I think you’re right that Boros is a good combination. I’ve had it… I think three times in six events so far, and I keep being drawn to it when I’m practicing on Draftsim as well.

As for my personal feelings about Aetherdrift… I can’t really give it a ringing endorsement. Like most sets in recent years, the Limited format seems to depend too much on who draws their rares. And flavor-wise it doesn’t feel like Magic at all.

Was getting ready to post this myself. Thanks for doing it!

Direct link to the donation page, in case anybody prefers to bypass Bluesky: https://give.translifeline.org/tolarian

You might be right. My thinking was (1) they’ll help you avoid being knocked out first, and (2) they probably don’t make a million tokens or counters that will make the board state hard to keep track of. But if anyone has other suggestions that fit that bill, I’d welcome them.

I think this system has the potential to achieve its objective, if it doesn’t end up causing more confusion. Five brackets might be kind of a lot, although I hear what Gavin’s saying about why they went up from three, and 40 “game-changers” is definitely a lot. Nobody will or should try to memorize what’s a game-changer, especially if the list can fluctuate the same as a ban list. It might be better to try to use categories that explain why the game-changing cards are a problem… except that Gavin did exactly that in the article, and it’s still a fairly long list.

All of my Commander decks would be in bracket 1 or 2 and my main question is how to decide which. Most don’t have sub-optimal card choices to fit a theme, but all have sub-optimal card choices for budget reasons, and I’m not sure whether any of them are really a fair match for a precon. Should I say “bracket 1.5”?

Very excited that Standard Pauper is going to be the Midweek Magic event at the end of this month. We just had a Pauper MWM last week, but it was Historic (as they usually are). I don’t know of anyone running regular Standard Pauper events, so it should provide a rare opportunity for people who like to build their own decks.

I’m also interested in the achievement system they announced. I know achievements in video games are meaningless but I can’t help liking them. (Also, from a programmer’s perspective, it’s an easy win: a relatively low-effort, low-maintenance feature that users will spend a lot of time and effort on.)

Thank you! When it comes to ranked Constructed I pretty much only play Bo3 Standard.

I wondered the same thing. Looks like they have a Patreon account and also accept donations directly.

FAQ: How can I support Scryfall?

Oh absolutely! I’m glad I got to see someone play this deck, I’m just also glad it didn’t have to be me. :)

Thanks! The deck that gets most of the credit for my success this month is Boros Caretaker Control. Here’s my current list:

Deck
8 Plains
2 Mountain
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Elegant Parlor
3 Restless Bivouac
3 Demolition Field
3 Fountainport
2 Mirrex
3 Torch the Tower
3 Lightning Helix
3 Get Lost
2 High Noon
4 Carrot Cake
2 Virtue of Loyalty
4 Urabrask’s Forge
2 Enduring Innocence
4 Caretaker’s Talent
2 Archangel Elspeth
1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
4 Sunfall

Sideboard
3 Authority of the Consuls
1 Torch the Tower
1 Crystal Barricade
2 Exorcise
1 High Noon
3 Rest in Peace
2 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
1 Restless Bivouac

You’re right about Limited. It’s not easy to practice it without spending money. If I have a bad draft that often means I just don’t play Limited again for the rest of the week.

Wizards just loves to push the envelope with mechanics that were broken in the past. I don’t think a one-mana 3/4 flyer is going to break Modern, but I could see it being very playable in a format like Artisan (commons & uncommons).

I don’t know if these will be playable in any constructed formats, but it’s nice to see vanilla creatures with long flavor text making an appearance again. One could almost believe Magic was returning to its roots. If the set as a whole didn’t feature automobiles so prominently.

Probably pretty maindeckable in a draft format full of vehicles.

This deck is expensive and bad. Thank goodness we have Seth to play it for us, so the rest of us don’t have to.

A neat idea, but expensive and doesn’t synergize with some of the most-played mounts or vehicles, like Fortune or Subterranean Schooner.

Possibly an upgrade over Sentinel’s Eyes, which sees play in Bogles-style decks, especially in Pauper.

Seized from Slumber is already seeing play in some Up the Beanstalk decks, and this card is better in two ways.

I’m surprised and pleased to see that there will actually be at least one way to reduce an opponent’s speed. They don’t usually do that with this type of mechanic.

Also… this is pretty clearly a Mario Kart reference, right?

I think it’s just a reminder, so you don’t get halfway through announcing the spell and then realize that your opponent has Leyline of Sanctity or something and you can’t actually cast it.

Not a direct analogue for Ephara’s Dispersal but sort of competing in the same space. I have a deck where I’m sideboarding Dispersal against aggro and it’s kind of medium; might give this an audition.

If this were a creature it would be better than Gravedigger in four different ways. It’s not a creature, but it’s got a very low Crew cost and it helps find its own pilot…