Bruna, the Fading Light - Mono-W Moat Control

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RowanKeltizar
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Post by RowanKeltizar » 2 years ago

Yeah, that's sound logic @ISBPathfinder . Monarch would definitely skew the advantage a bit. I think it works in a deck that doesn't draw many of its own cards. It can also be political if you target the player who's behind, with the mutual agreement to let each other both draw cards to catch up.

Idk, I think it works well in specific decks, but maybe not all mono white decks by default.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

I think I'm mostly the same here. I have redundancy in draw effects, and I still don't have Rhystic buddy or Mangara 2.0 (my LGS is still recovering from a lockdown were still emerging from, inventory is low). I don't doubt that its a good effect in a color thats in dire need of it, I just don't know that its a lock here.

I won't lie, a massive part of it for me is paying the going rate for it at present. 60NZD is a lot for a single card that may not hold that value. But at the same time I also think there's a fair chance it just doesn't quite fit here - a big part of that is that my build is essentially control to a large degree, and encouraging heavy draw seems counterintuitive to that. Even if I'm not directly giving away draw I'm as likely to be removing the pieces that enable draw, so it feels like this just isn't a deck for it to shine.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Set Review

Sorry this one is late guys. Been pretty frantic all around at work and RL, so I've been really up against it to chip into forum activity at all. That said, I have been keeping an eye on spoilers and I've definitely got plans for additions. Kamigawa isn't my favorite setting, but it has been a nice revisit this time around. Let's see what's here for us.

Artifacts/Colorless/Lands

  • Lion Sash - This one does at least a couple of things we want it to. It's searchable with all tutors we run, exiles a la Scavenging Ooze for incremental boost, and helps us get in for big hits with our evasive crew. It's a lock here, honestly.
  • Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire - It's very much not the strongest channel land. However, I think the downside of having it in the list is incredibly minimal.I like the recent trend of valuable utility lands coming through in spoilers and this one is no exception. Being virtually unable to be interacted with is nice, it enters untapped, and I see no reason not to use it.

White


  • Ironsoul Enforcer - I don't think this card is bad per se, and it is close to consideration, but it is expensive to cast and we can't guarantee use from it, so I'm off. I think it's a nice tool in white's arsenal though.
  • Swift Reconfiguration - I think this is fine, but probably not really needed here. I've found over time that it's better with Bruna to paint control with a broad brush, so the hatebears and control we have so far is probably sufficient.
  • Farewell - Very solid modal removal. I think there's a case for this being in the build, although I feel like hitting us too is tough. It's a 'dig you out of a hole' card, to me. That said it is probably better than most of the wipes in my list to date, so it might be worth having.
  • Invoke Justice - This costs the same as Karmic Guide for a little more variation and a stat boost. I think it's fine, but probably not a lock.



Well, that's all I can really see here for now that's worthy of consideration. I'm excited for Lion Sash for sure, it's going to be very good here I believe. Otherwise, we're a little slim on options and what is there is fairly niche. That said I think it's a pretty neat set flavor wise and mechanic wise, so we seem to be in a really good place for card design at the minute.



As well as the above, big updates abound:


So, these have been about for a while, and some of these I'm pretty stoked with. Tithe is a card I never thought I'd get hold of and it seems great here, no reason not to run it. Heritage does for us similar to what Angelic Skirmisher does, albeit less costly and more political. Ultimately it feels like it will almost always give us supremacy in combat, and allow us to hit hard. It doulbes our combat damage triggers for Sword and Mask too, which is a nice upside. Reclamation is good value for things like Fabled Passage and anything that gets cracked or removed. I'm not certain it'll be excellent here, but I've had really wonderful use of it elsewhere, so it seemed worthwhile trialling it. Angel of Destiny is an alternate win condition, which I remember initially not being that positive about. On a second glance it seems quite achievable to use, and thinking a bit deeper on it it's worth leaning into any advantage we can get, given combat is our main victory route. Today's 'meta' tends to be quite quick, so anything we can use to take people out of the game is probably worth trialling. I've found it quite easy to be life-positive of late so it should perform nicely. Thalia is an obvious add and one I've alluded to before, nice to get it for cheap on release of Crimson Vow. I kind of hate the new art a little, but the Eternal Night variant is fine so I picked that up because I could. And finally Canyons and Takedown are more utility for the land base. Canyons should be amazing here I would think, and Takedown is nice utility in a deck that has big bodies.

Aura of Silence was tough to pull, it puts in work. I guess in a way it gets replaced by Thalia, and is probably more helpful on a body in some ways. It felt like the right decision, but I could see it getting back in here in the future. Absent I pulled purely for being a bit much mana to hold up oftentimes. It's saved me from time to time, but often it does just sit in hand as a just in case, and I think I'd probably prefer to track down something like Heliod's Intervention for this spot instead. Mind Stone could be a mistake to pull, too, but my ramp has been fine of late so I don't foresee missing that overly. The crack for cantrip is pretty decent, so it's possible it could come back in in that respect. Nova was the worst of the wipes I had in the deck at present, and the lands were self-explanatory removals.

So that's where I'm at at present. As mentioned, I definitely want a Sash for the list, I think it's great control and great utility for the deck, but otherwise I'm fairly happy with where it's all at.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Ironsoul Enforcer anyone have any thoughts on this guy? I like that its a human and if Bruna is already in play she can attack immediately and trigger it. The downside is sort of that I don't run a lot of artifacts all in all but recurring equipment seems alright. Not sure that I plan to add it just stirring some discussion :D

EDIT: WTF you posted while I was creating my post lol
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Ironsoul Enforcer anyone have any thoughts on this guy? I like that its a human and if Bruna is already in play she can attack immediately and trigger it. The downside is sort of that I don't run a lot of artifacts all in all but recurring equipment seems alright. Not sure that I plan to add it just stirring some discussion :D

EDIT: WTF you posted while I was creating my post lol
Ha, what are the odds?

I'm where you are on this one. It's a good trigger, but I just don't have the depth of artifacts to justify it.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

I am interested to hear how your results with the changes go. I am not crazy about some of the pushing damage stuff you seem to like but I am much more of a grind them to dust kind of a player lol.

Sevinne's Reclamation is a great card but I am a bit curious to hear why you are bringing it in. I love the card but I primarily use it in multicolored decks as ramp off of fetches. You do still have plenty of targets in your deck for it but it feels like its shifting it to only reactive where as I tend to include it more in decks where it has proactive early play as well. I guess I am curious if this is the reanimation effect you actually want without more options proactively.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
I am interested to hear how your results with the changes go. I am not crazy about some of the pushing damage stuff you seem to like but I am much more of a grind them to dust kind of a player lol.

Sevinne's Reclamation is a great card but I am a bit curious to hear why you are bringing it in. I love the card but I primarily use it in multicolored decks as ramp off of fetches. You do still have plenty of targets in your deck for it but it feels like its shifting it to only reactive where as I tend to include it more in decks where it has proactive early play as well. I guess I am curious if this is the reanimation effect you actually want without more options proactively.
Yeah, Reclamation is on trial to be fair. I don't know for sure it will generate value here; I have lower CMC permanents, but they're not necessarily the type I'm deliberately sacrificing, so it might be dead weight. As you say, I don't have fetches here to make it easily usable. It could be a bad call, time will tell.

I think the only thing really pushing damage here is Duelist's Heritage, and it could be not worth it, for sure. I guess it's just recognition that with combat as a primary win condition it's important to make each attack count for as much as possible. It could well be dead weight, again. Angel of Destiny is similar, but at least it gives me the option of easily knocking out players from time to time. I've no major issues getting myself to 55, it's a fairly regular occurrence.

I do like the grind 'em to dust plan too, I guess I'm just trying to make sure I make the most of the swings I take. It's just acknowledgement of the fact that commander these days is a quick game, and combat wins often take more time than I have (both in-game and in RL).
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Post by Ruiner » 2 years ago

Along the same lines as Ironsoul Enforcer, the new set also has Norika Yamazaki, the Poet as recursion piece that is also a Human. I don't know that I'll be making room for it in my deck but being able to recur stuff like Seal of Cleansing and Aura of Silence is always nice. The restrictions on the trigger might be a bit tougher to work around though, not always ideal.

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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

Ruiner wrote:
2 years ago
Along the same lines as Ironsoul Enforcer, the new set also has Norika Yamazaki, the Poet as recursion piece that is also a Human. I don't know that I'll be making room for it in my deck but being able to recur stuff like Seal of Cleansing and Aura of Silence is always nice. The restrictions on the trigger might be a bit tougher to work around though, not always ideal.
Yeah, I did overlook this one. I think it's fine, but not stellar. It'd have to attack itself to trigger, which on its own is fine, but I don't know that I have the depth of enchantment value to justify it.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

What do we think about Giada, Font of Hope? Dorks in white is interesting and buffing is nice.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 1 year ago

toctheyounger wrote:
1 year ago
What do we think about Giada, Font of Hope? Dorks in white is interesting and buffing is nice.
Its interesting but angels tends to be a quality over quantity sort of tribe so while I think its interesting I think the size of the board required to make it work likely makes it more interesting for a changeling concept than using actual angels. Like, if you have 3 other angels plus this that is already an incredibly wide board. That is when this sort of effect probably starts to add up enough to be interesting but again, its probably a really wide board already. On top of that you likely need to go full angels as the tribe rather than split.

I am not even sure that I am all that impressed with it as the commander unfortunately. I think its cute but it just takes too much commitment to the board for most decks to use it. Its possible that if you had a blue pickup you might be able to justify going wider and defend said board with counter magic / drawing more cards. I don't think that I really see it in mono white though.

I actually sort of low key think that Sanctuary Warden might not be bad on the other hand. Its sort of a weird Divination angel but it can also use other creatures counters to draw cards. Its multiple card draws in itself while protecting itself on an angel. I think that might be something worth testing.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
toctheyounger wrote:
1 year ago
What do we think about Giada, Font of Hope? Dorks in white is interesting and buffing is nice.
Its interesting but angels tends to be a quality over quantity sort of tribe so while I think its interesting I think the size of the board required to make it work likely makes it more interesting for a changeling concept than using actual angels. Like, if you have 3 other angels plus this that is already an incredibly wide board. That is when this sort of effect probably starts to add up enough to be interesting but again, its probably a really wide board already. On top of that you likely need to go full angels as the tribe rather than split.

I am not even sure that I am all that impressed with it as the commander unfortunately. I think its cute but it just takes too much commitment to the board for most decks to use it. Its possible that if you had a blue pickup you might be able to justify going wider and defend said board with counter magic / drawing more cards. I don't think that I really see it in mono white though.

I actually sort of low key think that Sanctuary Warden might not be bad on the other hand. Its sort of a weird Divination angel but it can also use other creatures counters to draw cards. Its multiple card draws in itself while protecting itself on an angel. I think that might be something worth testing.
I think the best point here is that split tribes aren't where it needs to be. Its cool that white is getting this but its not quite there for this particular build.

Sanctuary warden seems fine to be. I like its resilience in combat and eventual draw. I guess I'm at the point where the top of my curve is pretty stacked, so I'm a little reluctant to add any more in there. But this one could be a good add, yeah. Works probably really nicely with something like Archangel of Thune in particular.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

Streets of New Capenna (unified) Review

Back again and super soon, because I was late with the last one. This is once again a set I'm not suuuper hyped for, but Angels are a theme, and it's generally worth a look anyway. In general, the set itself isn't a revelation to me. I like some of the design space but none of the cards in general scream at me to buy them, which I'm fine with and so is my wallet. Anyway, let's see what's going on.

Artifacts/Colorless/Lands

  • Gavel of the Righteous - I do actually kind of like this, and it probably belongs in a deck that grinds out with combat. I like being able to drop it early and equip for no mana, so I could sort of get behind this one.
  • Getaway Car - Nothing special, but a potential nice way to avoid commander tax for what is already a costly commander. Swing, bounce, recast, trigger, profit? It's pretty niche and I don't genuinely think it's good enough really, but it's an option for abusing the cast trigger if needed.

White


  • Grand Crescendo - Secure the Wastes with a slight upgrade isn't too shabby. I don't think it's massively what I want to be doing, but it's cheap and decent if you need to survive a wipe.
  • Smuggler's Share - This looks fine and could be great, but I think it's going to probably be quite meta dependent as to whether you get value from it or not. One thing I do like about it over Archaeomancer's Map is generating treasures instead of land drops; it means that you'll continue to satisfy the 'less lands than your opponent' clause that everything in white has. I think I'll see where the price for it ends up and go from there.
  • Extraction Specialist - I like this in some ways, but I also don't know that I have the depth of low cost creatures to really make it worth the spot. The cost to stats and ability ratio are really good though, I think it could be great in the right place. Big yikes on the artwork though.
  • Giada, Font of Hope - We've talked it over already, and I think it's fine. Being a split tribe we're not the best place for it, but being a Marble Diamond with a buff for our beaters is quite nice in it's own right. I think I'd really have to look closely over the concentration of angels in the deck before slotting it in, but I do sort of want it as a just in case.
  • Inspiring Overseer - Nice ETB. Fine card, probably not strong enough without leaning into ETBs and reanimation loops though. Honestly, just stoked to see white getting untethered, unconditional draw.
  • Sanctuary Warden - I think this is a fine card. I don't think it's an immediate lock for the deck, but continual draw and board presence is really nice. I think it's worth trialling for sure.


And that's it for me; I know I missed Elspeth and the Fountain, but honestly I think they're both splash for the sake of splash and don't really do anything stellar for us, so I'm passing on both myself.

As well as the set review, I've got some upgrades inbound:


So another big one. Most of the adds are filling in some low curve control, although I've been eager for a chance to try Mangara and Sentinel for a while now, so excited for that. The Sash is a direct swap for Lantern, which should be fine. Ultimately Lantern is lower to the ground and cheaper, but I think Sash being combat ready and fetchable by most of the better tutors in the deck makes up for that. Thune comes back from a build I pulled apart recently, I immediately regretted losing Mind Stone, and Vanquish/Winds are wipe upgrades. I've seen Winds do some great things in a combat oriented deck before, and it satisfies the 'less lands' clause for white as well as not being a tempo loss. Vanquish I like purely for being able to drop it and still play after it resolves. There's nothing worse than wiping the board and not being able to do anything after you've done it.

The land additions are just trying some new utility things, I guess. Nothing stellar there, the only weird addition is Ghost Town and Cryptic Caves. Again a nod to the less lands thing, they may or may not put in work. I definitely like Caves more, but we will see.

Removal wise, Bounty Agent I don't recall ever achieving anything with. Wall of Mourning has been quite disappointing for me to be honest. It counts most in your first few turns, and without token production coven is a little harder to hit at that point so you can sort of stall out with it. Protector is fine but off tribe, could just as easily have been Archon of Coronation that went. And lastly, the wipes are just upgraded. I'm a little reluctant with Command purely for the ability to hit artifacts and enchantments with it, but I want to track down a Heliod's Intervention which is probably better anyway.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

I'm well overdue for an update on this list. By my reckoning any readers would've thought I'd abandoned it. That isn't the case, RL has been hugely busy. With that said though, I have retooled the list to some degree, and I'm trying a few new angles. Specifically, the deck is going in more on board control; it's not entirely a stax list now per se, but there's certainly some element of it there now. Goldfishing has been relatively successful, and while the deck isn't perfect it can certainly do some things.

There's still a bit more coming, in particular I want to try out Calamity's Wake and Loran of the Third Path, but I'm a trip to the LGS away from picking those up just at the minute.

This is a pretty big update, so apologies for smashing this out all in one chunk:


So there's a crap ton to go over here, obviously. Firstly I feel like I've gone a bit more all in on board control and winning by grinding the table down and beating face. Whether everything that's been added fits well or not is a little up for debate, purely because in terms of control I've just tried to add as many utilities as I can to my tool belt. I don't think they're all perfect (Stony Silence and Armageddon stick out a little) but the deck has been running well, the curve is a little lower, and I've had very few, if any, points at which my control has conflicted with my own pacing and plays. I've trimmed the lands down a lot, and surprisingly it feels quite good; I'm getting a lot less flood, and things like Sword of the Animist and Sword of Hearth and Home are keeping me going just fine (that second is a straight up monster).

In terms of standout additions that have been really good, Paladin Class is excellent, very versatile at any stage in the game. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is fantastic too, Sanctuary Warden has been very good too, and either or both paired with Skullclamp does what the Clamp does so, so well. Sigarda's Vanguard has been solid too, I can constantly swing for solid double digit numbers a ton, and having the Sun Titan clause of ETB and attack makes it really handy.

Giada has been surprisingly nice. It doesn't take a lot of board presence for her to give me a nice stat buff, and with stuff like Court of Grace and Resplendent Angel pooping out angels here and there she's actually kinda frightening. As well as that, I can use the Hearth Sword to blink stuff for incremental buffs too. She's more versatile than she looks for sure. Serra Paragon has been good too, not amazingly critical, but adds some nice resilience to the lower end of my curve and a little land destruction support; any creatures I cast with her I can, again, blink to reset so they don't exile too, and I think if I were able to track down some things like Scorched Ruins, Lotus Vale et al she would be a lot more handy. Certainly more versatile than a Crucible at any rate.

The one or two pieces I'm not entirely certain of are Pyre of Heroes[/card, and [card]Chancellor of the Annex. The latter is easy to define, it's quite expensive to cast. I don't ever want to spend mana on it, it is purely there to reanimate or pod into. The former, though, I think could be a really good add. I know it's a little questionable in what's ostensibly a dual tribe list, but there's enough bleedover with subtypes like Clerics, Soldiers and Warriors that it can mostly work. I haven't had a lot of play time with it to know for sure, and part of that is not having anything I can use to tutor for it. But I think there's a possibility it could be pretty decent.

As far as future adds go, there's very little affordable on the horizon; I'd like an Ancient Tomb, Scorched Ruins and such here for more burst lands and a bit of better acceleration, but the chances of getting them in anytime soon is unlikely. In terms of BRO, Loran of the Third Path is on the way, and I'm keen to try out Calamity's Wake too; it's rough on the graveyard, but it's a really nice Silence effect that I think could be useful on clutch turns (melding or alpha striking for example). I'm on the fence regarding Myrel, Shield of Argive - there ARE soldiers here, but I think if I want her static effect I'm probably better just getting Grand Abolisher back in the list.

That's where things are at at the moment, and despite the radio silence I'm really enjoying playing this list in it's newest iteration.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

More updates:


More card draw is nice, so Loran is a good thing. Sharing it around isn't great, but getting to choose and getting a sweet ETB trigger is cool. I'm trying out Ethersworn Canonist for board control purely because it's not all that common I'm multispelling early anyway, and there's a few ways I can get around it with stuff like Pyre of Heroes, Karmic Guide and, well, Bruna. Disciple of Caelus Nin is kind of just a trial card. If it's going to work anywhere, a mono white control deck is where it belongs. Time will tell. Aura of Silence is replacing Stony Silence - Stony gets in the way of equipments just a little, and I can play around it, but it feels like Aura is kinder on me while not really letting the foot off the neck for my opponents. Calamity's Wake is another trial. Over time I've found myself using the graveyard less (although I have mulled over Mesmeric Orb or similar for better reanimation targets) so I don't think the exile will ruin me, and pre-clearing the stack on a big turn feels pretty good.

Emeria is a weird one to lose, but honestly it triggers so seldom I don't think I'll even miss it a little bit. Fall of the Thran is fine, but the more costly of the two land destruction options I have, so it's easier to keep Armageddon. Stony I've discussed already, Chancellor is fine on paper, but it's coming down too late to hurt anyone significantly; and to be fair, it's filling a lot of the same sort of control space as Brisela, Voice of Nightmares which is much more consistent. Sanctifier en-Vec is a pretty niche form of control, so I decided against it. It feels like Canonist is going to hurt more for my opponents in most cases, outside of the singular case of Breach lines.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 1 year ago

Cutting Emeria feels really weird but then I noticed you run like half the plains count that I did as well as having less equipment tutors (it matters for the land searching equip). I suppose it makes sense in that sense to cut it.

Side note, are you really only running 32 lands with a 7cmc commander? You don't have that much ramp. Man that looks......... low.

Calamity's Wake - I love the design of this card and I can't wait to play it but it seems like an odd card to run in a graveyard based deck. I am just saying from the standpoint that this deck doesn't have a lot of instant speed interaction and it cares about its own graveyard. I also see you don't have a copy of Soul-Guide Lantern in your list so this seems a little odd to put in when you don't have a lantern. I think this card looks great but I want to run it more in a deck with more instant speed interaction intention and or less graveyard interaction on its own end.

I am not thrilled to see you stocking up on LD effects but to each their own. I just think that its awkward to resort to these sort of tactics in mono white just from the standpoint that it feels like the things you need to be playing against to justify running MLD is generally stuff you shouldn't play mono white into.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
Cutting Emeria feels really weird but then I noticed you run like half the plains count that I did as well as having less equipment tutors (it matters for the land searching equip). I suppose it makes sense in that sense to cut it.
Yeah, honestly can't remember the last time I actually triggered it. It's very, very slow.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
Side note, are you really only running 32 lands with a 7cmc commander? You don't have that much ramp. Man that looks......... low.
It probably is. I think I probably will look at adding more back in, but not many. To be honest a few of the utility lands in the deck aren't that stellar, so I could probably also up the basic count anyway.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
Calamity's Wake - I love the design of this card and I can't wait to play it but it seems like an odd card to run in a graveyard based deck. I am just saying from the standpoint that this deck doesn't have a lot of instant speed interaction and it cares about its own graveyard. I also see you don't have a copy of Soul-Guide Lantern in your list so this seems a little odd to put in when you don't have a lantern. I think this card looks great but I want to run it more in a deck with more instant speed interaction intention and or less graveyard interaction on its own end.
Well, like I said I've been doing less intentional graveyard stuff of late. I'm not specifically trying to Entomb or whatever, and there aren't a ton of ways to intentionally get creatures to the yard in white, so I've kind of just noticed it happening less. I'm not hugely sold on it either, it's definitely something I could see Grand Abolisher or even Silence doing a damn sight better, but I don't have those so this is worth at least trialling. There's a good chance you're right and it's destined for a deck that uses the stack more, but we'll see how it goes.
ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
I am not thrilled to see you stocking up on LD effects but to each their own. I just think that its awkward to resort to these sort of tactics in mono white just from the standpoint that it feels like the things you need to be playing against to justify running MLD is generally stuff you shouldn't play mono white into.
Yeah, it's kind of a silver bullet for decks I can't compete with for speed or miraculously have me beat in combat. Or, y'know, goes nice with Avacyn, Angel of Hope. It's not something I'm looking to do every game by any stretch, but it's something I can occasionally use if I have to. I'm definitely not the sort of short sighted monster that blows up the board without a clear win line, but I do want this deck to be able to punch at or above its weight, and white has this tool available, so I'm trying it out. I can read a room pretty well so I know when it isn't going to fly. And as far as running mono white into cutthroat decks, I kinda like the challenge to be honest. This deck has a pretty good track record of being fairly hard to take down, so I'm pretty happy to play it against most other decks.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 1 year ago

Yea, I was thinking my Bruna was fairly good too until I changed metas and started running into a lot of cEDH bull. The problem with those decks is sometimes they are just like, its turn 3-5 I declare victory unless you are blue. And then I counter war you. Not being blue against a number of those decks just tells them that you have like two potential answers which means you have no answer.

I have a few side projects that are special for those players that I don't take out very much.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
Yea, I was thinking my Bruna was fairly good too until I changed metas and started running into a lot of cEDH bull. The problem with those decks is sometimes they are just like, its turn 3-5 I declare victory unless you are blue. And then I counter war you. Not being blue against a number of those decks just tells them that you have like two potential answers which means you have no answer.

I have a few side projects that are special for those players that I don't take out very much.
Ha, yeah. As it is MLD won't get you there against those decks anyway. That said, Rule of Law, Thalia, Canonist, Drannith and such can. Depending on the decks. A lot of them will fold if you can hold them off past say turn 4. Blue farm probably not, but most of the turbo decks need a good life total and a relatively clear board/stack to get there. If you can hold them off long enough they struggle. I'd probably feel a bit better against a midrange or stax pod but proactive turbo lists are probably a bit hard for mono white, yeah. That said, not impossible. There's at least one tournament grinder that only builds mono white, and he does pretty well.

That said it all depends if you wanna play those decks or not. I don't necessarily mind, as long as I know what I'm in for.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 1 year ago

toctheyounger wrote:
1 year ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
Yea, I was thinking my Bruna was fairly good too until I changed metas and started running into a lot of cEDH bull. The problem with those decks is sometimes they are just like, its turn 3-5 I declare victory unless you are blue. And then I counter war you. Not being blue against a number of those decks just tells them that you have like two potential answers which means you have no answer.

I have a few side projects that are special for those players that I don't take out very much.
Ha, yeah. As it is MLD won't get you there against those decks anyway. That said, Rule of Law, Thalia, Canonist, Drannith and such can. Depending on the decks. A lot of them will fold if you can hold them off past say turn 4. Blue farm probably not, but most of the turbo decks need a good life total and a relatively clear board/stack to get there. If you can hold them off long enough they struggle. I'd probably feel a bit better against a midrange or stax pod but proactive turbo lists are probably a bit hard for mono white, yeah. That said, not impossible. There's at least one tournament grinder that only builds mono white, and he does pretty well.

That said it all depends if you wanna play those decks or not. I don't necessarily mind, as long as I know what I'm in for.
One of the worst offender decks that I encounter is 4c partners chalked full of card advantage, counters, and spot interaction with 4 or so combos. The worst part of it is that one of his partners is part of one of his combos so its really damn annoying playing against him.

As a side note, with Myrel, Shield of Argive makes me want to eyeball the human bruna thing again. I don't think this one really breaks the concept out but I think we keep seeing more reasons to consider it.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
toctheyounger wrote:
1 year ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
Yea, I was thinking my Bruna was fairly good too until I changed metas and started running into a lot of cEDH bull. The problem with those decks is sometimes they are just like, its turn 3-5 I declare victory unless you are blue. And then I counter war you. Not being blue against a number of those decks just tells them that you have like two potential answers which means you have no answer.

I have a few side projects that are special for those players that I don't take out very much.
Ha, yeah. As it is MLD won't get you there against those decks anyway. That said, Rule of Law, Thalia, Canonist, Drannith and such can. Depending on the decks. A lot of them will fold if you can hold them off past say turn 4. Blue farm probably not, but most of the turbo decks need a good life total and a relatively clear board/stack to get there. If you can hold them off long enough they struggle. I'd probably feel a bit better against a midrange or stax pod but proactive turbo lists are probably a bit hard for mono white, yeah. That said, not impossible. There's at least one tournament grinder that only builds mono white, and he does pretty well.

That said it all depends if you wanna play those decks or not. I don't necessarily mind, as long as I know what I'm in for.
One of the worst offender decks that I encounter is 4c partners chalked full of card advantage, counters, and spot interaction with 4 or so combos. The worst part of it is that one of his partners is part of one of his combos so its really damn annoying playing against him.

As a side note, with Myrel, Shield of Argive makes me want to eyeball the human bruna thing again. I don't think this one really breaks the concept out but I think we keep seeing more reasons to consider it.
What's the partner pairing? As far as I'm aware most of the partners aren't dedicated to combo, they're just there for colors. Except maybe like Thrasios Bruse. And that could be a real tough deck to beat.

Yeah I think the human thing is a totally viable option. I'm not huge on Myrel purely because I can't really leverage the soldier thing, but honestly Adeline is a straight up beast. She doesn't need to attack to trigger, vigilance is great, her cost is just right and gets enormous so quick. Giving us clamp fodder is excellent too, its a great way to keep a full grip.
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Post by Avacyn Believer » 1 year ago

Thanks for this primer. I have been looking at rebuilding my Angels deck because games have been getting bit stale with Akroma, Angel of Wrath at the helm. I was never sure about playing Bruna, the high CMC and not being able to have both as commander, but you made some good points that made me rethink her. Sounds like a fun deck, and I won't feel bad including Humans in Angel "tribal".
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

Avacyn Believer wrote:
1 year ago
Thanks for this primer. I have been looking at rebuilding my Angels deck because games have been getting bit stale with Akroma, Angel of Wrath at the helm. I was never sure about playing Bruna, the high CMC and not being able to have both as commander, but you made some good points that made me rethink her. Sounds like a fun deck, and I won't feel bad including Humans in Angel "tribal".
You're very welcome, glad it's of worth to you. The two tribes tend to work alongside each other quite well.

I will admit of late I've been casting Bruna less and aiming to win without relying on her. But that speaks more to good quality white creatures being more readily available these days.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 1 year ago

I think your looting density as well as how your meta plays comes in big on how useful a recovery tool can end up being. If you play against more sweepers then recovery tools can be a lit bigger where as if everyone is using premium exile removal while trying to combo kill you in proactive means she gets worse.

I know not many people have it but having access to it but Bazaar of Baghdad is a big deal for setting up proactive Bruna plays. I ran Weathered Wayfarer and Expedition Map in my list which could fetch it up and it doesn't just set your hand up it also lets you after your opponents go set up a positive rez for bruna. I also ran a lot more equipment tutors which could get Mask of Memory for me.
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Post by toctheyounger » 1 year ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
1 year ago
I think your looting density as well as how your meta plays comes in big on how useful a recovery tool can end up being. If you play against more sweepers then recovery tools can be a lit bigger where as if everyone is using premium exile removal while trying to combo kill you in proactive means she gets worse.

I know not many people have it but having access to it but Bazaar of Baghdad is a big deal for setting up proactive Bruna plays. I ran Weathered Wayfarer and Expedition Map in my list which could fetch it up and it doesn't just set your hand up it also lets you after your opponents go set up a positive rez for bruna. I also ran a lot more equipment tutors which could get Mask of Memory for me.
Mask is really good for sure. We've got a ton of creatures we can connect with to trigger at most stages of the game. I've been looking at Currency Converter as a possibility for more graveyard filling too, it's not perfect but could have its uses. There's also SoFaI, but it's a touch outside my budget. It's been worse, but it's still 70NZD.

Bazaar seems pretty amazing tbh. I'll never own one but it's a definite smoke em if you got em scenario.

As far as removal vs exile goes I personally try to have a sac outlet free at most times I can anyway. There's no real crucial piece that would hose me were it exiled, but it's nice to have the option. Altar of Dementia is pretty amazing in that respect.
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