This. Exactly.Quote from LouCypher »Cast Worldpurge with enough mana floating, and you just wasted a lot of mana. Upheaval, however...
Anyway, point is, a good chunk of the banlist are indeed cards that LOOK like a lot of fun, the kind of cards EDH is designed for - but really lead to miserable states. Worldfire is sadly one of those. The idea is awesome. The rest? Not so much.
I suggest avoiding the portrayal of upheaval + co as combo pieces. There are a lot of cards out there capable of winning a game with 9+ mana that aren't in need of a ban. I think upheaval and whatnot make the list because they're a little more insidious than that. It doesn't have to be your gameplan to set up a win with upheaval, it just sorta happens, whether you meant it to happen or not. People will play upheaval with the best of intentions because it's awesome and they like awesome cards. But without really trying to, upheaval just wins games, and does so in a way that makes everything leading up to it completely irrelevant.
A bunch of ramping and durdling will go on, someone will start getting too strong, and presto, a reset button will appear. And it's no ordinary reset button, it undoes virtually everything...planeswalkers, land counts, hand size advantages, etc. And by the way, one person gets a massive - possibly game-winning - head-start on the rebuild. It's a very unsatisfying turn of events, especially if you were the guy who spent so much time and energy deftly maneuvering into a strong position. Upheaval says: All that work? Doesn't matter. It was never going to matter. This is an upheaval game. It's not about luck, skill, or politics. It's about being the one who who cast this silly card.
But the point I want to emphasize is that it's not just a matter of being breakable. A large number of cards are breakable, but are fine if used with good intentions. Upheavel isn't like that - it kinda breaks itself. But that isn't going to be obvious until you've played a few rounds with it.
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If you ever need a reference look at Strionic Resonator
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If anything to me EDH is a format that is screaming to built out around the commander in fun weird ways that could lead to combo as much as it could anything else.
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You use SB for early game with him getting as many counters as possible.
Then when you need something crazy you play Varolz, the Scar-Striped (as one of the 99) and then with SB in the grave covered in all his +1/+1 counters you scavenge him onto Varolz and then exile him back to command zone.
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Name, art, colors there is no better choice.
If only he wasn't a terrible card.
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If people have mana they have ways to interact, if you remove that interaction you win the game. Counterspells go for the card MLD goes for the fuel for that card. It is no different both of the options win the game. If I have a Krenko who will be able to make enough goblins a turn from now and win the game then I am going to use the 7 mana to deny everyone else the resources to stop me from doing that. You also don't need fetches or top or library to make better use of MLD, those 3 types of cards tend to make EVERY commander deck better and I would use them if I had them.
MLD is just a more brutal form of control, from two colors who are generally more excessive and blunt than the rest. These spells used correctly end the game just as fast as any other method that ends the game it just does it slightly different.
Colors without countermagic tend to find their own methods to get around it or break right through it.
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It is just really fun to pilot right now.
"Wheel and Deal"
5 Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Creatures
2 Etherium Sculptor
2 Snapcaster Mage
2 Jushi Apprentice
2 Nightscape Familiar
2 Kami of the Crescent Moon
3 Jhoira of the Ghitu
3 Jace's Archivist
4 Venser, Shaper Savant
5 Consuming Aberration
5 Izzet Chronarch
5 Psychosis Crawler
6 Worldgorger Dragon
6 Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar
10 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Artifacts
0 Spellbook
1 Library of Leng
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Sol Ring
2 Mesmeric Orb
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Howling Mine
2 Mindcrank
2 Izzet Signet
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Coalition Relic
3 Temple Bell
3 Crawlspace
4 Geth's Grimoire
5 Gilded Lotus
6 Ward of Bones
1 Bloodchief Ascension
2 Jace's Erasure
2 Animate Dead
2 Liliana's Caress
3 Phyrexian Tyranny
3 Megrim
3 Underworld Dreams
4 Leyline of Anticipation
4 Spiteful Visions
5 Exquisite Blood
6 Hive Mind
6 Forced Fruition
6 Wound Reflection
Planeswalkers
3 Jace Beleren
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Ral Zarek
5 Jace, Memory Adept
Sorcery
1 Preordain
1 Winds of Change
2 Mind Grind
2 Curse of the Swine
3 Molten Psyche
3 Wheel of Fortune
3 Windfall
4 Wheel and Deal
4 Whispering Madness
5 Reforge the Soul
5 Incendiary Command
8 Decree of Pain
8 Beacon of Tomorrows
0 Pact of Negation
2 Vision Skeins
3 Perplex
4 Into the Core
5 Spin into Myth
Land
4 Mountains
5 Swamps
6 Islands
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Izzet Boilerworks
1 Command Tower
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Steam Vents
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Grixis Panorama
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Sulfur Falls
1 Temple of Deceit
1 City of Brass
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Tolaria West
1 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
1 Reliquary Tower
In a deck with such a high possibility of drawing into a wheel off a wheel I said aw what the hell and put in the Dragon + Animate Dead(also very useful when your deck runs on discard and a sub of mill). Also with Leyline on the field the Dragon becomes a weird board state defense.
Jhoria is there because there is some things I want to have come in on my turn with mana open to use them and most of the big dumb enchantments are far enough away that they can be suspended and played with later (or Jin typically)(also makes a great response to weird opponents board wipes)
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What I have noticed in your quest to double and extend the use of things I think Strionic Resonator would do really well in the deck especially because Mana Echoes along with a lot of your ETB token effects and other weird things like Skullclamp
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