But, but, not only is it beefy (by 2009 standards), it's vigilant, and then it attacks them in their turn! What's not to love?!
Yeah, this doesn't really feel ban-tier. It takes some amount of topdeck manipulation to have this thing really start coming off the rails, and even then the life loss should keep things in check to some degree in your archetypical battlecruiser setup. It also started low as hell on this side of the pond and been in free fall on cardmarket already, so either everyone's sleeping on it (think Smothering Tithe) or it's safe. Crazy overnight jumps are largely driven by popular 60-card constructed, and if watching the pro tour thingy where this was spoiled taught me anything it's that aggro's pretty good at getting control quite low on HP by the time this would be coming out in standard. I'll probably risk it and wait for my playgroup's traditional draft+sealed box rip to try to score mine
The problem with Luminarch Ascension is that it's the archetypical EDH early game leg-up nonsense, like Serra Ascendant. Drop it on curve, the table gasps in unison, nobody can do anything about it immediately, it clocks people a bunch and eventually goes away, getting you more attention than it deserves. You topdeck it late and it does nothing. Given the fact the Ascension's fail case is a "KICK ME" note in a deck trying to slip under the radar, I've been giving it a wide berth.
I haven't managed to get Orrery evaluation in, for I got distracted with a new shiny. It's funny how I just declared that there could be more mana in the deck, only for Bolas Rock to hit. Initial testing has been quite ludicrous - the thing lands and immediately tears into the library, leading to a ridiculous amount of value. The same high density of shuffles that make Top useful double up as brick protection here, as does Top itself along with Necropotence and Doom Whisperer. There's some pretty damned strong lifegain in the 99 to help offset the drain if a particularly juicy value chain presents itself. Importantly, the explosion will leave behind a tangible benefit even if it's met with a wipe because of experience counters. This feels like the equivalent of strapping a rocket engine to your bicycle, slamming down the pedal and hoping you don't splatter against the wall - a very EDH design. The last time I was this smitten by a card was Meglonoth.
One of those test rounds turned out to be one of the best games I have ever played. Bolas Rock came down on turn seven, ripped through about 20 mana's worth of topdeck, scavenged a number of experience counters and got immediately nuked to the stone age through a concerted Terastodon into Austere Command from the rest of the table. Daxos never managed to explode as hard previously, let alone off a single card. The activated ability, which I figured would never see use, was popped in response to the Command and turned some doomed tokens into a nontrivial table slug. Had I not gotten wiped, it was pretty over. In spite of being wiped, the experience counter advantage was sufficient to offer a ridiculous leg up for the rest of the game. While the rest of the table got distracted by a baller Avacyn + Archetype of Endurance + Platinum Emperion setup Mayael side, which got Clone Legioned, I healed to triple digits off a massive lifelink swing and did an Enter the Infinite tier draw off Necropotence, somehow staying under the radar. Upon untapping, a perfectly sculpted alpha with multiple backup lines was ensured. What a game, that one.
The more I play with Luminarch Ascension the more I realize that it really does do the opposite of what the deck wants and will be cut. The tokens are nice and really powerful, if it gets alone, but it is not worth the hate generated to cast it. I had a two games early when I got to play it on turn two and then got it to quickly activate, which is why I was defending it. Drawing it later in the game is borderline useless and I literally casted it once to get one more experience counter for my tokens, meaning that this could be replaced by an enchantment with CMC 2 or less and would have been better.
The Bolas stone seems nuts and seems like another Ad Nauseam engine (right to the point where Tendrils of Agony is a very viable finisher).
The Bolas stone seems nuts and seems like another Ad Nauseam engine (right to the point where Tendrils of Agony is a very viable finisher).
I think Ad Nauseam should not be a frequent comparison for Bolas's Citadel, but rather a contrast: hitting a land on top with Citadel after playing your land for the turn is going to stop you. For AN it's just a painless extra card in hand.
What a ridiculously awesome set. I was honestly not expecting much when they said it's all about walkers, but then they did tons of interesting and natural-feeling designs at all rarities. Even the walkers are somewhat cool! Plus the whole amass/proliferate thing makes it seem that this is going to be a fun, synergistic limited environment. What can I say, feels good to be wrong on this one. Right up there with AER and RIX, rounding out the podium of the greatest sets dropped since I started actively EDH'ing. Burning Prophet is a fantastic summary of the set - a magnificent two-drop common, providing a trickle of value in anything Rx non-creature heavy, with a sensible body to boot. Every single one of my active decks got something out of WAR, a new one was birthed, and I'm even considering doing an update to my largely shunned Tromokratis.
I've also realised that by now Daxos is in a third distinct stage of development. Initially, the deck was quite forty, but then it started exploring various forms of permission and disruption. Now it's easing off those a bit and going more in a big mana/quality direction. Without further ado, the main introduction that's happening, plus some secondary swaps to match the angle.
Bolas Rock is certifiably insane in this shell. Doing a 1v1 game, testing out a friend's Horde of Notions goodstuff extravaganza. I untap turn five with four lands and a Thran Dynamo, I pass the turn with his grip burnt to a crisp, a draw lock in place, and a number of ridiculous value permanents assuring lethal next turn. Bolas Rock, what the hell? This is a family-friendly deck Taking out Sun Titan to make room, as he is ultimately the least good of the higher CMC drops in the list. You have served me well, faux-Prime Time, but everything else at 6+ is just plain dumber than you are.
The Smothering Tithe testing and conclusions is what got me thinking about the nature of the deck. As noted, that card gives game against problematic decks while doing little against foes you'll likely defeat without its help. By extension, the people most likely to pay for Mana Study don't have a whole lot going on. And if they don't have a whole lot going on, they will probably drown in Daxos men at one point or another. Those are the scenarios where dribble discard shines the brightest - it's a minor inconvenience to the Lord Windgrace/Intet, the Dreamer who draw fistfuls of cardboard each turn, but it relentlessly chokes out that old neglected Ghoulcaller Gisa that never really stood a chance anyway. As such, those slots would probably best be used for something more all-around useful. Enter Blind Obedience, the eternal stop-gap. Given all the life paying that's been going on lately, being able to tack on a Dark Ritual onto anything you rip off a Bolas Rock in a four man pod seems pretty okay. Also enter Kaya's Ghostform. Angelic Renewal never really did anything wrong, and was taken out to make room for haymaker attempts back in the day. This may be an aura, but it's also even cheaper and shields against exile. Not too shabby a way to gain an experience counter. Yes, I'm aware of the synergies with Sun Titan, but it's not enough for him to be better than all the other competing cuts.
I don't think there's enough life paying engines for Font of Agonies to reliably come online. Despark could be good, but I remember using some removal on things like Ashnod's Altar or Goblin Bombardment, which this wouldn't touch. I guess I'll pay attention to what I tend to destroy over the next few games and see if it makes sense. I'm at the danger point of 30 enchantments, so the natural cut for this (Cast Out) gets a further leg up in staying based on that. Oh yeah, and the very Horde of Notions friend that got so beautifully melted by Bolas Rock made a banner for the thread out of Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Serra's Sanctum and Skybind. Thanks!
To my sorrow, I have just been thinking about cutting the discard as well. Daxos is pretty clunky as is and I rarely find the discard to be impactful enough against the decks in my group. As you said, the decks that get choked by the discard tend to be weaker anyway while better decks tend to lean heavily into recursion and drawing huge amounts of cards against which the one card a turn doesn't really matter. So you could say it's win-more?
I'm not sure I agree with cutting dear old Sun Titan but then I don't have Replenish. Thoughtrender Lamia is more suspect to me for the above reasons.
On the topic of recursion, I have been trying Restoration Specialist. I wanted some enchantment recursion in addition to Titan and Emeria Shepherd. It was pretty much a toss-up between Specialist and Auramancer but I chose the Specialist as I like the added card advantage and she works better with Titan, Shepherd or Phyrexian Reclamation. While Auramancer likes our favorite Skybind much more, I feel you are already in a great position if you can blink stuff. On the other hand, if you only have one of the above recursion pieces you are much farther away from taking control of the game and in that case Miss Resto should get you back in the game easier.
Despite all this rambling however, I haven't drawn her a single game.
Here's my list for the record, suggestions are welcome.
The list is rock solid. I like the Crypt Ghast and the heavier recursion themes. Restoration Specialist had an ardent follower in lyonhaert, it's a pretty solid cardboard and will work well in your build. The only nitpick I have is Field of Ruin, which could be replaced with Ghost Quarter on the cheap. I imagine Arcane Lighthouse and Exotic Orchard are meta-appropriate.
The thing with Thoughtrender Lamia is that it's not your average discard option, it's a brutal game-ending hand mower that will close things out in short time if unanswered. This doesn't come down on curve and incidentally mildly disrupt people, this comes down when your mana pool is pretty fat and you immediately make most (if not all) of the table hellbent, possibly following up with draw step locks. My group hates it, and it eats removal even more reliably than Skybind upon resolving.
Ardent is a really strong word, LOL. Pretty sure I replaced it eventually, but can't remember when. I found a post where I was thinking of replacing it with Argivian Find (probably because I would hold on to Specialist until needed), but Auramancer would be fine, too. I think I last caught up to Rumpy's list at the point where he was using Emeria Shepherd again.
Oppression was always the best of the trio with Necrogen Mists/Bottomless Pit. That seemed to be the one that would make my friends second-guess their decisions and hesitate to use their cards.
I chose Field of Ruins because it replaces itself which I liked as we need all the mana we can get. I usually pop it later into the game where ramping others is probably not as dangerous. Also, according to theory my opponents shouldn't have a hand to take advantage of it.. which of course happens far less often than one would like.
The thing with Thoughtrender Lamia is that it's not your average discard option, it's a brutal game-ending hand mower that will close things out in short time if unanswered. This doesn't come down on curve and incidentally mildly disrupt people, this comes down when your mana pool is pretty fat and you immediately make most (if not all) of the table hellbent, possibly following up with draw step locks. My group hates it, and it eats removal even more reliably than Skybind upon resolving.
I have been using it wrong then, I always play it relatively early to chip in, get an experience and just do something. I will try leaving it up for later. Problem is, even in the lategame I rarely have a fat enough mana pool to do what you describe.
Regarding new cards, I was looking at WAR the other day and Single Combat caught my eye. It's a board wipe (for planeswalkers as well!) that should give you some breathing room to deploy new enchantments or just vomit some spirits onto the board. It should suitably annoy the elfball player in my group.
I've always been a fan of streamlining mana expenditure, so Ghost Quarter tapping versus Field of Ruin taking up a net total of a spirit is a bit of a different ballpark. That, and giving out lands to the rest of the pod for free is not necessarily somewhere we want to be. Minor gripe though, as mentioned.
Hey, if your group lets you set down the Lamia and go about your day, all the more power to you. It dies the split second someone has priority in my group. Someone scrounges up that panic Pongify that was sitting in the back of their hand labelled "emergency", because this sure is one. As such, I've been using it in this manner - pop it on a fat mana pool, anybody got that panic Pongify? Yes? Ok cool, proceed. No? Ok cool, probably gg with me taking the thing. This also comes with the upside of making the suffering minimal. I can't really see a lot apart from Sanctum missing from your mana base, and Urborg + Coffers are what tends to do most of the reliable all-game lifting anyway.
Y'see, the problem with Single Combat is that it's got a super narrow, yet extremely potent blowout window. If somebody spot removes Daxos in response to the thing, we're boned. Notice it says "end of your next turn", so everybody will have priority in rebuilding while you're stuck with a spirit token or something. And then if you play anything that turn, Daxos won't be around to benefit either. It may be a narrow scenario, but the "what if" is there to scare me away from it. I'll add a little blurb to the primer, I guess.
any thoughts on Finale of Glory? This seems like it could be a late game blowout in daxos, and a way to skirt some of the color mana issues by using our excess of a given color to create the 12+ required for it to be at its best.
any thoughts on Finale of Glory? This seems like it could be a late game blowout in daxos, and a way to skirt some of the color mana issues by using our excess of a given color to create the 12+ required for it to be at its best.
It's "just" a board in a can, even if a pretty meaty one. If anything, Debt to the Deathless would probably be a better include for a mana sink win con. Far more narrow an interaction window. The card slid a bit down the radar again after some rules head honcho called that Bolas Rocked X spells have an X of 0.
At one point, while thumbing through the complete release of WAR, the white Thrummingbird caught my eye. I mean, we're an experience counter deck, this has to be good here, right? It's like a Sword of Rampant Growth, but for spirit anthems! I then took a step back and reevaluated a bit. Compare it to Intangible Virtue, a card the list is not running and wasn't ever really considering. For the Thrummer to get this amount of value, he has to come out, not die, connect, not die, connect, not die. The Sword of Rampant Growth may be incremental too, but it gives us something we can't get elsewhere that reliably. No white Thrummer for Daxos.
Well crap. I've spent a nontrivial amount of time fluffing my various primers on the site, and submitted my Feather for review hours before the bombshell dropped. I fully intend to transfer the primers over to the new forum, and hope to see you there.
With that bitter preamble out of the way, time to delve into the newest treasure trove of goodies, and there's a lot to talk about. MH1 was spearheaded by the mastermind behind the beautifully utilitarian C16, and the set is filled with various practical options to grease up decks. The part I don't understand is the hiked MSRP, as this feels like a similar sort of wonky product to BBD. That one had more reprints, too - the cashest thing MH1 brings is Eladamri's Call. I don't speak modern, so maybe the set truly delivers on the modern promises, but the environmental reaction doesn't seem to be backing this up. Anyway, swap time!
Let's get the easy one out of the way first - I keep rambling on about how removal comes function first. Generous Gift is a white Beast Within, and is an automatic include. Taking out the current worst removal option in Cast Out to make room. This dips me below 30 enchantments for the first time in the deck's life, and I'm not super happy about that. It's probably me just minding a number more than anything - the difference between 29 and 30 is ultimately quite small, but it's just a symbolic barrier that fell. Need to be careful to not meander too far down this low enchant count road. Despark is no longer actively in consideration (partly because this new thing happened).
As for the lands, Heliod's Mattress Emporium is an enchantment Academy Ruins, seems pretty good. Prismatic Vista is another untap fetch, and as such works with Crucible of Worlds and Bolas Rock. Both are obvious shoe-ins. At first, I was considering cutting into basics to make room, but realised that I don't feel comfortable with the concept of six of each given the fetching, Land Tax and Sword of Rampant Growth. As such, I left them at seven and took a look at nonbasics. Frankly, I don't remember the last time I actually used Strip Mine (plus Generous Gift theoretically carries on this fringe functionality in the list), and it was already earmarked for a cut when I was considering Karn's Bastion for a moment. The next worst is Eiganjo Castle - the activated ability is fringe as hell, and it stayed in the list as a relic of times when there used to be a Keranos player around in 2015/2016 who'd shoot my Daxos because yes. Taking it out breaks the nice land symmetry - I used to have seven of each basic, and then one extra land that only netted that colour of mana in the list. It used to be two, but I took out New Benalia and Bojuka Bog ages ago. Now that symmetry is broken. All around discomfort times - below 30 enchantments, OCD land distribution in bits. Yet the deck gets better for it, so there's that. The next land on the chopping block when they print something noteworthy would probably be Caves of Koilos.
In spite of the massive number of new includes already mentioned, there are still tons of interesting cards in the set!
Silent Clearing - Daxos was never quite colour-access-desperate to run City of Brass variants, and the painland often ends up used for colourless. A mandatory ding is not the best, and I can't see myself sacrificing this for cards as Daxos wants to amass mana. Still, this is the first time there's a land cycle in enemy colours, so that's noteworthy.
Talisman of Hierarchy - Nice to see this cycle filled out, first time crossing paths with it as I've somehow never had a serious ally pair deck. Is this better than a signet here? Nope. Is this better than Thran Dynamo, arguably the most debatable of the rocks? Also no.
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician - Looks like a hell of an include at first glance. Then you remember Greed exists and you don't run that, and this effectively costs three mana per card. The proliferate is not too shabby either, but it's ultimately a mixture of two okay modes on a four drop non-enchantment.
Winds of Abandon - A nice alpha wipe, but if you fail to gib the table all the extra mana should help your opponents bounce back quite quickly.
Force of Despair - A one-card answer to Avenger of Zendikar gum and other things of that nature, but is quite narrow with regards to when it can be used. The payoff is probably ultimately not worth this stipulation.
Oh boy, another spoiler season. This summer rush is always a bit of a stretch, and the fact the innovation product wasn't reprints made me a bit desensitised by the time M20 rolled around. It doesn't help either that WAR was stunning and MH1 was extremely practical. There are some cards yet to be revealed, but I'm making a post now anyway. In terms of set matters, Starfield Mystic is the closest to an include. Still, Enchantment Medallion does nothing about body production, which is where a lot of mana tends to go each game. He's nowhere near passing the "Thran Dynamo test", i.e. demonstrating that he's of more use than the current most unglamorous rock. Scheming Symmetry is also a thing, but I'm not super keen on giving out free Vampiric Tutors to my foes. Vilis, Broker of Blood is crazy cool as a design, but his blood-curdling mana cost is not ideal given his forecast role in the list (faux-No Mercy disincentivising non-alpha strikes by day, draw hog extraordinaire off the occasional life sink by night).
Why couldn't this wait a couple days, until M20 is officially out in the open?
I just couldn't stop thinking about the newly reduced enchantment count. The last time I dipped to 30, I actively tried to get away from that range. The least I could do was get back to the magical safe number and await future releases from there. I considered the non-enchantment options kicking around the list, and recalled this old stand-in. I'm actually not that sad to see Uba Mask go. There's no denying it's a hellishly strong card, one could argue that even better than Chains in some regards. However, because of this fact it immediately garnered a vehemently negative reception in my playgroup. It nontrivially inconveniences all parties involved, especially when rushed in off early acceleration, and including the per-turn draw here leads to strangling the same ditzy decks that were destroyed by dribble discard. Chains of Mephistopheles leaves those alone, and is superior at choking out actual card advantage attempts - Uba may result in a bit of a "use it or lose it" scenario, but you still get everything you drew for a moment. Meanwhile, Chains actively digs into your options with the forced rummage as you go along. Compare topdecking a fat draw spell with a somewhat depleted hand in each of those scenarios. I did a couple test games in the playgroup and people actually ended up minding it less than Uba, a hypothesis I presented to general distrust before said games.
I wish 2014 me had the foresight to score some duals and other relevant reserved list stuff just as he embarked on the EDH adventure. Alas, no such luck. Nevertheless, one beaten up Italian copy of some ancient cardboard snagged up at a relatively bargain price later, Daxos is now 100% completely pimped, and the magical enchantment count of 30 has been restored while marginally lowering the curve and making the draw control options more palatable to derpier foes.
Brought Back is a very versatile card. Note it doesn't say non-land, and the fully decked out list is cruising around with eight fetches. Combine that with a handful other saccables, or ways to find the fetches, and you should be able to get a Rampant Growth or two's worth of value out of it. I hear ripping two fetches turn two, only to immediately bring them back, is a pretty good line of play. I imagine I'll use it for ramp quite often, but there will probably also be a nontrivial number of cases where this picks up a fallen power lifter out of nowhere, much to the remover's chagrin. While the deck tends to barf out enchantments onto the field, not all are created equal and an opportunistic bit of spot removal on Skybind or Sphere of Safety can sometimes lead to game over. Being able to instantly bring them back sounds pretty good to me. Taking out Depression Automaton. While his ramp floor is higher than this thing's, plus he offers an on-death cantrip, he does cost four for this effect. Yes, I do realise he synergises with Brought Back, but it's not enough to cut Thran Dynamo over him.
Funny story, there's a post from summer of last year where I pinpoint the weaker-looking points of the deck in the high CMC range. By now, the only two that have survived are Cathars' Crusade and Merciless Eviction. They're not going anywhere - the first is unglamorous yet very functional, and the latter costs an arm and a leg but no suitable cheaper alternatives have appeared. Thran Dynamo is now tentatively added to this inconsequential watch list on account of similar unglamorousness. I'm liking where the deck's sitting these days, following the Smothering Tithe logic in some swaps to make breathing room for the weaker decks while interacting better with conventionally stronger lists. Onward!
The problem with both of the cards you mention is that they're quite narrow. I ran Imp's Mischief early on, but the fact it only hits single target spells is annoying. Nothing this can do about a wipe, the best it can do is make someone Path their own thing or something. That, or steal a turn spell, if those happen to kick around your meta. Force Spike makes Mana Tithe look like Teferi's Protection
Haven't thought of it before, but I'm not super sold on it. Being forcibly dinged for double digits off an Avenger seems like a bad time, and if you try to actually use the mana the hurt intensifies. It's an interesting card though, I'll give you that.
By the way, seeing how you're a fresh account, check out Daxos on Nexus. I tried porting the primer over, adjusting it to local bbcode standards, and it's mostly operational. Feel free to check it out: https://www.mtgnexus.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=305
Fortunately SCG is only pricing it at $3 at the moment.
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
Yeah, this doesn't really feel ban-tier. It takes some amount of topdeck manipulation to have this thing really start coming off the rails, and even then the life loss should keep things in check to some degree in your archetypical battlecruiser setup. It also started low as hell on this side of the pond and been in free fall on cardmarket already, so either everyone's sleeping on it (think Smothering Tithe) or it's safe. Crazy overnight jumps are largely driven by popular 60-card constructed, and if watching the pro tour thingy where this was spoiled taught me anything it's that aggro's pretty good at getting control quite low on HP by the time this would be coming out in standard. I'll probably risk it and wait for my playgroup's traditional draft+sealed box rip to try to score mine
The more I play with Luminarch Ascension the more I realize that it really does do the opposite of what the deck wants and will be cut. The tokens are nice and really powerful, if it gets alone, but it is not worth the hate generated to cast it. I had a two games early when I got to play it on turn two and then got it to quickly activate, which is why I was defending it. Drawing it later in the game is borderline useless and I literally casted it once to get one more experience counter for my tokens, meaning that this could be replaced by an enchantment with CMC 2 or less and would have been better.
The Bolas stone seems nuts and seems like another Ad Nauseam engine (right to the point where Tendrils of Agony is a very viable finisher).
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
I've also realised that by now Daxos is in a third distinct stage of development. Initially, the deck was quite forty, but then it started exploring various forms of permission and disruption. Now it's easing off those a bit and going more in a big mana/quality direction. Without further ado, the main introduction that's happening, plus some secondary swaps to match the angle.
1 Bottomless Pit
1 Necrogen Mists
1 Sun Titan
1 Blind Obedience
1 Bolas's Citadel
1 Kaya's Ghostform
Bolas Rock is certifiably insane in this shell. Doing a 1v1 game, testing out a friend's Horde of Notions goodstuff extravaganza. I untap turn five with four lands and a Thran Dynamo, I pass the turn with his grip burnt to a crisp, a draw lock in place, and a number of ridiculous value permanents assuring lethal next turn. Bolas Rock, what the hell? This is a family-friendly deck Taking out Sun Titan to make room, as he is ultimately the least good of the higher CMC drops in the list. You have served me well, faux-Prime Time, but everything else at 6+ is just plain dumber than you are.
The Smothering Tithe testing and conclusions is what got me thinking about the nature of the deck. As noted, that card gives game against problematic decks while doing little against foes you'll likely defeat without its help. By extension, the people most likely to pay for Mana Study don't have a whole lot going on. And if they don't have a whole lot going on, they will probably drown in Daxos men at one point or another. Those are the scenarios where dribble discard shines the brightest - it's a minor inconvenience to the Lord Windgrace/Intet, the Dreamer who draw fistfuls of cardboard each turn, but it relentlessly chokes out that old neglected Ghoulcaller Gisa that never really stood a chance anyway. As such, those slots would probably best be used for something more all-around useful. Enter Blind Obedience, the eternal stop-gap. Given all the life paying that's been going on lately, being able to tack on a Dark Ritual onto anything you rip off a Bolas Rock in a four man pod seems pretty okay. Also enter Kaya's Ghostform. Angelic Renewal never really did anything wrong, and was taken out to make room for haymaker attempts back in the day. This may be an aura, but it's also even cheaper and shields against exile. Not too shabby a way to gain an experience counter. Yes, I'm aware of the synergies with Sun Titan, but it's not enough for him to be better than all the other competing cuts.
I don't think there's enough life paying engines for Font of Agonies to reliably come online. Despark could be good, but I remember using some removal on things like Ashnod's Altar or Goblin Bombardment, which this wouldn't touch. I guess I'll pay attention to what I tend to destroy over the next few games and see if it makes sense. I'm at the danger point of 30 enchantments, so the natural cut for this (Cast Out) gets a further leg up in staying based on that. Oh yeah, and the very Horde of Notions friend that got so beautifully melted by Bolas Rock made a banner for the thread out of Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Serra's Sanctum and Skybind. Thanks!
I'm not sure I agree with cutting dear old Sun Titan but then I don't have Replenish. Thoughtrender Lamia is more suspect to me for the above reasons.
On the topic of recursion, I have been trying Restoration Specialist. I wanted some enchantment recursion in addition to Titan and Emeria Shepherd. It was pretty much a toss-up between Specialist and Auramancer but I chose the Specialist as I like the added card advantage and she works better with Titan, Shepherd or Phyrexian Reclamation. While Auramancer likes our favorite Skybind much more, I feel you are already in a great position if you can blink stuff. On the other hand, if you only have one of the above recursion pieces you are much farther away from taking control of the game and in that case Miss Resto should get you back in the game easier.
Despite all this rambling however, I haven't drawn her a single game.
Here's my list for the record, suggestions are welcome.
The thing with Thoughtrender Lamia is that it's not your average discard option, it's a brutal game-ending hand mower that will close things out in short time if unanswered. This doesn't come down on curve and incidentally mildly disrupt people, this comes down when your mana pool is pretty fat and you immediately make most (if not all) of the table hellbent, possibly following up with draw step locks. My group hates it, and it eats removal even more reliably than Skybind upon resolving.
Oppression was always the best of the trio with Necrogen Mists/Bottomless Pit. That seemed to be the one that would make my friends second-guess their decisions and hesitate to use their cards.
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
I chose Field of Ruins because it replaces itself which I liked as we need all the mana we can get. I usually pop it later into the game where ramping others is probably not as dangerous. Also, according to theory my opponents shouldn't have a hand to take advantage of it.. which of course happens far less often than one would like.
I have been using it wrong then, I always play it relatively early to chip in, get an experience and just do something. I will try leaving it up for later. Problem is, even in the lategame I rarely have a fat enough mana pool to do what you describe.
Regarding new cards, I was looking at WAR the other day and Single Combat caught my eye. It's a board wipe (for planeswalkers as well!) that should give you some breathing room to deploy new enchantments or just vomit some spirits onto the board. It should suitably annoy the elfball player in my group.
Hey, if your group lets you set down the Lamia and go about your day, all the more power to you. It dies the split second someone has priority in my group. Someone scrounges up that panic Pongify that was sitting in the back of their hand labelled "emergency", because this sure is one. As such, I've been using it in this manner - pop it on a fat mana pool, anybody got that panic Pongify? Yes? Ok cool, proceed. No? Ok cool, probably gg with me taking the thing. This also comes with the upside of making the suffering minimal. I can't really see a lot apart from Sanctum missing from your mana base, and Urborg + Coffers are what tends to do most of the reliable all-game lifting anyway.
Y'see, the problem with Single Combat is that it's got a super narrow, yet extremely potent blowout window. If somebody spot removes Daxos in response to the thing, we're boned. Notice it says "end of your next turn", so everybody will have priority in rebuilding while you're stuck with a spirit token or something. And then if you play anything that turn, Daxos won't be around to benefit either. It may be a narrow scenario, but the "what if" is there to scare me away from it. I'll add a little blurb to the primer, I guess.
It's "just" a board in a can, even if a pretty meaty one. If anything, Debt to the Deathless would probably be a better include for a mana sink win con. Far more narrow an interaction window. The card slid a bit down the radar again after some rules head honcho called that Bolas Rocked X spells have an X of 0.
At one point, while thumbing through the complete release of WAR, the white Thrummingbird caught my eye. I mean, we're an experience counter deck, this has to be good here, right? It's like a Sword of Rampant Growth, but for spirit anthems! I then took a step back and reevaluated a bit. Compare it to Intangible Virtue, a card the list is not running and wasn't ever really considering. For the Thrummer to get this amount of value, he has to come out, not die, connect, not die, connect, not die. The Sword of Rampant Growth may be incremental too, but it gives us something we can't get elsewhere that reliably. No white Thrummer for Daxos.
With that bitter preamble out of the way, time to delve into the newest treasure trove of goodies, and there's a lot to talk about. MH1 was spearheaded by the mastermind behind the beautifully utilitarian C16, and the set is filled with various practical options to grease up decks. The part I don't understand is the hiked MSRP, as this feels like a similar sort of wonky product to BBD. That one had more reprints, too - the cashest thing MH1 brings is Eladamri's Call. I don't speak modern, so maybe the set truly delivers on the modern promises, but the environmental reaction doesn't seem to be backing this up. Anyway, swap time!
1 Cast Out
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Strip Mine
1 Generous Gift
1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
1 Prismatic Vista
Let's get the easy one out of the way first - I keep rambling on about how removal comes function first. Generous Gift is a white Beast Within, and is an automatic include. Taking out the current worst removal option in Cast Out to make room. This dips me below 30 enchantments for the first time in the deck's life, and I'm not super happy about that. It's probably me just minding a number more than anything - the difference between 29 and 30 is ultimately quite small, but it's just a symbolic barrier that fell. Need to be careful to not meander too far down this low enchant count road. Despark is no longer actively in consideration (partly because this new thing happened).
As for the lands, Heliod's Mattress Emporium is an enchantment Academy Ruins, seems pretty good. Prismatic Vista is another untap fetch, and as such works with Crucible of Worlds and Bolas Rock. Both are obvious shoe-ins. At first, I was considering cutting into basics to make room, but realised that I don't feel comfortable with the concept of six of each given the fetching, Land Tax and Sword of Rampant Growth. As such, I left them at seven and took a look at nonbasics. Frankly, I don't remember the last time I actually used Strip Mine (plus Generous Gift theoretically carries on this fringe functionality in the list), and it was already earmarked for a cut when I was considering Karn's Bastion for a moment. The next worst is Eiganjo Castle - the activated ability is fringe as hell, and it stayed in the list as a relic of times when there used to be a Keranos player around in 2015/2016 who'd shoot my Daxos because yes. Taking it out breaks the nice land symmetry - I used to have seven of each basic, and then one extra land that only netted that colour of mana in the list. It used to be two, but I took out New Benalia and Bojuka Bog ages ago. Now that symmetry is broken. All around discomfort times - below 30 enchantments, OCD land distribution in bits. Yet the deck gets better for it, so there's that. The next land on the chopping block when they print something noteworthy would probably be Caves of Koilos.
In spite of the massive number of new includes already mentioned, there are still tons of interesting cards in the set!
Why couldn't this wait a couple days, until M20 is officially out in the open?
1 Uba Mask
1 Chains of Mephistopheles
I just couldn't stop thinking about the newly reduced enchantment count. The last time I dipped to 30, I actively tried to get away from that range. The least I could do was get back to the magical safe number and await future releases from there. I considered the non-enchantment options kicking around the list, and recalled this old stand-in. I'm actually not that sad to see Uba Mask go. There's no denying it's a hellishly strong card, one could argue that even better than Chains in some regards. However, because of this fact it immediately garnered a vehemently negative reception in my playgroup. It nontrivially inconveniences all parties involved, especially when rushed in off early acceleration, and including the per-turn draw here leads to strangling the same ditzy decks that were destroyed by dribble discard. Chains of Mephistopheles leaves those alone, and is superior at choking out actual card advantage attempts - Uba may result in a bit of a "use it or lose it" scenario, but you still get everything you drew for a moment. Meanwhile, Chains actively digs into your options with the forced rummage as you go along. Compare topdecking a fat draw spell with a somewhat depleted hand in each of those scenarios. I did a couple test games in the playgroup and people actually ended up minding it less than Uba, a hypothesis I presented to general distrust before said games.
I wish 2014 me had the foresight to score some duals and other relevant reserved list stuff just as he embarked on the EDH adventure. Alas, no such luck. Nevertheless, one beaten up Italian copy of some ancient cardboard snagged up at a relatively bargain price later, Daxos is now 100% completely pimped, and the magical enchantment count of 30 has been restored while marginally lowering the curve and making the draw control options more palatable to derpier foes.
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Brought Back
Brought Back is a very versatile card. Note it doesn't say non-land, and the fully decked out list is cruising around with eight fetches. Combine that with a handful other saccables, or ways to find the fetches, and you should be able to get a Rampant Growth or two's worth of value out of it. I hear ripping two fetches turn two, only to immediately bring them back, is a pretty good line of play. I imagine I'll use it for ramp quite often, but there will probably also be a nontrivial number of cases where this picks up a fallen power lifter out of nowhere, much to the remover's chagrin. While the deck tends to barf out enchantments onto the field, not all are created equal and an opportunistic bit of spot removal on Skybind or Sphere of Safety can sometimes lead to game over. Being able to instantly bring them back sounds pretty good to me. Taking out Depression Automaton. While his ramp floor is higher than this thing's, plus he offers an on-death cantrip, he does cost four for this effect. Yes, I do realise he synergises with Brought Back, but it's not enough to cut Thran Dynamo over him.
Funny story, there's a post from summer of last year where I pinpoint the weaker-looking points of the deck in the high CMC range. By now, the only two that have survived are Cathars' Crusade and Merciless Eviction. They're not going anywhere - the first is unglamorous yet very functional, and the latter costs an arm and a leg but no suitable cheaper alternatives have appeared. Thran Dynamo is now tentatively added to this inconsequential watch list on account of similar unglamorousness. I'm liking where the deck's sitting these days, following the Smothering Tithe logic in some swaps to make breathing room for the weaker decks while interacting better with conventionally stronger lists. Onward!
P.S. I don't love it when the MTGS's card preview picks a full-art version (e.g., Mana Tithe at the moment) so you can't read it. lol
old thread
old thread
old thread
R Zada Arcane Storm
RBU Marchesa
GWU Estrid
GWR Samut?
URB Kess
(R/W)(U/B) Akiri & Silas
BWR Alesha
R Neheb Dragons
G Nylea Wurms
W Darien
U Tetsuko
Might need some more Greed-esque sinks to get full benefit but it seems pretty good to make Daxos tokens for 1W or W with Anointed Procession.
By the way, seeing how you're a fresh account, check out Daxos on Nexus. I tried porting the primer over, adjusting it to local bbcode standards, and it's mostly operational. Feel free to check it out: https://www.mtgnexus.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=305