The Stack #57- Stack-zarus, Come Forth!

Breaking Bad. That was a Breaking Bad reference.

So in case you're not familiar with the recurring trope that is used in Comedy Central's longest running raunchy cartoon,  people happen to come back from the dead a lot. Frankly, the rate of resurrected characters has been astounding across the many programs I follow.

Whether it is because I'm in the resurrecting or reanimating spirit, or just because the truth of the matter is that TGZ's best co-collaborative segment never really did die- it just went and hid out in New Hampshire for several months under a different identity so as to gain perspective- we're back. By we, I mean, The Stack, and there's soon to be a whole host of new guests getting featured.

To honor this momentous occasion, the re-launching features twice the theme- our favorite cards with Flashback, and our favorite cards to Reanimate.

So yeah, we're playing it again, cause The Stack is great, and it never gets old.

Time to throw it in reverse for thirst!
THIS IS THE STACK!

TOM

Tom- THUMBS UP
OK, yeah, I know. Technically, not so much a target for reanimation as it raises itself. Still, that raid trigger is kinda like a Creature-based version of Flashback, so I'm throwing caution to the winds and including the card anyways.

For a deck that runs off death triggers and reanimation, Bloodsoaked Champion is...well, a champion. He's an ideal early turn play to couple with your Skullclamp for immediate card advantage. He's super easy to recur and he gets around the pesky non-token specification for cards like Grim Haruspex and Harvester of Souls. Best of all he can be reanimated repeatedly per turn for so long as you have mana and a sac outlet, making him practically a boardwipe when combined with Grave Pact, Ashnod's Altar and a handful of Swamps.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Mad props to BS Champ. I've literally pulled my playset of this card from Sealed and Draft, where it's probably even better than it is in Commander: eating Morph dudes for breakfast and being personally responsible for the best Aggro decks in both environments. If it wasn't for Sagu Mauler, I'd say it was the best Creature in those environments.

The big flavor question me and the rest of Reddit want to know though- How does he not block if he's holding two shields?

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
The card is pretty great, but I have to admit, I hate it. Wizards has printed more quality Skullclamp enablers than they have quality exiling removal to deal with those enablers. There are a dozen or more Creatures that look nearly identical to this, which all scare the crap out of me. BSC isn't even the top contender in this category, but it is still enough to get my attention. The added benefit of having a bunch of these cards in your deck is that your opponent often starts losing life very early on AND they can't expect to weasel out of harm's way using a Wrath effect. Just adding card advantage to any Creature makes them into the perfect threat.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
This is the most common Flashback card I play in my decks. Along side Merfolk Looter, this becomes a serious amount of card draw, even when all I'm doing is flashing it back.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This is a super high-impact common, which I love. It is a great way to generate a ton of card advantage throughout the game. It presses your opponent to have multiple counterspells. Is it a little expensive? Sure, but this isn't really an early game type of card. This is the kind of thing you are either sandbagging or celebrating when you draw it late.

Tom - THUMBS UP
Overcosted, Sorcery-speed card draw is pretty meh. On the flipside, anything that allows for "target player" to draw cards wins out over straight self-draw for the added flexibility; Nekusar and a few other decks want that, and even in non-janky non-combo decks giving free cards to beleagured players can be an interesting political tool.

I like the Flashback cost as well. Anything that asks such a small life cost is much better in EDH than elsewhere and two mana + three life for two cards = solid.

GRANDPA GROWTH

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
If you know me, and you know what this card does, then there is no more explanation necessary. This was a close pick for me though, there are probably half a dozen cards that I could very easily claim are my 'favesies'. Army of the Damned, Creeping Rennaissance, Cackling Counterpart, Fervent Denial.

I just want to point out that Landdrops and I both picked commons for this topic. Go Pauper. Whoo!

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Pauper cards are really helpful in making not just deck designs, but also, Commander, much more exciting.

I love Mystical Teachings, and I often find that I make sketchy U/B decks just so that I can play some of my favorites with these specific color identities. Teachings is definitely there.

That Black in the color identity is what I think makes it both very strong and very scarce in terms what decks this card can go in, relative to our format. I'm not playing Tutors-on-Tutors so much anymore, but this one that I've definitely built several different packages around.

Tom- THUMBS DOWN
A personal preference, but I don't really like to tutor. Granted, it's understood that sometimes you just need a very specific card, but when building decks I err towards redundancy so that there are several cards which can fill any role required. Being able to search the library for answers is undeniably useful, but also - for my money - leads to repetitive games as the "best" answers are usually tutored up or used to win a game out of nowhere. It's funny and cool the first time, but after several games end the same way it grows stale. Not to mention the endless searching/shuffling drawing out the pace of a game can be exceptionally annoying to other players. Putting Flashback on a tutor card is guaranteed to have me grinding my teeth.

UNCLE LANDDROPS

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card dominated Standard, shines in Commander, and should be in every Cube out there. The card is just completely bananas at all points in the game. It resists/pairs well with some of the best cards in the format: Removal? Psssh. Show and Tell? What a joke! Upheaval? Deal.

On a related note: I just watched Firefly last year. It wasn't that good. Things I don't like: Nathan Fillion, Joss Whedon, Science Fiction.

Tom- THUMBS UP
I had thoughts to put here, but got all distracted by GG's closing statement. Blasphemy. May the Angel of Serenity smite you.

The best thing about the card is the flexibility. It can be a recursion engine for your graveyard, a multi-target Oblivion Ring for your foes or a bouncing engine for your own ETB creatures. Sweet value in every instance. I run the Angel in my Roon copy/blink deck, and under the right circumstances - like when paired with a Progenitor Mimic or a kicked Rite of Replication - she can spirit away entire armies of opponents' beasties.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Well, I have no clue what the hell Grandpa is thinking. Firefly Rulz. Hopefully there are enough Browncoats and Jayne's Hats that enjoy what's going on here. This is my altered version (credit to the unknown Deviant Artist for this) for the Angel of Infinite Card Advantage and Beatdowns, but I believe everyone will recognize Return to Ravnica's premier reanimate target.

I play this in Saffi, and I can't tell you how design predicated on Reanimate-Reinforcement makes this so filthy. Sac outlets and trigger stacking make her one of the strongest synergies I have in a deck where there are plenty of synergies that actually end the game outright as opposed to denying resources. She's still one of the best cards in the deck and has saved my skin more than a few times, making her not just an Angel based on card type alone.

Alright, well that wraps 'er all up. Be sure to holla in the comments below if you have a card to contribute, you have a topic you'd like us to tackle, or you'd like to be a guest on a future episode of The Stack!

Until next time, be sure not to let this Wookie win.

Pass.
-UL/GG/Tom

UL's Favorites: Great White Creatures

Last time I did lists, I'll be the first to admit things got way out of hand.

I mean, I didn't exactly kill anyone with a Trident. But still.

Huge rankings were made, things were missed, and ultimately I'd say attitudes have already changed. I'm not sure my lists now would be the same as a few months ago. That's never a good sign.

Anyway, these lists will be better. I promise. Some of them will feature cards we've talked about before. Some might be obvious. Still, it's important to know that I am trying to steer away from the latter, unless it's just too good and I can't help myself.

10. Angel of Serenity

Yeah, an obvious card if you've pulled it or managed to purchase one. Grandpa Growth has previously called this card the "Angel of Infinite Beatdowns," and that is a pretty fair depiction of how one-sided she is.

If you watched the first Transformers film, Sector 6's crazy agent played by John Turturro would show his credentials and say, "You see this? This is my do whatever I want and get away with it" badge. That's how I like to describe her.

The only thing I have to say other than High Praise to this amazing card is the proxy I did for her, because I love the show Firefly too much to pass up the pun and beauty.

ANGEL OF SERENITY PROXY

                                                                                                  9. Weathered Wayfarer

If you said "Wayfarers" are the only
thing that could make this card cooler,
you are correct. Now, go sneak into
the cookie jar and get yourself a treat.

Wayfarer is a card I used to get beat with a bunch of times in games with GG cause he'd use it to tutor for Strip Mine.

But I think that's more of a testament to how powerful this card is. It's Expedition Map or Sylvan Scrying on a stick, which is basically card advantage galore. Especially on the play.

Also, Gatherer has him classified as Human Nomad Cleric, which I think is kind of awesome. I'll never get why some creatures get a bajillion types and some get like, "Ouphe."

Anyway, this card is gross, and if you play multiplayer, the possibilities are even more endless, because no one will have the guts to blow it up before you get 2-3 lands out of the deal. This is assuming you just slam it down Turn 1 like a good Magic player.

8. Preacher

I've thought about a proxy, but
I really like this art. It's sweet.

This is a card I heard about on CommanderCast. Since the text is small here, I'll give you a quick synopsis:

Tap: Gain Control of target creature an opponent controls of his or her own choosing. You may control that creature as long as Preacher remains tapped and in play, and you may choose not to untap Preacher during your untap phase.

So if you haven't been playing since The Dark (which is a legitimate Magic Expansion AND a turn of phrase), Preacher is where they got the idea for Evangelize in the Time Spiral Block.

Like Andy said on CommanderCast, I kinda wish he was Legendary. This art makes him look awesome, both pure and full of evil, and he's got massive flavor. And to be perfectly honest, the only one I own is currently in the mail. Haven't even played it yet. Goes to show you how invested I am in this madman at the pulpit.

                                                                                                7. Eternal Dragon

Falcor. Forever.

Eternal Dragon is some semi-original tech that I found when I was playing what I consider my first successful deck, Oros, the Avenger.

Having the instant speed ability to get a plains is huge. In mono-White decks, I have to play with less than my 40 land count because if I don't, I draw too much land. So there are circumstances where I might be scrounging around for an extra land.

He's mondo card advantage, and you can get him back in the late-late if you're hurting for a land, or you need a recurrable chump blocker.




6. Taj-Nar Swordsmith

Last year I re-discovered this card when searching for cheaper options to replace Stoneforge Mystic in my mono-White Dollar General deck.

Though he isn't better than ol' B-Cups, Taj-y really helps bring the heat. Having other copies of cards, even less-good ones, can really help make a deck run consistent and according to plan. And I can't tell you how many times I've been able to pull this guy out and go get an Umezawa's Jitte or a Sword of Fire and Ice. It's awesome. He's totally worth whatever he costs. So give B-Cups a buddy, and go get yourself one.





                                                                                                5. Ranger of Eos

Ranger was a beast in Standard during Alara, and I'm keeping tales of his awesome-ness alive whenever I can.

His best attribute is the lonely white mana symbol up top, which means creature packages of all colors and shapes are welcome. He's great with Figure of Destiny, Scute Mob, D-Master Flash, Gravecrawler, Dryad Arbor- pick your favorite 1-drop dudes. He loves them all.

Best of all though, he's even good in his own colors. In my Darien deck, I run a package with the Soul Sisters, White Mike, and Weathered Wayfarer. The Ranger has utility that just can't be bottled up and sold in a jar. 




4. Aven Mindcensor

It's killing me a little that I don't remember where I got this tech from, but that's okay.

Mindcensor is insanely good, having Flash and Flying, even without the last ability. Also there's a ton of cool points for his strange cat-owl-looking face, his hairy arms, and his dress (If you can see his arms, it's probably not a wizard robe). Can't be a girl with those arms either.

I'm not concerned with anything that isn't performance though, and this dude owns players on the battlefield. Interacting with opponents in strange ways like this really frustrates them because they want to Diabolic Tutor all the time. Though an owl-cat, he's a great HateBear. Saying, "NO!" with your owl-cat Wizard tranny is a surefire way to mess with their heads. Excellent utility, and all-around sweet design.

                                                                                                3. Mirror Entity

If you want beatdowns, Mirror Entity's got them. Hidden beneath his reflective physique is the ability to do whatever you want, long as you're willing to pay the mana.

Entity makes all your dudes better, especially the tokens that you're probably getting if you're playing white, and he turns them into big dudes. He's basically a three-drop threat that you have to deal with in a few turns or else you'll be dead. Like Spawnwrithe, but better.

This is a card I think you want in every game in Mono-White tokens. Provided of course, that you're making 1/1 dudes. Angels might not appreciate his talents.


 
2. Seht's Tiger

Last week, we talked about my favorite cat, so I don't want to repeat things.

We just need to take a few moments and bask in the glory of how cool it is to be able to dodge Mind Twist and Fireball, let alone someone's army of lethal damage.

Having a White Leyline or Fog is really a lot more useful than you expect. And if you don't believe me, you should take the Seht's Tiger Challenge. Test it for yourself.








                                                                                                 1. Stonecloaker

I don't how the "Once you go Gargoyle"
saying goes, but I imagine there's
a lot of sexual violence. Like, a ton of it.

GG played this against me the first time I saw it, and it was quite a blowout.

I sorta forgot about this card and was delightfully reminded about Mr. Gargoyle here from a really early episode of CommanderCast.

In the show, the guy called Stonecloaker "The Spanish Inquisition," because no one expects him. And it's true. I've shut down Reanimator decks, used him as a surprise blocker, even protected a Sun Titan from a pending Wrath.

Being white, Cloaker fills a lot of utility nicely. He's better than most graveyard hate because he can target whatever your opponent wants. He can also bounce himself back up for recursion. He's basically the Acidic Slime for White cards. As his semi-lude art suggests, Stonecloaker is Game-breaking value at a price everyone can afford. Just look at how he dominates his opponents into submission. That's basically what playing him is like.

He's quickly become the first card I slam into a white deck. Also, having flying and being a Gargoyle just make him just about the the perfect card. I say that cause there's probably something I haven't thought about. Right. Solemn Simulacrum.

I'm sorry Sad Robot. I hope I didn't make you sadder.

Any excuse I can make to plug
my sweet alters, amirite?
Honk if you're a "Hitchhiker."

Well, looks like I've got to find Marvin Simulacrum's
Box O' Xanax.

In the meantime, make sure you change the channel back to TGZ for Thursday and the world premiere of our newest writer, Mr. Johnny Confidant!

Til Then, Keep Talkin' Trash, Gloating, Rage Quitting, and Complaining at the Commander Table. Kidding. Please Don't.

But if your friends love that, then you're gonna love me.

By me, I did mean the "royal me," which will always and forever be Batman. 

Not actually me. But SWEAR TO ME anyway!

Pass....
-Ya Boi Landdrops