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Post #6000 (isolation #601) » Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:21 pm
Postby bv310 »
I'm not sure what you mean by "enfranchised players" here. I've been playing for 6 years, and I regularly consume a ton of MTG content. I don't feel disenfranchised at all. Khans block actually has me caring about the game a lot more than I have in the past few years, both from a story and gameplay perspective. I feel like that article was just pointing out something that I always thought was incredibly obvious (Rosewater is selling a product, MTG is trying to sell packs which causes them to play it safe, etc.)
From my perspective, what others experience disenfranchisement with is the fact that the game has fundamentally shifted in gameplay mechanics, and is not the same game it was fifteen years ago. From where I came into the game, this is a good thing, because I learned the game as it is now.
In post 6004, Klazam wrote:I actually think that the fact it isn't the exact same game it was as 2002 (when i started) is a good thing.
ideas, archetypes, paradigms evolved, making the game feel organic.
Yes, they are playing it safe. (wait, are they?)
Treasure Cruise, Thragtusk, Delver of Secrets, Jeskai ascendancy, Mental misstep, Jace the Wallet Sculptor, Walletslayer Angel, Titan cycle (all post Lorwyn, most post ISD) are example of newer really strong cards. Psychatog, Astral Slide, are examples of older strong cards. What I'm getting at is that the game at its core is still the same, with its silly strong cards, and standardized archetypes.
If you're experiencing "disenfranchisement" from this- just find a new hobby, you're burnt out on M:tG. This is a natural thing for a game that has been around since 1993, not everyone can play for that long without feeling bored.
That's not what I'm talking about at all. Anyone can make a Good card. Like, fuck, I have been designing my own set in my own time and it's easy to make good cards. It's about execution of a theme. There are a thousand ways they could have executed Return to Ravnica in such a way that it was great--I mean, the second set was named 'Gatecrash'. That's a great evolution of original Ravnica's theme!
We got a maze and the status quo. Because the status quo sells. It's cynical.
That's fair, actually. I'm fairly disappointed at the execution of DTK overall. I really, really liked Sarkhan as a character, since I like redemption stories. Narset had a cool story too, same with the Anafenza story from today. Each individual Uncharted Realms has been a fairly well-written piece of writing for Magic (except Doug Beyer's one last week. That one just sucked butts). Overall though, it feels just like they're shoehorning this set because dragons. I'm really interested in how the new rotation structure will work with the stories, since it seems like they're building up to an actual overarching story with the Eldrazi and/or Phyrexia and/or Nicol Bolas (who now has an actual counterpart, power-wise, in Ugin)
From a gameplay perspective, I'm fairly excited to see how Standard shapes up once Theros rotates out. I really like some of the themes to Khans block, and seeing them play out more will be nice once the dead weight of Theros leaves.
I'm a fairly large fan of Khans, especially because it comes after the incredibly dull Theros draft block. Drafting Khans is FUN, just like Innistrad was. (I'm also in a small minority of people who really liked AVR draft, but I'm aware that it's not popular for very very good reasons).
The sooner October comes around and Theros rotates out, the better. I've been sick of Theros' cards since around the launch of KTK, and I don't expect that to change.
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Post #6054 (isolation #610) » Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:56 pm
Postby bv310 »
I'm not disagreeing, but it's a third set. I can't think of a third set that's ever done something actually cool to the meta, especially not at the PT so soon after launch. Game Day hasn't even happened yet.
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Post #6056 (isolation #611) » Thu Apr 16, 2015 11:47 am
Postby bv310 »
So I think I'm cashing out my MTGO account (except Modern Affinity) and buying a set of Mox Opals and a PS4. It scares me slightly that I own that much money in digital Magic cards.
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Post #6059 (isolation #612) » Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:42 pm
Postby bv310 »
I'll put the whole file up and let you pick through. Highlights include most of Modern Burn, all of Standard Atarka Sligh, all of Standard WU Heroic, and Modern Living End (wihtout Fulminators)
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Post #6060 (isolation #613) » Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:45 pm
Postby bv310 »
[SNIPPED] is the whole thing. I'll cut any of you guys a good deal. This is mostly just me seeing a giant pile of cards I don't play with and wanting to use them for something useful.
EDIT: That link didn't work. Looking for other stuff.
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Post #6073 (isolation #615) » Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:52 am
Postby bv310 »
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing is the Google Doc of the entire collection. It's kind of hard to maneuver without downloading it and loading it into MTGO. I might have time to go through today and mark off the full decks I have available with prices.
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Post #6110 (isolation #619) » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:46 am
Postby bv310 »
I'm sporting Temur Dragons right now. Basically RG Ramp, running blue for Kiora, Sarkhan Unbroken, and 2 Icefall Regents. Sarkhan/Kiora have been outstanding against most of the decks I've come up against, but Icefall is just awful in a ton of matches. I'm thinking I want to cut the Icefalls for Stormbreaths in the maindeck, and move them to the side.
In post 6110, bv310 wrote:I'm sporting Temur Dragons right now. Basically RG Ramp, running blue for Kiora, Sarkhan Unbroken, and 2 Icefall Regents. Sarkhan/Kiora have been outstanding against most of the decks I've come up against, but Icefall is just awful in a ton of matches. I'm thinking I want to cut the Icefalls for Stormbreaths in the maindeck, and move them to the side.
Why are the Regents bad? What are they doing/not doing that you expected them to? or is it something else?
Honestly, they're just not being good. Locking down one creature isn't that great in the matchups I struggle with, and I don't need the extra support in the good matchups.
Roll call. Who else is going? If we have enough it would be cool to have a MS dinner/drinks one of the days. I'll be there Thursday night til monday morning (maybe later on monday. I haven't booked my flights yet.)
I wish I could be there. MM2015 looks awesome, and I really want to get to a 2015 GP for the Griselbrand promo for my Reanimator deck. Good luck!
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Post #6167 (isolation #623) » Wed May 06, 2015 12:46 pm
Postby bv310 »
I've been finding a fair amount of success in GB recently. The B Exploit cards are all solid, you get access to Flatten/Reach of Shadows, and G has some solid beaters (and Foe-Razer Regent, who is utterly bonkers). If I get the choice, it's RG all day every day, but Shea's right that it gets overdrafted right now.
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Post #6176 (isolation #624) » Fri May 08, 2015 11:34 am
Postby bv310 »
It looks exactly like Modern Masters 1 for me. A fun draft format with a handful of $50 bills thrown in for funsies. I like the archetypes they have available, and the rarity changes are neat.
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Post #6191 (isolation #625) » Mon May 11, 2015 12:39 pm
Postby bv310 »
Hey Shea/others who play Legacy, I have $700 in store credit to CapeFear, and have been PucaTrade'ing my way into a mono-B Reanimator for Legacy. If I want to upgrade the deck to something more powerful, would I be better off going TinFins or regular Reanimator? For either of those, am I better off buying the lands or the Force of Wills first?
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Post #6198 (isolation #626) » Tue May 12, 2015 9:08 am
Postby bv310 »
My thing is more trying to get a deck that I'll really enjoy. I'm still living in the middle of nowhere, and likely continuing on with said middle-of-nowehereness for the next year. I'd like to have a functional Legacy deck just so I can play in whatever format tourneys happen to be going on. I'm thinking the Forces and Fetches plan (along with the Opals I need for Modern) are going to be my purchase to put together Reanimator with the stuff I already have.
Only downside for me is that they only have 2 English and 1 Spanish Force, and no Entombs, which I need either way. Gonna hit up ebay for that and pick up a 4th Daze to fill in for the 4th Force until I do.
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Post #6207 (isolation #627) » Tue May 12, 2015 11:38 am
Postby bv310 »
Yeah, it's annoying, but I'll try and find someone to trade for either 1 English or 2 Spanish. Get the matching set at least.
That said, they actually had 4 Entomb when I went to check out, so it's all on the way. 8 Fetches, 4 Watery Grave, 4 Entomb, 3 Force of Will, and everything else on my list and it cost me personally about $50, the rest was on credit from cashing out a large portion of my MTGO account
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Post #6217 (isolation #631) » Wed May 13, 2015 5:50 am
Postby bv310 »
In case anyone's curious, this is what my Reanimator deck is going to look like:
2 Griselbrand
1 Inkwell Leviathan
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Grave Titan
3 Force of Will
4 Daze
4 Careful Study
4 Entomb
4 Reanimate
2 Animate Dead
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Lotus Petal
3 Exhume
3 Thoughtseize
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
3 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Swamp
1 Empyrial Archangel
SB: 1 Ashen Rider
SB: 3 Abrupt Decay
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 2 Massacre
SB: 2 Spell Pierce
SB: 1 Thoughtseize
SB: 2 Echoing Truth
SB: 1 Sire of Insanity
I want to switch out Flooded Strands for Misty Rainforest/Verdant Catacombs when they get reprinted, but other than that I'd be comfortable taking this list to a GP/SCG IQ. I'm also wondering if Breeding Pool would be better than Overgrown Tomb for the same reason. It's fetchable Green for Abrupt Decay off of all 8 of my fetchlands, is Blue for Brainstorm/Careful Study, and is a bit more affordable to me than a Tropical Island would be.
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Post #6219 (isolation #632) » Wed May 13, 2015 12:47 pm
Postby bv310 »
I'm hoping to hedge my bets against other decks with the maindeck Iona/Empyrial for Burn and Inkwell against anything Blue. I'm worried about my Burn matchup with the Shocklands over Fetches, and I think being able to maindeck against the most popular cheap deck is worth having 1 less Griselbrand. The 3rd one being Grave Titan is just me loving Titan. It should probably be a third Griselbrand or a Tidespout Tyrant.
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Post #6221 (isolation #633) » Wed May 13, 2015 5:26 pm
Postby bv310 »
I like Grave Titan against Liliana of the Veil/Karakas though, which is a big part of why I wanted it in the first place. I suppose it's probably better SB material for that matchup instead of MB. I did a bit of Cockatrice testing and I found that +1 Ashen Rider MB, +1 Tidespout, -1 Grave Titan (to SB), -1 Empyrial Archangel was pretty good. Still want to find a spot for Empyrial in the 75, possibly instead of Sire of Insanity. I'm a big fan of a 5/8 Flying Shroud creature that basically shuts down Burn
I have to admit, a big appeal for me is the fact that the deck can reasonably run any big game-breaking fatty as long as it has a useful ability. Ashen Rider is a great example of a card that wouldn't see play anywhere else, but is a fantastic Reanimator target (especially against Show and Tell)
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Post #6227 (isolation #634) » Thu May 14, 2015 5:27 am
Postby bv310 »
The only reason I could afford this in the first place was because I had a bunch of store credit to cash in. Show and Tell isn't exactly in my actual budget, but it's on my buy-eventually list
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Post #6235 (isolation #637) » Fri May 15, 2015 6:38 am
Postby bv310 »
I would consider 2 Mardu Charm maindeck over 2 Crackling Doom (which should end up SB then), since it has a bit more utility against most of the field, but 4 Crackling might be better depending on the meta.
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Post #6242 (isolation #639) » Fri May 15, 2015 3:43 pm
Postby bv310 »
I feel that it punishes new players, and makes FNM Drafting less appealing. If I'm a new player at my first FNM and I crack a foil Ugin, and then lose it because I'm not good at drafting, I'm not going to come back. I'm a pretty experienced drafter at this point, and I still wouldn't be comfortable drafting with a rare redraft because I don't always win. It just feels unnecessarily punishing, and I don't think it "encourages players to draft better", which is the usual argument I hear for it.
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Post #6253 (isolation #640) » Sat May 16, 2015 5:41 am
Postby bv310 »
In post 6244, Thestatusquo wrote:Unless its like a 9$ draft. My store does 9$ drafts on a weekday with redrafts.
Also, Modern Masters drafts will be redrafts a large amount of the time because of the cost.
Yeah, doing redraft for a weekday draft or a casual thing with 7 of your friends is way better.
Esp, I think your Store Owner is just a cheap-ass if he's not providing prize support at FNM. Even when my old LGS was on the verge of bankruptcy, he still provded 1.5 packs per head to the Prize Pool.
In post 6264, Thestatusquo wrote:KoC, just saying "the person who does better in the tournament gets better prizes" with more pejoratives doesn't actually make it a bad thing?
Context is a wonderful thing, especially when you consider the context of "$18 drafts with no other prize support"
I mean, if you want to argue that that's how we want to introduce new players to the joys of FNM, that's cool
you're an idiot.
I actually agree with KoC here, which might be the first time I've ever said that. Redrafts are not an acceptable prize structure for FNMs, and I'd rather go home and play MTGO than play a redraft-only FNM. As a casual 8-man draft, rare redrafts are great, but not at an event that's supposed to make more people want to come back and support a store. Losing your Ugin because you're not very good at drafting is the kind of thing that makes people quit and never come back.
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Post #6283 (isolation #646) » Mon May 18, 2015 8:07 am
Postby bv310 »
My old LGS was $20 CAD, which got three packs to draft plus one per person as prize support, and 2 random promos per 8-man pod. Usually we did 4-2-2-2, with 2nd place and one of the bottom half getting promos. It wasn't incredible, but everyone was happy with it. When they did FNM drafts, it was $25, 2 packs per head, and usually a promo if you didn't win anything.
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Post #6300 (isolation #650) » Thu May 28, 2015 5:03 pm
Postby bv310 »
Meh, an 8-man draft is not really a trophy-worthy event. It's something you do on an afternoon because you're bored and felt like playing Magic. Splitting the prizes of an 8-4 means each of you comes out with a profit, and you can play the finals out for the MOCS QP. I prefer splitting when it's a value set because I can sell my packs for more drafts, and splitting sometimes pays for TWO drafts instead of one.
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Post #6313 (isolation #652) » Mon Jun 01, 2015 1:56 pm
Postby bv310 »
In post 6310, Thestatusquo wrote:Missed D2 with a record of X-2-1. Guy chose to take the draw even though I had him dead on board next turn, had a banefire in hand and a draw knocked us both out.
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Post #6317 (isolation #653) » Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:56 am
Postby bv310 »
Watching Amulet Bloom on the SCG Invitational has me wanting to buy that deck again, but I just can't do it. I'm still convinced that Amulet is going to get banned in the very near future.
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Post #6402 (isolation #657) » Mon Sep 07, 2015 4:19 pm
Postby bv310 »
In post 6401, Natirasha wrote:Kiora is like a 12/10 planeswalker design and I can't wait to play Sultai midrange with Kiora all season.
Still kinda mad she isn't Sultai colored though
Same, but in RUG rather than Sultai. I feel a burning desire to run her alongside Sarkhan Unbroken and Savage Knuckleblade. I really love both of those cards, and Kiora feels like she'll play perfectly with them.