#Oloro

[pogatog]

Slimefoot and Squee, both are characters I enjoy and it turns out to be a super fun deck as well

So there are more tumblr mtg players than I anticipated, it turns out. What's everyone's favourite commander?

I'll go first, Juri of the Revue.

(Honourable mention to my meme deck where you have to get a date for Jenson Carthalion, Druid Exile by swiping left or right with his scry ability.)

[the-good-spartan]

Posts about Ancient Greek History

Things I write to help process information and assemble my notes and thoughts for future reference.

This is an ongoing project. I will add more over time.

My focus is primarily the Arkhidamian (Archidemian) War with a particular emphasis on Sparta, but I'm currently widening my focus to include the First Peloponnesian War, the Messenian Wars, and the lives of Demosthenes (the General) and Thucydides (the Historian).

Sparta

Their Culture

Spartan scholars be like

Introduction and List of Chief Sources

Becoming a Spartan Citizen, Part One: The Agoge.

Becoming a Spartan Citizen, Part Two: The Phiditia & Contributions to the Mess

Food for Warriors.

Spartan Social Structure: Part One - The Helots || Rent? Contracts?

Spartan Social Structure: Part Two - The Perioikoi

Spartan Social Structure: Part Three - Spartan Women || A few notes on the Rites dedicated to Helen at Sparta

Spartan Social Structure: Part Four - The Hypomeiones

Stalkers in the Night: The Krypteia || Primary Sources: Krypteia

The Horses of Lakedaimon

The Spartan Political Structure: Damos, Ephors, Gerontes, Kings.

Spartan Men and their Hair || Examples of likely hairstyles

Felt Helmets

Rethinking the scale of Spartan mess and barrack buildings

Spartan Games

Ask: Did Homoioi Travel?

A Few Notes on 427 BCE: The Transfer of the Kingship at Sparta

Military History

Background to the Third Messenian War

The Third Messenian War c. 464 BCE

The Battle of Tanagra c. 457 BCE

Maps (Mostly Related to Brasidas' Campaigns during the Arkhidamian War)

Sparta || Amphipolis 1 || Amphipolis 2 || Koryphasion (Pylos) & Sphakteria || Korinth/Nisaia || Brasidas' Campaign in Makedonia

Sparta in Pop Culture

A Cry of Frustration

Response to Anti-Spartan Sentiment

A Few Notes on God of War: Ragnarok (the Spartan Stuff)

Spartan Armour (this ain’t it)

Thinking About Spartans Thinking

A Distinction Between Sparta and Lakedaimon

Contracts? Rent?

Spartans and Their Aversion to Ranged Warfare?

Posts About Figures in the Arkhidamian War

Brasidas, Son of Tellis.

Probable Timeline of Brasidas' Life

Brasidas' Ossuary

Demosthenes, Son of Alkisthenes (The General):

As a Catalyst to the Battles of Spahkteria and Pylos?

A Few Notes

Alternative to Thucydides' Version of his Death

Thucydides, Son of Oloros (The Historian):

The Way Thucydides Thinks

A Few Notes

Posts about Polytheism and Mythology (Roman & Hellenic) :

Lakonian Royal Lineage (Mythological) || Sparta in the Catalogue of Ships || Helen, Kastor, Polydeukes

Chief Gods worshipped at Sparta (Not Ares!) || The Gods Worshipped at Sparta - further details.

Related Posts:

Roman and Hellenic Mythology: They are not the Same Thing

Viewing History Through a Modern Lens

Graeco-Roman Art: A Cautionary Tale

[imperatorcaesaraugustus]

When I was in college, I got my girlfriend to start playing Magic: the Gathering.

            To be fair, I wasn’t the one to first introduce her to the game. We had several mutual friends who played, and they’re the ones who taught her how, but it was because of me that she actually decided to get into it.

            Her first deck was one that I built for her. A life gain deck, with Oloro as the commander. Her second deck was the Ur-Dragon preconstructed deck from C17. But for her third deck, we built it together. It was, loosely speaking, an eldrazi tribal deck with a gates subtheme. And the commander of the deck was Golos, Tireless Pilgrim.

            I have very fond memories of that Golos deck. I remember going through my collection to find cards that I thought might be good. I spent the better part of year trading for any card I saw that seemed like it would be fun in the deck. When I had a massive stack of cards assembled, she and I sat down and went through them all, finding which ones she liked and which ones she wasn’t thrilled about. And the deck that resulted at the end of it all was super fun. It always did something big and splashy, although what exactly that was would vary quite a bit.

            When she broke up with me, she left all of my stuff that was still at her place with a mutual friend of ours for me to pick up. In with it was her three commander decks. I had, after all, given her almost all of those cards. And she had, after all, played the game because of me.

            Of the three decks, Golos is the one I left alone for the longest time. It sat on a shelf for months before finally I picked it up, made a few small edits to it, and started playing it again. One of those edits was swapping out the commander for Kenrith, the Returned King, because shortly after the two of us had broken up Golos had been banned.

            The Kenrith deck started out basically the same as Golos had been, but over time it of course changed. And then, when Modern Horizons 3 came out, it changed a lot. With actual five color eldrazi commanders available, the deck was converted to center around Azlask, the Swelling Scourge. It felt good to have something in the command zone that really fit with what the original idea for the deck was meant to be.

            Recently, control of the commander format passed from the Rules Committee to Wizards of the Coast. As part of the announcement, WotC said that they would be looking at the ban list for the format and potentially unbanning some cards. Speculation abounds, and no one knows exactly what will come of this, but upon hearing that my thoughts turned to Golos.

            I still have Golos. I could not bear the thought of getting rid of him. But I no longer have his deck, not really. I have something that used to be his deck, but it has changed. Golos no longer fits in it. If they were to unban him, I would be glad and hope that many others could have the fun with that card that I once had. But as much as I reminisce on times gone by, I myself cannot go back.

[goqmir]

hey magic the gatheringers, ive been rebuilding my favorite edh decks and hyperfixating on them lately so i just wanted to make a pretty lil post about them offering them to anyone who wants to play em :) these are my favorite decks right now and ive just run through and adjusted the decklists of all of them in the last couple days so they're fresh and ready to perform <3

the first deck is Rocco Cast From Exile!

the third rework of this decklist with the new cards from CLU really cemented that this is my favorite deck i've ever made. Rocco, Street Chef plays kingpin to a unique Naya value pile built around playing cards from exile!

this deck is similar to Prosper, who is unfortunately the face of Cast From Exile-- but unlike Prosper, this commander and the other options for CFE payoffs you get in Naya are super interesting and cool :) you get [[Feldorn]], [[Pia Nalaar]], [[Quintorius Kand]], as well as fun cheapening effects like [[Liara Portyr]] and [[Tlincalli Hunter]] on top of the delightful cascade effects green gets!

you also get to play around with +1/+1 counters (Rocco might be the best commander of all time at like... putting +1/+1s on specific individual creatures honestly??) and the magic that is food tokens (which are getting stronger and stronger each passing set). furthermore, Rocco impulse draws for your opponents, which means you get to encourage them to make tough decisions! do they play their combo piece from exile, feeding your deck? (Rocco is so efficient that they will soon learn that the answer to that question is almost always no... but you can always pretend that you're playing group hug and giving them free cards until they figure that out!)

this deck gets a lot of mana and builds up a monstrous board state very quickly. as far as individual value pieces go, be on the lookout for [[Jaheria, Friend of the Forest]], [[Inspiring Statuary]], and [[Night of the Sweets' Revenge]] for ways to make an unreal amount of mana. [[Herd Baloth]] and [[Faldorn]] will get you tokens for every card played from exile, and i would say are the main things giving you a monstrous board. don't sleep on the cascaders and thieves either-- every extra card obtained from things like [[Bloodbraid Elf]] or the Etalis net you another Cast From Exile trigger!

Naya Cast From Exile is weird and awesome and I highly recommend playing and building in this design space :) there's a lot of Naya CFE cards that work but I cut from the deck, and they give us more cards and commanders for the archetype all the time. this is definitely my favorite deck i've ever made <3

the second deck i'd like to show off is my Oloro Control decklist!

i've always been the interaction player at the table. you might find that these decklists are a bit heavy on the interaction for you actually-- i truly believe disruption is like. so important. especially when you're playing for value rather than combos like i do ^_^

so here is my dedicated Esper Control decklist! Oloro is there to keep you topped off and to draw you cards-- by playing this deck it really does net you anywhere from 10-40 extra life in a given game in my experience just by playing him. and the card draw on Oloro is pretty insane, enabling you to find the necessary ramp and bombs to end the game after you've disrupted every combo at the table :) personally i don't like Oloro the character very much at all-- don't know why, but he's a little difficult for me to look at. i personally have a custom proxy that replaces Oloro with Grusha :3

this Control deck is all about gaining slow and steady value while ensuring the bad things aren't sent your way. there are some stax pieces here, but not very strict ones-- your goal is to remain innocuous while you get the mana and cards to play your bombs and your opponents hopefully go at each other. the bombs in question are things like [[Debt to the Deathless]], [[Expropriate]], [[Torment of Hailfire]], planeswalkers like [[Sorin Markov]], and creatures that amass you value quickly like [[Drogskol Reaver]] and [[Sunscorch Regent]]. you gain life, shut down your opponents, and force unwinnable situations or knock out opponents with big bombs. it's fun!

the third deck is Vadrok Inevitable Betrayal Combo!

Vadrok here is the final fruit of my obsession with the 0 cmc suspend cards I went through a few months back. after toying with pretty much ever one in turn, Vadrok is the one that stuck around because he plays so interestingly and truly warps your table's metagame if you bring him out enough times.

let's get into the weeds: the combo here is a pretty simple one-- Vadrok is one of (and the only legendary) engine that allows you to play cards from your graveyard without exiling them after, done by mutating. [[Inevitable Betrayal]] is a 0 mana cost blue spell that takes a creature from an opponent's deck and puts it onto the battlefield under your control. The combo, then, is a gradual one: use a spell to discard Inevitable Betrayal, and mutate onto Vadrok. each mutate plays Inevitable Betrayal for free, allowing you to cheat out an opponent's creature each time. this is strong.

the deck features a suite of tutors, a variety of ways to discard cards, and every mutate card in Jeskai (except the one whose mutate cost is six mana :P). the combo is surprisingly low to the ground and quick, allowing for turn one/two discards and turn three Vadrok mutates at times. however, it's often worth waiting to mutate Vadrok onto a creature with Hexproof to ensure little interruption as you swarm the board with your opponents' best hits.

this deck, of course, relies heavily on your opponents' decks then. which is why this deck is so metagame-warping-- even at more casual tables, you'll probably see your friends take their funny eldrazi and craterhoofs out of their decks because you're so prone to winning with them. personally, i find that delightful! i tend to cycle deck usage anyway, so it's cute to steal a bunch of things for a couple weeks, have my opponents edit their decklists to remove my hits, lose interest in the deck, and come back a couple months later and steal the good hits in their new decks, repeat :) its fun having a deck that warps metagames with its presence alone.

the final deck id like to talk about is my Silvar and Trynn Humans decklist!

mardu is delightful and for the longest time i couldn't find a mardu commander i ever wanted to build! finally though, i stumbled across these two :) the art on them is so gorgeous! i love ikoria.

this deck is very fun! the only typal deck on the list, humans is a very fun type to build around and you get access to so many bangers in mardu. this deck is all about building a board of as many humans as you possibly can, then sacking them all to put 17 +1/+1 counters on Silvar and start swinging for commander lethal. how that is done is different every game, with so many fun human pieces and interaction pieces that each game feels very distinctly different from the last more so than any of the other decks discussed on this post. furthermore, mardu offers my favorite interaction suite of all time, so it's always a pleasure to play with.

teehee anyway thats my decks ive been hyperfixating on! feel free to give em a try :) sqrrk!!

[smallfuckablecreature]

do you think we're playing fucking modern????? 40 pieces of clothing

Hey are you up to play some Magic this week? Yeah awesome can't wait! Of course I'll let you pound me into the mattress until I forget my own name! Is Sunday ok?

[very-best-vivosaur]

Very Best Vivosaur: Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Oloro Propaganda:

It’s like I’m looking at a little land shark!

Nippono Propaganda:

I really love white and pink together. Also I really like the idle animation for this particular Vivosaur body type

[that-house]

EDH night again

Won one and lost one playing Oloro control

[captainmvf]

OCs and what their Fossil Fighters vivosaur team would be bc I am bored and have brain worms-

Hi! This is exactly what the title says. This is also going to get a bit long. Also these are just the ones off the top of my head, I'll come back to this again if I have more Thoughts.

Carta Mantua:

Tried to get some space-themed and white-colored vivos in here but her ace would be a T-Rex Lord with a Silver Leg Alectro and a Silver Body Aopteryx for support. I'll also give her a Frontier Coatlus and Papygon.

Golden Time

A mix of time-themed vivos and some regal eastern ones. She would love sauropods. Frontier Toba would be her ace. Silver Arm Krona and a Ryden for support.

X YZ

Tried to get in some good support vivosaurs and wishing star motifs. I think small triceras would be her favorite. Silver Head Proto, Silver Head Mihu, and Frontier Ajka would be a great team.

Ice Flame

Needed that mix of fire and ice for her so she's getting a Yango, Silver Head Jiango, and Silver Body Kentro team. She'd not much of a believer in ace vivosaurs so she balances out her team into any and all formations.

Fire Angel

I wanted to give her a whole team of fire birds but they can't fly so she's getting fire type pterasaurs! Frontier Ptera JP and Silver Leg Sungari for support. Dimorph Ace would be her ace (haha). She's blind and not too picky on colors so she would choose miraculous fossils by how powerful it would make her vivosaur.

Candy Corn Vampire

No bat vivos. :( Sad! Anyway, tried to get some funky Halloween ones. A Breme and Silver Head Hopter for support. His ace is the Silver Body Zino of course of course.

Oblivion Starlight

She was really hard to pin down, but I decided to make her a Neutral specialist. Silver Head Brachio, Silver Head Mihu, and a Penta would be her main team, but she'd also have a Neo and Silver Body Tophis on rotation.

Deathly Toll Bells

There are no Greek vivos to add but she would have a Seidon. A Silver Head Stygi and a Frontier Mapo would also be on her team. She'd also have Kaishin up her sleeve if she wanted a serious battle.

Lady Law

She'd try to make a balanced team I'd say. No clear ace but she'd have a Paki, Silver Body Dikelo, and Silver Head Tanstro. I wanted her to have some 'weird' vivos.

Perenelle

I think Perry would enjoy a team of little guys to be her little helpers. Compso and Coelo for support and a Dacerus for her ace. She's not big on silver fossils, only gold ones.

Däe

Gave them a unicorn as their ace: Omias. Silver Head Parium and a Silver Arm Elasmoth for support. Didn't want to give them a dream/sleep themed team so much but I think they should have a Silver Head Jara, Silver Arm Nigo, and a Squirth in rotation.

Mary Blüde

She would most like get a 'patchwork' team that wouldn't look like it matches at first but actually has great support. A Silver Leg Tro and a Hibigon would be on her support. For a touch of regality she can have a Giga Allo for an ace. She always keeps her ace in the front like an axe so it can always deal heavy blows. She'd get a Lythro along the way.

Scarlet Frost

Water type specialist all the way! The more icy the better. Silver Arm Thalasso would be a good pick. Silver Leg Oloro would also be a good support and Frontier Cryo would be her ace.

Demigod

Went with a punk theme and vivos that had a 'metal' aesthetic going on. Her ace would be a Silver Leg Cheirus and she would also have a Silver Body Breme. Later on she would be able to get an O-Raptor Fiend and Diplo.

MVF

Had to really scratch my head but I decided to give her a team of 'underdogs' for theming. A Silver Body Shanshan and a V-Raptor for support and an Aeros as her ace. I wanted all her vivos to be capable of super evolving, but the Shanshan was perfect for theming and the whole Tarbo/classification situation fits well with her story.

Aries

No goat vivos so she's getting a full fire team! She'll have a Guan as her ace and a U-Raptor and Peloro for support. She'd try to make all three balanced.

Ti Gold

No prehistoric bears- Sad! Let's give them a Silver Head Megath, B-Brachio, and Frontier F-Raptor. I also think she would be able to make a team out of Z-vivosaurs.

Madeleine Marionette

I really wanted to give her a deer but I went more with her fear-inducing color pallet and nature. She gets a Megalo of course of course and a Silver Head Krypto. Let's also give her a Silver Arm Nasaur for cute factor.

Mike

He needs a creepy team full of Z- and B-vivos in my opinion but I think realistically he should have the 'average' kind of vivosaurs. So let's give him a Spinax as his ace and Edapho and Stego for support.

Valentina

She gets an unruly Titanis for her ace and two tanky vivosaurs for support: a Silver Head Pachrino and a Tricera. She'd super evolve her Tricera given the chance.

Moroko

Going to give him a 'dog' vivo and make his team based more on his three friends (Shiela, Yippee!, and Ghostworx). The easy answer would have been to give him three Dinomatons. He'd have a Silver Head Hoplo as his ace and a Silver Arm Orno and a Silver Head Dunkle.

Suiuus

Creepy deer all the way. Silver Body Ceros and a Silver Head Synthos for support. I'm also giving them a B-Rex.

[peoplerepellent2000]

Get yourself a man who can be both pred and prey

(he got turned into a lollipop 👆)

Character is Nor//ma.n el Oloro/so Gam/boa from pu.ert.o pa.pel

[ochrearia]

*looks up at you with my tiny kitty eyes* dino assignments ? 🥺

YOOOOU okay okay so here is my thought process. You are a professional yapper like me we do not shut the fuck up an we're creative and shit. I've already said my ass is a Lagia which is one of the several raptor boys in the game so...

JEBAITED you thought I was gonna give you a raptor too? nah you give off mad Oloro vibes to me. Get Ornithopod'd

Idk man this one just feels right. Water type vivosaur with a high critical hit rate and the Link ability which basically means you get to attack off of a teammate's attack without using up a turn :3 Which like... you jump in on posts a LOTTTTT /pos

[wtfgaylittlezooid]

i think im spamming you with asks at this point but what about some kind of hadrosaur victim? i swear i only ever see them represented as trex snacks, whenever i see one theyre probably going to get hunted so what about a hadrosaur vic? tsinsaosaurus/ olorotitan/ corythosaurus whos made himself some iguanodon spurs to look more intimidating

I LOVE THE ASKS KEEP EM COMING

BUT HADROSAUR VICTIM.. YOURE COOKING WITH THAT YOURE COOKING WITH THAT… Oloro espescially looks sick

[unlimited-sciuridae]

hey so yall know that photoshopped tweet about Luci being the one who birthed Charlie? Well it unlocked an ancient memory so I drew a thing:

The original art undercut, sadly I can't find the original artist despite slapping Google lense over and over. It's a classic Steven Universe art.

I think the original artist rebranded, oloro just gives me magic the gathering stuff.

[catboybiologist]

Greetings Ma'am,

The evil Master sent poor poor Elsie to deliver oh precious present for you. They said you deserved it with all your doings on this website. They say they admire your "tomgirlboss energy". Poor poor Elsie doesn't understand well, but who would dare pretend they can understand the Master's plot? Anyway, here it is!

*put a very big box on the floor before running away happily*

*The box contains a single Magic the Gathering card named "Go for the Trout". It is an instant that kills fish for two mana.*

Errr, hum hum. The question. So, is there a collection game like Magic or Warhammer you like?

Hmm, yes. A trout removal card. A paltry spell, yet I know that sometimes it's all that can be spared. Unless, this is a giant misdirection *taps two mana and casts on you* I have two EDH decks in MTG that I play sometimes, they're heavily altered versions of precon decks. One is a Captain N'ghathrod mill/control deck that I've added more removal and counters to.

The other is a B/U/W Oloro control/lifegain deck. Oloro's ability lets you draw an insane amount of cards and gain an insane amount of life, meaning you usually have the health and spells to control the game and stall. There's not really a clear win condition, except for Felidar Sovereign, but extort and slow beatdown by weak lifegain creatures usually kills the opponent in a couple hours or so. I don't play this deck if I want to make friends LMAO

[the-good-spartan]

Demosthenes the Athenian General - a Few Notes

I don't know if anyone cares, but - there's so little out there about Demosthenes' background and life outside of his actions during the Arkhidamian War that I thought it might be worth sharing what I've learnt recently.

It's only because I'm currently researching the lives of both Demosthenes (the orator makes my research life so freaking vexed) and Thucydides the historian that I stumbled across the interesting tit-bit that there's a possible familial connection between them.

I've spent some time since tracing down the actual source for this belief and this is the footnote that is most often referenced:

‘He [Thucydides] may even have been connected to Demosthenes by marriage, since a "Θουκυδίδης Ἀλκισθένους Ἀφιδναῖος· [Thucydides Alkisthenous Aphidnaios]" (the patronymic [Alkisthenous] and deme [Aphidnaios] are the same as those of Demosthenes) is attested in an inscription from the second half of the fourth century.'

[From Individuals in Thucydides by HD Westlake, p.97.]

This is the specific inscription: IG ii2 1678. Line 31. I couldn't find a translation of the whole inscription, so I remain uncertain what this document actually is.

If we follow this lead, and assume that Demosthenes was related to Thucydides, then we can perhaps add some interesting, Thracian, flavour to his background.

Kimon's father was Miltiades, but his mother, Hegesipyle, was a Thracian by birth, the daughter of Kong Oloros, as we read in the poems of Archelaus and Melanthius addressed to Kimon himself. This also explains why the father of Thucydides the historian, who was related by birth to Kimon's family, was called Oloros, since the father took the name from the ancestor, and owned gold-mines in Thrace. He is said to have died there too, murdered in a place called Scapte Hyle, but his remains were brough back to Attika and one is shown his tombstone in the Kimoneia alongside the grave of Kimon's sister, Elpenike. Thucydides however was from the deme Halimus, while Miltiades was from Laciadae.

[Plutarch, Life of Kimon. 4]

I have much further to go with all this (everything - the thinking, the ever enlarging sea of things I don't know, the things I should read, the facts or theories I need to process...) - but these two excerpts already suggest interesting perspectives to me - especially around Thucydides' approach to/ writings about Demosthenes' career (which is a whole thing that is blowing my mind lately); but also Thucydides' connection to Thrace/the north, and how that might have affected his feelings at Eion when he was facing Brasidas.

May the gods grant me enough years.

[goqmir]

2023's additions to your magic the gathering interaction suite: trinkit's top five control pieces you should be playing now!

There's been a lot of interesting and delightful removal and counterspell cards printed in 2023, and as a sendoff to the year as your resident control player i'd love to talk about the new cards that i'm playing in my interaction-heavy commander decks :) this takes the form of a countdown list because it's fun and clickbaity and consumable but every card on this list is fun new (largely spell-based) interaction i have played with in commander decks and recommend you give a try!

starting off with our honorable mention: Invasion of New Capenna! while not a card i feel i can recommend in just any deck, this plays so well in Incubate-heavy decks, which is one of my favorite new mechanics introduced this year! this card is an auto-include in Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos, which has been a favorite deck of mine this year. Two mana exile removal on either artifact or creature, which you can easily sac a white dork (or untapped incubate token!) for the casting cost. furthermore, Invasion of New Capenna (inky for short) is the only battle i have ever transformed-- it's legitimately very good as a typal equipment (especially for incubate phyrexian tokens!). if you have an orzhov tokens deck this likely flew under your radar and i'd recommend giving it a shot :)

number 5 on the list is Cyber Conversion, a new blue staple removal piece. if you're in white or black, you'd be hard pressed to add Cyber Conversion over the other available options-- but this measures up very, very well against the other blue options! it's incredibly playable, allowing for niche interactions, preventing commanders from going back to the command zone until they can kill the cyberman, getting past indestructible (difficult in mono blue!), and generally being a cute little card. @devilkittydeckbuilding is more hype on this card than i am, so feel free to send it an ask about its favorite niche Cyber Conversion interaction, it can easily be the best option in a lot of scenarios. a Witness Protection at instant speed feels very good in hand.

number 4 is my personal favorite new interaction piece, Bronzebeak Foragers! this is like if a Oblivion Ring did everything you wanted it to-- and i already adore Oblivion Ring effects :3

Bronzebeak makes its appearance in so many of my games, and it constantly pulls its weight. it's a Grasp of Fate you can block with, it's a Fiend Hunter you can junk the exile with, it's a Banisher Priest that gains you life. this might be simultaneously one of the nonlegendary cards i have cast the most in the last couple months and the one that's pulled its weight the best. it's a body, it hits nonland permanents, it hits every opponent, it can junk the item, it can gain you life! what more do you need <3

where Bronzebeak tends to overperform is in my Oloro, Ageless Ascetic control deck, where junking a card with its activated ability gains you life, which you can use to draw a card with Oloro! every part of the card feels really good, especially in dedicated control decks-- you should play this card.

3rd on our list is a delightful card I adore slotting into every nonblue deck I can fit it in-- Reprieve!

Reprieve feels good to play. returning to hand is obviously not going to save you the game every time, but it does in a very good number of them :3 and the little extra bits they added to the card to supplement it feel wonderful too-- letting you cantrip it makes it feel so much better to slot in to your interaction suite, and the fact that it bypasses "cannot be countered" (especially when it's used to send back an uncounterable game-ending Thassa's Oracle) is very niche but feels so fucking good when it comes into play.

i've been building a lot of red/white decks lately (i've been on a bit of a mardu kick :3) and i tend to play reprieve alongside Lapse of Certainty and Tibalt's Trickery (and Red Elemental Blast sometimes) as a very delightful to resolve boros counterspell suite which has been incredibly fun.

#2 is Guff Rewrites History!

they've really been pushing removal lately.

hitting each opponent at the table is really. really good. maybe a bit better than wotc is giving it credit for at the moment-- because the table tends to shake when you resolve Guff Rewrites History for the low cost of three mana.

first of all, the rules text on this card doesn't really convey right away that you are basically sacking any random token for a cascade trigger for any cmc. I don't actually play GRH (pronounced as a dog barking growl "grrrh!!!" when at a table of trans girls) outside of decks that provide me with solid sac fodder-- it's performed for me recently mostly by sacking food tokens in my Rocco, Street Chef and 1/1 humans in my Silvar & Trynn. so that's the first boon-- minimal cost cascade in a deck that's built around it.

second, you hit nonenchantment, nonland for /each player/ which is an insane trick for red to get. this might be one of the best feeling interaction spells i've ever resolved. this thing pulls its weight and then some-- sac a token to it as soon as you can.

the best interaction piece of the year is not a particularly exciting one nor a surprising one-- Stroke of Midnight.

i like Stroke. it does the thing. it's cute! cinderella's silly moment :3 what if Generous Gift couldn't hit lands (not a big deal) and in return the token it gives them is way, way, way worse (a big deal!)

this is a pretty easy addition to any deck. it's nonland permanent, it's minimal downsides, it's instant speed, three mana-- what more do you want?

here's hoping for a fox themed boros removal spell 2024 <3

[very-best-vivosaur]

Very Best Vivosaur: Round 1

Propaganda under the cut!

Oloro (Frontier) Propaganda:

A much brighter blue than the original. I kinda like it.

Paraloph (Frontier) Propaganda:

This vivo’s official art makes it look like it wants to ask you out to prom. I would do so in a heartbeat!