Maybe Not Today...

...maybe not tomorrow, but eventually, Grist, the Hunger Tide is going to cause problems. (Credit to Day 9 for the spoiler.)

I say this because years ago on the Mothership, Mark Rosewater was asked why they didn't include Artifact as part of Karn Liberated's types, back in the day. Of course, I can't find it now...but the answer went: it would create huge problems for the game. Which makes some sense: being able to Tinker for Karn Liberated wouldn't create fun play experiences. 

Now, New Phyrexia was printed 10 years ago, and a great deal has changed in Magic, not least of which being the approach we have to Planeswalkers and our available answers. 

But a three mana Planeswalker that has a creature type everywhere BUT the battlefield? This opens up a truly absurd level of interactions, including the ability to be a Commander. 

Do I think this is bad? No. It's the kind of rules complexity I would expect from a set like Modern Horizons 2 and if they didn't provide some truly pushed cards that would be disappointing. I think it's interesting and it doesn't want to be an issue! 

Buuuuuuuuuut I think Grist will cause problems eventually. How soon, I don't know: I certainly hope it's down the line a bit. Having a Hogaak level card (one that is clearly broken and exceptional for a deck type) isn't good. 

But one that players break in a year? Yeah, that's fine. 

On the other hand, I really, really like the designs for Astor and the Underworld Cookbook. Top notch work there. Interesting, flavorful and seems like there's interesting ways to use those cards without them making a mess of things. 

Steel Is On My Side

 

A few tweaks and I think Black Wind Fire and Steel is set. 

Conspiracy Theorist has been quite good-I'm not sure if it is good enough to meet the Hexdrinker rule (where a card is so good that the opponent's response is: That has to go, right now.)-but it has been good. With hands that have an Embercleave, it's an attacker that helps reduce the cost. When there is no Embercleave to be found, I can pay one to draw a card, and if that card is a Bloodsoaked Champion or a Zurgo Bellstriker, paying an additional mana to get that on the board is usually not a problem at all. 

I also found copies of Flame Burst in my Odyssey binder and have decided to run four of those over Scorching Dragonfire. While removal from the game is not irrelevant text, Dragonfire's targeting limitation is a problem for BWF&S which can be stonewalled in the midgame. Flame Burst can go to the opponent directly and that makes a difference.

To make room for the full set of four Flame Burst, I ended up cutting one Chainer's Edict. I think this is a fine trade off.

So there is where I'm leaving it:

4 Embercleave

3 Shivan Zombie
3 Lovisa Coldeyes
4 Eradicator Valkyrie
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
3 Combat Celebrant
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
3 Conspiracy Theorist

3 Bedevil
4 Flame Burst

5 Swamp
3 Akoum Refuge
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
10 Mountain
4 Blightstep Pathway/ Searstep Pathway

3 Chainer's Edict

Build Boring Decks

This is a pretty exhaustive article on draft formats that makes the case for building consistent decks rather than flashy ones. 

It articulates something that I think I've been trying to work towards over the past year: that a cool idea still needs fundamentals to support it. And if the fundamentals aren't there, the cool idea never really crystalizes into a working one. 

I can see it with my deckbuilding choices-even though the current built of Black Wind, Fire & Steel had me focusing a little too narrowly on a creature type, I still made sure to bring a proper curve and kinda boring cards so that I could just play a game of Magic.

And with recent advice I even broadened my scope a little to include more fundamentals (card draw is good) even though thematically it wasn't on. 

I suppose that's why we talk about "Blue shells" for certain decks or "Delver shell" because you start off with that solid base and then play around with 8-10 cards. 

But the basic principles are what I want to remember and I think those things apply regardless of what format I'm building decks for.

I Was Born To Burn

I'm still having Embercleave problems. Finding the balance between creatures and removal has been tricky. The addition of Zurgo has been an overall positive, giving me more turn one plays, but closing out has been a challenge. 

Certainly some of my removal is not as versatile as it could be: Scorching Dragonfire is no Incinerate and my options at two mana are slim. But it isn't that Dragonfire is terrible; it's that I generally have to pick between hitting players or creatures among cheap Red damages spells, and I'm choosing creatures so that my creatures can do the heavy lifting.

After a match against Noah where I had two Embercleaves in hand and no way to cast them, he suggested Conspiracy Theorist. 

I'll admit, I've ignored creatures that didn't get a boost from Lovisa Coldeyes but the flipside of this is that Fearless Liberator has been just average at best, and is a huge mana sink to get a 2/1. Conspiracy Theorist could also read: Pay 2 when this attacks to draw a card and get a Zurgo. 

That seems pretty good, so let's try it out. 

Sick Day

 Sorry folks, just feeling a bit under the weather. Next post on Tuesday!

Punisher and Swordsman

I'm starting to wonder if I'm looking at things a little backwards.

Embercleave is a great card. Traditionally, one wants to play four copies of their great cards.

But Embercleave is also sitting dead in my hand, because I have so many removal spells. So; swap some removal spells for creatures!

....Now I can't get rid of enough creatures. 

Or at least, I couldn't when playing against Fuz's White Knights deck. This might've been just a match of bad beats, but only one of my eight removal spells showed up over two games, and up against Knight Exemplar, removal is important, because what I don't have is creatures with evasion, nor any manner to remove Anthem effects.

Perhaps Matt was correct and I would just be better off with card draw spells? The pickings are slim for ones that fit into this deck, though.

Further tests emphasized the importance of mulliganing: if I don't have a turn one play, it's or a clear path for turns 2-3, then it's likely I need to ship it back. I took note of this, especially after watching PVDDR's video on the subject. The power curve for BWF&S isn't really high, so I need to take advantage of its speed.

Now, in subsequent games against Jason and Fuz, I did much better in my attempt to make sure I got going faster than my opponent. I'm still not sure if this is in the best spot, but the games I've played have still been interesting.

Single Combat I Await

As always, this is about the point where I've run into a problem. 

A consistent issue has been holding Embercleave in my hand and being unable to do anything with it, because I have three mana in hand, two creatures on the board and nothing else to cast. I have decided to swap out the Sudden Death slot for creatures. While I like the uncounterable aspect of Sudden Death, it's also the most expensive and least versatile. Three more creatures instead of spells should give me enough density to regularly cast Embercleave. (I hope).

The test of Vengeful Rebel wasn't bad but it wasn't great. I picked the card because its enters the battlefield trigger could substitute as removal for the cutting of Sudden Death, but there were two problems. First, I couldn't get the trigger to happen on demand, and if I didn't have a creature die, then it was just a 3/2 for 3 and no other abilities. That's not great, since now it needs Lovisa Coldeyes to be imposing. And, Lovisa Coldeyes was the second reason to cut this card: If I can't trigger the Rebel before combat (which this deck really doesn't do), then I can't take advantage of Lovisa's haste buff. 

Matt suggested that I look for card draw. His initial suggestion was Read the Bones, and I immediately went to Village Rites as a substitute for those end of turn or response to removal plays. 

My concern is that this won't solve the creature density issue. However, it is worth keeping in mind since card draw is rarely bad.

I'm considering going to the other end, and finding more one mana creatures to play. This is a more aggressive deck, so consistently having a creature to put out turn one is a good thing. The power level is a problem, of course, but after looking through this list, there are a few options! 

And I've always wanted to play Zurgo Bellstriker. (No reason, I just wanted to). So let's give it a go!

I Will Never Die

There has been a cool combo that came from the gold fishing of this deck.

Eradictor Valkyrie and Bloodsoaked Champion have a nice synergy: Attack with the Valkyrie, sacrifice the Champion with Boast and then bring it back via Champion's Raid ability. It's expensive, yes but it's also repeatable removal.  

So, into the testing we go!

And against a very aggressive zombie deck Fuz piloted, I got to see his deck work, then my deck work and then a slog in game three that he won. 

Recurring zombies are a bear to manage, for sure. 

So let's try and tweak it, because at least four copies of Valkyrie/Champion should be there. It's a nice synergy to exploit if the game goes long! And how can I ignore this cool thing I discovered? 

However, it also means cutting Balthor, the Stout and, if I'm going that far, are Keldon Champions really worth it, when I could up the removal pieces? 

After those changes I noticed I was having black mana issues. The first time I wish I had black mana is a fluke, the sixth time, not so much, so I rechecked the deck: 42% color available vs 51%, needed.

Thankfully, a very easy fix.

That said, BWFS has been making some notable progress! It's a deck that can get going in the early game and has some solid finishing haymakers. Plus, now that the mana's been fixed, my game should smooth out.