Why Shocklands Are Worse Than Most People Think
I have always held the belief that shocklands are generally terrible if you're trying to construct the perfect manabase. That isn't to say they're bad cards. Shocklands are obviously very good. They're just also usually outcompeted by other manafixing lands. This is because shocklands require players to take unnecessary damage if they want to create mana without tempo loss, thus leading to overfixing. As an example, compare Godless Shrine to Caves of Koilos.
While I agree with most of this in 60 card formats in commander with 40 life and being generally devoid of traditional aggro I feel you're overvaluing your life total. That said I'm also the guy blowing 8 life a turn on sylvan library or casting necropotence and spending 15 life to sculpt my hand. Reality is probably somewhere in between.
My rough hierarchy (3 color bases)
1 Command Tower
2 Zen/Ons Fetches
3 ABU Duals
4 Shocklands
5 Checklands
6 Painlands
7 Slow Fetches (grasslands, krosan verge)
8 Other Fetchable multilands (BFZ duals, Cycling duals murmuring bosk)
I have a bit of a soft spot for dumb enters play stuff Manlands, Scrylands (when combined with Karoos to rebuy them) but I wouldn't recommend them when helping others with their manabases.
I cant for the life of me understand why people play stuff like evolving wilds, Vivids, transguild prominade. Wizards has been pounding out a solid assortment of "Guildgates" over the last few years if budget is a huge concern.
As for battlebond lands I would probably be happier with them if they gave us the full 10 vs just the allied pairs.
Yeah, conflicted about the rarity. It's not exactly a powerhouse in body or abilities. And its sac ability only hits creatures. In limited, it's a form of removal. And rummaging is worse than looting. So I dunno. Doubt it sees Standard play, but it is a Wizard so I dunno.
As someone who registered orcish librarian in red aggro as a means of card selection I'd say we've come a long way.
Anafenza, the Foremost Enchantress-Control with reanimator and superfriends subthemes (about 12 cards total between the subthemes)
Slimefoot, the Stowaway Fungus-Saproling "tribal" the varied ways that make tokens don't really form a real tribe. Deck is early stages of testing (mtgo under thelon of havenwood.) deck was built on a $50 paper budget.
I'm not even sure why I'm drawn to this color combination in EDH. In "real" formats I avoid green like the plague.
I made a spreadsheet years ago roughly based on this article. It's not the most intuitive thing ever but I've been pretty happy with the results across all formats.
My primary deck is a Golgari dredge-semistax I've been tinkering with for years. Has a few routes to victory but easy mode is recycling living death for to reuse 187 triggers.
I have a 2/3 built Abzan enchantress thing that uses necromancy and friends to recur random large and or useful stuff while triggering enchantresses before casting replenish to trigger constellation stuff to take over the game. (Paper list unfinished MTGO list functioning as expected)
Leaning toward something along the lines of traditional control.... board wipes, counterspells and card draw... just can't resist the urge to go graveyard.
While I agree with most of this in 60 card formats in commander with 40 life and being generally devoid of traditional aggro I feel you're overvaluing your life total. That said I'm also the guy blowing 8 life a turn on sylvan library or casting necropotence and spending 15 life to sculpt my hand. Reality is probably somewhere in between.
My rough hierarchy (3 color bases)
1 Command Tower
2 Zen/Ons Fetches
3 ABU Duals
4 Shocklands
5 Checklands
6 Painlands
7 Slow Fetches (grasslands, krosan verge)
8 Other Fetchable multilands (BFZ duals, Cycling duals murmuring bosk)
I have a bit of a soft spot for dumb enters play stuff Manlands, Scrylands (when combined with Karoos to rebuy them) but I wouldn't recommend them when helping others with their manabases.
I cant for the life of me understand why people play stuff like evolving wilds, Vivids, transguild prominade. Wizards has been pounding out a solid assortment of "Guildgates" over the last few years if budget is a huge concern.
As for battlebond lands I would probably be happier with them if they gave us the full 10 vs just the allied pairs.
As someone who registered orcish librarian in red aggro as a means of card selection I'd say we've come a long way.
Visions of activating Birthing Pod to find Golgari Thug danced in my head... I'm not saying that's the strongest option just the first.
Some obvious staples aren't here due to a self restriction of not overlapping non-land cards.
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
Creatures:18
1 Argothian Enchantress
1 Femeref Enchantress
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Mesa Enchantress
1 Nyx Weaver
1 Satyr Enchanter
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Agent of Erebos
1 Arena Rector
1 Eidolon of Blossoms
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Doomwake Giant
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Sun Titan
1 Thoughtrender Lamia
1 Ashen Rider
Sorceries:8
1 Commune with the Gods
1 Mulch
1 Kruphix's Insight
1 Vindicate
1 Replenish
1 Merciless Eviction
1 Open the Vaults
1 Seasons Past
Instants:3
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Grisly Salvage
1 Sylvan Reclamation
1 Exploration
1 Land Tax
1 Oath of Nissa
1 Soul Snare
1 Vessel of Nascency
1 Animate Dead
1 Dance of the Dead
1 Oath of Ajani
1 Seal of Cleansing
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Sterling Grove
1 Enchantress's Presence
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Grasp of Fate
1 Necromancy
1 Oath of Gideon
1 Oath of Liliana
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Seal of Doom
1 Opalescence
1 Sphere of Safety
1 Starfield of Nyx
1 The Eldest Reborn
1 Overwhelming Splendor
Planeswalkers:8
1 Ajani Steadfast
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Vraska the Unseen
1 Ajani Unyielding
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker
1 Garruk, Apex Predator
1 Bayou
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Brushland
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Command Tower
1 Concealed Courtyard
4 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
1 Grasslands
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Krosan Verge
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Overgrown Tomb
5 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Riftstone Portal
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Serra's Sanctum
1 Sunpetal Grove
4 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Woodland Cemetery
This combo DOESN'T stop! if you don't have a removal spell or a sac outlet for one half of it the game is a Draw.
Savra, Queen of the Golgari Sac-for-profit, Graveyard toolbox with lands subtheme.
Anafenza, the Foremost Enchantress-Control with reanimator and superfriends subthemes (about 12 cards total between the subthemes)
Slimefoot, the Stowaway Fungus-Saproling "tribal" the varied ways that make tokens don't really form a real tribe. Deck is early stages of testing (mtgo under thelon of havenwood.) deck was built on a $50 paper budget.
I'm not even sure why I'm drawn to this color combination in EDH. In "real" formats I avoid green like the plague.
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/890_MmmmmmmmmanaFive_Rules_For_Avoiding_ManaScrew.html
I'll see if i can dig up a dropbox link when I get home tonight.
Sign me up!
My primary deck is a Golgari dredge-semistax I've been tinkering with for years. Has a few routes to victory but easy mode is recycling living death for to reuse 187 triggers.
I have a 2/3 built Abzan enchantress thing that uses necromancy and friends to recur random large and or useful stuff while triggering enchantresses before casting replenish to trigger constellation stuff to take over the game. (Paper list unfinished MTGO list functioning as expected)
Leaning toward something along the lines of traditional control.... board wipes, counterspells and card draw... just can't resist the urge to go graveyard.