Swords to Plowshares

Instant

Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Big Apple Highlander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Oldschool 93/94	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
PreDH	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (51)

NV_1980 on Krav partner token/lifegain

3 days ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the general idea of this deck is to generate tokens and benefit from that by gaining (or draining) life and by saccing some of them through Krav so you can draw cards. So anything that's not helping towards that, can prolly be axed. In my opinion, this would be cards like:

• Abstruse Appropriation: stealing creatures is fun, but this spell really makes it rather expensive. First you pay 4 to remove something and then the removed creature's mana cost to steal it. If you keep it for removal purposes, it's much better to replace with something that's cheaper to cast, like Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares.
• Command the Dreadhorde: I get why you'd include this, considering the deck's theme, but there are better ways to steal opposing creatures. If you're THAT horny for what's in opposing graveyards, use Grave Betrayal; at least it won't cost you any life and it's an enchantment so it can be used until someone manages to zap it.
• Debt to the Deathless: you don't need this. The deck already contains plenty of ways to deprive the opposition of their lifepoints AND plenty of ways for you to gain life. This just seems expensive to me.
• Elbrus, the Binding Blade  ^Flip: honestly, wtf is this doing in here? Not saying this isn't a fun card, but considering its costs and the fact that your deck doesn't do anything with making your creatures unblockable, this seems a waste of a slot to me.
• Emeria's Call  ^Flip: have some doubts about this one. I get it, but are Angel tokens so important that you're willing to spend 7 mana on a spell that saves your tokens from destruction? There are cheaper ways to do this (but then you don't get Angels), like Make a Stand, Rootborn Defenses or Unbreakable Formation.
• Glasswing Grace  ^Flip: it's a nice boost for a single creature, but it doesn't add to the deck's theme.
• Increasing Devotion: not bad but it's also relatively expensive to cast for what you get in return. Matter of taste I suppose; personally I'd leave it out (the deck has plenty of (cheaper) token-generation already).
• Polluted Bonds: strong drain, but not of a kind that's in-theme with the rest of the deck.
• The Regalia: it's an ok ramping mechanism. I'd replace it with a cheaper-to-cast mana rock though, which saves you some time. Jet Medallion, Orzhov Signet, Pearl Medallion, Talisman of Hierarchy ... whichever works.

So aside from all the above, you can cut four lands (or replace them with cheap-to-cast mana rocks to increase resource availability). Good luck.

FadingReality on building

4 days ago

CREATURES:

I like every single creature with the sole exception of the Ancient Adamantoise. Glacial ChasmGC does the same thing but way better and is more on theme for the deck. Also, swapping an 8 drop for a 0 drop MASSIVELY reduces the deck's average cmc. I'd simply cut this. You need to cut two cards regardless AND you'll probably want to make more cuts so that you can add in some of my other upcoming suggestions. These suggestions will be different than my "swap" recommendations in my previous comment.

LANDS:

You are running two of the three karoo lands (Golgari RotFarm, Selesnya Sanctuary) in your colors. I'd reduce this to one. Normally I'd never run any of these cards except in VERY specific decks. That said, necrobloom is one such deck that I would run these in, but I would only run one. These are even slower than a normal tap land and are brutal to have destroyed by a strip mine or something. But in a deck that can recur lands and play more than one per turn, they are worth including one of. Pick one of these and cut the other. You are running 11 basics in a 3 color deck which is pretty high. In order to justify running things like Cultivate and Kodama's Reach you'll only need about 6-7 basics. I speak from experience. Even if you wanna run more than 7, 11 is really high. And again, I will be suggesting a bunch of lands to include, so you'll wanna cut some basics and a karoo anyway.

Last thing regarding lands: your land count of 40 is actually a good number. Normally 40 is way to high, but this is a "lands matter" deck so 40 is a good call here. You could probably get away with 38 or 39 too, but don't worry about that unless you are desperate for cuts.

SORCERIES:

These are all very good except for two. I'd cut Regrowth. If you still want this effect (you already have Eternal Witness) then run Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip. It's an MDFC land so it's awesome and synergies further with your deck. I'd also cut Dread Return. This card is actually VERY good and even saw some cEDH play when Flash/Hulk was still around. The flashback cost is also really good fro your deck. However, the initial cost of 4 is too slow. Consider Reanimate. This is the best reanimation spell in the game and this card is the reason reanimator decks are called reanimator. Also, with reanimate, you lower your deck's CMC more AND you can grab opponents' creatures with it.

INSTANTS:

I already recommended swapping Overkill for Swords to Plowshares. Other than that, I'd cut Reprieve. It's not terribly great (I know you want a pseudo counterspell, but this is meh). Cut it for NecropotenceGC and that way you still preserve and actually upgrade the card draw in the deck.

ARTIFACTS:

As mentioned before, you should still try to keep world map if you can. Endstone should be cut. It's VERY powerful, but it's both expensive and risky. NecropotenceGC is much better for drawing cards.

ENCHANTMENTS:

I like every single one of these with the sole exception of Spelunking. Sure it ramps you once (can wiff although VERY unlikely in your deck) but its 3 mana and theres a ton of two mana ramp you can run that's land based. Also you run 0 caves. The entering untapped IS nice, but swapping this card entirely for another card that let's you play more than one land per turn is going to be much stronger and also kinda negates the tapped lands as you're gonna be able to get more out which negates the slowness to an extent.

FadingReality on building

4 days ago

Swap these cards:

Demolition Field for Wasteland

Fabled Passage for Prismatic Vista (The true fetchland equivalent for basics)

Overkill for Swords to Plowshares (This swap will also lower your deck's avgerage cmc!)

World Map for Expedition Map (I'd still try to keep world map too but if you can only have one or the other, expedition map is superior)

Wrath of God for Damn (strictly better and more versatile) (I would still try to also include wrath of god but if you can only pick one, damn is better)

theNeroTurtle on The peace maker

1 week ago

other than Swords to Plowshares and maybe some land updates, I feel like I could make some suggestions. What type of suggestions are you looking for? Budget?

clayperce on Bears (The 2/2 Kind)

1 month ago

Absolutely LOVE the idea of this deck; big +1 for using For Mirrodin! as a Rebel Bear mechanic!

I know it can be really hard to find that "missing something" ... looking at it from the other angle though, are there any cards in here (besides the For Mirrodin! ones, of course) that absolutely nail it?

As a shot in the dark though, maybe some more ...
- Cost Reducers? E.g., Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist, Cid, Freeflier Pilot
- Ramp? E.g., Cultivate, Atalan Jackal
- Targeted Disruption? E.g., Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares, Generous Gift, Beast Within

You might also be able to make use of some cards with Affinity for Equipment ... e.g.,Goldwardens' Gambit and Nahiri, Forged in Fury.

Good luck (and good skill) with the deck!

Cheers!

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Raffaaaaq My Opponents I Guess

1 month ago

Hey, so I find some time now.

In general, the list looks totally playable. Your mana curve is ok, maybe a little heavy on the 4, considering your commander is a 4-drop itself. I can see you took big parts from the {G}{W}{U} Karlov Manor precon. What you added are many pillowfort cards like Propaganda, which is a good idea considering this is basically a voltron list.

Here's a general overview of what I think you could improve on:

• The deck is really light on both lands and ramp. Having your land count at around 36 would be good to consistently draw enough lands. I counted eight pieces of ramp, and some of them are 4+ mana. Maybe try to get closer to ten pieces, and add in more cheap ones. Exalted wants you to have many cheap creatures, so adding in some mana dorks would work in your favour by synergizing with Sublime Archangel and similar cards. Cultivate and Kodama's Reach never get old, but Rampant Growth, Farseek and the recent Shared Roots would be great here. Btw, to give your clue strategy more versatility, you could add in Inspiring Statuary.

• You are also light on removal, both targeted one and boardwipes. Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Stroke of Midnight, Generous Gift and Beast Within are great spells with tons of reprints, so just get some of them. They are great additions. Regarding wipes, Divine Reckoning and Single Combat are very powerful for a holtron strategy, but even something as simple as Day of Judgment would be a great fit.

• Now to the voltron pieces: The ones you have work fine, but you have few ways to get Rafiq through to deal damage. Aqueous Form and Rancor are easy additions. What's more, you really want to protect Rafiq, so add in some hexproof. Swiftfoot Boots is great here. There are lots of auras like Timely Ward that shield your voltron from death, and even some instant protection would do a fine job for you: Snakeskin Veil, Ranger's Guile and similar cards would be great for that.

Finally, here's a card I like a lot: Angelic Exaltation.

I guess my comment became longer than I planned. If you have questions or don't agree, let me hear it.

DreadKhan on Lightning Bolts shoot from my fingertips

1 month ago

It's a bit pricey, but Exquisite Blood is generically very good with burn effects. If you don't mind a combo potentially showing up you can also use Sanguine Bond, which also happens to love your Commander's Lifelink (and fwiw unlike most decks that just throw that in you are VERY able to burn people to actually win on the spot).

I think if you want to use Manabarbs maybe you should look at more Artifact type ramp that won't trigger it? There are some easy ones like Rakdos Signet, Talisman of Indulgence that can even give you coloured mana, and some like Worn Powerstone and Thran Dynamo that can help keep your Commander on the table. Also, maybe I'm missing a ton of them, but IMHO you should have more artifacts if you want to use a Mox Opal.

Some other random goodies you might like: Maddening Hex (this would be HILARIOUS with some doublers), Chandra's Ignition (if you target something with lifelink remember it's the CREATURE doing the damage, so you can gain a TON of life off of this if the board is fairly full, and it's great with a Deathtouch source like Gift of Doom), Fire Covenant (one of the best burn spells ever), and MAYBE a Rionya, Fire Dancer since you've got all those Sorceries.

YMMV but I love having some small card draw effects in a deck like this, maybe Night's Whisper, Winds of Change, Humble Defector, and/or Phyrexian Arena? I feel like Sign in Blood's BB might be awkward.

It's not exactly 'lightning from your fingers', but Brash Taunter is one of the funniest creatures in Magic, just having the little guy out can make you much harder to attack into, and before your turn if you didn't need to remove/burn something you can use mana you're holding up to pick a fight with the biggest creature on board. It's nutso with all your damage doublers IMHO. One of my favorite interactions in all of Magic is how good Scavenged Brawler is with Taunter, it's the kind of thing you won't pull off often, but if people aren't running enough Swords to Plowshares family effects it's amazing.

MadlyTexas on The Amazing Spider-man

2 months ago

Some potential upgrades that aren't cripplingly expensive:

Ramp: Commander's Sphere, Rampant Growth, Farseek, Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Kodama's Reach, Thirsting Roots, Bushwhack, Mind Stone, Herald's Horn, Selesnya Signet, Simic Signet, Azorius Signet, Talisman of Unity, Talisman of Curiosity, Talisman of Progress, Patchwork Banner

Card Advantage: Harmonize, Elemental Bond, Revitalize, Healing Hands, Crystal Skull, Isu Spyglass

Removal: Swords to Plowshares, Beast Within, Return to Nature, Naturalize, Fumigate, Generous Gift