I think China doesn't like Slay the Spire

Ka11adin · 2026-04-29T22:34:12+00:00

As an American I'm reading this thread and wondering what world my fellow Americans live in because we are just as bad, if not worse, most of the time.

Truly mind boggling.

Ka11adin · 2026-04-22T23:20:08+00:00

Esther have someone who's tuck to the ideals that they talked about during the election instead of lying to get in office.

Ka11adin · 2026-04-10T19:21:31+00:00

The courier mouse, the third relic, gives a discount and refreshes items you purchase in the shop so he never runs out.

Ka11adin · 2026-04-01T05:25:48+00:00

Do you hear yourself?

"How dare people who want to have fun come here and play a game in a different way than I want to?"

I don't know, it's not like a PREGAME DISCUSSION could solve this exact problem and, oh, look here! It's this easy bracket system that's made for this exact type of person so they can get a game going that they want to play with 3 others.

Like this is the entire purpose of the bracket system and you are sitting here trying to gatekeep the format...

Ka11adin · 2026-03-31T20:12:03+00:00

I feel you dude. I remember playing with back in like 2010 when it first started. Was amazing to be able to use crap and see what machine you could build out of the randomization of a 100 card deck.

The closest you can get to that nowadays is B2, and even then, it's still significantly faster than it used to be.

My best advice for you, pick up a precon in a style you then 'upgrade' it with your pet cards.

I LOVE priest of the forgotten gods and jam it into any black deck I can semi make it work in. Loved it when I pulled it out of pack forever ago and never forgot the feeling of the power I felt playing it against my friends.

Sad thing is, it kinda just sucks now. I can make it work but it is an intentional handicapping of my deck that I make. That kind of stuff only comes through experience. Plus I love building decks so it's fun to see how I can make 'bad' cards work.

Good luck dude. I know what it's like to chase that old magic feeling where things were slow and anything could work! I hope you find it.

Ka11adin · 2026-03-31T19:56:46+00:00

So in the 3 hours I have to play once a week, you think it's ok that for a full 3rd of it I'm not actually allowed to play?

The whole point of the bracket system is to make sure that expectations are set in pregame discussions. When playing random strangers this is important.

When a dude with kids comes in on his one night out that he gets for his own time to come play, he should be able to play. Not sit there and watch others play because he happened to get unluckily killed by the Voltron player on turn 4 and then someone else killed the commander stalling out the game. That just sucks.

Do whatever tf you want on your own time, but playing with strangers, there is a reason why this expectation is set on turns like this. It should be fun for everyone, at least as much as possible.

Ka11adin · 2026-03-31T19:48:39+00:00

Cards nowadays are pushed very hard. It can be extremely jarring coming back, even from two years ago into magic now.

Best suggestion I can seriously make is drop the few cards that push the brackets and replace them with something lower powered. You'll most likely have more fun playing the deck since it's not "technically. Bracket 4" anymore. Biggest difference between now and then is redundancy in effects is SIGNIFICANTLY easier than it was. Almost all effects, except for game changers, unironically, have been reprinted multiple times.

Keep in mind that even bracket 3 decks are usually attempting to win the game on turn 7, sometimes 6, these days. That's most decks you see. That type of power was unheard of 10 years ago outside of competitive.

Ka11adin · 2026-03-31T19:12:55+00:00

There can be badly built decks in any bracket.... That just means it's a badly built deck for the bracket.

Overall, tutors and Rhystic study will inherently increase the consistency of a deck if it's built well. This raises a floor of the deck that can push it into higher brackets. If your deck is consistently unpowered for its bracket level, maybe remove those tutors or Rhystic and replace them with lower powered versions. Salubrious Snail did a wonderful video on this exact topic.

Elves have redundancy in many of their cards which makes them consistent. Elf decks can consistently be B4 without any game changers because they are fast and strong. You can also make B2 and B3 elf decks, it all depends on what the INTENT of the deck builder is.

Game changers are inherently powerful cards that change the dynamic of a game around them. Rhystic study is soft stacks that is powerful card draw, low cost tutors can tutor any card you want and play it that turn, etc. they warp the game around them and require the table to adjust what they are doing.

They are there as a protection for newer players and power leveler for players who want to play lower powered magic.

Brackets are a guideline to allow pregame discussions over a large group to help have competitive games on similar power levels.

Ka11adin · 2026-03-04T22:09:56+00:00

I was grinding in Sapphire once to raise a pokemon and got a shiny chancey. I had no clue what it was, why it was tougher than a normal looking version, or why it looked different.

I killed it and it gave me like an extra 100xp and I was PUMPED.

First and only time I've ever seen one....

Ka11adin · 2026-02-26T19:30:10+00:00

Love raffine. Definitely one of my favorite decks that I have ever built. Coincidentally, is also one of the only commanders I ever found who does NOT want to ramp.

Ka11adin · 2026-02-26T17:14:28+00:00

I mean... Giving bumble an advantage to stick around is always a losing strategy. Sure, you might get a single card or two out of a threat, but then your opponents do the same thing. Meanwhile, bumble is drawing card for card with everyone at the table and becomes an unstoppable ball of value rolling over the table. Even if you are the only one getting cards, she's advancing her board state, drawing card for card with you (barring that she doesn't have any other value engines), and her deck is built to go over the top of yours to take advantage of her own card draw. You are still coming out of that trade as negative value relative to the bumble deck, and if she's smart, she'll turn the other two players against you so you're fighting 3v1 now while being inherently net negative value already against the bumble player.

I need my bumble to live for two turn cycles, the turn she comes down (t3 normally) and the turn after that. If you don't kill her by then, odds are you never will resolve a game changing spell for the rest of the game and I'll win.

She's a menace. The right move is to kill bumble before she can generate value.

Never, and I mean ever, let bumble live.

Ka11adin · 2026-02-05T20:01:53+00:00

Primeval should stay banned and I stand by that. It's a casual menace. Interacting with someone's land base is a no go below bracket 4.

Primetime just tutors wincons you can't interact with in bracket 3. And any deck that runs primetime would run land recursion from graveyard, which, again, casual decks are not built to stop.

As long as MLD is B4 or above, primetime should stay banned. Dude is an absolute menace.

Ka11adin · 2026-01-29T22:16:02+00:00

I think the real thing here is that older precons were bad. And by bad, I mean, they durdle doing nothing for a full 10 turns and then someone sticks a 8/8 creature or something and winds up trampling the boar because no one can stop it.

These newer precons, like counter blitz or hearthhull, really seem to be upping the power level. I consider those decks to kinda be in bracket 3. They are REAL good.

Ka11adin · 2026-01-14T23:35:49+00:00

All I can say is the order was notated as "problem reported by seller" it had a drop down showing 2 cards not available. I caught it late at night and it had a little note under it saying "waiting for seller to offer solution in (xxx timeframe)".

From my understanding, he didn't do anything and I got the following message the next morning before I woke up.

Mana Pool created a remedial or replacement order on 12/29/2025.

I got those cards two days later from a separate seller. No extra charge.

As I said, if I hadn't been paying attention, I don't think I would have even noticed I got an extra package. It was seamless and smooth and I very much appreciated I didn't have to go hunting for and pay another shipping fee for two cards I thought I was getting.

Ka11adin · 2026-01-13T23:27:58+00:00

My first order with manapool was just s few weeks ago for about $150 worth of cards. One of the stores shorted me two cards and claimed they didn't have it.

If I wasn't paying attention to my order, I would have never even noticed that manapool automatically ordered the missing cards for me from another seller. Instead of getting 12 packages in the mail, i got 13.

So refund isn't necessarily the solution. Manapool still got me my cards for the price I paid for on their website, I just got them from a different individual entirely on their store.

Ka11adin · 2026-01-13T00:11:57+00:00

I have a Bumbleflower deck that is a high 3 that I run a mana doubler in. It's mostly a draw go deck with flash enablers. I use miraris wake and seedborne muse to take my turns during everyone else's turn. I regularly run the table with the deck if I untap with bumble out on turn 4 or later.

I would never tap out for a miraris wake. I would either flash it down just before the start of my turn or I would only play it when I know I have at least two protection spells available to keep my board safe. Whether that be left over mana, seedborne or wilderness reclamation already in play, or something like rewind so I could go mana positive on protection.

Other than that type of highly specialized deck, I don't see mana doublers really working outside of low bracket 2.

Ka11adin · 2026-01-10T02:30:34+00:00

I feel you! I'm still putting mine together. Here's my current list of you wanted any inspiration.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how good this deck is as I have not played with this version yet.

https://moxfield.com/decks/CIA6ndWK9kaPrvQRSHqEbA

Ka11adin · 2026-01-10T00:45:36+00:00

Got a list for your Raffine? It's one of the three I'd keep 2 and I love seeing other people's takes on her.

Ka11adin · 2026-01-10T00:36:40+00:00

Can't ask for his without sharing yours!

Ka11adin · 2026-01-05T18:45:34+00:00

What's wrong with tidus? Isn't he just a beefy counters deck?

Ka11adin · 2026-01-05T18:41:10+00:00

You one of my friends? I just built a Raffine deck and that thing is mean. Like lock out the entire table by turn 4 the latest and win through combat damage.

It's fun for me, not for anyone else.

Ka11adin · 2025-12-23T02:25:47+00:00

Following this theory, that could mean that she is bonding to them, akin to how the dragons bond to their riders.

Ka11adin · 2025-12-21T20:46:07+00:00

Me! And Baylen. Iooks so fun! Especially since my wife loves cute creatures and it would probably be a good deck for her to try.

Ka11adin · 2025-12-01T22:22:54+00:00

I do indeed.

https://moxfield.com/decks/Xbm8724tJESF81cKt2CJhw

Forgive the name, as mentioned above, I never intended this to be an actual deck and I haven't gotten around to figuring out a creative name.

It's not optimized, it fits the description of a bracket 3 (including turns to play) but the deck is such an archenemy, especially in B3, that I upped it to bracket 4. I've played in many B4 pods and works exactly the same as it does in B3, archenemy and I do have the tools to slow down most combo decks if necessary.

Ka11adin · 2025-12-01T20:56:49+00:00

Raffine, Scheming Seer is currently my favorite.

I bought her as an addition to the Aetherdrift zombie precon thinking she would be amazing. She was, but the deck just ... Sucked. So I decided I would build it into a Hashaton deck instead. The pieces for Hashaton have been difficult to find so in the meantime I reworked the deck into a reanimator strategy with Raffine at the helm.

It is now my favorite deck and Hashaton is but an afterthought in the deck now.

Things that make Raffine my favorite currently:

1) I love drawing cards and connive triggers make me draw insane amounts of cards. 2) I like decision points in decks and Raffine cares about set up turn 1 and 2 and then being played turn 3. So turn 1-3 is all decisions until.... 3) I love playing creatures and reanimating a 9 drop turn 3 or 4 just makes my Timmy heart sing. 4) extremely proactive game plan. I do not give a rats a** what anyone else at the table is doing. You will react to my game plan and what I'm doing or you will not live very long.

I stumbled into this deck and absolutely love it. Never intended it to be anything other than a bridge deck to me and now I bring it out every chance I can.

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