The Old Chandra's are actually playable in decks. Tibalt is not.
Old Nissa is absolutely horrible. Nissa Revane starts at ONLY 2 loyalty, one of her abilities literally requires you to play another creature in the deck (who is horrible), and the ult is the definition of over extending. In my eyes Tibalt is better I'm sorry.
Nissa brings a better than a bear blocker onto the field in a tribe that wants more creatures than anything. After that it gains life. I actually see Nissa played in EDH.
You know what card not even EDH players will play? Tibalt. Because he isnt worth the 2 mana nir the card slot you wasted putting him in your deck.
1st Ability is card disadvantage.
2nd Ability requires you to be facing a deck that goes for card advantage, which is reaaally not good if to get to it you have to create card disadvantage for yourself.
3rd Ability is Insurrection. Its ok. Takes 4 turns of card disadvantage to get to it.
i broke my lurking status just to say how much i love this storyline. brilliant.
So I checked. Not only have you been on this website longer than most people (6 more months until you hit a decade), but you have less posts and post like once every 3 months.
Lurker title confirmed. We thank you you spent it on us!
Most of us find this to be the most fun deck ever as well as the most skill intensive. A lot of opponents also find it fun trying to prevent the locks, thats what magic is about, dueling until one of the wizards overcomes the other. Problem is most decks out there are not prepared to deal with the way this deck operates, but that is not this deck's fault, other decks should adapt. Boredom only comes after a game is locked and the opponent fails to concede for whatever reason. Of course it is not fun for the opponent (for us it is) to draw dead cards turn after turn, thats what conceding is for, to end the boredom part of it. If you play against this deck and suddenly find yourself bored, chances are you are already locked, be a good sport and just concede into the next game.
To add to this, you are welcome to keep playing. Maybe you see something that we don't, and you can still break the lock. Maybe the pilot of the deck messes up giving you the win. In BJJ, if I'm put into a Guillotine or Bow and arrow choke, I still have the choice not to tap. I can, and have fought through those to win the match...but usually I just tap and go onto round two.
We aren't saying you should concede, just that you are welcome to.
A lot of people said the same of BJJ when it was being brought up into MMA, that it was boring and cheapend the sport. Now it's the foundation of the ground game for the sport, and the best women's fighter (arguably) is known for her seamless techniques in BJJ.
I haven't tried the card in this deck to be fair, but Bottled Cloister is all kinds of bad. It exiles you hand if they blow it up, it costs 4 mana, it stops your ability to kill things on your opponent's turn, you will still draw 7 cards if they use day's undoing, only now instead of 7 cards to drop you have your old hand as well.
If I wanted to run a 4 cc card in this deck, its gotta be the value train of Trading Post or the win condition of Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Anytime I see myself wanting to try a card near the upper parts of the curve, ask if it wins the game on your next upkeep. Tezzeret does, or very nearly puts you out of burn range. Why not more Tezz?
By the way, to counter Day's Undoing, just run more discard and 1 cc cards and then play them all. It is better than the trap of bottled cloister. I tried to break that card like 5 years ago, and never could figure out a way.
Ghirapur Æther Grid can also ping off noble hierarchs or other 0 power creatures capable of going under a bridge... And it takes care of planeswalkers.
So not only that, it allows us to control the game with non artifacts. Aka Stony Silence does nothing. Kataki, ware's Wage becomes laughable.
I can have 4 artifacts on the table turn 2-3...that's a shock. That kills Eidolan of Burn your face off. It means we can go straight Burn control of "well I don't need to mill you, so I'll just ping you." This has the possibility of speeding up our clock.
I already get free wins from damage. This facilitates that so much more.
In the negative, affinity could get brutal. This allows them to not have to attack to kill.
I'm not sure how criteria is analyzed to promote decks in the forum, its based on tournament reports, but I'm not sure where they draw the line. I know decks are evaluated on the first monday of every month and since monday went by and we're still here, I guess its not enough yet. That or someone forgot to evaluate it, lol. Doesn't really help much that some moderators hate the deck. Looking at you Lantern! Irony? lol, there were some talks about the deck in the ban discussion thread, pages 366 & 367. Some people were saying it should be banned because its no fun and others responded that they should just concede when they get locked. Another point they brough is that it feels like eggs, to what others again replied that eggs was banned because after time was over it extended the extra 5 turns up to 10 minutes a turn, something this deck does not do. After time this deck takes its 5 extra turns quickly and its over, no overextending for up to 50 minutes like eggs. Then they carried on with ban talks of other decks.
If they actually banned Lantern I think I would literally quit playing Magic.
Heh I faced Lantern on Cockatrice. He really did quit right away, but he was very nice and cordial about everything other than his utter spite for the deck itself. I think I ended up loading another deck and playing it vs him.
Also, I want Lantern of Insight to get recognized until it is banned. I'd be happy either way if any part of the core deck got banned. Heck I'm happy Lantern of Insight, the 10 cents uncommon, is now worth about $5 middling on TCG Player. Look at Telepathy...now picture that as a $5 card. That is what happened.
This deck still has so much potential, but much like how it plays, just takes time getting there. And if it does't? Man it made some reallly crappy cards worth money.
Btw I've played against the mirror a couple times.
For one thing, it is the only matchup I side out Bridge for. After that, depending on how I feel they will go, I side out my Lanterns until I have all the sideboard cards I want.
1: Surgical Extraction, Extirpate, Slaughter Games, and to a smaller degree Hide//Seek. These are the most important bullets. I run 3, and all have different names. Prime targets are their lock pieces and Academy Ruins. To a lesser degree kill Ancient Stirrings as well. Ancient Stirrings is more dangerous than many other cards as innocuous as it sounds. Get to 5 mana as fast as you can so that you can spend your codex Shredders to exile more. These cards are also why my sideboard is how it is. I was hit with one once, and never again do I like losing every piece of hate I had sided in. There are enough cards that do the same thing to not be blown out by anti hate.
2: Run every planeswalker you have. Generally I win with Tezzeret. Yesterday I won with Ashiok, as I've started to run a 1 of of him/her.
3: Side in your lifegain. If you face me online I'm going straight burn.
4: And of course, try to keep 1 more working mill rock than them. We do run Ancient Stirrings though, and that is the crux of what makes our deck so hard to deal with in the mirror. Ancient Stirrings jumps over our ability to control their draw.
It was awhile ago, but my feeling on Pyxis is very vocally against them. They are a trap. They are not good for the deck.
My deck likes using it's graveyard, and I do not like exiling things face down so that I lose information one what my oppone tmight have and what I might have left. You won't always have Lantern, and you should be getting by with out it without worrying that you accidently exiled a Lantern. Maybe I exile a SB card that would have won me the game. Maybe I exile ensnaring bridfge and I now cant use Academy ruins to bring it back. That happened, and ever since I refuse to even touch the card. If you wangt to grave hate flashback spells, use extirpate or Surgical Extraction or Crypt. It is a waste of a slot that deals with too niche a happenstance. Pyxis deals with grave decks, but needlessly hurts us, when there are better cards we can run to deal with grave decks.
If you want Ghoulcaller Bell #5...that is when you put it into your deck. Never before.
Faeries plays flash creatures and can stop bridge through couterspells. Sure we can discard but they can counter those, then attack. They bounce things which also kills bridge with their small creatures if you get bridge out.
It's a tough matchup with little to no real sideboardcards, because no creatures can be put on the field on their side or you start to have a clock. And their deck is creatures.
Having played a game where my bridge was surgical extractiond I can tell you that is probably the worst you can do. Losing bridge really hurts because we took out terminus a long time ago. Second to worst is an artifact boardwipe.
3rd worst...Faeries. Such a low chance of running into them, but its a hard match up. If people start playing Faeries because of this deck though I'm gonna be ecstatic.
I love playing against Rock decks. Abzan might look like it has all the answers, but they really don't.
To be fair, Karn and O stone really hurt. But that argument is akin to saying you shouldn't go Tron because it has no answers to Splinter Twin.
Tron imo is the hardest matchup for me. I don't play as many pithing needles as others though.
As for artifact hate, its comments like "You draw..." that makes me know they haven't been locked by this deck yet. You don't simply "draw" artifact hate. You have to start with it in your top 9 cards, and not have it discarded.
Nissa brings a better than a bear blocker onto the field in a tribe that wants more creatures than anything. After that it gains life. I actually see Nissa played in EDH.
You know what card not even EDH players will play? Tibalt. Because he isnt worth the 2 mana nir the card slot you wasted putting him in your deck.
1st Ability is card disadvantage.
2nd Ability requires you to be facing a deck that goes for card advantage, which is reaaally not good if to get to it you have to create card disadvantage for yourself.
3rd Ability is Insurrection. Its ok. Takes 4 turns of card disadvantage to get to it.
The Old Chandra's are actually playable in decks. Tibalt is not.
So I checked. Not only have you been on this website longer than most people (6 more months until you hit a decade), but you have less posts and post like once every 3 months.
Lurker title confirmed. We thank you you spent it on us!
To add to this, you are welcome to keep playing. Maybe you see something that we don't, and you can still break the lock. Maybe the pilot of the deck messes up giving you the win. In BJJ, if I'm put into a Guillotine or Bow and arrow choke, I still have the choice not to tap. I can, and have fought through those to win the match...but usually I just tap and go onto round two.
We aren't saying you should concede, just that you are welcome to.
A lot of people said the same of BJJ when it was being brought up into MMA, that it was boring and cheapend the sport. Now it's the foundation of the ground game for the sport, and the best women's fighter (arguably) is known for her seamless techniques in BJJ.
If I wanted to run a 4 cc card in this deck, its gotta be the value train of Trading Post or the win condition of Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas. Anytime I see myself wanting to try a card near the upper parts of the curve, ask if it wins the game on your next upkeep. Tezzeret does, or very nearly puts you out of burn range. Why not more Tezz?
By the way, to counter Day's Undoing, just run more discard and 1 cc cards and then play them all. It is better than the trap of bottled cloister. I tried to break that card like 5 years ago, and never could figure out a way.
So not only that, it allows us to control the game with non artifacts. Aka Stony Silence does nothing. Kataki, ware's Wage becomes laughable.
I can have 4 artifacts on the table turn 2-3...that's a shock. That kills Eidolan of Burn your face off. It means we can go straight Burn control of "well I don't need to mill you, so I'll just ping you." This has the possibility of speeding up our clock.
I already get free wins from damage. This facilitates that so much more.
In the negative, affinity could get brutal. This allows them to not have to attack to kill.
Heh I faced Lantern on Cockatrice. He really did quit right away, but he was very nice and cordial about everything other than his utter spite for the deck itself. I think I ended up loading another deck and playing it vs him.
Also, I want Lantern of Insight to get recognized until it is banned. I'd be happy either way if any part of the core deck got banned. Heck I'm happy Lantern of Insight, the 10 cents uncommon, is now worth about $5 middling on TCG Player. Look at Telepathy...now picture that as a $5 card. That is what happened.
This deck still has so much potential, but much like how it plays, just takes time getting there. And if it does't? Man it made some reallly crappy cards worth money.
For one thing, it is the only matchup I side out Bridge for. After that, depending on how I feel they will go, I side out my Lanterns until I have all the sideboard cards I want.
1: Surgical Extraction, Extirpate, Slaughter Games, and to a smaller degree Hide//Seek. These are the most important bullets. I run 3, and all have different names. Prime targets are their lock pieces and Academy Ruins. To a lesser degree kill Ancient Stirrings as well. Ancient Stirrings is more dangerous than many other cards as innocuous as it sounds. Get to 5 mana as fast as you can so that you can spend your codex Shredders to exile more. These cards are also why my sideboard is how it is. I was hit with one once, and never again do I like losing every piece of hate I had sided in. There are enough cards that do the same thing to not be blown out by anti hate.
2: Run every planeswalker you have. Generally I win with Tezzeret. Yesterday I won with Ashiok, as I've started to run a 1 of of him/her.
3: Side in your lifegain. If you face me online I'm going straight burn.
4: And of course, try to keep 1 more working mill rock than them. We do run Ancient Stirrings though, and that is the crux of what makes our deck so hard to deal with in the mirror. Ancient Stirrings jumps over our ability to control their draw.
My deck likes using it's graveyard, and I do not like exiling things face down so that I lose information one what my oppone tmight have and what I might have left. You won't always have Lantern, and you should be getting by with out it without worrying that you accidently exiled a Lantern. Maybe I exile a SB card that would have won me the game. Maybe I exile ensnaring bridfge and I now cant use Academy ruins to bring it back. That happened, and ever since I refuse to even touch the card. If you wangt to grave hate flashback spells, use extirpate or Surgical Extraction or Crypt. It is a waste of a slot that deals with too niche a happenstance. Pyxis deals with grave decks, but needlessly hurts us, when there are better cards we can run to deal with grave decks.
If you want Ghoulcaller Bell #5...that is when you put it into your deck. Never before.
It's a tough matchup with little to no real sideboardcards, because no creatures can be put on the field on their side or you start to have a clock. And their deck is creatures.
3rd worst...Faeries. Such a low chance of running into them, but its a hard match up. If people start playing Faeries because of this deck though I'm gonna be ecstatic.
I love playing against Rock decks. Abzan might look like it has all the answers, but they really don't.
Tron imo is the hardest matchup for me. I don't play as many pithing needles as others though.
As for artifact hate, its comments like "You draw..." that makes me know they haven't been locked by this deck yet. You don't simply "draw" artifact hate. You have to start with it in your top 9 cards, and not have it discarded.
I'd honestly just call it Fateseal and go with that. It's what I started to put on all of my decklists when I sign up.