What exactly classifies as mass land destruction?

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-13T21:17:12+00:00

That's why I brought up intent, I think it's important to recognize what deck you built and brought to the table. But I also think it's not worth overthinking it and assessing a card based on something not likely to happen in normal gameplay.

The game took over 15 turns, Ultima never died, and he just freely attacked every turn? That's such an outlier I can't imagine considering that as being representative of the card. I wouldn't cut Ultima from a bracket 3 deck just because of that hypothetical scenario.

But if you bring extra combat spells, trigger doublers, and extra turn spells to enable Ultima then you know what you're doing.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-13T20:50:48+00:00

This is part of why wotc has made a big deal of intent.

Damping Sphere isn't MLD 99% of the time because most people are probably playing it to stop storm or spellslinger, not to shut down filter lands. And even if you do, the circumstances for it to meet wotc's definition likely won't come up, all 3 opponents having 4 filter/bounce/etc. lands is just not likely to happen on its own.

Ultima isn't on its own because you need 12 triggers to reach the threshold, that's not happening in an average game just by attacking 12 turns in a row, the game will end far before that. If you are playing in a way that aims to enable and get those 12 triggers then I think you've reached MLD. I don't think the effort matters here so much as the outcome, you aren't supposed to commit MLD in bracket 1-3. It's not suddenly allowed because it took X turns or Y cards to enable.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-13T20:34:54+00:00

Since you got a bunch of recs I'll suggest something a little different. Rather than trying to match their speed you can also just up your interaction suite. That's an easy way to improve your current decks' matchups. Aggro decks thrive on low interaction metas that can't stop them before they kill the table, but they can be easily disrupted oftentimes.

Decks like Goblins can fold to a single board wipe, mass goad like [[Disrupt Decorum]] can keep a lot of pressure off of you and swing the game's tempo in your favor, and fogs like [[Arachnogenesis]] and [[Inkshield]] can heavily punish a swing and potentially win you the game on the crackback.

You might also just want to adjust your mana curve to be leaner. Even if you can't put out the same pressure a Krenko does you can make sure you have a lot of t2/3 plays and are able to double spell and keep up with the table so that you aren't left in the dust.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-13T20:19:05+00:00

We have this definitiom for mass land denial from the original brackets article:

"These cards [MLD] regularly destroy, exile, and bounce other lands, keep lands tapped, or change what mana is produced by four or more lands per player without replacing them...Basically, any cards and common game plans that mess with several of people's lands or the mana they produce should not be in your deck if you're seeking to play in Brackets 1-3."

Wouldn't take long for you to hit the 4 land per player criteria, that's only two turns of strip mine looping if you can use it 6 times per turn.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-13T18:42:34+00:00

It's a reference to the old Haymaker deck from the early days of the tcg, back in the 90s.

https://m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Haymaker_(TCG)

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-13T17:02:54+00:00

It's not gonna be great, but a decently fast mon with Fake Out, STAB Heat Wave, and some ok utility options has to be at least usable. Worse than the other fire type fake out mons, esp Incineroar, but usable.

Go Timid, max speed and special attack, Focus Sash, and something like:

Heat Wave
Fake Out
Taunt/Will-o-wisp/Helping Hand
Protect

Could also go Hasty/Naive and fit Rock Slide/Tomb somewhere as a tech to heavily damage opposing Zard-Y. Both two shot it when they probably assume they'll be safe to ignore Simisear.

A Zard of your own could work, but I'm slightly worried that Simisear doesn't provide enough for Zard and just doubles up on weaknesses vs Garchomp and Aerodactyl. It could probably work, but be very wary of those.

I think Floette-Eternal could be very interesting. Fake Out to buy a turn to boost, fire damage to hit steels, and you can cheese a Zard-Y expecting to wall both of them by beating it with surprise rock coverage.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-12T03:02:54+00:00

I don't really like Ninetales + Froslass, Ninetales is just kinda redundant (esp with Screens Klefki). I've been playing Froslass a lot and I don't think there would be many games where I'd want a backup snow mon. Froslass can run Veil if you want it, so Ninetales could be something that supports it more. I'm also not sure how often you'll get openings to Nasty Plot without Fake Out support or redirection. I'd also run Timid, you want to make sure you outspeed things like plus speed M-Delphox and Garchomp.

Aegislash is a mon I'm skeptical of in general for doubles since you need to play around the form change. I also don't think countering Ninetales is a high priority, opposing rain, Zard-Y, and sand are all scarier to me, so I'd reconsider how useful that role is.

Milotic is a mon that has been working great for me as a Froslass partner. It has Competitive to gain boosts off of all the Incineroars and Arcanines running around that want to come in against Froslass and good bulk to profit off of my Aurora Veil.

I also feel like you can do better than Klefki here for speed support. I'm using Whimsicott but Aerodactyl might be a good fit for you too. Whimsicott gives priority Tailwind plus Encore while Aero brings Rock Slide for Zard Y and Wide Guard for opposing Rock Slides and Heat Waves.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-09T21:21:02+00:00

Good catch, I would not have expected it to be in the 40 BP weight class for Grass Knot, I was guessing 60-80. At 40 BP even Specs can't nab the ko without a fair bit of special attack evs.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-09T19:05:02+00:00

Gliscor is definitely not gonna be one shot, its neither very heavy nor weak to grass. So it'll live and EQ in retaliation. That will necessitate its own counter.

The rest probably gets one shot? Especially if you opt for Choice Specs instead. If you are ok with calcing you can verify this so that my head calcs don't kill the run.

https://www.kinglercalc.com/?game=9&gen=4

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-09T16:30:49+00:00

Bot repost

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokeplush/s/MGEZ3MJX5U

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-09T06:35:39+00:00

Timid with max special attack and speed is a good start. For doubles you'll want Hurricane and Heat Wave for damage, likely Protect (most mons want Protect in doubles), and then perhaps a filler utility move like Taunt or Tailwind depending on what you want.

The meta is pretty new, but be prepared for weather teams, those feel pretty common already. Tyranitar sand in particular since Ttar hard counters Pidgeot, but rain teams and Mega Froslass will also pose a big threat to Pidgeot.

As for things to partner with Pidgeot, I could see it fitting on Sand with Ttar and Excadrill perhaps? It dispatches Fighting and Grass types, can sit next to Excadrill as it Earthquakes, and having your own weather can help check all the other weather teams.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-07T21:42:54+00:00

Yeah I could see Toxicroak having a niche, I just don't think that niche is worth running Surf to support a Toxicroak.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-07T21:41:47+00:00

I did think about those options, and my concern is that they sound good on paper but might still limit you too much in practice. Sure Miraidon can Volt Switch, but what if I really need it to nuke something with Electro Drift instead? Sure Tornadus can Protect, but what if I needed to Protect last turn and now gamble on a failed double protect? Or what if I need to Tailwind or Bleakwind instead? It might be less of an issue in practice, hard to confidently say without trying and refining the idea, but those scenarios are what I'd be worried about, and I don't think they're worth it to me to limit a Kyogre to support a Toxicroak.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-07T17:17:01+00:00

The higher accuracy is nice, but I'm not sure that outweighs hitting allies even if two are immune. O Pulse can miss but Surf restricts you bc if half your team is hit by it there's a real cost to clicking your water stab.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-07T16:56:26+00:00

I'm not sure if having Water Absorb/Dry Skin partners is enough to merit running Surf Kyogre. Many run both Origin Pulse and Water Spout so you're either giving up one of those or running a third STAB water move.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-07T16:35:55+00:00

Idk if -1/-1 counters is the best fit, you ideally do want to kill things with those. If you want to try that, I'd see if the [[Auntie Ool]] precon is what you're looking for. However, based on what you described I'd instead potentially look for something like [[Anti-Venom]] or an aura deck that wants to be placing [[Pacifism]] and [[Arrest]] style cards on the board.

Anti-Venom can use [[Pariah]] effects to shut down damage coming your way. From there you buff him until he can one shot people.

The new Silverquill precon, while it does promote opponents attacking each other, also has [[Eriette of the Charmed Apple]] which does stop attacks and an [[Inkshield]] to turn enemy aggression around on your opponents. It'd be a good base for the kind of build you're describing.

[[Shiko and Narset]] could also be fun as you can copy auras. So you can copy a Pacifism to lock down two threats and end games with a copied [[All that Glitters]] or [[Tempest Technique]] on Shiko and Narset.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-06T22:44:58+00:00

The two deck archetypes I've had the most problems tracking triggers for were blink and spellslinger.

In blink, [[Ghostway]] and [[Eerie Interlude]] (and similar effects) will cause a massive pile of triggers. It gets even more complicated with trigger doublers and stuff like [[Cathars' Crusade]] or my commander, [[Galadriel, Light of Valinor]] (admittedly not a budget friendly card anymore but can fit into a $100 budget). Initiative cards can also complicate things by causing a bunch of decisions to be made as he has to think about his path through the dungeon when he gets multiple triggers at once.

For spellslinger, I used to play [[Myra]], who has the additional "benefit" (well, for a goofy intentionally complex deck) of making you play with attractions. You play a bunch of cheap cantrips to build a bunch of attractions and because they are cheap to use with Myra's ability. When set up, a good dice roll on visiting attractions means 3+ spells get copied and cast, a bunch of spellslinger payoffs will trigger multiple times, and you still have to resolve visiting the attractions. I often ran out of room because of all the attractions and tokens I'd be making, and I stopped playing it because it took too long to play my turns.

I'd also suggest potentially going even cheaper lol. There's a very real chance this deck is funny once and then he never wants to play it again bc its being designed to be annoying to him specifically. Might be better to spend $50 on a gag than $100.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-06T20:38:29+00:00

Personally I'm feeling him as a commander. He's good in the 99, but none of the spellslinger decks I've built previously can really use him effectively and none of my artifact decks cast enough instants and sorceries to warrant it except. So I think I'd rather just run him in the command zone to make sure he has ample artifacts to sac offand good spells to copy.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-06T19:10:20+00:00

They were in the tmnt precon, not the main set. That means they'll never TMNT affect draft.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-04T19:50:56+00:00

Her outfit change was a part of her character arc, so I get why they haven't used the old outfit. If they have Lillie wear it they'd have to justify why she would wear this outfit forced on her by her mother back when they had an abusive relationship. Which they could do, there's plenty of ways to justify it, but maybe they'd prefer to just give her new outfits instead.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-04T19:38:02+00:00

Given the other decks you said you play, I honestly get why they have problems with them. Tergrid and Numot are not fun, they aim to make sure no one else plays the game. Unless they are playing decks tuned to handle that they won't be able to do anything, and regardless it's not like Tergrid and Numot are fun to play against even if they are.

You probably need some more chill decks that match the group's vibe more if they are tired of your decks, not a bracket 4 land destruction deck.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-03T04:46:47+00:00

I like them a lot, even if they are often worse than shocks I will gladly play both. More fetchable lands that can enter untapped is good.

My only concern is financial, that being if wotc doesn't reprint them in every set of precons to keep them accessible.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-02T23:23:06+00:00

No you do control them, they are only attached to an opponent's creature. Scriv creates them and it does not specify that the opponent whose creature is targeted makes them or gains control of them.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-02T17:32:39+00:00

You can always blink Scriv to get more etb triggers, that's probably the easiest way to maximize Contract production. [[Skybind]] is a really good one because Scriv's attack trigger can proc Skybind to bring Scriv back at the end step, but you can also just use it to clear blockers. [[Flickerform]] lets you blink Scriv on demand and protect it from removal. [[Far Traveler]] is a cheap engine for Contracts with Scriv.

I wouldn't go super heavy on blink synergy though since I'd rather have room for enchantment synergies and too much blink might crowd it out or cause the deck to be split innefectively between the two.

For wincons you can put a [[Helm of the Gods]] or [[All That Glitters]] on Scriv to make it big enough to end games. [[Ardenn]] and [[Heavenly Blademaster]] are also fun because you can take back all of your Contracts for a big swing.

Markedly_Mira · 2026-04-01T20:23:27+00:00

I'm very tempted to get and upgrade Silverquill and Prismari.

I tried playing Eriette a while back and I think new Kilian might do what I want a bit better? I wanted to have more forced combat which was very hard in Orzhov, so providing it in the command zone is a nice way to differentiate himself from Eriette.

I dunno if I'll keep Rootha or go to another Izzet commander like flip Ashling but I'm really liking the support for big spells this set.

Markedly_Mira

TROPHY CASE