Awesome report, man! Very entertaining and informative.
I was the Teeg player from Round 5, and although I definitely misplayed like a beast during game 3 (like you said), I don't think any of it mattered -- it was the turn 3 Braids on the play with Edict backup that killed me. I couldn't hit 3 mana for Squirrel Nest to save my life
Well played, sir! Looking forward to more tournament reports in the future.
I am doubtful it will have the same balancing effect as Legacy, though. EDH doesn’t have sideboards for one, but more importantly I just don’t see people aggressively tossing cards to dig for efficient answers vs. digging for something proactive like their own ramp, outside of cEDH. At least the multiplayer aspect will help with archenemy scenarios, as always.
I’m not sure why you think I’m being alarmist. EDH is pretty robust and would survive any number of suboptimal rules changes. You could strike out half the ban list and say “first five mulligans are free”, and we would still be playing it because it’s a fun game.
What I can safely say is that if you are willing to go to 5 strictly to find Sol Ring or Mana Crypt, the "First-Free London" mulligan rule is more likely to find them (44.6%) than the old First-Free mulligan (40.8%), Partial Paris (33.2%), or even First-Free Partial Paris (44.3%). And now, your resulting 5-card hand also has a good chance of being decent in its own right since you basically get a 0-mana Faithless Looting tacked on.
So that's the reason for my hesitancy. Feel free to double-check my numbers because I'm just as fallible as anyone.
Back when Partial Paris was a thing, I did a lot of number crunching on different mulligan rules. In reality, Partial Paris was not the boogeyman that it was made out to be, since sculpting around a two-card combo was generally I’ll-advised. It mostly just improved the overall speed and importance of the early turns — though fewer games overall started with Sol Ring than with the “regular” mulligan rule.
I expect the London will do a good job of reducing instances of mana screw etc. I also fear that a “Free London” mulligan policy will greatly increase the number of games involving one or more players screaming out of the gate with fast mana, if they have a commander that rewards such aggressive mulligans (e.g. Urza), which may exacerbate any power discrepancies between decks at the same table.
The “Free London” mulligan is perhaps not as bad as the abomination that was “Free Partial Paris”, but I think the extra card might make it about on par with regular Partial Paris in terms of overall strength.
So this cube had a problem that no one else in my playgroup seemed to notice, and that is that the aggro/tempo archetype was simply too strong. There are many possible decks you could build, but if you drafted cheap fliers plus countermagic, or simply snapped up all the Merfolk in a decent size pool, you were a strong favorite. After dabbling around with a handful of hosers, I realized the problem: creature decks' natural predators are slightly larger creature decks, and my cube did not have enough creatures in general to make that a thing. The limited card pool also meant that creature-light control decks did not have the redundancy of tools to deal with an opponent that would just curve out on turns 1-3 and then sit on countermagic and bounce.
Now the creature count has been upped substantially (roughly 40% of the pool, up from roughly 32%), and supported by more Planeswalkers, many of which make creatures. Now the board state is a bigger focus of the game, and those Skyship Plunderers will rarely go uncontested, and control decks will have enough finishers to close out the game before the opponent rebuilds.
Colorless mana Eldrazi and such are out. Dealing with Wastes was such a pain. Dimensional Infiltrator is still here, but he is good enough anyway even without the last ability.
The Polymorph archetype is gone, along with Blightsteel Colossus. It was simply not strong enough. Show and Tell stays in, though, because it is still randomly good in other decks.
With the extra slots, Storm has more support now with the addition of Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, Sai, Master Thopterist, Sentinel Tower, and Aetherflux Reservoir. Saheeli also works great in artifact aggro and even combos with Time Vault. Card is nuts.
So finally the list is up to date, just in time for Modern Horizons. And what a doozy of a set this is going to be.
Bonus Round seems like it might be really good here, though. I'm going to cut something for it -- It's a nice combo with Mizzix's Mastery, for what that's worth.
Seismic Assault is interesting. What's the best story you have from that card?
My two recent changes have been Mizzix's Mastery for Endless Atlas, and Burnished Hart for Worn Powerstone. Endless Atlas is great, you should try it. Worn Powerstone is just filler, but I'm finding it better than Burnished Hart. Burnished Hart was more on theme and randomly relevant with Valakut, but at the end of the day it's twice as much mana for the same amount of ramp compared to Worn Powerstone.
Last Chance continues to impress, as essentially a big ritual spell. I topdecked it the other day and it let me take the victory where I was otherwise dead to rights. Very stylish!
Here is my current decklist:
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
// Creatures (8)
1 Mogg Maniac
1 Dire Fleet Daredevil
1 Magus of the Wheel
1 Goblin Trashmaster
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Greater Gargadon
// Pure Damage (15)
1 Firestorm
1 Skred
1 Price of Progress
1 Arcbond
1 Hammer of Bogardan
1 Chain Reaction
1 Fiery Confluence
1 Star of Extinction
1 Comet Storm
1 Molten Disaster
1 Repercussion
1 Insult // Injury
1 Furnace of Rath
1 Dictate of the Twin Gods
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Gamble
1 Faithless Looting
1 Cathartic Reunion
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Wild Guess
1 Goblin Lore
1 Molten Psyche
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Commune with Lava
// More Utility (8)
1 Shattering Spree
1 Vandalblast
1 Increasing Vengeance
1 Last Chance
1 Recoup
1 Chaos Warp
1 Past in Flames
1 Mana Geyser
// Artifacts (16)
1 Expedition Map
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Endless Atlas
1 Ruby Medallion
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Gauntlet of Might
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Caged Sun
1 Primal Amulet
1 Pyromancer's Goggles
1 Anvil of Bogardan
1 Memory Jar
1 Skullclamp
1 Helm of Possession
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Drownyard Temple
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Terrain Generator
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Geier Reach Sanitarium
1 Kher Keep
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Temple of the False God
1 Mage-Ring Network
30 Snow-Covered Mountain
Simply not casting any spells when my opponent has an early Mystic Remora. Especially when the other players follow your lead.
Destroying the Howling Mines and still hitting all my land drops while my opponents stall at 4 or 5.
These spark joy
These are some of the better lands in the deck. I wonder how many of these we can play before it starts becoming too sluggish.
- Treasure Hunter: Good card, got upgraded
- Lodestone Golem: Hosed myself too much, didn't hose opposing U/x artifact decks enough
- Karmic Guide: Too situational and reactive
- Trading Post: Underperformed in most cases. Usually costs 5 or 6.
- Phyrexian Furnace: New graveyard hate with Remorseful Cleric. Yes, technically Scrabbling Claws is worse, but now I don't have to force people to maintain graveyard order.
- Plains: Replaced with fast mana
+ Trusty Packbeast: strict upgrade?
+ Ranger of Eos: Why wasn't this card in here already?!
+ Remorseful Cleric: This is a godsend, made specifically for this deck!
+ Alms Collector: Has proven to be quite the kick in the nuts. Just watch out for Consecrated Sphinx (and the resulting Trade Secrets scenario) unless you think you can make the first decisive play.
+ Swords to Plowshares: Just too good.
+ Chrome Mox: In for a Plains.
I would like another reset button in case someone gets a really dumb start with mana dorks Thran Dynamos... considering Hour of Revelation?
-Mirari: Too slow.
-Reclamation Sage: Acidic Slime is better at defense, and lets me blow up everyone's lands with Temur Sabertooth in a pinch.
-Citanul Flute: Too expensive, typically prefer any old creature tutor.
-Wolfbriar Elemental: The token strategy almost never works. In fact, it occasionally backfires in my playgroup thanks to Repercussion or Rakdos Charm or whatever. Ursapine is better.
-Genesis: Seems wrong, but never really did that much in practice.
-Snow-Covered Forest: for another sweet land
+Endless Atlas: Instant-speed, repeatable draw that seems to fit right in this deck.
+Runic Armasaur: I have high hopes for this guy. Also considering Heartwood Storyteller?
+Root Out: Increasing the artifact hate as a meta call. This replaces itself like the other ones.
+Acidic Slime: Slightly more competitive endgame option over Reclamation Sage.
+Primal Command: Directly replacing Citanul Flute. Doubles as graveyard hate or artifact removal.
+Desert of the Indomitable: Heeyyyyyy
Ursapine has proven to be reliable. It and Grinning Totem are probably my favorite things about this deck. Thanks for reading!
That's a sweet Last Chance story. Mine is in the mail, hope I'll have more stories to share!
I have noticed a growing presence of U/x artifact combo decks, though. I'm cutting Coalhauler Swine for Goblin Trashmaster. TBH, the Swine usually underperformed anyway. (Also need to find room to sneak in an Endless Atlas here...)
(EDIT: still brainstorming the polymorph package, simply because I really like the card Hostility and never get a chance to play it. It is worth noting that Angrath's Marauders + Hostility is almost an auto-win with any burn spell.)
What do you think about reworking the creature base to accommodate Reality Scramble? Are there any shenanigans we could work in? Angrath's Marauders for example.
Edit: Platinum Empyrion?
When you say you are "flooding more often than not", there are some other things to consider: how prevalent are Howling Mine effects in your playgroup? It's is hard to imagine you flooding consistently unless you are used to drawing a lot of extra cards. It would suck to cut a land, only to find your deck stop working when your playgroup decides to drop Nekusar, for example.
Another thing is, how does your playgroup handle mulligans? Loose mulligans mean you can get away with fewer lands. Do you get more than one "free" mulligan like Sheldon's group? When someone goes down to 5 and still has trouble, do you show mercy and let them draw back up to 7? Just consider the possibility that if your mulligan rules are lax, you may be just be relying on the good graces of your friends if you maintain a land count that is too low.
My general advice in this format is, play more utility lands, and play more cheap card draw. Hope this helps.
Xantcha, Sleeper Agent comes out quick and survives Wildfire, ready to wreck shop on an empty board before anyone really gets to play Magic. On the other hand, Lord Windgrace is slower and potentially douchier, and lets you upscale to Death Cloud and Destructive Force. There is no way someone should have to decide between those two things.
And all this after I traded for a Darigaaz Reincarnated. What was Wizards thinking?
Speaking of which, he won me the last game I played by getting another player's Final Fortune, which was hilarious (to some). It made me want to revisit the Final Fortune idea, so I am cutting Magma Phoenix for Last Chance (which is a sorcery, so i can get it with Recoup if needed).