I think the questions surrounding explaining hand size and milling and the fact that there is a "player" who is also a planeswalker is not how a movie should be approached. When we read the Official Fan Fiction, the story is not told as if each Planeswalker were a magical player who needs cards to make spells happen. The cards give us a representation of what it would be like if we were in that world. How much mana is accessible to use to cast a spell? Our lands plus other things that generate mana. For a Planeswalker like Jace, this is how much he can draw from the land around him, plus other resources. This is not hard to CGI for a movie. He would need to have some physical reaction to indicate he is "drawing" mana from the land around him. How much effort it requires (physically) and the resultant spell explains without words how much mana was available. Furthermore, if the result seems minimal for his capacity, he can even provide (while panting from exhaustion) that there just isn't enough mana he can use in the land around him. This can also then be contrasted by another Planeswalker (say Chandra) who can draw lots of mana from the land to cast a spell, because the land is mountainous and therefore in her "color." If a Pyromancer is surrounded by water, it's not hard to imagine why she can't conjure up a ball of flame. They can even pull an artifact out of their pocket to draw more mana from, with swirly magical lines leaving the artifact and combining with the swirly magical lines from the land that surround their body until it coalesces into whatever spell. Other than Planeswalkers and mana, what else is there really to explain? How do you explain that a creature without flying or reach cannot block a creature with flying? Have the creature with flying actually fly over the creature that cannot block it. Hexproof: have a spell fizzle at the caster (not deflect off the creature, because that makes it appear that you can target it). I would think that each keyword ability can be represented in some physical fashion with relative ease.
The look and feel of a Magic the Gathering movie will not be anything like the game if we want it to be a success. As I said earlier, I don't want to see Jace pull a card out that says "Divination" and then two more cards magically appear in his hand. That's not how the Fan Fiction is presented and that's not how a movie should be presented. The movie should have several central Planeswalkers that are the good guys, and possibly even several Planeswalkers that are the bad guys. This generates a conflict that is on a single dimension of complexity, because it only requires that one Planeswalker explain how his/her spark ignited and you can understand the premise behind Planeswalkers. Conflict resolution by the end of the movie, then tease the next conflict, which can be a step up in complexity. The challenge behind a Magic the Gathering movie, IMO, is that there is so much content, what do you limit it to? You cannot explain all the worlds in one movie. You develop one world, maybe two at the most, in a single movie. So do subsequent movies go back to that world or new worlds? Is each movie development of new worlds/Planeswalkers or do you always keep it limited to a few? Can the plot be boiled down to a few worlds instead of the vast majority as represented in the Fan Fiction? Maybe you pick the favorites and make movies around those, but since each world's plot line relative to Planeswalker development in the Fan Fiction is different from how it would be in the movie, you necessarily have to separate the Fan Fiction from the movies.
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- DRay563
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No experience, but if you're adding white, you should consider Siegehorn Ceratops. In a Constrictor deck, he has some serous upside potential. Only downside is that without fight mechanisms, most opponents will play around it. Walking Ballista can help us get there, but that's leveraging one resource for another, so the payout is not as good.
Sorry to hear to hear about your frustrations. Let us know if we can help with any feedback! I went back looking for you decklist, and you posted this several weeks back:
4 Walking Ballista
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Jadelight Ranger
2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
2 Bristling Hydra
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Scarab God
4 Fatal Push
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Blossoming Defense
1 Hadana's Climb
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Aether Hub
2 Hashep Oasis
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Island
6 Forest
6 Swamp
3 Duress
2 Lost Legacy
2 Yahenni's Expertise
2 Appetite for the unnatural
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
2 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Tetzimoc, Primal Death
2 Trespasser's Curse
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
2 Ravenous chupacabra
Is this the deck you are playing (with some minor tweaks, since you mentioned you dropped one Ranger)? Would you like any feedback on your deck construction specifically for your meta? Not saying I have the answers, but it's always good to go back and review deck construction choices IMO.
4 Walking Ballista
4 Winding Constrictor
3 Dusk Legion Zealot
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
2 Wildgrowth Walker
4 Jadelight Ranger
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
2 The Scarab God
Non-Creature Spells (10):
1 Journey to Eternity
4 Fatal Push
1 Hadana's Climb
2 Vraska's Contempt
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
4 Swamp
1 Island
1 Drowned Catacomb
2 Fetid Pools
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Vraska's Contempt
3 Negate
3 Duress
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker
2 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Walking Ballista
4 Winding Constrictor
4 Dusk Legion Zealot
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Jadelight Ranger
2 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
3 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
2 The Scarab God
1 Journey to Eternity
4 Fatal Push
1 Hadana's Climb
2 Vraska's Contempt
Lands:
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
4 Swamp
2 Island
3 Drowned Catacomb
3 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Vraska's Contempt
3 Admiral's Order
4 Duress
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
2 Wildgrowth Walker
2nd place
3rd place
20th place
24th place
Don't know the individual performance of each deck, but their teams overall did well! It seems Siphoner performs even outside a dedicated energy shell.
- Greenbelt Rampager - brings the curve down, and while it's a vanilla 3/4, it can easily be a repeatable source of energy for Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and a later game 3/4 creature to help close out the game.
- Decoction Module - turns everything creature card into an energy source, even better with snek, and allows us to bounce cards in response to removal or to play into our own deck's synergies (Gearhulk anyone?!).
- Die Young - not the worst removal, and can deal with threats like Hazoret.
- Sage of Shaila's Claim - not good card is not good, but it does give us energy with a body.
- Servant of the Conduit - if we stick with blue, adds energy and color fixing.
- Woodweaver's Puzzleknot - are we that desperate for energy? It does pad the life total, though.
- Live Fast - it's like a bad proxy of Rogue Refiner without the blue... or the body...
- Glimmer of Genius - a slightly better proxy or Rogue Refiner, but more expensive... and still no body...
At some point, we have to ask ourselves if the Energy package is worth it anymore. Siphoner is good, as is Cub, but they'll be only half good now. My concern regarding the deck is that we are trying to maintain the viability of the basic shell, but in doing so, we could be overlooking different builds that will be stronger (now) than the Energy build. Because to be honest, other than Decoction Module having some fun potential, I'm not seeing any good Energy glue. Which means the deck will be synergistically weak, meaning it just won't be a strong contender as is.At this point, it may also be worth looking into other colors. Scarab God is still a really strong reason to go blue, but white and red have both also been fringe contenders.
I will be brewing and post a few deck ideas, hopefully by this weekend.
I meant that a deck like Caw Blade used a powerful creature as part of its main strategy, so I wrote that erroneously. Some Control decks use creatures to win (Torrential Gearhulk, Dragonlord Ojutai) while others use non-creature means (Lantern Control, Dynavolt Tower).
Nothing has been as oppressive as Energy decks since Affinity? That's funny, because I seem to remember Cat Combo being waaaaay more oppressive. And Emrakul before that. And Smuggler's Copter before that. I remember oppressive, and Energy isn't oppressive. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's not oppressive. Besides, they did print an answer in the form of Solemnity. It's no different than the other hoser cards people play in Modern. Sometimes you have to put something like that in your sideboard to deal with your bad match ups. The problem is that the energy cards are often really good, even when you turn off the energy knob. Rogue Refiner is still a 3/2 for 3 that cantrips. Glorybringer doesn't even use energy. The hoser card isn't like Stony Silence or Leyline of Sanctity, where the deck just dies when the opponent plays it. Just becomes less powerful and synergistic.
The LGS can play a hand in spicing it up. They can reward players who bring brews. It could be "pauper Standard" or "block constructed" or something not normal Standard to make it more fun. I don't like the mentality that if WOTC doesn't do something, all the LGSs will suffer. It makes it sound like the LGS owners have no hand in their own fate, can do nothing to motivate their local players to diversify or enjoy the game.
I haven't been playing near as long (2014 here), but I don't see complexity going down. Maro has stated on several occasions that the complexity of recent sets has been way higher than normal. There are few vanilla creatures, an abundance of mechanics, and some recent mechanics are not as grokkable as other older mechanics (not counting stuff like flanking, lol). Draft becomes more complicated because there are more cards to read often with longer text boxes. How does that translate into "designing out complexity"?
I, personally, like playing creature-based decks. Midrange like Abzan in the Siege Rhino days and this deck here resonate with me. Creatures represent the most repeatable way to win a game because they are forms of repeatable damage and protection, so naturally, the best decks will thrive around the best creatures. Even decks like Caw Blade centered around creatures (e.g. Stoneforge Mystic) and the synergy of cards (powerful artifacts that could make your creatures better), much like we play powerful creatures that get better because of the Energy mechanic. WOTC can't just print stupid powerful spells, because decks like Marvel will come around and dominate the meta.
When I started playing, it was RTR/Theros standard, and there were several legitimate strategies. Black devotion was the best, but UW Sphinx Rev Control was a viable option, as was UB devotion and I think 2-3 more were competitive but maybe 1.5 tier. Now, we have Temur energy, Temur black energy, and Sultai energy all vying for the top spot. But trailing, and still reasonably competitive, there's Ramunap Red (aggro), Drake Haven (combo control), Approach (control), and several others. Energy is like black devotion in this Standard. I heard so many complaints about Pack Rat dominating Standard it was ridiculous. It's a wonder I didn't quit playing right then! So isn't this just an old hat argument? How is it really any different?
Best Eternalize card in blue is Champion of Wits, which incidentally also works at filling the yard for The Scarab God and filtering our unneeded cards (similar to Explore, but no +1/+1 counter synergy). Only one in black is Dreamstealer, who is decent but underwhelming.
Without Hostage Taker, Blossoming Defense is not needed, or at least, is not near as effective a card. This deck seems cute, but any disruption to the synergy and its a goner. Sultai Snek works because almost all the creatures are individually powerful. Longtusk Cub and Bristling Hydra can run away with the game by themselves via repeatable activations. None of the Merfolk have that type of power. Relying solely on the Explore mechanic for one (maybe two via Enter the Unknown) opportunities to put counters on the creatures is a weak plan. Wildgrowth Walker is anemic by itself. I think the Explore mechanic is good for Limited, but not push enough for Standard with Energy around. It's the problem with the Energy mechanic - it's so easy to make and has powerful payouts, so there's very little that can compete with it.
I'm not trying to be a downer on the deck. It looks very fun to play, but it's not going to be Tier 1 at this time just due to the raw power of Energy. Out of curiosity, though, why didn't you play any of the below listed creatures?
Forerunner of the Heralds - higher CMC, but gets bigger as you play more merfolks
Deeproot Elite - low CMC and good merfolk/+1/+1 counter synergy
Swift Warden - 3/3 for 3 with Flash is already good, but it gives temporary Hexproof and plays into Merfolk synergies?!?
Silvergill Adept - a great merfolk in a merfolk synergy deck
Merfolk Mistbinder - lords are good, but you may not have enough merfolk to merit it
I'm surprised this is considered a Constrictor-Merfolk deck. There's hardly any synergy with Constrictor, and I saw several other +1/+1 Merfolk in the set that fit way better than what he's got.
Anyway, cards I'm interested in trying:
It's like a 4 mana Tormenting Voice that gives you back 2 mana in the bank. The 2 mana in the bank are akin to cards like Generator Servant, except a lot more flexible. I don't think either of these are outside the normal realm of Red. There's also cards like Trove of Temptation that already show Red getting slow ramp. Nothing like the rituals though...
In my esteem, Gonti is best used in a recursion deck. You really want to land him, get the value, block with him to save life points and kill a creature, recur him, wash/rinse/repeat. He can be a 3-for-1 pretty easily by himself, but since there's no synergy with our deck, he doesn't make the top tier cut. In a recursion deck, though, he shines.