I've certainly had plenty of games like that, where one deck is significantly more dangerous than the others and they can definitely be a difficult beast. That said I've generally had success in nudging people towards pressuring those players. Not sure what the difference is there - could be the other players, the deck I'm playing, the way I'm nudging, hard to be sure. If I was going to take a guess, perhaps the bigger difference is that I often play decks that conceal their plans and strength to keep myself out of the spotlight, which makes it much easier to direct people to fight other players. By contrast, that could be pretty tough if you've been dropping bombs into play off Kaalia. People are probably a lot more likely to see you directing them towards the potential future threats of other players as a misdirection to keep the heat away from yourself, rather than genuine advice. I like playing aggro decks too, but there's a certain amount of licks you can expect to take politically.3drinks wrote: ↑2 years agoIt's more just out of experience. When I warn the table about the Urza deck, or and especially about the Edric deck "hey, if we don't band together to knock this person out, they're going to run away with the game". That falls on deaf ears and they do their own thing and, surprise surprise, they run away with the game with all those crazy extra resources. "It's only Edric, how bad can it be to draw a couple extra cards a turn? I want to draw a card as well!" You hear this time after time after time and you shake your head because you know that's not how it works and their own woeful ignorance is going to turn this game into a non-game. You can't beat those decks on your own, especially with players like that (and don't kid yourself, there's always that one player at the table) so you need some help. You leverage some powerful hate to stop the game from spiraling out of control. Make that Urza deck squirm under the pressure of a Null Rod/Cursed Totem + Scald. Make the Edric deck cry under a Lightmine Field/Powerstone Minefield.
Although I see them online, I haven't really run into anyone who was upset with tutors irl. Even when they maybe should have been, lol. Sunforger goes brrr.When you're already on the Retribution of the Meek plan, the Citywide Bust, Meekstone, Marble Titan, you need more. Those are four cards, which makes up just 4% of a 100 card deck. You might not even see them, so you look for redundancy. Of course you have a dearth of universal tutours, but then you have that crowd. You know the one. The ones that screech and reeeee about how TuToUrS aRe AgAiNsT tHe SpIrIt Of ThE fOrMaT from the top of their twenty-seven lands and a mana reflection that what they're doing is cool but your not, because you're the one person trying to stop them.
There's other ones too that might fit the bill - dawn/dusk maybe, austere command...idk, there are a lot of options relatively speaking. Even something like Insurrection, Mob Rule, Regna's Sanction, hell even Dawnglare Invoker. Not to mention freaking Ruinous Ultimatum. Eff it, Glory in the bin can get you past blockers in a pinch too. There are a ton of options here, I think you'll see them if you look outside the box a little. And most of them have more interesting play patterns than perish (well, maybe not ultimatum lol, that card is dumb), and which will be more widely useful too.
It's a bit hard for me to comment here because this really just doesn't match my experience at all. Yes, sometimes people have decks which are too powerful for the table, but the number of times a true cEDH deck has sat down and played at my table without warning is few and far between. Let alone players conspiring - usually if that happens (and to be clear, by conspiring I mean they're allied beyond what normal threat assessment would suggest) they're relatively weak and inexperienced players who don't really get the ins and outs of the format.The real problem is there's always that one player that joins the pickup game with their Yuriko Ad Naus deck, Golos, etc. People don't "waste" time talking, they just ask "do you have commander? let's play." And then you have that person with the Ruric Thar Ogre Tribal deck that never saw the fully optimized Najeela deck that completely steamrolls the table. Typically the Najeela pilot is friends with the Yuriko pilot, and they worked in tandem to ensure one of them wins...
The main thing I've learned, I suppose, is just to pack a decent amount of instant-speed interaction, learn what to watch out for (which you probably already know), and talk. Talk a lot. When someone plays a powerful card or a combo piece, I'll usually say something like "uh oh, that's spooky" or whatever. Make sure people are aware of the threats going on, especially when that awareness is an advantage to you (or maybe always, depending on whether you're in "coaching the newbie" mode). Don't get angry about it, just acknowledge it and make sure everyone has their eyes open.
"Ooh, Najeela, that's a *swallows bile* cool commander. Definitely really powerful, though, I've got my eye on you. *checks to make sure the other players are listening* Especially with all those infinite combos she can do..."
Generally I try to avoid being TOO heavy-handed - "you should have swung that two damage at him! His commander is a half-tier higher on the official cEDH power rankings!" - but if I think someone is making a big and obvious mistake (which hurts me ofc
) and is open to advice, I might try to convince them to change their play. For example, playing a 3p game with a newbie against a Niv deck, he went to kill my Mavinda, Students' Advocate (commander) when I was hideously mana screwed and basically floundering. I told him he could do that if he wanted, but niv was going to be a huge problem and he was probably going to want to make sure he had removal for that since I wasn't much of a threat at the moment, even though my commander was on the field first (especially since Niv was likely to have counterspells). He saw that I was right and chose to hold the removal. But if he was bound and determined to make a mistake, I wouldn't press any harder. But if the Niv player got out of control, I might mention at the end that having removal for Niv might have made a big difference.What you're talking about is totally understandable, and I get why that would shake you up. But I do think you'll be better off long-term if you try to work to escape that fear. Playing with proxies is a smart idea for minimizing risk, but being unwilling to bring a few extra decks to better match power levels, and looking for thieves around every corner, sounds like it's probably starting to cut into your and others enjoyment of the game. When that happens, I think the thief stole something more important from you than pieces of cardboard. But at least it's something you can work to get back, given time. Just my two cents.It's a different mindset when you've had a deck (or any personal possession stolen from you). It changes you, and yeah you do become more distrustful of people's motives. You start to wonder "who's next" and you become guarded. It's entirely psychological because you don't want to go through that again. Back in 2012, what was supposed to be the final night at my LGS in Phoenix, my Kaalia was stolen. This was my farewell to the shop as I moved up north, and this wasn't even a full year after I had primerized the deck back @ mtgsally. It was hot, it was my pride and joy, and even though the deck was far different to how it looks now, it broke me. I was devastated to lose something I cared for so much and poured so much time and love into. Even though when I got up here, a couple users on sally had reached out and sent me cards to rebuild the deck, it didn't erase what had happened. And I had sworn to never let myself go through that again. Imagine for a moment, if someone had swiped your prized Phelddagrif deck, all the emotions that went into it's building, the money and the sweat equity that went into building, writing the primer, how would that make you feel? How would that shape your future?
Don't say it wouldn't. You talk about that deck way too much to feel indifferent. That deck is your Kaalia.
