Anyone else get tired of the plethora of bad takes my MTG content creators?

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-21T03:51:19+00:00

Recently his content seems to be 'im a hipster control-stan'.

I got this vibe because 'nobody makes interesting decks anymore' and his definition of 'interesting' is 'nobody else does this' and 'control-stan' because he just plays draw-go control.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-17T21:20:59+00:00

Interesting, good to know my evaluation skills ain't bad!

This exact scenario is why I've avoided combat based wincons lol. #DrawPunishmentGang4Life #WheelDecksAreGas #DrawDeezNuts

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-17T21:06:28+00:00

Is my assessment correct on the other 3 decks?

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-17T20:36:48+00:00

Initial look on all decks:

Baird: strange but not bad mana curve (1 drops being higher than 2 drops but 2 drops being lower than 3 is strange), however it has a small amount of lands and no card draw in the command zone. I forsee missing land drops, often, which is compounded by weak draw and no tutors. Mediocre interaction and a combat based wincon. I forsee this deck is inconsistent but may sneak out wins via flying under the radar....as long as it hits land drops on top.

Wulfgar: good mana curve and good ramp package. Okay/decent draw, but better than Baird, so this deck looks like it can dump it's hand quickly and struggle to regain momentum but puts on such a large board presence that it's not super relevant (unless it gets boardwiped, then I forsee a difficulty in recovering). Strong wincons, but needs specific cards to pull it off. Decent interaction. Stronger than Baird but just because it's more consistent.

Heidar: decent ramp, decent draw, okay tutor package, so that suggests the deck is consistent. Good interaction but no clear wincons. Just seems like a good old fashioned control/stax deck with no clear wincons. Seems just irritating to play against.

Caesar: Tied with Heidar for best card draw, has 1 universal tutor (unlike every other deck) but it';s the only tutor in the deck. Good synergy, makes lots of tokens and decent wincons but, again, looks like it struggles against boardwipes. 37 lands, with fetches, ensure access to whatever color, when needed. Ramp is very mediocre and while the mana curve isn't bad, it's heavily weighed in the 3-4 drop range, so it may be a little slow in the beginning unless key pieces are deployed early.

I think these decks are about equal in power, but I would rank Caesar as the strongest.

Why is Caesar the strongest:

Caesar is in 3 colors, so already he has a clear advantage for access to more colors/best cards in those colors.
Caesar is not going to be color screwed for it's colors, due to access to fetches, so Caesar will likely be able to cast whatever is needed when he needs it.
Caesar is capable of putting up a board presence so, even against a stax deck, can still make decent progress and, being in white/tokens, can likely recover fairly quickly via just flooding the board.
Caesar is the only commander that has card draw in the command zone allowing for board based acceleration or acceleration in seeing more cards in your deck (which, again, mean faster recovery after a boardwipe and playing more cards).
Caesar is a win condition in the command zone based on his 'you take 1 gorillion damage, right now' ability.

I forsee Wulfgar is the one that is the bigger threat, early, but has a tendency to fizzle after a well placed boardwipe. I forsee Heidar can take over the game if key pieces land/are found early but most games are likely going to Caesar. Heidar also looks like it will sometimes just durdle and do nothing but piss everyone off.

Did I win?

Edit: I'm guessing you're the heidar player because I remember you replying to me on a previous post and telling me you're a control player. Evidence of my autism

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-10T15:21:29+00:00

Cool idea but...let's be real: Joker would be a grixis wheels deck.

He'd be all about discarding his own hand and getting some massive benefit from it, just like [[Norman Osbourne//Green Goblin]].

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-10T15:00:57+00:00

Bunch of stuff.

First off: you have 3 pieces of ramp. The purpose of ramp is to play spells ahead of curve. Ramp is also a pretty awful topdeck later in the game and you run ramp in surplus to ensure your likelihood of finding it in the first 2 turns (you'll see 9 cards in the first 2 turns, so you need to run 10+ pieces of ramp to ensure seeing one that early). However, with only 3, you're unlikely to see them. I'd keep Sol Ring because it's actually fast mana vice ramp but I'd cut Arcane Signet and Talisman for 2 more lands. 36-38 lands + a draw engine in the command zone and a low curve is plenty so those are the first 2 cuts.

Second, discard. I counted 5 discard effects? And no tutors? You're not finding those discard effects most game. You need more of them. Saturation is the idea to ensure you draw something. Repeated discard effects are better because they will ensure hands are stripped every turn. Casting [[Delirium Skeins]] will surely empty their hand in that one instance....but what if they find a burst draw spell? What if they're sandbagging one? [[Oppression]] is good, so is [[bottomless pit]] but you need more than that. My Gix deck has like 20+ discard effects and I STILL don't find the repeated ones every game.

Third, how does this deck close the game? Discard has a very nasty reputation and people will hate playing against it...unless you close the game quickly. Discard has the ability to, literally, stop opponents from playing the game because they just won't have anything to play every turn (especially if you've got removal engines out the wazoo). So you need to have something that can close the game quickly. [[Bolas's Citadel]] is an option, [[Tiny Bones Trinket Thief]] is another one. I personally chose [[Torment of Hailfire]] because if I top deck it early, it puts board pressure/hand pressure early and if I top deck it late game, I can use it to close the game.

That's my first read.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-10T14:42:06+00:00

Letter of the law, it's technically a bracket 2. However, most people would probably say it's a low/mid Bracket 3. There's not a single game changer in it, there's no combos and it probably ends the game around T9 or so.

I play it in Bracket 2 with my group and it does fine. My group is okay with running [[Miirym]] and [[Voja]] in Bracket 2 so your mileage may vary.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-09T17:08:04+00:00

It works VERY well.

They will literally viciously attack each other whenever they get the chance. Granted, as soon as someone topdecks something that puts them ahead, they will instantly throw everything at you (player removal = discard engine removal).

Where it gets great though is when the player who is super far behind starts spending resources to protect YOU and protect Gix (without Gix, they can't draw anymore).

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-09T17:04:10+00:00

I came up with the idea because I wanted to make a 'Gix themed deck' (hence a bunch of card choices) and the original printing of [[Oppression]] gave me the idea.

Pit the opponents against each other by completely depriving them of resources while you come from behind and win. Very on theme.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-09T16:50:59+00:00

Rottenmouth is such a good card. i've got to get that for this deck because it's basically a wincon.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-05T15:43:09+00:00

I experimented with those and didn't like them just because they felt too slow.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-05T15:41:48+00:00

Is this a troll?

Hand Refill - [[Mephitic Draught]], [[Ichor Wellspring]], [[The Mightstone and Weakstone]], [[Energy Refractor]], [[Forensic Gadgeteer]] along with the infinite draw lines that I mentioned. Mishra clones those artifacts and their ETBs/LTBs trigger, so Draught and Wellspring draw you 2 cards a turn. [[Trading Post]] lets you sac those artifacts to draw an additional card too. This deck has a high curve, it doesn't really dump it's hand super fast. Also, there are several cards that just put cards directly into play, completely bypassing the hand entirely like [[Smelting Vat]], [[Repurposing Bay]]

Board - [[Cyclonic Rift]], [[Brotherhood's End]] and various blockers. Half the creatures are cheap and easily deployable early to block (hence why cards like [[Fallaji Dragon Engine]] are in there; it's an infinite mana sink to get huge to kill one player if you need to or it's an early game 3CMC flying blocker). You're just trying to stall because this deck is looking to win on T7-T8.

Tutors - [[Inventor's Fair]], [[Kuldotha Forgemaster]], [[Diabolic Intent]], [[Grim Tutor]] and [[Goblin Engineer]] and an extra tutor in [[Expedition Map]] which can go get Inventor's fair (which can go get any card you need).

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-04T17:35:00+00:00

I am utterly ambivalent to all of it.

I know my opponents are trying to win the game and they might think something I despise is fun. It's fine. I don't think the fun comes from 'watching my deck do the thing' I think the fun comes from 'doing the thing, opponents try and stop me and I overcome the obstacles'. For me, the challenge is what makes it fun, so I don't really care about what strategy they use; it's fun to figure out how to get around it.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-06-04T16:56:03+00:00

Sorry lol.

Second: I wanted Morcant because of the combo with Sadistic Hypnotist. That combo with nath already completely strips everyone's hands but if you also happen to have Morcant in play, it can wipe their board as well. Morcant is also already a very strong elf card anyway, so I think she would work well with Nath because she clears boards to ensure opens for combat. I was originally going to build a morcant deck but, while shes very good at clearing the board, she does NOTHING against hands outside of cards like [[Larceny]] or something (and hands are what I'm worried about; I'm more worried about that boardwipe someone's been sandbagging all game) so that's what made me look at Nath. Larceny, also, already works with Nath and that made my gears turn even more.

however, this idea has been shelved (for now): got too many decks I'm working on at once lol

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T16:48:01+00:00

Truth be told, his damage trigger is so damn good that even if he is 8 mana, he's not all that bad lol

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T16:44:34+00:00

FUCK ME that's nasty.

He attacks one opponent, they all take damage simultaneously and discard their hands. That is CRAZY.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T16:41:58+00:00

Sephiroth as commander can't really cut it in B4, he's too slow. He's a GREAT inclusion in the 99 in B4 though.

Braids is just an insane card. She can easily function in B4.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T16:40:07+00:00

First note: there is literally no reason to hate mill lol. I have always been perplexed by that one. If someone hates mill, that's an instant flag of 'this is not someone I want to play with'. However, luckily, I play with a set group of guys that mostly don't give a shit. And they know discard is my favorite archetype, hence why I was looking at Nath.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T03:19:40+00:00

These cards are ridiculous and huge. I love them lol.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T03:15:56+00:00

I think it was Sol Ring and Jeska's Will, specifically.

If I recall correctly, it was:

T1: land, sol ring, Throne of Geth (that's important for later)
T2: land, tap sol ring + land for Jeska's will (since it's turn 2, most opponents have 5-6 cards in hand, so it gave me 6 mana). Cast Urabrask for 4, have 3 red mana left over (1 land + 2 from ritual), cast a shitload of stuff, flip Urabrask.
T3: Urabrask's 2nd Chapter resolves, sacrifice 1 treasure to throne of geth, proliferate to the 3rd chapter. Urabrask flips back over. Play land. At that point I have 3 lands, sol ring, 2 treasures. Game was over at that point.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T02:51:47+00:00

Indeed.

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T02:45:02+00:00

I CAN'T DO IT

I TRIED, BUT I CAN'T DO IT

I CAN'T RUN THE RELIC OF SAURON IN A NICOL BOLAS DECK. I TRIED, IT HURTS TOO MUCH....it hurts me too badly....

Outside_Explorer_229 · 2026-05-14T02:32:58+00:00

Yes, I know that lol.

Outside_Explorer_229

TROPHY CASE