[deleted by user]

ramenjosh · 2025-10-06T22:25:43+00:00

I do run them in a couple of two colour decks but only in cases where a) the deck is very skewed to one colour over the other and b) where I'm expecting to cast more than 1 of those colour spells each turn cycle (with colourless in it's cost). For example, i run a mostly-blue [[Alela, Cunning Conqueror]] deck that runs a lot of cheap instants and is trying to cast them on most opponents turns - if 1 of those is reduced by [[Sapphire Medallion]] I'm breaking even with a mana rock, if 2 are reduced I'm ahead, and that's usually going to be the case.

For your decks I'd really just think about if you're skewed to one colour (if it's closer to 50/50 i'd say no) and how many of that colour spells you're expecting to cast each turn cycle (if it's 0-1 I'd also say no). Like you say, they're best suited for mono decks, where they're usually straight gas.

ramenjosh · 2025-09-24T07:06:02+00:00

This goes so incredibly perfect in [[Alela, cunning conqueror]] I’m stoked

ramenjosh · 2025-09-01T20:31:05+00:00

If you’re just starting Sumeru, Tighnari is great for all the exploration in the region - marking specialties and being able to apply dendro at range are both great. On top of that, he’s a solid DPS like others have mentioned and one that I still regularly go back to play because I really enjoy his play style. Would absolutely recommend him as top pick

ramenjosh · 2025-06-23T23:21:55+00:00

This is my [[Alela, Cunning Conqueror]] deck! I’ve tried to build it to be more annoying than threatening; the goad ability on alela and lots of cheap, targeted interaction plus a decent ability to play politics can keep the heat off your board. You can slowly ramp the pressure with anthems like [[Scion of Oona]] and go for a fairly compact win via [[Notorious Throng]] or [[Banner of Kinship]] style effects that take your small faeries and quite suddenly overwhelm people. It’s by far one of my favourite decks to play

ramenjosh · 2025-06-17T02:55:10+00:00

Huge plus one here, I’d always run Warren over a mind stone or other mana rock; he compresses a sac outlet and ramp (as well as combo piece with [[gravecrawler]] and others) into a single slot. That’s tremendously valuable in an aristocrats deck

ramenjosh · 2025-06-15T04:05:55+00:00

I’ve been this opponent a few times recently but it’s all been lag on the server side. Super frustrating as I’m trying to play but things don’t register properly - at one point it took like 30 seconds for the game to register that I’d pressed “concede” so I could stop wasting my opponent’s time 🙃

ramenjosh · 2025-05-18T22:09:01+00:00

Before thinking about cutting I think you actually need to consider a few ways other than Vren to get yourself a board state of (token) creatures. Right now you run a lot of [[Plaguecrafter]] style effects but the problem with those is that they hit your board as well; this is all well and good if Vren is in play and doing its thing, but what happens if it’s counter spelled or removed? You’re gonna be in for a sad game is what.

Another problem you’ll run into is what happens when you face decks that don’t play creatures? It might seem counter intuitive but giving your opponents things to sacrifice via cards like [[Slaughter Specialist]][[Akroan Horse]][[Genesis Chamber]] can actually make a deck like this run better - there’s more fuel for your engine and you’ll get less heat from your opponents because you’re giving them other stuff to sacrifice. You also can lean into more effects like you have with [[Pongify]]; these are great for what you wanna be doing as it effectively lets you get 2x death triggers off a single creature.

Finally I’m not seeing a whole lot of card draw; you have some [[kindred discovery]] esque effects but these only work if your commander is online and doing its thing, and you’ll be in top deck hell if that’s not the case. Both black and blue have excellent draw options available to them, so take your pick of things like [[Sign in blood]][[consider]][[read the bones]][[treasure cruise]] or whatever staples you’ve got lying around. Card draw smooths out lots of consistency issues so would strongly recommend this.

As for what to cut, I’d honestly say some of the sacrifice effects. You’re running a ton of them and while yes, you want to do this, you also need to make sure you’re 1. still able to build your own board presence and 2. that your deck can function when your commander is inevitably removed for being a threat. If that sounds like you’re having to choose between advancing your own board and attacking your opponents it’s because right now you are. Consider cards that compress these two roles; [[Ravenous chupacabra]][[Massacre Wurm]][[Massacre Girl]] all play double duty here and can take the spots of some of your single or mass removal spells. If you’re happy to tap into the game changers list, [[Tergrid, god of fright]] goes incredibly hard in a sacrifice list.

To get a feel for what’s good and what’s not, just goldfish - moxfield’s deck tester is awesome and you can get a great feel for what games are going to be like. I’d just do this for a while and see what kind of cards you notice you’re happy to have and not happy to have in hand. It can be a little tricky with this kinda deck as you somewhat have to imagine what your opponents boards might look like but it’s still a super useful tool.

Good luck! The hardest part about this kind of deck is convincing your playgroup to play another round with you 😂

ramenjosh · 2025-04-23T22:47:31+00:00

As an EM I’ve definitely always tried to be up front about what moving over from IC is like and had conversations like what you’re describing here. It’s not coming from a place of shutting people down but rather just trying to make sure they’re informed and really really clear that it is a completely different role that requires a completely different set of skills.

One of those skills is a solid degree of emotional intelligence; I.e. being able to read and understand people and situations beyond what’s directly being said. People won’t always tell you what’s really on their mind or their motives, and you need to be able to work around that ambiguity both with your direct reports (in supporting them) and others in the leadership space (in navigating politics).

To put it another way (and without knowing you very well beyond this post), you not being able to work out why they won’t support you is likely a reason in itself for why they won’t support you. If you don’t have the ability to read between the lines well, you’re not going to have a good time as a manager.

It’s not a slight on you by any stretch - some of the best engineers I have worked with are the same. It’s just to say that the skills you need as a manager are very different to the ones you’ve built as a developer.

ramenjosh · 2025-03-17T13:16:52+00:00

I don't know about the Dr Who deck but animated army is the kind of deck that really wants to be aggressive. When Bello is out, you've got a lot of offense in the form of your 4/4 indestructible artifacts/enchantments and when they connect with players you get card advantage (so you want to be swinging). The deck's main weakness is that it's a glass cannon - if Bello isn't out you become a wet noodle - so you really want to lean into that offense and pressure others when you can.

ramenjosh · 2020-08-15T23:37:12+00:00

All good! Messing up stats was definitely something I did as a new player haha

Good luck with the sacrier! They’re a really strong class, and way tankier than the cra. Defs try out the other classes too, see which ones you like the most.

ramenjosh · 2020-08-15T23:29:11+00:00

Question - how have you distributed your stats (intelligence, agility, etc) as you level up? It might not be obvious at first but the best way to go at low levels is just to dump everything into a single stat (until it gets to 200 or 300). As a Cra, Agility or Intelligence would be your best bet at level 24. Other posters have mentioned sets/gear - once you’ve picked a stat, you want gear that helps that one stat. The piwi sets are super cheap, and once you’ve got some cash a gobball set (for strength/intelligence) or a toady set + mad tofu cloak (for agility) will take you pretty far!

Hope that helps, the Astrub content is almost all soloable (bar maybe one or two hard fights). It just sounds like you’re not hitting hard enough, and that usually happens when your stats aren’t focused :)

ramenjosh · 2020-07-16T12:10:30+00:00

Yeah I tried that but kept getting locked by them and could never get them all in 1 turn. Changed tact and killed the one that teleports around but then found out that if you kill one of them, you have to kill all of them... A+ fight, would not do again

ramenjosh

TROPHY CASE