My opponent casts Grapeshot with storm of 20. I try to copy it with Expansion // Explosion. Do I get the storm trigger and therefore many copies with it? If so, does my opponent die before their storm copies can kill me? I don't quite know if in order to get the storm trigger the spell has to be "properly cast" or if it is just part of the resolution of the spell itself.
Thanks for the great response! Any way I could see your list including him?
Here's where I'm at currently. The SB is entirely based on what I expect to play against locally so it would have a few tweaks to a large and open field.
In case you missed it, Frank Karsten wrote an updated article on his mana source calculations over at CFB. Here's a link to the article where he goes much more in depth with the explanations and the assumptions made along with some minor tweaks and updates on how to consider building a proper mana base. There is still a convienant table near the start for quick reference when checking your work. As before this is an incredible resources, especially in a deck that leans hard on multi colored spells alongside cryptic command.
I'm coming into this a little late, how do people feel about Nicol Bolas, the Ravager. He seems fantastic and outside of the running into path or a fatal push that has a fetchland behind it, he is a bruiser with good evasion. He can block mantis rider and other small critters and comes with the free discard. Sorry if I missed this, but were people feeling that the morph cost was prohibitive? Anyone test this and like/dislike it?
I believe that I've been the main proponent of including bolas in grixis so I'll give you the quick TL;DR of my experiences with it. I have been extremely happy with him in my grixis list, even though he started out as just a meme, and have been on two copies for a long time. The way you need to approach thinking of him is as a split card. Part 4/4 wall with a promised 2-for-1 and part cruel ultimatum. Don't think of either part as the primary reason to play him, it's the sum of the parts that makes him quite good. I like that he is a good play on turn four and turn fifteen with the latter being an "I win" button incredibly often. Even against decks like humans, UW or even storm the flip ability is relevant and will win you the game every time in my experience.
You do need to build your deck a touch differently like having some discard to see if tapping out is ok and you can lean on things like AV more since you have a mana dump in case you flood out. All in all he is a great win con and works very well with our plan of whittling down the opponent's hand with snap Kommand and other discard effects perfectly.
Assuming this is at Regular REL, here is the rule from the JAR:
A player has illegal, insufficient, or another player’s cards in his or her deck Remove any cards that shouldn’t be in the deck, put back any cards that should, then add basic lands of the player’s choice if the deck is below the format's minimum size limit. Any cards that are added to the deck should be shuffled directly into the library. If the error was discovered during a draw effect, have the player complete the draw effect after the deck is fixed and shuffled. Encourage players to count their deck and present their sideboard (face down) to their opponents before starting a game to avoid these errors.
Ok cool. What if this was at Comp REL and what would happen to my opponent when they notice in the middle of their next match that I probably have their cards in my deck? Would that change anything?
My opponent has a creature with hexproof. I activate my Detection Tower and kill their thing. On the same turn they play another creature with hexproof. Can I target the second creature on the same turn or do I have to untap and activate my tower again?
In round one of an event I am playing with thief of sanity. I hit my opponent and get the trigger in the third game of the match. We are using the same sleeves so I don't notice that I accidentally shuffled their cards into my deck at the end of the game. Several turns into the next round I notice I have their cards in my deck somehow. What is the policy for resolving this?
That's certainly one card I find very interesting, and I agree with you that drawing one is better than making your opponent discard one. 4 might not be the best number though, maybe 2 as a finisher would be better, drake's main problem is the restrictive manacost.
Very much this. Getting UURR is way harder than 1UBR and the more discard you have in the deck the more you're incentivized to get black early. Combine that with field of ruin making things awkward it can be pretty difficult to cast on curve. It does work amazingly with the scour package and can close games fast, I'll give it that. I've yet to test it myself, even though I'm the one that tests that sorta thing rigorously in these parts. Most of my time lately has been spent testing standard so I haven't gotten much time on other grixis variants, but I'm 100% going to give this one an honest run through and see how it fares.
The real question will be how good is the closing speed vs not having a late game cruel ultimatum split card. Can you kill fast enough in a game where you would normally flip bolas? After that it becomes assuming you can 100% always cast it on curve, does the restrictive cost cause more trouble than it's worth? A four power flier is already great with bolas, but how consistently will it be something like a seven power monster?
I looked through the notes on gatherer, and they didn't quite answer a question of mine so I'm asking it here. I control Precognition Field and when I look at the top card of my deck and I see it is an Opt. Assume that the card beneath opt is another copy of opt, so that is two copies on top of my deck. Am I able to cast opt from the top of my deck and announce that I'm holding priority (before looking at the next card) and then cast the second opt in response? If that sounds a little weird, here is a step by step example of my question in practice with Precognition Field already in play.
1. Look at my top card.
2. Cast opt from my library and place it on the stack.
3. Announce that I am holding priority.
4. Look at my top card.
5. Cast a second copy of opt also from my library.
I suppose another way of explaining this is can I look at my top card while a spell is on the stack or is the spell I cast from my deck still technically on top of my deck much like a miracle card is technically in your hand when you trigger a miracle.
Straight forward question today. I cast sorcerous spyglass and name my opponent's Dawn of Hope. Can they still spend mana to draw cards when they gain life?
Here's where I'm at currently. The SB is entirely based on what I expect to play against locally so it would have a few tweaks to a large and open field.
2 Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
4 Snapcaster Mage
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Vendilion Clique
Removal
1 Fatal Push
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Terminate
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Dreadbore
Permission
3 Thought Erasure
3 Cryptic Command
2 Logic Knot
1 Spell Snare
4 Ancestral Vision
Mana
1 Blood Crypt
2 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Field of Ruin
3 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents
1 Swamp
2 Watery Grave
3 Collective Brutality
1 Damnation
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Fulminator Mage
2 Negate
2 Surgical Extraction
3 Unmoored Ego
1 Vendilion Clique
I believe that I've been the main proponent of including bolas in grixis so I'll give you the quick TL;DR of my experiences with it. I have been extremely happy with him in my grixis list, even though he started out as just a meme, and have been on two copies for a long time. The way you need to approach thinking of him is as a split card. Part 4/4 wall with a promised 2-for-1 and part cruel ultimatum. Don't think of either part as the primary reason to play him, it's the sum of the parts that makes him quite good. I like that he is a good play on turn four and turn fifteen with the latter being an "I win" button incredibly often. Even against decks like humans, UW or even storm the flip ability is relevant and will win you the game every time in my experience.
You do need to build your deck a touch differently like having some discard to see if tapping out is ok and you can lean on things like AV more since you have a mana dump in case you flood out. All in all he is a great win con and works very well with our plan of whittling down the opponent's hand with snap Kommand and other discard effects perfectly.
Ok cool. What if this was at Comp REL and what would happen to my opponent when they notice in the middle of their next match that I probably have their cards in my deck? Would that change anything?
Very much this. Getting UURR is way harder than 1UBR and the more discard you have in the deck the more you're incentivized to get black early. Combine that with field of ruin making things awkward it can be pretty difficult to cast on curve. It does work amazingly with the scour package and can close games fast, I'll give it that. I've yet to test it myself, even though I'm the one that tests that sorta thing rigorously in these parts. Most of my time lately has been spent testing standard so I haven't gotten much time on other grixis variants, but I'm 100% going to give this one an honest run through and see how it fares.
The real question will be how good is the closing speed vs not having a late game cruel ultimatum split card. Can you kill fast enough in a game where you would normally flip bolas? After that it becomes assuming you can 100% always cast it on curve, does the restrictive cost cause more trouble than it's worth? A four power flier is already great with bolas, but how consistently will it be something like a seven power monster?
1. Look at my top card.
2. Cast opt from my library and place it on the stack.
3. Announce that I am holding priority.
4. Look at my top card.
5. Cast a second copy of opt also from my library.
I suppose another way of explaining this is can I look at my top card while a spell is on the stack or is the spell I cast from my deck still technically on top of my deck much like a miracle card is technically in your hand when you trigger a miracle.