Dammit, I didn't even bother plugging in OTJ includes in the thread and we're on the brink of MH3 release. In my defence my
Molten Duplication got stuck in the mail for two weeks and for whatever reason I wanted to update the threads once the decks were paper accurate. This ended up having some interesting knock on effects, to which I shall get shortly.
Molten Duplication got spoiled after I last discussed putative OTJ stuff in thread, and it's an obvious shoe-in.
Twinflame is nicer as it can technically do multiple creatures, but this is a nothing-to-sneeze-at two drop copier so in it goes.
Mirage Phalanx is the cut as the worst of the existing copiers - the "except it has" haste delivery is something
Dopehawk cares about, and it is technically repeatable, but it does cost six and is inflexible.
Outcaster Trailblazer goes in over
Elemental Bond as close to an upgrade. Set it up on three mana, get Ghired out a turn early. Sequences in as a two drop in later turns. Two drops are nicer than three drops, as it turns out. Yeah, it has legs and dies, but honestly that feels like a risk worth taking for the other benefits.
So about two drops being nicer than three drops, once Duplication finally arrived, I pulled the Ghired box out to retrieve the cuts and chanced upon
Wood Elves. I don't actually copy this guy at all these days, so may as well shave the mana off while add another
Rionya synergy piece and stuff in
Glimpse the Core. The swap immediately paid off the next game as I linked it up with
Arbor Elf and
Hall of the Bandit Lord to power out a hasted Ghired turn three. Also in some earlier game I was doing stuff in the midgame and thought about whether I'd prefer to see
Lightning Greaves or
Crashing Drawbridge, were I to draw it right now. And despite the fact I didn't actually immediately need haste, Greaves felt like a safer option. The fact they're not a creature actually matters quite a bit for quickly bouncing back from wipes, clogging the board up a bit with rhinos. Combine that with reactions in thread and I undid the swap.
Given the release of Ghired 2 and my prior grumbling about the deck's gameplay, I did a bit of soul searching and in the end I'll stay the course. I found a post from 2019 where I giddily recount a surprise table kill off a
Kalonian Hydra. This was kinda the whole point of the deck, and it's not actively detrimental to gameplay enjoyment. And as for Ghired 2, he's actually a combo deck when put at the helm (just add some chumps that untap when creatures enter). I'm not that excited by the perspective of him in the 99, especially with Drawbridge departing and haste mattering as noted by yeti.
Railway Brawler becomes the first beef on the bench, and
Smuggler's Surprise is an interesting tech piece that doesn't really do anything particularly well. Not protecting small things matters to our small commander, as it turns out. Other stuff was discussed before and is not important enough to retread.
I didn't even have
Annie Joins Up pencilled as a putative discussion card. Smack a creature, and then have an inferior token doubler. Nice to hear
Firbolg Flutist is doing work, it does sound like it would tip the scales quite nicely in combat.
Molten Primordial is technically a similar stall-breaker, but without built in token shenanigans. That said, I seem to remember
Hate Mirage working a lot better for you than for me, so at least we're still consistent there.
Shadow in the Warp looks like a somewhat questionable include, what's that about?