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. :(

The lowest denominator

Never underestimate stupidity.

Thats a mantra i hold in my everyday life. I accept people for who they are but unless i know more about them and am reasonably confident of them, i do not rely on them to do the right thing. And definitely they are not the measure by which i make my decisions, my decisions are meant to work despite of them.

Magic has been infuriating for a long time. Its hard for me not to feel vindictive and har har at all those baying for banning for cards that they do not like. Magic has finally made a tweak for a new low ( or high in terms of simplfication/dummification) in pushing for BO1 in Arena. Now don't get me wrong i love Arena and I support BO1. Because the principles are correct. When i first started sideboards infuriate me. I did not understand why could we not just play the 75 cards as a deck, and i still do. Face it. BO1 is just a different format, it is simpler to understand, but the meta is harder. It is a different game (in the sense that duels are different games from highlander and really pauper, standard, modern are really all different games).

Arena is really introducing a Magic that is simpler for those not familiar with the game. For those saying those "new" players should learn the rules. Its really the same as asking those who could not follow KCI (seriously...) to learn the rules. The result is the rules were too difficult and in general KCI was killed. The masses hated it and wizards pandered to the masses. People, becareful what you wish for because Wizards in implementing and pushing for the masses  is doing exactly that in pushing for Arena. Same for when they killed Eldrazi, eggs and the latest KCI. It just so happens that the common denominator has lowered.

And for the record i do enjoy Arena, in a sense i have joined the masses. For better or for worse, i tire of the constant simplification and dumbing down of the game in other formats. So much so that a game there is the same as a game in Arena. I enjoy the fact that i no longer need to consider the format toomuch and just wing games with much less time invested. Yes i am copping out, but you see, the same happened to me when i was with the other formats, where literally archtypes are hated for being supposedly non-interactive because my opponent is too dumb ro build against it, where LD was neutered for being "unfun" again because my opponent is too dumb to face me by building his deck to defeat LD, or counterspells because players feel negatively about them instead of just building or playing around them. Eldrazi winter was the funnest period of modern for me. It was the first time people had to innovate and think of how to defeat the beast. Sure people will say the data, but that is misinformation. The problem with Eldrazi winter was that wizard really released a pillar in the format. Not a deck or an archtype, but a whole friggin pillar. Hence Eldrazi was difficult to pin down, because they came in many forms, attacked in different ways. But because they all used some form of Eldrazi, they were lumped as Eldrazi decks. Anyways that party had to end, luckily it ended with a combo deck mowing down 3 eldrazi decks (sounds familiar ....KCI? Heh). Yet at that time no one baying for blood recognised that Eldrazi could be contained. The vocal group was not interested in defeating it, only for its banning.

Arena is not really like a ban, but kinda in a reverse way, since it is a format with the simplification built in. I feel less appalled by it (as opposed to some ban simplifying the game) as it does not threaten current gameplay and is actually quite fun.

If you feel that Arena is dumbing down and takes something away form you (since it is something wizards is pushing for competitively as the mainstream). Let me just say i understand how you feel, it sucks to be you. But you really just need to embrace it, just like i embraced the evolution/dumbing down of magic all these years.

To the thought that magic has 20 years of history and complexity that makes it a great game? That same complexity was treated as a dumpster fire in the KCI banning. And the game is still alive *gasp*

Enjoy magic as it comes people.

My first post in 2018.... and it is coming to an end lol

I just tried MTGARENA and... it is pretty awesome.

So awesome I think it might kill paper magic if not for the requirement for paper magic to exist or at least for draft to exist.

Firstly, why is ARENA awesome.



Why it may kill Magic the papering


Why it probably won't



Why it does not matter really hur hur hur