2019 Holiday Exchange!
 
A New and Exciting Beginning
 
The End of an Era
  • posted a message on Curiosity and Grim Guardian
    Nope, life loss is not damage. Curiosity won't trigger. You need something that say it deals damage.

    One of the classics is Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
    Posted in: Magic Rulings Archives
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Kurkesh's Magic Toybox (KTK+FRF+C14 Review)
    Your deck would probably find Lux Cannon quite amusing. Charging mah lazers!

    Lux Cannon + Rings of Brighthearth/Voltaic Key is dumb

    Lux Cannon + Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key + Basalt Monolith = Unlimited Vindicates at will
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Olivia is Mrs. Steal Yo Creatures
    I prefer Wild Ricochet to Fork or Reverberate. It serves the purpose of both copying and redirecting spells. Not bad for a dollar rare. It may be more expensive to cast, but you get to double up on someone else's spell and mess with their aim. I doubt you see Time Stretch in your group, but it feels pretty good to imitate it off of someone's Time Warp.
    Never mind, you're already running it. Reverberate is easier to find than Fork, but if you want to show off or already have one...

    Toxic Deluge might be worth adding if you're looking for another sweeper.

    You seem to have Olivia listed twice, once in your creature section, and once as your general.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Olivia is Mrs. Steal Yo Creatures
    @Pike Agreed, artifacts are fairly easy to remove. Losing them would likely spell doom in short order. Probably better suited to the kitchen table.

    @Kill For the record, what is your budget like? I see a fair number of pricey cards, but I'm assuming you can't, or won't, spring for Imperial Seal or Grim Tutor.

    To be honest, Olivia would not be my first pick for a competitive multiplayer general. However, I'm still happy to help you to take this list as far as you like in the direction you choose.

    Here are 3 of the more disruptive EDH-legal cards in Rakdos:
    Contamination
    Blood Moon
    Magus of the Moon
    These all come down fairly early and can easily cripple a lot of 3 and 5 color decks, though 1 and 2 color decks tend to care a lot less about the two Moon cards. They are worth considering for higher level competition. Artifact color fixing or removing them are generally the only ways out.

    You may also want to consider adding Beseech the Queen for your tutor package. It may show off the card and have limits, but I've had good results with it.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Olivia is Mrs. Steal Yo Creatures
    @Pike Bottled Cloister combos with Ensnaring Bridge.

    Agreed on Bitterblossom and Goblin Assault

    @Kill I didn't know you were playing for prizes. That changes things. PRISON RULES!
    Bet you I could rules lawyer my way out of that ill-defined restriction once or twice. Is it an infinite combo if I execute the loop in a different way every third loop? Heh, binary logic. It's technically not the same loop, you should have defined your terms better.

    Pike is right on the land thing. If I were going to design a RB manabase for competitive games, I'd start with something like:
    Badlands
    Blood Crypt

    Bloodstained Mire
    Polluted Delta
    Wooded Foothills
    Arid Mesa
    Verdant Catacombs
    Marsh Flats
    Scalding Tarn

    Lavaclaw Reaches
    Graven Cairns
    Tainted Peak

    Cabal Coffers
    Deserted Temple
    Vesuva
    Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
    Strip Mine
    Wasteland
    Ancient Tomb
    Volrath's Stronghold

    Meta dependent includes:
    Boseiju, Who Shelters All - for counter happy tables

    Some other useful cards:
    Exsanguinate - If you're going to Fireball someone, why stop at only one opponent? Also can't be Misdirectioned
    Death Cloud - If you're attached to the discard of Rakdos's Return, it's still better to hit the table (including yourself) instead of one opponent. Also serves as a 5th land/creature sweeper. Again, Misdirection-proof

    Deserted Temple - mainly suggested for untapping Coffers because Coffers
    Magus of the Coffers - because Coffers
    Vesuva - Coffers #2
    Staff of Domination - Handy for those big mana moments where you might want to untap Kiki, draw cards, tap blockers, gain a little life, etc.

    land/creature/etc sweepers - bonus points for floating enough extra mana to cast your general afterwards.
    Obliterate - Solid way to screw the table. Leaves enchantments and planeswalkers alone, which is great if you have one that grinds out advantage.
    Decree of Annihilation - Solid middle finger to the table, leaves you most vulnerable unless cast on an opponent's EOT, but that would require Vedalken Orrery.
    Jokulhaups - a lower-mana cousin of Obliterate
    Devastation - creatures and lands only, but still well worth it
    Death Cloud - wrecks hands, lands, creatures, and life totals, seems legit

    These two kinda suck unless you have It That Betrays on board which shouldn't happen in a game where MLD is commonplace
    Wildfire - not nearly as good as above, but still kinda mean
    Devastating Force - slightly bigger than Wildfire, but still probably not worth it.

    Some untargeted removal might be in order for those annoying shroud/troll-shroud creatures:
    Innocent Blood
    Barter in Blood
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Olivia is Mrs. Steal Yo Creatures
    Also who plays magic with friends... and doesn't expect to lose them... I mean really. People who get mad over a mechanic that's put into the game... is just silly.


    Well, I have been known to scare off some lower level players with several of my EDH decks. I don't get to do this often, but I have challenged 5 newbies to an arch-enemy style game without any schemes. I usually win those on the back of my wraths. The way you're talking, it sounds like my playgroup is a bunch of cry babies, which I don't exactly disagree with.

    You could try adding Buried Ruin for slaver lock.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Olivia is Mrs. Steal Yo Creatures
    Red is arguably the weakest color in EDH because burn doesn't scale well. It's better at burst damage than sustained output. However, there are some interesting options available. Some people consider MLD to be cheesy, unfun or dirty. I call it fair game because red and MLD. Perhaps not your flavor of choice, but it's hard to argue with results. Then again, I try harder than most to win outright. Too much Spike in me I guess.

    Devastation
    Wildfire
    Destructive Force
    Boom // Bust
    Vandalblast

    If you're looking to play at the kitchen table and still keep your friends, I'd avoid that since players at that level tend to be easily frustrated by any kind of sweeper and especially the kinds that deal with lands. Perhaps I'll drop some casual friendly suggestions later when I'm not nodding off.

    There really aren't that many options for enchantment removal in RB. Here's the limited selection I've been known to use:
    Lux Cannon (best paired with Rings of Brighthearth, Voltaic Key, or something to cheat extra counters onto it)
    Spine of Ish Sah (best paired with something like Phyrexia's Core or some other sac outlet for repeats)
    Karn Liberated
    Nevinyrral's Disk
    Oblivion Stone

    There are other options, but I consider these to be the best of a bad set of options.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Competitive]] Olivia is Mrs. Steal Yo Creatures
    Pro tip:
    Use deck tags. It makes for easier reading and generally draws a better response from the community.

    In case you don't know how, here's a tutorial:

    [ deck=My Deck Name]
    General:
    1 Olivia Voldaren

    Lands
    1 Swamp
    1 Mountain
    [/deck]

    Would look like this if you remove the space from in front of "deck":


    It's also a good idea to sort the cards into card types or some other logical categories. But you seem to have already done that.

    As for deck advice, Heartstone and Illusionist's Bracers could be amusing with Olivia.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Incoming!
    You leave a lot of unanswered questions.
    What colors do you want to run?
    How involved would you like your general be in this deck?
    What kinda shenanigans do you wanna pull with this monstrosity (I-win combo, ultimate pillow-fort, prison-lock, revel in the chaos, etc)?
    Do you want the game to continue after you cast your big dumb spell or would you rather win on the spot?
    What kind of budget are you working with?
    How reliant do you want to be on this spell?
    How many options do you want to squeeze in?
    How competitive do you want the deck to be?

    I can make only generic recommendations at this point. You'll likely want some mana accel, tutoring, and a back-up plan.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on [[Budget]] Mill Commnader
    Cyclonic Rift (overload) + Warped Devotion = derp-tastic
    You could probably get some good use out of Rite of Replication too
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Sliver combo help - need a few cards to cut!
    Hmmm, cuts? Ok, here's a few:

    Archetype of Endurance - Bad card is bad, if you want your team to have Hexproof, look up Asceticism or Privileged Position. This one is too expensive and vulnerable to creature sweepers.
    Ghostflame Sliver - I don't see why you'd need them to be colorless except for a trick with AiDs. You could safely drop this one.
    Living Death - Risky, but I could see it being good. Better if you have asymmetrical bin hate.
    Render Silent - I don't see why you would need this. There are better counters out there.
    Call to the Kindred - This is cute, but there's a reason few play it. It's a bad card. As an aura, it offers up a 2-for-1. You shouldn't like that part. Can it generate long-term advantage. Yes, but at the cost of tempo and a bad gamble. In any kind of game, that card makes the creature an extremely attractive target, and in multiplayer, the odds of removal being available are quite high unless all of your opponents run very little removal, which would be incredibly stupid of them.
    Gift of Immortality - Boooorrrrrrriiiinnnnnngggggggg! Seriously, you should not need this. If you want another way to get guys back, invest in a Genesis.
    Unnatural Selection - Interesting, you should pick between this and Amoeboid Changeling unless you're looking to really play up the I stealz all the thingz theme.
    Coat of Arms - Sliver Legion already does this, and that's tutorable via your (presumed) general

    I assume you're trying to kill people with Purphoros + Sliver Queen + some combination of mana stuffs, or just mow them down with hoards of tokens. If that's the primary win, you'll want more ways to find Purphoros. So far I see 4 tutors for it. If you can't afford the best ones like Survival of the Fittest, Chord of Calling, Idyllic Tutor, and the like, there are some more budget friendly alternatives. Fauna Shaman, Beseech the Queen, Tooth and Nail

    I believe Acidic Sliver would be to your liking.
    Also, if I remember my slivers correctly, you don't have any pump slivers other than Legion


    what's your manabase look like?
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Help me with my Tribal Giant edh deck.
    I take it from your answer that you're not in North America.

    Ok, so does that tribal rule exclude creatures with Changeling? This could matter because it would open up a good deal of cheaper creatures.
    I'm also quite curious about Adaptive Automaton. It doesn't have Giant on it's type-line, but does gain the type while in play (only under a Mindslaver effect would you choose anything else).

    Assuming a "No" to above, I would make sure the manafact count is relatively high (say 6-8) in order to consistently accelerate you to your top end. Obviously, the lower the CMC the better. Also, Ancient Tomb and anything similar would probably go far to helping you out as well, though Ancient Tombs are difficult to find and rather pricey.
    Consider cutting Thran Dynamo since it's nearly as much mana as your lower end giants. However, a case could be made for keeping it as it gets you to 8 mana pretty quick.

    On a $200 budget, you're clearly not going to be using ABU Duals or Fetch lands. So keeping that in mind, here's a few suggestions.

    Some dorks you should think about:
    Bloodfray Giant - Cheap and efficient, the no blocking part is optional.
    Armory Guard - I don't normally like this guy, but he's got a good deal of butt and he's about as cheap as giants normally get. He should be able to hold out long enough to get some more boots on the ground.


    Some goodies you might like:
    Shared Animosity - depending on your typical attacker count, this could be either really nasty, or completely lackluster.
    Door of Destinies - Pick a tribe (gee, I wonder wut you'll name) and watch it grow.
    Konda's Banner - A dead card if you don't have your general or one of your other legends (I believe you have 1 more).
    Coat of Arms - Probably not the best option for you since your creature count is liable to lean towards the low side.
    Hinder - Finger someone's general and watch them cry
    Spell Crumple - ditto
    Chaos Warp - a good compliment to Oblation.

    Here's a few lands which might help you out:
    Temple of Enlightenment - Why not complete the trio?
    Reflecting Pool - Kinda pricey, but there are only two situations where it wouldn't do anything: Right after a resolved Armageddon, and when you shouldn't have kept the hand anyway. Almost every other situation will see it being very helpful.
    Cavern of Souls - Expensive, but oh so juicy in tribal decks. Let's you flip the bird at counters on your dudes.
    City of Brass - The downside should be negligible in EDH. Plus you have a couple of ways to gain the life back.

    What exactly is Vesuva meant to copy?
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Help me with my Tribal Giant edh deck.
    Quote from Runnin
    Yeah i think that's a good point. I can just cut the blue giants for support, like carddraw. Excellent stuff. I'll update with the cards im replacing the blue creatures with. I think im gonna keep Frost Titan for now, he can keep a bothersome permanent tapped.


    I didn't mean to imply that you should cut Frosty, he's a beast and a b**** to remove. I think he's better than fine as a 6-drop.

    Quote from Runnin
    I've played against my friends that runs SunForger, i admit that it's a really good card, but i feel it's a really boring card, not fun to play with at all. The only fun part really is the +4 atk on it.


    Alright, hard to account for personal taste. I've never used it in a deck or played against it personally, but I've seen it in action something like once or twice. It's hard to argue with casting a tutored spell for that little.


    Quote from Runnin
    Im thinking this:
    - Skaab Goliath
    - Benthic Giant
    - Favor of the Mighty

    + Rhystic Study
    + Fact or Fiction
    + Bident of Thassa
    ^I was thinking, that i think my creatures will atleast be a little bigger than my opponents most of the time. i can bait then with
    the bident to hit either me or whoever, and lose all their creatures, getting tapped out. It seems great when i think of it those scenarios.


    Benthic Giant is a little small for it's cmc, but the hexproof is handy. It's a unique instance in the tribe. More useful if you're into a voltron build, but this list hardly qualifies.
    I like the logic on Bident, and that should mix well with your guy that gives your team vigilance. You can induce some sick massacres by using it to say "come at me bro"

    Quote from Runnin
    ]Windfall[/card]?
    Braingeyser?
    or maybe Balance of Power


    I'm not a fan of Windfall. It's got the potential to mess up a combo player, but any Johnny worth his salt should have a backup plan for discarded pieces. As pure card draw, it's a little conditional for my taste.
    I prefer Stroke of Genius to Braingeyser because the former is instant speed. That mixes better with a bluffing tactics and reactive moves.
    Balance of Power is a little overcosted. Slithermuse is cheaper, and more splashable for the same effect on the evoke. But it's not in your tribe, so it may not be an option. Any word on how strict the tribal bit is gonna be?

    Quote from Runnin
    At the moment i think the weakest thing about the deck is graveyard removal, im gonna run the list without any and lets see what happens. I think i can cram in a Rest in Peace in the deck somehow.


    Bin hate is a meta call. If someone is running around with abusive graveyard shenanigans, you'll want to add it quick. But much of the time, you can run without it. I leave it out of all my "non-competitive" lists as a deliberate weakness, but it's almost always showing up in some form or another for my french lists.


    I never did see your answer to my question about what kind of budget you're working with, so I'll ask again. What's you're budget like?

    In core set drafts, one of my favorite things to do is steal a guy temporarily, attack with it, and then feed it to a sac-outlet. Perhaps Chuck and Brion would be up to the task of not giving stuff back.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • posted a message on Help me with my Tribal Giant edh deck.
    Quote from krichaiushii
    I rather enjoy the chaos that Boldwyr Heavyweights bring with them, but aside from Stranglehold, Aven Mindcensor, Torpor Orb, and Mindlock Orb, I cannot think of any other support mechanism... maybe hold some exiling removal or Threaten-esque cards to quickly dispatch whatever the Heavyweights bring with them?


    I like a little chaos too, but not at the cost of the game. But that's the Spike in me talking. I'm currently trying to build (with little-to-no planning) a troll-face EDH specifically to provoke WTF reactions and IRL rage-quits.
    If we're talking about ways to mitigate the downside, Tariff is one way to go. Still not much good because that raises the mana requirement to 6.

    Quote from krichaiushii
    The high cmc of many cards makes me think that Kaboom! and/or Riddle of Lightning might be considered.


    I think the overall goal should be to lower the average CMC a little and accelerate. I've never really liked Riddle of Lightning for it's pseudo randomness. It's inconsistent since you have to choose your target before you know how much damage you get. That makes it a big-ass gamble in a removal role. However, there is Interpret the Signs. Still inconsistent, but at least it's not as big a gamble being draw instead of attempted removal.

    Quote from krichaiushii
    The lack of card draw frightens me.


    Well there are a few things we can do about that. Here's a laundry list of decent and mostly budget friendly draw options in appropriate colors.
    Rhystic Study
    Jace, Architect of Thought
    Tower of Fortunes
    Infiltration Lens
    Honden of Seeing Winds
    Bident of Thassa
    Coastal Piracy


    Seriously consider adding these:
    Sunforger - This is one of the single most abusive cards available in your colors. It can do almost anything you can think of if you put the right cards in your list. You'll need to develop a package for it though.
    Mistveil Plains - Support card for above, allows you to reload spells for future re-use.

    You should cut:
    Skaab Goliath - You're not liable to have enough guys in the bin early enough for this guy to be much good.

    I would be more likely to use blue as a support color in this deck. It's not like blue has many giants. The hexproof and Frost Titan one is fine, but the rest are probably going to suck. Scratch that, the other one does suck, blue has only 3 giants.
    Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists
  • To post a comment, please or register a new account.