Evu
6d ago
•
100%
Oh my god, they're doing Omniscience Quick Draft.
For anyone who hasn't done Omniscience Draft before: I strongly advise against paying currency to play it. (Since I wrote that, they changed the starting hand size to 3, but it didn't really improve things.)
Evu
6d ago
•
100%
Arena could really do better than it does about handling large numbers of triggers and/or tokens. There's no reason why creating 250 tokens needs to be substantially more work than creating 2, and I suspect that the reason why it is is because there's a lot of redundant stuff -- animation, sound effects -- that it could be skipping, but isn't.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Alchemy: Duskmourn Releases Tommorow - Magic Teams Up with Extra Life - Historic Anthologies Return to the Store - Test Your Might in Omniscience Quick Draft - Show Your Skill in the Qualifier Play-In and Qualifier Weekend - A Note on Leyline of Resonance - MagicCon: Las Vegas and World Championship 30 - Event Schedule
Evu
2w ago
•
100%
This isn't a complaint, but the memorial sleeve seems like an odd choice. People would use, say, a Sheldon Menery memorial sleeve because they know who he was. But Arena team members are generally not public figures. Fewer people will use this sleeve because there isn't that connection or context. I feel like a different kind of commemoration might have been more fitting, although I admit I don't know what else I'd suggest. A free thematic event, maybe?
This week's Midweek Magic is Brawl where your commander has to be from Duskmourn. Some of those commanders are questionable choices. You can use Altanak but you can't do the Say Its Name thing, and you'd have to go to some trouble to use its discard ability. You can use Kaito but not its ninjutsu ability.* Again, I'm not complaining, I just think it's odd.
* What do you think the chances are that ninjutsu will one day receive errata to be usable from the command zone? Affected creatures would be Higure, Ink-Eyes, Nashi, and maybe Yuriko.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - New Historic and Brawl Decks Coming to the Store - Doubleheader Weekend: Qualifier Play-In and Arena Open - Alchemy: Duskmourn Previews Begin Today! - Thank You, Kelson - Event Schedule
Evu
3w ago
•
100%
For example, you could imagine bracket one has cards that easily can go in any deck, like Swords to Plowshares , Grave Titan , and Cultivate , ...
Swords to Plowshares, which is currently banned from Historic and will probably never be printed into Standard again, is in the lowest power bracket? Am I misunderstanding the purpose of these brackets?
I know one-for-one removal isn't as good in Commander as it is in two-player formats, but even so. Adding Swords or Grave Titan would noticeably raise the power level of every Commander deck I've ever built. Apparently my decks are in bracket zero.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Duskmourn: House of Horror Has Been Unleashed! - New Phrases and Stickers in the Store - Duskmourn: House of Horror Quick Draft Begins Friday! - Event Schedule
Evu
3w ago
•
100%
It's this one:
I'd assume the problem was with my computer or my connection if it were happening all the time, but it seems to be limited to games with this backdrop.
feedback.wizards.com
And if you have (or even if you haven't), would you consider voting for [this suggestion](https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/48895100-arena-runs-slowly-in-games-with-the-new-duskmourn)?
Evu
4w ago
•
100%
I'm sympathetic to this complaint, but COVID-19 is what took me away from paper Magic. I was out of the game for three years and I'm only back now because of Arena.
Evu
4w ago
•
100%
I agree with most of this.
Regarding the speed/balance issues -- I really just want to play Magic with a much, much lower power level than anything that is currently supported, but WotC has been pushing the power level for so long that I don't even know if we can get back there. I would be open to playing something like Standard Pauper or Standard Artisan, but even that is probably way beyond where I really want to be. I want to turn the clock back 15 or 20 years to when 2R got you a Goblin Chariot instead of a Screaming Nemesis.
Regarding the Arena interface -- I turned off voice lines and background music, changed my graphics settings to Low, and set my default pet to none, all within about a month of starting Arena. And then after a while I just started leaving my headphones off anyway. I put up with emotes for over a year, but broke down and disabled them within the past month or so. It's been an improvement. I feel bad that I might be missing the occasional sincere "Nice" or "Thinking", but not as bad as I used to feel about getting a premature "Good game" or a "Your Go" during a complex turn. I would love a setting to disable non-essential animations. Sleeves, pets, ripple effects in the background. I play Arena despite those things, not because of them. And the card highlighting! I realize it actually provides information but I'd still shut it off in a second.
As for sitting through combos... Arena really needs more sophisticated skipping controls. MTGO has had "Pass until end of turn" and "Pass until next turn" for two decades.
Evu
4w ago
•
100%
I would like to see Sol Ring banned, partly because it's an obviously overpowered card and partly because it reduces space in your deck. Your options are to accept that the real deck construction rules are "Sol Ring plus 98 cards", or to accept that you're voluntarily building an underpowered deck, neither of which are satisfactory IMO.
That said, I think it's interesting that their logic for not banning Sol Ring echoes the reason why I thought Gush shouldn't have been banned from Pauper: it's "the iconic card of the format", and telling people that they'll get to play it is a good advertisement for the format.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Duskmourn: House of Horror Launches Tomorrow—Just One Day Left for Preorders! - A House Full of Events - New Duskmourn: House of Horror Packets in Jump In! - Event Schedule
cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/942869 > ## The project > > This is the latest in a [series](https://mtgzone.com/post/893890) of posts exploring the potential of [Roaming Throne](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/258/roaming-throne) as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Today we look at four more Bloomburrow creature types. > > Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.) > > Here's a [Scryfall](https://scryfall.com/) search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like `t:frog` or `t:rabbit`. > > > f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward) > > # Raccoons > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643520 > > 9 Forest > 7 Mountain > 4 Bristling Backwoods > 4 Escape Tunnel > 4 Brazen Collector > 4 Wandertale Mentor > 2 Coati Scavenger > 4 Brambleguard Veteran > 2 Teapot Slinger > 4 Roaming Throne > 2 Junkblade Bruiser > 4 Shock > 2 Dreadmaw's Ire > 3 Hunter's Talent > 2 Trash the Town > 3 Torch the Witness > > The best raccoon to combo with Roaming Throne has got to be Wandertale Mentor. With an ideal draw you can be casting Throne on turn 3 and putting two more counters on the Mentor every turn thereafter. > > That fits nicely with the general plan of this deck, which might be summarized as "make creatures that are big enough that you can afford to attack with them every turn." Don't overthink it, just swing away. > > Torch the Witness and Trash the Town are in here to help you fine-tune how much mana you're spending, so you can expend 4 as often as possible. Shock and Dreadmaw's Ire help you use the mana you get from Brazen Collector. Also note that Trash and Ire grant temporary triggered abilities that can be doubled by Roaming Throne. > > # Lizards > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643543 > > 6 Swamp > 6 Mountain > 4 Jagged Barrens > 2 Bloodfell Caves > 4 Rockface Village > 2 Mudflat Village > 4 Agate-Blade Assassin > 4 Flamecache Gecko > 4 Steampath Charger > 4 Fireglass Mentor > 4 Thought-Stalker Warlock > 4 Gila Courser > 4 Roaming Throne > 2 Reptilian Recruiter > 2 Bitter Triumph > 2 Go for the Throat > 2 Patchwork Banner > > The thing about Lizards is that it's already a perfectly good aggro deck that doesn't need to be slowed down by adding any four-drops. To make our deck something other than a bad version of its competitive counterpart, we'll have to emphasize some aspect of Bloomburrow's lizards besides their highly efficient combat stats. Fortunately, lizards are also good at generating card advantage. If you manage to get two triggers off of Fireglass Mentor or Gila Courser more than once, it can really tilt the game in your favor. (Note that one of those says "Until end of turn" and the other says "Until the next of *your next* turn".) If you can't afford to cast all of those extra cards, maybe making a profit on Flamecache Gecko will help. > > With no non-creature red spells we can get away with four copies of Rockface Village here. > > # Otters > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643539 > > 10 Island > 8 Mountain > 4 Eroded Canyon > 2 Swiftwater Cliffs > 4 Coruscation Mage > 4 Stormcatch Mentor > 4 Frolicking Familiar > 4 Roaming Throne > 2 Daring Waverider > 4 Otterball Antics > 2 Shock > 4 Lightning Strike > 4 Moment of Truth > 4 Pearl of Wisdom > > Otters are generally in agreement about what they want Roaming Throne to duplicate: their prowess triggers. > > I like prowess decks in theory, but it always seems difficult to balance having the right number of prowess creatures vs. the right number of noncreature spells. As a sorcery that makes up to two creatures with prowess, Otterball Antics does a lot to help address that problem. Frolicking Familiar also earns its spot for its ability to play both roles. > > The rest of our noncreatures have been chosen for their cheapness. All of them can be cast for one mana with a Stormcatch Mentor out, which helps to enable the one overwhelming turn that will win you the game. One of the deck's most impressive lines is to make two Coruscation Mage offspring, then cast a cheap spell and get six bonus damage. > > If you're looking to add some rares to this deck, there are a few directions you could go. [Valley Floodcaller](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/79/valley-floodcaller) or [Bria, Riptide Rogue](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/379/bria-riptide-rogue) can give the rest of your creatures double prowess. [Thundertrap Trainer](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/78/thundertrap-trainer) plays a role similar to Daring Waverider, with the alternative option to serve as an early chump-blocker. But maybe the funniest choice would be [Stormsplitter](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/154/stormsplitter). Starting with one Throne and one Stormsplitter, your first instant or sorcery spell will make two more Stormsplitters. The next will make six more, and the third will make another 18. > > # Birds > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643530 > > 8 Plains > 3 Island > 4 Lonely Arroyo > 4 Tranquil Cove > 4 Lilypad Village > 1 Lupinflower Village > 2 Enduring Bondwarden > 4 Miner's Guidewing > 4 Saiba Cryptomancer > 4 Thrummingbird > 4 Preening Champion > 4 Plumecreed Mentor > 4 Roaming Throne > 3 Knightfisher > 4 Parting Gust > 3 Requisition Raid > > When I started looking at the birds available to me, the most interesting synergy seemed to be between Plumecreed Mentor and Thrummingbird. So I set out to build something focused on +1/+1 counters. > > The problem with Plumecreed Mentor is that it wants non-flying creatures upon which to bestow its benefits. So Roaming Throne wants a lot of birds, birds want a lot of non-birds, and you'd probably still like to have some removal or other utility spells. How do you find room for it all? > > As is often the case in Magic, you use cards that can play multiple roles. Preening Champion and Knightfisher make non-flying tokens -- maybe two at a time? -- that can get counters from the Mentor. Saiba Cryptomancer functions as protection while also giving out counters that Thrummingbird can proliferate. Parting Gust is removal, except when it's letting you repeat one of your ETB triggers. > > It's safe to say that this deck, with its elegant synergies, is my favorite of the bunch. I like it so much that I had trouble playtesting the others because I just wanted to keep playing this one. > > And really, I don't know if there's much I would change here if I weren't on a budget. A copy or two of [Kastral, the Windcrested](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/221/kastral-the-windcrested) in place of Knightfisher might be nice, but you don't want to give up too much of your token production. > > # Any plans for Mice and Rabbits? > > Like Lizards, these types work best as aggro decks that don't need a four-drop, but unlike Lizards, my efforts to find workable alternative versions of them have not met with success. If I do crack those nuts, I'll let you know.
## The project This is the latest in a [series](https://mtgzone.com/post/893890) of posts exploring the potential of [Roaming Throne](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/258/roaming-throne) as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Today we look at four more Bloomburrow creature types. Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.) Here's a [Scryfall](https://scryfall.com/) search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like `t:frog` or `t:rabbit`. > f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward) # Raccoons https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643520 9 Forest 7 Mountain 4 Bristling Backwoods 4 Escape Tunnel 4 Brazen Collector 4 Wandertale Mentor 2 Coati Scavenger 4 Brambleguard Veteran 2 Teapot Slinger 4 Roaming Throne 2 Junkblade Bruiser 4 Shock 2 Dreadmaw's Ire 3 Hunter's Talent 2 Trash the Town 3 Torch the Witness The best raccoon to combo with Roaming Throne has got to be Wandertale Mentor. With an ideal draw you can be casting Throne on turn 3 and putting two more counters on the Mentor every turn thereafter. That fits nicely with the general plan of this deck, which might be summarized as "make creatures that are big enough that you can afford to attack with them every turn." Don't overthink it, just swing away. Torch the Witness and Trash the Town are in here to help you fine-tune how much mana you're spending, so you can expend 4 as often as possible. Shock and Dreadmaw's Ire help you use the mana you get from Brazen Collector. Also note that Trash and Ire grant temporary triggered abilities that can be doubled by Roaming Throne. # Lizards https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643543 6 Swamp 6 Mountain 4 Jagged Barrens 2 Bloodfell Caves 4 Rockface Village 2 Mudflat Village 4 Agate-Blade Assassin 4 Flamecache Gecko 4 Steampath Charger 4 Fireglass Mentor 4 Thought-Stalker Warlock 4 Gila Courser 4 Roaming Throne 2 Reptilian Recruiter 2 Bitter Triumph 2 Go for the Throat 2 Patchwork Banner The thing about Lizards is that it's already a perfectly good aggro deck that doesn't need to be slowed down by adding any four-drops. To make our deck something other than a bad version of its competitive counterpart, we'll have to emphasize some aspect of Bloomburrow's lizards besides their highly efficient combat stats. Fortunately, lizards are also good at generating card advantage. If you manage to get two triggers off of Fireglass Mentor or Gila Courser more than once, it can really tilt the game in your favor. (Note that one of those says "Until end of turn" and the other says "Until the next of *your next* turn".) If you can't afford to cast all of those extra cards, maybe making a profit on Flamecache Gecko will help. With no non-creature red spells we can get away with four copies of Rockface Village here. # Otters https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643539 10 Island 8 Mountain 4 Eroded Canyon 2 Swiftwater Cliffs 4 Coruscation Mage 4 Stormcatch Mentor 4 Frolicking Familiar 4 Roaming Throne 2 Daring Waverider 4 Otterball Antics 2 Shock 4 Lightning Strike 4 Moment of Truth 4 Pearl of Wisdom Otters are generally in agreement about what they want Roaming Throne to duplicate: their prowess triggers. I like prowess decks in theory, but it always seems difficult to balance having the right number of prowess creatures vs. the right number of noncreature spells. As a sorcery that makes up to two creatures with prowess, Otterball Antics does a lot to help address that problem. Frolicking Familiar also earns its spot for its ability to play both roles. The rest of our noncreatures have been chosen for their cheapness. All of them can be cast for one mana with a Stormcatch Mentor out, which helps to enable the one overwhelming turn that will win you the game. One of the deck's most impressive lines is to make two Coruscation Mage offspring, then cast a cheap spell and get six bonus damage. If you're looking to add some rares to this deck, there are a few directions you could go. [Valley Floodcaller](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/79/valley-floodcaller) or [Bria, Riptide Rogue](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/379/bria-riptide-rogue) can give the rest of your creatures double prowess. [Thundertrap Trainer](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/78/thundertrap-trainer) plays a role similar to Daring Waverider, with the alternative option to serve as an early chump-blocker. But maybe the funniest choice would be [Stormsplitter](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/154/stormsplitter). Starting with one Throne and one Stormsplitter, your first instant or sorcery spell will make two more Stormsplitters. The next will make six more, and the third will make another 18. # Birds https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6643530 8 Plains 3 Island 4 Lonely Arroyo 4 Tranquil Cove 4 Lilypad Village 1 Lupinflower Village 2 Enduring Bondwarden 4 Miner's Guidewing 4 Saiba Cryptomancer 4 Thrummingbird 4 Preening Champion 4 Plumecreed Mentor 4 Roaming Throne 3 Knightfisher 4 Parting Gust 3 Requisition Raid When I started looking at the birds available to me, the most interesting synergy seemed to be between Plumecreed Mentor and Thrummingbird. So I set out to build something focused on +1/+1 counters. The problem with Plumecreed Mentor is that it wants non-flying creatures upon which to bestow its benefits. So Roaming Throne wants a lot of birds, birds want a lot of non-birds, and you'd probably still like to have some removal or other utility spells. How do you find room for it all? As is often the case in Magic, you use cards that can play multiple roles. Preening Champion and Knightfisher make non-flying tokens -- maybe two at a time? -- that can get counters from the Mentor. Saiba Cryptomancer functions as protection while also giving out counters that Thrummingbird can proliferate. Parting Gust is removal, except when it's letting you repeat one of your ETB triggers. It's safe to say that this deck, with its elegant synergies, is my favorite of the bunch. I like it so much that I had trouble playtesting the others because I just wanted to keep playing this one. And really, I don't know if there's much I would change here if I weren't on a budget. A copy or two of [Kastral, the Windcrested](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/221/kastral-the-windcrested) in place of Knightfisher might be nice, but you don't want to give up too much of your token production. # Any plans for Mice and Rabbits? Like Lizards, these types work best as aggro decks that don't need a four-drop, but unlike Lizards, my efforts to find workable alternative versions of them have not met with success. If I do crack those nuts, I'll let you know.
This might be old information, I didn't get an e-mail about it like I usually do, but anyway here it is.
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
Give me your Zendikar Rising draft tips! It runs for a week starting tomorrow and I've saved up some gold to play it. I've never drafted it before but I've been practicing a bit on Draftsim, and what I've got so far is that W/G landfall and U/B Rogues seem good. What about Wizards, is that a viable archetype?
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Only One Week Before Duskmourn: House of Horror Preorders Are Gone - Don't Miss the Duskmourn Streamer Event This Wednesday - Preconstructed Decks Available until September 24 - Event Schedule
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
Reminiscent of Caetus, Sea Tyrant of Segovia (which, to my dismay, I've never been able to work out a good shell for).
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
Both sides of this just have unlock triggers; the card doesn't do anything as it sits on the battlefield. There's no reason for this to be an enchantment except that they were trying to shoehorn some stuff into the set's marquee mechanic.
Same with Meat Locker // Drowned Diner and maybe some others that I missed. If they couldn't come up with enough actual-enchantment effects, that might be a sign that there wasn't enough design space and they should have abandoned this mechanic or narrowed its scope. Like, maybe they could just have printed a few Rooms at rare/mythic and skipped the meta-mechanics that care about when you unlock rooms or how many unlocked rooms you have.
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
Hmm... does this help Insidious Roots enough to make it a competitive deck?
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
I get why this is a vehicle. It makes sense flavor-wise; arguably it'd be weirder for it not to be a vehicle. And I get the "creature is abducted and comes back changed" storyline. That also makes sense and is flavorful. But it's kind of hilarious to have them both on the same card. Like, while the aliens are performing their horrifying and unnatural experiments, you can also have some random unrelated dude jump into the captain's chair and zoom around for a while.
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
"Are you from the X-Files?"
"No! We're the Phenomenon Investigators. Our lawyers want us to be very clear about that."
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
Yeah, I was hoping to see more (or any) actual cards with Phasing, like Sandbar Crocodile. The highest Mirage block card on the list was Teferi's Veil at #18, and there was sadly no mention of one of my pet cards, Dream Fighter, who can block first-strikers, flankers and deathtouchers with impunity. But I suppose it's Wizards' fault, really, for making the original batch of Phasing cards underpowered, and then never revisiting the keyword.
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
"Common or uncommon artifact creature that puts cards back in your library for two mana" seems to be a new staple.
I rarely play them or see them played. It's true that a non-zero percentage of my draft games end in board stalls with one player milling out, and in theory I like the idea of having some insurance for those scenarios, but the cards are never impactful enough in any other situation. But this one might come the closest -- a 4/4 flyer for 6 isn't bad, and in Duskmourn it can also function as a Delirium hoser.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Preorder Bundles Available Now! - Join the Duskmourn Streamer Event Wednesday, September 18 - Remix Draft: Artifacts Returns Tomorrow - Be Among the First to Qualify for Arena Championship 8 - Large MTG Arena Update This Week - Event Schedule
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
This is a translation so I guess we'll see what the official English wording is, but it sounds like this uses the old Mesmeric Fiend-style templating, which means you can exile something permanently if you flicker this creature with its ETB trigger on the stack. It would have to be that way, I think, to let you get your own exiled creature back too.
But casting a six-mana creature and then being able to flicker it right away is a lot to ask. More likely we'll see people reanimating this, or possibly doing Smuggler's Surprise-type tricks, to get around having to exile their own creature.
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
This seems like a pretty solid draft pick, wouldn't be shocked if it showed up in Constructed too. Could be a surprise blocker, could be a repeatable Delirium enabler, could just help you smooth out your draws.
Evu
1mo ago
•
100%
Weird that a spell called "Break Down the Door" doesn't have anything to do with unlocking Rooms. In fact, you could use it to exile a Room, making it less unlocked than before.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Preorders Start Today for Duskmourn: House of Horror! - Delve into Duskmourn with the Debut - Five New Brawl Decks Now in the MTG Arena Store - Qualify for Exciting Events in the Timeless Qualifier Play-In - Celebrate Yargle Day in Midweek Magic This Week - Event Schedule
cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/893890 > ## The project > > [Last year](https://mtgzone.com/post/331310) I made a series of posts exploring the potential of [Roaming Throne](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/258/roaming-throne) as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Since then, Bloomburrow has been released, with a whole bunch of mechanically consistent creature types to build around. So here's the continuation of that series. > > Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.) > > Here's a [Scryfall](https://scryfall.com/) search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like `t:frog` or `t:rabbit`. > > > f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward) > > Since rotation, we've sadly lost [Secluded Courtyard](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/275/secluded-courtyard), which used to be an auto-include in these decks. On the plus side, Bloomburrow added a cycle of uncommon lands that care about our creature types, as well as [Patchwork Banner](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/247/patchwork-banner). > > # Frogs > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593033 > > 11 Forest > 9 Island > 4 Lush Oasis > 4 Sunshower Druid > 4 Pond Prophet > 4 Three Tree Scribe > 2 Stickytongue Sentinel > 4 Long River Lurker > 2 Lilysplash Mentor > 4 Roaming Throne > 4 Splash Portal > 4 Trash the Town > 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough > > One thing I like about this deck is the cross-set synergy. Bloomburrow's Frogs have obvious synergy with each other and with Roaming Throne. But while [Run Away Together](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/67/run-away-together) was reprinted in Bloomburrow as the frog-bouncing spell for draft, Outlaws of Thunder Junction's This Town Ain't Big Enough is just better in about three different ways. And Trash the Town's last mode gives its target a trigger that's great for doubling. Opponents sometimes just concede when the plan comes together. > > I've got a couple of copies of Lilysplash Mentor in here even though it doesn't have a triggered ability, just because I wanted some more reliable options for frog-flickering. To make room for them, I shaved two Stickytongue Sentinels -- it's definitely possible to set yourself too far back on tempo by misusing them. > > If you like this deck and want to start spending more money on it, [Valley Mightcaller](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/202/valley-mightcaller) is the obvious first stop. > > # Rats > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593036 > > 9 Swamp > 4 Island > 3 Mudflat Village > 2 Lilypad Village > 4 Escape Tunnel > 1 Terramorphic Expanse > 1 Evolving Wilds > 4 Gnawing Vermin > 4 Nezumi Informant > 4 Shoreline Looter > 2 Tidecaller Mentor > 4 Roaming Throne > 2 Thornplate Intimidator > 3 Wick's Patrol > 4 Cut Down > 4 Bitter Triumph > 3 Patchwork Banner > 2 Self-Reflection > > Shoreline Looter + Roaming Throne turns out to be a pretty nice combo. It helps you get Threshold faster, and once you have it, you can start drawing two extra cards every turn. > > I ended up with only two copies of signpost uncommon Tidecaller Mentor, since I felt it underperformed a bit. Before you have Threshold, its text box is nearly blank, and by the time you have it, it's usually a bit late in the game for a tempo play like bouncing creatures. Still, this deck has the highest average mana cost of the four I'm presenting today, and sometimes a three-mana 3/3 is what you need to survive long enough to cast your Thornplate Intimidators and Wick's Patrols. > > I didn't even remember that Self-Reflection existed before I started building this deck. A couple of copies fit really nicely. It's great to mill with Gnawing Vermin or discard to Shoreline Looter or Bitter Triumph, and once you've done that, it's pretty handy to be able to make a copy of your most valuable creature (and its triggers). > > Fetchlands help you get to Threshold, but I'm only running half as many as I could be because I felt the deck was too clunky with more. > > When it's time to upgrade, you have a few legends to choose from: [Lord Skitter](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/97/lord-skitter-sewer-king), [Karumonix](https://scryfall.com/card/one/98/karumonix-the-rat-king), and [Vren](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/239/vren-the-relentless) all look appealing. > > # Squirrels > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593040 > > 11 Forest > 5 Swamp > 4 Escape Tunnel > 2 Terramorphic Expanse > 2 Evolving Wilds > 1 Bonecache Overseer > 3 Tough Cookie > 4 Bushy Bodyguard > 4 Vinereap Mentor > 4 Curious Forager > 4 Honored Dreyleader > 4 Roaming Throne > 4 Cache Grab > 3 Savor > 3 The Witch's Vanity > 2 Welcome to Sweettooth > > Honored Dreyleader does some silly things in BLB draft, so when it came up in my search, I knew this deck was going to be good. > > We're all in on food tokens, to the point that all of our non-creature spells can make one, and some of our creatures can make two. I have seen this deck rack up double-digit numbers, but don't eat all that food before you need it, because if you can kick a Bushy Bodyguard with Roaming Throne out, you'll make three creatures and they'll each get to forage twice. > > I went with eight fetchlands instead of any duals in this deck to help the foraging plan. Don't exile your graveyard too aggressively, though, because you'll want some permanents in there to bring back with Curious Forager. > > Looking to upgrade? A copy or two of [Camellia](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/207/camellia-the-seedmiser) seems like a good start. > > ## Bats > > https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593031 > > 11 Swamp > 4 Plains > 4 Scoured Barrens > 4 Lupinflower Village > 1 Mudflat Village > 4 Ruin-Lurker Bat > 4 Lifecreed Duo > 4 Deep-Cavern Bat > 4 Starscape Cleric > 4 Moonrise Cleric > 4 Roaming Throne > 2 Star Charter > 2 Starseer Mentor > 3 Cut Down > 3 Bitter Triumph > 2 Patchwork Banner > > The highlight here is the interaction between Roaming Throne and Starscape Cleric. Throne duplicates both the offspring trigger and the life-draining trigger. If you can follow a turn 4 Throne with a turn 5 Starscape, you'll get two little Starscapes, and if you can follow *that* by attacking with a Moonrise Cleric, your opponent will lose 12 life even before the combat damage connects. > > This deck doesn't need white mana for anything other than creatures, so we can safely run the full four copies of Lupinflower Village. But we need black mana for our removal spells, so I'm being cautious and only including one Mudflat Village. Scoured Barrens is another easy inclusion as a dual land that contributes to our lifegain plan. > > This is probably the deck that would benefit most from lifting the budget restriction. [Essence Channeler](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/12/essence-channeler), [Zoraline](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/242/zoraline-cosmos-caller), [Darkstar Augur](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/90/darkstar-augur), and [Aclazotz](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/88/aclazotz-deepest-betrayal-temple-of-the-dead) are all high-powered rare bats that synergize with Roaming Throne.
## The project [Last year](https://mtgzone.com/post/331310) I made a series of posts exploring the potential of [Roaming Throne](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/258/roaming-throne) as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Since then, Bloomburrow has been released, with a whole bunch of mechanically consistent creature types to build around. So here's the continuation of that series. Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.) Here's a [Scryfall](https://scryfall.com/) search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like `t:frog` or `t:rabbit`. > f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward) Since rotation, we've sadly lost [Secluded Courtyard](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/275/secluded-courtyard), which used to be an auto-include in these decks. On the plus side, Bloomburrow added a cycle of uncommon lands that care about our creature types, as well as [Patchwork Banner](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/247/patchwork-banner). # Frogs https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593033 11 Forest 9 Island 4 Lush Oasis 4 Sunshower Druid 4 Pond Prophet 4 Three Tree Scribe 2 Stickytongue Sentinel 4 Long River Lurker 2 Lilysplash Mentor 4 Roaming Throne 4 Splash Portal 4 Trash the Town 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough One thing I like about this deck is the cross-set synergy. Bloomburrow's Frogs have obvious synergy with each other and with Roaming Throne. But while [Run Away Together](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/67/run-away-together) was reprinted in Bloomburrow as the frog-bouncing spell for draft, Outlaws of Thunder Junction's This Town Ain't Big Enough is just better in about three different ways. And Trash the Town's last mode gives its target a trigger that's great for doubling. Opponents sometimes just concede when the plan comes together. I've got a couple of copies of Lilysplash Mentor in here even though it doesn't have a triggered ability, just because I wanted some more reliable options for frog-flickering. To make room for them, I shaved two Stickytongue Sentinels -- it's definitely possible to set yourself too far back on tempo by misusing them. If you like this deck and want to start spending more money on it, [Valley Mightcaller](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/202/valley-mightcaller) is the obvious first stop. # Rats https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593036 9 Swamp 4 Island 3 Mudflat Village 2 Lilypad Village 4 Escape Tunnel 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Evolving Wilds 4 Gnawing Vermin 4 Nezumi Informant 4 Shoreline Looter 2 Tidecaller Mentor 4 Roaming Throne 2 Thornplate Intimidator 3 Wick's Patrol 4 Cut Down 4 Bitter Triumph 3 Patchwork Banner 2 Self-Reflection Shoreline Looter + Roaming Throne turns out to be a pretty nice combo. It helps you get Threshold faster, and once you have it, you can start drawing two extra cards every turn. I ended up with only two copies of signpost uncommon Tidecaller Mentor, since I felt it underperformed a bit. Before you have Threshold, its text box is nearly blank, and by the time you have it, it's usually a bit late in the game for a tempo play like bouncing creatures. Still, this deck has the highest average mana cost of the four I'm presenting today, and sometimes a three-mana 3/3 is what you need to survive long enough to cast your Thornplate Intimidators and Wick's Patrols. I didn't even remember that Self-Reflection existed before I started building this deck. A couple of copies fit really nicely. It's great to mill with Gnawing Vermin or discard to Shoreline Looter or Bitter Triumph, and once you've done that, it's pretty handy to be able to make a copy of your most valuable creature (and its triggers). Fetchlands help you get to Threshold, but I'm only running half as many as I could be because I felt the deck was too clunky with more. When it's time to upgrade, you have a few legends to choose from: [Lord Skitter](https://scryfall.com/card/woe/97/lord-skitter-sewer-king), [Karumonix](https://scryfall.com/card/one/98/karumonix-the-rat-king), and [Vren](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/239/vren-the-relentless) all look appealing. # Squirrels https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593040 11 Forest 5 Swamp 4 Escape Tunnel 2 Terramorphic Expanse 2 Evolving Wilds 1 Bonecache Overseer 3 Tough Cookie 4 Bushy Bodyguard 4 Vinereap Mentor 4 Curious Forager 4 Honored Dreyleader 4 Roaming Throne 4 Cache Grab 3 Savor 3 The Witch's Vanity 2 Welcome to Sweettooth Honored Dreyleader does some silly things in BLB draft, so when it came up in my search, I knew this deck was going to be good. We're all in on food tokens, to the point that all of our non-creature spells can make one, and some of our creatures can make two. I have seen this deck rack up double-digit numbers, but don't eat all that food before you need it, because if you can kick a Bushy Bodyguard with Roaming Throne out, you'll make three creatures and they'll each get to forage twice. I went with eight fetchlands instead of any duals in this deck to help the foraging plan. Don't exile your graveyard too aggressively, though, because you'll want some permanents in there to bring back with Curious Forager. Looking to upgrade? A copy or two of [Camellia](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/207/camellia-the-seedmiser) seems like a good start. ## Bats https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593031 11 Swamp 4 Plains 4 Scoured Barrens 4 Lupinflower Village 1 Mudflat Village 4 Ruin-Lurker Bat 4 Lifecreed Duo 4 Deep-Cavern Bat 4 Starscape Cleric 4 Moonrise Cleric 4 Roaming Throne 2 Star Charter 2 Starseer Mentor 3 Cut Down 3 Bitter Triumph 2 Patchwork Banner The highlight here is the interaction between Roaming Throne and Starscape Cleric. Throne duplicates both the offspring trigger and the life-draining trigger. If you can follow a turn 4 Throne with a turn 5 Starscape, you'll get two little Starscapes, and if you can follow *that* by attacking with a Moonrise Cleric, your opponent will lose 12 life even before the combat damage connects. This deck doesn't need white mana for anything other than creatures, so we can safely run the full four copies of Lupinflower Village. But we need black mana for our removal spells, so I'm being cautious and only including one Mudflat Village. Scoured Barrens is another easy inclusion as a dual land that contributes to our lifegain plan. This is probably the deck that would benefit most from lifting the budget restriction. [Essence Channeler](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/12/essence-channeler), [Zoraline](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/242/zoraline-cosmos-caller), [Darkstar Augur](https://scryfall.com/card/blb/90/darkstar-augur), and [Aclazotz](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/88/aclazotz-deepest-betrayal-temple-of-the-dead) are all high-powered rare bats that synergize with Roaming Throne.
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Banned and Restricted Announcements for August 26, 2024 - Duskmourn Debuts at PAX West—Preorders Start Next Tuesday! - Arena Open: Bloomburrow Starts Saturday! - Final Week to Play Standard at WPN Stores for MTG Arena Rewards - Event Schedule
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Decks Are Back in the Store! - Alchemy: Bloomburrow Available Tomorrow! - The Next Arena Open: August 31 - Earn MTG Arena Rewards Playing Standard Events at WPN Stores until August 31 - Event Schedule
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Buy Decks in the MTG Arena Store Tomorrow! - Get Ready for Arena Open: Bloomburrow This Weekend - Alchemy: Bloomburrow Arrives August 20 - Time's Running Out to Play Standard Events at WPN Stores and Earn MTG Arena Rewards - Event Schedule
Sideboards contain the wrong cards in Bo3 matches: https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/48694358-bug-on-sideboard-inside-best-of-3-games (Traditional Draft and Sealed [are temporarily disabled](https://magicthegatheringarena.statuspage.io/) because of this.) You can't always see the contents of graveyards when you need to: https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/48693707-graveyard-priority-lag Tender Wildguide doesn't hold priority (but its Offspring token works fine): https://feedback.wizards.com/forums/918667-mtg-arena-bugs-product-suggestions/suggestions/48693464-tender-wildguide-not-stopping-between-phases
magic.wizards.com
In this edition: - Bloomburrow and Rotation Arrive Tomorrow! - Unlock Psychic Frog's Horizon Hideaway Before Time Runs Out - Renewal and Rotation Happen Tomorrow - August Qualifier Play-In Best-of-One This Saturday - Play Standard Events at a WPN Store, Earn MTG Arena Rewards! - Event Schedule