4
submitted 15 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/942869

The project

This is the latest in a series of posts exploring the potential of Roaming Throne as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Today we look at four more Bloomburrow creature types.

Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.)

Here's a Scryfall search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like t:frog or t:rabbit.

f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward)

Raccoons

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643520

9 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Bristling Backwoods
4 Escape Tunnel
4 Brazen Collector
4 Wandertale Mentor
2 Coati Scavenger
4 Brambleguard Veteran
2 Teapot Slinger
4 Roaming Throne
2 Junkblade Bruiser
4 Shock
2 Dreadmaw's Ire
3 Hunter's Talent
2 Trash the Town
3 Torch the Witness

The best raccoon to combo with Roaming Throne has got to be Wandertale Mentor. With an ideal draw you can be casting Throne on turn 3 and putting two more counters on the Mentor every turn thereafter.

That fits nicely with the general plan of this deck, which might be summarized as "make creatures that are big enough that you can afford to attack with them every turn." Don't overthink it, just swing away.

Torch the Witness and Trash the Town are in here to help you fine-tune how much mana you're spending, so you can expend 4 as often as possible. Shock and Dreadmaw's Ire help you use the mana you get from Brazen Collector. Also note that Trash and Ire grant temporary triggered abilities that can be doubled by Roaming Throne.

Lizards

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643543

6 Swamp
6 Mountain
4 Jagged Barrens
2 Bloodfell Caves
4 Rockface Village
2 Mudflat Village
4 Agate-Blade Assassin
4 Flamecache Gecko
4 Steampath Charger
4 Fireglass Mentor
4 Thought-Stalker Warlock
4 Gila Courser
4 Roaming Throne
2 Reptilian Recruiter
2 Bitter Triumph
2 Go for the Throat
2 Patchwork Banner

The thing about Lizards is that it's already a perfectly good aggro deck that doesn't need to be slowed down by adding any four-drops. To make our deck something other than a bad version of its competitive counterpart, we'll have to emphasize some aspect of Bloomburrow's lizards besides their highly efficient combat stats. Fortunately, lizards are also good at generating card advantage. If you manage to get two triggers off of Fireglass Mentor or Gila Courser more than once, it can really tilt the game in your favor. (Note that one of those says "Until end of turn" and the other says "Until the next of your next turn".) If you can't afford to cast all of those extra cards, maybe making a profit on Flamecache Gecko will help.

With no non-creature red spells we can get away with four copies of Rockface Village here.

Otters

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643539

10 Island
8 Mountain
4 Eroded Canyon
2 Swiftwater Cliffs
4 Coruscation Mage
4 Stormcatch Mentor
4 Frolicking Familiar
4 Roaming Throne
2 Daring Waverider
4 Otterball Antics
2 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Moment of Truth
4 Pearl of Wisdom

Otters are generally in agreement about what they want Roaming Throne to duplicate: their prowess triggers.

I like prowess decks in theory, but it always seems difficult to balance having the right number of prowess creatures vs. the right number of noncreature spells. As a sorcery that makes up to two creatures with prowess, Otterball Antics does a lot to help address that problem. Frolicking Familiar also earns its spot for its ability to play both roles.

The rest of our noncreatures have been chosen for their cheapness. All of them can be cast for one mana with a Stormcatch Mentor out, which helps to enable the one overwhelming turn that will win you the game. One of the deck's most impressive lines is to make two Coruscation Mage offspring, then cast a cheap spell and get six bonus damage.

If you're looking to add some rares to this deck, there are a few directions you could go. Valley Floodcaller or Bria, Riptide Rogue can give the rest of your creatures double prowess. Thundertrap Trainer plays a role similar to Daring Waverider, with the alternative option to serve as an early chump-blocker. But maybe the funniest choice would be Stormsplitter. Starting with one Throne and one Stormsplitter, your first instant or sorcery spell will make two more Stormsplitters. The next will make six more, and the third will make another 18.

Birds

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643530

8 Plains
3 Island
4 Lonely Arroyo
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Lilypad Village
1 Lupinflower Village
2 Enduring Bondwarden
4 Miner's Guidewing
4 Saiba Cryptomancer
4 Thrummingbird
4 Preening Champion
4 Plumecreed Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
3 Knightfisher
4 Parting Gust
3 Requisition Raid

When I started looking at the birds available to me, the most interesting synergy seemed to be between Plumecreed Mentor and Thrummingbird. So I set out to build something focused on +1/+1 counters.

The problem with Plumecreed Mentor is that it wants non-flying creatures upon which to bestow its benefits. So Roaming Throne wants a lot of birds, birds want a lot of non-birds, and you'd probably still like to have some removal or other utility spells. How do you find room for it all?

As is often the case in Magic, you use cards that can play multiple roles. Preening Champion and Knightfisher make non-flying tokens -- maybe two at a time? -- that can get counters from the Mentor. Saiba Cryptomancer functions as protection while also giving out counters that Thrummingbird can proliferate. Parting Gust is removal, except when it's letting you repeat one of your ETB triggers.

It's safe to say that this deck, with its elegant synergies, is my favorite of the bunch. I like it so much that I had trouble playtesting the others because I just wanted to keep playing this one.

And really, I don't know if there's much I would change here if I weren't on a budget. A copy or two of Kastral, the Windcrested in place of Knightfisher might be nice, but you don't want to give up too much of your token production.

Any plans for Mice and Rabbits?

Like Lizards, these types work best as aggro decks that don't need a four-drop, but unlike Lizards, my efforts to find workable alternative versions of them have not met with success. If I do crack those nuts, I'll let you know.

4
submitted 15 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

The project

This is the latest in a series of posts exploring the potential of Roaming Throne as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Today we look at four more Bloomburrow creature types.

Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.)

Here's a Scryfall search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like t:frog or t:rabbit.

f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward)

Raccoons

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643520

9 Forest
7 Mountain
4 Bristling Backwoods
4 Escape Tunnel
4 Brazen Collector
4 Wandertale Mentor
2 Coati Scavenger
4 Brambleguard Veteran
2 Teapot Slinger
4 Roaming Throne
2 Junkblade Bruiser
4 Shock
2 Dreadmaw's Ire
3 Hunter's Talent
2 Trash the Town
3 Torch the Witness

The best raccoon to combo with Roaming Throne has got to be Wandertale Mentor. With an ideal draw you can be casting Throne on turn 3 and putting two more counters on the Mentor every turn thereafter.

That fits nicely with the general plan of this deck, which might be summarized as "make creatures that are big enough that you can afford to attack with them every turn." Don't overthink it, just swing away.

Torch the Witness and Trash the Town are in here to help you fine-tune how much mana you're spending, so you can expend 4 as often as possible. Shock and Dreadmaw's Ire help you use the mana you get from Brazen Collector. Also note that Trash and Ire grant temporary triggered abilities that can be doubled by Roaming Throne.

Lizards

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643543

6 Swamp
6 Mountain
4 Jagged Barrens
2 Bloodfell Caves
4 Rockface Village
2 Mudflat Village
4 Agate-Blade Assassin
4 Flamecache Gecko
4 Steampath Charger
4 Fireglass Mentor
4 Thought-Stalker Warlock
4 Gila Courser
4 Roaming Throne
2 Reptilian Recruiter
2 Bitter Triumph
2 Go for the Throat
2 Patchwork Banner

The thing about Lizards is that it's already a perfectly good aggro deck that doesn't need to be slowed down by adding any four-drops. To make our deck something other than a bad version of its competitive counterpart, we'll have to emphasize some aspect of Bloomburrow's lizards besides their highly efficient combat stats. Fortunately, lizards are also good at generating card advantage. If you manage to get two triggers off of Fireglass Mentor or Gila Courser more than once, it can really tilt the game in your favor. (Note that one of those says "Until end of turn" and the other says "Until the next of your next turn".) If you can't afford to cast all of those extra cards, maybe making a profit on Flamecache Gecko will help.

With no non-creature red spells we can get away with four copies of Rockface Village here.

Otters

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643539

10 Island
8 Mountain
4 Eroded Canyon
2 Swiftwater Cliffs
4 Coruscation Mage
4 Stormcatch Mentor
4 Frolicking Familiar
4 Roaming Throne
2 Daring Waverider
4 Otterball Antics
2 Shock
4 Lightning Strike
4 Moment of Truth
4 Pearl of Wisdom

Otters are generally in agreement about what they want Roaming Throne to duplicate: their prowess triggers.

I like prowess decks in theory, but it always seems difficult to balance having the right number of prowess creatures vs. the right number of noncreature spells. As a sorcery that makes up to two creatures with prowess, Otterball Antics does a lot to help address that problem. Frolicking Familiar also earns its spot for its ability to play both roles.

The rest of our noncreatures have been chosen for their cheapness. All of them can be cast for one mana with a Stormcatch Mentor out, which helps to enable the one overwhelming turn that will win you the game. One of the deck's most impressive lines is to make two Coruscation Mage offspring, then cast a cheap spell and get six bonus damage.

If you're looking to add some rares to this deck, there are a few directions you could go. Valley Floodcaller or Bria, Riptide Rogue can give the rest of your creatures double prowess. Thundertrap Trainer plays a role similar to Daring Waverider, with the alternative option to serve as an early chump-blocker. But maybe the funniest choice would be Stormsplitter. Starting with one Throne and one Stormsplitter, your first instant or sorcery spell will make two more Stormsplitters. The next will make six more, and the third will make another 18.

Birds

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643530

8 Plains
3 Island
4 Lonely Arroyo
4 Tranquil Cove
4 Lilypad Village
1 Lupinflower Village
2 Enduring Bondwarden
4 Miner's Guidewing
4 Saiba Cryptomancer
4 Thrummingbird
4 Preening Champion
4 Plumecreed Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
3 Knightfisher
4 Parting Gust
3 Requisition Raid

When I started looking at the birds available to me, the most interesting synergy seemed to be between Plumecreed Mentor and Thrummingbird. So I set out to build something focused on +1/+1 counters.

The problem with Plumecreed Mentor is that it wants non-flying creatures upon which to bestow its benefits. So Roaming Throne wants a lot of birds, birds want a lot of non-birds, and you'd probably still like to have some removal or other utility spells. How do you find room for it all?

As is often the case in Magic, you use cards that can play multiple roles. Preening Champion and Knightfisher make non-flying tokens -- maybe two at a time? -- that can get counters from the Mentor. Saiba Cryptomancer functions as protection while also giving out counters that Thrummingbird can proliferate. Parting Gust is removal, except when it's letting you repeat one of your ETB triggers.

It's safe to say that this deck, with its elegant synergies, is my favorite of the bunch. I like it so much that I had trouble playtesting the others because I just wanted to keep playing this one.

And really, I don't know if there's much I would change here if I weren't on a budget. A copy or two of Kastral, the Windcrested in place of Knightfisher might be nice, but you don't want to give up too much of your token production.

Any plans for Mice and Rabbits?

Like Lizards, these types work best as aggro decks that don't need a four-drop, but unlike Lizards, my efforts to find workable alternative versions of them have not met with success. If I do crack those nuts, I'll let you know.

4
submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

This might be old information, I didn't get an e-mail about it like I usually do, but anyway here it is.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

Give me your Zendikar Rising draft tips! It runs for a week starting tomorrow and I've saved up some gold to play it. I've never drafted it before but I've been practicing a bit on Draftsim, and what I've got so far is that W/G landfall and U/B Rogues seem good. What about Wizards, is that a viable archetype?

6
submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In this edition:

  • Only One Week Before Duskmourn: House of Horror Preorders Are Gone
  • Don't Miss the Duskmourn Streamer Event This Wednesday
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5
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
7
submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In this edition:

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

So the opportunity cost of including, say, Floodfarm Verge in a slot where you would otherwise be running a Plains is low but not nil. Considerations:

  • Are you running fetchlands such as Fabled Passage, and if so, is this dropping your basic land count low enough that you might run out?
  • Are you running enough basic lands that you can reasonably expect to turn these on in most games?
  • Are nonbasic hate cards like Furnace Punisher or Sunspine Lynx common in your meta and/or particularly good against your deck?

Overall I think I probably like these better than most of the rare duals that are currently in Standard, although that's "like" in the sense of "want to play with"; I'm not necessarily saying they're stronger in the abstract.

Interesting to note that the cycle depicted here is only allied colors and only goes clockwise (on the color wheel) when adding the second color. There is potential for three more cycles like this one if Wizards wants to make them.

4
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In this edition:

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  • Event Schedule
10
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/893890

The project

Last year I made a series of posts exploring the potential of Roaming Throne as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Since then, Bloomburrow has been released, with a whole bunch of mechanically consistent creature types to build around. So here's the continuation of that series.

Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.)

Here's a Scryfall search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like t:frog or t:rabbit.

f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward)

Since rotation, we've sadly lost Secluded Courtyard, which used to be an auto-include in these decks. On the plus side, Bloomburrow added a cycle of uncommon lands that care about our creature types, as well as Patchwork Banner.

Frogs

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593033

11 Forest
9 Island
4 Lush Oasis
4 Sunshower Druid
4 Pond Prophet
4 Three Tree Scribe
2 Stickytongue Sentinel
4 Long River Lurker
2 Lilysplash Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
4 Splash Portal
4 Trash the Town
4 This Town Ain't Big Enough

One thing I like about this deck is the cross-set synergy. Bloomburrow's Frogs have obvious synergy with each other and with Roaming Throne. But while Run Away Together was reprinted in Bloomburrow as the frog-bouncing spell for draft, Outlaws of Thunder Junction's This Town Ain't Big Enough is just better in about three different ways. And Trash the Town's last mode gives its target a trigger that's great for doubling. Opponents sometimes just concede when the plan comes together.

I've got a couple of copies of Lilysplash Mentor in here even though it doesn't have a triggered ability, just because I wanted some more reliable options for frog-flickering. To make room for them, I shaved two Stickytongue Sentinels -- it's definitely possible to set yourself too far back on tempo by misusing them.

If you like this deck and want to start spending more money on it, Valley Mightcaller is the obvious first stop.

Rats

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593036

9 Swamp
4 Island
3 Mudflat Village
2 Lilypad Village
4 Escape Tunnel
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Gnawing Vermin
4 Nezumi Informant
4 Shoreline Looter
2 Tidecaller Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
2 Thornplate Intimidator
3 Wick's Patrol
4 Cut Down
4 Bitter Triumph
3 Patchwork Banner
2 Self-Reflection

Shoreline Looter + Roaming Throne turns out to be a pretty nice combo. It helps you get Threshold faster, and once you have it, you can start drawing two extra cards every turn.

I ended up with only two copies of signpost uncommon Tidecaller Mentor, since I felt it underperformed a bit. Before you have Threshold, its text box is nearly blank, and by the time you have it, it's usually a bit late in the game for a tempo play like bouncing creatures. Still, this deck has the highest average mana cost of the four I'm presenting today, and sometimes a three-mana 3/3 is what you need to survive long enough to cast your Thornplate Intimidators and Wick's Patrols.

I didn't even remember that Self-Reflection existed before I started building this deck. A couple of copies fit really nicely. It's great to mill with Gnawing Vermin or discard to Shoreline Looter or Bitter Triumph, and once you've done that, it's pretty handy to be able to make a copy of your most valuable creature (and its triggers).

Fetchlands help you get to Threshold, but I'm only running half as many as I could be because I felt the deck was too clunky with more.

When it's time to upgrade, you have a few legends to choose from: Lord Skitter, Karumonix, and Vren all look appealing.

Squirrels

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593040

11 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Escape Tunnel
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Bonecache Overseer
3 Tough Cookie
4 Bushy Bodyguard
4 Vinereap Mentor
4 Curious Forager
4 Honored Dreyleader
4 Roaming Throne
4 Cache Grab
3 Savor
3 The Witch's Vanity
2 Welcome to Sweettooth

Honored Dreyleader does some silly things in BLB draft, so when it came up in my search, I knew this deck was going to be good.

We're all in on food tokens, to the point that all of our non-creature spells can make one, and some of our creatures can make two. I have seen this deck rack up double-digit numbers, but don't eat all that food before you need it, because if you can kick a Bushy Bodyguard with Roaming Throne out, you'll make three creatures and they'll each get to forage twice.

I went with eight fetchlands instead of any duals in this deck to help the foraging plan. Don't exile your graveyard too aggressively, though, because you'll want some permanents in there to bring back with Curious Forager.

Looking to upgrade? A copy or two of Camellia seems like a good start.

Bats

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593031

11 Swamp
4 Plains
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Lupinflower Village
1 Mudflat Village
4 Ruin-Lurker Bat
4 Lifecreed Duo
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
4 Starscape Cleric
4 Moonrise Cleric
4 Roaming Throne
2 Star Charter
2 Starseer Mentor
3 Cut Down
3 Bitter Triumph
2 Patchwork Banner

The highlight here is the interaction between Roaming Throne and Starscape Cleric. Throne duplicates both the offspring trigger and the life-draining trigger. If you can follow a turn 4 Throne with a turn 5 Starscape, you'll get two little Starscapes, and if you can follow that by attacking with a Moonrise Cleric, your opponent will lose 12 life even before the combat damage connects.

This deck doesn't need white mana for anything other than creatures, so we can safely run the full four copies of Lupinflower Village. But we need black mana for our removal spells, so I'm being cautious and only including one Mudflat Village. Scoured Barrens is another easy inclusion as a dual land that contributes to our lifegain plan.

This is probably the deck that would benefit most from lifting the budget restriction. Essence Channeler, Zoraline, Darkstar Augur, and Aclazotz are all high-powered rare bats that synergize with Roaming Throne.

4
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

The project

Last year I made a series of posts exploring the potential of Roaming Throne as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Since then, Bloomburrow has been released, with a whole bunch of mechanically consistent creature types to build around. So here's the continuation of that series.

Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.)

Here's a Scryfall search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like t:frog or t:rabbit.

f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward)

Since rotation, we've sadly lost Secluded Courtyard, which used to be an auto-include in these decks. On the plus side, Bloomburrow added a cycle of uncommon lands that care about our creature types, as well as Patchwork Banner.

Frogs

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593033

11 Forest
9 Island
4 Lush Oasis
4 Sunshower Druid
4 Pond Prophet
4 Three Tree Scribe
2 Stickytongue Sentinel
4 Long River Lurker
2 Lilysplash Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
4 Splash Portal
4 Trash the Town
4 This Town Ain't Big Enough

One thing I like about this deck is the cross-set synergy. Bloomburrow's Frogs have obvious synergy with each other and with Roaming Throne. But while Run Away Together was reprinted in Bloomburrow as the frog-bouncing spell for draft, Outlaws of Thunder Junction's This Town Ain't Big Enough is just better in about three different ways. And Trash the Town's last mode gives its target a trigger that's great for doubling. Opponents sometimes just concede when the plan comes together.

I've got a couple of copies of Lilysplash Mentor in here even though it doesn't have a triggered ability, just because I wanted some more reliable options for frog-flickering. To make room for them, I shaved two Stickytongue Sentinels -- it's definitely possible to set yourself too far back on tempo by misusing them.

If you like this deck and want to start spending more money on it, Valley Mightcaller is the obvious first stop.

Rats

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593036

9 Swamp
4 Island
3 Mudflat Village
2 Lilypad Village
4 Escape Tunnel
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Gnawing Vermin
4 Nezumi Informant
4 Shoreline Looter
2 Tidecaller Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
2 Thornplate Intimidator
3 Wick's Patrol
4 Cut Down
4 Bitter Triumph
3 Patchwork Banner
2 Self-Reflection

Shoreline Looter + Roaming Throne turns out to be a pretty nice combo. It helps you get Threshold faster, and once you have it, you can start drawing two extra cards every turn.

I ended up with only two copies of signpost uncommon Tidecaller Mentor, since I felt it underperformed a bit. Before you have Threshold, its text box is nearly blank, and by the time you have it, it's usually a bit late in the game for a tempo play like bouncing creatures. Still, this deck has the highest average mana cost of the four I'm presenting today, and sometimes a three-mana 3/3 is what you need to survive long enough to cast your Thornplate Intimidators and Wick's Patrols.

I didn't even remember that Self-Reflection existed before I started building this deck. A couple of copies fit really nicely. It's great to mill with Gnawing Vermin or discard to Shoreline Looter or Bitter Triumph, and once you've done that, it's pretty handy to be able to make a copy of your most valuable creature (and its triggers).

Fetchlands help you get to Threshold, but I'm only running half as many as I could be because I felt the deck was too clunky with more.

When it's time to upgrade, you have a few legends to choose from: Lord Skitter, Karumonix, and Vren all look appealing.

Squirrels

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593040

11 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Escape Tunnel
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Bonecache Overseer
3 Tough Cookie
4 Bushy Bodyguard
4 Vinereap Mentor
4 Curious Forager
4 Honored Dreyleader
4 Roaming Throne
4 Cache Grab
3 Savor
3 The Witch's Vanity
2 Welcome to Sweettooth

Honored Dreyleader does some silly things in BLB draft, so when it came up in my search, I knew this deck was going to be good.

We're all in on food tokens, to the point that all of our non-creature spells can make one, and some of our creatures can make two. I have seen this deck rack up double-digit numbers, but don't eat all that food before you need it, because if you can kick a Bushy Bodyguard with Roaming Throne out, you'll make three creatures and they'll each get to forage twice.

I went with eight fetchlands instead of any duals in this deck to help the foraging plan. Don't exile your graveyard too aggressively, though, because you'll want some permanents in there to bring back with Curious Forager.

Looking to upgrade? A copy or two of Camellia seems like a good start.

Bats

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593031

11 Swamp
4 Plains
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Lupinflower Village
1 Mudflat Village
4 Ruin-Lurker Bat
4 Lifecreed Duo
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
4 Starscape Cleric
4 Moonrise Cleric
4 Roaming Throne
2 Star Charter
2 Starseer Mentor
3 Cut Down
3 Bitter Triumph
2 Patchwork Banner

The highlight here is the interaction between Roaming Throne and Starscape Cleric. Throne duplicates both the offspring trigger and the life-draining trigger. If you can follow a turn 4 Throne with a turn 5 Starscape, you'll get two little Starscapes, and if you can follow that by attacking with a Moonrise Cleric, your opponent will lose 12 life even before the combat damage connects.

This deck doesn't need white mana for anything other than creatures, so we can safely run the full four copies of Lupinflower Village. But we need black mana for our removal spells, so I'm being cautious and only including one Mudflat Village. Scoured Barrens is another easy inclusion as a dual land that contributes to our lifegain plan.

This is probably the deck that would benefit most from lifting the budget restriction. Essence Channeler, Zoraline, Darkstar Augur, and Aclazotz are all high-powered rare bats that synergize with Roaming Throne.

1
submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In this edition:

  • Banned and Restricted Announcements for August 26, 2024
  • Duskmourn Debuts at PAX West—Preorders Start Next Tuesday!
  • Arena Open: Bloomburrow Starts Saturday!
  • Final Week to Play Standard at WPN Stores for MTG Arena Rewards
  • Event Schedule
1
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In this edition:

  • Decks Are Back in the Store!
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  • The Next Arena Open: August 31
  • Earn MTG Arena Rewards Playing Standard Events at WPN Stores until August 31
  • Event Schedule
6
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In this edition:

  • Buy Decks in the MTG Arena Store Tomorrow!
  • Get Ready for Arena Open: Bloomburrow This Weekend
  • Alchemy: Bloomburrow Arrives August 20
  • Time's Running Out to Play Standard Events at WPN Stores and Earn MTG Arena Rewards
  • Event Schedule
[-] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

The level 2 ability sounded like a lot to ask until I realized that it triggers on things like treasures and maps and clues.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago

October 2023: "Having too many types of booster is hurting sales, so we're consolidating them."

July 2024: "Hey check out this new type of booster we came up with."

[-] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

It's weird how that snow-covered Forest isn't a Snow-Covered Forest.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

I've been playing Magic long enough to remember when a 3/4 for 3 mana would need a pretty significant drawback to even be printable. So I'm still surprised when they come out with broken nonsense like Nadu, even though I shouldn't be by now.

This Pro Tour had lopsided numbers and non-interactive games and just wasn't much fun to watch. Wizards should consider it a disaster, but whether they will probably depends a lot on MH3 sales numbers.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

I love that it has flashback. "Did you guys learn anything from the first time? I'm betting you didn't."

[-] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago

Is this seriously an 8/4 with no drawbacks (being legendary doesn't count) for four mana? What the fuck is happening to this game?

[-] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Yeah, this is basically what I was trying to say, put much more succinctly.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago

Hard to disagree with any of the points he makes, but Standard accounts for most of my playtime right now, and I'd feel pretty lost if it went away.

It's not actually that I like Standard in particular so much as that I prefer formats with lower power levels. I like games to last longer and involve more back-and-forth. I would actually prefer a power level much lower than Standard, but Standard is the best I can get, so I take it. I would rather have seen them change Standard rotation to one year than three years -- but they'd have to accompany that by making it much, much easier to obtain new cards quickly, and it's hard to imagine that happening.

I would probably quit the game rather than move to Modern. Modern combines the worst aspects of Legacy/Vintage (high power level, short games, high monetary cost) with the worst aspect of Standard (you don't get to play all your cards). Pioneer/Explorer are a little better I guess, but give them time, they'll become "Second Modern" eventually.

I'll play Commander with friends, but not with strangers. It's alright but it's not really the same game. Too swingy, too flashy for my tastes. No opportunity to gain small advantages over time. It's nothing for the entire battlefield to be wiped and refilled twice before it even comes around to your turn again. And no sense of personal achievement, even when you win. Commander is about doing cool things, and all winning means is that you did the last cool thing. It doesn't necessarily reflect on good strategic decisions you made. Sometimes things just happen to line up for you due to decisions that other people made while you were tapped out and in the kitchen getting a soda. And Commander seems to be filling up more and more with Universes Beyond cards, which are a real turn-off for me.

I like Draft and Sealed plenty, but I can't afford to play them every day. How many of us can? Plus, without Standard, how much do I care about the cards I acquire in Limited? Is there room to make free or very low-cost phantom drafts available on a permanent basis? I'd consider making that my primary format, but I doubt Wizards can justify it financially.

So yeah, it's pretty much Standard or Pauper for me, and Pauper isn't available on Arena.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Surprised to see mono-red aggro with the second largest share; I guess Goddric must have helped it more than I realized. Mono-red is maybe the one archetype that will never be absent from any metagame, but prior to WOE I would not have said it was in a good place in Standard.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I'd welcome the return of blocks from a lore perspective, and Block Constructed as a format, but I have to say I don't miss drafting blocks. When you're opening packs from three different sets, every common might as well be a rare, in the sense that you'd better take it now or risk not seeing it again. At that point I'd rather just do a chaos draft.

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Evu

joined 1 year ago