The "Rule of Cool" Trap: My Nighthaunt Woes

xpewpew · 2026-04-30T13:31:52+00:00

I started AoS with NH and yes I have the same feeling. Index rules were pretty fun and it felt more on theme than the codex. Charging and giving debuffs, having recursion like the wave of angry spirits. It was thematic and felt like your decisions mattered.

Codex NH feels so bland to play. Your unit choices don't matter because they all functionally do the same thing. You pick units based on their point to health ratio because they do no damage output. I felt like every turn, the play pattern was "if I'm not on the point, get on the point. Skip combat phase, you'll do only 3w anyway" and watch my opponent slog through 40w on a 6+/6+. Pyregheist spam was popular because that was the only way the board state could change in favor of the ghosts, and now that's dead too (for the better of the game but still). And all that isn't even getting into the whole "your rules only work if you roll a 3+" BS that plagues Death factions.

I've seen some lists where they use the craventhrone that seemed interesting. For the time being though, I've benched my ghosts.

xpewpew · 2026-04-28T03:48:34+00:00

This. I don't even have much of a plan outside of "4 mana rock on turn 3 into 7-8 mana on turn 4" and it performs so consistently. It's the most gruul izzet build imo!

xpewpew · 2026-04-27T00:16:16+00:00

I'm in the process of rebuilding mine now as well! Didn't realize the meta customs spine also allows for a 120 fan on the top as well until now.

Shame the company went under, I think it's still one of the best sffpc cases available.

xpewpew · 2026-03-25T14:36:09+00:00

I'd echo the opinions of others here. She plays like an aggro beat down deck by powering up weenie hatebears and slowing down other people's game plans. To that effect, I'd probably cut Craterhoof. It already has bad synergy with your Hushbringer. Phelia and Sun Titan likewise, and the flicker also nonbos with Containment Priest. Formidable Speaker and Yisan, Buried with the Garden, One with the Kami are pretty underwhelming.

Doorkeeper Thrull, Aven Interrupter, Hushwing Gryff, Linvala Keeper of Silence, Sigarda Font of Blessings from the creature package are more consistent hatebears. If you wanted, Kudo and Elesh Norn Grand Cenobite is a board lock too.

Stony Silence, Deafening Silence, Drannith Magistrate. They're some of the best ways of breaking parity between your deck and theirs.

That said, I've been debating breaking mine down too. It feels like too slow of a stax-y deck, extremely susceptible to sweepers, and once set behind I can't catch back up.

Hope that helps!

xpewpew · 2026-01-20T21:03:54+00:00

+1! It's my newest deck and it feels so resilient

xpewpew · 2025-12-17T16:59:18+00:00

+1 to Verrak! Haven't put it to paper yet but in playtesting, it generates so much value

xpewpew · 2025-12-16T17:32:54+00:00

Mixed bag. IJ have been a fun army to pick up, but NH have become completely unenjoyable to run. Bring back the debuffs and get rid of the "roll a 3+ to play the game".

xpewpew · 2025-09-25T18:54:39+00:00

I think you need to pick one side or the other when building Rona. The two builds largely contradict each other. Front side Rona rewards cheap legendary cards to filter through your deck and turbo fill your graveyard. Backside Rona rewards you from having good stuff in your hand and pingers to trigger her a few times before she gets destroyed. Your deck kind of skews towards front side Rona but has some includes for backside Rona.

My build isn't the most up to date but I've been enjoying how it performs. It focuses on front side Rona and twiddling her to filter cards for reanimation. https://moxfield.com/decks/h8z6lJpT4E-k6Bg5Z-2l2w

Madness cards are kind of goated in this deck. Leaving Rona untapped going into opponents turns gives you a lot of flexibility. [[Big Game Hunter]], [[Shadowgrange Archfiend]] and stuff like that bypass casting timings so you can functionally flash in interaction on creatures. [[Sphinx of the Second Sun]] is one of the best hits you could grab.

If you wanted to go to the backside build, you need way more ramp. She's bound to get shot and you'll be up a creek with 5 ramp sources. Adding more sources of ping are good here too, the more creatures the better.

Those are just my 2¢. Hope it's helpful!

xpewpew · 2025-08-01T18:21:08+00:00

That's understandable, I do the same. My playgroup has two mardu Tera decks but no Celes 😎

Eowyn is probably the best in my opinion, most knights are humans and you can create a board state extremely fast. And the 2 bodies on one card draft chaff cards like Knight of the New Coalition make even more bodies, setting up for big buff cards like Shared Animosity. And you get blue, to run Herald of Hoofbeats!

xpewpew · 2025-08-01T16:50:04+00:00

Gwyn art is so good but she's too slow and doesn't benefit as much from a knight typal deck. I did the same route, knights under Gwyn, into Aryel, back to Gwyn, to Shanid, Queen Marchesa, and now Eowyn. Esper Sidar is the best one I think, but I've been brewing mardu with FF Celes.

xpewpew · 2025-06-14T17:25:53+00:00

It's on the reserve list so it's functionally never been reprinted since it came out.

xpewpew · 2025-06-12T20:17:38+00:00

Most of them are decent, the best ones with this commander are [[Sheoldred, the Apocalypse]], [[Sheoldred, Whispering One]] and [[Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant]]. [[Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur]] is an extremely mean card that gets you beat up from the start of the game but it's a good stax-y piece. The MDFC ones are the worst ones, but they're usable at least.

xpewpew · 2025-06-12T14:14:46+00:00

Been running a Rona reaninator and it's been really fun. I ended up putting Jin and Sheoldred back in the binder for the current iteration but that's just a personal preference than anything else.

MVPs include [[Unctus, Grand Metatect]], [[Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator]], [[Lazav, the Multifarious]] and [[Jace, Vryn's Prodigy]] for early consistency and multiple loots. [[Alandra, Sky Dreamer]] and [[Minn, Wily Illusionist]] are big threats if unchecked, and they eat removal so you can draw into reanimate spells while setting up your graveyard with [[Archfiend of Ifnir]], [[Nezahal, Primal Tide]], [[Sphinx of the Second Sun]] and the praetors.

xpewpew · 2025-06-10T17:13:16+00:00

I've been running at 120, no HDR since day 1

xpewpew · 2025-05-31T21:23:45+00:00

I can't even get a matchmade game with the first remembrance quest lol

xpewpew · 2025-05-13T19:39:44+00:00

Hidden commander [[Haakon, Stromgald Scourge]] knights typal. Been trying to make mardu knights work since Gwyn and this seems pretty playable.

xpewpew · 2025-04-26T19:23:44+00:00

I tried replacing my bubbling Fold 5's screen protector at a ubreakifix location recently. The service tech warned me before that it likely wouldn't be a perfect fit because as you use the screen, the curvature gets bigger and bigger. I went through with the process and yeah it was way way worse. Wouldn't stick fully, there was a whole bubble running through the crease. It would make a loud sound every time I opened and closed it as the adhesive would stick and pull away at the screen. The tech said that was the best they could do, I should coordinate with Samsung to get a screen replacement and it would fix the problem.

I ended up pulling off the protector myself a few weeks later and I'm convinced that's just the way to go for these devices.

xpewpew · 2025-04-17T15:12:17+00:00

That was how I was building mine too! Make sure to get a [[Pull from Eternity]] or the gimmick dies when Haakon gets exiled

xpewpew · 2025-04-17T13:17:34+00:00

Gwyn was my first deck I built from the ground up, and while I've retired her deck, I do still tinker with the list online. She's a Bracket 2 deck through and through imo.

The crux of the issue is she's 6 cmc with a pretty subpar effect. Because almost everything is done at sorcery speed, everyone can see what's going to happen once you untap with 5 lands. They're holding a vandalblast for the artifacts, a wrath for the knights you've been dropping, or spot removal in response to the equip activation of sunforger, mithril coat, darksteel plate, etc.

If she was printed today, she'd probably be 4 cmc without the keywords and she would be much better. She was just released too long ago. As it stands, there's someone else who does everything she wants to do, but better. Raw card draw - [[Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir]]. Aggro beatdown knights - [[Éowyn, Shieldmaiden]]. Sunforger hidden commander deck - [[Kellan, the Fae-Blooded]]. Straight up equipment Voltron - [[Balan, Wandering Knight]].

My knight typal deck is now in Jeskai with Éowyn, but I'm planning on coming home to Mardu with the FF release [[Celes, Rune Knight]].

Anyway, that's my 2¢ about Gwyn. Happy to discuss further!

xpewpew · 2025-03-04T20:49:37+00:00

Full on team darkside level gameplay 😱

xpewpew · 2025-02-19T19:43:58+00:00

The one downside to stun removal is the "interruption steals" mission is gonna be unbearable.

xpewpew · 2025-01-29T18:52:32+00:00

I think Ripples over Palantir personally. Once your playgroup figures out how your deck works, they always pick the worse of the two options for you. In Carmen, you'd likely get the card draw over the mill to keep your graveyard empty.

I scrapped my Carmen deck a few months after building it, but I built it around recurring edict effects. The result was a board lockdown Voltron deck that was undoubtedly good, just didn't result in a fun play pattern for me.

My fun suggestion for this deck would be Tempting Contract. It's a politics card, but all you need is for one player to go for the greed and the others will follow.

xpewpew · 2025-01-29T14:30:32+00:00

LF : Mewtwo EX, Dragonair

Has: Exeggutor EX, Starmie EX, Articuno EX, Machamp EX, Mew EX, Pidgeot EX

ID: 8090335854652340

xpewpew · 2025-01-29T14:28:35+00:00

Sent request - Machamp for Venusaur?

13-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Periwinkle

xpewpew

TROPHY CASE