Volcanic Island

Land — Island Mountain

(: Gain or .)

Discussion (49)

RedFlag on Niv-Mizzet Counterwheel

2 months ago

jalapenofish you can try to test decks on websites such as Untap.in. However, I've tested it a hundred times or so. The deck gets a lot of hate in multiplayer. As soon as you counter one spell, people will just collectively start removing your rocks etc., and attack you, so I'm usually out first. When I don't get this much hate, performance is fairly good.If you manage to get niv-mizzet out on a timely fashion, opponents will struggle to keep up with you.

The Wheel / Counter strategy works, but I am considering removing 2-3- counters for removals (e.g., Anger of the Gods) or alternative costs. On Untap.in, I have removed muddle the mixture for Dispel (but I was also thinking Misdirection since the tutor is extremely slow, and the counter is a bit too restricted for UU and I find myself often in the situation of having one mana and need to counter an instant vs. Niv-Mizzet). I have also removed Baral for Dockside Extortionist. The former does not see so much utility overall.

It may happen to be fairly empty handed occasionally, at which point I usually wheel but if the opponent has already an advantage that can be a problem.

Also, notice that I don't play all traditional cards for the niv-mizzet combo, such as Tandem Lookout, as I don't necessarily aim at getting that. I also play Telepathy which is largely outside the meta, but I think this might be the most underrated card in the whole MTG history. It's just so good and I am very unlikely to remove it.

I usually have no land problems as I run a lot of advantage cards like Brainstorm, Ponder or Preordain. Wheels also help on that. I am considering giving some space to Fabricate as I run quite a lot of mana artifacts.

Overall it's fun, and it works, but if you're planning to buy in real life, just know this is not yet a cEDH (it does not play Timetwister nor Volcanic Island neither any other highly expensive card), and you can get a lot of hate in your playgroup.

Hope this helps.

aholder7 on Juleokin Format 2.0 w/Banlist & …

2 months ago

Okay so I believe I mentioned this last time you brought up the format but I don’t recall the answer. How do you deal with non-land sources of mana or non-basic lands. Your rules say you CAN pay for mana with basics existing but is it possible to still tap a non basic for mana to pay a cost? For example if I have a swamp and a Volcanic Island on the battlefield. Can I play a Doom Blade by tapping my non basic for 1 and using my swamp for the other portion? Theoretical reasons for this could include ramping with artifacts or fetching for a dual land to get 2 off colors.

Also your van list includes things shuffling the grave into the library. Is my assumption correct that you also intend to ban cards like Conjurer's Bauble?

You mention “cards with the ability to mill” are banned and that all damage to self is mill. Is your ban inclusive of cards that deal damage to self/opponents since that will mill? I assume not and you intend that to be cards with the mill keyword. But there are also cards with this same style effect not key worded as mill such as Mulch. And cards that exile from library such as Salvage Drone. May be a good idea to be clear about what you plan on excluding.

You also exclude abilities that can “reanimate”. I took that to mean putting a creature onto the battlefield from grave. But this is not a keyword and you’ll have to be specific. There’s also cards like Living End which will likely get around any wording for Reanimation. I also didn’t take your wording to mean banning of cards that return cards to hand. I also saw nothing stopping someone from using Snapcaster Mage on non-creatures in grave which I’m unsure if that was intentional or not. You could make the rule a bit more all encompassing by changing the rule to something like Grafdigger's Cage.

I also built a deck to test this format assuming you can use fast mana. this deck 100% wins turn 1 if you get a mountain in the opening 7 and the opponent doesn’t have Force of Will. You can still win turn 1 if you have to mulligan to less than 7 I was just too lazy to check how the math works out with less than 7. All you need to do is cantrip through 24 cards, play and crack the lotus then grapeshot twice for lethal. The cantrips don’t need to be red I just did it because it matched the grape shots. The deck can also be built with more than 3 mountains that is more consistent and doesn’t lower its chance as much in a mulligan but it technically leaves open the chance of whiffing the combo on turn 1 and I thought it made a better point to demonstrate things this way. Also note this deck is not even remotely optimized. It could be made far more efficient and sleek with time and testing.

Deck Jok test

My list is just an example of how I believe the format will play out. Storm-like decks and decks mulling to make sure they open with a Force of Will. If you see a reason it won’t end up like this feel free to point out anything I missed. But I think you need to find a way to limit people in some way.

Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor on JLK's Obeka | Extra Turns #08

4 months ago

St0rmeZ - You can shave off about $2500 just by cutting the 5 big reserve list cards ( Volcanic Island , Tropical Island , Underground Sea , Warrior's Oath , Wheel of Fortune ). The deck would still be expensive, but it would be more in line with your average commander deck.

Regardless, this deck seems (and performed) awesome. I would love to see Mirror March in here for the memes and occasional explosive plays.

smackjack on What's the Worst Trade You …

5 months ago

Well well.. You get ups and downs. I bought 2 Mox Diamond for $20 before the spike, and i just bought a Maralen of the Mornsong for $5. My 3 Tundra cost me $90 each and i doubled my money on my Volcanic Island :).

Speaking of Maralen of the Mornsong, I just made a track in her honor. Check it out on my SoundCloud :) https://soundcloud.com/jensmansson/maralen-of-the-mornsong (for some reason i cant create links, sorry, just copy paste)

RNR_Gaming on Slivers

6 months ago

My girlfriend just asked me to put Slivers back together. Anyways, as far as the land base goes I'm gunna list. Things out by cost/relevancy

duals I know eww reserved list but if you got em or can proxy em play em

Tundra, Plateau, Tropical Island, Volcanic Island, Bayou, Badlands, Scrubland, Savannah, Underground Sea, and Taiga

fetches they're getting their reprint in modern horizons 2 but still stupid expensive - but the fixing is just so good!

Flooded Strand, Polluted Delta, Scalding Tarn, Misty Rainforest, Prismatic Vista, Verdant Catacombs, Wooded Foothills, Bloodstained Mire, Windswept Heath, Marsh Flats and Arid Mesa

Utopia lands

Reflecting Pool, Cavern of Souls, City of Brass, Tarnished Citadel, Mana Confluence, Forbidden Orchard, Exotic Orchard, Meteor Crater, Pillar of the Paruns, Ancient Ziggurat, Path of Ancestry, Thran Quarry, Gemstone Mine, Aether Hub and Tendo Ice Bridge

I'm not a mega fan of the depletion lands but they're excellent if you're on a budget :)

shocks - you already got a few I'll recommend getting the rest

Blood Crypt, Temple Garden, Godless Shrine, Steam Vents and Sacred Foundry

Utility lands very overpriced cardboard but the power is definitely there

Mutavault, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Gaea's Cradle

From there, if those cards are out of budget/you cannot proxy I'd go with the Triomes, battlebond lands Sea of Clouds, check lands Hinterland Harbor, and lastly the painlands Battlefield Forge beyond those the lands start becoming too inefficient and you will be targeted playing slivers. Even if you're not the threat having a slow land base is a death sentence. Hope this helped :)

DemMeowsephs on Parun Storm

8 months ago

Hey there! I might be able to give you some suggestions though whether they are helpful or not I'm not sure. Let's start off with lands.

Basics aren't BAD but there are SO many options that could be better than them, and personally I don't think its worth it to run that many of them when there are those better options. I would consider some of the following! (If you have the budget)

• Spirebluff Canal
• Fiery Islet
• Cascade Bluffs
• Volcanic Island
• Scalding Tarn
• City of Brass
• Mana Confluence
• Ancient Tomb
• Prismatic Vista
• Fabled Passage
• Gemstone Caverns
• Gemstone Mine
• Strip Mine
• Wasteland
• Tarnished Citadel (ehhh maybe not)
• Reflecting Pool

• Exotic Orchard

• Yeah some of these are on the expensive side, but as you progress with your deck, I do recommend checking them out (maybe not Volcanic Island though XD)! However, I do have a couple more suggestions. Lets look at your ramp. You do have some pretty good ones, especially Lotus Petal, but I may have a couple of better ones I'd consider adding. Now I wouldn't add all of these, but maybe the ones you like, can afford, and work with your deck. Particularly the first seven.

• Ruby Medallion

• Sapphire Medallion
• Mana Vault
• Mana Crypt
• Chrome Mox
• Extraplanar Lens
• Cloud Key
• Mox Diamond
• Fellwar Stone
• Thran Dynamo
• Gilded Lotus

Now usually that's all I help people with, but I can't help but noticing you don't run a Ophidian Eye! It could be a whole other wincon since it goes infinite, and I'd definitely recommend it to all Niv Mizzet players, right along side curisoity and tandem lookout which you already run.

So in the end, I definitely would consider most of the ramp, nearly all the lands, and definitely ophidian. I promise your deck will perform MUCH better with these additions, and though some of them are investments, they are VERY helpful. If this does help you be sure to check out and upvote some of my decks, I would appreciate it! (Double Trouble EDH)! Anyways, I hope this helps, good luck on your deck, and have a great day!

Lokotor on Marchesa, The Black Rose - Primer

9 months ago

Charlielx

Obvious upgrades would be things like Volcanic Island, Underground Sea, Badlands, Scalding Tarn, Prismatic Vista, Morphic Pool, Luxury Suite, Fiery Islet, etc. Ancient Tomb also would probably be a reasonable add.

As for more impactful upgrades, I would like to get a Toxic Deluge at some point, but it's never been a priority buy for me at ~$35. If I had a second Damnation that might also be something i'd consider adding.

Arcane Signet is marginally better than Fellwar Stone but not enough that I really feel like spending $7.

Fierce Guardianship is also a relatively good addition, since protecting Marchesa is important. Similar free counters are a bit harder to run in this shell given their various restrictions (eg actually having a blue card for FoW isn't as reliable)

Spellseeker could be worth trying out

jeannieboef

I think for card draw, the best options would be either Necropotence or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician depending on what the rest of your hand looks like. (number of black sources and/or creatures primarily) Yawgmoth is probably the less threatening option between the two, and also more useful throughout the course of the game as he's also a sacrifice outlet, so he'll kill two birds with one stone for you.

If you have a sacrifice outlet in hand then you could go for either Baleful Strix or Solemn Simulacrum, depending on what you're looking to get out of them. they'll provide you with a lot of value in the earlier parts of the game. notably strix is a good option since at CMC2 you can get it out early and really be able to capitalize on the card draw (not to mention it's a great blocker.) and solemn obviously has the advantage of also being ramp. it's mostly a tempo call here though.

For your second question, it depends mostly on what I need the ramp for. If I just want to have some extra mana for my next turn's play, then sol ring is fine. If I've got a source of draw, or a hand full of higher CMC threats like Wurmcoil Engine or Nicol Bolas, the Ravager  ^Flip or Dictate of Erebos or something, then Scroll of Fate is good since it'll let me flash them in for free, essentially. if it's more in the earlier part of the game and i'm looking to just get a strong start/lead, then Solemn Simulacrum is great since it'll not only provide me with up to 7 more lands, but also plenty of card draw. (especially if i can pair it with Arcbound Worker for free counters on every other player's turn.) Dockside Extortionist isn't always a great turn 1-4 play, but depending on the table it'll give you a ton of mana, especially if you can do it a few times in a row.

on your last question, like always, it depends. the board has been wiped, but depending on where i'm at, things vary. are all creatures dead but i still have all my artifacts/enchantments? did i pull a classic marchesa move and come out with all my creatures still in play? was it just a weakly positioned enemy Cyclonic Rift that left everyone equally empty?

the deck largely plays by way of card synergy, so there's not quite a one stop win card, generally you'll need a card that creates value, AND a card that takes advantage of that value, so you'll have to base the decision on which pieces you have and which ones can best take advantage of it.

if you run Goblin Bombardment then Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Glen Elendra Archmage are an obvious combo target, if you've got something like Arcbound Worker or Unspeakable Symbol out then you could quickly create a huge army of Wurmcoil Engine tokens to lock the game down with. (on a clear board, having a 6/6 and 8 3/3s with lifelink and Deathtouch is usually gg.) if you've got Grave Pact then you could look for a sacrifice outlet, or something to easily recur to lock out the table.

Wurmcoil Engine is the most powerful creature in the deck as far as individual threats go, so with nothing else on board at all, that would probably be my pick, but i think if you're ever in that position then you're probably not going to win that game regardless.

TriusMalarky on Lands choice

9 months ago

Glad I could help!

Of course, that's just a 5-minute rundown. There are theoretically infinite situations in which you'd rather have fetchshock, and same for not having fetchshock.

For instance, if you're actively milling yourself and/or removing cards from your deck, then fetches aren't as good because there's a chance that they'll fizzle because the best shock isn't there. But if you have Life from the Loam you like fetches to make sure you hit your land drops. Which means the Dredge archetype, while it wants some fetches, should also be using a manabase that functions fairly well without fetch-shocking, so they have to create a weird manabase that accommodates both aspects.

I'd also say that sometimes, painlands are actually better than unfetchable versions of the og duals(Shivan Reef v Volcanic Island). There are situations where they are just better -- and situations in which they're terrible.

Also note that filter lands(Mystic Gate and friends) immediately lose to Damping Sphere.

One more note: budget really influences your manabase. Most of the time, it is correct to go fetch-shock. I'd say fetchshockcheck is the best for your average 2 color deck(example for UW: 4x Flooded Strand, 2x Hallowed Fountain, 4x Glacial Fortress). This is because most decks in modern really benefit from fetches. In fact, a lot of the cards on the modern banlist would be fine if fetches didn't exist. Additionally, a lot of the best cards in Modern are only all that good because Fetches exist. Think Fatal Push. Even Tireless Tracker is far less powerful without fetches.