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PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:35 pm 
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Welcome to 3 Card Magic, the world's best minimalist Magic format!

What's 3CM?
The basic concept is simple: make a deck consisting of any three Magic cards, and try to beat all the other decks! If you're new here, you should start by reading the 3CM Primer.
Deck submissions should be PM'd to me, CommanderJim, or emailed to [email protected].

The Rules
Previous Seasons
Scoreboard

Season 23 Vanilla Banned List
Alternate Format Banned List



Past Round: Vanilla
Begins Saturday, January 14th
Ends Wednesday, January 18th
Decklists

Past Round: Vanilla Lands
You can play any basic land card from outside the game any time you could normally play a land. (Vanilla banned list, plus some extras.)
Always banned in Vanilla Lands: Beacon of Creation, Black Lotus, Fastbond, Meddling Mage, Red Sun's Zenith, White Sun's Zenith
Begins Friday, January 20th
Ends Wednesday, January 25th
Decklists

Past Round: No Repeats
You can't use a card that has been used in any previous round this season or last season, and you can't run more than one copy of any card (excluding basic lands for both parts).
Begins Friday, January 27th
Ends Wednesday, February 1st
All Cards Used This Season or Last Season
Decklists

Now Grading: Take Five
During your first five turns, your life total can't change, you can't get poison counters, and you can't lose the game.
Extra bans: Pact of Negation, Pact of the Titan, Slaughter Pact
Begins Friday, February 3rd
Ends Wednesday, February 8th
Decklists

It's official!
We tried some experiments last season with a new discard rule and a new format for Round 2, and the majority decision was to keep both! Welcome to the family, new stuff! I thought about merging the extra Vanilla Lands bans into the Vanilla banlist, but I figured it would be better for Vanilla Lands to have its own list of extra "always banned" cards. That way people have more freedom to unban cards without breaking Vanilla Lands.

Also, Aether Revolt cards are now legal. Down with the consulate!

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Last edited by CommanderJim on Fri Feb 10, 2017 1:56 am, edited 11 times in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 14, 2017 9:35 pm 
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Pssst. Hey, it's Jim. I'm busting you out. Here, I'll get the door for you. Come with me. You were probably starting to think you'd be in here forever, huh? Don't worry, we didnd't forget about you. Things have just been... busy in the outside world. I think we take a left here. Anyway, it all started when they took away our mana. Sure, when they took Black Lotus away, we were content to settle for Lotus Blooms, but then they took those, too. mark777 went crazy and started digging into some crazy form of magic that doesn't even need mana. He somehow managed to summon a goblin out of thin air and then burn down and entire skyship. Yeah, it was pretty sweet. Let's go up these stairs. We couldn't all pull off what Mark did, so we went out exploring for other answers. Edacade found some hydra eggs and hid them inside one of the consulate factories. Pretty soon, little hydras started popping out and wrecking the place, but that's not even the best part. Before consulate responders could even arrive, the mama hydra showed up and practically tore the whole building down to retrieve her kids. Hold on, act natural. Hello, fellow prison guard! Escorting prisoners sure is a pain, huh? Heh heh. Okay, she's gone. So after the whole hydra thing, we were able to get away with a whole bunch of Black Lotuses. More than we knew what to do with, so we snuck into a heavy ordinance facility and Zlehtnoba disabled the security systems. Can you see where this is going? We go left here, I think. So we stole a bunch of cannons and started shooting Lotuses all over the city. It was beautiful. Let's make another left. What do you mean, we're lost? We're almost at the exit, trust me. The consulate must have been pissed, because they sent a crazed demon to end our little fireworks display, but Zlehtnoba, the little prankster, just turned it into a tree! We were sure we'd be front page news the next morning, but apparently the Mayor was revealed to be a werewolf that same day. Ah, well. The exit should be right around this corner. Wait, this is just another hallway. Well maybe if we turn around we can, oh, hello fellow guards! Escorting prisoners sure is a... aw, screw it. Run!

Bans: Exploration, Glacial Chasm, Mental Misstep, Pyrokinesis
Unbans: Chronomaton, Frost Titan, Mishra's Workshop

Unlike last season, we have some unbans! Mishra's Workshop certainly seems like a notable one here, and Chronomaton is always a solid threat for 1-mana decks. The Exploration ban will make all-in ramp more difficult in Vanilla Lands, but I'm curious how the Workshop will affect that side of things. I guess we'll just have to find out! Welcome to 3 Card Magic!

New Round: Vanilla
Begins Saturday, January 14th
Ends Wednesday, January 18th
Season 23 Vanilla Banned List

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:25 am 
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I'm hoping Workshop doesn't just get re-banned right away after this season. It seems like a situation where most of the "broken" stuff I can think of that can't be done with depletion lands (albeit a turn slower) is already on the list for one reason or another. And I can't see it being that useful in the Lands format.

Edit: .... I thought of a way it can be very useful in the lands format. I hate me.

Double Edit: Absolutely no one pay attention to any posts I may or may not have made last season. They do not exist and there is no need to check.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:47 am 
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It's very possible that the "always banned in Vanilla Lands" list will grow as we discover new broken strategies.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:35 am 
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It's very possible that the "always banned in Vanilla Lands" list will grow as we discover new broken strategies.


Why did you ban Black Lotus and not Dark Ritual?

Was the stuff at 7 mana really that much more broken than the stuff at 6?

Edit: I realize that lotus can do other colors but the last two rounds I paid attention to where it was really good involved :b: cards on the ban list plus some 4cmc planeswalkers.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:14 am 
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Nice post, Jim. Did you Google my nick, to find out the translation?

When does AER become legal in 3CM? Probably for Vanilla Lands?

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:19 am 
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mark777 wrote:
It's very possible that the "always banned in Vanilla Lands" list will grow as we discover new broken strategies.


Why did you ban Black Lotus and not Dark Ritual?

Was the stuff at 7 mana really that much more broken than the stuff at 6?

Edit: I realize that lotus can do other colors but the last two rounds I paid attention to where it was really good involved :b: cards on the ban list plus some 4cmc planeswalkers.


Dark Ritual only allows 5 mana t1. A free swamp into double dark rit is 5 mana net for a first turn play of your third card. And the number of real killers that leads to is low. The most problematic black pw was Liliana of the Veil, but new discard rule makes her illegal in a first turn play deck anyway. I think the risks of going speedy in lands format make that a min issue. You use 3 cards to power out your one wincon, and other decks playing removal + threats eats you alive.

Even double black lotus into a 7 drop was not the biggest reason to ban it. A single black lotus allows a t1 4 drop in as many as 2 colors (like Ajani Vengeant) and still allows a third card to serve another purpose for a later turn.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 3:40 pm 
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mark777 wrote:
It's very possible that the "always banned in Vanilla Lands" list will grow as we discover new broken strategies.


Why did you ban Black Lotus and not Dark Ritual?

Was the stuff at 7 mana really that much more broken than the stuff at 6?

Edit: I realize that lotus can do other colors but the last two rounds I paid attention to where it was really good involved :b: cards on the ban list plus some 4cmc planeswalkers.


Dark Ritual only allows 5 mana t1. A free swamp into double dark rit is 5 mana net for a first turn play of your third card. And the number of real killers that leads to is low. The most problematic black pw was Liliana of the Veil, but new discard rule makes her illegal in a first turn play deck anyway. I think the risks of going speedy in lands format make that a min issue. You use 3 cards to power out your one wincon, and other decks playing removal + threats eats you alive.

Even double black lotus into a 7 drop was not the biggest reason to ban it. A single black lotus allows a t1 4 drop in as many as 2 colors (like Ajani Vengeant) and still allows a third card to serve another purpose for a later turn.


Karn Liberated how far have ye fallen?


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:05 pm 
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Just a math question. In how many turns does Double Mayor win?


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 4:53 pm 
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T1 Karn is banned by the new discard rule even when he isn't banned by card name.

Double mayor in part depends on whether your opponent helps you transform by not casting spells the turn you cast mayor, and of course whether they even have the means to block the first swing. Against an absolute goldfish, mayors + Mox in land rule goes like:

T1 mayor
T2 mayor1 transforms, mayor2 played, swing alpha1 for 3, get wolf.
T3 mayor2 transforms, swing for 12, get 2 wolves
T4 swing for 20


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 8:43 pm 
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Zlehtnoba wrote:
When does AER become legal in 3CM? Probably for Vanilla Lands?


I would also like to know when exactly AER becomes legal. For reasons. :incognito:

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:02 pm 
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the answer you are looking for is in the first post


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 9:53 pm 
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Nobody reads past the round descriptions. Everybody knows that. :V

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:47 pm 
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Zlehtnoba wrote:
Nice post, Jim. Did you Google my nick, to find out the translation?

When does AER become legal in 3CM? Probably for Vanilla Lands?

Aether Revolt is legal right now. I base legality less on the actual release date and more on just when it gets added to Gatherer.

Also, believe it or not, I didn't Google your name. I must have just coincidentally written something that fits it well! I'll be honest, I tried Googling your name just now, and I still don't know what it means.

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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 9:02 am 
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Welcome back, door! 8 decks is so much better than 7. Nobody else leave!

Even my best google-fu can't help me figure out what Z's name means. Any attempt to translate seems to assume I want the translation of Zlatna.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 11:00 am 
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T1 Karn is banned by the new discard rule even when he isn't banned by card name.


The question was rhetorical.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 5:16 am 
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Zlehtnoba, in my language, is a person who enjoys mischief, but not in a malicious way. Prankster, jester, practical joker, but none of these is exactly right. Little prankster in your post comes very close :)

And there should be a hacek accent on z, but I'm ommiting that for obvious reasons.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 2:19 am 
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One day left to submit Vanilla decks!

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 2:32 am 
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 1:42 pm 
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GS: You marked a 3 against me. I know I get you on the play, but the way I have it we get into some form of stalemate when I'm on the draw. I think you're either forced into a loop of using Elspeth's +2 every turn to offset Thalia swing (who keps swinging at Elspeth to prevent soldier creation), or using the last of Elspeth's loyalty to make 3 solders to force a stalemate against Thalia (and her 16-point headstart in the damage race).

Do you see a useful line I don't see here?

T1 LandA tapped
T1 My dudes
T2 LandA(1), LandB tapped
T2 swing for 4
T3 LandA (2), LandB (1)
Swing for 4
T4 LandA (3), LandB (2)
Swing for 4
T5 LandA (4), LandB (3)
Swing for 4
T6 untap lands, cast Elspeth, -2 (make 3 dudes), Elspeth now at 2 Loyalty

I swing with Thalia and Factory, at Elspeth:

If either goes unblocked, Elspeth dies.

Triple block Thalia: Thalia and Elspeth die, as do 2 soldiers. Factory outraces last soldier easy.
Double block Factory, leave Thalia unblocked: Same basic outcome. Becomes race between a 2 power creature with a huge headstart, and a 1 power creature that can't kill it.
Double block factory, chump block Thalia: Factory and all soldiers die.

Either
T7: +2 Elspeth every turn and Thalia hits Elspeth for 2 every turn, resulting in eternal stalemate
or
T7: -2 Elspeth for a last trio of soldiers. Thalia will never attack into the trio, but if any of the trio attack me Thalia attacks back and can't be killed.


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