Which do you like more?

[Mookie]

Luminarch Ascension - it's self-contained, and doesn't need any other token producers.

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[JovialJovian]

Turnabout. No contest in my mind, it just has so many powerful applications in such a huge variety of situations, and is an instant to boot! Rude Awakening is OK at what i does, but it only does that one thing.

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[TheGildedGoose]

Erebos, because he lives in the command zone and has a cool hat (and his homies agree he really looks good in black).

And on that musical reference, it's a bard-off:

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[MeowZeDung]

Piper, unless you're playing cEDH and 1-2 drops are relevant combo pieces. Both require some sort of haste enabler to be really great, but at least with piper you can make the 1 activation you get before it's fried worthwhile.

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[Gashnaw]

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[Morganelefay]

Hey Gashnaw I think you forgot something.

Anyway, my pick is Call to Mind. The deck that want this kind of effect will probably just want to win on the spot, that one mana can matter. They're both good options.

On the second: Gwyn is far more interesting, though I don't particulary like either.

Here's an interesting one, tall vs wide:

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(Yea I couldve picked Managorger Hydra but that one also triggers on your own stuff so that's no fair comparison, and Ishaj can be a commander, this is for cards in the 99.)

[JovialJovian]

I think Dragonlair Spider is better, but it draws too much hate, so I have to go with Taurean Mauler, because when I play it, I actually get to play with it.

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[Gashnaw]

I am partial to Oona over Alela, and i saw a really nice Kykar deck that i kinda want to try.

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or

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*trollface*

personally like Grizzy simply due to teh art being the nicest and because it was my first card that i had a playset of.

[MeowZeDung]

Balduvian Bears, because alliteration and just look at that mean mug.

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[Gashnaw]

Smuggler's copter. There is a reason it was banned. The ability to loot every time you attack or block is nice.

This next one is more about the type of land not the land itself.

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[toctheyounger]

I try not to play either, I'm not a huge fan. However, the bounce lands have a couple of shenanigans possible - ETB triggers, landfall triggers and such. So that's my choice.

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[Sinis]

I know it's a lot of mana to use frequently, but, Arch. The Ascend aspect is pretty much a non-consideration; if you can reasonably afford to pay into Arch, you probably have 10 permanents. I find Monarch to be on the edge of a win-more mechanic; if people can't get through to you, you're probably not losing, but in the opposite circumstance, it won't let you catch up. Losing a land makes Throne all the worse. Throne has its place somewhere, but, just kind of generically in decks is not it.

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[Gashnaw]

Either one really, But i would probably go with Walk as while it has a costly buyback, you may actually find a use later one (When your mana count is not as importnat. Plus with some shenanigans you could get it back into your hand. not likely to happen with waterveil (The whole, exile aspect)

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[toctheyounger]

Protection. It's less groan-worthy in that it's a once off, 'cool guys walk away from explosions' deal, whereas spamming extra turns just makes you no friends at all. It takes a little more timing to translate into a win, in that it won't completely save your ass if you have nothing else going on, but either way it's still a cooler card. Nexus is undoubtedly strong but it's also not the sort of thing I like to see at my games. The redeeming factor is that it's not Expropriate.

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[JovialJovian]

Since I've only ever seen Primal Surge used in combos, and it requires more careful deck construction to get maximum value out of it, I prefer Genesis Wave, which I've played fairly, and if you want to can still play the part in a flip-your-deck-onto-the-table combo.

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[Myllior]

Relentless Rats is my pick. A Rat Colony swarm is a lot easier to stop without the toughness boost, and Pack Rat still adheres to the singleton rule.

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[Mookie]

Loxodon Warhammer. Lifelink is very relevant, especially on big creatures. There also aren't that many ways to gain lifelink in colorless.

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[toctheyounger]

Depends on the context. In a competitive storm build Grapeshot all the way. For a goblin tribal it's no contest the other way obviously. Considering these are both storm cards though, I'll assume the intention was storm comparison and go with Grapeshot.

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[MeowZeDung]

Dismissal, though I'm not a fan of either. Both can be a massive blowout with a deep stack, but one has far more magical Christmas land setup costs than the other. At least dismissal can counter a relevant ability, like a Golos activation.

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Assume a dinosaur tribal build (behemoth is erratad as a dino).

[materpillar]

Dismissal, though I'm not a fan of either. Both can be a massive blowout with a deep stack, but one has far more magical Christmas land setup costs than the other. At least dismissal can counter a relevant ability, like a Golos activation.

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Assume a dinosaur tribal build (behemoth is erratad as a dino).

I run a Gishath, Sun's Avatar dinosaur tribal, and I'd much rather hit regal behemoth in basically any situation. Dinosaurs are really mana-intensive as it turns out. The card draw from being a monarch is super helpful in colors that are pretty card-advantage light. Admittedly I'm running an aggro-beats deck, not an enrage synergy dino deck so I only have a handful of ways to trigger Polyraptor. No pyrohemia or anything that really pushes him over the top.

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[Sinis]

Life from the Loam. Playing land cards from your graveyard is great and everything, but being able to Dredge is probably more important. You'll probably never unintentionally deck yourself with Dredge, and LftL is pretty resilient in terms of being in the game unless it gets graveyard hated out or Dissipated, whereas Crucible can be exiled/destroyed/countered and needs another card to retrieve it (though, Buried Ruin often makes it pretty resilient). Also, land-to-hand has other angles, like having multiple Cycling lands for the purposes of something like Astral Slide, etc. I feel that LftL has a wider end of what you could do with it.

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[Mookie]

Interesting choice. I'm going to lean towards Song of the Dryads - hits anything, and resetting a commander that has been turned into a land is significantly more difficult than resetting one that has been turned into an Elk.

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[MeowZeDung]

I'm leaning towards Bojuka Bog. I like slotting this kind of effect into the land base rather than spending a spell slot on it. Exceptions would be if I'm playing 3+ colors and need more fixing and a smoother manabase, or if I'm playing a bunch of artifact synergies. I would imagine that is more rare in black though. I will say it is nice that Nihil Spellbomb replaces itself. Regardless, I'm taking the bog.

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[Sinis]

God-Eternal Kefnet, for me. I think the miracle-y nature of Kefnet is a significant temper to his admittedly very powerful ability when you do draw a spell. I think if cards like Brainstorm or Dream Cache (or Mystical Tutor/Personal Tutor) didn't exist, Kefnet would be less exciting. But, they do exist, and the number of cards that 'work' with Kefnet is increasing constantly (i.e. Castle Vantress, Mystic Sanctuary from Eldraine alone). As for Naru Meha, I like her abilities and everything, but I haven't exactly been clamouring to play Dualcaster Mage glued to a wizard lord with the legendary supertype. I hardly play Dualcaster Mage as it is.

Kind of makes me want to play Kefnet as a general, and I do have a SDCC copy...

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[MeowZeDung]

God-Eternal Kefnet, for me. I think the miracle-y nature of Kefnet is a significant temper to his admittedly very powerful ability when you do draw a spell. I think if cards like Brainstorm or Dream Cache (or Mystical Tutor/Personal Tutor) didn't exist, Kefnet would be less exciting. But, they do exist, and the number of cards that 'work' with Kefnet are increasing constantly (i.e. Castle Vantress, Mystic Sanctuary from Eldraine alone). As for Naru Meha, I like her abilities and everything, but I haven't exactly been clamouring to play Dualcaster Mage glued to a wizard lord with the legendary supertype. I hardly play Dualcaster Mage as it is.

Kind of makes me want to play Kefnet as a general, and I do have a SDCC copy...

I just posted my Kefnet decklist and it doesn't include any topdeck manipulation outside of the two Eldraine lands, but you're right about that being the optimal route. I'm finding the deck to be a blast even though it's casual/focused rather than optimized, so I heartily recommend giving Kefnet a go!

I've also wanted to build Naru Meha for a while which is why I posted those two. I was curious what folks would think.

As for your cards, I'd take the amulet. I generally dislike hexproof/shroud/regeneration effects, but they are definitely viable strategies. With the amulet you're always representing a blowout and it can go in any deck. Also, it is still effective the turn it gets removed, but once asceticism gets blown up, your creatures are no longer Thrun immediately.

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