Not sure about the Wellsprings, but Urza's/Mishra's/Conjurer's Baubles draw me a stupid amount of cards, even more so if I happen to have Vedalken Orrery out.
Ramp-wise I'm intentionally NOT running the green ramp spells just because, and I can't say I really ever miss it all.
Artifact count-wise I'm at only 23 artifacts, with another 1 in the form of Wurmcoil Engine and three more in the form of the artifact lands. One could go deeper but it's plenty for me, and one of the rules of the deck is no creatures without deathtouch so that knocks out stuff like Sylvok Replica, etc.
It feels like they're really stretching their From The Vault themes . . .
Maybe, but there are limited chances to do DFC's due to printing complexities. It feels like they're just using this as a chance to reprint DFC's that they can't easily put in other masters sets. I'd wager next year we get another broader theme.
I always bake some kind of thematic roadblock into my deck. No creatures without the word enchantment or aura in their text in my enchantress deck, no creatures without deathtouch in my Glissa deck, only planeswalkers that make tokens in Rith and no creatures, only landfall-ish abilities or land-related abilities in Mina and Denn, no non-legends in Reki, etc.
Super weird set. It's not remotely strong, but it's putting more cards into my decks than any set since Return to Rav.
Edric: Slither Blade
Reki: Rhonas the Indomitable, Rhona's Monument, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, Harvest Season
Teysa: Annointed Procession, Bontu
Mina and Denn: Sheltered Thicket
Isperia: Curator of Mysteries, Gideon's Intervention, Irrigated Farmland
Avacyn: Onward to Victory
Rith: Annointed Procession, Harvest Season
Glissa: Rhonas the Indomintable, Hapatra, Bone Picker
Can you tell me, how good is Botanical Sanctum in a multiplayer environment?
Is coming into play tapped a huge downside?
Edric might literally be the most perfect deck for Botanical Sanctum. It comes into play untapped on the first two turns, and after that you're probably drawing enough that you don't have to play it because you have lands in hand that come into play untapped.
What do you guys think of Hapatra? Is it a good general? I think it's probably worse than other token decks. It's good in the 99 of Atraxa though if you build the deck with a lot of wither
She'll find a slot in my Glissa deathtouch tribal deck. Beyond that she's neat but really narrow. Less disappointing than Pharika though.
Winning regularly and theme deck rarely end up in the same sentence.
Meh. I'm running an all-deathtouch deck, a sphinx tribal deck, and a Reki, History of Kamigawa deck all with 60-70% win rates. A themed deck in the hands a competent player who knows how to bake in ramp, draw, removal, etc. of the appropriate kind in appropriate amounts with a plan and win conditions is gonna run over Joe Goodstuff's every-white-deck-needs-a-Sun Titan deck who just jams in the top cards off EDHREC and calls it a day. Which, if we're being honest, is a huge percentage of players at your average card shop. Otherwise crappy cards that synergize well in a smart players hand often do a lot more work than conventionally "good" cards with little to no synergy wielded by someone with no plan.
None of that is probably relevant since the friend in question seems to have bailed, and said friend also probably wasn't the type of player with the skills to build and pilot an Ephara flash tribal deck or whatever, but I do object to the notion that winning regularly and theme deck rarely end up in the same sentence.
Fetchable, pitchable late, synergy with dredge. Great stuff. Gitrog players are hoping we get enemy pairs this summer.
Not that the Shadowslands saw much except in bargain builds or I-don't-know-cards-exist-prior-to-Theros decks, but this will be the nail in their coffin. Probaby the same for Temples in a lot of decks. The playfield is getting crowded for EDH duals.
Ramp-wise I'm intentionally NOT running the green ramp spells just because, and I can't say I really ever miss it all.
Artifact count-wise I'm at only 23 artifacts, with another 1 in the form of Wurmcoil Engine and three more in the form of the artifact lands. One could go deeper but it's plenty for me, and one of the rules of the deck is no creatures without deathtouch so that knocks out stuff like Sylvok Replica, etc.
Maybe, but there are limited chances to do DFC's due to printing complexities. It feels like they're just using this as a chance to reprint DFC's that they can't easily put in other masters sets. I'd wager next year we get another broader theme.
Edric: Slither Blade
Reki: Rhonas the Indomitable, Rhona's Monument, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, Harvest Season
Teysa: Annointed Procession, Bontu
Mina and Denn: Sheltered Thicket
Isperia: Curator of Mysteries, Gideon's Intervention, Irrigated Farmland
Avacyn: Onward to Victory
Rith: Annointed Procession, Harvest Season
Glissa: Rhonas the Indomintable, Hapatra, Bone Picker
Edric might literally be the most perfect deck for Botanical Sanctum. It comes into play untapped on the first two turns, and after that you're probably drawing enough that you don't have to play it because you have lands in hand that come into play untapped.
Lotta vehicles and eldrazi and just general colorless stuff in the meta makes it a lot easier to slap 4 deserts in a deck.
Not saying I agree that it's too strong, but it might be a case of "too strong for THIS standard" vs. "too strong for standard".
She'll find a slot in my Glissa deathtouch tribal deck. Beyond that she's neat but really narrow. Less disappointing than Pharika though.
Meh. I'm running an all-deathtouch deck, a sphinx tribal deck, and a Reki, History of Kamigawa deck all with 60-70% win rates. A themed deck in the hands a competent player who knows how to bake in ramp, draw, removal, etc. of the appropriate kind in appropriate amounts with a plan and win conditions is gonna run over Joe Goodstuff's every-white-deck-needs-a-Sun Titan deck who just jams in the top cards off EDHREC and calls it a day. Which, if we're being honest, is a huge percentage of players at your average card shop. Otherwise crappy cards that synergize well in a smart players hand often do a lot more work than conventionally "good" cards with little to no synergy wielded by someone with no plan.
None of that is probably relevant since the friend in question seems to have bailed, and said friend also probably wasn't the type of player with the skills to build and pilot an Ephara flash tribal deck or whatever, but I do object to the notion that winning regularly and theme deck rarely end up in the same sentence.
Not that the Shadowslands saw much except in bargain builds or I-don't-know-cards-exist-prior-to-Theros decks, but this will be the nail in their coffin. Probaby the same for Temples in a lot of decks. The playfield is getting crowded for EDH duals.