Seizan is a commander staple imho. It goes in certain kinds of decks and is quite effective. I think AJ, Levi and myself had a game where AJ played him in his monoblack deck. And I remember a game where Levi had him out.
I could bet you were the one to try Shimatsu at some point. But if he fails even the Leviathan Test, he's really the most useless Demon ever (well, Lady Orca aside, but she at least doesn't do anything harmful; she just doesn't do anything). After all, he's essentially the Wood Elemental of Demons: you are asked to put ton of resources into nothing, which never looks like a good strategy.
I'm interested in your experience here: did you ever try Kyoki or Kuro? Or were you ever at a table that included Seizan?
I don't know what decktype you were aiming for, but I qould have grabbed Crucible of Worlds P3P14 instead of the red card, it would allow you to recover quicker after 'geddon.
I'm only going by what MTGO told me after hit opponent's face for 6, then tried to cast a Wurmcoil, and had to pay 4. I was expecting to pay 0. I had the mana anyway, and would have hardcast it had Rakdos been removed.
After that happened, I read the card again, and it made sense only if "this turn" referred to the casting turn. Which, grammatically, it can.
Excellent article! I actually tried making a Commander deck around Shimatsu and it was an awful mess. I tried using tokens for him to eat, but no evasion and/or protection meant that he had a huge target on his head whenever he came into play (and wiped out your resources). I moved on to Marton Stromgald, and enjoyed myself a lot more.
I know people have suggested dragons, which are great, but another creature type you can look at is Avatar. There's a decent amount of them, and with no real creature type cohesion you have a ton of variety. Just an idea.
You are (or seem to me) absolutely right. To work like Blippy said, the card would say something like "Put a number of paincast counters on Rakdos equal to the life an opponent lost the turn you cast it. Creature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each paincast counter."
If it currently works on MTGO the way Blippy said (and it might), it's a bug.
Surely that's not right. There's no link between the two parts of the card (the enter the battlefield and the cost reduction clauses). "this turn" would read like all other "this turns" in the game as applying to the turn when you are referring to that text. It would work on the turn that he comes in to play by looking at the life lost on that turn, but it would work on subsequent turns by looking at the life lost on the new turn. Nothing in mtg requires you to have memory like this, that would be an extraordinarily weird way of playing the card.
The card text on Rakdos, Lord of Riots is tricky. "This turn" refers to *ONLY* the turn on which he's cast. So if your opponent lost 2 life on the turn you cast Rakdos (this turn), future creature spells will cost 2 less.
Great videos as usual Mikey. My only thing is that I would have liked to see you play out the Living End matches a little more. (especially game 1). I have never saw the Living End combo before and really have no idea what it is since I mainly play pauper. I was a little stumped to see you quit in game 1 when I thought you had it in the bag. Now I have to go and look up the deck and try to figure out how it works, not good for a person who is predominantly lazy. hehehe.
But you know I am a big fan, so keep up the good work!
Yeah, after I wrote my previous comment, it stroke me that Goblins (and therefore Elves) might be interesting, to show what else is there besides the 9-10 everyone uses. Still, they're approaching 250 members, that's a big body of work.
Reading the other comments (and thanks to everyone for your kind words!), I think Dragon is going to be next. They kinda do the same thing over and over again, but I think there will be a good share of stinkers to mock, and that might be fun. And Sphinx+Wurm might well close the first round.
Bird is really interesting. The Undead group was something I thought of, but I would have to find the right structure.
I concur on Dragons: Together with Angels and Demons they make the triad of the big iconic creature types. Maybe round out the series with Wurm and Sphinx to hit on all five, perhaps touching on the problems of each slot (Green had wurms as too common for iconic status, blue couldn't decide on a big iconic until the first Ravnica)
I am very happy on your behalf that you have sorted it all out and don't even need any empirical evidence to support your conclusion. However, without empirical support I find the answer you give me rather empty.
I don't think the player in your example is doing speculation in any sense of the word. You buy the cards for your collection or for playing. None of the actions you are describing are taken based on expectations about future prices. Your player is re-acting to prices not acting on beliefs. So your player is making money by accident (... the accidental player?). Speculators would/should make money based on prior beliefs. Or is my definition too narrow/weak?
We agree that random people show up and give opinions. Which is why I would like to see a more detailed analysis of strategies.
I do not get your last point on buying-recommandations? Perhaps you can clarify it? I would think buying-recommandations worked especially well in mtgo. If I buy 50 Sun Titans and convince you all that this is a good buy, 1500+ readers then do the same and the price goes sky-high. I really do not see predictions to fall apart in this way?
Elves often see the short end of the stick from me and AJ because they are so "Easy" but it could be nice to see a treatise on how to play them for the advanced player (no combo elves, or aggro elves but stuff like Deranged Hermit and Coiled Oracle for example.)
I also recommend doing one for perhaps Goblins too (combo and aggro aside).
Birds have a huge amount (the largest in the animal kingdom?) And have some very interesting tribal helpers too.
Giants are probably too easy so Id skip them except that there are some interesting sleepers. Dragons are generally well known and accepted as one of the more powerful tribes out there BUT they could be a good one to examine more closely.
Vampires are Blue/Red + Black. But Zombies are in all 5 colors. Both though are probably too easy. Maybe more generally you could cover the undead and go through each class of undead (Wraith, Vampire, Ghoul, Zombie, Skeleton, etal)
Enjoyed the vids, thanks for them. Not surprising you struggled a bit given your pack 1 was basically a write-off. The second deck you faced pretty much had what you wanted, funny how you mentioned the 3/1 detain flyer right before it hit the table for your opponent.
Wurm would seem to be a good candidate for an archetypical green tribe with about the right population. Blue seems tougher, the archetypal "big blue" creatures - leviathan, sphinx, djinn - don't really have big tribes, though I guess sphinx could work. Drake is probably closer to the right population level but seems a little boring maybe?
Yeah, you're right, I feel like I especially gave Yukora the short shrift, all things considered. Demons in average are more consistent than Angels, where you can find a lot of very crappy ones. And they hardly ever printed Demons as filler (possibly just Renegade Demon), even the unplayable ones were conceived to be big threats, in theory.
What should I do next in the series? I need a tribe with a good number of members but not an overwhelming ones, so possibly in the range between 50 and 150. And with some variance, and perhaps a definite pop-culture feel. I was thinking Vampire or Zombie, but they would be mostly black again, so not good for the next installment (beside the fact that I'll do planeswalkers next, but that's a different thing). Dragons, maybe? I'd like to cover the five colors with a strongly representative tribe.
Also, I'm going to update these articles each time new members are printed. So expect soon a reworked Angelpedia with the new big bad, Angel of Serenity.
I love the work you put into these, bravo! One of my favourite tribes, and whilst I disagree with your assessments in places (All of the cheap but big demons are minigames: Yukora is essentially a drawbackless one if you treat him like Demonic Taskmaster, and enables some fun shenanigans if you can donate him in response to removal.)
I view windbrisk as being a skill test. It can be awesome or terribad based on what you select to put underneath and how well the board shapes up for you. If you can't attack for value then the heights are useless. If you can then you have to ask whether what is under the windbrisks is worth the potential risk to the main idea of holding back sisters to gain life with. Yes you may get a procession going, great combo! or you may not. If you do however, what exactly is your gain?
RE: Wrath and DOJ. I hear/see this objection a lot from players who are failing to consider the dynamics of the play. Consider this: Your op plays a dude, you play a sister, they play more dudes, you wrath.
Your board recovers easily because you didn't over-commit and they did thinking you'd not dare to kill your side. Also with Proclamation you don't really care if you lose a few dudes early on. You will get them back and Ranger refills your hand if you need it.
Strategy on the board becomes much more complex with sweepers but it also means better control. A more likely later game sweeper is Martial Coup which will give you tokens to further your goals with if you just need some dudes and or reset the board in your favor.
Thanks for the comments guys. Glad you enjoyed reading the article.
In response to Rerepete, Cathar's Crusade is a little expensive for my tastes. Also, if you are looking for that kind of effect I think Ajani Goldmane is probably a more powerful card, with a cheaper mana cost, as Paul suggested. I would not mind trying Goldmane in this deck as it seems like it would be pretty good.
I think both of you are looking at Windbrisk Heights in the wrong light. I think it's better to look it from a card advantage perspective rather than a mana advantage perspective. Windbrisk Heights essentially draws you a card, provided you can meet the requirements (which isn't all that difficult for this deck). Although playing an expensive spell from under it is more advantageous I don't think it's necessarily worth hampering your curve for the sake of it. I do respect your opinions and I think your suggestions are valid.
As to Paul's other suggested inclusions, I think Proclamation of Rebirth is a good one. Not a lot of Soul Sisters decks run it anymore but I think that was because graveyard hate was quite prevalent in the format, which I don't think is as true anymore. As for Wrath/DOJ I don't really like the idea of running these main deck as I don't think you can necessarily bounce back as quickly from the results; however I don't object to them in sideboard, particularly as I see a need for additional removal in some match-ups.
Angel of Jubilation isn't a strong choice and I think it was initially included as Birthing Pod hate, which probably isn't worth main decking in the current environment. There are a lot of cards that could take its place.
- I'm glad you liked it and that the storytelling came off as capturing even if it was also a bit overwhelming. I tried to throw in a few graphics and the decklist tables where it felt natural to break it up a bit, but I guess I could step it up even more :)
I hope to be a regular writer! I've just come home from GP San Jose so I have a lot of catching-up to do, school-wise, but after that I'd love to throw in my thoughts on the Grand Prix and the set for limited in general.
Concerning graphics, my own blog is called "In The Tank" (which I guess is kind of a pun considering my user-handle), so that one's probably out. Perhaps "Going Deep" could also work... I'll think about it!
Seizan is a commander staple imho. It goes in certain kinds of decks and is quite effective. I think AJ, Levi and myself had a game where AJ played him in his monoblack deck. And I remember a game where Levi had him out.
Thank you!
I could bet you were the one to try Shimatsu at some point. But if he fails even the Leviathan Test, he's really the most useless Demon ever (well, Lady Orca aside, but she at least doesn't do anything harmful; she just doesn't do anything). After all, he's essentially the Wood Elemental of Demons: you are asked to put ton of resources into nothing, which never looks like a good strategy.
I'm interested in your experience here: did you ever try Kyoki or Kuro? Or were you ever at a table that included Seizan?
But not by text rules wording.
I suspected you were speaking from personal experience. It's a bug, needs to be reported and fixed.
I don't know what decktype you were aiming for, but I qould have grabbed Crucible of Worlds P3P14 instead of the red card, it would allow you to recover quicker after 'geddon.
I'm only going by what MTGO told me after hit opponent's face for 6, then tried to cast a Wurmcoil, and had to pay 4. I was expecting to pay 0. I had the mana anyway, and would have hardcast it had Rakdos been removed.
After that happened, I read the card again, and it made sense only if "this turn" referred to the casting turn. Which, grammatically, it can.
Excellent article! I actually tried making a Commander deck around Shimatsu and it was an awful mess. I tried using tokens for him to eat, but no evasion and/or protection meant that he had a huge target on his head whenever he came into play (and wiped out your resources). I moved on to Marton Stromgald, and enjoyed myself a lot more.
I know people have suggested dragons, which are great, but another creature type you can look at is Avatar. There's a decent amount of them, and with no real creature type cohesion you have a ton of variety. Just an idea.
You are (or seem to me) absolutely right. To work like Blippy said, the card would say something like "Put a number of paincast counters on Rakdos equal to the life an opponent lost the turn you cast it. Creature spells you cast cost 1 less to cast for each paincast counter."
If it currently works on MTGO the way Blippy said (and it might), it's a bug.
Surely that's not right. There's no link between the two parts of the card (the enter the battlefield and the cost reduction clauses). "this turn" would read like all other "this turns" in the game as applying to the turn when you are referring to that text. It would work on the turn that he comes in to play by looking at the life lost on that turn, but it would work on subsequent turns by looking at the life lost on the new turn. Nothing in mtg requires you to have memory like this, that would be an extraordinarily weird way of playing the card.
The card text on Rakdos, Lord of Riots is tricky. "This turn" refers to *ONLY* the turn on which he's cast. So if your opponent lost 2 life on the turn you cast Rakdos (this turn), future creature spells will cost 2 less.
Great videos as usual Mikey. My only thing is that I would have liked to see you play out the Living End matches a little more. (especially game 1). I have never saw the Living End combo before and really have no idea what it is since I mainly play pauper. I was a little stumped to see you quit in game 1 when I thought you had it in the bag. Now I have to go and look up the deck and try to figure out how it works, not good for a person who is predominantly lazy. hehehe.
But you know I am a big fan, so keep up the good work!
Dragons won the poll, then. And so does the "five fattie for five colors" cycle you suggest and I sort of had already in mind.
Thanks again to all for appreciating my anal-retentiveness at work!
Yeah, after I wrote my previous comment, it stroke me that Goblins (and therefore Elves) might be interesting, to show what else is there besides the 9-10 everyone uses. Still, they're approaching 250 members, that's a big body of work.
Reading the other comments (and thanks to everyone for your kind words!), I think Dragon is going to be next. They kinda do the same thing over and over again, but I think there will be a good share of stinkers to mock, and that might be fun. And Sphinx+Wurm might well close the first round.
Bird is really interesting. The Undead group was something I thought of, but I would have to find the right structure.
I concur on Dragons: Together with Angels and Demons they make the triad of the big iconic creature types. Maybe round out the series with Wurm and Sphinx to hit on all five, perhaps touching on the problems of each slot (Green had wurms as too common for iconic status, blue couldn't decide on a big iconic until the first Ravnica)
I am very happy on your behalf that you have sorted it all out and don't even need any empirical evidence to support your conclusion. However, without empirical support I find the answer you give me rather empty.
I don't think the player in your example is doing speculation in any sense of the word. You buy the cards for your collection or for playing. None of the actions you are describing are taken based on expectations about future prices. Your player is re-acting to prices not acting on beliefs. So your player is making money by accident (... the accidental player?). Speculators would/should make money based on prior beliefs. Or is my definition too narrow/weak?
We agree that random people show up and give opinions. Which is why I would like to see a more detailed analysis of strategies.
I do not get your last point on buying-recommandations? Perhaps you can clarify it? I would think buying-recommandations worked especially well in mtgo. If I buy 50 Sun Titans and convince you all that this is a good buy, 1500+ readers then do the same and the price goes sky-high. I really do not see predictions to fall apart in this way?
If you're looking for pop-culture feel, dragons would definitely be a good candidate.
Very fun and interesting article!
Elves often see the short end of the stick from me and AJ because they are so "Easy" but it could be nice to see a treatise on how to play them for the advanced player (no combo elves, or aggro elves but stuff like Deranged Hermit and Coiled Oracle for example.)
I also recommend doing one for perhaps Goblins too (combo and aggro aside).
Birds have a huge amount (the largest in the animal kingdom?) And have some very interesting tribal helpers too.
Giants are probably too easy so Id skip them except that there are some interesting sleepers. Dragons are generally well known and accepted as one of the more powerful tribes out there BUT they could be a good one to examine more closely.
Vampires are Blue/Red + Black. But Zombies are in all 5 colors. Both though are probably too easy. Maybe more generally you could cover the undead and go through each class of undead (Wraith, Vampire, Ghoul, Zombie, Skeleton, etal)
Great read!
Enjoyed the vids, thanks for them. Not surprising you struggled a bit given your pack 1 was basically a write-off. The second deck you faced pretty much had what you wanted, funny how you mentioned the 3/1 detain flyer right before it hit the table for your opponent.
Wurm would seem to be a good candidate for an archetypical green tribe with about the right population. Blue seems tougher, the archetypal "big blue" creatures - leviathan, sphinx, djinn - don't really have big tribes, though I guess sphinx could work. Drake is probably closer to the right population level but seems a little boring maybe?
Yeah, you're right, I feel like I especially gave Yukora the short shrift, all things considered. Demons in average are more consistent than Angels, where you can find a lot of very crappy ones. And they hardly ever printed Demons as filler (possibly just Renegade Demon), even the unplayable ones were conceived to be big threats, in theory.
What should I do next in the series? I need a tribe with a good number of members but not an overwhelming ones, so possibly in the range between 50 and 150. And with some variance, and perhaps a definite pop-culture feel. I was thinking Vampire or Zombie, but they would be mostly black again, so not good for the next installment (beside the fact that I'll do planeswalkers next, but that's a different thing). Dragons, maybe? I'd like to cover the five colors with a strongly representative tribe.
Also, I'm going to update these articles each time new members are printed. So expect soon a reworked Angelpedia with the new big bad, Angel of Serenity.
I love the work you put into these, bravo! One of my favourite tribes, and whilst I disagree with your assessments in places (All of the cheap but big demons are minigames: Yukora is essentially a drawbackless one if you treat him like Demonic Taskmaster, and enables some fun shenanigans if you can donate him in response to removal.)
I view windbrisk as being a skill test. It can be awesome or terribad based on what you select to put underneath and how well the board shapes up for you. If you can't attack for value then the heights are useless. If you can then you have to ask whether what is under the windbrisks is worth the potential risk to the main idea of holding back sisters to gain life with. Yes you may get a procession going, great combo! or you may not. If you do however, what exactly is your gain?
RE: Wrath and DOJ. I hear/see this objection a lot from players who are failing to consider the dynamics of the play. Consider this: Your op plays a dude, you play a sister, they play more dudes, you wrath.
Your board recovers easily because you didn't over-commit and they did thinking you'd not dare to kill your side. Also with Proclamation you don't really care if you lose a few dudes early on. You will get them back and Ranger refills your hand if you need it.
Strategy on the board becomes much more complex with sweepers but it also means better control. A more likely later game sweeper is Martial Coup which will give you tokens to further your goals with if you just need some dudes and or reset the board in your favor.
Thanks for the comments guys. Glad you enjoyed reading the article.
In response to Rerepete, Cathar's Crusade is a little expensive for my tastes. Also, if you are looking for that kind of effect I think Ajani Goldmane is probably a more powerful card, with a cheaper mana cost, as Paul suggested. I would not mind trying Goldmane in this deck as it seems like it would be pretty good.
I think both of you are looking at Windbrisk Heights in the wrong light. I think it's better to look it from a card advantage perspective rather than a mana advantage perspective. Windbrisk Heights essentially draws you a card, provided you can meet the requirements (which isn't all that difficult for this deck). Although playing an expensive spell from under it is more advantageous I don't think it's necessarily worth hampering your curve for the sake of it. I do respect your opinions and I think your suggestions are valid.
As to Paul's other suggested inclusions, I think Proclamation of Rebirth is a good one. Not a lot of Soul Sisters decks run it anymore but I think that was because graveyard hate was quite prevalent in the format, which I don't think is as true anymore. As for Wrath/DOJ I don't really like the idea of running these main deck as I don't think you can necessarily bounce back as quickly from the results; however I don't object to them in sideboard, particularly as I see a need for additional removal in some match-ups.
Angel of Jubilation isn't a strong choice and I think it was initially included as Birthing Pod hate, which probably isn't worth main decking in the current environment. There are a lot of cards that could take its place.
- I'm glad you liked it and that the storytelling came off as capturing even if it was also a bit overwhelming. I tried to throw in a few graphics and the decklist tables where it felt natural to break it up a bit, but I guess I could step it up even more :)
I hope to be a regular writer! I've just come home from GP San Jose so I have a lot of catching-up to do, school-wise, but after that I'd love to throw in my thoughts on the Grand Prix and the set for limited in general.
Concerning graphics, my own blog is called "In The Tank" (which I guess is kind of a pun considering my user-handle), so that one's probably out. Perhaps "Going Deep" could also work... I'll think about it!