Bruna, the Fading Light - Mono-W Moat Control

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Post by Ruiner » 3 years ago

I'm definitely looking forward to trying out Archaeomancer's Map. My Bruna deck runs Land Tax, Tithe, and Endless Horizons, and those seem to combo pretty well with the Map.

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Post by toctheyounger » 3 years ago

Strixhaven and Commander 2021 Review

Well, as usual, you guys are well ahead of me for new releases. Pretty sure you're all well on the money here, but seeing as this is a primer, I'll run through it all nonetheless. There's less here than I'd hope that I'm really hyped for, but we're not without some gems, and it's nice that we're getting some options to offer some good ramp.

Artifacts/Colorless/Lands

  • Wandering Archaic // Explore the Vastlands - I think it's a great card, but I don't think it belongs here.
  • The Biblioplex - I just don't think there's any really special synergy with the deck here.
  • Archaeomancer's Map - So, Cultivate (sort of) and Burgeoning (sort of) on one card for white? Yeah, I'll give this a go. Great with Land Tax, and while I usually outlandcount (it's a word now) the table, this oughta give some consistency. If you can manage to crack it somehow it's also Sun Titanable which is fantastic.
  • Witch's Clinic - I like it and think it's a cool card, but it probably isn't needed here.
  • Study Hall - I see no major reason not to run this, it's fairly good utility.

White


  • Angel of the Ruins - Yep, this is preeeeety great. I think there's a good chance this might even just replace Return to Dust for me. Sure, it's more expensive, but it's recurrable, fixes my ramp, and doing so literally allows me to set up to not pay for it at all. Really solid card, and it fits like a glove here.
  • Monologue Tax - I'm not going to be clamoring myself for this as an inclusion. I think the drop off from Smothering Tithe is quite significant, and while it's still fairly reasonable, I don't need Smothering Tithe here, so I'm not going to run this either.
  • Nils, Discipline Enforcer - Seems reasonable in a political/combat-leaning meta. I don't think it's perfect, but it is an option. I'll probably pass on it personally.
  • Promise of Loyalty - I kinda like this. It isn't Tragic Arrogance, which I probably see as my most versatile board wipe, but it is pretty fun.


And there's my take. Not a massive list of stuff for us, but the stuff that's great is pretty excellent. There's 2 definite adds for me in the map and the angel, both of which should be very good.

In other news I finally got to pick up some orders from my LGS, like 2 months after ordering them, so I'll actually be able to update the list shortly. Kind of exciting, it's a step closer to actually playing a game!
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

So I finally got an opportunity to get my orders from the LGS, and thus here we are with some changes:


Most of this is fairly self-explanatory, although there are some controversial changes at first glance. Land Tax and Teferi's Protection leaving are big changes, but I don't think I'll miss either. I actually haven't seen Tax a whole lot, and have been quite fine with ramp. Protection is a great card but it's very reactive. It doesn't win you the game, it just stops you losing, and so swapping it out for Will seemed reasonable. Will can win you the game, or in some cases save you from losing. It's a bit more versatile, and more useful to a deck that's main win con is combat. Protection will keep you from losing to combo, but there's not a huge amount I can do to stop that from happening in many cases.

Archangel of Thune was easy enough to pull for Valkyrie Harbinger. The latter just spreads a little further than the former, going wider rather than taller, and this deck doesn't have any counter synergy so I'm alright with that. Protector of the Crown is easy enough to replace with Court of Grace, which is both cheaper to cast and gives us defensive capabilities too.

Endless Atlas was a toss up - it was either this or Tome of Legends, and I opted for the rock with the lower ongoing costs. All that being said, Atlas is more likely to activate early, so it might've been the wrong choice to cut. Soul-Guide Lantern is something I've been meaning to add for a while, it's superbly versatile for its cost, and gives me some draw again too.

Search for Glory is just a nice versatile soft tutor. It does make me wonder if it's worth adding snow-basics in, but I'll hold off for now. As is, it can get us several lands and creatures and that's nice versatility.

The lands were easy enough to swap out. Sanctum of Eternity is an easy cut, it just doesn't really fit here. I'm going to be trialling Liesa, Shroud of Dusk, and it'll fit nicely there so that I can have a turn without haemorrhaging to death should I choose. Homeward Path is great, but niche, and again fits better elsewhere in a janky Blim, Comedic Genius I'm trialling. Command Beacon is fantastic for keeping Bruna, the Fading Light's cost down, and Tyrite Sanctum gives us something to do with spare mana if or when it comes up. I'm not too fazed with indestructible if it doesn't happen, the power boost is just as nice.

There's still other pieces I want to pick up. I'd still really like to trial Righteous Valkyrie, and I'll be looking into prices for Archaeomancer's Map and Angel of the Ruins for sure.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

A few things of note:

Monarch Density - I see you have two non land monarch options. Have you ever activated Throne of the High City before? I havent myself as I continue to not want to spend that much mana and a land to activate it. I actually think I need to cut that land as its not something I have found myself wanting to do. I do wonder if you might benefit from another one or more effects. I myself am currently running Palace Jailer, Archon of Coronation, Protector of the Crown, Court of Grace, and Throne of the High City but its highly likely that I axe the monarch land (I just haven't done it yet). So the two off creature type six drops are the ones I am running that you aren't. I still think that both cards have fairly decent utility beyond just giving monarch but even redundantly they give some utility as blockers and or ways to keep life total high. Archon of Coronation can even protect from a Purphoros, God of the Forge which I think is really cool. I think both of them are good targets for either of the Emerias to rez as well as they just make you really tanky as well as retaking monarch if its stolen. In this format in white I think that having two cards and a single tutor in deck that can get one of them just isn't enough for consistency sake. I just think that monarch is one of the best things we can get going card draw wise and we lack tutors for it so I made up with it with numbers. As strong as something like Kozilek, the Great Distortion can be, I think the value of monarch is much higher and the mana cost is lower to boot.

Command Beacon - I just haven't ever been overly impressed with this card. I don't know.... if Bruna keeps dying its usually to sweepers for me so the question for me is usually a matter of if you are drawing enough cards to just keep having a hand in the late game. Moving up on monarch has been the solution for me personally. I don't love this card, to me it feels like maybe you don't have enough draw if this is coming in. Its just such a temporary solution to me. Also losing access to Bruna feels like way more of a problem. Theft / transform effects are going to cause a lot more of a problem even if they are less frequent in my opinion.

Offhand, I would probably take out Kozilek for another monarch effect and maybe even try to find space for the fourth. I haven't gotten to test at four targets much but being heavy on monarch has been really huge for me. Even if you find them redundantly its probably fine because the number of extra cards you drew by having monarch online sooner makes up for finding a little redundancy.

Side note, how has Magus of the Balance been for you? I have been thinking about cutting it from my list personally. I just haven't found myself wanting his effect even if I can pull it off. I have been pleased with Magus of the Disk but I haven't been impressed with Balance personally. I have yet to activate its ability but in the few times I have seen Balance drawn its never been an effect that I have been interested in activating. I was thinking about cutting it personally.

I am not sure where I stand on Akroma's Will. I am not sure if your intent is more for an attack effect or protection. Given its cost and effect though I feel like you are adding it more for its offensive capabilities. I am not sure that I like it over having something like Duelist's Heritage.
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Post by pokken » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Monarch Density -
...
I just think that monarch is one of the best things we can get going card draw wise
I think you're dead on with the monarch stuff being one of the more powerful things white can be doing nowaday. Archon of Coronation is specifically bananas, but there're a lot of great cards. Palace Jailer is a card I've long been really high on that just is always great. People *always* forget that killing jailer does nothing.

It's one of my favorite subthemes in my Mangara mono-white deck, just really fun to throw monarch at the table and then keep it forever until people forget about it because I'm such a hard nut to crack with combat damage.

The similarities between Mangara and Bruna are kinda interesting in that they both interact positively with monarch. Bruna can take monarch back whenever she wants and Mangara draws more cards when people try to take monarch.

I hope they keep printing more of those effects in subsequent sets :)

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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

Huh. I'd forgotten Archon of Coronation even existed. Its definitely something I'd wanted to try out so I might have to pick up a copy. As for Protector of the Crown i did toss up between keeping it and shaving the titan from the top of the curve. Perhaps I've pulled the wrong thing.

Generally I'm in agreement regarding Monarch. Its very good for white over time its probably worth more than Kozi's cast trigger. Not to mention cheaper. As well as that being eminently defensible makes it an easy add. I might have to rethink the change.

Command Beacon - its there for when paying 16 to cast your commander is just too much. I definitely get that theft is a big thing for this deck, I just honestly haven't had that happen to me. Like not even once. Throne of the High City I've never activated either, but I want to keep it anyway. Its clearly the weakest monarch trigger but that's still not nothing. And if I ever end up leaning into the 'less lands than someone else' thing white has going its an option there too.

I haven't actually had a shot with Magus of the balance yet. I feel like its slightly questionable but will do fine some games. One of those things you're not going to pop every game. I do have a Magus of the Disk about somewhere so I can always add it in.

Akroma's Will - i don't really think its comparable to Duelist's Heritage. The enchantment gives one creature double strike every combat. Will gives your entire board state a raft of keywords which can be used either offensively or defensively. It's definitely going to be opportunistic, so holding up mana for it might just not work out, in which case the enchantment probably would be a reasonable replacement. Nonetheless I feel like there's a pretty good chance it can be pretty strong here. This is all untested so I have zero game experience to base this on, but I've heard good things from folks whove found room for it. Its certainly a better fit than the Protection it replaced at any rate.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

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Well, that is a angel Moat that doesn't stop opponents from slamming into each other with non flyers (plus it actually stops opponent flyers too as well as random non combat things like Omnath, Locus of Rage deaths) I will probably have to test that at some point. I am not sure if there is much validity in ever choosing something other than creatures but I guess choosing instant would keep opponents from spot removing your board potentially. I suppose you could also choose planeswalkers if there was some overly hostile planeswalker setup on board but that rarely seems to happen in this format. Its worth noting that when choosing creatures (the most likely choice) you also gain the evasion to swing past blocks due to the shared protection for your creatures.

Glad to see more reasonable high end angels as it doesn't feel like there are that many 6+ mana options that feel all that strong to me.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
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Well, that is a angel Moat that doesn't stop opponents from slamming into each other with non flyers (plus it actually stops opponent flyers too as well as random non combat things like Omnath, Locus of Rage deaths) I will probably have to test that at some point. I am not sure if there is much validity in ever choosing something other than creatures but I guess choosing instant would keep opponents from spot removing your board potentially. I suppose you could also choose planeswalkers if there was some overly hostile planeswalker setup on board but that rarely seems to happen in this format. Its worth noting that when choosing creatures (the most likely choice) you also gain the evasion to swing past blocks due to the shared protection for your creatures.

Glad to see more reasonable high end angels as it doesn't feel like there are that many 6+ mana options that feel all that strong to me.
Yeah thats pretty strong. I think you're right, there's very little reason to choose anything other than creature; that being said there's scope to nerf your meta's enchantress/superfriends/brown tribal deck too which isn't nothing. I'll definitely look to pick up a copy of this one.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

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What do you guys think? Seems an absolute stone-cold lock to me. Drops first turn for equipment carrying, on-tribe for revival, Sun Titan target, and if we can pump him (we can, easy) it's almost guaranteed multiple draws per turn cycle.

Could be meta-dependent, but I see good value here.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Its unfortunate that its only the first noncreature cast and that his power matters. Honestly, I am not sure that I am convinced that this would be stronger than Thalia, Guardian of Thraben without expectation that you are buffing him up. I just don't see myself buffing him is I guess where I stand.

As he stands on his own, he taxes your opponents a maximum of one mana in a turn and its optional. I just.... don't think that hits my boxes.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its unfortunate that its only the first noncreature cast and that his power matters. Honestly, I am not sure that I am convinced that this would be stronger than Thalia, Guardian of Thraben without expectation that you are buffing him up. I just don't see myself buffing him is I guess where I stand.

As he stands on his own, he taxes your opponents a maximum of one mana in a turn and its optional. I just.... don't think that hits my boxes.
Idk man, part of me agrees that its somewhat situational, but part of me think that there's things that work in favour of this being quite valuable. Firstly, at 1CMC, you're catching a lot of Rampant Growths and Arcane Signet/Sol Ring type establishing spells. There's a really good chance that while boards are establishing you get 2-3 cards per turn cycle. Secondly, he's sort of perfect for carrying equipment - Sword of the Animist and Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale both pump him, and aside from that he doesn't need to connect, he just needs to be on the field. Comparatively, while Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a non-optional tax, she doesn't refill your hand at all. I'd take maybe over never for card draw.

Yet again, I think it's probably one to trial, but I think it could be quite good.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
2 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its unfortunate that its only the first noncreature cast and that his power matters. Honestly, I am not sure that I am convinced that this would be stronger than Thalia, Guardian of Thraben without expectation that you are buffing him up. I just don't see myself buffing him is I guess where I stand.

As he stands on his own, he taxes your opponents a maximum of one mana in a turn and its optional. I just.... don't think that hits my boxes.
Idk man, part of me agrees that its somewhat situational, but part of me think that there's things that work in favour of this being quite valuable. Firstly, at 1CMC, you're catching a lot of Rampant Growths and Arcane Signet/Sol Ring type establishing spells. There's a really good chance that while boards are establishing you get 2-3 cards per turn cycle. Secondly, he's sort of perfect for carrying equipment - Sword of the Animist and Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale both pump him, and aside from that he doesn't need to connect, he just needs to be on the field.

Yet again, I think it's probably one to trial, but I think it could be quite good.
If I could always opening hand them I would be running both Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Thalia, Heretic Cathar. These effects tend to fall off as time goes on and its a big reason I don't run them. If you can curve them they are amazing but I find that I have no patience for these cards because I don't plan to win fast enough that drawing them later hasn't been an issue for me.

That all said, my card draw since adding monarch into the list has been significantly better than it used to be. Its possible that I could maybe try out some of these effects now where as in the past my fear was the falling off of value later on.

I still don't think I would run it over Thalia, Guardian of Thraben though from the standpoint of decks that sling repeated spells her ability to tax every spellcast is something I would value. You can still hit two mana ramp with her it just depends on where you are in the turn rotation.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
toctheyounger wrote:
2 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Its unfortunate that its only the first noncreature cast and that his power matters. Honestly, I am not sure that I am convinced that this would be stronger than Thalia, Guardian of Thraben without expectation that you are buffing him up. I just don't see myself buffing him is I guess where I stand.

As he stands on his own, he taxes your opponents a maximum of one mana in a turn and its optional. I just.... don't think that hits my boxes.
Idk man, part of me agrees that its somewhat situational, but part of me think that there's things that work in favour of this being quite valuable. Firstly, at 1CMC, you're catching a lot of Rampant Growths and Arcane Signet/Sol Ring type establishing spells. There's a really good chance that while boards are establishing you get 2-3 cards per turn cycle. Secondly, he's sort of perfect for carrying equipment - Sword of the Animist and Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale both pump him, and aside from that he doesn't need to connect, he just needs to be on the field.

Yet again, I think it's probably one to trial, but I think it could be quite good.
If I could always opening hand them I would be running both Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Thalia, Heretic Cathar. These effects tend to fall off as time goes on and its a big reason I don't run them. If you can curve them they are amazing but I find that I have no patience for these cards because I don't plan to win fast enough that drawing them later hasn't been an issue for me.

That all said, my card draw since adding monarch into the list has been significantly better than it used to be. Its possible that I could maybe try out some of these effects now where as in the past my fear was the falling off of value later on.

I still don't think I would run it over Thalia, Guardian of Thraben though from the standpoint of decks that sling repeated spells her ability to tax every spellcast is something I would value. You can still hit two mana ramp with her it just depends on where you are in the turn rotation.
Oh I'm not interested in the first iteration myself at all. My curve is high enough I don't need to be costing myself any more. Thalia's sequel I've found very good, but yes, it is very much better on curve. Mid to late game it's one to stay in hand or graveyard in a lot of circumstances. Creatures entering tapped can be helpful though later into the game, it's not nothing.

I guess I've still got a few monarch variants to add and a few changes to make, so I haven't really got a ton of play in recently (funnily enough the one game I've had included a Tergrid, God of Fright // Tergrid's Lantern deck which proved your Homeward Path point immediately :rofl: ). All that said I think it's worth at least trialling Esper Sentinel for further draw.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

Modern Horizons 2 Set Review

This one is pretty late, apologies to any readers out there. There's not a ton for us here regardless, but it is a pretty hyped set with some good stuff, so it's worth going over regardless.

Artifacts/Colorless/Lands

  • Kaldra Compleat - Seems nice with Stoneforge Mystic, but I don't know that it's otherwise worth running. If we were talking double strike I'd give it a second look.
  • Sword of Hearth and Home - It's very good, obviously. Of the X/Y swords, it's very near the top of the pile. I could see it doing good work here in all honesty, but I can also see it being quite expensive so I'm not sure it'll make it into the list.

White


  • Esper Sentinel - I think it'll be worthwhile to have. It's innocuous enough it'll keep you topped up early game, later down the line it could be a reasonable tax effect, and it's a Sun Titan target as well as a Recruiter of the Guard target.
  • Glorious Enforcer - I think it's a little overpriced to be amazing, but it's not to sniff at. I'll probably pass myself for lacking a suitable card that this is better than, but it could be fine.
  • Nykthos Paragon - This is pretty bonkers. I'm definitely picking up at least one copy, I just don't know that there's quite enough incidental lifegain in large enough numbers to make this worth it here.
  • Out of Time - I really like this. I don't entirely know that it fits here perfectly, but it's also a really cheap way of clearing the board ahead of a beater, so it could be pretty cool. Another I'll pick up to trial, so I may do so here.
  • Sanctifier en-Vec - Very meta control. Good in the right place, otherwise I don't think this is for me.
  • Serra's Emissary - It's high CMC for sure, but it's also a nice way to get unblockable going or avoid Aetherflux Reservoir or whatever. I'll definitely be grabbing one to try out.
  • Thraben Watcher - Fine, but nothing amazing.


Not a huge amount for us, but there's definitely a couple of decent options here nonetheless. The stuff that's good is very good in my opinion.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

Also have a couple of changes to document:


Mostly discussed already; I feel like the Valkyrie is a reasonable, on-curve lifegain engine that supports itself in the buff it gives. Ruins is great value whenever you draw it, and really negates the need for non-permanent versions of its ETB effect. Archon and Protector are purely there for Monarch, which has been really nice, both giving a modicum of protection too. The Map was not cheap by any stretch, but I've had very good results thus far. The cuts are fairly simple; Boots I don't like as a card, and mostly shouldn't really need. It'd be nice to get Hall of the Bandit Lord in here to account for haste, but otherwise I'm ok with losing it. Kiss is just surplus to requirement, Dynamo is fairly slow mana, and Search was really just not very good. Kozilek going shaves a huge leap from the top end of the curve, and while it's a nice beater for the end game, Monarch sort of negates the need for its burst draw.
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Post by Ruiner » 2 years ago

toctheyounger wrote:
2 years ago
[*]Nykthos Paragon - This is pretty bonkers. I'm definitely picking up at least one copy, I just don't know that there's quite enough incidental lifegain in large enough numbers to make this worth it here.
While I think it is a decent enough effect/card, I probably wouldn't run it unless I wanted redundancy for Archangel of Thune (which is lower mana cost and better unless being an enchantment would matter). Alternatively, this new card is a great budget replacement for the angel if you are looking for that sort of effect (I had no idea the angel was getting up there in price until just now).

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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

I think that the lifegain payoff concept can eventually get there but the challenge is that its a hard payoff when your commander directly has interaction with gaining life and given that Bruna doesn't herself gain life it takes a lot more on creature type cards that are worth playing on their own to really make lifegain matters get there.

Nykthos Paragon is a really sweet card but if you lack a means to gain life, it is a really bad six drop with no abilities and bad stats. It is so dependent on having something else to let you gain life that I would want to be going all in on a lifegain matters concept and even then I think its a little suspicious from the standpoint that it requires another card to enable him to function. I don't doubt the power it could provide but its often going to be a post combat buff that matters for the next turn which can be very clunky as well.

I think that lifegain concepts could get there eventually that I would make the swap to focus on them. We recently got Valkyrie Harbinger though and that is a lot more in line with what I want to see in being both an enabler and a payoff in the same card. When you break up enablers and payoff it makes it a lot harder without being a deck heavily dedicated to a concept to make it function. I am fine with playing Valkyrie Harbinger on its own though as it does both sides even if it might be somewhat slow to do so.

@toctheyounger let me know how Righteous Valkyrie goes for you. I am still warry on that card mostly in that I don't feel that its anthem is enough considering we generally aren't a go wide strategy. I am sure it likely will gain a bit of life and its low on the curve which is all nice, I just haven't been convinced to give it a shot though.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
@toctheyounger let me know how Righteous Valkyrie goes for you. I am still warry on that card mostly in that I don't feel that its anthem is enough considering we generally aren't a go wide strategy. I am sure it likely will gain a bit of life and its low on the curve which is all nice, I just haven't been convinced to give it a shot though.
Certainly, got some gameplay in with it today, against Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Reaper King and Tymna the Weaver/Ravos, Soultender,

Quick capsule review, I forced the table to scoop. Got a great start with Sol Ring, Righteous Valkyrie, Steelshaper's Gift and 4 lands in hand. Turn 2 Valkyrie and tutor for Mask of Memory. The next couple of turns swinging got me into Magus of the Moat and Drannith Magistrate, as well as Akroma's Will and True Conviction, One guy just didn't get the land drops he needed and scooped early (the Praetor, so probably kind of lucky he never got to his feet)

Eventually dropped enough land (weirdly somehow ahead of the rest of the table despite lack of ramp on my part) to cast Bruna, realised that Valkyrie causes lifegain =toughness and thought 'awesome'. Bruna comes into play, gains me 7, turns on the anthem immediately, cast trigger fetches the Magus of the Moat I'd tossed, one guy scoops.

Next turn I cast True Conviction and the other guy scoops.

I think this was a pretty golden curve to hit, so this experience might be skewing my perception of how good Valkyrie is, but it otherwise does do lots of things we want to be doing:
  • Low on the curve
  • Flying
  • Buffs our creatures, and Bruna specifically
  • Keeps us further from zero (least important by far obviously)
I'll grant that only the first two and last of these are true in every scenario, but it's a value engine that supports itself. I think it's worth a shot, personally.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Radiant Solar is quite interesting. I haven't really been blown away by the dungeon mechanic but this angel can discard itself into a Bruna rez. Its also cool because Bruna would rez it to play before entering herself so that cycle of just discarding and then rezing it would trigger three triggers into the dungeon as well as set up for additional ones moving forward.

As far as a body, well.... a 3/6 flying lifelinker isn't great but maybe.... the ability to dig into the dungeons might make it worthwhile. I keep looking at Lost Mine of Phandelver and how that exact lineup of discard then bruna rez would go and you could set the +1/+1 counter option on Bruna which could be nice. Scry 1 and draw 1 as well as setting Bruna to six power aren't a terrible result from that dungeon and the 1/1 chump blocker can on occasion be useful against swarm tactics. I also think that Dungeon of the Mad Mage is decent but unfortunately a lot of the payoff comes fairly deep in the dungeon making the first three triggers less good but the later ones better. I suspect that Tomb of Annihilation is one that I likely would not use in commander but I have seen it have good results already in 60 card 1v1 where life totals are lower for aggro decks.

I will attach the dungeons here because I can't find a way to link them conveniently on nexus offhand.

@Feyd_Ruin is there a way to link token cards? I was just thinking offhand how it would be handy to be able to reference the dungeons and see the cards themselves but maybe we could get away with just throwing them in the card tag??? I was just thinking that perhaps a token or some other tag might work but it might be more work than its worth. Is there a way to reference these?
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Post by Feyd_Ruin » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Feyd_Ruin is there a way to link token cards?
[cardimg]Dungeon of the Mad Mage|Token|14269[/cardimg]
[cardimg]Lost Mine of Phandelver|Token|14270[/cardimg]
[cardimg]Tomb of Annihilation|Token|14271[/cardimg]



If you go to our set listing and scroll down to Token Sets, AFR Tokens is listed. Click there, and you'll see all the tokens. If you click the token you want ( Dungeon of the Mad Mage|Token|14269 ) you'll see two buttons at the bottom that allow you to quickly copy that token's specific [CARD] or [CARDIMG] text for easy posting.

:)
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

Feyd_Ruin wrote:
2 years ago
ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Feyd_Ruin is there a way to link token cards?
[cardimg]Dungeon of the Mad Mage|Token|14269[/cardimg]
[cardimg]Lost Mine of Phandelver|Token|14270[/cardimg]
[cardimg]Tomb of Annihilation|Token|14271[/cardimg]



If you go to our set listing and scroll down to Token Sets, AFR Tokens is listed. Click there, and you'll see all the tokens. If you click the token you want ( Dungeon of the Mad Mage|Token|14269 ) you'll see two buttons at the bottom that allow you to quickly copy that token's specific [CARD] or [CARDIMG] text for easy posting.

:)
Hummmm well thats better than nothing but it also takes a lot of looking things up to reference given the need for the token number. Thanks for the insight. I am not sure its optimal but its better than having no way of referencing them.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote:
2 years ago
Radiant Solar is quite interesting. I haven't really been blown away by the dungeon mechanic but this angel can discard itself into a Bruna rez. Its also cool because Bruna would rez it to play before entering herself so that cycle of just discarding and then rezing it would trigger three triggers into the dungeon as well as set up for additional ones moving forward.

As far as a body, well.... a 3/6 flying lifelinker isn't great but maybe.... the ability to dig into the dungeons might make it worthwhile. I keep looking at Lost Mine of Phandelver and how that exact lineup of discard then bruna rez would go and you could set the +1/+1 counter option on Bruna which could be nice. Scry 1 and draw 1 as well as setting Bruna to six power aren't a terrible result from that dungeon and the 1/1 chump blocker can on occasion be useful against swarm tactics. I also think that Dungeon of the Mad Mage is decent but unfortunately a lot of the payoff comes fairly deep in the dungeon making the first three triggers less good but the later ones better. I suspect that Tomb of Annihilation is one that I likely would not use in commander but I have seen it have good results already in 60 card 1v1 where life totals are lower for aggro decks.

I will attach the dungeons here because I can't find a way to link them conveniently on nexus offhand.

@Feyd_Ruin is there a way to link token cards? I was just thinking offhand how it would be handy to be able to reference the dungeons and see the cards themselves but maybe we could get away with just throwing them in the card tag??? I was just thinking that perhaps a token or some other tag might work but it might be more work than its worth. Is there a way to reference these?
Yeah I dunno, looking at the dungeons they're none of them stellar, even if you're triggering them regularly. Honestly, partly because life is hella busy atm and partly because I've no skin in the d&d game I've sort of not delved too deeply in this release (I'll get to a set review sometime soon). I've kept an eye out for anything neat, but I'm actually sort of pleased that there's not really any hard sells for this deck, nor any of my other mainstays. Its nice to have some respite.

Radiant Solar seems fine, and its nice to be able to use targeted discard to optimize Bruna, but I don't know that that's enough for it to buy a place. I think the dungeons are in a weird place for this format where they're just not quite enough value per trigger to want to lean into, and I'm mostly happy to just avoid the mechanic myself.

Part of that stance, I will admit, is that it's too obvious a nod to its creative origin. Obviously I'm no stranger to theme, I think I just prefer to devise a theme myself rather than have it handed to me pre-made and ready to go.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

It's been a long ass time between updates, but I got there:


Emissary should be a decent finisher and control. There's times it ought to be able to do both or either, so it should perform well I would think. Hall should be great too, I feel much better having haste in my land slots than running Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves. As good as those cards are they bore me to death, so I'm glad to not have to run them. Crush Contraband is a fine card, I honestly just couldn't see anything else that I really wanted gone, so there it is. Perhaps I could've dropped a board wipe, time will tell.

I also have a Sword of Hearth and Home on the way. I saw it for cheap at the LGS, checked for cards it interacts with well in the list, and it could be pretty disgusting.
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Post by toctheyounger » 2 years ago

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Review

We're back to Bruna's home plane and that's always a fun time. Innistrad being one of the most flavorful and popular planes is cool, but the spoils have generally been good too. I'm not sure what I was hoping for in this set, but there's at least a couple of neat options in the set that I might look to pick up.

Artifacts/Colorless/Lands

  • Moonsilver Key - I like this as an Expedition Map variant, but I don't think this is the deck for it. A lot of my accelerants are equipment or transformers, so not having a dearth of great rocks to search for and only picking up basics makes it a tough sell.
  • Plains|MID - A weird flavour thing I do to bling out a deck is try to fill basic slots with art from my commander's home plane. Up until now, that's been fine, the Innistrad basics being ok but nothing gorgeous. These full arts look pretty great and give a more gothic horror feel, which is a fitting vibe for Bruna. If I've got some spare cash once stock comes in I might do some beautification.

White


  • Ambitious Farmhand - This is very low to the ground and fetches land to hand. That's not nothing. I'm not at all interested in her other side, save as a chump blocker in dire situations, but otherwise this potentially merits at least a trial run.
  • Cathar Commando - Nothing stellar, but flash is nice, the activated ability is nice, again, this could be in a flex spot.
  • Duelcraft Trainer - Double strike brings the pain for Bruna, whenever i have it I'm a prime threat. That being said, 3w is a lot to pay and I just don't think this does enough to rightly warrant inclusion.
  • Enduring Angel // Angelic Enforcer - I just don't think this does anything I'm interested in. There's a lot of text here and it all sort of amounts to something I don't really care about.
  • Fateful Absence - I like this. While it's not as permanent a removal as Swords or Path, it does make your opponent jump through hoops to get the advantage from the spell. I'm not itching to add it, but price-dependent it could be a consideration.
  • Search Party Captain - It's nice not having to jump through too many hoops for draw, and having them on tribe too. I will probably trial this. With combat as my primary win condition I see no reason it wouldn't be fairly cheap most of the time. Being easily recurrable is nice too. I think it's worth a punt on.
  • Sigardian Savior - Being on a cast trigger hurts. It's a fixed Reveillark, which is fine, but nothing I think I have the scope to really abuse, so I will probably pass myself.
  • Sungold Sentinel - This I really like. The coven ability, while easy enough to enable in this format, is fine but probably only a way to equipment to connect with face, but that's still not nothing, and costing 1w to cast is really nice. I think this is an easy include.
  • Sunset Revelry - Draw is nice, but I don't care about life or a human token, and I don't like this being sorcery speed. I think we can do better for synergy.
  • Vanquish the Horde - There's no way this ever gets cast for full cost. It doesn't get cheaper than this, and probably for that reason alone I think this will be a format staple to come. Definitely worth seeing if it ticks the boxes.


I'm really pleased with the list of potential inclusions here. There's some nice advantage possibilities, some good control options, and one solid board wipe to trial, none of which at this point looks to prove too expensive to pick up either. Presumably there could be some decent additions once the commander decklists spoil, but this seems a pretty reasonable group of cards at a variety of rarities.



I also got some gameplay in recently; I held my own against Maelstrom Wanderer, and Skullbriar, the Walking Grave. I think my threat assessment was a tad off. Skullbriar started by swinging heavily into me, and so I retaliated to knock him out of the game which gave Wanderer the space to grow into a solid position late game and hit some really nasty board state. I did ok against it but also couldn't compete for draw, drew no board wipes and ended up conceding with the knowledge that I was purely hanging on against his overwhelming advantage. Ideally, it would've worked out better for me to knock both opponents close to the edge before taking Skullbriar out rather than leaving Wanderer alone. That commander should not ever be underestimated.

Solid performers were Akroma's Will, Karmic Guide and Righteous Valkyrie. That last had me close to 100 life at one point, it's been really quite a good add. Archaeomancer's Map, however, was a tad underwhelming. Virtually from turn zero I had land supremacy in the game, and that was off the back of the map's ETB trigger, Solemn Simulacrum and Wayfarer's Bauble. It's nothing to really complain about, it's nice to be ahead, but it does make me wonder how crucial in the list the map is. There's other decks I could use it in if it's superfluous here.

I also struggled for draw, and having removed both my Nikes and Reeboks, I've been mulling over other adds to make up for that. It's rarely a massive problem, but it would still be nice to have something that can give me an immediate swing. I think in that respect I'm going to squeeze Crashing Drawbridge in. Low to the ground, solid butt, should be good for tempo equipment swings, and it'll come back from Sun Titan triggers too.
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Post by ISBPathfinder » 2 years ago

A few thoughts I have on the new set:
  • Adeline, Resplendent Cathar - I think you are correct that the version that we are on currently isn't interested in this but I keep looking at a human tribal concept with Bruna and the fact that this one spawns 3ish tokens on attack that are also humans is kind of strong. The humans build likely runs off of more anthems and I think that is what makes this card impressive. Sure 1/1s natrually will trade or die in attacks but buff them up a little and they can be super spooky.
  • Enduring Angel // Angelic Enforcer - I think I actually like this effect but my meta is a lot heavier on big overwhelming effects that kill me in one shot. What really gets me interested in this card though is that its sort of a low cost to have flying + double strike which means that some of the equipment value can be higher on it. Its like a lower cost Platinum Angel that has more proactive value.
  • Intrepid Adversary - Again, I think we are correct to not run it in our version but I keep thinking about the humans variant where I want anthems. Its weird that this effect is essentially multi kicker fixed to rez well but that said it makes it better with rez which is I guess a good thing. The mana cost for the effect is a bit weird but its a human and it rezes well while giving scaling options for how to play it. I guess my point is more that it fits the statline of being similar to Dictate of Heliod or Obelisk of Urd while being a creature on creature type.
  • Vanquish the Horde - Seems great. I don't normally go for creature only sweepers with no versatility in targeting but the cost is so low that I see myself playing it. Lots of the power behind Blasphemous Act / Toxic Deluge is how cheap they are and the ability to replay behind casting them due to their low costs. This deck plays well with sweepers and I see myself slotting this card likely for testing at the least.
  • Moonsilver Key - Its awkward that its flipped mana costs of Expedition Map as it then pushes itself to be cast on two and used on turn three or later rather than using the first two turns to cast and use. It can still get Sol Ring but I don't think thats really that great given how much its going to screw up the curve getting that going. Given that we recently got Search for Glory as a card option which can still get Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and Kor Haven I guess I am not too eager for Moonsilver Key as it feels awkward on curve. I think offhand I would rather run Weathered Wayfarer, Expedition Map and Search for Glory over this.
So, I guess I am looking at Enduring Angel // Angelic Enforcer and Vanquish the Horde as the possible includes in my own list. My meta is SUPER heavy on one shot kills though so I suspect that Enduring Angel // Angelic Enforcer is a bit uniquely better for me than necessarily everyone else.

I didn't play last week but the week before that someone drew their entire deck (no joke he drew his last card) on like turn 8 and killed us all by means of Aetherflux Reservoir which he then copied twice and backed up with counterspell defense. I even tried redirecting one of his triggers (got countered), tanked 50 damage with lifegain, tried destroying it (it got countered), and he shot three of us to death after all of that. My meta might be a little toxic.... His justification was that he wasn't running any Lab Man wincons nor was he going infinite. I also threw about 5 pieces of spot removal at him in the course of this game and it just didn't matter. I freaking hate my meta lol. This game was me playing a weird mardu spellcaster and not this deck, I just thought I would highlight some of why I hate my meta lol (opponent was playing Tishana, Voice of Thunder mana dorks). It was the first game of the night and he said nothing about how ridiculous of a deck he was playing.
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