In this deck

she's been better than average. She's close to a Domri Anarch of Bolas but a little better cuz she does card draw and life gain. I've played twice in my 5 games (4-1) so far and maybe I misplayed her cuz she died both times, but she had a good impact. First time I played her she l lasted 3 or 4 turns but I was going to lose that g ame regardless. second time I had to play her as removal the turn I played her and lost her to a menace immediately but I won that game. In a dedicated deck she is probably better, just like Domri.

I was wondering how she’d be in limited. Doesn’t seem like her +1 is that useful in general (maybe to help cast the Jeskai ultimatum if you ever were able to get both in your pool?), and while I like the minus ability she looks kinda bad if drawing her in top deck mode. But Jeskai is one of my favorite wedges in magic, so I want her to be awesome.

From early looks, the set is pretty great for limited. Lot of interesting decision points in games, and the fixing is excellent for allowing 3+ color decks to be viable. Thematically I think there’s some really goofy stuff going on this set, but in practice I’ve been impressed with it from a gameplay perspective.

First time I used her -2 I tossed Blade Banish to kill a key 3/4 (I lost that game). Game 2 I tossed a frost kitten to remove an x/3 with an important activated ability (won that game). I already had those in hand, not sure what she drew me game 1 but game 2 it was a land

Tried building my pool but turns out I genuinely have no idea how to do it. Here's a screenshot, TIMH, any suggestions?



Based on my completely ignorant opinion, I'm definitely playing GB, because I have some premium black spells and because green provides the fixing needed. It's just a question of whether I want to play Abzan, or some other wedge and splash white. Annoyingly, I don't have an Abzan mana rock, many of my best removal spells are in red, and I also have Parcelbeast which is UG and looks like a bomb (compare Dryad Greenseeker).

Your blue is much more solid than your white, so I am leaning toward BGU splashing white for Nethroi/Biollante. I would be conservative with putting in Eerie Ultimatum if splashing white but Sealed is also about what your top end is, because games are slower and more drawn out.

Dead Weight
Ivy Elemental
Essence Symbiote
Cunning Nightbonder
Essenc Scatter
Ominous Seas
Frost Lynx
Glowstone Recluse
Farfinder
Bushmeat Poacher
Dirge Bat/Battra
Parcelbeast
Capture Sphere
Mythos of Illuna
Blood Curdle
Gust of Wind
Migration Path
Dreamtail Heron
Auspicious Starrix
Nethroi/Bollante
Blitz Leech

I would start there.

YOU DRAFT THE CARD:

-Pack 1
pick 1 - Narset of the Ancient Way
pick 2 - Keruga, the Macrosage
pick 3 - Mystic Subdual

What's pick 4?
Sprite Dragon
Frost Lynx
Farfinder
Mysterious Egg
Gust of Wind
Pacifism

I'm leaning towards Farfinder but Pacifism and Sprite Dragon are legit as well, and Frost lynx turns into an amazing Mutate target late game, if I end up drafting more mutate.

My choice would be between Farfinder and Pacifism. If you're ready to commit to white to play Narset, Pacifism is fine over Farfinder but I think I would go with Farfinder.

I would also be tempted to try to draft toward getting Keruga as a Companion, which Farfinder does and Pacifism and Sprite Dragon don't.

I don’t like Keruga as companion in draft limited. It’s a significant penalty not having any spells in your deck you can play before T3, and not being able to double spell until turn 6+. I have yet to see someone draw more than 1 card off companion cast in limited, which isn’t worth the handicap imo. Ive seen a pattern where people playing against a deck with it as companion get an early jump and Keruga deck never catches up. Lot of 4 mana removal at common. I’m ok paying 5 to draw one card (closer to floor side) and get a 3/5 body out of my main deck, but I really don’t like the companion requirement on this one.

I think baby dragon is good and RU spells is pretty legit this set. Pacifism is also good. Either would be perfectly acceptable, but I would take Farfinder. Color fixing value mutate target that goes into every deck is important this set, and will be useful for casting Narset if you end up playing her.


@banedon - I agree with neru. Your white isn’t very good outside of the bombs. You could add a single plains that you could fetch with evolving wilds or farfinder (I’d do that regardless for the option of casting Biollante without mutate) to go along with your B/W dual and still run the ultimatum, but it might not be worth it for the times it’s stuck in hand. Maybe revisit if you need the extra boost to your late game. Def run Biollante tho. Also def run Parcelbeast - that card is a super strong value engine.

Tried the 4-color deck and it was absolutely awful. No way I had enough colored sources to support all that. I lost two games in quick order, switched to Abzan, and finished 2-1 with those colors.

Was a pretty bad run overall, about the only thing I can say is that Vulpikeet is mediocre. 4-mana 2/3 flyer is unplayable. At three mana, maybe, but it's still a 3/4 flyer on its own that's open to a 2-for-1. I started with 2, went down to 1, then down to zero. Dead Weight also seemed fairly mediocre. Don't get me wrong, that card will be played in any black deck, but it doesn't look like there aren't many things that die to it.

Ppl online are saying that companion should be banned in limited. Gives too much of an advantage. I sorta had that experience where I drafted an absolute dumpster fire of a deck but put Yorian as my companion and basically threw every card into the deck to make it 60 and still did alright (2-1).

Interesting. I haven’t seen enough companion use to feel that way yet. Have only seen the 5/5 for 5 that taps for all 5 colors of mana (x2), the Izzet spell copier (x1), and the Pokémon Keruga (x3). I thought the 5/5 was the best of what I’ve seen - deck building requirement fairly painless to meet and you’re guaranteed a fatty when you hit 5 lands. Izzet otter condition is also not too painless in limited but payoff is harder to get in limited and 3/2 body isn’t as good as 5/5. Maybe it’d seem better if the only time I saw it as companion, the player cast it T3 for no additional value. Keruga I’ve thought looked bad - all 3 decks I saw it played in lost the matches. Best thing about the ones I’ve seen is they’re a free card “in hand”, which is good but not necessarily OP.

Yeah mainly it's the free card which seems to be problematic. Here's the link to the twitter discussion: https://twitter.com/BenS_MTG/status/125 ... 71584?s=20

I would laugh so hard if they had to ban companion across formats.

I’ll skim through that thread to see what peeps are saying. Currently I was thinking companions were more fair in limited where the requirements are more difficult/costly to meet - yeah a free card is good but trade offs are more meaningful with limited card pools. I’ve seen cards with the mechanic played in main deck more often than in sideboard.

EDIT: lol, the card Ben uses as an example of broken companion is the one I’ve seen the most and thought was really bad. Maybe I just got an skewed sampling (admittedly extremely small sample size), but all matches I saw were losses - mostly lopsided ones. I’d be interested in seeing the run Ben had, including the draft portion for when he picked it up and how he built around it.

EDIT2.0: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cxPKQ2oJ2BY

Jim Davis talking about it too. Mentions prevalence of companion decks in early Ikoria tournaments. Mentions his success with companions in drafts. Makes argument they need to be nurfed and proposes changes to mechanic rules.

My thoughts:
-I’ve thought companion was a goofy mechanic from the first spoiler I saw. Imo it belongs in a supplemental set. It really bothers me having cards that care mechanically about the construction of your deck in the manner they do be part of a regular set.
-I’m not surprised they’re super powerful in older formats where you have a wealth of card options to help build to the conditions. I’m not that surprised in standard either.
-I’m still a little surprised about limited. Thought the natural limitations of the format would keep them in check and hadn’t been particularly awed by any I’ve seen used. Apparently people who play a ton think they’re broken even in limited. I’m going to spend some time seeking out videos of companion runs in limited for science.
-I’m not sure how different these cards are from planeswalkers. Many of the things Jim says about companions being too strong can be (and have been) said about walkers. Whats the average percentage of decks with planeswalkers represented in top 8 finishes? What’s the opportunity cost of not playing Nissa in a green deck, or Teferi in azorious colors? Etc.
—————I also am not a fan of planeswalkers in magic. But I think the complaints are cross compatible.

First pod draft and this is where I ended up, let me know if I built it wrong and otherwise I shall take this to battle

I passed the 5-color companion around P2P2 (I think). At the time the only cards it wasn't compatible with were Kogla and Godzilla, maybe Lurrus. Not sure if that was right.

I don’t love white mythos in your build. Maybe if you had a red source you could fetch for more reliable sac control, but the naturalists can’t help with noncreature spells. Removing it would take away your need to run the GR tap land and make your mana base a little faster. Might consider running Sandwurm, the vulpikeep, or the 3rd farfinder. I like Sandwurm, since it cycles early and is a fatty with partial evasion late. I know you didn’t like vulpikeep in your limited run, but you have a decent amount of good mitaute targets here. Sticking flying and a 1/1 counter on one of your beefy guys and swinging in is good - also have the Symbiotes that want to be mutated (and could make it a 4/5 flyer that gains 2 life T3), Ivy that is a strong mutate target to give flying, and Gnarr who gives bodies for mutating - even farfinders get a card on ETB and give a keyword. I’m not sure How many farfinders is too many, but it would increase odds of having a black source for Dire Tactics that naturalists can’t help cast - and helps you get your top end bombs down faster.

Regarding the 5 color companion - idk. Apparently people think they’re the strongest cards in the set, but I personally wouldn’t cut the cards you mentioned to have an 8th card that’s a guaranteed 5/5 T5. I might have picked it up just to run maindeck (not sure what you took instead) cause the mana ability would help with your splashes and it’s a decent body - but I’m not sure the companion value is better than your bombs and the grindey value Lurrus offers. Idk how it would have affected the rest of your draft choices if you had taken it, but I think your current pool would look pretty bad (lack ways to win) with the companion instead of your top end and grind value.

You think White Mythos is a bad card if not kicked? I was thinking that since I'm a green deck I expect to have the biggest creature on the board most of the time, so it would be reasonable, and in the off chance that I manage to kick it then even better. The deck as it is also has five black sources (2 lands, the mana crystal, 2 Farfinders) for two black cards so I think that should suffice. I thought of Boneyard Lurker as only "sort of" a black card since it can be mutated without needing black mana. Vulpikeep - it sounds good to make a big flyer and all but what if opponent has removal like Pacifism? Would you play a 3-mana 3/4 flyer with "when this creature enters the battlefield, discard a card"?

I think I took Charge of the Forever-Beast over the 5-color companion, and at the time I was only two colors.

I don’t think any of the mythoses are *bad* if not kicked, I just don’t love it here. Pretty unlikely to kick it with just 1 unfetchable red source, and just thinking you’re more likely to play it before you have an absurd chunker out, which makes me think it’ll be more 50/50 that you are left with the biggest creature. You have a high density of your creatures at 2 and 3 mana, which feels 50/50 you’d have the wider board too. I would like it better if your deck was weighted more at the top end.

Ya mutate carries risk of 2-for-1 but I think you have enough creatures to mutate on after you have extracted value from them that the flying boost is worth running. Like, would you play a 3 mana 3/4 vigilance flyer that read “when this ETB, discard a card, then fetch a land from library to hand”? Or with the green blue mutator you’re not going down a body, but getting a 4/4 flying haste creature for 3 mana. The symbiote and elemental are high enough upside that I’d risk a 2-for-1, as you’re getting a big hastey evasive swing in before opp has sorcery speed chance to respond - and they need to have it. Plus you have some graveyard recursion options.

This was a weird one. P1P1 Eerie Ultimatum over Auspicious Starrix (Starrix is probably the right pick, but I thought Eerie might be fun to try) into P1P2 Pacifism (over Genesis Ultimatum)into P1P3 Inspired Ultimatum and P1P4 Offspring's Revenge. Figured I'd try to angle into Jeskai, Mardu, or RW cycling with some cyclers and a Fire Prophecy through pack 1, and Voracious Greatshark P2P1 steered me into base UW. Swapped a mountain out for a plains after first match.

Mana was surprisingly consistent. Never struggled to cast Ultimatum even when I switched to five red sources, Farfinder and cycling did a lot of work. Liking Imposing Vantasaur in particular, cycling 1 is great and 3/6 vigilance is a fine closer late. Mystic Subdual continues to perform well IMO, great for turning off mutate abilities with the mutate creature on the stack. Finished 5-3 in the end.

Tweaked a little and eventually ended with -Crystal +Greater Sandwurm to 7-2. Deck felt pretty good. I certainly didn't have mana problems, in fact I was able to kick the white Mythos a few times. Kogla was insane, but then who didn't know this. Lurrus was just as insane. With Lurrus on the board I could freely attack with my 2-mana creatures since they're always going to come back anyway. Hell I recover easily even if I have to cast an unkicked Mythos. If I could save it till turn 5+, it's effectively a 2-for-1, and to top it off the body is respectable. White Mythos was OK. When kicked it's of course great, but even when it isn't kicked it's a playable card, although one problem with it is that mutate seems to lead to "superman" decks where opponent has one big creature quite often. Essence Symbiote overperformed. It's a fantastic mutate target, plus if the mutated creature dies Lurrus can bring it back (okay, so Lurrus is broken. I've already said that). Finally Ram Through overperformed. Rabid Bite is already a good card, and being instant speed makes it even better.

Underperformers include:

- Survivor's Bond. I do think it's playable and perhaps the sweetest play of the run was when I suicided my Farfinder so I could Survivor's Bond it back, get a Mountain, and kick the White Mythos. Still, this deck needed more humans for it to be good.
- Exuberant Wolfbear. It was just a 4-mana 4/4 most of the time, which is playable, but in this format seems pretty bad.
- Boneyard Lurker. Again it's a 4-mana 4/4. Sure it buys back a good permanent, but having to mutate first is a significant drawback.
- Excavation Mole. 3-mana 3/3s aren't impressive either.

Two losses. One was to a humans deck that had tokens, the human pump-on-attack lord, and the 2/3 that exiles dead creatures. I didn't draw my bombs and it ground me out eventually with removal spells for my bigger creatures & Survivor's Bond dead in my hand. The other loss was to a UG tempo deck that played Otter into Frost Lynx into Frost Lynx. I was sandbagging stuff in the hope that I'd eventually be able to Mythos him with kicker, but he was drawing cards so he was able to rebuild quickly. He was up tempo, and the 5/4 creature that counters a spell when it enters play was the nail in the coffin.

I wouldn’t write off wolfbear or lurker just yet. Wolfbear is tough beats if you T2 naturalist into T3 wolfbear, or give evasion through counters/mutate and have 2-3 drop humans that are otherwise outbodied on board. Lurker is one of the mutators that doesn’t put you down in card advantage, and 4/4 for 4 is perfectly acceptable mid game beef if you don’t have anything worth recurring. Wolfbear makes the cut for me unless I just don’t have the human support for the ability and I have enough goodstuff in the 4 slot that an acceptable if not exciting 4/4 for 4 isn’t good enough. Lurker basically always makes the cut for me for its utility/versatility and is even worth considering a splash if I’m in one of its colors.

I’m not a fan of the mole and debated hard suggesting it as a cut, but figured you had enough recursion effects that it’s ETB trigger could be useful. I wanted to really like bond as much as Find or Dead Revels but in practice it’s not that impressive. When you can get 2 creatures back it’s nice but it doesn’t happen often enough. With the mole mill and some bombs worth fetching back I thought it was playable in your build, but not surprised it underperformed.