Anyway MtG realizes a lot of its players are dads and moms I guess. Hundred year old Lilys and Bolases with no kids? I mean come on.
Lili, as healer-turned-necromancer, definitely knows how to deal with unwanted pregnancies. And knowing her self-interest, all pregnancies would be unwanted.
Couldn't she just raise the aborted kid? I mean, if we get cozy happy minotaur family we should also get an Adams family...
I'm personally coming around on this a little bit. I used to feel that infinite combo's had no place in a fun EDH game period.
But lately I feel that it's ok to add one or two as a nuclear option to break through stalemates. Just something that you assemble eventually if the game goes long enough, which is often too long for some players involved and I feel it's ok at that point because people having fun is the most important.
I still feel decks that actively tutor for a combo as their primary way to win (Kill me before turn 6 or you can try again next game) are unfun, period.
That's not Wizards being sexist, it's the problem with emancipation in socierty today. It went from "equal opportunities and/or free choice for [insert group of choice here]" which is fine, to "equal statistical outcomes between [insert group here] and [insert group with largest common denominator here] when it comes to [put subject of choice here]. And the latter is just straight out bullpoo. As if there are no differences between people that lead to different outcomes in different situations.
I've been trying to piece together someting over the last couple of days, and everything seems to feel like "RandomPileOfWizards.dec". It seems to lack any sort of focus or direction of what it wants to be doing. It's not really a control deck, it's not really an attacking deck, and it lacks a clear win condition, outside of stuff like Bribery, Blatant Thievery, Rite of Replication, or Expropriate. It seems many brewers are abandoning Inalla in favor of a super spells deck running Kess. I was lucky enough to grab a bunch of nice Wizard cards pre-spike, before spoilers were announced (like Patron Wizard, Voidmage Prodigy, Ertai, Wizard Adept, Sower of Temptation, Sigil Tracer, Laboratory Maniac, Sage of Fables, and Stonybrook Banneret), in addition to some staples I already had (Teferri, Venser, Glen Elendra). I really want to play with them, but I have a hard time figuring out what the deck actually wants to DO.
I don't want to be the overly obnoxious one at the table, so I don't want the Wanderwine Prophets combo and I don't really want to take a million turns. With that in mind, I struggle to understand how the deck actually wins, because all the pieces feel so disjointed and haphazard. Pretty much all of my other decks have a clear path and game plan. Is anyone else running into a similar issue?
Allow me to inntroduce Inalla, Archmae Recursionist: tapdance control. It runs the Wanderwine combo as the only infinite combo but you could easily replace them with something else. In this deck, if I would cut the Prophets, I'd run Viscera Seer in their stead.
I guess Teferi, Temporal Archmage mono blue Jace tribal and Djeru, with Eyes Open mono white Gideon tribal can become real decks now. Other than that, I don't see that much changing because of this.
Settle the Wreckage2WW
Instant
Exile all attacking creatures target player controls. That player may search his or her library for that many basic land cards and put those on the battlefield tapped, then shuffle his or her library.
This can't possibly be happening right? MASS Path to Exile? Isn't this hideously OP? I mean, if it's real it's going straight into my O-Kagachi vengeance deck but man... Angel of the Dire Hour is usually already a blowout, yes I'll have one at over 40% discount...
This is actually very common and probably the right thing to do from your opponent's perspective. Ascetiscism is a scary card for an opponent to have because it removes all interaction. Even if you don't have anything threatening on the board at that point, your opponents will want to have the option open to interact with it once you do.
What can you say, you run it for a reason and you opponents want it gone for the same reason.
I love the Magic lore so far and love reading the Magic stories. I also love to come here to this forum to read more about these stories as there are a lot of people on this forum who know way more about the lore then I do and I learn from it.
However, lately the storyline threads [Set name] General Discussion is more and more about how people dislike the story, PW's are mary sues, WotC can't write properly, meta analysis of the quality of writing etc which is, quite frankly, kind of off putting. I had hoped this would end when the HOU story ended, but already the Ixalan discussion thread is 20% about the actual story and 80% continuation of the same old negativity, while the first story isn't even out yet!
So I ask / propose that the mods create (a) separate thread or threads for analysis and opinions of WotC writing/storytelling skills and declare that stuff off-topic for the storyline threads so these can actually focus on the actual story at hand. It would at least greatly increase my enjoyment of reading those threads when the negativity is avoidable.
Inspired by Cyberium_Neo's thread to combine O-Kagachi with monarchy and my own fun to play but lacking a punch Queen Marchesa judo deck I decided to upgrade the latter with the idea of the former. The idea of the deck is that it on one hand does everything it can to encourage opponents to attack each other while quickly disciplining anyone who tries to attack you or do anything harmful to you. For those familiar with my Queen Marchesa deck, the major difference between the Queen's list and this list is that this list is more proactive: while the Queen tries to work from the shadows, O-Kagachi is screaming "Come at me if you dare".
I categorized the cards as follows:
Retribution: These are the cards that punish opponents for attacking us or destroying our stuff.
Gaming: These are cards that actually make the opponents want to try and attack each other. This also includes the cards that make the Monarch enter play, as this deck wants to see people attacking for monarchy. Since there's no such thing as multiple Monarchs, there are only three cards that enable it: The Queen, her decree and the Throne of the High City.
Lifting: These are cards that allow us to "lift" on opponent's actions in the sense that they give us an advantage to keep up with what our opponents are doing. My Queen list has issues in that regard so I added some fixing in here.
Other: The other categories are pretty self-explanatory
Early game strategy: Just play some ramp and develop mana, making sure you can produce WUBRG and trying to drop and stick one or two gaming cards and/or make the monarchy enter the table. Mid game strategy: Develop a board state that punishes opponents as much as possible whenever they try to do something to you and actively encourage opponents attacking each other until only you have only one opponent left. Late game: At this point the heat is going to find you no matter what, as there are no other opponents. However, due to the nature of the deck, you can turn a lot of your opponent's strenght against him with the retribution cards. A well timed Aetherize or Comeuppance can easily clear the board for victory.
Special attention goes to Alchemist's Refuge and Winding Canyons. These allow you to maintain a surprise factor you need to set up traps. Imagine an opponent making a big strike against, dealing over 20+ combat damage. Instantly flash in Retaliator Griffin, which becomes over 20/20, then next turn smack that opponent with the Griffin who just happened to gain lifelink of of your Vault of the Archangel...
As some of you might have noticed directly, 23+16+6+9+5+14+37=110 which means I need to cut 10 cards. After wracking my brain on this for the last hour I am turning to you guys for suggestions. I could lose the lift package as this deck draws enough cards I think, but it is also the major source of life gain to offset the damage we do take and the life loss from the shocklands. Also, this deck has little in the form of recursion and thus resiliency, I am looking for tips in that regard as well, which could lead to having to make even more cuts.
Besides the above, I'm looking for all the feedback I can get, so what do you guys think?
1
2
But lately I feel that it's ok to add one or two as a nuclear option to break through stalemates. Just something that you assemble eventually if the game goes long enough, which is often too long for some players involved and I feel it's ok at that point because people having fun is the most important.
I still feel decks that actively tutor for a combo as their primary way to win (Kill me before turn 6 or you can try again next game) are unfun, period.
2
1
Allow me to inntroduce Inalla, Archmae Recursionist: tapdance control. It runs the Wanderwine combo as the only infinite combo but you could easily replace them with something else. In this deck, if I would cut the Prophets, I'd run Viscera Seer in their stead.
2
1
Settle the Wreckage 2WW
Instant
Exile all attacking creatures target player controls. That player may search his or her library for that many basic land cards and put those on the battlefield tapped, then shuffle his or her library.
This can't possibly be happening right? MASS Path to Exile? Isn't this hideously OP? I mean, if it's real it's going straight into my O-Kagachi vengeance deck but man... Angel of the Dire Hour is usually already a blowout, yes I'll have one at over 40% discount...
1
1
What can you say, you run it for a reason and you opponents want it gone for the same reason.
1
However, lately the storyline threads [Set name] General Discussion is more and more about how people dislike the story, PW's are mary sues, WotC can't write properly, meta analysis of the quality of writing etc which is, quite frankly, kind of off putting. I had hoped this would end when the HOU story ended, but already the Ixalan discussion thread is 20% about the actual story and 80% continuation of the same old negativity, while the first story isn't even out yet!
So I ask / propose that the mods create (a) separate thread or threads for analysis and opinions of WotC writing/storytelling skills and declare that stuff off-topic for the storyline threads so these can actually focus on the actual story at hand. It would at least greatly increase my enjoyment of reading those threads when the negativity is avoidable.
1
Inspired by Cyberium_Neo's thread to combine O-Kagachi with monarchy and my own fun to play but lacking a punch Queen Marchesa judo deck I decided to upgrade the latter with the idea of the former. The idea of the deck is that it on one hand does everything it can to encourage opponents to attack each other while quickly disciplining anyone who tries to attack you or do anything harmful to you. For those familiar with my Queen Marchesa deck, the major difference between the Queen's list and this list is that this list is more proactive: while the Queen tries to work from the shadows, O-Kagachi is screaming "Come at me if you dare".
I categorized the cards as follows:
1 O-Kagachi, Vengful KamI
1 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
1 No Mercy
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Karmic Justice
1 Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker
1 Sunblast Angel
1 Angel of the Dire Hour
1 Stuffy Doll
1 Flameblade Angel
1 Retaliator Griffin
1 Vela the Night-Clad
1 Comeuppance
1 Selfless Squire
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Insurrection
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Aetherspouts
1 Aetherize
1 Sudden Spoiling
1 Ob Nixilis, Unshackled
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Darien, King of Kjeldor
Gaming (16):
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Crown of Doom
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Fumiko the Lowblood
1 Gahiji, Honored One
1 Illusionist's Gambit
1 Master Warcraft
1 Rite of the Raging Storm
1 Brutal Hordechief
1 Basandra, Battle Seraph
1 Orzhov Advokist
1 Norn's Annex
1 Palliation Accord
1 Assault Suit
1 Marchesa's Decree
1 Queen Marchesa
1 Mind's Dilation
1 Lurking Predators
1 Faerie Artisans
1 Exquisite Blood
1 Grim Feast
1 Reins of Power
Ramp (9):
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Nature's Lore
1 Farseek
1 Tempt with Discovery
1 Hour of Promise
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Coalition Relic
1 As Foretold
1 Sol Ring
Removal (5):
1 Anguished Unmaking
1 Utter End
1 Sylvan Reclamation
1 Legacy Weapon
Draw/Fix (14):
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Combustible Gearhulk
1 Rhystic Study
1 Consecrated Sphinx
1 Farsight Mask
1 Mind's Eye
1 Sire of Stagnation
1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1 Time Spiral
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
Land (37):
1 Cascading Cataracts
1 Command Tower
1 Mana confluence
1 Exotic orchard
1 Reflecting Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Crystal Quarry
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Flamekin Village
1 Throne of the High City
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Winding Canyons
1 Alchemist's Refuge
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Godless Shrine
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
1 Blood Crypt
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Grounds
1 Mystic Gate
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Graven Cairns
1 Fire-lit Thicket
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Fetid Heath
1 Cascade Bluffs
1 Twilight Mire
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Flooded Grove
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
Early game strategy: Just play some ramp and develop mana, making sure you can produce WUBRG and trying to drop and stick one or two gaming cards and/or make the monarchy enter the table.
Mid game strategy: Develop a board state that punishes opponents as much as possible whenever they try to do something to you and actively encourage opponents attacking each other until only you have only one opponent left.
Late game: At this point the heat is going to find you no matter what, as there are no other opponents. However, due to the nature of the deck, you can turn a lot of your opponent's strenght against him with the retribution cards. A well timed Aetherize or Comeuppance can easily clear the board for victory.
Special attention goes to Alchemist's Refuge and Winding Canyons. These allow you to maintain a surprise factor you need to set up traps. Imagine an opponent making a big strike against, dealing over 20+ combat damage. Instantly flash in Retaliator Griffin, which becomes over 20/20, then next turn smack that opponent with the Griffin who just happened to gain lifelink of of your Vault of the Archangel...
As some of you might have noticed directly, 23+16+6+9+5+14+37=110 which means I need to cut 10 cards. After wracking my brain on this for the last hour I am turning to you guys for suggestions. I could lose the lift package as this deck draws enough cards I think, but it is also the major source of life gain to offset the damage we do take and the life loss from the shocklands. Also, this deck has little in the form of recursion and thus resiliency, I am looking for tips in that regard as well, which could lead to having to make even more cuts.
Besides the above, I'm looking for all the feedback I can get, so what do you guys think?
Changelog:
03-08-2017 post #5: +1 Insurrection, -1 Repay in Kind