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Magic: The Gathering |OT|
- Thread starter The Technomancer
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We do this quite often, probably doing it this friday. It works fine as long as you have a limited amount of people playing. I very much enjoyed drafting with DA, the limited burn and kill spells make most of the play more aggressive and creature based, which is my favorite way to play.
Not sure what you mean there there is a lot of removal in DA.
Not really.
Black has two kill spells, one of which costs too much.
Red has two somewhat weak burn spells, and an expensive one that only damages humans for 1.
Everything else removal related needs creatures (either being a creature ability or by giving a creature deathtouch or making them fight).
Well in limited removal isn't just direct kill spells. Cards like Briarpack Alpha can easily get you a 2 for 1, and Forge Devil is great removal for the cost. Just because they are on creatures doesn't mean they aren't anti creature spells themselves.
Red especially is packed with removal based around the fight and similar mechanics. At the release event we did a 3 DA draft and I played a deck with 4 Wrack with Madness, Blood Feud, Fires of Undeath, Tragic Slip, Skirsdag Flayer and Death's Caress (which doesn't cost too much for limited at all). The only thing he was missing was Burning Oil.
In white there are tapper dudes, and in blue Bone to Ash, Dungeon Geists, Griptide, another tapper spirit, the -13/0 aura and a 2/3 with flash that kinda counts. Green never really gets removal but still has some tricks and Crushing Vines.
The format is fun because they all have clever interactions with how they effect the board and don't necessarily just kill a dude off, but the removal is still strong enough so you don't have to play aggressive creature decks every draft.
Are any of the recent theme decks good/interesting? I'm KIND of interested in grabbing something new, but I really don't want to be dropping a significant amount of money into the game, just keep on playing it casually with friends as I have been. However, they broke the balance a little by going out and getting cards (my one friend now has a Jace (the not banned one), while I'm still rocking an old, poorly constructed Kavu deck as one of my decks). So yeah, I kinda want to pick up something cool, but I don't want to break the bank in the process.
Oh, and is it somehow bad deck construction to split pretty much 50/50 between colors in a two color deck? That's how I've been running them and I have had WAY too many hands where the mana and the spells just don't match up.
Oh, and is it somehow bad deck construction to split pretty much 50/50 between colors in a two color deck? That's how I've been running them and I have had WAY too many hands where the mana and the spells just don't match up.
Well thats what I mean, a lot of the removal involves creature's abilities, which I like. It makes it more interesting than just straight up "kill or burn" instants/sorceries. The removal requires a little more intelligence and clever play, something that becomes evident when a large portion of players at drafts play terribly because they don't understand how to best utilize a card like briarpack alpha or other cards with flash. I remember during Innistrad how many scrub players would cast ambush viper during their main phase.
Building a deck around the idea of having it split 50/50 tends to mean you are forcing certain cards in that otherwise would be taken by superior cards from the other color that you are ignoring in an effort to have a 50/50 split. I find that if I simply build with the idea of having the best cards for the deck, it very rarely ends up 50/50. It's why dual lands and fetch lands are so popular. They let you run say 25 of one color and only 13 of another without worrying about not getting the mana you need.
There's a general rule for this. Instead of counting the color of the cards themselves, you count the number of times each colored mana symbol appears anywhere, whether it's part of the cost or some activated abilitiy. Then you divide up your mana according to those proportions.
Mana fixers, as siddx mentioned, also help a lot in making your mana base consistent.
Here's a rather old article on the theory behind it: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/academy/3
Mana fixers, as siddx mentioned, also help a lot in making your mana base consistent.
Here's a rather old article on the theory behind it: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/academy/3
no way you'll get it off twice. someones gonna be salty the first time though.
I made an interesting deck that's been doing pretty well at practices and FNM; figured I'd share it on GAF, because it's one of my.... er, originals? 
It's metagame hate against some of the top decks from pre-rotation, and ridiculously fast aggro to push out spirit decks and various forms of control that are popping up in places.... but, at its heart, it's a GB rock-pod-zombie-undying deck with really awkward manafixing, that, for some reason, works out anyway thanks to the hilarious synergies between nearly every card in the deck. See if you can find some!
4 Woodland Cemetery
10 Swamp
9 Forest
4 Birthing Pod
2 Sword of War and Peace (card is so fucking amazing right now)
2 Mortarpod (metagame choice again! Subbable for )
4 Gravecrawler
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Glissa the Traitor (I have no relevant artifacts preboard. This is a metagame choice, it blocks like a muff when I'm against almost every aggro deck in the format, and once I board in ratchet bombs it becomes a gamewin.)
1 Wakedancer
2 Geralf's Messenger (I run 2 because with the birds and cemeteries, it's not ridiculously hard to cast, and it's so powerful when podded into/out of that I can't really ignore it.)
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Skinrender
2 Phyrexian Metamorph (removes geists, removes thrun, and think about what happens when you pod Geralf's Messenger into it!)
1 Morkrut Banshee
2 Acidic Slime
1 Massacre Wurm
The deck is performing really damn well, I feel like something similar but built by someone with a bit more talent is going to be a major archtype in new standard. Those gravecrawlers are INCREDIBLE early aggro, and lategame it isn't awful to pod them out into a geist (or spellskite if you run it), then recast. It's so fun to play.
It's metagame hate against some of the top decks from pre-rotation, and ridiculously fast aggro to push out spirit decks and various forms of control that are popping up in places.... but, at its heart, it's a GB rock-pod-zombie-undying deck with really awkward manafixing, that, for some reason, works out anyway thanks to the hilarious synergies between nearly every card in the deck. See if you can find some!
4 Woodland Cemetery
10 Swamp
9 Forest
4 Birthing Pod
2 Sword of War and Peace (card is so fucking amazing right now)
2 Mortarpod (metagame choice again! Subbable for )
4 Gravecrawler
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Strangleroot Geist
4 Viridian Emissary
1 Glissa the Traitor (I have no relevant artifacts preboard. This is a metagame choice, it blocks like a muff when I'm against almost every aggro deck in the format, and once I board in ratchet bombs it becomes a gamewin.)
1 Wakedancer
2 Geralf's Messenger (I run 2 because with the birds and cemeteries, it's not ridiculously hard to cast, and it's so powerful when podded into/out of that I can't really ignore it.)
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Skinrender
2 Phyrexian Metamorph (removes geists, removes thrun, and think about what happens when you pod Geralf's Messenger into it!)
1 Morkrut Banshee
2 Acidic Slime
1 Massacre Wurm
The deck is performing really damn well, I feel like something similar but built by someone with a bit more talent is going to be a major archtype in new standard. Those gravecrawlers are INCREDIBLE early aggro, and lategame it isn't awful to pod them out into a geist (or spellskite if you run it), then recast. It's so fun to play.
There's a Star City Open here in Cincinnati this weekend. Anyone been to one of these before? Good times?
Think I might go and take part in some side drafts or something. I just don't have the cards to do anything constructed.
Think I might go and take part in some side drafts or something. I just don't have the cards to do anything constructed.
Nice deck. How does Phyrexian Metamorph remove Geist though? Geist of Saint Traft btw?
I agree about Gravecrawler. Hella nice aggro card. I created I guess a typical zombie deck without the mill because I hate milling myself and milling a card I really wanted! Did well amongst my friend's decks though it could use improvements. I pretty much just created something with the existing cards I own.
3xGravecrawlers (need one more)
2xDiregraf Ghouls
4xWalking Corpse (just to have a 2cmc 2/2 creature. i suppose i can replace it for more Diregraf Ghouls or kill cards
1xBlackcat
3xDiregraf Captain
1xGrimgrin (since I'm not pumping out token zombies, probably gonna replace him for Undead Alchemist)
2xStitched Drake
1xHavengul Lich (question, if he uses his ability to cast Stitched Drake from graveyard, does that mean Lich gets flying as well?)
1xMikaeus, the Unhallowed
1xGitaxion Probe
4xPonder
4xMana Leak
3xTragic Slip
2xAltars Reap (meant to be used on Blackcat forcing them to discard a card at random, but so good with Gravecrawler b/c you can just recast him)
3xVapor Snags
1xTribut to Hunger
I agree about Gravecrawler. Hella nice aggro card. I created I guess a typical zombie deck without the mill because I hate milling myself and milling a card I really wanted! Did well amongst my friend's decks though it could use improvements. I pretty much just created something with the existing cards I own.
3xGravecrawlers (need one more)
2xDiregraf Ghouls
4xWalking Corpse (just to have a 2cmc 2/2 creature. i suppose i can replace it for more Diregraf Ghouls or kill cards
1xBlackcat
3xDiregraf Captain
1xGrimgrin (since I'm not pumping out token zombies, probably gonna replace him for Undead Alchemist)
2xStitched Drake
1xHavengul Lich (question, if he uses his ability to cast Stitched Drake from graveyard, does that mean Lich gets flying as well?)
1xMikaeus, the Unhallowed
1xGitaxion Probe
4xPonder
4xMana Leak
3xTragic Slip
2xAltars Reap (meant to be used on Blackcat forcing them to discard a card at random, but so good with Gravecrawler b/c you can just recast him)
3xVapor Snags
1xTribut to Hunger
Geist is legendary so if there are two on board they both immediately die.
Exactly, and the Metamorph is one of the nice ones that does not actually target.
If anyone is interested the first Dark Ascension pro tour is being streamed live by Wizards of the Coast.
AppleSmack
Banned
Hey guys,
I've decided to get into magic. Me and my friend both bought the Deckbuilder's toolkit. He knows more about the game than I do though so chances are I'm gonna suffer some brutal defeats. I'm just wondering, how good of a mix is a white and green deck? Or are they all equally valid? I had more white and green cards than any other so I simply picked them.
I've decided to get into magic. Me and my friend both bought the Deckbuilder's toolkit. He knows more about the game than I do though so chances are I'm gonna suffer some brutal defeats. I'm just wondering, how good of a mix is a white and green deck? Or are they all equally valid? I had more white and green cards than any other so I simply picked them.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Hehe, a "green and white" deck is fine, it all depends on the cards that you put into it. For the most part they're all equally valid in theory, it really comes down to the cards
Each color does have different strategies though, so you may want to familiarize yourself with them so you know what different combinations are best at
Theoretically some colors work better together than others. The ones next to each other on the little mana wheel on the card back are "allied colors", but you can pretty much make any combination of stuff work perfectly fine.
Freakinchair
Member
AppleSmack
Banned
Well white and green are beside each other on the wheel so I must have a picked a good combination. The green deck is where most of my supporting style of spells seem to come from like enchantments and my white deck seems to contain the more offensive style spells. I got low mana and high mana cost creatures in both of the colors.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Ehhhhh...kinda sorta. I'll leave it at saying that there's a lot more depth then you're currently being exposed to, and that things get complex (in a good way) as your skill and familiarity with the game will increase.
I've been to a few Boston ones, they're a good time, and I try to watch the coverage if I'm around the apartment.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Are cards from the duel decks legal in standard tournaments? Like if I get the new one when it comes out I can use Koth in standard?
As long as the card is in a standard-legal set, you can use any version of it.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
Ok, that's what I thought I just wanted to check.
What about standard? It's the only format I really play.
It's legal and fine in Standard, I'm not sure why he bought that up because it's clearly a Standard deck you posted.
Ever wanted to gamble on Magic?
http://www.pinnaclesports.com/Conte...ring/Lines.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
I love that some site actually took time to make lines for the top 8
http://www.pinnaclesports.com/Conte...ring/Lines.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
I love that some site actually took time to make lines for the top 8
People do that every time they open a booster.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Yeah, once a month. You are missing out on an epic prime rib.
Dude I sampled that thing and it was fire. You had it all at that party. Can't wait for the next one.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
If that's the case, then I've been Vegas' worst nightmare. Every pack I've opened recently has been outstanding.
However, I don't get to play as much as I used to. Kinda sucks, sitting on all these awesome cards and having nobody to really play against.
What a semifinal. Onto Game 5 between Brian Kibler and Jon Finkel.
Finkel punted. All he had to do was block to prevent the 3x Galvanic Blast play that was really Kibler's only out at that point.
ChiTownBuffalo
Either I made up lies about the Boston Bomber or I fell for someone else's crap. Either way, I have absolutely no credibility and you should never pay any attention to anything I say, no matter what the context. Perm me if I claim to be an insider
Headed into hour 9 of playing Magic.
darkside31337
Tomodachi wa Mahou
Shame PV lost 
. That last game was literally over before it started which is always rough to see.
That was a pretty crazy PT.
. That last game was literally over before it started which is always rough to see.That was a pretty crazy PT.
This PT was the first Magic competition I've ever really watched. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
That semi-final was pretty dang incredible. Shame Finkle couldn't take it. His deck did give me some ideas however in terms of improving the spirit deck I've put together with cards I already have. Especially the whole using Phantasmal Image to copy Drogskol Captain plan.
That semi-final was pretty dang incredible. Shame Finkle couldn't take it. His deck did give me some ideas however in terms of improving the spirit deck I've put together with cards I already have. Especially the whole using Phantasmal Image to copy Drogskol Captain plan.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Is it archived anywhere?
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