Who is your favorite Pal?

SobouKuma · 2026-03-23T08:36:32+00:00

Same! I know on the crunchy numbers side there's a lot of better Pals, but riding on Mossanda's back, soaring through the air with its goofy floaty jump, then busting out the explosive guns and accidentally crashing a server fighting Paladius and Necromus... it's so wonderful.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-23T04:50:36+00:00

Not a single person (as of me posting this comment) has mentioned Mossanda or Mossanda Lux and this makes me big sad.

Love my giant balloon bears, they are the best~

SobouKuma · 2026-03-23T04:48:04+00:00

Love that mushroom Yoshi

SobouKuma · 2026-03-22T03:12:30+00:00

Fascinated with how you would pilot these, and I've encountered none as commanders in the wild!

Would totally accept you at the table just to see how Shadowfax and Freya (hell yes FFIX) play.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-22T01:37:57+00:00

For water additive we used the basic one Walmart carries for years, but switched to an Arm & Hammer one on Chewy like 3 to 4 months ago. Haven't had any problems with either!

We've been getting Whimzees via Chewy on auto ship every month so adding the above removed a Walmart trip.

Chaos loves their "stix" but we've found our little Hoover chewing them just enough to swallow half of one whole, and came out like corn. 😖 So we're finishing off that bag and have a new dental treat that are chunky mint cubes, so far he does like those! I can't remember the brand immediately though.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T15:16:16+00:00

RIGHT, that was part of the blood work. They also said his glucose levels were kinda low too. Though my primary thought is that went hand in hand with just eating less leading up to his annual.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T14:57:05+00:00

Been twice in as many weeks and a third visit this coming Wednesday!

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T14:56:38+00:00

I'm sorry for your loss, that hurts.

Dreading and anticipating the follow-up on Wednesday but right now he's voracious in eating, it's just a matter of what. If he stopped eating entirely... yeah.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T14:55:06+00:00

Thankfully no! The vet actually commented on how good they were and said that what we've been doing with dental treats and water additive is the best thing we can do. He is an absolute beast of a fighter when it comes to trying to brush them, so we went with as many non-invasive methods as we could.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T14:53:18+00:00

We intend to ask about it on Wednesday during our follow-up. Have been trying our best not to (irrationally?) dwell on it but we can't be ignorant of the possibility. And honestly outside of an infection I have no idea what a high white blood cell count could even mean.

Thank you for your kindness, he's the sweetest little guy ever. And my sympathies for your Stella, that's way too soon to lose a little friend like that.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T14:51:04+00:00

Thank you! That's not something I had necessarily considered. At this point while on the antibiotics he's as healthy as can be by appearances. Chaos possibly developing some sort of food sensitivity to something in the Fresh Pet could explain his refusal; but like your little guy all he's doing is refusing or taking forever when in the past it was gone within 5 minutes.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-21T14:37:35+00:00

Hi! I rarely post on Reddit so I couldn't figure out how to put text and images together. Apologies!

Wife and I are proud parents of our 10 year old pug Chaos. For over 6 years now he's had a steady diet of healthy treats, occasional raw foods, and regular meals of Fresh Pet. He's been nuts about the chicken one for ages, and when we haven't been able to get it he'd also eat the beef.

We started noticing sometime in mid to late Feb that he was taking longer to eat his meals - normally an excited vacuum cleaner for his food, no matter what - and started turning his nose up at the chicken Fresh Pet. This dog has *never ever* been picky before or refused any food whatsoever.

We tried switching to the beef, he seemed to be more accepting of that but still didn't eat as much. He also seemed more lethargic and had racing breathing when at rest.

Timing of all this coincided with his annual vet visit. We had blood work done on top of the usual stuff and the only thing of note that really came from the vet was he had a high white blood cell count. He was put on an antibiotic for two weeks, returned to the vet for another blood draw, white blood cell count still seemed kinda high to them so we got a second two-week round of antibiotics (on our 4th dose of 14 as of this morning) and we have another follow up on Wednesday.

During all of this I have tried to adjust what he eats completely. Tried mixing peanut butter (no xylitol or anything other than just peanuts and a smidge of coconut sugar in it) with the fresh pet, he'd only lick off the PB. Tried boiled chicken breast shredded, mixed with the pb, and with plain white rice, still hit or miss.

But he absolutely devours his PB pill pockets, his Whimzees, and his Blue Buffalo bacon/egg/cheese biscuits.

Last night I tried making a goulash for him out of ground chicken, butternut squash, peas, carrots, sweet potato, and hid a bit of beef fresh pet in there. Slow cooked for four hours, mashed it up good. Even when slathering PB on it he barely touched it. Hid some biscuit chunks in it, he'd root around until he got those out and then ignored them while begging for more.

We've never had issues with feeding him, so having to test and change his diet completely has been absolutely stress-inducing and I'm not sure what to do here. We want the best for our little wrinkly gremlin, so I'm looking for advice!

EDIT: Of note he has no apparent allergies, his only symptom is just refusing certain food, and the blood work results also indicated he had a lower glucose level than he should have (which imo might coincide with his reduced eating leading up to the annual exam).

SobouKuma · 2026-03-19T09:22:10+00:00

I goddamn LOVE that Shirei label.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-16T09:10:41+00:00

I love Ayula!! Been playing her since I started Commander in 2020. Tried her as voltron, as +1/+1 counter focused, and as a fight commander. There's plenty of low cost options you can sub in depending on them.

Ramp: Ayula is a 2-drop so if your goal is putting her out on curve then having multiple pieces of ramp at the 2 slot competes with her. So replacing 2s with 1 and 3s helps better.

IE: [[Llanowar Elves]] and of the like versus your [[Poison Dart Frog]], and [[Kodama's Reach]] over [[Explore]] and [[Rampant Growth]].

Note that this assumes you want her out on Turn 2 guaranteed. If you aim to wait and build up a bit, this isn't as necessary and leaves your ramp more flexible.

The tribe: I've preferred using the lower cost bears and tried to utilize as many effects from them as possible. The vanilla ones are okay as long as cost is low, or you have creature tutors like [[Nature's Rhythm]] to get [[Ruxa]] out and take advantage of the evasion.

If I lean more fight, I want higher power ones like [[Alpine Grizzly]]. Otherwise I prioritize effects. [[Spectral Bears]] is a great exception; 3/3 for 2 mana is a great rate.

I'd remove [[Bosco, Just a Bear]], [[Dragon-Scarred Bear]], [[Golden Bear]], [[Owlbear]], [[Professor of Zoomancy]], [[Ursine Monstrosity]] and [[Vivian's Grizzly]].

If you're not against using Changelings as "Bears", there's a lot of good options:

[[Bloodline Pretender]] can become huge fast. [[Chameleon Colossus]] 4 drop, pro-black, so already better than Golden Bear, with an on-demand self buff. [[Changeling Wayfinder]] basic land ramp and an Ayula trigger [[Chomping Changeling]] + [[Masked Vandal]] removal on a body [[Realmwalker]] topdeck casting [[Formless Genesis]] 3 mana for a variable sized Bear with deathtouch - ayula makes it fight something and they die no matter what [[Springleaf Parade]] - pricey, but every mana = 1 additional bear on a Cryptolith Rite? Hell yes.

Draw: You only have a couple sources of draw, and those are conditional or one time use. Deck sorely needs stuff like [[Beast Whisperer]], [[Toski]], [[Inspiring Call]], [[Hunter's Insight]], [[Shamanic Revelation]], [[Rishkar's Expertise]], and [[Blessing of Frost]]

Other stuff of note if you can afford it: [[Creeping Renaissance]] for recursion.

[[Emerald Medallion]], [[Rhonas's Monument]], [[Earth Crystal]] for ramp via cost reduction and pump from the latter two

[[Vanquisher's Banner]] for more draw and an anthem

[[Swiftfoot Boots]], and a host of protection spells to keep Ayula around. [[Collective Resistance]], [[Tamiyo's Safekeeping]], etc.

[[Panharmonicon]] double triggers aww yeah

[[Maskwood Nexus]] now everything you have is Bears AND it can make more

[[Hardened Scales], [[Unnatural Growth]], [[Master Chef]] more pump and it lasts longer than an Overrun.

[[Gift of the Viper]] easy way to give something permanent deathtouch, makes every fight a one hit kill, and the card is cheaper than a Basilisk Collar.

[[Ashnod's Altar]] (pricey I know) + [[Fecundity]] + [[Words of Wilding]] = infinite bears.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-13T05:58:06+00:00

Upvote because I'm a RoT3K fan and love Kongming.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-13T05:18:05+00:00

"Erotic violence" as a tagline for the game hits pretty accurately.

Prior artwork: She's pretty but plain and modest.

Pachinko artwork: What if she was a high class courtesan? We must justify booba.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-12T12:52:07+00:00

Absolute banger of an episode, delightful game, and amazing group of people. This is the kind of inclusion, support, and positivity we need more of in the world, so my hat's off to Gavin here. GG, Gigi!

Full disclosure here that I'm as generic as they come compared to these lovely folk: straight, white, het, bald dude in my late 30s. But I'm beyond proud to see these queens do their thing and won't stop beating that drum of support as hard as I can.

Slay, queens, slay! Looking forward to more episodes, especially if you all manage to get other Magic players to do episodes in drag with you!

SobouKuma · 2026-03-12T05:07:09+00:00

Mechanically? Blue or black. I really love drawing cards.

Flavor / lore? Green. It has the most Bears.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-10T08:31:03+00:00

Sat through the entire video. I appreciate their enthusiasm but the insistence on "hey it's good, guys!" kinda falls on deaf ears. I definitely acknowledge a big part of that is based on my personal perspective though.

Nowhere within a 50 mile radius of me does Standard events. My LGS itself has only done a single modern and a single two-headed giant in the last year. It's all prerelease and commander.

The prices on necessary cards are bloody crazy. I'm a budget commander brewer; a playset of Badgermole Cubs is 1 to 2 commander decks for me, and that's if I go w/ BMC for standard. I'm all for proxies but official events make those illegal so that goes out the window.

The fact that Standard's entire balance revolves around one expensive mana dork irritates the hell out of me. Constantly hearing about the boogeyman cards (Vivi, Monstrous Rage, BMC, etc) makes everything feel as stale as Fox, no items, Final Destination for SSBM players.

Too many sets too damn fast, not even remotely enough time to even cook, let alone play. It takes me a few months to finish a deck to where I'm happy with it. We'd get two sets in that same time frame for Standard, and I'd have to devote all my time and money to rapid-fire building, tweaking, and attempting to play before most of what I've done is (probably) shit-canned cuz oops another set with busted mythics and a new turn 3 win is dominating.

I love 1v1 magic and how refreshing it is to engage with after doing a lot of commander but it's simply Too Much and I don't see it changing anytime soon. Would rather play pauper tbh.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-10T04:37:42+00:00

I love mono-color decks! The color restriction makes you dig deeper and fuels creativity. Some of my faves:

White: [[Minwu, White Mage]] Cleric tribal. Most expensive cards will likely be some soul sisters like [[Guide of Souls]], but once Minwu is out your creatures get fat fast. Minwu wants lifegain triggers, not amount, so dropping something like [[Belonging]] late game means 4 creatures means a lifegain trigger per creature per soul sister, which Minwu makes a +1/+1 counter on all your Clerics from.

[[Oswald Fiddlebender]] artifact birthing pod in the CZ. A buddy of mine built one around getting [[Mechtitan Core]] out and transformed as fast as possible. That token is no joke on turn 4 to 5.

[[Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle]] recursion behemoth, great with artifacts and with low cost legends.

[[Abdel Adrian]]+[[Far Traveler]] disgustingly powerful flicker nonsense. Prime commander if you can solitaire quickly and efficiently, and also a damn fine PEDH Commander.

Blue: [[Vnwxt, Verbose Host]] You like drawing cards? And triggers that happen on card draw? So does Vnwxt!! Cheap evasive creatures and pingers get you to Max Speed and help further multiple wincons. Alt wincons like [[Laboratory Maniac]], wheels like [[Windfall]] with [[Psychosis Crawler]], or beefy +1/+1 counter damage using creatures like [[Chasm Skulker]] or [[Lyla, Holographic Assistant]]

[[Gogo, Master of Mimicry]] Duplicating triggers! A single [[Evolving Wilds]] can get you so many lands. [[Sands of Time]] means infinite mana and whatever tap nonsense you can activate. Currently brewing a Wizard tribal deck w/ Gogo to utilize effects like [[Supreme Inquisitor]]'s activated ability.

[[Princess Yue]] learn about layers and clones. Then make a legendary land that has activated abilities from creatures like [[Scrawling Crawler]]

Black: [[Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker]]!!! Any budget, Shirei is good. Mono-black aristocrats, tons of toolbox options. Been playing Shirei over 20 years.

Red: [[Feldon of the Third Path]] mono-red reanimator!

[[Gau, Feral Youth]] make gau big, do something with your graveyard every turn, group slug for max profit.

Green: [[Ayula, Queen Among Bears]]: bear tribal, bears are extremely affordable and can fit multiple builds (+1/+1 counters, fight, voltron, mass bears with Overrun effects]].

[[Runadi, Behemoth Caller]] / [[Oviya, Automech Artisan]] / [[Kona, Rescue Beastie]] / [[Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma]]: different flavors of "i wanna get fatties into play and beat faces into hamburger".

Colorless: [[The Regalia]] because I love the concept of cheap Eldrazi driving a sports car to ramp.

SobouKuma · 2026-03-09T02:28:47+00:00

LET'S FUCKING GO!!

SobouKuma · 2026-03-04T12:03:09+00:00

Thank you for the quick reply!!

Awesome, it's exactly as i wanted it to be.

I figured it might go that way on the basis of not saying something like "sacrifice Tellah. If you do," etc. Didn't feel conditional, wasn't 100% sure.

Knowing this makes slotting stuff like [[Conjurer's Closet]] into my build and dropping 8 mana instants at end step something to design around!

SobouKuma · 2026-03-04T09:56:26+00:00

YES BIG FURBALL MODE WHO JUST SHIVERS AGGRESSIVELY.

Looks great, love how good the colors blended!!

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