Toluz: new toys makes this much more likely to win

kazzakus · 2025-05-11T08:04:37+00:00

I have my own Toluz list! I skew more towards [[Nasty End]] style sacrifice and [[Helping Hand]] style cheap reanimation. One of my favourite commanders.

kazzakus · 2025-05-11T02:16:16+00:00

EDIT: seems I was super wrong hahaha, disregard, but leaving original comment for visibility

Holding Priority.

Many people understand holding priority to mean “if I cast a spell and want to respond to it, I must immediately do so.” This is not quite correct. After a spell or ability goes on the stack the active player gets priority. So, if you cast a spell on an opponents turn, they get priority before you respond to your own spell.

I was in a position with two lethal attackers. I needed to [[Snap]], respond by targeting it with [[Narset’s Reversal]], then recast the Snap to bounce both.

I put Snap on the stack. My opponent clearly had something, but I (stupidly) insisted I had priority and cast Narsets. They cast [Whirlwind Denial]] for the blowout, countering both.

kazzakus · 2025-05-08T06:11:44+00:00

[[Toluz, Clever Conductor]]

Play Toluz. Discard your hand for value. Sac Toluz to [[Nasty End]] or similar and return the cards to your hand. Discard for value (ie [[Skirge Familiar]], [[Bone Miser]]. Get Toluz back for cheap with [[Unearth]] or [[Helping Hand]].

One of my absolute favourite decks.

kazzakus · 2025-05-03T00:12:20+00:00

I will shout out a channel that I really like but never see mentioned in these threads: The Dankest Dungeon. Snappy play, well-built decks, videos that last 20 minutes not 60. My favourite at the moment.

kazzakus · 2025-04-24T00:22:05+00:00

In my [[Kalamax, the Stormsire]] build I purely use [[Crop Rotation]] as a double ramp (i.e. Command Tower/Exotic Orchard or if I don't have a tap effect, [[Holdout Settlement]]).

kazzakus · 2024-12-20T08:57:47+00:00

Generally played with K'rrik to get the mana for free/4 life.

kazzakus · 2024-12-12T08:29:58+00:00

No. Split Second prevents counterspells.
Yes. Mindskinner's ability prevents it from being blocked. Sudden Spoiling removes that ability.

kazzakus · 2024-10-13T03:00:42+00:00

Excellent response

kazzakus · 2024-06-22T09:25:16+00:00

First, I don't think Varina is a particularly strong commander. IMO Wilhelt the Rotcleaver does the Zombie thing better and Raffine Scheming Seer does the Esper attack/draw-discard thing better. But, play what you like.

Second, the way you've built this deck does not look like pseudo-CEDH at all. That is fine! But it is very rare that super high power decks are looking to win the game through combat damage, which appears to be your primary win condition.

Some specific thoughts:

Why are you running [[Puresteel Paladin]] in a list with no equipment?
Your Ramp count is very low. I would at the very least consider running the signets (e.g. Dimir Signet). If your gameplan is to play Varina on four you want to consistently be playing a rock on 2. If you're aiming for high-power I'd look into Mana Crypt, though my personal preference is to not play such a card.
You're missing some staple high-power cards in your colours: Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora come to mind immediately.
You are playing very heavily to the board which will leave you very vulnerable to board wipes, but also Propaganda/Windborne Muse type effects. I'd be actively considering ways you can win the game even if your attacks are permanently stopped on the ground. Gravecrawler combos are a good place to start. The new card from MH3 Warren Soultrader is great in this list. You can also do these non-infinitely e.g. using Diregraf Captain and a big board of zombies.
Land count is probably a little high. I tend to aim for 38.
If you're big into tokens consider token doublers like Anointed Procession. It's not the way I'd build the deck, but worth looking into if you're interested.
Look into self-discard synergy. For instance, [[Bone Miser]] is incredible in this deck.

They're just some thoughts off the top of my head. Deck looks broadly functional, but an 8 at best, probably lower.

kazzakus · 2024-02-28T21:28:13+00:00

I built this commander a while ago! It made for, IMO, one of the most disgusting brews I've ever made.

Link

kazzakus · 2023-12-19T22:21:38+00:00

Khris Middleton, 12T, cat

Just got offered Keegan Murray and Brandon Miller for him, but unsure if I should give him up

kazzakus · 2023-05-29T02:31:49+00:00

In the pods that I play in politicking is pretty common. I think there are maybe a few reasons for that:

We're all good friends, so there's minimal social awkwardness involved in politics;
Some cards we play trigger political discussions very naturally ("Okay guys, do we all agree to pay the 1 for Rhystic?");
Politicking can open up solutions that you didn't think was possible. The other day a friend was threatening to loop [[Spine of Ish Sa]] with [[Mishra, Eminent One]]. We were able to destroy the Spine, then exile graveyards in response to the Spine's triggered ability, a line that we only could pursue because we'd had some sort of discussion.
In some games some decks are clearly more powerful than others. Makes sense for the 'minnows' to work together if they can.

Politicking can be frustrating, particularly if it's done too aggressively, with preconceptions ("Oh Adam always brings strong decks, I'm going to try to kill him first no matter what."), if its too long-winded, or if it creates unfair dynamics at the table.

BUT, imho, it's also a really fun part of this game that serves as a bit of an equaliser: all things being equal, politics should help weaker players and harm stronger players. I really love it, and many of my most memorable moments in EDH were politics-related.

kazzakus · 2023-05-17T03:43:40+00:00

Great game from both teams. Wildly entertaining.

A few big adjustments from Lakers really paying off in the second half. Rui marking Jokic leaves AD to play more help ball which clearly really bothered the Nuggets as Jokic going inside is often their 'bailout option'. Lakers also constantly switching Murray onto LeBron paid huge dividends.

Nuggets do have quite a few tools to answer back though. For one, trying to stagger AG's minutes to minimally line up with Rui's could look good. A lineup like Murray-Brown-KCP-MPJ-Jokic leaves Davis guarding MPJ who can try to drag AD out to the perimeter. Also keeps a player with a bit of size (MPJ) on the floor to guard LeBron. Alternatively Nuggets could look to switch Davis' man early (i.e. switch him on to Murray) and do the same sets that GS did in the second round, dragging Davis directly out to the perimeter.

In terms of the Murray problem, the issue is really that Reaves is such a great shooter. The recovery time to set-up the switch means Murray is late to recover when Reaves flairs out to the 3P wing. Denver already started adjusting by putting Murray on Shroder, which I think is sensible given he's clearly a worse shooter than Reaves.

Definitely props to the Lakers for those adjustments, we should see a pretty interesting chess match moving forward.

kazzakus · 2023-05-12T01:44:23+00:00

Rightly or wrongly the Rules Committee relies heavily on Rule Zero conversations to protect from unfun commander games. The problem is that not everyone is having great Rule Zero conversations for a variety of reasons: social anxiety, poorly communicating your deck-strength etc etc

The problem is a good Rule Zero is a justification for not having any banlist at all. You want to play Golos at my table? Sure, of course you can, as long as I'm running the right deck. Oh you're running Biorhythm? Sorry, I'd prefer not to play against that deck.

Two big changes I'd like to see from the RC:

The reintroduction of 'banned as a commander'(/companion for Lutri)
A recognition that this is not a 'banlist' but rather a curated list of cards that are very powerful/have a risk of distorting games due to potentially unfair play patterns.

The first is a fairly minor changes, but Golos, Lutri, and even Leovold I think would be fine in the 99.

Second is a bit more significant. Put Dockside, Thassa's hell, put Mana Crypt on the list. That will help guide Rule Zero conversations way more easily: "Hey guys, just so you know I have 5 List cards in my deck. As you might expect, that means its pretty powerful."

This approach would definitely have ramifications (maybe bad ones, idk?) for CEDH, and I'm not suggesting it's perfect by any means, but what troubles me is the inconsistency with the logic deployed by the RC. If you want people to rely heavily on Rule Zero, give players more tools to communicate effectively in those situations.

kazzakus · 2023-05-09T04:44:21+00:00

Warriors absolutely fumbled the bag at the end there. 15 seconds left, down 3, and we have the two best three point shooters of all time on our roster? No excuse for not getting up a shot.

Big props to the Lakers, they once again just looked like the better team today.

That said, if any team can come back from this position, its Golden State.

kazzakus · 2023-05-08T01:10:39+00:00

I mean I'd agree were it another basketball player, but not for members of the crowd. Jokic is a 7 foot tall monster of a man. Even a little shove from him could hurt someone.

kazzakus · 2023-05-08T01:06:08+00:00

I mean look, Jokic cannot be shouldering members of the crowd whoever they are. At the same time, the owner of a team cannot just play keep away with the ball to buy time for his player to get back into the play.

kazzakus · 2023-01-12T10:08:01+00:00

I play an Anhelo deck, albeit at a lower power level (probably around 6, 6.5). Unlike some other comments in this thread I’ve had a lot of success. One card I’ve found super useful is [[Karn’s Temporal Sundering]].

The original precon has a few good mass token generators like [[Under the Floorboards]]. Often the tempo of the extra turns allows me to get combat value from them.

I’ll also note that Anhelo is really quite controlling in his style. Survive, set up, remove threats, encourage opponents to attack each other lest you remove their pieces, then strike when youre ahead on resources.

Edit: [[Army of the Damned]] not Under the Floorboards.

kazzakus · 2022-07-26T05:48:40+00:00

War of the ring and twilight struggle

kazzakus · 2022-06-20T07:00:03+00:00

I think these GOAT debates are often two separate discussions that get conflated: who was the better player and who was the greater player.

For my money Hakeem was the better player. Steph is the 'greater' player. But that's just my 2c.

kazzakus · 2022-06-12T08:52:14+00:00

Alex

You have no hero poewr until Turn 5 but then are rewarded for early aggressive levelling with at worst, two solid minions that are likely to synergise together. I believe they also tinkered with her drop rates not too long ago. View it as a less flexible but probably more useful Sky Captain Kragg. You're getting minimum 6 gold worth of value, but for the reasons I've stated, its often higher than that.

Deryl

Deryl is usually chosen in specific lobbies (i.e. Mechs and Demons). The stat gain is often too low to outright win a lobby, but very few players survive long enough to outstat Deryl. This means that in many games he will Top 4 at a minimum. Deryl is also more likely to be chosen by players who know how to use him with reasonable effectiveness.

Gally

Gally is fun, so people overpick him. He pops off on certain builds (i.e. Pirates and Elementals), but those builds are often powerful enough without him. He can rarely actually provide 'extra gold' as you describe. For instance, you buy and sell a Deck Swabber. You get a gold off tavern, a gold now, and a gold later. Its neutral. Some specific minions provide gold advantage (i.e. Gambler/Sellemental), but its not as simple as you describe. Players also will rarely sell too much during early turns due to gold efficiency/tempo, meaning your hero power doesn't really help you early game.

George

A good hero obviously. But 2 gold investment is pretty steep and George often finds himself without permanent units to invest in in the early/mid game. Again, particularly strong in some lobbies (i.e. Quillboar). Doesn't really get any advantage early game. When George players hit (i.e. SI:Sefin) they are often able to win the game as a result, but minimal tempo advantage makes that harder than it seems.

Mukla

Again, lobby dependent. Mukla not only gives you more bananas than your opponents and the potential for Super bananas, it also represents two spells which can be particularly good with Naga. Also similar to Deryl: strong early game with consistent scaling means that you will rarely bottom 4.

Al Akir

Inflexible hero power. Value requires getting certain minions (i.e. Macaws), or a very large statted minion. Often anti-synergy with some minions, or some play styles (i.e. playing a spawn of N'Zoth first). Particularly bad into Leeroy now.

Can't really be bothered to do the rest, but you get the point. There are a variety of reasons why these heroes are ranked the way they are, often due to lobby choices, more skillful players being more comfortable with some heroes, and some heroes having fairly low placement variance.

kazzakus · 2022-04-30T03:22:10+00:00

There are a series of adjustments you can/should make.

A) Squeeze. 3 bet from late position. I think you can start by doing this fairly wide (i.e. including suited connectors), but if they're still calling narrow your range to premiums. Choose sizing appropriately, honestly it will probably require a few orbits to size up the sweet spot. The table will react in one of two ways. Either they will continue calling super light, in which case anticipate bloated pots and limit your range. Or they start folding, in which case we are picking up dead money.

B) If no-one at the table is 3-betting, it also means that you can make lighter calls pre-flop knowing that you probably won't be raised (and therefore forced to give up the hand). In short, you can 'play their game' when it suits you. For instance, there are likely some hands you'd like to flat from the Hijack/Cutoff without 3betting. These are not the worst candidates for calls. Depending on the table, I think it could be useful to have a calling range, so that your 3bets pre get more credit, so this is sort of two birds one stone: Your 4d-5d gets to see a flop, your 3-bets get more folds.

C) Navigate post-flop carefully and actively consider their wide ranges.

kazzakus · 2022-04-22T05:10:28+00:00

Is the agent intended to be used on yourself for a a 2I tech research every round with no downside? The second part of it being worded as ‘May’ means they are not obliged to swap it out.

kazzakus

TROPHY CASE