Anyone have any luck getting a T1 Feather? I don't think it's that hard to pull off. There's plenty of 0-costed rocks, plus the land for the turn, and possibly Simian Spirit Guide just in case for that free R. I feel that it should be fairly consistent to get Feather before turn 3.
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Thanks, means a lot. Kind of funny that I achieve primerdom literally as Feather slips from the week's top commander spot on EDHREC There's no pretending this hype would last forever. The commanders that endure are typically somewhat open-ended value engines, whereas Feather is ultimately very commander-dependent, and considerably more narrow. A typical flash in the pan, once the novelty of slinging Heal wore off people started migrating to the new hot thing. This appears to be Lord Windgrace, thanks to MH1's RG draft archetype.
Speed for speed's sake is not the most crucial when getting Feather out. You've got stuff to play, spells to recycle, shuffling a treasure token into your deck is really not where you want to be. However, I never got in proper testing of the zero-drop rocks I don't run. As such, I repeatedly fished up six-card hands (pretending to hold a Mox Diamond), and evaluated the Diamond against Coldsteel Heart, i.e. the only CIPT two-drop rock left in the list. The hand had three turns to get out Feather with protection mana up, as the current rock does that. Four outcomes were tallied: a turn two Feather, a turn three Feather with the Diamond mana accelerating a pre-Feather play that would not have otherwise happened, a plain turn three Feather (equivalent to the Heart), and failure to produce a Feather (at this point the Heart would be superior). Sol Ring starts did not actually change that much here, as the Heart reality would still have insufficient coloured to Feather turn two. One hundred hands later:
Turn two Feather: 27
Turn three Feather plus goodies: 30
Turn three Feather (no goodies): 12
Failure to produce Feather: 31
There's no denying that the Diamond is higher variance than the Heart - 30% of the hands felt the fact that the Diamond just sneaks in an extra land drop and wilted in the face of lack of other ramp, but over half benefited from the presence of other cheap rocks and low-curve plays, getting out value that the Heart would not be able to achieve. Add to that the fact the Diamond is a far preferable topdeck and we have a swap on our hands. Timely, too - each of my other primers got some high-end goodie around the time the thread got approved
However, I maintain that the other cheap-as-hell rocks I'm not running are not worth the space here. Of the 100 hands tested, a whopping seven would have supported an early Mox Opal.
While I agree that Feather's hype was definitely destined to go down, I don't think she'll fade away into obscurity; she's practically the only viable Boros Commander, changes the way Boros plays, and IS a "value engine" (albeit a build-around one.) What I love most about Feather, is the amount of things one can do at instant speed, during combat, abusing end-step, etc.; reminds me of Yuriko in a way, lots of fun interactions to not get bored.
Yeah, Feather will have her devotees. My list's here to stay. I don't make primers lightly - the last one was in 2016, for a deck I consider my signature build. Also, seriously, just goldfish them. I was entirely convinced Mox Diamond was a devastatingly bad idea until I just sat down and pulled up hand after hand, comparing the Diamond to a two-drop tap rock. Or just skip it - it's not a night and day tier of difference, and the monetary investment is nontrivial.
New set! The closest Feather gets to an include here is Infuriate. Ah well, that's unfortunate. The biggest impact on the deck in the set comes in Kykar, Wind's Fury. Take Feather, make some super broad abilities from the same general cast spam ballpark, add blue, tadaa! Having both a fodder churner and complementary faux-Phyrexian Altar on a body out of the command zone is pretty decent, and I'm pretty sure there's a good low-curve, deck-shredding build waiting to happen. However, Feather's jankier, so I'm staying here
I had a short break from the deck recently, and saw it in a slightly different light when picking it up again for some paper games over the weekend. I noticed that if I see enough of the deck to get the Paradox Engine + Isochron Scepter combo online, the "hand" (usually about the size of the rest of the deck) comes with enough various critical mass to piece together some finite storm'y nonsense to just end the game sans combo. As such, I'll probably devote the Scepter slot to something else. Also being a little critical of Phalanx Leader - I don't think I've ever actually built an X/X swarm with him, and the Feather pump aspect is blanked when you blink her out of harm's way. I'm not sure what to put in the slots, for now Thought Vessel and Titan's Strength are in the lead. I'll give it some more thought, probably harvest some more performance data as well.
Congrats on the primer status, friend! I agree that Phalanx Leader has never done it for me and was removed from my list very quickly. And Thought Vessel is a must as your hand size gets ludicrously difficult to deal with after a few value turns.
Anyways, love the list and definitely need to add Aria of Flame to mine
Thanks for the kind words. Sorry for the delayed response, I got caught up in porting my stuff over to Nexus. Feather lives here now, feel free to stop by: https://www.mtgnexus.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=306
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Anyone have any luck getting a T1 Feather? I don't think it's that hard to pull off. There's plenty of 0-costed rocks, plus the land for the turn, and possibly Simian Spirit Guide just in case for that free R. I feel that it should be fairly consistent to get Feather before turn 3.
BGU [Primer] Sidisi, Brood Tyrant BGU | BG [Primer] Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest BG | G [Primer] Polukranos, World Eater G
My YouTube Channel:
The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
Speed for speed's sake is not the most crucial when getting Feather out. You've got stuff to play, spells to recycle, shuffling a treasure token into your deck is really not where you want to be. However, I never got in proper testing of the zero-drop rocks I don't run. As such, I repeatedly fished up six-card hands (pretending to hold a Mox Diamond), and evaluated the Diamond against Coldsteel Heart, i.e. the only CIPT two-drop rock left in the list. The hand had three turns to get out Feather with protection mana up, as the current rock does that. Four outcomes were tallied: a turn two Feather, a turn three Feather with the Diamond mana accelerating a pre-Feather play that would not have otherwise happened, a plain turn three Feather (equivalent to the Heart), and failure to produce a Feather (at this point the Heart would be superior). Sol Ring starts did not actually change that much here, as the Heart reality would still have insufficient coloured to Feather turn two. One hundred hands later:
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Mox Diamond
However, I maintain that the other cheap-as-hell rocks I'm not running are not worth the space here. Of the 100 hands tested, a whopping seven would have supported an early Mox Opal.
While I agree that Feather's hype was definitely destined to go down, I don't think she'll fade away into obscurity; she's practically the only viable Boros Commander, changes the way Boros plays, and IS a "value engine" (albeit a build-around one.) What I love most about Feather, is the amount of things one can do at instant speed, during combat, abusing end-step, etc.; reminds me of Yuriko in a way, lots of fun interactions to not get bored.
URG Riku: - (Deck List) (Retired, but should probably bring it back.. I need a more casual deck)
BGU Muldrotha: - (Deck List)
UB Yuriko: - (Deck List)
UR Zndrsplt/Okaun - (Deck List)
G Seton: - (Deck List)
RGW Uril: - (Deck List)
GU Vannifar: - (Deck List) (My main)
WUBRG Alara: - (Deck List)
UBR Tresserhorn: - (Deck List)
RW Feather: - (Deck List)
I had a short break from the deck recently, and saw it in a slightly different light when picking it up again for some paper games over the weekend. I noticed that if I see enough of the deck to get the Paradox Engine + Isochron Scepter combo online, the "hand" (usually about the size of the rest of the deck) comes with enough various critical mass to piece together some finite storm'y nonsense to just end the game sans combo. As such, I'll probably devote the Scepter slot to something else. Also being a little critical of Phalanx Leader - I don't think I've ever actually built an X/X swarm with him, and the Feather pump aspect is blanked when you blink her out of harm's way. I'm not sure what to put in the slots, for now Thought Vessel and Titan's Strength are in the lead. I'll give it some more thought, probably harvest some more performance data as well.
Anyways, love the list and definitely need to add Aria of Flame to mine