Some corrections:
Chiyo is Eitoku's superior, not the other way around.
Nagao is grievously wounded and presumed dead, but he survives as revealed in the next book.
In the final scene, Toshi sends Choryu the water wizard and friend of Michiko to Hidetsugu (not Chiyo the soratami).
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Nov 30, 2017Myrmadillo posted a message on If You Can't Take Criticism of Jeremy Hambly, You're Part of the ProblemI generally never read or comment on these things, but I don't think this post is appropriate as a front page article. The article doesn't explain who Jeremy Hambly is, what he has said or did, who is criticizing him, what they are saying about him, and it only gives a minimal amount of information about Christine Sprankle. As a result, I barely have a clue of what the article is supposed to be addressing. The article makes so many assumptions about prior knowledge that it's almost unintelligible. On top of that, the article is packed full of biased political statements, which makes me wonder why it was even permitted to be posted.Posted in: Articles
I come to these forums for Magic: The Gathering, not politics. If this article actually informed me about what is apparently major event in the Magic community and made a clear statement about how to correct the issue without resorting to belittling, politically charged statements, it could have actually been a worthwhile article. -
Oct 11, 2017Myrmadillo posted a message on Playing Paper PauperFor those interested, I went through the 37 problematic cards listed in the article above. Only allowing cards that are legal in Modern that have been printed at common level reduces the problematic list of cards to five that need banning:Posted in: Articles
Cranial Plating
Empty the Warrens
Goblin Grenade
Grapeshot
Merchant Scroll -
Oct 10, 2017Myrmadillo posted a message on Playing Paper PauperRather than deal with all these exceptions, wouldn't it be easier to simply play Modern Pauper? If the card is legal in Modern and it has ever been printed at common, it would be considered legal.Posted in: Articles
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I am still running the "spend no more than 50 cents on a card" budget, so the gauntlets and Wurmcoil Engine are outside my price range. I've had my eyes on the Greater Gargadon for a while, but he's running about $1.30 right now.
Since I don't have mana doublers, it's rare for me to hit 11 mana, so Pathrazer of Ulamog is out. My primary reason for considering Valakut Fireboar is that I can reliably get 5 mana quickly and having a 1/7 defender would help cover up my vulnerable early game as well as surviving Jaya's infernos late game. That said, I've always wanted to try out Tyrant of Discord since it's one of the few Red options for eliminating enchantments, but I've considered him too costly in terms of mana. However, since Jaya's deck is designed around reaching 7 mana, this may be the place to field him (though I've been seeing Bane of Progress a bit more lately, which really hurts when you are reliant on so many mana rocks.)
Thanks for pointing out Ulamog's Crusher. I didn't know there was such thing as a common/budget Eldrazi! I had seen Magmatic Force before, but he's running about $1.30 right now. I hadn't realized the 3 damage was EVERY upkeep (rather than just YOUR upkeep)!
Re: Lightning Bolt
I can see the arguments for lightning bolt (based on this discussion, I'm reconsidering it for my Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs deck), but Jaya can already turn any card into an incinerate. Between Jaya, Pyrohemia, and a few others, my deck tends to wipe out low toughness creatures en masse. Its creatures that Jaya's inferno can't handle that give me trouble. That's why Brittle Effigy and Fissure get my vote. Which leads to...
A story of my ignorance:
We were playing a game with 4 players. The others had decided for this game we could only attack to our left, and just my luck, I got a Prossh, Skyraider of Kher aggro deck next to me. I wasn't paying much attention to the player across the table as I was trying to defend from Prossh and maybe attack the other direction. I managed to outlast Prossh. The game went a couple more rounds and the guy I had been ignoring before the Prossh player got eliminated was doing all kinds of crazy things on each player's turn. After about 3 rounds of this, I asked, "What in the world is allowing you to do that?" He points to a token in front of him and says, "This is my proxy for Prophet of Kruphix." I had assumed it was some sort of enchantment that I couldn't get rid of anyway and here Jaya had been in play the entire time and I had 5-6 cards in my hand to blow the stupid thing away...unfortunately, by that point it was pretty much too late to stop him.
A better story:
Due to various creature attacks, my health had dwindled to the low teens. To stay alive the next round, I used Codex Shredder to recover a Glacial Chasm and drop it on the table. I planned on casting Jaya, attaching Magebane Armor, and starting to inferno the next round, but I drew Pyrohemia and played it instead. Over the course of the next 4 rounds I did 28 damage to all 4 of the other players and kept myself alive by using Trading Post to gain 4 health per round. (Pyrohemia stayed in play because the Sharuum player had indestructible creatures.) I killed two of the other players and came close to killing the other two when one of them cast Armageddon, which pretty much neutered my board state (I had no creatures and this removed Glacial Chasm). I ended up losing, but by the end of the game I had done at least 34 points of damage to each player sitting at the table, not including a few 6 damage attacks I had made with my
Two-Headed CerberusHound of Griselbrand early in the game. I probably did more damage to the table than all 4 of the other players combined.The more I think about these two cards, the less I think they fit in my deck. Being a budget deck, I don't have any mana doublers. I don't even have Sol Ring, Worn Powerstone, or Thran Dynamo. As such, I usually max out around 7-9 mana. Considering the 4 mana investment, it would be rare for me to be able to cast more than one spell using Past in Flames That makes it a worse version of Recoup, which I pulled from my deck because I rarely found it useful. Act on Impulse is a little better because it is likely to give card advantage if you draw a land, but it forces you to play what you happen to draw, which may or may not be appropriate at the time.
Has anyone else tested out Act on Impulse? Any thoughts on its worth?
I haven't picked up Act on Impulse yet. Was it underperforming for you or why did it get the axe? I've found Tower of Fortunes generally sits in my hand because I rarely have the 8 mana to dump into it, but you've got much better mana sources to power it than me.
I'll keep Aladdin in mind. I originally skipped over him in favor of Viashino Heretic. I'm feeling pretty good about Into the Core, Viashino Heretic, and Brittle Effigy right now, but we'll see how things shake out.
Removed
Burnished Hart - At 6 total mana, I found this too expensive/clunky in the early game. By mid-game I usually have a lot of other things that require immediate attention, so this generally just sits in my hand.
Shattering Pulse - Lately, I've been facing a lot of indestructible artifacts and I rarely have enough spare mana lying around to make it worth casting twice (at a minimum of 7 mana for two uses).
Tormod's Crypt - For whatever reason, few people in my meta use a lot of graveyard recursion.
Added
Walking Atlas - Replacing Burnished Hart in the hopes that it will help make me a threat sooner and shorten my vulnerable phase at the beginning of the game.
Into the Core - Replacing Shattering Pulse since it is much more mana efficient for hitting two artifacts. Plus, exiling the artifacts makes it effective against indestructibles.
Fervor - Replacing Tormod's Crypt. Haste is always nice.
1 Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Creatures (14)
1 Firewing Phoenix
1 Kuldotha Phoenix
1 Magma Phoenix
1 Shard Phoenix
1 Skarrgan Firebird
1 Charmbreaker Devils
1 Hoarding Dragon
1 Hound of Griselbrand
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Rage Thrower
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Thopter Assembly
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Wojek Embermage
Equipment (6)
1 Butcher's Cleaver
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Gorgon Flail
1 Gorgon's Head
1 Magebane Armor
1 Swiftfoot Boots
Miscellaneous Permanents (6)
1 Codex Shredder
1 Distorting Lens
1 Glacial Chasm
1 Scuttlemutt
1 Sun Droplet
1 Trading Post
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Fire Diamond
1 Mind Stone
1 Prismatic Lens
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Foriysian Totem
1 Pristine Talisman
1 Sisay's Ring
1 Ur-Golem's Eye
1 Dreamstone Hedron
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Walking Atlas
Card Draw & Filtering (8)
1 Browbeat
1 Crystal Ball
1 Mindmoil
1 Moonring Mirror
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Seer's Sundial
1 Sorcerer's Strongbox
1 Tower of Fortunes
Instants/Sorceries/One-Shots (10)
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Brittle Effigy (artifact)
1 Fissure
1 Grab the Reins
1 Into the Core
1 Devil's Play
1 Red Sun's Zenith
1 Reverberate
1 Ricochet Trap
1 Wild Ricochet
1 Burning Sands
1 Fervor
1 Pyrohemia
1 Vicious Shadows
Lands (38)
1 Buried Ruin
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Dormant Volcano
1 Ghost Town
1 Gargoyle Castle
1 Hellion Crucible
1 Encroaching Wastes
1 Ghost Quarter
30 Mountain
Watch List - Cards under consideration for removal.
Burning Sands - I have yet to draw this when I could use it.
Wojek Embermage - I have yet to draw this when I could use it.
Walking Atlas - I just put this in. We'll see how it works out.
Tower of Fortunes - I see potential for this to be a game changer when you're running low on cards, but I haven't drawn it in the right situation yet.
Thopter Assembly - Underperformed in the two games I played it, but partially due to poor play on my part. Still seems to have great potential as anti-air defense.
Possible Additions - Cards I own.
Avarice Totem
Kher Keep - If/When Burning Sands comes out.
Ring of Valkas - Haste and possibility of producing inferno proof creature over time.
Graveyard Hate - Tormod's Crypt, Phyrexian Furnace, Scrabbling Claws
Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs was my first EDH commander and my initial version of the deck was heavily influenced by bobthefunny's $50 Kazuul deck. Early on, I attempted a "forced attack" theme, using cards like Angel's Trumpet, Grand Melee, and Goblin Diplomats, but often found these cards of limited usefulness in disrupting my opponents' plans. Now, the deck relies on disruption in the form of Omen Machine, Uba Mask, and Possibility Storm, which significantly impact the table every time, dragging expensive decks down to the level of this mono-Red budget deck. I'm always looking to improve my deck, so suggestions are most welcome. However, please, note that I adhere to strict budget restrictions:
Deck List
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
Creatures (14 + 9 = 23)
1 Aether Membrane
1 Rage Nimbus
1 Fumiko the Lowblood
1 Hoarding Dragon
1 Hunted Dragon
1 Kuldotha Phoenix
1 Charmbreaker Devils
1 Flameblast Dragon
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
1 Shivan Phoenix
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Thopter Assembly
1 Warmonger Hellkite
Equipment (4)
1 Trailblazer's Boots
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Darksteel Plate
1 Nim Deathmantle
Disruption (5)
1 Uba Mask
1 Omen Machine
1 Possibility Storm
1 Tectonic Instability
1 War's Toll
Card Advantage & Filtering (7)
1 Darksteel Pendant
1 Orcish Librarian (creature)
1 Crystal Ball
1 Oracle's Vault
1 Outpost Siege
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Sunbird's Invocation
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Fire Diamond
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Palladium Myr (creature)
1 Pilgrim's Eye (creature)
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Wild-Field Scarecrow (creature)
Steal... (12)
1 Act of Treason
1 Besmirch
1 Harness by Force
1 Hijack
1 Traitorous Blood
1 Unwilling Recruit
1 Frenzied Fugue
1 Grab the Reins
1 Word of Seizing
1 Mob Rule
1 Zealous Conscripts (creature)
1 Conquering Manticore (creature)
...and Sac (6)
1 Claws of Gix
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Mogg Cannon
1 Trading Post
1 Magmaw (creature)
1 Bloodshot Cyclops (creature)
1 Blood Mist
1 Uncaged Fury
1 Wrecking Ogre (creature)
1 Sentinel Totem
1 Spine of Ish Sah
Lands (38)
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Endless Sands
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Buried Ruin
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Kher Keep
1 Foundry of the Consuls
1 Gargoyle Castle
1 Flamekin Village
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Encroaching Wastes
1 Dormant Volcano
1 Temple of the False God
1 Forgotten Cave
24 Mountain
Deck Features
Watch List: (Cards under consideration for replacement/removal.)
I guess I view Jaya as my filter. If the card isn't good enough, incinerate something or inferno the board.
Yeah, I know it's not unbeatable, but I guess I'm "old school" in that the last time I seriously played MTG was during Revised and 4th Edition. Regeneration seemed like a much more balanced way to handle things. It also doesn't help that I'm trying to compete with $0.50 cards against decks running things like Avacyn, Angel of Hope, which at ~$15 costs more than half the value of my entire deck.
@Zygous - Thanks for reminding me of Viashino Heretic and Into the Core. I can't believe I forgot Viashino Heretic as I added it to my deck at your suggestion for this very reason!
Also, thanks for the comments on Salvaging Station. Considering it's 6 cost, I'm once again reminded that I really should just pick up a Staff of Nin.
Oh, and a minor correction: Heap Doll is a creature, so it doesn't work with Salvaging Station, but Scrabbling Claws and Phyrexian Furnace do! If my meta required a lot of graveyard hate, I might consider running Salvaging Station since Tormod's Crypt,
Relic of Progenitus, Scrabbling Claws, and Phyrexian Furnace are all pretty solid and (except for Tormod's) could all serve as general draw engines.EDIT: Relic of Progenitus doesn't work as it exiles itself.
Right now I have the following that it works really well with:
Tormod's Crypt
Wayfarer's Bauble
Codex Shredder
I also have Gorgon's Head.
Unfortunately, Brittle Effigy exiles itself, so it is a one shot.
I'm not running Steal & Sac in my Jaya deck, but it is featured in my Kazuul deck (which I haven't played in a while since I've been playing Jaya).
One more question: What is the rationale behind running Mad Prophet (or Deal Broker) in your deck? I feel like I'm missing something here because I've never had much luck with Mad Prophet or Rummaging Goblin since they don't provide any true card advantage. (I even ran Moonring Mirror in my deck try to turn them into card advantage and couldn't get the combination out often enough to feel like they pulled their own weight.) Is there some combination I'm missing here? I just find it odd that I'm running an ultra-budget deck cut him, whereas, you're running a pretty high-end deck and still include Mad Prophet in your decklist.
@Weebo - Thank you for the response!
Do you really think this is better than running something like Staff of Nin for card draw or are you just thinking of it for use in addition to that card. How does it stack up against things like Seer's Sundial, Illuminated Folio, or Moonring Mirror? If you're looking for board wipes, it seems like Nevinyrral's Disk or Perilous Vault would be better. Also, this gives your opponents the opportunity to wipe your board if you ever have a leading board position, which seems like a pretty big drawback.
I had not realized that sending commanders back to the command zone bypassed "when creature dies" effects. I think my group has been misplaying this, so I'm glad you brought it up! Again, how do you think this card stacks up against things like Seer's Sundial, Illuminated Folio, or Moonring Mirror?
One down side is that if you've wiped the board and have no creatures, the Ogre will end up dying too.
Re: Soul of New Phyrexia
I was not happy to see this card. I'm not a fan of "indestructible" in general and this looks like something I'll probably be seeing in opponents' decks in the near future. Besides Brittle Effigy and Grab the Reins, do you have any budget ($0.50 or less) solutions for indestructibles?
(My first choice is still Devil's Play, but I like having two in my deck.)
What about using Slagwurm Armor to either inferno proof Jaya or another creature?
I'll plan on slipping Kher Keep into my deck, especially if/when I remove Burning Sands. I also realized I have Forgotten Cave and Smoldering Crater, but they are in my Zo-Zu the Punisher stack right now as cycling is less important for Jaya.
Swapping Grinning Ignus for Burnished Hart also looks like a good idea. Grinning Ignus helps me get larger spells off earlier, but Burnished Hart is better for the long game.
So, you run haste more for the beaters than for Jaya herself? Good to know. I've stuck with lower mana cost creatures because not having mana doublers and other pricey rampers (Sol Ring, etc.), makes casting larger creatures unreliable (especially if I want to hang onto mana for Jaya, Kumano, etc.).
I actually picked up Mark of Fury instead of Racecourse Fury because I thought having it bounce back to my hand would be nice for Jaya's discard. However, I neglected to consider durability. I think I can obtain Fervor easily in a local trade, so if I add one more, I'll probably go with that one.
I think you missed that Sun Droplet is "each upkeep" not "your upkeep." In a 5 player game, if I inferno everyone for 6 on my turn, I'll have gained 5 hit points back by the time it is my turn again. Druidic Satchel can't keep up with that.
When I purchased cards, I went with Fissure over Aftershock (figuring Red already has enough artifact hate) and Brittle Effigy over Cinder Cloud (to combat Blightsteel Colossus, et al.). Cinder Cloud is on my possibilities list.