Command TowerFoil is $70, and I was planning to buy one if it turned out not to be in the FTV/Arsenal. Now I can take that money, add $5, and get the Command TowerFoil and 17 other foil cards, some shiny oversized bookmarks, and a bunch of random supplies including a unique lifecounter. Sylvan Library alone is worth more than $5, so the other 15 unknowns could be basic lands and it'd still be worth the price to me.
With that perspective, I really don't care about the MSRP at all.
So basically this is a second FTV? Alright, I'll take that. Foil Command Tower for the same price as the currently available ones with a bunch of other stuff for free doesn't seem like such a terrible deal.
Are high market and Miren, the Moaning Well really that essential when you talking 2 cards in your deck that you'd like to sac? That makes for a 3 card combo with theif but in a 99 card deck how often does it work out?I think untap lands like deserted temple and Minamo, School at Water's Edge are great, you might try them too. I'll test market/well and see if they do anything for me. I try to not run too many colorless producers.
You really want to be able to sacrifice them on your own terms. An Academy Rector or Aura Thief on the battlefield without a sac outlet is an absolute magnet for exile removal and theft effects. Sac outlets allow you to run them out there without worrying about losing them before you can use their abilities. There's not much opportunity cost in a couple of colorless lands if you have decent enough fixing.
Minamo is a good idea, I'm going to try to fit it into my deck.
My list is somewhat similar. It's linked in my sig (Jenara) if you'd like to take a look. I originally ran Aura Thief, but after winning the first 5 games in a row that I played with the Aura Thief/Enchanted Evening combo, I decided to cut it just to add more variety to how the deck plays out.
I'd say the most glaring exclusion in your list is Omniscience. While my deck's endgame was Thief/Evening, the way it got there was by getting Omniscience into play. Once you don't need to spend mana on spells, you can chain enchantments with the enchantresses until you've drawn into every combo piece you need to win right away.
I might be a bit biased by how close to mine it is, but I'd say you have a good list there.
I only have two main suggestions for you. The first is that I'd really recommend trying to pick up a Scroll Rack. You're running Land Tax and some miracles, and Scroll Rack makes both even more amazing. It's also pretty good on its own, since you can easily end up stuck with a bunch of expensive cards in your hand in the early game or a glut of lands you don't need once you're farther in.
The second suggestion would be to replace either Dismiss or Counterspell with Misdirection. The reason why I run so many free counters in my build is because this deck likes to tap out on its own turn (barring Orrery shenanigans). It's awkward to need to leave counter mana up, especially when your counter costs 4 mana. Misdirection is fairly pricey, but it's still around 1/3 of the cost of Force of Will and is a solid replacement. It can't stop mass removal, but it'll still do all kinds of fun things to whatever spot removal comes your way. There's nothing like redirecting a miracled Banishing Stroke back to its controller's own commander, just when they had thought they'd found an answer for you.
It still proves my point that the precon products that say "ready to play" aren't really ready to play.
Actually, they are. Intro packs now come with 2 booster packs. Even discounting the rares and uncommons, that's 24 rectangles of cardboard. Depending on how carefully you tear them, you can come up with enough bits for hundreds of tokens and counters. Do you really need more than that?
Every week at draft I see players using their extra commons in this manner, so I know it works.
I've had things like this happen in limited. I'd play a soulbond creature, state "DON'T pair" and then my opponent would tell me I'd already paired when I tried to do so later. Very annoying to work out, because even after convincing them of what I said it still tended to leave hard feelings all around.
The best solution imo is to use some kind of counter to represent the pairing. I like using matching colored glass beads of a different color for each pairing. That way, it's immediately obvious which creatures are paired at all times, and there's no question of whether or not something is paired.
The other thing is that you don't need to announce what cards do. If it looks like my opponent doesn't know what something I play does, I turn the card around and let them read it. If they don't know but don't make it obvious, then I have no reason to assume they don't know unless they ask. If they don't know and don't ask, it's their own fault.
You could always just build a normal deck with Richard Garfield, Ph.D. as your commander. I've actually been considering doing this, since I could probably get permission to use it for a few games before everyone else realizes how overpowered it is.
I also run it just for the sake of making goats. I dig goat decks! I wish there were more goat token makers out there. And sheep. Those Unglued sheep tokens are ace, but nothing makes them outside of Flock of Rabid Sheep.
didn't they color shifted disenchant into naturalize? its like asking to play with swords when you can play with guns.
No, it's like asking for Indrik Stomphowler when you're playing a Rasputin Dreamweaver blink deck. That's why I said Disenchant and not Naturalize. I'm aware that it's not likely to happen anymore, but it's a little surprising that it never did in all the years it was in white.
I mean a white creature with the text "EtB, Disenchant". There is no creature in white that can do that and is blinkable. Everything that comes close is either a different color or has some other limitation (like the Sanctifier's kicker).
The problem with the passive defense cards like those is that they don't actually work for protecting planeswalkers. Ghostly Prison and the like won't tax creatures attacking your 'walkers, and Norn's Annex doesn't actually deter people at all. 2-6 life is a much easier price for most players to pay than some amount of mana for killing a planeswalker, and if that life actually matters to them then you don't care about your 'walker because you can probably kill them in one hit with Sharuum. Mass removal is much better because it doesn't leave the choice of attacking your 'walkers up to your opponents, and you can easily recover from it with Sharuum.
Ajani is not worth a slot. He can't protect himself, you don't have anything that really cares about the +1/+1 counter, and his flying + double strike is rather useless in a deck that wants to play very defensively most of the time. For comparison, I have used Elspeth, Knight-Errant's Angelic Blessing once in this deck. Ever.
I do like Liliana of the Dark Realms, especially since picking up a foil Urborg will become much easier in a month or so, but she will only make the cut if Return to Ravnica has new duals with basic land types instead of shockland reprints. Otherwise, I don't run enough Swamps for her to find to justify the slot.
With that perspective, I really don't care about the MSRP at all.
You really want to be able to sacrifice them on your own terms. An Academy Rector or Aura Thief on the battlefield without a sac outlet is an absolute magnet for exile removal and theft effects. Sac outlets allow you to run them out there without worrying about losing them before you can use their abilities. There's not much opportunity cost in a couple of colorless lands if you have decent enough fixing.
Minamo is a good idea, I'm going to try to fit it into my deck.
During the fall/winter/spring, Thursdays at 8pm: New York, Alfred, ARG at Alfred State College - Molten Shark
I'd say the most glaring exclusion in your list is Omniscience. While my deck's endgame was Thief/Evening, the way it got there was by getting Omniscience into play. Once you don't need to spend mana on spells, you can chain enchantments with the enchantresses until you've drawn into every combo piece you need to win right away.
I also really like Aura Shards, since turning all of your creatures into Angels of Despair with Enchanted Evening is really sweet.
Tolaria West is another way to find Serra's Sanctum or High Market/Miren, the Moaning Well without costing you a spell slot.
I only have two main suggestions for you. The first is that I'd really recommend trying to pick up a Scroll Rack. You're running Land Tax and some miracles, and Scroll Rack makes both even more amazing. It's also pretty good on its own, since you can easily end up stuck with a bunch of expensive cards in your hand in the early game or a glut of lands you don't need once you're farther in.
The second suggestion would be to replace either Dismiss or Counterspell with Misdirection. The reason why I run so many free counters in my build is because this deck likes to tap out on its own turn (barring Orrery shenanigans). It's awkward to need to leave counter mana up, especially when your counter costs 4 mana. Misdirection is fairly pricey, but it's still around 1/3 of the cost of Force of Will and is a solid replacement. It can't stop mass removal, but it'll still do all kinds of fun things to whatever spot removal comes your way. There's nothing like redirecting a miracled Banishing Stroke back to its controller's own commander, just when they had thought they'd found an answer for you.
Actually, they are. Intro packs now come with 2 booster packs. Even discounting the rares and uncommons, that's 24 rectangles of cardboard. Depending on how carefully you tear them, you can come up with enough bits for hundreds of tokens and counters. Do you really need more than that?
Every week at draft I see players using their extra commons in this manner, so I know it works.
The best solution imo is to use some kind of counter to represent the pairing. I like using matching colored glass beads of a different color for each pairing. That way, it's immediately obvious which creatures are paired at all times, and there's no question of whether or not something is paired.
The other thing is that you don't need to announce what cards do. If it looks like my opponent doesn't know what something I play does, I turn the card around and let them read it. If they don't know but don't make it obvious, then I have no reason to assume they don't know unless they ask. If they don't know and don't ask, it's their own fault.
Ovinomancer?
No, it's like asking for Indrik Stomphowler when you're playing a Rasputin Dreamweaver blink deck. That's why I said Disenchant and not Naturalize. I'm aware that it's not likely to happen anymore, but it's a little surprising that it never did in all the years it was in white.
Ajani is not worth a slot. He can't protect himself, you don't have anything that really cares about the +1/+1 counter, and his flying + double strike is rather useless in a deck that wants to play very defensively most of the time. For comparison, I have used Elspeth, Knight-Errant's Angelic Blessing once in this deck. Ever.
I do like Liliana of the Dark Realms, especially since picking up a foil Urborg will become much easier in a month or so, but she will only make the cut if Return to Ravnica has new duals with basic land types instead of shockland reprints. Otherwise, I don't run enough Swamps for her to find to justify the slot.