MTG Salvation

If this thread proves anything, it's that this group of people who cares a lot about this format can't agree on how combo should fit into the format. Banning combo or combo cards would alienate a large portion of players, and yet there is a large portion of players who want to play without it.

I live in Portland where it's not hard to find a combo-friendly or non-combo playgroup. I'll usually ask when sitting down to a new group of players which they are. I also get that some people have limited options as far as people to play with. I suppose if I was in that scenario and wanted a non-combo game I might ask if we could have a combo game and a noncombo game, maybe I could borrow someone's combo deck if I wasn't into building such a thing myself. Or if I am a combo player and nobody wants to play combo maybe I'd ask if we could do 1 combo game a night and here's some fun fast combo decks for you guys to borrow, don't worry this'll take less than 30 minutes probably.

I think this discussion is healthy because we see how many different types of game people like, but it's pretty damn clear we're never never never all going to agree on what the ideal EDH/Commander game looks like.

Only redeeming thing about Golos to my mind is that it's a lot easier to kill than Narset. Because otherwise *loud raspberry* Wizards loves to give us these legendary creatures that give free spells, and sometimes with cards like Etali and Yennett they do alright where you get to have your fun and not either take 20 minute turns or literally all the turns, and then with Narset and Golos the temptation is just too great for a deckbuilder to make something that creates a scenario of three people watching the fourth play solitaire.

Not. A. Fan.

Which is funny because the new Kaalia being a card advantage engine rather than a mana skipping engine is pretty good.

My plan is to spend time on MTGS and the new forum, taking part in what conversations draw me in as I have on MTGS over the years. If there ends up being good community in both places, why not lurk both places? I do think it sucks how they pulled this in the final hour when most people had gone through the process of planning what to do next, but I'm happy for those who want to stay on MTGS and happy for those who are looking to a new vision of what a user-run forum would look like.

Really want to recognize Cry and Airithne and the others with skin in the game who've worked so hard to make the best of this. It's that attention to community that draws community, which is one of the main reasons I'll definitely be lurking on the new site when it's up!

edit - just looked at my join date, holy cow, 8 years.... tis a bit of time

Talismans also tap for colorless, and can make mana by themselves while the signets require another mana source to activate. As far as prices, it's always a bit of a game of what will stay at its preorder price, what will drop, and what will rise. For me, if there's stuff I want at $5 or below I just grab it as it might go down a couple of dollars, or it could go way up. For cards that hit the ground at high prices I tend to wait. Only spendy cards I'll prob jump on from this set are the swords as I don't see those going down in price much. Sadly.

Does he work with undying creatures? You sac the creature as the cost, then the undying trigger goes on the stack, then his ability to put a -1/-1 counter, so the -1/-1 resolves first so it doesn't work? I might be missing a rules thing there.

"At the beginning of each upkeep..." A phrase that (usually) brings glee to a Commander player's heart. Cheapest every upkeep token maker along with Ophiomancer and Dragon Broodmother.

Sorcery speed you lose life equal to the cmc of the enchantment you're destroying, costing somewhere around 3-4...

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

She's basically a fixed Narset, letting you cast some big spells for free but not 4 a turn that turn into multiple turns. Mystical Tutor into Approach of the Second Sun is a thing, but I took that out after it won the first game. You can put cards in to make it more consistent, to manipulate your topdeck, and it's kind of silly not to put Top in the deck, but I also just like spinning the wheel because even if I don't get a free Mind's Dilation or eldrazi, I still get to draw a card. You don't even need to fill the deck with a huge density of fat cmc odd spells, you can have a fairly slim esper deck that sometimes throws out a fatty for free.

All Is Dust, won't take out Darksteel Forge, but other pieces maybe.

I'd definitely run that specific sword over Weatherlight if we're just talking efficiency and value of the card. It makes Raff as big as the Weatherlight, it guarantees you a card where Weatherlight is a roll of the die, it protects Raff from burn and bounce, and it kills a lot of small annoying creatures.

Weatherlight is a flavor win though, it's just dripping with it. The only other argument for running the airship is it's less of a target. Someone won't waste any time throwing a Krosan Grip at your sword, but Weatherlight is a lower priority target.

What is it about 4 drops? They seem to be my favorite CMC point too, causing a huge clog in my decks. I've stopped playing some of the 4 mana ramp spells like Skyshroud Claim because of the competition at that CMC.

Considering you basically have a walker as a general and it's a new card that looks fun, throw Flux Channeler in here? You're not superfriends, and don't have a lot of other counters matter effects, but it seems like it'd be good more often than it would be a dead card, and you have enough draw to cycle through it if it is.

Ooo, also proliferate is kind of nice with As Foretold, Coalition Relic and Primal Amulet.

With infinite mana, she can be a competitive commander, like the other posts have said. If that's your wincon though then you're going to be driving for that every game, and if this is your one Commander deck your games will start to feel pretty stale to you and your opponents.

Without infinite mana though she's not going to make a lot of faeries. Even against a mono-color deck I've gone 10 mana into her and gotten 1 or 2 faeries. Go in expecting to get a wide variance on payoff with her, and considering how much she costs to cast, know you'll only get her out a couple of times a game. If there are a lot of wraths you might just hold her back. Still, just a few faeries from Oona, and a few played from your hand with a Coat of Arms is going to get some good swings. Door of Destinies is also great if you're going tribal. Dimir colors are great for grinding out so consider cards that will get more value out of your faeries like Blood Artist and Grave Pact effects.

But as the others have said, she's pretty flexible. She's a flying beater, you don't even have to go far into faeries. Consider what you want to be doing during a 30 minute to 2 hour Commander game. Are you playing and protecting threats? Are you stopping other people's threats? Are you pillow forting up and going for a late game alpha strike? You don't seem to care a lot about winning so I imagine you want to focus more on being able to do fun things during a game. Again, what can you imagine doing on your turn, or other people's turns (which dimir is good at)?

Quote from OCPunisher »

Well, a lot of my mana rocks can be cashed in for extra cards, and I have almost zero recursion in this deck, so it’s a lot like Crystal Shard in that it’s probably going to be there for some value and not much else. That’s probably also a good reason to run Hanna, Ship’s Navigator.

The land is worth it for O Stone, Scourglass, etc. And yeah, if your Sol Ring is in your yard it's probably worth it to draw it again. But you wouldn't include Expedition Map to go get it likely. I love me some Hanna, and you can flash her in, but unless you're going to fate counter her every time you can't loop the board wipe rocks with her. Codex Shredder is probably too clunky, but I've seen it used effectively before. It's a 6 mana regrowth, but when you have mana up you might not mind spending it before your turn to get back Elesh Norn.

Shermanido's got a lot of good points. I think ultimately your flash package is going to depend on your meta and what's fun for you. (advice for editing any EDH deck yah?)

Personally I think Azami in addition to Raff being a wizard equalling two extra cards before your turn is worth it. I tend to prefer steady incremental card draw over a big BSZ, keeping my hand full over a longer game rather than getting a flood of cards I then have to filter. Nezahal is the nuts in terms of steady card draw and a nice big threat.

I second the vehicles. Flavor and tech!

Curious to see how your deck develops as I'm working on a Raff list of my own.

Quote from OCPunisher »

Quote from PhroX »

I'll drop another vote for Raff. Being able to play almost entirely at instant speed is just so much fun.

This I can definitely appreciate. My longest running deck is Yeva, and it is the most fun keyword ever.

Quick aside on Raff: as much fun as it is to flash things in, I've always found that the artifact theme was either too combo-y for my group's collective stomach, or it lacked the muscle to stand up to a table full of demons, dragons, and other large things that commander decks often have. I'm aware of a few big guys, but I'm concerned that there might not be enough of them overall to make up a deck, and they all have the added weakness of being vulnerable to Shatters on top of the creature removals.

Aside from artifacts there are plenty of legendaries that have impact. Flashing in Eldrazi before your turn and then swinging with annihilator is pretty good. Nezahal and some of the other big blue legendary beaters. Flashing in og Avacyn in response to a wipe and then swinging with her next turn... not bad. Elesh Norn.