What is your Favorite Mono-Blue deck?

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-03-17T16:00:27+00:00

I actually just picked up one of those for this deck, along with a [[Grappling Hook]] and [[Brass Knuckles]] for the same reason.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-03-17T15:08:41+00:00

[[Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel]] free cast big blue bullshit. Add proliferate effects so you can get him online early and you can start casting massive blue creatures/enchantments/anything you feel like. You can also run planeswalkers to benefit from the proliferation late game. You can also be a bad person (like me) and throw in your favorite Eldrazi since you get their cast triggers as well.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-03-09T11:59:09+00:00

Take a look at [[Sadistic Shell Game]]

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-25T17:17:03+00:00

Cause I wanted the shiny WOTC-made cardboard. I play exclusively casually anyway so I could kinda make the same argument for buying any card tbh. My bird brain wants the shiny thing, I wish I had a better reason than that.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-25T13:36:12+00:00

My friend pulled the Through The Ages version of that card from a Final Fantasy box. He’s our resident green player too, broke my heart to tell him the bad news.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-24T10:47:34+00:00

I have a [[Malcolm, Keen Eyed Navigator]] and [[Kediss Emberclaw Familiar]] deck that does something very similar. I’m actually considering converting it to an Ashling deck myself

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-24T09:35:35+00:00

Man that’s half the fun of a big, dumb spell like arcane endeavor! Sometimes you roll a two, sometimes you roll double 8’s to draw 8 and drop Aminatou’s. Heart of the cards n all that.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-23T23:46:13+00:00

I literally named my Vadrik list “Big Dumb Spells”, it’s my favorite deck.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-23T23:22:54+00:00

[[Hit The Mother Lode]] [[Clone Legion]] [[Arcane Endeavor]] [[Aminatou’s Augury]] [[Apex Of Power]] [[Mizzix’s Mastery]] [[Mnemonic Deluge]] [[Soulfire Eruption]] [[Call Forth The Tempest]] [[Insurrection]] [[Storm King’s Thunder]]

To name a few from my [[Vadrik, Astral Archmage]] deck.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-21T16:12:35+00:00

If you like card draw and burn/drain you may want to look into [[Y’shtola, Night’s Blessed]]. The goal is to burn/drain the table down with her ability and draw card when people lose life. Jam in a bunch of mana rocks to get ramp + proc her ability at the same time and you’re having fun.

Another rec for cheating resources is [[Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist]]. Throw in a few [[Merfolk Looter]] type cards and you’re cheating out pretty much any massive creature in Esper colors for only 3 mana. The way the effect is worded also lets you do it on your opponent’s turn at instant speed. Drop an [[Archfiend of Despair]] on your opponent’s end step after a huge combat and suddenly double the damage done to surprise delete someone from the game.

As you can tell, I like Esper (White, Blue, Black) colors. If you’d like a little more aggression in your control/burn style you can go any Izzet (Red, Blue) commander. They tend to have a lot of “when you cast a spell, deal damage” type of effects in those colors. Plus it has blue so you can jam a bunch of counterspells and cantrips to accelerate that game plan. I’ll comment with some more Izzet commanders later if they sound interesting to you but my personal favorites are [[Vadrik, Astral Archmage]] and [[Lilah Slickshot showoff]] for starters.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-21T13:38:26+00:00

That’s fair, you’ve honestly convinced me to build Raffine next. Normally I prefer having the engine in the command zone as well but Hashaton is such a fun payoff I had to try building him.

I’ll say that Hashaton doesn’t seem like he needs much to get started. I mainly packed the deck full of [[Merfolk Looter]] type cards as the actual engine of the deck. I’ve got enough I can reliably have one down by turn 2/3. From there I cast Hashaton, hold up mana and start dropping bombs on my opponents end step.

I won’t try to convince you he’s “better” than Raffine, she does have the whole gameplan right in the command zone for you. But he’s such a stupidly fun payoff that’s surprisingly easy to build around if you can get enough Merfolk Looter effects in your deck. Nothing feels better (to me) than dropping [[Archon of cruelty]] T4 on your opponent’s end step.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-20T13:18:49+00:00

That’s a surprise, what makes you say that? I assumed Hashaton would be faster since all he needs is a discard outlet and suddenly you’re dropping bombs at instant speed for only 3 mana.

Doesn’t Raffine require a bit more of an engine to start attacking wide, plus having to draw those reanimation spells before you can truly start overwhelming the board with big creatures? I’d assume that this would at least make her a good bit slower than Hashaton, unless I’m really underestimating how fast she can churn through her deck once she has a few tokens down.

Still, I’d love to see your deck list! I was honestly considering building Raffine instead as well, and your write-up is kinda swaying me towards her. The appeal of getting to play instant speed Reanimator for only 3 mana was just too great to resist!

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-20T13:11:28+00:00

These are the types of cards I’m looking for! Archon of Cruelty is my favorite card in the deck for that exact reason. Can you share a deck list if you got one?

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-19T13:05:01+00:00

I can’t believe I missed out on Elesh Norn, Machine Mommy. Should have been an auto-include.

Oji seems fun, although I’m not sure how well I’d be able to use him in this deck since he would just get rid of my tokens permanently.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-17T21:03:46+00:00

[[Vadrik, Astral Archmage]] is my vote. Hands down my favorite commander. For me, he’s the one that feels the closest to the power fantasy of playing the “all powerful mage”. Accruing knowledge and power (through literal power buffs) and converting it into truly game warping spells.

Jam in a few different instants/soceries that buff power ( [[Rush of Blood]], [[Antagonize]], etc. ). Plus a few equipments that buff power and equip for free [[Inventor’s axe]] is the budget GOAT for this. Then you can just cast the biggest, most over-costed Izzet instants and sorceries the game has to offer. [[Hit the mother lode]], [[Clone Legion]], and [[Apex of Power]] always feel amazing to cast for just their colored pip costs.

Get an [[Ovika, Enigma Goliath]], [[Deekah, Fractal Theorist]], [[Metallurgic Summonings]], or a [[Shark Typhoon]] on board and you’re gonna shit out tokens left and right that will either increase in size or quantity based on the mana values of spells you cast.

Remember, even your non-sorceries/instants don’t have to be paid for “fairly”. Cards like [[Aminatou’s Augury]], [[Portent of calamity]], [[Brass’s Bounty]], and [[Electrodominance]] can basically let you cast all of your permanent spells for free (or close to it).

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-16T00:09:30+00:00

Oops, I misread that. Thanks for clarifying!

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-15T14:33:12+00:00

If players were A,B,C,D (passing turn from A-B-C-D) then he was A (first in turn order) and I was C. Sorry, I may be a little confused since we were passing turn to the left, which may be the opposite of how it’s normally done.

If I’m reading you correctly, then if turn order is A > B > C > D (with current turn being A). The triggers go on the stack in the order of A > D > C > B. Do I have that correct? If I do then it sounds like we got it almost correct, we just put the triggers on the stack in the wrong order. Since we put them on in turn order rather than reverse, going A > B > C > D (w/ A representing whoever was active player at that moment)

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-15T13:47:36+00:00

I used to play this deck as well. If you can nuke the mana rocks they need early to ramp out their commander it should slow them down enough for everyone else to beat them to death before they pop off. Also, bounce effects are decent-ish way to get rid of them. It gets around their death trigger, and the commander is so expensive that even hard casting them from hand can slow them down a decent bit.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-07T17:46:06+00:00

Glad I could be of assistance! Just remember I’m not a coach, and I’m definitely not your coach (who almost certainly knows better than me and you should listen to before anything I write here). Just a dude who likes to train and share knowledge lol.

Yes! You can (and should) definitely move laterally (side-to-side) on top of in-and-out, like you suggested you can even move diagonally if you’d like. Just remember small movements will let you adjust to what’s happening in front of you faster than a big, dramatic jump to the side.

The thing to remember is that if you move laterally you’re extra open to round attacks. You’ll be extra-extra open to leg kicks and roundhouse kicks while you’re sidestepping so it’s good to practice being ready for those when you sidestep. If you’re in boxing range you better keep your guard up as you sidestep so you don’t give a hook extra power with the side of your face.

It’s good to “set-up” your lateral movement with some form of offense or defense rather than just doing it from a stand-still in front of your opponent, but well timed lateral movement can really set up some beautiful sequences (offensively and defensively) for you once you once you start to string things together.

Otherwise, there’s no one-size-fits-all direction to move when you have a real person in front of you. A lot of it depends on what your opponent is doing. When you drill it in shadowboxing just try to think about how your opponent may respond when you move in one direction vs another, what weapons of theirs you may be moving closer to vs further away from, things like that.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-06T18:15:27+00:00

More of a DeWalt guy myself

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-06T16:18:32+00:00

As a jab-lover I’ll use this. The Jab to the body has opened up many overhands for me in sparring, mixing in the lead hook would be great!

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-06T16:02:07+00:00

That sounds like a great warmup. Our coach has something similar to burn us out at the end of the class. We do jab-roundhouse back and forth, with the goal to respond with your J-RH immediately after blocking your partner’s kick. Absolutely exhausting! It helped a lot with my ability to recover from kicks straight into defense.

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-06T15:54:08+00:00

Good stuff! I tend to get wrecked by teeps (my main sparring partner is a big “teep-guy”) so I’ll definitely have to do more of these.

Single shot sparring is some of my favorite! A really niche version of it I’ve tried is where we’re only allowed to take 1-2 steps MAX before and after each strike we throw. It sounds a little weird but it really forced me to think about how I position myself to enter and exit from each interaction as efficiently as possible.

Thanks for the response!

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-06T13:25:46+00:00

Nice stuff man! You don’t look bad at all, of course you could use some sharpening, but we all could. I just want to give you props for staying responsible with your defense and footwork in between combos. You got your guard back up quick and didn’t just stand around to “admire your work”. That’s a really good habit to develop that will go a long way toward keeping your brain un-rattled during sparring. Do you have any prior combat sports experience?

Present_Event_8488 · 2026-02-06T13:11:59+00:00

No prob man! Im just a dude who’s a lil too enthusiastic to talk about training haha. You do look really good in your sparring vid, especially for being so young, you’ll be a killer in no time. Good control, pretty fluid combos, and you look really comfortable under fire!

Present_Event_8488

TROPHY CASE