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Hello and welcome

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to North 100 a

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Canadian Highlander podcast.

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Not a set-review

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podcast. Welcome welcome

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to North 100, a Canadian Highlander

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But not a set review podcast.

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Welcome to another we

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topic. brought first, a

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patron at Patreon.com/loading ready run. That's two

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I got no drinks. drink shout out to right,

0:47

let's talk about our topic today. talk

0:49

about our list, what is it,

0:51

what's changed, what are our

0:53

opinions, let's throw it over

0:55

to Wheeler. to Wheeler to Wheeler Wheeler

0:57

here, Canadian Highlander

0:59

aka one of the five of the

1:01

five people that helps

1:04

make these decisions that impact

1:06

the the of the Canadian

1:08

Highlander format. format. We We

1:10

have some pretty huge changes.

1:12

to announce. Chances are by Chances are by

1:14

the time this is up, you may have already

1:16

seen them, but them, but It's good to

1:18

have a pretty a pretty discussion about

1:20

some of these. about some of these. Before

1:23

I actually list off the changes, off the

1:25

it's important to provide a little

1:27

context a little When the

1:29

council makes changes to the

1:31

format, if a card is being

1:33

added to the points list

1:35

or being removed from the points

1:37

list, we need a unanimous

1:39

vote of five to zero five to

1:42

zero. that's obviously the biggest jump

1:44

that any card can make

1:46

on the points list. So keep So

1:48

keep that in mind because

1:50

I'm gonna rattle off a lot

1:52

of additions and a a

1:54

couple of subtractions from our points list.

1:57

list. So starting off with the

1:59

cards that have had their points increased. Minskenboo

2:02

timeless heroes is going from

2:04

It's going from zero points to one point

2:06

to the to the points list. psychic frog is

2:08

frog is going from zero

2:11

points to one point list. to

2:13

the points list from zero

2:15

points to one point going from

2:17

zero points to one point is

2:19

to the points list. points to one

2:21

point added to the points list. going

2:23

from zero points to one

2:25

points to to the points. added

2:28

to the points. applauding and it's it's

2:30

all your bots. White plume adventure is

2:32

going from zero is going from

2:34

zero points to one

2:36

point added to the points

2:38

list. the Now, the cards

2:40

that have had their

2:42

points decreased. Soloring is going

2:44

from four points to three

2:46

points. Can we we them

2:48

to play Canadian to play Canadian

2:50

noting this. was also unanimous.

2:52

It would not have needed to

2:54

be unanimous in order for it

2:56

to move, but considering that this

2:59

is the council's big push for is

3:01

the council's big push for we're here. hey,

3:03

we're here, in fear of in fear

3:05

of it, and get used to

3:07

it or whatever. I I don't know,

3:09

I something to it. Yeah, I'm so so We were

3:11

We were unanimous on soul ring. So so

3:13

that everybody knows to make a points increase

3:15

or decrease but not remove or add

3:17

a new card to the list, with can

3:19

you pass with or out of five or

3:21

four out of five? out of five, Four five

3:24

So So you're allowed to have one dissenting

3:26

voice and still make a change to

3:28

a card that card that on the points list

3:30

when the meeting started. the for what it's

3:32

worth, sometimes what we have a four one

3:34

split, we will not vote. not vote. Because

3:36

we want to really figure out what the,

3:38

you know, we take that Like why? Yeah. The

3:40

are willing are willing to hear the one

3:42

person out wait until the next That

3:44

one is a very powerful stance to

3:46

take and so we so we Listen

3:48

to them. listen are two other

3:50

cards. other cards. Spell seeker has been reduced

3:52

from one point to zero points

3:54

and now is free from

3:56

the the list, list and Survival the

3:58

has been decreased. from one point

4:00

to zero points points removed from

4:03

the points list. the A

4:05

total of A changes, eight

4:07

five new cards being added.

4:09

added, cards being removed

4:11

entirely. removed This is something

4:14

that has been in the

4:16

works has been in the works for,

4:18

honestly, but most more more accurately

4:20

like the past six months or

4:22

so so I'm sure I'm sure that

4:24

if you watch the show

4:27

you have probably been in the

4:29

comment section asking about some

4:31

of these cards about why they

4:33

haven't been addressed and that's because

4:35

there was a very specific philosophy

4:37

that's cards on the points list

4:40

be the points that's effectively

4:42

being reserved for on the the nastiest

4:44

cards to ever walk this well

4:46

the nastiest cards to ever walk this play. combo pieces. It

4:48

was pretty rare for like a

4:50

mid -range card to show up on

4:52

it. it. Right, the closest thing that

4:54

we would have received somewhat recently

4:56

recently is from the Lord of the

4:59

Rings Commander from the Lord of the Rings not

5:01

a combo card but it sure

5:03

as hell feels like it. but it

5:05

sure is how 4th Aerolingus with some

5:07

amount of mana with you get to

5:09

win the game. you get to win the

5:11

then then... recently with Renin with pointed

5:13

that that that more of a mid

5:15

of a mid-range a lot of the

5:17

consideration of the we're in six being added to the points list. 6

5:19

being added to the points list was

5:22

because It made made mana bases so

5:24

good and also made it feel

5:26

terrible to play need any and mana

5:28

dorks didn't need any additional help

5:30

to feel terrible and a world

5:32

of and whatnot. But and of a still more

5:34

of a mid -range card that

5:36

had kind of this plausible of like,

5:38

of you could could strip lock people That's

5:40

why why it's here you strip

5:42

lock them they can't play the

5:44

game that's no that's no these are I

5:46

mean, I mean Minskyen-skinkin-skin-kin-bou, is... kind of close

5:49

to to fourth-air it's a card that just

5:51

hits the table and kills people, the

5:53

table and kills people yeah but it's not

5:55

as. play this tutor to going to play

5:57

this card find this card to then end

5:59

the game it's hard for for a planeswalker that is

6:01

defined as sorcery. Yeah, 4th Aerolingus plays a little

6:03

more like scape engines I guess is what I

6:05

would say, but a flexible scape shift that

6:08

doesn't require you to add Valakut and all this

6:10

stuff. that What I'm trying to get it is

6:12

you to add is a and

6:14

in philosophy I'm try

6:17

and accommodate for this

6:19

to try and printing of

6:21

these self of these

6:23

value engines value engines feed

6:25

into themselves, right?

6:28

Like mechanically and through through their that

6:30

keep popping up keep popping up

6:32

through products that are

6:34

not printed into So through So

6:36

product, through through horizons product, through stuff

6:39

stuff like Lord of the

6:41

Rings or through gate. Basically they

6:43

Basically, they of a lot

6:45

of the safety valves that

6:47

you would have on

6:50

a set standard. And And maybe

6:52

they're designed for formats like

6:54

commander. and have mechanics attached to

6:56

them that are pretty miserable

6:58

in miserable in 1v1. But cards But

7:00

cards psychic frogs are really basic really basic

7:02

of this of this draws cards when

7:04

it It draws cards when it hits you. cards

7:07

and then you pitch cards to make it

7:09

bigger and unkillable. if if they play something,

7:11

if if they try to challenge it on

7:13

the board, the you you cards to to me,

7:15

it it flying, right? There goes our discussion on

7:17

psychic for on psychic frog, no kidding. a question on

7:19

this. on this. You obviously

7:21

take a lot of data on like tournament

7:23

winning lists, not only in Victoria,

7:26

but other places they in it. How

7:28

much of the they cards were due

7:30

to like cards were due to like deck homogenity

7:32

homogeneity, Homogena? Homogena? Yeah, I've butcher that words like

7:34

the same as each other as

7:36

each other. Were we finding? Were were showing

7:38

up too much too because

7:40

of like because stuff four color good stuff

7:42

these cards decks all playing these cards or

7:44

that a part of it of

7:46

sure, right? We want want.

7:48

format and magic of is more

7:50

interesting when people are doing

7:52

different things Yeah, when they're

7:54

looking to achieve different goals

7:56

and ideally using different tools

7:58

to do that tools to do that. Canlander

8:01

more interesting when your decisions matter

8:03

decisions matter. of the best decisions

8:05

you can make is you can make

8:07

card are you playing card are cards

8:09

what you playing in substitution for

8:12

some of the you know

8:14

pillars of the format like the, you

8:16

or of the cards Power Nine or big

8:18

so cards. And so. There like that is yes

8:20

the homogenouet. No I I screwed it

8:22

up up. get it in your

8:25

head you trip over it you trip

8:27

over of the format sure sure

8:29

this is in part an

8:31

effort to combat that to make

8:33

players make more decisions in

8:36

deck to that end up influencing

8:38

directly their decisions building that end up

8:40

influencing the texture of gameplay and

8:43

how you know your

8:45

average basically saying like. If we

8:47

take two gruel lists there could

8:49

a list that will play completely differently

8:51

from another one another on whether or

8:54

not they put their points into points

8:56

into fast colorless manner, plus a Minskenboo, or or they

8:58

put it into Moxon, plus some some 1

9:00

or they go lower or they go lower

9:02

with just, it can lead to, know, can lead to,

9:04

you know, there's bound to be

9:06

overlap between these and the cards they

9:08

play, but they will play differently, you'll

9:11

make different decisions, and those decisions

9:13

will end up... will end up creating

9:15

unique gameplay scenarios. Really

9:18

quickly we want comment on the data. on

9:20

the We do not have the data. the

9:22

data to make make decisions

9:24

entirely based off off that. Magic Online has

9:26

hundreds of thousands of matches

9:28

getting played in leagues, and in

9:30

able to reap all that data.

9:32

to reap all A lot of what

9:34

the of does council does is Vibes based sure

9:36

and to be be clear, Wheeler means

9:39

leagues of formats that aren't

9:41

Canadian Hallender. There are some MTGO

9:43

Canadian There are some empty geo Canadian don't

9:45

have all the data from those.

9:47

leagues, But we can't say, all the

9:49

data for clarifying But we mean, we can.

9:51

65% I mean we say, but when we say

9:53

like 65% of these decks have in them or

9:55

whatever. or whatever Right. Our data size is

9:57

not huge. It's not that big. that. Yeah.

9:59

And And because we're a a format that

10:02

have the have we're same, run like we're

10:04

a community run format. People play time,

10:06

all the time. They're not really

10:08

influenced by, I mean, people play garbage

10:10

in every in every we're not influenced

10:12

by a lot of cash. of cash. No. Not

10:14

influenced by that kind of thing.

10:16

So So they just play what they

10:18

like and that can lead to, lead to,

10:20

given such a small sample size, it

10:22

can lead to drawing some incomplete

10:24

conclusions. throw don't wanna throw us off

10:26

too much from the topic, but there

10:28

is a fascinating thing with the

10:31

reach of this format now, which was for a

10:33

very long time, a a community. format, right? It

10:35

was based in right? was based in and it

10:37

was and it was played by Victoria,

10:39

BC, and the council was there and

10:41

a lot of the decisions were made

10:43

purely based on our local based on our Yeah.

10:45

And the format has grown tremendously, I

10:47

say, opening myself up to the audience

10:50

up to the audience I do wonder. how much you

10:52

much you think about the global

10:54

reach of this now when you're

10:56

making decisions from is is like Victoria

10:58

tournaments. Always. Yeah yeah. Victoria

11:00

is really no different from

11:02

the, like, uh, the community

11:04

in Portland to the the community

11:07

in Ireland in like Dublin

11:09

like Dublin to you know, the,

11:11

the Jersey scene or the

11:13

players in Berlin, whatever,

11:15

right? Like right individual community

11:17

has its own biases. They

11:19

have their own styles

11:21

of decks their own styles they, you

11:23

know, have their own. their own

11:26

like preferences towards what decks

11:28

decks they deem are the

11:30

best. So we got to reach a lot.

11:32

So we gotta We got out,

11:35

basically. Let expand that. Let

11:37

me come back to. said decisions you

11:39

said on are based on their

11:41

local meta and this plan of

11:43

of kind of updating the philosophy.

11:45

So in So in previous councils, And

11:47

I know you were a previous a previous

11:49

council or just for for the audience

11:51

So, you know, you know, yeah. We would

11:53

often compare a potential new increase

11:55

or a a card being added

11:57

to the list or something being

11:59

reduced. to same points as another card as

12:02

in terms of like some sort

12:04

of of like some sort of like equity

12:06

inside the the points

12:08

list. So like if a if a Mox

12:10

is three points, points, you like you need

12:12

to to have. Three like mock Sam rolls

12:15

worth of something something flash to be be

12:17

worth nine points, for example. Yeah, or

12:19

you know three of your frogers a saga white

12:21

plume venture to sort of be

12:23

worth a mox. the the value of

12:25

all the cards on the

12:27

list needed to be somewhat comparable

12:30

or the spreads needed to

12:32

be equally scary. scary and I think

12:34

if you wanna free yourself

12:36

from that and just add cards

12:38

to the list based on

12:40

keeping the format from getting getting too

12:42

homogenous. I think that That's probably fine

12:45

and a decent way to address, as

12:47

as you said earlier, cards being introduced

12:49

the to the game that didn't have

12:51

to go through their time and

12:53

standard and pass those security valves, valves, right? Because... In

12:55

a way, Wizards is giving us

12:57

a bunch of cards that could have

12:59

been from the have been you know,

13:01

in terms of their, like, of wildly

13:03

powerful abilities, know, you like, you know, you

13:06

know, Orkish seems like a card, like,

13:08

well. like a card, like, would have gotten

13:10

probably would have or maybe even in standard

13:12

it came out in 1998,

13:14

someone would have been like, in 1998,

13:16

really? would have been like, each time?

13:18

You know. plus one counters each time, you know. So

13:20

like that and I think that's a

13:22

really important thing to communicate to to

13:24

some of our viewers who've been

13:26

playing for a long time. our viewers who've been

13:29

playing for a long stands currently on. where the what

13:31

it takes to make it to be

13:33

a what card. Like, why is it to be

13:35

a one point why is X is X card zero and

13:38

why one point mean, you know? one

13:40

point mean, you know, etc. So really

13:42

quickly, is is there anything else we

13:44

wanna set to set foundationally like about clock council philosophy or points

13:46

in general? No, we're just gonna

13:48

have to do a whole other episode

13:50

other episode go we I'll go way to well then let's start

13:52

then let's start going over each

13:54

of the cards specifically. there's I think

13:56

there's a lot to be gained there.

13:58

So the first card you mentioned was

14:00

Minskenboo. Yes. The four Man of Plains Walker. Now

14:02

previously the Now, previously. four Man

14:05

of The only other ever had pointed, we ever

14:07

had pointed, we had Jace pointed, at one point

14:09

in the one point in the history of

14:11

the format, also was banned for a

14:13

while formats other formats outside of it,

14:15

previously banned in Standard and in Modern. modern.

14:17

Was it it banned in Standard? it banned

14:19

in Modern? It was banned in Standard,

14:21

was banned in Modern. it was band and modern. Yeah,

14:23

it was band and been banned in Extended. was

14:25

banned in Extended. Yeah, it was extended

14:27

back then. Yes. Yeah, then was said a

14:29

product, back then. Yes. not made for said,

14:31

a It literally says can be your not

14:33

made for on it. line of text that

14:35

I even know was printed on that

14:37

right very recently. There's some commander players.

14:39

This is their favorite know was printed on that Makes

14:42

sense. very recently. I'd like to do

14:44

if I won all my games.

14:46

This is their favorite I mean, I mean. I

14:48

think I'm on on team good on this

14:50

one. one, especially when it comes down

14:52

on down on turn three, maybe even turn two on

14:54

a on a god something like that like

14:56

that. unpleasant like unpleasant, like or

14:58

something like that. tomb or

15:01

something that. you can kill

15:03

kill Questing beast. When you kill you kill

15:05

questing beasts. It's dead dead. What was somebody

15:07

saying? There's a weird a weird... There

15:09

is a against Minskenboo, which is specifically

15:11

the triggered ability with the

15:13

hamster. Well, you can the hamster. Well, you

15:15

can lightning ability on the stack.

15:17

Yeah, there's that on small there's that small

15:19

there much like when you much

15:22

like when you got lost by Ursa the first

15:24

loyalty counter. Yeah, like there's there's

15:26

of time of time to play but

15:28

this card is miserable to

15:30

play against. Yeah, the and for those

15:32

and for those curious Canlander Discord in the

15:34

the website, there's like a write -up

15:36

with all wildbies that all done and I'll

15:38

give us a self-plug here I I talked about

15:40

this already for about about hours today.

15:42

So my mind has only been Canlander

15:45

today. today. Sure. So if you if you you

15:47

gotten enough, enough. It's there. It's been less there, it's

15:49

been less than two weeks if

15:51

you're watching this one, this episode came

15:53

came out. He's got a vod on

15:55

Twitch. Twitch. is just the best in

15:57

the business. best It is a power

15:59

outlier in terms. of ways to to

16:01

close the game being

16:03

also being resilient and

16:06

flexible. play pattern most play

16:08

pattern most commonly associated with

16:10

this card card is this card

16:12

card, make a a hamster make

16:14

hamster big. And already off of

16:16

that you're getting what is

16:18

effectively is mana worth of eight

16:20

mana worth of out of four mana. out of four

16:22

mana. And then what you you do from there, if

16:24

forbid if you get to with with everything,

16:27

well, you're probably winning the game, but

16:29

you can win the game in a couple

16:31

of different ways. So you have these

16:33

pivot points, these decision trees trees, that if they

16:35

try to challenge this card on the board,

16:37

on the you're gonna run into, you can

16:39

make your thing bigger. Or thing they decide

16:41

to know, rid of the of the well, you

16:43

just got a new one and you could

16:45

restock. Or if they do play out

16:47

of the board and it's bigger, of the get

16:49

to just draw four cards and draw for

16:52

four, and right? for four, right?

16:54

This card slices and dices, it does it does

16:56

everything. It's just the best

16:58

at games. think it's And I don't

17:00

think it's particularly close. Engineer is one

17:02

is one of the few

17:04

other four like board-based cards that pops

17:06

up that could be comparable

17:08

to this. We'll get to that

17:11

card in a bit. a bit. But

17:13

it But it also just provided

17:15

a way to close was was

17:17

way too efficient for decks that

17:19

traditionally did not have the

17:21

ability to close. close. Right? Think back of

17:23

the day, control decks didn't have pressure. Right?

17:25

It just It just wasn't a

17:28

thing. had completely shut you down down

17:30

then then untap. Yeah. And gracefully play out

17:32

some out of a big creature of

17:34

big they live Yeah. If they live enough

17:36

to wrath you, that's when the

17:38

control deck could take over. you, that's when

17:40

the control deck up the board, you

17:42

rebuild, they deal with that, they

17:44

play a to clear up the board, you rebuild, they deal

17:46

whatever. they even more modern kind

17:49

of top end cards inferno Titan or whatever

17:51

can be that in substitution for

17:53

there. they would make when they was a choice

17:55

that they would their when they are

17:57

selecting their archetype, right? It's like this

17:59

is is a. a downside of this that that

18:01

I this this call is my deck is

18:03

not going to be able to close.

18:05

That is is not a thing that happens

18:07

nowadays. I also, when when you're making that

18:10

call, you also have to choose not

18:12

to be able to race a be player

18:14

that has race a time something. player that has making

18:16

a trade something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. now you get

18:18

that. And that's part of why we've

18:20

seen this. I'm going to use going to

18:22

use a... I'm homogenized sure kind of these

18:25

of these X piles. It's why it's hard

18:27

It's why it's hard to call

18:29

them control or tempo tempo And

18:31

they're often just called good

18:33

stuff. They're they're the combination. Yeah, four mincekin booth

18:35

specifically. Yeah. Were red, green decks a a problem

18:38

Or is it just people

18:40

splashing colors to play mince can

18:42

to where where was this popping

18:44

up with enough? Frequency that

18:46

it deserved pointing it is a

18:49

problem in decks like a problem in

18:51

decks like be used in be used in

18:53

like Just Guy Green, monsters, Naya

18:55

monsters, some of these

18:57

of some of these archetypes aren't

18:59

necessarily problems, but they do

19:01

highlight a lot of the issues

19:03

that current design trends and

19:05

fast fast play into. And And Minsk

19:07

and Boo just happens to

19:09

be the best of the bunch

19:11

at doing that. we had psychic

19:14

frog. psychic up Now you mentioned before this You

19:16

mentioned before it is terrifying because it

19:18

draws cards and fuels itself because it

19:20

gets big enough that it gets

19:22

up gets shuts down aggressive decks because

19:24

it just gets so big it just

19:26

gets so Yeah, it's like it's like

19:28

Minskenboo and that it itself, except

19:30

a except it's a two it's a

19:32

it's a check. check. Like how do you

19:35

do you kill this thing? Lightning bolt.

19:37

Oh no. No. You kill kill it

19:39

with path, swords, white cards basically. Yeah,

19:41

I was gonna say I

19:43

for a second and say

19:45

reading the card. a second and then

19:47

I finish you are a if

19:49

you are a green a Red red

19:51

deck or a Blue if if

19:54

you're a Black Deck

19:56

and you draw the wrong

19:58

half of your removal spell. like

20:00

you're snuff out or you're or you're

20:02

cut down, or even

20:04

dismember. feel bad, yeah. Yeah, I bad. mean,

20:07

dismember, that's a lot of cards to pitch,

20:09

but guess what? It's almost always the right thing

20:11

to do. right thing to do. Yeah, this card is just

20:13

a bit of a match -up check. matchup A

20:15

bit of an awkward one to have in a

20:17

format without to have in a format the

20:20

board way too quickly the board

20:22

over the game. It's just too

20:24

good at what it does too

20:26

good at what it does. Kind of a

20:28

trend with all these cards in

20:30

which in are really terrifying when you you

20:33

into them early on before any

20:35

reasonable counterplay, but they're also

20:37

terrifying if you draw them

20:39

on also terrifying if you then the

20:41

game is really so the game

20:43

is all about really, so the game it's

20:45

on on turn when it's if it's

20:47

drawn on turn seven when the

20:49

the dust is cleared the dust is the

20:51

game is now all about psychic

20:53

frog on on turn know You know, it

20:55

some has some... if it's that in the game

20:57

You probably don't you many

20:59

cards in hand or whatever and so it's

21:02

not as difficult to kill But if

21:04

you don't kill it right then and there

21:06

you are losing that. Yeah It shows

21:08

up and demands all the attention on an

21:10

even board. Yeah the attention on some even board can't

21:12

save you from if you draw it on turn

21:14

seven. like can't to die? from

21:16

if you draw it on turn in the early

21:18

game. I mean, it's wild in

21:20

the format. You can protect this thing

21:22

with wild like the mox's format a can Yeah,

21:24

that's this wild. Yeah, it is a

21:26

blue and black card. it is a it

21:28

is have We have seen a trend

21:31

of blue, black getting access to

21:33

more cards that are better against red,

21:35

which was always that color always that color

21:37

combination's now you bow masters, you got got

21:39

you got emperor of bones, whatever your

21:41

things are too big. things are too big.

21:43

Their Barbarian Ring is so sad sad.

21:45

And yeah, you can just take over the you can

21:47

just take over the game until

21:49

you get your for your your Shieldrid,

21:52

another big thing to really invalidate

21:54

the the red decks with. So So

21:56

once again, where was this popping up?

21:58

popping up? Check pile, grixus. Grixis

22:00

itself, itself. blue There are

22:02

some blue black shells.

22:04

I want to be it's just,

22:06

there are cards that we will I

22:08

want to be clear are while

22:10

there are cards that we

22:13

will point of are targeting specific saying

22:15

like, hey, part of this is

22:17

also just saying the best it's messed

22:19

up when one of the

22:21

best acts in the format has

22:23

this it's also messed it's also messed

22:25

up when somebody with their

22:27

mid range range esper has this on

22:29

turn two. Right, right? Like, there are more

22:31

are more targeted ban or targeted

22:33

and some cards are cards are definitely

22:35

pointed specific art types in mind, but because so

22:37

many of these cards are just these cards are

22:39

just. stuff, take over the game, stuff about over

22:41

the game make the game about

22:44

themselves cards, like, the cards that I can't tell you

22:46

problem is that I can't tell

22:48

you one this thing that's fair. That's

22:50

I was playing this thing in I

22:52

was thinking about Yeah, I was thinking

22:54

about playing this card in and Storm. Which

22:56

is like, yeah, just because you're what if I

22:58

have this? have this in my just play

23:00

this game. and I'll play this game me

23:02

think of the old days before

23:04

the council matured and of had a

23:06

local player named Tim matured and we had

23:08

a local just we couldn't beat him with

23:10

goblins are like who got zero points in

23:13

his deck we need to point something like, like

23:15

no you just need to play in his deck. We

23:17

need to point that we've come a little bit

23:19

further than that and it's not targeted to

23:21

a deck or problem person or anything like

23:23

that it's a targeted to the power level yeah

23:25

that. Sometimes it can target a deck. That's But

23:27

this one this one I mean, it does kind

23:29

of target. a deck that deck that

23:31

we are about to talk about with the

23:33

next card card was gonna say the next

23:35

card is next card is reanimate. this one to

23:37

me. I have two cards that I was

23:39

legitimately shocked about. shocked about. Reanimate appearing on

23:41

the the list now was big to me,

23:43

because my first thought is, I didn't think

23:45

Reanimate was a problem. a problem. Right

23:48

like combo reanimator, but but I imagine that's

23:50

not the issue. This probably isn't

23:52

hitting hitting your grizzled brands your your OG shield drids

23:54

or your Ionas or or even, mean mean,

23:56

those even like the targets that

23:58

people hit anymore. hit anymore. Sometimes I guess,

24:00

so why is Reanimate pointed? Well, the

24:02

issue is that it's doing

24:04

that and it's also

24:06

doing everything else. doing everything Yeah,

24:08

my Yeah, my write-up started saying in

24:10

the day, the day, was just

24:13

the best card to

24:15

use you're you were looking

24:17

to bring back a gigantic

24:19

threat to take over

24:21

the game that created an insurmountable

24:23

card advantage or board presence

24:26

for low, low the cost of

24:28

losing the cost of losing

24:30

a bunch of life

24:32

because your thing was gigantic.

24:34

qualified Leviathan, Arcon, all all those

24:36

right? It still right? does that?

24:39

those are those are now the

24:41

best they've ever been a Traxa and Archon

24:43

of of and that style card. style

24:45

card. it also brings back

24:47

a a game ending three mana.

24:49

costs three mana. Like the cards that

24:51

end the game and let me

24:53

just just saw yeah, yeah, like how

24:55

hard is it is it to deal with

24:58

a or a or a

25:00

frog or a nadu or a white bloom or

25:02

a Whitebloom Just any any of these

25:04

cards where you come out being

25:06

out being like even slightly happy, right? And then

25:08

what if you And then what if you

25:10

had to do it again? your

25:12

opponent opponent a one man of

25:14

spell. that they could have also

25:16

had if they were were combo you

25:19

with big idiots idiots or combo killing

25:21

you with small idiots in

25:23

like a creature combo strategy, or

25:25

or maybe they thought your card

25:27

looked great. with dealt with your

25:29

card and they took it.

25:31

Right, I forgot about the flexibility

25:34

of reanimate being to hit any graveyard yeah

25:36

reanimator as an always being top tier

25:38

top always kinda kind of like secret broken like

25:40

it's worst is itself. or like

25:42

it doesn't it doesn't have bad. the they

25:44

have the Well, yeah, sorry. It doesn't have It

25:46

doesn't have bad types. It against arc types.

25:48

It has bad matchups against cards. to

25:50

beat Yeah, just has to beat specific

25:52

cards. slash scavengy news because nobody plays like nobody plays,

25:54

like, nobody plays Rest Nobody plays Rest

25:56

in Peace and Kay and Hallender.

25:58

Like, I I said that cards. to like

26:00

acknowledge. Oh sure sure sure sure sure

26:02

sure like like so you know no

26:05

one plays like in endurance is the

26:07

one that you're yeah yeah because that's

26:09

the free one but I'm glad you

26:11

brought up pitch elementals yes because I

26:14

think that's another important part of why

26:16

reanimates all right right this is the

26:18

most interesting change on the list because

26:20

look it's got a tempest expansion symbol

26:22

and it's going up in points right

26:25

like that the rest of the cards

26:27

they're going up are all pretty new

26:29

like the oldest one is MH2 or

26:31

something like It's just getting a point

26:34

today. But this one's from before most

26:36

of you were born. And it's going

26:38

up because of the way these other

26:40

cards have come out and affected deck

26:43

building. And when I was talking earlier

26:45

about how the points changes kind of

26:47

had to make sense, if you look

26:49

closely. this card is a mocks or

26:52

at least a dark ritual, right? Like

26:54

you're spending one manna and you're getting

26:56

three to nine manas worth of creature

26:58

at the cost of life, but those

27:00

points of life to manna don't equate

27:03

evenly, right? Like you pay three life

27:05

to win the game every time. So,

27:07

you know, I see this card and

27:09

I think it's like, it's a pretty

27:12

mature sort of hard to, hard to

27:14

guess. unless you've been playing a lot

27:16

of Canadian Highlander. But I look at

27:18

a bunch of my lists from recently,

27:21

and I don't know, we'll get into

27:23

that later, but a lot of my

27:25

decks from last year are like, well,

27:27

I gotta cut reanimate because I'm just

27:29

like playing it in every spot that

27:32

I have a swamp, because it's just

27:34

so good all the time. It is

27:36

also a. This is a way of

27:38

saying, like, well, these creature combo decks,

27:41

they've kind of, like, Naudu is a

27:43

card that's on everybody's mind, right? And

27:45

Naudu is a card that's on everybody's

27:47

mind, right? And is a card we'll

27:50

probably talk about a little at the

27:52

end, but this is a way of

27:54

saying, like, well, these creature combo decks,

27:56

they've kind of, it's weird, they've been

27:59

getting so good and so... streamlined. And

28:01

in part because been doing it like

28:03

reanimate, just giving you more. all these cards.

28:05

So it feels like they're in

28:07

a rough spot. And some of

28:09

them are, of them are, right? they're in

28:11

a rough spot and that the in

28:13

a rough spot and gets shut down,

28:15

but when it doesn't

28:17

get shut down, it's more

28:20

streamlined than it's ever

28:22

been. more in part of

28:24

cards And in part because of giving

28:26

you more options, giving you more

28:28

more more insurance, basically. into your play

28:30

pattern or or until you're in insurance

28:32

for your game plan your game

28:34

plan it goes a little

28:36

wonky to then recover immediately

28:38

and keep going. and keep going

28:40

even just certain loops loops involve putting cards in

28:43

in the graveyard to then then

28:45

with this with it is a nod

28:47

that like hey some of these

28:49

of these decks as well as going

28:51

to be playing reanimate reanimate. Some decks,

28:53

you know seeker walk has gotten

28:55

a couple of new points here Walk

28:57

we want to shift where those

29:00

points are going to be want

29:02

to that's not super those Now that makes

29:04

sense. going to be. The Uh, next up

29:06

was super free. No, that makes sense. of

29:08

me, two big ones, Plum Adventure.

29:10

Ursa Saug. So, man, where'd I even start I

29:12

even start on this one?

29:14

So I guess, uh, some

29:16

background. you If you look

29:18

through the two years showdown recordings we've

29:20

recordings we've had, there's been

29:22

three things that people complain

29:24

about the most. in the in

29:26

the comments. Saga is one of those, one of those

29:28

and the next card after this white

29:31

plume is white is one of the

29:33

other ones. So this is of the other this

29:35

one feels like it was a long

29:37

time coming. like long, long time coming. coming.

29:39

Yeah, as in terms of power terms of

29:41

power level, have could have easily

29:43

been a one -point card like the

29:45

the first couple of months of

29:47

printing. Yeah, Yeah, Highlander players didn't

29:49

miss this this anything. Yeah, been playing

29:51

it. This card finds This card finds

29:53

Black Lotus were Moxon, like we were on top of

29:55

it. thing is, it it does actually

29:57

do some good for the

29:59

format. One, it has allowed artifact decks

30:01

to kind of have a mid-range role, or

30:03

it's a card that reinforces more of a

30:05

mid-range role for these like, artifact Ursa Lord

30:07

High Artificer, Play to the Board style decks,

30:09

which is cool. That's a thing that we

30:12

hadn't really seen before, and now we get

30:14

to see those decks kind of pop up.

30:16

It's very good against the blue decks. Erzusaga

30:18

is a great way of getting underneath like

30:20

a check pile list or a jeskeye list

30:22

because you can't counter this, Bozo. And hey,

30:24

for those of you listening, very good against

30:26

the blue decks in this context is something

30:28

we like. Yes. Yeah, you want something to

30:30

help fight the ancestor recall decks, especially a

30:32

card that isn't... a dedicated combo card, right?

30:34

Because one of the best ways to beat

30:37

those decks was cast silence, kill them. And

30:39

you didn't have to do that with this

30:41

card. You would do that with this card,

30:43

but you didn't have to, which is important.

30:45

And then lastly, and I think a reason

30:47

why there was a lot of chatter about

30:49

this. is that this card is really good

30:51

at letting people win even after they've mulliganed.

30:53

And there is a mindset that is ever

30:55

present in Magic Players with a competitive edge,

30:57

which is, well, my opponent mulliganed a five,

30:59

they deserve to lose. And... And this card

31:01

was a really good equalizer. That's a little

31:04

sad. I don't know that I feel that

31:06

way. Maybe I do what I'm saying. You

31:08

do. You do. You're like, oh, they mold

31:10

to five? Easy win. It's not something you

31:12

feel when you're not playing magic. But then

31:14

when you're a pono moles of five, you're

31:16

like, OK. I'm willing to admit, I'm going

31:18

to feel bad if I lose. You have

31:20

definitely. Sure. Sure. It's like, and it's like,

31:22

it's good on a good on a mulligan.

31:24

It's good on a mulligan. It's good on

31:26

a mulligan. It's good on a mulligan. right?

31:29

Which feels terrible because it just accrues so

31:31

much advantage. And also if it's it's a

31:33

kind of card that can also brick a

31:35

lot of cards your opponents may. have.

31:37

So it kind of

31:39

makes it makes an

31:41

equalizer. Right. You don't

31:43

have to worry about

31:45

playing around the early

31:47

disruption. If you just

31:49

play yours a song

31:51

the roll it, like

31:53

lets sort of earn

31:56

back. It's It's a

31:58

fabricate that you don't

32:00

have to cast or,

32:02

you know, uh, which,

32:04

what's the one that's

32:06

like a tinker only

32:08

for one or zero

32:10

that you, that you

32:12

don't have to cast,

32:14

right? So gets through

32:16

all those blue things,

32:18

obviously. Those are good

32:20

things. But also,

32:23

as time went on... and

32:25

as more just really

32:27

powerful board -based cards

32:29

got printed, as we

32:31

got more. targets beyond moxon/lotus

32:33

like you know obviously

32:36

we had shadow spear and

32:38

skull clam. Yeah, but

32:40

now Getting like lava spur

32:42

boots shuko even stuff

32:44

like ghost vacuum right?

32:46

Like Like it is haywire might

32:48

a bunch of cards have just

32:50

made this card. I want

32:52

you to printings have made this card just So

32:54

incredibly good to too flexible. It's

32:57

too flexible. It's too powerful at

32:59

what it does for such a

33:01

low. It's a land You

33:03

just put it in your deck, it cast

33:05

spells. I I want to I to point

33:07

out too, like Wheeler listed all these reasons

33:09

why this card is good and why people

33:11

liked it and didn't really miss any archetypes.

33:13

So like everyone to catch you up, you're,

33:15

because I know a lot of our listeners

33:17

don't really play, they they're just like listening

33:19

to us or whatever or they're like catching

33:21

up from time to time. know, like this

33:23

card has just been in every deck. Yeah. Very

33:26

few decks were not playing this card over

33:28

the last two years. And so that's one of

33:30

the reasons to kind of say to the

33:32

council, like, well, you don't have to point it

33:34

because everyone's getting approximately equal advantage out of

33:36

it, right? Right. Interesting that's

33:38

not great, but but but go on

33:40

you started to see it more and

33:42

more everywhere all you just see it

33:44

everywhere all The time it's getting better

33:47

The counter play is not catching

33:49

up to it, like you get March

33:51

of the otherworldly light and you're

33:53

like, Oh, hell yeah. And then you're

33:55

like, Oh, that's one card out

33:58

of 100. Right. And it basically got

34:00

to a point where, hey, this

34:02

does too much, does too much,

34:04

it's way too good. It's

34:06

gotten even better in combo

34:08

shells as as like has gotten

34:10

more fleshed out recently on

34:13

the past couple of years

34:15

and Naudu popping up and

34:17

Citadel and Naudu popping up and Citadel Storm and

34:19

whatever. Like, it's you know?

34:22

It's a card that is

34:24

so busted. busted and it just... Now, enough

34:26

time has gone by. Like, we, the the tries

34:28

to be very deliberate with their deliberate with their enough

34:30

time has gone by. enough maybe wait to

34:32

see by. oh, if everyone's getting equal value of

34:34

it, maybe we leave it, like it's a

34:36

wasteland. That could be a good thing. of

34:39

could, it could be fine. But we've, we a

34:41

enough time. The council felt like, thing. we've

34:43

seen enough. fine, It's actually kind of dominating games.

34:45

And this is getting sort of boring. now we've

34:47

seen It was it's actually kind of dominating games,

34:49

and play. Hey, shout out to

34:51

whoever just got that reference. of

34:53

boring. They're not at

34:55

work with right now. All

34:58

now. Bloom Adventure and All right,

35:00

white plume So this is the initiative.

35:02

the most is number

35:04

two of the most commented

35:06

things Saga, the initiative, ah, you

35:09

know. are so boring. It's always Ah, the

35:11

games are so boring. It's always about fighting

35:13

over the initiative. It's always the same thing,

35:15

yada, yada, yada, yada. So I guess I

35:17

have two questions here. Okay. here. Two

35:19

questions on the same, two sides sides

35:21

of the same coin question. Is

35:23

this a targeted ban against the

35:25

initiative? the initiative

35:28

or White Plume both,

35:30

right? both, right? Like. So there is

35:32

a reason why is a reason

35:34

why it is white plume

35:36

The initiative, when The initiative went

35:38

introduced very quickly. is the the

35:40

part of it that players take

35:42

the most umbridge with with, right? Like.

35:44

We have seen the initiative as

35:46

a mechanic and as a

35:49

dedicated a dedicated arc type like color initiative

35:51

decks have uh kind of mellowed

35:53

out right new toy syndromes

35:55

worn off we've mellowed out on

35:57

these cards as like a

35:59

be all end all this is the the all

36:01

about now. these other four now.

36:03

All these other four-man initiative cards aren't

36:05

as hot. cards mean, they're hot.

36:07

They're good, they're very good,

36:09

but they're very good, it's not, the

36:12

format isn't just about the

36:14

initiative. Sometimes when it shows up,

36:16

and shows up frequently, then it

36:19

can make games about the

36:21

initiative, but at the same time,

36:23

the game still goes on

36:25

a little bit, right? There's room

36:27

for play for play with some of

36:29

these. these cards. You could make a

36:31

philosophical argument for the format that that

36:33

are other initiative cards that need to

36:35

be pointed. Like you could, I'm not

36:37

saying we're doing it, not saying it's

36:39

it, I would personally want to do, I

36:42

but you could say, but you could say, hmm,

36:44

the initiative is too good and too

36:46

consistent, so we're going to hit so we're

36:48

going to of Chaos, and Under Chaos and Sure.

36:50

That's not what The three good That's

36:52

as well, right? do. The went for the

36:54

of outlier in terms of speed, because

36:56

the biggest issue with the of the power it

36:59

comes down and There's no counterplay and

37:01

being a three a means that that,

37:03

well, mocks and mannecrip ring, the chrome mocks... Man of dork, whatever.

37:05

This getting introduced like if this

37:07

is introduced on turn on I'm on

37:09

the draw on the over. Well, Well,

37:11

the the play pattern here is

37:13

because white plume basically as vigilance.

37:15

Yeah, it's it can attack It's

37:18

very hard to to through unless they

37:20

have a removal spell and then

37:22

it becomes a 5 becomes turn

37:24

after to it's it's a giant aggressive

37:26

vigilance wall that you need to

37:28

even if you it, if you you

37:30

don't have a a advantage, you can't

37:32

take the initiative back, you so they

37:34

are initiative back. life, they're up at up couple least

37:37

a couple of cards because up the card

37:39

to remove it. They're up up, the basic

37:41

basic land they got and they're probably

37:43

drawing a card before you can

37:45

take it from before you right? If you've

37:47

ever them after two, right? If you've ever gone, turn one, birds,

37:49

their creature they try to play

37:51

to build to the board, their creature, they try

37:53

to play to build to And so like trying

37:55

to And so yeah, trying to say like, you're not

37:57

going to get a a rolled

37:59

initiative. that is cheap, right? Again,

38:01

power outliner, power outliner, outliner, outlier, I've

38:04

been talking about this for six.

38:06

been talking about this

38:08

for six, and

38:10

you want some high

38:12

stick sponsors? Power, outlier, way too quick,

38:14

way too quick, plus this self

38:16

perpetuating engine of the initiative

38:18

onto this thing makes it huge,

38:20

like going into the forge

38:22

into the trap with this thing

38:24

is just this thing, it's just, it's oppressive, right?

38:27

And so may argue that may

38:29

argue that is a stronger

38:31

card, a stronger card, that card for pound,

38:33

it end that card can just end the

38:35

game by itself. the You can't build the

38:37

board and deal with deal with it. You really

38:39

can't race it and it has card

38:41

advantage, all of that. all that. is is mana,

38:43

which is at least one more mana than

38:45

three. what we're not what we're looking to - it'll

38:47

be a turn later. like it it just

38:50

has to be. yeah i I mean, they can

38:52

still have the nuts and get you, get

38:54

you know what, you know just happen. That's the

38:56

format that we play. That's why we're

38:58

playing, yeah. is why we're playing yeah and and so Yeah, it's

39:00

it's a consideration to to like we're not

39:02

gonna let people to let doing this doing

39:04

such an accelerated rate. They have

39:06

to make other changes to their decks

39:08

to either accommodate white plume, plume or

39:10

or they're just gonna say, to I'm

39:12

not on white plume anymore, on I'm

39:14

gonna play the four anymore I'm going this

39:17

does impact some ones and

39:19

well performing some like pretty seen

39:22

a huge boost of boost

39:24

of white X decks like Thalia decks

39:26

whatever over the past since Modern Horizons

39:28

3, oddly enough, because they're really good at just

39:30

they're really good at

39:32

just shutting down things and

39:34

you can here's a psychic frog. Like

39:36

that's a large portion of that. large portion of

39:38

that million cards they're not Boom a million

39:41

cards for Yeah, and like White Plume like up in

39:43

does show up in but it lists

39:45

here and there but it isn't like

39:47

a is so this is when people

39:49

kind of this at this like like... Well,

39:51

it's it's not being played in pile.

39:53

It's not being played in every in every

39:55

Like, what's the deal? It's like, the

39:57

deal? It's like, well, we are, know, you

40:00

know. just because it's not everywhere doesn't mean

40:02

it is not still a problem. So

40:04

you're saying the reception to this one

40:06

is a little bit more lukewarm compared

40:08

to some of the other ones? I

40:10

wouldn't say lukewarm but the reception to

40:12

this one is a little misguided because

40:14

there are players that understandably are going

40:16

to gravitate towards how does this impact

40:19

the best deck in the format? Right,

40:21

which is a question I'd asked sort

40:23

of beginning, right? But we're not all

40:25

like you don't always play the best

40:27

deck in the best deck in the

40:29

format. Right. You end up playing so

40:31

many different decks. There are so many

40:33

different experiences that you can have in

40:36

this format. Doesn't matter if you're against

40:38

somebody's green white little kid or the

40:40

best jes guy build in the world.

40:42

If they get a quick white plume

40:44

adventure, it is not good gameplay. It

40:46

is not healthy game. They don't necessarily

40:48

need to have other great cards. Yeah.

40:50

Yeah. My last thing on this, and

40:53

this was music to my ears, as

40:55

I talked to Jack. and taxes from

40:57

a couple years ago about these changes

40:59

and I mentioned there's a saga in

41:01

white plume and he goes well guess

41:03

I'm cutting mocks and that's all I

41:05

want that's all you want to hear

41:07

is just he'd rather play those two

41:10

that okay yeah he's just like yeah

41:12

I'll cut mocks parole I'll play this

41:14

saga and strip and those are my

41:16

three points and he's like yeah I'll

41:18

cut mocks pearl I'll play this saga

41:20

and strip and those are my three

41:22

I'd rather just have mocks. Right. And

41:24

that's what we want. We want the

41:27

players to make decisions. Yeah. So now

41:29

we're at points decreases and the first

41:31

one we have is salaring. Now, salaring

41:33

previously four points, bringing it down to

41:35

three points, this brings it in line

41:37

with moxin, which is fascinating. And with

41:39

it being as cheap as is now,

41:41

you have to make an interesting decision

41:43

between. So normally, if you wanted to

41:46

go fast, you had like mox mox,

41:48

ancient tomb, manicript, salaring, or sort of

41:50

your ideas of if a two-colored deck,

41:52

what's your balance between those? and

41:54

was free free until or

41:56

two one or two Ancient

41:58

Tomb just hit

42:00

the list in 2024,

42:03

hit so that's fairly

42:05

recent. Yeah, so that's So,

42:07

that's fairly recent. So,

42:10

salaring is kind of throwing

42:12

a bone to two color a bone

42:14

to two color is throwing a bone

42:16

to monocolor decks. to monicolor decks. as well

42:18

as it's a fan

42:20

card. People like like playing ring.

42:22

People like thinking of decks that

42:25

they can build that takes

42:27

advantage of Sol Ring. Sol Ring

42:29

is a great card a great card

42:31

for... people looking to their

42:33

out their points as well. well. It's

42:35

kind of the good, well, I got

42:37

some points left over, left am

42:39

I gonna play? am I gonna play? you're

42:41

playing that, you may make additional

42:43

changes to your deck that'll better

42:45

benefit from having access to a

42:47

card like Soul from having wants to

42:49

include a Soul Ring in a

42:51

Canadian Hallender deck and not have

42:53

a bunch of different a soul in a Canadian

42:55

exactly. They'll make choices so that

42:57

your Soul Ring is live the

42:59

turn you cast. ones. Yes, exactly. And yeah, we're

43:01

not not trying to get

43:03

rid of decks or three

43:05

color decks or anything like

43:07

that. We're trying to

43:09

just give more options towards

43:12

people building two color

43:14

decks building two color decks or monicolor decks. And

43:16

this this, this is one that

43:18

I was more hesitant on than

43:20

the others. It's right? Yeah, right? Yeah, I've

43:22

I've always been a little nervous

43:24

about fast manna. Interesting. Yeah. I like this,

43:26

especially because of the mana and

43:28

ancient tube changes. changes. Sure. I think that

43:30

this is in the best place

43:32

it's ever been just because you

43:34

can't have it all. all. Right? And then

43:36

if then if you're thinking about

43:38

what is, what is your, your acceleratorator.

43:40

Right. City of traders, ancient tomb, salaring,

43:42

mannecript, or three manor rocks or or something

43:44

like that, right? right? few

43:46

things that tap and add and

43:48

add two accelerate you quickly, like

43:51

in those early explosive turns.

43:53

turns. And Ring at at four, I

43:56

don't I don't think, I don't think I was

43:58

playing. playing. Yeah, it's, it's a people. I'm

44:00

I'm like a little nervous about this

44:02

one too. I'll say it like

44:04

I think Metagame dependent this decision is

44:06

great right now. It's exciting and

44:08

healthy and we're gonna probably see some

44:10

number of people Jump onto a

44:12

ship that can play soul ring and

44:14

like hopefully there'll be some brewers

44:16

trying to do something more busted than

44:18

good stuff Three or four color

44:20

situation, but the fact is all of

44:22

the kind of best decks in

44:25

the format right now are Not interested

44:27

in this change. They don't care

44:29

it doesn't affect them They're still gonna

44:31

keep playing their their moxes or

44:33

their or their tutors or whatever, right?

44:35

mostly their moxes so For me

44:37

this change is exciting I

44:40

I will I will be Unmift

44:42

if there is a future where the

44:44

council said hey soul ring needs

44:46

to go back Replace

44:49

mana crypt with soul ring strip mine.

44:51

Mmm beautiful. I mean this is This

44:53

is wait crypt is five. Yeah. Yeah.

44:55

Yeah. This trip is one. Oh, yeah

44:57

Yeah, you didn't catch that one. That

44:59

was the same time. I think it's

45:01

the same points. Yeah, know I know

45:03

it now Sorry, just a lot of

45:05

shake up there has 12 months like

45:08

the the council has been working hard.

45:10

We have been active Yeah,

45:13

it oh I had a thought

45:15

and then I lost it. Yeah,

45:17

so rings just a fun card.

45:19

Sure. It's cool. Oh the nice

45:22

thing about Being a Canadian Highlander

45:24

Councilor is that we're not dick

45:26

our decisions are not dictated by

45:28

capitalism We can we can make

45:30

changes and walk them back without

45:32

having to feel like people just

45:34

lost a whole bunch of money

45:37

and That because of that we

45:39

are willing to try these things

45:41

right soul ring is in a

45:43

way tied to Moxon Moxon are

45:45

tied to cheap one -pointers. Basically

45:47

three -pointers are so Intrinsically

45:50

tied to your one because you get

45:52

to say I'm gonna play three of

45:54

these things I'm gonna juice my like

45:56

chance of seeing one of these in

45:58

my seven or six card hand to

46:00

like 20 6% or or whatever then then

46:02

I'm just gonna play play something busted. And yeah, if

46:05

that yeah, if that ends up being

46:07

too much, then we revert it. It's soul right? right?

46:09

It's a thing where you can say, hey, we

46:11

we soul ring from four to three, because

46:13

you know, it's soul ring. Or we go,

46:15

soul ring went back up to four, soul

46:17

know, it's from four to three, because you know, two, turn soul

46:19

ring. Or we tired of that of There are

46:21

a lot of universes where ring you see

46:23

soul ring at three and then like the

46:25

meta game is just like, not your

46:27

favorite anymore. favorite. But I don't don't know there we're

46:29

one yet. yet. So, because stuff. Stage hell of a

46:31

drug. of a interesting that the two of

46:33

you were worried about of you were the next

46:36

change is one of the ones that

46:38

me, change which is the order one that shocked This one was

46:40

weird to me because this one was weird to

46:42

me because this card, I find of

46:44

what it can find. of It's so

46:46

flexible. And the play pattern of

46:48

play pattern of spell seeker into into...

46:50

anything. I mean, mean, seeker walk, for

46:52

for example, being a

46:54

very powerful archetype. Yeah, think

46:56

of this more as

46:58

a shift along the lines

47:01

of as a shift along to

47:03

zero of like merchant scroll going to went

47:05

up, whereas recall was pointed,

47:07

fourth Aerolingas was pointed, right? Like, spell seeker

47:09

is pretty, it's good. It's really good.

47:11

Yeah, Yeah. But it's it's a weird

47:13

card in that it's not actually

47:15

that great on on curve, because if

47:17

if you play it on on curve, then it get

47:20

Mucked. And then you're like, three

47:22

men just one that just Yes,

47:24

right. Yeah, it's actually pretty good later

47:26

on, which is of what we're

47:28

wanting to do. We want people do. We

47:30

have cards that are pretty good

47:32

on that are pretty beyond. turn six and beyond. It's a

47:35

It's a card that is pretty good

47:37

in Reanimator. And so And so but reanimator

47:39

just got a tag with the actual

47:41

card reanimate. It's pretty good in these

47:43

good in these I mean, it's literally the

47:45

namesake. Seeker Walk decks are the namesake, secret

47:47

walk decks or Nautu. Yeah, those secret walk decks,

47:49

it's better it's better late. you don't

47:51

usually just try to turn elf, two and two

47:54

two secret for time walk. You can, obviously can, fine, but

47:56

fine, not but that's just not what

47:58

the play pattern usually looks like. And

48:00

those decks got hit by saga and

48:02

reanimate. Yep. And it's kind of throwing

48:04

a bone to the boogie man combo

48:06

decks of like Thoracle and Flash Hulk.

48:09

Okay. That are, it's tough to make

48:11

adjustments to those without them becoming busted.

48:13

Right. But the three mana sorcery speed

48:15

cards on the table one feels like

48:18

a more comfortable option to target. Interesting.

48:20

Yeah. Yeah, also Secret Walk is just

48:22

like not actually doing anything. Like, you

48:24

know, again, we don't always look to

48:26

results entirely, but it's just not a

48:29

deck that has really showed up and

48:31

had much success in the past couple

48:33

years. I played with it a bunch

48:35

this summer. Like, it was one of

48:37

my decks that I like looked at

48:40

how it was being affected by these.

48:42

And I put a bunch of games

48:44

in with Forecolor, like Secret Walk, Nado

48:46

Initiative, or in different formations. It's like,

48:49

yeah, this just is. I don't know.

48:51

It's not as good as playing white

48:53

bloom adventure. I've been chatting with Rachel

48:55

Weeks about seeker walk recurring nightmare decks

48:57

and these change and the next change

49:00

are two things I'm like I might

49:02

have to put this together and maybe

49:04

you could yeah Rachel was literally in

49:06

my stream like yes survival of fittest

49:08

is free and this is huge because

49:11

I mean back in the old day

49:13

And this is probably because of like

49:15

old Kiki pod lists. Um, birthing pod

49:17

was pointed for very long time survival.

49:20

The fittest has been pointed basically as

49:22

long as I've been playing highlander. It's

49:24

one of the oldest standing cards on

49:26

the point. This has been pointed for

49:28

14 years or something. Was it on

49:31

the 14? It was on it was

49:33

since creation. It was since creation. going

49:35

down to zero and just it has

49:37

it has my favorite explanation for the

49:39

pointing to or at least from my

49:42

point just bad now well no it's

49:44

it's it's it's a very powerful card

49:46

diminished by 100 card Singleton and diminished

49:48

by free removal being able to interrupt

49:51

these creature combos and all that.

49:53

that, but been around been

49:55

around It's a forever. for

49:57

It's a cool

49:59

card for people to

50:02

play with. we it

50:04

is. And we far

50:06

back is like a far now.

50:08

People decade now. with People

50:10

were not playing with survival. went down to

50:13

one. And it's and so survival went down

50:15

to playing with and it's like, great, now you're

50:17

playing with survival playing nobody was playing with

50:19

survival. okay, like, okay, well, natural order is now

50:21

cheaper. So now you can fit now you can fit

50:23

And they and they weren't doing it. Okay, crop free,

50:25

so you can find your find

50:27

you can outplay survival. you They weren't

50:29

doing it. Seeker went down, play

50:32

your damn survival. down. Play your damn free,

50:34

they're not playing survival. So every

50:36

change we made made ended up up

50:38

benefiting combo, they're just like, like, I'm

50:40

not gonna play the survival. I'll

50:42

go nine points. go nine points. Or they'll

50:44

rock ten and they'll begrudgingly like it. or

50:46

just go or just go like, eh,

50:48

I'll just play moxin instead. Like I'll

50:50

I'll take a different approach. different now

50:53

it's like now Have your

50:55

damn survival of the of

50:57

the fittest. Incredible. Again, There is seeker,

50:59

know is that this card

51:01

can do can do, even though

51:03

the card itself is

51:05

not is not at. The power power level

51:07

of a lot of the other things

51:09

that we are seeing, we are seeing cards that

51:11

have been freshly pointed, cards that have is

51:14

a card where you can construct a a

51:16

or a format or a like, oh,

51:18

this isn't that good. oh, this isn't that

51:20

is Well, healthy. is But in cases

51:23

like that, that we have other

51:25

cards that we can draw attention

51:27

to because ultimately, we don't think

51:29

it's it's fault. fault. it's probably

51:31

not or not Or whatever. Yeah, Yeah, I'm

51:33

going to try to get in early

51:35

on the cul -dit board here if we

51:37

we end up in a scenario

51:39

where survival of if it to zero Turns

51:42

out it was a problem after all.

51:44

all And and pod you know, some sort

51:46

of protein hull podless deck Is dominating dominating the

51:48

format least that, at least lot probably took

51:50

a lot more time than the

51:52

solar ring format to get to where like to

51:54

where like multiple people are playing the

51:56

same deck like survival's I could see

51:59

it, sure. sure, but it's Further in the future

52:01

and a ton more work would have

52:03

gone into crafting those decks and even

52:05

again And even if it is that

52:07

that is probably not it is that that is probably not

52:09

is and that's a part of this

52:11

sure it is it is and ring. It would be

52:13

soul of It's always some like soul Yeah, be

52:15

right We went a little bit longer

52:17

than I assumed it's always soul

52:19

but I do wanna talk about ring two

52:21

cards we I think people are gonna

52:23

ask about longer they didn't get pointed. So,

52:25

I mentioned earlier, there's three cards that

52:27

always show up in the comments. two cards

52:29

that I think the initiative, the last The last

52:32

one is Was there any discussion there any

52:34

discussion to point think any I don't think any of

52:36

us would vote for it, but I think it

52:38

might be good for the benefit of the of

52:40

the so many people ask about that card. So

52:42

there was no discussion for this So Caracas. discussion The

52:44

has discussed Caracas in the past has

52:47

for previous announcements. in the past and for

52:49

it's something that we actively discuss

52:51

a lot with community members, especially

52:53

those that are like. members,

52:55

tournaments, those that are like and

52:57

whatnot. tournaments and what not. This is a

52:59

is a little snide, but pointing crackus but isn't

53:02

going isn't gonna make Brimaz

53:04

playable, because that's realistically what

53:06

people want, right? want, right? Like, they want

53:08

want I'm not not folding to

53:10

could go to a simpler

53:12

time when my friend didn't

53:14

have a have a crackus. It's It's

53:16

legitimately Brimaz. If Brimaz didn't

53:18

exist, people would shut up

53:20

about Crackus. Fascinating. But Crackus is

53:22

actually a good thing. I

53:24

think it's good that we

53:26

have free answers. free answers. Yeah, I

53:28

dealing with with Tamio on, mean,

53:30

dealing with with Boo

53:32

tokens. Atroxa without

53:35

access to That sounds

53:37

That sounds miserable, bad. sounds pretty

53:39

bad. was Will was at one

53:41

point on the points list list,

53:43

it had to do with trying

53:45

to tax combo in a way

53:47

that felt right, But but Caracas

53:49

doesn't really have any of

53:51

that second evil side side going just it.

53:53

It's just extremely extremely efficient removal

53:55

spell. So playing, if you're playing,

53:57

you know, you're you're lately Ode and you

53:59

had to like sacrifice your lands to

54:01

do it or whatever, you know, or you're

54:03

like lotus out your your Lalia and then

54:06

they crack us you sure now they're ahead

54:08

on manna they were extremely efficient in their

54:10

removal but still you're the bad guy combo

54:12

player in that scenario like Caracas is always

54:15

just saying like hey hey stop playing these

54:17

legendary creatures that are too good. Yeah not

54:19

to mention legends still see a lot of

54:21

play so much every deck basically has one

54:24

or two legendary creatures without legendary creatures they

54:26

probably have more but those creatures might not

54:28

even show up just on power level. Like

54:31

what can you handle it with players need

54:33

more than a point on Caracas is to

54:35

just put a copy of Caracas like as

54:37

their play mat when they're deck building. Just

54:40

remember that Caracas exists when you go to

54:42

build your deck and think would I still

54:44

want to cast this four drop legend with

54:47

no ETB if my opponent had Caracas? I'm

54:49

speaking mostly to myself at this point. Yeah,

54:51

that's fair. I think I'd rather play in

54:53

a format with Caracas than Masebeth. Well Maysmith

54:56

is legal too. I know but but nobody

54:58

plays it right yeah, right like Mays just

55:00

just doesn't do it because it's too much

55:02

of an inclusion cost because it slows you

55:05

down for mana for sure yada yada yada

55:07

The second one I'm gonna make a cold

55:09

shot here, and I'm gonna say the second

55:12

most asked about card is going to be

55:14

the one ring and that's gonna be the

55:16

last one that I'm gonna volunteer. Where was

55:18

the one ring discussion about this? Like, we

55:21

don't need to talk about Nado or comet

55:23

or like there's a lot of busted cards

55:25

in our format, but I bet you the

55:28

one ring is gonna be the next one.

55:30

And hey, this card got a boost. It's

55:32

one point cheaper to play one ring now

55:34

than your soul ring deck. One ring didn't

55:37

get talked about at huge length for this

55:39

announcement. Nado did. Like you mentioned, I brought

55:41

up force a will very briefly. Oh really?

55:44

Okay. Yeah, not like at a level where

55:46

it was worth commenting on, but you know,

55:48

it deals with Jessica, deals with checkball. Okay.

55:50

So it's it's force a will. And balance,

55:53

that's the other one. The whole balance back,

55:55

really? Yeah. None of these of

55:57

these were voted on they

55:59

were just brought up

56:02

in the discussion either

56:04

between the council or

56:06

between or from like

56:09

the or like the discord panel. Sure. The

56:11

one ring, I personally think it's

56:13

actually fine. fine. Like, in our format,

56:15

our format, Yeah, it's just rather your

56:17

rather opponent had a one ring or a

56:20

One ring. One ring. ring.

56:22

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think the

56:24

I think the one ring

56:26

is I think I think multiples.

56:28

it's a lot more

56:30

reasonable without without a It's a

56:32

lot more reasonable. And I think

56:34

what it does is actually good

56:36

for the format. I think actually

56:38

what the one ring does

56:40

in terms I think I like what the giving

56:43

certain decks in room to giving

56:45

and giving a room to breathe and

56:47

strategies like an option to

56:49

now build around another card

56:51

for their combo, like like decks

56:53

can go all decks, well,

56:55

I'm finding the on like, I'm

56:57

comboing off of the one

57:00

ring. ring and I'm combing off

57:02

or non paradox combo the

57:04

one ring to just

57:06

like to just like find interaction to

57:08

then try and combo kill and doing so

57:10

at the cost of their life of their life

57:12

total, is arguably the most

57:14

precious resource for a combo

57:16

deck. for a combo deck. So yeah, it's, I, at

57:18

this this point in time,

57:20

I am okay with the free

57:22

being free in Canadian Highlander.

57:24

changing that, open to changing that, but

57:26

right now not It's not really

57:28

a card on my list for the

57:31

other cards, immediate change. other cards where I'm

57:33

in particular might have the one where

57:35

I'm like, yeah, we might have

57:37

to deal, card something to this

57:39

card or so the line. are the two big

57:41

Those are the two more that are

57:43

more realistic. for me for me, but,

57:45

but yeah. I've learned learned that we

57:47

should do non -set reviews more often because

57:49

we obviously have a lot to talk about.

57:51

Aren't they about. Aren't they fun? the year with

57:54

them. with them. know, at least at least the table

57:56

or on the on the for both the

57:58

last two calendar years. years. Heck yeah. I want to say... very

58:00

quickly thank you the both of you

58:02

for your transparency as a as a member

58:04

and a current one and a current one know

58:06

some people in positions like that don't

58:08

feel comfortable sharing sharing it makes

58:10

you vulnerable to talk about the to talk about

58:12

the the financial implications of magic, especially

58:14

in the wake of what happened in the

58:16

wake of what You're like, this is kind

58:18

of happened? you're like this is kind of spooky We all

58:20

collectively had a nightmare had a great. and it's

58:22

great friends thank thank you so much for

58:24

watching. I hope you found this insightful. maybe

58:26

if we get a chance. I do

58:28

do manage expectations. expectations If we we get a chance

58:30

to do stuff in the future in we did do

58:32

two episodes back to back. We don't have a

58:34

schedule to regularly talk about stuff again, but who knows?

58:36

This has been fun. Maybe we can do more

58:38

of it. but who put it has been

58:41

that. That is us managing your

58:43

expectations. We'll put it, reminder that everything like

58:45

is brought to you by you

58:47

with your support of the Patreon

58:49

over at patreon .com everything we do is been

58:51

Serge to by you with wish support of

58:53

supporters over at of these days I'll

58:55

remember, we got a and ready run. I've

58:57

of just surge joined. banned. Yeah. up to James on

58:59

Tech. I have six out to James now.

59:01

Oh my I have He's drinks whole six.

59:04

He's He's got a whole six.

59:06

salaring right there. there. Thank you so much you

59:08

so much for watching, and

59:10

we will see you next. you

59:12

next time. Bye-bye.