Cardboard rehab: TCG/CCG thread

[commandercool]

Well yeah, tutoring is tutoring, but there are lots of ways to use this card. You just have to be a little bit careful, because beatstick into bigger beatstick is just card disadvantage.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

With Eldritch Evolution and the new Tamiyo, I may be looking into running Bant colors in the future. Dang.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Well yeah, tutoring is tutoring, but there are lots of ways to use this card. You just have to be a little bit careful, because beatstick into bigger beatstick is just card disadvantage.

The way I see it getting used is the way Birthing Pod was, using it as a sac outlet for something with Persist such as Kitchen Finks/Murderous Redcap to summon whatever.

With Eldritch Evolution and the new Tamiyo, I may be looking into running Bant colors in the future. Dang.

Bant is probably the strongest color set in Standard right now, simply because of things like Collected Company/Reflector Mage. I'm probably sticking with mono-white because of stuff like Thalia and Lone Rider making the human deck better than it had any need to be and probably giving it a good shot post-rotation

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Kitchen Finks into Avacyn would be pretty fucking amusing, now that you mention it...

Play Finks and combo off for infinite life, or Eldritch Evo into Avacyn with Viscera Seer on the field and flip her right away, nuking everything. It's so scary it might work very well.

Of course, that's Abzan and not Bant. Unless there is a sac engine as good as Viscera Seer in blue, idk.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Liliana finally spoiled, but people are already calling her garbage since she's not Lili of the Veil. Don't they understand that card is fucking broken and should be banned? We don't need more cards like her.

I actually like the new one. I think she has the potential to make zombie meta a real thing.

[commandercool]

Yeah she looks pretty fucking solid to me. She fits the Good Planeswalker Mold, at least after a fashion. And for three fucking mana I think that's good enough.

Also remember when Dauntless Escort was good? Goddamn Selfless Spirit.

Ishkanah, Grafwidow is finally our legendary spider for Commander, and it's in the right colors. It's not great, but it's okay I guess. Better than nothing.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Liliana finally spoiled, but people are already calling her garbage since she's not Lili of the Veil. Don't they understand that card is fucking broken and should be banned? We don't need more cards like her.

I actually like the new one. I think she has the potential to make zombie meta a real thing.

I am not going to say no to an ult that is Endless Ranks of the Dead but better

And I think the thing that we need for Zombies in Standard to go off is some better stuff in the 1-2 mana range to compete with all the aggro decks

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Aaaand a 1-drop zombie was just spoiled!

   
Cryptbreaker
B
Creature - Zombie
1B, T, Discard a card: Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.

Tap three untapped Zombies you control: You draw a card and you lose 1 life.

So it gives you a discard engine, a token generator, and a card draw source. Hot damn.


EDIT: Mono-blue Faerie budget deck on MTGGoldfish
Watch the video vs. Jund.

Just... watch it. It's beautiful.

I'm making this deck. God damn I love Faeries. Tempo Control is such a fun playstyle.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Full set reveal for Eldritch Moon is up.

I don't think there's quiiiiiiiiite enough to get the UB Zombies deck to gel together in Standard but I really want to build some kind of UW flying/spirits deck or a WB lifedrain deck now

[commandercool]

Wow, only three Meld cards in the entire game, huh? Keeping a wacky mechanic like that special is cool, but that does worry me just a bit. 

The fact that Wizards introduced diamond mana as evergreen and reformatted the entire game for it while barely doing anything with it plus this crazy new mechanic that's virtually undeveloped has me pretty worried that every set is going to be all Eldrazi, all the time for a while. Not that I have anything particular against them, but they've only been in three recent sets and I'm already tired of them, so leaving the doors wide open for a bunch more when they've already shown a willingness to oversaturate them has me slightly concerned.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I doubt we'll see any of them in Kaladesh/Aether Revolt. If anything, since Kaladesh is very clearly an artifact-themed block, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the return of Phyrexians.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Wow, only three Meld cards in the entire game, huh? Keeping a wacky mechanic like that special is cool, but that does worry me just a bit. 

The fact that Wizards introduced diamond mana as evergreen and reformatted the entire game for it while barely doing anything with it plus this crazy new mechanic that's virtually undeveloped has me pretty worried that every set is going to be all Eldrazi, all the time for a while. Not that I have anything particular against them, but they've only been in three recent sets and I'm already tired of them, so leaving the doors wide open for a bunch more when they've already shown a willingness to oversaturate them has me slightly concerned.

I think the implied ending of Eldritch Moon suggests we're done with the Eldrazi for now and ready to move on to some other storylines that have kind of been on the backburner like all the Chain Veil stuff. I think while "hard colorless" was developed for the Eldrazi in Oath they suggested they might use it again to balance out certain artifacts.

I doubt we'll see any of them in Kaladesh/Aether Revolt. If anything, since Kaladesh is very clearly an artifact-themed block, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the return of Phyrexians.

I think they're setting up for the return of Bolas more than anything else at this point.

[commandercool]

I think the implied ending of Eldritch Moon suggests we're done with the Eldrazi for now and ready to move on to some other storylines that have kind of been on the backburner like all the Chain Veil stuff. I think while "hard colorless" was developed for the Eldrazi in Oath they suggested they might use it again to balance out certain artifacts.

I said this at the time and I'll say it again: I would feel a lot better about diamond mana if they would just show us an example of an artifact that's printable in a random set but that needs that mechanic to make sense. We have yet to really see that. It's missed potential if nothing else, but we got time.

I think they're setting up for the return of Bolas more than anything else at this point.

Hmm. Yeah, I'm... Really not enthused for that. Magic has kind of lame villains, doesn't it?

I mean, I don't hate the Phyrexians, but Bolas seems pretty lame to me and I'm getting bored of the Eldrazi. I'd be happy with the focus taken off the fucking planeswalkers for a while, but that's never going to happen again so I guess they need something to fight. My best guess at this point is that some kind of supervillain teamup might keep things interesting. When Shadows was announced I totally had my money on Emrakul+Phyrexia for the following set but that's seeming unlikely and like a pretty bad idea now. Maybe Bolas+Phyrexia would be cool?

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I don't think Emrakul is lame. Maybe not much depth for a villain, but I'm all for Lovecraftian Cthulhu-esque atrocities in the story.

I guess I don't know enough about Bolas to have an opinion on him, but I'm crossing my fingers for Phyrexians just because I dig the aesthetic and would love to see Phyrexian mana spells come back.

[commandercool]

Emrakul isn't lame, it's just the Chtulhus make shitty villains. Maybe if the threat was presented as being much for from her cult than from her it could have been more layered, but as-is I think we're pretty much burned out forever on Emrakul shenanigans. I don't think "Eldritch Moon but on Tarkir" would be interesting.

Bolas is just "a dragon". He's super generic. Which in some ways is cool I guess, but again it doesn't seem like it presents that much story opportunity to me. Maybe they have some cool payoff lined up for his whole inscrutable plan thing.

The Phyrexians definitely have the most potential I think. They are aesthetically cool (although personally I don't dig the new Clive Barker style quite as much as the old, underdeveloped  Order of Yawgmoth-style Phyrexia). It definitely helps that they're present in all colors now so it's harder to get oversaturated on them, although I kind of hate Infect and hope it doesn't come back but assume it will.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Infect is stupid. It really has no need to exist.

I actually do like the newer style of Phyrexians. The aesthetic of metal, flesh, and death is delightfully creepy.

[hyorinryu]

Emrakul isn't lame, it's just the Chtulhus make shitty villains. Maybe if the threat was presented as being much for from her cult than from her it could have been more layered, but as-is I think we're pretty much burned out forever on Emrakul shenanigans. I don't think "Eldritch Moon but on Tarkir" would be interesting.

Bolas is just "a dragon". He's super generic. Which in some ways is cool I guess, but again it doesn't seem like it presents that much story opportunity to me. Maybe they have some cool payoff lined up for his whole inscrutable plan thing.

The Phyrexians definitely have the most potential I think. They are aesthetically cool (although personally I don't dig the new Clive Barker style quite as much as the old, underdeveloped  Order of Yawgmoth-style Phyrexia). It definitely helps that they're present in all colors now so it's harder to get oversaturated on them, although I kind of hate Infect and hope it doesn't come back but assume it will.

Well, he's also one of the oldest planeswalkers, and they could probably play that up? I wouldn't call him a generic dragon, he doesn't act like your typical dragon tbh. 

The Emrakul still is done, but how long do you think it'l be before we hear from Nahiri again? Also, we still need to see why Ugin was upset that Jace and co. killed the smaller Eldrazis. Btw, what happened the the angel Eldrazi?

[commandercool]

Well, he's also one of the oldest planeswalkers, and they could probably play that up? I wouldn't call him a generic dragon, he doesn't act like your typical dragon tbh. 

"Scheming dragon" is totally an archetype. I would argue maybe even the dominant archetype although Magic downplays it because their dragons are mostly mono-red. I'd say a "typical" dragon in fiction tends a lot more toward black.

The Emrakul still is done, but how long do you think it'l be before we hear from Nahiri again? Also, we still need to see why Ugin was upset that Jace and co. killed the smaller Eldrazis. Btw, what happened the the angel Eldrazi?

Nahiri is a planeswalker and Magic spams them as hard as they think they can get away with, so I'd guess she'll be absent for one block at most. As for the rest of those questions, I don't follow the story closely enough to have any idea.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Well, he's also one of the oldest planeswalkers, and they could probably play that up? I wouldn't call him a generic dragon, he doesn't act like your typical dragon tbh. 

The Emrakul still is done, but how long do you think it'l be before we hear from Nahiri again? Also, we still need to see why Ugin was upset that Jace and co. killed the smaller Eldrazis. Btw, what happened the the angel Eldrazi?

Bolas's angle is that he was a planeswalker from the old generation from when they were pretty much demigods, and he's trying to get back to the level of power he had before the multiverse shifted.

Nahiri... I think there's room for her to come back, but maybe not for a bit. She fills the space for a R/W planeswalker that hasn't really been done in a long time, and she could tie into future story arcs involving Ob Nixilis since the two are known enemies.

[hyorinryu]

Bolas's angle is that he was a planeswalker from the old generation from when they were pretty much demigods, and he's trying to get back to the level of power he had before the multiverse shifted.

Nahiri... I think there's room for her to come back, but maybe not for a bit. She fills the space for a R/W planeswalker that hasn't really been done in a long time, and she could tie into future story arcs involving Ob Nixilis since the two are known enemies.

I figured that that next thing to happen would her running into Ugin, who iirc was last seen telling Sorin to get Nahiri and meet up with him.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I think I may try picking up Standard. I already have a lot of pieces for the non-budget version of this nifty deck, and Eldritch Moon is gonna have a few cards that will give me a delightful aggro-control Standard deck in my beloved UW colors.

I also want to give this deck a try, too. Nice, fast, and evasive-- definitely my style when it comes to aggro.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

I was actually contemplating a UW deck similar to that one using stuff like Thunderclap Wyvern to create buffed flyers, but I had never considered using Thopters in the deck.

Also, consider: Eldrazi Displacer and Spell Queller together

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Spell Queller was precisely what I was referring to.

Mausoleum Wanderer is a flying Spirit Cursecatcher/Judge's Familiar with an extra buff as well.

This deck gives me every reason to play Essence Flux not just for flickery fun, but because it would buff spirits too.

Displace is just a new Ghostly Flicker, too.

Turn Aside, Unsubstantiate, and Convolute look like good spells to replace cards that will be rotating out, as well as Selfless Spirit, Long Road Home, Collective Effort, and Blessed Alliance.

Yeah, this deck is gonna be a blast.

[Raikaria]

Dangit I'm getting into a Yu-Gi-Oh phase at the wrong time when all the simulators for deck testing are being hit by not-Konami.

Anyway; I'm playing a new Archetype; Metalphosis. They're a Fusion Archetype; where all the main deck monsters are Pendulems; with the effect that they let you blow up someone you have face-up to search for a spell/trap card to set from your deck.

They also have a quickplay spell fusion card. So you can fish out your fusion cards and fuse according to your needs on the enemy turn.

The amount of search power and flexibility this archetype has in their fusions is absurd; but I've also teched in a couple of non-archetype cards to make the deck even more silly.

One is Destiny HERO - Malicious. This guy's been around for a while. Basically; you can remove him from the grave; to summon another one from your deck. I can use him as fusion material; summon another; and then pop him for a search... and summon another.

The other is a card I've seen 0 people run ever: Serene Psychic Witch. This card lets you; when it is destroyed and sent to the graveyard; remove from play a 2000 atk- psychic-type monster from your deck. Next standby phase [Regardless of who's turn] if she's still in the grave; she special summons the removed monster. All the Archetype cards are Psychic monsters. And only one main deck card is over 2000 attack.

So I can pop her for a spell/trap search; and then get a deck-search special summon. I can search out the fusion card and fusion material at the same time with this card.  The fusion card being a quickplay; so if it's set it can be activated on your opponent's turn. So I can pop the fusion card and fuse into whatever I want to as I need to.

Also they have a trap card which does wonderful things like letting you special summon from your deck when something gets blown up. Includeing by your own effect. And a continuous trap which lets you ressurect a fusion material and if it gets blow up [Which I can happily do on my own accord for a Spell/Trap search] lets you search a card to add to your hand. 

You literally blow up your own stuff to get +1's or even better from it.

tl;dr: This deck has insane search power and it's actually a reliable fusion deck that dosen't brick because it failed to draw Poly what is this. And I've not even got into the card recycleing power [You can stick your regular non-quickplay fusion card back into your deck from the grave to draw 1; and a couple of cards let you stick things from various places back into your deck... only for you to search those cards back out.]. Usually a fusion is a -2 at least. This deck can make it a +1.

I feel like I'm not playing a deck. I'm playing a library where I can just look up what I need when I need it. Also the deck is undefeated so far.

[commandercool]

My Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury Elf Commander deck tends to underperform a bit, so I've been hunting for replacement mono-green commanders. I had an idea for a really cruel Jolrael, Empress of Beasts deck that runs a ton of board wipes, but I think it's too mean for my group, and if we're getting that dirty it's probably too fragile.

Omnath and Azusa seem like the only mono-green commanders who get a ton of love. I wonder if Titania, Protector of Argoth has much potential?

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

My Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury Elf Commander deck tends to underperform a bit, so I've been hunting for replacement mono-green commanders. I had an idea for a really cruel Jolrael, Empress of Beasts deck that runs a ton of board wipes, but I think it's too mean for my group, and if we're getting that dirty it's probably too fragile.

Omnath and Azusa seem like the only mono-green commanders who get a ton of love. I wonder if Titania, Protector of Argoth has much potential?

Titania could be fun, especially if you have a lot of stuff to sacrifice and recycle lands, plus stuff to get additional value out of your land drops. Other monogreen commanders I see getting use are Ezuri, Renegade Leader if you want to stick with elves and Yisan, Wanderer Bard.

[commandercool]

Ezuri seems kind of boring to me. He's pretty linear. Yisan is worse because he tends to make every game more or less the same. Theoretically you could probably go full toolbox with him, but there are certain creatures you're going to hit almost all the time.

I could also make this a multicolor deck, but I already have green decks in every color combination at least as part of three-colors, plus a black/green deck and a blue/green deck. I don't know, blue/green is deep enough that I would honestly be able to get away with two distinct decks in those colors, but the colorless removal you need to make them really good is a bit on the expensive side and I don't want to have to buy second copies of everything.

If I do end up going multicolor I guess green/white is probably my best bet. There are some fairly interesting options in those colors. I'd want to avoid tokens though since my white/blue/green deck is already tokens.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Green-white has a lot of interesting options for it like enchantments, lifegain, Human tribal, or if you want to be unfun, just being a giant impossible-to-get-rid-of brick wall.

[commandercool]

There's a local douchebag who runs green/white-turtle-bitch-time and it's atrocious. He inserted himself unbidden into the last of the three games I played on Saturday, everyone told him to fuck off because we hate playing against that deck, and he insisted. I even built him an entire complete new deck for Christmas last year hoping it would make him stop playing it but it didn't. And as expected he turned what should have been a 45 minutes game into a 90 minute game.

Bonds of Mortality cracks that deck open like an egg though. It's kind of hilarious watching turtle players aggressively gunning for that card. I once had a game where I drew like six cards over the course of a game by Regrowthing it and recasting it every time a turtle destroyed it.

Enchantments sounds like the most non-terrible of those, but I feel like none of the premiere enchantment commanders in Magic right now are actually white/green and I'm not going to shell out for any of the very expensive stuff (no Greater Auramancy or Serra's Sanctum). I'll look into it though, should be interesting to theorycraft at least.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

Something I've noticed about Commander is that there's always one player who just prolongs the game to absurd levels. I borrowed a deck to play with a week or so ago, and one guy was all "gah, I really gotta get moving", so I kept trying to mercy-kill him so he could leave, but there was a player that kept stopping me every time-- and his deck was painfully slow.

If I ever make a Commander deck, it's going to contain a couple infinite combos just so I can have a killswitch to the game for that reason.