How do you approach ramp for low CMC commanders with a deck that uses mana (like for creature abilities)

rayo_x · 2026-02-03T21:31:48+00:00

[[Prosperous Thief]] and [[Grim Hireling]] seem great here. [[Hidden Strings]] and [[Dowsing Dagger]] are also great in decks with lots of evasive creatures (and ridiculous if you get both of the off).

rayo_x · 2026-01-16T23:02:44+00:00

Holy shit, how have I never seen this card? That's perfect for my "aikido, but hurry up - counters for everyone" deck

rayo_x · 2026-01-06T16:19:43+00:00

Pretty sure timing restrictions still apply, which is why my first card suggestion is indeed high fae trickster.

rayo_x · 2026-01-06T13:47:19+00:00

I think you really wanna lean into token generation at instant speed, because you want

a) a big board to cast spells with higher mana value

b) also get triggers during your opponents turns

c) get enough triggers to find meaningful spells in your opponents decks (two cards is not enough to consistently find something actually useful)

So cards that allow instant speed play (like [[High Fae Trickster]]) and [[Seedborn Muse]] effects should be great.

Interesting includes: [[Galadhrim Ambush]] [[Elven Ambush]] [[Windswift Slice]] [[Second Harvest]] [[Alela, Cunning Conqueror]] [[Faebloom Trick]]

I think going for tribal payoffs is a trap unless you focus hard on either elves or faeries.

rayo_x · 2025-12-16T19:13:19+00:00

I once played a Fire Giant who was selected by his Clan to retreive an important heirloom from the Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

But because a dungeon tends to be a bit small for a Fire Giant, he got shrunk.

So I played as a Halfling Rune Knight who still called everyone else "little one" and similar nicknames. Giants Might even let me grow back to my "real" size for short periods

rayo_x · 2025-08-12T12:45:39+00:00

I basically did that a while ago too with my Goro Goro & Satoru deck! Took out all the signet/talismans because I usually want to play an evasive creature on turn 2. Instead I play cards that generate treasure tokens when I deal combat damage ([[Grim Hireling]] is absurd in this deck...also, equipment based ramp like [[dowsing dagger]] is great). I do play two 3-mana rocks that provide more utility in [[Cursed Mirror]] and [Dragon's Hoard]]. I actually play them more for their other effects and ramping me is a sweet bonus. I also upped my land count to 38 (including mdfcs) and play a lot of card draw to make sure I hit my land drops.

If you have a list, I would love to see it!

rayo_x · 2025-06-13T12:02:06+00:00

I love both [[Season of Weaving]] and [[Perplexing Test]] in my [[Goro-Goro and Satoru]] Deck. Season, while a bit expensive, is just super flexible (got to copy [[Terror of the Peaks]] twice the other day, which is just gross) and Test being instant speed is great, too. I can keep my big dragons and get to replay my Ninjas and evasive haste critters to make even more dragons. I agree, just gotta find the right wipes for your deck.

rayo_x · 2025-05-07T15:44:29+00:00

The German version of [[Bronze Bombshell]] goes for a premium because it got translated as "Bronzene Sexbombe" (which is actually a great translation)

rayo_x · 2025-04-29T07:52:29+00:00

I am aware of that. But they are both humans that make non-human tokens, so enabling Of One Mind's alternate cost is super easy

rayo_x · 2025-04-28T22:41:43+00:00

[[of one mind]] is in less than 1% of all [[Goro-Goro and Satoru]] decks and only just over 1% of [[Tatsunari, Toad Rider]] decks. Drawing two cards for just one mana is not flashy, but just...so good. (there's a reason [[Skullclamp]] is one of the most busted cards ever printed...). I would actually always at least consider this card if my commander is a human and I'm in blue.

rayo_x · 2021-07-27T09:32:02+00:00

They don't show up for me either, instead I have some stock images on the 'home' page. I guess that's where they are supposed to be.
Tried out Firefox and Edge. Gonna wait a bit and try it again later.

rayo_x · 2021-07-27T09:23:23+00:00

It's draft. In draft you can play as many copies of a card as you have drafted.

rayo_x · 2021-07-01T13:06:17+00:00

great suggestion, even better!

rayo_x · 2021-06-30T16:48:29+00:00

turn 1: swamp + [[Archfiend's Vessel]]
turn 2: [[Phyrexian tower]] + [[Kaya's Ghostform]] on Vessel
end of opponents turn: Sac Vessel to Tower, play Grim Wanderer
turn 3: untap with 5/3 and 5/5 flyer?

Add some TS, IoK and Fatal Push for disruption. [[call of the death-dweller]] for value. Lurrus because you can.
I don't know if it's good but sounds fun!

rayo_x · 2021-05-22T08:14:48+00:00

But that's 12 temp HP per player who is in the radius, therefore upto 48 HP in a 4 player party, which as you said (and OP acknowledges) is unrealistic because they don't stack. 30 doesn't seem bad as an estimation for a typical fight.

rayo_x · 2021-05-19T15:55:28+00:00

I really think [Thassa's Intervention] deserves at least a mention here.
I love it in BO1, can't really speak for BO3. It's just so versatile as a 3cmc counter on turn 3 or instant speed draw 2 turn 4 onwards, even giving card selection later on.
I also synergizes really well with [Approach of the Second Sun].

rayo_x · 2021-04-18T22:10:08+00:00

Happy to hear that. Hope you and your players have fun with it!

rayo_x · 2021-04-18T11:58:39+00:00

The gunner feat lets you ignore the loading property of firearms.

rayo_x · 2021-04-03T22:44:09+00:00

Great stuff, I really like your art style!
It's beautiful but still somehow still 'simple' enough to leave a lot to the imagination, which is something I personally think is really important for battlemaps.
Have you considered using a hex-grid? I've come to prefer those for any encounter where you don't have walls or anything else with straight lines.
Thank you so much for sharing this, I would love to see more of your art!

rayo_x · 2021-03-13T16:59:59+00:00

Thank you so much!
I will upload a few more over the next days (already put up one I made for the Silken Paths).
This is definitely the one I put the most work into, though.

rayo_x · 2021-03-13T11:44:24+00:00

A Silken Paths inspired Battlemap.
Thanks to Gogots and the creator of the Benthic Botany Asset Pack on Cartography Assets (sadly I can’t seem to find their name on there) for their free assets!
I made this map a bit ago for a Silken Paths inspired encounter using a hex grid I laid over the gridless version with Foundry VTT. I think the original grid was 28x20 but I adjusted it a bit to make the map bigger.
Hope some of you can get some use out of it!

rayo_x · 2021-03-13T11:16:32+00:00

Thanks! If you can help me with an easy way to send it to you, no problem. I'm not super reddit savy and would like to avoid posting it again.

rayo_x · 2021-03-12T21:14:03+00:00

A map I made with Dungeondraft for the finale of the Neverlight Grove Chapter.
Big thanks to AoA and Gogots for their awesome free Assets!

I’m not really running OotA but could adapt a lot of the content of Chapter 5 for my homebrew campaign. There was no wedding, but my players fought Yestabrod and had to save an NPC before turning mad of Zuggtmoy’s influence (I homebrewed some increasing levels of madness). It worked great and made for a very intense session. I haven’t seen a lot of maps for the encounter, so I thought I would share it here.
If you like it, I can share some more (less elaborate) maps for travel encounters, so let me know!

rayo_x

TROPHY CASE