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[Sinatar]

Hmm. You could use conjurer's closet to reset a planeswalkers loyalty, right?

Then you could use its -2 or -3 every turn!

edit: fuck, derp, nvm. it's creatures only.

You could combo the closet with:

That's pretty damn dirty now that I think about it.

 

[kirblar]

Gideon + Resto Angel = diiiirty.

 

[The Technomancer]

You could combo the closet with:

That's pretty damn dirty now that I think about it.

Haha, it essentially lets you use the Closet on their stuff.

 

[Haly]

Nice guide lucario, I am almost tempted to jump back into MTGO, kind of waiting on stuff that interests me.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

I really want to jump into MTGO so I can test out my various homebrews for upcomming tourneys, but I have enough trouble affording the equivalent decks in paper Magic. A shame, since I hear it really helps improve your skills. I may pick it up anyway just to improve my Limited game.

 

[narcosis219]

I really want to jump into MTGO so I can test out my various homebrews for upcomming tourneys, but I have enough trouble affording the equivalent decks in paper Magic. A shame, since I hear it really helps improve your skills. I may pick it up anyway just to improve my Limited game.

If you want constructed play, use cockatrice.

 

[Lucario]

Thanks for the kind words all ^.^ I'll be sure to post the full guide when/if I get around to finishing it, including the nifty bits about how to get along with a minimal investment.

 

[Venfayth]

You could combo the closet with:

That's pretty damn dirty now that I think about it.

Haha, it essentially lets you use the Closet on their stuff.

:O I forgot about that card.

Since conjurers closet is during your end step, and that says the "next" end step, does that mean that if you used it on your opponents permanents, they wouldn't come back until the end of THEIR turn?

 

[The Technomancer]

:O I forgot about that card.

Since conjurers closet is during your end step, and that says the "next" end step, does that mean that if you used it on your opponents permanents, they wouldn't come back until the end of THEIR turn?

Yup

...I'm pretty sure

 

[zethren]

:O I forgot about that card.

Since conjurers closet is during your end step, and that says the "next" end step, does that mean that if you used it on your opponents permanents, they wouldn't come back until the end of THEIR turn?

Absolutely.

Magic GAF getting evil all up in here.

 

[Venfayth]

And if you wanted to use it on your own planeswalker to restore his loyalty, he's actually safe for the duration of your opponents turn!

I like that

I've been wanting to do a Venser deck, maybe I will put that elk and the closet in it.

 

[zethren]

I've played against my fair share of Venser Control decks, and let me tell you that they are fierce. A very solid deck to take to FNM.

 

[echoshifting]

Dirty, dirty, dirty.

I like Conjurer's Closet more and more all the time. I need more of them.

 

[brainzelda]

What's difference between intro decks and event decks sold for each expansion? Are event decks supposed to be more competitive out of the box? Or is it called an event deck because its limited to special tournaments like draft and sealed play? Also, do they make these for core sets or just expansions? I wanna pick up some for me and a friend, but we play fairly competitively and don't want to waste money on trash cards/decks.

 

[narcosis219]

What's difference between intro decks and event decks sold for each expansion? Are event decks supposed to be more competitive out of the box? Or is it called an event deck because its limited to special tournaments like draft and sealed play? Also, do they make these for core sets or just expansions? I wanna pick up some for me and a friend, but we play fairly competitively and don't want to waste money on trash cards/decks.

Intro decks are very much geared towards beginners and new players. Their power level is 1 out of 10 when brought into a local tournament. Event decks are much stronger decks that can hold their own in a local tournament, somewhere between a 4-6 out of 10.

Event and intro decks come out with every expansion and core set, so new ones come out every 3 months or so. The name "event" deck is kind of not related; they're just decent decks that you can actually build into a competitive deck with some additions and changes.

If you want decks that will be efficient and interesting, pick up the event decks. If you do happen to want to continue playing magic, you'll have a decent deck that will actually have some value in terms of competitiveness and monetary value. Intro decks rarely/never have any cards/synergy that are worth mentioning in competition.

 

[ultron87]

What is everyone's prerelease plans? I can't go to one till Sunday, but I'm going to go over to the other side of town to check out one of the bigger stores in the area so there should be a really nice turnout.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

^
Il be going to my local card shop (less then 5 minutes away) and playing two pre release sealed limited. I wanted to go to the midnight release but I need to practice with my Dota team and I dont want to put $75 into this. So im dropping $50 tomorrow for two events. Im trying my best to stick away from R or U unless I land some nice mythics (ex Jace Hellkite..) I like the way GW looks and B is a close third. I have been having some decent luck with http://taw.chaosforge.org/m13_sealed/ so I hope that sticks with me tomorrow.

 

[echoshifting]

2H Giant on Sunday, hopefully! Turning out to be kind of a busy weekend.

I placed 26th in the last tourney and my friend placed 2nd. I'm feeling some performance anxiety >.>

 

[fifasnipe2224]

2H Giant on Sunday, hopefully! Turning out to be kind of a busy weekend.

I placed 26th in the last tourney and my friend placed 2nd. I'm feeling some performance anxiety >.>

I wish I had 2HG near me =(
There really is like ONE place to play and its just Drafts, drafts, drafts. Once in a while they will do type 2 but I hate that. I want more 2HG, Seals, and Legacy.
Luckily my GF and two little brothers like playing so we usually do 2HG every Sunday night.

 

[Akim]

I moved to Vancouver, BC recently. Anyone else playing there, or know a good place to play there?

 

[Gatekeeper]

I moved to Vancouver, BC recently. Anyone else playing there, or know a good place to play there?

Magic Stronghold.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

M13 review for those who have not seen it yet:
B & G
W & R
B & Artifacts
Good reads, especially for those who are going to a pre release.

 

[Sinatar]

Limited Resources also has their full set review podcast up. They go through the whole thing card by card so it's over 4 hours long. =p

 

[joelseph]

Great post Lucario!

 

[ultron87]

I am still waiting on the LSV set review to start dropping in order to fill out my pun quotient for the week. I'll definitely give that one a read.

 

[zethren]

Decided super last minute tonight after work that I'm going to do the prerelease tonight after all. My local shop does a midnight prerelease after FNM each time a new set comes out.

Wish me luck! Haha. I'll post with results and card pulls late late tonight ( or rather early early tomorrow ).

 

[Sinatar]

Nothing like stabalizing at 1 HP with your opponent at 20 and then cracking back for 26 out of nowhere.

Ah Magic, you are so awesome.

 

[nicoga3000]

Good post Lucario - always great to read information like that!

Regarding your statement of it being unlikely to break even, I don't think that can be stressed enough. I know a guy who was one of the nation's top drafters years ago. It's INSANE how knowledgeable he is about the game, and even more so about the set he's drafting. We did a pre-release draft and without having seen ANY of the cards in the set (he doesn't play anymore), he opened his first pack and immediately started pegging the mechanics and meta that would show up in not only the draft but for the start of that block in constructed.

Go figure, the guy won the pre-release and donated most of the prize packs to the second place guy (he was playing because his son was playing, so his son got a few). It was absolutely nutty watching him draft and listening to his thought process.

I will say, though...Drafting with a group of friends every week or two is THE WAY to play Magic in my opinion. So much fun.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

Nothing like stabalizing at 1 HP with your opponent at 20 and then cracking back for 26 out of nowhere.

Ah Magic, you are so awesome.

Please explain.,

 

[Scalemail Ted]

Nothing like stabalizing at 1 HP with your opponent at 20 and then cracking back for 26 out of nowhere.

Ah Magic, you are so awesome.

I love These kinds of stories... Definitely write it up, I'd read it.

 

[Sinatar]

Short story is he was a mono red agro deck with stromkirk nobles, those battle cry goblins and hellrider. I was playing a ghetto esper spirits deck with lingering souls, captains, delvers and so forth.

He just beat my ass down until I managed to get a captain out, copied with cackling counterpart, equipped both with runechanters pikes, did lingering and flashback, made some blocks, flashbacked cackling counterpart and hit him for 26.

EDIT: Here's a screencap of the boardstate right before I won. (Quoted for size)

 

[zethren]

Went 2-2 at our pre-release last night.

Actually could have very well gone 3-1, but here's what went down.

I ended up playing GW as they were my strongest colors last night by a pretty long shot. I opened an Odric, Thragtusk, and Rhox Faithmender which I all ended up using and loving. Also got 2 Pacifisms, Rancor, and a host of other green and white creatures/spells which helped me curve out really well. Probably the best sealed deck I've ever built.

So first round the guy pulled a Primordial Hydra and Rancor, which basically rocked my world. I went 1-2 round 1.

Second round I sweep in a matter of minutes, 2-0.

Third round, basically the same. 2-0.

So at that point I'm 2-1 for my overall record for the evening, right? The way my shop distributes prizes is that if you go undefeated you win 12 packs of M13. If you go 3-1, you get 4 packs. Any other record than that and you don't get anything. So I'm feeling pretty good, like I could possibly get 3-1 for the evening and go home with some packs.

So for my 4th round I get matched up against my friend. We decide to just throw the match, I give her the win (I don't really care about my DCI record, honestly) and we split the 4 packs 2 ways. That's a pretty common thing for people to do, actually.

So I ended up going 2-2, could have possibly gone 3-1 if I hadn't been matched up against my friend (which, again, is fine. I was tired anyway. haha), and that damned Primordial Hydra was the only thing stopping my victory in the first match! haha

So anyway, was fun as usual. Here's what I pulled:

Odric, Master Tactician
Thragtusk
Rhox Faithmender
Trading Post
Xathrid Gorgon (normal one in addition to the promo)
Slumbering Dragon (foil)
Rootbound Crag (traded off for a Slayer's Stronghold later in the evening)
Rancor
Silklash Spider (from prize pack)
Hellion Crucible (from prize pack)

Great pulls, I think.

 

[Little Old Man]

Was there a dominant colour(s) that a lot of people went with?

Just noticed there is a new deck builders toolkit out next week too. Wonder if the semi random cards are all M13? If so it could be a good way to nab lots of the commons and uncommons?

 

[zethren]

Was their a dominant colour(s) that a lot of people went with?

Just noticed there is a new deck builders toolkit out next week too. Wonder if the semi random cards are all M13? If so, could be a good way to nab lots of the commons and uncommons?

A lot of players played Green, from what I saw.

Red was bleh.

White had a decent showing, as did blue.

Black was okay.

I feel like Green and White are going to be powerful in draft, but that could just be because those are the colors I played with and got some good ones. Had a friend who played a Grixis colored deck last night because he got Nicol Bolas. He went 2-2 with it, and got Bolas' ultimate off on several occasions. Was pretty awesome, haha.

 

[OneEightZero]

Thanks for the tutorial, Lucario. ^_^

 

[Sinatar]

Was there a dominant colour(s) that a lot of people went with?

Just noticed there is a new deck builders toolkit out next week too. Wonder if the semi random cards are all M13? If so it could be a good way to nab lots of the commons and uncommons?

Traditionally the deckbuilders toolkit is filled with older overstock that they have left over, so expect lots of M12 and Scars block stuff.

 

[Little Old Man]

Traditionally the deckbuilders toolkit is filled with older overstock that they have left over, so expect lots of M12 and Scars block stuff.

Hoped it would be different since it has the M13 specific packaging.

 

[TerminalDogma]

Came in second at the pre-release today. I won every round except for the final, which I squarely went 0-2 in, lol. Ended up getting 17 packs total, including the initial 6. I played White/Black exalted, I never really felt like my deck was amazing but it clearly got me to the finals. Pulled an Odric but only got to use him once, and I was already winning at that point. otherwise only other worthwhile pulls were a foil Talrand and...thats about it. Odric and Talrand, even with the prizepacks ha. No one pulled a Lilliana and only one person pulled an Ajani.

 

[zethren]

Yeah you know I saw multiple Lilianas, a foil jace, several of bolas, and Chandra but I didn't see any of Garruk or Ajanj.

 

[bigkrev]

Tied for first at my prerelease, being one of 2 people at 4-0. I had a UW deck with a red splash for triple Incinerate and a Arc Lightning (can't remember what they are actually called). I got rather lucky in the pairings and with Mulligans- I only had to go to 6 once the entire day, and my opponents were averaging 2 a match. Had 2 games where my opponent cast 1 or less spells!

Format is much nicer than AVR. There is actual removal, there don't seem to be any actually unbeatable cards, and the games seem to flow back and forth. Its really refreshing.

Pulling double Chandra the Firebrand as my only mythics in my 16 prize packs sucked, however....

 

[An-Det]

Went 1-2 drop with a godawful pool (was playing UW). I probably could have held out and won the next two rounds and maybe get a pack or two, but couldn't stand to play with it anymore.

 

[TheSeks]

Huh. M:tG:Online is doing Planechase decks/gametype now? But no Archenemy/EDH?

 

[Yeef]

The one guy that we always curse for being super lucky pulled both an Ajani AND an Akroma's Memorial in his sealed deck.

 

[Arthr2ShdsJcksn]

Bought a box of boosters... used 12 packs for my son and myself for the sealed event, and popped open the rest.

My sealed deck pulls weren't that great... a Chandra, but not much else red, and a fair amount of decent green/white uncommons (rancor x 2).... Took 3rd out of 8... not a very competitive field.

The rest of the box had some decent stuff.. 3 dual lands, Sleeping Dragon, Vampire Nocturnus, Gilded Lotus, Ajani! Fair amount of crap too, but I really wanted Ajani and the vampire, so I'm pretty happy.

 

[Sinatar]

Huh. M:tG:Online is doing Planechase decks/gametype now? But no Archenemy/EDH?

It has EDH (Commander) but Archenemy was a complete failure as a product and they've done their best to ignore its existence.

 

[TheSeks]

Huh. Did Wizard's given out Ancient Ziggurat's for the player rewards program? I know they give lands for simply logging it, but that's weird. Didn't expect that for this month...

Spoiler

I need to sit down and build decks but the GUI is oh so bad to flip through 2000 cards. :/

 

[TheSeks]

It has EDH (Commander) but Archenemy was a complete failure as a product and they've done their best to ignore its existence.

Holy shit. $160 for all the Planechase decks they offer right now and they don't even give Planescards outside of 10 in each one.

Damn. Commander isn't much better either. $30 a pop. I can't image how much they'd want for Archenemy.

Spoiler

I guess we'll always have DotP '12, eh, Wizards?

/Though Archenemy is kinda broken with DotP decks, too lopsided on either side... reason why hardly anyone played it.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Played Magic for about 12 hours straight today. Didn't get any crazy pulls, but my buddy finished 2nd and pulled a Liliana out of his packs. The proceeds to pull Ajani and a foil Serra Avatar out of another pack (same one!). Simultaneously happy and jealous.

Had a good time, though. Anxious to build some decks around Krenko.

 

[echoshifting]

So what were the cards that really made a difference for you guys yesterday? Any unsung heroes in this set?

We are thinking about limiting our green picks in 2H Giant given the vast amount of green on the field yesterday, unless we get a big bomb.

edit: you can mill down one deck to end a 2HG game, right?
edit2: never mind, answered my own question

 

[Lucario]

Something that just occurred to me:

Why is Scheherazade a sorcery? Shouldn't she be a creature?

Huh. Did Wizard's given out Ancient Ziggurat's for the player rewards program? I know they give lands for simply logging it, but that's weird. Didn't expect that for this month...

Spoiler

I need to sit down and build decks but the GUI is oh so bad to flip through 2000 cards. :/

That was part of the 10th anniversary giveaway. Every player got a semi-random (no rares, I don't think) foil from PDS slivers, and older accounts got all sorts of stuff. I started MODO in 7th edition, and they gave me the following:

PDS Slivers, PDS Fire & Lightning, PDS Graveborn, foil UNH island, UNH mountain, alara block foil booster pack.

Yeah.


People assumed it was a glitch and -immediately- attempted to sell off all their goodies. Naturally, I put up buy offers. Ended up getting 10+ PDS slivers decks and 5 foil packs for a ticket each, a few 2tix foil UNH lands, and F&L decks for 3 tix each.

I made over 100tix in a day.