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Author Topic: Brawl: Round 2  (Read 1962 times)

Morganator 2.0

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Brawl: Round 2
« on: September 09, 2019, 04:34:50 pm »
Throne of Eldraine is being released with pre-made Brawl decks. Last time Wizards of the Coast tried to make Brawl work, it failed... miserably. This time, the format has actual support, so I'm a little more optimistic.

I am going to take a stab at Brawl this time around. I don't like rotating formats, so I'll likely play until the next rotation. I'm curious if anyone else is going to try out Brawl. And if so, who do you plan on using as your commander?

WWolfe

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2019, 04:45:03 pm »
I plan on giving it a try this time around. I'm not sure who I'll use as my commander. Probably will wait until the full set is spoiled as I'd like to use one that will be Standard legal for a while.
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Soren841

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2019, 04:48:44 pm »
I'll buy them as c19 2.0
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CleanBelwas

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2019, 04:58:40 pm »
I'm tempted, but it's hard to switch off the "this would be so much better if it was commander" mentality.

I like the idea of it for the deck building restrictions, but something about the precons puts me off. The card pool is so small, and therefore the potential to adapt or upgrade the precons is equally small, so you lose a lot of the character and pride that comes from building your own commander deck, and personally I find that part of commander incredibly satisfying and find it's a large part of my enjoyment of the format; win or lose, I'm playing decks I enjoy.

Of the precons, the Knight one seems fun, but is largely being evaluated as the worst one. Again, I mostly see it as a fun commander build with a bunch of old Knights. Even Dominaria's rotation hurts it as that had a lot of decent options (Josu and his Knight brigade seems like a perfect fit).

Outside of the precons, I'm not sure. I personally don't think our visit to Ravnica provided that many decent options for commanders in either EDH or Brawl in terms of excitement. Feather and Niv are good, but become very repetitive. Brawl allows PWs too so that helps with WAR, but none of those really interest me personally.

C20 was half decent, but mostly I keep coming back to "I'd just rather this was commander".

I think when new formats appear, especially those that rotate, it's difficult to justify any kind of investment into them because you don't want it to be a waste of time and money. It's the same as Oathbreaker for me. I knocked together a couple of decks out of some stuff I had lying around, but certainly don't give it the same level of care and attention as my EDH decks. You don't want to go big if the format is dead in 6 months.

I can realistically see brawl doing well on Arena, mostly because of the absence of anything else like it on there, but I'm not so sure about it's appeal for paper, unless you're already a big standard player and have a lot of the cards you'd want already.

I'll likely give it a go on Arena, but for me that means waiting for the mac release which I don't think is planned for this year even. When it does and I get into it, I'll likely start with the Knights and probably build some Golos 5 colour jank.

What about you Morganator? Any specific legend catching your eye?

MonteTribal

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2019, 05:16:46 pm »
I'll be playing it on Arena, especially if it is the free event. Kaalia, Zenith Seeker seems fun, and Niv-Mizzet Reborn or Rienne, Angel of Rebirth seems good after a gold heavy block

Morganator 2.0

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2019, 05:22:36 pm »
Korvold seems alright. I haven't looked too far into what I'd like to play, because I'm looking at the support cards first. Mana ramp and tutors are lacking in Brawl, so I'm going to make some lists of the good cards, before I decide my commander.

A lot of what you guys are saying is the same sentiment I have. I want a commander that will be around for at least one full rotation. And just like you CleanBelwas, I look at a legendary creature and think "This would be great for a Commander deck!" I have never thought "This would be great for a Brawl deck!"

The other thing (that no one has mentioned yet) is the motivation behind buying the pre-cons. Some of my friends have pre-ordered some of them. When I ask them if they are buying it to get into Brawl, I get the same answer:

"Not Brawl. I just want Arcane Signet for my commander deck(s)."

CleanBelwas

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2019, 05:37:35 pm »
I have been considering buying the paper Knight precon, but it is absolutely with the intention of turning it into a commander deck. Mardu Knights and free equip costs sounds like a lot of fun, but if I decide to get it, it won't be with brawl in mind.

The precons seem fairly reasonably priced for what you get in them. The signet and the shock land almost cover the cost of it alone, so it's not a bad or wasteful move financially. Seems worth picking one up if, like me, the rest of the deck appeals to you, even if it is just to convert to EDH or strip for parts.

WWolfe

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2019, 09:00:10 pm »
Is it definite that they're going to include Shocklands?

edit- Nevermind I see that they are.

With those and Arcane Signet (which MTGStocks has market value at $18 and some change right now)...
« Last Edit: September 09, 2019, 09:25:44 pm by WWolfe »
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CleanBelwas

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #8 on: September 09, 2019, 09:24:59 pm »
The decklists are available on the wizards website here:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/inside-throne-eldraine-brawl-decks-2019-09-04

Each one has one shock land in. Not the full set of three each colour combo would allow but given their RRP that would probably be expecting too much.

WWolfe

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2019, 09:32:30 pm »
I must have been editing my post while you were posting.

Smothering Tithe is also in the Esper deck.
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CleanBelwas

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2019, 09:39:51 pm »
Damn, I didn't even notice that, that's a great include.

Too bad one of my playgroup already claimed the Esper one for himself, seems real fun and great value. I'll stick with Mardu Knights.

I got first dibs on the Rakdos C19 precon though and got K'rrik as a result so I can't be too mad.

They all seem pretty decent though, as an intro to Brawl of the far more likely basis for an EDH deck.

ApothecaryGeist

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2019, 10:14:22 pm »
I think the real problem with Brawl is that WotC is promoting it as a casual format - much like Commander.  You can build a Commander deck today and put it on the shelf for a year or so, and then bring it out to a group and get a game in with it.  Barring any bannings, your deck will still be perfectly legal.  With Brawl, that will not be the case.  Casual players do not want to have half their deck become illegal every year.  The first time around Brawl pretty much died upon rotation.  I predict a similar thing this time too.
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CleanBelwas

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2019, 10:23:36 pm »
I think the real problem with Brawl is that WotC is promoting it as a casual format - much like Commander.  You can build a Commander deck today and put it on the shelf for a year or so, and then bring it out to a group and get a game in with it.  Barring any bannings, your deck will still be perfectly legal.  With Brawl, that will not be the case.  Casual players do not want to have half their deck become illegal every year.  The first time around Brawl pretty much died upon rotation.  I predict a similar thing this time too.

I think you're right for paper. I can see it doing fine on Arena.

Arena is a nice client, and people that use it will have and maintain a pool of standard cards just by virtue of using it. Given that Arena isn't looking to offer Commander any time soon, I think Brawl will see play on there for people who fancy a bit of casual singleton on a rainy Tuesday when their LGS has nothing on.

But I definitely agree with the point on it's lack of longevity putting people off due to rotation. People like commander for the exact reasons you described. They make a deck of their favourite cards from yesteryear and they can bust it out whenever and it's still fine and fun and personal.

People like standard because it's a puzzle to solve. "Given a very limited card pool, what can I do to consistently beat my opponents across a variety of archetypes?". A huge part of that puzzle is about consistency, something that is much harder to achieve in a singleton format, especially one that only offers such limited resources.

To me at least, there seems to be very little crossover between these two things.

I think it'll do fine on Arena simply because Arena makes it so easy to access. I'll probably give it a go and enjoy it well enough. But I can't see it gathering the same devoted following that both EDH and Standard have. It's just a middle ground no one is really asking for, and will likely suffer for it in the end.

Morganator 2.0

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Xaarvaxus

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Re: Brawl: Round 2
« Reply #14 on: September 10, 2019, 04:39:43 am »
Will be buying all of the decks but not to play Brawl.  I don't play Standard anymore because I hate having my cards become obsolete so quickly.  Everything will be going to new or existing commander decks.

Took a quick look at the lists in the link above.  Seems like really good value has been included in them.  The commanders and the shocks get you pretty close to 'MSRP' by themselves and there are a fair number of decent includes besides.