Need a home for my favorite card.
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Jan. 18, 2022, 1:41 p.m. by BertilFalukorv
My favorite card is a black enchantment on the Reserved list that I got two copies of a while back before the prices skyrocketed. But I never found a proper home for it.
The card in question is Tombstone Stairwell
As long as my yard always have more creatures than my opponents it will never be worth attacking me since then I can always outblock their tombspawn tokens.
Below I've listed what some of the colors can do to bring this card to life. (hehe) I know there are a lot more and please don't hestitate to type in your suggestions so that I can add to the list. The reason I list them is to make it easier to think of what kind of deck I could run this in as a "win-more-card" without ruining the deck so it fails of my yard gets emptied. It's also worth noting that the tokens gets Destroyed so if you make your creatures indestructible with something like Eldrazi Monument you get to keep your tokens where your opponents have to destroy theirs.
RED • ETB triggers like Purphoros, God of the Forge
• Cool Synnergy with Deathbringer Thoctar which is extra nice since it's also a Zombie
BLACK • Various Deathtriggers like Blood Artist
• Sac outlets
WHITE • Great Synnergy with Cathars' Crusade
• Some Deathtriggers
• Has some nice player protection (To avoiod effects like Bojuka Bog and also nice recursion of enchantments and/or protection for enchantments.
GREEN • Good recursion cards, even on bodies like Eternal Witness to mention one of many.
• Death Presence
BLUE • Draws a lot of cards
• Protects gameplan and has some good Counter Triggered a bility cards like Stifle and Nimble Obstructionist which is extra nice to have on a body that also draws a card.
Basically I've made decks around this a hundred times but when I'm about to finish I feel like I'm lacking something in the colors I'm in or something else, I'm lost in what direction I should go to make the best out of this without having a poop deck till all the stars align.
Best Commanders I can think of as of yet:
• Alesha, Who Smiles at Death Aristocrats
• Kresh the Bloodbraided works well with this too, currently I'm building him in a more traditional direction since I fell in love with this commander for some reason. :)
• Teysa, Orzhov Scion Aristocrat Tokens
• Teysa Karlov Aristocrat Deathtriggers
• Ghave, Guru of Spores w/o going for inf combo wincon
• Varina, Lich Queen Seems perfect in many ways for this too.
I currently run it in a Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver but I never gotten to cast it yet. The boring thing about Zombie tribal is that it's boring to build and somewhat fun to play (Play zombies, play lords, swing) and it leaves for a less interactive gameplay. It's a solid deck but it doesnt feel very spicy.
I don't necessarly need to run the most optimized deck to have fun or run the most expensive cards. I'm helpful for all the Ideas you can bring me as I seem to have hit a wall where I don't know what to do anymore.
Currently I'm leaning towards either of Teysa's or Alesha.
TL:DR What deck or what colors do you think Tombstone Stairwell would do best in?
Much appreciated. :)
BertilFalukorv says... #3
griffstick Sadly they get destroyed on EACH players end step, so I would only be able to let them live for one more players turn before they get destroyed.
Card Text: Cumulative upkeep 1Black (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.) At the beginning of each upkeep, if Tombstone Stairwell is on the battlefield, each player creates a 2/2 black Zombie creature token with haste named Tombspawn for each creature card in their graveyard. At the beginning of each end step or when Tombstone Stairwell leaves the battlefield, destroy all tokens created with Tombstone Stairwell. They can't be regenerated.
January 18, 2022 3:01 p.m.
I don't fully understand the mechanics but I've seen it posted here quite a bit. I believe Sundial of the Infinite would allow you to keep your tokens if you end your turn before they would get buried. Also there's a number of cards that allow you to remove or exile all cards from opponents graveyards which should help.
January 18, 2022 3:20 p.m.
This looks like a really fun card to play with.
Maybe something with Bident of Thassa to make them attack and then Isperia, Supreme Judge to profit if they attack you.
You could use Cultural Exchange to completely upset the board. One person gets tokens that are going to die, and the other gets creatures that might be good but they can't use the synergies. Only problem is that you just might make two people mad : )
Maybe Karazikar, the Eye Tyrant to create a ton of tokens and then give everyone an incentive to not attack you.
Honestly, it seems like a hard card to build around, but at the same time, such an awesome one. I feel like you need ramp for the upkeep, removal or mill to fuel graveyards, and then still a way to pay it off.
And, Sundial of the Infinite might work, but you'd really need ways to untap it like Unwinding Clock and even then, the payoff may not be so great.
Lolth, Spider Queen might go nuts with death triggers and her ult is really good with any small evading creatures.
I guess if it was me, I'd be on the plan of, make everyone make tokens, give them reasons to swing at each other, then when everyone is beat up, swoop in with something to win.
Oh, also, Braid of Fire could help you pay the cumulative cost, at least in part.
It would be fun to see what it looks like when it's all together : ) Super creative!
January 18, 2022 4:01 p.m.
I see two broad themes here: self-mill and "enters the battlefield" and "dies" triggers. Self-mill lets you get a lot of tokens out quickly, while ETB and dies triggers take advantage of the token production and their inevitable death. (I don't think it's worth it to keep the Stairwell around after the upkeep cost becomes a liability. Just let 'em die, and bring back the enchantment if you want to.)
Dread Return could work in a self-mill reanimator, along with Mausoleum Secrets as a tutor.
ETB and dies triggers could make a sort of Soul Sisters/Blood Brothers deck, with Blood Artist, Blood Seeker, Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, and related cards.
January 18, 2022 4:20 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #7
I'm thinking Muldrotha, the Gravetide, since you already want your graveyard loaded anyway. Then, if Tombstone Stairwell ever leaves play, you can get it right back next turn.
January 18, 2022 4:48 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
BertilFalukorv, while true, this only applies toward tokens created BY Tombstone Stairwell. A card such as, say, Doubling Season wouldn't have their tokens affected.
January 18, 2022 4:50 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #9
Key to the City is an often overlooked discard artifact (with some upsides). Maybe this would be a good spot for it?
January 18, 2022 7:04 p.m.
BertilFalukorv says... #10
TypicalTimmy I'm pretty sure they are created with Tombstone Stairwell and not with the Doubling Season and would get destroyed every round. I also forgot to list token doublers under the Green section, thank you for reminding me ;)
It feels like Abzan is the strongest color pair, what red gives me (damage to each opponent) I can also get in black/white. What I lose is the wheels and draw/discard cards. But it's like FormOverFunction mentioned available in form of artifacts.
So I guess that running a token theme with Blood Artist effects from black/white, ramp and token doublers from green (and white) and enchantment/player protection from white. Orzhov is great for aristocrats, I'm just not sure how the deck is supposed to win or who's best suited to be the commander for it still :)
January 18, 2022 7:38 p.m.
Thalisse, Reverent Medium could make stupid amounts of tokens thanks to her own effect with the possibility of Anointed Procession and Kaya, Geist Hunter.
Chatterfang, Squirrel General could do the same thing but in different colors. Would have access to Parallel Lives and self-mill effects to load up your graveyard.
Sarulf, Realm Eater could be some sort of voltron thing as he gets counters whenever opponents permanents get put in the graveyard (which tokens do). The partner commander Sengir, the Dark Baron does something similar and could be paired with something like Prava of the Steel Legion to double down on the token theme.
Kardur, Doomscourge, Thantis, the Warweaver and the partner pairing of Kamber, the Plunderer/Laurine, the Diversion are all about giving creatures to opponents and benefitting from them dying or attacking someone else. Akroan Horse and Genesis Chamber are more examples of giving other players ammunition. Syr Konrad, the Grim also loves seeing opponents creatures dying.
Tombstone Stairwell is such a cool card. I wish I picked one up before it spiked. :(
January 18, 2022 8:05 p.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #12
Maybe I am very wrong, but to the best of my knowledge, the replacement effect from Doubling Season isn't interacted with Tombstone Stairwell's delayed end step trigger.
Suppose you make 5x 2/2s. At your end step, they get sac'd. Now suppose DS sees these 5 and goes "Nah homie, you know what make 10x instead."
The additional 5 are not created by Tombstone. They are created by DS. So I don't believe the +5 would be sac'd, as the sacrifice effect that is triggered off the end step isn't intrinsic to the token, it's intrinsic to the enchantment. Now if the token had "Sacrifice this creature at the beginning of the next end step." in it's text box, that would be a different conversation as that WOULD BE intrinsic to the token. But that text isn't on the token, it's on Tombstone Stairwell. Ergo, ones made via Doubling Season lack that text and thus aren't sacrificed at end of turn.
Though perhaps I am completely wrong.
January 18, 2022 8:17 p.m. Edited.
Gidgetimer says... #13
Doubling Season itself never creates a token or adds counters. It causes other effects to create double tokens and add double counters.
"If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead."
Tombstone Stairwell's destroy clause applies to all tokens created with it. Even though created with it because of doubling season.
It seems like with the whole Sundial of the Infinite thing people may be focussing on the wrong thing about the end step trigger to me. Sundial will allow everyone to keep their tokens. Tombstone Stairwell says to destroy the tokens, not sacrifice them. If you can grant your board indestructible you can keep all of your tokens while everyone else's gets destroyed.
The best colors for these shenanigans seem to be Abzan with Ashaya, Soul of the Wild and Terra Eternal or Timber Protector; Tribal indestructible cards and Conspiracy; and Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Mycosynth Lattice and Darksteel Forge are a colorless way to do it. This isn't an exhaustive list, but merely a place to begin if you like the line.
January 18, 2022 10 p.m.
BertilFalukorv says... #14
Gidgetimer I mentioned Indestructible before and I think what you mentioned is another cool way to do it, just that it requires more pieces on the board. Eldrazi Monument is a one-card way to do this.
About "end the turn" cards it won't help since Tombstone Stairwell will trigger on each players end step and destroy them all.
I agree on abzan being the best color pair but I don't think there are enough commanders to chose from that suits what I want to do.
KBK7101 I Think you brought up some interesting cards I did not think of before, Sarulf, Realm Eater for example! I was also thinking of Thantis, the Warweaver at one point, which actually was the first deck I build so that card has a special home in my heart :) But I got other plans for Thantis atm.
The only issue I see running tokens is that I don't know how to make myself have more creatures in my yard than in my opponents, I feel like I can't cast/recur Tombstone unless I got a GY with more creatures in it. I really wish Teysa was partner or Golgari because she seems perfect to me, just that she's lacking green :)
January 19, 2022 5:38 a.m.
BertilFalukorv says... #15
Simplified this is what Tombstone Stairwell Does. 1. At the beginning of the upkeep it checks each players graveyard and count the ammount of creatures in it. 2. Each player put a token on their battlefield for each creature card that is in their own Graveyard. For example, I have 5 creatures in my graveyard, you have 2. I get 5 Tokens and you get 2 tokens. 3. I go to endstep, the enchantment checks the field for any surviving Tombspawn token and destroys them. 4. Next player begin their turn and you repeat step 1 - 3 for as long as the enchantment remains on the battlefield or until the enchantment gets destroyed (By removal or playing another World Enchantment as there can only be one world enchantment in play at any time).
January 19, 2022 5:44 a.m.
brandonplaysmagic says... #16
A combo of Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa and Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper could be fun for this! I had one that focused on life gain/tokens. Suit them all up with lifelink, cast your commanders to make them unblockable, and then swing out and double your life gain. Have your Soul Warden and Essence Warden to gain life with all those ETB triggers from the tokens, then throw in an Aetherflux Reservoir for extra power and a way to hose everyone down. What a super fun card though, no wonder it’s a favorite!
January 19, 2022 11:25 a.m.
Sidisi, Brood Tyrant is great. She naturally wants mill, so does tombstone, your in colors the perfect colors for graveyard stuff, and flexiblwe enough to go zombies tribal to boost all those tokens, or not zombie tribal and use those tokens for drain affects/mill. Tombstone is NUTS in my deck, especially when you have synergy like Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Phenax, God of Deception, Path of Discovery, Altar of Dementia, Syr Konrad, the Grim, ESPECIALLY when you got more than one out!
EDIT: I do have a few cards that care about the zombie subtype, the deck really exploits the fact that they coem in every turn and die every turn with haste, its pretty absurd and is a kill on site. If interested, you can take a look for soem ideas! Sidisi V1.1
January 19, 2022 12:20 p.m. Edited.
BertilFalukorv says... #18
You know, that combo sounds like it could suit what I want to do, most ETB/LTB triggers are drain effects so adding lifegain as a sub-theme could be great.
Only thing that sucks is one guy in my playgroup runs dragons :p
January 20, 2022 6:46 p.m.
brandonplaysmagic says... #19
BertilFalukorv I totally know what you mean... But to be fair, I'm also the guy running dragons. Glad I could help give you some ideas! :)
January 20, 2022 8:44 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #20
I was looking at AEther Flash as a counter to this (I couldn’t remember the name of it) and saw AEther Rift. Not a very efficient way to load your graveyard... but could be funny. Hadn’t thought of THAT card in a while.
January 20, 2022 9:58 p.m.
This card is very funny in a The Scarab God deck, since you can resolve upkeep triggers in the order you prefer. In this case, resolve Tombstone Stairwell first and then resolve The Scarab God's for extra scrying and extra drain.
griffstick says... #2
Grixis Obeka, Brute Chronologist so you can keep your tokens
January 18, 2022 2:54 p.m.