Viashino Heretic

Creature — Viashino

(1)(Red), Tap: Destroy target artifact. Viashino Heretic deals damage to that artifact's controller equal to the artifact's converted mana cost.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	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
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

DreadKhan on Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer Home Brew Deck

3 weeks ago

I'm not sure if you're interested in adjusting this at some point, but I often get ideas when I look over decks/test them out (and like the list enough to get a bit invested in it), so here's a few ideas I had, maybe something will spark your interest! Also, you're at 99 cards atm, if you add 1 more the deck will show as legal in Commander.

I have some decks that mix Voltron/Aggro, I have rarely been unhappy with Berserkers' Onslaught, even if you already have First Strike getting Double Strike also doubles everything on your board's power while attacking (you'll still have First Strike while blocking, which is still very useful imho). True Conviction is a White version with a bit more upside, but it's 6 mana, I think you could run both to get that Double Strike Anthem out more often. Scavenged Brawler is a weird new card that offers two uses, if you cast it it's a 4/4 artifact creature with a heap of upsides, but imagine using that on Jor! Vigilance and First Strike are AMAZING together. With your Average MV I wonder if Detective's Phoenix is worth a look? Haste and Flying for only {R} is amazing later game, especially with an 8 power Commander! Rite of the Raging Storm is a weird card that synergizes with your Commander (an 8/1 is actually intimidating IMHO, and if you can give it Double Strike, it gets ugly...). Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is an interesting late game card, the effect is stronger than it looks, and it stacks with Double Strike. Two-Handed Axe and Inquisitor's Flail are nice equipment with First Strike.

If you like The Prydwn, maybe Parhelion II? If Jor is online it's 8 mana to swing for 22 by itself (well, with it's two Vigilance angels that each get +3), this also plays well with any power double effects. It is a LOT of mana fwiw, but it's a decent closer that only needs a pilot to work.

This is going to sound a bit crazy, but have you ever considered Harmonious Archon? This has big synergies with Jor (and any other anthems you have), maybe not ideal if you have opponents who have larger armies of smaller tokens? Oh, if people do tend to swarm you maybe Brave the Sands would help? It's very good with First Strike, as well as Jor's ability.

Liquimetal Torque is a neat mana rock that can help you get a problem card off the board (artifacts are more often removed), and with your Commander you could use this to gain access to an extra artifact to turn on The Prevailer in a pinch, I think that's enough use cases to matter. I have had fun with Torque + Gorilla Shaman, Viashino Heretic, and Devout Witness as permanents that can repeatedly remove problematic cards without generating too much salt. Since they're also creatures they offer you upside of being capable of swinging with +3 in a pinch. Great with Double Strike obviously!

Bonders' Enclave and War Room are pretty handy in a Boros list, especially with a Commander that turns on the Enclave. Enclave is pretty cheap ATM, War Room seems to get reprinted a lot so if it's too much it'll probably go down at some point.

Oh, just remembered, have you got a Transmogrifying Wand kicking around? This is an artifact that will stick around after you've removed 3 creatures with it, the only real drawback in my experience is that it costs 3 up front, though in practice this is often an upside because you can play it out whenever for Metalcraft, then use it to Ox a problem creature.

Itoshii on Jinx Master of Chaos

1 year ago

DreadKhan Yeah you are totally right. I think this is a bad habit of mine where I commit completely to the mechanic I am building around with no regard to the staple items every deck needs. I have tweeked it with some other cards to help me have a board presence. I am still considering Viashino Heretic and Rite of the Raging Storm that you suggested.

DreadKhan on Jinx Master of Chaos

1 year ago

I could be wrong, but I think part of your problem is that you can't run enough wipes to keep pressure down but also cannot run enough creatures to deal with aggro. Some stuff that can help with this include Propaganda, maybe War Tax do a good job at deterring early aggro. Callous Oppressor type cards are pretty powerful, creature theft effects allow you to keep up with aggressive decks running powerful creatures without having to run or cast them yourselves. There might be a couple useful token generators that might fit, Ophiomancer and Ogre Slumlord both provide endless Deathtouch blockers and can deter attacks. My final suggestion to help prevent losses is dedicated blockers, cards like Brash Taunter, this sweet blocker survives many wipes and can make brute force risky to use vs you. There are also cards like Fog Bank that can block fairly well, but remember that low toughness means you're vulnerable to Trample.

I would try out Rite of the Raging Storm, it puts a lot of pressure on the board for anyone but you who can't block a 5/1 trample. Mask of Griselbrand works really well with Rite, but it also works well with any other non-flyer you want to attack with, and helps incase you get wiped/targeted with removal since it can draw cards. The lifegain is a nice perk. Viashino Heretic is a way to blow up artifacts repeatedly that also can deal some damage, if people use large artifacts it can be a lot of damage for mana.

DreadKhan on Gnoll Patrol

1 year ago

I also think Gnolls are cool and approve of this premise! Here are my thoughts about the deck, hope they're helpful.

If you ever want to raise your budget a bit, Pathbreaker Ibex has huge synergy with your deck.

When I was testing out your deck I found that you seemed to be short of creatures for a deck that runs lots of creature payoffs and generally can't win without them. In a deck that's very creature centric I like to run closer to 40, if not more, Gruul has really, really good creatures to choose from. For example, you can run Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf over artifact ramp, these give you a creature body while also permanently ramping you (land ramp is much more stable than artifact ramp anyways). Creature buffs can be stapled to a creature, there are options like Thunderfoot Baloth, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma or maybe Blossoming Bogbeast or Kamahl, Heart of Krosa. You can use creatures as a great source of removal with options like Thorn Mammoth, Ulvenwald Tracker, Kogla, the Titan Ape, Gruul Ragebeast, Steelbane Hydra, Viashino Heretic, and Outland Liberator  ^Flip are all pretty decent at getting things off the table for you while also offering a physical presence. Not sure if they quite fit, but depending on your meta Silklash Spider and Squallmonger are pretty nasty surprises for decks that use Flying a lot, Squallmonger can even kill huge flyers with another player's help, or allow several players to quickly eliminate an archenemy that is lower in life.

There are a few good ways to double your power in Gruul, the new Two-Handed Axe is very interesting, the surprise Double Strike ability works well with your Commander, and the power doubling effect definitely does. Inquisitor's Flail is an incredible equipment if your Commander is either very big or has First Strike, yours can easily get big enough to justify the risk. Berserkers' Onslaught is really strong, even if it's 5 mana, Enchantments tend to stick around for awhile.

I think you should run more sources of Trample in here (there are some listed above as well), but with a budget restriction that does make it more of a challenge. Your Commander is really strong if he has Trample, but can be chumped by a 0/1 goat token without it (funny image, maybe he got hungry?). Garruk's Uprising is a really good card if you have enough creatures with power 4 and up, but the Trample is the real perk here arguably. Kessig Wolf Run might do the trick, and it's on a land. Brawn is pretty budget, but it can be hard to get it killed. War Cadence isn't exactly Trample, but it can easily let you swing with unblockable creatures if someone is tapped out, but remember this can also be used to create chaos on other people's attacks if you've got nothing better to do. It's also not Trample technically, but Siege Behemoth can bypass blockers for your attackers.

With a relatively low budget in Red, I feel like Rite of the Raging Storm is a very underrated card. Those 5/1s are never coming your way, but they will swarm anyone who can't deal with it on their opponent's turns, and yours gets the buff from your Commander fwiw. Breaker of Armies is a good way to clear out potentially a whole board worth of stuff of a vulnerable player, it can deter attacks vs you if their defenders are all going to be stomped by an Eldrazi.

If you can get your creature count high enough, you could sneak stuff like Lurking Predators in, which is pretty impressive card advantage over time in many metas. There is also Heartwood Storyteller, which is very good if you don't run many non-creatures.

DreadKhan on Lyzolda's Bloody Sunday

2 years ago

Basilisk Collar seems like it'd be pretty good with Lyzolda, she can then remove target creature by sacrificing any red creature (and you gain 2 life). Note 100% on this, but I really like Mask of Griselbrand in a deck that has creatures dying regularly. Mask is really, really good with Rite of the Raging Storm, which was reprinted recently and is amazing value in most metas, on top of which you can just sacrifice the Elemental to Lyzolda before it dies, too bad it's not also Black!

I wouldn't hesitate to run either Ashes to Ashes or Reckless Spite over something like Assassinate. I also would think about Chaos Warp to deal with any permanent that can be targeted.

Not 100% if they're worth it, but Rakdos Cackler, Manaforge Cinder and Footlight Fiend are each small bodies that offer you some utility on a 1 drop while also offering you 1 drops that are both Red and Black.

Not sure if you run into a lot of problematic artifacts, but Viashino Heretic seems really funny with Obosh and some high MV artifacts.

It's pretty pricey, but I'm not sure if there are many better fits for this deck than Ophiomancer, 2 mana to draw an extra card on each player's turn isn't bad value, and you still can block with the 1/1 Deathtouch if necessary (it mostly deters people in my experience). There is also Ogre Slumlord that makes 1/1 Deathtouch tokens, but you need to be killing other people's creatures to make it truly work, though just getting a Rat whenever you sacrifice one of your non-tokens might be good enough.

Very fun Commander IMHO, and always neat to see someone bother with a Companion, pinging is strong enough to be interesting without being obnoxious, and getting built in card draw seems really strong.

Jopling on

2 years ago

DreadKhan These are all great suggestions, thanks for taking the time!

Thieves' Auction, Blasphemous Act, Chain Reaction, War Room, Viashino Heretic and Citadel of Pain I will try and slot in.

Reckless Endeavor costs a little too much mana for me and I will certainly keep Vandalblast and Gorilla Shaman in mind if I need more artifact removal.

DreadKhan on

2 years ago

In my Rakdos deck (which is fairly Chaotic), I like find Thieves' Auction is almost a win con by itself, it's especially juicy if your board includes lands that aren't in the right colours for everyone else and you have a bunch of global effects that work regardless of who controls them, such that you just take a whole bunch of better stuff, including importantly the best thing. It doesn't even target anything, so it gets around almost anything, it's just a stupid 'I want your stuff, have my dreck'.

You might like Blasphemous Act, or maybe Chain Reaction or Reckless Endeavor. You might also like Vandalblast, Viashino Heretic, Gorilla Shaman or Citadel of Pain to discourage people from holding up interaction/burn them out. Not sure if it'll go lower, but War Room is probably a great card in mono-Red.

DreadKhan on Wyleth, but testing couple proxies

2 years ago

I like using Devout Witness and Viashino Heretic to help deal with artifacts/enchantments, and Jaya Ballard, Task Mage is pretty hilarious if you're already using Basilisk Collar (she can also remove any Blue Commander, which is hilarious I find). Brass Knuckles might do nothing when you double it up on most Commanders, but Wyleth will draw 2 cards each swing for 6 mana, not too shabby, and you can throw it onto some other creature in a pinch. I know you come with Trample, but Unquestioned Authority is a nice budget card for Voltron, draws on ETB and makes your Commander unblockable.

A bit pricier, but Mother of Runes can do a lot of work in a Voltron deck, letting you protect Wyleth, or letting Wyleth get past blockers, which is a lot of work for a 1 drop. If you use Brash Taunter, which is cheap ATM but will go back up, you can also run Pariah and Guilty Conscience, both cards are just stupid with Taunter. If you run Pariah, you could run something like Shielded by Faith, then anyone can be a great Pariah. Pariah is also good with any Theros Gods, or otherwise indestructible creatures, but most are pricey. Pyrohemia is another nice card, it's especially good if people tend to have smaller creatures than Wyleth, and lots of them. As long as you don't kill Wyleth, the card stays around as well. Pyrohemia gets a lot better if your Fiendlash is on Wyleth, each R lets him wallop an opposing player. You can also use Resourceful Defense or Nesting Grounds to put a Lifelink counter on Pyrohemia, there are a few white sources of those counters.

Cool deck, Wyleth does good work on a budget.