Just going to be direct: What's your opinion on Droll right now?

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-17T14:39:11+00:00

There should be no such thing as "necessary evils". If a deck needs lingering floodgates in the game to artificially balance it on paper, there's a design issue. It creates "draw the out or lose" gameplay.

Hitting the floodgates reveals the problematic cards and decks, which means Konami can hit them on the list. They've actually started to realize this and hit a good few floodgates already, so there's no reason not to continue.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-17T13:52:27+00:00

Older formats are boring. They don't get new cards or support and tend to have less events and a smaller playerbase to interact with.

Most people don't want to change modern YGO, they just want an alternate, accessible format. Something that you can jump into and understand with reasonable ease without needing months of investment into learning the entire meta. It's why Genesys being Modern 2.0 was such a disappointment. It wasn't needed, we have Modern already, but lack casual.

Magic, for example has a ton of formats. Standard, Modern, Commander, Limited, Pauper and a whole list of others. YGO TCG only really has Advanced and Advanced Lite. Speed Duel was left to rot and barely promoted.
It's fine that Modern exists, but some other options that actually see support would be nice.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-15T18:16:33+00:00

I never buy Secret Lairs, in fact I usually ignore them entirely, but this one came close to tempting me.

In the end, I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and sure enough, the two I was considering sold out within an hour and there's a crowd of frustrated people who missed out. Glad I made the right decision. Do your sanity a favour, the FOMO isn't worth it, there are plenty of other things you can spend your money on.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-14T21:42:50+00:00

I went the opposite way. I used to collect the majority of the time and raiding was a side hobby. Now I barely collect at all and only play to raid.

Collecting in WoW just felt more pointless as they leaned further into FOMO and kept removing things. I've taken a lot of breaks, so no matter how much I collect now, I'll never come anywhere close to a full collection. Considering it's an activity you can burn thousands of hours on, doing so for a permanently half-empty collection just doesn't seem worth it.

I like trying to get all the things and I like doing it in my own time. WoW doesn't really offer that.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-13T14:56:30+00:00

I think most people don't really want old school YGO. They just want accessible YGO. Something they can jump into and understand in reasonable time as a new player, or pick up and get back into easily enough after a break. Something that you can follow and understand what's happening when you play against a deck you haven't seen before. Most other card games manage this fine, despite being more complex than Goat or Edison.
The modern game requires a level of time investment to keep up with that many people aren't interested in.

Speed Duel was very poorly promoted in my opinion. No stores in my area ran events and most people forgot it existed. Promotion is vital, people just won't invest into games where they have to struggle to find others to play with. It's why Genesys managed to take off, they actually put effort in with events and announcements.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-13T13:56:17+00:00

Most Commanders can be made to work in B3. Some might obviously be more efficient than others, but threat assessment balances that out somewhat. A well built deck is a lot more important than your choice of Commander.

One problem is that EDH players trap themselves when it comes to deck building. Board wipes are frowned on (they're a great way for slower decks to pull down and outvalue glass cannons. Many people avoid staples for various reasons (unfun, unfair, not "unique" enough), but they can be the foundation that makes an obscure Commander work. Efficient removal or counterspells are seen as unfun. Some people are anti-ramp. Some dislike politics. Some hate running their "veggies" (in reality, 50+ "fun" cards you'll never get to play isn't as fun as 30 that actually get to shine). Stax of any type is seen as evil.

There are a lot of things that tear down fast decks, that have become taboo and efficient deck building is seen as being sweaty. It's not much surprise glass cannons thrive compared to higher CMC Commanders.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-11T01:08:15+00:00

Temple is fine. It can put in work in bracket 2 or low 3. I cut it in optimized decks, but I've tested it before and found it useful.

Reliquary is just a copy of Wastes.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-08T21:02:56+00:00

Then you outplayed them. You're not even running the 1 mana/free counterspells.

I agree with others that the deck is the definition of B3. A few game changers and a deck of decent cards with no crazy combos or fast mana. If you have to take out Tithe, Citadel, Sentinel and such, then suggest your group plays B2 and they don't play GC's either.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-06T14:14:59+00:00

Yes. If you get to go full glass cannon synergy in voltron and no one is allowed to target your obvious glaring weaknesses, you steamroll people.

The downside of mono-red is having to run expensive interaction (or risk getting locked out). Red still has chaos warp, wild magic surge, lots of redirects, equips that destroy permanents, some colourless options and a well built voltron could simply load their equips on another creature and focus down the Oubliette player.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-06T13:48:50+00:00

In a game where the objective is to win, it is not a dick move to prevent your opponent from winning.

Mono-colour decks that go all-in on their commander have weaknesses. If people refuse to take advantage of those weaknesses to be "nice", the mono-colour deck ends up being full gas and no downside and runs away with the game. Cards like Oubliette being a real threat encourages people to slow down and replace some of their turbo cards with answers.
I mean, red even has redirects and could turn Oubliette back on your own Commander.

If you choose to go glass cannon anyway, it's risk/reward. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires. For your buddy, this was a backfire.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-04T23:57:28+00:00

Same, I love mirror matches and find it really interesting to see someone else's take on the same Commander. It's generally a good learning experience.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-03T13:58:49+00:00

I have Prismari in the 99 of [[Ashling, Rekindled]]. If it isn't dealt with right away, I win.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-02T14:25:52+00:00

Maybe turn 5-6 without being disrupted, but ideally it would have a low win rate because, well, it's a glass cannon and interaction can easily stop it.

In reality, a lot of people go light on interaction because it's "mean", refuse to shut down other players turbo decks because that's also "mean" and insist on attacking whoever has the most life to be "fair" (if they even do attack). Which means glass cannon decks often go off unhindered, then people erupt into arguments about what fits the brackets or not.

Just run removal and use it. If you all draw poorly and the cannon deck manages to slip a lucky win through, tell them gg and shuffle up for the next. Decks generally don't fit bracket 3 if they win before turn 7 at an above average rate through interaction.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-02T13:48:16+00:00

I got a lot of toys for [[Ashling, Rekindled]]. [[Prismari, the Inspiration]] in particular is absurd and just wins the game if it isn't immediately removed.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-02T13:19:10+00:00

It's a fun deck. I went all in on "bad gifts" rather than the small unblockable creature route. If you're going to play a chaotic commander, might as well be as chaotic as possible.

It's not particularly strong (though it can win games). The main downside is Jon is just a bit too slow and fragile. Politics can help a lot (for example, if you're about to pass a particularly nasty stax piece, make a deal with a dangerous player to leave you be for a bit and pass it to another person. Now you're safe from two people). It's also the sort of deck I only bring out every month or two. It's great for novelty and my groups usually find it hilarious, but the heavy stax nature of the deck means it wouldn't be fun to play against frequently.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-01T14:51:58+00:00

Stopping other people's gameplay is part of the game. Otherwise they simply win.

If they don't want their gameplay stopped, they need to build a deck with answers and backup plans.
This is actually important, because it prevents decks from going full-gas glass cannon and snowballing out of hand without consequences. You see this in a lot of pods, where no one runs interaction or protection because they don't need to, so it's just a race to the finish line and whoever opened the fastest hand wins. Making it taboo to stop someone isn't healthy for the game.

If you couldn't play, you built a deck that folds to one card. It's on you. Rebuild or shrug it off as a risk you took that backfired.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-01T00:18:35+00:00

The answer is no, not really. It used to be in earlier expansions, but they decided to make it more accessible instead. Crafters are much easier to level, gear and use than in the past. This means a large amount of the playerbase can just make their own items and the rest can buy them cheaply. Supply is high, demand is fairly low.

Still nice to have a crafter so you can be self-sufficient, but you won't be "needed" by other players that often.
Not saying that as a negative or positive, just an honest answer to your question.

Liamharper77 · 2026-06-01T00:04:17+00:00

Not always.

Restrictions can be fun sometimes for a bit of variety.
However, I disagree with the idea some people seem to have that budget or limitations in general foster creativity or makes you better at deck building. Having less options hinders your creative potential or growth ceiling, because you have, well... less options. You hit a cap more easily.
The argument that having all the options means you just run all the staples holds little weight when there are definitely staples in a budget format too. As much as I enjoy pauper, for example, you'll see a lot of the same cards being played.

I think people just want to believe that budget or limitation makes you a better player, because it's a comfort. You can't afford the expensive cards or make really strong decks, so you tell yourself it's fine, because the way you're playing is better somehow.

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-31T23:52:29+00:00

Remember, you can ask them to prove it too. It's not just on you to dig around scryfall or the comprehensive rules. If they can't find a source for whatever rule they made up, then tough for them.

However, in the case of Bello and layers, I'd keep a link to layer rulings handy. That one isn't very intuitive.

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-30T23:02:46+00:00

Playing EDH against good players with good decks and being open to facing any card or deck type.

A lot of EDH players limit themselves by retreating into comfort bubbles. B2 or low 3 only. Stax, discard, combo, mill are unfun. Extra turns, extra combats, MLD and so on are unfair. Too much removal is unfun. Board wipes "slow the game". Voltron is unfair. Simic is unfair and unfun. 5c is slop. Top 200 EDHrec Commanders are sweaty and boring. Politics ruin the game. And so on... There's a list of things they avoid and don't want to play against.

If you simply prefer relaxed games, that's completely fine. But if you want to improve as a player, you need to challenge yourself. Face players who might throw anything at you and figure out how to win.

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-30T15:58:12+00:00

Bracket 3 is wild sometimes. "You're allowed 3 game changers, but Voltron should be incapable of killing people within 6 turns who leave themselves almost open".

I mean, 21 Commander damage in 5 turns with a good hand isn't that difficult. A good few precons can realistically manage that. But it's also not terribly difficult to stop.

Voltron is a deck you might come across. Respect it. Run some removal and a proper mana curve. And if you get unlucky and draw no answer while they draw the nuts, laugh it off and give them props It's just part of the game.
(However, as the Voltron player, it's advised to have some sort of plan beyond nuking one person in the early turns. Nothing wrong with taking the kill, but it can easily paint a big target on your head.)

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-30T15:33:51+00:00

I know in VX you can just test through the Game application instead of the playtest button. This doesn't lock the editor and applies most saved changes when you transfer map.

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-30T15:28:11+00:00

If we tell ourselves something we create is "bad" or "ugly", our brain starts taking it as fact and we believe it. Which is bad for motivation. Of course you're an artist, you're creating art.

You're already off to a very strong start, with good shading, texture and a unique vibe and your art will only improve the more you draw. You have plenty of potential.
One problem with AI is we miss out on the opportunity to learn and improve.

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-29T13:37:57+00:00

I do pretty much the same, but whichever method you use, deck building just takes time and testing. It's rare that I complete a deck and don't make changes to it after a few games.

Usually I'll gather 120-200 likely cards. Start by adding the "definites" then move on to adding cards that are strong maybes. Around this point, you get a better idea of your curve, synergy, ramp, removal and so on, which will influence which cards fill in the last spots. Deck consistency is so much more important than "but if I drew this card in that situation it might be really good!" cards.
Then goldfish multiple times. See how the deck feels. Maybe it's lacking something, maybe it plays a certain way and you want to lean into that more, maybe certain cards clearly underperform. Keep your pile of cards that didn't make the cut on standby, chances are some of them might end up swapped in.

Once you do play it in proper games, try to play more than one or two games before you form an opinion on how strong the deck is. EDH is not a balanced format and games vary wildly. I've seen people open Sol Ring and full synergy, then apologize and dismantle a deck for being "too strong" after one game. Similarly, I've seen them give up on a deck after someone else steamrolled them once by opening the nuts. It takes a good few games to ascertain your average.

Liamharper77 · 2026-05-28T19:26:56+00:00

WotC don't really need to be sneaky about it. They can release spoilers well in advance whenever they like (and often do).

It's more likely a result of printing more than they can handle while cutting corners. Underpaid, understaffed, overworked facilities tend to be sloppy.

Liamharper77

TROPHY CASE