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[Angry Grimace]

5C Bring to Light is a toolbox deck, but Jeskai Black is still a toolboxy enough deck I'm not sure I like it's effect on the game. Its fairly rare I get blown out by someone's (competent) brew because A) Gideon is way too good, and B) I usually typically answer almost every card.

I feel like I probably *should* lose if I don't know what you're doing. I can tell you that if you want to play Ulamog, playing 12 mana dorks is the wrong place to be. I've played a few Ulamog decks so far that have beaten me and all of them were Oblivion Sower decks.

 

[Jhriad]

Found a fat pack today. Bought it. I give up. No more of this set for me. Garbage. Not one mythic. Best cards were a foil plains and a foil forest. My salt level is at max.

Those two foil full art lands are probably $5 a piece. With the land pack, you're somewhere in the $26 range already. That's a solid fat pack on it's own.

 

[charlequin]

Came back from a meeting to find this at my desk:

<3

 

[Matriox]

After those changes (thanks gb and grimace) this is where I'm at. I really like how it's shaping up now.

http://decks.deckedbuilder.com/d/118768

 

[Joe Molotov]

Came back from a meeting to find this at my desk:

<3

 

[natethegreat409]

What should I do to prepare myself for a Friday Night Magic? I have a deck, it isn't a BfZ one though. Do i need to buy one for it? I understand the basics of how to play and I'm winning some matches against AI in Magic Duels.

Do i need dice or anything like that?

 

[SigmasonicX]

What should I do to prepare myself for a Friday Night Magic? I have a deck, it isn't a BfZ one though. Do i need to buy one for it? I understand the basics of how to play and I'm winning some matches against AI in Magic Duels.

Do i need dice or anything like that?

Well, what do you want to do? If you are playing Draft, then you don't need to bring any cards, since you will make a deck out of cards you get from new booster packs. If you are playing Standard, then you can use a deck you bring, as long as it has Standard-legal cards.

Standard legal sets are:
Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, Dragons of Tarkir
Magic Origins
Battle for Zendikar

If your deck has any cards that are not in those sets, then you have to modify it.

For dice, you can use them to roll to see who goes first and to keep track of life totals, though for the latter, I recommend using a pen and paper. They are also useful for representing tokens if you don't have token cards on hand.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Also after looking at your deck list, I removed 1 valorous stance and brought in an utter end. Seems like a good answer to everything.

Honestly I don't even think it's that great in the main and I wound up cutting it. It's a solid speculative sideboard card if you win game one and don't want to board too heavily into potentially dead cards like erase.

My deck's changed a bit, this is where I'm at:

I might need a couple more white sources, though. I'm not a huge fan of how Gideon incentivizes cracking for Prairie Stream turn one over Sunken Hollow sometimes. Makes playing certain cards annoying but it's too good with hangarback and Mantis Rider.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Some guy on Reddit found a binder at NYCC with $60,000.00 in cards in it. He listed it as a lost and found on reddit. The redditor in question's name is "Lolhentai4ever." Really. Fucking Magic players.

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";181585131]Honestly I don't even think it's that great in the main and I wound up cutting it. It's a solid speculative sideboard card if you win game one and don't want to board too heavily into potentially dead cards like erase.

My deck's changed a bit, this is where I'm at:

http://abload.de/img/draft2y3u8p.png[IMG]

I might need a couple more white sources, though. I'm not a huge fan of how Gideon incentivizes cracking for Prairie Stream turn one over Sunken Hollow sometimes. Makes playing certain cards annoying but it's too good with hangarback and Mantis Rider.[/QUOTE]

Gideon too strong. I'm up to the full playset because he's just so good. You just win if your opponent can't answer him, and even if he can, at least he's leaving behind a dude, not to mention his -4 being instantly available means that duplicates aren't as horrible as some other Planeswalkers.

 

[red13th]

Some guy on Reddit found a binder at NYCC with $60,000.00 in cards in it. He listed it as a lost and found on reddit.

The redditor in question's name is "Lolhentai4ever." Really. Fucking Magic players.

eh it's a 17 year old kid so it's okay.
nice story too, reportedly the guy told him to get any card from the binder (that had alpha Moxen, beta Lotus etc) and he picked an expedition Wooded Foothills.

 

[OnPoint]

Those two foil full art lands are probably $5 a piece. With the land pack, you're somewhere in the $26 range already. That's a solid fat pack on it's own.

It's not really about the money. I wouldn't mind as much if I could pull a playable rare. How many Prism Arrays can a man pull before never buying sealed product again? It's ri-god-damned-diculous.

 

[Ashodin]

Some guy on Reddit found a binder at NYCC with $60,000.00 in cards in it. He listed it as a lost and found on reddit. The redditor in question's name is "Lolhentai4ever." Really. Fucking Magic players.



Gideon too strong. I'm up to the full playset because he's just so good. You just win if your opponent can't answer him, and even if he can, at least he's leaving behind a dude, not to mention his -4 being instantly available means that duplicates aren't as horrible as some other Planeswalkers.

His emblem is too stronk, noninteractable fun times

 

[Haines]

Had a blast tonight. I had an easy job at work of doing nothing so i too my 12 packs worth of bfz cards and made 2 40 card decks for me and wifey to play

Mine is just red green landfall And hers blueblack ingest process

Happy ith how they turned out

But REALLY starting to find some comfort in magic so really having a lot of fun messing with physical cards instead of digital stuff

 

[Angry Grimace]

I think one of the funnier parts about Nissa's entire story being retconned is not only that they removed her being a Fantastic Racist, they also barely even mention the fact that its entirely her fucking fault that Zendikar is being destroyed.

 

[Ashodin]

The Planeswalkers don't seem to really have any drama when it comes to accountability. They just go "OK LETS FIX IT" instead of being held accountable for what they've done.

Sorin needs to show up and be like "bitch k you opened it now fix it"

They just want to save zendikarrrrrrrrrr

 

["God's Beard!"]

Gideon too strong. I'm up to the full playset because he's just so good. You just win if your opponent can't answer him, and even if he can, at least he's leaving behind a dude, not to mention his -4 being instantly available means that duplicates aren't as horrible as some other Planeswalkers.

Man, I barely do anything other than instantly -4 lol

 

[OnPoint]

I think one of the funnier parts about Nissa's entire story being retconned is not only that they removed her being a Fantastic Racist, they also barely even mention the fact that its entirely her fucking fault that Zendikar is being destroyed.

Yeah... they really are missing the boat on that part of the story. She is, for all intents and purposes, a completely different character.

 

[kirblar]

I don't understand the instant -4 making it through development lol

 

[Angry Grimace]

I don't understand the instant -4 making it through development lol

They wanted the face card to be good. They probably shouldn't have made him dramatically better than all of the other cards in the set though.

 

[Infinite Stars]

I don't understand the instant -4 making it through development lol

Maybe it's a case like Tarmogoyf where there's a typo on the card and it was meant to be -5 or something?

I find it funny from a semi-vorthos thing that Gideon just showing up is enough to give your creatures an anthem, considering that the War Diaries on the cards flavor text implies he leads by example.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Maybe it's a case like Tarmogoyf where there's a typo on the card and it was meant to be -5 or something?

I find it funny from a semi-vorthos thing that Gideon just showing up is enough to give your creatures an anthem, considering that the War Diaries on the cards flavor text implies he leads by example.

The only thing that makes the ability good is the fact you can use it immediately.

 

[duxstar]

Gideon being Awesome makes up for him being the 2nd worst in origins, they will make up for chandra by making her the best card in gatewatch. Then the set after that we are going to Lilliana's story so they will make her OP or reprint the Lilliana everyone want's reprinted (I forget which one I want to say Lilliana of the Vieil?)

Don't worry though, any hope you have for an awesome multicolor planeswalker will somehow be screwed up; have any of the 2 or 3 color planeswalkers been actually really good ?

Xenagos was OK, Ashiok was probably above average, Ajani was a 2 of but not amazing, Kiora is looking like a dud (both times), Garruk at 7 mana stunk, Sorin was seen in Abzan aggro but wasn't amazing. Sarkhan, Sarkhan ,and Narset were all pretty meh.

None of them are on the power level of Jace, Elspeth, Gideon, or Ugin

 

[Angry Grimace]

Chandra sees play though. I've seen a few Chandras as top end in RDW; that DeMars guy won a round off of the BTL deck with her.

Kiora is probably better than I think people realize. Kiora plus a dork (especially Whisperer or Shaman) makes a buttload of mana in an environment that has a ton of fatties and her minus can be as good as Jace AOT's in the right deck.

 

[aidan]

It's not really about the money. I wouldn't mind as much if I could pull a playable rare. How many Prism Arrays can a man pull before never buying sealed product again? It's ri-god-damned-diculous.

I mean, I can't complain too much, because I pulled an Expedition Wooded Foothills, but I've pulled three damn Prism Arrays already and can't figure out who in their right mind designed such a card and thought it would be good to include in an official M:tG booster product at rare. Seriously.

 

[OnPoint]

Don't worry though, any hope you have for an awesome multicolor planeswalker will somehow be screwed up; have any of the 2 or 3 color planeswalkers been actually really good ?

Xenagos was OK, Ashiok was probably above average, Ajani was a 2 of but not amazing, Kiora is looking like a dud (both times), Garruk at 7 mana stunk, Sorin was seen in Abzan aggro but wasn't amazing. Sarkhan, Sarkhan ,and Narset were all pretty meh.

None of them are on the power level of Jace, Elspeth, Gideon, or Ugin

Of the two/three color guys? Ajani Veng was a big deal. Nicol Bolas saw play, didn't he? Domri Rade saw some play. Xenagos saw a lot of play. Ashiok saw a lot of play. Sorin Solemn saw play more toward the beginning. Ajani sometimes saw some play. Vraska saw some limited play. Tezzeret 2.0 has a legacy deck. Venser showed up in some occasional builds in standard though never all that competitively. I think that's about it from what I can recall.

 

[duxstar]

So go on channel fireball right now and see "Jeskai black is the de facto best deck in standard"

Just ignoring the g/w decks

In other news I finally opened a Gideon, 3 more to go =(

 

[Angry Grimace]

Of the two/three color guys? Ajani Veng was a big deal. Nicol Bolas saw play, didn't he? Domri Rade saw some play. Xenagos saw a lot of play. Ashiok saw a lot of play. Sorin Solemn saw play more toward the beginning. Ajani sometimes saw some play. Vraska saw some limited play. Tezzeret 2.0 has a legacy deck. Venser showed up in some occasional builds in standard though never all that competitively. I think that's about it from what I can recall.

Ajani Vengeant is one of my favorites.

So go on channel fireball right now and see "Jeskai black is the de facto best deck in standard"

Just ignoring the g/w decks

In other news I finally opened a Gideon, 3 more to go =(

the bigger problem is that the best Gideon deck is actually also a Jace deck

 

[charlequin]

Landfall Landfall Landfall. I highly doubt Wizards would bring back Landfall for a block only to have it become mostly useless outside of a handful of cards post rotation for the rest of BFZ's time in Standard.

WotC prints mechanics that become useless before they rotate out all the time. In fact, they prefer to do that, because they don't want you caring about last year's mechanics, they want you excited about the new stuff. Enemy fetchlands are not happening before BFZ rotates out, people really need to stop giving themselves false hope about it.

Wizards needs a way to get the stereotypical Magic player excited for a block that sounds completely uninteresting to them(like Khans probably was)

Khans was Game of Thrones (most popular nerd TV show) x Gold (most popular Magic set theme by a huge margin) so... I don't think this conclusion is particularly well-supported.

nice story too, reportedly the guy told him to get any card from the binder (that had alpha Moxen, beta Lotus etc) and he picked an expedition Wooded Foothills.

He also told the kid to take a promo JSS Glorious Anthem, which:

Lulz.

 

[WanderingWind]

Happy ending and all, but Magic players have got to stop doing this shit. If you absolutely have a need to bring $60,000 worth of cards to a packed venue (showing off your sweet foils is not a need) then hold on to your shit. I've seen people turn their backs on a crowded counter with their pimped out modern decks sitting on it while clutching their Mario wallet with like, 10 bucks and a dried up condom in it. You wouldn't walk around with $60,000 in cash and if you did, you certainly wouldn't just leave it unsecured.

 

[traveler]

So go on channel fireball right now and see "Jeskai black is the de facto best deck in standard"

Just ignoring the g/w decks

In other news I finally opened a Gideon, 3 more to go =(

This is the same as last week. Then, if you open the top 8 standard stars or whatever, they continue the narrative. It's pretty weird. I guess Jeskai is supposed to be favored or something, so they're just assuming difference in luck/pilot skill has lead to gw placing higher both opens in a row?

 

[Infinite Stars]

WotC prints mechanics that become useless before they rotate out all the time. In fact, they prefer to do that, because they don't want you caring about last year's mechanics, they want you excited about the new stuff. Enemy fetchlands are not happening before BFZ rotates out, people really need to stop giving themselves false hope about it.

False hope is what some people need.
That places the earliest time we get them at what, spring 2017? About the time when we'd get Modern Masters 3?(Assuming 2 years between MM releases) If that's the case, I wonder if we'll just not get them in Standard any time in the near future.

Khans was Game of Thrones (most popular nerd TV show) x Gold (most popular Magic set theme by a huge margin) so... I don't think this conclusion is particularly well-supported.
.

KTK is nothing akin to GoT, because GoT was fantasy based in ideas that was already super established in TV/Film(European focused fantasy) . That's not to say that we don't have non European aspects in GoT, but 99% of the show focus on characters and/or places that are based in European fantasy.

KTK was an Asian inspired set design wise from a company who had made a mediocre Asian set to a consumer base that had rejected it*. I know that there's a vocal portion of people who like the set, but I've heard that it's considered a dud by a lot of players. There's every reason to believe that the set could have been a flop. The Allied fetches helped to mitigate this by selling what was a hard sell with a modern reprinting of Ally Fetches.

*I'm basing this on what I've heard of the block as a whole from people at my LGS/The Internet.


***
With how much Gideon is right now, I'm coming to the decision that if I crack a Gideon I'm selling him ASAP. Sure, he'd be nice, but he's $45 in Canada and I'd have to dump $180(He's an auto 4 of since he's so easy to use). Like, I get that Magic is a middle class hobby, but these current Standard prices are just wow.

If you're running UW, just the Fetches/Santas/Planeswalkers runs you $600 on Channel Fireball. Sure, you can knock off $200 if you shop well, but that's $400ish for 14 cards.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Well *puts on conspiracy hat* they are selling cards and GW megamorph is cheaper than Jeskai Black.

 

[Violet_0]

I think I might reactivate my old Magic Online account and build a cheap commander deck out of bulk rares. What qualities do I need to look for in my commander choice, aside from the colors - is hexproof/invulnerability important for them, since you can always re-cast them from the command zone?

as for deck construction, I suppose the focus should be on big-effect cards, mass removal, card draw, life gain, graveyard recursion, protection against counterspells - and something that is probably not too attached to permanents because I expect there will be lots of board wipes. Anything in particular I should pay attention to?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I'll have to make a Venser EDH deck someday.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

I think one of the funnier parts about Nissa's entire story being retconned is not only that they removed her being a Fantastic Racist, they also barely even mention the fact that its entirely her fucking fault that Zendikar is being destroyed.

 

[A Serious Man]

I see the scheduled MTGO downtime this week was cancelled in favor of unscheduled MTGO downtime. How am I supposed to draft BfZ in the dead of night to Vivaldi now?

 

[Firemind]

Of the two/three color guys? Ajani Veng was a big deal. Nicol Bolas saw play, didn't he? Domri Rade saw some play. Xenagos saw a lot of play. Ashiok saw a lot of play. Sorin Solemn saw play more toward the beginning. Ajani sometimes saw some play. Vraska saw some limited play. Tezzeret 2.0 has a legacy deck. Venser showed up in some occasional builds in standard though never all that competitively. I think that's about it from what I can recall.

Nicol Bolas wasn't played very much at all in the same block as Cruel Ultimatum.

Not to mention with Lorwyn block preceding and Zendikar block succeeding him.

He did originally orchestrate the release of the Eldrazi titans though. For what reason? ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[tch]

So I'm interested in picking up one of each of the Khans fetches for my cube. Is there an ideal time/way to do so? I know they don't rotate for a while and are played in all formats but wasn't sure if they might drop even a little post-rotation, or if I should just jump now?

Is pucatrade a viable way to get them, or is the wait time pretty long? I'm also trying to trade/sell a Jace to help get them fwiw

 

[divisionbyzorro]

If Khans was GoT, WotC really cheaped out on the nudity.

 

[OnPoint]

Nicol Bolas wasn't played very much at all in the same block as Cruel Ultimatum.

Not to mention with Lorwyn block preceding and Zendikar block succeeding him.

He did originally orchestrate the release of the Eldrazi titans though. For what reason? ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

Yeah, to be fair, I didn't really play during Shards, so I'm not SHOCKED to hear Nicol Bolas didn't see play, I guess I must have got him mixed up with Ultimatum haha

Didn't either Sarkhan 1.0 or 2.0 see play in standard though?

As for the story beats, I'm starting to get anxious about their plans for Bolas. They have to provide an explanation at some point, right? We're getting past the point where we should see a method to his madness. It should propel the story to the next stage. The main characters are fighting giant, world-eating creatures and it somehow feels like they're spinning their wheels. The void left by the "why" is starting to be too great to ignore.

 

[pelicansurf]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";181585131]Honestly I don't even think it's that great in the main and I wound up cutting it. It's a solid speculative sideboard card if you win game one and don't want to board too heavily into potentially dead cards like erase.

My deck's changed a bit, this is where I'm at:

I might need a couple more white sources, though. I'm not a huge fan of how Gideon incentivizes cracking for Prairie Stream turn one over Sunken Hollow sometimes. Makes playing certain cards annoying but it's too good with hangarback and Mantis Rider.[/QUOTE]
Lol, your deck is starting to look like my original/first deck post a while ago, while I've been straying from it. 3 Ojutai's Commands is probably the best bet.

Also how do you like Sorin? What does he do for you?

 

[A Serious Man]

I'm halfway to having playsets of all the new duals just from drafting. The bad news? Not a single Gideon, Kiora, Nixilis, Ruinous Path or anything else that I might use in constructed.

 

[WanderingWind]

So I'm interested in picking up one of each of the Khans fetches for my cube. Is there an ideal time/way to do so? I know they don't rotate for a while and are played in all formats but wasn't sure if they might drop even a little post-rotation, or if I should just jump now?

Is pucatrade a viable way to get them, or is the wait time pretty long? I'm also trying to trade/sell a Jace to help get them fwiw

Buy now. They've already started their rise and they're not getting reprinted basically until we're all dead. Buy now. Buy several playsets. Encase one in carbonite.

 

[ElyrionX]

Buy now. They've already started their rise and they're not getting reprinted basically until we're all dead. Buy now. Buy several playsets. Encase one in carbonite.

Aren't they going to fall post-rotation?

 

[Socat]

Aren't they going to fall post-rotation?

I would expect them to fall slightly, and then begin climbing steadily

 

[Firemind]

Yeah, to be fair, I didn't really play during Shards, so I'm not SHOCKED to hear Nicol Bolas didn't see play, I guess I must have got him mixed up with Ultimatum haha

Didn't either Sarkhan 1.0 or 2.0 see play in standard though?

As for the story beats, I'm starting to get anxious about their plans for Bolas. They have to provide an explanation at some point, right? We're getting past the point where we should see a method to his madness. It should propel the story to the next stage. The main characters are fighting giant, world-eating creatures and it somehow feels like they're spinning their wheels. The void left by the "why" is starting to be too great to ignore.

Sarkhan Vol was played in no serious deck as far as I'm aware. Jund didn't want him at all. Sarkhan the Mad though, oh yes; Jund didn't mind upgrading Sprouting Thrinax and friends into dragons. The dark confidant ability was also a great way to gain card advantage, especially with JTMS side by side. I played both in Grixis and won a PTQ. I actually see a lot of parallels between Sarkhan the Mad and Ob Nixilis. The only downside is Ob is slightly harder to cast in a 3+ colour deck and losing life instead of loyalty is pretty bad against aggro, not to mention destroying a lowly creature isn't all that. It's a good thing for Ob that R&D neglected to print any half-decent burn spell!

One of the reasons I don't want to go to Kaladesh just yet is because Bolas likely doesn't have any business on an artificer's plane. Plus, Chandra? Like there are any chances of an actual great Chandra that isn't just burn to the face. I kind of want to see one with Pyroclasm as the minus ability that isn't 5+ mana, but knowing R&D, they will probably make it into an expensive pinger.

 

[WanderingWind]

Aren't they going to fall post-rotation?

I sincerely doubt it. If they don't it'll be the fastest reclimb in history. It's not as if these are an unknown quantity, or like Thoughtsieze, a known quantity that some people will think they can live without. If you play anything but standard, you need 'em and folks know that. I figure the only people to sell post rotation will be the brand newbians.

 

[OnPoint]

One of the reasons I don't want to go to Kaladesh just yet is because Bolas likely doesn't have any business on an artificer's plane. Plus, Chandra? Like there are any chances of an actual great Chandra that isn't just burn to the face. I kind of want to see one with Pyroclasm as the minus ability that isn't 5+ mana, but knowing R&D, they will probably make it into an expensive pinger.

I almost agree on Bolas, but his motivations are so vague that I could see them making it work. Something like Bolas being after a long-lost but powerful relic and Chandra trying to beat him to getting it. Maybe it could be something to control the Eldrazi. Maybe it could be something to control machines (Phyrexians). Maybe it's something else entirely. Give it an Indiana Jones style-feeling and make Chandra into the good doctor.

I'm mostly joking about that last part, but they really need to add some sort of nuance to Chandra to give her some sort of depth. Burn, Other Burn, and Big Burn are not good abilities all on one card, and they outclassed her pseudo-card drawing ability on an enchantment, so something tells me that well is dry. She's just so boring to me mechanically.

What sucks is they probably won't give her some sort of artificer abilities despite her family profession due to "her fiery nature" or whatever. I mean, it really wouldn't fit her anyway. Would be cool if they had an ability that was like: " -2: Exile a card from your hand. You may play any card exiled by Chandra once per turn as though it were in your hand. " They could even make the burn aspect more interesting. " -2: Put a 4/1 Elemental token with trample and haste into play. Exile that creature at the end of the turn. " Sigh.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

They had the chance to give her some artificer ability in Magic Origins.

They could have given her the Ghirapur spawn a thopter on ETB, then have her - ability once she flips be an artifact sac outlet, Fiery Conclusion would have been perfect.

 

[WanderingWind]

http://www.magicspoiler.com/commander-2015-spoiler/