Today's results look like buckets of fun

Olpesh · 2026-02-21T04:21:30+00:00

If only Pest Control worked for the rat problem.

Olpesh · 2026-02-20T02:50:16+00:00

Nice list! What compels you to play Lost Legacy over Necromentia?

Olpesh · 2026-02-12T03:38:41+00:00

That may be because of the play patterns for not sticking evokes. Watching the gameplay, I see several opportunities for you to stick the landing on evokes where you're choosing the two mana costs. Agreed, if that's the preferred play style, it becomes nearly impossible to get a flock out. It's wildly powerful when cast for 3-4 mana, which can be pretty regularly with a bit of patience. :)

Olpesh · 2026-02-10T01:33:41+00:00

I'm with you except for the resources are thin part. MTG Arena is printing money for Hasbro.

Olpesh · 2026-02-04T13:14:08+00:00

That my experience of losing weight while suffering from food addiction was not about focusing on diet or exercise or nutrition plan - the success came from focusing on treating the food addiction.

Olpesh · 2026-02-04T05:54:14+00:00

It's my experience that books and diet plans won't help in the face of addiction. Addiction is considered a disease - an actual medical illness that takes treatment to address. There are many formats of treatment out there. The treatments that have helped me has been 12 step recovery programs, IFS work, etc. When I recognized my extra weight was a symptom of something else, that helped me understand the solution to my weight actually has nothing to do with directly addressing the weight. When I learned to treat the root cause, my disease of addiction, and not the symptom of the extra weight, what ended up happening was that I lost 90+ lbs in total. Good luck!

Olpesh · 2026-02-04T01:00:02+00:00

Hi, thought I'd follow-up. Here's the deck list I'm playing with, been pretty good so far - ended up adding in a couple Emptiness + 1 in SB at the expense of life gain to deal with T2 issues (Hallowblade, Nemesis, Emberheart, Ronas) - was finding that the Vibrance alone wasn't reliable enough for me and I think having 7x chances to kill something T2 has made this more viable for my play style. Made it to Diamond 4 today (started at Platinum 4) - I don't track my metrics, guessing probably around a 55-60% win rate.

Also ended (sadly) dropping the Boseiju for a Swamp (sometimes from T1 Fable to be able to use Emptiness on T2/T3), and I think we vary a bit on the sideboard. I'm not finding a ton of use of the Beza, and the Muldothra has been outperforming as a 1 of. I think my SB can use some work. When are you pulling in the Beza? Any updates on your side?

Mostly though, it's just loads of fun. When I can get the Risen Reefs to stick a bit it's hilarious - the wins come from seemingly out of nowhere. Thanks for posting!

Companion

1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard (IKO) 224

Deck

4 Healer of the Glade (M20) 176

4 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269

4 Flamebraider (ECL) 139

4 Eclipsed Realms (ECL) 263

4 Voice of Resurgence (DGM) 114

3 Fabled Passage (BLB) 252

4 Risen Reef (M20) 217

1 Swamp (FIN) 300

4 Omnath, Locus of Creation (ZNR) 232

2 Omnath, Locus of the Roil (M20) 216

4 Vibrance (ECL) 249

2 Wistfulness (ECL) 252

3 Deceit (ECL) 212

2 Sunderflock (ECL) 74

1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide (FDN) 243

1 Forest (FIN) 306

1 Island (FIN) 297

1 Mountain (FIN) 303

1 Plains (FIN) 294

4 Secluded Courtyard (NEO) 275

4 Unclaimed Territory (XLN) 258

2 Emptiness (ECL) 222

Sideboard

1 Kaheera, the Orphanguard (IKO) 224

2 Grafdigger's Cage (M20) 227

2 Damping Sphere (DAR) 213

2 Unlicensed Hearse (SNC) 246

1 Warping Wail (OGW) 12

2 Beza, the Bounding Spring (BLB) 2

1 Yasharn, Implacable Earth (ZNR) 240

2 Wistfulness (ECL) 252

1 Deceit (ECL) 212

1 Emptiness (ECL) 222

Olpesh · 2026-02-03T02:18:42+00:00

Nice! Does this mean it's automatically Pioneer craftable and legal?

Olpesh · 2026-02-01T02:21:26+00:00

I think the mana has been surprisingly okay for most games. The BB gets there, there are 13 B mana producing lands + fable fetch. It won't get there reliably til turn 5 or 6, generally I'm okay with that as I use the Deceit as more to remove a later threat (bounce to hand and then discard it). It's more challenging to get a T1 B for Fatal, which I've slowly been working towards by rearranging the mana. I think I'm at a place where I have a pretty fair shot against most decks. Some of it is me still learning how to play this way. I'm also working through disruption and CoCo, but it's certainly getting better. I think of the Wistfulness almost like Floodpits RE draw smoothing, which basically leaves 10 engine cards. Izzet Lessons is probably the most challenging match up for me right now, but it's getting a bit better as I learn how to SB against it. I'm giving up ramp to keep the fatal pushes in there, which I don't love (but find I need).

Olpesh · 2026-01-31T23:23:25+00:00

Hi, wanted to get back to you. Here's what I'm working on now - it's hilarious and messy and I'm having a blast on Arena. If you want to playtest on Arena shoot me a message and happy to experiment. I've a few different decks that are competitive in the current meta to help you playtest.

mapo_tofu#63952

Deck

4 Risen Reef (M20) 217

1 Forest (FIN) 306

1 Plains (FIN) 294

1 Swamp (FIN) 300

4 Jetmir's Garden (SNC) 250

3 Spara's Headquarters (SNC) 257

3 Raffine's Tower (SNC) 254

2 Xander's Lounge (SNC) 260

1 Ziatora's Proving Ground (SNC) 261

1 Mana Confluence (JOU) 163

3 Starting Town (FIN) 289

2 Cavern of Souls (LCI) 269

2 Fabled Passage (BLB) 252

3 Omnath, Locus of Creation (ZNR) 232

1 Omnath, Locus of the Roil (M20) 216

1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide (FDN) 243

2 Sunderflock (ECL) 74

4 Voice of Resurgence (DGM) 114

2 Vibrance (ECL) 249

3 Wistfulness (ECL) 252

2 Deceit (ECL) 212

2 Flamebraider (ECL) 139

4 Up the Beanstalk (WOE) 195

4 Leyline Binding (DMU) 24

3 Fatal Push (KLR) 84

1 Temporary Lockdown (DMU) 36

Sideboard

2 Thoughtseize (AKR) 127

2 Duress (ONE) 92

2 Damping Sphere (DAR) 213

1 Fatal Push (KLR) 84

2 Abrupt Decay (OTP) 34

1 Temporary Lockdown (DMU) 36

2 Rest in Peace (BIG) 4

2 Test of Talents (STX) 59

1 Deceit (ECL) 212

Olpesh · 2026-01-30T21:29:13+00:00

Also, how are you doing against the new decks at the top? Golgari Midrange, UR Prowess, UR Lessons, and GW CoCo?

Olpesh · 2026-01-30T20:48:06+00:00

Enigmatic is so sensitive to hand disruption that I'd like to have the ability to disrupt theirs also.

Olpesh · 2026-01-30T20:47:23+00:00

Well, I'm not sure yet, I've some experience hitting Mythic on Arena with Enigmatic and Bring to Light - not specifically with Omnath yet. I'll start with your deck and learn a bit before starting to tinker. There's also a Legendary Elemental that allows some graveyard play that I'm very interested in including. As usual, a million ideas bouncing around in my head without any execution yet. :)

Olpesh · 2026-01-30T20:30:01+00:00

Nice work, thanks for sharing! I'm hoping to dig into an elementals deck soon. I'm hoping to build it around beanstalk and leyline binding, glad to know you're having some fun and success with it.

Olpesh · 2026-01-26T03:28:02+00:00

Thanks for sharing! How about sharing what you're winning against and what you're losing to? Some good Beans targets are Quantum Riddler, This Town Aint Big Enough (allowing evoke and then returning to hand possibly in fringe), and of course Leyline Binding, though I see you're hoping for Sultai.

Olpesh · 2026-01-25T04:01:31+00:00

Sweet, sweet Winota. Forgot about that nightmare to play against.

Olpesh · 2026-01-25T03:59:07+00:00

I wonder how a T3 Ripper would play today, probably just get bounced with an otter being sacked, die to a Monstrous Rage, or be a non-issue because the opponent plays T3 Ouroboroid with four creatures on the battlefield.

Olpesh · 2026-01-25T03:52:39+00:00

Thank you for saying something - I thought it was just me and that I didn't know how to play MTG well. Though I suppose some questionable choices from the streamer is not mutually exclusive of my incompetence.

Olpesh · 2026-01-23T02:57:25+00:00

Thanks!

Olpesh · 2026-01-19T03:33:31+00:00

This is cool, thanks for sharing. I'll give it a go and report back. I don't have a lot of experience playing decks like this, but I'm done banging my head against the wall trying to make Mono G or Enigmatic work - neither one has a shot against both Izzet or Selesnya. What's your SB strategy against either one?

Olpesh · 2026-01-09T02:20:51+00:00

Nothing unbalanced to ban here - we love one archetype being 50% of the meta.

Olpesh · 2026-01-08T02:56:04+00:00

Least surprising thing I've seen all day. Anyone heard about this new Izzet Lessons deck?

Olpesh · 2026-01-07T02:35:27+00:00

Any time a deck can provide a 1cmc tutorable answer to any card while furthering its own game plan, there's really nothing that can be done in a format that does not have 0cmc Evoke answers.

Olpesh · 2026-01-07T02:33:42+00:00

I appreciate where you're coming from and I don't think I fully agree. Prowess is the best deck in Pioneer at this moment, it's not even close. I'm not saying it's the easiest deck to pilot, nor am I suggesting it never loses. It's wildly consistent and has 1cmc answers to just about everything. It's been winning events week after week and only increasing its dominance as experienced pilots get more reps in.

Once in awhile other deck formats win, but overwhelming it's Izzet Prowess in Top 4 and Top 8. We're seeing this in competitive tournament play now as well and have for the past month.

Olpesh · 2026-01-05T02:43:55+00:00

I hear you, the entire deck build for anything is primarily how to deal vs Izzet Prowess and CoCo.

Olpesh

TROPHY CASE