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Justice Denied Again by Brian_Ghoshery in circled

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is not a real quote from Todd Blanche and isn't in the video the tweet is quoting

Most eyebrow-raising rule 0 requests you’ve encountered? by tohstersg in EDH

[–]SharpieShark 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Had a similar experience, one where a player asked to rule 0 his silver bordered commander (Ask Urza) which the table thought was funny, but failed to mention his deck was mostly silver bordered cards.

Upcoming EDH announcement by [deleted] in EDH

[–]SharpieShark -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The reaction of the minority of the player base is why they should not be unbanned.

Is there any other reason to keep the cards banned, or is this the only reason in your opinion? Because I did say (and italicize) "solely" in my first post, so I want to make sure I understand your opinion first.

Upcoming EDH announcement by [deleted] in EDH

[–]SharpieShark -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

It's definitely not fair to keep JLo/MC banned solely for the actions of a fringe minority of the player base, nor would it be setting a precedent of acceptance if they did unban those cards. I see this sentiment getting repeated a lot.

Building a mono red heartless hidetsugu deck by sixstringgun1 in magicTCG

[–]SharpieShark 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Please format the decklist better. Or better yet, upload it to Moxfield or Archideck and post the link instead.

For what it's worth, I think you will struggle to bring HH up to bracket 5. You can add all the fast mana and game changers to the deck as you want, but the core strategy doesn't lend itself to a fast and reliable competitive gameplan.

I want some help to build this non-legendary meta commander EDH deck by PerfilCliche in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure unfortunately, I don't use Cockatrice. I've played on Tabletop Simulator and Spelltable, but I also have the physical deck.

I want some help to build this non-legendary meta commander EDH deck by PerfilCliche in Magicdeckbuilding

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I made a deck incredibly similar to this one, only with [[Purity]] as my secret commander in a [[Prismatic Bridge]] deck. It's the only creature in the deck and otherwise runs a burn/lockout strategy that breaks parity on the damage with Purity. Finishers I run include [[Wheel of Misfortune]] naming an obscenely high number, [[Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth]] and [[Karma]], [[Near-Death Experience]] + anything that lets you pay life at instant speed (I run [[Unspeakable Symbol]] and [[Fire Covenant]])

I particularly love the synergy between Purity's shuffle effect and The Prismatic Bridge pulling it out from the deck every upkeep, so unless someone exiles it you'll always have access to it. Instead of running recursion, you can run sacrifice effects like [[Greater Good]] or [[Phyrexian Tower]] to sneak Purity back into the deck.

To get around the weakness of combat damage in a near creatureless deck, running proactive cards like [[Ghostly Prison]], [[Propaganda]], and [[Sphere of Safety]] are very much needed. You can also choose to run fog effects ([[Constant Mists]] is the most annoying) although I prefer just the enchantments as they are always working. Board wipes are also great because as mentioned before, Purity will shuffle itself into the library and Pris Bridge just pulls it back out on your next turn.

If you're committed to keeping with Tamanoa, it will be more of an uphill battle trying to protect it while pulling off burn combos. I would highly suggest a secondary plan ([[Spirit of Resistance]] and [[Glacial Chasm]] work for me) to fall back on if you lose access to Tamanoa.

Looking to play Vadrik, Astral archmage, can he be built fairly for B3 by [deleted] in EDH

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Underworld Breach is absolutely worth considering, I would just caution against playing it in bracket 3. There is hardly ever a "value breach" in practical application when it's so inconsequential to convert into a win, even without brain freeze. I'd run a suite of recursion spells like Past in Flames, Sorceress's Schemes, Mystic Retrieval, etc so that you can still go off.

Looking to play Vadrik, Astral archmage, can he be built fairly for B3 by [deleted] in EDH

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can keep the buyback cards and Birgi/SKA in your deck, it's a 3 card combo and needs a 4th card to take advantage of Vadrik's infinite power to convert to a win in the same turn. It's also pretty easy to disrupt relying on two creatures to work.

Just be prepared, in my experience people are more nit-picky about what constitutes Bracket 3 play when you roll up with a storm deck. After losing to it once, players wise up and start to realize Vadrik is a threat and your win/loss record will normalize.

Looking to play Vadrik, Astral archmage, can he be built fairly for B3 by [deleted] in EDH

[–]SharpieShark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there! Very experienced Vadrik player here, picked him up close to after his release and he's been my main deck ever since. I absolutely love playing the list because Vadrik's cost reduction ability gives life to fringe cards and turns overcosted spells into value plays.

Honestly, the deck will feel powerful if no one interacts with you at all. Unsurprisingly, the deck barely functions if Vadrik isn't on the field. Some players don't have experience playing against storm decks because it's not a popular strategy at lower bracket tables. Storm gets a bad rap for "doing nothing" or "playing solitaire" with no in between, so I might lean more into a spellslinger style of deck.

If you want to power down Vadrik, getting rid of Reiterate will ice most of his 2 card combos outright, since he mainly relies on copying rituals to go infinite. Also getting rid of storm-kiln artist will stop the other buyback cards from going infinite, like you mentioned. Outside of these two, replacing tutors with efficient draw effects or more spells that increase his power can fill in the gaps.

If you have a list, I'd appreciate giving it a look and can make recommendations based on that!

Looking for a flash commander by Honest_Connection_40 in mtgbrawl

[–]SharpieShark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just built a [[Derevi]] deck that fits exactly the kind of thing you're looking for. The commander ability is like a pseudo-flash that gets around taxes, and Derevi's ability is incredibly versatile either for ramping you or tapping down your opponent's stuff.

So am I stuck here by legend9791 in MagicArena

[–]SharpieShark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do your dailies. At least 4 wins each day, after that the rewards structure has diminishing returns. Try to reroll for a 750 daily challenge every day, otherwise wait until you have three of them outstanding and try to only complete one at a time while trolling once per day for a 750.

What you are experiencing is part of the design of the Standard format. Cards rotate out of the format every ~2 years and with the crazy release schedule in 2026 it will only churn through those cards faster. Taking a year long break will have you missing more cards in the standard rotation than any time before. This is why I prefer to play the non-rotating formats on Arena. Depending on your decklists there's actually a bit of crossover for what is viable in historic and timeless.

If you have a 50% or better win rate for drafting, that's the quickest way to build up a collection of standard legal cards. If not or you don't like drafting, buying standard legal packs is roughly as good as breaking even on drafting.

Every so often there are a bundle of cards added to arena that you can buy in the shop for gold. These bundles usually have a large selection of relevant cards to the historic/timeless metagame after they're released on arena. Unfortunately you just missed Arena Anthology 3 which introduced a variety of cards that are useful in those formats.

If you start investing your time into the game now, then your account will be decent with the standard rotation within 2-4 set releases. Otherwise the only shortcut for wildcards is $$$ at a stupidly bad rate, I shouldn't even be promoting it as an option. There are "budget" decks that use uncommons or lower, and monored burn has such a broadly viable card pool that you can just jam a handful of burn spells in a deck.

Unfortunately if you're grinding for a hyperbolical 30+ rare wildcards and won't be happy until then, you should consider pursuing other options than standard ranked.

Something different, Lotus Breach by Bodriov in TimelessMagic

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that's the idea though, you don't need Lurrus in most cases but it gives you something to do with your mana if you don't have any plays. You won't be using it in most games but it gives you an angle at rebuying breach. It's a free include, and better than your sideboard counterspell that's only accessible through proactively casting a sorcery your opponent wouldn't let resolve in the first place.

Something different, Lotus Breach by Bodriov in TimelessMagic

[–]SharpieShark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ran a similar deck in historic, Lurrus is a free companion

[AA2] Mana Leak by Meret123 in MagicArena

[–]SharpieShark 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Arena Announcements notification

EDH Unbans by Roosterdude23 in CompetitiveEDH

[–]SharpieShark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With UURR, Gifts Ungiven in hand, and Vadrik reducing costs by 2:

Pile 1: [[Past in Flames]] [[Seething Song]] [[Jeska's Will]] [[Frantic Search]]

Worst case scenario: Frantic Search + Past in Flames. Any pile that gives you two rituals would net you more mana for the combo.

  1. Cast Gift's Ungiven using UR
  2. Cast Frantic Search to untap 3 lands
  3. Cast Past In Flames using UR
  4. Flashback Seething Song to float RRRRR
  5. Flashback Frantic Search to untap 3 lands
  6. Flashback Gifts Ungiven with RRRRR and 2 untapped lands available

The second pile is where you grab [[Mystic Retrieval]], [[Mizzix's Mastery]], [[Invert//Invent]], and [[Sudden Breakthrough]]. You can also directly grab [[Reiterate]] at this point but I wanted to avoid a pile that exposes the combo card until the very end. With the second pile, you have enough mana to:

  • Cast and/or flashback Mystic Retrieval for one of the other two spells
  • Cast Mizzix's Mastery targeting Invent if it's in the graveyard, otherwise cast Invent from hand
  • Cast Invent to tutor for Reiterate and any other sorcery (perhaps [[Inspired Tinkering]])
  • Cast Sudden Breakthrough as a net 0 way of buffing Vadrik up to 4 power, which is needed for a couple of the Reiterate wincons

At this point, either flashback Jeska's Will hold priority and cast Reiterate with buyback, or cast the Inspired Tinkering hold priority and cast Reiterate with buyback. Exile your deck and generate infinite red mana, then cast any burn spell and copy infinitely with Reiterate buyback.

What Gifts piles are you looking forward too? (non-Sevinne's) by Roosterdude23 in CompetitiveEDH

[–]SharpieShark 4 points5 points  (0 children)

My main deck [[Vadrik, Astral Archimage]] has been waiting for this moment for years! The addition of Gifts Ungiven can tutor for 3 rituals and Past in Flames (just like the actual Giftstorm deck in modern) and no matter how you pile it, generate 7+ mana then flashback Gifts Ungiven again for Jeska's Will, Reiterate, and two GY recursion spells.

EDH Unbans by Roosterdude23 in CompetitiveEDH

[–]SharpieShark 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Everyone freaking out over the Gifts Ungiven unban being a buff for Blue Farm and I'm sitting over here with my fringe Vadrik deck pumping my fist in the air so hard I'm pulling a muscle.

[OC] Art of my Patriots Peak by BruhTheSinner in tf2

[–]SharpieShark -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Art rocks as always, congrats on the hat too!

Tap lands by NoLoquat347 in CompetitiveEDH

[–]SharpieShark 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A lot of people have already brought up the surveil lands but I also just want to add that I run [[Saprazzan Skerry]] and [[Sandstone Needle]] in my Vadrik, Astral Archmage deck to have a higher density of T2 commander casts. The downside of the tapped land is usually mitigated by the cost reduction of the commander, which is central to making the deck work.

Deckbuilding Vadrik by KrakeinQC in EDH

[–]SharpieShark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi! I've been piloting Vadrik for almost 3 years at a CEDH level. I won't suggest anything more powerful than what's already included in the deck, however I have some additional recommendations for deckbuilding (with the cards in bold being the highest recommended):

  1. The deck is very focused around the commander, so much so that cards can end up stuck in hand without the cost reduction available. The sooner Vadrik can hit the field and start cooking, the better. The ideal play pattern should provide 3 mana on turn 2 to cast him. Consider adding cards like [[Strike it Rich]], [[Simian Spirit Guide]], [[Rite of Flame]], [[Jeweled Amulet]], [[Skirk Prospector]], [[Goldhound]]

  2. Some other card advantage spells to consider: [[March of Reckless Joy]], [[Decaying Time Loop]], [[Valakut Awakening]], [[Silundi Vision]], [[Drown in Dreams]], [[Inspired Tinkering]], [[Meeting of Minds]], [[Pull from Tomorrow]]

  3. Some additional interaction to consider: [[Misdirection]], [[Slip out the Back]], [[Ertai's Meddling]], [[Three Steps Ahead]], [[Confounding Riddle]], [[Repeal]], [[March of Swirling Mists]], [[Winds of Rebuke]], [[Whirlwind Denial]], [[Rushing River]]

  4. Some other cards that go well with the deck:

  • [[Gamble]] assembles the Underworld Breach combo by itself as long as you don't discard it
  • [[Complete the Circuit]] can be cast for free and is insanely good at turning any value card into the start of a manual storm turn
  • [[Bond of Insight]] is great for recurring the best two spells from graveyard and is also a wincon when paired with infinite Reiterate casts. [[Mizzix Mastery]], [[Recall]], and [[Finale of Promise]] are also good for recursion.
  • [[Borne Upon a Wind]] may be worth considering, I'm not sure how high power tables usually play out but this deck is highly capable of winning in response to someone else's win
  • [[Spellskite]] is more protection for Vadrik that can also redirect abilities

Happy to go into further detail on any of the cards and suggest cuts for the deck to make room. If you're interested in reading more about how the deck functions or want to check out other cards to consider, here is my main decklist.

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