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Posted on Sept. 23, 2022, 12:16 a.m. by Stoic_Gaming
Hey Spellslingers,
We all love Magic. It's a game near and dear to many people's hearts. Here are some of my thoughts on it after years of playing.
The color pie and its pairs are integral to the identity of the game. I personally love the incredible spellcasting potential of Izzet, but I think that Dimir might be the strongest combination for its removal control style. What's your favorite color pair? Which do you think is the strongest?
Ultimately, though, I've found myself to be a blue player. Love it or hate it, blue is probably one of the strongest colors in the game. What can I say? Counterspelling a big enemy threat just feels great. If you could wave a magic wand, would you remove blue from the game? Why or why not?
A card type that's gotten some considerable improvement and support in recent years is Auras. These enchantments usually have a high risk of getting you two-for-one'd. But some push the envelope with their recursive power. How would you make Auras stronger?
Although they're not blue, Angels are one of my favorite tribes. They might not be the strongest, but I've just always loved them since I opened Razia, Boros Archangel as my first legendary when I was a kid. What's your favorite tribe?
Over the years, I've grown an appreciation for lands. When I was younger, and when I first got into commander, I focused on all the cool cards I could cram into my decks. But these years I find myself putting in more lands than before to up my decks' consistency. The advent of MDFCs really changed the game for the better in my opinion. How many lands do you usually put in your decks? Do you find yourself cutting spells for lands or lands for spells? Do you think MDFCs can competently fill a land slot?
These are just some of the ideas I've been mulling over lately and thought I'd write about them. While it's hard to really say anything is "best" in all scenarios, I think these are some of the best cards of their kind. Let me know what you think!
—Stoic Gaming
I like these questions. Just giving everyone a chance to talk about themselves is an underrated art form.
My favorite color pair is . I'm happiest when I can out-resource my opponents in as many ways as possible--mana, cards in hand, board presence, etc., and the combination of 's ramp and creatures, and 's removal and discard, and their overlap in graveyard recursion, draw power, and lifegain, is what drew me to this combination. I'm happiest when my opponents have run out of steam and I'm still going strong, especially after they've thrown their best at me.
I can't pick out a strongest color pair; their strengths and weaknesses can't really be compared. The strongest color combination is the one that you're most comfortable using and that brings you the most satisfaction.
I would not remove from the game. It's arguably the most technical and tactical color, and it provides checks on a lot of different formats. If you've never seen a Saskia vs. Edgar vs. Dragonlord Dromoka vs. Atla EDH match, it's a race to see who gets out the most, biggest creatures out the fastest before someone combos off or beats everyone else down. If you enjoy that, great! It can be a lot of fun. But I like a little more tactics and trickery, and provides that angle that the other colors don't have. Counterspells, unlockable creatures, and Control Magic effects may not always be fun on the receiving end, but they provide a needed depth to gameplay.
The main three ways I see creature Auras being made stronger are recursion (Rancor, Spirit Loop), replacement (Griffin Guide, Mantle of the Wolf), and protection (Diplomatic Immunity, Indestructibility). If the Aura provides a new threat when it goes away, or just refuses to go away, it makes the two-for-one problem much more manageable.
My favorite tribe is Skeletons. They're more interesting than Zombies, smell better, require less care and feeding, and Zombies are spotlight hogs, getting new powerful cards almost every set while Skeletons keep getting maybe one or two cards a year (usually worse than a Zombie option). Outside of being the forgotten cousin of Zombies (one of my least favorites--can you tell?), I like Skeletons on their own merits. The skull and bone aesthetic is always popular, going back at least to medieval Memento Mori art, and Skeleton Scavengers's Regenerate was one of the first complex abilities I learned how to use properly, so they have some nostalgia factor for me as well.
For lands, I almost always go for the 40% and adjust as needed--faster, lower-cost decks get less; slower, more controll-y decks get more. I try to err on the side of having a couple too many lands than not enough. I do have a goal of one day owning a Legacy or even Vintage Dredge deck, though, and those can have single-digit land counts (does anyone have a pile of Lion's Eye Diamonds or Bazaar of Baghdad they want to give away for free?). I don't usually use the MDFC lands myself, but I've seen them used well, and the Pathways are a great option if you can't or don't want to shell out for the shocklands, fast lands, or other big-money lands. (They're still above what I would call truly budget, though.)
wallisface If I may speak for the OP, this doesn't appear to be focused on any specific format. It's asking questions about what you enjoy, how you feel about certain cards and effects, and general chatting.
September 23, 2022 1:18 a.m.
To this day, I am still a mono color player through and through. I love having a rock solid mana base and in a previous life, actually reveled in sadistic glee by punishing players for non basic lands (a part of me still really loves the flavor of doming an opponent for lethal with a Price of Progress).
I think the color pie is fascinating, especially in looking at how that pie has changed over the years. I love the feel of old cards, both literally and mechanically. I specifically fell for the way old black cards used to provide wild, tremendous power in exchange for very real costs.
This game is awesome and I love how everyone can focus on different aspects of it in their own unique ways :)
September 23, 2022 2:15 a.m. Edited.
TheOfficialCreator says... #5
Sultai is by far my favorite color combination, but if I had to pick my favorite pair, it'd have to be Simic. I also believe that Simic is the strongest color pair for most formats. I just love the way that Simic ramps and can drop either big oozy threats or little swarms of crabs and scutes. It's very enjoyable.
I would not remove blue from the game. In some formats, like Vintage, blue has a very real natural advantage in the way it interacts with fast mana artifacts that are the mainstays of the format, but its dominance in, say, Commander is arguably due to the fact that everyone refuses to play the cards that shuts blue down: namely, stax.
I think more recursive and mana value-efficient auras would make them better and more playable.
My favorite tribe is Oozes, but since those don't have much support, I'd have to say Druid.
I usually put about 36-40 lands in my decks, 45-49 lands if it's landfall-oriented. I think MDFCs can somewhat replace a land slot, but you have to be cautious lest they slow down your deck too much.
September 23, 2022 8:49 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #6
Maybe because I’m an Old(tm), I’m inclined to play mono-colored decks. Goblins were my first real favorite, especially with enchantments like Goblin Warrens and the mighty Goblin Shrine! I love the art and the massive downsides that come with it. In my mind, in order to be considered one of the great cards it’s got to have a good balance of strengths and weaknesses; Goblin Shrine is a great example of that sort of structure.
September 23, 2022 2:09 p.m.
Haha! legendofa I had this feeling that you were at heart!
Well, I tend to rock the . I like to make the whole table bleed, put a clock on it, & also throw a party while I'm at it. Make the sitback & controllsters realize too late that their life totals can be important. All, the while I am rocking expendable threats that leave my opponents feeling empty inside when they try to control me too much :) .
I feel "strongest", while being subjective, is probably .
As for It can go suck a lemon. Blue with its' thinks I'm clever... but I just have catch-all overpowering gimmicks. Nothing clever about extra turns or nixing out any spell in the game with few exceptions - lazy Jace personifies his dud color well... I'm supposed to sly-guy, lets outwi....nah, guess it'll just be unstoppable mind-control FTW. If I would wave a wand I would remove all but the most expensive extra-turns spells with self-exiling. I would burn the counterspells. Lord knows doesn't need pre-emptive removal with WoTC deciding to give it efficient & recurrent exile options. My opinion on this always stands though: make better punishment options so that catch-alls are no longer catch-alls.
Not really sure on aura's, never use 'em much.
I'm not much of a tribe guy either, but I would say I like Warriors the best. Though Najeela, the Blade-Blossom ruins this for me a bit, since she feels like a WUBRG strictly-better warrior commander. But I do love some of the static abilities on warriors Ruric Thar, the Unbowed, Marisi, Breaker of the Coil are beauties. Warlocks are quickly becoming a favorite for me too Extus, Oriq Overlord Flip is just too wacky to get a handle on.
I sit at 38-40 lands.. I tend to run alot of spells that destroy all rocks & dorks so it makes sense for me that I hit curve more with lands or use-it-or-lose it options.
September 23, 2022 11:08 p.m.
Gleeock I guess I can't hide it forever (not that I try that hard). What tipped you off?
September 24, 2022 2:42 a.m.
legendofa There was an older post about discard/resource denial & a fondness for outlasting opponents - to the letter. Also, some of your card creations seem to be very on-point for the new age of . Lastly, I've seen some of your decklists :)
September 24, 2022 9:39 a.m.
Stoic_Gaming says... #11
You're right that it was hard to read. I tried to include some hyperlinks to expand my thoughts, but they don't appear on the official post, even though they do appear when previewing my post. Strange. I've since removed the hyperlinks. The post should be more clear to read now.
September 24, 2022 7:57 p.m.
wallisface says... #12
Stoic_Gaming no worries, it looks like people have taken on the spirit of the conversation in any case - so hopefully it's going in the direction you intended :)
For me, my favourite colour hands-down is , with almost all of my decks being some variation of , , , or . Red, conversely is not really in my preferred playstyle at-all, to the point where I basically play nothing red... there is only a very small handful of red cards I find appeals to me.
I'm a massive fan of Grist, the Hunger Tide and Grim Flayer, being someone who prefers midrange strategies and grindy "cruel control". This probably also explains my hatred of Omnath, Locus of Creation, as it is almost impossible to fight-against with a midrange strategy, while also being a card that doesn't appeal to me at all (probably in part because of its red-ness)
wallisface says... #2
This post is very hard to read, and i think you may want to refine your questioning down to something more specific, because at the moment this reads very scattered and appears to be covering several topics at once.
Also, you probably want to specify what format you’re talking about
September 23, 2022 12:28 a.m.