MH3 is a helluva drug
These changes are mostly just to make some changes and play with some cards I haven't played in a while. I do love all of these cards but maybe they are a better fit in Rent Control.
Blame Alex W
Both of these changes are just to make an effort to test some DSK cards. After going through the card file, not a whole lot lines up with my design goals or introduces mechanics that would be one-off includes and aren't compelling enough to justify the added complexity. The most interesting card would be Abhorrent Oculus as a potential include over Murktide. I don't generally love cards that give infinite advantage if they go unchecked, but Murktide is often just a big dumb thing that does not add to gameplay. I will most likely test Oculus soon. The other card I have my eye on as a potential include would be Norin, but honestly it might just be too good and I am always wary of juicing red too much.
Gut > Screaming Nemesis - trying this out for now. I am not totally convinced, but I don't love that Gut doesn't have to attack to kill you and I don't really have any sac payoffs or anything that align with the ability. There are now two cards in the cube that turn off life gain and I am cool with that
Knight Errant > The Wandering Rescuer - Rescuer is a clear game play upgrade, but I will miss the tension on Knight and the card advantage, but at the end of the day, the card was too often a 5 mana 4/4. I don't know if I like that or hate that as a fail case. Regardless Wanderer is a great test card. It could have come in over Loxodon, but I love that card.
making a minor update ahead of a 10 person roto draft for testing
Making adjustments to the land base ahead of submitting to CubeCon. Putting in a mix of surveil and shock lands (over proxied duals) and will test this configuration for now. With the strength of aggro strategies, I am not sure how much I love a punishing mana-base, but shocks do give you the most agency. I am thinking I may end up at double fetch, double shock with a surveil land in place of the pain land for a few of the color pairs.
Other cards from pre-release that I have my eye on are Three Steps Ahead, Pest Infestation, Pest Control, Slickshot Lockpick, Aloe Alchemist, and Rustler Rampage. I will continue to evaluate as I see more cards in play this set. I don't think I will be actively trading for anything here as not a ton is piquing my interest.
Finally removing Batterskull again. I'm happy to test pretty much anything else, but Cryptic Coat could be a cool addition. The last handful of additions in blue have introduced more creatures that attack, which could lean more into blue tempo builds.
Delney has been a solid B in testing. People are happy to see it and it gets their gears turning. It creates issues for removal (do you remove the triggering creature or Delney, the engine?).
Couldn't find a Shinobi. Drafted a Tasigur this weekend. Now it's in. Simple as that. Tasigur has been in my maybeboard for a while now.
Making the switch out for Fallen Shinobi over Hidetsugo and Kari bc I think the play patterns are way more interesting and honestly bc the flying body of H&K is uninteresting to me. I feel like FS just has more potential game play.
Chaos Warp over Zoyowa's justice is just because the flexibility gained by being able to target any permanent is worth the extra mana and there are more ways where Chaos Warp acts as hard removal.
Comet!
Not sure how I feel about it most because they go in the same deck, but most people feel like aether vial is a trap, so I'll try this out.
Switching these out to see if anyone can do something fun with Beseech. I know it is used as a combo piece in some storm lists which obviously is not supported here but if it can be an extra copy of Sheoldred or the One Ring or even Song of Creation, I will be happy.