75% Or So

I feel like this deck is in a good place. Testing has been positive, I don't hate the cards that I draw at any given moment. I cut Blinkmoth Urn for the Saheeli, Sublime Artificer because I just won't be able to use that much mana, and my opponents don't need the boost.

I think I would like to make space for a Trash for Treasure but I'm just not sure where. So I ran the deck through deckstats.net and decided I would cut an Island for the card. Again, I expect this to be good but not gamebreaking.

Which is where I like my Commander decks: tuned, but shy of competitive, that 75% good rate. This should give me some solid outs, without being the scariest threat at the table.

Well, most of the time. Decklist for Saheeli, the Gifted.

Instant 1 Chaos Warp 1 Magmaquake 1 Thirst for Knowledge 1 Shattering Pulse Planeswalker 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer	Artifacts 1 Endless Atlas 1 Retrofitter Foundry 1 Mimic Vat 1 Mirrorworks 1 Prototype Portal 1 Unwinding Clock 1 Commander's Sphere 1 Hedron Archive 1 Izzet Signet 1 Magnifying Glass 1 Mind Stone 1 Prismatic Lens 1 Scrabbling Claws 1 Sol Ring 1 Swiftfoot Boots 1 Unstable Obelisk 1 Worn Powerstone 1 Izzet Locket 1 Jinxed Ring
Enchantment 1 Enchanter's Bane 1 Thopter Spy Network 1 Goblin Bombardment 1 Efficient Construction 1 Kyren Negotiations	Sorcery 1 Saheeli's Artistry 1 Echo Storm 1 Saheeli's Directive 1 Aether Gale 1 Blasphemous Act 1 Reverse Engineer 1 Tidings 1 Trash for Treasure
Lands 1 Darksteel Citadel 1 Great Furnace 1 Seat of the Synod 14 Island 12 Mountain 1 Forge of Heroes 1 Buried Ruin 1 Command Tower 1 Foundry of the Consuls 1 Highland Lake 1 Izzet Boilerworks 1 Izzet Guildgate 1 Swiftwater Cliffs	Creatures 1 Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer 1 Tawnos, Urza's Apprentice 1 Vedalken Humiliator 1 Treasure Nabber 1 Ancient Stone Idol 1 Soul of New Phyrexia 1 Inkwell Leviathan 1 Sharding Sphinx 1 Hellkite Igniter 1 Bosh, Iron Golem 1 Darksteel Juggernaut 1 Duplicant 1 Myr Battlesphere 1 Scuttling Doom Engine 1 Steel Hellkite 1 Thopter Assembly 1 Loyal Apprentice 1 Geode Golem 1 Etherium Sculptor 1 Whirler Rogue 1 Chief of the Foundry 1 Pilgrim's Eye 1 Thopter Engineer 1 Meteor Golem 1 Sai, Master Thopterist

On Competitive Magic

There is, as you might imagine, quite a bit going on in this essay by Ari Lax about how competitive Magic is changing. (If you have an interest in competitive Magic, this other essay by Matt Sperling might also be of interest-I thought that was well done, too. An emphasis on empathy will go a long way for people no matter what). Your mileage may very about the takeaway on pro Magic but for me, this part stuck out.

Wanting to prove something gets you to beating people at the local shop to say you won, but that's it. Why does anyone play competitive Magic beyond that level?

It's about the art of self improvement.

That struck a chord.

Because I play decks until I've 'figured them out'. My current work on the Saheeli deck is a perfect example: I played that deck until I understood what it wanted to do, stripped out the cards that didn't forward that goal, put in ones that I thought did...and boom. Now that I've done that, I'm pretty much done with playing the Saheeli commander deck. I think this is one of the reasons I have so many decks (new problem excitement!) and leave them behind so quickly (the equation is solved until new cards appear). 

At some point is generally no more work to be done that isn't obvious (add in brutally strong cards!/give up on this idea for now) or helps me discover something about the game or myself that I didn't already know.

Part of that comes from having played Magic for over twenty years, reading a ton of strategy and 'making of' essays, part of it from trying to do self improvement work of my own.

I play Magic-or any game, lately the Transformers TCG and Betrayal: Legacy-for two reasons, when I drill down into the core.

First, I'm there to socialize. The socialization might be fairly light, as I'm still making friends with people who are playing Transformers, or be a bit more personal; most of the people I play Magic with I've been playing for years. Nevertheless, I am there to maintain or build connections with other people.

Second, I'm there to do better. I am not playing against other people so much as I am trying to improve my own game. The opponent provides context for me compete against, but my goal is to play better than I played before. Winning or losing isn't as relevant as whether or not I played the best game I can play, did I handle the stress properly, or my opponents respectfully.

And I take that measure against only one person: Me.

"What's Your Win Condition?"

Matt asked me this after a few games with the new setup.

"Well, Goblin Bombardment," I replied, "assuming I can't just overrun with tokens."

"Have you considered Kyren Negotiations?"

Well...damn. What a great idea! My creatures don't need haste for the Negotiations to be useful, and I've had a lot of success with this deck generating tokens so this just seems like a perfect fit. It's an awesome way to get extra mileage out of my tokens, especially when board stalemates arrive-and they always do.

The Negotiations paid off right away in a game against Matt and Caitlin. Saheeli, the Gifted's ultimate suddenly became a lot more powerful, allowing me the luxury to play patiently, using my creatures more strategically to block and still get damage in.

After that game, it was suggested that I add in Scrap Mastery or some other way to recur artifacts that had gone to my graveyard. Trash for Treasure and Daretti, Scrap Savant are possibilities, and of them, Daretti is the card I believe would push this deck over the top into a more competitive vein, as is Intruder Alarm, an idea that was also floated. This is a fun, goofy-ish token deck and I don't think I want to lock the boardstate down with Intruder Alarm; it creates unfun situations. Saheeli, the Gifted doesn't have an expedient way to close the game out once Intruder Alarm arrives so I'm shying away from it, but it's certainly an avenue for someone to use.

Another card that I'm looking to add is Saheeli, Sublime Artificer. It's a second copy of Efficient Construction with a potentially useful secondary ability but I'm mostly playing it to get more Servo tokens. My order for War of the Spark just arrived yesterday, so testing these final changes will happen soon.

On Teaching

The Transformers TCG put out a post on their Facebook about how to teach the game. There's also a spoiler card for those interested (which I am) but that's not what I want to talk about.

When I get to teach someone how to play a game, I try to tell them everything I think they need to know.

The mistake I make that this article points out, is telling them more than they need. It's a difficult error to recognize, because as someone versed in playing the game, I can see all the moving parts. Those are important to me, so that I can play at the level I am trying to play at. New players don't need all that extra data. The trick is to pare things down to precisely what someone needs and no more.

Or: focus on what matters.

The biggest stumbling block for me might be to let 'incorrect' plays happen. With a game like Betrayal: Legacy, it's a little easier to let that go, because we're all making the mistake together. But in a competitive game, I don't want to have someone learn the wrong thing and then move forward, losing games because they didn't know the right thing.

There has to be a compromise or workaround, I'm just not sure what it is. Maybe a 'wrapup' moment, where I can clarify certain points, or just saying beforehand that I won't worry about details until a couple games in, and the person I'm trying to teach gets a feel for the game?

It's hard to know-but it also makes me appreciate the work of designers all the more.

Finer Direction

After playing the Saheeli deck multiple times, I have a sense of what it wants to do: make a ton of tokens and overrun my opponents with them.

There are a few cards that just don't fit this well-or need to be removed for more relevant cards that fit the theme better. So here's the first round of cuts:

Loyal Drake (I have card draw and this goes against the theme)
Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor (goes against theme)
Coveted Jewel (bad)
Into The Roil (too narrow)
Psychosis Crawler (too narrow)
Maverick Thopterist (there are better cards)
Dreamstone Hedron (a difficult cut but I thought I could do better)
Vessel of Endless Rest (doesn't fit the theme)

And the replacements:

Feldon's Cane
Meteor Golem
Shattering Pulse
Phyrexian Altar
Goblin Bombardment
Efficient Construction
Sai, Master Thopterist
Jinxed Idol

Of these Jinxed Idol is the most interesting one to me, since the Gather wording on it says "whenever a non-token permanent is put into the graveyard". I have token creatures to spare, so there's a genuine chance to mess with some players' strategies, especially ones that want to use sacrifice effects. Sure, it's not so hot against other token decks but you can't win 'em all. Plus, I like the political element that the Idol introduces.

The rest are there to help solve other problems: Shattering Pulse to take care of artifacts, and Meteor Golem for other permanents, Goblin Bombardment to make use of all the tiny artifacts creatures Saheeli's ultimate generates, Phyrexian Altar for mana, and finally Efficient Constrution and Sai, Master Thopterist to increase the number of Thopters this deck can generate.

I look forward to seeing how these changes pan out because they feel smart and focused towards the theme. My one questionmark is Phyrexian Altar. I had added that card, because I was hoping to find some more expensive bounce effects: Distorting Wake or Capsize being my top two, and then sacrificing any hasted-but-sacrifice at end of turn tokens to feed into a board reset.

I am apparently using those cards in other decks because I don't seem to have any. I'm going to do a little digging for another spell like this that I can use but for now, I want to get some more games under my belt!

Why I Quit Persona 5

Why am I bringing this up? Because it's a great way to direct you towards Film Critic Hulk's essay on Red Dead Redemption 2. It's a pretty deep dive into one very particular issue: why is that game so insistent on preventing you from enjoying it? What choices are being made that put up so many barriers to the player?

Which leads me to Persona 5, which I was nearly done with. On the trail to the last boss, the final twists and turns all exposed, my party leveled into the 60s...and then I quit. Months I spent playing this game were deleted by me; I burnt the bridge so I wouldn't even consider going back.

I quit after spending 48 hours trying to make it through from the starting point of the final dungeon to the next save room.

Because Persona 5 does some things that I haven't experienced before. First; the game ends if the player-protagonist dies in combat. Typically, these games end when your entire party goes down but not here. This makes sense narratively, but it is awful from a gameplay standpoint in an RPG. Everything now hinges on that one character-which means nobody else is worth protecting. They only have value insofar as they can protect the player-protagonist, or defeat enemies faster.

Second, the game has a time limit. I found my party and my character specifically going from level 65 to 68 within minutes during this final dungeon. That's bad: it means that I haven't had the opportunity to level my characters up sufficiently to prepare for this battle.

I didn't squander my time playing the game-and in every loading screen there is a helpful "Take Your Time" message. So...OK, let's proceed at the pace I want to proceed. That's the constant message.

Except you can't. There is a deadline and if you aren't ready when it comes, the gameplay experience suddenly becomes very, very frustrating. Multiple times, I had my entire party frozen, or worse, run away and there was nothing I could do about it.

Third, the game teaches you that every Persona you fight has an elemental weakness.

Except the boss characters. So all the time one might spend building up goes to waste. This isn't that unusual, given how RPGs play out, but what is weird is how infrequent status effects are, until the final dungeon, and how infrequent magic point replenishments are, ever. The game is outright stingy with magic refreshers.

So now I'm under leveled, under supplied, I have no way to grind my characters up and I can't find more supplies. Why is this the case? Why can't I find out where to get or how to make more items that I need, forward storylines I want to (and thus level up), grind for Personas or develop traits to help me? Why is this information being hidden or worse, presented in a contradictory manner?

Why am I putting myself through this again? Which brings me back to the essay I linked to at the beginning.

So I quit. And that never feels good, but neither does wasting my life on something I'm supposed to enjoy and currently hating. And unlike Film Critic Hulk, nobody's paying me to go through something I am not enjoying and write about it.

War of the Spark Overview

The spoiler list is out! If we believe the hype machine,  this is the most exciting set that Wizards has produced in years and it represents the conclusion of the biggest storyline they've ever done.

Who could possibly match that?

Hmmmm...

Snark aside, this is a pretty big deal, especially since they're bringing Planeswalkers down to the uncommon rarity. And I do like how they solved that problem by, essentially, making them enchantments with vanishing.

The next mechanic that runs through this would be Amass and while it's generally executed as "creature stapled to a spell" that is different from the past years of "spell attached to a creature". It's also an effect that is probably long overdue.

The other big mechanical element that seems to run through the set is Proliferate, which makes sense: it was a popular mechanic from Scars of Mirrodin block and it fits perfectly with what players will want to do with the planeswalkers, especially ones with only minus abilities.

I think I prefer this, at least in this set: less broad sweeping mechanics and instead just a focus on a cool card type and a mechanic that really interacts well with it. So let's talk about the set, then.

White
God-Eternal Oketra looks absolutely insane. I suppose the argument could be made that if you make it to five mana, you're in a pretty good space anyway and certainly all of the gods in War are Commander format candy. But getting an extra 4/4 every time I cast a creature? Yike.

Parhelion II is weird, right? Just from a story perspective; it's a flying machine that gives angels rides. But angels can already fly...I don't have a walking machine to do walking for me.

Also, as much as I like Single Combat, I would like more to know who came out on top of that battle, which has been a subplot since Innistrad.

Blue
Here's where I point out that the uncommons seem to have a higher power level than I usually expect. This might be purely because of the existence of Planeswalkers at that rarity. Blue is also where Amass starts to show up and I think giving blue a bit more skin in the game by giving it creatures, as well as providing it with ways to deal with Planeswalkers, is a good thing.

I am not fond of what God-Eternal Kefnet does. Also, the more I look at these gods the less happy I am with them. The only way to prevent them from being a problem is to counter the spell-and Kefnet especially is extremely high value in a color that can both prevent that countermagic from being a problem and maximize the ability. On the other hand, using timely removal spells to maximize your chances is a highly strategic decision, so maybe I'm being a too pessimistic.

The other-other hand is that these cards are nasty in Commander. Is this a new Commander tax? Is this clever? I don't know but I think we're going to find out really, really fast.

I do like that Fblthp is a card, legendary at that, and Narset's Reversal is very cool...if not super useful.

Black
Charity Extractor is probably the creepiest black card I've seen in awhile. Faceless debt collecting machines are a little too on point for modern times. Along those lines, the flavor text for Dreadmalkin is possibly the best representation of cats in Magic.

There isn't a lot else going on here that's interesting. Good, yes. Banehound, Massacre Girl, the art on Deliver Unto Evil. But I can't say I'm seeing any boundaries pushed.

Red
Bolt Bend is a card I'm glad they printed. Big creature decks have needed ways to defend against an opponent's Path to Exile and now they have a pretty nice tool in the toolbox. I've always liked the 'redirection' element in Red so I'm happy to see a spell like this printed.

The rest of it, like much of this set, has cards with "Neat thing you remember" (Wild Guess) "It's back, but in [Amass] form". That doesn't make these cards bad (Honor the God-Pharoh), just the tiniest riff on a theme, instead of a new theme. Given the power level of this set that all the pros are going bonkers over, I suppose I can't fault it.

Green
This is where I notice that at least a solid portion of mythic level rares (Hiya, Finale of Devastation) are meant to be for Commander and that even includes the Gods of the set. This fulfills the idea of what Mythics were initially pitched for and while I know that there aren't ever NOT going to be chase cards, the more accessible the chase cards, the more people who can play the game. Also, nice job naming the Finales after the Hours in Hour of Devastation; that's a great callback.

I'm pretty certain Vivian's Arkbow is going to become a staple of green mana decks.

In the Multicolored and Colorless realm, I'm just not seeing anything to get excited about. Plenty of good role players though, and the cycle of uncommon planeswalkers here will have a massive impact on the game, I think.

Of the Artifacts, I'm surprised to note that there is nothing to note here. Mana Geode will be stronger than people think, especially in Commander.

The Lands, though, these got a push I was not expecting. All of them have useful, interesting and strong-to-great abilities, save Gateway Plaza which does what you need it to do and no more, but works for limited environments. Mobilized District will become a boon for Planeswalkers that didn't have the obvious +1 defensive ability, or don't have a +1 ability at all, Emergence Zone repeats an effect that people have wanted to see again for years, and Karn's Bastion and Blast Zone open up options to decks and colors that wouldn't have access to those abilities.

All in all, my opinions on War of the Spark is that this is a set that wants to show of the power of its toys, not introduce something new and shiny to the mix. And that's just fine. I'm looking forward to seeing how I can improve my own decks with these new set of tools!