Four Color Blunder? A Closer Look at Omnath

Introducing FaithlessBrewing.com

We have a brand new web page! Visit our new hub at faithlessbrewing.com for articles, decklists, and more. Full show notes from this episode, with links to every decklist discussed, can be found at this link.

More featured articles:

Weathering the Storm: How to Stay Positive about Magic in 2020

Brewer's Guide to Zendikar Rising: Top 8 Build-Arounds for Modern

Daily Brew: Cleansing Wildfire in Modern

Daily Brew: Brought Back in Modern

Taylor's Voting Resources: https://taylor.lnk.to/vote

Faithless Brewing, Episode 73: Omnath, Locus of Creation

You know his name. Four colors, four abilities, no problems -- unless you're sitting on the wrong side of the battlefield. Omnath, Locus of Creation has already proven so explosive that there are murmurs of impending ban action in Standard even before Zendikar Rising is available in paper. This is a remarkable card, poised to leave a remarkable footprint on both Modern and Pioneer. Let's see what Omnath can do!

Roundup: Zendikar Rising Week 1 Results

Flashback: Scourge of the Skyclaves

Brew Session: Omnath, Locus of Creation

Like our show? Join us at patreon.com/faithlessbrewing to support the podcast and join our brewing community. Thank you for your support!

In Goyf’s Shadow: Brewing Scourge of the Skyclaves

Faithless Brewing, Episode 72: Scourge of the Skyclaves

Big update: we now have a website! Check out our new home, faithlessbrewing.com, for more original MTG content. We have articles, podcasts, videos, and brand new merchandise featuring stunning pieces from the art of Whistler. Stop by while it still has that new website smell and tell us what you think!

Here are two articles to help get the creative juices flowing:

Brewer's Guide to Zendikar: Top 8 Build-Arounds in Modern

Sketches: Forsaken Rock (Pioneer)

Decklists: Scourge of the Skyclaves

Sketch 1: Rakdos Prowess (Modern)

Sketch 2: Death's Shadow Zoo (Modern)

Sketch 3: Mono-Black Demon (Pioneer)

Sketch 4: Rakdos "Combo" Demon (Pioneer)

Join the Faithless Family: patreon.com/faithlessbrewing

Thank you for your support!

Brewer’s Guide to Zendikar Rising

Faithless Brewing, Episode 71: Zendikar Rising Full Set Review (Modern + Pioneer)

Even more card analysis can be found in the extended show notes, available to all of our Patreon members. Sign up at patreon.com/faithlessbrewing for bonus content, Discord access, and more!

Timestamps

5:45 Heuristics for Evaluating MDFCs

11:32 Turntimber Symbiosis // Turntimber, Serpentine Wood

15:22 Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass

17:38 Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave

18:41 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt

21:18 Tangled Florahedron // Tangled Vale

23:29 Silundi Vision // Silundi Isle

24:52 Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins

27:42 Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit

32:20 Akoum Hellhound + Brushfire Elemental

35:23 Wayward Guidebeast

40:30 Skyclave Pick-Axe

43:35 Valakut Exploration

47:20 Kazandu Mammoth // Kazandu Valley

48:10 Scute Swarm

50:43 Felidar Retreat

56:00 Feed the Swarm

56:43 Skyclave Shade

59:54 Thwart the Grave

1:02:51 Tajuru Paragon

1:06:02 Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats

1:08:50 Luminarch Aspirant

1:10:21 Nullpriest of Oblivion

1:12:14 Resolute Strike

1:13:03 Kor Blademaster + Fireblade Charger

1:14:02 Thieving Skydiver

1:16:53 Shatterskull Charger

1:19:28 Nighthawk Scavenger

1:23:06 Soaring Thought-Thief

1:25:59 Anticognition

1:29:07 Blackbloom Rogue // Blackbloom Bog

1:30:15 Sea Gate Stormcaller

1:33:16 Magmatic Channeler

1:36:21 Scourge of the Skyclaves

1:41:08 Cleansing Wildfire

1:43:14 Yasharn, Implacable Earth

1:46:13 Wrap-Up: Our Top Picks for Modern and Pioneer

Zendikar Rises + Brew Review (ft. Urchin Colley)

Faithless Brewing, Episode 70: Zendikar Rising First Look

Extended show notes, tokens, playmats and more are available via our Patreon. Join the Faithless Family at patreon.com/faithlessbrewing to support the podcast, get bonus content, and fly your brewer's colors!

Where to find Urchin

Zendikar First Look

21:47  Spell lands

26:17  Pathway lands

29:04  Omnath, Locus of Creation

32:31  Lotus Cobra

34:11  Nissa of Shadowed Boughs

38:20  Ruin Crab

40:41  Coveted Prize

46:50  Archpriest of Iona

48:48  Acquisitions Expert

51:17  Zareth San

55:14  Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients

1:00:48  Jace, Mirror Mage

1:06:35  Bloodchief's Thirst

1:10:10  Confounding Conundrum

1:13:58  Skyclave Apparition

1:18:00  Legion Angel

Brew Review: M21 Edition

Bonus: Chasing the Brewer’s Cup (ft. Brian Madden)

Faithless Brewing, Bonus Episode: Community League Recap #1

Brian Madden, aka Untwisted, joins Dan and Damon to talk through some of the coolest decks to come out of the Faithless Brewing Community League. 

Signups for Community League #3 are currently underway in our Discord channel! Join the Faithless Family at patreon.com/faithlessbrewing and come show off your deckbuilding chops. Happy brewing!

Decklists

Hunted Sundial by Judge Rob

Dark Arias by Bromatcourier

Song of Storms by Raytheon

Narset Cannon by Been 395

Touch the Magic Dragon by KilgoreTrout

Grixis Pile by Illsicknasty

Kinnan Devotion by redtrexx

How to Start Brewing in Historic

Faithless Brewing, Episode 69: Brewer's Guide to Historic, Part 1

You've heard the rumors. You've felt the buzz. Your Twitter feeds are littered with images of colorful squares of art hovering over an attractive battlefield, with screenshots of Mythic rank achievements. Historic is in the air. It's the next Mythic Invitational format, it just received yet another influx of cards from Amonkhet (and yet another banning in Field of the Dead), and it seems to loom large in WotC's plans for the future. Historic. So hot right now. Historic.

We are not a Historic podcast, but then again, there was a time when we were not a Pioneer podcast either. Is change inevitable? Or is the gulf between Arena and the MTGO and paper formats simply too large to bridge? There's a lot to sort through when parsing out the very basic questions of What is Historic and what does it mean for us? Is the format fun? Is it accessible? What's the metagame like, and is there room to brew? What is Historic exactly, and what are the key pillars of its tier archetypes and card pool?  And perhaps more to the point -- should we play it? We tackle all of that and more this week, with the aid of some great questions from our listeners. Let's dive in!

Flashback: M21 Potpourri

Jeskai Transmogrify: 2-3 league

Izzet See the Truth: 3-2 league, 2-2 league

Lotus Discontinuity: 2-3 league

Discontinuities: When Titan Vial Ruled Modern, and Citadel in Pioneer

Faithless Brewing, Episode 68: Transmogrify, See the Truth, Discontinuity

By all accounts, 2020 has been a Very Long Year. It keeps twisting and dragging us into unexpected places, each more disturbing than the last. And somehow, it is only August.

So it can't really be called surprising when, for inexplicable reasons, a Modern deck called "Titan Vial" is somehow causing the price of Elvish Reclaimer to spike on Magic Online, while in Pioneer noted hall of famers are earnestly debating the proper build of a deck that contains a playset of Bolas's Citadel. Who can explain it? Does it even need to be explained? It's just been that kind of year.

Late August can sometimes be the doldrums of competitive Magic, as Standard awaits rotation and the summer Core Set has mostly played itself out. We are lucky, at least, that M21 is a set with a very long tail: plenty of interesting cards can still spark the brewer's imagination for at least a decklist or two, if not quite rising to the level of commanding a full episode deep dive. We tackle some intriguing ones this week as we probe the far reaches of the M21 spoiler: Transmogrify, See the Truth, and Discontinuity. What will we discover? Only the leagues will tell!

Titan Vial by fpawluszmtg

Flashback: The White Episode

Soul Speakers: 3-2 league

Basri Bots: unplayable

Mardu Nine Lives: 3-2 league

Chonky Capridor: 3-2 league

Brew Session: M21 Potpourri

Jeskai Inspiring Transmogrify

Izzet See the Truth

Bant Lotus Discontinuity

Contact Us

White Is the Loneliest Color

Faithless Brewing, Episode 67: The White Episode

Blue is not the loneliest color. In Magic at least, that hasn't been true for a while now, if it was ever true to begin with. Blue cards tend to bring along several more friends when you cast them. The same is true for Green, and Black, and even Red. One good card leads to another, all thanks to the magic of card advantage.

White, on the other hand... now there's a lonely color. With white cards, you tend to get exactly what you pay for, and nothing more than that. No undercosted rate monsters, no snowballing effects that run away with the game, no recursive threats or big mana engines. If your opponent removes your White card, it's usually just gone: my card for your card, the fairest possible trade. Imagine trying to win a game of Modern or Pioneer that way in 2020!

We haven't featured a White card on Faithless Brewing in a very long time. The options tend to be narrow and on the lower end of the power spectrum. Maybe they can spawn a deck or two each, but they're not likely to even be the best cards in their respective archetypes. If we're going to find success brewing around a White card, we'll need to take a more proactive approach and chuck the whole bag of darts at the dartboard. That's right, this week features no less than 7 new white cards from M21, with a frew brew for each: Speaker of the Heavens, Containment Priest, Griffin Aerie, Angelic Ascension, Nine Lives, Basri Ket, and Stormwild Capridor.

Will any of these cards have what it takes to make a splash in competitive play? You know the drill: let's find out in the queues!

Flashback: Second Chance Pioneer

Narset's Undoing: 4-1 league, 2-3 league

Tome Diviner: 4-1 league

GW Oath Enchantress: 2-3 league

Reference lists:

Narset's Undoing (by SrTortinha, 6-3 Pioneer Challenge)

RG Dinos (by Voltzwagon, 5-0 Pioneer league)

Brew Session: Seven Dubious White Cards

Sketch 1: Soul Speakers

Sketch 2: Priest and Taxes

Sketch 3: Griffin Aerie

Sketch 4: Jeskai Lukka Ascension

Sketch 5: Mardu Nine Lives

Sketch 6: Basri Bots

Sketch 7: Chonky Capridor

Reference lists:

Soul Speakers (by Gabriel Nassif, 5-0 Modern league)

Jeskai Lukka Fires (by FestiFan, 7-2 Pioneer Challenge)

A Second Chance at Love in Pioneer (ft. Aspiringspike)

Faithless Brewing, Episode 66: Surprise Pioneer B&R ft. Evart Moughon

Life has a funny way of giving you second chances. One week, you're flunking out of season 24 of The Bachelor, roseless and rejected. The next week you're the darling of Bachelor in Paradise, delighting audiences with your antics as you revel in another shot at romance. So, too, in Magic: one week your format is a ghost town, with near-empty tournament queues and a "healthy and balanced" metagame of four combo decks, each with strengths and weaknesses against each other. The next week, practically the entire Tier 1 metagame is banned, and we are suddenly presented with a second chance at love in a wide open Pioneer.

This week we welcome special guest Evart Moughon, aka Aspiringspike, to survey the new Pioneer landscape after the long shadows of Theros combo decks have been lifted. We tackle a bit of post-Astrolabe Modern as well, and wind down with some questions for Evart from the Brewers' Mailbag. Is this the dawn of a new era of brewing? What new decks and strategies might rise to the top? Which pre-Theros strategies are poised for a resurgence? The one thing we know for sure: if Aspiringspike has anything to say about it, it's going to involve a lot of Shark Typhoons. Happy brewing!

Where to find Evart:

https://twitter.com/MoughonEvart

http://twitch.tv/aspiringspike

Flashback: Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse

Temur One-Mind Jolrael

BG Jolrael Enchantress

Sultai Jolrael Delirium

Brew Session: A Second Chance at Love in Pioneer

UB Narset's Undoing

UB Tome Diviner

UG Sublime Sharks

Jeskai Lukka Sharks

Mono-G Karn

Contact Us

Jolrael Empress of BEATS (ft. ManaCymbal)

Faithless Brewing, Episode 65: Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse

What happens when you take a mechanic based on drawing extra cards, and move it out of Izzet colors and into Green? Does it somehow get a whole lot better? Jolrael thinks so, and we are inclined to agree. The empress of the Jamuraan jungles has gotten a lot leaner, fiercer, and more cat-friendly since we last saw her all the way back in Prophecy. As a splashable two-mana legend that generates tempo and card advantage every turn, Jolrael seems to have all the right moves for both Modern and Pioneer, so let's see what she can do!

Roundup: Brewers' Mailbag ft. ManaCymbal

Where to find Zach: https://www.twitch.com/manacymbal

Links to Zachs' YouTube, Twitter, etc. can be found here

Flashback: Mazemind Tome

Blue Moon (Damon): 4-1 league

Eldrazi Tron: 5-4 ManaTraders Qualifiers

Classic Dice Factory (by Hampuse1): 2-3 league

Saheeli Dice Factory (by Brian M): 3-2 league

Blue Tron (by Lordofthelobsters): 3-0 league

UB Tome Diviner (David, Zach): 4-1 league, 3-2 league

Mazemind Niv (by Grixisism)

Esper Maze-Seize (by Spotred)

Brew Session: Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse

Modern

Sketch: Jolrael's Shadow

Sketch: Bant Jolrael

Sketch: Temur Tokens

Sketch: Jolrael GW Taxes

Sketch: Jolrael UG Kinnan

Pioneer

Sketch: Jolrael Delirium

Sketch: Bant Cycling

Sketch: Jundrael Enchantress