#decklist

[esperchallenge]

Day 1: Snoozetown, Zhalfir

The Commander

The commander for this first list is Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir, first printed as the face commander of the esper Cavalry Charge precon, released alongside the set March of the Machine. He is the fifth commander to be printed with Eminence, only seen before in the 2017 Commander set. Eminence is powerful because it gives your commander an effect on the game while they're still in the command zone: the only limitation is that all the Eminence abilities work with a single creature type. In Jabari's case, that's knights.

(more under the cut)

Jabari allows you to loot a card once per turn cycle when you attack with a knight. On its own, this isn't that powerful, giving you a small amount of card selection. The true power comes out when Jabari himself hits the battlefield. His last ability lets you reanimate any knight in your graveyard, returning it to the battle for free, as long as Jabari can connect with an opponent. He has flying to help him get through, and first strike allows you to pull shenanigans, since what you reanimate will hit the battlefield before normal damage happens. This means you can bring back a lord effect during first strike damage and pump the rest of your knights when they all connect afterwards.

The obvious way to build Sidar Jabari is knight typal, but you can also go more of a reanimator route, playing cheap knights that let you put your finishers into the graveyard to reanimate in any number of ways. You could also go for an aristocrats strategy: there are multiple knights that have a blood artist-adjacent effect. One last option is to build around the card Nazgûl, as they're knights that scale each other up, and you can run nine of them in the deck. You could even run Conspiracy-type effects and make all your creatures wraiths as well as knights!

The Decklist

Since this is my first decklist in the challenge, I decided to go the obvious route and build a knight typal deck. There will be other chances to go in a more goofy direction. The name of the deck, Snoozetown, Zhalfir, is a reference to the fact that I admittedly went the boring route and also because you're trying to go Knighty Knight lol.

This is a creature heavy deck, with 43 total creatures including the commander. There are a surprisingly high number of lords for the knight type. We have 14 total lord effects in the deck, ranging from pumping power and toughness to giving them abilities like double strike, indestructible, and even horsemanship.

The lands and ramp are from a basic manabase package of lands and rocks that I'll be using in most of my decks, filling it out with basics, unless they call for any additions or changes. For this deck, I've added a Three Tree City to the lands, and an Urza's Incubator to the ramp.

The Standout Cards

Haakon is an absolute house in this deck. He acts as a backup way to get your knights back from the graveyard, if your commander is starting to get prohibitively expensive. He also allows for some of my favorite tech in the game: he specifically allows you to recast knight spells from your graveyard, and you know what are technically knight spells?

That's right: Kindred Changeling cards! We are running two removal spells that count as knights, so you can cast them as many times as you'd like when Haakon is out.

The Council of Four is the one non-knight creature in the deck, but I assure you, it's well worth the inclusion! The best part of this card's text is the word "player" because then you can trigger its effect as well. Even if your opponents are avoiding triggering The Council, you can feel free to cast two spells to make another body, or swing with a knight to loot, triggering the first ability and drawing you an additional card.

The Win Conditions

The first, most obvious way to win is to build up a board of knights and turn them sideways. With enough lords and bodies, you should get through eventually, and cards like Knights' Charge and Moonshaker Cavalry just speed up the process.

If, for some reason, you can't attack, be it a board stall or pillowfort cards, you can just work on building up a decent board, then cast Curry Favor, draining everyone out, or work towards some Syr Konrad or Corpse Knight shenanigans.

Final Thoughts

This was a fun place to start! Typal decks are usually fairly straightforward, but knights have some fun options. All-in-all, I feel good about my first deck in the Challenge.

Talk to you next time, when I go over my Urza, Chief Artificer list!

[mad-about-cards]

This month's legend decklist. This is my favourite rogue deck in years.

Starthief 1.1

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[ampedupkaon]

So... I also play this game. Is this deck meta? No. Do I love it for the flavour it has? Yes. Very much so. Hence why I'm sharing it here

[ninebat]

Also Nine's angora deck! Sorta blinging it but kinda hoping they release more Angora stuff eventually :(

[afro-dave]

Playing in Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy tomorrow and even though I should just register Scam I… don’t want to. So I’m not. I’m an adult, I can make bad decisions.

Decided that if I’m going to play Jeskai I need to lean into some part of the strategy harder in order to actually make it worth doing. I chose going harder on the “you can’t draw” effects and adding the second Day’s Undoing plus Dack in the sideboard to potentially Hymn my opponent while I get 2 Lotus Petals, and also steal artifacts. We’ll see if that works, if I should’ve gone on the non-basic land hate plan, or if the deck really just shouldn’t be played in bigger events right now

[edgeimpchain]

I was inspired this morning with Torin trying to put together DM HERO slop and this deck is so funny.

Max ceiling replay - you can also do the same thing with normal Vyon but you have to overlay Vyon and Lacrima instead, then end on Desirae instead of Caesar + Paradise. Wanted and Diabellstar are equivalent except obviously Diabellstar is a -1.

If you don't have the Wanted/Diabellstar open you can still get the Colossus via the hero line by making an S:P to banish any monster.

[rexmatical]

what the fuck a magic the gathering decklist whaaa?????

anyway i played this to a friday locals for standard, had fun with it and went 2-2. not a tiered strategy unless someone else figures out how to make it better but i like the funy lizards :)

[attemptinghobbies]

Week #47: Pokemon? I guess so.

I know, I know, this isn't Warhammer related. I understand, but like I said in my previous post I'm taking some time off of Warhammer for a bit. This is hobby related so we'll just say it's fine and fits the blogs theme. Anyway, for those of you who are interested in the Pokemon TCG this is the current deck I'm running.

I was running a Gardevoir EX deck prior to this and I tested different decks on PTCGL. I only started playing the Pokemon TCG about two months ago. Gardevoir EX wasn't really doing it for me and all the decks I tested on PTCGL didn't mesh with me either. After seeing the tins in my local target I decided to get some and test out Raging Bolt EX for the first time. The deck instantly fit my playstyle completely. It was exactly what I was looking for in a deck. After playing MTG and YGO for so many years I know what decks I like, I felt dumb for not playing it sooner. I was honestly just trying to not play something super meta like usual, but that wasn't the right play. I've made it into Top 8 at locals every tournament thus far since switching over. Since my locals run late we tend to just split prizing among everyone for non-League/Cup tournaments so we can go home. However, I think it would be difficult to argue that I'm not currently one of the better players seeing as I never drop more than one game in BO1s during Swiss Rounds. I'm currently undefeated in BO3.

It's been a lot of fun meeting new people and making new friends. My wife has even joined in on the fun and we've really been enjoying the game together. We even play Pokemon TCG Pocket together ever since it dropped.

I think the Pokemon TCG community has been easily one of the best card game communities I've had the pleasure of being a part of. MTG used to be good, and we all know what the YGO community is like. It's honestly a breath of fresh air.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[eight-freakin-gids]

After taking a break, I'm getting back into MTG Arena. I mostly played Alchemy before, but now I'm looking to try Standard. Moreover, I'm feeling a bit experimental, and I want to play something other than the most popular decks. So, I built Mono-White Midrange.

Ultimately, this deck is filled with the cards I'm most excited to play, and I could stop my justification there. Because I don't really know the first thing about midrange decks or this Standard metagame. That being said, I will try and document my thought process behind this deck, if only for my own benefit.

While I acknowledge Alchemy and Standard are pretty different formats (and I've missed a few expansions since I've last played), I will try to share my logic about cards that have performed well in the past and why I expect them to perform well again.

To set some groundwork, I think Flying is really, really good in this particular metagame. Several decks run notable flying creatures. Phoenix Chick; Goddric, Cloaked Reveler; Harbin, Vanguard Aviator. Atraxa, Grand Unifier; Ledger Shredder; Faerie Mastermind; and Raffine, Scheming Seer are all centerpieces or key players in big name decks. Whatever your deck is doing, you can't ignore these creatures.

For my own Flying creatures, let's start with Phyrexian Vindicator. I love this card, and could probably gush about it for a whole post. But let me focus on the big stuff. Bottom line, it beats any flying creature. It beats any creature, really. This can attack and block freely in any board state, and that's a very valuable trait. However, this card is held back by the abundance of good removal in this Standard card pool. Additionally, while this can beat any of the Flying creatures mentioned above, those cards all come down 2-3 turns before Vindicator does. So while I think this is a valuable card to use, earlier options are needed.

This brings me to Steel Seraph. This card enables you to defend against enemy fliers, admittedly to mixed results. But what it really excels at is Flying offense. The ability to give your other creatures flying is very powerful. The only thing better than an Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is an Adeline with evasion. On top of all that, Steel Seraph is also immune to Go For the Throat and Cut Down, some of the most popular removal spells available to Black right now.

Archangel Elspeth accomplishes some similar things to Steel Serpah. It can give creatures flying, with the added bonus of being very nice on the defensive.

Alright, alright. You see I've got these 4-5 mana planeswalkers and big fliers, but they do me no good if I'm dead before I can use them.

For the early game, Thalia and Anointed Peacekeeper slow down my opponent's gameplan, Cathar Commando and Fateful Absence lets me interact with the board, and Lunarch Veteran gives me a buffer against aggro decks. Shoutout to Cathar Commando for being a good tool against counterspells, as Make Disappear is popular in any decks with Blue.

Throw in a few Eiganjos for extra removal and a few Skrelvs to protect my creatures or break through board stalls, and that's my deck. I've written this all before I've played the deck. This is all theory that needs to be put into practice, but I look forward to trying it out. 

I have a sideboard, since I want to play best of 3 rather than best of one. That being said, the sideboard is definitely what needs the most work. I don't see a lot of point in adding it here since it's likely going to change pretty drastically.

[failurenumber3]

Reblog with your favorite yugioh deck

I love my Virus deck. It uses "Lair of Darkness" so I can tribute opponents monsters for virus effects. The LOL actually stands for Lady of Lament because that's the monster archtype the deck mostly uses. These monsters can also tribute an opponent's monsters with Lair of Darkness. I keep Mother Spider Splitter and the Baby Spiders in there for an easy XYZ into ARC Rebellion XYZ Dragon or Number 5:Doom Chimera Dragon. Number 5 has an effect to place a monster on the graveyard on top of their deck so if you have the right virus card activated, its gets sent to the graveyard when they draw it next turn.

[esperchallenge]

Deck 7 - Marneus, Private Eye

The Commander

Marneus Calgar is from the 40k precons. He draws you cards when you make tokens, and a 3/5 double striking body is nothing to sneeze at. Other than involving tokens in some way, he's pretty open when it comes to deckbuilding.

(more under the cut)

The Decklist

I decided to focus on clues, with a detective typal subtheme. I went with this due to a quirk in the investigate mechanic - investigate means "create a clue token", but because it's bundled in this action, if you investigate X times, you don't create X clue tokens, you create one clue token X times, and each of those separate instances of investigate trigger Marneus' card draw separately.

The Standout Cards

Academy Manufactor is basically the best card in any deck focused on treasure, clues, or food. Tamiyo's Journal will most likely let you tutor once a turn cycle. Inspiring Statuary turns your clues into ramp.

The Win Conditions

This deck has a surprising number of ways to win. Tangletrove Kelp lets your clues beat down your opponents. Marionette Master, Marionette Apprentice, Kambal, Profiteering Mayor, and Mirkwood Bats will drain them out. Persuasive Interrogators will poison them out.

Final Thoughts

I love drawing cards when i take game actions. It's Good For Me.

[mad-about-cards]

My rank as of entering legend this morning, and the deck that got me there.

[qwertystop]

made a yugioh deck based on one idea (what if all my hand traps were board-builders instead of interrupts) and one joke (house on fire). been working on variants for months by now. so here it is i guess.

[thousand-year-storm]

The rogue corner (april 2025)

It's always juicy to browse the hareruyamtg website for legacy decks, this time I stubled upon these babies.

First a cycling deck from Kamiya Tsubasa:

~ https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/969417/show/

Then this cascade deck from Ikegami Akira that has only one payoff, stealing one of your creatures! Pretty sick if you ask me:

~ https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/856580/show/

Finally mono black smog from Roodslay - the original reason i stumble on the other decks - with a juke of reanimator. It's usually the other way around but I love the balsyness:

~ https://www.hareruyamtg.com/en/deck/943585/show/

[afro-dave]

Gonna try this for Vintage tomorrow in the Land Run main event. I do not play vintage, but I have played a lot of Stompy over the years, and the deck was chosen accordingly.

4 March of Otherworldly Light

1 Black Lotus

1 Mox Pearl

1 Mox Sapphire

1 Mox Jet

1 Mox Ruby

1 Mox Emerald

1 Lotus Petal

1 Mana Crypt

4 Chrome Mox

4 Vexing Bauble

4 Anointed Peacekeeper

4 Archon of Emeria

4 White Plume Adventurer

4 Seasoned Dungeoneer

4 Witch Enchanter

4 Chancellor of the Annex

4 Ancient Tomb

4 Cavern of Souls

1 Karakas

1 Strip Mine

4 Wasteland

2 Plains

Sideboard:

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Stony Silence

2 Wrath of the Skies

1 Grafdigger’s Cage

2 Null Rod

4 Containment Priest

1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale