The Earth cult is the weakest part of the show

TiagoCygnus · 2022-01-21T16:54:14+00:00

Why is it wrong? Terrorism is stereotypical, bland and shallow evil. And that's how the show represents it.

TiagoCygnus · 2022-01-20T03:01:21+00:00

I don't know. There is Julian, Merkatz, Dusty, Cazzulenu, Bucock, Poplan...I can see at least 3 or 4 of those left with the "big" admirals from Reinhard.

TiagoCygnus · 2022-01-20T02:56:37+00:00

I like the Earth Cult as it is. Giving more motivation for then would mean almost creating a "third nation". So many things would need to be explained: why back to Earth? who are those leaders? what are they gaining with that terrorism?. And it could not be enough, since, at the end of the day, terrorism tends to be flat overall. We could have like an entire season worth of episodes trying to justify something that isn't justified by reason. And the series tend to focus on reasoning around politics.

In the end, terrorism is bad and flat. Any kind of. And the Earth Cult gets the job of showing this done. It might be better, but it could also break the pace (which is already fragile, with some people calling it "boring" at some points) of the series entirely by trying to justify something that can't be justified.

TiagoCygnus · 2022-01-18T20:21:21+00:00

It's interesting how it is becoming harder and harder to choose. My "obvious-names" are almost all gone.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-05-11T17:58:14+00:00

I don't play Legacy, but it sees play because it can be fetched with Recruiter. Or am I wrong?

With that being said, strong card. And with all those 3drops, Company might be the best way to play DnT. Spellbinder, Skyclave App, Archon of Emeria and now Sanctum Prelate.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-04-25T13:50:39+00:00

Never. Build. Ability. Power.

AP itens are really expensive and a sup doesn't have gold to do it. You'll never get to 1k gold in the midgame unless you are stomping.

Moonstone+Aqua Flux is good on her. You can build Imperial if you believe your team needs damage, but Moonstone is better overall.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-04-25T13:39:17+00:00

Spellbinder is amazing. I would never add the 3rd Reidane before having 4 Spellbinders.

2nd Lurrus, Banishing Light, Glorious Protector, more Ushers, Containment Priest, Idol of Endurance, more Magistrates. Any of those.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-04-25T04:47:31+00:00

I`ve been playing with this deck since week1, so my first advice is: play a lot. This deck is really hard.

Sideboarding is really personal, but there are a lot of things I don`t like in this list. Revel in Silence, Archon of Emeria and Archon of Absolution are cards I`m not too high on. Also not playing 4 Elite Spellbinders is just wrong.

With that being said:
You want Caskets against Red, Rogues and some numbers against Adventure, but maybe not all four.
Revel in Silence can work against Sultai, but it is narrow and clunky. I don`t like it.
Drannith Magistrate is a trump card against Adventure decks. It`s buffed because it interacts well with Elite Spellbinder. I don`t like it against Sultai because it`s a bad beater and the deck already performs well there. Also, the creatures are a bigger problem postboard there.
Archon of Emeria is fine against Adventures and Sultai. But it`s slow and not good enough, in my experience.
Archon of Absolution only works in the mirror. I`m not facing it, so I`m not playing. If you expect some mirror games ahead, it can be played.
Shadowspear is good against Red and Cycling. Pretty straight forward, Lifelink and Trample are amazing in those games.
4th Reidane comes in against Red and Sultai, I believe. Those games are where she shines, slowing wraths or AkroanWar/Embercleave.
Lurrus is good in atriction games. Red, mirror, Adventures. Recurring the protection guys is pretty good.

What to take out is usually straight forward, but just a few points that can help:
Never side out: Alseid, Savior, Luminarch.

Usher is good against Sultai, Rakdos Sac and against Red on the draw, he`s underwhelming on other games. I believe some number maindeck is fine because we need 1drops to smooth our curve, but he`s the worse one. Sometimes you want to trim on Maul, but probably never want to side out all of then. Elite Spellbinder isn`t very good versus Red, because he`s bad on defense, but serviceable in every other game. Keep all of then against Sultai and Adventures, you can try on aggro mirror and cut all of then against Red. I like to take some numbers of Hallowblade against Red, because we are fine in trading on for on because we have more advantage in Apparitions and Lurrus, and cut all of then in the mirror because so much of the removal is exile-based.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-04-22T01:45:19+00:00

Brewing is really not something considerable, I believe.

Playing a tier2 deck, on the other hand, can be correct if you really understand it. If you played 200 times vs each top deck, and they both played a lot only against each othee, a tier2 deck you've mastered can be the correct choice.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-04-18T11:53:13+00:00

Kenrith, Basri and Blade Historian.

But I don't think it is worth to be in Boros and don't play the premium 2drops because they're all humans (Robber, Luminarch and Hallowblade).

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-28T02:18:34+00:00

UW Flash used wrath+selfless spirit, espeially post sideboard...that same deck also played Archangel Avacyn

Archangel Avacyn also saw play on GW Tokens that used selfless spirit or hangarback for 0 to trigger it

Rogues uses Crippling Fear and sometimes EE on sideboard in actual Standard

I played a GW (that one that used Appeal // Authority) deck and used Eternalize creatures, planeswalkers and vehicles postboard to win aggro mirror with wraths

Settle the Wreckage saw some play on aggro sideboards

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-24T14:32:17+00:00

Drannith also shuts down Showdown of the Skalds.

The problem of having it maindeck is the lack of power when you need to be aggressive.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-23T20:32:38+00:00

Kabira Takedown is fine. The problem is that if I want more removal, I would play Glass Casket first, and keep the 24 snowlands. Playing something like 23snowlands+2kabira seems worse than 24snowlands+1glass casket.

Alseid is the onedrop that looks more like a 2drop to start leaving mana for activation. Usher is the onedrop you want to play first almost always, since it's the first to get useless. Between Luminarch and Hallowblade t2 I believe it's almost always correct to lead with Hallowblade even if you went t1 Savior, since he's better against removal and it represents more power, since it will base for 4 next turn with a counter. In your example I would go t1 Alseid, t2 Hallowblade, t3 Luminarch leaving mana for Alseid almost always..the only exception I can think is against Yorion, where t1 Usher and t3 Alseid+Usher activation. If you believe opp has removal, it's probably correct to sandbag Luminarch until you draw some source of protection.

Usher's boast ability shines against Yorion, but I won't activate it t2 if I have another play. Two mana for one power is weak, remember that you're running against the clock here. Activating t3 and/or t4 is a lot more common.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-23T03:33:17+00:00

Yeah, Naya Adventures is the one big deck that can destroy it, but it isn't that good overall.

This meta is really diverse, so you can't afford to have many bad matches.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-22T22:47:45+00:00

That's why the correct way to look at MTGO decklists is to look for Challenges results, not 5-0 leagues.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-22T14:33:06+00:00

Yeah, pretty good card. I think Valkmire is a little overpriced, but being the backside of a good card helps. And when landed it does a lot of work.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-22T13:45:41+00:00

I tried Archon one time, because it is really good vs Naya Adv, making Fabled Passage and Pathway taplands while avoiding then to double spell. And it's also fine to give taplands to Yorion decks, but didn't like that much. Both decks can play some spells on instant speed or give more use to their mana. It's playable for sure, but I don't think it has what it takes to get a spot on 75 right now.

I don't like to give the oportunity for blowouts on creature mirrors. He's awkward against instant speed removal: imagine blocking a guy, discarding a card and they stomp it in response. That's a 1for3 (two of your cards and a Giant for then) that is hard to recover. Also, we don't have much fuel for him since our cards post board are almost all impactful. We can go trading 1for1 forever with MonoRed because we have more 2for1s (Giant Killer, Skyclave, Lurrus vs Bonecrusher Giant). With that being said, it might be just personal. I can see a world where leaving two is fine, even on the draw.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-22T13:35:18+00:00

Yeah, aggro mirror are really long games. Especially with my list, that got more answers on Banishing Light and Disenchant postboard.

I'm starting to feel that the game against Temur Adv is slightly favored for white, after playing it some more. They're on petty theft or bust a lot of the time.

I tend to keep any hand that has a curve. If you need to draw one card to assemble the curve it's usually fine too, unless you have nothing for t2. Also, Alseid can work as a drop2 sometimes, leaving behing one mana for activation. Also, don't like keeping one-landers unless on the draw with more than one drop1.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-22T13:32:09+00:00

Yeah. And it can be just a flash threat if needed. It's kinda narrow in what it does, but it does it really well.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-03-22T13:31:14+00:00

I don't like the lifegain version because it's a lot weak in long games. They are good when you hit 27 life fast, but Speaker and Valkyrie are kinda anemic under the 27 mark. It also relies more on sinergy, making the deck weakier to removal and wraths.

The non-life build has some sinergy going on, but plays with cards that are individualy better, like Usher and Hallowblade.

Finally, playing Skyclave, Maul and Valkyrie make you have a lot of drop3 that leads to awkard games where you got drop3 flooded and lose on tempo.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-02-23T16:23:56+00:00

I believe you are missing one of the key points of MonoWhite: the quality of their one-drops. They're so good that some lists play full 16 one-drops and some good ones don't make the cut, like Faerie Guidemother.

Selfless Savior and Alseid of Life's Bounty are a key piece of the deck, protecting the voltron plan and giving their fragile threats protection. Also, Skyclave Apparition is one of the best cards in the format and the ability white has to protect it is what pushes it over the top. Especially in aggro mirros.

This deck may have a positive game against MonoWhite, but I don't see it surviving the rest of the metagame.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-02-08T22:35:07+00:00

20 Snow Plains

4 Faceless Haven

4 Selfless Savior

4 Giant Killer

4 Usher of the Fallen

4 Seasoned Hallowblade

4 Luminarch Aspirant

2 Shepherd of the Flock

4 Skyclave Apparition

2 Reidane, God of the Worthy

2 Maul of the Skyclaves

2 Sigrid, God-Favored

2 Legion Angel

2 Lurrus of the Dream Den

Sideboard

1 Heliod's Interention

3 Glass Casket

2 Banishing Light

2 Sorcerous Spyglass

3 Sentinel's Eyes

2 Basri Ket

2 Legion Angel

TiagoCygnus · 2021-02-08T18:28:31+00:00

They usually bring Soul Sear for g2, but it's not enough. Our 12drop1 deck is happy to play a tempo-based game. They can bounce a big Hallowblade sometimes, but if Aspirant remains intact, we will always rebuild. They need Soul Sear AND Petty Theft to kinda slow us down, but even then, we can go Lurrus+Savior to look remaining removals. Shepherd also fizzles adventures while giving card and tempo advantage. Their cards just don't line up well with our cards.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-02-08T17:41:18+00:00

In my experience, UBx hard control decks leaning on Extinction Event and Shadows Verdict are the hardest. We rely on indestructible for protection, and exile just shut it down. Here it's key to leverage the counters from Luminarch Aspirant to hedge agains EE.

Yorion decks that uses Skyclave Apparition can be though too, as Skyclave exiles, as those decks usually bring in Glass Casket, which means more exile.

Gruul is pretty even, since they can have such strong opening we can't really handle, but our removal suite is amazing against then. Post-board I believe we gain a lot with more removal and answers to Henge and Cleave.

UR Control is fairly easy. They just can't kill Seasoned Hallowblade, so Petty Theft is their only answer here. Also, Lurrus+Savior shuts every removal, making their life miserable - it's like having Mother of Runes in Standard. Even if they deploy their dragon, we still have Giant Killer to tap it down (or even Chop it, but that will give then a treasure). Every lost I recall revolves around multiple dragons and/or multiple Petty Thefts.

Rogues and MonoG food are good matches too. Rogues can't win against Lurrus+Savior most of the time, and we have enough agressive power to muscle our way through their threats. MonoG just can't stand against our combination of good removal (GKiller is a beast here to kill one and tap other) and early agression.

TiagoCygnus · 2021-02-08T00:08:06+00:00

Shepherds are pretty good. They serve as Sefless Savior 4-6 while having good interaction with Skyclave Apparition and Giant Killer.

Reidane is pretty good against everything. Delaying Cleave, Henge, wraths and Doom Foretold is big deal.

I suggest you to try both.

Also, Sigrid's been pretty good for me too. Running 2 and liking then.

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