Reads: Meddling Dimir Dementia!
Perhaps the one guild I was most asked to Meddle was the shadowy Dimir, and today the wait is over!
If you’d like to see what more can be done with the “hidden guild” and its milling engine, head on over to Gathering Magic and check it out!
Don’t forget to say hello, to be entered in our Meddling giveaway for the chance to win the Intro Pack and all the cards added to it.
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Ertai's Lament 
Just read the article. Good stuff, and I agree with most of the picks. Just out of curiosity, why did you not put any Tormented Souls in the deck? They seem like natural targets for cipher spells. As far as what I think is the perfect fit for this deck is 4 Tormented Souls, Duskmantle Guildmages, and Mindcranks (the sole deviation from textbook Ertai Meddling). With that combo, you can trigger turn 4 victories for 3 mana with 1 damage. It also complements Wights of Precinct Six and Jaces Phantasms quite solidly.
The more I look at Consuming Aberration, the more I want to build a deck around a playset of them. I really liked the Meddled version, and hitting for a 20 point knock out blow with the CA is living the dream.
Do you keep a game log when you play Meddled versions against each other?
No, the only turn-based game log we keep is on regular reviews. For Meddling tests, we just try and cram in a ton of games in short time, to get a feeling of what it can do over multiple games. Logs are great for looking back, but they certainly slow the clock down! : D
I had an idea, and didn’t know where to put it… so I’ll put it here! 🙂
A fun new feature/contest here on EL could be a “Design an Intro Pack” feature. Once per set (anytime after the Official Intro Pack decklists are made available), readers could submit their ideas/decks and a winner could be voted on or somehow chosen… The same rules you adhere to in your meddlings could be employed here, too (have to stick to sets/blocks the other packs stick to, limitations on rares/uncommons, etc.). It’d be a nice way to highlight some reader creativity, and maybe give the aspiring brewmasters out there some fresh ideas.
For example, I thought of this because I’m interested in RTR about the whole “Gateless” movement and cards that care about gates… but which never get the Intro Pack treatment because they’re not as sexy or powerful as the guilds. Really, there always seem to be angles that get neglected in blocks, cycles or even whole mechanics that never get their moment in the spotlight. This would be a way to tilt the light their way for a moment, while encouraging some reader interaction. Maybe there’s even a way to pull Mind Games, Ltd. into this too.
Anyway, a thought! Keep up the good work! 🙂
Would you believe you’ve read our minds? This is actually something we’ve been considering for awhile. I’d thought about it myself with regards to sets that didn’t ever get the precon treatment, like Ice Age. Certainly doing more recent sets would present a lot of options, too! I’ve concluded that it would be a feature I’d like to roll out onto the site, but only after we move to self-hosting. That would allow us to get a Forum on the site, where something like that would really be allowed to thrive. I’m sure we could roll in some Mind Games giveaways here and there for folks participating, too!
I took out the Dimir Keyrunes and replaced them with Nightveil Specters. That only happened because i couldn’t resist putting in some more rares. If you want to keep the set amount of rares, i would consider replacing the Keyrunes with Deathcult Rogues. It gives the same effect as turning the Keyrune into a creature permanently for the same mana cost as the Keyrune. the downside is that you get no mana source from the rogue. I went with the Nightveil Specters for the same reasons as i mentioned before, but with 1 extra toughness, and a neat bonus when you hit them. You can keep it if you’re comfortable with the extra mana source, Which can be good for getting out of a nasty situation (i.e only swamps).