Vampiric Tutor

Instant

Search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. You lose 2 life.

Discussion (50)

Chats on When Hel freezes over

4 days ago

Phion,

To your point, I definitely appreciate that you're going "budget" with it. That's the very reason why I built it. Our playgroup is trying to stay with $200-400 deck prices.

So this deck was a perfect starting point that I could buff up just a bit (it was already really strong and overhwhelming with tokens!).

Honestly, I just dont know what I would take out and replace.

So far I'm cutting: Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip , Embalmer's Tools , Discovery / Dispersal , Gray Merchant of Asphodel , Forbidden Alchemy

The additions: Dictate of Erebos , Winter Orb , Cryptic Command , Vampiric Tutor , Demonic Tutor , Thoughseize, Feast of Dreams , Hymn to Tourach

Any ideas on what else I could cut to make room for the last few additions? Thanks!

Nitaisonnenfeld on Codie's Cycling (EDH)

2 weeks ago

That's a really cool idea for a Codie deck! However I think that one way to make it a bit stronger is to just add some counterspells to slow down your opponents while you get there and protect yourself (and most of what you do is cycling and you can do that in instant speed, so there is no problem with leave some mana up). You really need to protect your stuff because if someone destroys your zirda, you are pretty much done for. It will take so much time to cycle it all away without it, I think. So maybe, you can have many 1 instants and sorceries spells to use Codie, and some higher cmc instants and sorceries you can use before you actually use Codie's ability (or maybe, you can use it only as ramp and fixing without actually playing an instant or sorcery. And then, you might play a 1 cmc instant/sorcery to get Living End and another to get haste - which means that you need more haste enablers. There are some permanent ones with abilities that I thought about (namely Samut, Voice of Dissent and Fires of Yavimaya ) but you can also just add instants and sorceries that do that. The ideal one I think is Burst of Speed which just straight up gives everything you control haste for 1 mana - filling up both parts like Heroic Reinforcements . You can also add ramp. Almost all of it is nonpermanent or has activated abilities. And you can also add the cycling lands since most of them can cycle for free with zirda out and will reduce the amount of dead draws. You can also add Tectonic Reformation to once again reduce the amount of dead draws which you cant cycle. Lastly, freeing up the instants about 0 cmc allows you to add some tutors which will essensially act as multiple copies of the instants in this deck. Off the top of my head, Demonic Tutor , Vampiric Tutor , Merchant Scroll , Mystical Tutor and Long-Term Plans all work for this (and probably many many more).

What do you think about those suggestions? Imo, they will allow the deck to do what it wants to do much quicker and more consistently.

Monomanamaniac on Anowon - Rogue Tribal - $500 Budget

2 weeks ago

Great build overall. It's hard to think of what you should add or cut but i think your choices need to be cmc based. Your deck is currently sitting at 2.89, but if you can get it below 2.5 you'll be far more consistent. Stuff like Vanquisher's Banner and Coat of Arms are great, but they cost a lot and can bog down your turns. Keeper of Keys is another example of this, and a card I'm honestly a bit disappointed in. I wish it said beginning of combat because an upkeep trigger for monarch isn't very reliable. Knowledge Exploitation isn't really what i would be going for, even if it just costs its prowl cost it's not very exciting. If you really want to tutor for an instant or sorcery you should think of putting in Mystical Tutor , Merchant Scroll , Fabricate , Vampiric Tutor , or Demonic Tutor . You also seem to have a rather high concentration of equipment spells, might suggest removing a couple, maybe Bloodforged Battle-Axe for starters.

As for additions i might suggest some great rocks like Mana Crypt , Thought Vessel , or even Fellwar Stone . You could think of adding Changeling Outcast as a very cheap unblockable rogue. You could think about Drown in the Loch for that flexible removal. Then there's the ability to draw more cards with Bident of Thassa , or Reconnaissance Mission though you'd be flirting with that cmc issue again.

Besides that i can't think of much, and none of my suggestions takes budget into consideration. Seems like it's a very well put together list i don't think i could've put together a better one

iplayBANJO on Prototype Control

3 weeks ago

If you're playing a very heavy control theme in commander your win condition is going to probably be a game lock. There are a few different kinds of those. Hard locks will literally stop your opponents from being able to play the game at all. You accomplish this by setting up a situation where they can't cast spells, they can't untap, or they can't generate mana. Soft locks are where you severely diminish an opponents ability to play the game. This is often done by forcing your opponents to discard all of their cards.

The hard locks I would suggest with this are the Karn lock and the Knowledge Pool lock. The Karn lock is very specifically Karn, the Great Creator + Mycosynth Lattice . Your opponents can't activate any abilities of permanents on the battlefield. This means that opponents can't tap anything for mana. The cards are also useful to you individually because Karn, the Great Creator stops opponents from using mana rocks and Mycosynth Lattice helps you cast opponent's spells by allowing you to spend your mana as though it were any color.

The Knowledge Pool lock has only one required card. Knowledge Pool exiles every spell that any player casts from their hand. Players can then cast a spell from the previously exiled cards. This means that a player must cast two spells for anything to resolve. Rule of Law prevents casting any spell after the first spell. Effectively this means to no one can play spells from their hands. But you can cast cards from other players hands if you have Sen Triplets out. This is also true for Arcane Laboratory , Eidolon of Rhetoric , Archon of Emeria , Drannith Magistrate , Teferi, Time Raveler and Ethersworn Canonist to an extent. All of those cards, are also things you use to limit the amount of actions other players can take as a part of your control strategy.

The soft locks all involve preventing players from drawing cards. Narset, Parter of Veils , Hullbreacher , Alms Collector , and Notion Thief . All of these prevent opponents from drawing cards to some extent, which benefits your control plan. The lock is formed when you have one of those pieces out and you cast a spell like Windfall , which makes everyone discard their hand and draw new cards. But they can't, so only you draw new cards. Cards like Windfall are also very strong as they allow you to refill your hand. Similar cards are Echo of Eons , Day's Undoing , Jace's Archivist , Time Reversal , Commit / Memory (Probably pick two or three, not all of them).

You could also use the Laboratory Maniac combos as a win condition, since you are in the right colors for it. It's probably the most common win condition in high powered competitive decks. The way it works is you draw through your entire deck while Laboratory Maniac or Jace, Wielder of Mysteries are on the board then you attempt to draw a card and you win. Similarly, you can draw through your entire deck and then play Thassa's Oracle . The ways you "draw" through your deck are either Tainted Pact , Demonic Consultation , or Doomsday . Because they are common competitive win conditions, some of those pieces are expensive.

Allow me to advise you on getting to these win conditions though. You can tutor for these pieces with Vampiric Tutor , Enlightened Tutor , Demonic Tutor , or similar cards; but you probably would rather draw into them because that also gets you your control cards. Two cards that are surprisingly good for this are Ad Nauseam and Peer into the Abyss . You have to keep the mana cost of spells very low for Ad Nauseam, but it's worth it especially because it was reprinted recently and is only a few dollars I think.

X-Factor11105 on Dragon Jesus (Bladewing the Risen EDH)

3 weeks ago

• So depending on the weaknesses / inconsistencies you're seeing in your play, you may just want to add Goldspan Dragon in favor of Lathliss, Dragon Queen - ramp on a Dragon is so, so good. That's mainly the reason Gadrak, the Crown-Scourge is still in the build - the early blocker is nice, but with all the targeted removal we pack from Terror of the Peaks , Scourge of Valkas , Dragon Tempest , etc., Gadrak opens up some solid instant-speed plays or future ramp.

• In discussing this more, I do wonder if Feldon of the Third Path can be swapped out. Six mana for one revive is steep, and as I said, the ETB/LTB selection is limited. At a 28-30 creature count, he might make more sense, but that might be my cut candidate for Goldspan Dragon ...

• Hellkite Tyrant is delightful and will probably always included for me. It's one of those effects that can just change the game in a heartbeat in my opinion.

• I'm going to try and find room for Tibalt's Trickery as well - the red counter spell probably wants to find it way in here.

• Have you considered Seize the Spoils ? At 3 CMC it might be a bit slow, and may be too cute, maybe not as strong as Cathartic Reunion , or maybe we just up the CMC for Pirate's Pillage , but it does everything Bladewing wants, so I can't help but consider it.

• All of this is making me wonder about finding more powerful inclusions than Darretti, Scrap Savant and Solemn Simulacrum - the flexibility is so nice at 4 CMC, but I do think the power level can bump up (without breaking the bank for Mana Crypt , Wheel of Fortune , Demonic Tutor , or Vampiric Tutor ). Have any inclusions in particular been all-stars for you?

I'll also put that question to our other Bladewing friends: Fuzzlewuzzle, That_Salty_Gamr, and Azeworai - have you guys any pet cards or utility/tech cards that feel like they consistently over-achieve in your Bladewing decks?

dritchie on No time to rest – Drana, Reanimator (Primer)

3 weeks ago

I see a lot of things that dont synergise very well or cost far too much mana, i would remove Meteor Golem for Artisan of Kozilek i know its slightly more mana but has more versatility and more power. Nirkana Revenant id say is a must because she gives you more mana and can one hit someone, Reanimate , Rise of the Dark Realms , Sepulchral Primordial , Puppeteer Clique , Geth, Lord of the Vault , Chainer, Dementia Master

Malakir Rebirth  ^Flip has no real value in this deck id remove this for Sudden Spoiling or Tragic Slip or Entomb . you need some lower mana tutors at the like Diabolic Tutor , Vampiric Tutor , Exsanguinate would be good to help balance the life. board wipes like Necromantic Selection , Decree of Pain and Black Sun's Zenith . Nim Deathmantle . things like Grave Pact woundn't be a bad idea to add. Mortuary Mire and Crypt of Agadeem

sorry i feel like ive just ripped apart the deck

VampRamped on Threat Level Midnight [Edgar Markov Aggro]

3 weeks ago

I personally have not tried the full monte every one drop super low curve Edgar Markov list because I just love my own list I'm running right now so much, but that's not to say that I don't play a very aggressive list.

I think that the one drop full monte aggressive list should work very well in theory I have no criticism of any creature choices you run in the deck beside the fact that I think you should run Vampire Nocturnus since you have the mana base that he is fine and he is not to hard to trigger especially with fetch lands.

My main concern with your deck is that card draw choices, besides skull clamp, are far too modest. Minions' Murmurs , Pact of the Serpent , and Necropotence , are all as much or less mana than your current cards, and will draw significantly more cards than your current card draw. Additionally, if you can afford Vampiric Tutor , or Demonic Tutor they might also be good to replace your current card draw as Necropotence can fuel Edgar Markov Aggro nearly indefinitely.

Overall though the deck looks good, would appreciate it if you would check out my own list and would appreciate your thoughts.

B0NGUS on Getting Slivvy With It

1 month ago

I've made some cuts!

Changed Maelstrom Nexus for Descendants' Path . It's 2 mana value lower, requires 4 less colors, still casts, and doesn't care if it casts a MV greater than or equal to a creature I control.

Changed Shared Animosity for Rhystic Study . They're the same cost, but drawing cards/taxing my opponents is more important than making the hive deal more damage.

Changed Leave / Chance for Teferi's Protection . There have been multiple improvements in card draw and Chance was never used in gameplay. Leave forces me to cast all my board again.

Changed Ready / Willing for Cyclonic Rift . I needed more one-sided boardwipes, and have plenty of other forms of defense that makes Ready/Willing too redundant.

Changed Watery Grave for Vampiric Tutor . Going down to 37 lands is fine, and part of the manabase that's out of balance. Vampiric Tutor is the most powerful tutor, no explanation necessary.

Changed Polluted Delta for Overgrown Tomb (apparently it wasn't actually in the deck). Just updating imbalanced manabase, I don't need every fetch in this deck.

Changed Apex Devastator for Vanquisher's Banner . V Banner is 1/2 the cost and provides card draw upon casting. Apex Devastator was fun, and it can explode very well, but it's better elsewhere.

Changed Fury Sliver for Bonescythe Sliver . Just mana reduction costs, they both provide doublestrike. I may reconsider adding Fury Sliver back in for redundancy.

Changed Cleaving Sliver for Brood Sliver . Creating additional slivers at no cost is better than +2/+0, right?

Changed Commander's Sphere for Realmwalker . Additional sliver and card advantage, as well as scouting the top-card for cascade potential.

Changed Pillar of Origins for Prismatic Omen . Pillar of Origins is a mana rock for about 1/2 the spells in the deck, Prismatic Omen color fixes all my lands for all of the spells in the deck.

Changed Averna, the Chaos Bloom for Shifting Sliver . Averna was fun, and the mana ramp was explosive, but let's give no-non-slivers a chance to see how it impacts cascades.

Changed Explosive Vegetation for Reflections of Littjara . Reflections of Littjara doubles Mana Echoes, Distant Melody, Lavabelly, Manaweft/Gemhide, Opaline, Sedge, Spiteful, and Thorncaster effects.

Spells being considered that I own currently; Hollowhead Sliver , Doomskar , & Pyre of Heroes .

Spells being considered that are being purchased soon; Necrotic Sliver , Root Sliver , Bloom Tender , Pulmonic Sliver , Spoils of Victory , Darksteel Mutation , Synapse Sliver , Magma Sliver , Intruder Alarm , Horned Sliver , and Amoeboid Changeling .

Galerider Sliver is being purchased soon and will be changed for Winged Sliver .