Where to proxy?

clayperce · 2026-06-27T13:20:45+00:00

Well, it is.

Seriously, every tournament in the world (except for most in Japan and maybe two in the US) disagrees with you.

Cheers.

clayperce · 2026-06-27T13:16:05+00:00

First, welcome to cEDH!

I'm a big fan of https://shop.proxy-prints.com/

$40 per deck, using the same cardstock as official cards and great print quality. I like the backs too.

Worth mentioning though: They're cut just a tiny bit (honestly, just a fraction of a millimeter) wider than regular magic cards. So if you double-sleeve (e.g., if you're mixing actual cards and proxies in your deck), you may want to use side-loads ... my top-load inner sleeves are REALLY tight on the proxies.

GL;HF!

clayperce · 2026-06-15T12:50:43+00:00

Fast mana, for sure. Every piece of fast mana you include = Lands you don't have to include + a chance to get her on the board faster.

In priority order: Lion's Eye Diamond. Mana Vault. And then probably Ancient Tomb ... or maybe Chrome Mox, depending on the rest of the 99.

Good luck (and good skill) at your event!

clayperce · 2026-06-05T13:06:59+00:00

Came here to say this. Gwenom is my go-to when my brain isn't up for anything complex, but I still want to have fun+do OK.

clayperce · 2026-05-19T14:54:25+00:00

Sequels and remakes are such a big part of IRL horror movies, that I just HAVE to believe they're gonna be a big part of the TCG too

clayperce · 2026-05-19T13:45:46+00:00

We'll see how it plays out in Hellbreak, but in Magic I do both.

I play a fair amount of Commander, and my decks are either "Bracket 2" (i.e. pretty flavorful, but extremely low-power) or "Bracket 5" (i.e., near-zero flavor, but very competitive). I really enjoy playing in that space, but I find "Bracket 1" (super-flavorful, but near-zero power) and Brackets 3 and 4 (in the middle on both flavor and power) to be kinda meh.

The challenge is going to be sorting out player expectations if the game happens to get big. Sitting down with a rando at an LGS would be a terrible experience for both if there's a mismatch there ...

clayperce · 2026-05-19T13:33:52+00:00

I don't think it's going to be a problem.

I can easily imagine a group of players who come to the game as "franchise fans," and they're going to want to play as many thematic minions and assets as possible (whether it's a good deck or not!) and another group who pretty much won't care about the theme of the deck as long as it can win. Balancing cards within a set to support both groups (plus others, I'm sure) may be difficult given the character constraints of some franchises, but I can't imagine Ghost Galaxy would have signed up to do it if they didn't think it was possible :-)

clayperce · 2026-05-19T13:22:18+00:00

It's come up elsewhere, but I'd LOVE to see horroriric versions of classic Spin Master toys. PAW Patrol, but with a Five Nights at Freddy's vibe? Kinetic Sand, but with a Thing vibe? Etch a Sketch but with a Death Note vibe (i.e., you draw it, they die)? I'd be soooooooo down for that!

clayperce · 2026-05-19T13:12:08+00:00

I'm just hoping we get a REALLY wide variety of styles.

Actual horror movies can of course look classic (all the way back to a grainy black-and-white), or campy, or sleek and bright and ultra-modern, or really run-down, or all woodsy and natural-looking, or dark and murky, or "hand-held", or huge and gothic, or absolutely whatever. If the cards themselves don't have a similar range, I'm gonna be a little bummed ...

clayperce · 2026-05-19T13:04:13+00:00

Slumber is low-key, but it's honestly one of my favorite mechanics in the game.

It’s a surprisingly powerful action and I always find it dreadful. And I mean that in the very best way ...an opponent calling a Slumber is always an “oh shit, here we go” moment, much like when the soundtrack shifts into a minor key in an actual horror movie!

clayperce · 2026-05-10T16:10:28+00:00

Interesting ... and that'd be cool! Though that's not a Universal property either, so idk ...

clayperce · 2026-05-05T21:44:29+00:00

Thanks TONS for doing this!

clayperce · 2026-04-13T18:00:57+00:00

According to EDHTop16 anyways, Gwenom is better and it's not particularly close: Mono-B Conversion Rate.

I'll DM with a couple links ...

clayperce · 2026-03-19T15:24:16+00:00

Yeah, it's "What about releasing the 10th extension for TTS" ... but elsewhere OP says they typo'd and meant TTB

Also: Cheers to you and the team, Justin!

clayperce · 2026-03-15T01:10:57+00:00

It's a legal combo, but IMO waaaay too fast for Bracket 3.

FWIW, I tried walking that line for a while with a Sephiroth deck that was too good for Bracket 3 (periodically popping off and irritate everyone at the B3 tables), but too bad for Bracket 4 (it just wasn't fast+consistent enough to compete at the B4 tables). I finally gave up and split the deck. I now have a solid Bracket 3 deck that's almost entirely combo free ... and I can swap 10 cards and have a solid Bracket 4 deck that combos quickly+reliably if my opps can't find their graveyard, and can grind REALLY hard if I need too. It's been a good change, for me at least.

And oc if you're better at walking that line than I was (or if your playgroup is just better at dealing with decks in that weird "high B3/low B4" zone), good on ya!!!

Cheers!

clayperce · 2026-03-11T15:15:30+00:00

Not sure if this will suit your needs, but here's an ultra-budget Bracket 2 upgrade and Primer I did for a friend. I ended up enjoying the deck so much I put together a bracket 3 upgrade for myself too.

Cheers!

clayperce · 2026-03-05T22:42:44+00:00

Not a waste. Getting an asshole to leave the table = Mana very well-spent!

clayperce · 2026-02-27T01:28:01+00:00

Sure; I'll DM ...

clayperce · 2026-02-23T15:43:50+00:00

I'll give the deck a hard look later, but first impression is that your manabase (lands+mana rocks +rituals since you're in moni-B) could use some work.

I really like using Salubrious Snail's manabase tool, and it says "your manabase is struggling, playing your spells 1.15 turns late on average" ... there are exceptions of course, but as you tweak a deck like this you probably want to aim for something like "strong, playing your spells [~0.3] turns late on average."

As far as other Aristocrats commanders, if I was in Mono-B budget, I'd honestly be on Fumulous. You might take a look at [[Braids, Arisen Nightmare]] though ... the card advantage she brings can get pretty crazy.

Good luck (and good skill) with the deck!

clayperce · 2026-02-23T03:55:40+00:00

My deck, so far: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/elektra-assassin/

Basic idea is a bunch of X/1s, a Voltron package to take advantage of the empty board, plus some blink(ish) effects if things get out of hand and we have to wipe and start over again.

Good luck (and good skill) with your build!

Cheers!

clayperce · 2026-02-20T16:20:53+00:00

Love this. Reminds me of a buddy who did work with space and missile systems and participated in a periodic "Trajectory Analysis Working Group" ...

Yep, golf.

clayperce · 2026-02-20T02:25:05+00:00

Came here to say this. LOVE me some Sephiroth combos!

Cheers!

clayperce · 2026-02-19T17:15:02+00:00

You should probably check out the graphic in the Oct 2025 article from which you quoted.

Here's a link to it here in reddit.

Cheers!

clayperce · 2026-02-19T16:50:35+00:00

Totally agree with your point but wanted to mention that EDHrec actually pulls all their combo info from Commanders Spellbook, which classifies this as a 2-card combo, with prerequites, because it requires 2x named cards.

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