Mensagens

1

Deck Reviews / Re: [EDH / Commander] Ezuri (1v1 and multiplayer efficient)

« em: Março 11, 2016, 09:59:56 pm »

Hey there,

First thing I want to mention about the deck is that it doesn't follow the 1v1 (Duel/French Commander) ban list. Sol Ring and Strip Mine are banned in 1v1. Of course this doesn't matter if your play group doesn't follow the 1v1 rules but I thought I should mention it.

I'd assume your biggest problem with board wipes is that you don't have the card draw to get a significant amount of elves to put back on the battlefield. I think the only card draw I saw was Sylvan Library? You should definitely get a Skullclamp. With this on the battlefield it makes your late (and mid game) 1/1 mana dorks become card draw. I can never say enough good stuff about this card. I would also suggest Soul of the Harvest and Primordial Sage, since their abilities effectively replace every creature you play. Primordial Sage will still trigger if one of your creatures get countered too.

I think Sylvan Caryatid is unnecessary. You're only playing one color so the "any color" doesn't help, it isn't an elf for cards like Priest of Titania, and it has defender. Your other mana dorks can at least turn sideways for the final swarm. I'd rather see a Voyaging Satyr if we're looking at non-elves. She can untap your Gaea's Cradle/Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or attack.

Cards like Wild Growth and Utopia Sprawl are a bit underwhelming. Since price doesn't seem to be an issue from looking at your deck list, I'd rather see Burgeoning or Exploration in here. I can see where you were going with those + Earthcraft, but I don't think they're worth it personally. (Although I might be missing some combo in the deck.) Also, if you have Eathcraft why not go infinite with Squirrel Nest?

I think something like Whispersilk Cloak would go well in the deck to guarantee your finishers get through. It could also protect Ezuri since he can't regenerate himself.

Anyway, hope I helped and happy deck building!

2

Deck Reviews / Re: Tips to help mana (EDH)

« em: Março 01, 2016, 04:25:56 am »

Hey there!

Well I don’t have a lot of advice on the mana base since I’ve never made a five color deck before. But I always though Transguild Promenade would be a good choice for five color decks. Sure it’s a bit of a tempo hinderance, but I don’t think it’s that much worse than a Karoo land and it gives you access to all 5 colors in one land. (Also, it’s super cheap to buy)

I understand that this is a political deck, but I still think you want to add some removal. Part of a healthy game is removal, especially when you're facing down a turn four Terastodon off of your Braids, Conjurer Adept. You might want a simple Counterspell to stop a player mid-combo. (You can even go with more "friendly" counter spells, like Dream Fracture or Arcane Denial.) Plus if you want this deck to win you can't just let one player build up a massive advantage from your cards and then try to win one-on-one. Remember they have a whole deck designed to advance their own strategy, and a majority of your deck is helping them too. You need some cards to reel them in at the end.

A few of your card choices seem a bit off to me. First up is Primal Vigor, which is a very strong and good card. However, since it is a universal effect, it makes some of your cards strictly worse for you. Any of your “hunted” creatures will give double tokens, Sheltering Ancient is now twice as good-for an opponent, etc. Now Primal Vigor is giving you a disadvantage from your own cards, and at best your other mirror effects will simply cancel out with the tokens you give your opponent.
Personal Sanctuary only has one card to protect you from, and that’s Heartless Hidetsugu. How often are you planning to win through a combo with him? It's a useless card probably 90% of the time for you, and this deck doesn’t support digging for a combo (Hello Gisela, Blade of Goldnight and Heartless Hidetsugu). Personal Sanctuary works a bit with Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, but he’s another card that I don’t think fits too well with the deck. He’s more group slug than group hug, and you still have a decent amount of non-creature spells that he’ll hurt you for casting.

There are a couple cards that you have that I also think there are better (and still cheap) alternatives for. I’d like to see Riot Control become Illusionist’s Gambit. It still protects you from a combat step, but it can also potentially punish the attacking players board state or kill another player in the new combat step since the creatures have to attack. Seed the Land could strictly upgrade to Zendikar’s Roil, although I’m guessing you chose Seed the Land for group hug reasons?

You have a nice little enchantment sub-theme here. Therefore, I’d like to swap out Prized Unicorn for Noble Quarry. It has synergy with Open the Vaults (since it’s going to definitely die pretty quickly) and Simic Guildmage. You even get extra use out of it out of bestow. Also, it is 2G instead of 3G for the mana curve.
I have a similar argument for swapping True Believer to Aegis of the Gods. It has enchantment synergy and is 1W instead of WW, which makes a huge difference in a five color deck.

Anyway, there’s a lot here for a discussion on mana help that isn't about mana... oops. Guess I'll leave it here.

Hope I helped and happy deck building!

3

Deck Reviews / Re: EDH - Multiplayer - Ephara, F*** The Polis

« em: Fevereiro 26, 2016, 09:41:13 pm »

Hello there!

If you're looking for nice ETB triggers, Angel of the Dire Hour and Mulldrifter came to mind. (Mulldrifter is my personal favorite card to blink, although it might be redundant with all this deck's card draw). Also, I'm not 100% sure on this interaction, but if you have Ephara and Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper out are all of your instants and sorceries suddenly cantrips?

If you want a nice versatile solution to Torpor Orb, I suggest Return to Dust. Use it immediately if you need to, or wait and destroy two cards for one. Plus it exiles to stop those graveyard shenanigans.

If you're looking at adding Oblivion Sower and some exile manipulation effects, I read an interesting Dear Azami a while back that you might be interested in. It used processors like Oracle of Dust to turn temporary exile (here's looking at you, Angel of Serenity, Glimmerpoint Stag, and Flickerwisp) to removal spells for your opponent's permanents. I understand that's not your plan with the deck, but it's an interesting interaction if you want to get more versatile removal that still synergies with ETB triggers.
(Link: http://www.starcitygames.com/article/31752_Dear-Azami-Lets-Do-Some-Processing.html)

Anyway, hope I helped, happy deck building!

PS: How would you like a Blade of Selves in the deck?

4

Deck Reviews / Re: [EDH / Commander] BorBor ThrowThrow

« em: Fevereiro 26, 2016, 09:06:30 pm »

First off, love the deck. Land-influenced strategy is always awesome.

The flaw I see in the deck is not enough basic lands. I counted 18 cards that fetch only basic lands (many of them fetching multiple lands), and then theres only... 13 basic lands. That doesn't balance out well. Your ramp will easily become simple shuffle effects when you have no basics to search up anymore. You're also losing synergy with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Groundskeeper. These should both be all stars with your commander. The absolute most Valakut triggers you could possibly get right now is 3, and the probability of that happening is pretty low.
You don't have to worry about having so many lands that tap for R and G, as long as you have a ramp card and a forest in your starting hand (which you really should with all the repetition in the deck) you know you'll have access to both colors no problem.

I'm also not sure Rites of Spring is a good card. What cards are you pitching from your hand so you can search? If you're discarding spells, chances are whatever you find yourself pitching needs to be replaced in the deck (not to say that situational cards don't exist, but I'd rather hold on to a Chaos Warp than pitch it for a basic land). If you're pitching lands, then it's useless.

Anyway, that's just my opinion, and I know you've tested/worked with the deck and know it way better than I do.
Hope I helped and happy deck building!

5

Deck Reviews / Re: [EDH / Commander] Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

« em: Fevereiro 26, 2016, 01:18:36 am »

Hey there,

My first reaction to this deck is "wow, high mana curve". I usually try to keep my average mana cost below 3.50-yours is at 4.65. Even a couple of your low-end cards are what I call "false low CMC" cards, namely Secure the Wastes and Martial Coup. Those are 6+ drops hidden as 1 and 2 drops respectively. How often are you finding yourself keeping a hand that has no plays until turn 5? While it's true that you don't need a lot of early plays in commander, you don't want to be so far behind to start. It's not just that you're waiting multiple turns before doing anything, it's that you're also only able to play one spell a turn after that since each spell takes all your mana, and all that is assuming you hit a land drop all 5 first turns. You can't hand sculpt anymore with the new Vancouver mulligan (if your play group is following that rule change). A more bell-shaped curve with a lower average CMC will make your deck a lot smoother and more consistent.

Your card draw is a bit low for the long-game, which you're clearly planning on from the deck. All I see are Well of Lost Dreams (a conditional mana sink) and Shamanic Revelation (a fantastic card-IF you have a good board state). Try Mentor of the Meek, which you will constantly trigger, or Skullclamp (fantastic with 1/1 creatures!). Those will be absolute card draw ENGINES in this deck (and have a lower CMC). Greater Good is a green staple, and is great in response to any board wipes (especially since any blink/bounce spells are permanent exile for all your tokens.) I do not think that they should just replace what you already have, I think they should be additions to what you have.

For removal, I only saw two enchantment/artifact removal? Remember GW are the only colors to reliably destroy both of those. I'd like to see something versatile like Austere Command in here. I'd also be interested in seeing Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury in the 99 here. (I know I know I'm suggesting all these high CMC things, but I really think they'd be great in your deck. You can look at lower end things like Kor Sanctifiers as a cheap spot removal+a body)

Some lower CMC cards I suggest you look into:
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Dauntless Escort
Mycoloth (He's a beast! 5 CMC isn't what I'd call "low", but it might be in this deck...)
Frontline Medic
Mirror Entity

Quick note: I'd personally swap out Selesnya Signet for Nature's Lore. Still a 2 drop, doesn't get destroyed from artifact removal/sweepers, and can fetch your Savannah / Temple Garden / Canopy Vista if you want the GW mana.

I hope what I had to say helped-happy deck building!

6

Deck Reviews / Re: [EDH/Commander] Anya, Merciless Angel Combo Deck

« em: Dezembro 23, 2015, 06:39:06 pm »

Thanks so much for your input!

I've made the below edits:
molten disaster -> red sun’s zenith
anvil of bogarden -> crystal ball
hammerfist giant -> chandra’s Ignition
alhammaret’s archive -> fated conflagration
furnace of rath ->god’s willing
stoneforge mystic -> magma jet

7

Deck Reviews / [EDH/Commander] Anya, Merciless Angel Combo Deck

« em: Dezembro 22, 2015, 03:38:31 pm »

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some help on my Anya deck here:http://deckstats.net/decks/33863/384971-anya-comboros/en. Since boros is sort of, well, the absolute worst color combo to make a creature-based combo deck out of, I'm hoping for any advice I can get on it. It's different from how I usually play, so before I go in too deep with the financial cost of this deck I want to make sure I have it right. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

8

Deck Comments / Re: Omnath, Locus of Landfall - Comments

« em: Setembro 28, 2015, 10:26:26 pm »

I'm not sure if this is a casual deck or if your play group is okay with it, but Primeval Titan is banned in commander. Also, Rattleclaw Mystic is not legal for this deck since it has a blue mana symbol on it.

Oracle of Mul Daya and Azusa, Lost but Seeking would be great in this deck. (Looking at what's in here I don't think price is an issue?) Walking Atlas would be great-a 1/1 won't stay on the battlefield for long, but his tap ability works for non-basics and is at instant speed. The instant speed will be useful when you need your landfall creatures for blockers. Autarka's Command is a fantastic card that can do the same thing. Horn of Greed would also be a good way to refill your hand, especially if you add more play additional land cards like Exploration or Burgeoning. I'm not a huge fan of group hug cards in general, but I could picture this deck just spitting out lands and being stagnant after you've exhausted them. You might want to look into some removal too. I think Turntimber Basilisk was the only removal-like spell/creature in the deck??? Red has tons of answers for lands and artifacts, and green for artifacts and enchantments. I'm rather fond of Return to the Earth, Vandalblas, and Hull Breach myself.

Anyway, hope this was helpful and good luck with the deck!

9

Deck Comments / Re: Mono Green EDH - Comments

« em: Setembro 03, 2015, 03:56:12 pm »

Very nice! A lot of green good stuff in here Hydra Omnivore is amazing. Kavu Predator can be amazing depending on your playgroup too. I love seeing modal cards in here too, they can be so useful. At first I wasn't sure about the flying mode of Frontier Siege, but then I remembered your flyers mostly had death touch, which is actually a really neat combo for constant creature removal. Scute Mob can be a total beast.

I'm not too sure if Havenwood Battleground's sacrifice ability will come in handy often, I'm not sure if it's worth the tempo loss. I'm guessing that Expedition Map is in here to find Nykthos. Sylvan Scrying would be the same thing, but at sorcery speed for one less mana, so it's up to you.

Very nice deck-great job working with this!

10

Deck Comments / Re: Mono G Devotion - Comments

« em: Agosto 30, 2015, 12:20:22 am »

Oh wow, didn't see this post until now! Unfortunately the deck you linked to is on private.

11

Deck Comments / Re: Vampire Tribal EDH - Comments

« em: Agosto 17, 2015, 04:24:12 pm »

Hello! I was wondering if the mana base for this deck works well. Looking at the mana distribution and mana source distribution, I would cut some mountains and islands for black/red and blue/black dual lands. Also, is there any removal in the deck? I saw the sweepers, but I don't know if Drown in Sorrow or Anger of the Gods will be effective removal in commander. I think Black Sun's Zenith and Blasphemous Act would be better.

12

General Magic / Mortiphobia Card Review

« em: Agosto 12, 2015, 11:02:44 pm »

So, I'm working on a Damia, Sage of Stone commander deck. The deck uses a lot of looter effects and some graveyard shenanigans, so I get great value out of cards like Bonehoard and Nighthowler. Like all commander decks, it will need some graveyard hate (so other players can't do what I'm doing of course). In my searches I stumbled upon Mortiphobia.

At first glance, this doesn't look like a card I'd put into my eternal format deck. However, the more I thought about the card, I saw some pluses that might actually make the card a good decision for sultai/golgari/etc decks that want to capitalize on graveyard shenanigans. I thought it might be worth sharing the card and why I think it's a good/bad fit for commander, and seeing what other people thought of the card.

Reasons to put it in:
-It allows me to discard cards that I want to discard like Wonder or Big Game Hunter while still benefiting me by exiling a problem spell
-As an enchantment, it is the 'safest' permanent type, where artifacts and creatures like Deathrite Shaman will just be eaten by wipes
-By targeting one card to remove from the graveyard, I can get rid of problem cards in opponents graveyards without exiling a huge supply of power for Bonehoard or Nighthowler (I don't mind them having a Farhaven Elf in the graveyard, but Time Stretch with Dralnu, Lich Lord in the battlefield is a different story)

Reasons to NOT put it in:
-I constantly have to invest my resources (mana and cards) to keep other decks in check instead of Nihil Spellbomb and be done with it
-As an enchantment, people will play around it until they have an answer, and once it's off the board they'll have their ammo ready when I just lost my solution
-It loses a lot of value if there's no players using the graveyard as a resource, where a cantrip can at least draw me a card if nobody else is using the graveyard

It isn't a card I've seen before, so I thought some discussion around it might be nice. I think that it's not an auto-include in black decks, but with sultai or glogari decks where you want lots of cards in lots of graveyards, it's a good solid card to include. What do some of my fellow players think of this card?

13

General Magic / Re: What are some of the formats on here mean?

« em: Agosto 12, 2015, 06:27:05 pm »

Since Commander was only mentioned briefly, I can flesh out the format for you. Commander is a 100 card singleton format, meaning that you can only have one copy of a card in the deck (excluding basic lands). It is typically a 4 person free for all game, and is a social format with some interesting politics. Each player starts at 40 life instead of 20. Each deck has a commander, which counts as one of the 100 cards. The commander has to be a legendary creature, and stays in a unique zone called "the command zone". You start off the game with your commander in that zone, and can play them anytime you could play a creature just like it was from your hand. If you commander dies, is exiled, or shuffled back into your library, you may choose to put them back in the command zone. If you do, you have to play a commander tax for each time the card has returned to the command zone, making the creature 2 colorless more to cast each time it returns to that zone. If you're dealt 21 or more damage from a single commander, you automatically lose the game. Your commander determines what cards you can have in the deck too. The commander's color identity is determined by the mana symbols on the card, meaning both it's casting cost and activated abilities. Therefore, commanders like Yasova Dragonclaw would be able to play cards with green, red, and blue mana symbols on the card. Games can easily last 1-3 hours. 

You might see people talk about French Commander, Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH), pauper commander/PDH, or Tiny Leaders. French Commander is played 1 v 1 instead of 4 player free for all, and has its own ban list separate from regular commander. EDH is the same exact term for commander, named after the legendary elder dragons, but Wizards changed the name to officially be Commander back in 2011 (if memory serves me right). Pauper commander is not a sanctioned format, but is just a casual format. Usually this means you have an uncommon and non-legendary commander and only commons in the other 99 cards. Tiny Leaders is a new commander variant, following all of the rules of regular commander, except every card must be converted mana cost 3 or less. The decks are only 50 cards, and you start at 25 life instead of 40. There is no commander damage since you start at a lower life total.

TLDR: it's a 4 player free for all 100 card singleton format with the command zone/a commander.

Sorry for the huge description, but it's a very different format with a lot of variations. Hope I helped!

14

Deck Comments / Re: Riku Commander - Comments

« em: Agosto 11, 2015, 05:58:14 am »

Hey, I know this is marked as a work in progress and everything, but when I saw a Temur commander deck I just had to check it out and chip in my two cents. Feel free to ignore this comment entirely.

First off, Riku is super powerful. Which makes him awesome to build around, but an instant target at the table. You need protection for him if you expect him to stay out longer than one turn. That means equipment, and some counter magic. (Counterspells are super powerful, and I don't think I saw any in the deck. I understand if you're playgroup isn't a huge fan of it, but you shouldn't take the #1 protection of blue away from it.) Equipment can be things like Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, or Darksteel Plate. Counterspell is a blue staple, and for good reason.

The things I do like in your deck are all the draw effects, I wasn't sure if Sphinx's Tutelage would be a good card at first, but for each card you draw that could be a powerhouse. A word of warning: if you use that against a friend's mono colored commander deck, they will NOT be happy. Anyway, I'm personally a fan of Cerebral Vortex. When somebody goes crazy drawing off of a Consecrated Sphinx that can be a lethal spell for 3 mana. There are some other creatures that go well in here too, but I won't waste my time going over the things that shouldn't be questioned.

I don't think that Gauntlet of Power is what this deck is looking for. That's a bit group hug-y for anybody else in the same color, and won't benefit two thirds of your deck. (I also don't like Howling Mine and Dictate of Kruphix for being group hug-y. Mono red or white needs those cards, but it's underpowered for a deck with green or blue in it. There's too much good card draw in those colors to play these and give your opponents ammo.) Gauntlet of Power is best used in mono colored decks. Mana Reflection is a much better alternative.

I'm not sure how effective Thopter Spy Network would be in this format. You only have 7 artifacts as of right now (it might be a good idea to add in the three on color artifact lands if you want to start doing artificer shenanigans), and no way to tutor them (or any card, for that matter). Even if you do get the artifact out at the same time, a 1/1 flyer would usually be eaten up pretty quickly by the board state. Or a board wipe. Most games have 2-4 wipes a match I find, although this varies from playgroup to playgroup. (You should definitely put in board wipes too. Blasphemous Act and Cyclonic Rift are great.)

Level up creatures are not mana efficient in an eternal format. You're investing tons of mana into one creature to slowly get an effect. Enclave Cryptologist is a 3 mana Merfolk Looter (and is probably the best of the level ups in here). Echo Mage? A 7 mana Twincast. (Or Fork, Reverberate, Increasing Vengeance, Dualcaster Mage... you get the point. You have the right colors to run other cards, that your opponents don't see coming.) Leveling up is also worse since it can only be activated on your turn, so you invest all of your mana leveling up a 7 mana Goblin Fireslinger, and then your opponent just casts a Decree of Pain (or just a Lightning Bolt) since you've tapped out.

Lightning Berserker won't be useful most of the game, but might be a nice laugh to dash out and pump at an opponent when they just tapped all of their creatures. Besides that, it's just a chump blocker taking up one of your 99.

With how much you'll be drawing in this deck, I definitely think that you need Laboratory Maniac in it. He's a fun little win condition.

So, I'll hop off my podium and let you get back to building. Hope some of my suggestions help you build this, please don't feel discouraged by all the bashing I did to certain cards. I think it's important when deck building to think of the possible advantages and better alternatives to each and every card. And it doesn't help at all if I just say "don't use cards x, y, and z" without explanation. Anyway, good luck with the deck and have fun!

15

Deck Reviews / Re: [EDH / Commander] Zedruu's Great Giveaway (Help)

« em: Julho 24, 2015, 02:27:48 am »

Hello-first I should warn that I'm not the best deck builder myself (far from it actually). I do have a few suggestions though for individual cards in the deck. I'm not sure how I should help the general direction a deck that you made just for fun. (Especially a deck that isn't made specifically to win xD)

Even if the deck isn't built for a win condition, I think you might like to add Test of Endurance or Felidar Sovereign. They're fun and goofy win conditions, and with Zedruu's lifegain each turn and damage prevention, you might pull it off once (though I'd put in a lot more life gain if you want this).

Spell Crumple isn't as valuable since the commander tuck rule changed earlier this year, so cutting it out for Counterspell is probably a good idea. I wasn't sure if I liked Brand in this deck, since you want your opponents to have your permanents, but the more I thought about it the more I liked it as a sort of 'emergency break' for a problem permanent. The cycling is great if everything is going to plan too

On the other hand, I am worried about Mind Over Matter. It's a really strong card, but it might be difficult to get to 4U mana in a 3 color deck, especially one with so little mana fixing. I think you'll find it hard to consistently get 4U to cast that, especially when many of your lands slow you down by entering tapped too. I might sub in  Ral Zarek since you could cast him more consistently(and he's fun!). I admit he is a total target, but having something to distract others from attacking your life total while giving you his +1 is better than having an unplayable card.

It might be worth it to cut Mana Flare for Chromatic Lantern. I can see you're a bit group-huggy and might want to keep 'all players', but Mana Flare would cut the number of lands your opponents need to tap to get through a Ghostly Prison or Propaganda in half. (Speaking of those cards, have you thought of Island Sanctuary) I would consider substituting out one of the group-draw cards like Temple Bell for Monastery Siege. It gives you card draw or some protection from targeted spells, which I think you'd like.

I don't think the deck is well equipped to survive after Enduring Ideal. If you can't cast a spell the rest of the game, you better make sure that epic card is going to help you win/stay alive. Building around epic spells is a super fun/challenging, but I don't know if this is the deck to do it with.

As for the cards you mentioned removing/adding, Wild Research looks like a ton of fun to me personally. You might be looking for Thieves' Auction instead of Scrambleverse. Less mana, and you can pick Zedruu first to make sure you keep her, while messing all the permanent's owners to get some draw/life.

Hope I helped out a bit, good luck!