Brainstorm

Instant

Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.

Combos

• Brainstorm + Zephyrim

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (43)

JustJohn97 on Mono Blue* Prowess

1 week ago

This is a very neat deck! You've got a nice split in creature types that you might want to consider Of One Mind as additional card draw. I myself am partial to Pieces of the Puzzle, but I understand if that's a bit too high on the curve. Snap is currently my favorite blue removal card, and it might work well in a prowess deck since it allows you to follow up with additional spells.

Have you been able to test this deck out? I'm curious about Brainstorm in this deck. Since your only way to 'clean the top' is Preordain, do you find yourself getting Brainstorm locked?

Thanks for sharing!

DatShepTho on Groundshake

2 weeks ago

@NV_1980 Nice suggestions. 100% agree with the Sakura-Tribe Elder, and I've got one on the way already. The deck could do with one more two-drop. I'm reluctant on the Explore and Growth Spiral, because in my experience it can be inconsistent (sometimes it becomes only a two mana cantrip when you get land screwed).

Wood Elves is a decent suggestion that could work, but it feels slow and this deck can't abuse it enough.

I love Utopia Sprawl, and use it in a couple of my other decks. I'm not a fan that it won't trigger my landfall though.

I can't justify making the space in the deck for a Brainstorm or Druid Class, neither being creature spells

NV_1980 on Groundshake

2 weeks ago

Great start, but I think it could use some more speed (in terms of ramping and card-draw). Some ideas to imrpove on this, without spending a large sum of money:

• Brainstorm: just an excellent draw/filter card at negligible casting cost.
• Druid Class: excellent land-fall enabler and allows more land-drops per turn.
• Explore/Growth Spiral: instant draw and as well as some land-drop.
• Sakura-Tribe Elder: just a good ramp creature.
• Utopia Sprawl: helps with whatever other color of mana you need at the time of casting.
• Wood Elves: limited to tutoring for a Forest, but it enters the battlefield untapped so you can immediately use it.

Hope this helped; happy brewing!

Niko9 on Are Free Spells Becoming Too …

1 month ago

wallisface For sure, in 60 card the flares seem like they won't be a problem, that's a great point! I don't even think the flares will be very good in cEDH or anything, I just think it's a big problem in casual commander where sometimes it feels like they prey on player's want to optimize decks little by little. I mean, I don't think that Esper Sentinel has ever, ever actually won me a game of edh, but just the fact that it makes so many decks slightly better has sold so many copies. I don't know, it's just a different feeling when you find some cool new tech card that fits your deck perfectly rather than wizards just printing something slightly different or slightly better in the color you're playing.

And yep, I agree that card draw is getting a little out of hand, or at least card splashable card draw. Draw in blue never felt too bad, even if Brainstorm was very good, the cards blue had to play used to be objectively less powerful 1 for 1, so it evened out. With things like The One Ring it adds powerful draw into every color, and that's pretty broken. I think the London Mulligan also plays a part in it. Players being able to just mulligan with little cost because if they hit their draw engine it didn't really matter how deep they went, that's unhealthy gameplay on a pretty big scale.

I get that draw is maybe a good overall feature because it evens out mana floods/bricks, but for a format with a large and older card pool like modern, most of those cards are not balanced for games that have that much draw. Tron almost never whiffs now, and that absolutely blows my mind. Hitting a brick on Tron was like the one downside it always had and now it's just, well, I guess you can't cast a Ragavan off of Tron, so...mid...

Ultimately I do wonder if The One Ring will get banned in modern though. The way it plays with cascade is one of those things where I feel like neither player really has fun in that match. Protection plus card draw really shores up the random aspect of cascade way too well. The one ring really feels like something that should have been in commander only. Even if it's rough in edh, at least it's not, one ring drew me a new one ring, rough.

Niko9 on Fun Deck/Builds to try

2 months ago

FormOverFunction Yep, I agree for sure! As much as I used try to nitpick and optimize decks, at the end of the day, if your group is all on the same power level we should be losing 75% of the time, so why not brew decks for fun? Commander was a fan made format, and I think the best version of it will always be a fan made format.

The thing is wizards is really good at designing cards that are good in commander, but so bad at designing cards that are fun or fit a theme. Like, not everything has to be 3 colors, draw cards or make treasures. I made a deck a while ago around Dihada, Binder of Wills because I love self mill strategy, but I have a hard time playing it. Every game is, do I have the colors to cast Dihada as fast as possible, because there really is no better play in the deck than, 4 mana to mill 4 and get 4 treasures. Luckily I didn't spend any money on the deck : ) I really thought I'd like it.

Or like the new Voja, Jaws of the Conclave that people are talking about as an aggro commander. I'm just looking at it like, yeah, but why does a wolf draw cards? What happened to drawing being like Pondering or Brainstorming. It's a little maddening that the only way they know to make a card good is draw or treasures, and then everything does that.

EDH is just weird in a way, because it's so fun to play with your friends, and so kinda lame to play with not your friends. I tried to get into games online and it's like, the first half of the game is everyone ramping and on their phones, then they miss interactions, then they want to go back, then somebody bricks on lands and quits randomly, then eventually combo win. I don't know, it's just such a great casual format, I just think it's harder than ever to make friends playing commander because there is almost an expected play pattern and that takes the fun of, cool merfolk deck, out of the game.

And, oh and this might be a waaaaay out there opinion, but I do think that EDH content creators and the design of the precons have created a certain bias in how good cards are, and it's played into them being in so many deck. Like, if every precon has Sol Ring then the edhREC data will have a massive uptick in how many games are won after playing a sol ring. Or how much of an absolute bomb something like Jeska's Will looks like in a command zone episode because they mulligan to perfect hands with perfect color fixing and early ramp. Drawing Sol Ring turn 6 or getting Jeska's Will when you don't have the right colors are things that I always think about while brewing because, for more than half the duration of every game, I'd much rather have a Tragic Slip than a Sol Ring. Cards with a high ceiling just look busted in a perfect game or a high sample size, but in play it's harder to tell if a win with Sol Ring is a correlation or just an occurrence.

I guess what I mean to say there is yeah, getting off staples, or at least considering what they are actually doing or me helps make decks feel more fun. Getting off combos with commanders and things is definitely one too. Because that seems like such a great idea when I'm brewing, but having a more versatile 99 can be way more fun to play.

But maybe my question is, how do you make the experience of playing with strangers in EDH better, or is it just a format that is designed to be at it's absolute best with friends. I've seen people just leave online games when I have a home brew, a few times even getting cussed at for being "off meta", and I very much feel like EDH for pure fun may be something that players have to create again somehow.

Also, I now want to pumpkin canoe race : ) That sounds delightful.

Sorry to go on a bit!

Azoth2099 on Wizard tribal Big X spells

2 months ago

Ahh yes, Wizard tribal. Amazing. Here's some cards to tutor, draw & ramp your way to victory with:

Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Solve the Equation, Gamble, Fervent Mastery & Vedalken AEthermage are worth considering as tutors here imo. Most of the other tutors in this color combo are Artifact tutors like Fabricate, Reshape & Reckless Handling...which I suppose could end up playing into a revamped strategy here as the deck develops, who knows?

For draw, Windfall, Wheel of Misfortune (& Wheel of Fortune if you're cut like that), Tolarian Winds, & Decaying Time Loop are all great with this commander. Cantrips like Ponder & Brainstorm should probably make the cut as well, it's hard to top that value for 1 mana.

As far as ramp, I always try to roll with at least 10 mana rocks, a handful of rituals & perhaps a few cost reducers when I'm within {U}{R}, depending on the your deck's mana curve. I know that sounds extreme, but I swear it makes your deck awesome, especially the more it develops. As the quality of each card goes up over time, consistent ramp becomes more and more important.

Also, some combo pieces to pair with Dualcaster Mage wouldn't hurt either. Twinflame, Heat Shimmer & Ghostly Flicker all work, the former 2 are definitely more synergistic with your current list though.

I could yap about various bangers for this commander like Bribery & Acquire all day, but I'll stop here unless you request more.

Lastly, a bit of bad news...Vadrik, Astral Archmage is the best {U}{R} commander for big X spells lol, he's insane. I might even say that he's the best one in that color combo in general.

Cheers!

Neotrup on Ojer pakpatiq, can I use …

3 months ago

You cannot. The rebound abilities of Brainstorm and Remand will both trigger at the same time, so you can choose the order to put them on the stack. If you put Brainstorm's trigger on top, you'll cast it while Remand's trigger is still on the stack, then resolve Brainstorm before Remand's trigger ever resolves. When the next trigger resolves, there won't be any targets for Remand, so it will stay in exile unable to be cast.

If instead you put Remand's trigger on top of the stack, it will resolve, but there won't be any spells on the stack (Brainstorm is still in exile, it just has a triggered ability on the stack.) Remand will remain in exile just like in the first example and then Brainstorm's trigger will resolve and you can cast it. The net result ends up the same regardless of how you stack the triggers.

TL;DR: You aren't able to rebound counterspells because the way the timing works there's never a spell on the stack to target.

BarfQuackers on Ojer pakpatiq, can I use …

3 months ago

Sorry for the poorly worded title but basically, say I have Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch  ^Flip and on previous turns I cast Brainstorm and Remand. My next upkeep comes around can I cast Brainstorm and then cast Remand targeting brainstorm or nah?