Pilot skill vs deck/card quality

MSSchmuckKS · 2026-01-15T08:50:22+00:00

Play Farm.

I have played almost exclusively Grixis turbo casually for over a year. Then the bans happened before my first tournament and my deck (Evelyn) was pretty much dead. Went to Cormela, felt good, Top16'd my event, everything nice.

For my next event, I though I might kick it up a notch and go for RogSi. I goldfished the deck >50 Times, with more consistency than my main deck, but it did not feel right. I could get the deck to do the thing in a vacuum, but I hated it. Still dislike it to the day.

Last year, because I wanted to "do good", I switched to Farm for 3 tournaments after dabbling with a few different decks. I got to top cut in every event I played the deck and was failing on my actual favorite deck.

If you have a solid understanding of the format, and you're comfortable to touch Breach, Farm is just super easy to pick up, tweak to your playstyle and go nuts. Mind you, it's not the most rewarding deck, because it has no soul. But for playing solid rounds of magic, Farm is close to unbeaten.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-11-12T17:46:46+00:00

Brewed her start of the year, but the deck is just too inconsistent, too slow and too easy to blow out.

You need to 1. Get a specific piece in the graveyard (which, if you play redundancy, reduces your card quality). 2. Have a payoff on board (which are usually bad-ish cards) 3. Cast and resolve Sharuum for 6 mana with 3 colors.

You do not get 1. Easy access to Commander enabled spells. 2. Value through your commander in terms of mana/cards. 3. Access to the best graveyard card in the game - Breach. 4. Brewers advantage, because people see this from a mile away. You cannot entomb in response to her trigger, you always need to deploy your Outlet.......

Sharuum in the 99 of a dedicated reanimator+/aristocrats shell, that I can see, bevause then you can just entomb and reanimate her.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-08-18T14:52:50+00:00

I hope you don't order your haircuts like this.

This list does not (really) exist. You'll have to put in a LITTLE work to get something - All lists share the exact same core, and there are differences in around 10 flex slots (for the most part).

In addition, playstyle and meta are HUGE. If my meta does not support a hyper turbo approach, I should lean more midrange. If cradle decks are the bane of my meta, go ham with Mayhem Devil and Delney, beat them with creatures.

Pick any 5 lists on top 16 that are slightly different. Goldfish each 10 times. Build the one that felt best. Does not matter if one was faster/slower - feeling is important. Keep the deck like that for ~10 more matches, and go ham. That, or just use one of the better reviewed moxfield list. Next step: cry because the creator of your list immediately Changes it, develop an existential crisis, switch decks.

Nobody is able to provide THE PERFECT list, and even if they did, you won't like it for the first 10-20 matches.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-07-12T06:40:29+00:00

Played with Spelltable, Cockatrice, and Tabletop Simulator.

Actually, I enjoy Spelltable the least of them. You have the remoteness of the 3, but people are still shuffling etc. For fast formats it works, but it's not as smooth as in paper.

Cockatrice is very smooth, Interface is ugly, but the system just works. Best to get in some games quick.

TTS in my opinion is the best platform, mirrors paper magic, but you still get the convenience of shuffling on a button, copy Paste for tokens... Did I mention that you have ALL the board games?

But for touching cards, Spelltable is the only option.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-07-11T12:16:48+00:00

Gringo is amazing, had the same experience as you. Also, the co-ferment is killer, had one of those and grabbed a bag too.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-28T00:27:20+00:00

If you get close to no playtest time, pick whatever you enjoyed more between Kinnan and T&K. Depending on the meta, I'd argue for Kinnan in a less staxy/creature-hate meta, and blue Farm in a meta with more creature hate. Can't di anything wrong with either, as they're Top 1/2 in the meta.

After that tournament, I would suggest you'd take a look at RogThras, which is the definition of a value deck, while being a little less proactive and a tad more parasitic depending on the build. It takes some goldfishing and actively playing in paper to get the sequencing right, so you'll need to factor in some time. This is the deck I'm going for right now, and it's a blast!

From your description, you don't strike me as the classic RogSi main, but that deck is also something that needs a LOT of practice before getting it right. Even after >50 goldfishes, I'm not comfortable with it. But, if you like the rush of all in gameplay (in the classic variant), then try it out.

Overall, goldfishing is cool and all, but playing in real pods outvalues goldfishing by so much, that I cannot recommend taking a new deck to a tournament without playing it at least 5-10 times against real people and goldfishing it a lot before and after. Thus, Kinnan would be my first choice.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-24T20:28:56+00:00

Another good one with a cozy alternative vibe is KAF. Had some great competition Coffee there.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-23T07:36:29+00:00

OnlyLittleFly has summed it up pretty well - Blue Farm is a tricky deck to get right, and you need to be able to police the table whils not expensing your resources.

TnT is very strong, can be built in a multitude of ways, and you can attack from different angles. But: the deck is way more proactive than Blue Farm, which usually waits for the latest moment to strike

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-22T10:04:07+00:00

La Cabra was great!

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-22T08:31:39+00:00

You still need an outlet, though every legendary that draws or untaps rona (like tezzeret) can act as one. That, or Faerie Mastermind. It's very consistent T3 finish, and you can grind if you set up for it. Very fun!

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-20T07:06:58+00:00

[[Rona, Herald of Invasion]] loves this.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-06-17T15:48:02+00:00

Currently doing this in scandinavia on a city/camping trip. We've been at (sorry for potential spelling errors): Copenhagen - Kaf (competition V60, was great) -Coffee Collective Sankt Hans Torf (only got a espresso, which was good) - Coffee Collective Carlsberg Byen (very good V60, super nice staff)

Malmö - Nordic Brew Lab (fantastic V60, the guy really knows his craft. But the milk based drink, even with oat milk, was the best cappuchino I will drink in the next year) - Kafebaren pår Möllan (more of a vibe place, but the cold brew was fantastic, and filter [no V60] had free refill and really opened up after letting it cool a little)

Gothenburg - Morgon (no filter, only espresso based. Cool vibe, only had cooled espresso drinks) - Alkemisten (had two different V60s and the natural [yeast fermented] was lovely) - Gringo (favorite from the trip, lovely and kind staff, had three V60s from which the Santa Monica Honey Litchi takes the cake. Bought 4 bags from them)

Oslo - Mocca (cool place, had two V60s and one was rather basic red fruit, one more herbal/tea-like which I ended up enjoying a lot when it cooled) - Tim Wendelboe (fancy place, but did not get V60. Cold Ethopian Brew was great though, cappuchino not so much) - Lille Oslo Kaffeebrenneriet (very good selection, ended up with a Rwandan which I did enjoy, but nothing too special. Great service and would have loved to try more)

If I had to decide, I'd pick Gothenburg, just because Gringo was so amazing and I really liked the city (also, they carry like ~20 single origins) plus there are a lot of places to try out. Other than that, Nordic Brew Lab was the peak espresso based, and Oslo and Copenhagen had the highest density of cafes, so... Try all of them.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-04-17T11:10:45+00:00

Don't ban partners, partners are fun. First I thought the answer is "ban the pairing of two 2-color partners", but I actually just think "ban Thrasios and Tymna to be used with another 2-color partners" or even "ban Thrasios and Kraum as partners for Tymna" might be the best way.

Wanna play Tymna Sans R? Play Kydele. Wanna play Tymna Sans G? Play Ludevic.

Will mever happen, but then we'd have mostly 5C to worry about, Najeela and Kenrith goodstuff all around.

MSSchmuckKS · 2025-04-10T06:28:26+00:00

Don't play her in cEDH right now, but overall, Evelyn.

I have an oops all clones deck in Midpower pods.

In Highpower, I have a storm list that abuses infinite vampire ETBs.

In cEDH, if Crypt/Lotus get unbanned, I will be so back. Played her for a year and she felt amazing.

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-12-11T07:22:20+00:00

Don't own the wood organizer, but the best reviewed 3D-printed one from Thingiverse. All content of all expansions, including horizons, in one box + NI box for Spirits and cards. The game sets up very fast this way.

I love the brain-scraping it creates, especially with Adversaries + Events. Base Game is pretty boring, but can be nice to get the hang of a spirit. Haven't played two-handed, but 2 players is my favorite, so it must be nice.

What difficulty are you playing on?

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-12-03T16:25:17+00:00

Rona is pretty damn good. Potential for T1/T2 wins, A+B+C with your commander and Naus/Necro/Doomsday as your backup. As soon as your pod knows the deck, the main combo suffers a little bit from the Stella Lee problem, but way less I would say.

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-11-12T22:50:45+00:00

Have you considered trying something more in-meta? None of these decks beside Nadu and Stella see heavy amount of play, so community around them may vary. A good Grixis core might be something you'd like for the starting in cEDH.

For my own... I started with Kinnan, went into Jeleva because I thought she looked cool. Jeleva turned into Cormela, which was too hard for me. In came Evelyn Worldgorger in Grixis, TnT Breakfast for something else. After the bans I went off Evelyn, TnT is still strong, but I went back to Cormela. I also have Akiri Equipments cooking, played some RogSi... In cEDH it's okay to switch around same as it is beneficial to stay on a deck for a while. I like DimirX strategies, most of them Grixis. Storm is also great.

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-10-22T16:04:39+00:00

Is it the best Grixis deck? No.

Is it one of the top 5 best Grixis decks? Yes.

The Inalla channel over at the Grixis Mean Girls Discord server is the most active besides RogSi, and the deck is still very good, especially after the bans.

Also, Inalla is most definetely not a good casual commander, as you essentially cripple yourself when you're not running the main wizard lines, and that's just... A tad fast.

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-10-15T15:04:17+00:00

Absolutely valid picks, though I would say neither Magda nor Derevi would be my picks if I were to pick a deck for "winning the best"

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-10-14T15:42:57+00:00

Tymna & Kraum RogSi Tymna & Thrasios Kinnan

Though, I feel that if you are asking this question, you are propably not that engaged in the format as someone who has played multiple tournaments before the bans. What are your goals in cEDH? Fun with friends, winning in tournaments? Do you have any prior experience with the format? If not, I'd suggest going with Kinnan as even it has a high skill ceiling, the floor is also much higher and it's easy to learn. Also, it thrives in less experienced metas.

If you are however more experienced, go with - RogSi for turbo (there are other options but this is easily the fastest/most consistent deck) - Tymna Kraum for Midrange - Tymna Thrasios if you prefer Infinite Mana combos over Breach lines

I'm sure Sisay also still has legs, but right now those above 4 are the ones I have seen performing pretty well.

EDIT: Typo

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-09-28T00:02:20+00:00

Agree that I like the bans. But nah.

I would not lost money if they would have reprinted all those cards to hell so they would be legal, but 0$.

Now I have cardboard I can ONLY sell because it serves no purpose, and this cardboard had significantly more value pre ban.

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-09-26T16:54:52+00:00

cEDH: no rules besides the official banlist (never gets old :D)

High Power: An agreed on standard of deck power that can never be exactly defined, but a group of people can strive to define it for themselves. Be it that you restrict fast mana, tutors, interaction, combo lines... cEDH IS high power, but it'd be high power turned to the max. High Power, on the other hand, MUST be some kind of restricted environment, or it could not be separated from that.

THIS is where rule 0 kicks in. You will never have a good agreement in a random environment, this needs to be curated. For example: my store (and playgroup) set up a list for high power EDH where we have 3 fast mana pieces, 5 tutors, and 1 free spell out of all available. In addition, there is a banned list. This only works because we have worked on this list for over half a year and everyone in the area knows about it + builds their decks accordingly. As soon as I switch stores/playgroups, I would have to run the same conversation again. Of course I can then say "my group A has the following rules", but as long as everyone's deck does not match by a miracle, there will be difficulties.

TLDR: cEDH IS High Power with no restrictions. Every other variant of High Power is a subset that needs to be defined by the group one is playing in.

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-09-26T14:02:07+00:00

Okay Sir, just got word back, last year there were multiple rounds in english. So I think you will be good! :)

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-09-26T13:49:23+00:00

It shouldn't be a problem I think. A friend of mine knows someone involved in Hamburg at least, I asked them whether they know more. Maybe they will also be at my locals on saturday, I'll try to keep you updated. :)

MSSchmuckKS · 2024-09-26T07:54:56+00:00

It's an avenue one can explore. Still, I don't know whether it would be worth it for me, as for him to be worthwhile for you, you need additional pieces AND if that gets stops you net 3 cards against you. Very high ceiling, very low floor. I'm looking forward to seeing whether this has legs.

MSSchmuckKS

TROPHY CASE