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[divisionbyzorro]

Well, I decided it was time to leave the practice rooms and join a Modern daily for the first time. I'm playing RUg Twin. Only 22 players in the event; that's what happens when you join midday in Australia I suppose.

Decklist is here if you're interested.

Wall of Text incoming!

I haven't ever played against this deck before. I'm silently thankful that I tweaked the deck to be a bit more permission-heavy prior to the event. I won game one easily on turn 5; EOT Pestermite with Dispel backup. Game two he has endless permission; I pick a time to strike, hoping to force through, but fail. We draw back and forth for a while, then I probe him and see that his hand has four counters and my hand has none, and the game is basically over at that point.

I punted game three with a loose play early on. I probed him T1 and saw that he had a bad hand (2 Search, Island, Mountain, Telling Time, Scapeshift). On his T2 he lays Breeding Pool and Farseek, and I Izzet Charm the Farseek for reasons that make zero sense looking back on it. I spend my other resources more wisely to keep him off of anything good (piercing the Telling Time, for example), but I cantrip into oblivion and can't find a twin effect. He manages to resolve a lethal Scapeshift before I can beat him down with Pestermites (and had I had that Izzet Charm, he couldn't have resolved it, which would have given me at two more draws - one natural plus Desolate Lighthouse).

0 - 1 (1 - 2)

He's on the play and opens with Grove into Hierarch. I pick up an Into the Roil with my Serum Visions, and sure enough he casts Birthing Pod on his T2. I Roil it away on his upkeep, and he doesn't re-cast it. On my T3 end-step, he casts Deceiver Exarch; I have no answer, and he untaps and plays Kiki-Jiki. A taste of my own medicine I suppose. I side out Spellskites and Grim Lavamancers, bringing in 3x Ancient Grudge and an additional Flame Slash. I keep the Izzet Charms, but tweak the rest of my permission (removing Dispels and Mizzium Skin in favor of Negates).

In games two and three, my deck is very kind to me. Game two sticks out in my memory: I keep Ancient Grudge, Flame Slash, Splinter Twin, Pestermite, Serum Visions, Island, Halimar Depths. T1 Depths shows Kiki-Jiki, Remand, and Shivan Reef; I draw the Reef T2, Flame Slash his T1 Bird, pick up Remand with Serum Visions, finding Steam Vents at the same time. It was elementary from there. Game three my opener is even better, as it has the combo, both colors, and an Ancient Grudge that keeps his Pod from sticking.

I've now met my personal goal: I didn't go 0-2 drop in my first ever MTGO Daily.

1 - 1 (3 - 3)

I'm on the draw. We both mull to six and he vomits his hand onto the table - but he has only one creature. His board is a bunch of nonsense like Springleaf Drum, Mox Opal, Welding Jar, with Signal Pest the only threat. Even after resolving two Thoughtcast he has nothing. He starts attacking with Signal Pest and a single Arcbound Ravager, but he can't stop me assembling the combo. I board in the Ancient Grudges and another Flame Slash and send back the bad permission spells.

Game two he keeps his seven, and opens with Ornithopter, Darksteel Citadel, Relic of Progenitus - and then says go. He proceeds to do nothing but durdle with a couple of Relic of Progenitus, putting absolutely nothing onto the table other than a Blinkmoth Nexus. I hesitantly cast Pestermite on his T3 EOT, then cross my fingers when I cast T4 Splinter Twin. He must be holding Dismember if he couldn't cast anything else, right?

That's only about the third time I've played Affinity. Clearly he ran really bad, but I can't imagine what made him keep his seven in game two. I guess he must have had a grip full of Thoughtcast and was betting on drawing a blue source with his Relics, but one of the great things about the Twin deck is that it punishes even the slightest mistake by your opponent hard.

2 - 1 (5 - 3)

Let's run this again, shall we? Game one is fairly uneventful; I lose fairly handily as he hits a Scapeshift before I have the combo in hand, and can't fight through his permission to stop it. Game two I land a T3 Blood Moon. He has a couple of suspended Search for Tomorrow, but no basics. I let the first resolve for an Island, Remand the second, and he remains strangled on blue mana such that assembling and landing the combo was simple.

Game three was frustrating. He mulls to five; I probe him and see nothing but land. I have the combo and plenty of cheap permission in hand to back it up, but I only have four mana, and later probes have revealed that he's drawing counterspells. Three turns in a row I cast a Pestermite on his upkeep to lock down one of his two blue sources, betting on a land from the top to cast Splinter Twin with Dispel backup. The third time I do this, he casts a Scapeshift with six lands in play and takes the game.

This was another punt, sadly. I should not have played Pestermite on his upkeep the third time. The first two times I didn't leave him enough mana to cast Scapeshift through my Spell Pierce. But the third time I should have identified that a land drop would give him the win, and saved the Pestermite for his end step since I had plenty of two-mana answers for Scapeshift.

2 - 2 (6 - 5).

Final Thoughts
Clearly I'm weak to Scapeshift (although I expect the Affinity matchup should generally be much rougher than it was to me this time). Blue decks don't get played much in the Tournament practice room, and I've never once played against that deck. It does the same thing Twin does - punish loose play. I need to take my time and double-think my plays when I face it in the future. Other than that, I just need to jump back in and play more of these things!

One thing I realized after the end of the tournament - my round four opponent was 1-2, so I was paired down. I assumed the tournament kicked 1-2 players out after the third round (since it was kicking 0-2 players out after the second round), so I didn't even think to check, but I guess it makes sense that it keeps them around to ensure that a 2-1 player doesn't get a free match win to end up 3-1.

I assume it's very much considered cheating to offer them packs to concede to you in that spot? If I understand how the rules work, I can ask them nicely to concede, but I can't offer them anything to do it, correct?

 

[Lucario]

I have a headache from playing that Vigor deck.

Literally, my head is throbbing right now.

Coffee didn't help.

It's one of those decks I could play for hours, but my brain would hate itself for a while for it.

 

[y2dvd]

*edit: just reread my post and it made no sense lol.

So what does Pithing Needle do vs Witchbane Orb? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the two.

 

[ultron87]

So what does Pithing Needle stop vs Witchbane Orb?

Witchbane Orb is definitely way more general since it can stop a lot of Instants/Sorceries as well as some of the more troubling Planeswalkers and lands you'd use Pithing Needle to stop (Drownyard, Big Jace, Liliana). And you can't get nugged by a Boros Reckoner.

Pithing Needle can get Wolf Run and the non-target player Planeswalkers and probably some creatures and artifacts I'm not thinking of.

 

[JulianImp]

Off the top of my head, the Needle's a lot more versatile in that it can hit utility lands, prevents planeswakers from doing anything and can also be used to stop some problematic activated abilities (such as Lotleth Troll's pump and regeneration or Boros Reckoner's first strike).

The Orb doesn't require locking it in against a single card, though, but its uses are more limited (unless your area's full of burn decks and/or control decks with forced sacrifice cards, I guess), and its mana costs means it'll either take a while for you to cast it (possibly lowering its usefulness at blanking your opponent's cards) or you'll have to tie up your mana quite a bit if you draw one later on. They're also awful in multiples, whereas you'd probably be fine with drawing a second Needle.

I'd say it's a metagame choice, but I feel safer by running Needles over Orbs at my LGS, where people barely run things that'd target me and which can't be shut off by a Needle (such as Bonfire of the Damned).

 

[OnPoint]

Needle is also way cheaper to cast.

I don't understand how people build EDH decks that work toward actually winning but are fun for the group. Every deck I build, I'm accused by my play group of being uninteractive. But every time I build a deck that doesn't have protection elements I get slapped down to 10 life by Sorin Markov. Honestly it's probably an issue with my play group's expectations than my building, though the next time someone combos off for over 100,000 tokens, I'll remind them of how 'fun' that is, too, and why a card like Norn's Annex is something I consider. /vent

 

[ultron87]

That political social contract type stuff is why I don't think I can play EDH.

Well that and it is expensive.

 

[OnPoint]

That political social contract type stuff is why I don't think I can play EDH.

Well that and it is expensive.

It certainly can be. I try to build using only cards I have as much as possible and eschew pricey staples (I somehow don't have already) like Sylvan Library. The political aspect can be a pain in the ass though. Like, I know it's not an official format, but it's probably best to follow the 'rules' when it comes to bannings and color restrictions, something people are loose with if it benefits them, but tight with if it hurts them.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Needle is also way cheaper to cast.

I don't understand how people build EDH decks that work toward actually winning but are fun for the group. Every deck I build, I'm accused by my play group of being uninteractive. But every time I build a deck that doesn't have protection elements I get slapped down to 10 life by Sorin Markov. Honestly it's probably an issue with my play group's expectations than my building, though the next time someone combos off for over 100,000 tokens, I'll remind them of how 'fun' that is, too, and why a card like Norn's Annex is something I consider. /vent

Funny. Where I'm from, Sorin's 10-lifer is more frowned upon then protection spells. Everyone puts "pillow-fort" type cards in their decks. Sounds like you're group gets salty when they run into control elements.

Honestly, the only cards in EDH I don't like are things like Iona or land destruction spells. To me, that just shuts people out of the game completely and totally unfun.

 

[JulianImp]

I actually like political cards in EDH. Whenever I build a deck (whether it's for EDH or FNM play), I tend to build stuff I like while avoiding overpowered interactions.

I really don't get how many EDH decks are just supposed to pretend they're defenseless until they come up with a win out of nowhere. I like playing political cards such as Abyssal Persecutor with no way to sacrifice it (otherwise people would get suspicious), or going for synergy rather than pure combos. I only wish I could find an EDH playgroup around my area...

So, I'll be trying my Simic dec v1.1 for the game day; I'm still not sure whether it's today or tomorrow, though, so I'll have to call my LGS in a few hours. I'll see how the deck works with the changes I intend to make, and I might buy a few commons and uncommons from my LGS's stock to refine my deck even further (Aetherize looks like it could be really useful).

 

[OnPoint]

Funny. Where I'm from, Sorin's 10-lifer is more frowned upon then protection spells. Everyone puts "pillow-fort" type cards in their decks. Sounds like you're group gets salty when they run into control elements.

Honestly, the only cards in EDH I don't like are things like Iona or land destruction spells. To me, that just shuts people out of the game completely and totally unfun.

I might actually make a suggestion that we move away from Sorin. It's awful.

 

[Lucario]

Needle is also way cheaper to cast.

I don't understand how people build EDH decks that work toward actually winning but are fun for the group. Every deck I build, I'm accused by my play group of being uninteractive. But every time I build a deck that doesn't have protection elements I get slapped down to 10 life by Sorin Markov. Honestly it's probably an issue with my play group's expectations than my building, though the next time someone combos off for over 100,000 tokens, I'll remind them of how 'fun' that is, too, and why a card like Norn's Annex is something I consider. /vent

Your EDH playgroup is full of whiners who don't want their combos blown up.

Also.... They need to learn what 'uninteractive' means. Control is interaction! The definition of control is interacting with your opponent by answering their shit!


But.... this happens in every playgroup -- people complain about everything. Here's my deck progression:


Animar w/ combos -- Agreed it was too fast/unfun/uninteractive win condition. Took it apart.
Sharuum value, no combos -- People complained about the general. Took it apart.
Animar, no infinite combos but some silly win-more shit like Myojin. People whined because they didn't like the general. Took it apart.
Dralnu. People don't like playing against control, but honestly, this one probably got the fewest groans.

So, after all this, I decided I'd build a deck with an interactive win condition (planeswalkers and big dumb creatures,) no extra turn effects, no combos, extremely little synergy, no EDH staple creatures, and a useless general I'd never cast unless absolutely desperate for something to do: atogatog.

People complained because I ran too many Wrath effects, then complained about how powerful blue was.



Last night I brought a fucking tribal Karrthus deck -- basically the most timmy thing imaginable, but I threw some hate spells in there out of necessity to prevent people from going infinite.

Turn 1 fetchland into a revised dual caused some groans, then someone conceded when I scavenging oozed their graveyard dry.

(Not doing so would've caused a recursion loop with oblivion stone.)

 

[Yeef]

I'm not a fan of [free-for-all] at all. Three I can usually deal with, four is my limit. Five or more players and count me out. Too much politics and such. I think if a political system was built into the actual game rather than being part of the metagame, it might be a little more tolerable. I'm not a fan of EDH at all though, even 1-on-1.

I do like team-based formats though, like Emperor and Two-Headed Giant.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

Sometimes for FFA we set a rule that states you cannot attack or target a player with the lowest life. Works fine for FFA of 4 or larger.

 

[OnPoint]

Your EDH playgroup is full of whiners who don't want their combos blown up.

Also.... They need to learn what 'uninteractive' means. Control is interaction! The definition of control is interacting with your opponent by answering their shit!


But.... this happens in every playgroup -- people complain about everything. Here's my deck progression:


Animar w/ combos -- Agreed it was too fast/unfun/uninteractive win condition. Took it apart.
Sharuum value, no combos -- People complained about the general. Took it apart.
Animar, no infinite combos but some silly win-more shit like Myojin. People whined because they didn't like the general. Took it apart.
Dralnu. People don't like playing against control, but honestly, this one probably got the fewest groans.

So, after all this, I decided I'd build a deck with an interactive win condition (planeswalkers and big dumb creatures,) no extra turn effects, no combos, extremely little synergy, no EDH staple creatures, and a useless general I'd never cast unless absolutely desperate for something to do: atogatog.

People complained because I ran too many Wrath effects, then complained about how powerful blue was.



Last night I brought a fucking tribal Karrthus deck -- basically the most timmy thing imaginable, but I threw some hate spells in there out of necessity to prevent people from going infinite.

Turn 1 fetchland into a revised dual caused some groans, then someone conceded when I scavenging oozed their graveyard dry.

(Not doing so would've caused a recursion loop with oblivion stone.)

Man, it sounds a lot like my group, and your decks sound fun. Shame you aren't in the area and we can't play together. What gets me is I'm not even playing crazy combos or anything. The worst thing I have now in my one deck is my win condition of Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond. Every deck needs a win-con, right? It's only two enchantments, should be easy to disrupt. But people freak out when a Witchbane Orb or Aeciticism hits the table because I'm no longer an option. I've had people Go For The Throat things 'just cause'. So yeah, I'm gonna do it.

 

[Lucario]

Sometimes for FFA we set a rule that states you cannot attack or target a player with the lowest life. Works fine for FFA of 4 or larger.

Ancient Tomb, Tarnished Citadel.

 

[narcosis219]

Ancient Tomb, Tarnished Citadel.

Yeah, you can definitely build around getting yourself out of harm's way.

 

[platypotamus]

Hey guys, is there a convenient place online I can export cardlists into some excel compatible format? I think that would be pretty convenient as I'm starting to think about cube building.

The answer to this would appear to be "only if you want incredibly shitty and unhelpfully formated excel sheets"

 

[Dreavus]

My group isn't a fan of FFA's either. We just stick to "star" format whenever we have 5, 2v2 teams if there's 4 of us, emperor if there's 6 of us (rare occurrence, and no one really has a proper emperor deck anyway). This is when we're NOT just drafting a cube, at least.

Star in particular is a lot of fun and solves a lot of the problems I have with a traditional FFA. You win if you kill the two players across from you, and the other two players (sitting next to you on either side) are "allies" in the sense that you share a common goal. Sometimes it ends in a shared victory, although you could always have those last two people face off once the other three are dead.

There still are some political interactions though, such as not wanting to kill someone right away because his neighbor is also close to losing (and would give someone else the victory). Or zapping something your "allies" played because it would put them in too good of a position for you to handle.

My group and I are also a bunch of scrubs anyways, so we usually don't have to deal with things like combo decks (a few of the players use mostly unaltered retail commander decks, which speaks for itself haha)

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Woot I'm drafting tonight! Two player Winston my favorite. Is there anyway to make sure the card spread is even? Last time my buddy ended up with way more cards then me.

 

[Lucario]

Man, it sounds a lot like my group, and your decks sound fun. Shame you aren't in the area and we can't play together. What gets me is I'm not even playing crazy combos or anything. The worst thing I have now in my one deck is my win condition of Exquisite Blood/Sanguine Bond. Every deck needs a win-con, right? It's only two enchantments, should be easy to disrupt. But people freak out when a Witchbane Orb or Aeciticism hits the table because I'm no longer an option. I've had people Go For The Throat things 'just cause'. So yeah, I'm gonna do it.

<3! Would love to play some EDH with ya. Shame neogaf isn't an LGS.

 

[Sinatar]

Star in particular is a lot of fun and solves a lot of the problems I have with a traditional FFA. You win if you kill the two players across from you, and the other two players (sitting next to you on either side) are "allies" in the sense that you share a common goal. Sometimes it ends in a shared victory, although you could always have those last two people face off once the other three are dead

Yea if we have 5 people during our lunch games we do "star" style, though in my area people call it pentagram. But yea it makes 5 player free for alls go by nice and fast.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Bought two of the Boros event decks and mirror matched with a buddy. We played about six or seven games. It took all of like a half hour. It's a pretty speedy deck.

Is it just me or does it seem like the event decks have more rares now? Seems a lot better than older ones.

 

[WanderingWind]

Well, I lasted about 2 weeks.

 

[kirblar]

Well, I lasted about 2 weeks.

You'd last longer on the Seinfeld bet.

 

[WanderingWind]

You'd last longer on the Seinfeld bet.

I may be master of my domain, but my card addiction own my ass

 

[Sinatar]

Well, I lasted about 2 weeks.

*sigh*

How many boxes?

 

[WanderingWind]

*sigh*

How many boxes?

...just one. And the Graveborn premium deck. And Hellkite. Also, retard Bob

 

[kirblar]

New "Bob" is so, so bad.

 

[WanderingWind]

New "Bob" is so, so bad.

I am determined to make him work, dammit.

 

[An-Det]

Apparently there are already 1900 people registered for Grand Prix Charlotte. This may be the one to finally beat GP Madrid 2010's record of 2228 players.

 

[Sinatar]

New "Bob" is so, so bad.

Yea that's been my experience with him as well.

 

[Hex]

I won a draft round with Bob lite only because on two straight upkeeps the person flipped a 6cc card and had to eat the life and then two attacks with him.
But he is pretty bad.

 

[Smilax]

I need some help. I bought the Boros Event Deck and I want to combine it with my Boros Deck. It's a casual Deck, so don't expect too much.

2 Boros Guildgate
10 Mountain
10 Plains
1 Gideon, Champion of Justice
2 Gift of Orzhova
3 Fencing Ace
1 Bomber Corps
1 Skyknight Legionnaire
1 Daring Skyjek
1 Wojek Halberdiers
2 Sunhome Guildmage
2 Boros Elite
1 Frontline Medic
1 Spark Trooper
1 Firemane Avenger
2 Rubblebelt Raiders
1 Hellraiser Goblin
2 Mark for Death
1 Aurelia's Fury
1 Cathars' Crusade
3 Arrest
3 Oblivion Ring
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Madcap Skills
2 Sphere of Safety

I'm wondering If I should run 4 Elites, 2 Troopers some more Legionnaires, some Wojeks, Silverblade and the other stuff I have.
I like how it runs, but I really like the stuff in the event deck, and I want to combine the two.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Well, I lasted about 2 weeks.

:lol Does this mean you bought a box of gatecrash?

...just one. And the Graveborn premium deck. And Hellkite. Also, retard Bob

:LOL I so fucking called this!

 

[y2dvd]

Smilax: throw in Boros Charms to protect from Supreme Verdict/Bonfire and add Searing Spears to remove stuff.

I don't have much duolands so I'm going with W/U Humans for gameday. My deck is all kinds of funky because I'm just using what I have lol. Will be going to Saturdays event.

4 x War Falcon
4 x Champion of the Parish
4 x Doom Traveler
2 x Thalia
4 x Knight of Glory
4 x Loyal Cathar
1 x Fiend Hunter
4 x Silverblade Paladin
1 x Frontline Medic
2 x Boros Reckoner
3 x Geist of Saint Traft
1 x Angel of Jubilation
1 x Riders of Gavony
4 x Silver-Inlaid Dagger

4 x Hallowed Fountain
4 x Glacial Fortress
2 x Cavern of Souls
2 x Moorland Haunts
1 x Island
8 x Plains

Sideboard
2 x Supreme Verdict (I expect lots of aggro. Figure I don't mind doing this to my own creatures if I can have Doom Traveler and Loyal Cathar pump something out after death and have Moorland Haunts for more creatures)
2 x O-Ring (mainly for planswalkers)
2 x Faithless Shield
1 x Nevermore
2 x Erase (for Rancors and Detention Spheres)
1 x Rest in Peace
1 x Purify the Grave
2 x Negate
2 x Azorious Charm

 

[Wynnebeck]

Started playing last week. Bought a Gatecrash fat pack and built a Black/White deck around my Obzedat, Ghost Council that I got in one of the boosters. I'm surrounding him with Vizkopa Guildmage for the Extort and Lifelink among other things. I got told I need to get another few packs to round out my deck but I don't know what to do. Go and buy Black and White guild boxes?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Today's first modern daily didn't go terribly well. I beat some bad Merfolk deck without much of a thought, but straight up folded two straight matches against a couple of different flavors of UWR. That feels like it must be a basically unwinnable matchup if the pilot is even remotely decent at magic.

 

[Yeef]

I call him "Welfare Bob."

 

[f0rk]

Started playing last week. Bought a Gatecrash fat pack and built a Black/White deck around my Obzedat, Ghost Council that I got in one of the boosters. I'm surrounding him with Vizkopa Guildmage for the Extort and Lifelink among other things. I got told I need to get another few packs to round out my deck but I don't know what to do. Go and buy Black and White guild boxes?

Buy singles rather than boosters of you want to build a better deck

 

[An-Det]

The Head Judge for Charlotte just announced that it has 2691 people playing, shattering the previous record. Holy shit.

 

[Sinatar]

The Head Judge for Charlotte just announced that it has 2691 people playing, shattering the previous record. Holy shit.

Jesus. It's a limited GP too, that's going to be grueling to play through.

 

[bigkrev]

The Head Judge for Charlotte just announced that it has 2691 people playing, shattering the previous record. Holy shit.

Good god. Whoever wins this can probably say they won the hardest Magic tournament ever.

 

[WanderingWind]

Well, suck it haters. I got 2 Reckoners, 2 Gyre Sage, 3 Boros Charms, a Lavaaz, Ghost Dad and Gideon in that box. Plus a ton of just random ass cards I've been missing. Probably the best box I ever opened.

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

Well, suck it haters. I got 2 Reckoners, 2 Gyre Sage, 3 Boros Charms, a Lavaaz, Ghost Dad and Gideon in that box. Plus a ton of just random ass cards I've been missing. Probably the best box I ever opened.

You pulls must have not been that good if you have to start bragging about pulling uncommons!

 

[Hex]

Jesus. It's a limited GP too, that's going to be grueling to play through.

Serious? Not standard?
Argh.
Mind rot.

 

[robotzombie]

So the Boros Event Deck is really worth the money, right?

 

[Zaraki_Kenpachi]

So the Boros Event Deck is really worth the money, right?

What do you want from it? Event decks are almost never worth the money.

 

[robotzombie]

What do you want from it? Event decks are almost never worth the money.

The silverblade paladin and champ of the parish are the biggest ones, but the extra boros charms, the ash zealot, all those boros elites, thalia, and the two truefire paladins are all cards i'd like to have as well as clifftop retreat and slayer's stronghold

 

[f0rk]

Well add up how much they are in singles and see if it's worth it