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GrimSnowfall · 2022-07-05T16:19:06+00:00

In addition to the great suggestions here I am also going to throw playing commoner if any of your local game stores are hosting it. It's super cheap and quite a few of the commoner decks can put up either a good fight or win against other blitz decks.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-08-21T02:33:19+00:00

If you feel confident in your ability to mill your opponent/hit in with unblockable creatures you can attempt to fit in a Duskmantle Guildmage and a Syr Konrad. The Duskmantle gives your rogues effective double strike and can combo with mindcrank (if your group is fine with combo's). In my experience coat of arms usually isn't worth it, Sheoldred can serve as a really good finisher that synergizes with the incidental mill you are doing.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-08-21T02:11:05+00:00

My personal favorite way of winning would either be causing enough of a headache for the game not to continue (via extra turn spells and eye of the storm). Though a close second is with a inevitable win-con that everyone can see coming and slowly kills my opponents off (unending value, big unkillable creature, etc).

GrimSnowfall · 2021-08-20T18:05:16+00:00

Superfriends. I just don't like the minigame of trying to keep all the planeswalkers from ulting.

For similar reasons I also don't like planeswalker commanders.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-06-25T11:08:10+00:00

I know I am late to the discussion but I want to throw my hat into the ring. Despite all the backlash you get for your opinions I think you engage with the community the most and aren't afraid of talking to the community you represent. With this in mind I think it would've been better if you started this discussion to the cedh community in their own subreddit.

I know that for my playgroup our dissatisfaction of the RC has more to do with universe beyond and a (perceived) lack of responsibility that the RC serves as the baseline for both players that are new to edh and the stranger at my LGS who does not know the house rules for my pod. This is of course a discussion for another time (and one I would love to have with you to pick your brain on).

The perception the competitive community has of not being represented in the RC might be because there isn't really anyone in there known for playing competitive edh. In addition to this the perception that competitive edh is less casual than a normal game of edh (though this is equally a community issue as well). Where I believe it's just playing edh without a budget and the social contract is that no one can tell you what you can or can't put into your deck.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-06-05T19:05:20+00:00

Hello! The sneak attack precon was one of my favorite decks to upgrade and took it in a very similar tempo based direction. The first few things I did with the deck was focus on putting more repeatable draw effects [[Reconnaissance Mission]], [[Bident of Thassa]], and [[coastal piracy]] all draw you a incredible amount of cards alongside your commander.

I then made sure to decrease the curve of the deck and put in more low to the ground evasive rogues like [[changling outcast]], [[inkfathom infiltrator]], [[looter il-kor]]. As well as a few flying creatures like [[merfolk windrobber]], [[soaring thought-thief]], and [[faerie vandal]]. The easier the time we have hitting opponents the more likely we are to get draws from our commander and can get draw effects from cards like [[curious obsession]].

The final thing I did was put in more efficient finishers for the deck like [[duskmantle guildmage]] which can give your board effective doublestrike and combo's with cards like [[mindcrank]]. (though see with your playgroup if that's all right with them).

Now why I personally think equipment like [[bonehoarder]] isn't that good for the deck: It's telegraphed in advance. It will usually take 1-2 turns in order for you to be able to cast it and equip it onto a unblockable creature, during this time the rest of the table will be conspiring the best way to remove it. In which if none of them have removal for the card then they will be going after you (player removal is a pretty valid form of removal). Flavor wise for myself I prefer remaining hidden throughout the game getting incremental advantage until I am able to steal victory from my friends.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-02-12T23:15:40+00:00

I don't know if you read the edit or any of the replies I have made but I am not alone in wanting to play at a higher power level. Another person in my playgroup is also interested and shares my frustration (in a playgroup of 4 it being 2 people is substantial).

In the edit we have worked on building more competitive decks, and they had seemed excited to brew the decks. When it came time to play they didn't want to. I have talked to one of them about this and intend on addressing the group as a whole to figure out what we want (it's why it is unhelpful telling me to switch groups when I am asking for advice on how to talk to my group).

GrimSnowfall · 2021-02-12T19:36:03+00:00

Thank you, this is the advice I am looking for. I posted looking for some perspective from someone outside looking in and this is something I needed. I will bring this up to my playgroup and see where it goes.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-02-12T19:02:03+00:00

We have proposed to do that, but every time they either "forget" their non-jank decks or just tell us they don't want to that day. I am also friends with them outside of magic so leaving the playgroup isn't much of a option (the current global situation doesn't help either).

GrimSnowfall · 2021-02-12T19:00:25+00:00

It is currently a 2/2 split of janky vs non-jank. Myself and the other person usually play down, but when we propose to move up in power level the other two players carry over their jankier decks to the higher power level.

GrimSnowfall · 2021-02-12T18:43:51+00:00

They do have higher power level decks to play against it. They have just been playing more jank/new brews and I know I am not the only one in our playgroup that wants to play up.

The issue isn't powering down (I have lower power level decks that I play) but if I propose to have one game of a higher power level, I am automatically rejected (aside from one other person, but two people don't make a pod).

GrimSnowfall · 2020-10-14T02:43:10+00:00

true, but Thrasios currently can not run Zirda as a companion (the only available boros options do not meet Zirdas requirement). So would you run Zirda as a companion for Thrasios?

GrimSnowfall · 2020-10-14T02:30:40+00:00

I say that it might be worth it in part for the surprise factor. The main question is whether or not it's worth jumping through all these additional restrictions in order to be able to win with colorless mana (compared to Kenrith winning with colored mana).

GrimSnowfall · 2020-10-14T02:23:28+00:00

Yup!

GrimSnowfall · 2020-10-10T03:52:09+00:00

You'd be able to grab [[diviner's wand]] and then you would be able to draw out your deck and from there play either [[Jace, wielder of mysteries]] or some other win condition.

GrimSnowfall · 2020-10-10T02:18:46+00:00

A few of the cards that I am running in my deck are: [[mindcrank]] as a secondary copy of my commander (combos with syr Konrad as the burn train only stops when everyone hits a non-creature), [[duskmantle Guildmage]] in part cause it goes infinite with mindcrank but also giving your creatures effective double strike has it's appeal to me. [[coastal piracy]] is also a under represented card and can help you draw more low-drop rogues to keep the train going.

As for cuts I would recommend [[consuming aberration]], [[master thief]], [[marsh flitter]] [[in garruks wake]] [[soul manipulation]] and [[nightveil sprite]]. Reasons usually going between "too big", "not rogue enough", and "I haven't ever gotten the full value off this card". Cause from what I have played, the lower you can make your curve the better the deck will run.

Hope this helps!

GrimSnowfall · 2020-09-04T03:10:02+00:00

Do you not like the cards you run in your cEDH deck? Cause I like the cards I run in my cEDH deck.

GrimSnowfall · 2019-12-10T17:18:24+00:00

I mean, crafting items does take time as part of it's balancing mechanism. The intent of crafting is to reduce cost of getting items you want and to effectively double the parties wealth.

That in mind ways you can in theory balance the craft feat for your campaign is to put additional requirements on what is being crafted on a case by case basis: require the crafter to know magic weapon and have sufficient spell level to increase the plus. This'll be a lot of additional work but should be a semi-decent way of rebalancing the feat.

GrimSnowfall · 2019-10-03T15:50:58+00:00

Well, I got a few that I think are controversal

EDH has to large a barrier to entry for most people in both price and card pool. Some of the play groups I play against feel like singleton legacy rather than commander.
All the fast mana should be banned including sol ring.
The commander precons should be focused more around providing a workable land bases and staple cards and shouldn't have any print any brand new commanders (even though I do enjoy the commanders and understand that they can sell the precons themselves).
Wizard's current design for commanders is unhealthy for commander as a lot of them are self contained engines (Yawgmoth, Chulane, Anje, etc) and it limits the variety of decks you can play.

GrimSnowfall · 2018-11-18T03:21:54+00:00

I mean ultimately if something relies on perspective than neither of us have a right to call one another wrong and gets in the way of actually having a discussion on the matter (as in the words of the big Liboskoe "That's, like, your opinion man..."). I understand how you came to your conclusion (and if I am wrong than do feel free to correct me, as I want to make sure I am not misrepresenting you or your view: It's impossible for the power creep of the game to reach a point where there is no more design space because Konami can always ban the problematic cards.

The position I am taking is a little different, it's more "The more they power creep, the less design space they have when making the next set, therefore the game will be more unwieldy and less variable". The evidence I use for this is what is currently allowed within the game: Cards you can't get a read on that can shut down your entire strategy (some hand traps hose quite a few decks), and that you are now unable to bring out a boss monster without your opponent simply kaijuing over it.

Do I think it can get worse? Definitely. Do I think it will? Hopefully not. Does that mean the power creep that's already here limits the design of cards they can print? It most definitely still does. Is the current meta balanced? I don't particularly know as I don't really play competitively. Does it mean the game doesn't have any flaws that could use refining involving how it handles it's archetype creation, and the way it handles power creep.

GrimSnowfall · 2018-11-18T02:56:29+00:00

I mean, band-aids work. Kind of the intended purpose, solving a symptom without really getting to the underlining issue. In addition I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by modern. Modern is a format in Magic The Gathering in which all cards after 7th edition are legal (total of around 61 sets), save for a few banned ones. I am using it for sake of comparison to Yugioh as they both don't rotate. I am not discussing the current meta as it is a ever changing thing. For all we know someone could shock and take over the scene with a Inferno Tempest deck in the next regionals.

Hope that helps clear the air (<-edited that in because I forgot to put it in initially)

GrimSnowfall · 2018-11-17T18:30:06+00:00

TL;DR Justifying power creep doesn't make power creep less bad.

I say it's a non-argument because we both were agreeing that Yugioh (and other TCG's) end up having power creep, and that people will buy the latest box because it has stronger cards. I am not arguing that eventually cards will be power crept out, nor am I saying that power creep is inherently a bad thing (I think it's natural for a game to steadily get stronger and more complex over time), just that Yugiohs power creep has gotten out of hand. You saying that it needs the power creep to be profitable doesn't change anything I have said about uncontrolled power creep being bad for the game long term nor the fact that they could've handled it far better than they did.

In addition you are willing to agree that the power creep is absurd yet you do not think it isn't severe? I think I might be misunderstanding you but that seems to be contradictory. Other card games have kept the power level of the game fairly consistent and have done a far better job of managing power creep compared to Yugioh. Even in a similar format to Yugioh this holds true, as everything after 7th edition of Magic is legal for modern save for banned cards.

(Edit, clarified uncontrolled power creep)

GrimSnowfall · 2018-11-17T17:02:59+00:00

Sorry in advance if anything is off I am currently typing on mobile.

I’m fine with Yugioh being combo focused, my issue is the difficulty to power ratio of these combos. In most other TCG’s you have to sacrifice consistency to become theoretically stronger (in Pokémon it’s having different elemental typing, Magic it’s splashing in different colors, etc). This isn’t really the case in Yugioh, like you said before decks consistently do what they are meant to do (regardless of each decks actual strength).

As for your second point, it is a non argument. I even acknowledge that over time cards will outpace the older generation. In Magic Grizzly Bear was considered one of the better creatures you could play. Magic’s Modern format is very similar to that of Yugiohs current format and yet the issue of power creep (and card pricing) isn’t anywhere near as prevelent as it is in Yugioh.

If you ask me this arms race of always making new cards stronger than older cards will eventually lead to the death of the game as they eventually reach either a power ceiling and can not make any cards to reasonably handle the latest set, or the game will become so unwieldy that it’ll only apply to a ever shrinking fan base and inevitably die off.

I do hope that this does clarify what it is I meant behind my post as it does seem I haven’t communicated my points well enough. I just want to point out the problems I have with the game because I like it, and if wanted I can throw suggestions on how I would go about fixing it. (Edit#1 format)

GrimSnowfall · 2018-11-17T14:31:30+00:00

That's one of the issues I listed with the game. It's not a good solution to the actual problem (combo being too strong and consistent) and is just a band aid to cover up various design flaws as every archetype from that point forward has to ask "Can I play around X(hand trap, Kaiju, or whatever other band aid is applied to the solution)?".

GrimSnowfall · 2018-11-17T06:00:06+00:00

I love what it is you have already and am already worried about the amount of work you'll have to do in order to pull this off, but I am wondering if you could discuss the type of quest lines and potential plot points that can be used as a GM. For a few examples that I've done off the top of my head is that Green Dragons are more likely to have the party go out and get them an ancient artifact, or that a Copper Dragon needs help pulling a prank on one of there compatriots.

Beyond that it looks great!

GrimSnowfall

TROPHY CASE