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[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Perfectly acceptable line of play if the situation calls for it pre-combat if you're expecting a Celestial Flare, or want to resolve a Mantis Rider, etc. Counterspells are only good if you can cast them right when your opponent casts the spell so its a good protective measure. A lot of games with Jeskai Black end up with Jace on board doing nothing but ticking up so its not a bad play.

I thought so but I've not seen it done a single time on camera watching SCG and the PT. Ticking up Jace is funny since I've also never seen him Ult once on camera.

I actually did this on my attack step with a surge of righteousness. No matter what he chose to do, it would lead to his doom, but my opponent was genuinely confused when I did it. It was pretty sweet.

as in you had a trampler or that he couldn't come back from it

Shitload of ramp + dorks, tap out and float any extra mana you might have, play all the ramp and land fetch spells and you end up with an insurmountable resource advantage, then you just drop Ulamog or something. Being the active player when you cast it is way better. As far as I can tell they're usually ramp/Ulamog decks.

the deck Cheon played against had Aurora, Nissa's Renewal, Living Lore, green Retreats, a bunch of forest searching and Nissa. He conceded at 50+ life. Game 2 he played Nissa and Nissa's Pilgrimage with no forests in his deck anymore

 

[Angry Grimace]

Ulting Jace isn't even the right move even if you get to 9 most of the time. Ulting Jace is what you do as a wincon if you are playing pure draw-go control and want a wincon.

 

[natethegreat409]

Going to my first FNM tomorrow night. Any tips or suggestions?

They said they are going to be playing standard and possibly a draft. I have a standard deck already, which I'm sure won't do anything against their decks but it'll be good to learn.

 

[y2dvd]

Going to my first FNM tomorrow night. Any tips or suggestions?

They said they are going to be playing standard and possibly a draft. I have a standard deck already, which I'm sure won't do anything against their decks but it'll be good to learn.

Just mention it's your first FNM, don't be afraid to ask questions or call a judge, and have fun.

 

[Haines]

Going to my first FNM tomorrow night. Any tips or suggestions?

They said they are going to be playing standard and possibly a draft. I have a standard deck already, which I'm sure won't do anything against their decks but it'll be good to learn.

When i wen pt to first two events, i just mentioned i was new.

Take your time. You will make mistakes. Just be on the same page as your opponent and have fun.

Also most people will probably know the swt very well already so yeah, expect some tough competetion. I lost a lot but learned so much.

 

[keeblerdrow]

In other news, Travis Woo is still a crazy person. I have maintained for quite some time that if someone is advocating for putting Honored Heirarch in a deck, I should immediately take anything they say about deck construction with a massive amount of salt. It's a trap card that makes people talk about Christmas. He's such a very high risk to very narrow but high reward that it'd take making a deck around him to make him playable. I'll admit, when the card is good, it's fantastic. But I don't think your opponents will always let you be on the play every time he's in your opening hand.

I don't even care if I end up eating my hat over this stance. I have 3 foils of this card that I'll bank with if he somehow ends up a standard staple.

Spoiler

He won't

 

[charlequin]

Either way, I don't think that sort of loaded language has any place here regardless of your feelings on that drafting type. I neither feel its helpful nor, more important, accurate.

Maybe I haven't been clear enough? When stores run events in which rares are redrafted, they are -- besides explicitly breaking WotC's rules -- almost always doing it in order to give their regulars an opportunity to walk away with more than their share of value from drafts, at the expense of more casual or newer players who have just shown up for the current event.

Having to even interact with this kind of player is already unpleasant in even normal circumstances; when store staff team up with them it's just miserable. These are the kinds of stores that give hobby gaming a bad name. It's sleazy behavior and I'm not going to call it anything else.

In other news, Travis Woo is still a crazy person.

I don't think I've ever seen one of these articles where someone makes an elaborate and tortured analogy for how you should view {bad card X} as being equivalent to {great card Y} that was any good at all.

 

[WanderingWind]

RE: MTGO shuffler. I haven't logged in for a while, but one thing does strike me as sort of funny. We all know the client is a broken mess and that WotC has made promises regarding it they haven't kept. Yet, they tell us that it's totally random and show us the math based on the old client years ago and we all just believe it. Not even saying it isn't true - I fucking suck at math so probability might as well be Jesus making decisions for me - but it's funny how this one thing is the part that we mostly agree is working as intended.

 

[ElyrionX]

So what EDH decks are you guys running?

I have, in descending power level order:

Derevi Lockdown (my only Tier 1 deck that I recently built and will only bring out in rare cases as my play group is quite casual)
Animar Combo Control
Melek Burn (my favourite deck)
Kaarthus Dragon Tribal

Had an Azami deck but I dismantled it a week ago as I was just not having fun with it.

 

[Violet_0]

I'd imagine that a shuffler which correctly randomizes the order of the cards would be one of the easiest things to program

 

[Bandini]

So what EDH decks are you guys running?

I have, in descending power level order:

Derevi Lockdown (my only Tier 1 deck that I recently built and will only bring out in rare cases as my play group is quite casual)
Animar Combo Control
Melek Burn (my favourite deck)
Kaarthus Dragon Tribal

Had an Azami deck but I dismantled it a week ago as I was just not having fun with it.

Prossh - Creatures, Planeswalkers, Doubling Season
Daretti - Monored Artifact Shenanigans
Narset - Control, Tokens

However, 75% of the time I play 3 player with the same two people and we just randomize the deck picks. Other decks are:

Ob Nixilis - Monoblack
Tetsuo Umezawa - Grixis Mill/Combo
Roon of the Hidden Realms - Flicker
Wrexial - UB Control
Freyelise - Monogreen Elves
Nahiri - Monowhite Equipment

All the precons have had a lot of modifications done so they're all competitive, we have a lot of good games... looking forward to the new Commander spoilers for sure.

 

[noquarter]

I played a game on MTGO for the first time in over a year a month ago and got fucked hard by the shuffler on the last game I played. Had to mulligan down to three due to a hand that was one land and then three that were no land. Then had to wait five turns to get my second land.

Think the problem with the shuffler is there isn't a "Cut" button. That might fix ask if the problems.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I want to make a Narset deck with timewarps, Brago and Aurelia.

 

[jph139]

I mostly play shitty-deck-EDH at this point since I'm too cheap for any real format, so I have a big stack of decks. Roughly by power level:

Jeleva - Grixis Free Spells
Ob Nixilis (Planeswalker) - Black Stuff
Feldon - Red Reanimator, Artifact Subtheme
Azusa - Green Stuff
Jalira - Blue Polymorph
Borborygmos* - Gruul +1/+1 Counters
Kytheon* - White Tokens

Top two are the actually decent ones, middle three are to fuck around with, bottom two are heavily reworked and brand new respectively so I haven't had a real chance to try them out.

I like the high-variance nature of EDH games. Sometimes you get to discard and reanimate Heartless Hidetsugu repeatedly by Turn 4, sometimes you polymorph your Artisan of Kozilek into a 1/1 flier. Always a good time.

 

[Bandini]

I'd imagine that a shuffler which correctly randomizes the order of the cards would be one of the easiest things to program

Yep, sometimes bad draws just happen. It's the nature of the game, not a faulty shuffler. Reminds me of all the people I've seen over the years while playing online poker that claim the software is rigged. Good players will continue to find the edges and accept the losses they have to.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

RE: MTGO shuffler. I haven't logged in for a while, but one thing does strike me as sort of funny. We all know the client is a broken mess and that WotC has made promises regarding it they haven't kept. Yet, they tell us that it's totally random and show us the math based on the old client years ago and we all just believe it. Not even saying it isn't true - I fucking suck at math so probability might as well be Jesus making decisions for me - but it's funny how this one thing is the part that we mostly agree is working as intended.

I'd imagine that a shuffler which correctly randomizes the order of the cards would be one of the easiest things to program

It's actually harder than you'd think (or rather, it's easy to accidentally build a bad shuffler). The problem is that's also super hard for players to shuffle in real life - most players aren't playing with truly randomized decks at your local FNM (without realizing it). And when someone else is shuffling for you, the variance is more noticeable.

 

[El Topo]

It's actually harder than you'd think (or rather, it's easy to accidentally build a bad shuffler). The problem is that's also super hard for players to shuffle in real life - most players aren't playing with truly randomized decks at your local FNM (without realizing it). And when someone else is shuffling for you, the variance is more noticeable.

It can't be too hard to simulate a (few) dozen riffle shuffles.

 

[Ashodin]

EDH:

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy - Everything you own is mine
Omnath, Locus of Rage - Lands matter (but everything else doesn't)
Odric, Master Tactician - Soldiers and their weapons

 

[Firemind]

but jace is a telepathist, illusionist and clairvoyant. not a brainwasher/hypnotist.

 

[Ashodin]

but jace is a telepathist, illusionist and clairvoyant. not a brainwasher/hypnotist.

WIP

 

[OnPoint]

but jace is a telepathist, illusionist and clairvoyant. not a brainwasher/hypnotist.

For now. I'm still holding hope for that heel turn! He "convinced" Gideon to change his mind in the BfZ storyline with his magic, so maybe they'll go all Professor X on it and eventually unleash his dark side.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

In the non canon story he already turned that giantess walker.

Also he's not much better than Tezzeret already, he just leaves people to die instead of ending them himself. I'm actually surprised he's the poster child of MtG when you consider that messing witht the minds of people is very intrusive and abusive.

 

[OnPoint]

In the non canon story he already turned that giantess walker.

Also he's not much better than Tezzeret already, he just leaves people to die instead of ending them himself. I'm actually surprised he's the poster child of MtG when you consider that messing witht the minds of people is very intrusive and abusive.

The loner outcast nobody-understands-me-but-is-also-super-powerful archetype is always popular, especially when they have such cooooool hair. He's the Linkin Park of MtG characters. He's really popular with a(n admittedly large) crowd that identifies with him, while everyone else has nothing but contempt for the emo mind mage.

 

[Violet_0]

lost a game because for whatever reason I didn't have a stop during my blocking phase. And I have such a neat vampire-themed deck with Drana, Gruul Draz Overseer, Painful Truths and Defiant Overlord just because. To be fair the other guy had a sick G/R landfall deck with insane draws. If I don't go 2-1 now I'll be mad

I think I'll build a vampire EDH deck, it's a sign

 

[WanderingWind]

It's actually harder than you'd think (or rather, it's easy to accidentally build a bad shuffler). The problem is that's also super hard for players to shuffle in real life - most players aren't playing with truly randomized decks at your local FNM (without realizing it). And when someone else is shuffling for you, the variance is more noticeable.

Oh, I'm sure. I just think it's funny that this is the one point about MTGO we look at as infallible. I believe MTGO is fine. There is no fucking way Duels is truly random on both sides. Difficult levels alone make that impossible.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

The loner outcast nobody-understands-me-but-is-also-super-powerful archetype is always popular, especially when they have such cooooool hair. He's the Linkin Park of MtG characters. He's really popular with a(n admittedly large) crowd that identifies with him, while everyone else has nothing but contempt for the emo mind mage.

Of course he's a power fantasy, he even has a BDSM girlfriend, but he's basically mind raping people. Murdering people, being racist, being a dick is something but changing their personalities for their own cause is just so wrong.

 

[Violet_0]

I really dig the art of Talent of the Telepath, though

 

[Firemind]

but jace wants to protect people

Spoiler

for his own gain

in a way, he's very blue. maybe even the bluest character in the game. that's cool.

 

[OnPoint]

Of course he's a power fantasy, he even has a BDSM girlfriend, but he's basically mind raping people. Murdering people, being racist, being a dick is something but changing their personalities for their own cause is just so wrong.

Hey, I'm on your team. He's an awful character. I think that's the problem I have with the current story, and what I hope will be "fixed" most, is that the main characters lack any sort of nuance or actual personality. They're (and maybe on purpose) pretty much the personifications of their color identities.

 

[WanderingWind]

I sort of feel like I'm going to regret this, but Jace has a BDSM girlfriend?

 

[OnPoint]

I sort of feel like I'm going to regret this, but Jace has a BDSM girlfriend?

lol Liliana. I get what he's saying.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

I sort of feel like I'm going to regret this, but Jace has a BDSM girlfriend?

Liliana, well she played him but you can see where this is going

but jace wants to protect people

Spoiler

for his own gain

in a way, he's very blue. maybe even the bluest character in the game. that's cool.

He's cliché blue, he does the most obvious blue things, when blue has much more to offer.

Hey, I'm on your team. He's an awful character. I think that's the problem I have with the current story, and what I hope will be "fixed" most, is that the main characters lack any sort of nuance or actual personality. They're (and maybe on purpose) pretty much the personifications of their color identities.

Yeah and the backgrounds they have isn't even consistent and gets retconned all the time. They need a Lorekeeper for mtg or if they have one replace him.

And hire Brandon Sanderson to write a trilogy.

 

[WanderingWind]

Ah. I don't follow the story particularly close. It does sound like Jace has a splash of black and Lili, once "reformed" could do with a lil blue in her.

And Ashiok is their kid from the future, send back in time to Theros.

 

[Angry Grimace]

In other news, Travis Woo is still a crazy person. I have maintained for quite some time that if someone is advocating for putting Honored Heirarch in a deck, I should immediately take anything they say about deck construction with a massive amount of salt. It's a trap card that makes people talk about Christmas. He's such a very high risk to very narrow but high reward that it'd take making a deck around him to make him playable. I'll admit, when the card is good, it's fantastic. But I don't think your opponents will always let you be on the play every time he's in your opening hand.

I don't even care if I end up eating my hat over this stance. I have 3 foils of this card that I'll bank with if he somehow ends up a standard staple.

Spoiler

He won't

 

[Firemind]

He's cliché blue, he does the most obvious blue things, when blue has much more to offer.

like what?

every colour is cliche in its purest form. that's how the five colours have been designed since day one. this isn't star trek where there are multiple factions each with their own ideals.

 

[manipulate]

And hire Brandon Sanderson to write a trilogy.

noooooooooooooooo

 

[MjFrancis]

I don't run Lili or Walker in mine for budget reasons, so I can't say anything on that.

What I can say is Vampiric Rites is better value than Altar's Reap, and Bone Splinters is better than Murderous Cut by a long shot.

Keep in mind though, my Aristocrats deck is combo, with important green being absent from Calcano's deck.

My graveyard stays surprisingly shallow, so I'd test his build for yourself first to see how smooth delve is.

Real late response on this, but I've been doing some more goldfishing on U/B Aristocrats and read up on some stuff (Pascal Maynard had a great guide here) and despite sharing cards like Zulaport Cutthroat and Nantuko Husk, it's too different than other Aristocrats lists. More often than not it feels like Atarka Red, especially with the Nantuko Husk/Whirler Rogue combo allowing for T4 kills.

I got the full playset of Hangarbacks now, and I've decided that I don't like Treasure Cruise over my missing copy of Liliana. This deck really likes a critical mass of creatures. I've zeroed in on a one-of Tasigur or Sidisi, Undead Vizer. The latter, while mana intensive, is nice because it's like half a Bring to Light with a 4/6 deathtouch body. It's a removal magnet too, which is fine because hopefully that opens the path for me to cast whatever I grabbed with Sidisi. Unless it's Murderous Cut, then I'm probably losing at that point of the game anyways. It's nice to tutor for answers on demand though.

I've not liked Bone Splinters over Murderous Cut in this deck on account of Sorcery v. Instant speed, and needing a creature to sac to use it. More often than not I'm using a Murderous Cut on Anafenza, the Foremost, and Bone Splinters can be a little lacking there, especially if I'm counting on recurring whatever I was forced to sac to cast it.

Four delve cards feel fine in this deck too. Tasigur for a fifth works alright, but again it just seems to die before I ever get to use the card's ability.

So what sort of Aristocrats list are you running? You said combo, so is it Abzan Rally? I have a budget Mardu list too, but again that is way different than what U/B or Abzan is doing. I liked LSV's 4c Rally list, but I don't have 4x Baby Jaces lying around:

http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-lsv-standard-4-color-rally-the-ancestors/

 

[A Serious Man]

Speaking of everyone's favorite content producer: Standard Land Destruction featuring SaffronOlive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-TZP2QvYt4

I love this but if you're going to make a LD troll deck, you gotta run Pyromancer's Goggles for the extra salt.

 

[blackflag]

What would you guys recommend buying into in modern. Money isn't really an issue. I've just only been back in and playing standard for a few months and have the urge to play Modern.

I prefer controlish decks. This is MTGO but I don't think that makes a difference.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

I love this but if you're going to make a LD troll deck, you gotta run Pyromancer's Goggles for the extra salt.

Devoid kinda screws that up.

 

[WanderingWind]

What would you guys recommend buying into in modern. Money isn't really an issue. I've just only been back in and playing standard for a few months and have the urge to play Modern.

I prefer controlish decks. This is MTGO but I don't think that makes a difference.

Grixis control is the most recent, steady control deck in modern. Some of that is Kolagan's Command, some of that is just the sheer novelty of Grixis not sucking in modern any longer. It's my backup deck at the moment. Tons of fun, good matchups (oddly soft against merfolk) but overall a really, really solid choice.
http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=10430&d=259695&f=MO

UW control is back (for now). I don't like it as much as grixis, but it's nabbed a solid piece of the meta. I'd go with whichever you're happiest with. I live for Bolt - Snap - Bolt (or Command). Some people prefer the turtle plan of Wall of Omens and Finks. http://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=10611&d=260719&f=MO

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

like what?

every colour is cliche in its purest form. that's how the five colours have been designed since day one. this isn't star trek where there are multiple factions each with their own ideals.

I don't mind the colour it's just that he draws cards, mills and bounces, it's like he'd have a counter ability if they could.

Giving flashback is the first time he got a rare blue ability.

 

[Firemind]

How do you propose to do counterspells on a walker?

Yeah blue is boring.

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah and the backgrounds they have isn't even consistent and gets retconned all the time. They need a Lorekeeper for mtg or if they have one replace him.

And hire Brandon Sanderson to write a trilogy.

Honestly? I'd be super down with that. As someone who thinks Sanderson is quite good and readable without being great, he could go crazy with MtG, it plays exactly to his strengths and he could bring some much needed plotting and strong characterization (as distinct from actual good characters mind you) to the writing

 

[MjFrancis]

I live for Bolt - Snap - Bolt

Is there another way to play MtG besides this? There's no four-mana play I like better than Bolt-Snap-Bolt. When I play Twin I rarely combo out, it's always a tempo-control game, like I'm playing a slow Delver deck that never drew a Delver.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

How do you propose to do counterspells on a walker?

Yeah blue is boring.

The important part being if they could.

-3 until your next turn counter the first spell played by target opponent that turn

-9 Target player gets an emblem with "Counter the first spell played each turn by you"

 

[blindrocket]

So what EDH decks are you guys running?

I have, in descending power level order:

Derevi Lockdown (my only Tier 1 deck that I recently built and will only bring out in rare cases as my play group is quite casual)
Animar Combo Control
Melek Burn (my favourite deck)
Kaarthus Dragon Tribal

Had an Azami deck but I dismantled it a week ago as I was just not having fun with it.

Prossh, Skyraider of Kher - Tier 1 deck that is about getting Prossh out and doing lethal damage, early and often. This deck is primarily built for competitive 1 vs 1 Commander which is also called Duel Commander. It does have some infinite combos and it's a lot of fun (for me) to play. I love Jund.

Daretti, Scrap Savant - This could also be a Tier 1 deck but it's still in the works. I am building it to be a Stax / Artifact deck that ruins the lands and permanents of everyone else. Of course it also has Blood Moon.

Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - This is also in the works but it is my lifegain and control deck. It has at least one combo that I know about with Sanguine Bond and Exquisite Blood.
But it also has other cards like Forcefield, Bribery, Nether Void, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Humility, Land Tax, Luminarch Ascension, Land Equilibrium, more good stuff in Esper colors.

I've thought about adding this:

 

[The Technomancer]

How do you propose to do counterspells on a walker?

Yeah blue is boring.

Eh, "counter the first spell target player plays next turn" although that doesn't product the same effect.

Or, heh, I guess "Put a Counter Capsule Artifact token into play. It has "sacrifice this, counter target spell" and "sacrifice this at the beginning of the next opponents end step"

 

[ultron87]

- 3 Until your next turn, the next time target opponent plays a spell you may pay 1UU. If you do, counter that spell.

 

[Firemind]

They should have Jace come with a built-in Bribery. Play their rhinos. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)