Cards that reference other cards

[CleanBelwas]

Hi all,

I'm back on my bullshit again, brewing more jank nonsense.

This time around, I want to build around cards that get benefits from having other cards in play. Nothing says fun like trying to get 3 very specific cards in play together at the same time in 100 card singleton.

So, some examples of the kind of things I mean:

Tron Lands
Urza's Tower
Urza's Power Plant
Urza's Mine

Kaldra Equipment
Helm of Kaldra
Shield of Kaldra
Sword of Kaldra

Empires artifacts
Throne of Empires
Scepter of Empires
Crown of Empires

There are other examples too like Festering Newt, Bubbling Cauldon, Bogbrew Witch or Peer through Depths, Sift Through Sands, Reach through Mists and The Unspeakable, but I like the ones that require all components to be in play more than ones that let you go and find other cards.

This is quite tricky to search for on Scryfall, so I'm reaching out to you wonderful folk.

Does anyone else know of any other cycles like this?

I found this list (https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/27313/mtg-cards-that-interact-with-each-other-by-name) which is pretty good, but wanted to spread the word in case anyone was aware of any hidden gems.

At the minute I'm looking likely to use Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain as the commander because she offers hideous card draw and the three cycles mentioned all play in to her very well by either being historic or generating a shit ton of colourless mana for artifact spells. That said, I am by no means restricted to Izzet and will gladly pivot if other cycles present themselves in other colours.

Cheers all.

[Hyedris]

Gate to the Afterlife?

[Akira Foxmind]

Bruna, the fading Light and Gisela, the Broken Blade in a somehow near the border, maybe?
If so, that would put the other meld-cards from the newer Innistrad-sets on the table. 

[poke6809]

The herald-cycle out of alara. They dont reference by name but I can imagine you would enjoy them in a build like that.

https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=herald+set%3Aala

[WizardSpartan]

Hi all,

I'm back on my bullshit again, brewing more jank nonsense.

Excited to see this, although I can't for the life of me remember any cards that match your criteria. I'll add another comment later if I think of anything. Good luck with this!

[Morganator 2.0]

There are the 20 or so cards that have "Partner with..."

Nissa's Chosen is referenced on Nissa Revane.

Bogbrew Witch, Festering Newt, and Bubbling Cauldron go together.

[stuffnsuch]

They don't directly reference each other, but Salvaging Station, Blasting Station, Grinding Station, and Summoning Station are designed to create a really need combo when all on the board together.  They're all "stations" on a large conveyor belt machine.

[stuffnsuch]

Skophos Maze Warden and Labyrinth of Skophos

[Mynus]

Any of the new partner commanders from c20 like Pako, Arcane Retriever. Each of the 5 precons has a set.

[stuffnsuch]

Eight-and-a-Half-Tails and Pious Kitsune

[stuffnsuch]

By the way, since coming across this forum, it's been stuck in the back of my head and every time I see a card referencing another card, I immediately think "I wonder if anyone's mentioned that yet."  I'd love to see if you ever get something semi-functional going with this concept, but mostly it's just fun to notice a unique feature that not very many cards have.
I also laugh a little at the number of people commenting cards that search for a specific card even though you specifically said you were avoiding those, though I will argue against your claim that Peer through Depths, et al. just search for a card, since, yes, they find The Unspeakable, but to work, you have to first cast all three spells on the same turn.  If you changed the text from "search for The unspeakable and put it into play" to any other effect (like, destroy target creature or gain 10 life or even a less specific search), you'd definitely include the three spells as part of the deck.

[CleanBelwas]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I particularly like the idea of adding meld to the deck.

Turns out that the three cycles mentioned are the only three that do exactly what I want, so I'm going to have take a few liberties with the idea.

If you changed the text from "search for The unspeakable and put it into play" to any other effect (like, destroy target creature or gain 10 life or even a less specific search), you'd definitely include the three spells as part of the deck.

Yea, with regards to the unspeakable spells, them being spells rather than permanents puts me off as much as the tutoring. I was really hoping for permanents that care about each other being in play, but alas, no such luck. The problem I have with the tutor cards is that if I draw in to the thing they tutor, all the fun of the other cards is lost. To get around it, I could add in more cards that let me tuck things back in to my deck, but then I'm just diluting the deck further for situational stuff.

I think the three cycles mentioned and the meld cards could form the foundation of the deck. That means I'm at least in Mardu (which I am super happy with anyway as it's my favourite three colour combo).

Although Breya could make for a good commander for the deck too. Seems like good utility for the colours I'm in that has some synergies with the cycles I'm looking at.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. If anyone has any more or any other ideas for a commander, I'm all ears.