Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Thestatusquo]

Pie, both clients? Either version three or the beta might run better depending on which one you've tried. If you're trying the beta, and its crashing a lot, thats because there are a lot of bugs and its not really stable yet.

[Thestatusquo]

Dramonic was suggesting that your strategy is not tournament viable because someone will just simply attack you with small creatures and kill you on turn 4 or 5 before you get to do any of the cool stuff you mentioned.

EDH is a format which has decks made up of 100 singletons with a legendary creature as the general. You are only allowed to play colors of your general and generally the games are slow and focus around doing ridiculous and absurd things rather then straight out attempting to win. I don't care for it much myself, but a lot of people enjoy it. The things you were describing would never happen in competitive play because of what Dram was saying, but things like that frequently happen in edh. Or, hell, just casual. Though those two things seem to be becoming increasingly synonymous these days.

[Thestatusquo]

You could just say the card names instead of posting huge images that make your post difficult to read.

[Thestatusquo]

50% of playing magic, sure. But not of talking about magic, unless we're having a conversation about it specifically.

[Thestatusquo]

You used the new art for browbeat. How could you?

[Thestatusquo]

Are you actually claiming that the card fulfills the purpose of controlling the game better than a draw spell or a removal spell?

I think that's pretty clearly untrue.

Its not as good a control option as other cards. It is not a win condition. What does it do, then, exactly?

[Thestatusquo]

I won my match, btw.

[Thestatusquo]

Scry is pretty powerful. I dont know how to evaluate it yet. If the format is as slow as it seems like its going to be, the card could be very good.

[Thestatusquo]

Versatile? It does one thing, and doesn't even do it that well.

I played
1: Mono U delver
2: UB dedicated Mill
3: RG ramp
4: Mono Black Control

[Thestatusquo]

I certainly don't think I would want to run 4.

[Thestatusquo]

It has the potential to be very ROE-ey, I think. Which would be sweet. ROE was sweet. It also has the ability to be very bomb driven and swingy, which would suck.

I don't know how you can say how good its going to be without playing it.

[Thestatusquo]

I meant the standard enviroment looks pretty deep and different. There aren't that many "well you HAVE to play this card" inclusions to create an entire deck, and you can't just replace rotating cards with new ones and keep a deck (besides mono R prob)

I'm pretty sure chamber (as he usually is) was talking about limited, so it wasn't clear that you were talking about the standard environment.

[Thestatusquo]

I thought red would be the strongest color. It has tons of removal/damage, early game bombs, and late game bombs. It has everything. Black also looks pretty strong.

The strength of a color in a format has very little to do with the bombs, as every color has cards that will win the game on their own, and because you are not likely to see then in your given limited deck. What determines the strength of colors in limited is the relative strength of commons and to a slightly lesser extent, uncommons, since these are the cards draft and sealed decks can count on having 90% of the time.

Blue isn't better than green in m14 because Jace is better than primeval bounty. It is better than green because like 5 of the 10 best commons in the set are blue, and probably 5 of the top uncommons as well.

[Thestatusquo]

Yeah, I don't think its going to be like original mirrodin where shatter was a defensible first pick.

[Thestatusquo]

So the GP detroit top 8.

Jund, Jund, Jund, redless jund, redless jund, Jund with white, pod, affinity.

SO GLAD WE BANNED BBE AND STOPPED THE JUND MENACE

[Thestatusquo]

Fissure and post banned in pauper. Might actually make that format playable again.

[Thestatusquo]

Not only that, but the removal is very VERY bad.

[Thestatusquo]

Wen't 4-0-1 and ended up splitting for 2/3 of a box in top 4 with what I thought was a pretty mediocre GW deck.

Some brief impressions on the format:

1) it is not as slow as I expected. While I do think it is generally correct to draw in sealed, this is not always true like I assumed it would be. In draft, I expect it to be correct to play the majority of the time.

2) Enchantment removal is not only maindeckable, but I think it is actively good. I started one each of the gain three life one and the scry 2 one, and I can think of only one time during the whole tournament where I didn't have a target I was happy to kill. One match I sided in 2 more pieces. I think I am going to be pretty happy running 1-2 pieces in almost all of my non-hyper aggressive decks.

3) This is a format that is basically a struggle for board control. Once board control is obtained, the game ends very quickly from there. Coming from behind is much harder than it usually is because the good cards are unbeatably good, and the removal is just very very bad. Your game play should almost always prioritize board position over all other goals, I think. Even more so than normal.

4) Bestow cards weren't as good as I thought they were going to be. Monstrous was better than I thought it would be. The weapons cards were fine, but not amazing. I went in thinking that the bestow cards would almost always be card advantage, and I really just don't think that is the case. I think some of them are fine and some of them are quite good, but I certainly wouldn't want to play a card just because it has bestow. Monstrous on the other hand, because of the lack of quality removal, are waaaaay better than I thought they would be. being able to spend your turn making one of your dudes an 8/9 is just really really good in this format.

[Thestatusquo]

I think in general it will probably be a mistake to not play any enchantments. It will happen sometimes, but very rarely.

I also think its probably incorrect to start 3 pieces of enchantment removal.

[Thestatusquo]

I went white, so obviously that one. It's just that I think board presence is so important in this format that most times I would just rather play it as a creature on curve then wait for "value" which isn't even that high to begin with.

Functionally, they played just like normal creatures for me for the most part, except they are vulnerable to a lot more removal.

I don't think they're bad, I just don't think that bestow creatures are must plays, which I thought they would be because of the card advantage potential.

[Thestatusquo]

I think some people are misinterpreting what I said. I wasn't saying bestow cards are bad. I was saying that the bestow mechanic isn't actually all that great, functionally. Obviously you still play bestow cards that do good things, but I think that waiting to play things for their bestow cost is wrong more often than it is right, and that means that functionally those cards play a little bit weaker than if they didn't have bestow, because they're just creatures that are weak to removal that other creatures are not.

Like, if you gave me a choice between the white promo card with bestow and without bestow, I would take it without, because I almost never wanted to bestow it, and as a creature its way harder to deal with the non-enchantment creature given the removal in this set. I'd still obviously play it either way.

[Thestatusquo]

Except that never happened to me? The only time I did it was with a heroic creature and the 2/2 green bear. But its very marginal. I think not being vulnerable to enchantment removal is more important.

Also, with tons of maindeckable instant speed enchantment removal in this set, its very easy to get blown out attacking with a dude with an enchantment on it.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm pretty sure its wrong to not play black.

[Thestatusquo]

Thats pretty close to my list, I think, though I definitely would be playing more white and less black, probably to the point where I could play 10-7 in favor of plains.

Emisary is ok, I think its pretty clearly not a bomb.

Cards that I don't think are very good:
Thoughtseize
scourgemark
Ordeal of Erabos
Grey Merchant
Cavalry Pegasus

I'd replace them with:
Legonna-band elder
Ray of Dissolution
yoked ox (I know this seems like a weird choice, but what your deck is basically trying to do is take the game late and win with your bombs and superior removal. This card helps you get there)
Soldier of the pantheon (not amazing, and its ability isnt really going to be relevent. But its a 2/1 for one. That's playable on its own. You're playing a 2/1 for 2 that does less things than this guy does. All the text written on it is just a bonus.)
Ephara's warden

[Thestatusquo]

(11:43:45 PM) Shea: Yeah
(11:43:51 PM) Shea: Maybe 9-8 is right
(11:44:02 PM) Shea: I literally put 2 minutes of thought into this
(11:44:22 PM) blargerer: wait
(11:44:32 PM) blargerer: did he only run 1 slip of hemlock
(11:44:36 PM) blargerer: didn't his pool have 3?
(11:44:41 PM) blargerer: sip*
(11:44:54 PM) blargerer: welp
(11:44:58 PM) blargerer: it did and he did
(11:45:05 PM) blargerer: that was like the mai nreason to be black
(11:45:52 PM) Shea: ...
(11:45:54 PM) Shea: oh man
(11:45:58 PM) Shea: I didnt even notice that
(11:46:02 PM) Shea: I just assumed he ran all three

[Thestatusquo]

I would suggest you cut ashiok for a card that actually does something.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm X-2.

Probably dead. I'll play it out though.

[Thestatusquo]

2 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
10 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Ember Swallower
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 Assemble the Legion
4 Magma Jet
4 Anger of the Gods
3 Mizzium Mortars
4 Chained to the Rocks
3 Warleader’s Helix

[Thestatusquo]

Doesn't seem that good to me. In case you hadn't noticed, this deck isnt an aggro deck. Assemble and Elspeth don't need synergy with anything. They're just going to win the game on their own.

Why dont you like swallower?

It blanks so many cards like smiters and morters, holding down the ground better than anything else in that slot could. In the late game it can become huge, but thats really just a bonus.

[Thestatusquo]

Also, just noticed that I cracked like a box and a half without a single magma jet. FML.

[Thestatusquo]

Fate, I do. But, my organization leads a lot to be desired. And by that I mean it does not exist at all. I would probably have to look through random ass boxes for a couple hours to find a playset.

[Thestatusquo]

And I haven't thought about a SB yet. As I said in an earlier post, my sb creation process is pretty intensive and testing based. I don't just throw things in there and hope. I get it by testing the matchups and seeing which needs help.

Shrug.

[Thestatusquo]

Thought I'd throw this out there:

I'm going to be going to GP DC which is legacy. I'll be playing this:

4 galerider sliver
4 striking sliver
4 aether vial
4 sinew sliver
4 muscle sliver
4 predatory sliver
4 crystaline sliver
2 hybernation sliver
4 syphon sliver
4 phantasmal image
1 dismember


4 Mutavault
2 volcanic island
4 ancient ziggurat
4 cavern of souls
4 city of brass
3 tarnished citadel

Still tweaking the sb, but it needs to be like 100% tuned to beat stoneblade and combo.

Why should you care? I have a mostly complete merfolk deck that I would be willing to lend out to any scummer who feels like going and trying out legacy but doesn't have the cards for it.

Hit me up.

[Thestatusquo]

Ajani seems legitimately good in this format. Its very very very hard to kill and just wins the game when it sticks around.

[Thestatusquo]

By ajani I mean I thought you were talking about elspeth.

Ajani blows chunks.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm looking for anyone familiar with various control and combo decks in legacy to test with me on cockatrice for the upcoming GP.

Specifically, I'm looking for people who are competent pilots of
Sneak and Show
Reanimator
ANT
Elves!
Jund
Esper Stoneblade
Shardless BUG
Omnitell
Reanimator

If you're a competent pilot of any of these decks and are down to do some testing hit me up.

[Thestatusquo]

And here's what I'm playing, if anyone wants to pick it apart.

4 Muscle Sliver
4 Sinew Sliver
4 Predatory Sliver
4 Crystalline Sliver
2 Hibernation Sliver
4 AEther Vial
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Galerider Sliver
4 Striking Sliver
4 Ancient Ziggurat
3 City of Brass
4 Cavern of Souls
1 Dismember
4 Syphon Sliver
1 Savannah
1 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
3 Tarnished Citadel
4 Mutavault
SB: 3 Meddling Mage
SB: 2 Mindbreak Trap
SB: 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
SB: 2 Ethersworn Canonist
SB: 2 Gaddock Teeg
SB: 4 Force of Will

[Thestatusquo]

I'll as usual be reserving judgment until I play with the card, because we all suck at card evaluations. But, the only thing that gives me pause is the low loyalty to casting cost ratio. She has a chance to be very very good.

[Thestatusquo]

Also, BTW I have the BG standard graveyard deck thrown together on modo right now. If peoples want to borrow it occasionally I dont mind that.

[Thestatusquo]

BV, when was the last time a planeswalker preordered at a reasonable price?

[Thestatusquo]

I already had the thoughtseizes and the tombs, so right around 80.

[Thestatusquo]

That deck is sweet, though the cradles will cost you a pretty penny.

[Thestatusquo]

Yoked ox as a second pick seems so bad. haha. pack must have been miserable.

remember that your first three picks or so you should basically be picking the most powerful card in the pack regardless of color, so as to remain open and play the color that is open on the table.

It gets kind of tricky when there is a card in the same color as your first pick that is almost the most powerful card in the pack, and I usually err towards that rather than remain completely open. But I strongly doubt yoked ox was the best card in the pack by any meaningful card evaluation.

[Thestatusquo]

ahhhhh ok.

Yeah it seemed weird and I remembered you saying you were relatively new. My apologies.

[Thestatusquo]

Do not sell your mutavaults. That card is played in modern and legacy and will always be at least 20 bucks. The cards you're buying will be worth close to nothing when they rotate.

[Thestatusquo]

And then go back up to 35 a year after that? What is your point, exactly?

[Thestatusquo]

Its inflated because of standard??? Are you high? Standard deflated mutavaults price by a good 10-15$

And there are tons of them. They all happen to be format staples in legacy and modern. Uhhhhh... You know, like mutavault is?

[Thestatusquo]

Just FYI, you won the lottery this time, but the value of an opened pack is a little less than a dollar, on average. I usually save mine to draft or try to sell them. You can usually get like 2.50 per on craigslist.

[Thestatusquo]

Cool. If you're looking for the enjoyment from the packs and not trying to min-max your magic trading/playing so that you can basically play for free, I can respect that. I don't know your financial situation, but I know when I was straight broke and wanted to keep playing magic, these are things that helped me keep going infinite.

Shrug.

[Thestatusquo]

5 packs for top 8 in the prerelease? Wut? that's awful.

[Thestatusquo]

Those are balls.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm talking about the frames. I am pretty sure you knew this.

[Thestatusquo]

White frames?

[Thestatusquo]

Sudo I'm like 80% sure not even you have a damn clue what you're going on about.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm probably going to be going to GP richmond, just for NC scummer info. Anyone down there thinking of going? It's modern, so I'll probably have a deck or two to loan out if someone needs one.

[Thestatusquo]

I dont know why you would ever run wretched bomb main deck? That card is just very bad except in all but the most narrow situations. IT DOESNT EVEN ANSWER PACKRAT FOR GODS SAKES.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm more concerned with the massive card counterfeiting ring that was just exposed in china. but whatever.

[Thestatusquo]

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/27 ... Cards.html

I feel like Rosewater is massively underselling the issue (as, I'm sure you'll realize, he has a pretty huge incentive to do)

The issues for legacy are especially problematic.

[Thestatusquo]

tbf i'd welcome a secondary market crash on the principle that I hate the high dollar entry point into certain formats

I get the points made against it that certain retailers couldn't survive if the secondary market crashed, and it's a valid point. But perhaps it's a good thing.

Its not that certain retailers wouldn't survive. The game itself wouldn't survive. The whole reason magic exists is because it is profitable. The moment it stops being profitable (which it surely will once the cards it prints start being made by someone else for 10x less) then it will no longer exist.

What the author says is true. You can always play magic with your proxies. At your kitchen table. But you could always do that anyway. In a world of counterfeiting, thats the only thing you can do.

[Thestatusquo]

Don't get the point of counterfeiting when you can print proxies of any card.

Um. Some people play in tournaments.

If you mean some people play in professional tournaments, then if it truly becomes a concern then there will be an inspection of each of and every card at each tournament.

And if someone wins a tournament with counterfeit cards, does that reduce the strength of their play?

Just saying, do you want to be the best because your the best, or you have the best cards money can buy?

(counterfeiting is bad.)

LOL.

Heres an example. Recently I went to a grand prix in DC. There were some pros there, but most of the reason to go to grand prix is because they are massive magic parties, and also pretty much the highest competitive level you can play legacy at.

At this tournament there were 1700 players. That's almost 130 THOUSAND cards to check. Even if you spent only 1 minute on each card thats over 2000 man hours of time. If you made each player mail his deck to the tournament site in advance and hired 50 people it would still take a week worth of time to check every card. And Legacy GPs are way smaller than modern or standard GPs. Like what? That is one of the most laughably idiotic things I've ever heard.

The mere fact that you say "professional tournaments" shows you dont have any clue what you're talking about, since the pro tour makes up such a small percentage of magic tournaments that its laughable to even talk about it. Even at the average PTQ or SCG open the amount of time it would take to check every card is just so laughably ridiculous that I can't even think about what a logistical nightmare it would be. And these aren't like minor tournaments, these are tournaments that have thousands of dollars worth of prizes.

Furthermore, pretty much the main barometer of skill is deck construction and card choices. Magic is a game of meta decisions. To say something like "would you rather be good because you are good or because your cards are good." misses the point on such a massive level that I can't even begin to tell you how stupid a statement it is. Like, it would just take too much time for me to walk across the massive chasm of ignorance that such a statement requires. If you played Owen Turtenwald with the same exact deck he was playing he would probably beat you at least 70% of the time, if not more. If you each designed your own decks he would probably beat you around 80-90% of the time. The best players in the world are the best players in the world because they understand why cards are good in a given meta, construct decks that utilize those cards the best, then out play you in the actual game as well. There's a reason Owen won 2 1500+ player tournaments in a row in completely different formats.

Dear god.

[Thestatusquo]

That point is pretty easily outweighed by the fact that the game wouldnt exist if it werent for the secondary market.

[Thestatusquo]

And you could play it at your kitchen table all you wanted. With shitty untested card designs and opponents who think that "checking every card at 'professional tournaments'" is a reasonable solution to the problem of counterfeiting.

There would be no dealers. Those companies make their money off of card sales. There would be no magic shops. Those places make no money off of tournaments. They make their money off of the secondary market. There would be no local game store tournaments because the game stores would fold. There would be no major tournaments. The major tournaments are supported either by wizards/hasbro who would obviously not invest money into magic anymore, or by companies like Star City Games who only run those tournaments because they help them sell cards. The whole reason I play magic would be completely gone.

If you want to play at your kitchen table with proxies then go ahead. No one is stopping you. No one has ever been stopping you. But anyone who says that a crash of the secondary market would be a good thing because the game is too expensive is an idiot. The status quo is so much better and more vibrant than that apocolypse you just described.

[Thestatusquo]

90% of tournaments would be gone, but w/e.

[Thestatusquo]

Well, chess is kind of an anomaly. It's probably literally the only game outside of poker that no one is making money producing that has the kind of tournament numbers magic does.

[Thestatusquo]

I think for players who are not particularly good PTQs are probably not a particularly good way of spending your time.

I know plenty of players who have qualified through them, though.

You also have to keep in mind that you and I have a vastly different temporal perspective. The popularity of magic on this scale is a relatively recent thing. PTQs didn't use to be 200 people when I first started going to them. 70-100 was much more common. The first PTQ I ever attended was 45 players. Furthermore, back when I started playing we had ELO ratings and ratings qualifications to the pro tour. That meant if you went to a bunch of PTQs and did generally well at them, you could grind up to a 1850-1900 rating and get in in some parts of the world (it was always harder in the US just because there are so many people here relatively speaking who play magic compared to the rest of the world.)

I think the way we currently qualify people to the pro tour needs a massive overhaul. 10 hour tournaments where X-1-1 doesn't make it into top 8 are just miserable. I don't know what the solution is, but my issues are with implementation, I have no issues with them on an existential level.

[Thestatusquo]

I do know this though: I think using EV calculations for the invite are wrong. If we're not considering the two boxes to box and a half that top 8 competitors usually get, or the 16 packs that usually pays down to the top 16 (I've even seen a store pay 9 packs down to top 32 and 5 down to 64, though I'll admit thats uncommon) not "prizes" for the sake of EV, then I think you're undervaluing the worth of the trip which is not entirely tangibly monetary for the people who seek it.

If you are including those things, then I'd say the EV is just about correct in terms of price-payout.

At least if you don't go to one at a shitty store. There are a lot of shitty stores out there. I've learned which ones to avoid for the most part.

[Thestatusquo]

Maybe it is to you, but that seems like a decision you have to make personally. For me, its not. I will play on the pro tour at some point during my life. I will make that happen or I will be very disappointed in myself.

If someone gets more enjoyment out of playing EDH at their kitchen table, then sure, I can respect that. It is, however, not even a little bit fun to me. That person has always been free to make proxies or hell, even make his own new cards if he wants. I'm in the process of making an all-foil high quality proxy cube, because that is casual play. But at the point where proxies start to become indistinguishable to the cards they're ostensibly copying, we have a problem, because the structure of the entire competitive aspect will be gone, and the competitive aspect is why I play the game.

[Thestatusquo]

Wizards doesn't make any money off of the secondary market, though it is the secondary market that drives sealed product sales. They don't make any money directly off of PTQs either.

I do agree they should put more money into organized play, thats a completely separate issue. And I feel its more HASBRO than wizards.

[Thestatusquo]

On a related note, here is what $2500 worth of cardboard looks like

[Thestatusquo]

Not mine. Haha.

[Thestatusquo]

Ben Stark is just about the most boring person I've ever heard on commentary.

[Thestatusquo]

I agree that his limited skills are valuable, but if you're going to put him on the team you need the other team member to be a very charismatic person. Matt Sperling just isn't...

Leading to just a horrifically boring booth. If it were something like LSV, Caleb Durward and Ben S, maybe that would be sweet.

[Thestatusquo]

Most of the time that LSV and Ben S are in the same place LSV is generally trolling the crap out of Ben S, and its pretty great.

[Thestatusquo]

they posted the last one online.

[Thestatusquo]

I think it will be an expansion set in the theros block.

[Thestatusquo]

That's a bold prediction, sudo. Have they spoiled every color yet?

[Thestatusquo]

4 Jace 4 Kiora seems just completely wrong.

I suspect the numbers should be more like 4-1 or 4-0

[Thestatusquo]

So lets talk about formats that don't suck hairy donkey dick, mmk?

Who's going to Richmond?

I'll be there. I was planning on having way more decks built but I have cards to lend if people need to borrow stuff to finish a deck.

[Thestatusquo]

Vintage IS a great format. Anyone who says it isnt probably hasn't actually played it.

But you're probably trying to troll right now.

[Thestatusquo]

Modern is probably better than vintage but not worse than legacy. If they just reprinted force of will and brainstorm they could remove everything on the modern ban list right now and the format would be awesome.

[Thestatusquo]

Modern is probably better than vintage but not worse than legacy. If they just reprinted force of will and brainstorm they could remove everything on the modern ban list right now and the format would be awesome.

Have the format star at masques block (actually this would be sweet if they did), do roughly the same thing

Brainstorm is busted as fuck, they won't let it plus ten fetches exist in a ptq format

Legacy is much better than modern

I think that was clearly a typo. I was trying to say I like legacy better than modern better than cube better than vintage better than limited (though not this current limited) better than standard better than block.

[Thestatusquo]

m14 is the best format they've had in a long time (m13 was fine, but not particularly interesting)

It was nice to have a format where the spells were finally better than the creatures again.

[Thestatusquo]

I almost literally never lost at it. I racked up like 200 rating points on m14 8-4s

[Thestatusquo]

Anyone going to GP Chicago?

I'd love to meet up with anyone in the area, and I'm hosting a beer/pizza/testing shindig at my place on friday night.

Also, if anyone is going and still looking for accomodations I can offer a free floor to crash on.

I'm playing UW. I think we're going to see a serious overreaction to the SCG open last weekend, which will bring in many mono red decks which are a good matchup anyway, in addition to the other decks packing tons of cards meant to fight that matchup (anger of the gods, for instance) which are completely dead against UW. I think it's pretty well positioned. I kinda want to play 2 detention sphere and 4 syncopate, but that just can't be right. Still ironing out last few MD choices and some sb stuff.

[Thestatusquo]

Is divination a first pick?

The answer to this question will mainly be what I used to determine how much I play this format.

[Thestatusquo]

Divination was probably the best common in m14.

Definitely in the top 5-10. If you weren't first picking divination some significant amount of the time then you were probably playing the format incorrectly.

Here is the list of cards I would definitely take over divination. Everything else is at least close.

archangel
devout invocation
serra angel
air servant
claustrophobia
colossal whale
essence scatter (maybe)
Jace
opportunity
Doom Blade
Quag sickness (maybe)
Sengir Vampire
Shadowborn demon
Scourge of Valkas
Shivan Dragon
Briarpack alpha
Garruk
Kalonian Hydra
P Bounty
Trading post

[Thestatusquo]

Also, I always drew in m14 draft.

Goblin shortcutter and child of night were basically unplayable in that format. Yet people kept playing them against me.

Then again, I had roughly a 80% win rate in 8-4s, and I'll bet the people playing those cards were significantly lower.

[Thestatusquo]

Probably going to SCG KC if anyone else is planning on going.

Gunna try to get a drink with Flay at some point too.

[Thestatusquo]

Draft in particular is a great way to get more into magic as soon as you have the basic rules down. I'd recommend the podcast limited resources, along with watching pros like Louis Scott Vargas draft on channelfireball.com.

Draft is great because its a level playing field. Everyone drafts a deck from scratch from booster packs, so you don't have to spend a lot of money on singles to be competitive. Its a good way to build your collection at the same time as learning to play,

[Thestatusquo]

Like I said, draft as well as well as this pod cast:

http://lrcast.com/

and

the videos on www.channelfireball.com are great resources.

Also, there's a game called duels of the planeswalkers which might be a good place to hone your game a little bit
http://store.steampowered.com/app/213850/

[Thestatusquo]

Flavor seems pretty blatantly "We need the excuse to reprint pretty much anything we want for modern in this set" slanted.

[Thestatusquo]

What did you sell them for? I probably would have beaten it.

[Thestatusquo]

All these filthy filthy casual players...

[Thestatusquo]

I'd probably play with you in Detroit. Of the ones you listed Detroit, Indy and Cleveland are all on my list.

[Thestatusquo]

Also, mono black isnt a deck without thoughtseize imo.

[Thestatusquo]

BV is right, chamber. We should really ask TBM.

[Thestatusquo]

A magic player complaining about something utterly meaningless and not nearly as bad as they think it is? Shocker. That never happens.

In other news, playing a PTQ in madison this weekend. Taking UR twin with MD blood moon and vedalken shackles. If you're in the area, stop into misty mountain games and say hello. If you need to borrow a deck, let me know, I can probably hook you up.

[Thestatusquo]

Its fine. It's just jarring because its not what we're used to. The other one was roughly the same level of functionality.

[Thestatusquo]

Comparing the site functionality of a site you are very familiar with to the site functionality of a site you have no familiarity with whatsoever is doomed to be completely biased.

[Thestatusquo]

Yeah. Aussieland pretty much only ever gets melbourne and sydney.

[Thestatusquo]

I have a place to stay lined up, but I would like to meet you for sure.

[Thestatusquo]

Unfortunately I have to hang out with my friend who I'm staying with Saturday night. Uhm. I don't know how/when I'm going to be able to fit everything I want to do in.

[Thestatusquo]

She.

And then there's the matter of the other 3 people in my car. haha.

[Thestatusquo]

Did you have spellskite? Spellskite is pretty dope against burn.

And actually has applications against the rest of the field.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm playing burn at the PTQ in a few weeks.

Zero fucks given.

[Thestatusquo]

I mean... Congrats on getting a 40$ card for 2$? (not to mention other stuff.)

I'm going to Indy for the PTQ and WMCQ next weekend, if anyone will be in town let me know.

[Thestatusquo]

If you cut red you lose some of your best sb cards like anger of the gods, keranos and counterflux and combust.

[Thestatusquo]

Here's the list for tomorrow in Wisconsin.

#YOLOSWAG

4 Goblin Guide
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Hellspark Elemental
Spells (29)
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lava Spike
4 Bump in the Night
4 Searing Blaze
4 Skullcrack
4 Rift Bolt
4 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 thunderous wrath
Land (19)
4 Blood Crypt
4 Arid Mesa
11 Mountain
Sideboard (15)
2 Relic of Progenitus
4 Smash to Smithereens
3 Satyr Firedancer
2 Shrine of Burning Rage
2 Dismember
2 Hammer of Purphoros

[Thestatusquo]

Because its not necessary, and I'm letting my buddy borrow my tarns for twin, where it decidedly IS necessary.

[Thestatusquo]

not having the full set of 8 fetches to work with was pretty limiting.

[Thestatusquo]

ended up being able to find them, also splashed green for revelry.

Ended up 6-2. I sideboarded very poorly in a matchup against kikipod and I also lost to maindeck sword of light and shadow against GB rock.

I think I played pretty well. PTQ was pretty soft, as far as midwest PTQs go. I should have top 8d that one, I think. I'm a little upset I didn't.

I'd play the deck again, though. It performed quite well. Modern season is over now, though. Time for grind some m15 sealed.

[Thestatusquo]

Shanba too stronk.

[Thestatusquo]

Red was basically unplayable in the last core set.

Just sayin'

[Thestatusquo]

Its not that they're getting too complicated. It's that there's a cross purpose there. Core sets have an identity crisis. If they're too basic and geared towards new players they're boring and no one likes them outside of new players. If they're interesting with any complexity at all, they're not good for new players. They haven't really been able to resolve the issue.

[Thestatusquo]

Yes. Just smaller, shittier card pool blocks.

Though block is mostly irrelevant now anyway, since it is no longer a pro tour.

[Thestatusquo]

So, my buddy took down the WMCQ this weekend, so if you're watching the world magic cup later make sure to root for Andrew Baeckstrom. Good guy. Well deserved. He went 14-0-3 in the swiss on the weekend to top 8 both the PTQ and the WMCQ. Hell of a run.

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Guess I shoulda sold my playset of Deltas a couple of months ago.

Nah. Just use this time to pick up 50 more at 10$ each and they will again be 60$+ in two years.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm actually getting fairly excited for this set.

[Thestatusquo]

Anything that means standard actually changes.

[Thestatusquo]

What? Mono Black devotion lost like 70% of the deck...

4 Desecration Demon GONE
4 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Nightveil Specter GONE
4 Pack Rat GONE
Lands (25)


4 Mutavault GONE
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Spells (19)

4 Underworld Connections GONE
2 Bile Blight
4 Devour Flesh GONE
4 Hero's Downfall
1 Whip of Erebos
4 Thoughtseize
Sideboard

4 Lifebane Zombie GONE
1 Bile Blight
3 Doom Blade GONE
1 Ultimate Price GONE
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Liliana Vess
1 Drown in Sorrow

The deck retains 20 cards from its 75. 20.

Mono black devotion is not a deck anymore. There might be mono black decks, but they will not be this one.

There will not be an esper control deck without a four mana wrath. I spent a significant part of last standard playing UW control. Those decks CANNOT win without a 4 mana wrath of god. They just will never beat the aggressive decks. There is no pay off. You can't convert your card advantage into a favorable board position later if there is no later.

Furthermore, they also lose sphinx's rev. The two main reasons to play that kind of deck are gone. Elspeth is just as good (if not better) in a midrange shell than it is in a blue control sell. There is no reason to play esper control.

Courser of Kruphix is going to be the best card in standard, and its not even going to be particularly close. If you're not playing courser in the upcoming format then you're doing it wrong.

[Thestatusquo]

My favorite card thus far is the enchantment that taps a creature every time you play a spell. But I also don't really think it will work.

[Thestatusquo]

I'm thinking about waiting until I actually know what cards are in the set before I decide what deck to build.

Novel concept, I know.

[Thestatusquo]

You sound boring, Shanba. You.

[Thestatusquo]

I don't think its possible to play the type of magic that made fires good anymore, unfortunately. Like, I think if they printed all the cards that were in that deck right now in a special standard legal set, it wouldn't be good.

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Theros was the actual balls.

[Thestatusquo]

No, theros limited was also the actual balls.

[Thestatusquo]

I don't disagree with GI on this one. Morph is a really annoying limited mechanic.

[Thestatusquo]

Anyone watching the community cup? I'm really looking forward to the draft restrictions cube.

http://www.twitch.tv/magic

Day9 vs. helene right now.

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Day9s draft stipulation was "you must take the card that most sounds like an arcade game name."

lols were hard. He had to convince BDM that his choice was legitimate by explaining how it was a game name.

[Thestatusquo]

Well, like 17 of those slots have the word "swamp" et al.

But yeah. 40 words for 23 slots would be a bit much.

[Thestatusquo]

nope. your collection of cards may not use more than 60 total words in their names. So words like The only count as 1 regardless of how many cards they're in. Basic lands only count as one, etc.

[Thestatusquo]

Chamber have you ever drafted your cube this way? Seems like it could be sweet

[Thestatusquo]

Brainstorm draft?

[Thestatusquo]

That sounds...interesting in theory but confusing as hell in practice.

[Thestatusquo]

Posted in another thread but I thought I'd add it here. My buddy is streaming tonight to raise money for cancer research with special guest Conley Woods.

http://www.twitch.tv/MTGvsCancer

Stop in. Give him some love. Donate if you can afford to.

[Thestatusquo]

Bump. Goes live in about an hour.

[Thestatusquo]

You definitely get a chance to the trigger, since that DOES go on the stack. I'm not sure about the other part. Reached out to a judge on twitter for help.

[Thestatusquo]

@SheaStrausman long story short, he's right...ish. You can only morph when you have priority

[Thestatusquo]

Yep.

When an activity is activated it goes on the stack. Even if you destroy the source of the ability that ability will still resolve and use what is known as last known information. A related rule that some people have some trouble grasping is spells that target must have legal targets at resolution. So if you cast a spell that says something like "deal 1 damage to target creature, you draw a card." if that creature is killed in response the spell will not resolve and you will not draw a card.

[Thestatusquo]

Yeah, function of how I wrote it. Chamber is correct.

Things like electrolyze cannot be countered by removing one of the targets. However, I have won games before because I remanded my own spell and they drew off of their cryptic command.

[Thestatusquo]

Basically in a tournament setting you should be super super super careful when resolving any effect that leads to you drawing a card. Drawing extra cards is 100% the most common reason for game loss penalties (aside from deck reg errors)

[Thestatusquo]

Just switch to running fnms

[Thestatusquo]

I'll just wait until the pro tour and then pick up a deck. Brewing is for suckers.

[Thestatusquo]

You are what has ruined magic.

I like draw go and spending 5 turns trying to craft a game state where your opponent is forced to discard during clean up so you can slowly get value.

Or combo killing people on turn 2. Sweet llanawar elf, bro. Kill you.

Or intricate combinations of the two. Cryptic command your shit. Untap. Kill you.

each player playing dumb creatures and mashing them together is just boring magic. They say its interactive. But tic tac toe is pretty interactive. And boring.

Anyone doing midnight prereleases tonight? I'm going to the Dice Dojo in Chicago and a good time will be had until I fall asleep at my table.

[Thestatusquo]

Did you know that the phrase don't mess with texas comes from an antilittering campaign?

[Thestatusquo]

Ok, I like you again. Glad you're not srs.

DICE DOJO is my favorite. I'm going to their midnight one tonight if you actually want to like interact with the internet in real life. Good mix between super competitive types and your typically FNM crowd. Great board games store as well. Has over 2000 board games that you can play there for free. Wednesday is board game night.

Pastimes is the biggest, but its in the suburbs and I never go there because I feel like they treat players like shit. Mostly grinder type players. Also, more likely to be assholes.

MTG Card Market is run by a buddy of mine and hes a good dude. Store is more high end stuff (If you want a playset of foil gaea's cradle RIGHT NOW Jameson is the dude to go to.) Play is more competitive.

Wanderers Refuge across the street from me. More of a games store, but runs magic events. Caters to a more casual crowd. Store prides itself on being very progressive and welcoming to new players as well as various underrepresented groups in society. I love the owners of this store with all my heart but almost never play magic there even though its right across the street because beating casuals isn't fun to me.

[Thestatusquo]

Not a fan of Jeskai Ascendency? It seems like a combo enabler to me. Now, granted, to take full advantage of it, you need creatures, but it can let you draw your entire deck.

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE.

[Thestatusquo]

Dojo is probably the place for you. Which suburbs? I work in downers grove and if you're nearish to there I would be willing to give rides.

[Thestatusquo]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwww

[Thestatusquo]

That's not a suburb. That's just Wisconsin.

[Thestatusquo]

This format sucks.

Its just like yo lets play 5 toughness dudes and then stare at each other until one of us decks.

[Thestatusquo]

The draft too or just the sealed?

I haven't drafted it yet.

[Thestatusquo]

How good are aggro decks actually? I assumed the base deck having 4 caryatids and 4 coursers would push aggro into fairly unplayable.

They're pretty bad if you're not named Tom Ross.

[Thestatusquo]

I'll do anything to listen to Loucks. Loucks is awesome. He was the main reason I listened to that show. I completely stopped after B Wong came on, basically.

[Thestatusquo]

Loucks is the best. Ryan was better than Brian. Marshall is worse than all three of them.

[Thestatusquo]

Marshall is kind of arrogant.

[Thestatusquo]

And not in an endearing way like John.

[Thestatusquo]

The more I've seen of Marshall, the more I've disliked him. He just sounds like a douche(and I've had it corroborated through stories that he kinda is).

In my dozen or so interactions with the guy (so small sample size here) he's come across as kind of disinterested in those around him who were not "name" players but not necessarily in a mean way?

[Thestatusquo]

So Melira Pod is really fun to play. Finally managed to grind/sell enough to get the whole thing on MTGO (Windswept Heaths over Misty Rainforests, though I need to wait for Khans to actually make that work). I've so far played 5 games on MTGO with it tonight. Played one against WUR Geist, and 4 against 8Rack, which is apparently a big thing now? I'm 4-1 currently. Dropped one to 8Rack because I'm new and missed a line of play that would have let me combo out.

Yeah, the MTGO modern metagame has a disproportionate number of the "cheap" modern decks. Expect to see a lot of the following on MODO that you wouldn't necessarily see a lot of at a rl modern tournament (though some of these are also in RL because they're good in addition to being cheap)

Robots
Tron
Blue Tron
Merfork
8Rack
Burn
storm variants

Jund and junkesque decks with tarmogoyf are much more uncommon online than irl. Build your sideboard accordingly.

[Thestatusquo]

Tron is HUGE online, especially the blue version. It makes up roughly 0.1% of the RL metagame and makes up like 10% of the online meta.

[Thestatusquo]

I listened to the first episode of CR. Was fine. Probably would continue listening.

[Thestatusquo]

Watching SCG pretty intently today.

[Thestatusquo]

I don't think the mana is good enough for 3 color aggro without the shocklands. I could be wrong, though.

I think 3 color is going to mainly be a midrange control thing.

[Thestatusquo]

The main issue is that all the good mana fixing is tap lands, which are just so miserable in aggro decks. I played a bit of naya and you really couldn't run more than 2 colors of 1 drops easily. The turn 1 untapped mana fixing just got worse.

I could be wrong. Its a new format. Everything is worth testing.

[Thestatusquo]

6 CIPT lands in a deck that wants to play 1 and 2 drops on curve seems pretty fricken miserably bad.

[Thestatusquo]

Thats because 13 games is a ridiculously small sample size. Play 130 games and then tell me what percentage of games your production was hindered.

[Thestatusquo]

If you didn't think the 13 games were relevant why did you mention them? You said it feels like you get there a lot which implies you think that 13 games has a meaning at all outside of randomness. They don't.

[Thestatusquo]

https://twitter.com/FrankLepore/status/ ... 88/photo/1

[Thestatusquo]

Excuse me

[Thestatusquo]

HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHA ugh DEEP BREATH AHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHA

[Thestatusquo]

All bad things happening to BertonCheaty are good things. \o/

[Thestatusquo]

I see SCGs naming standards have gotten even worse.

"Abzan Junk."

Uhhh, guys.

[Thestatusquo]

Sure there were. Just no one used them because they were fucking stupid. Just like these ones.

[Thestatusquo]

Most magic players don't remember a time when lifelink WAS a trigger.


Pie, I think you mean Dega, ceta, ana, necra and raka

[Thestatusquo]

I was also more remarking on the fact that the deck name is similar to people saying they are going to go to the ATM Machine.

[Thestatusquo]

I just get annoyed when people say Temur and whatever the bug one is. We don't need new terminology for RUG or BUG. RUG and BUG are already great.

[Thestatusquo]

Chamber - Marshall (LR) was interviewed by the LRR guys a few months back, and he mentioned that when he's casted for Wizards, they want him to not use slang, mention things that may not be obvious to newer players, ask easy questions to co-casters even if the answer is obvious etc. I'd link it but I'm at work on mobile

I know SCG isnt Wizards but still.

Pedit - yeah I vaguely remember the others, I just prefer slang and Dega didn't have a good one (except Borzhov but ew)

I think that Chamber's point is that its been so long since lifelink used the stack as a trigger that most newer players don't even know that it ever didn't work that way.

Its more confusing to mention it then it is to not mention it. If they're going to try to explain what lifelink is, then explain what lifelink is. Don't reference an obscure older rules that only old fucks like me and chamber even remember.

Also, I think SCG specifically tries to cater to a much more competitive kind of viewer than wizards does. Wizards is uber concerned with new players since getting new people playing magic is their business model. SCG's business model is getting those players that have already been playing for a while and making them into tournament players who buy singles and consume content. They aren't as beholden to coddling newer players as much.

[Thestatusquo]

Team America being bug colors is a legacy reference.

http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Team_America

[Thestatusquo]

13/16 of the top 8 decks had green and 12/16 ran 4x Caryatid/Courser. I know it's early in the format, but...come on.

And literally no one in the entire world was surprised.

[Thestatusquo]

NAT WHY ARE YOU NO LONGER COMING TO CHICAGO I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO PLAYING MAGIC WITH YOU

[Thestatusquo]

That's a classy skype name.

[Thestatusquo]

Its like this: I need a really compelling reason to not be playing green for courser and caryatid right now. And I'm not really seeing one.

And this makes shea a sad panda.

[Thestatusquo]

Lol shanba, you randomly picked my buddies decklist (the storm combo one) I've talked about him before in this thread. The guy who won the wmcq.

[Thestatusquo]

2 Breeding Pool
4 Mana Confluence
2 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills

2 Arbor Elf
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Dryad Arbor

3 Jeskai Ascendancy
3 Cerulean Wisps
3 Manamorphose
1 Noxious Revival
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Glittering Wish
1 Grapeshot
4 Serum Visions
4 Sleight of Hand
3 Treasure Cruise


This deck is sweet.

[Thestatusquo]

I typically force mono red in the 8-4s and win them pretty easily to freeroll both new 8-4s and phantom packs, but they've made mono red basically unplayable in this recent cube iteration.

[Thestatusquo]

It also just seems like they've taken out all the one drops.

[Thestatusquo]

The nice thing is besides the hierarchs and lands this deck is pretty cheap, and the hierarchs and lands are applicable to other decks in the format, so its not like you have a lot of things to be wary of purchasing because of a potential ban hammer. Glittering wish is still around like 10, right?

[Thestatusquo]

Also, isn't JUL the one who wants to ban Bob and goyf?

[Thestatusquo]

Probably from this deck haha.

[Thestatusquo]

Nati, did you watch Caleb Durwards banned series? It was pretty informative stuff.

[Thestatusquo]

Hypergenesis is broooooken. I've never played with or against that card so it was in my blind spot. Watching those videos it didn't seem like that deck was capable of losing.

[Thestatusquo]

Oh I know. I was just talking about something else only tangentially related to the original discussion

[Thestatusquo]

Alternatively, I sell off everything I have a buy into Modern.

If you have shocklands that also goes a long way to buying into modern. Once you have the shocks and fetches you need everything that doesnt have goyf is buildable for a few hundred bucks.

[Thestatusquo]

Wait.

Rabblemaster is 12 NOW?

[Thestatusquo]

I have like 14 of them....

uhhh. Good use of 20 bucks I guess. Excuse me whilst I go dump them all RIGHT NOW.

[Thestatusquo]

Aww, Brian Wong's stepping down as cohost of LR. Planning to come on once per set-ish.

Hoping Jon Loucks comes back?

I doubt Jon Loucks has the time to prep thoroughly for two podcasts, since he does have a full time job. I expect some guest co-hosts for a couple weeks, especially with the PT right around the corner.

SHUT UP COW A MAN CAN DREAM.

[Thestatusquo]

Nah.

Also, Rich Hagon made a little bit of a boo-boo wrt my friend Andrew,


The problem? Andrew shockingly failed to qualify for this protour. Whoopsies.

[Thestatusquo]

Sounds about right.

[Thestatusquo]

#kibblergate

[Thestatusquo]

You could always just use the cock.