@CottonRhetoric : Thanks you are correct a Not is missing from that sentence. I expect all of these sets to be released.
@Whiffy: Thanks matey it is good to be back rambling - I never appreciated how much I enjoyed writing about Magic until I took a break and missed it. In terms of the split I think we have a different look on this, and while I understand that you want to maintain the integrity of Classic by not diluting the player base, I personally do not see the need to wait until all the sets have been release. Once we have Saga (and assuming Sinkhole does show up in GvL) then there will be very few cards which actually matter in paper legacy missing online. What are we talking here Rishidian Port, REB, BEB, Academy Rector, Submerge, Tangle Wire, Unmask. Ok this is just from memory and likley misses a few but so much will be available. However by this stage classic will be far removed from "online LegacyJr" as classic will be playing yawgmoth's win, oaths and all the other exceptional tools. Most legacy decks will not compete in this envrionment and people could lose interest in eternal formats - having the effect of weaking not strenthening EMO. I think I would like to see option where classic and legacy co-exist until the Power 9 arrives to convert classic into Vintage.
@Lours: Wow Lours I am impressed at the improvements in your written English - well done on the hard work. You raise some good points and I look forward to the discussion this will hopefully trigger.
>If he had cast Fanatic first, then Sparked my guy, I would not have
>cast Isolation, as he could eat his own Sparksmith to take my guy
>out since the activated ability would go off.
I assume you mean Sledder or Raider instead of Fanatic, otherwise I don't follow the logic. It's just an Akrasan Squire he's shooting, right? Fanatic can just off it directly instead.
@Professornutbutter, I believe he's using "crusader" as a general term for Goblin Sledder or Mogg Raider.
There is a lot of discussion going on at mtgsalvation's forums about the next set after Zendikar and people say that it will be a return to Mirrodin. If so, then we will be seeing a lot Myr again after this year.
And last week's articles by me and AJ had only one purpose and it was not to decide about competitive play or casual play. But our main purpose was getting the attention of people again back to the format. I'm glad you find both articles useful and started playing Tribal Wars.
I think this you could have named your aticle "Eternal Philosophy" also :)
Many things to discuss about this subject which often generates big debate among the community. I will explain my point of view. It could be a bit long, but ... well, this subject is pretty interesting.
First of all, my opinion : i really cant wait to play real vintage online. So i really hope P9 to be released on MTGO !! But, at the same moment, i dont want to sacrifice all other format to vintage because i'd like to play legacy AND i am enjoying to play classic (build a deck around dream halls, land tax, gush - and many other cards - unrestricted is nutts).
So what would be the solution ? Isnt there enough place to 3 constructed eternal format ? I mean Legacy - Classic - Vintage. All these format provides has their props & cons, but they are all very interesting & enjoyable to play. Plus, technicaly it is easy to implemant on mtgo, much more than it could irl (mainly for logistical reasons). See kaleidoscope in example. To test cost nothing. Then to select the 'alive' format & to scratch the others. That is the way mtgo works.
To answer to that, It involves 2 subquestions : the interest in formats & the players base.
Firstly, what eternal players are looking for ?
I think your article and its differents scenarios highlights that very well. I distinguish differents cases, i sumed up in the 2 following sections :
About MTGO vs real life
1) MTGO = paper formats
A format could not exist if there is not exactly the same card pools available than there is in paper. No overpowered legacy, no undrpowered vintage.
2) MTGO = a chance to keep unique format
To play in a unique environment which is the case of classic currently, is pretty enjoyable because it opens new possibilities of building unique decks.
About the formats themself
3) decks a la Vintage are degenerated
Too many power kills the fun. The vintage deck list looks like a singleton deck where there only 4/5 differents card between the decks. Plus the game itself is too fast to enjoy it.
4) decks a la Legacy is all the time turning creatures sideways
Not enough acceleration, tarmogoyf all the time, no ability to really warp the rules.
So in which case do you agree ? I think we could obtain as many differents answer as there would be players to answer. That is currently the problem.
Secondly what about the player base ? Is (Would be) there enough to play these formats ?
Currently, eternal format need to recruit, even if the player base is increasing, it is not large enough to host as many formats. So how to recruit ? My opinion is that to let the format as it is today, as the only competitive eternal format available is a mistake. Simply because at the same time, those who agree with 1) and 3) will complain. If the format is splitted in legacy & Vintage, those who agree with 2) will be disappointed. And not to release P9 would be an incredible deception for many players i guess.
So what is the solution ? My opinion is to keep these 3 formats.
Maybe at the beginning, supported by a PE each and see what the players will choose to play. Doing that, i am convinced we could optimize the recruitement in eternal formats, because it will look like the largest panel of players. I could be wrong, that is only my opinion.
Last point : and what about the barrier at the entry in eternal format in the recruitement process (read : the problem of high prices) ?
Well, my opinion is that it is a false problem. More player joining the format = more demand but also more cracked packs during releases. The dual prices today are affordable for those who ran bitterblossom/FoD/reflecting pool last year. 2 baneslayers angel cost is almost 1 Fow. And which other release provides 7 cards sellable over 10 tix than MED3 ? Dont hold your breath, simply no one.
I could discuss for 2 hours more, but i will stop here (already tooo long). I hope what i explained was understandable even if my written english remains really pour.
I built a jund deck a while ago with the gharial and thrinaxes and death thoctor. Very harsh if it got online...getting it online not as easy as you'd think. Aside from 3 color mana issues it just dies to sweepers.
4xInfused Arrows
2xStorage Matrix
2xEnergy Chamber
2xBosh
4xDisciple of the Vault
3xFabricate
3xThoughtcast
It's played 3 games in the Casual room. A win against Insects and losses to Zombies and Warriors. More to the point they were fun games to play.
My plan for world domination through Myr has moved on from this list as it has several issues but anyone playing during the MD5 era should have all the cards and I think the whole deck probably only costs 6 or 7 tickets.
I doubt however that the Myr are going to get many new tribe members in the future, which is a shame.
Thanks to AJ and LE there is one more Tribal player now. Good job guys.
OK well AJ's articles always get me into a deckbuilding mood. Unfortunately the forums on here are dryer than a...you know maybe its better that i just leave that to your imagination..anyways i wanted some critique on my latest tribe..now i know it wont magically win any event..well it could but so could any deck technically
You mentioned "Crusader" at least two times in reference to what the Gobo player was casting/attacking with, but a quick search for Crusader yielded no goblin cards (and only one red card that I very much highly doubt finds its way into any Goblin build). May I ask what you are referring to specifically?
Nice article BTW. I've built the "Great White Hope" thanks to all of your discussion and analysis of it between the PDCMagic.com forums and here at puremtgo.net and have had fairly good success with it so far in the Tournament Practice room. I'm almost ready to take it into the 2-man queues!
For some reason I just can't seem to respect white weenie. Probably just bias, but if ind it a bit slow and fragile vs control and combo...shades, however, are very solid, and the deck really is a beating against beatdown decks
The problem there is 'metagame'. Tribal Classic's metagame is presently insanely broad: This last week I've played and won against necropotence and dark ritual-fuelled skeletons and thrulls, landstill counterslivers, generic elves, vial goblins, angels, you name it.
I test every deck I build in the casual room, against all comers. People testing for PREs, random piles of generic tribe, bizarre johnny concotions, the Tribal Classic regulars who have been at it for years. Unless and until a deck is capable of racking up a good few wins, it doesn't see print here. If we get a good turnout this saturday (Turns out I can't make it: the family got tickets to Ben Hur performed live) that might help to establish a baseline, but for a really tight metagame, you need regular premier events. There is no room for decks of this ilk in a really tight metagame.
Interesting Article. A lot of 100s articles have hyped particular builds or combos but yours seems more in the direction that the format needs: IE: tech101. In particular I like your land analysis which while it might not be 100% seems pretty dead on to me. I posted my own take on 100s a few days ago that should show up in a week or a month on here but I don't go into any of that instead focusing on my rather dismal start in the current ongoing mymtgo tourney and with some indirect advice for beginners like myself. (Not that I am a beginner player or even really new to the singleton idea but when starting a new format it is best to just assume you know nothing or very little and go from there.)
One thing I note there is that the singleton card pool is extremely expensive unless you just happen to be a 7 year vet with many fine cards under your belt. Even though my nonbeta account is well over 4 years old and has a respectable size it doesn't really have the cards to field a good 100cs deck. I can field a mediocre deck that manage wins through sheer luck, determination, some bad luck/play on my ops part and perhaps good play on mine. This is against decks that have the cards you list above. Against other mediocre collections mine stands up well. Any thoughts on that?
One thing I take exception to however is the stated need for a maindeck Wasteland (which I don't own). As I understand it the popular and winning monored builds run very few nonbasics and none are threats worth a wasted land drop (except maybe a wastelands) and the same goes for whiteweenie and mbc.
If budget is really an issue I wouldn't try a deck with more than 3 colors. Obviously 1 color and 2 color decks are going to be a lot cheaper than the multi-color monstrousities that many players are running.
Monored decks are the cheapest and they can really hate out the expensive duals with Blood Moon effects, and Miners.
The duals and cards are ordered so that you can go down the list and pick out the land for a 2 color deck relatively easily.
I started out making 2 color decks and as I got more cards I now try for 3 color decks. However I still don't have the collection for much of a solid mana base beyond 3 colors.
It should be noted that a lot of decks do run a bit lighter on mana because of cards like Ponder, Brainstorm, Chrome Mox, Tithe, Aether Vial, and Weathered Wayfarer, which can usually thin your lands a bit.
Honestly I think a lot of the decks out there don't run enough land. However that's just my opinion, based on how many lands you need to have to not miss the first 4 lands drops...
One thing I would be interested in hearing more about is figuring out how many lands to include. I think it's particularly hard to gauge the right number in this format, because it takes more games of play testing to develop a feel for it for a given deck. Even when you get manascrewed a few times, you have to wonder if it's just the inherent randomness of the larger deck size giving you a bad run.
Does it seem like people go just a bit thinner on lands in this format than in other formats? I don't recall seeing 43-45 lands in any 100CS decks, even though that percentage has shown up in 60 card decks from time to time. The format isn't as fast as some others, so does it make sense for decks to be a tad thinner to avoid drawing more dead lands than your opponent in the late game?
Thanks for these guidelines for building a mana base in 100CS.
It's expensive to accumulate one of each good land for this format. The cards you've listed add up to something like $400 by my count, and pretty soon you can add $50(?) for the Zendikar fetches.
Still, I think this format is easier to break into than most. As an example, you can get a mana base for green/white decks for about $50, which isn't so awful, depending on your budget. Compare that with tournament decks' mana in other non-pauper formats.
I'm glad you listed the fetch lands first, because I think those are the first ones anybody should buy to get started with Singleton. If you get a few of those and just a couple of dual lands (or Ravnica duals to save cash) in your favorite colors, you can get a ton of mileage out of those few cards. You especially get a lot of use out of green duals, because they can also be searched out using Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Yavimaya Druid, Krosan Verge, etc. That's better value than something like a filter land or an M2010 dual that you only get to use when you draw it out of your 100 cards. Also, it should be stated that fetches are an important means of shuffling your deck when using Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library.
Looks like some fun decks. I question whether they hold up to the metagame but I definitely could see myself piloting any of them (with personal tweaks for preferences) in casual.
Very nice article. I hope they bring P9 online. Didn't MED3 outsell Conflux and ARB online? Seems like a good argument for printing some more eternal goodies. That and Strip Mine with no Moxen is annoying...
You get a chance to interact after first strike damage resolves but before regular damage: It is at this point you make them Kobolds, and they die as a state based effect before they deal damage. I considered Taurean Maulers and Changeling Berserkers, but felt that the synergies and utilities of th high-cost minotaurs already being played suited the deck better.
I just bought one Karakas and I can tell you that it is an insane land. Opposing legendary creatures lose all their value while you have it on table whereas it takes two instant speed removals for the opponent to remove yours. Simply amazing.
@CottonRhetoric : Thanks you are correct a Not is missing from that sentence. I expect all of these sets to be released.
@Whiffy: Thanks matey it is good to be back rambling - I never appreciated how much I enjoyed writing about Magic until I took a break and missed it. In terms of the split I think we have a different look on this, and while I understand that you want to maintain the integrity of Classic by not diluting the player base, I personally do not see the need to wait until all the sets have been release. Once we have Saga (and assuming Sinkhole does show up in GvL) then there will be very few cards which actually matter in paper legacy missing online. What are we talking here Rishidian Port, REB, BEB, Academy Rector, Submerge, Tangle Wire, Unmask. Ok this is just from memory and likley misses a few but so much will be available. However by this stage classic will be far removed from "online LegacyJr" as classic will be playing yawgmoth's win, oaths and all the other exceptional tools. Most legacy decks will not compete in this envrionment and people could lose interest in eternal formats - having the effect of weaking not strenthening EMO. I think I would like to see option where classic and legacy co-exist until the Power 9 arrives to convert classic into Vintage.
@Lours: Wow Lours I am impressed at the improvements in your written English - well done on the hard work. You raise some good points and I look forward to the discussion this will hopefully trigger.
All the best
Hammer
>If he had cast Fanatic first, then Sparked my guy, I would not have
>cast Isolation, as he could eat his own Sparksmith to take my guy
>out since the activated ability would go off.
I assume you mean Sledder or Raider instead of Fanatic, otherwise I don't follow the logic. It's just an Akrasan Squire he's shooting, right? Fanatic can just off it directly instead.
@Professornutbutter, I believe he's using "crusader" as a general term for Goblin Sledder or Mogg Raider.
There is a lot of discussion going on at mtgsalvation's forums about the next set after Zendikar and people say that it will be a return to Mirrodin. If so, then we will be seeing a lot Myr again after this year.
And last week's articles by me and AJ had only one purpose and it was not to decide about competitive play or casual play. But our main purpose was getting the attention of people again back to the format. I'm glad you find both articles useful and started playing Tribal Wars.
LE
"there is no reason to suspect that the rest will follow in due course"
Did you mean there is no reason NOT to suspect?
Great article hammer !
I think this you could have named your aticle "Eternal Philosophy" also :)
Many things to discuss about this subject which often generates big debate among the community. I will explain my point of view. It could be a bit long, but ... well, this subject is pretty interesting.
First of all, my opinion : i really cant wait to play real vintage online. So i really hope P9 to be released on MTGO !! But, at the same moment, i dont want to sacrifice all other format to vintage because i'd like to play legacy AND i am enjoying to play classic (build a deck around dream halls, land tax, gush - and many other cards - unrestricted is nutts).
So what would be the solution ? Isnt there enough place to 3 constructed eternal format ? I mean Legacy - Classic - Vintage. All these format provides has their props & cons, but they are all very interesting & enjoyable to play. Plus, technicaly it is easy to implemant on mtgo, much more than it could irl (mainly for logistical reasons). See kaleidoscope in example. To test cost nothing. Then to select the 'alive' format & to scratch the others. That is the way mtgo works.
To answer to that, It involves 2 subquestions : the interest in formats & the players base.
Firstly, what eternal players are looking for ?
I think your article and its differents scenarios highlights that very well. I distinguish differents cases, i sumed up in the 2 following sections :
About MTGO vs real life
1) MTGO = paper formats
A format could not exist if there is not exactly the same card pools available than there is in paper. No overpowered legacy, no undrpowered vintage.
2) MTGO = a chance to keep unique format
To play in a unique environment which is the case of classic currently, is pretty enjoyable because it opens new possibilities of building unique decks.
About the formats themself
3) decks a la Vintage are degenerated
Too many power kills the fun. The vintage deck list looks like a singleton deck where there only 4/5 differents card between the decks. Plus the game itself is too fast to enjoy it.
4) decks a la Legacy is all the time turning creatures sideways
Not enough acceleration, tarmogoyf all the time, no ability to really warp the rules.
So in which case do you agree ? I think we could obtain as many differents answer as there would be players to answer. That is currently the problem.
Secondly what about the player base ? Is (Would be) there enough to play these formats ?
Currently, eternal format need to recruit, even if the player base is increasing, it is not large enough to host as many formats. So how to recruit ? My opinion is that to let the format as it is today, as the only competitive eternal format available is a mistake. Simply because at the same time, those who agree with 1) and 3) will complain. If the format is splitted in legacy & Vintage, those who agree with 2) will be disappointed. And not to release P9 would be an incredible deception for many players i guess.
So what is the solution ? My opinion is to keep these 3 formats.
Maybe at the beginning, supported by a PE each and see what the players will choose to play. Doing that, i am convinced we could optimize the recruitement in eternal formats, because it will look like the largest panel of players. I could be wrong, that is only my opinion.
Last point : and what about the barrier at the entry in eternal format in the recruitement process (read : the problem of high prices) ?
Well, my opinion is that it is a false problem. More player joining the format = more demand but also more cracked packs during releases. The dual prices today are affordable for those who ran bitterblossom/FoD/reflecting pool last year. 2 baneslayers angel cost is almost 1 Fow. And which other release provides 7 cards sellable over 10 tix than MED3 ? Dont hold your breath, simply no one.
I could discuss for 2 hours more, but i will stop here (already tooo long). I hope what i explained was understandable even if my written english remains really pour.
see ya mate & great article again.
I built a jund deck a while ago with the gharial and thrinaxes and death thoctor. Very harsh if it got online...getting it online not as easy as you'd think. Aside from 3 color mana issues it just dies to sweepers.
Last weeks discussions on both the Tribal format and 'what is casual' made me take my last few tickets online and build this:
4xVault of whispers
4xSeat of the Synod
4xGreat Furnace
4xDarksteel Citadel
4xLeaden Myr
4xSilver Myr
2xIron Myr
1xCopper Myr
1xGold Myr
4xLoadstone Myr
4xMyr Retriever
4xMyr Enforcer
4xInfused Arrows
2xStorage Matrix
2xEnergy Chamber
2xBosh
4xDisciple of the Vault
3xFabricate
3xThoughtcast
It's played 3 games in the Casual room. A win against Insects and losses to Zombies and Warriors. More to the point they were fun games to play.
My plan for world domination through Myr has moved on from this list as it has several issues but anyone playing during the MD5 era should have all the cards and I think the whole deck probably only costs 6 or 7 tickets.
I doubt however that the Myr are going to get many new tribe members in the future, which is a shame.
Thanks to AJ and LE there is one more Tribal player now. Good job guys.
OK well AJ's articles always get me into a deckbuilding mood. Unfortunately the forums on here are dryer than a...you know maybe its better that i just leave that to your imagination..anyways i wanted some critique on my latest tribe..now i know it wont magically win any event..well it could but so could any deck technically
4 Drooling Ogre
4 Jagged Poppet
4 Viscera Dragger
4 Singe-Mind Ogre
4 Fire-Field Ogre
4 Doom Blade
4 Terminate
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
2 Fireball
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Crumbling Necropolis
7 Mountain
7 Swamp
That's the "masterpiece." I would love to know what everyone thinks. And yes if you like it please you have my permission to net-deck. lol
You mentioned "Crusader" at least two times in reference to what the Gobo player was casting/attacking with, but a quick search for Crusader yielded no goblin cards (and only one red card that I very much highly doubt finds its way into any Goblin build). May I ask what you are referring to specifically?
Nice article BTW. I've built the "Great White Hope" thanks to all of your discussion and analysis of it between the PDCMagic.com forums and here at puremtgo.net and have had fairly good success with it so far in the Tournament Practice room. I'm almost ready to take it into the 2-man queues!
Whaddayaknow.
Shows you how often I play Entangling Vines...
Exodus was not in the list of sets as we have official confirmation that it is coming in December. Oath of Druids is blue in the list.
entangling vines can only enchant a tapped creature. he cant 'one use' the artillery
For some reason I just can't seem to respect white weenie. Probably just bias, but if ind it a bit slow and fragile vs control and combo...shades, however, are very solid, and the deck really is a beating against beatdown decks
exodus isnt online yet (last set of temp block). :)
The problem there is 'metagame'. Tribal Classic's metagame is presently insanely broad: This last week I've played and won against necropotence and dark ritual-fuelled skeletons and thrulls, landstill counterslivers, generic elves, vial goblins, angels, you name it.
I test every deck I build in the casual room, against all comers. People testing for PREs, random piles of generic tribe, bizarre johnny concotions, the Tribal Classic regulars who have been at it for years. Unless and until a deck is capable of racking up a good few wins, it doesn't see print here. If we get a good turnout this saturday (Turns out I can't make it: the family got tickets to Ben Hur performed live) that might help to establish a baseline, but for a really tight metagame, you need regular premier events. There is no room for decks of this ilk in a really tight metagame.
Interesting Article. A lot of 100s articles have hyped particular builds or combos but yours seems more in the direction that the format needs: IE: tech101. In particular I like your land analysis which while it might not be 100% seems pretty dead on to me. I posted my own take on 100s a few days ago that should show up in a week or a month on here but I don't go into any of that instead focusing on my rather dismal start in the current ongoing mymtgo tourney and with some indirect advice for beginners like myself. (Not that I am a beginner player or even really new to the singleton idea but when starting a new format it is best to just assume you know nothing or very little and go from there.)
One thing I note there is that the singleton card pool is extremely expensive unless you just happen to be a 7 year vet with many fine cards under your belt. Even though my nonbeta account is well over 4 years old and has a respectable size it doesn't really have the cards to field a good 100cs deck. I can field a mediocre deck that manage wins through sheer luck, determination, some bad luck/play on my ops part and perhaps good play on mine. This is against decks that have the cards you list above. Against other mediocre collections mine stands up well. Any thoughts on that?
One thing I take exception to however is the stated need for a maindeck Wasteland (which I don't own). As I understand it the popular and winning monored builds run very few nonbasics and none are threats worth a wasted land drop (except maybe a wastelands) and the same goes for whiteweenie and mbc.
If budget is really an issue I wouldn't try a deck with more than 3 colors. Obviously 1 color and 2 color decks are going to be a lot cheaper than the multi-color monstrousities that many players are running.
Monored decks are the cheapest and they can really hate out the expensive duals with Blood Moon effects, and Miners.
The duals and cards are ordered so that you can go down the list and pick out the land for a 2 color deck relatively easily.
I started out making 2 color decks and as I got more cards I now try for 3 color decks. However I still don't have the collection for much of a solid mana base beyond 3 colors.
It should be noted that a lot of decks do run a bit lighter on mana because of cards like Ponder, Brainstorm, Chrome Mox, Tithe, Aether Vial, and Weathered Wayfarer, which can usually thin your lands a bit.
Honestly I think a lot of the decks out there don't run enough land. However that's just my opinion, based on how many lands you need to have to not miss the first 4 lands drops...
One thing I would be interested in hearing more about is figuring out how many lands to include. I think it's particularly hard to gauge the right number in this format, because it takes more games of play testing to develop a feel for it for a given deck. Even when you get manascrewed a few times, you have to wonder if it's just the inherent randomness of the larger deck size giving you a bad run.
Does it seem like people go just a bit thinner on lands in this format than in other formats? I don't recall seeing 43-45 lands in any 100CS decks, even though that percentage has shown up in 60 card decks from time to time. The format isn't as fast as some others, so does it make sense for decks to be a tad thinner to avoid drawing more dead lands than your opponent in the late game?
Thanks for these guidelines for building a mana base in 100CS.
It's expensive to accumulate one of each good land for this format. The cards you've listed add up to something like $400 by my count, and pretty soon you can add $50(?) for the Zendikar fetches.
Still, I think this format is easier to break into than most. As an example, you can get a mana base for green/white decks for about $50, which isn't so awful, depending on your budget. Compare that with tournament decks' mana in other non-pauper formats.
I'm glad you listed the fetch lands first, because I think those are the first ones anybody should buy to get started with Singleton. If you get a few of those and just a couple of dual lands (or Ravnica duals to save cash) in your favorite colors, you can get a ton of mileage out of those few cards. You especially get a lot of use out of green duals, because they can also be searched out using Nature's Lore, Three Visits, Yavimaya Druid, Krosan Verge, etc. That's better value than something like a filter land or an M2010 dual that you only get to use when you draw it out of your 100 cards. Also, it should be stated that fetches are an important means of shuffling your deck when using Sensei's Divining Top or Sylvan Library.
Looks like some fun decks. I question whether they hold up to the metagame but I definitely could see myself piloting any of them (with personal tweaks for preferences) in casual.
Very nice article. I hope they bring P9 online. Didn't MED3 outsell Conflux and ARB online? Seems like a good argument for printing some more eternal goodies. That and Strip Mine with no Moxen is annoying...
Wow
the ww looks interesting but when i test don like so much...a lot of removal and our creatures not specially over...
One more thing:
when Zendikar will released i want to see your Suicide black deck :D
You get a chance to interact after first strike damage resolves but before regular damage: It is at this point you make them Kobolds, and they die as a state based effect before they deal damage. I considered Taurean Maulers and Changeling Berserkers, but felt that the synergies and utilities of th high-cost minotaurs already being played suited the deck better.
I just bought one Karakas and I can tell you that it is an insane land. Opposing legendary creatures lose all their value while you have it on table whereas it takes two instant speed removals for the opponent to remove yours. Simply amazing.
LE