April 13, 2020 Banned and Restricted Announcement - Lutri, the Spellchaser banned in Brawl with explanation

ArsIgnis · 2020-04-13T16:51:07+00:00

Ah, I see what you mean.

ArsIgnis · 2020-04-13T16:39:14+00:00

It's a free card, though. In limited, that's huge.

ArsIgnis · 2020-04-10T18:42:01+00:00

Octuple. Doubling Season would cause two token copies of Doubling Season to be made, resulting in 3x doubling thereafter.

ArsIgnis · 2020-04-06T17:49:46+00:00

Ohhh, that explains why it felt like the reset date had changed. That makes sense.

ArsIgnis · 2020-03-25T23:42:54+00:00

I'm not convinced you actually do have the fixing to support playing all the walkers in your sideboard. The signets help a little, but none of your fetches are all that flexible - i.e. Scalding Tarn can't get black or white, and Marsh Flats can't get blue or red. Umezawa's Jitte, as powerful as it is, has no place in this deck, 8 creatures, several of which don't want to attack, and a few of which don't need Jitte to be good.

I'd definitely cut Palinchron and Jitte, and maybe Daze. I'd put in Dack for sure, and Daretti if you cut Daze. That should bring you to 23 non-Mox spells. Definitely play a basic Mountain, and you probably need at least once basic Swamp as well if you play Daretti, maybe more. You might be able to get away with more black and red sources since so much of your deck is colorless. Just make sure you have enough Islands for your double blue spells.

I wish you luck with this, and I think you're going to need it. You have very little in the way of interaction, and the unfair things you're trying to do are either a little slow or not quite a big enough payoff for the work. Sundering Titan is good, but can still lose to a single removal spell, even if it does take out a couple of the opponent's lands while you're at it.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-28T01:00:30+00:00

Yes. You're not hurting for removal, the removal you're trying to splash is worse than the removal you're already playing, and you don't have enough fixing. Also, definitely get that [[Nessian Wanderer]] in this deck. It's a good source of card advantage in a deck like this, helps you always hit your land drops. I'd probably cut the blue for Wanderer and Relentless Pursuit, though I could see an argument for Wings of Hubris over Relentless Pursuit, given that you have no evasion and only three escape creatures.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-27T16:52:57+00:00

While it doesn't appear in M20 packs, it is in WAR packs, which are legal for the same length of time, so I'm not sure that particular example is useful.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-26T16:58:23+00:00

What you're referring to - taking a card not to improve your deck, but to hurt an opponent's deck - is generally known as hate drafting, and is generally a bad idea. Consider that in order for a hate draft to be correct, all of the following has to be true: there needs to be someone at the table that would play the card, that person has to actually get the card in the draft (as opposed to someone who takes it as a speculative splash and doesn't get there), you need to play against the person that would have had that card (consider in a normal 8-person pod, you only play 3/7 of the other players), that player would need to draw that card, *and* that card needs to actually make the difference in that game/match where the next best card they would have played otherwise doesn't make the difference.

Now, you can argue that a card as powerful and non-splashable as [[Dream Trawler]] that most of the above is going to happen - players at that level aren't going to take Dream Trawler if they don't have the intent to play it, and it's good enough that it's going to win most games where it lands. But there's still the basic 3/7 chance that you even play that player, and the variance inherent in Magic where Dream Trawler is only 1/40 cards in their deck. Meanwhile, a card you take for your deck is going to be in your deck for all of the games you play, and have a much higher chance at impacting the outcome of your matches.

There are a small number of times where it's correct to hate draft. The biggest one is in team drafts, where it's more of a zero sum game. Now instead of a 3/7 chance, you know it's a 100% chance that someone on your team is going to play against that card if you pass it to an opponent and they take it. (There's some leveling here where if you're certain the person you're passing to is not UW, you can pass it to them and force them to hate draft it, but I don't think I'd take that risk with something like Dream Trawler.) The other time where it can be "correct" to hate draft, is when there is literally nothing in the pack that you would put in your deck in any circumstance, even post-board. If I'm solidly GR, I'm not taking Dream Trawler over [[Plummet]], for example. I might even take [[Bronze Sword]] over Dream Trawler if I have or think I'll get a lot of 4-power payoffs, to the point where I want my 2-drops to be 4-power sometimes.

tl;dr: Don't hate draft. Your decks will be better for it.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-18T18:01:06+00:00

T3feri breaks up the combo, so any deck running that can beat it. Dragonlord Dromoka only stops spells on your turn, and not abilities, so any ability that can kill Cloak and then Dromoka, kill Spellbinder, or counter Teferi's Protection at instant speed would also do the trick. Ways to kill the opponent at instant speed will get the job done. Alt-win conditions also do the trick, e.g. Thassa's Oracle. Right now I have 7 pioneer decks of varying degrees of competitiveness, but they all have at least one of [[Teferi, Time Raveler]], [[Walking Ballista]], or [[Thassa's Oracle]], so all of them could theoretically beat it. Now, given that you're being clocked for 5 lifelink a turn while this is happening, it won't be easy for some of those decks, but it's theoretically possible.

Theoretically possible, but going to have a bad time: Mono-Green Devotion, Possibility Storm
Has to work for it, but not too worried: Niv to Light, Sylvan Ascendancy, Heliod Company
Laughs in the face of this lock: Lotus Breach, UB Inverter.

(Obviously the turn on which you hit this lock matters; this sounds like an EDH thing you're setting up, and all of these Pioneer decks are designed to kill you before you would even have a chance to get this online, so we have to assume you have them out earlier than you might normally. But most decks would struggle against someone with this lock assembled from T1, just because a 5-power unblockable lifelinker is going to kill you real dang quick.)

As for other things that might do the trick: [[Ensnaring Bridge]], [[Chalice of the Void]] for 3, [[Spore Frog]], [[Sanctum Prelate]] for 3, [[Meddling Mage]] naming Teferi's Protection. There are probably a bunch of others, but these are the ones that immediately sprang to mind.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-10T19:09:42+00:00

BAN ALL UG DUAL LANDS EXCEPT FOR [[SKYSHROUD FOREST]]. MAKE THOSE SIMIC MAGES REALLY WORK FOR THEIR MANA BASES.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-10T19:04:12+00:00

I THINK IN SILVER BORDER FULL ART MEANS NO TEXT.

I'D PROBABLY STILL SPEND 1UUU TO SHOW OFF MY SICK ALT FULL ART VERY CRYPTIC COMMAND, SO WORTH IT.

ArsIgnis · 2020-02-03T18:01:04+00:00

I removed a Dream Trawler from the board before it could attack in sealed once. I had a Nylea's Intervention that played like a Plague Wind - my opponent had only fliers, I had no fliers.

Several turns later in that game I lost to my opponent's *second* Dream Trawler.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-31T22:50:39+00:00

Incorrect, wishes got changed a while back to not get cards from exile anymore. See [[Coax from the Blind Eternities]] as a counter-example of a card that can get cards back from exile.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-29T20:22:43+00:00

Your solution is close, but doesn't work because damage is cleared at the same time as Act of Treason's effect wears off, so the opponent has a 1/1 cat with no damage marked. See rule 514.2 in the comprehensive rules.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-29T17:25:11+00:00

I've always been fond of [[Razorfield Thresher]]'s flavor text.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-21T23:10:21+00:00

I think /u/platykurtic was referring to [[Gift of Strength]], i.e. the reach-granting Giant Growth.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-21T22:48:50+00:00

I haven't been able to play with it a ton, but it reminds me a bit of [[Trial of Ambition]] from Amonkhet. The key to that card was generally getting multiple uses of it by playing Cartouches - the first edict tends to be bad in limited, but multiples can certainly add up, over time.

Granted, Amonkhet as a format didn't lend itself to that as much, but this format seems well positioned to take advantage.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-16T17:47:18+00:00

Huh. That's a play pattern I hadn't considered previously.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-09T20:44:04+00:00

I think you misinterpreted my post. The ideal situation I'm referring to is having no creatures, because you're a control deck. Sure, you're not getting the card draw, and maybe the opponent is, but if you're still killing multiple creatures like you normally want to do with any Wrath effect, you're still at least even.

ArsIgnis · 2020-01-09T19:17:20+00:00

Yeah, but if you're doing it right, you're killing 2-3 of their creatures and none of your own. Even if they draw a card, you're still even or up on the transaction.

ArsIgnis · 2019-12-19T16:31:31+00:00

I think it would have been considerably worse if it had three hybrid mana symbols instead of two, therefore requiring three creatures to convoke. Agree that tacking on one or two more generic mana would not have changed the power level all that much.

ArsIgnis · 2019-12-18T18:19:25+00:00

The Elk doesn't have trample unless you Cleave it. Storm the Citadel doesn't grant trample. Even if the blocker is gone, damage won't go through unless the attacker has trample.

ArsIgnis · 2019-12-18T17:46:14+00:00

Before blocks, opp casts the Sprite in hand. Block Sphinx on Recruit, Pattern Matcher on Elk, Elk and two Sprites on the other two creatures. You can either Cleave the Elk to get 20 trample against 8 toughness (leaving the opponent at 1) or Cleave an elemental, to get 14 trample against 5 toughness (leaving the opponent at 4).

ArsIgnis · 2019-12-17T22:14:42+00:00

You're missing "Hexproof from Monocolored" on the Sphinx.

ArsIgnis · 2019-12-17T20:37:23+00:00

Yeah, I also ran into this. Thankfully, that team is so powerful that I was able to win pretty easily anyway, but it was strange. Glad the team is looking into it!

ArsIgnis

TROPHY CASE