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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 |
Modern | Legal |
Oathbreaker | Legal |
Planechase | Legal |
Quest Magic | Legal |
Tiny Leaders | Legal |
Vanguard | Legal |
Vintage | Legal |
Steelshaper's Gift
Sorcery
Search your library for an Equipment card, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.
Azoth2099 on
Green/Black toxic/proliferate need recommendations
5 days ago
Balvron Thanks, man! Happy to help, really.
So the core of the / presence in the deck should be devoted to Dorks, Ramp and Tutors so that you can quickly get the deck engine up and running. Getting your commander on the field and geared up as quickly as possible is everything in this new context. Some cheaper options for Tutors are Diabolic Tutor, Profane Tutor, Mastermind's Acquisition and Increasing Ambition. I'd really recommend just biting the bullet and slotting in the more efficient ones like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Diabolic Intent & Wishclaw Talisman though. Cheaper card draw options like Phyrexian Arena & Dark Tutelage are also pretty solid. Necropotence, Black Market Connections & Dark Confidant are up there, but worth it.
The only thing you need for is for card draw and interaction, with a few key Proliferate pieces that you'll be able to Tutor for when the time is right. Spells like Brainstorm, Ponder, Tolarian Winds, Impulse, Preordain & Serum Visions provide decent gas for cheap. Classics like Counterspell, Delay, Negate, & Dispel protect your game plan. Flux Channeler & Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus are probably the only Proliferate pieces you'll need, but I'd Throw a Serum Snare in there too. Mystical Tutor, Rhystic Study & Mystic Remora are always nice to have as well.
The few things you'll need for here is to Tutor up gear for your Commander with cards like Enlightened Tutor, Idyllic Tutor, Steelshaper's Gift & Open the Armory, and occasionally control the board with Swords to Plowshares or Path to Exile. I'd also recommend some Stax pieces like Silence, Grand Abolisher, Smothering Tithe, Esper Sentinel, Archivist of Oghma & Drannith Magistrate for good measure, & some more Commander protection with Mother of Runes & Giver of Runes.
Some good pieces of gear to retrieve slap on could be Swiftfoot Boots, Mask of Memory, Conqueror's Flail, Bone Sabres & Mask of the Schemer, for example.
Azoth2099 on
Green/Black toxic/proliferate need recommendations
6 days ago
Balvron Welcome back to the game! As I'm sure you know, a lot has changed.
So, my personal deck building philosophy these days is to decide how the deck is going to win with specific cards and work backwards from there, filling in the rest of the deck with the means to win with those specific cards (ramp, draw, tutors, etc.)
I'll get straight to the point, I think a better approach would be to use your access to 4 colors to quickly Tutor up gear for Atraxa, Praetors' Voice such as Phyresis, Grafted Exoskeleton and Swiftfoot Boots as the backbone of your infect strategy. Cards like Enlightened Tutor, Steelshaper's Gift & Open the Armory can help with that. There are also a lot of tutors in Black like Diabolic Tutor and Grim Tutor that can get you where you're trying to go.
I'd also Include a high density of mana dorks like Bloom Tender & Llanowar Elves since you're in Green. That, along with a decent number of mana rocks like Sol Ring & Arcane Signet will help you get your commander out in the early game, as well as allow you to cut down on lands to between 29-35, depending on the numbers.
Blue cantrips like Ponder, Brainstorm & Preordain are great. Enchantments or Artifacts like Dark Tutelage, Phyrexian Arena & Scroll Rack could also work here.
As for proliferation, I'd recommend cards like Flux Channeler, Inexorable Tide, Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus, Viral Drake & Thrummingbird. There are also control options like Serum Snare, Reject Imperfection & Brokers Confluence.
Strionic Resonator & Lithoform Engine might pass playtesting, but maybe not idk!
Cheers!
LightEntropy on
Dark Apostle
3 weeks ago
Also, I noticed you have Steelshaper's Gift but no equipment. Did you intend on adding Skullclamp?
NV_1980 on
Charlie's angels
2 months ago
Nice! Grand Abolisher will keep opponents from countering your nice Angel-spells (and thus provides an alternative for the use of Cavern of Souls. I'd really recommend Battle Angels of Tyr as well if you can get one; they're amazing at providing you with boons! I think you're better off replacing Steelshaper's Gift with another card; it can only find you Greaves/Helm and your chances of pulling it are slim. If you're dead-set on using a tutor for this though, I'd recommend Enlightened Tutor instead. It can find you all your artifacts or enchantments (instead of just two).
legendofa on
Divine Rust
2 months ago
Welcome to the club, Jeaux!
Following up on the good advice wallisface laid out, what are you looking for out of your deck? With what you have here, if you like the concept of this deck in particular, I see a little bit of an Equipment theme. That's a good place to develop. Try to find artifacts with the Equipment subtype, creatures that have bonuses for being equipped, and cards that interact with artifacts in general and Equipment in particular. Cards like Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Ephara's Radiance don't really support this strategy, while Auriok Glaivemaster and Steelshaper's Gift do. If attacking with powered-up creatures and finding ways through your opponent's defenses sounds like your preferred play style, this is a good way to start.
If you have any questions or want more advice, please ask. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this site who are willing to help.
And above all, have fun!
Masterful on
Necronomicon | Teysa Karlov | Primer
4 months ago
kirbysan Mondrak is very versatile as a creature, but I think I agree with you it doesn't do enough for us as is. We focus more on death triggers than token generation, so it doesn't get as much value in our deck as it would a pure token deck. It also conflicts with Teysa as a 4-drop engine-support card. The sac outlet is nice, but having to sac 2 creatures each time and costing 1 mana makes it sorta awkward. It's a great blocker which is nice, and I wouldn't blame anyone for playing it, but it's not efficient enough.
If you're getting color screwed with the new mana base, that's unfortunate, but even with a perfect mana base you'll be color screwed, flooded, or mana screwed sometimes. Because it takes so long to play EDH games, and everyone's meta is different, getting good experimental data is hard. Sample size is always low, so finding the best strategy relies on theoretical stats. You getting mana screwed right after changing the mana base probably may feel like a strong correlation, but it's still anecdotal and probably a coincidence. I'm yet to be mana screwed and have found the new mana base strong given that it counters a lot of strong cards in the meta, but that's also anecdotal. In theory, this amount of dual lands should be good enough to make sure we aren't color screwed a significant amount of the time. That being said, if your meta isn't playing the counter cards much and you have the fetchlands lying around, or if you like playing fetchlands, play them. It's not a huge difference in the functionality of the deck.
jelwell Weatherlight Compleated is definitely at its best on turn 2, but that also has an opportunity cost of not developing a ramp piece or fodder creature. It takes so long to get online without Teysa that I'm pretty pessimistic about it at this point. If you have a Bolas's Citadel on board, you're really ahead anyway.
I'm not a fan of Transmogrant's Crown since we already have many Skullclamp tutors, and it's much worse than clamp. If I wanted another clamp I'd play Steelshaper's Gift before this one. But if someone is making a budget Teysa list and doesn't have many tutors, crown might be good there.
I still don't know what to do with Sanguinary Priest. If he were 3 mana, he'd be a slam dunk, but 4 is competing with Grave Pact and the likes. Being able to control the board with this much precision could be powerful, but I'm still considering it.
kirbysanjelwell I'm more disappointed in the new dominus than I thought. I was hoping it'd have the same sac-indestructible ability as Mondrak. Not only do we not get a sac outlet, but the indestructible counter is pretty hard to get early on and might hurt us. At 5 mana, he's just a weaker Teysa in our 99, which stacks worse than Luminous Broodmoth. We can't afford to play too many clones of Teysa in the 99 anyway since they're expensive and clog our hand. If we have Teysa out alongside some death triggers, we're already super ahead. Much like Ratadrabik of Urborg, this card is overkill when ahead and super bad when behind.
kirbysan on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*
5 months ago
Got another couple games in today:
I made some swaps prior to today's match incluuding:
Crashing Drawbridge for Lightning Greaves
Smuggler's Share for Esper Sentinel
Search for Glory for Steelshaper's Gift
I think our decks are still functionally the same but I have a lot of the tech you were heavily considering already swapped in and will be focusing on their performance in multiplayer format.
Starting Hand?: Prismatic Vista, Windswept Heath, Myriad Landscape, Soul's Attendant, Generous Gift, Lightning Greaves, Folk Hero
Forgot to snap a picture of my starting hand but I think it was something like that. Important play of the game was Firkraag playing an early Agitator Ant. By turn 3 I had Giada equipped with a Lightning Greaves and slowly played out my hand, focusing on dropping lands and playing removal. I constantly dumped the +1/+1 counters onto Giada and since she had the greaves equipped she was basically untouchable.
After bringing Arvinox and Ryu down to the low 20's with just Giada I began dumping the counters onto a Bishop of Wings that I drew into so I could start swinging at Firkraag. Ryu also got in 2 Hadokens against Firkraag's board to draw cards. I only got 1 swing into Firkraag before they boardwiped.
I was able to recast Giada and cast an Angelic Page drawing me a card off Folk Hero. I also cast a Pyre of Heroes excited to chain it off for some spicy tech. Unfortunately Ryu was at low life and killed shortly after the boardwipe. As the other 2 players had no board they scooped to end the game so we could start the next, giving me the win.
Starting Hand: Plains, Mutavault, Pearl Medallion, Righteous Valkyrie, Sigarda's Vanguard, Well of Lost Dreams, Steelshaper's Gift
T1 - Plains into Steelshaper's Gift tutoring Lightning Greaves
T2 - Plains (drew) into Pearl Medallion
T3 - Mutavault into Lightning Greaves & Giada (Sworded by Isshin)
This game had some intense interactions. Isshin had a turn 1 Authority of the Consuls. Tevesh nearly played a turn 2 Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools with a Jeweled Lotus but was countered by Muldrotha. Firkraag played a Pursued Whale giving us all Pirate tokens and forcing us to attack. Isshin played into that with a Combat Calligrapher. The entire table started swinging into each other with increasingly multiplying Inkling tokens. After Isshin's Combat Calligrapher was blown up and they took a bunch of damage from their own Inklings they decided to super wipe the board with a Ruinous Ultimatum but luckily their board was pretty sparse.
I lost Pearl Medallion, Well of Lost Dreams, Sword of the Animist, Lightning Greaves and Righteous Valkyrie. This set me back really far but luckily I had been ramping every turn with Sword of the Animist and kept some strong angels in hand.
I recast Giada, and played Archangel of Tithes, Angelic Field Marshal and Lyra Dawnbringer with Mutavault giving me the extra +1/+1 counter. At this point Isshin started going off and nearly killed me with a combination of Tectonic Giant, Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Aurelia, the Warleader but they tapped out for Dihada, Binder of Wills to give Krenko vigilance, lifelink and indestructible. When they tried to swing at me, they forgot about the tax for Tithes and instead knocked out Tevesh and Muldrotha. Muldrotha took out Aurelia, the Warleader as retribution.
On the final turn I was left with only Oblation and Breathkeeper Seraph in hand. I had the choice to use it on one of Isshin's creatures but they were in such a dominating position that giving them 2 cards was probably a bad idea. Instead I used it on a tapped Emergence Zone and drew into Thraben Watcher and Sigarda's Vanguard. With the combination of all the angels I brought Isshin down to 3 and Firkraag cleaned up but had nothing against my board so scooped.
Starting Hand: Cavern of Souls, Flooded Strand, Windswept Heath, Esper Sentinel, Path to Exile, The Ozolith, Teferi's Protection
I debated even listing this game as it was over so fast. Alela burst out on turn 1 with an Island into Sol Ring into Arcane Signet. Turn 2 they played a Smothering Tithe. Turn 3 they played a Bolas's Citadel. In one of their turns they cast a Vendilion Clique bottoming my Teferi's Protection. Despite whiffing for 2 turns off the top of their library they were so ahead with ramp that they quickly overtook the game. I died by turn 5 to 35+ damage from a faerie army beefed up with Coat of Arms. The other 2 players scooped as they had no interaction with the Coat.
T1 Esper Sentinel did some amazing work here. I drew off every player at least 2-3 times so it netted me like 7-8 cards for just 1 mana.
I also attempted to attack with Battle Angels of Tyr but it was bounced to my hand by next turn.
The Ozolith ended up doing nothing this game but that's more due to having no boardstate. Together Forever wouldn't have done anything in this game either so its impact still hasn't been seen. Other players did comment that it could be a problem with a bigger board.
I did have a misplay here as I should have held up mana for removal spells which I had in my hand. My final hand was Vanquisher's Banner, Archangel of Thune, Angelic Accord, Serra Paragon, Valkyrie Harbinger, Path of Exile and Swords to Plowshares. I just didn't expect Alela to quintuple their damage in one turn.
Starting Hand: Secluded Steppe, Emergence Zone, Plains, Pearl Medallion, Thorough Investigation, Angelic Field Marshal, Angel of Vitality
T1 - Secluded Steppe tapped
T2 - Plains into Pearl Medallion
T3 - Emergence Zone into Thorough Investigation and Giada, Font of Hope
I had several misplays this game as it had been a long day. The first was using my Clues too early instead of playing out my hand and refilling it later with the Clues.
Phenax became a huge threat towards mid-game as they had a Haunt of high tower on board along with their commander Phenax, God of Deception. They forced Ghisath to mill 40+ cards with 4 creatures. I had Kabira Takedown Flip in hand but it wouldn't put a dent in the Haunt. Instead I opted for player removal and swung with everything knocking them out.
My second misplay here was not tapping Giada to cast Angelic Field Marshal which would've given all my creatures vigilance. I was so used to swinging with Giada first and then tapping her that I failed to see her as a mana dork. Since I had Archangel of Tithes out it would've prevented huge swings against me as well.
Since I was wide open Gishath took the advantage and swung at me dropping a good number of dinos on their board. However on their next turn when they tried to use Silverclad Ferocidons with Pyrohemia Jared saved the day by sacrificing Primeval Spawn into a Time Warp.
When I tried to rebuild I realized I had no clues left and no attackers to draw into answers. I also made my third misplay by wasting a Path to Exile on a random dinosaur thinking it would sacrifice Pyrohemia but then stupidly played Bishop of Wings so I could trigger my The Book of Exalted Deeds by replaying Giada.
I died on the next turn to due to lethal Gishath commander damage. If I had saved my Path I could've used it on Gishath and played out more angels for the lifegain.
Lightning Greaves was amazing in the 2 games it was played. It was so great that Isshin focused Giada when it came back out. In fact I like it so much that I'm going to try and find a spot for Swiftfoot Boots so I can keep equipping without removing the protection.
Esper Sentinel was also great the 1 game I got it out. Drawing that many cards for 1 mana is just too good to pass up. If you haven't purchased Smuggler's Share yet I'd say go for Esper first.
Archangel of Tithes was SO GOOD. It saved me from lethal once and would've again a second time if I didn't misplay again. With vigilance it does double duty.
Well of Lost Dreams felt a little clunky in game 2. I want to like it, it has a high ceiling but it needs some prep work to start drawing. Either I drop it instead of a threat or I play it much later. I also need lifegain and the mana to draw from it. With the amount of work that goes into it to activate it, a board wipe usually turns it off. We have no other lifegain outside of creature based lifegain. So we would only draw with an established board presence and we're using mana to draw into threats rather than play them. It feels either like a win-more card or a hail mary to get something good. I'm actually debating its place in this deck and what may be a better card draw. Court of Grace at least replaces itself on our end step and provides either an Angel or Spirit on our upkeep. It also requires no additional maintenance to get it going.
Others at the table commented that Authority of the Consuls is a better option to the soul sisters. While I do like the tap mechanic of Authority, it doesn't trigger off my creatures. Also having it be an enchantment means that most people won't bother with it all game. Soul sisters typically get wiped with the rest of the board whereas opponents have to target Authority. I find that I don't usually hit the payoffs on opponents turn but on my own turn. However, I only hit the magic 4/5 life when Bishop of Wings or Righteous Valkyrie is out, not off a soul sister. I know that you really like the soul sisters but practically every game I've had a board wipe and the payoffs haven't been worth it.
Kabira Takedown Flip has its uses but in terms of removal is pretty poor for the slot. After a boardwipe it's practically worthless.
Even though I STILL haven't pulled off Pyre of Heroes properly I'm once again debating Recruiter of the Guard and Weathered Wayfarer. Since they're both humans they can chain into our human sub-theme. Weathered Wayfarer can be sacrificed into Bishop of Wings to get our lifegain payoffs going. It also helps grab lands for Emeria Shepherd if we want to recur stuff from the graveyard. Recruiter of the Guard can tutor for Starnheim Aspirant, Esper Sentinel, Inspiring Overseer, Thraben Watcher and can be sacrificed into Mangara, the Diplomat.
Guerric on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*
5 months ago
As I continue to ponder the Breathkeeper Seraph/Pyre of Heroes combo, I think I am leaning towards putting it in the deck. This change would almost certainly accompany swapping Steelshaper's Gift for Enlightened Tutor, though I'll probably wait till the latter is reprinted in order to do that. While the combo itself is what draws a lot of people, this deck works very well without it, and it would be a mistake to build the deck around it. That being said, the utility offered by both pieces even on their own is worthwhile. The pyre is just a great utility tutor in its own, and one of the few ways we can grab any angel in the deck we want, including the seraph if we have a five drop. It can be really helpful in grabbing our hate pieces, including Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Angel of Jubilation (even though the latter shuts the pyre off, we'll still be glad to have her against lifepay and sacrifice shenanigans). We can sacrifice the seraph to it to grab Sephara, Sky's Blade, and then can pair it to seraph when she returns in order to give us a really mean indestructible board state that will be difficult to get around. We could use it to get Brisela, Voice of Nightmares Meld Meld out, and can even sacrifice the seraph to get Bruna, the Fading Light Meld, bonding it to Brisela when it returns. We could also sac a three-drop to get Serra Paragon, and the immediately get back said three drop with paragon's ability, and then can keep the same thing with other one, two, and three drop angels, getting focused "card draw" out of the equation. We can do the same thing by sacrificing the seraph to get out Emeria Shepherd which we can then use to get it back immediately if we have a plains in hand. Even on its own the seraph can protect Giada, Brisela, Sephara, or any other angel that is critical to our gameplan.
Needless to say, I think it would be a mistake to not include this combo, though I also think it would be a mistake to get too excited about it and build around it as it could compromise our main plan which is goldfishing and killing the table. This combo gives us some resilience and allows us to potentially leverage our angel library as a resource. It's great, but it's not essential. As such, a surgical approach would work best. I think I am likely to cut Darksteel Mutation and Starnheim Unleashed to put it in. I'll add Kabira Takedown Flip into the mana base to keep my removal at parity, and cut the worst removal piece, which is mutation. Starnheim Unleashed is an awesome card in the deck and I am reticent to cut it, but this combo is just better. I'd still recommend playing it for anyone who has room in their list.
Including the pyre also raises the question of other pieces that could be included. Inspiring Overseer is one I've had my eye on for awhile, and it is great here as we can sac it to get four drops and then get it back when paired with the seraph. It was already good with Sword of Hearth and Home for getting a draw engine going, and will be great with Serra Paragon and Emeria Shepherd as well. It's not essential by any means and we have to consider the floor of the card which is that it is an over-costed, one-off angelic version of Elvish Visionary, but at the three drop slot it gets some consideration at any rate because of the times where it can be really good.
The other card that should be considered now is Archangel of Tithes. This wasn't high priority before because we rarely needed either of its abilities since we usually have enough huge blockers to deter attacking and our flyers don't often have issues with blockers. Nonetheless, it is a great toolbox piece against infinite attack step/attacker combos like Godo/Helm Kiki-Jiki/Village Bell Ringer, etc. These combos still kill us because they can generate enough attackers to get around and eventually kill our defenders, but with the archangel they'll never be able to pay for it, making it a helpful hate piece much like Linvala and Jubilation are.
I currently don't have slots to add these, but will be keeping an eye on things to potentially cut to potentially add them.
Have (4) | sepheroth119 , Azdranax , metalmagic , Surferdunks |
Want (4) | mitchman502 , vandeath762 , Amaterasu312 , Jayce_Ran |