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Format | Legality |
1v1 Commander | Legal |
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Pre-release | Legal |
Quest Magic | Legal |
Standard | Legal |
Standard Brawl | Legal |
Tiny Leaders | Legal |
Vanguard | Legal |
Vintage | Legal |
Virus Beetle
Artifact Creature — Insect
When this enters the battlefield, each opponent discards a card.
TheVectornaut on Tergrid - making cuts
2 weeks ago
You say you're going for more sacrifice than discard but the current list feels very much the opposite to me. If you are serious about wanting to make the deck more casual friendly, cutting all of the cards that exclusively care about discard does seem like the easy way to get down to 100. Having cards that do both like Rankle's Prank will probably be more palatable, even if the outcome is actually even more lopsided. As an aside in the event you do keep some discard spells, you'll be better off paying a little extra for the multiplayer focused options like Delirium Skeins vs. something targeted like Duress. Obviously, if you want to do a lot of 1v1, that evaluation changes. I like the idea of focusing on a sacrifice shell with all of Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, and Butcher of Malakir to ding opponents while you're sac looping your own creatures with various reanimator tools. Cards like Hell's Caretaker or Whisper, Blood Liturgist are favorites of mine since you can easily convert your chumps into discarded bombs or re-trigger ETB and death triggers. You have a ton of cheap Fleshbag Marauder-type cards and that's the real reason I'd recommend this angle. If you stick with at least some of the discard package, you can run plenty of Burglar Rat and Virus Beetle 1/1s to take advantage of Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker which is also conveniently good with Valgavoth's Faithful and other potential synergy pieces like Viscera Seer, Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat.
I'll also list some other cards I'd consider cutting, regardless of the focus on discard or sacrifice. Crypt Ghast feels excessive here since by the time you can play it and untap on the following turn, there's currently only two cards that you wouldn't be able to cast anyway. Since I'm also recommending the cut of All is Dust anyway for being too symmetrical of a wipe for its high cost, I don't know that you'll need all that mana very often. The obvious counterpoint here are the x spells, but I'd urge caution on keeping too many of those too. Unless you're ending the game with a final enormous Torment of Hailfire, these types of effects can fall squarely under the "feels bad" category, or at least that's my experience. If you do want to keep them as wincons, you probably want even more cards like Ghast to improve consistency in reaching that goal. For somewhat similar reasons, I'd also consider cutting Dark Ritual and Culling the Weak. Turbo-ing out your oppressive commander is exactly the kind of play pattern that earned the recent commander bans their new status. If the other players at the table feel like they have time to prepare potential answers to Tergrid, I think people will be much happier to play with you. And if you feel you need more mana and a way to sac guys you want in the yard, Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar are always an option. In terms of draw, I like engines that play off your deck's existing themes like Waste Not, Geth's Grimoire, Grim Haruspex, Harvester of Souls, etc. as opposed to once a turn effects like Dark Confidant or Phyrexian Arena. They may not always be more efficient but they're certainly more interesting. Necrodominance is an option I'd be careful with though since it has some anti-synergy with self-reanimator strategies. I like the idea of Deathgreeter to recoup some of the life loss from symmetrical pox effects and to benefit from mass sacrifice. I just think some of the previously mentioned options at two mana do the job better. Similarly, I feel that Osseous Sticktwister will accomplish less than some similar cards in the deck since your opponents are free to choose the life loss in a format that offers them plenty of life to spare. If you were going for a more explicit life drain strategy, I think the card could pair nicely with other 8rack staples. Unstoppable Slasher is another card that is only good if you're focused on dropping life totals quickly, and with no obvious ways to guarantee the damage gets through, I don't see this guy as being too impactful. The final card I'll mention is Mithril Coat. It makes sense on paper to protect your commander when you know it's going to get targeted. However, Tergrid is so feared at many tables that she's likely to get targeted and removed before you even have the spare mana to equip her. For this reason, I'd prioritize cheaper protection like Boots/Greaves. You could even try one of the many instants and auras that offer a one-time reanimation effect since those will also protect against your own sacrifice effects where equipment will not.
jonjonhholt on Artifact Lock
3 months ago
Its not an artifact but Kor Skyfisher works really well in this type of list as it can return cards like Refurbished Familiar, Tithing Blade Flip, and Virus Beetle to your hand to play once again.
GameofFame on Carrion, My Wayward Swarm (Grist Insects + Song)
6 months ago
Hey man I love the deck. I wanna build something like this to be a fun way to get around my friends decks, which are mostly big creature/control decks. What do you think about Virus Beetle/Blightbeetle for some control, or maybe even Giant Ankheg/Crash of Rhino Beetles/Vorapede for some damage? I know Grist Ult is the main win con, but I was thinking it would be a nice challenge to get 100% insect tribal deck with some win cons of their own. Circuit Mender and Triumph of the Hordes might also be fun. Awesome build tho, you've definitely given me some ideas!
Novice_Necromancer on Sheoldred Reanimate
1 year ago
Hi legendofa,
Thanks for the description of Tempo! I can definitely see now that my deck is more late game oriented, so I'll add more higher CMC cards with bigger effects (i.e. Breach the Multiverse).
Also thanks for the suggestions, I removed some redundancy from my deck (the main ones I removed were some of the 1/1's with discard ETBs like Virus Beetle, some single target removals like Murder, and I think one or two board wipes like Languish) to fit in those cards you mentioned.
I justify keeping Whisper of the Dross because it's an instant speed proliferate at only 1 mana, so it's both cheap and has a surprise factor (seeing that it comes from the hand and not a permanent's activated ability).
What other cuts do you think I should make? I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what to trim down because in the moment it feels like everything just feeds into each other.
Also, if I make those cuts, do you think cards like Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon, Grave Titan, and Razaketh, the Foulblooded would make for good high-impact creatures to replace them with. Especially to put them into the grave with all of my mill and discard effects and my Oriq Loremage and THEN cheat them out through my various means of reanimation.
Thanks so much,
Novice Necromancer
legendofa on Sheoldred Reanimate
1 year ago
Tempo is basically the pace of the game. Slower, more attrition-y decks want to extend the game and gain value over time, which is where I think this deck is trying to be. Compare that to a high speed, high damage deck that tries to do as much damage as possible as quickly as possible. What I mean by saying those cards keep your tempo up and your opponents down is that they represent threats, while also disrupting your opponents' strategy by forcing discards and damage.
The mana curve is a measure of how efficiently you use your available mana each turn. A low-curve deck will be more aggressive and try to win in the first few turns. A higher curve will try to extend the game to get to its best effects. The idea of playing "on curve" is basically that you play a land and use all available mana that turn. Turn 1, play a land and spend 1 mana, T2 land + spend 2 mana, T3 land + spend 3 mana, etc. It's important to balance the amount of mana you have with what you can do with it--if you're consistently leaving mana unused, or if you regularly don't have enough to cast your key spells, you need to rebalance.
EDH games tend to run longer, so there's more opportunity to get to higher mana values, and I see a lot of single-use 2-mana cards in this deck. Once your Elderfang Disciple or Virus Beetle or whatever does its thing, it's basically relegated to the role of chump blocker. My suggestions, especially the enchantments, aim to give this deck a way to use and reuse them, so you can get more value out of them. Self-destructive cards like Crypt Rats and Fleshbag Marauder also are worth using more than once.
As another thought, there's a lot of counter manipulation, but only Liliana of the Veil, Undying Evil, Undying Malice, Blightbelly Rat, Oriq Loremage, Bloodchief Ascension and Contagion Engine actually use or create counters, unless I'm overlooking something. There's as many or more ways to move or add counters as ways to actually get counters. I'm not sure what role Power Conduit plays in here.
At this point, I should probably mention that I'm not a high-end EDH builder; I have a lot of gimmicky decklists and just design around whatever catches my interest at the moment. Still, I hope my suggestions and advice keep your wheels going!
CJMikey on Tinybones Discard
2 years ago
Recent changes:
OUT: Instant/Sorcery Mind Peel Unmask Horrifying Revelation Tragic Slip Yahenni's Expertise
Enchantment Megrim Shrieking Affliction
Creature Fell Specter Virus Beetle Stronghold Rats
IN: Instant/Sorcery Despise Divest Toxic Deluge Heartless Act Malakir Rebirth Flip
Enchantment Liliana's Caress
Creature Elvish Doomsayer Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip Murderous Rider Rankle, Master of Pranks
legendofa on
2 years ago
Welcome to the club, JHM921!
For this deck, I see a focus on getting Sarevok, Deathbringer as big as possible, but I also see some bits and pieces that I think can be switched out. Cards like Butcher of Malakir and Grave Betrayal would work better in a more graveyard-focused deck than what I think this deck wants to be. There's some ramp and mana modification, with Nature's Lore, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and similar cards, but I think some more early cards like Elves of Deep Shadow, Golgari Signet, and Elvish Mystic would help accelerate early game into mid game.
Virus Beetle, Ravenous Rats, and Festering Mummy are all kind of underwhelming in this deck. If you want to force discard, you either want to affect every opponent or choose the discard yourself, and Festering Mummy just has too small of an effect that the deck doesn't really have ways to capitalize on. I recommend adding some more targeted permanent destruction. Depending on how much money you're willing to spend, Nature's Claim, Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, and Assassin's Trophy are all viable.
Since your commander is a big part of your win condition, you need to be able to protect it. Regenerate effects like Golgari Charm or Wrap in Vigor, indestructibility from Tamiyo's Safekeeping or Heroic Intervention, or simple unkillable-ness from Supernatural Stamina or Undying Malice will help keep Sarevok fresh and deathbringing.
Look through your deck, and for each card, ask yourself, "Why is this card in here? Does it advance my win condition? Does it remove an opponent's specific threat or problem? Does it protect my board?" If the answer to any of these is no, then it can probably be replaced with something more directed to this particular deck.
For some more specific suggestions, I assume Cloak of the Bat is to make Sarevok harder to block. I would switch that for something like Whispersilk Cloak. You don't have a solid Vampire base for Indulgent Aristocrat, and the Vampires you do have don't contribute much to your winning strategy, so I would save the Vampires for another deck.
I think if you tighten up the focus, this deck will become very solid. Happy brewing, and above all, have fun!
multimedia on Umezawa of the Swamp
2 years ago
Hey, well done so far for a first deck that's less than $50. Nice pulls from your box of Nashi, Satoru, Junji, and Chip.
You don't have lands? My advice before you go any further is to fill in enough deck spots for 35 lands. They can be 15 Swamp, 15 Island, Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, Secluded Courtyard, Unclaimed Territory, Sunken Hollow. The 30 basic lands can just be place holders until you can add more Dimir dual lands. The idea here is to fill the required deck spots you need for lands that way you can see how many deck spots you have left to add other cards or how many cards you have to cut to add lands.
You might have pulled a Secluded Courtyard and Dismal Backwater from your box since it's an uncommon and a common. If you did add them. Tower, Ancestry, Territory and Hollow are not in the NEO set, but are budget lands that can make more than one color. Tower is a staple land in Commander that all your mulicolored decks can use.
To add 35 lands you will have to cut 14 cards since currently you have 79 cards and you need 99 cards + Satoru to make 100 cards. Some cuts to consider are little creatures who are not Ninjas and don't have any ability that helps them to attack such as flying or unblockable. Enormous Energy Blade is the worse card here, the turn you equip it to a creature you control that creature can't attack with the +4/0 pump because it becomes tapped, easy cut. Some other cards to consider cutting:
- Leech Gauntlet
- Short Circuit
- Dockside Chef
- Iron Apprentice
- Automated Artificer
- Papercraft Decoy
- Virus Beetle
- Chainflail Centipede
- Guardians of Oboro
- Kami of Terrible Secrets
- Saiba Trespassers
- Dokuchi Shadow-Walker
- Undercity Scrounger
After you add lands I offer more help if you're interested. Good luck with your deck.