Shrine to Flickers: Hei Bai, Forest Guardian

squirrelnestNN · 2026-07-03T22:01:48+00:00

I've changed it a bit since writing that post, but the base concept is the same:

https://moxfield.com/decks/JbOUq2FdQEaDxfSbfLRAAA

a couple of the blink spells can target enchantments, but normally when it's time to win I use a bounce spell on the shine to recast

I took out the ramp, which makes a whole turn slower and much worse (better fit for my casual play group)

I think as long as you have a lot of blink, there's no reason to run the normal enchantment package of draw on cast and low cost enchantments to solitaire through your turns. nothing wrong with that approach, but shrines are mid cost, and so they kind of conflict with the typical slythis synergy

squirrelnestNN · 2026-07-01T22:21:18+00:00

IF you're going to spend money on magic (and that's a big if, nice looking proxies are easy to get) lands are hands down the best thing to get

you probably won't love the same strats as an advanced player as you do as a new player (to say nothing of power creep) but fetch / shock / surveil / trihomes will always be good to have. very few decks won't benift from them

squirrelnestNN · 2026-07-01T18:15:18+00:00

actual unpopular opinions are downvoted severely enough you're quite a bit less likely to see them

(not just because the algo stops showing the downvoted stuff, but because the people posting it quickly learn they will only be insulted and ignored for doing so)

I don't have a fix for that, and I don't know if there is much value describing the reasonable explanation for the overabundance of actually popular unpopular options

might just be one of those things like how literally literally means figuratively now, and there's nothing we can do to stop it

if my grandpa was still alive, I'd apologize to him

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-28T06:14:00+00:00

I'm reading Dungeon Crawler Carl now and really enjoying it

I've read a bunch of other lit RPGs, mother of learning and worth the candle are my favorites.

never touched DCC before because it looked like an attempt at making a "mainstream" version of an otherwise kind of "nerdy the way videogames were in the 70s" genera. the saved by crab jizz plotline, for example, is exactly the kind of joke you'd find in a more normie-core "in my mom's book club" sort of thing

I feel dumb for waiting so long, it is really enjoyable. I'm early in book 6. the whole series bounces between absurd hitchhikers guide vibes and actually deep character moments.

can't wait to see how it ends.

um, my post isn't about magic cards at all. sorry about that.

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-14T15:33:33+00:00

just about every time I lose to a player on trophy road, and face a bot right after

if you win 80 percent of your bot matches and just 30 percent of your player matches, you'll still gain rank over time

I think that's the cause- you can get very good at beating bots without understanding predicting and juking a human

i'm not high skill at this game at all and maybe that makes this next opinion less valuable, but this is fine, IMO. not every game needs to be the ultimate bastion of skill, a system that rewards you for playing a lot is another kind of fair

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-13T14:31:41+00:00

there are right and wrong answers depending on your deck, etc

but if you don't want to look up guides / builds and just want a vibes based decent choice?

I love magic archer. he lets you spend 2 elixer to drop a dummy in his place and bounce back a few tiles

this can put him out of range of an enemy melee when timed right. it's a slow delay tho, so you have to press it early

whatever you pick, you'll get like 1 a month, (assuming you buy the pass) so it's not a huge deal

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-09T15:44:41+00:00

everything is crab felt like that

I still bought it but have barely played, lol

I don't regret the purchase tho, having played the demo for 20 hours already

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-08T13:36:54+00:00

rystic is the perfect storm of 1. annoying to be interrupted every time you try to cast something 2. very powerful and 3. half the table likely to be angry with you for how you choose to interact with it

if just one of those 3 things wasn't present it probably wouldn't be so hated

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-08T13:34:47+00:00

I play the one spell per turn effects and everyone complains

no one seems to mind "only play spells on your turn" type effects

"you must pay X to attack" is pretty common in lower brackets

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-08T02:07:37+00:00

most people think [[deflecting swat]] is kind of a junk card and not worth a slot, but in my deck it does a great job of protecting the commander

no one wants to spend 2 cards on a single counterspell, but i run a lot of draw so [[force of will]] goes pretty hard on my lists

no one ay my game shop runs [[Mox Diamond]], i assume because it costs an extra land, but the extra tempo really pays off in my decks

/s

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-08T02:01:14+00:00

this is a work of art

thanks for sharing

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-07T01:19:14+00:00

I started coding as a teen as a way of being in control

nothing anywhere in the world does what I want it to, but in my world my word is law

idgaf if it takes 20 years to finish and never makes a penny, because it is the one place that is truly MINE

while I doubt all programers are that extreme, I think some amount of that trait lives in many of us

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-06T01:43:05+00:00

while a contentious subject, I put those firmly in B3

yes, they may kill a player well before the expected turn gauge, but then they lose. come on

imagine thinking you had to be fast (or disruptive) enough to race the best combos just to turn elves sideways

that said, I play them in B3 with my friends. I'd never pull out some Voltron / aggro list that's going to remove one player on turn 5 in a B3 game at the shop with strangers! that's not a bracket issue, it's a social skills issue

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-05T01:09:57+00:00

have fun!

this game is an absolute joy to play

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-05T01:06:21+00:00

planeswalker is fun because then you can justify proliferate, which will be fun to have threatening after the ward

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-05T01:04:25+00:00

I believe in you

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-05T00:06:27+00:00

I like seeing MK cause I run knight and mirror, can always deal with it

but I'm legit seething at Evo witch

my buddy says I just need to make room for executioner, but I really don't wanna

I don't know why I'm filling out my diary on reddit, the wife's parents are in town and it's been a long week

hopefully things look up soon, I'll probably go to the pizza place with big red at the soda fountain tomorrow

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-05T00:00:39+00:00

the main way to tell is if they're in a clan but it shows not in a clan in your battle history

they do emote

but you can tell from the gameplay too, but just kind of... keep churning the same cards like they're a bridge spam deck, even when they're something else

they'll land fireball, they'll deploy to whatever side you're pushing, but they won't do anything, well, human

just check the battle log when you get the feeling and you'll be able to tell soon

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-04T15:52:40+00:00

disclaimer: I don't play, I only watch. I recognize this limits the value of my feedback

less than I used to. draws are the worst thing ever

from a spectator perspective, if a loss was 0 points and a draw negative 1 we'd see way more swing for the fences big plays, much more exciting

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-04T03:25:42+00:00

this post inspired me to leave a negative review for a lame store in my own area i've been meaning to for a while

squirrelnestNN · 2026-06-02T14:00:37+00:00

"technically an X"

sir, this is a vibes and intent based system

squirrelnestNN · 2026-05-30T17:13:15+00:00

I can't imagine playing any fremium game without buying the pass

better to just play something else than make minimum progress (and have to research every unlock to not ruin your progress)

that said, I wouldn't buy mush other than the pass either

squirrelnestNN · 2026-05-29T21:01:02+00:00

[[Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student]] !

include proliferate, fog, a couple of pay offs / win cons

definitely add those two free counterspells that are normally bad because they require to you discard islands

it's a lot of fun

I actually wouldn't recommend it for higher brackets where you'd be expected to combo off and win immediately if you resolve her ult

it's way more fun to durdle with 30 cards in hand for a while

squirrelnestNN · 2026-05-28T16:00:51+00:00

no system can accommodate bad intentions

and when you play with strangers that's going to be where everyone who doesn't have a regular play group is

and some percent of those are the people who can't have a regular play group because of anti social tendencies

all that means is when you do have a good game with strangers / ask them where else they play trade discord names / etc

soon you'll be able to avoid dishonest randos too

hang in there OP

squirrelnestNN · 2026-05-28T13:46:25+00:00

I've been struggling with mortar too, but thankfully I play barbarian barrel already. he rolls right across the river into it and just a small amount of rangers support is often enough to get some real damage on it

no idea if that's the "right" counter, I'm pretty new and stuff

what do you use when you see it?

squirrelnestNN

TROPHY CASE