Wonder

Creature — Incarnation

Flying

As long as Wonder is in your graveyard and you control an Island, creatures you control have flying.

Discussion (51)

_Strix_ on Yuriko Stax-Turns

1 day ago

The matter of stax is an interesting one for Yuriko. Much like a blood pod deck, she is highly customizable to be tailored to your meta. If wanting to win boosters at your local game store is what you want, look no further. You can build Yuriko in such a way you can crush that store specifically.

She has her "core" stax pieces, which I would define as the stax pieces Yuriko resonates too well with to not include (and said stax pieces largely don't affect the 99) and then you have those flex slots you can fill with more meta selections. Some of these flex stax pieces are borderline core and some of them are on the brink of unplayable no matter what your archetype is.

Invoke Prejudice is certainly a card we cannot afford to run. Whilst Yuriko is very blue in nature and is mainly colored mana (barely any colorless sources), it is still a whopping . This is way too demanding and would essentially come out turn 6 or so. The effect itself is also subpar, as yuriko is almost always on the field, meaning a creature has to be strictly not or . Land Equilibrium these days has just become too slow. In a turn 3 format like this, we really need to be answering game winning combos or dishing them out ourselves, and land equilibrium unfortunately provides neither in here. Nether Void is definitely playable in Yuriko, as both Yuriko and all other Ninjutsu avoid having the pay the . That being said though, I think the fact it costs 4 mana to bring out is highly problematic, as it doesn't do enough for it's CMC. This particular list, 5 mana is "end the game", so 4 mana should be borderline doing that, ala Sakashima the Impostor or Insidious Dreams . The Abyss we unfortunately dont break parity on enough to break, but even in cEDH in general it is barely playable because of it's hefty casting cost.

Oppression is most definitely playable in Yuriko, and I actually highly recommend it in lists that run graveyard effects like Smoke Shroud or Wonder for example that want to be more staxier, just dont run it in lists with doomsday or turns as it can make things... difficult. Its borderline a staple in the stax-graveyard builds. You're definitely right in that the are many outer-rim flex slots for stax and some of them can be some really juicy options to absolutely cripple a specific meta and moving forward, keeping an eye on these options is important. Yuriko and the 99 in general are just so unaffected by stax as a whole, its easily the main reason why anyone would choose to take her into a cEDH meta.

xaarvaxus on Varina - Zombie Tribal

2 weeks ago

No Risen Executioner ? This looks like a zombie swarm style deck so the Executioner would be a good fit here as you shouldn't be blocking much. 4/3 for 4, can get itself out of the graveyard [with Varina helping to control the cost] and is another anthem for the horde.

Without either Entomb or Buried Alive this trick might not work so well but in my Grimgrin deck I run Wonder to help solve the 'can't block those #[email protected] flyers' problem that an army of ground-pounders runs up against.

Swapping Phyrexian Altar in for Ashnod's Altar would give you an aristocrats style combo drain finisher using Gravecrawler to sac for and then recasting with Plague Belcher or Diregraf Captain in play. May not be your cup of tea or in your budget but it does make for a pretty good backup plan if the board stalls out.

Hapix on The Scarab God's Arisen Horde

1 month ago

@multimedia, your comment is much appreciated! A lot of thought and play testing has gone into this deck (if I’m being honest though, this isn’t the first attempt as this is around the 8th iteration of scarab god due to play testing and not posting until now LOL).

I want to preface my response to your recommendations by saying that lowering the cmc of the deck is not really a priority as I usually have more than enough mana to do, but bringing down the amount of 5 drops and just generally increasing the tempo of this deck is on my radar. Furthermore, some inclusions (such as Consuming Aberration and Noosegraf Mob ) are in response to the meta of my table wherein they perform well (for example, one of my buddies plays an interesting Alesha, Who Smiles at Death homebrew that focuses on controlling the board state by altering base power/toughness of all creatures, Consuming Aberration on its own has saved my hide more times than one against Alesha lol).

Moving onto your recommendations:

“ Wonder > Grimoire of the Dead ”

Just the concept of Wonder alone is fantastic and it was even a part of the original iteration of this deck, but during playtesting (and this might just be me being unlucky) but it was often a mid-game dead draw and when I would have it in my graveyard, having a handful of flying zombies was nice, but not often game ending – hence non-inclusion. Grimoire of the Dead is slow AF and it the second eff is not easy to pull off, the only reason it is in the deck right now is I do not have a Rise of the Dark Realms , not sure what I will replace it with yet but I will take it out.

“ Windfall > Ancient Excavation ”

I like Windfall , it is a great wheel and I would like to include it. As it is right now Ancient Excavation is a card I keep in for the versatility of both self-mill and the basic landcycling, although I might swap it out for the Lim-Dul's Vault that you brought up later in your comment (I really like its’ effect tho).

“ Diabolic Intent > Exsanguinate ”

Diabolic Intent is a good card and that I plan to add in someday, but just to save $ I’m looking at Wishclaw Talisman as a budget alternative with some inbuilt politicking mechanisms. When it comes to Exsanguinate , it was a filler card I tossed in for play testing I’ll replace it with the aforementioned Wishclaw Talisman most likely

“ Relentless Dead > Noosegraf Mob ”

Relentless Dead is a card I used to have in here but I removed it since it felt slow and I just never really utilized the secondary eff I’m looking at getting a Gilded Drake in as a replacement. I agree though that Noosegraf Mob , as a six drop, is quite lackluster in comparison to the other high cmc cards. The potential value of 6 ETBs and/or death triggers is enough to keep him around for now, but if there is something I find I like more I’ll probably take mod out.

“ Graveborn Muse > Liliana's Reaver ”

Graveborn Muse I tested it out and saw myself dying to it more often than not, if I move further away from the zombie tribal aspect I might reconsider it. As for Liliana's Reaver , It isn’t to flashy but it works, no need to remove it rn but if anything better comes along I might.

“2 drop mana rocks > Commander's Sphere ”

Commander's Sphere is place holder card that I had socketed in while I was looking for some better mana rock options. Thanks for bring Arcane Signet to my attention, I’ll probably toss that or the signet in.

“ Arcane Denial > Countersquall ”

Arcane Denial isn’t a card I’d normally consider since the +2 for my opponent kind of hurts, but in a format like EDH with the 99 filling up a library, it seems pretty negligible so I’ll add it but won’t remover Countersquall since Its not that hard to get either {B} or {U} mana on demand. This though does touch on a different subject, I do want to add in some more counter magic, tutors, and removal (I’m looking at Arcane Denial , Swan Song , Pact of Negation , Mystical Tutor , Mastermind's Acquisition , Cunning Wish , Death Wish , Wishclaw Talisman , Victim of Night , Hero's Downfall , Murder , and Doom Blade but am stuck on evaluating which are the most beneficial inclusions).

To wrap up, thank you very much for your input it has been really helpful in reevaluating this deck. I sure do have some tinkering to do, haha. The nature of deckbuilding in EDH to me is everlasting and I hope I can continue to improve and refine my decks with recommendations and insight from other kind folks, like you, on this site :D

One last question, a friend is considering selling their Mana Vault to me at a discount, is this a card that I should seriously consider including or not?

Cheers!

multimedia on The Scarab God's Arisen Horde

1 month ago

Hey, nice version of Scarab, great first attempt.

Some upgrades within the budget to consider:

• Wonder > Grimoire of the Dead
• Windfall > Ancient Excavation
• Diabolic Intent > Exsanguinate
• Relentless Dead > Noosegraf Mob
• Graveborn Muse > Liliana's Reaver
• Arcane Signet or Talisman of Dominance > Commander's Sphere
• Arcane Denial > Countersquall

Wonder can give all your creatures flying including Scarab. It's great with Buried Alive and Entomb to tutor for it and put it into your graveyard. Grimoire has a powerful ability, but it's painfully slow, needing four turns before you can sac it. Scarab's ability can be used on your opponents' creatures in their individual graveyards and Windfall is a wheel which makes all players discard their hands and draw cards filling up their graveyards with potential creatures to exile. Windfall is one of the best blue cards in Commander.

Diabolic Intent is another tutor that can search for any one card. Exsanguinate is a fine card, but Torment of Hailfire is better and I don't see a need for both. Relentless Dead is a good two drop Zombie and there's not a lot of two drop options. Mob is lackluster for a six drop compared to the other six drops such as Titan and Mikaeus. Graveborn Muse is very good repeatable draw with Zombies and Scarab's upkeep trigger can gain you life that you loss from Muse. Reaver is fine, but not as impactful as Muse.

Whenever you can play a two drop mana rock in place of a three drop then this change can speed up gameplay. Arcane Signet is new in the ELD Brawl precons which right now can be hard to find, but you can buy it as a single online for less than $10. Arcane or Talisman of Dominance can make black mana the turn you play it which can be helpful with so many low mana cost Zombies. The single draw from Sphere is nice, but there's lots of three drop Zombie Lords here that would be a better three drop play then Sphere.

Denial is a two drop hard counter with only one in it's mana cost making it good with a heavy black manabase.

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Others upgrades to consider:

• Lim-Dul's Vault > Pull from Tomorrow
• Dark Ritual > Vanquisher's Banner
• Ponder > Consuming Aberration
• Animate Dead > Havengul Lich
• Murderous Rider or Hero's Downfall > Grimgrin, Corpse-Born

These last upgrades to consider are cutting high mana cost cards and replacing them with low mana cost cards to speed up gameplay. The five drop spot has a lot of options with Scarab as the go to play having lots of other five drops can hinder gameplay since you don't really want to play them over Scarab and having a hand full of five drops doesn't help. Good luck with your deck.

xaarvaxus on My First Zombie Deck, Pls Help

1 month ago

Altar of Dementia to give yourself another sac outlet plus additional way to fill the yard.

Living Death as additional boardsweeper and insta zombie horde assuming the yard was getting full the way you want.

Wonder to fetch into the yard with Buried Alive = Flying Zombies! I had to add this combo to my Grimgrin deck so I didn't keep getting run over by flyers. Not sure of the jank factor on this....YMMV.

Ethereal Absolution ? Interesting anthem effect that gives you a way to get rid of creatures from other reanimator deck graveyards.

prozaky on Deck Stacking: An Acrobatic Adventure of the Ninja

2 months ago

Added a Sideboard to review after playtesting.

First cuts to consider:

1. Cabal Therapist

2. Ancient Stone Idol

3. Wonder

4. Bolas's Citadel

5. Walker of Secret Ways

multimedia on Discern Defeat!

2 months ago

Hey, nice first blue Commander deck.

With Syr I think you want to draw cards, more than usual because this fuels the amount of power she has to attack with.

Cards within the budget to consider adding:

• Narset, Parter of Veils : when you draw cards your opponent's don't, this is a powerful effect in multiplayer Commander especially with wheels.
• Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
• Howling Mine
• Kami of the Crescent Moon
• Dictate of Kruphix
• Fabricate : artifact tutor.
• Whir of Invention : artifact tutor.
• Folio of Fancies
• Nezahal, Primal Tide
• Wonder : flying for Syr.
• High Tide
• Ponder
• Brainstorm
• Frantic Search
• Chart a Course

With Narset only you benefit from the draw of cards from Mine, Dictate, Kami and Folio. This is a powerful effect especially with Folio.

Cards to consider cutting:

• Temple of the False God
• Aether Gale
• Distortion Strike
• Slip Through Space
• Burnished Hart
• Guard Gomazoa
• Hover Barrier
• Worn Powerstone
• Cancel
• Illusionist's Gambit
• Drake Umbra
• Open Into Wonder
• Flight of Fancy
• Kumena's Awakening
• Thaumatic Compass
• Chemister's Insight

Because you have Thassa, God of the Sea who's a repeatable source of making Syr unblockable then I don't think you need a lot of these cards that are a single effect (only making Syr unblockable for one turn). Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on The Scarab God

2 months ago

Hey, well done making this deck with the budget that you have.

Budget cards to consider adding:

• Undead Augur : great Zombie tribal card.
• Zombie Master : makes all your Zombies unblockable with Urborg.
• Skullclamp : busted draw with Gravecrawler.
• Sunken Hollow
• Fetid Pools
• Tainted Isle : Torment(TOR) version is $2.50.
• Choked Estuary
• Wonder : give all Zombies and Scarab flying, works well with Island Swamp dual lands.
• Death Baron : deathtouch for Zombies is powerful.
• Lord of the Accursed : another Zombie lord.
• Carrion Feeder : one drop Zombie sac outlet.
• Dreadhorde Invasion : repeatable source of Zombie.
• Windfall : wheel, draw and great way to get Zombies into your graveyard for Scarab.
• Tomebound Lich
• Victimize

Can add all these card for about $26.

Cards to consider cutting:

• Jwar Isle Refuge
• Terminal Moraine
• Worn Powerstone
• Wight of Precinct Six
• Phyrexian Ghoul
• Skinrender
• Ancient Craving
• Aether Gale
• Ancient Excavation
• Sedraxis Alchemist
• Drunau Corpse Trawler
• Noosegraf Mob
• Army of the Damned

Good luck with your deck.