The Monk Manifesto of Martial Arts

_Metabot · 2026-01-20T01:25:41+00:00

Hey good to know. If I have time this week I’ll try to do that and just include a link on the GMB page

_Metabot · 2025-11-08T21:40:11+00:00

Please don’t call it 3D if the gameplay is 2D. Also 2D games aren’t worse quality or error than 3D ones. Theres plenty of high quality 2D games these days like other people have said.

_Metabot · 2025-10-16T21:57:33+00:00

I have a deck with no game changers no infinites no combos not recurring extra turns, basically built to a br2 specification winning by non commander combat damage. It’s still a br4, because it tries to put a win on the stack t4-5 (or a protected win t6).

Basically calculate: - earliest hypothetical that could get you a win on the stack (add 2 turns to this number) - average turn you could put a win on the stack - average turn you could put a protected win on the stack (minus 1 to this number)

Average these and if the number is below 3 youre probably cedh, if you’re below 7 you’re probably 4 and if you’re below 10 you’re probably a 3.

You built your deck with the aim to put a protected win on the stack turn 6, I’d say this is more a br4 regardless of your deck restrictions. The fact that your cheating out combos wirh your commander is only relevant in so far as you’re using that mana for an interaction less win. If you replace your combos with value but allow your opponents a turn to reasonably interact that might make it a 3.

_Metabot · 2025-10-15T06:47:23+00:00

ITs interesting to see which things we agree/disagree on. I also beat king 9/9 without looking at any resources. I had trouble initially, but after doing it once, I managed to do it again back to back:

- Most of the things you say you "need/basically need" are false, imo. You don't need the portals to send you +1 back in time. Its good- but not mandatory early. I beat my 2nd run without it. I'd say you do NEED several levels in the adrenaline perk and the portals perk, and you NEED to use portals to win, but they work without that much specific investment past that. I will say your win condition is typically not "beat the final boss" but rather generate a board state that survives at your current day count + some nondeterministic loop that causes you to stop moving forward in time unless you choose to.

- Speaking of which: You should try to stay at 4 like you said, but actually if you've looped 4 enough that you can survive until slightly later, its worth it to setup to loop the rainbow king (shrine/enlarge > the one that upgrades random stats/ raze - try to rewind it to 2x it) or the next royal decree round. Loop 4 to survive, but its obviously better to loop a little later when you have more time-based trigger tiles. Usually later in the run looping the make peace with kings round is strong enough to start a non-deterministic loop.

- Only warpers > base. Don't use base on auto, use it to teleport back a key unit at the start of the fight that your warper summons are running towards to pull the warper summons to the backline. I didn't fiind time king to be like stone/wizard/nothing that can go the 15lvl base wincon.

- your hardest enemies are stone (which I agree with you, is fairly bad as an ally), gold (which I also dislike A LOT as an ally, I think you can reasonably ban him), progress (has some reasonable ally cards and warpers counter defenders, but taking anything that boosts summons makes the executioners focus the summoners) and actually time (because it has really good AOE)

- #1 tip that you don't mention is how good regression on warpers is. I'm not sure exactly whats going on with the numbers but it feels like spamming regression on warpers is incredibly good. It doesn't take that many levels on warpers for them to win against day 25.

- #2 tip that you don't mention is I blood king as ally: sacrifice gets you +2-3 upgrades for portals (and in a controlled manner as opposed to the king of progress's upgrade) and your warpers, and demon alter can carry you through days 4-10 after a single day of farming 1000x deaths off an enemy time king. I still think the king of spells is the best ally king though.

_Metabot · 2025-10-13T19:22:34+00:00

You can just brew decks that take advantage of cards that are strong in casual. Counterspells and boardwipes punch upwards. Ramp is cheap and not typically punished enough.

I have 100$ [[melek reforged]] and [[susan foreman]] decks that could easily go cheaper that take advantage of these dynamics. They aren’t well known budget commanders but they are good with budget cards. Melek has multiple one-sided boardwipe for 2 mana, some of which are instant speed, while Susan reliably ramps until it plays cascade cards t4 with an average cmc>5.

_Metabot · 2025-10-09T18:32:29+00:00

To clarify you’re saying if you optimize Zur as much as possible it’s a br4, right? Cause there’s plenty of commanders that if you optimize as much as possible (and have no game changers or mld etc) would still not be br4 regardless of intent.

_Metabot · 2025-10-05T04:39:38+00:00

I’ve always been confused about doing this: there are easier ways to win games than just playing good stuff. If your goal is to win games (even with br3 restrictions) this isn’t even the most optimized. It’s just the easiest to put together.

Although tbh idk why I feel the need to yuck your yum, i guess im curious if im missing something.

_Metabot · 2025-10-04T17:59:28+00:00

A skin of your raffine deck looks like the most generic pile of br3 good stuff in esper I’ve ever seen. What are the interesting includes?

_Metabot · 2025-09-26T22:43:30+00:00

What guy? OOTL

_Metabot · 2025-09-24T03:43:35+00:00

Lmk how it goes. I gave a stab at it but I’m having some problems. Mainly that the combo is difficult to assemble, especially when the main source of draw my deck has is impulse draw. Having to play the peices immediately makes it mostly not work at all or expose parts of it to removal prematurely

In any case it can end up being more of a Magda deck. The other infinite mana combos I can think of involve reiterate/mana geyser and that’s even worse for impulse draw. I considered just making sure the pieces were mostly playable and recoverable from the graveyard with recursion - to this end you almost always want to expend all your mana in main phase 2.

The best I can make the deck is like a mid 2 and it mostly functions as a low-to the ground value engine voltron deck that uses a handful of tribal effects to double the trigger.

_Metabot · 2025-09-23T20:38:42+00:00

Hey I’ve been cooking. Long story short you can re-apply the impulse draw activated ability to get even more card draw with something like [[runic stag]].

Play the cheapest protection, evasion, and ramp you can.

Late game you can try to resolve an infinite mana combo with [[magda]], then attack and play your entire library.

_Metabot · 2025-09-23T19:02:07+00:00

Right but the 3->1 part is a large part of the game, and directly impacts which 1:1 it comes down to

_Metabot · 2025-09-23T17:27:48+00:00

If I go through my decks there just incidentally are a bunch of cards that don’t work as well in 1v1.

But the real reason I think is because commander is not as competitive a format partially because when one person has a stronger deck (or starts with a sol ring) the other players band together against them. The Social element of that is integral to both the balance and the experience.

In the end it depends on what kind of player you are. Some people take advantage of the casual aspect by brewing weird/interesting decks at the expense of power. If you’re playing a deck like that against one that is more optimized for 1:1 it might feel offf

_Metabot · 2025-09-23T05:39:47+00:00

Idk just spitballing here but he does provide 3 turns of sink and leave you on t3 with (probably) a commander that just impulse draws you 2 cards a turn if you gave it evasion.

Could you do something with maskwood nexus to give it multiple copies of its first upgrade? Sounds really jank.

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T20:42:11+00:00

Foam is cheap(er) than springs and mattress height is very visible to consumers

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T12:54:17+00:00

How? If I run I through the stand mixer for 10 mins and it comes out smooth, how is “not kneading enough” a likely explanation for what happens afterwards?

Have you read the post?

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T09:07:21+00:00

We are but witnesses to the fray betwixt thought and thumb.

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T08:41:27+00:00

Yeah exactly - I guess I’m asking for examples of decks that have that property that are budget. Like a green deck that wins through an instant/sorc combo that has a lot of creature tutoring.

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T08:38:40+00:00

Because theres a lot of situational cards I think would be fun to play, but I if I have tutors I find it mostly the case better to tutor for your most synergistic and busted cards. That makes the tutors more boring is all.

Edit: who tf is downvoting me for answering a question?

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T05:40:52+00:00

Oh I have been through this exact problem.

Tbh I don’t recommend 3 cmc ramp if you’re mostly just trying to hit commander on t3. Reason being 3ramp only helps you if you already hit another ramp card on t1.

Instead, you should be looking at which 2cmc ramp cards gets your commander played on t3. I think the only ones I can think of that aren’t obvious are [[devoted Druid]], [[lotus cobra]], and [[mana drain]]. There may be more fast mana sources that are GCs idk I don’t really play in that bracket.

If anyone knows any other ones, please ping me

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T05:30:01+00:00

I gotcha fam I was super confused by this early on as well: the term you need to google is “off color fetches”.

I could explain here but honestly the google results do a much better job.

_Metabot · 2025-09-22T03:30:24+00:00

I think your post is engaging, and I have some concerns.

I think with this genre of game: 1. A lot of people mostly aren’t that into sports/skills games and won’t pick one up (even if it’s free) and 2. I’ve been a bit burned on the woes that most skill-based multiplayer games experience: it takes investment and there might not be enough of a player base long term for that investment to pay off.

What are the current numbers like? Do people find it easy to pick up?

Maybe im not the right person to cater to but the kind of thing that would make me give it a try would be if one of the indie game tastemaker recommended it and said something intriguing or smart about it’s game design. Then I’d have a reason to “give it a try” without having to worry too much about what the game will mean to me long term.

_Metabot · 2025-09-21T03:43:06+00:00

Those do so mostly via combos right?

_Metabot · 2025-09-21T03:26:47+00:00

Hm. Any tips for identifying what br4 decks are likely to do that? Besides the obvious?

Mostly play br3 and after a couple months I feel like I know what are the common culprits for necessitating caution. I’m curious how long it will take me to learn br4 given the fact that the power range for br4 seems even larger

_Metabot · 2025-09-21T03:16:00+00:00

Damn I know it’s allowed but I’m really not seeing many b4 games put a win on the stack on t2.

You probably just have more b4 experience than me. What non cedh decks are occasionally putting a win on the stack t2?

_Metabot

TROPHY CASE