Draw land opens up more options, making it more likely something breaks.
I really wish we'd get more "strong" formats though. I really liked Fork Week (spells get copied), f'rex... Fork Land Rule week could be interesting...
NOW SOMEONE PUT UP THE ROUND! Seriously, I know waiting when there's few entries is a thing, but it actually just depresses turnout even further - after the submission date, people just don't enter, and every time it posts late or not at all, people lose a bit more interest. Tiny timely rounds push past bad (uninteresting) formats and keep PHM alive; late rounds have pushed this into a death spiral.
vs. 01 tidalslimshady: Jitte kills elves. 6-0
vs. 03 Violentturkey: OTD, get land locked. Otherwise protect 8.5 / land drop FTW. 4-1
vs. 04 tomslonger: See 03. 4-1
vs. 05 NemataGG: Can't see a way for me to win. 0-6
Most are simple (Mangara/Karakas beats most things, draws the mirror), buuut:
tidal slimshady vs. NemataGG
1) Rhys
2) Eladamri
3) Make a token, swing for 2 (20-18)
4) Make a token, swing for 3 (20-15) / Obzedat swings and drains (13-22)
5) Make a token, swing for 4 (13-18), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (11-25)
6) Make 2 tokens, swing for 4 (11-21), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (9-28)
7) Make 3 tokens, swing for 5 (9-23), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (7-30)
8) Make 5 tokens, swing for 7 (7-23), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (5-30)
9) Make 9 tokens, swing for 11 (5-19), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (3-26)
10) Make 17 tokens, swing for 19 (3-7), chump /Obzedat swings and drain (1-14)
11) Swing FTW
Quite the squeaker - comes down to tokens JUST outracing them. 6-0 to tidalslimshady!
vs. 02 FourLiberties: Whelk the Giant, Emrakul FTW. 6-0
vs. 03 tidalslimshady: OTP, get to 6 mana turn 2, 7 mana turn 3. I then have too many big dudes. 3-3
vs. 04 NemataGG: I can get to Whelk mana fast enough to stop the combo. 6-0 I think.
vs. 05 CalvinSchwa: An impressive array of hatebears that don't beat Chancellors and Emrakul. 6-0
vs. 06 knobbodi: OTP, Whelk protects Azusa into Emrakul (and deals damage so it's a one-hit kill). 3-3
Honestly, I think Beast Within is the actual problem card of that dynamic duo; it's a removal spell that kills *anything* for only 3 mana AND it's a win-condition. It's the fact that you don't need to waste a slot on a win-con in a super-grindy control shell that makes Elixir/Beast such a pain to deal with.
Leyline/Chancellor: You essentially have to run Bridge, Leyline/Karakas, or Tabernacle to beat it. It's super-fast and has multiple attackers, so blockers and point kill spells seldom matter.
Which means any deck that is "keeping L/C honest" can easily be beaten by the rest of the field, because their removal suite is a known variable.
The format is calcifying. There are about four shells that I usually go *every week* "yeah, shoulda played one of those". Bans are needed to keep the format healthy, because new cards seldom shake up our little format.
I kill Dreadnought in your upkeep so the token can't swing that turn, and can then use elixir to get to a safe life total/my own token from beasting a land.
vs. 01 CalvinSchwa: 2x Denial stops combo. 6-0
vs. 02 Convoy_Avenger: Denial counters Dreadnought. 6-0
vs. 03 Furlong: I think Beast/Elixir is enough. 6-0
vs. 04 HerziQuerzi: I have counters. 6-0
vs. 05 LeafGold: Hah! So fast! 0-6
vs. 06 NemataGG: Arcane Denial solves all. 6-0
vs. 07 tomsloger:
vs. 08 Tarox Bladewing: Counter Mask/Guise, lifegain FTW. 6-0
5| 6 0 6 0 X | 300
1 = doesn't stop the Emmy
2 = Blasts LED, nulls Nev
3 = doesn't stop the Emmy
4 = needles isle, revokes disk
I really wish we'd get more "strong" formats though. I really liked Fork Week (spells get copied), f'rex... Fork Land Rule week could be interesting...
NOW SOMEONE PUT UP THE ROUND! Seriously, I know waiting when there's few entries is a thing, but it actually just depresses turnout even further - after the submission date, people just don't enter, and every time it posts late or not at all, people lose a bit more interest. Tiny timely rounds push past bad (uninteresting) formats and keep PHM alive; late rounds have pushed this into a death spiral.
vs. 03 Violentturkey: OTD, get land locked. Otherwise protect 8.5 / land drop FTW. 4-1
vs. 04 tomslonger: See 03. 4-1
vs. 05 NemataGG: Can't see a way for me to win. 0-6
I believe the whole grid is:
X|1 2 3 4 5|
1|X 0 0 0 6| 06
2|6 X 4 4 0| 14
3|6 1 X 2 6| 15
4|6 1 2 X 6| 15
5|0 6 0 0 X| 06
Most are simple (Mangara/Karakas beats most things, draws the mirror), buuut:
tidal slimshady vs. NemataGG
1) Rhys
2) Eladamri
3) Make a token, swing for 2 (20-18)
4) Make a token, swing for 3 (20-15) / Obzedat swings and drains (13-22)
5) Make a token, swing for 4 (13-18), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (11-25)
6) Make 2 tokens, swing for 4 (11-21), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (9-28)
7) Make 3 tokens, swing for 5 (9-23), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (7-30)
8) Make 5 tokens, swing for 7 (7-23), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (5-30)
9) Make 9 tokens, swing for 11 (5-19), chump /Obzedat swings and drains (3-26)
10) Make 17 tokens, swing for 19 (3-7), chump /Obzedat swings and drain (1-14)
11) Swing FTW
Quite the squeaker - comes down to tokens JUST outracing them. 6-0 to tidalslimshady!
vs. 03 tidalslimshady: OTP, get to 6 mana turn 2, 7 mana turn 3. I then have too many big dudes. 3-3
vs. 04 NemataGG: I can get to Whelk mana fast enough to stop the combo. 6-0 I think.
vs. 05 CalvinSchwa: An impressive array of hatebears that don't beat Chancellors and Emrakul. 6-0
vs. 06 knobbodi: OTP, Whelk protects Azusa into Emrakul (and deals damage so it's a one-hit kill). 3-3
Leyline/Chancellor: You essentially have to run Bridge, Leyline/Karakas, or Tabernacle to beat it. It's super-fast and has multiple attackers, so blockers and point kill spells seldom matter.
Which means any deck that is "keeping L/C honest" can easily be beaten by the rest of the field, because their removal suite is a known variable.
The format is calcifying. There are about four shells that I usually go *every week* "yeah, shoulda played one of those". Bans are needed to keep the format healthy, because new cards seldom shake up our little format.
vs. 01 CalvinSchwa: Yeah, lose to L/L: 0-6
vs. 02 Convoy_Avenger: Turn 3 Marit Lage. 6-0
vs. 03 HerziQuerzi: Turn 3 Marit Lage. 6-0
vs. 04 LeafGold: Turn 3 Marit Lage. 6-0
vs. 05 sockfresh: He's fastah, yeah. 0-6
vs. 06 tomsloger: Turn 3 Marit Lage. 6-0
LG1: Dreadnought
T1: Student
LG2: Swing for 12 trample, Island
T2: Does it matter?
LG3: Swing for 12 trample
...even going Elixir, gain 5, he still dies to the third swing before hitting 4 mana.
(OTOH, I too can get to 4 mana OTP, so we should both 3-3 this matchup)
vs. 02 Convoy_Avenger: Denial counters Dreadnought. 6-0
vs. 03 Furlong: I think Beast/Elixir is enough. 6-0
vs. 04 HerziQuerzi: I have counters. 6-0
vs. 05 LeafGold: Hah! So fast! 0-6
vs. 06 NemataGG: Arcane Denial solves all. 6-0
vs. 07 tomsloger:
vs. 08 Tarox Bladewing: Counter Mask/Guise, lifegain FTW. 6-0