Cross tribe cards are hard since they would have to be extra powerful to counteract not benefitting from the other tribal boosts in those decks. Knight-Captain of Eos and Hero of Bladehold, Knights that otherwise fit a Soldier deck, are the examples that come to my mind. If they themselves were Soldiers, I'd be more inclined to play them.
Otherwise, great science post.
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- KingAlanI
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I'm adapting an old decklist and some card choices are remnants of this, particularly the combat theme. I'm used to playing aggro so stax takes some getting used to.
Maybe I can run Heretic Cathar main and Marshal SB
What is BL an abbreviation for? Now that you mention it, an O-Ring variant makes sense to avoid cardname shenanigans like Echoing Truth.
A Karakas wouldn't hurt. I see a lot of lists with 2, what's the rationale for that amount in particular? I tend to avoid running as many legendaries as possible, to avoid dead draws.
One problem with 4 Cavern of Souls is that it only produces white mana for Soldiers
Round 1 blew out a green/blue deck
1-1-1 vs Saprolings. Game 1 I didn't have enough threats, game 2 whirler did what he's supposed to do against a tokens deck. We barely started Game 3 when time was called
2-1 vs Knights -
When I won, spot removal was key. Saw History of Benalia a few times but killed 1 or both tokens before it went off.
Sided in 2 Spit Flame, 3rd Abrade, Glorybringer and Chandra - sided out Kari Zev and Bomat Courier. Bomat is horrible against 2/2s, Kari Zev might've been OK but recurring removal seemed better and was.
Lost Game 2, Settle the Wreckage got 4 creatures - Hazoret, Whirler and 2 Soul-Scar Mage. in general attacking with unpumped SSM doesn't seem worth it even if it seems like a free 1 damage, I might've been better able to recover if I had kept those on the field. The previous turn he had mana to pump Resplendent Angel but didn't so I knew he had some sort of combat trick - I had suspected spot removal like Cast Out or Seal Away rather than a sweeper.
Getting a -1/-1 counter on an Angel so it didn't get big enough to make a token amused me.
Game 3 opening hand had 2 Chandra and I promptly drew a 3rd - didn't seem so excessive when he killed 1 with combat damage and Vraska's Contempted the 2nd
"I'm sorry, John, I'm afraid I can't let you do that." I said as I killed yet another Knight of Grace.
There seems to be a lot of consensus on which soldiers to put in, but differences on some of them as well as what quantities. Here's what I'll try playtesting now. I'll consider springing for playsets of Tomb and Cavern, but City? Heck no.
11 Plains
4 Ancient Tomb
4 Cavern of Souls
Creatures (29)
2 Captain of the Watch
4 Daru Warchief
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Field Marshal
2 Militia Bugler
3 Palace Jailer
4 Preeminent Captain
3 Recruiter of the Guard
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Suppression Field
Artifact (8)
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
3 Aegis of the Gods
1 Mana Tithe
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Rest in Peace
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Edit - played two matches against reanimator. first one I got blown out both games. second match I went 2-1, lost game 1 badly but was very strong after sideboarding.
Of course Rest in Peace hoses that deck, and 4-of helps find them or play another after Wear. Oblivion Ring and Heretic Cathar were useful if he did get something out. Aegis of the Gods was a deterrent to Collective Brutality or Cabal Therapy.
I sided out Suppression Field, would only have done good against his fetches and maybe Griselbrand. Also took out Warchief and Marshal, as pump doesn't matter much when he either goes off or doesn't.
Plains-Mox-any white card- either Chalice for 1 or Rest in Peace was key before he had a chance to get going.
I hadn't thought of an artifact lockdown element, but I can't say that's a bad idea. I already own playsets of Chalice and Chrome Mox, plus a couple Trinisphere, so I could do that cheap.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar sounds great to slow down stuff like Sneak and Show while still being useful by herself; Blind Obedience, Authority of the Consuls and Loxodon Gatekeeper don't do much else. In general I play only 2 or 3 of a legendary to avoid dead draws. I am aware that the legend rule only applies to cards with the exact same name and thus I could have Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on the battlefield at the same time.
The amount of options for Soldier cards is almost overwhelming IMHO.
I like an all basic manabase not only for budget but also to avoid nonbasic land hate. Without the artifacts, Tomb/City are less useful, cost reductions mean I need mainly white, don't want 3sphere, and Veteran Swordsmith is less of an advantage over Field Marshal.
Here's my first attempt at updating it:
22 Plains
Creatures (34)
1 Aegis of the Gods
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Captain of the Watch
4 Daru Warchief
4 Enlistment Officer
4 Field Marshal
4 Militia Bugler
3 Palace Jailer
4 Preeminent Captain
3 Recruiter of the Guard
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Aegis of the Gods
1 Mana Tithe
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Rest in Peace
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
PS I wouldn't call this deck SS because that abbreviation seems so associated with a Nazi organization.
I would also be interested in proxy Vintage if there were tournaments locally. $200 for 15 proxy Dredge is about right, though $700 with 5 proxies or $400 for 10 proxy would be manageable by tournament Magic standards. Bazaar of Baghdad is about $1200 even played. Chalice of the Void and Leyline of the Void are $40 or $50, Bridge from Below is about $25, Undiscovered Paradise $15, Bloodghast $12, a few $3 or $4 cards, the rest $1 or $2.
Good idea I'll try to get to that soon after Labor Day
Yes, it's on-color for that reason, but if it was in green/white it would be fun with populate, big-token makers like Advent of the Wurm and Doubling Season. In blue it could work with Simic especially since Doubling Season also plays into that guild's +1/+1 counter mechanics.
Title refers to how much of Bolas' image is genuine versus inflated by himself in-character or exaggerated by WotC for marketing. It draws a good analogy to storytelling techniques generally or to the behavior of real world powerful people including history being written by the victors
Maybe it's like Signature Spellbook Jace where you were guaranteed all the nonfoils but the foil was random
I like the lack of trample to keep it from being too powerful by itself
the flavor text? Niv Mizzet would be proud of that attitude.