Ghired, Conclave Exile - Triple Dipping Naya Lards

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Post by yeti1069 » 3 years ago

Rionya looks ridiculous here!

I've been thinking about bringing in Terror of the Peaks for a bit of reach. Had a game recently where that would have locked this up quickly.

Also, had an interesting play the other night. Dropped Ghired with Flameshadow out, made a copy and kept it, sending the original to the command zone, then on the attack populated Ghired to keep him around. Hadn't considered that before.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 3 years ago

Yeah, Terror of the Peaks is a good way to pelt damage at face. The fact it's a copyable, stackable Warstorm Surge is a solid way to circumvent pillow forty, foggy nonsense. Gives the deck a bit more flexibility/reach, and is one of those preferable 5 mana beefslabs. It's a perfectly reasonable option. Why is this thing 20 bucks? Standard? Pandemic scarcity?

I fully recommend doing that line routinely. It's one extra red mana at the time of cast, and you get two permanent Rhinos for your trouble, which is a great way to have a bit of extra presence as you fish for a proper beatstick. Plus as you already delayed Ghired until six mana, the relative costs of the beef and the Ghired now match. It just doesn't work with Thunderfoot Baloth :P
 
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Post by yeti1069 » 3 years ago

Rumpy5897 wrote:
3 years ago
Yeah, Terror of the Peaks is a good way to pelt damage at face. The fact it's a copyable, stackable Warstorm Surge is a solid way to circumvent pillow forty, foggy nonsense. Gives the deck a bit more flexibility/reach, and is one of those preferable 5 mana beefslabs. It's a perfectly reasonable option. Why is this thing 20 bucks? Standard? Pandemic scarcity?

I fully recommend doing that line routinely. It's one extra red mana at the time of cast, and you get two permanent Rhinos for your trouble, which is a great way to have a bit of extra presence as you fish for a proper beatstick. Plus as you already delayed Ghired until six mana, the relative costs of the beef and the Ghired now match. It just doesn't work with Thunderfoot Baloth :P
Yeah, no idea why it's so pricey.

I hadn't ever considered that routine, but I used a similar one again tonight FTW, using Twinflame the turn I dropped Ghired with some token copying enchantments out to generate an army to swing out of nowhere. I know you dropped it a while back, but Trostani continues to be really solid for me. Maybe I'm facing more incoming damage in the games I play? This game I was at 2 life before the Twinflame turn, and had enough to kill one of my two remaining opponents and leave the other within reach on the next turn, but without the lifegain, I would have been easy pickings. With Trostani, I gained over 100 life at the same time. Also, Elesh Norn continues to be stupid good, as expected.

My list has gotten pretty close to yours, but I'll have to post mine sometime soon to see what you think.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Yeah, I'd say Twinflame is up there with Kiki and Spell Kiki as the top tier of copying in the deck. Cheap as hell, comes out whenever, and if you've got spare mana you can copy extra things - particularly useful with Ewit, but even just spending an extra 2R that wasn't gonna do anything meaningful to get a bonus permanent Rhino is not a bad deal. Especially with doubling, as you say.

I don't really miss the extra populate sources. I've found my focus on just getting a good body online, copying it, and ensuring combat goes well to provide a nice solid gameplay experience with about as much consistency as this sort of build can realistically have. I don't deny that Trostani is a good card, but she doesn't fit that core game plan. If anything, thinking about Trostani has me pondering Odric now - he suffers a similar problem wherein his effectiveness is locked behind summoning sickness (Trostani at least gains life immediately). I should probably just ram Elesh Norn into this slot instead - now that's a way to swing the board in your favour. I'm not surprised she's been overperforming for you. The only reason I don't run her is that she's unpleasant to play against, and this is a deck where I try to be somewhat mindful of my opponents' enjoyment of the game.

Looking forward to seeing your list in its current state. You could consider dropping it into a separate thread, as then you'll have an easier time maintaining it with any changes you may want to record. But if you just want to pop it in here, that's fine too. Whatever works for you.

I actually ventured into a Cockatrice pub with Ghired, and it was a rather miserable experience. I had a super explosive start - turn one Sol Ring into Blade of Selves, turn two Anointed Procession, turn four put the Blade on Ghired. One of the opponents smugly tells me that this is not going to work like I think it's going to work. Oh really? Well, I move to combat and swing, and the pub just breaks. My Ghired dies! Well no, I have five copies of a legendary permanent, I choose the original to keep. The Ghired copies don't get populate triggers! Well duh, I never said they did, I just made their eight ETB Rhinos. Some other random flapping that I don't recollect and a ragequit before blocks. Nothing like being incorrectly rules lawyered by visibly clueless opposition incapable of following me slow-rolling everything about the process. Anyway, I've got enough Chord of Calling power to offer Avacyn in case someone busts out a wipe, so I pass into the table. Omnath pumps himself up to double digits of power... and blasts into the other guy, whose only non-mana permanent on the field is a Warstorm Surge, despite having the power to just Rogue's Passage me. Top notch threat assessment. Third guy untaps and gets salty about not drawing a land. Had he drawn the land, he'd be able to kill us all with Insurrection. Excuse me? Turns out he mistakenly believed that borrowing the creatures would give him Surge triggers. It does not, so the ~40 power would just off one of us. Ragequit number two. Despite coming out the victor, I still found the game unpleasant due to the cluelessness of the opposition. If you don't know how stuff works, at least have the humility to accept when someone who does explains it to you. It was also weird how high-roll the game was. Despite a Sol Ring start, I didn't feel super ahead. As mentioned, Omnath got fat fast, and the Surge guy got both Sol Ring and Mana Crypt. What's spookier turn four, generation of 10 Rhinos or taking half a guy's effective health out with a single voltron slap?
 
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Post by yeti1069 » 2 years ago

From a game tonight: swung into Settle the Wreckage with Reconnaissance out. Untapped and removed the team from combat. That card is so good!

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Yep, that card is fantastic with its hyper-vigilance and various other shenanigans. It's dubbed Retconnaissance in the group due to moving the whole "oh wait I don't actually swing with this" out of the take-back zone. And for one mana too. I'd honestly recommend running this sucker in most white-containing decks that can see themselves swinging throughout the game.

The recent Odric nitpicking and Elesh Norn musings got me thinking about the deck and its weak points again. Even said weak points do fine in games, but in the interest of formality - Odric, Helm of the Host, Ogre Battledriver and Harmonize, in descending order. Thunderfoot Baloth would have been on the list pre-Elesh Norn discussion, but bringing the Praetor up made me realise that Baloth is honestly a pretty reasonable support piece even when not viewed as a beatstick, so it's less of a priority. Helm is a bit of a necessary evil as good copying is finite, and it's funny to combine it with legendary creatures or Ghired himself, but its intense mana requirements mean that it might get cut whenever another Rionya or something of the sort lands. Odric does not benefit from a short bench in that manner - I mean, Whift exists, and that's been unbelievable in Daxos. As such, it must also be great here, right? I gathered the guys for a test game, to little excitement from the opposition. They expected Whift to be a no-brainer, I had my doubts. A solid Ghired mid-game will have the deck curving the commander, some beef and a copier. How does Whift fit into this exactly? My fears were soon reality as just about the worst case scenario played out - I stalled with little going on, just some Rhinos which got promptly outgrown and rendered unable to swing. Meanwhile, Hans quickly got an engine online and had loads of lands and cards. Whifting him would accomplish nothing. Marchesa could just hide all his key creatures, and turn his copious Myr into lands. All I'd do would be disrupting the Kazuul Orc tribal, and that would be mean and pointless. I found myself wishing that the Whift was just the Odric. Maybe Dolmen Gate would be a better use of this slot?

Another avenue I'm considering is moving most of the 3CMC ramp to 1-2CMC. However, the Cultivates come with the upside of guaranteeing 5 mana by themselves, taking the deck to Ghired level and allowing it to start churning Rhinos as it considers other options. That is honestly pretty nice for an opening hand to have. And copying the Wood Elves is nice too, if a copier can be spared for the purpose. It's possible this is better being the enemy of good. Nevertheless, good to spitball this sort of stuff and see where it takes the deck.
 
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Post by yeti1069 » 2 years ago

I haven't run Odric here, as I've found him underwhelming elsewhere.

My games with Winds of Abandon have been mixed. A few times it's just a slow, expensive Path, which isn't terrible. Once it's been exactly what I needed to get through, and one other time it totally backfired, as I got my attackers exiled with an ETB angel, and everyone else got ramped 3-7 mana. I'm keen on having a 1-sided wipe, but note sure what that would look like here.

Helm of the Host has often sat in my hand because I never had enough mana to play and equip it, and never had a turn where playing it and nothing else felt like the right play, especially since the group I'm playing with now runs TONS of removal, and that's too much telegraphing.

I've never been unhappy with Battledriver.

When I get back home next week and actually have a computer, I'll copy over my list with some notes.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

The Great Slimming


There are times when the list feels clunky. Those times involve the mid game, a hand loaded with various support pieces, and no real good way to sequence them. The end result - a bunch of mana down the drain, unable to be spent efficiently on anything. Not long after the Whift test game I got some crazy draw setup going, and what did I do main two? Play the cheap ramp to generate as many resources as possible for next turn. Then use those resources to jump immediate impact stuff on people post untap.

I've always openly admitted Ghired is a Sol Ring deck, to the point of advocating for using Enlightened Tutor to get it early if given the chance to. A turn three Ghired is no slouch, and ultimately the three-drop ramp that plays it safe does not allow that to happen. So seeing how the outcome of a Cultivate is a turn four Ghired, wouldn't this also be accomplished by playing some cheaper ramp and then being able to spend the early turns more productively? If you ramp earlier and can spend turn three setting up Anointed Procession, then that's better than having turn two for setup and then ripping the Cultivate, no? However, I did supposedly try moving to an Arbor Elf plus land auras package earlier in the deck's life, and it didn't work. I guess there's only one way to see what will happen here - aggressive goldfishing!

I pulled up enough hands to get 100 opening sequences with the contentious ramp options to show up. This wasn't just pure opening hands, I'd play out the first few turns and see if I'd draw one of them before the turn I'd land on 5 mana. I compared what happened with the cheaper ramp (Arbor Elf plus land auras and a Rampant Growth) versus the original 3-drops. The outcomes:
  • Faster Ghired - 29
    The cheaper ramp options led to a quicker deployment of Ghired than what the 3-drops would have resulted in.
  • Same turn Ghired
    • Better setup - 41
      The cheaper ramp led to Ghired coming out to a better game state. This could be anything from being able to sequence in a powerful support piece like Anointed Procession, through being able to ramp harder in the early turns, to being able to save an Enlightened Tutor and power out a turn three Ghired sans Sol Ring.
    • Unused - 3
      The rest of the hand was able to chase out Ghired in a manner where the evaluated ramp slots wouldn't have changed pacing or setup. This is a mild win for the cheaper options, as they're a lot easier to stuff in later.
    • Same setup - 2
      Both the cheap ramp and the 3-drops led to the same outcome in the end. Pretty sure Farhaven Elf was involved here.
    • Worse setup - 20
      Not all hands have noteworthy support pieces to play out. In those instances, the original 3-drop ramp pieces were preferable due to the benefits they carry, be it the extra land to hand off a Cultivate or Selvala's future ramp increase.
  • Failure to produce Ghired - 5
    Essentially the hands that needed the Cultivate hand land to get Ghired going.
Given the fact the cheap stuff is no worse to actively better than the 3-drops 75% of the time in the early game, and is far more likely to get snuck in late, the swaps have been deemed desirable.

The Great Slimming
Approximate Total Cost:

Seeing how I got all cost-effective on ramp, I also combed through the contentious spots brought up previously and doubled down on what the core role of the card in question is. Odric's unblockability is nice and all, but the primary purpose is to be able to venture out into combat. Dolmen Gate does that immediately for half the cost. Once the pieces come together, blockers shouldn't matter a lot anyway due to the intense scaling. While Ogre Battledriver is technically copyable, he's not exactly remarkable when multiplied. The buffs offered are temporary and not that high, so he's not a legit beatstick but rather haste outlet with upside. Once again, it's possible to halve the requisite mana investment and retain most of the functionality. It should be noted that Lightning Greaves formally nonbo with Reconnaissance and Rionya, but these are narrow circumstances. Pretty much the only time the former interaction will matter will be if swinging Ghired into unfavourable waters.

While doing the goldfishing, Harmonize performed perfectly okay and I had little desire to replace it. I considered reintroducing Bramble Sovereign, did some testing for that, and continued seeing the perplexing outcome that it's easier to spend much more mana on a subsequent turn to get a copy than to front the 1G on the spot. I could have snowed up my mana base and added Into the North over Wood Elves, but I rather like being able to copy ETB land getters. Just not quite enough to not cut the worse one :P I'll see how often the copying comes up in the future.

I walked the slimmed version of the deck into a different group. I absorbed six pieces of spot removal and got wiped twice. The game reminded me of a sticks and stones fight post a nuclear war as I stuck a Splinter Twin onto Ohran Frostfang to try to find something to do. If forced to exist in such conditions, the more conditional beatsticks (Angel of Destiny, Kalonian Hydra) lose a lot of their appeal, especially as I was never able to even threaten copying one. Is this why Angel is in four Ghired decks on EDHREC? Teferi's Protection would need to make a return, and I'd seriously need to consider cheap redirect jukes on top of that (Bolt Bend, Deflecting Swat).
 
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Post by EonAon » 2 years ago

Two initial things, 1. have you ever considered arcane signet as one of the ramp bits? 2. You have Three Visits in your list on the front page twice.

Next have you looked at Shalai, Voice of Plenty while the second ability in the +1 probably wont be as relevant to you the hexproof to everything else would be right at home.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Thanks for the catch, fixed. I think I looked up after keying in Utopia Sprawl, and wrote Three Visits again rather than the Wild Growth that was supposed to go there. Lockdown brain things.

When in green, I tend to run mostly land ramp as the most resilient form of it. Especially now, with Rionya becoming a major player overnight and wanting a hefty instant/sorcery presence to charge up the copying (which is another argument for snowing up the place and replacing Wood Elves with Into the North). Arcane Signet would be a perfectly fine include though, as it's an untapped two-drop with perfect colour access.

Shalai is a solid goodstuff card, lightning rodding removal and coming with a theoretical mana sink. You do correctly note I'm not likely to use it, but it's still there. A worthy consideration, especially if trying to survive in a removal-dense meta. Fun times could be had, Chording it in as a response to spot removal. This would require a seven mana/creature investment though, which is nontrivial. However, I have been known to bust out Avacyn off Chord, so nothing is impossible.
 
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Post by EonAon » 2 years ago

Just a fyi if you do go snow lands get the dual ones from Kaldheim before the duals from Coldsnap first since your fetches can get them as well as Into the North can. All four snow duals might not be good for this deck but at least those two would be the easiest to slot. I think you wont be able to play Faceless Haven since the basic conversions would not allow activation often enough. Maybe check around for some of the other man lands so if they removal you out, you have options?

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Post by MeowZeDung » 2 years ago

Explore and Crop Rotation as ways to ramp and keep Rionya hits high after the early game ramp rush is over, perhaps? Admittedly, you need the land in hand or on top of the library for Explore to pay off early on, and the only real ramp target I see for Crop Rotation is Krosan Verge. There's always other ways to ramp using your opponent's Rampant Growths/Cultivates while still being live spells later on that also happen to proc Rionya.
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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

By "snowing up the place" I just meant basics. I'm perfectly cool with Into the North being a second copy of Rampant Growth, and none of the snow non-basics are particularly appealing here. There's a very finite quota of CIPT/colourless lands that this deck can stomach, and I'm pretty sure I'm at capacity already.

I like the idea of Crop Rotation in here, as its default mode would be to go get Ancient Tomb for immediate ramp. Side targets would be Hall of the Bandit Lord and Krosan Verge, with the all-colour lands on standby for fixing needs. However, Tomb would be the only one to offer sensible ramp, which makes Crop Rotation a bit risky a proposition in the deck. I'll need to think about it, as it kind of reminds me of narrow Urza's Saga usage scenarios. Explore I've never been much of a fan of, and the various Forks are too situational. I already had trouble justifying holding up mana for Teferi's Protection, so I can't imagine I'd use those often. Plus they require me to cast another instant/sorcery to copy if trying to use them for Rionya stacks in my own turn.
 
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Post by yeti1069 » 2 years ago

I had a couple games recently where the damage/life loss from Ancient Tomb and Hall of the Bandit Lord were a huge problem (drew both early and needed them for general plays for several turns). In my list, I have Trostani, Selesnya's Voice and Angelic Skirmisher as ways to regain life. Have you run into this issue at all?

I know you have added Angel of Destiny, which can gain you life, but it doesn't look like enough to cover these situations (I also wonder how often is does the job of killing off players). What has your experience with it been?

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

Yeah, I know what you mean. Ancient Tomb by itself is fine, it's Hall of the Bandit Lord that's trouble, especially if stuff's curving out prior to Ghired. Feels bad to use it to cast a setup piece. However, it does allow for on-curve hasting of all the beef without the overhead the other land based options require. I put it in because of that, and so far I think the positives outweigh the negatives for me.

As for Angel of Destiny, picture Kalonian Hydra but amped up to 11. Does nothing if landed on its own, and wins the game if copied. I like this sort of jank about EDH, and view the Angel as my prime beatstick. I recounted a game recently where I killed the whole table out of absolutely nowhere with the Angel (with Hall also involved). The Hydra still has its uses, mainly in caring less about the opposing board state and just crashing in with larger than life bodies. Still, the two do have the drawback of being blanks if not copied. A drawback that I was all too bluntly reminded of in my recent foray outside my habitat. As such, won't fault you if you choose to run more standalone useful pieces in their place.
 
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Post by EonAon » 2 years ago

Ah true you probably don't need to have heavy snow, but I do wonder how often does canopy vista and cinder glade come into play untapped? I get that they have more of a chance to CITP untapped in some ways but overall you only have 10 basic as is. Changing those two into fetchable and rampable snow duals might be a thing, could very well be my own bias talking though :)

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

I don't remember ever being disappointed by them. The perks of a perfect mana base is you have access to a crazy amount of various lands via your nine fetches, so combine that flexibility with information on how lines of play and basic density are shaping up and you can fetch smartly. Historically I haven't had much trouble with hitting the two requisite basics if desired, albeit it's likely to be different now in a post-Cultivate world. Nevertheless, I have no interest in replacing these with taplands just because a hypothetical Rampant Growth would see them.
 
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Post by EonAon » 2 years ago

Rumpy5897 wrote:
2 years ago
I don't remember ever being disappointed by them. The perks of a perfect mana base is you have access to a crazy amount of various lands via your nine fetches, so combine that flexibility with information on how lines of play and basic density are shaping up and you can fetch smartly. Historically I haven't had much trouble with hitting the two requisite basics if desired, albeit it's likely to be different now in a post-Cultivate world. Nevertheless, I have no interest in replacing these with taplands just because a hypothetical Rampant Growth would see them.
Its rampant growth and fetch, but I take your point nonetheless :) Otherwise its really sad that Strixhaven didn't give a lot of boost to tokens even from the Wither Bloom side of things. There are some interesting token generators in the decks but not much really in the set itself except for pests which neither my Trostani or your Ghired can really use without warping our bases for mass lifegain and to try for infinite mana.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

If Tangoes didn't respond to fetches, they would not be in the deck. That's a trait shared by both of the cycles in question.

This has never been a conventional token deck. Ghired coming with a 4/4 trampler sets the bar surprisingly high for competing bodies. Is it worth to devote a card to upgrade the Rhino to a 5/5 trampler? A 5/5 flyer? I found it a lot more interesting to make copies of actual creatures.
 
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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

I recently realised that having all copyable bodies jumbled into one umbrella category is actually not that useful. It doesn't really offer a good overview of what's in the deck as the beatsticks mingle with the Wood Elves. I split the categories up, and in the process got reminded of Subjugator Angel. It's a very unglamorous card, but one that does what is expected of it. Still, it is technically a weak link in the deck if something good comes around... oh would you look at that day one of MH2 previews brings Serra's Emissary. It's not a straight upgrade over the Subjugator, there are some things it does better and some things it does worse:

Pros:
  • Static protection from creatures on you and all your bodies is an incredibly strong thing. Permanent unblockability, permanent lack of swinger damage to face, it's a ridiculously powerful effect.
  • Can also technically name other things. Assuming you've got copying online, protection from instants on the initial one that comes down is good for making sure the protection from creatures one sticks the landing. Protection from sorceries is yet another asymmetric Blasphemous Act enabler.
Cons:
  • Needs to live to provide its benefit. If it eats a Path prior to (or during) combat, that's that. Subjugator Angel is a sorcery-like thanks to the ETB tap.
  • Turns off creature-based copying. 3 of 8 current copying options are creatures, most of which make up the very best copying options. How's that going to play?
Given the ambiguous nature of the card, I gathered the guys for some playtesting. While I expected I'd need a lot of games to reach a consensus on whether the card is a good include, a conclusion was drawn after 2-3 games already - the table unanimously hated playing against it. Turns out granting me complete immunity to creature damage, while at the same time rendering my foes unable to block, was just horribly unfun for them and the card will not be joining the deck. The most warping effect was had on the third game, where Grand Warlord Radha had Song of Freyalise do its last thing, a Beastmaster Ascension that would come online, and Ohran Frostfang to draw fistfuls of cards, yet chose not to swing. He wasn't confident that he'd be able to handle me with the remaining players gone, so he didn't act. In terms of gameplay from my end, the card was a crazy power swing, but one that felt more controlling than the deck's typical over the top fat play pattern. I did not get to encounter it clashing with the Kikis, but one time I was sitting on Eladamri's Call in my hand and used it on Quartzwood Crasher rather than trying to kickstart a Kiki setup. It's probably objectively correct to run this, just like it may well be objectively correct to go for Yosei locks. However, the table's lack of enjoyment as this lands and strips them of their ability to partake in combat against me outweighs the benefits when not trying to be absolutely optimal.

I've encountered all of the recent curve thinning cards out in the wild by now, and have enjoyed them. Dolmen Gate and Lightning Greaves retaining the prime functionality of their predecessors at half the cost turn out to play perfectly fine in practice, as hoped for. The slimmed ramp suite allows for more impactful setups as shown in testing. Still need to keep an eye out for Wood Elves, but that's a matter for many games across time. Slowly maturing to Deflecting Swat - it took me a while to add its white indestructibility cousin too. The main thing holding me back is the lack of an obvious cut.
 
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Post by MeowZeDung » 2 years ago

Rumpy5897 wrote:
2 years ago
Given the ambiguous nature of the card, I gathered the guys for some playtesting. While I expected I'd need a lot of games to reach a consensus on whether the card is a good include, a conclusion was drawn after 2-3 games already - the table unanimously hated playing against it. Turns out granting me complete immunity to creature damage, while at the same time rendering my foes unable to block, was just horribly unfun for them and the card will not be joining the deck.
I'm actually really surprised at this. To your point earlier in the post, that new angel absolutely BEGS for spot removal to wreck your day mid-combat. It's certainly more of a mulldrifter than a baneslayer, but I get real jumpy whenever I try to run stuff like that which affects combat math so drastically and can end in massive blowouts (Harmonious Archon, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Angel of Invention, Beastmaster Ascension etc.). Is part of the reason it's so oppressive to your playgroup the fact that you are copying it and tend to have multiples?
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Post by EonAon » 2 years ago

The real issue is unlike Linvala which was legendary you can copy emissary over and over. If I was to wager on what card the rules community might ban emissary would be the one. Copy it enough times and you basically nuke all removal for up to 3 other players at minimum. Even temporary copies would be bothersome. Copy name instant and they cant deal at all with them during your turn.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 2 years ago

I finally met up with the EDH guys again for in-person cardboard, and Ghired hasn't had the luck of being updated. As such, I got to experience its early 2020 form, and it was quite interesting.

In terms of what's pertinent to the Serra's Emissary discussion at hand - that card single-handedly turns off crackback. True, it dies to removal, but so do a lot of cards that ended up banned anyway. The effect is just too powerful and unfun for my group to handle, and I can respect that. No other card has this level of impact on creature combat. One of the games had me pecking away at people with a Gisela-boosted board of drivel, yet it was still possible to punch me back, if ineffectively. I went in for the killing blow and got fogged. I died on the crackback, despite the Gisela. She led to the game state swinging in my favour, but not quite as severely as the Emissary did in its test games. There was still a fighting chance, not merely fishing for removal.

One game in particular stuck out as the perfect storm for a bunch of old includes to shine. Nothing was really coming together, so Odric led ever more numerous Rhino swarms into battle, to medium effect. There was a Authority of the Consuls in play (one of the guys was piloting my Daxos), which stopped the Aurelia sitting in hand from being able to surprise the table and finish them off. However, I did have Birthing Pod, so I hatched a plan - I set the Pod down, and upon untapping I'd chase out the Aurelia, convert her to Gisela, and blow people up with twice the damage from an alternate source. Before I had the chance to do that, the third player ripped a Blasphemous Act with RGmnath and a sea of his progeny around. Oh hello Teferi's Protection! This left the guy in a bit of a pickle as to what to do in the situation, as if he killed the Daxos he was dead on board to me, but the delivery guy rocked up with some food and we abandoned the game for nourishment instead. While the game had the cards doing fine, I think on the whole I'm justified in the swaps I've made since. A lot of cards can be situationally good, and the changes were aiming to improve the fraction of situations where this would be the case.

Technically the entirety of MH2 is revealed now, but nothing other than the Emissary really merits discussing. Timeless Witness is technically a card, but the eternalize cost is massive and I just spent an update trimming the curve. I also had the opportunity to run the vaguely Angel of Sanctions, and I never got along with that card.
 
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SaintRumpterfrabble
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Post by SaintRumpterfrabble » 2 years ago

I was able to attack with 4 copies of Pathbreaker Ibex tonight. It was fantastic.
This deck has become my go-to, it is so much fun to play. Anything in MH2 or the D&D sets up for include consideration?

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EonAon
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Post by EonAon » 2 years ago

Those are about the only ones that fit in this deck and honestly Provisioner, Frog, and Werewolf are about the only ones that help. Werewolf would be a low priority add but Frog would be pretty interesting. Timeless could work and would become a decent population target since eternalize four for a 4/4 flyer isnt bad but replacing something else for it seems counter intuitive. Adult and bard have decent bits to them but like timeless not as technical. Provisioner is really good considering the amount of gas to treasure or food you could use but likely treasure for ramp. With the amount of attack triggers this deck could generate Investigation could be interesting but since it is only on attack...
Whether or not Rumpy decided to add any of those cards, whole nother story.

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