Mox in multiples isn't a game killer and can be pretty good, while sculptor in multiples isn't very good.
Sculptor in multiples is as good as free wellsprings while comboing off. Free two mana is extremely better than one free mana when building up your faceburn gift; banefire. I rarely, if ever, fire one off for less than 35. And, often lay a failsafe Emarakul before doing so.
Cloud key has been an okay accelerant/faux land drop but does not do enough mid-combo. I'll probably try replacing it with stirrings next.
Having played both Cloud Key and Etherium Sculptor, the key does not compare. The cost is higher and no chump block option in the waning turns before combo in the face of a non-flying threat.
Four Terrarion at the same time as three Chromatic Sphere is questionable. Though I have no special love for the Sphere when compared to the Star, Terrarion's similarity to the Star is superficial at best. The comes into tapped is a card value drain from which it cannot be saved. Then, the double colored mana source is a double-edged sword: The benefit gained late game is equalized by the added complexity early game. What makes it worse? I love Terrarion's artwork for the similarity to the Star. There was a brief moment when I thought about trading the Sphere out for Terrarion completely. Then, I ran it. That moment is now fading from my memory.
Gitaxian Probe MD makes me a tad lusty until I see the cost; Codex shredder and Spine of Ish Sah banished to the SB. Important playlines and basic mechanics will truly suffer. I just don't have the room in Krak Eggs, or I would love the Probe for its built in Intel factor. Got a counter? No?! Awesome, comboing off now!
We could debate the value of running two Emrakul's; card slot value, increased opening hand risk and graveyard killing card mechanic. But, if you want to draw one sooner a second is the path to that.
I love Eggs. Let us start where is best. I LOVE Eggs. In how many decks can you cast a Emrakul and THEN cast a banefire for 30 with leftover mana? People... do not like that maneuver. That makes me LOVE that maneuver. Butthurt and ragequit are savory and tasty sustenance.
I have tried and fried many of the Egg archetypes. With some, the mechanics... did not seem complete to me. With others, the durdling factor was simply too high. I sought to win as quickly as possible without relying on drawing my entire deck just to win the game. To me, an early scoop is the worst flavor of a win. The line between ragequit and a scoop due to mechanics is a thin one. Pyrite Spellbomb? [Insert .gif of me puking here.]
Working through the available material on Eggs, I found it to be lacking; poorly written articles by non-eggs players or videos of the same basic tenor. Here, I found much information of value; lengthy threads full of people in the process of brewing and playing. I built and brewed myself. Settling upon a decklist, I played it for months at a rate of five-to-ten games per day. Then, I reworked the mana-base again and again. Even in my own work I found there was something lacking.
Enter Genesis Wave and Tezzeret the Seeker. Reshape had been lauded so highly by pro players... and did not work for me. Tezz had been derided quite thoroughly in a thread here, but I have found that it works better than the consensus favorite. In the case of reshape, you may sac an artifact, which is nice, but you must have a target to cheat the Lotus bloom into play. That artifact's cost, plus the cost of the Reshape should factor into your analysis of Tezz. Further, you only get the effect once. I like a lotus bloom per turn. You might too. If you target an Krark-clan Ironworks with reshape, you get to pay cmc 6, as opposed to cmc 5 with Tezz. Not a fan. Game two? Grafdigger's Cage one turn and Defense Grid the next is great. Tezz is reusable. It demands an answer. Further, it is a alternate wincon. Genesis Wave is another way of cheating lotus bloom into play, and that should count for something, a lot of something. Reshaping a Darksteel Citadel into play is a bad play. Tezzeret'ing one into play if you are lacking lotus blooms for whatever reason is less so. Oh, and did I mention is costs -0 loyalty? Yeah.
Genesis wave changed the deck more than any other card. It is an innovation. It is the lacking mechanic that I had sought without knowing what it was that I sought. The unknown unknown. I oft refer to the effect of Open the Vaults as Vomiting. I.e "vomiting up my 'Yard." Genesis wave does exactly that for my deck. For those of you who play Eggs, think of the number of times that you have found yourself without fuel in your 'Yard. What good are those 30-40 cards in your library doing you? Be it a Genesis wave for 6 or for 30, I have pulled some 3 life games from the dustbin of MTGO history using this savior playline. That, brings us to Faith's Reward and my disdain for it. I cannot count the number of times that I topdecked a Faith's Reward instead of an Open the Vaults and my shoulders sank. It is only any good when you are already comboing off. Faith's Reward was out. Never to return. I would rather run a couple Roar of Reclamation than any Faith's Reward. Genesis wave is superior in every way.Open the Vaults is the yin to the Genesis Wave yang. Something about being able to buy two Genesis Wave foils for two bucks is extremely satisfying. (Boldly, in the face of paper speculators, laughing.)
The manabase. Running three colors is a task in an of itself. I tried Come into play tapped lands like Ruptured Spire, but they were trash in the deck. Filter lands let me pull the Prophetic Prism which has the dangerous comes-into-play cantrip. Shimmering grotto, or unknown shores if you like, keeps the Reflecting pool in check. Any more than two reflecting pools and you run the risk of more Tapping-For-Zero situations that do occur sometimes. Mulligans are your friend. It has been said elsewhere, but one land hands ARE trash: Throw them away. Shimmering grotto do look like Reflecting pool so unknown shores may be a better choice solely due to the very different artwork. Though any Eggs player will know, Darksteel Citadel tap-n-sac is an important playline. The fact that it IS a colorless black lotus, in Eggs, is worth noting with repetition.
Another big enhancement that took me by surprise? Gemstone Caverns. I only run two. Any more than that and I fear it would be a dead draw far more than I am comfortable. It is in starting hands far more than you might think. There are times I have exiled one to play the other. Gemstone Caverns has also enabled far more turn two Krark-clan Ironworks situations than was possible before. Plus, you just gotta love a turn zero land play.
Codex Shredder has been far better to me than Conjurer's Bauble ever has. I am sure its absence did not go unnoticed. Though I see its value, it, to me, is a relic from the durdling era of Second Sunrise. Codex targets and works when I need it to, not only after I have spent a lengthy amount of time drawing my entire deck. Genesis Wave also dumps much needed spells into the 'Yard where they can be targeted by Codex Shredder. Where the hell'd that Banefire go? Bam into the 'Yard. I like to keep my Genesis wave about 6 cards short of my whole deck and have had the banefire hide in that tidbit remaining behind. Aether Spellbomb is in the Conjurer's Bauble slot and I find it more effective in games than the other spellbombs or bauble. You may, and rightly so, say it is a deviation from the all-in nature of Eggs. Though Spine of Ish Sah is nerdgasm worthy, it is not, however, enough to thwart to utility creature heavy meta that we find ourselves.
What the deck needs is... Mox Opal. Two, I think. As in, -1 Etherium Sculptor, -1 Aether Spellbomb. Maybe, -1 Etherium Sculptor and -1 plains. The sideboard... Oh, the sideboard. The listed SB is largely theoretical, as I have not worked on it in some time. I have tended to play single games and not matches. I am acutely aware that it is a work-in-progress.
Comboing off... Turn three wins are rare. Turn four is common. Turn five is simple(without disruption). For Eggs to regain its competitiveness, a focus on turn three win consistency is of the utmost importance. Mox opal and Gemstone Caverns assist with that.
I had been intending to do this writeup for some time but had been very busy with work. Though most of the deck existed previously, Genesis wave really does change the way the deck functions. I thought that it was worth sharing with the community.
But, as I cannot create a wizards account, I cannot participate in the discussion and nothing concrete has been posted publicly. I work in IT; Windows 7 migration technician. This agitates me to no end. I have to add to knowledge bases at work and the WotC knowledge base is... thin.
After the update/downtime a couple of days ago, I cannot log on to either client. I cannot create a wizards account because of a defective EULA check box that pops a blank window. Therefore I cannot even submit a help ticket. The knowledge base is rudimentary at best. The phone banks are closed even though the time they say that they are open is now. You cannot even get an email address to use without the account that I cannot create.
Before the update the beta worked. After the update, I installed the original client and it worked, until I uninstalled it to reinstall the Beta.
Beta Client: "MainNavigation Stopped Working"
The shortcut pops the slash screen and it errors out.
Tried reinstalling, tried installing .net 4.5.1, tried both again. (Multiple reboots to check installs)
Client: "Connecting" then "disconnected"
Client checks versions, loads to log on, click connect, "disconnected" after trying to log in. Have broadband 5mbps with no other internet accessing programs running.
Tried reinstalling, tried deleting the .txt files suggested online. (Multiple reboots to check installs)
I have an order from MTGO Academy that I am supposed to be picking up. This is crazy; no path to customer service.
Can anyone assist me with this problem? I am losing my mind
It's pretty cool to have someone else cheating an emrakul into play for a change. Especially, so explosively!
Mmhmm, me too. 100% agree. Faith's reward IS underwhelming. Though, I tried Roar... it too was underwhelming.
Sculptor in multiples is as good as free wellsprings while comboing off. Free two mana is extremely better than one free mana when building up your faceburn gift; banefire. I rarely, if ever, fire one off for less than 35. And, often lay a failsafe Emarakul before doing so.
110% agreement. Glimmervoid = Pwn.
Anyone else a lil sad Nyx Weaver is the best card we got in the new set?
Having played both Cloud Key and Etherium Sculptor, the key does not compare. The cost is higher and no chump block option in the waning turns before combo in the face of a non-flying threat.
Four Terrarion at the same time as three Chromatic Sphere is questionable. Though I have no special love for the Sphere when compared to the Star, Terrarion's similarity to the Star is superficial at best. The comes into tapped is a card value drain from which it cannot be saved. Then, the double colored mana source is a double-edged sword: The benefit gained late game is equalized by the added complexity early game. What makes it worse? I love Terrarion's artwork for the similarity to the Star. There was a brief moment when I thought about trading the Sphere out for Terrarion completely. Then, I ran it. That moment is now fading from my memory.
Gitaxian Probe MD makes me a tad lusty until I see the cost; Codex shredder and Spine of Ish Sah banished to the SB. Important playlines and basic mechanics will truly suffer. I just don't have the room in Krak Eggs, or I would love the Probe for its built in Intel factor. Got a counter? No?! Awesome, comboing off now!
We could debate the value of running two Emrakul's; card slot value, increased opening hand risk and graveyard killing card mechanic. But, if you want to draw one sooner a second is the path to that.
4x Darksteel Citadel
4x Glimmervoid
4x Shimmering Grotto
2x Reflecting Pool
2x Gemstone Caverns
1x Plains
Core:
4x Open the Vaults
4x Krark-Clan Ironworks
2x Genesis Wave
Eggs:
4x Chromatic Star
4x Chromatic Sphere
4x Ichor Wellspring
4x Mind Stone
4x Aether Spellbomb
3x Etherium Sculptor
1x Codex Shredder
4x Lotus Bloom
2x Tezzeret the Seeker
1x Spine of Ish Sah
Wincon:
1x Banefire
1x Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
2x Grafdigger's Cage
4x Revoke Existence
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Defense Grid
1x Time Sieve
2x Martial Coup
I love Eggs. Let us start where is best. I LOVE Eggs. In how many decks can you cast a Emrakul and THEN cast a banefire for 30 with leftover mana? People... do not like that maneuver. That makes me LOVE that maneuver. Butthurt and ragequit are savory and tasty sustenance.
I have tried and fried many of the Egg archetypes. With some, the mechanics... did not seem complete to me. With others, the durdling factor was simply too high. I sought to win as quickly as possible without relying on drawing my entire deck just to win the game. To me, an early scoop is the worst flavor of a win. The line between ragequit and a scoop due to mechanics is a thin one. Pyrite Spellbomb? [Insert .gif of me puking here.]
Working through the available material on Eggs, I found it to be lacking; poorly written articles by non-eggs players or videos of the same basic tenor. Here, I found much information of value; lengthy threads full of people in the process of brewing and playing. I built and brewed myself. Settling upon a decklist, I played it for months at a rate of five-to-ten games per day. Then, I reworked the mana-base again and again. Even in my own work I found there was something lacking.
Enter Genesis Wave and Tezzeret the Seeker. Reshape had been lauded so highly by pro players... and did not work for me. Tezz had been derided quite thoroughly in a thread here, but I have found that it works better than the consensus favorite. In the case of reshape, you may sac an artifact, which is nice, but you must have a target to cheat the Lotus bloom into play. That artifact's cost, plus the cost of the Reshape should factor into your analysis of Tezz. Further, you only get the effect once. I like a lotus bloom per turn. You might too. If you target an Krark-clan Ironworks with reshape, you get to pay cmc 6, as opposed to cmc 5 with Tezz. Not a fan. Game two? Grafdigger's Cage one turn and Defense Grid the next is great. Tezz is reusable. It demands an answer. Further, it is a alternate wincon. Genesis Wave is another way of cheating lotus bloom into play, and that should count for something, a lot of something. Reshaping a Darksteel Citadel into play is a bad play. Tezzeret'ing one into play if you are lacking lotus blooms for whatever reason is less so. Oh, and did I mention is costs -0 loyalty? Yeah.
Genesis wave changed the deck more than any other card. It is an innovation. It is the lacking mechanic that I had sought without knowing what it was that I sought. The unknown unknown. I oft refer to the effect of Open the Vaults as Vomiting. I.e "vomiting up my 'Yard." Genesis wave does exactly that for my deck. For those of you who play Eggs, think of the number of times that you have found yourself without fuel in your 'Yard. What good are those 30-40 cards in your library doing you? Be it a Genesis wave for 6 or for 30, I have pulled some 3 life games from the dustbin of MTGO history using this savior playline. That, brings us to Faith's Reward and my disdain for it. I cannot count the number of times that I topdecked a Faith's Reward instead of an Open the Vaults and my shoulders sank. It is only any good when you are already comboing off. Faith's Reward was out. Never to return. I would rather run a couple Roar of Reclamation than any Faith's Reward. Genesis wave is superior in every way. Open the Vaults is the yin to the Genesis Wave yang. Something about being able to buy two Genesis Wave foils for two bucks is extremely satisfying. (Boldly, in the face of paper speculators, laughing.)
The manabase. Running three colors is a task in an of itself. I tried Come into play tapped lands like Ruptured Spire, but they were trash in the deck. Filter lands let me pull the Prophetic Prism which has the dangerous comes-into-play cantrip. Shimmering grotto, or unknown shores if you like, keeps the Reflecting pool in check. Any more than two reflecting pools and you run the risk of more Tapping-For-Zero situations that do occur sometimes. Mulligans are your friend. It has been said elsewhere, but one land hands ARE trash: Throw them away. Shimmering grotto do look like Reflecting pool so unknown shores may be a better choice solely due to the very different artwork. Though any Eggs player will know, Darksteel Citadel tap-n-sac is an important playline. The fact that it IS a colorless black lotus, in Eggs, is worth noting with repetition.
Another big enhancement that took me by surprise? Gemstone Caverns. I only run two. Any more than that and I fear it would be a dead draw far more than I am comfortable. It is in starting hands far more than you might think. There are times I have exiled one to play the other. Gemstone Caverns has also enabled far more turn two Krark-clan Ironworks situations than was possible before. Plus, you just gotta love a turn zero land play.
Codex Shredder has been far better to me than Conjurer's Bauble ever has. I am sure its absence did not go unnoticed. Though I see its value, it, to me, is a relic from the durdling era of Second Sunrise. Codex targets and works when I need it to, not only after I have spent a lengthy amount of time drawing my entire deck. Genesis Wave also dumps much needed spells into the 'Yard where they can be targeted by Codex Shredder. Where the hell'd that Banefire go? Bam into the 'Yard. I like to keep my Genesis wave about 6 cards short of my whole deck and have had the banefire hide in that tidbit remaining behind. Aether Spellbomb is in the Conjurer's Bauble slot and I find it more effective in games than the other spellbombs or bauble. You may, and rightly so, say it is a deviation from the all-in nature of Eggs. Though Spine of Ish Sah is nerdgasm worthy, it is not, however, enough to thwart to utility creature heavy meta that we find ourselves.
What the deck needs is... Mox Opal. Two, I think. As in, -1 Etherium Sculptor, -1 Aether Spellbomb. Maybe, -1 Etherium Sculptor and -1 plains. The sideboard... Oh, the sideboard. The listed SB is largely theoretical, as I have not worked on it in some time. I have tended to play single games and not matches. I am acutely aware that it is a work-in-progress.
Comboing off... Turn three wins are rare. Turn four is common. Turn five is simple(without disruption). For Eggs to regain its competitiveness, a focus on turn three win consistency is of the utmost importance. Mox opal and Gemstone Caverns assist with that.
I had been intending to do this writeup for some time but had been very busy with work. Though most of the deck existed previously, Genesis wave really does change the way the deck functions. I thought that it was worth sharing with the community.
autoMANIC
89.2mb new client got pushed out for me today. "Required update" Problems immediately resolved.
http://community.wizards.com/forum/magic-online-bugs-and-technical-issues/threads/4051841
But, as I cannot create a wizards account, I cannot participate in the discussion and nothing concrete has been posted publicly. I work in IT; Windows 7 migration technician. This agitates me to no end. I have to add to knowledge bases at work and the WotC knowledge base is... thin.
I was just using the Gatherer to brew a deck last night
After the update/downtime a couple of days ago, I cannot log on to either client. I cannot create a wizards account because of a defective EULA check box that pops a blank window. Therefore I cannot even submit a help ticket. The knowledge base is rudimentary at best. The phone banks are closed even though the time they say that they are open is now. You cannot even get an email address to use without the account that I cannot create.
Before the update the beta worked. After the update, I installed the original client and it worked, until I uninstalled it to reinstall the Beta.
Beta Client: "MainNavigation Stopped Working"
The shortcut pops the slash screen and it errors out.
Tried reinstalling, tried installing .net 4.5.1, tried both again. (Multiple reboots to check installs)
Client: "Connecting" then "disconnected"
Client checks versions, loads to log on, click connect, "disconnected" after trying to log in. Have broadband 5mbps with no other internet accessing programs running.
Tried reinstalling, tried deleting the .txt files suggested online. (Multiple reboots to check installs)
I have an order from MTGO Academy that I am supposed to be picking up. This is crazy; no path to customer service.
Can anyone assist me with this problem? I am losing my mind
AutoMANIC