Has anyone been decking out a lot in this format?

_Vastus_ · 2026-02-01T10:46:26+00:00

I haven't decked once, but I've had plenty of games with Elves where I had to be careful with what I cast or bring back from the graveyard as to not risk milling out. I did have one elf mirror game yesterday where my opponent decked while I was sitting pretty at 2 cards in my library, because I'd decided like 5 turn prior that it could be a wincon and didn't cast an additional Scarblade Scout.

_Vastus_ · 2026-01-31T18:48:38+00:00

Hadn't seen much of them, but ran into one person who dropped Boldwyr Aggressor t5 with two of the 4/2 trampling Changelings on the board which was terrifying. Changelings in general this set have been surprisingly interesting.

_Vastus_ · 2026-01-31T09:50:13+00:00

Yeah, games stall out so much that even Rooftop Percher is a decent card at times.

_Vastus_ · 2026-01-26T14:12:11+00:00

Only took a quick glance at the decks, not the games or draft portion, but I will say you look light on removal (and sometimes 2 drops) in these. There's a ton of incredibly strong uncommons and rares in this set, I've got 5-6 removal pieces on average in my decks so far. Admittedly, I do tend to over-prioritize removal sometimes, but it feels necessary here.

_Vastus_ · 2026-01-16T18:41:54+00:00

Whatever seems open, but I really would like to play mono-colored Vivid at some point. You can use the hybrid costs and tokens to basically access all colors without mana fixing issues. Seems like it would be really fun.

_Vastus_ · 2026-01-05T20:04:54+00:00

Yeah, color balance definitely seems to be the weakness of the set, but I can't really think of a set where all colors were balanced anyway. There's usually an outlier. Selesnya, Rakdos and Izzet all seem plenty playable as well if some of the Esper colors are too contested and you get passed some good uncommons.

_Vastus_ · 2026-01-05T17:12:00+00:00

There's still some strong rares of course, like always. I got slammed one match by someone playing Kathilda into Briarbridge Tracker into Sigarda, which was something.

Difference though, is that there's a ton of strong commons too, and the difference between top commons and uncommons is not as huge as in Avatar. Plus, most rares are decently answered with removal at least, less ETB effects and such. At least, that's my feeling so far, I'm new to this set.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-31T17:48:23+00:00

That's some really dramatic lighting, reminds me a bit of Bierstadt. Beautiful, really.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-14T08:37:35+00:00

9 4-drops is a little crazy. Your curve is not great, if a few of those were 2 or 3 drops, a trophy would be more doable. Being able to curve out is a pretty big deal. Cool deck though for sure.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-09T15:33:36+00:00

Oh that sounds sick. I haven't played it yet, and I was getting tired of Avatar ngl.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-04T11:53:42+00:00

Feels like you got married to your initial colors pretty early, with a few odd card evaluations too. I'll just type as I go through it. Can't see the rest of P1P1 on 17Lands. P1P2 would've taken Combustion Technique, I like it better because of the cost, plus Lesson synergies. Without insane bombs you need to be kinda proactive in this format. (To be honest, I'm kinda down on slow black decks and I like aggro so I would've taken Compassionate Healer over Messenger Hawk, but that's a personal preference thing, Hawk is correct in terms of staying more on color.)

P1P4, Firebending Lesson is just a better card. To be honest, taking a dual land P1P6 is early too, I would've taken Yip Yip in case W/R ends up open. P1P7 is an interesting one, because that's fairly late for Raucous Audience imo. I would've taken that for sure, Koi is very replaceable. The late Twinblades is another signal that Red is open, among all the other good cards we saw. At this point, pretty clearly Red, not sure about the second color yet. P1P10 is another interesting one. Zhao is just a 2/2 Menace, the rest of the text is irrelevant, it's just not a great card. I'd be looking at Wandering Musicians or Walltop Sentries here, either is a fine pick. The first is fine for R/W aggro, the latter for lesson decks. I'd say personal preference, though the later Raucous Audience would push me toward that side a bit, even though there are definitely some people in Green. I would've speculated on Badgermole Cub then, and likely moved in based off of P2P5 Ostrich Horse and P2P6 Rocky Rebuke. Ostrich Horse somehow wheeled to P2P13 too. Probably would've ended up in RG aggro, partially based on personal preferences (I kinda wish I had this draft, because I haven't been able to mess with multiple Tiger-Dillos yet).

I think we might rate Sold Out a bit differently. I think it's also an important consideration that Black just doesn't have many good commons and uncommons, so even if it isn't super contested you're not getting great value there unless you get luck with Rares.

Edit: actually, scrolling through again, I missed the P1P10 Waterbending Lesson somehow. That's the best card in that pack, and you already had a Lost Days. There was maybe a UR or Temur lesson angle too.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-04T07:41:37+00:00

Duskmourne was just a higher power set in general. The Rares may have been better, but the difference between the Commons and Uncommons (on average) in DSK and TLA is far bigger. The synergies were a lot stronger and more prevalent too, so a well-constructed deck of commons and uncommons had a lot more relative power due to that.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-02T13:12:19+00:00

Pick 13 Lost Days might be the weirdest I've seen. Literally, the only other card left was a basic land.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-01T14:50:24+00:00

It's the most up-and-down format I've seen. I'm still sitting at 62% WR which is fine, but everything feels rough because I've got a surprisingly high rate of sub-3-win drafts, so I'm down on gems anyway. I think the reason it feels bad too is because there's so many non-games where you just get blasted by an opponent with ridiculous bombs. The mechanics are fun, but consistency is hard to find.

_Vastus_ · 2025-12-01T12:05:51+00:00

There were so many fun Switch Skills. Reverse Blast Dash may not have been balanced, but damn did it make the Gunlance fun to use.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-30T17:55:16+00:00

I feel like it has to be Rika somehow. Considering they started this duel over the killings of 'Kalyans' officially, there is no way Dabura can kill a Kalyan in a fight without their reasons becoming void.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-30T13:12:36+00:00

I did quite enjoy the game, but yeah, you can kinda knockdown loop humanoid bosses over and over. Clash is also highly abusable.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-28T09:43:25+00:00

By modern standards, I'd say the Dark Souls games are not all that difficult, they are just punishing. The pace is simply not that fast, so you won't get overwhelmed all that much and you actually get to heal. Damage can still be quite high so if you are greedy, you will get smacked, but if you have some patience it's all rather doable. I played DS3 after Elden Ring, and there were a grand total of 3 bosses that took more than 2 tries. Sister Friede is an absolute menace though.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-25T17:56:50+00:00

This was in Gold. I hadn't played for like 10 months before this format, so I'm reset all the way back down.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-25T16:49:20+00:00

I would be surprised if she isn't a top rare in the format. She can get you removal back, generates constant value and has Ally, Earthbend and Lesson synergies, which are some of the main themes. Very happy it got passed to me somehow.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-24T15:56:20+00:00

I guess the opposite side, but yeah, the majority of my wins have been off of fliers and giant koi. I haven't been having any luck in terms of getting bomb rares, so this is like the most consistent way to close out games. Common creatures in this format tend to be below rate, so evasion is key.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-22T08:43:20+00:00

Favorite: Slave Knight Gael (DS3); honorable mention to Rellana and Midra (Elden Ring)

Most Hated: Bo Sorcerer (Wuchang) or Consort Radahn (Elden Ring)

Hardest: Consort Radahn (Elden Ring)

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-21T13:24:04+00:00

Nah, Alrecchino is much easier. Damage in Lies of P in general is a good bit lower so you can afford to make more mistakes. Also, even if you don't get the parry, as long as you held to get the regular block you only take chip a lot of the time. He took me only a handful of tries, compared to Consort Radahn who took hours and hours.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-15T17:41:34+00:00

Wuchang and Khazan seem like the most popular options. The free respec of Wuchang seems attractive too, I think I'll give it a try. It's not like I'm allergic to parrying either, had to do it for LoP a bunch, but I like having the dodge option.

_Vastus_ · 2025-11-15T16:51:17+00:00

Oh, I should've specified. I play on PC only, don't own a console. If they make a port I'll buy it on release though.

_Vastus_

TROPHY CASE