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possumkingluca · 9 months

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dnd story time so.. the party I'm in was camping out on this island to avoid a giant fucking sea serpent swimming around while we figure out what we're gonna do about it, and while on final watch our druid saw a sahuagin peeking around the corner at us.. so they woke us up because gross fish person alert and also what the fuck are they supposed to about it. They might speak every language in the phb but the very specific ones??? They don't speak fish person. Also they only have a +1 in charisma and also are the bluntest mf alive they are NOT allowed to speak. now we are awake and very clearly see it trying to hide behind a rock and we start plotting how the hell we're gonna deal with it. I play an eloquence bard. I have universal speech. I wont be able to understand it because universal speech is a dumb feature BUT idk we can play charades or some shit. Draw in the sand maybe ???

fun little fact: i fucked up a conversation with someone really bad the prior session (i was eepy and couldn't think very well :((( ) and ended up buying a dried fish from them to escape. fighter: you could offer them that fish me: i could..... .....does that count as cannibalism??? DM: ...probably not So i walk up close enough to it so i can use universal speech and held out the dried fish me: would you like fish?

sahuagin: *very carefully walks up* and

ok. so the sahuagin goes back into the water for a minute and.. out comes, a lot of them. ten fish people. ten. me: ... *turns back to our druid* WE'RE GONNA NEED MORE FISH. druid: *starts frantically catching fish* so we start a like fish conveyor belt with our druid catching the fish, throwing it to our fighter, and our fighter tossing it to me to offer. eventually the fighter joins in fishing and luckily they both have a good survival skill so it goes pretty quickly. then out comes one that is a.. woman? maybe? i don't know fish person anatomy, why would i know fish person anatomy this is like the third/fourth time i've ever seen an ocean. and while she's fucking staring me down another one comes out who is much. much. bigger. we just mugged a young dragon (yeah this session started out with us mugging a dragon, happens all the time don't worry about it) and this fucker is the like same height as it. and he has four arms. (kackles is that you ???? (no it's not he's much shorter. and also a bug.)) me: ..do i need like two fish for each of his pair of arms????? priestess sahuagin: touches her finger to my head me: oh shit she gon blow my head off she did not. instead she cast tounges on me. great. because I WANT to have a conversation with these people. so they complement our fishing ability and big fuck asks us if we take commissions.

me: what the fuck do they mean commissions druid's player: say yes. me: ...yes. they want us to catch 50 pounds of fish.

They are offering payment though! Got a pearl necklace worth about 1000 gold.. some earrings worth i think about 500 gold idk i forgor and a big ass gold ship steering wheel worth who fucking knows what the hell ??? They claim they got these from 'the beast' which we assumed meant a ship Now back to the 50 pounds of fish issue. We do have a solution to this problem. Kill the sea serpent and take 50 pounds of meat from it. Solving two problems at once. We give these guys their fish, and we deal with the serpent. But because we are sometimes smart I ask about their opinion on the serpent so we don't like accidentally kill their friend or some shit cause that'd be certified not good

"We care not for the monster who protects the beast" ...sea serpents eat ships.... W A I T. TANAZIR?????

so. this campaign started as a Strixhaven campaign that we continued on after graduation. currently one of our many tasks on our quest to save the world (why are we here what are we doing none of us should be here besides the fighter) is to find where all the founder dragons are hiding. We've already found Shadrix Silverquill and we guessed that Tanazir Quandrix (women in S.T.E.M!!!!) was around here and during mine and the fighter's watches we saw her come out of this whirpool thing and talk to the sea serpent. these fuckers stole from one of the fucking founder dragons. how? how the hell do you accomplish that??

and also now we know that the serpent is friends with Tanazir so we can't kill it because that'd probably piss her off and uh let's not do that. (also we should probably return the treasure to her :((( our money :(((( don't you know robbing two young dragons of their entire hoard is simply not nearly enough money ??? (we are greedy and also lunatics)) anyway okay so not killing the serpent. and we are 100% gonna have to backstab our new fish friends :((( we end up deciding to send our fighter (who has a cloak of the manta ray) and our druid (can just.. become a fish) to go into deeper water to hopefully find some tuna, while me and our wizard (he's here too, just has been comatose cause his player wasn't here. gonna be a fun surprise for him next session.) stay here to make sure the sahuagin don't think we're scamming them or something. Also i can compensate for our wizard's zero in charisma, and while our fighter has a -1 in charisma he was a quandrix student so he'll probably be ok if they encounter the serpent maybe. the sahuagin asked how long it would take for us to get the fish (it would take maybe a week maybe longer) so with a not technically a lie (the DM let me use persuasion thank god because i can't get lower than a 21 in persuasion (silver tounge rizz)) i convinced them that'd it take about two weeks BUT if they provided us a harpoon (the fighter wanted one) it'd only take a week-ish Before our druid and fighter could escape the sahuagin start circling around them.. singing? some ritual's going on, mayhaps blessing their trip. maybe. and the fuckin priestess one comes up to me and starts having a conversation. Priestess Sahuagin: Are you of faith? Me: /i don't follow any gods i'm just an english major. welp the founder dragons are like almost gods so Shadrix can count sure why not/ ..yes Priestess Sahuagin: *asking me if i like the spell guiding bolt* (I forgot exactly what she said) Me: *considers the like 10 times i've ended a fight with a well timed crit using guiding bolt* yes. Priestess Sahuagin: *something about their shark god i don't remember i'm tired* druid's player: he's pretty neat Me: ...he's pretty neat. Priestess Sahuagin: He is pretty neat :) (help) anyway so I planned for our wizard and i to kinda hang out on the beach while we wait for the other two to return. the sahuagin had other plans. They ask if we have gills (no) They ask what we are

me: do they want an actual answer ??? DM: yeah me: ...im a lizardfolk ...*points at fighter* he's a dragonborn *points at druid* they're a tiefling (the sahuagin have no fucking clue what the hell (heh) a tiefling is and maybe that's for the best) and *points at wizard* he's a human. Sahuagin: *death staring our wizard* that explains why he's elf like. ??why does everyone have beef with elves?? let's just leave out the fact our druid has an elven husband. and be glad we didn't bring him with us on this trip. i mean he's not a sea elf but y'know anyway so the session ends with our wizard and i about to be kidnapped and dragged to the ocean where the sahuagin live (im pretty sure we were given potions of water breathing which is good cause i would prefer not drowning.) and the druid and fighter setting out to go get a shit ton of fish pray for our souls

@datfatnerd are you proud us

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snarktocrab · 1 year

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You know they say that all mathematicians are created equal, but you look at me and you look at Tanazir Quandrix and you can see that statement is not true. See, normally if you go one on one with another philosopher, you got a 50/50 chance of winning. But I'm a genetic freak and I'm not normal! So you got a 25%, AT BEST, at beat me. Then you add Niv-Mizzet to the mix, your chances of winning drastic go down. See the 3 way, at Tolaria, you got a 33 1/3 chance of winning, but I, I got a 66 and 2/3 chance of winning, because Niv-Mizzet KNOWS he can't beat me and he's not even gonna try!

So Tanazir Quandrix, you take your 33 1/3 chance, minus my 25% chance and you got an 8 1/3 chance of winning at the debate. But then you take my 75% chance of winning, if we was to go one on one, and then add 66 2/3 per cents, I got 141 2/3 chance of winning at Tolaria. Señor Quandrix? The numbers don't lie, and they spell disaster for you at Tolaria.

#mtg #quandrix #izzet #sometimes inspiration is a curse

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wyrmhaven · 2 months

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Session #1

Feb 14, 2023

The day of orientation arrives, and our fated group prepares in their own ways Doya modifies her outfit with scissors, and immediately learns that the outfits can be modified magically White gets ready in a calm and orderly way Zoey zooms Rin moves his books around, and notice that Vladimir Howard's part of the room is darker Carmila gets ready at the same time as Aurora, but uses Guillermo instead of her mirror She tells Aurora that she doesn't like mirrors when asked about it The group leave their dorms, and meet up as they head towards the Commons Along the way, they pass by part of the campus under some form of construction As they walk, they see the towers and flying transportation of Lux Concordia around them all dwarfed by the massive Hexpiral tower They reach the Commons, and find a magically constructed stage there Doya approaches the group, acting friendly Carmilla and White are suspicious of that, and ask why she's trying to butter them up Doya assures the two that she sees potential in the group, and wants to be their friends The conversation is interrupted when Professor Sharpbeak speaks up from the stage, telling the group of first-year students that she has some announcements Before she begins those, a illusory play about the origins of the school is shown It tells of the dragon Kyvrydamerix, who saw how prideful dragons were but how curious humanoids were, and decided to she his knowledge with him As he worked with the humanoids, a second dragon named Auramvamiros was interested in him and his efforts, and the two eventually became mates The two dragons formed an organization among the humanoids, and approached the kings of the Kinlands asking for land for their organization The kings gave them an island, where the dragons built a tower that eventually became the Hexpiral Tower The dragons had 5 children, and made a chapter of their organization around each child

Galazeth Prismari sought out expression though elementals

Shadrix Silverquill examined light and shadow, and learned to manipulate magic through inspiration and insults

Beledros Witherbloom was the largest of the five, was interested in life and death, and worked with potions

Tanazir Quandrix was obsessed with math and reality

Velomachus Lorehold, the oldest, was interested order and chaos, and exploring events through time

The dragons eventually went off on their own adventures to explore the land, leaving the Wyrm Academy behind As the show ends, Professor Sharpbeak speaks up, telling the audience that the were going from the first headmaster to the current one, as now it was was time for Archjusticar Yasha to speak! Yasha solemnly approaches the stage, and stays quiet for a minute She assures the audience that she doesn't like this as much as they do She tells the students to stay out of trouble or else She then introduces the next speaker, saying that they are stellar, and calling out Rin for knowing them - it's Nadia! A stylish young elven woman takes the stage She thanks Yasha for the introduction, and then encourages the students to do their best She wishes the students good luck, before saying that Prismari rules and exiting the stage The member of our chosen group from Lux Concordia recognize Nadia as the officer who helped the city deal with organized crime and corruption in the Wyrm Academy, and a very young graduate of the Academy As Nadia gets off the stage, Professor Sharpbeak tells the students to go to the Biblioplex for the next step of their orientation Doya wonders what a Bibliotech is As the group head towards the Biblioplex, they talk about gum and where Carmilla is from They eventually reach the Bibliotech, which is a massive building on a pedestal made of stone As they enter, they see an incredibly busy seen with students researching, a student store, and a café A receptionist speak ups up directs students towards the Hall of Oracles The group decide to stop by the café for something to eat first They enter a small room surrounded by moving murals of trees, and a gnome woman desperately trying to keep up with orders The gnome, named Aisla, suggests the party take the meal of the day Doya pays for the entire group, claiming that she's rich now because she found a lottery ticket When questioned about it, she admits that she just got financial aid She says that she'll get a job during the schoolyear anyways, stating that she's good with money Rin counts down, and then unleashes his special technique upon some unsuspecting sandwiches He explains to the group that he had to learn to eat fast because of his siblings The group leave the café, and encounter a small construct guiding people to where they need to go They enter the main body of the library, where they see tall bookshelves and giant constructs retrieving books from the upper steps Rin chats with Vladimir Doya spots three girls hanging out in the back, and tries to talk to them They laugh at her, and tell her she wasn't invited to their club Doya assures them she has a club of her own, and points back to the group which had since spread out The girls laugh at Doya, and leave Doya obtains anxiety

After some time passes, a massive illusion of Archjusticar Yasha appears in the center of the library She dryly tells the students that the Biblioplex will be like a second home, and tells them they have one more task for orientation A list of clues appear in front of each student, which Yasha explains is a scavenger hunt As the illusion disappears, the students begin to move! The first clue deals with light Zoey sticks her hand into the light at the center of the Hall of Oracles The rest of the group follow suite, and get the first item on the list The second clue deals with commissions from alumni The group talk to one of the small constructs, named Gereme, who tells the group that the second floor of the Biblioplex is for teachers only It points the group instead to a side room where older students are working on art The group find plaques under some of the art describing how they were inspired, and a lever Pulling on the lever makes a box with a pendant appear, and is the second item on the list The third clue deals with refreshments The group go back to the café, where Aisla asks them to help manage inventory The group do, and Aisla is impressed by Carmilla, Rin, and White's skills, and give them rewards She tells them that helping out was part of the orientation, and uses magic to reset some of the mess for future students The fourth clue deals with touching plants Doya shows off her sick heelies The group travel to one of the small gardens in the Biblioplex, and spot some moving plants They pet the plants, which conjure plushies of the house mascots for them, which are the fourth item The fifth clue deals with stars born on an opening night The group kick Quentillius off the stage, and perform Carmilla monologues Doya does a cheer from a rival school Rin dances White recites a poem Zoey sings

Carmilla, White, and Zoey receive a hooded lantern, the final part of the scavenger hunt Doya and Rin grab some books off the nearby shelf, recite them, and get the reward The group hear some yelling, and Rosimy screaming that something has teeth They approach the source of the commotion, and see a chest with teeth frothing with the same black goo the rats had FIGHT! White shoots magic, Rin glows with runes, Doya gets eaten, Zoey brings her back, Carmilla's hands grow feathers, the chest is slain by one of the girls who laughed at Doya VICOTRY! As the chest is slain, the black goo retreats and the chest becomes normal again Some of the group see a figure wearing black with a masked helm floating in the air, crossing their arms The figure disappears once it notices them All the other students nearby cheer for the girl that killed it Rin helps Doya back to her feet Professor Sharpbeak and another adult show up The other adult, named Zhanti DeSantis, introduces herself as the school nurse and helps patch up the injured party members The group tell the two adults what happened and what they saw Professor Sharpbeak assures them that they'll look into it She then speaks to the whole crowd, telling them that the situation is under control She goes on to mention that there is more to orientation, mainly going to their common room Rin tastes what little of the black goo is left, and is disgusted Doya is upset that the other girl got more credit than they did Zoey goes to talk to Melwythorne He is excited about the future, and is feeling a lot better about being away from home White checks in on Rosimy, making sure she's alright and asking about what she saw The group reunite They talk about what they saw, but the conversation shifts to Doya's halo She challenges the rest of the group to try to pull on it Greta and Zoey try Vladmir asks Rin if these are really his friends The group, along with Greta and Vladimir, go to get some lunch They stop to eat in the Commmons They talk about roommates and how their first days at the dorms are going Rin mentions his weird family relationship with Vladimir The three girls that laughed at Doya show up, and the party wonder who they are A stranger walks up, and tells them that those girls met at the tests, and are close friends since The blond one is named Angelika, is supposedly half-angel, a sorceress, and has a lot of money and power The tall elf is named Angelique, apparently already knows something about everyone, the one who got a perfect score on the entrance exam, is also rich, and The genasi is named Anjarika, is allegedly also rich despite having divorced parents, and is the less academically capable of the three Half the group hate the girls on sight, the other half want to give them a chance They see Ethel walk by the three girls, and accidentally bumps into one of them The three instantly turn to Ethel, and demand to know why she thinks she's allowed to do that They start insulting her, telling her that her name doesn't fit, and changing her nametag to say Agetha and calling her a hag When Ethel starts getting mad, they say she's being hot-headed, pour water on her head, and push her Ethel reaches her breaking point, and begins to cast a spell

She is counterspelled by Professor Sharpbeak, who came to get the students to their common rooms The three girls play innocent, and act like Ethel started it Doya throws up in the bushes, but then tells the rest of the group that she is impressed with their bullying technique She admits to wanted to be cool like them The rest of the group disagree The stranger who told them about the girls tells Doya that's not going to happen The stranger, who introduces herself as Larine, seems a bit out of sorts Doya explains to the rest of the group that bullying in girl's schools works differently The conversation shifts to their common rooms, where the entire group realizes they are in Class A They head towards the common room for Class A Along the way, Zoey bumps into a beastkin boy He gets upset, and acts like he's going to hit her Doya tries to stand up for her friend The group eventually reach the room for Class A They see a lot of familiar faces, and some new ones Doya has some people swap seats so that she can be surrounded by smart people Professor Sharpbeak walks in, and introduces herself She explains that this will be their main classroom, but today is just for introductions Zoey volunteers to introduce herself first, and expresses her happiness to know everyone Carmilla says hi Doya assures the class that she will be the most popular The three girls laugh Rin explains that he's the one that Yasha called out earlier, and that he wants to see the world A human named Grayon says that he is from New Simea White makes a brief introduction and states he's here for Chronomancy The other students introduce themselves, most of which are familiar to the party A Shitari named Haru Haruharu mentions that she's a transfer student here to study An armored loxodon named Bhedum Soovij, also called Rampart states that he's here for adventure Ethel gets bullied again A hobgoblin named Dhazari Rex introduces herself An elf named Cad is excited to meet the class Chadriz, the beastkin who threatened Zoey, doesn't seem interested in saying much A strange gnome named Puffcap introduces herself A dhampir named Nicollin being to give an entire essay about himself He is interrupted when a halfling enters the room Professor Sharpbeak asks if the halfling is Santino Sierraverde He confirms, but insists on being called Sunny Carmilla panics

#sessions #1 #dnd #strixhaven

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jasper-pagan-witch · 2 years

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So, since you're literally the only other MtG person I know in the witchy space I bringth thee a query. I think I would like to use the Dean Dragons™ as thoughtforms to help around the house, as protectors, and as magic guides.

I would like to get stones for them to inhabit but I haven't a clue which stone fits best or if perhaps there might be a better thing. Have you any thoughts?

Alternatively I don't feel that everything needs a physical object but it does help give them some significance within my witch cabinet, which is always nice.

Should I go with stones that fit colors or stones that fit magical elements of the Elder Dragons of Education?

I also need to get the Strixhaven D&D book as it would probably really help me.

Enough rambling! I hope you're having a good day, sibling!

Well, I would go about this one of three ways:

1: Stones because of my hoarding problem. In general, I would probably go howlite or ametrine for Silverquill, epidolite or agate for Witherbloom, jasper of some variety for Prismari (yes I'm biased), some kind of ocean-y blue stone for Quandrix, and probably snow quartz or something similar for Lorehold.

2: Cards, art cards, or printed-out pictures of the dragons. You can't get any clearer about what it's supposed to be than a picture, in my experience.

3: No physical object. Two of my thoughtforms, S'sem and Absol, don't have physical vessels, they have sigils or other imagery that I could use.

If you want, I can send you a DM on Discord with the parts about the founder dragons since I have the Strixhaven D&D book! Hopefully this pitch gave you some ideas though!

~Jasper

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mtg-cards-hourly · 3 years

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Tanazir Quandrix

Artist: Raymond Swanland TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

#mtg #magic the gathering #tcg #$3.12 #raymond swanland #tanazir quandrix #strixhaven: school of mages #legendary #creature #elder #dragon

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aeritus · 3 years

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Good day Magic the Gathering, 5 new Elder Dragons dropped and I’m in love

Quick painting practice, tried to make out their desings as best as I could due to the small (and discordant) previews, hope i gave them justice! Gotta love those new big bois

#magic the gathering #strixhaven #elder dragon #Velomachus Lorehold #Galazeth Prismari #Tanazir Quandrix #Shadrix Silverquill #Beledros Witherbloom #dragon #fantasy #aeritusart

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dragon-discourse · 3 years

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Elder Dragons of Strixhaven

It was requested that I review the Dragons from MTG’s Strixhaven block. I don’t have a lot to say about them, since this is an analysis and information blog, not a review blog, but I will make an attempt at reviewing them.

Overall, I like their designs, and I think they work. This will mostly be me going into slight specifics of what I think works.

Shadrix Silverquill is up first, and what I think works the most about his design is the trailing ink coming from his wings. The Ink Magic and Inklings are a key part of the Silverquill college, so incorporating it into the design of the founder dragon works.

The Prismari College is based around outlandish performance, and the design of Galazeth Prismari reflects that with elegant frills and bright colors.

Witherbloom is the house of death and life, and Beladros Witherbloom reflects this, with the green glow and a clear skeleton.

Lorehold is the school of archeology, which Velomachus Lorehold expresses most clearly with heavy scales reminiscent of stone.

Quandrix is based around math and fractals, and I feel that Tanazir Quandrix most reflects this in her wings, which are more abstract or even alien in shape.

#Draconic Reviews #Magic: The Gathering #MTG #Strixhaven #Elder Dragons

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bacejelerenvorthos · 3 years

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The Lore of Strixhaven: The Founder Dragons

Shadrax Silverquill, Beledros Witherbloom, Tanazir Quandrix, Galazeth Prismari, Velomachus Lorehold

“At the birth of the world, as the mana of two worlds overlapped in conflicting ways, many forms of life adapted to the new structure and many new forms of life were spawned. Five particularly powerful vortices of overlapping mana became luminous spheres, from which hatched five dragons. These dragons have become emblems of the magic of the plane, living symbols of the clashing forces of the five dichotomies.

The Founder Dragons were the first to master the magic of the five opposing combinations. When the humanoid races arose, the dragons were at first angered that mortals would try to harness the wild forces of magic, but they came to realize that only through disciplined study would magic be in safe hands. So, centuries ago, the dragons founded an institution devoted to the study of the five mana dichotomies, and that institution is now known as Strixhaven. The five colleges were based around the magic mastered by each of those dragons.

To this day, the Founder Dragons roam the world, the five deadly sages of the skies. They no longer associate directly with Strixhaven, preferring to let the deans of the colleges, or their human mouthpiece Director Taiva, speak in their stead. The dragons' wisdom is vast, but their tempers can be short. Mages seek them out only to learn the most elusive of secrets.”

Art by Raymond Swanland

#mtg #vorthos #magic the gathering #magic story #magic art #fantasy art #fantasy #flavor #lore #magic lore #strixhaven #mtgstx

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toppart · 2 years

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I haven't been drawing much lately... My new commander deck, has managed to brake through the artist block. About ½ way done illustrating the copy tokens 😁

Deck List (for those interested...)

// COMMANDER

1 Volo, Guide to Monsters

1 Acidic Slime

1 Ancient Greenwarden

1 Barkchannel Pathway // Tidechannel Pathway

1 Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps

1 Beast Within

1 Biblioplex Assistant

1 Birds of Paradise

1 Botanical Sanctum

1 Breeding Pool

1 Command Tower

1 Commander's Sphere

1 Counterspell

1 Craterhoof Behemoth

1 Cultivate

1 Disallow

1 Dream Eater

1 Dreamroot Cascade

1 Druid's Deliverance

1 Eldritch Evolution

1 End-Raze Forerunners

1 Evolving Wilds

1 Fabled Passage

1 Fabricate

1 Farfinder

1 Farseek

1 Fblthp, the Lost

1 Finale of Devastation

8 Forest

1 Generous Stray

1 God-Eternal Rhonas

1 Growth Spiral

1 Harrow

1 Hinterland Harbor

1 Incubation // Incongruity

8 Island

1 Kappa Tech-Wrecker

1 Kazandu Mammoth // Kazandu Valley

1 Kodama's Reach

1 Littjara Mirrorlake

1 Lotus Cobra

1 Lumbering Falls

1 Man-o'-War

1 Maraleaf Pixie

1 Master's Rebuke

1 Meteor Golem

1 Mind Flayer

1 Mirror Box

1 Misty Rainforest

1 Myr Battlesphere

1 Neoform

1 Network Disruptor

1 Pact of Negation

1 Panharmonicon

1 Parallel Lives

1 Pilgrim's Eye

1 Primal Command

1 Prismatic Vista

1 Prosperous Innkeeper

1 Pulse of Murasa

1 Radiant Fountain

1 Rampant Growth

1 Ravenform

1 Regrowth

1 Renata, Called to the Hunt

1 Respite

1 Rimewood Falls

1 Ruin Crab

1 Scaretiller

1 Second Harvest

1 Simic Signet

1 Spiketail Hatchling

1 Talisman of Curiosity

1 Tanazir Quandrix

1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid

1 Thriving Grove

1 Thriving Isle

1 Time of Need

1 Urban Evolution

1 Vineglimmer Snarl

1 Wall of Blossoms

1 Wayward Swordtooth

1 Wood Elves

1 Wretched Gryff

1 Yavimaya Dryad

1 You Happen On a Glade

#mtg #illustration #drawing #toppart #ink #magic the gathering #mtgcommunity #mtgcards #art

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littjara-compleated-sage · 2 years

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Top 5 non-Phyrexian legendary creatures?

Ooohh, fun question! I'll answer twice, once for playing and once for flavor, and include Phyrexians' names in the rankings but crossed out to add perspective (they don't count among the 5, obviously).

To play: Vorinclex Atraxa 1. Vannifar Ezuri 2. Otrimi 3. Tanazir Quandrix Brudiclad 4. Orvar (do changelings count as Phyrexians? hehe) Volrath (should maybe be ranked higher but I've not played him enough to know for sure) 5. Willowdusk

Flavor/non-mechanical: 1. Vannifar 2. Zegana Urabrask Jin-Gitaxias Atraxa 3. Orvar 4. Zimone Elesh Norn Sheoldred Vorinclex 5. Pharika (they did her card so dirty and I'll be forever sad about it)

#this was genuinely hard to answer #mtg #magic the gathering #askbox #simicmimic

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gamerzack-blog · 3 years

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I've been pondering the Elder Dragons playable in Commander, and I think I've cracked the code regarding the rest of the wedge-coloured cycle.

Firstly, a recap of who we have already:

ALLY-PAIR

-Dragonlord Ojutai☀️💧

-Dragonlord Silumgar💧💀

-Dragonlord Kolaghan💀🔥

-Dragonlord Atarka🔥🌳

-Dragonlord Dromoka🌳☀️

ENEMY-PAIR

-Shadrix Silverquill☀️💀

-Galazeth Prismari💧🔥

-Beledros Witherbloom💀🌳

-Velomachus Lorehold🔥☀️

-Tanazir Quandrix🌳💧

ARC/SHARD

-Arcades, the Strategist🌳☀️💧

-Chromium, the Mutable☀️💧💀

-Nicol Bolas, the Ravager/ (Creature)💧💀🔥

-//Nicol Bolas, the Arisen (Planeswalker)🔶

-Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire💀🔥🌳

-Palladia-Mors, the Ruiner🔥🌳☀️

WEDGE

-Piru, the Volatile🔥☀️💀

So Piru is currently the only wedge Elder Dragon. Let's fix that:

-Lividus, the Willful☀️💀🌳

-Rubra, the Ferocious💧🔥☀️

-Ravus, the Tempered💀🌳💧

And a "sparker" version of the OTHER twin:

-Ugin, the Visionary/ (Creature)🌳💧🔥

-//Ugin, the Awakened (Planeswalker)⚪

This would mean every two- and three-colour grouping having an available Commander option for "proper" EDH, and I for one would be on-board with this idea, since I prefer tricolour decks (followed closely by bicolour and quadcolour).

Of course, you could consider the Primals of Ixalan as honorary monocoloured "Elder Dragons", in which case there's already 21 colour combinations, but there are four whole wedges missing, and no-one likes missing wedges, do they?

#mtgcommander #elder dragon highlander #dominaria #dragons of tarkir #strixhaven #ixalan

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radramblog · 3 years

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Elder Dragon Highlander

Commander is a format of Magic the Gathering that has become almost completely detached from its original premise. Much of what the format is is built upon the concept of Elder Dragon Highlander- 21 Commander damage is lethal because that’s 3 hits from an Elder Dragon, the slow grindy format built to accommodate the original 5’s heavy mana investment and limited effects.

But that was a long time ago, and the designers at WoTC have opted to attach the moniker of Elder Dragon to a number of additional cards. 21 total cards hold the name, 4 cycles of 5 apiece with one straggler at the back.

What is considered “elder” is largely to do with lore, I think, but due to its association with such iconic cards, it’s interesting to see how and what the label is attached to.

I’ll, uh….do cube something next week? I dunno. But this is the Elder Dragons.

The original 5

The first elder dragon cycle is kind of iconic of Magic in general. Released in Legends, they were the first tricoloured cards in the entire game, were I believe the biggest and most expensive cards of the time, and all represented characters from the comics that I think just about everyone forgets existed.

They do not even remotely resemble modern design. Clunky is one thing, but the quintuplets are almost aberrant to what would be considered attractive Magic cards. A monstrous investment of mana in multiple colours that has a continuous upkeep of more mana, all for an arguably understatted flying creature with one extra ability. Chromium gets Rampage, a keyword that started in Legends, ended in Mirage, and doesn’t have reminder text despite being arguably confusing. Palladia-Mors gets Trample, making it arguably one of the best ones. Vaevictis Asmadi gets Firebreathing in all 3 of its colours, in case 8+3+3+3… wasn’t enough mana-shaped eggs in one basket for you. Arcades gets a bonus ability in toughness-breathing, to make up for it’s deliberately mediocre ability- the “oh cool I can use this with vigilance” eureka/fun brain moment quashed by its pointless limitation.

And then, of course, there’s Nicol Bolas. Somehow one of the game’s most iconic characters, in an art rendition that makes a powerful villain look like a gentle draconic geriatric. (EDITORS NOTE: still Rad here but I just now noticed this mf has a fucking dragon nipple, wtf?) I suppose Bolas becoming so well known was inevitable, if only because it was the only one of the most popular cycles with an actually cool and powerful ability. There are currently 210 more Bolas decks than any other member of this cycle, and that difference also happens to be twice what the other four have combined.

Bolas is arguably the only one that stood the test of time, the only one to ever show up independently of the other 4. I suppose we’ll see if any of the rest do the same, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

(Elder) Dragons of Tarkir

The titular Dragons of Tarkir’s third set (Dragons of Tarkir) were a set I was excited to see as the cards were being spoiled. The lore of the plane was interesting, with Magic stepping into a plot with time travel and finally showing us what Ugin looked like after almost 10 years of curiosity. The dragons that would become the Clan leaders had appeared previously in Fate Reforged, and the editions that we’d see as Elders- 10,000 years older and in some cases even wiser- presented a powerful and exciting cycle. Unlike with the Legends dragons, I’m pretty sure all of these saw play somewhere.

Ironically, though, I’m pretty sure these were deliberately tuned for Standard rather than the format named after their typeline. Even outside of Kolaghan’s line of text that….doesn’t do a whole lot in the format, Ojutai and Silumgar were pretty obviously built to be the finishers in the Esper Dragons deck that ran them, Atarka a clear top-end for Gruul Monsters (and, eventually, Eldrazi Ramp), and Dromoka a potential menace in Dromoka’s Command-backed Midrange lists. These cards are all quite powerful, but they’re built for a different kind of game.

That’s I suppose the biggest issue with the Dragons of Dragons of Tarkir, they were underwhelming. The set as a whole was fairly middling, though I did truly enjoy the draft format. I’m pretty sure the most played card in the set is fucking Collected Company, one I kind of despise, followed with Kolaghan’s Command which is just a traumatic experience for me. And while 3 of these 5 are seeing more play than their past counterparts, including Dragonlord Ojutai being literally 10 times more commonly seen than Soul of Winter, that difference is largely a matter of power (or lack thereof), the Mythic Dragonlords being obviously stronger than their Rare originals. The rare ones are arguably more fun, though, and that’s what matters to me.

Legends…2! (aka core set 2019)

Part of the theme of Core Set 2019 was the story (read: retcon so the ending of War of the Spark makes more sense) of Bolas and Ugin in their youth, which meant that we got to get updated, modern designs of the original Elder Dragons (not Ugin tho lmao). And by Modern, I kind of mean postmodern, because we’re at the point where Commander cards start getting absurd All The Time.

Each of the Elder Dragons of Core 2019 (copyright WoTC 2018) have the benefits of updated design practices with 24 extra years of experience, as well as not having to have a million words on them for silly reasons like extra mana sacrifice triggers. Even Palladia-Mors, probably the weakest of them (and still pretty threatening!), gets to have flavour text hinting at a potential return (which hasn’t happened yet).

When you’re designing cards like these, though, it’s inevitable that some are going to be overshadowed by others. Baby Bolas, of course, was one of the flagship cards for the set, being a transforming Planeswalker with lots of abilities that wins the game in just the most classy way I’ve seen in a minute. And Arcades took a fun niche deck people liked and blew it wide open, making Defenders into one of the most disgusting Offensive decks in a minute.

But then there’s Chromium, a fairly powerful Voltron/Control finisher but not one that leads you in any particular direction. Vaevictis does lead in fun directions, but would then be completely dwarfed by the absurdity that is Lord Windgrace the same year and Korvold the next one.

Outside of a few, this cycle feels like it got kind of lost in the shuffle, and I think that’s not really that much a reflection of the cards (except maybe Palladia, the Naya Problem rearing its ugly head again), and more the greater issue with Magic as a whole just shitting out cards constantly faster than most can catch up.

Welcome to Strixhaven School of Magecraft and Sideboardary

Our final cycle is the new kids on the block, the Strixhaven dragons. I suppose one way to make the definitely not Hogwarts Houses (they’re colleges, Clearly) seem important is attach a giant Fuckoff Dragon next to them.

A thing I like a lot about Strixhaven as a set is how it was introducing a new Thing for each of the enemy colour pairs to do- Golgari Lifegain, Boros Graveyard, Izzet Spells But Big Ones Instead Also Treasures?. The set came with loads and loads of cards supporting each of these themes, and having Commander 2021 alongside it and associated with it means they’re well supported by that as well. But, and this is the important part, the Elder Dragons aren’t as overshadowed because they too are doing something different, even if its rather slight in some cases, on their own- but each supporting or being supported by the Dragon in question.

Beledros is a Big Mana Golgari commander (normally seen in Mono-Green or Gruul) whose huge life cost is assisted by the Lifegain cards Witherbloom got. Galazeth helps ramp into the giant spells associated with Prismari while also making the alternate discard into treasure option some of those spells have a lot better. Tanazir doubles the power of Quandrix’s Fractal tokens, and makes them even more huge when attacking due to then natively being 0/0s. And I don’t really know what the idea in Silverquill is other than “Politics”, but Shadrix looks fucking cool and probably plays really nicely. It’s just a really fucking solid cycle.

It’s not really possible to tell how these 5 are going to play out- Strixhaven is still the latest Standard Set to release at time of writing. But I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the most successful Elder Dragon cycle as a whole assuming you’re looking at, like, mean Decks.

And then there’s The Other One

As part of Modern Horizons 2, cards for a set of characters from alllll the way back from those Legends stories were created- a new Dakkon, a Geyadrone Dihada, and the Elder Dragon that showed up in their story- Piru.

Piru is, obviously, a reference to the original cycle of Elder Dragons, but in a Wedge colour rather than a Shard. And with an extra keyword, which is something I missed, because it makes all the difference. I had written this card off, until I realised that Lifelink triggered from the death trigger, and when this thing dies it isn’t too hard to gain dozens of life points. That’s a lot and combined with clearing the board it’s not too hard to get virtually unkillable. I love leaning into the downside from the original dragons by adding a powerful death trigger like this.

Piru released very recently, and already has 112 decks to her name. I wouldn’t be surprised if that plateaus, but it’s still rather promising. 8 mana is a lot in non-green colours, but I like Piru, and I’d be happy to see her see lots and lots of play going forward.

While 2021 has so far had more Elder Dragons than any other year, they’ve been a very promising cadre with a lot of interesting ideas going on. With that said, I’m not sure that I want the trend to continue, because the more they make (the more Elders in general, really), the less special they get. But for now at least, it looks like we’re finally getting to a good place for Elder Dragons. Only took us 27 years.

#ramble #mtg #edh #commander #elder dragon highlander

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