[Podcast] Everyday Eternal 23: Deck Changes in a Slow Moving Metagame

[thecrav]

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Link! (http://www.eternalcentral.com/everyday-eternal-podcast-episode-23-deck-changes-in-a-slow-moving-metagame/)

In a rambling episode 23 of Everyday Eternal, Matt (sdematt) and Julian (Julian23) on Twitter) discuss recent changes to several decks. Julian provides some insight into his unusual choices in Elves, and we analyze some of the changes that are becoming more popular lately. To cap it off, Julian and Matt field a community building question about getting people into playing with real cards.

Time stamps:

0:00:00 Julian’s latest updates to Elves
0:03:11 Sideboard changes: Bitterblossom, Meekstone, Sylvan Library, Surgical Extraction, Choke
0:12:08 This deck’s worst match ups: Reanimator, Storm, Sneak and Show
0:23:45 Recent interesting decks: 2 RW Painter, Dead Guy Ale in Knoxville. Koby 15th with Dark Maverick in Sommerset
0:28:50 12 post in Sommerset; poised to become a deck to beat?
0:36:02 New wrinkles in Merfolk: Cosi’s Trickster, dropping Wastelands, Chalice of the Void
0:41:18 Back to Basics
0:47:40 Canadian Thresh to rise again?
0:57:04 Xenagos, the Reveler in Elves
1:02:10 Matt thinks Zoo is coming back (LAWL!)
1:09:14 Community building: How to wean off proxies
1:22:44 Outro

Thanks again for listening! If you have any questions or just want to chat, let us know on Twitter (@EternalMTG), like us on Facebook (facebook.com/EverydayEternalPodcast), or email (EverydayEternalCast@gmail.com), or in the thread below.

[nedleeds]

LOL @ you guys debating my German Krosan Wanderer :laugh:

[ESG]

Strawberry Shortcake Painter. Love it! Want to work on Peanut Butter Parfait next?

I tried out Cosi's Trickster a couple years ago at a big event in a spur-of-the-moment metagaming decision. My aim was to punish the Bant Stoneforge decks that were everywhere and were all running Green Sun's Zenith. The problem was that no vendors had brought the card with them, so I ran around the venue for 30 minutes, asking approximately 50 people, "Do you have Cosi's Tricksters?" and having less than half know what the card even was. One guy just laughed and said if he had any, I could have them for free. I filled out the set and finished my deck in time. Naturally, I didn't get paired against the Bant Stoneforge deck all day and got to see Bant Stoneforge matches play out next to me. Cosi's Trickster is OK, but you need to play a full set or none at all, since it grows quickly in the first two turns and usually stays tiny after that. It's a horrendous topdeck. That said, there are a lot of ways to build Merfolk (or most decks, really), and it's nice to see people experimenting.

For RUG, Skullcrack is better than Flaring Pain, and Ancient Grudge is better than Artifact Mutation. I am a big fan of Sulfur Elemental. Bitterblossom and Xenagos, the Reveler perform similar functions, but each has its own upsides and downsides. My anti-Miracles strategy with Elves is still Gloom, which is also great against Deathblade. I'd like to go back to Elves sometime, but I feel it's poorly positioned in my area.

[mini1337s]

Excited to listen to this.

When the hell are you guys going to get with the times and do bios for each of the casters?!

[Megadeus]

Just listened! Nice one guys! Also I'd like to address a few things on my Deadguy list that you guys were talking about:

Shriekmaw: It is somewhat underwhelming at times, but Wilkin plays two I believe in his deck? So I tried it out and it's surprisingly decent. Coming in off of Show and Tell to kill an Emrakul is a hilarious blowout, and also simple being a removal spell for Delver/Goyf that can't be spell pierced is surprisingly relevant as well. Also it's flexibility in casting cost is awesome.

No ZP Main: I just hate it being a bit too narrow. It's only good vs creature decks, which I generally feel good against already due to the plethora of removal. It's almost completely dead vs control/combo.

SB stuff: I agree on running more Rest in Peace. I am on two copies now dropping the cage. I put in cage just because I was somewhat scared of Elves. Perish, I also agree on it being a very good card, and I would consider adding a second one.

And yes, Stillmoon is hilarious, and mine being in Japanese means a lot of people had to ask what it did and I was constantly reminding them what its abilities were.

[sdematt]

Also, Thursday is our one year anniversary. Be sure to tweet us @EternalMtg and suggest what you want us to talk about, or your favourite episode/topic from the last year!

-Matt

[bakofried]

Hey guys, thanks for responding to my question. I was the one asking about community building and loaner decks.

A few notes:
I meant we were at 20 proxies, not 20 people. If only. We have eight regular, but of those, I'd say four, maybe five have non-budget decks. Even with the proxies, some players use budget decks. I think we could get more, but prize support is an issue. We've got more people in town with the cards, but they either don't have interest in the format, or working hours interfere (lack of regular shifts).

On the decks: Julian had it right. I was asking about decks that could fill out my other staples and also serve as loaner decks - so I guess the criteria would be it would have a few staples (FoW, LED, etc) but the rest of the deck is relatively cheap. I don't have anything against spending some money for staples, I'd just like to minimize my spending on niche cards. Now that I've got a pair of Bayous and a set of Thoughtseize for Dark Maverick, I think I'm going to work on a Stompy manabase.

Thanks guys, keep up the great work.