- esserius
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Member for 12 years, 8 months, and 25 days
Last active Thu, Jul, 30 2015 10:37:44
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Jul 31, 2011esserius posted a message on Feminism and Magickidlantern, this piece is confusing and strays all over the place. Many of your sentences aren't complete, and others aren't sentences at all. There are also problems with usage. If you're going to make a written argument, you're at a point where you need to understand the fundamentals. A place to start would be Strunk and White's Elements of Style.Posted in: Lantern Blog
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1 Selvala, Explorer Returned
Lands
1 Command Tower
1 Flooded Strand
1 Homeward Path
1 Marsh Flats
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Savannah
1 Strip Mine
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wirewood Lodge
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
6 Plains
7 Forest
1 Arid Mesa
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Drifting Meadow
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Krosan Verge
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Slippery Karst
1 Tranquil Thicket
1 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
1 Beast Within
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Mercy Killing
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Krosan Grip
1 Path to Exile
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
Sorcery
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Regrowth
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Explore
1 Life from the Loam
1 Green Sun's Zenith
Enchantments
1 Exploration
1 Sylvan Library
1 Aluren
1 Earthcraft
1 Fertile Ground
1 Aura Shards
1 Presence of Gond
1 Helix Pinnacle
1 Elvish Guidance
1 Concordant Crossroads
1 Sterling Grove
Critters
1 Argothian Elder
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Spike Feeder
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Eternal Witness
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Gaea's Herald
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Wood Elves
1 Academy Rector
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Acidic Slime
1 Krosan Restorer
1 Wall of Blossoms
1 Elvish Harbinger
1 Priest of Titania
1 Stonecloaker
1 Auriok Champion
1 Stormfront Riders
1 Wirewood Herald
1 Primordial Sage
1 Wirewood Symbiote
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Mirror Entity
1 Sun Titan
1 Joraga Treespeaker
This deck has a couple of restrictions, self-enforced (inflicted?) in order to make it more interesting. I started with an initial rule of no artifacts, because artifacts were quickly causing super degenerate combos when the goal of the deck is something of a slow deck burn.
I removed a couple two card combos as well, including the well-known Guard + Gond and Squirrelpocalypse (Thune and Feeder remain... for reasons). Still, the deck is a combo deck and is intended to infinite in a variety of ways, though perhaps primarily through either a Threshed Krosan Restorer (during the attack phase with Maze of Ith) or Argothian Druid with Wirewood Lodge. It's a pretty land heavy deck and the relative safeness playing lands affords hopefully increases the three and four card combos actually working (given two or three are lands). Aluren is also fairly degenerate but will not outright combo with anything, near as I can tell (though the synergy with Stonecloaker is great, the best you will get from that with this deck is the ability to exile all graveyards). Mirror Entity and Wirewood Symbiote are an obvious combo though they also need an Elf to make them go off, with Aluren it becomes easier still.
Some Combos/Synergy:
Selvala + Symbiote + Mirror Entity
Thune + Feeder
Aluren + Symbiote + Mirror Entity + Elf ETBs
Helix Pinnacle + Mana Combos
Argothian Elder + Wirewood Lodge + Fertile Ground or Elvish Guidance
Threshold Krosan Restorer + Maze of Ith + Lands (Mikokoro or Vitu-Ghazi)
Presence of Gond + Symbiote + Mirror Entity + Aluren
Stormfront Riders + Aluren - Synergy
Aluren + Stonecloaker - Exile graveyards
I'm not going to explain every card, most are played for either ETB effects or synergy, hopefully both, rather I'm trying to look for ways to increase synergy and reliability. All these setups are relatively easy to interrupt given they rely heavily on creatures. Would be interested to know if there are elves that could either directly replace certain effects to increase synergy or garner more ETB effects.
I'm not really sold on Saffi or Stormfront Riders in this deck. Saffi doesn't have as much of a place without Reveillark and this deck also has no sac outlets to begin with. Stormfront Riders seems like it would typically end up in a win-more pile whereas most others have some utility on their own. Gaea's Herald and a few of the other elves (Joraga) are also ones I'm uncertain of, perhaps because their board impact isn't felt immediately. Interested as well in thoughts on Lotus Vale due to its obvious synergy with Argothian Druid.
I'll third not being a fan of Thought Scour. I would personally rather have Forked Bolt over Fire/Ice, but those flex slots are typically going to come down to preference. With more and more use, I'm preferring Probe in those slots though.
I assume some have seen the deck posted by Jessy Hefner and am definitely curious as to what people think about it.
http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=65490
I have personally been loving Gitaxian Probe, not just because it helps with threshold, but it's a Sorcery (helps Goyf), it replaces itself for free, and most crucially, provides information. I really cannot stress enough how important information is for this deck. More than anything else, you need information. You will win and lose games because of the information you have or don't have. Probe can also be used to dig a bit deeper with Brainstorm/Ponder, should you need the extra card that you would normally have to wait for.
I do agree that 4 Daze is the way to go. I'm also not a fan of Dismember, I would rather have Forked Bolt. It's just generally more versatile. It won't kill fatties obviously, but I think our options against fatties tend to be countering them rather than competing against them. More true now than ever with True-Name Nemesis.
Still not sure Pyromancer has enough testing to justify taking out Goyfs in any major fashion though.
Also, has anyone tried Pillar of Flame in flex slots with any satisfaction?
Shroud can beat many decks. It's why Geist is fringe playable in UW decks.
What would you be boarding them in against that would help change the flow of the game significantly? I can't see them doing much against any deck running Abrupt Decay, if we get into a grindy match with Deathblade we're going to lose, combo doesn't care, which leaves us at aggro. Which... maybe I could see? I mean, I guess it might help against Merfolk and Goblins, but both of them can cheat in their creatures (and, you know, Cavern of Souls).
We don't have Top, and Top is what makes Counterbalance playable.
I'm currently considering Savage Summoning or Young Pyromancer, though I'm not sure where. What I am sure of is that Pyromancer, at the very least, seems to be able to add a lot of pressure. The problem is mostly its cost.
It's a pressure card that has huge benefits which isn't just about being more mana-efficient. It's a draw engine that forces the opponent to play into your threats.
It's a Jace that costs 2 mana and is considerably more difficult to get rid of (some hyperbole here).
Also, I don't really agree that it's just about the most efficient cards. If it were, you could reveal your hand and you would still come out on top. I think the reality is that there is also a need for consideration of the mental game that goes on, and I think Sylvan Library is maybe the best card at messing with that.