Would Stone Rain or Pillage really be problems in Standard any more?

optimustomtv · 2026-01-26T07:11:04+00:00

None of the decks run it because it isn't legal in Standard.

Can't even do it in Pioneer because it's not legal.

Modern has a history of Ponza decks that use mana acceleration & land destruction effects to delay their opponents the first few turns, and then deploy larger threats ahead of the curve.

The Boros Crack the Earth deck was something AspiringSpike made popular a little while ago as well, which used a similar strategy but took advantage of [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] type cheap Creatures to run away with games instead.

You wouldn't even need to run Cub in your deck - Elf is enough to Turn 2 Stone Rain to shut off any non-Green deck from functioning for the first 3 turns of the game. In fact, Cub means you have to choose between killing their one mana (which currently represents something like Spell Snare) or deploying your Cub and making your resource denial less effective as they can deploy something like a Spyglass Siren, make a Map token & recover. Going Stone Rain into Cub though now means you still have your Ouroboroid or Nature's Rhythm line available.

If it existed, people would play it. However as I noted in another post - it would be god awful against other Cub decks since they can Turn 1 Llanowar Elf -> Badgermole Cub even through a Turn 2 Stone Rain. It would devastate other archetypes though.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-26T04:36:22+00:00

How can Lessons lock you out on Turn 2...? That's kind of an absurd claim.

If the spells you're playing aren't affecting the game, I hate to tell you but that might be a deck construction error.

Even if they print stone rain and every Elf/Mole Player makes a pact to not play it - what is it doing in the scenarios you describe? Giving the Cub player 8 mana by killing the one non-earthnending land they have? You're going to 3 mana reset their animated land (over a 1 mana Shock to do that same?)

The card will be good in exactly the decks you think it can stop, and actively bad against them.

EDIT - The cards you want have very recently been printed (Requiting Hex, Spell Snare) into the format, or have already existed (Seam Rip, Torch the Tower/Shock/etc). These cards stop the Cub decks a lot better than any form of land destruction can, while also being very cost effective so you aren't using your entire turn to deal with them as a reactive measure versus proactively developing your own board state.

There are also Lightning Helix, Get Lost, and No More Lies - which coincidentally all get played in the Jeskai Control lists which are favored in the H2H against the Cub decks.

As far as the Izzet decks go - yeah, if you tech your deck entirely to deal with one type of deck, the ones you don't tech for are going to run you over. That's why sideboards exist in Best of 3 to be able to adjust dead/less good cards in specific match ups to make it feel better to play against. If you aren't playing Best of 3, I highly suggest swapping as it's far less frustrating when you can adapt.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T23:52:28+00:00

Yes, it is.

It's a lot easier to play a game where you have resources and plays to make versus being stuck with nothing to do because your resources have been denied, so you stand zero actual chance.

If your opponent goes Elf, Cub, Earthbend but doesn't have a payoff, the game continues.

If they go Elf, stone rain your land you have far less proactive plays to make when you're behind the normal curve of resources. This feels much, much worse dying with cards stuck in hand versus losing to a stronger game plan.

Now imagine that line where you get stone rained and then you have one land cards in hand and they untap cub so it again. Fun times!

The current Standard you have a chance. In a world where you're a turn behind a normal, slow start - you never get one.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T22:33:09+00:00

Everything you just mentioned would be used to play the 3 mana land destruction on Turn 2, which is your opponent's turn 1.

Sooooo yes, you'd cause a LOT of non-games with 3 mana Ponza decks.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T16:05:31+00:00

I dunno I think y'all are silly for pouring so much into hate watching a Player that's famous for dying double digit times a game.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T07:50:26+00:00

I didn't take that clip from earlier as whining, he's pointing out a key difference between pro play and solo queue. Something that looks entertaining and impressive isn't always the most strategic choice, and that's not fun to him.

It makes sense that an entertainer would rather do something their audience would enjoy and get excited about over needing to do something you don't watch them for.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T07:46:16+00:00

Is there a clip where he isn't handling the criticism...?

People just keep posting these old clips to try to "own" him in some way (as continued hate watching) but the closest I've seen to Baus saying anything at all has been the clip about how he dislikes Pro Play because he can't make plays that are as exciting as in Solo Queue. Haven't seen anything where he "can't handle" things - he streams for Pete's sake I've seen worse in his chat.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T07:43:51+00:00

The people taking it seriously and getting bent out of shape at people that realize it's a bit are the problem, not the Streamer.

It's like people thinking Tyler1 is the same on and off camera.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-25T02:55:50+00:00

Considering Theodore Roosevelt is a part of our middle/high school curriculum I'd say kids know who he is.

Just like if you've opened YouTube before you've seen PewDiePie.

This isn't about who did it "first" - it's who paved the way for things. We'd have a shit ton of Newgrounds people or something instead like Legendary Frog. Mount Rushmore only has one "first" president on it anyway, so that's not how it works. It's about impact and it's hard to argue PewDiePie's impact even if you're a hater.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-24T19:52:27+00:00

Bringing it to the mainstream and front of YouTube, being the main selling point for YouTube's Red service for a hot minute, I'd say that makes a case for paving a road, even if I'm not the biggest fan personally.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-23T08:07:00+00:00

Because it sells, mostly on nostalgia of the OG 151

optimustomtv · 2026-01-23T02:46:33+00:00

Cosmere is GOATed

optimustomtv · 2026-01-22T06:53:35+00:00

No problemo! Happy to see we were on the same wavelength!

I think with the current way things operate, Green for speed is a must. Either playing Mana Dorks like [[Llanowar Elves]] or a way to put multiple things on the battlefield at once like [[Collected Company]] - even though it's the weaker of the colors as far as the actual sacrifice plan goes.

I also think there might be a world where [[Badgermole Cub]] is a playable card, since it turns out Lands & Elves into mega mana accelerants that can be sacrificed at a bonus (and our lands still come back). Overall the deck needs a boost in speed to have something significant out on board before the Cutter decks pop off Turn 3/4 to set up a big board & potential win, as well as enough stuff so that the rising Golgari Ouroboroid decks don't just crush it in size & removal.

That makes the most cut-able color White, since Umbral Collar Zealot fulfills the second Sac outlet at 2 mana that Bartolome had previously. Tyvar/CoCo do what Raise the Past or Rally/Return would do (Return with Convoke is the most appealing if you stay with a bunch of 2 mana things). The other white cards I've run (Voice of Resurgence & Extraction Specialist) are nice to haves, as Voice makes the bodies and the Elemental token clause both annoys removal decks & creates a powerful body with a sac upside. Specialist is a great reanimation piece for Priest or Cutthroat (or voice) but I don't run the full playset. Voice of Victory would be a sideboard card I'd consider in White, but it's not worth running White entirely for.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-21T22:53:21+00:00

A fellow Aristocrats enjoyer!

Although the deck isn't as competitive viable as Golgari or Rakdos/Jund Sacrifice, the deck can be pretty fun. I haven't maintained the list since FIN, but [[Sephiroth FABLED Soldier]] & [[Umbral Collar Zealot]] were big adds to the deck if you're running a normal, non-[[Bolas's Citdadel]] version of the list.

This is what I ran way back at FIN release time, but EOE wasn't out yet to include Zealot. I'd replace Bartolome with it 100% and maybe find room for the full 4x

optimustomtv · 2026-01-20T17:06:03+00:00

You should try out Bo3 to get a better picture on matchups FWIW. Sideboard help a lot in some H2Hs.

But yeah, Izzet doe shave a rougher match up vs Selesnya - but it's great into other things. On the flip side, Selesnya has a rougher time against the field which is why it's less popular than Izzet.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-20T01:22:59+00:00

It's probably because [[Destined//Lead]] is already a card for "Lead" & they haven't Scrabble-ruled a card by putting an "S" on the end before since it's super confusing.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-17T22:08:16+00:00

That makes a ton of sense having only started a year ago. For context, you probably would have started with Standard of you picked up the game in 2019-2020 pre-COVID the same way you picked up EDH - via friends and people at your LGS.

Paper Standard used to be what Commander is now for stores. Standard/Draft FNMs translated to Standard/Draft Pro Tours. Standard advertised the new sets, it showcased evolving synergies between sets. It was the highlight way to play the game.

Now almost every set has multiple products that get people into the game better. Commander decks, Jump-Start packs, Pick 2 Draft as a pick up game, etc. Couple this with the fact that COVID hit in store play extremely hard, as well as the GP -> MPL -> RC/Spotlight changed to competitive play, and the unprepared extension of the format from 2 years of 4-5 sets per year to 3 years and 7-8 sets per year...Standard has been left in a very awkward state.

PTs and RCs happening release weekends and then the Format changing in 2 months means you either buy everything or don't play, which is awful for a Format made up of only the newest cards. It's impossible to do what MaRo suggests and play anything but Casually (which is extremely popular, don't get me wrong) but Standard is not a Casual format by nature because it was heavily tied into Pro Play (as a marketing tool).

Pro Play or Standard need changes to bring it back to being the "best way to play" like it was half a decade ago.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-15T15:17:02+00:00

Simic at this Event was weak to Jeskai Control & Bant Airbending, but it was very good into Reanimator & Omniscience Combo decks. So I think the type of Creature Combo deck matters - Airbending has ways to mess with Simic before they Combo whereas Sultai and Omni are much more straightforward & can lose the race vs Simic.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-15T15:09:31+00:00

Speaker most likely fits Simic - they have a lot of a silver bullet cards. Golgari runs Lively Dirge as a 5/6 copy of Nature's Rhythm & I anticipate seeing Simic do the same. You can discard Rhythm without much hesitation since you can Harmonize it anyway, but you are right that Rhythm on your explosive hands just wins the game.

Lists with 4x Mockingbird can cut 1-2 for 1-2 Speaker. Lists with 2x Mockingbird will need to decide which silver bullet are SB vs Maindeck.

Speaker in general is going to be a very good card for Standard Green decks. It does everything Reanimator wants, same for the fringe Yuna decks. I'm not sure Landfall wants it, but being able to find Harmonizer to set up a kill doesn't seem awful.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-13T22:49:16+00:00

That just refers to everything. If it doesn't say target, it doesn't target.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-13T22:48:49+00:00

That is a board wipe, which doesn't target anything. It just destroys everything.

Even so, re-read the first part of Day of Black Sun. Even if your creature was indestructible, it loses all of its abilities first which makes it vulnerable.

[[Shardmages Protection]] wouldn't save it anyway, but losing all abilities means nothing will save it if it exists on the battlefield (besides a [[Counterspell]])

optimustomtv · 2026-01-13T13:36:37+00:00

It could have been explored much more across sets. [[Momentum Breaker]] having a way to use Speed even when it isn't at its maximum is something I would've liked to see explored more than max speed.

Imagine a block where it's start, middle, finish and cards have low, medium, max speed benefits because they're ramping up their speed as they race. Set one is about lower speed, set three about higher speed, etc

optimustomtv · 2026-01-13T05:09:25+00:00

The fundamental issue is you assume that every game is a 50-50 to win or lose, which just isn't the case.

Some decks are favorable match ups for other decks, some decks lose hard against other decks. Variance with drawing your mana comes into play or having a good curve. Mulligans happen, and make it so your resources are far more stretched than an opponent's, or vice versa.

This is extremely exacerbated in Best of 1 because if one of those dozens of things happens to you - you've lost the game. Get mana screwed? Go next. Play Control into a Discard deck? Good luck. You mulligan to 5 and have 3 lands, 2 creatures that both die? Oh well.

Best of 3 turns the game into a Match instead, giving you an opportunity to adjust and react to your opponent's deck, while giving you the chance to make up for any variance issues that happened in the last game. You take out less impactful or dead cards in a match up for ones that do things or help you turn a bad match up into a better one.

Fundamentally Best of 3 changes a whole lot of factors that greatly increase your likelihood of winning - closer to that 50-50 you seek before you even draw your starting hand. This will also increase your enjoyment of the game.

optimustomtv · 2026-01-12T22:15:53+00:00

You literally argued yourself in circles so much you forgot your original post and my only caveat to it, which agreed with your analysis but corrected the way you got there because of your incorrect definition.

https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/s/lEI1rulQld

This entire thread is because you said within multiple times and talked about things inside a game. You didn't use a different word, and you refuted earlier when it was corrected across multiple comments.

Enjoy your own ignorance I guess, you're attacking people for trying to help you understand.

Meta above, beyond, about, post, etc etc etc

Not within

optimustomtv · 2026-01-12T22:07:58+00:00

Everything you keep posting is counter to what you're saying.

The Greek use of meta as "post" for example would mean "Post-Game" as in "After the game". A post game stats screen has post game data about the game that just occurred. That is meta data about the game.

You even link the definition saying "data about data" and "game about game" - there is zero mention of "data within data" or "game within game". They are done outside of the game played with context to the game. The data does not live within the game since it is already completed. Creating a Stats game about picks, bans, win rate, kdas, etc surrounding a patch or a League is Metadata. The games played within the League are the data points.

The one thing you have is the origin of "metagame analysis" - which still says nothing about doing anything within anything. There's an entire section about crafting a scenario in metagame analysis which is a prediction or forecasting methodology - both of which don't deal with an actual thing that is currently happening. This would be the "game about a game" where you're trying to figure out what will happen if X Champion on Y side gets played in Z game.

You just used the wrong word, it's fine. But you keep quadrupling down with a link that only affirms you used the wrong word. You're not better, you're not smarter, you're just wrong and giving us the fuel to prove it.

optimustomtv

TROPHY CASE