-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Magic: the Gathering |OT11| Amonkhet - Have you ever had decks with a Pharaoh?
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
- Status
Simply Sarah
Member
What's your current list?
Tunnel Vision works really well with any counters that put cards to the bottom of your opponents library (which you are likely running anyway). I don't know how "not-so-obvious" that is, but its some spicy tech my brother runs in his Talrand deck.
Edit: Totally blanked on the steal/clone base.
For that kind of theme I think UG or even RUG would work better just for the UG shapeshifters alone.
Persist is hilarious with clones, especially if you can afford to run a sac outlet.
I'd try to fit in Cauldron of Souls / River Kelpie / Glen Elendra Archmage.
I don't know if you run her since we don't have your list, but Empress Galina is always fun to steal commanders.
I have a small pile of cards at home I'm considering, I'll type them up when I get home. I don't have a "list" yet per se.
Right now, off the top of my head, I've pulled out:
Clone
Phyrexian Metamorph
Vesuvian Doppleganger
Clever Impersenator
Saheeli's Artistry
Reins of Power
Commandeer
Cryptic Command
Redirect
Legerdmain
Torrential Gearhulk
But that's all pretty basic and just me going through piles of cards without much of a focus.
Right now, off the top of my head, I've pulled out:
Clone
Phyrexian Metamorph
Vesuvian Doppleganger
Clever Impersenator
Saheeli's Artistry
Reins of Power
Commandeer
Cryptic Command
Redirect
Legerdmain
Torrential Gearhulk
But that's all pretty basic and just me going through piles of cards without much of a focus.
shrapnelmagnet
Member
Junktroller, too - and it blocks well
Wouldn't Memnarch, Galina, Sakashima, Keiga, Barrin or Jalira make more sense as the commander for a clone/steal deck?
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
You know, I don't know why the whole "we need data" BS was ever a thing Aaron Forsythe actually said. Copycat wasn't any fun, wasn't intentional and obviously Tier 1, that should have been sufficient justification to ban the card.
I saw more than one Hall of Fame PT player deciding to show up after that second announcement.
I saw more than one Hall of Fame PT player deciding to show up after that second announcement.
I was trying to figure out a way to attack from two angles, and Talrand making an army of drakes seemed nice. Perhaps you're right though.
I think they were just really apprehensive of banning any more cards but then backtracked with the massive public outcry, the data thing was just to have an excuse.
I feel the 'data' they were basing themselves on was actually sales data from the sets. I think they were more afraid of a sales collapse due to frequent bans, but realised that the backlash of not banning it posed a greater risk to player participation.
SigmasonicX
Member
I don't think enough time has passed for them to get meaningful sales data for the paper game, especially since it's based on what retailers buy, not individuals. Online sales data, perhaps, but I'm not sure there is meaningful data there yet either.
Imperfected
Member
Well, my box had every planeswalker and along with my prerelease winnings I've got all the gods but Hezoret and a run of bicycle lands. I wasn't expecting to be in "just buying singles" territory so soon, but I can't think of much else I want aside from (moar) bicycles and As Foretold.
I hate to say it, but while the Limited play environment for this set is pretty good, the fact I wouldn't have ever wanted to actually draft most of the cards I wanted from the set completely puts me off actually drafting it.
I hate to say it, but while the Limited play environment for this set is pretty good, the fact I wouldn't have ever wanted to actually draft most of the cards I wanted from the set completely puts me off actually drafting it.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The Cyclelands are a little weird to me. I can't really envision wanting to run them unless it was a really slow control deck.
Imperfected
Member
I like them for EDH quite a bit. There's better-than-even odds in EDH that you'd rather have something other than a land when you draw a land.
FreedomFrisbee
Member
Why not Sakashima as the commander? My friend has been putting together a Sakashima one but has been having a hard time coming up with an on theme win condition.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
They are still CIPT lands which are just as awful in EDH. I pretty much only tolerate those if they are powerful like boseiju or hall of the bandit lord or in 2 colour or less decks.They have the upside of being fetchable otoh
I use some for Kynaios and Tiro in a Seismic Assault Life from the Loam package.
I don't like them in more than 2 or so colors for edh.
Fetchable which is nice if you have no turn 1 plays and if you draw it out later in the game then you get a redraw.
I wouldn't fetch for it first, but I like it better than the battlelands.
Control wants to keep playing lands in the lategame, though. They're at their best in midrange IMO; you can pretty safely cycle everything after 7.
Main issue is how awkwardly they fit into existing enemy shard manabases. Tons of taplands fighting for slots already, and Mardu Vehicles has trouble fitting more than 2 despite being exactly the sort of deck that would want them.
That said, I can't really envision an allied color or allied shard deck that doesn't want at least 4. Overall I think they're amazing.
Imperfected
Member
I generally don't play with people who are popping off Turn 1-4, so CIPT really isn't a dealbreaker for me. I've even got a friend or two who just straight up run a couple of the Uncommon CIPT duals.
And yeah, the fact they're proper-typed duals is pretty good for me, since I run a lot of 5-color decks where even though the bicycles themselves might be slow lands, they turn a lot of my others (checklands and the like) into fast lands.
Ive done pretty well so far. Went 3-0 yesterday with UB fliers.
Festering Mummy over performed for me. Lots of 3/2s or 3/1 that lets you trade up, or its fodder to put your minus counters on.
I highly pick embalmed creatures as its just straight value. Bounce spells can wreck the tokens though.
Curving out is more important than possibly playing a bomb card. For example, I had Curator of Mysteries, Swamp, Swamp, Island, and some black cards 4cmc up. On T3, I decided to cycle Curator out. Didnt get an Island, but I did get another swamp to drop my 4cmc, and then got another land the following turn to play my 5cmc on curve. Curator is great, but not when its stuck in hand.
SoulStinger was also great. It acted like a bigger bodied Festering Mummy.
Dune Beetle did its job of locking up the ground while my fliers bashed in.
Winds of Rebuke did a lot of work. Kills tokens, mills the top deck if someone fixed their draws with Oracle, knocks off cartouches. I did this to an opponent and essentially 3 for 1 them.
Grasping Dunes is a reasonable mid pick. Its fairly cheap to activate and theres a few targets to hit.
I want to force draft a mill deck with Compelling Argument, Scribe of the Mindful, and Winds of Rebuke. It will happen!
This Bounty of Luxa deck looks exactly like my kind of sweet: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/632892#online
It's basically Temur Marvel without Marvel.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Thassa, God of the Sea is a good inclusion since a lot of the ETB clone creatures have 2 devotion to blue.
Overburden would be good since it punishes players for playing multiple creatures.
Standstill is always great
Banning things based on feeling isn't a good precedent. Banning on results is how it should be done. the issue is that here was enough data to call for a ban. If we banned on "feel bad" gameplay then standard would feel very vanilla and RnD wouldn't push exciting things. I believe hat cards should be pushed just put really narrow removal for many colors to deal with it if it's Heart of Kiran good.
Imperfected
Member
You're just going to piss yourself and everyone else off when you run that at a draft with no chance of doing better than drawing out every game.
Also, I'mma go ahead and say that weaksauce mill in a Graveyard Matters format probably means that predicting you draw games is being pretty generous. No one at an Amonkhet draft is likely to be too broken up that you've put 20 off their top into the yard.
Better off making a self-mill deck to try and do some Dusk // Dawn shenanigans or something.
But once they've cloned something, then they give devotion according to whatever they copy instead. For example, if I clone my opponent's Glorybringer, then it gives two red devotion instead of two blue devotion.
Speaking of, I played in a casual sealed event on Saturday. Someone got to live the dream with Glorybringer and Vizier of Many Faces in the same deck (as well as Pull from Tomorrow and two each of the red Trial and blue Cartouche). There was a guy that opened something absurd like Samut, Glorybringer, triple Serpopard (one foil), the GW land to fix for a white splash, and some other on-colour rare that I can't remember (could even have been a mythic). Seven-rare decks are dumb.
played draft against someone with four gravediggers
honestly made me want to never play magic again at the time, jesus christ the unstoppable value. i am too easily tilted though because my draft deck wasnt great and was all aggro which is terrible against a dude that plays infinite value blockers and then kills me with flyers
honestly made me want to never play magic again at the time, jesus christ the unstoppable value. i am too easily tilted though because my draft deck wasnt great and was all aggro which is terrible against a dude that plays infinite value blockers and then kills me with flyers
divisionbyzorro
Member
This is very similar to what I was playing on the beta, except I played Nissa instead of Bounty and didn't go quite so big (green Gearhulks instead of Eldrazi). This does look pretty cool.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
A friend of mine went straight to Matt Tabak to finally clear up the banishing light interaction with commanders.
If you're unaware what it is, banishing light doesn't refer to the Zone it brings cards back from meaning you can put your commander into the commandzone but will get it back once banishing light leaves the battlefield.
Matt referred to this rule
400.7h If an effect causes an object to move to a public zone, other parts of that effect can find that object. If the cost of a spell or ability causes an object to move to a public zone, that spell or abilitys effects can find that object.
as coming closest to saying that's how it works and mentioned they might clear up that interaction in the future.
If you're unaware what it is, banishing light doesn't refer to the Zone it brings cards back from meaning you can put your commander into the commandzone but will get it back once banishing light leaves the battlefield.
Matt referred to this rule
400.7h If an effect causes an object to move to a public zone, other parts of that effect can find that object. If the cost of a spell or ability causes an object to move to a public zone, that spell or abilitys effects can find that object.
as coming closest to saying that's how it works and mentioned they might clear up that interaction in the future.
I fetch for them first as it's not unreasonable for tangolands to come in untapped at some point. Which is why I prefer them and run a couple in decks with as few basics as 3.
Forgot about that
Vizier of Many Faces threw me off with his weird embalm exception
You could still get devotion off stealing auras like Control Magic and Confiscate.
BTW, someone at my store plays a God-themed EDH deck and runs an oldass ABUR card called Farmstead purely for the devotion. It's pretty funny.
I guess it depends on what I am playing. In something like karametra I would fetch it probably for being a dual that always comes in tapped anyways. In more than 2 colors, I wouldn't run it I don't think. Shocks are better and things like the checks and fast lands are better. Even the filters and such are typically better. If running more than 2 colors I probably wouldn't run them outside of a graveyard themed deck that can abuse the cycling effect.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Cancel is good in Sealed, but it isn't that good. Play two at the most.
Edit: if you have lots of cycling and other instants they do get better. Basically you don't want to have a bunch of situations where you pass with Cancel mana up and they don't do anything you can Cancel (wasting your mana) or they play something stupid forcing you to either waste your mana or waste your Cancel. Cancel is a great answer to your opponents bomb, but it's not a great card to draw multiples of (usually).
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
That reminds me on my prerelease I went 2-2 with a UB Drake Haven deck that splashed red for the BR Minotaur that discards cards for -1/-1 counters and splashed white for approach the sun, deck was actually quite good when it got going and I won at least 3 games with approach. One of those games was even against a gideon emblem.
Unless you have an insane control deck that never forces you to tap out on your turn I'd say so.
that's true. I run tangolands in replacement of ABUR duals in 3 colour decks as I repeatedly run out of fetchable lands otherwise.
I might?
+ four cancel
+ two instant speed bounce
+ 1 sorcery speed bounce 2
+ 1 pacifism
+ 3 fan bearers
+ Hazoret
+ Pull From Tomorrow
+ 5 playable cycle cards in UW
I feel like there might be a viable deck where I just keep them down and then win with Hazoret, Aven Wind Guide or something I cartouche up with flying.
Imperfected
Member
Yeesh, I've done a few questionable things for Devotion in my Gods deck (Borderposts), but that's got to take the cake. He realizes you can turn on like six different Gods with a single Avatar from Eventide, right?
Shit ain't gotta be that dire.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Please say he plays Aysen Highway as well.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Farmstead is not worse than Wood Elemental
Imperfected
Member
God, those Legends cards. They really are just the complete inverse of the Power Nine.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
- Status