Questions for Overheat: How are the guildgates working out? I know you can fetch them with Gatecreeper Vine, but does that make them more worthwhile than say, the bouncelands, which effectively net you advantage by being two lands at once?
I noticed you're not running Trinket Mage. Did you find that it didn't have enough utility? Related: no mass graveyard hate?
Furthermore, the originals will always hold significant value. Look at Sengir Vampire, when it was reprinted in Torment they were worried that the old one would lose value, when instead it went up. More exposure to new versions will make people covet/fetishize the originals. Aaron Foresythe (sp?) wrote an article about it, IIRC. The counterpoint to this is the Ravnica duals. Ravnica is still relatively recent (2005/6), the originals aren't particularly rare or special, they don't compare to OG stuff. Nobody is going to fetishize/covet the original Rav lands, they have no legend to them.
Disagree about the Rav lands. The price of the older ones tends to be a few dollars higher. While it's true that some of this difference is explained by supply (lots of drafting of RTR & GTC, plus the presence of mythics inflating the relative frequency of rares), I think at least some of it can be explained by the difference in artwork. Personally, I think the old Steam Vents art is a lot nicer than the new one...
Are they using the Duel Commander banlist? If so you won't have to worry about Hermit Druid.
I'd say compare the fun you would have if you won the Arsenal and could put the cards in your deck against the fun you would have playing in the tournament with Sedris. If you think the Arsenal would increase your enjoyment of your other decks a lot, you should try your best to get it.
You've said the Zur deck would almost guarantee the Arsenal, but where is that information coming from? Have you played it in other 1v1 competitive settings? What about the Sedris deck? Is it much weaker than the Zur deck, or only a little?
I was going to suggest Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran or Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer as the commander, since a humans tribal deck is likely to be some form of aggro. If you're set on green they might still be reasonable as one of the 99 though.
From the rulings on Lich's Mirror - This is interesting:
" If you control *but don't own* Lich's Mirror, Lich's Mirror itself will still be on the battlefield after its effect is finished. If you would lose the game again for any of the reasons above, Lich's Mirror has its effect again . . . and again . . . and again. An involuntary infinite loop will be created, and the game will end in a draw. (In the case of the triggered ability example given last in the list above, it's possible that a player could cause the loop to end while the ability is on the stack. None of the loops caused by state-based actions can be stopped at all.)"
Donating Lich's Mirror does neat things!
Ah yes, the infinite losing loop. While technically it does end the game in a draw, I like the idea of it trapping the poor guy in his own world, stuck staring into the Lich's Mirror for all eternity, lest he look away, and die...
I like the idea of donating stuff that's not necessarily bad. Along this line is Summoner's Egg: Did you imprint an awesome fatty, or Leveler? If it's a Leveler, did you previously give them Lich's Mirror? Etc.
Not an Elf, but Skyshroud Poacher should just run away with the game if you get it going. Wirewood Symbiote might also be worth considering in that case.
However, if you also run Snapcaster Mage, if you surge into him you might have also hit enough lands to flashback the surge. Or flashback the Warp World...
I'd call that a success.
I don't see it in Overheat's list on page 1 or page 21, which is why I asked.
I noticed you're not running Trinket Mage. Did you find that it didn't have enough utility? Related: no mass graveyard hate?
Won't trigger Reki. Still, they'd be on-theme.
Disagree about the Rav lands. The price of the older ones tends to be a few dollars higher. While it's true that some of this difference is explained by supply (lots of drafting of RTR & GTC, plus the presence of mythics inflating the relative frequency of rares), I think at least some of it can be explained by the difference in artwork. Personally, I think the old Steam Vents art is a lot nicer than the new one...
I'd say compare the fun you would have if you won the Arsenal and could put the cards in your deck against the fun you would have playing in the tournament with Sedris. If you think the Arsenal would increase your enjoyment of your other decks a lot, you should try your best to get it.
You've said the Zur deck would almost guarantee the Arsenal, but where is that information coming from? Have you played it in other 1v1 competitive settings? What about the Sedris deck? Is it much weaker than the Zur deck, or only a little?
Ah yes, the infinite losing loop. While technically it does end the game in a draw, I like the idea of it trapping the poor guy in his own world, stuck staring into the Lich's Mirror for all eternity, lest he look away, and die...