MTGNexus

A good looter becomes a good planeswalker.

+1 and -3 are the real prizes here; I've even jokingly called him "Yawgmoth's Executor" for the -3. The -9 is not going to do much for most decks. (I think maybe a Bloodchief Ascension combo, but Mindcrank, Traumatize, Sword of Body and Mind, Nemesis of Reason, and Archive Trap all don't have the same hoops, and Mindcrank wins on the spot, regardless of opponent's life total/cards in hand. Hell, even Keening Stone.)

Saturday, July 20th; Lotus Bloom

3drinks wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Saturday, July 20th; Lotus Bloom

Obligatory #CombosWithSalvagingStation post. Also is a great fetch for 0 off Tezzeret the Seeker.

Reference: Salvaging Station

If I went full in on The First Sliver as my commander I'd consider running this and Mox Tantalite, but I like being able to swap my Slivers around.

Does good things with Goblin Welder/Engineer though.

Lotus Bloom is on my shortlist of cards I would like to try out in my Salvaging Station deck. Beyond that, also works with As Foretold, although slightly redundant there. Also works with cascade - I could definitely see this and Ancestral Vision being played alongside a bunch of cascade cards.

I can't think of any decks that would want to suspend it though - three turns is a long time to wait. Maybe if you have an expensive commander that draws a ton of cards, like Demonlord Belzenlok or Unesh, Criosphinx Sovereign? Ramping them out turn 4 off a turn 1 Lotus Bloom could be worth it.

So, Salvaging Station, Sun Titan, what else?

Actually, that combo might be useful in some of my token decks, since I can easily untap Salvaging Stations multiple times per turn.

hyalopterouslemur wrote: ↑

4 years ago

So, Salvaging Station, Sun Titan, what else?

Actually, that combo might be useful in some of my token decks, since I can easily untap Salvaging Stations multiple times per turn.

That's the point. You create a reusable lotus with station, which should he enough RAW power to win or put you in such a commanding position to.

Sunday, July 21st, 2019; Sparkcaster

3drinks wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Sunday, July 21st, 2019; Sparkcaster

Shame it's not 3cmc because it'd be a great Aluren finish.

I think I caught some N'th hand chatter that this would make for a capable cascade sliver cEDH finisher. Legitness or not?

Rumpy5897 wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I think I caught some N'th hand chatter that this would make for a capable cascade sliver cEDH finisher. Legitness or not?

I'm not even sure what you're completely asking.

I didn't feel like googling The First Sliver's name for whatever laziness reason. So yeah, is this a sensible finisher in First Sliver Food Chain decks? Is that even a thing?

I don't see how this correlates being it's not a sliver, and if it self bounces, it's both not being cascaded into again, nor is it triggering the first sliver.

I reckon if you're using food chain to exile your guys, that's inefficient to kill this way when odds are much higher that you hit one of the haste slivers for the alpha.

To the best of my understanding, you set up a standard Food Chain combo, and then keep spamming The First Sliver until you hit Sparkcaster. And then you win. I guess it was just being theorycrafted and didn't actually take?

EDIT: Yep, it didn't take.

I just use storm or storm-like cards (with Horned Kavu) for Aluren personally. This would turn a 3-card combo into a 2-card combo, but it costs 1 too much.

Monday, July 22nd, 2019; Astral Slide

It's a great card for any cycling themed deck. I have a Zur the Enchanted cycling deck, and it's a great engine. You can blink away something attacking you or your own dudes for some ETB abuse. I like being able to blink something like Entomber Exarch to get back the card I just cycled.

Not sure how well it would play outside a cycling theme deck, but with enough support I'd say it's worth playing.

3drinks wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Monday, July 22nd, 2019; Astral Slide

"In response, I cycle Barren Moor, triggering Astral Slide, targeting my face down creature. End step, return Exalted Angel to the battlefield face up..."

Ah, the memories.

3drinks wrote: ↑

4 years ago

"In response, I cycle Barren Moor, triggering Astral Slide, targeting my face down creature. End step, return Exalted Angel to the battlefield face up..."

I really want to build a deck that might do something like this, but, I'm really at a loss for inspiration. I feel like Zur might not be well received at my tables.

Subject16 wrote: ↑

4 years ago

It's a great card for any cycling themed deck. I have a Zur the Enchanted cycling deck, and it's a great engine.

I was just thinking,that in my group we have a Zur cycle deck that runs this

Sinis wrote: ↑

4 years ago

3drinks wrote: ↑

4 years ago

"In response, I cycle Barren Moor, triggering Astral Slide, targeting my face down creature. End step, return Exalted Angel to the battlefield face up..."

I really want to build a deck that might do something like this, but, I'm really at a loss for inspiration. I feel like Zur might not be well received at my tables.

Well, FWIW. I'm working on production of this concept in zenith Kaalia. Jump on over and follow/contribute to the discussion if you'd like!

Probably the card that taught us the value of blink. (Even if it was called Flicker back then.) Besides the obvious benefit with morph, you can also recycle (pardon the pun) entry triggers.

I've seen Astral Slide Zur in action before. It was... interesting, but also looked awkward if Astral Slide was removed (or if people just didn't let them fetch it with Zur). Slide is certainly a powerful card, but there also isn't a lot of redundancy (until Astral Drift was printed, at least). It also requires you to play both a high density of cycling cards (many of which are sort of questionable) and creatures with ETB effects, which can take up a lot of deck space.

I would say that doing a more conventional blink theme is usually going to be more consistent than building around Slide, but turning all your cycling cards into Cloudshifts that also cantrip is very powerful. Slide also has the upside of being able to hit your opponents' creatures, which can be used politically (to remove a blocker, or retrigger something like Ravenous Chupacabra), or defensively (to remove an attacking creature).

If you're playing Astral Slide alongside a bunch of cyclers, also consider cards like Fluctuator and Living Death.

Mookie wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I've seen Astral Slide Zur in action before. It was... interesting, but also looked awkward if Astral Slide was removed (or if people just didn't let them fetch it with Zur).

How effective would Drake Haven and Faith of the Devoted be as secondary pieces; maybe alongside New Perspectives and Shadow of the Grave?

I've almost seen a Zur cycling deck in action, but only got to see them cast a few spells before they were targeted out of the game. Playing Merieke Ri Berit when you effectively have Astral Slide in the command zone will do that, especially when there's a Voltron deck in the pod.

Myllior wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Mookie wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I've seen Astral Slide Zur in action before. It was... interesting, but also looked awkward if Astral Slide was removed (or if people just didn't let them fetch it with Zur).

How effective would Drake Haven and Faith of the Devoted be as secondary pieces; maybe alongside New Perspectives and Shadow of the Grave?

I've almost seen a Zur cycling deck in action, but only got to see them cast a few spells before they were targeted out of the game. Playing Merieke Ri Berit when you effectively have Astral Slide in the command zone will do that, especially when there's a Voltron deck in the pod.

Drake Haven and Faith of the Devoted are certainly useful supplements (as is Lightning Rift) that fit in any cycling deck, but they don't really support the same synergies as Astral Slide (and certainly are less flexible). I imagine the ideal cycling scenario would be something like using Astral Slide + some cycling instant or sorcery + Archaeomancer to create a card draw engine, and replacing Astral Slide doesn't quite accomplish the same thing.

(of course, I haven't actually seen Astral Zur in action for over a year, so take any insight I have into it with a grain of salt)

I'll also point out Archfiend of Ifnir, which is absolutely terrifying (as repeatable Plague Winds tend to be).