Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Nuwen]

Fate and I registered for GATECRASH release at our local gaming haus. We're doing a midnight sealed event + sealed two-headed giant event on the following afternoon. I'm picking up guild sets in blue/black and black/white colors, Fate is doing red/green and green/blue. Reaaaaallly excited for my first real events.

also: I just played a REAL guttersnipe + chandra + increasing vengeance GOBLIN RAPE deck with missing cards written on slips of paper. I really like the mana curve and playstyle against Fate's Rakdos deck, but I dunno if it's worth buying ~$40 cards to fill out

[Nuwen]

Oh Pie I might be interested in buying Jace from you for blue/black milling goodness. We'll see what's what.

[Nuwen]

@Nuwen: I traded my Jace ._.

;_;

[Nuwen]

will GTC eveb be fully spoiled before.pre release

Yes

cunts.

it would be more interesting to draft with people who haven't researched combos/relative card strength leading up to the event. i feel like you could only ever get that draft environment at the beginning of major releases.

[Nuwen]

Those guys were giving me shit because I didn't know that overloading a mizzium mortars kills your two-headed partner's creatures (only your own survive).

NO TAKSIE BACKSIES YOU PLAYED IT

[Nuwen]

drafted an angel of serenity!

[Nuwen]

So Shea, I picked up a door to nothingness from a prize pack tonight.

TELL ME ABOUT THIS OMNIDOOR YOU SPEAK OF

[Nuwen]

Fate placed 3rd and I placed 4th out of 21 people tonigh, and we ripped some major bank open. I played dimir with extort white splash for the Obzebat I opened. Fate opened an Aurelia's fury in his sealed.

Our prize packs contained a shiny glaring spotlight, a b/w shock land, lord of the void, mind grind, and some really quality uncommons like guardian of the gate less and gridlock.

[Nuwen]

Guardian of the gate less plus both activates on b/w guildmage wombo combos into deal 16 damage while blocking fate's gruul deck

[Nuwen]

I think we're set for life.

[Nuwen]

The competitive demand on decks we make isn't very high. Fate plays, uh,

me

while we smoke weed and watch cartoons.

We don't have access to a lot of cards, and will often play write-in cards just to experience nuanced or high-end card mechanics in our existing decks. Last night, for example, we played a couple games where Fate's Mayors were instead Hamlets.

Fate's decks:
Early aggro Gruul humans, featuring burning emissaries to out-race a defense curve
Rakdos control, burn, kill featuring madcap skills and thrill-kill assassins

My decks:
Multiculti lobber crew / hypersonic dragon control & burn featuring mercurial chemister
Survival ramp & extort meatshields featuring crypt ghasts, ghost council
Incomplete aggro-control dimir featuring invisible stalkers, hands of binding, and some other wincon that I haven't figured out yet.

The store we play in was

banned by DCI

, so we don't even have a chance of getting us points into local prix or anything like that. High-end competitive meta (and the price-inflated cards that fuel it) really don't interest either of us. We're MUCH more likely to fall in love with a trash-tier mechanic/card, and then enjoy building a deck where that mechanic shines.

[Nuwen]

No clue. Wizards cut off this guy's retail account too, which blows. The store is a one man shop and I assume MtG brings in a lot of his weekly income.

One injustice at a time though.

[Nuwen]

Yeeeeeah, I can't play constructed at all because my answer to "what could be in his hand" is often "a flying pumpkin shooting eye lasers" or some other card I haven't seen.

[Nuwen]

sup

Built & played my first Standard deck this morning. Fate took 1st place in the tournament, I took 5th. Definitely going to fill out this deck and play it at more events:
http://www.mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/537529

[Nuwen]

Soul ransom is a mainboard card that we knew would make people go WTF and is a cheap answer to meta decks with thragtusk and other money cards/combos that are better to steal than deal with. Plus you can sideboard it out for game 2 when people put in their enchantment removal (one guy brought in destroy target permanent oozes and diluted his deck to try and play around soul ransom).

You can take it out for more burn/ultimate price game 2. I plan on playing a 3-3-3 split between auger of bolas, delver of secrets, guttersnipe with 2 talrond (11 creatures total) but just don't have full playsets yet. The staticasters were mainboard for me this tournament and I lucked out because my first two opponents played weenie boros parish/humans decks, but I think I'd want to sideboard them in if I spot ramp like arbor elves or crucial stuff like that instead.

[Nuwen]

At the cost of your opponent making a decision, you get 1 card slot that is both card advantage AND removal (with the added bonus of playing the card you remove). The decision you offer your opponent is not easy: card disadvantage OR 1-1 your soul ransom with removal of their own targeting their own creature, preserving my guttersnipes and other delicate wincons.

It's a solid card, you people just don't have ~imagination~

I think forcing your opponent to do something both predictable and difficult is one of the best things you can do in magic, and soul ransom sets that up well.

You're not setting up your opponent to make a decision opposite of the one you desire him to make, a'la vexing devil.

Add the META effect between games: if someone loses a game involving soul ransom, they might conclude it's the result of soul ransom and play more enchantment spot removal (or alter their deck in another way). I take out soul ransom game 2 for stronger burn and control cards, depending the matchup. They might have dead cards in their deck, and I don't.

[Nuwen]

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/shiners-science-bitch/

So here's what I think my deck should look like, a little more polished. Some points I'm thinking about:

1. Against control decks, I probably need a
   utility land wincon
   . Nephalia's drownyard doesn't seem too bad here. If I can't finish because my damage engines are utterly disrupted, I always have the option to keep 1-1/2-1ing their cards while milling to win. Is there anything better out there? I don't want the mana-expensive filter land or the 6 mana/2 damage burn land.
   
   
2. Mainboard counterspells vs. sideboard counterspell
   s. Counterflux and syncopate are mainboard because they're the most versatile, but I like the idea of keeping essence scatter/dissipate in the sideboard for both exile and cheap creature hate.
   
   
3. Augur of Bolas removed,
   Staticasters put in the sideboard. Fate and I talked through this one last night. 1/3 for 2mana is a great disruption to weenie aggro decks and is card advantage against control matchups, with the potential to put an answer in my hand. Against aggro weenies, Staticaster IS an answer and can be left in the sideboard for stronger draw/counters against other creature-light decks.
   
   Augur is also not a removal-worthy threat against aggro decks; Staticaster is. Staticaster has made someone name them with Nevermore; I can never envision Augur doing the same. Basically, everytime I've played Augur I've said "I wish this card were a staticaster and/or the spell I might draw instead..." AND Augur has also bottom-decked my valuable black sources too many times for me to be pleased with it.
   
   Against control, I would value a full set of sycopates or ANY other counterspell in my hand vs. augur, who MIGHT put one of the spells I wish he were instead into my hand. I'm rejecting him in this deck for a better minimalist creature spread: 4 delver of secrets, 4 guttersnipes, 2 talrand sky summoners. That's 10 creatures in a 1-3-4 curve that bait out removal on turns I'll have mana up for izzet charms, syncopate, dimir charms, etc.

The soul ransom is going to stay in the mainboard (and continue being sideboarded game 2) until it loses its WTF effect or I find a better card that gives me card advantage+removal in the same slot. Seriously, don't underestimate the effect cards like that have on player mentality. You guys might talk about optimized plays and mindsets of top tier players, but the people I'm playing in local tournaments are NOT top tier. These people can and will overeat to new threats (EVERYONE at the tournament stopped to read soul ransom 10 times when I played it, muttered about it darkly after the game). That mental effect isn't quantifiable, but is definitely an advantage on par with play mistakes in-game.

It's really gross to me that people in this thead just automatically suggest more expensive/meta cards as better alternatives to the stuff I'm using. Snapcaster mage is probably the only recommended thing I'd consider, and $80 for an extra removal bait isn't worth it at all to my deck. I also don't want to make my deck susceptible to graveyard hate and other meta sideboard decisions - my deck is supposed to catch you offguard, not put you in a situation you've seen before and can answer efficiently.

[Nuwen]

Fate and I are also talking about Cackling Counterpart, which REALLY forces someone's hand when Soul Ransom is on the board and also amplifies/protects my guttersnipe wincons quite cutely.

With Soul Ransom: Duplicating a threat you have removed/now control is game-ending. That's all there is to say. You force your opponent to immediately discard 2 cards (and you draw 2) to fizzle the target of Cacking Counterpart, giving you a net +1 card and -2 to opponent. YOU force hard decisions and come out ahead no matter what the outcome. Play again from the graveyard w/ flashback OR force your opponent to spend/budget grayeyard hate.

Without Soul Ransom: Guttersnipe is targeted by instant-speed removal and this can respond; saves counterspells for aggressive use instead of defensive play. A good compliment to Dimir Charm for preserving my wincons.

[Nuwen]

Counterpart is strictly a response to removal targetting my guttersnipes. You don't greedily use it to get a 2nd guttersnipe.

Basically, play counterpart anytime you'd counterspell removal targeting guttersnipe. Think of counterpart a a counterspell that gives me back a vital wincon (a waste of their 1 card, because my win con is on the board for a net trade)

zz

[Nuwen]

imo

Negate is less flexible as a mainboard card. Consider: creature-dense decks like Fate's gruul smash, Naya humans, boros humans. I think counterpart as a mainboard puts my deck in a happier place game 1 and will see the most interaction (my game 1 includes soul ransoms).

Negate can't answer threats in what I think are my hardest matchups/strongest meta decks right now: Jung Midrange and Jung Aggro. Abrupt Decay will FUCK up my board state and put my on the back foot in a matchup where I need to be in control of their tempo. I can't lose a beat or I'll get run over by Deathrite Shamans, Huntsmaster, Olivia, Rakdos' Return. These are all HUGE threats that need counterspell slots reserved to answer.

[Nuwen]

I think in my deck counterpart > ghostly flicker > unsummon. Recasting guttersnipes just isn't an option. The tempo loss is pretty significant. On-tempo options like counterpart and flicker keep him in play, safe, AND proc.

[Nuwen]

Whooooops.

Played Soul Ransom illegally at an official tournament at least a dozen times. Even one of the judges seemed to acknowledge the effect as-played though. If nothing else it proves that true conviction can do ANYTHING.

[Nuwen]

hypersonic dragon lets you play shadow slice at instant speed, so you can cast it after someone declares no blocks or whatever. I think it's a pretty lulzy amount of burst damage, but shadow slice doesn't really earn a card slot when I have access to toolbox cards/utility removal/card draw or filter. Getting to turn 6 w/ 5 mana, dragon AND guttersnipe out on the board is pretty unrealistic for my deck.

[Nuwen]

First FNM in Raleigh and I had an INSANE draft. R/G/W were highly contested colors in my pod and I still managed to pick up a clan defiance, frontline medic, skyknight legionaire, gyre sage, 2x skyjeks, cyclops, haste goblin, gruul charm and enough bloodrush to SMASHSMASH into a 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 1-2 finish. Gamma took the last set off me but the people I beat previously seeded high so I took first place.

My 8 prize packs contained:
garruk relentless
olivia
bonfire of the damned
terminus
prime speaker of stuff
my 4th delver

Fate also cracked our 2nd master biomancer

[Nuwen]

Do any of you NC scummers have a playset of undying evil than I can buy/borrow?

[Nuwen]

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/grixis-a ... 1-03-13-1/

This is the deck I'll be taking to Standard this week.

Mana is usually tapped before attackers are declared, between the declare block & damage phase, counterspell, and after opponent's 2nd main. One tapout per game is allotted to either Rakdos's return or bonfire.

The damage clocks are: guttersnipe, delver, Olivia, darg0n. Undying Evil is my latest and greatest way of sheltering my delicate threats without neutering their potency. The Evil slot was previously occupied by unsummon, which is a little more versatile but costs a lot of tempo if I'm playing it to save my own creatures. Cackling counterpart worked better as part of a more expensive curve featuring traitorous blood and hypersonic dragons.

Planeswalkers are kept in check by evasive beatdown, snipe, timely izzet charms, and 2-1 dreadbore split between the main and sideboard. My deck walks all over Superfriends.

Aggro decks have trouble punching through Augur and instant speed removal. Monocolored haste like flinthoof boar, ash zealot, hellrider, and a bunch of other stuff get shat on by ultimate price before they can go upstairs. Patience and a poker face are NECESSARY against blood rush and pump decks. Heavy red aspects of my deck make it possible to out-race even the fastest aggro with a nut draw, but the matchup usually requires tight life management on my part.

Against control, I've reserved a lot of sideboard space for slaughter games and duress. I haven't played a lot of traditional control with my deck yet, and I think this might be my weakest area. R/W/U style decks usually spin me around with restos and hellkites, and I'm not running mortars because the speed was too slow against other matchups. Esper control tends to retain more counterspells and answers to my threats than I can fend off/protect, then slowly mills me with drownyards or Jace while I can't keep a wincon down. Needs a lot more testing to figure out what approach my deck should take. Possible answers include Devil's Play finisher/mana dump, Stensia's or other stickier wincons. Upcoming Izzet planeswalker might offer something here.

I ditched essence scatter for an extra counterflux (substitute 1-1 for dissipate in graveyard meta). Originally I had a nuanced sideboard counterspells for different matchups, but hand destruction deals with a wider spread of threats in any matchup.

Having issues finding a secondary boardwipe that comes at the right time. Bonfire is unreliable in a pair. The double-R cost of Magmaquake makes it difficult to get down on curve with 2 & 3 toughness creatures. Temblor is the best thing I've tried so far, but the sorcery speed sometimes comes too slowly or can be played around.

Loxodon smiters. I don't like Loxodon smiters.

[Nuwen]

Think Twice just feels like a bad card.

/
What is it that you THINK Think Twice should be doing, but isn't?

[Nuwen]

I like to think I've built a non-meta deck that goes toe to toe with established, min/maxed decks. Of course I'm still tweaking, but each change brings me closer to the streamlined consistency coming out of the vending machine decks I see everywhere.

[Nuwen]

scumhaus, can I borrow a pair of syncopates tonight?

[Nuwen]

[quote="In [url=http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopi ... 6#p4877696]post 2415[/url], Fate"][quote="In [url=http://www.mafiascum.net/forum/viewtopi ... 7#p4877507]post 2413[/url], AGar"]If I'm remembering correctly (the article link is broken from what I've tried), it was LSV.

And I'm going to take LSV's opinion over yours.[/quote]

I'd rather you have your own opinion to take.

This thread makes me sick

I don't know why I keep coming back like some dumbass addict[/quote]

This thread sucks a dick for innovation, but you can always get your full of some pro quote applied as truism.

IMO the "pro players know best" mentality is what stagnates games with professional play. People who make money off games are always going to choose consistency over variance.

Here's a good analogy: I used to multi-table online poker by playing a minimum threshold of hand value. I made about $20/hour. I played in a variance-ruducing way because my goal was to make money, not play interesting games with hard decisions. Should I scream and rant at people who approach poker as a gamble? Fuck no. I minimized the critical thought necessary to succeed, but that's whatever to someone whose wincon is challenging his own decisions, doing something new, etc. you have to realize that low-variance reward systems can CRIPPLE innovation in a long running game.

So, like I said: anything that doesn't achieve the level of low variance seen in top 8 gets instantly shat on here. A A deck that hasn't made it to the incestuous daily roundup != trash. I

[Nuwen]

All DGM for a house draft sounds like a good one time thing to get a bunch of new cards from the set

[Nuwen]

So I thought John Rutwhatever was kidding when he said he lifted all the promo tokens he could, but I opened my box this morning and mine are missing. I'm going to beat the shit out of him. /in?

[Nuwen]

My brief time with Chamber's cube was unforgettable. Wish we had gotten more draft time in instead of herpaderping around at the SCG event.

[Nuwen]

PROMO CACKLERS GET

[Nuwen]

Gamma! This all-in list is for you:

Creatures (35)
4 Foundry Street Denizen">Foundry Street Denizen
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
2 Skinbrand Goblin
2 Rakdos Cackler
4 Lightning Mauler
2 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Legion Loyalist

Spells (8)
4 Dynacharge
4 Krenko's Command

Mana (18)
15 Mountain
2 mutavault

Sideboard (15)
4 Searing Spear
4 Volcanic Strength
4 Traitorous Blood
3 flex slots

[Nuwen]

I will GIVE AND DO anything to kill people with a fleet of dragons.

[Nuwen]

card is obv bad, it dies to removal

[Nuwen]

Does anyone know if the MTGO client is session-tethered?

Like, can Fate and I have sessions open on multiple computers?

[Nuwen]

Sever the Bloodline should have a place in your deck/SB. Because you're not playing Sphinx's Rev, repeatable card slots and cantrips are worth gold. Forbidden Alchemy is another valuable flashback card that lets you diiiig through your deck for wincons.

You should play more mainboard countermagic and respect other control decks. Underworld connections is pretty necessary in the control mirror.

[Nuwen]

Cut a psychic strike and compensate with match-specific countermagic (negate, essence scatter etc) in the SB instead, imo

[Nuwen]

that small tournament that was 90% jund UWR, and then Kibler's deck, Wescoe's deck, and Edel's Naya? Yeah I don't think there was UB in there?

[Nuwen]

Can I just go on record saying that "post-rotation" lists without the next set being fully spoiled are

fucking stupid?

A large set brimming with 229 cards is going to be coming in about a month, I'm sure it'll have shit that fits into your archetype du jour.

What's fucking stupid is waiting until some netlist spoonfeeds you a complete deck post-rotation, when the core cards will be at premium.

There's no shame in speculating a future core. We are losing

three

sets and only gaining

one

. There won't be a 1-1 replacement for every Standard playable card, which means that most of the post-rotation Standard core already exists. Plan, buy, and brew now.

[Nuwen]

Building around a single card is usually a poor plan anyway, isn't it?

A strong deck core doesn't crux on a single card. The deck posted for Gamma has a simple goal: swarm with creatures to get the most value out of powerful battalion effects. Battalion cards aren't being printed in Theros, so that component of the core is already locked in. The tech spice might change, but the core will always consist of haste or high power-value creatures that enable the swarm.

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT STUPID just seems like an intellectually lazy approach. If you're afraid of being wrong, sure - wait for other people to be right first. If you want to brew, this is the prime time to pick up core cards that foos like you are overlooking because known-unknowns could be hidden in the sand.

Buying boxes for EV just seems like a way to put liquid in Wizard's pocket instead of yours. Through our powers of collective speculation, the scummune is acquiring predictable core cards (Blood Baron, shocklands, Sphinx's, Rakdos' Return - the powerplays that will DEFINE the upcoming format) because these cards will spike past their current stable value when people rush out after spoilers/set is released. But at least you'll ~know~

[Nuwen]

Hi friends

Trying to build a Standard deck on MODO before the daily @ 4 EST today, hoping you guys can help fill in the gaps. I'm looking to borrow any & all of the following:

4 Dreadbore
2 Chandra, Pyromancer
4 Magma Jet
4 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Rakdos' Return
1-3 Lifebane Zombie
2 Thoughtseize
4 blood crypt

I know the price on all of these cards is steep - I'll pay you back for the loan with a cute drawing, or a picture of Fate in kitty pajamas. Only need them for about a week!

[Nuwen]

"In Raleigh, NC, there is an ongoing police investigation into this matter and whether or not any of the dealers are complicit."

Shit I remember seeing something about this

You know it's not me because I can reproduce kerning, font-family, and weight on sight.

unlike those sucker amateurs

[Nuwen]

I think what Fate is getting at is prize EV currently doesn't support a professional game; the current model is more or less lottery payout for a high initial buy-in. Of course fodder will always attend tournaments 'for the experience,' but I think a lucrative pro circuit would generate tons more revenue than it would cost to maintain.

Other Esports have proven that broadly-distributed prize support creates a positive feedback system of more tournament interest [individual] -> more tournament coverage [advertisements] -> more prize support -> more tournament interest [corp-level]. Right now, the tournament circuit sponsorship is dominated by companies who make their money from tournament entry/accessories/card resale - that's not a good economic model for a pro sport.

I've always been surprised with the amateur-ish quality of "Pro" magic content, because there's a TON of corp-level profit to be made even on simple stuff like concessions. At GP Charlotte, we witnessed a man pay $100 for a sandwich to be delivered to his table so he wouldn't have to stop playing. Sure, some venues have concessions restrictions but I think tournament hosts could be priming ALL of MtG's tournament economy by partnering with food franchises. And that's just one example.

But as long as the current model of per-individual interest -> prize pool // host profit engine is the only thing powering tournament-level economy, it'll remain anemic. I think this is because sponsors assume consumers are always more interested in PLAYING Magic firsthand vs. watching it being played (which is why hosts think they'll make the most money from players themselves), which isn't accurate - video archive view #s have proved that tournament coverage could enjoy viewership comparable other Esports.

tl;dr generate more revenue from NOT-PLAYERS, pay more to players, watch ecosystem boom and expand exponentially

[Nuwen]

That's not what I said at all?

[Nuwen]

return is still good because you can still do it for 3 on turn 5 and an even better topdeck later...


your list is also really bad against U/W if thats what you're expecting