#SpellBomb

[midnigtartist]

Welcome to the family Gale🫡

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Lifespark Spellbomb

"Awaken that which was never asleep." —Spellbomb inscription

Artist: Jim Nelson TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[phulkor-resource]

Nic Fit 5-0

I'm a big NicFit fan and I can't hold it when I stumble across a 5-0 list like this one from BobButtons.

Usually, NicFit are pretty cold against combo decks and usually have mindbreak traps in the side. I don't own those but I think they're not especially good.

This list is pretty cool because it managed to add FOW main and 6 cantrips to support it. In previous lists I've already seen Brainstorm wich is great when the trigger of Veteran explorer goes on the stack and I was wondering myself if there wasn't something to be had with Up The Beanstalk but I'm not that great of a brewer myself.

2 Murderous Cut, 4 Fow, 4 Lorien Revealed and 4 GSZ can all trigger the Beans, that's a total 14 cards!

In the side you have the usual culprits (Pernicious Deed, Back to Basics) but also a few specials like Golgari Charm that I've also used in some of my NicFit decks. Finally a card I've never seen before is Selkie Hedge-Mage wich allows some bounce shennanigans with GSZ!

Lands(19) 1《Bayou》 1《Lair of the Hydra》a 4《Misty Rainforest》 1《Phyrexian Tower》 2《Polluted Delta》 2《Snow-Covered Forest》 2《Snow-Covered Island》 2《Snow-Covered Swamp》 2《Tropical Island》 1《Underground Sea》 1《Verdant Catacombs》 Ceatures(11) 1《Eternal Witness》 1《Ice-Fang Coatl》 1《Leovold, Emissary of Trest》 1《Outland Liberator》 1《Questing Beast》 1《Titania, Protector of Argoth》 1《Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath》 4《Veteran Explorer》 Spells(30) 1《Assassin's Trophy》 4《Brainstorm》 4《Cabal Therapy》 4《Force of Will》 4《Green Sun's Zenith》 1《Grist, the Hunger Tide》 4《Lórien Revealed》 2《Murderous Cut》 2《Ponder》 4《Up the Beanstalk》 Sideboard Cards(15) 1《Back to Basics》 2《Force of Negation》 2《Golgari Charm》 1《Nihil Spellbomb》 2《Pernicious Deed》 1《Scavenging Ooze》 1《Selkie Hedge-Mage》 3《Surgical Extraction》 2《Thoughtseize》

[danco110]

“My word, that’s barbaric!”

“What is? Move! I’m an Azorius arrester!”

The lawmage’s pleas did little to part the crowd. The woman was forced to shove her way to a front-row seat.

“What’s going…Oh.”

“If everyone is so skeptical, how about a random volunteer from the audience, to prove me right! Or wrong, you know, whichever.”

Instantly, the audience switched from an attitude of fear and disgust, to one of clamoring excitement. The crowd cheered, and several volunteers leapt up in their seats. The Rakdos carnie scanned the crowd, his gaze finally settling on the Azorius.

“How about you, lawmage? Fancy a starring role tonight? One that won’t get spellbombs thrown at you…maliciously…as maliciously?”

The Azorius blinked. She turned to leave, only to find that several audience members had donned Rakdos caps. They were now staring and grinning eerily at her. With a grimace, she mantled over the railing and took the stage, much to the crowd’s excitement.

“And now, my lovely fans, this Azorius, completely unknown to me, will shoot me in the mouth with this hand bow…”

The Rakdos flipped a handheld crossbow into the arrester’s reluctant hand.

“…And I will catch the bolt! Now, miss, I understand you may have some reservations about-”

The Azorius instantly raised her arm and fired, with deadly accuracy. The bolt flew true, straight for the performer’s mouth. But sure enough, the missile caught in his jaw. The crowd went wild.

“Thank you, darling audience! Another death-defying performance, dedicated to Lord Rakdos…of course. Now, ma’am, would you care to arrest me for…well, something, I’m sure. Something to do with murder, maybe?”

The arrester tilted her head. “I don’t think you can kill…a skeleton.”

“Oh, no?”

The skeleton performer flicked his bony fingers against his ribs, which were enchanted to produce a xylophone sound. The audience laughed raucously.

“Well, I can knock an audience dead, at least!”

The arrester rolled her eyes.

“Oh, brother.”

[“What the hell! That was a real bullet!”]

[zoydraft]

Jeskai Artifacts drafted by SJ. March 29, 2024.

I think I needed to build this to be more controlling. Most of my games felt like a race to assemble an engine, and SF's Aristocrats trap and DF's Obosh + equipment (or just Hellrider) assembly were just better than the nonsense I could manage.

I don't think that gameplay is super engaging so I'm going to be hyper-vigilant watching for it going forward.

Captivating Crew (the dancing pirates) won me a game pretty much on its own. Emry + Pyrite Spellbomb happened a lot, but so did bringing Ornithopter of Paradise back to provide a flying blocker. Balance was unfortunately never castable. Inti felt completely out of place here unfortunately.

[mechanoelle]

I got back into MTG a few years back, primarily playing commander (because everyone plays commander) and janky 60 card nonsense using whatever looks fun. I know building optimally can be fun, I play MTGA and follow the meta there, but there's something special about taking a pile of cards I like the look of or I know no one else is playing and trying my damnedest to make it work.

Today, I'm messing with Red White Modular, or at least it started that way; at the start of building this I had a fist full of modular creatures, some vague synergy finisher, and a few burn spells. As I worked on this deck it turned more and more into a low to the ground aggro list, swapping out some of the fancier modular creatures for Gingerbrute to get more attacks in, a bit of recursion in the form of myr retriever and Trash for Treasure, and the finisher turned into Knighted Myr to grab a pile of +1/+1 counters, gain doublestrike, and smash into my opponent's hopefully empty board (which I made that way through either combat, voltage surge, or pyrite spellbomb). But my favourite addition has to be...

Sokenzen Smelter lets me basically upgrade any of my creatures with a modular ability *pretty* easily, and if there's nothing to do with it I may as well sacrifice one of its own tokens (without counters) because the haste will mean it can attack the turn it comes in and if I have one or two reckless fireweavers on the field? that's an extra bit of damage chipping away at them every turn.

building this deck was pretty cheap and a lot of fun, I have to admit I have one of my wonderful partners to thank for kicking this off. The whole deck list can be found here! I'll probably share more mtg deck lists that serve no purpose but to make me happy in the future.

[mymorningdrawstep]

A two-for today! How nice.

I will admit that I had never seen or heard of today’s second card until just now. Horizon Spellbomb is part of a five card (one for each color) cycle from Scars of Mirrodin, which was itself the second cycle of Spellbombs, the first having appeared in the original Mirrodin set. 

Each of the spellbombs (from both cycles) is a one mana artifact that has an ability that causes you to sacrifice it. The ones from Mirrodin each have two abilities: one that costs a colored mana for an effect unique to the spellbomb, and one that costs a generic mana to draw a card (see the most famous of these in Pyrite Spellbomb). The cycle of spellbombs from Scars are similar, in that they sacrifice for an effect and can draw a card, but the way they go about it is different.

Instead of having two abilities - one that Does a Thing and one that draws a card - each spellbomb has one ability, and the text, “When <CARDNAME> is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, you may pay <MANA>. If you do, draw a card.” This means that these spellbombs can in fact be “two-for-ones” (generating two cards worth of value from one card), which is a nifty little twist. Interestingly, it also ties the card draw to the colored mana cost, as opposed to the unique effect as in the original cycle.

The best known of this second cycle of spellbombs is Nihil Spellbomb, which will show up from time to time as graveyard hate for decks in Modern which can pay the black mana cost, and/or are looking to put an artifact into the graveyard.

Horizion Spellbomb, on the other hand, seems to have been lost to history, and I think the reason for that is the text “put it into your hand.” Had that been, “put it onto the battlefield tapped,” you would have a colorless (although costing one more mana) Rampant Growth, which would be both a powerful and well costed card in the right situation. However, Wizards doesn’t like to allow things like land based mana ramp outside of Green (even though three-mana-ramp shows up all the time on artifacts, see: Manalith), so it’s not all that surprising.

As for flavor on this card, it’s pretty weak. The name “Horizion” does little in terms of evoking a particular flavor; like all of the cards in this cycle, the art is mostly waves of colored magical energy; and because the ‘draw a card’ aspect is so wordy, there’s not space for even a single line of flavor text (as appeared on the original spellbombs). This is a role-player through and through, and it shows.

[magickandmacabreco]

Samhain Ritual Bath Bomb: Filled with traditional Samhain herbs and scented with Tabacco & Bayleaf. These turn the water a beautiful black. 🖤👻 #samhain #witchcraft #witchesofetsy #bathbomb #vegan #blackbathbomb #spellbomb #ritualbath #goth #gothgoth #crueltyfree #magick #pagan #newage #nugoth

[sorcerermarlwulf]

Nate: -learns to make custom spraypaint-

Nate: Oh, now we’re doing magic.

[magicjudge]

I have a question about Trickbind. Say my opponent targets my grave with Nihil Spellbomb, but I trickbind the ability. If that same opponent returns their Spellbomb to the battlefield, can they use it again? Or will Trickbind stop it's ability from being used? I suppose in general, is the returned Spellbomb a different permanent after being trickbinded?

Yes, they can activate their Nihil Spellbomb this turn. When Trickbind resolves, the source of the ability that it's countering no longer exists since Nihil Spellbomb became a new object when it went to the graveyard. This means that there's nothing preventing that ability from happening again. Even if Nihil Spellbomb were still on the battlefield when Trickbind resolved, it would still be usable if it left the battlefield and returned to it again and is thus a new object with no connection to that past existence.

[ffxvficrec]

IgNoct White Day Gift Exchange Round Up 1

You can also check out the collection here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/ignoctwhiteday2022

We’ve listed additional pairings, archive warnings, and ratings, but please remember to mind the tags!

Let's Learn a Little About Each Other by Megane

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

General Rating

One day, while in the elemancy labs, Prompto and Noctis discovered an odd side effect when one of the spellbombs backfired. Instead of panicking (okay, maybe while slightly panicking), Prompto took Noctis to the one person who could fix things: Ignis. To Noctis' surprise, being small helped him see a side of Ignis he never noticed before.

Mnemosyne by The_Glacian

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Teen Rating 

Noctis drops by Ignis’s dorm to ask him something, but food gets in the way.

Unspoken and Unseen by TinyLlama

No Archive Warnings Apply

Explicit Rating

Sometimes, Ignis gets quiet, lost in memories and things long past. Noctis never really knows what to say during those times, but he always knows how to pull Ignis out of the darkness.

Stamina Recovery by Megane

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Teen Rating

Noctis is... stressed. He doesn't say as much because he doesn't want other people to worry. Thankfully, Ignis notices anyway and does his part to help alleviate things. It wasn't just because he was a trusted figure of Lucis, fated and dutybound to help the young prince—but because he wanted to help his friend. The one he sincerely loved.

We've Earned Our Happy Ending by LadyKF

No Archive Warnings Apply

Teen Rating

After all they had gone through, they deserved a second chance.

I Shine Only with the Light You Gave Me by DistractedDream

No Archive Warnings Apply

Explicit Rating

The thread of magic binds Ignis to Noctis, a thread that follows them through the events of their lives.

And now, having reached the age of majority, Ignis had presented himself to be consecrated to his prince and for Noctis to bestow his magic to him.

Cool fingers curled around his own, grounding him, lest the influx of magic sweep him away. Blue eyes met his own, allowing him to focus on his prince and drift with the magic rather than fight against it. Ignis inhaled deeply and steadied himself, his warmer fingers gripping Noctis’ for another moment and then releasing his hands. Their physical connection was no longer necessary.

His prince’s magic had woven itself into Ignis’ very being, never to let go.

A moment for themselves by marukusanagi

No Archive Warnings Apply

Teen Rating

In the Darkness by kikowithcatears

No Archive Warnings Apply

Teen Rating

It happened so fast Noctis barely had time to react. Fangs, too slow reflexes, and then he was slammed to the ground. There was a loud scream, his own, and everything went fuzzy. He heard footsteps closing in on him and suddenly Ignis was by his side in seconds, whispering to him, his emerald eyes scanning his body for injuries. Noct could sense his consciousness slipping. The world around him was fading fast and he could feel Ignis’ arms around him, lifting him up, and carrying him away.

He loved Specs but he was always too scared to tell him. He hoped it wasn't too late...

and the crown it weighs heavy; by queenhomeslice

No Archive Warnings Apply

Explicit Rating

Noct's plate is overflowing since the dawn came back; but Ignis has never left his side.

Stargazing Conversations by nychus

No Archive Warnings Apply

General Rating

As always, Ignis is working too hard and Noctis thinks he should take a break. Some post-Dawn stargazing seems just the thing to do that.

Mr Sandman Bring Me a Dream by Knight of Flames (beetroot_of_doubt)

No Archive Warnings Apply

Mature Rating

Unknowingly moving into a “haunted” apartment, Ignis finds his life entirely upended by his unexpected housemate. But to find a way to help Noctis break his curse and potentially leave forever, Ignis has to accept and be willing to act upon the feelings he develops as they grow closer.

Exploring the Forbidden by kickcows

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Explicit Rating

Ignis ventures into a casual relationship with Noctis, and finds that it’s difficult to keep it casual.

[midnigtartist]

No fucking privacy in the Elfsong

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Sunbeam Spellbomb

"Cure that which was never ill." —Spellbomb inscription

Artist: Jim Nelson TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[socialpoison]

Drawings of my Sylvok OC Neris, half-sister of my other OC Rhoda! Details under the cut!

Rhoda has some really unique features because she's half-Auriok, half-Sylvok, while Neris is fully Sylvok. Rhoda never excelled in druidic magic, but Neris was something of a prodigy, and was studying under Benzir with the Temple of Might from an early age. When Benzir betrayed their village to the Vicious Swarm, Neris used her magic to make a distraction that allowed her sister and a few other Sylvok to escape, but she was left in Benzir's clutches. She was infected by Benzir and Glissa personally, and they would have started the process of compleation if an intruding Mirran rebel hadn't snuck in and tried to plant a spellbomb just then. She managed to escape, and was rescued by Ezuri's forces, who managed to slow the progress of her phyresis by providing her with some blinkmoth serum they managed to secure from some other refugees, in exchange for her using her magic to assist in their efforts. She nearly succumbed to Phyresis, delirious and weak, but was saved at nearly the last moment by her sister and Melira, who managed to cure her in time.

[danco110]

The overhead projector whirred to life, showing an army of Eternals marching towards the camera. Then, a voice began to speak over the movie.

“Those Eternals look kinda tough, don’t they? I guess you think you wouldn’t have much of a chance against em. Well, you’re wrong, see? Just look here…”

The scene changed to show a group of soldiers taking cover from an eternalized hippo.

“Eternals got weak points like anything else. The legs are one of em.”

The zombified monster stepped on a loose cobblestone, triggering the hidden explosive hidden beneath. The beast’s leg burst into a shower of blue shrapnel, sending it to the ground.

“A fireball, or a trap spell, or a lucky hit with a spellbomb can blast the legs clean off. They make a target that’s hard to miss.”

One of the soldiers leaned out from behind cover to blast the zombie with fire.

“Next, pour your fire magic into em. There’s an embermage in every squad. Let em do their jobs. If those yahoos in the Izzet League can hit the melting point of Lazotep, why not you?”

The other soldiers readied their own weapons - spellbombs and flaming bottles - and launched them at the behemoth.

“Then, when they’re within throwing distance, buy em a drink - a firebomb, if you can make one.”

The image changed again to show a squadron of angels descending upon the Eternals from above. The lead angel turned her head to face the camera, and spoke with the voice that had explained everything else.

“And last of all, get this: you’re not the only ones on the battlefield. There’s others fightin for you, and they’re fightin for you all the time. Long-range boltcasters, trap spells, and angels like me. You do your jobs, and we’ll make sure to do ours. Stay safe, and we’ll see you in the Tenth District, if you can keep up with us!”

The screen shifted one last time, to a Boros military seal and the words “THE END” printed across the picture, before finally fading to black as a military march played in the background.

[zoydraft]

AF's Jack-o'-Lantern Cube

March 22, 2024 Draft. 4 players, 5 packs of 9

List: cubecobra.com/c/8rja

Earlier this week AF posted a last minute offer to host a draft in the Toronto Cube Community Discord (let me know if you want an invite), finally at a time that wouldn't make me feel like a neglectful parent. We drafted his Jack-o'-Lantern Cube as a pod of four. It's a lower-power synergy list with some streamlining restrictions: no shuffling and thoughtfully limited tokens.

The environment pushed towards back-and-forth games with lots of relevant decision-making. At times it felt like retail limited, while other game states felt more puzzle-oriented, with a lot of on-board information to navigate, but not to an unmanageable degree. There was rarely an unambiguous beat down; both sides of the table were taking actions and shifting the dynamics of the game most turns. Boards seized up sometimes, but there was never a point where there was nothing relevant for me to do.

This should all be taken with a grain of salt. With the draft set up, each seat only saw 150 cards* out of the full ~400 card list, which pushes decks and gameplay to a Sealed vibe: with decks deploying suboptimal cards and games extending a little longer. If anything, it's interesting that the synergies were able to shine in that small pool.

* (9+8+7+6)*5 = 150

I drafted a low curve red white artifact creature deck. There wasn't a specific card that pulled me in, I'm always willing to draft aggro decks and the colours felt open (I read that correctly). In pack 1 or 2 I got Arcbound Shikari on the wheel and that locked me for this modular / +1/+1 counters build.

AF warned us that removal is scarce. Volt Charge and Settle Beyond Reality were representative of the calibre of removal, and did a lot of work for me. I had to be picky about what I removed, and you rarely double-spelled with them. The Proliferate on Volt Charge did a lot. On the other hand, Pyrite Spellbomb's shock was often dead. There was a shortage of 2 toughness creatures I needed to kill (could be poor threat assessment by me), but there were also on-board effects that invalidated it, like adding counters or sac'ing for value. Fierce Retribution played narrower than I expected.

The removal suite gave games a retail texture: most game actions added to the board (although two-for-ones aren't common) and inefficient removal is worth running.

I struggled in the draft to identify creatures above 2 mana that I really wanted for this deck. Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle was huge for me, and I didn't have complaints about the others. Blessed Hippogriff, Sanctifier of Souls, and Twinshot Sniper may have made my deck better, but they're more value-oriented than natural top-end for an aggro deck.

I'm a degenerate for lands, so the 10% fixing lands felt light (I run >17%), but the Clue lands felt good—slow, but worthwhile. I had enough artifacts that Rustvale Bridge's typeline was never relevant. I didn't see anything that paid off a critical mass of artifacts.

My first match was 2-1 against a base blue deck (with some red and black, IIRC). Time of Ice caught my eye. It was both good and engaging to play around.

After that I went 1-2 in a marathon match against a BGr deck. Neither of us could get many clear attacks. I could chip away with flyers and Gingerbrute while Tireless Provisioner would pump out food to undo the damage. Thankfully for me, Grateful Apparition kept pumping up my Modular creatures, especially Arcbound Javelineer, but it wasn't enough to grind out the match. Makeshift Munitions was huge, finishing off game one and a difference maker later l.

Finally, I was taken out 2-0 by 5C stuff. Games didn't last many turns, but they were dense with decisions.

The length of games was potentially an issue, and I have a few theories, all of which probably have a grain of truth to them:

I am slow. All three rounds, my match went longer than the other one.

My deck did not have a good way to close out games beyond chipping away. The closest I came was piling counters on Gingerbrute, but it was always answered quickly.

There is a lot of lifegain. The GBr especially was pumping out Food tokens and didn't have something better to do with it than eating it. My deck had a bunch of lifelink that was totally incidental, so life totals didn't have a sharp tendency toward zero.

Given the powerband, there are a lot of unfamiliar cards, many of which were not brief. I don't think it was egregious, but amid everything else I do think it slowed things down a little bit as people grappled with what cards were actually doing.

Ultimately I think the cube is providing the kind of gameplay that AF is pursuing. The decision-making is rich, aggro is restrained, you play to the board, and even when combat slows down you're still taking meaningful actions. On the other hand, that may need to be balanced with the time games take to play. The limited pool of tokens and restriction on shuffling help, so I know it's a consideration.

Thanks a ton for hosting, and to everyone for the games. I had a great time drafting, playing, hanging out, and reflecting on the cube, and I hope to play it again in the future!