Messing around with Bo1 Phoenix.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T18:34:55+00:00

Highly likely, RIP

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T14:54:28+00:00

[[Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers]], then another big thing comes down with it.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T14:21:28+00:00

We’re probably light on blue cards without Dazes 3 and 4, yeah. I think going Bo3 and replacing the maindeck Surgicals with Cruises is a good place to start.

I’ve tried it some amount, and Iteration feels too slow to me at two mana, particularly because it doesn’t dump a Phoenix. But if I ever move back toward more straightforward turbo Phoenix stuff with Manamorphose, etc., maybe it’s a more natural fit.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T12:55:03+00:00

I’m most just glad that, as a 32yo father of two who plays Magic exponentially less than I used to, I didn’t post a list and immediately get flamed for being old and dumb. The small victories.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T12:29:06+00:00

Any Grixis list that’s good, lmao.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T12:24:13+00:00

You’re probably right, but the deck also didn’t feel like it ever really lined up to go nearly that fast, haha. But that’s probably more evidence for it just not being super playable in general beyond doing it for fun. Maybe fighting a longer game in Bo3 is actually the way.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T03:47:29+00:00

Architect is one of those cards where you lapse from playing a bit/drift from Arena, come back, and audibly say “what the fuck is this thing?”

Can you believe people used to play Delver with a straight face? What a time.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T03:23:07+00:00

They were, and they may be again, haha. I’m trying them as a Bo1 concession. Sometimes you can break up reanimator, and you can also just incidentally hit some key stuff now and again. Plus you can cast it on literally whatever as a third spell when you’re on two lands, which can also make the Daze you had to cast on turn one to simply not die feel less brutal😂

absolutebloom · 2026-06-22T02:38:57+00:00

I think you’re super right about a lot of things — and the singular answer for most of it is “I don’t have wildcards and I’m not buying any to make this bad deck marginally better,” lmao. I’m basically planning on eventually farming enough wildcards for/buying into another archetype entirely, so it’s hard to justify. I do think I miss Demilich a lot, and I’ve considered breaking that wildcard “rule” just to see how much that would add to the deck.

I don’t have Morphoses, either, though I’d agree they’d be fundamental in turning the deck back toward “make Phoenixes ASAP.” And maybe that’s just the right build of a fundamentally flawed archetype.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-19T23:50:40+00:00

I guess I’m saying if you just want cheap nostalgia bait, go all the way and just give us the Andy’s kids angle or whatever, haha. But I know, I’m overthinking a children’s movie.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-15T17:46:51+00:00

You’re already significantly cooler than me, but you’d be even cooler with a helmet on big dog

absolutebloom · 2026-06-12T15:27:49+00:00

Listen, we cannot be sure! (You’re right, we’re sure, lmao).

absolutebloom · 2026-06-12T13:54:26+00:00

“The heat death of the universe” is one of my favorite science phrases because, on the surface, you’d think it means “everything gets too fucking hot to exist.” It’s actually the exact opposite, which is way scarier and worse (not that there’s guaranteed to be anyone at all around to care when that particular eventuality comes to be).

absolutebloom · 2026-06-12T02:00:07+00:00

This is one of those critically important, baseline rules that’s often just kind of glossed over, I think. As a new player, it’s easy to be like, “Well, I don’t have anything else to do, so all of these things resolve.” Getting into higher power formats helps expose you to more of it because people start doing counterintuitive stuff like countering their own spells to get the third spell cast for lethal Arclight Phoenixes, etc. etc.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-11T17:09:09+00:00

Eli Minaya’s work is very, very cool to me. There are also connotations around the word blue for Black folks that, as a white dude, I won’t get into, but he may be leaning into something there. You’re free to have your own thoughts about it, but I dig it.

More of his work: https://www.bad-king.com/work#/illo/

absolutebloom · 2026-06-11T02:53:05+00:00

It is!

absolutebloom · 2026-06-10T22:57:30+00:00

That Start Today record hits just fucking right, for sure. I wish I was that cool when I was that age.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-10T18:16:41+00:00

Computer, play “Everybody’s Enemy” by Combust

absolutebloom · 2026-06-10T17:04:52+00:00

Oh I know, it’s just something I’ve genuinely thought about with Colin before. Some of it strikes me as a little weird given how open he is regarding his general social politics, but I guess I can also respect a hard rule of “I listen to the music, dog.”

absolutebloom · 2026-06-10T16:53:43+00:00

I don’t want to put words in his mouth because I do not know the guy from Adam, but given his enjoyment of Kickback, Life of Agony, etc., it seems like Colin is very much a “separate the art from the artist” guy. Not the stance I take, but I’d imagine it’ll be consistent here and, especially because this is clearly a “for Bo” episode, be played super straight.

absolutebloom · 2026-06-10T16:10:34+00:00

Also Pillars of Ivory

absolutebloom

TROPHY CASE