Wha? I know there are a lot of decision points but I thought every tree converged on a win for me. Crab can never block witha goblin token because they all always must attack if they exist.

Crab likes blocking:
0. I play my own Leyline, even if Sand Crab doesn't.
1. I cast Rebirth and get 3 2/2 goblins. Crab casts Rabblemaster and gets a 2/2 haste goblin that must attack, so it does. I block, 2 goblins die.
2. I regrow land, attack with 2 goblins. Crab blocks one. Crab regrows Lotus. (20-18)
3. I regrow and cast Rebirth (now have 4 goblins, 3 are summonsick), attack with 1 goblin. (20-16) Crab regrows Rabblemaster, casts it, attacks with hasty goblin, I block.
4. I regrow land, attack with 3 goblins. Crab blocks one with Rabblemaster (20-12). Crab regrows lotus.
5. I regrow and cast rebirth (now have 5, 3 sick). Attack with 2 goblins (20-8).
Pretty clearly a landslide for me.

If Crab *doesn't* like blocking:
0. I play my own Leyline, even if Sand Crab doesn't.
1. I cast Rebirth and get 3 2/2 goblins. Crab casts Rabblemaster and gets a 2/2 haste goblin that must attack, so it does. I block, 2 goblins die.
2. I regrow land, attack with 2 goblins. Crab doesn't block either. Crab regrows Lotus, attacks with rabblemaster + 1 new token (15-16)
3. I regrow and cast Rebirth (now have 5 goblins, 3 are summonsick), attack with 2 goblins. (15-12) Crab attacks with Rabblemaster + 2 goblins, I block rabblemaster. (11-12). Crab recasts rabblemaster.
4. I regrow land, attack with 3 of my 4 goblins. Crab doesn't block (11-6). Crab regrows lotus, attacks with Master + 3 goblins. I block master. Crab recasts master. (5-6)
5. I regrow and cast rebirth (now have 6, 3 sick). Attack with 3 goblins, Crab must block or die. Crab can only regrow one of Lotus or Rabble; my 5 tokens overwhelm crab's 3 in short order.

So if Crab blocks always Crab loses. If crab blocks never unless necessary to avoid immediate loss, crab also loses. If there's an in between scenario where by deliberate choice of when to and not to block crab wins, please iterate it for me.

I actually forgot about the regrow ability. I'll have to look at that and all of my matchups when I'm at a real computer.

While you're doing that, you should decide what to unban for the next vanilla round!

Also, Aaarrrgh still needs to pick bans.

Ban Nexus, Revoker, and Isle.

Okay, Mark, this is what I see when you're on the draw:


Mark's Leyline begins on the battlefield.

1. Crab: Lotus, Rabblemaster, token, attack (20/18)
1. Mark: Furnace, Rebirth, 3 tokens
2. Crab: (regrow Lotus) Lotus, token, attack with 2 tokens and Rabblemaster, block everything
2. Mark: (regrow Furnace) Furnace
3. Crab: (regrow Rabblemaster) Rabblemaster, token, attack (20/16)
3. Mark: Rebirth, 3 tokens
4. Crab: token, attack with 2 tokens and Rabblemaster, block everything

And then it just repeats. Let's see what happens when you don't block Rabblemaster:

1. Crab: Lotus, Rabblemaster, token, attack (20/18)
1. Mark: Furnace, Rebirth, 3 tokens
2. Crab: (regrow Lotus) Lotus, token, attack with 2 tokens and Rabblemaster, block two tokens (20/14)
2. Mark: (regrow Furnace) Furnace
3. Crab: token, attack with token and Rabblemaster (20/9)
3. Mark: (regrow Rebirth) Rebirth
4. Crab: token, attack with two tokens and Rabblemaster

And from there it just repeats. I think it's a 3-3.

I'll unban Force of Will.

Sweet! I'll extend the deadline for this one just a bit, since we're starting late and Christmas might get in the way.



Round 40: Vanilla
Newly banned: Inkmoth Nexus, Phyrexian Revoker, Shelldock Isle
Newly unbanned: Chronomaton, Force of Will, Leyline of Singularity

Round closes Sunday, December 28th

Since I'll be away for the next couple of days, I went ahead and put the poll up a bit early.

One more day to submit decks!

Also, thatmarkguy won Round 39, if he has any more format ideas.

No, Rush did. I applied some discussed-in-thread score changes to the grid last night and when all was settled Rush had 28 points to my 27.

Round 40 Spreadsheet!

Only six decks this week.

My line as I see it:

v1: 6-0. I cast Powder Keg - if it gets Force of Willed that's fine because that takes out the Bogle and my Mutavault overwhelms Dryad Arbor. If Powder Keg lands it blows up one of Bogle or Arbor and once again Mutavault wins.
v2: 0-6. Ith keeps Mutavault useless, Form of the Dragon isn't Powder Keggable, I lose hard.
v3: 6-0. My only spell is the Powder Keg. 3 can counter it if it likes, but my Mutavault will beat the Memnite down.
v4: 0-6. I can only Keg one of the Smiter or the Village, and the other outclasses my Mutavault.
v5: 6-0. Tabernacle doesn't affect me. Keg is quickly ready to blow up the Village. Because the Village is powered by Eladamri's Vineyard it can only get activated on 5's turn, not mine, so it's not even a threat to block or force me to Keg away my own manland.

Meanwhile, let's start some milling! Hopefully the wording for the extra ban makes sense.



Round 41: Limited Mill
Each player has a library of 37 basic land cards (all the same type, chosen upon deck creation). Players don't lose the game for having 0 or less life, but they do lose to drawing from an empty library.

Extra Ban: Any card that can put a card into your library from another zone (e.g. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Blightsteel Colossus, Wheel of Sun and Moon).

Round closes Saturday, January 3rd

Just for clarity sake, Time Ebb is banned but Metamorphose is okay?

EDIT: Did I just win two weeks in a row? Merry Christmas to me!

Metamorphose could still put a card on top of your library if you targeted something that you own but don't control.

I could attempt to allow harmless cards like that, but for the sake of a simple policy, let's just stay away from putting anything onto or into anybody's library.

Right, stealing cards, that's a thing. What about Time Ebb in a creatureless deck?

Life and limb, creating corner cases since it's printing!(but kormus bell would suffice here).

Let's kick off the new year with some fabulous prizes!

Round 40 Results
First place: Rush_Clasic
Second place: door (dooooooooooor)
Third place: thatmarkguy
Banmaster: Sand_Crab

As usual, first through third place all get to unban one card. Banmaster bans three cards.

I'll ban Mutavault, Maze of Ith, and Treetop Village

I'll bring back the card I originally had in my deck this past round before I noticed it was on the banlist and switched to Mutavault.

Mishra's Factory, I choose you!