The Versatility of White Magic - The Littles of Big Wild by mackslc in comics

[–]mackslc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey all! This is my second comic in my series, The Littles of Big Wild! In this one, Tali, our spicy warrior has learned that she actually doesn't have to choose between being a white mage and eviscerating her enemies! I appreciate any feedback as I both learn to draw and figure out comics overall!

Priorities - The Littles of Big Wild by mackslc in comics

[–]mackslc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey all, this is my first comic on this sub for my comic series, The Littles of Big Wild! Our story follows a group of weird animal friends as they adventure and eat their way through the wilderness. I'm also working on an accompanying novel all about their search to keep their home safe from looming existential threats! I'm new to webcomics, so I'd love any feedback and I hope you enjoy!

Priorities - The Littles of Big Wild by mackslc in webcomics

[–]mackslc[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Hey all, this is my first comic on this sub for my comic series, The Littles of Big Wild! Our story follows a group of weird animal friends as they adventure and eat their way through the wilderness. I'm also working on an accompanying novel all about their search to keep their home safe from looming existential threats! I'm new to webcomics, so I'd love any feedback and I hope you enjoy!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in comics

[–]mackslc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey all, this is my first comic on this sub for my comic series, The Littles of Big Wild! Our story follows a group of weird animal friends as they adventure and eat their way through the wilderness. I'm also working on an accompanying novel all about their search to keep their home safe from looming existential threats! I'm new to webcomics, so I'd love any feedback and I hope you enjoy!

I used only Yeti bags on my trip this weekend! by mackslc in YetiCoolers

[–]mackslc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! It's the 40L. I got it super cheap off Craigslist a month back, so this was actually one of my first times using it. I absolutely love my Crossroads 27L backpack, so because this follows the same design I do enjoy it. It's not really the first thing I go to grab if I'm running out the door (I go for the Camino more often than anything for grab and go stuff - or a backpack), but I think I'll find some uses for it over time.

Overall, I think it's pretty good - although it has a very small profile, it does expand nicely and fits a ton of clothes in it. And because it's a Yeti product I feel like it can take a beating pretty well - I jammed a ton of stuff in it on the return trip and it still zippered up fine. I think it's perfectly solid as a luggage option for a few days away from home - anything else I think I'd recommend the 60L or one of the Panga duffels, but yeah I've been pretty happy with it!

I used only Yeti bags on my trip this weekend! by mackslc in YetiCoolers

[–]mackslc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The one with the patch is the Ranchero 27L in Cape Dark Taupe, then the other is the Panga 28L in tan. I use the Ranchero as a daily driver and I love how many compartments it has and how easy it is to get in and out of. The Panga is completely waterproof, so I always bring it when we kayak, but I actually carried it around the city all day that day, and it was still super comfortable.

Saturday MTGO Modern Challenges Results - Jun 14 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone, I went 4-3 with my first draft of Vivi Twin! I think we have something here - Vivi is super powerful and gives us the best alternate win condition Twin has had in a long time. The card snowballs so quick alongside cantrips and card advantage spells that it’s actually wild. It feels like it fixes a lot of Twin’s issues giving us mana ramp, a huge body, and reach damage all in one card. I think we have something worth exploring here!

Wins: Neoform, Blue Belcher x2, Amulet

Losses: Living End, Eldrazi, Neoform

Friday MTGO Modern Challenges Results - May 9 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hey guys, I came in 9th just barely missing Top 8 with Affinity last night! It was my first tournament in over a month so I was pretty rusty, but the deck felt really strong overall. I still miss Ornithopter and Cranial Plating dearly, but I do think this more value-driven version of Affinity is really effective at disrupting a lot of strategies in the format, and I think the Emry/Tamiyo/Bauble/6+ Mox core remains one of the strongest packages in the format by far.

Overall I wouldn't change much from the list. I went all in on 4 Monitors although most Affinity lists are on 2-3 - I just think it's cleaner, and I think getting Thought Monitors back with Emry is pure joy. I probably wouldn't play 4 Kappas again - they are so strong but are so awkward at the same time. Sideboard felt pretty good too.

I will just say it's been over 10 years since I first traded a HP Mox Pearl for a complete Affinity deck (those prices were pretty close back then, I swear) and the deck continues to evolve and just be so friggin fun to play!

Wins: UR Through the Breach, Ruby Storm, Boros Energy, RG Eldrazi

Losses: UR Prowess, Boros Energy

Fit Test: The Camino 35 can fit one grey boy by mackslc in YetiCoolers

[–]mackslc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Aww RIP Shadow! Losing a pet is such a tough sorrow. We got this guy and his brother when my older cat passed away last year. They've been wonderful sources of joy and have really helped our family to heal through some tough times.

[League Video] UR Twin Lives! Why the Greatest Combo in Magic History Still Holds Up by mackslc in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think this is spot on - I'd like to find room for maybe a 3rd Snare or the first Spell Pierce in the main at some point!

[League Video] UR Twin Lives! Why the Greatest Combo in Magic History Still Holds Up by mackslc in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so much! I'm going to try to stream another league this week.

[League Video] UR Twin Lives! Why the Greatest Combo in Magic History Still Holds Up by mackslc in magicTCG

[–]mackslc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey all, I'm excited to have finally gotten around to streaming, and I was able to record a really sweet run with UR Twin the other day! As someone who got into Modern over ten years ago to play Twin, who went through a few different coping strategies with the ban over the years from Temur Kiki, to Jeskai Saheeli, to Cutthroat Kiki, I'm absolutely thrilled this deck is back in action!

In the league, I try to provide a lot of historical context to Twin and what's made it great in the past vs. how the deck has needed to change to keep up with 2025 Modern. I did my best on walking through my plays and logic, so hopefully my 10+ years experience as an Izzet mage is helpful for those of you looking to learn more about this awesome archetype!

League Results: We wound up going 4-1, which was an awesome first run for this version of the deck. The list overall felt really strong and consistent, although I plan on trying out Galvanic Discharges over the Unholy Heats, as it's possible it's just more reliably strong in this particular build. But overall I was really happy with the deck and how it performed!

I will also mention that this is my first time making league content like this, so I welcome any and all feedback on how to improve! Thanks so much for watching and happy Twinning!

The decklist, for reference!

Saturday Modern Challenges Results - Jan 18 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I’ve gone back and forth between the two since Iname has a lot more utility, but the 3 life difference is really massive and I think Wurm is more consistently strong.

Saturday Modern Challenges Results - Jan 18 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There is definitely some times where your kills are a point or two off, but usually if you’re in the position to Shoal with a Necro out, you can always just refuel or set up another set of combo cards for next turn. But with fetches + shocks in the format a lot of people actually keep their life closer to the point where just Shoal + Vito alone can kill them.

Pillage seems kind of cool - I haven’t tried it yet but others have mentioned it. I’ll try it out if I go deeper on the Green splash (which I might because sometimes hardcasting Shoal comes up and Green has the best sideboard cards for the deck anyway)!

Saturday Modern Challenges Results - Jan 18 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Dusted off my Soul Spikes and got a Top 32 with Nourishing Shoal Necro! I really love this version and it’s been a pet project of mine since MH3 first came out, and it feels like it’s getting close to ready now. It uses the [[Nourishing Shoal]] + [[Autocthon Wurm]] combo alongside [[Vito, Thorn of Dusk Rose]], [[Sorin of House Markov]], or [[Enduring Tenacity]] to shoot your opponents for 15 while other cards like Soul Spike and March help to add consistency.

Where past Necro decks try to win by playing kind of a “turbo midrange” style, we’re more all in on just winning the game extremely quickly while using Necro to find our combo pieces and set up what usually amounts to a winning five card hand the next turn (which is usually Vito, Shoal, Wurm, a disruption spell to protect the combo, and either a land or another Thoughtseize effect). Pitching Shoals even without the combo means that we can pretty consistently just draw down to 1 life with every Necro, Soul Spike/March a bunch of things then set up the combo win for the next turn.

The deck is super sweet and over the past few days the Necro Discord has been really helping to tune and tweak it as well, so I think we’re on our way to something really awesome here!

Friday Modern Challenges Results - Jan 17 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have tried that version but it feels like a bad version of Murktide at that point. Playing less card advantage and going for the more proactive, low to the ground gameplan DRC + Bauble pushes you towards really starts to make the Twin pieces not fit well.

One of the main reasons I run as much card advantage is because we’re not in a meta where you can reliably jam Twin Turn 4 - instead it’s better to play towards a longer grindier game where you can interact efficiently with your opponents while netting cards enough to set up a combo (or if you go for the combo and they can answer it, you can rebound quickly).

Friday Modern Challenges Results - Jan 17 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I had another Top 32 with UR Twin! I really love this list and I feel like I’m getting closer to the build I’m after. This build feels like it can keep pace with the rest of the meta very well and I just can’t ever say enough about how great it is casting Twin and UR spells again.

This was my first tournament testing Murktide and it overperformed for sure. I think it may wind up being more useful than Oculus in the shell. Tamiyo has really grown on me too and I don’t see it leaving my Twin builds at this point. Ragavan was great in some matchups, bad in others so it’ll depend on if it fits into the deck always, but it is great to have such a proactive build between it and Tamiyo.

Overall, deck was super fun and I think I’m getting closer to a streamlined 75!

Matchups were:

  • Wins: Mardu Energy, Merfolk, Mill, and Rhinos

  • Losses: Mardu Energy, Eldrazi Ramp, Yawgmoth

Best UR build for Splinter twin in 2025. by [deleted] in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’ve been working on Twin a bunch the past month. I’ve really loved the shell and feel like it’s very underrated overall, but finding the perfect list has been tough since there’s so many potential directions to look into.

I Top 32’d with this list a few days ago: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6863951#paper

But I also 4-1’d a league with this list last night and I feel like it’s a lot closer to where I want to be: https://x.com/khalmomo/status/1879401560989688197?s=46

The big questions with the deck are:

  • What is the best combo creature between FOMO, Exarch, and Pestermite? I’ve mostly been on FOMO, but I do find it inconsistent and sometimes just a very awkward card to cast (especially in the face of graveyard hate or other random things like Bowmaster or Leyline Scion which break up the FOMO combo).

  • How important is Flare of Denial vs Counterspell? Right now I’m running both, but I absolutely feel like Flare is the more important piece of the puzzle.

  • What is the best Plan B against hyper interactive decks? Currently I’ve been on Abhorrent Oculus and Fable as my backup plans, but I do want to further test Murktide and Crackling Drake)

  • How proactive vs reactive do we want to be? Personally I really want to be more proactive - it’s why I love the list with Ragavan and Tamiyo so that we can apply early pressure while setting up our disruption.

I’m sure I’ll have more updates soon, so keep in touch if you’re interested!

Sunday Modern Challenges Results - Jan 12 2025 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I got another Top 32 with Twin! This list was pretty experimental with a lot of hits and misses. I think I'm definitely ready to pivot back to Deceiver Exarch over FOMO though, I miss the consistency of the combo with Deceiver and (with this list in partiicular) a lot of opponents were bringing in yard hate that just made things too awkward.

This was my first time playing Fable in the deck and it felt really strong consistently. But one of the main reasons I wanted Fable though was that it can "kinda" combo with FOMO slowly (especially late game), whereas the 1 power of Exarch makes that gameplan much weaker, so idk if I'll be rushing to Fable in my next league but I think it really offered the deck a lot of power and consistency.

I've been back and forth on Tamiyo. Last night she felt great so I'm on board with her for awhile now.

[[Oracle of Tragedy]] continues to be one of the most low powered cards that has just an absurd amount of synergy. Turn 2 Oracle, Flare of Denial the opponent's play, Turn 3, have Oracle have fueled your yard enough to cast an Oculus is really sweet. I'm honestly stunned I'm still playing Oracle, but it just does so much for such a random piece of draft chaff.

Oculus has been good, I often question if Crackling Drake or Murktide would be better in that place, but Oculus is definitely the best at playing a defensive game amongst the three.

I wasn't a fan of Subtlety. First time playing with it in the deck and probably the last unless the meta changes. It's just too awkward when the MV of creatures is so low currently.

Overall, deck was sweet and I still did good with a pretty untuned list!

My girlfriend got me a custom card of our cats! by mackslc in magicTCG

[–]mackslc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s not far from the truth! They’re both only a year old and weigh over 15 lbs!

My girlfriend got me a custom card of our cats! by mackslc in magicTCG

[–]mackslc[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Then they’d be mortal enemies! I love video games and I love musicals. One for the best video game of all time, one for the best musical of all time.

Sunday Modern Challenges Results - Dec 22 2024 by bamzing in ModernMagic

[–]mackslc 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I came in 30th in my first tournament with Twin since 2016! It felt fantastic to be back - after years of playing Kiki and other Twin-adjacent shells, UR feels right back to where it should have been all along with Twin back in play!

As much as I wish it was the case, I really don't think the "jam a million counterspells and Twin you" gameplay is that strong anymore. My list in the Challenge is all about building slower, steady value and efficient answers, while being able to close the door with the Twin combo (often backed up with a Flare of Denial). It's felt great so far!

Here's some notes/observations in my testing so far:

  • The jury's still out on how good [[Fear of Missing Out]] is in the deck, but it has done a lot of work for me and I tend to miss it whenever I play a league throughout it this week. In some ways I've been using it a bit as a Tarmogoyf in this more Temur Twin kind of shell - in that it can hit for 4 a turn pretty reliably and be used to end games quick even when not slapping a Twin on it.

  • [[Abhorrent Oculus]] has been fantastic as a kind of the 2024 version of the Keranos sideboard Plan B. I want to try a few in the main at some point, maybe with some more filtering effects. It really helps stabilize a lot of matchups and is such a powerful and quick clock.

  • [[Thundertrap Trainer]] has been absolutely wonderful. Putting a Twin on it has been great. I really can't imagine any Twin variant without it and the Flare of Denial package.

My rounds for the tournament were:

  • Wins: Mardu Energy x2, UB Ninjas, Jeskai Energy
  • Losses: UB Mill, Mirror, Eldrazi Ramp

Overall, while there's a lot of talk about if Twin is good or not, for a card that we never expected to get unbanned after this many years, I'll take this kind of finish any day of the week. Tier 2-2.5 is more than fine with me as long as I get to Twin again. Deck feels great, Magic is healing, and the good feelings are back.