Messages

46

Commander Discussion / Re: Swapping decks for a game: what deck would you bring?

« on: October 31, 2022, 11:02:52 pm »

If I was just asked to bring a favorite deck, and didn't know we were swapping, I might bring my Morophon, the Boundless deck, which would suck for whoever pilots it, because it relies on a fairly convoluted combo to win.  Alternatively, if I new I'd be switching, I'd probably bring Kamahl, Fist of Krosa since he's really straight forward and just a lot of fun.  Who doesn't like ramping into great big green bombs?  Kamahl is my very first EDH deck, so it's a great candidate for that reason, too.  I love the Morophon deck just because I love goofy and complicated combos (yes, I'm a Johnny), and therefor, it would be a great deck to bring as an example of favorite decks, but a really poor example of great decks for swapping.  That's one of the really dangerous things about swapping decks, if someone spends the first 27 turns just trying to figure out if there's any cohesiveness to their deck at all, only to figure out that there's some jank combo buried in all the chaos.

47

Commander Discussion / Re: Commander Play situation

« on: October 31, 2022, 10:55:40 pm »

Yeah, technically, if you wait until the Opposition Agent's replacement trigger is on the stack it's too late and if you don't wait until the Opposition Agent hits the field you're too early, but if your group doesn't play that carefully with timing (as is generally the case in my experience), I'd accept the premise that casting Sudden Spoiling is sufficient as long as the opponent has cast the Opposition Agent and not started searching a deck.

48

Commander Discussion / Re: Do you play Compost?

« on: October 31, 2022, 10:51:27 pm »

I would play Compost if, and only if, I'm expecting to do more than just have an average game, as far as stuff hitting the graveyard.  If I'm milling my opponents or running heavy board wipes, I'd definitely consider it.  I run it in my Enchantress deck because it has a lot of board wipes, and, even as a dead card, I can still get value off it as another enchantment on the board.  I've considered making a Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord deck that's more group mill, in which case that would find it's way in most likely as well.  Other than cases where it can provide above average value, I wouldn't run it, even in a pod that typically is black heavy.  I'd hate for my friends to be discouraged from running a favorite deck just because I'm running a card that puts one color at a disadvantage.

49

Commander Discussion / Re: What's the worst card you've ever put in a constructed deck?

« on: October 31, 2022, 10:45:27 pm »

Probably a Henge of Ramos.  It's such a bad land, but when you build your first WUBRG deck, are on a really tight budget, and have a terrible card lying around that can add a man of any color, you do stupid things.

50

Commander Discussion / Re: Challenge: Create a unique deck!

« on: September 15, 2022, 01:31:54 am »

I love building unique decks.  It's a lot of fun to sit at a table and say, "Oh, I'm playing Morophon" and they're like, "Cool, what tribe?" and then be able to reply, "No tribe in particular, a little of everything, I guess." and watch everyone stare at you.  Even more fun to drop Daghatar the Adamant and watch how long it takes your opponents to realize you have a life gain theme, so your Soul Warden is going to be way more of a problem than they initially thought. Sure, Tribeless Morophon is a decently unique way to win (it's a combo deck that sets up infinite ETBs), but I've build some even more unique decks.  Probably my most unique deck was trying to win by activating Skirk Fire Marshal 4 times in one turn, while protecting myself and my creatures.  Another unique one was using Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner to lead a mono-red infect deck (there are only 3 red cards with infect, and just a handful more once you add artifacts, so mono-red infect is not a thing).  It's fun to be able to swing in with an unblockable infect creature and let all those power boosting red attack triggers turn it to a one kill shot.  It's also basically the only way I'd ever run infect in EDH, since it's still clunky and takes a lot of set up, rather than just being too fast and too good to be fun.
There are two decks I'd really like to play that seem unique enough as well, Adrix and Nev without any other decent targets besides the commanders themselves.  The best thing to copy in an Adrix and Nev deck is almost always the commander, once you get around the legendary rule, that is, so I'd like to go 100% that direction.  I also want to build another deck around copying.  I have a 60 card constructed deck built around having infinite copies of Powerstone Shard.  I don't know if I can make that work in EDH, but that would be absolutely glorious if I could.  Maybe I should start a thread to figure it out.

51

Commander Discussion / Re: Best commander for Hydra tribal

« on: August 30, 2022, 09:17:22 pm »

Even if you aren't really interested in the reanimator idea, having a commander that benefits from X spell and +1/+1 counter synergies isn't a bad option to go.  And a free ETB and/or Death trigger every time he attacks isn't a bad deal that you can at least get some incidental value out of.   You may not reanimate a Hydra, but when you've got an Eternal Witness in your graveyard, it won't hurt to have the ability conveniently on the board.  Gyrus is probably not the absolutely most optimal commander for Jund Hydras, but Jund Hydras is certainly not the most optimal deck anyways, so as long as you enjoy what you're doing, and you like how the deck turns out, who cares?  I'd have probably gone with him just to make it a signpost to other players what my deck is all about.  A commander is the leader of your army, so it would just feel more right for me to have a Hydra commanding my Hydra deck, but like I said, don't worry about what is optimal when you could be wondering what is most enjoyable.

52

General Magic / Re: Competent Vs Jank

« on: August 30, 2022, 01:44:47 am »

I'm like you.  I'll build around strictly jank ideas a lot of the time (Tribeless Morophon, mono-red infect, zero creatures outside of the command zone, tron but no colored mana production allowed at all and all cards under a dollar, beast tribal, just burn spells and mountains, and such).  But even when I go for a more serious idea, I usually throw one or two jank things into the mix.  I had an enchantress commander deck.  It was great, but it took me years to decide to take out my Wall of Glare Gaseous Form type combos.  I did just recently, but I generally have a hard time saying no to something that I know is sub-optimal, but strikes me as fun or cool or unexpected or whatever.

53

General Magic / Re: Returning from a break

« on: August 30, 2022, 01:36:26 am »

I think the complexity creep and power creep aren't gone, but aren't worse than Modern Horizons 2.  There was a pretty big commander set called Double Masters 2022, which was preceded by a not very big, not great for commander set called Commander Legends 2: Dungeons and Dragons - Battle for Baldur's Gate, which, besides the incredibly long title and trying to be a sequel to two separate and unrelated sets, was not really bad, per se, just didn't seem to fit anywhere.  There hasn't been anything as terrible as companions or as complex as mutate for a while, which is nice, but the Innistrad sets had a really unpleasant day/night transform mechanic that really didn't jive well with previous werewolves.  They also released a "special" set called Innistrad Double Feature which included "special" printings from both Innistrad sets.  It was marketed as a curated set, but ended up including every card from both sets, and the "special" printings were just all the original artworks in greyscale.  It was pretty disappointing and too obvious a cash grab.  There are creatures that are also equipment, now, and they don't have equip costs, but rather reconfigure costs.  New Cappena was a three color set that managed to do very little to make each of the 5 color trios feel very special, though there were some impactful cards from the set.  Modern hasn't changed much, though it did change drastically right after Modern Horizons 2, so depending on how long after that you left, everything may look very similar, or drastically different.  Right now, the big discussions I'm hearing about the game are all about "universes beyond" and whether anyone likes it at all, and the upcoming 30 year anniversary, which could be fun, or may be just another opportunity for people to feel disappointed by Wizard's hype not matching their delivery.  Oh, and about Post Malone, who is quite an advocate for the game, it seems.  Anyways, that's all I can think of off the top of my head.  Welcome back, and have fun getting caught up.

54

General Magic / Re: Help me choose the right rat....

« on: August 30, 2022, 01:20:24 am »

Relentless Rats is way more fun after playing a Mutilate as a one sided board wipe.  Soul Foundry is also your best friend when you need actual copies of a specific card.

55

General Magic / Re: Looking for people to play with.

« on: August 30, 2022, 01:13:32 am »

If you're looking for Commander, the PlayEDH discord will be able to set something up for you, basically any time.

56

General Magic / Re: what cards can double this effect.

« on: August 30, 2022, 01:11:17 am »

A couple things to consider, there are a bunch of cards that make non-legendary copies of legendary creatures (though, admittedly not many outside of blue).  Once you have one non-legendary copy, any regular copy spells can copy the non-legendary copy.  Mirror Box and Co can also allow you to copy Mathas without the legend rule getting in the way.  Even "temporary" tokens (like the sacrifice at end of turn or end of combat sort) can be saved using End Turn effects.  Essentially, you could arrange to have a couple dozen copies of Mathas on the board with the right set up.  You can copy (more easily in those colors, as well) your Lithoform Engine or Strionic Resonator or just untap them to get more triggers, as well.  It's not an easy thing to pull off, but there are a few ways to make it happen.

57

General Magic / Re: Games you've enjoyed

« on: August 30, 2022, 12:56:13 am »

I've had a lot of fun trying to beat each opponent a different way in a game.  For instance, I once milled a player, attacked with a big flyer to take out the next player, and then used direct damage to take out the third.  It was an aristocrats deck, and I had loop built up that let me net a treasure and a spirit token and a +1/+1 counter on my Twilight Drover.  The part that made it the most fun was that I hadn't intentionally built towards that loop.  I just built the deck with a lot of synergy and was able able to just discover the combo organically as the game progressed.  I think that's the most fun thing that can happen in a game, discovering an interaction that just seems busted all of a sudden out of nowhere.
My earliest memory of this was when I used Awe Strike to prevent my own Skirk Fire Marshal ability after someone played a Heroic Intervention (or something like that, it couldn't have been Heroic Intervention, since it hadn't been printed yet at the time, but I digress) to try to save their board.  I turned what would have been a one sided board wipe, against myself, into gaining a couple hundred life for 1 mana.  It felt really great, and even better in that I realized I could do it about the same time it became a good option.  I've been chasing those moments for the past couple decades, and that may be why I still play Magic after all these years.

58

General Magic / Re: Cards you refuse to use

« on: August 30, 2022, 12:09:45 am »

I don't think there are any cards I won't use, per se, but I won't use a card just because it's really good, unless it has some greater synergy with my deck.  For instance, I wouldn't run Cyclonic Rift in a bantchantress deck, but I'd absolutely consider it for a spell slinger deck.  Even then, if I'm trying to combo off, I still would probably cut it, but if I was trying to win off of prowess triggers and combat, I'd keep it in.  It has to be not just good, but good for my deck.

I also want to comment on the universes beyond thing, but not to say they're all out.  MTG has always been a "universes beyond" style game, whether they had a name for it or not.  One of the first sets in was Arabian Nights, and right at the beginning of the modern era we had the Kamigawa block, and then before the infamous Walking Dead Secret Lair, we'd just had Throne of Eldraine.  Each pulls cards right from actual, real-world stories that aren't in the MTG cannon.  There are dozens of examples of Magic doing this over the years, but whether it's Greek Mythology, Gothic Horror, or a Fairy Tale, all the tie ins up to that point had three things in common: they were set in a land without modern (or futuristic) technology, they all had some sort of magic at the core of their stories, and they all involved fantastic beasts and creatures.  I imagine, since it meets the criteria, the upcoming LotR sets will fit in a little more nicely with the established game, but things like Dr. Who and Warhammer, will still feel out of place, though, I , personally, am about playing the game more than the flavor of specific cards.  It's never made sense for a goat token to drive a plane and then to get blocked by a big spider.

59

Commander Discussion / Re: Frank Karsten's article: optimal land/ramp count for Commander

« on: August 29, 2022, 11:49:42 pm »

One of the really interesting points to consider is not just what is technically optimal for what you want to do, but what is considered normal for your playgroup.  If you're in a group that regularly misses a few land drops in the first several turns, who cares if you do as well.  I've always run very "greedy" mana bases and have encouraged my friends to do so as well.  We all get more cool pieces in each of our decks, have more likelihood to do something awesome over the course of several games, and our games last a bit longer as we wait for that last land to play our wincon or whatever.  It's fun, and balanced, and that's what matters.  I've seen overly competitive players get caught up in optimization, for sure, but most players aren't that way, and the stats support that, with popular media and EDHRec all suggesting 36 lands to be fairly average.  As long as you're fairly average, you have an average chance of winning and an average chance of getting mana screwed as well.  If I was planning on playing basketball in an NBA exhibition, I'd be preparing differently than when I play with my church youth group.  If I'm playing cEDH, I might run some stats on my mana base, but right now, I'm happy taking my time, along with those I play with, to get to play my 7 drops.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Best commander for Hydra tribal

« on: August 29, 2022, 10:12:39 pm »

There is a Legendary Hydra in jund colors.  You may not prefer it, but make sure you check out Gyrus, Waker of Corpses.