Magic the Gathering: Arena

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richleader

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  • #7,841
    Screenshot 2024-06-13 113109.png

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    www.mtgsalvation.com

    MH3: Chthonian Nightmare, Enchantment 1B When Chthonian Nightmare enters the battlefield, you get {EEE] (three energy counters). Pay X {E}, Sacrifice a ...

    When Chthonian Nightmare enters the battlefield, you get {EEE] (three energy counters). Pay X {E}, Sacrifice a creature, Return Chthonian Nightmare to ...
    www.mtgsalvation.com www.mtgsalvation.com

    So whenever you kill the Guide or Pride, they cast Nightmare to get one back which creates another cat token so they can repeat the process when needed. Pretty annoying -- at least to anyone not playing UW Control and most people have a sideboard dedicated mostly to handling that, these days, since you want to punch Gandalf in the face or lose quick enough that it doesn't hurt.

    I think the combo I faced mostly annoyed me because neither Guide nor Pride is a 1-drop they'd ever really make for standard so it's basically "let's print an entire deck for old formats." They're not rescuing energy, really, it's basically just creating something for people with $$$ to try out and throw against the wall, maybe it works, maybe it doesn't, but there's no way to have any emotional connection to the cards in play since they were basically constructed to only be in one deck and only in the current moment.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,842
    4-0 in the Wizards mirror vs. Energy adopters. I'm starting to see Narsets from the board which are situationally perfect at stopping your opponent (especially if your opponent is "still" on Canopy lands like I am) but you really can't plan for 3 mana situational cards in the mirror . I'm sure it works once for these players and then they think they'll live the dream all the time. But it's kinda like putting a sweeper in your weenie deck for rainy days, imho, especially since there are so many ways to draw cards without drawing cards these days so it's not even I-win vs. UW Control.

    Speaking of UW Control: I can't imagine enjoying standard with how good control and boros aggro are right now so I'm kinda glad the blink discard decks are a thing.


    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYlpIs5UzxQ


    I guess Obstinate Baloth isn't a Nullhide Ferrox and neither is all that hot vs. forced sacrifices. So I suppose that mono blue deck just trying to draw past the discard is one way to do things.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,843
    Screenshot 2024-06-16 173101.png

    Had an opponent go Esper Sentinel into Amped Raptor which flipped another Raptor which flipped a Static Prison. I kill a raptor and then it gets Jolted Awake. Not a bad Lurrus deck, especially since Lurrus for Raptor gets something else. And there was also Ajani somewhere in the mix. But it succumbed to wizards wizarding.

    I'm still not a fan of "we're going to make Energy happen" even though 90% of the playable Energy cards are in this dang set.

    This one is more catty:


    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bnzCDTCTes
     
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    masonk

    Ars Praefectus
    3,567
  • #7,844
    I just demolished a Nadu, Winged Wisdom deck in brawl, only to realize after the game that it was CGB! He had a great draw, too. Plenty of equipments, a couple of counter spells, and he stole my Delighted Halfing on turn 2. I'm sure he got 15 Nadu triggers in the game. He effing Nadu triggered into a Subtlety as one of his only outs against my Cavern of Souls, I mean JFC. However, I got like three or four primetime triggers, so I stayed, and I was dealing damage while he wasn't. I gave him the elspeth mic drop, because F this bird, it needs to disappear.

    1718593989765.png
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,845
    I did a bo3 draft by accident for Masters: it was terrible, not only was there a complete illiterate at the table who always had five packs, even though I had what felt like a decent eldrazi deck, opponent 1 was on some gruul deck where they had a 1/1 with haste that they kept adding axes to so it was coming in for 5 damage a turn right away. Opponent 2 was on Rakdos Artifacts but they had like two islands in their deck and always drew Kappa Cannoneer on curve so there was an 11/11 unblockable with ward 4 in play for both games.

    Beat opponent 3 who had double Blue Flare so they could counter stuff at will but was otherwise on trash. Beating them gave me 2.5 packs, total, worth of recoup on my investment (1 pack/250 gems). Format felt miserable to me with all the random cards coming out of nowhere that I couldn't play around or do anything about.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,846

    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uw_48ct9IE


    10 new mythics, 7 new rares. Talk about pushing mechanics just to make a new deck. I kinda liked the idea of Kroxa/Uro being the only mega titans since it gave them a real color identity in the Theros space as unique polar opposites -- now I guess every pair will get one eventually as they get bored and have to sell new cards.

    I'm still undefeated in the Wizards mirror vs. energy users (who also tend to be "I play Surgical Extraction for two life and then scoop" buttcrackers) but I did lose to someone on all new cards, playing Tamiyo* and Party Thrasher, that 1/4 red lizard wizard that lets you churn through your deck. The 4 toughness lets it survive a lot in the mirror and find your Flame of Arnors. Also saw someone playing Triton Wavebreakers (1/1 prowess) as additional 1-drops that didn't seem to suck since you can use them as auras in the mirror vs. the type of person you know will side in both Surgical Extraction and Brotherhood's End because they think they're so smarty pants. I'm not sold on them but I don't think it was a foolish innovation.

    Screenshot 2024-06-17 181921.png

    I didn't realize that Squirrel Combo got a buff with Squirrels 5-8 in the shape of Basking Broodscale and Guide of Souls is a straight upgrade vs. other soul sister varieties, usually. I had Brotherhood's End as an out but it wasn't worth waiting for them to combo for five minutes on their ipad just to have a 2/50 looksie for it. If they were playing faster, I'd have waited but they seemed to be an infinite time player.

    edit: I forgot to explain my Tamiyo asterisk: I didn't realize how good she was in Timeless as a mana drain sink as you'll acquire all these extra treasure tokens to spend the Drain mana on, since you don't often have anything else good to cast since you need to hold open your next counter, anyway.
     
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    krimhorn

    krimhorn

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    39,846
    Subscriptor++
  • #7,849
    richleader said:
    I guess making WNM "modern horizons constructed" is a way to encourage people to spend those wildcards now...
    Click to expand...
    I had a lot of fun with this Izzet Energy deck. Only WCs other than U and C were 4 Aether Revolt. Which, granted, is garbage outside of this exact deck but, also, means I won't open those 4 when I open packs. So...
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,851
    mtgazone.com

    Historic Mono Green Devotion - Modern Horizons 3 • Decks • MTG Arena Zone

    mtgazone.com mtgazone.com

    I opened one Fanatic of Ronas and drafted another, which combined with the three Outcaster Trailblazers I had already, made it only 3 wildcards to "upgrade" mono green.

    Immediately got wrecked by someone who exclusively plays Doom Foretold (I remember because they're one of those elite types who uses MTG in their user name in case someone else forgets what, exactly, is played on Arena), and then:

    Hammertime. This is a deck that I've long respected but... NOW, hammertime is just another Guide of Souls into Ajani deck. Kemba Outfitters is conveniently a cat. Wonderful! It's just the other cat deck + Stoneforge and a few hammers. Yay.

    Managed to beat an italian on ninjas but a victory over an italian is just them riding the clock and wasting your time.

    At any rate, Fanatic is ok, I guess, I still think Old Growth Troll (which the new lists lack) is a good Magic card. Trailblazer is ok at drawing cards but its real talent is that extra mana when you Suspend-1 it as it can get you to 5 or 6 in situations where you might be screwed otherwise. OTOH, taking turn 3 off when a herd of cats is coming your way is not fun.

    Between the Frog Self-mill deck, the endless cat variations, and control having a new finisher with a lifegain titan, they've really made historic a punishing format for people who want to open cards via draft/frog store instead of burning their wildcards on day 1. Feels really mercenary by WOTC and it's the reason I don't bother with paper anymore.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,853
    Decided to be the bad guy and play UW Control. I got absolutely clowned by some rank floor bozo on Eldrazi since all of their spells have "on cast" triggers so even in game 2 after I got rid of stuff like Dovin's Veto, they were still blowing up my lands and drawing cards left and right. I said I was the bad guy but even UW Control is the good guy vs. Modern Masters "fake" Magic card decks. Granted, unlike MUD has been historically, I think Devoid is a reasonable deck that a reasonable person would play, under the right circumstances, only that I hate that it was 80% printed at once to slot into a format and force people to spend money.

    I've been stuck at Diamond 1 floor for a week now: not that I want to get into Mythic this second, but I'm irritated at my win one, lose two, win one to get back protection, lose two, and all of the losses are to decks that didn't exist two weeks ago.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,855

    View: https://youtu.be/LEP8IpQQIOE?t=543


    Of all the new decks, the most annoying is the Primal Prayers one where they can make infinite Segardian Evangels at instant speed whenever they want, to tap down all your mana. It's that final part that's annoying because it's an extra manual step for people who typically aren't good at interfacing with interfaces. So when "let me tell you what very minor star wars character I sexually identify as" decides to go off, they'll typically make a good 10-15 more Evangels than they need which leads to a 5 minute turn of them clicking to they're actually physically out of breath. Not fun.

    But the meta has totally been tranformed overnight to one that revolves entirely around 1 and 2 drops and where graveyard shenanigans abound but you can't really fight them on time without Leyline of the Void, outside of Wizards that can sometimes double-dip on a Cranial Extraction with Arcanist.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,856
    ^ I tried out the Vampire Bombardment list in the above video. Main addition is Persist (the reanimation card, not the mechanic). Spent four mythics on them.

    Things they allow you:

    1. Turn 1 cycle Troll of Kazaddum, turn 2 Persist it as a 5/4 that's hard to block. There are some decks that are soft to this

    2. Stitcher's Supplier is a new addition to the deck to get more Miners and Bloodghasts in the yard but milling over a Vein Ripper doesn't feel so bad if you can find a Persist

    3. Just bringing back Seasoned Pyromancer is often more than enough upside

    Boggart Trawlers are an ok addition and while I'm not sure if Arena of Glory is worth it, obviously the xmas-land play of hasting a Ripper or Troll out of the blue isn't bad.

    It's a deck that I've enjoyed in the past so I didn't feel horrible spending on it but it still feels like Vampire Bombardment, it's not a print-to-digital archetype that was suddenly launched.

    And on that note, I did run into someone legitimately playing Aetherwork's Marvel. Felt weird seeing Woodworker's Puzzleknot in a land of brand new cards. OTOH, after I picked their hand apart in game 2 and was beating them down from 40 life (puzzleknots), right before they died they high rolled a Raptor trigger into a Kozilek and just spent 12 energy to buy it into play. It was unfair but fair and the deck still felt like Marvel, not some cat deck with a hybrid one-turn-combo-kill tacked on. /ok, enough yelling at clouds for today. Play vampires.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,857
    Lost my mythic bubble again to mono green. 1/4 snakes are just too hard to sneak damage by. And a few discard spells can't stop their inevitability. And I'm seeing all kinds of people (admittedly, mostly people with Axis grandfathers or Conquistador ancestors) with more greedy lists with Ugin maindeck or Regrowths, just expecting to only draw it when necessary. There's nothing quite like getting Mindslavered by Mussolini's grandson and having them fling your own creatures in your face. Forza italiano or whatever!

    Then I got shoved out of Diamond 1 by someone on Mardu Cats Goblin Bombardment which looks to be better at Bombardment than vampires unless you're one of those lucky people who always has turn 3 Sorin/Ripper. But even then Cats can 1-mana oblivion ring your Ripper.

    So Historic is basically play new cats decks designed to beat other cat decks! Feh.
     
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    richleader

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    20,635
  • #7,858
    Weekly notes are out, evidently there's going to be a tournament this weekend where you can win paper cards. Not sure if that's a big step up over cash prizes but maybe it lets them market the casino in places where winning cash is a no-no or to kids or something? Either way, most Arena players aren't going to win paper cards and aren't going to get involved in real life Magic due to the expense of having two collections.


    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L52bzteocA8


    I'm not sure what bracket he's playing in, if he's in an event or just hitting Play with a Timeless deck and his deck-strength matching based on being mostly uncommons means that he's being exclusively matched by "Cards I Own" people or what? What's amusing is that someone had him hard locked out of the game if they didn't tap under two mana but they did. Because.

    It's generally a channel I mostly respect so I'm not calling shenanigans or saying the footage is absolutely worthless -- it's not like he's one of those tiny Magic tubers that says "Round 1" or "Round 2" like they entered into an event or something when they're just hitting the ranked queue over and over again in... Silver...
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,859
    It's weird that even now that Historic has never been faster with Cats catting and Belcher Belching (it's grown in popularity as it's better to combo kill people than try to outgrind Cats/Frog-Self-Mill), the number of people using Surveil Lands is rapidly increasing. If you don't get blown out of the water immediately, then make sure you win all the 40 minute greed wars vs. other neckbeards with their butts hanging out! It's a really weird irony that playing all tap-lands if fine in a turn 4 format because when you play against the half of people not trying to win on turn 4, you get to slowly bleed those fools to death and that's what real Magic is about!

    Played my Vampires vs. UW Control today and they were on a butt build where they were using Orim's Chant and Mapping the Maze to buy-back Orim's Chant, as well as Saiba Syphoner to get Chant back and then Three Steps Ahead to clone Syphoner to get back more Chants. Also playing Union of the Third Path and One Ring to just draw through any problems, plus a random Oracle of the Alpha for lulz being able to cast some Power 9 for kicks.

    Game 1, my recursive threats powered through. Game 2, they started with white Leyline and I had a hand full of Thoughtseizes. I thought I could Ripper them out but apparently it targets, something I assumed that it didn't for some reason. Eventually I got there. It was over half an hour of me not having fun, them being down eight minutes on clock because they'd pause for 30 seconds while looking at my graveyard during my attack step just for the sake of doing it -- and me just wishing I hadn't started Arena today.

    They did give me time to google their account though and they had decks listed on three different sites and actually run a Magic twitter account. If you're not a pro-player and yet your twitter account is dedicated to Magic, I really don't want to know you, let alone spend over half an hour with you on Arena as you live out your UW Gandalf fantasies. I won, but did I really?
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,860
    Lost to cats twice in a row: they always Raptor'd into Static Prison vs. my Rippers. And then I switch to mono green and they just Static Prison all my acceleration and then run me over with infinite cats. And I mean, infinite: two prides with City's Blessing is just absurd. They're determined to make me play Standard which resembles Historic in a lot of ways: RDW/Boros vs. UW Control and a lot of terrible midrange decks in the middle.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,861
    Screenshot 2024-06-25 160109.png

    I just don't know how this is an ok turn 3: I'm at 9 life, facing down 6 power across three creatures, a planeswalker, and an enchantment. That's not something you can reasonably compete with and it's a pile of brand new Mythics that have never even seen play in Standard. So either 1-turn combo them or play hard control and then maybe still lose. OK, that's my final rant against freaking cats.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,862
    Screenshot 2024-06-25 163533.png

    I will complain about this other Guide of Souls deck though: every time they cast their infinite Evangels at instant speed, because I had a play I could conceivably make, even with Pass Turn enabled, I had to click ok and resolve all. Because they were the active player doing something, Arena gave them time but me none and I actually burned a timer while mashing my spacebar like a freaking loser for five minutes as they made 30 3/1s (they should have made them on my upkeep instead of on their turn). Eventually they got the "make another move or it's a draw" warning so they stopped. But I could have timed out, enabling them to do whatever they want, even bolt my dream trawler, based on Arena deciding I was taking too much time despite mashing my spacebar the whole time. I can't believe I spent 40 minutes playing this single match just because I wanted to make Mythic for the month. This is like the pay to lose MMO.

    They won in game 3 because Soul Guide plus Tajic gave them two extra energy off of the 1/1 that Tajic made, allowing their creature to fly and hit for lethal damage because Guide synergizes with freaking every card out there as the best soul sister in history.

    Hate all these new decks.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,863

    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPqvzrkSMpA


    I was intrigued by this innovation of dropping Karn (who is uncomfortable to play vs. many cat lists playing Esper Sentinel) for Grizzled Beastmaster who can fetch (if you're lucky to have a creature left in your hand) New Fake Emrakul to steal an army of 50 cats.

    In practice, I lost 0-2 to Mardu Cats with Sorin (who was more than able to ping my Kiora's for 6 damage on command) and I lost 1-2 to regular Boros cats. I did get to steal their army in game 1 but after that I was Static Prison'd into oblivion after mulling to 5 (with one land) in game 3.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,864

    View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOgir-ShKPE


    "the Authority of the Consuls / Settle the Wreckage meta"

    "Even if they have a board wipe, they haven't dealt with Ajani"


    I had fun playing WNM. I tried Izzet Energy but it was really less effective than mono blue curiosity.dec for me. Lots of people on terrible golgari decks (all with RDW themed sleeves, of course, because next levelling people is the best part of Magic, or something) that basically lost to one bounce spell.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,865
    Tried some more decks out:

    * I gave Elves a try. Only craft required was one Voja.

    mtgazone.com

    Historic Golgari Elves - Modern Horizons 3 • Decks • MTG Arena Zone

    mtgazone.com mtgazone.com

    I didn't realize I didn't have Craterhoof in my main deck (every elf player I've come across has) so when I cast Chord for 8 only Voja came up. Which won the game but was dumb to do on my turn since it doesn't have haste.

    Opponent was on a brew where it was Yawgmoth without Yawg, just playing GW and going wide with cats as well but they couldn't beat Voja. Tyver was good with Priest of Titania, giving it immediately two activations. I'm not an elf player though (especially since the average cat deck is playing Goblin Bombardment) so I moved on.

    MTG Joe came up with a bit of an anti-cat UW Auras list:

    Companion
    1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den (IKO) 226

    Deck
    2 Arcane Flight (DAR) 43
    6 Plains (WOE) 267
    4 Island (WAR) 255
    4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
    4 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
    4 Kor Spiritdancer (JMP) 116
    4 Invisible Stalker (SIS) 17
    4 Ethereal Armor (RTR) 9
    2 Sram, Senior Edificer (KLR) 32
    3 Adanto Vanguard (XLN) 1
    4 Curious Obsession (RIX) 35
    1 Hushbringer (ELD) 18
    4 Sentinel's Eyes (THB) 36
    4 Staggering Insight (THB) 228
    2 Giver of Runes (MH1) 13
    4 Selfless Savior (M21) 36
    2 Hengegate Pathway (KHM) 260
    2 Slip Out the Back (SNC) 62

    Sideboard
    1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den (IKO) 226
    2 Arcane Flight (DAR) 43
    3 Apostle of Purifying Light (M20) 6
    1 Hushbringer (ELD) 18
    2 Hushbringer (ELD) 18
    3 Fateful Absence (MID) 18
    2 Slip Out the Back (SNC) 62
    1 Filter Out (MAT) 7

    I'm partial to old lists like this over the new 5 color Lightpaws ones so I fired it up. I beat Gates and Vampires with it. Lost to cats... It's still Auras though and can just crap out on you with the wrong half problem. And unlike old decks that folded to Hushbringer, only having about 4 ways to kill it after board, cats has both maindeck and many sideboard options to kill it. Meanwhile Ajani can dome you for like 10+ often, so just having a giant lifelinker with vigilence is no longer victory vs. them.

    edit lost to gandalf (I divine purge my snapcaster to divine purge again!) because there's no sideboard slots left to combat that nonsense, no spell pierces, no nothing, since you have to focus on the cats.
     
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    richleader

    Ars Legatus Legionis
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  • #7,867
    I saw there was a countdown timer on Masters limited and I'm not sure if just certain versions are going away but FOMO made me do another draft.

    Immediately regretted it.

    * Took forever to get a table going. It'd get to 6/8 and then empty out to 1/8 repeatedly, maybe five minutes to get started.

    * Two people at the table would repeatedly have at least 5 packs in hand. They weren't even the ones with the ponybro avatars.

    * Third match was vs. someone in Mythic. I won, at 1 life, through an improbable sequence of events. But whenever someone who has done 2-3 drafts has to play against someone who has done 20+ in a format, it's not fair and unfairness is inherently unfun.

    * Lost to someone who bullied me with that rare-counter-moving land and a Wombat that let their Evolution Witnesses getting back two Cursed Marauders per turn.

    Screenshot 2024-06-28 202737.png

    Was I sucessfully next leveled by an engine? Yeah. But my removal being useless due to Safekeeper was extra annoying, considering they didn't have to worry about going all in on the Wombat. 2-3, I'm inferior, I get it. But getting one blue flare and a few worthless in all formats mythics for the draft entry doesn't make me want to jump back in immediately. Your casino has a feelz bad problem.

    I can't wait to see all the people who spend 5000 gems and have them go poof trying to win paper boxes this weekend...
     
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    richleader

    Ars Legatus Legionis
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  • #7,869
    My vampires got crushed by cats again (new popular build has Jegantha to play Phlage and to make people think they're on Wizards while mulliganning).

    I switched to Enchantress to see if I could get someone with Solemnity (players can't get energy counters) and it worked, but only because my opponent was illiterate and couldn't read the final text line of Ajani Wallet Warrior that has a Cataclysm like effect. They had a way out but they didn't work towards it in either game.

    My enchantress list is ancient, it doesn't even have Phryexian Unlife in it, but I should google up a new one to see if I can't find something better. OTOH, you're still a dog to smart opponents though: if you randomly ping your own creatures for zero damage to build up your energy prior to Solemnity coming down, you'll have the energy to pay for Static Prison for long enough to get your beats it. And an army of cats + Goblin Bombadment can take down 9 Lives by itself in about 1.5 turns, so no irony there...

    googling...

    Most lists run two Solemnities but I think 4 is the correct answer now and getting them down turn 2 is sort of important so maybe Utopia Sprawls and give up on the Sanctum Weavers and play Elves because if your dork is going to get bolted, they're gonna get bolted?

    aetherhub.com

    Traditional Historic - Enchantress Prison - WOE Youtube video

    Traditional Historic deck by Takobyte Youtube video
    aetherhub.com aetherhub.com

    It's hard to find good, up to date, stock lists for the archetype just because of the kind of players it tends to attract; people tend to go magical christmas land with Sterling Grove targets, etc.

    Edit: first match with my new anti-cat list I get paired vs. Jonny Jezters on UW Control on a butt-list with Nulldrifters+Strict Proctors and of course they murder me with my own Nine Lives by dropping Farewell on me in game 1. Arena!

    Edit: second match was also vs. Taylor on UW Control. Because this game has to piss on you.
     
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    richleader

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  • #7,870
    Screenshot 2024-06-29 134338.png

    Did it! Shoved cats in a box! They took game 1 (with Ocelot Pride doubling Fable of the Mirror Breaker tokens, something this Jegantha/Phlage cats build does well) but in game 2 they went Static Prison into Static Prison on me but ran out of energy once one of my 4x Solemnities came down. I still don't think I'm going to make Mythic tomorrow. I've lost my bubble match 2x already and have gotten bounced down into Diamond 2 by cats/UW Control several times. And it's basically impossible to beat both decks consistently with one deck.

    edit: next match was vs. Eldrazi Doober who just deleted all my stuff with Ugin twice in a row.
     
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