In general, a spell doesn't resolve until all players pass in a row while that spell is on top of the stack (C.R. 117.4). This also applies to spells that target other spells, such as Counterspell, Rewind, and Negate. If a player has priority, they can use it to cast instant spells such as Negate (C.R. 117.1a).
Note also that the stack itself doesn't resolve, but rather individual spells and abilities in it do, with priority windows in between.
I'm trying to cast a wincon, but my opponent responds with Counterspell, which I then respond to with Rewind. It's Two-Headed Giant, so their partner responds with Negate... but it's targeting the wincon, not Rewind.
When Rewind resolves and my lands untap, do I have priority to use them to Negate his Negate?
Basically, is priority passing still a thing once a stack starts resolving?
I'm not looking for decklists. I'm asking as someone who wants to learn the history Magics metas. I'd love it if there was a "Meta Encyclopedia" if you will.
I've always been a casual budget kitchen table player since I started playing in 2002 at age 13, but I hate that my lack of competitive experience seems to hinder my overall knowledge of the game. I feel like I can really grow as a player, tinkerer/brewer, deck pilot with the knowledge I've missed out on all these years.
I want to hear about things like the Lorwyn era and Tarmogroyfs dominance, Mirrodins Raffinity, the more recent era of Mono U Delver and Red Deck Wins, the Scepter-Chant, Fruity Pebbles, & Ad Nauseum era, Phasenought, Skullclamp & Force of Will's impact on the metas, the Sligh deck era of the late 90's, and everything inbetween from '93 to to present.
I know it seems like I already know plenty, but I am sure there is plenty more that I don't know, not to mentioned that I don't know as much as I'd like to know about any of the things I mentioned.
"You sure are asking a lot"
I'm not asking anyone one person to write a whole book. But each player may know enough about at least one era of Magic to contribute something to it.
I believe this wouldn't just be for me, but also a boon of knowledge to the Magic community as well.
I'm not sure whether or not the word "beginning" actually matters here.
In other words, I want to know if The Scarab God is going to count the zombies from stairwell in its ability or if "beginning" means that The Scarab Gods ability will resolve before the tokens are created.
Believe it or not, casuals have more reasons to be casual than just not being able to afford being competitive. Many of us wouldn't/wont indulge even if/though we could. We've seen how the competitive meta plays out and come to the conclusion:
"That doesn't look as fun as the version of Magic I play."
My playgroup and I have had multiple discussions about proxies and each one of them have highlighted two things. Why we don't want to use them and why we don't want to play the version of the game that using proxies would lead to.
A particular person reached out to me recently and argued
"If [cards] didn't cost anything and everyone got to play the format, it would be way better."
-I beg to differ. Allow me to explain.
In short, the pay wall is what keeps the casual meta healthy.
Generally speaking (There are collecting factors for some, of course) cards are more expensive because they're more unbalanced than others. That said, I believe the casual player experiences a more balanced game, because the less balanced cards, combos, and interactions are out of reach.
I simply do not agree with the sentiment or claim that the competitive meta level is a balanced game anymore (I believe it used to be, however). The competitive meta that I have witnessed, read about, and learned about puts more emphasis on removal, disruption, and game-ending combos than anything else.
"But isn't that the whole game? What's missing?"
Aggressive creature-oriented decks are largely missing (They do exist in a few forms, like Red Deck Wins, but generally they are inferior to everything else). You can think they are boring all you want, but that doesn't justify excluding them. You can exclaim
"You just want a boring game of Magic where all players play aggro solitaire"
You'd be wrong. In fact, all types of players could throw that toxic vitriol at each other. I could say the same thing about tutor-combo decks. That they just want to play "Who gets their combo off first" solitaire... and I'd also be wrong.
So no, that isn't what we want. We don't want a meta that is ALL or NOTHING one way or another. I want a balance of everything and Magic isn't balanced right now in any format outside of Standard. Aggressive creature decks too easily get mangled and disrupted into oblivion by cheap board wipes, counter spells, and removal or are just plain outpaced by combos that pop off in the first three turns. Does that mean there should be NO interaction? No wipes, counters, or removal? NO, it just means there's way too much of it for one third of the game to be viable. (Aggro/Control/Combo)
What happens in a situation like that? People stop playing aggro and what you're left with are two kinds of decks being played instead of three (Stax & Combo).
Casual players want absolutely nothing to do with an unbalanced expensive game that boils down to:
"I mulligan'd to 5 and still didn't get my combo, so I scoop"
"I got my combo, but you Force of Will'd it, so I lose/scoop"
"I got my combo and win on turn [1/2/3]"
"I got my combo, but you got yours first, so I lose"
Which is how I imagine 95% of competitive games go. That's an unhealthy unbalanced, and dare I say, dreadfully boring game from our perspective.
As for proxies, they just lead to casual players inevitably entering that very realm. I don't want to play that game. I want a game where Mono Green Stompy and Sligh still have viability. So no proxies for me or my friends. We like our little kitchen table meta JUST the way it is.
Can it be fixed? Yes, but the real question is, WILL it be fixed? And the answer is a big certain NO. It would require an extensive expansion of the ban-lists, starting with the essential pieces of each combo that can win on the first three turns, all of the tutors cheaper than Diabolic, a long list of 1-drop removal, and a large list of board wipes.
That will never happen, as a large portion of the player-base have spoken in favor of the current unbalanced iteration of the game. If Wizards/Hasbro did that, many that like to play the current farce would quit and there's less profit in that. So competitive Magic will never NOT be a farce unfortunately. The best we can do is just stay away from both proxies and bloated spending budgets so that our games can still be creative, healthy, and fun.
-10 card decks with no basic lands (+1 Leader card)
-10 card basic land deck
-No duplicates (Like Commander)
-20 Starting Life
-3 card starting hand, 5 card max
-New deck-out rule. When you attempt to draw a card and there is none, instead, you shuffle your graveyard and place it down as your library (Then draw your card). However, if you attempt to do this and there is no graveyard to shuffle, you deck-out and lose. That said, it's wise to run at least one instant or sorcery to ensure this isn't likely to happen.
-After your draw phase, you get a mana phase where you draw a basic land from your basic land deck and place it untapped into play.
-Any cards that would have you search your library for a basic land are nearly useless (As there are none in the actual library). So Rampant Growth isn't banned as much as nullified.
HOWEVER, when a land is destroyed or sacrificed, it IS sent to the graveyard and CAN be shuffled into the library. Therefore, the only use for fetch cards like Rampant Growth would be to fetch those back out. Playing a land from your land-deck does not count against your "one land" for the turn, so if you draw a land from your library, you can play that land that turn as well.
-Similar to Commander, you may pick one creature card as a "Leader" and it behaves exactly the same as a Commander. This creature doesn't have to be Legendary however, but it DOES have to have either the highest power or toughness (Or tied for it) in your deck, which (By design) leads mostly to lower P/T decks. It also dictates which colors you can run the same way as well. So picking the right "Leader" is even more crucial.
After much playtesting, I'm eying Smallpox for a ban too, but I'll hold my judgement on that until I've tested the format very extensively. I've decided to try not to ban cards just based on them being very powerful, but rather only if they're game-breaking. That said Vampire Nocturnus, while being supercharged by the format (Because there are no lands to turn up, so in a mono-black deck, his ability is always active) isn't actually game-breaking. Smallpox on the other hand is problem in a format where your deck can cycle it back to you very often. Add that to its synergy with many cards like Blood Artist and it's definitely borderline game-breaking.
This format will also share the Legacy Ban List as well, so no Power 9.
_____________________________________________________________
I think this format is amazing. It will be super-affordable because you only have to have 11 cards and games wont be so drawn out like in Commander... and yet, while other formats see a drop in depth for gaining those perks, this format does not. After building 5 decks to test, it actually seems to have MORE depth than a normal 60 card preconstructed game. It plays like a game that has all the upsides of both 60-Precon & Commander and none of the downsides. I really think it has potential once a good ban-list is established.
You might ask "Why not allow non-basic lands in the land deck?"
3 Reasons:
1. One of the biggest appeals to this format is that it's 5x more affordable, so expensive dual lands not being a vital part of every deck is a benefit to the format in my opinion.
2. To offset the more consistent card-play in the format, it's best to make it a little harder and slower for decks to get the mana they need to do what they do.
3. Because you're guaranteed a land every turn, it isn't quite as necessary to run dual lands. So it doesn't set you back as much in this format by not having them.
If you want mana-flexibility bad enough, run one or two in your library.
______________________________________________________________
Notable differences so far
-Decks that rely on strength in numbers typically don't do as well or work quite the same, unless they can operate on tokens. Not to say that Elves or Goblins aren't still strong, but the format requires you to approach them a bit differently to make them work and their potential is capped by the limited number of cards in the deck.
-One really good Instant or Sorcery to keep casting repeatedly during the end game is a must every good deck. In the wolf deck I built, I was amused that it got to keep casting Howl of the Night Pack the last few turns of the game.
On a related note: Games aren't drawn out like in commander, partly due to this. Once decks reach this "critical mass" phase of the game, things wrap up pretty quickly.
-Every deck should run at least one artifact/enchantment removal and, if possible, one creature kill-spell and one counter-spell. For instance, if you run black, Dash Hopes and Devour in Shadow are good options.
-Life gain sorceries/instants are given a lot more viability in this format. Heroes' Reunion makes a G/W weenie deck hard to kill during the end game. Especially when combo'd with cards like Voracious Wurm
-Creature counts are lower and removal is more constant, so expect to run on one or two creatures often. That said, cards like Demonic Rising really take advantage of this.
-Landfall abilities are better in some ways and worse in others. It's better in the sense that you get a guaranteed land every turn until your 10 card land-deck runs out. It's worse in the sense that cards like Primeval Titan aren't going to boost your land drops.
_______________________________________________________________
I think this format has more depth than both Commander and 60-card Constructed.
Why? Well, your deck has to be more carefully balanced and picking the right leader is not easy.
You can't rely on having multiple copies of the same card out, however, decks still play consistently. What I've noticed happens is that every deck runs some removal, so you don't do well when your deck only has one win-condition (My least reliable deck right now is Leader: Progenitus - Door to NothingnessComposite GolemKaleidostone etc).
Because of that, you have to both build and play your deck in a way where you have multiple ways to win. If you don't, your opponents can and will stop your win condition consistently and you can't just bait their removal, because it's only a matter of a few turns or less that they draw it back again.
On top of that, when each opponent is operating on 1-3 creatures most of the time and there's removal flying around, it forces you to stay dynamic and flexible instead of playing your deck like a robot. Each situation requires you to play your deck differently and if you're playing a linear deck, you wont do so well in this format.
It's a whole lot more depth than I expected from 10 card decks. I am very happy with what I've come up with here.
Okay, 2 months of playtesting later and here are my thoughts. It's a fun casual low-budget deck and does what it's supposed to do, but it's still missing something. I'm a huge fan of the new dual land (Pathway) cycle, so I added a playset of the UB Pathways to it, which cost me about $10. So now it's a $30 deck and almost never has a mana issue.
One thing I'm going to playtest soon is using 4 less lands and putting Wanderer's Twig in. With everything but 6 cards having 1 CMC, (And with the help of those dual lands) I think 15 lands might actually work out nicely this way. The twig will accelerate the deck-thinning process and guarantee the UU I'll need when I need it for Recons/Tridents, but at the cost of slowing the win progress down a turn or two.
Another idea I'm thinking on trying is taking out Outcast for a set of Admiral's order.
The main issue with this deck trying to compete with better decks is that Fog Bank can only do so much for so long and getting an army of 1/1 unblockables big enough to pull the win usually takes longer than for the opponent to overwhelm or circumvent your strategy. Trample definitely makes it hard for this deck to win, as well, since Fog Bank can only chump for 2 against it. I'm open for ideas for what cards I could add to address this issue. There's definitely plenty of room for tweaking with this deck, so there's potential.
I had a very vague idea, but I made it work and after lots of tinkering, I think I made a pretty good budget deck. It's actually a modern deck (unintentionally) but I didn't want to post it in a forum flooded with competitive decks and I also wanted to get ideas for improving it as well.
It ran me about $20, which is pretty good for what it actually does.
My first iteration didn't do very well. So I did a LOT of tinkering and re-testing all day.
After much tinkering, I scavenged all of my cards for something to fill 3 spots and discovered Perilous Myr. One thing I realized when play-testing the deck, was the whole deck-thin-and-cycle thing with Elixir of Immortality worked nicely. So Perilous Myr really adds some value into the late game, because chump blocking is really important in this deck to stave off anything that Fog Bank can't. So you can chump block, deal damage back, use Elixir and keep drawing them back out.
So here it is, a VERY low budget deck that snow-balls into lots of fun.
Thanks. Some of those cards are great, but yeah, a little pricey. It goes to show just how much room for improvement this deck really has, with some investment.
And Fierce Empath, complete forgot about that card. I might be able to ditch the fetches altogether for that. I'm definitely getting some of those, so I'll tinker with them.
I also considered Archdruid and for some dumb reason, I had moment where I said "Nah, I don't need a +1/+1 boost" and moved on without realizing that it has more to offer than Elvish Guidance as an extra Elf body. So I'm going to switch those out.
Thanks for the suggestions, but unfortunately some options are too expensive and a couple I'd disagree with.
Demonic Tutor is banned in Legacy, so that's not an option. (I do own one)
Diabolic Intent and Forbidden Orchard are amazing, but $18.00+ a pop is just too much.
As for Diabolic Tutor, you're right, It's the BB. I figure, in a deck focused on generating massive mana, paying 1 more instead wont really be an issue.
Torment of Hailfire is good, but I'm not entirely sure it's better for this deck, and definitely not by enough to justify paying over $22.00 on a set of 3. With my testing, the life gain from Exsanguinate has actually been a key factor from time to time. However, there were a few decks where Hailfire would have been better, such as my Exalted deck that could run on two creatures and equipment to avoid triggering Defense of the Heart. It would be a nice side-board option for sure, but I probably won't spend $7.50 a pop for some sideboard cards.
As for Insist and Shusher, Emrakul doesn't need them, because it already can't be countered, which is a big part of what makes it the strongest creature drop in the game.
Shusher could help me protect my other spells and that's nice, but in order for it to provide the necessary value to replace an Elf (Therefor cutting into my mana production), it would need something else to offer the deck. Besides, they'll use removal on Shusher and proceed to counter/remove my key components anyways.
What I'm thinking I need is some kind of Instant like Autumn's Veil. I'll probably side-board it though. It would probably replace the two Asceticisms and maybe a forest.
As for Spike Weaver, it's nice, but it's too susceptible to removal.
I really also want some better way to bet black mana without paying $6.00+ a pop for dual lands that don't come into play tapped.
I'm thinking on just settling for Llanowar Wastes or Twilight Mire. Think I'm going to go with Mire.
So several months ago, I bought a copy of Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn, for no other reason but because I wanted to own the strongest creature card (Not the best, per se, but merely strongest) in the game.
Awhile back, I started tinkering with ideas of how to actually run just 1 of him (It? lol) in a deck. My first concept of using black fetches to get him with Aetherplasm to cheat him out didn't work as well as I wanted. The biggest hang-up was that the whole strategy hinged on Aetherplasm not getting removed or my opponent not finding some way to get around it.
My second idea has been surprisingly successful, however. The basic premise was that I didn't want to just cheat him out anymore. I wanted to cast him and get that extra turn. So I built what is essentially an Elf deck loaded with Fog & Moment's Peace and splashed with black fetch. The Elves serve the sole purpose of generating as much mana as possible as fast as possible and the Fogs/Peace's hold my opponent off long enough to pull the whole thing off. I can consistently generate over 15 mana by turn 5 and sometimes by turn 4. So all I usually need is a Fog or two.
Right away though, I knew the deck had room to be better, since I had loads of excess mana and no backup win condition should the Emrakul thing not work out for whatever reason. So I went through my other decks to get an idea of what cards to best take advantage of that extra mana. As soon as I saw Exsanguinate, I knew it was the perfect backup. After all, I had already splashed enough black for the fetches.
While I was searching for the backup, I also ran across Crystal Shard, which triggered a crazy idea... if I can generate at least 18 mana, it's an infinite turns combo with Emrakul. (Cast Emrakul, take extra turn & attack, use Shard during Main Phase 2 to return it to my hand and recast it for another extra turn etc).
The deck was testing good, but it seemed that about 40% of games, it just couldn't get Emrakul or one of the fetches. I needed a little something more. I used an advanced search on EssentialMagic and discovered Defense of the Heart. This card is so busted, I almost feel dirty using it.
It's testing very well now, as far as how consistently it can pull off its win conditions. So yeah, I'm really happy with this build.
Before I share, yes I know this isn't a truly competitive deck. Not only do I play "Kitchen Table" Magic, but I play sub $150 budget as well. This deck could be even better if I threw another $100 into it (Dual lands, Diabolic Tutors etc), but it's not worth it to me. I also am aware that all it takes to beat this deck is to counter its Fog so the damage goes through, which is probably its biggest flaw. Maybe the deck could be amended to patch that flaw though. Suggestions are welcome.
I remember I used to own a playset of Manamorphose that I got from some lots of common/uncommons on ebay for $15 per 1,000. I was shocked at how much they were worth several years later.
But yeah, that's what keeps me from pushing for this format. No one wants to invest that kind of time into keeping up with an ever-changing format.
My only idea right now is that maybe, regardless of price at any given moment, cards are only banned/unbanned at 6 month intervals. So every December 1st and July 1st the card prices are checked and legality is updated accordingly. It would be like a super affordable standard with over 15,000 cards to build from.
I am considering building a commander deck around this theme.
What are a bunch of other really good ones? Color doesn't matter.
The Magic website doesn't have anything resembling what I am requesting and the link you gave says the article no longer exists.
Thanks
I'm trying to cast a wincon, but my opponent responds with Counterspell, which I then respond to with Rewind. It's Two-Headed Giant, so their partner responds with Negate... but it's targeting the wincon, not Rewind.
When Rewind resolves and my lands untap, do I have priority to use them to Negate his Negate?
Basically, is priority passing still a thing once a stack starts resolving?
I've always been a casual budget kitchen table player since I started playing in 2002 at age 13, but I hate that my lack of competitive experience seems to hinder my overall knowledge of the game. I feel like I can really grow as a player, tinkerer/brewer, deck pilot with the knowledge I've missed out on all these years.
I want to hear about things like the Lorwyn era and Tarmogroyfs dominance, Mirrodins Raffinity, the more recent era of Mono U Delver and Red Deck Wins, the Scepter-Chant, Fruity Pebbles, & Ad Nauseum era, Phasenought, Skullclamp & Force of Will's impact on the metas, the Sligh deck era of the late 90's, and everything inbetween from '93 to to present.
I know it seems like I already know plenty, but I am sure there is plenty more that I don't know, not to mentioned that I don't know as much as I'd like to know about any of the things I mentioned.
"You sure are asking a lot"
I'm not asking anyone one person to write a whole book. But each player may know enough about at least one era of Magic to contribute something to it.
I believe this wouldn't just be for me, but also a boon of knowledge to the Magic community as well.
Tombstone Stairwell
I'm not sure whether or not the word "beginning" actually matters here.
In other words, I want to know if The Scarab God is going to count the zombies from stairwell in its ability or if "beginning" means that The Scarab Gods ability will resolve before the tokens are created.
"That doesn't look as fun as the version of Magic I play."
My playgroup and I have had multiple discussions about proxies and each one of them have highlighted two things. Why we don't want to use them and why we don't want to play the version of the game that using proxies would lead to.
A particular person reached out to me recently and argued
"If [cards] didn't cost anything and everyone got to play the format, it would be way better."
-I beg to differ. Allow me to explain.
In short, the pay wall is what keeps the casual meta healthy.
Generally speaking (There are collecting factors for some, of course) cards are more expensive because they're more unbalanced than others. That said, I believe the casual player experiences a more balanced game, because the less balanced cards, combos, and interactions are out of reach.
I simply do not agree with the sentiment or claim that the competitive meta level is a balanced game anymore (I believe it used to be, however). The competitive meta that I have witnessed, read about, and learned about puts more emphasis on removal, disruption, and game-ending combos than anything else.
"But isn't that the whole game? What's missing?"
Aggressive creature-oriented decks are largely missing (They do exist in a few forms, like Red Deck Wins, but generally they are inferior to everything else). You can think they are boring all you want, but that doesn't justify excluding them. You can exclaim
"You just want a boring game of Magic where all players play aggro solitaire"
You'd be wrong. In fact, all types of players could throw that toxic vitriol at each other. I could say the same thing about tutor-combo decks. That they just want to play "Who gets their combo off first" solitaire... and I'd also be wrong.
So no, that isn't what we want. We don't want a meta that is ALL or NOTHING one way or another. I want a balance of everything and Magic isn't balanced right now in any format outside of Standard. Aggressive creature decks too easily get mangled and disrupted into oblivion by cheap board wipes, counter spells, and removal or are just plain outpaced by combos that pop off in the first three turns. Does that mean there should be NO interaction? No wipes, counters, or removal? NO, it just means there's way too much of it for one third of the game to be viable. (Aggro/Control/Combo)
What happens in a situation like that? People stop playing aggro and what you're left with are two kinds of decks being played instead of three (Stax & Combo).
Casual players want absolutely nothing to do with an unbalanced expensive game that boils down to:
"I mulligan'd to 5 and still didn't get my combo, so I scoop"
"I got my combo, but you Force of Will'd it, so I lose/scoop"
"I got my combo and win on turn [1/2/3]"
"I got my combo, but you got yours first, so I lose"
Which is how I imagine 95% of competitive games go. That's an unhealthy unbalanced, and dare I say, dreadfully boring game from our perspective.
As for proxies, they just lead to casual players inevitably entering that very realm. I don't want to play that game. I want a game where Mono Green Stompy and Sligh still have viability. So no proxies for me or my friends. We like our little kitchen table meta JUST the way it is.
Can it be fixed? Yes, but the real question is, WILL it be fixed? And the answer is a big certain NO. It would require an extensive expansion of the ban-lists, starting with the essential pieces of each combo that can win on the first three turns, all of the tutors cheaper than Diabolic, a long list of 1-drop removal, and a large list of board wipes.
That will never happen, as a large portion of the player-base have spoken in favor of the current unbalanced iteration of the game. If Wizards/Hasbro did that, many that like to play the current farce would quit and there's less profit in that. So competitive Magic will never NOT be a farce unfortunately. The best we can do is just stay away from both proxies and bloated spending budgets so that our games can still be creative, healthy, and fun.
-10 card basic land deck
-No duplicates (Like Commander)
-20 Starting Life
-3 card starting hand, 5 card max
-New deck-out rule. When you attempt to draw a card and there is none, instead, you shuffle your graveyard and place it down as your library (Then draw your card). However, if you attempt to do this and there is no graveyard to shuffle, you deck-out and lose. That said, it's wise to run at least one instant or sorcery to ensure this isn't likely to happen.
-After your draw phase, you get a mana phase where you draw a basic land from your basic land deck and place it untapped into play.
-Any cards that would have you search your library for a basic land are nearly useless (As there are none in the actual library). So Rampant Growth isn't banned as much as nullified.
HOWEVER, when a land is destroyed or sacrificed, it IS sent to the graveyard and CAN be shuffled into the library. Therefore, the only use for fetch cards like Rampant Growth would be to fetch those back out. Playing a land from your land-deck does not count against your "one land" for the turn, so if you draw a land from your library, you can play that land that turn as well.
-Similar to Commander, you may pick one creature card as a "Leader" and it behaves exactly the same as a Commander. This creature doesn't have to be Legendary however, but it DOES have to have either the highest power or toughness (Or tied for it) in your deck, which (By design) leads mostly to lower P/T decks. It also dictates which colors you can run the same way as well. So picking the right "Leader" is even more crucial.
The only cards on the banlist so far...
-Elixir of Immortality
-Thassa's Oracle
After much playtesting, I'm eying Smallpox for a ban too, but I'll hold my judgement on that until I've tested the format very extensively. I've decided to try not to ban cards just based on them being very powerful, but rather only if they're game-breaking. That said Vampire Nocturnus, while being supercharged by the format (Because there are no lands to turn up, so in a mono-black deck, his ability is always active) isn't actually game-breaking. Smallpox on the other hand is problem in a format where your deck can cycle it back to you very often. Add that to its synergy with many cards like Blood Artist and it's definitely borderline game-breaking.
This format will also share the Legacy Ban List as well, so no Power 9.
_____________________________________________________________
I think this format is amazing. It will be super-affordable because you only have to have 11 cards and games wont be so drawn out like in Commander... and yet, while other formats see a drop in depth for gaining those perks, this format does not. After building 5 decks to test, it actually seems to have MORE depth than a normal 60 card preconstructed game. It plays like a game that has all the upsides of both 60-Precon & Commander and none of the downsides. I really think it has potential once a good ban-list is established.
You might ask "Why not allow non-basic lands in the land deck?"
3 Reasons:
1. One of the biggest appeals to this format is that it's 5x more affordable, so expensive dual lands not being a vital part of every deck is a benefit to the format in my opinion.
2. To offset the more consistent card-play in the format, it's best to make it a little harder and slower for decks to get the mana they need to do what they do.
3. Because you're guaranteed a land every turn, it isn't quite as necessary to run dual lands. So it doesn't set you back as much in this format by not having them.
If you want mana-flexibility bad enough, run one or two in your library.
______________________________________________________________
Notable differences so far
-Decks that rely on strength in numbers typically don't do as well or work quite the same, unless they can operate on tokens. Not to say that Elves or Goblins aren't still strong, but the format requires you to approach them a bit differently to make them work and their potential is capped by the limited number of cards in the deck.
-One really good Instant or Sorcery to keep casting repeatedly during the end game is a must every good deck. In the wolf deck I built, I was amused that it got to keep casting Howl of the Night Pack the last few turns of the game.
On a related note: Games aren't drawn out like in commander, partly due to this. Once decks reach this "critical mass" phase of the game, things wrap up pretty quickly.
-Every deck should run at least one artifact/enchantment removal and, if possible, one creature kill-spell and one counter-spell. For instance, if you run black, Dash Hopes and Devour in Shadow are good options.
-Life gain sorceries/instants are given a lot more viability in this format. Heroes' Reunion makes a G/W weenie deck hard to kill during the end game. Especially when combo'd with cards like Voracious Wurm
-Creature counts are lower and removal is more constant, so expect to run on one or two creatures often. That said, cards like Demonic Rising really take advantage of this.
-Landfall abilities are better in some ways and worse in others. It's better in the sense that you get a guaranteed land every turn until your 10 card land-deck runs out. It's worse in the sense that cards like Primeval Titan aren't going to boost your land drops.
_______________________________________________________________
I think this format has more depth than both Commander and 60-card Constructed.
Why? Well, your deck has to be more carefully balanced and picking the right leader is not easy.
You can't rely on having multiple copies of the same card out, however, decks still play consistently. What I've noticed happens is that every deck runs some removal, so you don't do well when your deck only has one win-condition (My least reliable deck right now is Leader: Progenitus - Door to Nothingness Composite Golem Kaleidostone etc).
Because of that, you have to both build and play your deck in a way where you have multiple ways to win. If you don't, your opponents can and will stop your win condition consistently and you can't just bait their removal, because it's only a matter of a few turns or less that they draw it back again.
On top of that, when each opponent is operating on 1-3 creatures most of the time and there's removal flying around, it forces you to stay dynamic and flexible instead of playing your deck like a robot. Each situation requires you to play your deck differently and if you're playing a linear deck, you wont do so well in this format.
It's a whole lot more depth than I expected from 10 card decks. I am very happy with what I've come up with here.
One thing I'm going to playtest soon is using 4 less lands and putting Wanderer's Twig in. With everything but 6 cards having 1 CMC, (And with the help of those dual lands) I think 15 lands might actually work out nicely this way. The twig will accelerate the deck-thinning process and guarantee the UU I'll need when I need it for Recons/Tridents, but at the cost of slowing the win progress down a turn or two.
Another idea I'm thinking on trying is taking out Outcast for a set of Admiral's order.
The main issue with this deck trying to compete with better decks is that Fog Bank can only do so much for so long and getting an army of 1/1 unblockables big enough to pull the win usually takes longer than for the opponent to overwhelm or circumvent your strategy. Trample definitely makes it hard for this deck to win, as well, since Fog Bank can only chump for 2 against it. I'm open for ideas for what cards I could add to address this issue. There's definitely plenty of room for tweaking with this deck, so there's potential.
It ran me about $20, which is pretty good for what it actually does.
The core premise was to fill it with 1-cost unblockable creatures and run 6 cards like Reconnaissance Mission, Coastal Piracy, and Bident of Thassa, then top it off with a play-set of Elixir of Immortality to turn the excessive draw disadvantage into an advantage.
My first iteration didn't do very well. So I did a LOT of tinkering and re-testing all day.
After much tinkering, I scavenged all of my cards for something to fill 3 spots and discovered Perilous Myr. One thing I realized when play-testing the deck, was the whole deck-thin-and-cycle thing with Elixir of Immortality worked nicely. So Perilous Myr really adds some value into the late game, because chump blocking is really important in this deck to stave off anything that Fog Bank can't. So you can chump block, deal damage back, use Elixir and keep drawing them back out.
So here it is, a VERY low budget deck that snow-balls into lots of fun.
4x Reconnaissance Mission
2x Bident of Thassa
4x Slither Blade
4x Triton Shorestalker
4x Guul Draz Vampire
4x Fog Bank
4x Mist-Cloaked Herald
4x Tormented Soul
4x Changeling Outcast
4x Elixir of Immortality
3x Perilous Myr
10x Island
9x Swamp
And Fierce Empath, complete forgot about that card. I might be able to ditch the fetches altogether for that. I'm definitely getting some of those, so I'll tinker with them.
I also considered Archdruid and for some dumb reason, I had moment where I said "Nah, I don't need a +1/+1 boost" and moved on without realizing that it has more to offer than Elvish Guidance as an extra Elf body. So I'm going to switch those out.
Demonic Tutor is banned in Legacy, so that's not an option. (I do own one)
Diabolic Intent and Forbidden Orchard are amazing, but $18.00+ a pop is just too much.
As for Diabolic Tutor, you're right, It's the BB. I figure, in a deck focused on generating massive mana, paying 1 more instead wont really be an issue.
Torment of Hailfire is good, but I'm not entirely sure it's better for this deck, and definitely not by enough to justify paying over $22.00 on a set of 3. With my testing, the life gain from Exsanguinate has actually been a key factor from time to time. However, there were a few decks where Hailfire would have been better, such as my Exalted deck that could run on two creatures and equipment to avoid triggering Defense of the Heart. It would be a nice side-board option for sure, but I probably won't spend $7.50 a pop for some sideboard cards.
As for Insist and Shusher, Emrakul doesn't need them, because it already can't be countered, which is a big part of what makes it the strongest creature drop in the game.
Shusher could help me protect my other spells and that's nice, but in order for it to provide the necessary value to replace an Elf (Therefor cutting into my mana production), it would need something else to offer the deck. Besides, they'll use removal on Shusher and proceed to counter/remove my key components anyways.
What I'm thinking I need is some kind of Instant like Autumn's Veil. I'll probably side-board it though. It would probably replace the two Asceticisms and maybe a forest.
As for Spike Weaver, it's nice, but it's too susceptible to removal.
I really also want some better way to bet black mana without paying $6.00+ a pop for dual lands that don't come into play tapped.
I'm thinking on just settling for Llanowar Wastes or Twilight Mire. Think I'm going to go with Mire.
Awhile back, I started tinkering with ideas of how to actually run just 1 of him (It? lol) in a deck. My first concept of using black fetches to get him with Aetherplasm to cheat him out didn't work as well as I wanted. The biggest hang-up was that the whole strategy hinged on Aetherplasm not getting removed or my opponent not finding some way to get around it.
My second idea has been surprisingly successful, however. The basic premise was that I didn't want to just cheat him out anymore. I wanted to cast him and get that extra turn. So I built what is essentially an Elf deck loaded with Fog & Moment's Peace and splashed with black fetch. The Elves serve the sole purpose of generating as much mana as possible as fast as possible and the Fogs/Peace's hold my opponent off long enough to pull the whole thing off. I can consistently generate over 15 mana by turn 5 and sometimes by turn 4. So all I usually need is a Fog or two.
Right away though, I knew the deck had room to be better, since I had loads of excess mana and no backup win condition should the Emrakul thing not work out for whatever reason. So I went through my other decks to get an idea of what cards to best take advantage of that extra mana. As soon as I saw Exsanguinate, I knew it was the perfect backup. After all, I had already splashed enough black for the fetches.
While I was searching for the backup, I also ran across Crystal Shard, which triggered a crazy idea... if I can generate at least 18 mana, it's an infinite turns combo with Emrakul. (Cast Emrakul, take extra turn & attack, use Shard during Main Phase 2 to return it to my hand and recast it for another extra turn etc).
The deck was testing good, but it seemed that about 40% of games, it just couldn't get Emrakul or one of the fetches. I needed a little something more. I used an advanced search on EssentialMagic and discovered Defense of the Heart. This card is so busted, I almost feel dirty using it.
It's testing very well now, as far as how consistently it can pull off its win conditions. So yeah, I'm really happy with this build.
Before I share, yes I know this isn't a truly competitive deck. Not only do I play "Kitchen Table" Magic, but I play sub $150 budget as well. This deck could be even better if I threw another $100 into it (Dual lands, Diabolic Tutors etc), but it's not worth it to me. I also am aware that all it takes to beat this deck is to counter its Fog so the damage goes through, which is probably its biggest flaw. Maybe the deck could be amended to patch that flaw though. Suggestions are welcome.
1x Emrakul, the Aeon's Torn
4x Moment's Peace
3x Fog
4x Llanowar Elves
3x Elvish Mystic
4x Priest of Titania
4x Urborg Elf
3x Elvish Guidance
4x Coveted Prize
3x Crystal Shard
3x Defense of the Heart
3x Exsanguinate
2x Asceticism
4x Swamp
16x Forest
But yeah, that's what keeps me from pushing for this format. No one wants to invest that kind of time into keeping up with an ever-changing format.
My only idea right now is that maybe, regardless of price at any given moment, cards are only banned/unbanned at 6 month intervals. So every December 1st and July 1st the card prices are checked and legality is updated accordingly. It would be like a super affordable standard with over 15,000 cards to build from.