Thopter Spy Network

Enchantment

At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control an artifact, create a 1/1 colourless Thopter artifact creature token with flying.

Whenever one or more artifact creatures you control deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.

Discussion (51)

Epicurus on Alela's Enchanted Fortress [Pillow Fort EDH]

1 week ago

This is my favorite deck of the month, for sure! I love pillow fort decks :3

Here's a few suggestions. Some are kinda weird, so bear with me here...

• Flood

• Thopter Spy Network

• Teferi's Moat

• Moat

• Island Sanctuary

• Gravitational Shift

• Day of the Dragons

• Archon of Sun's Grace

• Sacred Mesa

I remember back in a time, long ago, when no flying theme deck was complete without Radiant, Archangel. Alas, those days are probably passed.

Cheers!

marco-piatti on "Fair" Urza win cons

2 weeks ago

Hi everyone, i want to build a "fair" urza build which in my opinion basically means: no stax and no infinite combos. I would like to know some suggestions about the possible win cons i could add to the deck (i'm on a budget so no >10$ cards). The ones that i had in mind were:

1) Construct army thanks to: Masterful Replication, Deadeye Navigator (without infinite mana i can't go infinite with constructs), Panharmonicon, Conjurer's Closet, Mirrormade, Karn, Scion of Urza and Mechanized Production

2) Token army: Efficient Construction, Thopter Spy Network, Sai, Master Thopterist, Genesis Chamber+Myr Battlesphere, The Antiquities War and Mirrodin Besieged

3) Mechanized Production or Mirrodin Besieged direct win condition

4) cast many spells with low cmc + Aetherflux Reservoir

If you have any other ideas for win cons it would be great.

CatPepPop on Izzet a Gift?

3 weeks ago

You didn't ask but I've some cards to offer up for consideration :-) Saheeli's Artistry -a sweet card in an artifact and a namesake spell for the commander.

As general value cards Phyrexian Metamorph Phyrexia's Core and Cyclonic Rift (unless that one is too much(?))

If you want to beef up the token theme then perhaps Sai, Master Thopterist Steel Overseer Thopter Spy Network Efficient Construction or mirrodin Beseiged

TypicalTimmy on Just Chatting I

1 month ago

That's what I was leaning toward, Dylan. Here's why:

Between all 10 Guild Signets, Arcane Signet and Fellwar Stone I have access to 12 stones that produce a wide array of colors. Now I could add in Coldsteel Heart, but this enters tapped and only allows me one color, so I'd rather not limit myself so heavily. There are about 10 or so lands I have identified that can also produce any color mana with little downside, on top of the 10 shocks and 10 fetches.

So I think I can build a robust enough mana base to pay for a 10cmc Commander relatively quick. What'd I'd need from to speed things up is draw.

Draw is the single most important aspect of this deck, because without it I'd eventually run out of cards in hand. So, for the purposes of this deck, I think high-impact draw spells such as Sphinx's Revelation are actually well worth it. There is, of course, Karametra, God of Harvests but unfortunately she seeks out basics. Between 10 shocks, 10 fetches and 10 that produce all colors, I already have 30 lands accounted for. If I go even just two of each basic, that's 40 lands in a 99 card library.

Add on top of this the 12 stones I've mentioned and I have a staggering 52 mana-producing cards, leaving me just 37 of them left available to me.

If I put in 25 Gods, this means I will be on average drawing a God every 3rd - 4th turn. This however leaves me with a mere 12 cards left to work around.

This is where the difficult part comes into play; Between the shocks and fetches, that's a staggering 30 life that could be paid into them over the course of a full game. So, naturally I'd want some cards to regain said life.

Sphinx's Revelation works really well for this, as would cards such as Whip of Erebos, True Conviction and Titanic Ultimatum. However this leaves me 8 cards left.

I want to plan for wraths, as with my Gods being Indestructible I want to blow up the battlefield and reset the game, allowing me openings to swing in for the win. I feel that in order to appropriately push this, I'd want at minimum 5 wraths or wrath-like effects. I think I have settled upon:

• Cyclonic Rift
• Damnation
• Wrath of God
• Supreme Verdict
• Kaya's Wrath (Good for regaining life, too)

This leaves me with just three cards for draw. Bare in mind, Sphinx's Revelation is already listed and Karametra, God of Harvests effectively acts like draw. Something I think a lot of players miss is that there is a difference between draw and card advantage. What Karametra, God of Harvests does is give you card advantage by putting additional cards onto the battlefield. For each 1 creature you pay, you get an additional land for free. This means you remove a card from your deck, thereby increasing the percentages and chances of drawing into something better.

The same is true for fetch lands - Using one land to take another land out of your library is effectively removing 2 cards, meaning you improve percentages.

Between Sphinx's Revelation, Karametra, God of Harvests, Keranos, God of Storms and Ephara, God of the Polis there's a decent amount going on. There's also The Scarab God who I can use as an exile effect against graveyards to give me more bodies on the field, which in turn translates to scrying. The Locust God also works for draw, as well. So that's six already named in the base set. I still have 3 cards left to build into the +99.

Blue Sun's Zenith is an obvious must-have as it ensures replayability. With the insane density of mana in this deck, I'd be stupid to not play it.

I honestly feel Thopter Spy Network is a good choice as well, because not only does it give me 1/1 flyers as chump blockers while I wait on devotion to kick in, it also gives me card advantage when they deal combat damage. I think many players overlook the second ability on this card, as it rarely sees any play in any deck out there.

Finally, I think I rather enjoy the idea of Alhammarret's Archive. It gives me a guaranteed 2nd card per draw, gives me additional resources with all of the above-mentioned draw worked in by the Gods, doubles up all of the X-draw factors, and really helps me push forward the regaining of life.

Now I obviously don't "need" to run 25 Gods, however I want to ensure I am always able to put pressure on the boardstate.

So, for now, that's where I'm sitting. It's about shifting resources and honing in the design to make it both faster and more aggressive.

I know it won't be on par with Ur-Draogn, Scion, Jodah or some of the other more robust 5c Commanders out there, however it's a unique and fun design that's honestly really difficult to stop.

That's why I've settled on Progenitus. He's harder to get out at first, but he damn-near instantly turns all Gods into viable creatures. Morophon, the Boundless still needs to wait to turn them all on, and it could be several turns before any one of them come online.

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Having said everything I did in here, the truth is I am building this deck as an excuse.

I really wanted the Stargazer Secret Lair pack so I bought it. I am in love with the artwork and the idea of it just felt so natural to me.

One of the biggest hurdles I've had getting into EDH more is the mana base. The lands in any deck, as we all know, can easily double the cost of it. So, I came to terms and bought all 10 shocks and all 10 fetches. Doing so set me back $430, but now it's a hurdle I no longer face. I can now build stronger mana bases and, therefore, play the game more confidently.

So since I have the Gods from Stargazer and I have the 20 lands, I figured why not combine them into something special and I can just move the lands into whatever deck I need later on.

TypicalTimmy on Wheel of Life and Death

2 months ago

MagicalHacker,

I would like to respectfully disagree on the drop in CMC and ability costs. This includes tokens, and both green and black are perhaps the best token generating colors in the game. We tend to think red is also up there, but the truth is Krenko, Mob Boss and Utvara Hellkite are more of an exception, similarly to how Martial Coup and Thopter Spy Network are exceptions.

Now if this didn't include tokens (non-token creatures) then I'd feel more comfortable as it becomes a lot more strict in it's playability. But as it stands, paying 3 mana for whenever ANY creature enters or dies is a good balance.

That being said, I do feel it should only be whenever a creature you control enters or dies, as being able to trigger card advantage off of other players seems a bit pushed.

I do however like the addition of +1/-1 life depending on the activation. But keep in mind if you add more abilities, the cost goes up in both activation and CMC. So it's a little hard to argue for cost reduction while asking for more value at the same time.

TypicalTimmy on Let's talk Dragons, forgetting symbol:R.

3 months ago

Okay, sorry for the super late reply. I had it all typed out and the damn site bugged out on me and I lost everything.

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Silumgar's Horde

Commander / EDH TypicalTimmy

SCORE: 1 | 154 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

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So this deck is like a year old. I need to update about 1/3rd of the non-land cards in it.

The original concept was as follows:

• Use Changelings to bring out "Dragons" on curve
• Ramp and reduction to assist with costs
• Use token generators to flood boardstate
• Use Conspiracy, Arcane Adaptation, Xenograft and Day of the Dragons to force tokens into becoming Dragons

The issue is that it's slow. It needs more Dragons and protection. I plan on dropping the majority of the token generators, along with the last bullet point to simply add in more natural Dragons. Some I can think of off the top of my head are Venomous Changeling and Shimmer Dragon, as well as Birthing Boughs.

I'd like to keep Thopter Spy Network as the card advantage is very powerful.

I need to add in counter spells to protect me against wrath effects, as well as some light recursion tricks to help bring back anything that is picked off.

I also need to rework my draw potential, to keep pressure on the boardstate.

It's effectively a Dimir Aggro, which is hard to pull off. I do have this current deck in real life, so changing 15 - 20 cards isn't that big of a deal.

Anyway, the deck works under a three-pronged approach, which is how I build the vast majority of my EDH decks:

• Ramp / Reduction
• Play Dragons and attack
• Protect Dragons at all costs

Because of how Silumgar, the Drifting Death works, each combat step is effectively going to be a wrath. This means I don't need to add removal in here, because Silumgar himself does it for me. While Silumgar does have Hexproof, keeping him back on the sidelines is an easier way to ensure he stays safe.

Because I need to attack each and every single turn, I am constantly open to assaults. However, if played right the majority if not all creatures should be wiped off the board. In my experience, once a wrath settles into play, it is nearly impossible for any opponent to recover from, because at this point anything they play dies before they get a chance to use it. It becomes sort of a soft lock on the game, with the only way out being to remove my boardstate via wrath - which is why counter spells are important.

So I have a bit of work to do, but this is the older version.

It is a slower deck, so faster decks can generally out-pace it. In a 1v1, this spells the death of the deck. But in a 4-player pod, most of the time faster decks play slower as nobody wants to instigate the first move. In my experience, this gives me ample time to build a small army and swing for attacks.

Silumgar doesn't need to attack, which means once you drop the mana to bring him out, you generally wrath from that point forward.

king-saproling on Mighty Morphin' Token Army

3 months ago

Brudiclad, more like BrudiRAD!

You might like these: Mimic Vat, Stolen Identity, Saheeli's Artistry, Rite of Replication, Dualcaster Mage, Archaeomancer, Guttersnipe, Thopter Spy Network, Wily Goblin, Pirate's Pillage, Pirate's Prize, Bonus Round, Combat Celebrant, Charmbreaker Devils, Faerie Artisans, Feldon of the Third Path

GhostChieftain on Pillowfort Win

3 months ago

I need to ask, how do you feel about tutors or infinite combos because I have more suggestions if you are okay with either. As far as token producers though, Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer, Dragonmaster Outcast, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Followed Footsteps, Goblin Assault, Goblin Rabblemaster, Helm of the Host, Legion Warboss, Loyal Apprentice, Luminarch Ascension, Mechanized Production * , Mirrodin Besieged * , Outlaws' Merriment, Regna, the Redeemer, The Locust God, Thopter Spy Network. These are all things that make tokens every turn. The ones noted with * are also alternate win cons.