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Magic: the Gathering - Oath o/t Gatewatch |OT| Look again, the mana is now diamonds!

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Haines

Banned
Prices will not get more stable as we approach the Modern PTQ season.



they have a dumb stamp on them

OK I thought that might make them even more rare or something but guess not huh.

I'll probably sell my thought knot at the game shop this weekend

I'm bouncing between catching a sealed with a prerelease pack or going to a draft.
 
Hey, Mindslicer kicks ass. I run it in my Krenko "sacrifice shit to Ashnod's Altar to put more gas into my Krenko" EDH deck. People love it when that guy dies. He's a hit at all my parties.

EDIT: Okay, this is too good. Stolen shamelessly from Reddit: Shaun McLaren is the only person to make the finals of a Modern Pro Tour without playing cards that got banned less than a year later.

PT Philadelphia finals: U/R Twin (Ponder, Preordain) def. Zoo (Wild Nacatl)
PT Return to Ravnica finals: Eggs (Second Sunrise) def. Jund (Deathrite Shaman)
PT Born of the Gods finals: Jeskai Control (none) def. Melira Pod (Birthing Pod)
PT Fate Reforged finals: U/R Twin (Splinter Twin) def. Amulet Bloom (Summer Bloom)
 
And what is the difference between French and non-French Commander?

"French" is the old informal distinction for what's now called Duel Commander and which is a variant of Commander balanced around 1-on-1 instead of big multiplayer games (and around competitive play rather than casual.) When people want to be cutthroat in the format people generally tell them to get into this version which is actually designed for it.

If Modern decks didn't cost so much to buy into, people would be less angry when a ban caused the value of their deck to plummet. Of course, to make decks not cost a fortune to buy into, Wizards would have to add a lot of supply of staples that would cause values to drop, which might make some people angry anyway. My thinking though is that people wouldn't be too upset if card values dropped gradually; I think it is just the sudden price drops that can get people upset. A yearly modern masters with large but not unlimited supply could probably achieve this outcome.

Yeah, the thing that's necessary is to make reprints a steady and frequent thing, so that the existence of reprints that devalue cards (if not the specific cards affected) is part of everyone's expectations, and so stuff doesn't shoot up from $10 to $100+ before it's even conceivable to be reprinted. They don't want to Chronicles stuff because having $100 cards go to $0.10 is awful, but sets like the MED, or like MM if they mix the price and list of MM1 with the print run of MM2, will do a lot if they actually commit to printing them regularly.
 
Wish I had my old cards... no idea what happened to them. I had a Chrome Mox, Ravager, and Isochron Scepter. Sure would've been nice to have held onto them.
 

kirblar

Member
Hoogland on the bannings: http://mtgcardmarket.wpengine.com/736-2/

Many people have made the argument: “If the deck was fine X time ago, it is fine now.” I honestly just do not understand this mindset. You can literally apply this argument to every Magic card that has even been banned and reach the conclusion that everything should still be legal.

To give more specific insight into this particular situation – one thing many of us expected is that the Modern ban list really only updates once per-year now. Sure, every three months Wizard’s posts an update stating “no changes” for Modern, but this is because they want to save any changes to the format for right before the Modern Pro Tour which only happens once per year. This means that even if they have felt Twin and Summer Bloom needed to be removed for the last six months, they have been waiting for this set to actually pull the trigger on the change.

Speaking of pulling the trigger, let’s look at the reasoning given for banning Twin: “We also look for decks that hold a large enough percentage of the competitive field to reduce the diversity of the format. In the interest of competitive diversity, Splinter Twin is banned from Modern.”

Many people misinterpret what this means. They read this statement and immediately pull up the Modern format data as a whole and say, “But Splinter Twin is only 10% of the entire format!”

When Wizards talks about reducing diversity, they are not just talking about the format as a whole. They are also looking at diversity within the colors this combo resides. Decks that contained the card Steam Vents, that did not also contain the card Splinter Twin, for most intents and purposes where strictly worse than those that did contain Splinter Twin.

It did not matter that the Grixis or UR “control” decks were “more streamlined” than the deck playing Deceiver Exarchs and Splinter Twins. Sometimes they get to just:

Turn 2: Remand
Turn 3: Exarch
Turn 4: Twin

And the game was over. Over the course of a long event, having “free wins” to draw to is far more profitable than having a slightly more streamlined deck list.

Because of this I think that Wizard’s goal will be accomplished by these bans. Removing Splinter Twin will cause the Blue-Red based decks of the format to become more diverse. Instead of 15% of the field being mostly Splinter Twin, that portion will now have a variety of different win conditions.
 

Son1x

Member
I'm not so sure about having diverse UR decks now, I feel like everyone will either just play other colors or add another one.

Personally, I enjoyed playing WR Twin and was about to brew Mardu Twin but theres nothing I can do about that now. At least SFM isn't unbanned so I can still play D&T without paying another 100€.
 

kirblar

Member
That argument didn't hold with Wild Nacatl and I don't think it does now, but we'll see.
The joke with Wild Nacatl was because of Pod, Twin, and other decks in the format, almost every deck had an infinite combo going on. A 3/3 for 1? Completely irrelevant.

Getting rid of the "oops i win" shit from Modern is a good thing.
 

Firemind

Member
Should have never printed Deceiver Exarch. I don't know what they were thinking. And maybe to a lesser extent Spellskite.

I played 4 Pestermite and 4 Splinter Twin as a sideboard package in Pyromancer's Ascension when it was still called Extended and sometimes I couldn't assemble the combo and that deck had Ponders and Preordains. Sometimes I get free wins which is a feelbad for my opponent I suppose. Still, Splinter Twin wasn't a real deck at the time because it only had Pestermite. It's arguable whether splashing a colour for Bell-Ringer or Krasis would have the same impact as Deceiver Exarch. I personally think it wouldn't have. It is pretty funny they all have flash. At least flash on Pestermite kind of made sense.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Ban everything until Faeries is the best deck

Eldrazi Displacer on a Mistbind Clique sounds pretty funny too

You can also use Eldrazi Displacer to flicker Rasputin Dreamweaver for infinite mana =V
 
Most people who actually understand how Modern worked agree (mostly) on the effect that Twin had on the format. Instead, we disagree on whether or not that was good/healthy and had a net positive or negative effect.
 

Santiako

Member
I also built a Naya tokens deck (but I only have Mayael and Uril to pick from), and ran:

...


With tokens, I feel like you should focus on getting as much value as possible out of your spells right away rather than running stuff that gives you a milder immediate impact such as Marton Stromgald (unless you give him haste and he doesn't get removed) and Assemble the Legion. Mass pump is always nice, but I feel like your best bet is stuff that pumps your team by a lot right away (such as the Nobilis). The best part about running tokens is that spot removal is ineffective against you, so you should play up on that strength rather than giving opponents targets such as lieges and the like.

I'm already running some of those cards (Cathar's, SGC, Purph) but most of the rest I either can't reanimate or have prohibitive mana costs :p

Also my deck is not all tokens, but value creatures and ones that produce tokens over and over when I recur them with Alesha. Thanks for the suggestions though, Martial Coup is definitely something to consider.
 

darkside31337

Tomodachi wa Mahou
"Don't worry about the cost of cards, just pay everytime you want to play."

Its the same cost every time and you'll recoup some of it with the cards you get / packs you win. It's definitely a better cost proposal than the main constructed formats. It's not really cost efficient on MTGO because in real life I can draft 8-4's for $5 less and the physical cards are worth way more. Have gone long periods of time without having to pay anything because of money rares + winning packs.

And yeah modern has become everything it was intended to solve. There is nothing modern anymore about playing with 12 year old cards.
 

Bonethug

Member
Looking for a little help with a UR Prowess deck.
Currently have 6 open spots in the main and 2 in the side. Considering: 4 Infectious Bloodlust or Sure Strike, 2 Negate/Stubborn main. Also wondering if 1 or 2 Temur Battle Rage are worth a spot.
Not sure what else in the side board. It already feels weird with 7 different counterspells, but every list I see online is basically just some variation of these 5 spells in the board.

Does Wandering Fumarole need to be a 2 of? I could see this if control didn't have Stasis Snare and Surge of Righteousness, but I really don't like the idea of CIPT lands in this deck.

//Lands (20)
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Island
4 Mountain
2 Polluted Delta currently only have 2, not sure if 4 are needed
4 Shivan Reef
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow

//Creatures (16)
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Elusive Spellfist
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Stormchaser Mage

//Instants (12)
2 Expedite
2 Fiery Impulse
4 Titan's Strength
4 Wild Slash

//Sorceries (6)
4 Slip Through Space
2 Treasure Cruise

Sideboard:

3 Disdainful Stroke Ramp/Ugin/Rhino/Gideon
2 Dispel Removal/Rally
2 Negate Removal/Rally/Planeswalkers
3 Rending Volley Mirror/Jeskai
3 Roast Abzan
 

Fuchs

Member
Some friends of mine invited me to a booster draft this coming weekend and I need a bit of advice.
I'm fairly new to MTG, but I know the basic rules an read up some stuff for Oath of the Gatewatch and Battle for Zendikar. Although I know a bit or two, is there anything I should know or pay attention to, when doing that booster draft (opening booster packs, picking a card, passing the remaining stack of cards on, etc.) especially for this expansion? My friends are pretty well-versed with MTG and I'd like to stand at least a small chance against them.
Thanks in advance, guys!
 

Daedardus

Member
Its the same cost every time and you'll recoup some of it with the cards you get / packs you win. It's definitely a better cost proposal than the main constructed formats. It's not really cost efficient on MTGO because in real life I can draft 8-4's for $5 less and the physical cards are worth way more. Have gone long periods of time without having to pay anything because of money rares + winning packs.

And yeah modern has become everything it was intended to solve. There is nothing modern anymore about playing with 12 year old cards.

It's not a terrible cost proposal, that's true. And I agree you can have good fun with it. But wanting to play as frequent as you would play Modern would mean a big cost which you don't really earn back in total. And the fact that you are really dependent on the current set, so when it was 3x BFZ, you'd have a mediocre limited environment and lots of worthless cards.
 
  • Draft creatures
  • Don't get hung up on your first pick. Switching colours so early is still possible and OGW has a lot of lands enabling free splashes.
  • 17, 18 lands. 18 lands are especially important if you have awaken spells.
  • Green was bad in BFZ and so usually wide open, people might still avoid drafting green because of it in OGW.
  • Be aware of cards that might put people to the left of you move into certain colours pack 1 because they might cut you off pack 2
  • Evasion (Flying, Trample, Menace,...) is king
 
Some friends of mine invited me to a booster draft this coming weekend and I need a bit of advice.
I'm fairly new to MTG, but I know the basic rules an read up some stuff for Oath of the Gatewatch and Battle for Zendikar. Although I know a bit or two, is there anything I should know or pay attention to, when doing that booster draft (opening booster packs, picking a card, passing the remaining stack of cards on, etc.) especially for this expansion? My friends are pretty well-versed with MTG and I'd like to stand at least a small chance against them.
Thanks in advance, guys!

Don't forget to pick some colorless mana generators. There should be enough of them but you'll feel stupid if there are some good activated abilities you can't use.
Don't get too excited about rares or even unco, focus more on good commons
Cards that rely on fat creatures (like sac creature and there's an effect based on power or toughness) aren't super reliable, there's few fat cards in ogw and you may not get fat eldrazis in the one Bfz booster you'll open

Oh yeah, green seems to suck too lol. Usually I like black and red, blue coming third. White is good situationally (some really good rares and uncos imo, but commons are lacking)

You can try drafting a bit here
http://mtgmirror.com/#/draftsim
 

Firemind

Member
  1. Draft creatures
  2. Don't get hung up on your first pick. Switching colours so early is still possible and OGW has a lot of lands enabling free splashes.
  3. 17, 18 lands. 18 lands are especially important if you have awaken spells.
  4. Green was bad in BFZ and so usually wide open, people might still avoid drafting green because of it in OGW.
  5. Be aware of cards that might put people to the left of you move into certain colours pack 1 because they might cut you off pack 2
That's your number one rule in draft?

First rule of MTG draft: You DO NOT pass bombs.
 
That's your number one rule in draft?

First rule of MTG draft: You DO NOT pass bombs.

I picked the wrong type of list but even unranked within that list that's often my downfall. Not keeping track of how many creatures I have.

I forgot to add "Flyers are king" too.

I just found out another. Pick at least 1 waste in case you get an evolving wilds
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
1. Bring your own Fritos. Motherfuckers always trying to barter draft jank for store credit to cover Fritos. Bring a bag and be your own man.
2. Ensure you leave enough room between rounds to take a piss. If you decide to durdle to the point where your back teeth are floating, you dun goofed.
3. Don't pass anything with a red icon at the bottom right hand of the card.
4. Don't brag about your sweet pulls. Unless you pull an Expedition, in which case (1) "Icky Shuffle" is authorized.
5. Just have fun.
6. But win. What, are you here to lose?
 

Xis

Member
I picked the wrong type of list but even unranked within that list that's often my downfall. Not keeping track of how many creatures I have.

I forgot to add "Flyers are king" too.

I just found out another. Pick at least 1 waste in case you get an evolving wilds

Standard draft pick order

1 - Bombs
2 - Removal
3 - Evasion

After that, look for efficiently costed creatures / cards that can give you card advantage / combat tricks.
 
I picked the wrong type of list but even unranked within that list that's often my downfall. Not keeping track of how many creatures I have.

I forgot to add "Flyers are king" too.

I just found out another. Pick at least 1 waste in case you get an evolving wilds

Don't you draft BFZ after OGW though ? hah

3. Don't pass anything with a red icon at the bottom right hand of the card.

Why ? Resell value ? Several mythics suck
 
If I were to rank the common draft mistakes I see among new players, it would be:

1) Not drafting enough creatures. Even small dorky creatures are better than "destroy target artifact" 90% of the time.
2) Not prioritizing removal spells. If the card can kill a creature, you should take it early.
3) Not considering colors. You want your final deck to only have two colors in it if at all possible, so don't spend the first pack just grabbing cards that look sweet. Once you get about halfway through the first pack, take mental stock of the colors you've been taking and try to figure out what your two colors are going to be. From that point, try to only take cards of that color if you can. This isn't a foolproof way to draft, but if you've never drafted before, you're more likely to end up with 23 playable cards if you make this your focus.

That being said, when you open a pack and there's a sweet rare you really want for your collection, don't feel bad about taking it. You can be disciplined about taking the right card for your deck starting with the second pick. :)
 
Don't you draft BFZ after OGW though ?

Yes that's why you gotta get 1 wastes in case you get passed an evolving wilds.
If you go 2 or even just 1 Colour + Colourless the evolving wilds could only get you the colours in your deck otherwise.



The dream

VAnylwB.png
 
I don't bother picking wastes, I feel there's enough options already with the golden lands and eldrazi generators
Plus I don't really expect to get one or two evolving wilds, so yeah
Of course if there's nothing good and a waste I'll take it, but it's pretty low priority for me
 
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