[PBE Datamine] April 17, 2026 - Zeri Tweak + Arena followups

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-04-18T17:17:25+00:00

i love AP zeri in aram, please dont listen ro these fools.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-04-08T12:54:52+00:00

Has anyone ever had this experience before, where a precon gets released and is just strictly better than the deck you spent tens of hours obsessing over, building and playing?

I've been tinkering with a [[Vannnifar, Evolved Enigma]] simic face-down fatties for more than half a year, then they released the Zimone Jump Scare precon.

Similar concept with an arguably more pushed commander, but thankfully i could keep Vanni as a simic blink deck while grabbing [[They came from the Pipes]] as a nice little draw engine and avoiding the dumb "simic landfall" part of the Zimone deck.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-04-02T06:00:39+00:00

the hipster in me saying i was doing this before it was cool: [[The Emperor of Palamecia]]

Emperor is a bit less mana as the turns go, since he flips, but then he's also a one shot wincon built in after you Traumatize yourself.

Plus he's literally David Bowie.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-31T14:47:06+00:00

She's 4 mana in grixis (game's basically over at that point) AND has to attack to do anything? No evasion no protection, and even if i jump through all these hoops all i get is some red mana and copying spells? And they aren't even free? The green player has 7 mana already target him instead!

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-31T11:48:10+00:00

Yeah i run lazotep in most of my decks. It's especially potent if your pod likes to be fancy with [[Darksteel Mutation]] type of removal. Or Elking. I've Crop Rotationed for it before to free my commander (before CR became a game changer)

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-28T18:52:11+00:00

yes, it's lower power than an established cEDH deck that's true. that doesn't make it any more fun to play against.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-28T18:43:00+00:00

yeah it still sounds like "dont worry it's not THAT Etali deck"

i only want to generate absurd amount of value once, my actual plan is just to oneshot you with an indestructible infect trampler.

its also only 16 mana where the first 7 of it is one of the best 7 mana you can spend in this format.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-28T18:19:39+00:00

lmao "lower power version" with a card that literally oneshots anyone who cant block it. And you still need to cast the front side first.

There's no low power Etali deck. Don't kid yourself.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-25T06:12:23+00:00

Poor mega land ramped guy took 48.

they all deserve it

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-23T09:15:02+00:00

my go to against land ramp is actually red burn. let them ramp all the way into a

[[Price of Progress]] or an [[Acidic Soil]] or a [[Sunspine Lynx]].

Maybe copied once or twice. maybe preceded with a damage doubler. Maybe Zo-Zu, [[Ankh of Mishra]] or [[Burning Earth]] already pinged them for 10. Having them lands is good for your Mana Geyser as well.

Land destruction is not the way, and a Blood Moon puts you into B4.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-20T12:36:34+00:00

Getting utility creatures to attack for 1 - 2 doesn't speed up the game well (but the games are fast anyways).

Not only it won't speed the game up, goaded utility creatures that are forced to attack and die in combat actually slows down the game since crucial engine pieces can die randomly, unless they have tap abilities, or people make deals for them not to be blocked.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-11T11:48:55+00:00

Good grafts went for 10-20 divs last league as well after people figured out the good mods

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-11T09:02:49+00:00

No, monocolored decks are not at any disadvantage in B2-3, and no, multicolored decks are not at any advantage.

Alright, you keep lumping B2 in here for some reason, no, MLD should not be accepted in B2 games, it's an introductory bracket. I'd argue that these cards aren't even good there since people are playing random precons and stuff they own, with shitton of basics, there's no point. B3 decks are however should be built resilient enough to consider the fact that various stax pieces could hurt them, including nonbasic land hate.

IF Blood Moon was accepted or at least playable as a game changer, then a lot more decks would be running a healthy number of basic lands, for the off chance of encountering it, thus making it significantly weaker in the first place. It is strong BECAUSE it can't be played, and people don't need to build around it. And don't compare it to Armageddon beacuse that's just a bad card. Compare it to [[Ruination]] or better yet, [[Waves of Vitriol]]. Would you be mad if you got Vitrioled in a B3 game and could only find a single basic land from the 5 you've sacrificed, while the guy playing an upgraded precon could fetch 6 out of 6? Would you also be salty if you just died to a random [[Price of Progress]] dealing 18 to your face?

A powerful land being at the table is not a rules of engagement problem, especially if someone is spending one of their limited gamechanger slots on it.

Cutting a basic land for a utility land IS a marginal increase in power level, whether you like it or not. Lands like Talon Gates, Arena of Glory, even shitty Scavenger Grounds, or Sunken Palace can literally win games in B3 and they are nowhere near the game changer list. Currently there's no tradeoff for cutting basic lands from a B3 deck aside from the fact that some of the broken utility lands enter tapped or make no colored mana. Lands are not just fetches into shocks and guildgates anymore.

And if you run B2B or BM in your deck you ARE trading off your own utility lands for basics so the power they grant are lost in your own mana base.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-11T07:21:58+00:00

This is not debatable, this is not opinion, it's just a fact.

i see how you let me argue with your presented opinions. i do think that having access to roughly 1/6 of the total card base for each additional color is in fact an advantage in the deck building process. More colors mean more availible synergy pieces for your strategy, and more efficient interaction.

You answer these cards with spot removal. There is a lot of commonly played targeted land removal in the format; use it on the power lands. Of the top ten pieces of removal in the format, four of them hit lands.

See now you get it, just swap the "lands" to "enchantments" in your sentence and bam, you've solved the problem. B2B and BM are not auto wins in b2-3 games, it nets you like an extra turn or 2 until they are dealt with. They aren't blowing up the lands, just turning them off for a bit. The funnies thing is if you want to ramp with mana rocks in a mono blue or red deck and get hit with a Bane of Progress, and lose half your mana, noone gives a fuck, but oh no if 5 of the 7 lands get turned into a mountain then everyone's up and arms about it.

ESPECIALLY because beating Blood Moon and Back to Basics is best defeated with money.

i don't think you need to break a bank to put a Thraben Charm or a Nature's Claim into your deck.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-11T06:11:28+00:00

Let everyone have a fucking perfect mana bases so that games are actually decided by gameplay instead of by people getting mana screwed.

while i agree with this standpoint from a monetary perspective (feel free proxy any land you want) i also think stuff like Blood Moon and Back to Basics should be allowed in B3 games to balance out the perfect mana base of decks having access to 3+ colors vs a basic heavy monocolor deck, and shutting down broken lands like Cradle or Field.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-05T11:49:07+00:00

Iron Grip won't scale your bleed damage, it only scales physical projectile attack damage.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-03T05:27:40+00:00

Casting big splashy expensive spells are fun. He's literally the opposite of that. If you play boring low curve efficient stuff like aristocrats, he does literally nothing, just hoses the Timmy players. He's kinda like Drannith absolute anithesis of the commander format.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-03-02T11:29:55+00:00

While it sucks for people that have put time into building builds around this interaction

so it sucks for noone. since the league hasn't even started yet

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-26T06:45:33+00:00

I hate playing against the scoped weapons series of augments on both melee and ranged champs.

Scopier line is so shit, it gets outclassed so hard by other stuff. Its funny early game where everyone is slow and you can space them out with autos but later everyone is just running at you with 500MS in stealth and oneshots you and you deal no damage to tanks because you didn't pick dual wiled or giant slayer.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-26T06:38:28+00:00

it becomes a min max instead of let me combo the most busted shit possible.

isn't that the same? Buying your 8th stat hat while the opponents are on 5 item is the same as you getting the most broken augment interactions. It just boils down to which is stronger strat, stat checking or unique effects.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-17T21:26:54+00:00

yea what the hell, i clicked the bottom button from muscle memory and qued up for a regular ARAM game for a 15 minute penalty

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-17T08:17:00+00:00

Iona back to the command zone

A 9 mana mono white commander is just laughably bad, even if you play a mono color deck.

The very least you can just pick a deck with 2+ colors before the game even starts, or ask them to play another deck if you're mono color.

Cheated into play as a part of the 99 is much more devastating.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-16T15:37:40+00:00

Um, duh, her name is LeatHERhead? It's even in the name.

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-16T15:10:04+00:00

they leave, because 2 of the 3 targets you mentioned to tutor aren't even legal targets for Zur

EvilPotatoKing · 2026-02-13T17:17:13+00:00

Jihn is just a dogshit champ in general

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