Talisman of Dominance

Artifact

Tap: Add (1) to your mana pool.

Tap: Add (Blue) or (Black) to your mana pool. Talisman of Dominance deals 1 damage to you.

Discussion (51)

SideBae on Aminatou in Progress

4 days ago

1. So Preordain is awesome for the same reasons your Brainstorm and Ponder are... I suggest running it.

2. Narset, Parter of Veils is a great way to limit your competitive opponents. Especially if you pair her with a well-timed Windfall . Ashiok, Dream Render happens to be another way to punish people for playing tutor-tribal kinds of strategies.

3. Another hallmark of competitive decks is their ramp, especially zero and two-mana. In your description, you say you want to stay budget -- unfortunately, that rules out about all of the good zero mana ramp. ( Mox Tantalite is bad, and Mox Amber is hardly better most of the time.) So I suggest increasing your two-mana ramp, and maybe including Ancient Tomb if at all possible to speed up their presence on the board. Some to consider: Talisman of Progress , Talisman of Hierarchy , Talisman of Dominance , Coldsteel Heart , Fellwar Stone , Mind Stone , Everflowing Chalice , Prismatic Lens , etc. None of these should be more than a few bucks.

4. Concerning your lands: I think you're running too many, especially if you add some of the ramp mentioned in (3). I'd cut four-ish, maybe five. Generally, once you have a few (3 - 4) lands, you'd rather have a rock and a land in hand than just two lands, since you can cast the rock without using your land-drop. I'm not sure HOW budget you want to keep this deck, but Mana Confluence and City of Brass are each around $10, and they're great in any three or more color deck. Pain lands ( Caves of Koilos , Adarkar Wastes and Underground River ) are better than your tapped lands like Sejiri Refuge , as far as I can tell.

5. I think a reanimation package is probably better than running Show and Tell . Show and Tell is symmetrical, and is often actively dangerous to resolve in EDH, when everyone is trying to do busted stuff. I'm much more a fan of Buried Alive and Entomb to get your fatties in the bin, and then using Animate Dead , Dance of the Dead , Reanimate and/or Necromancy (which is $$$ for some reason) to get them back.

6. Tutors like your Demonic Tutor are good, but like zero mana rocks they tend to be pricy (see Vampiric Tutor and Enlightened Tutor ). One I do suggest is Lim-Dul's Vault , which is only a couple dollars these days. It also happens to be instant speed, which is kinda dumb-powerful, if you ask me.

7. Cumulative upkeep was designed to make powerful effects transient; however, Aminatou, the Fateshifter sorta changes that equation with her -1. Consider cards like Mystic Remora , which you can blink to keep around relatively indefinitely. Similar cards to consider are: Musician , Phyrexian Etchings , Tidal Control and Infernal Darkness (if you're particularly mean).

8. Divining Witch is interesting -- I'd actually never seen that card before. If you're trying to exile your deck and win with your Jace, Wielder of Mysteries , I think Demonic Consultation is probably a better way... though you might want to keep both. Another method (that I think is worse) is to use the card Doomsday , which is only a few dollars. The problem is that if you run Doomsday , you'd likely want to run a Doomsday -package, so you could win by just casting it and drawing into your top card... For that, I'd suggest talking to someone smarter than me, as I've never been able to get the hang of what the hell is going on with that strategy. All I know is that the package usually has something like Gitaxian Probe and Lotus Petal and ends with me being dead.

9. You may have good luck with card draw spells. Repeatable effects, like Phyrexian Arena and/or Dark Confidant , tend to be expensive; luckily, the spell versions are often decidedly less so. I suggest running a few or more of the following: Painful Truths , Night's Whisper , Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time (running both can be tough since delve can get in its own way), Fact or Fiction , Thirst for Knowledge , Concentrate , Chemister's Insight , Oona's Grace (questionable, due to the high mana requirement), Ancient Excavation (good with the reanimation mentioned in (5)), Archmage's Charm , Chart a Course , Syphon Mind , Deep Analysis and/or Words of Wisdom -- pay extra attention to the instants you can cast on an opponents end step. Another way to do this is simply to steal your opponents' card draw with Notion Thief or Plagiarize .

10. Lastly, I know its around $11 these days, but I think Counterbalance would be dumb in this deck. Using your general's +1 will let you stack whatever you want on top, which can be especially devastating if you can keep an opponent's general off the board that way.

Good luck man! Love this deck.

chadsansing on Anje Falkenrath combo

5 days ago

I dig it.

Generally, I'd include fewer Madness cards that buff your creatures and include more tutors, reanimation spells, and control pieces to help you buy time to find your combo. Black damage taxes are good, like Dread or No Mercy .

Archfiend of Ifnir over Archfiend of Spite . Maybe some more modular wipes (like Crux of Fate , Decree of Pain , or Kindred Dominance ) + spells like Grim Return or Endless Obedience . Have a way to win with other people's decks after they exile your graveyard or Worldgorger Dragon .

Maybe play Talisman of Dominance over any other rock than your signet. Play a cost reducer or two, as well, like Jet Medallion or Ruby Medallion , or more 2-drop rocks like Charcoal Diamond and Fire Diamond . I'd play the red and black cycle lands for extra draw/dig/loot, as well.

DoWell on Oona edh combo/control (competitive edh)

6 days ago

I'm sorry to be the bad guy, but this deck is far too slow to be competitive. It may be in your local meta, but it will be eaten alive in a tournament.

1. An average cmc >3 is bad. The closer to 2 the better.

2. Many of your lands enter tapped, which is a waste of space and significantly hurts your speed.
   You need:
   Command Tower
   City of Brass
   Reflecting Pool
   Exotic Orchard
   Cavern of Souls
   Polluted Delta
   Flooded Strand
   Bloodstained Mire
   Underground River
   Sunken Ruins
   Prismatic Vista

3. Artifacts over a 2 cost aren't worth running other than chromatic lantern. They are, again, too slow. Check out:
   Talisman of Dominance
   Lotus Petal
   Mana Crypt
   Chrome Mox
   Fellwar Stone
   Thought Vessel

4. I would run 6 or 7 counters. 3 of your 4 are unfavorable. Drop everything but counterspell. Check out:
   Flusterstorm instead of dispel.
   Mana Drain
   Delay over spell crumble (if you're playing a true competitive deck, they'll just tutor the card back up))
   Disallow is the only 3 drop work running.
   Swan Song is also better than dispel.
   Pact of negation is okay at best. 5 cost isn't worth it it stifles your next turn.

I can tell you like desertion given your artifact selection. There is only one word to describe that card. BAD. Take it out.

1. Card advantage is king. Look into:
   Mystic Remora
   Rhystic Study
   Dire Undercurrents

That's all I have for you. It's a decent deck. I like the build outside of the artifacts, counters, and lands. Change them up and you'll be amazed how much better this deck will become. It'll be significant.

Daedalus19876 on Son of a Lich

6 days ago

My first suggestion is to find a way to make the cards readable -- it's very hard to read anything with the image of Sans in the back :(

I will say that you can probably cut two lands for mana rocks :) you have access to Talisman of Dominance and Dimir Signet , which would be my first two choices. Have you considered Reanimate to pair with Final Parting ?

I'm always a fan of themed decks like this, you get my +1!

SideBae on Nicole Broke Ass needs help

1 week ago

Hey man! Grixis is fun. I've got some thoughts... feel free to ignore any/all of them.

1. Your mana base is better than most, but it can still use some work. Consider City of Brass and Mana Confluence . Paying one life for an ETB untapped, chromatic land to generate mana is a great rate, and these two are functionally a second and third command tower. Generally, the one life cost-to-activate is irrelevant.

2. Similar to your land-base, mana rocks are a great way to hit your colors and ramp yourself faster than your opponents. Since you don't have access to dorks, you need to consider more two-mana mana-rocks; these are, in my experience, vastly superior to three-mana rocks. Consider running a few of the following: Talisman of Indulgence , Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Creativity , Fellwar Stone , Arcane Signet , Mind Stone , Prismatic Lens and/or Coldsteel Heart . The diamonds ( Sky Diamond , Charcoal Diamond and Fire Diamond ) are really just worse Coldsteel Heart s. If you wanna go and bust the bank, Grixis decks often have the critical mass of artifacts necessary to make Mox Opal good; Mox Diamond and Chrome Mox are also great. Also Mana Crypt .

3. In general, one-for-ones like Hero's Downfall and Dreadbore are not going to be powerful enough in a format like EDH. You have three times as many opponents, meaning you're facing approximately three times the number of cards you yourself have available. So you're probably going to want to be able to remove multiple threats with one card -- this is part of the reason Wrath effects are so good. I like that you're running Damnation ; consider Toxic Deluge as another, similar effect that dodges Gaddock Teeg 's restrictions. I've always been a big fan of By Force as mass artifact removal, and Cyclonic Rift is always worth including. Finally, Fire Covenant is a great piece of mass spot removal.

4. One card especially good with Cyclonic Rift is Windfall . Pairing Windfall with a Narset, Parter of Veils (which I think you should definitely run) leads to instant fun. More generally, mass, repeatable card-draw and/or selection is a great thing in EDH and decides most games. Phyrexian Arena is probably the most common way to generate card-advantage in black, but also consider Graveborn Muse , Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time (I don't recommend both, as delve can get in its own way), Fact or Fiction , Painful Truths (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite cards), Faithless Looting , Dack Fayden and the like.

5. Adding more cards to your counter package seems like a plausible route for improvement. If budget is no object, Mana Drain and Force of Will are the two best counters available. Also consider Force of Negation , which is excellent against combo decks, Dispel , which is great against Ad Nauseam decks, Pyroblast , which is good usually against at least one or two of your opponents and (on the off chance you run Dack Fayden and ult him) can steal a permanent, Flusterstorm , Spell Snare , Spell Pierce and other such cheap 'n efficient counter spells. If you want to go REALLY deep, I've found Counterbalance to be a high variance EDH card that tends to be good more often than not; you're already running Sensei's Divining Top , which is what really makes Counterbalance busted.

6. Lore-wise, Nicol Bolas is good at enrapturing and manipulating other, lesser creatures. Consider a Mr. Steal-yo-Gurl package, which is both flavorful and powerful. Sower of Temptation and Control Magic can both make opposing Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre s into your own threats; Bribery is similarly busted, and does not risk getting removed by a Toxic Deluge or (more likely) Nature's Claim . Also consider Treachery and Corrupted Conscience .

7. Since you're in blue, you have access to the best cantrips in magic. I highly, highly recommend running Ponder and Preordain -- These two don't look like much, but they'll dig you to what you need and past what you don't more efficiently than any other card. Brainstorm is also good, but I'd suggest holding off adding it until you get some more fetch lands in your deck. (Fetch lands' shuffle effect will make sure you don't get stuck with two dead cards on top of your deck.) Prismatic Vista and the off-color fetches like Flooded Strand or Verdant Catacombs are good ways to fill this role.

8. Your general has built-in discard. Another package to consider, therefore, is a Waste Not package. This is a relatively unique package in that it actually does not need the namesake card in order to be good; Raven's Crime , Words of Waste and Syphon Mind are all good in their own right, and made busted when Waste Not is on the field. Stick a Geth's Grimoire in the mix, and you can really go to town (especially with Words of Waste ).

9. Finally, as a kinda fun-z last suggestion, there's a 'Words' combo I've always liked that you may find interesting -- remember, though, it's really not the best. If you pair Words of Wind with Baleful Strix and a lot of mana, you can repeatedly return Baleful Strix to your hand with Words of Wind 's ability and make your opponents keep returning permanents. This would likely work best if your Omniscience was on the field, as it would end up effectively reading: ': Each opponent returns X permanents they control to their owners' hands.' However, this is likely a win-more type of thing.

There're some cards I think you should consider cutting in order to make room for my above suggestions. Wasp of the Bitter End strikes me as likely too weak in a format with three opponents; similarly, since Toll of the Invasion only hits one opponent, this should likely be considered on the chopping block. I think a boardwipe like Toxic Deluge is probably a lot better than Tyrant's Scorn . Lazotep Plating is probably worse than a regular hard counter. Finally, if you like the idea of artifact-based ramp in (2), thirty-eight lands is too many. I recommend cutting three to five, depending on how aggressively ramp-heavy you want your deck to play.

Right. That's all I got. Good luck!

CommanderNeyo on Esper token lifegain

1 week ago

I would consider adding the talismans for ramp Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Progress , and Talisman of Hierarchy ), since you have such a high CMC. Although, I don't know what I would get rid of, other than Grind .

DoWell on Train to Busan

2 weeks ago

I would drop to 32 lands and add a Sol Ring , Talisman of Dominance , Mana Vault , Coalition Relic , and Chromatic Lantern

I know your library is mostly black, but I would add more blue mana sources. You don't wanna open hand 2 or 3 blue cards with no blue mana. Keep it 60/40 instead of 75/25, trust me.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion is an infinite combo win condition.

Sidisi, Undead Vizer is good for tutors.

Zombie Master + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth gives all zombies regenerate and makes them unblockable.

Lim-Dul's Vault will help you find those perfect combos.

Entomb on a Sheoldred, Whispering One turn 1, just to Reanimate her turn 2 is really rude. It's not a zombie, but does fit the theme. Animate dead and dance of the dead are good alternates for reanimate.

DoWell on Nicol Bolas, the Original

2 weeks ago

You could drop down to 32 lands with some more artifact ramp. Check out these: Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Indulgence , Talisman of Creativity . Also Chromatic Lantern and Coalition Relic .

You run blue, why no counter spells? Delay , Flusterstorm , Counterspell , Mana Drain , Disallow (all top tier)
Mana Leak , Counterflux , Pact of Negation are... okay too.

Check out Ashiok, Dream Render ! A lot of high tier library's search for their combo pieces. She stifles this quite well.

Since you run copy artifact, you might like Sculpting Steel too.

Rhystic Study , Mystic Remora , Necropotence , and Phyrexian Arena are also top tier cards that I highly recommend. Card advantage is king.

There is a lot you can do with this deck.