The list on the front page is my most recent 'official' version. I'll test out newer cards and once I've had enough games to feel like the new cards a fit, they'll get a home in the deck and I'll update the list.
Weatherlight, Jhoira's Familiar and Zhalfrin void have all tested well. Karn can be good - but I'd not rush out for one if you don't already have one.
For battlebond, the only card we're really talking about is Victory Chimes. Is it any good? It might be good enough to make the cut. I'm trying it out (as soon as I can get one)
I didn't mean to imply that it was at a record low.
And as someone who's been playing since the tail-end of unlimited, the only players who got to "play what they wanted" were the players that worked for it - either by paying cash for cards (presumably from their job), those that were savvy traders or those that won through tournaments.
As far as I've been aware, playing anything you want in this game or any other is end-game content. If you want it sooner, the reality is that you will have to make some sacrifices.
I've played for nearly 25 years now. The primary factor that has kept the game alive is that it's collectible and profitable for many different actors in the supply chain - and there's not going to be any way around the value of cards until the whole game is no longer printed. There's other - arguably better - ccgs and lcgs out there that haven't survived or don't have the popularity - largely because there's no secondary market for those games. What I'm saying is that the very thing you're complaining about is one of the major factors that's kept the game alive.
Maybe you should take note and act on historical lows for cards like blood moon, flusterstorm and imperial recruiter and make the system work to your advantage.
The primary use I immediately thought of for him was multiple taps of green's big-mana lands (Cradle, Nykthos) per turn (with Exploration, Azusa, etc..). With a sac or discard outlet (Survival of the Fittest), you can keep dumping him into your yard over and over. He definitely strikes me as a commander that will really shine in mono green builds with no limit whatsoever on budget.
Pretty sure this will work. Animar seems like an auto-include way to make Ramos cost 0. Reyhan seems like a good fit - and both selvalas, jeskai ascendancy and soulfire Grand Master would be infinite Mana + spells.
Yeah - safe for now was what I was stressing. Obviously anything not on the RL is at risk.
My primary goal was to begin to plan how to transition some of the excess copies of these cards from the 10 EDH decks I've got together. I've gotta have a half dozen Seedborns between some of those.
Ideally, I'd like to see near-reprints (Recruiter of the Guard) first for some of these cards before they do a full-on reprints.
Lotta thoughts here - and there's merit on both sides of it.
Here's my take: People want fun games. It's been my experience that when each player feels they had a 'fair chance' or 'got an opportunity to do their thing' they're more pleased with the games outcome - regardless of who actually won.
In the 8 years of my playing EDH regularly, I've found that trying to foster this atmosphere - enabling all players to feel like they had agency in the game - encourages a better play experience. In this specific case, the other players likely felt that the game wasn't ready to be over - and it sounds like "our group, our rules." won the day. Ultimately that's the case - some of the most competitive EDH players I've met act like each game is an interview for further play with that group.
It's my belief that When you find a group you enjoy playing with, it's usually worth figuring out how they want to play and adapting your playstyle to fit. Hopefully this was a step in that direction for all involved.
I was hoping to compile a list of cards that risk losing a lot in the event of a reprint - now that we know M25.
I'll start with
Phyrexian Altar
Grim Tutor
Imperial Seal
Dark Confidant
Snapcaster Mage
Force of Will
Food Chain
Grave Pact
Back to Basics
Cabal Coffers
Mana Echoes
Seedborn Muse
Mana Crypt
We've used a similar mulligan to Gash's for over a decade and it's the best mull I've ever tried -
The *only* way to get a mulligan is to reveal a hand of 0,1,6 or 7 lands and petition the table for a mull - they'll usually grant a free full mulligan to you (unless you're a jerk who built to abuse the rule), then anyone at the table can hop on yours and take one even if they don't qualify. Sometimes there's 3 'rounds' of mulls before the game can begin - but most of the time, there's none.
Granting all players agency in the early game is the sole purpose of this mulligan. Having a hand clogged with 12-drops can't be fixed by this method.
I've got him together in a budgetless list and he's considered one of the top decks in a casual meta. Other than cost, there's nothing holding him back.
My list doesn't go for the infinite turn combo (but the pieces are there) - I rely instead on Monastery Mentor, Aetherflux Reservoir and Alms Collector (With plenty of wheel effects) as my primary win conditions - I used to use Worldpurge + Teferi's Protection as my wincon. The deck is a ton of fun to play, isn't as high of profile as commanders like Narset and can sometimes just run out of steam - so careful play is definitely rewarded.
It's a great deck and a huge challenge to play well - but it is the only UW spellslinger commander that's worth a damn in my opinion.
As an magic old-timer, I really miss the days of playing when Chaos Orb was legal. It's a pity it's usually frowned upon - I really miss how fun it was.
The cards currently in temporary spaces are
Weatherlight, Jhoira's Familiar and Zhalfrin void have all tested well. Karn can be good - but I'd not rush out for one if you don't already have one.
For battlebond, the only card we're really talking about is Victory Chimes. Is it any good? It might be good enough to make the cut. I'm trying it out (as soon as I can get one)
And as someone who's been playing since the tail-end of unlimited, the only players who got to "play what they wanted" were the players that worked for it - either by paying cash for cards (presumably from their job), those that were savvy traders or those that won through tournaments.
As far as I've been aware, playing anything you want in this game or any other is end-game content. If you want it sooner, the reality is that you will have to make some sacrifices.
Maybe you should take note and act on historical lows for cards like blood moon, flusterstorm and imperial recruiter and make the system work to your advantage.
I'm testing out some of the new options for this deck - currently I'm trying Karn, Scion of Urza, Weatherlight, Blackblade Reforged and Jhoira's Familiar - and also Zhalfirin Void.
Likely because banning would make it cheaper and the original reason for the ban would cease to be true.
https://magiccards.info/query?q=o:whenever o:card o:deals o:damage o:that o:many&v=card&s=cname
But pretty much only the ones you listed really count.
My primary goal was to begin to plan how to transition some of the excess copies of these cards from the 10 EDH decks I've got together. I've gotta have a half dozen Seedborns between some of those.
Ideally, I'd like to see near-reprints (Recruiter of the Guard) first for some of these cards before they do a full-on reprints.
Here's my take: People want fun games. It's been my experience that when each player feels they had a 'fair chance' or 'got an opportunity to do their thing' they're more pleased with the games outcome - regardless of who actually won.
In the 8 years of my playing EDH regularly, I've found that trying to foster this atmosphere - enabling all players to feel like they had agency in the game - encourages a better play experience. In this specific case, the other players likely felt that the game wasn't ready to be over - and it sounds like "our group, our rules." won the day. Ultimately that's the case - some of the most competitive EDH players I've met act like each game is an interview for further play with that group.
It's my belief that When you find a group you enjoy playing with, it's usually worth figuring out how they want to play and adapting your playstyle to fit. Hopefully this was a step in that direction for all involved.
I'll start with
Phyrexian Altar
Grim Tutor
Imperial Seal
Dark Confidant
Snapcaster Mage
Force of Will
Food Chain
Grave Pact
Back to Basics
Cabal Coffers
Mana Echoes
Seedborn Muse
Mana Crypt
What else is safe (for now?)
The *only* way to get a mulligan is to reveal a hand of 0,1,6 or 7 lands and petition the table for a mull - they'll usually grant a free full mulligan to you (unless you're a jerk who built to abuse the rule), then anyone at the table can hop on yours and take one even if they don't qualify. Sometimes there's 3 'rounds' of mulls before the game can begin - but most of the time, there's none.
Granting all players agency in the early game is the sole purpose of this mulligan. Having a hand clogged with 12-drops can't be fixed by this method.
My list doesn't go for the infinite turn combo (but the pieces are there) - I rely instead on Monastery Mentor, Aetherflux Reservoir and Alms Collector (With plenty of wheel effects) as my primary win conditions - I used to use Worldpurge + Teferi's Protection as my wincon. The deck is a ton of fun to play, isn't as high of profile as commanders like Narset and can sometimes just run out of steam - so careful play is definitely rewarded.
It's a great deck and a huge challenge to play well - but it is the only UW spellslinger commander that's worth a damn in my opinion.