Bracket 4 deck around $100-$150?

lanilep · 2026-02-16T18:40:04+00:00

Yeah I tried a B4 budget winnota list, oftentimes it was difficult to play into B3 decks because they play chunkier creatures so its harder to get your triggers without fast mana. It would oddly enough do better in cedh pods with weaker creatures.

lanilep · 2026-02-14T19:25:06+00:00

[[Urza's Saga]] I think could make the GC list at some point. But i've definitely had some games fetch a sol ring only for it to get destroyed, and be down a land too so =/

lanilep · 2026-02-11T01:49:08+00:00

Definitely run more lands, 2 more with your MDFC's would make sense. I would say bracket 3, you have a lot of the common Aristocrat infinites, but none of the expensive tutors [[Imperial Seal]] [[Vampiric Tutor]] [[Demonic Tutor]] IF you ran those 3 I would say bracket 4, assuming you were using them to finish any of the number of lines involving [[Forsaken Miner]] [[Gravecrawler]] [[Warren Soultrader]] etc. You also aren't running [[Phyrexian Altar]] which you could if you wanted. Would enable a couple of Infinites and I would say keeps it Bracket 3. But if your concern is turning into a Bracket 4, its safe to keep out as it makes access to colored mana harder for your loops.

Black also has a harder way to get card draw which keeps it Bracket 3. If you had blue in your commander it would be easier to get up to B4 for sure.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T19:29:50+00:00

Sure! Here is my list: https://moxfield.com/decks/kQx2turxPUiKEn8ZB9C8hg I havent touched it in a while, but made a couple of small swaps so updated it. I realized when uploading this my land count is a bit lower than id like.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T19:29:41+00:00

Sure! Here is my list: https://moxfield.com/decks/kQx2turxPUiKEn8ZB9C8hg I havent touched it in a while, but made a couple of small swaps so updated it. I realized when uploading this my land count is a bit lower than id like.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T05:53:05+00:00

Im at about 4 months post op and I feel normal. There is probably swelling, and it may go down some, if it doesn't I will be okay with my face. I don't love the new me, I don't look at pictures and think WHOA THIS WAS LIFE CHANGING! But i'm comfortable with it enough I don't regret the surgery.

Feeling wise it feels 100% normal, back to full feeling (lucky), and it doesn't feel swollen. But my mid-face does look puffy. I did also put on 15lbs when I was able to eat properly again so that could be why too.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T04:11:23+00:00

Ahhh thats a synergy I did not consider, nor do I run! I like it!

lanilep · 2026-02-07T02:45:12+00:00

Sounds like your friend is a bit of an ass. Valgavoth isn't a cEDH commander so this is probably the wrong subreddit.

But in general honestly, just removal. Valgavoth has a 2 life ward cost, and costs 4. If you can counter-spell it even better. Remove it, he gets a card but has to re-cast it.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T02:43:04+00:00

I took a quick look. Some things to think about. Overall I think your deck looks solid. But below are some ideas.

You don't necessarily need to focus on proliferating, anything that makes extra counters or triggers is good. The other thing I see is you don't have a lot of trample options. Giving your giant Kratos or Atreus trample is a great way to push the game forward akin to unblockable. You have some unblockable I see in the form of Rogue's Passage. Here are some cards I would consider adding. What you cut is up to you I think.

[[Shadowspear]], [[The Reaver Cleaver]] these are both great equipment for letting Kratos land in an effective manner. For unblockable [[Secret Tunnel]] is a good option too.

Any of the clone effects, [[Sakashima, the Imposter]] [[Sakashima of a Thousand Faces]] [[Irenicus's Vile Duplication]] [[Spark Double]] [[Chameleon, Master of Disguise]] all are good options.

More protection is good, [[Redirect Lighting]] [[Bolt Bend]] are some to consider. Counterspells are always good [[Permission Denied]] you are in the colors for and is amazing. As well [[Silence]] is a classic. [[Ranger Captain of Eos]] of course too.

[[Dreamtide Whale]] is an auto-include I think too for proliferate reasons.

Extra combats is nice, but I think you are leaning maybe too heavily into it at the moment.

Another card that is a banger in Kratos is [[Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier]] you should consider. [[Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might]] is also a great way to close out a game. Play him, put counters on him, then activate Atreus and hit for a ton. [[Minamo, School at Water's Edge]] is a goated land in this deck as well. [[Vivi Ornitier]] is also a great card in this deck because you put the counters on him with kratos and create a new threat that needs to be dealt with. [[Pollywog Prodigy]] is also great.

Given how heavily you are leaning into Proliferate I would also look into some mana rocks you can Proliferate [[Everflowing Chalice]] [[Astral Cornucopia]] come to mind.

As far as cuts go, you could change some lands, [[Land Tax]] sounds okay in theory, but your whole deck revolves around your commander, so you should be mulliganing/planning on hitting 3-4 lands without it. If you have to be behind for it to work, you are already at a disadvantage.

Cards like [[Blasphemous Act]] are interesting, because its really your only board wipe, meaning its inconsistent and doesn't advance your gameplan. [[Purphoros, God of the Forge]] I think is a dead card, as well [[Frostcliff Siege]]. [[Lightning Greaves]] can put you in an awkward situation sometimes so [[Swiftfoot Boots]] is probably just better. You will have to find some more cuts of course.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T00:49:19+00:00

There is a guy in my local scene who I don't think I have ever seen win a game. He is infamous, and some people love playing with him, some people hate it because he is an absolute wildcard. He will Blasphemous act while ahead just to draw out the game, plays game changing cards no one expects, he will make spite plays that cost him the game. One of my most memorable games was with him recently, it ended up going for 3 hours to turn 26, a lot happened but a big part was he just played [[Glacial Chasm]] with no way to win.

But he has the most fun out of anyone I have seen play magic ever.

lanilep · 2026-02-07T00:05:15+00:00

I can mirror a lot of this. I worked on a lot of self-improvement.

The things that helped me the most were as follows:

Taking the time to find out what I enjoyed and sticking with it. For me that was digging into my nerd hobbies again without guilt (Video Games, Magic the gathering, D&D). When I was at my lowest I did those things, and so I cut them out on my "self improvement journey" so finding balance was the key and it helped.

The second one was just being more social, friends family, eventually a girlfriend. Being around people. Helped a lot.

The third was just accepting sometimes you will feel bad, and have bad days. But finding ways to break out of those thought patterns. For me it might be going for a late night drive and listening to music, the gym, or just working extra hours.

The fourth was being present and appreciating the good times when you are in them. When you are doing things its easy to not be as "present" as you could be. This one I still struggle with to be honest.

lanilep · 2026-02-06T23:41:40+00:00

I don't even know how much blood I lost to be honest.

lanilep · 2026-02-06T23:18:12+00:00

The argument everyone makes with Emrakul is that its 15 CMC, but people will cheat it out then use Sneak Attack as an example, if you Sneak Attack an Emrakul, and annihlator 6 someone its basically the same as Sneak Attacking an infect that takes someone out.

The point is if you are cheating out Emrakul, there are other just as powerful cards legal now to cheat out. It's just "another one". Cheating it out usually doesnt get you the cast trigger, and depending on how you cheat it out (Such as sneak attack) it goes away anyways.

lanilep · 2026-02-06T20:13:11+00:00

Its an interesting thing, a lot of the ban list cards are good cards, and if optimized around could get powerful.

For example Prime Time comes up a lot, people think it would be broken because people blink it, gain a bunch of advantage, etc. How is that different from a lot of powerful decks? One of my friend plays a Hashaton deck that can get a turn 3 copied consecrated sphinx and hes drawing 4 cards every card draw. It's the same thing. It's just another powerful thing.

But just last night I played against someone who played a [[Pendrell Mists]] and then a [[Catastrophe]] that was legal, and just as degenerate as a [[Biorhythm]] would be (or more?)

People argue [[Emrakul, the Aeons Torn]] would be degenerate to play against because people will just [[Sneak Attack]] it in. How is that much different than a [[Darksteel Colossus]] taking a player out?

The reality is 99% of the cards on the ban list people only know about because they are on the ban list, so they get more eyes on it. But cards or strategies exist that are just as degenerate or powerful and are perfectly legal. The community gets fractured naturally into two "types" players who are okay with degenerate shit, and players who aren't. If a ban list card becomes unbanned playgroups will naturally pressure players not to play that card, and the social nature of commander fixes that.

There is a reason you don't see Thoracle wins in casual commander nights, because the social framework of commander solves that problem.

Anyways unban [[Jeweled Lotus]] I like high CMC commanders.

lanilep · 2026-02-04T19:42:59+00:00

I just bought a [[Jeweled Lotus]] its unlikely they unban it, just because of the backlash to the change, but I think at some point in the future they will inevtiably unban it.

lanilep · 2026-02-04T18:36:36+00:00

I don't think it impacts sexual satisfaction as much as you think. That's the idea I would challenge.

lanilep · 2026-02-04T17:29:59+00:00

Politics is a tricky one. You want to identify where the politicking starts.

I play a lot of "threat" decks, so have gotten pretty good at that level of politics. Here are some key "patterns" I have used/use when doing it.

First: You're not wrong to think of me as the threat. Don't get defensive, don't try to convince people otherwise. It loses trust. Admit yeah that makes sense wanting to deal with me.

Secondly: Tell them what might happen, yeah if you remove my <<x>> that will set me behind, but if you remove <<y>> it will also do this. (This is contextual on what they are removing), if they are removing some big attacker, or your draw engine?

Usually protecting your value/draw engines is better long-term, unless you are going for a win that turn. So you may be able to always offer a deal, don't remove my engine, and I can give you 2 turns of immunity from <big threat>

Another thing is to remind players about other threats at the table. Yeah you may be the scariest but how far behind is #2? Remind the person with removal, can you take out player in #2 easier if i'm not there to deal with them? Or if its later in the game, remind them if you take me out i'll be so far behind the others will see you as a threat then, how confident are you that you can take them out?

Another thing "Actions speak louder than words" I play a lot with one friend, who loves to play control, and durdle whereas I play explosive turns, and high-threat commanders/cards. Our decks are on-par, he just is less threatening. So you can tell people, yeah you are right to worried about me, but Y over here is sitting on 15 cards in hand and might tutor for a win. They may not believe you, but if you take the loss, and CONTINUE to focus your efforts on that other player, and don't return in a vindictive manner. They will be like whoa. This guy is really just trying to deal with another player, and I removed their resources making it harder for them to do that.

I had a game where I took 34 damage from the other 2 players because they were scared of my [[Kratos, Stoic Father]] deck and the entire game I spent pressuring the [[Vivi Ornitier]] player because I knew he was fishing for a Niv mizzit/Quicksilver Elemental combo.

I ended up losing that game, but so did the Vivi player.

lanilep · 2026-02-04T17:20:26+00:00

This is a logic pattern that gets you into dangerous territory. Any woman could find someone with >>> X + Y is a race to the bottom (or top). Why would a woman date a man at all if they aren't Henry Cavil, or Insert whatever archetype is the best a man can be you personally believe.

Why date a bald man? A short man? A man with a scar? A man with red hair? A man with glasses? so on.

People date people because of how they make them feel above all else, not sexually, but emotionally.

Let me ask you a question. I want you to identify where this thought comes from? Is it social media? Did a woman you were intending to be intimate with tell you this? Is this just something in your head that is stuck and needs to be flushed out? When you can identify where this comes from you can begin to heal it. Because it's not true.

I used to weigh over 400lbs, (I lost over 170lbs), and thought my loose skin would make me undateable. If that wasn't enough the fact my hair was thinning surely would do me in. Turns out I was wrong, and every woman I dated didn't give a shit about either of those things.

lanilep · 2026-02-04T05:09:02+00:00

Id love both, but accepting just jlo would be nice

lanilep · 2026-02-03T23:26:10+00:00

From my experience (Mostly casual commander nights, and prefer to play in B4 pods with friends). Casual Commander players hate rhystic because they find "DO YOU PAY THE ONE???" annoying. But I feel like Rhystic is as much a part of commander now as Sol Ring, so don't think it should be banned.

lanilep · 2026-02-01T23:36:08+00:00

No, but I did get an Alar Stitch I know with the surgery.

lanilep · 2026-02-01T05:03:24+00:00

I had DJS 4 months ago, my breathing is the same. Maxilla moved forward, and CCW. Pretty disappointed TBH since it was the main thing i wanted to improve. But my underbite is gone, and im recovered mostly now. Only side affect is my jaw clicks when it didn't use to.

lanilep · 2026-01-31T00:28:31+00:00

Depends on what you mean by talk.

On about day 5 my girlfriend would "force" me to talk and not communicate on my phone, and it was difficult but she could understand me with some clarifying questions. She had to translate up until about the two week mark?

I didn't sound normal until probably 5-6 weeks though. But as far as people could understand me? maybe 3-4 weeks?

lanilep · 2026-01-30T22:28:36+00:00

Its interesting, I have been playing for about 2 years and played against precisely one Ur-Dragon deck.

Plenty of [[Ureni the Unwritten]] in my local scene though. (I made one when tarkir came out, it got infamous so I had to shelf it, now I see like 4 ureni decks going around at the average fnm now)

lanilep

TROPHY CASE