In the spirit of “feedback week” over on the mothership, I thought today would be a good time to open up the mailbox and share what my readers have been sending me. Before I do that though, I did want to spend some time addressing some forum comments I got last week concerning card availability and mythic rares, and a “question of the day” I sent out over Twitter.
The gist of these comments was that I’m overreacting when it comes to complaints about the prices of Standard staple mythics prohibiting people from playing the decks they want to play. One person mentioned that if I really wanted 3-4 copies of Jace, the Mind Sculptor for a deck, I had other higher-cost Mythics I could use (my Baneslayer Angels, Vengevine) to aggressive trade for Jace. And this is certainly true if one has the time and inclination. But what happens when down the road I want to play a deck with Baneslayers and/or Vengevines? Do I then invest the time into trading away my Jaces to get those cards back? With Standard staples at these price points too many players just have to make hard choices and narrow down their deck options with select Mythics they’ll get the most value in enjoyment and/or tournament success.
Yes, I realize that this has always been the case to some degree; wanting to compete in Constructed Magic has never been a cheap endeavor. However, in the past I’ve nearly always been able to acquire the chase rares in Standard when I’ve needed them without sacrificing other cards that I also wanted to play with. I know there are quite a few players out there who are a lot like me in this regard. Things have dramatically changed in the past year. Sure, one can simply accept the situation, grit your teeth and adapt to the new reality, but I also think it’s important to remember that this isn’t necessarily an immutable change. Mythics are pretty darn new when you look at Magic’s timeline, and when you make a big change the ramifications can sometimes be unexpected. I have faith that Wizards is keeping a close eye on how things are working out with Mythics, and that they will react if they see a need for it. If you’re concerned you should voice your concern. We also need to remember that Wizards makes these cards and decisions on them a year or two before they hit the consumers, so any adjustments are going to be slow coming.
So last week I was going through Magic articles and it suddenly occurred to me that I have been scanning through or flat out ignoring a huge portion of each article’s content, a lot more than I would have considered normal. Why? Because so many of the decks these authors were writing about were decks that I couldn’t build and many of the people I play with can’t either. So what’s the point? I’ve realized that I’ve been doing this more and more this past year. I didn’t think I’d be the only one who’s doing this, so I sent out a tweet:
@blairwitchgreen: QotD: how many Standard decklists in articles do you just zip by because they feature cards you don’t & can’t have?
@hollowkatt: Over 90% of them.
@norbert88: Many many decklists.
@kaokun: All of them
@omccombeiro: Zero
@nunchux: *raises hand* I play a lot of Green (I admit to being a Timmy), and expensive Primeval Titan makes for sad panda face
@Armytony: More than I like, I love the idea of Turboland, but don’t own any new Jace so can’t play that, and same with Green Titan
@jukeboxhero37: I ingest them all so that way I can either hope to borrow them or learn to beat them with what I’ve got!
@Chosler88: Anything with Blue in it
@tehCorinthian: Standard? None. If I don’t have it and I want it, I make plans to get it. Legacy? All the time. Whole format, actually.
@CarlWilt: Most, if I don’t have the cards to build the deck/resources to buy those cards, and there’s nothing similar to substitute.
@pureval: At least 90%, I own no playsets of any mythics. I have stopped reading many articles because of it.
@JayBoosh: All of them
@metaknightmare: None. I always try to think of budget options for the cards… Like Inferno instead of Primeval in Titan Force
@herodotusjr: All of them. I are broke 😉
Only three of the folks answering don’t curb their consumption of content based on card availability issues, a lot fewer than I’d have guessed… interesting.
Now, I understand the sample size is small and biased by my reader base—I suspect if Conley Woods or Billy Moreno sent out a similar tweet they’d get vastly different answers from their followers. But you know what? A lot of people like me used to more fully consume high-level strategy content, including Premium. What if folks like me find themselves skipping through articles about decks they can’t play often enough they decide it’s not worth their time or sometimes their dollars? Considering who I write for, I want the Premium side to be chock full of content that a lot of people want to pay to read about, whether they’re hard-core Spikes or are just looking for a decent edge for FNM or Champs. Again, unexpected ramifications, and whether this is a net positive change or no?
Okay, moving on to stuff that’s more fun—emails!
Chad Erickson writes:
I enjoy reading your articles since I too am a Dad on a budget and I’m looking for some advice. Back when Sharuum the Hegemon came out I built an EDH deck that I found online. Unfortunately, I’ve never actually played…I kinda fell out of touch with the game for a while. Now with the banning of Tolarian Academy, what should I replace that with? I’m looking to tune my deck and get some practice in so I can take it to Nationals in Minneapolis. Thank you for your feedback in advance and if you need a decklist, I used Kelly Diggs list from this article
Hi Chad—great to hear from fellow Dads on a budget! First, a word of warning since you haven’t had a chance to play EDH yet—Sharuum is one of those “red alarm” generals that get people really nervous because of all the various combos you can pull off with him. Since you’re likely to be playing with some folks you haven’t played before in Minneapolis just be prepared that some of them might gun for you fast, and it won’t be personal.
As far as replacing Tolarian Academy, I’d recommend Blinkmoth Urn. Yes, it’s going to help your opponents somewhat, but unless they’re playing Sharuum as well, the mana you’ll be getting from it will be considerably more and pretty much on par with Academy.
Please write and let me know how your EDH adventures go at Nationals!
Alex Ortlieb writes:
I’ve been reading your articles for a while now and I really enjoy them. Would you be able to give me some ideas on how to spruce my Phelddagrif deck up a bit? Obviously it’s a group hug type deck, but I like to focus more on politics. If there are any cards you think I’m missing please let me know. Thank you for your time!
Here’s his deck:
1 Phelddagrif
1 Magus of the Vineyard
1 Essence Warden
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Pongify
1 Path to Exile
1 Prosperity
1 Wall of Shards
1 Mistmeadow Witch
1 Pygmy Hippo
1 Living Wish
1 Seedtime
1 Arcane Denial
1 Regrowth
1 Prismatic Omen
1 Helm of Awakening
1 Words of Wisdom
1 Unifying Theory
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Hesitation
1 Standstill
1 Noble Benefactor
1 Peacekeeper
1 Wall of Denial
1 Walking Archive
1 Hunted Phantasm
1 Cunning Wish
1 Bant Charm
1 Voidslime
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Propaganda
1 Sculpting Steel
1 Kodama’s Reach
1 Coalition Relic
1 Oblation
1 Krosan Grip
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Trade Secrets
1 Heartstone
1 Proteus Staff
1 Truce
1 Horn of Greed
1 Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
1 Swans of Bryn Argoll
1 Academy Rector
1 Brooding Saurian
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Questing Phelddagrif
1 Shapeshifter’s Marrow
1 Collective Restraint
1 Explosive Vegetation
1 Upwelling
1 Urza’s Filter
1 Return to Dust
1 Wrath of God
1 Nevinyrral’s Disk
1 Power Matrix
1 Turnabout
1 Mischievous Quanar
1 Silklash Spider
1 Mirari’s Wake
1 Evacuation
1 Cauldron of Souls
1 Psychic Battle
1 Arbiter of Knollridge
1 Simic Sky Swallower
1 Ith, High Arcanist
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
1 Vivid Grove
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Mystic Gate
1 Nantuko Monastery
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Flooded Grove
1 Maze of Ith
1 Wasteland
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Krosan Verge
1 Prahv, Spires of Order
1 Vesuva
1 Temple Garden
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Sejiri Refuge
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Tundra
1 Strip Mine
1 Gemstone Mine
3 Island
2 Forest
2 Plains
Keep in mind that Phelddagrif and his Questing brother have built-in political abilities, so I’d recommend cutting some of the group-hug stuff and adding in more answer cards. Still, there are some good “political” cards I’d recommend you try:
Nullmage Advocate, Pulsemage Advocate: Both of these cards have very helpful effects for you, and the ability to help certain opponents at the same time.
Jester’s Mask: Not only is this a way to punish a particular player by nuking his hand and stuffing it with lands, but you can also power up one of your opponents to take down a bigger threat. Say someone’s about to go crazy with an infinite combo on his turn, pop the Mask and give someone their Time Stop along with a couple extra counterspells to back it up.
Cauldron of Souls: The nice thing about this card is that you can choose certain creatures from your opponents to save in addition to your own. If someone sweeps the board and wrecks someone’s setup, save their biggest creature and it will likely stomp into the Red Zone looking for revenge.
Reins of Power: I just recently ran across this card and have been slapping myself in the forehead for not playing it before. There are so many great things you can do with this, giving someone an instant army for offense or defense, or if you don’t have much on the board you can leave someone wide open during someone else’s turn.
Temple Bell: Much better than Howling Mine because you can control when everyone draws. Most of the time it’s at the end step of the guy to your right, or during your own turn, but the beauty is that you can do it during someone’s turn when he’s a bit mana screwed, or if someone’s trying to combo off you can have everyone draw and hope to dig for an answer. Mikokoro, Center of the Sea has been doing this for years (but for a bit more mana).
This is obviously just the tip of the iceberg—hopefully some of you can chime in with some of your favorite political cards in the forums!
Russ Forrest writes:
I am just getting into the world of EDH and I am looking to compose a budget deck around one of the following generals: Grand Arbiter Augustin IV; Jhoira of the Ghitu; Sapling of Colfenor; Wort, the Raidmother; Sedris, the Traitor King; or Mayael the Anima. Which of these Generals would you choose? How would you build? I’m looking for input so that I can make a really fun EDH multiplayer deck. When I say budget, what I mean is that I just don’t want to include super high priced cards (Damnation, Bitterblossom, etc.) in these decks. I have at least one full set of all cards from Planar Chaos through Shards. Let me know what you think.
Hi Russ– I’d steer clear of Augustin IV and Jhoira, as they tend to set off warning bells for other players whether you intend on fully abusing their abilities or not. The other generals sound great (though of course I personally would lean towards Sapling of Colfenor).
There are a ton of different ways to build decks, so the way I’d build mine would likely be different from everyone else, depending on available cards. I have a few rules of thumb that, while not everyone would agree with them, will probably help your deck fit in with most EDH groups:
Avoid cards that “lock down” or prevent other players from playing their cards, such as mass LD, though some pinpoint LD is fine to deal with individual lands that need to be answered. While you still want to win, the ultimate purpose of an EDH game is for everyone to pass some time having a good time. Your focus should be having lots of big, fun, splashy plays more so than trying to stop everyone else’s big, fun, splashy plays.
Try and have a fair number of 1-for-1 answer cards so you don’t get stuck with your pants down and no answer for someone’s shenanigans; however, you do want to also have plenty of sweepers/mass removal which are stronger in multiplayer. Also make sure you have ways of restocking your hand because going into top-deck mode is tough in multiplayer.
Have plenty of color fixing; 100 card singleton offers a lot of variability so you want to make sure you have the right colored mana to play your spells. There are a lot of great utility lands that only give you colorless mana, be careful about using too many of them the more colors you have in your deck.
Be sure to check out my EDH Primer articles, links are at the bottom of each week’s column. Welcome to the format, hope you have a great time!!
Donald Bernard writes:
Hi, I’ve been addicted to Magic: the Gathering for 11 years… Unfortunately I had never heard of EDH until a friend mentioned it was “this really weird format” sometime last year. I’m trying to get my other friends into it and so far the ideas look pretty sweet. We’ve got a Kresh; Tsabo Tavoc; Uril, the Miststalker; Niv Mizzet, the Firemind; and a Dakkon Blackblade including my ideas for Borborygmos and (once I get the hang of it) Karona, False God. I have a few questions.
1: Do the generals have haste when they are cast from the command zone?
2: Do they also have flash?
3: Can you suggest any way to get Borborygmos out of the command zone faster other than mana ramp… or is that my only option? I was hoping to Living Wish him and either Dragon Arch or Elvish Piper is big scary butt onto the field… but Living Wish errata says you can’t pick exiled cards because they are still within one of the game’s zones.
Anyway, I hope to play more games and not lose so quickly or soundly next time, but I figured I let you know I was reading your articles and hope you can get back to me with some fun and interesting ideas!
Thanks for writing, Donald. Here are your answers:
1&2: Nope, no inherent haste when you cast a general from the Command Zone, and no inherent Flash. The Command Zone is much like your hand; just another place where you’ve got a card you can play. Now if you’ve got a Gruul Warplow in play (haste), or activate Winding Canyons (flash), your general can benefit from it when you play him from the Command Zone.
3. There’s no way to cheat him out other than with mana acceleration, but keep in mind that Borborygmos is a pretty aggressive general, so people are going to kill him, in which case having plenty of extra mana is always going to be helpful. For acceleration, two cards that I’d like to recommend that tend to be pretty awesome in EDH you may not have considered: Mana Geyser and Carpet of Flowers. Also, if you have a Gaea’s Cradle, scrounge up a Malachite Talisman!
John Ramos writes:
Good day to you sir, my name is SPC. John C Ramos III of the United States Army. I was trolling through old articles and was very fond of your EDH primers of the format. I became enticed by the format since the competitive scene has become rather stale, thanks to Planeswalkers (Jace) and mythics. So I began just brainstorming ideas and stumbled upon your Doran list. I noticed that you have recursion, with a lot of creatures, but no Oversold Cemetery. I know this article was written like months ago, however I felt it necessary to contact you. This is because I actually read your articles more often now than before. Great instructional writings on EDH… thanks.
Do you have an updated list so I can compare mine to yours? I went the defender route, just because I think winning with walls is hilarious. Who really wants to lose to a Wall of Blossoms with over ten toughness? Almost like Rex Quan DO. Anyway, pleasure to have met you. Hope to conversate more about EDH in the near future.
John, first off, I’m always honored to hear from our folks in the service. You do amazing work for your fellow citizens and this country. I’m glad you have the time to fit Magic in your life, and especially that you’ve found EDH!
I really liked my Doran deck, and had it together for quite a while… but eventually I dismantled it because it was lacking “oomph!” It was chock full of synergy and certainly could win, but too often as games went on I’d fall to some other deck’s big haymaker or combo kill. I wrote about the process of building a Doran deck (and the final decklist) in Part 3 of my EDH Primer last year. There have certainly been some cool “defender matters” cards (typically with high toughness) that have come out since then (Perimeter Captain, Overgrown Battlement, Stalwart Shield-Bearers, Wall of Omens, Warmonger’s Chariot). I also like a few other new gems: Jaddi Lifestrider can be a life-gaining machine, Roc Egg, Leyline of Vitality, and Protean Hydra can take advantage of toughness-boosting effects to basically become unkillable through damage.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to spotlight my friend Eric Brown’s Doran deck. Instead of focusing on the low power/high toughness themes like I did with Doran, he just went flat out and built a Treefolk deck that’s pretty brutal if there aren’t enough sweeper effects to stop it. This past weekend it got down to just the two of us, and I was desperately trying to whittle his life down with my Tsabo Tavoc deck’s Stuffy Doll, and had him down to two with a fiendish plan to finish him the following turn when he played Orchard Warden, gaining a ton of life and crushing my dreams, and soon afterwards my lifetotal with the help of Garruk.
1 Doran, the Siege-Tower
1 Treefolk Harbinger
1 Mirri’s Guile
1 Brittle Effigy
1 Bosk Banneret
1 Cover of Darkness
1 Lignify
1 Steely Resolve
1 Sylvan Library
1 Cauldron Haze
1 Squall Line
1 Grim Discovery
1 Nature’s Spiral
1 Crown of Convergence
1 Golgari Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Selesnya Signet
1 Battlewand Oak
1 Black Poplar Shaman
1 Tilling Treefolk
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Congregation at Dawn
1 Mortify
1 Cultivate
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Coalition Relic
1 Colfenor’s Urn
1 Crystal Ball
1 Canker Abomination
1 Cloudcrown Oak
1 Dauntless Dourbark
1 Indomitable Ancients
1 Leaf-Crowned Elder
1 Oaken Brawler
1 Unstoppable Ash
1 Wickerbough Elder
1 Primitive Etchings
1 Harmonize
1 Syphon Mind
1 Door of Destinies
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Everbark Shaman
1 Fendeep Summoner
1 Magnigoth Treefolk
1 Old Ghastbark
1 Sapling of Colfenor
1 Seedguide Ash
1 Sentry Oak
1 Weed-Pruner Poplar
1 Angelic Chorus
1 Mirari’s Wake
1 Reach of Branches
1 Relic Crush
1 Rootgrapple
1 Primal Command
1 Citanul Flute
1 Liliana Vess
1 Deadwood Treefolk
1 Nemata, Grove Guardian
1 Orchard Warden
1 Thorntooth Witch
1 Verdeloth the Ancient
1 Oakgnarl Warrior
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Crime // Punishment
1 City of Brass
1 Elfhame Palace
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Golgari Rot Farm
1 Graypelt Refuge
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mosswort Bridge
1 New Benalia
1 Orzhov Basilica
1 Polluted Mire
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Slippery Karst
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Twilight Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vivid Grove
1 Vivid Marsh
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Windswept Heath
3 Plains
3 Swamp
9 Forest
Eric had this quick comment about his list: “The mana is not where I want it to be, need to hunt down some Duals and hopefully replace some of the basic searchers. Also would love some stuff like Vindicate and Pernicious Deed! Sensei’s Divining Top isn’t in this list because I only own one currently and it’s in another deck.”
Scott Van Essen writes:
Hi. First off, I wanted to say that I’ve been reading your column for years, and that I am a fan of both you as a writer and Green as a color (your articles in the past year or two on what’s wrong with Green were spot on). That’s not relevant to my e-mail, just worth mentioning.
I thought of an interesting multiplayer card interaction, and I wanted to float the idea by you. If you like it, I’d love to hear how it works in practice. The card is Abyssal Persecutor. In a duel, you get him out, bash face, and then find a way to sacrifice him. In a multiplayer game, things change. When an opponent would die, the Persecutor still keeps them alive, but what’s interesting is that they can no longer kill you without offing themselves. For instance, in a four player game where you have the Persecutor out; once an opponent goes negative, the best that they can hope for is to bring down the other two players to negative life, and then knock you off for a three way tie. More importantly, that opponent is suddenly invested in you as you’re the only thing keeping them alive. You have gained an ally (or, more accurately, a minion).
Cast your underpriced Demon and then rush the Blue player. If you can get them to zero, you have someone who will always have counter mana up to keep your 6/6 flying beatstick alive, and who might not always watch your back, but they will have the bounce spell for the dragon that’s about to finish you off. And if your other opponents do manage to kill the Persecutor, it’s not that terrible a loss. That minion falls by the wayside, but you just reanimate the Persecutor and start the recruitment drive for your newly available position.
Since the Persecutor is sadly not legendary, you can’t make this a major theme in your deck, but with a bit of tutor support (Dmir House Guard and Fleshwrither work nicely here, in addition to the standard set of tutors), it can make an interesting subtheme in your existing black deck. Especially one which has the ability to deliver haymakers to individual opponents.
I hope this idea intrigues you enough to give it a spin. I’d love to read about it in your column.
Scott, I have to say that I’d not previously thought about the multiplayer applications of Abyssal Persecutor, and the idea is certainly intriguing! In a way, it’s a “group-hug” type of card, something you don’t expect in Black. While I haven’t tried it out yet, I did want to put your letter out there to my readers to see what others thought, and perhaps some of them have tried it too. Let us know in the forums!
I’d like to wrap this up by saying that GP: Columbus has me interested in Legacy for the first time in… well… ever. While I had some fun noodling around with a G/R landfall deck, it never really felt like it had the stuff to compete. However, Survival of the Fittest is one of my all-time favorite cards, and seeing that Survival deck make Top 8 was heartening. The Basking Rootwalla/Vengevine engine was awesome even though the rest of the deck didn’t exactly call out to me. I was thinking instead how much I liked the idea of sacrificing Rootwallas to flashback Cabal Therapy.
Then I heard about Patrick Chapin Survival deck (which I believe he’s going to be talking about in today’s column), which didn’t run the Blue cards, but did run Cabal Therapy, did run Fauna Shaman, alongside a kickass toolbox and a funky combo finish involving a $150 card from Portal (DOH!). It’s got me hopeful for perhaps a middle ground mash up, with Survivals, Fauna Shaman, Therapies, Rootwallas, Vengevines and a kickass toolbox.
Maybe throw some Lotus Cobras in there too…
Take care…
Bennie
starcitygeezer AT gmail DOT com
New to EDH? Be sure to check out my EDH Primer, part 1, part 2, and part 3.
My current EDH decks:
Phelddagrif (carrots & sticks)
Tsabo Tavoc (Red & Black nastiness)
Reki, the History of Kamigawa (more legends than you can shake a stick at)
Korlash, Heir to Blackblade (brain-eating zombies, Commander)