I think you are looking at two lists inbred for their own metagames. I am confident in my decision not to play it. I can't comment as to how it works in his build. I may be misremembering, but I thought it was stated that he plays it to combat Hermit Druid. I do not regularly see Hermit Druid.
I was just looking at the lists yesterday and had to do a double take. Someone not familiar with your lists would absolutely think you would be the one playing Blood Moon.
I guess from your statements that while you do not see Hermit Druid you do see Blood Moon and Back to Basics. Is that why you play so many basic lands?
What decks are you seeing that give Maelstrom problems? What have you added to combat them?
Yes, Blood Moon and Back to Basics are common in my meta, and that is absolutely what is responsible for my "high" basic land count.
Decks that give us problems? Well, hate bears are hard on us. Straight up. Not unwinnable, especially with a good start. Part of what has lead my build to how it is currently is that all it takes is one window for the game to end. Against hate bears, a lot of what I do is simply a tactical shift. My focus becomes defense. Someone is going to try to take out those bears. I am not the best set up to do so. So I will try to leverage the needs of my other opponents into an opportunity to win. High value cards here are Cyclonic Rift and O-Stone. Most bears are rough but not game-ending, but Gaddock Teeg is an absolute nightmare. Once a Teeg hits, I go high defense. Wait for someone to kill him. Maaaaybe I'll get to, but my options are limited.
Combo decks can be rough, because they can just be faster than us. Here, my tactical shift is to remove focus on game-ending plays, and instead focus on incremental advantage, especially in terms of mana development. Here we can allow the midrange decks to sit on their predictable plays and come in with our accrued resources after the first lines of defense are triggered by the combo player. However, with a strong start, we can also just try to smash and win quickly. We *can* be as fast, we just aren't as consistent because we don't have the tutors. However, they cannot hold up through a developed game, whereas we are always a threat because we advance our board. Tactically monitoring our threat level and staying out of the spotlight is key here.
Land hate decks can be tough, but if we get off to a good start we can simply overwhelm their ability to combat us. Garruk Wildspeaker is good against stax and tax or land hate. Also Carpet of Flowers is clutch.
Unlike a lot of combo-ish decks, we are not very vulnerable to counterspells. Obviously they can hurt, but we have so many means of card advantage that it is very difficult to profitably 1-for-1 us over the course of a game.
I guess overall, I'd say the biggest key for me is to understand what my role is at any point in the near-constant flux of the game. If we make ourselves the scariest deck, we damn well better be able to seal the deal. Otherwise I try to just advance and look for a window of opportunity, using misdirection as to what my game-ending plan is. Nice thing about Maelstrom is the versatility with which we can kill. My most common methods are TnN, Food Chain, time magic, and KWR (in no particular order), but it certainly does not end there. Cards like Devastation Tide turn us into a pseudo-storm deck.
Thanks for the insight into the strategy behind your version of Maelstrom. If I ever fully embraced the combo potential of the deck, there is probably not a model better than yours.
Mystic Confluence is awesome. Its a strictly better Ingenuity, and a counterspell you don't mind cascading into. I would consider this card a staple. Its also a great piece of interaction in a deck that doesn't have a whole lot. I used all ten modes a few times each. Sometimes its a hardcasted Force of Will. Sometimes you draw 3 at the end of an opponents turn. Sometimes it gets rid of three blockers/hatebears. Sometimes you have tons of mana and no gas and you use it to bounce Wanderer back to your hand and draw 2. Sometimes you cascade into it and use it to counter wanderer on a board where you can't profitably attack, so you can cast him the next turn for only 8 mana. Mana leak + draw 2 is very strong on occasion. There basically isn't a situation where you have 5 mana and Mystic Confluence is not good.
Treachery, Bribery, are better than Stolen Identity, as its not the best cascade card on an empty board. At least with Treachery you can always cast it on your own creature for 5 more mana if you cascade into it. Its not a bad card, and I would play it if I didn't have better options in the 6 slot.
Both fit into what I want to do with this deck. Arcanis the Omnipotent provides the fuel for the Tooth and Nail combo and Food Chain path to victory of Mr Coupon's deck.
My deck is already at or near the top of the semi casual decks at the shop. MrCoupon's deck and strategy are superior to mine. I think too much of a move toward his strategy would lead to exclusively winning with combo and Food Chain. That would be too much for my play group.
Some sweet cards from the leaked cards. Spoiler tags below if you don't want to see them, although kudos if you've avoided them until now.
Karn's Temporal Sundering
4UU
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Target player takes an extra turn after this one. Return up to one target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Exile Karn's Temporal Sundering.
This card looks sweet. Might be difficult to guarantee a legendary creature if you cascade into this, but its pretty sweet. If you cast from hand you have the bonus of putting Wanderer back into hand to recast for a mere 8 mana.
Broken Bond
1G
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Removal + ramp potential ramp at 2 mana. Not embarrassing to cascade into, and interaction is always appreciated in this deck. Nuking a sol ring and playing a land is sweet. The floor of the card is there aren't any targets when you cascade into it, which sucks, but I think its worthy of consideration. The main competition is probably Hull Breach, a card I used to play.
Not looking forward to playing against Dampening Sphere, while simultaneously looking forward to jamming it into tons of decks.
Anyways, I'm hoping that we get some awesome bomb 6-7 mana cards that Wanderer is known for. I was testing out Nezahal, Primal Tide which about on the same level as Consecrated Spihnx (doesn't really die). I'm a big fan of Ulvenwald Hydra as well, so a 6 or 7 mana big land guy would be sweet.
Alright, lads, since the twitch merger thing I haven't been able to log in with my main profile (OP), so just going to update as such for now. Decent number of changes here, as well as cards that have been tested and dropped since last update (ages ago).
A few notes: thanks to judge promo, finally got a Capture of Jingzhou! This has belonged forever, but I never felt ok shelling out for it. Pathbreaker Ibex is stupid good and has got to be a staple. Testing out REB and Pyroblast, idea here is that I noticed just how brutal it was on our opposition whenever I happened to have Mana Drain back up to a spell, and the these two are not dead cascades most of the time. Not sold yet on Nexus of Fate, but worth keeping in for more testing. It's an instant for some reason, although idk how often that will be relevant. The mana base if finally due for a tune up, I had a rough run for the first time in a long time in terms of blue access (in terms of both how draws played out and in forcing mulligans), in one game going so far as to draw 7 basic forests, so the forest count is going to be trimmed for additional non-basics. I think the most likely swap here is going to be -3 forests, +Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and Hinterland Harbor.
Ok, thinking about cutting Terastodon for Temur Sabertooth. TDon is not a reliable out card, and Sabertooth has both commander synergy and combo potential
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[EDH] Rafiq of the Many
[EDH]Chainer, Dementia Master
[EDH] Maelstrom Wanderer
I guess from your statements that while you do not see Hermit Druid you do see Blood Moon and Back to Basics. Is that why you play so many basic lands?
What decks are you seeing that give Maelstrom problems? What have you added to combat them?
Decks that give us problems? Well, hate bears are hard on us. Straight up. Not unwinnable, especially with a good start. Part of what has lead my build to how it is currently is that all it takes is one window for the game to end. Against hate bears, a lot of what I do is simply a tactical shift. My focus becomes defense. Someone is going to try to take out those bears. I am not the best set up to do so. So I will try to leverage the needs of my other opponents into an opportunity to win. High value cards here are Cyclonic Rift and O-Stone. Most bears are rough but not game-ending, but Gaddock Teeg is an absolute nightmare. Once a Teeg hits, I go high defense. Wait for someone to kill him. Maaaaybe I'll get to, but my options are limited.
Combo decks can be rough, because they can just be faster than us. Here, my tactical shift is to remove focus on game-ending plays, and instead focus on incremental advantage, especially in terms of mana development. Here we can allow the midrange decks to sit on their predictable plays and come in with our accrued resources after the first lines of defense are triggered by the combo player. However, with a strong start, we can also just try to smash and win quickly. We *can* be as fast, we just aren't as consistent because we don't have the tutors. However, they cannot hold up through a developed game, whereas we are always a threat because we advance our board. Tactically monitoring our threat level and staying out of the spotlight is key here.
Land hate decks can be tough, but if we get off to a good start we can simply overwhelm their ability to combat us. Garruk Wildspeaker is good against stax and tax or land hate. Also Carpet of Flowers is clutch.
Unlike a lot of combo-ish decks, we are not very vulnerable to counterspells. Obviously they can hurt, but we have so many means of card advantage that it is very difficult to profitably 1-for-1 us over the course of a game.
I guess overall, I'd say the biggest key for me is to understand what my role is at any point in the near-constant flux of the game. If we make ourselves the scariest deck, we damn well better be able to seal the deal. Otherwise I try to just advance and look for a window of opportunity, using misdirection as to what my game-ending plan is. Nice thing about Maelstrom is the versatility with which we can kill. My most common methods are TnN, Food Chain, time magic, and KWR (in no particular order), but it certainly does not end there. Cards like Devastation Tide turn us into a pseudo-storm deck.
[EDH] Rafiq of the Many
[EDH]Chainer, Dementia Master
[EDH] Maelstrom Wanderer
Have you settled on your changes to the deck?
I am testing Etali, Primal Storm-thoughts?
Treachery, Bribery, are better than Stolen Identity, as its not the best cascade card on an empty board. At least with Treachery you can always cast it on your own creature for 5 more mana if you cascade into it. Its not a bad card, and I would play it if I didn't have better options in the 6 slot.
Etali, Primal Storm is sweet, but is not as impactful as other 6 drops like Pathbreaker Ibex or Scourge of the Throne. I wouldn't fault you for playing it, cuz its super sweet.
Akrima44, I cut Stolen Identity for Arcanis the Omnipotent. Etali, Primal Storm has been good but not great. He definitely puts fear into opponents when he swings with haste (Wanderer).
Both fit into what I want to do with this deck. Arcanis the Omnipotent provides the fuel for the Tooth and Nail combo and Food Chain path to victory of Mr Coupon's deck.
Etali, Primal Storm along with my Tooth and Nail combo of Avenger of Zendikar/Craterhoof Behemoth, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, Pathbreaker Ibex, Scourge of the Throne, and Malignus power my alternate win con of combat damage/Commander kills.
My deck is already at or near the top of the semi casual decks at the shop. MrCoupon's deck and strategy are superior to mine. I think too much of a move toward his strategy would lead to exclusively winning with combo and Food Chain. That would be too much for my play group.
4UU
(You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Target player takes an extra turn after this one. Return up to one target nonland permanent to its owner's hand. Exile Karn's Temporal Sundering.
This card looks sweet. Might be difficult to guarantee a legendary creature if you cascade into this, but its pretty sweet. If you cast from hand you have the bonus of putting Wanderer back into hand to recast for a mere 8 mana.
Broken Bond
1G
Sorcery
Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You may put a land card from your hand onto the battlefield.
Removal + ramp potential ramp at 2 mana. Not embarrassing to cascade into, and interaction is always appreciated in this deck. Nuking a sol ring and playing a land is sweet. The floor of the card is there aren't any targets when you cascade into it, which sucks, but I think its worthy of consideration. The main competition is probably Hull Breach, a card I used to play.
Not looking forward to playing against Dampening Sphere, while simultaneously looking forward to jamming it into tons of decks.
Anyways, I'm hoping that we get some awesome bomb 6-7 mana cards that Wanderer is known for. I was testing out Nezahal, Primal Tide which about on the same level as Consecrated Spihnx (doesn't really die). I'm a big fan of Ulvenwald Hydra as well, so a 6 or 7 mana big land guy would be sweet.
What are you guys hoping for in this set?
Do you know of a current Maelstrom Wanderer forum?
Current list:
5 Island
9 Forest
1 Arid Mesa
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
1 Breeding Pool
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Grove
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Karplusan Forest
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Tolaria West
1 Kessig Wolf Run
Planeswalkers: 4
3 Dack Fayden
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
5 Garruk, Primal Hunter
Artifacts: 6
0 Mana Crypt
1 Mana Vault
1 Sol Ring
2 Grim Monolith
4 Thran Dynamo
5 Gilded Lotus
1 Carpet of Flowers
2 Copy Artifact
2 Sylvan Library
3 Food Chain
3 Overgrowth
5 Future Sight
5 Treachery
Creatures: 20
1 Joraga Treespeaker
2 Lotus Cobra
2 Phantasmal Image
3 Eternal Witness
3 Fyndhorn Elder
3 Greenweaver Druid
3 Nantuko Elder
3 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
3 Trinket Mage
4 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Oracle of Mul Daya
4 Phyrexian Metamorph
6 Arcanis the Omnipotent
6 Consecrated Sphinx
6 Deadeye Navigator
6 Pathbreaker Ibex
7 Sphinx of Uthuun
7 Avenger of Zendikar
7 Palinchron
8 Terastodon
Instants: 8
1 Brainstorm
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Mana Drain
4 Fact or Fiction
5 Mystic Confluence
7 Nexus of Fate
1 Ponder
2 Regrowth
3 Fabricate
4 Harmonize
4 Hunting Wilds
4 Ranger's Path
4 Rite of Replication
4 Skyshroud Claim
5 Bribery
5 Capture of Jingzhou
5 Temporal Manipulation
5 Time Warp
5 Tidings
6 Walk the Aeons
7 Knowledge Exploitation
7 Temporal Mastery
7 Tooth and Nail
10 Time Stretch
A few notes: thanks to judge promo, finally got a Capture of Jingzhou! This has belonged forever, but I never felt ok shelling out for it. Pathbreaker Ibex is stupid good and has got to be a staple. Testing out REB and Pyroblast, idea here is that I noticed just how brutal it was on our opposition whenever I happened to have Mana Drain back up to a spell, and the these two are not dead cascades most of the time. Not sold yet on Nexus of Fate, but worth keeping in for more testing. It's an instant for some reason, although idk how often that will be relevant. The mana base if finally due for a tune up, I had a rough run for the first time in a long time in terms of blue access (in terms of both how draws played out and in forcing mulligans), in one game going so far as to draw 7 basic forests, so the forest count is going to be trimmed for additional non-basics. I think the most likely swap here is going to be -3 forests, +Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and Hinterland Harbor.
Also, identified Rite of Replication, Terastodon, Regrowth as most likely next cards on chopping block