Philosophically, I like having some infinite combo in my deck so that it's possible for me to end the game so that we can play another.
If you play a lot of ETB creatures, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is a synergy card at the base level and can combo with Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, and Zealous Conscripts. Kiki in the yard plus Goblin Bombarment/Blood Artist+Sac Outlet/Purphoros, God of the Forge and Necrotic Ooze in play is an instant win, as well, though I only play Ooze. I have Kiki, Conscripts, and Pestermite as well as Mike-Trike in my deck. Imperial Recruiter can grab Kiki or Pestermite and Recruiter -> Kiki -> Clone Recruiter -> Pestermite -> Untap Kiki -> 10^100 Pestermites is doable for RRR with a Sneak Attack in play.
My way of playing is nowhere near dead, this deck still wrecks tables
Also no one should even be thinking about cutting recruiter, I'd cut just about anything else, recruiter hits most of your deck and is repeatable.
All the graveyard hate running around you can get around by switching to toolbox/midrange or combo over trying to aggro folks out. There have been times where ive had to kiki jiki value and had to grind out a player with a rest in peace out
Do you have an up-to-date list (or is the one on the primer accurate)?
For me, I feel like straight aggro is not a good strategy at an EDH table, so I like that your build is 4cmc heavy and toolbox-y.
I had the same thoughts on Judith, though I'm not sure what I'll cut for her. I wasn't playing Olivia. I feel like I might need to move away from being so 4CMC heavy.
Xiahou Dun is bonkers. The first time I got to play with him, I had an Unspeakable Symbol in play and was casting Demonic Tutor every turn for the low, low price of "Buyback: pay 3 life".
Just imagine a Dire Fleet Ravager hitting the board next to Gray Merchant of Asphodel off of Living Death. It's like an Oprah give away... "You lose life... You lose life... YOU lose life... EVERYBODY LOSES LIFE!!!"
I'm very disappointed with wizards over hostage taker, prerelease errata is ridiculous. Doesn't change my opinion of the card though, I evaluated as if he said "another" already since that's the only way the card makes sense. I still like it. I kind of like more then any of the others now truth be told.
I agree with the disappointment, too. It's a huge oversight that they printed something that creates a draw by itself on an empty board. It's worse than Saheeli-Cat, which is an interaction with something else. They shouldn't be missing cards that break the game on their own. I would assume the rules folks who finalize the wording of cards got read the riot act in a meeting over it.
Hostage Taker seems horribly broken. If you have some way to abuse etbs, it instantly wins the game. This guy + Purphoros, God of the Forge is a really easy win. Typically, with this type of card, it says "another target permanent" like Oblivion Ring, but this one does not, allowing you to have Hostage Taker target itself, an infinite amount of times in a single turn.
Even without being able to do this, it seems like a solid card to play in this deck.
It's a repeat of the Saheeli-Cat mistake. Someone (or many someones) in R&D aren't paying attention to the words they put on cards.
All of that seems extremely narrow. It's functionally going to be two things: 1) avoid paying the Ghostly Prison tax to punch the pillowfort player in the face once 2) Maze of Ith something. I don't really distinguish between Maze of Ith removing it from combat and just swapping it to someone else. You could accomplish the "hey! how you you deal with this thing!" without upsetting that player and without playing a strange card solely by talking politics with them.
Even if you could abuse it through Sneak Attack and clones, I'm not convinced it's even an effect that's worth abusing. Dualcaster Mage is an effect that's worth abusing.
I don't think you'll very frequently want to/need to attack someone and then use it to get around Ghostly Prison/Propaganda in order to attack someone else or re-direct one attacker away from you (in which case it's basically just Maze of Ith). It doesn't seem very useful.
Yeah, I thought that he is good. I currently have Treasure Keeper as my 4 drop Card Advantage slot. This guy gives us 3 cards plus 5 life loss instead of Keeper's single card that costs 3 or less. Being 3B makes him easy to cast too.
Agreed. Seems like the right swap too. Treasure keeper has been fine for me but rarely game changing. This guy seems much stronger.
What about Mairsil, the Pretender and Portal Mage? I love that Mairsil is 4 power for 4 and tech but i definitely don't like that he'll usually have to pull from my hand. And adds a limitation to the activated abilities. I think I'll pass unless anyone has a convincing argument.
Portal Mage though fits our bill of small, cheap wizard tech. I could see him being quite disruptive too, a lot like dualcaster mage. Should we find him a slot?
I think Mairsil is a less desirable version of Necrotic Ooze. Portal Mage only has a useful ETB one time, unless you're able to flicker it or make token copies of it all the time during the declare attacker's step. It's a Human, so Mikaeus doesn't touch it. I don't think either has a slot.
If you play a lot of ETB creatures, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is a synergy card at the base level and can combo with Pestermite, Deceiver Exarch, and Zealous Conscripts. Kiki in the yard plus Goblin Bombarment/Blood Artist+Sac Outlet/Purphoros, God of the Forge and Necrotic Ooze in play is an instant win, as well, though I only play Ooze. I have Kiki, Conscripts, and Pestermite as well as Mike-Trike in my deck. Imperial Recruiter can grab Kiki or Pestermite and Recruiter -> Kiki -> Clone Recruiter -> Pestermite -> Untap Kiki -> 10^100 Pestermites is doable for RRR with a Sneak Attack in play.
I'm going to put Judith in, but I'm not sure what I'll drop for her. I got in a pre-order for her before the spike happened.
Do you have an up-to-date list (or is the one on the primer accurate)?
For me, I feel like straight aggro is not a good strategy at an EDH table, so I like that your build is 4cmc heavy and toolbox-y.
I'm also hopeful that there might be a good red creature with Mentor to generate more counters.
I agree with the disappointment, too. It's a huge oversight that they printed something that creates a draw by itself on an empty board. It's worse than Saheeli-Cat, which is an interaction with something else. They shouldn't be missing cards that break the game on their own. I would assume the rules folks who finalize the wording of cards got read the riot act in a meeting over it.
It's a repeat of the Saheeli-Cat mistake. Someone (or many someones) in R&D aren't paying attention to the words they put on cards.
Even if you could abuse it through Sneak Attack and clones, I'm not convinced it's even an effect that's worth abusing. Dualcaster Mage is an effect that's worth abusing.
I think Mairsil is a less desirable version of Necrotic Ooze. Portal Mage only has a useful ETB one time, unless you're able to flicker it or make token copies of it all the time during the declare attacker's step. It's a Human, so Mikaeus doesn't touch it. I don't think either has a slot.