Training Grounds

Enchantment

Activated abilities of creatures you control cost up to less to activate. This effect can't be reduced to less than one mana.

Discussion (51)

Patdypat on Chulane Troubadour

1 day ago

I think the only 2 things i could suggest are Veil of Summer to protect your stuff from blue players in the turn you are going off and Temur Sabertooth that could work as a replacement for your commander.

Another thing that i see is the activation costs: with Training Grounds or Biomancer's Familiar .

You are also running Windfall and Echo of Eons. You could use both as a wincon pairing them with Narset, Parter of Veils and hose your opponents pretty hard. Might go to far away tho from what you want to do.

LeonDaniels on Sacred Hulk

1 day ago

Hey Pongo_Pygmaeu5!

I'm interested in possibly getting into cEDH using this deck, but I have a few questions. Now that we have Biomancer's Familiar , do you think it might replace Training Grounds ? It has the same text and only costs one more mana. It being a creature means that it can also be added to possible Hulk piles, although I don't know how much wiggle room there is in the piles as is.

I was also wondering if you had any budget lists, maybe a $500 and $1000 list, to work up towards the fully tuned versions? I play Modern right now, and own most of the staples but some of the more expensive pieces (ABUR Duals, FoW, etc.) I am missing.

Thanks for the great primer and work on th

Asimiir on Thrasios & Kydele, EDH

1 week ago

here are some cards you could add to your deck

• Rhystic Study : It's a blue staples that should be in any blue deck
• Helix Pinnacle : It's an easy win con that cost only 1
• Jace, Wielder of Mysteries : It's a better Lab Maniac since it can make you draw to win
• Narset, Parter of Veils : It's pretty much a tutor killer for all your opponents and it buy you time to set up your game and win.
• Walking Ballista : It's another win con that can help you to get rid of creatures
• Consecrated Sphinx : It's an incredible draw engine.
• Copy Artifact : You can copy any artifact on the battlefield but I usually try to copy Isochron Scepter to get another spell imprited like High Tide or - any Counterspell that cost 2 CMC or less
• High Tide : Double all the mana from your island
• Aetherflux Reservoir : Another win con that allows you to gain life as much as you need
• Biomancer's Familiar : It's the creature version of Training Grounds so it's a must have!

There are many other cards you should add to your deck but they are not for every budget. Cards like :

• Mana Drain
• Jace, the Mind Sculptor
• Cyclonic Rift
• Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
• Force of Will
• Oracle of Mul Daya
• Intuition
• Mana Reflection

What do you think?

Eity on 4C Rashmi - Curious Control

1 week ago

Wouldn't be Training Grounds plus Estrid's Invocation a valid combo? Total cost of the combo is almost the same, and both of the cards metioned aren't bad alone, plus Estrid's Invocation , can help you to combo off even if you played it before.

killroy726 on Trying to make a Kenrith, ...

2 weeks ago

I feel like Training Grounds might be useful here. I reduces all you abilities by 2 generic mana. Granted, it helps your opponents as well.

LVL_666 on Sliver EDH v1.0

2 weeks ago

Caerwyn, I have a counter to some of your cut recommendations:

• Lavabelly Sliver + Sliver Queen + Basal Sliver = Death by Boiled Eggs. Pay to activate the Queen 's ability creating a Sliver Creature Token. That token will have Lavabelly 's ETB effect, allowing you to target a player for 1 point of damage. Sacrifice the token using Basal 's ability generating which will be used for...yes you guessed it - another activation of Sliver Queen 's ability which will result in another activation of Lavabelly 's ability. Repeat the process of creating and sacrificing Sliver creature tokens until all would be egg-touchers are dead. That's a solid 3 card combo that's entirely tutor-able by the commander alone - that's why you should keep the Lavabelly .

• Syphon Sliver = now, this is entirely dependent on how SHINOBIofFATE wants to build their deck, as this card would be valuable in an aggro focused Sliver deck - combine this with Essence Sliver + Bonescythe Sliver and you get not 1, not 2 but 4 triggers of lifelink per attacking Sliver. (technically, it's 2 triggers of lifelink, and 2 triggers of "Whenever a Sliver deals damage, its controller gains that much life." - if you're thinking "well didn't they errata that?" NO. You are wrong. This is an ability unique to Essence Sliver .) However, if they're going to pursue a Control oriented deck...then yeah, I'd stick with that cut.

• Training Grounds is an absolutely must keep, if solely for the commander interaction. Saving mana per tutor (or steal when used in conjunction with Amoeboid Changeling ) pays in dividends.

Caerwyn on Sliver EDH v1.0

2 weeks ago

To start, I disagree with a few of shadow63's cuts.

Dormant Sliver is a powerhouse, allowing for extremely explosive plays where you draw and play Sliver after Sliver. The downside is significant, but between Necrotic Sliver and your own removal spells, it is pretty easy to kill your own Dormant Sliver and remove defender.

Sedge Sliver would work a lot better if you had a number of fetch/shock lands, but it still pulls its weight in a budget deck. The ability to save any sliver from dying is invaluable.

Amoeboid Changeling allows you to take other players' creatures using your commander.

I do agree that you can probably cut Tamiyo (unless you have a sacrifice-heavy meta). Ashnod's is a great card, but, with Gemhide turning your slivers into ramp, you do not really need it.

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Here's some other cuts I would recommend:

Aether Vial - outstanding card in 60-card constructed Slivers, since the overwhelming majority of your slivers are exactly 2 mana. Its effectiveness in singleton, however, is a bit lackluster.

Even though your commander benefits from Training Grounds , I do not think you have a critical mass of creatures with generic-requiring mana abilities to make Training Grounds worth a slot. Same goes for Heartstone .

Bring to Light is a bit too much mana for its effect. I do not think you need it.

Next we get into cutting your underperforming slivers. You probably should get rid of 16 or so of your 44 creatures.

Here's a few I would certainty remove:

• Syphon Sliver - lifelink isn't all that exciting of an ability.
• Synapse Sliver - solid ability, but you have better card draw, and five mana is pretty heft.
• Opaline Sliver - You have enough tutors that it should be easy enough to find Crystalline Sliver instead.
• Lavabelly Sliver - too low of an impact.

Beyond those, look at the mana costs of the slivers, and try to cut some of the higher-costed ones. Sure, they have great abilities, but slivers work best when you're dumping a large number of them onto the field as quickly as possible. Focus on the ones that have strong combo potential or work to protect key combo pieces.

Frankly, you can probably stand to cut some of the pure pump/combat slivers, such as Sinew Sliver . Sinew and its friends another card that excels in 60-card constructed, when you can run 12 total pump slivers; it singleton, three is just not that big of a deal. Sliver Legion already provides you a strong way to aggressively close out games--you don't need a bunch of worse versions of that effect.

CrimsonChaos on Scarabs U/B Zombies

3 weeks ago

RavnicaCommanders I wouldn't underestimate the potential Open the Graves can have in this deck, particularly since it can combo with the Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar setup for infinite zombies, which with the right timing can end the game if you have The Scarab God out. Also it doesn't hurt to have it in case a board wipe happens. Not saying it's an auto-include by any means, but certainly something to consider.

austintayshus Unfortunately Crypt Ghast would not be applicable in this deck, as it has a hybrid Orzhov cost to its Extort, and our commander in this deck doesn't have white in its identity. If we do want to take advantage of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth , however, we can look at something like Zombie Master , which was similarly recommended to me, allowing us to attack with our zombies unchecked due to Swampwalk.

As for other considerations, there's always Altar of the Brood to combo with Gravecrawler/Phyrexian Altar to mill our opponents out. Cover of Darkness is also a powerful tribal card we can use here, as it'll give all your zombies Fear, further making it harder for opponents to block. Final Parting is an extremely useful tutor in this deck. It may cost a bit of mana, but with it you can easily retrieve your Phyrexian Altar while chucking your Gravecrawler to the gy, which can then be easily recast from there, among other possibilities. You could also consider Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet to get even more tokens every time you manage to kill an opponent's creature. As for ramp, Sword of the Animist could be useful to help you get more of your basic lands out. I'd personally love to get a copy of Training Grounds for my own Scarab God deck, but yeesh is it pricey and hard to find... It would be very helpful for making easier use of Scarab God's activated ability. Whatever you decide to go with, I hope you have fun with it!