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  • posted a message on [[Duel Commander]] Tymaret, the Murder King: An Approach
    When I have the means, they are both ludicrous spells.

    Update: I lowered the curve and added in more 1 drops, and they are so efficient with the recursion I have going on. The clock is faster and it's just overall swarmier. When other decks are finding their footing they are in prime range for being able to swing with your dudes and then sacrificing them for the win. It really punishes the enemy for not being able to keep up, and in my isolated metagame it has gone undefeated for a few weeks.

    I've yet to get my hands upon a gravecrawler or a buried alive, but those are my first two targets.

    I think Tymaret has a few aspects that Lyzolda does not, which are higher resiliency and more reliable damage to the face. I understand that CA is the nuts, but with the synergy between things like Blood Artist and Gravecrawler you just grind them out. It has held true for me in most dire situations, and these are results without Gravecrawler! Also, because not all of your creatures are both red and black, especially the recurrable ones, you will not be able to deal consistent sac outlet damage with Lyzolda where with Tymaret you will. And yes, he is a fine support role for Lyzolda, and Lyzolda is mega powerful. However, don't knock Tymaret, and understand his role is different from Lyzolda and other contemporaries.
    Posted in: 1 vs 1 Commander
  • posted a message on [[Duel Commander]] Tymaret, the Murder King: An Approach
    Thanks for the feedback!

    In response to Omega Furnace:
    Quest for Pure Flame is a sleeper: It easily gets stacked, and when it's online it allows for immense destruction, either being an instant speed pseudo-wrath, or just combo'ing out for damage. It lets me swing with little dudes for amilli damage, and then sac them for even moar. I will monitor it, but it's proven itself either to be silly good or in some cases just win-more.

    Death Cloud seems really cool, if I get one I will test it a bit, I'm usually finding myself lategame with about 6 average lands in play. It's a good card and I will have to consider it.

    In response to 3drinks:
    All those draw spells are great, the permanent based ones I thought alot about, I will definitely include them when I can grab them. I actually play the toil/trouble for the latter half, I play alot of necropotence decks and it's just bonkers. Necropotence itself doesn't sound too bad either....
    I like sulfuric vortex as well, super grindy. Olivia looks really good alongside Tymmy and Grave pact for literal surgical boardwipe potential.

    Thank you again.

    In response to SamuraiMinky:

    Buried alive is so goooooooood. Gravecrawler, anger, bloodghast. I was thinking about nether traitor as a supplement to Gravecrawler and Bloodghast, but not at the same time, like if the other two got exiled, because with Gravecrawler and Tymaret out traitor almost seems superfluous. Definitely gotta get a buried alive though.

    Questions: Any thoughts regarding the creature mana curve as I was talking about before? For the time being I am going to cut the 1 drops for 2 drops and see what happens. Also I'm looking at Ashen Ghoul, because the ability works at instant speed, if I have two recurrable creatures and then a token hitting the graveyard can I bring it out then? I am assuming that the token just gets outright exiled, but have heard it either way. Sillyabusablethings...

    I also want to find new ways to creatively implement Tymaret's second ability. I saw in one subforum someone said Tortured Existence is where it's at, and it looks good for chaining Avalance Riders and the like together. Undertaker also kinda works. Grimoire of the Dead seems okay, but kinda slow. I also like Skullclamp in the offseason
    Posted in: 1 vs 1 Commander
  • posted a message on [[Duel Commander]] Tymaret, the Murder King: An Approach
    Intro:
    As soon as I saw Tymaret released I saw a general that posed as a puzzle and a challenge. Learning who he is and how he works has been a process thus far, and this is what I have found to work.

    Initially looking at him he reminded me immediately of the BR zombie archetypes of late standard and legacy builds with goblin bombardment. The recursion factor is something I saw as abusable, even though I've not figured that out completely yet.

    Other themes I saw for him were stax and pox control, and BR tempo.

    At a flavor level, I feel like the deck functions like a Greco-Roman wrestler, pinning the opponent to the ground and not letting them get back up.

    I play this currently in a newly growing commander group and I also use it in multiplayer to some success!

    Some holes I am noticing and trying to fill are the fact that a board wipe shuts everything down, and that there is not too much draw power style CA. I am making both up by using recursion effects a la Phyrexian Reclamation and co. and re-usable spells.

    How I see Tymaret is not only as a reliable sac outlet that is sub-par compared to Lyzolda but moreso as an engine enabler.



    MVP's
    Pox: When I can, I try to use early poxes, because it maximizes the land and hand disruption I use afterwards, and with recursive creatures and spells I can flourish while I ensure that the opponent does not. A good pox means they don't recover while I swing with an undercosted fattie.

    Icefall: This spell was random. I wasn't going to include it in, but my friend was shuffling through my commons and told me to try it out, and it is spectacular. Every time I draw it, it usually ends up killing about 3-4 lands for me. This is much like pox.

    Pyrewild Shaman + Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace or the like: so much uncounterable damage and recursion. Turns tokens into heavy hitters.


    How the deck usually plays out:

    1. Sucker punch. Throw out a few threats while the enemy is just starting to get on their feet. While they are dropping mana rocks and silly enchantments, we play 3/1's with haste and play the general and start swinging.

    2. Cripple them. Ideally this is Pox into land destruction into hand destruction, but without Pox you want to rip the card that will most mess you up in the following 2 turns to ensure you can make the land destruction happen to give you more time to deal steady damage and more freedom to pick their hand apart as you deem fit. If you can cripple them, then your little pesky threats go untouched and you kill them.

    3. Punish counterplay. IF they can boardwipe, they will. At this point in the game, try to use the headway you have to keep tapping sideways and set up a recursion mechanic to prepare for a boardwipe. If you can get Phyrexian Reclamation or something like Death Denied, you'll be in the clear.

    4. Don't let them get back up. If you have a few good threats on the board, don't rush the rest of the threats in your hand, but rather keep destroying their land base or their hand. This is the most efficient way to victory.

    5. Curbstomp it out. Usually by this time you will have sufficient resources to get them to 8 or so life and then sac your dudes to the King for the win.

    Cards I NEED to get:

    Gravecrawler: Nuff said
    Grave pact: stupid control lock
    Diabolic Intent: get pox
    Goblin Assault: tokens are goldens
    Beseech the Queen: Get pox
    Braid of Fire: free mana. lategame this means free Tymaret shock damage
    Markov Blademaster So much damage. Please.

    Foreseeable Problems/Holes/Opportunities for Improvement:
    I think that I could bring my creature curve in 2 different directions; either a swarm of 1 and 2 drops, which will make for more effective lategame and earlygame rushes with recursion cards, or screw the 1 drop idea (save gravecrawler) for more solid meaty 2-3-4 drops who deal more damage and are still very fast, and rely on more reanimation spells like Victimize, Unearth, and Reanimation for cheap beats. I want to streamline it and make it as efficient as possible so that I can use the other spots in the curve for other things and maximize those other functions as well.

    Also the manabase is terrible. I don't want to use any artifacts for mana in this, just because that turn window where the ramp artifacts are played is where we play threats, and the deck curves out completely at 4. As time is bided and the deck strengthens so will the manabase.

    I know that some of the cards here are sup-bar; I play in a sub-par environment, so in my vacuum meta this deck crushes all day long. However, I think the principles here can be applied with much more efficient cards.

    Ambitions/To-Do List:
    Create more engines
    Strengthen the Tymaret + Phyrexian Reclamation + ETB abilities engine
    Increase engine consistency
    Increase Pox consistency
    Increase threat reliability/durability
    Figure out how to deal with dumb enchantments

    Thank you for your time and feedback.
    Posted in: 1 vs 1 Commander
  • posted a message on Graven Dominator
    If I attack with 2 1/1's on my turn, which both get blocked by my opponent's 3/3's, and then during my second main phase drop a Graven Dominator, do my opponent's previous 3/3's die due to been having dealt lethal damage?

    Also, are there any other utilities that a single turn of humility can offer?

    Looking to find the reason and perhaps some mileage out of this guy, thank you very much.
    Posted in: Magic Rulings Archives
  • posted a message on [FAKE] Varolz, the Scar-Striped
    well, you know how nothing on 4chan is a falsehood and everything can be taken as fact...

    that's a pretty beastly general though. hope it gets printed. TROLLLTASTIC. TERATOGENS UNITE!
    Posted in: The Rumor Mill
  • posted a message on Ravnica's Political System
    It looks like everybody here has got your questions covered, but I just wanted to let everyone know how much fun it is to do a role-playing game set in Ravnica.
    It's actually just the best. I ran a one-shot where my party was sent into the Gruul clans by the Dimir to retrieve a scroll that they stole. And another buddy of mine is planning to run something similar using the Mage template for NWOD.


    It really is. I've begun my campaign for pathfinder and there is so, so much to explore, either inter-guild conflicts, the immense breadth of the city and city life itself, and the many weird horrific creatures... There is just so much life and so many possibilities.

    I've found that there are a couple of obstacles to keep these style of campaigns going, mainly rising force that gives the party of assumed different guild members substantial incentive to leave their jobs in their guilds and 'adventure' with people of different guilds of potentially opposing factions for prolonged periods of time, and simulating all of the life and encounters of city life amplified by the entire plane's gurth.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on The Great Exposition. ...of Ravnica...
    Quote from bubonic plague
    Might I recommend starting off with just the 10th district? It is the area we know the most about, and it is large enough for a whole rpg campaign to take place in, with ease. And then you could do the rubble belt as a second location, though there isn't much to say about it. And you could do the undercity as a third location, though again, there isn't much to say. And then after that, if you wanted to keep going, you could do, umm, everything else. Though, one more time, there isn't much to say about it.


    As I am going through the books, these seem to be the main locations described in detail, thank you for your recommendation and wisdom.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on The Great Exposition. ...of Ravnica...
    Thanks friends. Again, there are about four practical steps to this to make it workable;

    1. Read the books and research extra-textual information regarding important places, and figuring out which district each of these places are in

    2. list these places within their respective districts, and place them in relation to eachother

    3. draw perimeters of districts based on the amounts of specific places, and references to relative sizes of each of these districts from textual information

    4. color the damn thing.

    5. rejoice because its finally finished.

    6. ?????????

    7. PROFIT

    knowledge is power. bizzles love power.

    let's get that bizzle some power.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on The Great Exposition. ...of Ravnica...
    I don't stop trying to learn more about the plane of Ravnica. I love the place. Perhaps obsessed. I think it's a great setting to use for table top RPG's and just to explore in general. Awhile ago, I proposed to making a map for this plane, and am still driven to do this. When I proposed this task I did not have the books to try and map it all out, but now I do. I have the original trilogy, and soon will have the secretist books and maybe even agents of artifice, eventually. For now, I am going to read and reread the books a few times over. I don't want to stop at this map which I imagine would be mostly just several locations grouped into the districts that they seem to be inside, much like sudoku puzzle solving. I now am going to take note of every single thing that I can, about the cultures of each people group, cosmetics of everything, names of everything, a Domesday as it were off these books. I know that I'm not the only person who has done things like this, perhaps for other reasons, but when I am at certain points I'm going to share all of my findings.

    Once the face value information has been gleamed at large, I intend to take another step, which is to interpret these details to project other assumed details of this plane, for the end result of a much more complete picture. Nothing out of the box, only using information given from books, cards, articles and art in relation to eachother, and try to put it all together. Then finally make this information available for people who have similar interest in this fantasy world. Of course the interpreted ideas and thoughts that are not from the 'canon' information in the printed materials will be separate and marked as such.

    What does this mean for you? Why tell you about this at all if I don't have my work done? Well, I know that there are people who have information like the information that I'm going to find, and people who have probably started the same work before I have. If we can connect and work it all together, more minds usually mean more success. Of course the only thing to gain from this is better understanding of a place that doesn't exist, possibly for roleplaying, but largely is useless. There's your disclaimer, lol. If this work has been done at a large capacity, then I will simply try and help its thoroughness, as I aspire to know everything that can be known of this city. Big dreams, I know.

    Business: Cartography and Wiki'ing the expositional information about Ravnica in its fullness.

    I don't think this is illegal in any way? If it is I'm not going to proceed. Just my paranoid parret squawking...

    Thanks dudes. GIMME FEEDBACK
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on League of Legends Season II
    Quote from SacredMesa
    For me it depends. If say I'm jungling Shyvana and I find I am having to run all over the bloody map between lanes, dragons, and counter jungling then I get my boot enchants pretty quickly, normally I will have Phage and Wriggles by the time I do it.

    When I play APC though I have yet to actually get to the point that I will buy it. This is normally because I play APs like Ahri and Cass who have strong mobility built into them so I would say in this case they would be the last thing I would buy.

    Generally I think like most items and builds it's gonna depend on your roll, champ, match-up and way the game is going.


    I think that the diversification that Riot was striving for is going to really make an impact- like there isn't just one go-to item for a certain role anymore, and there are several routes to doing something successful. With that in mind, building against your opponent's build will be a little bit more difficult as well seemingly.

    Even though it seems like they put a couple of broken things in the new mix and then nerfed everything else, I feel like the upcoming metagame is going to be really healthy and allow for alot of underused champs to be given merit this run around.

    Another thing that has come to mind: I think that there will be more 'correct' mastery builds- like 9/21/0 arent going to be the only two spread combinations seen, the utility tree actually is substantial.

    Sweetness.

    I'm excited for Amumu.
    Posted in: Entertainment Archive
  • posted a message on League of Legends Season II
    How do the new enhancement on boots come into play for item building? would you buy them to top off your item builds after you've built your items, or would you rush them right away akin to finishing boots in season 2?

    How do the changes presented in the new patch mix up starting item builds out of the gate?
    - Because champions were given 20 speed automatically from the boots, its less of an imperative to get the starting boots out of the gate, allowing for some other combinations
    - Utility tree masteries are now relevant, and should be taken into account, because the muffin and the sight ward can potentially allow for more support oriented builds to save on money that they can easier build into earlier items and keep step with nonsupport champs better
    - Other miscellaneous alterations on how things work affect this too seemingly

    As for now I'm still going to standard boots n pots as in s2 until something is proven better.

    Is this the right mindset and is there anything I'm overlooking?
    Posted in: Entertainment Archive
  • posted a message on League of Legends Season II
    I don't know if preseason minisite discussion is permitted here, as it is technically season 3?
    Posted in: Entertainment Archive
  • posted a message on Ravnican Calender
    Quote from baldersmashed
    If you are talking about the original rav books, I may have some extra copies of some or all of them lying around. You want what I have extra of? Also, just finished book three myaelf. That's the third time I have read them.


    I really appreciate it, but its cool dood. I'm gonna buy like 3 copies of each, used on amazon for the dirt cheapness. One set for leisure and lending, one set for rabid research, and one set for keeping mint for eternity.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • posted a message on Modern Control
    Quote from jokulmorder
    Sorry, but I don't see where in my post you decided that insulting my abilities at mathematics arose.

    If you're naming something very dissimilar from "Wrath of God" or "Grapeshot" with a "named card can't be played" abilities, you're probably making a weak play.


    Sorry i'm not insulting you I was saying that I personally didn't understand, not you, for the sake of humor. I thought everything you said was correct, and flowed with the general statements I was making before. No malice, but appreciation. Sorry for the miscommunication.
    Posted in: Modern
  • posted a message on Modern Control
    Quote from jokulmorder
    complex math I can't personally understand


    This funeral is closed-casket.
    The Age of Homebrewing- 2011-2012

    It was a good run folks.
    Now we cling on the curtails of WotC and pray they release a rebuttle for the fledgling format.
    MaRo save us all.
    Posted in: Modern
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