Magic the Gathering: Arena

[richleader]

I thought I'd sit on my rank so I did something weird/dumb and started up a 5K gold bo3 historic event (dumb because even if you win, chances are you get packs that aren't Modern Horizons/remastered sets that you are either full up on or have largely useless cards).

So I picked Jund Creativity to try something stupid and I'm immediately matched vs. #60.

I'm like "am I really in an event?" Did I hit ranked by mistake?

It turns out that the bug where it displays your rank in events is back? Or maybe it's intended this time. I just know last time it created a lot of consternation.

At any rate, Manarma used 15 minutes more than me in the two games we played and even if they had won game 2, they would have timed out. And yet they kept on trucking until the end, wasting my time. Only the worst people play this game. (Maybe Simic Eldrazi should be running Stonebrain AND Surgical Extraction AND Dustbowl but it seems unlikely.)

 

[richleader]

well, did it. 2x top 300 opponents, 1 diamond, 2 platinum, 1 bronze (who was in match 3 somehow on orzhov lifegain). Felt bad that the final boss (three minutes to find an opponent) was mono green devotion and I had turn 2 reanimation in both games, but it I guess I paid for it vs. that slowpoke in match 1.

I wasn't sure about Ashen Rider (land destruction makes me a bit queasy) but the amount of times that I'll creativity a token plus an existing ashen rider to make sure 3x things die is actually fairly high and it's the only way I could have beat the penultimate top 300 guy running jund goyf.

It is interesting to know the constructed rank of your opponents in events though. I always feel bad in limited when I draft a new format and I get paired vs. someone who has been jamming it non-stop for a week. It really isn't a fair matchup. I figure people in these constructed events should know when they're up vs. a shark and I like to at least feal bad about beating the people playing cat tribal. I know it doesn't mean anything on an absolute scale, being that many of the top 10 streamers for Arena don't make it to mythic half the months these days, but it's a data point people should know.

 

[richleader]

Timeless is officially stripmine-the-format now. Not sure who thought that would be fun and I'm someone who took Pox to SCG Opens.

I do wish there were a "only cards that have appeared in Standard" format that was bigger than Pioneer; aka what Historic was before fake cards were added and Modern created cards changed everything.

It's weird that they let people craft new cards from two new anthologies that aren't actually listed on the store page yet: I guess it gets a lot of content creators to make videos to hype them up but it just feels like an oversight and oversights look incompetent. Heck, I can't even figure out why there are two WNM events this week.

 

[richleader]

Ran some more events:

Went back with Creativity. Played vs. Eldrazi 5x. Including vs. the #1 ranked player who was squatting so was hitting up events. Everyone is literally top 250 or Gold rank.

Tried some Jund Goyf. Won 4x games in a row and then ran into that #50 player Marn nama that I complained about above. They were on the same Simic Eldrazi deck and I had some bad mulligans and just noped out instead of trying to spend 50 minutes with someone I detest. I don't need Play Points bad enough to sit through that garbage.

Tried out a quick draft with Magic Origins or whatever it's called. It's ok, feels like there's too many cards that draw cards incidentally so everything is grindy unless you're up vs. Wizards Bounce or whatever and they just run you over.



View: https://youtu.be/FDuNvEMKxKg?t=457


Stifle Justice...

 

[richleader]

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/tournaments/pioneer#paper

I looked at that to think about the Pioneer metagame challenge and after carefully consulting my dailies (cast creatures) and the fact that every other deck required a few wildcards (including mono black that somehow got a lot of recent pickups), I went with Boros Convoke.

Only played two matches but I went 2-0 vs. Boros Mice and 2-1 (dropped the first set) vs. Abzan Greasefang (which I forget was even a deck).

First opponent was ostensibly bronze rank and the second was mid platinum fwiw. If you're used to playing Bo3, this is probably a solid event to try, at least in the first day or two before the guppies clear out.

 

[richleader]

Won a bunch of packs playing Gandalf but never went all the way: I was sick of playing by the end of both runs and even though I'm sure being up against Gandy with a #300 next to my icon was dispiriting to some opponents (most were plat and diamond), it was clear that the people just trying to jam mono red (which is good enough that UW Control has like 8 sideboard cards for it) were insistent and were constantly down on the clock five minutes compared to me, a few of them setting upkeep stops on me every turn for no good reason and persevering in the face of utter and obvious oblivion. I'm like... "I just want to cash out." So I didn't expect to go a second round but I did for some reason.

Opinions on pioneer:

* diversity is skin deep, you can play this cori steel variant or that one, and yeah, Izzet plays different than Boros or Boros jamming equipment sub-theme but they're all decks that are garbage without the one card banned in other formats

* felt bad for the mono black people I beat. Theoretically they can Thoughtseize + Lilianna me into oblivion but if they don't hit exactly that, Lili gets chewed up by Emperor tokens and I can counter Annexes with 1-mana Annuls post-board. They're just doing the same thing but slightly worse since I can lucksack into a boardwipe that clear artifacts and enchantments, things they're mostly helpless towards.

* I forgot red leyline was legal. See, there's diversity in people jamming mono red, too!

* unfortunately, the games were actually better than the Eldrazi crap in Historic right now, though, so I guess it's healthy, if not particularly fun since all the decks are pretty much recently banned/rotated standard decks which makes it feel tired rather than meeting up with long lost friends -- in fact, when someone wear/tears you from their sideboard, all you can think was "man, Magic was kinda fun back then when that card came out!"

 

[richleader]

Weird rank bug where I was #301 no matter what happened even though I had decayed to #500ish in actuality. Eventually, I got two wins, which eventually fixed it. Back to #305..

Played Jund Goyf and beat someone in Plat on a jank Sneak Attack like Selesnya deck and then #800ish Loki The God of Chaos (good grief, much?) who was on Lotus Field Combo. It was kind of scary with how Crop Rotation is faster than Map at getting them exactly what they need and that warp Dragon helps to burn off extra Stifles but in games 2+3 they were pretty screwed once I was more pared down with my sideboard choices.

Lotus Field Combo isn't bad for tournaments since it's always a deck you can try to hose but it's a nightmare for casual stuff on ladder.

 

[richleader]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cedJLC3wSpY


Stoneblade in timeless. I might buy that Anthology even though I don't think I need 4x copies of Eldrazi.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD9wIskXiww


Bullying Vivi looks fun but I'm not reaching for standard now, either.

Won out in three non games with my Goyfs vs. #80 on Boros Auras to get up to 256.

The worst part of Historic though is really the 90% Eldrazi players who are exclusively on their own custom builds, whether it's main deck Chalice of the Void + 4x One Ring or playing both red and blue to have Kozilek's Return AND Ugin's Binding. You have no idea what they're into and they can always lucksack into exactly the one out they have to beating you even though they're set up pretty terribly for the mirror or combo.

 

[richleader]

I tried the timeless meta challenge with the above stoneblade deck.

went 1-1, losing to izzet affinity: the equipment doesn't necessarily do well vs. infinite blockers or race Kappas and while Energy Wrath is probably good, you need to hit it before a Kappa comes down.

went 2-1, losing to Mystmin on UB control. I wasn't expecting Archmage's Charm which let them steal an equipped germ and they ended up killing me with another Charm by forcing me to draw cards when they had a bowmaster out. I knew I was probably going to lose and hate it going into the match since Mystmin is one of the slowest players out there (they were only down 7 minutes on me by the end of game 2) and that puts me on tilt. I have crap to do this morning and I don't have time for someone to take full amount for sideboarding, etc., just because they think they're smart.

 

[richleader]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRL_OaVKH7g


samey but not builds.

Played some more Stoneblade:

Timeless is as stupid as Historic but instead of someone rock/paper/scissoring you, you occasionally get to say no, which makes it feel even worse when you can't and the rock/paper/scissoring just goes on longer than in Historic so it feels worse.

Saw a lot of jank in my three runs but I think the worst is just losing to Boros Energy where you stop them cold but then they just play a One Ring off of Ancient Tomb and reload completely. Losing to gold-rank people just jamming space bar does not make you feel smart.

Also, nearly half of the total packs I won (Ravnica/Ikoria/Eldraine/etc.) just popped out gems from the rare slot so the victories didn't even pay out. Oh, I won 1/10th of a fresh pack! Yay!

The games were interesting but I'd probably just rather Goyf in Historic.

 

[richleader]

I tried playing some Show and Tell and it was ok but I think the list I grabbed from MTGAzone was old because there aren't enough black sources in Stripmine-format.


View: https://youtu.be/J1uk-NnVP-E?t=901


Modern in 2012 was 34 sets over a 9 year period

Standard in 2026 will be 20 sets over a three year period

 

[richleader]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNNqz6qNwOo


Magic now supports all of Hasbro and its other failing ventures


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPWCi2E61yQ


I hadn't seen a lot of the Spiderman vs. Omenpaths head to head and this actually gave me an appreciation for some of the work they were forced to do, trying to squeeze creatures into New Capenna, etc., even though it's still a nightmare of corporate nonsense.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDFnKm2DRTM


I just fast forwarded through this to see art. I don't disagree but it's not something I needed to watch.

Playing Magic: I'm cycling through Goyfs/aggro eldrazi/Creativity Combo in Historic and mostly having fun but all the Icetill Explorer decks and random Scapeshift combo isn't fun. I mean, I get free wins but having to wait for someone to seriously go through surveil triggers when they should know they're dead on board isn't fun two games in a row.

 

[richleader]

I don't really get Omenpath's draft: since you get two picks, it's easy to sneak in dual lands in pack one (especially if the pack is weak), which means there's a good chance you're rare drafting (or at least grabbing gold colored bombs) in packs two and three. Removal isn't wonderful so it often feels like Avacyn Reborn or Morningtide where you're staring down giant board states, too.

Currently like 5-1 in my first attempt.

Made it into Diamond in constructed, too. I haven't seen anyone playing Val combo in Historic lately. Lots of Boros Energy though since people like to get free wins in game 1.

 

[richleader]

7-1 with this pile...

Got to cast Omenpath twice. Was win-more in both cases. Almost decked myself once, won with a single card on my library.

Noticed that neither CGB nor Crokeyz got to Mythic last month in constructed. It's a different world.

 

[richleader]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwocf0XJB8I


Not a box opening video person but I'll make an exception for ice age...

Tried playing some Timeless Bo3, both more Stoneblade and some basic Golgari and I'm not patient enough for the format. Stripmine now or on end step or untap? Eh. Also, about 70% of my opponents are top 100 in mythic just three days into the month. (To be fair, I'm diamond 1 in six days).

Went back to Historic and played vs. Eldrazi like seven times in a row...

 

[richleader]

Into Mythic at #730. Final boss was a bad build of Val combo. I had full jund colors of goyfs in play and they roped me out -- and then made me wait through sideboarding. That's usually what you can expect from Niko Aris avatars with The Virtuous tag. You can expect The Brilliants to actively punish you but it's the real heroes out there that are guaranteed to extra passively punish you for playing the wrong deck...

How screwed up this game has made my brain: I got lucky in Momir twice but didn't want to press it given that I hate everything about it, especially the people who try to be smart and not lucky at it, so I figured I'd skip the third round. Then I looked at the achievement flashing for "complete 52 WNMs!" and I'm like, fine, 2/3rds of the way to another pip at that so whatever, I'll do it...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH3cxFC3MTk



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHrjnIpiU74


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVDv2QFI3nc



I might be a weirdo with OCD who is blogging Arena to an audience of like two in here but it looks like I'm actually having more fun than the average Magic player...

 

[richleader]

Won 20 packs while doing laundry this morning playing Goyfs in the metagame challenge. Zero opponents on Eldrazi, everyone was on Energy/Auras/Wizards (big boost in popularity since Chain Lighting quietly became legal).

When I lost out on 30 packs, to Wizards (I bet against them having Arcanist in), it hurt more because despite going 1-2 and having a close final game, every time they had lethal, they took extra game actions just to rub it in. This game has pretty much the worst community ever given the context of how much time you're forced to spend with individuals 1-on-1.

Also, 1/4 of the packs I won turned into 1/10th of a pack (20 gems) because I was full up on Ikoria/Ravnica/Eldraine.

 

[Kevin Lantz]

I just restarted this because I realized I can play on my phone...

Dear god the speed some decks crank crap out is ridiculous! I had someone crap out something that seemed like turn 3 or 4 dropped a one shot infinite damage critter in my face that I didn't get to register before the defeat image scrolled.

Switched to a aggro red and a mill/control deck but really good decks when they draw out right is just silly.

 

[richleader]

Glad to see someone picking this back up.

The Alchemy nerf to Swiftspear's Teachings has had a big effect on Historic:

https://mtgazone.com/cards/swiftspears-teachings/

It now reads a boon of Prowess OR Haste. There are certain decks where it mostly doesn't matter but it's a big deal in Wizards where you want to go T1 Teachings, T2 Arcanist attack with haste and buyback Teachings, turn 2, cast a two drop spell and get to recast that with Arcanist off the prowess trigger. This is basically what it takes for Wizards to beat Eldrazi with any degree of success.

The change is less dramatic for decks like Jund Goyfs that's starting to play it since they mostly just want Haste vs. Eldrazi and to crash in with 5/6s.

It shouldn't be up to one fake Magic card to fix Historic. And I think the power level of Teachings is too high. But it wasn't a good change to make since it

1. Was right before a big online event

2. Wasn't going to get the same attention as a banning even though it's close to one.

 

[necklessone]

I've just been playing Brawl (and the midweek event). Finally have enough of a base that creating new decks isn't too expensive for wildcards (unless the deck is niche). I'm trying to stay out of the Hell Queue and in general am finding games that actually have a decent amount of interaction and actual gameplay.

That being said, get fucking Strip Mine out of this format as fast as fucking possible. And take Old Stickfingers with it.

 

[richleader]

well, one of the two...

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/banned-and-restricted-november-10-2025

I guess craft those cards in Standard on Arena for to get the wildcards refunded.

in Timeless:

Timeless has adapted to the addition of Strip Mine and Ancient Tomb, with strategies revolving around Hydroponics Architect and Wary Zone Guard rising up to coexist with format mainstays Show and Tell and Mardu Energy.

Hydroponics Architect is stupid. If you've never played with it, when it attacks, it turns random lands in your deck into islands, which means I've cracked a fetch for another fetch (that is now and island and draws a card when it comes into play) which I then, in turn, cracked for a Strip Mine which was also now an Island that drew a card when it came into play.

Just because a format is competitive doesn't mean it's fun.

 

[richleader]

Into mythic with Jund. Final boss was someone on WB Walkers who roped me out after sideboarding.

I failed my first two bubble matches: I imported Alth's newest Mardu Auras and for some reason I didn't have a full sideboard in my matches despite the list being set to Bo3, etc., which I guess is a known bug that requires reinstalls or something. So I just switched back to Jund and it was fine.

 

[richleader]

^ I opened one of my old Mardu Auras decks that previously worked, manually added and removed cards to match the current list, and when I started up a new Bo3 match, the sideboard was missing again. Hopefully Airbender will fix this but this game is a casino so bugs = lost money for players so I'm not sure how they let this just slide and slide again.

 

[richleader]

The bug is fixed, at least for that deck.

I'm still not keen on the whole bonus sheet thing trying to make insular standard releases relevant to all formats.

A lot of the monster art doesn't feel like it's in the same style/world as the human art. It's like regular magic cards slipped in.

Played one match with Auras, got paired down vs. Shandalf in Platinum, and they were on all Four Mana Removal with Upside.dec, which is ambitious but I'm sure it makes them feel smart when it works out and they get nothing but 2-for-1s. It didn't work out for them and they made me wait through a full sideboard period and a rope out so that's why I'm blogging here.

 

[richleader]

Valakut isn't helping historic. It's just a dumber combo than average that's harder to interact with while still having game vs. Eldrazi. They have infinite topdecks like Snapcaster for Scapeshift in the yard. So discard and countermagic don't really work. It's just another deck that makes midrange bad.

 

[Kevin Lantz]

Did they mean to give vigilance to all earth bent lands? did several drafts and no one had a card giving that effect and yet the lands had vigilance.

 

[necklessone]

I haven’t been seeing any weird bonus vigilance as I’ve been playing Toph in Brawl.

There is the common land than has vigilance by default (Rumble Arena). But other than that, the only card I can see that would give lands vigilance is the 5-cost Aang once he flips.

 

[richleader]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6lkvzxJOXw


Alth chose not to do Scapeshift. He persevered in some matches that I would have wimped out on. I can't stand running into that Ugin Tribal player he faces in the end; they're always on the most greedy version of eldrazi and somehow they get lucky vs. me and I'm always mulliganning to five in game 3.

I'm unlucky in general though: if I play Mardu Auras, I'm 100% likely to get Boros Energy, a deck I never otherwise see.

In my game for today I knocked out a Scapeshift Valakut player while running Jund: they milled a valakut and I was able to steal all the copies from their deck. I'm not playing enough to stay in the top 500 though so I drop every day, especially after a bad weekend where I faced

Azorious High Noon / Standstill guy (Tamiyo and all those Spellstutter type flash creatures).

I haven't opened all that much Sailor Moon or One Punch Man or whatever this new set is but I still haven't gotten a card from the bonus sheet. I really hate how they try to steal wildcards left and right these days. Even if you've been all in on Arena for six years, there's not really having ALL the cards anymore, whereas in the old days I had enough resources where I didn't think twice about getting card styles when they were on 75% discount.

 

[richleader]

I played Pridemate.dec for WNM. :sigh:

It is more fair to us that they're letting us make Foundations decks in these new cards only events. It was a major feel-bad before when someone with $100 worth of new packs would just come and dunk on your uncommon piles.

Dropped from 700 to 1000 today by playing Constructed. Lost in game 3 to "Punk Rock Bro" on Eldrazi with Ugins/Karns. Game 3 they were on the play and were able to blow up my lands with Karn. (I'd say that works out for people maybe 25% of the time.) If I had gone first in game 1, none of this would have happened because I'd have been on the play in game 3 as well. I hate Eldrazi and I hate it even more than 4 mana on turn 2 is good enough to save people from making the deck worse than stock just because they think showing their buttcrack is punk.

Got a few ranks back by playing against the worse Wizards player I've ever seen who kept Assault Strobe (creature gets double strike) in their deck vs. Jund (I have infinite removal, give me two for ones, please!?) after board. In game 2, they ended the game casting three copies of Strobe on my 5/6 Pyrogoyf because they had an empty board and three useless cards.

I'm not sure what's with the ladder meta but it just seems like everyone wants to be win-more, no matter what deck they're playing, and you can routinely stay top 500 just by not being an idiot and keeping your deck in a stock configuration.

 

[richleader]

Spoiler

About
Name BoomerAang Squad

Commander
1 Aang, at the Crossroads

Deck
1 Aang, Swift Savior
1 Adarkar Wastes
1 Aether Channeler
1 Airbender Ascension
1 Arcane Signet
1 Arid Mesa
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bloom Tender
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
1 Botanical Sanctum
1 Breeding Pool
1 Brushland
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Charming Prince
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Clifftop Lookout
1 Cloudshift
1 Command Tower
1 Copycrook
1 Crashing Drawbridge
1 Dedicated Dollmaker
1 Delighted Halfling
1 Deserted Beach
1 Displacer Kitten
1 Dreamroot Cascade
1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
1 Elite Spellbinder
1 Ephemerate
1 Essence Flux
1 Eternal Witness
1 Flooded Strand
1 Floodfarm Verge
2 Forest
1 Glasspool Mimic
1 Guardian of Ghirapur
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hedge Maze
1 Hushwood Verge
2 Island
1 Jill, Shiva's Dominant
1 Kami of Bamboo Groves
1 Katara, the Fearless
1 Kindly Customer
1 Leaf-Leap Guide
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Marsh Flats
1 Meticulous Archive
1 Mirrorhall Mimic
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Momentary Blink
1 Naga Fleshcrafter
1 Nightclub Bouncer
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Obscura Polymorphist
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Overgrown Farmland
1 Parting Gust
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Plains
1 Polluted Delta
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Restoration Angel
1 Roaming Throne
1 Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Skyclave Apparition
1 Solitude
1 Soulherder
1 Spara's Headquarters
1 Spark Double
1 Starfield Vocalist
1 Summon: Fenrir
1 Surgical Metamorph
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Talisman of Progress
1 Temple Garden
1 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
1 The Eternal Wanderer
1 Undercover Operative
1 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
1 Vazin, Two-Faced Trickster
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Vizier of Many Faces
1 Vv'viza, Orbital Overseer
1 Wash Away
1 Waxen Shapethief
1 Willowrush Verge
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Coast

went with Amazonian's bant Aang list for WNM.

Seen in historic:

The non-buttcrack Eldrazi players have all moved to an Izzet list with sweepers and Kavaron Consumed (if you don't know what it is, it's a fake magic card) to put Ulamog into play for Annihilator triggers. Really effective at winning the Eldrazi mirror (main deck Consign to Memory) unless they get all their lands destroyed.

Humans lists that basically try to get Alesha who Laughs to resurrect Jirina every combat for permanent indestructability for the team. It's ok vs. Jund but I'm not sure what else it's good at and if people ever start Gandalfing again, Jirina has no game vs. exile effects. Not sure how this became popular but it kinda is.

Random: bought a new monitor and Arena with fake HDR is... interesting. I don't need my retinas scorched though and playing at higher rez and 180hz makes my video card spin up so I dropped things down a few notches for silent gaming.

 

[richleader]

Draft packs are not like Store packs... I'm really not ok with that.

 

[richleader]

I gave up on Auras in Historic Bo3 just because the matchmaker hates me and always puts me vs. Energy which I rarely draw on any other deck. Although it's early in the month and Energy is an early month deck for a lot of people.

OTOH, this means I've been in a lot of Jund mirrors. My list is fairly standard, although I'm playing three copies of Swiftspear Teachings to fight Eldrazi (if I don't get good hands vs. eldrazi I just concede. I hate playing against it and the player pool is small enough that you remember people on terrible builds or who play poorly, like I go "oh, there's Marnarma, he'll take 110 seconds just to mulligan and I can smell him through my screen.")

Spoiler

Companion
1 Jegantha, the Wellspring (IKO) 222

Deck
3 Swiftspear's Teachings (Y25) 14
4 Barrowgoyf (M3C) 102
3 Crucias, Titan of the Waves (Y23) 18
3 Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion (Y23) 20
4 Pyrogoyf (M3C) 111
4 Fatal Push (KLR) 84
1 Abrupt Decay (OTP) 34
2 Inquisition of Kozilek (STA) 31
2 Thoughtseize (AKR) 127
3 Malevolent Rumble (MH3) 161
2 Perilous Iteration (Y23) 21
1 Grist, the Hunger Tide (MH2) 202
1 Forest (WAR) 262
1 Swamp (WAR) 257
1 Mountain (WAR) 260
2 Blood Crypt (RNA) 245
2 Stomping Ground (RNA) 259
2 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253
2 Blackcleave Cliffs (ONE) 248
3 Blooming Marsh (KLR) 280
4 Prismatic Vista (SPG) 38
1 Boseiju, Who Endures (NEO) 266
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
4 Starting Town (FIN) 289
4 Ignoble Hierarch (MH2) 166

Sideboard
2 Surgical Extraction (OTP) 19
2 Thoughtseize (AKR) 127
1 Damping Sphere (DAR) 213
1 Extract a Confession (MKM) 84
1 Jegantha, the Wellspring (IKO) 222
2 Meltdown (MH3) 282
1 Extract a Confession (MKM) 84
3 Culling Ritual (STX) 172
2 Cleansing Wildfire (ZNR) 137

OTOH, people are so bored with Jund as well that I've been winning Jund mirrors left and right vs. people who try to sneak in Badgermole just to spend Mythic wildcards (and since they think they'll have extra mana, they'll include old five drops like Minsc and Boo) or who run enchantment packages like 3x Fear of Missing Out, 2x Fable of the Mirrorbreaker, 1x Detective's Phoenix to try to power up Pyrogoyf. It's not terrible. But I also consistently beat it. Especially since they also get greedy with a 1x Wildfire Wickerfolk for that extra artifact in the deck + all kinds of cycling lands/manlands/etc., which is crazy when you're playing three colors to begin with and you can't afford to play a taplands when curving out against eldrazi or valakut or belcher.

 

[necklessone]

Man, I've been trying to avoid spending on cosmetics but I have such a weak spot for those Chocobo basics. I've been picking them up IRL as well.

Ran mono-black for MWM. Aggro enough to keep up people spamming weenies with inevitability from blood artist effects. Plus Zodiark is hilarious against Hare Apparent.

Brawl has been in a much better place since they axed Mana Drain, Strip Mine, Ancient Tomb, and Chrome Mox. Very curious to see what they share next week about the long term vision - the format would be vastly improved with some curation. I'd love to see them take action against some of the commanders that are essentially "counter or immediately remove commander otherwise the game is over".

 

[richleader]

This week's WNM confused the hell out of me since the "play the new set commanders" meant Final Fantasy. Also, the interface is screwed up for me, not defaulting to the "last played/recent" panel, so I have to go find it every time I start things up.

Had a good week of Magic though: dodged Eldrazi playing Jund Goyf in Historic Bo3 and probably had a 10-1 record. Made it up to #360. Then I played today and got matched vs. Eldrazi. Won game 1 with a dodgy hand but they were a 95%er so I knew they had buttcrackery so they had a lot of non basic lands so they got to Sanctum of Ugin for Ulamog in game 2. Game 3, I got lucky and drew a string of Goyfs and they refused to exile my Pyrogofy in favor of the black one so when I drew another black, I was able to instagib their 77777777 creature for the win.

And I was at #360 again. Not seeing your rank update until post game from day to day is weird because you have no idea where you're really at, which does discourage rank sitting, but it was funny seeing Covert Go Blue witness it for the first time, dropping a few hundred places after a win...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ADPHlCjX1U


Alchemy Temur Ramp Dragons. Beating up on Bronze opponents in Mythic. Some things never change.

 

[richleader]

There are free Bolas full-art basics in the store today.

I think the biggest gift this year has been the quest titles like The Bargler, which automatically tells you that your opponent doesn't respect their own time as soon as you see their name pop up. Nothing says "I have no life" like the Bargler...

Second match of the month was against Seargent_PWN on UW Gandalf. Losers play Magic. Some of us just know it...

 

[richleader]

"It's three days into the month, I'm already mythic, having played Magic for about four hours a day (ok, maybe five or six), running Eldrazi the whole time, and I identify as a teenage cat girl!"

This is a game for winners.

 

[richleader]

https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/abesargent-01022026-my-top-ten-recent-commander-decks

It really makes me happy that Abe is still around. I didn't read his first article linked there (about Huntingtons), I didn't get back into Magic until a year or so after that (Coldsnap?), but another one he wrote really made an impact on me.

 

[richleader]

had time for one match, end up vs. Man-arma, my least favorite Arena player, they always play eldrazi, they're always super slow, like come close to timing out in game 3 slow. They were somehow in Mythic already despite their slow play and I'm on auras but they keep doing crap like blocking, no I'm not blocking, gonna block, psyche!, like that's the most interesting interaction with another human they can have today. Noped out of both games.

I know you can't block people on ladder games but you quality of life should be more important than a ladder that is meaningless even to people who wind up in the top 1200 month after month.

 

[richleader]

Lorwyn mastery pass is only four "pips" long. Enjoy your month with the new set!

 

[richleader]

I opened 0-5 when I started Mythic but had a lot of luck over the past few days (75% on Jund/25% on Auras). Two wins over top 20 opponents running combo.

Current Jund list:

Spoiler

Companion
1 Jegantha, the Wellspring (IKO) 222

Deck
3 Swiftspear's Teachings (Y25) 14
4 Barrowgoyf (M3C) 102
2 Crucias, Titan of the Waves (Y23) 18
3 Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion (Y23) 20
4 Pyrogoyf (M3C) 111
4 Fatal Push (KLR) 84
1 Abrupt Decay (OTP) 34
2 Inquisition of Kozilek (STA) 31
2 Thoughtseize (AKR) 127
4 Malevolent Rumble (MH3) 161
1 Grist, the Hunger Tide (MH2) 202
1 Forest (WAR) 262
1 Swamp (WAR) 257
1 Mountain (WAR) 260
2 Blood Crypt (RNA) 245
2 Stomping Ground (RNA) 259
2 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253
2 Blackcleave Cliffs (ONE) 248
3 Blooming Marsh (KLR) 280
4 Prismatic Vista (SPG) 38
1 Boseiju, Who Endures (NEO) 266
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
4 Starting Town (FIN) 289
3 Ignoble Hierarch (MH2) 166
1 Detective's Phoenix (MH3) 116
1 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger (MUL) 114
1 Formidable Speaker (ECL) 176

Sideboard
2 Surgical Extraction (OTP) 19
2 Thoughtseize (AKR) 127
1 Extract a Confession (MKM) 84
1 Jegantha, the Wellspring (IKO) 222
1 Cleansing Wildfire (ZNR) 137
3 Damping Sphere (DAR) 213
3 Culling Ritual (STX) 172
2 Cleansing Wildfire (ZNR) 137

Giving one copy of Formidable Speaker a try over a Crucias copt: Altheriax believes it's an upgrade because you can always get a creature (since Crucias can die to removal). Personally, I like the upside of Crucias (treasure tokens turning on Fatal Push, etc.) and I don't think you're winning those game 1s vs. Boros Energy, anyway, when they drop Goblin Bombardment on turn 2. I accept those losses. Plus, I'm only running one copy of Detective's Phoenix (WTF do detectives have to do with birds?) currently.

OTOH, my list is tuned towards trying to beat Eldrazi which is my least favorite deck to lose to, since it hurts more than bad draws in games 2 or 3 vs. Energy or Auras that you should be favored.