Alex Ullman
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Alex Ullman
@nerdtothecore.com
2K followers 240 following 5.4K posts
God damn it you have to be kind,
Member of the Pauper Format Panel,
Gut it out He/Him/His

linktr.ee/nerdtothecore
alex@nerdtothecore.com
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This deck to me:
Vexing Puzzlebox {3} Artifact Whenever you roll one or more dice, put a number of charge counters on this artifact equal to the result. {T}: Add one mana of any color. Roll a d20. {T}, Remove 100 charge counters from this artifact: Search your library for an artifact card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle. Illustrated by Volkan Baǵa
November 20, 2025 at 3:12 PM
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Is this too oppressive for your taste?
Temur Sabertooth {2}{G}{G} Creature — Cat {1}{G}: You may return another creature you control to its owner’s hand. If you do, this creature gains indestructible until end of turn. The Temur see themselves as a pack, their bonds more primal than the Abzan’s. 4/3 Watermark: Temur Illustrated by Mike Sass
November 20, 2025 at 2:10 PM
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This is a Stonecloaker appreciation post:
Stonecloaker {2}{W} Creature — Gargoyle Flash Flying When this creature enters, return a creature you control to its owner’s hand. When this creature enters, exile target card from a graveyard. 3/2 Illustrated by Tomas Giorello
November 20, 2025 at 1:53 PM
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Got to take Mavinda for a spin after some Avatar upgrades. Won in a 16 turn marathon. Sweetest part of the game was using Avatar's Wrath to clear the board but then had Winding Canyons available to flash my team in at will.

moxfield.com/decks/8AgcXr...
Avatar's Wrath {2}{W}{W} Sorcery Choose up to one target creature, then airbend all other creatures. (Exile them. While each one is exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.) Until your next turn, your opponents can’t cast spells from anywhere other than their hand. Exile Avatar’s Wrath. Watermark: Air Nomads Illustrated by Ainezu Winding Canyons Land {T}: Add {C}. {2}, {T}: You may cast creature spells this turn as though they had flash. Illustrated by John Avon Part of the Reserved List
November 20, 2025 at 3:54 AM
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#MTGPauper
4 Abandon Attachments 3 Abjure 3 Bone Shards 3 Cast Down 3 Counterspell 3 Cryogen Relic 1 Dimir Aqueduct 4 Hard Evidence 1 Ice Tunnel 4 Lórien Revealed 4 Mistvault Bridge 1 Mukotai Ambusher 2 Murmuring Mystic 4 Refurbished Familiar 4 Seat of the Synod 4 Sneaky Snacker 2 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Swamp 1 Suffocating Fumes 4 Thoughtcast 4 Vault of Whispers Sideboard 2 Arms of Hadar 3 Blue Elemental Blast 2 Extract a Confession 1 Faerie Macabre 2 Hydroblast 2 Mukotai Ambusher 3 Nihil Spellbomb
November 19, 2025 at 6:48 PM
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Okay I will do the thing:
Post this and let your followers decide what you're most known for.
November 19, 2025 at 5:16 PM
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Midrange decks are ascendant right now but given that almost all combo passes through the graveyard these days you need to be packing some amount of hate. Thraben Charm is probably the most important card at the moment.

It hits graveyards AND can take out creatures when Spy creature pivots.
Thraben Charm {1}{W} Instant Choose one — • Thraben Charm deals damage equal to twice the number of creatures you control to target creature. • Destroy target enchantment. • Exile any number of target players’ graveyards. Illustrated by Carlos Palma Cruchaga
November 18, 2025 at 3:25 PM
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Airbender's Reversal and Airbending Lesson are toolst hat can be used on offense or defense and again, you're going to get your value out of them no matter what.

Monk Gyatso is a stretch but could do a lot of good if I really need to protect my stuff.
Airbender's Reversal {1}{W} Instant — Lesson Choose one — • Destroy target attacking creature. • Airbend target creature you control. (Exile it. While it’s exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.) Aang employed the typical Airbender tactics against Zuko: avoid and evade. Watermark: Air Nomads Illustrated by Kotakan Airbending Lesson {2}{W} Instant — Lesson Airbend target nonland permanent. (Exile it. While it’s exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.) Draw a card. “Very interesting move, young one.” —Monk Gyatso Watermark: Air Nomads Illustrated by Pisukev Monk Gyatso {3}{W} Legendary Creature — Human Monk Whenever another creature you control becomes the target of a spell or ability, you may airbend that creature. (Exile it. While it’s exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.) “My ancient cake-making technique isn’t the only thing on your mind, is it, Aang?” 3/3 Watermark: Air Nomads Illustrated by Masateru Ikeda
November 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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So many of the Airbend cards work wonders in Mavinda. Avatar's Wrath resets your blink shenanigans but more than that, it has the glorious word "target" which means you can flash it back with Mavinda's ability.
Mavinda, Students' Advocate {2}{W} Legendary Creature — Bird Advisor Flying {0}: You may cast target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard this turn. If that spell doesn’t target a creature you control, it costs {8} more to cast this way. If that spell would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead. Activate only once each turn. (You still pay the spell’s costs. Timing rules for the spell still apply.) 2/3 Illustrated by Wesley Burt Avatar's Wrath {2}{W}{W} Sorcery Choose up to one target creature, then airbend all other creatures. (Exile them. While each one is exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.) Until your next turn, your opponents can’t cast spells from anywhere other than their hand. Exile Avatar’s Wrath. Watermark: Air Nomads Illustrated by Ainezu
November 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
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Best Friends Forever*
Overseer of the Damned {5}{B}{B} Creature — Demon Flying When this creature enters, you may destroy target creature. Whenever a nontoken creature an opponent controls dies, create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token. 5/5 Illustrated by rk post
November 13, 2025 at 6:15 PM
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Not me thinking about the Murder King this morning:
Tymaret, the Murder King {B}{R} Legendary Creature — Zombie Warrior {1}{R}, Sacrifice another creature: Tymaret deals 2 damage to target player or planeswalker. {1}{B}, Sacrifice a creature: Return this card from your graveyard to your hand. His memories remained in the Underworld, but his cruelty crossed the Rivers with him. 2/2 Illustrated by Volkan Baǵa
November 13, 2025 at 4:33 PM
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Sek'Kuar does one thing and is probably two mana too expensive by today's standards:
Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper {2}{B}{R}{G} Legendary Creature — Orc Shaman Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, create a 3/1 black and red Graveborn creature token with haste. Karplusan legend told of an orc so cruel that he burned his own followers in rage—yet so revered that they rose from their pyres to serve him. 4/3 Illustrated by Jeff Miracola
November 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
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You know what card rules in Commander? Rescue from the Underworld.
Rescue from the Underworld {4}{B} Instant As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Choose target creature card in your graveyard. Return that card and the sacrificed card to the battlefield under your control at the beginning of your next upkeep. Exile Rescue from the Underworld. Illustrated by Raymond Swanland
November 13, 2025 at 4:10 PM
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If you're going to do this post a card that's actually seen play:
Mortician Beetle {B} Creature — Insect Whenever a player sacrifices a creature, you may put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. To the soldier, war is famine; to the scavenger, a feast. 1/1 Illustrated by Lars Grant-West Elvish Vanguard {1}{G} Creature — Elf Warrior Whenever another Elf enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. “Our lives are woven together like the trees’ branches over our heads, forming a canopy that protects us all.” 1/1 Illustrated by Glen Angus
November 11, 2025 at 8:05 PM
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C'mon Emma
Tortured Existence {B} Enchantment {B}, Discard a creature card: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. “There are terrors lurking in the unseen corners of us all.” —Crovax Illustrated by Keith Parkinson
November 11, 2025 at 7:51 PM
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Tortured Existence/Bartered Cow/Cauldron Familiar
Tortured Existence {B} Enchantment {B}, Discard a creature card: Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. “There are terrors lurking in the unseen corners of us all.” —Crovax Illustrated by Keith Parkinson Bartered Cow {3}{W} Creature — Ox When this creature dies and when you discard this card, create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.”) At the market, no one heeded Hilda’s frantic mooing. The fae curse was turning out even worse than she had feared. 3/3 Illustrated by Deruchenko Alexander Cauldron Familiar {B} Creature — Cat When this creature enters, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. Sacrifice a Food: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Every day the cat returns to kill the same mouse, which sinks again into the cauldron’s brew. 1/1 Illustrated by Milivoj Ćeran
November 11, 2025 at 7:45 PM
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So this Saturday I'll be giving my first official presentation at a professional conference in over a decade.
A presentation description about a college leadership course
November 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
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I found the only comment on the High Tide ban that matters:
High Tide banned on the 50th anniversary of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
November 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
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Remember: spoiler season can be fun.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I still get a giddy little each every spoiler season. The lizard part of the my brain that was activated by Lego lights up, neural pathways that could have been spent trying to solve more important problems seeing how all the different pieces could potentially fit together. Invariably I get excited about a card or two and start plotting a new list. Avatar: The Last Airbender gave me one such card.
November 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
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To everyone building an Ally deck post Avatar.

You're welcome.
Tuktuk Scrapper {3}{R} Creature — Goblin Artificer Ally Whenever this creature or another Ally you control enters, you may destroy target artifact. If that artifact is put into a graveyard this way, this creature deals damage to that artifact’s controller equal to the number of Allies you control. 2/2 Illustrated by Matt Cavotta
November 8, 2025 at 7:19 PM
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New work in progress just dropped
A yellow legal pad with the words "The Decks We Do Not Build" written on the first line.
November 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
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Folks sell me on your best off beat +1/+1 counter Commander.

Bonus points for green in the Color ID.
Stocking the Pantry {G} Enchantment Whenever you put one or more +1/+1 counters on a creature you control, put a supply counter on this enchantment. {2}, Remove a supply counter from this enchantment: Draw a card. Sorting the seeds from the nuts —Squirrelfolk expression meaning “dwelling on unnecessary details” Illustrated by Gina Matarazzo
November 6, 2025 at 5:03 PM
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Borborygmos {3}{R}{R}{G}{G} Legendary Creature — Cyclops Trample Whenever Borborygmos deals combat damage to a player, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. “It’s easy to see why those Gruul dirtbags follow him—the only orders he gives are ‘Crush them!’ and ‘We eat!’” —Teysa 6/7 Watermark: Gruul Illustrated by Todd Lockwood
November 6, 2025 at 4:18 PM
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Just saying...
A checklist of skills that include "Community & Stakeholder Engagement" and "Communications & Digital"
November 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM
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But really this is the card I am excited to pick up for my Mavinda deck:
Avatar's Wrath {2}{W}{W} Sorcery Choose up to one target creature, then airbend each other creature. (Exile them. While each one is exiled, its owner may cast it for {2} rather than its mana cost.) Until your next turn, your opponents can’t cast spells from anywhere other than their hand. Exile Avatar’s Wrath. Watermark: Air Nomads Illustrated by Ainezu
November 6, 2025 at 1:37 PM