#cloudshift

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Cloudshift

"Even storm clouds bow to worship Avacyn." —Elder Rimheit

Artist: Howard Lyon TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[googlyeyesonmagiccards]

Looks like there's a 40% chance of death in the forecast

[art-of-mtg]

Cloudshift (Avacyn Restored) - Howard Lyon

More cards with art by Howard Lyon on Scryfall

[5ecardaday]

Spell Slinging - Magic of Innistrad

In today's release I bring you 5 brand-new 5th Edition spells, all of them based on MtG cards originally found in sets focused on Innistrad, the game's local gothic-horror setting. Most of them are pretty well known, including Faithless Looting and Tragic Slip, while others have pretty much been relegated to EDH-only play at this point. But of course, 5e welcomes all sorts of spells, giving these ones a new chance at popularity.

And while I'm working on trying to get back into the swing of weekly releases here on tumblr, just a reminder that if you'd like to see my work a week early (or sometimes at all), you can choose to support me over on Patreon for as little as $2/month. In fact, Patreon recently added a new way for people to follow my work there without having to support me at all. While it doesn't allow you access to any of my patron-gated posts, it's a great way to keep up with what I'm doing-- plus most of my work there is scheduled to become public 7 days after it releases, meaning it becomes accessible the same day it releases here! If you're at all interested in my Patreon, and just want to scope it out a bit before signing up, go ahead and give it a try.

[magicjudge]

Hi! I had a question about the card Resourceful Defense as I'm unable to find an answer anywhere. I may be over thinking it but: If I were to blink a creature card (with let's say Cloudshift) that has one or more +1/+1 counters on it, would I be able to target that same creature with Resourceful Defense as the Cloudshift resolves and the creature re-enters the battlefield?

Yes, this situation works.

When Cloudshift exiles the creature, Resourceful Defense will trigger. Cloudshift will then return that creature to the battlefield. Finally, the Resourceful Defense trigger is put on the stack and can target the returned creature.

The net result here is that the creature is only without its counters for the period between Cloudshift's resolution and the trigger's resolution. (Also any counter modifying effects like Hardened Scales will affect the number of counters the creature gains from the trigger.)

[mtg-brokentoken]

MTG PSA: Substitutions - “Additional Combat Phase” or “Stop me if you’ve heard this one”

Having an additional combat phase can be quite a game changer. If your opponents know it’s coming, chump-blocking suddenly becomes a lot less easy to do, especially if your creatures have any attack triggers. If they chump-block on your first attack, they won’t be able to on your second. And if they don’t on your first, will they be able to deal with your creatures on your second? Even having a single creature with good enough evasion makes most opponents find a way to deal with it, and giving yourself more combats means they have less time and chances to find an answer.

Aggravated Assault is back for Rivals of Ixalan, and Neheb, The Eternal is still in Standard. So if you can get a few damage through on your first combat, your second combat phase might just pay for each successive combat until you’ve won.

 Curse of Shallow Graves is a great example of one of those attack triggers I mentioned, so that each successive combat you’re getting a little further ahead of your opponents while whittling them down. This also works especially well with Breath of Fury, as Curse of Shallow Graves makes the Zombie after you attack, and so it’s available to attach the Breath of Fury to after dealing combat damage.

Aurelia the Warleader is a pretty popular Boros Commander. Because she has Haste and an attack trigger, if you’re able to bounce her each combat, she can attack on the following combat to get yet another combat. One important thing to note for this is that she goes directly from one combat to the next, with no main phase breaks. Legion’s Initiative, Cloudshift, or Brago King Eternal let you repeat her effect, but Brago isn’t spent after one use.

Combat Celebrant is in many ways similar to Aurelia. It may not have Haste, but it does check to see if it’s already been exerted. So if you are able to get it back on the field and give it Haste so it can attack after having exerted it (Hint hint: Legion’s Initiative), you can get another combat phase from it. Or, one advantage it has over Aurelia, it isn’t legendary, so feel free to use a few at the same time and exert each for more combat phases.

Godo, Bandit Warlord, is fairly similar to the two previous, but also has an Enters the Battlefield ability that is pretty useful (especially in a Tron archetype deck). Same as Combat Celebrant, it doesn’t have Haste, different from either of the previous, it only untaps Samurai, which it is not.

Hellkite Charger requires mana to be paid after declaring attackers, which makes it a bit tough to work around. There are some creatures that help you do this, such as Savage Ventmaw, which makes six of the required seven mana, and also helps out Neheb, the Eternal by allowing the mana he creates on your second main phase (or third main phase, etc) to go toward the Charger’s ability. Sadly, the Charger’s ability does put combat phase directly after combat phase, so Neheb won’t be making mana in between, but if you do enough damage on the first combat phase, with the Ventmaw or Upwelling (or similar), Neheb’s mana will stick around for you to deplete each combat phase after. But yes, that will require the use of a different card to get the second combat phase. I recommend Fury of the Horde, Relentless Assault, Savage Beating, Waves of Aggression, or World at War. Seize the Day also technically works, but only untaps one creature. [Tiny side note: I sometimes name the multiple-card images I save for these posts, and the above is “How do you stop a Hellkite from Charging”. In case your day needed a dad-joke.]

The Instants/Sorceries are especially good to play after combat as your opponent may have sacrificed things to chump blocks that they thought they could replace before your next combat. World at War does broadcast that you will get (at least) two combats on your next turn, and Waves of Aggression lets your opponents know you can recast it by also discarding a land card.

Lightning Runner isn’t cheap, but gives you 1/4 of what you need for an extra combat each time it attacks. Since it isn’t legendary, this means that if you get four out, you have infinite combat phases as long as they all can keep attacking. Dolmen Gate is useful for this, but isn’t your only option.

Scourge of the Throne can potentially give you enough combats on its own to win you the game, but it all depends on life totals. Having a few ways to pay life, or take just one or two away from someone, can be very helpful if you need to solidify life totals before declaring attacks. And each time it does attack whoever has the highest life total, it gets a little bigger. If this came out on the very first turn of a Commander game, for instance, you could attack player A, B, or C and get the benefits. But after one round of combats, A is at 34, B at 33, and C at 32, while you are still at 40 life. But if you can trade life totals with C, then attack them, they would be at 31, and you could bring A to 24 and B to 22. So yes, being able to manipulate life totals on the fly is beneficial if you want to get the most of of this card.

Finest Hour is perhaps one of the least breakable extra combat cards, but that is because it was built to already be broken. It checks to see if it’s the first combat of the turn (meaning it won’t ever trigger during subsequent combats, but if you can copy the triggered ability during the first combat, such as with Strionic Resonator, both copies will create additional combat steps). It’s important to note that Finest Hour doesn’t untap any creatures, but it instead does give them +1/+1 for attacking alone. If you have a way to untap it before the next combat, you can use it again and get the boost again, or you can attack with a different creature that could also get the Exalted pump. Or maybe the creature that attacked first did so to clear the way for you to attack with all the rest of your creatures. Feel free to leave a comment about how you used Finest Hour, or how you want to. Except as a snack. #don’teatthecards!

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Cloudshift

"Even storm clouds bow to worship Avacyn." —Elder Rimheit

Artist: Howard Lyon TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[electronicconnoisseurperfection]

Cloud Shift & Secure Server Disposal – Techazar Leads the Way

As businesses move to the cloud, old data centers and servers must be disposed of safely. Techazar provides secure data wiping, degaussing, and shredding services—ensuring complete data protection and sustainable IT asset recycling.