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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 |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Premodern | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Stern Judge
Creature — Human Cleric
Tap: Each player loses 1 life for each Swamp he or she controls.
plakjekaas on Win Conditions / Near-whining Musings
1 year ago
So do you play other formats, where you should be building your deck with winning in mind?
My (re-)introduction to magic was mostly FNM with a group of people that were grinding preliminary pro tour qualifiers every other week. When other friends found out, they asked me to join their kitchen table gatherings, and after a few weeks of terribly unbalanced matches with different format magic decks, EDH was suggested as the way forward, and I had no idea how I could enjoy 100 card singleton. How do you get the cards you need? My first deck was bad, I didn't enjoy playing it, it was too easy to counter, and then I finally let go of the idea of needing to win, because every time I came close, I got ganged up on. My decks now are usually built to make a noticeable impact on the game, usually not game-winning, but almost impossible to not be impacted by. I'm talking Blind Obedience + Meekstone + Marble Titan. The Great Aurora. I'm sketching up a deck that uses Karma and Stern Judge with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. I don't need to win, seeing people in disarray over my mere presence is enough for me to enjoy.
However, I do have one or two cEDH decks that can just piece together a win out of nowhere if uninteracted with. It's more akin to the competitive environment where I got into magic, and the people I play those against, are ex-tournament grinders who got separated from their goals due to the pandemic and needed to occupy their mind in a way that was both casual multiplayer for the setting, and optimal lines of play as the way they enjoy magic the most. Both can be fun, but in different ways, and if it's not your own deck, if you're dependant on the others to finish the right tutor chains and such, it's easy to miss out on the enjoyment those decks can bring.
plakjekaas on Who are the Commanders you …
2 years ago
TypicalTimmy it's a different axis of interaction. Would you say that a deck with 12 boardwipes would be fun to play against? How about Talrand, Sky Summoner with 25 counterspells? Or maybe Tergrid, God of Fright  Flip who will take your hand and your board away from you and under their control. Overdoing anything will make a game boring, especially if you focus on deconstructing other people's game plans.
The first commander deck I played, had the critical mistake of focusing way too much on the commander. Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper had a lot of carddraw and interaction, but I needed the awakened lands to make a board presence and not die. After three fun games, my commander got removed or countered immediately for the first 3 times I brought him out. Sitting there, in need of paying 13 mana for your commander, and then more for it to actually do something, while the rest of the table is doing the 20+ mana silly stuff, and you're trying to join in and get bullied on your biggest weakness every time...
That's how stax players are made I guess, finding the weak spots of the strategies others enjoy, and preemptively punish them for trying. I personally find it hilarious when someone's Dockside Extortionist is about to make 13 treasures, and I can Chord of Calling for Collector Ouphe before the Etb resolves. You don't need many counterspells when you have a Rule of Law, you don't need a Wrath of God when Ensnaring Bridge keeps your health total safe.
I understand when you call yourself Typical Timmy it's going to be hard to see the fun in your wins being disabled by freaking 2-3 mana artifacts and enchantments, but if you're usually losing to 60 mana, 20 spells cast Storm turns in EDH, a Rule of Law, Winter Orb and a Stony Silence are a breath of fresh air to try and give yourself time to do other cool stuff that lies in the possibilities of magic cards. I still want to make a deck that wins with Stern Judge+Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth that would be an excellent wincon for that sort of playstyle. It probably wouldn't work in just a ramp deck.
Personally, even if I'm building a stax deck, I try to leave the lands alone, and only play hate for acceleration (mana rocks, treasures, mana dorks, etc) because I know the helpless feeling of playing a game of "not playing the game" all too well. Still, if your plan is to win with combat damage, make sure you can do it through Meekstone+Blind Obedience, or be challenged to win in unconventional ways (which for me, the stax player, is really interesting to see the creativity of what happens when they do).
That's where I think the fun in stax is. It might take a broken player to start, but your opponents WILL notice you on their way to victory. Of course, your mileage may vary.
TheLordStormCrow on
Karma
4 years ago
Mother of Runes and Stern Judge are not modern legal.
Giver of Runes is a close second to Mother of Runes which is modern legal, so that's a fairly easy swap if you like her in the deck.
Devout Lightcaster doesn't seem very good. I'm assuming you think that it can exile the opponent's lands when it enters, but lands are colorless, so Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth doesn't make them black.
If you're going hard on the plan of Karma + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth , you may want to consider Expedition Map as a way to more consistently find your Urborg .
Your mana base is pretty bad for modern, if you're not on a budget, then Temple Garden will be a good include, as green mana for Spreading Algae that also helps cast the rest of your deck, if you want more than 8 green sources, then something like Canopy Vista is fetchable, or Razorverge Thicket is a better one, but isn't fetchable.
Your gameplan needs some streamlining too, are you killing your opponent with Karma ? If so, destroying their lands with Spreading Algae seems pretty bad. This deck seems to play similarly to a hatebears/death and taxes deck, so you may want to take a look at some of those to see if you want any pieces from there (mana denial etc.)
Venturub on
Holier than thou
5 years ago
I am sorry but I remembered to give you ine last suggestion: since you have Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, why not also use Stern Judge? The lands of your opponent will also be swamps, and with Starlit Sanctum or Cabal Archon the game will quickly be over.
Gadianten on
Ravos and Tymna Cleric Tribal HELP!
6 years ago
As a fellow cleric tribal enthusiast I appreciate where you are trying to go with the deck but you seem to be suffering some of the same issues I ran into myself, namely not having focused synergies that build into a win condition.
A strong sub theme of your deck seems to revolve around life gain, so with that in mind lets add to and weaponize this sub theme into win conditions. I agree with kamelyan that you should add Conspiracy as its quite nasty with Rotlung Reanimator and Cabal Archon, the only reason I don't run these two in my cleric deck is the hardcore clash with Angel of Glory's Rise. Beacon of Immortality and Test of Endurance make for an interesting and intractable win condition that plays along with your life gain theme for surprise victories. Stern Judge with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can be nasty repeatable drain where you use your life gain to stay ahead of other peoples dwindling life totals. Also, consider Greed and Erebos, God of the Dead for further card draw that works with your life gain. Also Boon Reflection might be useful as well.
If you need more cleric beaters try Custodi Soulbinders, Vile Deacon and Transcendent Master.
Some general replacements that might serve you better would be Scholar of Athreos over Pious Evangel Flip, the drain effect is a nice mana dump, Frontline Medic over Banisher Priest allows you to play more aggressively and the counter ability can catch people by surprise and Grand Abolisher over Hanweir Militia Captain Flip, the Captain generates tokens far to slowly and often requires you to over extend to make it any good.
For additional tribal removal options consider Kor Sanctifiers, War Priest of Thune, Leonin Relic-Warder and Reliquary Monk. Although I find Reliquary Monk and Relic-Warder to be more tricky to use without a sacrifice outlet.
Also don't forget that cleric tribal have A LOT of tax and hate effects within the tribe to play with like Sanctum Prelate, Leonin Arbiter, Glowrider, Ethersworn Canonist and Containment Priest
I hope this helps you, I look forward to seeing where you take the deck.
Daedalus19876 on
Judgment Day: Avacyn the Purifier EDH [PRIMER]
6 years ago
CrazyGood-MTG9797: Thanks for the +1! Stern Judge seems...bad (unless I'm missing something?), but Lieutenant Kirtar is an interesting case. He definitely fits in the self-sacrifice theme, but I think that the 3 CMC and 2 activation cost is a bit too high. And on the topic of Deflecting Palm, it used to be in here but was just too situational. Thanks for your comment though! :)
CrazyGood-MTG9797 on
Judgment Day: Avacyn the Purifier EDH [PRIMER]
7 years ago
+1!!!Stern Judge, Lieutenant Kirtar as possible Maybes!?!