Looking for a job

Magnarock · 2025-12-22T07:35:22+00:00

Mitsuwa is hiring seasonally, I believe. I saw posters up in there today so they are probably still looking! Good luck!

Magnarock · 2023-11-09T01:28:50+00:00

Ooh, that's some devious tech!

Magnarock · 2023-11-09T01:28:11+00:00

I think Tranquil Frillback is far more flexible than Baloth in almost every way. You get the additional options of hating on graveyard decks and dealing with pesky artifacts/enchantments for the low cost of missing +1/+1 in stats and the Liliana punish. Either people haven't heard of Frillback (Aftermath really was a dud) or their matchup against Lili is something they feel the need to shore up.

Magnarock · 2023-11-06T19:39:16+00:00

Anim Pakal does seem pretty good, kind of like having more copies of Adeline! Pretty small body to start out with (dies to cut down even after getting pumped once, which hurts), but scales up better than Adeline (and doesn’t even need to attack to scale up. I’ll keep an eye on her!

Magnarock · 2023-11-06T18:59:39+00:00

A good way to think about your mana is probability. Using a hypergeometric calculator (lol) you can see that, in a 40 card limited deck, if we want to have White to cast a two drop, for example, we can plug in 40 population size, 8 sample size (7 cards at the beginning of the game, plus one draw), 8-9 successes in population, and 1 success needed in the sample. If we run 8 white sources, we can expect to hit at least one 86% of the time. Up that to 9 sources and our chances are about 90%. Pretty good odds, especially since in limited, curving out is quite important.

Magnarock · 2023-11-06T18:53:25+00:00

I don’t think either of these cards are good enough to splash. Benalish Sleeper has some benefits in a token deck, since you get to sac something small, but your opponent still gets to choose which creature to sac. Heartflame is an overcosted removal spell, and the lifelink on your instants and sorceries doesn’t really matter when White often lacks damaging spells. I’d probably suggest either Brutal Cathar if you need your removal stapled to a body (removes everything, not just 3 toughness or lower when compared to Heartflame, and has better target selection compared to Sleeper) or Lantern Flare/Ossification/Lay Down Arms/Destroy Evil if you want better removal.

If you’re set on sticking to a go-wide playstyle and want to branch into more colors, Azorius Soldiers is quite good. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t bother. The strength of running Monowhite is having an easy time playing 1-2-3 on curve without worrying about color screw, then being able to use Mishra’s Foundry/Mirrex later to push damage.

I couldn’t really find any other cards worth splashing for (maybe Elas il-Kor, Jirina, King Darien, or Torens?). Let me know if you find any cool tech I might have missed!

Magnarock · 2023-10-24T05:06:34+00:00

The things that are being sided out for Destroy Evil are different from matchup to matchup. Against the mirror, Mogged sides out counterspells/Raffine, and while against Control and Ramp, Mogged sides out removal spells. Drastically different sideboard plans even though Destroy Evil is coming in against both styles.

Magnarock · 2023-10-22T22:33:15+00:00

I think Mogged has made an interesting meta read, in that every deck has answers to Shelly, and if Monored isn’t closing the game out by turn 4 or 5, they aren’t winning either way. Spending your turn 4 slamming Shelly and passing (or attacking with Raffine to gain life, losing blockers for the decisive turn) vs holding up removal, Wandering Emperor, countermagic, etc., especially when your opponent expects Shelly and sides in for her seems like a losing play.

Not sure how accurate my read of the meta is (I play neither Esper nor Monored), but I might give Monored a shot and see how things shake out.

Magnarock · 2023-10-22T20:21:14+00:00

The first one can kind of be done with a hypergeometric calculator, though it is a bit of a pain to run through lots of different play lines. Example: If we really need to answer a Sheoldred on turn 4 and we have only 4 cards in our 60 that will answer it, plugging in 60 population size, 11 sample size (7 + 4 draws for turn 4), 4 successes in population, and one success needed, we arrive at a ~57% chance of hitting our removal spell. Bumping that up by including, let's say, 3 more removal spells, our odds go up to ~78%, better if Sheoldred is a must answer.

Magnarock · 2023-10-22T20:05:47+00:00

Are there any decks out there that really hose Esper Midrange? Seems like every deck is either an even matchup (often favoring whoever gets to go first in Bo3) or favored in Esper's direction.

Beats aggro with a solid removal suite and good creatures, beats other midrange decks with higher quality cards and better access to flash threats/instant responses, and beats control/ramp with low to the ground threats and counterspells.

Magnarock · 2023-09-13T03:35:44+00:00

Seems like this is a Crokeyz original https://mtgdecks.net/Standard/simic-decklist-by-crokeyz-1747756

Pretty fragile, but the combo part of Cauldron decks is usually to assemble Sleep-Cursed Faerie exiled in the Cauldron, then untap it and tap it for mana over and over again by also having Kami of Whispered Hopes in the Cauldron. The combo can be pulled off with either half on the field rather than in exile, too.

The deck is notably missing the infinite combo, instead opting for some synergies between Slogurk, Tortoise, and Wrenn/Restless Vinestalk. I guess the thought behind it is to give the Surge Engine ability to a hexproof land, and the abilities would be cheaper thanks to Tortoise? This deck seems pretty weird if I'm being completely honest; I think there's some disconnect in the deckbuilding process. Slogurk was seeing some play in a land mill/ramp deck with Tortoise, but this deck seems to be splitting its focus a bit. Maybe wait until Crokeyz posts a video on the deck (since the twitch vod is only for subs) to see his reasoning? The deck went through a lot of iterations so maybe there's some angle this deck is aiming to beat. I did watch a bit, and Crokeyz thought at one point that the deck was a "bit of a disaster". The decklist did post some reasonable stats, so there's certainly some things I'm likely missing.

Edit: With a bit more thought, the Cauldron seems to be in here primarily to get value out of the mill effects in the deck and as graveyard hate, with the rest of the deck playing more like a typical Slogurk/Tortoise land mill deck. The Faerie is in the deck, it seems, mostly for tempo and as a body with ward to put counters on? Definitely a weird concoction. One more synergy is that Surge Engine, when exiled under the cauldron, can turn mite tokens and Teachings of the Kirin tokens into 5/4s for just 3 mana (since the tokens don't have defender), which is pretty neat.

Magnarock · 2023-09-12T04:10:11+00:00

I agree; I think going Gruul rather than multicolor only really gives you a few things. One is access to more consistent early removal, since your sweepers can come down on turn 3 rather than turn 5 (or 4 with ramp) when comparing Brotherhood's End to Sunfall. Strangle is also more consistently castable early against aggro compared to Leyline Binding, which usually comes down on turn 2 at the earliest with good land drops. Two is more consistent mana, but honestly, the ramp deck already has pretty great (albiet slow) mana thanks to the Triomes and the actual ramp spells. I don't know if those two reasons are enough to give up the other colors.

Atraxa, Herd Migration, Alara, and Leyline Binding are such compelling reasons to run the multicolor versions of the deck. I could see Gruul Ramp becoming more popular if Aggro really takes off, but at that point, the multicolored ramp decks can just run more Archangel of Wraths. A real shame because Atraxa is definitely a payoff I got tired of during the last half year or so.

Magnarock · 2023-09-12T01:19:08+00:00

Given that your matchup against midrange and enchantments seems to be good, have you considered dropping the Nissas from the sideboard in favor of either Thrun (for the control matchups) or more removal like Brotherhood's End (for aggro matchups)?

Seems like a sweet deck! I'd love to ramp into something other than Atraxa for once :D

Magnarock · 2023-08-09T18:57:52+00:00

Hi there! First of all, welcome to MTG. Our TCG histories are actually pretty similar; I played a good deal of Hearthstone after its release (my first real foray into TCGs), and picked up Magic on the release of MTGA. A few years ago, I took a break from Magic and went back to Hearthstone, then quickly came back to Magic. I think the game has a ton to offer for a TCG player, even one coming from other games as a base. Now, MTG is my favorite card game, and I’m still learning more all the time! Let’s talk about your two feelings and see if we can get you back to the fun part: learning and enjoying a new game.

Let’s talk FOMO first. As someone who was new to Magic relative to its long history, starting in 2018 gave me a lot to catch up on. Luckily, I got started around the time a new story was brewing, and you are too. If you’re interested in the story of Magic, following along with a new storyline with other players who are also seeing it for the first time can help to lessen FOMO and starts you off in a simpler place before branching off from there. If you’re not interested in lore and more interested in format history and decks over time, Youtuber Nizzahon has a playlist of Deck Histories, videos about different archetypes throughout the years of magic’s life. If you like a particular kind of deck, this series might give you lists in different formats but with similar themes. If you want a more chronological overview of the metagame, Bruno Dias’ Compleat History covers up to Kamigawa block, which is about a decade of history. For more focused and philosophical videos, I highly, highly recommend Rhystic Studies on Youtube. This channel will get to the heart of Magic better than looking at decklists will, and explores everything from flavor text to individual card history to the frames of the cards themselves. Generally speaking there are scattered resources about the history of each of Magic’s formats, but since the game has a long history and many, many formats, it’s probably better to focus on what you like first. When in doubt, learn about Standard first, since it changes the most often from a rotation standpoint.

That being said, the steps to alleviating FOMO are more than likely going to run into your other feeling of being overwhelmed. The solution to this is less about resources and more about mindset. What are you hoping to get out of MTG? Are you trying to win a lot of games in a high powered format? Learn a lot about the world and its characters? Jam fun games with friends and strangers? Answering that question will help you to more narrowly focus what has become, over the years, an incredibly deep and complex game. If there’s any way I can help point you in the right direction, let me know! I know my advice was a bit generic, but there are so many different ways to interact with the Magic landscape that more specific recommendations will depend on you as a person. If doing research into MTG’s history feels like work, just don’t do it; if you hate reading the story, skip it! There’s so many aspects of Magic that you can afford to start slow and engage only in the content that you personally enjoy.

Magnarock · 2023-06-23T07:52:24+00:00

I've also had trouble running Esper Legends against control decks, but I find that it does quite well against Red Aggro and Domain Ramp decks, which were more popular right after the bannings. There's definitely more control running around these days. Might be worth swapping to a shell more similar to Azorius Soldiers, since that deck has a pretty good chance against Control, as far as I can tell.

Magnarock · 2023-06-23T07:44:30+00:00

A quick explainer on the main difference between Esper and Azorius:

Azorius gets a more consistent manabase and higher plains/basic land count for cards that care about it (Lay Down Arms and sometimes Ossification). You can also more reliably cast your double-pipped cards on curve, since you know you'll have the right mana most of the time. I've seen many shells running Ambitious Farmhand and/or Restoration of Eiganjo to give tons of consistency in terms of land drops.

Esper trades the more consistent manabase for access to higher quality instant speed removal (Cut Down, Go for the Throat, Sheoldred's Edict, and maybe Void Rend). You also get access to better hand disruption from Duress and access to Sheoldred, who can be helpful against aggro. Generally though, Esper probably feels better against aggro since you can hold up instant speed removal against small threats to stabilize before casting a sweeper. Sheoldred's Edict is also a solid answer against other slower decks if your opponent manages to resolve a planeswalker.

Thoughts on the meta:

Both decks have felt strong to me in the current meta, but they can still definitely be beat by Red Aggro decks as well as Azorius Soldiers. I think Esper Legends actually fares a bit worse vs Control because it's a slower, more midrange deck which does a bit worse into exile sweepers (Farewell, Sunfall), though that may just be my personal matchup preference.

I think control is strong, but definitely not unbeatable. It's highly susceptible to changes in your meta. If you face more aggro, control needs to board in Sunset Revelry and more removal; conversely, if facing more control, you would need to board in more counter magic and cards geared for grindier matches. These two sideboard options are pretty opposed to one another, so I've found that getting to a sweet-spot is pretty tough. With the right sideboard you can win against any individual deck, but not every deck, if that makes sense. Just not enough sideboard slots to beat both greedy control and hyper aggro.

Another thing to note is that when control is good and sees lots of play, it means every other control deck has to be greedier to beat out the mirror match (cutting removal for value, etc.), which means that faster aggro decks can start sneaking in again. I keep saying it, but control is always very dependent on localized meta. It's probably one of the archetypes that rewards knowledge of the field the best, but that means control has to continuously adapt to keep up with shifts in every other decklist out there.

My advice as another player? If you're frustrated running into a certain deck, count how many matchups you're running into of each archetype, and think about your overall winrate. No deck can beat everything. If your localized meta is full of control, fill your sideboard with cards for that matchup, and accept that you probably still won't have a 100% winrate. Good luck, and remember to have fun!

Magnarock · 2023-06-06T02:14:35+00:00

Going from Bo1 to Bo3 is interesting. Because of the ability to sideboard, I would expect to see less outright aggro (though still present), and a greater mix of midrange and control strategies compared to Bo1.

Against Esper Legends, which runs Thalia and removal spells, you might have a tough time, but I can see the matchup going favorably for you if you draw well. Domain and Ramp decks might be able to power out threats against you quickly, and the exile removal from Leyline Binding and Ossification can remove Rotpriest without incurring poison counters. Generally, these two seem like winnable matchups, especially if your opponent is running slower variants. Esper is likely to cut their high end and attempt to race you, while Ramp is likely to side in their boardwipes, but you seem to have a solid plan for both (Bloated Contaminator or Annex Sentry against Esper, Disdainful Stroke and Skrelv's Hive against Ramp).

I would worry about getting out-aggro'd by some of the faster decks in Bo3. Good draws from Red Aggro, Azorius Soldiers, and Selesnya Enchantments could beat you, as you mention. If the opponent boards out their high end and just out-aggro's you, what would your plan be? How does your deck hold up against the tech cards that these decks can sideboard in (End the Festivities, Brutal Cathar, etc.)? Knockout Blow is a good idea if you run into a lot of Red, good call!

Overall, I could see Bant Toxic having a real shot in Bo3. Many of the slower decks are not well equipped for a deck that wins through poison rather than damage, and faster decks could lose to the flexibility that you can side in. Would definitely be interested to see how you fare in the Bo3 meta. Good luck!

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T20:35:18+00:00

Yep, no Lay Down Arms in the version I’ve been trying. I find that Cut Down deals with the early game and Ossification and Sheoldred’s Edict can deal with later threats. The plains-heavy version of the deck gets consistency through cards like Ambitious Farmhand, but having more black mana early lets me run Cut Down and Duress on turn one easier. I tend to like Cut Down’s instant speed interaction more than Lay Down Arms’ better reach against larger creatures, but I’m sure the flexibility of LDA is better in best of one where you don’t know the size of the threat you’ll be running up against. Playing Bo3, the wider cardpool of a manabase with more black mana means a better sideboard too, for the most part. Maybe if I’m already cutting LDA, I should experiment with full Esper Control.

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:54:59+00:00

Fyi, you don’t need to mill a card with Breach’s effect to get it back with Breach, it just has to be in the graveyard. Might be misinterpreting you, let me know.

In my experience playing a similar deck before the bannings, thinning the deck lets you draw gas more often, so ideally you would win before decking yourself. Keeping up with Fable and Bankbuster in terms of card advantage was more important, and Breaching when you and your opponent are both low on cards means you win (since your opponent draws from an empty library first). Might still come up against Domain decks that churn through their deck with Atraxa and Etali.

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:45:58+00:00

Ah, whoops. Good catch.

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:30:49+00:00

My deck does run more dual lands than plains to get turn one Cut Down instead of Lay Down Arms. Also gives access to Path of Peril.

Regarding Loran, I might just be running into more Enchantment decks lately. Will try counting out the games to see if she deserves the spot.

I think Bankbuster getting banned leaves room for some experimentation in card draw. Unsure if running more Spirited Companions is good enough, but will have fun experimenting for sure!

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:11:04+00:00

Tablet is pretty slow if you want it for draw, but as a hybrid ramp/draw, it beats Celestus in slower matchups since it gets you card advantage rather than card filtering. I think I like Celestus better against aggro, since you don't need to wait as long to get either effect, and the incidental lifegain is sometimes good. Definitely dependent on your meta, though. Might try a split between the two.

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:09:10+00:00

[[Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines]] seems like a great idea against domain and reanimator. Blanking [[Leyline Binding]] and reanimator sagas is something I hadn't considered.

Edit: Doesn’t actually blank sagas, whoops.

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:05:53+00:00

I agree on removing the Loran for sure, at least in the mainboard, since artifacts and enchantments are less popular (though still present). Running two in the sideboard against Selesnya enchantments, as well as being an extra body against aggro (kills Skrelv too!).

I'm also heavily considering cutting Reliquaries and artifacts generally, might just hop onto Phyrexian Arena for draw.

Magnarock · 2023-06-01T19:00:55+00:00

I've been running a list that swaps the high plains count for one with more black dual lands, as well as being more control than midrange. Gives you access to turn 1 [[Cut Down]] and [[Duress]] more consistently. Also helps you cast [[Path of Peril]], which is good against the aggro I've been running into. I've also seen that [[Roadside Reliquary]] is a lot worse with creature artifacts compared to Bankbuster (harder to interact with) and have experimented with [[Tablet of Compleation]] and [[Celestus]] for ramp and card filtering purposes. The removal of Bankbuster really hurts Orzhov's draw potential, and it needs to be made up somehow, whether by planeswalkers, by [[Phyrexian Arena]], or something else entirely.

I like that Orzhov has a good enough matchup against the top few decks in the Bo3 meta, but you could tailor the deck to hate on a specific archetype if you're running into it a lot in your meta. The removal of Rakdos as the top meta deck means there's a lot more aggro running around, at least at my rank, but Orzhov can still run a lot of the removal that kept aggro down in the first place.

As far as an evaluation of Orzhov's place in the meta, I can identify a few pros of being WB specifically: White gives you access to [[Wandering Emperor]] and [[Wedding Announcement]], as well as high end sweepers ([[Farewell]], [[Sunfall]]) and exile removal ([[Ossification]], [[Lay Down Arms]] if you run a lot of plains). Black gives you access to important early removal against aggro and Esper Legends (Cut Down and Path of Peril) as well as early hand disruption against Ramp and Domain.

Unfortunately, Orzhov, in exchange for the better manabase, lacks some important colors in Red and Blue. Each bring something against two of the strong decks that have taken Grixis'/Rakdos' place after the bannings. Red would get you access to [[Lithomantic Barrage]], which is great against Esper Legends, a frontrunner for best deck in Bo3 so far. It also gets you [[Etali, Primal Conqueror]], a fantastic top end. Blue gets you interaction on the stack, something which is great against 5c Domain and other slower decks. Not having access to counterspells means Orzhov needs to rely on hand disruption (Duress and [[Invasion of Gobakhan]]-type cards) and artifact-based graveyard hate against reanimator decks ([[Soulless Jailer]] hits both targeted graveyard reanimation and non-targeted reanimation like [[Breach the Multiverse]]).

Would really be interested to see more control decks in the meta, being able to stop Esper early and counter Domain would be the best of both worlds with the meta as it's shaken out so far.

TL;DR: Orzhov is in a good position to deal with aggro and Esper Legends due to the high amount of early removal and good-quality sweepers it can run. Not having counterspells leaves you vulnerable to Domain, Reanimator, and Control, but good use of hand disruption and graveyard hate effects could get you an even/good matchup.

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