Imperial Seal is currently $210 on TCG Player....my resistance is...futile....seriously though, would you cut Utter End still for it?
I am VERY tempted. I saw one for EUR 105 (includes S&H = about 112 USD) - should I go for it?
I mean I'll be honest, I've thrown about $1000 at Ayli so if you can get it for that, you may want to think about it. I love the deck and the war it plays but that's a decision you need to make. I have a price point I wanna spend and if Imperial Seal gets there, I'll buy it.
I mean I'll be honest, I've thrown about $1000 at Ayli so if you can get it for that, you may want to think about it. I love the deck and the war it plays but that's a decision you need to make. I have a price point I wanna spend and if Imperial Seal gets there, I'll buy it.
Aaaand I've ordered it. I think my Ayli list also easily surpasses $1000, so what's another coin in the well.
The Church/Bank of Orzhov demands serious investments.
I do think Imperial Seal has reached a price point where it's worth going after. I don't suspect it'll drop below $90 USD to be honest, but having another tutor is really invaluable here I'll probably be trying to pick one up in the next month or so. I'm giving it a bit more time to fall.
Just speculation, but since its a Judge Promo now, I believe it's going to be reprinted in a eternal masters 2 or inventions/expeditions kind of way.
Or they could do some From the Vault with it. Price is dropping enough that a reprint wont make collectors too angry when they do. Just my .02$
Also Ayli -> Gonti's Machinations 9 life for 1 black is hard to pass by.
Ok so mini-gameplay report...more accurately, feedback. Chromatic Lantern is a good include. I'm happy I cut Fellwar Stone for it.
As for Exquisite Archangel and Treasure Keeper...I'm still on the fence about them. How is your testing going?
+1ing a Sorin, Grim Nemisis and drawing a Sheoldred...is prettty good.
Also, I took the plunge...I've wanted Imperial Seal for too long and had some money saved away.
I was also thinking of cutting Vindicate instead of Utter End for Imperial Seal. The instant-speed of Utter End could be huge. Plus, I feel like Utter End is more on theme with what Ayli loves to do, exiling things...all at the small cost of 1 mana more. What do you think Xenphire?
Gameplay report: this deck continues to have a boogeyman reputation. I keep playing archenemy and attracting random hate. (I assure you this is not because of personal grievances with my opponents :-))
Ayli comes down T2 while opponents are busy landing manarocks and/or green-ramping. She eats a removalspell T3. Other permanents (including my land) are magnets for pinpoint removal and counterspells.
Sometimes I miss the denial and non-permanent-based carddraw power of blue. I think a big problem of this deck is, that it does so much at sorcery speed, not faster.
On the bright side: I just received my Imperial Seal. So shiny, so happy.
Ayli went 2-0 tonight! I'm very happy with how she performed. The second game she went infinite wth Sun Titan, Angelic Renewal and Blasting Station. Thankfully another player destroyed a Linvala, Keeper of Silence.
I ended up cutting my Vindicate for Imperial Seal. What did you decide?
Also, I keep going back-and-forth between Sorin Markov and Desolation Angel as the 1 very 'unfriendly' card I allow myself in this deck.
I ended up cutting my Vindicate for Imperial Seal. What did you decide?
Also, I keep going back-and-forth between Sorin Markov and Desolation Angel as the 1 very 'unfriendly' card I allow myself in this deck.
I, myself, cut Vindicate for Imperial Seal too. The reason being is that the 1 more mana cost is worth the versatility of being Instant. there are 95% of cases that the nonland drawback actualy comes into play. For me, that's enough.
Good thing I stopped by here, I just realized that my Imperial Seal is still in my binder rather than my Ayli deck. I only just got the play the deck for the first time last Friday, despite having it built since Ayli came out. We played 4 player, with Planechase (because we are dumb). Started at 11 PM and didn't finish until 1 am. The deck was great, but my play was not.
I ended up Exiling over 30 permanents with Ashen Rider over the course of the game. I knew Corpse Dance was an insane card, but never realized just how much so until I cast it twice in my own upkeep with a Mishra's Helix trigger on the stack tapping me down, getting back a Sepulchral Primordial and a Grim Haruspex (those were the top two creatures due to a Wheel of Fortune, I needed to dig to Ashen Rider), while Murasa was the Plane, getting me two triggers, then the Primordial trigger, getting me a Trinket Mage (getting a Sol Ring) and a Solemn Simulacrum, for two more Murasa tiggers, plus the Solemn one. I then rolled to Planar die and switched to Undercity Reaches to draw two from attacking with the Danced Creatures.
I ended up losing in the end to forgetting to hold up an activation of Ayli's second ability, but the game was crazy. I also missed setting up a value loop of Chainer, Dementia Master, Ayli and Sun Titan that probably would have won me the game (although not on the spot), but I was on my 22nd hour of being awake so I missed it. I think I definitely want to cut the Haruspex for the Imperial Seal. I think a Panharmonicon would be good in my deck too and I don't own one yet (nearly all my creatures have an ETB effect) and an Anguished Unmaking too.
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"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
@.H. Thanks for stopping by and telling us about your game! Sounds pretty epic There's so much interaction to keep track of in an EDH game, let alone this deck, that it can be easy to start missing stuff when you're not quite awake, haha.
I won my game I played Saturday night after a 2 hour long game. It started out with one player causing me to wheel my hand twice, losing combo pieces twice. Discarded Angelic Renewal, Reveillark and Ashnod's Altar. The Wheel Deck player was playing two partner commanders, one being Vial Smasher and the Kruphix-themed one - I forget their names. The other two players were Atraxa and Pheldagriff. As soon as Wheels played Leovold, Emissary of Trest I used Damnation, but not before I got smacked a few times by Atraxa while trying to deal with the Wheel Deck player. Played Viscera Seer, said enough and tutored for Yosei, the Morning Star and sacrificed him to the Seer to tap and lock the Wheel player out of the game. Then I got smacked with Rest in Peace by Pheldagriff, but the Wheels player's only win cons were lock with Leovold and the Psychosis Crawler and they were about to be exiled. He had a Wheel of Fate suspended with 1 counter left when he played Leovold, so in response to the Rest in Peace I used Necromancy to reanimate his Leovold. After that the game was more or less on lock. I methodically killed table, first eventually exiling the Rest in Peace with an Archon of Justice trigger, then the Wheel player by using Tree of Perdition on him in response to the Atraxa player attacking him so that Atraxa knocked him out, then playing Sheoldred, Whispering One so he'd have to sacrifice Atraxa (who was his only creature) on his upkeep. Pheldagriff was just a group hug/chaos deck that didn't really do anything. It was a pretty testing game. I still had the Fiend Hunter + Sun Titan + Blasting Station combo left and ultimately finished the pod using that.
Being able to target a land can be a pretty strategically important thing. Destroying a Reliquary Tower can be a huge blow to a lot of decks. Glacial Chasm being destroyed can be a pretty big boon in political dealings. Ditto with Minamo, School at Water's Edge and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. There are a lot of lands that if left unchecked can result in losing the game. Since I don't typically run land destruction, this makes Vindicate more valuable than Utter End, in my opinion. Utter End is an Instant, sure, but more often than not I've used Vindicate to actually target lands that will become/are being problematic. It's a meta call, of course, but I have decks like Muzzio, Visionary Architect, Borborygmos Enraged, Omnath, Locus of Rage, and a lot of others where certain lands are a huge deal
Being able to target a land can be a pretty strategically important thing. Destroying a Reliquary Tower can be a huge blow to a lot of decks. Glacial Chasm being destroyed can be a pretty big boon in political dealings. Ditto with Minamo, School at Water's Edge and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. There are a lot of lands that if left unchecked can result in losing the game. Since I don't typically run land destruction, this makes Vindicate more valuable than Utter End, in my opinion. Utter End is an Instant, sure, but more often than not I've used Vindicate to actually target lands that will become/are being problematic. It's a meta call, of course, but I have decks like Muzzio, Visionary Architect, Borborygmos Enraged, Omnath, Locus of Rage, and a lot of others where certain lands are a huge deal
Also holy crap Necromancy is some tech. Animate Dead #2 for Sun Titan to grab that has better responsiveness to various threats. I need to pick one up for Alesha.
Well, I don't think it comes down to just an Instant vs Sorcery, being able to target lands or not. Exiling is a big deal, as recursion and indestructible are real concerns (at least, in my experience). For example, if Ashen Rider didn't Exile (as opposed to destroy) things, that game I mentioned would have been over much sooner.
Frankly, my aim is to fit Anguished Unmaking, VindicateandUtter End into my deck, along with Imperial Seal. Then again, my approach to EDH is often very different than most people, as I am apt to take a control role rather than going all-in on winning quickly, of even in a timely manner, just getting value where I can and making sure no one else wins. I spent most of my above mentioned game making sure no one ultimated Jace, kept a Blood Moon, or do something else that might give them a real advantage. Once they have nothing that really matters, I can win at my leisure.
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"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
Well, I don't think it comes down to just an Instant vs Sorcery, being able to target lands or not. Exiling is a big deal, as recursion and indestructible are real concerns (at least, in my experience). For example, if Ashen Rider didn't Exile (as opposed to destroy) things, that game I mentioned would have been over much sooner.
Frankly, my aim is to fit Anguished Unmaking, VindicateandUtter End into my deck, along with Imperial Seal. Then again, my approach to EDH is often very different than most people, as I am apt to take a control role rather than going all-in on winning quickly, of even in a timely manner, just getting value where I can and making sure no one else wins. I spent most of my above mentioned game making sure no one ultimated Jace, kept a Blood Moon, or do something else that might give them a real advantage. Once they have nothing that really matters, I can win at my leisure.
I agree that Exile is important, but at least in the list I run I have Ashen Rider, Archon of Justice, the sac combo with Fiend Hunter, Merciless Eviction, Anguished Unmaking, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Swords to Plowshares. Personally I don't feel I'm losing much by replacing one effect. I also considered what options I have to find land removal with Imperial Seal versus how much spot removal for other permanents I have to find. There's less targeted Land removal in my build than there is removal for other types of permanents, so it made less sense to me to reduce further on where a specific type of important removal is lacking than one I have ample amounts of If I get wheeled or forced to discard, I have a higher chance of having no response to problematic non-basic lands than I do having a response to other types of threats or problems for Imperial Seal to search for.
I agree that Exile is important, but at least in the list I run I have Ashen Rider, Archon of Justice, the sac combo with Fiend Hunter, Merciless Eviction, Anguished Unmaking, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Swords to Plowshares. Personally I don't feel I'm losing much by replacing one effect. I also considered what options I have to find land removal with Imperial Seal versus how much spot removal for other permanents I have to find. There's less targeted Land removal in my build than there is removal for other types of permanents, so it made less sense to me to reduce further on where a specific type of important removal is lacking than one I have ample amounts of If I get wheeled or forced to discard, I have a higher chance of having no response to problematic non-basic lands than I do having a response to other types of threats or problems for Imperial Seal to search for.
I wasn't trying to make an "I'm right and you're wrong" sort of argument, just assessing that there are some additional considerations in the differences between the two. I don't think there is ever a "correct answer" here, but rather a list of valid concerns given your list, play-style, expected meta and so on. I don't think cutting Vindicate is necessarily wrong, just something I wouldn't personally want to do, since I expect to often see hateful permanents in abundance. I simply want all the efficient answers I can reasonably get. I don't personally run Merciless Eviction, because 6 mana is an awful lot, and my list's average CMC is very high already, but I think it is something I am going to have to consider.
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"The Ancients teach us that if we can but last, we shall prevail."
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I agree that Exile is important, but at least in the list I run I have Ashen Rider, Archon of Justice, the sac combo with Fiend Hunter, Merciless Eviction, Anguished Unmaking, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Swords to Plowshares. Personally I don't feel I'm losing much by replacing one effect. I also considered what options I have to find land removal with Imperial Seal versus how much spot removal for other permanents I have to find. There's less targeted Land removal in my build than there is removal for other types of permanents, so it made less sense to me to reduce further on where a specific type of important removal is lacking than one I have ample amounts of If I get wheeled or forced to discard, I have a higher chance of having no response to problematic non-basic lands than I do having a response to other types of threats or problems for Imperial Seal to search for.
I wasn't trying to make an "I'm right and you're wrong" sort of argument, just assessing that there are some additional considerations in the differences between the two. I don't think there is ever a "correct answer" here, but rather a list of valid concerns given your list, play-style, expected meta and so on. I don't think cutting Vindicate is necessarily wrong, just something I wouldn't personally want to do, since I expect to often see hateful permanents in abundance. I simply want all the efficient answers I can reasonably get. I don't personally run Merciless Eviction, because 6 mana is an awful lot, and my list's average CMC is very high already, but I think it is something I am going to have to consider.
I don't think of it as being right or wrong at all, I just felt like I hadn't explained my reasoning for the choice. I'm not out to prove anyone wrong and not even necessarily to change anyone's mind. My reasoning for my cut was slightly in contention with the reasons for your cut choice and I hadn't explained some of my own reasoning entirely and wanted to put it out there Y'all have to build what feels right to you, which is why when everyone posts their lists I point out and encourage differences from my own list and the unique things others are doing that I enjoy seeing albeit in the same spirit of Ayli. Ultimately I'm just happy everyone is here talking about the deck and ideas! Sometimes someone will ask about a card and I'll say I wouldn't play it or why or why I wouldn't make this or that change, but it's less about trying to prove anyone right or wrong and offering my own experience for them to consider
As for Merciless Eviction, I eventually took out Black Sun's Zenith for it because most of the time I was paying enough mana into it to be paying the same thing (losing the effect to draw it again later, admitedly). Superfriends was taking off at the time, and with the rise of Atraxa and everyone going that route, the ability to exile all Planeswalkers was really something I couldn't ignore, on top of the utility of getting rid of Artifacts and other permanents under the protection of Darksteel Forge, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Archetype of Endurance, and Enchantress/Voltron decks like Sigarda, Host of Herons.
Remember that Ayli exiles things as well. I cut utter end from my list, kept vindicate and anguished. If your mana base can do it use strip mine, ghost quarter and tectonic edge as well, a expeditiom map never hurt either.
Remember that Ayli exiles things as well. I cut utter end from my list, kept vindicate and anguished. If your mana base can do it use strip mine, ghost quarter and tectonic edge as well, a expeditiom map never hurt either.
Right. Depending on the list depends on how easy it is for us to get the 50 life to turn on her 2nd activated ability, but it's there. As for effects that aren't attached to creatures go, I have Vindicate and Strip Mine, myself. They do the job for my meta and groups I play in Some may require more or less, depending! Expedition Map is great utility. I usually use it to find Volrath's Stronghold, Boseiju, Who Shelters All, Maze of Ith or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or whatever my pod calls for.
Just occured to me that I really need to get all the stuff on MTGO to play various builds and packages for some upcoming play videos and a deck tech I intend to do
Just invested in a Volrath's Stronghold for this, it should make the deck a lot more effective. I can't bring myself to buy an Imperial Seal but the Stronghold is almost reasonably priced, a great effect, and isn't likely to go down significantly thanks to the Reserve List. Though I only really have Rune-Scarred Demon and Diabolic Tutor as far as tutors go, it's harder for me to justify a Vampiric, Enlightened, or Demonic Tutor right now as they are pretty solid reprint candidates. Though Eternal Masters seems to have made absolutely no impact on the price of Vampiric Tutor.
As for Merciless Eviction, I eventually took out Black Sun's Zenith for it because most of the time I was paying enough mana into it to be paying the same thing (losing the effect to draw it again later, admitedly). Superfriends was taking off at the time, and with the rise of Atraxa and everyone going that route, the ability to exile all Planeswalkers was really something I couldn't ignore, on top of the utility of getting rid of Artifacts and other permanents under the protection of Darksteel Forge, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Archetype of Endurance, and Enchantress/Voltron decks like Sigarda, Host of Herons.
I think that is a good swap, in most cases Black Sun is going to cost a ton of mana anyway. Sitting here at work, I am thinking that there are probably some glaring omissions in my deck too, since I threw it together on a whim essentially, like not having Necropotence.
Just occured to me that I really need to get all the stuff on MTGO to play various builds and packages for some upcoming play videos and a deck tech I intend to do
I have had a MTGO account for years now, but have never actually used it. It seems most EDH cards are pretty cheap on there, so maybe post tax-return I'll dump a little money into building this on there.
Play report: Ayli won 2 games (4-players), the best one involving Sheoldred, Whispering One reviving Yosei, the Morning Star each round completely locking opponents out of the game. (Yosei: "Please, Ayli, don't kill me again". Sheoldred: "See you back soon, Morningstar.")
Good news, everyone! (if you read that in Prof. Farnsworth's voice, points to you :p)
Just got a new PC, a pretty snazzy webcam and will be recording some videos to add to the guide/primer along with the update. It's still coming, I swear I've been experimenting with some things in the test forum to make it mobile friendly. In any case, I'll be trying to do videos for various packages after my primary build, prioritizing the budget build. I do have some other Magic content I'll be doing videos and streaming for, and non-Magic related stuff, too. Either way, I'm looking forward to recording Ayli in action!
Glad to see appreciation for Yosei, the Morning Star Locking people out of the game isn't always fun, but when you need it this deck does it with gusto. I've had to recently lock a Wheel-style player out of the game after he wheeled twice making me discard Ugin and some other important cards in the very early game. I also do this against Artifact ramp decks, praying I can do so before they get Unwinding Clock online.
I mean I'll be honest, I've thrown about $1000 at Ayli so if you can get it for that, you may want to think about it. I love the deck and the war it plays but that's a decision you need to make. I have a price point I wanna spend and if Imperial Seal gets there, I'll buy it.
Aaaand I've ordered it. I think my Ayli list also easily surpasses $1000, so what's another coin in the well.
The Church/Bank of Orzhov demands serious investments.
WB Ayli, Eternal Recursion WB - GUPir and Toothy GU - WBR Mathas, Fiend SeekerWBR
(Also known as Xenphire)
Or they could do some From the Vault with it. Price is dropping enough that a reprint wont make collectors too angry when they do. Just my .02$
Also Ayli -> Gonti's Machinations 9 life for 1 black is hard to pass by.
As for Exquisite Archangel and Treasure Keeper...I'm still on the fence about them. How is your testing going?
+1ing a Sorin, Grim Nemisis and drawing a Sheoldred...is prettty good.
Also, I took the plunge...I've wanted Imperial Seal for too long and had some money saved away.
I was also thinking of cutting Vindicate instead of Utter End for Imperial Seal. The instant-speed of Utter End could be huge. Plus, I feel like Utter End is more on theme with what Ayli loves to do, exiling things...all at the small cost of 1 mana more. What do you think Xenphire?
Ayli comes down T2 while opponents are busy landing manarocks and/or green-ramping. She eats a removalspell T3. Other permanents (including my land) are magnets for pinpoint removal and counterspells.
Sometimes I miss the denial and non-permanent-based carddraw power of blue. I think a big problem of this deck is, that it does so much at sorcery speed, not faster.
On the bright side: I just received my Imperial Seal. So shiny, so happy.
WB Ayli, Eternal Recursion WB - GUPir and Toothy GU - WBR Mathas, Fiend SeekerWBR
Imperial Seal came today...so pretty...
Also, I keep going back-and-forth between Sorin Markov and Desolation Angel as the 1 very 'unfriendly' card I allow myself in this deck.
WB Ayli, Eternal Recursion WB - GUPir and Toothy GU - WBR Mathas, Fiend SeekerWBR
I, myself, cut Vindicate for Imperial Seal too. The reason being is that the 1 more mana cost is worth the versatility of being Instant. there are 95% of cases that the nonland drawback actualy comes into play. For me, that's enough.
My 'unfriendly' card is Mimic Vat.
I ended up Exiling over 30 permanents with Ashen Rider over the course of the game. I knew Corpse Dance was an insane card, but never realized just how much so until I cast it twice in my own upkeep with a Mishra's Helix trigger on the stack tapping me down, getting back a Sepulchral Primordial and a Grim Haruspex (those were the top two creatures due to a Wheel of Fortune, I needed to dig to Ashen Rider), while Murasa was the Plane, getting me two triggers, then the Primordial trigger, getting me a Trinket Mage (getting a Sol Ring) and a Solemn Simulacrum, for two more Murasa tiggers, plus the Solemn one. I then rolled to Planar die and switched to Undercity Reaches to draw two from attacking with the Danced Creatures.
I ended up losing in the end to forgetting to hold up an activation of Ayli's second ability, but the game was crazy. I also missed setting up a value loop of Chainer, Dementia Master, Ayli and Sun Titan that probably would have won me the game (although not on the spot), but I was on my 22nd hour of being awake so I missed it. I think I definitely want to cut the Haruspex for the Imperial Seal. I think a Panharmonicon would be good in my deck too and I don't own one yet (nearly all my creatures have an ETB effect) and an Anguished Unmaking too.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I won my game I played Saturday night after a 2 hour long game. It started out with one player causing me to wheel my hand twice, losing combo pieces twice. Discarded Angelic Renewal, Reveillark and Ashnod's Altar. The Wheel Deck player was playing two partner commanders, one being Vial Smasher and the Kruphix-themed one - I forget their names. The other two players were Atraxa and Pheldagriff. As soon as Wheels played Leovold, Emissary of Trest I used Damnation, but not before I got smacked a few times by Atraxa while trying to deal with the Wheel Deck player. Played Viscera Seer, said enough and tutored for Yosei, the Morning Star and sacrificed him to the Seer to tap and lock the Wheel player out of the game. Then I got smacked with Rest in Peace by Pheldagriff, but the Wheels player's only win cons were lock with Leovold and the Psychosis Crawler and they were about to be exiled. He had a Wheel of Fate suspended with 1 counter left when he played Leovold, so in response to the Rest in Peace I used Necromancy to reanimate his Leovold. After that the game was more or less on lock. I methodically killed table, first eventually exiling the Rest in Peace with an Archon of Justice trigger, then the Wheel player by using Tree of Perdition on him in response to the Atraxa player attacking him so that Atraxa knocked him out, then playing Sheoldred, Whispering One so he'd have to sacrifice Atraxa (who was his only creature) on his upkeep. Pheldagriff was just a group hug/chaos deck that didn't really do anything. It was a pretty testing game. I still had the Fiend Hunter + Sun Titan + Blasting Station combo left and ultimately finished the pod using that.
On Imperial Seal vs Vindicate vs Utter End:
Being able to target a land can be a pretty strategically important thing. Destroying a Reliquary Tower can be a huge blow to a lot of decks. Glacial Chasm being destroyed can be a pretty big boon in political dealings. Ditto with Minamo, School at Water's Edge and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. There are a lot of lands that if left unchecked can result in losing the game. Since I don't typically run land destruction, this makes Vindicate more valuable than Utter End, in my opinion. Utter End is an Instant, sure, but more often than not I've used Vindicate to actually target lands that will become/are being problematic. It's a meta call, of course, but I have decks like Muzzio, Visionary Architect, Borborygmos Enraged, Omnath, Locus of Rage, and a lot of others where certain lands are a huge deal
(Also known as Xenphire)
Also holy crap Necromancy is some tech. Animate Dead #2 for Sun Titan to grab that has better responsiveness to various threats. I need to pick one up for Alesha.
Older Magic as a Board Game: Panglacial Wurm , Mill
Frankly, my aim is to fit Anguished Unmaking, Vindicate and Utter End into my deck, along with Imperial Seal. Then again, my approach to EDH is often very different than most people, as I am apt to take a control role rather than going all-in on winning quickly, of even in a timely manner, just getting value where I can and making sure no one else wins. I spent most of my above mentioned game making sure no one ultimated Jace, kept a Blood Moon, or do something else that might give them a real advantage. Once they have nothing that really matters, I can win at my leisure.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I agree that Exile is important, but at least in the list I run I have Ashen Rider, Archon of Justice, the sac combo with Fiend Hunter, Merciless Eviction, Anguished Unmaking, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and Swords to Plowshares. Personally I don't feel I'm losing much by replacing one effect. I also considered what options I have to find land removal with Imperial Seal versus how much spot removal for other permanents I have to find. There's less targeted Land removal in my build than there is removal for other types of permanents, so it made less sense to me to reduce further on where a specific type of important removal is lacking than one I have ample amounts of If I get wheeled or forced to discard, I have a higher chance of having no response to problematic non-basic lands than I do having a response to other types of threats or problems for Imperial Seal to search for.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Have you had a chance to test Exquisite Arxhangel or Treasure Keeper as of yet? Any thoughts?
I hope the redesign is good well. I can't wait to see it.
I wasn't trying to make an "I'm right and you're wrong" sort of argument, just assessing that there are some additional considerations in the differences between the two. I don't think there is ever a "correct answer" here, but rather a list of valid concerns given your list, play-style, expected meta and so on. I don't think cutting Vindicate is necessarily wrong, just something I wouldn't personally want to do, since I expect to often see hateful permanents in abundance. I simply want all the efficient answers I can reasonably get. I don't personally run Merciless Eviction, because 6 mana is an awful lot, and my list's average CMC is very high already, but I think it is something I am going to have to consider.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
I don't think of it as being right or wrong at all, I just felt like I hadn't explained my reasoning for the choice. I'm not out to prove anyone wrong and not even necessarily to change anyone's mind. My reasoning for my cut was slightly in contention with the reasons for your cut choice and I hadn't explained some of my own reasoning entirely and wanted to put it out there Y'all have to build what feels right to you, which is why when everyone posts their lists I point out and encourage differences from my own list and the unique things others are doing that I enjoy seeing albeit in the same spirit of Ayli. Ultimately I'm just happy everyone is here talking about the deck and ideas! Sometimes someone will ask about a card and I'll say I wouldn't play it or why or why I wouldn't make this or that change, but it's less about trying to prove anyone right or wrong and offering my own experience for them to consider
As for Merciless Eviction, I eventually took out Black Sun's Zenith for it because most of the time I was paying enough mana into it to be paying the same thing (losing the effect to draw it again later, admitedly). Superfriends was taking off at the time, and with the rise of Atraxa and everyone going that route, the ability to exile all Planeswalkers was really something I couldn't ignore, on top of the utility of getting rid of Artifacts and other permanents under the protection of Darksteel Forge, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Archetype of Endurance, and Enchantress/Voltron decks like Sigarda, Host of Herons.
(Also known as Xenphire)
Right. Depending on the list depends on how easy it is for us to get the 50 life to turn on her 2nd activated ability, but it's there. As for effects that aren't attached to creatures go, I have Vindicate and Strip Mine, myself. They do the job for my meta and groups I play in Some may require more or less, depending! Expedition Map is great utility. I usually use it to find Volrath's Stronghold, Boseiju, Who Shelters All, Maze of Ith or Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or whatever my pod calls for.
Just occured to me that I really need to get all the stuff on MTGO to play various builds and packages for some upcoming play videos and a deck tech I intend to do
(Also known as Xenphire)
I think that is a good swap, in most cases Black Sun is going to cost a ton of mana anyway. Sitting here at work, I am thinking that there are probably some glaring omissions in my deck too, since I threw it together on a whim essentially, like not having Necropotence.
I have had a MTGO account for years now, but have never actually used it. It seems most EDH cards are pretty cheap on there, so maybe post tax-return I'll dump a little money into building this on there.
—Kaysa, Elder Druid of the Juniper Order
(Yosei: "Please, Ayli, don't kill me again". Sheoldred: "See you back soon, Morningstar.")
I liked it so much I ordered a foil Yosei
WB Ayli, Eternal Recursion WB - GUPir and Toothy GU - WBR Mathas, Fiend SeekerWBR
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Just got a new PC, a pretty snazzy webcam and will be recording some videos to add to the guide/primer along with the update. It's still coming, I swear I've been experimenting with some things in the test forum to make it mobile friendly. In any case, I'll be trying to do videos for various packages after my primary build, prioritizing the budget build. I do have some other Magic content I'll be doing videos and streaming for, and non-Magic related stuff, too. Either way, I'm looking forward to recording Ayli in action!
Glad to see appreciation for Yosei, the Morning Star Locking people out of the game isn't always fun, but when you need it this deck does it with gusto. I've had to recently lock a Wheel-style player out of the game after he wheeled twice making me discard Ugin and some other important cards in the very early game. I also do this against Artifact ramp decks, praying I can do so before they get Unwinding Clock online.
(Also known as Xenphire)