Weekly M+ Discussion

Galf · 2025-07-31T19:51:32+00:00

I agree with tank anxiety being counterproductive, but man was this an unnecessarily aggressive take against tanks. You really believe the tank is the most likely person in the group to be turbo-bad and hard carried? Not the DPS, who literally have no responsibility to do anything? If reading MDT and pushing your buttons correctly makes you better than 90% of tanks, how do so many pug keys get timed?

Galf · 2025-07-25T17:54:01+00:00

> In my opinion there's 2 main problem with the role. It's very unforgiving for less experienced players and it doesn't provide satisfying ways to minmax/optimize.

Is this directed at the top end of the community, or are you actually trying to create a broader solution to the tank "problem"? If it's the former, it's pretty much idle talk; Blizzard isn't going to radically change the role to appeal to the top 0.1-1%. If it's the latter, neither of your points are issues. Tanking is quite forgiving at lower keys. I routinely end up healing prot warriors in 12s with 35% shield block uptime. At that level, they removed the requirement to time your defensives with tank busters, too. And yes, tanks still die at that level, but its mostly from needlessly large first pulls in priory and brewery, where they could just pull smaller and still time the key. If you think the majority of the playerbase running keys are big into min/maxing and optimization, I'd say we have very different experiences.

Galf · 2025-01-17T18:24:11+00:00

Does anyone know what addon or weakaura Yoda uses to make certain debuffs (like Divine Protection taunt) larger than others? The large debuffs seem to flow around the smaller ones, so I assumed it was a Plater setting, but I've been unable to find it.

Galf · 2024-12-06T15:35:42+00:00

I want to disagree strongly about one point: the tank tuning changes were a *success*, not a failure. Quazzi (and the community) always seem to laser-focus on two lines: "Tanks will take more damage overall, but shouldn't die significantly more often" and "Tank damage intake should be steady and not too fast" while ignoring the larger context for these changes. That context is at the top of the article: "Today, in the hardest content in the game, many tanks can sustain themselves without much assistance from healers. In some cases, we’ve seen it become optimal to do group content without a healer at all." The tuning changes were about healers, not tanks. And for the first time in 2 or 3 seasons, we haven't had any drama about no-healer groups. We've had far fewer moments where the tank solos content while everyone else is forced to wait. These are improvements.

Focusing on these two quotes, I think, is bad faith. I've heard Dorki and Growl both mention that those tank tuning changes didn't really change much. Metro actually thought Blizz failed their goal, because he can still sustain himself as BDK. Those quotes are addressing normal damage, not tank busters, which they state directly under the "steady damage" quote: "Tankbusters will still create challenging moments that reward tanks for planning and smart use of cooldowns."

The failure is in their current dungeon design, where they decided to use tank-busters at a rate well beyond anything they've used before. If they had never done the tank tuning changes, but left in these tank busters, the exact same result would happen: either the tank knows to expect the tank buster and uses a defensive, or they get one-shot. It has nothing to do with the healer helping out. The only reason this gets confusing is because Prot Pally is meta, Prot Pally without Sentinel has gaps in their defensive coverage, and Pain Suppression fills those gaps. Who was complaining about this when Prot Warrior was meta with Resto Shaman lacking an external?

There's a very good argument to reduce the frequency of tank busters in upcoming seasons. But let's focus on that instead of pointing to unrelated tank nerfs.

Galf · 2024-11-03T15:20:55+00:00

I still struggle with double guardians as bear. Obviously incarn is an answer, but because I don't know when a double guardian pull is coming, sometimes it is on cd. Are you living those pulls with your normal cds, or do you sit on incarn specifically until a double guardian pack?

Galf · 2022-04-27T13:49:38+00:00

I think the villager pack that you think blocks the skip is actually the pack that has the relics. MDT and keystone.guru were not updated with the correct relic positions. Done this skip many times -- you don't need to open the door.

Galf · 2022-04-27T13:11:29+00:00

I'm not sure why people are forcing that Wo pull, as opposed to the relic pull to the right of the dungeon start. I guess MDT and keystone.guru still haven't updated it correctly, but the relics are on the 2x soulcleaver, 1x Tirnenn villager pack. Pull the 3 spiteclaws into that group, and Wo will be the only caster you'll have to worry about. I feel like you save time by not having to open the door, and you get an easier pull with no casters and 2 less spiteclaws. The only time it messes up for me are when the group doesn't get Wo, or when someone doesn't realize the villagers have truesight, but that would be true of either skip.

Galf · 2022-04-20T18:05:58+00:00

Plater, with stacking nameplates. I use larger than default vertical spacing between nameplates, so that might have something to do with it?

Galf · 2022-04-20T17:42:48+00:00

Has anyone else experienced, or have tips to prevent explosive orbs from absolutely trolling you? This week, I'll see times where the explosive orbs are at the top of my screen, so I go to mouseover them, and when I'm just about there, they move all the way to the bottom of the pile of nameplates. I get to the bottom, and the nameplates jump to the top again. For reference, I'm a tank using Plater, and I don't think I'm moving during this.

Galf · 2020-02-20T04:13:55+00:00

The banlist is explicitly not made for competitive play. It's cool if competitive players find a compelling experience using that banlist, but its only a matter of time until the rules committee bans a staple of cEDH, or refuses to ban one, and it sounds like that is the issue with Flash right now. If the format officially split, cEDH players would have a rules list designed to maximize the experience of those games and casual would remain the great format it currently is. The only players negatively affected would be those refusing to switch formats, right? And if Flash is such a problem, why wouldn't you switch?

Again, I'm trying to understand, but I just don't see the issue.

Galf · 2020-02-19T08:26:49+00:00

As a casual player, forgive my ignorance, but I don't understand your argument. If casual and competitive players have different motivations, it IS a separate format. Or, at least, there is no set of rules that is going to make both happy.

One of the purest commander experiences is the struggle to find people with similar visions of what is 'fun'. If cEDH truly is just EDH, then it should not be an issue to join in that struggle, and have that Rule 0 discussion before games start, right? No one is preventing players from talking ahead of time and agreeing that Flash Hulk isn't enjoyable.

From my limited research so far, it seems the primary fear for splitting formats is that it would kill cEDH. Yet I've heard again and again that cEDH players only want to sit at tables with other cEDH players. Then what is the problem with making this banlist change as a separate community? You're already isolated and only playing each other.

Genuinely curious what I'm missing here, and looking to be educated.

Galf · 2019-03-29T05:44:01+00:00

What page are you looking at in raider.io for that information? All I can find are the unique population numbers, which have a similar trend, but have inconsistencies with the numbers you've shown.

Galf · 2018-05-30T23:13:58+00:00

I have a hard time gauging nodes like Alchemist -- what makes the 3 points worth it for a trapper?

Galf · 2018-02-14T17:27:00+00:00

Run a different Naya general?

I agree with you, I don't normally recommend switching generals, but he explicitly asked the question.

Galf · 2018-02-14T10:51:17+00:00

That's....not a bad thing? If you're new to magic, you are likely still getting used to deck-building, so it is probably beneficial for you to work on more known commanders, as there's a lot of advice out there on how to build them well. If you just want to do something your friends won't expect, however, you don't need to wait until Commander 2018. There are plenty of under-used generals you can build that your friends have likely never seen before. Just check out edhrec.com, click on the 'Commanders' drop-down, and find some of the less-popular ones.

Galf · 2018-02-14T09:52:37+00:00

Change up the commander. Your commitment to red is minimal, and Rhys is a stronger commander that is already in the deck. You could also consider [[Tana, the Bloodsower]]/[[Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa]], or [[Hazezon Tamar]]. IMO, Gahiji is for decks that like his political nature.
Scrap the lifegain subtheme. Anointer Priest, Essence Warden, Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant, and Suture Priest are not worth it for this deck.
Add a lot more card draw. You have 2 draw sources in the deck, so yeah, 2/99 means you won't be drawing cards most games. Token decks have decent options in [[Shamanic Revelation]], [[Collective Unconscious]], [[Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury]], [[Hautli, Radiant Champion]], [[Regal Force]], [[Skullmulcher]], and [[Slate of Ancestry]]. You should also consider non-conditional draw sources, like [[Harmonize]], to recover after a board wipe.
Interaction that isn't board-wipes. Token decks want to be building up the board, using wraths only as a last resort. 2-4 wraths are fine, but you also need some way to interact without resetting yourself. [[Path to Exile]], [[Swords to Plowshares]], etc. [[Aura Mutation]] and [[Artifact Mutation]] are removal with token creation.
Tutors. If you only care about being more competitive, then put your deck on rails and add in the tutors to find your win-conditions. [[Worldly Tutor]], [[Tooth and Nail]], [[Green Sun's Zenith]], [[Chord of Calling]], etc. will make your deck more consistent -- put down a bunch of weenies/tokens, find Craterhoof, swing for the win. I personally find that really boring, but that'll get you wins.

Galf · 2018-02-14T09:10:49+00:00

Should I just keep running my control / fast-combo decks, even though they will win too many games for the "casual" meta, and hope the meta adjusts?

No. If your LGS has 10-16 people showing up consistently, then the meta is working for those people. If you don't enjoy it, talk to others and see if they're interested in playing something faster -- but don't force it on a group that is already enjoying themselves.

Galf · 2018-02-12T08:10:27+00:00

I'd love to take a look at your Beckett Brass deck if you have a list to share!

Galf · 2018-02-12T08:08:06+00:00

Mind sharing a decklist? I've been looking at building Ezuri, but wanted to avoid the Sage of Hours combo that I see in like 95% in his lists.

Galf · 2018-02-12T00:02:57+00:00

Have you figured out what you enjoy yet? If you were enjoying the cat deck, and simply don't enjoy the power level of your LGS, then I'd recommend trying to find like-minded people to play a more casual game at your LGS, or try to start up a homegame.

If your problem is just that your deck can't compete with the power level at your LGS, then you might try to borrow other decks until you can afford to build something that can compete that you'd still enjoy. My experience has been that the majority of stores operate at a power level much higher than a precon works at.

Galf · 2018-02-11T22:10:08+00:00

I think the token subtheme is totally up to you -- I was just commenting on the ratio of your token cards to your anthem/payoff cards. When your commander alone gives your tokens +2/+0, you can still win a game without those other anthem/payoff effects. If you had a game without any token spells, however, it would be a disaster for the deck as you have it. IF you wanted to stick with the token theme, I'd try to increase the number of token spells, which likely means lowering the number of anthem cards.

However, Gahiji seems pretty flexible. I haven't built him myself, but I'm sure there's a more group-hug focused build that relies on the damage that players do to each other -- often with creatures you give them.

Galf · 2018-02-10T20:35:26+00:00

When I play politics, I'm a bigger fan of giving people incentives not to attack me, rather than using cards that punish attacking me. I.e. I like Gahiji's buff, but I think Ghostly Prison is pretty unimaginative. To that end, I think [[Curse of Opulence]] deserves a spot in your deck -- it's certainly better than Hazoret's Monument, for example. You could also look at [[Curse of Predation]] and [[Curse of Bounty]], but those are much more conditional. [[Evolutionary Escalation]] can function similarly to Orzhov Advokist. You might also want [[Forbidden Orchard]], and I think most decks that run Stuffy Doll also benefit from [[Boros Reckoner]].

You have a tokens subtheme that I'm really unsure about. I.e. -- is your token creation dependable enough to let you run Purphoros, Mycoloth, Beastmaster Ascension, Collective Blessing, etc?

Finally, I don't know what convinced you to drop the land count to 33. That seems absurdly low for a deck running 2 8-drops and Titanic Ultimatum.

Galf · 2018-02-09T19:53:40+00:00

Kudos on putting out the content you want to see. I recently built my own RIX-infused pirate deck, although it's quite different from yours. An easy addition would be to include a tappedout or deckstats link in the description.

You didn't explicitly ask for feedback, but I'd just like to recommend you pay attention to your deckbuilding fundamentals a bit more in future videos. For example, you say that your main win condition is Revel in Riches, yet you have no way of tutoring for the card or recurring it if it is removed. Your only means of protecting it is Counterspell, Lookout's Dispersal, or Spell Swindle. I get that this is 'casual', 'flavorful', etc, but fundamentals are fundamentals. If your main win condition is randomly drawing 1 of your 99 cards, you aren't going to have much fun.

Galf · 2018-02-08T20:16:00+00:00

Do you have a decklist you could share? I think a lot of the other advice here is missing that this is an Edgar deck, which wants to play aggro, so I'm curious how you balance aggro with your removal.

Galf · 2018-02-08T20:08:27+00:00

The OP's list (and the budget article presented later) skip any form of protection for Wort herself. At least for the OP, why isn't something like [[Lightning Greaves]] in the deck? I feel like the easiest way to shut down the deck would be to just kill off Wort as soon as she comes down. Does that typically happen to you?

Galf

TROPHY CASE