Essentials Proxy Poll

[kerbythepurplecow]

Should the Essentials use proxies of the power 9?

[kerbythepurplecow]

Lookie there, I made a poll! I haven't voted yet because I'm still thinking the issue over.

On one hand, shouldn't the Essentials be all that a 5-color, casual, highlander deck could be?

On the other, doesn't power send it into cut-throat territory? And can't the deck already be silly awesome enough without power? And for being the best of the awesome, I'm not sure if I'd like to see proxies in the deck whatsoever.

Thoughts?

[jrr]

I've actually thought about this quite a bit and these are the points I've come up with...

1. I feel that the Essentials should have all of the best cards for 5-color, but I don't want to see crap proxies. So If we do decide to add proxies to it, I think we need to come up with a way to make good proxies ourselves, or find some nice ones for sale. I woulld also like to do the same for my 5-color deck.

2. If we do add power to the Essentials, I think we should maintain a list of the Bargain Essentials. It does not need to be a real deck, but just a deck list of all of the best stuff under $5 per card. I think this would help to show new people that 5-color doesn't need to be a daunting task of finding great old power cards that cost $20 and up (and $50 and up for many duals now).

[cmorndorf]

First off, I'm happy we're taking about the Essentials because at one point in time my 5-color was the Essentials =)
and second off, I'm still torn on the proxies, but I love Jason's two cents.

[kerbythepurplecow]

Okay, first off, nice proxies of the power 9 aren't hard to come up with. I've seen some very nice stuff that people have done. I'm sure that if they could, we could. One of our printers must be good enough. I haven't tried my new one out yet, so I don't know.

Second, you may have just hit on a brilliant idea. The Budget Essentials. Every card $5 or under. That sounds like a great idea. The Essentials is pure gas power amazing. The Budget would still be good, but not as over the top.

If a Budget Essentials were to be developed, I would suggest that the Essentials push towards the absolute best it can be. Full power. Proxies of any other expensive card that should be in it. For example, if we decide it needs something like the Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, then we add it. This would cause a lot of rethinking. For the first time we'd actually have to examine and determine the absolute best mana base. Not just one based on the best I have available. That's been the case in the past as we've rarely set the mana base as standard to the Essentials.

Next, should the Budget Essentials be set at $5? $10? $7? What's the best? Determining that number might needs a little debate. $5 is easy, but is it too cheap? I guess not. It is budget after all. However, with $5, a lot of options are limited. Sweepers, for example, would be difficult. It would require a lot of work to create the Budget Essentials.

If this route is pursued, I suggest we finish the Essentials and then worry about the Budget Essentials after that. I would also likely construct the Budget Essentials because I think that would be pretty damned cool.

[jrr]

Sweepers won't be too bad to come up with...

Rout: $3
Hallowed Burial: $1.30
Bane of the Living: $0.30
Chain Reaction: $1
Austere Command: $0.60

And that was just off the top of my head...

On the topic of the Buget Essentials, I really feel like $5 is a good spot. If we went up to $10, we can start including Rav Duals, WoG and a lot more power, but I think $5 is a good starting place. Fun note: RoE is supposed to have a functional reprint of Terramorphic Expanse.