An Open Palm Counter-Strike

Commander / EDH Noire_Samhain

SCORE: 11 | 18 COMMENTS | 1229 VIEWS | IN 7 FOLDERS


April 22, 2023

Out- Mikaeus, the Lunarch

In- Mirror-Style Master

SaberTech says... #1

Mikaeus, the Lunarch might have a little more synergy with your deck than Victory's Envoy since you can keep making him into a bigger beater with Bright-Palm and you can use his tap abilities more often alongside Drumbellower.

And since you don't seem to be avoiding infinite combos, Scurry Oak and Herd Baloth combo with Cathars' Crusade can produce as many tokens as you want. You could also swap out either Renata, Called to the Hunt or Good-Fortune Unicorn for a Ivy Lane Denizen, which can also combo with the Oak and Baloth.

If you don't want to add more infinite combos to the deck but still want some strong plays, it might be worth checking out Iridescent Hornbeetle. It can produce a very strong board very quickly in conjunction with Cathars' Crusade or Mikaeus, the Lunarch.

April 4, 2023 1:12 a.m.

Noire_Samhain says... #2

Bunch of fun ideas there. When I get a chance I'll definitely play around with those suggestions.

April 4, 2023 4:02 a.m.

Kcin says... #3

With a deck name like this one, you don't have Deflecting Palm for flavor purposes?

Anyway nice deck.

April 4, 2023 5:42 a.m.

Noire_Samhain says... #4

Deflecting Palm is a cool card and flavorful, it just works better in a Sunforger style deck lol.

April 4, 2023 7:39 a.m.

YoungSinatra1 says... #5

Not gonna lie this deck is a little slow try finding a few good mana ramps and things like mana geyser or soothing song to speed it up.

April 4, 2023 5:24 p.m.

SaberTech says... #6

I dunno, the ramp options don't seem that bad. There are 14 potential ways to ramp in the deck, 9 of them are 2 CMC or less. Dockside Extortionist and Jeska's Will fill that explosive ramp role.

I include Green Sun's Zenith as cheap ramp because X=0 gets Dryad Arbor and X=1 gets Birds of Paradise.

April 4, 2023 8:43 p.m.

SaberTech says... #7

Something that is a little annoying though is that Bright-Palm can't target itself with its own triggered ability if it is equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine or Sword of Truth and Justice.

April 4, 2023 9 p.m.

Noire_Samhain says... #8

I somehow did not register that at all, lol. But their utility is good enough in other ways to make up for it.

April 4, 2023 9:05 p.m.

SaberTech says... #9

I agree. If Bright-Palm already has a counter on it and is then equipped with a Sword it will be at 7 power. That's 3 swings to kill someone with commander damage.

I only noticed the issue because I was testing the deck and had Bright-Palm with both swords on it Turn 5, but no other creatures to use Bright-Palm's ability on.

April 4, 2023 9:10 p.m.

SaberTech says... #10

Do you play against a bunch of blue control decks in your meta? Some of your card choices hint that that's the case.

April 4, 2023 9:24 p.m.

Noire_Samhain says... #11

There's a wide variety of decks, but the Blue ones there are are the ones more likely to prevent me from comboing off.

April 5, 2023 4:06 a.m.

SaberTech says... #12

The reason why I ask is because while testing the deck I was finding that I wasn't drawing that many creatures. It may have just been a peculiarity of the hands that I was testing (I also had a Sol Ring in my starting hand 4 out of 5 tests) but I was trying to see if there might be some ways to bump up the creature count a little.

Since it looks like your combo pieces are creatures and enchantments, I was wondering if Destiny Spinner might be an option over Red Elemental Blast or Veil of Summer. Prowling Serpopard was another card I was contemplating.

April 5, 2023 4:23 a.m.

SaberTech says... #13

I guess that Destiny Spinner doesn't protect Sword of Feast and Famine though.

April 5, 2023 4:26 a.m.

SaberTech says... #14

Or Helm of the host.

April 5, 2023 4:27 a.m.

I agree with your description, I think Bright-Palm should've been a Monk too, but at least with the shaman typing it will pair pretty well with Harmonic Prodigy if you choose to go in that direction. Have you considered Moraug, Fury of Akoum? Feels like he would fit right in with the multiple attack steps plan here =).

April 5, 2023 12:28 p.m.

Noire_Samhain says... #16

Ooh, Moraug is fun, I forgot about him. Less abuseable, but still a good idea.

April 5, 2023 2:28 p.m.