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  • posted a message on Successful green decks?
    I didn't realize you had a link to your cube till I wrote the below, but I think you're just split between too many archetypes for 240. You have aggressive 2s, but no aggressive 1s or 3s. You have ramp but no resilient payoffs. You have 4(!) go wide payoffs but only 2 token makers in green that are both slow as well as a reasonably low creature count for green. The guild cards are similarly not supported: GW counters has no green payoffs for the counters, GR doesn't have much to follow-up a Rhythm of the Wild, GB has basically no ways to fill the yard in general, and UG has no support for Tatyova, Benthic Druid what-so-ever.

    I run my green decks more aggressively than rampy, but most of them end up revolving around dropping aggressively orientated midranged threats. Stuff like Blastoderm, Briarhorn, Phantom Centaur, Ridgescale Tusker, Trollbred Guardian, Great Oak Guardian, etc. all get "2 for 1s" through just being ahead on board. This is where mana dorks tend to come into play in these decks. Taking 15 from a Blastoderm is an unreasonable thing to do in most games, but starts to be difficult not to do for a lot of decks when the Blastoderm is played on t3 and is followed by a 5 drop.

    GR aggro might be the best deck in my environment. Experiment One -> Voltaic Brawler -> 1 + 2 drop or 3 drop -> Bloodbraid Elf -> burn wins a lot of games on t4-6 if not answered perfectly. You don't have access to Kessig Prowler, but I don't think it's an important enough card to kill the deck. Also, not including Experiment One should be a crime imo.

    Slower green decks that don't revolve around attacking try to rely as little as possible on removable threats. Pelakka Wurm hasn't aged well in this regard since we have so many better options. Plated Crusher, Warden of the Woods, and Scaled Behemoth are not much easier to deal with through combat and are substantially better against removal when ramped (or reanimated) out. Arborback Stomper is also mostly better if you want lifegain. Ramping out hexproof threats early takes off significant pressure and can start abyssing your opponent if they aren't threatening you.

    GB decks have stuff like Worm Harvest, Spider Spawning, and Baloth Null as win conditions when combined with a filled yard. Here mana dorks up your creature count, let you start your engines early, help out the endless mana requirements these decks have, and chump block.

    Green also has a lot of ways to use mana dorks in combat: Curse of Predation (a card on some people's ban lists), Song of Freyalise, Rancor, Scale Up, Imperious Perfect, Briarhorn, Ridgescale Tusker, and Great Oak Guardian allow mana dorks to be respectable attackers.

    I've slightly depowered some of my removal and removed the black 4 drop Nekrataals, but neither of those things were done because green was weak.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Tips, Recommendations, Thoughts on my Peasant Cube (540)
    It definitely looks like you have a good idea of what you're doing, so at this point I'd recommend playing it and changing based on what people like to play and what you find to be good rather than based on theory crafting. It's good to have archetypes in mind, but they don't really matter if no one's playing them or don't play them optimally. I would recommend adding Thriving lands, City of Brass, Gemstone Mine, and Aether Hub, since they're good options for lands that would let you cut down on fixing a bit since you don't need to be specific colours to play them. The untapped ones are also very good for aggro.

    If you want to support green aggro you probably want more aggressive green 2 drops, but only if you want to support green aggro.

    I'm in support of larger multicolour sections, but once you start going past 5 or 6 (non-land) cards I do think you get into multicolour cards not being unique enough to justify their inclusion. Sure, every BW deck will play Mortify, but it's not that much different than a mono B or W removal spell, so the problems that come with it being multicoloured aren't really worth it.

    If you like the heavier focus on multicolour but have problems with people playing a bunch of 3+ colour midranged soup or have a bunch of gold cards never being played, all of Leelue's suggestions are good ways to deal with it. I would also pay attention to the signets in particular, since they really incentivize 3+ colour good stuff.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Sovereign's Realm Draft
    The effects of changing the mana system like this are far reaching enough that I would try other things first. For example, upping the number of free mulligans mostly deals with mana/colour screw. If flood isn't something you think can be handled enough through deckbuilding then you can add something like letting players pay 2/3 to exile a card from their hand to draw a card.

    That isn't to say what you're suggesting is bad, but there are too many changes to know how gameplay would change. For example, is aggro weaker or stronger? Aggro never needs to draw a 4/5th land, which is hard to understate the importance of, but at the same time slower decks will essentially never stumble on mana or tapped lands. Slower decks can also play their higher cost cards as lands, so aggro loses the card advantage of having those cards stuck in their opponent's hand. In a similar vein sideboard cards are way better to maindeck, since you can just play them as lands, and a lot of sideboard cards are anti-aggro. So is aggro better or worse off? This system also ups the complexity of the game significantly since deciding what card to play as a land is not an easy one and you're not playing 17 textless cards.

    I'm personally not too enthused by this system since it de-emphasizes deckbuilding a good bit, but I understand not everyone enjoys pulling up the chances of playing a 1CC card on t3 and altering your deck to manipulate that number as much as I do.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Kaldhiem Previews
    I always considered the most important part of Loxodon Warhammer to be the lifelink since it gives you all the time in the world to re-equip it. Obviously the trample is important inevitability and makes the lifelink harder to stop, but if its just the trample Dwarven Hammer is close to an expensive Rancor. I also don't really think red decks in particular can afford paying so much without the lifelink.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Kaldhiem Previews
    Including:
    Usher of the Fallen - Good card
    Poison the Cup - More interesting than Doom Blade with a similar enough power level

    Testing:
    Clarion Spirit - I'm pretty confident it's mediocre in aggro, but maybe there's enough non-curve out white decks that this is good enough

    Maybe at some point:
    Renegade Reaper - Hardcore self mill might be a thing now? This, Carrion Grub, Gorging Vulture, Mire Triton, Mindwrack Harpy, and Stitcher's Supplier aren't too large of investments and are all mono B. At some point enablers are good enough you look for a payoff.
    Spectral Steel - At some point GW auras/enchantments won't be super parasitic, and this is a step towards that
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Kaldhiem Previews
    Most of the ability lands are stupidly expensive, but Axgard Armory has a few things going for it: 5 mana for 2 spells on a utility land is great, R and W auras are pretty common and versatile, and RW doesn't have much competition for guild slots. You might have to stretch a bit for playable equipment, but even ignoring the top tier of equipment Ancestral Blade, Sylvok Lifestaff, or Mask of Memory aren't embarrassing things to fetch (and if you don't ignore the top tier equipment fetching Loxodon Warhammer is a big deal).

    Poison the Cup is solid removal diversification.

    Usher of the Fallen is obviously great. The ability probably won't matter in most games but will probably come up more than the rest of the other W one drops' abilities. Late game you can try to trade and get a free token, and in aggro mirrors attacking on t2 and boasting is probably entirely reasonable. Warrior is also a pseudo relevant creature type. Only problem I have with it is that the name doesn't sound like a creature to me.

    Scorn Effigy is basically a colourless version of the black 2/3s that etbt. While black has moved past those, this has some novelty between being an artifact, a free spell, and colourless.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Kaldhiem Previews
    Aegar, the Freezing Flame is neat, but probably not worth building around or including in such a stacked guild.

    Clarion Spirit looks okay, but I have incredibly low hopes for the second spell mechanic. Optimistically you might be able to always trigger it once, which makes it above rate, but I'm really suspect of that.

    Shepard of the Cosmos is worth about 5 mana, but you always pay 6. This type of reanimation is also surprisingly hard to trigger at times.

    If you can get mileage out of the first chapter Kardur's Vicious Return looks pretty solid in reanimator and aristocrats. Notably the third chapter can get back something like a Havoc Jester (as a 6/6 haste), then the saga sacs itself for a ping off the Havoc Jester.

    Tergrid's Shadow is a 5 mana version of Barter in Blood, but is instant speed and has foretell. Is anyone who's playing Barter in Blood considering swapping (or playing both)?
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Kaldhiem Previews
    Vega, the Watcher actually has a surprising amount of hits in UW: Ephemerate, Battle Screech, Deep Analysis, Riftwing Cloudskate are pretty common cards and foretell is looking base UW. There's probably some really easy jeskai build for it since red has a bunch of flashback and cascade as well as some rebound and impulse draw. Wind Drake also isn't the worst floor. Probably not worth the guild slot unless you are trying something unusual though.

    Replicating Ring is a neat mana rock if you play/support decks using X spells as a wincon.

    Spirit Blade is interesting to me. Obviously it's great in pants, but it has some other uses without as much support. It gets back Pacifisms in W, Narcolepsys and Control Magics in U, in RW it gets back Lust for War/Frenzied Fugue (on top of a +2/+2 aura being alright in aggro), and in graveyard style decks it can be milled/discarded and later get back Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead/negative auras.

    Blizzard Fight being essentially an unfair fight with +1/+0 and indestructible for the turn for 1 mana is pretty ridiculous if you play snow basics.

    Firja, Judge of Valor might have been worth testing if it was mono B, but it's BW for some reason.

    Ravenform and Behold the Multiverse are alright if you want blue artifact removal / more expensive CA spells.

    Quote from n00b1n8R »
    This is the best Cancel-with-upside change my mind.
    Let me try: if you want a 3cmc counter you're probably playing 2cmc counters, so foretelling is incredibly awkward since you want to represent or play your 2cmc counter magic. Additionally if you foretell you not only are paying 4 mana for a Cancel but your opponent also probably knows about it and can play around it.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2020
    Interesting. I run my green section aggressive with more removal than normal, so maybe I'm just not seeing it.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2020
    I removed Shrine of Loyal Legions (and Shrine of Burning Rage) since they didn't really ever make good gameplay (I don't like adding slots for artifact removal so ymmv), but that was years ago and C/Ube has definitely sped up in that time. I did the same thing with Palace Jailer a bit more recently, but it at least sometimes had interesting gameplay.

    I've also personally deliberately avoided Feast of Succession, Maze of Ith, Propaganda, and Overrun since I can't imagine I would like the gameplay they make. I've definitely also seen other people mention avoiding Overrun due to its feast or famine nature. Other people seem to similarly avoid them since they aren't in most cubes. Palace Jailer and Loxodon Warhammer are also both only in 25-27 cubes despite being among the strongest cards we have access to.

    I've never had or heard of people having tons of problems with the blink cards or Sphinx's Tutelage, but both can definitely be incredibly oppressive against a deck that doesn't have a focused plan.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2020
    Order of Midnight is way more popular than I expected. Kinda forgot about it.

    Murmuring Mystic is great, but I'm similarly surprised at its popularity. I don't remember people talking about it much when it came out.

    Do Spectral Sailor and Enclave Cryptologist not step on each other's toes (both are 31-33 lists)? I figured you would generally only want one of them. Do decks just play both? Or do they just go in different decks?

    I've been happy with Scale Up, but I also play a ton of green aggro.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on [[Peasant]] The Peasant Cube Discussion Thread (C/U/)
    I've banned (or don't play) anything that can't be reasonably dealt with through creatures/single target removal. I think it took 2 games of evasive 2 drop -> Curse of the Shallow Graves to realize it wasn't reasonable to deal with.

    I'm not especially attached to either Faerie Conclave or Treetop Village, but I can't imagine a case where either of them are cut. They're both middle to high picks and I'd be surprised if better coloured utility lands were printed to push them out (with mdfcs maybe it's possible, but they'd need significant complexity creep).
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2020 Planning Thread
    Thanks for doing this! I've updated my list, though I've gotten less testing than I would've liked due to current events.

    I feel like rare lands should be able to be included in the final list or at least get a special mention. I doubt that any would end up making the final list since what people discuss doing with them is pretty diverse, but if enough people use them they should be represented somehow.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Commander Legends Previews
    Quote from Leelue »
    Maybe I'm undervaluing the wrath on Feast of Succession itself, but betting on your opponent to not have even 10% of the cube by t6+ doesn't feel like good odds to me. Obviously this isn't the full story (holding up removal, using x/5s yourself, haste creatures played beforehand, death triggers, flash, etc.), but if a average deck has 2 ways to get the monarch immediately, they are 55% to have drawn 1 by t6.
    Well, you said it already: if it's a haste creature you're worried about, they need to have not already played it by now. so that 55% is not remotely useful as a benchmark.
    If you want to be picky about the numbers then lets even discount haste creatures entirely (which is probably similarly inaccurate). That's about 20 cards in your cube. Counting stuff in your cube outside of haste creatures + x/5+s that would also steal monarch after it's cast gives me a bit more than 20 cards (entirely ignoring manlands too). Including x/5+s (20ish), that's around 10% of your cube, which puts the number at >55% again if played spells average 10% of them. You can debate how much each card counts, but if Feast of Succession -> get monarch taken is a bad case 55% is ridiculously high. That's 55% on t6 too (where your opponent is even on the play!), so if you're not casting it on curve the higher chance you run into a Rhythm of the Wild or a Goblin Trenches.
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
  • posted a message on Commander Legends Previews
    Maybe I'm undervaluing the wrath on Feast of Succession itself, but betting on your opponent to not have even 10% of the cube by t6+ doesn't feel like good odds to me. Obviously this isn't the full story (holding up removal, using x/5s yourself, haste creatures played beforehand, death triggers, flash, etc.), but if a average deck has 2 ways to get the monarch immediately, they are 55% to have drawn 1 by t6.

    //////

    Great set: encore, monarch, and cascade are all mechanics we can use and the power level is pushed because it's commander. Lots of archetype cards that may show up down the line once they get more support. Bad set for Iwamori of the Open Fist though.

    Confident they're good:
    Coastline Marauders - Big numbers + trample + recursion
    Gilt-Leaf Winnower - 5 mana conditional Nekrataals are pretty fair and good
    Halana, Kessig Ranger - Value engine on a reasonable body
    Volcanic Torrent - Encourages big red. Might honestly be unfair with any prior spells

    Testing, probably good:
    Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith - Good combination of interesting and powerful
    Boarding Party - Has basically no competition and red is a great cascade colour
    Araumi of the Dead Tide - I have no idea what deck wants this, but the text is good
    Tuya Bearclaw - Big numbers is a solid GR archetype, though missing trample isn't great
    Staunch Throneguard - Mainly interested for slot efficiency, but monarch is powerful enough to justify unimpressive stats

    Might test at some point:
    Juri, Master of the Revue - If RB aristocrats is on the menu
    Dargo, the Shipwrecker - See above
    Impulsive Pilferer - See above
    Tormod, the Desecrator - Would need to add a few more enablers, but I like the card
    Crimson Fleet Commondore - If Staunch Throneguard doesn't work out
    Slaughter the Strong - I'm pretty sure this is just a sideboard card, but not 100% confident
    Exquisite Huntmaster - Unexicitng, but a good roleplayer
    Fin-Clade Fugitives - 5 mana for a 7/4 haste with some evasion is pretty exciting, but it needs a discard outlet to avoid the frontside
    Posted in: Pauper & Peasant Discussion
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