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Commander Discussion / Re: Is amass as bad as we think it is?

« am: Juni 21, 2023, 08:27:26 Nachmittag »

Having now explored the new cards and support for Amass .. yes, yes I like it.  I am almost definitely going to build a deck around it.  Good job on this one, I say! 

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Commander Discussion / Re: Is amass as bad as we think it is?

« am: Juni 11, 2023, 11:32:12 Vormittag »

Initially, I would say I feel it doesn't do much.

Having seen the new LOTR precon commander Sauron, Lord of the Rings, I'm wondering if more support for the mechanic is about to surface, albeit for Orcs ... maybe they'll amend the mechanic to include armies or orcs.  I certainly think it is something I would like to see receive more support (kind of like convoke and the MOM precons ... desperate to build around Kasla, the Boken Halo but even with the latest set I'm not sure there's enough support for convoke).

I hope they will continue to bring more support to some of these kinds of mechanics and I hope to be very enthusiastic about the amass mechanic in the near future.

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Commander Discussion / Re: New cards that shouldn't be printed or expanding on current design space

« am: Juni 11, 2023, 11:22:55 Vormittag »

From a Commander only perspective ...

I like both these cards.  I saw Orcish Bowmasters and immediately thought it's additional redundancy for my Queza, Augur of Agonies deck; I saw Mirwood Bats and thought it's additional redundancy for my Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin deck.  Do I think they can be abused and become totally busted in someone's deck?  Yes, of course.  Most cards are.  The two decks I mentioned above can be built to be a terrible experience for the playgroup.  Do I build that way?  No, because I like to be invited back 

Do I ultimately mind that these cards are in the format?  Not really, but I have an established playgroup and we let each other know if some combo we've managed to build into our decks is killing the fun.  That won't stop some of our group from keeping them in, but maybe they'll reduce the tutors in the decks.  Or I'll keep a bit of interaction aside when I know some has these cards.  For me, I often just won't put them in.  I haven't put Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in my Queza deck for just this reason - sometimes it's overkill and it can ruin the fun.

So for me, I come down on the side of it probably will not affect me much so I don't mind.  It's a selfish way to look at it, and I sure am glad I am not on the Commander Advisory Group or the Commander Rules Committee to have to make those kinds of calls.  They banned Hullbreacher and it didn't make a bit of difference to me, personally.  Would I mind if they banned these cards?  Not at all - I think it's not necessary, but it will mean I don't have the headache of deciding what to cut from my decks in order to fit them in at least.

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Commander Discussion / Re: LOTR Precons

« am: Juni 11, 2023, 11:11:53 Vormittag »

Just look at the art!  It's gorgeous.  I could spend days just talking about the art.

Do I love the look of any of the decks from a gameplay perspective, maybe, but not enough that I'm overly hyped for this release.  Then again, I bought the Warhammer ones on a whim, not expecting to think them anything other than a gimmick and I love the decks, and find myself 20 books deep into the 54 book Horus Heresy series now ... so, maybe, who knows?

I haven't seen any commanders spoiled from the entire set that I have thought to myself I have to build-around, either.  But again, I thought that about the latest Phyrexia block and now my entire brain is caught up with various All Will Be One, MOM and Aftermath commanders I MUST build lists for (even if I never actually purchase the cards).

But, sorry, back on topic ... I guess the Jeskai Human tribal, because I love monarch and I have been wanting to build a humans deck for a while.  I've always tended to be more of a person who leans towards Abzan colours, but I have found myself drifting towards Jeskai recently, so I am interested to check this deck out.

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Commander Discussion / Re: So of the four Commander Masters commanders spoiled so far, who do you like?

« am: Mai 21, 2023, 04:43:54 Nachmittag »

It does say 10 new cards, yes.  But they're going to have to be very good for people to think they're worth this inflated price.  We used to get 10 new cards for commander in the precons before they cost more than £40, and they're charging over £70 for these ... I don't know.  I'm with you in that we need to see the decklists before making any hasty decisions.  It seems to me that these decks are getting more and more expensive, to the point that I can often build my own deck with more synergy for cheaper.  Wouldn't mind the cost increase so much, if they still only had one commander release per year, but with so many, I'm having to make decisions over what really is worth the money.

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Commander Discussion / Re: So of the four Commander Masters commanders spoiled so far, who do you like?

« am: Mai 15, 2023, 07:50:49 Nachmittag »

Anikthea, just because she's got gorgeous art 

To be honest, none of them really appeal to me and  I can't see myself playing much with any of these decks.  The themes are cool and fitting for the set, just not very me.  Still, good to see them bring out some (hopefully) reasonably priced cards in slivers and eldrazi, and, well, if these are themes that suit you then I wish you much joy and happy games.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Thoughts on forfeiting in response

« am: September 19, 2022, 11:19:31 Vormittag »

My playgroup has a scoop only at sorcery speed rule - unless, of course, it's down to just the two players and the scoop gives the victory, as then it doesn't really matter.

Generally, once a player decides they're salty enough to scoop in response mid-game with more than two players left in the game, I have no more fun in that game, whether I was in the winning position or not.

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Commander Deck Reviews / Re: Zaxara Deck - Cutting Cards Help

« am: September 01, 2022, 07:40:38 Nachmittag »

I would maybe consider cutting Gyre Sage.  It doesn't work the way you think with Zaxara because the tokens actually enter as 0/0 creatures THEN you put counters on them, so they don't trigger the Gyre Sage.  Sorry, it's only one cut out of a few, but that's the first that really caught my eye

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Commander Discussion / Re: Hidden Gems

« am: März 28, 2022, 08:28:19 Nachmittag »

Well, fair, but many of the other cards mentioned are also fairly frequently played.  Or at least I see them all the time with people I play with.  Yet I never see anyone with Solve the Equation.  So, personal experience talking here, that's all

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Commander Discussion / Re: Do you hate combo decks?

« am: März 22, 2022, 03:15:01 Nachmittag »

Hmm tough one.  I appreciate that combos can end the game.  I've sat through a lot of painful stalemate games I just wished would end.

However, for me, it depends on the combo and the consistency with which the pilot of the deck finds and assembles the combo.  Most decks probably have some sort of combo - some, are designed for a quick one-trick knockout of one troublesome opponent, some are designed to hit the whole table and end the game etc.  I don't mind any of them in principle, but, I personally don't find a deck that does the same combo every game, every time, every win very fun to play against.  That's just me.  I don't run many tutors (usually none, if you ignore things like Evolving Wilds - people ignore that this is, actually, a tutor), and I rely on redundancy and general overall synergy for consistency. 

Some of my friends in my playgroup run certain combos that annoy me more than others - mostly because of the answers my own decks can, or cannot, have to those combos.  So I guess it's not the combo, but rather my lack of ability to counter a particular combo that makes it less fun for me.

What I will say, is that if you run a combo, please, please, please, make it quick.  I like pilots who get their pieces out, say, ok, so let me run you through the loop, explain the combo, ask for responses and that's it if we all agree the combo goes off.  Slow, annoying combos that take forever but are inevitable drive me nuts (again, I will refer to my earlier point that this is in part due to MY lack of ability to do anything about it that makes it frustrating).  I find it interesting that practically no one who dislikes combos seems to acknowledge this.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Hidden Gems

« am: März 22, 2022, 02:51:40 Nachmittag »

Solve the Equation - ok, it's not a 1 blue mana instant, but it puts the sorcery or instant you tutored for in your hand.  Almost nobody plays this but it's insanely good.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Use Grave-Hate People

« am: November 26, 2021, 04:10:43 Nachmittag »

I almost never run graveyard hate, as my playgroup never used to run much in the way of recursion/reanimator tactics.  That is changing slowly, however, and I think we will all start putting a few pieces of hate in the decks we build from now on.  As we've got better at cards (we're all pretty bad, haha), we are learning how to interact more and that has changed things, as it will always do, I imagine.  At the moment, our focus seems to be on running more exile effects as one of our group has started playing indestructible things ... non-stop.  I personally hope they will be slow on picking up on graveyard hate, however, as I'm the one in the group that plays the most out of my graveyard

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Commander Discussion / Re: Two versions of the same commander?

« am: August 17, 2021, 07:17:48 Nachmittag »

I haven't yet built a second deck with a commander I already have a deck for, but that's not because I don't want to!  I just have a list of commanders that I wish to build and it's way too long for me to be doubling up AT THE MOMENT.  The first I duplicate will likely be Korvold, however, as I have one complete deck that is the usual sort with Korvold, and I immediately then came up with a banquet themed deck idea for him, really focusing on actual food tokens, devour mechanics and the new card, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar and I really, really, really want to build that .... so it's on my list and I'll get there eventually, along with several others I wish to take in other directions.  I see no reason why you shouldn't - other than it being potentially hard on the old wallet - commanders can be built in many different ways, why shouldn't we explore them all if we are so inclined?

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Commander Discussion / Re: Duplicating cards across decks?

« am: August 17, 2021, 07:12:04 Nachmittag »

I will definitely re-run cards in multiple decks if they are that good, but I don't make a point of it and I prefer different decks.  I dislike the notion of go-to cards in certain colours, as I find that makes less interesting decks.  Why make more than one deck if it has all the same cards as another?  I also, to a fault, love building around a theme and I will deliberately hobble decks to keep things on theme.  My pirate deck, for instance, will have clunky and high-costed spells just because they are pirate themed, rather than because they are good removal/counter/ramp etc spells, and this helps keep duplication down.  I also love surprising my group with cards that none of them have heard of, so that helps me go hunting for alternatives to the usual staples and keeps the deck-building interesting.  Limitations do, after all, breed creativity.

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Commander Discussion / Re: "Over-optimizing" a deck

« am: Mai 20, 2021, 08:44:25 Nachmittag »

You could just bring out the stronger decks occasionally.  I have a few in my collection now but I only run them infrequently or when my friends start reaching for their stronger decks.  The other thing I often do, is choose a strong deck but that might be a bad match for another deck that's in play, even if that other deck is technically "weaker".  One of my stronger decks, for instance, is a mill deck, and I don't play it often because most of my group will only tolerate one game with it before they cry foul.  But, if my friend plays his enchantment, Estrid deck, and the other grabs his Lazav deck, then it's fair game because my mill actually helps those decks and I've lost many a time to the clone deck because it copied some of my best cards in the graveyard.  It lets me do my thing, play a strong deck, do things it was meant to do, but makes me have to play hard and smart at times.