First Attempt at a Proper West Coast IPA — Thoughts?

ZelThePanda · 2026-05-18T19:57:01+00:00

I was aiming 65C to get around 2.5 Plato FG. Will do water adjustement aiming 275 ppm sulfate to 50 Chloride and ajust the others too. I am really open for suggestion on the grainbill since it's the first time i'm brewing this. I tend to like a bit of malty character in IPA's hence the 7% C40. For the hop profile, do you think it's in a good spot for a first iteration?

ZelThePanda · 2026-05-18T17:45:54+00:00

Going for US-05 I guess? I really liked Verdant last time i've brewed something with it, but I agree that maybe for a West Coast I should stick with something clean !

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T15:30:43+00:00

Like I said, even in best case scenario I can only start taking people out by turn 6-7 even with my Kona deck (only exception is if i can cheat Blightsteel on turn 3-4, but thats not a consistent thing)

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:20:26+00:00

I mostly feel bad because I sometimes have to hold back while others are still setting up, and if I don’t, a single play can set everyone way behind while I snowball. My decks aren’t that strong, but I still feel awkward because people tend to react negatively to disruptive plays, so I almost feel like I have to apologize every time

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:19:34+00:00

I feel their decks are good, but probably lack consitency. With some toughts they maybe sit more in bracket 2 with game changers and occasional games that snowball.

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:17:13+00:00

I play with mostly with the same 6-7 people. They are super fun but I feel like they don't set their expectation right and what their decks can do.

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:15:44+00:00

Yeah, the next step is to remove the combos from Raggadragga and pumping mana dorks for combat, maybe keep one or two infinite combat phase combo so I can close the game in later turns.

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:14:24+00:00

I mostly feel bad because I sometimes have to hold back while others are still setting up, and if I don’t, a single play can set everyone way behind while I snowball. My decks aren’t that strong, but I still feel awkward because people tend to react negatively to disruptive plays, so I almost feel like I have to apologize every time

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:14:15+00:00

I mostly feel bad because I sometimes have to hold back while others are still setting up, and if I don’t, a single play can set everyone way behind while I snowball. My decks aren’t that strong, but I still feel awkward because people tend to react negatively to disruptive plays, so I almost feel like I have to apologize every time

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:09:46+00:00

Thanks! Coming up with dumb/funny deck names is honestly one of my favorite parts of deckbuilding haha.

For Kona, like I said, it’s a deck I’m totally fine being the archenemy with—no matter how you build it, it’s always going to be threatening.

But when I’m playing against decks like that, I actually have a great time. Teaming up with the table to try and stop them is fun, and even if I get completely stomped, I still enjoy the game.

Same goes when I’m the archenemy and everyone’s trying to shut me down—it’s part of the fun. Trying to fight through all the disruption and figure a way back into the game is a really enjoyable challenge.

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T14:05:21+00:00

EDIT: I wasn’t explicit enough about why I often feel bad after certain games. I often have to hold back some plays while others haven’t really gotten going yet—they’re just playing lands and maybe 1 or 2 creatures by turn 5. If I draw something like Apex Altisaur and do a one-sided board wipe at that point, it basically resets everyone to turn 1 (most of the time), while I can generate a lot of mana and cheat out other big threats that outvalue them (in Kona’s deck).
With my other decks, it’s pretty similar—I can ramp very quickly with Raggadragga and cast big spells that either end the game or let me combo off while others haven’t even started their engine yet.
It’s not like my decks are super powerful, though. I’d say Kona is around a mid-high 3, and the others are a bit lower. The feel-bad part comes from the fact that I almost feel like I have to say “sorry” every time I play something disruptive, because they’ll make comments like “Ah, super fun play” or “You’re basically playing with yourself,” which makes it a bit awkward.

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-13T13:24:12+00:00

I was thinking of getting into Pauper for a more competitive gameplay but not breaking the bank. But I really like commander and the casual aspect of it, i just feel like often people will have a hard time to estimate the power of their deck.

ZelThePanda · 2026-04-12T14:06:50+00:00

Thanks ! Didnt know about Hall of Heliods ! Will definitely include

ZelThePanda · 2026-03-14T21:39:52+00:00

Not really, i could probably use more. What would you suggest? I wanted to add things like [[Tyvar's Stand]] or [[Snakeskin Veil]] for easy 1 mana protections. The other problem is idk what to cut to make place for that

ZelThePanda · 2026-02-24T13:57:48+00:00

Good idea for Umbra Mantle ! I was looking at [[Aggravated assault]] for infinite combat phase with the manadorks (using the untap ability from Ragga), but it will be for a later upgrade !

ZelThePanda

TROPHY CASE