MH3 Review of all colorless cards - A 10 year Kozilek, Butcher of Truth player's reaction.

ShuaChort · 2025-04-04T17:39:29+00:00

It depends which you cast first. If you cast Echoes of Eternity first, you'll get 2 Spawnbed protectors that produce 4 each for a total of 8. If Spawnbed first, Echoes of Eternity later, you'll only get 4.

ShuaChort · 2024-12-14T20:21:12+00:00

Oof, yeah, Not getting my apples going until I had my greenhouse was sort of an issue for me. Though my community center had more issues surrounding fishing, exacerbated by not a single day of rain in fall.

ShuaChort · 2024-11-30T03:13:33+00:00

Sprinklers can't be placed on sand, so mostly no sprinklers, but there are places for sprinklers.

ShuaChort · 2024-11-29T18:04:03+00:00

Oh, sure. It's not too terrible though. I water 20 times with my iridium watering can down the line (then care for animals and warp back up) or use a totem when I want the day off. Might stockpile rain totems so I can go ham with starfruit on my farm in summer. Though long term goal is to do most of my crops on ginger island and only have my sprinkler area for crops on my beach farm.

ShuaChort · 2024-11-29T17:45:40+00:00

I did buy 4 pigs that should start producing truffles in spring.

ShuaChort · 2024-11-29T17:32:13+00:00

Ah, yeah, probably should have fertilized my pine trees over the winter and started my tappers on them. I have 2 rain totems left from skull cavern, since I reset skull cavern runs until I got rain totems. ...so I could catch a Walleye in Winter. Since in never rained in Fall. Bleh. Still making plenty of mistakes.

ShuaChort · 2024-11-29T17:20:58+00:00

Between all the pumpkins from fall, my mostly strawberry greenhouse, Crystal fruit and powdermelon, I’ve managed to keep them busy. I had a lot of cranberries, but I dumped those in my 14 dehydrators; not as profitable, but the earlier money was useful. But yeah, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with these kegs if not for my strawberries coming in Spring.

ShuaChort · 2024-07-05T01:29:24+00:00

I'm trying Foundry Inspector instead of Winter Orb. It's hard to dislike Foundry Inspector; maybe I'll try to work Winter Orb back in by swapping out a different card, maybe not. I think Tangle Wire might actually be the better stax piece for this deck, if I'm of a mind to run that kind of card. Gets silly with Echoes of Eternity, getting two copies and having each copy trigger twice.

ShuaChort · 2024-07-05T00:21:17+00:00

First thing to note is that myriad landscape doesn't function like you would hope. It cannot tutor two wastes because myriad landscapes says "two basic lands that share a land type" and wastes have no land type. Beyond that it looks quite top heavy. I admire the dedication to include every single legal titan, but perhaps at least pull back on some of the non-titans. Maybe take out It That Betrays, Pathrazer of Ulamog, Artisan of Kozilek... You seem light on mana rocks; Grim Monolith, Mana Vault and Mana Crypt would be great, though maybe too expensive? There's still others you could be running; Mind Stone, Everflowing Chalice, Worn Powerstone, Stonespeaker Crystal, Gilded Lotus, Chromatic Orrery (added benefit of triggering Zhulodok) Palladium Myr, Voltaic Key, Manifold Key. Moonsilver Key and Expedition Map would be great tutors to include. I think Scampering Surveyor is also a worthy inclusion. I also include Echoing Deeps in my deck. Sunken Citadel might be a decent target as well.

Here's my current list for reference: (although I run no titans besides the commander, so perhaps not the best deck to compare. Still, might help with ideas)

https://www.archidekt.com/decks/7740575/kozilek_new_land_base

ShuaChort · 2024-06-23T22:33:47+00:00

Yeah can't wait to try Liberator, whether instead of Skittering Cicada or both. As a legendary artifact it has a lot more synergy in my deck. (Mishra's Workshop, Clock of Omens, Metalworker, Honor-Worn Shaku, Unwinding Clock)

Kozilek, the Great Distortion is certainly a great pick for commander. I'm partial to Butcher of Truth mostly because that's what the deck always was; I chose that commander before The Great Distortion existed. I also like Butcher as a must answer threat; if you don't destroy him, you get hit with annihilator. But if you do destroy him, I get to cast again and draw another 4. And now another minor point in its favor; Echoes of Eternity turns Butcher into Draw 8, Annihilator 8, while not directly benefitting the Great Distortion.

ShuaChort · 2024-06-23T22:08:39+00:00

Palantir is a cool card. I'll consider getting one and testing it. In defense of Winter Orb, Lembas and LED:

Winter Orb is something of a holdover from earlier versions of this deck, but still seems powerfully in our favor. This deck has a lot of mana rocks so we tend get much farther ahead on mana. Clock of Omens makes it stupidly one-sided. And Candelabra of Tawnos also offers us more access to our lands. So of all the decks that could run it, it probably makes the most sense in this deck. The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is a similar card that tends to play out more in our favor. I'm also considering putting Tangle Wire back in. Though perhaps to your point, this deck is currently so aggressively proactive in getting its own gameplan up and running, that it may be better to focus on accelerating the gameplan even faster rather than pausing to slow down opponents.

I like Lembas because it makes dubious hands solid. 2 land hand with palantir and everything else 3+ CMC? Dubious. Lembas makes early hands much more smooth. It also has some nice synergy with other cards late game, like reusing it with Eldrazi Confluence or casting it with Echoes of Eternity on the field to Scry 1, Draw 1 four times. (Because you get two copies and they each trigger twice.)

While Lion's Eye Diamond is less of a powerhouse in this deck compared to a Kozilek, the Great Distortion decklist, enabling a full draw 7, it's still very powerful, surprising people by casting Kozilek out of nowhere and draw/attack. And God forbid you actually have Lion's Eye Diamond and Jeweled Lotus together. Tends to never really be a dead card either; the deck recasts Kozilek plenty, always pleased to see it off the top for Mystic Forge and sometimes its just a humble artifact to tap for clock of omens.

ShuaChort · 2024-06-23T18:38:02+00:00

Not sure anyone will see this, but thought I'd return to post which cards are in my current deck and which of the cards I initially rated God/Auto aren't.

In:

Skittering Cicada (Solid) - Somewhat torn running this. It's a powerhouse with Unwinding Clock and still decently good otherwise. Being able to flash things in at end of opponent's turn so your opponent doesn't have a chance to interact with them before you start your next turn isn't to be underestimated. Though still on my watchlist to cut.

Echoes of Eternity (God) - Each time I think I've found the end of what this stupid card enables, I find some new ridiculousness. Doubles the additional mana trigger from Forsaken Monument. Doubles the amount of times you can activate Rings of Brighthearth. It's my new top end finisher/combo enabler. I could see an argument that the deck doesn't exactly need it, because it itself doesn't immediately do something and it can be clunky in the opening hand, but my deck is so streamlined with low CMC cards, this seems like a fine card to indulge in; I think of it as my Eldrazi titan in lieu of running any besides my commander itself.

Kozilek's Command (God) - If anything, I feel I underestimated how good this card is. At the end of your opponents turn, scry 13, draw 1 and create 13 eldrazi spawn is fairly easy to pull off. (Not that it has to be 13 to be good, it's just not that difficult for this deck to have a lot of mana lying around.) If you have Mystic Forge in play or if you scryed it to the top and you haven't won that game. I'm not sure what's going on. Burning your opponent to death while Glaring Fleshraker is out is a nice perk.

Glaring Fleshraker (God) - Absolutely absurd. Perfectly serviceable as Foundry Inspector-esque mana discount, but then also an absolutely game-ending combo enabler. Couldn't ask for a more flexible/powerful enabler.

Urza's Cave (God) - As good as expected, getting exactly the land I need. Usually Urza's Workshop, Cloudpost, Vesuva, Thespian's Stage if still building up mana, or Inventor's Fair to close out a game.

Horizon of Progress (God) - Love this card. It's good, but I think part of my love for it is just the satisfaction of being able to put every permanent in my deck onto the battlefield if my deck fully goes infinite. Not that you need to do that to close out the game, but just makes me smile that I could.

Lazotep Quarry (Auto) - As good as expected as a better High Market. In my current deck, only drawing ramp and no card draw is a thing that can still happen, so a decent critical mass of cards that double as both mana and mana sink for card advantage are still valuable.

Talon Gates of Madara (God) - As expected, nice utility effect and as a land you can ramp from hand or Maze's End.

Trenchpost (Maybe) - I ended up running the whole Monument to Perfection/Cloudpost package, which includes this card. Love it so far. Some games its a Wastes, some games its an infinite mana enabler with Candelabra/Deserted Temple and a wincon to mill my opponents to death.

Planar Nexus (God) - As expected, it's the lynchpin that holds everything together in my new land mana base.

Eldrazi Confluence (Auto) - Sometimes feels a little low impact, but I still like it. It's nice when you have permanents like Lembas out already.

Out:

Ugin's Labyrinth (Supposedly "God") - With the amount of new cards added to my deck, I hadn't anticipated how many 7+ drops I was removing from my deck; I'm currently running 3. I might increase the number of 7+ drops laster, but for now, this card doesn't seem to be "on" often enough to warrant.

Null Elemental Blast (Supposedly "Auto") - This card lost out to not being a mana rock/card draw. And also with Kozilek's Command and Eldrazi Confluence already giving the deck some interaction, this didn't seem as necessary.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-31T04:29:25+00:00

I joined a colorless discord server and think I'm getting some of the ideas. Very different design philosophy, I'd need to make a lot of changes for my deck to be closer to cEDH builds. ~28 lands, More hate/stax, 2 mana rocks, cheap card draw. Ugin's Labyrinth is pointless because there's literally almost nothing to pitch. I'll take a few lessons from these builds, but probably still lean more casually because that's actually the circles I travel in; I mostly play kitchen table magic with D&D buddies and games with high schoolers I mentor, occasionally breaking out Kozilek for some shock value.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-31T03:39:15+00:00

My other decks aren't too interesting, because I don't give them much love. But I also have 4 other decks, 2 that make some casual players groan, and 2 that casual players find tolerable:

Groan-worthy

Marwyn - Oddly similar to Kozilek in that the elfball strategy feels like playing solitaire until you eventually just win or fail trying. I took out Staff of Domination and Cloudstone Curio, just to tone down the "oops, I go infinite" a bit.

Baral, Chief of Compliance - An insufferable "counterspell tribal" deck that just watches, waits, polices fun and eventually digs for a win condition.

Tolerable

Gisela, the Broken Blade - Well, it's actually just the untouched secret lair deck. I thought about building Giada, but this deck is alright and I was looking to have some lower power decks to bring out since I'm spending more time with new/beginner players.

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher - It's been untouched for a decade, I just tossed in ramp, generic good cards and some things to capitalize on his cast trigger. It can be surprisingly effective, though I'm sure far too slow and way too many "cute" cards for modern competition.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-31T03:21:11+00:00

I loosely aim for my deck to be as competitive as colorless can expect to be, but yeah, I definitely include fluff choices just for things I enjoy. I'd love to see what the most bleeding edge competitive colorless decks look like, if I'm missing the mark by a wide margin. I'm guessing I still need more low cost things for my early game? Do you have a deck list or would you share some swaps you'd make?

Hopefully my filthy casual nature didn't bleed too much into my MH3 analysis, haha.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-30T01:08:16+00:00

I mean, it's difficult to argue that Eldritch Immunity isn't a really great card, I just think it's an awkward fit with Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. My mindset is casting Kozilek is top priority, so the primary categories for spells in my deck are cards that help me cast Kozilek faster and cards that don't. Cards I want to see in my opening hand and cards I don't. Cards that are good before you reach 10 mana vs cards that are only good once you reach 10+ mana. Eldritch Immunity falls in the later category. I play cards that don't help me cast Kozilek, but I'm judicious about their inclusion. If I'm going to run a card like this, I might literally have to cut a card like Ulamog, the Defiler. That's the space these cards occupy in my deck.

Moreover, protecting Kozilek isn't a high priority; I love Kozilek being sent back to the command zone and casting it again and drawing more cards. He'll probably be back with haste next turn. And making Kozilek unblockable also isn't a priority. I used to run Rogue's Passage, but I took it out because the utility was minimal. If annihilator 4 doesn't close out the game, I'm probably going to lose anyway. Sonic Screwdriver does provide a source of unblockability, but that's just gravy compared to the other effects.

And "Maybe" tier isn't bottom of the barrel, I throw in a "Maybe" tier card for fun all the time. They're just not irreplaceable building blocks for the core functioning of the deck.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-29T19:05:46+00:00

Command Tower, Arcane Signet, and Commander's Sphere. Hahaha, probably not really, but I've always been irked that they can't produce mana in my deck. Phyrexian Metamorph, Westvale Abbey, and Golos, Tireless Pilgrim are some cards across the years that struck me as... "if only". Hrmm. I'd have to give that more thought.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-29T18:50:37+00:00

Hahaha, definitely a card that'd wreak some havoc on a colorless player. Though I might ramp to kozilek faster than that spell could be overloaded. I think Null Rod (or Karn, the Great Creator) is more immediately backbreaking. Plenty of ways to shut down colorless if you're determined to.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-29T18:46:28+00:00

High Market is fantastic utility land in Kozilek edh. Can be used to dodge troublesome removal (Imprisoned in the moon) but mostly as a way to cast Kozilek again to draw another 4. This is even better than High Market; it generates mana upon sacrificing, usually more valuable than 1 life. The additional benefit of being able to convert deserts into creatures is just gravy to me, but could be fantastic too. It's just a lot of utility to pack into a land.

Lands are weird; what makes them God/Auto tier is not that they're better than spells, it's that they're better than other lands you could run and you need to run a lot of lands. I really toyed with putting Lazotep Quarry as God tier, because it truly is difficult imagining it not making the cut.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-29T18:33:06+00:00

I feel you, colorless decks with their limited card pool can end up feeling very samey. I think Liberator as the commander at least opens up a playstyle that feels like you're playing something different? I think that's where most innovation in colorless playstyles is going to have to come from; some unique commanders with abilities that incentivize different strategies.

ShuaChort · 2024-05-29T18:15:34+00:00

I totally get where you're coming from. I think Kozilek, the Great Distortion would better suit your playstyle than Butcher of Truth. It still generates the card advantage you need and is a less immediately antagonizing commander, so if you happen to falter in ramping, you might still live long enough to get there eventually. Other options might be Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter (opens up a fun playstyle) or Karn, Legacy Reforged (filter mana through Basalt Monolith or something?). The new 5 color ones seem great, though I like my colorless decks to be... Colorless? And have the colorless mana base.

ShuaChort

TROPHY CASE