Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

First strike

Noncreature spells cost more to cast.

Discussion (51)

YoungHudson on Kambal, Consul of Analcation

1 week ago

Aura of Silence Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Thalia, Heretic Cathar Swords to Plowshares Path to Exile Ghostly Prison Damn Grand Abolisher Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite Aven Mindcensor Blind Obedience Ashes of the Abhorrent Smothering Tithe Archon of Emeria Opposition Agent Archfiend of Depravity Dread Linvala, Keeper of Silence Avacyn, Angel of Hope

zapyourtumor on Braids pox

2 weeks ago

I've always wanted to build a braids modern deck, but casting a 4 drop in a smallpox deck always seemed a bit risky to me, while running braids without smallpox always seemed too slow. Here are my comments on your list:

You have some cards that don't add enough to your gameplan.

1) Greater Harvester looks cute, but it sucks. A static ability that only affects you, while the only way for it to cause your opponent to sacrifice stuff is to deal combat damage with a 5/6 vanilla creature without any evasion or trample or anything. Even with Braids wiping your opponent's board this card will definitely hurt you more than them. World Queller is still pretty expensive, but has a much nicer effect that lets you choose the permanent type. I probably wouldn't run either but having another 5 cmc Braids is cool.

2) Tergrid, God of Fright  ^Flip definitely seems too slow as well but maybe the flip side is okay. I doubt it though.

3) I know you run Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to tax your opponents and make it even harder for them to cast spells along with braids, but you have so many noncreature spells that it's probably not that good here either.

4) Leyline of the Meek synergizes with your token plan, but doesn't help you stretch out the game, deny your opponent resources, or create more tokens for yourself. If you really want to play something to buff your tokens I'd use Intangible Virtue , but I don't recommend it.

5) Timely Reinforcements definitely doesn't fit here. There's a reason it usually isn't played in decks with a lot of other token producers - because then its effect would be useless. Add in braids wiping the opponent's creatures and it becomes even worse. 4 Souls + 4 BB already seems like a good token package to me. It could maybe be a one-of in the sideboard though against hyper-aggressive decks.

6) Cabal Coffers is very questionable, since your land count is probably not going to be that high. If you are going to keep it, definitely add more Urborgs. Also 25 lands is a little high even for a pox deck like this one, I think 24 is the perfect number.

7) Crucible of Worlds does have nice synergy with sacrificing lands (and replaying Flagstones is pretty cool) but a lot of the time you would probably be sacrificing tokens instead. I don't think the card is that great here unless you have Flagstones of Trokair on the field, so if you need space for other cards I would recommend cutting these.

You should probably have more early game resource denial, lower your mana curve, and have more pieces that break symmetry.

1) Braids is a four drop, and doesn't have any impact on the board unless she survives a turn. You definitely need something early game that has a similar effect to braids. I don't think this deck can function without 4x Smallpox .

2) 4x Flagstones of Trokair . No questions asked. Also 2-3 Urborgs (esp if you keep Cabal Coffers). T1 Urborg, Inquisition/Thoughtseize into T2 flagstones + smallpox is backbreaking.

3) Bloodghast gives something to discard to pox, and you can repeatedly sacrifice it to braids as well. Nether Spirit is another option but I don't think it works well here.

4) Multiples of Braids suck, so I'd go down to 3 copies.

5) You could consider Sedgemoor Witch as a token producer instead of Bitterblossom. Not quite as sure about this one; it does something even if you only use the tokens to feed braids and gains life while BB loses life, but it also costs 1 more mana and acts as a juicy removal target. However, with braids on the field you already have removal targets so it probably isn't as much of an issue as it seems.

Your only early game disruption is Thoughtseize. This is definitely not enough.

1) I'd run 6-8 discard spells total between Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek . Honestly, In my opinion the best is a 4 IoK/2 Seize split, since IoK is better early game and you should be able to prevent your opponent from casting 4+ cmc spells anyways.

2) I understand that you are running Vindicate so you can blow up your opponent's lands, but you should definitely have some cheaper removal. I'd probably cut one and run 2-3 Fatal Push . Bloodchief's Thirst or Prismatic Ending could also work, just anything that isn't Path to Exile .

About the sideboard cards

1) Definitely Kataki, War's Wage for artifact hate, make sure to side out Crucible if you decide to keep it though. Stony Silence is another alternative that you can't sacrifice to pox or Braids.

2) Some boardwipes are probably needed, even though they don't synergize that well with tokens or braids. Without them, you'll just get run over by aggressive decks. Best ones are Damn and Bontu's Last Reckoning (first one is more of a 1-2x mainboard card, while second one is probably a 2-of in the sideboard).

3) Grave hate, Rest in Peace is best but Leyline of the Void also works.

4) Kor Firewalker for burn and/or other aggressive red-centered strategies (like rakdos aggro). Dragon's Claw also works if you don't want to sacrifice it to Smallpox, or if the WW is hard to cast.

zapyourtumor on orzhov afterlife lv 1

2 weeks ago

agentrex I think the deck definitely has a lot of potential for modern, we just need to find the right upgrades for the format. Some options I'm considering are 1) a more DnT type build with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 2) Stoneforge Mystic package 3) Aether Vial build.

Red_X on Ragavan+Thalia

1 month ago

I'm wanting to try Boros D&T, but I'm trying to figure out the Ragavan/Thalia conundrum. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is very powerful, but really needs cheap removal to work well so it can get through blockers. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a staple of the deck and also powerful, but hurts cheap removal plans. Is there a way to make them play well together, or do I just need to drop one?

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Card creation challenge

2 months ago

sergiodelrio: This is giving me a headache for figuring out ways to make this cost more. Damping Sphere , Geist-Fueled Scarecrow , Glowrider , Lodestone Golem , Sphere of Resistance , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Thorn of Amethyst , Vryn Wingmare are what I found. Seems interesting.

plakjekaas on Mono White Ramp/Draw

4 months ago

And if you want more lands in play than your opponents, you play green. It's a concession of the color. Red, black and blue also don't put extra lands in play, save for silly things like Dreamscape Artist .

I'm not against helping white, but just copying the other colors is not the way. I wish they made a Mangara, the Diplomat -like card that gives you a treasure whenever an opponent had a second land enter the battlefield this turn, punishing fetch lands and green ramp. You know, a white way to deal with it, punishing players for trying to get ahead, like Rule of Law and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben do. You could even give it a fun play-on-words name related to Land Tax . Price it right, so it won't ruin modern/legacy though.

plakjekaas on Would a White Version of …

5 months ago

Mcat1999 except that a corrupt emperor who oppresses the masses for its own benefits is not white in philosophy. Selfishness at the expense of others is as black as it gets. Masses of commonfolk rebelling to uphold the laws broken by a corrupt government, those are the white party in the conflict.

The emperor perfoming a ritual to obtain omnipotence, and the valiantly defying masses rising up against him to Cancel the conjured magic, and restore law & order back to the world, that's the flavor of a white Stifle . That's why white has so many weenies with rule-imposing static effects, the little guy upholding the law and ensuring the silly blue, black, red and green Mages obey. That's why they're supposed to be symmetrical effects like on Leonin Arbiter , Tocatli Honor Guard and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , because nobody is above the law, especially not yourself. That's why I think your flavor text would fit a colorshifted - Stifle , and not really a one.

What you're doing is translating your own interpretation of game mechanics, as they are, into color philosophy, by what you think the intended purpose was behind a card like Armageddon ; Instead it should be the other way around, letting established color philosophy guide the design process of the (flavor of the) card.

From the article on Colors found at MTG Wiki:

White

White puts value in the group, the community, and its civilization as a whole. White believes that suffering is a by-product of individuals not prioritizing the good of the group. White's ultimate goal is peace—a world where there is no unnecessary suffering, a world where life is as good as it can be for each individual, a world where everyone gets along and no one seeks to disturb the bonds of unity that White had worked so long to forge. To govern and protect its community, White makes use of and puts value in a number of broad concepts; morality (ethics, grace, truth), order (law, discipline, duty), uniformity (conformity, religion), and structure (government, planning, reason). White is a color commonly associated with good and justice, but if left unchecked or if everyone is not working toward the same unified goal, White can become authoritarian, inflexible, and capable of sacrificing a small group for the sake of a larger one. Everything necessary to preserve the laws, rules, and governance that White created.

I really cannot rhyme these described motivations with a corrupt Emperor oppressing its nation's people, that's why I don't agree with this being the flavor text for a white card as is, no matter how politically relevant the metaphor.

RobRobertson120 on Kick Start My Heart | Winota, Joiner of Forces EDH

5 months ago

Hello, I'm an amateur Boros player from Standard and Modern looking to build my first Commander deck and Winota looks like a great card to build around. I was wondering if you could advise me on whether or not the following cards would be good fits in a Winota deck: Kytheon, Hero of Akros  ^Flip, Gideon, Ally of Zendikar , Sunhome Guildmage , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Thalia, Heretic Cathar , Silverblade Paladin , Hanweir Lancer , Frontline Medic , Bomber Corps , Tajic, Legion's Edge