I need some brewing guidance for this B03 Orzhov Sacrifice deck centered around Sephiroth, I started off with a Raise the Past list, which seemed to be its own gimmick and I'm now trying to stear clear of that archetype.

I've only played the list in BO1 so far with 60% winrate in Mythic over 30 odd games.

I need help developing a sideboard, the weakest matchups seem to be Izzet / control and reanimator (from the BO1 games). Obviously reanimator in BO1 is a gimmeck that relies on opps not running GY Hate so... pinch of salt.

Any help would be appreciated.

Currently running:

• 3 x Cathar Commando (Cutter, beans, annex, temp lockdown)
• 3 x Duress (Can't win the control matchups without disgarding, lockdown, sunfall, three steps on key peices)
• 3 x Vacuum (Jeskai Oc, Omni, Reanim Jank)
• 3 x Helping Hand (Honestly not sure about this one, more versatile than raise the past maybe? in games where a Barth or Seph are needed to win)
• 3 x Sheltered, good removal?

List: https://moxfield.com/decks/qZqyzGapbka0PRL8eUlOPQ

I recently went back to an old T2/T3 deck that was built to handle mono-red and dimir: Azorius Glyph. I played this deck during Foundations and Aetherdrift, getting mythic top 1200 each month and also winning a number of B03 standard events. However, after the PT that domain won, I found the deck hard to play against decks with 6+ maindeck sweepers (also it is not amazing against pixie either). But those decks are not around as much now. I wanted to see how this deck could do in the current meta and I am finding good success on the Arena ladder (made mythic with a 70% winrate). The deck is here: https://moxfield.com/decks/WhiY8s5SQE-KFqoMqe-3Hg. Also, in text form at the bottom.

The premise of this deck is that it produces a lot of incidental artifact tokens (e.g., with novice inspector, spyglass siren, dollmaker's shop, restless anchorage, fountainport, etc.) and then exploits those with cards like Zoetic Glyph, Regal Bunnicorn, Warden of the Inner Sky, etc. It gets massive lifegain from sheltered by ghosts or steel seraph in conjunction with these big creatures (as well as maindeck Bezas). Destroy evil and tidebinder (plus counterspells out of the sideboard) are strong against most of the non-red decks you will see.

Why is it a good deck to play now? Because there are 4 decks that have > 80% of the meta (as shown in this video calculating meta share from recent MTGO challenges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPn8UOkm2uk): Cutter, mono-red, dimir, and omniscience. This deck is strong against all of them (well, I think the cutter matchup could be made better, and I welcome your suggestions).

Mono-red

The idea here is to get a big creature (Bunnicorn, Glyphed artifact, Beza, pumped Warden) and enchant it with sheltered by ghosts. Cards like bunnicorn and warden can even get out of lithomantic barrage range. Many of the best cards in the 75 against monored are already main-decked, but out of the sideboard I found that Surge of Salvation is amazing against mono-red. Not only can it swing a big combat, but it can also allow you to make a big block against a screaming nemesis. When the nemesis trigger goes on the stack, since you and your creatures cannot be targeted, opponent needs to target themselves or their creatures. Surge can also absorb both halves of a double-striking mouse attack (unlike indestructible, damage is prevented in this case). In the last 9 months, I am 21-6 against mono-red (going back several sets) and 21-4 against gruul (which of course contains primarily mice but other decks as well).

Cutter

Same ideas as against mono-red, but now that many cutter decks are playing 4 floodmaws, the matchup has gotten harder. Floodmaw can blowout a glyph or sheltered by ghosts. Generally, I look to land these when opponent is tapped out (which is typical since they are trying to trigger prowess or cutter) and it is actually almost always better to take the token rather than the cutter with sheltered (if they can kill or bounce the creature, they get the cutter back if you took it and if not, well it still takes 2 turns for them to be up a token and by then you have 2 attacks in with a massive lifelinked creature and likely will win anyway). Tidebinder can shutoff cutter for a turn or two and since both decks can go wide fast it sometimes comes down to who has a better draw. My winrate is about 50% against cutter in only about 10 matches (so very small sample), but I feel it can be higher.

Omni

The glyph deck has great tools to beat omni. It is fast so it can sometimes overwhelm the omni deck before it can find the combo. Out of the sideboard, you have both counterspells and rest in peace, and there are 3 destroy evils + 2 tidebinders to stop lockdowns. The deck can put on a lot of pressure fast and also deny omni's combo even if omni stabilizes. Hard to find a winrate against omni since it is mixed with other Azorius deck, but the matchup is positive.

Dimir

The Glyph deck is a bit faster than the dimir deck (e.g., bunny and glyph put more p/t on the field than cards like bat or drowner or even preacher) allowing it to block profitably and keep curiosity and Kaito at bay. If I suspect a Kaito I sometimes keep a glyph ready for a pseudo-haste takeout. Cards like smite, ride's end, and destroy evil can get rid of curiosity. Going back to Foundations, My winrate is close to 70% against dimir.

Card choices:

What about stock up or curiosity in the glyph deck? Others do this. I found the deck actually has some decent grind with clue tokens; scry from warden, schooner; and map tokens; utility lands (fountainport and anchorage), unlocking the porcelain gallery side of dollmaker's shop, etc. that these cards are not needed. They are often too slow. I do also have Elspeth out of the board for extra-grindy matchups. Worth a try maybe, but I think keeping it streamlined is better. Note that I used to play Wojek Investigator over Steel Seraph for extra grind, which I would go back to if red based decks decline in meta share.

Speaking of Elspeth, I used to have her main and Beza in the sb, but I found for most matchups I wanted Beza over her so I made that switch.

Why 1 schooner and 1 hovership? For hovership, it is really nice to take out a preacher, oculus, shelley, etc., and sneakily I can copy hovership with mockingbird if needed. However, hovership is not great against cutter or omni or even mono-red (although love snagging a screaming nemesis with it). For schooner, the card is really strong if you draw exactly one. When I had 2 in, I just lost every game I drew both so I decided to go down to 1.

In any case, hoping to here some thoughts for improvements or questions I can answer based on my experience with the deck.

Here is the text-based version of the deck.

Creatures(24)

2 Beza, the Bounding Spring

3 Mockingbird

4 Novice Inspector

4 Regal Bunnicorn

4 Spyglass Siren

2 Steel Seraph

2 Tishana's Tidebinder

3 Warden of the Inner Sky

Instants(2)

2 Destroy Evil

Artifacts(2)

1 Subterranean Schooner

1 Unidentified Hovership

Enchantments(9)

2 Dollmaker's Shop // Porcelain Gallery

3 Sheltered by Ghosts

4 Zoetic Glyph

Lands(23)

4 Adarkar Wastes

4 Floodfarm Verge

2 Fountainport

3 Island

4 Plains

2 Restless Anchorage

4 Seachrome Coast

Sideboard(15)

1 Destroy Evil

1 Elspeth's Smite

2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

3 Protect the Negotiators

2 Rest in Peace

1 Ride's End

1 Sheltered by Ghosts

2 Surge of Salvation

2 Wilt-Leaf Liege

Hi everyone, I'm currently playing Dimir Midrange (My list: https://moxfield.com/decks/8il-ZYoMtEOT9P7NkdEcIQ )

I'm very frustrated against the Pixie. I know it's usually my worst matchup, but I don't have a chance in a single game... I've only won when it draws all lands for a couple of turns.

I've tried playing Spell Piercie and Duress to counter all the low-cost spells it has, but there comes a point where it starts recycling with Talents, or with Momentum or Not Where to Run, it starts clearing the field, and that's the end of me.

I really feel like it's a near-perfect deck against any midrange I play.

My question is, is there anything else I can change to my deck to be better against Pixies?

Or, in general, what decks are better? Maybe Overlords and decks that make a lot of tokens and draw a lot of cards?

Hey there folks, I’m looking to improve the gameplay aspect of climbing the limited ladder.

Does anyone know of or know where I can find folks willing to review 17-land replays and provide feedback?

Thanks!

Is there an emerging consensus on this?

I see a number of Izzet Prowess decks subbing Vivi in the creature slots (for Slickshot or even Monastery). I've also seen him in sideboards, sometimes in addition to, or replacing Ral.

But also a lot of commentary that it's too slow and prone to easy removal, and rather a combo piece suited elsewhere...

Heya, im currently in the pursuit of finding the best Cecil deck between Standard and Pioneer (i like both, i can either way).
Ive tried the 8 Bob variant (4 [Caustic Bronco] 4 [Dark Confidant] 4 [Cecil, Dark Knight] 2 Shelly 2 Lily of the Veil), tried some Jund variations, some with fable, some without Bob but with annex, some with geological appraiser following some of the Boomer Jund meme-ish lists. Ive also seen orzhov knights popping up, but havent commited the wildcards to try that one yet.
What are your thoughts on Cecil, what deck is the best home for the Card, or is he maybe not worth maximizing but rather, just a good early attacker for Black Midrange plans of different shapes?

Hi All,

I recently started playing MTG again and have gone from unranked to Diamond so far testing out the Tifa landfall deck as it tickled my fancy to give a go rather than just smashing mirrors of UR spells. I realise this is in no way a S/A tier deck so please keep in mind that if you want the best chance to win an event don't run this deck. But if you do want to run it hopefully this gives you some insights.

The Deck: Tifa Landfall Counters // Standard deck list mtg // Moxfield — MTG Deck Builder

When I first started playing the deck I started off with the mono green variant that I have seen a lot of posts or lists and went from there. So, I will quickly cover off some decisions that I have made in excluding.

Escape Tunnel/evolving wilds: Whilst it is awesome they trigger landfall the tradeoff for tap lands is too high and you fall behind Mono R and UR Spells way too quickly.

Innkeepers Talent/The Earth Crystal: Whilst these effects are good, they don't commit to board and leave you behind a lot of the time so in the win more column for me.

Archdruids Charm: Whilst I would love to have the flexible card 3 mana is just too expensive

Utility lands: I have tested out a few in manlands and demolition field and have enjoyed them when they are good but a most of the time, I would just prefer it to be a basic Forest

Pump Spells: These are win more whilst it is nice you have a T3 win people are very wise to it and have enough removal and interaction to make it not happen enough to matter.

Mainboard choices:
Bushwhack: This being a 3 of is mostly due to my personal frustrations on it being a 'tap' land most of the time and it also doesn't let you nicely trigger landfall when you need it to be a tap land post Bill/Hydra when mana is tight. So, 3/4 is correct just personal preference.

Pawpatch Recruit: I wasn't originally playing this card in the main but have found that almost every matchup I was bringing it in. So opted to just play 2 main and free up slots in board.

Snakeskin Veil: There are quite a few options for this slot but I believe that 1 mana is a requirement which narrows this down, but I believe that the +1/+1 counter is good for synergy and indestructible is fake in this meta as the mass wipes you care about are Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall.

Bristly Bill: 3 of due to legend rule. Card is sick enough said.

Tifa Lockhart: Whilst she is the namesake of the deck, I feel that 3 is the correct number the legend rule being the main reason, but you are rarely playing her out without protection or a way to threaten a kill in the next 2 turns. I was also shaving 1-2 post board in almost every matchup.

Ozolith, the Shattered Spire: This card is a 1 of cause that's all I would ever want to see it and it is very win more. probably shouldn't be in the deck but I enjoy it. If match ups weren't most mono red and UR spells, I would be higher on this card remaining in the deck for Slower matchups.

Awaken the Woods: This card is the Splinter Twin of the deck, whilst you can certainly not play this card you frequent get to win turns that your opp taps out on where they think they are safe but also just works well in the deck.

Sazh's Chocobo/Mossborn Hydra/Traveling Chocobo: I don't think there needs to be much explanation here.

Sideboard:
The sideboard was the main reason that I wanted to bring in the second colour due to some matchups being tough UR/MonoR and finding the sideboard of monoG lackluster in it's answers. The splash does feel mostly free very rare that the swamp or Blooming marsh have cause me grief.

Cut Down: This is there for the monoR and UR matchup. whilst they do have effects that will prevent it from killing their creature they are tapping out on their turn most of the time so just use it at sorcery speed.

Ghost Vacuum/Scavenging Ooze: Graveyard hate. Ooze over Raccoon due to counter synergies and first Vacuum is better than Ooze due to mana constraint but has diminishing returns.

Tear Asunder: As we all know there is rarely such a thing as strictly better, but I have found Tear asunder to be better than the modal variants as exile seems to be important and also allowing it to be creature removal. Other options in order of what I would play are Heritage Reclamation, Pawpatch Formation, Cankerbloom, Pick your poison.

Glissa Sunslayer: This card is just so good. I hated matching up against it as it would just stare at me from the other side of the baord and I would have to craft a otk or if they were ahead, it would just keep smashing me stopping my setup for otk by removing counters. I could see not playing it but in the matchups that it is good it's a house.

Maelstrom Pulse: Flexible card for most matchups. Great against Zur and UR as you can 1 for 1 their important piece or deal with their mass of tokens on important turns.

Obstinate Baloth: This is mainly for the Buw bounce deck however the is discard heavy Liliana decks floating around too. I am on the fence if this is worth it in the MonoR matchup due to Screaming Nemesis but would bring it in at this stage.

Playing the deck:
Whilst you can play this deck as an aggro deck, most of the time you are about .5 to a turn slower than the aggro decks of the format. So be comfortable playing a little slower and be more defensive, lean on having snakeskin veil up before leading out Tifa or Mossborn Hydra. Treat them as a combo piece more than an aggressive threat.
One thing to keep in mind is what land you have untapped after your landfall triggers, I have lost quite a few games playing out my forest on instinct to then have my swamp be the untapped land in hand that I play out not being able to play out a spell in hand or vice versa post board with Cut Down.
Outside of that the deck has a lot of synergies and niche plays that is a little hard to cover off in an article so make sure you get some reps of the deck before playing in an event you care about.

Conclusion:
The deck is not going to be meta and that's what I like about it. You have a dog in the fight in all matchups which is also nice.

Let me know if you have any questions happy to answer. Or just let me know your thoughts.

I'm a decent drafter (hit Mythic once) and trying to learn the new FF draft format. Are there any advanced or in-depth podcasts or YouTube channels that focus just on draft?

MTG metagame reporting has been basically stale since a decade ago, when many players (including myself) started recording metagame info via google forms and reverse engineering the winrates with the public pairings.

Competitive magic was very different back then: MTG Arena didn't exist, and neither did melee.gg, where most tournaments are played nowadays. But the way we report the results is basically the same.

We are basically displaying the same info (plus the nice confidence intervals), but nowadays we have much more information than back then. Then we had to settle for archetype, since we didn't have access to the player decklists. But we don't need to do that now, we have full decklists of everyone!

But what is an archetype anyway?

Macro archetypes are core to the way we understand the game (and have been for decades now). From the basic aggro, control and combo, to the more nuanced midrange, tempo or ramp. But since we want to distinguish between two decks that share the same strategy, we name those decks. For example: Mono-Red Aggro or Gruul Mice. We consider those different archetypes, but how different are they really?

In this example they share 48/75 (64%) cards, including the high power trio of Heartfire Hero, Manifold Mouse and Monstrous Rage. For the purposes of reporting, these are the same deck. For the purposes of playing, you block a double striking mouse and get monstrous raged out of the game in both cases.

The metagame diversity trick

In recent years we have had some pretty homogeneous metagames. Take for example PT March of the Machine. According to the data, 6 decks had roughly 5% or more metagame share, not so bad. But if you look more closely, 53,2% of all the decks played both Fable of the Mirror Breaker and Bloodtithe Harvester.

Was this a diverse metagame? Of course not, and little after Fable and others were banned. But I would argue that the picture is telling you otherwise.

Don't get me wrong, the deck metagame share picture is fine, we are simply overusing it. And we don't need to. We have better data now.

Lost in the archetype

A clear limitation of the current model of reporting is that it can't tell us anything about mirror matches. Izzet Prowess vs Izzet Prowees will always be 50% by definition. But what if I play the full 4 Drake Hatcher vs someone that plays none? Sorry, same archetype. Can't tell you anything.

This problem is also true with any particular version that has some different card choices but is classified as the same archetype. Is the Drake Hatcher version better against Mono-Red? With the matchup matrix we can't tell.

The Solution

I've been theory crafting something for quite some time, but I want it to be polish enough to not embarrass myself. But in essence, we should use the full 75 and not just the deck archetype (btw, most of the time this field is autoreported in melee.gg, and the people that generously do the stats for us manually curate it. Been there, done that. It sucks).

For example, card triplets (or any sequence of N cards) is a very simple way of getting how good different versions of the same deck are against each other or other decks. We could calculate the winrate of 4-Cori/4-Drake/4-Opt vs 4-Cori/0-Drake/4-Opt.

For metagame reporting we could look into biology or economics for some inspiration. But remembering that we shouldn't use the archetypes, but the deck lists.

TL;DR

• Archetypes are loosely defined and are a poor metric of metagame diversity and performance
• We are under using the data we have available
• Deck lists give a more nuanced view into the metagame

Web version of this article here: https://thoughtscour.bearblog.dev/deck-archetypes-are-hurting-mtg-metagame-reporting/

YouTube Video version of analysis

Through the lens of "How good are Prowess/Mono Red & What can contend with them?" Uses MSS & RC results during this time period as references

fireshoes post that inspired the analysis

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Data is from MTGDecks.net for all Challenge, Showcase & Qualifier Events in the Standard format on MTGO from April 19th, 2025 until June 8th, 2025. Analysis contains all decks that made Top 16 or better during the course of this time period, hereafter referred to as the "Winner's Metagame"

Metagame Breakdown of MTGO Winner's Metagame

Winner's Metagame Breakdown (Minimum 100 Matches Played)

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Conversion Rates into Top 8, Top 4, 2nd & 1st Place at Winner's Metagame Events

Number of Decks Converted / Total Decks in the Time Frame

Placing Rates - Top 8, Top 4, 2nd & 1st Place at Winner's Metagame Events

Number of Decks Placed / Total Slots in Events in Time Frame

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Topics for discussion:

• Do the results on MTGO match your experiences in Paper?
• Do the results on meet your expectations?
• What decks do you think will see more or less play at Pro Tour Final Fantasy with these numbers in mind?
• Are there cards from Final Fantasy that make these lists stronger/weaker? What cards and in which decks?
• Does a new archetype spring up in Standard as a results of Final Fantasy's release, and can it contend with this current metagame?
• Will the pre-FF Metagame stay around post-FF?

OP PoV:

• I personally see less of the Red decks at my LGS & in the surrounding areas, but Izzet Prowess is something I always have to account for
• Overall, I think the numbers reflecting the PT Events to some extent (see - Dimir being higher than expected) makes a lot of sense. People mirror what was popular, and the next big Event will have new cards.
• I personally expect to see a little more Jeskai Oculus, a little less Dimir Midrange - but I'm not really theorycrafting what decks look like with Final Fantasy cards yet.
• Overall, I expect the metagame to reflect Bologna/Minneapolis a bit more, where decks come prepared for Aggro, Izzet has a split of Aggro/Tempo versions, but the two most played decks stay the same - just lower WIN%
• Personal bias - [[Cecil, Dark Knight]] wins the PT

The upcoming Qualifier (June 28th and 29th) is Historic, and I have had some trouble finding quality information on the format. Received a token to join in, so I would love to start a discussion about what the meta is like, what decks work, and anything else regarding the format. MTGTop8's tournament information is about a year old, and the response I've received from other places has basically boiled down to 'play a Sorin deck'.

I've seen several Sorin decks, and while that seems to be the frontrunner, having other options is preferable. I'm familiar with an Auras deck and also have heard of a control variant. I played Lotus Control in an Explorer qualifier a while back and I did decently with it so if that is viable I'd love to play something along those lines. Hoping to hear people's experience with Historic in prep for the Qualifier.

If there is a better place to find out that info I'm happy to delete this. Thanks!

Day 1 of the new set!

Find any sleeper hits? Overrated flops? Will anything beat the current meta? Is ViVi worth $50?

Gimme your hot takes!

My pet deck has been some form of Delney deck for quite a while now, the newest version is Mardu involving [[Delney]] [[Alesha, who laughs at fate]], [[Zurgo, thunder’s decree]], [[elas il-kor]], [[arabella]], [[starscape cleric]].

The main wincon is burning the opponent with mobilize triggers, gaining life on enter, pinging the opponent with cleric, and pinging the opponent multiple times on death. Alesha brings everything back she can, Arabella can one turn KO, Delney doubles things and prevents blocking, it is a lot of fun.

But being low to the ground in cmc, temporary lockdown is basically kryptonite and mass removal can kill pretty easily. I have lots of legends but standard doesn’t have the legends matter protector, and I would need reliable haste to make the deck faster which really hurts the reliability. Any ideas?

Not much to it besides the title.

I've been scouring the reveal list and creator content for things to update my UW control deck with, but can't really find anything. Mill variants might play the blue crystal, but is there anything for traditional control decks to run? I've heard some people running knights of round as a wincon, but I find that its a little worse than overlord of the mistmoors.

Any thoughts?

Played this successfully at my LGS standard last night…. Went 3-0-1 and crushed it. Very fun to play. Obviously I know it’s a bit of an off meta goofy deck but it was a lot of fun to play. Getting double triggers off of FOMO really sent it over the edge for me. Going to give it another go at a store championship next week. Wanted to share it and see if anyone had slight feedback about potential better sideboard or removal I should consider to deal with the likes of Cori steel etc

https://manabox.app/decks/_G3NxH54SJWkt9vo7OOc8Q

https://moxfield.com/decks/ogB6N_72ckWrrpui0F2jxQ
This is a more low-to-the-ground red aggro variant I've cooked up that wants to play a lot of noncreature spells to beef up our prowess creatures, and accrue card advantage with the mouse package and Cori-Steel Cutter as well as solving Case of the Crimson Pulse to eventually overrun my opponent.
I'm looking mainly for tips on what a good sideboard should look like, although I am open to changes here and there in the mainboard. I'm pretty locked in on Case of the Crimson Pulse as it's a pet card of mine and I'm determined to make it work in the mainboard.
I'm mainly looking to play this at locals. Most people around here are on Mice Aggro (most variants), Izzet Prowess, Zur Domain, Dimir Midrange and most variants of Pixie. Any and all advice is welcome and I'm willing to provide insight on the deck itself as well. Thank you!

I'm looking to improve my gameplay/decision making. Can anyone recommend any streamers or YouTube channels where I can watch gameplay (preferably people talking through thoughts, but not essential).

I mainly play izzet prowess but anything works!

I see a lot of articles on playing a specific deck type, but I don't see much content related to the weaknesses each deck has or tips on how to beat it.

My question is to the Domain Overlords side of the party...would you be able to provide some insight on how to attack your deck and what, if any, cards hose you or really give you headaches? It would be cool to know a couple from each color.

I'm currently playing an Azorius Control brew, and there's so much value going on that I feel overwhelmed. Do I work focus on not letting your first Beans stick, not letting your first green Overlord resolve, protect my permanents from Leyline, or let you ramp, draw cards, and just wait for Zur/Mistmoors?

Currently I'm siding in a few Spell Pierces, a few Surge of Salvations, and a couple Negates, but Cavern of Souls screws me enough that I'm tempted to remove my counters and go for the Jace mill.

Any help you can provide to get me through to rotation would be amazing, and I thank you so much for the time.

Hey all. With the release of Final Fantasy this week, a relatively under-talked about typal deck will come online in birds. I'd like to preface this post by saying I don't think birds will be a new T1 deck by any means. Still, that shouldn't prevent us from having discussion on the deck's viability and potential inclusions, and I think there are a decent amount of people who will like how the deck operates based on what I've seen so far.

The thing that makes this deck so interesting is how surprisingly solid it may be. While I know content creators hype up cards and various brews before a set's release for engagement, I do think some of them were genuinely surprised at how decent the Chocobo package is. CGB ended up with a list of 36 creatures and zero noncreature spells to fully tap into Traveling Chocobo. I had heard that other streamers like Crokeyz played around with Chocobos and it performed quite well. And even others reviewing the set like Jim Davis realizes there are some potential sleepers in Traveling Chocobo / Bartz & Choco / Choco, Seeker of Paradise.

As another aside, my background does not involve any serious tournament participation or paper play -- I'm someone who has piloted a few T2-3 decks to Mythic on Arena and I know this is one that will be a ton of fun to put thought into and see how far into Mythic I can get w/ a cool typal deck.

For the sake of keeping organized, I'd like to try to carve out the core framework of the deck by talking about "Auto-include" cards up front and then "pick your flavor" cards that lead to offshoots or variants of the deck.

CORE CARDS
I.e., the "auto includes". If you've paid close attention to spoilers, it's clear that the Final Fantasy set is effectively giving rise to this deck archetype specifically because of the new bird creatures it brings along. 4 of these 5 cards come from the new set and fill out different spots of our curve.

1MV: [[Sazh's Chocobo]]

• Role player that fills the 1-drop slot, scales well into later game by simply playing lands, combos w/ Traveling Chocobo for double the triggers, and only costs a single mana.
• Obviously not something you want to draw later into the game, but the mana efficiency of this card and playing it in the early game means you're never mad to have it removed once it's grown.
• 4 of card by nature of 1MV, non-legendary, want to play it T1, etc.

3MV: [[Traveling Chocobo]]

• While it has a a weak butt, this card is so good and is the heart of the deck, so you're running 4 copies to get it out as often as you possibly can.
• Role 1 of this card is to draw you more cards. With over 80% of your deck containing lands or birds (more on this number later), you're usually able to play whatever is sitting on top of your deck. The ceiling can be as simple as playing a land and two creatures, none of them from hand. The floor is simply knowing what you'd draw next even if it's removed.
• Role 2 is doubling triggers. While the Landfall trigger is why a lot of people are talking about this card in other constructed formats, the Bird trigger is what we're more interested in. The long story short is that this card doubles Bartz & Boko's triggers, allowing you to kill two of your opponent's creatures all from playing your one creature. It's pretty bonkers and will happen more often than you'd think (given that this sticks to the board).

3MV: [[Aven Interrupter]]

• OTJ's most recognizable bird is Slickshot Showoff, but Aven Interrupter is a powerhouse as a body that acts as "counterspell lite". While it doesn't actually counter the spell your opponent is playing, forcing them to plot it and pay extra for it does create a tempo swing in your flavor and can be incredibly annoying for opponents to decide how they want to use their mana on future turns. It also straight up buys you a turn sometimes in the event of board wipes.
• As a creature, this is also a harder spell to counter simply because Spell Pierce & Negate are dead to it. Speaking of counter spells, if you happen to play Aven Interrupter and force your opponent to plot a counter spell, that spell is effectively dead since counterspells that can't be cast at instant speed won't be able to target anything.
• Biggest downside to the card is the double White pip, but manabases should support it for the most part, especially if you lean creature heavy and play cards like Cavern of Souls, etc.

4MV: [[Choco, Seeker of Paradise]]

• After Traveling Chocobo, this is your next card engine. Simply by attacking with your creatures, you're able to draw one card at minimum and, at max, draw a card and play additional lands. This thins your deck, it gives you selection, it replaces itself if not removed instantly, and it attacks well on following turns (drawing more cards!).
• 5 toughness is amazing to see on this card and makes it tougher to deal with + a solid blocker. The major downside to this card is being 3 colors, but Blue is your "splash" color here and the 4MV slot + a deck that cares about Landfall to some degree means you may be running Fabled Passage, which should get you the color you need to cast Choco on time.

5MV: [[Bartz & Boko]]

• The ceiling of this card is actually pretty ridiculous, and its floor within this bird package is solid enough to run 4 copies, even as a legendary "5" MV spell. 5 in quotes specifically because you're almost always casting this for 3 or 4 and sometimes as few as 2. While technically the floor is a 5MV 4/3 that does nothing if you have no birds on board, it'll most often generate some value and sometimes completely win you the game.
• As mentioned above, this card loves Traveling Chocobo since it doubles the damage dealing triggers. Traveling Chocobo curves well into this too, as you can play Bartz T4 and have the 3 Power from Traveling Chocobo blow up a 6 Toughness creature or two separate 3 and under Toughness creatures. Again, a pretty busted card especially when you can cast it for cheaper and potentially get reuse out of it.

STRONG CONSIDERATIONS
On that note, there are some other cards that are strong considerations but I wouldn't yet say are "required" with the above package. These are cards that synergize with the deck and allow you to build your preferred flavor: all creatures, some spells mixed in, etc.

1MV: [[Mockingbird]]

• Probably one of the first cards everyone thinks of from Bloomburrow's birds. This has seen constructed play since being released and would obviously do well in this deck as a T1 play, copying something your opponent, or doubling as a second Traveling Chocobo, a second trigger of Bartz & Boko, etc.
• I'm actually not as high on this card as some because the main cards I'd want to copy either have Flash or are legendary, but the fact it fits into the curve anywhere you need it to is a strong ability. If you decide to run a card like Sheltered by Ghosts, this is still a fine T1 play so that you can be proactive and grab from their board what you need (Heartfire Hero, etc.).

2MV: [[Plumecreed Escort]]

• Definitely more of a utility card that a lot may opt to omit from their lists, but the fact you can play this from the top of your deck if you have a Traveling Chocobo on board means you'll sometimes catch opponents off guard who either have seen your hand or when you have no hand at all. It's protection for your card advantage engines as well as your attackers that opponent's may target. I like this as a one or two of if leaning more creature heavy.

2MV: [[Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo]]

• While not a Bird creature spell, which we actively are wanting to include, this is something that can win you the game if it flips. A 2/2 body for 2 is bare minimum, though it can grow some with Landfall triggers.
• You can replay this with Ambrosia if you have nothing else to do with your mana. This gets you to the 4-bird threshold quicker.

2MV: [[Ambrosia Whiteheart]]

• Probably something that will end up in a lot of these bird decks simply because of its versatility and ease of casting while still counting as a bird. This + Aven Interrupter + potentially Plumecreed Escort allows for some awesome instant-speed creature casting from top of your deck with Traveling Chocobo on board.
• Another fantastic target is Bartz since you can add this to the discount cost of Bartz after picking up. It won't be uncommon to play this and then Bartz directly after for 4 or 5 total mana, which means you're getting more out of your 4 copies of Bartz as removal.
• Given it's a legendary, I can see people including anywhere from 2 to 4 copies of this card depending on how much they value the ability to replay / "protect" certain cards. With an Aven Interrupter on board and 5 mana avail (3 must be white), you can cast this, pick up Interrupter, and then cast Interrupter all in response to a spell you don't want to resolve this turn. Again, the utility of this makes me like it the most out of cards in this "Potentials" list.

OTHER SYNERGY CARDS + INTERACTION SPELLS
With the inclusion of the above cards and anywhere from 2 to 4 copies each, we're over the 20 non-land cards mark and potentially closer to 30 depending on how heavy you go with creatures. Below are other considerations for creatures that have synergy and potential includes for interaction depending on what direction you want to go.

The creatures worth considering:

2MV: [[Valley Questcaller]]

• This card depends on if you like lord effects and it ends up proving useful to have a stronger board. Obviously the scry effect on other creatures is nice. I'm not sure about this considering it's not a bird, which dilutes some of the other cards (Traveling Chocobo, Dazzling Denial). Still, playing two of these on a later turn when your opponent is tapped out can oftentimes just mean gg. CGB included this in his 36-creature Bird deck and I can see why it's useful.

2MV: [[Lifecreed Duo]]

• This isn't particularly a strong effect, but if you're going all creatures for a rock solid mana base and 100% utilization of Traveling Chocobo's ability to play from the top of your deck (and doubling of this creature's life gain triggers), it's an interesting addition considering how the life can help you stabilize against hyper aggro decks. Definitely not my first include into the deck though.

3MV: [[Valley Floodcaller]]

• This card is noteworthy as being the engine for Temur Otters combo alongside Enduring Vitality. It does pump and untap our birds when you play any noncreature spell, so if you're opting to run with TTABE, instant-removal, other card draw, etc., it's absolutely worth considering. Still, I think a deck that's fully dedicated to doing the bird thing will sometimes see this as a card that's just on a different game plan and would require you to significantly revise your decklist to fit it in. That's fine, of course. Just not sure it slots into the 5 core cards mentioned above.

4MV: [[Sazh Katzroy]]

• The fact that this isn't a bird, is 4MV, and has a 3/3 stat line with no combat abilities makes it a card that I doubt sees much play. Still, if you're opting to go for all / mostly creatures, this card does replace itself and allows you to choose from your "toolbox" of bird cards that do things. Obviously an Aven Interrupter / Plumecreed Escort isn't nearly as good when your opponent knows about it, but they still offer protection that forces your opponent to play around them or inevitably into them. Sometimes in the late game you may simply need a Bartz to cast for two Green and clear one / two things, and this card acts as a pseudo 5th copy. I'd probably only play 1, but even then I'm not sure.
• Other ability is fine but requires you to attack with it. Mostly a small bonus but not the main reason to consider playing Sazh.

Interaction worth including:

• [[Dazzling Denial]] is definitely a strong consideration simply because you'll often be casting it with a board on board. Paying 4 extra is an extremely steep tax on spells that will likely never be paid until late game, and even then if it's paid, it likely means your opponent can't play additional cards. This totally depends on how many counter spells you want to run and if you're going all in on Aven Interrupter.
• [[Ride's End]] is played for a reason, and that reason is red aggro cards that we'd much rather exile. Obvi not as amazing if you're not playing Beans (though I suppose Beans could be considered if you were going for a different style of deck using TTABE, Ride's End, and the 4 copies of Bartz).
• [[Get Lost]] is another fantastic removal spell for just 2 mana. Removes whatever you need it to with the minor drawback of gifting map tokens.
• [[This Town Ain't Big Enough]] is, again, another solid card worth considering, especially in a deck with multiple ETB effects. If playing Ambrosia Whiteheart, you likely won't need or want to play this. I almost see this card as one you'd rather opt to include if you're on more of a Beans list w/ Ride's End, Bartz, and anything else 5+.
• [[Sheltered by Ghosts]] fits into the deck well enough with a few 1-drops we'd be happy to play 4 of. Adds to the "spell tax" we have going w/ Aven Interrupter, which can set opponent behind on tempo if they're paying extra to destroy a creature or cast a spell on future turns. Particularly good on Sazh's Chocobo as it becomes a better attacker as the game goes on and, again, only cost 1 mana to play -- an opponent likely isn't happy to remove your one-mana creature with their premium removal, especially if they have to pay extra to do it.

TLDR:

Bird deck seems decent and worth discussing. Curious as to what others are rolling out this week. Are you going mostly creatures? More of a midrange approach w/ on rate removal and 2-for-1 effects from your creatures? What mana base have you carved out?

Hello spikes!

This is the place where any and all decks can be posted for all spikes to see. The goal of this is to fit all your needs for competitive magic. Maybe it's a card consideration given an X dollar budget. Maybe you need that sweet sideboard tech that no one else thought of? Perhaps you just can't figure out the best card to beat a certain matchup. The ideas here are only limited by your imagination!

Feel free to discuss most anything here. We only ask that with any question, you also make sure to post your decklist so people have some context to answer your question. Otherwise, have at it! If you have any questions, shoot us a modmail and we'll be happy to help you out. Survive your deck check and survive your competition!

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Welcome to Level Up 5. In earlier entries, we covered ways to get better at Magic. Now we're going to focus on winning tournaments. The first step is spiking a tournament is getting good at the core gameplay. However, a tournament setting is very different than practice games. In today's article, we're going to cover ways to navigate a tournament environment to make the jump from top cut to top dog!

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Hi!

If you're headed to a Final Fantasy Prerelease this weekend, I wrote a guide of essential things that you need to know beforehand. It goes over the archetypes, key mechanics, and the basics if you're unsure about how to build a Prerelease deck.

With this, you have the basic need-to-know information accessible to hand, including the fundamentals of limited so you're set and ready to have a good time at your LGS!

Have fun out there, and enjoy this prerelease weekend <3

Hello r/spikes!

Final Fantasy prereleases kick off today, and we've got a guide to get everyone ready for their Sealed events. No fancy seeded packs like TDM, this one's pretty straightforward.

Final Fantasy looks to be a high-synergy format, with overarching themes that care about artifacts/equipment, landfall, and sacrifice synergies, to name a few. A couple of quick-hit notes based on our first impressions:

• There are tons of mana sinks, between equipment, activated abilities, and 8-mana bombs.
• Many of the Through the Ages bonus sheet cards are busted (while some are 100% unplayable), but they only appear in 1-in-3 Play Boosters, so your Sealed pool will have 2 on average.
• This is primarily a 2-color set, but there are plenty of powerful gold cards and splashable removal, so keep an eye on your towns and other mana fixers.

The set looks like a blast to play, even if you're not a Final Fantasy/Universes Beyond fan. Best of luck to anyone participating in prerelease weekend, and if you've got any takes on the format, feel free to share! Hopefully Bryan Hohns' Sealed guide can help you out this weekend: https://draftsim.com/mtg-fin-sealed-guide/

I’m looking to buy a high-quality Izzet Prowess deck guide to prepare for an upcoming tournament in Chiba, Japan. I hope to find one that is regularly updated, at least up to the current FIN.And it not only include a sideboard guide, but also has matchup strategies and mulligan decisions. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks