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Glad to hear deck still have the same game plan. Tombstone Stairwell still my favourite win con tough

RedCheese wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Glad to hear deck still have the same game plan. Tombstone Stairwell still my favourite win con tough

So far I have gotten nothing out of it. I'm a bit bummed about it really. It never works out. It gets destroyed or I can't afford to pay or - usually - it gets looted away.

pzbw7z wrote: ↑

2 years ago

RedCheese wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Glad to hear deck still have the same game plan. Tombstone Stairwell still my favourite win con tough

So far I have gotten nothing out of it. I'm a bit bummed about it really. It never works out. It gets destroyed or I can't afford to pay or - usually - it gets looted away.

If it sticks, it can absolutely get bonkers. There is a reason it gets destroyed so often. If it wasn't good enough to be destroyed, we probably wouldn't play it.

I think intuition / buried alive zombie combo is the best but digging to it by looting with a backup plan of mass reanimation drainouts is good.

I've cut some of the mass reanimation myself because the impact is lower with my super low curve.

Varina fueling skull clamp is a thing I do a decent amount too.

As far as Stairwell goes in some cases its stronger than a mass reanimate. Set it and forget it, one round of the table and you're golden. That said it can be removal bait, so it can be a tough one.

I'm personally ok with it baiting removal, abd the times 8t does resolve it makes everything you do go faster. You loot super quick with Varina, deck yourself with Kindred Discovery or Undead Augur, and instead of bleeding the table out slowly it a full blown traumatic haemorrhage.

Its right for.it to be a threat, but I think generally the best way to use it is as an incidental win con. If it comes up, great, do some damage and use it to dig for contingencies while you try for the W. If it doesn't or its not right, pay no mind.

Crucible of Worlds|2X2 spoiler dropped today. As off the time this was posted, the link shows an alternative art card in an Asian language.

Can attest that Tombstone Stairwell does serious work. The first time I ran it out in Grismold after learning about it from this thread, my opponents didn't seem impressed. Two turns later, Grismold was in one-shot range and my opponents were scrambling for an answer.

pzbw7z wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Crucible of Worlds|2X2 spoiler dropped today. As off the time this was posted, the link shows an alternative art card in an Asian language.

The borderlands art looks gorgeous. Hopefully the price is reasonable, in my opinion it'll be worth picking one up anyway if the price drops enough. It never stays down for long.

Crucible is an incredible card in this kind of deck. Can't believe I hadn't picked one up until just a few weeks ago. I don't think I've lost a game with it out yet. I love getting a second use out of Urza's Saga, or discarding Mystic Sanctuary until I have the right instant or sorcery target in the grave.

Forbidden Orchard spoiled today. It's a card I've been looking for for another deck, but it could certainly be used in Varina. Good multiplayer land.

Just to hype Crucible of Worlds a bit more, had an opening hand of fetchland + Intuition + Mana Crypt last night. My turn one play was Intuition for Sol Ring , Sevinne's Reclamation and Crucible. Opponent gave me Sevinne's. Turn two I brought back Crucible with Sevinne's and replayed my fetchland. A couple turns later flashbacked Sevinne's for Sol Ring and a land. Definitely ran away with that game lmao.

Force of Negation and Mana Drain were just spoiled.

I'm not entirely sure we care about either, but they are nice cards and both are well represented in Commander.

pzbw7z wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Force of Negation and Mana Drain were just spoiled.

I'm not entirely sure we care about either, but they are nice cards and both are well represented in Commander.

I think Force gives a better use case than Drain just because colorless mana isn't that useful to us. Still, ill probably try and pick up copies of each. Try being the operative word, spreading the budget real thin on this set.

Honestly short of allied fetches theres very little I'm hoping for this set for Varina. Diabolic Intent could be nice, Cavern of Souls is nice too, but its far from a must here in my opinion. Most of the creatures I cast i would laugh my ass off if anyone tried to remove them from the stack.

Varina is a good colorless mana sink. I've been running Mana Drain forever and I'm always happy with it.

Jwelou wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Varina is a good colorless mana sink. I've been running Mana Drain forever and I'm always happy with it.

You're not wrong, its just always the last thing I want to do with my mana. But then I don't have a drain....for now.

Very few varina builds have enough blue cards for any forces.

Hey our Queen and Gravecrawler got reprinted. I guess is a good chance to get a non foil version of her if you want it.

Edit: ohh and also an etched foil version as well.

RedCheese wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Hey our Queen and Gravecrawler got reprinted. I guess is a good chance to get a non foil version of her if you want it.

Edit: ohh and also an etched foil version as well.

I saw. Was hoping for some sweet alternate art but I don't know ifetched is really worth going out of the way for. Looks great on some, average on others.

Hiya, I'm not sure if there is one already but I googled and couldn't find one, so I made a discord server for Varina where you can discuss deckbuilding and strategy and so on: https://discord.gg/qnjZwSWW

Anybody had any success with Wand of Orcus or Robe of the Archmagi? I just threw them both in last night. Made 4 zombies with Wand on Varina so far. I would love to equip it to something bigger that flies like Archfiend of Ifnir or Razaketh, the Foulblooded. Haven't had a chance to equip the Robe yet.

Jwelou wrote: ↑

2 years ago

Anybody had any success with Wand of Orcus or Robe of the Archmagi? I just threw them both in last night. Made 4 zombies with Wand on Varina so far. I would love to equip it to something bigger that flies like Archfiend of Ifnir or Razaketh, the Foulblooded. Haven't had a chance to equip the Robe yet.

I've always thought the equip costs too high for more than anything outside of a clamp. That said I do like on paper the idea of the wand and Robe. I just feel like my list personally is tight enough that I'm not sure what would jump out to make room.

Also, combat damage to a player is kinda rough. Like its fair and balanced but with zombies it seems hard to really leverage hugely. Whatever you equip it to is almost certainly getting blocked first. It should be, anyway.

I'm with @toctheyounger here. The cost of Wand and Robe is 6 and 7 respectively, which is a significant cost compared to other impactful equipment (Swords cost 5 and have pseudo-evasion built-in).

Has anyone here tested Body Count or Smuggler's Share yet? If so, do you have any useful feedback?

Eburon wrote: ↑

1 year ago

Has anyone here tested Body Count or Smuggler's Share yet? If so, do you have any useful feedback?

I'm interested in people's experience with Smuggler's Share for other decks I run, rather than this one. Specifically, I'm interested in its performance vs Black Market Connections.

I can't see either of the above cards really being better than Rhystic Study or Mystic Remora if you have access to blue and you want repeatable enchantment based draw. Even if they do offer mana as an upside and a body in Black Market Connection's case.

Smuggler's Share ability to draw cards AND ramp through treasures is what intrigues me. The cost is reasonable and there is no tax you can pay to get around it's abilities.