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Aug 5, 2010 -- 11:01AM, Alucard81 wrote:

Totems like the Weatherseed Totem and Phyrexian Totem are slow but give the option of a creature much like the manlands. Depending on the tempo of the game they might not be too terrible

In my experience, those aren't as good as they look. They don't fix your mana, and their activation cost is pretty high. On top of that, because of the ability most of them have, they only work in very specific decks. The white one is the only exception.

Aug 7, 2010 -- 7:25AM, AlienFinger79 wrote:

I usually add stuff like Scepter of Domination and - in 1-on-1 decks - Mishra's Helix, for the fun of it. Usually just singletons, though.

Do you mean Staff of Domination or Scepter of Dominance ? Because there is a slight difference between the 2:P

Aug 7, 2010 -- 9:49AM, Cathaldus wrote:

Aug 7, 2010 -- 7:07AM, MadMaxNL wrote:

Aug 5, 2010 -- 11:01AM, Alucard81 wrote:

Totems like the Weatherseed Totem and Phyrexian Totem are slow but give the option of a creature much like the manlands. Depending on the tempo of the game they might not be too terrible

In my experience, those aren't as good as they look. They don't fix your mana, and their activation cost is pretty high. On top of that, because of the ability most of them have, they only work in very specific decks. The white one is the only exception.

I can't say that I've used all of the totems (although I've gone out of the way to collect 'em all), but I always support things that turn into creatures.  The activation costs might be high, but they're great to have post- Wrath and late-game.  Plus they're good mid-game ramp, as least as good as any non-ritual ramp outside of Green.

I have use Phyrexian Totem , though.  That thing is beastly against a cleared field.

I played all of them, except the blue one, but the only one I regularly animated was the white one. And I still use the black one in one of my duel decks. They play like they're manlands, but can be destroyed as artifacts (which happens a lot in my meta).

And I think they're overpriced because you also pay for a strange ability that you never use. Post-Wrath, there is harldly anything that might be able to kill my Weatherseed Totem , but somehow, I always get hosed when animating Phyrexian Totem . And 4 x /4 creatures aren't meant for blocking, so I don't want to pay for that.

Cathaldus did most of the work for me but here are some more from off the top of my head:

Artifact Creatures:
Masticore (Pinging creatures and regenerating like it's nothing.)
Razormane Masticore (A better combatant than his brother but lacks regen.)
Etched Oracle (It's very easily built around and abused.)
Composite Golem (Provides candy.)
Triskelavus (Abused and reused.)

Equipment:
Deathrender (So you're telling me that I can purposely sac my creature to get a Darksteel Colossus?)
Explorer's Scope (Severely underrated.)
Viridian Longbow (Infinite mana + this. Elves can pull this off pretty easily.)
Shuko (There are so many infinite combos with this that win games.)
Sunforger (If you're in the colors then this is a nifty tutor.)
Surestrike Trident (Fling every turn without the sacrifice.)

Misc.
Crawlspace (An alternate Ensnaring Bridge that nobody seems to remember.)
Ivory Tower (I can do what now?)
Black Vise (It's like a free burn spell during each opponent's turn for only one mana.)
Mesmeric Orb (You have to build around this but it's crazy.)
Temple Bell (Do I need to explain this one?)
Psychogenic Probe (Could be interesting.)
Relic of Progenitus (Pure gold.)
Engineered Explosives (Mass removal of nonland permanents.)
Sorcerer's Strongbox (It's literally Jace's Ingenuity for one more mana in any color. The only issue is you have to flip a coin.)
Aether Vial (So very broken.)

Aug 9, 2010 -- 3:23AM, Kylak wrote:

Psychogenic Probe (Could be interesting.)

A guy in one of my playgroups made an interesting deck with this. Using a rogue theme with Knowledge Exploitation , Earwig Squad , Thada Adel, Acquisitor , Rootwater Thief and some cool other tricks.