i apologize if this idea has been suggested already, but i was wondering if anyone else out there had tried doing this. i made a blue red singleton deck as a fun challenge to myself but i've become more and more enthusiastic about the idea of modern 60 card singleton as time has gone on. i limit myself to modern because most of my friends are newer players. i really like this format because i enjoy the randomness of the games. after 12 years of magic i sometimes have to challenge myself to build decks in a certain way to keep things interesting. singleton lets me play all my favorite spells from over the years in the same deck and have a relatively different experience from game to game.
has anyone else tried this format and if so how deeply have you gone down the rabbit hole? right now i only have the blue red deck and a black white deck that i can play against each other with a friend but i suspect there are some cool singleton decks that could exist out there that are very cleverly constructed.
to that end, what do you all think of something like this being played competitively? would it be balanced? i feel that singleton would eliminate the potency of a lot of linear strategies in modern that some people (not me) do not enjoy. most decks would feel 'fair' and interactive but i am sure that combo decks could and would exist as well.
There are ways around singleton. One Moat kills the combat phase as well as four. Otherwise Fog, Giant Growth, Llanowar Elves(especially), have all been reprinted in likeness too many times for me to bother pointing out.
The non-"I-can't-find-what-I-need-in-my-deck" issues found in EDH will be found moreso in smaller decks.
The reason that people flock to EDH is that it is more causal in most cases and the games last longer. If you are trying to win, 99% of the time "random" is your enemy. The more streamlined your deck is and the more you can have it do what you wish, the higher chance you have of winning. In competition, this is paramount. I'd rather jump into a tournament with my 9 spells of which I'm running 4 copies each along with my 24 lands than having my deck be singleton (except if I'm playing against Scalpelexis). If I wanted to just throw my money down for a high random chance, I'd buy a lottery ticket.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with casual. If it wasn't for casual Magic, I would have stopped playing a long time ago. However it is important to recall your first deck. You know, that deck that you didn't buy preconstructed, but that first deck that you gathered all the cards for from your collection and put together. That lovable monstrosity. Most of those decks ARE 60 singleton decks. If you brought those to your playing table nowadays, they'd get stomped. I started playing five color stompy with no ramp. Then ran WBU WorshipStatisYawgmoth's Bargain. That one had next to no win condition, but over the years, I shaved off two of the colors and ended with a Statis deck with multiples of many spells and now I can't even bring it to the casual table anymore, due to it's soul crushing nature. Lastly, look at every championship/grand prix winner's decklist EVER. No singleton has won in the past twenty years. I have a pauper deck that dominates in casual matches, but I would be a fool if I took that to a modern tournament and expected to win.
The flip side of this is my blue EDH deck I made this year. Reveka, Wizard Savant was in my trade binder since the late nineties. She now runs my Control Magic EDH deck and she does it well. I get the point of singleton decks, but if you want to touch base with the masses, you might as well join in the commander games.
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i apologize if this idea has been suggested already, but i was wondering if anyone else out there had tried doing this. i made a blue red singleton deck as a fun challenge to myself but i've become more and more enthusiastic about the idea of modern 60 card singleton as time has gone on. i limit myself to modern because most of my friends are newer players. i really like this format because i enjoy the randomness of the games. after 12 years of magic i sometimes have to challenge myself to build decks in a certain way to keep things interesting. singleton lets me play all my favorite spells from over the years in the same deck and have a relatively different experience from game to game.
has anyone else tried this format and if so how deeply have you gone down the rabbit hole? right now i only have the blue red deck and a black white deck that i can play against each other with a friend but i suspect there are some cool singleton decks that could exist out there that are very cleverly constructed.
to that end, what do you all think of something like this being played competitively? would it be balanced? i feel that singleton would eliminate the potency of a lot of linear strategies in modern that some people (not me) do not enjoy. most decks would feel 'fair' and interactive but i am sure that combo decks could and would exist as well.
The non-"I-can't-find-what-I-need-in-my-deck" issues found in EDH will be found moreso in smaller decks.
The reason that people flock to EDH is that it is more causal in most cases and the games last longer. If you are trying to win, 99% of the time "random" is your enemy. The more streamlined your deck is and the more you can have it do what you wish, the higher chance you have of winning. In competition, this is paramount. I'd rather jump into a tournament with my 9 spells of which I'm running 4 copies each along with my 24 lands than having my deck be singleton (except if I'm playing against Scalpelexis). If I wanted to just throw my money down for a high random chance, I'd buy a lottery ticket.
Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with casual. If it wasn't for casual Magic, I would have stopped playing a long time ago. However it is important to recall your first deck. You know, that deck that you didn't buy preconstructed, but that first deck that you gathered all the cards for from your collection and put together. That lovable monstrosity. Most of those decks ARE 60 singleton decks. If you brought those to your playing table nowadays, they'd get stomped. I started playing five color stompy with no ramp. Then ran WBU WorshipStatisYawgmoth's Bargain. That one had next to no win condition, but over the years, I shaved off two of the colors and ended with a Statis deck with multiples of many spells and now I can't even bring it to the casual table anymore, due to it's soul crushing nature. Lastly, look at every championship/grand prix winner's decklist EVER. No singleton has won in the past twenty years. I have a pauper deck that dominates in casual matches, but I would be a fool if I took that to a modern tournament and expected to win.
The flip side of this is my blue EDH deck I made this year. Reveka, Wizard Savant was in my trade binder since the late nineties. She now runs my Control Magic EDH deck and she does it well. I get the point of singleton decks, but if you want to touch base with the masses, you might as well join in the commander games.