Upcoming Changes

Converted Mana Cost is now going to become Mana Value, as I saw via Forsythe's Twitter.

Which...ugh. Because from what I can tell, it appears that they just announced the change but without any reason for said change.

And honestly, I am tired of changes made 'because reasons'. I see it all the time in design interfaces, with 'upgrades' being done, frequently without any concern for or justification to the end user. We're always being told how exciting the changes are, but almost never how those changes benefit us. Blogger has done this, Gmail has done this, it goes on and on and on. 

Magic is no different, especially lately: For example, there have been a lot more changes to the visual design of cards over the past few years than there ever was, and often they aren't discussed. These aren't automatically bad but are they good?

Remember when people often forgot that Questing Beast wasn't legendary, and WotC said: Well we thought the boarder would help make that clear! But we made an error (because it really doesn't convey as much information as they presumed it would.)

Now, it may be part of how I first saw the information: Twitter is known for a lot of things, being a desert of nuance possibly in the top five.

Nevertheless, putting it out there that way just has me insisting: OK, you made this change, WHY? What benefit does it give to the end user?

Do I think it's bad? Not inherently, but it would be nice if they talked about why it was good. Told us why it helped us, or helped them make a better game for us. 

Instead we just get a stupid meme and so OF COURSE you have some players responding badly. Nobody understands why this change is made! And yes, people will complain anyway, no matter what they do, but putting it out there like that feels more funny-asshole than funny-clever. 

Is it a big deal? Quite probably not, but I'm certainly not going to argue with people who think this is an unnecessary change that is a pain in the ass, because there isn't anything to justify why making this change helps make the game better.

I Belong

 Alright, I think this is where I leave it.

4 Izzet Signet
3 Booby Trap
3 Lantern of Insight

4 Incinerate
2 Counterspell
4 Memory Lapse
2 Metamorphose
3 Fire // Ice
2 Sulfurous Blast
4 Risk Factor
2 Ionize

7 Mountain
2 Caldera Lake
7 Island
4 Temple of Epiphany
1 Shivan Reef
2 Izzet Boilerworks

1 Argivian Restoration
3 Storm's Wrath

I'll admit, this deck is still a glass cannon, desperate to land a Booby Trap to do the final points of damage. But it's an amusing glass cannon, and it doesn't have the anxiety of combo decks that 'may or may not' go off. Instead, it's the slow anxiety of whether or not you'll get the Booby Trap out...and if you can name the right card. The dread that an opponent faces knowing that the next draw is quite likely their last. 

Ionize was a nice addition and Fire//Ice have been doing great. 

Yeah, I still have a problem if an opponent lands a 5+ toughness creature too early, but let's face it, most decks are going to have that problem. And I like that this deck forces me to think differently when I play, trying to pick my most opportune moments to use a Risk Factor or a Counterspell. Sure, it breaks easy but when Call My Body Home goes off, it's a lot of fun. 

The Ban List

 Sorry everyone-with the winter storms of late, power has gone out and I haven't had a chance to test the final changes to Call My Body Home.

Instead, we have ban list thoughts, because the new ban list has been making all the waves, right? And with good reason; it would appear that they shook up every format excepting Pauper and Commander.   

The only one that really impacts me is the one of Dreadhorde Arcanist, a creature in my Triggerhappy deck.

While an understandable ban, I have to admit that the Arcanist was a key part of they deck, making excluding blue a reasonable decision-on top of a more consistent manabase. 

So what do I do? Arcanist is a unique card in Red-I cannot think of a single card that replicates the effect in that color. 

But this is still an aggressive deck, right? 

Seasoned Pyromancer comes up in the search, and finding ways to draw cards to keep the deck consistent, while also looking for a creature to keep the threat count stable. Along those lines, Mentor of the Meek could help generate card advantage as it will trigger on token generation. However, one of those cards costs $25 and one costs $1.

With 23 instants and 4 sorceries in the deck, Bedlam Reveler doesn't seem like a bad option but... none of these things really give me the reach that I was hoping for.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos is also on the list, as a game ending threat unto itself, while Monastery Swiftspear or Soul-Scar Mage are in aggressive red decks for a reason.

But I do not like this. Again, I don't believe the ban was a bad thing, as Blue cards with 1 CMC seem to be inherently abusable in Legacy (and lots of other formats) and the Arcanist does not exist in a vacuum. But the problem still remains that there aren't replacement effects for it in the color scheme I'm running and that bothers me-mostly because I thought I'd figured this deck out!

Then again: I always like a puzzle, and this can be the deck I mess around with after I'm done testing the headliner. 

The Retired: Ratchet

This is what happens when you try to take a sideboard card (Ethesworn Canonist) and make it a maindeck card.

Yes, I already wrote about this deck and "improved" it but let's face it: this isn't going anywhere.

4 Norn's Annex
3 Pearl Medallion
3 Scourglass
3 Shrine of Loyal Legions
3 Mycosynth Wellspring
1 Spine of Ish Sah

4 Ethersworn Canonist
4 Gold Myr

4 White Sun's Zenith
4 Divine Offering

23 Plains
1 Ancient Den

3 Soulscour

Mono-white isn't a ramp deck and I didn't commit to what it would take to make this a worthy subject.

If I'm not doing that, then I think it's time to let it go. 

Deep Down In My Pores

 The problem is choice.

I love Risk Factor-opponents keep eating a lot of damage, instead of letting me draw cards. Which is great. Except, if I cannot close the game out then I'm still in trouble. 

And the problem with denying me cards is that I am less likely to see a Booby Trap, which is how I want to close games out. 

The upside: games are coming down to very thin margins. I feel as though I'm almost there. The downside: I'm not quite getting there. 

One spell that feels like it's been underperforming, surprisingly, is Hinder. It's good and it fits the theme, but it isn't contributing to the win condition. I'm looking at Ionize right now, but Dissolve and Sinister Sabotage help me dig into my deck and are also on my radar.

I've also been testing three copies of Storm's Wrath instead of one and two Rolling Thunder. Rolling Thunder can set up a big turn of damage, but Storm's Wrath does more for less, overall and will hit Planeswalkers, which just isn't something one can ignore anymore. The upside to Rolling Thunder-that it can kill 5 toughness creatures-isn't enough, I think. 

I believe I'm in the final stretch, though: just a little tweak here and there and Call My Body Home is almost done.

Crawling and Scraping

Is Risk Factor underrated? I ask because when was the last time you saw anyone run or talk about that card?

Looking at some stats at mtggoldfish.com, all I see are Commander decks-with one Brawl deck. So it doesn't seem to be setting the world on fire.

However; this card is doing some real work, and the Jump-Start ability isn't to be laughed at. 

It's an instant, it's cheap, it's repeatable. 

This might just meet the Hexdrinker rule. Because when I tested two copies, my opponents routinely just ate the four damage, even on the second activation. Since I can hold it as an instant, that means I don't have to drop shields to play it, if I have the counterspell and throwing an extra land away to do it again isn't the cost one might think.

With eight damage coming off one card, that means Booby Trap doesn't have to do quite as much work.

I think I'm going to have to bump Risk Factor up to four copies. 

Scientific Principles

 It isn't strictly Magic content, but this video does contain the phrase "don't inflate your chickens" so it's worth a laugh.

Also, if you haven't given the Kaldheim Metal Radio a listen, it's pretty well curated instrumental metal! 

Sorry Sorry Legs

Let's start with the changes. 

Fortunately, my mana base seemed pretty solid but there were some obvious tweaks I needed to make, after playing just one match against Noah. 

But it was very clear that Breaking Point wasn't cutting it, Dream Cache was too slow, as was Capsize and Whispers of the Muse. 

Noah's suggestion? Lantern of Insight.

Huh. Well that just saved me four mana. 

I could try copies of Hinder, too: they are in theme. Sulfurous Blast will do a better job of keeping creatures off of me than Breaking Point and also chips away at the opponent's life total.

Getting to six mana to cast Booby Trap is critical, and Caldera Lake is inefficient. I have a soft spot for the Tempest dual lands but they probably need to be delegated to Commander decks. I've got a couple lzzet Boilerworks, so they can sub in.

Thanks to the dismantling of other decks, I can also put in a Shivan Reef for mana, and copies of Fire/Ice, to help keep my options high and the mana curve low.

I also want to take a chance on two other cards: Risk Factor and Metamorphose. With the Jump-Start mechanic and instant speed, I'm hoping that Risk Factor will put a squeeze on opponents, helping me draw into needed cards. 

Metamorphose is flat out weird and I want to use that as a back pocket answer to troublesome permanents-including planeswalkers-that can then set me up for a Booby Trap play. But it's definitely a high risk, high reward moment.