The most common way i have encountered the "skip your turn" is when I am yielded until the next endstep on my turn somehow. I never use yield til the next endstep anymore, and never use yield until my next upkeep until I am done with my turn.
You might like trying a couple of the goofy fringe removal dudes like Reliquary Monk or even Dualcaster Mage (who is often an extra removal spell). I always shill for Unexpectedly Absent as far as removal spells go as well.
Nahiri, the Harbinger is another one I think might do pretty well in your deck as a general purpose removal spell. I find these weenie type decks tend to do a really good job of protecting planeswalkers and Nahiri's +2 is very good in your deck also. I played Nahiri and Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast in my last aggro deck and they always did tons of work.
Queen Marchesa - Aristocrats
I was thinking of the Monk since it did good work in Teysa but without the added bonus of a second trigger, I skipped it for now. I might need to look at it again though.pokken wrote: ↑3 years agoThe most common way i have encountered the "skip your turn" is when I am yielded until the next endstep on my turn somehow. I never use yield til the next endstep anymore, and never use yield until my next upkeep until I am done with my turn.
You might like trying a couple of the goofy fringe removal dudes like Reliquary Monk or even Dualcaster Mage (who is often an extra removal spell). I always shill for Unexpectedly Absent as far as removal spells go as well.
Nahiri, the Harbinger is another one I think might do pretty well in your deck as a general purpose removal spell. I find these weenie type decks tend to do a really good job of protecting planeswalkers and Nahiri's +2 is very good in your deck also. I played Nahiri and Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast in my last aggro deck and they always did tons of work.
Unexpectedly Absent is next on the list to add. I am thinking Pyroblast might not be good enough so I might swap those two.
Nahiri is a good thought though. I like that she can just straight up deal with Enchantments and can conditionally deal with Artifacts and Creatures.
Now I just need to figure out what makes sense to cut. I am thinking I might have too many mass token creation spells or I need to cut down on something like Lightmine Field. I haven't seen it or No Mercy yet and I really want to see what they do.
I think cutting back on the mass tokens spells makes sense -- they're alright but I'd rather do that critters you can reanimate personally than one-time effects.
Yeah, that is where I am leaning too. So far, I haven't really needed the mass tokens anyway (beyond what Spiritkeeper gives me) so I think I will cut back on both Secure the Wastes and Call the Coppercoats. Because I am cutting back on them, Skullclamp loses a lot of its power since not very many things I have have 1 toughness so I will cut that too.
In their place, I am going to give Reliquary Monk, Nahiri, and Unexpectedly Absent a try. Monk is probably the most dubious of the three but is likely to still be pretty decent.
In their place, I am going to give Reliquary Monk, Nahiri, and Unexpectedly Absent a try. Monk is probably the most dubious of the three but is likely to still be pretty decent.
06/06/20
Approximate Total Cost:
You can recruiter for it (with either!) which is a pretty big thing, not sure there is anything quite as flexible in those colors. Dualcaster maaaybe.
Two continual sources of annoyance for me are that green got both collector ouphe and reclamation sage. I keep hoping we get an exiling rec sage at some point
Two continual sources of annoyance for me are that green got both collector ouphe and reclamation sage. I keep hoping we get an exiling rec sage at some point
Dualcaster is on the shortlist for now. I think some of the things it can do, but not sure if I need it yet.
Honestly, a straight colorshift of Rec Sage for White would be awesome. Though, now that I think about it, Duergar Hedge-Mage is something I should seriously consider. I never had it in Teysa because of the lack of red, but I think that might be better than the Monk in most cases. And it can still be Recruited.
Honestly, a straight colorshift of Rec Sage for White would be awesome. Though, now that I think about it, Duergar Hedge-Mage is something I should seriously consider. I never had it in Teysa because of the lack of red, but I think that might be better than the Monk in most cases. And it can still be Recruited.
Ooh, yeah I always forget about hedge mage cos I so rarely am playing red. It's a beast in Feather, the Redeemed deck I copied from Rumpy.
It can be kinda awkward even in WR getting enough of both types to always trigger it, but you do have more typed lands available. WR has very few. typed duals (I think just the two).
It can be kinda awkward even in WR getting enough of both types to always trigger it, but you do have more typed lands available. WR has very few. typed duals (I think just the two).
Yeah, I play it in Gisela and had it in Alesha and it usually does good work. Sometimes it gets awkward if you don't have the right lands but with 3 colors and fetches it isn't too hard to get the lands with basic land types to make sure it triggers both triggers.
I played another game just now. The room said it was "7-8ish" so I figured this would be a good one to test against as they should be a little higher power. I played against Etali, Primal Storm, Karona, False God, and Thrasios, Triton Hero & Tymna the Weaver.
I won the die roll but had to mulligan down to 6. I ended up keeping a hand of 4 lands, No Mercy and Zulaport Cutthroat. My first draw was a land so I wasn't doing too hot.
Karona cast a Curse of Opulence on the Partners but no one ever attacked the, I would have but my Cutthroat was too small and would have died to Thrasios. No big deal either way.
I cast No Mercy on turn 4 and Marchesa on Turn 5. I wanted to get No Mercy down first so if someone did attack me for the Monarch at least their creature would die. But, no one really had enough to attack me. Etali could have come down and swung in at someone but they were slow rolling him for some reason.
Partners timed out when I cast Queen Marchesa so it was then just 3 of us. Etali still didn't do a lot and Karona cast Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Because of Gisela and the amount of artifacts Etali had, I cast Hour of Revelation to wipe the board setting Etali back a ways (they had a Helm of the Host, Fervor and some mana rocks). Sine they only had 5 lands, they couldn't cast Etali so they passed. Karona dropped in a Seed the Land and a Grismold, the Dreadsower. This worked out exceptionally well for me since I just cast Cartel Aristocrat and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician on my next turn followed by a Dictate of Erebos the turn after.
I had 4 tokens from Karona giving me tokens and was able to just clear the board with them. Both players scooped once their creatures were gone so I still didn't really get a long game out of it since I was a long way off from actually winning.
This game didn't let me see any of the new cards so I don't know how well they would have worked but the game definitely feels like it is coming together pretty nicely.
Click here to view game 4 in main post
I played another game just now. The room said it was "7-8ish" so I figured this would be a good one to test against as they should be a little higher power. I played against Etali, Primal Storm, Karona, False God, and Thrasios, Triton Hero & Tymna the Weaver.
I won the die roll but had to mulligan down to 6. I ended up keeping a hand of 4 lands, No Mercy and Zulaport Cutthroat. My first draw was a land so I wasn't doing too hot.
Karona cast a Curse of Opulence on the Partners but no one ever attacked the, I would have but my Cutthroat was too small and would have died to Thrasios. No big deal either way.
I cast No Mercy on turn 4 and Marchesa on Turn 5. I wanted to get No Mercy down first so if someone did attack me for the Monarch at least their creature would die. But, no one really had enough to attack me. Etali could have come down and swung in at someone but they were slow rolling him for some reason.
Partners timed out when I cast Queen Marchesa so it was then just 3 of us. Etali still didn't do a lot and Karona cast Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Because of Gisela and the amount of artifacts Etali had, I cast Hour of Revelation to wipe the board setting Etali back a ways (they had a Helm of the Host, Fervor and some mana rocks). Sine they only had 5 lands, they couldn't cast Etali so they passed. Karona dropped in a Seed the Land and a Grismold, the Dreadsower. This worked out exceptionally well for me since I just cast Cartel Aristocrat and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician on my next turn followed by a Dictate of Erebos the turn after.
I had 4 tokens from Karona giving me tokens and was able to just clear the board with them. Both players scooped once their creatures were gone so I still didn't really get a long game out of it since I was a long way off from actually winning.
This game didn't let me see any of the new cards so I don't know how well they would have worked but the game definitely feels like it is coming together pretty nicely.
Click here to view game 4 in main post
Another game which didn't go too well. I played against Tymna the Weaver & Ravos, Soultender (I am noticing a lot of partners when I play), a mono green Golos, Tireless Pilgrim deck, and a "normal" Golos, Tireless Pilgrim deck.
I started off doing mostly nothing. I got Queen Marchesa down after No Mercy again but No Mercy ended up not doing a lot. It saved me from a few shots here and there but Partners blew up up pretty quickly.
After that, I cast Merciless Eviction to slow people down but Partners rebuilt pretty quickly and Golos already had their Field of the Dead online and there wasn't a lot I could do to stop it. Eventually, Golos was the obvious threat and I and Mono-G Golos weren't keeping up. Partners sort of were until Golos cast Time Stretch. That is when Mono-G Golos scooped.
After those two turns, Golos had about 20 zombies (thanks to Thespian's Stage copying Field of the Dead) and then they cast Part the Waterveil. They also tried to blow up my Blood Artist (I only had that, Dark Confidant and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician on the board). I sacrificed it pointing the -1/-1 counter at a creature Partners controlled. Mostly because -1/-1 counter wouldn't have killed anything of Golos and I was still trying to play politics a little because the only way I survive is to not be a threat to Golos and hope they go after Partners still (which they had been doing so far).
Partners didn't like it and scooped. Which is probably fair since I was still point Blood Artist triggers at them. Partly because of the reason above and partly because they were still locked into them as a target and I was sort of checked out of the game anyway.
Since they scooped, I didn't get my card draw. As I was working to sac the Dark Confidant for another card, Golos scooped. Likely because they thought they won which is pretty disappointing actually. Granted, I didn't draw and wasn't going to draw into an answer, but I had a few cards that could have helped right then and they didn't know my hand. Comeuppance would have been best. Double field might have been tough but I had Sun Titan and Reveillark in hand to help rebuild a little. It might have worked.
So, I "won" but not really.
I like the inclusion of Dark Confidant but I am wondering if I really need something else for card draw besides Mindblade Render. I had it on the field and never got a trigger since I couldn't attack into anyone.
I am also thinking No Mercy might not be enough but Lightmine Field likely is. It as least protects everyone. It would have gotten blow up just the same in the game above I think because it would have stopped Partners from attacking anyone. I am not entirely sure. I am starting to think sitting being passive isn't doing me any favors. I either need to blow them out by surprise or just sweep the board.
I started off doing mostly nothing. I got Queen Marchesa down after No Mercy again but No Mercy ended up not doing a lot. It saved me from a few shots here and there but Partners blew up up pretty quickly.
After that, I cast Merciless Eviction to slow people down but Partners rebuilt pretty quickly and Golos already had their Field of the Dead online and there wasn't a lot I could do to stop it. Eventually, Golos was the obvious threat and I and Mono-G Golos weren't keeping up. Partners sort of were until Golos cast Time Stretch. That is when Mono-G Golos scooped.
After those two turns, Golos had about 20 zombies (thanks to Thespian's Stage copying Field of the Dead) and then they cast Part the Waterveil. They also tried to blow up my Blood Artist (I only had that, Dark Confidant and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician on the board). I sacrificed it pointing the -1/-1 counter at a creature Partners controlled. Mostly because -1/-1 counter wouldn't have killed anything of Golos and I was still trying to play politics a little because the only way I survive is to not be a threat to Golos and hope they go after Partners still (which they had been doing so far).
Partners didn't like it and scooped. Which is probably fair since I was still point Blood Artist triggers at them. Partly because of the reason above and partly because they were still locked into them as a target and I was sort of checked out of the game anyway.
Since they scooped, I didn't get my card draw. As I was working to sac the Dark Confidant for another card, Golos scooped. Likely because they thought they won which is pretty disappointing actually. Granted, I didn't draw and wasn't going to draw into an answer, but I had a few cards that could have helped right then and they didn't know my hand. Comeuppance would have been best. Double field might have been tough but I had Sun Titan and Reveillark in hand to help rebuild a little. It might have worked.
So, I "won" but not really.
I like the inclusion of Dark Confidant but I am wondering if I really need something else for card draw besides Mindblade Render. I had it on the field and never got a trigger since I couldn't attack into anyone.
I am also thinking No Mercy might not be enough but Lightmine Field likely is. It as least protects everyone. It would have gotten blow up just the same in the game above I think because it would have stopped Partners from attacking anyone. I am not entirely sure. I am starting to think sitting being passive isn't doing me any favors. I either need to blow them out by surprise or just sweep the board.
I made the following changes:
Based on my comment above, I wanted a couple more sweepers and with the addition of sweepers, Second Sunrise becomes much more of a risk since it gets everything back for everyone. And I have yet to actually cast it or get to a point where I think it (or Faith's Reward to be honest) would have made a huge difference.
No Mercy I don't think is quite pulling its weight. It slows players down of course since they don't attack me but of the 2 or 3 times I have gotten it, it doesn't seem that great. It also kills my Midnight Reaper so there is that
Based on my comment above, I wanted a couple more sweepers and with the addition of sweepers, Second Sunrise becomes much more of a risk since it gets everything back for everyone. And I have yet to actually cast it or get to a point where I think it (or Faith's Reward to be honest) would have made a huge difference.
No Mercy I don't think is quite pulling its weight. It slows players down of course since they don't attack me but of the 2 or 3 times I have gotten it, it doesn't seem that great. It also kills my Midnight Reaper so there is that
After the changes above, I played one more (and this might be it for the weekend; I am going to try to get some games in with Karador) and played against The Scarab God, Muldrotha, the Gravetide, and Thada Adel, Acquisitor.
I kept a questionable hand as it had good cards but no white mana. And The Scarab God milled my white mana early. Not that it mattered because Muldrotha started off with an Oath of Druids which gave The Scarab God Kozilek, Butcher of Truth once Thada cast their general.
Now, turn 4, and we are all facing down a Kozilek. I had Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and a couple small creatures to help out. I also had Goblin Bombardment. But, most of the game was just hoping Kozilek wouldn't swing our way. He went after Muldrotha and Thada first before Muldrotha lucked into a Duplicant to get rid of it.
Then, Thada ended up with their own Kozilek (and 2 lands since The Scarab God took away all their lands). They chose not to swing with it which they could have done since they had Swiftfoot Boots on the table.
During all of this, The Scarab God's Jace's Erasure and Mindcrank were milling us. Erasure was pointed at me every time and I was paying life with Erebos, Bleak-Hearted to try to find an answer to their Kozilek. So, I had about 44 cards in my library when Thada got their Kozilek.
I had gotten Sun Titan off Oath the turn before and got Recruiter of the Guard this turn. I only had 8 cards left and only one creature cared about creatures dying: Judith, the Scourge Diva, And she doesn't care about tokens which hurt.
So, I grabbed Selfless Squire just in case. I actually had the win on board at this time but I miscounted everything. God was at 20 life, Thada was at 25 and Muldrotha was at 27. I swung with Sub Titan to get back Hallowed Spiritkeeper with 14 other creature cards in the graveyard. I cast Cruel Celebrant this turn. I could have sacrificed the Sun Titan, Recruiter, and Spiritkeeper to Bombardment to deal 3 damage to a target and have everyone lose 3 life on top of that. It would have then given me 17 tokens. So, God would have been at 17, Muldrotha at 21 (I would have pointed the 3 damage at them), and Thada at 22.
I could have sacrificed the resulting 17 tokens to have everyone lose 17 life and have 17 damage to split among the players as needed.
So, that is what I should have done. But, instead, God took my Blood Artist with enough mana to activate God again. So, I let it resolve and they tried to reanimate Falkenrath Noble so I had to go for the win now. I needed to kill Blood Artist first (and somehow missed a point of damage so they gained more life than they should have). They also eventually copied my Teysa with their Lazav during this process but that gave them two more triggers (instead of only one they should have gotten) which I don't think made a difference in the end.
During this process, which takes forever on Magic Online, Thada went afk. The other two players conceded shortly after. They were tapped out and they were going to be the ones to die anyway.
So, even with my misclicks and fuzzy math, I believe I still had the win in the end. It would have been nice to actually finish the "loop" in response to the Scarab God's ability but there isn't much of a question over whether I won or not. And, if I somehow didn't, I had Selfless Squire to help for a turn.
Click here to view game 5 in main post
I kept a questionable hand as it had good cards but no white mana. And The Scarab God milled my white mana early. Not that it mattered because Muldrotha started off with an Oath of Druids which gave The Scarab God Kozilek, Butcher of Truth once Thada cast their general.
Now, turn 4, and we are all facing down a Kozilek. I had Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and a couple small creatures to help out. I also had Goblin Bombardment. But, most of the game was just hoping Kozilek wouldn't swing our way. He went after Muldrotha and Thada first before Muldrotha lucked into a Duplicant to get rid of it.
Then, Thada ended up with their own Kozilek (and 2 lands since The Scarab God took away all their lands). They chose not to swing with it which they could have done since they had Swiftfoot Boots on the table.
During all of this, The Scarab God's Jace's Erasure and Mindcrank were milling us. Erasure was pointed at me every time and I was paying life with Erebos, Bleak-Hearted to try to find an answer to their Kozilek. So, I had about 44 cards in my library when Thada got their Kozilek.
I had gotten Sun Titan off Oath the turn before and got Recruiter of the Guard this turn. I only had 8 cards left and only one creature cared about creatures dying: Judith, the Scourge Diva, And she doesn't care about tokens which hurt.
So, I grabbed Selfless Squire just in case. I actually had the win on board at this time but I miscounted everything. God was at 20 life, Thada was at 25 and Muldrotha was at 27. I swung with Sub Titan to get back Hallowed Spiritkeeper with 14 other creature cards in the graveyard. I cast Cruel Celebrant this turn. I could have sacrificed the Sun Titan, Recruiter, and Spiritkeeper to Bombardment to deal 3 damage to a target and have everyone lose 3 life on top of that. It would have then given me 17 tokens. So, God would have been at 17, Muldrotha at 21 (I would have pointed the 3 damage at them), and Thada at 22.
I could have sacrificed the resulting 17 tokens to have everyone lose 17 life and have 17 damage to split among the players as needed.
So, that is what I should have done. But, instead, God took my Blood Artist with enough mana to activate God again. So, I let it resolve and they tried to reanimate Falkenrath Noble so I had to go for the win now. I needed to kill Blood Artist first (and somehow missed a point of damage so they gained more life than they should have). They also eventually copied my Teysa with their Lazav during this process but that gave them two more triggers (instead of only one they should have gotten) which I don't think made a difference in the end.
During this process, which takes forever on Magic Online, Thada went afk. The other two players conceded shortly after. They were tapped out and they were going to be the ones to die anyway.
So, even with my misclicks and fuzzy math, I believe I still had the win in the end. It would have been nice to actually finish the "loop" in response to the Scarab God's ability but there isn't much of a question over whether I won or not. And, if I somehow didn't, I had Selfless Squire to help for a turn.
Click here to view game 5 in main post
Man I really hate Annihilator in commander. Ick. I've largely stopped playing the eldrazi with it since it almost always ends the same way - one person sacs 4 permanents and loses then someone kills it. Such a terribly conceived of mechanic in general.
It's pretty impressive that Scarab god managed to lose from the position he was in, that was pretty dominant.
Generally speaking I think there needs to be some sort of fix to AFKers in multiplayer in MTGO. Some sort of vote-to-kick or a priority timer or something. I dunno. It's very frustrating when it happens - thankfully not often.
The math for finishing people non-deterministically in Aristocrats decks is always weird and takes some time to figure out especially when you have weird cards like Spiritkeeper creating complexity.
It's pretty impressive that Scarab god managed to lose from the position he was in, that was pretty dominant.
Generally speaking I think there needs to be some sort of fix to AFKers in multiplayer in MTGO. Some sort of vote-to-kick or a priority timer or something. I dunno. It's very frustrating when it happens - thankfully not often.
The math for finishing people non-deterministically in Aristocrats decks is always weird and takes some time to figure out especially when you have weird cards like Spiritkeeper creating complexity.
I feel the same way about Annihilator. I suffer them in Karador because of my desire to use them to save my graveyard and I would say I don't often attack with them and definitely not early. Turn 4 is ridiculous and just feels awful. At least Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger doesn't mess with the board to such a degree.
It definitely was. Had they attacked me once with Kozilek I think they would have had it. I wouldn't even argue it was poor threat assessment or anything; they only had so many attacks and Muldrotha was arguably the next biggest threat. Their last attack was probably a coin toss and I got lucky it wasn't me.
The God player did try to do an "eject" command which obviously didn't work. I wish there was a timer or something. Eject is tough because it can be abused.
It definitely is. One of the things I like about the deck but makes it really tough to do online.
It definitely was. Had they attacked me once with Kozilek I think they would have had it. I wouldn't even argue it was poor threat assessment or anything; they only had so many attacks and Muldrotha was arguably the next biggest threat. Their last attack was probably a coin toss and I got lucky it wasn't me.
The God player did try to do an "eject" command which obviously didn't work. I wish there was a timer or something. Eject is tough because it can be abused.
It definitely is. One of the things I like about the deck but makes it really tough to do online.
Had another good game tonight though 2 people conceded pretty early which meant it was 1v1 for the vast majority of the game. Which isn't ideal as 1v1 is way different that four player so I can't say for certain I would have won the way I did.
My opponents were Edgar Markov, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds. Korvold quit almost immediately.
I kept a decent hand, though, again, Boreas Charger didn't do much. Though, if the green player would have just ramped once it would have been fine The other issue is that it took a long time to get to a sac outlet so I couldn't time it dying anyway (not that there was a good time to time it). I cast a Grim Haruspex as my first card in order to get a draw off Selvala and then cast Marchesa the next turn.
During this time, Edgar was doing Markov things and flooding the board. Selvala quit shortly after and I landed a Lightmine Field. It did a little but not a lot. My opponent had a 14/15 Drana, Liberator of Malakir and a couple of tokens so they could just attack with 2 creatures and nothing would have happened and I would have taken 18. They missed their attack do to a misclick but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and still counted it. Though, I didn't realize until now that they could only attack with 2 creatures so I gave them a little more than they would have gotten. It never mattered so no big deal (though it almost did).
After that turn, I just Mythos of Snapdax to wiped their board since they just cleared my 3 creatures with Voldaren Pariah // Abolisher of Bloodlines. I finally got a good sac outlet with Priest of Forgotten Gods. I had a Miren, the Moaning Well for the longest time but I never had the extra mana to activate it.
At one point I cast Selfless Squire to keep the Monarch and then I blocked with it next turn. They misread the UI (very easy to do) and thought I was double blocking so they cast a Boros Charm on accident. I had actually blocked in such a way as to make sure my Squire died so I could get it back with Phyrexian Reclamation though I never cast it again.
I kept chumping for a while before I ended up having to cast Merciless Eviction and clear the board again. Due to my board state, I drew a bunch of cards the turn before since they killed my creatures. I was able to get down Dark Confidant, Viscera Seer, and Judith, the Scourge Diva. Confidant drew me a few cards but did get me down to 18 (which I was treating as '1' thanks to my bad math from above when I really should have been treating it as 4).
Anyway, Dictate of Erebos, Bastion of Remembrance, and Teysa Karlov closed out the game. Every creature I sacrificed creature 6 triggers and they were at 18 at this time (down from 52 at one point). So, 3 creatures and they were done. I had tutored for Hallowed Spiritkeeper and cast it which gave me 18 tokens thanks to Teysa so those 18 tokens would have given me 64 triggers (Judith not caring about tokens is a bit of a bummer
) but I still had it pretty well wrapped up.
A few things I noticed in this playthrough. Faith's Reward sat in my hand a long time. It never felt right to just fire it off and it never felt right to just clear my board to use it. Granted, at the end I could have easily used it for another 100 or so damage/life loss if I sacrificed everything and then brought it all back so maybe in another game it would have mattered.
Dictate was huge due to me not getting any spot removal and only having two wraths. I have considered adding Academy Rector to get to those cards easier.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed might not really belong in this deck. I have 33 creatures with 19 of them being non-humans (though Erebos won't die often so we will say 18). In this game I had Mikaeus in my hand for a very long time and never cast it because almost all my creatures were humans. While 18 out of 33 is still a majority, it still means that almost half my creatures don't work with him. Luminous Broodmoth works much better with most things and I might just want to lean on that as my reanimation effect. I think Mikaeus is too hit or miss, especially at 6 mana.
Lightmine Field did slow the opponent down a little though, as mentioned, not a lot. Though, they did tutor for a removal spell for it so there is that. It is hard to say since I only had one opponent but the green player either would have removal or been able to just go through it anyway I'm guessing. So far, it hasn't been bad, just musing on the card in general.
I am considering going a little lower on the curve and cutting things like Sun Titan and Syr Konrad, the Grim. I don't know that I want to replace any sweepers even though they are sort of expensive so I guess with Titan, Konrad, and Mikaeus it doesn't lower the curve a ton, but can still be worthwhile. I am not sure what I would want in their place though.
Click here to view game 3 in main post
My opponents were Edgar Markov, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and Selvala, Heart of the Wilds. Korvold quit almost immediately.
I kept a decent hand, though, again, Boreas Charger didn't do much. Though, if the green player would have just ramped once it would have been fine
The other issue is that it took a long time to get to a sac outlet so I couldn't time it dying anyway (not that there was a good time to time it). I cast a Grim Haruspex as my first card in order to get a draw off Selvala and then cast Marchesa the next turn.During this time, Edgar was doing Markov things and flooding the board. Selvala quit shortly after and I landed a Lightmine Field. It did a little but not a lot. My opponent had a 14/15 Drana, Liberator of Malakir and a couple of tokens so they could just attack with 2 creatures and nothing would have happened and I would have taken 18. They missed their attack do to a misclick but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and still counted it. Though, I didn't realize until now that they could only attack with 2 creatures so I gave them a little more than they would have gotten. It never mattered so no big deal (though it almost did).
After that turn, I just Mythos of Snapdax to wiped their board since they just cleared my 3 creatures with Voldaren Pariah // Abolisher of Bloodlines. I finally got a good sac outlet with Priest of Forgotten Gods. I had a Miren, the Moaning Well for the longest time but I never had the extra mana to activate it.
At one point I cast Selfless Squire to keep the Monarch and then I blocked with it next turn. They misread the UI (very easy to do) and thought I was double blocking so they cast a Boros Charm on accident. I had actually blocked in such a way as to make sure my Squire died so I could get it back with Phyrexian Reclamation though I never cast it again.
I kept chumping for a while before I ended up having to cast Merciless Eviction and clear the board again. Due to my board state, I drew a bunch of cards the turn before since they killed my creatures. I was able to get down Dark Confidant, Viscera Seer, and Judith, the Scourge Diva. Confidant drew me a few cards but did get me down to 18 (which I was treating as '1' thanks to my bad math from above when I really should have been treating it as 4).
Anyway, Dictate of Erebos, Bastion of Remembrance, and Teysa Karlov closed out the game. Every creature I sacrificed creature 6 triggers and they were at 18 at this time (down from 52 at one point). So, 3 creatures and they were done. I had tutored for Hallowed Spiritkeeper and cast it which gave me 18 tokens thanks to Teysa so those 18 tokens would have given me 64 triggers (Judith not caring about tokens is a bit of a bummer
) but I still had it pretty well wrapped up.A few things I noticed in this playthrough. Faith's Reward sat in my hand a long time. It never felt right to just fire it off and it never felt right to just clear my board to use it. Granted, at the end I could have easily used it for another 100 or so damage/life loss if I sacrificed everything and then brought it all back so maybe in another game it would have mattered.
Dictate was huge due to me not getting any spot removal and only having two wraths. I have considered adding Academy Rector to get to those cards easier.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed might not really belong in this deck. I have 33 creatures with 19 of them being non-humans (though Erebos won't die often so we will say 18). In this game I had Mikaeus in my hand for a very long time and never cast it because almost all my creatures were humans. While 18 out of 33 is still a majority, it still means that almost half my creatures don't work with him. Luminous Broodmoth works much better with most things and I might just want to lean on that as my reanimation effect. I think Mikaeus is too hit or miss, especially at 6 mana.
Lightmine Field did slow the opponent down a little though, as mentioned, not a lot. Though, they did tutor for a removal spell for it so there is that. It is hard to say since I only had one opponent but the green player either would have removal or been able to just go through it anyway I'm guessing. So far, it hasn't been bad, just musing on the card in general.
I am considering going a little lower on the curve and cutting things like Sun Titan and Syr Konrad, the Grim. I don't know that I want to replace any sweepers even though they are sort of expensive so I guess with Titan, Konrad, and Mikaeus it doesn't lower the curve a ton, but can still be worthwhile. I am not sure what I would want in their place though.
Click here to view game 3 in main post
With the full spoiler of Core 2021 and Jumpstart, I have decided to finally post some of my thoughts on new cards. I will separate then by color but Jumpstart and Core 2021 cards will be lumped together.
There aren't a lot here for Queen Marchesa but I do think there are a couple good ones and a "maybe" card.
Here is what I can see as being potentials:
Idol of Endurance - This presents an interesting dilemma for the deck. There are 18 creatures with CMC 3 or less so there are a lot of uses for this card. Getting one back for 2 mana each turn is slower than a mass reanimation spell but offers a slow grind of value that the opponents need to answer again and then we can mass reanimate again later. But, as long as they are exiled to the Idol, we can't reanimate en masse which means we could screw ourselves up by exiling everything one turn and then the next turn drawing Living Death or something and not having anything to bring back.
The fact that there is no risk to losing them forever is nice and even incremental value is still a good reason to run the card. I think this is worth a slot in the deck over something. Not sure what that something is yet.
Liliana's Standard Bearer - Creatures in this deck die all the time. For 3 mana, this can be very good to rebuild after a board wipe or even just get some added value out of sacrificing my creatures. It also works very well with tokens so I can get a lot of cards with the Standard Bearer in the right circumstances. And, since it is only 3 mana, I could potentially sac my board, draw a ton of cards, and just keep going in the same turn if I really either need to win right now or draw into an answer.
Witch of the Moors - 5 mana is a lot for this deck, but the effect is good. It isn't hard for this deck to gain life through our Blood Artist type effects. Being able to sac something at will to then make other's sac creatures is nice. Now, it is delayed so it can't be used truly defensively like Grave Pact can, and it is only one creature and only on my turn. But, with the additional Raise Dead effect I think that is fine. Essentially, I can sac something and just get it back at the end of the turn while everyone else is sacrificing creatures.
It seems sort of slow but I am willing to give it a try to see how well it works. I am thinking of cutting Syr Konrad, the Grim for it as the mana cost is the same and I have never gotten Syr Konrad, the Grim in any games I have played (and getting him in any losses doesn't seem like he would have made a difference) so I am thinking he is overkill in the deck. Although, getting rid of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is stil something I want to do too.
Immolating Gyre - The effect is nice but I don't run enough Instants and Sorceries to make it even close to being good. I run 18 (though 1 or 2 are on the chopping block as it is) and it is going to be rare for any more than about 5 or 6 to actually be in my graveyard. And that is being generous.
I really only wanted to call this card out because it reminded me that I am not running Ruinous Ultimatum for some reason. This and Mythos of Snapdax were the cards that really led me to wanting to put this deck back together so I am kind of embarrassed I forgot about it. I need to get the Ultimatum added.
There aren't a lot here for Queen Marchesa but I do think there are a couple good ones and a "maybe" card.
Here is what I can see as being potentials:
White Cards
The fact that there is no risk to losing them forever is nice and even incremental value is still a good reason to run the card. I think this is worth a slot in the deck over something. Not sure what that something is yet.
Black Cards
Witch of the Moors - 5 mana is a lot for this deck, but the effect is good. It isn't hard for this deck to gain life through our Blood Artist type effects. Being able to sac something at will to then make other's sac creatures is nice. Now, it is delayed so it can't be used truly defensively like Grave Pact can, and it is only one creature and only on my turn. But, with the additional Raise Dead effect I think that is fine. Essentially, I can sac something and just get it back at the end of the turn while everyone else is sacrificing creatures.
It seems sort of slow but I am willing to give it a try to see how well it works. I am thinking of cutting Syr Konrad, the Grim for it as the mana cost is the same and I have never gotten Syr Konrad, the Grim in any games I have played (and getting him in any losses doesn't seem like he would have made a difference) so I am thinking he is overkill in the deck. Although, getting rid of Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is stil something I want to do too.
Red Cards
I really only wanted to call this card out because it reminded me that I am not running Ruinous Ultimatum for some reason. This and Mythos of Snapdax were the cards that really led me to wanting to put this deck back together so I am kind of embarrassed I forgot about it. I need to get the Ultimatum added.
With further thought on the new cards mentioned above, I am going to try these:
I am making a lot of changes here so I will go through all of them:
CUTS
Second Sunrise & Faith's Reward - The last game I played and I had Reward in hand for a long time just trying to find the right time to cast it to get use out of it. And I never really found a good time for it. I like Thrilling Encore for stealing everything but I think I am otherwise just fine with my stuff dying without trying to time everything so I can get them back immediately.
Reliquary Monk - Should have just been Hedge-Mage to begin with.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - I have too many humans here and he is 6 mana so fairly often I don't have any reason to cast him. I am just going to lean more into Luminous Broodmoth for this effect.
Lightmine Field - Since I am slowly moving away from this subtheme, and it does stop me from attacking, I am finding this is less useful than I really want it to be.
Boreas Charger - I don't think it is good enough. A couple games I got use out of it but I don't think it was all that great and led to some odd lines to make it work. I would rather be more aggressive in trying to commit things like Blood Artist to the board.
ADDS
Liliana's Standard Bearer - Mentioned above but seems like a decent draw effect for the deck, especially after the board gets wiped/sacrificed.
Ruinous Ultimatum - I wanted to put this in here as part of the deck to begin with and just forgot about it. I probably should cut a wrath for it, but I am holding off for now.
Idol of Endurance - Mentioned above. Seems like a good way to re-use the graveyard, even if a bit slow.
Witch of the Moors - I am willing to give it a try. 5 mana is high (I actually thought of getting rid of 4 mana drain effects as part of this change) so this needs to do a lot. It shouldn't be too hard to gain life each turn but it only works on my turn and gives them the entire turn before sacrificing so it is possible this just won't do enough.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose - I missed this in my set summary above but because most of my effects make me gain life, this is effectively doubling down on the drain effects. It also gives me more use out of my creatures as a swarm if I need it to just alpha strike someone and then ping someone else.
Duergar Hedge-Mage - A better Reliquary Monk and I am now just getting them swapped out.
06/30/20
Approximate Total Cost:
I am making a lot of changes here so I will go through all of them:
CUTS
Second Sunrise & Faith's Reward - The last game I played and I had Reward in hand for a long time just trying to find the right time to cast it to get use out of it. And I never really found a good time for it. I like Thrilling Encore for stealing everything but I think I am otherwise just fine with my stuff dying without trying to time everything so I can get them back immediately.
Reliquary Monk - Should have just been Hedge-Mage to begin with.
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - I have too many humans here and he is 6 mana so fairly often I don't have any reason to cast him. I am just going to lean more into Luminous Broodmoth for this effect.
Lightmine Field - Since I am slowly moving away from this subtheme, and it does stop me from attacking, I am finding this is less useful than I really want it to be.
Boreas Charger - I don't think it is good enough. A couple games I got use out of it but I don't think it was all that great and led to some odd lines to make it work. I would rather be more aggressive in trying to commit things like Blood Artist to the board.
ADDS
Liliana's Standard Bearer - Mentioned above but seems like a decent draw effect for the deck, especially after the board gets wiped/sacrificed.
Ruinous Ultimatum - I wanted to put this in here as part of the deck to begin with and just forgot about it. I probably should cut a wrath for it, but I am holding off for now.
Idol of Endurance - Mentioned above. Seems like a good way to re-use the graveyard, even if a bit slow.
Witch of the Moors - I am willing to give it a try. 5 mana is high (I actually thought of getting rid of 4 mana drain effects as part of this change) so this needs to do a lot. It shouldn't be too hard to gain life each turn but it only works on my turn and gives them the entire turn before sacrificing so it is possible this just won't do enough.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose - I missed this in my set summary above but because most of my effects make me gain life, this is effectively doubling down on the drain effects. It also gives me more use out of my creatures as a swarm if I need it to just alpha strike someone and then ping someone else.
Duergar Hedge-Mage - A better Reliquary Monk and I am now just getting them swapped out.
Last edited by WizardMN 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
I got a game in with this deck last night against Ayara, First of Locthwain, and I forgot the other two.
I started off with Cartel Aristocrat into Marchesa and then into Karmic Guide to get Artistocrat back after blocking. For some reason, not one attacked me again from here.
I cast Luminous Broodmoth to set up a later play with things dying but really just sort of waited things out. No one was doing a whole lot. There was some attacking into Ayara from the person next to me. On the turn I cast Broodmoth, I left open 2 mana and was hoping to draw a land with the Monarch since I had drawn Ruinous Ultimatum and wanted to to be able to wrath next turn. This meant the Chaos Warp in my hand could not be cast.
This ended up being a big mistake as Ayara aggressively tutored for, and got, Triskelion off of Demonic Consultation and also cast Mikaeus, the Unhallowed so they just comboed off on their turn. No one else had any removal so the game just abruptly ended.
I didn't play the deck again as I was sort of disappointed that I didn't get to play it this time and I wanted something a little better against combo. And then the Ayara player decided to sit the next game out anyway.
I think things were going reasonably well until then, especially with having the Ultimatum in hand, and I also had things like [Corpse Augur and Liliana's Standard Bearer. I had also gotten a Mindblade Render onto the field earlier as well to do even more to keep my hand full. No one else had a massive board or anything so I could have sat on my Chaos Warp for a while. I just spent a turn trying to set up more things for the future and apparently timed it poorly.
I started off with Cartel Aristocrat into Marchesa and then into Karmic Guide to get Artistocrat back after blocking. For some reason, not one attacked me again from here.
I cast Luminous Broodmoth to set up a later play with things dying but really just sort of waited things out. No one was doing a whole lot. There was some attacking into Ayara from the person next to me. On the turn I cast Broodmoth, I left open 2 mana and was hoping to draw a land with the Monarch since I had drawn Ruinous Ultimatum and wanted to to be able to wrath next turn. This meant the Chaos Warp in my hand could not be cast.
This ended up being a big mistake as Ayara aggressively tutored for, and got, Triskelion off of Demonic Consultation and also cast Mikaeus, the Unhallowed so they just comboed off on their turn. No one else had any removal so the game just abruptly ended.
I didn't play the deck again as I was sort of disappointed that I didn't get to play it this time and I wanted something a little better against combo. And then the Ayara player decided to sit the next game out anyway.
I think things were going reasonably well until then, especially with having the Ultimatum in hand, and I also had things like [Corpse Augur and Liliana's Standard Bearer. I had also gotten a Mindblade Render onto the field earlier as well to do even more to keep my hand full. No one else had a massive board or anything so I could have sat on my Chaos Warp for a while. I just spent a turn trying to set up more things for the future and apparently timed it poorly.
I feel like this is the biggest single decision in EDH hehe. Well articulated. When and if to go shields down in the early-mid game.
I played a game with her in real life tonight and she worked very well. It was against God-Eternal Bontu and Ramos, Dragon Engine.
Everyone was sort of slow so I just cast Marchesa on curve and passed since I wanted to keep the Monarch for a while. I then got down Grave Pact to help clear Ramos's board for the entire game and mostly keeping Bontu in check. They did get past it a little with a Myr Battlesphere. Though, I had them sac the Battlesphere in response to the trigger so they just had the Myr's.
I did have to cast Hour of Revelation due to Bontu's board being full of tokens and I lost 2 creatures (I already lost the Monarch), Grave Pact, and Goblin Bombardment. But, I cast Dictate of Erebos the turn after to give me another effect like that.
Sun Titan did a lot to keep a few things on board. Witch of the Moors was decent but I actually struggled to gain life this game. I ended up sacrificing Zulaport Cutthroat and getting it back with Titan a few times just to get Witch to trigger.
I did get down a Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and I gave everything Lifelink. I swung at Ramos for 14 damage when they were at 29 life. That triggered Vito and I pointed the triggers at Ramos. They were down to 1 life.
Bontu ended up killing Vito (a good idea) but I still had Sun Titan on the board. But, they had a Bolas's Citadel and a Nihil Spellbomb so I was going to have a tough time getting it back.
I decided to get to my turn and attack. I targeted Zulaport Cutthroat because I knew my graveyard was going to attempt to be exiled and I would have to respond. They did so I Chaos Warped their Citadel (they got a land) and then I cast Teferi's Protection. This stopped my graveyard from being exiled since I was now an illegal target and I still got my Cutthroat back. It was my only permanent on the field for the turn cycle.
I got back to my turn and picked up Vito with the Sun Titan trigger and then had Cutthroat and Bastion of Remembrance to trigger when things died which killed Ramos. Next turn, Bontu couldn't do enough and I was able to just ping them and have Vito get the rest as each death was 4 life loss for them.
Witch wasn't all that remarkable. It felt that I was really pushing it to make it work and I am not sure how much I liked it. Pact and Dictate did a lot but one creature on my turn might not be worth it. Not at 5 mana anyway.
I did have a super cool play against Ramos where they kept leaving 6 mana up. I assumed for Time Stop but I forgot they put in Sublime Epiphany. They cast that in response to a Karmic Guide and I responded with....Pyroblast I am still not sure on Pyroblast in the deck as I am not even sure the Epiphany would have really set me back a whole lot. But it felt great and I slammed it as soon as I saw a blue spell come out of their hand.
Everyone was sort of slow so I just cast Marchesa on curve and passed since I wanted to keep the Monarch for a while. I then got down Grave Pact to help clear Ramos's board for the entire game and mostly keeping Bontu in check. They did get past it a little with a Myr Battlesphere. Though, I had them sac the Battlesphere in response to the trigger so they just had the Myr's.
I did have to cast Hour of Revelation due to Bontu's board being full of tokens and I lost 2 creatures (I already lost the Monarch), Grave Pact, and Goblin Bombardment. But, I cast Dictate of Erebos the turn after to give me another effect like that.
Sun Titan did a lot to keep a few things on board. Witch of the Moors was decent but I actually struggled to gain life this game. I ended up sacrificing Zulaport Cutthroat and getting it back with Titan a few times just to get Witch to trigger.
I did get down a Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and I gave everything Lifelink. I swung at Ramos for 14 damage when they were at 29 life. That triggered Vito and I pointed the triggers at Ramos. They were down to 1 life.
Bontu ended up killing Vito (a good idea) but I still had Sun Titan on the board. But, they had a Bolas's Citadel and a Nihil Spellbomb so I was going to have a tough time getting it back.
I decided to get to my turn and attack. I targeted Zulaport Cutthroat because I knew my graveyard was going to attempt to be exiled and I would have to respond. They did so I Chaos Warped their Citadel (they got a land) and then I cast Teferi's Protection. This stopped my graveyard from being exiled since I was now an illegal target and I still got my Cutthroat back. It was my only permanent on the field for the turn cycle.
I got back to my turn and picked up Vito with the Sun Titan trigger and then had Cutthroat and Bastion of Remembrance to trigger when things died which killed Ramos. Next turn, Bontu couldn't do enough and I was able to just ping them and have Vito get the rest as each death was 4 life loss for them.
Witch wasn't all that remarkable. It felt that I was really pushing it to make it work and I am not sure how much I liked it. Pact and Dictate did a lot but one creature on my turn might not be worth it. Not at 5 mana anyway.
I did have a super cool play against Ramos where they kept leaving 6 mana up. I assumed for Time Stop but I forgot they put in Sublime Epiphany. They cast that in response to a Karmic Guide and I responded with....Pyroblast
I am still not sure on Pyroblast in the deck as I am not even sure the Epiphany would have really set me back a whole lot. But it felt great and I slammed it as soon as I saw a blue spell come out of their hand.I got a game in with Marchesa last night against Zurgo Helmsmasher, God-Eternal Bontu. and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell.
I started off with Mindblade Render into Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose into Marchesa. Zurgo took the Monarch from me after about 3 turns and I got it back about 2 or 3 turns later. Render did a bit to get me some cards and actually drew me a couple of Zurgo hitting another opponent as well.
I also cast a Viscera Seer and a Blood Artist before someone wrathed the board. I had 10 Blood Artist triggers and I pointed them all at Zurgo. Next turn I cast Reveillark and Zurgo attempted to flicker it with Eldrazi Displacer, not realizing it was a LTB trigger. So, they took it back and just flickered something else so they could attack.
I ended up getting a Falkenrath Aristocrat and something else on board and just kept up a blocker for Zurgo while hitting them in the air with Aristocrat. I had a Thrilling Encore in hand which I could use as a fail safe in case they could blink my team with Displacer.
Eventually someone did wrath so I ended up firing off Thrilling Encore. I got back Lark (which had gotten me back a couple other creatures) and I stole Bontu's Crypt Ghast and Grim Haruspex. By this time, Zurgo was down on life because I kept attacking him (I have gotten beat quickly by Zurgo before so I wanted him gone) and Torbran kept going after him too since that is who Zurgo was attacking. I was able to swing in for the last bit of life to Zurgo and Torbran.
From there, killing Bontu wasn't too bad. I had double mana thanks to Crypt Ghast and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and they had missed a lot of land drops so I just swung a couple times and that was it.
Reveillark was pretty good in this game and I still like Thrilling Encore for taking opponent's stuff. I got sort of lucky Zurgo didn't come at me to start with and I tried to hold of on going after them too hard in the beginning to hopefully make sure they didn't set their sights on me. Which worked out in the end.
Torbran had a lot of decent interaction and tried to keep the board clear for the most part. As mentioned, Bontu was way behind for most of the game so they really struggled to stay relevant in the game.
Nothing stood out to me in this game as a bad card or anything that didn't pull its weight. At the end of the game I did have Mythos of Snapdax and Hour of Revelation in hand without ever casting either one. Hour was tough since it took me a while to get to my third white source, but Torbran mostly kept the board clear already so I had less need to actually cast any wraths. Even then I was still glad to have them in hand just in case.
I started off with Mindblade Render into Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose into Marchesa. Zurgo took the Monarch from me after about 3 turns and I got it back about 2 or 3 turns later. Render did a bit to get me some cards and actually drew me a couple of Zurgo hitting another opponent as well.
I also cast a Viscera Seer and a Blood Artist before someone wrathed the board. I had 10 Blood Artist triggers and I pointed them all at Zurgo. Next turn I cast Reveillark and Zurgo attempted to flicker it with Eldrazi Displacer, not realizing it was a LTB trigger. So, they took it back and just flickered something else so they could attack.
I ended up getting a Falkenrath Aristocrat and something else on board and just kept up a blocker for Zurgo while hitting them in the air with Aristocrat. I had a Thrilling Encore in hand which I could use as a fail safe in case they could blink my team with Displacer.
Eventually someone did wrath so I ended up firing off Thrilling Encore. I got back Lark (which had gotten me back a couple other creatures) and I stole Bontu's Crypt Ghast and Grim Haruspex. By this time, Zurgo was down on life because I kept attacking him (I have gotten beat quickly by Zurgo before so I wanted him gone) and Torbran kept going after him too since that is who Zurgo was attacking. I was able to swing in for the last bit of life to Zurgo and Torbran.
From there, killing Bontu wasn't too bad. I had double mana thanks to Crypt Ghast and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and they had missed a lot of land drops so I just swung a couple times and that was it.
Reveillark was pretty good in this game and I still like Thrilling Encore for taking opponent's stuff. I got sort of lucky Zurgo didn't come at me to start with and I tried to hold of on going after them too hard in the beginning to hopefully make sure they didn't set their sights on me. Which worked out in the end.
Torbran had a lot of decent interaction and tried to keep the board clear for the most part. As mentioned, Bontu was way behind for most of the game so they really struggled to stay relevant in the game.
Nothing stood out to me in this game as a bad card or anything that didn't pull its weight. At the end of the game I did have Mythos of Snapdax and Hour of Revelation in hand without ever casting either one. Hour was tough since it took me a while to get to my third white source, but Torbran mostly kept the board clear already so I had less need to actually cast any wraths. Even then I was still glad to have them in hand just in case.
I played this deck last night against a few decks. I don't remember all the generals so I will just be providing a fairly high level summary of the game.
I started off with getting a couple creatures down early and then followed up by Marchesa herself. I lost the Monarchy once but then didn't again for the rest of the game. I used the token that gave me to sac to Yahenni, Undying Partisan to trigger Dictate of Erebos which got rid of a couple creatures for me.
I was able to use Dictate for the rest of the game to pretty good effect. I didn't have a lot of creatures to sac, but I had a couple.
At one point, an opponent attacked me with a massive board and I flashed in Selfless Squire. This saved me and gave me a big Selfless Squire. I then swung back at them with just the Squire since they tapped out and gave it lifelink with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose. This 42 damage/life loss was enough to kill them. Another player had already died at this point from that same player so now it was just me and one other player.
Dictate basically sealed the game. I was able to get enough small creatures and had Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to keep my hand full that I was able to outrace them and finish the game with a few small creatures (they got rid of my Squire ).
I started off with getting a couple creatures down early and then followed up by Marchesa herself. I lost the Monarchy once but then didn't again for the rest of the game. I used the token that gave me to sac to Yahenni, Undying Partisan to trigger Dictate of Erebos which got rid of a couple creatures for me.
I was able to use Dictate for the rest of the game to pretty good effect. I didn't have a lot of creatures to sac, but I had a couple.
At one point, an opponent attacked me with a massive board and I flashed in Selfless Squire. This saved me and gave me a big Selfless Squire. I then swung back at them with just the Squire since they tapped out and gave it lifelink with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose. This 42 damage/life loss was enough to kill them. Another player had already died at this point from that same player so now it was just me and one other player.
Dictate basically sealed the game. I was able to get enough small creatures and had Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to keep my hand full that I was able to outrace them and finish the game with a few small creatures (they got rid of my Squire
).Here are my overdue card summaries/evaluations for Zendikar Rising and Commander Legends. I just bunched them all together and tried to limit the scope of what cards are being discussed. There might be something I missed of course, but hopefully I got the main ones.
Attended Healer - With our Blood Artist type cards, I could see this triggering fairly often and the token then allows for further triggers. At 3 mana I might consider it and at 2 I think it is a shoo-in (likely both come with P/T adjustments at the very least) but 4 mana is too much to ask for this kind of trigger. Especially considering the activated ability is likely to go unused.
Court of Grace - Another Monarch enabler that also gives us tokens is enticing to add into this deck. The fact that there is a real possibility that we can get 4/4 Flyers means it can be a real way to end the game outside of the Aristocrat theme. I am not sure what I would remove, but I do think I want to try this.
Keeper of the Accord - I think this deserves a spot in the deck. More tokens aren't really needed, especially with the potential include of Court of Grace, but I do think the addition of a ramp option can help the deck keep up to other decks since there aren't many ramp effects in the deck.
Promise of Tomorrow - I sort of have the same response here as I did for Karador and I think the risk is too high to try to get things back with this card.
Court of Ambition - Another Court that can get me the Monarch back outside of combat. However, the effect isn't often as relevant as I would like it to be and I don't tend to have an issue retaining the crown as it is. 4 mana is a lot that basically "just" resets the Monarch so I think it leads to a pass.
Drana, the Last Bloodchief - She is on the high side for cost, but being a flier that (randomly) reanimates stuff can be good in a deck with 32 creatures. Now, unlike Karador, this deck has its fair share of "whiffs" with her so it is possible what we get back isn't all that important. But, it is still a free creature on attack that can really help out.
Soul Shatter - While I have removed the Fleshbag Marauder type cards, an instant that forces the sacrifice of, presumably, their biggest or most important creature can be pretty good. I don't know if I can find the room for this, but I do like the idea of firing it off in response to an attack coming at me with a big creature to possibly save the Monarch. I might think some more on this.
Szat's Will - Basically another Soul Shatter effect but with grave hate stapled to it. I don't know that I can include both and I do think it is worth including for the effect(s). 5 mana vs 3 mana is the issue so I will have to see where I end up on this and Soul Shatter.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools - Seeing as I am already sacrificing stuff, another method for doing and getting cards seems reasonable. Granted, it is only during my turn, but being able to use this to refill my hand a little can be important. The tokens also probably shouldn't be underestimated either as they give me a way to trigger a bunch of my other stuff when they die.
White Cards
Court of Grace - Another Monarch enabler that also gives us tokens is enticing to add into this deck. The fact that there is a real possibility that we can get 4/4 Flyers means it can be a real way to end the game outside of the Aristocrat theme. I am not sure what I would remove, but I do think I want to try this.
Keeper of the Accord - I think this deserves a spot in the deck. More tokens aren't really needed, especially with the potential include of Court of Grace, but I do think the addition of a ramp option can help the deck keep up to other decks since there aren't many ramp effects in the deck.
Promise of Tomorrow - I sort of have the same response here as I did for Karador and I think the risk is too high to try to get things back with this card.
Black Cards
Drana, the Last Bloodchief - She is on the high side for cost, but being a flier that (randomly) reanimates stuff can be good in a deck with 32 creatures. Now, unlike Karador, this deck has its fair share of "whiffs" with her so it is possible what we get back isn't all that important. But, it is still a free creature on attack that can really help out.
Soul Shatter - While I have removed the Fleshbag Marauder type cards, an instant that forces the sacrifice of, presumably, their biggest or most important creature can be pretty good. I don't know if I can find the room for this, but I do like the idea of firing it off in response to an attack coming at me with a big creature to possibly save the Monarch. I might think some more on this.
Szat's Will - Basically another Soul Shatter effect but with grave hate stapled to it. I don't know that I can include both and I do think it is worth including for the effect(s). 5 mana vs 3 mana is the issue so I will have to see where I end up on this and Soul Shatter.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools - Seeing as I am already sacrificing stuff, another method for doing and getting cards seems reasonable. Granted, it is only during my turn, but being able to use this to refill my hand a little can be important. The tokens also probably shouldn't be underestimated either as they give me a way to trigger a bunch of my other stuff when they die.
With the cards from Zendikar and Commander Legends, here are the changes I am going to make for now:
Witch and Syr Konrad are a little higher in the curve and I haven't found their effects to be all that worth it in this deck so they were easy cuts.
Nova is being cut because I have quite a few wraths in this deck as it is. While this sort of lessens the ability to remove Artifacts and Enchantments, I think I tend to run enough of those making that mode less likely to be chosen anyway.
Solemn is basically a straight swap for Keeper. I don't know if this is right, but I figured it is worth trying out. I lose out on a potential card but I gain quite a bit more. And the tokens are relevant in this deck.
Pyroblast is more of a cute card than anything else. I cut Red Elemental Blast a while back and I think it is time to cut Pyroblast for something more useful (or, at least, not quite as narrow).
Tevesh Szat allows for some card draw and because I often have extra creatures, it shouldn't be hard to have something worth sacrificing.
Keeper, as mentioned above, can help with ramp and providing more tokens for sacrificing.
Court of Grace is sort of middling. That is, I think it works in the deck reasonably well, but it isn't exactly a powerhouse. I will see how well it plays out and how often it really works to "steal" back the Monarch.
Drana is here to offer some extra recursion. There are a few more duds in this deck compared to some of my others, but I think it is worth trying to see how often those duds really come up.
And Szat's Will is being tried out to see how important that versatility is. 5 mana is high so it really needs to pull its weight and I am not sure if it will. But I like both effects.
11/12/20
Approximate Total Cost:
Witch and Syr Konrad are a little higher in the curve and I haven't found their effects to be all that worth it in this deck so they were easy cuts.
Nova is being cut because I have quite a few wraths in this deck as it is. While this sort of lessens the ability to remove Artifacts and Enchantments, I think I tend to run enough of those making that mode less likely to be chosen anyway.
Solemn is basically a straight swap for Keeper. I don't know if this is right, but I figured it is worth trying out. I lose out on a potential card but I gain quite a bit more. And the tokens are relevant in this deck.
Pyroblast is more of a cute card than anything else. I cut Red Elemental Blast a while back and I think it is time to cut Pyroblast for something more useful (or, at least, not quite as narrow).
Tevesh Szat allows for some card draw and because I often have extra creatures, it shouldn't be hard to have something worth sacrificing.
Keeper, as mentioned above, can help with ramp and providing more tokens for sacrificing.
Court of Grace is sort of middling. That is, I think it works in the deck reasonably well, but it isn't exactly a powerhouse. I will see how well it plays out and how often it really works to "steal" back the Monarch.
Drana is here to offer some extra recursion. There are a few more duds in this deck compared to some of my others, but I think it is worth trying to see how often those duds really come up.
And Szat's Will is being tried out to see how important that versatility is. 5 mana is high so it really needs to pull its weight and I am not sure if it will. But I like both effects.
Note that none of the changes above have been made since Commander Legends isn't online yet
I played a game against Feldon of the Third Path, Animar, Soul of Elements, and Zedruu the Greathearted. Based on the last two, I would have my work cut out for me.
I kept a sketchy 2 land hand that I really should have thrown away, but I was able to get out of it relatively unscathed. Zedruu was doing Zedruu things and gave me their Rainbow Vale. Luckily, I drew into Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth so I never had to give them their land back. I probably should have at some point, but I wanted the mana.
Feldon was able to get off a neat loop with Spitebellows which did kill a fair number of creatures. My deck and Animar's decks were locked down fairly hard with Torpor Orb on Zedruu's side.
This stopped my Sun Titan's trigger and early on this seemed to point Feldon and Zedruu at me since I had Phyrexian Reclamation as well. I wasn't really able to do a lot from here, but I kept playing it out.
Zedruu got down Felidar Sovereign and I tried to cast Mythos of Snapdax but it was countered. I had Unexpectedly Absent in hand but waited to see if either of the other players could do anything. They couldn't but before it got to Zedruu's turn, Animar conceded. Which was unfortunate and we sort of needed them.
From there, Zedruu had fewer people to worry about and was able to start handing off their cards. I ended up with Pyromancer's Swath which made me discard my hand every turn. Shortly before that though, they cast Possibility Storm and that was basically the beginning of the end. I was unable to cast my Idol of Endurance and I couldn't get rid of PS with Anguished Unmaking thanks to the trigger. I ended up seeing Tithe off the trigger which I didn't both casting since I needed to discard the lands anyway.
We had a few potential outs even from there as Feldon still had Spitebellows. At one point, Zedruu cast Cyclonic Rift which got them Reins of Power so that had them switch their creatures with Feldon's. Feldon was going to attack with Steel Hellkite as well but they were unable too.
Even in this case, if Feldon had attacked me, I could have blocked the Sovereign and stayed alive but I messaged them too slow. I don't know exactly what it would have done but it would have let us keep fighting anyway. Perhaps it is better things just ended as we were in a pretty tough spot overall.
The only card I really felt bad about drawing was Vindictive Vampire. 4 mana is sort of high and the effect isn't great. At least, at the time it wasn't. Not sure what else I would have wanted to draw there though so it likely wasn't any worse than other cards. Otherwise, until Possibility Storm came down anyway, the deck performed admirably, even for not being able to get the Monarch on the table (thanks to Torpor Orb).
I played a game against Feldon of the Third Path, Animar, Soul of Elements, and Zedruu the Greathearted. Based on the last two, I would have my work cut out for me.
I kept a sketchy 2 land hand that I really should have thrown away, but I was able to get out of it relatively unscathed. Zedruu was doing Zedruu things and gave me their Rainbow Vale. Luckily, I drew into Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth so I never had to give them their land back. I probably should have at some point, but I wanted the mana.
Feldon was able to get off a neat loop with Spitebellows which did kill a fair number of creatures. My deck and Animar's decks were locked down fairly hard with Torpor Orb on Zedruu's side.
This stopped my Sun Titan's trigger and early on this seemed to point Feldon and Zedruu at me since I had Phyrexian Reclamation as well. I wasn't really able to do a lot from here, but I kept playing it out.
Zedruu got down Felidar Sovereign and I tried to cast Mythos of Snapdax but it was countered. I had Unexpectedly Absent in hand but waited to see if either of the other players could do anything. They couldn't but before it got to Zedruu's turn, Animar conceded. Which was unfortunate and we sort of needed them.
From there, Zedruu had fewer people to worry about and was able to start handing off their cards. I ended up with Pyromancer's Swath which made me discard my hand every turn. Shortly before that though, they cast Possibility Storm and that was basically the beginning of the end. I was unable to cast my Idol of Endurance and I couldn't get rid of PS with Anguished Unmaking thanks to the trigger. I ended up seeing Tithe off the trigger which I didn't both casting since I needed to discard the lands anyway.
We had a few potential outs even from there as Feldon still had Spitebellows. At one point, Zedruu cast Cyclonic Rift which got them Reins of Power so that had them switch their creatures with Feldon's. Feldon was going to attack with Steel Hellkite as well but they were unable too.
Even in this case, if Feldon had attacked me, I could have blocked the Sovereign and stayed alive but I messaged them too slow. I don't know exactly what it would have done but it would have let us keep fighting anyway. Perhaps it is better things just ended as we were in a pretty tough spot overall.
The only card I really felt bad about drawing was Vindictive Vampire. 4 mana is sort of high and the effect isn't great. At least, at the time it wasn't. Not sure what else I would have wanted to draw there though so it likely wasn't any worse than other cards. Otherwise, until Possibility Storm came down anyway, the deck performed admirably, even for not being able to get the Monarch on the table (thanks to Torpor Orb).
While I haven't gotten to play with the new cards yet (though I have made the necessary changes to the deck online finally), I decided to revisit the mana base a little. This came about from the discussion in the three color mana base thread and I realized I never did a lot with the Battlebond lands or the Pathways. I am not entirely sure on the Pathway lands, but they don't look all that bad.
So, I am am going to try this out:
A couple of things are going on here. First, the easiest: I am cutting the land based sacrifice outlets for this deck. I think only High Market is the right card for the deck since Miren costs too much and Diamond Valley doesn't produce mana. This deck is built upon more than a single sacrifice at a time and I think I would rather dive a little more into color fixing which also potentially allows for more expansion later on into other utility lands. I did keep Phyrexian Tower here since it can help ramp a little.
Bojuka Bog is being cut because I have been finding that it often doesn't do what I want it to do. While this deck certainly likes exiling graveyards, it is pretty hard to sequence this land correctly in order to do it and have the impact I want. Often it would mean skipping a land drop which isn't ideal. So, I am going to try without it. Part of this comes from @pokken's suggestion about it in some thread (it might have been this or Sygg or somewhere).
And finally, since I had no other place to really make a cut I was wanted to make, I am just cutting a single Plains. Black mana is generally most important in this deck and I still want a basic Mountain in case I need it for fetching off a Path or something. It won't come up often since I have no real land fetching in this deck but I would rather have it just in case.
So, I am am going to try this out:
12/02/20
Approximate Total Cost:
A couple of things are going on here. First, the easiest: I am cutting the land based sacrifice outlets for this deck. I think only High Market is the right card for the deck since Miren costs too much and Diamond Valley doesn't produce mana. This deck is built upon more than a single sacrifice at a time and I think I would rather dive a little more into color fixing which also potentially allows for more expansion later on into other utility lands. I did keep Phyrexian Tower here since it can help ramp a little.
Bojuka Bog is being cut because I have been finding that it often doesn't do what I want it to do. While this deck certainly likes exiling graveyards, it is pretty hard to sequence this land correctly in order to do it and have the impact I want. Often it would mean skipping a land drop which isn't ideal. So, I am going to try without it. Part of this comes from @pokken's suggestion about it in some thread (it might have been this or Sygg or somewhere).
And finally, since I had no other place to really make a cut I was wanted to make, I am just cutting a single Plains. Black mana is generally most important in this deck and I still want a basic Mountain in case I need it for fetching off a Path or something. It won't come up often since I have no real land fetching in this deck but I would rather have it just in case.
