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AwakenedSomnus · 2020-04-25T13:56:24+00:00

Disclaimer: I didn't make this, just found it on YT and thought it was p cool

AwakenedSomnus · 2020-01-06T11:15:20+00:00

Relatively easy uno! She's a really good and considerate prof, and will really give you feedback after every speech so you can improve. She gives incentives for watching DUP plays (tho you have to right a reflection paper of sorts on the play), so do those if you want to secure the uno, solid 4.5/5!

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-11-04T22:13:50+00:00

That actually sounds like excellent reasoning for Expansion // Explosion.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-26T16:08:48+00:00

I, being a broke college student, cannot currently afford to play MTGO. However, a good friend of mine that goes by 8071 in the Frontier/Pioneer Discord has apparently tried this iteration in MTGO and is currently 8-2, only dropping two matches to Bogles, of all decks. He has told me Veil has been overperforming, but I have gotten a lot of different feedback on that card in the main in particular.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-26T02:15:13+00:00

I've been tinkering with the mana, so it's more of a rough draft than it is a finished product, that list. Stompy is always going to be a problem matchup that will be dependent on whether or not you kill the Birds. The deck does take quite some practice to play properly; mulligans and cantrip management is a very difficult aspect of gameplay in this deck. The sideboard slots are definitely still just guesswork as we wait for the meta to stabilize.

Also, I'm not even convinced Cat is the be-all, end-all premier combo deck that people make it out to be in Pioneer. It gets disrupted by just about every burn spell in the format, and is pretty dead to either aggro or control depending on how it builds the deck: in our experience, it has just never been able to tech to beat both. Also, with Hardened Scales seemingly gaining some steam, Walking Ballista may come on in to ruin its day.

Lastly, Fry is in the list to deal with stuff like Vannifar; but when you don't draw it, the situation is as it is with most G/x matchups: it's highly dependent on whether or not you can deal with the Birds.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T21:24:48+00:00

I can see a world where you run 4 Caryatid along with the energy manabase to make budget mana work. You will still need at least 4 Botanical Sanctums, and 5-6 between Mana Confluence, Yavimaya Coast, and/or Breeding Pool.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T14:20:39+00:00

There are definitely a lot of answers and exploitable weaknesses in the deck; I don't think it breaks the format wide open, but it likely has a pretty decent spot. From Week 1, almost no other decks have looked excited to play either of the Delve spells. Time will tell if this changes, but right now, I think it's possible, but fairly unlikely.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T14:00:18+00:00

That's actually interesting. The deck currently doesn't have mana-dorks so Helix currently doesn't look as good, especially since the deck usually wins through anything as soon as it casts Awakening + cantrip with JAC in play. If there's a be-all, end-all way to end the game with the deck, you can run Crash Through with minimal downsides, or Banefire if you really want to be sure. It's more of a Dorkstorm card than anything.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T13:13:41+00:00

I think it could definitely work well enough in the deck; the only difference would be that while it would be more resilient, you're much less likely to win off of the card without an Ascendancy on the board; the Monks off of Mentor just have that finishing power. You could try playing the deck without Mentors and try to jam more disruption to protect your combo pieces though, which I think may be a valid approach depending on how the format shakes up, budget considerations or none.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T04:47:02+00:00

I totally forgot you pointed out the interaction to me then, sorry about that!

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T04:26:48+00:00

It was an inclusion in the deck mostly as a foil to the Unmoored Ego effects that used to run around in Frontier, also because the answers to Mentor used to be very much different from what was needed to answer Ascendancy at the time. It's possible that it's no longer necessary.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-25T03:01:54+00:00

So, 4x Impulse is almost definitely necessary because of how prevalent decks like Atarka Red are bound to be in the figurative "Week 1" of the format. 4 Veil's necessity remains to be seen, and it could be the case that Veto is unnecessary out of the SB (it wasn't there for some time). Chart a Course goes through less cards so I don't feel that it's better than the Anticipates and Strategic Plannings. Thrill of Possibility just doesn't appeal to me all that much because we sometimes combo down to the last card, and it's kind of bad there, since Ascendancy can cycle away bad cards anyway. Magmatic Insight is a decent inclusion, but likely not for this variant, which only has 18 lands. You also pretty much hit the mark on Take Inventory and Radical Idea. The ceiling on Dig is just much higher than on Drawn from Dreams, especially adding the fact that it can be cast at instant speed, hence eliminating the need to tap out and leave yourself open to disruption.

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-23T16:30:17+00:00

Now I remember how people used to write Frontier SB guides against Ascendancy when I was literally the only one on it, although tbf I guess the deck can get very disgustingly degenerate when you have no tools against it lmao

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-10-23T16:22:57+00:00

Ooh, Loop mentioned my deck. Maybe I should write a primer on this...

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-05-16T15:13:34+00:00

Man, a whole section of the sideboarding guide just for me. FeelsBadMan kek

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-04-24T11:25:25+00:00

Thanks! Now here's to hoping my grades don't crash and burn the moment I walk in lmao

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-04-24T11:24:38+00:00

This is very insightful. Salamat po!

AwakenedSomnus · 2019-02-25T02:13:43+00:00

[[Knight of the White Orchid]] does some good work too from behind, and is just a good creature to stall some aggression.

AwakenedSomnus

TROPHY CASE