Magic the Gathering

[glad peak]

Yep big reason why I don’t trust anyone when they say they “just want to do a fun thing”

[gritty nest]

My funny thing is decking myself and losing

[glad peak]

You know, you can win after decking yourself with 1 smol fish

[golden plover]

That's the whole "open mic night commander" thing I've talked about before

So many casual players are "hey I just wanna do my cool fun thing my deck does"

But you can't let everyone do that because the game has to be won

[glad peak]

More importantly the so called “cool fun thing” always ends up with them in huge leads a beginner bot can win from

[golden plover]

Yup. It's really simple to realize that the "cool fun thing" is gonna always be that

[copper pecan]

yeah if i wanted something like that i wouldn't be playing a game where the goal is to defeat the other players

[modern minnow]

The cool thing my deck does is reducing my opponents life totals to zero

[glad peak]

The cool thing my deck does is thoracle consult and if you counter my win attempt then you’re spitting in the face of commander and not letting me do the cool fun thing

[sudden lava]

https://youtu.be/iRRM8Q0oD5Q

[gritty nest]

“Just let me do the thing”
“Bro you’ve been doing the thing for 8 turns now I’m blowing up your board.”
“Man fuck this you guys are toxic as hell”

Literal interaction I’ve had before

[past socket]

I just let my funny be the gameplan itself. Don’t have to wait when it’s your entire gimmick

https://tenor.com/view/big-brain-gif-27108854

[sudden lava]

Reasons I love group hug, doing the thing is helping the table

While I still try to go for the proper win, even my own demise puts someone closer to victory

[urban crane]

Reason I like group slug I almost always doing my decks thing

[glad peak]

Reason I like stax I can see people try to do their thing and I help someone get to that point

[lusty trench]

It's why I like playing valgavoth because by god I will make you all play the game if you like it or not or I will win

[urban crane]

Yeah

[past socket]

My funny is enabling my crippling gambling addiction with dice rolls

[urban crane]

Also love sneakily dropping [[kardur domscourge]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/dsc/223/kardur-doomscourge

Kardur, Doomscourge <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manab:292901508872273920><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Demon Berserker
When Kardur, Doomscourge enters, until your next turn, creatures your opponents control attack each combat if able and attack a player other than you if able.
Whenever an attacking creature dies, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
4/3

[urban crane]

Very funny if people are low on life

They al went ugh

Cause at that point they knew they lost

[ornate cedar]

I have a question about [[Aminatou, Veil Piercer]]. With her Miracle ability, does the enchantment cast with miracle need to specifically cost 4+ colorless mana? Like, the miracle cost can’t be used for color mana, and the amount of colorless mana can’t be something like “X”, right?

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/dsc/1/aminatou-veil-piercer

Aminatou, Veil Piercer <:mana1:292901508373282827><:manaw:1007102126813610074><:manau:292901508754702338><:manab:292901508872273920>

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
At the beginning of your upkeep, surveil 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
Each enchantment card in your hand has miracle. Its miracle cost is equal to its mana cost reduced by . (You may cast a card for its miracle cost when you draw it if it's the first card you drew this turn.)
2/4

[sudden lava]

1. It can do 3 and below
2. The miracle reduction doesn't affect any colored pips
3. It works with X. You choose the value of X and the colorless mana you pay is reduced by 4

Entreat the Angels is here as an example of a miracle card with miracle X

[ornate cedar]

Well shit, Aminatou is more busted than I thought haha

Thank you

Now I need to build this enchantment deck

[sudden lava]

for double X it wouldnt reduce both by 4, just the amount paid. So for another round if you say "X=2" then it will go from costing 7 mana (1 of which must be white) to 3

[ornate cedar]

Ah ok, so it’s just -4 colorless of whatever colorless mana is there at the time the cost must be paid

[sudden lava]

exactly

[ornate cedar]

Hehehe, I’m gonna enjoy this commander

Thank you for the clarification, I appreciate it

[sudden lava]

One thing to remember

[ornate cedar]

Ah, I see, it could also be confusing to other players with the surveil ability. I would probably just explicitly say that I’m surveiling so people don’t think I’m drawing and cheating

[sudden lava]

Missing the miracle trigger a fate that often comes up, gotta remember to do it on the draw. And a draw spell on your opponents turn gives more chances to miracle something in

🙂

[sudden lava]

If this sale lasts till friday, I can get both the precons ❤️ lets heckin GO

[gritty nest]

I want the Saheeli deck, but don’t care for the other

[trail anvil]

how do you know that when nothing is revealed

[past socket]

I’m just guessing zombo from Eternal Might and I like zombo

[trail anvil]

it's almost certainly an eternalize zombie due to amonkhet theme, and saheeli is artifacts. but we don't know how she'll interact nor what the rest of the deck will look like

[sudden lava]

eternalize, enbalm, amass, and mill
Stockpiling energy, and using said energy for a "big finish" at the end

[gritty nest]

Because Saheeli is my favorite character

[trail anvil]

y'know what fair enough

[past socket]

They see Saheeli they Playheeli

[subtle sierra]

ok so i have 8 life
a deep cavern bat and 2 [[bloodletter of aclazotz]] are attacking me, and i block one of the bloodletters with a flying lifedrain 4/3
can someone explain why i'm at 0 life after this?

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/lci/92/bloodletter-of-aclazotz

Bloodletter of Aclazotz <:mana1:292901508373282827><:manab:292901508872273920><:manab:292901508872273920><:manab:292901508872273920>

Creature — Vampire Demon
Flying
If an opponent would lose life during your turn, they lose twice that much life instead. (Damage causes loss of life.)
Its very presence rips old wounds open to bleed anew.
2/4

[zinc shard]

so because they have two bloodletters the damage is doubled twice. so (2+1) x2 x2 =12, then the 4 lifegain makes you lose 8

[subtle sierra]

oh the effect still applies even if it dies?

god this is so unintuitive

[zinc shard]

yea all the damage is dealt at the same time.

[gritty nest]

Yea

My first deck was [[Saheeli the gifted]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/c18/44/saheeli-the-gifted

Saheeli, the Gifted <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manau:292901508754702338><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Planeswalker — Saheeli
+1: Create a 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature token.
+1: The next spell you cast this turn costs less to cast for each artifact you control as you cast it.
−7: For each artifact you control, create a token that's a copy of it. Those tokens gain haste. Exile those tokens at the beginning of the next end step.
Saheeli, the Gifted can be your commander.
Loyalty: 4

[sudden lava]

I remember when I got this precon at Target, and now her wife Saheeli will be my next deck's commander ❤️

[golden plover]

Hmm is my opponent a Nazi or were they born in 1988

[golden plover]

I swear I only see Golgari decks on [[Thrun, Breaker of Silence]] when I can't interact with him

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/one/186/thrun-breaker-of-silence

Thrun, Breaker of Silence <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manag:292901508654301185><:manag:292901508654301185>

Legendary Creature — Troll Shaman
This spell can't be countered.
Trample
Thrun, Breaker of Silence can't be the target of nongreen spells your opponents control or abilities from nongreen sources your opponents control.
During your turn, Thrun has indestructible.
5/5

[golden plover]

I kinda hate his level of protection

Don't love "can't be interacted with outside of green"

But he is 5 mana at least

[twilit canyon]

and he does nothing on defense

both deathtouch attackers make progress and any flyers are too much for thrun

hes perfectly okay

[golden plover]

I mean he's like fine, but he's really hard to interact with

I think carnage tyrant was a better version of the design (full hexproof for 2 more mana)

Thrun isn't broken, but I don't love him existing either

But mainly, I wish Thrun had hexproof so I could nowhere to run him

[twilit canyon]

tyrant is 6 mana

[golden plover]

Oh why did I think he was 7

[sleek ferry]

https://youtu.be/LAFNstqOYtw?si=DIt78q_tTQaQrN1m

[rigid scarab]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi9UEf2o-8U&ab_channel=TheCommandZone

[gritty nest]

Gas Station Adoption Dog was the worst thing of the year

[glad peak]

the w0t

[gritty nest]

[[!loot, key to]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/big/21/loot-the-key-to-everything

Loot, the Key to Everything

[gritty nest]

you cant tell me he's not a gas station beanie baby

[copper pecan]

i kind of like him because of how forced he is

it loops around to being kind of endearing

he's just a little guy

just a marketable little scrimblo

[gritty nest]

marketable plushie moment

[sudden lava]

Valgavoth looked at the little gremlin and said "yeah lets use him to cheat at Mario Kart"

[ornate cedar]

Not a bad deal, two precons at about $30 each

And if it has beaucoup reprints that’s even more value

[sudden lava]

That's one way to interpret the price, I see it more as buy 1 at MSRP and get the other for 25 dollars off

[ornate cedar]

Hm, I see what you mean

[sudden lava]

still an amazing deal

[ornate cedar]

Yes, a good deal no matter how it’s sliced

[gritty nest]

when are we getting aetherdrift spoilers?

[sudden lava]

21st

[gritty nest]

oof

ngl I was going to skip this set entirely until I saw the Saheeli deck

[twilit canyon]

you can just post when the cards get revealed

we do not need weekly updates

[twilit canyon]

and you answered already

[gritty nest]

I’m confused

[twilit canyon]

idk why summer deleted her redundant posts

[rigid scarab]

Why are these chucklefucks on here

Oh grolnok has an arm hanging from his mouth

But idg jailer

Is it because the flavour text says "eat"

[fallow citrus]

well he has a guy in his stomach

because he's the jail

[golden plover]

Yeah there's a dude in the jail

[tropic cape]

I wish he'd eat me minus my writing hand

[sudden lava]

Misty didn't like that I posted the schedule so I deleted

that being the one from wotc's weeklymtg channel where they said "this is all the aetherdriift stuff and when" (previews, prerelease, release date, story etc)

[clever sun]

His name is the Omnivore too

[sudden lava]

Alright order placed 💖 was 75 after shipping and tax

[zinc shard]

Damn wasnt expecting a call out post

[glad peak]

he's not wrong

sideboarding can be hard af in comparison to the rest of the game

[golden plover]

Yeah sideboarding is tough

[zinc shard]

So did the Omniscience Draft and... I somehow dont have enough cards

[trail anvil]

that happens sometimes, especially if you get lands in your pack. you gotta include one land sadly

[past socket]

Welp I have kind of fallen in love with a new kind of playstyle

Spellslinging

[sudden lava]

I had a good day at locals, got a handful (literally, 7 cards) of stuff I could possibly throw into the aetherdrift precons. Though I was hesitant on getting stuff for Eternal Might (cuz it's still fuzzy if this deck is going to go the amass or embalm/eternalize route) so mostly went for Living Energy additions. I also got a new deckbox (Ultra Pro Purple Satin Tower)

[past socket]

As for spellslinger stuff, Stella Lee may have gotten me into it but always open to learn more strategies among that archetype of sorts.

[sudden lava]

did you add her infinites in 👀?

[urban crane]

I mean Stella lee goes infinite with so much

[past socket]

Ended up learning a bit after my first couple games of Stella going, as someone put it to me, “infinite with a meatball sandwich”

But yeah stuff like Cerulean Wisps, Refocus, Twitch and Twisted Fealty are up there for stuff to upgrade Quick Draw with

[stark skiff]

Stella Lee falls in that Voja type of commander where its fun but eventually the group hates you for it so you stop playing it.

[past socket]

But yeah playing just the precon a couple of games also really made me realise how much I suck with triggers.

[sudden lava]

So true but there is some 1 card infinites (not counting the set up 2 so you can use her copy ability) such as [[twisted fealty]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/woe/154/twisted-fealty

Twisted Fealty <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manar:292901508796645397>

Sorcery
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
Create a Wicked Role token attached to up to one target creature. (If you control another Role on it, put that one into the graveyard. Enchanted creature gets +1/+1. When this Aura is put into a graveyard, each opponent loses 1 life.)

[past socket]

Also very interested in what other types of spellslingers exist

Like Stella and Veyran being focused on copying but is there other ways that Spellslinger decks do things?

[glad peak]

looks like someone hasn't heard of storm

krark sakashima, zada, k'rrik, flubs, ob nix, and the howling abomination are all storm commanders who do different things

[past socket]

Oh like Aeve, Progenitor Ooze?

Kinds of spellslingers that reward one for spamming loads of spells in different ways

[glad peak]

all of those are spellslinger decks but they each do different things

i guess you can add aeve to it but it's nowhere near as good or interesting as the others

[past socket]

ig there’s also spellslingers around X spells and a few that like slinging token generation

Not sure if I prefer normal deckboxes or boulders, still got a lot to learn on those but so far loving the Izzet boulder I got for Quick Draw and future upgrades of that precon

[sudden lava]

May I interest you in Pearl-Ear Voltron?

[past socket]

Aura slinging as it were

[trail anvil]

her face is slightly lopsided

or maybe it's just her eyebrows on a closer look

[fallow citrus]

eyebrows definitely

[glad peak]

She looks incredibly goofy

[zinc shard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLkwBFwFd18

TL;DR: The Daily Deals in Arena have been corelating to sets we're getting this year. Todays daily deal heavily implies we're getting Avatar TLA at the end of the year

[sudden lava]

Haven't seen the video yet, but that can be the UUB after Spiderman

[zinc shard]

yea thats what she was thinkin

[sudden lava]

Yup she's convinced me it's ATLA

100% speculation of course

[sudden lava]

Edge of Eternity commander leak ||2 commander decks according to ultra pro||

also ||mythic land cycle
||

[copper pecan]

what creature type would benders be?

shaman?

[lusty trench]

Monk

They very much fall into the jeskai/ojutai theming

[subtle sierra]

i assume aang and korra are avatar

or at least become them

[golden plover]

You know they're gonna just give them bender and call it a day

UB cards have way too many unnecessary typelines

Like how all the necrons aren't skeletons

And how [[Vexilus Praetor]] has his own typeline for no reason

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/40k/19/vexilus-praetor

Vexilus Praetor <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manaw:1007102126813610074>

Creature — Custodes Warrior
Flash
Vigilance
Aegis of the Emperor — Commanders you control have protection from everything.
There is no greater bulwark than the Praetors of the Adeptus Custodes, the bodyguards of the Emperor of Mankind.
3/4

[golden plover]

Also how much you wanna bet they make Aang the obligatory 5c commander although he shouldn't be in black at all

[lusty trench]

Idk they could make the avatar spirit 5 coloured

Raava iirc

Sokka is izzet
Katara is blue
Toth is gruul
Aang is white green red blue
Zuko is red green blue
Iroh is white green red blue
Azula and ozai are rakdos
Appa is white
Momo is either Boros or red

Season 1 zuko is likely just mono red

[sudden lava]

https://tenor.com/view/opal-beifong-read-book-pabu-gif-19510843

Pabu card would be cute

also we need some Kyoshi warriors like Suki

[lusty trench]

Likely they're just green

[last glen]

Maybe they do partner-style mechanics to get to five colors

[sleek ferry]

Black is his self doubt. But in a perfect world, young aang is jeskai

[golden plover]

Yeah, he's jeskai and at most non-black

There's just realistically 0 way for him to have black in his color identity

[sleek ferry]

I mean you don’t have to when korra exists

Aang can be 4 colors

Aang as Jeskai or bant and korra as mardu would be a cool distinction

[gritty nest]

AFR collector boosters turn translucent after a while apparently

[last glen]

In a cool way or

[gritty nest]

@last glen

[last glen]

well that is pretty cool

[golden plover]

Korra totally has blue in her identity tho

No way they don't just do:
Fire - Red
Water - Blue
Earth - Green
Air - White

[lusty trench]

Honestly I'd argue she doesn't have blue

Despite being born to a waterbending family, she uses fire bending more often and is very reckless, struggling with things that require inner insight and calm. Towards the end of the series this changes, but not enough to give her blue as a colour identity imo

[sudden lava]

She should have partner with Asami

[golden plover]

Def won't have partner

Remember, UB sets go into standard now ~~for some reason ~~

[trail anvil]

the joke is they're girlfriends

[golden plover]

Nah I get that

[trail anvil]

also it's not all UB no? just that certain standard sets are UB

[golden plover]

Nah, it's all UB

Going forward, all UB sets move through standard

Which is still... Crazy to me

[trail anvil]

oh boy so we're getting spongebob in standard

[sudden lava]

Spongebob is a SL

[trail anvil]

ah

[golden plover]

SLs aren't

But full sets do move through standard

[trail anvil]

wait so avatar is a full-on set set?

[sudden lava]

Yup, avatar is a set set

[golden plover]

If it's unannounced UB, yes

That's not confirmed, but it's likely to be the other one

[sudden lava]

If it's the UUB, which it seems to be

[golden plover]

Spiderman, however will move through standard

And Final Fantasy

[copper pecan]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/the-ins-and-outs-of-innistrad-remastered

i really want to know what they had in mind for "puzzle world"

cause i have no idea how you could possibly turn something like that into a set

[last glen]

the cards are cut into puzzle pieces

when you put the puzzle together you win

[zinc shard]

Bruh

[trail anvil]

that's 5c goodstuff for you

[gritty nest]

you guys think i can build [[Queen of the Golgari]] for $50?

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/rvr/218/savra-queen-of-the-golgari

Savra, Queen of the Golgari <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manab:292901508872273920><:manag:292901508654301185>

Legendary Creature — Elf Shaman
Whenever you sacrifice a black creature, you may pay 2 life. If you do, each other player sacrifices a creature of their choice.
Whenever you sacrifice a green creature, you may gain 2 life.
"Nature's most raw beauty is the circle: perfect in its continuance, with no break between death and life."
2/2

[copper pecan]

thinking about [[gorilla titan]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/ody/241/gorilla-titan

Gorilla Titan <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manag:292901508654301185><:manag:292901508654301185>

Creature — Ape
Trample
Gorilla Titan gets +4/+4 as long as there are no cards in your graveyard.
"I want a banana this big!"
4/4

[copper pecan]

not the flavor text but the effect

this is a horrible design to put in a graveyard themed set

like

the entire rest of the set wants you to put things in your graveyard, so why did they put in a card that punishes you for engaging with the themes of the set?

[past socket]

Reject GY, return to monke

[trail anvil]

same reason they put progenitus in foundations, they wanted to see who was crazy enough

there are a lot of complaints to be had about alchemy, but my current one is why did they not bother to separate alchemy-only set icons by the actual set? alchemy sets aren't that large, but I can't exactly look up "a25" or even "alchemy 2025" and expect a result

[golden plover]

Yeah I was right on Esper. SGC event had it as the third most popular deck, but 0 in top 8

The Dimir version looks real tho

[sleek ferry]

I've been riding esper for over a year now

get with the program

[golden plover]

The Esper enchant deck is crippled by its AWFUL mana base

3c outside of Domain is not the move rn

The Dimir build loses pixie and the other one drop but...it's just better

https://preview.redd.it/uvs66pp04mbe1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=92dfbe187f05ef51c3a751b4a15bff9dcca2baeb

@lusty trench yay... Old border only

God forbid she gets a reprint normally

[lusty trench]

[golden plover]

She's only ever been in masters sets

Still like $45 because of it lol

And she's collector booster only here

This is a good reprint at least

[glad peak]

Wait she’s still like $45?

She’s unplayable tho

I wish hermit druid decks came back to the forefront, very fun deck

[lusty trench]

I FUCKING LOVE SPLINTERFRIGHT

(this is unironic card goes hard)

[sudden lava]

Just got this for 75 cents at locals, pretty good deal (inb4 Eternal Might reprints this)

[past socket]

Huge respect for thr Skaabs

[sudden lava]

It be my first time having a zombie magic deck, and skaab seemed pretty decent. Clone-ish sac outlet every turn cycle? sign me up

[glad peak]

Play it for a bit and you’ll very quickly remove it

[sudden lava]

I just can resell it later and make back my cash (the skaab not the zombie deck)

[atomic harness]

[modern minnow]

is otters dead

[golden plover]

Ya know, I think maybe Monstrous Rage isn't alright

Like at least [[Turn Inside Out]] doesn't give them trample to close the game randomly

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/dsk/160/turn-inside-out

Turn Inside Out <:manar:292901508796645397>

Instant
Target creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. When it dies this turn, manifest dread. (Look at the top two cards of your library. Put one onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature and the other into your graveyard. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)
"Scared, are you? Need a hug?"

[golden plover]

Didn't block a 1/1 mouse with inside out in hand? You take 4-8 and that's on you. Did block a 1/1 mouse with rage in hand? Take 5-10 and it's trample

Aggro is in a good enough place, but rage is kinda silly

[trail anvil]

to my knowledge temur otters are still fine as a deck unless there's been a meta shift recently

[modern minnow]

deck is hard and all but conversion rate was pretty bad

[golden plover]

Deck is apparently good, but no one knows how to pilot it

And it's just not worth the learning curve when you could be playing better decks

Or just go Gruul and win quick

[twilit canyon]

gruul is garbage

well garbage is too strong but its thoroughly mid

i'd never wanna play a deck where your only form of real interaction is pump spells and hexproof/ward stuff because nowhere to run and this town are too good in the current meta

[golden plover]

Gruul did really well at the SGC tournament

It's mostly just mono-red with a splash for questing druid and snakeskin veil anyways

Besides, it blows out shit decks like esper

[twilit canyon]

and snakeskin veil sucks ass

[golden plover]

For sure, but Gruul is the best performing aggro deck rn

Well there's the Azorious thing too, but it's not as popular

Imo the Azorious deck is better, but it's newish

[trail anvil]

is nowhere to run to invalidate kaito?

[sleek ferry]

Nowhere to run is just good cost removal that dodges a lot of combat tricks/annoying shit

Its been played pretty much since its release

[twilit canyon]

yeah it just beats a ton of ward stuff

[golden plover]

It kills most threats that they'd wanna play for 2-3 and it does open up Kaito to other removal

[twilit canyon]

kaito doesnt matter to most good decks

[golden plover]

Also turns off SBG

I dunno, Kaito is probably the card I'd say is the most format defining rn

Literally every good list is running him

[twilit canyon]

kaito is extremely whatever

[trail anvil]

I feel like I've seen not as much nowhere to run as I should considering its effect

[golden plover]

Dimir completely swapped it's core but still runs a set of Kaito

[sleek ferry]

You’re also not nowhere to run-ing Kaito lol, wow you stopped a draw, so what

[golden plover]

Realistically tho, outside of the mirror, most decks can remove Kaito in the opponents turn

Or rather, their own turn, I guess

But Kaito is probably the best card in the format imo. He's just a very fair best card

[twilit canyon]

also jeskai convoke is absolutely the other big aggro deck

[golden plover]

I dunno, convoke isn't seeing much play

And imo, having tried it a bit, I can't see it being as real as I'd like it to be

It's scary when it works, but it's suffering for trying to be 3c

[twilit canyon]

it was highly represented in scg con atlanta

24 decks

[golden plover]

Azorious does the same thing, but better

[twilit canyon]

6 less than gruul

[sleek ferry]

I wouldn’t consider Kaito a top 3 card in the format, unless you’re abusing his innate synergies

[twilit canyon]

i wouldnt consider kaito a top 10 card even if you are abusing his synergies

hes just okay at best

[golden plover]

That's just wrong lol

Kaito is probably top 5 at the least

And he's probably in top 10 cards seeing play rn

[twilit canyon]

i dont believe that

[golden plover]

Like I said, he's the only tbh Dimir didn't cut when the whole list changed (outside of Curiosity but he's got synergy with both variants)

[twilit canyon]

barely gets 9th most played non-creature spells in scg con

despite dimir having a 17% rep

kaito doesnt breach the top 10 most used in the event

[sleek ferry]

He’s a good card, but I don’t think anybody on the pro tour has realized some of the real nasty locks you can do with Kaito, and I frankly lost the motivation to play recently to climb past mythic

Either ways, high noon = goat card

[twilit canyon]

its been very tested

[golden plover]

I mean, Kaito does so much at 3-4 mana. I think he's really fair but he's probably the most versatile strong card in the format

[twilit canyon]

the synergy isnt there

like it is

[golden plover]

He's good in literally every matchup the deck has

[twilit canyon]

but it doesnt matter in a match

or at least it doesnt do it well enough in a match to make significant progress

[golden plover]

Can't be countered, can stun threats, draws you cards, buffs himself and soul stone, and can swing into problems

And can hard cast him if you're behind

Or can't keep a creature on board

[twilit canyon]

you dont need to counter kaito

stunning is really mid in a meta with this town, draw is conditional, his self-buff wont beat deathtouch

he cannot help you when behind unless your opponent is stumbling

[sleek ferry]

If you’re hard casting Kaito, you’re probably losing or have nothing else in hand, not going to hold you chief

[golden plover]

He stuns down their deathtouch if you can't see a this town. I've almost always benefited from Kaito being on board

[golden plover]

In the mirror, there's times where they've killed every creature in your hand but can't commit to their own (for similar reasons) so hard casting Kaito there gets you the upper hand

[twilit canyon]

it doesnt

u should save kaito

why risk it considering the vast amount of creature lands available to pressure him?

[golden plover]

You're doing this on 4 in that case

Soul stone can come down on 4, but it's easy to remove

Reef starts on 5

[twilit canyon]

thats still not ideal

if kaito is really your best card

[golden plover]

It's not best case, but from a practical standpoint, hard casting him isn't usually the wrong play

[twilit canyon]

you shouldnt risk your best card on a stalled board/simplified board instead of maximizing its effectiveness

[golden plover]

Also Kaito ninjitsu into Kaito is really good

+1 emblem, +0 draw after attacking

Or -2 safely

[sleek ferry]

sorry to break it to you guys, but if you're not resolving Aven interrupter 10 times per game, you're not playing peak magic

[twilit canyon]

i dont need to play peak magic i need to play efficient magic

[glad peak]

Peak magic doesn’t win you games, efficient magic does

[golden plover]

Collector Booster-only card #3

https://preview.redd.it/gzcwy4kq2nbe1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=d3f1434032be0a94fe8d429c4aa8656511bb3b3a

[sleek ferry]

efficient magic is making sure your opponent is playing inefficient magic - Michael Scott

[golden plover]

@lusty trench what 2 expensive Innistrad cards are in slots 4 and 5 then?

[lusty trench]

These aren't collector booster only btw

[golden plover]

Oh right, they can show up in play boosters rarely

[lusty trench]

They're old border non foil only in play boosters, old border foil in collectors

[golden plover]

There's a dedicated treatment slot and they're one of the 3 styles in it

[lusty trench]

Still, magic pull rates are bad enough to where this kinda thing is not needed

[golden plover]

I'd assume 1 per box rn based on what we know?

These very easily could've been in normal mythic slots

But all three are $30+ cards, cant have them be too cheap

Wonder what 4 and 5 are then. What's still expensive from Innistrad

[lusty trench]

Emrakul if not already shown

[golden plover]

Nah she's regular option too

Also, you know they're gonna say some shit about how "these are done this way for the sake of limited"

[past socket]

Collectorhoof Boostemoth?

[golden plover]

Snapcaster is the only one that'd be limited playable

In no world would I wanna play Avacyn or Craterhoof in limited

[lusty trench]

There's nothing else I'd consider a chase card from innistrad

Toxril maybe?

Lier is popular?

Mikaeus unhallowed?

[golden plover]

Oh it's totally Mikaeus

[lusty trench]

Greymond?

[golden plover]

Actually he's only $20 with treatment

$8 without

[golden plover]

Greymond is a good call, he's like $50

[lusty trench]

Necroduality is a little bit of money iirc but nothing on the level as those before it

[golden plover]

Although I wouldn't really count him as an Innistrad card

Meathook was already shown with a treatment

479 is another Blue Mythic

Since Avacyn is 77, and Craterhoof is 80

Actually that means the other one is either green or colorless then

Since Sorin (the last normal old border) is 476

Emrakul is 330 so it's not her

So it's one more blue, one more green

Oh 481 is definitely [[Parallel Lives]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/isd/199/parallel-lives

Parallel Lives <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manag:292901508654301185>

Enchantment
If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead.
"There will come a time when the only prey left will be each other." —Ulrich of Krallenhorde Pack

[golden plover]

What's our other blue mythic?

All I can think of is Necroduality

[zinc shard]

oh its whats his face

from Walking Dead

[zinc shard]

We're getting Inistrad Remastered on Arena?

[copper pecan]

no

[golden plover]

https://preview.redd.it/m6oulwtdmube1.png?width=477&format=png&auto=webp&s=2c3122055b9c6fb6d97b73e3b5c53719fd102611

@lusty trench it's not Necroduality

What the fuck blue mythic is it then

https://preview.redd.it/6uqwqxtdmube1.png?width=444&format=png&auto=webp&s=beb2e2161275ddf8c5cfeb43c77c92c89e881f55

[lusty trench]

Lier? Poppet stitcher?

[golden plover]

Also this is a strange choice

[lusty trench]

Cultivators popular mainly because people don't know how it works

[golden plover]

The remaining 2 are a mono-blue card and a Mono-Green (most likely Parallel Lives)

What the fuck is the blue card

[lusty trench]

Both of these are blue

Hullbreacher?

[golden plover]

Oh right, I was mixing Lier up with the Dimir one

Hullbreacher got a regular treatment at rare

[lusty trench]

Thing in the ice? I'd fucking laugh but it'd be funny

[golden plover]

So by process of elimination whatever the other blue card is it's gonna feel like shit to be 1 per box

Thing in Ice has a regular treatment

[lusty trench]

Non masters sets haven't been able to profit since... God I want to say neon kamigawa?

And that's mainly due to the basics carrying heavy

[golden plover]

If it's Lier, he's $7

If it's anything else, it's... Less than $7

Poppet is $3

[lusty trench]

Actually wait I take that back caverns of ixalan at least had a fighting chance

Mana crypt and dockside

... obviously not anymore

[golden plover]

I didn't consider that it could be a red card

But what red cards from Innistrad do we care about

[lusty trench]

Innistrads secret historically expensive red cards

[golden plover]

Yeah that's the thing

It's not black and it's not white

So it's either blue or red

[lusty trench]

Could it be colourless? Not that there's much there either

[golden plover]

Nah, can't be colorless

Those are first

It goes Sorin, then Avacyn

[lusty trench]

Dressed to kill maybe?

[golden plover]

She was revealed normally

[lusty trench]

https://tenor.com/view/laughing-cat-catlaughing-laughingcat-point-gif-7577620470218150413

[golden plover]

Lmao it's so blatantly greedy but also this is the worst one by far

Dude is $17 when the other 4 are $30+

(I'm assuming 5th is Parallel Lives based on the crunch)

[lusty trench]

I can get him for a crisp £5

[golden plover]

Is he that cheap in the UK

Either way it's really funny they did this whole "greedy slot" thing when they already have the movie poster treatments

And even funnier that they couldn't find a 5th high value card because Edgar, Emrakul, and Meathook are in the regular slot so it'll sell at all

Oh god [[Cathar's Crusade]] is in the limited???

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/jmp/95/cathars-crusade

Cathars' Crusade <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manaw:1007102126813610074><:manaw:1007102126813610074>

Enchantment
Whenever a creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
Avacyn's holy warriors kept hope alive in her darkest hours. Now they will carry that hope across Innistrad.

[golden plover]

Despise Cathar's Crusade

Legitimately one of the worst cards in the game to track

It's not even that complicated, it's just hell

[golden plover]

What's this?

[lusty trench]

All old border mythics in the set

[golden plover]

Wait what's the 5th old border only one

[lusty trench]

I think it just doesn't exist

[golden plover]

It doesn't lol

They said the wrong number

Based on crunch, I can assume it was supposed to be parallel lives

But they must have removed that for some reason

Yeah Avacyn actually crunches the slot out whoops

Oh wait no there's 5

It's LoTV, but she's in the wrong slot numbers

She comes before Avacyn for some reason

Also this looks awful

There's WAY too much text for that holy shit

[twilit canyon]

its literally the exact text off hd

[golden plover]

Nah it is, that's the issue

Simple cards like Griselbrand, Avacyn, and Cathar's Crusade look great in this

Hermit Druid has so much text it's just all over the frame lol

All the other ones with a lot of text bunched the text in one spot too

No clue why the text is just everywhere on this one

Gitrog looks great and the text is all in an unused corner

Wait is he pantsless?

[golden plover]

Outlined his legs. Wtf is going on in the middle?

I think it's his tunic

[fallow citrus]

https://x.com/nachonparty/status/1876992522104324284

Yuji (@nachonparty) on X

it came to me in a dream

Twitter · Jan 8, 2025, 2:01 PM

[twilit canyon]

lol

[barren cairn]

lmao

[sudden lava]

"Keen sense/Snake Umbra land flinger!"

[past socket]

Player removal best removal

[sudden lava]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gg3eNZHaMAAl-U9?format=jpg&name=medium

[past socket]

So it’s treeson then?

[sudden lava]

this card needed the reprint

[past socket]

Also sounds super funny with [[Triskaidecaphobia]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/inr/136/triskaidekaphobia

Triskaidekaphobia <:mana3:292901508771610624><:manab:292901508872273920>

Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, choose one —
• Each player with exactly 13 life loses the game, then each player gains 1 life.
• Each player with exactly 13 life loses the game, then each player loses 1 life.

[trail anvil]

yeah, very intentional

I've become the infect deck

[golden plover]

Why the fuck did they use the anime art

[trail anvil]

wait why did they

[golden plover]

It's literally the only card they did that with

It bothers me so much

Jung Park isn't a blacklisted artist either

[lusty trench]

I would say maybe it's artist controversy but Jung park is a long time MTG artist and chromatic lantern is another piece of his with a ton of reprints

[trail anvil]

[[$tree of perdition]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/inr/135/tree-of-perdition

Prices for Tree of Perdition

Jumpstart 2022

$16.22 • €14.71

Eldritch Moon Promos

$35.05 • €13.52

Eldritch Moon

$16.33 • €10.24 • 0.26 TIX

[trail anvil]

either way very welcomed reprint

[lusty trench]

Good downshift too

[golden plover]

Yeah, just wish they used the regular art

But yeah, Jung Park hasn't had a new art in a bit

But he's not blacklisted

His arts are still reprinted

As of OTJ his arts are still used

But [[Chromatic Lantern]] did get a new art in Foundations Jumpstart

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/otc/255/chromatic-lantern

Chromatic Lantern <:mana3:292901508771610624>

Artifact
Lands you control have ": Add one mana of any color."
: Add one mana of any color.
Dimir mages put the lanterns to good use, creating shapeshifters and sleeper agents from mana foreign to them.

[golden plover]

Doesn't necessarily mean he's blacklisted, could just be a new art for an iconic card

[trail anvil]

maybe he's not blacklisted but he just chose to move on from wizards? what's the latest art he did, was it just otj?

[golden plover]

Latest art was OTJ

It is possible he's blacklisted internally and this is the first we're learning of it

But it'd have to have been very recent and outside of like 2 artists, being blacklisted for internal stuff is typically not the standard

[trail anvil]

I doubt it's that

[golden plover]

We know why Nielsen, McKinnon, and Bradley have their art replaced now

Peter Mohrbacher, Tomasz Jedruszek, and Tianhua X are blacklisted with us knowing but Peter and Tomasz were notably outspoken about inadequate pay and royalties

Tianhua X is because of spousal abuse and sexual assault

Oh I'm just totally wrong lol

[golden plover]

Literally has arts in the set

He's not blacklisted

Weird

[trail anvil]

oh maybe they legitimately did it just to diversify the number of artists in the set then?

[golden plover]

I guess? They probably honestly just slapped an art on the card and didn't care then

Since the swamps and forests are his only arts in the set and people like Dominik Mayer (deservedly) have whole cycles

[past socket]

That first Island art

[golden plover]

https://www.tumblr.com/markrosewater/772220019596787712/i-noticed-that-daynight-werewolves-are-absent?source=share

Also confirmed that day/night is a failure

[past socket]

Didn’t Tovolar already do that as a band-aid Commander?

[trail anvil]

it is infamous as a super hard to track mechanic

I forgot if maro listed it among his worst

[past socket]

and yeah pain no au chocolat

Would love to learn some of the other less than desired mechanics

Like heard people despised Stickers

and for good reason imo

Sounds annoying to track and junk

[trail anvil]

here's the list, yep day/night was 6

[past socket]

When he isn’t rocking people with balloon men

[trail anvil]

what?

[past socket]

Oh talking about the GameKnights Live match with him with the Balloon Boy from Duskmourn, forget the name off the top of my head

and like gained a massive amount of life with the card Gimme Five!

Looked it up now I remember

The Jolly Balloon Man

[golden plover]

Honestly the worst part is that Day/Night has to be tracked even if there's no day/night card on the field

Once one enters, you have to track it all game

Because another day/night card might come in to play

Mechanic would be a lot better if it stopped mattering if every day/night card was gone

[past socket]

Once the party starts the doors are being sealed shut

[golden plover]

But nope, gotta track it every turn

[past socket]

I know some of them but am scared for some of the higher ones I’m not familiar with

[golden plover]

I kinda wanted to build [[Vadrik, Astral Archmage]] in commander at one point because he's cool and gay, but he tracks it and I don't wanna deal with that

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/mid/248/vadrik-astral-archmage

Vadrik, Astral Archmage <:mana1:292901508373282827><:manau:292901508754702338><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard
If it's neither day nor night, it becomes day as Vadrik, Astral Archmage enters.
Instant and sorcery spells you cast cost less to cast, where X is Vadrik's power.
Whenever day becomes night or night becomes day, put a +1/+1 counter on Vadrik.
1/2

[golden plover]

Pioneer notably had to track it a lot in the past because of [[Graveyard Trespasser]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/mid/104/graveyard-trespasser-graveyard-glutton

Graveyard Trespasser <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manab:292901508872273920>

Creature — Human Werewolf
Ward—Discard a card.
Whenever Graveyard Trespasser enters or attacks, exile up to one target card from a graveyard. If a creature card was exiled this way, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
3/3

Graveyard Glutton
Creature — Werewolf
Ward—Discard a card.
Whenever Graveyard Glutton enters or attacks, exile up to two target cards from graveyards. For each creature card exiled this way, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Nightbound (If a player casts at least two spells during their own turn, it becomes day next turn.)
4/4

[golden plover]

If she entered, you're tracking it all game when she was usually the only card that cared about it

[past socket]

Personally got introduced to Day/Night mostly due to the sorta band-aid for day/night but more specifically werewolves in Tovolar, Dire Overord

[last glen]

hey Dire Cathar was also important in Pioneer

[golden plover]

Was at one point, but not for as long

[copper pecan]

if peter wasn't already blacklisted for the royalties thing he definitely got blacklisted after he tried to sell nfts with magic art on them

[golden plover]

Forgot about that

He's super blacklisted now

[sudden lava]

https://youtu.be/KTXdAbOFG7A

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/448940916833648640/1327366635320901682/image.png?ex=6782ce03&is=67817c83&hm=e5196688fe823d934f7a6a46c43c86b940f5fdc91254c6631f898f7e9ad903cc&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=618&height=313

https://tenor.com/view/lets-go-lesbians-gif-13879235

[sudden lava]

new secret lair comes with 10 of each basic land

[stark skiff]

10 each!!??!??

Finally

[sudden lava]

Hear me out, Dandan reprint with this art

[haughty otter]

[ornate cedar]

Finally got a third copy of Annex in Arena through a gold pack of all things

Built my mono black demon deck

LFG

Next is to make Dimir Occulus lol

[ornate cedar]

I added a discard package in the demon deck and this thing is just disgusting

Bandit’s Talent especially

[past socket]

Have y’all ever heard of olms

The faceless looking cousins of the axolotl

[copper pecan]

love those funny cave lads

[past socket]

Slivers remind me of them honestly

I don’t know if it’s just me who gets olm vibes from Slivers

[copper pecan]

i can see the resemblance i think

[ornate cedar]

Here it is for now, gonna add another Valgavoth when I get one, and I think I need more methods of dumping cards besides Triumph and Macabre Waltz. Anything else I should add?

[past socket]

Demons my beloved

Also the Swamp in your list looks lovely

[ornate cedar]

Oh yeah, I love how atmospheric and spooky it is without being overly so

[past socket]

As much as I have my biases about Lands (Love the Fallout Swamps with a passion partly out of love for the series and partly nostalgia) but up there among swamps

Nikola Matkovic Swamp my beloved

[ornate cedar]

I get that. I love the full art Duskmourn lands, and I wish I had the gems to get them lol

I also like the full art BLB lands for the seasons

[ornate cedar]

Oh my god Valgavoth is so broken

I defo need that second copy lol

[golden plover]

I hate the fucking Overlord deck in standard. How do I side to win against it

[trail anvil]

what deck are you playing

[copper pecan]

run more enchantment removal

[golden plover]

Dimir Enchants

[golden plover]

Went really aggressive on the withering torments and get outs

I just hate that they have perfect mana, beanstalk draws them 1+ every turn, Leyline is a 1 mana removal spell for them, and Zur is insanely annoying

Too many good tools with no penalties in the package

[trail anvil]

don't you just have to rush them as dimir

[golden plover]

Dimir Enchants can't rush with most hands

You do just have to rush them down, but that's 1/1s with prowess

I'm hoping dedicating 5 sideboard spots to the MU does it

[ornate cedar]

Aetherdrift is around the corner and only now do I see some of the Redline parallels in the marketing

That makes me happy because I love Redline

If one of the cards references 7 Hand Drawn Years I’ll buy a playset

[ornate cedar]

I also made a deck featuring Hare Apparent and Cat tribal to create an overwhelming source of life gain

I call it “Hare y Cats” :3

Gonna make a selesnya version with Hare as well to make wide boards of beefy rabbit tokens

[sudden lava]

how does cats work with it

[golden plover]

What the fuck

Why are you siding that

Imo that card is dogshit even in decks that can hard cast it

[last glen]

Maybe they really hate handrip

[golden plover]

Probably but they can't even play that normally

[twilit canyon]

its very playable in green

outside of that theres no point

[golden plover]

I don't even think it's that good in green

It's a 4/4 vanilla, even if it's a free 4/4 vanilla sometimes

And I'll just swap nightmare for duress if I see it g3

[twilit canyon]

nightmare and duress are fundamentally different cards

nightmare is part of the pressure wincon the deck runs so like sure that benefits your opponent

[ornate cedar]

It’s still not optimized, but the ideal loop is Rabbits/Cats enter, trigger Hinterland/Lifecreed Duo/Caretaker, which then pumps up Aljahni and/or Essence Channeler. If Careraker is out, this also triggers to add more cat tokens on board and pump up Aljahni further. It’s definitely more of a fun deck than a competitive one. Demon Hand Rip is my main competitive deck atm

There are other cats that give better effects, like that new green Cat whose name escapes me, but I don’t have enough copies of them yet

[sleek ferry]

^ this. If you’re siding out nightmare for duress, you’re reactively siding for the matchup and making your deck worse, as opposed to proactively dealing with the issue

[golden plover]

I mean it's not a 1:1

If I need to side hand hate in and I know they're playing Baloth, I can put the duress in

But usually I don't necessarily need it

[golden plover]

God casual commander players really just hate playing the game, huh? Had a friend text me that they're mad because they lost to a guy looping Time Stop every turn (A: That sounds hard to do and awesome. Arcane Bombardment is my best guess, but that's 12 mana. B: You still get an upkeep to interact in)
Like if my opponent assembles that combo and can demonstrate they're doing it every turn, Imma scoop. gg. Why get mad y'all played it out?

I think like 25-50% of commander players really would be better off just playing Spirit Island or Arkham Horror

[past socket]

[[Spirit Island]] [[Arkham Horror]]

[lost widget]

No card found for “Spirit Island”

No card found for “Arkham Horror”

[golden plover]

Co-operative Deckbuilding board games

[past socket]

o h

[golden plover]

I should start bringing it to casual commander sometimes so when people bitch I can go "here we're all on the same page"

[trail anvil]

that's not just 12 mana, that's 12 mana + whatever spells you need on each turn to cast time stop

and honestly that does sound like an oppressive gamestate lol

[golden plover]

If they assembled it they win lol

3 players can totally figure out a way to not let that happen before it does

[twilit canyon]

they are magic players

they cant

they are stupid

[rigid scarab]

I mean we don't know the exact context here or the vibe of the table

The guy looping time stop could've been a big ass about it

Maybe they're "mad" because they're frustrated at themselves

[golden plover]

Nah, friend was mad dude had the audacity to loop time stop to go infinite and apparently they made that guy play it out?

Like that's on you

If he demonstrated he can time stop every turn he's won, just scoop

[rigid scarab]

Ok how experienced is this friend

I take statements like “Casual commander players are X” more seriously than I should

[golden plover]

They've been playing for like 2 and a half years

Definitely enough to know they should scoop there

[rigid scarab]

Well that’s a lesson for the friend then

[ornate cedar]

Many commander players don’t run enough removal

[twilit canyon]

i see

[copper pecan]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/948945461597831218/1328395471282114611/image0.png?ex=67868c30&is=67853ab0&hm=80c44b1258b0ef4b0dcb1d45d7edba8ac8e46223a251d260c7c3411c7e43a579&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=473&height=662

[glad peak]

Holy

Instant Magda card

Huh Magda people are more split on this than expected

[sudden lava]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/448940916833648640/1328406303604867213/image.png?ex=67869647&is=678544c7&hm=f2c7b07edb0c6dbf88c253a90aa44df7cf861c89621e26f5003311e4560132d8&

[sudden lava]

apollo with the curse of prophecy, I was just saying in MBT discord that I was thinking about a funny deck where cats drive cars

[twilit canyon]

3 is just such a weird mana value

[glad peak]

Magda alone can crew this and turn it into an artifact dwarf but true 3 is weird

[sudden lava]

oh damn now Magda's delivery service comes with cars becoming part-time employees

meaning they can be tapped for even more treasure

[golden plover]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/a-secret-lair-test-is-coming-to-your-local-wpn-game-store

Huh... So the solution to mechanically unique secret lairs is... Giving some copies to LGSes

I don't think that fixes the availability issue unless they get a lot of copies each so I guess we'll see?

Doesn't seem like a solution tho

Hopefully these at least have MSRP so LGSes can't charge $100+ for them if they've got a card like Greymond

[lusty trench]

Knowing my lgs' these will be scalped all the same

[trail anvil]

[[edward kenway]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/acr/53/edward-kenway

Edward Kenway <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manau:292901508754702338><:manab:292901508872273920><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Human Assassin Pirate
At the beginning of your end step, create a Treasure token for each tapped Assassin, Pirate, and/or Vehicle you control.
Whenever a Vehicle you control deals combat damage to a player, look at the top card of that player's library, then exile it face down. You may play that card for as long as it remains exiled.
5/5

[trail anvil]

more treasures?

someone also suggested [[depala, pilot exemplar]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/kld/178/depala-pilot-exemplar

Depala, Pilot Exemplar <:mana1:292901508373282827><:manar:292901508796645397><:manaw:1007102126813610074>

Legendary Creature — Dwarf Pilot
Other Dwarves you control get +1/+1.
Each Vehicle you control gets +1/+1 as long as it's a creature.
Whenever Depala, Pilot Exemplar becomes tapped, you may pay . If you do, reveal the top X cards of your library, put all Dwarf and Vehicle cards from among them into your hand, then put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
3/3

[copper pecan]

iirc duel masters has an archetype where the premise is "mice driving tanks"

[sudden lava]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy7XvJXBuQA

premiere of debut video has been scheduled for next week

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/aetherdrift-episode-1-the-dashing-and-the-desperate

[golden plover]

Lost to a weird new version of Esper running Temporary Lockdown and Wishclaw. Miserable deck to play against

The more I think on it, the more I think This Town should probably get hit next standard banlist. But aggro has to lose a card too then (monstrous rage) so that it doesn't just become unchecked

I'm saying this as someone playing Dimir

This Town just kinda has crept up and does too much

[golden plover]

https://www.tumblr.com/markrosewater/772668803510304768/maros-aetherdrift-teaser?source=share

The 13/13 1 mana vehicle is almost surely deaths Shadow as a car, yeah?

Wait actually Deaths Car is better than deaths shadow, since it doesn't die if you play it above 12 life

[lusty trench]

"Cycle of vanilla legendary creatures"

Boooo

Goblin mana card doesn't sound bad

[zinc shard]

does Muraganda have any native planeswalkers

[lusty trench]

None we know iirc

[golden plover]

Garruk

The planeswalkers are almost certainly Samut, Saheeli, Basri, and Dareeti tho

[zinc shard]

The Lotus could tap for mana equal to the number of Artifacts you control. or Vehicles.

[golden plover]

Nah, all lotuses tap for 3

It's probably a vehicle tho

Probably gotta sacc it once it's crewed to make 3 mana

[golden plover]

Yeah this sucks, but I assume they're Muraganda reps?

[lusty trench]

? Really? Huh

[zinc shard]

[[Nyx Lotus]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/thb/235/nyx-lotus

Nyx Lotus <:mana4:292901508712890379>

Legendary Artifact
Nyx Lotus enters tapped.
: Choose a color. Add an amount of mana of that color equal to your devotion to that color. (Your devotion to a color is the number of mana symbols of that color in the mana costs of permanents you control.)

[golden plover]

Mentioned to be likely in the comics, he's not confirmed

And the comics are dubiously canon

So it's not 100%, but they could confirm it if they wanna make him one

https://preview.redd.it/s85y8ojvvzce1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f36d7ecf73ba45ee544d52e9720f69983b0e3526

Oh this is the art for the lotus

Considering it's Amonkhet themed, it probably does something about graveyards then

[lusty trench]

Common Dominik mayer art W

[golden plover]

True

[sudden lava]

partner withh vehicle maybe?

[lusty trench]

It's likely gonna be a mechanic that makes a vehicle have haste and be a creature when you play it

[trail anvil]

damn the multicolor gearhulks are a cycle, hype

[trail anvil]

they're not printing partner with in standard

probably living weapon for vehicles

[golden plover]

Partner is never going in standard yeah

Honestly I bet it's an italic mechanic and it's:
"Start Your Engines- This spell does something, or something different if you control a vehicle"

[copper pecan]

no characters from muraganda have ever actually appeared

[copper pecan]

legendary vanilla cycle
yargle kart real???

[sudden lava]

wonder what the stats gonna be like

and creature type for the cycle

[gritty nest]

Did you know

Copying a token doubler gets out of hand

[zinc shard]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/aetherdrift-episode-2-pit-stop

[zinc shard]

I hate Momir

[golden plover]

Does anyone like Momir?

Like I won, but this is undeserved, just got a bunch of random ramp guys

[trail anvil]

this question is asked every time it comes back around and the answer is apparently yes, it's a pretty popular format

[sleek ferry]

@gilded glade https://x.com/itssensitivejoy/status/1879132094611546221?s=46&t=DdUsqNPs-c3IFDRYOhiq8A

joy ✶ MagicCon Chicago (@ItsSensitiveJoy) on X

good morning to everyone but the judge who told me this combo works just like you think it does

Twitter · Jan 14, 2025, 11:42 AM

[gilded glade]

I don't have X anymore

So I can't check

[subtle sierra]

as in if you flip the land face up it triggers immediatelly?

[sudden lava]

yup

because the ETB trigger to get ice counters doesn't happen if you manifest dread it to the field

so when you flip it up (via Zimone's landfall) Ice Depths will see it's counters are missing and sac itself via ability

[gilded glade]

Oh

I mean

Yeah

I'm confused why that should be confusing

[fallow citrus]

yeah that's how dark depths works lol

it's just like you're doing a bad thespian stage combo

[sudden lava]

true

[gilded glade]

https://tenor.com/view/borzoigaming-borzoi-borzoi-true-true-borzcord-gif-3111816095909094926

(I played both morph decks and land decks and especially made everything face down when I could)

[golden plover]

Wait what even is the combo lol

I don't see the interaction?

[sudden lava]

The interaction is Ice Depth has no counters

[golden plover]

How?

[sudden lava]

^

[golden plover]

Oh wait that's so bad

You mean you manifest dread it off zimone??

[sudden lava]

yup (or other cards I suppose)

need the zimone to flip it up tho

[golden plover]

That sucks

[sudden lava]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/aetherdrift-episode-3-go

https://media.wizards.com/2024/images/daily/Y1mkjAtl8y.png

10/10 art

[ornate cedar]

Only reason I know this is my standard manifest dread deck

[copper pecan]

yo the guy from the concept art made it in to the set

[past socket]

I love that Wacky Races is Magic canon now

[sudden lava]

yeah this should be the speed demon card art

[stark skiff]

https://tenor.com/view/muttley-reclamando-resmungando-medalha-grumbling-gif-15509039

[golden plover]

Someone convince me not to build this deck idea I just had

Whoops too late

Caretaker's was really missing access to the best card in the format

Whoops forgot to put enduring innocence in here, gotta fix that

Fixed

[golden plover]

Good

Also... This sets story has SUCKED

@lusty trench it's not worse than SNC, but this sets story is BAD

[trail anvil]

wtf is this

[lusty trench]

Damn what happened

[golden plover]

I liked the Amonkhet and Avishkar worldbuilding at least

[golden plover]

Loot got captured by random Muragandans

[lusty trench]

Okay?

[hidden ermine]

[[Loot]]

[lost widget]

Multiple cards match “Loot”, can you be more specific?

[hidden ermine]

... goddammit

[twilit canyon]

[[loot key to everything]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/big/62/loot-the-key-to-everything

Loot, the Key to Everything <:manag:292901508654301185><:manau:292901508754702338><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Beast Noble
Ward
At the beginning of your upkeep, exile the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of card types among other nonland permanents you control. You may play those cards this turn.
The vault's ultimate prize wasn't exactly what Kellan had imagined.
1/2

[hidden ermine]

Thanks

That is not the same creature

[twilit canyon]

he has another card too but its not as memorable

[golden plover]

He can also talk telepathically now

Still not an interesting character lol

But overall the story has been lots of quirky characters and memey moments and everyone just being... Whatever

Chandra randomly saved Loot despite only knowing him as Winter's assistant

And now she's got Loot and Dareeti to help her

[stark skiff]

damn Jace sucks as a dad

[golden plover]

Loot has been captured like 3 times already

[stark skiff]

whats the tldr story of Fast and Furious set

[golden plover]

Jace is a shitty dad yeah

[golden plover]

Exactly what you'd expect. Cars racing. Nothing much else rn

[lusty trench]

Why do they keep bringing loot along

[golden plover]

Because marketable plush

[stark skiff]

is there something theyre racing for? I actually havent looked into it all yet lol

[trail anvil]

they marvel-ified magic

[golden plover]

The aetherspark. It gives someone a spark

[past socket]

https://tenor.com/view/muttly-laughing-giggle-silent-laugh-laugh-gif-5561789

[golden plover]

Don't ask how, that's not explained

[past socket]

Dick Dastardly becoming a Planeswalker real?

[golden plover]

The Muraganda side story was good tho

[sudden lava]

oh there was a 4th episode, need to catch up

https://media.wizards.com/2024/images/daily/XhBQj70a7K.png

this goes hard ngl

Im assuming this is the dino dragon mount

[sudden lava]

https://youtu.be/w7o1kmdnoso

we just got full body shots for both the commanders

[zinc shard]

legs confirmed

[golden plover]

Why the fuck is it cropped like that

That looks so wrong wtf

Looks like this art was supposed to be an instant/sorcery and got made into a Planeswalker last minute

[zinc shard]

so a static, a +, a 0, and a minus ability

[golden plover]

Oh true

I'm just more shocked how weird the art is cropped

[lusty trench]

Hopefully that's not how it's on print

[golden plover]

Yeah I at least hope the hair and leg pop out

But like... It looks like the art is too high up

[trail anvil]

my guess is it's an extended art but just put behind a regular frame

[glad peak]

Oh hey a botched akira reference

[sudden lava]

Chandra bumped her head on that frame

[rigid scarab]

This is Magic now, keep up

People are only gonna pay attention to lore if it has wacky memes and pop culture references in it

[clever sun]

Even then people won't pay attention to the lore

[glad peak]

They can put literally anything on the lore area and people will either eat it up or reject it regardless of how good or bad, I don’t blame wotc here

[rigid scarab]

I feel like MTG lore is like that Calvin and Hobbes meme

The two types of MTG Standard sets since 2022 are Fantasy and Finger-Pointing. All sets fall into these two categories.

Dominaria United? Fantasy.
Neon Dynasty? Finger-Pointing.
Bloomburrow? Fantasy. Duskmourn? Finger-Pointing.

Despite being set in Fantasy, Wilds of Eldraine is Finger-Pointing.

[twilit canyon]

average kaito experience

[golden plover]

No way the Dimir player let you get to that board

[zinc shard]

No put him back

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/aetherdrift-episode-5-first-over-the-line

[copper pecan]

scrimblo has escaped prison

[sudden lava]

Ordered myself a scheme deck finally so I can play some archenemy

[gritty nest]

Tried my goblin deck for the first time tonight
This was turn 3

[glad peak]

t1 lackey
Yeah sounds about right

[gritty nest]

LMAO

t1 lackey
t2 tremors get a free war chief
t3 cheat out king, play brightstone ritual? (the 2 mana add R for each creature you control), play krenko, then rundevult

[barren cairn]

Yeah

I have a krenko deck and it's just like this lol

[glad peak]

t1 lackey is all I needed to see lmao

[golden plover]

Just to go Ghost Vaccuum a Dimir reanimator player and drop in their Atraxa, Valgavoth, and Overlord of the Floodpits + my Sheoldred and Curiosity

They still made me play the remaining 3 turns out smh

New arena feature idea: Flashes a big "hey it looks like you're losing the game. You might be able to topdeck an out, but 99% of the time this is an unwinnable position " at people like that

[twilit canyon]

thats an awful feature idea

[sudden lava]

yeah that's an awful feature idea

[golden plover]

I'm joking, I just don't get why people play out losses like that

[gritty nest]

I am getting into $30 vintage, I’m building affinity

[twilit canyon]

because theres no guarantee u lose

or win

[sleek ferry]

So where’s the aetherdrift spoilers at

[sudden lava]

Spoiler Season officially starts on the 21st

[sleek ferry]

Sigh

[sudden lava]

and will be mostly daily (Excluding the 26th) ending on January 30th

[gritty nest]

so I had an idea for $30 vintage, but I want your guys opinion

[[Hope of Ghirapur]]

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/aer/154/hope-of-ghirapur

Hope of Ghirapur <:mana1:292901508373282827>

Legendary Artifact Creature — Thopter
Flying
Sacrifice Hope of Ghirapur: Until your next turn, target player who was dealt combat damage by Hope of Ghirapur this turn can't cast noncreature spells.
The renegades mounted an aether disruptor aboard a lightweight thopter to destroy Tezzeret's Planar Bridge.
1/1

[glad peak]

Is that an actual format?

[gritty nest]

Idk

$30 cap on a vintage deck

Between main and side board

[gritty nest]

how good is [[gonti, lord of luxury]]? Especially in [[Gonti, Canny Acquisitor]]?

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/otc/135/gonti-lord-of-luxury

Gonti, Lord of Luxury <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manab:292901508872273920><:manab:292901508872273920>

Legendary Creature — Aetherborn Rogue
Deathtouch
When Gonti, Lord of Luxury enters, look at the top four cards of target opponent's library, exile one of them face down, then put the rest on the bottom of that library in a random order. You may cast that card for as long as it remains exiled, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell.
2/3

https://scryfall.com/card/otc/1/gonti-canny-acquisitor

Gonti, Canny Acquisitor <:mana2:292901509060886528><:manab:292901508872273920><:manag:292901508654301185><:manau:292901508754702338>

Legendary Creature — Aetherborn Rogue
Spells you cast but don't own cost less to cast.
Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, look at the top card of that player's library, then exile it face down. You may play that card for as long as it remains exiled, and mana of any type can be spent to cast that spell.
5/5

[rigid scarab]

Run of the mill thief card

I feel Gonti is suited more towards a go wide creature deck than a dedicated thief deck

[glad peak]

First is good in cube, second is mid everywhere

[rigid scarab]

Talking about black gonti in a sultai gondi cmd deck

[glad peak]

Same answer

[gritty nest]

I’m guessing you mean Sultai gonti?

I run a bunch of the 1 drop dudes that are unblockable

[rigid scarab]

Yeah

In that build black gonti seems like a mismatch

But its good for theming

[past socket]

Reminds me of my own current adventures into a Thunder Junction Commander (aside Stella)

[[Marchesa, Dealer of Death]] for a Rogue Tribal deck

[lost widget]

https://scryfall.com/card/otj/220/marchesa-dealer-of-death

Marchesa, Dealer of Death <:manau:292901508754702338><:manab:292901508872273920><:manar:292901508796645397>

Legendary Creature — Human Rogue
Whenever you commit a crime, you may pay . If you do, look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the other into your graveyard. (Targeting opponents, anything they control, and/or cards in their graveyards is a crime.)
"You should have folded when you had the chance."
3/4

[glad peak]

Do rogues at least commit a lot of crime?

[past socket]

Enough

[gritty nest]

When you said go wide, were we thinking the same thing when I said the tiny unblockable dudes, or did you mean like scute swarm?

[rigid scarab]

It doesnt need to be a bunch of guys

Plentiful evasive cheap creatures was my idea

And Gonti can be a payoff for them

[gritty nest]

Yea, that’s how I built it, it was the most obvious and fair route I thought of

Creatures are the most easy to deal with, yes they’re unblockable but that’s why board wipes and removal (player removal) exists

[past socket]

Yeah that’s what I was thinking for Rogue tribal stuff, loads of unblockables or ways to make things unblockable with a dash of crime with Marchesa

[rigid scarab]

Idt its even bc of fairness

I think that route is just the most obvious route for gonti

There are better commanders for a traditional thief deck

[past socket]

Anowon, the Ruin Thief my beloved

[rigid scarab]

If you want a simple thief commander that encourages a thief theme

Commanders in casual edh are generally good if they're either

• Enabler + Payoff for your theme
• Is a payoff for a theme good on its own
• Enables an extremely powerful theme unique to itself

[sudden lava]

Alternatively

[past socket]

Jasper being a gem in Rogue Tribal

[sudden lava]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/aetherdrift-episode-6-the-bloodless-revolution

huge spoiler, great art

[copper pecan]

i swear loot's head gets bigger in proportion to his body every time we see him

like his head is almost the size of the entire rest of his body here

[hidden ermine]

Loot eventually™️

[zinc shard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK3X8zCIFKI&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2F

[haughty otter]

Owo

[sudden lava]

OH! That's what the survey was about

[golden plover]

Wow this trailer is... Bad

Usually the trailers are pretty high quality cg or animation

What happened here

[sudden lava]

I liked it, big hearthstone vibes

[sleek ferry]

The budget to make high speed animation wasn’t big enough probably

I don’t think anything is topping this tbh https://youtu.be/mzBrfW7Ipzg?si=VAMiiPzDQ4kBjwgQ

[gritty nest]

True

[glad peak]

Ok the trailer at least makes it sound fun

I like the goofy route they’re going rather than drama all the time

They should start giving us anthology goofy stuff

[lusty trench]

https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1881749603566969178?t=jZ9eXFe32ZIcfnx3Xl2vZQ&s=19

Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) on X

The Ghirapur Grand Prix is too big of a race to stick to just Avishkar. That's where the deserts of Amonkhet and the wilds of Muraganda come in!

The action is heating up in the #MTGAetherdrift debut: https://t.co/xfocscvdry

X · Jan 21, 2025, 5:04 PM

Did someone say mechanic that requires tracking?

[sudden lava]

these are peak

[lusty trench]

https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1881750864290885703?t=26j1_Hy_TviTC0lTpCzqFQ&s=19

Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) on X

He's the baaaaaaad guy. Duh.

Winter has been tasked with bringing the Aetherspark back to the House in exchange for his freedom and he'll do anything to win. #MTGAetherdrift

X · Jan 21, 2025, 5:09 PM

[sudden lava]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/448940916833648640/1331308375450980373/image.png?ex=6791250b&is=678fd38b&hm=77b4bde4806a410955ada405ded143b4b35b9debced195ba6dc349b8423128fc&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=389&height=541

[lusty trench]

https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1881750611609202808?t=KzR4HaehI5csdjc6BVmejA&s=19

Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) on X

While Loot could use some more training guiding people through Omenpaths (they keep being in the sky!), he's a perfect example of the new Exhaust mechanic.

Exhaust gives you a powerful effect, but only once per game. #MTGAetherdrift

X · Jan 21, 2025, 5:08 PM

[sudden lava]

speed counters

[lusty trench]

https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1881749855732645927?t=SwlDBY4CGx1O4FP--fcNTA&s=19

Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) on X

They're the host with the most and are always verbose, introducing Vnwxt! Not only does he look excellent in his borderless version but here are two new #MTGAetherdrift mechanics!

Reminder: the Mechanics article goes live on https://t.co/8PxNWdAB1h right after WeeklyMTG!

X · Jan 21, 2025, 5:05 PM

https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1881750107483226524?t=1RlzI1utWCtw5R-LkQ9Q2A&s=19

Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) on X

A race this grand has to have a suitably legendary prize. The Aetherspark fits the bill perfectly, allowing anyone to harness the power of a spark.

As the Headliner card of the set, look out for a special Serialized version in Collector Boosters! #MTGAetherdrift

X · Jan 21, 2025, 5:06 PM

[sudden lava]

both shown

[lusty trench]

fog horn sounds with hand gestures implying stank

[twilit canyon]

this chandra is not too bad

but man the art is just so mid

[twilit canyon]

this fucks on the other hand

[lusty trench]

Rad as hell

[zinc shard]

... that may be the lamest face commander from a precon ive ever seen

[lusty trench]

Kolodin kinda good

[twilit canyon]

most of this set is giving nothing. its lame and honestly kind of uninspired for a multiversal race

there are some good cards though

[lusty trench]

[sudden lava]

ah the zombie cat warrior is the person leading the orzoth team

[subtle sierra]

This is decent, no?

[sudden lava]

ally cycle

[sudden lava]

ok this art is so nice

[fallow citrus]

wait a second, I've seen this death's shadow before

[lusty trench]

https://tenor.com/view/back-to-the-future-hey-hey-ive-seen-this-one-what-do-you-mean-youve-seen-this-its-brand-new-gif-17294476

[golden plover]

Start your engines is gonna be really easy to forget

[sudden lava]

gruulhulk

[lusty trench]

https://vxtwitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1881754962000048573?t=mYITbdSPlqotGA6AUXtfwQ&s=19

Fellas

https://x.com/Dork4Short/status/1881752788520284226?t=gi7JrcQJHaNCScJI4OBjKQ&s=19

Dork4Short🔜MCChicago (@Dork4Short) on X

CHROME MOX SPECIAL GUEST?!?

#MTGAetherdrift

X · Jan 21, 2025, 5:16 PM

[golden plover]

This set feels like it's trying really hard to do a lot of things and isn't hitting any marks so far

And I'm sure Start Your Engines is gonna suck to track in physical draft

A few decent cards so far tho and the other half of the verges

[sudden lava]

country road cycle

[zinc shard]

for 4 colored mana why does this let them replace the card you get rid of

[copper pecan]

so you can also use it on yourself to cycle something

[golden plover]

I'm surprised they tried start your engines after day/night. I cannot see it leaving this set tbh

[copper pecan]

this is nowhere near as hard to track as day/night

you only have to increment it when you actually control a card with start your engines

[golden plover]

It's not, but I can't see it being fun to track in limited

[copper pecan]

the problem with day/night was that you always had to track it forever even when it didn't matter, and this doesn't do that

[golden plover]

Also, I get why this changes the Kamigawa pilot text, but slightly different versions of similar tokens always annoy me so these will be annoying if they're frequent in the set

[sleek ferry]

Basri is kinda good no? That’s pretty good for a 1 drop

[copper pecan]

basri seems pretty great

he'll probably see play in standard

[rigid scarab]

These are my first impressions too

Just looks mighty uninspired

[twilit canyon]

solid if a bit boring

[golden plover]

Basri seems good in limited and probably Mono-White tokens

I'm expecting this set overall to be somewhere between MKM and OTJ

[zinc shard]

Is this the same Winter from Duskmourn?

[twilit canyon]

yes

[sleek ferry]

I mean Tbf, cats in general are pretty damn boring, but the card does do what the deck wants

[golden plover]

As in not a great set from a design standpoint, and some cards will end up being pretty good

[zinc shard]

o-o I got some lore to catch up on

[twilit canyon]

now to see if we get 20 verges over 10

[golden plover]

Set design feels closer to OTJ so I'm expecting draft to feel wonky too

[sleek ferry]

Any obvious draft bombs?