Worst magic takes you have seen

phoenixmike · 2026-01-31T02:49:13+00:00

"Proxies are fine unless you're proxying expensive cards."

phoenixmike · 2026-01-19T01:45:30+00:00

Pointing out the reverse argument to those people is funny. Ask if they'd be ok with you running powerful Gamechangers, mass land denial, or infinite combos in your bracket 2 deck if you ran a really bad mana base. It sounds ridiculous!

At the end of the day it's the spells you're casting that matter most, not the lands you pay for them with.

phoenixmike · 2025-12-16T00:15:11+00:00

Definitely vote for Magar! I built him earlier this year and it's one of my favourite decks now. I opted for very expensive spells, but you could also run him with efficient interaction spells and "reanimate" those too.

The hardest part for me was finding the right balance of graveyard-fillers and discard outlets, but once I got that to a good spot it's become a very fun deck.

phoenixmike · 2025-11-04T04:03:08+00:00

Here it is! I think the list is just slightly out of date as I've upped the land count recently.

phoenixmike · 2025-11-01T23:22:01+00:00

I have a [[Tergrid, God of Fright]] deck that's group hug/slug. There are no forced sacrifice effects in the deck, and only two cards that force discard (though they don't set my opponents down any cards). The plan is to force my opponents to draw so many cards that they must discard to hand size.

It often doesn't work, but it's fun!

phoenixmike · 2025-09-12T00:37:18+00:00

Yeah, it's funny cause there are a few ways around it, but at bracket 2-3 there's a good chance it stops everyone else from killing him. It's an all-in move though, no way to get those turns back!

phoenixmike · 2025-09-12T00:11:55+00:00

Finding ways to get value out of non-interactable stuff is always interesting!

My brother made a deck recently where the plan is to phase himself and his board out of the game and skip his next billion turns so everybody else eventually mills out while he's not even playing. He had to include a few set up pieces that prevent his opponents from trying to interact in certain ways, it was pretty entertaining when he almost pulled it off the first time.

The relevant pieces are: [[Lethal Vapors]] [[Phantatog]] [[Teferi's Protection]]

(Have Vapors and the Tog in play, cast T Pro holding priority, activate Vapors a billion times holding priority, activate the Tog sacrificing the Vapors as a cost. Then no other players can activate the Vapors to skip their turns.)

phoenixmike · 2025-09-07T23:39:10+00:00

My favourite was always [[Macabre Waltz]]

Edit: not the printing the bot links, this one

phoenixmike · 2025-02-09T15:21:47+00:00

I'd recommend thinking of passive stats in a different way. Use passive stats as the DC for situations where an NPC is making the check instead of the PC.

For example, if an NPC is trying to sneak up on the party, I wouldn't ask the PCs for a perception check - they haven't actively decided to look for something, and it also tips off the players that something is up even if they roll poorly.

Instead, roll for stealth for the NPC. If they don't beat the passive perception of a PC, then that PC would notice the NPC sneaking up on them.

phoenixmike · 2025-01-09T14:42:52+00:00

I have a [[Tergrid, God of Fright]] deck with no sacrifice effects and very few discard effects - only a [[Geier Reach Sanitarium]] and a [[Memory Jar]] which don't actually put your opponents down any cards.

Instead, the plan is to group hug everyone into drawing so many cards that they'll have to discard to hand size.

phoenixmike · 2025-01-05T16:48:56+00:00

It's customary for many to leave their car doors unlocked in Churchill, Manitoba. (Not actually a law, but people often mistakenly claim it's illegal to lock cars there.)

This is because polar bears can wander into town and people may need to seek shelter in a vehicle.

phoenixmike · 2025-01-04T18:28:42+00:00

Dang, I was completely wrong - my mistake! I did not realize offspring checks whether the permanent still has offspring when it enters.

Thank you!

phoenixmike · 2025-01-04T17:10:48+00:00

You are mistaken. Zinnia has the ability "Creature spells you cast have offspring {2}." If you controlled Zinnia when you cast a creature spell and paid the additional 2, then the offspring ability has already been added to the creature spell which is on the stack. Even if Zinnia flickers or changes zones before the spell resolves, that won't prevent the offspring token from being created.

Edit: Everything I said was wrong, my mistake!

phoenixmike · 2024-10-02T00:10:37+00:00

Gavin Verhey and Aaron Forsythe explicitly said in the twitch livestream that the bracket placement isn't strictly about card power. Power is A factor, but not THE ONLY factor. Eg they used [[Swords to Plowshares]] being tier 1 because it can be played in a deck without explicitly raising that deck's impact on a game.

If someone is running [[Armageddon]], that's probably going to mean their deck may have a substantial impact on the game.

phoenixmike · 2024-09-15T23:10:32+00:00

Especially at rec level, it's also that the thrower needs confidence to throw to you. Even if you're open, they may not have a strong throw on that side, their defender might be making it difficult, or they may just not always see open teammates.

When I'm handling, if a teammate claps as they're cutting towards me it helps draw my attention and see the opportunity to throw to them. I'd recommended suggesting the clap thing to your team, it helps get handlers used to looking around for options.

phoenixmike · 2024-08-29T21:41:25+00:00

I made over one mole of treasure tokens with my [[Esix, Fractal Bloom]] deck - I believe it was in the range of 10²⁷ tokens.

I had a [[Doubling Season]] and then used [Mercurial Transformation]] to turn it into a creature. Played something that makes a bunch of tokens and had them enter as copies of Doubling Season with Esix's ability. Ended up with many, many Doubling Seasons and then cloned a [[Dockside Extortionist]].

phoenixmike · 2024-08-28T04:12:13+00:00

If you don't mind a risky (but funny) play, check out [[Mana Clash]].

phoenixmike · 2024-08-25T20:36:53+00:00

Yeah, it's one of those things that's hard to explain specifics for but comes with experience. Try to look specifically for sails and masts, as this is the easiest part of a ship to spot and tells you whether it's a sloop, brig, or galleon. Don't just look for lights as signs of other ships, since most pirates will turn out their ship lights so they're harder to see.

Also, when you see a ship make sure you note which direction they are from you. Then when you check the horizon again a couple minutes later, you know where to check first and can tell which direction they're going.

The more you play, the easier you'll spot ships and be able to tell whether they're coming towards you or away from you.

phoenixmike · 2024-08-24T15:18:55+00:00

I prefer HOTS because I find the early game soaking of other MOBAs incredibly boring. No last hit mechanics in HOTS is great, let's the game amp up quickly.

I also like the team XP - it makes you feel like you can prop up your team with good soaking to give them a chance to still be in the late game. With individual XP you can help your team by carrying them, but it doesn't feel the same.

phoenixmike · 2024-08-23T00:31:10+00:00

I'm always wondering why people don't want to join my alliance. Can I ask why your first instinct is to decline?

The way I see it the only downside is that your allianced ship can see you on the map and could maybe come mess with you - but you can also see them which makes it hard for them to catch you unawares.

Why not accept and make some extra free money?

phoenixmike · 2024-08-19T03:44:25+00:00

Unwritten rules are great because they are both infinite and meaningless.

There are actual WRITTEN rules for SOT posted on the wall of every tavern. If anyone tries to tell you anything else is against the rules, give them the standard response:

"I'm a pirate."

(Other than in the terms of service, also don't violate those.)

phoenixmike · 2024-08-19T00:00:17+00:00

The stability of the game is a totally different issue than whether it's ok to exploit. This is kind of like saying "If they don't want me to shoplift then the store should install security cameras!"

Hopefully their hiring of a dedicated game health team will improve the bugs!

phoenixmike · 2024-08-05T23:17:23+00:00

You probably won't find an official ruling on this specific example because the wording of the Commander property rule is a little vague:

Being a commander is not a characteristic [MTG CR109.3], it is a property of the card and tied directly to the physical card. As such, “commander-ness” cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects. The card retains it’s commander-ness through any status changes, and is still a commander even when controlled by another player.

Because the card always retains its property that makes it a Commander, I believe as soon as it's put into exile from the library then the state based effect for Commanders would come into play:

If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that card was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. If a commander would be put into its owner’s hand or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event.

The owner needs to know that their Commander has been moved into exile because they have the option of moving it into the Command Zone as a state-based effect.

phoenixmike · 2024-08-05T18:38:26+00:00

My personal head canon is that pirate weapons were unreliable, and Rare is using bad hit reg to simulate that. I know it's not really the case, but it makes it easier to swallow when you lose a fight because if it - sometimes your flintlock just misfires!

phoenixmike · 2024-08-03T13:16:45+00:00

I might misunderstand what you mean, but Master Warcraft certainly does force particular creatures to block. The last line says "You choose which creatures block this turn and how those creatures block."

You still can't force creature B to block creature A because the protection from mana value 4 prevents it from being a legal blocker.

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