn't something I'd say you should take out immediately, but you should keep an eye on it during playtesting. If you find you aren't taking advantage of her ability enough, cut her and replace her with something that isn't a 2-drop.
- Wrath of God may be better than Vanquish the Horde. That's just my opinion though.
All in all, what you keep and what you cut is up to you, this is just what sticks out to me personally. The closer you get to 100, the better. If you're able to cut it down to at least 104 or 105, try just playing without 4 or 5 of the cards you aren't sure about and playtest from there, then use those 4 or 5 as your maybeboard. Also this deck is really cool and I like it a lot.
libraryjoy on Key equipment for red black …
3 years ago
Then Quietus Spike and Shadow Spear would be good, along with anything that gives him hexproof. Maybe also Scytheclaw and Reaper's Talisman.
Wrex on
Temmet
3 years ago
Curiosity Crafter is in the deck, Helm of the Host is not here because I don't have many creatures, and as you said it's pretty expensive. Scytheclaw is on my maybeboard, which I did not put here because it's immense (102 cards and counting)
seshiro_of_the_orochi on
Temmet
3 years ago
This looks pretty cool,good job. How about Scytheclaw? This could actually be a decent wincon with Temmet. Also, Helm of the Host would be great here, but I do realize it's quite expensive.
Ector on
Galea, the Equipmonger
3 years ago
The Ramp, the Lands and Topdeck Manipulation
The major goal of every good Galea deck is the right method of ramp and topdeck manipulation. Every time you see a card that Galea cannot play, you should have a way to change the situation somehow. And there are two primary ways to achieve that:
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Direct manipulation. Scroll Rack , Sylvan Library , Soldevi Excavations , Vantress Gargoyle and Jace, the Mind Sculptor directly manipulate with your topdeck, allowing you to gain card advantage. Let's look at Scroll Rack for example. If you have say three Auras/Enchantments in your hand that you can play this turn, and your topdeck isn't Aura or Equipment. You just draw three cards, put your Auras/Equipments on topdeck and play all them, actually drawing three cards for 1 mana!
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Fetching lands. As long as Galea cannot play lands from top of your library, you should fetch lands as much as you can. This reduces the number of lands in your library (and the chance to see a land on your topdeck), and allows you to shuffle your library. We have six lands that fetch the other lands, and one of them ( Thawing Glaciers ) can fetch multiple times. We also have Sword of the Animist and Elvish Reclaimer that fetch lands repeatedly, and Expedition Map .
The Ramp strategy of this deck uses "the best of all worlds" principle: the best creatures, the best artifacts and the best Aura ( Wild Growth ). Most of the Ramp cards cost 1 mana, but there are few 0-cost and 2-cost cards. Why don't I use more Auras? Because creatures and artifacts are more efficient, and I need Ramp prior to playing Galea. Why do I use mana dorks? There are two reasons: I need early targets for my Equipment, and I want to sacrifice them later to Skullclamp .
This deck has three ways of fetching NON-basic lands: Elvish Reclaimer , Expedition Map and Tolaria West - and if you have Academy Ruins , you can recycle Expedition Map to fetch more lands. One of the best targets for the fetching is Urza's Saga , which can create a giant token and fetch Skullclamp or Expedition Map . Another very important target is Glacial Chasm , which can allow you to survive and grab victory even in a grave sutuation. Of course, Academy Ruins and Hall of Heliod's Generosity are also the popular fetch targets.
The Aura Selection
Most Auras in this deck steal or spoil enemy creatures (especially Commanders). It's hard to win when your Commander is stolen or converted to Insect :) There are only two Auras that should be played on your creatures: Mantle of the Ancients and Unquestioned Authority . Most of the time they are played via Sovereigns of Lost Alara : you attack, then fetch one of them from your deck, and, in case of the Mantle, also play all Equips from your graveyard.
The Hidden Gems
Conqueror's Flail prohibits opponents from playing spells during your turn. This allows you to play all your stuff without pesky counterspells and attack safely. It's very important for this deck.
Moonsilver Spear and Seraphic Greatsword create 4/4 flying Angels. If you have both, you can create enough blockers that can eventually kill somebody.
Dowsing Dagger Flip should be transformed into a land that provides three mana of any color. It's a great Ramp, especially if you consider that Sword of Feast and Famine and Treachery untap your lands. With a bit of luck, you can even create two Construct tokens with Urza's Saga !
Fractal Harness is the easiest way of creating an enormous creature. It will grow very fast, and Belt of Giant Strength may give it +10/+10! If you get both in play, follow the "Trident Punch" path and look for Surestrike Trident .
Umbral Mantle doesn't have a lot of good targets in this deck: there are no creatures with powerful "Tap:" abilities. But you can steal them! :) Talking seriously, the Mantle is used to untap our Ultron after attacking. I am not a big fan of using Galea for this purpose: it's better not to put all the eggs into one basket. Plus, the Mantle makes a great combo with Surestrike Trident .
Shimmer Dragon is really great for this deck. It flies and almost always has Hexproof. It provides insane amount of cards. And it is much better material for Ultron than Galea IMHO. Most of the time you would need just one Scytheclaw or Kaldra Compleat on it to deal very serious damage.
Fierce Guardianship means that you always might have a counterspell :)
Thassa, God of the Sea is very helpful for two reasons: it can make your creature unblockable (even a tiny Elf with the Scytheclaw becomes a very dangerous threat!) and it provides a free Scry 1 every turn (see above on topdeck manipulation). Still, you have a chance of turning her into creature, since there are several permanents with UU in their casting cost. Having an indestructible creature is always nice!
Ector on
Galea, the Equipmonger
3 years ago
The Ways To Victory
- ULTRON: Get enough buffs on a single creature, attack with it and kill people one by one. One Kaldra Compleat on Galea may be enough, as well as one Scytheclaw or Nettlecyst . Having Vigilance, Galea will also serve as a blocker. Use Unquestioned Authority or Thassa, God of the Sea to pass unblocked, though you can also use flyers. Personally I don't like this way much, as it "lacks of style", and killing opponents one by one may be too slow. But it could be more stylish if you steal the opponent's creature (there are 3 Auras for that) and kill everybody with it!
- KILL AND STEAL: Play Promise of Loyalty , then just steal the most powerful creature. Alternatively, you may protect Galea with Darksteel Plate and convince another player to play a board wipe, keeping your stealing/disrupting Auras in your hand.
- TRIDENT PUNCH: Play Surestrike Trident on something very very big, but without evasion, and kill players without attacking them. This works even with Glacial Chasm in play! If you have enough mana, you can even combo with Umbral Mantle , hitting several times per turn.
- DESTROY THE WORLD: Get Worldslayer with Kaldra Compleat or Darksteel Plate . Hit somebody, destroy all permanents except for your world slayer. Argentum Armor is a light version of this strategy.
