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Magic: The Gathering |OT|

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f0rk said:
It's sad to see so many pros talking about how they find Modern boring because all the decks are essentially the same. To improve the format it seems cards need to be unbanned.
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The lack of a viable control deck is starting to create issues.

It's the most diverse format in Magic and I have no idea what you're talking about.
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It's deteriorated over the past 6 months or so, meta-wise. I don't think the non-Misstep Blue cards deserve to be on the ban list, because they've taken any good way to get raw card advantage while printing plenty of "lol cpsell" cards in the past year.
 
kirblar said:
The lack of a viable control deck is starting to create issues.


It's deteriorated over the past 6 months or so, meta-wise. I don't think the non-Misstep Blue cards deserve to be on the ban list, because they've taken any good way to get raw card advantage while printing plenty of "lol cpsell" cards in the past year.
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It depends what meta you're talking about - the 33% Jund meta at the pro tour, where Jund performed mediocrely and only made top 8 slots due to absolute saturation, or the MTGO/LGS meta where top 8s almost always consist of 8 different decks, and there's over a dozen viable, varied decks in the format.

I agree that control needs a kick in the pants, though. Ancestral Visions needs to come off the ban list.
 
Lucario said:
It depends what meta you're talking about - the 33% Jund meta at the pro tour, where Jund performed mediocrely and only made top 8 slots due to absolute saturation, or the MTGO/LGS meta where top 8s almost always consist of 8 different decks, and there's over a dozen viable, varied decks in the format.

I agree that control needs a kick in the pants, though. Ancestral Visions needs to come off the ban list.
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Do you have SCG Premium? Sam Black's and Kibler's summaries are both pretty negative on the format.

Brian Kibler said:
Modern looks like a diverse format because people show up with decks that look different, but many of them ultimately feel the same. It's still funny to me that cards like Wild Nacatl and Green Sun's Zenith are banned. The goal of banning Wild Nacatl was to increase the diversity of aggressive decks in the format. Where is that diversity?
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Sam Black said:
As for Modern, I think it's a frustrating format. It looks relatively diverse because there are a lot of decks, but they're either extremely fragile unfair decks that can't beat a prepared opponent, or they're fair decks. The problem with the fair decks is that they're all basically the same. With no real card draw or library manipulation, every deck is forced to play an extremely similar curve and land ratio. You can basically choose whichever colors you want and play any of the "good cards" in those colors as long as you have a reasonable curve, but all the cards are mostly the same thing as all the other cards of their casting costs and the disruptive elements are strong enough that you can't play cards that are based on loose synergies.
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I can see your point about PT meta vs a slightly more casual one though.
 
I don't have SCG premium but I like to never disagree with Kibler.
Modern is kind of weird I agree, it feels off. It's very goodcards.deck indeed.
 
Dumb thought. But would it be interesting to have a format that limited decks to 1 block and 1 core, or maybe two blocks and 1 core? Like any deck can use any block they choose, but have to keep their deck within those choices?

Would that possibly be enough to limit the amount of goodcards to put in a deck?
 
Owlowiscious said:
Dumb thought. But would it be interesting to have a format that limited decks to 1 block and 1 core, or maybe two blocks and 1 core? Like any deck can use any block they choose, but have to keep their deck within those choices?

Would that possibly be enough to limit the amount of goodcards to put in a deck?
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Assuming ABUR don't count as cores:

4th edition, urza block, mirrodin block. :3
 
*LOW BUDGET FOR CASUAL MTGO
Need help cutting out cards from my Standard Talrand Izzet deck.

Talrand's Invocation x4
Archaeomancer x4
Dissipate x4
Guttersnipe x4
Searing Spear x4
Divination x4
Talrand, Sky Summoner x3
Switcheroo x3
Goblin Electromancer x3
Into the Void x3
Runechanter's Pike x2
Dual Casting x2
Cyclonic Rift x2
Mercurial Chemister x1
Epic Experiment x1

Have 44 cards, Want 37, Need help cutting 7 cards!
 
fifasnipe2224 said:
Need help cutting out cards from my Standard Talrand Izzet deck.

Talrand's Invocation x4
Archaeomancer x4
Dissipate x4
Guttersnipe x4
Searing Spear x4
Divination x4
Talrand, Sky Summoner x3
Switcheroo x3
Goblin Electromancer x3
Into the Void x3
Runechanter's Pike x2
Dual Casting x2
Cyclonic Rift x2
Mercurial Chemister x1
Epic Experiment x1

Have 44 cards, Want 37, Need help cutting 7 cards!
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Straight up bad cards:
Switcheroo
Archaeomancer (slow and doesn't really do much)
Into the Void (too slow for constructed)
Dual Casting (asking to get yourself 2 for 1'd)
Epic Experiment (needs to go built around)

Mercurial Chemister is a bit slow but OK I guess.
 
Wild Nacatl should definitely not be banned in Modern. Nobody even plays Zoo anymore because of it. Ancestral Visions is probably the best blue card they could take off the list to give control something to work with while not being completely warping.

fifasnipe2224 said:
Need help cutting out cards from my Standard Talrand Izzet deck.

Talrand's Invocation x4
Archaeomancer x4
Dissipate x4
Guttersnipe x4
Searing Spear x4
Divination x4
Talrand, Sky Summoner x3
Switcheroo x3
Goblin Electromancer x3
Into the Void x3
Runechanter's Pike x2
Dual Casting x2
Cyclonic Rift x2
Mercurial Chemister x1
Epic Experiment x1

Have 44 cards, Want 37, Need help cutting 7 cards!
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Is this for kitchen table Magic or something you plan on taking to FNM?
I would cut Dual Casting completely, Into the Void is not so great even when you have an electromancer on the board and while Mercurial Chemister is good on paper I think you'll rarely get use out of it as it's a kill-on-sight card. Also, no Snapcaster Mages?

Edit:
I would also cut Divination for Desperate Ravings. Divination without Electromancer is really slow. Desperate Ravings can be done at EOT for 2 mana at most and digs two deep. Random discard isn't all that awful and can actually help fuel your Runechanter's Pikes.
 
I am strangely starting to want to experiment with Righteous Authority in a b/w or bant deck with Geists, Tamiyo, Jace AoT with a control package.
It is expensive, but in control it may work.
 
Hex said:
I have a great and possibly questionable and somewhat dirty need for 4 x of the Dryad promos so I will definitely be going.
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Haha, nice. I sort of think the promo art is pretty ugly compared to the normal too which doesn't help. :P We'll see if there's anything worth me whipping up with the cards I have.
 
Hex said:
I am strangely starting to want to experiment with Righteous Authority in a b/w or bant deck with Geists, Tamiyo, Jace AoT with a control package.
It is expensive, but in control it may work.
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Staff of Nin is a better option.
 
My commander group does some pretty nutty tournaments, and I encouraged them to start enforcing custom rules..... Which did not really work out in my favor, but it made things very fun and interesting.

Next week the prize pool is absolutely fucking massive ($110+) and there's limited slots. Just one caveat: I am not allowed to use blue.

I'm thinking about making a WGB enchantress deck using either Doran or Ghave; it'll let me have the same ridiculous card drawing capability of blue without having cards like Fact or Fiction in my main. I'm just wondering how the hell I'm going to deal with infinite turn decks. Should I just throw a bunch of graveyard hate in my main, or should I use Living/Glittering/Death wish?

Being challenged is fun :P
 
When is gatecrash suppose to come out btw?

Also, ill post a list to my Knight Deck for modern for casual play pretty soon. I wanna know of any cards that can improve it

The deck is sick nasty against any mono colored deck though
 
I dreamt that I was playing Cifka after doing an interview with him and he used a Battle of Wits deck while I used some jank deck of random cards.

At one point I realized I was a dreaming and said as much to Cifka because the Elvish Archdruid card in my hand cost G instead of 1GG.

Oh god why.
 
Dissipate x4
Guttersnipe x4
Searing Spear x4
Desperate Ravings x4
Pillar of Flame x4
Archaeomancer x3
Talrand, Sky Summoner x3
Goblin Electromancer x3
Talrand's Invocation x2
Syncopate x2
Runechanter's Pike x1
Cyclonic Rift x1
Epic Experiment x1
Staff of Nin x1

**Updated to my latest version. Any thoughts??
 
Anywhere from $50 to $300.

The reason you'll be spending at least $50+ is for the mana base, which is expensive as hell. But once RTR has been out for a few months and Gatecrash launches, the price of shocklands will eventually go down. It's not the best of times to buy into modern.
 
fifasnipe2224 said:
Dissipate x4
Guttersnipe x4
Searing Spear x4
Desperate Ravings x4
Pillar of Flame x4
Archaeomancer x3
Talrand, Sky Summoner x3
Goblin Electromancer x3
Talrand's Invocation x2
Syncopate x2
Runechanter's Pike x1
Cyclonic Rift x1
Epic Experiment x1
Staff of Nin x1

**Updated to my latest version. Any thoughts??
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Staff of Nin doesn't really fit in this kind of deck. I don't think Epic Experiment will do much either.
Archaeomancer is bad in constructed. The body is irrelevant.
4 Dissipates is too many. A couple of Essence Scatters wouldn't be bad though.
You want 4 Electromancers.
Probably 4 Invocations.
Another Runechanter's Pike wouldn't be bad.
4 Delver's would fit for a casual budget deck as well.

y2dvd said:
What would a competitive Modern deck cost me?
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Depends if you're playing Goyf.
 
Registered for a grinder at the GP today, proceded to open up the most insane sealed deck of all time. 2 Pack Rats, Vraska, Corpsejack Menace, 3 Stab Wounds, Mercurular Chemist, ect. Of course, the deck I am passed is awful, containing 3 Shocklands, and a Vitu Ghazi Guildmage as the only bomb. I build a terrible G/W/u deck, splashing for a pair of Dramatic Rescues and Lyev Skynights. My manabase was actually pretty good, with 2 Azorious Guildgates, a Hallowed Fountain, and a Temple Garden, but proceded to draw a total of 5 lands between the 2 games I ended up playing, and got smashed :(
 
What happened, i thought Verdant Catacombs was the star of PTRTR?
 
I believe they also announced that the Fetches wont be in the Modern Masters set, despite playing a huge role in Modern (well, basically every format they're in). So yeah, they're only going to go up given the upcoming Modern ptq season, PT's, and GP's.
 
Hero said:
Scg started buying scalding tarns and misty rainforests at 20 a piece and jumped their prices up.
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Back in 2009 I purchased a bunch of Zendikar and I have a few of those. I'm just getting back into the game, is it worth it to sell those to get some of the newer cards?
 
Lucario said:
"We don't control the market" ~SCG


Man I hate that site sometimes. At least full sets of ZEN are still inexpensive on MODO right now.
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Eh, it's no scummier than other sites. Other sites that allow you to get notified when a card comes back in stock I'm sure influences their prices too. I refuse to believe when the prices jumps after restocking and is higher than everywhere else that that doesn't play a part. Part of the reason I don't do that anymore. More reason I use tcgplayer than any site anymore too.
 
After terrible grinder luck, 2-0 so far in the GP. My grid is deck has Mecureal, Mizzium Morters and Rakdos Revenge in it, so I think I have an actual shot at day 2
 
Things I've learned from my second weekend of drafts.

1) Desecration Demon really is as big of a trap as you guys said it was. I first picked it yesterday and realized that it's only good when you're already ahead. It won me a game when I was already beating him on board position and he couldn't catch up through the sacrifice effects, but it was such a dead draw in the other games. Then today I fought against it twice with an Azorious deck and it was no trouble at all to detain/bounce/otherwise deal with it. It's annoying. But it's nothing more than that. Don't draft this thing.

2) Jarad is rough to play against. I made so many mistakes against Jarad it's not even funny. He screws up combat, gives reach, gets massive quickly, etc. He's not overtly powerful, but when he's on the field, make sure to double and triple check your actions.

3) Collective Blessing is every bit as good as it looks, and then some. Also turns out that Collective Blessing and Jarad together are nuts.

4) Azorious tempo actually is a deck - if your deck has Skymark Rocs and Lyev Skyknights and not Vassal Souls. The 3/3 detain flier for 6 is also quite good. Most of the other fliers really aren't that special; I would only consider going for this deck if you can get one of those aforementioned creatures early. Today's deck had two Skyknights, a Sphinx, a Faerie Imposter (this thing is insane when paired with the Skyknights), and an Isperia's Skywatch - and it was really, really good (only losing to the aforementioned Collective Blessing/Jarad combo).
 
Demon is fine, but he's only good vs certain types of decks. Golgari lols at the card.

4) Azorious tempo actually is a deck - if your deck has Skymark Rocs and Lyev Skyknights and not Vassal Souls. The 3/3 detain flier for 6 is also quite good. Most of the other fliers really aren't that special; I would only consider going for this deck if you can get one of those aforementioned creatures early. Today's deck had two Skyknights, a Sphinx, a Faerie Imposter (this thing is insane when paired with the Skyknights), and an Isperia's Skywatch - and it was really, really good (only losing to the aforementioned Collective Blessing/Jarad combo).
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Azorius/Izzet tempo are where Stealer of Secrets is a powerhouse.
 
Anyone ever play Pass the Ace using a deck of actual cards? For our road trip get together next month we have 2 drafts and some regular MP planned. For the trip I've made a "Pass the Jace" deck of cards using Magic cards.

Each person is dealt one card. The person to the left of the dealer starts. He/she may trade with the person on his/her left. Each player in turn then decides whether or not to trade. The person on the left must trade, except if that person has a king. The dealer trades with the deck, if he/she wants to trade. Then all cards are shown and the loser is the person with the lowest card.
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We've played this at parties for years using $5. Each time you lose you put in a buck. Winner takes all. I've included 4 Jaces, 4 creatures of each Power and toughness from 2/2 up to 12/12 and 4 Dreadborn's as the King or stop card for a total of 52 cards.
 
divisionbyzorro said:
Things I've learned from my second weekend of drafts.

1) Desecration Demon really is as big of a trap as you guys said it was. I first picked it yesterday and realized that it's only good when you're already ahead. It won me a game when I was already beating him on board position and he couldn't catch up through the sacrifice effects, but it was such a dead draw in the other games. Then today I fought against it twice with an Azorious deck and it was no trouble at all to detain/bounce/otherwise deal with it. It's annoying. But it's nothing more than that. Don't draft this thing.

2) Jarad is rough to play against. I made so many mistakes against Jarad it's not even funny. He screws up combat, gives reach, gets massive quickly, etc. He's not overtly powerful, but when he's on the field, make sure to double and triple check your actions.

3) Collective Blessing is every bit as good as it looks, and then some. Also turns out that Collective Blessing and Jarad together are nuts.

4) Azorious tempo actually is a deck - if your deck has Skymark Rocs and Lyev Skyknights and not Vassal Souls. The 3/3 detain flier for 6 is also quite good. Most of the other fliers really aren't that special; I would only consider going for this deck if you can get one of those aforementioned creatures early. Today's deck had two Skyknights, a Sphinx, a Faerie Imposter (this thing is insane when paired with the Skyknights), and an Isperia's Skywatch - and it was really, really good (only losing to the aforementioned Collective Blessing/Jarad combo).
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wait, I played someone yesterday who was really confused when I had Jarad out.


We played :3


Also, my limited rating has gone from 1740 to 1810 since this set was released on MODO. I haven't sold a single card from RTR and I'm still far, far into the green on this one. The fact that I began with 10 packs and still have 8 sealed ones left after 25 drafts is completely unreal for me; I can't believe how hard people find it to figure out this format. (I did the math, and i'm 120 tix ahead on this format so far.)


/bragpost


I'll be writing up archtype listings later today, and livestreaming if anyone's interested.
 
Does damage redirection take the damage effects with it? So in other words if anything gets hit by that 1/2 deathtouch guy does the palisade giant just die?
 
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