The Blackstaff of Waterdeep

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Legality

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

The Blackstaff of Waterdeep

Legendary Artifact

You may choose not to untap this during your untap step.

Animate Walking Statue* — , : Another target nontoken artifact you control becomes a 4/4 artifact creature for as long as this remains tapped. Activate this ability only as a sorcery.

itsbuzzi on List of Bugs and Feature …

11 months ago

That's what appears to be happening but on the back end I have my accordion panel open, spoilers inside, then the endpanel. For some reason the panel is closing before the endpanel command.

For instance, where the panel first has an uncoded break is written exactly like this (copy and pasted):

Mono Green Karn Show

The panel is closing right after the On the Play paragraph in this spoiler for some reason, but my endpanel is all the way at the end of the Specific Sideboard Guide.

I thought it may have been spaces or the omission of spaces but that appears to not be the case. It used to work previously and broke one day without my meddling with it.

CRKFIEND on Ensoul-a-thopter

1 year ago

legendofa I REALLY like The Blackstaff of Waterdeep! I'm gonna have to put a couple of copies into the deck. I'm not sure that I'm ready to dump the Illusory Angels until I find a great replacement, but I'm not sure that I want to mainboard Counterspell even though It's probably a solid idea.

legendofa on Ensoul-a-thopter

1 year ago

Darksteel Relic could be fun in here alongside the Mistvault Bridges. A copy or two of The Blackstaff of Waterdeep would be a slightly weaker but more reusable animator.

The Illusory Angels seem a little out of place. You have options for cheap, evasive creatures with the core of the deck, so maybe those spots can be used for Counterspells or removal.

HeavyPlay on Indestructible Kitchen

2 years ago

jacobpmesser - thanks for the ideas! Splashing red would open up some great artifact matters cards, but I'm not sure Ragavan is a good fit here? Yes it's a fantastic card, but there's not a lot of synergy with what the deck is trying to do.

I'm also not sure I understand The Blackstaff of Waterdeep recommendation as the 4xRise and Shine and 3xEnsoul Artifact are already filling that role but for cheaper. Maybe I'm missing something?

jacobpmesser on Indestructible Kitchen

2 years ago

idk... I think I'd add Ragavan, good job adding Emry, Urza and then Mox Amber because I want to get that overload sooner.

but it all seems too much. maybe add The Blackstaff of Waterdeep

itsbuzzi on The Pioneer Blues

2 years ago

Hey Argy, appreciate the fast response. I'll try to respond in order of comments, it is quite a lot starting from myself. Consistency does come with single colors. I probably run the most colors out of any Ensoul deck, you really wouldn't want to add blank after Jeskai the payoff of adding in Tezzeret's Touch isn't worth it but my Modern version being Grixis worked out fairly well for the meta. That response pretty much Negate s my addition of white.

Higher mana value cards do help with adding more value as they tend to be more useful than lower drops so the issue of running out of cards and getting the final damage through is pretty much solved. I have a different way of solving this issue in my deck but I won't comment that here as I see you commented on my deck as well.

Playing against oneself is hard as you may imagine you pretty much have to go into each deck "blind" from the oppoent's point of view but from a pilots view need to be able to run the deck efficiently. This wasn't hard for me as both decks are in the same build category although are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. For my deck I add in Shadowspear to be able to gain the life lost from an aggressive build like yourself. From your stand point my deck had no spot removal so I could remove Padeem, Consul of Innovation as the additional card on turn 5 may be too late. I also added in Reality Shift as this is a great card against an voltron deck like these. In Game 1 my deck just preformed faster although I ended up at 5 life so it was very close. Game 2 I countered the Reality Shift and your deck flooded out but not before getting a Darksteel Citadel Ensouled with a Shadowspear attached. We both sat there gaining life until I was able to gain more.

I didn't bother looking at the "Under Consideration" tab as there wasn't much explanation between any of the cards so it would almost be hopeless from the outside looking in figuring out why some cards are here. If The Blackstaff of Waterdeep was worth it in any competitive deck it would be this one but the comments against it are very valid. Most are why I don't even have it considered mainly because it only plays one side being an enabler and not really a target as you mentioned it's a piss poor target having no protection or evasion and being blue itself. Funny thing I won a match being I cast an All That Glitters instead of an Ensoul because the opponent was holding up 1 blue for Mystical Dispute .

Looks like you pretty much have it figured out, thought I'd just pop in and say hello to a fellow Ensoul player. I like the change in pace and color.

Argy on The Pioneer Blues

2 years ago

itsbuzzi thanks for the comments.

I go quite a bit into why I have stuck with Mono Blue, in the notes above, and I'm not interested in adding another colour.

Basically it will increase the chances of having the wrong mana, increase the chances of losing life, and increase the cost of this deck.

I've been playing a form of this deck since Magic Origins, so I know that it works well with one colour.


I'm sure you know that with Aggro builds, two problems are:

  1. Running out of cards.

  2. Not getting final damage through.

That's where the four drops come in.


I do appreciate you taking the time to playtest this deck. I'll have a play against yours, as well.

Did you Sideboard both decks? How did you Sideboard against this one? That will make my playtest better.


If you look at my Under Consideration button I have tried both The Blackstaff of Waterdeep and Thopter Spy Network (which isn't male - it's a group of people).

As you noticed, I have enough four drops, so Thopter Spy Network couldn't find a place here.


People are really excited about The Blackstaff of Waterdeep as it's a new card, but I think they might find it's not quite as good as it seems.

Of course I can only talk about how it works with this deck.

In the end these are that things with it that didn't work, for this build:

  1. I think of the card as a three drop, because I have so many other things I want to do on Turns 1 and 2. My three drop slot is quite full, and Skilled Animator and Bring to Life proved more useful. Skilled Animator because it can make a 5/5, as opposed to a 4/4. Bring to Life because it adds +1/+1 counters, which can result in a 9/9 creature, when combined with the effects of Skilled Animator or Ensoul Artifact

  2. While The Blackstaff of Waterdeep is quite useful in that it can be reused if the original Artifact it targets dies, Bring to Life is better with Darksteel Citadel , as the +1/+1 counters remain, if it is destroyed. The same can't be said for The Blackstaff of Waterdeep

  3. Since The Blackstaff of Waterdeep is Legendary, it is one and done, as opposed to the other 3 drops mentioned.

  4. The Blackstaff of Waterdeep can't be equipped for with Ghostfire Blade which is useful in my deck.

  5. The Blackstaff of Waterdeep can't be used on the Thopter Tokens which are created with Whirler Rogue in my deck.

  6. I have noticed a lot of Mystical Dispute in Pioneer Sideboards, and they don't get played for less with any of my other Artifacts. They do with The Blackstaff of Waterdeep

  7. The Blackstaff of Waterdeep is a dreadful target for animation. It doesn't have Flying, it isn't Indestructible, and doesn't have the chance to be unblockable. You also can't play a second one without destroying the one you animated.


Thanks for giving me things to think about. I appreciate it.

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