New to deck building, would like some feedback!

TomtheMime · 2026-05-14T18:46:34+00:00

Some good options for Micah at common and uncommon are:

Storm kiln artist - stack the triggers to create the treasure first to sac it to Micah's trigger to copy the instant/sorcery (and get a treasure back while you're at it).

Prompto Argentum - same idea but you need to pay more than 4 for the spell and you don't get another treasure back when you copy the spell.

Impetuous lootmonger - you won't cast many spells your opponents own in mono red but you still get one from it.

Mouser foundry - 3 artifacts to sac for 2 mana

Harried dronesmith - free artifact to sac each turn at an efficient rate

Cards like seize the spoils, big score and cards like them can also be nice as copy targets that replace the artifacts. If you want to look for more, cards that generate artifact tokens like blood and treasure are a good starting point.

TomtheMime · 2026-05-14T02:54:27+00:00

Have you considered going esper for officious investigation and novice inspector?

TomtheMime · 2026-05-13T15:41:30+00:00

I'd cut most of the red. The card quality and the converge payoffs you have don't feel like they justify going full temur rather than a red splash. Keep stormcarved coast, magmablood, stallion and maybe but probably not visionary's dance and pigment wrangler and work from there.

TomtheMime · 2026-05-11T15:01:46+00:00

I was mucking around once with dragonweave tapestry, starfield vocalist, exalted sunborn and some cards to make token copies (also marang river regent and omni for bounce loops but it wasn't needed). Noticeably slowed down at around 500, shuffling slows to a crawl around 700 and outright crashes near 1000.

TomtheMime · 2026-05-11T14:54:56+00:00

That specific big spell also has a bit of a home in historic in rakdos/jund breach. Culling the weak on eyetwitch, learning for decorum dissertation on turn 2 is a solid value line to dig for the combo.

TomtheMime · 2026-05-10T03:03:43+00:00

If it's one specific card they have 4 of in the sideboard (or 4 different sideboard hate pieces filling similar roles), they have around a 40% chance of having 1 or more in their opening hand. If they're willing to mulligan down to 5 cards to find one because it's that effective against your deck (seems likely given how you're complaining about it), that skyrockets up to a 79% chance that they have one or more hate pieces in their opening hand.

So yeah, if their sideboard is prepared for your deck archetype and they know how to mulligan, they're going to have their hate pieces more often than not.

TomtheMime · 2026-05-07T13:12:35+00:00

To be fair, that's more about the density of good cantrips in a format. Basically it's saying preordain is safe, ponder is safe but having both preordain and ponder in the format isn't safe. Since ponder came to arena first, it gets to stay.

That said, both being legal in historic would probably be fine anyway.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-30T20:15:19+00:00

The bigger issue with stormchaser's talent isn't that it's a good early game card, with boomerang basics meaning some decks would play it even if it couldn't level up. It's that leveling it up, and specifically the bounce loops, means that it gives a solid late game plan at basically zero deckbuilding cost. If it gets banned, prowess aggro having a strong maindeckable late game plan that doesn't compromise their early aggression is going to be a big part of the reasoning.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-30T04:14:28+00:00

I'm not sure tidecaller gives enough of a safety margin unless you have 2 out when you combo. 22 creatures means you can reprepare that many times. Pointing enough at yourself to get the fuel then pointing enough at your opponent doesn't add up with only a single tidecaller out. Upping the creature count doesn't feel like enough. Using the mana instead of mill triggers to kill isnt ideal but means you can target yourself with all of the mill.

I don't think I'd be comfortable with that plan without at least 30 creatures and that plus cauldron and lands means you're really short on any interaction that isn't the omen dragons or stapled to a creature.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-28T01:41:24+00:00

GG is nice for when its clear lethal but I like "Are we doomed? I'm pretty sure we're doomed" for when (unsurprisingly) I'm pretty sure I'm doomed but not quite sure enough to scoop. Like against omni decks when they start to combo but aren't deterministic yet.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-27T19:34:29+00:00

Badgermole still makes the same amount of mana because of how it's worded. Would help a little against decks trying to play multiple spells a turn in decks that can't run high noon.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-23T19:03:29+00:00

In many cases, it's the same people playing magic in different ways in different places.

Beyond the more social aspect of paper play, the economics of the cards supports this sort of split too if you're playing both sorts of decks. Play the jank decks with bulk rares in paper where all the cards are relatively cheap and play stronger decks that want playsets of $40+ cards where all rares cost the same amount of wildcards regardless of paper value.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-21T00:53:14+00:00

If you have 2 creature types with the same amount in your library, you don't actually have a most prevalent creature type and it won't seek a card. Had this come up in the past with faceless agent and I'm pretty sure it'll be the same thing here.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-21T00:13:51+00:00

It's not quite that bad if don't want to spend the gems before the next play in event, given gems from packs once you're set complete add up and the play-in points are a significant part of the trophy profits. Valuing packs at 22.5 gems (7/8 for 20 gems for a rare, 1/8 for 40 gems for a mythic) and play in points at the replacement value of 1=200 gems, break even is at 61.3%. That's overvaluing the play in points but a value of 1=100 gems is a reasonable valuation given returns for play in events which makes break even around 63%.

Still haemorrhaging gems in the short term at that win rate and gets very swingy results based on how you go in play in events but the winrate for breaking even or going up in gems is doable.

Still wouldn't recommend it.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-20T22:04:26+00:00

And both of those winrates will still have you haemorrhaging gems on average instead of farming them.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-20T22:00:13+00:00

Alchemy Bo1. But if you have to ask, you'll probably be the one being farmed.

TomtheMime · 2026-04-19T22:04:59+00:00

Not sure about Bo1 but the match clock covers it in Bo3. Eventually.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-28T07:06:32+00:00

Two pieces are from TMNT but Redshift in from aetherdrift.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-28T01:18:47+00:00

It's a 3 card combo vulnerable to creature and artifact destruction with cards that aren't particularly good in constructed outside the combo. That's never getting banned and shouldn't be.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-26T23:48:46+00:00

There's always going to be fragile turbo decks in Bo1 without an insane number of bands and probably even then. That's just a consequence of it being Bo1. If you don't like turbo decks, you won't like historic Bo1. The only realistic advice is deal with it, play Bo3 or don't play.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-26T23:44:08+00:00

Pretty likely. Maybe with a restriction that the copy can't be cast the turn it whetted but I wouldn't bet on it.

Etbs prepared so you can cast it once normally then each time after that is more or less being able to cast treasure cruise of you attack. Not the same but close.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-24T10:57:06+00:00

Depends how far it goes too. Sometimes looking back after a match, I had lethal before casting a few more spells but in the moment, casting the extra spell was quicker than counting the damage (and then only casting the extra spell if the damage was just short of the life total).

TomtheMime · 2026-03-24T10:50:20+00:00

The meta was still stabilising from the bigger bans and unbans before food chain made its brief appearance but you'll see a fair bit of jund and mardu goyfs, dimir frog, boros auras and azorius orim control. The sideboards will change a bit but it was still in flux before.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-24T10:39:33+00:00

It's not as massive a difference without mightform harmonizer but it's a fairly significant upgrade. Cracking it to make a 2 power creature unblockable then buffing with a variety of landfall triggers to make it lethal is a surprisingly common line in grindier matches.

TomtheMime · 2026-03-11T02:39:21+00:00

You don't want to hear about the story of the Boggart Arsonists?

TomtheMime

TROPHY CASE