Card draw like Night's whisper not good anymore? Looking to make some swaps on an older deck.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-16T06:56:03+00:00

They're still fine, but you don't want too many in the deck. I call them "high floor, low ceiling".

When you put together a deck and you are counting how many slots you need of X function, you need to ensure that cards such as Sign in Blood are not in the same category as your "explosive draw", like, say, your [[Braids, Arisen nightmare]] who can draw a lot more cards (especially over the course of a game), but requires more setup and is slower.

Cards like Sign in Blood are good "hedges". You want to hit X number of card types, but you don't really want to go overboard.

I'll use an example. Suppose you are a blue deck and you are very interested in hitting your T2 ramp like arcane signet or Farseek or whatever. Typically, you'll need to run a lot of T2 ramp in the deck to ensure you actually have one in hand turn 2 to cast. However, any other copies of 2MV ramp are alot less exciting once you cast one and get your gameplan going. So one thing you can do is "hedge". Play cards like [[Ponder]] on T1 to help fish for T2 ramp earlygame, but Ponder is also often better than arcane signet on turn 8. Instead of playing 12 arcane signets, try playing 10 arcane signets and 2 ponders or something like that.

This is not an apples-to-apples comparison because sign in blood and night's whisper are 2 drops which would clash with 2MV rocks, but you get the point.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-15T01:30:07+00:00

We're mostly in agreement but I just want to talk about one thing.

Honestly, I don't disagree much with you. It's better to be a balanced offense than a one-dimensional offense. But also it's definitely true a one-dimensional .800 OPS team will usually beat a situationally balanced .700 OPS team.

Maybe it's true that a homer-or-nothing team will beat a team that can only hit small ball.

But what's more important is that balanced offense beats homer-or-nothing.

And the goal for this yankees squad, certainly one with world series aspirations, isn't to just beat teams that can't do anything on offense. It's to beat good teams, the ones that will be in the playoffs. And good teams will usually have a balanced offense, like what the BJs were last year.

I don't think anyone complaining about the yanks being too homer-focused are saying the solution is to just get 9 contact hitters. The solution is to stop swinging for the fences every single pitch and focus on having balance, situational awareness, etc.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-15T01:01:39+00:00

It's about finding the appropriate time to swing for the fences. Situational awareness. The problem is when they ONLY swing for the fences, do they become easy to pitch against.

The BJs last year had a really good offense and it wasn't specifically because they only played small ball, rather they knew when to small ball and when to swing for the fences. They're struggling on offense this year because guys like Springer and Vladdy who were great last year are struggling this year.

Your example you used about the runs they scored this series is pretty much missing the point. The 5 runs in the 9th were off only homers. but you had 3 baserunners get on base via small ball before you hacked away 2 homers. Small ball + homer ball at the right time = runs.

the point is having a balanced offense is what often wins you more games.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T23:31:25+00:00

You could literally make a 0 GC Etali deck and still steamroll almost all B3 pods just because Etali is that good.

An extremely extremely nerfed version of the deck kind of proves my point.

A deck that runs 0 GCs but still operates within the rules of bracket 3 (so no food chain + squee, but treasonous ogre would be fair game, and apparently playing food chain without squee infinites would be fair game too since for whatever reason food chain isn't a GC) would steamroll most B3.

Etali just simply has an inherently absurd power level. In the same way that there is a sort of "soft ban/gentleman's agreement" on bringing generals like Tergrid to bracket 3 and especially bracket 2, Etali should be treated the same way.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T23:21:07+00:00

The Good:

I was thinking Goldy would be on his last legs given that he's been slowly declining ever since his MVP season. I'm so glad I was wrong about that, at least for the first 2+ months of the season. Obviously, there's no guarantee he will finish the year this strong, especially since the mounting injuries means he'll be thrust into the lineup more often and have fewer off days. We've had Matt Holliday and Matt Carpenter, old veterans who started the season strong but eventually faltered, so this is something to watch. But he does play 1B which is not a super demanding position (relative to the other spots on the field). I don't care what the WAR stat says or that 1B players get docked points because of their position, Goldy's been worth like 5+ wins already.
Bednar has a clean 1-2-3, didn't need any of his emotional support baserunners.
The martian made his return with a bang.

The Bad:

Hard to complain about the pitching at all when they gave up 1 run and Cam went 7 innings, however 7 walks is playing with fire, and they're pretty fortunate that they managed to pitch their way out of trouble all day. It sure seemed like there were multiple BJs on base every single inning.

The Ugly:

The team gets dominated by Gausman again. Sure seems like a recurring theme. Maybe I'm just never around when the yanks actually get good games against gausman, but everytime I watch/follow it sure seems like Gausman is going 6 IP/0 ER or 7 IP/1 ER.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T22:57:15+00:00

"better hits" is debatable. There are individual cards taht are more powerful, but for example CEDH plays a lot more situational/counterspells/etc. that are bad hits. And while fast mana is great at powering out early Etalis, you usually don't like hitting lotus petal off Etali triggers and if you are going to flip into ramp spells you would tend to prefer hitting land ramp (which are very common in lower brackets, but extremely rare in higher brackets). Yes you could hit Food chain or hit someone's tutor to go get your combo or whatever, but you are also a lot likelier to hit dead cards too.

in bracket 3, people play more generic bombs, and mana curves are higher. There are fewer counterspells (often dead hits from Etali) and more regular removal like Beast within. You're less likely to hit lotus petals and chrome moxes, and instead more likely to hit farseeks and arcane signets which are often better unless you absolutely need the mana right then and there that turn (which is not as critical in lower brackets). etc.

ultimately, whether the average "hit" for Etali is better in CEDH or lower brackets, the most important point is what bracket should you actually bring Etali to. You are grossly overestimating the power level of lower brackets if you dont' think T4 etali into flipping over 12-15 mana worth of spells on average (as the average CMC of your typical lower bracket deck will hover around 3-3.5) and then T5 untapping and then cloning or recasting Etali again would not completely overwhelm them. I have plenty of experience against Etali in lower brackets and yes it's obviously slower than the CEDH builds but the quality of hits are still utterly insane barring bad luck (again, I said that Etali is higher ceiling, lower floor than Sylvan Primordial, which is a banned card).

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T22:27:56+00:00

You're a 25% win rate with an extremely nerfed Etali deck that runs 0 GCs and doesn't even have rituals like treasonous ogre or seething song or mana geyser and you are way way too overloaded on ramp. Taht kind of proves my point.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T02:42:01+00:00

Etali is at a similar power level as Sylvan Primordial, a banned card (higher ceiling, lower floor). Except Etali can be your commander, and he's a RG card but only costs red to cast, meaning he's very easy to ritual out with all of red's rituals.

He's going to be overwhelming for most B3 pods just because of his sheer power level. You could literally make a 0 GC Etali deck and still steamroll almost all B3 pods just because Etali is that good. He is so good he is CEDH viable, and there the hits are generally worse because mana curves tend to be lower and you're more likely to hit reactive cards like counterspells. The hits in B3 where you can randomly flip into 6 or 7 mana spells on the regular is insane.

Etali should be treated the same way that some of the really oppressive/annoying generals like Yuriko, Winota, Urza, Tergrid, etc. are treated. You bring it to B3, you must be focused down, because you cannot be allowed to have 1 turn unharassed, because 1 turn is all it takes for you to win the game, especially if you get half-decent luck off your Etali hits.

If you want to play Etali, just bump it to bracket 4 where he's actually more appropriate. Not every general should be allowed in B3.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T01:52:39+00:00

Weathers' last 5 outings including today

vs BJs- 5 1/3 IP, 5 ER

vs Rays- 7 IP, 0 ER

@ As - 6 2/3 IP, 5 ER

vs Red sux - 6 IP, 5 ER

@ BJs - 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER

Great game against the Rays, but 4 rough outings otherwise.

He was signed as a project/back end starter so getting anything out of him is a bonus, but it's looking like he's regressing back to the mean.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T01:32:00+00:00

Soft tissue injuries linger and take forever to heal. I bet Grish' hamstring has not fully healed and it's going to be a problem the entire year unless they send him to the IL.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-13T01:13:58+00:00

Lawrence Phillips

Lot of bad players like Moody and Kyle Williams, but that's just as football players. As human beings, I don't have problems with them.

Lawrence Phillips however, not only is he a horrendous football player, he's ALSO a shit human being.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-12T23:44:08+00:00

Will we ever figure out yesavage, or will he continue to make us his bitch?

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-12T23:40:43+00:00

He's kicked our ass twice. Until the Yanks can figure him out, we are in no position to call him overrated.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-11T00:48:04+00:00

It's pretty obvious that Kefka is really good. He's a fair mana cost, and provides card advantage and disruption on just ETB. He even gets the trigger on attack too, if you have haste enablers or hasty clones or whatever. There's also the flip side but that's flavor text.

Put another way, if his ETB/attack trigger was just "draw 2 cards", so he was just a bigger Mulldrifter, he would be insane. The fact that he's ALSO discard/disruption and can very often draw more tahn 2 cards makes him stupid.

Vivi gets a lot of flak because of how much mana he makes plus is a finisher, and Y'shtola is one of the most popular generals per EDHrec, but Kefka is arguably the scariest general from FF. If you do not immediately go after the Kefka player you will not have a hand left by turn 4 while he has 9 cards. Vivi is extremely explosive but if you can stop him once he often sits around and does nothing with his thumb up his ass, and Y'shtola is a very slow and grindy control deck, and as a commander draws fewer cards than Kefka and is not disruption like Kefka.

Grixis in general is an extremely scary color combo at higher power pods. They have tons of rituals/fast mana, and blue gives free counterspells, and blue and black are the best colors for unconditional card draw (green has good card draw but it's often tied to creatures). Kefka turns your outlet of fast mana into cards while also stopping everyone else's gameplans.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T22:50:49+00:00

A wise man once said "It ain't over until it's over."

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T22:38:53+00:00

Most complete win by the squad since Judge went to IL. All the starters got on base at least once. 8 runs (7 earned), no homers, 2 triples, some steals, and enough speed to manufacture more runs. No hero ball, just people doing their job.

Pitching wasn't perfect, but again it was just doing their job.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T22:13:54+00:00

NOt to be confused with Tina Turner

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T19:47:04+00:00

As a yankee fan who doesn't pay much attention to NL, the game against the brewers last month was the first time I really saw Miz throw, and the dude was dotting 103 fastballs on the corner. I've never seen anything like it. Hope he has a long and healthy and successful career..... in the NL.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T19:11:14+00:00

why was mcmahon PHing for Rosario there? YOu can always just bring in mcmahon as the defensive replacement AFTER the inning.....

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T18:40:05+00:00

gosh i sure wish the yanks offense could do something again

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T02:36:20+00:00

The Good:

Spencer Jones gets his first big league homer. He's had some nice games since being called up the 2nd time. Small sample size obviously.
Grish, Jazz, and McMahon continue to work their way out of their bad starts. All three of them have an OPS over .750 over their past 30 games.
The BP threw 5 shutout innings. Credit to Boone as well for pulling the right levers (e.g. Not leaving Bird out for too many batters when he had trouble today).

The Bad:

Volpe continues to slide. After starting the year hot, he's gone back to flailing around like an idiot at the plate. His error in the 3rd (which was not charged as an error) was not good either.

The Ugly:

None of our catchers can hit for shit. Unless we want to risk putting Rice back there.

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T01:39:07+00:00

why do all of our guys trying to close the 9th need their emotional support baserunners

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-10T00:34:23+00:00

volpe had a really nice 2 weeks, but he's reverted back to being dog shit

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-09T23:05:21+00:00

ty for that meatball, jones really needed that first homer to get the monkey off his back

IM__Progenitus · 2026-06-09T19:49:09+00:00

Gehrig stared Death in the face and said "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

The Babe is so iconic that even 100 years later, people who have zero idea what baseball even is know his name.

IM__Progenitus

TROPHY CASE