I would second mono-blue big sea monsters (octopus, squid, leviathan, kraken, and sea serpent) deck. I've got a UB version of that kind of deck with Wrexial as my commander. It isn't tier 1 by any stretch - too many high cost creatures, but when it ramps decently it can be pretty fun and terrifying to play against. Quicksilver Fountain has a fun 'tidal' feel to it which enables a lot of the islands-matter creatures, and some other 'sea' type cards like Fog Bank, Gomazoa, and Guard Gomazoa fit the theme OK and can help provide lower cost defensive creatures early game until you can start powering out bigger threats.
I've just picked up the JingHe Angel token for my angel collection. It came in the mail today, and there are a few things that I am unsure about on the authenticity of the card.
The text doesn't look blurry to me, the printing pattern (rosette) is present, and the dots in the rosette pattern looks OK to me as well. The big issue I am having is that the bottom of the card has a slightly raised edge which looks to me like it was likely made by the factory die stamp. However, under lighting it almost looks like the surface of the card is some sort of film that is slightly peeling back...the odd part is that it doesn't actually appear to be the case - I can't see any separation on the card edge. I know that description is a bit odd, but it is hard to explain what I am seeing. I've taken some photos and uploaded them to my Dropbox account:
I managed to get a decent shot of the edge of the card which is at the bottom where the issue is.
I don't have any other JingHe tokens to compare with. Does anyone here collect these that could give me some advice on whether or not this is real? I Googled around a bit, but haven't been able to find any evidence of the JingHe tokens being counterfeited anywhere. As far as I can tell, it seems real. The text on the back of the card is just as crisp as the front and the rosette pattern is there as well.
I pulled four during BFZ, but nothing since. I tend to buy a Bundle box of each set and between 3-6 packs every few weeks (on payday). I did get a box of each except Aether Revolt.
Any tutors. They slow down the game and too many players use them to fetch combo pieces, which isn't a big deal I guess but I have seen too many instances where players jam as many of them as possible into their deck to fetch some power combo as early as possible. I find games vs. those kinds of decks usually tend to be pretty predictable and boring. I would love to find a play group that would agree to ban tutors and cards that allowed deck fixing.
I don't have an issue with broken combos, except when they are almost guaranteed to happen via tutoring. Even powerful two card combos wouldn't be bad if they relied on luck of the draw rather than fetching the pieces needed.
*Edit - my rule for Rhystic Study is that it is up to the opponent to pay or not pay (without reminders) and up to the person playing it to pay attention to whether or not the cost was paid. There should be no reason to have to keep saying "Did you pay the 1?" I have always been up front about this and so far haven't heard any complaints about it. I find that people tend remember to pay the cost pretty quickly if they have issues with their opponent repeatedly drawing cards from it after the first few times it happens.
I am still waiting on more EDH support for Kobolds as well as Ninjas - legendary and just better support in general. I would love to build tribal EDH decks for both those.
You technically can build tribal ninjas now, you would just have 4 or 5 actual ninjas across the entire deck, since the two legendary ninjas are both mono-colored. The real problem isn't the commander, it's that there's only 10 ninjas in total.
Yeah, a UB commander would be nice, but more Ninjas in general would be even better for sure.
Don't forget that Atraxa is an angel as well, which means that the small, but fanatical subset of Angel collectors out there have an interest in grabbing at least one copy (sometimes more in the case of hoarders and/or speculators), which likely also affects the deck price and availability. As an angel collector myself, I've also been trying to grab a deck at msrp locally with little luck. I am also in the boat to buy one at a higher price, or just pick up Atraxa if I can't find one soon.
I haven't played any of them since I buy them to dismantle and upgrade my other EDH decks but as a recommendation I have heard from some people that the Breya, Etherium Shaper deck is a good one...maybe someone else who has better insight than I do could recommend one for you though since I am just going by what (a few) have said...in other words, I have no real idea how each deck really plays
Nevinyrral's Disk and Darksteel Forge can be a game winning combo with him as well...bonus points for transforming Arcum himself into an artifact as well.
Fleshbag Marauder is pretty good value the majority of the time I play it. Sac it to itself and for 3 cmc they have to sack one of their creatures AND pay 3 to keep you from having it happen again. It can be somewhat of a dead draw against token/swarm decks though.
I am still waiting on more EDH support for Kobolds as well as Ninjas - legendary and just better support in general. I would love to build tribal EDH decks for both those.
A 5 color Myr commander would be cool too.
Also, one I have been wanting for a while now is a zombie commander in UBRG colors...my current zombie tribal really needs Deadapult for giggles
I would echo what others have mentioned about building a cube. The nice thing about a cube is that you can build with cards that are fun for you and your play group. Perhaps for you and your group, building one with only old frame cards would be the way to go. It sounds like you have access to a few collections from back then to build one with.
The EDH preconstructed decks tend to be good, but I think they are a bit more than you are thinking of spending if you wind up buying at the MSRP price. You can find some of them online for around that price range though. They tend to be good value for their cost and have a decent amount of EDH staples in them. The biggest issue here is that, without knowing what his preferred play style is, it would be hard to recommend any one deck over the other.
Here's the thing though, most Magic players (in my experience anyways) are pretty happy just getting cards. If they wind up with cards they don't want, they can generally trade them for cards they do want. Even just a selection of booster packs would probably be well received.
GB graveyard are some of my favorite MtG shenanigans to play. I also have a GW ramp/fatties deck which has (mostly) Green creatures with trample or deals damage though unblocked abilities. White is mostly for response spells and +X/+X type enchantments. It isn't top tier, but it can be pretty fun to dump a bunch of evasive big creatures on the board with Genesis Wave. It doesn't seem much different than your playstyle really. White also gives me access to wrath/removal spells, Sigarda, Host of Herons, and Mirari's Wake.
I have had mixed luck. I am currently sitting on 15000 points roughly with a few trades here and there...sometimes with a week or so in between.
I have also had over 20000 points disappear overnight a few times in the past few months as well.
My wants are 450+ cards of mixed stuff. Some high end, some mid range, some low end. Staple cards as well as EDH jank as well as low end stuff I have been meaning to pick up just to have on hand.
A lot of what I have been getter is Kaladesh stuff recently, a few in the $15- $25 range, but most under $5.
I have been pretty active sending still, but I also have been keeping my wants pretty diverse on purpose to encourage traders to send me stuff. It seems to help a lot.
Three more prerelease versions acquired, all with 653 as the number. I have managed to find four numbers in non-foil, ironically the numbers 653 and 855 are the ones I don't have in non-foil.
The text doesn't look blurry to me, the printing pattern (rosette) is present, and the dots in the rosette pattern looks OK to me as well. The big issue I am having is that the bottom of the card has a slightly raised edge which looks to me like it was likely made by the factory die stamp. However, under lighting it almost looks like the surface of the card is some sort of film that is slightly peeling back...the odd part is that it doesn't actually appear to be the case - I can't see any separation on the card edge. I know that description is a bit odd, but it is hard to explain what I am seeing. I've taken some photos and uploaded them to my Dropbox account:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/lwldwhi38qhk58g/AAAvg_NSp95JyiuxWfUyK7NCa?dl=0
I managed to get a decent shot of the edge of the card which is at the bottom where the issue is.
I don't have any other JingHe tokens to compare with. Does anyone here collect these that could give me some advice on whether or not this is real? I Googled around a bit, but haven't been able to find any evidence of the JingHe tokens being counterfeited anywhere. As far as I can tell, it seems real. The text on the back of the card is just as crisp as the front and the rosette pattern is there as well.
Any help is appreciated.
I don't have an issue with broken combos, except when they are almost guaranteed to happen via tutoring. Even powerful two card combos wouldn't be bad if they relied on luck of the draw rather than fetching the pieces needed.
*Edit - my rule for Rhystic Study is that it is up to the opponent to pay or not pay (without reminders) and up to the person playing it to pay attention to whether or not the cost was paid. There should be no reason to have to keep saying "Did you pay the 1?" I have always been up front about this and so far haven't heard any complaints about it. I find that people tend remember to pay the cost pretty quickly if they have issues with their opponent repeatedly drawing cards from it after the first few times it happens.
Yeah, a UB commander would be nice, but more Ninjas in general would be even better for sure.
I haven't played any of them since I buy them to dismantle and upgrade my other EDH decks but as a recommendation I have heard from some people that the Breya, Etherium Shaper deck is a good one...maybe someone else who has better insight than I do could recommend one for you though since I am just going by what (a few) have said...in other words, I have no real idea how each deck really plays
Killing Wave can work well in Athreos too.
A 5 color Myr commander would be cool too.
Also, one I have been wanting for a while now is a zombie commander in UBRG colors...my current zombie tribal really needs Deadapult for giggles
Here's the thing though, most Magic players (in my experience anyways) are pretty happy just getting cards. If they wind up with cards they don't want, they can generally trade them for cards they do want. Even just a selection of booster packs would probably be well received.
I have also had over 20000 points disappear overnight a few times in the past few months as well.
My wants are 450+ cards of mixed stuff. Some high end, some mid range, some low end. Staple cards as well as EDH jank as well as low end stuff I have been meaning to pick up just to have on hand.
A lot of what I have been getter is Kaladesh stuff recently, a few in the $15- $25 range, but most under $5.
I have been pretty active sending still, but I also have been keeping my wants pretty diverse on purpose to encourage traders to send me stuff. It seems to help a lot.