Daxos-For Now

I think this is where I am going to leave this deck:

Instant 1 Inkshield	Artifacts 1 Sol Ring 1 Wayfarer's Bauble 1 Lightning Greaves 1 Orzhov Signet 1 Orzhov Cluestone 1 Commander's Sphere 1 Idol of Oblivion
Enchantment 1 Seal of Cleansing 1 Banishing Light 1 Cage of Hands 1 Karmic Justice 1 Vow of Duty 1 Fallen Ideal 1 Seal of Doom 1 Vow of Malice 1 Aura of Silence 1 Grasp of Fate 1 Shielded by Faith 1 Phyrexian Arena 1 Underworld Connections 1 Daxos's Torment 1 Marshal's Anthem 1 Dictate of Heliod 1 Sigil of the Empty Throne 1 Necromancer's Covenant 2 Profane Procession 1 The Eldest Reborn 1 Call for Unity 1 Smothering Tithe 1 Wedding Announcement 1 Court of Ambition 1 Court of Grace 1 The Long Reach of Night 1 Michiko's Reign of Truth 1 The Meathook Massacre	Sorcery 1 Ancient Craving 1 Dawn to Dusk 1 Death Grasp 1 Kaya's Wrath 1 Rise to Glory
Lands 1 Barren Moor 1 Command Tower 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Ghost Quarter 1 New Benalia 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Orzhov Guildgate 1 Rogue's Passage 1 Scoured Barrens 1 Secluded Steppe 1 Tainted Field 1 Temple of the False God 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Vivid Marsh 1 Vivid Meadow 11 Plains 13 Swamp	Creatures 1 Underworld Coinsmith 1 Burnished Hart 1 Bastion Protector 1 Ghostblade Eidolon 1 Kor Sanctifiers 1 Monk Idealist 1 Mesa Enchantress 1 Nighthowler 1 Fate Unraveler 1 Ajani's Chosen 1 Doomwake Giant 1 Celestial Ancient 1 Celestial Archon 1 Treasury Thrull 1 Silent Sentinel 1 Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts 1 Minthara, Merciless Soul 1 Tymaret, Chosen from Death

The trouble I'm having is that Daxos would really, really like it if I went into a combo path, generating creatures at will. This leads to some kind of infinite loop, in my opinion, likely a mana one so that I could play a very cheap Aura and then off that create all of the 1/1s ever. 

That's not an extremely interesting way to go, though I acknowledge it's probably the best one. 

Otherwise, Daxos the Returned wants to create a grindy matchup, and I think I've followed that path but I can't find myself extremely interested in that, either! Mostly because it doesn't work out as well as I would like: The necessity of always having an extra 3 mana available is very constrictive to playing Magic. 

Still, with a small burst of money and a desire to lean into what Daxos does, I made one final big change: Gild was replaced by The Meathook Massacre. As an enchantment and a board sweeper, this card fills in a rare slot in the game and in this deck specifically. 

It's also $30 and that's just ridiculous but for one copy, I'll give it a go.

Time and Value

 Jason and I were talking Marvel Snap last night and he was telling me about how difficult it was to climb the ladder to get to rank 100 (or Infinite). 

"I saw a couple videos on Twitch," he lamented, "guy was all 'OK here we go, rank 96 to infinite' and the video was five hours."

Five hours!!!

The reason for this is because people get very aggressive and very defensive at this point. Anyone raises the ante for any reason and the opponent backs out. If you can't win it all lose as little as possible, seems to be the principle. In the meantime, Jason is talking about how difficult it is to grind to get to level 100.

"Man, what do you get at Infinite, though?" I asked, rhetorically. "You get a card back. Who cares! Instead of trying to build the deck that will win you that rank, just say fuck it and have fun."

I could almost hear the lightbulb go off.

I mention this because as a free-to-play game, Jason was the person who convinced me to actually put money down. In an earlier discussion we were having about the game, he said to me:

"I'm having $10 worth of fun, easily, dude. Take my money. You've earned it."

Huh. I also am having $10 worth of fun. It isn't that big a hit to pay for it every month and I personally believe in offering people money for their work.

Hmm (Daxos Needs More)

"Where are the enchantments in your enchantment deck?" Noah asked. 

Which was a fine question, since I'd managed to play all of two enchantments and then a whole lot of not much else to increase my Experience counters. 

So let's get a count: 32 cards with the Enchantment type. That seems pretty good! But it's never a bad idea to see if I can get further. 

Of the cards left over 7 are artifacts:

Sol Ring
Lightning Greaves
Commander's Sphere
Orzhov Cluestone
Orzhov Signet
Wayfarer's Bauble
Idol of Oblivion

Of these, 5 are mana related cards, leaving Lightning Greaves-a crucial protection spell for Daxos- and Idol of Oblivion. Idol effectively says: 3, T: draw a card in a Daxos deck but it does require Daxos to be in play and active to work. So put the Idol in as a 'maybe, since tokens can probably be more easily generated in G/W and B/W ought to give me other ways to draw cards and making a vanilla 10/10 is not a thing. 

There are 13 creatures:

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts
Kor Sanctifiers
Treasury Thrull
Silent Sentinel
Bastion Protector
Exquisite Archangel
Burnished Hart
Corpse Augur
Ajani's Chosen
Celestial Ancient
Minthara, Merciless Soul
Monk Idealist
Mesa Enchantress

Here things get a little more interesting. Of these, Tesya Minthara, Celestial Ancient, Silent Sentinel and Treasure Thrull are probably too powerful to cut and I don't know about a replacement card. Monk Idealist, Ajani's Chosen and Mesa Enchantress all have good synergies. 

That leaves Bastion Protector, Corpse Augur, Kor Sanctifiers, Burnished Hart, and Exquisite Archangel. Bastion makes a case for itself, the Sanctifiers are removal, Hart helps boost mana-and this is a mana hungry deck-so while those cards are all questionable, they aren't on the chopping block yet.

Archangel is the glory of cool things-it just keeps me from losing, it doesn't let me win. (Though it does represent a win condition!) Corpse Augur is almost certainly a better card for a different deck 

That leaves the final 8 cards:

Inkshield
Righteous Confluence
Deadly Tempest
Rise to Glory
Death Grasp
Dawn to Dusk
Gild
Ancient Craving

Rise to Glory and Dawn to Dusk have synergies with the deck and Inkshield could represent a win condition on its own. Ancient Craving, Gild and Death Grasp all fill important roles. Righteous Confluence and Deadly Tempest aren't cards I think that help me the way I need help. 

So: four cards for certain to substitute. Smuggler's Share and Smothering Tide both seem like good candidates. Wedding Announcement isn't off the table. Kaya's Wrath could be what I need to help me get through creature stalemates.

Got some business happening, so no more posts this week but I'll catch everyone next week!

Strength of the Medium

Between the ending of HBO's The Last of Us, and this Cold Take at the Escapist, I am reminded of an experience I had with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Spoilers from here on out. 

I was attempting a no-kill version of Deus Ex, in part because it was more of a challenge, in part because even in games I don't like to kill people I don't have to. This isn't Doom: this is a game about how the cogs in the capitalist machine grind us into dust. 

Murder seems excessive. 

Over the course of the game, you're ferried around by a pilot: Faridah Malik, who you get to have conversations with (or not). I found myself rather fond of Ms. Malik: she was pretty cool! 

And then a mission began where the plane was ambushed and over the course of time, explodes. 

Well. Can't have that. Restart the level. 

Plane explodes. 

I Groundhog Day this event a few more times before checking online to see if this is a scripted event. If it's scripted, let's just move on. This isn't: It is possible to save Faridah! Great! 

Except I'm on a no-kill run and I don't have the equipment to take these attackers on in nonlethal ways. So what do I do? 

...

The end of The Last of Us goes very much like the show does. Joel goes in and murders all the people. I was with them: let's get Ellie.  

Except, when I came to operating room, the doctor complied and unhooked Ellie. I wanted to grab Ellie and leave and the game instead insisted I murder the doctor. 

I didn't want to murder the doctor. 

But it was either that or never finish the game. 

The Last of Us is lessened for me because of this. A game is supposed to give players agency and when it doesn't, there had better be a damn good reason for it. In Bioshock, the lack of agency is a key to the whole plot. In the Fallout series, they take agency away from the player just long enough to convey the necessary information, and they if you want to be a human flamethrower everywhere you go, that's up to you.

In TLOU, it became very clear that I wasn't playing a game: I was playing a movie. And this is, in the end, my issue with all of Naughty Dog's games. For the Uncharted series, that isn't a problem because you're playing a modern swashbuckler. The loveable louse, if you will and when you get in trouble in Uncharted, it's always with people worse than you. 

Well, fuck 'em, right? 

Now you can make any number of arguments about why the doctor should've been killed but the problem is that you are making them, not the game. 

In the TV show, the doctor does the dumbest thing ever: "You can't take her," he says, stepping towards Joel.

Well, that's gonna get you shot. Duh. 

But that isn't how I remember my playthrough going and maybe, just maybe Naughty Dog should remember that they are still making games, not film. 

Heck Yeah

 The TCGplayer union has been approved and is going forward! There's still a ways to go, considering the generally shit practices of these places. But folks are noticing and I hope there's better conditions for everyone in the future. 

Daxos: Battle Report

I ran Daxos in a 5 player game and here's the setup:

Caitlin with Ravos, Soultender and Tana, the Bloodsower.
Kate: Odric, Lunarch Marshal
Matt: Merierke Ri Berit
Eric: Tasigur, the Golden Fang

I got a reasonably stable board-using Treasury Thrull to recycle cards like Aura of Silence to take out Caitlin’s Coat of Arms and Aura Shards, or Command Sphere to draw multiple times.

But I held off, casting a Bestowed Celestial Archon on Corpse Augur, with the plan being to cast a Deadly Tempest then my Commander next turn.

However, Caitlin had had enough of my shenanigans and cast both Overwhelming Stampede and Beastmaster’s Ascension, then swung at me with 7 8/8’s

Did I do something wrong or did I just wait a turn too long? I feel like the lesson is probably that I am likely a turn behind what I think I am, and I should press my game further as a result.

Still, the deck was doing good things. Corpse Augur might not be appropriate-which would make a fine space for another card. But I do still need a way to draw card. Profane Procession might be the glory of cool things but where else should it go?

Hmm.

1-2

Last Friday I took my B/W Scam deck to the Legacy event at Mox and here's how things went!

Rd 1 vs Tony on BUR reanimator

Game 1: Despite exiling an Archon of Cruelty, new Atraxa, and a Griselbrand, eventually I ran out of Solitudes and a Greselbrand that had been Animate Dead got me.

Game 2: I had the removal in hand, and a Currency Converter to turn my draws into 2/2s. The pressure eventually won out.

Game 3: with an early Grief, taking the Show & Tell, I was able to delay Tony’s actions. The delay was good enough that I was able to win out.

Rd 2 vs Trevor on mono-B Initiative.

Game 1: While I was able to remove many of his initiative creatures from the game, I wasn’t able to claim it for myself. I saw three Throne of the Dead Three triggers before calling it.

Game 2: I had the early delay with Chancellor and turn 1 Thalia, but I didn’t draw another removal card. Eventually he was willing to pay 3 mana for a Dark Ritual and a creature and once again, use the initiative to take over the game.

Rd 3 vs William on Delver

Game 1: the DRC came down turn one and I didn’t draw my removal for it. This lead to a second, then a Delver that flipped.

Game 2: while I was able to get out an early Solitude and Thalia to keep things expensive for my opponent, I couldn’t draw any removal-again. (I have 4 Sudden Edict and 4 Solitude by now). When the Murktide Regent appeared, that was it.

The positives: I liked the way the deck performed. Exiling creatures was a real bonus in the Initiative and Reanimator matchups, as one might expect. I often felt like if my deck would cough up the cards I needed, I could still have a chance. 

The negatives: the deck did not cough up the cards I needed. Multiple games went without me seeing a single-or only one-sideboard card and, coupled with the tendency to provide dead draws, I just couldn't stay in the game. 

I'm starting to think four copies of Currency Converter maindeck might be the answer. Or an answer, since it will help keep me churning through the deck. The extra 2/2 every other turn doesn't suck either but the ability to just get cards that I need to work out would be good.

Of course, the format has now undergone a "shakeup". 

However, my opinion is that all this is going to do is punch the White initiative decks in the junk, and the UR Delver decks will promptly shift to Faithless Looting or Preordain. My money is on Faithless Looting, since it can be used to hit Delirium faster and fill the graveyard for Murktide faster. 

I'm very, very tired of Delver being the best deck in the format, folks. Ten+ years of tier 1 status is too much. 

Daxos: the good, the bad, the meh

Let's hit the ground running; these are the cards I'm so-so about.

Karlov of the Ghost Council
Thought Vessel
Crystal Chimes
Open the Vaults
Orescos Explorer
Herald of the Host
Ancient Craving
Banshee of the Dread Choir
Phyrexian Reclamation

Not a bad list to start with. The card I'm telling to fuck right off:

Sandstone Oracle

I don't know what deck this belongs in, but I want it far from me. This card goes into my Garbage Cube, if I haven't already put it there.

All in all, 10 cards to make this deck a little better is not much, but it is some wiggle room! So let's see what EDHrec has to say about this deck.

Ooooohhh myyyyy.

I don't know what else I'm doing with Daxos, but clearly Minthara is part of this plan. 

Cards I'm going to try out:

Inkshield
Court of Grace
Court of Cunning
Michio's Reign of Truth
Rise to Glory
Underworld Dreams (for the troll factor)
Tymaret, Chosen from Death
Commander's Sphere
Idol of Oblivion

I don't know that this is good but it is a start!