[Article]Eternal Europe: Joining the Company

[Mon,Goblin Chief]

After the general overview last time, I didn't manage to get one particular card out of my system:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/30522_Joining-The-Company.html

Enjoy :)

[ESG]

Man, with a title like that I thought you'd joined WOTC and wouldn't be able to write anymore. Momentary panic.

Green is by far my favorite color in Magic. Collected Company is a cool card, but 4cc kind of dooms it for this format. In the Junk list, you've slotted it in the Green Sun's Zenith spot, but I think flexibility trumps the card advantage in most matchups. The appeal of Green Sun's Zenith is that it's land when you need land and a creature when you need a creature, and it works with singletons, which saves space in your deck. The flexibility of the mana cost is also important, allowing you to play around Counterbalance or Chalice of the Void and playing nicely with Dark Confidant. I don't want Collected Company in a deck with Dark Confidant unless that's the only card with high converted mana cost (unlikely, because the best way to benefit from Collected Company in a midrange deck is probably two 3cc creatures). I like the idea of Eternal Witness and this card, but the mana cost is prohibitive, so we're getting to the "great in a Nic Fit shell" issue (Nic Fit is the new Stax).

In the Maverick list, I think the card would work really well with Stoneforge Mystic -- it would be amazing to hit two Stoneforges on the opponent's end step and then put in a Batterskull and a Jitte on your turn -- so I would make cuts somewhere else.

The best part of Fact or Fiction was being able to construct a deck that abused the graveyard so that you benefited from both piles of Fact or Fiction. Same thing for Gifts Ungiven piles. With Collected Company, you have to put the other cards on the bottom of your library, which is a difficult zone to exploit. Maybe you could use the card with Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, but that would make the deck three colors already.

I think if Collected Company is playable in Legacy, it's probably in a combo deck. If it grabbed creatures at 4cc or less, I could see it being playable in All Spells as Rogues 9-12, but the whiff rate is probably too high with Undercity Informer as the only target you'd want to hit.

Your Modern lists look pretty decent, and I think Collected Company will be a fun card in Cube.

[Fatal]

Agree with @ESG - its playable in Legacy, but I would be more focus on midrange creature deck with combo finish.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?29318-Collected-Company-and-Friends

[Lemnear]

Agree with @ESG - its playable in Legacy, but I would be more focus on midrange creature deck with combo finish.

http://www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?29318-Collected-Company-and-Friends

It's the second coming of Ranger of Eos if you ask me. If this card finds home I can imagine it to be either in something like Aluren or creature-based ramp like Scapeshift

[Finn]

Just going to put this out there.

Legacy spells that cost 4 mana need either

a) a dedicated mana supply for high cost spells such as Tezz or Chalice engines

b) it does not have to win the game outright, but must provide a direct route to victory in short order.


So, this is the kind of advice I give to noobs trying to figure out how to build a Legacy deck for the first time. I would not dream of mindlessly spitting this at you, Carsten, but we should at least acknowledge the fact that this is a format for which there is a consistency barrier to cards like Fact or Fiction, Gifts Ungiven, Wrath of God, and similar card advantage items. You lose something when you build your mana base to accommodate these expensive spells. For that reason, I like your Mav list much more because it acknowledges this big deal.