Ghostly Flicker

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leovolt884_ on Zubera Zubera ずべら

2 days ago

So since you asked, here's my stupid idea: Mill yourself. a ton. I know, that doesnt really work with the zubera's but there's more. Once you have 6 or more creatures in your graveyard you can profit. With Archaeomancer, Ardent Elementalist, any mana filterer like Prismite and any sac outlet like Makeshift Munitions in play you can win with the red zubera. Cast Ghostly Flicker and return the flicker + Songs of the Damned to your hand. Cast songs, filter 2 black into a blue, cast flicker, repeat. accrue infinite mana. Cast Exhume or some reanimation spell to return Ember-Fist Zubera to play, sac it, and cast flicker again this time returning the flicker and exhume to hand. Repeat. The zubera don't care how many are in your graveyard, just how many went there this turn. It's like going to an arcade and just pushing a baskteball in and out of the hoop to get a ton of points. This is stupid, and a horrible infinite combo, but its a thing.

These creatures are just horrendously bad. For advice otherwise I can just say play control, maybe some fogs, lots of card draw and ramp. Try to sac your board and maybe do some Songs of the Damned shenanigans to recur one or two but really don't stress about making the strategy good. It's jank, and is quite funny, and holds a special place on the more casual wincons of decks

Flarhoon13 on Unleashing the Maelstrom: Yidris' Controlled Chaos

2 months ago

Played a couple games. Yidris sputtered out, again, probably should have mulliganed.

Second try, Yidris kept hitting land drops. Suspended Wheel of Fate, Turn 3 Waste Not. Turn 4 Primal Amulet  ^Flip, Turn 5 Dark Petition. Taylor on Henzie "Toolbox" Torre, mostly, had hit me down to 3, the other players could have killed me. Taylor destroyed my Waste Not in response to the Wheel of Fate being cast; he channeled Boseiju, Who Endures. No matter. That gave me the Island I needed to cast the Turnabout that I would not have been able to cast otherwise. Main phase, cast Seething Song to flip into Primal Wellspring  ^Flip, allowing me to copy Emergent Ultimatum. Got to cast Time Warp, and Ghostly Flicker while Dualcaster Mage got shuffled back. No matter. Used Increasing Vengeance to copy the original Emergent Ultimatum, again! Will and Thomas had already conceded but Taylor started arguing about the stack before angrily leaving, repeating, "I'm done! I'm done!" Would have had infinite mana with some extra turns, probably an Aetherflux Reservoir to boot.

Flarhoon13 on Unleashing the Maelstrom: Yidris' Controlled Chaos

4 months ago

Nov 23

Yidris: Controlled Chaos, budget power won a long, kind of crazy game. Darryl cast Jokulhaups via Discord, Lord of Disharmony, which looked like it was handing Nolan the game, since he was able to make his Rakdos, the Muscle commander indestructible. I drew well and cast the greatest thief in the multiverse, Dack Fayden, to steal Darryl's Sol Ring. I cast an Aetherflux Reservoir, and a Sunbird's Invocation. The next turn, I cast a Berserkers' Onslaught, Sunbird's Invocation revealed an Inevitable Betrayal, which I used to get Nolan's Molten Primordial. That stole the Rakdos, the Muscle, a Professional Face-Breaker and an OG Jodah, Archmage Eternal. I attacked Nolan with his own commander and Darryl's Tainted Strike made it lethal, even as I attacked him with Jodah, Archmage Eternal, also for lethal (he was at three life). Doug had enough on board to kill me but I untapped and played Karn's Temporal Sundering, bouncing my Dualcaster Mage. In my extra turn, I had the Dark Petition to grab Ghostly Flicker. Ghostly Flicker copied by Dualcaster Mage does go infinite. Infinite mana, then Seasons Past meant I was totally infinite. I could recur the Dark Petition for Seasons Past and cast them infinitely plus so many more, Aetherflux Reservoir was a win condition

bvowles on Pauper Lands

4 months ago

Thanks for the suggestions! I really like Winding Way especially. Ghostly Flicker I'm not as sure on, but you're absolutely right it would work really well with Coiling Oracle and Archaeomancer, but if I added both I'd turn this into a more familiars type of list with your suggestions and cut back on the lands.

In testing on modo I've found that I almost have too many additional land effects in the deck, so I guess I could start there when looking to fit in Winding Way at least. Do you have any suggestions on cards to cut? It feels tight even though I'm still brewing around with it. While I said earlier that I may have too many additional land effects in the deck, Arboreal Grazer gives me great ground game against red.

JustJohn97 on Pauper Lands

4 months ago

Hi!

This is a neat idea, have you considered adding Winding Way? It might be a good way to dig for more lands or your creatures. Something else to consider might also be flicker effects such as Ghostly Flicker which could allow you to flicker your creature etbs and allow you to add multiple additional lands to the field (it would also work if you decided to add the Coiling Oracle in your maybe board). Maybe add in Archaeomancer while you're at it if that's a style you might want to play.

Again it's a very neat idea, good luck brewing!

Dabsolux on Pauper and PDH combos

9 months ago

I would like to create a list of all Pauper and PDH deck combos. Most of them are created by NateDiggity7 (Moxfield) and PenguinPete (MTG Salvation). Here some:

BG - Golgari

• Ivy Lane Denizen + Rendclaw Trow + Viscera Seer = infinite scry
• Reins of the Vinesteed + Warehouse Tabby = infinite death trigger (need a rat enchanted with Reins of the Vinesteed)
• Basking Broodscale + Sadistic Glee = infinite +1/+1 counter on Basking Broodscale
• Ivy Lane Denizen + Rendclaw Trow + Bloodthrone Vampire = infinite large creature (VARIANT: can use any green creature with persist)
• Ivy Lane Denizen + Rendclaw Trow + Viscera Seer = infinite scry
• Ivy Lane Denizen + Rendclaw Trow + Viscera Seer + Deathgreeter = infinite scry, infinite life
• Ivy Lane Denizen + Rendclaw Trow + Ashnod's Altar + Essence Warden = infinite mana, infinite life

BR - Rakdos

• Ardent Elementalist + Fake Your Own Death + Thermopod = infinite death trigger, infinite ETB, infinite storm count
• First Day of Class + Putrid Goblin + Skirk Prospector = infinite red mana (VARIANT: any creature with persist + Thermopod)

C - Colorless

• Ashnod's Altar + Foundry Inspector + Myr Retriever + Workshop Assistant = infinite colorless mana

G - Green

• Careful Cultivation + Pili-Pala = infinite mana
• Ashnod's Altar + Pili-Pala + Presence of Gond = infinite mana
• Devoted Druid + Ivy Lane Denizen + Presence of Gond = infinite elf token
• Ivy Lane Denizen + Aerie Ouphes = infinite damage on flying creature, infinite ETB

RG - Gruul

• Hangar Scrounger + Seeker of Skybreak = infinite scry (only when Hangar Scrounger ETB)
• Sprout Swarm + Blisterspit Gremlin + Thermo-Alchemist + Thunderscape Familiar + Unruly Catapult = infinite saproling token (VARIANT: any ETB untap, any spell reduction cost, any untap on cast)

UBG - Sultai

• Freed from the Real + Karametra's Favor + Servant of Tymaret = infinite life drain

UB - Dimir

• Freed from the Real + Dimir Aqueduct + Wind Zendikon = infinite black mana (VARIANT: use any two mana land provinding blue and any turn to creature effect)
• Disciple of the Vault + Undercity Scrounger + Freed from the Real = infinite life loss (Morbid required)

UG - Simic

• Arbor Elf + Utopia Sprawl + Freed from the Real = infinite mana
• Freed from the Real + Axebane Guardian + Steel Wall = infinite mana (VARIANT: may use any defender instead of Steel Wall)
• Freed from the Real + Krosan Restorer = infinite mana
• Freed from the Real + Lifespark Spellbomb + Simic Growth Chamber = infinite green mana
• Freed from the Real + Axebane Guardian + Steel Wall + Viridian Longbow = infinite damage
• Freed from the Real + Karametra's Favor + Deepwater Hypnotist = infinite fog
• Freed from the Real + Karametra's Favor + Sphinx's Disciple = infinite draw
• Elvish Aberration + Energy Refractor + Freed from the Real = Infinite mana
• Axebane Guardian + Steel Wall + Vigean Graftmage + Excavated Wall = infinite mana

URG - Temur

• Freed from the Real + Orochi Leafcaller + Zhur-Taa Druid = infinite damage
• Morselhoarder + Sinking Feeling + Viridian Longbow = infinite damage

U - Blue

• Archaeomancer + Ghostly Flicker + Peregrine Drake = infinite mana NOT LEGAL
• Archaeomancer + High Tide + Snap = infinite ETB, infinite storm count NOT LEGAL
• Banishing Knack + Battered Golem + Lotus Petal = infinite ETB, infinite storm count (VARIANT: Retraction Helix,Mirran Spy, any 0 mana artifact add Golem Foundry for infinite golem token)
• Retraction Helix + Zephyr Scribe + Spidersilk Net + Elusive Spellfist = infinitely large unblockable creature

WB - Orzhov

• Ashnod's Altar + Disciple of the Sun + Kaya's Ghostform = infinite colorless mana (VARIANT: Viscera Seer infinite scry)
• Spirit en-Kor + Daru Spiritualist + Severed Strands = Infinite life (VARIANT: Nomads en-Kor)

WG - Selesnya

• Midnight Guard + Presence of Gond = infinite elf token
• Presence of Gond + Devoted Druid + Sigil of the Nayan Gods = infinite elf token

WR - Boros

• Crown of Flames + Mogg War Marshal + Tethmos High Priest + Skirk Prospector = infinite goblin token

WUB - Esper

• Songs of the Damned + Mnemonic Wall + Energy Refractor + Cavern Harpy + God-Pharaoh's Faithful = Infinite mana (need 11 creatures in gy)
• Songs of the Damned + Mnemonic Wall + Energy Refractor + Cavern Harpy + Basilica Screecher = infinite life loss (need 11 creatures in gy)

WU - Azorius

• Retraction Helix + Midnight Guard + Soul's Attendant + Ornithopter = infinite life
• Retraction Helix + Stonybrook Schoolmaster + Mirran Spy + Ornithopter = infinite merfolk token
• Retraction Helix + Stonybrook Schoolmaster + Mirran Spy + Ornithopter + Sage's Row Denizen = infinite merfolk token, infinite mill
• Retraction Helix + Stonybrook Schoolmaster + Mirran Spy + Ornithopter + Judge of Currents = infinite merfolk token, infinite life

ONLY PDH

BR - Rakdos

• Ashnod's Altar + First Day of Class + Murderous Redcap = infinite damage, infinite colorless mana

BG - Golgari

• Devoted Druid + Quillspike = Quillspike with infinite strenght and toughness

U - Blue

• Freed from the Real + Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator + Viridian Longbow = infinite damage
• Energy Refractor + Freed from the Real + Vhal, Candlekeep Researcher + Viridian Longbow = infinite damage

UR - Izzet

• Alena, Kessig Trapper + Energy Refractor + Freed from the Real = Infinite mana (need a creature with powet at least 3 that entered the battlefield this turn, need a blue partner commander)

G - Green

• Essence Warden + Lurking Roper + Presence of Gond = infinite life, infinite elf token
• Ivy Lane Denizen + Scurry Oak = infinite counter on Scurry Oak, infinite squirrel token

UG - Simic

• Freed from the Real + Gyre Engineer = infinite green mana
• Freed from the Real + Ley Weaver = infinite mana (need at least a land that add for blue and another land)

W - White

• Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward + Journey to Nowhere + Oblivion Ring = infinite soldier token (VARIANT: add any nonland permanent with ETB effect )

WG - Selesnya

• Ashnod's Altar + Ivy Lane Denizen + Kitchen Finks = infinite life, infinite colorless mana (VARIANT: Master Chef)

rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with Me …

10 months ago

Sometimes when I'm deckbuilding, I focus less on the commander and more on an interesting concept/combo that I want to use or exploit. This is the case with one of my favorite decks in my profile and actually one of the first commander decks I ever built. This deck began years ago when Magic finally started caring about the EDH format. It was a more simple time then, Rhystic study was $1.27 (exactly the price I paid for mine over 10 years ago), Cyclonic Rift was a bulk rare, and demonic tutor could be found for $10.

The combo that I was interested in was Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator. The latter was my favorite card at the time and is still one of my favorites. It was a great tool and with all the ETB effects that were out around then it was an underrated and uber powerful card. In fact, the entire blink mechanic was and is a very powerful strategy.

When I built this deck, I played a few times in shops and was quickly told that edh is a casual format and interaction of any kind is not fair (was told this by a land destruction deck...) So this deck is definitely more on the competitive side, but it would be the distant fringe of cedh. Alright with that let's get into it.

Initial thoughts

So we have a combo that we like Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator, but we don't even have a commander yet and going mono-blue seems not great, so we want to figure out what color(s) to add and what commander to choose. In a combo deck, there are generally three things that I like to make sure I include beyond the normal ramp, and card draw. That is redundancy, the ability to tutor up my combo pieces, and ways to protect my combo. So when thinking about tutoring up my combo pieces, I generally like to have the best tutors. Those are in black. So things like Wishclaw Talisman, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Imperial Seal (if you have money to burn or your playgroup is fine with you proxying the best cards so you can obliterate their precons j/k I proxy all my expensive cards and put them in a binder in case someone has an issue).

So we have Blue and Black and we can certainly add another color if we wanted to, but at the time I liked Dralnu, Lich Lord because Snapcaster Mage was in standard and flashback was cool. So I stuck with it when I revamped it, but decided that I wanted something that could ensure I can protect my combo from any threat and then also use it to win if I wanted to. The answer came in the form of Ertai Resurrected. He can counter basically anything from spells to activated abilities (which will come in handy) or he can take a threat on the field at the cost of letting your opponent draw a card.

So now that we have our commander, how to build the deck?

Redundancy

Combo decks need redundancy. If you don't get your two cards or one of them gets exiled, you need a backup plan, or scooping is your only option. Fortunately, there are some great redundancies here. We have Ghostly Flicker and Displace. Both of these will blink your creatures (ghostly flicker will also blink artifacts). Displacer Kitten can be helpful too, but I don't own it and it is a little more chaotic than I need it to be. Palinchron is great because you can return it to your hand and potentially play it again and create infinite mana through the use of High Tide, but a similar combo that has added benefits is Peregrine Drake, Archaeomancer, and Ghostly Flicker. This bounces both the drake and the archaeomancer untapping 5 lands, and returning ghostly flicker to your hand. Rinse and repeat for infinite mana. Archaeomancer also will help in returning key counterspells and tutors to your hand. Nothing like doing double duty. Mnemonic Wall and Great Whale also fit here. The great thing about this combo is that each component is useful in and of itself. Bring out your Great Whale early untap some lands and do some other stuff or play out the rest of your combo with the untapped lands. Cast Archaeomancer to grab a used tutor for another combo piece.

One note here, if you get Peregrine Drake (or one of the other two) paired with Deadeye Navigator and you generate infinite mana you can now draw your deck with Ertai as commander: Step 1: Bounce Deadeye, when he enters don't soulbond with anyone.
Step 2: Cast Ertai, don't choose anything or if you want kill one of your opponent's creatures. It doesn't matter.
Step 3: Soulbond ertai and deadeye. Step 4: Bounce Deadeye and while that is on the stack bounce Ertai. Step 5: Ertai enters the battlefield counter the Deadeye bounce on the stack Draw a card Step 6: Soulbond ertai and deadeye again rinse and repeat. Draw as many cards as you need. Which means draw until you find your wincon.

Wincon

Since this is an infinite mana combo we need something to use all that mana. Obviously the activated ability on deadeye is great, but we need something to actually win with. I went with Commander's Insight and Blue Sun's Zenith. Both of these cards are useful even when they aren't being used to force your opponents to draw their cards. Blue Sun's Zenith works nicely because once you cast it goes back into your deck, which I showed above you can draw as many cards as you need so you cast it once, put it in your library draw again until you find it, cast it again on the next opponent, then again. You can also tutor them up or bring them back from the graveyard with the tutors or the archaeomancer/mnemonic wall from earlier. I like this more than straight damage, because if you don't have infinite mana these cards will still draw you cards.

Tutors

This is a fairly simple step, we need some good tutors. There are a number of good choices in black so I won't belabor that too much. I don't have some of the standard ones and feel like the deck performs fine with the ones it currently has. I do have a Tribute Mage in the deck because nearly all my mana rocks are 2 mana and so is Wishclaw Talisman. I found that the consistency with the deck is vastly improved by being able to tutor up my ramp. Also with deadeye I can bounce it multiple times and get more rocks or the talisman.

Protecting the combo

So I needed to figure out how to protect my combo and do so in a way that is flexible or can be used as needed. So Counterspell. Honestly, this part was fairly simple, most blue counter magic is here. Only reason Fierce Guardianship isn't here is because I don't have it. Other than that we have the typical cards here Force of Will, Mana Drain, Cyclonic Rift, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, etc.

I also have a couple other standouts. Venser, Shaper Savant is great here as it can be bounced with Deadeye Navigator to essentially boomerang my opponent's board and all their spells. Ertai Resurrected also protects the combo and with deadeye becomes a nice repeatable counter/removal spell.

glen_elandra_archmage can be bounced when she has her -1/-1 counter allowing her to be used again and again to counter noncreature spells.

Typical stuff

There is a lot of ramp in the deck, so Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and other mana rocks including some larger ones like Gilded Lotus and Basalt Monolith to really get the ramp going, the sooner you can get to 7-8 mana the sooner you can combo out.

For card draw some key performers here are Rhystic Study, Black Market Connections, Phyrexian Arena, The One Ring. Mystic Remora. In my initial hand I want to have 3 lands, and one of these/tutor to find one or I typically mulligan.

Special notes

A couple other cards deserve mention here. Time Stretch and Time Warp. These are both repeatable with Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall and I can honestly say that if I'm able to resolve either of these, it is unlikely that I'm going to lose, especially Time Stretch. With the ramp in the deck or a well timed Dark Ritual/High Tide I can play this fairly early and get a huge advantage.

Lands

Since this deck tends to be fast, you don't want lands that come into play tapped, so this deck uses fetch lands, shock lands, and duals that have the ability to come in untapped. (there are a couple that come into play tapped, but they are fetchable so I fetch them only when I know that I'm not going to be able to use the mana and only on an opponent's turn.)

I've had this deck for a while and it performs far better than any of my other decks. It always presents interesting lines that if followed will lead to surprising victories. As always let me know what you think in the comments and if you have a commander in mind that you want to see me build put it in the chat.

Here is the final decklist: Unlimited Power!

Azoth2099 on Wizard tribal Big X spells

1 year ago

Ahh yes, Wizard tribal. Amazing. Here's some cards to tutor, draw & ramp your way to victory with:

Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Solve the Equation, Gamble, Fervent Mastery & Vedalken AEthermage are worth considering as tutors here imo. Most of the other tutors in this color combo are Artifact tutors like Fabricate, Reshape & Reckless Handling...which I suppose could end up playing into a revamped strategy here as the deck develops, who knows?

For draw, Windfall, Wheel of Misfortune (& Wheel of Fortune if you're cut like that), Tolarian Winds, & Decaying Time Loop are all great with this commander. Cantrips like Ponder & Brainstorm should probably make the cut as well, it's hard to top that value for 1 mana.

As far as ramp, I always try to roll with at least 10 mana rocks, a handful of rituals & perhaps a few cost reducers when I'm within , depending on the your deck's mana curve. I know that sounds extreme, but I swear it makes your deck awesome, especially the more it develops. As the quality of each card goes up over time, consistent ramp becomes more and more important.

Also, some combo pieces to pair with Dualcaster Mage wouldn't hurt either. Twinflame, Heat Shimmer & Ghostly Flicker all work, the former 2 are definitely more synergistic with your current list though.

I could yap about various bangers for this commander like Bribery & Acquire all day, but I'll stop here unless you request more.

Lastly, a bit of bad news...Vadrik, Astral Archmage is the best commander for big X spells lol, he's insane. I might even say that he's the best one in that color combo in general.

Cheers!