MTGNexus

There are a couple of creatures that can repeatedly blink stuff, and Galepowder Mage... is one of them. In the context of uw blink decks, you have Brago, King Eternal, Meneldor, Swift Savior, and Soulherder as options, plus stuff like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Teleportation Circle. I think Galepowder Mage is on the weaker side due to the attack requirement, but the difference in power level isn't that large. It also has some extra versatility because it can target opponents' stuff to either remove a blocker or reset +1/+1 counters.

There are only so many versions of this effect you can put fit into a deck though, so Galepowder Mage rarely ends up making the final cut. There is also some tension with the thing returning at end of turn, which means you can't blink the target again with an end-of-turn blink effect. I don't think it's bad, but there are better options. It may still make the sense in Preston, the Vanisher or other mono-white blink decks, but I think they generally favor Restoration Angel and other immediate blink effects instead.

Monday, April 15th 2024; Sliver Queen



...No one is spending $300usd on a physical version of this, right? I certainly hope not.

The real Sliver static ability is "All Slivers have Price Memory".

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 month ago

Monday, April 15th 2024; Sliver Queen
...No one is spending $300usd on a physical version of this, right? I certainly hope not.

I got one given to me with no strings attached from a friend before I moved, I was in between losing my mom and moving. It's now in the sliver pre-con which is only missing a couple of the other 5c slivers and Sliver Hive

Financial implications aside. Sliver Queen is awfully bland in modern magic.

To my understanding, when she was printed, token producers were relatively rare, so this probably felt special. Nowadays, we have much cooler 5c slivers.

👎

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 month ago

Monday, April 15th 2024; Sliver Queen

...No one is spending $300usd on a physical version of this, right? I certainly hope not.

I mean I spent like $20 on one a decade ago?

I'm often tempted to build a deck with her as the general but I already have 3 5c decks I love. Also, Slivers are super boring to pilot and I don't want to build her as just a combo piece. So I'm kinda left in this vague uninspired area. But she cool. >:(

Maybe a being all 5 colors matters companion with Jegantha, the Wellspring? Dunno.🤷 I have too many decks already

Dunadain wrote: ↑

1 month ago

Financial implications aside. Sliver Queen is awfully bland in modern magic.

To my understanding, when she was printed, token producers were relatively rare, so this probably felt special. Nowadays, we have much cooler 5c slivers.

In terms of sheer mechanics maybe. Sliver Queen is still the coolest 5c sliver because all the other ones are just copiers of her coolness.

I got one of these out of a stronghold booster one million years ago and I have no idea where it went \o/ as a commander card it's boring until you create an altar combo or whatever and then it's too good. really hard to like

if I ever played 5C I think I'd be a Tiamat person

edit: this reminds me that I started a commander thread and didn't respond to anything x3 i will get on that soon

goin infinite with Earthcraft and Training Grounds feels like my kinda jam tbh :D

Sliver Queen is alright, but too expensive for most people to consider running. The oversized version is technically cheaper, but still pretty expensive ($80 or so). Her token-producing ability is quite efficient and capable of churning out more slivers, especially if you have Manaweft Sliver or another way to turn them into more mana. Exponential growth is pretty sweet, and it's not hard to go infinite either. Is that better in the command zone than Sliver Hivelord or Sliver Overlord? I have no idea.

That said, sliver decks don't particularly excite me, nor do I think they're as threatening as they used to be. I think it has gotten easier to break up shroud + indestructible over time, and they don't get new slivers that often. I suppose they'll get another resurgence whenever they next return though.

Oh man I missed Fynn the other day. As one of my primary commanders these days I feel like I need to talk about him a bit.

I feel like he's a conundrum. In one sense he's just like any other aggro commander than can be backed up with burn, but I've found that in practice starting out as an aggro deck and then moving to Proliferate as a passive finisher makes you very unpopular. Your team also inevitably has a lot of Deathtouch, and while that's perfectly fair it's also very hard for some decks to get past to pressure you while you poison everyone.

Ultimately he hits a sweet spot for me where I don't think I'm ever the best deck at the table but I'm also rarely out of contention. More so since the last Phyrexia set added some significant oomph to mass poisoning.

I'm jamming Queen in my 5c slivers just to flex on the poors

...Just kidding, but I am running Queen as the commander for the nostalgia. I didn't play during stronghold release, but it has that old magic feel. I had a bunch of sliver stuff so I finally decided to assemble the deck to keep everything together. Also the sliver precon came out with several ETB slivers like Regal Sliver, Taunting Sliver, and slightly older Constricting Sliver + oldy Harmonic Sliver all have synergy with making slivers at instant speed for low cost. There are quite a few other lower powered ETB slivers that do interesting things. Plus once you get 2-3 other slivers out, just stop casting new ones and pump out the tokens.

Letting your opponent take the Monarch from you, just to dump in a sliver and take it back before their end step to deny the card draw is great fun. Regal Sliver is one of the best slivers to have in play with Queen as the commander.

materpillar wrote: ↑

1 month ago

I'm often tempted to build a deck with her as the general but I already have 3 5c decks I love. Also, Slivers are super boring to pilot and I don't want to build her as just a combo piece. So I'm kinda left in this vague uninspired area. But she cool. >:(

Who says you need 5c slivers? I've fallen back in love with Alesha slivers and have seen two different jund versions (korvold and adun oakenshield) as well as bant (rubinia soulsinger). Makes it a more interesting puzzle I think than first sliver goes rawr, I think.

materpillar wrote: ↑

1 month ago

Sliver Queen is still the coolest 5c sliver because all the other ones are just copiers of her coolness.

*raps* All the other Sliv Shadys are just imitating

It's either her or Overlord as technically best Sliver for the combo potential (Overlord grabs her and a haste enabling sliver and manaweft). She does it cheaper (on mana) and with more style, but he's more consistent. Still, there's a whooping 5 slivers that grant slivers haste and 3 slivers that let's the tokens generate at least enough mana to make another token, and plenty of slivers that turn infinite tokens entering (or dying) into a win. Comboing with slivers is easy, and you pretty much have to not run the Queen if you want to avoid infinites in you sliver deck.

PrimevalCommander wrote: ↑

1 month ago

I'm jamming Queen in my 5c slivers just to flex on the poors

yeah i think i'm gonna flex on the Cedh players in my group with her wait...

I played her as the commander of my "most expensive deck ever". Can't remember if I ever actually won with it, but I flexed suuuuuuper hard.

3drinks wrote: ↑

1 month ago

materpillar wrote: ↑

1 month ago

I'm often tempted to build a deck with her as the general but I already have 3 5c decks I love. Also, Slivers are super boring to pilot and I don't want to build her as just a combo piece. So I'm kinda left in this vague uninspired area. But she cool. >:(

Who says you need 5c slivers?

The Sliver Queen staring at me from my binder demands that I'd be playing 5c slivers. This might be a take of yours I disagree with the on most from any thread on this website. Which is saying something.


Hmmm. Maybe I could figure out a way to combo her with Xenograft and Atogatog? 🤔

Tuesday, April 16th 2024; Karametra's Acolyte



I don't typically like four mv dorks. but when they can net 3+ mana with regularity, I think they're worth a second look. Particularly so if they interact favourable with, say, Umbral Mantle ...

Yeah, Karametra's Acolyte has a pretty nice payoff even if you're using it fairly, with one or two other dorks on the field, netting three mana is nice, but honestly, outside of mono green, that's probably not the most likely outcome. Most of the time I'd rather play something like Migration Path, that doesn't get scooped up in a Wrath of God. However, this probably depends on how you feel about risk vs. reward and if your deck wants to storm off.
As for going infinite, it's nice, but if I wanted to play a mana dork that combos, I'll stick with Devoted Druid.

I don't mind it if you have a lot of untap synergies. I almost ran it in my Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy tap dudes deck, but wound up on Krosan Restorer type guys instead. Just a bit more reliable.

The Acolyte is solid. It's a touch slower than Skyshroud Claim but the explosive mana generation it provides make it a solid role-player in green-centric ramp decks. It also feeds itself in a way, giving you the mana to build a board to make even more mana. I dig it.

Wednesday, April 17th 2024; Xander's Pact

Too expensive, and too variable.

Casting random spells off your opponents library is so low impact. Like, I'm at the point where I think actual looting is about as strong.

👎👎

Seems like junk to me. 6 mana for something that may or may not help, and if it does you have to pay life for it, and can ditch your bloodghast to do it twice... doesn't seem amazing. (and no free lands, btw.)

I'm sure there's a cost where it becomes worth it because you're casting spells from exile and getting some riders out of it (like Passionate Archaeologist or Tasha, the Witch Queen), but it isn't 4BB.