Vines of Vastwood

Instant

Kicker {{G}} (You may pay an additional {{G}} as you cast this spell.)

Target creature can't be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control this turn. If Vines of Vastwood was kicked, that creature gets +4/+4 until end of turn.

Discussion (50)

bapple on No, that's not dead - it's resting (Arixmethes)

3 hours ago

Wow, thanks for the great feedback! Some of the cards were considered (Aether Tunnel), while others are either new to me (Vines of Vastwood, cheap multipurpose!) or just not thought of (Hunter's Insight, so much draw...). Will definitely give your suggestions some thought - although some of them are to expensive for the deck (Berserk, yowza...!).

And although I'm a sucker for vague themes and tribal I'm now curious of how a more refined voltron deck would feel as of your suggestions.

Thumbs up to Rafiq. He's a stud. : )

DemMeowsephs on No, that's not dead - it's resting (Arixmethes)

1 day ago

What a cool deck! My deck, Double Trouble EDH ⫸PRIMER⫷, functions quite similarly with a lot of ramp and unblockable spells, so I may be able to give you a few tips! First thing, I would recommend playing a bunch more of unblockable spells. 6/100 cards aren't very reassuring, and there are many more of them that could prove useful! Infiltrate, Cloak of Mists, Canopy Cover, and Aether Tunnel are all pretty good as well! If you have the budget, Thassa, God of the Sea could work well in that regard too. I would also consider a bunch of more pump spells and a couple of neat draw spells. One of the best ones in this regard would be Berserk, basically a 1 hit KO, but as that may not be within your budget, I would look through the following: Blossoming Defense, Briar Shield, Groundswell, Hunt the Hunter, Might of Old Krosa, Mutagenic Growth, Seal of Strength, Vines of Vastwood, Favor of the Overbeing, Might of the Nephilim, Phytoburst, Titanic Growth, Invigorate, Might of Oaks, and of course the final two. Hunter's Prowess, and Hunter's Insight. If you have an unblockable spell, you can draw 12+ cards with arixmethes, and if you have some pump spells, that can be WAY more. Pump spells also increase commander damage, letting you reach your goal relatively quicker. While the pump spells aren't necessary, I think the draw spells would work wonderfully. For lands and ramp, I'll try to stick to cheaper things, so I think Exotic Orchard would work really well, since almost everyone nowadays plays in blue/green, and you'd have pretty great chances. As for ramp, I would definitely include Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Simic Signet, Birds of Paradise, Nature's Lore, Three Visits (It will be reprinted in commander legends for less than a dollar), Sylvan Caryatid, Explore, Growth Spiral, Emerald Medallion/Sapphire Medallion, Mark of Sakikoand as for non-budget options, Burgeoning, Exploration, and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds. I also do not think you really need the "fatties" section, as they don't directly contribute to the gameplan and they seem to be more of a flavorful aspect. Anyways though, be sure to check out some of my decks, hope this helps, and have a wonderful day! Happy tapping!

osiczym on Hexproof Aggro

4 days ago

Hi Reynan,

Thank you for all your advices! The idea is to make green deck really fast, to compete with red haste decks. That’s why I use Boggart Ram-Gang (they are 3/3 haste for 3rd rnd drop giving +3 devotion) and Llanowar Elves (giving 3rd rnd drop in second rnd, also I need much mana to cast multiple spells in round - I used to think like you and got rid of them once and it didn’t end well).

Barkhide Troll - it is really great creature, cause it’s 3/3 with potential hexproof in 2nd rnd. But I notices that in fact I always wait for 3rd, because I dont wanna lose him and always leave 1 mana for ability, which is annoying. I think I’m gonna swap it for Bassara Tower Archer as you said.

Witchstalker plays a different role than Silhana Ledgewalker. The first is 3/3, second is 1/1 and it is huge difference. It is not an aura deck, so it may lose firepower when I will do that. I was even thinking about adding something more powerful for him (e.g. Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig), but I’m afraid I won’t have much creatures to buff without worrying of destroying them by opp’s spells then.

Vines of Vastwood - yeah, they play very well! I agree I need more of them. Maybe I will remove Become Immense since I noticed I don’t have many cards in graveyard since my creatures don’t die easily.

Auras - maybe I’ll try for fun, but it’s just... I wanted to experiment with unusual approach to this deck, cause many people use hexproof+aura, but haven’t seen many very fast hexproof+buff decks :)

Reynan on Hexproof Aggro

4 days ago

Make a test taking off Barkhide Troll and Boggart Ram-Gang and putting 4 Slippery Bogle. Your spells are very low cost, so I don't see how Llanowar Elves are needed, try to get off them and use 4 Bassara Tower Archer, it seems she works a lot better than the troll, due she's constant hexproof and keeping good your green devotion. Witchstalker is a good option for sideboard, try to use 4 Silhana Ledgewalker, she's fasten and much more hard to be blocked. Vines of Vastwood are very good, try to use 4 of it, it suits well in any situation.

Is cool try to make mono colored decks. You can try an aura version from that deck using Blanchwood Armor, Boar Umbra, Elephant Guide, Sixth Sense, Spider Umbra... that's it!

RNR_Gaming on Atla Palani, Nest Tender

2 weeks ago

If you do decide to take multimedia advice throw in more buffs Gavony Township, Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers, Hashep Oasis, Skarrg, the Rage Pits, Ancient Animus, Dromoka's Command and Vines of Vastwood. Also, you'll need a shuffle titan like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Dockside Extortionist, Academy Rector, Village Bell-Ringer and Dockside Extortionist to have the loop in your deck

TheVectornaut on Searing Infection

1 month ago

Most of my experience with infect comes from playing simic, but I have played the mechanic in all 5 colors. In terms of power, green is the most effective color to play by a very VERY large margin. You get access to the best infect creature in Glistener Elf (along with the slower and safer option of Blight Mamba), you get trample sources to push through damage with Ichorclaw Myr such as Rancor, Predator's Strike, and Larger Than Life, you get protection bundled with buffs in the form of Vines of Vastwood, Ranger's Guile, and Blossoming Defense, and you get the largest pool of very strong power boosts in the form of Mutagenic Growth, Invigorate, Scale Up, Might of Old Krosa, Berserk, Become Immense, Groundswell, Phytoburst, Noble Hierarch, and Pendelhaven. Since infect is an all-or-nothing sort of archetype, even when running the less aggressive versions, the most important characteristics that you need are speed, protection, and evasion. Green offers two of those things in spades but can struggle with evasion. This is why blue is generally considered the next best color to run. You get the insane threat of Blighted Agent, unblockable buffs with Distortion Strike and Aqueous Form, and protection from spells via Spell Pierce, Dispel, Turn Aside, and the odd Spellskite. Black is the next best. Plague Stinger's flying isn't as good as the unblockable on a Blighted Agent but it's still very powerful evasion as illustrated by the ubiquity of Inkmoth Nexus in every non-budget infect list ever made. Black also nets useful control tools like Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Fatal Push, Dismember, and Assassin's Trophy. White was considered the worst infect color for a very long time since its best option (Apostle's Blessing) can be used in any deck, but the recent introduction of Giver of Runes has breathed some life back into the color. Additionally, I've seen a lot of equipment lists popping up that use Colossus Hammer, Kor Duelist, Sigarda's Aid, and Kor Outfitter to see some success. Unfortunately, that leaves red as the current worst color to run in infect. It has some decent buffs but they pale in comparison to green's offerings. The result is that most red infect decks rely on gimmicks like using Razor Swine's first strike to wither enemy creatures, generating infinite mana to pump into an unblocked Ogre Menial, or putting Phyresis on something like a Spikeshot Elder to bypass combat altogether. Your instant tricks definitely fall in this category. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. If your meta is casual enough, red should still work and it will be much more interesting to play with / fun to play against than a more traditional deck. How competitive you want to be is always up to you.

To answer your specific questions, I would probably start by cutting a few creatures. Most lists run about 12 infect sources (and that's including a playset of Inkmoth Nexus). With Hand of the Praetors on your top end, running 16-20 isn't that unreasonable, at least as long as all of them are good. Infect creatures usually become "bad" when they cost more than 2. That's why I wouldn't usually recommend running Ichor Rats or Septic Rats. Both Necropede and Plague Myr are perfectly acceptable inclusions with very similar power levels. They'll rarely be better than Plague Stinger or Ichorclaw Myr but that's okay if you just want more guys to play. As for Vector Asp, it's honestly a pretty bad choice in most circumstances. While you usually won't need to activate it more than 2 or 3 times to win the game, that mana would be better spent elsewhere, and it doesn't even trigger the Hand. However, given the choice of it and a 3-drop, I'd probably take the snake, especially since it would be your only proactive play on turn 1 (barring the inclusion of Glistener Elf or Inkmoths). Better though would just be to run neither and invest in more buff spells to assist in combat and trigger Livewire Lash. I do like the idea of those spells having cycling in theory, but in practice, the mana needed to cycle can short you of the resources needed to close out the game. Plus, cycling spells tend to cost more to account for the added ability. Cycling lands on the other hand should be fine as long as they come in untapped, although it looks like that only describes Ash Barrens and Blasted Landscape. Just like with creatures, I wouldn't run any spells that cost more than 2 unless they can win you the game like Soul's Fire can. This will also allow you to run 20 lands or fewer, opening up even more slots for gas. I apologize if I'm repeating myself about the low-cost-high-speed thing but that is basically the reason the infect mechanic exists. If you prefer a slow and more controlling style, Rakdos wither built around Necroskitter is a fun option that has some overlap with infect.

Peoyogon on Aggro Munch

1 month ago

Hello, DoktaDakka! Thanks again for your insight! I agree, there are a lot of problems with this deck. This is actually the older version of my new deck Aggro Bouncehouse. This version was mostly built just out of stuff I had lying around using pet cards (like flunkies and spriggan) and was aimed for a very casual setting. I recently wanted to improve it since I don't play in that setting much anymore. In the newest version, I ended up scrapping pretty much all of this list and rebuilt into a new, full aggro strategy.

Funny enough, there was an even older version of this deck (I've seriously had this deck in some form for almost 10 years now). That even older version actually used a ton of pump spells with playsets of Giant Growth, Vines of Vastwood, and Brute Force and threw them on small tramplers like Charging Badger. It was fun, goofy, and extremely weak against any removal ;D

He_Who_Hungers on The old ways

1 month ago

Hey, thanks a lot for your many suggestions. I have a very personal style of deck building so I will take a look at them through my own lens. Yes, this will mean that the resulting deck will not be as powerful as it could be, and it will definitely include some, as you call them, 'bad' cards. I have a very strong disdain for 'staples', I prefer each of my decks feeling unique and the idea of staples kind of runs contrary to that. Of course, I have my exceptions, like Sol Ring/Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots making it into nearly every one of my decks, but that will be a reason I won't included many of the cards you point out as staples. I have no intention of making this a competitive deck, so for those of your suggestions that I don't take, that will likely be the reason. Also note that I have not added the lands yet, some of your suggestions are definitely good ones though.

Lastly, I am building on my current Omnath deck, and I have a nearly complete Champions of Kamigawa set, which allows me to very easily experiment with any cards from there, which would take preference over acquiring new cards to fill the spots, since I can, and, with time, probably will replace them later. One question I have is, since you're recommending I cut cards like Vines of Vastwood and Archetype of Endurance, one of my big worries with this deck is Sachi being vulnerable to removal, and my pack of shamen not being of much use without her. I may consider your suggestion of Sylvan Safekeeper, but it still feels kind of light to me (as well as being very vulnerable to any form of boardwipe). I don't think Veil of Summer is going to be quite the thing for me, especially with the pricetag attached to it, since the decks I play against within my playgroup differ wildly on colours. Are there any other suggestions you have as far as protection goes?