#venser the sojourner

[dimestoretajic]

THE MAGIC PLANESWALKER ULTIMATE BRACKET QUARTERFINALS!

For a dead guy, Venser is sure hanging in there, cuz it's not easy to take out Teferi twice! Can he stand against the junk-flinging gobbo and make it to the semis? I wanna know!

Make your choice!

[kogarashi-art]

Me: reads article previewing some things from the upcoming MtG set

[overgrown-estate]

My poor, handsome Venser. The Phyrexians retrieved his body and turned him into Sheoldred's puppet. I was upset when they killed him off, now this? I hope someone puts this monstrosity in the ground soon!

[toolusingmammalgirl]

The list is updated, removing cards that have sold and adding in tokens and basics!

Highlights include Sorin, Lord of Innistrad; Venser, the Sojourner; Zariel, Archduke of Avernus; Muzzio; foil Conjurer's Closet; prerelease foil God-Pharaoh's Gift; promo foil Steel Hellkite; full-art Battle For Zendikar basic lands; Unstable basic lands; and much more!

Non-English cards: Kari Zev (French), Hooded Hydra (Spanish), Abbot of Keral Keep (Simplified Chinese), Treasure Cruise (Spanish), Unburial Rites (Spanish), Siege-Gang Commander (Italian)

I'm willing to sell off the contents of my Magic binder, mostly stuff for commander/cube/casual decks; I'll charge 2/3rds of the price Scryfall lists (plus shipping), DM me for an inventory list

(I'm on Discord at Cryptovexillologist#8578)

[sprklqst]

inches

[dailytopimagic]

Topi’s Daily Card #1217: Venser, the Sojourner 

If you’re running a blink/flickering deck, then Venser is probably a strong contender for inclusion.  The fun thing about his +2 is that it’s flickering a permanent you own, meaning anything that’s stolen or exchanged can just be blinked right back to your side of the board.  You can use it to abuse ETB effects, Reset lands and artifacts to untapped, any other fun things that blinking can do.  The -1 can create brutal alpha strikes if you have the power as well, just paying five mana to win the game can be pretty great.  If you ever get that ult off, the game should be yours in a matter of time.  Being able to exile a thing with every spell seems utterly powerful, and adding in something like capsize can really decimate a board late game.  Venser is a nice mixture of abilities, so while he can’t protect himself as well as other walkers, his power means that with a proper defense around him he can really warp the game.

[rhystique-study]

Some doodles! My oc, Vayle, and Venser

[venser]

im over the moon about one of my pet cards being included in the witherbloom precon sdjghdhjdshgdf $12 isnt. the worst to spend on a card but it doesn't feel good either ESPECIALLY if you want to pick up multiple copies

[markrosewater]

Hey Mark, it’s my birthday! I’d like to request trivia on the star of my favorite kitchen table deck, Venser the Sojourner. (Bonus points: if or when on getting a new Venser?)

I really enjoyed Venser’s power suite (teleportation) and felt it lent itself well to Magic mechanics. I was really sad when he died, because there were so many designs left on the table. I would love to make another Venser (in a set looking backwards) one day.

[edh-a-to-z]

Theros Beyond Death - Top 5 Blue Cards

Hi Folks, back at it again with my favorite five blue Theros Beyond Death cards. This list is highly subjective, and I’d love to hear your picks for your favorite blue cards of this set. Have any fun plays in Arena? Let me know, I’d love to hear about it!

5) Stern Dismissal

Grade: C-

Home: Spellslinger Decks

Range: Narrow

Finally, after all these years - a strictly better Unsummon! Since Unsummon is always at the verge of being played, and I think this pushes that type of card to playable. Blue has occasional problems with Enchantments, and the ability to deal with them, albeit temporarily, feels like a nice extra bit of functionality.

4) Thassa’s Intervention

Grade: C

Home: Blue Utility Cards

Range: Very Wide

Options are great, especially on Counterspells with “Cost Extra” which can end up dead in later turns. This insulates from that since the cost is pretty hefty, making it a spell I don’t mind playing at 4 or 5, which I hate doing for Counterspells. Digging for cards at instant speed and usually drawing the best two is a great fallback, especially at instant.

3) Thassa’s Oracle

Grade: B-

Home: Lab Man Deck

Range: Very Narrow

Alt Win-Cons can always be abused, and this can be redundancy for Lab Man decks. That alone gets a mention on the list.

Aside from that, the digging is rather tame.

2) Nadir Kraken

Grade: C+

Home: Kraken Tribal, Literally any Blue Deck, Draw-Go, Sac Fodder

Range: Narrow

Hello, annoying creature. Assuming you just keep paying, netting a decent sized kraken and an army of chump blockers is chief and efficient. Being able to do this at least once a round is nice. It’s also odd for other players to try to justify to themselves using single target removal on such a creature - it’s slow to become a threat, doesn’t have evasion, leave it for others to deal with.

1) Kiora Bests the Sea God

Grade: C+

Home: Steal Decks, Sacrifice Decks

Range: Narrow

Casting anything over 4 mana, especially when you get to 6+ CMC, always feels riskier thanks to the prevelence of counterspells in a multiplayer game. But sometimes, a card is so splashy you make an exception for it.

A hexproof 8/8 Kraken to start is great. That brings up all kinds of shenanigans for recursion and Flickering, like Sentinel of the Pearl Trident or Venser the Sojourner. 

The hard tapdown effect and stealing effects as well? Just gravy. Sure, it targets a player (not scaling well to Multiplayer), but opening up one player to get ganked by the table is a great idea. A finale of stealing the best permanent on the board makes this a godly card in a battlecruiser game.

More so than White, Blue has some great cards at all rarities - here are a solid bunch I felt worth mentioning.

Honorable mentions - 

Wavebreak Hippocamp, Stinging Lionfish, Naiad of Hidden Coves - A lot of decks like playing on other turns anyway, and Draw-Go can get some utility out of these. The fact that they’re all enchantment has some potential synergy with White tutoring or Constellation, but that’s just ambient synergy - I don’t see a build-around.

Sphinx Mindbreaker - Scales fairly into EDH, and flickering it like crazy is a good way to end a Mill game. 

Serpent of Yawning Depths - For all your Kraken needs! Kraken and Co support is rather rare, and for a casual Whelming Wave style decks, this can do some work

[roguedeckbuilder]

TL DW Text Version:

Standard: [[Thought Erasure]]. This is currently a top 5 card. More importantly, the decks that it sees play in have virtually no rotating cards. Check out the Esper Hero and Dimir Walkers!

]]Legacy]]: Supreme Verdict. Another triple dipper. Ample play in Commander, Modern and Legacy. Dodged reprints in the guild kits.

EDH: [[Venser, the Sojourner]]. It is all about the supply and the spread. This card is about to pop. Very little supply left on tcgplayer. Atraxa decks are also back on the rise and this is a heavily played card in Atraxa.

Pauper: [[Chromatic Sphere]], I think if one of the Chromatics are reprinted it will be star, allowing this one to slowly creep up in value. Sees ample play in Pauper and Modern

Modern: [[Kitesail Freebooter]]. Humans has solidified itself as a top 5 deck. With Ixalan running low on stock, now is the time to pull the trigger on Freebooter. They can still be found for .25 , Reminds me a lot of Reflector Mage. Bottomed out after banned in standard and then shot back up because of Modern demand. Oath probably has more overall supply than Ixalan does.

[dimestoretajic]

THE MAGIC PLANESWALKER ULTIMATE BRACKET, SEMIFINALS!

No matter what happens, a finalist's name will end with a V.

We've got Vraska's immediate threat to your victory versus Venser's slow and methodical annihilation of your boardstate! Which will take the prize? It's up to you!

Make your choice!

[mtgbracket]

The Top 256, provisionally ranked

So, we finally got to the stage where I can list all the remaining cards in the bracket in one post.

I have ordered the remaining cards according to a strength statistic of my own design; the details are in the results spreadsheet.

Here are the projected Top 8:

1. Lightning Bolt 2. Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 3. Dark Confidant 4. Crucible of Worlds 5. Snapcaster Mage 6. Fact or Fiction 7. Jace, the Mind Sculptor 8. Liliana of the Veil

The projected Top 16:

9. Birds of Paradise 10. Swords to Plowshares 11. Force of Will 12. Ancestral Recall 13. Wrath of God 14. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 15. Thoughtseize 16. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Projected Top 32:

17. Cryptic Command 18. Primeval Titan 19. Damnation 20. Mulldrifter 21. Ugin, the Spirit Dragon 22. Wheel of Fortune 23. Griselbrand 24. Deathrite Shaman 25. Delver of Secrets 26. Eternal Witness 27. Vindicate 28. Doran, the Siege Tower 29. Time Walk 30. Counterspell 31. Mother of Runes 32. Stoneforge Mystic

Projected Top 64:

33. Dark Ritual 34. Brainstorm 35. Gaea's Cradle 36. Path to Exile 37. Necropotence 38. Young Pyromancer 39. Channel 40. Aether Vial 41. Sakura-Tribe Elder 42. Blood Moon 43. Mindslaver 44. Knight of the Reliquary 45. Vendilion Clique 46. Sol Ring 47. Survival of the Fittest 48. Sylvan Library 49. Treasure Cruise 50. Umezawa's Jitte 51. Phyrexian Arena 52. Lingering Souls 53. Llanowar Elves 54. Black Lotus 55. Sword of Fire and Ice 56. Natural Order 57. Supreme Verdict 58. Monastery Mentor 59. Bitterblossom 60. Baleful Strix 61. Meddling Mage 62. Yawgmoth's Will 63. Gilded Lotus 64. Demonic Tutor

Projected Top 128:

65. Rancor 66. Phage the Untouchable 67. Elspeth, Sun's Champion 68. Abrupt Decay 69. Island 70. Gush 71. Karn Liberated 72. Wurmcoil Engine 73. Cruel Ultimatum 74. Platinum Angel 75. Tooth and Nail 76. Tolarian Academy 77. Tarmogoyf 78. Faithless Looting 79. Terminate 80. Entomb 81. Kitchen Finks 82. Hymn to Tourach 83. Cabal Therapy 84. Serra Angel 85. Doubling Season 86. Time Spiral 87. Birthing Pod 88. Solemn Simulacrum 89. Bloodbraid Elf 90. Progenitus 91. Sun Titan 92. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker 93. Nicol Bolas 94. Library of Alexandria 95. Splinter Twin 96. Restoration Angel 97. Omniscience 98. Baneslayer Angel 99. Bribery 100. Strip Mine 101. Figure of Destiny 102. Treachery 103. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 104. Tinker 105. Kolaghan's Command 106. The Gitrog Monster 107. Show and Tell 108. Grave Titan 109. Skullclamp 110. Pack Rat 111. Balance 112. Garruk Wildspeaker 113. Nevinyrral's Disk 114. Recurring Nightmare 115. Exploration 116. Mox Ruby 117. Sphinx's Revelation 118. Remand 119. Green Sun's Zenith 120. Enlightened Tutor 121. Lion's Eye Diamond 122. Dack Fayden 123. Geist of Saint Traft 124. Doomsday 125. Isochron Scepter 126. Mox Sapphire 127. Elvish Visionary 128. Consecrated Sphinx

And the remaining cards in the actual Top 256:

129. Glimpse of Nature 130. Avacyn, Angel of Hope 131. Monastery Swiftspear 132. Deranged Hermit 133. Cavern of Souls 134. Chandra, Torch of Defiance 135. Noble Hierarch 136. Goblin Grenade 137. Death's Shadow 138. Tireless Tracker 139. Yawgmoth's Bargain 140. Ensnaring Bridge 141. Krenko, Mob Boss 142. Life from the Loam 143. Phyrexian Obliterator 144. Flametongue Kavu 145. Fastbond 146. Entreat the Angels 147. Howling Mine 148. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind 149. Terminus 150. Grave Pact 151. Time Vault 152. Exhume 153. Maze of Ith 154. Voice of Resurgence 155. Blood Artist 156. Oracle of Mul Daya 157. Mox Emerald 158. Pernicious Deed 159. Duress 160. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 161. Liliana, Heretical Healer 162. Mana Vault 163. Inferno Titan 164. Dryad Arbor 165. Armadillo Cloak 166. Jace, Vryn's Prodigy 167. Seedborn Muse 168. Horizon Canopy 169. Forest 170. Narcomoeba 171. Captain Sisay 172. Sheoldred, Whispering One 173. Mountain 174. Animate Dead 175. Rampant Growth 176. Sword of Feast and Famine 177. Trinisphere 178. Panharmonicon 179. Shardless Agent 180. Shivan Dragon 181. Fireball 182. Gisela, the Broken Blade 183. Stifle 184. Chalice of the Void 185. Ghost Quarter 186. Berserk 187. Terror 188. Swamp 189. Toxic Deluge 190. Through the Breach 191. Reflector Mage 192. Imperial Recruiter 193. Blightsteel Colossus 194. Spellskite 195. Polluted Delta 196. Linvala, Keeper of Silence 197. Venser, the Sojourner 198. Karakas 199. Grizzly Bears 200. Oblivion Ring 201. Sword of Body and Mind 202. Kozilek, Butcher of Truth 203. Anguished Unmaking 204. Nahiri, the Harbinger 205. Thrun, the Last Troll 206. Ashnod's Altar 207. Stasis 208. Morphling 209. Grove of the Burnwillows 210. Flickerwisp 211. Everflowing Chalice 212. Coalition Relic 213. Engineered Explosives 214. Academy Rector 215. Merciless Eviction 216. Master of Waves 217. Krosan Grip 218. Leyline of Sanctity 219. Serra's Sanctum 220. All Is Dust 221. Rite of Replication 222. Basking Rootwalla 223. Jace Beleren 224. Smokestack 225. Force Spike 226. Inquisition of Kozilek 227. Edric, Spymaster of Trest 228. Golgari Grave-Troll 229. Summer Bloom 230. Explore 231. Scroll Rack 232. Murderous Cut 233. Donate 234. Faerie Conclave 235. Infernal Tutor 236. Mimic Vat 237. Sphere of Resistance 238. Sundial of the Infinite 239. Azami, Lady of Scrolls 240. Atog 241. Badlands 242. Farseek 243. Goblin Warchief 244. Wildfire 245. Spell Queller 246. Frantic Search 247. Street Wraith 248. Terastodon 249. Polymorph 250. Karn, Silver Golem 251. Telling Time 252. Savannah Lions 253. Turnabout 254. White Knight 255. Rites of Flourishing 256. Hydroblast

[the8x8theory]

Non-Red Planeswalker Stax Package - $46.30

request by @olorotheimmortaljailer

**WARNING** This package does NOT follow our $20 price per package, but there is no alternative for this particular package

Alright, now that we have the disclaimer out of the way, many people saw Atraxa and instantly wanted to build Superfriends. I can’t blame them as she is the absolute best Commander to support such a deck. It’s disappointing that you can’t include red Planeswalkers, but free loyalty counters every turn is hard to pass up. This was hard to put together, and nearly didn’t make 8 cards, but here are the best Planeswalker stax cards. We are going to focus mainly on the emblems they produce because they can NEVER be removed.

Venser, the Sojourner - $11.75 This is the most expensive card in the package, but his emblem can do a very powerful thing: EXILE LANDS. Stax is all about resource denial or taxation. Getting rid of lands is the best resource denial.

Sorin, Solemn Visitor - $5.84 Having to sacrifice a creature every upkeep will keep your opponents double guessing whether to play creatures or which one they’re willing to lose. His first ability will help get you to the late game by giving your creatures Lifelink.

Jace, Unraveler of Secrets - $3.75 Jace’s emblem is going to be one of the most powerful taxations. It actually reads, “each spell you cast costs X more where X is the cheapest spell in your hand.” They’ll have to throw away cards just to get what they want on the board.

Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver - $6.64 You have three options here. Deny a resource, use said denied resource, or deny all resources in hand (and grave for reanimator decks). Nothing on this card is bad for a stax deck.

Dovin Baan - $2.00 How about a Static Orb that will never go away and never effect you? I know you want it. Until then, you deny someone their most valuable activated ability.

Narset Trasncendent - $8.62 Now we can tell our opponents they can only play lands and casts creatures, nothing else. This will make it much easier to control your opponents.

Jace, Memory Adept - $5.42 The good thing about this Jace is you don’t have to build up to it’s ultimate. You can drop him and instantly mill someone for 10. The only downside is it’s targeted, so it’s gonna take a few hits to make a dent in just one person’s deck.

Ob Nixilis Reignited - $2.28 Good ol’ Ob is a beast with every ability. First, we have a Phyrexian Arena. Second, he can be a straight up kill spell with no restrictions. Third, his last ability gives someone a Nekusar/Psychosis Crawler ability.

There you go, folks. With Atraxa at the helm and the common stax colors, we can easily make our opponents suffer. Once these emblems hit the command zone, there’s no stopping you unless they kill you. Keep your opponents oppressed and…

Victory shall be yours

— Jake, @apok-the-combomancer

if you’d like to support us, head on over to our Patreon page and become a patron today for exclusive benefits. Thanks for being a part of this!

[oldtumblhurgoyf]

A Birthday Present for Mark Rosewater

His birthday is months from now and I’d prefer nobody tag him or mention him in this post just on the off chance he checks on that and it spoils the surprise. I’m going to do all the work on this but the gist of it is I’m sending some cards to Mark of special significance. The list so far is as follows:

Maro

Tinker

Endless Ranks of the Dead

Soldier of Fortune

Look at Me, I’m the DCI

Library of Lat-Nam

Gustha’s Scepter

Yet Another Aether Vortex

Doubling Season

Venser, the Sojourner

That’s 10 cards. I need 5 more to complete the list but I’m not sure what else to include. A brief explanation for each card included here:

Maro is his namesake and a card he actually owns the artwork for. Tinker is perhaps his most notorious card, as noted in a recent ask, the card R&D has voted as his most bah-roken creation. Endless Ranks of the Dead is a card I’ve seen him call his favorite multiple times. And while that favorite card changes with the day, seeing this multiple times leaves me confident at its inclusion. Soldier of Fortine, Library of Lat-Nam, and Gustha’s Scepter all share the distinction of being the first cards Mark designed that saw print. Look at Me, I’m the DCI is the only card for which Mark Rosewater is the artist. Yet Another Aether Vortex is a card I’ve perhaps forgotten the reasoning on but I think it’s because multiple times he’s called it his favorite un-card. It might also be because he has said it’s the un-card that spawns the most rules questions (citation needed). Doubling Season is a card Mark designed solely because he wanted to see it in the game. Venser, the Sojourner is the one planeswalker Mark has once called his favorite. He doesn’t tell us his favorite planeswalker anymore because Creative is capricious.

Also I’m recalling Mark designed Donate I think to make his weird wall deck work? I should probably include that on this list. Which means I need four more cards to give to Mr. Rosewater when his next (or at least next next) birthday rolls around. Which should they be?

[mtggoldfish]

Does Venser, the Sojourner have a home in Modern, backed by Eternal Witness and Cryptic Command? Let's find out! Much Abrew: Venser Bant (Modern). https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/much-abrew-venser-bant-modern