MTG Salvation

I don't break my deck into two and shuffle like that and neither does anyone in my playgroup (we have between 4-8 of us that regularly play together).

And I'm not too sure you're right about the 100 pack sleeves back in the day. I know that all I could ever find was 60 or 80 sleeve packs because I always joked with the LGS owner about how he raked in money on the EDH players having to buy two packs. Ultra Pro didn't put their Eclipse sleeves in 100 packs until 2-3 years ago because the Command Zone made a huge deal about it.

Wow, played today and was very happy to see it. After six board wipes...

Sivartus' suggestion is a good one. I'd check that primer he linked to out. Really in-depth and well written.

One thing I noticed from a quick glance is you really don't have enough creatures. 23 just isn't near enough. You're going to want at least 1/3rd of your deck to be creatures so that you have a higher chance of hitting with Sidisi. I think most of the decks in the primer are around 38, and I run 41 in my Sidisi.

The easiest way to use Hermit Druid for a combo in Sidisi is to get Druid out, activate him to mill your deck (no basic lands in the deck), Narcomoeba comes into play as it's milled. Unearth Fatestitcher from your graveyard. Sac those three creatures to flashback Dread Return, bringing back Laboratory Maniac then flashback Deep Analysis for the win.

Reliquary Tower to me is only good in a deck where you consistently are going to draw a bunch a cards and have more than 7 in your hand at your discard step.

The biggest problem I saw with PoK (and I ran it in my Animar, Soul of Elements deck) was how it could drastically slow the game down. There were times my plays on an opponents turn took longer than theirs.

I don't think Commander is killing Magic at all. What is killing Magic (if it's dying), is a stale Standard format, the emergency bans due to poor play testing and card design, the continued change in the block setup, and one other thing I don't believe anyone else has mentioned which I'll get into in a minute. As others have said, Commander keeps players that would leave the game involved in the game.

Myself for instance, due to promotions at work I initially stopped playing Standard due to not having the time to play it how I played it (reactive, seeing what decks in my meta won each FNM or local tournament, figuring out the next evolution of that deck, and designing a deck and sideboard specifically to beat that deck and the other decks in my meta). I don't have the time to devote multiple hours each week to build and play test decks. I was already into Commander at the time of my decision to leave Standard- around the end of RTR/Theros Standard, believe I had 4 EDH decks at that point, if I hadn't been I likely would have sold the majority of my collection and left the game entirely. I was a semi-competitive player at that time, played in local GP's and did fairly decent. Since quitting the format, I have tried venturing back into Standard when time allowed and would play a FNM or two each new set that came out. It wasn't an enjoyable experience anymore given the small variety of decks that were seeing play.

The other cause that I don't believe any one has mentioned is net-decking. This is also a major factor in the small variety of decks that are seeing competitive play. The vast majority of decks at FNM at the different shops I go to in the three areas I've lived in since quitting Standard are all the latest decks to win or top 8 GP's or PTQ's. I don't have a problem with the idea of net-decking itself but IMO it is a contributing factor to Standard being less popular. I went to an FNM as recently as two weeks ago, I played 7 games- 6 of which where against Temur Energy or RDW. I was playing UB control and went 5-2 but it wasn't a fun night. It got to the point where I was asking everyone when we sat down which they were playing.

Magic On-line I feel is also another reason for smaller FNM turnouts. My son also plays Magic. When he first started playing he loved going to FNM and any draft/limited event, now however he never goes to any live events because he plays hours online each week. He & I occasionally will play kitchen table Modern (old Standard decks that have been upgraded with cards that weren't in Standard at the time they were legal decks- for instance my Boros Heroic deck that revolved around Ethreal Armor now with Monastery Swiftspear in place of Nyxborn Shieldmate), but that's the extent of his live play anymore. One of my daughters also was into Magic, but she quit playing altogether due to her brother and I not going to FNM's and her not caring for any other format.

Since there's already a few cards that mention Planeswalkers, The Chain Veil would be a flavor win.

Use to be my kitchen table but after a hectic two week period where I worked 14 hours day every day and didn't touch the cards that whole time my wife put the kybosh on that. Now it's the coffee table and I have to pick up after myself when I'm done each night.

Hey WWWolfe,

As far as I can tell you run Training Grounds to benefit a single creature, which seems to me like it would be a dead card more often than not.

I personally would recommend including more card draw (or other card advantage engines like Etherium-Horn Sorcerer) in the deck. Mulldrifter is an all-star in a bounce heavy deck.

You might also consider adding another combo win to your Primal Surge package: Laboratory Maniac. This way you can win even if you don't get a combat step for any reason.

It looks like a fair deck (as far as Animar goes) with a few different combo options, but no way to aggressively tutor for them. Only a little fast mana, so you're not seeking to combo off before turn 5 unless you get really lucky with a Birds of Paradise and the right combo pieces. More often than not you'll be attacking with a large Animar or a horde of utility creatures for victory.

Scuttlemutt is a nice little bit of tech that I haven't played with myself. How does it perform for you?

Let me know if I missed anything obvious.

Yes, absolutely. Loyalty abilities are activated abilities, and they can be interacted with like any other activated ability that uses the stack.

112.5. Some activated abilities are loyalty abilities. Loyalty abilities follow special rules: A player may
activate a loyalty ability of a permanent he or she controls any time he or she has priority and the
stack is empty during a main phase of his or her turn, but only if no player has previously activated
a loyalty ability of that permanent that turn. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”

All currently printed loyalty abilities are activated abilites, so you can target them with a stifle or similar spell or ability.

The only difference between them and a regular activated ability is that you can only activate them during your main phase whilst the stack is empty and can only activate 1 loyalty ability per turn.

short answer yes.


long answer, putting or taking away counters is an activated ability. I'm sure some guru will fix what i stated if it doesn't make sense.