Thank you for stopping by.

I first became acquainted with Magic: The Gathering during Alpha set. After that initial foray where I was introduced by a neighbor to the game, I didn’t play again until the Tempest block. Then I took a long, 20 year hiatus until 2019 when another neighbor reinvigorated my desire to play by urging me to buy some Dominaria and Core 19 packs for a friendly draft. Since then I’ve found myself addicted to deck building.

I prefer traditional formats like Vintage/Legacy/Modern/Standard/Pauper as opposed to this zany, newfangled “Commander” format all the kids are raving about.

I lean toward the / end of the color spectrum; preferred hubs are Reanimator and any type of build that uses uncommon or otherwise off the wall strategies or win-cons.

God I miss the old artwork and flavor text from the older expansions; some of the new stuff is half decent but it doesn’t hold a candle to the gorgeous art of cards like those found in the Arabian Nights expansion or Mirage block. And then there’s the classical literary quotes on cards like Repentant Blacksmith, Juzam Djinn, Hammerheim, Karakas, Pendelhaven, Revelation...the list goes on! I weep softly when I realize just how lackluster today’s MtG sets are in this respect, by comparison. But, I digress.

Feel free to leave any comments or questions you may have on any of my decks; all upvotes are much appreciated as well.

Balaam__ says... #2

@capwner ’His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He upvotes in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the Balaam__. He is upvoting, upvoting. He says that he will never die.’

March 29, 2025 11:57 p.m.

capwner says... #3

Damn, you were lightning quick with that +1 :) As ever, big appreciation and thanks for your interest in the decks, yo!

March 29, 2025 11:37 p.m.

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Said on Pauper Blue Ninjas...

#1

I play a version of this in Pauper, but I never saw Infiltrator's Magemark before. How well does it perform here?

April 14, 2025 8:53 a.m.

Said on LongLegs...

#2

@kamarupa I’ll maybeboard it, but I’m not entirely sold. As a mana maker it’s all but useless (Intangible Virtue or Pollen-Shield Hare are the only cards I’d cast pre-combo that could actually make use of the ), so it would be here just as a safeguard against Enchantment removal. That’s not a bad thing, but I’ll have to get more than a few games in to determine whether that beats out the removal suite I’m currently running.

As for card advantage, I have Silent Clearing for now and that’s it. Half of me is too lazy to comb through the best currently available options, and the other half is waiting to see what might get released with the expansion. If you know of a ‘perfect fit’, I’m all ears.

April 10, 2025 5:28 p.m.

Said on LongLegs...

#3

@CommanderNeyo that’s true, I could do that. I’ll maybeboard it so I remember, but I think I’ll stick with Silent Clearing for now because the deck is getting pricier than I intended. Thanks again though

April 10, 2025 3:10 p.m.

Said on LongLegs...

#4

@CommanderNeyo I think you’re right. I initially had more Leaden Myrs to help out with this, but some got axed as the build went along. Blood Moon pops up every now and again so I’m a little gunshy on removing all the basic Plains, so I’ll probably keep one just in case. But thanks for the suggestion—I’m forever forgetting about Silent Clearing, Llanowar Wastes etc.

April 10, 2025 3:04 p.m.

Said on LongLegs...

#5

@legendofa I knew there were ‘revolving door’ type effects that would be perfect for this deck but they eluded me tonight as I built it. I can be a happy stormtrooper; these were the droids I was looking for.

April 9, 2025 10:28 p.m.

Said on Clear Waters...

#6

Not that you really need anymore combos, payoffs or ways to go infinite but this looks like the perfect EDH shell to shoehorn the Silver Myr, Freed from the Real and Wake Thrasher trifecta into.

April 7, 2025 7:58 p.m.

There are two easy things you could do to increase the playability of your deck. First, everything highlighted in red is illegal in the format and will need to be removed/replaced.

Second, trimming this down to exactly 60 cards, no more no less, will make everything as consistent as it can be.

April 7, 2025 5:06 p.m.

Said on New to Pioneer. …...

#8

Elsterooo posted some good advice, but I accidentally deleted the comment. Hopefully it gets reposted, but if not I want to be clear to all it was unintentionally removed. The worst part is I forget the card that was suggested, I think it was Military- something something.

April 7, 2025 12:34 p.m.

As a general rule of thumb, lands that enter tapped are worse than ones that don’t. Modern has a plethora of lands that enter play in a useable state, so there are plenty of better options than Valgavoth's Lair. They can be expensive though, so if Flooded Strand or Hallowed Fountainfoil are too costly, try something like Glacial Fortress or Hengegate Pathway  Flip or Seachrome Coast.

April 7, 2025 8:57 a.m.

Said on Devoted Fans...

#11

Some men want to construct carefully balanced, efficient decks by including only the most optimal cards; some men just want to watch the world burn.

April 5, 2025 12:14 a.m.

Said on Uren8...

#12

@kamarupa “It might be useful to fork this once or twice and explore different aspects in each fork” it’s like you’re peering over my shoulder whenever I build. If I had a nickel for every branched iteration of a given deck I’ve developed, I’d have enough to stick some Alpha Shivans in my bicycle spokes 1950’s style.

Brrrr…

April 5, 2025 12:04 a.m.

Said on Uren8...

#13

Good luck fishing for my upvote, everyone on the site knows how stingy I am. I dole them out with an eyedropper. For real though, when I see a more finalized version that’s up to your usual standards, that upvote will be waiting.

April 4, 2025 9:02 p.m.

Said on Uren8...

#14

Cursory thoughts

I like what you’re going for, and the twin Dragonstorm cards are really great choices with repeated value. Ramp looks alright too.

My main concern is the average cost of the truly useful spells is very high. If Breaching Dragonstorm, for instance, gets countered (or worse yet falls under surgeon’s knife,) that’s a major blow to the deck’s core functionality. It’ll be quite awhile before you amass enough mana to hardcast anything huge, and I don’t see anything in the way of removal to help you stay afloat. You’re going to be racing to ramp out and at that point it’s 50/50 if you’ll make it in time.

I think it might be worth considering reining in your draconian army in favor of some spot removal—just in case.

April 4, 2025 8 p.m.

Said on Mono Black Zombies...

#15

A lot of the pieces for a solid zombie aggro build are here, my advice would be to just trim the fat.

Run 4x copies of Aether Vial, keep the best zombies and run full playsets as well. Cut the creatures that have less of an impact on the board. You already have some ramp and interaction, so I’d think about putting a sideboard together based off whatever your playgroup runs most often.

March 31, 2025 8:50 p.m.

I’ve never played a game of EDH. If I ever do, there’s a 99.999% chance I’ll pick one of these ultra budget builds. I imagine the slogan would go something like:

First world fun for Third world prices!

March 31, 2025 4:12 p.m.

@capwner thanks! I’m definitely taking suggestions for this one. Reanimator has always been my primary go-to deck, but I would like to have a backup that’s ideally competitively tuned and Faeries is my pick. I realize this needs a total overhaul, but I’m accumulating suggestions over time with hopes of one day returning to this and tuning it up.

March 30, 2025 9:04 a.m.

Said on Balaam__...

#18

@capwner ’His feet are light and nimble. He never sleeps. He says that he will never die. He upvotes in light and in shadow and he is a great favorite. He never sleeps, the Balaam__. He is upvoting, upvoting. He says that he will never die.’

March 29, 2025 11:57 p.m.

Said on The Grift of …...

#19

@capwner ah yes, I believe this is the “Unlimited Power” a certain galactic senator once opined

March 29, 2025 11:54 p.m.

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Ferngully (Help Wanted!)

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Altar of Despair

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SCORE: 52 | 28 COMMENTS | 2196 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS

Exham Priory

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SCORE: 51 | 16 COMMENTS | 3498 VIEWS | IN 13 FOLDERS

Geralf’s Walk-In Clinic

Legacy Balaam__

SCORE: 44 | 6 COMMENTS | 1188 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS

Darwin’s Dirty Onus

Modern Balaam__

SCORE: 33 | 15 COMMENTS | 1553 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

Finished Decks 125
Prototype Decks 8
Drafts 0
Playing since Tempest
Points 1780
Avg. deck rating 24.93
T/O Rank 9
Helper Rank 7
Favorite formats Modern, Pauper, Legacy, Vintage
Suppressed formats Standard Brawl, Historic, Commander / EDH, Pauper EDH, Commander: Rule 0, Canadian Highlander, Highlander, Duel Commander, Leviathan, 1v1 Commander, Pre-release, Penny Dreadful, Heirloom, Hero, Noble, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Block Constructed, Arena, MTGO, Magic Duels, Unformat
Cards suggested / good suggestions 170 / 121
Venues Tales of Adventure
Joined 5 years