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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 |
| Oldschool 93/94 | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Subdue
Instant
Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt by target creature this turn. That creature gets +0/+X until end of turn, where X is its converted mana cost.
TheVectornaut on
When The Wall Is Up Against You
3 years ago
I have a lot of experience with mono-green Assault Formation in modern and legacy casual, so I'll toss in some of my thoughts.
Perfect curves certainly aren't necessary, but you should be able to accomplish something on each of the early turns of the game. More than just playing any old card, it should be something that fits in with your overarching gameplan. I agree with cutting Adventurous Impulse as a 1-drop for this reason. It can't get you Formation, Bow, or any other noncreature combo piece you happen to be running. I'd usually run a Llanowar Elves style dork instead in a ramp list. Still, in walls, I think there are even better options than that. My personal favorite is Traproot Kami since it adds an early defender to the pool and can become a serious threat with Formation if the game goes long. Plus, it works well with the lands-matter strategy that Oran-Rief Hydra is also part of. Other options I've had less success with are Jaddi Offshoot for life, Portcullis Vine for cards, and Saruli Caretaker for slow mana. On 2, Sylvan Caryatid, Gatecreeper Vine, and Wall of Roots are all ramp options, but you're probably fine with just Battlement and Vine Trellis. Wall of Blossoms, however, I view as a must-have if you want to maximize your mana without running out of gas. The ability to up the defender count while replacing itself is so good that I even run a playset of the slower Carven Caryatid too, but this could be excessive depending on the deck. The last defender I'll mention is Tree of Redemption. It's more expensive, both in CMC and in dollars, but it is an undeniable threat with Formation. Higher toughness also makes better use of tricks like Sheltering Word and Feed the Pack.
For the top end of the curve, you might actually be underestimating how much mana the ramp walls can net. With your current setup, you only need 2 of either Guardian or Battlement and 1 other wall to have 9-11 mana on T4. Removal is obviously the biggest obstacle to this being a reality but it seems like you're preparing for a counterspell-heavy meta in a big way. Either you use your protection on the walls and win with Formation when they stop your bombs, or they wait to remove the bombs and you have protection saved up to stop them. Honestly, it feels like you might have too much defense in the mainboard but I'll touch on that later. My point here is that you are likely to have more than enough mana to cast threats much more substantial than the Hydra, and that's without modifications to your suite of defenders. In the current version of my deck, it isn't strange to have a game like: T1-Forest+Traproot Kami, T2-Forest+Overgrown Battlement, T3-Forest+Wall of Blossoms+Axebane Guardian, T4-Forest+Genesis Wave for x=9. Oran-Rief Hydra is a totally fine card to top off at if you build around it, but right now I don't even see it being better than Terra Stomper in a lot of games (and Stomper even has built-in counter protection now that I think about it XD). To get more value out of the Hydra, I'd swap the cycling lands for cheap fetches like Evolving Wilds to double up on landfall triggers, and I might also consider some +1/+1 synergy cards in the vein of Hardened Scales or Hydra's Growth. On the subject of landfall, Vinelasher Kudzu is an interesting option that fits with the plant/wall cards, at least thematically. Mechanically, Undergrowth Champion, Rampaging Baloths, and Avenger of Zendikar are all probably better. I've already mentioned Genesis Wave, but some other options for finishers that I've seen are Archetype of Endurance, Hydra Broodmaster, Primordial Hydra, Vigor, End-Raze Forerunners, Colossus of Akros, pretty much any eldrazi, and any red x-spell that can target players. If you choose something with x in the cost, having Umbral Mantle or Freed from the Real to generate infinite mana is beneficial.
The last thing I'd like to talk about are your noncreatures. As I mentioned before, 4 countermagic blockers seems a little excessive in the main 60. I personally struggle much more with Path to Exiles, Fatal Pushes, and Searing Bloods than Counterspells on most days, so I'd usually prefer the Vines of Vastwood or the flexible Veil of Summer. However, I don't know what your meta looks like. If countermagic is a big problem, another way to get around it is to add in plenty of redundancy. Instead of running only 4 bombs, run 8 so 1 is more likely to slip through. Savage Summoning and Insist are fine answers, yet they run the serious risk of becoming dead cards if your opponent isn't playing blue. Of your instants though, Subdue seems to be the weakest to me. It looks like it will usually be a bad Awe Strike or an inverted Berserk that can't contribute to damaging the opponent. If you had cards to benefit from toughness outside of combat like Kin-Tree Invocation, it could at least serve a similar role to Glyph of Destruction in Wall of Blood/Rite of Consumption decks. The final card I might reexamine is Bow of Nylea. generally, mass deathtouch is at its best when you either have a way to force damage (like Lure or Thornbite Staff) or when you want to create a disincentive for your opponent to block (like when running a Curiosity deck. The thing about a high power is that it already allows you to kill multiple blockers and the thing about trample is that it already discourages single blocking. Deathtouch on such a creature is therefore a little redundant. Sure, it's better to have it than not have it, but it might not be worthwhile if it comes at the cost of 3 mana and a card. I'd want some concrete way to take advantage of the Bow's activated ability to justify running it. For example, my G/W enchantment lifegain deck from Theros standard used the gain 3 life ability to buff Ajani's Pridemate. In your case, the +1/+1 might be the best choice to build around since it can overlap with the Hydra's trigger.
GoldenDiggle on Using magic card names in …
8 years ago
My dearest friends, I am no red player but your Shockingly poor card combo strings has brought about Increasing Confusion in this forum. Noticeably, some of you are quite Determined to make such combos, resulting in some form of Planar Chaos. I am here to bring some Illumination to this Havoc Festival, and hopefully turn it into a Mages' Contest. Ponder with me for a moment what a good string of combos looks like:
Shouting random cards with Ferocity makes you look no more intelligent than a Kird Ape. You don't want your comment going Horribly Awry just because you were too eager to Fling the first card you can think of into your comment. You're not Brion Stoutarm, kid.
Metaphors are your best friend. Check out my Directive: Dragonfire description to see a fun example of some of these in use!
Keep your Anger towards other commenters in check and restrain your Molten Influence from giving a Guttural Response to a good comment. Conversely, its fun to Outwit other commenters, but nobody likes a guy who Insists on getting the Last Word.
Seek to create a Parasitic Bond some cards that are Familiar Ground, cards that you feel like a Myth Realized only in conversation. Find where you get your Mystic Confluence, don't take a Wild Guess.
Waste Not all of your cool cards in your first sentence. The most Circular Logic you can make is to Burnout of cards by using all your fun combos in your first sentence, Counterbalance this by attempting to split your combos out a bit, Hesitation is a nice ally to have.
If you cant find a card for it, Exclude it. It's not worth making your Mind Burst looking for something that may not exist. Likewise, if there is a Split Decision remember to take your time. Comments like these are a Trial and Error Process.
HAVE FUN! Call that guy a Brushwagg! Wreak Havoc on a well thought out Stoic Rebuttal! Subdue the thread and remind them that they are in the Presence of the Master! Enter the Infinite! The Possibility Storm is endless, and the world is your Spellbook.
Hopefully, some of you will Rethink some of your previous comments, and make some Careful Consideration an some of your future posts. Alas, my Dying Wish of this post is to hope that each of you can show some Overwhelming Intellect when it comes to using magic cards in a sentence, as I would prefer not to Suffer the Past.
