Swords to Plowshares

Instant

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

Discussion (51)

Elmoisamac on dmereel

1 day ago

Great start! There are a few categories of stuff I would add, I will start with budget options:

Ramp - Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Farseek, Rampant Growth will fix your colors.

Removal - Reclamation Sage, Swords to Plowshares, Austere Command, Wrath of God, Wear / Tear, Sundering Growth

Card Draw - Guardian Project, Shamanic Revelation, Beast Whisperer. Lifecrafter's Bestiary

Lands - Cinder Glade, Canopy Vista

Win Conditions: Overwhelming Stampede, Chord of Calling to tutor out a win

Other good cards: Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Rootborn Defenses

Other good cards, but not as budge

Xenagos, God of Revels, Token Doublers Anointed Procession, Coat of Arms, Heroic Intervention,

Cards to Consider Cutting:

Veteran Warleader, Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Gruul War Plow, Ajani, Inspiring Leader

That is all for now, but I can suggest more later.

Apollo_Paladin on Mono White Contol

5 days ago

I myself often play Mono-White control in various forms. Generally, I play in Casual/Legacy, but the crossover from Legacy to Modern isn't that drastic (at least for what I use).

I like the good ol' classic Silence for control, as it can really throw a wrench into an opponent's plans.

You might also look at some of the Mono-White Counterspell options available for additional control. Opponents rarely see those coming since for most intents and purposes all Counterspell effects are at least some incarnation or combination of Blue. Rebuff the Wicked, Dawn Charm, and Mana Tithe are all decent options in their own rights, and it might help to have some protection on your "lockdown" cards like Worship.

Also, I'm on the fence about Path to Exile in every situation. I've used it (rarely) to actually snuff out my own low-mana creatures just to amp up my own Mana Pool when I've been stuck...but with an attrition deck, unless your intent is completely to use it for the above-stated purpose, I think something like Swords to Plowshares would be better. Not every "big threat" card is necessarily that high on Toughness for #1, and for #2 I'd argue that giving the opponent more life (especially with a Control deck) is far better than giving them extra mana to cast additional spells with.

Maybe I'm way off-base on that, and actually I've got an Exile build where I run both Path and Swords exile options. It might be a point to consider, though.

Anyway, +1 on the build. I don't think it's fair to leave comments/suggestions and then not even bother to Upvote the original Deck haha...

LeaPlath on Desert nomad's

1 week ago

How do you protect yourself from the common removal? Swords to Plowshares, Oko, various planeswalker bounces, Terminus, Jitte, Walking Balista and Skyclave Apparition to name a few of the more played ones?

RNR_Gaming on Obzedat, Ghost Council

1 week ago

So, Whip of Erebos has a neat interaction with this guy ;) really smashed me back when I use to play standard. Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares and Generous Gift are mainstays in any deck running white. Lastly, Mind Stone, Fellwar Stone, Talisman of Hierarchy and Orzhov Signet are all prime mana rocks for relatively cheap.

Omniscience_is_life on Adventure properties

1 week ago

What property of a card with the Adventure mechanic allows for it to be cast from exile? The similar ability Suspend distinguished by means of Time Counters, but Adventure seems to have no such clause. So can I then (and I seriously doubt this, but don't understand why not) cast a Merchant of the Vale that's been Swords to Plowshares'd? Thanks!

Post Scriptum: I may have accidentally made another one of these question-forums, since T/O crashed the first time and I'm not sure if it went through. :/

Mortlocke on In Defense of Jeweled Lotus

2 weeks ago

Omniscience_is_life - your T1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope is highly improbable - even with Jeweled Lotus. She, much like Zacama in my awesome decklist The Predator of Predators suffer from the issue of having a very high CMC - relegating them to primarily mid to late game apperances. Jeweled Lotus does help get those commanders out sooner...but like I said - it has to be Christmas for said commanders to get out early game, let alone T1.

Now, when you said "What I was going at--with the part of my statement that you quoted--was that you say in your original argument "nobody at that table uses any form of interaction in their decks", as well as saying that "combos that powerful are rarely seen in a game". You missed something VERY important here: Context. If you re-read what I said in regards to "Nobody at that table uses any form of interaction..." the paragraph starts with "In reference to the comic". As in, everyone in the playgroup IN THE COMIC likely don't have decks that run alot of interaction. Swords to Plowshares, Pongify, etc - all my examples are not "elite interaction" (as you put it) - they're common. Not a single one of those spells is over 3USD, and all see regular play in EDH. Now, the other part that you got confused with - "combos that powerful are rarely seen in a game" that is in reference to meta - specifically cEDH - NOT the playgroup in the comic. I was saying that a T1 Urza + Mana Crypt + Winter Orb - enabled by Jeweled Lotus would likely be relegated only to cEDH play. Why? Because that combo costs roughly 160USD and that's not including the Lotus - an extra 150USD (at the moment). So, a T1 Urza lock out would be about 300USD more or less. Besides the price point - the meta would also have to tuned to expect that kind of play. Look. Basically what i'm trying to say here is that you took two separate statements I made completely out of context and got confused when making your argument.

Omniscience_is_life on In Defense of Jeweled Lotus

2 weeks ago

Mortlocke sorry if it felt like I was trying to quote you, should've mentioned I was paraphrasing.

Excuse my T1 Avacyn example, that was merely an attempt at showing the ridiculous amounts of mana you can have at such an early stage of the game: certainly enough to set a lock, if not just outright win.

What I was going at--with the part of my statement that you quoted--was that you say in your original argument "nobody at that table uses any form of interaction in their decks", as well as saying that "combos that powerful are rarely seen in a game". So it seems as though this table that you think we're all playing at is playing at a high enough power level where they keep up mana for elite interaction such as Swords to Plowshares, et cetera, but they are also playing at a low enough power level where having 8 mana T2 isn't enough to pop tf off. Slightly counterintuitive in my opinion. I don't want to get super deep into this, though, I think at the base of it all I agree with you--just want to point out some additional information, rather than alternative information.

Mortlocke on In Defense of Jeweled Lotus

2 weeks ago

From my own assessment, the general sentiment surrounding Jeweled Lotus is summarized in the following Cardboard Crack comic:

Excellent comic by the way. But I think it really misses the mark here - when a player gets ahead too early, they become the Archenemy - the player who is assessed as being the biggest threat early on (between turns 1 - 3) in a game and gets focused on by the table. Instead of a game of 1 v 1 v 1 v 1 - it becomes 1 v 3. Speaking from experience, said Archenemy player gets their entire board state dismantled by ALL of their opponents and are usually left with the least amount of resources for the rest of the game - if any.

In reference to the comic, if ALL opponents have no response and concede on turn 1 then I think that's indicative a larger issue within that playgroup: nobody at that table uses any form of interaction in their decks (e.g. Swords to Plowshares, Beast Within (as in T1 Mana Crypt + Forest), Pongify, Lightning Bolt...the list goes on). I would even go on to say that everyone in that group plays like Timmy/Tammy (nothing is wrong with that - but it makes games very narrow and insular - basically no one interacts with another's boardstate). Alternatively, if that was a game of cEDH then that's how the game is supposed to be played - but with less bad feels. Regardless, the point i'm trying to make is that - in an average game of Commander, a table should reasonably be able to react and control a turn 1 or 2 Commander in the vast majority of games (i'm saying 80% - 90% of the time the archenemy gets controlled by the table). In those rare instances when a table is literally locked out - e.g. T1 Urza + Mana Crypt + Winter Orb - then that's simply a done game. Again, combos that powerful are rarely seen in a game.

Now, there are decks I think this card can do well in - decks where the Commander is a really high CMC. Yes, take this as shameless advertising, but i'm considering this card for one of my own decks:

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The Predator of Predators

Commander / EDH Mortlocke

SCORE: 192 | 93 COMMENTS | 20658 VIEWS | IN 78 FOLDERS

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Zacama, Primal Calamity helms this deck, and she is a CMC (Naya) commander. For decks that have those extra THICC commanders with the high CMCs, Jeweled Lotus could make all the difference at any point of the game. In Zacama's case, she is considered a "kill on sight" Commander - a creature that can be highly disruptive to any boardstate at any point of the game." She will get removed, regardless of when she is played. But, for those situations where I need to get her out late game Jeweled Lotus could easily be the difference maker. OR, I could have an explosive start and play Zacama 3 turns earlier.

Ultimately, I think the Magic Community's reaction is far too dramatic thinking that this one card is going to stop a game before it starts. No. It will not. It will simply put a single player in the position of Archenemy early on, or help a player get a Commander back into the game after it has been removed a few times.

Side note - I do agree with the notion that the card is entirely designed to help sell packs. Serving mostly as something exciting for people to pull. I think it's a good idea. Is it worth the $150 - $100 pre-order price? Hell No. It's a decent $20 (non-foil) card in the making that goes in only a handful of commander decks.

Additional side note: For those interested in my Zacama build The Predator of Predators, I plan on swapping Jeweled Lotus in for Talisman of Impulse. Additional Additionally, I will swap in Court of Bounty for Rishkar's Expertise. I really enjoy Monarch, and I think that card is a perfect fit for the deck. Please let me know your thoughts about the deck and uh...feed Zacama your upvotes.