Wild Magic Surge

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Icaruskid on Imagine Dragons | Rosnakht [PRIMER]

6 days ago

khayoz Great questions!

So in the current "combo" build the priority is finding a Transmogrify spell as fast as possible. This means card draw, card draw, card draw, leaving very little room for interactive spells, in fact maybe only 2 or 3 slots total are optional. I even got rid of my hand fixers Into the Fire, Fire Prophecy, and Volcanic Spite for better card draw spells to avoid consistency issues/whiffing.

So putting in removal like Wild Magic Surge and others is probably prudent but here's the challenge: take away too many Heroic spells and the deck doesn't go off at all for lack of kobold token targets. Take away draw spells and you can't find Transmogrify spells. So adding more interaction may undermine the all-in combo build's winning chances.

With mono red I think leaning into the risk/reward style is the only way to play to win. That's why I run Zada in the list because even if you are a little behind on turn 8 or have to rebuild from scratch, a single Transmogrify targeting her can drop 10 dragons on the board out of nowhere. Yes that's great explosive potential but notice how it's about consistency too. I didn't get 2 dragons on turn 4 but I got 10 of them from a combo move on turn 8 = similar outcome.

As far as dealing with removal, single target isn't a threat at all because we can play our commander with tax, a Heroic spell, and likely have the deck velocity to land multiple threats a turn. As usual it's board wipes that are the critical test. The best way to play around this is not to go all in and play every Heroic spell so that the wipe leaves you creatureless and with no cards in hand. Pace yourself. Play two Heroic spells so you have 2-3 kobolds ready and wait for the right time to strike against the control player.

The best cards here are repeatable Transmog effects like Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast and Fireflux Squad so you can keep playing threats every turn. And because nearly half the deck is card draw, rebuilding your hand kind of built-in.

Power Level is tough. This list is tuned. If I spent $50 on a precon and added $50 of upgrades I'm not sure I would win as much as this deck does in my casual $100 budget pods. But it's not oppressive, unfun to play against, or impossible to disrupt either. In fact this build is a little more of a glass cannon than go wide aggro builds. Maybe 6 or 7?

When there is no perfect answer, I think it all really comes down to taste. Combo can whiff. Voltron is even more glass cannon than aggro or combo. Aggro can run out of steam, lack threat level altogether or may have the hardest time rebuilding after multiple board wipes. That's why for me, taking the win percentage out of the equation and focusing on whether the style I'm playing is fun is important. And for me the answer was very flavor focused on seeing tiny kobolds transform into deadly dragons. Win or lose its cool to pull off!

Crow_Umbra on Goro-Goro and Satoru - Explosive Entry (v0.3)

8 months ago

Nice to finally see your G-G&S deck that you mentioned a while back. I'll wait til you finish your primer to check out your reasoning on some of your different choices. At first glance, even with the token production you have, 21 creatures seems a bit light.

Aside from that, my only other suggestions would be to keep Chaos Warp and Wild Magic Surge in your back pocket, since Grixis is pretty limited on its ability to interact with Enchantments once they're on the battlefield. I do agree with your initial hunch to edit out the Ninjutsu creatures.

Looking forward to checking out your primer!

Crow_Umbra on Totentanz, Kazoo Kid

10 months ago

I know you're trying to cut cards, but I'd recommend adding:

• Plumb the Forbidden - Instant speed draw that feeds right into the Aristoc-Rats strat you're trying to pull off.

• Wild Magic Surge - Another flexible "removal" option. Ditto as above.

• Chaos Warp - Flexible "removal" option that can help you address problematic Enchantments.

• Lich-Knights' Conquest - Kinda like Living Death, but gives you a bit more flexibility, and potentially avoids helping any other graveyard-based/reanimator strats that might be around the table. Seems like it could fit seamlessly with the Aristoc-Rats strat you want to do.

I'll have to take a closer look at what you could cut, but I think generally speaking, you could probably look for where you might have too much redundancy for certain effects, and which of those redundancies are the most low impact.

DemonDragonJ on Is Wild Magic Surge a …

1 year ago

WotC has acknowledged that Chaos Warp breaks the color pie, because that card allows red to remove enchantments from the battlefield, which red is not supposed to be able to do (and I personally believe that red also should not be able to deal with creatures or planeswalkers without dealing damage, as well), but the supposed replacement for that card, Wild Magic Surge, has its own problems, in my mind.

Wild Magic Surge destroys any permanent, which red also is not supposed to be able to do, as I stated in my previous paragraph, so I cannot understand how it was printed. The fact that WMS gives a player another permanent does not matter, since, WotC has acknowledged that cards such as Pongify and Ravenform are breaks, since blue is not supposed to be able to destroy permanents, even if it gives the player a new permanent in exchange, so I am very displeased that they broke their own rule with WMS; if Wild Magic Surge shuffled a permanent into its owner's library, I would have no problem with it, but I feel that it is a break, as it currently is.

What does everyone else say about this subject? Is Wild Magic Surge a color pie break?

DreadKhan on Pariah's Stompy Gruul Deck

1 year ago

I noticed a few things you might want to take a look at while testing your deck out, first you run several examples of artifacts that ramp you, this is usually a questionable choice in any Green deck, but Gruul is very good at ramping in particular, it has the least need for artifact mana. Some people run artifact wipes like Bane of Progress to punish people who are stuck with artifact ramp. There are always more creatures that can be tapped for mana, but there are also cards like Farhaven Elf and Wood Elves that find a land, there are quite a few of these out there. At your budget I think you should be running Myriad Landscape and Blighted Woodland, and I would consider Guildless Commons as a way to sneak an extra land drop out of your hand (you could also just run more lands).

Second, I think you might want to include more answers to artifacts and enchantments, if not creatures. Gruul decks that run big creatures can look to fight effects to help pressure opponent's boards/kill stuff like Magus of the Moat, Domri Rade and Domri, Anarch of Bolas are budget options that can help make fights happen, Ulvenwald Tracker, Thorn Mammoth, and Gruul Ragebeast are creatures that can generate repeated fights. Beast Within, Chaos Warp and Wild Magic Surge are all pretty interesting cards for a Gruul deck to look at, but there are also cards like Reclamation Sage or Caustic Caterpillar/Thrashing Brontodon, as well as Conclave Naturalists or Indrik Stomphowler that can help deal with artifacts/enchantments that interfere with attacking, and anything that can be used at instant speed has value in disrupting combos. At your budget Road / Ruin might be good, it offers ramp and removal in one card.

Third, you might want more card draw, there are a variety of ways to do that in Gruul, but many of the better options are Green spells. If you consistently have a big enough creature out Return of the Wildspeaker is good, as is Rishkar's Expertise, Momentous Fall and Greater Good. I like Bonders' Enclave if you think you can count on having 4 power out, and War Room is pretty handy in a pinch. Regal Force can draw a bunch of cards if you have green creatures. Garruk's Uprising might be budget enough, but Toski, Bearer of Secrets and Ohran Frostfang are cards to think about if you ever want to upgrade, both are very strong, Frostfang's deathtouch is superb synergy with Trample. If you do go with more Fight effects, Neyith of the Dire Hunt can draw a card for each fight and has other synergies with the deck. Dragonborn Champion is cheaper than Frostfang or Toski, but it requires your creatures to be big and probably have trample, so it might be worth a look.

Here are a few cards that might help that don't fit into the above categories/aren't necessarily solving a problem, but I think are worth thinking about. War Cadence is an all time favorite of mine, you can use it on anyone's turn if you have spare mana, very handy to make it impossible for an archenemy to block, also handy when you get down to 1v1. Have you thought about a Breaker of Armies? When it attacks, that player has to block it with everything, but you technically get to assign damage as you see fit unless they have Banding, so this tends to clear out an opponent's board while letting your other creatures get in unblocked vs that opponent. With your relatively low land count I feel like Abundance would be decent. With so many sources of Trample in your deck Bow of Nylea would be a sweet addition, Deathtouch and Trample are very good together.

Hope some of this is helpful, Gruul stompy decks are a lot of fun!

nuperokaso on Jupiiii

1 year ago

Cards to think about: Zalto, Fire Giant Duke, Marauding Raptor, Into the Maw of Hell, Mana Tithe, Flame Slash, Sin Prodder, Pyrohemia, Solphim, Mayhem Dominus, Golden Guardian  ^Flip, Goblin Matron

Bad cards to remove: Wild Magic Surge, Intimidation Bolt, Guardian Idol, Prismatic Lens, Everflowing Chalice, Thought Vessel, Worn Powerstone, Maskwood Nexus, Angelfire Ignition

spiral_te on Season's Beatings

1 year ago

Hey I like the deck, it's festive and fun. I love the idea of not aiming to win, but smashing faces and just having a good time. Pulling out wins will make it just that much more fun. Couple of notes: Trace of Abundance and Naya Hushblade won't work because is has a Naya color identity, so it's not legal for Gruul commander. May I recommend Overabundance? The newly printed Wild Magic Surge also is perfect with your commander, especially with her triggered ability. Akki blizzard herder is a fun inclusion. Maybe regrowth effects like Once and Future will be good here to get cards back?

DreadKhan on tBZ_Garna-Bloodfist

1 year ago

I suspect cards like Rite of the Raging Storm would probably work in here, you'd either get in for 5 each turn or get a card, and nobody else can swing at you with the tokens/changelings. Since you can also use Goblin Bombardment after a creature has dealt damage, you can kill any creature before combat actually ends, so you'd still get the card even if they let the creatures hit them. Any token generator that would ever be worth using is probably good in here too, even Orochi Hatchery could draw a lot of cards if people have to block. The best way to force people to block would be any kind of power buff that is global, I like Berserkers' Onslaught in Red, double damage also works well with any other buffs you can add. I guess there is stuff like Judith, the Scourge Diva too. The effect is pretty clunky, but with your Commander Captive Audience looks a lot better, those tokens are much more valuable, and it still usually a death sentence for one player.

Zulaport Cutthroat is a great Aristocrat to look at, I usually don't bother with it but at your budget maybe Butcher of Malakir can be a real nuisance, as can Ogre Slumlord if you're losing lots of non-tokens. If you find yourself running more wipes/removal, Sangromancer can generate a lot of life.

Not sure if they're within your budget, but Fire Covenant and Phyrexian Purge can both clear a ton of other people's stuff. Make an Example might be the best sorcery speed removal effect ever printed, it's non-targeted and uses sacrifice, but you choose the piles that die so you always hit what you need to hit with it. Ashes to Ashes/Reckless Spite can clear a couple bodies. In Rakdos I feel like you want some of the following, Feed the Swarm, Chaos Warp and Wild Magic Surge to deal with awkward permanent types.