Go Vote

No game content today, beyond life's big game. But here: 10 reasons to vote right now. 

Y'all, I'm tired. Lots of us are. And while I've no intention to quit, I would like to be less tired. 

Go. Vote. Please. 

Slip It Up

"It dies to Humility, though," Matt told me a couple weeks ago.

"I'm not going to give up on a deck because of one card out of 20,000, man," I replied. (I was also aware that Overwhelming Splendor did this, but my statement still held).

Well. Jason was about to teach me a lesson. Both in the number of cards that blanks my deck, and the importance of having a sideboard.

Of the three decks Jason decided at random to throw against me one had Humility. That was a loss that I expected, and though I am running Disenchants in the sideboard, it was good practice to play without them, looking at mulligans, play paths, etc. 

The second deck was a creature focused one using the Exalted mechanic which I pulled wins out of, essentially through the attrition gameplan. 

But the third deck had Torpor Orb. I love that card. But also, that card is bad for me when staring down a Phyrexian Dreadnought.

So there is a third card that makes Rollin have a fit. Does this mean I should deviate from my deck? No, I'm definitely sure of that. In both of the games that I lost, a Disenchant would have likely turned the game in my favor. 

Another card that might've changed things? Duress. Which I am not running, because I thought that doubling down on graveyard hate would be better, adding Consecrate/Consume in my sideboard. However, Duress would be good both in the 'weird' matchups as well as any combo matches, trying to whittle at their resources. 

I'm pleased to say that Winds of Abandon has been solid, and the addition of Brightclimb Pathway was outstanding. The new Zendikar lands are, in my opinion, must-haves. 

You Gotta Go

 

I got some more games in with Fuz, using the same build. His deck used creatures with Undying and cool effects like Pongify in order to both get cheap damage in early but also go wide. Plus, it doubles as removal in case I get out creatures that are just too good.

These games taught me about the double edged sword that is Grave Pact. If I have creatures out, that means my opponent has to think much harder about the use of their removal. 

If I don't, then I spent a turn doing nothing. And I know this because it happened. That didn't feel good, even though I was able to make my way back into the game, but I also think that it's something I have to accept. My mana curve is low enough, and I have enough creatures, that this should be an exception rather than the rule. More often than not, my issue was that I couldn't find a Grave Pact! 

Fortunately, Grave Pact isn't key to Rollin' winning the game; Living Death is as far more important card. Even Living Death isn't critical but Rollin' does have a far better game when I draw that card than when I don't. 

Once more, I found myself playing a grindy game, and was able to stall long enough to make a heck of a comeback in game 3, with a Grave Pact on the board after a Living Death making combat problematic. 

So far, so good. 

The Hot Mind On

Well! This has gone way better than planned. 

Which is always pretty nice. 

I got some games in against a G/B counters deck and a Goblins build, as well as an old school Pickles deck (the Pickles deck wants to lock you out of untap steps). 

All of those matches went well-the only one I lost was against the Goblins build which was a great matchup. Living Death has problems with Sling-Gang Lieutenant. 

Despite that, the match was split 1-2 and that last game I came fairly close to pulling it off, but all my lifegain triggers went on the stack before my opponent's and that was that. 

It's a new deck so I'm sure that my use of Orah, Skyclave Hierophant was suboptimal, though it may be that the card is not what the deck can use. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, however, was a rockstar. It wasn't quite a Hexdrinker rule situation, but Vito put a real hurt on. 

A card that I wasn't surprised about though was Drana's Emissary. Efficient and with a Vito in play is absolutely scary for opponents. 

Which means I'm off to a good start!

Tight Tension On

 I ran this deck through the Deckstats algo, and while I haven't felt that I was squeezed on black mana, it seems clear that I don't have enough black mana. So that'll be a tweak.

Fortunately for me, there's a whole new suite of really awesome lands that should take care of this, so I'm adding in four Brightclimb/Grimclimb Pathway. 

In addition, as fortune would have it, PowrDragn recently did a video of W/B Clerics. Sure, it's Standard and is tilted more aggressive, but there's still something to ponder here. Archfiend's Vessel and Speaker of the Heavens are cheap Clerics that could help give me time. Archfiend's Vessel plays well with Living Death, too.

However, for now there's been an overhaul of nearly 1/3rd of the deck:

-2 Plains
-2 Swamp
-1 Auriok Champion
-1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
-2 Orzhov Pontiff
-2 Headhunter
-1 Doubtless One
-4 Kor Sanctifiers
-3 Vile Deacon
-2 Skulltap

Replacing those cards we have:

4 Brightclimb/Grimclimb Pathway
4 Winds of Abandon
3 Cleric of Life's Bond
3 Suture Priest
2 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
2 Orah, Skyclave Hierophant
3 Drana's Emissary

There's a great deal of chip damage here, changing this deck's path to victory to a Living Death, you lose life, vs Living Death, now I attack plan. Along with the addition of Winds of Abandon to decrease my opponent's ability to make any gains off of a Living Death, in case the attack plan becomes necessary.

Cleric of Life's Bond, in addition to being cheaper than Vile Deacon, can have a more immediate impact on the board, even if it can't attack. Vito contributes to the chip damage and Orah might just be the Glory of Cool Things. But I want to give it a go and if doesn't work out, then slots open up for Archfiend's Vessel. 

Rollin

Named after the Soul Coughing song, this was my swing at a Cleric deck.

3 Soul Warden
1 Auriok Champion
1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
2 Orzhov Pontiff
3 Cabal Archon
3 Vile Deacon
2 Headhunter
1 Rotlung Reanimator
1 Doubtless One
2 Edgewalker
3 Order of Whiteclay
4 Kor Sanctifiers

4 Grave Pact

8 Plains
1 Starlit Sanctum
3 Salt Flats
8 Swamp
4 Caves of Koilos

2 Skulltap
4 Living Death

But really, it's a Living Death deck, right? You could probably stick a lot of tribal creatures in here and be happy. The Grave Pact is there to ensure that when I do cast Living Death, my opponent doesn't come out ahead. 

Still, it could be better; there's a lot of one-offs, there are likely mana issues, Vile Deacon is really expensive and I don't have any way to protect it, Skulltap can now be replaced with Village Rites, that sort of thing.

There's also the clear desire for this deck to have more copies of Rotlung Reanimator which butts up against my desire to not pay $10 for a single card. However, there are a lot more 'died' effects than there used to be, and new clerics from Zendikar Rising, so this is a prime time to do an upgrade!

Superion

I really want to like this. It's a sliver deck, who doesn't like sliver decks!?

3 Boomerang
3 Dismantling Blow
4 Accumulated Knowledge

3 Essence Sliver
3 Ward Sliver
3 Synapse Sliver
1 Shifting Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
2 Crystalline Sliver
3 Talon Sliver
3 Winged Sliver
3 Opaline Sliver
1 Pulmonic Sliver

10 Island
10 Plains
4 Hallowed Fountain

And yet. Even when I tweaked the deck to this:

-3 Synapse Sliver
-1 Pulmonic Sliver
-1 Shifting Sliver
-3 Dismantling Blow

+2 Diffusion Sliver
+2 Winds of Abandon
+2 Jace, Architect of Thought
+2 Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

I still wasn't having those moments when the sliver deck just clicks and 'bam' that's it, game is done. 

I will say Jace was better than I had thought and deserves a slot in a deck somewhere, but Ajani was not a great fit-Crystalline Sliver does not play nice with Ajani's +1, but Crystalline Sliver is one of the most important cards for the deck. 

However, the real problem is that this deck needs green. Muscle Sliver and Predatory Sliver make this tribe crushing, giving it that momentum to close games out. Otherwise what this deck presents are low-level threats on a loooong timeline. That gives opponents too much time to get their gameplan into motion. 

So as much as I hate to do it, I think this one becomes part of The Retired series.  

The Wrapup

The last two slots I opened up went to Soulblade Djinn. As a threat unto itself, I can use cheap spells to pump my team for offense or defense, and so I figure: maybe this card meets the Hexdrinker rule.

The games I played suggest that it does indeed! The Eliminator isn't perfect but I did find myself able to mount a solid control game. The sideboard is in need of some reset buttons, just to hold off against some ramp decks but aside from that, I like where this one is set. 

Here you go:

4 Lighthouse Chronologist
2 Psychosis Crawler
4 Faerie Vandal
1 Sower of Temptation
3 Hypnotic Sprite // Mesmeric Glare
2 Soulblade Djinn

3 Mana Leak
3 Opt
3 Polymorphist's Jest
3 Obsessive Search
3 Archmage's Charm

21 Island
2 Mystic Sanctuary

3 Jace, Cunning Castaway
3 Mu Yanling, Sky Dancer

Disappointment

So, if you're not up to speed on why Magic players are so unhappy, here's a pretty solid article on the subject. 

And this reaction is one I particularly like. Just because I can feel that take, right? Frustration and disappointment.

This game has leaned in hard on a pay-to-win model, with product that increasingly feels...bland. 

Powerful, sure. But boring. And that power is forcing ideas out of the sphere of playability. Why try something different if Uro, and Oko, (remember Oko? That card still sucks.) and Omnath run over everything, so your options are beat that deck, or play that deck. 

When essential game pieces, such as lands, cost over $10, that again, puts a barrier to entry for Magic. Want to do a cool thing? That'll be $120+ to start. That's your base. 

When the market is so flooded with product that consumers have difficulty telling what a Buy-a-Box promo is vs a Box Topper, there are multiple Commander decks released at different times, premium releases every month or more, and at least two different kinds of booster packs to purchase, you get a bewildered consumer base.

Look at how many friggin' product types there are for Zendikar Rising! That is a nearly 2,000 word essay just to explain the different kind of product available. At that rate, we've hit videogame pre-order levels of nonsense. 

While I do believe that 'there is no perfect sauce, there are only perfect sauces', there is a point where the number of options without true variance becomes overwhelming.      

We just want to play Magic in the formats available (deep breath): Draft, Sealed, Standard, Modern, Historic, Pioneer, Brawl, Commander, Vintage, Legacy, Oathbreaker, and casual kitchen-table Magic.

Did I miss anything? Spoiler: I did. The game is that expansive. And having that many formats is different than having that many products, because the products slot into almost all of those formats. I can ignore a format I don't find interesting, I don't get to ignore a product.

But increasingly, those formats feel as if they are being kept behind gates: gates of product, gates of complexity, and now, with the release of the Walking Dead Secret Lair, it is clear that gates of money are involved, too. Because I'm in agreement with The Professor's and PwrDragn's take (and other's); putting black boarder, unique cards into a Secret Lair is a bad thing, one that could have been easily avoided. 

Which is...just sad. It sucks away my desire to play Magic. There's nothing to try, there's just the best deck vs the deck that might beat the best deck, and the styles all feel very much the same. What's the point of playing if the most important thing required to do so is to have enough money to get the best thing? 

There's a feeling in the community that WotC is trying to shoehorn all formats of Magic into something Commander players love...I can't help but feel that they've got a point. 

It's not a good feeling, either.