#hedron archive

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Hedron Archive

"You've begun to understand the hedrons' true purpose," said Ugin. "The Eldrazi can be imprisoned." "And how did that work out last time?" asked Jace.

Artist: Craig J Spearing TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights - Battle for Zendikar

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

Cool - Drana, Liberator of Malakir

“I will not live as a slave. If you would be free, then fight alongside me.”

Funny - Broodhunter Wurm

The native creatures of Zendikar have adapted to live under rocks and crawl through underbrush in order to avoid the most voracious predators. The Eldrazi have yet to make such adjustments.

Worldbuilding - Hedron Archive

“You’ve begun to understand the hedrons’ true purpose,” said Ugin. “The Eldrazi can be imprisoned.”“And how did that work out last time?” asked Jace.

Emotional - Reckless Cohort

“You have a family. Mine died at Sea Gate. You go to yours, and I’ll go to mine.”

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

[horademagic]

Arquivo de Edro/ Hedron Archive

Artefato Gerador de Mana

Custo de mana: 4 incolores e/ou de quaisquer cores

Por que ela é interessante? Virando esse artefato você adiciona duas manas desprovidas com ele. Pagando 2 manas, virando-o e sacrificando esse artefato você compra duas cartas. Então é uma geração de mana garantida principalmente por gerar duas manas dessa maneira.

Preço da carta: em torno de 0,20 até 235,00

Disponível em Português

"Essa carta tem algumas edições disponíveis, o preço pode variar a depender da edição que escolher adquirir"

Link: https://www.ligamagic.com.br/?view=cards%2Fsearch&card=Hedron+archive&tipo=1

Até a próxima postagem, Ulli e Thiago

[walcutt]

DECK TECH - 8Trap, or 8Crab, or 8Rav

Against all odds, got first place at the league AGAIN. This deck has some similarities to last week's, but actually has remarkably little overlap in cards-played (just 4x Prismatic, 3x Harrow). Again, we're playing off of the creature-axis to throw off our opponents. Unlike last week though, we don't want to play a long game. We want to mill our opponent's deck as fast as possible!

There's 3.... or, 3.5 cores to this deck.

CORE I: 8Crab

This has been a staple tier-2 core in the format since before I joined in. Hedron Crab + Fetches has been a rogue staple since it was printed back in Zendikar. Fetchlands are the best fixing in our format anyways, so we're happy to play 12 to double the effectiveness of our little critters. Snow Crab is much worse, but is a good blocker and still helps us count to 60. We play snow lands for him.

CORE II: Removal

We don't play a ton of removal, but we have some primo shit. Dead of Winter is an extremely powerful wipe, and was quite prevalent before there was a ban on Arcum's Astrolabe. However, even labeless, it helps us clear threatening early boards and give us time to win. We're playing snow anyways, and it doesn't even kill our best blockers. Speaking of anyways, because the format only has enemy fetches, both our blue and black fetches overlap on green, making the splash for Abrupt Decay just kind of fall out of the manabase on its own. It's a pretty key card for hitting noncreature threats like Aria of Flame, Oath of Druids, or Survival of the Fittest.

CORE III: 8Trap

Archive trap is our heaviest mill-hitter in the deck. Slamming in for a whopping 13 cards, a playset of these literally wins the game on their own. Sadly, we can't draw all of them. However..... we can search for more! Trapmaker's snare is my new spin on some old Archive Trap/Crab lists, effectively doubling our reach of Archive Traps for the low cost of 2 mana. Since fetchlands are dominating the manabases of FS7, it's almost always a freecast, or the hardcast will win in the endgame.

CORE III.5: 8Trap, Part 2, AKA 8Rav

Now.... since we're playing a trap tutor, we might as well play some more.... and there's plenty of pretty good pieces for a toolbox! Lethargy and Ravenous are the clear winners here, with the former shoring up aggro matchups considerably, and the latter hosing the numerous graveyard decks that would otherwise only be fed by us. Usually, these would all be sideboard options, but we get the chance to pre-board them, gaining us some game-1 wins.

SIDEBOARD

Our sideboard consists of 3 more copies of each of the above traps, as well as 3x Grafdiggers Cage. Cage primarily is here to stop Oath of Druids and Hogaak, but helps a bit against some prominent Green Sun's Zenith and Flashback plays. Notably, each trap in the sideboard has an amplified presence due to the tutor -- after board, we can effectively play 8 copies of Ravenous Trap, truly shredding the many, many decks weak to it in the format.

[thecommandertable]

Contextualizing Card Evaluations in Commander

Is Hedron Archive a good card?

Some say yes. Some say no. How about Temple of the False God?

Some say yes, some say no. Many of those who say no say that the people who say yes are wrong, and bad at Magic/Commander, and a variety of other ad hominem attacks, because, well, the internet doesn't generally reward nuance and empathy. (But that's a whole other thing.) Is Gerrard's Battle Cry a good card?

I think most Commander players' response to that question would be, "What's 'Gerrard's Battle Cry'?" And upon seeing it, I think the most common response would be, "No, not really." I bring up Gerrard's Battle Cry not because I think it's a hidden gem that I think you should give a go in your Commander deck. This Tempest rare is only 49 cents for a reason: it's not a great rate for its effect. There are much more efficient ways for White decks to pump up all their creatures, from Cathar's Crusade to Akroma's Will to Inspiring Leader. I bring it up because of an interaction I had in the comments of a YouTube video (I know, I know). Someone commented on a "Good Commander Budget Cards" video, citing Gerrard's Battle Cry as a cheap card that they've found to be pretty good. My first instinct was to respond with, "There are much better ways to pump your creatures in white on a budget, like Inspiring Leader or Valor in Akros." But I stopped myself. Who am I to tell this person, who's been playing with this card and found it to be good, that they're (essentially) Doing Magic Wrong? Yeah, it's possible that they're underestimating the tempo loss from activating such a taxing activation cost... but probably not! They've probably killed their friends with it! If they're opinion of the card is high, it's probably from their lived experience playing Magic; presumably their play group probably doesn't play with a lot of board wipes and so this person gets a lot of creatures to stick on the board. Instead, I recommended they try the card Leonin Sun Standard.

Like Gerrard's Battle Cry, the Sun Standard is less than 50 cents. It costs one more mana to get onto the battlefield, but its activation costs one less. This person seemed to appreciate the recommendation, and I moved on feeling a little better about my online presence.

For those of us living in the zeitgeist of online Commander content-- using EDHREC, listening to podcasts, and watching Commander gameplay videos-- it's easy to imagine the Commander landscape as more homogenized than it is. We go to CommandFests and encounter seas of people who have decks with fetchlands and Esper Sentinels and Constant Mists. The more enfranchised we are, the more we interact disproportionately with other enfranchised players. It's easy to forget that the majority of people who play Magic have never gone to an LGS; they play at home, at school/work, or at a friend's house. Geography can play a role, too. I live in a highly suburban area, and within an hour's drive I have a handful of LGS's I could attend to fling cardboard, and while there are slight differences in the respective Commander metagames at those stores, I can bring the same suite of decks to any of them and have basically similar experiences. However I have, on a few occasions, found myself in more remote game stores: a couple out in rural Pennsylvania during college, and one by my grandparents' in rural Virginia. That latter store tends to host Commander games with five or sometimes six players, and they take forever. One game in particular sticks in my mind: one player had a Tajic, Blade of the Legion deck built all around board wipes. Creature board wipes and land board wipes.

More often than not the bastard didn't even have two other creatures to attack with. He just swung in for two damage with Tajic every five minutes. I hung in there, doing what I could, but some of the other players had come to the table with what could only be described as Draft Chaff Commander decks; they were playing out cards like Syndic of Tithes and Stonefare Crocodile. Like lambs to the slaughter. A very, very slow slaughter. I remember saying something to the effect of "Y'all live like this?" before scooping and heading back to my grandparents' house. A friend of mine told me of a playgroup of his ex-girlfriend's where all the players in the game would take their turns at the same time. You know how in a game of Two-Headed Giant, you and your teammate will untap, draw your cards, and go to combat at the same time? Like that, except everyone's declaring attackers and blockers at each other at once in a messy Magic thunderdome. As a judge, I shudder to picture it.

The point being, though, is that there is far greater variety in Commander playgroups and localized metagames than we tend to give credit, and that variety can cause folks to have drastically different opinions about the same card. In another comment from the same YouTube video, someone said that they don't think the signet cycle is very good; in their playgroup there are a lot of artifact board wipes. They'd probably be down on Hedron Archive, too, but might rate it slightly higher than Thran Dynamo. For those living in the thunderdome, the card Flurry of Wings would probably be pretty good. For the poor fools playing against Tajic.Board Wipes.deck, Sacred Ground might be an all-star.

These are extreme examples. Lots of disagreements around cards like Temple of the False God come down to the speed of a Commander playgroup's games, which is highly correlated to the general power level they play at. If games regularly last 11+ turns, the Temple is a good deal, since you have a lot more turns where it can tap for two mana. If your games generally end around turn seven or eight, it looks a lot worse. (That's not to say that sometimes individuals can't just be bad at evaluating cards. It's easy to remember all the times that Rise of the Dark Realms won you the game- it's harder to recall how often it gets stuck in your hand; opportunity cost is a difficult thing to judge, and confirmation bias can also muddy the waters. And if someone finds that Temple of the False God is too often their fourth land but is playing it in a deck with only 30 lands, well then, yeah, that's kind of on them.) The next time you find yourself disagreeing with someone about the relative strength of a card in Commander, and it isn't someone from your regular playgroup, consider that their usual Commander experience might be different from yours. Feel free to ask! Whether they play against a lot of modified precons, or with folks who are less experienced, or if they play exclusively high-powered Commander or even cEDH-- that info can offer the conversation a lot of context. Just as it is with disagreements about things in everyday life-- once you understand where the other person is coming from, finding common ground is a lot easier.

[dankovskys-beetle-collection]

Praemonitus praemunitus

If you do not want quarantine spoilers, I tag those posts with #pathologic 3 quarantine.

call me marcus she/her

my only regulations for the askbox are

-dont be an ass

-please

-this account is just archiving please dont bring drama here

tags:

strike if you will but hear asks + answers

dixi my silly words and things

still self-taught my silly arts and things

the town shifts general art tag

qui habet aures.. audiat infodumps and general text tag

you're just funny that's all memes and shitposts

the hooks links to stuff + resources

traces of the supernatural 1 screenshots

there's still hope 2 screenshots

paved with good intentions 3 screenshots + news

the Haruspex hears artemy burakh's silly adventures (termites for any of his bound)

the Bachelor sees daniil dankovsky's silly adventures (utopians for any of his bound)

the Changeling talks clara saburova's silly adventures (humbles for any of her bound)

the town's coherent structure ruling families + mistresses

the Law will prevail aglaya/army

specular tower miss polly(hedron)

blood from Olonngo abbatoir + termitary

one thousand eyes steppe and the kin misc

pestilence pestilence

your friend (hopefully) burakhovsky

meiri was right stakhpeter

[gcu-sovereign]

I wish there was a cleaner way to convey my smug satisfaction in catching your most obvious error in deckbuilding:

Arcane Signet doesn't go in colorless decks; the EDHRECast bangs the drum about this every 5 months or so, and they're still right to do it. Why is an exercise for the reader.

Second sin observed, which is EVEN WORSE in the context of literal years of deckbuliding: You're playing the Urza lands without expedition map? For SHAME!

You're not running SolemnSimulacrum-at-home Thran Spider because....why? It gives you reach, which is certainly hard to come by in colorless decks.

Speaking of which: while Solemn Simulacrum's star has DEFINITELY fallen in recent years, it's utility in a colorless deck is still hard to deny. Ditto for it's uncommon sibling Scampering Surveyor.

The inclusion of Unwinding clock in a deck so thin on instants is some cargo-cult deckbuilding. Yes, you have a lot of artifact nonland permanents and psuedovigilance is nice to have, BUT the rate you have to pay for Maybe activating a Bonder's Enclave, then an Urza's factory, then cracking a hedron archive is Not Worth It.

Let's generate a bunch of colorless mana with our commander!

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Perilous Vault (Blueprint Ver) by David Astruga

[a-flappy-bat]

I was thinking about that one Dr. Darling presentation where he talks about Hedron and the large scale HRA preparations… he seems so terrified at the prospect of the future to come. It turned into a drabble.

[markrosewater]

Does this mean future Phyrexians will also be Elves or Humans? Because otherwise I feel like there'd be a dissonance. Also, while we're on the topic, may I request a draw 3 version of Phyrexian Rager/Gargantua in the same way we got the Mind Stone, Hedron Archive, Dreamstone Archive line?

The future Phyrexians will most likely not be Human. The additive nature of creature type errata is to make it easier to process.

[spoookyjuice]

I’m 28k words into my Darling/Reader fanfic and I figured my other science husband simps might like it. Come get y’all juice.

Tagging and info below!

Chapters: 10/15 Fandom: Control (Video Game) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Casper Darling/Reader, Dr. Casper Darling/Reader Characters: Casper Darling, Emily Pope, Dylan Faden, Zachariah Trench, Hedron (Control), Ahti (Control), Jesse Faden Additional Tags: Thriller, Horror, Mystery, DILFs in labcoats, Romance, Slow Burn, Eventual Smut, Bittersweet Ending, Body Horror, Nightmares, Surreal, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff and Smut, Fluff, an absurd amount of coffee, did i mention dilfs in labcoats, bc the writer may or may not have a labcoat fetish, Reader-Insert Summary:

As the daughter of the former Head of Research and the granddaughter of a former Director, you've always felt at home in the Federal Bureau of Control. However, following a promotion to work alongside Casper Darling, you become aware of the secrets of the Oldest House that even you didn't know about- and feelings you never thought would come to light.

Will the threat of an unknown entity destroy everything you've come to love?

[subjectsix]

Dylan never knew Jesse had also pushed Polaris out before. They knew she would want to help push the Hiss out of Dylan totally. Jesse was sure Polaris wouldn’t bother him until he was ready, but Dylan still felt the bitter taste of her appearances in his P6 cell on the back of his tongue. He wasn’t sure if he was ready. Or if he ever would be. To ever let her back in.

Jesse says that’s okay. But Polaris still might reach out soon to try and help him. So he’d been looking for her, trying to get ready.

He can feel the Hedron resonance outside the office doors.

At least she’s waiting for me.

Nothing in the room threatens or prompts him to move. If he wanted, he could just sit in the big chair and stay there. Contemplate it all. Out of habit, if nothing else, he steps out the doors into the offices ahead.

His heart freezes as he grinds to a halt on the threshold.

Casper Darling looks up from a bench seat in the hall.

[jeskaim]

FNM 7/30/21 - Gwafa’s Test Run

Tonight was my first night going to FNM just to play commander and boy did it not go as I expected.  I played a game with two other players with the commanders Gaddock Teeg and Xanath.  Both of them were super annoying.  Gaddock Teeg especially because I couldn’t cast boardwipes and the Xanath player cast a Winter Orb and that creature that made all artifacts have an upkeep cost of one which SERIOUSLY slowed me down.  I got a Peacekeeper out early but couldn’t afford to keep it with the regular upkeep cost.

Then Xanath got copied and targeted me and the other player which slowed me down even more.  I finally scooped when he took control of my commander.  I just got unlucky with my draws and the combination of commanders I had to face, mainly Gaddock Teeg for preventing me from casting boardwipes.  After I conceded the Xanath player actually sacked the Winter Orb because it was in his deck purely for blue players and since the blue player (in this case me) was no longer in the game he didn’t have a need for it.  Plus Gaddock Teeg had the sword that untaps all your lands when the equipped creature attacks so it was really only hurting himself.  I got offered to play another game but declined because the only other deck I brought was Kess which would make me a huge target so I just decided to leave.

Despite how the game went I still had fun.  When I got home I made some adjustments.  I got rid of Maze of Ith and replaced it with Reliquary Tower just to have another mana source.  I also cut Hedron Archive for Orbs of Warding for more protection.  Plus I have two extra “mana rocks” in Gold and Silver Myr.

I don’t know if I’ll go back soon just because of the surge in COVID cases and the rise of the Delta Variant.  Hopefully things will die down a little.

[cur10uscr0w]

Character Analysis: Nahiri

With the return of web fiction, many Magic fans are celebrating the return of their favorite characters to the rich, exciting format that fed the rich boom of Magic fandom such as it was in 2016. Spoilers ahead for Episode 1: In the Heart of the Skyclave.

Read here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/episode-1-heart-skyclave-2020-09-02 written by @AtGreenblatt on twitter / atgreenblatt.com

It has been a long time for these characters, both to grow in story, and for the fans to keep up with out of story. Nahiri is an oldwalker, a planeswalker born before the Mending (an event 60 years ago in canon that dramatically changed the Multiverse and those with sparks); Nissa sparked just as the Mending took place; and while Jace is only a human in his mid-twenties, he has lived through some pretty intense experiences that have shaped how he sees the world around him.

Episode 1 of Zendikar Rising begins with Nissa and Nahiri meeting on Zendikar, their shared home, and discussing how Zendikar has been gravely injured by the Eldrazi's presence. Their conversation is a foundation for showing who these planeswalkers are today, revealing how the past has morphed their ideologies and particularly their relationship with guilt and protection. 

Both characters view themselves as Zendikar's guardian. This identity is essential to the choices they've made all their life, and it is directly tied to the Eldrazi threat, be it 6000 years ago or just a century ago. Let's look at the beginnings of this self-imposed duty and focus on Nahiri this week.

Nahiri sparked and found herself at Sorin's mercy. Planeswalkers used to be ever more dramatic and dangerous in the old days, godlike in power and territorial of their worlds. There were strict protocols to enter other people's worlds, and intrusions were met with distrust.

"All I see is a tantrum," he said. "If you came to meet an equal, you should have come under truce, following the protocols for parley with a fellow Planeswalker."

Stone and Blood, 2016

"There's no 'we' here, dragon," said Sorin, rising. "There's us, and theres's you. And Zendikar is under her protection."

"Hello to you, too, Sorin of Innistrad," said the dragon. "And on the contrary, when it comes to this problem, 'we' means everyone, everywhere."

He turned his great head toward Nahiri.

"I am Nahiri, guardian of Zendikar," she said. She looked up into the newcomer's inscrutable eyes and tried not to seem afraid. "Whoever you are, you're here at my sufferance."

"Of course," said the dragon, bowing. "Well met, Nahiri of Zendikar, and thank you for your hospitality."

The Lithomancer, 2014

Sorin and Nahiri trained together, and became friends, though Nahiri knew she could not fully trust him. They embarked on fantastic and tragic journeys spanning decades to fight the eldrazi, and in that time, Sorin trained a deep distrust in Nahiri.

"May I have a word with you, Nahiri?"

The clipped, dry voice was right behind her, close enough that she should have heard the man walk up to her, should have felt his breath on her neck. But he walked like a cat, and he drew no breath, and the thought of his lips so close to her throat made her shudder. Vampire.

She'd known he was there anyway—he was walking on bare stone, after all—but he himself had told her not to let anyone know all her tricks. Not even her friends, which wasn't at all sure he was.

She turned to face Sorin Markov—Vampire, fellow Planeswalker, protector of the plane called Innistrad, and the closest thing she had to a friend in this place so far from the world of her birth.

The Lithomancer, 2014

Even so, he was the closest thing she had to a friend. Despite their at times antagonistic friendship, they both appreciated the other and were relieved to see each other was doing well upon their reunion. Nahiri had worried for him, and he was pleased to see her, even dropping his brooding exterior enough to joke and clasp her shoulder.

"You'll have to forgive my rudimentary attempt at shaping stone, young one."

She spun. Sorin!

White hair, black coat, those strange orange eyes. How terrible his aspect, how dire his gaze—and yet she could not keep herself from grinning.

"My friend!" she managed to say at last. "You're alive!"

He smiled back at her, walked toward her, and put his hand on her shoulder. From him, it qualified as elation.

Their time together highlighted her belief in what it meant to be a protector. She saw herself as Zendikar's, and together they tried to protect the Multiverse so the Eldrazi wouldn't harm their home planes. Nahiri views her part in all of this as one who must protect all life. Watching even one settlement suffer on a foreign world causes her heartache, and she strives to instill hope and provide comfort and safety—even in their last minutes.

"You've made their camp for them," said Sorin. "Again. I think it's time we left them to their own efforts."

"No," said Nahiri. "We're here to save them."

"You're here to save them," said Sorin. "I'm here to stop these creatures, on this world, before they spread to others—to mine, or to yours."

Down in the river valley, dark shapes writhed. The sounds of camp life were muted.

"I can't stand to watch them suffer," she said.

"Then turn away," said Sorin, "and look at the bigger picture."

The Lithomancer, 2014

She is ridiculed by Sorin, told by him—and later Ugin—to "think of the bigger picture". Nahiri is 1000 years Sorin's junior, and informed that Ugin is even older than him, and they treat her as a child for her idealistic worldview of preventing all harm, allowing no one to suffer needlessly. She follows their plans however, respecting Sorin's judgement.

He raised a hand and conjured a small, ghostly image of the enormous thing they had seen on the horizon of that doomed world.

"You were watching us," said Nahiri, realization dawning. "And you didn't help."

"There is a whole Multiverse of people to help," said Ugin, "and a multitude of ways to help them. While you were trying to stage a grand battle, I was watching, and learning, so that these creatures can be stopped in the long run. This is a goal the three of us share."

"That's my goal," said Nahiri. "But I question the moral judgment of anyone who views the destruction of an entire world as a research project."

"What have you learned about them?" asked Sorin, ignoring her.

Wonderful. The grown-ups were talking. He had done this to her before, when meeting with other Planeswalkers. But she trusted Sorin's judgment, for the most part. She would hear the dragon out.

The Lithomancer, 2014

When Ugin presents his plan, it is to trap the Eldrazi on a plane that meets the requirements Zendikar does. To find another world would take time, and Nahiri has seen the devastation the Eldrazi wreak.

"Nahiri…" said Sorin, in what she thought of as his aggrieved-parent voice. "You saw what they did to that place. You can keep it from happening again. You heard Ugin. If we succeed, Zendikar survives."

"Risked," said Nahiri. "Damaged. What gives me the right to put everyone here in danger?"

"What gives you the right not to?" asked Ugin. "I am telling you that we can risk one world to save all others. And all worlds, including that one, are already at risk. The choice is obvious."

He lowered his head to look her in the eye.

"If you would prefer not to put your own world in danger, we can take the time to find another plane that meets our needs. If it is defended by a Planeswalker, we convince its guardian to cooperate—By force, if necessary. If it is undefended, we simply begin."

The Lithomancer, 2014

She reluctantly accepts this hardship on behalf of her plane because she believes in Zendikar's strength, and Ugin points out that Zendikar has a protector—her—that can take care of the world while it holds onto the sealed titans. It's the right thing to do, and she acknowledges she couldn't handle the guilt of shoving away the responsibility onto another plane.

They would come here eventually, if they were not stopped. They would come, and when they did, she would not be able to protect her world. And if she trapped them on some other world, to save her own, how would she forgive herself? The air of her beloved home would hold a guilty tang forever.

Zendikar was strong. It could withstand the Eldrazi long enough to trap them. Zendikar would be their prison, Nahiri their jailer, one world and one Planeswalker standing steadfast to protect all others.

The Lithomancer, 2014

Five millenia pass, Nahiri sleeping within the world of Zendikar and keeping vigil over her prisoners. At this point, she has spent nearly all of her existence toiling to keep the Eldrazi at bay so the Multiverse may live in peace. Sorin, Ugin, and she worked together for a few decades setting up the trap, and she had some time with Sorin before that, but she has dedicated 5000 years to holding the Eldrazi for the benefit of the Multiverse because that was the best way to ensure her beloved home Zendikar survived. She still viewed time under the constraints of mortality during the hedrons' construction.

It had taken forty years to establish the hedron network—what had seemed like a lifetime to her then, when she was still immersed in her connections to ordinary mortals. Crafting one single hedron would not take nearly so long, though she did it alone. The hardest part would be shaping the surface without Ugin's guidance.

Stirring Slumber, 2015

In her sleep, the kor misremembered her words about the titans, making a prophet out of her. Vampires have begun to roam Zendikar, and they disrupted the hedron alignment enough to release Eldrazi broods against Zendikar once more.

Above the male figure's head, an arcing banner proclaimed the subject of the artwork: "Nahiri the Prophet, Voice of Talib."

She turned her back on the sculpture and strode out of the building. Outside, she raised her hands and clenched her fists, and a cloud of dust billowed around her as the building collapsed in on itself.

It was her fault. She had been the first to call Kozilek a god, and apparently the kor had remembered that word more than they had remembered her dire warnings about the gods destroying the world. She felt sick.

Stirring Slumber, 2015

Even as she approached, she could tell that this was the point where the hedron network had been disturbed. Right under her nose, while she sat alone in the Eye of Ugin. Fury boiled up in her, directed as much at herself as at whoever had done this.

Fury—another feeling she had forgotten. It felt good.

She strode toward the building, each step shaking the ground and causing trickles of gravel and dust to run down the walls. As she drew near, three dark figures came around the building from the other side, crouching into combat stances as they spotted her.

Stirring Slumber, 2015

The figures seemed human, but she didn't recognize their clothing from any culture she knew. Flimsy gauze barely covered their chests, revealing the stark red paint adorning their ashen skin. Sharp hooks protruded from their shoulders and upper arms and, as they snarled at her approach, she saw slightly protruding fangs.

Vampires? she thought. There are no vampires on Zendikar.

Stirring Slumber, 2015

Nahiri deals with this resurgence and the people who brought it upon them, though it is difficult, and she must do it alone. She had agreed to sleep away her life within Zendikar, promised that should she ever need Sorin or Ugin's help, they would aid her.

Worry blossoms in her, and she is moved to help her friend, Sorin, if he is unwell. It feels good to give in to overpowering emotion again, having fallen into an apathetic halflife during her vigil. She seeks to bring meaning to her long slumber.

Other feelings she had all but forgotten, concern and anxiousness, swelled up in her heart and they made her smile even as they made her ache. They made her feel alive—the sensation of her heart pounding in her chest, the sound of it in her ears, the movement of her muscles as her brow furrowed and her jaw tightened.

What had Sorin been doing all the years she had been cocooned here in the Eye of Ugin? Was he still alive? Had he forgotten her and her vigil over Zendikar? Had he succumbed to the same apathy that had held her for so long?

She would go and find him, wake him up if she needed to, remind him of her and Zendikar and the friendship they had once shared, remind him what it was to live, to feel, to care. She had saved Zendikar, and now she would save him. And then she would return and walk among her people again, she would teach and laugh and love again, and it would matter again. It would all matter.

Stirring Slumber, 2015

Her reunion with Sorin begins alright, he is clearly pleased to see her and she is relieved he is doing well; however, she becomes wary, uncertain, as to what could possibly have kept Sorin away from fulfilling his promise to come to her aid. 

This is also a pivotal moment in how she sees herself in relation to other planeswalkers; she realizes that they are now much closer in age than when she entered sleep and are something akin to equals rather than student and mentor.

She reached up to cover his hand with hers. She was awake now, her body suffused with the warmth of life. His fingers were as cold and dead as ever.

"You never came," she said. "On Zendikar, when I activated the signal from the Eye of Ugin, you never responded. I feared that—"

Sorin withdrew his hand, frowning.

"The Eldrazi have broken free of their bonds?"

"They did, yes."

"Where is Ugin?" he asked.

"He didn't come either," she said, trying not to let bitterness reach her voice. "But I handled it. On my own. With all the strength I could muster, I managed to reseal the titans' prison."

It struck her, suddenly, that she was now far older than Sorin had been when they had met. In her memory he towered over her, her ancient mentor, a thousand years her senior. Now, what difference did a thousand years make? They were equals. At least.

Stone and Blood, 2016

When she inquires why he didn't come, he reveals his magic protecting Innistrad may have possibly prevented her call from reaching him. He speaks to her patronizingly, and she realizes the possibility that he chose his plane over hers and left her to rot, having used her for her service to the Multiverse.

"It's not inconceivable," he continued, sounding bored, "that your signal from the Eye was unable to break through the magic that protects this plane."

Sorin's own spellcraft had kept her from contacting him? She felt a sudden sense of vertigo, and picked her next words with care.

"Did you know at the time that that would happen?"

"It did not occur to me," he said. "Though I see now that it was a possibility."

Stone and Blood, 2016

Get up? she cried. You broke my arm!

So fix it, he said. He wasn't even looking at her.

Fix it? Fix it? How in the hells—

Only then had he finally explained to her that she was no longer mortal. That her body was a convenience, a projection of her will.

You should have told me that to begin with, she said, holding back tears of anger.

Ah, he said, in that bored but benevolent voice. It did not occur to me.

He was using that voice now, talking down to her. But the girl he had mentored was long dead, buried in a tomb of stone. Only a Planeswalker remained. And a Planeswalker would not be condescended to.

Stone and Blood, 2016

"I don't want your enmity," said Nahiri. "All I ever wanted was your help, Sorin. You made a promise. Come with me."

"Not now," said Sorin, with infuriating calm. "Later, perhaps. This is a critical time—"

"A critical time!" snapped Nahiri. "The Eldrazi almost escaped. You're thinking in terms of eons, but for all I know the Eldrazi are loose now. All that we worked for will be lost, your own plane will be in danger—don't you care about that?"

It hit her, then. The imprisonment of the Eldrazi had become her life's work, a constant effort that had kept her bound to her plane for almost her entire existence. But for him it had been an eyeblink—forty years of mild effort, five thousand years ago, in exchange for millennia of peace of mind. And now, with his new countermeasures, perhaps Innistrad wasn't in danger. Perhaps Nahiri and Zendikar and a hundred million carefully placed hedrons had served their purpose, in the mind of Sorin Markov.

Stone and Blood, 2016

Their argument escalates to blows as Nahiri's pain at being used sharpens into anger. She trusted Sorin. She allowed Sorin and Ugin to use her home, and sacrificed so many years of her life to protect the Multiverse. Sorin still sees her as a child planeswalker and won't even come back to Zendikar like he promised to make sure their work doesn't go to waste.

"Don't dismiss this," she said. "I was willing to jeopardize my home by luring the Eldrazi to it. I promised to chain myself to Zendikar to watch over them as their warden. I spent millennia with those monsters. Do you know what that's like? All you had to do was come when I needed you."

The ground began to shake, the bedrock below them vibrating in sympathy with her mounting rage. Of all the stone and metal nearby, only the silver Helvault seemed beyond her reach.

"Don't presume to own my actions, young one. I am obligated to nothing. I owe you nothing! When your Planeswalker spark first ignited, it was I who discovered you. I could have ended you there, but I spared you."

He turned back to her, orange eyes full of malice, face inches from hers.

"I took you under my wing, and molded you into what you are," he said. "If you find it necessary to pester someone, go find Ugin. I have no patience for it."

No patience. No patience. Pain gave way to anger in a white-hot instant.

Stone and Blood, 2016

Strands of eager silver closed around her body, drawing her in. Shards of rock whirled through the air, the bedrock beneath their feet shifted at her rage, but the Helvault itself did not care.

"Damn you!" she screamed. "I trusted you!"

He loomed over her, now, the angel's wings spread behind him, and he spoke one last time before molten silver flooded her ears. He sounded almost sad. Almost.

"I never asked for your trust, child. Only your obedience."

Then the Helvault claimed her, and she vanished into a darkness vast and total.

Stone and Blood, 2016

She spends a thousand years trapped in the Helvault, lost in a sea of darkness and demons. Nahiri gave everything for the Multiverse, and her thanks is to be threatened with madness as she wastes away in a void.

It was not like her cocoon of stone back on Zendikar, the slab of rock where she had slumbered for five fitful millennia. In her cocoon, dreamlike, she could sense all of Zendikar, reach out to any part of it, appear wherever she wished.

This was much, much worse—only darkness, and falling, and the unmistakable scent of Sorin Markov.

Sorin would pay for his treachery. She would escape from this prison, and she would make him pay. She'd thought they were allies. Friends! Now she saw him for what he truly was: a monster, plain and simple.

Stone and Blood, 2016

She comes to realize Sorin is a monster that she should have never trusted, and she isn't the only being wronged by him. His own creation, Avacyn, has wound up in the Helvault and Nahiri recognizes her to be twisted with hate, and Sorin's puppet.

The angel rose toward Nahiri—slowly, slowly, in this timeless void—until they were side by side. The cloud of demons had dissipated as Sorin's protector gained the upper hand. The angel looked over at Nahiri, and for a moment their eyes locked—and finally Nahiri understood. Sorin hadn't enslaved an angel. He hadn't tricked her or coerced her. This angel stank of Sorin, just like the Helvault.

He had made her. Just like the Helvault.

The angel recognized her, from their long-ago fight. Dark eyes flashed with fury—fury Sorin had instilled. He had created her in his own image, twisted her from the beginning. Made her hateful. Made her his. Nahiri shuddered.

Another being grievously wronged by Sorin Markov, one with no chance of vengeance or redress. No chance of freedom. A porcelain doll, to replace the student he had lost.

Stone and Blood, 2016

When she is finally broken out of the Helvault, she returns to Zendikar, a thousand years since she first realized the hedron network was being messed with, and finds her home to be a husk of what it once was. She knows what titans can do to a plane, eating the mana and corroding the land to such a degree the world itself cracks. She resigns herself to the fact that she can't destroy them herself, that Sorin's selfishness has led to the destruction of her home and all the Multiverse, and that she intends to take revenge on Sorin first.

Nahiri fell to her knees, pressing her hands into that lifeless dust.

If this was loose on her world—

If what happened here could happen everywhere—

If she had no preparations, a thin shard of her old power, and a hedron network centuries out of true—

Then the Zendikar she knew was dead. There was no saving it. One might as well try to stop the sun in the sky. She closed her eyes and saw her Zendikar, Zendikar as it had been. The world she had let Sorin Markov destroy. Hot tears of rage ran down her face and landed in that awful dust with a hiss.

"As Zendikar has bled, so will Innistrad."

She opened her eyes and looked down at her hands, at hands that had shaped stone and trapped titans. They were covered in gray dust.

"As I have wept, so will Sorin."

Stone and Blood, 2016

In these six millenia, we see Nahiri give everything, even her sense of self, for the protection of Zendikar. She is thought naïve and a bleeding heart for her unconditional care for those who walk all the planes of the Multiverse. She is routinely told by her mentor, her friend, her ally, that she must focus on the big picture. She is told that she is sacrificing herself for the greater good, to keep balance, and she is congratulated in this endeavor after decades of hard work.

Looming above the highlands of Akoum, the three Eldrazi stood petrified, surrounded by a web of floating hedrons. Nahiri knew the earth here. It was already reacting, growing around the great Eldrazi like a scab over a wound. The teeth of Akoum would swallow them, and the inhabitants of Zendikar would scour the plane of their brood. Zendikar had survived, ravaged but whole, and its people would learn to live in the shadows of the hedrons.

"Well done, Nahiri," said Sorin. "This was your work. Your sacrifice."

The three of them would test the strength of the lock, make sure the titans were secure. Perhaps Sorin and Ugin would help her scour the land of the Eldrazi broods. She hoped so. And then, sooner or later, the two elder Planeswalkers would depart, and Nahiri—and the Eldrazi—would remain.

She stared up at the silent, stony shapes. Ramparts of stone already crept up around them. Perhaps in a thousand years they would be forgotten, their destruction fading into legend. But Nahiri would not forget them, and neither would the land itself.

"This was our work," she said. "My work is just beginning."

The Lithomancer, 2014

When she wakes up from a watch that lasts thousands of years? Her response is to relish in emotion because she has let herself be encased in stone for so long. She laughs through pain because it's so novel, and she thinks of her friend who should be helping her. Nahiri worries for his safety, wonders if he has come upon a similar fate as she had, vows that she will bring love and laughter to his life once more as she dreams of walking through markets and experiencing life again.

His betrayal is a knife in the back. As far as Nahiri is concerned, his words all those centuries back were hollow. He never considered the pain she may be in, nor the fact she may not hear her call for help, as he rose defense around his home. She saves Zendikar from its first Eldrazi resurgence and rushes to save her friend, only to find he has moved on and doesn't care about her.

In a Multiverse where she has failed—the Eldrazi have escaped and will eat all of creation one way of the other—she has nothing to lose. She only has hope that she can exact revenge, and buy as much borrowed time for Zendikar while she does. She knows from her work with Sorin and Ugin that the Eldrazi can be directed, and will ignore other planes in their path.

The hedrons were lure as well as trap, sending out pulses of magical energy that drew the Eldrazi like the scent of blood draws sharks. Slowly, ponderously—and, Sorin reported, ignoring other worlds along the way—the Eldrazi approached Zendikar.

The Lithomancer, 2014

Nahiri destroys Sorin's bloodline, his home, and traps Sorin in rockface, leaving him captured in rockface so he cannot planeswalk away. She leaves him to watch the destruction of everything he holds dear. She leaves him trapped like he left her.

Innistrad is no longer her concern, she's been gone from Zendikar too long. Zendikar had been her salvation to get her through her millenia-long jailing, imagining it in its entirety. Her duty to Zendikar becomes forefront once more, having written off Innistrad, and she is dismayed by just how much has changed in her absence. While the Gatewatch trap Emrakul and halt the Eldrazi threat, Nahiri is focused on how she can help her beloved world, afflicted by the Roil.

Her whole life has been dictated by duty. She sees Zendikar as hers, because when she walked the Multiverse before her slumber, planes belonged to the planeswalkers that claimed them. It is also her obligation to fix what has become wrong because in her absence, her work has irrevocably changed Zendikar and its inhabitants. Her words have been twisted into idolization of the Eldrazi and her hedrons have become a sacred piece of kor spirituality.

Through episode one of Zendikar Rising, Nahiri is easily angered. Her guilt is expressed through fury, because she sees her work on Zendikar as failure. Skyclave fell, and the world is so unstable she can barely get through a short conversation without the world trying to swallow her. When the Roil was new, she likened it to a scab festering over a wound, and it seems 6000 years has only made her disgust of it more severe.

She speaks to Nissa with the same casual dismissal that Sorin and Ugin treated her to, because all her very long life, older planeswalkers treat younger planeswalkers as children. She manipulates conversation to put herself in a place of knowing and leading, not revealing everything so that Nissa must follow if she wishes to aid.

"I might have a solution," Nahiri replied, inclining her head toward the Skyclave. "Something that will heal Zendikar."

Nissa blinked. "You do?" she blurted in surprised, and then awkwardly added, "Sorry, I mean, you're not exactly known for healing. After what you did on Innistrad . . ."

Nahiri raised an eyebrow. "Says the person who set the Eldrazi free."

"I didn't—"

The elf stammered, but Nahiri raised a hand.

"We've both done things that have caused great damage. Let's try to undo some of it."

In the Heart of the Skyclave, 2020

"Look around you—this Skyclave is healing. The Roil stopped below us, and the land is calming. People will be able to rebuild here!" Nahiri said gesturing at the Skyclave's repair.

"At the expense of Zendikar's life," Nissa retorted. She reached out her awareness to the plants and moss that grew in the corners and cracks of the Skyclave, but they didn't respond. Nissa knew then that everything that lived in that ruined fortress was dead.

"You don't know what Zendikar was like," Nahiri said, her voice tight with anger, "you don't know how stunning and bright its people and cities used to be."

"And you don't know what Zendikar is like now. It's still beautiful, Nahiri"—Nissa reached out her hand—"give me the key."

In the Heart of the Skyclave, 2020 

She has spent so long trying to protect Zendikar, and she is willing to do anything to have back the Zendikar that she remembers. To return the Skyclave to the kor. To return Zendikar's stone to the peaceful earth it was before she let herself be duped by an elder dragon and vampire she thought was her friend.

She grieves the world she left behind, unable to see the beauty of the world that she now stands in. On Innistrad, she thinks to herself that a thousand years in the Helvault is rest enough for several lifetimes, and her rage has been building in all that time, rekindled after she let herself fall apathetic for too long.

The sacrifice of some elementals—of even a person or two as we saw in the trailer—is worth it for The Bigger Picture, that she has been taught to seek.

We will have to wait and see how the story unfolds and how her fury carries her through.

Check out Magic Story next week Wednesday for episode 2, and I will be following up on Thursday with a character analysis of Nissa!

[jones-friend]

More War of the Spark. This set gave us so much to use.

Manalith with a scry? Sounds great for white and red decks. Hedron Archive with colors? One mana more is a Gilded Lotus. You thought Grand Arbiter was annoying? Get ready for double the issue. EoT effects let you get use out of that the turn you play it.

Bond of Insight is very good, fits right in with self mill. Do you like Alchemist’s Refuge but wish it fit in your Lathliss deck? Emergence Zone! Toss it in your lands matter deck and recur as needed.

I REALLY like War’s defensive utility. Bolt Bend is a mana efficient Wild Richochet. You’re only gonna wanna cast it if you have something big enough worth defending anyway so its always R. Gideon’s Sacrifice eats up a combat step OR damage based boardwipe, dump it on a Stuffy Doll or Spitemare for value. Time Twist blinks out any of your permanents till EOT to survive combat, spot removal, or board wipes. It also resets your walker’s counters.

[nehebthewordy]

EDH DECK TECH: Kunoros Voltron

Hello everyone, welcome back to another EDH deck tech. This week we’re building around one of the new legends from Theros: Beyond Death. While Kunoros is open-ended and flexible enough to lead just about any Orzhov deck, we’re going to be suiting him up so we can take advantage of that lifelink. As always, we’ll be prioritizing budget options over their more well-known alternatives.

Kunoros is extremely flexible; his cast/ETB block stops popular decks such as Muldrotha or Kess, and his vigilance allows him to keep your defenses up while you pressure your opponents. We, however, are building off of his lifelink, and more importantly menace. By suiting him up with a few auras and equipments we can turn him into a solid beater that gains us life.

Starting us off, let’s look at how we plan to RAMP. Most of our mana acceleration is tied to artifacts, so Sol Ring,  Orzhov Signet, and Talisman of Hierarchy are a good initial basis. Mind Stone, Thaumatic Compass, and Unstable Obelisk can all perform additional tasks in addition to their primary function. Finally, Solemn Simulacrum and Burnished Hart are creatures that can grab basics from your library.

With the majority of our mana acceleration handled, we need to next look at CARD ADVANTAGE. being in one of the worst color arrangements for drawing cards, it’s difficult to do this on a budget. A good place to start is with Greed and its slightly cheaper counterpart Arguel’s Blood Fast: While the latter’s transform may draw your attention, our deck cares far more about its front side’s ability. Though the more iconic Phyrexian Arena is fairly expensive, Bloodgift Demon gives you a similar effect for a lower financial cost. Hedron Archive and Dreamstone Hedron are mana-intensive if used exclusively for drawing, but until you’re ready to do so they’re good for ramp as well. Tome of the Guildpact is an expensive manalith, but the added flexibility of drawing on cast can greatly strengthen your deck.

Finally, we get into White and Black’s mutual strength: REMOVAL. You have no shortage of multicolor removal spells: Mortify, Anguished Unmaking, Utter End, and Vindicate are all strong, flexible options. Return to Dust and Aura of Silence are both strong options for enchantments and artifacts, while  Ravenous Chupacabra, Swords to Plowshares, and Hero’s Downfall are potent creature removal. Finally, Ethereal Absolution can buff your field, kill your opponent’s small creatures, and remove key cards from your opponents’ graveyards.

For this particular list, we’ll look at WIPES separately from removal. Merciless Eviction is a fairly standard Orzhov board wipe, but Deathbringer Regent and Extinguish all Hope can also do well. If three isn’t enough for your playgroup, Winds of Rath and Winds of Abandon are easy to acquire and ignore your own board. If you need to attack graveyards as well, Soul-Guide Lantern can exile your opponents’ graveyards or draw an additional card.

Next we’re taking a look at some more PERSONAL touches. Kunoros himself does a lot to block graveyard interactions, but you may want a backup: Ashes of the Abhorrent and Grafdigger’s Cage both do an exception job at this. Though pricy, Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are paramount to keep your general in play, while Palace Siege does well to either recur key creatures or add an additional source of life. Authority of the Consuls and Blind Obedience can slow down your opponents and gain you life. Finally, Sanguine Bond and Vizkopa Guildmage can turn any life you gain into a weapon of its own.

And now we get into the purpose of our deck: VOLTRON. We’ll, of course, look at the usual voltron inclusions: Hero’s Blade, Argentum Armor, and Trusty Machete do well, while Viridian Claw grants first strike protection and Tenza, Godo’s Maul provides a substantial buff at low equip cost. My favorite enchantments to adding to this strategy are Citadel Siege and Gryff’s Boon.

Finally, let’s take a look at a few key LANDS to help you out. Caves of Koilos is probably the cheapest untapped dual land you’ll be able to get for the deck, while Opal Palace and last year’s Forge of Heroes can allow Kunoros to enter with additional counters. Additionally, Arch of Orazca is expensive to activate, but helps dig a little deeper into your deck, while Rogue’s Passage can guarantee an unblocked attacker.

And that’s the end of this week’s deck tech. Thanks again for stopping by, and remember to send in a request if there’s a commander you want to see brewed. As always, keep up the pressure while you buffer your own life total. Until next time, see you on the battlefield.