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الوسم: deck building

  • Enhance Your MTG Strixhaven Commander Deck Through Completing and Solving

    Enhance Your MTG Strixhaven Commander Deck Through Completing and Solving

    Some prebuilt Magic: The Gathering Commander decks are great, but they often have hidden potential that can be unlocked with a few smart card additions. All it takes are a few well-chosen upgrades to improve each deck and make it more powerful.

    In this guide, we’ll look at three key upgrades for each of the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander decks. For each deck, we’ll suggest one budget option, one mid-priced choice, and one high-end upgrade to cover all spending levels.

    Note: Prices listed are the lowest and highest bids on TCGPlayer at the time of writing.

    Prismari Artistry

    Shark Tycoon — $1.50–$14
    This inexpensive enchantment is surprisingly flexible. For six mana, it creates X/X flying shark tokens whenever you cast a noncreature spell, with X equal to the mana cost of that spell. You can also cycle Shark Tycoon for X plus two mana to create a shark token with power and toughness equal to X.

    Insurrection — $8–$18
    If you can cast it, this spell turns the tide of the game. It gains control of all creatures, untaps them, and grants them haste for the turn. Though it costs eight mana, having this in hand can be a game-changer when the moment is right.

    Improvisation Capstone — $13–$26
    A bit costly, but very powerful, this card provides you with several free spells each turn, depending on luck. It costs seven mana, but its ability to give you multiple free plays can win clutch games if you resolve it.

    Cards to Remove:

    • Solemn Simulacrum
    • Surge to Victory
    • Twinflame
    • Chaos Warp
    • Prismari Charm

    Quandrix Unlimited

    Broodguard Elite — $0.20
    A budget-friendly pick that helps grow your army fast. Playing this card early helps you put counters on Zimone, which amplifies the power of your X-cost spells. Despite its low cost, it can have a big impact if you draw it early.

    Doppelganger — $5–$50
    This card lets you create tokens copying other creatures, turning threats into your own forces. It requires some math to figure out exactly how many tokens you’ll make, but in mana-rich Commander games, Doppelganger can cause serious trouble for opponents.

    Kalonian Hydra — $5–$29
    A significant upgrade to existing large creatures, Kalonian Hydra enters with four +1/+1 counters and doubles the counters on all your creatures when attacking. Thanks to Trample, it’s a major threat on the green battlefield.

    Cards to Remove:

    • Eureka Moment
    • Quandrix Apprentice
    • Open the Way
    • Curse of the Swine
    • Zimone, All Questioning

    Silverquill Influence

    Ethereal Armor — $0.40
    A perfect addition for enchantment-heavy decks, this card grants a creature +1/+1 for each enchantment you control and gives it First Strike. It’s a cheap upgrade that packs a punch, especially with many enchantments in play.

    Light Paws, Emperor’s Voice — $2–$20
    A versatile two-mana creature, it can fetch other auras with lower or equal mana value each time an aura enters the battlefield, then attach it to Light Paws. In Commander, its ability can quickly empower your enchantments and creatures.

    Sigarda’s Aid — $16–$66
    This enchantment allows you to cast equipment and auras at instant speed, making your plays more flexible. It bypasses many costs associated with attaching items, enabling quick and surprising game-changing moves.

    Cards to Remove:

    • Keen Duelist
    • Anguished Unmaking
    • Firemane Commandos
    • Breena, the Demagogue
    • Mangara, the Diplomat

    Witherbloom Pestilence

    Blech, Loafing Pest — $0.49
    A budget creature that benefits from life gain and +1/+1 counters, Blech accumulates counters each time you gain life, while so do Pest, Bat, Insect, Snake, or Spider tokens you control.

    Vito, Dusk of the Thorn Rose — $9–$59
    A Golgari staple that can create infinite life-loss combos or become a persistent threat. You can activate his ability for five mana to give all your creatures Lifelink, or use him to chip away at opponents’ life totals.

    Sephiroth, Fabled Soldier / One-Winged Angel — $25–$93
    A somewhat unusual choice, Sephiroth thrives on creature sacrifices and life gain. With each of his minions that dies, he chips away at opponents. Once he transforms, he grants you an emblem that makes his ability permanent and can start sacrificing creatures when attacking.

    Cards to Remove:

    • Gilded Goose
    • Nether Traitor
    • Bloodghast
    • Night’s Whisper

    Lorehold Spirit

    Ghost Vacuum — $3–$20
    A slightly pricier inclusion, Ghost Vacuum exiles cards from graveyards and can be sacrificed to return exiled creatures as spirits, benefiting from all buffs on the battlefield. It’s a strong way to control graveyard interactions and resurrect threats.

    Caretaker’s Talent — $8.49–$10
    An enchantment that benefits token strategies by allowing you to draw a card whenever a token enters the battlefield. Higher levels enable copying tokens and boosting all creatures, adding consistency and power.

    Esper Sentinel — $65–$92
    A high-value upgrade that draws you a card whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn unless they pay mana equal to its power. It’s a powerful economic tool, especially in multiplayer formats.

    Cards to Remove:

    • Moonshaker Cavalry
    • Secret Rendezvous
    • Lorehold Charm
    • Primary Research
    • Bitterthorn, Nissa’s Animus

    Summary

    With just a few targeted upgrades, each of these decks can reach new heights. Replacing less impactful cards with these recommended choices will give you more options and stronger plays, helping you better control the game and come out ahead.

  • Complete Breakdown of the Fantastic Four Commander Deck in MTG: Solving & Completing

    Complete Breakdown of the Fantastic Four Commander Deck in MTG: Solving & Completing

    Another Magic: The Gathering Commander preconstructed set is coming, this time inspired by the Marvel Super Heroes. It offers more than just two main Commander options—it features The Fantastic Four with each hero in the deck able to serve as a capable four-color Commander. So, whether you decide to lead with Mister Fantastic, The Thing, Human Torch, or the Invisible Woman, your deck won’t be restricted by your choice.

    Early impressions suggest this could be the most versatile and diverse deck yet, but we’ll have to wait until spoiler season reveals the full deck list to be certain.

    Fantastic Four Deck List

    Right now, only six cards from the Fantastic Four Commander deck are known, but more details are expected as spoilers are released, likely arriving in early to mid-June.

    Card Name Card Type
    Mister Incredible Creature
    The Thing Creature
    Human Torch Creature
    Invisible Woman Creature
    Sol Ring Artifact
    Arcane Signet Artifact

    It’s probable that upcoming releases, similar to the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander decks, will include valuable reprints to enhance the sets without flooding them with new cards that could impact deck balance or set integrity.

    Unlike the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles deck, none of The Fantastic Four cards have the Partner ability, so only one hero can be your Commander at a time, limiting multi-Commander options for this set.

    Commander Breakdown

    Choosing from four different Commanders can be challenging, but each hero’s abilities are straightforward, which makes decision-making easier.

    • Mister Fantastic is a three-mana blue 2/4 creature with Vigilance and Reach. If you’ve cast a noncreature spell this turn, you can draw a card at the start of combat. He also has an ability to copy a target ability twice, choosing new targets for each copy.

    • Human Torch is a four-mana red 3/2 creature that gains Double Strike, Flying, and Haste if you’ve cast a noncreature spell earlier in your turn. When he attacks and deals damage, you can deal the same damage to each other opponent.

    • Invisible Woman is a three-mana white 3/3 creature that creates a 0/3 Defender/Reach wall at the start of combat if you’ve cast a noncreature spell that turn. She can also boost a creature’s power and make it unblockable based on the number of creatures you control.

    • The Thing is a six-mana green 5/5 with Trample. If you’ve cast a noncreature spell earlier, he gets four +1/+1 counters. He can also double the counters on any of your permanents.

    All four heroes share the same activation cost—one green, white, red, and blue mana—and Mister Incredible must be tapped to activate his ability. This shared cost ensures you can maintain a four-color deck regardless of which hero you choose as your Commander.

    Strategy Focus

    Based on the packaging, this deck is built around noncreature spells, such as instants, sorceries, enchantments, and artifacts—all of which are spells that don’t involve creatures and have a casting cost. Activations happen from your upkeep through combat stages, depending on which hero’s ability you use.

    While specific protection spells are not confirmed, with access to four of the five mana colors, the deck could include a wide variety of spells. Blue may feature counterspells and bounce effects, white might offer indestructibility grants, green could focus on granting Hexproof to creatures, and red might include damage negations or protection effects.

    This deck’s design clearly revolves around casting a variety of noncreature spells to fuel hero abilities, offering a flexible and thematic gameplay experience centered on Marvel’s Fantastic Four.

  • How to Build a Gruul Landfall Deck in MTG: Completing and Solving Strategies

    How to Build a Gruul Landfall Deck in MTG: Completing and Solving Strategies

    The Gruul Landfall deck in Magic: The Gathering is one of the toughest to face. If you make even a small mistake or skip a turn, your opponent’s creatures can quickly become huge threats, swinging with massive power to reduce your life total.

    Playing with this deck is just as challenging. You need to find the right balance between being cautious and taking aggressive actions. With some helpful tips and lots of practice games, you’ll start winning more matches and climbing the ranks fast.

    Gruul Landfall Deck List

    Here’s a typical list for this deck:

    • Llanowar Elves — 4 copies
    • Sazh’s Chocobo — 4 copies
    • Bristly Bill, Spine Sower — 4 copies
    • Tifa Lockhart — 4 copies
    • Mossborn Hydra — 4 copies
    • Traveling Chocobo — 4 copies
    • Icetill Explorer — 2 copies
    • Worldsoul’s Rage — 4 copies
    • Snakeskin Veil — 4 copies
    • Escape Tunnel — 4 copies
    • Terramorphic Expanse — 2 copies
    • Mountains — 1 copy
    • Forests — 14 copies
    • Evolving Wilds — 1 copy
    • Fabled Passage — 4 copies

    (Make sure to check the latest card choices as they may change with new sets.)

    How the Deck Works

    This deck’s main goal is pretty straightforward: get landfall creatures on the battlefield, play your lands after those creatures, and protect them so they grow bigger and stronger. Landfall triggers abilities whenever you play a land, often giving you benefits like gaining life, dealing damage, or buffing your creatures.

    Having a lot of fetch lands can maximize this effect. These lands trigger landfall when they hit the battlefield, and if you sacrifice them to search for a basic land, you trigger landfall once more.

    Cards like Traveling Chocobo can even double the number of landfall triggers, giving you up to four activations per turn if you use fetch lands while Traveling Chocobo is on the field.

    Key Cards and Strategies

    Tifa Lockhart is vital, despite her modest appearance. When you play a land, she doubles her power until the end of the turn. As a 1/4 creature, she might not seem impressive at first, but with cards like Snakeskin Veil or Bristly Bill that add +1/+1 counters, she can quickly turn into a giant threat.

    If you can activate landfall multiple times each turn, Tifa can reach over ten power very fast, especially with trample. This makes her almost certain to deal significant damage during combat.

    Snakeskin Veil is more than just a way to add a +1/+1 counter. Its real strength lies in providing hexproof until end of turn, protecting your creatures from spells or targeted removal. Since it’s playable as an instant, you can use it reactively to shut down a threatening spell, making it a handy defense tool.

    Keep in mind that Snakeskin Veil is the only protection spell in this deck, so use it wisely. You might consider adding more protection cards if you want your creatures to be even safer.

    Ideal Opening Hands

    The best starting hand for this deck tends to have at least:

    • One basic land
    • One fetch land
    • One low-cost creature

    Remaining three cards should be flexible but low-cost to keep your early game pressure strong. Ideally, your opening hand should give you three turns of potential plays, especially to counter slower decks or control strategies early on.

    Changes You Can Make

    One key upgrade is adding more protection spells. Things that deal damage to blockers, grant hexproof, or make your creatures indestructible can give you an edge.

    While Gruul doesn’t have direct counters like blue decks do, you can still improve your deck’s resilience. Consider swapping or adding cards like gladiolus or Tannuk, Memorial Ensign, which can bring new dimensions. As legendary creatures, just one or two copies are enough, so you could replace some forests with extra mountains if needed.

    Adjusting your deck’s creature lineup and protective spells can make a significant difference in how well your Landfall strategy performs.

  • Building a Lyra Dawnbringer Commander Deck in MTG: A Guide

    Building a Lyra Dawnbringer Commander Deck in MTG: A Guide

    Lyra Dawnbringer: An Overview

    Lyra Dawnbringer is a notable card from the Magic: The Gathering Foundations set, though it originally debuted in the Dominaria set back in 2018. Its popularity endures, making it a standout choice for commanders, especially for players who prefer straightforward mechanics.

    As a mono-white commander, Lyra mainly focuses on the Angel creature type. While this limits access to Angels of other colors, the majority of Angel cards are white, ensuring that you’ll still enjoy some of the most powerful Angels available. If you’re a fan of Angels and love combat, Lyra Dawnbringer is an excellent choice for a commander.

    Decklist Breakdown

    This deck is comprised of 37 creatures, five sorceries, three instants, 16 artifacts, and 34 lands. Its emphasis on Angels means that most of the cards are creatures, complemented by some removal options, mana ramp, and Angel support spells.

    Key Cards to Highlight

    Lyra Dawnbringer

    The star of the deck, Lyra Dawnbringer, offers a critical ability that boosts all your other Angels’ stats and grants them lifelink. This lifelink is particularly crucial because it allows you to gain significant life, keeping you in the game longer and making your Angels even more formidable.

    Many Angel cards interact with life total mechanics, either rewarding you for gaining life or benefiting from having more life than your starting total. Thanks to Lyra’s ability, your Angels can quickly become a major threat on the board.

    Giada, Font of Hope

    As a fantastic addition to any Angel deck, Giada acts as a mana generator specifically for Angels. It can increase the number of +1/+1 counters your Angels receive when they enter the battlefield, which significantly amplifies their effectiveness. Additionally, Giada possesses vigilance, allowing you to attack and still tap it for mana afterward.

    Archangel of Thune

    This card plays a crucial role in escalating the power of your Angel creatures. Each time you gain life, it distributes a +1/+1 counter across all your creatures. Its lifelink ability means that any damage it deals will trigger this effect, potentially allowing your board to grow tremendously after a single attack.

    Herald of War

    Herald of War efficiently lowers the mana cost of your Angels. For every +1/+1 counter it has, you receive a one-mana discount on Angel spells. Combined with other ways to add counters to it, you can cast powerful Angels with ease.

    Bishop of Wings

    A vital source of lifegain, Bishop of Wings allows you to gain four life whenever any Angel enters the battlefield, irrespective of that Angel’s cost or power. This continuous lifegain keeps your life total healthy and synergizes well with other abilities in the deck. Additionally, when an Angel dies, it produces a 1/1 Spirit token with flying, helping maintain board presence even after board wipes.

    Playing the Deck

    The primary strategy of a Lyra Dawnbringer deck revolves around successfully casting Angels and dealing damage. Given the heavy focus on combat, it’s essential to utilize Angels’ stat-boosting and lifegaining features effectively. Many Angels have high costs, so having cards like Urza’s Incubator and Herald of War that reduce their mana requirements is crucial. Additionally, spells such as Pearl Medallion and Oketra’s Monument help lower the cost of your white spells.

    If you find success in maintaining a high life total with lifegain cards like Soul Warden or Suture Priest, you can leverage that advantage against opponents. The main winning method is through overwhelming opponents with powerful, flying Angels making it challenging for them to defend.

    Alternatively, cards like Test of Endurance or Felidar Sovereign provide instant-win conditions based on your life total. While both strategies are valid, it’s important to be wary of their vulnerabilities, especially as the deck has a high mana curve—making it slower in the early game.

    In summary, a Lyra Dawnbringer deck presents an engaging and straightforward approach to commanding the battlefield through the might of Angels. The key to success lies in effective lifegain, combat strategy, and managing the mana curve efficiently.