ARENA LD 2020 Land Destruction

So my favorite decktype has always been Prison, specifically LD.

Prison effects then to be things like Chalice of the Void, sphere of resistance, trinity sphere.

The problem is always whether you can lock down before they present a threat and after lockdown, can you maintain the lock.

A hard lock could be Kismet + Winter Orb for instance.


But wotc has veered away from such tactics.

So for modern, there are less prison effects but midrangy LD decks still exist. There is the attrition types and there are the comboish types (madcap Experiment + Emperion), I am normally more of the atttrition based player. I rather like, ember swallower, and Polukranos as my kill cum removal. I am also partial to w/r versions of LD with Ghostly Prison, Boom//Bust, Flagstones of T??? something. +  Darksteel citadels...


But I digress.


In standard, the LD is usally horrifically suboptimal. Fair enough since Standard is usually already slower. But occasionally the stars align and a LD deck is possible. I remember back in Theros I was able to build a semi viable LD deck that ramps into a turn 3 LD and uses Chandra, Torch of Defiance to draw cards (effectively) + Chandra Pyromaster to double the LD effects. Chandra ToD is pretty important as it is like a howling mine, letting my draw more LD than they have incoming land. So my ability to keep the LD coming (in lieu of prison effects) is dependent on Chandra Tod and Pyromaster. Ember Swallower is my LD + Kill,  while Polukranous is kill + removal. What I like about Ember Swallower and Polukranos is that they are essentially 2 cards in 1, much like the Adventure cards, though the adventure are cards are far more potent.


And again I digress :P


So standard. Standard we are usually stuck with 4cc LD. Not great really, but turn 3 LD in standard might be a strong enough play. The next thing is redundency. i.e. there must be 2 cards that are LD even if they are both 4cc :(   And this we have: Demolish + Ruin Readings.

Next we need the ramp, back in original Theros, we had Sylvan Carytid. Yes the card that shot up in Pioneer! :p I was already using it then, it was a 2cc ramp. I liked it as it had hexproof and could block if necessary. In current 2020 standard, we actually have 2! paradise Priest and IIysian Dryad.

The main issue I see is there is no Chandra Tod or Pyromaster esque style of generating advantage :(

So we have to try to bump around with big monster and hope it sticks. Back in original Theros, the big hitters were ember swallowers  and Polukranos. I think Chandra could ping too. with her +1


Anyways this is the current list i have:

The defense is quite a bit better tho, I now have death touch 1/1s, 8 removals. The only chance for me to generate multiple LS is via underworld breach. not great. But we'll see i guess.

i do get two "sphere" effects though, Dovin and God Pharoah's Statue.

My kills are the Phoenix, Dragon and Chandra provides the card draw :p oki so I might have my engine afterall.

So far I have one win, of course this is ARENA best of 1, so it is easier :p

But the win was a mix of lucky draws, I only played one LD but it was my strongest : Casualties of War. Killing their biggest threat and knocking out a land is pretty brutal. (I was on the receiving end a few times, so .... that was partly what kindled my old flame for LD ;P)

Anyways lets see how this goes.

King Kat 2.0!!

This is an updated version of my ARENA cat deck, KINGKAT!!

I have added Ajani! King of the Kitties!

Well Ajani is pretty moderate to be honest. He is a good fit for the deck, Cat master and all, but he produces little pridemates! Awesome to be sure!

However as a kill plan, he is like superman and not like superman. He is like superman cos well he fits and plays to this deck pretty well. Gains life, makes pridemates and even his ultimate is relevant (this deck can go craazy with lifelink pretty quickly), so he is my onesided , albeit conditional, shatter the sky! But most of all he is like superman because... he is boring. He is one track and can attack only in a certain manner. He does not give me a new angle of attack and my opponent can see the game plan coming from far far far.... very far away (clue: its more of the same :p) which is actually also his plus point so its not that bad. Ajani, lets this deck do its thing with a bit more consistency. So its all good, like super ya. But he is not like super man for the very same reasons, he is just more of the same ... arguable suboptimal plan (hehe). Some planewalker drop and you know the game is kinda over. Liliana, Jace, Terferi, both big and small. But Ajani? Man. Its awesome that I cannot see my opponent in ARENA. I think he is probably giggling.

Oh well. I think I am shitting on Ajani pretty badly. I mean its not his fault that he was made for bad decks like mine :P


And oh ! This deck's highest run so far is up to Platinum tier 3 w00t! I am not sure if I can go all the way to diamond then mythic? But lets see. It is definitely getting harder as now I can drop from tier 3 to tier 4 0.o.

So lets see how it goes.

King Kat!!

So this is Cat deck that I just built on Arena.

Granted. How I built this was by buying a shit load of packs and then opening all at once.

Which is probably a stupid thing to but whatever. I just wanted to see whats in Ikoria and start durdling with the cards. I also partly wanted to see how far 99 USD gets me. Hmmm I actually can't really tell yet. But I think its bad :p.

Probably should do the 70 draft thing before ripping open all your packs.

Anyways my deck in any case is something simple. Its a Cat deck. And thank God, one of the rares is Kaheela, the Orphanguard. My companion of choice for this deck.

I kinda randomly spent 10 minutes with Cats as my theme, and stuck a bunch of removals and cats together and voila!

KING KAT!

My main removal is divine arrow (I hated that card in WAR, mostly cos it killed the Pengasus 0.0) but its cool here. The art is different.

It is mostly a rehash of Ajani Pridemate but with his cat buddies.

Now I do not think this deck is very competitive. It is probably extremely budget. You likely do not need to spend 99 usd, all that did was give me a full set of the commons I need I think :/

But I think right now I have the advantage of surprise? As the cards are still new, companion is new etc.

Oh did I mention the deck has squirrels? Yes! Squirrels! They either get first strike or flying. I normally go with flying since this deck is an offensive deck.

Pacifism is a welcomed tool. The charmed stray is this deck's life link bird that can grow biggar!! But without flying. But Kaheela pumps up the kitties ya, so its all good.

Light of hope has been an all star, from kill opponent creatures or doubling!! the damage output of the charmed stray (easy since it is just a 1/1) it is awesome. Plus it destroys enchantments and or can gain 4 life in a pinch and upgrade the pridemate at instant speed. Very awesome really.

Blade Banish and The Wanderer can suck at times when you face weenies or tymera the terrible? the 2/x demigod. But it has sucked less than it has not sucked. So far.

Anyways I think I need 1 sweeper. Unfortunately I did not open much theros so I do not have shatter the sky :(

Solid is footing is awesome.... until I cast Kaheela... which gives vigilance to all my kitties (and squirrels... oops nightmare).... then it kinda sucks so just be aware. Otherwise a flash permanent +1/+1 is pretty rad.

Last but not least Cubwarden is awesome with mutate. Essentially it is a hasty 3/5 when you mutate it on a creature. And then it makes more kitties w00t! Lifelinking too!

Overall I am in love with this deck so far.

Has Kaheela been oppresive? So far I think not... it makes my deck suck less, that is for sure. Having a 3cc 3/2 at my beck and call allows me to keep shady hands. Like all removal or some shit like that, since I KNOW I will have a threat. Then again so does my opponent. I think the creature and abilities will play out very differently depending on what they actually are and what deck they are fed in.

For instance for Kaheela, most times you do not need to play her as soon as you can. You can hold her back in case of a shatter the sky. Or you can go in for the kill if you happen to get a turn 3 4/4 lifelinker. (turn 1, kitty, turn 2 kitty + some +1/+1, turn 3 Kaheela!, turn 4 Cubwarden!)

So it gives flexibility and allows more playable hands.

Now of course not all companions will be so innocious. Some are higher powered (I still think Lurrus can be overcomed, I am an optimist :) ) . But probably WOTC need to think carefully about the IMPRESSION that companions will give on the outset before they are adapted to. Lurrus I fear is overly biased against to be saved. :(


At lease we still have Kaheela!


Disclaimer:
This deck probably sucks. I am normally not ambitious and will just keep losing till I meet someone who loses more than me. The wonderment of ARENA :p But I think magic is more fun when one can accept losses and change. And maybe that is for all the bruces out there to ponder about. In fact most veteran Legacy or Vintage players don't really care about the meta. It is already changing too fast. It is the Legacy boomers that have brought their bad habits from modern into Legacy and Vintage. :(

Companion makes decks more playable

Another thought that came to mind about Companion as a mechanic is that it makes certain decks more playable.

Or it can be used to make games more playable in general.

Why? Because it is a guaranteed effect.

When? thats probably the mana costing portion.

What I had in my mind was Treefolk (cos the tribe really sucks :P) Then today I just realised this was a card!!

Kaheera, the Orphanguard

Essentially, it is a lord effect for cats that you can fetch once you hit 3 mana.



Thats pretty compelling. It can be used to shore up deck archetypes!


But not just that, properly tweaked, Companion can be used to ease Magic's playability issues, such as mana flood or mana choked. Maybe a Companion was a land, that fetch two more basic lands, but can only be played on the first turn, or can only be played on X turn, etc you get my drift. Mana flood, maybe sac up to two lands to draw two cards? Something like that.


Companions is Compelling design space.

It essentially adds, a guaranteed effect, WHEN you want it (restricted by mana and text of course).

That is very compelling strategically.

I think thats why Lurrus feels broken. You play it when you need it most. It comes down at the right time. Strategically. Now that is something players must consider. But it is new. And many cannot accept that. Is that right though?


It can be used to shore up and strengthen deck types.
It can be used to hose decktypes or strategies.
It can also be used to smooth out general gameplay issues.


I am still of the opinion that Lurrus is not broken. It probably could be weaker than it currently is, but its not the end of the world.

You know, in real life, what your boss would say you are if you had a problem but did not even try to find a solution for 3 weeks and then decided the problem is unsolvable. Yup.


Anyways.


Companion is very compelling design space, I think WOTC probably jumped the gun with Lurrus. They probably should have priced it higher or released it later with other compelling designs, or a card that hoses it. As  it is , there interest in it is causing it ubiquity. We cannot tell that it is broken, we can only tell that it is good. But that is enough to give it the death row these days. So a hoser is a must these days if you are gonna print a strong card, cos the tournament players just cannot take it. They are unable to think and find solutions. If they cannot see an obvious solution in five minutes, it is broken. And the internet of echo chambers take over. It is sad. But it is what it is. Yes thats how dumb it is :p


Kaheera, the Orphanguard is probably the best that tournament players can accept, understand and ultimately deserve.

Good luck wizards.


Now go ban the hell out of Companions.

Ban and Restricted on 18th May 2020

https://twitter.com/wizards_magic/status/1259997359179616256


whelp it looks like its going to happen again.


Which is sad.

Likely Lurrus is going to get banned given that it is played in many decks, despite many of this decks losing.

Despite some decks winning without Lurrus.


Vintage:
On 10th May out of 10 5-0 list, 3 had no Lurrus.
Which sounds bad, but as I said before it takes time, plus the addiction to Lotus is high in Vintage.

And even if Lurrus is as ubiquitous as it is (i.e. all decks) so is the power 9 0.o

But I don't actually believe that to be true. I think some decks actively do not want Lurrus.

Legacy:
Legacy challenge on 9th May
the only deck that 6-0, is Lurrus free. Yes all other losing decks are with Lurrus.

Modern:
9th May
out of 7 decks only one deck was without Lurrus.
Now Modern was a little strange. Initially it had less companion but then later there was greater saturation. Ad Nausem, the deck that was with ut Lurrus on 9th May, was previously losing with Lurrus earlier. For the other formats they had less Lurrus but later had more, but Legacy was beginning to have less Lurrus. While for Vintage, I think once it was established that Lotus was up for recurring, it was too irresistible. Still in a recent online unsanction Vintage tournament, thee winner was a bazaar deck that surprise surprise, did not play Lurrus.

What my obsevation so far tells me is that Lurrus can be played around. Now does its prevalence mean it should go. I don't think so, but apparently the internet thinks so. So whatever.

A thought recently cross my mind.

Are the pro/competitive players the issue? I mean WOTC has been down playing the role of pro players and I am beginning to see why. I mean, in fnms and kitchen tables. How often are the decks finely tuned and cut throat? How often is an individual dreaming of playing at a cut throat level. Thhe answer I suspect for the masses is extremely low. Yet, the cards for many are being banned for the pleasure of a few. (I am assuming tournament toting players are less than everyone else). That makes me wonder. Is competitive magic really healthy for the game. Take the very first tournament. The decks were extremely untuned but I think people had more fun. Subsequent tournaments got more and more refine, and more and more it became about beating your opponent's face to the ground metaphorically of course. But have NO DOUBT. Competitive play is about winning. And once you are winning, there is little to no so called interaction. I have always maintained the stance that the concept of interactive decks is BS. All decks try to get to the point where the opponent is no longer able to interact, whether is it a mid range that has out grinded the aggro, or the aggro that overwhelms the control, or the combo that just explodes before the opponent has time to react, or the prison deck that has locked down all resources so that winning is a formality. Magic competitively is always about getting to the point whether the opponent is unable to "interact" i.e. essentially: neutralised.

Do we really want cut throat fine tuned competitive play? I do not mind it, I actually enjoy it, but if it means cards get arbitrarily banned without allowing the meta to play out, then I prefer not to have competitive play.

I guess that is kinda what I do normally when I do play. We just mish mash a bunch of decks that probably are modern (or legacy if the cards are older). And just play. I guess what I am trying to say is competitive play is becoming less and less relevant with the bannings.

A Closer Look at Ikoria's Companion and Formats in general

I do not think Companion as is is broken.

Even as we see Lurrus run amok initially, there are signs that the other Companions are starting to see play. And more than that some decks are still 5-0  without companions (slivers?? and Gifts Storm and an Izzet Control deck, there could be more).

On the third point some may counter that 3 decks (unconfirmed but I think the number is really moot but I'll play along) is a pittance....

But my counter to that is that there are like half of those so-called broken Companion decks that are LOSING as well. Why don't ppl count them?? 0.o

Seriously ppl the bias is really comical. Bruces keep saying that Companion decks are winning and non-companion decks are losing but they keep cherry picking and mashing data to suit their narrative. Just like Eldrazi winter I guess.

Anyway.

I do not think Companion as is is broken.

In fact I think Companion is a very compelling concept.


I always felt the sideboard is a luxury. Thats what people do not realise, a sideboard is kinda already cheating. So if you feel a particular mechanic is broken... ermm yo'll wanna get rid of your sideboard and play fair? Sounds ridiculous right? Exactly. :P

Anyways ARENA kinda took care of that with the best of one with no sideboards. So I am a happy man.


Now why talk about sideboards, Companion obviously.


But thats why Companion feels broken.


It is your sideboard concept on steroids!


Now rewind back to Karn the Great Creator (henceforth KGC).

KGC is like a reverse companion, he literally fetches you a card from the sideboard at will!

BUT you still need to draw naturally into KGC to get the card. That is the "drawback" of being a card in your library (60 cards). That is the drawback of KGC

Fast-forward to Companion... do you see that they removed KGC and you straight up TUTOR the sideboard card?

That is the power inherent in the concept of Companion.


I know I know, I said I like companions and do not want them ban so why am I highlighting a very potentially bannable approach to looking at it.

I am highlighting because I do not think it is broken... yet. I do not think being able to play Lurrus at will once you hit 3 mana is very powerful. It is being able to play Lurrus once you hit 3 mana at will when your opponent's strategy is to board wipe you and hope you have no recourse after you stupidly overextended. Lurrus lets you come back!

What was the point of the para above? Lurrus is only good against certain decks in certain situations. At best, it lets you come back after being wiped, one permanent a turn. At worse it is a 3/2 with lifelink. Don't get me wrong, its a good card. But it is not the end of the world. It can be exiled, the graveyard can be hated on etc.

Aside:
(another point of irritation, ppl.... the sideboard is for you hate out stuff, yes sometimes a deck is dominant you hate on it, maybe an anti-deck arises... its not broken... it is exactly as it should be, it was like that since Necro, since Combo winter, thats what the bloody sideboard is for. And if you say players left then, well players are leaving now too! Thing is the people who cannot adapt will leave, and really this is for Hasbro and WOTC, do you think these people who will never change their deck will buy new products? Or the people who adapt? Seriously.)
End Aside.


So ya I am still pretty pro Companion and like the concept.

But I cannot deny that it is very powerful. So Lurrus is powerful because it is a tutorable effect that does not need a tutor !! Like you can now fetch a card at will without an in between card (like a tutor, e.g. vampiric tutor, demonic tutor etc). It is powerful when it is played against decks that are weak against it.

Now. What if for every sideboard option, you have a companion equivalent.

Thats why companion in its most pushed form, becomes a sideboard on steroids. If we think of a sideboard as a mechanic. You essentially bring in new cards (not in your 60) and you can only play them in your next game and you have the draw back of having to naturally draw into it (and at the cost of a card in your starting 60). Companion lets you have the card immediately.

Now. This is balanced by the fact that you can have only one companion (phew!). So at best you can only have one tutorable sideboard card. (I checked this here, https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Companion).
Now if you can have multiple Companions.. that would be interesting but would likely make more people unhappy :P

But as it is , you can only have one Companion and I think that is a good decision, else it will be even more powerful.

But as it is I think Companion is not broken, it is an advantage at the cost of a sideboard option. If you use Lurrus for example as a sideboard, then yes Lurrus is strong. But you play a random Companion, you get a tutorable creature, not the most impressive. So it is highly dependent on the ability of the Companion.

And again as is... it does not seem brroken yet. And Companion is a rather compelling design space that I hope will not fall victim to the Bruces out there 0.0

Over the next decade perhaps? WOTC should be able to make some really interesting cards using Companion. And conceptually it like a pet 0.0  I think that kinda is appealing too.



Now about Formats (now is just random rambling). This is something that came out as I thought about Companion. If people really hated it that much they could announce before a tournament will it be Standard or Standard+Companion. It will be essentially two formats =D

But why stop there? I believe eventually you will have custom formats. Already you can do this at a casual level with house rules etc. Imagine if the LGS can have its own ban list, and to not kill value, it can regularly shuffle up the list every few months. Now what about all them broken decks!! Should they not burn forever in Magic's Hell? Being a custom format means you can easily have a rule that says a deck cannot contain a certain combination of cards, so for instance if Hogaak and Faithless Looting are too broken together, you can ban this combination rather than ban the cards wholesale. So you diminish the deck. but you do not kill it. And you do not cause collateral damage to other decks.

Of course this would be a royal mess in terms of global deck building and more importantly for global tournaments. I mean if the format is so fluxxy, how are people going to prepare? Well first of all, remember in my last post, I hinted that part of the problem with the data and the meta in general is people just netdeck blindly. You see it in the Lurrus situation, people blindly netdeck and create and artificial bump in the meta numbers.

Aside rant:
 (and some idiots will say the meta is saturated with 30%, it stupid disingenious or moot, pick one. Even if it is 100%, it is moot until a few months and even then it is dependant on players not netdecking -- I have faith that in a few months the REAL brewers will actually come out with something - Hey during ELdrazi winter they actually did it in a few weeks, so ya, I do have faith in some of the Magic Community, kudos to those who keep the game alive by continuing to express your creativity! Go TEAM OATH ;))
End aside rant


So back to how it will be messy globally, well we can still keep standard, modern, legacy or whatever we have in future, and it is important to have these formats to allow WOTC to have a presence. But at the local level, maybe the LGS can be allowed to sanction custom formats. This will allow more flexibility and freshness in the meta. And most importantly. You cannot netdeck. haha. You can still look at the global lists and build a deck and if it fits the custom format, good for you. But if not? You gotta tweak it. I think this will force people to put more effort in deckbuilding and encourage more exploration of cards. It will also kinda obviate globally available lists to the point that you should be able to make the data irrevlevant. Why is that good? You cannot netdeck. haha. Really. Killing netdecking will save the game. It will also divide and conquer the bruces. Having flexible local custom formats will also allow LGS to make every one happy, ban hogaak for a month then next month is a hogaak special etc. Now this concept should not be that strange to gamers. Its like the old online game "mage" something where you build your kingdom, you can PVP other players but at the end of the year thhe server is reset. Think of the meta shifts as reset. (I think this is partly why alot of people get upset when their meta resets... it is normal to online oldish tech people (like myself)... imagine if Chess changed rules every few months !!)

Anyway thats about all I have to rant about today.