I think your decks are both a bit unfocused, which limits their overall power level. You also aren’t rocking a ton of “fast mana” which is generally what I look for to assess a baseline power level.
Oh I finally thought of one. Unfortunately, it was also mentioned on an episode of Game Knights a few months back, but I'll repeat for posterity. I swear it happened!
Turn 2, I played Sakura-Tribe Elder. I did not sac him because...
Turn 3, I played Journey to Eternity on Steve. Sacc'd Steve to get a land tapped. This transforms Journey into Atzal, Cave of Eternity and brings back Steve. I sacc'd Steve again to get another land EOT.
Turn 4, Played land, brought back Steve with the ability of Atzal, sacc'd him again.
Turn 5, I untapped with 7 lands in play.
Three-ball is the kind of card you would just have to play to see how effective it is. Considering running it in my Xantcha deck as an answer to spellslinger decks, which tend to give me the most trouble.
In regards to tri-color decks, that’s probably true most of the time. It’s a huge difference for 2-color decks though, and they need to close that loop, which will incidentally improve 3-color decks.
I had the play made against me, but a guy cast Victimize sacrificing the Xantcha, Sleeper Agent I had given him. It was the art where Gix is actually dragging Xantcha to her death.
...are you really missing out on those enemy lands? They would be nice to have, but I think the top lands for high- and low-end budget decks are complete, right?
The problem is that the recent lands from Zendikar and Amonkhet are fetchable. My Xantcha deck has 3 fetchable dual lands (4 if I had a Badlands). My Varolz deck has 1 (similarly, no Bayou). A Grixis deck would pick up 6 additional fetchable lands, while a Sultai deck would get 4 more. Let’s assume access to everything but ABRU duals, a Grixis deck has 9 duals that can be fetched, while a Sultai deck has 5. That is significantly more consistent mana, meaning that a more diverse set of mana symbols can reasonably be included. It also means that 1/2 color fetches are much more reliable, and you could easily run all 9 that touch one of your colors without realistically needing to fetch a basic some of the time.
Edited to add as a PSA that Abzan has a fetchable tri-land in Murmuring Bosk. I believe they are the only shard/wedge with such a land.
Side rant: People need to learn how to shortcut and to be ok with shortcutting. I had the same thing recently except with an Oath of Lieges, so someone was searching on every turn. We did play it pretty quickly by saying “is anyone possibly going to destroy this” during the turn player’s main phase, which allowed us to search and have a basic land ready to put into play. Otherwise the first 5 turns would have taken eons longer.
I think the flavor of Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is one of the best designs ever. And the fact that it pairs so well with Heartstone for another flavor win (pictured in her card) is awesome.
That land would be one of the worst lands ever printed. The only redeeming factor is that you made it legendary so some poor sap couldn’t have 2 in play to really screw him or herself so royally. Mana Confluence is so much less of a downside than sculpting your opponent’s hand when tapping mana.
That is true for the vast majority of decks, but there are potential decks out there that play cards like, say Temple Bell. Of course, those kind of decks tend to only actually work against certain kinds of opposing decks, so it's a rather extreme meta call, and probably a bad decision anyway. I guess I should have thought harder and tried to figure out a different sort of land idea to use as an example.
Scry 3+ is an effect that has only been printed like 10 times. It’s super powerful.
Something interesting would be like “Tap: Add 1. Target opponent may Scry X. If they do, you add X mana of any color to your mana pool. X cannot be more than 2.”
So you get a colorless mana no matter what, and put your opponent to the test. They can scry up to 2, but that turns your land into a slightly gimped Gilded Lotus. Probably would not be much better than Wastes in most decks, but it could potentially see some play.
Another option might be something like:
“Tap: Add 1. Any player may pay 2 and create a Treasure.”
As the player controlling the effect, you are essentially breaking even because you can use the tap of the land to pay for half the cost and getting a treasure in return, while your opponent can pay for the treasure as well at the same total price. Potentially could give some redundant ramp to decks like Ad Nauseam and help decks that want a lot of artifacts in play but aren’t aggro.
That land would be one of the worst lands ever printed. The only redeeming factor is that you made it legendary so some poor sap couldn’t have 2 in play to really screw him or herself so royally. Mana Confluence is so much less of a downside than sculpting your opponent’s hand when tapping mana.
I don't understand football well enough to know if that's a real thing, but if it's legal it's legal. Seems like a bad rule if that's a rule though. And even then, 10 minutes to score 4 goals is really hard but it's not literally impossible. Any chance to win is always better than a spite scoop, even if your meta allows it.
I believe in that scenario the implied alternative to forfeiting the game so that the other team doesn't get to 5 points is playing out the game and using those 10 minutes to trying your best to prevent that 5th point. Not a comeback.
Exactly. You should use play on the field to determine the result. Not saying “@$&! you” and walk off the field.
Edit: And to explain the rule, in FIFA if a team has fewer than 7 available players, the game ends in a forfeit. If 5 players fake injury and leave the pitch, the game ends. The score is recorded as 3-0, though in the example given, the score would read 4-0, but still deny the opponent the goal differential required to advance. All within the rules. And horrible sportsmanship.
I’m differentiating “bad sportsmanship” from “cheating” for a reason. There are many things that the rules of Magic do not prohibit that a decent person should not do. There is no game rule preventing you from intentionally calling your opponent “Dave” when you know his name is Andrew, for example. It’s totally legal to annoy your opponent this way. There’s no rule preventing 3 players from agreeing to kill “Dave” first every game to ensure he has a bad day. So some forms of bullying are legal. The game also doesn’t prevent you from scooping early. In all of these cases, it’s up to decent people to self-regulate the format to prevent scummy stuff from happening, which helps the culture around the format and grow the game.
Turn 2, I played Sakura-Tribe Elder. I did not sac him because...
Turn 3, I played Journey to Eternity on Steve. Sacc'd Steve to get a land tapped. This transforms Journey into Atzal, Cave of Eternity and brings back Steve. I sacc'd Steve again to get another land EOT.
Turn 4, Played land, brought back Steve with the ability of Atzal, sacc'd him again.
Turn 5, I untapped with 7 lands in play.
>:(
The problem is that the recent lands from Zendikar and Amonkhet are fetchable. My Xantcha deck has 3 fetchable dual lands (4 if I had a Badlands). My Varolz deck has 1 (similarly, no Bayou). A Grixis deck would pick up 6 additional fetchable lands, while a Sultai deck would get 4 more. Let’s assume access to everything but ABRU duals, a Grixis deck has 9 duals that can be fetched, while a Sultai deck has 5. That is significantly more consistent mana, meaning that a more diverse set of mana symbols can reasonably be included. It also means that 1/2 color fetches are much more reliable, and you could easily run all 9 that touch one of your colors without realistically needing to fetch a basic some of the time.
Edited to add as a PSA that Abzan has a fetchable tri-land in Murmuring Bosk. I believe they are the only shard/wedge with such a land.
In fact, I built a deck around her design/flavor, I loved it so much! https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/805648-xantcha-winning-with-flavor-wins
Yes. Infect does not specify combat damage.
Scry 3+ is an effect that has only been printed like 10 times. It’s super powerful.
Something interesting would be like “Tap: Add 1. Target opponent may Scry X. If they do, you add X mana of any color to your mana pool. X cannot be more than 2.”
So you get a colorless mana no matter what, and put your opponent to the test. They can scry up to 2, but that turns your land into a slightly gimped Gilded Lotus. Probably would not be much better than Wastes in most decks, but it could potentially see some play.
Another option might be something like:
“Tap: Add 1. Any player may pay 2 and create a Treasure.”
As the player controlling the effect, you are essentially breaking even because you can use the tap of the land to pay for half the cost and getting a treasure in return, while your opponent can pay for the treasure as well at the same total price. Potentially could give some redundant ramp to decks like Ad Nauseam and help decks that want a lot of artifacts in play but aren’t aggro.
Exactly. You should use play on the field to determine the result. Not saying “@$&! you” and walk off the field.
Edit: And to explain the rule, in FIFA if a team has fewer than 7 available players, the game ends in a forfeit. If 5 players fake injury and leave the pitch, the game ends. The score is recorded as 3-0, though in the example given, the score would read 4-0, but still deny the opponent the goal differential required to advance. All within the rules. And horrible sportsmanship.