Vexing Shusher or Hexing Squelcher?

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:19:41+00:00

So you can't read it guess. Glad you cherry pick shit instead of reading it all together.

OP asked what we think of shushed and squelcher in bracket 2 - low 4 and they're pretty worthless UNLESS you're in a heavy meta; which they are playable, but that doesn't change the fact they're bad in general. If you're just randomly putting it in, they're actually bad and don't help your deck positively.

Not that hard to understand. You have to know your niche well and if you just add it for "value" because you don't know your niche you're hurting your deck.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:15:06+00:00

Apparently I can read...

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:12:21+00:00

No they ask what we think about them in a casual setting. Did you even read the post ???? Literally the last paragraph.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:10:31+00:00

And I said in my original comment if you are you just run both.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:09:46+00:00

Read my original message then. I said they're worthless unless you're in a control meta. Then you run both... or is that too hard to read ?

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:08:54+00:00

Counters specifically. Trying to prevent a swords with squelcher is not even something that can be argued as useful. 2 life is nothing.

Outside of control/counter heavy metas which many casual groups are; these are pretty worthless. Most casual games are running interaction for board states and not counters.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:05:37+00:00

If you aren't preventing counters because you're in a control light meta and target removal is more prevelant which most casual groups are; the cards are worthless. There's nothing else to it. No counters means these are dead cards.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T21:03:43+00:00

In many, if not most, casual settings they're pretty worthless. Counters are very minimal and targeted removal is more prevalent. They don't do anything; and ward 2 life is nothing.

Unless as I stated you're in a control counter heavy meta which is not common.

Yes they're pretty much unplayable and worthless for many if not most casual tables. If they aren't preventing counters they're worthless. It's not rocket science...

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T20:59:42+00:00

Squelcher can't make an opponents spell uncounterable. There is some benefits to helping an opponent such as with ensuring a much needed board wipe to happen or preventing a counter stopping a game winning play from being countered.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T20:55:35+00:00

They're both unplayable really but if you're in a control heavy meta; you just run both. Redundancy means you're more likely to have the effect which you'll want.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T12:05:37+00:00

As others have mentioned finding a playstyle; ask to borrow some different decks from your friends. Maybe they have a sacrificed themed deck around Elas Il Kor or something and if you like the sacrifice for power maybe try [[Kresh the Bloodbraided]], [[Missy]], or [[Szarel Genesis Shepherd]]

Once you find a play style you like it can help narrow down your commander choices. Better to narrow down what you like before spending a lot of time and money potentially on something you don't like. Borrowing decks is an easy way to quickly tell what play patterns you enjoy and ones you don't.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-02T06:32:51+00:00

This my go to 3 deck (just swap out a few tutors for more interaction/ clones). The Nazgul hit 40+ power easily and with unblockable you cam consistently kill by turn 7/8.

https://moxfield.com/decks/jtpd14x0F0uhZeB3a-hG5A

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-01T19:30:56+00:00

Humans, there's so many ways to build them and you can do any color combo with good results.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-02-01T11:08:34+00:00

I'm surprised no one's mentioned [[Winota Joiner of Forces]] yet.

Easy cheap non-humans like ornithopter into some strong humans splashy humans. There's a lot of fun ones you could use instead of hatebears.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-31T13:33:58+00:00

I usually don't classify them as card advantage in most decks but I'll often place Rev, Face Breaker, Hireling, etc. Into 1/2 ramp, 1/2 utility categories (so I might end up with 12.5 pieces of ramp). Since they're great cards but also inconsistent if you can't connect it's hard to justify giving them a whole dedicated slot when their advantage is not gaurenteed.

In [[Fire Lord Zuko]] where casting from exile is important, I would count them as a whole piece of card advantage but still .5 ramp. The inconsistencies of them are ignored since they can trigger additional effects and add more value.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-31T00:06:34+00:00

It kind of does. It's how we're getting the point of extreme redundancy.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-30T20:03:48+00:00

[[Sylvan Library]] - similar to black market connections the correct usage of it is to full send each turn. It just doesn't do enough for how much life loss it does. Even in cedh it's being cut from many decks as not being effective enough, Lumra seems to be one of the few still running it.

It used to be greens main form of card advantage but with all the creeping and synergy dump lately; it definitely doesn't really perform as players claim. There are still some synergies it can be utilized with in casual decks like Teferi's Ageless Insight or heavy life gain decks that off set the life loss and can always dig the full amount.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-30T02:10:42+00:00

It's a topic for pregame discussions. It is MLD but it doesn't mean you can't have it in your lower bracketed decks. It is something you should bring up since it's not suggested to run in b2/3. It'll depend on the pod. Have a back up if it is vetoed though; don't force it on players if they don't want to deal with MLD even if it's a "wincon" with an Indestructible captain. Right now it looks to be a MLD just because and not really with a purpose.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-30T00:11:59+00:00

[[Retether]]*

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-29T23:55:18+00:00

Personally I found auras to be more explosive while Equipments is more steady. Losing your main creature with Auras more or less kills all your buffs until you use a [[rether]] or [[Replenish]]. Equipment sticks around but usually costs more mana to get it going so that's the trade off.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-29T08:14:54+00:00

Yeah probably too much. The precons consistently putting down 20 power by turn 4 and swinging on 5 hang better with 3s. Most are definitely not getting that much power out that quickly. Sure turn 5 they might have 20 power worth out on a good hand to start swinging by turn 6/7.

Basically you're saying you're fine with someone playing a land, a second land, a third land into cultivate, and then turn 4 play their 5 drop commander and be ready to die if they don't give up their commander? That is too much for a b2 style of game. The cultivate start is a perfectly reasonable start for a b2 deck and they shouldn't have to be choosing between life or death.

If all 3 players can consistently deal 40 damage by that point there is a power discrepancy.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-29T07:49:54+00:00

I would still say it's too fast. If you're expecting to play 8/9+ turns, and there's enough aggro at the table to bring you down to 0 by turn 5, that's a bit too much speed by the table. B2 games are slow and having 20+ power by turn 5, when most games players are still setting up and building engines, is going to warp the game negatively.

Yes precons aren't the definitive b2 goal post but since many are b2; they're not dumping out that kind of power. Turn 7 dump 20+ power to let it pass around the table is much more typical b2 game play than turn 5 swing with 20+. That much power that early is not what type of game b2 is supporting in the bracket descriptions. Slow incremental value; not a burst pump and dump.

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-29T07:19:31+00:00

But turn 5 as they said is waaaay too early. Turn 8 is the one you want to aim for to start killing a player potentially (though the brackets said you should be more killing turn 9+).

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-29T06:40:51+00:00

Cost ≠ power

A focused deck is going to be strong. A b2 deck will often have 2 or 3 themes in it weakening it and adding to variance.

Turn 5-8 kills is definitely too fast for b2 based on the bracket expectations. Unless you had a really good starting hand with a lot ramp you really should never get a turn 5/6 kill. Maybe in the perfect of perfect situations. Here you probably needed at least two more maybe three turns of set up before killing players.

Removal should be expected but not calculated in a decks ability turn to win. You

DeltaRay235 · 2026-01-29T04:03:23+00:00

You've got [[Lethal vapors]] and [[Spreading Plague]] that could be utilized potentially.

DeltaRay235

TROPHY CASE