The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[Lyinginbedmon]

@Lyinginbedmon: The exact same thing happens to me. It's just the nature of Magic. If people perceive you as the threat, they will target you, even though you aren't actually a threat on the field. They see Myrs and they relate it to beatdown, so they want you out as soon as possible. The moment I break out my own Myr deck, the same thing happens, although it's not nearly as threatening because I'm running standard instead of legacy. Have you built other decks so you can draw the aggro off of your Myrs for a while?

Trouble being I like to build decks that are not only fun but competitive, so there's my Myr deck that's built to kill and there's my Ninja deck that's built to ignore defenses (or Thopter swarm, if I sideboard). Consequently, I don't have a deck that's "just" for fun, because for me, winning is fun, not just playing, and losing every time is boring. That said, I've been trying to give opponents a chance recently with my Myr deck by constructing my loop and then not initiating it for a turn or two to give them time to respond.

It was recently discerned by myself and the friends in question that it isn't so much legitimate counters to our decks that is frustrating but not actually being able to use our deck at all, which is why I despise artifact wipe cards and being unjustifiably dicked out when all I have out is an Everflowing Chalice...

Anyways, new ideas for my Myr Engine sideboard:

• Arcum Daggson
• Nevinyrral's Disk

Daggson lets me search for my non-Myr Artifacts, like Myr Reservoir, Myr Turbine, Everflowing Chalice, etc., and dunk them straight onto the field, potentially just saccing a Myr token from Myr Turbine to do it.
Nevinyrral's Disk wipes an unfavourable field, potentially leaving my side untouched if I fetch Darksteel Forge.

[Matt]

Just throwing this out there, but you know what's not fun?

Dying every game to a hopelessly broken and totally op infinite damage combo.

If I were your frinds, I would also probably make a point of hamstringing you every game.

Maybe restrict yourself to a more balanced format than legacy? Build a standard legal deck, and work to hone that? You'll still be competitive, without being totally goddamn broken?

-m

[theDreamer]

Sadly there are plenty of unfair and stupid things you can do in standard.

Plus the core idea of his deck? Still totally doable in standard.

[njsykora]

Constant dickhead combos are the reason my group of friends started to insist on standard/extended. If we weren't being dealt 20 damage in one fell swoop by the guy who triggered it all then he was decking us out in 4-5 turns while hiding behind a rock-solid defense.

[Matt]

Sadly there are plenty of unfair and stupid things you can do in standard.

Plus the core idea of his deck? Still totally doable in standard.

Yes, but it's less efficient at it. As it stands, he is the biggest threat at the table 100% of the time, whether his combo is built or not. If he activates, he wins. I'd be throwing all my removal at him too.

-m

[Matt]

in the same vein, alex has a graveyard recursion commander deck that goes fishing for an "It that betrays" and a "Sundering titan".

To what extent do you think I'm not anticipating those coming into play in every single commander game we have, multiplayer or not, and planning to stop it?

-m

[Lyinginbedmon]

I'm actually the least broken amongst my friends, one of them even specialises in turn 1 infinite loops. We also have two very angry burn decks to which both my decks fail greatly against, a mill deck that takes out a dozen or so cards per turn, an eldrazi deck that mana ramps so high it could summon Emrakul by turn 6 easily, and even a generalised deck pretty much designed to defeat everyone else.

And my Myr deck isn't even all that powerful. To first assemble the loop, I need at minimum two creatures and an enchantment that I can't tutor. At most, I need three creatures without summoning sickness. And then to actually make use of it, I generally need a third creature without summoning sickness and an artifact/sorcery. It's an instant kill, yes, but only when it actually gets running.

Because we don't have any FNM sites nearby, nor many tournaments, we all just sort of go with Legacy/Vintage. If I built according to Standard, I'd be screwed entirely over. This same group of people has often seriously considered running an Unhinged draft.

[Matt]

clearly, if you're the perpetual target, you're percieved as the perpetual threat.

maybe collectively agree to work in standard? power everyone's decks down?

-m

[Lyinginbedmon]

I'm far from the biggest threat on the table, I'm actually the easiest to shut down. A single Counterbore sets me right back, if not a Lightning Bolt or Arc Trail.

As for agreeing to a Standard armistice...yeah, really doubt that'll happen. People have way too much fun putting decks together across the different expansions, especially one girl who adores the Noggles from Shadowmoor (and, routinely, makes flying, unblockable, shrouded ones of absurd strength...).

Talk has come up recently though of trying to deliberately avoid an arms race of sorts.

EDIT: Just checked the cards in my deck, and the following are the only ones that are not Standard-legal:

• Banefire
• Coretapper
• Darksteel Reactor
• Fabricate
• Izzet Boilerworks
• Mystic Speculation

For the most part then, removing those cards would mean a Splinter Twin victory every game, which my friends have heavily expressed would make them want to murder me. Would also cripple my tutoring, but my Myr deck is by far one of the more legal in Standard.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Just a quick one, my first attempt at designing a predominantly-Myr artifact Commander deck using Arcum Dagsson:

Artifacts

• Clearwater Goblet
• Contagion Clasp
• Contagion Engine
• Darksteel Forge
• Energy Chamber
• Eternity Vessel
• Everflowing Chalice
• Golem Foundry
• Mirrorworks
• Mycosynth Lattice
• Myr Reservoir
• Myr Turbine
• Nevinyrral's Disk
• Prototype Portal
• Sculpting Steel
• Semblance Anvil
• Soul Foundry
• Spellbook
• Titan Forge
• Venser's Journal
• Voltaic Key

Creatures

• Arcanis the Omnipotent
• Arcum Dagsson (Commander)
• Augury Owl
• Copper Myr
• Coretapper
• Darksteel Myr
• Gold Myr
• Golem Artisan
• Hovermyr
• Iron Myr
• Leaden Myr
• Lodestone Myr
• Master Transmuter
• Memnarch
• Memnite
• Myr Battlesphere
• Myr Galvanizer
• Myr Propagator
• Myr Retriever
• Myr Superion
• Ornithopter
• Palladium Myr
• Roil Elemental
• Silver Myr
• Steel Overseer
• Wake Thrasher

Enchantments

• Archmage Ascension
• Eyes of the Watcher
• March of the Machines

Instants

• Cancel
• Dispel
• Fuel for the Cause
• Mysteries of the Deep
• Reach Through Mists
• Repulse
• Steady Progress
• Stoic Rebuttal
• Turn Aside
• Vision Skeins

Land

• Academy Ruins
• Halimar Depths
• Island (x27)
• Oboro, Palace in the Clouds
• Seat of the Synod

Sorceries

• Argivian Restoration
• Blue Sun's Zenith
• Eternal Dominion
• Fabricate
• Flow of Ideas
• Foresee
• Mystic Speculation
• Preordain
• Serum Visions

In short, between duplication cards like Prototype Portal, Myr Turbine, Myr Propagator, Mirrorworks, Golem Foundry, Soul Foundry, Sculpting Steel, and Titan Forge, Arcum will never be short on things to sacrifice for a non-creature artifact.

So I can fetch Darksteel Forge and Nevinyrral's Disk for example, possibly including Mycosynth Lattice if I'm feeling especially candid.

There's also a good dose of tutor-able counter proliferation (old fashioned way with Energy Chamber, or new-fangled with Contagion Clasp/Engine), handy for things like Eternity Vessel, Everflowing Chalice, and Clearwater Goblet, though there exist a number of ways to get the Myr Galvanizer loop running with Coretapper here too, happily supported by a good deal of artifact retrieval methods.

[RytelCSF]

http://www.dragonhighlander.net/rules.php

Upheaval is banned in Commander.

[Lyinginbedmon]

I kinda figured that'd be too villainous...

[MowDownJoe]

So, I was taking the time to post my 3 EDH decks online and it made me realize a few things:

• TappedOut's deck builder double-counts Dryad Arbor. (I run it mainly as a cute trick with Momir Vig and Oracle of Mul Daya.)
• My Mayael deck is surprisingly creature light. (This has been rectified.)
• There are cards that I was sure my Momir Vig deck had that turns out it doesn't have. Like Draining Whelk, because seriously... this deck needs creature-based counterspells.
• I do not know how much land to put in an EDH deck. Used to think the ones that were really full of big expensive dudes would be better off with 42 land, but I would sometimes end up flooded. So, I cut Mayael down to 39 to see how that'll do. My new Sheoldred deck runs fine on 37, although I've only had 2 games with it (and both times, I was immediately seen as a threat, for some reason. Urborg Syphon-Mage screams lightning rod.)
• The deck that makes one guy in my playgroup shout "Oh, Crap! He's playing control!" has the most creatures out of my 3 EDH decks. I found that funny.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Resounding decision from the group visa vis my Suddenly, Ninjas and Myr Engine decks:

Myr Engine is less broken.

The reason being that whilst Myr Engine has a multitude of means to recover from poor draws, artifact destruction, and the like, it takes time to set up and in the mean time can be messed up very easily. It also has a lot of backup plans (Coretapper, Myr Reservoir and a charge counter artifact like Titan Forge, for example) that overall bog the deck down away from the speedy victory it would be in Standard. Sure, it employs methods of acquiring an instant victory in one turn, but there's usually a fair few turns beforehand playing the creature cards and grabbing the missing pieces.

Meanwhile, the ninjas keep picking themselves up (One ninja can be played off of another, and the original ninja bait is in hand), and with the thopter loop sideboard in play it becomes a very cheap deck largely designed to largely ignore the opponent's forces and employs significantly more counterspells. The ninjas keep hitting the opponent for damage and netting effects, and the thopter combo is a total of 6 mana and can be initiated as soon as its on the field. Ninjas, being Kamigawa and Alara mostly, would be entirely out of Standard.

[Ottoman]

I split an NPH booster box with two friends today. So, out of twelve packs, I pulled Elesh Norn, Urabrask, Jor Kadeen, Unwinding Clock, Puresteel Paladin, Phyrexian Metamorph, and some less impressive things. . . but no Karn. Damn. (Eventually, I just bought one online.)

We played a few sealed-pack games with our shiny new cards, and that was really fun; way more so than the time we did it with the Zendikar block. The Phyrexian mana is a helpful mechanic, but it's easy to get carried away with. (Wait, how am I at 10 already‽) Things like Praetor's Grasp, Enslave, Glistening Oil, Parasitic Implant, and so on gave the games a very aggressive and weird feel.

Though I'm definitely still on the Mirran side, I have to admit that NPH is the most fun set of this block to play.

[Robert Merlow]

NPH really is, not to mention that with Phyrexian mana, it makes the game super-aggressive. You're throwing down cards a turn earlier, and it can certainly be easy to get carried away with the Phyrexian mana. Gitaxian Probe is one of my favorite cards from the set, just because of the versatility of looking at at person's hand in any color. This whole set is fun, and what Mirran cards there are in the set are nothing but a boost for the faction.

[tom3po]

My friend got me involved about 6 months ago, i am now buried in over 3000 cards. i run 15 decks, ranging from slivers to elves, and am currently gathering all three sets of the mirrodin Block. i just got back from the release event, and scored a sword, a elesh norn, and, though i didnt get it, seen a foil Karn opened

[LackingSanity]

So the other day my friends and I chipped in for some NPH fat packs and we did a draft. At first, I was a little worried when my friends pulled 2 Sheoldreds, Vorinclex, and a Sword of War and Peace, but I actually ended up with doing really well, mostly because my Vault Skirges and Porcelain Legionnaires got out early and had a few turns of unimpeded beatdown.

Also, Blighted Agents are ridiculously annoying.

[theDreamer]

Hey guys, see the latest Commander spoiler:

[T3h Merc]

So, I'm just getting into Magic and I thought I'd start off with a Green/Blue Phyrexian infect deck. Here's a decklist, tell me what you think:
Instants/Sorcercies/Enchantment:
Fog
Fuel for the Cause
Corrupted Conscience
Psychic Surgery
Leeching Bite x3
Primal Bellow x2
Psychic Barrier
Leaf Arrow
Shared Discovery
Steady Progress
Corrupted Resolve
Naturalize x3
Inexorable Tide
Giant Growth
Unnatural Predation

Artifacts:
Trigon of Infestation x2
Contagion Clasp

Lands:
Island x12
Forest x12

Creatures:
Cystbearer x2
Blighted Agent x4
Melira, Sylvok Outcast
Viral Drake x3
Mycosynth Fiend x2
Chained Throatseeker x2
Wall of Tanglecord
Vedalken Anatomist
Spinebiter
Plaguemaw Beast
Blight Mamba
Phyrexian Swamplord
Signal Pest
Core Prowler
Glistener Elf x3
Whaddya Think?

[Matt]

Hey guys, see the latest Commander spoiler:

FUCKING WANT

-m

[Ottoman]

I've determined that the Metamorph is officially awesome. Your poor opponent spends all game getting out a bomb, and then you copy if for 3. And then drop a few -1/-1 counters on their version with a Grim Affliction.

(And then get yours wiped out by a Parasitic Implant. Bastards. )

[SilentBobCDN]

<snip>

Whaddya Think?

I'm thinking that any current blue/something infect deck that does not have a full set of Blighted Agents is doing something horribly wrong, so thats good then

Other than that, I'd remove your normal damage creatures for more infect. Unless you splash black and use some Phyresis, they're not helping your main damage source. As for other spells, Not bad, cards like leaf arrow, shared discovery, defensive stance I'd consider taking out for some more buffs/counters.

As an aside, I wonder how it would work if you had that Melira - Sylvok Outcast down, as well as Phyrexian Unlife. Would that essentially break the game until such point that one/both are removed/exiled?

[theDreamer]

I've determined that the Metamorph is officially awesome. Your poor opponent spends all game getting out a bomb, and then you copy if for 3. And then drop a few -1/-1 counters on their version with a Grim Affliction.

(And then get yours wiped out by a Parasitic Implant. Bastards. )

Oh hai blightsteel.

Meet my blightsteel.

[theDreamer]

As an aside, I wonder how it would work if you had that Melira - Sylvok Outcast down, as well as Phyrexian Unlife. Would that essentially break the game until such point that one/both are removed/exiled?

It's a two card combo version of Platinum Angel for life.

It works, but not super amazingly.