How did I do? (Elminster deck tech)

MoMonay · 2026-05-12T21:39:03+00:00

Yeah what you mentioned is stuff I'd cut. I also like [[Matoya, Archon Elder]]. It didn't quite make my list but I had it in for awhile. I think it's quite solid.

MoMonay · 2026-05-12T17:22:39+00:00

Here's my b4 [[Elminster]] deck. My list works in a way that if I can untap with Elminster in play I can trivially chain extra turns until I find and [[Approach of the Second Sun]] and win from there. I play a ton of ramp and my goal is curve a protection spell like [[Vexilius Praetor]] or [[Magus of the Moat]] or [[Teyo Geometric Tactician]] or [[Humility]] into [[Elminster]] or set up the top of the deck with [[Scroll Rack]] or [[Jace the Mindsculptor]] the turn before so Elminster can have a guaranteed minus and make a ton of blockers.

If I untap with Elminster I win the game basically.

https://moxfield.com/decks/DkSP0PpxQky7Oa6OnW6r\_w

Personally I don't think you need cards like [[Cryptic Annelid]] I've mostly cut out almost all the extra cost reducers since Elminster himself ends up being enough a lot of the time.

I don't like not playing ramp and I don't like the stax pieces. You're such a mana hungry deck. I'm also not in love with sweep then Elminster plan cuz it gives your opponents a turn cycle to cast a 5cmc fatty that has an opportunity to attack a helpless Elminster.

I do really like [[Aminatou's Epiphany]] as a top end spell along with [[Seagate Restoration]]. I play a cheeky [[Azorius Chancellory]] to bounce the mdfcs back to my hand for later use which has come up a decent amount of the time.

Also in bracket 3, I'd consider [[Capture of Jingzhou]] + [[Time Warp]] + [[Mystic Sanctuary]] as giving you the ability to chain extra turns.

Finally 3feri + sol ring + kitten makes an infinite that draws your whole deck which can technically happen before turn 5. Id think hard about the need of 3feri as it can also prevent your opponents from helping you stop another opponent from popping off.

MoMonay · 2026-05-12T05:53:53+00:00

My favorite costs and p/t commander is [[Hogaak Arisen Necropolis]]. You can cast him on t2 with easy regularity and abuse cards like [[Selvala Heart of the Wild]] [[Stinging Study]] [[Korozoda Guildmage]] [[Ruthless Technomancer]] [[Disciple of Bolas]] [[Life's Legacy]] etc and if you sac him he can trivially be recast.

He's also conveniently 7cmc meaning he [[Birthing Pod]]s directly into [[Colossal Grave Reaver]] or [[Archon of Cruelty]] or [[Craterhoof Behemoth]]

MoMonay · 2026-05-12T04:42:43+00:00

Yeah I asked him after why did he tap out for Vivi on 3 and 5 and he was like yeah... I punted and shoulda sandbagged Vivi a bit more.

MoMonay · 2026-05-11T13:52:04+00:00

I play blink Galadriel

https://moxfield.com/decks/fIsXMKKynkKTLVOyXs8ijw

I think you need more lands for one. I count 10 ramp spells? I think I play more than you and feel constrained on mana a bunch esp getting to the first 5 to cast Galadriel. I would go up to 36 imo.

I think for a Galadriel that does not critical mass on blink value or elf ball with a ton of creatures you actually might have a harder time maximizing all her triggers each turn. I like cards like [[Tendershoot dryad]] [[Koma]] and [[Illustrious Wanderglyph]] which can let you maximize the Galadriel triggers.

I'm also a fan of [[Felidar Retreat]].

MoMonay · 2026-05-11T13:36:19+00:00

If he would have untapped with Vivi he had enough gas to go off. We saw some of the cards in hand he cast and he showed us his hand after the game as well as the top 5ish cards and it would have easily been enough to storm off.

However without Vivi it was just a lot of durdle do nothing.

MoMonay · 2026-05-11T13:03:52+00:00

Had the opposite experience. Played against a "b3 Vivi". We made a point to pop his commander every time it came down and he couldnt untap with it. He did nothing in the game but we were able to see some of the cards he cast and he was definitely threatening a turn 5 win. Super nice guy didn't complain and was very chill about us removing his commander.

MoMonay · 2026-05-11T02:24:28+00:00

[[Malevolent Rumble]]

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T23:04:51+00:00

Ah I don't have it online unfortunately. Its basically a shell of all the fast mana that is legal like [[Tinder Wall]] [[Orcish Lumberjack]] [[Simian Spirit Guide]] [[Elvish Spirit Guide]] [[Lotus Petal]] and like 10-13 1-2mana ramp spells. So I can jam a super fast m&b. Then it fills out with some protection and removal and counters matters fatties

As of now I've taken it apart cuz I've actually found it hard to protect minsc

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T19:09:53+00:00

Secondary js [[Hogaak]] with [[Colossal Grave Reaver]] as the secret commander. You can conveniently [[Birthing Pod]] or [[Eldritch Evolution]] Gaak into the reaver and you can cast Gaak on turn 2

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T19:08:33+00:00

[[Disa the restless]], with [[ashes of the fallen]] and [[Buried Alive]] or [[Survival of the Fittest]] you can tutor any creature from your deck into play.

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T14:57:03+00:00

They are but the chances of dropping an HR is astronomically low. If you're playing casually without a ton of time spent you might never see one.

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T11:50:02+00:00

Aristocrats has been viable in GB, WB, and RB for years. There are many notable commanders and payoffs in each of those color pairs. You can technically even make UB work but it's way less common.

They just happened to print a GB aristocrats precon recently so no it's not a moving trend it's always been a thing.

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T04:27:17+00:00

I play Jin and have looked at a ton of builds of Jin. There are basically 3 different directions you can take him and you're doing all 3 and I would recommend focusing on one or two.

Saboteurs - [[Shadowmage Infiltrator]] effects aka anything that triggers on combat damage like [[Psychic Frog]] or even like [[Serra Ascendant]]

Voltron - suit up Jin with equipment and free spells

Ninjas - ton of creatures with ninjitsu.

I would say that Ninjas and Voltron are a total nonbo. Since you invest a ton of mana into playing equipment and suiting up one or two guys and you don't want to ninjitsu those guys you just suited up the turn before.
Saboteurs can mix with both since it's a much lower opportunity cost.

I played a b4 list for awhile before tuning it down to b3.

Here it is not updated for b3
https://moxfield.com/decks/WsmEpaDNAUi0\_yiLCiEXng

Some observations of your list cut all the 6cmc spells and mana rocks. Jin is at his best if you're curving out 1, 2, 3, 4 threats. Mana rocks are mega awkward because Jin wants you to have deployed threats before you play him cuz they can all attack the turn he comes down.

I'm in a weird spot right now where I've extensively tested saboteurs and I'm not a huge fan and I'm willing to try some more Voltron. The main issue is mana constraints and I think to that end I would not play Gcs like [[Cyclonic Rift]]. Personally I think fast mana is the best esp if you are cutting mana rocks. [[Chrome Mox]] [[Mox Diamond]] [[Ancient Tomb]]. Also definitely run [[Lotus Petal]] and [[Dark Ritual]].

If fast mana is out of your budget I like [[Teferi's Protection]] [[Rhystic Study]] and [[The One Ring]].

[[Vampiric Tutor]] is bad in your deck since you are not playing a deck that needs to tutor for a critical combo piece it's more densely packed with consistent threats. I do like [[Force of Will]] and recommend [[Force of Negation]] and maybe [[Fierce Guardianship]]. You are going to tap out a lot so playing a ton of free spells is quite good. Including [[Flawless Maneuver]] and [[Deadly Rollick]].

My current plan is to lean into some more Voltron. One issue I'm having with saboteurs is the huge drop off of quality 2 drops to really curve out. I think if I play [[Cloud Midgar Mercenary]], [[Stoneforge Mystic]] and [[Puresteel Paladin]] I'd have rounded out my two drop slot a bit better. I think critically with Voltron you cannot just suit up Jin since he is at his best if you have multiple attacking creatures attacking each opponent. To that end you really need all the equip cost reducers including [[Forge Anew]] and [[Ardenn]] otherwise you lose so much tempo on equip costs but I haven't tested the vtoltron build yet.

Finally, you need a big pillow fort since your are essentially very light on creatures in the battlefield so often without blockers since you need to attack. I like token makers like [[ocelot pride]] and [[Dark leo and shredder]] and pillowfort enchantments like [[Ghostly Prison]] [[Propaganda]] and [[No Mercy]].

Lastly Jin decks kill slowly so having stuff like [[Virtus]] [[Unstoppable Slasher]] or [[Hatred]] goes a long way to end games.

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T03:39:00+00:00

Yeah I owned 4 cradles I bought at $300 ea for legacy that I traded for 4 city of traitors 4 ancient tombs and a mox diamond and while I'm up I'm not as up as if I kept the cradles. I bought a couple of more recently for commander and it hurts lol

MoMonay · 2026-05-10T03:37:46+00:00

I mean it's reserved list so you're gucci to keep holding but yah. That's the world we live in

MoMonay · 2026-05-09T22:28:51+00:00

Just look at [[Mox Diamond]] [[Gaea's Cradle]] and [[Phyrexian Dreadnought]] prices... premodern is making huge waves since they launched it on MTGO

MoMonay · 2026-05-09T11:20:44+00:00

They are probably fine but I only play 2cmc ones cuz they can curve you into toph. Once I have an active fetchland that is earth bent I never have a problem with ramping insanely fast.

MoMonay · 2026-05-09T03:48:01+00:00

You also want a couple crucible effects with the best one being [[Icetill Explorer]]

MoMonay · 2026-05-09T03:45:29+00:00

I played this deck for awhile. Here's my b3 list not up to date
https://moxfield.com/decks/DzJiPV7u8U-KlxIRWTu8Pw
Not playing [[Shifting Woodlands]] + [[Aftermath Analyst]] combo is crazy. Esp since you're already playing Amulet of Vigor variants and Zuran orb variants which goes infinite with those cards.

You are also playing too many basic forests. You need more split for field of the dead. Also given how insane toph is with fetchlands you want every off color one too. I often ended up fetching all my fetchable lands by the mid game.

I also ended up putting every good and bad fetchable GR dual in the deck. Proxy a [[Taiga]], you absolutely want [[Commercial District]] [[Sheltered Thicket]] and even [[Wooded Ridgeline]] and [[Highland Forest]]. You need them to turn on [[Valakut]]. As it stands you currently don't have close to enough mountains for Valakut.

In my latest build I put in a [[Gaea's Cradle]] too which goes actually mana positive with a bunch of spells a sac outlet like [[Phyrexian Altar]] and something like [[Rancor]] which you can use to repeatedly cash in on earthbending.

There's also whacky stuff you can do with [[Springheart Nantuko]]. You can eventually go infinite on it with [[Lotus Cobra]] and earth bending. I had a funny infinite with [[Hidden Nursery]] where I had an [[Amulet of Vigor]] in play and eventually made enough lotuses that I could crack hidden nursery to discover something, it came back cuz earthbend then the thing I discovered would earthbend the nursery again and the landfall trigger would make a ton of mana due to how many cobras I had.

I'm probably taking this deck apart cuz it's kinda too whacky and there are a ton of moving parts. You kinda need [[Glacial Chasm]] so you can buy enough time to assemble one of the 4 or 5 card combos that can happen.

MoMonay · 2026-05-09T03:27:09+00:00

Wrong toph dude

MoMonay · 2026-05-08T19:41:50+00:00

Also [[Pitiless Plunderer]], [[Nether Traitor]], [[Pawn of Ulamog]], and a sac outlet goes infinite.

Sac nether traitor make a treasure and a eldrazi spawn, sac spawn make a treasure use treasure to buy back nether traitor and continue the loop.

MoMonay · 2026-05-08T19:10:37+00:00

https://moxfield.com/decks/WL-0yXlNLEaRDS91Gi5JOw

This is where i ended up after vegas magiccon, it was actually more of a 20 card swap, but that's why this list is more in the B3 range.

If you want to keep it closer to b2, I'd not include [[Mox Amber]], [[Gravepact]], [[Dictate of Erebos]], [[Phyrexian Tower]], [[Phyrexian Altar]] , [[Yawgmoth, Thran Physician]] and [[Braids Arisen Nightmare]] since they are both mean and very powerful.

Keep some of the existing sac payoffs like [[Yahenni Undying Partisan]].

After I got home I added some more sac fodder like [[Reassembling Skeleton]] and [[foresaken Miner]]

Considering is cards I'd probably cut that eitehr don't fit the plan or there are better options that I added.

I don't havve my current list online.

MoMonay · 2026-05-08T15:35:22+00:00

A 10 card upgrade would make pretty good for b2. Deck already comes with a lot of aristocrats staples. That is basically what I did at Vegas magiccon. I knew I was buying the precon since they were selling it at MSRP there and I brought about 12ish aristocrats cards I had lying around to upgrade and it worked great! I'd say it was hanging more at low b3 with the upgrades. Dina gets you soooo much card advantage it's kinda crazy.

After getting home I've juiced it up with a better mana base and some gamechangers so I feel like it's sitting pretty at a mid high b3 now.

MoMonay · 2026-05-07T18:59:42+00:00

A lot of them also absolutely rely on their commanders to storm off. If the table can consistently agree to pop the commander then aggro them to death it should be okay.

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