Spires of Orazca

Land

(Transforms from Thaumatic Compass.)

{T}: Add {C}.

{T}: Untap target attacking creature an opponent controls and remove it from combat.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	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
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (18)

hejtmane on Triomes and Vesu

2 years ago

Wait Valakut is my favorite so Valakut just because I am evil and Field of the dead which some listed as while they are some of you best targets for vesuva

Dark depths and vesuva do not work like Thespian Stage and Dark Depths so that's out

Cabal Coffers if in a deck with a ton of swamps so dual coffers would be fun

If running a pillow for deck a Maze of Ith or copy of Spires of Orazca maybe

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor on Ragavan, Boatswain of the Dragon's Smile

3 years ago

So what is the goal of this deck? Is this sort of a chaos/token deck? I can see the skeleton of the strategy, but I also see theft, pirates, and burn. My main suggestion would be try to trim some of the out of place cards. Thoughts on things to include/remove regarding the token/chaos strategy:

Possible additions:

Trailblazer's Boots or Prowler's Helm - low mana investments that let Ragavan be nearly unblockable. I currently don't see that many ways that allow Ragavan to get through late game.

You run enough pirates that Breeches, Brazen Plunderer might be worth it

Ardent Elementalist is a new card that is the red version of Archaeomancer

Curse of Opulence - easy tokens and mana

There are a fair number of goblins that come with tokens so I would look into some of those

Rionya, Fire Dancer for temporary token copies for your best creatures

I see very little in the form of card advantage so you might consider things like Light Up the Stage, Ignite the Future, Faithless Looting, Mask of Memory, etc.

Some utility lands like: Treasure Vault, Geier Reach Sanitarium, Myriad Landscape, Kher Keep, Buried Ruin, Dormant Volcano, and Maze of Ith or Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip/Spires of Orazca

Possible cuts (most of these are odd fits or just inefficient cards that have better alternatives):

Pillardrop Warden, Cogwork Archivist, Witch's Oven, Tavern Scoundrel, Mishra's Self-Replicator, Delina, Wild Mage, Avarice Totem, Chandra's Ignition (great card, but not at it's best in this deck).

Overall I like the deck idea, I just feel it needs a little more focus. +1 from me.

itsbuzzi on Pioneer Lands Data Base

4 years ago

Battlefield Forge, Caves of Koilos, Command Tower, Conqueror's Foothold, Crypt of the Eternals, Forest, Gingerbread Cabin, Gold-Forge Garrison, Grove of the Guardian, Holdout Settlement, Island, Llanowar Wastes, Lost Vale, Mountain, Plains, Primal Wellspring, Rupture Spire, Shimmering Grotto, Spires of Orazca, Swamp, Temple of Aclazotz, Tomb of the Dusk Rose, Treasure Cove, Wandering Fumarole, Wastes.

I used to give me a complete list of lands and subtraced what you had. I know Command Tower doesn't actually do anything but it's still legal. Do with that what you will. I also added the basics. They seem unnecessary but the addition of Wastes may be useful information.

Hope this helps!

Gidgetimer on Removing attacking creature from combat

5 years ago

Yes, "attacks" triggers happen when an attack is declared that matches the trigger condition. The Ur-Dragon has to be declared as an attacker before it is in combat to be removed from combat. Once a trigger has triggered it goes on the stack the next time a player would receive priority. It doesn't matter if the game state has changed so that the trigger event is no longer true.

(Though in this case that last part doesn't matter since the trigger will be on the stack before you even have an opportunity to activate Spires of Orazca )

Sukuren on Removing attacking creature from combat

5 years ago

If I tap Spires of Orazca to remove an attacking creature, let's say my opponent swings The Ur-Dragon at me, does my opponent still get to draw a card and put a permanent onto the battlefield?

TSmash on Bant Control

5 years ago

Thanks so much for the feedback and suggestions, winden02! Will definitely keep Knight of Autumn in mind when testing.

For Growth Spiral I've found the ramp to be very helpful in the early game, and that it combos very well with Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip. This reminds me that I should include at least 1 Basic Forest card to the list. For Growth, the +1 instant draw speed also makes the card shine mid-late game.

I will also keep Negate and Essence Scatter in mind for the sideboard. Good catch!

For hard removal, you're absolutely correct that this list is lacking (nephew started with less to focus on lifegain and draw spells). In testing, I've found that 3 Cleansing Nova and 1 Settle the Wreckage have done well in that they are supported by stall cards such as Spires of Orazca , Dawn of Hope , Angel of Grace , Lyra Dawnbringer , Hydroid Krasis , and the 6 Planeswalkers who; create tokens ( Dovin, Grand Arbiter , Karn, Scion of Urza , and Tezzeret, Artifice Master ), tap opponent's creature ( Dovin, Architect of Law ), and removal ( Teferi, Hero of Dominaria ).

Again, I don't feel this list or ratios are complete. Will continue testing and truly appreciate the feedback!

Argy on Chromatic Jodah

6 years ago

I playtested this against my Dragons.

It kept board wiping me with Settle the Wreckage, but I never attack with Lathliss, Dragon Queen, so that I can refill my board, which I did thrice.

Eventually I got five Dragons on the field.

A 4/4 got removed from combat by Spires of Orazca, Chamber Sentry killed another 5/5, Zetalpa, Primal Dawn blocked and killed a second 5/5, and one 2/2 remained unblocked.

By that stage I had enough mana to pay for Lathliss Dragon Queen's ability to pump the Power of my 2/2 up by 9, making it do 11 damage.

I had gotten 4 damage in earlier in the game with Dismissive Pyromancer, leaving this deck on 5.

Next go I played Shock and Lightning Strike and it was all over.

I deliberately made the mistake of attacking with most of my Creatures into Settle the Wreckage. Earlier in the game 6 damage had been prevented with Root Snare.

Jodah, Archmage Eternal got killed earlier with Lightning Strike, before he could do any damage or block.

The Gateway Plaza and Rupture Spire both slowed this deck down too much. The turn they were played actually put you two turns behind because you had to pay PLUS they entered tapped.

Jodah, Archmage Eternal really feels more like a Commander card than a Standard card.

He is cheap enough to make recasting no problem.

His ability would let you get away with playing HUGE spells for peanuts.

He's really not suited to Standard, in my opinion.

Working out your mana base a bit more MIGHT speed this deck up a little. I could probably do it, but I'm tired and don't really feel like it.

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There are some problems with the plays you've set out.

T1: Land

T2: Land, Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip

This can't happen if the first land pays for the second land, and the second land comes in tapped, which is what happened on my test.

T3: Land, Root Snare on opponents turn.

With only three copies of Root Snare in the deck you are more likely to see it in the late game, rather than on Turn 3.

T4: Land, Thran Temporal Gateway, Chromatic Lantern

This play can't happen. You only have four lands at this stage. Thran Temporal Gateway costs and Chromatic Lantern coats , which would require seven mana.

T5: Land, Jodah eternal, activate Thran Temporal Gateway for Zacama, Primal Calamity.

This play can't happen either. Thran Temporal Gateway costs to activate, and Jodah eternal coats to cast, which would require eight mana.

If you played Chromatic Lantern on Turn 4 you would have access to only six mana, but you couldn't also have played Thran Temporal Gateway that turn.

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This deck sort of has too much going on.

I do like the Ramp into Zetalpa, Primal Dawn. I believe there is a place for that card in Standard, but it would probably be in a shell with early mana dorks.

The ratio of Creatures to Artifacts feels way off here.

23 cards in this deck are non-creature spells, but they are all concerned with fixing mana, or stopping damage. That is only going to delay the Opponent and help you Ramp so much.

You have no spot removal which meant that all I had to do to protect my main win con, Lathliss, Dragon Queen, was just not attack with her.

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Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.

I don't really think this deck is viable in Standard.

At the very least it would need a Sideboard with stuff like Dive Down, to protect Zetalpa, Primal Dawn from Vraska's Contempt (which most decks play).

If you change it and want me to take another look, tag me in these comments.

I used to offer a lot of deck help, but I have really cut that back these days.

Argy on Jeskai(ai,ai) Control.

6 years ago

I like the new deck name!

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I think you would be wise to chuck Risk Factor.

I've run lots of tests against it and most of the time your Opponent will just take the four damage.

There are potentially a lot of life gain decks in this Standard (we don't know the meta for sure, yet). Those decks won't think twice about losing some life.

I'd put another copy of Settle the Wreckage in your Sideboard. As with most Control decks, Creature-heavy decks are tricky for this one to deal with. Particularly if the Creatures aren't actually being cast.

I feel that you could lose one Shock and one Lightning Strike. I run 2x Shock and 3x Lightning Strike in my current deck and that feels about right.

I find that this build isn't as consistent as I'd like it to be, due to the fact that you have only 1 or 2 copies of a lot of your cards.

I was able to dispatch your Niv-Mizzet, Parun with Fight with Fire, a card that is quite popular right now. Some copies of Dive Down in the Sideboard could help protect it.

21 lands does concern me for a deck of this type. Normally you would run 25 or 26. Although Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip does help, it also sucks up mana that you need, if you use it in the early game.

Spires of Orazca helps a little bit but again, against Creature-heavy decks, you're only removing one of them from combat.

Patient Rebuilding was the surprise card of the bunch, to me.

It very effectively Milled me. Then a second copy came out and my deck was toast.

I'm almost wondering if the build wouldn't be better with a stronger Mill focus and taking Niv-Mizzet, Parun out.

I know you're desperate to build with that Creature, and prove the Pros mistaken, but it's rare that they get things wrong.

They've been playing and brewing Magic with teams of professionals every day of their lives for years.

I tried to brew with Niv-Mizzet, Parun, realised it just wasn't working, and built a more effective deck instead.

I am happy to be proven wrong, but the card just doesn't feel competitive to me.

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I hope my comments help. Let me know if you make any changes, and want me to take another look.

(Consider yourself fortunate, I rarely give deck advice any more.)