I'm genuinely surprised Strionic Resonator hasn't come up on any of these threads, including Mr. Coupon's.
Lessee, cons: dead 2nd cascade (if you land it first with open mana it copies the 2nd to replace itself.) Doesn't produce mana. Requires open mana to have any effect. Might be win-more.
Pros: copies any number of ETB or on-cast effects, including additional cascades. Doubles draw off Kozilek, copies any number of Planeswalker activations for value, is draw 1 for 2 mana off a Rhystic Study trigger (or slows opponent tempo further.) Copies E-Wit's ability to recur. Gives us a second removal target with Brutalizer Exarch. Just generally interacts well with a fair chunk of the deck. It can even copy Kozilek's 'enters graveyard' trigger in response to grave hate, although we don't care about that much, except when we do (heavy mill/exile decks come to mind.) Worst case it eats removal which could target other things. Creates one-sided advantage. Is an artifact, so tutors with Tez and untaps as well if we see large benefit in doing so. Makes mana with Palinchron. Can be viewed as redundancy for DEN.
My thinking here is that any effect we value enough to play in this deck is worth copying for two mana, even with the small downside of being a possible dead cascade. My main concern with including it is that there may not be enough things for it to copy *early* enough, and by late game we're already doing silly things, so it may really be win-more.
I don't like Strionic Resonator because it doesn't do much on its own. It doesn't help us get to Wanderer faster, if we have it before Wanderer we need 10 mana to even use it, and as a cascade it is really meh. Also, I don't think it works like you think it works. Carpet of Flowers is a mana ability and cannot be targeted. You can use it with Kozy, but again you need 12 mana in order to use it. You cannot use it to copy Planeswalker abilities because they are activated abilities, not triggered abilities, unless you have an emblem that causes a triggered ability. Copying rebound does not do anything meaningful.
I would rather play an interactive spell like the new Spell Swindle.
Akroma reading this thread your argument for many high cost things has been 'we get mana easily.' Strionic shouldn't be evaluated as (any card's CMC +2,) it should be evaluated as (any card's CMC) +2. That is to say, it's a two mana 'kicker' for some of our favorite things to do.
Looks like you're right about the inability to copy Carpet or Rebound. Even so... that's 2 of a whole host of pros. Edited prior post to remove those interactions as they are not functional.
Strionic shouldn't be evaluated as (any card's CMC +2,) it should be evaluated as (any card's CMC) +2. That is to say, it's a two mana 'kicker' for some of our favorite things to do.
This thread is dead along with Mr Coupon's All Who Wander Are Not Lost Maelstrom thread. Does anyone know where there is active competitive Wanderer discussion?
I know Maelstrom is at best a tier two deck. I think it still has a place at the top end of casual decks.
I am thinking about going back to Wanderer, I have been playing in a semi-competitive meta, and the leader has told me that he feels my constant infinite combos are too "competitive". This guy basically plays no answers and he is tired of dying to combo, yet he plays a Windgrace landfall deck that can swing for lethal on turn 5. Do you guys think it could make a comeback in a non-combo, agro meta?
Hell yeah wanderer will feast in a meta with no combo. He's literally the best ramp commander there is since he brings his own card advantage and provides free mana. You don't even need to food chain, just play a couple bounce outlets and recast him multiple times a turn then bash for lethal.
Yeah I agree Wanderer has always seemed to smash through 'fair' metas if you have the ramp for it the value the Commander produces is hard to keep a lid on.
If your meta demands ramp decks, it's almost surely the best ramp commander. It's no longer competitive since the mulligan rule changed, though. You don't have the speed and consistency when you can't consistently turn 3-4 things you'd like to cascade into into 2-3 ramp spells. That said, this thing is no fun to play against. Its best hands are *still* in competitive territory, its typical hands are a turn short of competitive, and its worst hands are no fun to play because everyone else sitting at the table has no way to know how bad your hand is and they all just stomp you.
I will tell you the story Duck, after winning 5 games in a row at my LGS with Inalla, my LGS banned infinite combo, and they all play mostly agro, so I figured I might try to build Wanderer again. Are there any cards that have been printed recently that you would consider if you were still playing Wanderer?
I think you'll enjoy teaching the lesson that ramp unconstrained by combo is unhealthy personally. That's one lesson my meta took away from the year or so we stopped playing combos--wanderer just rolled everyone and then we realized we needed combos to constrain ramp decks or the format just becomes about who can ramp the hardest.
Lessee, cons: dead 2nd cascade (if you land it first with open mana it copies the 2nd to replace itself.) Doesn't produce mana. Requires open mana to have any effect. Might be win-more.
Pros: copies any number of ETB or on-cast effects, including additional cascades. Doubles draw off Kozilek, copies any number of Planeswalker activations for value, is draw 1 for 2 mana off a Rhystic Study trigger (or slows opponent tempo further.) Copies E-Wit's ability to recur. Gives us a second removal target with Brutalizer Exarch. Just generally interacts well with a fair chunk of the deck. It can even copy Kozilek's 'enters graveyard' trigger in response to grave hate, although we don't care about that much, except when we do (heavy mill/exile decks come to mind.) Worst case it eats removal which could target other things. Creates one-sided advantage. Is an artifact, so tutors with Tez and untaps as well if we see large benefit in doing so. Makes mana with Palinchron. Can be viewed as redundancy for DEN.
My thinking here is that any effect we value enough to play in this deck is worth copying for two mana, even with the small downside of being a possible dead cascade. My main concern with including it is that there may not be enough things for it to copy *early* enough, and by late game we're already doing silly things, so it may really be win-more.
Thoughts?
Carpet of Flowers is a mana ability and cannot be targeted. You can use it with Kozy, but again you need 12 mana in order to use it. You cannot use it to copy Planeswalker abilities because they are activated abilities, not triggered abilities, unless you have an emblem that causes a triggered ability. Copying rebound does not do anything meaningful.
I would rather play an interactive spell like the new Spell Swindle.
Looks like you're right about the inability to copy Carpet or Rebound. Even so... that's 2 of a whole host of pros. Edited prior post to remove those interactions as they are not functional.
Pretty sure that's how he evaluated it.
[EDH] Rafiq of the Many
[EDH]Chainer, Dementia Master
[EDH] Maelstrom Wanderer
I know Maelstrom is at best a tier two deck. I think it still has a place at the top end of casual decks.
..
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I recommend playing something else.
https://www.cubecobra.com/cube/list/p420
Good to see you are still lurking!
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
Especially if you're avoiding stax.
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall