Spurnmage Advocate

Creature — Human Nomad

Tap: Return two target cards in an opponent's graveyard to his or her hand. Destroy target attacking creature.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (25)

DreadKhan on Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together

9 months ago

Not sure if it's too weak, but when I was playing with only older cards I was surprisingly happy with what Orim, Samite Healer could do, preventing 3 damage can be enough to make combat way more complicated for your opponents. If you have creatures with First Strike and Banding somewhat often, you might like cards that do the opposite of Orim, the clunkiest I can think of is Elite Archers, if you have this out and some Banding First Strike creatures it might make combat scary enough to matter. White used to get a fair number of creatures like this. Sorry if this kind of stuff isn't up to your deck's standards!

I've always loved a good 'tap to really annoy your opponent' type cards, some of my general purpose favorites are Spurnmage Advocate, Pulsemage Advocate, Intrepid Hero, Devout Witness, and the huge pie break Preacher. I think WotC stopped making cards like this because they're incredibly annoying to play against rather than them being functionally bad, but it is true that they come out and do nothing for a cycle. Sorry they don't have Banding, but they can help you win more games.

Again, not sure if it's too weak, but I've rarely been disappointed by Noble Purpose, it even stacks with Lifelink sources if you've got any. Spare life turns slugfest type games that old cards often produce into gradual advantage for you.

Since you have some Vigilance sources, maybe Righteous Fury would do some work? Even weirder, what about a Meekstone? Most of your bodies are small, it's a lot like another Crackdown.

I feel like if you're going to run Glorious Anthem you might consider Soltari Champion, the other White Shadow I often sneak into decks is Soltari Visionary. They both do something quite useful, but Visionary is a bit more meta dependent, some groups avoid Enchantments. Technically Soltari Champion works better with a Meekstone than a normal Anthem will.

DreadKhan on Bureaucracy!

10 months ago

I didn't realize your deck had a fairly low budget when I first started typing, so a few cards I mention might be out of your budget, but I think some of the stuff might fit.

I have an Azorius deck that has an aspect of bureaucracy in it, have you thought about Preacher and Callous Oppressor? I think they might fit flavor-wise, clergy are in part bureaucrats, and arguably the main part of being a bureaucrat is callously oppressing people/destroying their wills to enable control over them. I also like Bribery and War Tax, maybe Spurnmage Advocate and Pulsemage Advocate, advocacy is common in bureaucracies, as are bribery and taxes.

I'm not sure how eager you are to throw more interaction in, but Dovin's Veto and Disdainful Stroke feel fairly bureaucratic, maybe Generous Gift as removal? Is Visions of Duplicity on theme enough? Duplicity seems pretty on theme, and shuffling other people's creatures is the annoying crap officials get up to when bored.

Cool Vorthos idea, hope you have good match ups in your area!

DreadKhan on Zur is head of this prison

10 months ago

My Zur Prison was inspired by the little synergy pile of Solitary Confinement and Court of Cunning, Court pays for Solitary, so it's very hard for you to lose your Monarch status, so everyone else just keeps getting Milled for 10. You'll need another effect to draw, but Zur can find lots, and Zur can also find Greater Auramancy, it's not as pricey as it once was, but it might get reprinted at any point. Not sure if all that's fast/strong enough, but Zur can find the pieces (and if you get the Court second you are automatically Monarch, so it's a pretty solid set up).

Have you thought about running Hall of Heliod's Generosity over Auramancer? I've tried to use Auramancer, and it is so hard for it to be in the right situation I find, maybe your mileage varies. If you do use the Hall, Zur can find Necropotence and Second Chance, which will give you turns (but it can be hard to draw more cards without life gain), but since Zur can still attack you just Voltron up first, this is a nice way to finish a game so they don't drag on forever, there are lots of ways to find Hall when you're ready to set up the combo, it also works as long as your life is low enough on your upkeep to trigger Second Chance, you can then use Hall to let you draw Chance and replay it, cast it and have Zur find a Voltron piece, a nasty surprise if people thought you were almost finished. Second Chance can also be perpetuated with Estrid's Invocation and either Copy Enchantment or Mirrormade, recently found out about it.

If you're ever looking for a Prison feeling creature I have a lot of fun with Fatespinner, this holds one of your opponent's phases hostage each turn. Spurnmage Advocate is pretty hilarious if people like to attack often, you can give any one opponent 2 cards back to blow up potentially another attacker's creature, it's a sneaky card that plays well with prison type effects (lots of cards become situationally very bad with Rule of Law, you can give these back to them).

DreadKhan on The Golem

1 year ago

In budget decks I always want a Transmogrifying Wand, removal tends to help budget decks a lot more than higher power decks because it's usually harder for a budget deck to just 'go over the top' and win via brute force. GW is really, really good at removing stuff, it's a specialty of both colours at this point.

A few things I use in my Selesnya deck, which is also interested in tokens, might fit in here. Gigantomancer is a lot of mana to get out, but all buffs stack with 7/7 base p/t. Harmonious Archon is an unbelievably good card in a deck that can go reasonably wide, it makes everyone equal, meaning anything that gets even +0/+1 is suddenly terrifying, same with First Strike. Keeper of Fables is a big dumb version of Toski, Bearer of Secrets, but Toski is very much not budget. Soltari Visionary is a weird old card that can remove an enchantment each time it gets in for damage, and most people don't run any Shadows. Hour of Reckoning might work if most people don't run many tokens in your area. Shamanic Revelation is better in decks that don't have very big creatures but tend to have lots, Return of the Wildspeaker and it's ilk are better if you have a very tall creature. Abundance is great in budget decks where you might struggle to find enough card draw, it gets you more consistent value for each draw. Felidar Retreat might be a bit pricey, but getting a free +1/+1 counter on each creature matters more in a deck with tokens. Similarly, Idol of Oblivion isn't super cheap but it's a strong effect with token generation.

If you like Myriad Landscape, Blighted Woodland also exists, ramp on a land is really sweet, even if it's not the most efficient ramp (it enters untapped). Devout Witness is repeatable removal vs artifacts and enchantments.

There is an old cycle in Selesnya that's really useful in some cases, most of them are budget but the odd one is pricier (though not very). They all work on the principle that you give an opponent back cards from their graveyard to get access to a really strong effect. I've had good results with Spurnmage Advocate, Pulsemage Advocate and Nullmage Advocate, but take a look if you've got a few minutes. They're all from the Judgement set iirc, but some got reprints. One fun thing you can do with these is target something someone else was planning to reanimate/dredge with, there are a decent number of Magic cards that people play in EDH that they want/need in their graveyard.

Hope some of this is relevant/these aren't outside your budget! Good luck and have fun!

DreadKhan on Super Shivan

1 year ago

Power doublers that stack with double strike such as Two-Handed Axe, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, and Inquisitor's Flail are pretty useful if you need Shivan Dragon to be huge.

I like how Unquestioned Authority offers unblockability while replacing itself. War Cadence offers a combat trick you can use to help get through.

Dawnbreak Reclaimer and Pulsemage Advocate are repeatable ways to recur your Dragon, there is also Gift of Immortality.

A nice spare Ghostly Prison effect can be found in Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs or Sphere of Safety, there are also Baird, Steward of Argive and Windborn Muse. In a pinch a card like Spurnmage Advocate or Intrepid Hero can make good deterants.

Vs running so many 1 colour wards have thought about Flickering Ward? You can run various tutors that can find it or another Enchantment such as Heliod's Pilgrim or Moon-Blessed Cleric, there are various spells that can do the same or better, plenty can also find equipment. If you do stick Flickering in you could also try Mesa Enchantress, which is also great with enchantments period.

With access to Pro Red, maybe some Red wipes that use damage? Some include Blasphemous Act, Chain Reaction, and Reckless Endeavor, Pro Red makes these 1 sided.

Hope some ideas here apply, I typed this fairly early in the morning, with only so much coffee, so forgive me if this is a heap of spam!

DreadKhan on Mathas, King of Politics

1 year ago

In Political decks with White I like stuff like Pulsemage Advocate, Spurnmage Advocate, and Dawnbreak Reclaimer. I'm not sure if it's strictly necessary, but Flumph (I agree with Mr Hammer above) and World Queller are pretty political and can do useful things in some metas, but they can also be really dead cards in others. World Queller can be infuriating if a deck runs a small number of key cards of a certain type and thus can't protect them.

Make an Example is an interesting new card that can be a lot better than Soul Shatter, it also hits each opponent, doesn't target (you choose the pile though) and is a sacrifice effect. It's not an Instant, but it has big upside if a player doesn't already know what you need gone and can isolate that creature. Another cool new card is Protection Racket, I didn't notice a ton of cards that your deck is completely dependent on, if that is correct then Racket is a really useful card, either pinging each opponent or giving you cards. It's even more absurd if you can get out Exquisite Blood.

With your Commander I feel like Volcanic Offering would be interesting, you should be able to draw 2 cards off it via your Commander in addition to blowing up 2 lands that aren't yours.

DreadKhan on Keep Out of my Castle

1 year ago

Baird, Steward of Argive offers protection for your Planeswalkers, which is handy.

Since you've got Dawnbreak Reclaimer, I feel like you might have an interest in some of the Advocates, I use Spurnmage Advocate, which can be used to help one player while hindering another, and Pulsemage Advocate, which can help you directly while making a presently allied opponent a bit stronger. Mass Diminish is a really surprising effect, there is very little some decks can do other than lose when their creatures become 1/1s for an entire turn cycle, while also having Flashback is just unreasonable value sometimes. War Cadence might be interesting if you want to force damage on an opponent from attackers, it makes it very hard to block, which also complicates things for your opponents who never know if you're going to use it on them. Flumph is a funny card, but you get to chose who gets the card at least.

A bit out there, but Strixhaven Stadium has a lot of synergy with stuff that makes it hard for people to attack you, especially since you have lots of flyers/evasives to sneak in with, this will speed things up if it sticks around.

Meachman on Spidey-Pool, Best Friends Forever!

4 years ago

I run Head Games in my Kenrith Politics deck as a way to give people answers to threats or set someone back. I also like Fertilid as early-game ramp that can also point at another player if needed.

Nullmage Advocate , Pulsemage Advocate , and Spurnmage Advocate are some useful abilities on a body. I don't play my hug deck to mill, but I'll usually activate my Folio of Fancies once just to get cards in graveyards so my advocates are online.

Happy hugging!