The big thing is that that's not a problem for you though. Every time MW gets cast you're getting 2 free spells, over and above MW. All you need to do is cast it. Sure it gets expensive but you're running green. It doesn't even matter if he's countered, the cascades still happen.
Maelstrom Wanderer seems a strong choice. Alesha would be fun too. I really like all my choices. Sigarda is tempting as well, because you know how I love angels. This is so difficult, because like I said, I have two decks I want to upgrade, and 7 decks I think would be really fun to build. Do you have this problem too, Toc? I know you have several decks already. I count 14. I guess over time I'll build everything I want, eventually.. but what comes next is something I need advice on. They all have strengths. I like angels, I like elves, I like squirrels (just look at my forum avatar). Alesha is very interesting as a character, and a transgender character in a fantasy game is refreshing, add that to what GloriousGoose said about generating value and being powerful without looking like you're an instant threat. Elves ramp incredibly well, but board wipes will suck. Same goes with tokens. Getting a ton of stuff on the board quickly. Lifegain is something I've been wanting to do from the beginning, and it provides a style of play I haven't tried before and might be a lot of fun; I almost built Ayli instead of Kaalia first, but Kaalia has a preconstructed deck I could build on instead of building Ayli from scratch. Now I WANT to build a deck from the ground up, starting with selection of my commander, so who I choose isn't based on a precon.. in fact, I don't want to use any of the precon commanders, I already have two. With MS, as soon as I cast him, eyes will be on me, I'm guessing, but it seems like a deck like that would be resilient enough to handle it.
I have this problem every damn release. I'd love to build Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain and Grand Warlord Radha. The problem is I don't have the card base to support any of these builds, or anywhere to store them. For me, at least, it's important to rationalise each deck - do I enjoy playing it? Does it do what I want it to do? Is it too expensive to get staples for? End of the day I'd rather have less than 10 decks that I love playing or play well, than two dozen decks poorly built. So I think end of the day you have to rationalise it in terms of what your situation can manage financially and logistically. It's good to have most of a deck fleshed out to start with - the less you have to buy or trade for the better for us poor folk.
The one problem is I have no support for anything but Mardu, Orzhov, and Rakdos: what I have left over after dismantling Kaalia and that didn't go into my angel deck. It looks like I can get away with building MS cheaply too. I am strongly considering selling Kaalia for store credit or trading her away as I don't see a use for her. Time will tell.
MLD is only breaking the social contract just as much as rock spam and aggressive ramping. All that is happening is the tempo is being altered by a single player. I would also tell you "So?".
My Slugs-and-Hugs Deck plays to both aspects of this by either quickening or slowing the pace of the game. People enjoying my Rites of Flourishing. Making them experience Territorial Dispute with Eon Hub as the game slows down and makes their hands become cluttered. Or even just using Wake of Destruction to hit the most common mana at the table like a forest or swamp. Sometimes all three of these in tandem when the planets align and somebody plays an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
The difference between hard ramping and MLD is that you're not preventing others from playing the game if you have a Sol Ring, Mind Stone, Chromatic Lantern, Commander's Sphere, a Charm and two eggs down by turn 5. You're not doing anything to how another person plays other than the fact that they're probably pretty likely to blow up one of your rocks if they draw into removal. The other people can still play cards from their hands and contribute to the game if you have a lot more mana than they do, because leaving their lands alone still gives them some. What a MLD spell does is stop responding, to stop counterplay, to stop answers. So, I see it as a lot different. Someone can still counter a 4th turn Avenger of Zendikar or whatever big stompiness you're ramping into with a Swords to Plowshares or by countering it or whatever, but taking away all the lands, if someone has no rocks down, or if you're casting something like Jokulhaups that wipes the rocks too, playing MLD will stop most people cold. It's a very rude awakening to all of the sudden have MLD in an environment where most people frown on it. It's like a big **** you to the table.
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"Cut it down, bury it in the snow, put it to the torch. The rose will still bloom again."
Do you know how satisfying it is to blow up rocks and lands? Especially of people who overextend with no care on possible repercussions.
Quote from Master Sun »
Therefore a wise general strives to feed off the enemy. Each pound of food taken from the enemy is equivalent to twenty pounds you provide by yourself.
If I were OP, I would be slamming down Blood Moon and friends so hard it would make all those Spikes reconsider their life choices. Archangel Avacyn and Kaalia of the Vast aren't very threatening as commanders, all things considered, so the main way of bringing other decks down to your level is lowering your curve way down, playing creatures that actually attack, removal, stax, and LD.
If I'm sitting in a pod and in the first two turns I see around 4-5 shuffle effects between the players, I'm getting really worried. If I see cards like Mox Opal, Preordain, or Mystic Remora I would assume I'm playing against some tier 1-2 decks. Kaalia probably isn't going to cut it unless you can play something like a Null Rod or Rest in Peace or Suppression Field. So you might as well play those cards.
MLD is only breaking the social contract just as much as rock spam and aggressive ramping. All that is happening is the tempo is being altered by a single player. I would also tell you "So?".
My Slugs-and-Hugs Deck plays to both aspects of this by either quickening or slowing the pace of the game. People enjoying my Rites of Flourishing. Making them experience Territorial Dispute with Eon Hub as the game slows down and makes their hands become cluttered. Or even just using Wake of Destruction to hit the most common mana at the table like a forest or swamp. Sometimes all three of these in tandem when the planets align and somebody plays an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
You might think people love group hug type effects, but in previous polls on the message board group hug decks were by far the most hated.
Do you know how satisfying it is to blow up rocks and lands? Especially of people who overextend with no care on possible repercussions.
Quote from Master Sun »
Therefore a wise general strives to feed off the enemy. Each pound of food taken from the enemy is equivalent to twenty pounds you provide by yourself.
Do you know how satisfying it is to not play a 4 hour game? Or to play more than one or two games a night? MLD is a great tool, but not in Multi-Player. So, you want to punish the ramp player? What did the dude whose just been hitting his land drops and playing on curve do to deserve that?
This isn’t a MLD thread, so I won’t go into detail. But, MLD is a selfish play. Which in turn makes it a social taboo in EDH. That’s all. Other ways to handle ramp players than to blow up all the lands.
I would suggest a more tactical approach to the OP. Meta-game like a boss. Play hate and hoser cards that cripple their strategies. Make it difficult for them to do what they want to do, instead of trying to make it impossible, because it doesn’t sound like you have the card pool to do so.
Honestly, Malesteom Wanderer is a solid choice. It gives you access to cheap ramp, and also cheap answers in the form of counterspells. The commander generates CA on its own, so you can go a little heavier on whatever you think will slow your opponents down without sacrificing a ton of tempo. While true he draws a bit of a bulls-eye, but that’s an advantage in this scenario and not a disadvantage. Make them answer your threats. Force them to make choices and counterplays.
Now, that doesn’t mean build a tier 1 competetive deck. A couple of fatties, some effiecent answers, and away we go. No need to stoop to their level just to beat them at their own game. You can still play your game, your way, and get the desired results.
I really think you guys are setting her up for disaster. maelstrom wanderer is at 8cc the MLD guy should be dropping his first land destruction before that. if she already casted wanderer then it now costs ten and probably won't get back up there.
Kalia may be the most hated but honestly she does great running MLD herself. drop her blow up lands. that's what I would do and get ahold of teferis protection and boros charm and the like.
if all else fails play jhoria and become enemy number 1.
Here is a really easy solution for the original poster: Terra Eternal, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Elspeth, Knight-Errant or other such effects. If you are dealing with MLD regularly, play these. As you would be adapting to the situation.
Also don't play Maelstrom Wanderer if there is MLD from regular opponents as you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
You might think people love group hug type effects, but in previous polls on the message board group hug decks were by far the most hated.
I play what makes me happy. Not what makes others happy. Because frankly people are impossible to please.
Yes, hi, I actually have mana do stuff on my subsequent turns when I MLD most of the time. What a shock, right?
What did the rest of the table deserve for when person combos off for infinite (Damage/draw/turns/etc)? What did the rest of the table do to deserve to get run down by a tribal/token swarm? What did the rest of the table do to deserve to fight against a deck that has "win the game" cards? What did the rest of the table do to deserve to fight a stax deck? Nothing. Its just a fact of magic the gathering in general.
Other ways to handle ramp decks? Well last I checked that means I have to run stax if I want a reliable option which is about as cruel as MLD and creates the same feeling of players wanting the game to end already. As other such things like tucking hasn't been that supported and red still doesn't have a reliable ways to lock lands down atm.
MLD is a tactical option just like hosers, hate, damage, discard, mill, bounce, sweepers, exile, counterspells, tucking, etc. Everything can be used in a bad or good tactical way based on the circumstance. An Armageddon is just as valuable as a counterspell when wanting to stop an anticipated threat, the method is merely different.
Its only a social taboo by people who have a thin skin. Such thin skins also see counterspells as a social taboo. Even remembered someone got very upset that just their artifacts and enchantments were getting blown up, not their lands, as they were a threat at the table. Treating things in MTG as social taboos is the most slippery slope thing to do.
Basically what I'm saying is:
Quote from Stephen Fry »
It's now very common to hear people say, "I'm rather offended by that." As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. "I find that offensive." It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. "I am offended by that." Well, so ******* what.
Or even just using Wake of Destruction to hit the most common mana at the table like a forest or swamp. Sometimes all three of these in tandem when the planets align and somebody plays an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
Therefore a wise general strives to feed off the enemy. Each pound of food taken from the enemy is equivalent to twenty pounds you provide by yourself.
Or even just using Wake of Destruction to hit the most common mana at the table like a forest or swamp. Sometimes all three of these in tandem when the planets align and somebody plays an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
OP has been considering the possibility of a Maelstrom Wanderer deck for a little while now, so it's really an aside. It doesn't pertain to this discussion, aside from the fact that it would struggle against MLD. Most decks do. It may or may not be a great idea, but that's neither here nor there.
MLD is only breaking the social contract just as much as rock spam and aggressive ramping. All that is happening is the tempo is being altered by a single player.
This is a really reductive statement. In a vacuum you're not wrong, but in a normal game state, you are. Playing rocks and ramp dictates your tempo, and to a minimal degree the rest of the table, who need to keep pace. With MLD, you're talking about a massive downswing in tempo that can drastically alter the course of the game. I can understand playing it, I have a couple of decks capable of it myself. Judicious use is fine, to me; there's a big difference between a T10 Armageddon followed by a win con, and a T4 Armageddon just because. Or even a T10 Armageddon followed by an hour of durdling around looking for a win con. The two latter are dick moves, and your opponents are absolutely entitled to their saltiness. When I shuffle up to game I have a finite amount of time, and I want to enjoy as much of it as possible. So yeah, it's not the worst thing in the world, but judicious use of timing goes a long way to accepting and understanding responses to the relevant spell.
In this instance, I really don't think bowing to MLD is going to be the answer OP is after. There are plenty of solutions and safety nets available in Boros, and there's no reason not to run at least one or two. I feel like if your gut tells you you don't like MLD, running it yourself isn't a good way to resolve the issue, it's really only escalating to a greater plateau of salt. Especially if your deck doesn't have the resilience to bounce back from it or withstand it - you're looking at creating a gaming climate that you can't compete in and don't want to socialise in.
My suggestion - find room for some all-purpose answers. That way you're prepared for MLD if you do come across it, you're not stooping to it if you feel it's not your jam, you're answering other threats as well, and you're not encouraging the meta to escalate past a point you can play with. Faith's Reward, Boros Charm, Teferi's Protection etc. All of them go into a Sunforger package if needed, and none of them are answers for MLD alone. They'll all answer creature sweepers, Vandalblast and other format staples. 2 of the 3 are decently cheap, too. Simple, non-confrontational, multi-variable answers all of them.
teferis protection also stops the biggest boogeyman in the format cyclonic rift. completely off subject but if you're on a fixed income splurge here. it's a great card.
I understand she wants a wanderer deck but in her meta she won't enjoy it and would probably feel like she wasted some money on making it. you don't have to build kalia mld but she does great around it.
I think I'll be posting soon a "Let's Brew" thread on Alesha. I don't want to seriously consider Maelstrom Wanderer until I know that MLD isn't going to be a huge thing. It seems to me that Alesha would be more resilient to it, and also because I had a Kaalia deck I have some Mardu staples that I can reuse in the building of Alesha. I want a deck using her because I love her story. I just read the full story on the Wizards site last night, and she's just a really amazing character. I love the idea of her leading a warrior tribal/reanimator deck. I was encouraged to make a deck in either black, green, or both that makes use of my graveyard, and GloriousGoose said that Alesha might be just the thing for me, so I think she will get built before MW does. I have a convention this coming month, so I may not have any money for MtG cards. We'll see. If not, I'll start building it in June.
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"Cut it down, bury it in the snow, put it to the torch. The rose will still bloom again."
The big thing is that that's not a problem for you though. Every time MW gets cast you're getting 2 free spells, over and above MW. All you need to do is cast it. Sure it gets expensive but you're running green. It doesn't even matter if he's countered, the cascades still happen.
If you read the OP she is talking about how she stopped running Kaalia due to social pressure. In that context running Maelstrom Wanderer does nothing to solver her problems, and arguably amplifies them. Whether or not you are able to get cascade triggers from casting MW really isn't relevant in that context.
Honestly, the way to beat MLD is to not rely on lands. Keep your curve down. Play more artifact mana. Play removal/discard/counters. Play actual threats that discourage MLD. Nobody will Armageddon if they know they will lose after they cast it. Crucible of Worlds will help out a ton. Planeswalkers or powerful enchantments that hang around can help alot as well.
Or you could play the MLD deck. Kaalia is pretty good at that. If you think of her as a 4 mana creature that creates 6+ mana a turn, and that you don't actually need lands anymore, you'll go much further.
Also, Maelstrom Wanderer doesn't care about MLD as much as you might think. The trick is to play like 32+ ramp cards. That much ramp density lets you recover from MLD much better than most decks. Also, if you already have MW out, the odds of your opponent using Armageddon is pretty low. You have a 7/5 out that is going to kill them very quickly. Honestly, cascading into Wildfire, Sunder or Jokulhaups is pretty freaking awesome, and wins tons of games.
The big thing is that that's not a problem for you though. Every time MW gets cast you're getting 2 free spells, over and above MW. All you need to do is cast it. Sure it gets expensive but you're running green. It doesn't even matter if he's countered, the cascades still happen.
If you read the OP she is talking about how she stopped running Kaalia due to social pressure. In that context running Maelstrom Wanderer does nothing to solver her problems, and arguably amplifies them. Whether or not you are able to get cascade triggers from casting MW really isn't relevant in that context.
Of course not. That being said, having contributed to OP's threads a couple of times now, she is interested in running MW as an alternative deck anyway - meta dependent - if MLD is prevalent, she has mentioned that MW would be on the backburner.
I may be late to the party but if you are playing CEDH, rebuild kaalia. MLD while not a great strategy is super annoying. And I often tunnel vision mld players (unless I am against evil Adam. He dies first then mld player)
I have a Sapling of colfenor deck that partly is about indestructible stuff, and I have purposely made it possible to MLD with it with combinations like Natural Affinity and Damnation. One of my plans with it is to get Timber Protector out and nuke.
Green is good to recover lands from grave, I use Ramunap Excavator and Tilling Treefolk in it, both to be able to recover faster from any land destruction, and to get lands back for other reasons like Harrow, Evolving wilds, Myriad Landscape.
EDH BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant - Lurking Zombies. GBG Sapling of Colfenor - Forest Growth and Destruction. RWU Zedruu the Greathearted - Blinking and trading. GWB Teneb the Harvester - Enchantments, you lose life I gain life. RRR Neheb the Eternal - Ping people for mana burn.
Based on what you've shared thus far, if your goal is just to have fun and be a Timmy, I'd recommend either Sigarda or Alesha for you. Which depends on how you'd rather play: Sigarda gives you access to better ramp and Emeria, the Sky Ruin and in general lets you play big dumb Angels and lots of recursion for your big dumb Angels (though I'd still go with s slight human subtheme for the lower end of your curve, both for tools and because that synergizes even better with Sigarda 2.0 than it would with Avacyn). Alesha's bodies tend to be smaller but she allows for a lot more value plays should you wish to go that route. Again, recursion abound. This makes them both quite resilient to hate without having to water down the strategy too much since the recursion's a big part of what you'd be doing anyway. Especially good since you dislike being put in Archenemy situations, though they might pop up anyway. Alesha should be a little better st flying under the radar if you avoid things like the aforementioned Master of Cruelties ploy as people will get leery if you start amassing Angels no matter how nonthreatening you're trying to be, but even in the instances where that does happen, White/Green's capable of enough recursion to keep you afloat. That said you mentioned being on a budget. How big/small of a budget are we talking here?
I think I'll go with Alesha first, partly because I already have some Mardu staples to put into the deck, and partly because I relate to her story on a personal level. I started a "Let's Brew" thread about her, and I've been taking those ideas into consideration. I've been busy, so I haven't gotten around to making a deck list yet, and I likely want to ask another question or two before I dive in. Human tribal is looking good for her, but I might throw out the tribal theme entirely if the power level of a non-human Alesha deck is a lot more than that of a human tribal, but it is still like... around 75%, causal, and fair (No MLD, no fast combos, etc.) In general, I spend around $50US on Magic every month, and I want a deck that I can have mostly assembled before too much time has passed, and I can always upgrade pieces as I go along if I really like the deck.
So ideally, I'd like to have a version I can build for $100 or less, and then another that's $300 or under, so I can take it gradually and build, work on improving a deck or two at once. I'll likely build a barebones Alesha build next so that I have three decks I can play with, and because I'm excited at the prospect of having the Alesha deck. Then I can choose which deck to focus on for a given month, or buy whatever cards are available for whatever of my three decks my LGS happens to have the cards to improve. Decks that I can build on a budget and then gradually scale up are ideal for me, and knowing what direction I want to take the build when I improve it is a very good thing, too.
The big thing is that that's not a problem for you though. Every time MW gets cast you're getting 2 free spells, over and above MW. All you need to do is cast it. Sure it gets expensive but you're running green. It doesn't even matter if he's countered, the cascades still happen.
I have this problem every damn release. I'd love to build Muldrotha, the Gravetide, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain and Grand Warlord Radha. The problem is I don't have the card base to support any of these builds, or anywhere to store them. For me, at least, it's important to rationalise each deck - do I enjoy playing it? Does it do what I want it to do? Is it too expensive to get staples for? End of the day I'd rather have less than 10 decks that I love playing or play well, than two dozen decks poorly built. So I think end of the day you have to rationalise it in terms of what your situation can manage financially and logistically. It's good to have most of a deck fleshed out to start with - the less you have to buy or trade for the better for us poor folk.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
My Slugs-and-Hugs Deck plays to both aspects of this by either quickening or slowing the pace of the game. People enjoying my Rites of Flourishing. Making them experience Territorial Dispute with Eon Hub as the game slows down and makes their hands become cluttered. Or even just using Wake of Destruction to hit the most common mana at the table like a forest or swamp. Sometimes all three of these in tandem when the planets align and somebody plays an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
If I'm sitting in a pod and in the first two turns I see around 4-5 shuffle effects between the players, I'm getting really worried. If I see cards like Mox Opal, Preordain, or Mystic Remora I would assume I'm playing against some tier 1-2 decks. Kaalia probably isn't going to cut it unless you can play something like a Null Rod or Rest in Peace or Suppression Field. So you might as well play those cards.
You might think people love group hug type effects, but in previous polls on the message board group hug decks were by far the most hated.
Do you know how satisfying it is to not play a 4 hour game? Or to play more than one or two games a night? MLD is a great tool, but not in Multi-Player. So, you want to punish the ramp player? What did the dude whose just been hitting his land drops and playing on curve do to deserve that?
This isn’t a MLD thread, so I won’t go into detail. But, MLD is a selfish play. Which in turn makes it a social taboo in EDH. That’s all. Other ways to handle ramp players than to blow up all the lands.
I would suggest a more tactical approach to the OP. Meta-game like a boss. Play hate and hoser cards that cripple their strategies. Make it difficult for them to do what they want to do, instead of trying to make it impossible, because it doesn’t sound like you have the card pool to do so.
Honestly, Malesteom Wanderer is a solid choice. It gives you access to cheap ramp, and also cheap answers in the form of counterspells. The commander generates CA on its own, so you can go a little heavier on whatever you think will slow your opponents down without sacrificing a ton of tempo. While true he draws a bit of a bulls-eye, but that’s an advantage in this scenario and not a disadvantage. Make them answer your threats. Force them to make choices and counterplays.
Now, that doesn’t mean build a tier 1 competetive deck. A couple of fatties, some effiecent answers, and away we go. No need to stoop to their level just to beat them at their own game. You can still play your game, your way, and get the desired results.
Kalia may be the most hated but honestly she does great running MLD herself. drop her blow up lands. that's what I would do and get ahold of teferis protection and boros charm and the like.
if all else fails play jhoria and become enemy number 1.
Also don't play Maelstrom Wanderer if there is MLD from regular opponents as you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
I play what makes me happy. Not what makes others happy. Because frankly people are impossible to please.
What did the rest of the table deserve for when person combos off for infinite (Damage/draw/turns/etc)? What did the rest of the table do to deserve to get run down by a tribal/token swarm? What did the rest of the table do to deserve to fight against a deck that has "win the game" cards? What did the rest of the table do to deserve to fight a stax deck? Nothing. Its just a fact of magic the gathering in general.
Other ways to handle ramp decks? Well last I checked that means I have to run stax if I want a reliable option which is about as cruel as MLD and creates the same feeling of players wanting the game to end already. As other such things like tucking hasn't been that supported and red still doesn't have a reliable ways to lock lands down atm.
MLD is a tactical option just like hosers, hate, damage, discard, mill, bounce, sweepers, exile, counterspells, tucking, etc. Everything can be used in a bad or good tactical way based on the circumstance. An Armageddon is just as valuable as a counterspell when wanting to stop an anticipated threat, the method is merely different.
Its only a social taboo by people who have a thin skin. Such thin skins also see counterspells as a social taboo. Even remembered someone got very upset that just their artifacts and enchantments were getting blown up, not their lands, as they were a threat at the table. Treating things in MTG as social taboos is the most slippery slope thing to do.
Basically what I'm saying is:
[Primer] Erebos, God of the Dead
HONK HONK
This is a really reductive statement. In a vacuum you're not wrong, but in a normal game state, you are. Playing rocks and ramp dictates your tempo, and to a minimal degree the rest of the table, who need to keep pace. With MLD, you're talking about a massive downswing in tempo that can drastically alter the course of the game. I can understand playing it, I have a couple of decks capable of it myself. Judicious use is fine, to me; there's a big difference between a T10 Armageddon followed by a win con, and a T4 Armageddon just because. Or even a T10 Armageddon followed by an hour of durdling around looking for a win con. The two latter are dick moves, and your opponents are absolutely entitled to their saltiness. When I shuffle up to game I have a finite amount of time, and I want to enjoy as much of it as possible. So yeah, it's not the worst thing in the world, but judicious use of timing goes a long way to accepting and understanding responses to the relevant spell.
In this instance, I really don't think bowing to MLD is going to be the answer OP is after. There are plenty of solutions and safety nets available in Boros, and there's no reason not to run at least one or two. I feel like if your gut tells you you don't like MLD, running it yourself isn't a good way to resolve the issue, it's really only escalating to a greater plateau of salt. Especially if your deck doesn't have the resilience to bounce back from it or withstand it - you're looking at creating a gaming climate that you can't compete in and don't want to socialise in.
My suggestion - find room for some all-purpose answers. That way you're prepared for MLD if you do come across it, you're not stooping to it if you feel it's not your jam, you're answering other threats as well, and you're not encouraging the meta to escalate past a point you can play with. Faith's Reward, Boros Charm, Teferi's Protection etc. All of them go into a Sunforger package if needed, and none of them are answers for MLD alone. They'll all answer creature sweepers, Vandalblast and other format staples. 2 of the 3 are decently cheap, too. Simple, non-confrontational, multi-variable answers all of them.
I understand she wants a wanderer deck but in her meta she won't enjoy it and would probably feel like she wasted some money on making it. you don't have to build kalia mld but she does great around it.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
If you read the OP she is talking about how she stopped running Kaalia due to social pressure. In that context running Maelstrom Wanderer does nothing to solver her problems, and arguably amplifies them. Whether or not you are able to get cascade triggers from casting MW really isn't relevant in that context.
Or you could play the MLD deck. Kaalia is pretty good at that. If you think of her as a 4 mana creature that creates 6+ mana a turn, and that you don't actually need lands anymore, you'll go much further.
Probably the best thing to do is play something like Titania, Protector of Argoth, The Gitrog Monster, or Muldrotha, the Gravetide.
Also, Maelstrom Wanderer doesn't care about MLD as much as you might think. The trick is to play like 32+ ramp cards. That much ramp density lets you recover from MLD much better than most decks. Also, if you already have MW out, the odds of your opponent using Armageddon is pretty low. You have a 7/5 out that is going to kill them very quickly. Honestly, cascading into Wildfire, Sunder or Jokulhaups is pretty freaking awesome, and wins tons of games.
Of course not. That being said, having contributed to OP's threads a couple of times now, she is interested in running MW as an alternative deck anyway - meta dependent - if MLD is prevalent, she has mentioned that MW would be on the backburner.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Green is good to recover lands from grave, I use Ramunap Excavator and Tilling Treefolk in it, both to be able to recover faster from any land destruction, and to get lands back for other reasons like Harrow, Evolving wilds, Myriad Landscape.
There is also Splendid Reclamation, World Shaper, Life from the Loam, but that points more towards to use the grave as a resource.
Some lands is indestructible Cascading Cataracts, Darksteel Citadel.
Also there is Soul of new phyrexia
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant - Lurking Zombies.
GBG Sapling of Colfenor - Forest Growth and Destruction.
RWU Zedruu the Greathearted - Blinking and trading.
GWB Teneb the Harvester - Enchantments, you lose life I gain life.
RRR Neheb the Eternal - Ping people for mana burn.
So ideally, I'd like to have a version I can build for $100 or less, and then another that's $300 or under, so I can take it gradually and build, work on improving a deck or two at once. I'll likely build a barebones Alesha build next so that I have three decks I can play with, and because I'm excited at the prospect of having the Alesha deck. Then I can choose which deck to focus on for a given month, or buy whatever cards are available for whatever of my three decks my LGS happens to have the cards to improve. Decks that I can build on a budget and then gradually scale up are ideal for me, and knowing what direction I want to take the build when I improve it is a very good thing, too.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)