Basalt Monolith
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Oldschool 93/94 Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Basalt Monolith

Artifact

Basalt Monolith doesn't untap during your untap step.

: Add .

: Untap Basalt Monolith.

Gidgetimer on Build a Deck with Me …

6 days ago

An important part of deckbuilding that I haven't seen you mention in either of these first two articles and that is especially important in this once since it is based from a combo is metainformation. This is not to say information about the meta that you will be playing the deck into (though that is important too), but information about the game in general.

One example would be existing archetypes or general categories of decks. With a mono-blue blink combo and wanting to add colors metainformation informs us that a established archetype is Bant Blink. It is tried and true and has a proven depth of field for support of blink. You subvert this by going Dimir, which I appreciate.

Another consideration is known synergies with cards you are already running.

By no means do you have to follow all metainformation. And you also don't need to worry about missing something and therefore stress about knowing all the info. But just being generally aware of what is possible and proven will allow you to make informed deckbuilding decisions.

rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with Me …

1 week ago

Sometimes when I'm deckbuilding, I focus less on the commander and more on an interesting concept/combo that I want to use or exploit. This is the case with one of my favorite decks in my profile and actually one of the first commander decks I ever built. This deck began years ago when Magic finally started caring about the EDH format. It was a more simple time then, Rhystic study was $1.27 (exactly the price I paid for mine over 10 years ago), Cyclonic Rift was a bulk rare, and demonic tutor could be found for $10.

The combo that I was interested in was Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator. The latter was my favorite card at the time and is still one of my favorites. It was a great tool and with all the ETB effects that were out around then it was an underrated and uber powerful card. In fact, the entire blink mechanic was and is a very powerful strategy.

When I built this deck, I played a few times in shops and was quickly told that edh is a casual format and interaction of any kind is not fair (was told this by a land destruction deck...) So this deck is definitely more on the competitive side, but it would be the distant fringe of cedh. Alright with that let's get into it.

Initial thoughts

So we have a combo that we like Palinchron and Deadeye Navigator, but we don't even have a commander yet and going mono-blue seems not great, so we want to figure out what color(s) to add and what commander to choose. In a combo deck, there are generally three things that I like to make sure I include beyond the normal ramp, and card draw. That is redundancy, the ability to tutor up my combo pieces, and ways to protect my combo. So when thinking about tutoring up my combo pieces, I generally like to have the best tutors. Those are in black. So things like Wishclaw Talisman, Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and Imperial Seal (if you have money to burn or your playgroup is fine with you proxying the best cards so you can obliterate their precons j/k I proxy all my expensive cards and put them in a binder in case someone has an issue).

So we have Blue and Black and we can certainly add another color if we wanted to, but at the time I liked Dralnu, Lich Lord because Snapcaster Mage was in standard and flashback was cool. So I stuck with it when I revamped it, but decided that I wanted something that could ensure I can protect my combo from any threat and then also use it to win if I wanted to. The answer came in the form of Ertai Resurrected. He can counter basically anything from spells to activated abilities (which will come in handy) or he can take a threat on the field at the cost of letting your opponent draw a card.

So now that we have our commander, how to build the deck?

Redundancy

Combo decks need redundancy. If you don't get your two cards or one of them gets exiled, you need a backup plan, or scooping is your only option. Fortunately, there are some great redundancies here. We have Ghostly Flicker and Displace. Both of these will blink your creatures (ghostly flicker will also blink artifacts). Displacer Kitten can be helpful too, but I don't own it and it is a little more chaotic than I need it to be. Palinchron is great because you can return it to your hand and potentially play it again and create infinite mana through the use of High Tide, but a similar combo that has added benefits is Peregrine Drake, Archaeomancer, and Ghostly Flicker. This bounces both the drake and the archaeomancer untapping 5 lands, and returning ghostly flicker to your hand. Rinse and repeat for infinite mana. Archaeomancer also will help in returning key counterspells and tutors to your hand. Nothing like doing double duty. Mnemonic Wall and Great Whale also fit here. The great thing about this combo is that each component is useful in and of itself. Bring out your Great Whale early untap some lands and do some other stuff or play out the rest of your combo with the untapped lands. Cast Archaeomancer to grab a used tutor for another combo piece.

One note here, if you get Peregrine Drake (or one of the other two) paired with Deadeye Navigator and you generate infinite mana you can now draw your deck with Ertai as commander: Step 1: Bounce Deadeye, when he enters don't soulbond with anyone.
Step 2: Cast Ertai, don't choose anything or if you want kill one of your opponent's creatures. It doesn't matter.
Step 3: Soulbond ertai and deadeye. Step 4: Bounce Deadeye and while that is on the stack bounce Ertai. Step 5: Ertai enters the battlefield counter the Deadeye bounce on the stack Draw a card Step 6: Soulbond ertai and deadeye again rinse and repeat. Draw as many cards as you need. Which means draw until you find your wincon.

Wincon

Since this is an infinite mana combo we need something to use all that mana. Obviously the activated ability on deadeye is great, but we need something to actually win with. I went with Commander's Insight and Blue Sun's Zenith. Both of these cards are useful even when they aren't being used to force your opponents to draw their cards. Blue Sun's Zenith works nicely because once you cast it goes back into your deck, which I showed above you can draw as many cards as you need so you cast it once, put it in your library draw again until you find it, cast it again on the next opponent, then again. You can also tutor them up or bring them back from the graveyard with the tutors or the archaeomancer/mnemonic wall from earlier. I like this more than straight damage, because if you don't have infinite mana these cards will still draw you cards.

Tutors

This is a fairly simple step, we need some good tutors. There are a number of good choices in black so I won't belabor that too much. I don't have some of the standard ones and feel like the deck performs fine with the ones it currently has. I do have a Tribute Mage in the deck because nearly all my mana rocks are 2 mana and so is Wishclaw Talisman. I found that the consistency with the deck is vastly improved by being able to tutor up my ramp. Also with deadeye I can bounce it multiple times and get more rocks or the talisman.

Protecting the combo

So I needed to figure out how to protect my combo and do so in a way that is flexible or can be used as needed. So Counterspell. Honestly, this part was fairly simple, most blue counter magic is here. Only reason Fierce Guardianship isn't here is because I don't have it. Other than that we have the typical cards here Force of Will, Mana Drain, Cyclonic Rift, Force of Negation, Pact of Negation, etc.

I also have a couple other standouts. Venser, Shaper Savant is great here as it can be bounced with Deadeye Navigator to essentially boomerang my opponent's board and all their spells. Ertai Resurrected also protects the combo and with deadeye becomes a nice repeatable counter/removal spell.

glen_elandra_archmage can be bounced when she has her -1/-1 counter allowing her to be used again and again to counter noncreature spells.

Typical stuff

There is a lot of ramp in the deck, so Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and other mana rocks including some larger ones like Gilded Lotus and Basalt Monolith to really get the ramp going, the sooner you can get to 7-8 mana the sooner you can combo out.

For card draw some key performers here are Rhystic Study, Black Market Connections, Phyrexian Arena, The One Ring. Mystic Remora. In my initial hand I want to have 3 lands, and one of these/tutor to find one or I typically mulligan.

Special notes

A couple other cards deserve mention here. Time Stretch and Time Warp. These are both repeatable with Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall and I can honestly say that if I'm able to resolve either of these, it is unlikely that I'm going to lose, especially Time Stretch. With the ramp in the deck or a well timed Dark Ritual/High Tide I can play this fairly early and get a huge advantage.

Lands

Since this deck tends to be fast, you don't want lands that come into play tapped, so this deck uses fetch lands, shock lands, and duals that have the ability to come in untapped. (there are a couple that come into play tapped, but they are fetchable so I fetch them only when I know that I'm not going to be able to use the mana and only on an opponent's turn.)

I've had this deck for a while and it performs far better than any of my other decks. It always presents interesting lines that if followed will lead to surprising victories. As always let me know what you think in the comments and if you have a commander in mind that you want to see me build put it in the chat.

Here is the final decklist: Unlimited Power!

scottbaker91 on Zur the Enchanter Stax

4 weeks ago

Some of my favorite Zur Combos are: Teferi, Hero of Dominaria + Stasis // Solitary Confinement + Necropotence // Rest in Peace + Energy Field // Stasis + Azor's Elocutors // Basalt Monolith + Power Artifact // Winter Orb + Mind Over Matter

Sunder, Armageddon, Death Cloud will send your opponents back to the stone age while you fish out more enchants and punch them to death with Zur

Mana Breach, Mana Vortex, Oppression, Overburden are must have stax cards for Zur. The enchantments / creatures that keep your opponents from drawing or casting more than 1 spell per turn are really solid for stax ex: Arcane Laboratory, Spirit of the Labyrinth. Notion Thief + wheels will leave your opponent with 0 cards

Spellskite, Vanishing, Diplomatic Immunity, Steel of the Godhead, Mind Over Matter are all S tier for Zur

Approach of the Second Sun for another easy win con

Have fun crushing your opponents soul

Profet93 on Karn? No, Voltron!

1 month ago

I think it's a great first start jake1511. Nice avg cmc of 3.52. You might want to increase the speed a tad but given it's a colorless deck that's easier said than done.

Howling Mine - Without a way to untap, it provides opponents more advantage. I understand you need draw, but IMO, this isn't the way to do it

Lithoform Engine - Winmore

Mirror Shield - IMO hexproof redundancy is not needed, other ability is not typically useful. Really depends on how much redundancy you need

Pariah's Shield - I don't see a synergy. Put it on your commander and hope it tanks the damage? 8 mana total is steep

Portal to Phyrexia - Way too costly for what it does.

Ratchet Bomb - Depends on how often you actually can find it useful. Usually charging it for a few turns hoping to get the right amount of counters is difficult.

Shield of Kaldra - Without other Kalrdra, this isn't helpful enough

Sword of Hours - This is not a 1/1 counter deck

The Immortal Sun - Anti-synergy with 3 of your walkers, potentially swap for Staff of Nin for similar effect without anti-synergy

Trading Post - I like the saccing artifacts to draw, making tokens in a pinch. Just doesn't feel like it does enough

Vexing Puzzlebox - Mana rock for 3cmc with a unlikely ability to reliably use

Vorrac Battlehorns - Unimpactful

Aladdin's Lamp - WAY too costly

Anduril, Flame of the West - No benefit to use tokens, aside from skullclamp maybe

Azor's Gateway - Hoping this goes 5 turns uninterrupted is a big ask

Brass Knuckles - Kind of cool but not good on it's own. I do sort of like it, plus the art

Golem-Skin Gauntlets - Kind of cool, but not good on it's own.

Basalt Monolith - Ramp + Combo with Forsaken Monument for

Cloud Key/Semblance Anvil - Ramp

Sensei's Divining Top - Dig

Cloud Key/Anvil/Artifact cost Reducer + Mystic Forge + Top = Draw your entire deck

Expedition Map - Find the land you need, ensure you get your land drop.

Might want to add 1-2 more lands depends on your ending avg cmc and amount of rocks + personal playstyle.

Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant - Recover from a boardwipe

Darksteel Citadel - Artifact land for Karn

Mycosynth Lattice - Lots of shenanigans, super double edged sword.

Lattice + Karn, the Great Creator = Hard lock. Karn has a lot of useful abilities on his own, ignoring lattice.

Profet93 on Hold your colour

1 month ago

Kagiyama

Buried Ruin - Recursion

Sanctum of Ugin - Tutor

Basalt Monolith + Forsaken monument =

Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant + Emrakul = Good synergy. Hourglass helps with recursion from a vandablast.

Maybe a Vedalken Orrery/Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter/Skittering Cicada for flash so you don't overextend as easily? Colorless decks almost always have high cmc and lots of artifacts so any opponent worth their salt after a few games should recognize this and adjust their plan. This helps keep them guessing. Not necessary but nice to have.

Rings of Brighthearth + Basalt Monolith + 2 mana = + top = Cast your entire deck

Rings + Voltaic Key (swap out manifold) + everflowing chalice (4 counters) =

Metalworker + Rings + Voltaic key =

Card Draw - Colorless doesn't have too much, you already run both kozileks which is great. Commander is a value engine which is nice. You could add a Staff of Nin for more but IMO it's not needed. How do you feel your card situation is?

Removal - Colorless has expensive removal options, you have all the good ones. Everything seems solid.

Mana Curve - A bit high but understandable for a colorless deck, especially with your commander. You could add more ramp should you feel you need. I usually recommend the most ramp in Kozilek commander decks because your commander is a draw source but here I'm unsure. Your ramp seems sufficient, how do you feel?

Profet93 on Liberator of Cinnamon Rings

2 months ago

Sanctum of Ugin - Tutor

Eye of Ugin - Tutor + Ramp

Buried Ruin - Recursion

Mystic forge + Sensei's Divining Top + artifact cost reducer = draw your whole deck

Basalt Monolith + forsaken monument =

Rings of Brighthearth + basalt + 2 mana = + top = draw + cast your entire deck

Rings + voltaic key + Everflowing Chalice (4 counters) =

Metal worker + voltaic key + rings =

Scorched Ruins + Rings + Deserted Temple = . Temple has the added benefit of politics or ramp with urza land.

Emrakul, the Promised End + Gerrard's Hourglass Pendant = Strong synergy, each piece is good on it's like (like many of the combos I've listed)

Karn, the Great Creator + lattice = Hard lock

To synergize with darksteel monolith, you could add some flash (which also has the added benefit of limiting your overextension into a boardwipe) such as Vedalken Orrery/Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter/Skittering Cicada

Blinkmoth Well + Blinkmoth Urn = One sided ramp. Well can deal with opposing artifacts and urn always makes you ahead. Should you feel inclined, Winter Orb might be worth it (if you don't like friends) as you can break parity with it. Even if you can't, you use primarily artifact ramp anyways. It can help slow down the faster pace decks.

darkemoji on Titans, The Clean-Up Crew

2 months ago

Profet93

Appreciate the feedback!

  1. Fantastic little combo with built in utility from either card, however I've been leaning towards keeping the deck towards high power in casual. So that's why the current list only has one combo so far which is Forsaken Monument + Basalt Monolith.
  2. As above.
  3. This is an interesting land. Was considering Clock of Omens at one point for tapping artifacts. May test how well Blinkmoth Well works with Winter Orb and Trinisphere as I've been favoring stax lately in colorless.
  4. Have never seen this little artifact before and it's hefty in utility. Synergy with Emrakul, the Promised End and some recursion sounds spicy. Will test this in the future.
  5. Considered Karn, the Great Creator + Mycosynth Lattice in the original decklist, however I found that the cards were too niche when played separately and decided to cut them for some fun/win more cards such as Helm of the Host and Mirage Mirror. Even keeping Rise of the Eldrazi in the decklist.
  6. I was wondering about adding some recursion in and missed this little include. Arch of Orazca -> Buried Ruin

One question from me to you is: how do you feel about Chimil, the Inner Sun? On paper, I like its utility in preventing counterspells and discovering cards off the library the same turn it comes into play, but I have yet to play test it.

Profet93 on Kozilek, the Great Distortion

3 months ago

Mystic Forge - "Draw"

Should your budget change, proxy or wish to take from another deck, Sensei's Divining Top can help set up your draws, be draw in a pinch and combos very well.

Forge + Top + artifact cost reducer/Cloud Key/Semblance Anvil = Draw your deck

Basalt Monolith + forsaken monument = infinite

Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth (to be considered if budget changes) + 2 mana = infinite --> Adding top to this allows you to draw (and subsequently cast) your entire deck.

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