Hey guys,
Firstly thank you for any feedback given, each and every response will be appreciated and helpful regardless of the content.
In the past 8 weeks our Friday Night Magic attendance has been dwindling.
I'm a newer FLGS Owner, we've been open for roughly a year and a half, and we opened in a location with a sizable magic community, but no dedicated magic card shops within a 2 hour drive, and for a 10 year history.
When I first arrived, FNM scarcely fired. When I opened up shop, I dedicated my time to building the magic community and growing attendance. We ended up at a healthy 24 player average leading up to the release of Kaladesh. Just after the Kaladesh Pro Tour we went from 24 to 11. Then 8 player average, and even not firing FNM for the first time a couple weeks ago.
Our magic community is so large that we ended up having over 350 unique players play in our over 200 events we fired last year. But almost none of those players come back. I hear a lot of talk about the regulars being too competitive or serious about play, but as a shop owner, I feel like that's something that it almost out of my control. I make sure prize support is not top heavy, I give away random prizes, and I stay consistent offering every popular format on it's own night of the week.
That's where I need your help! What am I missing? What key element of fun do I need to add to keep players coming back and caring about playing magic, especially Standard (and yes, I get the current sigma of the Standard Format.)
If anything please let me know one unique or fun thing that your FLGS FNM destination does that gets you loyal, dedicated and keeps you coming back.
This is my favorite deck, and it makes me sad you haven't made any updated in almost a year, especially when a potentially amazing card comes out for it.
Also, Multani's Acolyte might be another Elvish Visionary you're looking for. And Shrine of the Forsaken God's seems like a more reasonable Temple of the False Gods. You already commented on needing to tap lands the turn they enter, and temple might give you a hiccup. And how often is Inkmoth Nexus Relevant?
Have you considered Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury at all? And do you really just except the fact that you fold to Armageddon, or do you try to fight it somehow? I most certainly just try to not play against players that use cards like that, or encourage players to not use cards that are considered universally "unfun" like Armageddon effects.
I think the ban of this card is ludicrous. It's a fair and powerful card, it's readily available and cheap enough that everyone can get one. No one is calling for the ban of Mana Drain, Mishra's Workshop, Bazaar of Baghdad or Mana Crypt, because those cards are powerful and unfair, but they are so hard to acquire that no one complains because no one really plays against them. I'm disappointed at the EDH community and council once again.
I, too, run a mostly "fair" Mayael deck and have found Dense Foliage to be great. Maybe you could cut Steely Resolve for it.
In my meta, it shuts down Uril, creature theft spells, and spot removal. The only spells in my deck that target are Path to Exile and Selesnya Charm, and those are saved primarily for Ulamog. In your list, only Chaos Warp targets, and that may not even be for creatures. Most of our other cards target via abilities. Anyways, I'd consider it.
I've recently added Disaster Radius as a one-sided board wipe with all of our fat creatures, but I've yet to actually playtest with it. It's almost twice as expensive as Day of Judgement, but a lot better for us.
I love the idea of Dense Foliage, thanks for suggesting it. I'm glad that a deck like this isn't destroyed by a Linvala too as I have other non-creature ways to cheat dudes out into play. But even then, I've got wraths that can handle her too. And I'm also excited to throw Archetype of Endurance in here also.
I don't know if you still are active on this forum and/or if you check this thread out often, but I wanted to let you know that this deck restored my faith that I can have fun playing casual EDH.
This is the first and only "fair" deck I've found that I can play (fair as in no infinite combos) and still win the majority of the games I play, and not have everyone hate me for winning.
Mayael is very powerful on her own, and the deck built mostly around her and a specific theme just works so well.
I'm a very competitive player and it's been a rough transition into playing multiplayer casual games of EDH, and trying to deck build around others needs.
I thought I'd let you see my build and let me know what you think if you're still around.
It's a bit different than your main build, I feel like I cut some things that I felt were situational at best, sub par, or big creatures that don't really do much else but be big.
I'm also looking forward to adding Archetype of Endurance from Born of the Gods.
I disagree. Although the argument that Compulsion drops sooner than desires, the less color intensive (to activate) makes it far more desirable. The deck has a subtheme of "greatness at any cost" type feel, so I don't mind the suicide to it.
As for Teferi's Realm, I'm pretty sure you mean Teferi's Veil. Unearth is Sorcery speed so you cant unearth in upkeep. Even so, as I've said many times before, Sedris is intended as a Finisher to the deck, not a regular piece of reanimation. My reanimation density is pretty high, so I don't need to blow sedris until its late game and things are getting really froggy.
I have made some changes though; Removed Crosis Charm for Izzet Signet
this completed my signets for the deck. I need the early ramp and color fixings, and these do it the best. Crosis charm was cool but I need more to do early game rather than land-go.
Removed Disciple of Bolas for Arcanis, the Omnipotent
If i'm going to try and gain cards, Arcanis does it better, especially with haste outlets. The life gain on Disciple is very relevant, but I need Arcanis's raw power.
Removed Oblivion Stone for Where Ancients Tread
It's a card that Basically acts as a worse Warstorm Surge, but for cheaper. The only two beater cards in the deck that don't trigger are Palinchron, and Flayer of the Hatebound, but on the undying trigger it comes back as a 5/3 so it even works then. Obvious inclusion for redundancy!
Removed Squee, Goblin Nabob for Dragon's Breath
I needed Redundancy on haste, and this is one of my favorites as it's Entomb and Intuition friendly. There are no cards in the deck that need haste that are under 6CMC; Only the looters will be sad but it's cheap to hardcast early if need be. I used to use it and liked it but removed it because I thought it said power6 not CMC, but seeing that its compatible with Hellkite, Arcanis, and friends, it's waay better. Firebreathing never hurts either.
Removed Thesbian's Stage for Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Countermagic has been an issue, at least in this deck lately. People are willing to burn their big counters on small reanimations that target Jin or friends. This should fight it well. I used it in Wrexial for a long time but the ways he wins normally isn't instants / sorceries, more abilities.. It hurts, but whatever.
Yes I mean't Veil, regardless it's still a 2 mana blue enchantment that interacts very strongly with Unearth.
Just a couple of observations, Compulsion is prolly better than unfulfilled desires, and I would heavily consider Teferi's Realm, because unearth and Phasing combo the way you want them to.
So the question is, for the sake of this brainstorm, what do you think we, with a competitive mindset, could ban that is consistent with the established philosophy? I'll go with DEN and SP for starters, and AN and Druid as well, I suppose.
I was always curious as to why some cards missed the banlist, when Seldon Menery clearly stated that a high barrier to entry was part of the banning philosphy, so why Timetwister, Mana Drain, Bazaar of Baghdad, Mishra's Workshop, Mana Crypt and Gaea's Cradle (to name a few) which are cards that can and do create an overwhelming advantage and cost an arm and a leg are still untouched is beyond me. The facade of balanced cards has been over for well over a decade, Timetwister is not a friendly card...
Hey, I've come here for some help, I'm kinda at a cross roads on what I want to play.
Some background about me: I'm a highly competitive player, I've been playing magic for 12 years. I love vintage, mental magic, and original 150 highlander for my casual formats. (clearly 150 has fallen by the wayside.) With all that said, I love doing degenerate things, but in multiplayer that is frowned upon.
I'm looking for a deck that can hold it's own, and still have a strong end game. I want lots to do turns 1-5 (ramping and waiting etc) and still be able to win the game shortly after that.
I want a deck that is powerful, and doesn't get blown out, I currently am in love with Purphoros, and have a deck built for him, it is very good and wins quickly with any number of opponents.
I'm having a hard time not including infinite combos and still doing the whole I win thing, some things I've come to love are interactions between Avenger of Zendikar and Craterhoof Behemoth. Birthing Pod helps a lot to enable that. But I also want to have lots of fun and a fun interactive general. I'm currently building Mayael for my girlfriend because it's fun and simple and still explosive, but I need something for myself. I definitely a blue mage when it comes to casual formats, but I know slamming or cheating an omniscience into play is miserable for everyone else at the table.
I want to include all the best staple cards from the colors I'd play such as land tax in white, or sylvan library for green, stuff like that, but I do need to keep a reasonble budget too. I had someone suggest 5 color elementals which seems fun, but I know I'd want 10-20 duals and 10 fetches in there, so thats a no-no.
I'd love some advice from you EDH elders and frequenters.
You may also want to take into consideration that other people may be "ramping" also. I kinda feel like even if I do draw land tax, this style of deck, and commander in general, has tons of things to do, and as long as you build you deck properly, you shouldn't be short of cards in hand.
Short of having Purphoros in play at the time you make many tokens, I don't see how you just win, maybe that is more a testament to the people you play against not having very interactively build decks, or instance speed answers to your threats, and sure if those are the kinds of decks you play against, more power to you to build a similar deck that is mostly just trying to do it's own thing.
I like Shirei a lot as the general of this deck, but I agree with refilling the hand often, a lot of the tutors should typically be targeting Necropotence first and foremost.
Firstly thank you for any feedback given, each and every response will be appreciated and helpful regardless of the content.
In the past 8 weeks our Friday Night Magic attendance has been dwindling.
I'm a newer FLGS Owner, we've been open for roughly a year and a half, and we opened in a location with a sizable magic community, but no dedicated magic card shops within a 2 hour drive, and for a 10 year history.
When I first arrived, FNM scarcely fired. When I opened up shop, I dedicated my time to building the magic community and growing attendance. We ended up at a healthy 24 player average leading up to the release of Kaladesh. Just after the Kaladesh Pro Tour we went from 24 to 11. Then 8 player average, and even not firing FNM for the first time a couple weeks ago.
Our magic community is so large that we ended up having over 350 unique players play in our over 200 events we fired last year. But almost none of those players come back. I hear a lot of talk about the regulars being too competitive or serious about play, but as a shop owner, I feel like that's something that it almost out of my control. I make sure prize support is not top heavy, I give away random prizes, and I stay consistent offering every popular format on it's own night of the week.
That's where I need your help! What am I missing? What key element of fun do I need to add to keep players coming back and caring about playing magic, especially Standard (and yes, I get the current sigma of the Standard Format.)
If anything please let me know one unique or fun thing that your FLGS FNM destination does that gets you loyal, dedicated and keeps you coming back.
Thanks,
Struggling FLGS Owner.
Ulvenwald Hydra
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=409999
I love the idea of Dense Foliage, thanks for suggesting it. I'm glad that a deck like this isn't destroyed by a Linvala too as I have other non-creature ways to cheat dudes out into play. But even then, I've got wraths that can handle her too. And I'm also excited to throw Archetype of Endurance in here also.
This is the first and only "fair" deck I've found that I can play (fair as in no infinite combos) and still win the majority of the games I play, and not have everyone hate me for winning.
Mayael is very powerful on her own, and the deck built mostly around her and a specific theme just works so well.
I'm a very competitive player and it's been a rough transition into playing multiplayer casual games of EDH, and trying to deck build around others needs.
I thought I'd let you see my build and let me know what you think if you're still around.
1 Mayael the Anima
//34 Lands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Command Tower
1 Fire-Lit Thicket
3 Forest
1 Grove of the Burnwillows
1 Gruul Turf
1 Homeward Path
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Kor Haven
1 Krosan Verge
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Savannah
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Stomping Ground
1 Strip Mine
1 Taiga
1 Temple Garden
1 Winding Canyons
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Asceticism
1 Austere Command
1 Beast Within
1 Chaos Warp
1 Chord of Calling
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Domri Rade
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Farseek
1 Greater Good
1 Krosan Grip
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Lurking Predators
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Nature's Lore
1 Privileged Position
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sneak Attack
1 Sol Ring
1 Steely Resolve
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Sylvan Library
1 Sylvan Tutor
1 Tempt with Discovery
1 Terminus
1 Three Visits
1 Tooth and Nail
1 True Conviction
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Wrath of God
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
1 Angel of Serenity
1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Blazing Archon
1 Bloom Tender
1 Elvish Piper
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Eternal Witness
1 Genesis
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Godsire
1 Gruul Ragebeast
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
1 Hellkite Tyrant
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Krosan Tusker
1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Terastodon
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Woodfall Primus
I'm also looking forward to adding Archetype of Endurance from Born of the Gods.
Yes I mean't Veil, regardless it's still a 2 mana blue enchantment that interacts very strongly with Unearth.
I was always curious as to why some cards missed the banlist, when Seldon Menery clearly stated that a high barrier to entry was part of the banning philosphy, so why Timetwister, Mana Drain, Bazaar of Baghdad, Mishra's Workshop, Mana Crypt and Gaea's Cradle (to name a few) which are cards that can and do create an overwhelming advantage and cost an arm and a leg are still untouched is beyond me. The facade of balanced cards has been over for well over a decade, Timetwister is not a friendly card...
Some background about me: I'm a highly competitive player, I've been playing magic for 12 years. I love vintage, mental magic, and original 150 highlander for my casual formats. (clearly 150 has fallen by the wayside.) With all that said, I love doing degenerate things, but in multiplayer that is frowned upon.
I'm looking for a deck that can hold it's own, and still have a strong end game. I want lots to do turns 1-5 (ramping and waiting etc) and still be able to win the game shortly after that.
I want a deck that is powerful, and doesn't get blown out, I currently am in love with Purphoros, and have a deck built for him, it is very good and wins quickly with any number of opponents.
I'm having a hard time not including infinite combos and still doing the whole I win thing, some things I've come to love are interactions between Avenger of Zendikar and Craterhoof Behemoth. Birthing Pod helps a lot to enable that. But I also want to have lots of fun and a fun interactive general. I'm currently building Mayael for my girlfriend because it's fun and simple and still explosive, but I need something for myself. I definitely a blue mage when it comes to casual formats, but I know slamming or cheating an omniscience into play is miserable for everyone else at the table.
I want to include all the best staple cards from the colors I'd play such as land tax in white, or sylvan library for green, stuff like that, but I do need to keep a reasonble budget too. I had someone suggest 5 color elementals which seems fun, but I know I'd want 10-20 duals and 10 fetches in there, so thats a no-no.
I'd love some advice from you EDH elders and frequenters.
Thanks in advance!
Short of having Purphoros in play at the time you make many tokens, I don't see how you just win, maybe that is more a testament to the people you play against not having very interactively build decks, or instance speed answers to your threats, and sure if those are the kinds of decks you play against, more power to you to build a similar deck that is mostly just trying to do it's own thing.