Dan Shive's Blog

Tophithopter Deck (last image sideboard, relevant due to Lesson mechanic).

Fetch lands allow for a single Island and Mountain to work pretty well, but they’re also there for Springheart Nantuko landfall triggers, and to force deck shuffling when the top card revealed by Augur of Autumn isn’t convenient.

When Ashaya is in play, it can be worth making creatures weaker with Earthbending to protect them from removal. If Kiyoshi is in play with Ashaya, earthbending herself (or Ashaya) can be the right move.

Earthbending creatures 0/0 as part of the effect, which means it can override “power equal to the number of lands / forests” (so usually weakens Ashaya). For this reason, if earthbending a creature AND giving them the third level of Druid class, that third level should be used after earthbending. If earthbent after, it will cancel out the Druid Class effect.

Deck
3 Ashaya, Soul of the Wild (ZNR) 179
14 Forest (M21) 313
4 Emporium Thopterist (Y24) 5
2 Avatar Kyoshi, Earthbender (TLE) 130
4 Augur of Autumn (MID) 168
3 A-Druid Class (AFR) 180
4 Birds of Paradise (BLC) 81
4 Badgermole Cub (TLA) 167
4 Springheart Nantuko (MH3) 171
4 Overgrown Arch (STX) 139
2 Badgermole (TLA) 166
4 Prismatic Vista (SPG) 38
2 Toph, Greatest Earthbender (TLE) 70
1 Mountain (M21) 312
4 Bountiful Landscape (MH3) 217
1 Island (M21) 310

Sideboard
2 Origin of Metalbending (TLA) 187
2 Seismic Sense (TLA) 195
2 Rockalanche (TLA) 192
1 True Ancestry (TLA) 199

“Lord?! Lord, is that you?! I knew you wouldn’t give up on me!”

egscomics:

Dance like no one’s watching

(Except they’re definitely watching)

danshive:

So.

I might have tried a thing.

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SILLY

The thing is, the ornithopters are conjured non-token creatures. That plus Ashaya means they all count as forests. Landfall, tapping for mana, “X equals the number of forests”… it contributes to all of those.

And thanks to 8 fetch lands and 4 Birds of Paradise, the deck works well with a single island 🤣

So.

I might have tried a thing.

egscomics:

Looking like others

“Step one: Wear a hat.”
“The person I want to look like doesn’t wear hats.”
“STEP ONE IS NON-NEGOTIABLE”

I still occasionally see Yor Forger’s red eyes and think “BUNNY!”

egscomics:

Cinderella Returns The Revenge

Okay, so no revengeance is happening, but I could definitely see someone try to make that work as a sequel movie to Cinderella.

I might rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender because of the Magic The Gathering crossover.

Naturally, I’ll be on the edge of my seat waiting for my new favorite character to show up:

Badgermole Cub.

It’s been a while, but based on how their card performs, I assume they’re integral to the story.

egscomics:

The perils of popularity

I, of course, am super familiar with these perils. The MOST familiar! Obviously!