Tooth and Nail

Sorcery

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Discussion (42)

Wildsong on The Song of the Conclave

3 weeks ago

Hi Quanndo13, the only reason I'm not using more fetch lands is because I already use a few numbers of basic lands to fetch. Can't afford to have more fetch lands than forest or plains to search.

The Kamahl and Elesh combo is pretty nasty, I used to play them with Tooth and Nail. the only reason I removed is because kamahl was never a good card to have in hand or in the battlefied if you didn't have board control to finish with him. He is very expensive as well. If, however, i could afford to remove 2 cards to reintegrate them back on deck, I would.

TypicalTimmy on Infinite mana in Boros

4 weeks ago

Omniscience_is_life, I prefer decks that win between Turn 6 and Turn 8. I think that's a healthy rotation of the table for everyone to see their deck in action without feeling like the game is dragging on. If each player takes even just 1 minute per turn - assuming they know precisely the activations and spells they want to have each turn, that's still 4 minutes per rotation. At 6 turns, that's a 24 minute game. At 8 rotations, that's 32 minutes.

And that's assuming everyone is playing a well-oiled machine. When you get into even just 2 minutes per turn, that's 48 minutes - 64 minutes.

Given that, my decks run between $400 - $1,300 but the overwhelming majority of that consists of lands, Mana Crypt, Ancient Tomb, Mox Diamond, etc. All of which I already own. I have all 10x Shocks and all 10x Fetches as well as Crypt and Tomb. So immediately I can slash off a hefty chunk right there.

I enjoy building decks around $5 or less Commanders and building them up to that "casually competitive" level, where they hold their own and can even take on three decks at once, but aren't quite at cEDH levels.

I'm not a fan of cEDH. I'm perfectly okay with losing, and I don't want to build a deck who's entire goal is to tutor out 3 or 4 pieces and win the game on the spot. To me, that takes 0 skill and nothing will change my mind. If you know those 3 - 4 pieces, all you need to do is tutor and combo. In my opinion, you aren't "playing the game" so much as "following the instructions to win".

But hey, to each their own. I'd rather fight Tooth and Nail and grit through the onslaught and either die a champion or earn a well-deserved win where everyone has a chance to go off, than sit there and "win" because I paid the most money.

enpc on Tasigur cEDH

4 weeks ago

Scytec: I glossed over the fact that you weren't running Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. I saw the deck the other day and was going off my memory of it (since I remember the Pili-Pala combo) however jumbled my memory up of it and then glossed over it today - you'll have to excuse me for that.

In that case, it puts even more stress on the deck as you don't have any redundancy on the comob pieces and are now splitting ramp between mana rocks/dorks (which are generally more efficient ramp pieces) and lands which you need to combo.

If you're going to go down the lands route, unfortunately the best card for it is Palinchron, which isn't exactly budget. Great Whale is much cheaper, but still quite costly. Personally I used to use Peregrine Drake, Palinchron, Deadeye Navigator, Eternal Witness and Ghostly Flicker in my Damia, Sage of Stone deck, however would use Tooth and Nail to play it.

The benefit of Tasigur here is that you can also use cards like Neoform and Eldritch Evolution to turn tasigur into the mana untappers. And Evoltion is great since it can really fetch any of the creature parts.

Either way, I would persoanlly make the call to lean more towards land based combos or rock/dork based combos, but not to split your resources down the middle. You can techincally get some overlap if you went Peregrine Drake + Deadeye Navigator and Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal by adding in Eternal Witness since she can work with navigator and reversal to form a loop. But for me it's about getting that overlap without spending too many card slots.

wallisface on Will WotC Ever Print Another …

1 month ago

A green version of Squadron Hawk already exists in Growth-Chamber Guardian.

There is also an existing green creature fetch that puts said creature straight into play, in Fiend Artisan.

And there are a ton of green planeswalkers that can go digging for creatures, the most recent being Ellywick Tumblestrum, but also from memory Vivien Reid (i'm not going to search these all out here, but I'm sure there's more).

In spell form there's also Tooth and Nail, which is notorious for throwing both Xenagos, God of Revels and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play and winning on the spot.

So, given enough time Wotc will probably print something which aligns more closely with what you're wanting... but it feels like there is already plenty-enough tools to get the effects you're after, and plenty enough cards that already do the thing you're wanting.

DawnsRayofLight on MONO-BLACK RAMP

1 month ago

I am working on an eldrazi colourless list that may help for some suggestions for tutors and removal: In The House of R'lyeh...

If you are wanting removal and ramp and wanting to stay away from colourless, try going black green then or blue green. I have a blue green list that ramps like crazy, I don't play as many eldrazi cards in it but blue still gives you some removal in bounce spells and counter spells to protect your guys.

Reasons for green:

Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger

Nyxbloom Ancient

Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach

The Great Henge

all the above are amazing for ramp

you get some fun "tutors" in Tooth and Nail and Finale of Devastation

protection like Asceticism and Heroic Intervention

Whether you go blue or green is up to you

Blue green: counter spells, draw spells, and Cyclonic Rift (this is my Blue green list, I would suggest running Kruphix, God of Horizons as your general over Zegana who I just use to refill my hand around Turn 5-8 to push me over to winning: Nature's Revenge, TO is not recognizing it but it should be on my page)

Green black: kill spells, better tutors, reanimation (go Meren of Clan Nel Toth as your general maybe? I can offer advice on how to build that, my uncle has a pretty good Meren list)

Spirits on OMG Kitties Tribal!

2 months ago

Hey hirurux,

Fellow Arahbo, Roar of the World since the pre-con Arahbo, Xenagos... for Cats

I found having too many cats wasn't very useful, I went a bit extreme, down to 14 cats, but 28 is a lot. Arahbo, Roar of the World only Eminence triggers one cat, and unless you're in a state with a ton of mana to activate the ability for multiple cats, not really needed.

How I solved this problem, was more creature tutor cards (instead of more cats), so Sylvan Tutor , Time of Need , I got a Survival of the Fittest for xmas one year which was cool. Chord of Calling , Eldritch Evolution even Congregation at Dawn are all viable to. The right cat at the right time vs. drawing more cats. Initiate's Companion , Leonin Skyhunter , Steppe Lynx feel like some easy cuts.

Three Visits was reprinted in a current set, gives you another Nature's Lore .

Are you primarily trying to kill everyone with combat damage? Beastmaster Ascension maybe?

I would get some trample in there Shadowspear and Rancor perhaps, that way 1/1 tokens don't become a nuisance to you.

Fumigate seems wrong.

Might reduce in lands, do you find yourself flooded, eliminate anything that comes into play tapped with no strong ability. Your not running toward a Tooth and Nail or anything so likely can miss a T4-6 land drop and still be in good shape, can also Land Tax or Archaeomancer's Map or Kodama's Reach to get more lands in hand. Evolving Wilds , Krosan Verge , Path of Ancestry could be some easy. If you're worried about mana fixing, fetch lands are great Windswept Heath but also the off-color ones like Wooded Foothills , Flooded Strand , etc.

Teferi's Protection to dodge board wipes?

I might add an alt win-con, Triumph of the Hordes might be one, but having a backup plan, maybe Grafted Exoskeleton or perhaps Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants to bring back Lost Leonin . Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip for Triumph of the Hordes , I dunno something?

The Great Henge !

Hope you find something useful here. +1

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 5: Mono-Green …

2 months ago

Ah, my favorite color. Not coincidentally, my wife hates it. I love ramp, I love the utility, the pervasive value, and I even like the shortcomings because I feel they're sporting. I have three mono-Green decks. My oldest deck is a Green deck. I have been watching Green so closely as each set comes out that I didn't even need to research the legends available in order to write this.

But enough squeeing about my preferences (for now). Let's talk turkey. Picking a best color is highly subjective: while I'd like to say that all five colors are equal in strength, it can't be said honestly. Black has the tutors and thematic viciousness to fight for the top. Blue's strength in control and draw make its long-debated position as most competitive highly secure. White and Red are solidly trailing the others. Where does this leave Green?

Green has a unique capacity to destroy (or fight) anything, but not all the thing: Beast Within and Acidic Slime are great, but unless you're an enchantment, artifact, or bird, then you don't need to concern yourself with Green boardwipes. The utterly absurd advantage that comes of Green's affinity for ramp is often shattering. However, all arguments for Green's strength are undercut by an unfortunate fact: if you can't smash face in the combat phase, you can't usually win. Helix Pinnacle . Epic Struggle . Against these two cards and the odd sorcery referencing some sort of windy calamity, the other colors have actual themes: Black has vampirism, Blue has milling, and Red has burn. Even White has a small but potent spread of alternate wins, generally tied to life totals.

However: a jack of all trades is a master of none, but ofttimes better than a master of one. Let's consider whether Green is a specialist or a generalist: Blue has control and draw, but Green has a fine well of draw effects to pull from, a true wealth of hexproof and... and whatever keyword they'll eventually assign to "can't be countered." The sheer scope of creatures with game-changing effects that Green can tutor, while comprehensive, isn't quite the same as tutoring anything (shut up, Black). That said, a well-placed Tooth and Nail can win the game just as readily. Green can't burn players but can fight any creature and Terastodon any party of super-friends. No, Green isn't a powerhouse on the stack or outside the combat phase, but the raw versatility of Green isn't something the other colors can readily match.

Personally, I can't comfortably argue that Green is the most competitive mono-color in commander. However, I will argue that it's the most generally capable, and like all the colors a powerhouse in the right hands. Whether my hands are the right ones isn't the question: Green is the color I'm most comfortable with, the color I feel most capable with, and my answer to the most important question in any game: "What are you happiest playing?"

Today, we discuss three most prevalent trends in Green. Chonks: the biggest beasts on the battlefield. Ramp: mana for days. Land: all the land (bear with me, I know those last two are rather close). As always, please bear in mind that our focus here is not necessarily competitive but rather on thematic, archetypical commanders.

Chonks

There are a lot of ways to make creatures threatening. Artifacts like Coat of Arms or Argentum Armor , auras like Green's own Blanchwood Armor , and everything in between. Green has another approach as well, tending toward, rather than making creatures threatening, instead making threatening creatures. Just look at the Primordial Hydra (or pretty much any hydra). Other colors have their own fatties, to be sure, but until the Eldrazi came Green's only real rival for the Bigger-is-Better Belt was Blue's theme of large, typically overpriced fish (Colossi also bear mentioning). Colored kaiju tend to come with additional costs beyond mana once they reach a certain size, examples being Death's Shadow or Jokulmorder . The only cost Green generally asks is mana, and frequently at a discount. Hehehehe...

Sometimes you just need a hulk, and at a trampling 12/12 Ghatla is the hulkest legend there is, provided you don’t go poking around the Blind Eternities for plane-eating spaghetti monsters. Like a certain strange woman lying in a pond, you might never have to pay full price for this general. That is a great, beautiful, thundering apex predator of a wonderful thing.

I love Selvala, but do her grievous wrong: I rarely remember the card draw because of all that sweet, sweet mana. In justice, this magnificent beast would be cozy in the ramp section, but filling your hand by dropping one chungus after another, then getting what’s likely a full refund on the mana? That’s what I call incentive! I'd consider her for a commander any day, except... well, we're coming to that.

The original mama-bear brings a fine pair of goodies to the table: a discount for your hefties and overrun-lite on the charge for such big boys, ensuring they heft even more heftily. Arm & Hammer owe her an endorsement deal. Hefty!

Ramp

Anyone with a pile of rocks can manage fast mana. Black and Red both have decent options. Green, though, has been the ramp champ for time immemorial. Since mana burn is a thankfully dusty memory, you can flood that pool to your heart's content without the risk of accidentally frying yourself. Whether your taste runs toward slamming lands down with Cultivate effects, boosting the output of those lands with Mana Reflection , or tapping dorks like Priest of Titania , glorious excesses of mana can be yours!

Readers may recall I mentioned an Ashling deck with 99 mountains in the red article. Sometime after seeing it, I noticed a copy of Sasaya in my collection. 64 lands and a handful of mana dumps later, I had a deck that either died quietly or detonated into splendid, jaw-achingly excessive victory (seriously, it’s always one or the other). Wakeroot Elemental , Helix Pinnacle , and Sprouting Vines are just a few of the fabulously facetious options available to this, my favorite kamigawan commander. Nothing will be the same after your first opponent gets smacked in the face with Killer Bees for absurdly lethal damage. I have this deck built, and adore it. However, my favorite, to which we are by degrees coming, is not Sasaya.

I miss Rofellos, but since he’s banned we might as well talk elves somewhere in here. Boy howdy are there a lot of good elves: the tribal synergy in ramp alone is good enough that they get played where other decks would play rocks, and there’s more than that up their pointy-eared sleeves. Rewarding oneself for playing elf-ball with the mana to make said ball bigger is just good sense. However, slapping something like Strata Scythe on her will get some fine results too. Enjoy that general damage, or the effects of Umbral Mantle . And, if general damage isn't your thing but elfball is, pour all that mana into Ezuri, Renegade Leader .

It's the simple things in life you treasure, and Azusa is nothing if not simple. There many ways to ramp, but doing so in the true green style means dropping lands faster than your opponents. Fill your hand, empty your hand, repeat. The raw advantage that Azusa represents is incredibly intimidating. Just be sure to bring a Horn of Greed so you don't run out of steam.

Land

I acknowledge that this is somewhat under the "Ramp" umbrella. Again, bear with me. If you check the phrase "Search your Library" on Gatherer, Green has more cards than any two other colors combined, the catch being that most of those cards tutor basic land. If you consider a color's tutor strengths as thematic commentary (shut UP, Black), this suggests that Green has a lot to say on the matter of land. Whether tutoring, untapping, or animating and wrecking face a la mana base, no other color is as tied to the land as is Green. Just think on the implications of, say, Life and Limb and the aforementioned Coat of Arms (or any boardwipe, especially if Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth is out).

What's the opposite of a conniption? Whatever that is, I had one when they printed this glorious godsend to all green combo players. The sequoia-sized middle finger Ashaya sends to Cyclonic Rift is only the beginning. Consider that Kamahl, Heart of Krosa becomes Keywords-on-a-Stick with our girl out. Consider that anything which untaps lands now untaps your mana dorks too. Consider that Argothian Elder UNTAPS ITSELF. The only reason Ashaya isn't heading one of my Green decks is because, degenerate as she is, she doesn't have Partner, turn into a broke-ass enchantment, or... we're coming to that. Nearly there.

"Screw your boardwipes" about sums it up. Both Khamals can animate lands and buff them, but this one's wording is much, much meaner if you've got to teach some trigger-happy nuker a lesson.

One of my favorite Green cards is Constant Mists . There are enough other sacrifice effects in Green, as well as lands that drop themselves, that Titania can become a real menace in short order. Bring Glacial Chasm , a few effects like the Oracle of Mul Daya , and the all-important Crucible of Worlds . Trust me. It works. There's a guy in the local playgroup who does this with a most politely evil smile.

And, for my personal favorite:

Ok, is anyone who's made it this far actually surprised? Omnath is all that is Green, and I've been gleefully running this stompy monstrosity for over a decade. Who needs Voltron when you can simply turn on a glorious green engine of mana, throw out some trample (I prefer Nylea, God of the Hunt , and turn an opponent into so much paste? Don't feel like attacking? Save it for next turn! The banking mechanic alone would be enough: an early Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger is the best you can hope for if you're silly enough to let Omnath sit on unspent mana for even a turn. That he gets bigger with each mana in the pool is just a treat. A vicious, opponent-killing, delicious treat.

And in case you're wondering, the third green deck is Kamahl, Heart of Krosa and Kodama of the East Tree . No instants. No sorceries. Just draw and ramp.

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Azorius!

Prior Articles:

Mono-White

Mono-Blue

Mono-Black

Mono-Red

Pikobyte on Ulrich, of the Krallenhorde Mid Power

3 months ago

In general more ramp and draw makes your deck significantly faster. Maybe add Kodama of the East Tree since it provides a lot of value. If combat damage is your main wincon you’ll prob have a hard time in high power. Maybe include some way to combo or at least something like Natural Order + Craterhoof Behemoth to pump out a ton of damage in a single turn and kill multiple opponents at once, but 20 creatures might be a bit low for that style. Or include Tooth and Nail with any 2 card Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo. Since high power plays a lot of combos you should maybe also get some more instant interaction to prevent opponents from comboing as well as some protection to secure your wins. Vexing Shusher or Veil of Summer prevent your opponents from countering your game winning stuff. 20 creatures also isn’t enough to get value out of lurking predators. Getting this up to high power while keeping the werewolf tribal might be quite challenging