Imperial Recruiter

Creature — Human Advisor

When this enters the battlefield, search your library for a creature card with power 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle your library.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	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	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

Quickspell on Build a Deck with Me …

2 weeks ago

If I may add a few other notes to your thought process.

• You said that you want to go infinite, and Ghired and Sunstrike Legionnaire or Midnight Guard would be you main line.
• You also mentioned other combolines such as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts.

At this point, you are already on the track of using known combos and putting them into a Naya shell. There are many other combos that can go with this, you just need to tutor for them.

Note that haste is an important aspect to this. Zealous Conscripts is much better than Hyrax Tower Scout or Sparring Mummy for this reason, even though both have cheaper mana value. Without haste, your million tokens will just be board-wiped. You could argue for redundancy, but the truth is that tutors and recursion such as Eternal Witness and Skullwinder are much better, because they add to your strategy with more flexibility.

Most creature tutors are green non-creature spells that search for green creatures. However, you want to keep the amount of non-creature spells low, because Ghired's ability doesn't apply to them. But there are some great tutors that can help you find your pieces:

• Defense of the Heart is great to outright win the game with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Zealous Conscripts. If you can produce a lot of treasure (which shouldn't be a problem with Ghired), Tooth and Nail does the same for 9 mana. Shared Summons tutors them to your hand.
• If you are considering Molten Duplication, there is redundancy with Twinflame and Heat Shimmer. All of them will be helpful for Ghired, but most importantly, all of them go infinite with Dualcaster Mage.
• Sunstrike Legionnaire can be found by both Imperial Recruiter and Recruiter of the Guard
• Midnight Guard can be found by Imperial Recruiter
• Both Imperial Recruiter and Recruiter of the Guard can also find Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Most of these cards use ETBs. If you can give them haste - ideally with creatures - you can cast them, make use of their ETB, and directly tap them with Ghired for value. Anger comes to mind, Hellraiser Goblin is great (you won't be attacking, because you are going to tap your creatures with Ghired), Yarus, Roar of the Old Gods can be okay. As for non-creature spells, you have Mass Hysteria, Concordant Crossroads, Fervor, Rising of the Day. Though I would probably only consider Hammer of Purphoros as it can create tokens.

As for the token doublers, I'm not sure if they really fit the deck. Sure, they are staples for token strategies. But what's the point of making infinite tokens go double? Mondrak, Glory Dominus and Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation  ^Flip will put a bounty on your head which is not a good thing in a combo-deck. You want to stay under the radar until you can go off.
Mondrak only doubles creature tokens, so you are not making more treasures. And the other doublers like Anointed Procession, Parallel Lives etc. will not tap with Ghired. Since you also want to put in all the other Naya-staple enchantments like Smothering Tithe and Guardian Project etc., you will just fill your deck with non-creatures that don't synergize with your commander.

Some cards worth mentioning are:
- Illusionist's Bracers - Cloudstone Curio (create a creature token, return a creature with an ETB to your hand). - Helm of the Host

Last_Laugh on Animar, don't bring bullshit to the table!

2 months ago

I'm assuming with Ancestral Statue combos being listed 1st that it's plan A. I have some suggestions that will help you consistently get there.

Imperial Recruiter, Spellseeker, Neoform, and Phyrexian Metamorph enable the most efficient combo line for Statue/Ballista I know of. You just need Imperial Recruiter in hand, 2 counters on Animar, {R}{U}{U}{G}, and 4 life. Imperial Recruiter for {R} looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for {U} looks up Neoform. Neoform for {U}{G} sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statue does its' self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals then use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista for the win.

Feel free to check out my list for ideas. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Animar, Gaea's Hemorrhoid ⫷PRIMER⫸

Last_Laugh on Animar the perfect

3 months ago

I'm assuming Ancestral Statue/Walking Ballista is the end goal here.

Spellseeker, Imperial Recruiter, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Neoform enable a very mana efficient combo line here (you run the rest of the cards already). It just needs Imperial Recruiter in hand, 2 counters on Animar, 4 life, and {R}{U}{U}{G}. Imperial Recruiter for {R} looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for {U} looks up Neoform. Neoform for {U}{G} sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statue does its' self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals then use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista for the win.

Weird Harvest will look up both Statue and Ballista for wins out of nowhere.

Cloudstone Curio will enable countless infinites in your list. Everything from looping morph/eldrazi since they're eventually free to bouncing Peregrine Drake/Great Whale or hastey mana dorks for infinite mana. This leads to infinite draw to dig for game ending combos.

Last_Laugh on ambinar i guess

3 months ago

Rose Room Treasurer gives you a game finishing mana outlet for any infinite mana combo here since they all involve bouncing and replaying creatures. I'm not sure why this is so overlooked, it's honestly amazing here.

Neoform, Walking Ballista, and Phyrexian Metamorph will enable the most mana efficient combo line in Animar (you already run the rest). It only needs {R}{U}{U}{G}, Imperial Recruiter in hand, 4 life, and 2 counters on Animar. Imperial Recruiter for {R} looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for {U} looks up Neoform. Neoform for {U}{G} sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statue does its self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals then use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista for the win.

Last_Laugh on Animar Go brrr

3 months ago

Nice to see the deck still kicking around. I know Neoform is in your maybeboard, but it deserves a spot because it enables a very efficient combo line here.

It just needs 2 counters on Animar, {R}{U}{U}{G}, 4 life, and Imperial Recruiter in hand.

Imperial Recruiter for {R} looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for {U} looks up Neoform. Neoform for {U}{G} sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statues does its' self bounce until Animar is double your opponents life totals and the use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista.for the win.

Last_Laugh on Animar & friends!

4 months ago

Neoform and Spellseeker enable one of Animar's most efficient infinite combo lines. You already run the rest of the cards. It just needs Imperial Recruiter in hand, 2 counters on Animar, 4 life, and {R}{U}{U}{G}. Imperial Recruiter for {R} looks up Phyrexian Metamorph. Metamorph for 2 life copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Spellseeker. Spellseeker for {U} looks up Neoform. Neoform for {U}{G} sacs Spellseeker to look up Ancestral Statue. Statue self bounces until Animar is double your opponents' life totals then use Statue's final bounce to return Phyrexian Metamorph to hand. Metamorph for 2 life again copies Imperial Recruiter to look up Walking Ballista for the win.

Last_Laugh on Faster game starts and smoother …

4 months ago

HeadinPants Yeah, I can't help ya with the small hands issue. I don't exactly have big hands either. I have to stabilize the deck against my chest as I shuffle. I grab small stacks and add them to what I'm shuffling and only shuffle the full 100 2-3 times. I also only grab about 1/3 off the bottom to shuffle in instead of half the deck (I find it easier to hold the majority of the cards still while sliding fewer in). I've gotten extremely used to shuffling after running all 9 fetches in all of my 3 color decks for years, previously playing Captain Sisay, tutoring in general, and abusing the crap out of Imperial Recruiter on every player's turn in my Grixis Marchesa deck. Unless you've got really small hands, it's a matter of repetition, technique, and practice.

Azoth2099 on A WOMAN'S INTUITION (NARSET)

5 months ago

Hypersayia9001

Hey man, thanks for checking out my list!

So this particular iteration is definitely pretty light on rituals as you can see, instead opting for an abundance of low-cost mana rocks along with a few ways to quickly get Dockside Extortionist into your hand - namely Gamble, Imperial Recruiter & Recruiter of the Guard. The curve of the deck is fairly low, and you shouldn't run into too many problems if you play your cards right (lol), but I can definitely see how the lack of rituals could be seen as problematic if we're talking about going fast af. The main reason that I chose to opt for rocks over rituals is the fact that Narset's ability is centered around the combat phase, and it's just more difficult to squeeze value out of rituals in that context than mana rocks, especially since the rocks can also be cast from the graveyard. I do think that something like Storm-Kiln Artist deserves consideration here, though. I've actually been trying to find space for that guy for a few weeks if you have any suggestions on what to cut. If I'm going to slot him in, though, I'd almost rather slot in Birgi, God of Storytelling  ^Flip so that I can combo with Sensei's Divining Top & Elsha of the Infinite for more sweet, sweet resilience.

Getting to the decks wincons, It's admittedly relying on Intuition to an extreme degree to set up a win by Tutoring up Underworld Breach, Sevinne's Reclamation & Brain Freeze. This strategy relies on the pilot having Lion's Eye Diamond on the board prior, but considering Narset can snatch other people's Tutors from their Graveyards and cast them for free as well as your own, this is actually quite a bit more feasible than it seems at a glance. Remembering that everyone's Graveyards are pretty much yours for the taking is super important here.

Mana Geyser is a timeless banger, but I struggle to find justification for it beyond 2-color builds. There's just not enough room for it compared to other essentials in most 3-color lists within {R} that I've built, unless I'm able to either cast it at instant speed or for a heavily reduced cost, preferably both. My standards for rituals in general may have been ruined by Dark Ritual & Culling the Weak, though...Once you go {B}, ya know...

All of my lists undergo constant editions, though, and I'm sure this one will be no different. I can actually feel the next version brewing in my mind right now lol, thanks for your feedback!