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[Boogiepop]

Okay, so I scrounged around my old cards to see what I had that could supplement the cat deck. Turns out I had less stuff than I thought, so some of this is probably complete crap despite being relatively better options amongst the stuff I had. (Also, turned out in addition to Jareth... I also already had Raksha Golden Cub. :/ So those would be great subs... if they weren't already in the deck.

Anyway, any of this even vaguely worth considering, or should I chuck it all back in my bin? (Note that there IS at least a Sword of Light and Shadow that I've got, so I at least have one free and easy card to throw in there)

Cards:
Darksteel Ingot
Ur-Golem's Eye
Fireshrieker
Fertile Ground
Eldamri's Call
Gerrard's Command
Guided Strike
Birds of Paradise
Pride Guardian
Ferocious Charge
Skyhunter Prowler
Brawn
Valor
Armadillo Cloak (this was easily one of my favorites back in the day, even if I can accept that it may well suck in actuality.)
Spellbinder

And then the dregs I'm even less confident in:
Spectral Lynx
Fleetfoot Panther (at least these two are cats!)
Mask of Memory
Neurok Hoversail
Leonin Bola
Tigereye Cameo

So yeah... would ANY of that be good for strenthening the cat deck rather than weakening it, or is my old crap effectively useless?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Eldamri's Call is a shoo-in. It's an instant-speed creature tutor. It's also like an 11 dollar card, as I recall.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

Make sure you're not just looking at Rares in your cards. Plenty of good Common and Uncommon cards that may support the plan

If you have, I apologize, just wanted to make sure.

EDIT: After looking, it seems you are lol

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I would start with all these

https://scryfall.com/search?q=t:cat+ci:gw+cmc<3+-o:defender

 

[Violet_0]

any recommendation for one of the Commanders decks if you just want to get a couple staple cards? I was considering buying one, but now I'm just thinking of ordering singles for when I eventually build a paper Commander deck (Scarab god, perhaps)

 

[Card Boy]

any recommendation for one of the Commanders decks if you just want to get a couple staple cards? I was considering buying one, but now I'm just thinking of ordering singles for when I eventually build a paper Commander deck (Scarab god, perhaps)

They all have staple cards. There are cards that are shared across alot of the decks (Sol Ring, Commander Tower, Lightning Greaves, Commander's Sphere etc).

The better question is what are you looking at getting? Because there are some decks that are more expensive than others since Wizards made them a limited run (even with the 2016 decks).

I would just get all 5 2016 decks in a bundle as it's hard to get Breed Lethality anymore on its own and Invent Superiority is rising in price. If you sell Breed Lethality you will make a large portion of your money back.

 

[Imperfected]

Cards:
Darksteel Ingot
Ur-Golem's Eye
Birds of Paradise
Tigereye Cameo

Probably skip these. I don't think Cats has enough need for either ramp or fixing to justify any but the best mana rocks, and it's already got Sol Ring, Mirrari's Wake, and Zendikar Resurgent (that I'd consider putting in a deck that could better use it) included, along with two of the card-draw rocks (Hedrons).

The only ramp I'd really look at is ramp that either falls somewhere on the curve that your aren't playing much (Signets) or does something else you want anyway (Gauntlet of Power), unless you're subbing in a lot more card-draw or way bigger fatties and other mana outlets than the deck runs already.

Fireshrieker
Eldamri's Call

Probably a decent pair of inclusions. I'd have to tool around with the deck for a bit to know if a creature tutor is really worth it, but if you're consistently going to Equipcat for ending games or something it's probably worth it.

Fertile Ground

Not bad since it's ramping at a point on the curve you're going to be short on plays most of the time. Probably still worse than a Signet in the strictest terms, though that's really a local meta thing. (We love our Vandalblasts around here, so Enchantment-based ramp actually has a lot going for it.)

Gerrard's Command
Guided Strike
Ferocious Charge

Probably not. Combat tricks in EDH are really, really underwhelming unless they do absolutely filthy, disgusting things like give creatures Infect. If you want removal options, there's plenty of relatively cheap white effects you can play with (like Cast Out) rather than trying to bait a one-for-one using a combat trick.

Pride Guardian

I don't think you want to be trying to pillowfort with the Cats deck, and if you do there are better ways to do it in white. Include only for the sake of him looking rad.

Brawn
Valor

You're probably going to be going wide a lot of games, so team-wide Trample is a pretty nice effect. You aren't really flush with ways to get it into the graveyard reliably, though. Maybe give a few games and see if it gets the job done for you.

Valor I'd probably skip. A lot of your cats have First Strike or ways to get First/Double Strike already, particularly the ones you actually care about slamming into things (keep in mind Kitty Meow-Meow only gives one cat per combat phase the tribal buff).

If you wanted keyword salad I'd almost be tempted to run Odric Lunarch Marshal since a lot of your cats come with keywords attached or inherit them through equipment, though that would change your deck-building plan entirely.

Skyhunter Prowler

The deck as it ships is kind of conspicuously terrible at dealing with flyers in general, so this is probably a good inclusion. You might even be able to make a case for Skyhunter Skirmisher with all the equips and power buffs.

Armadillo Cloak (this was easily one of my favorites back in the day, even if I can accept that it may well suck in actuality.)

If you like it, you can probably sneak it in, though you generally want Equipment-based buffing for your creatures, or at least recurring Enchantments (Rancor). Your cats are mostly disposable and you're probably going to have enough of them meowing around at some point to eat a board wipe. You kind of have to look at Auras as needing to be worth it even if you only get to swing with them once or twice.

Spellbinder

This isn't really a deck that runs an impressive array of Instants, and as noted above I wouldn't really try and stretch it into one just for the sake of making Spellbinder a worthy inclusion. This is going to be a dead card most of the time.

Mask of Memory

Might be decent. I don't think this deck really has enough card draw built in to match the amount of mana it generates and needs, and it certainly isn't built to end games before it gets to the point where it's producing a lot of excess mana. There's better card draw out there, obviously, it might be workable.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Someone was looking for janky infinite Mairsil combos well here goes one unnecessarily cumbersome one.

 

[Boogiepop]

So, in looking through old cards, I remembered that I had an old Portal Starter Set for 2 Players laying around that I had gotten handed down to me, which I had never really looked at before. And maaaaan, those cards are WEIRD to look at (and largely completely boring... plus utterly useless even if they were playable, which I'm doubting looking at just how off kilter the wording and stuff seem). Just a totally odd little thing, far beyond the "hah, look at this old plains with its old as hell tap symbol and the apparent need to tell me what it does!"

Probably skip these. I don't think Cats has enough need for either ramp or fixing to justify any but the best mana rocks, and it's already got Sol Ring, Mirrari's Wake, and Zendikar Resurgent (that I'd consider putting in a deck that could better use it) included, along with two of the card-draw rocks (Hedrons).

The only ramp I'd really look at is ramp that either falls somewhere on the curve that your aren't playing much (Signets) or does something else you want anyway (Gauntlet of Power), unless you're subbing in a lot more card-draw or way bigger fatties and other mana outlets than the deck runs already.




Probably a decent pair of inclusions. I'd have to tool around with the deck for a bit to know if a creature tutor is really worth it, but if you're consistently going to Equipcat for ending games or something it's probably worth it.



Not bad since it's ramping at a point on the curve you're going to be short on plays most of the time. Probably still worse than a Signet in the strictest terms, though that's really a local meta thing. (We love our Vandalblasts around here, so Enchantment-based ramp actually has a lot going for it.)



Probably not. Combat tricks in EDH are really, really underwhelming unless they do absolutely filthy, disgusting things like give creatures Infect. If you want removal options, there's plenty of relatively cheap white effects you can play with (like Cast Out) rather than trying to bait a one-for-one using a combat trick.



I don't think you want to be trying to pillowfort with the Cats deck, and if you do there are better ways to do it in white. Include only for the sake of him looking rad.



You're probably going to be going wide a lot of games, so team-wide Trample is a pretty nice effect. You aren't really flush with ways to get it into the graveyard reliably, though. Maybe give a few games and see if it gets the job done for you.

Valor I'd probably skip. A lot of your cats have First Strike or ways to get First/Double Strike already, particularly the ones you actually care about slamming into things (keep in mind Kitty Meow-Meow only gives one cat per combat phase the tribal buff).

If you wanted keyword salad I'd almost be tempted to run Odric Lunarch Marshal since a lot of your cats come with keywords attached or inherit them through equipment, though that would change your deck-building plan entirely.



The deck as it ships is kind of conspicuously terrible at dealing with flyers in general, so this is probably a good inclusion. You might even be able to make a case for Skyhunter Skirmisher with all the equips and power buffs.



If you like it, you can probably sneak it in, though you generally want Equipment-based buffing for your creatures, or at least recurring Enchantments (Rancor). Your cats are mostly disposable and you're probably going to have enough of them meowing around at some point to eat a board wipe. You kind of have to look at Auras as needing to be worth it even if you only get to swing with them once or twice.



This isn't really a deck that runs an impressive array of Instants, and as noted above I wouldn't really try and stretch it into one just for the sake of making Spellbinder a worthy inclusion. This is going to be a dead card most of the time.



Might be decent. I don't think this deck really has enough card draw built in to match the amount of mana it generates and needs, and it certainly isn't built to end games before it gets to the point where it's producing a lot of excess mana. There's better card draw out there, obviously, it might be workable.

Awesome, thanks so much to everyone who responded in general, but thanks especially for this in-depth analysis! I really appreciate it!

 

[Violet_0]

They all have staple cards. There are cards that are shared across alot of the decks (Sol Ring, Commander Tower, Lightning Greaves, Commander's Sphere etc).

The better question is what are you looking at getting? Because there are some decks that are more expensive than others since Wizards made them a limited run (even with the 2016 decks).

I would just get all 5 2016 decks in a bundle as it's hard to get Breed Lethality anymore on its own and Invent Superiority is rising in price. If you sell Breed Lethality you will make a large portion of your money back.

I had Dimir or Sultai reanimator in mind. I had a Sidsi deck on MTGO and graveyard decks are just my jam

the pre-con Commander decks are usually well-prized, but most of the time I feel like you only want a few cards from those decks unless you plan on playing the featured commander. I don't think there's much there in the 2017 decks that interests me. The older pre-cons with good value card tend to be very pricey, unfortunately

 

[Violet_0]

oh come on, the cat deck doesn't even have Stoneforge Masterwork
and no Bloodline Keeper for the vampires
and no Crux of Fate for dragons

 

[Imperfected]

I'm thinking I might try to mix Odric, Heliod, and Oketra into the cats deck and make it into a goofy keyword soup thing. A bunch of indestructible, trampling, double-striking, vigilant cats sounds like it'd be dumb enough to get a rise from the table at least once.

 

[traveler]

oh come on, the cat deck doesn't even have Stoneforge Masterwork
and no Bloodline Keeper for the vampires
and no Crux of Fate for dragons

Crux of Fate is in dragons.

 

[Imperfected]

Bloodline Keeper would have been nice, but at least they've got Captivating Vampire in there.

With as hard the deck trends Black it should probably dump one of the Red utility vampires for Vampire Nocturnus, too.

 

[Zocano]

I am trying to put together a commander deck w/ Jeleva but I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the deck suggestions I see? Hard control or hard combo (storm) just doesn't seem... right for EDH (as in too competitive/no fun allowed).

 

[Imperfected]

I am trying to put together a commander deck w/ Jeleva but I'm not a huge fan of a lot of the deck suggestions I see? Hard control or hard combo (storm) just doesn't seem... right for EDH (as in too competitive/no fun allowed).

You could use Jeleva to play an "I play your deck" brew, since she has the best colors for it.

Lots of blue and blue/black clones, lots of "copy target instant or sorcery" red effects, lots of blue permanent theft and black enemy graveyard recursion, and a random smattering of "just play off their deck" effects like Gonti, etc.

Jeleva's not only in-theme, but helps you cast some of the really fun and expensive effects in that category (see: Rise of the Dark Realms, Blatant Thievery, etc.) without having to be a hardcore mana ramp deck.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

just don't play expropriate and time stretch and everyhting's good.

 

[Zocano]

Ya I already have a ton of clones in my sights. I was hoping to use a lot of the 'tempt with' cards and making a ton of clones of goblin test pilot because I think that card is hilarious. That's generally the type of deck I want to move towards? It's hard to describe but something akin to communal destruction without the super unfun cards like armageddon or stax stuff.

edit: this specific one (w/ Jeleva) I don't want to build it to force a win or just go straight for win cons. I am also looking at just making a go-wide type deck around Sidisi.

 

[Imperfected]

If you're looking for fun clones, don't forget Stolen Identity. Not only is it a hit for Jeleva's ability since it counts as a Sorcery, the way it goes off (casting on player damage) means you'll often be able to drop it straight on top of her for a second trigger right away.

Rite of Replication is pretty cool, too, since Jelly actually allows you to pay the Kicker even if you cast it for free.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Alright after looking at all 2500 artifacts and creatures with activated abilities excluding vehicels and equipment in Grixis I've narrowed it down to about 80 useful cards for Mairsil. I honeslty expected more. Also not that difficult to go infinite with him.

 

[Yeef]

oh come on, the cat deck doesn't even have Stoneforge Masterwork
and no Bloodline Keeper for the vampires
and no Crux of Fate for dragons

Double faced cards in commander are unlikely unless it's a major theme for logistic reasons.

 

[Santiako]

3-3 in the GP so far

Won against Burn, Affinity and Tron
Lost against Grixis Death's Shadow and Storm twice.

I'm playing Titanshift so I literally can't beat storm so fuck my life lol


EDIT: and now I lost against esper control with main runed halo. 3-4 drop &#128170;&#128170;&#128170;

 

[MoxManiac]

Grixis Emenince commaner + paradox engine + mystic speculation + mana rocks seems pretty good.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

lol you would think someone would have spoken up in a meeting and said, "Hey- should we update the art for Leonin Shikari?"

"To what?"

"I dunno, how about anything else?"

"Nah, it's fine."

Glad it's in the deck though

 

[OnPoint]

3-3 in the GP so far

Won against Burn, Affinity and Tron
Lost against Grixis Death's Shadow and Storm twice.

I'm playing Titanshift so I literally can't beat storm so fuck my life lol


EDIT: and now I lost against esper control with main runed halo. 3-4 drop &#128170;&#128170;&#128170;

Sorry to hear it, sometimes you just draw the poor matchups

 

[Santiako]

Sorry to hear it, sometimes you just draw the poor matchups

That's all right, I'm 3-0 in the rebound tournament right now &#128170;&#128170;&#128170;

 

[Ashodin]

2-1 standard showdown

Got a pack. Foil GW Cycle land!

 

[aidan]

lol you would think someone would have spoken up in a meeting and said, "Hey- should we update the art for Leonin Shikari?"

"To what?"

"I dunno, how about anything else?"

"Nah, it's fine."

Glad it's in the deck though

Not into cat boobs?

 

[Wulfric]

lol you would think someone would have spoken up in a meeting and said, "Hey- should we update the art for Leonin Shikari?"

Nah, I kinda like the Wayne England artwork. Besides, most of the older Mirrodin era leonin look kinda funky. Kemba is one of the few who still matches the modern art direction.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Original Mirrodin art is hilarious to me. It still looks like old frame art but is in the Modern frame.

 

[red13th]

yeah Mirrodin has some really bad art

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Nah, I kinda like the Wayne England artwork. Besides, most of the older Mirrodin era leonin look kinda funky. Kemba is one of the few who still matches the modern art direction.

boob plate is actively offensive to my eyes these days.

 

[Santiako]

Between the modern rebound tourney and the masques block sealed I got enough tix to get 4 goblin guides, 1 damnation and 1 aether vial; and still have some spare for tomorrow. They are pretty generous with the prizes.

 

[shrapnelmagnet]

boob plate is actively offensive to my eyes these days.

yeah Mirrodin has some really bad art

Nah, I kinda like the Wayne England artwork. Besides, most of the older Mirrodin era leonin look kinda funky. Kemba is one of the few who still matches the modern art direction.

Not into cat boobs?

Def not a knock on the artist, but sometimes it's just "objectively" bad, haha. 8th Grade Afternoon Math Class Notebook-sketches Bad.

 

[Wulfric]

yeah Mirrodin has some really bad art

boob plate is actively offensive to my eyes these days.

Hey, the set's not all bad:

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Hey, the set's not all bad:

agreed but boob plate is fucking dumb.

 

[Ashodin]

She lifts her arm any higher her tit's gonna fall out.

 

[bigkrev]

Not into cat boobs?

No, remember we established that all the weirdos in this thread think Ajani is hot 2 weeks ago or something

 

[Zocano]

No, remember we established that all the weirdos in this thread think Ajani is hot 2 weeks ago or something

Best husbando != Hot tho

 

[red13th]

This is my least favourite art from Mirrodin.

Hey, the set's not all bad:

Moeller and Giancola, great artists! I miss Moeller already.

 

[charlequin]

Hey, the set's not all bad:

Yeah, there's good art in every set, even at the nadir of the "people from under the blue sun" era of Magic art. Onslaught is worse than Mirrodin but even there there's some good illos like Cabal Executioner, Riptide Laboratory, etc.

 

[Ashodin]

All the Kaldra weapons look sweet af

 

[red13th]

Kaldra weapons are Donato Giancola too, he's such a great artist.
Stuff like this was just waaaay ahead of the rest of the art from their time:

 

[Imperfected]

Townsfolk Tribal when?

 

[blindrocket]

Kaldra weapons are Donato Giancola too, he's such a great artist.
Stuff like this was just waaaay ahead of the rest of the art from their time:

So good.

 

[Remembrance]

Donato's art was pretty much the best thing about that era. And there was so much of it even in the nadir of art direction that was Seventh Edition.

Archivist, Feroz's Ban, Gerrard's Wisdom, Teferi's Puzzle Box...

(If anything this was probably a lesson for later artists to not do elaborate life studies and oil paintings for mediocre cards that would never be reprinted again)

Townsfolk Tribal when?

Never since they errata'ed that type so hard that Cartographer doesn't even have a job anymore.

 

[Imperfected]

Never since they errata'ed that type so hard that Cartographer doesn't even have a job anymore.

Give 'em time, they've been getting less and less responsible about managing creature typing. The time of the Townsfolk will come again.

(Though, I will say I don't think a Cartographer should be a "Townsfolk" to begin with since I would assume they aren't sedentary by occupation. I'm pretty sure they were the ones that actually went out and mapped things, and it was basic bitch scribes who created copies of maps?)

 

[charlequin]

Volkan Baga is pretty much the heir to Giancola's throne, in more ways than one:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/volkanbaga/about/?ref=page_internal

 

[Ashodin]

Kaldra weapons are Donato Giancola too, he's such a great artist.
Stuff like this was just waaaay ahead of the rest of the art from their time:

fuuuuuuuck giancola where you at

That's definitely one of my favorite arts from ODY

 

[Remembrance]

Volkan Baga is pretty much the heir to Giancola's throne, in more ways than one:

I can't believe I never looked up that bit of info. Should have drawn the connection that not too many people develop a classical oil style like that just studying on their own.

Was it Baga who did the first "grasped in hands" paintings of the Mox cards? I kept thinking Donato came up with it but that might have been his lucky charms cycle (possibly the biggest waste of iconic art on awful cards).