For RW, the idea of a goat literally eating your board really amused me, and that it could loosely fit within the colors and give a very different feel than typical Boros aggro really helped me flesh out the idea fast. I haven't really found the overlap in other colors yet.
Impulsive Edict could cost more, but I will probably review for balance later. I wanted to pen out some ideas and see if they work. Tempering will be later, and while it could be really devastating turn 1, it's less so turn 6 or against token strategies. And as a 1-of for a cube, I don't think it'll be consistent enough.
As for flavor wins, I'd love to push this as long as I can keep actual text to a minimum. Being fully-custom, 360 with the intent for drafting means I need to stay trim on most things or every draft will take two days
Been a long time since I've posted, been playing the Twisted Cube lately, I've loved the idea for a colorbreaking cube and props to Timothée Simonot for its creation. But alas, limiting oneself to actual printed cards can be really taxing to what can be viable. The powerlevel of some of the old, gross offenders of the pie are not quite up to today's standards.
So, I've been brainstorming ideas to make my own 360-count custom cube, with each color pair having some theme or archetype direction. Some of the major points I'm trying to adhere to:
-No new mechanics
-Limited text (it's all custom, intended for drafting. Rather limit read times when possible)
-Not very serious (think 'printable Unglued')
-Cherrypicked examples of colorpie breaking, fleshed out
I've been trying to avoid Planar Chaos as "examples", and here's a rough list of what I've found via Gatherer/searching/browsing through old boxes:
At this point, I'm still trying to find some inspiration with some overlapping color effects that could be built around with a loose theme for cube archetypes in mind.
As an example: RW I've gotten down to a grindy, Smokestack-esque permanent control color with overlapping Edict effects and the ability to hit permanents (Chaos Warp, Northern Paladin). Some of the filler and stable cards you would expect would look like:
Giver of Condolences
W
Creature - Human Cleric
Whenever an opponent has a nontoken permanent leave the battlefield, gain 3 life.
1/2
Flatlands Jailer
2WW
Creature - Human Soldier
When ~ enters the battlefield, each opponent sacrifices a tapped creature.
2/3
Mudslide Elemental
1RR
Creature - Elemental
Trample
When ~ enters the battlefield, each opponent sacrifices a land.
2/1
Impulsive Edict
R
Instant
Target player sacrifices a permanent.
While gold cards would be less common, more complex and give a strong incentive to build around an effect like that, such as:
William, Devourer of Worlds
2RW
Legendary Creature - Goat
Lifelink
1RW: Target player sacrifices a permanent.
Whenever an opponent sacrifices a permanent, if that card was a land, draw two cards. Otherwise, put X +1/+1 counters on ~, where X is equal to the converted mana cost of the exiled permanent.
1/5
I've only really gotten RW fairly fleshed out, with UB ramp being the next step. I was curious if there were any other good examples of colorbleed/bend/break that would be good directions to flesh out such ideas.
My LGS Modern crowd is dying out (it was having issues pre-ban, but now it's completely gone), and they're replacing it with TL. Figured I'd take a crack at it.
If you're familiar with Glissa EDH, same plan: grind them out with CA, recurring removal and endless discard/LD via the Loam engine. Some random cards I've been considering, but haven't found room for:
I doubt Prowess will have much impact without some seriously broken card with it. It turns spot-removal on, it's going to be worse than Young Pyromancer most of the time, and defeats the best advantage Storm has game 1 (removal is near-worthless and leaves a handful of dead cards for the opponent). Plus, there's nothing even spoiled yet to really discuss.
Like I said in the OP, it's probably not the most optimized, but I wanted something like Psychatog in mono-black (I'm actually using this for a star MTG game). Skyshroud Vampire is really interesting, I might just try that one out as the commander.
@Reaper9889
Yeah, if I was trying to get the most value of this, Psychatog seems a strictly better option. However, I think the builds are very different: Psychatog can use a lot of draw spells and plays more control-style. The number of creatures EE wants makes this more of an aggro/tempo strategy.
@Hunding Gjornersen:
Definitely like the Skullsnatcher here. Once I'm back in front of my cardboard I'll have to try that. I was looking at Nihil Spellbomb to just cycle, and this is a more abusable one
I'm sorry, but I think you are mistaken. Squallmonger only hits fliers and players, your general is safe. Good mana sink to finish off players, too, if you can outlast them. Only issue I see is it is an uncommon only.
So I got a group of coworkers interested in MtG, and we've been playing Pauper since it lets everyone play tier 1 lists without being a financial issue. I keep wanting some more EDH, however I've been an EDH player for so long I didn't even notice the cost :/ When did this game get so expensive? Duals are nuts.
Rant aside, one of them thought this might be a great middle ground, so I wanted to make a few random decks to try out the format. I didn't notice anyone using this little gem, and it served me well in a draft /sometime/, so I figured I'd try it out. Like a mini-(worse) Psychatog! Still need 5 more cards, looking mostly for creatures I can be synergistic with.
EDIT: I suppose I should include the rules we're playing by:
-MTGO-pauper ban list
-Common on MTGO
-40 life, 21 general damage
I had an issue with my deck not being interesting enough back in the day. Not only did my deck bore me, but my opponents all were hardcore Spikes that wanted nothing but to win, were totally stoic and unsocial, and frankly the fun was lost for tournaments for me. A few friends of mine kept pulling me into tournaments, and I started playing Combo-of-the-week or control, until I started playing storm.
I think this was close to Time Spiral standard, when it was starting to become a tier 1 deck (Dragonstorm, for those who remember), but I really loved the complexity. My opponents rarely gave me the engaging back-and-fourth I craved, so I started playing a deck that gave me the challenge by itself. It can be seen as very non-interactive (yes, yes I know. I stooped to their level), but I disagree completely: it's ALL about mind games. As soon as my opponent plays a Swamp or Island, I'm worried about a discard/counter; but if I seem like I'm put back, then my opponent gets more time because I want to play around it and knows my hand is fragile. If they just see my hand/deck, roll their eyes and potato the game, I know my combo is safe and I'm confident rolling straight into their life total.
So, as for 'fun', I THOROUGHLY enjoy playing storm. It's a deck that increases the challenge of the game for me, and if my opponents have good plays against my deck/good hate, it can get to be a really complex and interesting game. The friends of mine that don't like it don't see what they're missing: the interaction isn't on the board, it's in your head. I'm a paper player, so I don't know the intricacies of MTGO, but the deck isn't grossly overpowered (b/c *insert rant about WotC and Seething Song*), but is much different than your usual 'slap big creature on board, let it do the thinking for you' mentality.
I know that most people who aren't Christian, yet who live in a "post-Christian" or "Christ haunted" culture like that of America today, have at least some familiarity with the religion and could cite any number of reasons why they are not Christians themselves. Without assuming too much, I'd like to get a sampling of real-world responses to see what factors carry most weight in peoples' minds.
Some objections I have seen or could anticipate:
1. Christians have done and continue to do great evil (Crusades, Inquisition, gay bashing, etc.)
2. Christians in general don't behave any better than their irreligious counterparts, so what's the point?
3. Christians are anti-scientific and contribute to social mistrust of science (i.e. Creationists).
4. Even Christians who accept evolution are violating Occam's Razor by proposing God, Satan, angels, etc.
5. Miracles don't happen. There's no evidence.
6. Religious fundamentalism always leads to disharmony and violence; and religious belief in any capacity validates fundamentalism.
7. The classic problem of evil (an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God is allegedly not compatible with the existence of evil).
8. The doctrine of hell is abominable.
9. Christianity makes as many untestable claims as any other religion; why should it be right and they not be?
There could be many more. I'm just wondering what objections carry the most weight for you, personally? And please don't say, "All of the above." Thanks in advance for your time and thoughtfulness.
I'm just going to answer the original post, as I don't want to get caught up in the current debate. My personal belief is akin to something I only recently learned had a term: Russell's Teapot.
Basically, my 'default' is not putting any faith into any known religion until I can be convinced 100% that X religion is right. I'm very much a logically-inclined mind, so theories like evolution seems like a strong idea based on observation and tangible evidence. No religion is built in a similar manner, and therefore I don't really put much thought into any of them.
However, my disinterest seems to grow more hostile towards organizations like the Catholic Church. I have a few very strong personal values (#1 is Human expression of free thought) that their faction has had issues against. I cannot tell you how angry I get when I hear how people are repressed for having different opinions/thoughts/theories, especially if they can back up their claims with significant evidence and aren't causing harm with such a revelation.
Some specific events that make me have no faith in Christian organizations' interest in humanity:
-Galileo
-the Crusades
-the Catholic priesthood cover-ups (which has been documented into the mid-2000s)
People's trust in the format will continue to wane, and if it continues we are going to be left with Extended all over again.
Although I disagree about your reference to Extended, your overall point is quite valid and exactly why I haven't dived into Modern myself. I played some standard periodically since Odyssey, and dove into Extended since I could play more of my stuff. I quickly learned the difference between tiers and card quality (as far as a typical player can), and I really liked extended. When they changed the format definition (4-year rotation), I was quite upset, but ever since Modern became officially adopted I've not been interested in 'fake extended' from watching the banlist fluctuate so heavily, only really playing with what I had onhand (given, I had 100% Scapeshift) and not paid much attention to events.
This ban/unban is a clear definition of the state of the format: WotC has no clear method of reasoning for bans in Modern. I've played during the Robot menace that was Mirrodin v1.0 in standard, and I remember caw-blade in standard: both had shown months of consistent results, tyrannized their respected formats, and forced decks to play maindeck hate just to compete. There was no rock (no pun intended DRS)-paper-scissors, just play this or play anti-this. Deathrite Shaman may be a great enabler, but the only thing I've ever seen it 'tyrannize' is Dredge, a deck WotC has been quite clear they don't want existing in Modern (like storm). Sure, it's an efficient mana-dork; so is Noble Hierarch. It's a fine piece of utility, but there's a lot of utility cards out there, the biggest difference is DRS can be splashed and played in two different colors.
As for the unbans: I'm sure there's a lot of individuals out there that like to see Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl back, but if WotC bans based on results alone, there's a good chance that both cards won't stay in the format long (Nacatl has the best hopes for survival). Regardless of a few randoms, though, this sort of ban-worthy note is going to cause more long-term damage to the format. Players like myself will see Modern as an undeveloped format that isn't worth investing into since the Tier 1 will be different every few months, and others far more creative than I won't want to innovate new ideas since anything they do well will be banned due to performance.
From my understanding of the announcement of the Modern format, I felt like the cards that WotC would be banning are supposed to be the enablers that end games prior to turn 4 (Dredge is definitely an offender, Storm can be, Zoo definitely was), so where does DRS fall? Most decks I see running him are more control/tempo focused, aiming to end the game by turn 6-10.
I've seen some crazy in my day. I witnessed firsthand the rise of the Robot menace, and fought side-by-side with the evokers of Shatter ALL TEH THINGS. I remember the bannings of the Clamp of Skulls and the Lands that were not Land, and I even recall the days small fliers carrying Swords and brought many a ragequit. All those days, I fought the majority (and even became the majority with 5cc), and I deem Deathrite Shaman a menace. But hear my words, for He is a menace to a deck that doesn't dare show its visage here, a deck whom shall forever be labeled 'Dredge', a deck of many names which none shall be repeated, and He doth save us from their turn 2-3 solitaire shenanigans. But He, a Shaman of the Deathrites, tis nothing to fear outside the horrors mentioned. With Him, we see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil. He may have fallen, but our Shaman will be, dare I say, UNBANNED one day, in the not-so-distant future, and the WotC derps-that-be shall repent for their wrongdoings, or I will monologue borderline-blasphemous ways in the days which follow, for the four Shamans in my binder walk with me.
I'm quite happy TNN was printed TBH. I'm a huge Storm fan, and with so many players concerned about having an answer to it, they shave off defense to my deck. On a wider view, it means there's another threat that players need to be prepared for, and thus weakening the hate for a specific deck.
Overall, I think this may make it more difficult to play your personal favorite flavor of legacy (unless you are on combo ), but it helps make more options in a given meta more viable by making the density of threats higher than the possible hate cards to be used.
As for the Black Vise potential Soldier brought up: I wasn't playing MtG competitively at the time this might have been used, but it seems like one of the weaker cards on the banlist. I'd wager the powers that be have tested this and came to a conclusion of leaving it there, but it definitely seems like something that could be tested out. The only thing I could predict is it pushing aggro up, but it seems really bad in some matchups as well (TES, Belcher and Dredge seem like great choices here, maybe ANT or OopsAllSpells). However, this is NOTHING like Mental Misstep. There's three major issues I have against MM (and I'd bet I'm not alone here):
1. It's impossible to play around early-game (unlike Force Spike) since it's a hard counter, therefore making most games longer and making faster decks almost nonviable
2. Every deck can use MM, so it is something that must be considered in every matchup instead of a particular one such as TNN
3. The best way to fight it is WITH it, since it is a hard-counter to other copies of it and there's nothing cheaper (see: free) that can effectively combat it Mental Misstep changed entire DECKS, making Ritual-storm decks nigh-obsolete, attacking the largest group of cantrips used in the format, and having solid use against Zoo/burn/anything that isn't Dredge (and a few newer decks now). If it didn't have the phyrexian mana cost, it still would push the envelope here, but that flipped every crazy switch in the station and managed to make every single deck rethink major cores of it's build.
tl;dr: TNN makes Jund look at Golgari Charm for the sideboard, Mental Misstep makes you change half your deck at minimum for EVERY DECK.
Honestly, I would really like WotC to stop printing big legacy cards in precons though (Baleful Strix also comes to mind) because I think it really inflates the price way beyond what the card SHOULD be valued at if it were in a normal set at an appropriate rarity. It makes mediocre cards absurdly expensive, and if there's a tournament soon after release it is almost impossible to get the cards with a limitless budget, let alone a respectable price. I don't really have a better solution ATM to offer new toys to eternal formats without affecting Modern/Standard, but two weekend events I attended I saw people being gouged for something fairly essential to their deck just because stores didn't have enough product available to get players on TNN decks the 4x TNN they needed to play their optimal (and likely practiced) list. Luckily, I was on the combo-train, but it kinda bothered me that players that were fine with shelling out the cash for 4x precons just to give away 99% of them couldn't even do that. I can understand a card being expensive for power, or age/condition, but new cards should never be more valuable than the MSRB of the precon they come in while the product is in print. Umezawa's Jitte comes to mind: it was fairly cheap to start with and it was easy to find, but by the time WotC stopped printing the precon Rat deck it was nestled in the little knife soared. /endrant
This is kind of funny: from what I see the argument is "Oloro is too good" but the issues consistently brought up are:
-Necropotence and Venser's Journal are overpowered
-Zur's Weirding and Embargo are good with him
Well, Necro + Journal can be in any deck, and Oloro only makes it a win-more situation (really, is that 8-10 more cards going to make or break a situation that says 'Draw20+, one turn you're weaker'? Oloro only is making the combo get counter protection and white for more tutors. Sharuum the Hegemon offers more to this, since she could recur a part and use another tutor (Entomb) to get the Journal out.
I'd say there's far more terrifying comboes in this list than Oloro deciding I can't have a nonland here or there. I still can use my General as much as I want.
Actually, my avatar is from GW1: I played the mesmer to death, ended with Obsidian armor with Chaos mittens (mesmers had mittens, not gloves ). My favorite armor was the norn coat (black) and sunglasses like I was from the Matrix, though. It was the character I became known for, and I really enjoyed the illusions/interrupts/anti-mage mage style it had.
I took a look at Rift, and it's not really excited me (given an hour of gameplay almost got my character fully-dressed) since all the missions were really generic. The other game I found in my Interwebbing was Vindictus (listed as free on steam), but I haven't quite tried it out yet.
I've also got a GW2 account, but after grinding to 54 within the first week of release, I found most of the quests generic, copy/pasted and the story has gotten really high-fantasy to the point of it feeling like a kids' game in some places. With the sheer amount of comic relief they have, it's hard to get immersed into the actual game/story.
Probably Dusk Urchins. I rarely use them, but I had an easygoing multiplayer deck that was mostly black random stuff in Time Spiral / Lorwyn standard when a new shop opened up in my area I used to goof off/play noncompetitively. After several players recognized me from other stores and tournaments, they had table-talked several players to ADD +1/+1 counters to them instead of letting me draw cards. Having a 10/9 Urchins just became iconic from then on.
Impulsive Edict could cost more, but I will probably review for balance later. I wanted to pen out some ideas and see if they work. Tempering will be later, and while it could be really devastating turn 1, it's less so turn 6 or against token strategies. And as a 1-of for a cube, I don't think it'll be consistent enough.
As for flavor wins, I'd love to push this as long as I can keep actual text to a minimum. Being fully-custom, 360 with the intent for drafting means I need to stay trim on most things or every draft will take two days
Been a long time since I've posted, been playing the Twisted Cube lately, I've loved the idea for a colorbreaking cube and props to Timothée Simonot for its creation. But alas, limiting oneself to actual printed cards can be really taxing to what can be viable. The powerlevel of some of the old, gross offenders of the pie are not quite up to today's standards.
So, I've been brainstorming ideas to make my own 360-count custom cube, with each color pair having some theme or archetype direction. Some of the major points I'm trying to adhere to:
-No new mechanics
-Limited text (it's all custom, intended for drafting. Rather limit read times when possible)
-Not very serious (think 'printable Unglued')
-Cherrypicked examples of colorpie breaking, fleshed out
I've been trying to avoid Planar Chaos as "examples", and here's a rough list of what I've found via Gatherer/searching/browsing through old boxes:
MISALIGNED/FRINGE EFFECTS:
White
* Creature Theft (Preacher)
* Self-Discard (Peace of Mind)
* Countermagic (Lapse of Certainty)
* Edicts (Wing Shards)
* Scry (New Benalia) [NOTE: this is evergreen now, but back then it wasn't]
Blue
* Discard (Mindculling) [NOTE: NPH had several bleeding effects, so it's probably more comperable to PLC]
* Damage (Prodigal Sorcerer, Psionic Blast)
* Ramp (Apprentice Wizard, Sea Scryer)
Black
* Ramp (Blood Pet, Liliana's Shade)
* Haste (Duskmantle Prowler)
* Fog (Darkness)
* Exile Milling (Scrib Nibblers)
Red
* Edicts (Misguided Rage)
Green
* Size Matters (Viridian Joiner)
* Suprise Blockers/Traps (Flash Foliage)
* Weenie Fliers (Emerald Dragonfly, Scryb Sprites)
* Countermagic (Avoid Fate)
At this point, I'm still trying to find some inspiration with some overlapping color effects that could be built around with a loose theme for cube archetypes in mind.
As an example: RW I've gotten down to a grindy, Smokestack-esque permanent control color with overlapping Edict effects and the ability to hit permanents (Chaos Warp, Northern Paladin). Some of the filler and stable cards you would expect would look like:
Giver of Condolences
W
Creature - Human Cleric
Whenever an opponent has a nontoken permanent leave the battlefield, gain 3 life.
1/2
Flatlands Jailer
2WW
Creature - Human Soldier
When ~ enters the battlefield, each opponent sacrifices a tapped creature.
2/3
Mudslide Elemental
1RR
Creature - Elemental
Trample
When ~ enters the battlefield, each opponent sacrifices a land.
2/1
Impulsive Edict
R
Instant
Target player sacrifices a permanent.
While gold cards would be less common, more complex and give a strong incentive to build around an effect like that, such as:
William, Devourer of Worlds
2RW
Legendary Creature - Goat
Lifelink
1RW: Target player sacrifices a permanent.
Whenever an opponent sacrifices a permanent, if that card was a land, draw two cards. Otherwise, put X +1/+1 counters on ~, where X is equal to the converted mana cost of the exiled permanent.
1/5
I've only really gotten RW fairly fleshed out, with UB ramp being the next step. I was curious if there were any other good examples of colorbleed/bend/break that would be good directions to flesh out such ideas.
1 Glissa, the Traitor (Commander)
1 Deathrite Shaman
1 Perilous Myr
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Merciless Executioner
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Moriok Replica
1 Sylvok Replica
Spells
1 Mox Diamond
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Raven's Crime
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Night's Whisper
1 Smother
1 Regrowth
1 Sylvan Library
1 Life from the Loam
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Golgari Signet
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Bow of Nylea
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Pernicious Deed
1 Unstable Obelisk
1 Plague Boiler
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Maze of Ith
1 Wasteland
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Barren Moor
1 Polluted Mire
2 Swamp
1 Tree of Tales
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Slippery Karst
2 Forest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Forbidden Orchard
1 Woodland Cemetary
1 Command Tower
If you're familiar with Glissa EDH, same plan: grind them out with CA, recurring removal and endless discard/LD via the Loam engine. Some random cards I've been considering, but haven't found room for:
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Eternal Witness
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Ohran Viper
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Unearth
1 Necrogen Spellbomb
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Putrefy
1 Moonglove Extract
1 Golgari Keyrune
1 Champion's Helm
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Gaze of Granite
1 Dark Depths
Thoughts and comments welcome. I'm not too familiar with the TL meta/what to expect, so details would be preferred. TY
Updated list:
1 Viscera Seer
1 Undertaker
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Disciple of Malice
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Pit Keeper
1 Skullsnatcher
1 Augur of Skulls
1 Cuombajj Witches
1 Leaden Myr
1 Perilous Myr
1 Crypt Rats
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Cabal Torturer
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Gutless Ghoul
1 Chittering Rats
1 Blind Zealot
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Cadaver Imp
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Moriok Replica
1 Gravedigger
1 Viscera Dragger
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Liliana's Shade
1 Grave Scrabbler
1 Brain Gorgers
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Disciple of Tevesh Szat
1 Warren Pilferers
1 Gorgon Recluse
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Dross Golem
1 Mournwhelk
1 Terrus Wurm
1 Marshmist Titan
1 Raven's Crime
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Grim Harvest
1 Sign in Blood
1 Fleetfoot Sandals
1 Reaping the Graves
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Murder
1 Read the Bones
1 Strider Harness
1 Mark of the Vampire
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Pestilence
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Necromantic Thirst
1 Urborg Uprising
1 Corrupt
1 Shattered Crypt
1 Death Denied
1 Polluted Mire
1 Barren Moor
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Desert
1 Oasis
31 Swamp
Thanks! Once Monday/Tuesday rolls around and I try it out, i"ll try to post results.
Yeah, if I was trying to get the most value of this, Psychatog seems a strictly better option. However, I think the builds are very different: Psychatog can use a lot of draw spells and plays more control-style. The number of creatures EE wants makes this more of an aggro/tempo strategy.
@Hunding Gjornersen:
Definitely like the Skullsnatcher here. Once I'm back in front of my cardboard I'll have to try that. I was looking at Nihil Spellbomb to just cycle, and this is a more abusable one
Rant aside, one of them thought this might be a great middle ground, so I wanted to make a few random decks to try out the format. I didn't notice anyone using this little gem, and it served me well in a draft /sometime/, so I figured I'd try it out. Like a mini-(worse) Psychatog! Still need 5 more cards, looking mostly for creatures I can be synergistic with.
EDIT: I suppose I should include the rules we're playing by:
-MTGO-pauper ban list
-Common on MTGO
-40 life, 21 general damage
1 Viscera Seer
1 Undertaker
1 Mesmeric Fiend
1 Disciple of Malice
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Rathi Trapper
1 Pit Keeper
1 Augur of Skulls
1 Cuombajj Witches
1 Leaden Myr
1 Perilous Myr
1 Crypt Rats
1 Phyrexian Rager
1 Cabal Torturer
1 Stinkweed Imp
1 Gutless Ghoul
1 Chittering Rats
1 Blind Zealot
1 Liliana's Specter
1 Cadaver Imp
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Moriok Replica
1 Gravedigger
1 Viscera Dragger
1 Faceless Butcher
1 Liliana's Shade
1 Grave Scrabbler
1 Brain Gorgers
1 Dimir House Guard
1 Heartstabber Mosquito
1 Warren Pilferers
1 Street Wraith
1 Gorgon Recluse
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Twisted Abomination
1 Dross Golem
1 Mournwhelk
1 Terrus Wurm
1 Marshmist Titan
1 Raven's Crime
1 Disturbed Burial
1 Grim Harvest
1 Font of Return
1 Sign in Blood
1 Bladed Pinions
1 Reaping the Graves
1 Ashes to Ashes
1 Induce Despair
1 Read the Bones
1 Strider Harness
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Pestilence
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Necromantic Thirst
1 Urborg Uprising
1 Corrupt
1 Shattered Crypt
1 Death Denied
1 Polluted Mire
1 Barren Moor
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Bojuka Bog
30 Swamp
Suggestions are welcome! I'll probably be creating one for each core color, as there's 5 of us at the moment.
I had an issue with my deck not being interesting enough back in the day. Not only did my deck bore me, but my opponents all were hardcore Spikes that wanted nothing but to win, were totally stoic and unsocial, and frankly the fun was lost for tournaments for me. A few friends of mine kept pulling me into tournaments, and I started playing Combo-of-the-week or control, until I started playing storm.
I think this was close to Time Spiral standard, when it was starting to become a tier 1 deck (Dragonstorm, for those who remember), but I really loved the complexity. My opponents rarely gave me the engaging back-and-fourth I craved, so I started playing a deck that gave me the challenge by itself. It can be seen as very non-interactive (yes, yes I know. I stooped to their level), but I disagree completely: it's ALL about mind games. As soon as my opponent plays a Swamp or Island, I'm worried about a discard/counter; but if I seem like I'm put back, then my opponent gets more time because I want to play around it and knows my hand is fragile. If they just see my hand/deck, roll their eyes and potato the game, I know my combo is safe and I'm confident rolling straight into their life total.
So, as for 'fun', I THOROUGHLY enjoy playing storm. It's a deck that increases the challenge of the game for me, and if my opponents have good plays against my deck/good hate, it can get to be a really complex and interesting game. The friends of mine that don't like it don't see what they're missing: the interaction isn't on the board, it's in your head. I'm a paper player, so I don't know the intricacies of MTGO, but the deck isn't grossly overpowered (b/c *insert rant about WotC and Seething Song*), but is much different than your usual 'slap big creature on board, let it do the thinking for you' mentality.
I'm just going to answer the original post, as I don't want to get caught up in the current debate. My personal belief is akin to something I only recently learned had a term: Russell's Teapot.
Basically, my 'default' is not putting any faith into any known religion until I can be convinced 100% that X religion is right. I'm very much a logically-inclined mind, so theories like evolution seems like a strong idea based on observation and tangible evidence. No religion is built in a similar manner, and therefore I don't really put much thought into any of them.
However, my disinterest seems to grow more hostile towards organizations like the Catholic Church. I have a few very strong personal values (#1 is Human expression of free thought) that their faction has had issues against. I cannot tell you how angry I get when I hear how people are repressed for having different opinions/thoughts/theories, especially if they can back up their claims with significant evidence and aren't causing harm with such a revelation.
Some specific events that make me have no faith in Christian organizations' interest in humanity:
-Galileo
-the Crusades
-the Catholic priesthood cover-ups (which has been documented into the mid-2000s)
Although I disagree about your reference to Extended, your overall point is quite valid and exactly why I haven't dived into Modern myself. I played some standard periodically since Odyssey, and dove into Extended since I could play more of my stuff. I quickly learned the difference between tiers and card quality (as far as a typical player can), and I really liked extended. When they changed the format definition (4-year rotation), I was quite upset, but ever since Modern became officially adopted I've not been interested in 'fake extended' from watching the banlist fluctuate so heavily, only really playing with what I had onhand (given, I had 100% Scapeshift) and not paid much attention to events.
This ban/unban is a clear definition of the state of the format: WotC has no clear method of reasoning for bans in Modern. I've played during the Robot menace that was Mirrodin v1.0 in standard, and I remember caw-blade in standard: both had shown months of consistent results, tyrannized their respected formats, and forced decks to play maindeck hate just to compete. There was no rock (no pun intended DRS)-paper-scissors, just play this or play anti-this. Deathrite Shaman may be a great enabler, but the only thing I've ever seen it 'tyrannize' is Dredge, a deck WotC has been quite clear they don't want existing in Modern (like storm). Sure, it's an efficient mana-dork; so is Noble Hierarch. It's a fine piece of utility, but there's a lot of utility cards out there, the biggest difference is DRS can be splashed and played in two different colors.
As for the unbans: I'm sure there's a lot of individuals out there that like to see Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl back, but if WotC bans based on results alone, there's a good chance that both cards won't stay in the format long (Nacatl has the best hopes for survival). Regardless of a few randoms, though, this sort of ban-worthy note is going to cause more long-term damage to the format. Players like myself will see Modern as an undeveloped format that isn't worth investing into since the Tier 1 will be different every few months, and others far more creative than I won't want to innovate new ideas since anything they do well will be banned due to performance.
From my understanding of the announcement of the Modern format, I felt like the cards that WotC would be banning are supposed to be the enablers that end games prior to turn 4 (Dredge is definitely an offender, Storm can be, Zoo definitely was), so where does DRS fall? Most decks I see running him are more control/tempo focused, aiming to end the game by turn 6-10.
I've seen some crazy in my day. I witnessed firsthand the rise of the Robot menace, and fought side-by-side with the evokers of Shatter ALL TEH THINGS. I remember the bannings of the Clamp of Skulls and the Lands that were not Land, and I even recall the days small fliers carrying Swords and brought many a ragequit. All those days, I fought the majority (and even became the majority with 5cc), and I deem Deathrite Shaman a menace. But hear my words, for He is a menace to a deck that doesn't dare show its visage here, a deck whom shall forever be labeled 'Dredge', a deck of many names which none shall be repeated, and He doth save us from their turn 2-3 solitaire shenanigans. But He, a Shaman of the Deathrites, tis nothing to fear outside the horrors mentioned. With Him, we see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil. He may have fallen, but our Shaman will be, dare I say, UNBANNED one day, in the not-so-distant future, and the WotC derps-that-be shall repent for their wrongdoings, or I will monologue borderline-blasphemous ways in the days which follow, for the four Shamans in my binder walk with me.
Overall, I think this may make it more difficult to play your personal favorite flavor of legacy (unless you are on combo
As for the Black Vise potential Soldier brought up: I wasn't playing MtG competitively at the time this might have been used, but it seems like one of the weaker cards on the banlist. I'd wager the powers that be have tested this and came to a conclusion of leaving it there, but it definitely seems like something that could be tested out. The only thing I could predict is it pushing aggro up, but it seems really bad in some matchups as well (TES, Belcher and Dredge seem like great choices here, maybe ANT or OopsAllSpells). However, this is NOTHING like Mental Misstep. There's three major issues I have against MM (and I'd bet I'm not alone here):
1. It's impossible to play around early-game (unlike Force Spike) since it's a hard counter, therefore making most games longer and making faster decks almost nonviable
2. Every deck can use MM, so it is something that must be considered in every matchup instead of a particular one such as TNN
3. The best way to fight it is WITH it, since it is a hard-counter to other copies of it and there's nothing cheaper (see: free) that can effectively combat it
Mental Misstep changed entire DECKS, making Ritual-storm decks nigh-obsolete, attacking the largest group of cantrips used in the format, and having solid use against Zoo/burn/anything that isn't Dredge (and a few newer decks now). If it didn't have the phyrexian mana cost, it still would push the envelope here, but that flipped every crazy switch in the station and managed to make every single deck rethink major cores of it's build.
tl;dr: TNN makes Jund look at Golgari Charm for the sideboard, Mental Misstep makes you change half your deck at minimum for EVERY DECK.
-Necropotence and Venser's Journal are overpowered
-Zur's Weirding and Embargo are good with him
Well, Necro + Journal can be in any deck, and Oloro only makes it a win-more situation (really, is that 8-10 more cards going to make or break a situation that says 'Draw20+, one turn you're weaker'? Oloro only is making the combo get counter protection and white for more tutors. Sharuum the Hegemon offers more to this, since she could recur a part and use another tutor (Entomb) to get the Journal out.
As for the Weirding/Embargo: these are both good without Oloro in EDH since you start with 40 life (extra because you are in good colors for control/lifegain). All Oloro does is take the drawback off one and give a free instance on the other, but there's plenty of other backbreaking general + card combos out there. To name a few:
-Sharuum + Sculpting Steel
-Any general that is black and makes at least one creature a turn + Contamination (Chainer could work, but let's pick Nath of the Gilt-Leaf for EWitness and green goodies)
-Jhoira of the Ghitu + Decree of Annihilation/Eldrazi
-Hokori, Dust Drinker + Kismet
-Glissa the Traitor + Executioner's Capsule
-Prossh, Skyraider of Kher + Ogre Battledriver/Shared Animosity
I'd say there's far more terrifying comboes in this list than Oloro deciding I can't have a nonland here or there. I still can use my General as much as I want.
Actually, my avatar is from GW1: I played the mesmer to death, ended with Obsidian armor with Chaos mittens (mesmers had mittens, not gloves
I took a look at Rift, and it's not really excited me (given an hour of gameplay almost got my character fully-dressed) since all the missions were really generic. The other game I found in my Interwebbing was Vindictus (listed as free on steam), but I haven't quite tried it out yet.
I've also got a GW2 account, but after grinding to 54 within the first week of release, I found most of the quests generic, copy/pasted and the story has gotten really high-fantasy to the point of it feeling like a kids' game in some places. With the sheer amount of comic relief they have, it's hard to get immersed into the actual game/story.