Talrand, Sky Summoner

Legendary Creature — Merfolk Wizard

Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, create a 2/2 blue Drake creature token with flying.

Discussion (51)

marn3us on Niv-Mizzet, Wheel Combo

1 month ago

jsnrice that's correct!! Harmonic Prodigy would make the first Niv trigger happen twice (i.e., you draw 2 cards), and for each of those draws you would get 2 damage, for a total of 4 damage per trigger! It's a slam dunk in the deck ;)

Of note, all my other creatures are either Wizards or Shamans, so that's just icing on the cake (e.g., double triggers for Talrand, Sky Summoner , Archmage Emeritus or Guttersnipe are pretty neat).

Let me know how the prodigy works out for your Niv deck!

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 2: Mono-Blue …

1 month ago

Let’s be clear and open this by admitting I’d never considered building a mono-blue deck before now. In fact, I can clearly remember only one in all my years on playing, and we didn’t finish the game (he left for a Killer Instinct tournament). That said, blue forms the backbone of several favorite decks. Those of you who have braved the mono-blue challenge, I salute. Or rather, I salute those of you who didn’t shuffle islands and counterspells together until you had ninety-nine and then threw Talrand, Sky Summoner on top as the world’s most unimaginative cherry.

That lone blue deck I saw? The first spell in the game gets played. Mr. Talrand peers at it, then nods and says “I’ll allow it.” You could see his name appearing in neon at the top of the table’s hit list, and he hadn’t introduced himself or even played a spell yet. This, I think, is what a lot of folk unjustly assume of mono-blue: that attitude, that play style. But at its best, blue is a beautiful game of dancing on the edge, bringing grace and guile to the table beyond anything the other colors can manage.

Or drop Cyclonic Rift and then swing in with Atemsis, All-Seeing . Sometimes clever doesn’t cut it.

Blue has enough mass in squelchy things from the deep to square off with anything but the swollest green, and the islandwalk to not bother. Curse of the Swine and Rite of Replication are only two of the many mean, mean things you can do to a board state. Just the knowledge that counters exist leaves blue players resigned to suspicious looks whenever opponents so much as breathe. And yet, for all this power, blue truly outshines the other colors in three areas: draw, artifact manipulation, and control. Let’s talk commanders for these archetypes, shall we? Again, please bear in mind the point isn’t to discuss the competitive but rather to celebrate the thematic. Happily, blue has a bounty of legends loaded with both!

Draw

Ah, Blue Sun's Zenith . Only blue can kill with this peculiar species of lunatic kindness. While there isn’t a mono-blue commander that has this exact effect… yet… it highlights the singular relationship blue has with drawing cards. Whether you want to draw or deck, if you like a full hand then look no further.

Tribal is an archetype available to all colors. While I’m trying to steer away from that as a theme, we must talk Azami if we talk draw engines. There are many, many good wizards, and her ladyship is an absolute powerhouse of card advantage. Arcanis the Omnipotent is omnijealous, bitterly sulking in the 99.

For the more political blue players we go once more to Kamigawa. He’s little, group-huggy, and a fantastic choice for those who appreciate the challenge of treating their commander as an afterthought. Besides, nobody resents an extra card until you drop the sphinx. You know the one.

Can’t be countered. No maximum hand size. Whenever your opponent goes noncreature, draw a card. Blink. I hope the Scots are pleased, because Nessie is quite the monster. Seven mana is a lot, but so, so worth it to play this unholy avatar of blue. Give thanks and happy chortles as she pours cards into your endless hand and flickers past everything that isn’t Molten Disaster .

Artifacts

Where Red abuses artifacts the way black abuses… well, everything, blue takes it to full symbiosis, protecting, enhancing, and eating the pancreas of anyone who offends their precious toys. Blue has the tutors, the synergies, the splendiferous Tezzeret the Seeker . If you like artifacts but aren’t quite crazy enough to go full colorless, blue is your in.

In a singleton game, tutors are king. Long live Arcum. Bonus points if you take out somebody’s combo piece with him while taking a break from digging for yours.

Here’s a pancreas eater for you: theft-by-tutor is unorthodox, but undeniably fun. Blue delights in theft and, as anyone who has siblings will tell you, stolen treats taste better. You’ll never appreciate using your own high-powered tin crap half so much as using your opponent’s high-powered tin crap. Stockpile extra turns and go shopping on the opposition’s dime.

You talk blue artifacts, this guy is in the conversation, if not THE conversation. Lord High Wombo Himself is not here because he makes a goon. Lord High Wombo Himself is not even here because he has mightily potent mana sink if you break infinite. Lord High Wombo Himself is here because of that middle line, turning things like Winter Orb from “our” problem to “your” problem, and that’s just the tip of this degenerate iceberg. Go nuts.

Control

When my wife tells me not to break my toys, this is NOT what she means. No other color manages the sheer mind-bogglery of bouncing, tapping, stealing, and otherwise screwing with other people’s toys without breaking them. No other color boasts this heinous plurality of extra turns, to say nothing of counterspells. Control is the glory and the terror of blue: Laboratory Maniac might take the game for you, but it’s control that will get him there.

Blue is the heavyweight champion of yoink, and Memnarch holds the belt. Just be ready for everyone to treat you like a male dog with a full bladder whenever he takes the field, especially if you had your Mycosynth Lattice in the morning.

Honestly, the pay X bit of this is only tangential for me. Blue is all about minimal force, and tapping something whenever you Opt has very interesting applications. After all, the phrase “doesn’t untap during their untap step” is patented in blue ink. I’m not even sure building around this is a good idea, but you have to admit that Ol’ Gadwick is frightening to any command damage chaser who left their Lightning Greaves at home, especially when Dismiss into Dream is lurking.

We all have strong feelings about counterspells, one way or the other. Forbid is a personal favorite. While Baral’s not that special in a vacuum, he offers hellacious support if you really are all about counterspam. He won’t break the game on his own, but the play-style he encourages certainly has potential for other broken things. Like friendships. Or noses.

And, for my personal favorite... I love perpetually affordable commanders. Rock a few token generators and you might go a whole game paying a single blue mana for this marvel. Sacrifice artifacts are suddenly scary, Sacrificing them suddenly isn’t, and your opponents are suddenly scrabbling for exile effects and that wretched bog. Please remember to bring your self-milling kit, a Mirran Spy , a Mycosynth Golem , and a jar for the tears of your enemies (no sense wasting all that blue mana). First prize if you win with the Phyrexian half of Mirrodin Besieged .

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Black!

Prior Articles: Mono-White

Kwhill on Blind Seer ($50)

2 months ago

Is Talrand, Sky Summoner a good fit in this deck or should I try out some other win con?

Temur_Frontier on i'M A STEGOSAURUS!!!!!!

2 months ago

Talrand, Sky Summoner is just a better Murmuring Mystic , no? Also I feel like Kalamax could use some more cards that tap him, or give him some sort of protection so he can swing through like Whispersilk Cloak .

multimedia on Thunderbutt

3 months ago

Hey, good job upgrading the precon on a budget.

All players at some point have problems with mana screw; it's just part of the randomness of the game when playing more than one color. Ways to reduce the possibility of getting screwed with lands on a budget are slim because you're relying on basic lands, but there's some hope from nonland cards. The three Guild Signets: Izzet Signet , Simic Signet and Gruul Signet are more 2 drop mana rocks that are ramp you can tap any land to make two different colors of mana. Roiling Regrowth is less good Harrow ; more mana fixing with basic lands.

Of course upgrading the manabase with more dual lands: Bond lands, Shock lands, Filter lands, Pathways and less basic lands would help with color fixing. These lands can be expensive and there aren't a lot of good budget options: Shivan Reef , Ash Barrens , Evolving Wilds , Terramorphic Expanse .

Kalamax is nice with more lower mana cost instants that draw or filter: Brainstorm , Impulse , Manamorphose . Solve the Equation is a new card from Strixhaven; it's a tutor for any instant or sorcery. Return of the Wildspeaker is a powerful draw effect with Kalamax because it's going to have high power.

Storm-Kiln Artist is another new card from Strixhaven and it's a repeatable source of treasures which can be saced to make any color of mana. Artist has magecraft which is a busted mechanic with Kalamax because it triggers when you copy a spell. With Artist in your control + tapped Kalamax you create two treasures just by casting the first instant on a turn. If you combo with tapped Kalamax + a Fork this creates infinite treasures which is infinite mana. Prismari Command is an instant that can create a treasure token, two with tapped Kalamax as well as do other effects.

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Some cards to consider cutting:

• 3x Forest
• Halimar Depths
• Djinn Illuminatus
• Wort, the Raidmother
• Charmbreaker Devils
• Rampant Growth
• Magmaquake
• Snap
• Temur Charm
• Crackling Drake
• Talrand, Sky Summoner

If interested I offer more advice. Would you like more advice? Good luck with your deck.

Coward_Token on Strixhaven spoiler season

3 months ago

Oversimplify: I think everyone here knows my feelings on these kind of effects at this point.

Ruxa, Patient Professor: Cute, even if I never personally cared about vanilla tribal.

Fractal Harness: It's neat that the pseudo-Living Weapon part is basically optional since the token will be dead on arrival if you go with X = 0. Obviously another toy for Skullbriar, the Walking Grave . If I got it right, this will trigger Ezuri, Claw of Progress regardless of the value of X, which makes it extra neat for him

Theoretical Duplication: Oof. I doubt you'll get more than one batch of tokens out of this, but basically silencing all Creature spells (and Creature cheating) after the first thing you plagiarize is pretty good too. Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer got another toy in addition to Rionya, Fire Dancer

Spawning Kraken: This could have been a seafood commander in its own right, which makes me think that's something they're going to release relatively soon

Replication Technique: This seems way better than Creative Technique ; you can come to an agreement over what's copied, making it way more predictable

Perplexing Test: Brudiclaaaaad

Deekah, Fractal Theorist: Meh. Slightly more expensive Talrand, Sky Summoner that forces you to keep track of a lot of dice

Esix, Fractal Bloom: Spooky art; more what I had in mind when I heard about the creature type. Anyway, Avenger of Zendikar obviously curves nicely from this, probably intentionally so. Note that it doesn't restrict you to copying just your own creatures.

Coletrain69 on Grixis Spellslinger EDH

4 months ago

Ponder might not be a bad idea and I have a few of them, Gitaxian Probe is also decent for knowing when to save a counter spell and I think I have one of those as well. Three Wishes is a really interesting card that I think would be a lot more fun in commander; I have a couple. Frantic Search might also be decent if you don't like what's in your hand. Cyclonic Rift is also really good and despite it being expensive I'm pretty sure we own one. Talrand, Sky Summoner is also a classic for this kind of deck, and there's also Murmuring Mystic . One of my favs that I think would work really well is The Locust God . Jace's Archivist is really interesting as well and can help you if you're top decking and hurt everyone else, another great option for the same thing is Whispering Madness . Torrential Gearhulk might be slightly pricey but he matches well with what you're doing. Lim-Dul's Vault is also super handy and can be pretty zaney especially for it being cheap. Disallow is pretty crazy too for blocking activated abilities. Bolas's Citadel is also worth looking at. Cursed Totem is really expensive but would also be CRAZY in this deck. Also check out Propaganda .

As far as removal goes, Go for the Throat is always a good option.There's also Slaughter Pact and Force of Despair . Preemptive removal like Sadistic Sacrament would be a great idea as well. Decree of Pain is good but it's mana cost is kind of high; Life's Finale is an equally viable card. Unsommon is super cheap, Boomerang , Undo , Snap , do more or less the same thing.

CommanderOcelot on Tapped Kalamax and Mizzix’s Mastery …

4 months ago

I am sorry for the late response, but the answers thus far have been incorrect. If it is too late anyway, I apologise and moderators may take appropriate actions. It showed up on my Google scouring of Mizzix's Mastery and I didn't want to leave the thread without the proper answer.

Look at the last ruling of Kalamax, the Stormsire , concerning copying cards and not spells. It mentions God-Eternal Kefnet , but it also pertains to Chandra, Pyromaster and Mizzix's Mastery , for instance.

You also would not copy Mizzix's Mastery with Kalamax, the Stormsire due to it not being an instant spell, and Kalamax, the Stormsire only copies instant spells and cares about instant spells being copied. You also do not copy the Opt that you target with Mizzix's Mastery as the first Instant you cast for the turn, due to you copying the spell right onto the stack, and not actually casting an instant spell. This is the same as copying a spell not triggering cards like Talrand, Sky Summoner .

So to summarise: no counters and no extra copies of anything, no infinite shenanigans.

Hope it cleared something up, and again - sorry for the late answer. Please do not hesitate in taking the proper action if I am too late, Mr Moderator, sir. (But if I am too late, do consider automatically locking threads rather than punishing those, who like me, found it through Google)