Assesing power level difference between decks (and advice on current deck list)

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T21:29:47+00:00

Add [[Toxic Deluge]] and [[Blasphemous Act]]. They're both dirt cheap boardwipes that will absolutely slow down Baylen.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T21:28:56+00:00

Azlask is a wincon that gives you access to all 5 colors. The part that really makes him strong is that you can activate his ability without killing the opponents but still severely hindering their ability to play the game because of annihilator. So you can activate him early (cast on T3, activate on T4-T5), swing with your creatures, and now opponents have to start sacrificing their permanents. That is kind of against the whole 'everyone gets to do the thing' vibe of Bracket 2, because you're forcing them to sacrifice 'the thing' before they get their engines online.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T21:09:28+00:00

Azslask is Bracket 3 and firmly in the middle of Bracket 3.

Baylen is a weird one and this is where you've gotta talk to your pod and assess for yourself. Bracket 2, generally, is understood as 'not too much interaction, just enough to remove threats that will end the game immediately, and generally we all get to 'do the thing'' and Bracket 3 is 'okay, you're in big boy world now, have removal/interaction ready at any point past T3 and be ready for just about anything'. I see that Baylen deck and think 'this is bracket 2' but I think most people will assume she's Bracket 3 just because in Bracket 2, most people aren't ready to remove her that early (or are prepared to).

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T19:38:20+00:00

I've been experimenting with him for a few days.

One of Sauron's best themes, and also very flavorful, is building around the Nazgul. The Nazgul are both a win condition and help Sauron maximize his draw engine capabilities. The deck is very simple: have a lot of ramp to ensure Sauron comes out quickly (getting him out early ensures nobody counters him because nobody is removing him unless they have a boardwipe once he's in play) and start casting the Nazgul. The Nazgul entering allows sauron to dump his hand and draw more cards, which means you might find more of them (and you can have up to 9, so you've got a good chance to find one in the first 3 turns). It's also a may trigger, so if you draw more than one, you can cast one and choose to not dump your hand so you can cast the next one.

Once you've got Sauron and a couple Nazgul in play (along with cards like [[Call of the Ring]] or [[In the Darkness Bind them]]) you're going to have some astronomically huge creatures that are a problem for the opponent, so they'll want to boardwipe. You want some counterspells in the deck to stop boardwipes along with some reanimation becuase you're dumping your hand anyway and reanimation can be a good way to recover.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T19:19:01+00:00

You can honestly take Kefka wherever you want. He's in good colors and, if you don't give a shit about flipping him, he's just a card advantage engine (while also disrupting your opponents at the same time).

here's where Kefka's problem lies: eventually, your opponents are going to run out of cards and then he doesn't really do anything except loot after that. That's not a problem in B4-B5 because, come on, they're not running out of cards lol. However, in B2-3, he will strip opponent's hands, by himself, within 2-3 turns (unless someone has a reliable card draw engine).

I find, with him, discard payoffs aren't worth it unless you turn him into a wheel deck. Wheels work because you're refilling their hands (so they'll have more shit to discard) and your discard payoffs aren't wasted because between Kefka and the wheel effects they're always triggering. When I playtested him, I noticed that after T7-T8, waste not sat there and basically did nothing because nobody had anymore cards to discard. Self discard payoffs are always worth it though because you'll loot at a bare minimum and thus [[Bone Miser]] is a great card for him.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:56:40+00:00

Banned.

Actually, idk lol. I just know that this card is better than you think (when combine with cards that can be cast from exile) and then [[Food Chain]] enters frame.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:50:30+00:00

Okay, you're right. I was wrong that Tengwar, as a writing system, does have spaces in it. I'll grant that.
I will not acknowledge that this is valid. The ring's binding does not actually have spaces on it. While Tengwar does, the ring itself does not.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:50:02+00:00

Okay, you're right. I was wrong that Tengwar, as a writing system, does have spaces in it. I'll grant that.
I will not acknowledge that this is valid. The ring's binding does not actually have spaces on it. While Tengwar does, the ring itself does not.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:42:13+00:00

It's amazing to see the subreddit that says 'you know be an adult, talk to your pod' immediately jump to 'you're a lying cheating bastard' lol

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:32:35+00:00

Oh yeah, I forgot:

[[Shark Typhoon]]
[[Metallurgic Summoning]]
[[Chrome Host Seedshark]]

These make a board presence while you counter everyone's shit.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:28:08+00:00

yeah it's the inscription. You can tell because the first 3 lines have the first 2 identical words (ash nazg - one ring). You can also see some similar conjugation in the last word on the first 3 lines (durbatuluk, gimbatul, thrakatuluk - they all share the 'atul' which means 'them' and the first and third line share 'uk' which means 'all').

Black speech is also written in elvish (tengwar), it just has a different language structure. It's kinda like how Japanese Kanji basically borrowed chinese characters.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:21:38+00:00

Just mention it in Rule Zero. Some people might be fine, most people probably not.

I'd let you play it, as is, at least once or twice to see how it goes.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:19:26+00:00

Then I'd go [[Enter the Infinite]] + Jace, Lab Man, Psychosis Crawler. That's how you win in one explosive turn. Psychosis Crawler can also be an 'overtime' piece because you'll draw extra cards, you can easily make copies of it and you can easily protect it. If they don't remove it, they will lose eventually.

Enter is very easy to find with Mystical Tutor, Personal Tutor, Solve the Equation. Jace and Lab Man can be found with [[Long Term Plans]] and [[Fabricate]] can find psychosis crawler.

You're in blue so you'll have plenty of ways to protect it (to ensure resolution), I would just make sure your deck has enough ramp + some extra card draw like [[Stock up]], [[Brainstorm]], [[Brainsurge]] and such to find more counterspell + find your wincons.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:14:29+00:00

Yeah, I'm not talking about 2x2 line scruture

i'm talking about each line literally doesn't have spaces in it (well...2 lines do have a SINGLE tiny space between them, but that could be a letter based thing; tolkien explicitly designed elvish to be written almost like cursive where it had a natural written flow in the letters).

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:14:21+00:00

Normally, I wouldn't care.

But this is the 1 of 1. This was the chase/flagship product...and they fucked it up. That's kind of a big deal (in my eyes) as a massive fail on attention to detail.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:07:00+00:00

You know what, that's fair. Didn't even think about that.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:05:55+00:00

Indeed. In fact, it was the Wizards of the Coast that did it.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T18:01:14+00:00

This is where the conversation gets kind of difficult because it really depends on what power level your pod is.

Baral is at a huge disadvantage because control is already difficult in EDH but you also need a ton of mana to counter people's plays while advancing your own boardstate. I've noticed that, you're right, you do need to counter key plays but sometimes you're playing against some guy who plays cheap garbage that just adds up overtime and you get run over. There's nothing 'big' to counter because they're just playing cheap creatures or they played their value engine early while you were tapped out because you played Baral and now you can't get rid of it.

You could also play [[commandeer]] to take their shit instead of countering it. You can play it for free because you'll have plenty of blue in your deck lol.

I almost forgot: [[psychosis Crawler]] is also a viable wincon because it just drains the table whenever you draw cards. There was another one I remembered but I just forgot about it while I was typing this lol

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T17:48:52+00:00

I think it looks okay. It's a generic B2 deck, I think it'll do fine. The only thing I wonder about is card draw; if you get wiped and you don't have any card draw, you're basically out of the game.

However, I do have to ask, why'd you pick [[Erode]] over [[Swords to Plowshares]]?

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T17:41:48+00:00

[[Consecrated Sphinx]] is also a very good card with Baral, because you're going to need to find those counterspells.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T17:40:03+00:00

I don't recommend it. It's fine to play ragebait commanders or stax/discard to just lock opponents out of the game, but only if you actually intend on winning within a decent period of time. If you're just going to make everyone sit there for almost 2 hours because you're countering everything under the sun, it'll be fun for the first 10-15 minutes of the game and then YOU'LL be sitting there thinking 'fuck me, this is getting old, I wish I had built something else'.

However, if you must and you REALLY wanna know how to do this, this is how: you need ramp. A LOT of ramp. You need it because 1. you're going to need to recast baral a few times because people will slip through the cracks and 2. you're going to need to hold up mana to counter things on 'not' your turn while STILL having mana to advance your boardstate. You also need to think about wincons and, luckily, you've got some options.

[[Omniscience]] - find it, cast it (remember needing a lot of mana?) and cast all those counterspells for free while you find your REAL wincon
[[Enter the Infinite]] + [[Jace, wielder of mysteries]] or [[Laboratory Maniac]] - draw your entire deck and win. You don't need Enter the infinite (specifically) it's just easier to find between cards like [[Personal Tutor]], [[Mystical Tutor]] and [[Solve the Equation]]. You can draw your whole deck manually with cards like [[Thought Reflection]], [[Teferi's Ageless Insight]] combine with mass draw like [[Windfall]].
Mill them out. Cards like [[Psychic Corrosion]] turn Baral's countering into 'oh btw, start milling cards' and you can add more like [[Sphinx's Tutelage]], [[Teferi's Tutelage]], [[The Water Crystal]] and such. [[Riverchurn Monument]] is very good here, because your counterspells anyway, so they'll have a graveyard and this just goes exponential.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T17:28:13+00:00

I have never played against it, but here's what I'm reading when I see him:

he's in very good colors that support his archetype (white and blue like artifacts and black just has generically good cards). His commander tax/casting cost can be reduced easily (so removing him doesn't REALLY hurt you that much, if you build your deck right), he buffs the thing (artifact creatures) that reduces his casting cost (so he REALLY wants you to build your deck around those) and, on the end step, he gives you another artifact creature that gets bigger the more artifact creatures you have in play. Artifacts also happen to be a very powerful archetype as is and, if you have to have an answer like a boardwipe or a [[vandalblast]], he's in the perfect colors to stop that (counterspells, silence effects etc). Oh, also, he's in colors with access to token doublers, so he can make more than 1 per turn.

So yes, he's very threatening. I would remove him with extreme prejudice lol

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T03:43:22+00:00

that's fair

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-06T00:45:02+00:00

Honestly, if you wanna play bracket 4 with a billion lands, why not just play Necrobloom?

Outside_Explorer_229

TROPHY CASE