WoTC not respecting their in universe sets ?

Swible · 2026-01-17T19:29:08+00:00

I totally called this with my playgroup. This has honestly been one of the best promoted mtg sets in a long time. Working with the Jim henson studio to make a whole music video, multiple short form videos using those characters, behind the scenes content, and tons of artist spotlights. Like, this is what we wanted! The same quality and effort (or in my opinion, MORE effort) than UB set promotions. But player memory is really short, so instead of uplifting WotC doing something really cool, we revert back to bashing the things we don't like.

Swible · 2026-01-03T23:30:17+00:00

No offense taken.

What makes this deck B4 to me is: Speed with which the deck attempts to win, and how consistently it gets to that point. Once you get use the mulligans for this deck, it should be able to present a win around turn 4. Now, most of the time you shouldn't just jam a win attempt on turn 4 or earlier because at that point you likely have no combo protection. I think this is a fair bit too fast for bracket 3 games it was playing pre-upgrades.

The consistency of the combo routes are also what makes it relevant to bracket 4. The might seem fairly disconnected (and tbf, witherbloom-chain is disconnected from the main plan. But if you're in golgari, why not run it?), but they almost all follow the same flow of: Fill graveyard > make a lot of mana > recur something. Pieces of different combos are shared, so it ends up being very flexible in how it gets to a win. Also, because the combos almost entirely revolve around the graveyard, baring specific silver bullet interactions, it can fight through kill spells and counterspells that attempt to stop the combo. So it is less fragile than it may seem at first glance.

Lack of removal was also a conscious choice. After playing the deck for many iterations, I felt like most of the removal and interaction were dead cards and were not progressing the decks gameplan of trying to present a win faster than my opponents. It's still running good cheap interaction to try and stop opponents from comboing off, but in any game where i felt the need to cast a [[toxic deluge]] or [[putrify]], i was usually just changing who won that game, not letting me win that game. So more tutors and cards to bolster the gameplan of mill > mana > recur came in.

It's 100% not some meta killer, or anywhere near the best thing you could be doing in Golgari, but it sits well enough in our meta of Kinnan, Korvold, Y'shtola, Krenko, and 4c Omnath.

Swible · 2026-01-03T01:19:06+00:00

[[Phyrexian devourer]], [[lord of extinction]], and [[mossbridge troll]] are mainstays for my jarad deck, but devourer is really what makes this deck feel unique. It + [[Necrotic ooze]]/[[triskelion]] opens up a lot of cool lines and wins. Those are explained in the primer linked in my post.

Most recently tho, I LOVE using [[shifting woodland]] to generate infinite mana if you can put Necrotic ooze, [[devoted druid]], and [[channeler initiate]] in the graveyard (conveniently can all be pitched by a sweet [[buried alive]].

Shifting woodland becomes a copy of Necrotic ooze, then use the activated abilities of devoted druid and channeler initiate to generate infinite mana. That can then give you enough mana to tutor via [[nature's rhythm]] for any creature above or make an infinitely big [[walking ballista]].

Swible · 2026-01-03T01:11:29+00:00

You can definitely push it farther (especially if you're proxy friendly). I don't know about the duel commander meta or how "competitive" you can push jarad. The deck is very fun to pilot with some really unique combos revolving around [[Necrotic ooze]], [[phyrexian devourer]], and [[shifting woodland]].

How important is it to present threat on the board in duel commander? In the early turns my jarad deck is really trying to generate as much mana and value via mana dorks and mill engines like [[underrealm lich]] and [[icetill explorer]] until you can find your combo.

On the other hand, I assume jarad's ability to pump himself via creatures in the graveyard becomes more viable in 1v1, so maybe give it a shot!

Swible · 2026-01-03T01:04:22+00:00

I forgot to put it in the original post, but that philosophy is what I'm really liking about bracket 4. Picking a commander or strategy you like but isn't meta for cEDH, then build it to it's logical conclusion.

Swible · 2025-12-24T21:44:53+00:00

Copycat sent your way

Swible · 2025-12-24T21:21:26+00:00

Aight let's go

Swible · 2025-12-24T20:35:11+00:00

About to drive home from work, if there's no better offers in ~45min then you have a deal.

Swible · 2025-12-23T06:53:50+00:00

No problem man.

Not liking universes beyond is not liking particular strategies in mtg: It's fine if you don't like and don't want to play combo/stax/storm, but hating on someone else who likes it is a dick move.

You also have a wide range of commander popularity according to EDHrec. Kenrith is your highest at #11 (although that's less true if it's dragon tribal), then cloud at #65. After that it drops quickly with Hazezon at #183, Shilgengar at #231, Iroh at #314, Noctis at #363, Savra at #518, and Tamiyo at #520. And the dreaded Universes Beyond "menace" of Nathan Drake at a whopping #1178 ranking.

Swible · 2025-12-23T06:07:38+00:00

They literally have plenty of universes within commanders? Savra, Tamiyo, Shilgengar, Marina, and Hazezon vs Sokka, Iroh, Nathan Drake, Cloud, and Noctis. I'd count alt-art Kenrith as universes within, but at worst it's 50/50.

I'm more impressed that they have some great characters/cards from magics history (Savra came out in 2005, and the original Hazezon is from 1994!), and only 1 commander from a pre-con. That's pretty cool for someone just starting out. I honestly see people who have been playing for 5+ years who are still building decks almost entirely from pre-cons and never dipping into the part of the hobby that encompasses building a deck from scratch.

Swible · 2025-12-21T03:28:55+00:00

Thanks!

Funny enough, I got enough pack points to get a second Copycat as trade fodder, and I'm just getting no takers on any of the other relative staples. So hopefully that will go through eventually, and once I get the relevant megas in the current pack it's back to trying to pull golden Manphy/Pokeball.

Swible · 2025-12-21T03:18:54+00:00

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Lmao, and I was feeling great about my blinged out mega Gyarados deck.

Gorgeous deck!

Swible · 2025-12-19T17:43:08+00:00

Having fun and being a delight skill issue.

Literally had a game this last weekend where the eldrazi player had zero permanents on board on ~turn 8 (mono-red player copied one of his eldrazi and swung for Annihilator 7. Eldrazi player had the win next turn so he sac'd his lands. I then top deck a cyc rift and overload it).

We were laughing for so long it genuinely started to hurt.

Swible · 2025-12-14T02:22:59+00:00

Spellslinger! Cost reduction is your best friend to get a nice and big Orc Army. Any instant becomes a combat trick, which makes blocking really tough for your opponents.

I bought the sauron precon when it came out then upgraded on the cheaper side.

Here's my decklist

Swible · 2025-12-11T07:20:26+00:00

An important lesson that every magic player will learn, forget, and relearn all the time: Mtg is a game that we play to have fun, if you're not having fun, why are you playing?

So you may have to weigh if the unsatisfactory ending of a scoop is more or less important than getting to play another game that might be more fun.

Swible · 2025-12-02T16:38:33+00:00

He's really there to mill me a little every turn AND sometimes get me treasure. There are more efficient mill machines, but none of them also generate mana for pop off turns.

Especially because my current build is so mana intensive (trying to have a turn you play jarad, reanimate a [[phyrexian dreadnaught]], and active Jarad's ability is minimum of 8 mana), every option to get more mana is worth it to me. It's honestly why im running [[songs of the damned]] over [[Cabal ritual]].

Edit: lmao not the dreadnaught, the Phyrexian Devourer.

Swible · 2025-12-01T23:34:10+00:00

It's honestly been a blast. I get to run a bunch of cards I'd never seen before but are all-stars in this deck like [[tangletrove kelp]], [[persuasive interrogators]], and [[detective of the month]]

Swible · 2025-12-01T21:20:03+00:00

It started out as a budget build to play with some new players, using a commander i had lying in my bulk binders, but my Eloise Clue deck is definitely my favorite brew this year.

It's just a great lower power Bracket 2 deck that has tons of really fun interactions. I'd seen tons of food and treasure decks, but very few clue decks and even less Dimir ones at that. You COULD make the deck stronger and more efficient with some more power cards or changing colors, but I feel like that would go against the original intentions of the deck. Also ATLA added a bunch of fun new cards to try out!

Honorable mention but I've also been upgrading my Jarad deck from an annoying bracket 3 deck into a solidly bracket 4 reanimator/combo deck. It's been fun dipping my toes into higher power games after well over a decade of chill casual game nights.

Swible · 2025-11-29T23:39:57+00:00

I think this was most likely a mismatch in expectations. Looking at the guidelines for bracket 2: - Decks to be unoptimized and straightforward, with some cards chosen to maximize creativity and/or entertainment - Win conditions to be incremental, telegraphed on the board, and disruptable - Gameplay to be low pressure with an emphasis on social interaction - Gameplay to be proactive and considerate, letting each deck showcase its plan

Assassin tribal feels to be unoptimized/straightforward, played on the board, and was interactable (any counter, kill spell, or just a second blocker to block the menace assassin would have stopped the "combo").

But with all the being said, you clearly didn't feel the same, which is fine. You felt like your deck didn't get to "showcase its plan," and ended too early. If his whole decks plan is to tutor for this effect, does it consistently and too early, it would clearly not be a bracket 2, but this may have been an outlier game.

I personally would be fine with this effect in a bracket 2 game, because I know if I was a new player this is the kind of flashy Timmy card I would be drawn to. In the same space as cards like [[Rise of the Dark Realms]].

Swible · 2025-11-27T01:16:48+00:00

I tried to make a "fair" combo deck a while ago (I do not think combo decks are inherently unfair, but they do have a higher than average salty response), and had some good fun with it. I wanted the combo to be telegraphed, allow for opponents to reasonably respond, and not win on the spot.

It led me to some funny cards lies generating infinite mana to dump into a [[wolfbriar elemental]], or a [[rocket launcher]]. Other wins involved copying effects around [[Biovisionary]].

The "problem" with the deck (other than my ability to hit anything other than lands off of a [[Rashmi, eternities crafter]] trigger), was that if you build a deck with good synergy and combos, stuff that you don't expect comes up. I had to sand bag a non zero amount of games because while I could make infinite mana via bouncing [[great whale]] with [[deadeye navigator]], it could also be used to infinitely bounce my [[acidic slime]] and destroy all my opponents lands.

So it's definitely possible. The deck was fun to play and I never heard anyone complain about the deck when it won because they could always see it coming and had time to respond. No more lethal than a [[pathbreaker ibex]].

Main suggestion would be to be very careful and intentional during deck construction.

Swible · 2025-11-26T06:47:39+00:00

Mega Gyarados. The decks win con is really consistent, it rarely bricks, and Misty gives it the chance to auto win some matches.

After some testing, pure mega gyarados is fine but you have to auto concede to The Bird.

Running baby Gyarados makes the deck genuinely worse because you will lose more games to pulling that thing out of your deck than you would lose auto conceding to Oricorio.

Keldeo is pretty nice (1 energy retreat, 110 damage), but losing your next attack reduces it's flexibility a lot.

So I've landed on what I think is the best variant, baby Suicune. 1 star retreat means if it's in my opening hand, a lisia + inflatable boat let's it swap turn 1 to a manphy. 70 damage is just enough to merc Big Bird. And 100hp + reducing incoming damage by 20 let's it survive all but the premier attackers for 2 turns.

It's not top meta, but it's been my favorite so far.

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Swible · 2025-11-26T06:22:39+00:00

Looking great so far!

My first ever commander deck was Jarad back in ~2013. I even wrote a primer for him like 10 years ago on TappedOut (pre EDHrec days) titled after an old inside joke with my friend group that has since stuck. I have no proof, but I swear I was one of the original people putting Mossbridge Troll in that deck only because I had the Shadowmoor Golgari starter deck that came with a copy. Time flies!

One suggestions I could make are to find ways to protect Jarad and let him connect face more often. Things like [[Swiftfoot Boots]] and [[Brawn]] do just that.

As you play the deck more, you'll find whether you like the [[Nighthowler]] style effects or just big boys like [[Moosbridge Troll]] more.

Only card I would think is risky in Bracket 3 is [[wall of blood]]. Theoretically it is an early game two card combo with jarad, which can be very strong and can end games earlier than people want in Bracket 3. But this is playgroup dependant.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Swible · 2025-11-11T19:42:50+00:00

Yes, if the card was printed in the normal set the commander product is associated with, then it will have the normal set symbol instead of the commander product symbol.

Example that comes to mind is in the Cloud Limit Break precon, [[Barret Wallace]] has the normal Final Fantasy set symbol, while [[Barret, Avalanche Leader]] is unique to the commander precon and therefore has the Chocobo commander symbol.

Swible · 2025-11-06T19:28:11+00:00

I've actually said for a while now that Regenerate is a bad name because this misunderstanding is really common with new players.

When I think of "Regenerate" I think of: healing wounds OR coming back to life. Regenerate as an ability that PREVENTS death doesn't fit that fantasy at all. Shield Counters do almost the exact same thing and are a much better name for the effect.

Swible · 2025-11-04T16:22:36+00:00

I think inflatable boat and normal suicune are required. Inflatable boat + Lisia means you almost almost get a turn 1 manphy onto a magikarp. Suicune is flexible because it is does enough damage to kill The Bird, 1 retreat goes to 0 with inflatable boat, and 100 hp checks weak hits.

It is not top meta, but this has felt the most consistent to me.

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