Survival of the Fittest
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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
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Survival of the Fittest

Enchantment

, Discard a creature card: Search your library for a creature card, reveal that card, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

khunkao on Twenty Years of Playing Magic!

1 month ago

Wow, this sparks some fond memories for me!

I first started playing almost 25 years ago. I started during about a month before Exodus dropped. The "Rath Cycle" is my sentimental favorite! Phyrexians for everyone! When Urza's Saga dropped, I bought 2 booster boxes and pulled 2x Gaea's Cradle, which I still have in my binder!

I took a long break from the game in the early 2000's because my playgroup totally fell apart as everyone got jobs, got married, and moved away. However, some of us have found our way back together and have met some new players, so we're able to squeeze in real-life paper matches once or twice a month.

One thing that's been fun for me is to go back and review my older cards! I often find some serious gems I had overlooked previously because I didn't understand the game well enough to realize how powerful they were. One of my favorite hidden gem cards is Recurring Nightmare. At the time, I simply didn't appreciate what it was, but over the last 5 years or so, I've become the graveyard's biggest fan! I've also found other hidden gems in my collection such as Yawgmoth's Will, Lake of the Dead, Survival of the Fittest, City of Traitors, etc...

I can't begin to tell you how excited I've been for the game since last Fall. Dominaria United, The Brothers' War, Phyrexia: All Will Be One, and the coming March of the Machine! Dominaria is still my favorite plane and the Brothers' War and the Phyrexians are my jam!

I'm crossing my fingers & toes that we'll witness the return of Yawgmoth! It's the arch-enemy we all deserve!

declanuquillas on hide and sneek

2 months ago

Hi if you guys have ideas to make this deck better plz comment I want this deck become popular. Just make sure it at least has Sneak Attack and Survival of the Fittest. After that go crazy.

Tur on Hidden Power - Crop Rotation

3 months ago

Hello everyone! This will be a trial forum post for a "Commander - Hidden Power" series. My goal is to show relatively inexpensive cards which are often overlooked by commander players in semi-competitive and casual play. (This post is not designed for competitive play.) If you enjoy the topic, please provide positive feedback and I will consider creating similar posts.

The powerful card I plan on discussing here is Crop Rotation.

This card under five dollars and is one of the most powerful mono-green tutors. Period. Yes, I'm counting all mono-green tutors. This includes: Worldly Tutor, Finale of Devastation, Green Sun's Zenith, Survival of the Fittest, Chord of Calling, Natural Order, Tooth and Nail, Sylvan Tutor, Time of Need, Scapeshift, Hour of Promise, Tempt with Discovery, Reshape the Earth, Boundless Realms, Traverse the Outlands, Rampant Growth, Harrow, Cultivate, Harvest Season, Explosive Vegetation, etc.

It's one color, one mana, instant, searches for any land, you can sacrifice a tapped land, and puts the land onto the battlefield untapped (unless otherwise specified).

Although, Crop Rotation is often overlooked by players because of the very expensive cards it can search and not being "flashy" enough. Yes, Crop Rotation is ideal with any of the following cards: Gaea's Cradle, Mishra's Workshop, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Serra's Sanctum, Bazaar of Baghdad, and Diamond Valley. However, suppose we don't have a one thousand dollar mana base and cannot play the land cards above. Is Crop Rotation worthless? No. It is still one of the best mono-green tutors. There are so many utility and theme lands which are excellent targets. Ramp lands and color-fixing are also viable options. Here are a few categorized ideas:

Utility Lands:

Theme Lands:

Ramp Lands:

Color-Fixing Lands:

There are many more unlisted cards in each category which could fit your specific deck.

Some of the cards listed above have some pretty cool synergies with Crop Rotation here are a few:Urza's Saga, you can let the saga get to chapter III, then with the ability on the stack sacrifice it to Crop Rotation to get both the artifact and land. Field of the Dead is ideal in every two or three color commander deck with a sufficient mana base (in fact some of my win conditions are given by Field of the Dead). You can also use Field of the Dead as a combat trick. Scavenger Grounds and Bojuka Bog are fantastic for graveyard combo disruption. Maze of Ith and Glacial Chasm will hurt your lands, but sometimes it is needed to stay alive.

Simply having the ability to greatly effect the board state using a one-mana instant speed spell is impressive: life gain, damage prevention, removing steal effects, getting around blockers, denying counterspells, combo stoppers, unlimited hand size, sacrifice engines, haste, recursion, ramp, creating token blockers. The list goes on-and-on-and-on. If fact, if you're playing 3-4 of the lands listed above you should really consider Crop Rotation in the ninety-nine.

All in all, I'm always surprised the number of deck lists which do not play Crop Rotation. This is a fantastic card and one of the best mono-green tutors. It has so much hidden power. Ask yourself if there is a nonbasic land which you are playing (or would play) that would do well with Crop Rotation.

Archegos on Tempus Necandi - Saskia EDH (Lingua Latina)

7 months ago

@IncendoRuina Lepidum nōmen! I like the Sigarda's Vanguard recommendation. It's a lot easier to cast (and at only 5 mana) and doesn't get telegraphed the same way. I'll pick her up and try her out. I'll think about a creature tutor package like the one you suggest. I happen to have a Survival of the Fittest that I can run if I decide to double down on utility over aggression.

@legendofa Gratias pro tua annotatione! Translatio de Google multo melior facta est! I definitely recommend learning Latin. Gaudium est, et mihi perplacet. I'll have to think of good ideas for another Latin commander - Licia, Sanguine Tribune comes to mind. Any others?

@CommanderNeyo Thank you! I just added Adeline, Resplendent Cathar myself, and I'm very happy with her. Fiery Emancipation is a fun idea. A six mana non-creature with 3 red pips has me wary, but it's true that the card is absolutely busted by itself and broken in half with Saskia in play. Reading these comments, I think I will definitely add more creature tutors, and I totally agree about Pathbreaker Ibex. Ibex is already Ibex in Latin!

AstroAA on Should I Keep Luminarch Ascension …

8 months ago

Luminarch Ascension is just slow. I used to run it in my Sythis, Harvest's Hand enchantress prison deck as a backup method to get beaters out, and most of the time I'd play it and it'd just sit there as I'd use my mana for other things. It's not worth it most of the time.

I do not know why you aren't already running Esper Sentinel. In your deck you're running a bunch of anthems, and Esper Sentinel can easily draw you a ridiculous amount of cards rather quickly if his tax gets up to 4~5 mana. He's easily one of the best white cards in Magic, and your deck seems likely to support him. Plus he's only one mana, and you have an absolutely ridiculous CMC of 3.87 with only seven mana rocks - two of which are 4+ CMC.

My advice? Fuck Smothering Tithe. I personally think the card is overrated and is one of the most "kill on sight" cards in Magic. A quarter of the time you play it and it's countered. Another quarter of the time you play it and it gets blown up immediately. Another quarter of the time you play it and it does nothing. The last quarter of the time it does something. If you wanted to play some cheaper "kill on sight" cards to bait out counter magic and kill spells, Food Chain, Survival of the Fittest, and even something like Grafdigger's Cage against certain decks. But, take what I say here with a grain of salt - I just don't like Smothering Tithe, and I think the CMC of it won't help you that much since you don't run a lot of ramp. I'd honestly rather run Yasharn, Implacable Earth over Smothering Tithe in your deck right now.

Now, you asked for feedback and suggestions, so here are my main suggestions. I'm not sure your budget, but considering you're asking us to decide between two $20~$30 cards, I'll assume it's higher than the average Magic player's. Here is a basic list of things you can do to improve your deck:

  • Go through your deck and individually look at every card in it. Think to yourself "How often do I play this card? Does this card make an impact whenever I play it? Is it just immediately answered? How does this fit into my game plan?" etc. Cut cards that you think aren't up to par or properly fit into your deck.
  • Your deck seems to lack a proper direction. You say you want to pillowfort and focus on building up an army. Cards like Windborn Muse and Ghostly Prison can help you prevent people from swinging at you. If you wanted to prevent people from swinging at all, Crawlspace and Dueling Grounds can work, and you can just pop them with a Nature's Claim or something before you want to start attacking. If you wanted to focus more on the army aspect, you could go with stuff like Avenger of Zendikar, Rhys the Redeemed, or Tendershoot Dryad.
  • Lower your Converted Mana Cost. You currently have a CMC of 3.87, which is rather high. In addition, you are only running seven pieces of ramp - all mana rocks - and two of them are four or more CMC, which does not help you much. Cut cards that don't do much and replace them with either cheaper mana rocks or mana dorks. A few that I immediately see that I would cut are cards like Treva, the Renewer, Skyward Eye Prophets, Empyrial Archangel, and Archon of the Triumvirate. Cards you should add are like Avacyn's Pilgrim, Birds of Paradise, Sylvan Caryatid, and Noble Hierarch. This will lower your CMC and provide additional mana ramp.
  • Lands. You are currently running 38 lands, which is definitely on the high end. However, I think this is a product of having a CMC of 3.87. I think should you end up reducing your CMC to around 2.75 to 3.00 while adding in at least ~7 sources of mana acceleration you can go down to 32~33 lands, which is much more reasonable. However, I also want to talk about your land choices. You aren't running any fetches and many of your lands have a chance to enter tapped. I would look at adding in more fetches such as Prismatic Vista, Windswept Heath, Misty Rainforest, and Flooded Strand at least. In addition, I'd also look at lands such as City of Brass, Mystic Confluence, and the Battlebond lands such as Bountiful Promenade, Rejuvenating Springs, and Sea of Clouds should you reliably play with 3+ people pods. Cut cards like Seaside Citadel and the check lands, as they're kind of feelsbad turn one plays.
  • Removal. You aren't running much removal to deal with threats. Cheap removal such as Nature's Claim, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Return to Nature, and On Thin Ice are all super good in EDH. I would definitely look at improving your removal suite outside of 3+ mana counterspells. Also, look at cheaper counterspells. Cards like Mana Drain would be super good here as it provides you mana acceleration while stopping your opponents.

There is more I would like to add, such as talking more about card advantage, but I've spent damn near close to an hour typing this so I'm gonna call it here. Now, take what I've said with a grain of salt. I'm a high-powered player; I like to optimize my decks, and with optimization comes homogenization. I.e; your decks become less unique. You've got a pretty unique deck here, and if you like it then you like it. Ultimately it's up to you on making that call of whether or not you want to optimize and change everything. If you need more help, feel free to ask. Good luck, and sorry for the wall of text.

Zuacamole on The Green Wumbo

10 months ago

FaiberJC

I do have this deck in paper and it over performs most games to be honest. It’s not cEDH buts it can play very close to it with the right hand.

As for replacements Boseiju, Who Endures can be replaced with Nature's Claim

Phytoburst can be replaced with a lot of things I’ve debated Boon of Boseiju recently

Survival of the Fittest can be replaced with Fauna Shaman although it isn’t nearly as powerful

Tamiyo's Safekeeping has a ton of potential replacements buts it’s super cheap and a common from the most recent set and I think it’s worth picking up

As for Gaea's Cradle the deck runs fine without it. I just added it in about a two weeks ago. It’s not necessary I just wanted to get one

Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is super strong card with paired with Arbor Elf because you can untap any of your lands including Wirewood Lodge the untap selvala a second time.

Mana Crypt can be replaced with Ancient Tomb maybe? But there really isn’t a replacement same goes for Jeweled Lotus I would recommend just adding more ramp or lands to balance out the mana count in the deck if you had to go without them.

SueMe on Hogaak: My Favorite (Infinite) Combo Deck

11 months ago

Hey Carrick142857, some interesting thoughts!

The general gist of K'rrik is to make Hogaak even cheaper (8/8 for mill plus life), since having untapped creatures is the limiting factor much of the time. Besides that, he's also pretty decent for ramping out all our other black spells.

Survival of the Fittest eh? Well, it's certainly out of my budget (I still only own 2 of the 7 fetches in paper... I know, yikes!).... But I suppose it makes a solid Maybeboard addition, for the semi-cdh players out there.

I like the idea behind Dryad's Revival! It's just a bit slow for the effect it gives. If I had to choose, I think I'd add in Creeping Renaissance or Diregraf Rebirth instead.

grimcase21 on Varolz, the Scar-Striped EDH - Competitive

1 year ago

If you are still looking to improve the deck, I've also been working on this deck for a long long time (when the card came out). I've always like the voltron big swing style as it was unique to commander, but my deck is solely for 1v1 and does not work very well in multiplayer. Here is a list of cards that I would recommend that have worked wonders for me.

Budget options

Tainted Strike - 2nd berserk (if you're ok with infect)

Belt of Giant Strength - after you scavenge, 2 mana equipment, free equip for another 8 power

Not of This World - my secret tech, after you make it big it's free

Veil of Summer - with this style of deck protection is very important

Sylvan Safekeeper - free protection that they constantly have to respect Wild Shape - flexible, mostly used for hexproof or trample

Jarad's Orders - the 2nd best tutor after buried alive, because there will be 2 creatures you always search for and it's on curve. you always look for Elvish Spirit Guide and Phyrexian Dreadnought. Phyrexian Dreadnought goes to graveyard and Elvish Spirit Guide goes to hand, exile, scavenge, swing with 14 power on turn 3-4.

Unmarked Grave - entomb #2

Demonic Embrace - you can entomb this and give you commander evasion and +3/+1.

Bramblewood Paragon - play this turn 2, minor buff counter, and gives trample because Varolz, the Scar-Striped is a warrior

Rancor - buff and trample, you need to get through

Destiny Spinner - one of the few ways green has to fight counters

Solidarity of Heroes - 2 mana double the 12/13 counters

Wild Growth - it may not be a creature, but it does get our commander out on turn 2

Mausoleum Secrets - 2 mana instant demonic tutor, you sac a dork in response, go find Phyrexian Dreadnought/Death's Shadow, protection spell, or in 99% of cases that I use this one is Berserk

Non-budget additions

Elvish Spirit Guide - serves 2 purposes, the Jarad's Orders trick and making all your turn 2 plays turn 1 (like Sylvan Library), you can also end the Survival of the Fittest chain with elvish spirit guide to do the same trick

Sylvan Safekeeper - free protection that they must always respect, it's very good

Collective Brutality - I value discard highly in 1v1. It also allows you to ditch your scavenge target from your hand to the graveyard while seeing the coast is clear. But in multiplayer, less useful.

Lightning Greaves - haste and protection, yes plz

Dismember - takes care of many of the early problematic targets

super non-budget

Hatred - 1 card win with commander

Necropotence - sculpt your hand for next turn kill

Cards that I would recommend reconsidering/taking out

Harmonize - a bit too slow imo

Arbor Elf - the amount of targets you actually have isn't enough to make it consistent

Asceticism - a bit too slow, you only care about the creature you scavenge on so in terms of mana efficiency something like Sylvan Safekeeper or Lightning Greaves

Quirion Elves/Devoted Druid - we want to go 1->3 mana, so we get our commander out on turn 2, this doesn't help to do that

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