Hey there, planeswalkers! Welcome to another installment of the RTR deck series!
Last time, I built a deck focused on law and order-
Damnit, not that. I meant Isperia and her Azorius senate. Anyway...
This week, I decided to bring you the other side of the law, or what I like to call "When Good Priests Go Bad"-
Ughhhh, nevermind. Anyway, here's a look at the flavor of the Orzhov Syndicate:
Run by some ghost Oligarchy
Some goth lady carries out their bidding
They operate under the front of a church
Everybody in Ravnica knows, so it's a terrible mafia front
Black and White normally make grey, but in MTG, it's gold!
Obzedat, Ghost Council is basically the same thing as Ghost Council of Orzhova, except it's a 5/5; and for having to pay 1 extra mana in the casting cost, it automatically blinks and the ETB makes your opponent lose 2life. Not the most original design, but I'll work with it.
Building a deck around the Obzedat could go multiple ways:
Blinking for life gain/loss
Sacrifice tokens and graveborn
Creature removal/control
Barrage of B/W badasses
The fatal flaw with any ONE of these is that I need ALL of them in the deck, in at least one way or the other. The only strategy that Obzedat seems naturally inclined to would be blinking, but I didn't find it worth putting in every known flicker card out there just for the general who I won't be able to cast until turn 5. Sacrifice/life gain seems to be the strategy of choice for most B/W players I've encountered, but I refuse to play Grave Pact (part of a long list of cards that go against my ethos).
My other big problem: not much money to fool around with for buying MTG singles. I decided to use only the cards that I had in my personal catalog or cards that I pulled from booster packs and drafts. After pulling two Blood Baron of Vizkopas from the same fat pack of Dragon's Maze, I didn't need to spend too much money anyway.
So life gain/loss would be the main feature of this deck, supported by creature removal/sac and a plethora of just plain crazy. The initial decklist looked like this:
The strategy is fairly plain: a mix of good black and white removal cards, token generators, a board wipe, graveyard control, and some heavy-hitters. Life gain is especially present in this deck; several creatures have lifelink or can double life gain returns. If life gain was the stock market, this deck would be doing better than the S&P 500.
A couple of the cards, I admit, are a tad odd for the strategy I'm going for: Mind Rot, Purge the Profane, and Painful Quandary, most notably so. I figured that I would explore some options as far as discard goes, plus Painful Quandary is painful to deal with.
Moriok Replica wasn't my first choice of creature card, but he presents a lot of card draw opportunities, especially with Treasury Thrull and other retrieval cards.
Very minimal extort was put in the deck. Treasury Thrull is a great retrieval engine without extort, but he happens to have it. I needed another 2 drop creature to balance out the mana curve, so Tithe Drinker went in. Lifelink 2/1 with extort? Mediocre at best, but I still wanted to play it.
Test runs had very mixed results. I first played this deck against Anowon, the Ruin Sage, and despite getting to flex some sacrifice muscles, the game was quickly lost to the vampire shaman, since I only have two vampire creatures in my deck, neither of which were drawn in the twelve turn course of the game. The next game had more luck: with enough creature removal and life loss, I was able to beat Anowon, although the game was close and he'd done 16 commander damage to me throughout the course of the game.
Against Doran the Stompy Tree, however, the deck failed miserably. My buddy's Doran deck put me in a defensive stranglehold. Either more creatures or more creature removal would have made Obzedat stand a chance, but once Rolling Stones was in play, my ass was grass.
My opponent kept saying "Man, you need a Sanguine Bond in that deck." And I realized: he's right. That card would make my deck a much more formidable threat. I, however, didn't want to pay $9.99 for a one in ninety-nine chance at being an unstoppable force. At least for the time being...
"Exsanguinate, maybe?" said my Stompy Tree friend. Now we're getting somewhere. Before making more changes, though, I tested this deck against Radha, Heir to Keld. Obzedat did surprisingly well against the red/green stomping machine. The only creature removal I had was the Archon of Justice and the High Priest (and a couple resurrection spells). Once the Rhox Faithmender and Vizkopa Guildmage were in play, my opponent was losing twice as much life. A Terrastadon plus an Elderscale Wurm slowed me down, but the Archon came back out on the battlefield for another round of exiling. Two turns after removing the Wurm from the game, Obzedat swung for the win with a Gift of Orzhova to lift him above the Terrastadon.
I was pleased with its performance, but much improvement was needed. Before getting my life gain combos on the battlefield, the game was looking to be in my opponent's favor. I seriously considered purchasing some cards like Exquisite Blood, which could infinite combo with my Vizkopa Guildmage. As the test games continued, I started getting fond of the little Guildmage. All of the Ravnica guildmages are actually pretty good; but, this one especially pleased Obzedat.
So it was time to make some revisions to the deck.
I realized how well an Exsanguinate would work in the Obzedat deck, as well as Exquisite Blood. Blood Reckoning really wasn't doing much in the deck, and neither was Cluestone; as much as I wanted to make the Cluestone work, it's performance in the deck was mediocre at best. Better card draw came from the Well of Lost Dreams and the Moriok Replica. In with the Bloody Cards, out with the Reckoning and Cluestone.
Tithe Drinker is useless unless you can beef her up somehow, and Extort wasn't doing much. A far more effective use of mana is Purgatory, my new favorite B/W Enchant. It's like graveyard retrieval only better; and paying 4 mana and 2 life is not big deal for the Obzedat. They'll simply say, "Fuggeddaboutit! That's chump change."
Mind Rot, although occasionally useful, was not as good as a good old Fleshbag Marauder. I also ditched the Cower in Fear for a Zealous Persecution, a much better and cost efficient spell. On the topic of creature removal, Unmake was put in Purge the Profane's place, since it had the advantage of also being an instant.
In favor of more creatures, I took out a Swamp for a Souls of the Faultless, a delightful little defender. My mana curve wasn't suffering.
The changes were made, and the time to play had arrived. In multiplayer, Exsanguinate plus the Vizkopa Guildmage was destructive. In single player, Exquisite Blood was ruthless. Win/Loss against Anowon: 4/3
Not bad, for a bunch of dead guys who hang out in a church.
Until next time, remember that your deck should not only be good to play, but good to play against as well.
It's been a few days since several big bombs were dropped on us, Zoners.
Several big bombs, that may or may not still make sense in terms of rules.
Well, we're here to start some dialogue in the aftermath. Possibly clear some things up, possibly panic and run along side you with our heads cut off.
So I got the squad assembled. And since it was Thursday or Friday, it was honestly kinda like this... But it was still impressive to see this kind of response time out of TGZ's finest.
ANYWAY, RULE CHANGES!!! LEGEND RULE/PLANESWALKER UNIQUENESS -Each player can now have a copy of the same legend or planeswalker -If a player possesses two copies, that player may choose which copy to sacrifice -Planeswalkers
have a similar rule, but it's based on card type. You and your opponent
can each have a copy of a Jace, but if you have two different kinds,
you choose which to sacrifice.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Every iteration of this rule that wizards comes up with drives the execution of legendary creatures (and some noncreatures too I guess) further and further away from the flavor of legendary creatures. Unique and powerful individuals. This is why it is only allowed for there to be one of them at a time: there is only one period. Now there can be a whole mess of them running around. Flavor fail.
Mechanically, this has big implications for gameplay, particularly in Commander where many games revolve around your ability to deal with a Legendary creature. I don't really have an opinion on whether this is good or bad, but I am somewhat curious as to why they really made this change. They said that they wanted to bring clones back in line with what R&D originally designed them for, but it seems like it has come at the cost of completely stripping the intuition out of how Legendary permanents work. It seems like the only thing that really benefited straight up is the toughest to kill creatures, namely Geist of St. Traft.
Final thought: Does anyone know if this changes how the Sharuum - Sculpting Steel interaction works? Can you still get infinite with Disciple of the Vault? UL: Yeah, you can still go infinite. Cause you choose which one to sacrifice. Steel comes into play, copies Sharuum, Sharuum's sacrificed, Copy ability triggers, Sharuum comes back, etc. Also, this combo is cool with Bitter Ordeal.
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN (PLANESWALKER THUMBS UP)
Legendary Creatures are legendary for a reason: because they're freakin' LEGENDARY. Nobody ever heard of the Legend of Sleepy HOLLOWS or the Legend of TWO Paul Bunyans. Grandpa Growth hit the nail on the head with "Flavor fail," because Wizards has definitely failed to see what made legendary cards so legendary.
One example that Wizard's gave was "creating a copy of a legendary permanent controlled by another player will simply give you a copy... Clones do what they were intended to do" (Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Preview). I have mixed feelings about this. On the side of flavor, they are absolutely right in saying that a player should be able to have a copy if using cards like Clone or with Clone-effects. However, they could have just made this the only part of the legendary rule that changed. On the side of gameplay, now Wizards has effectively made Blue slightly less powerful in terms of Commander removal. All my Blue EDH decks had some form of Clone, which was a multi-purpose card: removal or an extra creature (usually an extra Drogskol Reaver). Now Clone's scope is limited to the latter.
Perhaps it is the current obsession with time/dimensional travel (J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot) that makes this rule relevant to the modern day MTG player; I for one will not stand for it. However, Planeswalkers are a different story. By definition, Planeswalkers walk the planes of existence. They are like Time Lords going place to place saving (or destroying) entire races and fighting or teaming up with one another along the way. Although I've never seen an episode of Doctor Who with two of the same Doctors (save that one where Amy Pond watched the Matt Smith Doctor get killed by a spaceman), the time-bending nature of Planewalkers may allow for multiple Jaces or multiple Chandras to be on the battlefield (though under different players' controls). This is one part of the change that can fit the flavor.
Johnny Confidant- OPTIMISTIC THUMBS UP
Okay, Here's theflavor of Magic as I understand it, Hang with me Zoners I'll take you on a trip then bring you right back.
In the lore of Magic there exists a "Universe", a universe made up of many other Universes known as a Multiverse. We are "Planeswalkers" beings of magic that traverse this Multiverse experiencing many worlds that makes it so vast. The longer you play Magic the more worlds you see, therefore the more powerful you are and the more allies (Other planeswalkers) you can call upon and creatures/spells you can conjure.
Previously (Before this rule change takes effect (July)) Summoning Niv-mizzet from original Ravnica while your opponent had also summoned him caused what I called a "Paradox" and they both went away. Summoning a Niv-Mizzet from new Ravnica while your opponent had the original Ravnica Niv out did not cause this "paradox" to occur allowing both to remain in a kind of Wormhole theory state. With Planeswalkers this was not shared, No matter the time period you called upon your ally if his past/future self was already there you got the "paradox".
This was a confusing argument that presented a problem, How can one instance of a Creature with different names exist when two Planeswalkers of different names did not share this benefit?
This called for a Parallel Universe to be created, an infinitely duplicated Universe that exists for each player. Now you and your friend can both Summon the same instance of Niv-Mizzet without a paradox due to the fact that your Niv-Mizzet is of a separate but similar world than your friends. Likewise with Planeswalkers as long as you do not bring the same Creature Name or Planeswalker type to the field to exist at one time in your Universe. Although, it still doesn't solve the separate-but-same legendary creature instance per example Niv-Mizzet.
Now that we are back to reality, the impact of this rule change is sure to be a significant change to how we approach deckbuilding. No more will cheap clones destroy a legendary just by existing, likewise this will also help people who run common legendaries to keep them. I believe that change is good and that it forces us to become better by adapting to it, while this rule change can be rendered non-applicable by the EDH Rules Committee it's still going to be something we all have to think about. I hope that if it grows too out of hand, EDH will be the only game-variant where this legendary rule does not apply.
Uncle Landdrops- NOT SURE
I don't like to sound indecisive, but I'm not going to bash this one until I've played it. Cause this is our future, Zoners, and we need to accept change if we can, regardless of whether or not we think it's dumb.
My team is right though. The flavor is now super-dumb. I feel like they could've just reversed the changes they made in Kamigawa to the legend rule and it would've provided well for all the explanations that WotC outlined with Clone functionality and the like. Just let the first person to slam a legend keep theirs. Reward the aggressor. Force the control players to actually play control. It seems economical to support built-in strategies to the game that have existed for years versus teaching us new tricks which come at a serious compromise.
As far as planeswalkers are concerned- this was bound to happen. With the increasing amounts of iterations of each character, it was kind of inevitable that they make sure this happens. As VJ pointed out, it will be very much like Doctor Who watching himself get murdered, and I don't have a problem with that- but "loyalty counters" no longer make sense.
What I'm more worried about with P-Dubs is a lack of removal mostly. I'm guessing that m14 plans to change this though. Least I hope so. They wouldn't have any testing without influence of the "Future-Future League," so I'm hopeful.
Overall, I think that this rules change has the potential to sway players away from playing Magic, especially EDH, and that kinda makes me sad. That's why I'm not too happy about it, but it's not going to stop me from playing Commander at this stage.
SIDEBOARD -Sideboard is now UP TO 15 cards -You are no longer required to swap cards 1-for-1 between games. You're just required to have 15 cards or less at any time in your sideboard during games 2 and 3.
Sideboards: They Can Be Anything These Days.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Months ago, I made an important decision to become an exclusive Commander player. It's all the Magic I like, and it's the only kind of game I want to play. So this rule really doesn't affect me much.
But I still think it's pretty sweet. I like the idea that Magic is trying to create new opportunities in the Standard environment, and it opens up some design space.
The cool thing that this change seems to create for me though is that there will definitely be a possibility for people to play basic land in their sideboard. And that seems awesome.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP (FOR WHOM IT EFFECTS)
I'm all about EDH, and really only have a 60 deck to satisfy some friends and to play other game types so that my primary does not get tedious. I'm happy for the flexibility of the rule allowing more freedom of choice between main-board and sideboard.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN, BUT REALLY THUMBS UP
I am totally down with the idea of having an up to 15 card sideboard. The 0 or 15 ultimatum was really unnecessary and had stuck around too long. No problems there. What I do have a minor issue with is the idea that you no longer have to sideboard on a 1 for 1 basis. Normally this shouldn't be an issue because siding in a bunch of nonland cards would up your curve and if your curve is altered by that much post-board you previously had to include some amount of land in your SB to compensate. That was a small, but fair price. Now you get to manipulate your mana curve and land/nonland ratio on a whim between any game. One of the examples given in the announcement article even stated that you could begin game 1 with a 75 card main deck and then side down to 60/15 after game one. Why does this upset me? Because it inherently favors control decks over aggro and combo decks and it favors multicolored decks over mono colored decks.
Here is why: Control decks are built on the principle of having the correct ratios of threats, answers, card draw, disruption, and lands at the right time. It is easy to keep this ratio intact while adding a few more cards and not have to sacrifice card quality. Combo decks can't afford to add 'air' to their deck, they need it to be sleek and streamlined to insure the maximum chance of assembling the combo. Aggro decks can't really add more cards because the cards they would be adding are worse than the threats they already had. That would just make their decks worse. Control decks don't experience this to the same degree because 1. they typically play fewer 4-ofs and 2. most constructed quality removal spells are nearly equivalent.
All that said I think it will be a long time before these changes start to affect deck construction, but don't be surprised when you start seeing more 61-65 card decks floating around the tournament tables.
Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
I'm confused by this change. As much as I love Commander, Standard is also important to my competitive side. The 15 card sideboard was meant for situations when you need to swap out certain cards to fit your opponent. But having "up to 15" cards in your sideboard seems redundant. First of all, you don't need a sideboard, but they're good to have. Secondly, like GG stated, not swapping cards 1-for-1 could seriously screw with your mana curve. I will say, though, against mill decks, it may be a good idea to up the number of cards in your library. The only way I'll know if I'm truly upset or pleased with the new rule is by actually seeing it in practice. LANDS -"Land plays" will now be quantified and more clearly defined. -This is aimed at preventing bouncing and re-casting Azusa and Oracle of Mul Daya for infinite land triggers. -Wizards example used Djinn of Wishes. If you remove a wish counter and draw a land, you can only play the land if you have a "land play" to use.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I was one of these guys. Bouncing my Oracle and netting additional lands and completely out tempo-ing my opponents and painting a target on myself. To be honest I'm a little sad to see my loophole go, but ultimately glad that it was implemented. Tempo is huge in Magic and being able to out-tempo your opponents allowed you to do more and have more control over the game, usually the fastest won the game.
With this rule in place players who use Oracle, Azusa, Exploration, ect... will still be able to gain the advantage but the distance won't be so far that your opponents won't or can't catch up. Ideally, you want to get at least one land per turn, anything else is just bonus and even with bouncing your additional mana dorks, unless your whole hand is land, you wont be dropping 10 lands a turn.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Never would've changed the way I played the game. I'm glad it is changing the way other people play though. I feel kinda the same way I did about the Jace TMS banning in Standard a few years back. Thank goodness. This is the kind of change that makes me think I could trust in WotC to properly govern their game. Yay for fixing mistakes. Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
Embarrassingly, I admitted to UL that I thought this is how the rule worked already. I am happy that I am now correctly informed, but I don't have a real opinion on this change.
Venser's Journalist- ONE THUMB UP, ONE THUMB DOWN
Before, bouncing Azusa or Mul Daya was a possible source of mana ramp. Now, not so much. On the one hand, there is more fairness in terms of land plays, so that nobody will be trying any silly infinite land drop combos. On the other hand, my favorite Djinn is less effective. I used Djinn of Wishes in my Isperia 1.0 deck for a long time, and when it wasn't getting me 7-drop creatures for 2UU, it was ramping my land. Now, poor Djinn is forced to exile your lands unless you use his ability before you play lands. Looks like I'll have to put Djinn in my sideboard now...
KEYWORDS -Indestructible is now a key word -Unblockable is definitely not a key word
Venser's Journalist- AN INDESTRUCTIBLE, UNBLOCKABLE THUMBS DOWN
This is confusing. I mean, really confusing. So now, spells like Boros Charm change a card's text and Artful Dodge does not. I didn't think Unblockable ever was a keyword, but okay Wizards, sure you have to be double, super clear about it, but turning Indestructible into a keyword was more than what was bargained for. I'd use cards like Boros Charm to prevent a board wipe from leaving me defenseless. If I so happen to cast a creature on that same turn, I'd expect it to be indestructible like the other "permanents you control" since creatures I cast are "permanents you control." Maybe Indestructibility shouldn't be grandfathered into Cloudshifted creatures, but that's going to take some getting used to on my part.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
It's weird to read something that you more than likely understood completely then get totally confused by it. To further explain, a KEYWORD is an ability(s) that is attached to rules text, also known as Reminder Text. (Ex. Flying (This creature can only be blocked by creatures with Flying or Reach)
For Indestructible, this means that when this creature is/becomes Indestructible the ability doesen't blanket on additional permanents that enter afterwards, Excluding Avacyn's Blanket. so be careful when you play Boros Charm or Withstand Death.
Unblockable however doesn't change functionally- just how we understand it.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP As game designers get a clearer and clearer picture of the game, players will get all kinds of rewards.
Face-value doesn't tell us much about these rules, but I'm sure it'll influence future cards and help us to have better quality interactions across other facets of Magic, which is something we should value as EDH players. Cause we have by far the most expansive collection of cards to use, and the strangest interactions to control.
Commander really tests the outer boundaries of these rules, and so I can't help but feel like they're catering to us in the majority of these changes. We have quite a bit more frequency of plays and opportunity to make these plays at our table, so I feel like they've done some good things here, and I look forward to having better game design in Commander.
Grandpa Growth-THUMBS UP
I wish they would have done this sooner, but I
also wish it didn't mean a change in functionality. I think that at
some point in the future Wizards will rectify the discrepancy that
occurs when a cards characteristics are overwritten by a blanket effect
and when its key words are overwritten by a blanket effect. This
example was described in more detail in the announcement. The nuance is
frankly, more of a nuisance.
That's all we got for this Tuesday. Till next time, Stay Classy, Make Everyone Come See How Good You Look, Chuck a Burrito, Maybe Lay Low For A Little Bit, But For God's Sake-
I have strong opinions about the EDH Rules Committee. This is no secret. I don't like that they are self-governed. I don't like that they claim community affiliation. I don't think it is proper that they be allowed to make judgments about what other people should consider fun or acceptable. I don't think that any person should promote their personal ideology as being 'the spirit of the format'...or really anything else. A person's opinion is just that, an opinion. Legitimate and equal only insofar as it respects the opinions of others and doesn't do anything to stifle them.
I agree that the RC did good work in establishing and publicizing a unified set of rules for a developing format. This helped EDH achieve wider appeal and solidify itself as a format across a world of playgroups. I think that is as far as this crusade needed to be taken. I am about to go on the most official record I can: The Banned List is a mistake.
It is a mistake to even think about leveling sanctions in a non-sanctioned format. Makes sense when you say it out loud like that. It is a mistake to allow an unsanctioned authority to make decisions on your behalf. EDH is a casual format. It does not require oversight, authority, or even a guiding principle in order to thrive. People do it because they think it is fun. If it is no longer fun then people SHOULD NOT play it. You don't need to change the rules just to make sure they keep playing the format.
This is in direct opposition to how sanctioned formats are run. Wizards and its affiliates need formats to remain healthy, interesting, and fun in order to keep tournament attendance up, increase product sales, stabilize secondary markets, and to attract and retain a player base. EDH has none of these concerns. Wizards' organized play program and the DCI cooperate extensively: collecting and sharing information about tournament attendance and results, sales, and player feedback with the goal of improving the game. EDH has no such information network. It is administrated by a small group of self-appointed people. Experienced and knowledgeable people, but also biased and jaded people.
If none of the above served to inspire you to take control of your own kitchen table then allow me a final word on that subject. You know your game best. You know your friends and your play group. Communicate with them, engage them, experience them, educate them, and allow them to educate you. You decide you never want to play against another Emrakul, then don't. If your friends agree with your sentiments, then you might just have a community of like minded players growing. This occurs organically and does not need to be imposed by a group of people you don't know and are unlikely to meet.
This diatribe was rather short by my own standards, but fear not. As the title suggested, there will be more parts, for I have yet more to say on this matter. Including and most importantly: What role a banned list can serve, what reasons a card is or should be banned, and my thoughts on the cards that the RC has banned and their logic behind it.
This week, The Stack may look like a bad Soap Opera. We've got a lot of melodramatic twists and turns as we throw down our brand of original, Hot N' Dirty Thug Tech.
On the telenovela El Amor Prohibido, it is revealed in this scene that
Silvio's freckles and hair were actually part of his mother's dead dog,
and that Silvio is actually part dog because his mother had her
Ob/Gyn inject dog DNA into Silvio in utero. Silvio's padre, Umberto,
would've been really pissed to find this out, but he's in the bed next
to Silvio, in a coma, of course, because Silvio found out his dad
was having an affair with his mentally handicapped and incredibly
beautiful fiancee, Rosalita, so he beat it out of him and into a car wreck. Not really. (Dramatic Pause) This is a scene from Arrested Development. But I think you get my point. After all, I am your Uncle.
It's like my favorite robot Optimus Prime (Sorry Solemn Simulacrum...) says, there's "way more than meets the eye" to our nonsense.
Sometimes there's the unusual case where there's "Less Than Meets The Eye," which happens because if you believe old adages, you know that Less is More. But if you agree with the little girls in Sprint commercials that more is better because it's "Really good" and "You really like it," you can be all like "We Want More! We Want More!" What was I talking about again? Oh yeah. This picture. It's funny, right? I like it. In no way do I believe this man is OP, but he gets full marks for perfect execution of the word, "Bitches." Aside from that, let's split shipping and send him back to Cybertron. After all, he's literally packed himself.
...Anyway, I got carried away. I know. But we've got a good one here folks.
We've got a land that kills, a land that likes to stash stuff, a creature that doesn't cycle like it should, and a staff that's probably too cute for its own good. That rhymed. Unintentional.
Which means it's now time for the Stuh-Stuh-Stuh-Stuh-STACK! GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
So, I really wanted to talk about Strip Mine/Wasteland. An act that I try to perpetrate on a daily basis. For the sake of everyone else on TGZ and the greater internet community, I will restrain myself.
Instead let's talk about another colorless dork land!
I like to play limited. I recently came upon a situation in my Cube where I elected to play Quicksand over Maze of Ith. Bet you don't do that too often. Tapping for mana is an overlooked and undervalued aspect of lands. Think of how many cards would be so much more awesome if they just tapped for mana until you wanted to use them...
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN
Although Quicksand may be instrumental in killing off one of those pesky Latch Seekers or other low toughness creature, it's just doesn't seem worth the effort of using it for that purpose. Anyone who's seen quicksand in real life knows that you can easily get out of quicksand by carrying a four or five foot stick with you parallel to the ground at hip level. Maybe that should be the next card Wizards makes: The Stick of Un-Quicksand.
Uncle Landdrops- EWW NO
My snobby side will show through on this one. Most of my mana bases are constructed around tapping for color, few taplands, and then serious utility. So in the immortal words of Sweet Brown, I just can't see how anybody "Got Time Fuh Dat." I know I don't, and I can't play this as a result. I would snap pick this over Maze too in Limited, but there's wayy too many better options in almost every EDH variant (including Pauper) to justify finding a slot for this in a deck. And I'm playing Vhati il-Dal right now.
Johnny Confidant - NOT SURE, BUT LIKE IT
It's unique for sure. being able to put this card in an Aggravate type deck can help destroy some utility creatures just with a tap but for this card to really sing to me I'd pair it with effect that synergizes with lowering toughness.
It's definitely something I would consider but it would really need to fit the theme.
UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP Me gusta Gustha's Scepter. This is some rather hot tech recommended to me by a guy in my play group.
I've been rocking the scepter in my Lazav deck, where I'm trying to Windfall into oblivion, and it's a really good way to hide other Windfall effects or other important cards to leverage card advantage, or provide you a place to put extra cards if you don't have a Reliquary Tower.
Though it won't totally hide your hand against people who like to play Mind Twist and other discard effects, it's a nice card that helps you better your timing and planning, cause it kinda plays like a cantrip, but it gives you an extra hand through the game. Not for every deck, I know- but definitely a replacement for Spellbook, in my opinion.
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
Definitely an odd card.I have seen similar cards, but didn't know how far back hiding cards went.
For me, this seems impressive with the growing use of discard and stealing cards a la Mindclaw Shaman. Ever been at the wrong end of this guy? Scepter can help hide away what you'd rather not have stolen, which seems as good a defensive maneuver as it is functional in UL's Windfall themed deck.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I used to play this card in a few different decks. I have gotten away from it recently because I am no longer into playing decks that could leverage cards like this. It has a few things it does well. Defense against discard is not one of them, but that is a use. Investing a card for this privilege alone may not be worth it, but once you get around to abusing it, you can rack up a few extra to boot. Venser's Journalist- THUMBS DOWN (But the art's really cool!)
When taking into consideration what UL is trying to do with Windfall, I can totally see how this would be useful. Especially if you don't want to discard one important card.
However, it is such a niche card that the only way I can actually see this as being more than a space filler would be if your deck revolved around Windfall effects and discard.
I can't really call it a good substitute to Reliquary Tower, since you can only retrieve or put cards under it one at a time (unless you have an Unbender Time) and having a couple available responses is key to winning a game. I'd rather have a Tower or a Library of Leng. Let's just say I prefer buildings to scepters (even a scepter that appears to have the entire Moon on its end).
JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK
Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP!
Welcome to Animar's new hangout. When I first glanced at this card I mistakenly read "a" creature 10 or greater. Now, having properly read this, all I have is
EXCITEMENT!
Free casting anything in Animar is awesome. Players already hate the idea of mid-game cards coming out in the early turns with discounts and Cascades.
Now I've got stuff for free! Since no one really plays land destruction in my meta, I'm good to go. The negative here is shadowed by the positive; Scry 4 -> exile any card -> cast for 1.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS DOWN
Don't get me wrong. I Love Animar. I Love Land. And No, I'm not just looking around my room at things and saying I love them.
For starters, I'm not into tap land. If you've seen any of my more recent lists, I try to play as little of it as possible. If I'm running forty, I try to run less than four tap land- and that's on a need basis. More of a personal preference, I guess- but it allows me to focus on making decisions about the board state without being distracted about timing my land drops properly. While non-basics are cool, staying basic has its own rewards.
As far as Mosswort and other Hideaway land goes, I've tried them. For no particular reason, I tended to draw them when I need something better, or when I didn't want to trigger Hideaway, so I ended up cutting them from my decks. I felt more frustrated, so it didn't feel like value to me.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
The Hideaway lands are good. They are situational, so if you get situational feel bads like UL then they are easy cuts. Mostly because there are, in fact, better ways to get free stuff out of your lands.
It is a little tilting when you need to draw lands and you see a bunch of other lands on the top your deck with Hideaway. Not only do you brick on your land drops, but you also kind of brick on your future activation.
I don't use my copy of Mosswort Bridge very often. Mostly because I wouldn't bother playing decks that require a bunch of creatures in play to win. And on that note...if you have a brute squad, why don't you just get to the going and kill your opponent. Silly Green lands! Card advantage is for kids.
Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
Maybe I'm a little jaded by hideaway lands because of pure dumb luck, but almost every time I've hidden a card I had to make some tough choices, ones that may have cost me the game. As a result, I'm not the biggest user of hideaway; however, I do see the merit in having a really awesome card that you only have to pay one to cast (assuming you meet the conditions), and I've seen some nasty trolls lurking under the Mosswort Bridge.
VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK
Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
In EDH, card advantage is a big deal. Once opening hands are drawn, you have ninety-two cards in your library to go through, and some of those cards will win you the game. In the meantime, you need something to protect yourself with. This is not only good defense, but it is invaluable card draw, assuming you have blink or bounce mechanisms in your deck. I almost always do... Johnny Confidant- THUMBS NEUTRAL
Were looking at a 2cmc draw card for white here folks, and there aren't many of those. Pair him with blue and flicker mechanics though, and be ready to have a ball.
As is, 1W Defender 0/4 isn't too shabby and a creature like this won't draw hate so it'll sit there until it saves you from a fatal no trample blow, or dies to a wrath. It's a solid choice for a mono white deck but with any other color added there is usually better support for drawing.
Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Been rocking this in Doran, where it gets a nice power bump from the big ol' Travellin' Tower. Like Lion-O's famous Sword of Omens, I like to play Wall and say, "GIVE ME SIGHT BEYOND SIGHT!" and proceed to draw my card. 2-for-1s, ThunderCat puns, and drawing cards. That's how Doran gets work done.
Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
This card isn't fair. What I mean by that is: This card is under-costed. Cycling a card you don't want has an established value of about two mana. If you get any benefit on top of that fresh card, the benefit should also be appropriately costed. In this case the 0/4 is free. And almost always relevant. It usually prevents several damage over the course of a game and flat out stalls some decks that rely on early damage or hitting with powerful equipment. In short, I am Grandpa Growth and I approve of this card.
And this is an improvement on the previous Optimus design.
I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm posting pictures of people dressed up as Optimus Prime. I'm still kind of wondering that, but I think it's pretty awesome. A little too Canadian for my tastes, but let's be real- OP's got some pretty utopian thoughts about community.
We've got some good stuff for you next week. Tomorrow, Grandpa's got himself all fired up about the banlist and the Rules Committee, so be sure to find out why, but only AFTER you've been texted the "Arrested Development is now streaming on Netflix" alert. Priorities Zoners. Grandpa's great, but even Grandpa won't be reading Grandpa's articles come time for our favorite Wealthy family and Son who has no choice but to keep the family together.
Tuesday, I will be hosting a Special Edition of The Stack to discuss the incoming rules bomb that WotC stork dropped on our doorsteps Thursday like it was a baby.
Well, hopefully, the aftermath hasn't worn off too much, so we'll be talking about how you're going to be living in a world where Clones don't kill Legends and P-Dubs can see themselves.
Mostly, we're just going to tell you to ask yourself, W.W.O.P.D.? But not really. So you'll have to come find out what we're really gonna say.
And Johnny Con's gonna wrap up his Budget tech series Thursday with his third installment. He's had some great stuff to share, so be sure to look at his first two if you haven't seen them already.
Till then, keep calm about the m14 Slivers and the new shit that's come to light. Embrace the change, and do what OP would do.
Vote For Optimus in 2016. #ATruckYouCanBelieveIn
-UL
Welcome back to budget utility here on Tops down // Bottom's up. This week I'm talking lands.
When considering land, there's all kinds of angles we have to examine. The theme here with the lands I'm going to talk about is centered mostly around leveraging tempo to get the immediate impact of a land in the first couple turns, whether it be for spellcasting or furthered utility, before it gets blown up.
So let's get into it!
~Land~
- Alchemist's Refuge - Avacyn Restored -
An upgraded but more color-intensive Winding Canyons, which allows you to cast non-landers at instant speed. Fortunately-and-Unfortunately, the limitations of Blue/Green keep this from being as sought after, but that's also what keeps it cheap.
With the right plan, Alchemist's Refuge can be particularly effective in changing the tempo of a game. Decks that love the effect of surprise creatures or being able to protect a creature and attack on the next turn can really use this card. Likewise sorcery heavy and slow enchantment-playing decks can gain an advantage in combo with other spells. Haven't you wanted to play a kill spell then copy a creature so that only you have the benefits?
I play this in Animar and I'll be honest, it's not used as much as I'd like to, but when I have it and I need it it's so worth it having a slot in case of hypothetical situations. For example, if I know there is a control player who can untap lands or extend their mana base, having the opportunity to get a cast or two of creatures out while they are tapped out is usually enough to keep me in good position.
- Thespian's Stage - Gatecrash -
The Almost-Vesuva 2.0, As it's unofficially known. I talked about Mizzium Transreliquat in my last article and this card is a land variant. For 2 and a tap you can copy any land in play. While Vesuva does that without a cost it comes into play tapped and has any ETB effects that land had.
Unlike Vesuva, Copying an Izzet Boilerworks in play with Thespian's Stage doesn't make you bounce lands. It's even more beneficial as a land in three-plus colored decks, which tend to roll a lot of nonbasics. Without an additional untap step the tempo is the same but lets look at some frequent prime copy targets for the Stage:
Whether these are for duplicating lands you own or your opponents, this card can provide some niche utility in your playgroup!
- Ancient Ziggurat - Conflux -
Lands that grant access to any color are awesome, especially when they don't have drawbacks, like Command Tower.
Though Ancient Ziggurat isn't quite Command Tower, it gets pretty close. Creature-heavy decks like Animar and Karador can play it well, though it does hurt when you have to remind yourself you're one mana short for non-creature spells. So the more creatures, the better.
This land is short, sweet, and definitely worth playing if you're building for it.
- Temple of the False God - Scourge -
Lands that produce more than one mana usually come with a setback. Ravnica bounce lands return a land and enter tapped, and Eldrazi Temple taps for two but only for colorless spells. Temple here is no different but only requires us to have 5 or more lands and includes itself.
Having 5 lands in EDH is still early game and with all kinds of ramp available to us it's no sweat if were making our tempo plays. Good utility of Temple would be in decks that need the colorless ramping more so than colored mana, so decks without green that utilize mana rocks and signets would get good use of this land.
Honestly though, any and almost every deck could play this card well. The difference between playing a Titan or another 6-cost threat on Turn 5 or earlier is an incredible amount of tempo, especially if you're playing against a Control player that tapped out early without considering the facts. And there are a lot of 6-cost threats now, so you should be playing this card.
That's it for this week my friends.
Next week I'll have Enchantments, Instant, and Sorcery all primed up and ready for review!
Till next week I hope your tempo plays are phenomenal.
The Blueberry Bounce House has been reopened under new management, Zoners.
And though I love Linessa's art and her sweet FutureSight border, I took her apart cause I needed better results on the bottom line.
After having a ball with Chisei, I decided to go back and fix-up the ol' Bounce House.
Enter Blue Braids- the Planar Chaos Queen and Charlize Theron card-el-ganger.
With her help, bouncing and profit are now at an all-time high.
The key to the Blueberry Bounce House Business Model is fundamental strategies. We're not reinventing any wheels, nor are we trying to go outside of the color pie to pave any new paths to victory.
Simply, I call it "Passive-Aggressive Control." Braids' ability is really the key component here, giving you and your opponent(s) the opportunity to warp in free stuff. When combined with the world's largest collection of cheap Unsummon and Boomerang spells, this design becomes one strangely counter-intuitive self-defeating tempo-oddball kind of deck.
There are a lot of competing thoughts about when to actually cast Braids. Some people like to play her ASAP as possible, keeping Turn 1 Sol Ring/Mana Crypt hands for a Turn 2 Braids so they can play Ulamog or Blightsteel on Turn 3.
Because I don't play those creatures, my endgame is a little different. Sure, I'm playing Sol Ring, but that's really not what my design is trying to do. I prefer to play Braids when I can leverage her value effectively, and normally only for a couple of turns so I can cheat in a couple "non-offensive-but-still-serious" threats. As a result the game becomes fairly grind-a-licious.
Therefore, I tend to cast Braids to change tempo, playing her when I've got a decent handle on the board, and I know I can manage a real potential threat. It only takes a few turns for her ability to fill up the battlefield, so I tend to cast her when I've got 1-2 decent creatures in hand, a protective spell, and enough mana to cast her and hold up protection.
Overall, I've had a lot of fun and success with this deck. With access to some Clone effects, an expansive Isochron Scepter package, and one sweet new favorite pet card which I'll get to in a minute, this deck has an impressive axis of interactivity that allows you to play off of other people's stuff as much as your own. I find that it's a particularly enjoyable deck in 1v1 and multiplayer, the latter of which Braids has shown to be the most politically powerful Commander I've ever played.
Proteus Staff has been nothing but ultimate fun for me. It's got a lot of text, so I'll give you the skinny.
Basically, you're trading someone's dude in play for the next dude in that person's deck at sorcery speed. Hopefully, you see the drawbacks here, which are obvious and have the potential to be scary.
Honestly, it hasn't been anything but an all-star here, tucking Voltron Commanders, and other big threats that Braids helps sneak in.
But of all these things, my absolute favorite is to Staff my Looters and little guys into the big beefy flyers or Darksteel, even. Like Cascade, it's a real "wheel-spinner" of a card, and I enjoy trying to calculate the odds of what I'm going to get out of it. It's great in this deck.
I bought a couple copies of this card when Scars came out, thinking it was going to be super sweet.
Due to lackluster performances, Quickie was sidelined in the binder almost immediately, and I was kinda bummed.
It wasn't until I started piecing Braids together that I re-discovered the 7/7 shapeshifter, and I'm glad I did.
This is a pretty optimal place for a guy like this- Mostly, because you get to play him for free. Either that, or you get to play something better for free, and then pay 7 to have a second copy of its ETB effect or whatever it does.
Results still vary, cause let's be real- a 7/7 Darksteel copy for 5UU isn't nearly as good as having Clone or Metamorph.
Still, he's really fun to play off other guys in this deck as well as other people's dudes. I've beat down with a 7/7 Eternal Witness copy, even turned him into any of the cool blue Sphinxes I'm playing. Double Sphinx Ambassador triggers are fun.
If I'm not Transmuting Drift of Phantasms for Proteus Staff, or Wizardcycling Vedalken AEthermage for Snapcaster or Venser, I'm getting the Fatespinner.
Being a slower deck, the less Combat steps I have to take damage in, the better my chances are of winning the game. Playing blue means wearing a target, and this isn't a new thing for blue decks to have to think about.
However, maybe Fatespinner is a card you haven't had to deal with before. Being such a wimpy little thing, it's not really worth wasting removal on, so it's kind of the perfect way to keep the damage monkeys off your back so you can draw cards and play lands. I feel like Fatespinner's just an all-around winner whenever you're playing a slower-paced blue control deck, but that's just me. Feel free to weave your own tale with her. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Playing anything less than 40 lands in an EDH deck is almost always going to mean that I won't be making land drops until turn 12 like I want to.
Braids plays 38, which was just an arbitrary number I assigned cause it felt right, and I'm not going to add land for no reason.
So why is AEtherplasm good? When you don't make your land drops, and you're stuck with all kinds o' big costed nonsense in your hand, AEtherplasm's awesome.
Like Fatespinner, this card is excellent at deterring attacks, despite its frail 1/1 frame. Mostly, because I don't play decks where I don't have cards in hand. So this guy is always scary.
And though AEtherplasm is an Illusion, his little combat trick is pretty special. I think of it as Pseudo-Flash, acting as another way to cheat stuff in without Braids.
With all the bounce spells I play too, it's not uncommon to bounce a guy in play in response to someone declaring an attack, and then abuse AEtherplasm to get another ETB trigger.
There are a lot of fun times to be had with this card, and I'm only getting started.
Ghostly Flicker is another nice way to get extra triggers.
I was playing against a 5-color mono-blue Reaper King combo deck and Ultimus Prime where I was able to do some serious damage with this and a Kederekt Leviathan. It was particularly brutal because they were missing land drops and relying on rocks and GoP to save them. But it didn't.
Flicker also helps me reset Clones and get extra triggers off Venser or FoF Sphinx. Cause I like getting multiple Fact or Fiction triggers in a game.
My best play with G-Flix was activating Avarice Totem to take a Commander and then flicking Venser to bounce Totes back.
Because I don't play anything other than instants that I can't cheat into play with Braids, the restrictions on G-Flix don't prohibit me from much. And if you run cards like Mnemonic Wall or Archaeomancer, this card can rack up a bonkers quantity of card advantage.
I put this up for talk on The Stack some weeks ago, so you know that I already kinda like this thing.
Now that I've had a chance to playtest this card, I have to say it's been hilariously fun.
Understand, I know this card doesn't look appealing to most cause it isn't "good" by whatever standards you want to set for yourself.
Though I do have to tell you I've won games on the back of this card. Granted, it was full of scrappy and terrible draws for both me and my opponent, but it happened, and I can't not mention this if I'm being fair to Avarice Totes.
Being able to interact with enchantments is a hard thing in blue, and this is one of the couple ways to handle this problem on the board without sending it back to your opponent's hand. Just try it. Let people laugh. Then take their stuff, and make them pay the Troll Toll to get it back. At worst, it's something to pitch to Merfolk Looter. I like being able to make easy decisions like that some times.
Since the article is taking its turn into the goofy cards, let's go ahead and talk about some of the stuff I've already cut.
I was asked on TappedOut, "Hey UL, Y U No Play Paradox Haze?" already, and the answer is simple.
Contrary to what people think, this card isn't actually great in Braids.
The reason is that this will either do two things.
1. People will see it, see you cast Braids, and then kill Braids.
OR
2. You will cast it, cast Braids, and then have one thing to cast in your hand, so you get no value.
Happened to me every time I had it, so I just figured having a guy was wayy better, and it has been. Plus, the only card I want to transmute for is Proteus Staff anyway, so it alleviates any ridiculous decisions I would've had to make.
I was pretty convinced this card was going to be a beating and a half.
What I didn't realize was just how bad Sorcery was. It took quite a few games to realize that I was tossing this card every time to Merfolk Looter for something with Instant Power. So it got replaced by AEtherize.
I am bummed though. I really like everything about this card, save its card type. We even get Teferi Flavor Text.
Inundate also got replaced too. I couldn't count on big sorcery speed spells to win. And I actually haven't needed them.
I guess this is no surprise to people, but I thought if there was any place where this card was gonna be great, it'd be in a place where I could set up, play Braids, then drop a dude, and get value.
The biggest problem with this Doppelganger is that it's great if you're trying to get into the red zone. That's what it's designed for. I've heard other people call it, "Blue Haste," and I think this is the best assessment.
Thing is, I haven't needed blue haste, and most blue players won't. What I needed was more ETB effects, so it got cut.
I could however, see this card possibly being great in Animar, with all the mana dorks and stuff that I play. I don't have a lot of cards I like to play before Animar, but this might be one more suited for playing offense. Cryptoplasm had the same problem, and I did the same thing.
I really do like this art, mostly for the purple shading and the lumpy shapes on these creatures. Too bad the card isn't good.
The Braids list is mostly finished now, and I'm overall pleased with how it plays. Feel free to check it out here at TappedOut. Most of my other lists are there too, so check 'em out, leave me notes, etc. Always happy to answer questions about my choices and field criticism and suggestions.
