Magic the Gathering XXII: Where Puns Go to Die

[Fable Wright]

Folks, I'm looking for ideas.

I'm working on my next EDH deck, and masochistically have decided on Boros. Rather than strict aggro, though, I want to politic and incite fights between the other players. Any ideas on cards that do such things? I'm planning on cards to introduce the Monarch mechanic, and to pass around something chunky with the Assault Suit strapped to it. There are some curses that will incentivize players to attack one another. Goblin Diplomats and similar cards seem like a bad plan since I can't control where the attack goes.

Pitch me suggestions! Obviously White and Red are preferred, but other colors can suggest new things to look for as well.

All I have to say is that pillow forting is necessary with this strategy, so Ghostly Prison, Archangel of Tithes, Sphere of Safety, Windborn Muse, Propaganda (if you decide go to with Zedruu), and Solitary Confinement (if Zedruu), Collective Restraint (if Zedruu) are all great. Otherwise... Sunforger with Master Warcraft is always fun?

Otherwise, you'll mostly be looking for card draw, so Mind's Eye, Sword of Fire and Ice, Mesa Enchantress, Diviner's Wand, skullclamp, and so on are a given. Then... well, it depends on how you want to incite conflict. I will say Reiterate is a good way. And is also good if you want to run the Firemind's Foresight combo as a way to finish games.

[Occasional Sage]

Nah, "tutor" is a word with a very specific meaning and weight to it in Magic. Every card that uses it is essentially a callback to Demonic Tutor and riffs on its mechanics. Same for stuff like Lotus*, Mox or (perhaps to a lesser extent) Lord. If you hear those words, you'll have a rough idea of what a card does before you even read the text. "Mentor" just doesn't have that same kind of pedigree to it. There have been a few good ones recently, but there's no real common element to them and most of the other cards that use it are unremarkable at best. Also notably none of them actually have anything to do with tutoring in the Magic sense.

* Get lost, Lotus Guardian. No-one likes your style.

The Lord of Tresserhorn wants to say hi.

Does TappedOut serve your purposes?

Sorry I missed this. Wow yes, I'd never tried TappedOut and that's perfect, thank you!

Why not add Black and use Queen Marchesa as your commander?

Well because Mardu isn't Boros. That said, suggestions of black cards will give ideas of things to search in other colors.

All I have to say is that pillow forting is necessary with this strategy, so Ghostly Prison, Archangel of Tithes, Sphere of Safety, Windborn Muse, Propaganda (if you decide go to with Zedruu), and Solitary Confinement (if Zedruu), Collective Restraint (if Zedruu) are all great. Otherwise... Sunforger with Master Warcraft is always fun?

Otherwise, you'll mostly be looking for card draw, so Mind's Eye, Sword of Fire and Ice, Mesa Enchantress, Diviner's Wand, skullclamp, and so on are a given. Then... well, it depends on how you want to incite conflict. I will say Reiterate is a good way. And is also good if you want to run the Firemind's Foresight combo as a way to finish games.

Forting up and attacking from relative safety isn't a bad plan. I'm also looking forward to sending Indestructible creatures out wearing the Assault Suit to cause havoc.

[enderlord99]

Sorry I missed this. Wow yes, I'd never tried TappedOut and that's perfect, thank you!

I'll be honest, I only read the first 8 words before replying. Good to see it works, though!

[Ebon_Drake]

The Lord of Tresserhorn wants to say hi.

Ugh, not that jerk again! Tell him I'm not in!

But yeah, now that I think about it there are lots of cards whose name includes Lord but which aren't proper lords - even back to good ol' Lord of the Pit. In fact, I think that's why the Lord creature type was retired: too many cards had the word lord on them without being lords, while too many cards were lords in the colloquial sense of "gives +1/+1 and/or an ability to a specific creature type" without actually using the word.

Still, the point is that if someone had told you "Amonkhet has a cat lord!" then you'd have known what they meant, but if they'd said "Amonkhet has a new mentor!" it wouldn't really have given you any sense of what the card is about.

[Dhavaer]

God-Pharaoh's Gift has been spoiled and it looks awesome. I think Jeskai would be a good colour combination for it - Insolent Neonate and Cathartic Reunion to fill the graveyard and dig for the Gate, and Temmet to make your Eternals unblockable.

[Carl]

Alert! Alert! Copycat (Felidar Guardian) is now banned in standard. http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...ent-2017-04-26

I know this is a fairly old post but i was digging back through the thread for somthing else and came across it and since my interest has been kicked up again i took a look at the link, and well, i'm confused, a lot. I can't see why it was an issue, it doesn't do anything thats not super common for white to do. And the mention of Saheeli in the article didn't help, either card turned up by a search had a thing it could do that combo'd in any way with the banned card. Could someone give a dunce an explanation please?

[Comissar]

I know this is a fairly old post but i was digging back through the thread for somthing else and came across it and since my interest has been kicked up again i took a look at the link, and well, i'm confused, a lot. I can't see why it was an issue, it doesn't do anything thats not super common for white to do. And the mention of Saheeli in the article didn't help, either card turned up by a search had a thing it could do that combo'd in any way with the banned card. Could someone give a dunce an explanation please?

It's a two card infinite combo. The plan is to have Saheeli and a Felidar Guardian on the field at the same time. Then you use Saheeli's -2 to copy the Guardian (hence copycat), the token copy comes in with haste and flickers a permanent you control. You pick Saheeli, she comes back in with 3 loyalty, so you -2 her, copy the Guardian, rinse and repeat an arbitrarily large number of times and swing to win.

[Svata]

Also, there's a new Dark Depths combo set-up card.

Spoiler: Hour of Promise

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[Jaxzan Proditor]

Also, there's a new Dark Depths combo set-up card.

Spoiler: Hour of Promise

Show

Spoiler

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That, and Solemnity

[IthilanorStPete]

Also, there's a new Dark Depths combo set-up card.

Spoiler: Hour of Promise

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Spoiler

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Am I missing something? It doesn't seem much better than land fetchers like Expedition Map, Sylvan Scrying, or Reap and Sow.

[tonberrian]

Spoiler

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Am I missing something? It doesn't seem much better than land fetchers like Expedition Map, Sylvan Scrying, or Reap and Sow.

Spoiler

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It doesn't grab basics, so you can easily grab, say, Dark Depths and Vesuva at once, copying Dark Depths with Vesuva and getting Marit Lage off it immediately.

Or you could use any non-basic fetch with Solemnity out, yeah.

[LastCenturion]

Spoiler

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It doesn't grab basics, so you can easily grab, say, Dark Depths and Vesuva at once, copying Dark Depths with Vesuva and getting Marit Lage off it immediately.

Or you could use any non-basic fetch with Solemnity out, yeah.

Spoiler

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Err, no you can't? They enter at the same time, so Vesuva can't copy Dark Depths because Dark Depths isn't on the field yet. Thespian's Stage would work though.

[Carl]

It's a two card infinite combo. The plan is to have Saheeli and a Felidar Guardian on the field at the same time. Then you use Saheeli's -2 to copy the Guardian (hence copycat), the token copy comes in with haste and flickers a permanent you control. You pick Saheeli, she comes back in with 3 loyalty, so you -2 her, copy the Guardian, rinse and repeat an arbitrarily large number of times and swing to win.

Ahh cheers. Again my experiance is coming from duels and you don't get planeswalkers there so the thought that it would reset loyalty and you could do things with it frankly never occurred.

[Carl]

Just a quick FYI for everyone, thrown up a general homebrew brainstorming and card posting thread in homebrew section so you can post and review and critique each other's cards and generally brainstorm homebrew MTG stuff. I would appreciate it if the OP would add a link to the OP, so people can find it easier, might keep it in use that way. I've thrown a quick and dirty concept up to get the ball rolling though and linked it in the ne of two contest threads i can find as well so all the side discussion like the recent set of "annoy Jormungand " cards can be thrown in their and other funnies stuff not directly related to the contest. May even become a review and tweaking ground for the contest if people go that way.

Linky: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...-Brainstorming

[gooddragon1]

Copying my ymtc over for fun:

Chronollusionist 1uu
Legendary Creature - Illusion Wizard
Vanishing 4
Whenever a player casts a spell, put a time counter on Chronollusionist.
Chronollusionist's toughness is equal to the number of time counters on it.
Remove a time counter from Chronollusionist: Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 1.
0/*

Vanishing 4 (This creature enters the battlefield with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter from it. When the last is removed, sacrifice it.)

[Androgeus]

Remove X time counters from Chronollusionist: Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 1. X must be at least 1.

What's the X for? Did you mean for it to be unless the controller pays X?

[gooddragon1]

What's the X for? Did you mean for it to be unless the controller pays X?

Yeah, the costs didn't copy over and I instinctively put it as 1. Fixed.

[Silfir]

What's the issue with just "Remove a time counter from Chronollusionist: Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 1."? There's nothing stopping you from activating the ability as many times as you need to, so it ends up having the same effect. Doing it that way avoids having to add the "X must be at least 1" clause to avoid giving this guy's controller the ability to return their own spells to their hand for free.

[gooddragon1]

What's the issue with just "Remove a time counter from Chronollusionist: Return target spell to its owner's hand unless its controller pays 1."? There's nothing stopping you from activating the ability as many times as you need to, so it ends up having the same effect. Doing it that way avoids having to add the "X must be at least 1" clause to avoid giving this guy's controller the ability to return their own spells to their hand for free.

Because that would be too easy. Just kidding, yeah, sounds better.

[Zombimode]

Building a Witch/Hag themed deck centred arround Bogbrew Witch/Bubbling Cauldron/Festering Newt.
Stippulation: cards must fit the theme (in name or artwork)

The deck is intended for casual multiplayer.

I've built a good portion of the deck, but there are still some missing pieces. This is what I have so far:

Spoiler

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Creatures x18
3x Anurid Scavenger
4x Bitterheart Witch
4x Bogbrew Witch
3x Desecrator Hag
4x Festering Newt

Enchantments x8
2x Cruel Reality
1x Curse of Bloodletting
2x Curse of Death's Hold
1x Curse of Oblivion
2x Curse of Vengeance

Artifacts x6
4x Bubbling Cauldron
2x Elixir of Immortality

Lands 23
5x Forest
4x Geothermal Crevice
3x Jund Panorama
1x Mountain
7x Swamp
3x Terramorphic Expanse

There are still 5 slots open, and many cards are negotionable (only the three core cards are fixed).
If cuts are necessary, the second Elixir is a likely candidate. And I don't know if Curse of Vengeance is actually, you know, usefull.

I originally planned to run 3 Kindly Strangers. It's a Witch and it provides addiotional removal which the deck is light of. But I don't think the aiming for Delirium is feasable in the current state of the deck.
The manabase with it's high count of sac lands reflects the planned inclusion of Kindly Stranger, though.

I probably need more removal (targeted or untrageted) and definitely some card draw/deck manipulation. Read the Bones fits the theme very well, but I think the effect of Bitter Revelation is much better in the deck: it digs deeper, puts things in the 'yard to feed Scavenger and to provide targets for Desecrator Hag (and to keep the dream of Delirium alive...).

Any suggestions?

[Svata]

Hey, y'all, Pre-prerelease of Hour of Devastation in an hour.

https://www.twitch.tv/loadingreadyrun

Everyone come by, and please, please, please be friendly and don't pick apart everyone's misplays. Its a prerelease, and these are not pro players. I'd super appreciate that.

[gooddragon1]

Building a Witch/Hag themed deck centred arround Bogbrew Witch/Bubbling Cauldron/Festering Newt.
Stippulation: cards must fit the theme (in name or artwork)

The deck is intended for casual multiplayer.

I've built a good portion of the deck, but there are still some missing pieces. This is what I have so far:

Spoiler

Show

Creatures x18
3x Anurid Scavenger
4x Bitterheart Witch
4x Bogbrew Witch
3x Desecrator Hag
4x Festering Newt

Enchantments x8
2x Cruel Reality
1x Curse of Bloodletting
2x Curse of Death's Hold
1x Curse of Oblivion
2x Curse of Vengeance

Artifacts x6
4x Bubbling Cauldron
2x Elixir of Immortality

Lands 23
5x Forest
4x Geothermal Crevice
3x Jund Panorama
1x Mountain
7x Swamp
3x Terramorphic Expanse

There are still 5 slots open, and many cards are negotionable (only the three core cards are fixed).
If cuts are necessary, the second Elixir is a likely candidate. And I don't know if Curse of Vengeance is actually, you know, usefull.

I originally planned to run 3 Kindly Strangers. It's a Witch and it provides addiotional removal which the deck is light of. But I don't think the aiming for Delirium is feasable in the current state of the deck.
The manabase with it's high count of sac lands reflects the planned inclusion of Kindly Stranger, though.

I probably need more removal (targeted or untrageted) and definitely some card draw/deck manipulation. Read the Bones fits the theme very well, but I think the effect of Bitter Revelation is much better in the deck: it digs deeper, puts things in the 'yard to feed Scavenger and to provide targets for Desecrator Hag (and to keep the dream of Delirium alive...).

Any suggestions?

Creature removal:
Nettlevine Blight
Unmake
Broken Visage
Hex
Most Appropriately:
Sinister Concoction

For deck manipulation:
Good ol' Crystal Ball.

For Laughs/Confusion:
Ice Cauldron

Spoiler: Explanation

Show

You exile a card with it and pay some mana if you want. Then you can use that mana later to pay for the card you exiled.

[solidork]

My favorite design for HoU is probably Unquenchable Thirst.

[Zombimode]

Creature removal:
Nettlevine Blight
Unmake
Broken Visage
Hex
Most Appropriately:
Sinister Concoction

For deck manipulation:
Good ol' Crystal Ball.

For Laughs/Confusion:
Ice Cauldron

Spoiler: Explanation

Show

You exile a card with it and pay some mana if you want. Then you can use that mana later to pay for the card you exiled.

Those are great! Sinister Concoction is perfect

[gooddragon1]

Those are great! Sinister Concoction is perfect

Thanks, and Jar of eyeballs is another possibility, but not as repeatable as the ball.

[Bobby Baratheon]

MTG guilty pleasure confession time:

Spoiler

Show

I was playing with two friends at our FLGS earlier today, and we were having very fun casual games between the three of us. I was using my Red Aggro deck, and thanks to Fanatic of Mogis I scraped out a few close wins. Another pair of guys come up, and ask if they can play as well. We said sure, and they saddled up for the next match. One of them had never played the game before, so I let him use my Red Aggro deck and slapped together a Izzet deck on the fly. The other guys played while I was putting the deck together, and as it turns out the one with experience was a bit rude. He was verbally aggressive, kept boasting about how great his deck was, and continually lambasted the other players for not getting good draws. That kind of got to me as I listened in for a game's worth of that.

I entered the next game, though one of my friends dropped out as the rude guy had annoyed him to the point of him not wanting to play anymore. This annoyed me further. This guys deck was virtually only big creatures, so he had nothing to do for the first 7ish rounds.

After a few uneventful rounds of building up mana and the new guy going to town on the other two players with an Ash Zealot, things started to happen. I had played a Young Pyromancer on turn 3, and I had a Fire Elemental on the board. I had an Aradara Express sitting there as well, though I didn't have enough crew for it. I played Seething Song, giving me extra mana, and played Thatcher's Revolt and some other things I don't recall, but at the end of my first main phase I had 3 fire elementals and three peasants. The peasants and the first fire elemental manned the Aradara Express, slamming into the guy for 8. He protested, but I pointed out that he had been threatening to kill me the next turn for the last couple of minutes and he shut up. Next turn, he plays some hydra or something. He's down to 8 health, since the Ash Zealot had hit him for 4 earlier. He gets cocky again, talking about how the hydra only has to block for one turn and he can play something better to kill me the next turn. I played Shiv's Embrace on my Pyromancer and sent in the Aradara Express again (alone; the Pyromancer went after the fourth player). He moved to block, and I reminded him that the Aradara Express has menace. He got mad, died, and in a huff went to go 'advise' the new player. He complained quite a bit that my deck was OP (ha), and got even madder when he asked me how long I'd been playing and I answered two months.

My friend clearly wanted to leave, so he conceded and I attacked the newbie and did some damage, and then conceded as well to the new guy, who got a win on his first game and seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience.

I'm hardly an expert at playing magic but man it felt good to beat the cocky 'tourney vet'.
Probably shouldn't do this kind of thing again, as I do not want to be a bad sport, but it was fun to do one time.

Side note: What does make a good (for casual metas) Izzet (or just general R/U) deck other than burn/mill? The deck mentioned in the spoiler story was one I threw together in half an hour, so I'm not at all attached to it.

[Fable Wright]

Side note: What does make a good (for casual metas) Izzet (or just general R/U) deck other than burn/mill? The deck mentioned in the spoiler story was one I threw together in half an hour, so I'm not at all attached to it.

Ping. Really, Gelectrode/Cinder Pyromancer with Electrolyze and possibly some Curiosity in the mix. Just keep casting red spells and drawing cards. Wheel of Fate on turn two, let that go off turn 5, and in response ritual, manamorphose, electrolyze, ritual, etc. to get rid of your hand, restock off the manamorphose, and have a grand old time.

Or build around Paradox Haze/Chronozoa and Epochrasite.

Those were the two most enjoyable looking Izzet decks I saw in my days of casual lunch magic. I'd look into them if they seem your style.

[Svata]

Or just general spellslinging type stuff. Instants and sorceries are red and blue's THING. There's also lots of artifact synergies in both colors, so you could build around those.

[Carl]

MTG guilty pleasure confession time:

Spoiler

Show

I was playing with two friends at our FLGS earlier today, and we were having very fun casual games between the three of us. I was using my Red Aggro deck, and thanks to Fanatic of Mogis I scraped out a few close wins. Another pair of guys come up, and ask if they can play as well. We said sure, and they saddled up for the next match. One of them had never played the game before, so I let him use my Red Aggro deck and slapped together a Izzet deck on the fly. The other guys played while I was putting the deck together, and as it turns out the one with experience was a bit rude. He was verbally aggressive, kept boasting about how great his deck was, and continually lambasted the other players for not getting good draws. That kind of got to me as I listened in for a game's worth of that.

I entered the next game, though one of my friends dropped out as the rude guy had annoyed him to the point of him not wanting to play anymore. This annoyed me further. This guys deck was virtually only big creatures, so he had nothing to do for the first 7ish rounds.

After a few uneventful rounds of building up mana and the new guy going to town on the other two players with an Ash Zealot, things started to happen. I had played a Young Pyromancer on turn 3, and I had a Fire Elemental on the board. I had an Aradara Express sitting there as well, though I didn't have enough crew for it. I played Seething Song, giving me extra mana, and played Thatcher's Revolt and some other things I don't recall, but at the end of my first main phase I had 3 fire elementals and three peasants. The peasants and the first fire elemental manned the Aradara Express, slamming into the guy for 8. He protested, but I pointed out that he had been threatening to kill me the next turn for the last couple of minutes and he shut up. Next turn, he plays some hydra or something. He's down to 8 health, since the Ash Zealot had hit him for 4 earlier. He gets cocky again, talking about how the hydra only has to block for one turn and he can play something better to kill me the next turn. I played Shiv's Embrace on my Pyromancer and sent in the Aradara Express again (alone; the Pyromancer went after the fourth player). He moved to block, and I reminded him that the Aradara Express has menace. He got mad, died, and in a huff went to go 'advise' the new player. He complained quite a bit that my deck was OP (ha), and got even madder when he asked me how long I'd been playing and I answered two months.

My friend clearly wanted to leave, so he conceded and I attacked the newbie and did some damage, and then conceded as well to the new guy, who got a win on his first game and seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience.

I'm hardly an expert at playing magic but man it felt good to beat the cocky 'tourney vet'.
Probably shouldn't do this kind of thing again, as I do not want to be a bad sport, but it was fun to do one time.

Side note: What does make a good (for casual metas) Izzet (or just general R/U) deck other than burn/mill? The deck mentioned in the spoiler story was one I threw together in half an hour, so I'm not at all attached to it.

Is it wrong that i want a like button right now.

[LansXero]

Build around http://magiccards.info/isd/en/231.html .