I was looking through my collection and at my Kresh deck the other day and re-discovered Birthing Pod. My first reaction was along the lines you would expect. Pod gives you a sac outlet, gains you value with a more expensive creature, puts something into the bin to reanimate and then can do it again next turn. EDHREC also has Pod as a safe include in the deck so I set about including it.
The issue is that my deck doesn't have a curve that works well with Pod and I don't have that many creatures that I want to pod into. I would rather Sneak Attack them in and reanimate later if needed. It occurred to me that although common sense would say that Pod is basically an auto include in my sac intensive value deck it, in the decks current state, it isn't worth including into the 99. There is a reasonable case for heavy modification of the deck to make it work better with Pod but at the moment I like the way it plays and don't want to break that.
Background out of the way, It occurred to me that there are plenty of staple card that are played simply because of their staple status rather than because the deck has any specific need for that sort of effect. Simple things, I would argue, like Sol Ring in an elf deck initially seems like a no brainer however I would argue actually provides very little benefit to that particular deck. So the question, how often do you see people playing staple cards in their decks that don't really fit the rest of the deck or look to be included because of their staple status?
TLDR: Do you often see people using "Staple" cards in decks they don't fit in and are you also guilty of this?
I find myself doing this on occasion, but it never becomes a problem for me because my deck building methodology is extremely flexible. Staples are staple for a reason, and if a commmander unquestionably "should" be able to take advantage of a staple,and for some reason can't with the current build, I will reevaulte the entire deck with this in mind- typically adding the staple in and editing the rest of the deck to fit it. 95% of the time, this ends up being to the decks benefit, and the "error" is user-based rather than in the staple.
and I've PROVEN to some of these players that they aren't necessary to their game: reliquary tower: i've pointed out that card, and then for the subsequent multiple games thereafter, made it a point every single time they got colour-screwed, and every time they've hit their hand limit (they never do!). most players I've done this to STILL keep it in, because "well, you never know if someone casts a prosperity for 20" or ::insert other ridiculous niche scenario here::
sol ring: insert a list of decks that have a lot of 1 cards or even worse try to push their general out asap to swing-win (kaalia of the vast, zur the enchanter comes to mind), or whatever synergy with the general. In my 5c child of alara deck, i don't run sol ring because it doesn't do anything for me. child blows up artefacts. when I'm ahead, it doesn't push me to win. when I'm behind, it doesn't help me catch up (by altering the board state), when I'm at parity, there are more effective things i can do to push me to win. Some people have the idea that sol ring is a 100% must include for every single deck that they have, but its not always the case.
There are probably too many to name here, but I'm sure given more time, i'd come up with more.
I think it is absolutely correct for you to not play birthing pod in your deck.
There are staples I do not play at all (16 decks total), some that only make it into specific decks, etc.
I think every blue deck should have Cyclonic Rift. I think every white deck should have Swords to Plowshares.
That's where it ends for me. I do not think other 'staples' need to be in 100% of decks.
I'll definitely second Reliquary Tower. No maximum hand size is such an overrated effect. It's certainly nice to have, but even if you draw 50 cards, taking the best 7 is almost always good enough. As such, yeah, Reliquary Tower should only be run if you've got sufficient fixing. And even then, there are a good number of better colourless utility lands. Unless you got specific synergies with hand size, fitting it into a deck with more than two colours is probably hurting you. Thought Vessel I feel is actually a better source of the effect, as there aren't that many CMC2 ETB untapped rocks around despite being a very desirable effect, which makes it a genuinely good card.
Solemn Simulacrum is one I have to mention. It's not a bad card, but it really doesn't deserve staple status in my books. Unless you have either synergies with artifacts (and preferably artifact creatures) or reliable ways to retrigger its abilities (blink, recursion etc.), it's probably not worth a slot in your deck.
Another thing I'd like to bring up is not a specific card, but countermagic in general. The number of times I see something like "I'm playing blue, so I'll throw in 2-3 counters" regardless of what the rest of the deck is doing. Sure, being able to answer things is very important, but if your deck is based on playing entirely on your turn and wanting to tap out to cast your spells while doing so, having countermagic is not really helping with your gameplan. If you going to commit to actually running a good number of counters, go for it, but particularly in multicoloured decks (where you are more likely to have access to other forms of interaction), having a couple of them in there just because you're blue isn't really doing much for you and there are likely better ways to deal with problems.
I suppose this actually extends to answers in general - you always want them, but make sure your using the removal that works best with what your deck as a whole is doing, rather than just picking the staple versions. That doesn't necessarily mean you should run Lich's Caress over Murder in your lifegain deck - once the difference gets above a certain level, power is more important than synergy - but, say, in a deck that doesn't have any particular interactions with ETB effects or doesn't need creatures in play for various interactions, Naturalize is better than Reclamation Sage, even if the latter is considered to be more of a staple.
There are a few decks that don't want Sol Ring (basically things like Edric Flying Men which where the bulk of the deck is cheap and has no generic mana in its cost), but it's just so incredibly powerful that even in a deck where you're not able to take full advantage of it, I think you should still run it. Something like Child of Alara can still benefit by casting a couple of spells two turns earlier while developing at the beginning of the game (for example, land fetching sorceries) even if it doesn't help directly cast the general and you expect to blow it up. In all honesty, I'd say that, unless playing it actively sets you back, if you can consistently untap with a Sol Ring and cast one good spell two turns ahead of where you normally would, it's done it's job - rituals are still good in EDH if you can reliably benefit from them.
and I've PROVEN to some of these players that they aren't necessary to their game: reliquary tower: i've pointed out that card, and then for the subsequent multiple games thereafter, made it a point every single time they got colour-screwed, and every time they've hit their hand limit (they never do!). most players I've done this to STILL keep it in, because "well, you never know if someone casts a prosperity for 20" or ::insert other ridiculous niche scenario here::
Just yesterday I was playing against someone with a Windgrace deck that tutored up Reliquary Tower to avoid discarding a single card. I commented about how a lot of people over-value it, and he just kinda shrugged it off. When you've got 40+ cards hand (which the Windgrace player did achieve the prior game) and have to discard to hand size, you get to pick the best 7 of those 40. Unless you've got Omniscience or infinite mana, you're not going to be casting all those cards. (Of course, that previous game I was controlling his turn with Emrakul when get got the 40+ card hand, so I chose what 7 to keep and chose the 7 worst, but he would have gotten that same grip on his turn if I handn't Emrakul'd him.) Later in the game where he tutored for Reliquary Tower, he had Gitrog Monster and would have benefited from discarding to hand size, effectively getting free looting, and his deck has least 5 cards that can recur lands, three of which recur all of them at once, so pitching a hand full of lands is beneficial to him. But no, Reliquary Tower is too important.
In my Treva deck, I very specifically chose to exclude Reliquary Tower, despite having a fairly large amount of card draw in the list, and I've had people call me crazy for it. But it makes it easier to shuffle my graveyard by discarding Ulamog/Kozilek, and it makes drawing cards with Magus of the Library easier, digging further for answers to things (especially with Alhammarret's Archive and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar in play; tap one creature to dig 6 deep is awesome).
sol ring: insert a list of decks that have a lot of 1 cards or even worse try to push their general out asap to swing-win (kaalia of the vast, zur the enchanter comes to mind), or whatever synergy with the general. In my 5c child of alara deck, i don't run sol ring because it doesn't do anything for me. child blows up artefacts. when I'm ahead, it doesn't push me to win. when I'm behind, it doesn't help me catch up (by altering the board state), when I'm at parity, there are more effective things i can do to push me to win. Some people have the idea that sol ring is a 100% must include for every single deck that they have, but its not always the case.
I don't have Sol Ring in Child of Alara, because it doesn't help me cast my commander and the deck's goal is to trigger Child every turn.
I don't have Sol Ring in Gaddock Teeg, it doesn't help me cast my commander, my commander prevents me from casting many of the things it would help most with (so I don't run them), and it's a hate-everything deck with cards like Null Rod, Stony Silence, and Kataki, so Sol Ring is more of a liability than an asset.
I don't have Sol Ring in Atraxa, because it doesn't help me cast my commander, and it's a curses/enchantress build with little use for artifacts, so instead of running Sol Ring I run mass artifact hate.
I don't have Sol Ring in Goreclaw, because many of my spells cost no generic mana thanks to my commander, and it's green stompy with little use for artifacts, so instead of running Sol Ring I run mass artifact hate. (Titania's Song is a hilarious card, btw.)
Sol ring I think has come back around, to the point that people are looking for excuses NOT to run it even where it's correct. I think there are perishingly few decks it isn't correct to play it in. Child of alara is one possible case - but even there it's pretty good, even if it just lets you cast your other ramp a turn earlier (although crypt is much better). In most other cases I think it's mostly just wishful thinking that it's not still worth it. That said, sol ring is dumb and boring, so I'm also pleased when I find a deck that can reasonably justify not including it.
Akroma's Memorial is one. Obviously it never sees cEDH these days, but you'd be surprised how many people think every creature-heavy and/or token deck wants it.
Ghave, Guru of Spores doesn't; you can't even sac creatures to Ghave if you don't have a valid target, much less put the +1/+1 counters on them. Marath, Will of the Wild doesn't, both for enrage and for putting +1/+1 counters on other creatures. Gishath, Sun's Avatar doesn't because enrage. Uril, the Miststalker doesn't fall into either above listing, but rest assured, he also doesn't want this.
It's not that it's useless. It's one of many ways to make Pestilence and friends one-sided and ensure card advantage when you activate Diaochan, Artful Beauty or (a good imitation in a pinch) Cuombajj Witches with deathtouch, or to ensure Oros, the Avenger doesn't hurt you, and having flying and trample is a good way to ensure at least some damage gets through (all the better for Oros to be given trample), while having vigilance means you can still block. But back when Commander had a newbie boom with the first Commander decks, everyone thought it was an auto-include.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Akroma's Memorial is one. Obviously it never sees cEDH these days, but you'd be surprised how many people think every creature-heavy and/or token deck wants it.
But back when Commander had a newbie boom with the first Commander decks, everyone thought it was an auto-include.
The main problem with memorial is that it's probably the most emblematic "win-more" card. I won't call it a staple.
Timmies will be tempted to put it into their decks and when they win with memorial ut, they scream "you see? it works!", without caring if they had already the best table position way before casting the memorial, or if the last 5 games the memorial ended up not useful enough for 7.
I have many players using memorial randomly in my LSG. the best fan are using it in pentacolor tribal dragons and boros aggro.
I think my only decks with Memorial both 1) are capable of producing silly amounts of mana, so the cost isn't too high to play it, and 2) want mass haste for one reason or another. None of those decks are red (or I'd play something like Fervor instead), and the one that's green also has Concordant Crossroads.
One of the biggest problems with Staples is, that the number of cards considered being one is way too large.
There are certain Ramps and disruptive spells that are Staples, by the virtue of being the best cards available in a certain color (combination). Outside of that i know quite a few players that "believe" so much into Staples, their decks turn into goodstuff lists basically everytime.
Judging by the EDHREC Top List there are several Staples i'd consider mis/overplayed:
- Counterspell - A single counter will never make a deck better, you'd need a certain counter suite for that. This is played in 58,5k decks, Swan Song as #2 counter is only played in 24,5k decks. An indicator that too many players do include it as their only counterspell.
- Phyrexian Arena - Yes, it might be constant CA, but it is slow af. Just think of it, it takes 3 upkeeps to make it better than Read the Bones...
- Solemn Simulacrum - Unless you're abusing the f out of it, it is very slow ramp and overpriced and delayed card draw.
- Reliquary Tower - Even if you're drawing beyond 7 cards, there are plenty of decks that either want mana of color or profit from having more stuff in their graveyard, 36%/100,5k decks on EDHREC run it anyway.
- Temple of the False God - This and the bouncelands usually show me you(r decks) still have quite a journey in EDH ahead of you.
- Avenger of Zendikar - 5GG for a bunch of tokens that are virtually useless unless you can drop a (fetch)land on the same turn. Aside from Tooth and Nail combos with Purphoros, God of the Forge and Landfall decks i have no idea how this turned out to be such an auto include.
- Explosive Vegetation - Since we're already speaking of it, this has gotten old. So many ramp spells i'd play before this. Exception Landfall Decks.
- Liliana Vess - Outside of 1 on 1 she's just so much worse.
- Darksteel Ingot - Even in artifact hate heavy metas this is still no top notch CMC 3 rock.
- Rhystic Study - Don't just run it because you're in U, duh.
Tldr: At the end of the day it comes down, if the card itself is good enough and if your deck does have noteable advantages/interactions with it. If not, don't run it, even if it may be an insane card in a vacuum.
Akroma's Memorial is one. Obviously it never sees cEDH these days, but you'd be surprised how many people think every creature-heavy and/or token deck wants it.
But back when Commander had a newbie boom with the first Commander decks, everyone thought it was an auto-include.
The main problem with memorial is that it's probably the most emblematic "win-more" card. I won't call it a staple.
Timmies will be tempted to put it into their decks and when they win with memorial ut, they scream "you see? it works!", without caring if they had already the best table position way before casting the memorial, or if the last 5 games the memorial ended up not useful enough for 7.
I have many players using memorial randomly in my LSG. the best fan are using it in pentacolor tribal dragons and boros aggro.
True. The only place where I use it personally is in Oros or in decks where Pestilence and friends are present. But you'll notice every deck I mentioned there is green? (And of course, Gishath can get to 7 easy, and Ghave has a bunch of mana cards thrown in just because your commander is such an effective mana sink.)
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
If you do not have the proper curve for pod. you have three options
-Run it and get it as a dead draw 90% of the games you play
-Rebuild the deck with the proper curve
Or the best bet
-Don't run it
It may be a staple, but you don;t have to run the staples.
One of the biggest problems with Staples is, that the number of cards considered being one is way too large.
There are certain Ramps and disruptive spells that are Staples, by the virtue of being the best cards available in a certain color (combination). Outside of that i know quite a few players that "believe" so much into Staples, their decks turn into goodstuff lists basically everytime.
Judging by the EDHREC Top List there are several Staples i'd consider mis/overplayed:
- Counterspell - A single counter will never make a deck better, you'd need a certain counter suite for that. This is played in 58,5k decks, Swan Song as #2 counter is only played in 24,5k decks. An indicator that too many players do include it as their only counterspell.
- Phyrexian Arena - Yes, it might be constant CA, but it is slow af. Just think of it, it takes 3 upkeeps to make it better than Read the Bones...
- Solemn Simulacrum - Unless you're abusing the f out of it, it is very slow ramp and overpriced and delayed card draw.
- Reliquary Tower - Even if you're drawing beyond 7 cards, there are plenty of decks that either want mana of color or profit from having more stuff in their graveyard, 36%/100,5k decks on EDHREC run it anyway.
- Temple of the False God - This and the bouncelands usually show me you(r decks) still have quite a journey in EDH ahead of you.
- Avenger of Zendikar - 5GG for a bunch of tokens that are virtually useless unless you can drop a (fetch)land on the same turn. Aside from Tooth and Nail combos with Purphoros, God of the Forge and Landfall decks i have no idea how this turned out to be such an auto include.
- Explosive Vegetation - Since we're already speaking of it, this has gotten old. So many ramp spells i'd play before this. Exception Landfall Decks.
- Liliana Vess - Outside of 1 on 1 she's just so much worse.
- Darksteel Ingot - Even in artifact hate heavy metas this is still no top notch CMC 3 rock.
- Rhystic Study - Don't just run it because you're in U, duh.
Tldr: At the end of the day it comes down, if the card itself is good enough and if your deck does have noteable advantages/interactions with it. If not, don't run it, even if it may be an insane card in a vacuum.
Avenger turned into an auto include because it sets up some very strong plays across a number of decks. If you untap with it and cast Craterhoof, its often game. Its great with a sac engine. Its great in token decks. Its great if your deck cares about creatures entering the battlefield or dying. Even in its weak scenario, its still a 5/7 that usually makes about 7 dudes, that will probably be at least 1/2s because you'll at least get 1 land, but he makes an army of 2/3s if you follow him up with just one fetch land. Not every deck wants him, but many do, and even in decks where it would be optimal to cut him for something else, he'll still perform pretty well. One of the biggest skill testers is knowing when to cut a card that's really good in a deck for a card that's more optimal.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Burnished Hart has one special case, as part of a Sun Titan package. Or with Illusionist's Bracers. A few cases like that make it arguably, not better than Explosive Veggies (let alone Skyshroud Claim, if you have the money for appropriate tutor targets), but considerable. The more casting, ETB, and death triggers you run, the better. Same as Solemn Simulacrum, without the Sun Titan case. And they both love Reveillark and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.
While we're here, Doubling Season. If you're just in tokens, you might find Parallel Lives or Anointed Procession more to your liking. If you're just doing +1/+1 counters, it's a different case, but Hardened Scales should probably be included first, just as a one-drop. Corpsejack Menace provides a good source of +1/+1 counters. Now, other types of counters are a different thing entirely. If you're also running cards like Suture Priest, consider Primal Vigor.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Fetchlands are kinda odd. They're really good. But why put them in a monocolored deck that doesn't use landfall or land recursion? Yeah, I know, Rings of Brighthearth. I also know Kismet, Blood Sun, Stranglehold, and Aven Mindcensor. Even green has Bind. Besides which, using fetchlands just to thin your deck is annoying. All that shuffling...I don't play politics too much, but I'm more apt to annoy you with land destruction and other mana denial techniques, or extra costs, or forced sacrifices and discards, or just plain "add new rules which are equal, in that they imprison the rich and poor alike for stealing bread". Thing is, all these things have more immediate game impact. Fetchlands in monocolor decks (without the aforementioned clauses) just seem to pause the game for a bit just to be annoying.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Fetchlands are great when you're making heavy use of cards like Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library. Having access to extra shuffles is extremely strong. If you're just using them to "thin your deck", yeah, they're a waste. But there are still good reasons to run them in some mono-coloured decks.
Fetchlands are great when you're making heavy use of cards like Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library. Having access to extra shuffles is extremely strong. If you're just using them to "thin your deck", yeah, they're a waste. But there are still good reasons to run them in some mono-coloured decks.
I wish a lot of people understood that use and not "deck thinning". I mean, I'm an obvious Spike, I played Druidic Satchel in Delver to reduce the odds that I would topdeck a land, but I'm not that Spikey.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Heads up on this, Bracers won't copy any ability that requires the creature to be sacrificed. The ability isn't considered activated until all costs are paid, at which point the creature is in the yard and is no longer equipped.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
The power of Phyrexian Arena is that it doesn't appear powerful. People ignore it and it's controller gains incremental card advantage over the course of the game.
Solemn Simulacrum is a solid ramp spell if you're not playing green.
Agree, Reliquary Tower sees too much play. I'd only use it in a deck where I expect to draw a lot of cards.
Disagree, Temple of the False God is a solid card. Just sucks when you have <5 lands. Bounce lands on the other hand, not a fan. Too many times I've played against people who destroy them just b/c they produce 2 mana, even though they set me back a land.
Agree, Avenger of Zendikar + Craterhoof Behemoth are played too often.
Explosive Vegetation is still a solid ramp spell. And now you can play Circuitous Route as a functional reprint.
Temple of the False God is kinda winmoar, though. It's no Meteor Crater, but it's not "solid land" by any means. I guess the question is "How central to your strategy having six mana on turn 5, and why can't you just _ramp, dork, rock, big mana_ your way to it?" I mean, Gilded Lotus (which admittedly is also a bit overplayed) costs 5 and thus presumably also becomes relevant when you control five lands (or other mana sources), and it takes you to 8.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
@hyalapterouslemur - The average cmc of creatures in my Mayael deck is 6.16. So having more mana earlier is integral to my strategy. Also, I already have 12 ramp spells in my Mayael deck. Gilded Lotus is more likely to be destroyed than Temple of the False God. In addition to Temple of the False God, I also play Ancient Tomb and Krosan Verge.
I was looking through my collection and at my Kresh deck the other day and re-discovered Birthing Pod. My first reaction was along the lines you would expect. Pod gives you a sac outlet, gains you value with a more expensive creature, puts something into the bin to reanimate and then can do it again next turn. EDHREC also has Pod as a safe include in the deck so I set about including it.
The issue is that my deck doesn't have a curve that works well with Pod and I don't have that many creatures that I want to pod into. I would rather Sneak Attack them in and reanimate later if needed. It occurred to me that although common sense would say that Pod is basically an auto include in my sac intensive value deck it, in the decks current state, it isn't worth including into the 99. There is a reasonable case for heavy modification of the deck to make it work better with Pod but at the moment I like the way it plays and don't want to break that.
Background out of the way, It occurred to me that there are plenty of staple card that are played simply because of their staple status rather than because the deck has any specific need for that sort of effect. Simple things, I would argue, like Sol Ring in an elf deck initially seems like a no brainer however I would argue actually provides very little benefit to that particular deck. So the question, how often do you see people playing staple cards in their decks that don't really fit the rest of the deck or look to be included because of their staple status?
TLDR: Do you often see people using "Staple" cards in decks they don't fit in and are you also guilty of this?
Thanks
BRGKresh the BloodbraidedBRG, A box of lands and ideas.
Modern:
RG Titanshift. A deck made of cards too stupid for EDH.
Retired: Lots. More than I feel you should suffer through or I should type out.
and I've PROVEN to some of these players that they aren't necessary to their game:
reliquary tower: i've pointed out that card, and then for the subsequent multiple games thereafter, made it a point every single time they got colour-screwed, and every time they've hit their hand limit (they never do!). most players I've done this to STILL keep it in, because "well, you never know if someone casts a prosperity for 20" or ::insert other ridiculous niche scenario here::
sol ring: insert a list of decks that have a lot of 1 cards or even worse try to push their general out asap to swing-win (kaalia of the vast, zur the enchanter comes to mind), or whatever synergy with the general. In my 5c child of alara deck, i don't run sol ring because it doesn't do anything for me. child blows up artefacts. when I'm ahead, it doesn't push me to win. when I'm behind, it doesn't help me catch up (by altering the board state), when I'm at parity, there are more effective things i can do to push me to win. Some people have the idea that sol ring is a 100% must include for every single deck that they have, but its not always the case.
There are probably too many to name here, but I'm sure given more time, i'd come up with more.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
There are staples I do not play at all (16 decks total), some that only make it into specific decks, etc.
I think every blue deck should have Cyclonic Rift. I think every white deck should have Swords to Plowshares.
That's where it ends for me. I do not think other 'staples' need to be in 100% of decks.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
Solemn Simulacrum is one I have to mention. It's not a bad card, but it really doesn't deserve staple status in my books. Unless you have either synergies with artifacts (and preferably artifact creatures) or reliable ways to retrigger its abilities (blink, recursion etc.), it's probably not worth a slot in your deck.
Another thing I'd like to bring up is not a specific card, but countermagic in general. The number of times I see something like "I'm playing blue, so I'll throw in 2-3 counters" regardless of what the rest of the deck is doing. Sure, being able to answer things is very important, but if your deck is based on playing entirely on your turn and wanting to tap out to cast your spells while doing so, having countermagic is not really helping with your gameplan. If you going to commit to actually running a good number of counters, go for it, but particularly in multicoloured decks (where you are more likely to have access to other forms of interaction), having a couple of them in there just because you're blue isn't really doing much for you and there are likely better ways to deal with problems.
I suppose this actually extends to answers in general - you always want them, but make sure your using the removal that works best with what your deck as a whole is doing, rather than just picking the staple versions. That doesn't necessarily mean you should run Lich's Caress over Murder in your lifegain deck - once the difference gets above a certain level, power is more important than synergy - but, say, in a deck that doesn't have any particular interactions with ETB effects or doesn't need creatures in play for various interactions, Naturalize is better than Reclamation Sage, even if the latter is considered to be more of a staple.
There are a few decks that don't want Sol Ring (basically things like Edric Flying Men which where the bulk of the deck is cheap and has no generic mana in its cost), but it's just so incredibly powerful that even in a deck where you're not able to take full advantage of it, I think you should still run it. Something like Child of Alara can still benefit by casting a couple of spells two turns earlier while developing at the beginning of the game (for example, land fetching sorceries) even if it doesn't help directly cast the general and you expect to blow it up. In all honesty, I'd say that, unless playing it actively sets you back, if you can consistently untap with a Sol Ring and cast one good spell two turns ahead of where you normally would, it's done it's job - rituals are still good in EDH if you can reliably benefit from them.
In my Treva deck, I very specifically chose to exclude Reliquary Tower, despite having a fairly large amount of card draw in the list, and I've had people call me crazy for it. But it makes it easier to shuffle my graveyard by discarding Ulamog/Kozilek, and it makes drawing cards with Magus of the Library easier, digging further for answers to things (especially with Alhammarret's Archive and Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar in play; tap one creature to dig 6 deep is awesome).
I don't have Sol Ring in Child of Alara, because it doesn't help me cast my commander and the deck's goal is to trigger Child every turn.
I don't have Sol Ring in Gaddock Teeg, it doesn't help me cast my commander, my commander prevents me from casting many of the things it would help most with (so I don't run them), and it's a hate-everything deck with cards like Null Rod, Stony Silence, and Kataki, so Sol Ring is more of a liability than an asset.
I don't have Sol Ring in Atraxa, because it doesn't help me cast my commander, and it's a curses/enchantress build with little use for artifacts, so instead of running Sol Ring I run mass artifact hate.
I don't have Sol Ring in Goreclaw, because many of my spells cost no generic mana thanks to my commander, and it's green stompy with little use for artifacts, so instead of running Sol Ring I run mass artifact hate. (Titania's Song is a hilarious card, btw.)
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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Sol ring I think has come back around, to the point that people are looking for excuses NOT to run it even where it's correct. I think there are perishingly few decks it isn't correct to play it in. Child of alara is one possible case - but even there it's pretty good, even if it just lets you cast your other ramp a turn earlier (although crypt is much better). In most other cases I think it's mostly just wishful thinking that it's not still worth it. That said, sol ring is dumb and boring, so I'm also pleased when I find a deck that can reasonably justify not including it.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Ghave, Guru of Spores doesn't; you can't even sac creatures to Ghave if you don't have a valid target, much less put the +1/+1 counters on them.
Marath, Will of the Wild doesn't, both for enrage and for putting +1/+1 counters on other creatures.
Gishath, Sun's Avatar doesn't because enrage.
Uril, the Miststalker doesn't fall into either above listing, but rest assured, he also doesn't want this.
It's not that it's useless. It's one of many ways to make Pestilence and friends one-sided and ensure card advantage when you activate Diaochan, Artful Beauty or (a good imitation in a pinch) Cuombajj Witches with deathtouch, or to ensure Oros, the Avenger doesn't hurt you, and having flying and trample is a good way to ensure at least some damage gets through (all the better for Oros to be given trample), while having vigilance means you can still block. But back when Commander had a newbie boom with the first Commander decks, everyone thought it was an auto-include.
On phasing:
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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There are certain Ramps and disruptive spells that are Staples, by the virtue of being the best cards available in a certain color (combination). Outside of that i know quite a few players that "believe" so much into Staples, their decks turn into goodstuff lists basically everytime.
Judging by the EDHREC Top List there are several Staples i'd consider mis/overplayed:
- Counterspell - A single counter will never make a deck better, you'd need a certain counter suite for that. This is played in 58,5k decks, Swan Song as #2 counter is only played in 24,5k decks. An indicator that too many players do include it as their only counterspell.
- Phyrexian Arena - Yes, it might be constant CA, but it is slow af. Just think of it, it takes 3 upkeeps to make it better than Read the Bones...
- Solemn Simulacrum - Unless you're abusing the f out of it, it is very slow ramp and overpriced and delayed card draw.
- Reliquary Tower - Even if you're drawing beyond 7 cards, there are plenty of decks that either want mana of color or profit from having more stuff in their graveyard, 36%/100,5k decks on EDHREC run it anyway.
- Temple of the False God - This and the bouncelands usually show me you(r decks) still have quite a journey in EDH ahead of you.
- Avenger of Zendikar - 5GG for a bunch of tokens that are virtually useless unless you can drop a (fetch)land on the same turn. Aside from Tooth and Nail combos with Purphoros, God of the Forge and Landfall decks i have no idea how this turned out to be such an auto include.
- Burnished Hart - Explosive Vegetation doesn't get better if it costs another 2 total and comes with a temporary body. Even outside G i hope your Burnished Hart gets Krosan Gripped just for running it.
- Explosive Vegetation - Since we're already speaking of it, this has gotten old. So many ramp spells i'd play before this. Exception Landfall Decks.
- Liliana Vess - Outside of 1 on 1 she's just so much worse.
- Darksteel Ingot - Even in artifact hate heavy metas this is still no top notch CMC 3 rock.
- Rhystic Study - Don't just run it because you're in U, duh.
Tldr: At the end of the day it comes down, if the card itself is good enough and if your deck does have noteable advantages/interactions with it. If not, don't run it, even if it may be an insane card in a vacuum.
True. The only place where I use it personally is in Oros or in decks where Pestilence and friends are present. But you'll notice every deck I mentioned there is green? (And of course, Gishath can get to 7 easy, and Ghave has a bunch of mana cards thrown in just because your commander is such an effective mana sink.)
Probably a better example would be Necropotence, which is good in every deck, except decks with a reanimator focus, (generally) decks with three or more colors, and "draw matters" decks like Nekusar, the Mindrazer which specifically want you to draw so as to trigger Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Psychosis Crawler, The Locust God, and maybe Niv-Mizzet, Parun though it has the exact same color issue I mentioned earlier?
On phasing:
-Run it and get it as a dead draw 90% of the games you play
-Rebuild the deck with the proper curve
Or the best bet
-Don't run it
It may be a staple, but you don;t have to run the staples.
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
Avenger turned into an auto include because it sets up some very strong plays across a number of decks. If you untap with it and cast Craterhoof, its often game. Its great with a sac engine. Its great in token decks. Its great if your deck cares about creatures entering the battlefield or dying. Even in its weak scenario, its still a 5/7 that usually makes about 7 dudes, that will probably be at least 1/2s because you'll at least get 1 land, but he makes an army of 2/3s if you follow him up with just one fetch land. Not every deck wants him, but many do, and even in decks where it would be optimal to cut him for something else, he'll still perform pretty well. One of the biggest skill testers is knowing when to cut a card that's really good in a deck for a card that's more optimal.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Temple of the False God is, seriously? I'm a token player, and I don't run that.
While we're here, Doubling Season. If you're just in tokens, you might find Parallel Lives or Anointed Procession more to your liking. If you're just doing +1/+1 counters, it's a different case, but Hardened Scales should probably be included first, just as a one-drop. Corpsejack Menace provides a good source of +1/+1 counters. Now, other types of counters are a different thing entirely. If you're also running cards like Suture Priest, consider Primal Vigor.
On phasing:
Building: Varina
On phasing:
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
I wish a lot of people understood that use and not "deck thinning". I mean, I'm an obvious Spike, I played Druidic Satchel in Delver to reduce the odds that I would topdeck a land, but I'm not that Spikey.
On phasing:
Bruse Tarl & Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
Mayael the Anima
The power of Phyrexian Arena is that it doesn't appear powerful. People ignore it and it's controller gains incremental card advantage over the course of the game.
Solemn Simulacrum is a solid ramp spell if you're not playing green.
Agree, Reliquary Tower sees too much play. I'd only use it in a deck where I expect to draw a lot of cards.
Disagree, Temple of the False God is a solid card. Just sucks when you have <5 lands. Bounce lands on the other hand, not a fan. Too many times I've played against people who destroy them just b/c they produce 2 mana, even though they set me back a land.
Agree, Avenger of Zendikar + Craterhoof Behemoth are played too often.
Explosive Vegetation is still a solid ramp spell. And now you can play Circuitous Route as a functional reprint.
I'm not a fan, but Darksteel Ingot is fine.
And please don't play with Rhystic Study.
Bruse Tarl & Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
Mayael the Anima
On phasing:
Bruse Tarl & Kraum, Ludevic's Opus
Mayael the Anima
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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