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Magic: the Gathering - Battle for Zendikar |OT| Lands matter (but nothing else does)
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
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thanks, this is useful for me. I'm going to my first limited event in over ten years on Saturday/maybe Sunday too. And then sell all the cards so I don't start with the bad habits again
G/B Eldrazi ramp/tokens is my favorite so far, but then again G/B is also my main Duels deck. I have more trouble drafting a decent Allies deck, I got a number of legendaries/bombs and 5 mana uncommons in my sealed packs but find most of the common Allies lacking, or they are green. And they seem to pretty much force you to play 3+ colors
I got a foil Ob Nixilis in my first pack
Didn't see any responses to your decklist yet so I thought I'd ask a question. Are you looking to play in any particular format with the deck or are you just going to use it for casual, kitchen table style games?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Each turn would take forever if it was set that way.
The default stops are attackers, blockers, opponent's end step and your own main phases.
I just manually click the triangle when I anticipate needing to do something, say, in opponent's main phase and I keep "begin combat" stops on at all times both sides.
I ran this and it assigned me a Zendikar Expedition....Canopy Vistathanks, this is useful for me. I'm going to my first limited event in over ten years on Saturday/maybe Sunday too. And then sell all the cards so I don't start with the bad habits again
G/B Eldrazi ramp/tokens is my favorite so far, but then again G/B is also my main Duels deck. I have more trouble drafting a decent Allies deck, I got a number of legendaries/bombs and 5 mana uncommons in my sealed packs but find most of the common Allies lacking, or they are green. And they seem to pretty much force you to play 3+ colors
I got a foil Ob Nixilis in my first pack
I pressed the button again and it was Godless Shrine
Messing with the draft simulator, I found that forcing Eldrazi felt right most of the time. The last one of three I did, I got a real weird but awesome Mono-blue Eldrazi deck, where a ton of my cards made Scions with a couple of higher cost cards at the top to use them for. The blue tap something down land is going to be so good, I think.
So... BFZ sealed. Did it 3 times yesterday and it isn't that great so far. I was able to throw together a WRG Ally deck that was ok, and a UB Eldrazi deck that was pretty good. It's just hard to get much synergy, the processing and returning from exile is pretty clunky. And it's hard to go more than 2 colors with the lack of dual lands. Gonna practice this week leading up to prerelease.
Edit: gotta agree with OnPoint on the blue land. In my last match I had the blue Retreat out, tapped my opponent's creature and made it not untap next step, won me the game.
Edit: gotta agree with OnPoint on the blue land. In my last match I had the blue Retreat out, tapped my opponent's creature and made it not untap next step, won me the game.
I'm having a really hard time not picking BG tokens, BR Eldrazi, or RG landfall... BTW the blue land doesn't actually tap anything, it just keeps stuff tapped if it is tapped already.
Well that changes my thoughts on that.
Yeah its a bummer :S Really not a fan after realizing that haha.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
It doesn't though, it makes something tapped not untap
Joe Molotov
Member
I ran it and it gave me a bunch of crap. So it's probably a pretty accurate simulator.
Have you ever played a Yugioh game? If you have a trap or spell that you can activate at any time, the game turns into a slog as every time a phase starts or ends or anything happens, you get a prompt to activate your card. Thankfully, the PS4 game has simplified activation as an option, and you can also just hold the circle button down at all times to skip all prompts.
blindrocket
Member
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Now ran the sealed generator and it gave me 3 rare lands sounds like my usual fare alright and never the valuable ones.
Edit: 2 times in a row and another one a couple later always 3
A Serious Man
Member
The draft simulator clearly can't be accurate since it doesn't have people picking full art basics mid-pack.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Its weird that in real draft you just take the land out but on MODO its still in the pack.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Combat response windows should be on by default, main phase response windows off, not the other way around. In the opponents main phase the probability is that I am going to want to play something only in response to something they are playing, whereas combat is where the most unprompted instants are going to be played. Its dumb that it was constantly stopping to ask me if I had any plays for their main phase but didn't stop to ask me if I had any play after I declared attackers.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I ran the sealed generator a couple times and boy is it unexciting so many crappy rares.
Highlight were 2 expeditions, both tango lands though, and 3 Kioras with 2 in one pool.
Highlight were 2 expeditions, both tango lands though, and 3 Kioras with 2 in one pool.
This just isn't true. You had deathtouch creatures, beefy blockers, regenerators, bounce spells and plenty of removal to slowdown (or stop) a Knuckleblade. Slowing it down was all you needed to do, because once you got to the point where you have 5 or more mana, you were out of the woods.
Khans, in my opinion, was one of the least bomb-dependent formats. That's part of what made it so great. Wingmate Roc was really the only card that was super-difficult to deal with profitably, and even that wasn't so bad.
To be honest i'm still unclear about formats as i only started playing very recently, based on my deck list for example what formats would i be allowed or barred from playing?
I've only played casually so far though and may enter tournaments if i ever find any near me lol.
Etrian Oddity
Member
Testing out a Sultai zombie tempo, and it's working really well so far. Was brainstorming ways to take advantage of new Kiora and Sultai came to mind.
On my phone so I can't post the list but it's pretty fun. RDW is gonna be a problem but that's what tweaking is for.
On my phone so I can't post the list but it's pretty fun. RDW is gonna be a problem but that's what tweaking is for.
There are 5 major "Constructed" Formats (where you bring a pre-made deck).
- Standard - Only cards from expansions printed in the last 18 months or so are allowed. When Battle for Zendikar is released in 2 weeks, Standard will include Khans of Tarkir, Fate Reforged, Dragons of Tarkir, Magic Origins and Battle for Zendikar. Standard rotates, meaning the cards that are legal in the format change with time. As new sets are released, old ones are pushed out.
- Modern - Cards released in expansions from 8th Edition (2003) and on are legal. There's a ban list, so some individual cards are banned. Modern, like every other format here besides Standard, is non-rotating. Old sets aren't pushed out by new ones; new ones are simply added to the pool.
- Legacy - Cards from all sets are legal, with a ban list where some individual cards are banned. Legacy (and Vintage and Commander) are "Eternal" formats, meaning that cards from every part of Magic's history are legal; there's no cutoff date.
- Vintage - Vintage is similar to Legacy, but in addition to the Ban list, there's a restricted list. Restricted cards can only have a single copy of the card in the deck instead of the usual limit of 4 copies.
- Commander (a.k.a. EDH) - Commander is a popular casual format. You choose a Legendary creature as your commander then you build a 99-card deck using only cards that match the colors on your commander's card. So, for example, if your commander is Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, you can only use Red, White, Black and colorless cards in your deck. Commander is also a highlander format, meaning that you can only play a single copy of any card (other than basic lands). Commander is typically played in games with 3 or more players. Each player starts at 40 life instead of 20 and your Commander sits outside of your deck (in the Command Zone) where you can cast it as though it were in your hand. If it ever leaves the battlefield, it goes back to the command zone ready to be cast again, but at a higher price.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Trust me this is the best deck I have ever made =V
Deck: Esper Eldrazi
//Creatures
4 Fathom Feeder
4 Wasteland Strangler
2 Ulamog's Nullifier
4 Blight Herder
1 Oblivion Sower
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
//Spells
3 Titan's Presence
3 Suspension Field
3 Stasis Snare
2 Utter End
1 Quarantine Field
2 Dig Through Time
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
//Land
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Plains
3 Swamp
2 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
2 Shambling Vent
//Sideboard
2 Aligned Hedron Network
2 Dragonlord Ojutai
3 Revoke Existence
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Duress
2 Negate
Display deck statistics
Deck: Esper Eldrazi
//Creatures
4 Fathom Feeder
4 Wasteland Strangler
2 Ulamog's Nullifier
4 Blight Herder
1 Oblivion Sower
2 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
//Spells
3 Titan's Presence
3 Suspension Field
3 Stasis Snare
2 Utter End
1 Quarantine Field
2 Dig Through Time
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
//Land
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Island
4 Plains
3 Swamp
2 Sunken Hollow
3 Prairie Stream
2 Shambling Vent
//Sideboard
2 Aligned Hedron Network
2 Dragonlord Ojutai
3 Revoke Existence
2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Duress
2 Negate
Display deck statisticsVintage and Legacy for me then. Based on that though any advice and thoughts would be appreciated.
Now you have to decide whether you want to be casual or competitive, because those are going to be wildly different decks that you will be building depending on which way you want to go.
helloresolven
Member
What's the limit on your credit card?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The average price of a Vintage deck is probably ~$10,000 and the average price of a Legacy deck is probably ~$2,500
There's a reason we all play Standard. I think in the entire city I live in there is one Legacy event per week that fires and Vintage is barely considered a real format because nobody actually has the $3,000 Black Lotus you need for the deck.
There's a thing called the "Reserved List" which is a promise that WOTC made around 1995-98 that certain cards would never be reprinted again. This is considered a big mistake by them but they stick by it - they were concerned at the time that the game would collapse if players believed their collection's value would plummet.
Also, it might be helpful to tell us what you would like the deck to do during the game or what your goal is when you play the deck
SigmasonicX
Member
Prerelease Primer, adding to OP.
ugoo18, you should know that all this talk about formats does not apply to casual play. When you're just playing with your friends, you can make whatever deck you want, as long as your friends don't get upset.
ugoo18, you should know that all this talk about formats does not apply to casual play. When you're just playing with your friends, you can make whatever deck you want, as long as your friends don't get upset.
wat.jpg
I don't want to, like, make a list or anything to prove a point, but Khans had bombs. Lots of them. The only playable deathtouch creature that can play defense is B/W (Ruthless Ripper isn't very good because she's not a warrior.) Walls are too small to stop a 6/6. There are no playable regenerators except Rakshasa Deathdealer. Bounce/tap is only okay if you have something in play to race with. There aren't that many removal spells at common that can deal with a 4/4 on turn three. White even has Feat of Resistance in case you want to kill Mantis Rider or any Abzan fatty.
The problem with Khans was that synergy wasn't often enough to trump brute power. You would play Outlast in Jeskai and Mardu, Raid in Jeskai and Temur, Delve in Temur and Jeskai etc. because of their inherent power level. The cards are too good. The only archetype that I think is legitimately based on synergy is B/W warriors. And that awful Secret Plans deck that nobody drafts. Contrast that to one of GAF's darling, Innistrad, where every archetype is clearly defined. Obviously some overlap, but there are enough distinct strategies that could beat the decks with bombs. That's good design.
divisionbyzorro
Member
That's the reason EDH exists. It's a format that lets you play all of your sweet old cards without having to spend the $$$ required to play "real" Vintage/Legacy decks.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Sketching out a new deck based on GR landfall aggro I've been seeing.
Naya Landfall Aggro
20 Creatures
12 Spells
5 Equipment
23 Lands
Naya Landfall Aggro
20 Creatures
- 4 Scythe Panther
- 4 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
- 2 Dragonmaster Outcast
- 4 Relic Seeker
- 4 Managorger Hydra
- 2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
12 Spells
- 4 Wild Slash
- 4 Atarka's Command
- 4 Ride Down
5 Equipment
- 4 Sword of the Animist
- 1 Slab Hammer
23 Lands
- 1 Canopy Vista
- 1 Cinder Glade
- 4 Wooded Foothills
- 4 Windswept Heath
- 5 Forest
- 4 Mountain
- 3 Plains
- 1 Blighted Woodland
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I don't really like Undergrowth Scavenger for 2 reasons, 1) It's often not as good as Managorger Hydra because after a turn or two a Managorger is going to be too big for combat anyways, and 2) Undergrowth Champion mostly dodges damage based removal, one of which has an oft-forgotten conditional rider that prevents Undergrowth Champion from using its damage-immunity.
Which in turn means running Wild Slash and Undergrowth Champion in the same deck is a minor nonbo.
Which in turn means running Wild Slash and Undergrowth Champion in the same deck is a minor nonbo.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Can't fault your reasoning here.
Over 1K for a deck..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzishIREebw
Did i say Vintage and Legacy, silly me i meant Modern.
In terms of what i want to do, well i suppose get my Eldrazi onto the field as easily as possible while keeping it clear of threats till that happens.
My first ever deck was this
After getting much needed advice i completely overhauled it to this
Did i say Vintage and Legacy, silly me i meant Modern.
In terms of what i want to do, well i suppose get my Eldrazi onto the field as easily as possible while keeping it clear of threats till that happens.
My first ever deck was this
After getting much needed advice i completely overhauled it to this
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Why not play more controllish and leave out all the creatures ramping up naturally? Why no Ugin's Sanctum
As other people have said, Legacy and Vintage are more expensive and less popular than other formats.
I assume your aim is just to get one of the three big Eldrazi into play - there's a few different ways you can do that in Modern and Legacy.
Modern Urzatron
Legacy Show and Tell
Legacy 12-Post
If you want to play all three Eldrazi in Legacy without paying thousands, there's Mono-Green 12-Post. You could build a decent budget version for $300-400.
And yes, $300-400 is 'budget' for a Legacy deck.
EDIT: Spent too long looking up Eldrazi deck lists and got beaten badly
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Fuck Polluted Delta being $23.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Then play UR muhahaha.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I play Modern and my deck's price is like $1,250.00. A playset of one of the lands in the deck is seriously $300. Modern isn't cheap either.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Because then its not an Eldrazi deck, its just a control deck with Ulamog in it.
My current Eldrazi deck cost around $350 to $400 if i remember correctly with the only foil i went for being my 4 Hindering light's (The normal versions were sold out).
Simply Sarah
Member
Besides, if you want the Vintage experience without taking out a mortgage you can just get a friend, setup your decks, and then flip a coin to determine the winner.
"God's Beard!"
Member
You don't have your sets of the Khans fetches? My Japanese Deltas are floating around 25-30 a pop, that's a lot for a rare. I'd been trading for foreign fetches a lot the last couple months, though. My fetch stock has been weird since I've gone through like three sets of Flooded Strands and now I only have 3, but I have multiple sets of Wooded Foothills left over.
I drafted a lot of triple KTK.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
TItan's Presence is super fucking good if you have the creatures to enable it as well.
A Serious Man
Member
You better snatch them up now, they aren't going to get any cheaper. As soon as the Battletangobofalands got revealed I finished buying the few I needed to have a full playset.
EDIT: Oh, well nevermind.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
If I had any fucking clue how to use Cockatrice I would attempt to play that deck. The starting hands I'm getting on deckstats make it look amusing as fuck.
The issue is mostly that my modern deck is double sleeved and I don't double sleeve standard decks, so moving it back and forth would be a bit of a pain. Not enough of a pain that I'm going to pay $100 to buy 4 more Polluted Deltas, however.
The issue is mostly that my modern deck is double sleeved and I don't double sleeve standard decks, so moving it back and forth would be a bit of a pain. Not enough of a pain that I'm going to pay $100 to buy 4 more Polluted Deltas, however.
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