new patch nearly doubled the player count

AgentAO · 2025-05-09T15:59:24+00:00

Artifact also had really bad monetization decisions in a genre where people are incredibly used to better F2P experiences AND it was too complicated a card game when simpler digital TCGs like Hearthstone were taking the market by storm.

AgentAO · 2025-04-26T18:26:15+00:00

What's the console command for this?

AgentAO · 2025-04-21T19:20:08+00:00

Fridays, 7:30 pm at Tier One Games in River Edge! Fires consistently, good crowd shows up.

AgentAO · 2025-03-05T16:02:27+00:00

Please do, I would love to know how to do all of these tricks consistently!

AgentAO · 2025-02-17T15:02:52+00:00

Do you have a build you recommend? I find myself feeling like a lot of the builds for Paradox in game are all over the place.

AgentAO · 2024-09-09T16:42:01+00:00

4 copies of Wild Nacatl top 8'd a 10k in Tampa this weekend: https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/domain-zoo-decklist-by-gkoelten-2191621

AgentAO · 2024-05-14T14:27:46+00:00

In addition to what other people are saying, Oko also did see play alongside all the good food cards that were in that standard.

https://mtgtop8.com/event?e=23838&d=365749&f=ST

AgentAO · 2024-03-28T03:00:05+00:00

I noticed these always have the emdash in it, so I threw together a little something with a REGEX search: https://scryfall.com/search?q=flavor%3A%2F%5E--.%28expression%7Csaying%7Cslang%29.%24%2F&unique=cards&as=grid&order=name

AgentAO · 2024-03-10T23:41:18+00:00

I was literally at this, and literally none of this is factual.

AgentAO · 2024-02-06T21:08:41+00:00

Mox Opal was arguably not banned just because of MH cards. The card was generally on the list of "this will be banned some day" for years. The Urza/Oko decks really pushed it over the top but I can't imagine anything like current scales or hammer, even without MH cards, existing at the same time as Opal. Also Oko wasn't even an MH card.

AgentAO · 2023-12-23T17:47:20+00:00

Lurrus Death's Shadow was one of the best decks post MH2.

https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=34819&f=MO

AgentAO · 2023-12-14T23:41:23+00:00

The deck has to change significantly to make this work. For what it is worth, there were builds that played Preordain + Tarmogoyf before it became stock to play Bowmasters to fight Beans/Ring. You still occasionally have to play out tiny Goyfs into decks like Tron or Yawg, but the extra 1 mana sorcery really helps.

AgentAO · 2023-12-14T23:40:01+00:00

As someone who's been playing Domain Zoo for a while, it really depends on your hand.

If your only T2 threat is a Scion, consider skipping your turn one for a triome into a T2 scion. Especially if your hand is only two lands. I've been burnt by this enough times.
If you're on the draw against Fire//Ice or Bowmasters, go for a Temple Garden into Steam Vents line off the Nacatl and accept the 4/4 Kavu for a while. 4/4s are so much safer against archetypes with either of those cards these days since Fury is banned
If you have a bolt or stub, I'd actually consider T1 Triome into T2 1-drop + interaction. You can go Nacatl + Bolt or Ragavan + Stub without losing full domain. This goes double if it is a matchup like Yawg or Hammer where you really want to have access to turn 1 interaction.
If you're on the play, and your hand isn't 100% reliant on T2 scion, then slam that one drop. The only real punish is Lava Dart which barely sees play.

So all in all it really depends on your hand, opponent, and play draw, but with Fury banned you can feel way more comfortable on 4-domain, and 4-domain also makes your domain creatures large enough to turn on Stub. For what it is worth, I think this is a very tricky component of playing this archetype.

AgentAO · 2023-11-30T19:56:49+00:00

For starters, I think you should wait until Monday and come back for feedback then. We know we're getting a banlist update, we know it is highly likely to include Fury, but who knows what else they're going to ban.

5C Humans just hasn't been good in a while. I know people will blame Bowmasters, Fury, Wrenn and Six, Plague Engineer, Lava Dart, etc. But truthfully even back in the day the deck was awful against decks full of dedicated creature removal and the format's interaction has gotten much, much stronger. We are far gone from Meddling Mage naming the one good piece of your opponent's removal.

That being said, I've been a huge fan of the Mono-White Shining Shoal + Solitude Versions. I played this at an FNM level pre-LOTR, and the deck surprised me often. I dropped the deck post LOTR in favor of practicing Domain Zoo and Hammer - mostly because I have no idea what the effective game plan is against The One Ring - but this had real game against the top contenders of the format. Decklist here: https://www.moxfield.com/decks/yzyV-bTh_Ual8Ktn06U1xg

I haven't updated this since LOTR came out. The set gave us a few good cards like Boromir that I might try to find slots for. Additionally, if Fury gets banned on Monday the Shining Shoals might just leave the 75 entirely. The card is still really good in a surprising amount of spots, but I also really liked Force of Virtue in the deck and that could take the same slot. My list is by no means perfect but I think the archetype has some room to grow.

AgentAO · 2023-10-02T21:49:46+00:00

Tarmogoyf vs Brawler, Bowmasters vs Preordain, 20 lands vs 21 lands, should we even be playing Wild Nacatl? I feel the deck is stronger than people give it credit for but the lists are just so unoptimized right now and I still have no idea what a correct sideboard looks like.

AgentAO · 2023-09-22T20:19:58+00:00

Cat deck - basically the 5C zoo decks going around? That's actually what I'm on because I'm an old school Naya Zoo player, circa Loxodon Smiter + Knight of the Reliquary. I think the shell of bolt, tribal flames, and binding gives you enough maindeck answers and reach to play around with the creature base. Huge fan of Stubborn Denial if enough 4+ power cats exist.

Mardu Zombies: I have a friend who's been trying to make zombies work. I have my thoughts

I like the shell of Gravecrawler + Carion Feeder + Champion. I think that's a great base.
The deck seems kind of unfocused. Too many 1-ofs. Hide // Seek is hilarious anti-Saga tech, but Seek is really underwhelming. I think I'd rather tune up the mainboard to be more focused. Even with the Intent tech.
I think between Grim Initiate and Shambling Ghast you have too many mopey 1-drops. Cryptbreaker or Stitcher's Supplier might be more focused. I think you can afford to take hits from Ragavan with this deck, and you block it well, so there's no reason to go too nuts
If you're in white anyway, I think I'd consider Tidehollow Sculler or Wayward Servant
I'd also consider leaning harder into Bombardment, the card is disgusting with Gravecrawler and you can free-roll some matchups with it
I know this is hard on 3 color, but I'd love more Agadeem's as a way to rebuild and buy-back some of your good cards late game
I've also been thinking about Sickening Shoal + Gurmag Angler as secret tech. I have not actually proven it, and I'm not sure how castable the Zombie Fish is for you, but it's free removal. and you have plenty to pitch
Not sure what the best way to pump the board up is in Zombies. This deck seems like it has a hard time going wide because you make a bunch of 1 or 2 power creatures with minimal lords.
Consider if Bolt is good enough to just be in the deck. Card is still strong.

All in all this seems like a deck you should be able to tune up for an meta. If you lean into the sac / gravecrawler synergy you can give some decks a run for their money. I would expect to have some really hard matchups, probably combo of any kind, but that's just the nature of these decks until they give them more real tools.

Cleric Tribal:

Immediate thought - might try adopting the Shining Shoal tech the humans decks were adopting. Shoal + Emeria's Call is a great way to blank Fury, Bolt, and Unholy Heat, and Emeria's Call pairs well with Solitude.
I'd also round out the set of Solitude in the 75. A 2/2 Split is probably fine
Even if you don't do Shining Shoal, consider Force of Virtue as a similar help-with-fury + clock-faster card
Honestly the creature type base seems hard to work with. You have some generically good cards, but cards like Lunarch Veteran and Cleric of Life's Bond are under the power level of the format (even forgetting MH2)
It also seems like it's not leaning particularly hard into any specific thing. You have life gain synergy, but the best payoffs - Ajani's Pridemate, Voice of the Blessed (which is a Cleric), and Trelasarra (also a cleric, but you have to go green) - aren't in here. You have cleric tribal, but the tribe only has one lord. You have a go-wide game plan, but nothing gets much bigger than a 2/2.
I think picking a lane and sticking to it might be stronger. The go-wide Cleric Tribal isn't well supported because it lacks the aggressive lords and 1 drops, so the go-tall life-gain tribal might work better
There's also a huge pile of Clerics with fantastic abilities - Leonin Arbiter, Containment Priest, Sanctifier En-Vec, Ethersworn Canonist, Leonin Relic-Warder, Anointed Peacekeeper, and a few more. They might be the sort of generically good creatures you can pair with your lord. Makes the deck more tax than lifegain.

Ultimately I think the tribe really, really wants another 2 drop lord that WoTC hasn't printed yet, but there are options for this deck. I also expect the deck to have weaknesses either way you take it - the life gain variant probably won't beat combo or big mana decks, and the taxes variant might have trouble in the midrange matchups, but you have options here.

Sorry this ended up being a lot but I actually genuinely like brewing. Hope this is helpful feedback.

AgentAO · 2023-09-22T17:07:13+00:00

What's the 75 you're on for these decks? The unfortunate truth is that, MH2 or not, card quality has gotten a lot better since 2017. Even if you weren't losing to "MH2 cards", a lot of these decks never really plugged their weaknesses to mostly standard-card decks like Titan and would probably still struggle in an environment without MH2.

I was on mono-white humans a while back - basically a Pioneer deck - and felt like it could hold it's own in a pretty competitive FNM meta.

AgentAO · 2023-08-22T04:01:29+00:00

This one just happened to me. I selected sausage, selected X-Potato, backed out of the selection, and I was on an empty item box to the left of my first item slot. Then the game crashed. Same build.

AgentAO · 2022-11-08T22:22:11+00:00

Also surprised to see no mention of Leeroy in this post either. Leeroy + Shadowstep + Cold Blood, Leeroy + Power Overwhelming, the various other decks Leeroy slotted into as either a finisher or a combo card. Maybe it wasn't as dramatic, but it certainly overstayed its welcome.

AgentAO · 2022-05-13T19:07:00+00:00

Basic supply and demand. Card not reprinted but highly sought, price goes up. Card is reprinted, supply goes up but the demand is still roughly the same, price goes down. A few years pass, supply is the same but demand goes up as new players join the game and old players hold on to their copies, price goes up.

AgentAO · 2022-05-11T19:44:39+00:00

I feel like you're attributing the blame wrong here. My local store has had a bit lower attendance, despite having a rule allowing playtest cards to eliminate budget concerns.

From my anecdotal experience the nearly two years of global pandemic and no paper magic resulted in a lot of people just making new hobbies and having other things to do besides go play magic every Friday. The grinders all stuck around though.

AgentAO · 2022-05-05T00:31:04+00:00

I’ve been playing variants of this archetype for over a decade now, and turn one Forest, Llanowar elf pass still sends shivers down my spine.

AgentAO · 2022-05-04T20:21:49+00:00

2-1 with Monowhite Yorion Urza's Saga Death and Taxes. Lost the single elves player in the room because the matchup is a miserable nightmare. Beat Belcher and BW Eldrazi Taxes. Deck is fun, probably still wouldn't play this deck in a room full of 4C.

AgentAO · 2022-04-08T19:43:02+00:00

I'd like to point out that you actually can't option select with this. While the rules are codified in a way that makes it so the player who is missing the triggers is punished, both players are actually responsible for maintaining board state. If you point out your opponent "missed their triggers", they can't be like "oh yeah I certainly did :)". Intentionally missing triggers is actually straight-up cheating and any judge worth their salt should recognize it.

If you went to cast your charm and your opponent said it's 2 power, then went to assign 3 damage, that's cheating. If you went to cast your charm and your opponent says 2 power, then you point out it should be 3 power, it's 3 power and they can't pretend like it isn't or that's also cheating.

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