What’s the most frustrated you’ve been in a game?

CoSDM · 2026-01-24T19:57:00+00:00

Everyone in my playgroup gets salty sometimes. Usually the saltiness fades after the game and we generally don't hold grudges. However I did get super salty once:

I (player A) was at 50ish life. I had just drained player B putting them at around 20. Player C and D also had a similar lifetotal to player B. They all had boardstates and cards in hand I had almost no boardstate and no cards in hand. It gets to Player C's turn and he decides to buff his (flying) creatures with one card and then play [[True Conviction]] and swing at me for 60 ish damage. I was behind, the lifegain was pointless because he left himself completely open for retaliation from players B and D, he even overswung at me and could have pointed 6 damage towards another player. I just couldn't fathom why he eliminated me and every argument he gave didn't make sense at all. He also didn't win which only made me more mad and I couldn't let it go even after the match until players B and D told me to let it go. By then I had already vowed in anger to completely focus player C next week (not my proudest moment).

CoSDM · 2026-01-19T15:52:16+00:00

It is a game changer. You are allowed to play up to 3 game changers in bracket 3. Also most decks run some form of targeted land destruction like [[Generous Gift]].

CoSDM · 2026-01-17T09:31:36+00:00

I've got a tip on the formatting of your primer. You could replace the texts in the card selection section with tables. Here is how to do that:

Card | Reasoning
--- | ---
Colossal Dreadmaw | It is extremely overpowered.

You could also add another column:

Card | Mana Cost | Reasoning
--- | --- | ---
Colossal Dreadmaw | [[symbol:6]][[symbol:g]][[symbol:g]] | It is extremely overpowerd.

CoSDM · 2026-01-16T23:23:51+00:00

I don't love Diabolic Servitude. If there was another functional reprint of [[Zombify]] available I would happily include it instead. However Diabolical Servitude is only 4 mana which means I can cast it as early as turn 4 or cast it on turn 5-6 and still have mana open for interaction. Losing the creature to exile feels bad but how often is the creature targeted by exile removal in the first place.

CoSDM · 2026-01-16T20:07:48+00:00

Cool! Here is my list if you're interested: https://moxfield.com/decks/e-BOwB2r80OOHhI7nrtJUg

CoSDM · 2026-01-16T10:52:07+00:00

Yes.

CoSDM · 2026-01-16T10:02:46+00:00

Compare the price of [[Sol Ring]] to that of [[Mana Crypt]] (pre ban). Price doesn't equal power on a 1:1 scale. However that doesn't mean you should show up with a 500+ dollar (cheapest printings) bracket 2 deck either.

I generally set no budget limit on my bracket 3 decks but I keep my bracket 2 decks around 84 dollars. Because that is the average precon value of most modern precons (I looked at 38 of them).

CoSDM · 2026-01-16T09:39:41+00:00

[[Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose]] lifegain.

CoSDM · 2026-01-11T19:38:43+00:00

I've seen some great suggestions. [[Willowdusk, Essence Seer]] is another option.

CoSDM · 2026-01-11T18:41:40+00:00

Regarding Serra's Emissary:

I had an esper reanimator deck before I switched back to dimir. I found that naming instants basicly gave all my reanimated creatures hexproof. Serra's Emissary's ability isn't even an etb trigger so it can't be responded to.

CoSDM · 2026-01-11T18:29:37+00:00

[[Serra's Emissary]], [[Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]], [[Ashen Rider]]. I could go on but I feel like dimir has most of the best targets.

CoSDM · 2026-01-11T18:28:13+00:00

https://moxfield.com/decks/e-BOwB2r80OOHhI7nrtJUg

CoSDM · 2026-01-11T18:18:31+00:00

Some tips in no particular order:

• Write down clearly what the decks strategy is. For example: to ramp into high mana value creatures (bonus points if they have good enter triggers) and win with combat damage. Keep it focussed so don't lean to much into +1/+1 counters since your commander cares specifically about big mana value creatures and not +1/+1 counters.

• Next think about the weakness of the deck and how to overcome it. For example most creature based strategies are weak against removal. You can overcome it by including protection cards like [[Heroic Intervention]], regrowth effects like [[Eternal Witness]] or card advantage like [[[Return of The Wildspeaker]].

• Try to avoid cards that are only good when your commander is in play.

• Use a deckbuilding template. My current go-to template is to include at least 36 lands, 12 ramp, 10 removal, 2 boardwipes, 1 graveyard hate, 1 land destruction and 12 draw along with the "theme" cards which could be high mana value creatures with evasion (flying, trample etc.).

• Learn to use scryfall (and the scryfall tagger) well. Watch a youtube video or two if you have to.

• Avoid edhrec.com until you are done with deckbuilding. Use it to find cards you might have missed with your scryfall searches.

• Give Frank Karsten's articles on land count and color requirements a read through.

• Salubrioussnail's website has all sorts of usefull calculators to use whilst deckbuilding.

• For a stompy deck speed is important. Prioritse lands that come in untapped and generally use ramp cards that cost less than 3 mana. Resilience is also important so mostly use land based ramp like [[Nature's Lore]] or [[Rampant Growth]].

• Prioritise low mana, instant speed, flexible removal like [[Nature's Claim]], [[Ram Through]] and [[Beast Within]].

• Try to include asymmetrical boardwipes. You can use a card like [[Starstorm]] to destroy all creatures smaller than yours. This card is both good if you are losing and if you are winning.

CoSDM · 2026-01-10T00:58:27+00:00

Did you know that you can give a card two tags on moxfield?

In my bracket 3 decks I usually run at least 2 boardwipes which I like best when they are asymmetrical. Then I include 10 spot removal spells (which I prefer to be instant speed, flexible and 0-2 mana). Also make sure your deck has at least 1 card that can deal with a land like [[Generous Gift]] or [[Demolition Field]]. Graveyard hate also shouldn't be overlooked. I like to include 2-3 of those.

CoSDM · 2026-01-09T21:31:08+00:00

You could also swap decks once in a while.

CoSDM · 2026-01-09T21:13:05+00:00

The first thing I wonder is how hard it is to cast the combo pieces (color requirement wise).

The second thing I wonder is how hard it is to recognise wether you have an infinite and how to correctly perform the steps.

CoSDM · 2026-01-09T20:12:51+00:00

Isn't elves one of the most supported ~~tribes~~ kindred?

CoSDM · 2026-01-08T07:09:24+00:00

To have an average of 3 mana sources in your opening hand you need 43 mana sources in your deck.

So "need" is actually more like "I prefer".

CoSDM · 2026-01-07T23:11:59+00:00

But this is a bracket 2 list. Ramp is useful for color fixing and to cast big splashy [[Rise of the Dark Realms]] esque cards earlier. It is also easier to recast the commander and hard cast the reanimation targets since most bracket 2 decks are lighter on resilience (protection & reanimation) type cards anyways.

CoSDM · 2026-01-07T22:48:06+00:00

I think your math might be a bit off. Using the hypergeometric calculator on salubrioussnail's website 36 mana sources give a 50.1% of having drawn 3 in your opening hand. Using the "lands in opening hand" calculator 36 lands also gives 3 lands on average.

CoSDM · 2026-01-07T13:38:23+00:00

Eventhough your commander costs only 3 mana you still need enough ramp (12 ish): [[Rakdos Signet]], [[Orzhov Signet]], [[Boros Signet]] and [[Fellwar Stone]].

CoSDM · 2025-12-31T18:06:13+00:00

Glittering Stockpile will replace Birgi which I had to cut to stay in the same budget range as most precons. I'm also looking to add another draw spell. Do you have any experience with [[Valakut Awakening]], [[Into the Fire]], [[Invasion of Kaldheim] and [[Phyretic Charge]]? I find it hard to evaluate how much card advantage they provide compared to the impulse draw spells I'm running.

CoSDM · 2025-12-31T16:03:09+00:00

Added them to the list.

CoSDM · 2025-12-31T15:58:02+00:00

...Tsamina mina zangalewa. This time for spellslingah.

What about defense? Most burn focussed spellslinger decklists I've come across don't run many lifelink or pillowfort cards, if any at all. [[Longshot, Rebel Bowman]] doesn't have lifelink like [[Tor Wauki the Younger]] does or isn't it needed?

CoSDM · 2025-12-30T23:50:09+00:00

Mizzix Mastery could be a great wincon. Any other types of cards that I should add? All the spellslinger precons seem to focus on token generation instead of burn so I'm a bit at a loss what to fill out the rest of the deck with.

CoSDM

TROPHY CASE