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[An-Det]

Looks like I've got an FTV 20 coming my way once those release as thanks for loaning out a few thousand dollars in Legacy cards for the Invitational/Legacy Open this weekend (including a full Shardless BUG and a full Ad Nauseum Tendrils, featuring a Grim Tutor because he wanted to play with one). Here's hoping it gets crazy expensive on the secondary market, I've got no use for foils so I'll just be selling it.

We did a cube draft tonight at the shop, my deck was UGbr; UG control/midrange with Snapcaster, Mana Leak, and Cryptic, green for fixing and Garruk Wildspeaker, the black splash for Yawgmoth's Will, Dark Confidant, and Abrupt Decay, and the red for Fireball (with the Channel to go with it). Sadly I never successfully Channel-Fireballed anyone, but the deck was wonky and a blast to play.

 

[CeruleanSilver]

Video of the MTG Comic Con panel is up.

 

[Lucario]

Got my SDCC walkers.

They aren't as stunning in person as some of the better pictures of them appear to be, but they still really stand out in a cube/on the field. It's a shame only a few are cube-worthy -- the Ajani is going to fetch a pretty penny one day, and the Garruk is amazing for my EDH cube, but I'm kind of clueless what to do with the rest. Maybe I'll just leave them in the box.

Spoiler

people who put memory adept in their cubes hate fun

 

[kirblar]

If you put Memory Adept in cube you are just bad.

 

[Lucario]

It beats infinite life combos, doesn't care (much) about creature removal, can strip Twin and Scapeshift of win conditions with maindeck surgicals, and (most importantly) it doesn't have to worry about a fast aggro deck in the format right now (Infect, Affinity, and Zoo are all paltry portions of the metagame compared to what it used to look like a few months ago). And it gets to run four copies of Ancestral Recall, so that's cool.

I always enjoy seeing people exploit soft spots in the metagame with crazy decks like this.

And Glimpse is already shooting up (the price is even higher than this shows right now; they just haven't updated their database yet):

http://www.mtggoldfish.com/card/Glimpse+the+Unthinkable+[RAV]

Beating infinite life combos is almost entirely irrelevant to this format. You need to understand how melira-pod functions -- it isn't a combo deck, and never will be. It's a midrange deck that's capable of playing different positions on the metagame clock depending on the matchup. If you're up against Jund or RWU -- something that isn't capable of winning once your life total is infinite -- you want to play around removal, permission, and resource denial, attempting to get that combo off. Until then, you play as a midrange deck, getting value out of your townships by making your persisters unkillable (or, in the case of RWU, it may be better to run out your 1-3 drops and boost them, attempting to be an aggro deck.)

When you're up against combo, you get to be an aggressive deck with resource denial spells like Thoughtseize to back up your strategy. You're the beatdown, and you want to kill as fast as possible.

Still, the default mode for the deck is midrange, and the infinite life combo isn't always going to be part of that plan, or even relevant. It's just one of MANY awesome things melirapod can do.

The mill deck is very cute, and a deck with so much hate for combo maindecked is in a pretty decent position right now, especially with the ability to surgical extraction urza lands that were milled, remove parts of a pod chain, etc.... But against decks that rely on incremental advantage, such as RWU or Jund, or even mono blue tron? Hell, even against the new mono-red-but-splash-two-colors-for-DRS-because-that's-indicative-the-card-is-healthy-for-the-format-at-all deck? Nothanks.

If you put Memory Adept in cube you are just bad.

I wouldn't go that far, but cubes that contain the card generally aren't cubes I want to play. I don't want that asshole available in any 40-card format.

 

[kirblar]

Beating infinite life combos is almost entirely irrelevant to this format. You need to understand how melira-pod functions -- it isn't a combo deck, and never will be. It's a midrange deck that's capable of playing different positions on the metagame clock depending on the matchup. If you're up against Jund or RWU -- something that isn't capable of winning once your life total is infinite -- you want to play around removal, permission, and resource denial, attempting to get that combo off. Until then, you play as a midrange deck, getting value out of your townships by making your persisters unkillable (or, in the case of RWU, it may be better to run out your 1-3 drops and boost them, attempting to be an aggro deck.)

When you're up against combo, you get to be an aggressive deck with resource denial spells like Thoughtseize to back up your strategy. You're the beatdown, and you want to kill as fast as possible.

Still, the default mode for the deck is midrange, and the infinite life combo isn't really part of that plan.

The mill deck is very cute, and a deck with so much hate for combo maindecked is in a pretty decent position right now, especially with the ability to surgical extraction urza lands that were milled, remove parts of a pod chain, etc.... But against decks that rely on incremental advantage, such as RWU or Jund, or even mono blue tron? Hell, even against the new mono-red-but-splash-two-colors-for-DRS-because-that's-indicative-the-card-is-healthy-for-the-format-at-all deck? Nothanks.

I think you're misunderstanding. It's not so much that the deck is too good. It isn't. But the deck's redundancy re: the infinite life combo is doing a lot of very weird things to the format. People are reacting to it by playing decks that can go around it (Tron, via Karn/Mindslaver), avoid it entirely (Mill), or just go over the top of it completely (Splinter Twin.) This is resulting in the push towards combo combo all the time- where even the aggro and control decks are implementing combo finishes while linear aggro like Affinity and G/R just falls by the wayside.

 

[Lucario]

I think you're misunderstanding. It's not so much that the deck is too good. It isn't. But the deck's redundancy re: the infinite life combo is doing a lot of very weird things to the format. People are reacting to it by playing decks that can go around it (Tron, via Karn/Mindslaver), avoid it entirely (Mill), or just go over the top of it completely (Splinter Twin.) This is resulting in the push towards combo combo all the time- where even the aggro and control decks are implementing combo finishes while linear aggro like Affinity and G/R just falls by the wayside.

I have to disagree. Linear aggro decks like Affinity are poorly equipped to deal with melira pod, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the infinite life combo -- it's because midrange decks containing recurring lifegain spells beat aggro. Have you played these matchups? Melira pod is unique, and there is a lot of discussion of its place in the metagame, but it isn't the infinite life combo that's pushing aggro out of the format at all. It's the fact that the format-defining deck has an early board presence, a ton of flexibility, the ability to repeatedly gain life, and an immensely powerful midrange strategy available in persist+township.

The infinite life combo has far less to do with aggro's decline than the fact that melira-pod is naturally insane against aggressive strategies.

Infinite lifegain is one trick melira-pod is capable of, and not its main goal. The deck is fantastic, but not dominant -- only 9-12% of the MTGO metagame right now, with some sites reporting it as less common than american midrange.

This trick won't occur every game, or every match, or even every other match. It's very easily hated and entirely unnecessary to win. The metagame didn't shift because of the combo -- it shifted because melirapod is good.


Honestly, I think the banning of Bloodbraid Elf was the real catalyst in the massive metagame shift. Jund, a deck running a large amount of disruption and maindecked graveyard hate in DRS, no longer has the ability to punish control strategies with a hasted beater, or blow open midrange mirrors with the ridiculous card advantage BBE provided. The metagame is still developing with the neutering of a dominant deck, and it's very difficult to predict where it will go. Melirapod may be considered format-defining, and it's a large enough portion of the metagame that you MUST consider it when you choose a deck, but claiming that one of its secondary goals is what's shifting the metagame towards combo isn't really logical.

When Jund was dominant, melira pod was not a deck, depsite having the same tools available. The metagame was definitely focused around beating jund, which was unhealthy.


Here's my theory:

Now that things have opened up a lot more, with a large percentage of the metagame on MTGO being considered "rogue" due to the obscene number of options available, combo becomes viable again as a way to pick on decks that play fair. As a result, people have to start running permission and disruption in the main, leading to control/midrange strategies like RWU. Those, in turn, are beaten by decks that focus more on ramp/control such as mono-U tron. Melira-pod exists as a powerful midrange strategy capable of pretending to be an aggro deck -- its flexibility gives it a reasonable matchup against almost every deck in the field, but isn't dominant. It's our 'fair' deck.

 

[Deadly Monk]

FTV sets are collectors oriented sets that are sent to stores in limited quantities, and are essentially a yearly "bonus" for the store, since their "real" retail price is never the actual MSRP.

So there is another "Modern Masters" type set being released soon? This is why I'm confused.

 

[kirblar]

So there is another "Modern Masters" type set being released soon? This is why I'm confused.

Nah, it's just a collection of 20 cards with a weird foiling process. It's a box set put out once a year, and unless you can get it cheap from a local store? Don't worry about it. Theros is the next big release.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Beating infinite life combos is almost entirely irrelevant to this format. You need to understand how melira-pod functions -- it isn't a combo deck, and never will be. It's a midrange deck that's capable of playing different positions on the metagame clock depending on the matchup. If you're up against Jund or RWU -- something that isn't capable of winning once your life total is infinite -- you want to play around removal, permission, and resource denial, attempting to get that combo off. Until then, you play as a midrange deck, getting value out of your townships by making your persisters unkillable (or, in the case of RWU, it may be better to run out your 1-3 drops and boost them, attempting to be an aggro deck.)

When you're up against combo, you get to be an aggressive deck with resource denial spells like Thoughtseize to back up your strategy. You're the beatdown, and you want to kill as fast as possible.

Still, the default mode for the deck is midrange, and the infinite life combo isn't always going to be part of that plan, or even relevant. It's just one of MANY awesome things melirapod can do.

You misunderstand me. I'm well aware of how Melira Pod functions; I was simply listing some things off of the top of my head that you could theoretically run into in Modern that the mill deck doesn't care about. I haven't played or even seen the matchup, but it seems someone obvious from looking at the list that the mill deck beats the Pod deck in a non-combo damage race pretty consistently, so I didn't think it was necessary to get into detailed explanation. The point was just to bring up a fun new deck that seems to have found a temporary hole in the metagame (much like how that Mono-Black Infect deck did when almost every deck online was some variant of UWR at the beginning of the year).

I just think it's really fun to watch the format struggle through puberty.

 

[red13th]

That mill deck seems a lot of fun.
I decided to check that guy's (the Darkest Mage twitch.tv guy) recorded Modern matches and man, I wish they banned DRS off the format already. What an obnoxious card.

 

[Azn_Boy]

That mill deck seems a lot of fun.
I decided to check that guy's (the Darkest Mage twitch.tv guy) recorded Modern matches and man, I wish they banned DRS off the format already. What an obnoxious card.

Edited: That card is the card that should've been banned instead of Bloodbraid Elf but they couldn't do it because Return to Ravnica came out recently.

 

[rCIZZLE]

DRS is very good but not worthy of a ban.

Anybody else going to the Open in NJ this weekend? My group is only going down for Sunday and possibly Saturday for side events depending on traffic. I'll be playing either Maverick or Dredge.

 

[kirblar]

DRS is very good but not worthy of a ban.

Anybody else going to the Open in NJ this weekend? My group is only going down for Sunday and possibly Saturday for side events depending on traffic. I'll be playing either Maverick or Dredge.

I'm playing the invi. Driving in atm.

 

[bigkrev]

I'm playing the invi. Driving in atm.

GL Let us know the reasoning behind your deck choices afterwards.

 

[Deadly Monk]

Wow, Theros sounds amazing. I love Greek mythology too.

He mentioned 5 mechanics and one from future sight that was never used again but asked for by fans. Any theories?

 

[kirblar]

GL Let us know the reasoning behind your deck choices afterwards.

Jund cause its insane and deathblade vause its my playstyle

 

[Deadly Monk]

What does cubed mean? What does DRS stand for? Why would memory adept being played in cubed make you a bad person? This is why non-casual magic speak in message boards makes me not want to play

But makes me want to learn.

 

[Sinatar]

What does cubed mean? What does DRS stand for? Why would memory adept being played in cubed make you a bad person? This is why non-casual magic speak in message boards makes me not want to play

But makes me want to learn.

DRS

Cube

 

[ultron87]

What does cubed mean? What does DRS stand for? Why would memory adept being played in cubed make you a bad person? This is why non-casual magic speak in message boards makes me not want to play

But makes me want to learn.

Memory Adept sucks for Cube because you play with forty card decks so his +0 ability (which puts ten cards from opponents library into the graveyard) is essentially "win the game in three turns." This isn't particularly fun for anyone involved.

 

[Hero]

Memory Adept can be pretty bonkers in the right conditions and certainly win you the game on his own but it's just another control finisher. I think there's actually been quite a few games where he's landed, used his 0 ability and then dies and acted like a 5 mana fog or someone ripped something to win that turn anyway.

Either way, it's just not a fun card for Cube. Cut him a while ago and haven't looked back.

 

[CeruleanSilver]

What does cubed mean? What does DRS stand for? Why would memory adept being played in cubed make you a bad person? This is why non-casual magic speak in message boards makes me not want to play

I can understand that. I'm a little put off by all the jargon myself, though understand that depth is part of the fun once you're involved. I'm also honestly worried about obnoxious jack-holes at MTG events, but I've resolved to hit the Theros pre-release and see how it goes– best not to be prejudiced!

 

[Hero]

I can understand that. I'm a little put off by all the jargon myself, though understand that depth is part of the fun once you're involved. I'm also honestly worried about obnoxious jack-holes at MTG events, but I've resolved to hit the Theros pre-release and see how it goes– best not to be prejudiced!

The abbreviations and terminology is just to make things easier, I don't think anyone in this thread has been unwilling to explain things when needed.

Honestly non major events like prereleases tend to be pretty casual at most places in my experience and 99% of the people are there to just get and play with new cards and have fun.

 

[Lucario]

You misunderstand me. I'm well aware of how Melira Pod functions; I was simply listing some things off of the top of my head that you could theoretically run into in Modern that the mill deck doesn't care about. I haven't played or even seen the matchup, but it seems someone obvious from looking at the list that the mill deck beats the Pod deck in a non-combo damage race pretty consistently, so I didn't think it was necessary to get into detailed explanation. The point was just to bring up a fun new deck that seems to have found a temporary hole in the metagame (much like how that Mono-Black Infect deck did when almost every deck online was some variant of UWR at the beginning of the year).

I just think it's really fun to watch the format struggle through puberty.

Hah, sorry, I'm way too used to people describing melira pod as a "combo deck". I definitely read way too far into your post. My bad.

It's amazing/hilarious that a dedicated mill deck managed to find a place in the meta. I really want to see how things progress from here, and, as you said, watching the format struggle through puberty is very entertaining. I can't wait to see how things develop -- I kind of suspect Mono-U tron will begin picking up steam now that RWU midrange is becoming the most common deck, as that matchup is very difficult for tron to lose.

edit: gah, I re-read my post and it was more than a little bit rude. I'm really sorry - that wasn't my intent.


edit 2: The main thing I like about the mill deck against pod is the ability to completely wipe out part of the pod chain, like milling their ranger of eos and extracting a redcap.... or even extracting kitchen finks. Turn 1 hedron crab, turn 2 fetch + extraction on whatever the next point on their curve is.... I really like that line of play. Kind of wish I noticed the deck before everything shot up in price, because I'd really like to try it in a few dailies.

 

[narcosis219]

I can understand that. I'm a little put off by all the jargon myself, though understand that depth is part of the fun once you're involved. I'm also honestly worried about obnoxious jack-holes at MTG events, but I've resolved to hit the Theros pre-release and see how it goes– best not to be prejudiced!

Jargon is a part of anything, so it's hardly an Mtg thing.

Just ask away; everyone here will be more than happy to clarify and educate!

 

[The Technomancer]

I can understand that. I'm a little put off by all the jargon myself, though understand that depth is part of the fun once you're involved. I'm also honestly worried about obnoxious jack-holes at MTG events, but I've resolved to hit the Theros pre-release and see how it goes– best not to be prejudiced!

Pre-release events tend to be pretty casual in tone, I suspect you'll have a great time

 

[Lucario]

Pre-release events tend to be pretty casual in tone, I suspect you'll have a great time

With one catch: remember that judges are there to help you. If you're up against someone who's playing far too competitively for a pre-release, or trying to "rules lawyer" you by not letting you take back simple mistakes (within reason), call a judge. Although some tryhards may treat it them like major tournaments, FNM and prereleases are supposed to be casual events. Don't let the competitive pricks take advantage of you, and this goes for all newer/casual players.

 

[y2dvd]

Fat Pack today to do some sealed building with a friend. Archangel of Thune and a Mutavault. Pretty happy with that.

He pulled a Hydra, too. Lucky night for us.

All my friends are getting lucky with their fat packs too, pullng Garruks, Chandra's and Primordial. It's making it hard to resist buying a fat pack myself, but I know once I do, I'm gonna get the crappiest of the crap rares.~_-

 

[Hero]

Well, secured a FTV 20 for 160 at my local game store. Pretty satisfied with that.

 

[ianswoody]

Heading to a 2014 core draft in a couple hours. Anyone have any advice for what to look for/build around?

 

[WanderingWind]

Heading to a 2014 core draft in a couple hours. Anyone have any advice for what to look for/build around?

Just draft all of the blue cards. Especially if they're fliers.

 

[OnPoint]

Well, secured a FTV 20 for 160 at my local game store. Pretty satisfied with that.

Fucking jealous

I have no way to get it for MSRP. I would paypal someone the money, but who the hell wouldn't just buy it for themselves

 

[kirblar]

So thundrmaw just murders jund lol. Playing mono lrgacy rest of weekend

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Hah, sorry, I'm way too used to people describing melira pod as a "combo deck". I definitely read way too far into your post. My bad.

It's amazing/hilarious that a dedicated mill deck managed to find a place in the meta. I really want to see how things progress from here, and, as you said, watching the format struggle through puberty is very entertaining. I can't wait to see how things develop -- I kind of suspect Mono-U tron will begin picking up steam now that RWU midrange is becoming the most common deck, as that matchup is very difficult for tron to lose.

edit: gah, I re-read my post and it was more than a little bit rude. I'm really sorry - that wasn't my intent.

edit 2: The main thing I like about the mill deck against pod is the ability to completely wipe out part of the pod chain, like milling their ranger of eos and extracting a redcap.... or even extracting kitchen finks. Turn 1 hedron crab, turn 2 fetch + extraction on whatever the next point on their curve is.... I really like that line of play. Kind of wish I noticed the deck before everything shot up in price, because I'd really like to try it in a few dailies.

No worries. Pod is an often misunderstood deck; it's not the menace that a lot of players think it is, but it is very good.

My main problem with Modern right now is that I haven't found a deck that really gets me excited to play for more than a week. The closest thing right now is Splinter Twin, and I really do like the deck, but the version I play (the UR list with Boomerangs) is such a matchup deck. I get a lot of auto-wins and a lot of auto-losses; the ratios are good and I like the results so far, but it's not the most exciting list to play in a daily when my schedule usually only lets me play in one or maybe two dailies a week. I actually find myself screwing up my plays because the deck is so brain-dead to play 80% of the time that staying alert to find that other 20% is something of a challenge! I'm thinking of picking up a set of Colonnades and Restoration Angels and moving to the UWR version just to get more interesting matchups across the field, but my budget for August is going to be blown on buying four copies of FTV:20 so I guess I'm stuck for now.

 

[ultron87]

I bought some stuff for my first ever MTGO Standard deck this evening. Blue/Black thing with Delvers and Duskmantle Seers with the always exciting play of Dimir Charm to get your Delver to flip, which is clearly absolutely dreadful, but whatever.

I Dimir Charmed a "all the ramp elves" deck's Craterhoof on top of his deck to kill him with a Seer trigger. That was pretty entertaining.

Not having really bought anything of consequence on MTGO before it was cool that I could pretty much build the entire deck for 20 bucks. The fact that I only got Drowned Catacombs and no Watery Graves of course helped to keep that price down. But all the non expensive cards costing cents was sweet.

So, where does one actually play Standard (or really constructed at all) on MTGO? I played a few matches in Tournament Practice but I assume that is just people playing whatever (which is probably where my deck belongs) but past that where does one go?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

I bought some stuff for my first ever MTGO Standard deck this evening. Blue/Black thing with Delvers and Duskmantle Seers with the always exciting play of Dimir Charm to get your Delver to flip, which is clearly absolutely dreadful, but whatever.

I Dimir Charmed a "all the ramp elves" deck's Craterhoof on top of his deck to kill him with a Seer trigger. That was pretty entertaining.

Not having really bought anything of consequence on MTGO before it was cool that I could pretty much build the entire deck for 20 bucks. The fact that I only got Drowned Catacombs and no Watery Graves of course helped to keep that price down. But all the non expensive cards costing cents was sweet.

So, where does one actually play Standard (or really constructed at all) on MTGO? I played a few matches in Tournament Practice but I assume that is just people playing whatever (which is probably where my deck belongs) but past that where does one go?

You have three choices:

• 2-Man On-Demand (Play > Tournaments > Constructed Queues): You pay 2 tickets ($2) to play a best-of-three match against a random. Winner gets one pack of the current set. This is terrible EV, but a decent way to practice against people where there's something on the line.
• 8-Man On-Demand (Play > Tournaments > Constructed Queues): You pay 6 tickets ($6) to play a single-elimination tournament with 8 other players. First place gets 5 packs, second place gets 3, third/fourth get 2. Assuming you're "as good" as the other players, I believe the math makes it to where you break even EV-wise.
• Daily Events (Play > Tournaments > Scheduled Events): You pay 6 tickets ($6) for a four-round Swiss event. 4 wins gets you 11 packs, 3 wins gets you 6 packs. This is the highest EV tournament on MTGO (if the current draft set is valued highly for resale, a 50% win rate has positive EV in the long run), but it takes a long time to complete and they don't fire on-demand - they are pre-scheduled.

I really enjoy dailies, but they are a significant time commitment and they often don't line up with my schedule. 8-mans are much less time consuming, but higher pressure since they're single elimination. Just stay away from 2-mans - you'll lose money so fast it's not even funny.

 

[CeruleanSilver]

Pre-release events tend to be pretty casual in tone, I suspect you'll have a great time

Cool, that's good to hear I'm really looking forward to when Theros hits!

 

[Jaeyden]

No worries. Pod is an often misunderstood deck; it's not the menace that a lot of players think it is, but it is very good.

This.

Pod doesn't need any bans. It's a great deck but that's only because it can offer tons of answers. BBE ban is the only reason pod has been able to gain the ground it has. Let the meta fix itself before mandating more changes. There are plenty of other decks and potential decks to come. Give this shit some time. The meta is going to change but it shouldn't have to be neutered every time a deck gets some success.

 

[Lucario]

This.

Pod doesn't need any bans. It's a great deck but that's only because it can offer tons of answers. BBE ban is the only reason pod has been able to gain the ground it has. Let the meta fix itself before mandating more changes. There are plenty of other decks and potential decks to come. Give this shit some time. The meta is going to change but it shouldn't have to be neutered every time a deck gets some success.

Pod isn't even dominant, or the most common deck. It's just ridiculously fun and skill-intensive, so a lot of people want to play it.

I don't think anyone in here called for pod to be banned, but I've seen it suggested online quite a bit.... and it's baffling. It's like 9% of the freakin' meta.

 

[kirblar]

My buddy james just t8ed the invi! If you want tp say hi hit me up on twitter at kirblar024.

 

[Hero]

My buddy james just t8ed the invi! If you want tp say hi hit me up on twitter at kirblar024.

Whoa, awesome. Relied to your tweet! Hope your buddy does well!

 

[JulianImp]

So, yesterday I said "to hell with it" and brought my incomplete izzet deck to FNM. Right now I'm missing a Guttersnipe and three Young Pyromancers, which account for about half of my creature base and some of my more powerful cards, but even in spite of that I was able to do fairly well.

I won the first two rounds, lost the third one to a very aggressive jund aggro/haste/zombies deck, and finally lost the fourth and final match on the second to last extra turn, where I had to block in a way that'd allow me to win next turn to avoid a draw... and he played one of the two remaining Selesnya Charms he could've had, which was his only out.

One game in the last match (against a junk midrange value deck, with Lingering Souls, Thragtusk, Loxodon Smiter and Restoration Angel), he got me down to 1 life, but I managed to control the game from that point onwards with just two elemental tokens and a Snapcaster Mage on board. I managed to remove each and every threat he played (even a Tusk he used Uburial Rites on twice), and got him down to zero life!

Mizzium Mortars was incredible in all moments, as was Pillar of Flame (since the ability to stop Voice of Resurgence, Geralf's Messenger, Gravecrawler and other graveyard-abusing cards was well worth the sorcery speed downgrade). I did the right thing to swap Think Twice with Faithless Looting, since it let me dig really deep for answers while feeding Snapcaster Mages, making the discarded cards not entirely useless. As I expected, Guttersnipe and Young Pyromancer were great, adding incredible value to all the spells I played, and Snapcaster Mage was a blowout due to the huge variety of instant and sorcery effects I have in the deck.

I found myself sideboarding Goblin Electromancer out nearly every single time, since it never managed to do much, so I'll probably be replacing them (on top of replacing them as soon as I get the additional Pyromancers and the fourth Guttersnipe).

On the deck's high-end of the mana curve, Firewing Phoenix won me two games that had devolved to topdeck wars (one of them was the memorable one where I stood at 1 life while brining my opponent down from nearly 30 life over ten plus turns), and the two Opportunities I added replacing the Thoughtflares were amazing as well whenever I drew them (keeping all four cards was easily worth the extra mana). I only got Niv-Mizzet once against a deck when I already had a substantial advantage, so I can't assess how good it is yet. These four cards were vital to giving my deck some late game reach once my hand was depleted and I had little to do with my mana anymore.

Hopefully I'll get my hands on the remaining cards soon, and I'll try to begin building a proper sideboard as well (yesterday's was mostly a nonsensical bunch of hate cards I happened to pick up five minutes before I left home). Finally, I'm playing my favorite guild in a deck... and it works!

It looks like the deck's going to lose two of its MVPs to rotation, though (Snapcaster and Faithless Looting), plus Pillar of Flame to get Voice of Resurgence out of the way. Does anyobody know any good cards I could try using once these two rotate out of standard?

 

[WanderingWind]

Buy Shadowborn Demons now people. If they're not 15+ soon, I'll eat a Totally Lost

 

[OnPoint]

Buy Shadowborn Demons now people. If they're not 15+ soon, I'll eat a Totally Lost

Context please?

 

[An-Det]

Context please?

BBD has a copy in his maindeck for the Standard Open which he just top 8-ed today, but otherwise I'm not seeing it.

 

[narcosis219]

Maybe ww just wants to eat a fblpth

 

[divisionbyzorro]

So I decided to do a farewell DGR draft, just to say goodbye to the format and to give it one last chance.

Yeah - all that did was throw away 12 tickets and reinforce in my head that DGR really is not a good draft format. In fact, the more I've played it, the more I'm convinced that it's actively bad. I know I've said it many times before here, but the way the packs line up and the colors fall just doesn't make an experience that lends itself to skillful drafting. It really does feel like the bombs just run the draft. What I loved about triple RTR and triple GTC was that you could draft commons and uncommons and fight through the bombs; it's very difficult to do that in DGR.

Meh. I shouldn't rant any more about it. It's just really disappointing that I was looking forward to drafting this format so much, and it turned out to be so crappy.

 

[WanderingWind]

BBD has a copy in his maindeck for the Standard Open which he just top 8-ed today, but otherwise I'm not seeing it.

This, plus I just have a hunch. I'm just saying, I bought a playset for 12 bucks and its already starting to appear in top 8 decks. It's going to be a thing, it's too efficient not to be.

 

[rCIZZLE]

Hey kirblar odd question... are you wearing a flyers hat this weekend? I think I may have met you randomly.

 

[kirblar]

Hey kirblar odd question... are you wearing a flyers hat this weekend? I think I may have met you randomly.

I don't wear hats. They make me look like I'm missing a few chromosones.