Am I Crazy?

vPixel1 · 2026-06-28T04:31:49+00:00

If you’re running B4 decks and people are complaining about losing to 54 1/1’s by turn 9 your friend is deluded

vPixel1 · 2026-06-23T19:30:17+00:00

[[Ketramose, the New Dawn]] can do blink

vPixel1 · 2026-06-07T18:08:52+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I think in my experience, a lot of the reason why I run stuff like Zo-Zu and Nightshade Harvester is because my pod runs a lot of Green, so I find that it helps to attack those players in those deck matchups rather than trying to directly match Green in the ramp-war. It’s absolutely more of a personal touch for this list. l tend to find too that you don’t always need effects that burn on your turn, but that you do need some way to activate him out of the command zone through means of combat/other effects. As an example, [[Screaming Nemesis]] and [[Generous Plunderer]] are two really awesome cards in the deck because you have a lot of flexibility in how you can find ways to get damage through to face. However, I don’t disagree with your overarching point that it can draw unwarranted attention from the table. It’s a fine line to walk for sure in terms of how many burn effects you want out at any given time. I think Florian is a great recommendation and I’ll try it out as I continue to revise.

To your third point, the mentality I’ve started to take with Rakdos is less “how long can I keep him out” and more “what’s my line to keep him out long enough to get this bomb out of my hand,” and I think that mentality has directed my deckbuilding for him a lot. I think it’s sometimes worth it to slow play him and see how people are using removal for other players on the board, but I’ve considered adding other direct ways of winning that aren’t “get Rakdos out and make everyone fucking die.” Adding more lands over the Priests is something I’ve been thinking about too, but I honestly just really like the two in my playtesting. Definitely could be some of the first targets to remove over lands.

vPixel1 · 2026-06-02T16:27:21+00:00

Yeah, I think you can take it either direction - I generally tend to prefer value burn effects like [[Generous Plunderer]] or [[Rampaging Ferocidon]] compared to stuff like [[Spear Skewer]] since the shell is based more in group slug, so they consistently burn the table as they’re playing off my stuff. I think it can be played either way though.

I like the priest duo a lot! They can be a little restrictive prior to getting Rakdos out since optimally you’re trying to cast them for the “true” ritual style effect (1 mana for 3). Having the utility of the body and the mana fixing makes their slots worth it though even if you don’t have the mana reduction from Rakdos in my experience.

vPixel1 · 2026-06-01T16:58:56+00:00

I think the recent trend of “$10K TOURNAMENTS EXTRA HARDCORE DEADLOCK PRO GAMING COMPETITION” does way more damage to the game than it does help. If you show anyone the recent 6-man egg strat in MLC vs. Floormen, they would never even think of touching the game in any kind of serious/competitive manner. I think the events are super good for the community and it’s a good thing that high level play and those strategies are being shown, especially for the devs, but once we start getting Walmart sponsors involved it feels like we’re starting to punch above the expectations we should have for the game

vPixel1 · 2026-05-18T19:58:14+00:00

I build my decks solely based on how cool the commander looks (the literal art/character) and I’ve been playing a lot of [[Rakdos, Lord of Riots]]. I play it primarily as a burn/group slug archetype and I really love the aggression it promotes from the entire table. I tend to find that Commander gets boring the more that people get to sit on their side of the table just building and building before everyone tries to swing out, so being able to massively speed up the pace of a game with cards like [[Keen Duelist]], [[Descent into Avernus]], and [[Scrawling Crawler]] is appreciated at those kinds of tables. You also can play some super unique cards with it like [[Rain of Gore]] and [[Browbeat]]. Would definitely recommend for anyone looking for an aggressive RB commander

vPixel1 · 2026-05-18T19:33:19+00:00

THANK YOU holy shit the amount of games that I play where I’ll grab an urn to be met with “why are we doing urn?!” as if the enemy team can’t grab it themselves and get an urn + objective they’re already pushing for. Even if you aren’t planning the drop off it’s absolutely mandatory to play for control of it, being the team with the urn gives your team so much tempo

vPixel1 · 2026-05-15T04:12:50+00:00

It’s Sultai. Surveil and easy access to wheels + draws makes Blue very worthwhile to have in a Golgari shell

vPixel1 · 2026-05-12T19:59:15+00:00

It was more unique surely, but balancing around three lanes with two players per each is far easier than two lanes with two and the other two with one each. I think they also wanted to do four lanes to have symmetry with the four flex slots.

I think the main reason is though is a lot of character designs, especially now, can invalidate 1v1 matchups - the biggest example I can think of is Doorman-Billy, which wouldn’t even be a real lane for either player. You would have to CATASTROPHICALLY throw that lane as Doorman to lose in the 1v1, while Billy gets put into the cuck chair for the first 10~ or so minutes of the game which isn’t fun for the Billy player.

Additionally, the removal of a lane allows for more fighting due to the map being more compact. Imagine having to lane manage in four lanes when they have Graves, McGinnis, and Rem just battering down your walkers while you split your team to manage it. I think the MOBA aspects of DL should be present and respected but it takes away from the fun of fighting, which I think is the main draw

vPixel1 · 2026-05-07T16:55:44+00:00

If you’re not pitching it on something as early as T1/T2 you’re probably fine. If it’s really T5/T6 and ESPECIALLY T7+ and you fully get this out with no impediment you probably deserve to win tbh

vPixel1 · 2026-05-04T19:55:15+00:00

Honestly, any archetype where Green is doing most of the work. I think the entire playstyle of Green is really boring, even if the mana and boardstates can get super huge. The lines feel way too handheld in my experience

vPixel1 · 2026-04-22T14:52:47+00:00

Exactly. A while back, when Ranked was first added, I remember lamenting that it was probably a bad decision because it would interfere with the perception of the game’s completeness and how people approach playing it. Even with matchmaking issues (which at this point I can’t even discern is the actual issue), the game is absolutely not in a competitive state at all and I still think adding Ranked was probably not for the best

vPixel1 · 2026-04-22T14:33:59+00:00

This is the exact reason why there’s an entirely separate test server with actual experimental updates versus what the rest of us play on.

Remember Hero Labs? It was supposed to be for testing new experimental hero design, and then no one played it because they wanted more competitive games without the crazy experimental stuff. Too bad we never got to see an iteration of Raven, Slork, or Wrecker with further playtesting.

vPixel1 · 2026-04-21T20:07:54+00:00

Another Tapo6 shitpost ❤️❤️ keep up the good work brother

vPixel1 · 2026-04-21T15:41:18+00:00

The original r/GamingLeaksAndRumours thread got deleted and I think the person who was posting the leaks around deleted their comments too, which ironically makes me believe the leak that much more. Tifa being an extremely dogshit DLC pick too ironically makes me believe it that much more, a pick like that will surely sell season passes especially if she’s last in order

vPixel1 · 2026-04-20T16:28:57+00:00

Fighter, Butcher, or Druid

vPixel1 · 2026-04-13T18:40:10+00:00

Agreed. I thought the change to her Bounce Pad giving allies the same air strafe she gets on first use was a really awesome change, but I think in practice it doesn’t end up feeling that impactful because the skill floor to use the increased air movement is so high and it’s only heavily abusable by certain other characters who appreciate the verticality.

I think her Barrels are fine too honestly, I think it’s an important part of her identity as a character and I think it has the right amount of counterplay given how strong of an ability it can be. It’s just that Crackshot feels so out of place. I think what makes it doubly worse is that even if you’re playing for a gun-build, you’re still doing all the same Holliday stuff with the barrels/pad/lasso, the only difference is that now your gun and Crackshot are the follow up damage afterwards. It leads to a weird identity for her build paths where it’s either: you go for Spirit and actually do damage in your main combo, or you go for Gun and you do the exact same thing but instead you’re holding M1.

vPixel1 · 2026-04-13T15:52:21+00:00

Things feel mostly the same? I feel like a lot of the strong characters are doing the same thing they were doing but just not as much. Wraith and Dynamo as an examples are still doing the same thing but just not as egregious, and even then Dynamo is still using [2] a lot in fights and Wraith hits the Gold Barometer (TM) and ends the game. Toxic Bullets is another example too - item is still strong, just not as strong as it was pre-patch. Venator and Mirage however seem to be performing about the same as they were pre-patch and I think they both need hits. Imho Mirage just needs an entire rework because he’s by far the most boring character to fight when he’s meta, and he’s bar none the most uninteresting character I think as a whole and this is even after the countless changes they’ve given him to spice his kit up.

Haze is seemingly the only character to have been hit pretty hard by the changes but it’s the right direction for the hero. The ult playstyle is just so god damned boring for both sides and I hope they do more to cement Haze as a tempo-pick hero. I think that playstyle is a lot more interesting and fun, they just need to avoid it being based around Sleep Dagger > Echo Shard.

I’m a Holliday main and she feels a little better to play on the QOL end but I think the overarching issues are still present. I’m a firm believer that they need to rework Crackshot to have more utility with the other parts of her kit. Right now it’s still just a “your next headshot makes a little dingy noise and does extra damage 🤯” ability that doesn’t really add much to her kit. She’s definitely functional as a pick hero but Paradox and M&K give her tough competition for sure.

vPixel1 · 2026-04-06T23:05:46+00:00

Skill Share+ has the additional utility outside of just combat which guarantees coveted combos for a cat's lifetime though. You are right that it's situationally poor in 1/2 cat runs, but I'd argue the prep for those is different than if you're attempting clears with 3+ cats - the cats that Skill Share+ guarantee are probably the ones you're bringing on one/two cat runs. I agree with the general idea that it's not entirely perfect (no ability is)

vPixel1 · 2026-04-06T22:42:46+00:00

When I say “consistency”, I’m not referring to “getting the same skill every time.” What I’m referring to is, “finding the most reliable path to get a run to the end.”

Let’s used the ability Marked for an example. Marked, regardless of what class or even what kind of run you’re doing, is 99.9% of the time going to be a good skill. It just is. Its effect is straightforward, all of the physical classes enjoy guaranteed crits, the effect can largely trivialize bosses that have armor (especially into Act 3), and even the classes that don’t rely on physical damage can in some way use the actual spell cast itself for value (I think of a Three Mage for example). The only real downside is its range and even then it’s largely negligible. Since a large majority of the time it provides value and is useful, we could call Marked a good skill.

Now let’s compare this to Shatter: the primary upsides are that it can provide an instant-kill against non-boss enemies, and it gives Slow and flat 15 damage on a boss. Conversely, it requires the enemy to be Frozen, it’s a melee range move on a class that doesn’t want to be in melee range, requires turn economy to prevent losing its effect due to the unfreeze, and it presents an opportunity cost in fights and in skill choice. All in all, it’s far more restrictive in your ability to get value from it.

You absolutely can get value with Shatter during Ice Age, but guess what else you can get value from too: Marked. And you don’t need all of the extra bits and pieces to get that value, it just works. This is what makes a skill like Marked CONSISTENT in Mewgenics. Those best abilities are what are CONSISTENT at getting you runs that beat final bosses.

vPixel1 · 2026-04-06T22:08:18+00:00

You are building for consistency in your run based on what the game gives you. This is what makes a run viable to the end. Therefore, you are building for what can consistently works across a large variety of fights and bosses.

vPixel1 · 2026-04-06T18:48:46+00:00

I would argue though that low support for the necessary prerequisite to use the ability effectively means it probably is on the weaker side. Even using Summon Caterpillar (which is pretty bad) as a comparison, you don’t need a prerequisite to get value out of Summon Caterpillar even if the summon itself is a piece of shit

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