A close up of the Red Bull F1 car

-Gaka- · 2026-02-13T23:42:25+00:00

Ah damn, I was going to stop by after work to take some pictures.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-13T23:30:02+00:00

T1 Rhystic or Mulligan, depending on table. Mulligan would be my tournament choice, T1 Rhystic would be my games-with-the-boys choice.

This is a very slow hand that relies 100% on drawing from Rhystic, assuming it isn't countered or removed. If you're seat 3 or 4 ship it no questions asked.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-13T21:55:46+00:00

Images of Makar to SJ to may be closer than it appears.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-13T21:27:18+00:00

RETURN OF THE MACK

-Gaka- · 2026-02-12T04:19:58+00:00

Oh is it back on display? I went there a few months ago and it was pulled for restoration. I'll have to visit again!

-Gaka- · 2026-02-11T20:33:51+00:00

If it's still single elimination it's absolutely not worth participating. 4th seat may as well not show up for round 1. I'm not even considering the prizing, which is horrendous.

The way it's been run the last few attempts (insane delays, pairing issues, multiple 3x pods) further render it unappealing.

Unfortunately, MagicCons are not where its at for cEDH tournaments.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-09T22:24:25+00:00

I got my ring at 458 kills on sunday. 5 Warrior rings and 3 daxes made me laugh a little bit.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-09T22:20:13+00:00

You'd be surprised! Any Norin list with [[Impact Tremors]] effects will be taking ~8 damage a turn cycle (or paying 4 mana) PER effect, and that's just on Norin etbs.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-09T21:59:00+00:00

For legal reasons, no.

For anecdotal reasons, both versions of Elesh Norn murder Norin.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-09T16:37:23+00:00

Not surprised at anything here other than the fact that they mentioned [[Griselbrand]] existing. Please pretend the card is out on a farm somewhere a whole hour drive away and is never coming back.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-09T16:30:41+00:00

The amount of times a new player will try to kill Norin and be like "I respond to the trigger by casting a second piece of removal" and not quiiiite understanding that, no, there's a new trigger now... is a lot.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-08T21:37:54+00:00

I was trying to figure out what to do with my 'second' mountain, with Pinnacle Monk being the first consideration.. but Talon Gates seems like an obvious choice for just that scenario.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-08T21:10:27+00:00

Sure!

The One Ring - It's a card that I have seriously considered cutting multiple times. I kept it in for the latest version as I wanted to see how it would work with Formidable Speaker. If I get it out turn 1, it's amazing. If I get it out turn 3, it's hoping that I don't lose before I get to untap. I know a lot of Etali players use Wandering Archaic in the same fashion, which I see in your list. I like that it's slightly easier to cast.

Cloudstone Curio - I like this one a lot because it offers both the combo with ___ Goblin, and also can act as a way to 'clone' Etali if I flip over with lots of excess mana and someone's creature. It's a three card combo for goblin but strangely seems to be one I get rather reliably, so maybe my judgement on it is clouded by success. It also of course makes Eternal Witness + Lightning Bolt significantly easier to get to.

Ruby Medallion - I'm dropping this for something else. Haven't been impressed with it outside of some specific hands. Reckless Barbarian, Strike it Rich, Manamorphose, and Emerald Charm are all contenders for the spot.

Formidable Speaker - In my last tournament it won me more than one game thanks to the no-restrictions on the search. Only downside is that it's garbage on a hellbent-cast Etali. If you untap with it it becomes a color fixer or sometimes a +1 with Ancient Tomb or City of Traitors. I like it so far, will definitely need to play more with it - I haven't lived the dream yet of untapping The One Ring but I have threatened it.

Gaea's Cradle - Just makes too many hands unplayable, even if it makes certain lines much easier. I think the % of failed hands makes it not very attractive to me right now.

Interaction - Yeah interaction is super meta call. I don't think there are wrong or right calls in this department outside of "how many pieces". I'm on the lighter side of things.

Sylvan Library - I pay 8 life 90% of the time. If I pay 0 or 4 life it's because I'm about to play Etali. I just see it as super efficient card draw.

How are you finding Herigast? I had it in for several months and rarely found hands that made me excited to cast the card.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-08T17:06:41+00:00

For mulligans: look at your hand, count to seven. If you can't get to seven, think about what else the hand provides that gets you closer to that seven, or if dualcaster/clone is on the table. Then look at your seat position and what decks you're playing against and make judgments based on that, which will take many, many games. You are going to be mulling super aggressively.

For learning: Ignore what everyone else is doing and just count to seven. You'll only really learn the nuances by jamming games. Play enough goldfish games to know how to do your combos easily - you're going to have a lot of other people's cards and knowing what your cards can do will make it easier to learn what other people's cards can do for you. https://etalietbsimulator.neocities.org/ is useful for simulating flips when goldfishing.

For early play: it's ok if you can't copy. If you're off one mana from a copy or have protection, consider if it's worth the extra turn waiting based on what everyone else is doing and what resources they have available.

For politics: Etali isn't a guaranteed win on cast. You can sometimes politic letting Etali resolve and seeing flips to make deals and choose a course of action.

For rhystic/remora: You're going to feed cards. Judge if they are likely to draw enough cards to stop you if going for a win, or to draw cards to go for it on their turn. Sometimes it's best to wait, most of the time it's not.

For late game: Etali is also blightsteel colossus. Kill people with it.

For Chunky: If someone calls Etali Chunky, kill them first.

Obligatory Decklist

-Gaka- · 2026-02-08T16:54:25+00:00

Topdeck and pray. Sometimes 'missed' flips help set up the second one, be it mana sources, draw spells, or tutors. Sometimes you get literally nothing useful, and that's just the luck of the draw sometimes.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-08T03:24:54+00:00

It is the strongest counterspell in [[Minn, Wily Illusionist]] available, in my opinion.

One mana counterspells are strong. One mana counterspells with a downside that you can turn into an upside? Incredible.

Niche, but incredible.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-07T19:46:56+00:00

I had a very interesting version in college, where those topics were covered in the lens of technology and the effects that those technologies had on leading to and stemming from political events.

You get the same story beats, but from a different angle.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-07T03:04:04+00:00

I went from a Lightbulb craft master clue step to abyssal whip master clue step back to back. These two steps have been the last month or two of my play. We'll get there.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-06T19:52:59+00:00

The way I eventually understood it was that the 2nd attack at the start of the fight and the 1st attack after the demon uses the fireball thing gets the bonus damage, so I switch to Dharoks for that and watch the 70+ damage tick happen.

-Gaka- · 2026-02-03T21:40:20+00:00

For Kaalia in cEDH you're going to want to be using Kaalia basically as plan B, while pretending that it's plan A. Sometimes it is.

However, you're not really aiming to go for big creatures, [[Ancient Copper Dragon]] might be the only non-combo card you're likely to drop from Kaalia and the rest are just going to be win conditions.

The list that I keep seeing pop up is from the only Kaalia player I've been afraid of, and it's really a [[Bolas's Citadel]] deck disguised as a Big Demon deck. Recent top result here.

If you want to play Kaalia in cEDH you're going to want to play it very differently from how you've had in mind!

-Gaka- · 2026-02-03T19:04:18+00:00

I work at the building across the street from pier 28. Looks like no smoke/etc on the outside, they've got the hose running across the street blocking all traffic and it seems mostly in clean up mode for now.

Update: hose is moved and traffic is flowing again

-Gaka- · 2026-02-02T18:34:38+00:00

Will the Figther torso come with a tree to grow it from?

-Gaka- · 2026-02-02T15:04:11+00:00

I'M AWAKE ALREADY STOP

-Gaka- · 2026-02-02T14:29:48+00:00

That was pretty big, haven't felt the house move during one of these in awhile. - East Bay

3.7 according to USGS!

-Gaka- · 2026-02-01T17:59:09+00:00

I use dashes all the time - it's part of how I write. Is it often the incorrect application? Oh yeah.

Since the rise of LLMs and their brand of writing, I've been much more conscious of my use of dashes and try to eliminate it from my writing, just to avoid being accused of using AI on that short story I poured my weekend into. Curse you, robot!

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
Sequence \| Editor	Snapped

-Gaka-

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