Trve Kvlt

The marketing for Kaldheim has started and they decided to use both Nordic mythology and heavy metal as an inspiration.

Now, I'm not an expert in Nordic myth-I know what most people probably know, maybe a little more-and while I consider my knowledge of heavy metal to be reasonably good, it isn't as deep as someone who makes their living at BangerTV. 

But of course the "hot takes" are already out there about how this or that isn't 'metal' or how using censored swear words isn't 'hardcore' or whateversuch nonsense. 

Which is what it is. It's nonsense. This seems fun. The attitude seems fun. Corporate entities aren't supposed to tell their audience how fucking great something is because that alienates a portion of the audience. Ignoring this basic fact of marketing for whatever these people have in mind as 'real metal' is just a form of gatekeeping, saying that something we like isn't something YOU should get to be a part of. 

I hope this set has some fun with metal tropes as much as it plays with Nordic myth! Heavy metal is inherently silly and fans, of all people, should not take it too seriously.

On a more serious note; anyone with any kind of take on how Black or basically any non-white people don't belong in their Viking influenced Magic set can get the hell outta here. I have no time at all for that racism. 

Rough Around The Edges

I had the sophomore album blues with this deck. Great ideas working out! Getting whatever card I needed when I needed it! Never mana flood or screw! Let's focus this deck for even more consistency in round two!

Mmm...not so much. Even though I was able to put up a fight against an aggro deck, it was clear that removal was very important in those matchups-both spot and mass removal but paths to winning were there. So I still had some mojo. No, it wasn't the aggro decks that knocked me off.

It was the countermagic deck, of course, that took me off the high. 

Nothing against countermagic, but the truth is that a mono-W reanimator themed build doesn't have the tools to respond to that axis of play. 

That's a challenge, because versus anything that isn't about countermagic, this deck is a lot of fun. So what do I do? 

Sideboard options are a place to start; Tormod's Crypt is taking space because I don't want to annex my own graveyard, and that's what most of White's options do. The Crypt needs to be there, however, to take away all the graveyard shenanigans people do these days.

Fighting counterspells with countermagic of my own might be a possibility: Mana Tithe, Rebuff the Wicked and Lapse of Certainty are all...there. They aren't great options, but they are options. 

I may have to look at other mono White decks to see what they're using. As luck would have it, a mono White lifegain deck got some play at Coolstuffinc and cards like Daxos, Blessed by Sun or Skyclave Apparition could be good utility cards. But we shall see.

Maybe Eat Some Mushrooms

So I threw in the kitchen sink. Sun Titan, Ajani Adversary of Tyrants, Elspeth Conquers Death, God-Eternal Oketra, Emeria Shepherd, Elesh Norn, Linvala the Preserver.  To increase my discard options I added Vengeful Dreams and Seasoned Hallowblade. Just add in All The Things.

And then a funny thing happened.

The interaction between Emeria Shepherd and Elspeth Conquers Death became exploitable. Vengeful Dreams did a lot of work, Elesh Norn was a house, Ajani made the small creatures problem creatures. 

What the heck? What in the heck? 

Is this actually good?

Well. Let's temper some expectations. My very first matchup was against a mill deck. When my opponent's wants to help me do what I want to do, that's definitely a leg up for me. On the one hand, I got to see what this deck would do well and what conditions were required. Plus, I won, and that always is encouraging. On the other hand, there was a realization that when not against a milling deck, I needed to play this in a more cautious manner. Grinding the game out was relevant. 

But it's working? I don't know if I should have a Dr. Frankenstein reaction or a happy one. 

Nice Try, WotC

 You almost got me with this one. 

Almost.

Maybe.

Kids Came From Miles Around

Initial research:

First, I did a search for things White might have that fit the theme. Unfortunately for me, there were more than a few cards that wanted to focus on artifacts or enchantments but there are some cool (if expensive) cards that did want to play into Chillout Tent's strategy. 

Second, I ran the deck through the Deckstats analysis to see what my curve looked like. Mostly as one might expect for a reanimation deck; lots of low end stuff, then a pretty big gap, and then a bunch of 5+ mana stuff.

The real challenge started to present itself at this point, when I started looking for ways to make this deck more re-animatory. 

So, how to get creatures in my graveyard? White isn't known for milling or card draw strategies. I just have to discard expensive creatures into my graveyard and there are not many discard outlets in White, certainly not many good ones. 

The other quality I'm running up against is that White's reanimation suite tilts heavily towards returning small permanents: Sun Titan is probably the best example of what I'm talking about. It's worth reconsidering how this deck functions, retooling it to be a more aggressive deck with an attrition win for the late game. 

This would orient me towards cards like Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants but what I'm stymied by at this point is what 1, 2, and 3 drops are worth it? What am I bringing back over and over that my opponents are wishing I wouldn't?

I don't hate the idea, I just don't know where it ends. Heck, I don't even know where it starts. 

I think I'm in trouble. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Trying to take the day to play a bunch of games, make good food and chill out. 

I hope you all have a safe, fun day. 

Chillout Tent

I build this deck many years ago with the weird notion of: what if we tried to use White for reanimate strategies? Named for the Hold Steady song mostly because I like the song. 

3 Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens
1 Patron of the Kitsune
3 Lantern Kami
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
3 Devout Witness
4 Patrol Hound
1 Mageta the Lion
3 Ghost-Lit Redeemer
2 Eternal Dragon
1 Noble Templar
3 Karmic Guide

3 Blessed Breath
3 Otherworldly Journey
2 Miraculous Recovery

1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
22 Plains

1 Wrath of God
1 Kirtar's Wrath
2 Resurrection

It's a little weird, I know: at the time I built the deck there wasn't much in the color to support a typical reanimation take and I can't say that I know that's changed. But the newest card in this deck is probably Emeria, the Sky Ruin so there's a good chance that something has changed in the past 11 years. Some of those changes are undoubtedly creatures, but others might include a better curve, ways to get creatures into the graveyard, or...maybe this is a flameout deck and needs to be retired. 

The subtheme of trying to get Oyobi, Who Split the Heavens online is probably where this deck is taking its worst turn. Reanimator strategies rely on putting one game changing creature into play and winning; Oyobi wants to show up, get a few drinks, maybe you get to play some more spells?  

There's definitely a more streamlined, focused deck to be built, one that isn't constrained by Spirits and Arcane spells, so that's where I'm going to head.