Most evergreen keywords possible

Elektrophorus
Elektrophorus Posts: 150 Tile Toppler
edited July 2018 in MtGPQ General Discussion
I've been playing MTGPQ for about two and a half months now. Since one of the recommended first moves is to purchase the 50 Crystal planeswalkers, I played with Gideon1 quite a bit when DOM came out. Due to the cards present, and what I had available to me, I played a deck that had a lot of historic cards, which ultimately ends up making creatures with a lot of keywords. Ever since then, I've been trying to maximize the amount of keyword symbols I can stick on one creature.

Did you know? Once you reach more than 9 symbols on your card, the symbols actually shrink to accommodate more!

Using Gideon1, the most keyword symbols I got on one creature is fifteen! Of course, you can do more than this. But, this was with only cards that were available to me.



Can you guess the cards I used to get this state?

The philosophy behind using Arvad here is that he comes with three symbols already: deathtouch, lifelink, and legendary. The problem with legendary is that it has to be baked in to the creature. In monowhite, there are a handful of legendary creatures. The best candidates for this adventure are therefore:
  • Arvad — deathtouch, lifelink
  • Baird — first strike, vigilance
  • Danitha — first strike, lifelink
  • Kwende — double strike
  • Lyra — flying, first strike, lifelink
  • Shanna — hexproof
  • Tiana — flying, first strike
  • Kozilek —  menace
  • Brisela — flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, melded, legendary
Looking at this list, we notice that Arvad is one of the better choices, since deathtouch is hard to acquire in monowhite.

Below is a picture of the possible keyword symbols.


Unfortunately, if we want to include the legendary symbol, that means it is impossible to get the renown and SOI transform symbols. This is okay, since we have a lot more to work with.

Berserker — this one is easy to get since Gideon's 3rd ability grants it. However, if we somehow aren't using that ability, it's available in a bunch of cards.
  • Brawler's Plate — this one is good because it's a support, and therefore lasts until destroyed. However, it only gives one keyword.
  • Decimator of the Provinces — we can treat this as a spell, since it doesn't need to stay on the board for the effect to work. Notably, this gives trample AND haste alongside berserker. These keywords are uncommon in white.
  • Forebear's Blade — better than Brawler's Plate because it gives trample, but also a mythic.
  • Hedron Blade — grants deathtouch and berseker, but requires your enemy to control a colorless creature.
  • Make a Stand / Hero of Goma Fada — pretty much identical in this situation. Grants prevent damage and berserker until end of turn.
  • Odric, Lunarch Marshal — grants reach & lifelink on your opponent's turn, and flying, berserker, trample on your turn. 
Deathtouch
  • Hedron Blade
  • Wurmcoil Engine — grants deathtouch to your creature when it dies. However, it has a huge body and we can't really afford sacrifice / self-discard effects here
Defender — Again, Gideon's 3rd ability also grants defender, so it's unlikely we need to explore this heavily. Also, there are not many ways to grant this ability either.
  • Adamant Will — grants defender and prevent damage until end of turn.
  • Unconventional Tactics — grants flying and defender until the beginning of your next turn.
Double Strike — hard to find because it's so strong.
  • Kwende, Pride of Femeref — gives double strike to creatures with first strike. This is good because we plan to have first strike already.
  • Resolute Blademaster — gives double strike until end of turn when it comes into play.
First Strike
  • Benalish Marshal — not ideal because it has to be on board to work, and creature spots are very limited.
  • Cartouche of Solidarity / Dub / Jousting Lance — supports that regrettably only give one keyword
  • Helm of the Gods / Vampire's Zeal / Kor Bladewhirl — temporary sources of first strike
Flying — Gideon's first ability grants flying.
  • Odric, Lunarch Marshal — only on your turn, but also gives berserker & trample
  • On Serra's Wings — grants flying, vigilance, and lifelink
  • Unconventional Tactics — flying, defender
Haste — haste is hard to find in white
  • Decimator of the Provinces — trample, haste, berserker
  • God Pharaoh's Gift — requires you to have the creature in your graveyard, and give it all the keywords on the same turn. Rough, but doable.
  • Haunted Cloak — vigilance, haste, and trample; a true MVP card that gives two hard-to-find keywords
  • Lightning Greaves / Strider Harness — in a pinch, these supports can give haste, but the first is a masterpiece.
Hexproof
  • Shalai, Voice of Plenty — takes up a creature slot and only gives one keyword, but necessary, as the only good white source of hexproof.
Lifelink — hard to grant, since it's so powerful in MTGPQ
  • On Serra's Wings — flying, lifelink, vigilance
  • Squire's Devotion — just lifelink
Menace — as far as I know, you cannot grant menace in white. However, the only legendary creature with menace is Kozilek.

Prevent damage — most of these effects below only last temporarily, which plays to our advantage. Dauntless Bodyguard requires a creature slot, so we should try to avoid him.
  • Adamant Will — defender & prevent damage until end of turn
  • Archangel Avacyn — prevent damage & reach until your next turn
  • Hero of Goma Fada / Make a Stand — prevent damage & berserker until end of turn
Reach
  • Archangel Avacyn
  • Give No Ground — just grants reach until end of turn
Regenerate — one of the reasons we use Gideon1 is that his 3rd ability grants regenerate. There are no other good ways to grant this ability in monowhite.

Trample
  • Decimator of the Provinces — trample, haste, berserker
  • Forebear's Blade — berserker & trample
  • Haunted Cloak — vigilance, haste, trample
  • Odric, Lunarch Marshal — flying, berserker, trample
  • Rhonas's Monument — trample until end of turn, and one of the few easily accessible cards to do so in monowhite.
Unblockable
  • Rogue's Passage — grants it every turn
  • Skeleton Key — spell that gives unblockable forever
Vigilance — Gideon's 1st ability grants this, but white has other ways too
  • Haunted Cloak — vigilance, haste, trample
  • On Serra's Wings — flying, vigilance, lifelink
----

Therefore, I propose the following deck:

Gideon1 — flying, vigilance, defender, berserker, regenerate
  1. Arvad the Cursed — deathtouch, lifelink, legendary
  2. Haunted Cloak — haste, trample (and vigilance)
  3. Archangel Avacyn — reach, prevent damage
  4. Dub — first strike
  5. Kwende, Pride of Femeref — double strike
  6. Shalai, Voice of Plenty — hexproof
  7. Rogue's Passage — unblockable
This is a grand total of 16 keywords, for 7 cards!

Gideon1 — defender, regenerate
  1. Bruna
  2. Gisela — flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, melded, legendary
  3. Decimator of the Provinces — trample, haste, berserker
  4. Kwende, Knight of Femeref — double strike
  5. Archangel Avacyn — prevent damage, reach
  6. Shalai, Voice of Plenty — hexproof
  7. Rogue's Passage — unblockable
  8. Hedron Blade — deathtouch
Total symbols: 17

If anyone has these cards and wants to make my dreams come true, please do so and I will be eternally grateful.
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Comments

  • James13
    James13 Posts: 665 Critical Contributor
    Heroic intervention would grant prevent damage and hexproof for a turn.
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    You actually CAN get the SOI transform symbol and the legendary one by using Brisela. Though getting bad touch on that creature would be harder. Would have to include Arcane Adaptation and Dire Fleet Poisoner, and then you can't use Gideon to pile on the other keywords....

    You do get 6 symbols on Brisela to start with to try to pile on more, maybe using Karn? She starts with flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, the squid head transform, and legendary.
  • Elektrophorus
    Elektrophorus Posts: 150 Tile Toppler
    edited July 2018
    James13 said:
    Heroic intervention would grant prevent damage and hexproof for a turn.
    Unfortunately, the guide here is in monowhite, because Gideon can offer 5 keywords himself. Heroic Intervention is a green card!

    wereotter said:
    You actually CAN get the SOI transform symbol and the legendary one by using Brisela. Though getting bad touch on that creature would be harder. Would have to include Arcane Adaptation and Dire Fleet Poisoner, and then you can't use Gideon to pile on the other keywords....

    You do get 6 symbols on Brisela to start with to try to pile on more, maybe using Karn? She starts with flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, the squid head transform, and legendary.
    Oh oops! I guess I didn't realize they added the legendary symbol to old legendaries.

    How about:

    Gideon1 — defender, regenerate
    1. Bruna
    2. Gisela — flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, melded, legendary
    3. Decimator of the Provinces — trample, haste, berserker
    4. Kwende, Knight of Femeref — double strike
    5. Archangel Avacyn — prevent damage, reach
    6. Shalai, Voice of Plenty — hexproof
    7. Rogue's Passage — unblockable
    8. Hedron Blade — deathtouch
    Total symbols: 17
  • Laeuftbeidir
    Laeuftbeidir Posts: 1,841 Chairperson of the Boards
    Nice one. I regulary have him at 10 symbols just in the normal play and was thinking about something like this! Cool!
  • James13
    James13 Posts: 665 Critical Contributor
    I think Karn would be a better bet than gideon despite the "ease" of abilities.

    Consecrated by blood grants regenerate.
  • Elektrophorus
    Elektrophorus Posts: 150 Tile Toppler
    edited July 2018
    James13 said:
    I think Karn would be a better bet than gideon despite the "ease" of abilities.

    Consecrated by blood grants regenerate.
    Karn
    Creatures: 5
    Spells: 4
    Support: 1 
    1. Bruna
    2. Gisela — flying, first strike, vigilance, lifelink, melded, legendary
    3. Kwende, Knight of Femeref — double strike
    4. Shalai, Voice of Plenty — hexproof
    5. Gnarlroot Trapper — deathtouch
    6. Driven // Despair — trample, berserker (until EOT), menace (forever)
    7. Sylvan Awakening — prevent damage, reach, haste (EOT)
    8. Consecrated by Blood — regenerate (and flying)
    9. Saving Grace — defender
    10. Rogue's Passage — unblockable
    Total symbols: 18

    How did I do?
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,090 Chairperson of the Boards
    This is a very neat and organized post. Glad you are having fun accumulating the evergreens on your creatures. Someone did that maybe two years ago but a lot more abilities have been introduced since then.

    PS: thanks for changing your avatar before I could change mine.  :)
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  • Enygma6
    Enygma6 Posts: 266 Mover and Shaker
    Nissa3 can add cycling to a card with her 2nd ability.
  • Elektrophorus
    Elektrophorus Posts: 150 Tile Toppler
    If you can find a way to beat 18 symbols with Nissa, feel free to post it!
  • boopers
    boopers Posts: 175 Tile Toppler
    @Elektrophorus  

    Looks like you missed: Afflict (actually an evergreen?), Cycling, Awaken, evergreens in your summary at the top. 

    This is a fun game, but I find it more fun when any PW is available to use. Of course, Karn should win this game... so maybe he's not allowed to play. 

    It's not MONO-white, but did this a while back:

    I used A2 and managed 17 evergreens (technically) on January 29th... so pre Ixalan I think. They say don't make bold claims without evidence... so image is below.  I have no idea what cards I used. I do know that it would be 18 if I did it again, since Gisela now has the legendary evergreen.  

    The "technically" part is that I used dagger of the worthy to give this beast afflict as well... the evergreen just has never shown up on the cards like it should.  There IS an evergreen though, you only see it when you use Samut's A2.  It is possible that it isn't supposed to have an evergreen though... who knows.


  • Elektrophorus
    Elektrophorus Posts: 150 Tile Toppler
    boopers said:
    @Elektrophorus  

    Looks like you missed: Afflict (actually an evergreen?), Cycling, Awaken, evergreens in your summary at the top. 

    This is a fun game, but I find it more fun when any PW is available to use. Of course, Karn should win this game... so maybe he's not allowed to play. 

    It's not MONO-white, but did this a while back:

    I used A2 and managed 17 evergreens (technically) on January 29th... so pre Ixalan I think. They say don't make bold claims without evidence... so image is below.  I have no idea what cards I used. I do know that it would be 18 if I did it again, since Gisela now has the legendary evergreen.  

    The "technically" part is that I used dagger of the worthy to give this beast afflict as well... the evergreen just has never shown up on the cards like it should.  There IS an evergreen though, you only see it when you use Samut's A2.  It is possible that it isn't supposed to have an evergreen though... who knows.


    Hi there!

    Afflict is actually not an evergreen keyword, but it does seem to have a special symbol in MTGPQ. I don’t own Samut, but it appears she has a unique version of “afflict” (with the plus icon), which is separate from every other card that has or grants it.

    Someone mentioned cycling up above, but I have yet to play with that yet. And I don’t plan on owning that version of Nissa anytime soon.

    Funny that the keywords spill out in your picture like that.
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    am I the only one who still thinks of a plant anytime someone says evergreen?

    Like how did that even become the word of choice?  Was it that kite flying pirate from Ixalan?
  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    FindingHeart8 said:
    am I the only one who still thinks of a plant anytime someone says evergreen?

    Like how did that even become the word of choice?  Was it that kite flying pirate from Ixalan?
    Its the term Wizards uses for abilities that show up in every set and are able to be used all the time.  Not sure where it came from, although if I had to guess its because it is out year-round
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited July 2018
    Mburn7 said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    am I the only one who still thinks of a plant anytime someone says evergreen?

    Like how did that even become the word of choice?  Was it that kite flying pirate from Ixalan?
    Its the term Wizards uses for abilities that show up in every set and are able to be used all the time.  Not sure where it came from, although if I had to guess its because it is out year-round
    wait what?  I thought those were called static abilities? O.o
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited July 2018
    I guess it's a sometimes-semantics thing.  Looks like evergreen (keyword abilities) are also static abilities.  All Evergreen abilities are static abilities, but not all static abilities are evergreen.

    Learned something new today :D
  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Mburn7 said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    am I the only one who still thinks of a plant anytime someone says evergreen?

    Like how did that even become the word of choice?  Was it that kite flying pirate from Ixalan?
    Its the term Wizards uses for abilities that show up in every set and are able to be used all the time.  Not sure where it came from, although if I had to guess its because it is out year-round
    wait what?  I thought those were called static abilities? O.o
    Eh, tomatoes tomatoes.

    Its just a way for them to differentiate between abilities.  
    Evergreen is in pretty much every set (equipment, flying, haste...ect)
    There is a name for non-evergreen that still shows up a lot (like Crew or Scry) too I think, I just can't remember it.
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    Mburn7 said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Mburn7 said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    am I the only one who still thinks of a plant anytime someone says evergreen?

    Like how did that even become the word of choice?  Was it that kite flying pirate from Ixalan?
    Its the term Wizards uses for abilities that show up in every set and are able to be used all the time.  Not sure where it came from, although if I had to guess its because it is out year-round
    wait what?  I thought those were called static abilities? O.o
    Eh, tomatoes tomatoes.

    Its just a way for them to differentiate between abilities.  
    Evergreen is in pretty much every set (equipment, flying, haste...ect)
    There is a name for non-evergreen that still shows up a lot (like Crew or Scry) too I think, I just can't remember it.
    These days, Scry and Crew are popping up now in almost every set.

    I think you're thinking of abilities like Bushido, Soulshift, Fading, Phasing, Banding.  Ya know...the fun ones ;)
  • Elektrophorus
    Elektrophorus Posts: 150 Tile Toppler
    edited July 2018
    "Evergreen" means that a mechanic can appear in any set. When WOTC announces a set, that set will have a limited amount of "keywords" or "actions". These keywords are announced ahead of time. Evergreen mechanics don't have to follow this announcement scheme and can be printed in any set. This also means that a set doesn't necessarily have to have an evergreen keyword in it (i.e. it's possible for them not to print any cards with flying in a set, for example).

    Also note that there are many evergreen mechanics that are not keyword abilities, such as "activate", "destroy" or "exile". In fact, "scry" is supported as an evergreen action word. Everything else in MTG that functionally acts as a 1-to-1 abbreviation for longer rules text is considered just a normal "keyword".

    Words in italics, preceded by an emdash are called "ability words", and have no inherent meaning (and just serve to thematically link certain abilities together. For example, "raid" in MTGPQ is a keyword, but in paper MTG it doesn't mean anything (and a card can be functionally printed without it). One example is the card Sporemound (https://scryfall.com/card/m14/196), which has what we would have called "landfall" in the Zendikar block. However, since it wasn't printed in a set with "landfall" as a mechanic, it doesn't feature the ability word at all. Likewise, a card will never reference ability words, like "target creature with landfall", because a card can't "have" an ability word.

    Evergreen actions
    • Activate
    • Attach
    • Cast
    • Counter
    • Create
    • Destroy
    • Discard
    • Exchange
    • Exile
    • Fight
    • Play
    • Sacrifice
    • Scry
    • Search
    • Shuffle
    • Tap
    • Untap
    Evergreen activated abilities
    • Equip
    Evergreen static abilities
    • Deathtouch
    • Defender
    • Enchant
    • First Strike
    • Flash
    • Flying
    • Haste
    • Hexproof
    • Indestructible
    • Lifelink
    • Menace
    • Reach
    • Trample
    • Vigilance
    Evergreen triggered abilities
    • Prowess
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    Elektrophorus said:
    "Evergreen" means that a mechanic can appear in any set. When WOTC announces a set, that set will have a limited amount of "keywords" or "actions". These keywords are announced ahead of time. Evergreen mechanics don't have to follow this announcement scheme and can be printed in any set. This also means that a set doesn't necessarily have to have an evergreen keyword in it (i.e. it's possible for them not to print any cards with flying in a set, for example).

    Also note that there are many evergreen mechanics that are not keyword abilities, such as "activate", "destroy" or "exile". In fact, "scry" is supported as an evergreen action word. Everything else in MTG that functionally acts as a 1-to-1 abbreviation for longer rules text is considered just a normal "keyword".

    Words in italics, preceded by an emdash are called "ability words", and have no inherent meaning (and just serve to thematically link certain abilities together. For example, "raid" in MTGPQ is a keyword, but in paper MTG it doesn't mean anything (and a card can be functionally printed without it). One example is the card Sporemound (https://scryfall.com/card/m14/196), which has what we would have called "landfall" in the Zendikar block. However, since it wasn't printed in a set with "landfall" as a mechanic, it doesn't feature the ability word at all. Likewise, a card will never reference ability words, like "target creature with landfall", because a card can't "have" an ability word.

    Evergreen actions
    • Activate
    • Attach
    • Cast
    • Counter
    • Create
    • Destroy
    • Discard
    • Exchange
    • Exile
    • Fight
    • Play
    • Sacrifice
    • Scry
    • Search
    • Shuffle
    • Tap
    • Untap
    Evergreen activated abilities
    • Equip
    Evergreen static abilities
    • Deathtouch
    • Defender
    • Enchant
    • First Strike
    • Flash
    • Flying
    • Haste
    • Hexproof
    • Indestructible
    • Lifelink
    • Menace
    • Reach
    • Trample
    • Vigilance
    Evergreen triggered abilities
    • Prowess
    Impressive.  You remind me of my friend in college.  When we played magic we debated for hours over MTG mechanics.  One he especially corrected me on (which I still think is weird) was creatures being able to see each other hit play, before they hit play.  So if 5 creatures that while in play, have an ability that triggers as another creature enters play, all 5 of those creatures abilities will all trigger if they all enter at the exact same time.  Took me about half a bottle of ibuprofen to swallow that WoTC magic, but I eventually accepted it ;)

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