Magic: the Gathering

[surreal stag]

my hand is my mana base, my graveyard is my mana base, and exile is my mana base

If scadrial stumbled upon the world of ATLA

[lucid jewel]

https://pastebin.com/1ZpqugLv heres my current brawl deck i use on mtga for hearthhull

if you need any ideas for things that go well with that commander

[surreal stag]

you added about 30 cards to the list lol

which is currently 235 cards

https://tenor.com/view/parks-and-rec-april-ludgate-help-sticky-note-need-help-gif-25019430

[lucid jewel]

oh

noe

im sorry i helped add so many cards to your growing list lol

[surreal stag]

dont be lol this is how i always do this

i dump everything. figure out the focus of the deck, and remove things in massive waves until i get to the last 30 cuts, then i panic

[molten maple]

Couldn't be me

I start with a list of like 30 "definitely yes" cards and 200 "perhaps" cards

[lucid jewel]

and then we have me

i just steal lists and edit them slightly to be more what i want

i dont generally sit and create lists a lot

its just not a thing that vibes with my brain

[surreal stag]

i usually steal a list and mod it but right now idk how many other people out there want Jund Earthbending

and if they exisit are most of them like me? or are they good at Magic?

[lucid jewel]

most of the lists ive seen run from the toph commander

[surreal stag]

which is likley the correct choice

but like.....why not try it

[lucid jewel]

yaa bending planets sounds sick

[surreal stag]

please let The Boulder have a card

[lucid jewel]

i do appreciate the meme and the reference of that character in the show

its just perfect

[molten maple]

I like to brew myself and then compare to how other people built similar decks and modify accordingly

[surreal stag]

thats how i did my elf ball deck

becuase you cant really mess up elf ball but you sure can make it a lot meaner is what ive learned

[surreal stag]

Might do this honestly

[granite whale]

This is the Omnath Group Ramp list I have 😄
https://archidekt.com/decks/14493221/omnath_group_ramp

Obviously there are some more symmetrical mana doublers I could add, but those backfire so fast that it goes too far imo. But could be fun to try some time. The tutors in the deck are basically only to fetch the symmetrical ramp creatures that the deck has and make that part of the gimmick stronger. because there aren't many options unfortunately. But if you can get Veterna Explorer or Avatar of Growth out and then recur it with a Witness card or similar the game goes bananas so fast hahaha

The wincon otherwise? Nuclear Beans

[lucid jewel]

SECRET TUNNEL !!!!!

Atla card

[surreal stag]

EARTHBEND LANDS

[charred ruin]

AND IT COMBOS WITH THIS

[surreal stag]

if onyl that card wasnt trash...

[charred ruin]

I don't care I have to play both of these in any red land deck

[surreal stag]

fair

[charred ruin]

Which unfortunately doesn't matter because that space is firmly occupied by my brother

[surreal stag]

im admittedly building a deck with bad choices for the sake of a theme

[lucid jewel]

and if you drop both and dont sing the song ill be sad

[surreal stag]

thats double rouges passage in tribal decks.....dont mind if i do

opens elf ball deck list

[lucid jewel]

I can see secret tunnel in quite a few lists

[surreal stag]

yea if you rune a Rouges Passage and half youre cratures share a type then theres no reason to ot run it

[turbid falcon]

POG

[leaden tide]

THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN

[surreal stag]

ATLA

White Louts Hideout yet another banger land

[leaden tide]

Wizards

What were you trying to cook here?

(ATLA)

[lucid jewel]

A good set

[leaden tide]

And a kinda really inconsistent bonus sheet

[plush bear]

I really, really hate the screenshots

[charred ruin]

Yeah that one is a miss

[leaden tide]

Yeah. The only bonus sheet cards that have felt decent are the first two they revealed.

[molten maple]

Side note but

I mostly hate all these cards that have art ripped directly from the show

They look so bad

[wanton hazel]

are they mostly the bonus sheet /TLE ones?

[leaden tide]

Yes, the TLE bonus sheet cards all have the gimmick of using screenshots from the show.

[turbid falcon]

Ah yes elf!zuko

Just like in the show

[leaden tide]

They....don't really look good. The treatment/frame (or rather lack of frame) is meh not great. And often the art is really weirdly chosen/framed.

[leaden tide]

Zuko. Who's an elf. And has a bunch of elf babies or something.

[surreal stag]

the screenshots from the shows is so god damn lazy i hate it

[molten maple]

lazy and ugly

luckily the art specifically created for this set is mostly good

[tepid stirrup]

Same as the Spider-man ripped-from-the-comics art

Same problems

[sleek valley]

Some of the FF bonus sheet cards had the same problem, but I actually think the XVI full arts turned out okay.

[surreal stag]

if any of the ripped from show art cards fit in one of my decks im just going to proxy it lol

[charred ruin]

The Rock???

[stiff horizon]

The most annoying part about the cards that are screenshots from the show is that they could have easily picked better frames for it
“Clearly you don’t own an air fryer” ozai looks awful for cruel tutor, because it’s a random close up shot that wasn’t meant to be held on very long in the show
If they’d used a screenshot from ||the flashback of ozai scarring zuko with a silhouetted ozai stepping forward at a dramatic camera angle|| I think that would have looked pretty good all things considered

The promo video references that scene when talking about the card but doesn’t use a shot from that scene, it’s baffling

[lucid jewel]

Thats the boulder to you smh

[charred ruin]

https://tenor.com/view/avatar-the-last-airbender-the-last-airbender-avatar-atla-tloa-gif-14828041

[heavy jasper]

This card is so funny ngl

[surreal stag]

espically when you just take it back

our local Group Slugger is very happy with that card lol

[wanton hazel]

I recall a post somewhere, where someone is playing a card like that against friends, he loans them a deck and then argues that he's the owner of those cards so he should get control of them

(the rules don't agree but I thought it was amusing)

[leaden tide]

My only note is that the name could have been ||Zuko, Alone||.

[tepid stirrup]

||I feel like that's a different card that has rules text for being your only card in play||

[leaden tide]

Could definitely see it.

[leaden tide]

I wonder if ||We'll get one more Zuko, representing him at the start of book 3/"that's rough buddy" appearance.||

Well, at least one that's not a reskinned random elf.

[turbid falcon]

I think I just took emotional damage

ATLA

[leaden tide]

Here, I'll distract you with even more emotional damage.

[heavy jasper]

That feels like this one kinda

Ik this is more ||finale Zuko|| but they feel the same

[turbid falcon]

||this one is so clever from a design perspective, he's relearned how to firebend now that anger isn't working||

All this makes me want to rewatch ATLA and buy the set honestly
I think they're doing (besides the weird bonus art) a fantastic job design wise

[leaden tide]

Yes, but that's a jumpstart card. Jumpstart cards cover characters at similar parts to their journey that the main set does.

[leaden tide]

I'm glad I watched the show before previews started, it's been very cool to see Magic's take on it. This is really a showcase of how powerful Universes Beyond can be. Even the multiple versions of the main characters make sense and don't feel very spammy, because of how focused the show is on growth and learning to be a better version of yourself.

But yeah I'm hoping none of the cards get too high in price, because I want to collect the whole set and arrange them in a binder in chronological order.

[turbid falcon]

Yeah I like how each card shows character development from book to book

[wanton hazel]

how would you define 'too high'? Because for a non-premium card in a standard set, some can get high-ish but not insane

[leaden tide]

I don't like paying more than $10 for a card.

[wanton hazel]

hopefully there won't be too many but almost assured there will be some

anytime popular character + good card collide it's gonna be tough to keep it too low

[heavy jasper]

I still want Sephiroth 😭

[wanton hazel]

I opened a $200 Sephiroth but had to sell it at some point

I had built a deck with it so I'll probably get the cheapest available one at some point

[heavy jasper]

What packs can I get Sephiroth in? Asking for a friend who is definitely gonna make financially good decisions 😅

[wanton hazel]

just a regular Final Fantasy Play Booster

there may be certain rare printings that are only in the collector boosters but they're decidedly not worth it, the $200 version I got was in a regular play booster

(there's also a beginner set you can get that has a Sephiroth card, it's not the one everyone wants but it works)

(different card text & such)

[heavy jasper]

Yeah I (unfortunately) want the One Winged Angel one

[wanton hazel]

this is the one I sold, only going up in value I see:

https://www.cardkingdom.com/mtg/final-fantasy-variants/sephiroth-fabled-soldier-0317-borderless-foil

[heavy jasper]

This is the one I’d want but I’m not paying that so maybe I’ll proxy it lol

[lucid jewel]

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/s/N0KQFMdkO2

This whole comment thread is brilliant

[leaden tide]

Oh my god that Go for the Throat

[molten maple]

I am DEAD at the Go For the Throat lmaooo

💀

[surreal stag]

Planet bending is coming along. Time to find the right balance of earthbend and landfall

[leaden tide]

AAAAAAAAAAAAA She got a card

[charred ruin]

Oooo that's a cool card for an Aristocrat or Outlaw deck

BTW why is it called Aristocrat?

[leaden tide]

Because one of the original defining cards was called "something Aristocrat"

[sleek valley]

From a deck in Inn/RTR standard.

[charred ruin]

I figured but hadn't seen the original cards

[leaden tide]

Damn she really was like "screw the Simic in particular."

[charred ruin]

Good because it's the worst color combination

This is a true and factual statement and certainly not my opinion as a Boros/Mardu main

[plush bear]

Jumpscares you with a Nadu

[charred ruin]

Nadu is legitimately much of my problem with Simic. I find their typical ramp/draw value engines to be both boring and very good and Nadu is the epitome of that playstyle

There's a handful of Simic things I like (Volo, Kotis) because they're very different but not any of the meta ones

[surreal stag]

Hakbal resents this statement

he just wants to see the world

[turbid falcon]

Omo is peak simic

They're very goofy, but also really powerful and makes for some interesting non standard simic strategies

[charred ruin]

Yeah that sounds fun

[charred ruin]

Bro that's still a ramp/draw value engine but now it's Merfolk tribal (though tbf I love tribal decks)

[surreal stag]

i knwo but i love it lol

merfolks are so dope

[granite whale]

Ixalan merfolk are 10/10 visual design and explore is an awesome mechanic. Hakbal is peak

[leaden tide]

Wake up babe, new "Worst AtlA bonus sheet card" dropped

[fierce dragon]

...i hate it

[leaden tide]

It's truly horrendous

[tepid stirrup]

Not only is it lazy as hell it doesn't.... make sense?

lmao

Genuinely funny card

[leaden tide]

There's so many other shots from that scene that could have conveyed a "Blasphemous Act."

Instead they chose ||Aang squatting like he's trying to take a crap, in 240p resolution||

[tepid stirrup]

The obvious grab is ||Zhao killing moonfish||

[leaden tide]

Still have my fingers crossed we get ||Blood Moon|| for that episode.

[gloomy pagoda]

Well you see, in this case the blasphemous act is using that screenshot to make a card

[lucid jewel]

THERES SO SO SO MANY BETTER BLASPHEMOUS ACT SCENES IM SO BLODDY DISSAPOINTED IN THIS REEEEEEE!!!

[lucid jewel]

Yeah that's a great one

And I can think of a few others as well

[lucid jewel]

Its also smokey and I cant even see the scene well

[leaden tide]

All I wanted out of the bonus sheet was ||the Reaper King reskinned as Melon Lord. Instead they gave us air-fryer owning Ozai for that episode and it's just sad.||

[tepid stirrup]

I wonder if they have a different team doing the bonus sheets

They've pretty consistently been worse

[heavy jasper]

ATLA ||BABY BOY||

[plush bear]

Awwwwwwwwww

[leaden tide]

There's been like, 2 or 3 of them that are "maybe not terrible", and even then the art is kinda low-res and the frameless text-only treatment does not look good.

[lucid jewel]

The regular set is full of bangers and really quality art

[sleek valley]

[charred ruin]

That's actually a pretty good one but what are we supposed to do with that reprint?

[leaden tide]

Play it in Legacy?

Do any Legacy decks even use it?

[plush bear]

Seems too slow for legacy

The best part of it was that there were 4 players and Commander heavily leans into mana rocks

[heavy jasper]

We are so back chat (ATLA spoiler)

[plush bear]

I hope they make a food token with tea

[heavy jasper]

And cabbages ofc

[leaden tide]

Feel like cabbages are a given.

[lucid jewel]

Group hug iroh sounds fun

[south gorge]

That sounds so toxic dear god

[molten maple]

Is this the ugliest MTG card ever printed?

Also: unrelated but I have good and bad news to report from my local commander night

Bad news: only 8 people other than me showed up and they were all in pods when I arrived so I couldn't even find a pod

Good news: a random guy was looking for someone to do sealed with, so he bought a bunch of tarkir dragonstorm packs and I just gave him all the cards at the end

[leaden tide]

Humble request: Please don't reply ping me unless you want my personal opinion, not a question for the whole chat/rhetorical question.

Oh nice, sealed is a lot of fun!

[molten maple]

I had never played tarkir dragonstorm limited before

But it seems like a good set

[leaden tide]

It's fun. Really impressive how they managed to support both all 5 clans' mechanics and the dragons in the set.

[molten maple]

I built my deck around these cards

Kotis swings every turn and steals my opponents cards, and Hollowmurk Siege makes him big and tough to block

[leaden tide]

The Sieges are a very fun cycle.

I lost two games in the same match to this siege during my prerelease.

[molten maple]

barrensteppe siege would go HARD with anything with mobilize

[leaden tide]

Don't underestimate the power of the first mode.

It accrues value fast with any sort of boardstate.

[molten maple]

I mean yeah that one is obviously good too

if you have a go wide deck

[leaden tide]

Even with a more narrow deck, it will make it harder and harder and harder to get rid of their creatures if you don't have enchantment removal.

[turbid falcon]

I mean I know what they're going for

But it's still a terrible shot to choose from that moment

ATLA ||I believe it's from the episode where Aang discovers they slaughtered all the airbenders, which to be fair WAS a blasphemous act
But honestly what an image to choose||

[turbid falcon]

My favorite edit of this has been some guy who keeps zooming in on his nose for whatever reason

[turbid falcon]

Ah, this and Teval were what wrecked my pre release, I just couldn't out value either one. Still a fun time though

[leaden tide]

Okay but this one

[lucid jewel]

This one is brilliant got any more ?

[leaden tide]

No I just found it on Reddit.

[lucid jewel]

I also wasn't to fussed with this one when it was came out but like as they have shown more of the bonus sheet

Its gotten worse and worse in my head

Like if this was a one off and the rest of the bonus sheet wasn't too bad

[leaden tide]

So much of the bonus sheet is either A) A weird card choice or B) A really bad art choice, and several of them are both.

[molten maple]

Bro the start of my commander game just now...

1: I start
2: I play a land and cast The Ozolith for 1
3: opponent Force of Wills my Ozolith

https://tenor.com/view/monkey-oxygen-gif-21529238

[turbid falcon]

Oof

I got ratiod so hard in my game tonight

I was running Teval, had activated hermit druid twice so my graveyard was massive, and had a 19 card hand, leaving me with 11 cards left it my deck. Needless to say I was balling hard and had already killed one player
My buddy had Marisil the pretender with a windfall ability, so I cast a spell to prevent myself from being able to get milled out. What I did not expect, since I had already cast a massive Exsanguinate earlier, was for him to counterspell it, and thus I died, according to them, to my own biblical levels of greed

[molten maple]

Ok that is pretty hilarious though lol

[molten maple]

The good news is I punished this guy for making such a goofy play

[turbid falcon]

I definitely deserved it
We then proceeded to have a full on war next game until he conceded to my second Emrakul in as many turns

[molten maple]

But like seriously why would someone use a force of will on a 1 drop artifact that wont provide amy value for like, 5 turns

[molten maple]

Youre playing 2???

[turbid falcon]

Emrakul the world anew and Emrakul the promised end

[molten maple]

OH

You know what else is absolute nonsense

The same guy who force of willed my ozolith turn 1 played a Kaalia deck the next game and cheated out Summon Bahamut turn 3

Like really bro?

[turbid falcon]

Sheesh

I usually kill it then copy it

Or the other way around

[molten maple]

Bro we had played like 2 lands each what are we supposed to do lol

Just have our own force of will or a swords to plowshares I guess

[turbid falcon]

Summon bahamut doesn't seem as good early game though, the blow up trigger isn't as valuable with an early board stage

Still scary, but not a lethal threat

[molten maple]

Kaalia is such a nonsense card. It might as well read "4 mana. When you attack with this creature, win the game"

[turbid falcon]

It's also not nearly as good as it used to be

There are a lot of ways to deal with her

[molten maple]

Until you realize it prevents you from playing anything yourself, and in a couple turns its going to shoot everyone in the face for like 30 damage because Kaalia keeps cheating out 9 drops every turn

And its still a 9/9 flyer...

[turbid falcon]

Ah, kaalia does change that equation

[molten maple]

I dont how understand how she isnt banned

[turbid falcon]

Because she's very obvious

She doesn't have haste or protection, and she's just a flier

[molten maple]

So are all the popular banned commanders

[turbid falcon]

She's absolutely kill on sight, but she doesn't create instant value
No more than my buddy's pig deck

[molten maple]

I mean if she attacks even 1 time the game is over

[turbid falcon]

Only if you're not prepared

[molten maple]

You HAVE to have removal or counterspells

If you dont it's just hopeless

[turbid falcon]

Well, yeah

But lots of commanders are like that

[molten maple]

And they all cost like, 7 mana

[turbid falcon]

My flubs deck REQUIRES removal to beat

If you don't have removal or don't use it, I will win turn 5 or 6

[molten maple]

Thats maybe ok for a bracket 4/5 deck but

Certainly not appropriate for bracket 3

[turbid falcon]

Then that's probably the issue at hand

Bad communication

[molten maple]

The commanders that guy played were Vivi and Kaalia, its like he wants to piss us off as much as possible as his only goal

Well

That or win at all costs

Overall it was a good commander night though, we all teamed up to try to stop him

He won 3/9 which isnt totally reasonable

[turbid falcon]

That's good, but good communication about power levels is the key to fun most often

[molten maple]

I still had fun so it wasnt a huge deal

[turbid falcon]

Cuz Kaalia can definitely just sort of be dragons demons and angels

Or it can be GNARLY

[molten maple]

But its a little wack to play decks so clearly not power level appropriate

[turbid falcon]

Vivi, uh, no excuse

I love izzet and I know exactly how nasty she is

[molten maple]

He played Vivi, missed like 4 land drops, did nothing for 6 turns, then just infinite combod us out of nowhere

Very balanced

[turbid falcon]

Yup, that about tracks

[molten maple]

Im still salty he force of willed my Ozolith turn 1...

Oh: I will say that the good thing about being in a pod with someone playing blatantly overpowered commanders is that it takes a lot of heat off of me

My deck is pretty solidly an upper-middle bracket 3 deck but it builds up massive boards so it becomes a huge target for removal/counter spells

His decks drew a lot of interaction away from me

[leaden tide]

If you don't deck yourself out at least a few times as a Sultai player, you're doing it wrong.

[leaden tide]

They've probably lost to an early Ozolith before and realize how fast it can snowball.

[leaden tide]

Yeah she dies to most removal.

If someone manages to swing with her, it's because the table wasn't paying attention or they didn't draw removal.

If they drew removal and used it elsewhere, that's honestly on them for not saving it for Kaalia.

[turbid falcon]

Yeah I built the deck in mind with that, I have a variety of effects to prevent that. The golgari mill lich, enter the tombs, the Jace that wins the game from empty library, a few others I'm probably forgetting about.
The deck isn't really built around milling my deck all at once, more I have lots of effects that stack together to mill bits and pieces each turn to provide fuel for delve, so really hermit druid is the only way in the deck I have to mill massive numbers of cards (I only run like... 6 basics?), and as I said I only activated it twice the whole game even though I controlled it since turn 2

And the reason I had 19 cards in hand was because I had dropped a death begets life to clear a very scary board, so personally I feel I wasn't being overly greedy, more just a bit aggressive

[surreal stag]

https://moxfield.com/decks/aJ7sF34Xw0S1D4BNDWQ93w

This deck has ATLA cards in it

[lucid jewel]

:eyeyeyeyeyes:

YES

this is what ive been looking for

WE DROPING PLANETS ON FOOLS

[surreal stag]

I’m going to run it tonight with my buds

[lucid jewel]

[lucid jewel]

You wouldn't download a card would you

Smh

[surreal stag]

I would

I only play on ttsim lol

I own 0 physical cards

[lucid jewel]

I should play sometime with you on ttsim

[surreal stag]

yes!

[lucid jewel]

||https://moxfield.com/decks/B-NebHzERkuYYQKHWYbACw|| how do we feel about this iroh deck

Trying to look for some good group hug ish iroh decks

[surreal stag]

Turns out hearthhull with 12 earthbend cards is just hearthhull

[surreal stag]

404 error

[lucid jewel]

Huh link works on my end

[granite whale]

Works for me too

[lucid jewel]

okay found mabey a better one that is more my vibe

||https://moxfield.com/decks/jcywiBVHtU-_2SW94tcIuA|| here is a more me boros iroh deck

[leaden tide]

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
(AtlA)
||Ember Island Performance
Sorcery. Uncommon
3UU

Choose one,

• Create a token that a copy of target creature you control, except it’s not a legendary and a 4/4 Hero in addition to it’s other types.
• Create a token that a copy of target creature an opponent controls, except it’s not a legendary and a 2/2 Coward in addition to its other types.||

[lucid jewel]

Perfect no notes

That epp was also such a good "recap"

[surreal stag]

that probably is going to read Ally and not Hero but yea great card

[leaden tide]

I'm not sure it will. ||Allys represent the people of the four nations workign together to resist the Firelord. In the play though, the Fire Nation, especially Ozai, are the heroes.||

[surreal stag]

ohhhh interesting

[leaden tide]

Holy

This might be tied with Sozin smirk for best Avatar bonus sheet card

[charred ruin]

Aight that's actually a good one lol

[leaden tide]

Damn, why didn't they lead with these? Another bonus sheet banger:

[lucid jewel]

that ones brilliant

also on the note of the single most agregious one with the super close up of the face, i just watched the final epps yesterday again for my rewatch and there were at least 50 different shots they could have chosen that were worlds better

i wish they could have gone with one of those and not the one thye chose

[leaden tide]

Okay but hear me out:

The super close up face card is so bad it wraps around to being good again

[lucid jewel]

idk if im there yet but im sure because its a meme it will grow on me

[tepid stirrup]

It would be a fantastic like Unset or other kind of meme card but the fact that it is a real card does kind of put me off a bit

Even bonus sheets are like, the joke is that its bad in a specific way that can be funny but should bonus sheets be shooting for campy

[molten maple]

Its going to do psychic damage to your opponents whenever you play it

Very strong card

[lucid jewel]

sometimes thats like half the battle

how much psychic dam can i do to my opponents untill they do a unforced error

[molten maple]

On the other end of the spectrum the non-bonus sheet cards are looking really good

I love this one revealed today

Seems like it will be a pretty strong card too, no? I think especially in limited she will be a bomb

[south gorge]

bruh that looks great

[molten maple]

Also: oh my god the flavor, its so good

ATLA show spoilers:

||Azula synergizes with the old Mai and is countered by the new Mai, its PEAK||

[lucid jewel]

OKAY WAIT thats a really nice commander

[molten maple]

If you want to counter spell slinger decks absolutely

[lucid jewel]

literally counter spell slinger on a 2 cost 2/2 body is huge

[lucid jewel]

i dont care aboult the 1st strike but mono black hate everyone who casts non creature spells

[turbid falcon]

Oh no

My friends are totally going to get this as a silver bullet for... Uh pretty much every single one of my decks

[molten maple]

Vivi players in shambles

Meanwhile as a chad Creature Enjoyer™ this card does nothing against me

[lucid jewel]

wait is this sirrobin talking about mono black in positive light

you know that deck has lots of black discard in it

right ?

and some life gain/loss

[molten maple]

This card doesnt feel like a typical mono black card

[lucid jewel]

the deck it is a commander of tho just uses creatures to mess with your hand rather than non creatures

[upper moon]

She'll be a fun card for sure. I normally run Ruric thar, the unbound in my r/g dinosaur deck just to mess with people casting non creatures

[molten maple]

We will see

[upper moon]

(card for reference: https://gatherer.wizards.com/2X2/en-us/271/ruric-thar-the-unbowed)

[molten maple]

I am unconvinced of her power as a commander tbh

[lucid jewel]

too bad iroh is boros and not gruul

[molten maple]

She is great at bullying spellslingers but she wont like, actually win the game for you

[lucid jewel]

cause that would 100% go in iroh give ppl bad things deck

[plush bear]

What if Oops All Spells

[lucid jewel]

dont sleep on even small instances of dam accross many turns

it creeps up on you

stuff that pings the whole table relativly evenly like this does SO much dam accross the game

[molten maple]

I mean yeah and I guess mono black is theoretically going to have plenty of ways to remove problematic creatures too

[lucid jewel]

on a different note ||https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/5/05309d0b-302d-4a9e-b147-1b504ecf365e.jpg?1762172294|| this might be a problem

2 cost for this effect is umm

large

even if its a little "slow" i think you can trigger it enough times in a turn that it might be crazy

mono red spell slinger firebending feels like its got so much gass

in standard

[plush bear]

It’s insane

[molten maple]

It does

I am going to build a firebending deck

[plush bear]

Why can’t we have one month where aggro isn’t in the top 3 decks

Give me control dominance

[molten maple]

Until Vivi is banned nothing else is going to be viable though

[charred ruin]

For Commander at least

[turbid falcon]

My nemesis

[leaden tide]

"Isshin eatin' good this set" Isshin's gotten so much food this year he probably weighs like 600 pounds now

[turbid falcon]

Though I identity as a Niv-Mizzet boy rather than a Vivi fan

There comes a point where there's so much good stuff for a commander they become difficult to build

[lucid jewel]

firebending lands so hard to isshin wow

[leaden tide]

Okay but Ur Dragon don't need more food either lmao

[charred ruin]

Yeah but it's a dragon set

[lucid jewel]

you mobilize the dragons to destroy all the 1/1 tokens oyu make with ishin ?

[plush bear]

ATLA
More mono red support 😔

[lucid jewel]

would be funny kinda

if vivi dosent get bannered because of how strong mono red firebending is

i do hope there is a better standard environment with this set tho

[wanton hazel]

I don’t think Wizards wants to deal with the flame war of sparing Vivi even if the problem runs its course

It comes back one cycle in a few months and you’re seeing pitchforks

[surreal stag]

Meanwhile I’m trying to make earthbend more relevant in Hearthhull

[lucid jewel]

so how do i search for creatures that might go in a creature only deck for this commander , ive not really searched much on the advanced side for scryfall ||https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/a/a/aaf2c3e2-7941-49a6-9299-7135690f01e1.jpg?1762172781||

[leaden tide]

The ban announcement is before the set comes out. He's getting the axe. Period.

[leaden tide]

Depends on what you're looking for.

The simplest search that matches your criteria is:

commander:B t:creature

But obviously that's gonna be a lot of things.

[lucid jewel]

can i sort by good in commander?

[leaden tide]

If you're looking for things with flash because you want pseudo-instants, you want:

commander:B t:creature oracle:flash

[leaden tide]

There is an "EDHREC" sort in the drop-down menu. Note that it doesn't mean "good", just popular. And popular overall, not necessarily popular or good for this particular commander.

[lucid jewel]

oh yeah sounds like a plan, i think ill focus 1st on adding removal creatures since i might be light on removal

||https://i.imgur.com/LhEMAVH.png|| time to go watch korra but this is what i have so far 😛

[molten maple]

So I theory crafted a ||Fire Lord Azula|| deck but I think it might be a little too degenerate for the pods I play in

I goldfished it with my buddy and it killed all my opponents on turn 4, the first turn she got to attack

Might have to tone down the power just a bit

[lucid jewel]

nah just up the power of your friends

that commander demands you dont pull your punches

be ruthless

so in my creature only mai deck what number of lands should i have ?

and how many peices of "ramp" do i need ive never really constructed a deck from scratch

[molten maple]

I think 37 lands is a good starting point

Normally 10 pieces of ramp is ideal if you want to be pretty likely to have at least 1 in your starting hand after mulligans. But as a 2 drop commander, I dont know if you need to have any ramp at all?

Hopefully someone else can chime in if ramp is recommended for a 2 drop commander

[charred ruin]

Especially in monoblack. You got a couple of mana rocks and that's about it

[molten maple]

I only ever play more mana expensive decks

[lucid jewel]

0 mana rocks

we in creatures only as a restriction

i wanna see if i can make something in bracket 3 with only creatures

at the moment im adding all the force my opponents to discard creatures

[charred ruin]

Might be a random mana dork but you've probably got no ramp then

[lucid jewel]

even search's?

like is there mono black search for a land creatures?

[molten maple]

I have a friend who is very very good and helps me with my deck building, ill ask him what he would do

[lucid jewel]

❤️

[charred ruin]

Maybe? Probably just fetchlands

[lucid jewel]

https://moxfield.com/decks/FPTOrB8XS0m0zOTFDQB7HA

this is what i have right now

[lucid jewel]

mono black tho ? fetch lands sound silly unless i have a lands matter subtype which i dont

[lucid jewel]

give your friend this link cause this is my starting point so far

[charred ruin]

Yeah I don't think you've got anything unless you're willing to play a Dark Ritual

[sleek valley]

Crypt Ghast is the best bet for monoblack ramp if you are going for creature only.

[lucid jewel]

yaa hes already in the list

if thats like my only ramp ill be okay

[lucid jewel]

got all the way up to 37 creatures

need so many more tho

mabey i cant do a decent enough deck with just creatures

[sleek valley]

Pack Rat is a decent way to convert lands you don't need into something more useful. You may as well play Phyrexian Obliterator since you don't have to warp your mana base around it.

[lucid jewel]

sweet that brings me to 39

out of like 60 creatures

i did add a bunch of the drain cards i might have missed some tho

[surreal stag]

i mean why not run cabal coffers.

and urzas cave to tutor cabal coffers

[lucid jewel]

totally i havent gotten to lands yet

[charred ruin]

Plus people are already gonna hate you for mono-black discard

[lucid jewel]

yaa like this deck is designed to pull so much hate from all the cards i play

like legit everything is doing something mean to others

[leaden tide]

Yeah the new Shoeldred is not a card you run to make the table like you.

[lucid jewel]

this is the deck i pull out to be like yep im the problem

fun lands are so expensive wtf

why urborg gotta be so pricy

i forgot possibly the most on brand card

https://assets.moxfield.net/cards/card-Wa6eG-normal.webp?242192189

[sleek valley]

In the same vein.

[lucid jewel]

https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/c/7c024bae-5631-4e20-ac69-df392ac9e109.jpg?1745319944

forgot to add this boy as well

[leaden tide]

Good lands are always the most consistently pricy part of a deck.

Wizards prints them at rare usually because they know they move packs.

Every deck needs them after all.

[lucid jewel]

at least honestly with a mono black deck i shouldnt have to worry too much really about those lands

and i can grab the rest and build into those lands

yaa i took them out and it droped my price for the deck by like 100 i didnt notice it was climbing up so much

[leaden tide]

Yeah mono-black probably doesn't need Urborg.

[lucid jewel]

its just like so on brand

[plush bear]

If youre playing cabal stuff Id still take Urborg

[lucid jewel]

https://i.imgur.com/gsqzMx0.png

🤔

[plush bear]

Braids

https://tenor.com/view/phineas-and-ferb-angry-screaming-gasp-gif-14712424

[lucid jewel]

but like i gotta

even if the deck will technically be "bracket 4"

[plush bear]

May as well just play Smokestacks

[lucid jewel]

nah

if we break the seal then we gotta add all the other non creatures

and im up to 84 cards with nothing but creatures and lands

and its sitting at a pretty reasonable 230usd

[leaden tide]

Okay but seriously you might want to cut Tergrid

[lucid jewel]

that is a good point

[leaden tide]

She might be more salt-inducing than the rest of the list combined.

[lucid jewel]

true i just added her because shes on theme but probs too much salt

also keeps things back down in offically 3 game changers

fam i got some ramp lets goo

https://cards.scryfall.io/large/front/4/6/464305af-870c-46b0-9962-b69b6cd5b12d.jpg?1696638590

and the thop

[leaden tide]

Oh frick I forgot they made that version

aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[lucid jewel]

lol!!!

do i want some eldrazi ?

[leaden tide]

Sure the whole table is gonna hate your bones, why not run some Annihilator?

[lucid jewel]

exactly

[sleek valley]

https://moxfield.com/decks/kHbeLG6toky8p7nRPrZbrA
My attempt to fill it out, there might still be some staples I'm missing.

[plush bear]

Nah there’s a reason Braids was banned for so long

[leaden tide]

If this was a more generic pile of black stuff, I'd be inclined to agree.

But Latter has said he's putting in a lot of discard stuff.

Which just makes everyone miserable when Tergrid comes down.

[lucid jewel]

mmhmm i think i have too much weight of discard to run tergrid

and sac

[leaden tide]

Yeah Braids just makes Tergrid even worse.

[plush bear]

Also I thought the point of this was salt

[leaden tide]

Well I guess I'm just trying to be the voice of reason for Latter

[plush bear]

Because otherwise why not dip into blue for wheels

[leaden tide]

Becuase there's salt, and then well past the bottom of the salt mines, there's Tergrid

[leaden tide]

He's specifically designing it around a mono-black commander from AtlA

[molten maple]

@lucid jewel My friend/MTG sensei said he doesnt think ramp is neccessary for a creature only deck built around that commander

[sleek valley]

The point was a monocreature Mai list, the salt is just a consequence of black creatures just being like that.

[lucid jewel]

yaa i grabbed a couple things like some colourless ramp creatures

and i think thats plenty

[molten maple]

"depends on what your deck is trying to do, that card looks pretty aggro so i could see a deck that doesn't need any ramp and just plays all creatures" -Robin's friend

I would be concerned about protecting her though

Shes definitely gonna be a removal magnet and black isnt the best at creature protection

[lucid jewel]

shes not really with the deck i have the be all and end all tho

she will get hate and get removed and thats fine

its the kinda commander which isnt like the most important peice of the deck

[molten maple]

Alright good, as long as she isnt the only way to win

[lucid jewel]

nah she is annoying but not like my main only wincon i have a couple infinites with life gain and life loss which will probs be the main wins

okay so now i have all i WANT and i have 107 cards

https://moxfield.com/decks/FPTOrB8XS0m0zOTFDQB7HA heres the link

again

okay wait i added an enchantment silly me

[sleek valley]

2 grave titans

[lucid jewel]

there we go 105

i see

[plush bear]

Why add big Sheoldred?

[lucid jewel]

lol

because big sheo is sexy ?

[molten maple]

I really hate shelly...

[plush bear]

Fair

Add what’s his name

Underdog

He’s salty

[lucid jewel]

my whole deck is salty

[lucid jewel]

underdog?

i think ill drop braids as well

[plush bear]

He never stops coming back and drawing cards

[lucid jewel]

nah he isnt on brand for the deck really

like sure he is a good draw engine

[stiff horizon]

you could put in a bunch of cards with channel abilities and such to functionally get noncreature spells without them counting as casting a noncreature spell

a deck of only creatures is going to be missing a lot of coverage for different scenarios

[lucid jewel]

im okay with that

this deck is spooky enough with out trying to actually get super good coverage

like theres a really clear theme of only creatures and i even dropped an enchantment that becomes a creature

has to be a creature on the main side of the card

[stiff horizon]

that's fair I suppose, but with so little card draw and removal in this deck it looks like it'll just play a few creatures and then fizzle out entirely after a few turns imo

[sleek valley]

Night Incarnate, Shriekmaw, and 5 mana Massacre Girl could be good fits as well.

[stiff horizon]

there's also a few things in here that are, imo, only worth running with enough synergy to fuel them
Lord Skitter for instance, good with enough rats but you only have three rats in the whole deck including lord skitter

[lucid jewel]

that can be an easy cut then

[stiff horizon]

psychosis crawler without much card draw to keep your hand stocked up is another one I'd think about cutting if you don't want to put more draw in

[lucid jewel]

nah so lord skitter will help with some of the subtheme stuff of sac

its less about the graveyard hate

and more making more 1/1's cheaply

and pyschosis crawler is too sexy and on brand for me to drop it

[stiff horizon]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

[lucid jewel]

its more about like psychosis crawler in a deck wehre im not drawing a million cards is good because it does the theme with out increasing the hate too much

[stiff horizon]

just looks unfocused right now is what I'm saying, I think you should look for creatures that provide most of their value from synergy and either cut them if you don't want to include more synergy with them or cut other cards to slot in more synergy with them

[lucid jewel]

i do only need to cut 6 more

[stiff horizon]

I think you probably don't need as many two drops since your commander is a two drop

[lucid jewel]

okay we did it and with much effort i present 100 cards

https://moxfield.com/decks/FPTOrB8XS0m0zOTFDQB7HA

[lucid jewel]

thanks for all your help tonight fam that was fun

[molten maple]

From the custommagic subreddit:

I am dead 💀

[tepid stirrup]

Bonus sheet

[lucid jewel]

smh link the vid

||https://youtu.be/iZb7y84t2lo?si=AfzQG8nXwS8EJNuF|| here

[tepid stirrup]

I wasn't trying to link the whole video, I was trying to share a funny thumbnail in case she was A/Bing it (as many YTers do these days)

[lucid jewel]

whats A/Bing

[tepid stirrup]

A/B testing

YT allows for randomly distributing different thumbnails to different people on the same video to see which one performs better

[upper moon]

Technically spoilers for the movie whic doesn't exist in ba sing se? (not sure what the og source is, got it from another discord)

[leaden tide]

"Ong" 💀

[charred ruin]

That's how the movie pronounces it

[gloomy pagoda]

"Human Ovitar Monk"

[leaden tide]

Oh I know, it just killed me a bit to be reminded me of it

[gloomy pagoda]

Notably, it is getting A/B tested, I've got a different thumbnail in the YouTube embed

[leaden tide]

AtlA ||THE BOULDER is over his conflicted feelings, and ready to burry you in a ROCKALANCHE||

[upper moon]

||huh, I thought he was the pebble||

[leaden tide]

Avatar ||Oh hey, it's Sparky-Sparky Boom Man!||

||Very interesting design, I would have expected this kind of effect to be an etb, not a repeated attack trigger (something something Isshin). It can hit enchantments too, a notable weak spot for red.||

[charred ruin]

||it also hits lands||

[upper moon]

||Yeah, I feel like it would've been betteer to have it as a tap ability tbh. But it's definitely a flavor win||

[heavy jasper]

Some fun ATLA cards

[surreal stag]

BRANDO GOT TO SPOIL CARDS FROM A SHOW HES NEVER SEEN

ATLA

[leaden tide]

https://tenor.com/view/zuko-avatar-the-last-airbender-that's-rough-buddy-funny-reaction-gif-2143103825121898798

[upper moon]

Wait, brando's never seen atla? Crazy

But yeah, those cards are some great falvor wins

[wanton hazel]

by the time it started airing, Elantris was out and Brandon was quite busy writing, I suppose

[lucid jewel]

Brandon has commented a few times on his reluctance to watch TV shows like this

I cant remember the specifics but im sure there are wobs for it

And even directly in relation to this show I believe

[heavy jasper]

Goated. That’s fun.

[surreal stag]

in the weekly review he said || by the time he had time to watch it his kids already did and wouldnt watch it again with him ||

Gitrog Monster the swampbender is coming online

this is my dream

[lucid jewel]

Oooooo

Thats mabey a cool deck

[leaden tide]

Yo this seems kinda cracked (AtlA)

||Especially in a deck that A) likes sacrificing lands (Hearthhul) or B) has easy ways to get them back (Gitrog, Toph, etc)||

[lucid jewel]

Thats kinda crazy too because its "up to"

Oh I miss read

[surreal stag]

this is the card that sent me to Gitrog the Swampbender lol

this set is so dope

Hearthhull was an experience learning to build it but it didtn do the thing i wanted it was landfall with a spirnkle of earthbending

i want earthbending with a sprinkle of landfall.

maybe as more cards come out ill revisit

[lucid jewel]

how many more cards can there be ?

[surreal stag]

idk

.....he is coming for you

[lucid jewel]

golgari has heaps of graveyard stuff like are we calling the graveyard the swamp and bending things in and out of it ?

[leaden tide]

Avatar

https://tenor.com/view/crying-sad-tearing-up-tobey-maguire-spider-man-gif-16521992

[lucid jewel]

thing is you can fail to find on that search 😭

[surreal stag]

my hand is my hand, my yard is my hand its gunna be fun

[heavy jasper]

Chat it’s the card we’ve been waiting for

[turbid falcon]

...huh

That's a really interesting design

[tepid stirrup]

Wonderfully unsettling art

[lucid jewel]

also thats kinda unique and an interesting source of tokens and exponential growth with enough mana

accross multiple turns of course but theres heaps of token doublers these days

[leaden tide]

Yessssssssssp

Exactly as I hoped

[heavy jasper]

She’s perfect

[turbid falcon]

I like that she's not legendary

Perfect flavor

[heavy jasper]

Only thing missing is ||10 alt arts to swap any time she dies||

|| “wdym? This is the same card”||

|| “the card definitely has not changed”||

[lucid jewel]

||is there a chance that theres tokens with alt arts offically ?||

[wanton hazel]

you guys ready for Universes Beyond: YouTube? Stephen He on a canon magic card

[turbid falcon]

No

[heavy jasper]

Could be

[leaden tide]

Just patting myself on the back here.

[lucid jewel]

new commander drop ||https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1066081098641182841/1435380634976653492/FB_IMG_1762291791352.jpg?ex=690bc1e3&is=690a7063&hm=4fd71ea0ce7704263bacbff20bc9b83f3747661a7def205718b4ec72948fd5f6&||

time to punch ppl in the face with a wall

[turbid falcon]

Wait WHAT IS THIS

[lucid jewel]

A LARGE ASS WALL WHO WILL BE THE COMMANDER OF DECKS ILL HAVE YOU KNOW!!!

[turbid falcon]

Shoe in for my wall deck

[wanton hazel]

8 mana colorless commander, seems totally viable

[lucid jewel]

or at the very least goes in every deck that has the tag "toughness matters"

and like if your not casting your 0/30 on turn 3 or 4 with this deck your doing it wrong

[turbid falcon]

Wait did the ||drill have deathtouch||

[lucid jewel]

yes?

[turbid falcon]

Fantastic

[lucid jewel]

no

||https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/5/4/54d762f6-e131-480f-b294-10f5a63d9c98.jpg?1761663279||

but it still works

still does the job

also you can do the effect on this drill the same turn it comes down by way of the following tictok

||https://www.vxtiktok.com/t/ZTMgBpkBx/||

[turbid falcon]

Flavor win

[lucid jewel]

forgot to put the vx in the link so in would embed well

in fact i really should put drill in my mei deck

wait its not a creature smh

[leaden tide]

Oh Felothar is very excited for this

[lucid jewel]

draw cards equal to the toughness

😮

instantly like i thought goes in any deck that has the tag "toughness matters"

[upper moon]

I'm just thinking how fun that would be in an arcades deck

[lucid jewel]

arcades?

goes in big booty dragon mommy as well

[upper moon]

https://gatherer.wizards.com/TSR/en-us/371/arcades-the-strategist

[lucid jewel]

https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/c/7c8cf348-7db8-4f93-8f83-8b1f2035ed4e.jpg?1743205385

[upper moon]

oh, noice

[lucid jewel]

betor is one of the more common recent toughness matters commanders

https://i.imgur.com/dQ7fLuy.png

[leaden tide]

Meanwhile, my favorite toughness matters commander is trans icon Felothar

[lucid jewel]

pretty reasonable price too

[leaden tide]

Lmao you just need to find 3 more toughness if you have him and ||Ba Sing Se|| on the battlefield to proc his last one.

[lucid jewel]

the more i see this set and compare things in ways i think companies like this end up concurrently designing things. i can almost see things as an A team and a B team of designers in group sthat are mostly siloed. This feels like a work of passion and taste and for the most part everything is bangers not just mechanically but flavourful. Then you compare it to final fantasy it feels like the same team but then spiderman seems like a different team

[leaden tide]

It's weird cuz like, we know that a big reason Spider-Man sucks is because it was an aftermath booster that was very hastily converted into a full draftable set.

But even then, with the original version purportedly having ~100 cards, it definitely does not feel like even half of the Spider-Man cards are nearly as flavorful as almost every AtlA card.

And the mechanics too also seem just less inspired. An attempt at fixing Ninjitsu, an attempt at fixing Madness, and the return of Connive?

[molten maple]

I would guess the creators of these cards are probably a lot more passionate/knowledgeable about ATLA than spiderman

[heavy jasper]

These cards are so fun

[south gorge]

the cultural power of avatar is not to be underestimated. Ive made more friendships that had the ice broken with avatar than just about anything ever. It just gets brought up and everyone is happy

[molten maple]

BAH GAWD THATS PRIMETIIME'S MUSIC

I love this new power cube haha

[lucid jewel]

Atla ||https://www.vxtiktok.com/t/ZTMpreLSL/||

[sleek valley]

Avatar

[charred ruin]

Amazing

[charred ruin]

Relevant meme

[leaden tide]

Lmao

||He's such a bad firebender he doesn't even have firebending himself||

||And he's the kind of leader that just profits off of his underlings' ability.||

[lucid jewel]

WHY WAS THAT NOT THE BLASPHEMOUS ACT ART SMH MY HEAD

Still brilliant card tho 10/10

https://commandersherald.com/due-to-fcc-rule-tmnt-cards-unable-to-assign-lethal-damage/

[surreal stag]

YOINK

The earthbend cards we got this week have got me back on Hearthhull

This big ship sits in the command zone until I call mothership in to provide crazy value as I beat you to death with all my lands

[lucid jewel]

Thats kinda thematic space ship stays in orbit throwing rocks at you

[surreal stag]

Yes other than avatar having no spaceships lol

I’m not that concerned I think it’ll be a cool way to use a very popular commander in a new way

I’m gunna be in the lab tonight I hadn’t been this excited to build a deck since I first started playing

I mean for gods sake look at this walking war crime

[lucid jewel]

"we have earthbending at home" vibes

[upper moon]

Nice, i love how thats both a reference to the show and mtg at the same time

[lucid jewel]

There was never really going to be a chance that a card referencing those two things with this didnt get made

[upper moon]

True

[lucid jewel]

Who ever is designing these cards needs a raise tho

They are super on point

[molten maple]

The cards feel like they will be fun mechanically but ALSO thematically fit what theyre based off in ATLA

I like what ive seen a lot

Oh and the non-bonus sheet cards have really good art

[leaden tide]

I've literally only seen one card in the whole set that's kinda a flavor miss.

Everything else has been so incredibly spot-on.

Even the more basic Jumpstart cards generally do at least an adequate job of capturing the character they depict.

[surreal stag]

Every single one of these cards is absolute trash

[molten maple]

I mean, agree to disagree?

I think the firebending and earthbending mechanics look unique and flavorful and fun

And the art is mostly excellent

[leaden tide]

Do you mean the actual cards with original Magic art? Or the bonus sheet cards themselves.

[molten maple]

Does anyone play anything other than control anymore????

ive played like 15 games today and almost all of them are against control

[south gorge]

the ideal world

[molten maple]

the worst world

control magic is the least fun magic

My tier list is as follows

mid range >>>>>>>> combo > aggro >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> control

[granite whale]

Rating combo over control frames this opinion quite nicely 😂

All playstyles are beautiful and equally valid 😌

[molten maple]

I am just a midrange player so

I literally cannot beat anyone playing control decks unless they get hard mana screwed or something

[granite whale]

Obv context dependent but mid range doesn't exist on the rock paper axis of deck archetypes. It lives in-between. So it's hard to say that the archetype is inherently at a disadvantage.

[south gorge]

Agro is the most toxic as it has the least amount of opportunity for interaction. You’re simply going to see less of your cards and have the opportunity to see the options that interact.

[granite whale]

https://tenor.com/view/bait-thats-bait-tom-hardy-mad-max-gif-5055384

[turbid falcon]

Meanwhile me, quietly wondering about whether lantern control could be viable in modern again

Yes I know I'm a monster for even considering it but in my defense it is a REALLY neat deck

Seth played it again after chrome mox got unbanned, and while not perfect I think there are a few additional tools that could be added to make the deck more viable now

[native light]

One of my college friends was actively involved in the tuning of Lantern Control online and would bring it to local tournaments and SCG events. Once it finally clicked he got so much enjoyment out of it. I get it

[granite whale]

Dw, I want to play stax in commander.

Have not pulled the trigger yet though because I don't have the playgroup for it.

[charred ruin]

If your deck is too slow to stop me from killing you in 4 turns then that's an issue on you

[surreal stag]

what if my aggro deck isnt good enough to kill someone in 6 turns let alone 4

[granite whale]

Then you are the hero that brings control players a false sense of security

[surreal stag]

lol

https://moxfield.com/decks/WPGP8c_yqUewso0z0_CTQA

I adore this deck but i often find that its easily shut down and rarley to i find a "remove target player" type effect often enough to be anyhting but threatening midrange bracket 3

[granite whale]

I have been thinking about building him myself, just a cute lil guy. You've put in way stronger things than I was thinking about 😂 But having a "I win" with this guy doesn't seem that trivial. They go back at end of combat so you would need flicker, haste and extra combats for something that is thematic to what he does. Though Medomai goes infinite, no?

[leaden tide]

White and blue don't have much haste (so you'd need lightning greaves or swiftfoot boots). It's either that or "tapped and attacking" or clone effects

Though, would flickering him get around the attack restriction? I feel like even if you flicker him, he'd still see that the turn is an extra one.

Hmm, I think the way to abuse it would be clone effects at instant speed, so you can attack with a different creature, then turn it into Medomai during combat.

So you'd probably want non-legendary clone effects specifically.

[gloomy pagoda]

If you had a way to get him swinging in multiple attack phases in a turn that might do the trick, depending on if extra turns are allowed to stack (though you'd need to guess how many you need before you start taking them)

[leaden tide]

Azorius doesn't have many extra combat things either, those are red's domain. You're gonna want stuff like this.

THis is the only extra combat an Azorius commander can currently run.

Hmm here's another type of effect that could work, since it's at instant speed.

[granite whale]

Thing with medomai is as long as you can brainstorm him back to the top of deck you can keep getting turns

Which is a lot less setup than other ways

[leaden tide]

I still don't think that gets around this restriction, at least for infinite chaining of turns.

Because his last ability will still "see" that it's an extra turn, regardless of whether he entered the battlefield that turn or not.

[granite whale]

He enters tapped and attacking, so the restriction is circumvented.

[leaden tide]

Yeah, but there's not many effects that do that in Azorius.
https://scryfall.com/search?q=commander%3Awu+oracle%3A"tapped+and+attacking"+game%3Apaper&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name

[granite whale]

Oh, you meant with the flicker thing. I misunderstood the context.

[leaden tide]

Most of this list generates tapped and attacking tokens.

[leaden tide]

Ah, yeah.

[granite whale]

Well Arthur does and that was kind of my point. I think I have been unclear on my intent? He can get Medomai in with his trigger and get turns as long as he can rig him back to the top of deck from hand 🤔 since @surreal stag felt he lacked a "player removal" threat.

[leaden tide]

Oh, I missed that these were the same deck

D'oh

🤦

[granite whale]

It was a goofy time for all 😂

[surreal stag]

Yea i mean the eniter deck is "the best Jeskai ETBs" cloning and blink/flickers

when it goes it goes but again ive played many many games where playing the mouse for 9 mana was my best play....it gets stalled so easy and i dont see how shoving anymore proteciton in makes the deck more consistant if i draw nothing but protection im paying awful control until i can do something

[surreal stag]

I think i could get some more extra combats to be that much more annoying

[granite whale]

Shouls have the dragon that creates copies from non creatures. 3 windcrag sieges on board sounds like a hoot

And on the note of control/protrction. That's just the nature of card games and variance, isn't? You can't have the deck do everything at once. If variance and bricking is a detractor you have to mitigate it. That means card draw and/or tutors.

[charred ruin]

New Avatar card meme

[lucid jewel]

[surreal stag]

after two games last night ive made the shift to Voltron Ygra i was have way between food and voltron

its not new, its not pretty, but i like when big kitty eats target player

[lucid jewel]

https://youtu.be/s1W9-w1UeFA

👀

[surreal stag]

yup here they come!

no precons so CAH and EDHJ wont have free content lol b ut they might build decks for the sake of it

[lucid jewel]

i expect everyone to make decks

theres heaps of hype around the set

[leaden tide]

And just sooooo many cool commanders in a lot of different color identities.

Both in the main set and the jumpstart set.

Also, still not quite as bad as Blasphemous Act, but they revealed the last bonus sheet cards and uh...well at least the quality is consistent?

[lucid jewel]

AGAIN THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD WAYS TO DO THAT CARD

like the vibes are just off on the choices alone not even the quality but the choices and these kinda things pass through so many hands before we see them

[surreal stag]

https://moxfield.com/decks/jduC9C28P0uv4x8Zo5nzqA

I feel like 15 Baps is too many. I have no idea what type of equipment pakcage i need for real voltron. Im focused more one things that give keywords and protection and not just Colossus Hammer, also i probably still have to much in food generation

[lucid jewel]

@leaden tidehttps://moxfield.com/decks/-jUEn2O_jEimTYkLqIMXzA this is the toph deck they are using btw in the above vid

[leaden tide]

I'll check it out!

[surreal stag]

I mean yea that's Toph: Artifacts+Landfall w/Counters

keep it simple

not even running all the earthbend lands COME ON

[molten maple]

oh wow this card looks super cool

Also I have a question: since there are no commander precons, how will we be able to get the commander only cards from this set? We cant open them from boosters can we?

[granite whale]

don't they have those "build a commander deck" bundles that you are supposed to pair with boosters from the set or buy singles for? Like they have the staple stuff like sol ring etc. in them? maybe there's where you get them?

[molten maple]

🤔

maybe

[granite whale]

doesn't even say what the promo cards are? I'm very confused about this product

[lucid jewel]

isnt that just a black version of vivi ?

[molten maple]

uhhhh no

I mean if it kills a vivi sure it is a black vivi + cauldron

but on its own it doesnt resemble vivi at all

[lucid jewel]

sorry not vivi cauldron its just another source of cauldron

[molten maple]

correct

but this one is double the mana and in much worse colors

I am kind of excited to see what people cook with it

[lucid jewel]

also buying singles is always the option

its the correct choice 99% of the time

[wanton hazel]

the bundle is just 9 play boosters and 1 collector booster

I'm not sure if there are 'commander exclusive' cards in this set beyond the bonus sheet?

maybe they'll do a scene box later with some

[molten maple]

yeah but im asking how are people going to actually get those singles lol

the commander exclusive ones

[wanton hazel]

such as?

[lucid jewel]

commander exclusive?

[wanton hazel]

I'm asking for an example of a card that is commander exclusive

[lucid jewel]

theres a jumpstart set and a regular set

and a bonus sheet

the jumpstart set comes in jumpstart packs

[molten maple]

ohhhhh

why would they have 2 different sets?

[lucid jewel]

because jumpstart is cool and they wanna support it

they have done this heaps

[molten maple]

can you explain to me what jumpstart actually is?

like what is the goal

[leaden tide]

There's a few Avatar themed reprints that are exclusive to the Commander bundle

[lucid jewel]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/avatar-the-last-airbender-jumpstart-booster-themes

[wanton hazel]

it's basically a super simple form of limited, open two packs, shuffle together, and play

[lucid jewel]

theres a page that actually got posted today even

[leaden tide]

Basically, each Jumpstart pack is a themed half of a limited deck: 20 cards, including 8 lands.

[molten maple]

ok I see

[leaden tide]

The idea is you crack two Jumpstart packs, shuffle them together to make a full 40 card deck, and just start jamming games

[molten maple]

so the cards with the glider symbol are jumpstart cards, and the aang symbol are from the main set?

[lucid jewel]

yes

[molten maple]

I thought the glider symbol cards were for commander only, got it

[leaden tide]

It's a confusing set-naming thing.

[molten maple]

thats pretty cool

[leaden tide]

Sets these days usually come with a ton of supplemental cards in various products.

if the set has Commander decks associated with it, all of those supplemental cards are lumped into a "[Set name] Commander" set, despite many of them not being in the Commander decks.

[molten maple]

so will the jumpstart cards be standard legal?

[leaden tide]

If the set doesn't have Commander decks, that supplemental grab-bag is called "[Set name] Eternal." The cards are legal in all eternal formats (Vintage, Legacy, Commander). But they're not made for Commander always.

No.

[molten maple]

fair enough

I am really considering if I really want ot build this Azula deck rn

because it seems very fun for me but not very fun for my opponents

and it seems like the decks I am cooking would be way too powerful for my play groups

[wanton hazel]

just build it for when your opponents want to play their own 'not very fun for you' decks

[molten maple]

truuuuue

like last week when I had to play Yuna into Vivi + Kaalia 💀

I wished I had a degernate deck to just smash them

but those are def in the minority of games I play these days

when I goldfish the Azula deck its relatively consistently killing all 4 opponents the first time Azula attacks by infinitely copying burn spells...

[lucid jewel]

https://youtu.be/f9320Lqo4eI

more atla info vids

this one is all about commanders

[molten maple]

||"Katara, Waterending Master"||

||looks inside: no waterbending||

https://tenor.com/view/where-you-at-gif-21177622

[leaden tide]

Still a better representation of her than this card:

[molten maple]

yeahhhh her cards are some of the few flavor fails in this set imo

[leaden tide]

Yeah. I'm willing to give the starter box cards a pass because they're meant to be simpler designs meant to help people learn Magic.

But her three-color card is just....boring.

[lime chasm]

This one couple that may have been in their late 30s or 40s did come into my LGS yesterday and started talking to use while we were playing Flesh and Blood. They were there because they were excited about the ATLA magic set, having never played a card game. I guess they ended up walking out with some decks to play against each other and learn the game before the ATLA set drops

The ATLA set is about to be an absolute money printing machine

[granite whale]

FaB mentioned? I'm going down to my tcg community to learn to play today 😄

[lime chasm]

Oh nice! Hope you enjoy it! Definitely a very unique feeling TCG imo. Fun stuff for sure, and it’s a good time to be learning with the new budget format that’s officially releasing soon + getting targeted support with the next set in February!

[granite whale]

Not to derail the MtG thread, was fun but didn't have to finish my match. The flavor is so cool though and the heroes fantasy really shine through in the mechanics.

Can DM me or ping me in a FaB thread here if there is one. The budget format sounds ikteresting 👀

[leaden tide]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/banned-and-restricted-november-10-2025

https://tenor.com/view/celebration-dance-celebrate-good-times-gif-19472129

[lucid jewel]

Standard

Vivi Ornitier is banned

https://tenor.com/view/evil-defeated-lost-the-evil-is-defeated-kid-gif-5007371

oh wait

screaming nexus as well thats lit af didnt even think that boy would be bannered

white lifegain is back on the menu

oh wait screaming nexus is banned because of firebending isnt it

[leaden tide]

That and they explain in the article that they wanted to preemptively take out a key piece of red agro, as it's the only deck that's been remotely competitive against Vivi

Next BnR announcement is gonna be in February. Which is three months but two sets away 😭

[lucid jewel]

yaa im reading through it now

[leaden tide]

I suppose we'll see how Avatar and Lorwyn land.

[lucid jewel]

3 months between bans isnt bad

if they keep pace and ban every 3 months ish ill be happy i think

i didnt think the eidetic memory card was that bad

[leaden tide]

Yeah. In a normal year, 3 months between BnR would be fine.

The only reason I'm worried is because of the utter blitz of cards that is gonna be 2026

[lucid jewel]

" Metagames where an aggressive deck is clearly the best deck are often painful for diversity because many slower decks can't compete." i like this sentence

it shows they know the core of the issue

[lucid jewel]

all of my problems with wizards right now and mtg stem back to that issue, of too many cards comming out too quick

[leaden tide]

Also RIP Nadu, man took another ban.

This time in Legacy.

[lucid jewel]

yeppers

nadu is just busted in all formats

end of the day though im still worried about just how powerful firebending will be in standard

[charred ruin]

Nadu getting banned again is the funniest part of this announcement

[wanton hazel]

is there such a thing as a ban-free format? I suppose excepting the racist cards or something

I guess Vintage is the closest there is?

[lucid jewel]

yeah vintage is the most restriction free offical format

command, legacy, vintage are the most "free" formats

[leaden tide]

Even ignoring the old racist cards, there's several cards banned everywhere because they're either dexterity (Chaos Orb) or ante cards.

So the only ban-free "format" is kitchen-table play-whatever

[lucid jewel]

theres also cards that arent offically bannered but simular those dexterity cards or other stuff they are functionally banned

because ppl just wont like you if you play with them

[turbid falcon]

What do you mean people won't like me if I copy Shaharazad over and over

Anyway I'm most surprised that high tide got banned in pauper again
I had sort of got the impression that it was exactly what they were shooting for? Not a tier 1 deck but still interesting and powerful

[charred ruin]

Wait what happens if Shaharazad gets copied?

[lucid jewel]

the copy creates a new subgame with in the 1st subgame

if you cast it with in the 1st subgame

but if you cast it a 2nd time outside in the main 1st real game you just create a 2nd subgame that isnt nested

theres all sorts of just dumb things it does

[tepid stirrup]

https://tenor.com/view/di-caprio-eyes-glance-gif-2455388870915915456

[lucid jewel]

literally

[tepid stirrup]

I suppose it kind of depends because if you like create three subgames within the prime game I think you'd play those all out in sequence and have them resolve in sequence rather than nesting them

If Shahrazad kills you if you only have 1 life left is something I'd have to go look up

Mmm the card text does specifically say "rounded down" so I guess there you go

[lucid jewel]

its actually worth heaps as just a card still because of the meme of it all and the history and how rare the card is

it was only released in one set and that was a really early set

currently sitting atl ike 3 or 400 usd

[turbid falcon]

I'm grumpy because my playgroup has essentially started hating me out, even when I'm very behind, due to a few instances of my being behind and completely randomly drawing the perfect card to win me the game despite that

I need something evil

Suggestions welcome

I do have a bunch of really good stax pieces I picked up from mystery booster 2, maybe I should build that

I want to min max pain for minimum budget

[granite whale]

Exactly how evil do you want to be? And is it evil for the sake of evil, to demoralize them, or archenemy "I'll take you all on and win" evil?

Could be 5-head or an absolute bust, but group hugging sure does make the "hating you out" less appealing.

[turbid falcon]

I almost feel group hug would backfire immensely

I might be able to sneak in a win once, but then they'd be even more wary of me

[granite whale]

Is it a very "play to win" group? Like my playgroup is more like "board game night time" and don't really care who wins. We just get excited about cool cards and funny interactions. Obv still play to win, but it's not very cit throat if that makes sense.

[turbid falcon]

Eh sort of

I'd say somewhere in-between

We're pretty aggressive, but also enjoy doing fun stuff, it just tends to be on the more powerful end of the scale

I'd say as a playgroup we tend to play high 3-low 4 on average

Okay I've decided on what I'm gonna do
In my classic vein, I'm gonna end up building two decks

One is gonna be a hyper aggressive prowess deck (because I can never resist the sweet sweet call of spellslinger, and I have more than enough pieces to build that deck lying around twice over lmao)
And a breya artifact hate deck, where I've found every evil card I own and stuffed it in

[granite whale]

My suggestion was gonna be the Grixis Kefka deck. He can be evil af

But I'd love to see the deck list for the prowess deck 👀 love me some combat wizards

[turbid falcon]

Okay never mind I'm building Garth one eye instead

For the hate, not prowess, that's gonna be an actual project

My reasoning is I have a lot of 5 color tech lying around unused, and Garth has enchantment removal stapled to him, and black lotus to get around the land stax I've pulled out

The rest of my playgroup really likes enchantments

Voltron and enchantress, and other strategies that hinge on powerful enchantments are pretty common, but honestly we don't really deal with the enchantments very much

So while generic stax pieces are going in the deck, I'm going to design it specifically to hate out those strategies most of all

Plus Garth goes infinite pretty easy with flicker pieces, of which I ALSO have a bunch

So I can build the whole deck without spending anything

[granite whale]

So that's not only in my playgroup then. Enchantments always get a pass somehow xD glad I'm not alone

[turbid falcon]

Hoho I found a fun one for my prowess deck

[lucid jewel]

https://i.imgur.com/LoRiouq.png

such a good image

[turbid falcon]

DANG it I misread it

Since I was flicking through cards pretty quickly, I missed the creature part

[lucid jewel]

https://i.imgur.com/lfuHBD2.jpeg this is also a qualtiy image

im so so ready for avatar

[turbid falcon]

Still good, but would only really be amazing against one or two decks that my playgroup regularly fields, versus like, all of them

Anyway I've gone through my collection and created a giant pile of cards for the prowess list, time to pare them down into an actual deck

[granite whale]

Patrician's scorn is fun enchantment removal

[turbid falcon]

Noted

[surreal stag]

https://moxfield.com/decks/XWgwC6Li6EmbF6hNWXknbA

This is the most ive ever felt as if i stood a 0% chance of even participating in the game

[turbid falcon]

There is nothing more painful than the final cuts of a deck

It's even worse when you're already struggling and you're well over twice your alloted card slots

[surreal stag]

the deck isnt evil but if you want to just demolize someone this will do the trick

[surreal stag]

https://moxfield.com/decks/qGYINUT3JkmTLZDpPU9o-A

I think this is in a space I like. This is a low bracket 3 deck based on a prior D&D character I played. Giving Wolverine and the Pegasus is obviously a rule 0.

Check out the primer for the inspiration behind some of my choices. I very much went into vibes first, good cards later

[turbid falcon]

https://archidekt.com/decks/17359458/bink_bink

Here's my first draft
I think I need to cut one more card for a land but it is SO difficult at this point

I've already cut a bunch of cool things that I wanted to keep in

And it's hard to identify any pieces I feel can, or should go
There are a few pieces that normally I'd cut but I'm leaving in due to my playgroup, notably an increased amount of enchantment hate than I would normally run

And yes, I know it has a really low land count. There are a few MDFCs, but I think the combination of how much card draw it has, the number of artifact mana, and the low curve should allow me to get away with it
But it'll require some testing to be sure

[plush bear]

Oh no

Binks

[turbid falcon]

It's a reference to maldhound who always refers to combat damage as "bink bink"

Which fits the commander giving double strike

[plush bear]

https://tenor.com/view/thumbsup-jarjar-jarjarbinks-starwars-gif-4845455254775595189

[turbid falcon]

No, no jar jar binks

[turbid falcon]

Warning for language, but here's the bink bink
https://youtu.be/LDDwEupuK6k?si=5SbqFjak3-gkaY9l

[surreal stag]

These have gotten much funnier as the years have gone by but they are all classics

[turbid falcon]

Did more testing on the deck tonight, and ended up making pretty massive changes to the mana base

First I added a few card draw lands to have additional options
Then I had the brilliant idea to utilize MDFCs more heavily. I really only use them incidentally in most decks, but in this case it allows me to increase the density of card draw, actually increase my overall land count, while also reducing any chances of flooding
The only downside is Sea gate restoration is kinda expensive and it does slow down the mana base somewhat, but I think that's worth it

The deck is rather fun to play

Sometimes it goes wide, other times it goes really tall

Really the biggest question at this point is how well the pretty heavy interaction suite deals with my play group lol

[leaden tide]

Is this the Arthur deck you've been testing?

I'm a little annoyed with the MH3 dfc lands in those colors, since two of them rely on energy on their front face.

[turbid falcon]

No this is Shu Yun, deck list above

One of them I chose does use energy, but it's one of those "draw cards then discard if you don't pay cost" type cards and that's fine

[leaden tide]

Yeah, I suppose it's not terrible without energy, but it still just annoys me that those two lands are so parasitic.

[turbid falcon]

COWARDS

My playgroup is "busy" with "work stuff" this weekend

[leaden tide]

....is that "work stuff" the AtlA pre-release?

I kinda wanna do two, one focusing on Earthbending, the other on Firebending. But idk if that'd be financially responsible for me.

Hmm, maybe I can scrounge up some singles to sell for store credit.

[turbid falcon]

No, they're required at a hospital and work conference

Meaning I'd be left to inflict my deck onto only one person

[leaden tide]

Ah shame.

[surreal stag]

I think i found a good balance of landfall/earthbend for Hearthhull

im lacking in removal but honestly its combat focuses so ill just remove you instead of your stuff lol

[surreal stag]

the more i playtest the clunkier it feels. I can brick but if i surive 5-6 turns of nothing to do i cna get spun up very quickly

[lucid jewel]

im so excited for tomorrows pre release

gonna go with my son and have all the funs

[leaden tide]

Okay looking at the Nexus programing, the following Magic artists are gonna be there (there may be some I missed though)

• Bruce Brenneise
• Dan Dos Santos
• Miranda Meeks
• Howard Lyon
• Donato Giancola
• Steve Argyle