MTGCast

We do our 10 In, 10 Out for the Elven Upgrade deck.

In:

Out:

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If this is your first time listening, welcome! Here at the Young Pyromancers podcast, we discuss all aspects of Magic: the Gathering for listeners of all ages, especially in the context of the Commander format and building on a budget.

Email us your questions, comments, concerns, or episode ideas, at [email protected].

Please like, share, subscribe, and/or leave a review wherever you listen.

Send us a voice message to play on the podcast: https://anchor.fm/young-pyromancers/message

Our main hub: anchor.fm/young-pyromancers

Episode thumbnail: Lathril, Blade of the Elves by Caroline Gariba

The official Commander format website can be found at mtgcommander.net.

Young Pyromancers is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. © Wizards of the Coast LLC.

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See you next time!

Kaldheim Season, Episode 9: Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty

When evaluating new cards, a quick hack is to look for anything that cheats on mana. These are the cards that can really do something special. Cheating out a 7 mana Tibalt? Yep, that tracks. Fistfuls of Treasure off Magda? Sign us up.

This week continues that trend. Birgi, God of Storytelling is a cost reducer dialed up to 11. Her front face resembles Baral, Chief of Compliance or Goblin Electromancer: mana engines that scale the more spells you cast. But Birgi is even more generous. Cards that cost 1 are completely free, and cards that cost zero actually send up you mana. Mishra’s Bauble becomes a ritual; Mox Amber becomes Seething Song.

Once you have this much mana, all you’re looking for is a source of cards. Birgi makes this easy as you please: just flip the card over and you have Harnfel, Horn of Bounty, a multi-use Magmatic Channeler that trades each card in your hand for two fresh ones. Standard players learned to fear the pairing of Runaway Steam-Kin and Experimental Frenzy; Birgi gives you both effects on the same card.

All told, Birgi is shockingly open-ended, capable of supporting existing engine decks or perhaps spawning new archetypes all her own. We’ve got seven lists to test across multiple formats, so let’s see what Birgi can do!

View decklists for this episode at FaithlessBrewing.com

Decklists for Birgi // Harnfel

Sketch 1: Boros Showdown Storm

Sketch 2: Temur Artifact Ramp

Sketch 3: Pioneer Song of Creation

Sketch 4: Modern Birgi Song

Sketch 5: Birgi Grinding Breach by Nilsfit (5-0 league)

Sketch 6: UR Prowess

Sketch 7: Birgi Waste Not

Flashback: Magda, Brazen Outlaw

Magda Jeskai Ascendancy: 1-4 league

Temur Treasures: 0-4 league

Jeskai Dwarf Tempo: 2-3 league

Aura of Dominion Combo: 2-3 league

Like our content? Become a supporter and join the Faithless Family! https://patreon.com/faithlessbrewing

Kaldheim Season, Episode 8: Top 8 in the Modern Challenge with 5c Counter-Tibalt

What is the highest achievement for a brewer? It’s not winning the Pro Tour. No, ask most hardcore brewers and they’ll tell you the ultimate dream is to “break the format” — to invent the deck that proves unstoppable, to rake in accolades as your creation gets picked up by top players and dominates the tournament meta.

But here’s the thing about broken formats: people tend to hate them. It’s a fine line between powerful and oppressive, and somewhere in the last seven days, Cascade Tibalt has crossed that line. We spent two weeks brewing an amazing Spell Queller Counter-Tibalt deck, taking it all the way to Top 8 in last weekend’s Modern Challenge, and guess what? People hate it. It seems that what’s true for Batman is also true for brewing: you either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. 

The era of Cascade Tibalt is likely to be short lived, but while it’s here we are going to savor the moment. After all, it’s not every day that a brew we drew up as a thought experiment turns out to be tier zero. Along the way, we amassed an 80% win rate in leagues (28-7) and a 73% win rate in Challenges (7th and 19th place). Even an early version of our list, still running Demonic Dread, was good enough to notch a 10th place finish in Saturday’s Challenge. Of course, that was all ages ago in the fast moving world of Cascade Modern. The format has moved on, and so shall we. There’s always something new to learn, and the next broken deck to discover!

Happy brewing,—cavedan

4c Counter-Tibalt (5-0 league): https://twitter.com/FaithlessMTG/status/1357754500208025604?s=20

5c Counter-Tibalt (6-2 Saturday Challenge, 5-2 Sunday Challenge): https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741661#online

Build notes: is this the final form of the deck?

Picks of the WeekDavid’s pick: Dimir Release the Gods by MentalMisstephttps://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3743211#online

David’s version (4-1 league): https://scryfall.com/@FaithlessMTG/decks/bd966d1d-d9ea-4721-82b0-f53989266690

Damon’s pick: Mardu Showdown by Nolansanity https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741603#online

Cavedan’s pick: World Tree Combo by killersuvhttps://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/3741599#online

We review the best new commanders from Kaldheim, Magic's newest set.

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If this is your first time listening, welcome! Here at the Young Pyromancers podcast, we discuss all aspects of Magic: the Gathering for listeners of all ages, especially in the context of the Commander format and building on a budget.

Next episode: KHM - Top 99 Cards

Email us your questions, comments, concerns, or episode ideas, at [email protected].

Please like, share, subscribe, and/or leave a review wherever you listen.

Send us a voice message to play on the podcast: https://anchor.fm/young-pyromancers/message

Our main hub: anchor.fm/young-pyromancers

Episode thumbnail: Toski, Bearer of Secrets by Jason Rainville

The official Commander format website can be found at mtgcommander.net.

Young Pyromancers is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. © Wizards of the Coast LLC.

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See you next time!