Cardboard rehab: TCG/CCG thread

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

I am going to laugh when a silver-border constructed game happens and someone responds to that swinging with Deflecting Palm

[commandercool]

Mtggoldfish did a video on a Sarcophagus Control deck that's very similar to the one I'm playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWEukqgFH7A

My list is basically this with different ratios of a lot of things, a slightly different sideboard, and slightly different land (I'm running less basics, two Ipnu Rivulets, and more of the common cycling deserts).

[MatsuriSakuragi]

My friend and I are going 50/50 on a box of Unstable and drafting it together next week. I never cared much for Un-sets because they have no value in sanctioned play, but drafting it? I'm fucking stoked.

[commandercool]

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to sealed with Unstable.

Wizards went pretty far out of their way to make sure it doesn't have no value for sanctioned play this time around though between the land and the tokens. Those are both going to be popular items for years to come.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

http://mtgcommander.net/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18749

holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiit

EDH rules committee have declared silver border cards legal in EDH (with a banned list and a "please be careful when playing these" list).

[commandercool]

Uh... Wait, seriously? I like silver border and I kind of think this is a bad idea. At the very least I'd like to see a much larger banlist...

This is conspiratorial, but the first place my mind went was unfortunately "I wonder if this decision was made under pressure from Wizards because Unstable preorders were underperforming or something?".

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I doubt it. I think it's just because a lot of people wish they could play Unstable cards in EDH and the committee is willing to give them a trial run-- keep in mind it says they're only allowed until the next ban announcement on January 15.

If anything else, it's a fun holiday event where people can make EDH really, really silly and fun. I'm 100% cool and down for it.

[commandercool]

So people are opening Unstable packs and finding that the set is much crazier than we thought. Numerous cards have multiple versions with the same collector's number. There are five different Secret Bases with different arts and watermarks, multiple Knight Of The Kitchen Sinks with protection from different things, four different Target Minotaurs being targeted by different spells, four Incredibly Slow Zombies with different seasons in the art suggesting that it takes him an entire year to attack, a lot of different versions of Very Cryptic Command (one of which even has different art...), etc.

This is going to be a nightmare for collectors and stores since the variants share set numbers and have no obvious marker for which version you have, and it's going to create a lot of weird gameplay where players assume a card does something and then someone points out that it does something completely different. 

Also, people are never going to stop hunting for that ninja now that we know this. He could be anywhere! Maybe there's a super-rare variant of some innocuous card with the ninja hidden in the background. Better scour every single piece of art on every card you open just in case!

[MatsuriSakuragi]

The alternate art for Very Cryptic Command is the concept art that Wizards had from Wayne England before he died and it was left unfinished. They put it in as an Easter egg in tribute to him-- the rules text even references him.

Apparently he was the original artist for Cryptic Command and was given VCC to draw the art for, but he died last year (on my birthday no less), and Christopher Rush died the day after. I remember people at the LGS buzzing about Rush dying, but not England.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

so attempted an Unstable draft last night, went for the Host/Augment deck but probably got a bit too greedy with it and just didn't have enough early game presence to win my matches most of the time. On the upside, I did get the experience of learning which Islands had trees on them so I could fetch for them (the Innistrad block ones turn out to be the best for this)

also got to tap out and make somebody solve Hangman before I took lethal, that was fun

[commandercool]

Host/Augment seems like a horrible mechanic. It's definitely cool, but it's basically just aura but much worse. The infinite combo is nice, but I think they really needed to build Totem Armor into the augments or something for it to play well, even if that's less flavorful.

I've got at least one draft today, excited to see how that goes.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

got stomped at draft today, but still fun.

So the eternal question:
"Do you like squirrels?"

[commandercool]

Played in a draft earlier (drafted UB S.N.E.A.K). Was pretty fun, although I got absolutely wrecked by one opponent's Clocknapper. In the game they didn't draw it I won, and in the games they did I got absolutely smashed. Clocknapper is the best card in the set, it's just Time Stretch for 5 that can be bounced and reanimated easily.

The environment is interesting. It doesn't feel THAT different from a normal set, contraptions are very vanilla when you get down to it and don't really cause very wacky game states, but they're interesting.

The downside was that the physical playing field gets way too crowded. Two decks, two discard piles, a bunch of contraptions and tokens everywhere, and other weirdness like face-up programmed hands and stuff going on made it a little tricky to follow what was happening. I had one opponent who kept making bad plays because he just couldn't parse my board. Definitely not an environment for the inexperienced.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

The downside was that the physical playing field gets way too crowded. Two decks, two discard piles, a bunch of contraptions and tokens everywhere, and other weirdness like face-up programmed hands and stuff going on made it a little tricky to follow what was happening. I had one opponent who kept making bad plays because he just couldn't parse my board. Definitely not an environment for the inexperienced.

Add split screen and that card all the opponents  permanents had to be touching and yeah table could get damn stupid.
Contraptions and the non joke stuff look like they wouldn't utterly break commander.
d6 tribal is also a thing with Unstable and quite fun.

As I pulled Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K
What else do I need for EDH related chaos with her as commander (preferably cheap).
Do I just want any blue/black things that have keywords on them

[commandercool]

I also drafted Phoebe. She was okay, I'm not sure she'll make a great commander, but who knows.

As I see it, this is how she's best used in Commander:

-Stripping abilities off of opposing creatures

-Giving herself protection abilities. Do we know how permanent "permanently stealing" a text box is? Does it stop if she leaves play? If not then Aetherling is a good thing for her to copy.

-Combining text boxes to make combos. Can't think of too many off the top of my head, but Morphling untapping plus mana generators at least.

-Removing negative abilities from creatures with drawbacks. Again I can't think of too many actual instances of this that would be playable, but there might be something. I guess you could remove the cumulative upkeep from Polar Kraken and the upkeep abilities from various demons but it's pretty underwhelming.

-Use Illusionist's Bracers.

[Think Komachi with a Rifle]

-Giving herself protection abilities. Do we know how permanent "permanently stealing" a text box is? Does it stop if she leaves play? If not then Aetherling is a good thing for her to copy.

It says on the card, the creature gains them. So will stop if she leaves play, same for the victim leaving play for regaining their text.

Hexproof and indestructible are the obvious things to steal first, after that messing with opponents probably takes over in priority.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

My split-box draft with my friend is done!

Notable pulls:

Foil Forest (!!!!)

Mythics:
Infinity Elemental
Summon the Pack
Faerie Aerie (I actually got the full set of S.N.E.A.K. contraptions!)

Rares:
Grusilda, Monster Masher (big want)
Spike, Tournament Grinder (big want)
Mary O'Kill
The Big Idea (actually WAY more fun than I expected)
As Luck Would Have It (Un-Helix Pinnacle!)
Foil Hydradoodle (FUCKIN ADORABLE)
Earl of Squirrels, which I traded for my friend's dupe X

So as far as pulls go, I got everything I really wanted short of Urza and The Grand Calcutron. I just wanted Grusilda, Spike, and X for commander funtimes.

First draft: I went with contraptions, and it flopped badly. I think contraptions are probably the worst to try to build around in 6-pack sealed limited since it's such a parasitic mechanic.
Second draft: I went with Dice Matters with a sub theme of Host-Augment. Getting an ever-growing Half-Squirrel Kangaroo and an 18/18 Hydradoodle was glorious.
Third draft: I got a lot of dupes in this draft so I ran with Host-Augment and it was splendid, beating my friend in the face with a Humming-Kitten while constantly gaining life.

We called it a night after that, and this morning we build a 60 card Constructed deck using our pulls. I went with Gruul Dice Matters (me using red and green is un-heard of after all because they're my least favorite colors) with a Contraption subtheme and it was beautiful.

Highlight of the entire time: My friend had a 2/2 Hand Homunculus on the battlefield, and I had a 6/6 Mother Kangaroo. I played Hammer Helper to gain control of his hand and rolled a 6, making it an 8/2.
He was like "FUCK HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME I FEEL SO BETRAYED BY MY OWN HAND", and I attacked with it.
Right after he accepted it, he was all "...wait, I could just remove my hand and it would die, right?"
I said "well... yes, but you didn't do it in response to me gaining control of it. I control your hand now!".
"GOD DAMN IT!"

And that's how I smacked my friend for 14, unblocked, with his own hand under my control.   :derp:

[commandercool]

Ooh, foil land? There's your part of the buyin back easily. Congrats.

[Third Eye Lem]

A friend of mine got me into MtG recently and I bought this deck, now I'm trying to power it up. Said friend also suggested I add a card to that deck that lets me end my turn at any time, but we're having a hard time finding it. All we know is that it's an Artifact, can anyone help us find the name of this card?

[commandercool]

I think you're thinking of Sundial Of The Infinite.

[Third Eye Lem]

I think you're thinking of Sundial Of The Infinite.

Thanks. This'll help me greatly with token spam...Assuming I don't play any legendary creatures. ^^;; I learned the hard way that a player can only have one of those on their side of the field at a time.

[commandercool]

You should still play SOME legends. And by "some" I really mean "Azami, Lady Of Scrolls"...

[Third Eye Lem]

You should still play SOME legends. And by "some" I really mean "Azami, Lady Of Scrolls"...

Ah yeah. Drawing power is critical in a Commander Deck, as is mana control and _maybe_ healing? I'm not sure how to shape my deck yet.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

There are plenty of legendary creatures you could put in, you just can't copy them and get them to stick around. You can, however, abuse their ETBs by copying them and instantly letting the copy kill itself to the legend rule. (Or get that card that says the legend rule doesn't apply). Also, Panharmonicon gives you 6 ETB triggers for a creature if you have Inalla on the battlefield and activate her Eminence ability twice in response to casting a Wizard.

Also, Wanderwine Prophets is a one-card wincon with Inalla as commander, if you do it right.

[commandercool]

Are there any legendary wizards with good ETBs? There probably are but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

There is one. Venser, Shaper Savant. Think of Venser as a reusable 'bounce a permanent spell that you can take back to your hand if you use one of the triggers to bounce the original'.

And if you can Panharmonicon him out for 6 triggers, it's basically 'bounce 5 permanents and Venser for just an extra 2 mana.

Also! Run Anathemancer. Very fun if you can abuse it's ETBs.

[commandercool]

Yeah, I was trying to think it through in the shower this morning and Venser was the only one I came up with. Wasn't sure if you could use one to bounce another in that situation, but if you can... gross. Reminds me of Pauper Tron in the worst way with its Ghostly Flicker garbage.  :derp:

Looking through Gatherer, it looks like Vendilion Clique would be pretty good (forgot it was a wizard, I thought it was a fairie rogue) and maaaybe Gisa And Geralf if you have an especially graveyard-centric deck and just want to mill yourself more.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Yeah, I forgot Vendilion Clique was legendary, myself.

[commandercool]

Pestilence Control in Pauper has really been bringing out my S side. I finally got a match win against Affinity (which is a deck that I theoretically have a fairly favorable matchup against, but lose to a lot in practice because Affinity is the most unfair deck in the format and can just rando-win off of topdeck Thoughtcast into Atog and Fling or some horseshit), and slowly grinding someone into the dust can be glorious if they deserve it. 

The best part is that Pestilence tends to look like it's losing even when it's winning sometimes. Had a fantastic game against Delver (which was my most hated deck back when I played Aristocrats more often but that Pestilence does very well against) where I went from being at one life to my opponent at 20 to winning the game.

I think I still need to do some more tinkering though before it's ready to go. I added some Wayfarer's Baubles to smooth out the mana issues since the deck is incredibly mana-hungry and can just drop dead if it misses a land drop in the early game, but they're pretty awkward since a lot of my land comes into play tapped, so they'd probably be better off as Orzhov Signets or something. And my sideboard is still a hot mess, but that can be pretty meta-dependent.

[Third Eye Lem]

There are plenty of legendary creatures you could put in, you just can't copy them and get them to stick around. You can, however, abuse their ETBs by copying them and instantly letting the copy kill itself to the legend rule. (Or get that card that says the legend rule doesn't apply). Also, Panharmonicon gives you 6 ETB triggers for a creature if you have Inalla on the battlefield and activate her Eminence ability twice in response to casting a Wizard.

Oh my. I wish I had seen this sooner, my friend and I settled on trying to get a sacrifice-recycle deck going. But that sounds good too, I'll look into those.