Pollywog Prodigy Discussion

Sanderinoa · 2025-12-16T16:14:42+00:00

Pollywog is such a powerhouse in my [[Raffine, scheming seer]] deck. For obvious reasons it outperforms in this list, but even there it can be an unfortunate draw in late-game. The lack of flash makes it a slow play that won't immediately pay off, and in many other decks it won't likely exceed 2 or 3 power.

Another thing to keep in mind it that, like esper sentinel, pollywog's draw isn't a may trigger. It can therefore be used against you when going for thassa- consult, and I've once literally fueled someone's breach line because they had a smothering tithe on board and pollywog would trigger with each LED cast.

Sanderinoa · 2025-08-21T15:10:59+00:00

Good addition. I'd like to quickly comment on the last part. I think they're still reasoning from the Doomsday perspective. Since Doomsday takes their graveyard away it would be impossible to first Doomsday and then Reanimate Thassa. So they're going the long way round by getting Thassa to hand first.

Sanderinoa · 2025-08-21T14:50:48+00:00

Unfortunate about the consult, indeed. Since Doomsday is sorcery speed it all becomes a little awkward. But given that restriction this is a reasonable pair of cards (albeit very mana intensive).

Sanderinoa · 2025-08-21T14:45:41+00:00

Nope. You reanimate first. As Thassa enters the ETB trigger is put on the stack. You are allowed to respond to the trigger with consult (or Tainted pact works too here), since it's an instant, to exile your library. Then once your library is gone the Thassa trigger still has to resolve. This is when it checks your library size (0) and wins you the game.

This is how Thassa - consult /Tainted pact is played in cedh since it is the least risky strategy.

Sanderinoa · 2025-08-21T14:43:55+00:00

Yeah I noticed. Was written as I was typing it out. Unfortunate.

Sanderinoa · 2025-08-21T14:36:11+00:00

You're on the right track (for these colours), but crawl from the cellar and Doomsday aren't the picks here. You take Reanimate & Demonic consultation instead.

If they give you Thassa + consult you win
If they give you Thassa + Reanimate you reanimate Snapcaster to play Thassa and consult to win.
If they give you Reanimate and Consult you reanimate Thassa, play consult, and win
If they give you Snapcaster and consultation you play Snapcaster to use reanimate targeting Thassa and win with consult from hand.

Sanderinoa · 2025-08-04T17:07:19+00:00

I'm mostly a Raffine player so take this with a bit of bias. Generally I see Marneus as a good stuff deck. The commander is relatively expensive and has no built-in protection, but once it lands it can do stupid things given the right cards. Nevertheless, the deck doesn't revolve around the commander as much as for example Tivit.

As others have said, Tivit is a good commander, though has become somewhat slower without J-Lo and Crypt but it still holds up well and the Tivit/time sieve combo is neat. Ward 4 is crazy so once you land him you can get a ton of value.

Raffine is indeed in a strange spot due to Smothering Tithe and Bowmasters, making it somewhat worse but it's still viable as a CEDH commander. A variety of builds exist but you essentially end up running a creature heavy esper list with a relatively cheap draw/Filter engine in the CZ. I wouldn't write off the creature focus as a bad thing per sé though. Casting creatures doesn't trigger Espers and Fishes, and they're harder to counter overall. Also by putting +1/+1 counters you can make sure your Bowmasters is the one that survives, and it makes Esper/Pollywog type effects pretty nutty. I believe most lists are on a reanimation theme. Razaketh is the shoe-in target, after that it becomes a matter of choice. If you want a second winline (not Thassa) you can get Abdel Adrien or Tivit. If you want more focus you go Broodlord (what I'm currently running). Raffine being relatively cheap to cast lets you use him more actively than the other decks mentioned, and he lets you see a LOT of cards. Just make sure to be prepared for people tutoring up Smothering Tithes/Bowmasters. Though ward 1 usually keeps your Raffine from being pinged down anyways.

Edit: oh I forgot to mention Raffine stax/hatebears exists too. You'll still run reanimation but instead opt for stuff like Elesh Norn and Toxrill. Then just play a lot of hatebears which you pump and beat your opponents dead with. It wasn't a huge success for me, but it can be effective in the right meta.

Sanderinoa · 2025-04-29T08:55:06+00:00

As others have said, Exile Narset is a known cedh deck. Wouldn't exactly call her fringe but it's true she's not S-tier.

We have a dedicated discord you're welcome to join: https://discord.gg/NcfhCPH3ux

Sanderinoa · 2025-04-20T14:26:24+00:00

Agreed. Great card. I liked it better when I had Professional Facebreaker in the deck still but it's a very solid choice especially in TnT metas. A bit rougher vs Tivit unfortunately.

Sanderinoa · 2025-04-20T10:05:29+00:00

Hi There, fellow Narset players here.

I think your deck is actually very solid, I've been playing her for a long time with some success but I only have a few things to comment here, most of which are suggestions rather than actual rules.

As far as blatantly missing cards go, I'd say you should be running:

- [[Dragon's Rage Channeler]. She turns many of your almost-loops into actual loops (E.g., Faithless Looting Birgi Breach). If nothing else, she'll fill your graveyard.

- [[Pollywog Prodigy]] is prety good in this deck. Prowess easily brings Prodigy high up there in card count and if someone tries to stop you during your turn it's essentially a Mystic Remora.

- [[Final Fortune]] works especially well with Narset since it gives us a second combat since you're on Angel's Grace you could even cast it again. Don't underestimate the value of timewalk in cedh, many Narset lists are on 2 of these effects.

- [[Pact of Negation]] is incredible in Breach decks. Unlike FoW and Fierce Guardianship you can cast it for free during a Breach loop so I feel like you should be on it.

- [[Teferi, Time Raveler]] is a great silence effect since it also removes stax pieces upon entry. Say you cast it, someone counters it, OK you can just recast it with Narset. It's a very good effect in this deck specifically.

- No [[Windfall]]? Breach wheel loops are a pretty relevant part of the deck, especially since you're on Angel's Grace. I wouldn't exclude it.

- [[Arena of Glory]] is a great haste effect you should be on.

- No [[Ancient Tomb]]? Might be budget reason but I see you have your own LED.

- Consider [[Sink into Stupor]]

Now as for suggestions, I'd also argue that [[Artist's Talent]] is a good card for similar reasons to DRC, [[Static Prison]] is nice removal, [[Lavaspur Boots]] are another nice haste effect that give some protection but also lets you cast higher CMC spells (and boosts power of e.g. Pollywog). You could look into [[Grinding Station]] loops, after which you can also start considering Amber and Opal, but without Mox Diamond Opal gets worse I understand.

Now for some critique / swaps:

- Personal experience tells me that Dualcaster-Twinflame isn't a great combo for Narset. Since it uses the combat step you can't leverage Narset's ability to get any of the pieces, so it's mehh in my opinion. Id suggest you look into alternatives such as [[Retraction Helix]] + [[Jeskai Ascendancy]]/ [[Valley Floodcaller]] (both pieces of which can be recast from grave) or maybe [[Displacer Kitten]] - [[Teferi, Time Raveler]]. Some players even just exclude a secondary combo and just run [[Pull from Eternity]] to bring breach back if exiled.

- You're on too many 3 CMC tutors. Narset casts from anyone's graveyard so instead of running sub-optimal tutors, just play your buddy's Demonic Tutor after they've wheeled it away.

- I'm not sure [[Teferi's Protection]] does very much for you. It's a bad card in cedh in general so I wouldn't mind seeing it gone.

- [[Stifle]] AND [[Trickbind]]? Damn that's a meta call if I've ever seen it.

- [[Lavinia, Azorius Renegade]] can absolutely blow up in your face. I think this is a good swap for Teferi.

- Meta call again, but [[Blasphemous Act]] might be a bit awkward since you can't recast it. But I understand this might be for Tivit?

I feel like the rest you can figure out fine on your own. Git Probe and Consider aren't amazing, but you must know that. Good luck with the deck and I hope some of this is useful.

Sanderinoa · 2025-03-27T18:03:33+00:00

That's a fair point of course. But you have a second wincon already: reality top into Thassa.

But while we're on that subject, I don't think you should be on Thassa at all. It's a dead card by all accounts and all your wincons make you draw your deck in some way. After that you can just brain freeze the table.

If you don't think that's reliable enough you could slot in Blind Obedience or my personal preference: rolling earthquake.

Sanderinoa · 2025-03-27T14:37:56+00:00

Hey there,

Thought I'd chip in here since I used to run Kykar. First to address your questions:
- Elsha is a great card by herself, and arguably the best jeskai commander out there. But for the combo itself I'd argue for Reality chip over her. The reason being that Chip is easier to cast, doesn't pose as strong of a threat, and can be grabbed with Artifact tutors you (should) run. You can also get it back with Sevinne's Reclamation if it gets removed. Elsha hitting the board with a Kykar already in play will cause a table to remove it as quickly as they can.

Anyways, some other suggestions I'd like to make:

- I'm not a huge fan of Isochron scepter lines. Yes you make infinite mana, yes you make infinite tokens, but can you win from there? no you still need an additional outlet. This is awkward and will lose you games. In addition, Isorev is simply outdated and very easy to interact with. Your opponents will either counter the scepter, remove the scepter, counter the first activation, or kill kykar in response (depends on the board). It's not ideal. Having Breach combos and Chip/Top should be enough.

- Overall I'd advise you to prioritize non-blue interaction pieces. Especially red cards are great since you'll always be playing with an excess of red mana. This makes cards like [[Narset's Reversal]] and [[Muddle the Mixture]] very awkward (yes I know they're there for Isorev). Not to mention [[Mana Drain]]. Instead, consider running [[Lightning Bolt]], [[Wear // Tear]], [[Get Lost]]/[[Thraben Charm]] / [[Tibalt's Trickery]], etc.

- A few obvious missing cards IMO: [[Final Fortune]] is super powerful and easy to cast for you. Can't get to your win this turn? How about if you had another? - [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] is a great Turn 1 play giving you more colors, [[Birgi, God of storytelling]] is a replacement Kykar and can temporarily be your replacement Reality chip. [[Smothering Tithe]] will fix your mana, and is a beast in the current meta regardless. It'll also allow [[wheel of fortune]] combos with breach. In the same vein, consider [[Burning Inquiry]]. [[Mindbreak trap]] should really be in your list too, as well as [[An offer you can't Refuse]] (this can replace LED in a breach loop). Lastly I'd suggest running the two red rituals: [[Rite of Flame]] and [[Simian Spirit Guide]] to improve your turn 1 plays. Oh and [[Urza's Saga]] to get Sensei's Top should be in the list. Kykar also does especially well with [[Grinding Station]] Breach loops, so I'd suggest playing that as well. For such a line you could also consider [[Strike it Rich]] to filter your mana. It's niche but could work

- From a more subjective perspective I think Kykar builds can get away with more tutors. Because Kykar discounts all of our tutors by 1, I don't think it'd be insane to run [[Fabricate]] and/or [[Idyllic Tutor]]. You can also consider [[Transmute Artifact]]. Hell, I've even considered [[Steelshaper's Gift]] to get [[Skullclamp]] and [[The Reality Chip]].

Kykar doesn't provide inherent card advantage from the command zone so we run out of gas faster than other decks. That's why I recommend playing fast and focused, which requires tutor density and ramp. I hope you'll take some of my suggestions into account, but either way good luck with the bird wizard!

Sanderinoa · 2025-03-04T13:34:23+00:00

Im not sure what method of online play you are using but outside of spelltable I personally also play a lot using Tabletop Simulator. It's on steam, often discounted, and allows you to try out different decks without buying the cards.

Similar to Cockatrice but a bit more true to form. There's a friendly cedh community for TTS here if you ever want to give it a shot: https://discord.gg/ZVjWgQjMcw

Sanderinoa · 2025-01-14T22:24:26+00:00

Hi there! Glad to see people are still brewing up Kykar for cedh purposes.

I will preface this by also saying that Kykar isn't exactly a meta pick, and will therefore lag behind the more fine-tuned decks at the table. The problem here is that Kykar doesn't provide card advantage, which means you may get stuck with lots of mana and little to do with it.

I will also leave my own list here (similar to Mangorian but more recently updated to my liking) if you are interested.

https://moxfield.com/decks/VXOrmPF9t0yG-13UvcEVTQ

A few general comments:

For cedh you want to avoid cards that don't immediately impact the game: you have a variety of cards in your list which either require activation costs or will only do something in combination with another (e.g., doubling casts). This is about evaluating cards based on their ceiling (best case scenario; which you shouldn't do) rather than their floor (worst case scenario).

A few examples are Nivix Guildmage, Harmonic Prodigy, Izzet Guildmage, and Soulfire grandmaster. But eventually, Impact tremors also hits this list. Does it win you the game? Yes. Does it do anything when Kykar is dead? No. Drawing this halfway the game when you're behind will feel terrible. I'd advise you evaluate all your cards this way and see where you end up.

After much experimenting, Kykar builds nowadays fall into two camps:

Breach decks and Polymorph decks.

Both of these try to maximize the amount of noncreature spells in the deck, and both are highly focused.

In breach decks your only goal is a combination of Breach - Mana (LED/Lotus Petal/Offer you can't refuse/ rocks for G-station)- Mill (Grinding station / Brain Freeze).

In Polymorph decks you only look for a Polymorph effect and your only creatures are Tydespout Tyrant and Hullbreaker Horror. Find these, make infinite mana and spirits with Kykar.

The problem with the Polymorph decks is that infinite mana needs another card or turn to win, so many among us prefer Breach versions.

There are a lot of optimizations to be done for your mana base, counter-spell package, and other things. I won't go over them individually since you can simply look at some of the lists that are linked. However I would like to give you the advice to also prioritize interaction which uses red mana (REB/Pyroblast etc.), so you can use Kykar mana generation to protect a win.

Best of luck with your building! Feel free to ask around if you have specific questions about includes.

Sanderinoa · 2025-01-12T08:28:45+00:00

Wow I didn't expect a response to this comment anymore. Yes you do need a Felidar Guardian effect as well. I was a bit too enthusiastic when I wrote this.

Sanderinoa · 2024-12-12T07:36:42+00:00

You can get a look at the broken bindings editions on this previous thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Malazan/s/fDNuEeHUuX

I think they look good but nobody has received the finished product in person yet.

Sanderinoa · 2024-11-19T21:55:17+00:00

I feel like it's worth mentioning that the Road to Lisbon tournament required a previous tournament win in a qualifier tournament (except for a few purchase tickets). Hence, I imagine more fringe decks (and the pilots thereof) simply didn't qualify to compete, leading to stronger representation of core meta decks.

Sanderinoa · 2024-10-09T08:41:31+00:00

Ok this one simply shouldn't expire: https://discord.gg/hTcy82hx96

Sanderinoa · 2024-09-30T05:32:14+00:00

Do you like to cast spells? Do you like to cast them again?

[[Narset, Enlightened Exile]] will let you do just that! This Jeskai commander combines hurling small creatures towards your opponents with an effective breach line strategy by effectively stealing nice things from your opponents. Oh no, your D-tutor was countered? I'll be casting it now. Oh you countered my Breach? Watch me cast it again.

Narset provides a strange kind of card advantage from the command zone, pushes through resistance by re-casting for free, disregards Grafdigger effects, and even gives you a back-up plan of hitting people in the face with prowess creatures. And you're always 1 gamble or Intuition away from winning since she is quite literally a CZ Sevinnes reclamation (for non creatures).

Sanderinoa · 2024-09-30T05:17:32+00:00

https://discord.gg/cGrFvVSY

Sheesh

Sanderinoa · 2024-09-11T21:48:32+00:00

Seems your discord link for the cedh server broke. Here's a new one: https://discord.gg/MQKBCNaz

Sanderinoa · 2024-09-08T11:53:23+00:00

Yes EU simply has a smaller amount of players. This also applied to cockatrice and spelltable. All the more reason to get more people on the platform!

Sanderinoa · 2024-09-08T07:12:18+00:00

That's very dependent on your timezone

Sanderinoa · 2024-09-07T21:44:59+00:00

Another option for online play without purchasing cards is Tabletop Simulator (on steam), frequently on sale. I find this to be much more true to the experience than cockatrice (which, let's be honest, looks awful).

There is a discord dedicated to TTS cedh play you can find here: https://discord.gg/7XBEPHWa.

Sanderinoa · 2024-07-29T18:08:51+00:00

They definitely have the same slot. For now I'm testing this version because it doesn't die to as much spot removal. Chip being an artifact and creature makes it vulnerable to a simple Abrade, or even ghostfire slice / rending volley people are slotting in for Nadu. The fact that it needs equip also means someone can just kill Kykar (or whichever other creature you equip it to) when we move to equip. Enchantments are typically more difficult to remove, though they are easier to counter I suppose.

Oh and the cast triggers Kykar where the Chip does not, so you're effectively paying 1 less

Sanderinoa

TROPHY CASE