Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Legendary Creature — Human Soldier

First strike

Noncreature spells cost more to cast.

Discussion (51)

GhostChieftain on Tomik the Taxman

1 day ago

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Eight-and-a-Half-Tails , Kataki, War's Wage , Hokori, Dust Drinker or Thalia, Heretic Cathar would be better options as commander here imo. Tomik is a very narrow effect

multimedia on Akiri and Bruse *EDH Testing*

2 weeks ago

Hey, saw your forum topic asking for help. This is a good start, you have the right idea if you want to make this a cEDH deck then stax is a direction to consider, but there's only three stax cards here.

Consider more stax and hatebears?

• Tangle Wire
• Static Orb
• Smokestack
• Ethersworn Canonist
• Blood Moon
• Armageddon
• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• Hokori, Dust Drinker
• Phyrexian Revoker
• Pithing Needle
• Sphere of Resistance
• Magus of the Moon
• Stranglehold
• Linvala, Keeper of Silence
• Smoke
• Spirit of the Labyrinth
• Rule of Law
• Containment Priest
• Rampaging Ferocidon
• Torpor Orb
• Harsh Mentor

Priest, Ferocidon and Mentor depend on the meta you play in, but each can stop combos. Priest prevents reanimation combos, Ferocidon prevents infinite creature combos and Mentor prevents infinite nonmana activated abilities combos.

Red does a good job of hating on blue.

• Pyroblast
• Red Elemental Blast
• Boil

All these can be cast with Sunforger.

Extra turn spells can let you hit another player with Akiri potentially killing two players or more with Commander damage.

• Angel's Grace
• Last Chance
• Final Fortune
• Chance for Glory

Grace can prevent you from losing the game after casting these extra turn spells and Grace can be cast with Sunforger.

Other cards to consider adding:

• Gamble
• Mana Vault
• Grand Abolisher
• Faithless Looting
• Chaos Warp
• Vandalblast

---

Out of all these suggestions consider this expanded stax package and additional cards to consider adding:

• Tangle Wire
• Static Orb
• Ethersworn Canonist
• Blood Moon
• Armageddon
• Phyrexian Revoker
• Pithing Needle
• Smoke
• Spirit of the Labyrinth
• Rule of Law
• Gamble
• Mana Vault
• Grand Abolisher
• Pyroblast
• Vandalblast
• Angel's Grace
• Last Chance
• Final Fortune
• Chance for Glory

Good luck with your deck.

rdean14 on Card creation challenge

3 weeks ago

(btw, I'm loose on Hatebear definition, so Hushbringer , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Gaddock Teeg , and even Tomik, Distinguished Advokist count in my book)

6721 on Angelic Reliquary: Archangel Avacyn

3 weeks ago

Out: Gorgon's Head , Restoration Specialist . Faithless Looting , Cavalier of Dawn , Bounty Agent , Harmonious Archon , and a Plains

In: Enlightened Tutor , Memory Jar , Sensei's Divining Top , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben , Chandra, Torch of Defiance , Smokestack , and Ancient Tomb

StopShot on I think Eldraine’s Fervent Champion ...

3 weeks ago

Card: Fervent Champion

Before I start I want to preface that I don’t think this card is auto-include powerful like Goblin Guide or Monastery Swiftspear , but I am of the impression that if your deck really wants a third 1-mana haste creature that this card is your best choice to include. (Not every burn deck wants more creatures, but some decks would prefer more consistency when starting the game with an early board-presence and it’s those decks where I think this card matters in.)

In the past various burn decks have tried to find success with cards such as Bomat Courier , Fanatical Firebrand , Legion Loyalist , Spark Elemental , and Village Messenger  ^Flip, but none of these cards have done well enough to maintain a consistent foothold in the format, and they’re mostly relegated to very fringe or budget play only. Now having any of these one-mana 1/1 haste creatures isn’t exactly horrible if it’s the only creature in your opening hand as it can deal anywhere from 2-to-4 damage depending on the matchup, if you’re going first, and whether you have a Searing Blaze to take out a potential chump blocker. Again these one-mana haste creatures pale in comparison to Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear , but they do serve a purpose if you don’t have GG or Swifty in your opening hand, and it’s still very possible to win a game if you have to start it with a Fanatical Firebrand or Bomat Courier .

No, what cards like Fanatical Firebrand and Bomat Courier suffer the most from is when you run into duplicates of them in a game. While ending up with a second or third FF or BC is fairly unlikely it can make winning that game very unfavorable, because collectively a group of Fanatical Firebrand s will end up doing far less damage than a group of Goblin Guide s or a group of Lightning Bolt s. I believe it’s this distinction that separates the must-play cards from the fringe-play cards despite both groups having the capacity to win games with under the right circumstances.

I also believe this is what makes Fervent Champion different from the fringe-group of haste creatures, because the amount of damage it deals increases in the event you end up with duplicates of it. Refer to the card’s second line of text, “Whenever Fervent Champion attacks, another attacking Knight you control gets +1/+0 until end of turn.” If you have two Champions you can have them pump each other collectively dealing 4 damage instead of 2. Even if the Champion is the only Knight in your burn deck the Champion is only meant to be included to improve the consistency of having a turn 1 creature in your opening hand that isn’t set back if you end up with duplicates and that’s all we really want it to do for it to be good enough in the first place.

Lastly before I close some of you may argue that Ghitu Lavarunner would be a better creature to run over the Champion as it would be easier for a burn deck to put two instants and/or sorceries in the graveyard rather than end up with a duplicate creature. The problem with this argument is Ghitu Lavarunner is a really bad early game creature. Unless you heavily alter your deck to accommodate the Lavarunner, T1 it deals no damage, T2 after you play your two non-creature spells it deals 2 damage and by T3 the Lavarunner has collectively dealt 4 overall damage by now. If I play only 1 Champion starting on T1 like the Lavarunner by T3 the Champion will collectively dealt 3 damage overall. This is only if we compare the Lavarunner’s best case scenario however; because if our Lavarunner opening hand has another creature(s) in hand we will have to play that creature(s) first otherwise we won’t be able to maximize the damage that creature(s) can do, and thus we’d be unable to power-up the Lavarunner by turn 2. Furthermore if we don’t have two one-mana damage spells to cast by T2 or two land cards to play by T2 the Lavarunner won’t get its buff anyway. The Champion doesn’t have such glaring setbacks and will end up dealing more or equal damage than the Lavarunner under the same circumstances. In addition, if we start the game with two Ghitu Lavarunner s the most damage they could deal by turn 2 would be 1 or 2 damage. Likewise if you start the game with two Fervent Champion s the most damage they could deal by T2 would be 4 or 5 damage. It is with all this in mind that I find the Fervent Champion more practical to run in the burn deck than the Ghitu Lavarunner .

With all that being said I’ve goldfished the Fervent Champion in my own burn deck slotting it in where I would put my third set of one-mana haste creatures along with my play set of Goblin Guide s and Monastery Swiftspear s. Personally, I’d recommend running four Fervent Champion s, because it’s like playing with an extra set of Goblin Guide s whenever I get duplicates. I will acknowledge that creature removal can disrupt the damage output, but that can be said for any creature that gets removed and it frankly says a lot about the power level if my opponent would rather take out my second Champion than my G-Guide or Swifty. Also the First Strike on Champion definitely gives it some longevity on the battlefield being able to eat rather than trade with cards like Elvish Mystic or Snapcaster Mage or Dark Confidant while also being able to trade with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben as a definite advantage.

Also I don’t run any equipment or other Knights in my deck. The Champion is just good on his own and adding equipment and/or more knights would probably make your deck worse. I wouldn’t knock the Champion from your consideration until you’ve tested a play set of it for yourself. I get the feeling the card is going to be somewhat of a sleeper given it’s low price tag right now.

DeRotto17 on V A L U E T O W N

3 weeks ago

@ jesmister ... "just some creatures that don't have too much value"

• Kitchen Finks = one of the best value cards out there
• Wilt-Leaf Liege = gives just about all my creatures +2/+2 while also being a 4/4 with discard protection? solid.
• Dryad Militant = graveyard hate and solid aggro value at 1 CMC
• Emmara, Soul of the Accord = get a 1/1 creature w/ lifelink every time she taps? yes please
• Qasali Pridemage = exalted, enchantment/artifact hate ability which always comes in handy
• Voice of Resurgence = restricts opponents on my turn, comes back as a creature (usually much bigger)
• Thalia, Heretic Cathar = great card to get out on turn 3, helps restrict opponent in the early game
• Scavenging Ooze = more graveyard hate, lifegain, gets big
• Knight of the Reliquary = mana fixer, gets big
• Thalia, Guardian of Thraben = nuff said
• Knight of Autumn = great utility card
• Rancor = one of the best 1-drop auras in the game
• Path to Exile = arguably the best value-kill spell in the game
• Fleecemane Lion = doesn't wow, but 3/3 for 2 CMC with a late-game ability that gets full +2/+2 buff is solid

I've play-tested with other cards like Eternal Witness , Collected Company , Loxodon Smiter , and Birds of Paradise just to name a few, but currently am content with where this deck is at and how it fares in competition.

If you can't see any sort of value in this deck I'd recommend getting your eyes checked, or at least turning your brain on before posting another clueless comment like that :)

dingusdingo on Board wipes & land destruction

1 month ago

GhostChieftain speaks the truth and posted the bomb cards. I would add some wide stuff to get ahead in advantage as well, Wildest Dreams (extremely underrated card imo especially for casual) Harmonize Regal Force Shamanic Revelation

Overall, I think MLD is an extremely viable strategy, but as mentioned before, timing is crucial. If you drop it after securing a much stronger board state than anyone else, you've almost definitely sealed the game.

People get unhappy pretty fast because they want to actually play their cards, and they don't recognize that resource denial is a valid (and extremely strong) strategy. People will react similarly to a cost increaser stax deck with Sphere of Resistance Thorn of Amethyst Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Ethersworn Canonist Lodestone Golem Trinisphere Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and similar. That type of deck can shut out an entire table, but expect to have your board completely dismantled if someone slips out from your control.

I recommend bringing multiple decks to games, so you can gauge the power level if playing for fun. I have a $1100 semi competitive Kess deck that is tons of fun to play, but playing against 3 other players with a combined deck worth of $150 makes for extremely fast and boring games. Bring a battlecruiser, high powered, and competitive deck (or two high powered if you don't have a competitive) to all commander games if you don't know what the game will be like.

Peisistratos on Competitive Modern Mill

1 month ago

zga sure! I'm currently on the following guidelines. However, be aware of your opponent game biases (aggressive, controlling..). This is more relevant to sideborading than you might think.

Burn: -4 Fraying Sanity -4 Darkness +3 Crypt Incursion +4 Fatal Push +1 Set Adrift . But really, side as you want. You can't win even sideboarding 15 dedicated cards. I tested the matchup extensively with any possible combination of cards.

Infect: -4 Fraying Sanity -4 Breaking +4 Fatal Push +4 Set Adrift . Still the matchup is desperate, don't hope to win even a single game.

Hatebears, Humans, Spirits: -4 Fraying Sanity -4 Darkness +3 Crypt Incursion +4 Fatal Push +1 Set Adrift . Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Unsettled Mariner are Public Enemies Number One. We can usually play around the rest, nonetheless those matchups are really really hard.

Jund: -4 Darkness -1 Field of Ruin +4 Fatal Push +1 Crypt Incursion . The matchup is hard, there is no question their cards are better than ours. After thoroughly testing it, I can surmise their only ways of winning quite always involve an early unanswered Tarmogoyf , a rain of discard spells followed by a Tarmogoyf , or that same stream of discard spells followed by us flooding out. Crypt Incursion seems strong at a first glance, but we are usually forced to cast it too early because of the pressure imposed by Liliana of the Veil or Scavenging Ooze . What's left of their deck is often quite irrelevant (feel free to swear at me, Jund players of the world: it's the truth, against Mill your other cards are too much situational).

Death's Shadow: no changes. The matchup surely is difficult, but not one that we cannot emerge victorious from.

Eldrazi Tron: -4 Darkness +3 Crypt Incursion +1 Set Adrift . The matchup is quite even. If we manage to stem a chancely aggressive start, we should race Karn, the Great Creator .

Hardened Scales: -3 Fraying Sanity -4 Visions of Beyond +3 Crypt Incursion +4 Fatal Push . Just time your Darkness correctly and win on top of it as the plan wisely prescribes. The matchup is probably played on equal terms as for winning odds.

Dredge: -4 Breaking -3 Fraying Sanity +3 Crypt Incursion +4 Surgical Extraction . We cannot win game 1 because of Creeping Chill . If you manage to insulate yourself from it, game 2-3 become fairly easy. Just wait for them to mill themselves or lose time while you set youself up.

Storm: -4 Fraying Sanity +4 Surgical Extraction . You cannot win game 1, but game 2-3 if you manage to extract Past in Flames with the aim of fogging Empty the Warrens the game becomes pretty straightforward.

Urza: -4 Fraying Sanity -4 Darkness +4 Surgical Extraction +4 Set Adrift . Game 1 revolves around them playing Urza, Lord High Artificer in time, game 2-3 are pretty easy for us. Set Adrift is not really needed, but so are so many card advantage sources: we play it just in case we can sneak it in to delay them mostly out of sadicity.

Control: -4 Darkness +4 Surgical Extraction . Just get rid of their counterspell or Snapcaster Mage 's targets. If they are going nuts with too many copies of Teferi, Time Raveler , Narset, Parter of Veils or Gideon of the Trials , add some copies of Set Adrift for Mind Funeral s in quantity depending on their mix of those spells. Narset, Parter of Veils nerfs down Visions of Beyond , Teferi, Time Raveler completely neuters Shelldock Isle and Gideon of the Trials wins by itself making ourselves uncapable of winning. Just ignore anything else. The matchup goes to unlosable to unwinnable depending on their list.

Tron: -4 Darkness +4 Surgical Extraction . Game 1 is pretty easy for us, and post board they can hardly win any game.

Valakut: -4 Darkness +4 Set Adrift just for show. They really cannot beat us.

Amulet: -4 Darkness +4 Set Adrift . They usually cannot assemble the whole combo (haste+double attack) because we're milling them, so we just need to get rid of Leyline of Sanctity in game 2-3 and win before they do.