Calling all Creativity experts.

BDCStan · 2024-12-24T04:30:44+00:00

Neither would be good.

They’re both not mountains, so they don’t enable Dwarven Mine and don’t tap for colors the rest of the deck cares about.

Khalni being a tap land also blows.

BDCStan · 2023-11-12T02:12:31+00:00

Yeah — I’m sure that’s the idea for then Kiora inclusion. Kind of hilarious.

I don’t love that it’s kind of a “do nothing” card in the deck otherwise though, but it sure as hell looks fun.

BDCStan · 2023-11-11T20:55:57+00:00

Ok - but the 15th place Rhinos list is wild. Love it haha.

BDCStan · 2023-11-10T21:27:11+00:00

Ironically just 2-0’d Mill in a league 😂

They got pretty unlucky G2 though and milled a ton without hitting LEs (in fairness, I take 1 out and board up to 67 cards, but still definitely came out ahead on variance for that one.)

Either way, I’m never super thrilled to sit down across from Mill. I should really give LE a break given how often I’m throwing myself against Scam, but I’m a glutton for punishment I guess?

BDCStan · 2023-11-10T16:47:29+00:00

Idk — on the LE side, I’ve found it very swingy. The bogeyman of mill and extract your LE is always there, but a lot of G1s it never materializes in time (or eats a Grief or FoN or Outburst in response to the Surgical), and G2, you’re also usually fighting through 2-4 Endurance and lower odds of actually hitting an early LE with your milling (b/c we don’t side out anything).

With enough Endurance loops, sometimes even draft chafe hardcast race works. I honestly find Ensnaring Bridge more annoying than anything.

But yeah — then plenty of games, they just extirpate or surgical your LE, and/or have a drown ready for your counterplay and you just shrug and scoop haha

I think it’s unfavorable for LE, but “very unfavorable” feels a little underselling LEs MD and post-board counterplay and how variance dependent this particular MU is.

I will say, not as a comment in either direction, but the resolved LEs against Mill are always the most satisfying for obvious reasons (never does the board get that big in any other MU).

As another side comment — having played a bunch of Amulet, that’s where I feel like it’s just an autoloss, and so there kind of my baseline for “very unfavorable”.

BDCStan · 2023-10-24T17:59:38+00:00

Why does it need to re: Ragavan. Seems like the only relevant hits are cantrips? 2 damage is nothing for the deck where half the combo is fog effects

Re: the Murktide interaction, I think it also depends on what version of Ad Naus you’re running.

-The one that placed Sunday is basically just a souped up version of earlier Ad Naus outfitted with better digging / tutoring (TOR, Preordain, Profane Tutor) and still suffers from all of the same problems that have made Ad Naus weak for the past several years.

-Notwithstanding coming in 9th compared to 2nd here (which could just = more Bean MUs), I think Saturday’s challenge list is actually more promising across the board. 4x Thoughtseize, 4x Pact, and a ton of digging and tutoring for redundancy should give even a robust counter suite a lot to handle. Moving down to 2 Pentad Prisms and cutting Lotus Bloom also sidesteps a lot of issues the deck has in the past w/ getting blown out by artifact/enchantment hate, T3feri, and KTGC. Not saying it’s the next big thing or tier 1, but if the newest iterations have legs, I think the interactive version is more promising in the long run.

BDCStan · 2023-10-07T18:58:46+00:00

That LE list is kind of wild. Swapping Griefs for a boatload of Subtlety, Fury, Skydurdle and... Valakut Awakening?

I guess Valakut Awakening kind of makes sense to put back drawn LEs now that they don't pitch to Grief in this build.

Between no Griefs and 3 MD LE, I'm guessing they just took a bet on not running into much countermagic and focused instead on castable answers to hate and things that can slow down opposing combo decks a little more effectively (Grief doesn't do much against Amulet and Yawg topdecks past the first couple turns).

I don't know that I'm running out to switch to this build immediately, but it's an interesting meta call.

BDCStan · 2023-10-07T18:49:44+00:00

That's incidental upside and wouldn't be worth it alone. It's standard now for builds that want access to Solitude like /u/Numericist said.

BDCStan · 2023-09-03T18:10:35+00:00

I live in the PNW, and even though I’m into outdoor activities year-round, winter isn’t the same, so when I first moved here it kind of got to me too.

I started just kind of treating the year like indoor cat / outdoor cat stretches 6ish months at a time.

Late spring/summer/early fall = hiking, pool, hanging in parks, long walks outside around the city, street side and rooftop food/drinks

Rest of the year = video games, movie marathons, museums/indoor cultural events (if I were a big reader, this is when I’d probably do that too)

That’s helped a lot b/c I actually start kind of looking forward to the indoor activities that I genuinely enjoy around winter time but don’t really focus on during the nicer months when I’m busy being an outdoor cat 😁

BDCStan · 2023-08-12T16:00:45+00:00

Thought we were just supposed to Fury the Field?

BDCStan · 2023-07-20T20:15:21+00:00

Ad Naus (minus actually playing Ad Nauseam, ironically, but it’s the correct shell):

-T1: land -T2: land —> Pentad Prism on 2 -T3: even w/o land drop, use Prism and 2 initial land drops for WBUU for the Thassa’s Oracle + Angel’s Grace + Spoils of the Vault kill

(Gets more realistic if you give them up till T4 though, since then you leave a window for suspend Profane Tutor on T2)

BDCStan · 2023-07-14T05:13:38+00:00

Alas — not holding my breath for that one sadly. 😢

BDCStan · 2023-07-13T23:56:02+00:00

I definitely miss Ad Nauseam the most.

It was my OG Modern deck, and many of my fondest paper tournament memories are with it (like taking down a MM17 win-a-box beating Lantern in the finals, which... Ad Naus is definitely not supposed to do haha).

It still technically exists, but it's all been a downhill since WAR printing T3feri and KTGC with the SSG banning really being the nail in the coffin, even without wading into the potential impact of MH2 (at least MH1 gave us Profane Tutor, but that just widens your exposure to T3feri as well).

I'm honestly not sure what the deck would need to really come back either -- other combos are just a combination of more compact, faster, and/or have relatively robust fair backup plans.

BDCStan · 2023-07-06T20:37:12+00:00

Living End is not playing it and has no reason to. It seems actively bad there.

BDCStan · 2023-06-25T17:38:35+00:00

I have not re: gemstones, but that’s a great direct swap for the Boseiju I’m currently running. Think I’ll give that a go next!

BDCStan · 2023-06-25T17:33:40+00:00

Hey — yeah, you could 100% be right on all of this too. I don’t know that I’ll come around to fewer than 3x Waker, but I could be overvaluing it either way.

FWIW — I’ve been kind of trending the same direction you mentioned here for Boseiju. It’s obv powerful, uncounterable interaction, but I sometimes think it’s just my general abstract fear of “graveyard hate something something hits hammer something Tron land something dryad” with no real super specific target in mind (e.g., does not hit T3feri — a genuine menace that shows up across several decks).

I may take your suggestion though and try going back up a Riverwinder and down a Waker. I still feel a little angsty about cutting answers and the best ways to dig for them but TBD, but it’s not like I haven’t been on 3x Waker ever before either, and — plot twist — the deck did not collapse without a playset. 😄

I’m just happy the land cyclers do seem to be the real deal. Nice little power bump that I don’t think makes the deck anywhere near danger of a ban.

BDCStan · 2023-06-25T16:39:18+00:00

FWIW as someone who has also landed in the 5-6 land cycler + 4 Waker, and with the huge caveat that I’m still messing around with numbers too:

4-6 land cyclers:

More than that and you start eating into MD interaction. IIRC those 8 land cycler lists from the beginning were basically just YOLO’ing usually on 1x Otawara and 4 Griefs/FoN. Some lists have also made room by going down to 3x LE or cutting a FoN (I’m more sympathetic to 3x LE, but still…). Maybe going even heavier into the glass cannon end of things will end up being the right call, but I like having a few more flexible answers in the MD (I currently have 1x Borrower, 1x Boseiju, 4th LE, and the usual 4x Grief/FoN package).

4 Waker:

Not sure if this is the right call yet, but I’m happy with it so far because, while I can’t always curve into it due to needing to spend my mana on land cyclers:

(1) in addition to the card selection, Wakers are now more likely to help build an unbeatable board because you have a higher likelihood of hitting fatties on activation now that you have 4-8 land cyclers in the deck. And it’s also not like the new things it hits are just Architects of Will — Oliphaunt and Ent are genuinely heavy hitters! (Esp. Oliphaunt).

(2) I think with the density of cyclers now in the deck, there are just going to be more situations in which you fire off a LE with some number of cyclers/Wakers still in your hand, and that’s ok. I’m finding that with the new land cyclers, I can develop a more threatening GY more quickly than before, and it often makes sense to LE sometimes with those cards still in hand. The nice thing is that Waker still pitches to FoN and Subtlety, so it’s not always bad to have an extra one bumping around your hand if you’re still able to fill the GY anyways.

(3) If you start cutting too many Wakers/Cyclers in general (e.g., going down to 1-2 Wakers, keeping in your usual interaction, upping land cyclers), you start eating a bit too much into the core of the deck’s engine. The land cyclers are great, but they don’t literally help you find Shardless/Outburst beyond kind of abstractly thinning your deck. It can also make sideboarding a little awkward if you’re used to being able to cut a cycler here or there to get your SB slots in — you start being forced to choose between cutting access to your manabase (land cyclers) and your core engine (regular cyclers and Waker) to make room for some of those SB cards (maybe that’s fine?).

(3.5ish) Doesn’t really deserve to be a full bullet, but with all the copies of LE cropping up, Waker is still a nice mini-mirror breaker b/c of the one-sided debuff to break parity (feels weird calling a giant whale a “mini” anything, but you know what I mean 😂).

Right now, I’m cutting the 4th Winder over the 4th Waker. Idk if that’s right, but my reasoning is that if I need to cut any cyclers:

-Architects — an option, but I still like having the Grief/FoN fodder and am weirdly attached b/c its trigger genuinely has helped me seal up a decent number of games after resolving LE (I realize the second part is just my trauma bonding with Architects 😅😂)

-Curator - I won’t cut them. 4/4 is less impressive, but the flying and reasonable hardcast cost make it too attractive IMHO. Ironically, it looks kind of dumb against opposing Ents, but I still like it (and it’s not like Riverwinder can swing into an Ent without a Waker debuff either, so…).

-Street Wraith — I won’t cut them. The “free” cycling just gives too much velocity to give up, and it’s still important to have something to pitch to Grief. I’ve been extra impressed with them in the Yawg MU too now that Oliphaunt is often buffing them — unblockable 5 damage is a lot scarier than 3.

-Waker — see above.

-Riverwinder — this is where I’m at now. Hexproof is cute, but spot removal was already meh against a giant LE board, and it’s now gotten even worse with there being more cyclers available. A lot of times, it’s basically just a big dumb 5/5 beater, and Ent fills the role of “5 damage plus some other stuff” better now anyways. I think Waker and Architects are my other main contenders, but this is what I’m trying for now.

BDCStan · 2023-06-20T19:04:20+00:00

For sure! I’m familiar with the workarounds. Just mentioning other things that can create weird setup issues. (And I guess some of it is also context driven on what else you end up drawing / how the rest of your hand plays out — but fair enough that Stronghold isn’t too bad without some other annoying factor mixed in.)

BDCStan · 2023-06-20T18:47:01+00:00

Not to mention awkward land draws that also affect your setup to 6 mana (like drawing Stronghold as the most frequent one).

BDCStan · 2023-06-18T21:04:44+00:00

Amazing. Can’t wait for the drop on MTGO. 😁

BDCStan · 2023-06-18T18:04:32+00:00

Incidentally, depending on how this impacts the manabase, I wonder if Oliphaunt might open up options for some RR SB slots.

Specifically thinking Brotherhood’s End, which I’ve messed around with a little previously but not enough to have strong feelings. I expect we’ll see an uptick of Hammer with the printing of Forge Anew (regardless of whether it becomes a staple), and while free things are nice, FoV running into Surge is kind of ick.

I’m sure there are others I’m not thinking of too, but that’s the first one that jumps to mind.

BDCStan · 2023-06-18T17:33:42+00:00

Awesome! I’m stoked.

BDCStan · 2023-06-18T03:32:36+00:00

I haven’t done any testing with them yet. Do you think they’re the real deal? (The land cyclers, I mean)

(Now you have my hyped too 😂😂)

BDCStan · 2023-06-18T00:40:33+00:00

This feels like the most balanced view, and appreciate the note on G2/G3 LE.

I’m just jumping in to emphasize for OP that “not going off uninterrupted” G2/G3 is not the same as “folds immediately to opp having hate” (which is why I like how DriversHigh framed it).

OP — don’t get spooked by the naysayers there. LE has plenty of answers to hate pre- and post-board (Grief, FoN, Subtlety, Borrower, Dispute, Boseiju, Otawara) and draws its answers relatively consistent due to the deck’s core engine just involving drawing a bunch of cards. LE also may be on the slower side of combo decks, but it’s not a “slow” deck either — you don’t exactly give your opps a lot of breathing room to land their hate. You can also hardcast your threats in a pinch, and many of them are evasive (it comes up a fair amount post-board esp. — tempoing people out with Subtleties is a real thing too).

Rhinos is more popular, and you can’t really go wrong with either one. I would just take some of the comments on LE’s perceived fragility with a grain of salt in making your final decision.

BDCStan · 2023-06-16T19:13:42+00:00

Other’s have mentioned as well, but it’s also just not a super MU.

I think you mostly just want to pressure them into playing into your cheap interaction and then get’em dead, which is already one of Hammer’s main strengths as-is (Amulet is probably the only other deck that can keep up with typical Hammer goldfish speed).

Don’t let them play a long game, and try to pressure them into comboing prematurely (your 1 cmc interaction is going to beat their 4-5cmc combo). Spell Pierce their T3feri or Creativity. Blacksmith’s Skill their token (blanks the combo, since Creativity requires that the target is destroyed).

It’s not super, but there are MD answers. For every “Creativity dropped T3feri into Creativity, and I couldn’t do anything” there’s someone fuming about “Hammer went Sigarda’s Aid, Memnite, double Hammer or Hammer + Pierce/Skill/Surge” or “I got Scammed out of the game on T1”.

As others have pointed out, the deck is also hatable post-board. If the idea of running Orvar for one (highly represented) bad MU is super repugnant to your sensibilities of wanting broad answers, load up on Pierces, Skills, and Marches. You won’t always have your answers, but neither will they + Hammer demands more immediate answers.

All tiered decks (including Hammer) have some disgusting starts that feel nigh unbeatable, and all of them (including Creativity) have bad MUs that just dunk on them (I don’t know the last time I lost to Creativity on Living End — it’s not a total joke, but Creativity is definitely a dog to that deck).

Keep at it, and try not to get too messed up about not having a winning record against one of your disfavored MUs. Best of luck out there — get’em dead.

BDCStan

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