Volrath's Stronghold

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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
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Volrath's Stronghold

Legendary Land

: Add to your mana pool.

, : Put target creature card from your graveyard on top of your library.

Gecko83 on 5c Experience Counters Galore

1 month ago

So I am looking for something different to play, ran across this. I read your deck strategy and win cons, and the first thing i wondered is why isn't there any utility lands in here to help. Volrath's Stronghold was the first thing to come to mind, Field of the Dead seems like a easy fit as well. Tokens for nothing seems like a win win. Kelsien, the Plague seems like an auto include in this late game he would be a huge creature for low mana cost.

Thanks for posting this I will have some fun with it still think it need some mana acceleration as well.

cheers

SufferFromEDHD on Yoshimaru, The Proudest Boy

1 month ago

Captain Sisay serious synergy with the strategy.

Mox Amber free legend.

Atleast a playset of legendary lands like Boseiju, Who Endures, Flagstones of Trokair, Volrath's Stronghold, Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, Yavimaya Hollow, Urza's Saga, etc.

Generous Gift would be Beast Within #2

teafresch on Tormod

2 months ago

Id suggest switching out Relic of Progenitus with either Unlicensed Hearse or Scrabbling Claws. Poxwalkers, Prized Amalgam, and Master of Death are also cards that have proven to be super good in my Tormod deck although I also have Intuition, Entomb, Traumatize, Unmarked Grave, Altar of Dementia, Oriq Loremage and Vile Entomber in mine. Some dredge cards might help filling your grave. If you ever add fetchlands then I would also add Hostile Desert and Crucible of Worlds. Phyrexian Tower, High Market and Unholy Grotto/Volrath's Stronghold are some other good lands. Tortured Existence is also a must. 1 black mana per 2/2 zombie as much as you want is hard to beat.

Tur on Hidden Power - Crop Rotation

3 months ago

TypicalTimmy

Thank you for noticing my intention, that is the key point of this argument!! Newer and casual players tend to disregard or ignore Crop Rotation, because they only see it for very expensive cards such as: Gaea's Cradle, Mishra's Workshop, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Serra's Sanctum, Bazaar of Baghdad, and Diamond Valley. (I.e. sacrifice a Forest and get Gaea's Cradle.)

In fact, I own all of these cards and in only one single case is Gaea's Cradle the first priority for Crop Rotation. Here are a few examples using commander decks: (These do not include utility lands, such as Bojuka Bog, Cavern of Souls, nor Homeward Path.)

Commander: Lord Windgrace

Lotus Field is great for ramping with Lord Windgrace minus three ability. Cabal Coffers is fantastic for ramp. Field of the Dead provides a win condition and blockers.

Commander: Mina and Denn, Wildborn

Because of Fiery Emancipation, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle became ridiculously overpowered. Nine damage every time a mountain enters the battlefield. Furthermore, the Scapeshift combo causes you to win the game.

Commander: The Gitrog Monster

Dakmor Salvage is the combo engine for The Gitrog Monster. Therefore searching for it, the sacrificing it to The Gitrog Monster is crucial for the deck.

Commander: Gargos, Vicious Watcher

Hall of the Bandit Lord provides haste to the hydra tribal. Reliquary Tower is necessary for cards such as Soul's Majesty and Greater Good. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is pretty nice with the triple green devotion from Gargos, Vicious Watcher.

Commander: Carth the Lion

Field of the Dead is way too good in Carth the Lion, because Garruk, Cursed Huntsman emblems immediately with Carth the Lion. Making at least one 5/5 zombie with trample every turn is very strong.

Commander: Maelstrom Wanderer

Sanctum of Eternity allows you to put Maelstrom Wanderer back into your hand, allowing for the on-cast trigger to happen again. High Market not only taps for mana, but allows you to send Maelstrom Wanderer back to the command zone.

Commander: Sythis, Harvest's Hand

Unfortunately, for this deck Serra's Sanctum is the best target for Crop Rotation, however Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a close second best target. With Sythis, Harvest's Hand you have to commit heavily to the board, so your devotion is going to be high. Field of the Dead gives blockers before you can stabilize with Sphere of Safety, Solitary Confinement, and Ghostly Prison.

Commander: Marwyn, the Nurturer

Unfortunately, for this deck Gaea's Cradle is the best target for Crop Rotation, however Wirewood Lodge is a close second best target for untapping Marwyn, the Nurturer. In fact, I found myself frequently choosing Wirewood Lodge over Gaea's Cradle because it does not draw as much threat for Strip Mine effects. Wizards of the Coast is frightfully aware of this fact and has made many cards to compensate by using creatures and enchantments: Priest of Titania, Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, Elvish Archdruid, and Circle of Dreams Druid.

Hope this helps clarify my stance!

Tur on Hidden Power - Crop Rotation

3 months ago

Hello everyone! This will be a trial forum post for a "Commander - Hidden Power" series. My goal is to show relatively inexpensive cards which are often overlooked by commander players in semi-competitive and casual play. (This post is not designed for competitive play.) If you enjoy the topic, please provide positive feedback and I will consider creating similar posts.

The powerful card I plan on discussing here is Crop Rotation.

This card under five dollars and is one of the most powerful mono-green tutors. Period. Yes, I'm counting all mono-green tutors. This includes: Worldly Tutor, Finale of Devastation, Green Sun's Zenith, Survival of the Fittest, Chord of Calling, Natural Order, Tooth and Nail, Sylvan Tutor, Time of Need, Scapeshift, Hour of Promise, Tempt with Discovery, Reshape the Earth, Boundless Realms, Traverse the Outlands, Rampant Growth, Harrow, Cultivate, Harvest Season, Explosive Vegetation, etc.

It's one color, one mana, instant, searches for any land, you can sacrifice a tapped land, and puts the land onto the battlefield untapped (unless otherwise specified).

Although, Crop Rotation is often overlooked by players because of the very expensive cards it can search and not being "flashy" enough. Yes, Crop Rotation is ideal with any of the following cards: Gaea's Cradle, Mishra's Workshop, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Serra's Sanctum, Bazaar of Baghdad, and Diamond Valley. However, suppose we don't have a one thousand dollar mana base and cannot play the land cards above. Is Crop Rotation worthless? No. It is still one of the best mono-green tutors. There are so many utility and theme lands which are excellent targets. Ramp lands and color-fixing are also viable options. Here are a few categorized ideas:

Utility Lands:

Theme Lands:

Ramp Lands:

Color-Fixing Lands:

There are many more unlisted cards in each category which could fit your specific deck.

Some of the cards listed above have some pretty cool synergies with Crop Rotation here are a few:Urza's Saga, you can let the saga get to chapter III, then with the ability on the stack sacrifice it to Crop Rotation to get both the artifact and land. Field of the Dead is ideal in every two or three color commander deck with a sufficient mana base (in fact some of my win conditions are given by Field of the Dead). You can also use Field of the Dead as a combat trick. Scavenger Grounds and Bojuka Bog are fantastic for graveyard combo disruption. Maze of Ith and Glacial Chasm will hurt your lands, but sometimes it is needed to stay alive.

Simply having the ability to greatly effect the board state using a one-mana instant speed spell is impressive: life gain, damage prevention, removing steal effects, getting around blockers, denying counterspells, combo stoppers, unlimited hand size, sacrifice engines, haste, recursion, ramp, creating token blockers. The list goes on-and-on-and-on. If fact, if you're playing 3-4 of the lands listed above you should really consider Crop Rotation in the ninety-nine.

All in all, I'm always surprised the number of deck lists which do not play Crop Rotation. This is a fantastic card and one of the best mono-green tutors. It has so much hidden power. Ask yourself if there is a nonbasic land which you are playing (or would play) that would do well with Crop Rotation.

Profet93 on You're Dun'd

3 months ago

You state it's a midrange deck, but with a combo wincon and an avg cmc of 2.14, this definitely seems like a control + combo deck IMO. I see you're trying to make infinite black mana, but the pieces utilized are several and are easy to disrupt, especially after your meta adjusts to your shenanigans. Rather than relying on rituals in conjunction with rings + basalt, why not utilize Cabal Coffers + Deserted Temple + Rings = Infinite black mana? This eliminates the need for basalt monolith, which provides room for other cards. Furthermore, by having 2 pieces as lands, the combo is less susceptible to disruption.

You mention hand hate in your single card discussion in order to prevent removal for your combos. If your goal is to truly be a midrange deck, then adding higher CMC cards will allow you to be more resilient and more impactful during the mid-late game, as midrange decks thrive. As such, swapping in some of the 1 cmc hand hate cards for Mind Twist or my personal favorite silver bullet, Thought Distortion, you eliminate the potential of not discarding anything. Not to mention, distortion exiles graves too of all non-creature cards, so necrotic ooze can still utilize opponents activated abilities in grave. Mind twist is the better of the 2, especially if you can ramp into it early game.

You run contamination lock, awesome! You might want to consider redundancy in the form of Infernal Darkness. At best, it gives you a turn or 2. At worst, it's counterspell bait and force them to tap out during the main phase.

While not an entirely serious suggestion, something worth considering is Helm of Obedience, given you already run leyline void and the creature form of it. This redundancy will allow you to combo out more easily. Not to mention, helm disrupts topdeck tutors and can potentially get you something in a pinch should you need.

I prefer Soul-Guide Lantern > Tormods Crpyt, as it effects all opponents rather than 1 and be utilized for draw should grave hate not be needed.

I know Bolas Citadel is a combo with Aetherflux Reservoir but I don't see it in the list, does it combo with something else I am unaware of? I don't see it listed in the description.

Speaking of combos, unsure regarding your budget per card but Yawgmoth's Will (or the creature form whose name eludes me at midnight) might be worth considering to recur combo pieces like rings or help establish massive value given your artifact ramp and low cmc.

Volrath's Stronghold > Command Beacon. This allows you to keep your commander in grave and at the cost of your draw, you can get him back to recur another card (say, demonic tutor).

Buried Ruin - Recur rings

Deliver Unto Evil - Politics. I know most people hate cards that give opponents choices, but this can target A) Tutor B) Draw C) Combo D) Utility. It's another way of saying Damned if you do, damned if you don't except it doesn't cost 6 mana like choice of damnations

Feed the Swarm - Enchantment removal is nice, removes a pesky rest in peace. I see no artifact or enchantment removal, so having one silver bullet to enchantments could prove worthwhile depending on your meta.

I dont think you have enough artifacts for metalcraft to work on mox opal. How has it played for you? Would you not be better off served by something more consistent?

I used to run Xiahou dun until I changed it to Sidisi. Always love helping another Xiahou dun player win! Looking forward to your response for each item

Last_Laugh on EDH Vampiric Bloodlust (C17 Precon Upgrade)

4 months ago

Not a bad start but I do have several suggestions for you. I'll try to keep things budget-ish friendly and break things down by category. If you're picking up what I'm putting down, I can help suggest cuts.

Finishers: Shared Animosity, Akroma's Will, and Reconnaissance (see my deck description for a recap on Reconnaissance, the card feels like cheating here it's so good) are all worth running. Purphoros, God of the Forge is amazing here. Each vamp you cast domes all opponents for 4 and provides the deck with some much needed non-combat finishing.

Card Draw: Skullclamp, Twilight Prophet, Plumb the Forbidden, and Dark Prophecy (if you have enough life gain) are all excellent options. The more the merrier in this category.

Board Protection: Boros Charm is worth it for the all permanents protection. Scapegoat is a neat hidden gem that let's you pseudo dodge exile, -X-X, etc. type boardwipes and if you run Purphoros, it can double as a finisher.

Vamps: Indulgent Aristocrat and Drana, Liberator of Malakir both deserve spots. I'll leave this category alone for the most part.

Ramps: Arcane Signet, Talisman of Indulgence, Talisman of Hierarchy, and Talisman of Conviction are all worth running. If you get your cmc below 3 (which I highly suggest), I'd recommend dropping the Boros colored signet/talisman though.

Lands: Vault of the Archangel and assuming your playgroup is ok with proxies or gold border championship edition cards... Volrath's Stronghold.

Feel free to check out my list for inspiration (and that explanation for Reconnaissance if you aren't familiar with the intricacies of the card). Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Edgar's Dega Vampires

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