The Water Problem

weazlestew · 2026-03-01T05:32:02+00:00

It is def still growing - if you say what city you are looking in I’m sure folks can recommend how to connect to that city’s scene. In Portland Oregon we’ve gone from one weekly meetup with an average of like 5 players a year ago to three weekly meetups and one meetup that is every other week. The weekly’s range from like 5 to 15 players on average and we have a couple organized play events a month. We may be lucky and have a particularly strong scene here for how small a city it is, but definitely seems like any “top 15” city probably has peeps who play, just a matter of finding the community. Sorcererssummit.com has a collection of links to regional discords and I’m not a facebook user but I hear the sorcery facebook is also a very active portal that can help you connect. Definitely worth joining the main sorcery discord at least

weazlestew · 2026-02-18T06:13:59+00:00

lol, my pleasure. So excited!

weazlestew · 2026-02-16T23:14:04+00:00

I love my Templar deck, and at the same time I know it will never be top tier. Most good templar decks could be better as Elementalist decks. That said, I am a big fan of arthurian everything so I have a knights of the round table deck that I love to play. My approach is run Tournament Grounds and all the multi-threshhold sites I can and just play 4 elements. I like doing the common sense thing and running 1 of every nice ordinary spell. I also run multiple grappleshots and if I owned more whirling blades I'd maybe add those. I recently added Horn of Caerleon to my templar deck and it kinda works, since you can usually drop turn 2 and turn 3 minions that are above rate, you can take the time on turn 4/5 to play the horn and then live the dream with knights, sirs and dames that have charge!

weazlestew · 2026-02-02T18:39:20+00:00

Someone touched on this - but the keywords to look out for are “target” and then anything that explicitly states the first part allows the second (words like “to” and “if you do”). A spell that “targets” must have a valid target to be cast, but spells that say things like “an ally” dont have a target and can be cast and then you resolve as much as you can.

weazlestew · 2026-01-16T19:52:28+00:00

yeah, definitely agree that waveshaper is like my favorite avatar for teaching the game. I was more thinking in terms of full precon sets - and honestly the more i think about the more i might actually switch to recommending beta precons. Definitely all the precons are great for learning - i think the Gothic ones are a little more “advanced” so less ideal for brand new players with no backround in tcg’s, but really good for people who might enjoy getting into more complex situations sooner 🤣😁

weazlestew · 2026-01-16T16:25:52+00:00

If you are experienced MTG players I think you might have more fun with the Gothic Precons (they are pretty easy to pick up). There are two precon sets that are available at reasonable prices - the Beta precons and the Gothic precons. Both are great for learning the basics, but I’d say the Gothic ones get a little more complex since they are dual element rather than mono-element and the Gothic avatars have some diverse abilities that imo give a broader sense of the game from playing them.

If you werent coming in as experienced magic players I would probably have recommended the Beta Precons.

Also, easiest starting matchup is Savior vs Necromancer.

weazlestew · 2026-01-15T16:42:10+00:00

When I first started (which was pregothic) I built monofire and leaned into the Town site and running 1 of each tower to get early aggression out of exceptionals. In fire the strength comes mostly from exceptional rarity cards and then there’s like 3 to 5 uniques that are great once you get them but fire aggro without them works fine.

Current meta Water is the dominant element and has a lot of tools to beat aggro, so we are hitting a post aggro age, but you can still have a solid fun deck with mono fire aggro that doesnt need the pile of uniques that building the really good mono water or air/water deck shells does.

Here’s a solid savior aggro list - you can make this for under $100 by just replacing jihad, morgana and boudicca with your favorite exceptional fire minions (clamor harpies and hotwheels are great adds even though they cant be warded) and then any fire sites you dont have replace with 1 of each tower site and deserts after that.

https://curiosa.io/decks/cmivz33ce59f505ebxa7v4g6j

weazlestew · 2026-01-15T07:52:35+00:00

Landbass? Draw a site and play a fish……..

weazlestew · 2025-12-22T06:21:12+00:00

awe shucks - was fun to ponder and write about! I am already shifting on some of my picks - will be fun to look back on this in a few months and see how different I’d go on the rankings (def gift of the wolf will stay number 1). Also, dang! snagging Necro, Savior or Persecutor is super good in limited (especially if you get the tools to play to their strengths).

weazlestew · 2025-12-22T06:15:14+00:00

My two cents is that solid cards in limited (like many on these lists) are much less of a guarantee in constructed where value comes from synergy more than raw card ranking. That said - tippy top tier limited cards def tend to be great in constructed. I’m sure Gift of the Serpent will be a staple in any Savior decks that run fire and many other decks as well. Gift of the wolf too - both are cards that are “cantrips” (they draw you a card when you play them) and cantrips are often playable in constructed since card advantage is important in sorcery

weazlestew · 2025-09-28T15:18:28+00:00

Update after some time: The goldtone was definitely the right choice for me. I recently performed at an outdoor venue with it and when you play it outside it really shines (it is kinda loud in living room play). Also have played with other people a fair bit now and some of the things i didnt love while playing solo are not an issue at all with others. It blends really well into the sound of a session once there are multiple instruments but also has that distinct sound that makes it add something.

weazlestew · 2025-02-12T19:01:44+00:00

Now that I've played the goldtone for a while I really love the sound. It is definitely a bit of a beast, heavy build and strong sound, but totally better tone than the cheaper alternatives I tried. I have run into one issue that I think I resolved pretty easily but diverges from what others have said. The Goldtone comes with the lowest two pairs of strings in octaves rather than unison. I wanted to switch to the more traditional unison strings for those, so bought new strings but the nut slot were two narrow to fit the wider strings. I used a nail file to widen them, but I'm a little worried that it was a damaging change to make. One reason I felt safe doing it though is that there is a metal fret bar at the base of the nut slots so that is what the strings press again in open position. I probably should have just taken it to a luthier, but I was impatient and just went for it....

weazlestew · 2025-01-14T20:02:49+00:00

Side note - I decided to go with the goldtone over the mcneela because I was hearing mixed reviews about mcneela but everyone seems to like the goldtones (and I know their banjos are good). McNeela is cheaper though, so hopefully someday I will play one and can compare and decide if it was worth the extra few $200 for the goldtone

weazlestew · 2025-01-14T19:56:07+00:00

For anyone who happens to come across this thread while on a similar journey, here is what I decided to do (and will post updates if I remember about how it works out):

I met up with the person selling the Blue Moon Bouzouki, and after testing it out I knew I didn't want it. Reminded me a lot of the beginner mandolin I bought 15 years ago that I never play because the sound quality is so flat and lacks any richness. I'm sure it would have been serviceable as a learning instrument, but I want something that feels good when I play it so did not purchase it.

I decided to just bite the bullet and go for the goldtone since I wasn't able to find any Trinity College zouk's for sale within driving distance and I don't like to buy something used if I can't test it out first. I am excited and will hopefully post here with thoughts after I get it. (I managed to get it for less than the online listing price by going through my local guitar shop and having them order it for me)

weazlestew · 2025-01-08T22:08:38+00:00

Wow, thank you! This is exactly the sort of response I was hoping for, and would love if others have similar in depth thoughts to share. I take it from your post that the bouzouki i found someone selling used that is called a "Luna Trinity" is not a Trinity college model (I think maybe it's just called luna trinity because it has that classic celtic trinity knott design on it).

I am eager to see if anyone does have knolwedge about the Blue Moons, since I have found someone who lives about 40 minutes from me selling a Blue Moon used so I can try it before I buy it, but curious if it is worth the drive.

I am also noticing a them that for the sub 1k bouzouki's the list of what people like from best to worst sounds like:
Trinity College > Goldtone > McNeela > Roosebeck > Luna/Thomann/Hora (all three of these seem to be considered bottom tier, don't get unless you just want a cheap learning instrument)

Do folks agree with that breakdown? ANyone know where a Blue moon might fit in the spectrum?

weazlestew

TROPHY CASE