Yeah, I smiled when I saw a Phage build, and I almost didn't want to kill him, just to see how he got around Phage's downside (though I saw he had discarded a Platinum Angel, so that was one way). He later showed me all of his ways of getting her into play and it was really a neat deck. He's a Johnny for sure. Like I said, I almost feel bad for killing him, but after he got a Whispersilk Cloak out I started to get antsy, and I'd shown so much self control and only attacked once, just to flip my Dowsing Dagger, my inner Timmy was SCREAMING at me and I had to smash face with my angels at least once and his low life total combined with all my angels having vigilance meant I could alpha strike with no consequences. I also wanted to guarantee that I wasn't the first to die. Maybe I should have kept him in the game, but I honored the deal we had made and didn't go back on my word. My Timmy side occasionally gets in the way of rational self-control, but it was a lot of fun to declare my attack and take SOMEONE out, instead of it being me taken out quickly. We were about an hour into the game, anyway, so it's not like I stopped him from playing. I'm sure it will only get better as I finish my deck and it's more able to keep up with everyone else's.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Special thanks to Bella for my sig
"Cut it down, bury it in the snow, put it to the torch. The rose will still bloom again."
Well, I just got back from my local game store, and I won my first game of Commander, with the deck listed a few posts up on page 2. The bad thing though is one player was seriously dumped on during that game. He was playing Meren of Clan Nel Toth, one person was playing a Phelddagrif deck with a lot of control and pillow fort stuff, and the last player was playing The Scarab God. Phelddagrif player spent most of the game stopping the Meren player from doing anything, helping the Scarab God player, bouncing things back to everyone's hands, and getting rid of my biggest threats. The Phelddagrif player, once I had cleared the way for the Meren player to actually do something, cast a spell that instantly ended the Meren player's turn. Meren player scooped and said that he didn't like playing against a bunch of control decks, and now that he finally thought he was going to be able to play Magic, he got his turn ended. I let the P player know that what he had done was a dick move, and that I wasn't going to let it slide. Two turns after that, I cast a huge Earthquake that was lethal to everyone but me because I couldn't attack anyone because of pillow fort cards. The P player was all grins and giggles until I did that. I'm hoping he learned a lesson. I'm very happy to finally win a game, I just wish that the game had ended in a way that was fun for everyone.
I have some cards to add to this deck, so I will be doing that very soon. I'll post in a day or two when I make the changes.
Edit: I have to note here that the Meren player was very grateful to me, and asked what my name was. I told him and he looked at the other people at the table, then looked at me and said, "Gabrielle (not my real name, I told him my real name), I'd love to play with you if you're going to be here next week." Then he told me his name, and left.
On another note, what does everyone think of me eventually replacing The Immortal Sun with Chandra, Torch of Defiance once she rotates out of Standard and the price on her drops significantly? She seems to show a lot of promise, replaces all of the effects of The Immortal Sun other than stopping planeswalkers, which seem to see less play in my local meta, and might even drop down to a point where she's very affordable. Also, Earthquake performed so well last night when my creatures were locked out of attacking that I might just replace Wrath of God with it.
Chandra, torch of defiance is an excellent card, but her price probably won't drop too significantly. She does see some play in modern and is highly playable as an edh card. Those are enough to keep the price in the 20 range. That said, as a mana accelerant, card advantage engine, she's pretty good. I might run her in addition to the immortal sun, but i am not sure what to remove for her.
I am glad that your deck is doing well, though! Sounds as if you are enjoying it!
I'm having lots of fun. It was also nice to be able to do something about what happened to the Meren player, because I've been there recently, and it sucks. I've actually decided to replace Martyr's Cause with Spawning Pit so it can possibly be a wincon with Aurelia, the Warleader and Adarkar Valkyrie. Every turn I can make as many token creatures as I have mana to spend on them. It's a little slower than Goblin Bombardment, but I can still build a token army and go HAM on someone when the time is right. But I don't want The Immortal Sun if I'm running two planeswalkers though, do I? Seems like I'd be screwing myself by stopping loyalty abilities. Is The Immortal Sun likely to be in play with either Nahiri or Chandra? I can fetch any of the three with Thalia's Lancers. Chandra can give me an alternate wincon if I'm in a similar situation as I was on Wednesday (Phelddagrif player had a Blazing Archon and Scarab God player had a copy of a Blazing Archon), or burn chump blockers if I need to make room for an attack. It would also be nice to have a second tutor, like we've talked about (Enlightened Tutor), and a Suppression Field, but I have no idea which three cards to cut. I have 9 cards that give me some card draw, 12 sources of ramp, plenty of removal and board wipes, a little direct damage, some protection and control, graveyard hate, 2 tutors, 4 sources of recursion. If there is something I might want more of it's draw and ramp, but I will likely be okay. Will need more playtesting to know what I want and what I can do without, perhaps.
I've recently added cards to my deck, so now it looks more like the deck I'm wanting.
I also have Ghostly Prison ordered, and it should be coming any day now. I will also soon be acquiring the prerelease promo of Archangel Avacyn. Avacyn is my favorite character in Magic, and she's my commander, so I really couldn't resist. I don't usually care about foils, but for my commander it's nice to have a harder to get version to show this is a deck I'm serious about. I can't wait to try it in its current form and see what difference basically buying all the cheap cards and a couple that were a little more pricey will make. For now I will continue to use Staff of Nin to substitute for The Immortal Sun, because I get the card draw from it, just not the ramp. Lots to think on. Anyway, for now, I really need sleep. I think we're on to something, and I'm learning to play control and am liking it. I had no idea I would.
Well, I've been playing the deck more and I'm liking what it can do. The first game I played I was just plain outplayed, which is fine. I learned something and it was a lot of fun. The second game I hung around, didn't do much, didn't say much, and watched everyone else squabble and mopped up three people. It was down to me and someone playing a 5 color control deck using The Ur-Dragon as sort of a fill-in commander, because he couldn't decide who to use. Anyhow, I have him on the ropes with a couple angels beating face and a couple creatures left in my hand in case of a board wipe, and a mana rock, but no lands. He had 4 life, and I had 11 power worth of creatures in the air that he had no apparent answer for. He plays Jokulhaups, and we spend another hour playing a game that should have ended that next turn. I told him that mass land destruction was really frowned on in the meta there at the store and his response was "So?" It seems that things keep getting more and more competitive. If he feels he needs to play mass land destruction to win, then whatever. I feel like it was a win for me because I got to beat face with my angels and I finished off three people.
It goes from me getting complaints for playing Kaalia of the Vast without MLD to the people who were really opposed to Kaalia leaving and three people playing 100% decks, two with MLD, show up. I built a 75% deck and wasn't holding lands because I was under the assumption that MLD is considered rude, so I wasn't expecting it. The deck I've built with the help of people here (with special thanks to someone who worked with me on my deck one-on-one in IMs and others encouraging me) I'd consider a 75% deck, one that isn't even really optimized to be 75% yet, as I'm missing key expensive cards.
So, I've built a 75% deck because what I saw when I started there were all either 75% decks or goofy stuff. So what do I do? I feel like I should continue to play there for a bit to see if the Spikes stay or move on. I wish I just had a group of friends who all played 50%-75% decks or found a store where that was the norm. Is this something that happens at every store? This store seems to attract competitive people, but when I started multiplayer commander was somewhat casual because the Spikes who come on Wednesdays were all playing in the French Duel Commander tournaments. What drew me to EDH was trying to get away from Spikes by not playing Modern at FNM anymore. I had fun, though, despite the ********.
I think I may post about this in the main forum, too.
-Gabbie
I mean it sounds like the deck is competitive anyway. You forced him to a point where he had to play Jokulhaups to stay in the game. It's not going to happen every game, and when it happens in this context I'd be stoked that my plays are strong enough to force someone to that point.
However, not everyone is a fan as you say. Do you personally have an issue with it? For me, the issue here would be less about the MLD or losing the win, more wasting an hour on a game that should've already ended. I'd have given it a couple of turn cycles and scooped.
It is a hairy issue, once again with no black and white. I'd take umbrage with fellas who use MLD on a whim to randomly change the boardstate. If it's a clutch card that waits till worst case scenario, I'd probably see it as a more acceptable play. That varies player to player though, and meta to meta. I'm more lax about it than some, less than others.
I saw the other thread, and there are some good suggestions there - I don't think you need to jump in the deep end and run MLD by the dozen in here; there's no need to fight fire with fire, especially if it doesn't sit well with you. You are however in good colours to mitigate the effects of MLD enough so that it cripples other players and leaves you unscathed. Boros Charm is super good, Faith's Reward is super good, even your commander will at least cover your creatures. Adarkar Valkyrie can steal a creature in response to the spell, as its ability hits the stack first if resolved in response. Sun Titan can fetch you lands back. Avacyn, Angel of Hope obvs. If you really, really want to you could run Soul of New Phyrexia. It's ability is expensive though. Nahiri, the Harbinger survives Jokulhaups. And if you want counter spells, white has Lapse of Certainty, Mana Tithe, Chancellor of the Annex, Equinox, red has Molten Influence. There's plenty of options, although to my mind I wouldn't go crazy adding them in. Your deck has more resilience than you think it does in the face of this threat.
It was a political success as much, if not perhaps more than a victory of my deck or my play skill. I managed to stay above the fray for most of the game, only acting when I saw that the game was basically mine. I talked, but it was about game lore and a conversation about when everyone started playing Magic, what's changed, etc. I had Ghostly Prison and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight out for most of the game, so people just didn't bother with me and I managed to protect myself from board wipes with Boros Charm and Archangel Avacyn.
Personally, I do have an issue with mass land destruction partly because it had been drilled into me at the beginning that it was frowned upon. My first deck, Kaalia, almost had Armageddon and Razia's Purification in it. I got lectured when someone saw me sleeving up those two cards that I had just bought. After listening to The Command Zone podcast where they discussed MLD, I saw their point of view, and that was cemented when I was incredibly frustrated by someone playing a Winter Orb right after they had killed Kaalia. The Command Zone has also expressed that one of the big strengths of Boros is MLD, and that it's against the social contract amongst EDH players, which is one thing that makes Boros weaker than other color combinations, along with the bad options for ramp and card draw. If someone can convince me that mass land destruction isn't gauche, and I've inherited a minority belief, then I'll be willing to rethink mass land destruction, and I wouldn't be totally against using it as long as the person wins quickly after playing it. In that case it's just like any other wincon. It does feel gratifying that he needed Jokulhaups to beat me.
He happened to topdeck it, so I have no idea if he would have used it sooner had he had it in his hand. It was a lucky break for him that he drew into an answer, and a creature wipe wouldn't have been enough, as I had creatures in my hand and plenty of mana to cast them. It felt horrible in the moment when I had him on the ropes and he did what I thought was a very dirty thing, and I wasn't going to just let him win, I needed to show him that it would take more than Jokulhaups to stop me. I was wrong. I had nothing but expensive cards in my hand and no mana to cast them. My main objection to mass land destruction is that it feels bad and unfun to play against, and it was impressed upon me that it was something that only Spikes with no regard for others played. Everyone who has expressed that to me and who opposed me playing Kaalia is gone now, though. Like I said, the meta changed. I might just have to change with it, and my next deck might well be something very competitive. I may even resurrect my Kaalia deck and build not angel tribal, but something that's budget, but competitive, and will likely use MLD. Or maybe Maelstrom Wanderer. Or I'll find a tier 1-2 deck that looks fun and build a budget version that I can upgrade. In the other thread I was advised to have different decks for different situations. That seems like a reasonable way to do things. I just know that Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith is another casual deck that isn't going to cut it.
It seems that it was just his good luck to have drawn the Jokulhaups and my bad luck to not have had an answer. I'd used my Boros Charm, Archangel Avacyn was already on the field, I don't have a Sun Titan in the deck yet, Avacyn, Angel of Hope was still in my deck, yet to be drawn, Nahiri took a Hero's Downfall to the knee. I think that luck was a huge factor in the Jokulhaups being drawn, played, and there being no answer for it.
Thing is, I put a lot of work into the deck, various people here have given lots of suggestions and in private messages... not just I've spent a lot of time on the deck. And I don't even want to think of the money I spent partially building the Kaalia deck, tearing it apart, and building this deck. I've identified that after my lands get destroyed, it's nearly impossible for me to recover in time because of the high mana curve. I may have to adjust that, but I have no clue how, which humans I might add to lower the curve... I know Mother of Runes is a very good human 1-drop, and I happen to have one. As I often am, I'm rather confused.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Special thanks to Bella for my sig
"Cut it down, bury it in the snow, put it to the torch. The rose will still bloom again."
Personally, I do have an issue with mass land destruction partly because it had been drilled into me at the beginning that it was frowned upon. My first deck, Kaalia, almost had Armageddon and Razia's Purification in it. I got lectured when someone saw me sleeving up those two cards that I had just bought. After listening to The Command Zone podcast where they discussed MLD, I saw their point of view, and that was cemented when I was incredibly frustrated by someone playing a Winter Orb right after they had killed Kaalia. The Command Zone has also expressed that one of the big strengths of Boros is MLD, and that it's against the social contract amongst EDH players, which is one thing that makes Boros weaker than other color combinations, along with the bad options for ramp and card draw. If someone can convince me that mass land destruction isn't gauche, and I've inherited a minority belief, then I'll be willing to rethink mass land destruction, and I wouldn't be totally against using it as long as the person wins quickly after playing it. In that case it's just like any other wincon. It does feel gratifying that he needed Jokulhaups to beat me.
Yeah, I mean it's a sticking point for some and not others. As a 'case by case' thing, it can be hard to play around, and if you have a solid, stable meta it will always be easier to regulate how much it becomes a part of your games.
He happened to topdeck it, so I have no idea if he would have used it sooner had he had it in his hand. It was a lucky break for him that he drew into an answer, and a creature wipe wouldn't have been enough, as I had creatures in my hand and plenty of mana to cast them. It felt horrible in the moment when I had him on the ropes and he did what I thought was a very dirty thing, and I wasn't going to just let him win, I needed to show him that it would take more than Jokulhaups to stop me. I was wrong. I had nothing but expensive cards in my hand and no mana to cast them. My main objection to mass land destruction is that it feels bad and unfun to play against, and it was impressed upon me that it was something that only Spikes with no regard for others played. Everyone who has expressed that to me and who opposed me playing Kaalia is gone now, though. Like I said, the meta changed. I might just have to change with it, and my next deck might well be something very competitive. I may even resurrect my Kaalia deck and build not angel tribal, but something that's budget, but competitive, and will likely use MLD. Or maybe Maelstrom Wanderer. Or I'll find a tier 1-2 deck that looks fun and build a budget version that I can upgrade. In the other thread I was advised to have different decks for different situations. That seems like a reasonable way to do things. I just know that Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith is another casual deck that isn't going to cut it.
Hey, these things happen right? I mean if you play him again and he happens to be running Jokulhaups, Armageddon, Ruination and Obliterate in the same deck you're probably right to get a bit salty with him. As it is though, no deck can answer every situation, and most decks struggle against MLD, except for a few niches like The Gitrog Monster or Titania, Protector of Argoth. Land reanimation isn't a common effect, and up until Splendid Reclamation and Ramunap Excavator has been restrictingly expensive. You're not in a minority for having trouble in that situation, and I don't think you need to build anything else to account for this.
It does sort of seem like he just drew the right card at the right time. If it happens again and again I'd start to be concerned, especially as playing through it for another hour afterwards is sort of painful.
Thing is, I put a lot of work into the deck, various people here have given lots of suggestions and in private messages... not just I've spent a lot of time on the deck. And I don't even want to think of the money I spent partially building the Kaalia deck, tearing it apart, and building this deck. I've identified that after my lands get destroyed, it's nearly impossible for me to recover in time because of the high mana curve. I may have to adjust that, but I have no clue how, which humans I might add to lower the curve... I know Mother of Runes is a very good human 1-drop, and I happen to have one. As I often am, I'm rather confused.
Lowering the curve could help, I guess. Mother of Runes is a good place to start, she's decent. These are straight from my list, but they are good anyway (I'm not just blowing my own horn): Grand Abolisher - really strong control effect. Magus of the Moat Weathered Wayfarer - searches for any land. Ranger of Eos - finds your Mother of Runes and Weathered Wayfarer.
You could go for Magus of the Tabernacle, Containment Priest, Ethersworn Canonist, Sanctum Prelate, False Prophet, Harsh Mentor, War's Toll but some of these are a little pricey. It would pay to pick some you can play around or advance your plans. Or that answer what you want answered.
There are a lot of ways to mitigate land destruction, but often it really does come down to timing. Some of the answers from your separate thread were good - Pithing Needle and Teferi's Protection are awesome, and either or both could see play here. You could (should) run Silence for your Sunforger package. It's up to you what you want to do, but some of this cheaper control couldn't hurt. If you really want to you could always run Terra Eternal, too, but 9/10 it'll be a redundant card. Again, it really depends how often you expect to run into this, which time will tell I'm sure.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
I have some cards to add to this deck, so I will be doing that very soon. I'll post in a day or two when I make the changes.
Edit: I have to note here that the Meren player was very grateful to me, and asked what my name was. I told him and he looked at the other people at the table, then looked at me and said, "Gabrielle (not my real name, I told him my real name), I'd love to play with you if you're going to be here next week." Then he told me his name, and left.
On another note, what does everyone think of me eventually replacing The Immortal Sun with Chandra, Torch of Defiance once she rotates out of Standard and the price on her drops significantly? She seems to show a lot of promise, replaces all of the effects of The Immortal Sun other than stopping planeswalkers, which seem to see less play in my local meta, and might even drop down to a point where she's very affordable. Also, Earthquake performed so well last night when my creatures were locked out of attacking that I might just replace Wrath of God with it.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
I am glad that your deck is doing well, though! Sounds as if you are enjoying it!
Credit to DolZero for this awesome sig!
I've recently added cards to my deck, so now it looks more like the deck I'm wanting.
1 Spawning Pit
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Odric, Lunarch Marshal
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Angelic Field Marshal
1 Aura of Silence
1 Herald of the Host
1 Arch of Orazca
1 Vandalblast
1 Smoke
1 Defy Death
1 Path of Ancestry
1 Magus of the Wheel
1 Day of Judgment
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Thalia's Lancers
1 Mask of Memory
1 Path to Exile
1 Serra Angel -(sad to see her go, she's nostalgic for me)
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Angelic Arbiter
1 Aegis Angel
1 Basandra, Battle Seraph
1 Twilight Shepherd
1 Archangel of Strife
1 Condemn
1 Wheel of Fate
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Oketra's Monument
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sphere of the Suns
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Exotic Orchard
I also have Ghostly Prison ordered, and it should be coming any day now. I will also soon be acquiring the prerelease promo of Archangel Avacyn. Avacyn is my favorite character in Magic, and she's my commander, so I really couldn't resist. I don't usually care about foils, but for my commander it's nice to have a harder to get version to show this is a deck I'm serious about. I can't wait to try it in its current form and see what difference basically buying all the cheap cards and a couple that were a little more pricey will make. For now I will continue to use Staff of Nin to substitute for The Immortal Sun, because I get the card draw from it, just not the ramp. Lots to think on. Anyway, for now, I really need sleep. I think we're on to something, and I'm learning to play control and am liking it. I had no idea I would.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
It goes from me getting complaints for playing Kaalia of the Vast without MLD to the people who were really opposed to Kaalia leaving and three people playing 100% decks, two with MLD, show up. I built a 75% deck and wasn't holding lands because I was under the assumption that MLD is considered rude, so I wasn't expecting it. The deck I've built with the help of people here (with special thanks to someone who worked with me on my deck one-on-one in IMs and others encouraging me) I'd consider a 75% deck, one that isn't even really optimized to be 75% yet, as I'm missing key expensive cards.
So, I've built a 75% deck because what I saw when I started there were all either 75% decks or goofy stuff. So what do I do? I feel like I should continue to play there for a bit to see if the Spikes stay or move on. I wish I just had a group of friends who all played 50%-75% decks or found a store where that was the norm. Is this something that happens at every store? This store seems to attract competitive people, but when I started multiplayer commander was somewhat casual because the Spikes who come on Wednesdays were all playing in the French Duel Commander tournaments. What drew me to EDH was trying to get away from Spikes by not playing Modern at FNM anymore. I had fun, though, despite the ********.
I think I may post about this in the main forum, too.
-Gabbie
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
However, not everyone is a fan as you say. Do you personally have an issue with it? For me, the issue here would be less about the MLD or losing the win, more wasting an hour on a game that should've already ended. I'd have given it a couple of turn cycles and scooped.
It is a hairy issue, once again with no black and white. I'd take umbrage with fellas who use MLD on a whim to randomly change the boardstate. If it's a clutch card that waits till worst case scenario, I'd probably see it as a more acceptable play. That varies player to player though, and meta to meta. I'm more lax about it than some, less than others.
I saw the other thread, and there are some good suggestions there - I don't think you need to jump in the deep end and run MLD by the dozen in here; there's no need to fight fire with fire, especially if it doesn't sit well with you. You are however in good colours to mitigate the effects of MLD enough so that it cripples other players and leaves you unscathed. Boros Charm is super good, Faith's Reward is super good, even your commander will at least cover your creatures. Adarkar Valkyrie can steal a creature in response to the spell, as its ability hits the stack first if resolved in response. Sun Titan can fetch you lands back. Avacyn, Angel of Hope obvs. If you really, really want to you could run Soul of New Phyrexia. It's ability is expensive though. Nahiri, the Harbinger survives Jokulhaups. And if you want counter spells, white has Lapse of Certainty, Mana Tithe, Chancellor of the Annex, Equinox, red has Molten Influence. There's plenty of options, although to my mind I wouldn't go crazy adding them in. Your deck has more resilience than you think it does in the face of this threat.
Personally, I do have an issue with mass land destruction partly because it had been drilled into me at the beginning that it was frowned upon. My first deck, Kaalia, almost had Armageddon and Razia's Purification in it. I got lectured when someone saw me sleeving up those two cards that I had just bought. After listening to The Command Zone podcast where they discussed MLD, I saw their point of view, and that was cemented when I was incredibly frustrated by someone playing a Winter Orb right after they had killed Kaalia. The Command Zone has also expressed that one of the big strengths of Boros is MLD, and that it's against the social contract amongst EDH players, which is one thing that makes Boros weaker than other color combinations, along with the bad options for ramp and card draw. If someone can convince me that mass land destruction isn't gauche, and I've inherited a minority belief, then I'll be willing to rethink mass land destruction, and I wouldn't be totally against using it as long as the person wins quickly after playing it. In that case it's just like any other wincon. It does feel gratifying that he needed Jokulhaups to beat me.
He happened to topdeck it, so I have no idea if he would have used it sooner had he had it in his hand. It was a lucky break for him that he drew into an answer, and a creature wipe wouldn't have been enough, as I had creatures in my hand and plenty of mana to cast them. It felt horrible in the moment when I had him on the ropes and he did what I thought was a very dirty thing, and I wasn't going to just let him win, I needed to show him that it would take more than Jokulhaups to stop me. I was wrong. I had nothing but expensive cards in my hand and no mana to cast them. My main objection to mass land destruction is that it feels bad and unfun to play against, and it was impressed upon me that it was something that only Spikes with no regard for others played. Everyone who has expressed that to me and who opposed me playing Kaalia is gone now, though. Like I said, the meta changed. I might just have to change with it, and my next deck might well be something very competitive. I may even resurrect my Kaalia deck and build not angel tribal, but something that's budget, but competitive, and will likely use MLD. Or maybe Maelstrom Wanderer. Or I'll find a tier 1-2 deck that looks fun and build a budget version that I can upgrade. In the other thread I was advised to have different decks for different situations. That seems like a reasonable way to do things. I just know that Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith is another casual deck that isn't going to cut it.
It seems that it was just his good luck to have drawn the Jokulhaups and my bad luck to not have had an answer. I'd used my Boros Charm, Archangel Avacyn was already on the field, I don't have a Sun Titan in the deck yet, Avacyn, Angel of Hope was still in my deck, yet to be drawn, Nahiri took a Hero's Downfall to the knee. I think that luck was a huge factor in the Jokulhaups being drawn, played, and there being no answer for it.
Thing is, I put a lot of work into the deck, various people here have given lots of suggestions and in private messages... not just I've spent a lot of time on the deck. And I don't even want to think of the money I spent partially building the Kaalia deck, tearing it apart, and building this deck. I've identified that after my lands get destroyed, it's nearly impossible for me to recover in time because of the high mana curve. I may have to adjust that, but I have no clue how, which humans I might add to lower the curve... I know Mother of Runes is a very good human 1-drop, and I happen to have one. As I often am, I'm rather confused.
RWArchangel Avacyn, GWNazahn, Revered Bladesmith, RKari Zev, Skyship Raider (French Duel)
Yeah, I mean it's a sticking point for some and not others. As a 'case by case' thing, it can be hard to play around, and if you have a solid, stable meta it will always be easier to regulate how much it becomes a part of your games.
Hey, these things happen right? I mean if you play him again and he happens to be running Jokulhaups, Armageddon, Ruination and Obliterate in the same deck you're probably right to get a bit salty with him. As it is though, no deck can answer every situation, and most decks struggle against MLD, except for a few niches like The Gitrog Monster or Titania, Protector of Argoth. Land reanimation isn't a common effect, and up until Splendid Reclamation and Ramunap Excavator has been restrictingly expensive. You're not in a minority for having trouble in that situation, and I don't think you need to build anything else to account for this.
It does sort of seem like he just drew the right card at the right time. If it happens again and again I'd start to be concerned, especially as playing through it for another hour afterwards is sort of painful.
Lowering the curve could help, I guess. Mother of Runes is a good place to start, she's decent. These are straight from my list, but they are good anyway (I'm not just blowing my own horn):
Grand Abolisher - really strong control effect.
Magus of the Moat
Weathered Wayfarer - searches for any land.
Ranger of Eos - finds your Mother of Runes and Weathered Wayfarer.
You could go for Magus of the Tabernacle, Containment Priest, Ethersworn Canonist, Sanctum Prelate, False Prophet, Harsh Mentor, War's Toll but some of these are a little pricey. It would pay to pick some you can play around or advance your plans. Or that answer what you want answered.
There are a lot of ways to mitigate land destruction, but often it really does come down to timing. Some of the answers from your separate thread were good - Pithing Needle and Teferi's Protection are awesome, and either or both could see play here. You could (should) run Silence for your Sunforger package. It's up to you what you want to do, but some of this cheaper control couldn't hurt. If you really want to you could always run Terra Eternal, too, but 9/10 it'll be a redundant card. Again, it really depends how often you expect to run into this, which time will tell I'm sure.