Yeah that is good, I forgot to mention Thoughtscour which would work with that even better
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Magic: the GAFering |OT2|
- Thread starter The Technomancer
- Start date
Yeah that is good, I forgot to mention Thoughtscour which would work with that even better
A) I think the guild's image as a bunch of clever smarty-pants plays well into the typical gamer mentality making it easy for self-insertion or identification. Similar to how experienced/enfranchised players tend to gravitate towards Blue. It probably doesn't help that the other guilds represent a hippie cult (Selesyna), deviant party animals (Rakdos), filth farmers (Golgari), uptight bureaucrats (Azorius), sneaky mind-raping spies (Dimir), wild savages (Gruul), a corrupt church (Orzhov), overzealous soliders (Boros) or a bunch of Dr. Monreaus (Simic). The biggest flaw given to the Izzet is that their crazy experiments blow up sometimes
B) Overall though, I think your write-up is something worth e-mailing to Maro and co. If they truly read every e-mail I think it would be good for them to hear this. I also kind of LOL at his "but creatureless decks win too" as if they make up anything more than a miniscule portion of the a metagame. I also LOL when Alexander Hayne's Mircale deck is trotted out as an example when its primary wincon was Entreat the Angels.
C) One thing I'm never quite sure on is when he says "creatures used to suck", what era(s) of Magic is Maro referring to? I wouldn't call myself an MTG historian but I feel creature decks were defiantly making there presence known throughout metagames since at least Invasion block standard and forward. Saying "creatures were weak" during the era of "Black Summer" and Academy-fueled Turn One kills feels disingenuous - that might as well have been Pre-Cambrian Magic.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Well, in the early days of Magic, Juzam Djinn was one of the most feared creatures around. Nowadays, a 4 mana 5/5 with no abilities and a drawback would get laughed out of the park.
Yup. Like this functional reprint
My buddy is tuning his sliver EDH deck.. Monoblack here I come
Fragamemnon
Member
Missing the chance to put some flavor text bemoaning the great mistake that is Bridge From Below is sad, though given the amount of text required on one of the most horribly designed cards ever it is understandable.
I think a current standard UR deck could be built, but my LGS will soon begin holding RTR block events in anticipation for the coming Standard rotatio, and there're just too many cards that deck would lose.
This is what I've been thinking of:
I currently have a single Steam Vents, but I'd be looking to swap the guildgates for the remaining shocks, and the same holds true for my single copy of Mizzium Mortars (I'd probably replace some Annihilating Fire for additional Mortars) and the boring Cancel (replaced for Counterflux). Uncovered Clues is the only card-drawing spell I've found that doesn't cost too much mana like Thoughtflare and digs deeper than Inspiration, and I guess Annihilating Fire could take care of any pesky Voices of Resurgence. I'm also using my pet Nivmagus Elemental + Hands of Binding combo (which I haven't tested in a tournament yet) to push damage through or buff the elemental each turn.
No matter which way I look at it, it still seems like a bad idea even on paper, and I can't think of any off-colored cards that'd be worth adding to help the deck's strategy. I guess Ral Zarek might be really helpful, but it's still way too expensive for me to buy for a low-tiered just for fun deck, and the alternative of adding cards with higher mana costs would probably push the deck more towards a controlling game plan, which I fear UR might not be able to carry out on its own.
This is what I've been thinking of:
I currently have a single Steam Vents, but I'd be looking to swap the guildgates for the remaining shocks, and the same holds true for my single copy of Mizzium Mortars (I'd probably replace some Annihilating Fire for additional Mortars) and the boring Cancel (replaced for Counterflux). Uncovered Clues is the only card-drawing spell I've found that doesn't cost too much mana like Thoughtflare and digs deeper than Inspiration, and I guess Annihilating Fire could take care of any pesky Voices of Resurgence. I'm also using my pet Nivmagus Elemental + Hands of Binding combo (which I haven't tested in a tournament yet) to push damage through or buff the elemental each turn.
No matter which way I look at it, it still seems like a bad idea even on paper, and I can't think of any off-colored cards that'd be worth adding to help the deck's strategy. I guess Ral Zarek might be really helpful, but it's still way too expensive for me to buy for a low-tiered just for fun deck, and the alternative of adding cards with higher mana costs would probably push the deck more towards a controlling game plan, which I fear UR might not be able to carry out on its own.
This is going in my cube alongside the new slivers.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Yup. Like this functional reprint
Exactly. The only way this card would even be considered is as an answer to Slivers.
With all that in mind, I would love to see updated Djinns that play off the old "big, undercosted, but with a drawback" flavor that they had. Djinn of Wishes is lame.
We're getting a pyromancer that creates 1/1 tokens in M14 and only costs 1R, so I guess that'd be a nice post-Theros Standard replacement. The downsides of these creatures is that they require you to keep casting spells each turn and are very vulnerable to regular removal and wrath effects.
If I had to build the deck for the current standard, I'd probably add Delver of Secrets, Bonfire of the Damned, Snapcaster Mage, Thought Scour and possibly Desperate Ravings/Think Twice and that Innistrad sorcery with flashback that deals 2 damage to each non-flying creature for 2R.
divisionbyzorro
Member
I've been trying to brew Standard Storm ever since seeing that Pyromancer get spoiled. Infernal Plunge, Battle Hymn, Past in Flames, the usual suite of card draw spells, finishing with Burn at the Stake, using Pyromancer and Electromancer as engine pieces. I think there's something there - I really do.
Have you not seen the previous Burn at the Stake decks? They've been Tier 2 for a while.
keeblerdrow
Member
There's not a mythic rare in every pack, is there? I had assumed they were going to be in 1/8 packs just like "normal" distribution. If so, the actual contribution of mythics to the value of an average pack is about $3.74, but you'd be subtracting the rare you don't get for the mythic, so you only get 7/8 of the rare value as well, leaving you with $8.56 actual value added. (10*0.70)+(3*2.63)+(3.74+8.56)=12.30 per pack
That's discounting each of the foils in-pack and assuming the same mythic distribution as a normal set. And using the same numbers.
Why would you drop the mythic rate so low? Pretty sure what this guy did is take the value of all the mythic in the set (the are reprints, so we already have a base for their value) divide by the amount of mythics in the set then multiply by 3. That should give you an estimated value for all the Mythics you might get in a box.
If you wanted to be more consertive, I could see you taken 33% away from the mythic avg. and saying you are more likely to get 19.99, since like you said there is one mythic per every eight packs, with 24 packs in a box you have a very good chance of not getting 3.
There was also somebody who did all the math in regards to foils (Mythic:Rare:Uncommon:Common on a foil sheet) for ratios of 1:1:1:1 1:2:4:4 and I think one more and it looked like if they went with one of these setups you should get a .6 - 1.XX mythics in a box, so you have a good chance of a mythic in a box. No idea how accurate that was though.
The box value looks pretty insane, but all I really need isn't in there. Guess I messed up these past few years picking up eternal staples, since Thoughtseize is the big one I stiil want that isn't in there. Will be going to a draft though, hope it is fun and hope I find a box I can save for when I get my old playgroup together.
I think this describes 90% of Woo decks.
Yea he's a solid deck designer, but not much of a pilot.
Seeing Kamigawa's splice cards again makes me wonder why couldn't they just use Splice as the Izzet mechanic (Splice onto Instant/Sorcery, anyone?). I know it wasn't an all-new mechanic, but it could've led to some more interesting things than Overload's narrow design space.
Then again, I wish there'd be some kind of creature cards with Splice onto Creatures, but I guess that'd either lead to crazy memory issues or using +1/+1 counters in way that'd probably be too similar to Scavenge, and being repeatabe could be annoying, even if you need to pay the splice cost in addition to casting the creature you want to grow instead of being able to scavenge on a later turn.
Then again, I wish there'd be some kind of creature cards with Splice onto Creatures, but I guess that'd either lead to crazy memory issues or using +1/+1 counters in way that'd probably be too similar to Scavenge, and being repeatabe could be annoying, even if you need to pay the splice cost in addition to casting the creature you want to grow instead of being able to scavenge on a later turn.
Despite what MaRo thinks, Splice onto Instant/Sorcery would have to be neutered beyond belief to see print.
acheron_xl
Member
That's why I love splice, forecast and buyback. Getting effects without losing cards is really nice. Not quite as good as casting spells for less (or no) mana, but pretty strong.
fifasnipe2224
Member
Does anyone have any tips for drafting RtR > GTC > DGZ? It has been a very long time since I drafting three different packs. The last time I drafted was M13 since I usually only draft the core sets.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Yeah, I guess all instants and sorceries would need to have their power level equalized to Kamigawa's arcane spells, which were often overcosted versions of regular instants and sorceries, so we'd end up drawing a card for U or dealing 1 damage for 1R.
Restricting the spells you can splice from would also lead to some awful parasitism, and allowing you to splice the cards into any instant or sorcery would, as you say, lead to some serious balance issues unless the splice costs are seriously overcosted to avoid shenanigans.
It's just that Overload was really underwhelming and linear, and the cards that used it were all mere variations of spells which had been done before. I'm not sure of the power implications, but being able to target only one side of the board took a lot of versatility away from the cards, such as being unable to bounce your own stuff with a Cyclonic Rift.
It's a bit too linear for my taste, kind of like how Evolve looked fun at first but then I realized it often led to overextending, and that you'd probably hate drawing an evolve creatures in the mid-to-late game, once you've already played out most of your cards, so you're stuck with an unevolved and often diminute creature.
Cyclonic Rift is amazing as a one sides wrath IMO
New plane is Theros. Looks to be Greek/Roman themed. No cards have been shown yet. Just this art:
The next block is going to be about greek and roman mythology, which seems like an interesting concept even if I'd rather have more original material. So far, all we know is that, the expansions' names (Theros, Journey to Nix and something else I think) and some art, but no cards have been spoiled yet.
Born of the Gods is expansion #2.
I suspect this is where we're getting the Damnation reprint- "Hades" seems perfect for it.
I'd love to see an environment w/ damnation (and without comparable low-cmc white wraths) to really get a read on how the game plays with those roles reversed. I suspect it might be an improvement.
White having low cost wraths never made sense to me anyway. Like, if they were flavor-wise there to wipe away impurities and evil then sure. But straight up vengeance/board clear makes little sense to me. Even if they want to make white the color of exile-style board wipes or Terminus effects that's fine. But killing things? No, not really, not in my book.
Wouldn't it be better if we got a near-reprint that does allow regeneration? I guess Putrefy could be a good argument against it, but I believe they should keep regeneation from going back to being nearly useless again. Even with no "can't be regenerated" killing spells, really efficient regenerating creatures such as Lotleth Troll haven't exactly taken over the metagame.
...That reminds me I should try and get some Varolz. Hmm... perhaps that'd be an insteresting way to play a BUG deck, rather than simply using evolve creatures...
I think most places starts out with DGM, then GTC, then RtR. Each DGM packs comes with a guildgate or shockland, and they can be heavily contested, so you have to decide early on whether you want to grab them to splash better, or pass them up for some better cards and be more restrictive with your colors. Its generally a slower set, so cheap big body defenders are pretty nice to hold you until youre able to play heavier creatures. Rakdos and Boros can still put on a quick beating though. And the general advise of curving out and trying to grab some removal spells and hate draft when there are no cards that will benefit you and etc.
Cyclonic Rift won me several games in my last draft. Pricey, but if you can overload it, it sets them back so bad.
Just started an 8-4, here's what I've come up with.
Feels like victory is going to almost entirely hinge on Collective Blessing, won't be surprised if I don't go far with this one.
Why was it a blowout? From what I can see, too many high costed creatures?
Mana screw game 1 (so yes, too many high cost spells) and flooded out game 2.
I have a blue-green Flash deck in standard that builds up to Cyclonic Rift overloads to stabilize the board. It's a dirty deck. Dies almost instantly to aggro, though. Gotta figure out how to stop that...
Edit: Fuck, last post on a page. No responses incoming lol
Did you see my BUG flash deck? So far it has performed okay against aggro decks, and I guess it'd be cheap to build if you don't count my singleton Liliana of the Veil and Snapcaster Mage (plus the shocklands, I guess). Ever since I saw the two-colored split cards, I realized that Far/Away was by far the best of the bunch, since it doesn't require jumping through hoops to get 2-for-1s like Turn/Burn (which is still good), and the rest range from merely decent (Boros, Gruul and Rakdos) to clunky (Golgari, Simic and Selesnya) to downright awful (Azorius and Orzhov). I'm not running Cyclonic Rift because I have enough removal to keep the board under control, and even if I wanted to hit several things at once, I'd rather run additional copies of Gaze of Granite.
What do you guys think about the whole "run Maze's End and guildgates to avoid missing land drops" tactic? My mana-hungry BUG deck often gets to seven mana (enough for a protected Aetherling), but I rarely hit many more lands than that despite running 25, which is sometimeas a problem when I want to play stuff while holding removal and/or counterspells for backup, or when I need to cast Gaze of Granite for a high X value.
"God's Beard!"
Member
So for the deck I posted a couple pages back, I've decided to go ahead with the suggestions and replace the two captured sunlights with two Rafiqs of the Many, and drop my three bant sureblades with three aura carriers. The question I have now, do bogles or stalkers make more sense?
With bogles, I can use Favor of the Overbeing to make a turn two 3/3 hexproof flying vigilant as well as more turn one options.
With invisible stalker, I get unblockable as well as hexproof.
bogle is two colors which means I can cast him off any land except basic plains but I need islands or birds to cast stalker.
(ideal bogle strategy/stalker strategy)
Is unblockable worth losing the extra flexibility of bogle?
With bogles, I can use Favor of the Overbeing to make a turn two 3/3 hexproof flying vigilant as well as more turn one options.
With invisible stalker, I get unblockable as well as hexproof.
bogle is two colors which means I can cast him off any land except basic plains but I need islands or birds to cast stalker.
(ideal bogle strategy/stalker strategy)
- play birds of paradise
- play birds of paradise + bogle/play birds of paradise + invisible stalker
- play demand(sovereigns of lost alara) + favor of the overbeing
- play sovereigns, attack with bogle/stalker, play eldrazi conscription
Is unblockable worth losing the extra flexibility of bogle?
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