Universal Automaton
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed 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
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Penny Dreadful Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vintage Legal

Universal Automaton

Artifact Creature — Shapeshifter

Changeling (This card is every creature type.)

legendofa on Changling Tribal Help Wanted pls

5 months ago

What kind of budget are you looking at for this? Some interesting lands are Flamekin Village, Primal Beyond, Unholy Grotto, and Haven of the Spirit Dragon. I also suggest the other one-mana changelings, Universal Automaton and Mothdust Changeling. If you shave down a few of the three-mana lords and such, and add a couple more lands and 1-2 mana spells, I think your deck will be able to accelerate and apply pressure more efficiently.

DreadKhan on Jensen's Wilhelt

5 months ago

I don't usually use very many (and none in Dimir), but Modal Dual Faced spells with a land on the back (Malakir Rebirth  Flip for example) are really good in decks that want to run a higher land count, as these offer you a so-so spell when you don't need a land, and a land when the spell is unplayable. 40 is a lot of lands, I only have 1 deck with more, and that's a dedicated landfall combo deck, so I'd try to run at least 4 MDFC lands. The good ones tend to be really pricey, but some are affordable.

Resculpt and Ravenform are good ways in Dimir to Exile a creature (which does matter sometimes) or to deal with an artifact permanently (Karn aside). I think both are fairly cheap. I wouldn't hesitate to run Resculpt over Go For The Throat, who cares about a 4/4 in Commander? The 1/1 is even less relevant.

If you want a low budget Zombie that is recursive (and can bring back your Midnight Reaper for example) is Haakon, Stromgald Scourge. Haakon's main asset is that he has to be exiled, and some decks don't come prepared to do that, or don't want to expend the card on such a weenie. Anyways, any Knight that can be cast for colourless (Universal Automaton, but also Ashes of the Fallen or Maskwood Nexus can make other 1 drops into knights) will go infinite with a sac outlet and Pawn of Ulamog or Sifter of Skulls. Not sure if that's enough Zombies, but there are other Zombie knights. You can also tutor for various pieces of this kind of clunky combo with Transmute cards, most of which are cheap.

DreadKhan on Teysa pale booby

5 months ago

If you want a cheap source of bodies, Haakon, Stromgald Scourge can reanimate any knights, including Changelings. If you Final Parting for Haakon into the Yard and Nameless Inversion you can recast Inversion for 1B as many times as you want, potentially killing lots of stuff. If you use Haakon, you should look at ways to discard him incase you draw into him. I have run Avenger en-Dal to decent effect. Bloodsoaked Altar is a sneakily good card if you can stand to discard. Body Snatcher isn't super-cheap, but it's a ton of value and can discard Haakon. Bog Witch can turn any card into a Dark Ritual, which helps since your deck has a lot of Black costs. Devout Witness is handy if you don't want to run Disenchant because you need more creatures. Icatian Crier makes 2 bodies fwiw. Skirk Ridge Exhumer makes nifty bodies. The Restoration of Eiganjo  Flip not only makes bodies and discards, it also can recur something small, it can even ramp you if you recur a land. Undertaker is much cheaper than Tortured Existence, it's not as good but it's still solid. This isn't an exhaustive list, but these are some options if you want to try out Haakon.

If you use Haakon and something like Pawn of Ulamog or Sifter of Skulls, a sac outlet and Universal Automaton to get infinite death triggers. If you use a Knight that costs B to cast, there is Bog Initiate to fix. There are better things you can do than this, but this is pretty budget. If someone tries to exile your combo pieces, you can always sacrifice them to send them to your graveyard instead.

Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire is a pretty reasonable tutor, and if you need to, you can find an effect for someone else to use (hopefully to your benefit, like a board wipe or removal spell). Eye of Vecna is nice cheap card draw. Strands of Night is a cheap repeatable recursion source, something that is worth a look. Casting of Bones is pretty solid draw if you can count on having creatures you want dead, 3 cards is a lot for 3 mana.

Guerric on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

8 months ago
I've made it clear at several points that I am not a big fan of changelings in this deck, my main argument being that while they are angels and benefit from Giada, they don't fly and are thus subpar. Some of this was a reaction to constant suggestions on the forums and online deck techs of subpar changelings like Impostor of the Sixth Pride. As a result many lists were running this card over Angelic Page, Angelic Curator, or Segovian Angel, all of which are strictly better in the context of an angels deck and far more on theme. I also did try and immediately disliked Mirror Entity in my early trials, further souring my mood towards the untribe.

That being said, some helpful pushback and discussion here are leading me to qualify my thoughts that there are some changelings which can be good in this deck and be correct play options, so I wanted to talk about which ones and why.

The first of these and the clear strongest option is Metallic Mimic. The reason for this is because it is a 2 drop "angel" that anthems every other angel you cast by increasing the number of counters that are put on it. This is amazing because unlike a Thraben Watcher whose anthem leaves the battlefield when it is removed, the extra counters will remain unless a board wipe happens. Regardless of whether I end up playing this card or not I think it is probably "correct" to play it in an optimal list.

The second of these cards is Irregular Cohort. Phule451 made a good point that this card is a two-for-one that we can cast turn three consistently. If we cast it then from turn four on we are putting at least three counters on everything, which is pretty great. Two-for-ones are great for goldfishing and provide efficiency, so this does that. There are still some downsides to this card since the angels don't fly and as four cmc is the slot where we need to get more choosy since there is more competition for slots, but I think it is a valid and very playable choice in this deck.

The third card is the weakest but is still playable and that is Universal Automaton. The "sole" reason for this is that it costs solely to cast it, and there is only one other angel we get for that rate. Again, low cmc angels don't have to do as much to justify their slot in this deck- cmc is almost good enough on it's own!

Any of the above cards can be "correct" to play in this deck, so if you want to play them, by all means do! All of that being said, I don't think that I personally will be playing any of these cards for two main reasons. The first of these is pretty much what I said before about the flying piece, but perhaps I should elaborate more. I have a lot of experience playing flyer decks across multiple formats in magic and it's something I have a strong feel for. When I've had non-flyers in decks that are built around flying, they've always felt bad, and I've wished they weren't in my deck every time. This already happened to me with Mirror Entity in this deck, and I don't want to really have much of a desire to experiment with them more. The only card I could maybe see myself playing is Metallic Mimic, but if I did play that card it would take the place of a support piece and not an angel, and I would justify it by considering it a support piece and not take a slot from an angel proper. The other reason I don't see myself playing these is more about flavor. This is an angels deck, and I want to play big flying angels with cool art, not creepy shapeshifters masquerading as the real thing. Changelings may be considered angels mechanically, but they also are not truly angels, and it feels wrong for the angel tribe in particular. I love some of the changelings I play in my Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow deck because it seems like ninjas and changelings go together perfectly, but not so much here. Of course, this latter reason is entirely subjective, and in general I try to build my decks as optimally as possible, but where it doesn't hurt the deck's strategy I like to keep my decks as flavorful as possible as that makes it more fun in my book! That being said, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade who likes these cards and prefers them to other angels, as I think they are all playable here. I hope this helps some of you as you plan and play the deck!

Guerric on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

8 months ago

Hi king-saproling! Thanks for the suggestions! I guess I'll give some thoughts in as orderly a way as I can.

1) Coat of Arms I love this card and play it in a couple of my decks. My thoughts are that, though a great tribal card, it caters more to pumping weenies. In this case Giada pumps our weenies just fine, and the card is a bit redundant. At 5 mana in mono-white its also a bit high for this deck, but it is a great card and I could see maybe someone having success with it.

2) Icon of Ancestry I really like this card on release, but didn't enjoy it too much in other decks in commander (it was a decent Brawl card when that was a thing). 3 mana is a lot to look for a card that you might never draw, and it can be unsatisfying to play it. The anthem could be good in other context, but this deck doesn't really need it.

3) Adaptive Automaton and other changelings. My general thought on these is that I'd rather just play real angels. While they changelings get counters, they don't fly, and flying makes them way more threatening. If there were a shortage of angels I'd consider putting them in, but I'd rather add Angelic Curator than Impostor of the Sixth Pride. That being said, Giada is weenie angels, and I could see a case for Universal Automaton and Metallic Mimic based on cmc value alone. I'm not sure I could fit them in here, but they are the better options of this group!

4) Slate of Ancestry is a really interesting draw option. Its a bit mana intensive to get going, but it could provide the burst draw this deck needs more of. I'll definitely consider it!

5) Urza's Incubator is a great card, there's no doubt about it. I wouldn't question it in anyone's list! As for me, three of my ramp cards discount creatures, and Giada can only ramp angels, so I need more ramp that can put lands in play or at least help me cast non-creature, non-white stuff. If I already had this in my binder and it wasn't $50 in real world money (I own all my decks in paper), I might consider it. But I think my ramp is working now. That being said, by all means play it because its great!

6) Cauldron of Souls This is good protection from sweepers, and the counters are effectively negated. Nice! I'll definitely consider it.

7) Adarkar Valkyrie This is a good effect, but Cauldron does it better, and Twilight Shepherd is probably a better option. That being said, its a halfway decent angel but I probably won't do it myself.

king-saproling on [Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*

8 months ago

Thoughts on these? Metallic Mimic, Universal Automaton, Impostor of the Sixth Pride, Urza's Incubator, Slate of Ancestry, Cauldron of Souls, Adarkar Valkyrie, Adaptive Automaton, Icon of Ancestry, Coat of Arms

brox.p on Pauper Illusions

8 months ago

thijmnesoy nice catch, I thought it might pull out some aggro stuff like Bonded Construct or an illusion such as Universal Automaton

Then the deck was full without me adding any of those ^^

DreadKhan on DecadAnce

9 months ago

Neat deck idea, I assume you're hoping to make the deck a bit stronger, so I took a look at the stuff you were concerned with.

You could try some Changelings maybe, there are some 1 drops like Universal Automaton and Changeling Outcast, which are all types and cost 1 mana for an otherwise useless creature. Maskwood Nexus is slower than all heck, but it's really strong in here I suspect.

If you want removal in White, Generous Gift will deal with most permanents, and giving them a 3/3 is usually good if you're stopping a combo/removing something huge. Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile are very good removal if you are concerned with creatures in particular. Vanishing Verse is really interesting (but flubs vs multi-coloured stuff), Anguished Unmaking is really powerful but is pricey, while Vindicate is the king of sorcery speed solutions. If your meta has a lot of big creatures, Despark isn't a bad option, but it's dead vs low MV stuff, so probably not mainboard. Not quite 'removal', but Plague Engineer is a good 'sideboard' card vs any decks that use x/1 creatures, especially stuff like Elves. You could consider Dismember, you've got some life gain I guess?

To sneak out a Black 3 drop, you might run some Dark Ritual for big turn 1 plays. It can also sneak out a Maskwood Nexus. Culling the Weak also exists, and sacrificing a creature might not bother you here.

Hope some of this is helpful!

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