Fatalist

What better name for a mono-Black aggro deck that will likely know if it's won or lost by turn 2? 

4 Dunerider Outlaw
3 Ghost Hounds
4 Dross Harvester
2 Slith Bloodletter
4 Smolder Initiate
4 Hand of Cruelty
3 Skulking Ghost

4 Bad Moon

4 Funeral Charm
4 Dark Ritual

1 Polluted Mire
16 Swamp
2 Piranha Marsh

3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Unearth

It's not a complicated deck, I'll admit: Dark Ritual for powering out multiple creatures, Bad Moon to boost them, Hymn is there because it's powerful and supports one of Funeral Charm's modes and Unearth can be cycled or bring back a Dross Harvester. 

Now, the creature selection might look questionable as hell, and you're not wrong for thinking: but Ghost Hounds? Really? But it's the only Black creature that naturally has vigilance, which seems pretty cool!

It is not aggressive enough, though. So clearly there is room for some changes, starting there. Smolder Initiate seems odd but I'm hoping it can serve as a mana sink for chip damage...which I will likely cut because that just isn't how Fatalist wants to spend mana.     

On the upside, I feel like the upgrades to Fatalist are going to be along pretty clear lines. That should mean that I don't have to spend too much time on figuring out minute details. 

Oh, and I took the name of this deck from the song by The Cursed. 

Red Orange Glow

 

Alright, I've been working on Inferno for months. I think I just have to set this one down. 

I love this deck: I think it's a lot of fun and can rebound itself back into games where things are going badly. But I've also taken it as far as I can, without doing some regular testing and play. 

1 Goblin Charbelcher
1 Akroma's Memorial

4 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
4 Dwarven Recruiter
4 Dwarven Bloodboiler
3 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
4 Dwarven Grunt
1 Plundering Barbarian
1 Bogardan Hellkite

4 Spikefield Hazard/4 Spikefield Cave
4 Sejiri Shelter/4 Sejiri Glacier
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Incinerate
2 Sudden Breakthrough

11 Mountain
4 Plateau
4 Sacred Foundry

 Sideboard
4 Pithing Needle
3 Dwarven Miner
1 Platinum Emperion
4 Rest in Peace
3 Red Elemental Blast

The Sideboard is a definite work in progress. The Dwarven Miners seem like a cute trick, until you're blowing up a new land every turn and getting treasure for it. Obviously, it's narrow and probably weak but I'm OK with it. The Platinum Emperion is there because some decks just fold to that card. I have a feeling there are other cards that might fit this bill, but I haven't come across them yet. 

Perhaps not surprising but a bummer for me was that there just wasn't a dragon I could find that I felt would take over the game from the Sideboard.

I did go with Bogardan Hellkite over Torbran, and what this came down to for me was that having a 5/5 flyer with a great ETB ability that I could search up, was stronger than a card that just boosted my damage overall. So far it hasn't come up-the Goblin Charbelcher or Akroma's Memorial plan are still the primary win conditions. But a Hellkite for the midgame? Not bad.

Now, obviously, further tuning would mean that Incinerate would be Lighting Bolt, and it might be worth it to try and find space for a Universal Automaton. For now, though, and with the dwarves printed and available Treasure generators, I'm happy with this. 

The Retired: 16 Tons

 Sigh

4 Trinisphere
4 Keldon Vandals
3 Nezumi Graverobber
4 Pardic Miner
2 Phyrexian Plaguelord
4 Tarox Bladewing
2 Trench Wurm
3 Twisted Abomination
3 Withered Wretch
2 Magma Phoenix
4 Oath of Ghouls
3 Urza's Rage
8 Mountain
6 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
4 Foreboding Ruins

So the premise here was to use Oath of Ghouls to recur tools like Pardic Miner, Keldon Vandals and Twisted Abomination. Trinisphere stalls because lands can't be played.

Get lands, stall out, blow shit up. Repeat. 

Use Nezumi Graverobber to keep my opponent from utilizing Oath of Ghouls and maybe even take advantage of Nighteye's ability. 

So what's the problem? 

First; payoff cards. Urza's Rage is probably the most splashy one and it's not very good here. I have 22 lands and to play Urza's Rage with kicker would require over half of them to be in play. This deck isn't that grindy nor that controlling. It basically does the thing I hate the most: tries to lock people out of the game without actually having a win condition. 

Sure, there are creatures to attack with but you may note, those creatures aren't very good. 

Second: anti-synergies or missed opportunities. Keldon Vandals is great if you have a target or zero targets. But if there is only one target and that target is Trinisphere then I have a dead card in hand. There is the possibility for some sacrifice shenanigans with Phyrexian Plaguelord but I don't do anything with them. 

16 Tons is showing it's age, in this respect. There have been a lot of cards printed since Tarox Bladewing and I haven't kept up. 

Third: It wants to live in Magical Christmasland, where everything works. 

A turn 2 Pardic Minder tempo spell followed by a turn 3 Trinisphere and then a turn 5 land destruction activation in Trench Wurm while also somehow getting a Oath out to recur a creature is pretty pie in the sky.

I so have another deck with a four card combo, but the difference is that if I get those four cards I win. If I get these three cards on the table, I don't just win. And that's me describing an ideal moment! 

So I'm going to let this one go; there's a better land destruction or resurrection deck in there and I'll work on that-heck, I probably already have one that could use these improvements. 

Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Overview

 Sorry about last Thursday-I was called away. But I'm back now, and the spoiler link is here so let's get to it!

The mechanics are not very interesting to me this time around: Coven is a limited mechanic and one that I don't think is going to be very easy or fun to turn on. The payoffs don't seem to payoff. Hell, the pushed one, Sungold Sentinel is only good because of it's other abilities and power/toughness boost. The Coven ability, while strong, isn't one that matters if you're playing that card-it's just a bonus.

Disturb makes for fun artistic 'story on a card' moments but again; limited mechanic-just because of the cost of making that a thing. Again; the cards just aren't strong enough to justify playing both sides. I don't hate it, but I can't say I'm excited by what they did. 

The Daybound/Nightbound idea is a nice way to clean up the werewolves mechanic and I think opens up some cool design space. It also allows for other colors to benefit from the change and that's rad. But I still hate werewolves as a mechanic; rewarding players for not playing spells is bad design, in my opinion. 

Flashback is a classic and I don't see anything here that changes the way we should think about it. 

On the other hand, Innistrad seems to be a plane where Magic really lets the artwork shine. Even simple cards like Tapping At The Window go a long way to build the feel of things but there are a ton of eye-popping visuals here. Devious Cover-Up, the new art for Duress, Burn Down the House-there's just so much to appreciate.

One last thing: the Adversary cycle is one of the better ones I've seen in a while. From the connective artwork, to the cost for creatures and the boost they might get, everything is smashing. 

So let's get into the meat of it.

White
Boy, White really is getting a boost, isn't it? Fateful Absence might be one of the best removal spells printed in years, Curse of Silence is very good and there's a strong range of creatures available. 

I do hope this helps restore some balance to the colors but more importantly, I hope this makes White interesting to players. For example, Sigarda's Splendor has a lot of bookkeeping involved but the effect is neat and one worth adding to decks. There also seem to be more pushed 'bring back tiny creatures from the graveyard' in Midnight Hunt, which gives White decks something to do at the high end of the curve. I like it.

Blue
Component Collector should becomes the new Fblthp. C'mon. It's adorable. 

Reprinting Delver of Secrets was...a choice. I consider that card to be a mistake for Blue: it's just too damned efficient for what that color should receive, especially when it was printed at common. Printing it at uncommon doesn't fix that. And since the card was never over $1 (according to MTGStocks data), does this really fall under needed reprints? 

I understand that designers might not think it's pushed but that is an assessment I disagree with. The card rewards players for doing what Blue wants to do as a color and rewards them handsomely. Contrast that with the werewolf mechanic's punishing quality and I just don't get it. But: I do concede that in Limited environments, the card is adequate. 

I will say that Mysterious Tome is possibly one of my favorite examples of a double-faced card though. Lots of cool things happening there, even if it's not very powerful.

Black
Look, they finally printed Defenestrate. I'm good. 

But! They also are continuing the adventures of Thraben Inspector with Foul Play, Gisa not only does awesome things but looks positively deranged on her card, and Rotten Reunion has the fun wink-and-nod art people love to see.

There are two oddballs: The Meathook Massacre, which takes its place as the 7th enchantment to have X in the mana cost. Neat card though and a way to get Black control decks back in the game. 

Then there's Lord of the Forsaken which does a lot of stuff but doesn't seem to tie together. It's a 6/6 flying trampler for six: that's already solid. The other abilities though-sacrificing a creature to mill, and then playing life for colorless mana for graveyard spells...I just don't get how these are supposed to come together or represent this demon. I don't hate it I'm just puzzled by it.

Also really dig the Curse of Leeches card. 

Red
I wonder if Flame Channeler has the potential to cut it? A 3/3 for two mana in Red that benefits from things Red wants to do looks pretty good.

Speaking of things Red wants to do: Cathartic Pyre has the kind of versatility that makes it a card I find very attractive. 

The rest of the color is...nothing wrong with it or brilliant either. Except for the artwork on Stolen Vitality. That's creepy. 

Green
Rise of the Ants feels weirdly out of place. I get the reference but that's just it: mad-scientist movies of the 50s and 60s don't belong in a Victorian era gothic horror setting. And the mad scientists of Innistrad are body stitchers not mutant creators. This same set has Eccentric Farmer, showing a person feeding a massive centipede! It would suggest that giant ants exist and there's nothing to rise.  

Feels weird. 

Unnatural Growth, though, is my jam. I love that card and want to run it in all the decks. Yes, I know. But still.

Multicolor
Looks like we're getting another overpowered Teferi. I also dig the artwork for Old Stickfingers almost as I am underwhelmed by the card mechanically. 

But the multicolor cards in Midnight Hunt look to be the frosting on the cake. Fun, a little splashy, not sorry it's there, but it isn't the set's focus-as is appropriate. 

Artifacts & Lands
Personally, I cannot believe it's taken them this many sets to do a Jack-o'-Lantern card. This is the sixth Innistrad set and they're just now getting around to it? 

I'm also surprised there's only one scarecrow. I suppose scarecrow tribal just is not meant to be. 

As for the new dual lands; solid and should be excellent for the player on a budget, and Hostile Hostel would've been better if you could activate it as an instant. It's a mythic rare, so why it isn't a better card is a bit of a mystery. 

Finally, the basic lands in black and white are a very nice touch. 

So that's it! I think this set falls squarely into the 'solid but not groundbreaking' area and should give the format a nice shot in the arm-with another burst of energy coming in just two months!

Spreads Like Wildfire

"This deck is fast!" Fuz tells me. Which felt weird; Inferno doesn't seem fast to me! But this may be because the deck plays out differently depending on what is available to me and the matchup. 

Heck, I've even gone into a grinder of a game against Matt, using repeated activations of Goblin Charlbelcher to try and win. I didn't...but I did almost 200 damage, so it wasn't for lack of trying.

I feel like this deck is in an interesting space, since the concept has a solid skeleton but just is in the 'how to get the details right' mode. 

I don't want to set this aside but I'm also not sure how to take it further. I've tried adding acceleration, via Simian Spirit Guide but that didn't really give me a more explosive start.

One card that has been really useful is Sudden Breakthrough: it's a great surprise during combat and it helps the Magda plan. I've been impressed at how solid it is, turning combat into something favorable. 

I've started testing Goldspan Dragon in place of Torbran: it's searchable, and it adds to the Treasure plan. I'm not 100% on board with it yet, because it doesn't just win the game; if I spin out an Akroma's Memorial I've created an imbalance that favors me. 

I need Goldspan Dragon to do something similar and I'm not sure it does that-but it doesn't suck.

Just a Reminder: We Live In Unfortunate Times

I saw this post on the Magic subreddit and I hope this person gets the care she deserves. 

But I would just like to take this moment to say: this isn't how we deserve to live. This person shouldn't have to have a fundraiser so that she can have the necessary equipment to interact and thrive in her community. 

We should have the healthcare we need and that her community is coming together to help-that is great. 

But I would rather be living in a country where that was just taken care of. 

It Tastes Like Burning

What I'm discovering is that Inferno doesn't want to play like a typical aggro deck. What I've also experienced is that having a turn one play is important to getting this deck off the ground.

It's a little surprising to learn, after over twenty years of playing Magic but: having a turn one play really puts decks ahead of ones that don't. 

Inferno has been undergoing a few different iterations but finally I just felt that I needed something to do on turn one and after removing Dwarven Grunt, it's back in. Mountainwalk was far more useful than I had thought-especially against any U/R decks that are almost certainly running Steam Vents or Volcanic Island. 

To my surprise, attacking can become disadvantageous pretty quickly so having the occasional unblockable creature to continue to generate Treasure tokens and keep pressure on is good. I'm also reeeeeeally trying to find a way to add in Universal Automaton but the margins are getting tight.

I've also been trying to learn to play around games where Magda doesn't appear and learning how to utilize my tools. There isn't any card draw in Inferno (yet), so figuring out when to burn a Dwarven Recruiter, just to search for a helpful card is something I'm trying to learn.

One thing that Adventures from the Forgotten Realms did give me was Plundering Barbarian. I'm testing it as a one-of silver bullet. However, if I don't need it, I can still generate a Treasure token, so there's value either way.

In addition, I'm learning to work out when to burn Treasure tokens for mana. Inferno, at least from a bird's eye view, seems really tight on mana-even though there are 27 cards that will produce mana. Choosing when to play a card as a land or save the instant is a mental exercise. 

What I've also found is that the Seven Dwarves, as thematic as they are, just don't do the work I want. If I could consistently have two on the board that would be solid but even then, vanilla 3/3s aren't that exciting and the deck is crowded at that mana value. 

AND, with all of that, I need more ways to make Treasure tokens. Magda could use some jumpstarting! Even if I don't have a Dwarven Recruiter, I can still spin out an Akroma's Memorial and that is usually a lot for an opponent to deal with.  

The trick there is that making Treasure tokens isn't easy-or dwarven, sometimes. Ragavan would be a fine addition-but the monkey costs $70. That's gonna be a no. 

Goldspan Dragon is tempting, but way off the curve. Gadrak the Crown Scourge also tempting but the method it generates Treasures doesn't contribute well to Inferno's game plan, plus the restriction on attacking means it's going to be useless if I bring out something. 

I've been thinking about a dragon as a silver bullet too: Drakuseth, Maw of Flames is definitely a card that could turn games around. But nothing is leaping out yet as a good fit.

Strawberry Swirl

"So, you've decided to add White to your deck..." It feels a little strange but if I'm going to mess with the manabase, let's pick the best cards. 

Depala is a good card, but mana intensive. Still, a boost to the team coupled with the ability to pay to draw cards can be useful. Plus the ability triggers when she becomes tapped, which means I can trigger it via Dwarven Bloodboiler on an opponent's turn. 

The other thing I'm doing is utilizing the double-faced cards from Zendikar to access White mana, without having to use Plains. It also means that when I activate Charbelcher, I can show a Sejiri Shelter and not have it meet Charbelcher's land reveal. 

Toolcraft Exemplar, which I mentioned in my last post on this, doesn't seem like a great addition. Sure, it's a one drop that can get bigger but that ability won't trigger until turn 3, and that's under the best conditions. Again: this deck is doing something a little weird, so I need to keep it focused, so it can work even if the weird thing doesn't happen.

Plus, I don't have a lot of turn one ways to generate White mana. And once again, I'm confronted with a basic truth about some of the decks I play: I cannot afford to get weird just because I think it's cool. I have to build off of my already weird idea and fortify it. 

Despite that, I believe that having four Swords to Plowshares can justify the presence of White, too. So there aren't many cards but I'm hoping they'll be great contributors and open up my sideboard options.