While the color combination has a less diverse palette of viable strategies, you can perfectly compensate it’s shortcomings with artifacts. There are fun Boros decks.
I think you should approach this from a guideline perspective instead of a rules perspective. Banning or crippling all search effects causes a lot of collateral damage, and the next best thing is an additional ban list that as people have pointes out, is a slidings scale as well.
I think you just need to adjust the social contract in your playgroup. The main problem for you seems to be seeing the same cards over and over again due to tutors. So then agree with your playgroup that you don’t use cards with that intention, and leave the interpretation to the players. The problem is not people’s decks running consistently (due to fetches or land search and such) but people’s decks consistently having the same cards in play.
I don't mind playing infinite combo in a deck, eithe myself or my opponentd, if all pieces are just good cards on their own in the deck and they just happen to combine into something better. What i don't like to play or play against is decks that actively seek out a combo with tutors etc and that's all they do. Because that just feels like you're playing solitaire, or my opponent is.
Well those do seem better. Perhaps I'm doing the deck wrong. I mean with 2-4 opponents, that's a lot of life. Seems like Xenagos handles 2-3 opponents pretty well. It's those 5-6 player games that are of concern. Things have to go very well for you to deal around 240 damage before you die because everyone teams up against you.
Perhaps this deck is best relegated to 2-3 opponent games? Or am I just looking at this the wrong way still?
I don't know,honestly, i never play 5+'games because they tend to take too long. But i guess you do need more defense if there are more opponents because of the additional damage you need to do in order to win. I was talking 4 man games.
But regardless of the amount of players, this deck is as about offense more than any edh deck i know. Regardless of the amount of players, the more cards you detract from your main strategy (max damage output) the weaker the deck becomes.
I think that if you need to go on the defensive you're doomed / doing it wrong already. Having said that, if you would want some protection against retaliation i would opt for something like Crawlspace or Smoke for a more permanent, less land costly solution. If you want to use a fog, go with Tangle instead and just punish whoever thinks they can attack you with impunity. A third way to do it is to run more damage based boardwipes. Your creature is usually bigger than the others, so smack and wipe post combat.
I'd love to see Vanguard-esque cards that will be legal by default that you can run and that really change the way you play the game. Like emblems that you can start the game with resembling traits you, the player, have in game. For example:
Hot-headed
Trait
Creatures you control have haste.
Creatures attacking you gain provoke until end of turn.
Mana prodigy
Trait
You may play spells and abilities spending mana as though it was mana of any color.
Lands you control enter the battlefield tapped.
Chronomancer
Trait
Rather than cast spells from your hand, you may exile them with X time counters on it by paying the spells mana cost reduced by X. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, cast it without paying it's mana cost.
Spells you cast cost 1 more to cast if it's not your turn.
The Ur-AngelWUBRG
Legendary creature - Angel
Flying, vigilance, first strike, lifelink.
Eminence - As long as The Ur-Angel is in the command zone or on the battlefield, you may spent mana as if it was mana of any color to play Angel spells.
5/5
So I can finally build a decent 5 color white Angel deck!
If all the walkers have sided (whether directly or indirectly with Bolas), how come the Azorius are trying to hold back the Gruul? Shouldn't they be more worried about the Simic and Rakdos? Also, it would make more sense for the Boros to be stopping the Gruul instead since the Boros are also similar in function to the police of Ravnica.
I'm guessing that Bolas' plan requires the guilds to be at odds with each other, and it's easier to set up conflict between two groups that are under your control. Bolas' planeswalkers don't necessarily know that all of the other planeswalkers on the plane are working for Bolas too.
We saw in the M19 story that Bolas fears cooperation by his enemies because he knows it allows weaker beings to defeat more powerfull ones. So it makes sense that he has the guilds resort to infighting so they won't band together against him. I think that's as deep as that part of the plot goes. All of the non-bolas aligned guilds are the more seclusive ones. Bolas took control of all the guilds that keep society at large going - infrastructure, commerce, law, waste management and the gruul as a match to start the fire.
That's probably why the Gatewatch and friends are the only "faction" with enough power to challenge Bolas (And i fully expect them to get their asses kicked anyway, only for Ugin to show up with Azor at the end to save the day. Probably by Azor retaking control of the Azorius and it's law magic, then using that against Bolas.)
I just think with previous buyouts and hoarding, it was Commander exclusives only in one deck. With a decent print run and a couple Zendikar fetches (and shocks or tango lands or something else chesp) in each one, there isn't a clear buyout target. It's not a group of 3-4 decks and people only want one. I think it would benefit people. Commander players who have them can recoup most of the deck value from Modern players and just keep what they want from it, and it's not a product that will be hoarded long term, as long as it makes sense, Modern players might buy them for the fetches and give Commander players really good deals on the rest. I know that when TNN came out, local Legacy players ended up basically subsidizing a good portion of the cost.
Of course this all depends on a proper print run. Just a handful per LGS doesn't help anyone, and not just in this scenario.
Not going to happen. When we go to a new plane eventually, and then probably not a norse inspired one s that is on top of everybody's want list so,it will be a succes anyway, that is business risk for WotC because players might not like the set. All they have to is print fetches or some other very craved land cycle in it and it will sell like hot cupcakes regardless of the rest of the set. They won't give away such an "insurance policy" in a set that they know will sell well anyway.
I hope at least some of them do something unseen before and/or are open ended enough to allow for new type of deck. Not just a new commander that can helm an already well established deck or another race/class lord. I want Zedruu level novelty.
Also, more cards that are "overpowered" for normal magic but ok in multiplayer like the Battlebond lands nd Command Tower, but on nonland cards.
Queen Marchesa (long may she reign) is hands down the most political one. The trick is to not want to be the monarch yourself, just use it as a bone so the other players attack each other. Add a few judo cards like Comeuppance or Deflective Palm and you’re good to go. Win by any means other then combat damage.
Does anyone know when we are actually getting the story? The book releases in 3 months, but what for web?
As much as I love Magic stories, the hiatus is taking so long now it's becoming increasingly harder to stay excited. I feel more "just get it over with so we know what happens" than actual excitement about an upcoming finale in a story I fondly followed in the last few years. But maybe that's just me...
The nr 1 thing I want for commander is playable lands to fix your colors decently while not playing green from within your landbase. Or, more concretely: I want them to print the enemy color versions of the Mirage fetchlands, accompanied by a set of enemy colored dual lands with basic lands types. Or new cards that perform a similar function. But made so that they are not modern/legacy good so it stays affordable.
Most of my other picks have already been mentioned.
I don't know what happened with the female gamer / cosplayer exactly, and it's probably not a coincidence this article comes up when the mothership just had a part about harassment as well. And even though I agree with the author's perspective about the uprise of "acceptable nazism" or however you want to call it, this site is not the right place for a piece such as this. If I want serious, soecietal critiscism, I'll visit a website that gives it to me or the political debate subforum. I come here for some relaxation and distance of all life's seriousness to enjoy Magic.
No matter how much I agree with the article, please don't post something like this on the site again.
What a great article! You got me totally convinced. And don't bother with the length, when it comes to Magic related stuff there is not such thing as too much of a good thing
Ok so basically what ArrogantAxotl said but ok. I'll have to create a new account then. Could the article be updated with a link where to go if you do not have a twitch account yet?
I think you just need to adjust the social contract in your playgroup. The main problem for you seems to be seeing the same cards over and over again due to tutors. So then agree with your playgroup that you don’t use cards with that intention, and leave the interpretation to the players. The problem is not people’s decks running consistently (due to fetches or land search and such) but people’s decks consistently having the same cards in play.
I don't know,honestly, i never play 5+'games because they tend to take too long. But i guess you do need more defense if there are more opponents because of the additional damage you need to do in order to win. I was talking 4 man games.
But regardless of the amount of players, this deck is as about offense more than any edh deck i know. Regardless of the amount of players, the more cards you detract from your main strategy (max damage output) the weaker the deck becomes.
Hot-headed
Trait
Creatures you control have haste.
Creatures attacking you gain provoke until end of turn.
Mana prodigy
Trait
You may play spells and abilities spending mana as though it was mana of any color.
Lands you control enter the battlefield tapped.
Chronomancer
Trait
Rather than cast spells from your hand, you may exile them with X time counters on it by paying the spells mana cost reduced by X. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, cast it without paying it's mana cost.
Spells you cast cost 1 more to cast if it's not your turn.
Legendary creature - Angel
Flying, vigilance, first strike, lifelink.
Eminence - As long as The Ur-Angel is in the command zone or on the battlefield, you may spent mana as if it was mana of any color to play Angel spells.
5/5
So I can finally build a decent 5 color white Angel deck!
Who knows what Ugin’s spirit Magic is capable of?
That's probably why the Gatewatch and friends are the only "faction" with enough power to challenge Bolas (And i fully expect them to get their asses kicked anyway, only for Ugin to show up with Azor at the end to save the day. Probably by Azor retaking control of the Azorius and it's law magic, then using that against Bolas.)
Not going to happen. When we go to a new plane eventually, and then probably not a norse inspired one s that is on top of everybody's want list so,it will be a succes anyway, that is business risk for WotC because players might not like the set. All they have to is print fetches or some other very craved land cycle in it and it will sell like hot cupcakes regardless of the rest of the set. They won't give away such an "insurance policy" in a set that they know will sell well anyway.
Also, more cards that are "overpowered" for normal magic but ok in multiplayer like the Battlebond lands nd Command Tower, but on nonland cards.
As much as I love Magic stories, the hiatus is taking so long now it's becoming increasingly harder to stay excited. I feel more "just get it over with so we know what happens" than actual excitement about an upcoming finale in a story I fondly followed in the last few years. But maybe that's just me...
Most of my other picks have already been mentioned.