The Retired: Joyful Reunion

 Joyful Reunion is one of those decks that has a better combo that I'm just stubbornly refusing to utilize. 

2 Birds of Paradise
4 Carrion Feeder
4 Heartmender
4 Juniper Order Ranger
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast

2 Abeyance
4 Tragic Slip
2 Silence
3 Altar's Reap

7 Forest
1 Murmuring Bosk
3 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Shattered Sanctum

2 Safewright Quest
2 Caravan Vigil
2 Oust

The original combo involves Melira, of course, but then sensibly used Murderous Redcap and a sacrifice outlet to win. Using Kitchen Finks is a great way to not die, but it isn't as effective a way to win. 

So, like many almost got there decks I have, the Glory of Cool Things is winning out over doing something well. If the deck was still fun, I suppose that wouldn't matter, but I just haven't put that kind of spin on it-and I don't know that I can. So let's let it go.

Placeholders

Khans spoiler season has begun. This is a good thing, as we've learned about the basic aspects of the upcoming set: the Morph mechanic returning and a wedge set as the startup for this block being the two big things but Raid, Outlast, Prowess, Ferocious and, most interestingly, Delve are nice clues of potential for interactions with other sets. Not all of them will be winners (of course) but it's still early.

The cool thing about a wedge set that I can talk about with some authority is that it means lands for the appropriate colors all of those wedge decks that I have made, like Joyful Reunion. This is quite timely, since I've just come off the knowledge that this deck needs a more cohesive manabase to function.

This won't be perfect, as those lands look to enter the battlefield tapped but this may nudge the deck towards running a little smoother.

However, it's a few weeks until those lands actually exist, so I've stuck in four Evolving Wilds to help out but they are just there until I can snag the actual cards. It is helping though: my match against stonethorn playing a mono-G elves deck was promising, as the mana issues seemed to have less of an impact. More testing is required, of course, especially since I lost the match after casting Tragic Slip on his first three elves in game 3 but at least I've got something promising.

Another good addition: Silence. In all three of my games, Silence came up and acted as a near Time Walk effect, leaving stonethorn with nothing to do but attack with small dudes. Joyful Reunion is coming along nicely and I am looking forward to the wrap up (and eventual addition of proper lands!)

Continuing Agreement

This is me losing to Noah playing a BUG deck. Not Delver, more Standstill.

I also lost to a R/W/G (Naya) Zoo deck he  was playing.

When it was over, I told Noah: I've got the basic structure down but I think I need to attack the mana. He took a look at the deck and agreed; yes, it's an older combo but it checks out, you know? But the difference in mana is huge and cannot be understated. Noah is running Tropical Island in this shot and the Zoo deck had cards like Stomping Ground. I'm running basic lands and it's creating a slowdown in my deck that I'm not sure it can afford. Three color mana bases just need more attention and I'm not sure I can afford to make a deck like this work with basics.

So next up: Mana base fixin'!

Which I probably won't get to do until next Thursday. So: A week to next post!

Agreement

Although I hadn't made changes to Joyful Reunion, when Fuz said he had time for a game, I took him up on it. He was playing a G/W Beast deck that he wasn't too familiar with and was certain "sucked" and I was playing a deck I knew was bad.

He smashed me into little pieces. In both cases, the killing stroke Overwhelming Stampede but he had the game well in hand before that.

So I show the deck to Fuz and he pretty much says what I said! Which is great: Fate Transfer and Vines of Vastwood are gone, with Death Grasp on the watch list.

He also confirmed the direction I was thinking; cards to get lands and some creature removal. So those cards came out and in went two Caravan Vigil and three Tragic Slip. I'm not certain how consistent they will 'go off' with the morbid trigger but considering that Joyful Reunion wants to sac my creatures, maybe there's a chance!

Then began the goldfishing, just drawing opening hands of seven and seeing what they offer me. And boy oh boy do I hate having Death Grasp in my hand. Why do this to myself?

So I cut them, added in a fourth Tragic Slip and two Silence. Why Silence? Because it allows me to boost the reliability of my combo, once I have it on board and it shores up what I'm doing with Abeyance, which I only own two copies of. I'm evoking the 'my money' rule here but only for a little bit: Abeyance isn't too costly, I just need to wait until I get paid.