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 (50)

alechodgin23 on Drawing Dead

1 week ago

I would not take out the talisman. Leave that in. You want as many rocks that come in untapped as possible. You should probably trash the others. I'd do Sol Ring , Arcane Signet , Dimir Signet , Talisman of Dominance , Wayfarer's Bauble , Fellwar Stone , Mind Stone , Gilded Lotus , Turnabout , Cabal Ritual , and possibly Doubling Cube

Strangelove on Marchesa the black rose

1 week ago

Wassup LordWaterbird, +1!

@Your post

I built a bad Black Rose Budget Deck and a Black Rose EDH Index of anything I found that might fit.

Something that has always helped me is adding custom tags to count draw and ramp, like so:

1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician #Draw #Sacrifice #Removal

If you really want to cap Marchesa's power level at 7/8 I think you'd have to gut many of the fun cards and play a really consistent, conservative midrange style with lots of interaction or MLD to really be an 8.

That'd be pretty spikey, but here are a few alternative (6-7/10) ideas:

Don't skimp on mana! 5 Ramp and 36 Lands is low. I'd go up to 37 lands and 10 ramp at least, prioritizing 2 drop ramp... eg. Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Indulgence , Fellwar Stone , etc.

Lean into aggro/midrange... BBB, BB, UU, etc, are really going to slow you down. I would only run cards with those costs that can compare to Necropotence , Yawgmoth, Thran Physician , etc. Eg. Grave Pact is good, but Plaguecrafter does more (...also Merciless Executioner / Fleshbag Marauder ). If you're trying to wipe the board, I'd go for Massacre Girl / Profaner of the Dead , etc.

Vigean Graftmage ... really good with a Sac outlet. Olivia, Mobilized for War is similar if you have good draw.

Fire Covenant ... awesome card. Dethrone is tricky and so you need to be able to consistently manipulate life.

Thalakos Deceiver and Zealous Conscripts .... Stealing cards is a lot of fun.

Flayer of the Hatebound ... this card is MVP in Marchesa. Add this.

ThePerilousRealm on Sen Triplets

3 weeks ago

Update

OUT

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth , Irrigated Farmland , Prairie Stream , Fetid Pools , Sunken Hollow , Shimmer Myr , Chief of the Foundry , & Master Transmuter

IN

Meteor Crater , Sunken Ruins , Fetid Heath Mystic Gate , Champion's Helm , Talisman of Hierarchy , Talisman of Progress , & Talisman of Dominance

dingusdingo on 10 signs you're *actually* a ...

1 month ago

A list of benchmark skills useful for your LGS pod debut.

1. You have a working knowledge of the cards in your deck. You are able to explain to an opponent how a card you run in your deck performs. You don't have to ask other players to stop the game to research how your card works. This includes knowing the 99 cards you run.

2. You are aware of any errata or relevant rules/rulings for cards in your deck. You are able to say upon playing a card that it has errata and how that errata performs, and you don't rely on an opponent to provide your errata for you.

3. You know tutor outs for your deck. You know which card to search for so as not to waste excess time during a game. Similarly, you don't spend excess time during your turn deciding your line of play. Similarly, you don't waste time requiring another explanation of previous player actions because you were paying attention.

4. You know the parts of phases as well as the various phases of a turn. You vocalize moving between phases to all players, knowing that an opponent may wish to perform an action during a certain phase. You allow player action at the end of turn if you did not intentionally vocalize moving through your end step (i.e. you say "go" after combat, but opponent wishes to Vampiric Tutor at EOT)

5. You understand how the stack works. You understand how priority works, and appropriately give opponents their priority, and pass your own priority if you don't wish to stack something. Similarly, you vocalize your intent to let an opponents spell resolve in a timely manner.

6. You know how to prioritize targets and threats. You don't use interaction on low value targets when an opponent is threatening a win. You don't select targets based upon liking/disliking a player, the outcome of a previous game, or your experience playing in a different format.

7. Your deck is appropriately prepared for the meta it will play in. On the macro level, it is bringing competitive decks to competitive pods, or bringing casual decks to casual pods. On the micro level, you have flex slots that you adjust for the decks you are expecting to play against.

8. You are able to think in terms of resources spent, particularly in terms of cards used. You understand that taking 1-for-1 trades in a 4 player pod is a move to be used sparingly and at the appropriate times. You understand that the more cards an opponent sees, the more likely they are to threaten a win.

9. Your deck actively tries to win. You understand that while stopping yourself from losing is a viable strategy, running cards that prolong the game is not the same as running cards that actively win the game, and that your deck requires both.

10. You are able to read a board and pick the correct decision based upon the information given. This includes counting available mana and cards in hand, for yourself and opponents. This includes saving resources for interaction and stopping wins over advancing your own game plan when appropriate.

Bonus: You vocalize all actions you take, including triggers. You treat all vocalized action as binding, and don't change actions after they have been vocalized because you thought of something different. You also understand that people make mistakes, and that a reasonable grace period should exist for honest mistakes that don't change gameplay (i.e. someone stating they make black mana with Talisman of Dominance and immediately correcting themselves to blue mana before any meaningful action has passed)

Bonus 2: You are able to learn from games and plays, and are focused on improving your piloting skills with conscious thought and deck building choices.

ulticam on Varina Zombos

1 month ago

Here are some suggestions:

You would probably benefit the most from a better ramp-package. Since you don't want to bother buying expensive lands, I'd recommend signets (which are really good for fixing colors) and talismans: Orzhov Signet , Azorius Signet , Dimir Signet , Talisman of Progress , Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Hierarchy , & Smothering Tithe has powerful potential as well.

Ponder and Preordain are extremely powerful in helping you fix colors in the early game. They allow you to dig for the right lands. They're also good at any point in a game. Gitaxian Probe is easy to cast (at basically no cost) since you gain life.

Speaking of life-gain, you have some good ways to gain but no payoffs for it. Alhammarret's Archive seems to combo well with your general. Other ones that come to mind are Graveborn Muse , Greed , and Necropotence

I'd cut Crush Dissent and No Escape for cheaper counterspells. Lower CMC instants give you more opportunities to use them. Swan Song is BROKEN. Counterspell is good. Dispel is amazing but only if you feel your meta is threatening you with counter magic of their own. Muddle the Mixture and Narset's Reversal are unreal. Sometimes you'll misplay them though - they require some experience.

I'd cut Spark Harvest for Swords to Plowshares . Exiling is better than killing (avoids indestructibility), and you can even use swords on yourself if you need life in a pinch.

Diabolic Tutor and Long-Term Plans are cheap to buy. Tutors are necessary in control if you want to effectively answer your opponent's threats.

Dig Through Time might be nice for you, but I can't say for sure. And since you told me you were concerned of decking yourself: Elixir of Immortality

Here are some more expensive cards if you ever wanted to upgrade: Rhystic Study , Phyrexian Arena , Watery Grave , Godless Shrine , & Hallowed Fountain

Jace_Nalaar on Thousand-Year Kess

1 month ago

Love the match-up. I run TYS Kess as well, and it can run super smooth. I have a few quality of life upgrades I can recommend, but ultimately everything has to come down to what works best in your local meta.

For starters, I would reduce the land count by about 3-5. Particularly, I would cut Nykthos and then a combo of islands and/or swamps. Devotion works well in mono to two color decks, but TYS relies on you pulling spells more than lands or permanents, so you won't get as much value out of it here. Instead, I'd recommend Temple of the False God . Most times, you can get it online fairly regularly and having one land that taps for 2 colorless is pretty dope. I'd also recommend either the Dimir Aqueduct or Izzet Boilerworks . Karoo lands may set you back just a bit, but you want as much value as you can get out of it. Ultimately, I'd say drop back to 34 lands, and add Temple and a Karoo land of your preference into that mix.

Next, you have a decent creature-base, but I would tweak and trim that a little bit as well. I'd sub out Hypersonic Dragon for Backdraft Hellkite and remove Crypt Ghast and Consecrated Sphinx . All of those are solid choices in most cases, but Ghast hits the same issue that Nykthos does. Hypersonic is decent for value, but opening your graveyard further with Backdraft so you're not limited to just 1 card per turn is huge on your storm turn. Lastly, Sphinx is an absolute monster of a card, but it might come out a little too late to really get you ahead. I'd add a Mystic Remora , but that's personal preference. Honestly, Sphinx could go either way depending on your meta.

As for Instants, I'd sub out Boomerang for Chain of Vapor , Counterflux for Flusterstorm , Countersquall for Negate , Dissipate for Swan Song , Reverberate for Increasing Vengeance , Rewind for Muddle the Mixture , and Undermine for Disallow . My reasoning for Chain is that most people won't sacrifice a land to copy it, and if you really need to save something, you can do it to yourself, sac a land, and then bounce someone else's permanent. Not to mention, it's a good way to keep something heavy off the board if they use a ritual to sneak a threat in early. As for the counterspells, some of them in there seem a little narrow compared to the ones you had (i.e. they target specific card types), but the most threatening things you'll deal with on your main storm turn are instants and cards with flash, so conditional counters work as good defense for off-turn threats. Also, Muddle the Mixture is a great tutor if you have a lot of 2 CMC cards, because it will fetch you any of them for just 3 mana. It also doubles as a counterspell sometimes. For Increasing Vengeance , I always recommend this over other red copy spells because it gets so much more value out of the graveyard, even more so if you cast it with Kess. Instead of having to pay the flashback, you play its normal CMC and get a double-copy for the price of one (not to mention its interaction with TYS).

Artifacts, I'd swap Manalith and Vedalken Orrery for Talisman of Dominance and Talisman of Creativity . Extra mana rocks will help you get around land destruction, and provide you extra mana acceleration earlier. They also don't require you to filter mana the same way the signets do, but in exchange they do hurt.

I'd see if you can fit a Narset, Parter of Veils in place of Liliana. She works wonders for digging purposes, and totally shuts down everyone else's draw.

Lastly, for sorceries, I'd remove Barter in Blood , Decree of Pain , Fabricate , and Mana Geyser . In their place, I'd put Anger of the Gods , Cabal Ritual , Entomb , and Desperate Ritual . Anger absolutely nukes graveyard value, and if you hit it off storm it only gets stronger. Cabal Ritual works as a much more efficient black ritual once you hit threshold, which you should hit fairly quickly if you're cantripping and looting often. Entomb is just as good as tutoring to hand with Kess because if you're looking for a spell, just pitch it and cast it without conditions.

Wow, that was a lot longer than I expected. For some final additions, I'd recommend Red Elemental Blast / Pyroblast , Narset's Reversal , Arcane Denial , and Fire Covenant . REB/Pyro works as a good defender on storm turn and can remove a pesky blue permanent that's complicating your life. Narset's Reversal is excellent at protecting your own spells from counters, providing you extra iterations of those spells if you have excess mana, and copying particularly useful spells from other players if you don't want to be effected by them. Arcane Denial is an excellent cheap counter that, though it draws you and an opponent cards, works as a decent political tool and can buy you an extra turn when you're storming off. Lastly, Fire Covenant is a great targeted wipe spell. If you put enough life in it, you can take out just about any number of creatures that are giving you headaches without losing your own in the process.

Overall, I see a lot of potential in the deck and think it could be super smooth with a few changes. The biggest enemy in EDH is inconsistency, so you have to fight that harder than most of your opponents. Also, life is a resource too. Starting at 40 makes it really easy to pay life into spells. I hope this almost dictionary of changes helps, and I look forward to seeing it progress!

Good luck!

exalted_k1d on Kess Control/Storm...Needs Work...

1 month ago

Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal

Dualcaster Mage and Twinflame

more mana artifacts

Sol Ring Fellwar Stone Star Compass Sky Diamond Fire Diamond Charcoal Diamond , Mind Stone Arcane Signet Talisman of Creativity Talisman of Dominance Talisman of Indulgence

Aetherflux Reservoir

Search for Azcanta  ^Flip

also you should run atleast 9 counterspells

Arcane Denial Mystic Confluence Counterflux Muddle the Mixture Stifle Disallow Izzet Charm Counterspell Swan Song

Control Spells

Crosis's Charm Bedevil Rakdos Charm Vandalblast Chain of Smog

Board wipes

Blasphemous Act Sweltering Suns Starstorm

Should try to get tutors

Gamble Demonic Tutor Mystical Tutor Spellseeker Fabricate Tribute Mage

more draw spells

Thought Scour Ponder Preordain Serum Visions Dig Through Time Artificer's Epiphany Thirst for Knowledge Tragic Lesson Windfall Rhystic Study Mystic Remora

Narset, Parter of Veils Ashiok, Dream Render Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Chandra, Flamecaller Dack Fayden

Caerwyn on Life Lost v2

1 month ago

I would add the three talismans for your colours-- Talisman of Progress , Talisman of Dominance , and Talisman of Hierarchy . More ramp can never hurt, particularly since some of your combo pieces are a bit expensive to cast.

Vimozahr also made some good suggestions-- Sanguine Bond is a good redundancy for your combo, and, as an enchantment, is less likely to be removed. However, I do take issue with some of the other suggestions--the discard enchantments are mediocre unless your deck is designed to abuse them (i.e. Nekusar, the Mindrazer ) and they'd likely end up being dead cards most of the time with your build. Aminatou, the Fateshifter and Felidar Guardian is a cute combo, but also requires you to draw into a third combo piece. None of those three cards have great synergy with your deck overall, thus making them rather mediocre draws outside a combo win (whereas your other combo still has decent synergy with other elements of your deck, allowing them to further your victory even if you cannot combo off).

I would cut the following:

1. Dictate of Kruphix - I find cards like this are quite bad in multiplayer. Sure, they give you an extra card per turn; but they also give each of your opponents an extra card. So, in a four-player game, that means you get one card; your collective opponents get three. As such, you're increasing the chances someone will draw into their way of stopping you more than increasing your chances of winning.

2. Sphere of Safety - I do not think you have the critical mass of enchantments necessary to really make this worth five mana. If you need another prison, consider Norn's Annex or Ghostly Prison instead.

3. Faerie Tauntings