Bruna, the Fading Light - Mono-W Moat Control

[toctheyounger]

March of the Machine Combined Review

This is probably a little late, but honestly with set releases being a rolling thing these days I sort of like to be more critical than quick and make sure I've looked everything over for synergies. Honestly, I was surprised to find as many good pieces as I did. I didn't really expect much in terms of tribal synergies specific to angels, so this review is a nice surprise. There's not a ton of stuff that's a lock, but definitely pieces I want to try.

As far as battles go, moving forward I think we're in a good space here to flip them if the juice is worth the squeeze; we win with combat, we have fliers, we have board control. It's a good fit. I personally don't think any of them are worth it from this set, but we will get more.

Artifacts/Colorless/Lands

• Sword of Once and Future - The cycle is complete, and this one isn't terrible by any stretch. Sword of Hearth and Home has been a true monster for me, great value almost every time. I think this is just fine. It's a reasonable include, gives protection in relevant colors, and I don't hate surveil. I just think if we're filling the yard we have more efficient ways to do it, and casting spells from yards is unreliable value. It could happen, but for every time it does I think you're just as likely to not have any targets.
• Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animist - I like the thematic throwback to Sword of the Animist, but the raised CMC and equip cost is what turns me off here. It's fine and a defensible include, but I don't want it if I've got it's predecessor.

White

• Boon-Bringer Valkyrie - I really like back-up as a mechanic, and I wish they had pushed it more. This is sort of the best we got for it, and it's not quite there. Overcosted, keywords we mostly have already in better cards, it's not there.
• Guardian of Ghirapur - Definitely one I want to try. I like the low cost, good stats relative to CMC and I like the effect. I wish it had flash but it's fine. This will end up being a way to recur value pieces like Karmic Guide, Stoneforge Mystic and Ranger-Captain of Eos. Bare minimum I see it resetting blockers or rocks to play multiple spells. I'm not sure if it stays in the deck but I want to try it out for sure.
• Invasion of Gobakhan - Probably the most viable battle card we have thus far. Sorcery speed hand disruption is...fine, if we know what we're doing with it we can make life hard, but we're really considering it for the flip. 3 to flip is super easy for us, and on board buff and instant speed board protection is nice. I don't know that it makes it in as a definite, but if I'm trying any I'm trying this one.
• Knight-Errant of Eos - Another I want to try. Convoke is strong. This one is in a bit of a weird spot where we want some weenies in play to tap for it, but the more we have the less we're searching for. So I think it's value is going to be somewhat self-limiting. I think it could be interesting, and I'll probably playtest it, but I'm not certain.
• Surge of Salvation - White Veil of Summer isn't quite there yet. It's fine and defensible in many lists but I'm not sure I care enough for it here. Getting protection yourself is a really nice unique effect though, so as a reactive trick it might be nice to have in the wings.
• Chivalric Alliance - This I really like. It's cheap, it's definite draw for us pretty reliably, and it helps me fill my yard without losing out on creatures in play. It's not the best rate for discard or token generation, but even just as a draw trigger I'm happy to give it a go.
• Conjurer's Mantle - Nice to be digging for relevant creatures, but I'm not sure there's enough value on it to be worth the trial. I'd be happy to be proved wrong though.
• Firemane Commando - I like this, mostly. I think we're going to give away a lot of draw with it, and for that reason I'm reluctant to play it. We can trigger draw for ourselves nicely with it, but I worry that for every one card we draw we're going to give away at least one or two - no one really wants to attack into us anyway in most cases, so it's a bit too symmetrical for me to really like it. As well as that, a lot of our control tries to squeeze people for resources; I don't want to give anything away for free if I can help it.

As well as these, I've made a few tweaks which seem to be working out nicely.

In

• Soul Partition
• Soul-Guide Lantern
• Enlightened Tutor

Out

• Containment Priest
• Disciple of Caelus Nin
• Calamity's Wake

Aside from dropping the cost a little most of the changes are fairly obvious. Lantern has been in and out, it'll likely stay now. It's a good versatile piece of interaction and draw. Soul Partition I really like. It's well costed, puts our opponent back more than most bounce would, and hits most anything we need it to. It has defensive applications too given that we don't pay the tax for casting from exile. Enlightened Tutor is kind of an obvious one. For most purposes it's going to be a second Steelshaper's Gift, but I'm going to squeeze Chivalric Alliance in too, and there's other control pieces in the deck that'll make it a versatile add.

As for cuts, Containment Priest just bumped into my own reanimation too often, Disciple of Caelus Nin was a bit unwieldy and costly. I like the effect, it just wasn't worth the cost. Finally, Calamity's Wake was always a trial, it just didn't get there.

Feel free to let me know if I missed anything from the new set, it's hard to collate everything that comes out these days.

[toctheyounger]

Tales of Middle Earth Combined Review

Late again here, life has been frantic, and so have the releases. Honestly I was surprised there was so much for us in Middle Earth, we've actually got some really nice stuff to look over. Everything I've considered I've put in for trial, so rather than break it all down I'll go over my latest changes and talk about why.

At this point, cuts and adds are hard, I'll be honest. The deck now has options to pull in a few different directions, so it's hard to know exactly what is optimal without a ton of trial and error. That said, it's a great problem to have.

Out

• Throne of the High City
• Kabira Takedown // Kabira Plateau
• Seal of Cleansing
• Armageddon
• Gideon of the Trials
• Mind Stone
• Pyre of Heroes
• Tocatli Honor Guard
• Valkyrie Harbinger
• Rule of Law
• Court of Grace
• Altar of Dementia
• Plains (2)

In

• Inventors' Fair
• Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave
• Minas Tirith
• Springleaf Drum
• Guardian of Ghirapur
• Chivalric Alliance
• Umezawa's Jitte
• Boromir, Warden of the Tower
• Puresteel Paladin
• Gilraen, Dunedain Protector
• Flowering of the White Tree
• Crown of Gondor
• Reprieve
• Myrel, Shield of Argive

So in terms of cuts, the lands are more or less value optimising. Pyre of Heroes was kind of a nice thought, and sort of worked, but I think it's just a bridge too far making it pull weight of two tribes; there's some subtypal bleed over, but not enough to really be able to pivot between humans and angels as your curve allows. Tocatli Honor Guard was another that got in my own way too often. Valkyrie Harbinger I sort of saw as the equal worst of my life gain triggers. Pound for pound I think Archangel of Thune is the easiest to trigger and puts the most beef on the board, and the Harbinger loses out to Resplendent Angel for being more to cast. It is a higher life gain cost to trigger Resplendent, but the tokens from it do have vigilance too, so I think it evens out.

Seal of Cleansing was fine but something we have already in Aura of Silence and Loran of the Third Path, both of which are superior, so it wasn't needed. Armageddon proved too tough to break parity on, and Gideon of the Trials was sort of a gotcha for any on the stack wins I can't interact with otherwise. While it's fine in that respect it does little else, and I think it's probably preferable to run Angel's Grace for this scenario. Rule of Law I just wish I had on a body if I'm honest. Eidolon of Rhetoric exists, but it isn't on-tribe, so I don't necessarily see the need for it. Court of Grace I've always liked, but I wanted to try a different monarch trigger, and the one I'm adding I think is likely better. And finally, Altar of Dementia is in theory excellent, but in practice I've always found myself sandbagging it for little use. It's just never what I want, and without a tangible way to mill people out it just isn't what I want to be doing.

As for adds, the DFC is kind of a no-brainer, it's not stellar but protection and bodies on a land is great value, there's no real reason not to play it. Minas Tirith is the best in it's cycle, easy to proc and easy to have untapped. Springleaf Drum is something I've played around with elsewhere and it has always been a really good way to accelerate your board state without having to wait for combat triggers. It's been very good, and frankly I've been toying with adding Relic of Legends in too; I think I'm just shy of 20 legendary creatures, which I'm not sure is enough, but it might well be worth a punt. Puresteel Paladin is kind of a value add; the equipment cantrip stacks up nicely, and metalcraft has been really easy to hit. The latter is mostly why it's here; I don't have mana positive rocks in any capacity, so I need to be able to have efficient turns, and it has helped.

Guardian of Ghirapur has a couple of applications in doubling down on ETB triggers, double tapping rocks and just being a low costed angel. I don't think it's stellar by any stretch, card is fine, but it does what it says on the tin and that's ok for me. Chivalric Alliance has been really nice thus far; a supremely easy draw trigger for us, as well as a nice way to get bodies in play and bodies in the yard if I need a reanimation target. Umezawa's Jitte is kind of just a nice toolbox equipment. Being able to clear the board, buff for an alpha strike of incidentally gain life is really nice. I don't think it's going to be best in show ever, but I have a feeling it'll be secretly quite good regardless.

Boromir, Warden of the Tower is just an excellent hatebear. Probably the easiest in for the deck I've seen in a long time, it's very very good. Right down to the tempt mechanic I think every part of this card is exactly what we want in a human, and it was in the deck the moment I saw it.

Gilraen, Dúnedain Protector was a nice surprise. I quite like Eldrazi Displacer as a piece of tech, and this is a relative sideways upgrade for me; it's a once a turn, sure, but giving our things a buff and keywords is pretty neat. I think it'll be a nice reactive tool for value and protection.

Flowering of the White Tree - I think this card is secretly pretty great. A low cost anthem that protects our commanders to some extent is pretty good in a stax/combat based deck. There's not a lot more to say, and I think it'd probably do better if I had a higher density of legendary creatures, but that has been creeping up regardless.

Crown of Gondor - Part of me wonders if this should just directly replace Blackblade Reforged. It's definitely cheaper to equip, comes with draw as well as a potentially regular monarch reset trigger, and with some of the recent adds like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar it promises a pretty substantive boost to the statline of whatever carries it. I think this is right where we want to be for finisher equipment.

Reprieve - This card is pretty nice. In a mostly permanent based deck it is going to be pretty gotcha, but it has a multitude of applications and cantrips, so I think it's well worth the slot. It gives us a way to interact with gross stuff like Thoracle and such, and doubles as protection for our pieces if needed.

Myrel, Shield of Argive - my latest addition, and goldfishing it has been gross. The soldier effect is a pure snowball, if she's left alone she can get pretty oppressive. Another inclusion that speaks for a higher human count, and she's worth every cent paid and well worth the slot. Very strong, does exactly what I want.

So all this aside, there are still a couple of cards I have yet to add in from Middle Earth:

The One Ring - The card is obviously very very strong. Bowmasters got the initial limelight, but this card is better. Everything about it works very well for us, in a grindy deck like ours the draw potential is huge, and I think it wants to be here. I'm waiting on one more copy to get in here, and I think it'll be amazing.

Palantír of Orthanc - Less obviously cracked, but I think there's a place to at least trial this here. Scrying 2 then milling suits us fine here and there, it's a nice replacement for doubling up on monarch triggers, which obviously gets us nowhere, and gives us good ways to dig deeper. It's a little slow and there's no real obvious way to abuse it moreso than just playing it, but I still like it. I'd like to give it a play and see how things end up.

Gandalf the White - Another very strong card. There's a case for inclusion here, but if we're honest I think he's better at the helm of his own deck. He's going to alter our play patterns significantly here, and while that could be a good thing I think I'd rather him not be in the 99 for now.

Did I miss anything from Middle Earth? It's entirely possible, let me know if I missed a gem!

[ISBPathfinder]

Random food for thought but with Crown of Gondor existing its possible that all the rest of the monarch support could be cut for equipment tutors. It would remove some of the redundancy issues in monarch but still give lots of access to it. The one downside being that there is a window of opportunity where it could be killed before you trigger Monarch to exist in a game but the abundance of white's good tutors for equipment does make it something that could work for those who didn't care for other monarch cards.

I am not saying that is the way to go but it opens up some toolboxing options that didn't exist before now.

Stone of Erech - Its not huge but its a hatebear effect that is cheap, cantrips, and disrupts graveyards without hitting your own. I think denying death triggers is very underrated and if its unneeded it cantrips still. I think I like its effect a little more in decks that plan to keep mana up just because keeping 2 mana up every turn for the grave hate option is a little heavier but I wouldn't be surprised if I include this card in more of my decks moving forward.

[toctheyounger]

Random food for thought but with Crown of Gondor existing its possible that all the rest of the monarch support could be cut for equipment tutors. It would remove some of the redundancy issues in monarch but still give lots of access to it. The one downside being that there is a window of opportunity where it could be killed before you trigger Monarch to exist in a game but the abundance of white's good tutors for equipment does make it something that could work for those who didn't care for other monarch cards.

I am not saying that is the way to go but it opens up some toolboxing options that didn't exist before now.

I mean yeah it's a very solid piece. I will say I like that Palace Jailer can exile multiple pieces if blinked or looped, as the re-entry trigger is tied to change of monarch, not LTB. I think between this one and Jailer I'm all set for it, I don't need to go too much deeper. The crown being legendary, too, means Thalia's Lancers and Search for Glory can pick it up too. The latter I don't run, but it could certainly make a case for it.

As for the card itself, with Adeline and Myrel in the list, the Crown very much makes commander damage a viable way to close out the game. Wipes exist, but this deck has some resilience. The more I think about it the more I think it's much much better than Blackblade.

Stone of Erech I think is pretty good, thanks for picking that out. I'd forgotten about it. I like the passive effect, that's a lot stronger than it looks at first glance. Very much in the same space as SGL, and I do like that the draw is not either/or, you get both. That could be worth getting in.

[Ruiner]

Regarding the Palantír of Orthanc, I haven't tried it in my own Bruna deck yet. I did just run it for the first time this weekend in another deck that tends to have high cost cards and does not mind them hitting the grave (an Ayara, Widow of the Realm // Ayara, Furnace Queen demons deck).

The first few turns I got the Mill result from opponents and later on it just turned into "Scry 2, Draw a Card" every turn, because the threat of maybe losing 15 or so life was definitely not worth denying me a card. Honestly, I was fine with that outcome. It was pretty decent and I'll probably be trying it in some other decks.

[toctheyounger]

Regarding the Palantír of Orthanc, I haven't tried it in my own Bruna deck yet. I did just run it for the first time this weekend in another deck that tends to have high cost cards and does not mind them hitting the grave (an Ayara, Widow of the Realm // Ayara, Furnace Queen demons deck).

The first few turns I got the Mill result from opponents and later on it just turned into "Scry 2, Draw a Card" every turn, because the threat of maybe losing 15 or so life was definitely not worth denying me a card. Honestly, I was fine with that outcome. It was pretty decent and I'll probably be trying it in some other decks.

This is exactly what I'm hoping for from it. My curve is lower than it has been, but I think there's merit for it here regardless. Even on the lower end of the curve there's good value in a lot of my picks, so it's going to create a difficult proposition for opponents either way. I'm totally happy with the mill either way, it gives me cause to cast Bruna, and the card draw is good too. The scry is actually quite valuable too; I think with white draw being a matter of getting as many iterations as you can rather than massive swathes on a single card scry becomes quite valuable to optimise that.

All that aside there's potentially some value in it being a legendary permanent too; I've been toying with the idea of adding Honor-Worn Shaku and/or Relic of Legends in here too. I did a count yesterday and a full quarter of the deck is legendary now. About 15 of those are creatures, so I think there's probably more value in Shaku than Relic, but I think either could be of use.