MTG Salvation

I really don't see why there's so much debate about Xander's creature types. Vampire is what he started as, Demon he gained from the contract that founded New Capenna and he's an aristocrat, hence Noble. It's no different than Vannifar being an Elf Ooze Wizard. In fact, there's your precedent right there. Characters who start as one thing but gain traits from another get multiple creature types with the first being what they started as and the second being what they got traits of.

Even if you want to argue what a Demon is, that would only hold to naturally occurring demons. Xander and the other family heads are artificial.

Honestly this set is...out there. Not bad, not good. Just out there. I say that because I have no bloody idea how it's going to play out across the various formats. As a Commander/EDH player I've been waiting for this set to fill out my last commander slot for a while. I'm just not sure if I'll bother. Mainly due to the fact, like others, my response to the set is just 'How is this gonna work?'. Not the most reassuring feeling in the world but who knows? I'm willing to take give a little faith.

On to the issue of Lutri, yeah, I'm not mad at anyone for banning that.

As for the new commanders, what's everyone feeling? I'm digging Kalamax and Kathril but can't decide which. On one hand, I already have a spellslinger deck in Kess but Kalamax does work very differently. I'm just scared it will turn into a weaker variation of a deck type I already have, ya know? As for Kathril, I see a lot of cool creature shenanigans with it and it's a style of play that no deck I currently use does.

The diversity isn't dead, it's just that the groups you described created competitive environments that are not compatible with what you want to do. That speaks to the people you play with, not the game itself. Everyone makes their choice on how to approach the game.

Quote from lyonhaert »

Not mentioned so far: Kaalia, Sharuum, Rafiq.

Kaalia of the Vast: Good grief...this one. I've played her and played against her. Yeah, kill her with fire, the moment she hits the board. If she's allowed to stick to the board you will be assailed by very hard hitting creatures that also shift the game in her favor. Not too mention, that for as long as she's out, her pilot doesn't have to worry about mana, just card draw. So you know what happens next? MLD. Discard effects.

The upsides to this is that Kaalia decks are predictable (you see one deck, you've seen most of the others), has several hoops she must jump through to be effective (she requires haste to start cheating stuff and needs protection because she's a 2/2) and her deck is sink or swim. If Kaalia cannot stay on the board or cannot attack, the deck loses steam and most of it's advantages. In short, at her best Kaalia is an oppressive little fiend with a high amount of firepower should she get going but she can be very easy to gimp, thankfully.

Sharuum the Hegemon: Another one I've built and played. Noticing a trend here...Anyway, IMHO, she's far worse than Kaalia. The reason for that is that is because Sharuum is a combo piece onto herself that you always have access to, is a decent body and has a recursion ability that can be quite easy to exploit. Not too mention Sharuum's focus on artifacts gives her so many things to work with. Her decks have a level of versatility that is hard to match while still remaining powerful. Also, resiliency. Shoot, an actual strategy for Sharuum can be to make her stuff nigh-untouchable and just blow most of the field multiple times.

Can't comment on Rafiq. Never played with or against him.

Does every deck need a combo?

Short answer: no.

Long answer: It all depends. As others have pointed out, you do need a way to close out a game. Combo is an easy way to fulfill that specific criteria. However, the other details vary widely. Some decks are based totally to abuse their combo(s) while others simply have them as backup plans.

Depending on meta, deck building and/or personal preference will dictate to what degree combo is used, if at all. Let's face it: it is not always simple to ground out a multiplayer game nor does every plan survive contact, thus, giving a need for multiple plans.

There's no actual rule, and as pointed out, this is no different than possibly bluffing or a previous opponent having known the combo from a different game. There's no guarantee that anyone would have believed your son.

While I could see why someone may get upset, it does make sense why your son would reveal it. He's the only one of the group who knew about it and I'll assume that combo would've won the game. He's trying not to lose.

However, I will say that it is a little...bad that your son helped his father build a deck and then started spilling the deck's secrets. It's not so much an issue of rules as it is trust. Your husband might not trust him to help out with another deck. So, really, your son needs to think about was it worth it to possibly alienate his dad for the better chance of winning the game.

I find there are two types of etiquette: Internal and external.

Internal: Build a variety of decks. Do not let yourself get caught up in a particular power level. This will limit you in the long run. Find decks that you'll like to play that go up and down the scale. You're around more competitive people, bust out the more spikey decks. Around more casual? Bust out the slightly tweaked or unaltered precon. When you have a variety of options that you like or at least don't mind to choose from, adapting to the situations you find yourself in is so much easier and won't make you feel like you're giving up something just to play a game or two.

External: Always communicate. Always ask questions. See what kind of players you're dealing with. Once everyone is on the same page, things will go a lot smoothly. Or will allow you to make the judgement call if you think it's worth it to play at a certain table or with a particular group.

We have to be mindful of both our and other's fun. I find that if you don't do both of these things, you'll encounter some rough times. We, as individual players, have a right to have fun but we've got to open ourselves up to the possibilities out there to have as much fun as we can. But we also owe others a chance to have fun as well. We have to check if we can reach a compromise with others. We don't want to ruin the experience for others if we can help it. We also have to acknowledge that we may not be able to reach common ground with others all the time and may have to walk away. Sad, but true.

I don't try to downplay a threat, I try to keep my opponents aware of the entire board. Basically, I try to let their imaginations run away with them. My responses tend to go like:

"Yeah, I'm doing this. I just played <insert card here> but what about so-and-so and what they just played? Or them over there with that enchantment?"

Basically, I bank on the fact that my opponents are too intelligent to simply be lead by the nose into going after something else. Instead, I try to make them see threats everywhere. I let the information of the game overwhelm them a little and make them second guess or think. Thus their reactions can go one of three ways:

1. They go through and destroy/exile/get rid of my card. (However, I already thought they might do that, so I put that card down as feint so they won't be ready for my next plan)

2. They destroy someone else's threat. (Which still benefits me as I don't have to waste resources doing it myself and I get to keep a resource).

3. Finally, not knowing what to do with so many potential threats on the board, they do nothing and wait. (That gives me more time to think and changes the state of the game. It incriminates the person who's looking to get rid of something, so everyone else starts looking at them. It also makes everyone else aware of others' board states, thus forcing them to reconsider some things)

MtG is a complex game. There's no need to exaggerate or downplay things. The game will speak for itself and from there, the opponent will have to make a decision. Just be ready for whatever decision they make.

Also, I forgot some cards!

Shapers' Sanctuary: More cards if someone starts targets our dinos or their support.

Iroas, God of Victory: Where Xenagod makes a dino bigger and gives it haste, Iroas will make all of the dinos harder to block and they don't take damage when attack. For 4 mana, that ain't bad.

Vanquisher's Banner: Card draw and buffs for our dinos.

Tilonalli's Skinshifter: A card who gives us the ability to double up on an effective attacking creature.

Okay, let's see.

Considering our commander, deck manipulation is going to be a thing:
Sensei's Divining Top
Scroll Rack
Sylvan Library
Worldly Tutor
Sylvan Tutor
Congregation at Dawn

Ramp:
Mirari's Wake
Skyshroud Claim
Farseek
Pillar of Origins
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
Xenagos, the Reveler
Birds of Paradise
Drover of the Mighty
Kodama's Reach
Cultivate
Growing Rites of Itlimoc/Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun
Chromatic Lantern
Darksteel Ingot

Cost Reduction/Cheating:
Green Sun's Zenith
Quicksilver Amulet
Elvish Piper
Herald's Horn
Krosan Drover
Kinjalli's Caller
Lurking Predators
Otepec Huntmaster
Command Beacon

Other possible cards:

Asceticism: Gotta protect those dinos.

Warstorm Surge: To take advantage of all the dinos that will be hitting the battlefield.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: To really ramp up our damage.

Xenagos, God of Revels: MOAR DAMAGE!



Possible hate cards?? To slow our opponents down as we build ourselves up?

Commanderwise, this is a disappointing design beyond any belief. No red in mana cost (I was hoping for a WUBRG ability, perhaps in phyrexian mana related to do phyrexian things), same identical keyword soup of last Atraxa (fine but still lazy), uninspired card draw mechanic (we already saw this kind of ETB effects on the last Niv-Mizzet). At this point I will just use her original card for a truly phyrexian strategy, this is so generic, boring and give very little ideas on original deckbuilding.

"Hey White? Know how we said we would help you ramp this set?"
"Yeah?"
"We lied. But on the plus side we made this totally unnecessary Green card that ramps you when you don't need it!"

I'm trying to understand why this isn't just a normal artifact. The cost seems rather low too.

why is this green?

why did green need this?

whatever, its stupid with all the doubling season effects out there but otherwise is just kind of win more for green, you know, the ramp color that doesn't interact with artifacts except to blow them up.

Quote from Rosy Dumplings »

Bah, it’s a big artifact that like will often do nothing the turn it comes down and only start generating mana two turns later.


This thing is only really exciting if you untap with this card and Korvold… or Mayhem Devil… or Marrionette Master… or disciple of the vault… or reckless fireweaver… or xorn… or academy manufacturer… or chatterfang… or the new card that turns treasures into impulse draw… or token doublers

But other than that, it’s not the best card /s

or awakening or seedborn muse

Its time to Revel in Riches... I mean, come on

****Bit of a rant, sorry****

Of course they continue to give Green things it doesn't need. Is it "Green"? I mean sure, Green can make Clues and Food, and dabbled with Treasures, and it is the color of mana production, so sure this fits. But does Green need to get yet another great Treasure engine (glares at Old Gnawbones)??? I was highly suspicious when the Gruul Treasure cards were spoiled (the one that only costs RG with Treasure mana and the Treasure Dork that hurts you) along with Ziatora creating Treasures, but now they are going to be solidly in Green from here. This is so stupid. Not only does the mana stick around, but Treasure strats are only going to get better as Magic goes on, and these are artifact tokens, so this can be splashed in every deck that wants high artifact counts/token creation. This and Doubling Season is just stupid. This and Chatterfang, Squirrel General is just stupid. This is just a truly awful, yet sadly inevitable, development.

Sad, introduce a powerful new legend and then kill him off three spoiled cards later.

Weird how Elspeth changed from a "soldier" to this support class.

I still absolutely despise ability counters, as they are so ungodly annoying to play with in paper its not even funny.

Ob has plausible deniability for that murder. You can't see his face. Those could be anybody's wings.