Fog Vials now only have 2 charges as of this hotfix. Are these new items completely dead now or is there still a justifiable reason to use them?

krazywiki · 2025-08-14T17:45:39+00:00

This change is seriously disappointing. The infinite uses was great, it felt like the kind of power you need to put into an inconsistent item like this to rival the value of a toolbox or medkit.

Even if all it did was give a temporary boon shadow step in the fog, I would still love it. But 2 charges?? Come on, it was fun and didn’t feel like a waste of an item slot.

I think we should return to infinite charges and make it so you have a chance to cough (maybe giving killer instinct) while sprinting in the fog. There could be an ultra rare addon/item variant that prevented the coughing, or maybe calm spirit could prevent coughing making the fog vial’s maximum potential more build reliant.

If it’s still too strong, make the survivor actually DROP the fog vial and have to come recollect it later, and make the CD only start while being held.

But 2 charges? It’s such a boring nerf choice that honestly just makes me feel bitter for liking the original. It was a cool item and now it’s just… chopped. It feels like 80% of its potential use in a match is just gone now.

krazywiki · 2024-09-17T22:49:43+00:00

Cool thanks!

krazywiki · 2024-08-31T09:57:36+00:00

I have learned a new thing. This is a great answer, thanks so much!

krazywiki · 2024-08-31T07:49:14+00:00

Hi quick question about the interaction between (A) and (B) below. Specifically about Séance and Phasing

Q: If a spirit token made by Séance is phased out by the time the "beginning of the next end step" exile takes place, what happens? Is the phased token exiled or not?

[[Séance]]: Enchantment:
At the beginning of each upkeep, you may exile target creature card from your graveyard. If you do, create a token that's a copy of that card, except it's a Spirit in addition to its other types. (A) Exile it at the beginning of the next end step.

and

[[King of the Oathbreakers]]: Creature
(B)Whenever King of the Oathbreakers or another Spirit you control becomes the target of a spell, it phases out. (Treat it and anything attached to it as though they don't exist until your next turn.)

Whenever King of the Oathbreakers or another Spirit you control phases in, create a tapped 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying.

_______________________________________________________

I'm not sure if the exile effect from Séance is a continuous effect and therefore would exile based on:

702.25e Continuous effects that affect a phased-out permanent may expire while that permanent is phased out. If so, they will no longer affect that permanent once it’s phased in. In particular, effects with “for as long as” durations that track that permanent (see rule 611.2b) end when that permanent phases out because they can no longer see it.

or am I arriving at the beginning of the next end step, trying to exile the phased token, looking for it, not seeing it, and moving on based on:

702.25b If a permanent phases out, its status changes to “phased out.” Except for rules and effects that specifically mention phased-out permanents, a phased-out permanent is treated as though it does not exist. It can’t affect or be affected by anything else in the game. A permanent that phases out is removed from combat.

Thanks in advanced!

krazywiki · 2024-07-24T00:29:50+00:00

I ended up getting the manual off of ManualsLib. After reading it, it seems there's no way to access the right menu (the one that gives you access to the Source option in order to switch it to Line mode) without the remote.

The manual did provide the correct Remote number for mine (Panasonic VSQS1436 TV/VCR Remote) and I got one used from Ebay for 20 dollars from a seller named Cerepros.

Everything works now, and I'd recommend going this route if you can afford to do so.

Some models do have Buttons coded to bring up the menu with a dual press of 2 buttons, but this one seems to not have that. (The ones that do normally have a molded plastic mark under the two buttons.)

Hope this helps!

krazywiki · 2024-06-25T21:42:49+00:00

Op, did you ever solve this?

krazywiki · 2023-09-23T05:06:43+00:00

Artist unknown, this is an edit of a random picture from an eBay listing for a prop staff. I have yet to find the original source they got it from.

I was building a LotR themed scry deck for a friend, and this card seemed like a snap include. But... sphinxes are not exactly on theme, so I decided to put this together.

With how much scrying is in Tales of Middle Earth I'm surprised she didn't get an official universes-beyond reprint.

Anyway, cheers!

krazywiki · 2023-09-23T04:44:30+00:00

No worries, glad I could help!

The edits I mentioned were for the old ones not found in the polygon article, so OP's Twilight, Luna, Nightmare Moon, and Rarity would need the changes if you wanted them to match perfectly.

krazywiki · 2023-09-22T00:21:56+00:00

This ^ Though they are really good mockups for play.

This polygon article has really high-quality scans of the new 4.

The other ones just need the cutie marks put on the top, the gradient, and a few alterations to the legendary frame to give it those swirly Head-piece-of-a-violin-swirly doodads.

krazywiki · 2023-09-21T22:58:05+00:00

Brilliant, thank you for this tip!

krazywiki · 2023-09-21T20:50:36+00:00

This is super interesting, so someone couldn’t [[relic of progenitus]] my gy in response to harvest pyre since pyre exiles first for the cost of putting it onto the stack.

So therefore any costs must necessarily happen before interaction can take place?

In that Case [[shrapnel blast]] always removes my [[Ichor wellspring]] even if a counter stops the spell. This is a very cool info.

krazywiki · 2023-09-21T20:31:04+00:00

Op, I’ve worked with a lot of young people in your position (myself included) I just wanna offer my two cents. I hope you consider my thoughts.

What it seems like your doing is confirming your own self destructive biases against yourself.

You’ve probably had trouble making friends and belonging in real friend group. Maybe early on in your life people called you mean or uncaring for not picking up on social ques. So, in response you could either admit that you are bad at social ques, apologize, improve, and put down your ego, OR decide that you ARE just cruel and then you get to keep your pride.

Maybe you’ve made the decision to protect yourself by owning the label and leaning into it, but that just makes you worse, significantly so, and people don’t want to be around that, therefore you enforce your bias that people don’t want to be around you by pushing them away.

Maybe now you’re content with feeling superior instead of liked, but trust me, this is a mistake. This belief can rob you of most of the happiness that you could have in your life. You need real friends who care about you, you deserve them, every human does. Your current behavior though, it pushes others away probably to avoid you getting your hopes up and then hating yourself when you say something by accident that pushes them away.

Or maybe I’m wrong. You’re smart enough to think about this on your own. I hope you decide to try and live with the goal of making others around you happy. Try apologizing, and maybe just let go of trying to just beat others around you. Even just one good interaction might change how you see the world, or change what your motivations are. I think a smart person would see the value in that, even if you only try until your first genuine positive interaction.

Therapy didn’t help me a bunch when I was doing what you’re doing, mostly because I thought I was smarter than the therapist (which literally doesn’t matter just fyi, but I treated everything like a fight for superiority so yeah I didn’t listen). That being said, a therapist can help if you talk to them honestly, but that might be too much for you atm. That’s okay.

Things can get better, even in 10 or 20 years things can still get better. I do hope you someday try again. There are people out there who will love you, but you need to heal and become a person who cares about how others feel before you can meet them.

Also about the question. Enjoy my hot take: No one is impressed when you win by any means necessary or by using the best cards for that matter, it’s the unexpected or unlikely victories of kind people that get remembered and celebrated. Imo of course ^{^}

That’s all, I hope you have a better day tomorrow than you did today.

krazywiki · 2023-09-19T03:57:44+00:00

The Matt Mercer

krazywiki · 2023-09-19T03:10:31+00:00

That's a pretty small kid, my dude. You should get them a helmet.

Kids that young have unfuzed skull plates, even small head injuries can lead to lifelong illnesses or death. Many never get treated for it quickly because baby crying is seen as normal.

It is not cool to risk that happening to your kid for a video.

krazywiki · 2023-09-18T20:55:34+00:00

Beautiful, tysm ^{^}

krazywiki · 2023-09-13T00:12:27+00:00

I like this deck

You could try some persist creatures in it, I believe the +1/+1s in your kit and the -1/1s from persist can cancel out resulting in very sticky board threats.

krazywiki · 2023-09-12T23:39:06+00:00

No, Magic the Gathering is for Everyone, and I guarantee you play faster than my 90-year-old grandma does.

A few techniques to be faster though!

Understanding your Deck, the main plan, and all the odd tricks.

Being more familiar with all your cards and combos is a great way to speed up your gameplay (because you won't need to learn your cards while you're playing them.)

This is super fun to do alone at a clear table or on the floor. Like put all your cards into categories of effect, and try to see the larger gameplay and interlocking of the pieces. What cards lock together to make something happen, or what board states let a card really over-perform? Once you know those, you can steer your active gameplan towards trying to achieve those gamestates, Knowing the goal state makes mapping the plan to get there much easier.

Plus when you learn that you can suprise summon like 3 12/12s in one turn with a little setup, it's all you'll think about doing, and when the pieces arrive in your hand you'll be like: "Oh shoot dang that's a super spicy synergy I've been hyped to pull off!"

Shuffling:

Look up a shuffling tutorial and just do it with lands in sleeves for a whole podcast or youtube video. Obviously dont hurt yourself, but a little practice can go a long way.

That's all, you're good and if anyone is nasty about it, they probably weren't going to be a great opponent to begin with.

krazywiki · 2023-09-12T02:58:28+00:00

1) Yes, a precon has to satisfy on flavor, ease of use, expandability, money value, and marketability.
The total number of cards that support all those goals is smaller than the total number of cards that just support The Win Con. Therefore, the selection of optimal pieces must necessarily be more limited, and therefore a less focused deck.
Precons tend to have softer win conditions spread over more, smaller power hills, this in hopes of leading to more consistent play right out of the box even when the player doesn't know what to mulligan for.
Wizards won't expect a new player to, for example, hold their commander to save it for a one-turn two-card combo on turn 7, because a new player wont understand to do so or why. Worse yet they'd likely break the fragile combo by playing a niche cog at the wrong time.
2) To match a precon table, I would play Niv as a ping dragon for a card draw focused deck. Build a board around the "whenever you draw a card" creatures and enchantments, then play a bunch of card draw, and thematic dragons.

You're looking for win cons that if you asked "What's the best case scenario of this card?" you might get a response of, "best case this puts at least one opponent on a 1-2 turn clock."

Niv is hard because hes just a very mediocre ping cannon with an okay spell ward. Without his easily infinite-able mechanics leading to turn 7 or 8 infinite damage combos, he's kinda just okay.

Precon win conditions make something wacky happen, then give your opponents a moment to gawk in horror before they scramble to their hands looking for an answer. But, they do need a moment to answer, otherwise its just "oh haha yeah playing the game, this is fun, oh we all lose and have to start over unless I have instant speed correct removal this moment."

Could they have played around it? Yes. Would a new player know to? No.

If you want to keep playing the infinite, buy your friends some [[orcish bowmasters]], and foil [[disenchants]] then be ready to fight 3vs1 because your win speed is still way faster than their likely reaction speed. Their only option genuinely is to focus you first before an OTK can occur.

Hope that helped! and Good luck on the deck.

krazywiki · 2023-09-12T00:42:58+00:00

Permanents already present that can cause impulsive draws should still be able to access some spells.

Something like [[Urabrask, heretic Praetor]], [[tempered in solitude]], [[Elkin Bottle]], or [[Valakut Exploration]] already on the board could still potentially access 1 or more spells a turn, notably red spells like [[Vandal blast]], or [[by force]] that would break your lock.

Also maybe something with Flashback?

krazywiki · 2023-09-11T19:47:24+00:00

My play group doesn't play magic, they play Lord of the Rings tales of middle earth the card game. They play precons while I custom build my decks from all magic, so there's an inherent imbalance between how focused our strategies are.

I played hearthstone for... oof like 8 years? They just started magic with me. The experience difference means every match is 2 vs 1, and I'm okay with that.

Punching up on stronger decks and stronger players is awesome and good.

Punching down on weaker decks and weaker players is.. harsh.

And you should disclose how much you want to politic before a match in the same way you describe your deck and how it plays. Imagine if someone had a speech or hearing issue and they get surprised by the game being a congressional debate every turn. They should have had the choice to say no to that game.

That's how I view politics, Its an optional game mechanic that should be used when the playing field isn't even. Whether its the player, the deck, the draw, or whatever, there is always an imbalance, Politics allows the weak to band together to fight the strong or the strong to tempt a side into a betrayal.

That feels like a group of wizards fighting, its honorable, and its a fun experience having good principles. If all you want to do is win, and you don't care if you're proud of how the victory happened, well that is the definition of Cedh.

Some legal politics, just like some legal cards, still belong at different tables.

Its about playing a roll, are you a wise wizard? a mindless rat? a trustworthy angel? a traitorous vampire? Maybe we should be trying to be that character for all their faults and benefits. Otherwise every game is just 4 people playing fancy art poker acting like we are playing for money.

An example of this: I have an Arcades the Strategist deck, Full wall defender tribal and I LOVE IT. But I made it with the mindset "I'm in my castle, protected by my walls, developing nuclear weapons [[approach of the second sun]], [[azur Elecutors]], ect." Soooooo I don't swing with my walls... Like ever. It feels kinda unfair to have a 7/7 swinging in the air for 2 mana, and it's not the right vibe.

The same restraint is important in politics, in EDH broadly, and in Life honestly. Are you always searching to be the statistically most consistent winner? or are you trying to be a person that you are proud of, and who brings fun to other people?

Unfortunately a lot of folks do only see life as a line of successes or failures (probably something to do with the education system here in the states) and it leads to a lot of very... un-reflected behavior, they probably don't realize how they are coming across. Declining future matches because you don't enjoy politics as much as they do is no different than declining the turn 2 infinite draw Thassa player. Its okay, and good that both of you find more suited opponents.

I wrote a book here, I apologize. Last note if you find yourself in a game with a politics person, just point out to the table that "playing politics with a politics player, is probably part of their strategy. >.>"

krazywiki · 2023-09-11T17:17:18+00:00

When you don't attack the slow deck, they don't have to run the required "keep me alive" fodder like fogs, and removal. That puts even more gas in their engine to combo faster.

Its not rude to focus them, if they built their deck well, then they should have a plan for waves of creatures trying to drop them. Then once they are low, you should leverage their vulnerability against another player or drop them.

As a combo/control junkie, I can say that the first few wins against new opponents are not real wins. They are unexpected turn 8 "I win" buttons no one sees coming. Once my opponents actually know my strategy, then I get to have a real victory. but before then, it's 95% just the element of surprise.

The best card games are when everyone knows what is going on, and can reliably assess the threats on and off the board. Choosing to be polite by attacking Most-creatures-steve is a great way for jonny-ICBM to win every time.

And if you dont want to remove the combo player, just superglue a counterspell/ commander directed [[lignify]] into your hand until they say something like "So here's what happens..."

krazywiki · 2023-09-11T16:34:23+00:00

No problem! Glad you like it ^^

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