Thrull Retainer
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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
Pauper Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Thrull Retainer

Enchantment — Aura

Enchant creature

Enchanted creature gets +1/+1.

Sacrifice Thrull Retainer: Regenerate enchanted creature.

SKYBREAKER44 on Muldrotha, the Ebbing Tide

3 years ago

Current thoughts:

  • For sure adding Daring Apprentice to try, though may be too slow without haste.
  • Want to try Glen Elendra Archmage (though she was way cheaper when I last looked).
  • Plaguecrafter will be added, even if just to replace Fleshbag Marauder / Merciless Executioner.
  • Vanishing looks like a fantastic protection for Muldrotha, since I only need her on board on my turn.
  • Mindbender Spores just looks like a hilariously fun and lesser known old card, that just looks like a great deterrent to attacking.
  • Kaya's Ghostform is strictly better than Thrull Retainer, the buff doesn't matter much.
  • Remove Sol Ring for Arcane Signet, there are so many 2 colour pips I need the coloured mana.
  • For this reason, I also want to put in Lotus Field. Sacking 2 lands may hurt early game, but can be amazing late game.
  • Debating Journey to Eternity  Flip, the curve for the deck is low but getting an extra creature out of the graveyard at instant speed is pretty great even if costs 5 CMC to activate.
  • Glacial Chasm, it just, makes me happy and could be clutch in a pinch. The cumulative upkeep is no big deal since you can let it die, so having it in your graveyard could be an awesome safety net with the limited land destruction in the format. I think sacking a land and using your land drop for it would be terrible early to mid game, unless Azusa, Lost but Seeking is out.

HalbrechtHalbrecht on Death in the Shadows

5 years ago

Hey, it was my pleasure! I was feeling stuck on my own decks, and yours was fun to distract myself with. XD

Yes, playstyle definitely accounts for it. I'd have to consciously choose to play like that! That said, have you never encountered the situation where you get 1-2 hits in with Phyresis, nearly killing them with Infect, and then they remove that creature + all enchantments? Then you cast a second creature (or maybe you already did, back when you had no more buffs to play), and start buffing him. But he's going to be starting fresh on their normal life total, drastically increasing the clock, whereas if that first creature had never been using Phyresis, you'd pick up right where you left off with the second creature. Granted, that's an edge case, but still, definitely plausible. Or is this deck really an "eggs all in one basket", "if the first creature gets knocked out, probably not gonna win" kind of deck? (That's not a criticism, by the way. I'm just trying to comprehend a playstyle that's foreign to me!)

I would agree that Unnatural Endurance is better than Thrull Retainer simply because the opponent doesn't see it coming. Why give them extra info?

Since you don't mind using your life as a resource (and since you're presumably fine with off-color cards like the Probe), why not replace Street Wraith with cards that'll actually give you a benefit for your life? There's Rouse from my version, which you used to have in your Maybeboard (that was a card I was NEVER sad to draw!), as well as the other 1-CMC Phyrexian spells — Gut Shot and Mutagenic Growth .

They don't replace themselves with a card like the Wraith or Probe do, so if that was the main point of those cards, then obviously they're not good. They're probably better in the version I posted that specifically included card draw.

One last "free" cycler I guess I should mention is Edge of Autumn . I say "free" because you can sac a tapped land you've already used that turn. But losing a land is sorta like paying a mana on your next turn, especially if you don't have a land drop to replace it, so.... not in love with the card. But it's an option if you're finding that you're running out of life TOO quickly. ;)

mal099 on Death in the Shadows

5 years ago

Wow, thanks for all the work you're putting into improving my deck, really appreciate it!

I haven't really seen those problems you had with Phyresis and Skittering Skirge , which might be due to different playstyles. This deck is made to be completely reckless, to win before the opponent can play removals, and it rewards a similarly reckless playstyle. So you're not supposed to play more than one creature unless there's nothing else to play, so the Skirge's negative ability or the different "life totals" tend to not be an issue. It can sometimes happen, but for Phyresis, I think the tradeoff is worth it, as you can generally win in just two attacks. I somewhat agree on the Skirge though, it is pretty much my least favorite card in the deck. I actually lost my first real game with this deck due to it, since it can be blocked. I like your point about having creatures with a different way of being hard to block, and will be replacing some of them with Highborn Ghoul . I don't like Guul Draz Vampire as it isn't unblockable early on, and Stronghold Confessor is easy to block later. They make more sense in your version of the deck of course, since you use instants and it doesn't hurt as much to switch from one to the other. Could benefit from equipments too, actually.

I considered sorceries/instants, but feel like they just reduce speed too much. Still, a few of them might work? I'm especially partial to Unnatural Endurance which you put in the Maybeboard, as it can additionally be used to save one of my creatures. The question is, is it better than Thrull Retainer ? I think it might be, but it's really close.

Vampire's Bite is also nice, but I think I really want to keep the number of sorceries/instants low. I do think your version of this deck is pretty nice, sacrificing some speed for long term viability, but it would probably benefit from keeping at least 50% of the buffs enchantments. It would also suffer against other very fast decks, so at least some defense would probably be good? Although the sideboard can still deal with that, without much change.

Another thing I'm considering is to put one more Gitaxian Probe in there, and even two Street Wraith . Basically enables me to take out some of the lesser cards, without costing Mana or taking up space in my hand. They cost life, of course... but I guess recklessly using life as a resource for tiny gains is just my playstyle. Might be a bad idea, but it's fun.

4doublexx on Maestro Fresh Kresh, The Pragmatic Playa’

5 years ago

I quite enjoy the style of this deck and the build around it. I assume a large portion of your playstyle revolves around Kresh and being able to utilize him. However, lets say he gets hated out 3 times, then what? I think there is enough other value there where you could probably grind out a win, but a large amount of your Fling cards will just sit in your hand not doing much if Kresh if dead. So I would be looking at more ways to protect Kresh. Carapace, Demonic Vigor, Skeletal Grimace, Thrull Retainer, and Voyager Staff. Are a couple to name. Staff might not be good because you'll lose all the counters, but atleast its not 6+ commander tax mana to pay again. Another note, you mention wanted to run a tutor to get X cards. Tutors seem like they would be important in your deck yet you don't run any. While some people really don't like playing with tutors, if a large portion of your game plan needs to have a key piece to either make Kresh unblockable, or to throw him into a player and you don't have any Flings then your sol. There seems to be a fair amount of them so in practice you might always be getting one, but just something to think about.

Either way really love the idea and hopefully the comments help!

Pieguy396 on Muldrotha, the Gravetide

5 years ago

Hi! I'm personally a huge fan of Muldrotha as a commander; so first of all, nice choice! Here are some cuts and additions I'd recommend:

Cuts:

  • Archetype of Endurance. This card is very powerful to be sure, but Muldrotha already needs a lot of mana to function, and you don't have very many ways to cheat it into play.
  • Butcher of Malakir. Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos are more expensive money-wise, but being cheaper on mana and also more resilient makes them much, much better.
  • Deranged Assistant. It looks good at first glance, but it's a 2-mana dork, and you're not playing any of the 1-mana dorks anyways. The single-card mill is a very minor upside.
  • Millikin. Same as above.
  • Nyx Weaver. It can be very good, but it's just too slow. There are much better ways to mill yourself, and a 6-mana Regrowth is way too much mana.
  • Progenitor Mimic. A powerful card to be sure, but this isn't the deck for it.
  • Slum Reaper. I think this card is only really worth running in decks that badly need the 3rd Fleshbag Marauder. Shriekmaw is almost always going to be better.
  • Aether Spellbomb. Looping it can be fun, but bouncing a creature is a terrible waste, and there are better ways to draw cards with artifacts.
  • Perpetual Timepiece. This card was good on Game Knights when they were only using Standard cards, but we have better options.
  • Plague Boiler. This card is also cool, but once again, we have better choices.
  • Demonic Vigor. Fun with Muldrotha, but there is usually so much exile-based removal in Commander that this card isn't as good as you think.
  • Hesitation. Sweet include, but looks a little too cute. Very easy to play around, and also counters your spells.
  • Skeletal Grimace. Same as Demonic Vigor.
  • Thrull Retainer. Same.

Additions:

Hope this helps! Feel free to leave a comment on my profile if you'd like further suggestions for this or any other deck! Good luck!

Podkomorka on Nezumi Graverobber - Reanimator PDH

6 years ago

Cut:

Add:

Gattison on Help With Thrull Tribal

7 years ago

In Commander, there are in fact more than two black thrulls. There's Armor Thrull (one of my favorites), Necrite & Mindstab Thrull, Blood Pet, Basal Thrull & Blood Vassal, Exhumer Thrull, Thrull Champion, Thrull Parasite, Thrull Surgeon & Thrull Wizard... and that's pretty much all the good ones in mono-black.

The best thrulls are WB, such as Mourning Thrull, Kingpin's Pet and Treasury Thrull (which kinda sucks, anyway), but then you wouldn't be able to keep Endrek as your Commander if you went .

Also, don't forget to check out cards like Breeding Pit, Ebon Praetor, Orzhov Keyrune, Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII, Soul Exchange (awesome card), Thrull Retainer & Tourach's Gate.

I love thrulls, btw. =)

Also, check out this link for excellent tribal support: The Bones To Build Your Tribal Deck

Gattison on List of Interesting cards some may have forgotten

8 years ago

i've always thought Thrull Retainer has a lot of potential

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