Zedruu the Greatest of All Time

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tstorm823
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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

kateodonnell wrote:
4 years ago
Has anyone gotten a chance to test Sudden Substitution in this deck? I've been messing with it in a bunch of decks and I love it. I haven't gotten a chance to play my zedruu though so I'm not sure if it works in this specifically.
You are correct that post was largely speculative, but I have been playing with the card, both before that post and since. I'm just having a tough time measuring its effectiveness. Partially because its baseline usage is as an answer, and it's tough to gauge answers. Partially because it works with zedruu nicely, so it can be tempting to burn it proactively rather than holding for a big threat. And partially because it's just so weird, I love playing it even if I'm just screwing with gamestates for the sake of it.

Suffice it to say, I'll likely have it still in for the next revision, I think I like it more than Pendant of Prosperity. And if you're having success in other decks, you should have success in zedruu as well, so long as you play zedruu in a way to let you hold up mana for it.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by Eponymous » 4 years ago

https://mythicspoiler.com/ted/cards/mirrormade.html

New 3 cmc artifact/enchantment clone from Eldraine got spoiled today

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Post by MisterBrennock » 4 years ago

Eponymous wrote:
4 years ago
https://mythicspoiler.com/ted/cards/mirrormade.html

New 3 cmc artifact/enchantment clone from Eldraine got spoiled today
I'm not sure that Mirrormade's 1-mana discount compared to Clever Impersonator is enough of an incentive to give up Impersonator's ability to copy creatures or planeswalkers. In my experience playing the deck, I rarely want to copy anything early enough that paying 1 less is worth it. It's a nice new option if you need more copy effects, and it's certainly an upgrade over Copy Enchantment for any decks playing that card (which was in the primer long ago back on MTGSalvation), but outside of those corner cases I have a hard time seeing its potential.

Of course, that's all speculative, and based on my own experiences and the decks I tend to play against, which don't usually warrant more than Clever Impersonator and Phyrexian Metamorph at most when it comes to copying. Maybe there are archetypes or matchups that do feel more difficult to win against without a higher percentage of copy effects to guarantee faster wins or to get some advantage off of an opponent's bomb?

One card that I did see spoiled, which has really piqued my interest, is Dance of the Manse. With all the green running around in my meta this type of recursion could be really nice, and has more flexibility over something like Replenish since it can cost less, hit artifacts, and make the targets creatures if you spend enough and don't have Opalescence or March of the Machines out yet. Again, though, the decklist is so full of packages and interdependence that I don't know if a card like this, which essentially boils down to good-stuff, can make the cut. I'm going to first take out Leave // Chance as in my experience it fills a similar role (though obviously in a very different way) and see how that goes, unless I come up with something better.

Folio of Fancies is also intriguing to me as it's a potential outlet for leftover mana, and provides a Howling Mine-adjacent effect that technically benefits us a bit better since we can control when everyone draws, letting us get a bit more immediate advantage out of what we draw compared to our opponents. But, having to constantly pump mana into it makes me wonder whether I'm just imagining a rare scenario and if it's actually just a trap card for this deck. Definitely something I'm keen to test out, though.

[mention]tstorm823[/mention], do any cards from Eldraine stand out to you at the moment?

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

MisterBrennock wrote:
4 years ago
tstorm823, do any cards from Eldraine stand out to you at the moment?
You hit most of them. Yesterday was an upswing in cards I might try out.

Dance of the Manse could be interesting, but I don't do much to stock my graveyard and have a tendency to empty my graveyard myself. If the creature buff applied to things already in play, that could be interesting, but there's just going to be times when I have no targets in grave. Obviously, the dream would be recurring like Possibility Storm, Eye of the Storm, and Knowledge Pool in one shot and just dominating the rest of the game, but that's just not likely to happen and it would cost 9 mana to do. I'll probably play it long enough to do its thing a couple times and then move on.

Mirrormade might actually be most interesting to me. I agree that 1 mana less to lose half the versatility of Clever Impersonator doesn't sound worthwhile, but there are some fringe benefits to consider. Being 3 mana lets it get pulled by Throes of Chaos, and also lets you do the free spell dance with Gilded Lotus, and it avoids the overcrowded 4-drop slot which is good not just for playing on a curve but also for Azor's Gateway. And you're thinking there aren't things worth cloning early to care about 1 mana less, but this copies mana rocks just fine. Being an enchantment card rather than a creature matters for Possibility Storm and Jeskai Ascendancy and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer. And this not being a creature by default means it can survive if you clone nothing, which doesn't sound terribly useful, but there are multiple narrow reasons to do that have come up in the past. Sometimes I want a useless permanent in play to give away with Zedruu, Copy Enchantment did that. Sometimes I cast Sakashima the Impostor as himself just to get two more devotion to blue, Clever Impersonator can't do that. And if you play a non-cloning clone, things that clone it can choose all new targets. It would take a few steps with Mirrormade, but if you had Opalescence and something like Rite of Replication, you now get to make 5 copies of any combination of artifacts or enchantments. Ultimately, Copy Enchantment lasted as long as it did because it did a lot of these things, but got cut because I only had like 5-6 enchantments worth copying. I've added Detention Sphere and Thousand-Year Storm since then, and also this can meaningfully copy like 15 artifacts on top of that, including 3 of my all time favorite cards. This could actually make the cut.

Folio of Fancies is a Spellbook and a Howling Mine, and potentially even a win condition, but it costs a bunch of mana to use, and more importantly it doesn't donate as cleanly as Howling Mine. Again, a card I'll likely play long enough to do its thing a couple times and then never speak of again.

The Magic Mirror would be insane for 3 mana, my friend and I say if Mind Unbound lives for 3 turns you win the game, but again this deck isn't playing to stock the graveyard aggressively, so it really costs more than even Mind Unbound.

Emry, Lurker of the Loch combos with Mirror of Fate. I don't think I need an 87th way to do that, but that's a thing if people are interested in building in the direction of artifact recursion as a package. There are two versions of Goblin Welder now. And Dance listed above. And Starfield of Nyx. Heavily recursive Zedruu could definitely be a thing.

And I have a gruul shamans deck that will enjoy Grumgully, the Generous, not that it's relevant here.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by Eponymous » 4 years ago

MisterBrennock wrote:
4 years ago
I'm not sure that Mirrormade's 1-mana discount compared to Clever Impersonator is enough of an incentive to give up Impersonator's ability to copy creatures or planeswalkers. In my experience playing the deck, I rarely want to copy anything early enough that paying 1 less is worth it. It's a nice new option if you need more copy effects, and it's certainly an upgrade over Copy Enchantment for any decks playing that card (which was in the primer long ago back on MTGSalvation), but outside of those corner cases I have a hard time seeing its potential.
See funny thing is I was SO convinced that Clever Impersonator was 4UU that I didnt even doubted le check lmfao.

But regardless I certainly plan to test it out, I cant wait to donate mindmoil AND have mine still.

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Post by MisterBrennock » 4 years ago

Great points regarding Mirrormade, I hadn't considered some of those instances where it does make a difference over Clever Impersonator. My thought process regarding the "lack of desire to copy stuff early in the game" was more along the lines that, I often find there's so many other forms of setup going on that I don't have a decent opportunity to copy anything. But the other opportunities you mentioned do raise its potential quite a bit. What might get cut, or at least removed for testing, for it?

I agree regarding the rest of the cards, seems like there's a lot of stuff that's interesting but not particularly viable, at least when compared to what's already in the deck. The concept of a recursive Zedruu deck does sound very exciting in its own way, though!

That Shamans deck sounds fun, too..!

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

Eponymous wrote:
4 years ago
See funny thing is I was SO convinced that Clever Impersonator was 4UU that I didnt even doubted le check lmfao.
Yeah, it's a good card.
MisterBrennock wrote:
4 years ago
Great points regarding Mirrormade, I hadn't considered some of those instances where it does make a difference over Clever Impersonator. My thought process regarding the "lack of desire to copy stuff early in the game" was more along the lines that, I often find there's so many other forms of setup going on that I don't have a decent opportunity to copy anything. But the other opportunities you mentioned do raise its potential quite a bit. What might get cut, or at least removed for testing, for it?

I agree regarding the rest of the cards, seems like there's a lot of stuff that's interesting but not particularly viable, at least when compared to what's already in the deck. The concept of a recursive Zedruu deck does sound very exciting in its own way, though!

That Shamans deck sounds fun, too..!
Lately, I've been down kykar, mirror entity, and relic for cavalier of dawn, phyrexian metamorph, and sudden substitution. The metamorph being fresh in my mind may be helping my appreciation for 3 mana artifact clone.

Also, the shamans is far from good, but I like the interaction between Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro and Hostility
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by Eponymous » 4 years ago

tstorm823 wrote:
4 years ago
Lately, I've been down kykar, mirror entity, and relic for cavalier of dawn, phyrexian metamorph, and sudden substitution. The metamorph being fresh in my mind may be helping my appreciation for 3 mana artifact clone.
Hows Cavalier working? I love all the effects, golem especially.

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

Eponymous wrote:
4 years ago

Hows Cavalier working? I love all the effects, golem especially.
It's very versatile. It's hard to disappointed with an almost vindicate on legs. I like it with instant speed, I've had a few mid combat 2-for-0s that way. I like it with metamorph, you can have it kill itself, make as golem, and then buyback itself right away. It's a great etb with venser. And if I got it and Infinite reflection in together, it could be part of an infinite with March of the machines and chrome mox.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by Dragonlover » 4 years ago

This is definitely one of those decks that I will enjoy reading the shenanigans of, but I'm not sure I ever want to see it at the same table as me. Looks an absolute blast to play though if it's your personal cup of tea!

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Post by Eponymous » 4 years ago

tstorm823 wrote:
4 years ago
It's very versatile. It's hard to disappointed with an almost vindicate on legs. I like it with instant speed, I've had a few mid combat 2-for-0s that way. I like it with metamorph, you can have it kill itself, make as golem, and then buyback itself right away. It's a great etb with venser. And if I got it and Infinite reflection in together, it could be part of an infinite with March of the machines and chrome mox.
Infinite golems is a hot idea. I'll have to play around with it. Mirror of fate Shenanigans into barren glory win is my dream win though so I'll probably keep relic around.

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

Dragonlover wrote:
4 years ago
This is definitely one of those decks that I will enjoy reading the shenanigans of, but I'm not sure I ever want to see it at the same table as me. Looks an absolute blast to play though if it's your personal cup of tea!

Dragonlover
It is my cup of tea! I can see (and have seen) distaste for the slowness of finding the actual win at the end, but I've gotten much quicker over time.
Eponymous wrote:
4 years ago
Infinite golems is a hot idea. I'll have to play around with it. Mirror of fate Shenanigans into barren glory win is my dream win though so I'll probably keep relic around.
Don't worry, I still have that option. Mirror of Fate with Temporal Mastery still works through the Venser, the Sojourner and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer route even without graveyard exile, and Mirror of Fate/Eye of the Storm/Mind's Desire still works with Echo Storm in the eye to make more mirrors. I'm certainly not giving up on those win conditions be trying without a graveyard exile.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by Eponymous » 4 years ago

I was just reminded that Coveted Jewel exists, I think I'm gonna try replacing Gilded Lotus with it, its 3 extra cards for 1 extra mana, and if someone else smacks you then they become who the other players attack, it also adds more value to zedruu, and still becomes untapped if you can attack them unblocked meaning you can potentially plan around having that mana the turn you go off.

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Post by Sefir » 4 years ago

I have moved to a new city and Zedruu gets all kind of reactions from the local meta. From "This deck is awsome!" to "This deck is pure evil!" .
Especially when Knowledge Pool resolves in a 6-players table.....
It is sick how consistent a deck can be without the use of tutors of any kind.

I decied to remove Aminatou's Augury. It is simply too efficient. It is like a Mind's Desire that needs 0 set up (apart from the mana ofc) and provides so much CA both in kinds of board state and hand that wins on its own. I will probably incude again the Phyrexian Metamorph to compliment Cavalier of Dawn better. And Cavalier is great from my testing. I recommend him to everyone. Answer on a stick with recursion and combo potential. The WWW was never a problem btw.
Zedruu the Greathearted 4-Card Combos Puzzlebox
Gluntch, the Bestower Controlled Hug
Sliver Queen Enchantress
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Saclands
Teneb, the Harvester AntiBlack Pestilence
Dakkon Blackblade Control
Riku of Two Reflections Dragon's Approach
Phelddagrif Hippo Factory Lifegain
Damia, Sage of Stone Casual Food Chain
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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

Sefir wrote:
4 years ago
I have moved to a new city and Zedruu gets all kind of reactions from the local meta. From "This deck is awsome!" to "This deck is pure evil!" .
Especially when Knowledge Pool resolves in a 6-players table.....
It is sick how consistent a deck can be without the use of tutors of any kind.

I decied to remove Aminatou's Augury. It is simply too efficient. It is like a Mind's Desire that needs 0 set up (apart from the mana ofc) and provides so much CA both in kinds of board state and hand that wins on its own. I will probably incude again the Phyrexian Metamorph to compliment Cavalier of Dawn better. And Cavalier is great from my testing. I recommend him to everyone. Answer on a stick with recursion and combo potential. The WWW was never a problem btw.
Opposite of a problem, the WWW makes some good devotion for Nykthos sometimes.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by WolfWhoWanders » 4 years ago

This is one of the most interesting and creative deck lists/concepts I've ever seen. I can sense the years of tinkering and madness within it.
Responds well to spells and abilities

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

WolfWhoWanders wrote:
4 years ago
This is one of the most interesting and creative deck lists/concepts I've ever seen. I can sense the years of tinkering and madness within it.
Thank you!

(I may have just done a gatherer search for all the on color madness cards, just in case one fits).
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by rmelzer1986 » 4 years ago

tstorm823 wrote:
4 years ago
WolfWhoWanders wrote:
4 years ago
This is one of the most interesting and creative deck lists/concepts I've ever seen. I can sense the years of tinkering and madness within it.
Thank you!

(I may have just done a gatherer search for all the on color madness cards, just in case one fits).
Past In Flames could be a cool one to be able to reuse instant/sorcery combo pieces should the first attempt not work out.

Edit: completely misread madness for flashback, haha. It's something I've been considering though.

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

rmelzer1986 wrote:
4 years ago
Past In Flames could be a cool one to be able to reuse instant/sorcery combo pieces should the first attempt not work out.

Edit: completely misread madness for flashback, haha. It's something I've been considering though.
That's the power of wishful thinking. Flashback has sweet cards. Madness is a little bit lacking, especially without black.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by WolfWhoWanders » 4 years ago

tstorm823 wrote:
4 years ago
WolfWhoWanders wrote:
4 years ago
This is one of the most interesting and creative deck lists/concepts I've ever seen. I can sense the years of tinkering and madness within it.
Thank you!

(I may have just done a gatherer search for all the on color madness cards, just in case one fits).
Lol, don't forget to look for the word madness in flavor text
Responds well to spells and abilities

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Post by Sefir » 4 years ago

rmelzer1986 wrote:
4 years ago
Past In Flames could be a cool one to be able to reuse instant/sorcery combo pieces should the first attempt not work out.
I have tried it and I found out that the PiF cost+ the spell I wanted to resolve was too much. Then I realized that I usually wanted to resolve just a single spell and that spell 99% of the cases was a sorcery (Mind's Desire, Aminatu's Augury, Time Spiral, Temporal Cascade, etc). In general, the deck's sorceries are far more powerful than it's instants, with small exceptions. Since then, I play with a single Recoup and I am extremely pleased with its performance.
Zedruu the Greathearted 4-Card Combos Puzzlebox
Gluntch, the Bestower Controlled Hug
Sliver Queen Enchantress
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Saclands
Teneb, the Harvester AntiBlack Pestilence
Dakkon Blackblade Control
Riku of Two Reflections Dragon's Approach
Phelddagrif Hippo Factory Lifegain
Damia, Sage of Stone Casual Food Chain
Minsc, Beloved Ranger Win(nie)s
Thraximundar Zomblins
The Omenkeel Vehicles
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis Dredge/Reanimator
Hans Eriksson Smash

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

I signed myself up for Commandfest DC next week, so now's as good a time as any to hammer out some details in my decks, especially my favorite deck here. Comparing what I've been up to must recently with the deck in the first post, I've mentioned most of the changes previously. The wizard package has largely dissolved, I cut Kykar, Wind's Fury/Mirror Entity/Azami, Lady of Scrolls and I think I might swap out Riptide Laboratory for a solid color producing land if I find one I like to add. Relic of Progenitus got cut making Mirror of Fate loops slightly less simple without a way to exile from graveyards, but I don't actually need it. I've got infinite turn loops covered with Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and infinite Eye of the Storm loops covered with Echo Storm.

And then I cut out Razia, Boros Archangel to try out Archangel Avacyn. Someone recommended Avacyn as an indestructible-giver like Ephemeral Shields a while ago, and at that point I wanted the free instant, not a 5 mana creature. But it does fill my boros-colored legend slot, it protects my board from sweepers, it plays with Arcbond well, it's a 3 damage sweeper itself with my 4 toughness commander, it's a flash threat when I'm holding up disruption, and it's another creature for Saheeli, Sublime Artificer to turn Azor's Gateway into to cheat on the flip. I thought when I added it that would be a clean 3 card flip, turn the gateway into Avacyn, legend rule the original away, trigger the copy to flip. BUT that doesn't work, because some maniac at Wizards had the foresight to specify "non-angel creature" on the trigger condition. Boooo. Regardless, it's still been mostly more interesting to play with than Razia, I'm not totally sold yet, and I'll still be hoping for some perfect boros legend to slide in here either way.

Then comes the cast of maybe additions: Cavalier of Dawn has been fantastic for me, supremely versatile removal and recursion. Sudden Substitution is the wacky disruptive split second spell I've always wanted, those two are slam dunks for me. The other two slots are much less clear. Mirrormade was very good for me in practice and I'd love to play it more, but Phyrexian Metamorph is better with Cavalier (self recurring removal/golem mana sink), and Infinite Reflection finishes an infinite combo with Cavalier of Dawn/March of the Machines/Chrome Mox. And if I play Infinite Reflection, I want to try sneaking Archangel of Thune in again. And I can only fit 2 of those 4 in if I don't cut anything else. For right now, I'm going to try combinations of 3 of these with an additional cut of Nahiri's Wrath, and hoping that since my other recent cuts were 4 cards that don't interact with other people's boards and an 8 drop, and I'm adding 3 interactive cards and at least one 3CMC clone, that I can spare to cut the wrath. It will make "oops I Barren Glory'd" less likely again if I make the cut permanent, but I think that's ok. Most of my Barren Glory wins are off Mirror of Fate Doomsday piles anyway.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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Post by Sefir » 4 years ago

I decided to try a Smothering Tithe in the deck.
Oh my....
Oh my, my.......
Saying the card overperformed is quite an understatement. With so many "everyone draws" permanents, as well as cards like Time Spiral and Temporal Cascade, one time I was able to put more than 50 Treasure tokens on the field (edit: in the end I animated them all with Marsh of the Mashines -I have stolen a Master of Etherium from my Memnarch opponent to prevent them from dying- and proceed to a True Treasure Beatdown win). And I do not believe that it is a card that makes the deck any less casual or any less fun to play. 0 Tutors and only 4-card combos are the name of the deck after all....
On the other hand, there are some cards that I realized they continued to unimpress me.
One of them was, and I am sorry to say it, Thousand-Year Storm. I was a big fan of it when it was first printed, but then, as games went by, I realised that it is perhaps the single permanent in the deck that is of that high mana-curve and at the same time does nothing on its own, requiring an entire VERY SPECIFIC chain of events (a hand full of Instants/sorceries or a game state where I am already ahead f.e. a resulted Eye of the Storm with extra mana open) to do something meaningfull in the game. I dropped it and honestly, I do not miss it at all.
The other one was Firestorm. I know that it is a possible piece of the Barren Glory win AND a possible mass removal. However both cases require a big number of possible targets and most of the times, this is not applicable. I brought back Nahiri's Wrath. Yes, it doesn't hit players and it is a Sorcery, but I was never interested in using it as a winning condition on its own and it is not hard to get a Leyline of Anticipation/Vedalken Orray out. So far, I have not experienced any problems with it.
Zedruu the Greathearted 4-Card Combos Puzzlebox
Gluntch, the Bestower Controlled Hug
Sliver Queen Enchantress
Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis Saclands
Teneb, the Harvester AntiBlack Pestilence
Dakkon Blackblade Control
Riku of Two Reflections Dragon's Approach
Phelddagrif Hippo Factory Lifegain
Damia, Sage of Stone Casual Food Chain
Minsc, Beloved Ranger Win(nie)s
Thraximundar Zomblins
The Omenkeel Vehicles
Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis Dredge/Reanimator
Hans Eriksson Smash

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Post by tstorm823 » 4 years ago

Sefir wrote:
4 years ago
I decided to try a Smothering Tithe in the deck.
Oh my....
Oh my, my.......
Saying the card overperformed is quite an understatement. With so many "everyone draws" permanents, as well as cards like Time Spiral and Temporal Cascade, one time I was able to put more than 50 Treasure tokens on the field (edit: in the end I animated them all with Marsh of the Mashines -I have stolen a Master of Etherium from my Memnarch opponent to prevent them from dying- and proceed to a True Treasure Beatdown win). And I do not believe that it is a card that makes the deck any less casual or any less fun to play. 0 Tutors and only 4-card combos are the name of the deck after all....
So, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone who every reads this comment has experienced the power of Smothering Tithe in edh. It's very strong. And I agree that it doesn't make the deck any less casual. And I agree that mechanically this deck is a great home for a card like that. But as a matter of personal choice, I don't want to play it. I found it to be sort of a distraction. I need to stay focused on the play options I have available to play this deck smoothly and not end up staring dumbly at my hand for a minute every time it gets to my turn, and the bookkeeping aspect of Smothering Tithe distracts from that, while also pulling people's attention towards me because I'm constantly doing things on everyone's turns. As far as the mechanical impact of the card in a vacuum, it is stellar. But I don't think it makes most games more fun for me. I'm glad I went off with it a couple times when I tried it out, it's unquestionable fun in conjunction with a Time Spiral or two, but I lived the dream and moved on. It's sort of like all the shuffling effects I cut out just so I didn't have to shuffle so much, it's really not a gameplay problem, just personal preference. Anyone who enjoys Smothering Tithe should probably have it in a deck like this.
On the other hand, there are some cards that I realized they continued to unimpress me.
One of them was, and I am sorry to say it, Thousand-Year Storm. I was a big fan of it when it was first printed, but then, as games went by, I realised that it is perhaps the single permanent in the deck that is of that high mana-curve and at the same time does nothing on its own, requiring an entire VERY SPECIFIC chain of events (a hand full of Instants/sorceries or a game state where I am already ahead f.e. a resulted Eye of the Storm with extra mana open) to do something meaningfull in the game. I dropped it and honestly, I do not miss it at all.
I may follow suit, but only kind of, because what I'm considering is swapping back into Bonus Round. I actually was not that excited for Thousand-Year Storm when it was spoiled, and may not have given it a chance had it not been my prerelease promo. I thought it took too much to go off. But, when I tried it, it was pretty good even with only a couple instants and sorceries, so it won games for me. But if it only takes a couple copies to make it a winner, Bonus Round is just as good anyways, so that may be the better pick overall. Especially with the loss of Cowardice and my plan to cut Riptide Laboratory for a colored mana source, Thousand-Year Storm loses must of its potential advantages.
The other one was Firestorm. I know that it is a possible piece of the Barren Glory win AND a possible mass removal. However both cases require a big number of possible targets and most of the times, this is not applicable. I brought back Nahiri's Wrath. Yes, it doesn't hit players and it is a Sorcery, but I was never interested in using it as a winning condition on its own and it is not hard to get a Leyline of Anticipation/Vedalken Orray out. So far, I have not experienced any problems with it.
Not following suit on this one, but I think this may be a meta thing. The people I most often play with lean more towards board wipes than counterspells, so it's much, much more frequent that I have to answer someone at instant speed than wipe the board. Firestorm is just fantastic at killing a problem creature before they can get shoes on it and cause a mess. And at a 4 person table, you need at least 6 toughness and no other creatures to dodge a Firestorm for lack of targets. Like, I can see swapping Firestorm for Nahiri's Wrath depending on what interaction you most need, I think I should be playing both when it comes down to it, especially with Swans of Bryn Argoll and Arcbond.

Unrelated comments: the loser in my testing mentioned a few posts ago is still Archangel of Thune. It's too slow to be a non-combo win condition, even with a Mirrorweave. It dies to removal pretty bad. It needs too many things to happen in the right order uninterrupted to combo in a meaningful way. By comparison, Cavalier of Dawn/Infinite Reflection combo was awesome. It's a huge boon that cloning Cavalier recurs any other piece from the graveyard, and Infinite Reflection makes any creature a clone. It's far more resilient than my other combos, but at the same time ends with infinite non-hasted vanilla creatures leaving the potential for more valid responses, and then I get to pull cards beck from graveyard post board wipe anyway. It's a sweet play pattern.

I had fun at Command Fest. I only played in the pick up games area, but I managed to win a game with Barren Glory, get a table drawing 6 per turn on turn 4, flip Azor's Gateway both legitimately and with Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, I would have taught bobthefunny to properly fear Mirror of Fate except he had me dead on demand from a flipped Vance's Blasting Cannons, I stole an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and ran it into a Blightsteel Colossus for the annihilator and then donated it to a 3rd player to remove it from combat, I instant speed Role Reversaled 3 times, I died horribly to Hallar, the Firefletcher because I really didn't respect that card enough, and at the end of the weekend I met a young man whose name I do not know who played this deck and said winning with Barren Glory was him peaking as a magic player. And the answer I wish I had given was that I'm confident he will find greater heights of silliness than what I've dreamed up.
Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."

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lyonhaert
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Post by lyonhaert » 4 years ago

Cool, featured primer. You should probably steal the gif with incense smoke. :grin:
Chainer bbb
"Image"
(rebuild after Geth)
Other
r Lathliss
bw Breena
To-Build Pool
rb Obosh Burn
gw Dromoka

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