Westvale Abbey

Land

{T}: Add {C}.

{5}, {T}, Pay 1 life: Create a 1/1 white and black Human Cleric creature token.

{5}, {T}, Sacrifice five creatures: Transform this land, then untap this.

Tokens

• Human Cleric 1/1 WB

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

DreadKhan on What do you want more …

3 weeks ago

I feel like two of my bugbears have been poked already, I want less 5c Legendary creatures (A LOT less), and I personally feel that changing the colour identity rule to allow Hybrid mana in more decks is an unnecessary and undesirable loosening of the very restrictions that help differentiate EDH from the other formats. Hybrid SHOULD work differently here because we use colour identity, a thing that doesn't exist in other formats because the only cards that care about it care about it in the context of Commander. I'd also argue it adds unnecessary complexity to an already streamlined system (if it has that pip it's not allowed), atm we only have a smattering of exceptions, mostly because they follow the letter of the rule and don't include coloured pips (City of Brass or anything with Extort come to mind). IMHO they could make it even more streamlined and restrict Extort to Orzhov decks and 5c mana production to 5c decks, but that's a deeply unpopular position I expect! I don't know how I feel about allowing stuff like Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, caring about the back of a card is confusing when there are no pips, but these backsides have colours, hence their restriction.

I suppose the thing I'd like to see more of is memberberries that don't taste like Malabar Spinach berries (which eat like if a berry was secretly a bug that tasted like spinach), I feel like there is a lot of lore that was used early on and just abandoned, usually because the developers used a setting in a very low power set, like Homelands and Fallen Empires (and The Dark). I'd love to see them go back to Kamigawa and revisit the past, the high tech thing was less my jam, and IMHO it was a mistake, the OG setting had better flavor for a Magic set, it'd be nice if Magic would stop trying to reinvent the wheel and instead go back to resting on their laurels; for 25 years or so they made the best competitive card game, and they succeeded in large part because they didn't fall for the power creep obsession that other games did, and this allowed EDH to become viable. So yeah, more references to old sets, and less attempts to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

The other thing I miss is cards that are hard to play; I miss effects that you could play wrong, everything in design is too dumbed down and idiot-proofed, either to make sure it can't combo off (or that it can't even be Johnny'd) or that it can never be used wrong or be made to backfire. It's like WotC heard people like me complain about a lack of higher level complexity in card design and instead of giving us complex riddles like Sewer Rats they give us Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer... You can't 'get got' with Ragavan, the only time it's bad is when it's literally too small, and even then you can technically hold him in hand and give him Haste if the opponent is more likely to leave an opening if you don't look like you can crack back, on top of which Ragavan both ramps you AND fixes your mana, and can both mill an opponent for 1 and give you access to a relevant card now and then. That's not a complex card, it's an unwieldly one that masquerades as complex yet is in fact as dumb a beat stick as the Goblin Guide it obsoleted. Give me cards that involve risk management and reward good judgement, I want cards that reward player skill, not cards that reward fat wallets.

Andramalech on Westvale Atlas

2 months ago

Zigen you are found amongst friends, singing the praises of your favor. Westvale Abbey  ^Flip GOAT status!

Zigen on Westvale Atlas

2 months ago

Any deck that uses Westvale Abbey  ^Flip gets my vote

Balaam__ on EDH (Elvish Demon Highlander)

2 months ago

Thanks for posting, everyone! Glad to be the purveyor of nostalgia. artcwolf22, I think those are all solid suggestions.

Andramalech and I have been discussing building Westvale Abbey  ^Flip elves in the background and his thoughts echo your own. There’s a consensus that a ‘best version’ of this deck exists, but I deliberately trod a different path. I’m going down with the ship and sticking to my ‘there can be only one [green pip]’ motif, so someone else will have to take up the crusade and perfect what I started here. For what it’s worth, I would very much like to see the ultimate version of this deck. I trend toward creativity not technical proficiency when I design decks—finely tuned competitive design is mostly outside my wheelhouse, barring a few specific archetypes.

Balaam__ on EDH (Elvish Demon Highlander)

2 months ago

Thanks Andramalech, I was hoping you’d appreciate this. I hadn’t seen the card Shifting Woodland before and I’ll be adding that once I get a chance. A couple of the others were great suggestions strictly speaking, but I won’t be running them because they break the ‘one {G} per spell’ self imposed rule.

As for running just one Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, it’s probably more logical to build it out that way, but it would require a few ‘search&retrieve’ spells that would once again break the ‘one {G} only’ restriction. This was the most reliable method I found to ensure it gets played, since it’s really the only wincon here.

Balaam__ on Westvale Atlas

2 months ago

Westvale Abbey  ^Flip is a really great card thematically speaking; I’ve tried to build around it myself on a few occasions, but all my attempts never went anywhere.

I think what you have here is technically sound with lots of internal card synergies. Glaring Fleshraker goes down early and literally everything you have feeds him, spilling nicely into an early Hand of Emrakul. That alone is threatening enough, but funneling those tokens into Westvale Abbey  ^Flip is no longer just a pipe dream.

Supporting stuff looks great too; Mystic Forge is a given and I’m guessing it proves super useful, but other choices like Inscribed Tablet left me scratching my head a bit. I suppose it has niche use cases though.

You’ve put a lot of thought into this and it shows. I’d clean up the maybeboard, get all that superfluous stuff out of there and dress up the description a bit and mint a nice gold master of this build.

Argy on CecilCêcil (Forgetful Fish in Orzhov)

6 months ago

I have an Orzhov deck I have worked on for ages.

This is the mana base. It might give you some ideas.

2x Blighted Fen
4x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
2x Castle Locthwain
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Godless Shrine
4x Shambling Vent
1x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

---

I use these for draw. Ob Nixilis Reignited, and Sorin, Grim Nemesis

It might feel like they are too late to help. If you have a midrange deck, turn five is really when you run out of cards.

rjqp on Profane Prince interaction with Reanimate

11 months ago

Hi all. I only ever play casually with friends and family so I'm not very knowledgeable about the rules:

1. Does Ormendahl, Profane Prince  ^Flip go back to being Westvale Abbey  ^Flip when it leaves the battlefield?

2. If no, if I Reanimate it, does it enter as its land side or creature side?

A quick explanation about the whys and the hows would be greatly appreciated! I am keen to learn. Thank you!