Timesifter

Artifact

At the beginning of each upkeep, each player removes the top card of his or her library from the game. The player who removed the card with the highest converted mana cost takes an extra turn after this one. If two or more players' cards are tied for highest cost, the tied players repeat this process until the tie is broken.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Penny Dreadful	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

DreadKhan on Rakdos

2 months ago

It's not really a great card, but Shivan Gorge can deal some damage to each opponent, which can let you shave mana off of spells for a turn. There is also stuff like Spear Spewer that pings each player, that's a much better way to achieve that goal I suppose. There are also Kessig Flamebreather and Firebrand Archer that can turn any non-creature spell into damage, not sure you have enough stuff to justify them, but felt they were worth a mention. There is also good old Pyrohemia/Pestilence, which can ping each opponent (and it clears out x/1s if tokens are an issue in your area). Not sure if you will be able to get in for damage consistently, but Rite of the Raging Storm tokens usually suck to block, so you might get 5 damage per turn in some metas.

I feel like it's worth throwing in something like Carrion Feeder or Viscera Seer if you want a sac outlet that can clear out lots of bodies and derive value from it, Feeder even works with Pitiless Plunderer (or another 'mana from dead creature' card, Pawn of Ulamog and Bog Initiate will work on a budget) and Gravecrawler to go infinite.

Final point, maybe a few Annihilator creatures that have high MV as their drawback, they tend to be colourless anyways, so can give a full discount and be free sometimes. Artisan of Kozilek and Pathrazer of Ulamog are good examples that aren't too pricey, but Titans are obviously more expensive/powerful, it's worth noting you'll always get cast triggers, even if you're casting them for nothing/very little. Some of these can also let you run cards that care about high MV, like Protection Racket and Timesifter, both are very strong in some metas. Heck, I think I'd just run Protection Racket either way now that I think about it, I'm not sure there is a drawback to that card in this deck, it's big drawback is that it's bad in combo decks because people won't give you combo pieces, but in a deck that isn't attached to any one card you can run it safely. There is also Meteor Golem, Platinum Emperion and even Platinum Angel to offer some value if stuff like Darksteel Colossus or Blightsteel Colossus are over the budget, and there are big old utility beaters like Tsabo Tavoc that are worth a look, you can shave 5 mana off still.

Rakdos is a pretty nifty Commander, hope you're having fun with him!

DreadKhan on unthinkable apocalypse

3 months ago

There is Kaervek the Merciless, this might work well with your fairly high MV. Also with the higher MV, you could look at Protection Racket, which is mostly a problem if your deck cares about specific cards, as long as your deck is just a bunch of cards that are all good together it's one of the best cards in Black, it can draw you more cards than Rhystic Study in some metas, or just drain everyone of life if they're really, really responsible and always pay. Finally, Timesifter is hilarious if your opponents have a deck with a noticeably lower MV, or a lot of lands compared to you. You could toss in some really high MV spells like Blasphemous Act and/or Reckless Endeavor, wipes are handy I find, even in a deck that usually is ahead, sometimes you face a faster deck, or a deck that has one sided wipes. I think if your MV is over 3.75 you probably could look at all but Timesifter, for that you might want to go even higher. Another way to raise your average MV is MDFs like Hagra Mauling  ^Flip, as a spell you would never run it, but in place of a land it is both versatile and has it's MV for any effect that cares about it, the only question is if you can afford a tapped land (or want to pay for the Mythics, can enter untapped in a pinch). Some of these cards are just incredible value IMHO, like Valakut Awakening  ^Flip, but some seem bad, afaik the best way to rate these is to consider if the effect is valuable period in Commander (is it worth a card in theory), not to worry as much about the cost because the alternative of hitting a land drop is almost never a terrible thing.

If you run a lot of creatures, I like Court of Cunning and Court of Ambition, both are annoying cards that can also draw you cards, and Cunning is a great source of repeated mill vs something like Glimpse. Also if you run a lot of creatures, Bident of Thassa is perhaps the best non-Frostfang version of this effect, the forced attack can be backbreaking to some decks. Another decent one is Reconnaissance Mission, the worst of the lot is Coastal Piracy. Grim Hireling and Professional Face-Breaker are also nice cards. Thalakos Deceiver and Thalakos Dreamsower are nice Blue Shadows, Dauthi Voidwalker is a really good Black one, each of these is really hard to block and comes with a substantial upside. It's a bit janky in Commander, but Sower of Temptation isn't a terrible card, you just can't count on stealing anything too game breaking, as long as you steal something not worth spending another card on you'll get an evasive 2/2 that can sneak damage in for triggers.

If you want a one-sided nearly-Wrath, you might consider Make an Example or Phyrexian Purge. Example is able to pinpoint remove the best creature of each opponent, by any metric, and it's almost impossible to get around with present day cards (it's a chosen, not targeted sacrifice effect), while Purge lets you clear out the best 4 or 5 creatures so you can just take over, Purge likes having access to some life gain, it's especially good with something like Sangromancer, but if you want life gain in Grixis it's hard to do better than Exquisite Blood, but I'm almost never unhappy with Mask of Griselbrand, I think that card is slept on somewhat in Commander.

If you do go with Kraum or some other beefy Commander for your deck, Agitator Ant is a pretty strong card, but you either need the biggest thing on board already or to be able to remove stuff as needed. Kraum having evasion means you'll usually be able to get in against someone, so +2 power is great, and you being Goaded wears off before your next attack step anyways, so it only matters if someone steals it I guess (at which point it can't attack you I suppose??), Agitator Ant also works with any super-evasive creatures, so if your deck has lots of Flying or Shadow it

Hope some of these ideas are helpful!

Squee_Spirit_Guide on Jankest/Worst Artifacts

8 months ago

I always like the ever confusing Illusionary Mask and Ice Cauldron for giving your opponent (and yourself) a headache.

If you want it to be chaotic rather than just confusing there's Timesifter, Omen Machine, and Teferi's Puzzle Box, all of which are fun!

IHATENAMES on The Outfield

9 months ago

Sun Titan plus Angelic accord and a sac outlet is inf combo. Might be worthwhile.

Windbrisk Heights hideaway might be kinda hard to activate but it's a free spell.

Your average cmc is high. For fun evil shenanigans Timesifter ?

AggroWithAShield on Cascade or not ?

10 months ago

Not sure the title is on point, but my inquiry has something to do with my cascade deck.

So, I have built my cascade deck about two weeks ago and I have had the feeling that it's missing something (Here's the list I am referring to Cascade).

The point of the deck is to play Apex Devastator and Genesis Ultimatum which are my two favorite cards at the moment, what I feel is missing is bigger monstrosities and just bigger threat in general, stuff like Zacama, Primal Calamity to untap all my lands and allowing me to cast more stuff or Gisela, Blade of Goldnight to double the damages and reduce the crack back when I swing out.

My friend told me I should switch my strategy to a Jodah, Archmage Eternal with a big mana theme and keep my cascade strategy and add Maelstrom Nexus so that even if my first spell does not have cascade, I will be able to get it.

Here are my two questions.

Would changing into a Jodah deck and mixing a big mana theme to a cascade theme really work? I am afraid that a big mana theme would require of me to play higher cmc spell and hinder the cascade side of the deck which requires cmc spells with lower values to cast them.

Other than the two other creatures I mentioned earlier and an Avacyn, Angel of Hope is there other cards with white and/or black I should think about integrating to the deck? Maybe Timesifter to go with all the high cmc spell I would add to the deck?

UsernameCreative on Averna Clashcade

1 year ago

Timesifter could be fun

DragonOfTheWest on Philosophy Represented

2 years ago

Gleeock, yes, Timesifter's been great. I run it in my Jhoira of the Ghitu chaos deck (average CMC: 5.17). I end up taking about half of the extra turns, which helps with suspend hopefully without feeling too oppressive to the rest of the table.

Instead of playing all the extra turn spells and MLD you'd expect to see in Jhoira, I run Perplexing Chimera, Omen Machine, Possibility Storm, and Wild Evocation. My ultimate goal is to cast Eternal Dominion, preferably with Hive Mind in play.

Gleeock on Philosophy Represented

2 years ago

DragonOfTheWest Timesifter its so beautiful. It's the great savior sent from Timmy Valhalla. I knew it existed, but I forgot about it. Have you had many crazy experiences with it? I would spitball using it if it has panned out in fun ways according to another Adrenaline Gamer.

ZendikariWol Using opponents as a resource is great, if not quite challenging to avoid the lethal backfire :) I was a big fan of how some of those new curses worked, Curse of Opulence, hope we see more similar mechanics to that soon.