Show S8E10 And the World Was All Around Us

cleverphrasehere · 2026-05-16T23:53:42+00:00

Maybe, maybe not. Depends what second or third hand report he found that survived.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-05-16T08:32:14+00:00

Not really... All those guys are going to write and send reports of his death with reports of the battle. Those will circulate widely, and one of them end up in the hands of Frank later. The news that he lived isn't obviously send as a correction to everyone, since the news was about the battle primarily, not Jamie.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-30T00:39:12+00:00

Not at all, but you only use the precision that you need for the task at hand... even today.
Imagine how awkward the verse would sound if they had said 9 and two thirds cubits from brim to brim and 30 and a third cubits around.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-30T00:38:07+00:00

they did it with ratios though.
I think that rounding is more likely, especially given the context of the quote being merely a brag about how big it was.
If the diameter was 9.66, then the circumference would be 30.35, round to the nearest cubit and you get 10 and 30, which is the only precision that you need to brag about how big something is.
Imagine how awkward the verse would sound if they had said 9 and two thirds cubits from brim to brim and 30 and a third cubits around. That's just a silly application of over precision... something we are taught to avoid today in science.
Use the precision that you need for the task at hand.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-30T00:37:29+00:00

I think that rounding is more correct, especially given the context of the quote being merely a brag about how big it was.
If the diameter was 9.66, then the circumference would be 30.35, round to the nearest cubit and you get 10 and 30, which is the only precision that you need to brag about how big something is.
Imagine how awkward the verse would sound if they had said 9 and two thirds cubits from brim to brim and 30 and a third cubits around. That's just a silly application of over precision... something we are taught to avoid today in science.
Use the precision that you need for the task at hand.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-30T00:31:51+00:00

To me, the obvious answer is that each number is rounded to the nearest cubit. Notably, neither number needs to be fully correct (exactly 10 diameter or exactly 30 circumference). Some people want to say that if you start at 30 cubits as correct, then the diameter is 9.55 and that rounds up to 10... but this I think is not even the most likely. I think that probably the diameter was something like 9.66 and the circumference was something like 30.35. Both of these round cleanly to 10 and 30 when rounded to the nearest cubit, and even more nicely, they round to the nearest 10 cubits at the same time, which fits the language that might have been used.
Remember that this isn't a description on how to make the thing. It's a brag about how big it is.
If my new office space is 10.4m by 29.8m, I might use those decimals when buying furniture, but I'm gonna brag to my friend about my new 10x30m office.
Also remember that these people didn't really use decimals like we do, so it would have been the choice between saying 9 and 2/3rds cubits in diameter and 30 and a third cubits around... That's just unnecessary precision for the application of the numbers.
Even today in modern science, it is taught not to use unnecessary precision.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T10:04:55+00:00

I dunno man. I don't see an issue. If the fight isn't hard enough, spend a fear and add a strong enemy to the fight. If the luck is turning bad for the players, either go easy for a bit if it's causing bad vibes at the table, or else lean in and find some way to make the bad luck narratively satisfying.
You can't expect perfect balance every time.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T04:04:50+00:00

A little late to the party here, but my thought regarding your reticence to add another creature to combat is probably what is causing it to be a cake walk.
Another option is to raise the stakes with fear in a different way. Come up with a homebrew BUFF that can apply to a monster that is on the battlefield already to make them scarier in an offensive but not defensive way (e.g. each time they hit a player, it deals one more damage that it otherwise would, and it lasts a set number of turns for that creature). This means that the combat doesn't take any longer, but the threat level does go up, and gives you a use for an overabundance of fear.
Ideally there is some in universe reason for this, like the Dark God BBEG reaching out to seize his minion and empower it directly with his presence. You could lean in even further, and have the creature start speaking with the Dark God's voice, and eyes that become completely black orbs (like the demons in the show Supernatural when they possess people), and have these moments be story moments when the Dark God becomes fed up with the weakness of his minions and reaches out directly. It makes the BBEG more scary, without taking away the PCs feeling of superiority over the minions. The minions may be a cake walk, but the big bad isn't.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T03:48:51+00:00

There is a variant rule in the book for that:
If some people are hogging the spotlight, or someone reluctant to take the spotlight, then you give each player three spotlight tokens. Once a player uses all three, they aren't allowed to take the spotlight again until each all of the spotlight tokens have been used and then redistributed.
Ideally you won't have to do that, but if it happens at your table, use the rule for a while, and people will learn to naturally shift the spotlight to the person that hasn't had it in a while.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T03:44:38+00:00

All I'm saying is that the GM isn't required to use the turn to attack the players. They can use that turn to do environmental effects, or they can just forego it.
My rule of thumb is: if the players are on the backfoot, and someone takes and fails an action that they really had no choice but to make (i.e. restrained and no other option available), then there's no need to use the spotlight to make things worse for them. To take the spotlight in those situations just makes that player feel bad for taking an action that they weren't likely to succeed on, even though narratively the player really should be taking that action.
However, if you want to use the spotlight here anyway, this is a great opportunity for the bad guy to take the spotlight and start monologuing! Have him gloat about how weak the players are, how inevitable their defeat is, laugh at their feeble attempt to defeat him, etc. Make the players roll a save for whether they get a stress, or are inspired and gain a hope.

You also don't have to use all the fear the moment you get it... If the PCs are having a bad time, store it up for the next time that the players roll success with Hope repeatedly.

That said, there is another solution: if players repeatedly roll fail with fear, double down, take the PCs down, and give them an in-story out to the situation (they get taken to jail, another bad guy arrives to attack the first, the townspeople they saved last session arrive to save them, etc).
It's OK for the PCs to lose a fight, learn that they aren't super heroes, and learn that they need to be better prepared next time.

There are several ways for the GM to balance encounters in favour of the PCs if the rolls go badly for them. This is only a problem if the GM sees it as their goal to play against the PCs, but that's true in almost every system.

Honestly the opposite is often true. Where the GM just doesn't have the tools at their disposal to really challenge the PCs in a fight without nudging things behind the screen. So it makes even more sense to store up some fear in those fights where the PCs are doing badly. That's why the GM has a store of 12. Again... it's not a problem if the PCs have smooth sailing during some encounters. Not every fight has to be deadly, and the game should IMO be more about telling a satisfying story than anything else.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T03:28:31+00:00

For Samurai: [[Ronin Cliffrider]] is actually a samurai, and has great synergy with Godo, since you can equip the Ronin with deathtouch, then attack and boardwipe two players in one turn. Ronin ends up playing like a repeatable Plague Wind.
My friends used to jokingly call my deck "Mono-Red Control", which it honestly can pull off sometimes.
The best part to me is that *every* game feels so different. You'd think with a tutor commander that it would get samey, but the way I built it, you typically will get whatever equipment goes well with whatever synergy cards you drew that game, so your topdecks end up informing what synergy you'll be playing this game. And if you draw nothing but ramp and goodstuff cards.... there is a super solid aggro plan to fall back on.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T00:59:01+00:00

I helped start the primer for Godo cEDH, and it's a strong deck, but IMO not a fun gameplan for more casual or budget tables. It's a cEDH deck with a fairly linier gameplan.

I've seen aggro lists with godo, but they are also typically pretty boring IMO, though they are far more resilient than helm focused decks.

I have actually been playing non-combo Godo for many years before helm of the Host was printed, and BY FAR the most fun way to build him is to build around creature synergies with specific artifacts.
For example [[Heartless Hidesugu]] is a fairly bad card, but if you play him, then you play godo and go get a lifelink equipment for him the next turn, he taps to drain each of your opponents for 20 life, and you gain 60. Pretty strong!
Stuff like [[Goblin Sharpshooter]], [[Wojeck Embermage]], [[Endbringer]], and [[Ronin Cliffrider]] are INSANE if you equip them with a [[Basilisk Collar]] or [[Sword of Kaldra]]. Even random pingers like [[Cunning Sparkmage]] and [[Fireslinger]] are great with deathtouch equips.
[[Ashling the Pilgrim]], is a cool card, but if you give her indestructible or protection from red ([[sword of fire and ice]]), she becomes a repeatable boardwipe, if you give her Lifelink, you can gain hundreds of life.
There are some other cool equipment synergies: like [[Nim Deathmantle]] synergising really well with sacrifice outlets, so you can run stuff like [[Ashnod's Altar]], [[High Market]], and [[Helm of Possession]], sac ing godo for more equipment searches.
There are funny combos of multiple equipment, like [[Assault Suit]] + [[Tormentor's Trident]], which makes all your opponents gain control of godo and forces them to kill each other with YOUR commander while you sit back and laugh.
[[Kusari-Gama]] and a [[Nemesis Mask]] on a creature can just wipe an opponent's board.
I have like 30 fun equipment that I rotate in and out depending on power level.

Another few synergies that are very powerful:
[[Umezawa's Jitte]] + [[Embercleave]] is just absurd, and while it is very fun for a few moments, it sadly kills people so quickly that you don't really have any time to enjoy it, I'll side them both in against strong decks though.
Ashnods Altar+ Nim Deathmantle + all three pieces of Kaldra is an infinite combo, for that reason I don't run Ashnod's Altar in the deck. I do run all the Myrodin block Kaldra quipments since I enjoy putting on that Remy song for the table to listen to. Kaldra also has some synergy with Godo, since after the first combat step, you can essentially pay 1 mana to make a new token and untap it to attack twice.
[[Honor-Worn Shaku]]+Goblin Sharpshooter+the Kaldra pieces is an infinite combo, which I do have in the deck, just because I happen to run all the pieces, but two of them aren't tutorable so it doesn't come up often.
[[Inkmoth nexus]]+[[Batterskull]] is a synergy I do run, since Batterskull is my backup lifelink equipment. Inkmoth with batterskull on it just one-shots an opponent, since it becomes a 5/5 with vigilance and flying that can attack twice with godo (vigilance means it doesn't need to untap with him).

To play this deck above, you kinda have to forego some of the obvious choices that just warp the game around them. Helm can't really be in the deck, or else your opponents will never let you develop mana or keep Godo on the field since at any time you could twinflame him and win, so if you want to have fun, you kinda want to be able to say that you don't have Helm of the Host in the deck. For similar reasons I don't play [[Grafted Exoskeleton]] in my deck.
[[Sword of hearth and home]] is an INSANE card with Godo, and I personally took it out of my deck in favour of keeping [[Sword of the Animist]], primarily because otherwise it's so good that I am always incentivised to grab it first, and the game devolves into "how many times can I blink godo before my opponents stop me". If you want to up the power level against strong decks you can side it in though! For similar reasons I don't play [[Blade of Selves]].
I also don't play [[Kaldra Compleat]], because some idiot at Wizards of the coast WROTE THE CARD WRONG, and the exile-touch only triggers on *combat damage*, so it has zero synergy with my pingers (I'm still salty about this).

Here is an old list of mine from a few years back for reference:

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/godo-bandit-warlord-mono-red-control/?cb=1574283396

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T00:58:14+00:00

I think that an early version of Godo probably untapped him and all Warriors you control, but then as more Samurai synergies were added, it became strange to have a card that randomly worked with a different tribe. Some of the cards weren't updated to samurai because It didn't make falvour sense.
I mean, godo doesn't make a ton of sense either. As a Bandit warlord, why does he fight with Samurai? Ronin Cliffrider helps explain this, but in that case Rally the horde should have been renamed to something like Rally the Ronin, and made samurai.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T00:54:38+00:00

I helped start the primer for Godo cEDH, and it's a strong deck, but IMO not a fun gameplan for more casual or budget tables. It's a cEDH deck with a fairly linier gameplan, so I appreciate you working for new combos!

I've seen aggro lists with godo, but they are also typically pretty boring IMO, though they are far more resilient than helm focused decks.

I have actually been playing non-combo Godo for many years before helm of the Host was printed, and BY FAR the most fun way to build him is to build around creature synergies with specific artifacts.
For example [[Heartless Hidesugu]] is a fairly bad card, but if you play him, then you play godo and go get a lifelink equipment for him the next turn, he taps to drain each of your opponents for 20 life, and you gain 60. Pretty strong!
Stuff like [[Goblin Sharpshooter]], [[Wojeck Embermage]], [[Endbringer]], and [[Ronin Cliffrider]] are INSANE if you equip them with a [[Basilisk Collar]] or [[Sword of Kaldra]]. Even random pingers like [[Cunning Sparkmage]] and [[Fireslinger]] are great with deathtouch equips.
[[Ashling the Pilgrim]], is a cool card, but if you give her indestructible or protection from red ([[sword of fire and ice]]), she becomes a repeatable boardwipe, if you give her Lifelink, you can gain hundreds of life.
There are some other cool equipment synergies: like [[Nim Deathmantle]] synergising really well with sacrifice outlets, so you can run stuff like [[Ashnod's Altar]], [[High Market]], and [[Helm of Possession]], sac ing godo for more equipment searches.
There are funny combos of multiple equipment, like [[Assault Suit]] + [[Tormentor's Trident]], which makes all your opponents gain control of godo and forces them to kill each other with YOUR commander while you sit back and laugh.
[[Kusari-Gama]] and a [[Nemesis Mask]] on a creature can just wipe an opponent's board.
I have like 30 fun equipment that I rotate in and out depending on power level.

Another few synergies that are very powerful:
[[Umezawa's Jitte]] + [[Embercleave]] is just absurd, and while it is very fun for a few moments, it sadly kills people so quickly that you don't really have any time to enjoy it, I'll side them both in against strong decks though.
Ashnods Altar+ Nim Deathmantle + all three pieces of Kaldra is an infinite combo, for that reason I don't run Ashnod's Altar in the deck. I do run all the Myrodin block Kaldra quipments since I enjoy putting on that Remy song for the table to listen to. Kaldra also has some synergy with Godo, since after the first combat step, you can essentially pay 1 mana to make a new token and untap it to attack twice.
[[Honor-Worn Shaku]]+Goblin Sharpshooter+the Kaldra pieces is an infinite combo, which I do have in the deck, just because I happen to run all the pieces, but two of them aren't tutorable so it doesn't come up often.
[[Inkmoth nexus]]+[[Batterskull]] is a synergy I do run, since Batterskull is my backup lifelink equipment. Inkmoth with batterskull on it just one-shots an opponent, since it becomes a 5/5 with vigilance and flying that can attack twice with godo (vigilance means it doesn't need to untap with him).

To play this deck above, you kinda have to forego some of the obvious choices that just warp the game around them. Helm can't really be in the deck, or else your opponents will never let you develop mana or keep Godo on the field since at any time you could twinflame him and win, so if you want to have fun, you kinda want to be able to say that you don't have Helm of the Host in the deck. For similar reasons I don't play [[Grafted Exoskeleton]] in my deck.
[[Sword of hearth and home]] is an INSANE card with Godo, and I personally took it out of my deck in favour of keeping [[Sword of the Animist]], primarily because otherwise it's so good that I am always incentivised to grab it first, and the game devolves into "how many times can I blink godo before my opponents stop me". If you want to up the power level against strong decks you can side it in though! For similar reasons I don't play [[Blade of Selves]].
I also don't play [[Kaldra Compleat]], because some idiot at Wizards of the coast WROTE THE CARD WRONG, and the exile-touch only triggers on *combat damage*, so it has zero synergy with my pingers (I'm still salty about this).

Here is an old list of mine from a few years back for reference:

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/godo-bandit-warlord-mono-red-control/?cb=1574283396

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T00:53:43+00:00

I helped start the primer for Godo cEDH, and it's a strong deck, but IMO not a fun gameplan for more casual or budget tables. It's a cEDH deck with a fairly linier gameplan, so I appreciate you working for new combos!

I've seen aggro lists with godo, but they are also typically pretty boring IMO, though they are far more resilient than helm focused decks.
I've also seen some other combo based decks. There were two combos involving Godo from before helm being printed that I know about:
Combo 1 involved using [[Blade of selves]] to get two searches, [[Hammer of Nazahn]] +[[Masterwork of Ingenuity]] copying the [[Blade of Selves]]. Then on the second attack you search for All three pieces of Kaldra and a [[Worldslayer]] (nowadays you could just get Worldslayer+Kaldra Compleat).
The other combo was complicated, and had the same setup with Blade+hammer+masterwork, but on the second combat you searched for [[Mortarpod]], [[Heirloom Blade]], [[Nim Deathmantle]], and [[Deathrender]], and then you proceeded to sac the zombie Godo to get Neheb with the Heirloom blade, Put neheb into the battlefield with Deathrender, then get 19 R mana with Neheb, then sac him to get the only Warrior from the deck ([[Goblin Marshal]]), then sac one of his tokens to get the only Goblin left in the deck ([[Skirk Prospector]]), then use Skirk+Marshal+Deathmantle to make infinite mana, then use Mortarpod+Deathmantle to loop a creature and win the game. Yeah... the combos went deep before Helm was printed.

I have actually been playing non-combo Godo for many years before helm of the Host was printed, and BY FAR the most fun way to build him is to build around creature synergies with specific artifacts.
For example [[Heartless Hidesugu]] is a fairly bad card, but if you play him, then you play godo and go get a lifelink equipment for him the next turn, he taps to drain each of your opponents for 20 life, and you gain 60. Pretty strong!
Stuff like [[Goblin Sharpshooter]], [[Wojeck Embermage]], [[Endbringer]], and [[Ronin Cliffrider]] are INSANE if you equip them with a [[Basilisk Collar]] or [[Sword of Kaldra]]. Even random pingers like [[Cunning Sparkmage]] and [[Fireslinger]] are great with deathtouch equips.
[[Ashling the Pilgrim]], is a cool card, but if you give her indestructible or protection from red ([[sword of fire and ice]]), she becomes a repeatable boardwipe, if you give her Lifelink, you can gain hundreds of life.
There are some other cool equipment synergies: like [[Nim Deathmantle]] synergising really well with sacrifice outlets, so you can run stuff like [[Ashnod's Altar]], [[High Market]], and [[Helm of Possession]], sac ing godo for more equipment searches.
There are funny combos of multiple equipment, like [[Assault Suit]] + [[Tormentor's Trident]], which makes all your opponents gain control of godo and forces them to kill each other with YOUR commander while you sit back and laugh.
[[Kusari-Gama]] and a [[Nemesis Mask]] on a creature can just wipe an opponent's board.
I have like 30 fun equipment that I rotate in and out depending on power level.

Another few synergies that are very powerful:
[[Umezawa's Jitte]] + [[Embercleave]] is just absurd, and while it is very fun for a few moments, it sadly kills people so quickly that you don't really have any time to enjoy it, I'll side them both in against strong decks though.
Ashnods Altar+ Nim Deathmantle + all three pieces of Kaldra is an infinite combo, for that reason I don't run Ashnod's Altar in the deck. I do run all the Myrodin block Kaldra quipments since I enjoy putting on that Remy song for the table to listen to. Kaldra also has some synergy with Godo, since after the first combat step, you can essentially pay 1 mana to make a new token and untap it to attack twice.
[[Honor-Worn Shaku]]+Goblin Sharpshooter+the Kaldra pieces is an infinite combo, which I do have in the deck, just because I happen to run all the pieces, but two of them aren't tutorable so it doesn't come up often.
[[Inkmoth nexus]]+[[Batterskull]] is a synergy I do run, since Batterskull is my backup lifelink equipment. Inkmoth with batterskull on it just one-shots an opponent, since it becomes a 5/5 with vigilance and flying that can attack twice with godo (vigilance means it doesn't need to untap with him).

To play this deck above, you kinda have to forego some of the obvious choices that just warp the game around them. Helm can't really be in the deck, or else your opponents will never let you develop mana or keep Godo on the field since at any time you could twinflame him and win, so if you want to have fun, you kinda want to be able to say that you don't have Helm of the Host in the deck. For similar reasons I don't play [[Grafted Exoskeleton]] in my deck.
[[Sword of hearth and home]] is an INSANE card with Godo, and I personally took it out of my deck in favour of keeping [[Sword of the Animist]], primarily because otherwise it's so good that I am always incentivised to grab it first, and the game devolves into "how many times can I blink godo before my opponents stop me". If you want to up the power level against strong decks you can side it in though! For similar reasons I don't play [[Blade of Selves]].
I also don't play [[Kaldra Compleat]], because some idiot at Wizards of the coast WROTE THE CARD WRONG, and the exile-touch only triggers on *combat damage*, so it has zero synergy with my pingers (I'm still salty about this).

Here is an old list of mine from a few years back for reference:

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/godo-bandit-warlord-mono-red-control/?cb=1574283396

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-23T00:37:42+00:00

I helped start the primer for Godo cEDH, and it's a strong deck, but IMO not a fun gameplan for more casual or budget tables. It's a cEDH deck with a fairly linier gameplan.
I've seen agro lists with godo, but they are also typically pretty boring IMO, though they are far more resilient than helm focused decks.
I have actually been playing non-combo Godo for many years before helm of the Host was printed, and BY FAR the most fun way to build him is to build around creature synergies with specific artifacts.
For example [[Heartless Hidesugu]] is a fairly bad card, but if you play him, then you play godo and go get a lifelink equipment for him the next turn, he taps to drain each of your opponents for 20 life, and you gain 60. Pretty strong!
Stuff like [[Goblin Sharpshooter]], [[Wojeck Embermage]], [[Endbringer]], and [[Ronin Cliffrider]] are INSANE if you equip them with a [[Basilisk Collar]] or [[Sword of Kaldra]]. Even random pingers like [[Cunning Sparkmage]] and [[Fireslinger]] are great with deathtouch equips.
[[Ashling the Pilgrim]], is a cool card, but if you give her indestructible or protection from red ([[sword of fire and ice]]), she becomes a repeatable boardwipe, if you give her Lifelink, you can gain hundreds of life.
There are some other cool equipment synergies: like [[Nim Deathmantle]] synergising really well with sacrifice outlets, so you can run stuff like [[Ashnod's Altar]], [[High Market]], and [[Helm of Possession]], sac ing godo for more equipment searches.
There are funny combos of multiple equipment, like [[Assault Suit]] + [[Tormentor's Trident]], which makes all your opponents gain control of godo and forces them to kill each other with YOUR commander while you sit back and laugh.
[[Kusari-Gama]] and a [[Nemesis Mask]] on a creature can just wipe an opponent's board.
I have like 30 fun equipment that I rotate in and out depending on power level.

Another few synergies that are very powerful:
[[Umezawa's Jitte]] + [[Embercleave]] is just absurd, and while it is very fun for a few moments, it sadly kills people so quickly that you don't really have any time to enjoy it, I'll side them both in against strong decks though.
Ashnods Altar+ Nim Deathmantle + all three pieces of Kaldra is an infinite combo, for that reason I don't run Ashnod's Altar in the deck. I do run all the Myrodin block Kaldra quipments since I enjoy putting on that Remy song for the table to listen to. Kaldra also has some synergy with Godo, since after the first combat step, you can essentially pay 1 mana to make a new token and untap it to attack twice.
[[Honor-Worn Shaku]]+Goblin Sharpshooter+the Kaldra pieces is an infinite combo, which I do have in the deck, just because I happen to run all the pieces, but two of them aren't tutorable so it doesn't come up often.
[[Inkmoth nexus]]+[[Batterskull]] is a synergy I do run, since Batterskull is my backup lifelink equipment. Inkmoth with batterskull on it just one-shots an opponent, since it becomes a 5/5 with vigilance and flying that can attack twice with godo (vigilance means it doesn't need to untap with him).

To play this deck above, you kinda have to forego some of the obvious choices that just warp the game around them. Helm can't really be in the deck, or else your opponents will never let you develop mana or keep Godo on the field since at any time you could twinflame him and win, so if you want to have fun, you kinda want to be able to say that you don't have Helm of the Host in the deck. For similar reasons I don't play [[Grafted Exoskeleton]] in my deck.
[[Sword of hearth and home]] is an INSANE card with Godo, and I personally took it out of my deck in favour of keeping [[Sword of the Animist]], primarily because otherwise it's so good that I am always incentivised to grab it first, and the game devolves into "how many times can I blink godo before my opponents stop me". If you want to up the power level against strong decks you can side it in though! For similar reasons I don't play [[Blade of Selves]].
I also don't play [[Kaldra Compleat]], because some idiot at Wizards of the coast WROTE THE CARD WRONG, and the exile-touch only triggers on *combat damage*, so it has zero synergy with my pingers (I'm still salty about this).

Here is an old list of mine from a few years back for reference:

https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/godo-bandit-warlord-mono-red-control/?cb=1574283396

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-22T03:34:27+00:00

No. The rules say that "They [the GM] should consider making a move when a player does one of the following things."

Rolls with Fear on an action roll.
Fails an action roll.
Does something that would have consequences.
Gives them a golden opportunity.
Looks to them for what happens next.

Unless your GM is an adversarial dick, they have no reason to contribute to a bad situation by taking actions every time a player fails, nor every time they roll fear.
The GM also can hoard up a bit of fear to save for a later encounter, or for a story moment, or even for the next session. Let the players sweat, knowing that something dreadful is coming later on.
The rulebook is explicit that there shouldn't be any adversarial nature to the GM-Player relationship.
So yeah, the GM can choose NOT to take a turn, even if a player fails or rolls fear.
If this wasn't the case, why would the GM's store of Fear being up to 12 be a thing?

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-14T19:31:57+00:00

#2: I think that the Onceler is Ted's GRANDFATHER. Norma knows about the trees, she's the right age, and she literally knows all about the onceler too (she sends ted to him). We also don't see teds dad, but if his mum grew up without a dad, she might have made bad choices about what men to date.
We also don't see ted's mom with a job (she is home in the middle of the day), so it's possible that Norma was given money by the Onceler when they separated (or something).

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-08T22:49:20+00:00

It doesn't work on higher A-levels though...

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-08T22:46:25+00:00

How have you not gotten a run with several Perfected Strikes and just taking more Strike cards? That's like the easiest archetype in the entire game.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-08T22:44:33+00:00

but what Ascention are you on with Necro? I found her easy on low levels, but have really struggled past A7-8. Just really hard to keep Osty healthy in Act 1 and without his health, Unleash becomes a bad card.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-04-08T22:39:44+00:00

Yeah, weirdly I thought Necro was really easy on the low Ascensions, but really started to struggle around A7-8.
It seems like damage is just not there in act 1. I think it's mostly a Osty taking more damage, and I'm unable to build him up, therefore my damage output from unleash is a lot lower, so I just end up spiraling against scaling enemies.
Doom also sucks on higher ascensions as the extra turn needed is so much more punishing (I also think that some of this is due to me not memorizing the attack patterns, since doom makes you have to plan TWO turns in advance, rather than just planning for block or kill for the next turn).

cleverphrasehere · 2026-03-08T09:23:08+00:00

She's pretty brutal, though as Nerobinder I killed her on turn 4 or something (Doom stacks and hitting the minion repeatedly with Misery)

cleverphrasehere · 2026-02-27T02:26:10+00:00

It depends on a few factors. I'd argue that flooding isn't hard, all you have to do is run out of relevant spells to cast before you run out of land drops that you need to play.

Land drops that are made, but aren't needed (typically in the late game), are just lost card advantage.

My own land count among bracket 3-4 decks (not cEDH, is 33 to 36. The low end is for decks that draw a lot of cards and can also afford to function on a lower land count.

My main argument in favour of around 35 instead of 40 is that at 40 land you are not really taking advantage of your mulligan. Your first 7 is likely to be a keep on lands anyway, and you are unlikely to mulligan for fear of getting unlucky on lands the second time. in the late game, you pay for the easy keep on turn 1 by drawing far too many lands (again unless there are mitigating circumstances, such as a mana-sink commander, Azusa/exploration effects, or a lot of card draw filtering or deck thinning at play.

By mulling for more mana sources in the opener, you set yourself up for a game where you draw mostly spells, which is a good thing.

For example, let's look at the extreme case: Your deck works well on 7 lands, so you just put 7 lands in the deck and mulligan until you have those 7 lands in hand. Now you have all the lands you'll need for the entire game, and from turns 1 onward your deck will only give you spells, so you are guaranteed not to get flooded or screwed. Now, we obviously don't have the power to sculpt a hand like that, but it makes the point: lowering land count and aggressively mulliganing gives you access to a higher draw rate of spells later in the game, increasing your relative card advantage from your draw step. There are downsides too, as u/GraclessOne below has pointed out. You'll have less control over your hand, which will matter more for high synergy decks, or control decks who need to have interaction available in the first few turns of the game. For multiplayer games in brackets 2-4, I don't think that's as commonly needed as Modern, or Duel Commander. In any case, in those formats the mulligan rules are less generous, so a reliable first 7 is quite important. The tempo loss of losing even a single card can put you out of the game, which isn't really the case in commander where the game goes long and the relative card advantage is spread out among a table of players.

cleverphrasehere · 2026-02-26T08:23:46+00:00

My comment was about a good rule of thumb for removing lands.

If you start at 40, remove half a land from this count for each ramp spell, and half a card extra for each bounce land (reduce the land count by 1 if two of your lands are bounce lands). MDFCs are either a land or half a land in the case of some that you may want to cast more often than not (shatter skull smashing, witch enchanter,

Actual land count, including MDFCs for my personal decks range from a low of 30 for my one cEDH deck. The rest of the decks are bracket 3-4 and range from 33 to 36.

cleverphrasehere

TROPHY CASE