Messages

1

Deckstats Feedback / Upvote/Downvote broken?

« on: Today at 07:39:43 pm »

Is it just me, or are the upvote and downvote buttons on forum posts not working anymore?  I have tried on three different computers and three different browsers, but whenever I click either button, it just takes me back to the top of the page.  It makes no difference whether you get to the thread's page by manually navigating there from the Forum section or by selecting the thread in the "Active Threads" section on the homepage (thought maybe that would make a difference because the URLs are different and the later has a redirect to the most recent post, but it doesn't).

I'm not particularly well-versed in HTML or Javascript, but I do notice when clicking the buttons, a hash # is added at the end of the URL (or, in the case of selecting the thread from the "Active Threads" section, it changes from #new to just #).  I know the # is a fragment identifier and, in very simple terms, that's how you can get links to "jump" to specific places on a page.  It looks to me like maybe the Javascript or whatever is behind the functionality of the upvote/downvote buttons is broken or missing - though I'm not sure why that would cause it to default to jump to the top of the page when clicked.

2

Commander Discussion / Re: Commander Banlist Update.

« on: Today at 12:50:57 am »

Being a land does make the Tomb generally weaker than the Crypt...  Notion Thief requires a greater and wider mana investment, while Narset lacks flash and resource generation and requires a greater commitment to blue.  They're just outright weaker cards.

You are absolutely correct, but the fact is that they are doing the exact thing the RC cites as reason for banning the other "stronger" cards.

"Coming down for no mana on turn one, it's quite possible to have the explosive start of Mana Crypt into a Signet or Talisman, land, and another Signet, leaving that player untapping five mana on turn two. In games going over twelve turns, the accumulated threat of damage from Mana Crypt provides a reasonable counterbalance for its explosive effect, but when you are snowballing to a turn-six to -eight win, it's a meaningless drawback."

You can do the same thing with Tomb + Sol Ring + two signets/talismans (you actually end up with six mana in this case, not five - the downside is that you have one less colored mana available), and the two damage from Tomb is a meaningless drawback.  Yes, it is statistically less likely to happen, but it is still "quite possible."

Same thing in the other case.

"Hullbreacher creates an environment of asymmetric resource denial in the early game. Its ability easily combines with several other cards to strip opponents' hands, and keep them empty. This creates an environment where players don't have agency, but doesn't outright end the game."

Yes, Hullbreacher is strictly better than Thief or Narset because the latter doesn't have flash and is two blue pips instead of one; and the former is two colors and costs one additional black mana (and Hullbreacher gives the additional value of the treasures), but that doesn't change the fact that the card mechanically does the exact same thing that they are citing as the logic for banning the card.  Leovold was banned before Hullbreacher ever existed because he allowed you to have the effect in question in the command zone even though he is "weaker."  Maralen should be mentioned here too.  She can just as easily lock out people's hands as Leovold can, albeit with the downside that you give them the opportunity to dig for an answer.

What about Upheaval?

Games of Commander are expected to go long; it's not uncommon to see players cast spells for 10+ mana. Upheaval is both an emergency reset which leaves the game right back at square one, and a way to get way ahead in the game by floating mana. Bouncing everything, then replaying your hand while leaving everyone else stuck at nothing, gives no real way to interact with it besides countermagic.

Overloaded Cyclonic Rift, anyone?  It only costs one more mana and, unlike Upheaval, you can do it at instant speed, it only bounces your opponents stuff, and also "gives no real way to interact with it besides countermagic."  Plus, it has the benefit of being able to target only a single thing if need be.  Yes, Upheaval also hits lands, but I contend that not bouncing any of your board causes just as much of an issue for other players rebuilding as if everything were to be bounced.  Cyc Rift either always ends the game within a turn or two of it being cast or it prolongs the game far more than it has any business doing.  Their logic almost precisely describes Cyc Rift as well.

Tolarian Academy?

"Tolarian Academy's power is tied to the abundance and ease of access to cheap artifacts in the earliest stages of the game. This often creates two or more colored mana on turn one, and continues to scale throughout the game with no downside or additional 'costs' at untap.

Yet Gaia's Cradle is legal?  There is an abundance of cheap creatures in the earliest stages of the game too.  You can argue that creatures are easier to deal with than artifacts and with Treasures everywhere now, Academy is probably worse, but the point still stands.  Serra's Sanctum isn't all that much more difficult to get to cause the same problems, and enchantments no more or less difficult to deal with than artifacts, even if it is the weakest of these three lands.


Ultimately, the RC is citing the mechanics of the card as the problem, not its power level per se.  The cards they didn't ban in some cases do the same thing (or functionally and substantially similar thing) and cause much the same problems as the cards they did ban.  The fact that they are marginally "weaker" versions of the effect is irrelevant.  My only point is that they do not apply their logic consistently when it comes to bans.  Either they need to identify individual problem cards and get rid of them (nothing does what Dockside does; Nadu was a mistake, put politely), or they need to identify a category of mechanically problematic and functionally identical cards and ban all of them, not pick and choose which to ban.  If they can't be consistent, then they either need to be universally less restrictive (i.e., fewer bans overall) and leave it up to people to have a rule 0 conversation amongst themselves or change tactics entirely.  I still really like the idea of the Canadian Highlander point system.

I actually heard an argument today at the LGS near my work when I popped in there to pick something up today. There was an argument for Gemstone Caverns to be banned because it basically is "a situational Chrome Mox" (they were arguing Chrome Mox being banned as well).

Gemstone is restrictive enough in that you have to have it in your opening hand that I don't think it presents enough of a problem to be banned.  I understand the argument for banning Chrome Mox though because they are clearly targeting fast mana with these bans.  However, you do have to two-for-one yourself to play Chrome Mox and it only taps for one mana, so it is not nearly as problematic as the other cards mentioned.


EDIT: Removed Iona example because there were better ones that I forgot about at the time.

3

Commander Discussion / Re: Commander Banlist Update.

« on: September 24, 2024, 11:04:49 pm »

Second, there are complaints about the inconsistency of bans. Often in the past the Rules Committee has said that they don't consider Competitive Commander in their decisions, but Jeweled Lotus and Mana Crypt see near-exclusive play in cEDH. Also in the vein of consistency, the RC admitted to their inconsistency in their post that they are not banning Sol Ring even though it fits the justification.

Third, there are other problematic cards that were excluded from this ban that is also format warping and lead to repetitive games and other scenarios mentioned in the Philosophy Document. Thassa's Oracle is the main one being name dropped but there are others like Orcish Bowmasters and Underworld Breach.

No one is complaining about the loss of Nadu, except Nadu mains. We all kinda saw this coming.

Calls for Dockside to be banned have been around since before it was reprinted.  That one doesn't surprise me in the least, nor does Nadu (whose design was a massive oversight).  The other two do slightly, but the RC has basically done nothing of note in close to three years.  Just quickly flipping through their archived articles, it looks like the last time anything was banned/unbanned was September of 2021.  Please correct me if I'm wrong, because that doesn't seem right.  If it is, it just goes to show how vestigial the RC has become to Magic.

The lack of consistency is my perennial complaint about the rules committee and their bans.  They will ban cards because they promote a "bad pattern of play," but then they only pick a few of such cards.  The last big one I remember like this was Hullbreacher.  Leovold was already banned, then they banned Hullbreacher, but cards that mechanically did the same thing like Notion Thief and Narset, Parter of Veils weren't touched.  This time, they openly admit they should ban Sol Ring but won't because it's so ubiquitous (i.e., it's printed in every single precon now and Wizards doesn't want to change anything, which I personally find to be a poor excuse).  Also, did anyone notice the lack of Ancient Tomb on the ban list?  Tomb is, for all intents and purposes, Crypt on a land, but they conveniently glossed over it.  The logic for banning Crypt applies equally, if not more so, to Tomb.  Mana Vault is also untouched.  While you can argue that is effectively more a ritual than fast mana, a lot of decks that run it have ways of abusing it and I would argue that it's no less problematic.  While not as egregious as the aforementioned cards, Chrome Mox also escapes the list.  I think Mox Opal and Mox Amber are fine because the cards have enough of a restriction built into them that you're probably not reliably getting any value out of them (except in specific decks) until turn two at the earliest.

Jeweled Lotus was printed in a Commander Masters set and designed specifically for Commander.  It seems pretty asinine to me to ban a card from the only format in which it can be played (technically, it's apparently legal in Vintage and Legacy, but why would you play it there when it does nothing?).

As a player who doesn't like cEDH or particularly care for "higher-powered" games, the fast mana ban was very welcome.  I will admit, however, that I understand how impactful this is for the cEDH community.  What I genuinely don't understand and can't forgive is why they didn't wait to ban Lotus and Crypt until after they had established the cEDH RC and ban list like they said they would not that long ago.  Now we have a period of however long it's going to be where the cards can't legally be run, and then presumably once the cEDH RC and ban list are in place, they will be legal for cEDH again.  I think cEDH players are just going to ignore this ruling outside of sanctioned tournament settings, and rightly so.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that the impact on the monetary value of the cards wasn't a little irritating to me too.  I'm a relatively new player (I'd say probably six years or so) and don't have a particularly extensive collection (though I've probably spent more money on it than I want to know).  Between reprints and bans, a significant chunk of the most valuable cards I own have lost anywhere from 50-90% of their value.  Jeweled Lotus was the second most valuable card in my collection.  I thankfully cracked it from a CMR box (one of only three boxes I have ever bought) instead of buying it as a single for $100, but still.  I can only imagine how much more painful it is for people who spend way more time and money on the game than I do.

As an aside, the idea of a separate ban list and RC for cEDH never made sense to me.  There is no definitive, objective metric by which to judge the difference between a cEDH deck and a non-cEDH deck that is just a higher power level (it's largely subjective), and the ruleset between the two formats is the same.  Distinguishing between the two in a meaningful manner I think is a fool's errand ("I'll know it when I see it" type of thing).  I don't understand why they don't just use something like the Canadian Highlander points system.  At least that way you have some sort of metric by which to gauge and compare the power levels of deck.  All that being said, with the ban of Lotus and Crypt, the need for a separate ban list for cEDH is painfully obvious now.  I just don't know how they're going to pull it off when they already have trouble getting it right with the current one.

4

General Magic / Re: Scavenger Hunt

« on: June 01, 2024, 10:41:02 pm »

"Non-Brushwagg". The second a creature gets that type is the second it becomes an illegal target and gets nothing from Embiggen.

Oops.  I knew it sounded too good to be true.  Well, I did at least find one other that gets +7/+7: Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.  With his +1 ability, he becomes a Legendary Planeswalker Gideon Creature Human Soldier Ally.

I don't think you can get bigger than +7/+7 with just a single card.  You'd need others to add additional types, like Liquimetal Torque to turn it into an artifact.  Ashaya, Soul of the Wild would turn the creature into a land as well, Enchanted Evening would add the enchantment type, and Rimefeather Owl adds the snow supertype.

5

General Magic / Re: Scavenger Hunt

« on: June 01, 2024, 12:45:15 am »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Shapeshifters take the cake here because they are every creature type at all times (I know Changeling has weird interactions sometimes, but it should still count).  Faceless Haven would be the best because it is a snow land and has an ability that animates it, which says it becomes a creature with all creature types that's still a land.  Plus, if Changelings don't actually count here, Haven's ability doesn't give it Changeling, it just says it has all creature types.

From what I can find, as of OTJ, there are currently 299 creature types, so your Embiggen bonus would be +302/+302 on an animated Faceless Haven (1 for supertype snow, 2 for card types land and creature, and 299 for each creature type).

6

Commander Deck Reviews / Re: Question about first commander deck

« on: May 09, 2024, 06:25:32 pm »

It really depends on your budget.  Edgar Markov was the face commander in the Commander 2017 preconstructed deck, but because he's only ever had a limited print run with that product (and because Eminence is broken), he alone is over $100, and I doubt you're going to be able to find a sealed copy of his deck (Vampiric Bloodlust), let alone for a reasonable price.

The other thing to consider is what kind of deck you'd like to play and your preferred play style.  Edgar is pretty straightforward.  It's vampire tribal, and I don't think there's too much variance in how people typically build decks around him: cast vampires, make vampires, make vampires big, swing.  The +1/+1 counters can get kind of annoying to keep track of because of the number of tokens you're making, but that's a minor issue.  If you sit down at a table with Edgar as your commander, understand that you probably will be correctly assessed as a significant threat before you even start playing.  If it wasn't for his Eminence ability, even if he cost 1 or 2 less to cast, he wouldn't be nearly as oppressive.

Extus/Blood Avatar probably does give you a bit more flexibility with deck design, but it's also more difficult to build well - although there are several three or four card combos that go infinite and win on the spot (though I typically don't like playing infinite combos).  Ultimately, it is an aristocrats style deck: sack a bunch of your creatures to drain your opponents of life, recur them or make more, rinse, and repeat.  The Magecraft ability on Extus turns out to be more of a useful incidental thing than it is something you can reliably build the whole deck around (although it would be interesting to see it done that way).  In reality, you're probably actually not going to be casting Extus all that much but rather making a bunch of tokens to sacrifice to Blood Avatar and keep recasting that.  It's not as threatening as Edgar would be and will likely be cheaper to build.  However, keep in mind that, because Blood Avatar hurts all of your opponents equally, it can incentivize the table to collectively deal with you.

Personally, if it were me, I'd go with Extus, if only for the cost.  I can't fathom spending over $100 on a single card, especially for my first ever deck.  The Eminence mechanic is quite imbalanced and not exactly fun either in my opinion.  I wouldn't worry too much about the deck not being "strong" just off Arena testing.  While it can be a bit more clunky than Edgar would, it can certainly hold its own in most pods.  That being said, if the people with whom you play are OK with proxies (most people are in most cases, especially when playtesting a new deck), proxy both and play both.  See which one you like more.

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General Magic / Re: Questions regarding suspension and more generally "casting" and triggers

« on: December 15, 2023, 08:31:50 pm »

But Im a bit confused about the suspension counters.

For me you would typically remove the 2 counters at the same time, causing both spells to go on the stack at the same time. There you would choose which one goes first but before any of them resolved the other would be right behind, ready to be resolved aswell.
...
Édit : just realized that in your example the counter is going on the stack, its just that in my head removing suspension counters had to be some kind of special action or state-based-action but it appears its just a normal thing ? I feel smarter and yet more lost than before lol

Removing the time counters is a triggered ability.  Triggered abilities usually start with words like when, whenever, at, etc., always have some sort of operative phrase followed by a comma giving some criterion that must be met before the ability triggers (e.g. "at the beginning of your upkeep," "whenever you draw a card," etc.), and then what the ability actually does.  Static abilities are continuous/permanent effects.  Flying or "Green creatures you control get +1/+1" are static abilities.  State-based actions are things that happen whenever certain conditions are met as a result of the rules of the game.  For example, a player losing the game because his life total reaches zero is a state-based action.

Since you have two spells that are suspended, there are two separate "At the beginning of your upkeep" triggers.  They both trigger at the same time.  Because you control both triggers, you decide which order they go on the stack, and because they are separate triggers, they resolve at different times.  As they resolve, cast triggers get put on the stack.  In reality then, the time counters are not removed at the same time even though the trigger to remove them does.

Hope that clears it up a bit.

8

General Magic / Re: Questions regarding suspension and more generally "casting" and triggers

« on: December 14, 2023, 12:30:30 am »

What confused me for Complete the Circuit was the word "cast" that made me believe that Complete the circuit had to be resolved BEFORE I play the second spell as if it was on the stack already it wouldn't work.

You're right.  It does have to resolve before you cast the second spell; if you were to cast CtC and then the second spell in response to it or something else before CtC resolved, you wouldn't get the copies of the second spell.  CtC being an Instant is a little counter-intuitive for this reason; if you cast it on someone else's turn, you have to wait for the stack to resolve, priority to pass back to the player whose turn it is, and then for them to take another game action to which you can respond to in order to get the benefit of CtC.

The reason it works with the Suspend mechanic off Gandalf's trigger to copy the second spell is because, even though both go to zero time counters on the same upkeep step, you're not actually casting the second spell until CtC has resolved because the cast triggers themselves do not go on the stack at the same time as I outlined in the previous post (I edited step 8 for clarification; previously, it read "you previously cast CtC this turn," but it should have read "you previously resolved CtC this turn).

Fully understanding triggers and stack manipulation/resolution is probably one of the most complicated parts of Magic.  So far, it seems like your intuition about it has been correct, it's just understanding the nuances of the stack order that you weren't 100% sure about.  There are a lot of weird combos that work specifically because of things like that.

9

General Magic / Re: Questions regarding suspension and more generally "casting" and triggers

« on: December 13, 2023, 12:15:33 am »

In the case of Complete the Circuit, both it and the other spell (let's say Shock for simplicity's sake) you cast afterwards will get exiled at the same time and have the time counters put on them (obviously, the copies will not, since they are not actually cast).  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe technically this would resolve in the following way.

• On your upkeep, you have two triggers: remove a time counter from Complete the Circuit and remove a time counter from Shock.  Both go on the stack at the same time, so you choose the order in which they go on the stack (and consequently the order in which they resolve).
• You choose to put suspended Shock's upkeep trigger on the stack first so that it resolves last, then the trigger for CtC.
• Time counter is removed from CtC, so it is cast at that time - with the Shock trigger still on the stack.
• CtC cast goes on top of the stack and will resolve first.
• CtC resolves.
• Stack moves to removing the time counter from Shock.
• Counter is removed, Shock cast trigger put on stack.
• Shock resolves, then is copied twice because you previously resolved CtC this turn.

For Insidious Will, or any other spell that refers to "target spell" for that matter, you are correct: if there is no other spell on the stack that is a legal target, you cannot cast it.  The time counter would be removed, but the spell would stay exiled because it was not cast (the suspend rules specifically say "if able" in reference to casting the spell without paying its cost when the last counter is removed).

For Snap, you are also correct.  In order to get the benefit of untapping the lands as the spell resolves, you would have to float mana (i.e. tap the lands) in response to the spell being cast.  However, because this is occurring during your upkeep and you lose all unspent mana in your pool as you move through turn phases, unless you have something else on which to spend that mana or an effect like Horizon Stone, you really don't gain anything by doing so.

As far as other "tricky mechanisms" are concerned, I believe you already asked about the Splice mechanic in a different thread.  In general, stack manipulation is the tricky mechanic.  I typically shy away from spell-slinging decks like this just because they do get confusing to resolve properly sometimes.

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General Magic / Re: Rule question regarding Gandalf of secret fire

« on: December 08, 2023, 05:38:12 pm »

Splice is a mechanic that simply adds one card's effect onto another: "As you cast an [Arcane/instant or sorcery] spell, you may reveal this card from your hand and pay its splice cost. If you do, add this card’s effects to that spell."  The card you are splicing doesn't actually get cast, so the Gandalf trigger only happens for the spell that you cast.  For example, if you cast Consuming Vortex and splice on Glacial Ray, only Vortex itself will get cast and then exiled with the three time counters.  Ray stays in your hand.

11

Commander Discussion / Re: Non-stax Lavinia?

« on: December 08, 2023, 09:24:24 am »

That would be one way to do it.  Pure stax is gross, so my intention was to just disrupt what I see as being some of the more "degenerate" mechanics/archetypes, namely free spells, infinite combos/storm, and severly cheating costs by playing creatures for free or reanimating them at a steep discount.  I mean, yes, Lavinia is a stax piece, but frankly I don't think saying that you can't cast spells for free is all that unreasonable.  I understand this wouldn't be a good deck.  I just want it to enforce "fairness" in a viable way and still be able to somehow win.

In all honesty, I'm not too fond of cards that literally just say, "You win the game" either.  Yes, there are conditions that must be met in order for them to actually win you the game, so you do have to work for them and they are fair, but it still feels dull and anti-climactic when that's how the game ends.  The handful of games I've played that were won with something like an Approach were among the most boring, and it's even worse when you see it coming but aren't able to do anything about it.  I do like the idea of things like Scholarship Sponsor or Oath of Lieges that bring everyone up to par with the person who's the most ahead at the very least (as opposed to Balance-type effects that bring everyone down to the lowest).

12

Commander Discussion / Non-stax Lavinia?

« on: December 08, 2023, 02:20:49 am »

TL;DR: I'm trying to find a creative/off-beat way of winning with Lavinia, Azorius Renegade without going full stax and using the standard combo with her and Omen Machine and/or Knowledge Pool.

I hate stax.  I don't like playing it, and I despise playing against it.  When I sit down to play Magic, I want to play the game.  Stax says, "Well, you can't, and if you do, it costs more, comes in tapped, might cause you to lose resources, and oh, by the way, you can only cast one thing and draw one card per turn, if you can play at all."

Similarly, I hate playing in an environment where I feel like I have to play stax to stay competitive or have a chance at winning.  The group of friends I have that I spend the most time with is the same group that got me into magic in the first place, but they tend to play faster/higher-powered than I like.  For example, one guy has a Krark/Sakashima deck and had a Muldrotha reanimator deck; one had a Meren deck that turned into Kokusho, a Maelstrom Wanderer deck that started as cEDH and he tuned down some, and brewed a Pantlaza flicker deck as soon as the card was spoiled (before it dominated in tournaments a couple weekends ago); and the last guy has an Eldrazi tribal deck, a cascade-oriented Jodah, Archmage Eternal deck, and insists on playing Mana Crypt and Moxes in every deck he builds.  The other friend in the group who quit playing a couple years ago had OG Kaalia, Azusa, and Azami as three of his commanders.

All that being said, when Lavinia, Azorius Renegade got printed, I was so excited.  She was the commander I'd wanted that could help shut down some of the more degenerate stuff that I didn't like playing against - free spells, fast mana, cheated costs on giant spells or creatures, etc.  I'd then run things like Containment Priest to prevent creatures from being cheated into play for free, Grafdigger's Cage and Soulless Jailer to stop animation of some disgusting or huge creature just Entombed, and Void Mirror (which all but completely singlehandedly shuts down a colorless Eldrazi deck).

The problem is that, unless you play her full stax, there's really no clear or reliable win condition.  She requires so much protection that I could go voltron, but that requires too much additional support for something that's only a 2/2.  I thought about Human or Soldier tribal synergies, but then I'd just be better off playing Harbin, Vanguard Aviator.  I threw together a rough draft of what I'd like the deck to look like (didn't do anything special with the lands), but I can't figure out a reliable way to win with it beside the Knowledge Pool or Omen Machine combo with Lavinia that hard locks people out of the game - or a way to do it fast enough that I don't have to play hardcore stax - or what of my "play fair" cards I have to sacrifice to get a win condition in the deck.  The idea is just to force people to "play fair," not to keep them from playing at all.

Any ideas?  Apologies for maybeboard size; that's just a side effect of how I build decks.

https://deckstats.net/decks/115144/3295960-no-funny-business

13

Commander Discussion / Re: Will Stroke of Midnight become a new White Staple

« on: October 13, 2023, 02:12:13 am »

It depends on the format.  The limitation - albeit a small one - of Stroke of Midnight is that it can't hit lands, whereas Generous Gift can.  I basically play only commander exclusively, so the additional utility of being able to hit a problematic land like a Cabal Coffers, Gaea's Cradle, Maze of Ith, or even a Reliquary Tower is worth the slightly larger body the opponent gets; in most situations, the difference between a vanilla 1/1 and a vanilla 3/3 is negligible.  Honestly, I'd probably run both, and I was excited about seeing Excise the Imperfect too.

I don't know what the constructed/limited landscape is like for lands (no pun intended), but I expect in those formats Stroke would be marginally better than Gift.

14

General Magic / Re: How to make a better magic player

« on: July 07, 2023, 12:14:00 am »

I don't know who your playgroup is, but it sounds like it might be worth finding another playgroup (I'm not saying ditch your current one, just find another one).  I think one of the best ways to learn is to have a playgroup that is willing to help you learn as well.  It's great that you're trying to help her, but it's better if everyone at the table understands that she's still learning and will give pointers as well. When my friends first got me into the game a few years ago, a couple of them generally played higher-powered decks and it was a bit of trial by fire for me, but they were at least willing to explain what was going on, explain play lines or combos, help with threat assessment or optimal plays, etc. even if I didn't understand it at the time.  The people with whom you play determine how good your experience is almost as much as - if not more than - the decks do.  I'd rather lose and have fun than win and not have fun because I play the same infinite combo every time.

On that note, the other thing I would say is power down decks and play more casually.  I don't think I've looked at any of your other decks, and Rat tribal is pretty straightforward, but it is also quite threatening; you bring a rat deck to the table and immediately you put a target on your back.  It's fine to want to play something like that, but that must come with the understanding that you are a threat before the game even starts.  The less competitive the game, the easier it is to learn in my opinion.

If it's certain mechanics she's struggling to grasp, maybe start by building something simpler to understand basic mechanics and build up from there.  Maybe go through an archetypal deck of each color (green ramps a lot to play big creatures, red likes haste and burn spells, blue draws cards and has counterspells, black plays with the graveyard, white does... well, nobody really knows ).  When my friend tried to get his wife into the game so she wouldn't feel left out when the guys got together, he built her a Dinosaur tribal Gishath deck.  It was relatively straightforward "play big dinosaurs and punch face" deck with just a couple special interactions or mechanics (in this case, Enrage triggers and how and when to use them) for her to focus on learning... she hardly ever plays it because she literally doesn't have the attention span for a commander game, but she at least understood how to play it and enjoyed it.  I think if your wife can "master" a specific deck or two (and, to echo what someone else said, that features a play style she likes), she'll get more enjoyment out of the game; once you've learned the intricacies of your deck, you can start to focus on how everyone else's decks work and how they interact with yours.

If it's strictly rules - for example phase order, passing priority, what actions you can and can't respond to, how the stack resolves, etc. - that really just comes with repetition.  The same goes for general game knowledge.  Threat assessment is difficult when you've never even heard of half the cards in your opponents' decks and don't know certain combos (I've played for four or five years now and there still is not a single game where I don't have to ask, "What does that card do?").  It is very much a learn by doing game.  Many interactions don't seem to be intuitive at all, and I still get stumped trying to resolve certain things.  Magic can be super confusing and is incredibly complex.  In fact, it's actually the most complicated game, so much so that you can build a computer with it (in the literal sense of the word - you can create a Turing machine with it).  Playing can definitely be discouraging when you're constantly bombarded with new interactions and weirdly specific rules.

I'll be honest, Magic seems much harder to learn now that it was even three or four years ago because of all the new mechanics they keep introducing, not to mention that now ever single card has a giant block of text on it and vanilla creatures are basically nonexistent.  I don't envy new players nowadays with the deluge of new cards and hundreds of potential new commanders every year.  It is something you have to want to learn, not something you can just casually pick up.

15

Commander Deck Reviews / Re: Giada Lifegain tribal - Need a few cuts

« on: July 06, 2023, 08:05:50 pm »

I have an Orzhov Angel tribal deck with Liesa, Shroud of Dusk as the commander (though Liesa, Forgotten Archangel works as well).  The deck is 75% white, so there's a lot of overlap here with mine.  Just going section by section:

Card Advantage - Definitely thin, but that's white.  You should run Smuggler's Share.  People drawing two or more cards per turn in commander is fairly common, and it also gives you a chance for limited ramp.  The problem with it is that it is not always reliable or consistent draw and often feels like a do-nothing 3-drop, but it's something that people are probably not going to waste removal on so you will eventually get value from it.  You could consider something like Cosmos Elixir as well since you're leaning into the lifegain.  Firemane Commando is also worth a look (it is an Angel), as well as Tenuous Truce.  Icon of Ancestry isn't exactly draw, but it gives you a bit of card selection.  I would cut Angelic Sleuth.  Not only does it rely on your stuff leaving the battlefield - and without many blink effects, that means dying (which you don't want to happen) - but also you still have to pay the additional 2 mana and sac the clue to draw each card.  I like that you included both War Room and Bonders' Enclave in your lands.

Bombs - Akroma's Memorial doesn't seem the most efficient to me (though it is flavorful).  All those keywords are nice, but a bit redundant; you already have flying on everything and consequently probably don't really need Trample, are already running other things that give Vigilance, and are already bigger than most things such that you don't need First Strike (it might be useful if you're facing Demons or Dragons, but at that point you already have the problem of playing against Demons or Dragons).  The haste and pro-black/red is nice, yes, but I don't think it's worth the loss of tempo for playing a 7-mana artifact.  Likewise with True Conviction.  I know it's a finisher, I'm just not fond of the card because of the cost.  I'd almost rather have a Coat of Arms or Door of Destinies.  If you feel you need more combat support, consider things lie Angelic Skirmisher, Brave the Sands, or Sigarda's Vanguard.

Life Shenanigans - Shattered Angel is definitely not a good card, but I shoehorned it into mine anyway.  You should also be running Seraph Sanctuary in your lands.  Speaker of the Heavens?  Angelic Accord or Resplendent Angel?  If you're running Test of Endurance, might as well play Felidar Sovereign too.  Otherwise, you don't actually have too many cards that have or grant lifelink, so maybe cut Test?

Protection - Seems fine, though I would like to see Swiftfoot Boots too.  Mandate of Peace is an interesting tech, but probably one of the weaker cards in this section.  Same with Silence (opponents can still respond to the Silence being cast).  Rebuff the Wicked is a card I like but can never seem to find a spot for in my decks.  Consider Kindred Boon.

Ramp - Archangel of Tithes is not ramp.  It's a fine angel, but it is not ramp.  I'd consider cutting Quicksilver Amulet.  I run Belbe's Portal in my deck, and most of the time I just never play it because the one-turn tempo loss of paying 8 for an Angel that probably costs less so that I can maybe play one per turn for only 3 in the future never seems to be the best play.  Sword of the Animist would be fine.  Consider Archaeomancer's Map and Keeper of the Accord.  Nyx Lotus is also great.  I keep mentioning tempo loss, but 4 mana to tap for far more than that a turn later is a huge swing, and people are going to be reluctant to use removal on a mana rock most times.  I run Gilded Lotus in my deck and tried Thran Dynamo, but cut the latter and might cut the former too.  Cryptic Gateway is fine if you're going wide, otherwise it can end up leaving you more open than you would like.  Good tech though that not many people seem to know about (at least not before the reprint).  Monologue Tax isn't great, but there if you're desperate.

Recursion - All good.  Maybe cut Twilight Shepherd.  It's a little slow.  I toyed with it in mine and it just felt clunky.  Not sure about Cauldron of Souls.  Dawnbreak Reclaimer is an interesting card but is also a little clunky.

Removal - You're in mono-white, so Mass Calcify would be worth a look.  I tend to shy away from boardwipes like Cleansing Nova in Angels just because they're so expensive to get back out onto the field.  Excise the Imperfect is another good spot removal card.  There are also Angels that do removal, though often it is temporary.  E.g. Angel of Sanctions, Angel of Serenity, Admonition Angel, Angel of the Ruins.  Aura of Silence isn't bad but serves as more of a stax card (see below).

Staxish - This is the section I would focus on trimming down.  If you want to play stax, play stax (like taxes Liesa).  You're playing Angel tribal, so you should be trying to beat face.  Angel of Jubilation, Angelic Arbiter, and Linvala, Keeper of Silence are fine.  Smothering Tithe is taxes, but I always include it with ramp because almost nobody ever pays for it.  Even Magus of the Moat would be OK because it fits your deck.  Personally, I would cut everything else.

Utility - Like with Sleuth, I'm not sure about The Ozolith; it needs your creatures to leave the battlefield to do anything.  I guess the threat there is that you make a giant beater if anyone ever wipes your board, and 1 mana is an amazing investment for what it does, but I'm not sold on it.  Angel of Condemnation is fine because it's a sort of weird modal recursion/removal card, but I found it too clunky in my deck.  You're a mono-colored deck so you would want to run Caged Sun (or Gauntlet of Power), but I found it to be far too slow.  By the time I have enough mana to cast it and benefit from it, I was either already too far behind or didn't need it.

Untagged - Serra the Benevolent can be considered utility.  Serra Ascendant is not an angel but is an amazing card especially on turn 1 in commander, so that's fine.  Youthful Valkyrie is good.  Helm of the Host does not seem necessary nor like it fits with the deck.  Sure, two (or more) Giadas would be nice, but you're paying 9 mana for that.  Just cast another beefy angel instead.

Lands - I'd consider going up to 35.  I'd cut Maze of Ith.  Can't tap for mana and doesn't really do much to help your deck.  Hall of Heliod's generosity is also something I'd consider cutting since you don't run too many enchantments (but I see you, sneaky Test of Endurance at instant speed).  Similar logic for Serra's Sanctum (though if you have the card, I understand wanting to run it just to flex and because it has a high ceiling).  Homeward Path... I guess if your playgroup meta runs a lot of steal effects?  Opal Palace doesn't seem necessary.  Path of Ancestry would be better for a tribal deck.  Also not sure if Rogue's Passage is necessary considering you run exclusively flying creatures.  Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is not one of the better Channel lands, but you're running enough Legendary creatures and it taps for white by itself that there's not really a reason to not include it.

Lastly, where are Battle Angels of Tyr?  If you're leaning into lifegain, Ajani, Strength of the Pride is a solid value (4 mana to exile all opponents' creatures and artifacts, or worst case +1 to gain life).  There are other interesting techs that I don't run but thought I would list: Angel of Finality, Angel of the Dire Hour, Blinding Angel, Resolute Archangel, Subjugator Angel, and Sunblast Angel.

EDIT: I'm an idiot.  I forgot Giada gave +1/+1 counters and not static +1/+1, so suddenly Ozolith, Cauldron, and Sleuth seem much better.  I still don't think I would include any of them.