Tamiyo's Safekeeping

Instant

Target permanent you control gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. You gain 2 life. (A permanent with hexproof and indestructible can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control. Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Standard	Legal
Standard Brawl	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (46)

kamarupa on Population Bomb

1 month ago

Nice work! I guess you really deserve some props, as I've seen plenty of people on here that aren't new list decks as certain formats but still include cards that aren't legal in that format. So that's why I asked.

In terms of advice, I probably have more than you want. For starters, I'm not sure a Populate/Tokens deck is going to be what I would consider "fast-paced." It may or may not keep up with a Goblin deck - it would really depend on the caliber of each deck and to a lesser degree, the player piloting that deck. When it comes to speed, I think of low MV infinite combos, burn, Elves, +1/+1 counter Humans... So if you're really looking for speed, then there may be better place to look.

That said, if it's not so much speed, but a tokens, and tokens that can maybe compete with a fast paced Goblin deck, I think that is probably possible. As it stands, it looks like you've got a fairly budget brew going, though I notice a few pricier spells in the sideboard. So I'll be mentioning both cheap and pricier spells and let you decide where you want to draw the line.

For starters, land is one of the best investments you can make. All decks need it and the better lands you have to choose from, the more solid your decks' foundations will be. In my opinion, there is no point in spending big bucks on spells when your land base can't consistently cast them. www.managathering.com is an awesome resource to find lands. It didn't exist when I first started brewing, but I go there all the time now, namely because I just can't remember all the card names like I used to, lol. Ideally, you want lands that don't enter tapped, especially if you're going for speed. If you can afford them, Temple Garden & Windswept Heath are the perennial favorites. But Razorverge Thicket, Overgrown Farmland, and Branchloft Pathway  ^Flip are all decent. I recommend 22 lands for a "fast deck" - IE a deck with an Average MV of 2 or less (2.05 is close enough). Much greater than 2 average and I'd recommend 23-24 lands. Which stinks, I know, because the more land you include, the less spells you get and more likely you are to get mana screwed. But I've found that if you ever want to reliably cast spells that are 3 or more, you're going to need those extra few lands. Even with mana ramp, 16 is not enough land.

Typically, Artifact/Enchantment removal spells go in the sideboard. And typically, people run 4x creature removal in the mainboard: Any of the following would be good: Winds of Abandon, Sheltered by Ghosts, Path to Exile should be in the mainboard.

Druid's Deliverance is fun, but even in decks where I include Fog, I rarely include more than 1 copy. At double the MV, Druid's Deliverance is either going to tie up your mana (slowing you down), and/or delay instead of remove, and/or get cast just for the populate, which you already have spells for. So I'd suggest cutting it 1 copy.

Fight as One is... a decent spell. Heroic Intervention would be better. Since all but 1 of your creatures is white, Brave the Elements would be more versatile and cheaper and Tamiyo's Safekeeping is just cheaper. In my experience, 1 is the MV that is best for protection spells because it doesn't need as much mana to be available - that is - they're just more versatile. And I usually only include 1-2 of such spells.

I'd just cut Selesnya Charm. It just doesn't do anything that well and it's single use doesn't make it valuable enough to include.

Call of the Conclave is similar to Selesnya Charm - tokens aren't much about how big so much as how many. Repeatable token generators are going to be bigger threats than single-use spells.

The thing with Populate is that it doesn't really give you much oomph unless you've got bigger tokens. So you're not wrong looking for tokens that are on the bigger size. But since tokens are easy to get rid of and impossible to bring back, most people ignore the Populate mechanic altogether in favor of making lots of tokens as quickly as possible and at instant speed if they can.

Thraben Doomsayer is pretty good, though I do hate the 3MV casting cost. But you can make tokens at instant speed, which is great, and you can do it every turn.

Lingering Souls is one of the best token spells because you get so many for not that much mana, though you don't have the black mana here to make it worthwhile.

Tocasia's Welcome is great card draw for tokens, namely if you can create a token on your turn and your opponent's turn.

Creatures that care about ETB triggers are really good with tokens, too. You really can't go wrong with Soul Warden and/or Soul's Attendant - with 6+ Soul Sisters, I'd imagine a Goblin deck would find it very difficult to hit you for more life than they cause you to gain. And if you can gain enough life, Speaker of the Heavens gives you tokens that are worth Populating.

Growing Ranks is pretty good, but at 4MV,it's on the slow side.

Overrun is a good spell here, and I think you've got the right number.

Wake the Reflections is ok, I guess, but again, only copying 1 token just isn't as good as it might seem. At least it only costs you 1 to cast. The question is whether its actually powerful enough to be worth including, verses using that space for more token spells.

Something like Ephemerate or Cloudshift would probably be good with Hare Apparent

I like Finneas, Ace Archer, but I don't like it enough to overlook its Legendary status to run 4 copies.

Broad-stroke advice: 4x creature removal, 2x protection spell, 1x fog spell, 22x lands, 2-3x card advantage spell, 12x token generators, 8x ETB trigger spells. That leaves you with about 10 spells to lean into a mechanic like populate or more removal, etc, etc.

Please don't think what I write is definitive or that I'm insisting. Ignore whatever you want. I'm just throwing out my thoughts, hoping something might be useful for you.

kamarupa on pigs do fly

2 months ago

I love this concept of flying pigs. Absolute riot. But I want to encourage to try to make it as viable as possible.

For starters, I'd like to see Brindle Shoat get cut, because it's the only non-modern legal spell. Might as well go for legal since you're so close.

I'd also like to see non-boars get cut. There are enough boars and ways to make them fly. Perhaps the most obvious boar that's missing being Ilharg, the Raze-Boar. I realize red is an extra color, but most boars are within the gruul color set, so adding red opens a lot of doors. More importantly, Ilharg helps you get a lot of the high MV creatures into play, which seems pretty helpful.

Cliffhaven Kitesail seems like a good fit, being lower MV to cast, and more durable than an Enchantment.

I've never been much of a fan of Explore because if it's not in your opening hand, it's too common not to get to play an extra card, and 2MV is too much for a cantrip. 20 lands is def on the low side, too, especially with an average MV of 3.48, which is quite high. I suggest you go with Fertile Ground instead, which will ramp much more consistently and also mana fix. Alternatively, you could go with a slower ramp, but still get the cantrip (albeit at a high MV) with Weirding Wood. I also think you need to add 3 lands.

With how many high MV spells here, I think Fog would be useful.

I'd cut the way too high MV Emeria's Call for Heroic Intervention or Tamiyo's Safekeeping or Vines of Vastwood or Tyvar's Stand, etc.

I'd like to see 4xPath to Exile and also 2-3xHarmonize. It's going to be difficult to get everything to fit into only 60 cards, but I find it's generally really helpful to have at least 4x removal and at last 2x draw card.

kamarupa on Squirrels, Squirrels, Squirrels! (Squirrel Prison)

3 months ago

Fun stuff! I have some thoughts. I hope you find something useful, but no worries if you don't!

White is really where it's at with enchantments and the graveyard, namely Hall of Heliod's Generosity. I'd imagine if that were the only thing you needed white mana for, you could probably pretty often get by with a Birds of Paradise and maybe something like a Fertile Ground or Prismatic Omen. However, there are some other nice white spells that might prove just as helpful to you - Sacred Ground and Terra Eternal.

I don't play competitive MTG, but it's my understanding that in fast formats like Modern, you don't really need or even want repeatable/permanent solutions to threats your opponents might have. What we want are fast, efficient, and broadly applicable answers that buy us just enough time to gain enough advantage to win. So my advice - and do take this as a humble suggestion and not any sort criticism - is to forget the artifact defenses (and enchantments I mention above) and focus on having the mana available to cast your counterspells and/or add some low MV protection spells like Tamiyo's Safekeeping or Heroic Intervention and also a Fog/Holy Day or two.

I'd also say that while Drift of Phantasms is decent, I've come to prefer card advantage over tutors. It always seems like it too much to spend 3MV on a cantrip tutor that also reveals your threat. If you wait until you have enough mana to tutor a card, cast it, and have the mana to protect it for two turns, you're already looking at something like T10 without a synergized ramp in place. And that's probably just too slow for [competitive] modern. So, personally, and again, I'm not interested in competitive play, so feel free to ignore me, but I prefer spells like Harmonize for the card advantage and broader range of impact in getting me what I need, even if it is more of a gamble than a tutor. If you keep the artifact defense, you might consider Thoughtcast.

As much as I like what you're trying to do, I'd want an extra land or two, even with the Birds of Paradise. As little as I like it, I've come to believe 22+ lands is usually worth it, especially in a deck that's counting on casting multiple 3MV spells for their win-con.

I like a lot of things about Verdant Command, but I haven't found it useful enough in my little playgroup to warrant a full set in a mainboard.

My final piece of advice is to use the 'Copy Deck' feature here to make forks of this to try out things I suggested (and other ideas you might have). I find it so useful to have multiple builds of the same deck to playtest and compare what's really helping, what isn't, what's fun, what's slow, etc.

kamarupa on RG Landfall

4 months ago

I hope the following helps.

my general rules of thumb for deck building: It's all about basic utilities: include card draw (must gain us card advantage - one card needs to draw at least 2), removal (minimum 4x), and a few protection spells. Approx 20 creatures, 23 lands, 3 draw card, 4 removal, 2 protection. That leaves room for about 8 synergy spells.

I suggest cutting 2 lands, 2 Cultivates, 1 Nissa's Renewal, and all the Pickaxes. That makes room for 8 spells.

With those 8 slots, I'd add 3x Harmonize - it doesn't synergize like Cultivate, but it's more versatile and keeps your deck hitting for more turns, so I think the trade-off is worth it. I'd also add 2xTamiyo's Safekeeping, and 3xLightning Bolt or Beast Within or a combination of both.

I'd also suggest trying to get 2 more Lotus Cobra, as that's ramp+synergy, though I understand it's one of the few 'pricey' spells here. I'd cut the Scythe Leopard and 1x Geopede to make room for those. You could probably stand to trim a few more creatures than that. Wouldn't be bad to have a few extra slots to play with. Consider which creatures are the best value and make a few cuts.

I also suggest you make a copy of this deck (tappedout has a handy button for that!) and try out the edits I suggest that way. You can playtest and compare and decide what's helping and what isn't.

ThatKeefGuy on Big Boulder Throw

4 months ago

kamarupa I like the idea, stopping an important card from getting pinged with a Tamiyo's Safekeeping is good counterplay. I kinda discourage the idea of cutting any Seismic Assaults because it betters the odds of getting one opening hand or on a clutch draw. Yes it will be a dead card once one is on the field but I find its better to have a dead draw than be left more turns than needed without one. I'll definitely workshop variants with Tamiyo's Safekeeping though. A great addition and could help with long-game consistency. Will still crank odds with 1 or 2 less Seismic Assaults too.

kamarupa on Big Boulder Throw

4 months ago

Overall, I like the build. I do, however, have one concern - you have very few creatures and they're almost all 3+MV. I think they're going to be easy for opponents to remove. So perhaps something like Tamiyo's Safekeeping might be worth considering in place of Regrowth or a couple Seismic Assaults. With the 'Assaults, after you get one down, the rest are basically dead cards.

kamarupa on The Passive Aggressive Aproach

4 months ago

Overall, I like the deck. I have a few thoughts that could be helpful. Feel free to disregard.

Mill is something a lot of players hate. I think defenders are decent way to counter some of that hate, but I'd expect very aggressive removal of your two mana dorks, Axebane Guardian and Overgrown Battlement in second games. I see you have 2xTurn Aside, which I'm sure helps, but I suspect something like Tamiyo's Safekeeping or Vines of Vastwood (there's a ton a green protection spells, really) would be more useful, as they could help with surviving blocking huge creatures in addition to foiling removal.

Banefire seems better than Bonfire of the Damned, since it can't be countered or prevented at a pretty low threshold.

Freed from the Real seems like a good fit here - lower casting cost than Sword of the Paruns and lower activation cost and no equip cost

63 is 3 too many. There are non-essential defenders that could easily be cut, and spells like Opt and Divination don't strike me as perfect fits for the deck, either. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of draw card in Modern, but I also think it's always best if you can get that draw card to come with synergy. For example, you have Wall of Runes and Gatecreeper Vine already - these seem at least 'on-theme' in a helpful way that render Opt more like filler than utility. You might also consider Wall of Omens or Drift of Phantasms instead of Divination. I'd also even favor Harmonize over Divination, as 3 cards for 4MV is a better deal than 2 cards for 3MV and more card draw off a single spell is more effective and efficient.

windwolf1978 on

6 months ago

BioProfDude Thank you for the sugestions. I added Vampire of the Dire Moon. The reason i chose Tamiyo's Safekeeping over Snakeskin Veil was due to potential board wipes.