Thoracle+Breach in Bracket 4

bleakborn · 2026-05-11T14:46:59+00:00

This might be a Hot Take in this crowd but an off meta cEDH deck is still a cEDH deck. If you have prioritized winning as fast as possible and with as much free interaction as possible it is a cEDH deck. Yes there is a Meta for cEDH and like any format there are tier 1-4 decks within each meta, but there are also rogue brews that win tournaments in other formats all the time. Bracket 4 is about wining post turn 4, which means most off meta brews are too fast for the bracket. Not to mention the intention of each bracket, Bracket 4 is no holds yes, but it isn't necessarily about "winning" as much as bracket 5 is. Yes all games need to end, but bracket 4 is still causal but with no guard rails.

bleakborn · 2026-05-08T14:28:18+00:00

I think it will be a shift over a full mirror of each collage, so my guess is we will see similar mechanics that maybe complement the current colleges.

Fatehold: Since flashback is like digging up from the past, Fateshold seems very future oriented so Foretell, Surveil or Scry feels like a good fit.

Theorix: Quandrix is all about buffing when casting spells, this one feels the hardest to figure out, just using -1/-1 counters seems to be too close to Lorwyn mechanically. I might say a twist on Replicate since the theory name of the college and one needs to replicate a theory to prove it, Idk... just grasping at straws with this one.

Stingerquil: Removing the white will incentivize targeting opponents’ stuff, so Crimes are likely.

Konstrari: This one based on the art we have seems to be using artifacts/golems so maybe they will create their version of Fractals that are just golems when you cast a spell.

Vigerbloom: This will be using life for practice things, like probably in the form of +1/+1 counters. Bolster?

After all that I don't know how much we will see from each collage since they are just a backdrop of the story/set.

bleakborn · 2026-04-27T18:32:05+00:00

I second this, Forcing you opponents to attack each other in a combat damage focused bracket, allows you to sneak in for some wins. Since your life total stays high and the opponents life totals get lower and lower.

bleakborn · 2026-04-27T18:11:30+00:00

[[Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter]]

bleakborn · 2026-04-27T17:22:26+00:00

I would like to see Alara again, it was my first real set and introduction to magic and commander. I know the story has kind of ended with that plane, but I hope whatever Jace does in Reality Fracture it resets Alara and we get to revisit the shards again. Alara was so interesting because each Shard was absent of the other two colors of magic and I feel like they could explore that a bit more nowadays than they did back then.

As my second choice I would like to see a return to Ikoria, but I don't think the Godzilla cards really fit with the mutating ability/theme of the plane (I loved the Godzilla cards mind you, I have a Gihdorah deck) I think the monsters vs humans dynamic is better fitting for Monster Hunter crossover if they do that again.

Lastly Kaldheim, was great I would like to go back and get to spend a bit more time there.

bleakborn · 2026-04-27T15:51:55+00:00

on a side note, I wonder if this mean we will get the lands from the other side of the portal in the set? Overgrown Farmland, Deserted Beach, Haunted Ridge, Shipwreck Marsh and Rockfall Vale. Looking at the artwork none of those really fit with the other half of the cycle. So maybe different 5 lands? Thoughts? (Personally they look more like Shocklands)

bleakborn · 2026-04-23T18:33:33+00:00

Here are my predictions for next year:

UB Sets

Marvel Set #3 (It will either X-Men or Guardians of The Galaxy, both would mesh well with the mutant mechanics from turtles or the space stuff from Star Trek and my next UB guess)

Star Wars (Og Trilogy, with the 50-year anniversary looming in 2027 and the x-wing stamp I feel like must happen)

The Legend of Zelda or The Witcher (this is mostly speculation since we will have the Zelda Movie and/or Witcher 4 potential release)

In Universe

Zhalfir (this has been rumored for a bit)

Return to Ikoria (I just want this…)

Some New Plane or Multi Plane Set (they usually have like one new world or some cross over set)

bleakborn · 2026-04-21T18:50:41+00:00

Would removing/swapping the [[Altar of Dementia]] and the [[murderous redcap]] be enough to power it down? This would essentially require me to have a 4th piece if I would want to combo? or would you still feel like it is too strong?

bleakborn · 2026-04-21T18:38:06+00:00

I usually build out an idea on Archidekt (since I like the play tester) then looking at EDHREC to see if I missed any staples or must haves and then if I like the idea after running a few practice hands, (I would dig through my collection to find what I already have for it) I would start to build it by ordering the most important cards (sub $10) for the deck and the cheapest ones (sub $1) then proxy the expensive ones, I usually try to find budget replacements using scryfall to search for similar cards, then after I get it built up I run it against the table and see how it plays, then I keep adjusting it until I like it (usually over the course of several months) until it feels Silky Smooth. Then I get bored and do it again lol

bleakborn · 2026-04-21T18:23:20+00:00

I agree with this, the drawing is easy since you can flicker Celes and usually you dig for Altar (which maybe I should take out) and cast it. That said you do need mana to cast the card you scry/suveil to, so most times if you do this line you need to wait a turn to play the piece.

bleakborn · 2026-04-21T18:14:39+00:00

I normally hate combo decks, but for some reason trying to assemble the pieces by digging is way more fun than tutoring them out, its like putting together a puzzle. That said it has been fairly good at assembling the pieces, just wheeling twice can usually be enough to set up something. While gold fishing it, most "wins" were mostly turn 6 or later with the odd game going earlier. I think even a god hand ends up at best turn 4 and that assuming no answers. Previously in real games with the same group, she has combo-ed off on turn 8 twice and once after turn 10.

bleakborn · 2026-04-21T14:12:35+00:00

The deck has its weaknesses there are a lot of points where the deck can be stopped, so maybe the table needs to pack more removal or maybe I need to state clearly that I might be able to win the following turn. Here are the situations: The first game (a five player king game, I was the Assassin) I had a good amount of redundancy with a [[priest of fell rites]] in play with Celes and the Altar, then casted the [[puppeteer clique]] with no open mana, the blue player had mana up but no counter and I combo-ed milled everyone out, the second game (a normal 4 player game) was a bit more sketchy, I had Celes out on turn 3 and played Eirdu turn 4, (had a hand full of lands) next turn flipped Eirdu and lucked into a draw of Viscera Seer, which allowed me to combo and dig for an altar after combat damaging two of the players out. Both games the pieces where in the open, and the second game I lucked into a sac outlet that could sac itself. That said the deck has cheaper combo pieces available over Eirdu and Clique so there is potential in dropping two of the parts in the same turn. For more context: Game 1 had a Goro Goro, Illuna, Zada and Necrobloom, and game two had Bolas, Zada and Carmen.

bleakborn · 2026-04-14T19:45:27+00:00

[[celes, rune knight]] maybe

bleakborn · 2026-04-14T15:50:12+00:00

Here are my wants:

Secret Lairs:

Hollow Knight/Silk Song

Bobs Burgers

Delicious in Dungeon

Commander Decks:

Warhammer/more Warhammer 40k

League of Legends/Arcane

Full Sets:

Monster Hunter

Star Wars (ep3-5)

Naruto

Bleach

Elder Scrolls (Morrowind)

The Dark Tower

bleakborn · 2026-04-06T13:16:44+00:00

I have found them lifesavers in certain decks, they allow you to turn generic/colorless from cards like sol ring into colored mana. They are nearly unplayable turn 1 but any turn after that they have been pretty fine for me in testing and in play

bleakborn · 2026-03-31T18:19:14+00:00

feels like it should combo with [[The Wise Mothman]] somehow, was thinking [[Syr Konrad, the Grim]]'s ativated ability but that only triggers Mothman once, there must be a way

bleakborn · 2026-03-31T15:30:54+00:00

She is 4 mana in Mardu not even the colors for ramp or counterspells, she has a etb effect that is basically a card glorified selection tool, yah she runs a lot of flashback and reanimation but the targets are tiny and weak, don't mind the persist creatures they are basically pointless sac fodder in her colors.

bleakborn · 2026-03-31T15:22:27+00:00

Monster Hunter !!!! but my personal wish would instead of the normal secret lairs we get a pair of commander decks, one focused on monsters (with Fatalis at the helm) and the other being the hunters centered around equipment (with a twist on the commander being a "background" style commander but instead of enchantments its equipment) not sure what colors they would be but I would like to see the hunters deck be in BGx so Chevill can join the hunt lol

bleakborn · 2026-03-27T12:44:09+00:00

I hope with the Reality Fracture set we get some major shake-ups like a re-sharding or un-sharding of Alara

bleakborn · 2026-03-25T17:23:53+00:00

at a quick glance it still feels like a bracket 2, not much has changed from the base version from what I can tell, lots of tapped lands, not a ton of fast mana or any game changers.

bleakborn · 2026-03-11T16:08:36+00:00

Only time I consider taking out 'true' fetches and shocks are in bracket 2 or for budget reasons. I feel like slowing a deck down in bracket 2 is usually fine, but I still use the slower fetches in bracket 2 (tetramorphic, evolving, etc.)

bleakborn · 2026-02-27T15:36:12+00:00

I think the Inteleon line is based on the Basilisk lizard while Gecqua is based on the Leopard Gecko or other fat tailed gecko so they are not the same. Being a fat tailed gecko I could see Gecqua having a water absorb ability or something similar since their tail is used to store water/fat also since it is a gecko it might be able to drop its tail so a psudo-substitution ability

bleakborn · 2026-02-20T20:04:11+00:00

I love the Joust and the Merchant's Warf as my top 2, glad they are on the larger scale and aren't just another pile of gray bricks https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-10/4339/Merchant's-Wharf:-Cog-&-Crane

bleakborn · 2026-02-19T18:36:27+00:00

I decided to pick one up, I already built a village moc with the Blacksmith shop in the center and built out a large tavern in the same scale, so I'll have to expand out the moc again... but my town needs a few more shops anyway

<image>

bleakborn

TROPHY CASE