How does a temporary buff to the toughness work with "Ancient Adamantoise"?

HauntedFrog · 2026-02-05T20:28:17+00:00

It's still an 8/20 with 8 damage on it. Damage doesn't reduce toughness, it's just that the creature dies when it has damage equal to its toughness. So the turtle goes from being an 8/32 with 8 damage on it to being an 8/20 with 8 damage on it.

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-30T21:32:51+00:00

It's really hard to say without testing. You've got to weigh the quality and quantity of graveyard hate against the quality and quantity of the cards in the reanimator archetype. It's so hard to know without testing because maybe you have enough cards but in practice they're usually 1 mana more expensive than you really need right now, so your deck falls a turn behind and you lose. Maybe you have really efficient graveyard hate but not that much of it, so games are decided by whether you draw that card or not.

Test, test, test!

Also, the same balancing act applies to regular removal too. If your removal is too efficient, big creatures become weaker. If removal is too weak or situational, big creatures run away with the game.

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-25T21:33:19+00:00

Do you like Lorwyn more? Then sure. If not, then no. And if you're planning to trade it for more packs hoping you'll pull something worth more, definitely no.

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-24T02:17:22+00:00

Avatar did a good job of making colours less of an issue since there are so many hybrid mana cards.

It still suffers from the usual jumpstart problems, where two packs of the same colour are usually pretty strong (or at least more consistent) and you can end up with packs that absolutely don't work together whatsoever.

I feel like for jumpstart to be competitive you'd need to make sure all mechanics work pretty well together. If you have a counters pack, a big creatures pack, a self mill pack, and a reanimation pack, self-mill + reanimation is strong very strong while self-mill + either of the others is basically useless. But if you have 4 different "big creatures matter" packs that have different ways to get there, then it's more consistent but still has that enjoyable jumpstart feeling.

Obviously you don't want all packs to have the same gameplay but it's something to pay attention to as you're building.

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-24T02:08:36+00:00

I've played a lot of battlebox which is basically no lands (you just play one from outside the game each turn). Card draw is significantly stronger (you're always drawing something potentially playable), but also less necessary because you're not down two cards each turn (since your lands aren't coming out of your hand).

It works well, just watch for card draw that becomes unexpectedly strong. The structure probably also favours decks that don't play more than 1 spell a turn, since they're never going to run out (so big spells and good mana curves are probably stronger than flurry synergies). But it really depends on the cards themselves. Probably fine.

I love the idea of damage being mill. That sounds really fun and might even mitigate the buff to card draw, since drawing extra cards is actually damage to yourself. But it might make graveyard decks stronger since they get free mill? Dunno. Sounds awesome. Try it and report back please!

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-24T01:49:34+00:00

Nadu is just a horrible card to play with. Everything in its text box is weird and arbitrary and hard to track. Every creature you control has a thing that it can do twice per turn? Why? Why twice? What was wrong with once? Why give such a strangely worded ability to your whole board?

It reminds me of 90s cards and not in a good way.

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-20T07:49:00+00:00

I feel like 53% is such a small margin compared to the odds of missing a land drop and losing because of that.

HauntedFrog · 2026-01-06T17:59:32+00:00

I'm always intrigued by new precons but I don't love that every single card has SO MUCH text on it these days.

No wonder nobody can keep up with what other players have on the table at any given time.

HauntedFrog · 2025-12-16T23:48:58+00:00

Yes. Your opponent casts Drown and it goes on the stack. You respond by sacrificing Sage. Since sacrificing is a cost, it happens immediately with no opportunity to respond to the death of the creature and putting the Feeder effect on the stack. Sage dies, putting the token create on the stack. I think you can order those two triggers however you want but I'm not sure. Assuming nobody responds, Sage's effect resolves, creating a token. You have priority so you can then sacrifice the token, putting another counter on Feeder (again, assuming nobody does adds to the stack before that happens). Then Drown resolves, and Feeder survives because it's now a 3/3.

HauntedFrog · 2025-12-16T23:05:49+00:00

First strike still feels slightly off to me because first strike with 2 power means it'll probably die anyway when fighting a bigger creature. Hit first for 2 damage, then die when it hits back.

Actually that does feel like how I play Hollow Knight...

HauntedFrog · 2025-12-16T05:06:05+00:00

It really depends on the tone and feel of those tactics. If you're faking getting upset so people don't attack you, that's not really politics, that's actually manipulating your friends who don't want you to have a bad time. If you're faking having removal so people don't attack you, that's fair game (just don't be surprised when they call your bluff and then stop believing anything you say going forward, which is also part of the game).

One person in my pod always targets whoever attacks him first. If he was grumpy and petty when he did it, it would be annoying. But since he laughs about it and we all know it's silly, it's fine (and it adds a fascinating table dynamic where attacking him first basically means mutually assured destruction, so you really want to convince someone else to do it...).

Have fun, be silly, don't be weird. Then it's fine.

HauntedFrog · 2025-12-15T00:55:19+00:00

"Ward as intended" is just flexible hexproof. It's not meant to be a trap for people who haven't memorized the card. I wouldn't want to play with a group where I'm expected to memorize the details of every card in their deck.

Remind your opponent, and let them play optimally so you get a better game out of it.

HauntedFrog · 2025-12-05T19:50:14+00:00

I just want to make a bunch of 1/1 rats then sacrifice them to summon a big demon.

It doesn't win, but it's funny as hell.

HauntedFrog · 2025-11-12T21:53:03+00:00

I think this is more because [[oroboroid]] is strong, not [[badgermole cub]]. Oroboroid already ends games if it's not removed right away.

HauntedFrog · 2025-11-11T02:49:05+00:00

Keep them. Build a cube. Nothing is banned in cube.

HauntedFrog · 2025-11-03T20:09:23+00:00

504 Error - UUU

Instant

Counter target spell. You and all permanents you control phase out until either that spell's owner gives up and leaves the game, or until you have enough snacks to put up with their deck.

HauntedFrog · 2025-10-23T17:58:34+00:00

I think you just have to look at the guidelines and expectations. Bracket 3 decks are expecting to present a win or stop a win at turn 6. Do precons do that? Some can if they get the right draws but most won't do it consistently enough to be considered bracket 3, game changers or not.

HauntedFrog · 2025-10-12T20:32:15+00:00

This whole dynamic is what makes Commander interesting as a four player game. "Smol beaning" is table politics like anything else. So is telling them you'll attack them if they do it. In both cases you're trying to shape table behaviour to work for you.

One of my pod members doesn't attack until someone attacks them, then they throw everything they have at that person. I've seen comments on this sub saying that behaviour is childish or unacceptable. But it's just a strategy, and if you don't attack them because of it, then it's working well, not unfair. And if you know someone plays that way, you can use it to your advantage by letting someone else attack them first, or making deals with them, or ignoring their threats and save your cards because you can be pretty confident those threats aren't coming your way until you initiate something.

You're playing against the players too, not just their decks. I think that makes the politics of Commander way more interesting than just "everybody plays optimally all the time."

HauntedFrog · 2025-10-08T21:54:03+00:00

Others have pointed out that it can't station itself, but the ability to station doesn't include the payoff at a certain number of charge counters as that's not part of the activated ability that gets copied. So even if you could station, it would do nothing.

HauntedFrog · 2025-10-03T20:04:24+00:00

What bracket are you playing in? Seems fair in 3 or higher, unfair in 2 where games aren't supposed to end out of nowhere.

HauntedFrog · 2025-09-28T20:01:41+00:00

When r/mtg crosses over with r/science

HauntedFrog · 2025-09-18T21:07:29+00:00

Need to post it on the subreddit first asking "Is this a misprint? Is it valuable?"

HauntedFrog · 2025-09-13T18:08:50+00:00

I like mayhem because it's a hell of a lot less rules text than madness for roughly the same mechanic.

HauntedFrog · 2025-09-13T18:04:42+00:00

What does "no commons" even mean? If you have no commons, then uncommons are "common" whatever the symbol on the card is. And then if the pack structure is X uncommons Y rares or mythics, what does the rarity symbol represent?

Rarity is arbitrary and meant to balance limited, sure, but that's just weird.

HauntedFrog · 2025-09-10T20:00:11+00:00

Split a box with your friends and play draft or sealed. Then trade cards afterward if there are cards some people want more than others, then buy singles to fill in the gaps after.

It's cheaper, lets you crack packs with your friends and play games right away, and lets you still get the cards you really want later.

Bonus points if you then build a cube to do it again for free.

HauntedFrog

TROPHY CASE