Today, I'm going to talk about my favorite underrated cards in STX: Reconstruct History. ALSA 7.94, taken just above Spell Satchel. This is another one that I already talked a lot about on Limited Levelups last week (), but I'm happy to say more. 1/x
First off, to explain what this card does, since it has a lot of words: it rebuys up to one each of an instant, a sorcery, an artifact, and enchantment, and a planeswalker. You don't have to have all five; most commonly this will just be two spells, and maybe an artifact. 2/x
On its surface, this looks like it's just a clunky draw spell that needs setup. And I don't generally likes clunky draw spells; I was low on Behold the Multiverse in Kaldheim, and I'm low on effects like Mentor's Guidance in Strixhaven. So why do I like Reconstruct? 3/x
Well, first of all, the setup cost is very minimal. With learn/lesson being such an important mechanic, you'll almost always at least have a sorcery, so all you need to ensure is an instant to make it a draw two. And there's plenty of good instants, especially cheap removal. 4/x
Plus, the comparison to draw spells like Behold the Multiverse isn't that accurate; with how important and powerful spells are in STX, it's honestly more akin to Soul Salvage. And likewise, its recursion is much more powerful, though less flexible, than a simple draw 2. 5/x
One of the reasons I'm relatively low on the pure draw spells in STX (like Mentor's Guidance) is because of learn/lesson. Part of the value of a Divination is casting it early. But I've found learn/lesson just fills that role much better, as they often affect the board. 6/x
So when I do cast a pure card advantage spell, it's often as the one of last cards in my hand, after I've run out of learn/lesson. Reconstruct History fits perfectly into this role: it's the best at lategame grinding, and I don't care about its early game at all. 7/x
I will note that I don't really want to pay 4 mana just to get back an Inkling and a Study Break; that can be fine sometimes but is pretty slow. So you do want to make sure that your Reconstruct can get back more impactful spells, like Rise of Extus or Elemental Masterpiece. 8/x
Now, you might be wondering why I like such a durdly Lorehold card, when I'm also a fan of assertive Lorehold decks. I do think Reconstruct is best as a splash in Prismari. But also, my assertive Lorehold decks often aren't hyperaggressive, and want tools to grind as well. 9/x
So far I've been treating Reconstruct as only recurring two spells. But the artifact clause does come up frequently. Decks that want Reconstruct might also want Biblioplex Assistant to recur bombs, or Campus Guide and Letter of Acceptance to splash. A free 2/1 isn't bad. 10/x
I have used the enchantment clause once, after my opponent killed my Sparring Regimen. I have yet to try Reconstruct with Detention Vortexes; I suspect they're still bad, but maybe there's something there. More realistically, you get Regimen in the gy with cantrips. 11/x
Conclusion: Reconstruct History is a powerful lategame grinding tool, best splashed in Prismari but good even in some assertive decks. I like it more than most draw spells because of its lategame power, and I don't care about early game flexibility when I can just learn. 12/12
Recent trophy decks with Reconstruct History in them:

17lands.com/deck/c46d1385d…
17lands.com/deck/1ca6291b5…
17lands.com/deck/fe8b7a318…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with JasonILTG

JasonILTG Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @JasonILTG

13 May
Short thread today about Mercurial Transformation. ALSA 7.94, making it the lowest-drafted lesson in Bo3 (next lowest is Start From Scratch, which is also underrated at ALSA 7.26; I'm surprised both are lower than Containment Breach actually). 1/x Image
My guess for why people don't like this card is that they see it as a sorcery speed bad combat trick, and therefore think it's unplayable. And to be fair, the effect *is* very niche, and is unplayable as an effect to put in your deck, but as a lesson that doesn't matter. 2/x
The power of a lesson is that you only get it when it's good. Just having Transformation in your lesson board will win you games you wouldn't otherwise, and the only cost of taking it is not having the other cards from its pack. It's much better than a card you wouldn't play. 3/x
Read 10 tweets
11 May
Today, I'm going to talk briefly about three cards that all have their best home in the same kind of deck: Thrilling Discovery, Teach By Example, and Curate. ALSAs of 9.39, 8.57, and 8.18. Not exactly sure whether they're "underrated", but definitely worth talking about. 1/x
The best home for these cards is Serpentine Curve control decks. Disclaimer: I don't have the most experience with these decks myself; probably the expert here is @SamuelHBlack, both in his recent podcast episode about Dimir and his excellent stream. But I'll try my best. 2/x
Thrilling Discovery is the worst of these in a vaccuum, as reflected by it being the 6th least-drafted card, barely above First Day. It looks like just another Cathartic Reunion, which is historically bad. But it does have some good synergies that can make it worth playing. 3/x
Read 15 tweets
10 May
Next up: Mascot Interception. ALSA 8.64, third least drafted uncommon (barely above Detention Vortex). Now *this* is a card I have a lot to say about, though some of what I have to say I already said on Limited Levelups last week (). 1/x
At its baseline, this is just a more expensive Act of Treason that gives a power boost. Framed that way, it might not be very exciting, as Act of Treason is a card that traditionally only plays well in decks that are either very aggressive or have steal-and-sac synergies. 2/x
But there are some factors that make Interception play better in this format. First of all, the +2 power matters. You generally want your Act of Treason effects to end the game when cast, and the power boost helps Interception do so in a wider array of situations. 3/x
Read 20 tweets
9 May
Next underrated card: Twinscroll Shaman. 8.95 ALSA, making it the 10th least-drafted card in Bo3. I have a lot less to say about this one. I do think it's pretty mediocre, but just how low it's taken speaks, again, to how underdrafted aggressive Lorehold decks are. 1/5
My view of Twinscroll Shaman is as a mediocre but ultimately fine 3-drop in aggressive Lorehold decks. You often want to play those decks with combat tricks anyways, and tricks synergize with Twinscroll's double strike (especially the best one: Enthusiastic Study). 2/5
I would still rather not include it in my decks, but that's mostly because there's better 3s: Lorehold and Silverquill Pledgemages, Stonebound Mentor, and Pilgrim of the Ages. But while it's worse than those, it's not worse by that much, because it does have some synergies. 3/5
Read 6 tweets
8 May
One thing I've noticed is that STX draft has a lot of cards that I think are underrated by both the Arena population and sometimes content creators. So, starting today, I'm going to post a thread each day about an underrated card, in reverse order of 17lands Bo3 ALSA data. 1/x
First up, fittingly: First Day of Class (ALSA 9.4, fifth least drafted card by ALSA). A lot of people talk about this card in terms of "yeah all the learn is great, except First Day is trash." And yes, I will admit it's the weakest learn card, but that doesn't make it trash. 2/x
Let's look at some baselines first: the absolute worst case is 1R learn at instant speed. I think most people agree that learning has turned out to be better than drawing a card (or at least, that you can draft to make it so), so this is better than cycling 1R. 3/x
Read 15 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(