Decks We Do (and Don't) Bring to Events | EDHRECast 238

[@peadrianlastname]

I bring 4 decks to events. Newest deck, strongest deck, a precon strength deck, and whatever deck I'm the most excited to play other than those 3. Not too much to carry around and you have something for any table you happen to sit at

[@sawderf741]

I tend to play with a lot of new players so I always carry around Goblins so they can have fun winning with a straight forward strategy.

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

Glad you liked my pick! It was awesome to hear the shout-out.

[@mercurialtim3021]

I was one of the people who built Baba Lysaga after the recent episode on her. I absolutely adore her! Never found Golgari as a color pair particularly compelling, but she changed my mind. Thanks for the REC!

[@chasm9557]

I find that green pairs really well with black when you look at reanimator strategies. The Sakura-Tribe Elder type of ramp fits in nicely with recursion, green's access to enchantment removal covers black's lack thereof, and there's plenty of etb, ltb, and death triggers that provide good utility. There's also plenty of random token makers in green that provide nice sacrifice fodder if you have an aristocrats deck. Mitotic Slime is 7 sacrifice targets for 5 mana and I've found Foundation Breaker to work really well in my Meren deck since with evoke you're paying less for an etb you can recur later and you get an experience counter as well.

[@gerardoramirez6854]

I'm currently working on her. Didnt know they made a video. Gotta check it out

[@АндрейМирошниченко-о9в]

These guys made me rebuild my favourite Muldrotha deck)))

[@krazykilper]

Liking for the advice on being mindful of your magic bag at events. As a person who has lost some sentimental cards in their life... That advice is the best for new players.

[@andrewsigrist9981]

Minor correction, Instill Energy does not give a creature haste. It allows the creature to attack as though it has haste. Much worse

[@JadeHex]

Hold up on instill energy I remember specifically the oracle text is "can attack as though it had haste" and doesnt let you use tap abilities right away. It's a good card to untap your commander but doesnt actually give it legit haste for use of tap abilities.

[@pauldyson8098]

This is correct. Good catch!

[@mn6334]

The wording on the card has changed a couple times. The most recent printed version(5ED) says "unaffected by summoning sickness" and there is a modo version that just says Haste but the oracle text now only allows attacking (which is in line with what the original wording was).

[@darthemphatic4654]

Challenge the Stats: Shivan Devastator is in 33% of Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm decks. Miirym can't copy them because they would die immediately as a 0/0

[@LordTreyHowdy]

No? Copying and X spell keeps the same value for X. Edit: WRONG

[@callumnovak4450]

@@LordTreyHowdy Miirym doesn’t copy spells, it copies the dragon once it’s etb’d. The x is only defined when devastator is on the stack

[@LordTreyHowdy]

@@callumnovak4450 after reading more I now agree with you and I was incorrect

[@Meister_Gurkensalat]

I used to love Instill Energy in my Vhati il-Dal deck untill I found out that it got errataed. Install Energy now say "Enchanted creature can attack as though it had haste."

[@Azeria]

Yeah, which tbf is more faithful to its original text of “Target creature may also _attack_ the turn it comes into play” with no mention of using tap abilities. It has its uses in decks like Kalamax still though but certainly isn’t _as_ useful as it once was.

[@joshuapardee4901]

Great episode to watch before Summit! Hope to have a game with one of you while I'm there!

[@z-mashupz8069]

Instill Energy only allows the creature to attack as if it had haste and does not grant haste. Still I great card for tap commanders I run it in my Baru, Wurmspeaker deck

[@thenamedoesnotmatter]

MTGO messed up the card. You are correct per current Oracle Text. They usually do a good job checking those things.

[@WiskMTG]

I was going to comment this as well. Amazing card if it was straight up haste

[@pauldyson8098]

Challenge the stats suggestion: Theft of Dreams in Maeve, Insidious Singer. Borrowing 100,000 arrows is in over 40% of Maeve decks where the functional reprint isn't even on her page.

[@Squee_666_9]

Hope to play against you guys tomorrow at the magic summit! It's time you guy see the monster you helped create!

[@somersetbassett4580]

I have 36 decks, watching these guys, I may have a problem, a glorious problem :)

[@GamiHQ]

Instill energy actually doesn't grant haste, it's been errata'd to say it can *attack* as though it had haste. The untap is still very powerful and worth running though!

[@staren1991]

here's some challenging the stats for you: Weight of Spires only appears in 174 decks on EDHRec, despite usually being a killspell for a single red mana

[@Dataloss484]

Thats definetely a spell that gets better the more upgraded peoples decks get. But I'll totally see if I can get my hands on one or two and try them out.

[@Akoustikus]

I like taking a second to look up Challenge the Stats segments from old episodes, 7 months later, City of Solitude has gone up from 2657 decks to 3358, the gospel is spreading, but still wildly underplayed!

[@crispy2802]

Dana, that was a genuinely compelling ad for Better Help.

[@Wyrd916]

CULTURAL EXCHANGE! My group hated it in Kykar!

[@tylermoore6774]

Thank you!!! I've run city of solitude for a while now, I use it in my combo decks as well. I treat it as a green silence.

[@mvargasmoran]

10:11 the most no nonsense and down to earth advice. Yes, there are thieves, and no, they are not fun like in D&D.

[@ZypherWildfire]

[Instill Energy] is also great for giving a creature (doesn't have to be your own) pseudo-vigilance. Tap to attack, untap with [Instill Energy] I run one in my [Skullbriar, the Walking Grave] or my [Ashaya, Soul of the Wild] decks just for that reason.

[@ViXoZuDo]

I always bring 7 decks + tokens(1 deckbox), so basically I bring 8 deck boxes. 1 cEDH, 1 precon level deck and 5 decks around 7-8.5 power level.

[@k8tinator1]

I always bring Palladia-Mors, the Ruiner 6 Mana Tribal deck, its always the highlight of the game watching one player finally piece together the theme

[@nicolasperrin4518]

The vampire joke has got to be the best dad joke I've ever heard

[@marcusn4814]

I highly recommend bringing pain reliever pills, I had lower back pain during a tournament n it was miserable, this also prevents them random headaches ofc

[@embergeos]

Oh my god, the moment he talked about City of Solitude, I knew it was perfect for one of my decks. I made a Mazzy, Truesword Paladin deck that has no instant-speed anything as a gimmick, and its got an enchantress subtheme, so this seems perfect to be something to put in a sideboard so that I can bump the power level up when the need arises. I've gotta proxy it because the whole rest of the deck is like $30, but that was a wonderful idea.

[@matthoward6130]

Instill energy also adds pseudo vigilance on big bois.

[@tylermoore6774]

Also, tombstone stairwell is a banger in Wilhelt. 4 mana make 4X decayed zombies in a turn cycle where X is the number of creatures in your yard! 🔥

[@jw5087]

I recently took apart my own Alela Sagas deck. Against my will it had turned into a really hard control deck, exiling 2-3 permanents every turn with ECD or Fall of Lord Konda and wiping the board regularly with phyrexian scriptures. Not only was it controlling but also repetetive (and also repetetive) because casting Clockspinning over and over just turns out to be objectively the most powerful thing you can do.

[@jovismarshall]

Instill Energy {G} Enchantment - Aura Enchant creature Enchanted creature can attack as though it had haste. {0}: Untap enchanted creature. Activate only during your turn and only once each turn. only attacking not activated abilities (still good though)

[@MrJustintreat]

Get the quiver, it's amazing. I wanted one for a while, found one at mox boarding house and I love it. I keep 6 decks inside with tokens and extra sleeves. Not in boxes, but the case is a "box"

[@TaIathar]

Can we talk about how everyone's most-requested decks for the EDHRec cast are all decks that have green in them?

[@thundering1]

I have a Kynaios and Tiro group hug deck that is actually a BLAST to play when my brain just wants to be on autopilot - it has no Earthly way of winning, and ONLY makes games go more smoothly. That way NO ONE is attacking me so I stick around through the whole game, and it facilitates Battlecruiser Magic for every deck so each game is FILLED with laughter at doing really bizarre stuff they usually can't set up fast enough to do. It also has a handful of counterspells for someone who is taking the game a little too seriously and just trying to poo-poo everyone else's game.

[@TheCommunistGamerTV]

Here, here on the Azorius control voltron deck. I have a Kamiz infect deck that plays like a tempo deck with cheap saboteurs and infect creatures to keep the cards flowing, the protection and mana up, and the poison counters ticking.

[@Spitfireidiot999]

Top tier dad jokes this week

[@SamundraDarion]

OH it's GREAT to have MATT BACK!

[@ix8750]

My council of four deck has been my favorite commander deck in the last few years.

[@martinmutzell3375]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but as a fellow Baby Lasanga enjoyer I have to reveal that Instill Energy does in fact not grant haste. If you look up the oracle text it has been changed to “can attack as though it had haste”.

[@travisbrandt8663]

I cant find that art of Syr Konrad.. does anyone know how to get that art?

[@trickyrickyrabbit2955]

I myself have a janky elf deck with kethis the hidden hand as the commander and I have to say it is by far my favorite deck to date just because I get to play a bunch of legendary elves. An no one actually expects it to go off but it can be very good on occasion but also has bad days too.

[@dullestpenguin4151]

As you were talking about Valduk I was thinking my old Greven deck was like that. Too funny.

[@BrodyTwice]

I bring my Chainer Dementia Master deck with me everywhere amongst a few other interchangeable slots. Chainer exists in this perfect place for me where he is insanely fun for me to play, and through game decisions I can choose to seek out a combo win and keep up with a higher power table, or I can play him more relaxed and casual going for fun interactions and combat beats wins... I can either keep my interaction fair or punish a player who may have come to the table a bit too powerful compared to the other players... It's good to have a deck that you love, know inside and out, and can easily scale to the expectations of the table and for me that is chainer 100%

[@jw5087]

I have a budget Greven deck and my experience with it has been very different from Joey's. It doesn't just take out one player because I include a lot of effects like Sarkhan's Unsealing, Kediss, Warstorm Surge or Pandemonium that help spread out the damage.

[@tortle1055]

Warning! Instill energy does not give haste! It’s oracle text reads: “enchanted creature may attack as though it had haste”. It does NOT work well with tap abilities on that side.

[@BDi321]

Watching this right after MTG Summit. Saw Dana there!

[@Player_not_found]

Here's my suggestion for a Challenge the Stats. I know he's new, but out of the 258 Mishra Eminent One decks currently on REC, only 3 feature Teferi's Veil, yet that's the cheapest way I can think of to keep your Warform tokens from turn to turn since they wouldn't be sacrificed while phased out...

[@Chonus]

Instill energy + Sanctum weaver in Sythis is really good.

[@andrewdodd3408]

When I've gone to events, I' take ALL my Decks, I only have 13 but there's so much variety in those decks, to accommodate any sort of power level or game intention, from the "Big Sweaty Game" to "So you're new to the game, I'll gladly play one of my slightly improved Pre-Con Decks"

[@drunkgerbil9962]

Uhh..... where can I find this Raggadragga decklist? 👀

[@EDHRECast]

Link in the show notes! Here ya go :) edhrec.com/articles/edhrecast-our-decks/

[@BacchusGames]

I bring 12 decks to events, almost solely because I have one of those hardware toolbox cases that can fit 12 commander decks and it's an easy carry honestly. I think it's one of the only ways to feasibly take 10+ decks to an event.

[@Crypt4l]

Careful: Instill Energy only gives "Enchanted creature can attack as though it had haste." So you can't use it for activated abilities.

[@victorcarrillo2151]

If the creature doesn’t have SS you can untapped it.

[@markbrierley6367]

It's been errataed

[@grumpynurse7529]

I got a friend who always brings a big bag full of commander decks. Most of those decks are budget and use those transparent sleeves so the deck doesnt use much space.

[@DrFrogman]

Instill energy is not exactely haste, the oracle text says it can attack as though it has haste, i believe it doesnt work for activates abilitys.. id love to be wrong, if anyone has any rulestext to suggest that 😁

[@stratavosstuff7575]

I bring 4~8 decks with me, incase of things like "we don't like that one don't use it" or the person who brought only 3, and all of them are obnoxious/too strong, and they can't grab a precon at this gathering.

[@bryandegroat857]

I would bring a water bottle, a bag of Pretzels, definitely MnM's, maybe 6 decks, 1 spicy, 1 precon, 1 super fun deck, and 3 random.

[@kandjar]

@Joey Wow I envy you, you ONLY have to charge your phone once per day!! That's amazing!!!

[@zackkelley2940]

Here's something fun to do with Instill Energy. Use it to haste and untap the creature you enchant with it. Then move the aura with Autumn-Tail Kitsune Sage (Kitsune Mystic) to haste/untap a different creature.^^

[@mn6334]

Instill Energy is a weird card. They've changed the wording a couple times and as of the current oracle text it actually doesn't give full haste. It only allows a creature to attack as if it had haste, not tap for abilities.

[@Neth91]

things i always bring to events is space for extra cards and spare sleeves

[@mikep7882]

Hey guys that raggadragga deck sounds awesome. My friend has a eldrazi deck and i want to build it aswell but its to expensivem this should make an awesome eldrazi deck that i couls build. Where can i find the list?

[@jordanritchie5147]

Hope you were able to get that Kraum signed Dana! I should've had you sign the bill and then went and paid for your signature lol.

[@hellstocker7707]

I only own 6 decks. Ive never been to one of these events but i can imagine me just bringing all 6

[@floridaman6982]

Im working with 3 1. Play to win 2. Play for fun 3. Memes / jank

[@RedCometNurse]

I am disinclined to bring my super expensive deck anywhere. If it is worth two house payments, maybe it should only ever go to my house or friends' houses. My backpack fits nine deck boxes and that is the most I ever bring. I cycle the decks in there around quite often, so I don't get bored.

[@mtgtinfoilthaumaturge1102]

Rograhk and thrasios is 362 deck lists brother. I refuse to put mine up because it’s that much different than most.

[@magnarkorsmo1894]

Instill energy does NOT grant haste, check oracle, it only lets enchanted creature attack as though it has haste

[@empurress77]

Generally, I carry a fun deck a mean deck a janky deck and a deck i'm experimenting on with me. I rarely carry my blinged out decks. I want my Ancestral memories back!

[@markbrierley6367]

I've seen Dana and Matt at the Summit. Heard Joey was in the area but was in my creator clash and didn't want to be distracted looking around and waste other's time. Nothing does what City of Solitude does? Are you not running Dosan the Falling Leaf in your Reki deck? Same ability on a legendary creature.

[@kamakazi339]

16 decks? I have over 80 atm..... Jesus maybe I have a problem

[@LunarWingCloud]

I could never bring all my decks to an event, I have 17 so far and am working on the 32 Deck Challenge, I would definitely bring the 4-5 I typically bring when I go to my friends' houses for Magic night I would definitely bring my Riku of Two Reflections deck since I love cloning and copying abilities and am well known for it in my playgroup

[@brenobarbosa3489]

Challenge the stats idea : Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage on any WG deck that can generate infinite mana, the card itself is both cheap in mana and price, once you have infinite mana and it on hand or battlefield, you can generate infinite creature tokens or populate infinitely creature tokens you have already!!

[@coryjones4040]

Vlad the Inhaler is the name of our Roomba.

[@KCEBGaming]

I mean, I didn't build Baby Lasagna, but that's because I try not to have multiple decks in the same colors due to lack of Real Estate. I have Chatterfang in Golgari. And my Squirrely Squirrel Shenanigans is too fun to replace

[@KCEBGaming]

I've found that since my Yuriko Ninja Tribal deck has become so well tuned, I play it even less than my other 4. I tend to play Unicorn Magic (Emiel) and Bears (Ayula) the most. I've become known for Ayula because I'm a gay bear running gay Bearscape and I've got gay bear tokens incoming for it.

[@ingolf82]

I have decided that baba Lysaga is gonna be my Golgari deck. I really wasn't sure what to build. I almost settled on Dina Soul steeper, because I really like combo. but watching Joey play that Baba Lysaga deck, it just looks like so much fun, especially if you have things that return to hand after you sac them, like Rancor and Spine of Ish Sah and that sort of thing. for my game night, which is mostly every Saturday, I most of the time bring all my decks. I don't have all that many assembled decks at the moment that I want to play, I think I got 7 or 8. I had 12 decks, but I took some apart to make 1 deck, like... I took my gruul deck and my mono green deck apart to make another gruul deck, I needed the pieces in both. onnce I'm done with my decks I plan to have 14 decks, because that is what I have room for in my backpack. I have a case that fits 10 decks and then I have one where 4 fit in. maybe I will have 13 and then 1 spot for tokens

[@kingmric]

Dina fits in the 99 in most cases

[@thatguycam1989]

City of Solitude!

[@boempower]

I think i can answer joey's question on why the group hug deck does not speed up games. I think i can answer it bc i to have a k&t grouphug deck. And i haven noticed when the pod runs alot of intraction and boardwipes the games can go realy long (longest game ive played was one that lasted 6hours i eventualy won that game bc it was time someone just churned trough the interaction) but if a grouphug deck is in a pod with combo players the games go fast. So atm i try to find the balance in my pods when i want to play my group hug deck. And maybe that can help joey aswel.

[@joshrobinson2409]

I just have one deck cause when I find a commander I love I stick with it, and I dont have the money to build multiple decks so when I end up getting bored with a commander which is almost never I sell the deck I currently and use the money to start another

[@jamesyoung3731]

7:18 10 isn't your previous high. 15 is

[@somersetbassett4580]

I used to take the train from Reno to SF a lot. I had my legacy decks in a bag with the strap wrapped around my leg, while I slept. I awoke to a narcotics officer asking me lots of questions. he said it was bc drug smugglers hold their bags that way 😄🤣🙄

[@DVS57REBEL]

5:12

[@caasIsirhC]

"Leave your babies at home." - Matt Morgan

[@jibb8545]

You mean everyone doesn't keep a full proxy copy of each of their decks for when they travel?

[@Torsav]

Cultural Exchange is a beautiful card. I'm playing it in Magnus The Red currently. Double blue, get some solid creatures.

[@matthewdevey8878]

I play rein of power for similar reasons in my wilhelt deck. I also have many sac outlets I can use to sac an opponents entire board

[@compleatcommander8923]

Woody Woodpecker sighting at 6:06

[@pixielilla7369]

In a similar vein to trying to bring decks that don’t take too much of peoples time, it helps a lot if you know your deck pretty well. I don’t have a problem with someone going through the gitrog combo if they know it very well and don’t have to spend 10 minutes figuring out each step and reading every card they draw, but if they don’t know it well, it takes 10x longer… this is true for any deck even if there are no combos. In my experience, most of the time that’s spent during newer players turns are just them reading cards. But at the same token I totally get wanting to try new decks and whatnot, and don’t want to discourage new players :P just something to think about

[@slightgraph89]

As someone who isnt a magic content creator and just likes the game, every set seems to have one cool precon id like to play and one commander I'd like to build, and it has gotten out of hand. I have dismantled three decks and I have to bring a backpack to fnm

[@user-tl4ze2vq9i]

I bring every deck I have... because I only have 3 decks :)

[@dragade101]

what is magic third tier? That seems like a mess up in their marketing

[@Ribbet_brown]

@6:05 baby lasagna enters the chat

[@Ghaz013]

Whenever I hear "Baby Lysaga" in my head I always say "Lady Gaga Lasagna"

[@morgan2513]

Any of the edhrec viewers actually using betterhelp? I'm considering itfor myself

[@MTGSavage]

I carry around 40 decks with me and I dare anyone dumb enough who have a death wish to try and rob me or steal from because of how disciplined I am in martial arts and what I'm capable of. I went to DC for the Magic event and carried around a dufflebag, a Pirate Lab bag and a case Matt was talking about that holds 16 decks and lugged them from the parking garage and back. Can everyone do this? Absolutely not. But I do and nobody is dumb enough to try to steal from me or they'll get put to sleep on the spot lol. I also bring them all to my LGS and only one person actually stole a bulk binder from me during Yugioh night and I stood up and announced if I find out who stole it I'll get myself banned from the LGS for dragging them outside and beating them in the streets until I feel like stopping. And I'm sure whoever they knew also knew me and realized they had better not steal from me again unless once again they have a death wish.

[@psychozen7169]

I only bring one deck over 1k the rest are under 1k preferably under 500$. Why theives to many theives at those events. I am known fory fog tribal decks everyone wants me to always play it but the game usually last 4 hours or longer because I am just constantly stopping damage. Basically I let damage go unless your going to kill someone. Sadly what happens when I play that deck all it takes one control player or staxs player and the game will probably never end

[@garlicxlr]

Yo, BetterHelp actually have licensed therapists now? I thought that was just a scam.

[@xdavid00]

Unfortunately, need to challenge the challenge the stats here. Instill Energy doesn't actually give haste. It's quite strange, but the MTGO and Fifth edition printings are just flat out wrong compared to the Oracle text. I'm not sure how the card works on MTGO, but the Oracle text says "Enchanted creature can attack as though it had haste" which doesn't allow tap abilities to be activated.

[@zackkelley2940]

He who is tired of dad jokes is tired of life.^^

[@ChristopherSmithGPlus]

Cultural Exchange is somewhat of a mismatch for Wilhelt. Sure, you can give people your decaying zombies in exchange for their creatures, but their creatures likely not Zombies (so Wilhelt's triggers won't work). More importantly though, it is a *sorcery*, which means you can't use it the way described in the podcast without some additional support cards. Once decayed zombies attack, they have to be sacrificed at the end of combat, so there's no opportunity to do anything at sorcery speed. If you have Leyline of Anticipation, Vedalken Orrery, or Wizards of Thay (this is the real winner, because it also reduces the cost to cast Cutural Exchange and gives you some other temporary tokens you can give out), or you have a Quicken spell in hand, you can try to get Cultural Exchange off at instant speed. One other issue: since decayed, creates a trigger for *you* to sacrifice the zombies, if someone else gains control of the creatures before that trigger resolves, since you no longer have control of them, and you can't sacrifice other people's permanents, they don't get sacrificed. The zombies live to fight (well, attack) another day!

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

I'm the one that recommended Cultural Exchange. You're absolutely right in how the spell works. It's still a really great fit for any deck that makes expendible tokens. My brother had just reanimated a Avacyn, I had several decayed zombie tokens. I cast a Cultural Exchange on my turn, targeting his commander, his Avacyn, and everything else on his board. He was left with a handful of 2/2's that can't block, can only attack once, and have no other abilities. That's a huge switch from being the undiniable threat at the table. Yeah, the creatures you steal don't trigger Wilhelt, and the opponent keeps the zombies until they decide to use them, but you'll always come out ahead. In this case, my brother had a sac outlet, so I didn't even get to steal his creatures, but it still won me the game by turning his board into something that was no longer a threat. It's very good, even without any instant speed shenanigans.

[@philippniemann8842]

11:03 that is sooo adhd what you are describing 😂😂😂

[@robertkolbe3751]

At least 12 decks.. I can fit 3 ultimate guard boxes, a binder and token box into my backpack. I would bring more because rule1 you will always want to play a deck you didn't bring.

[@ficklefox2171]

I thought I was first, but alas... 😮‍💨

[@Turn2Ugin]

Gang gang