That is what I'm referring to. And I've never had a useless theaten as far as I remember. I always play aggressive since control is for serial killers and nazis. And threaten always is an allstar for me.
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Magic: the Gathering |OT13| Ixalan - Port to Sideboard
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
That is what I'm referring to. And I've never had a useless theaten as far as I remember. I always play aggressive since control is for serial killers and nazis. And threaten always is an allstar for me.
Btw, anyone have any particular thoughts on how I should rate removal type stuff in Ixalan prerelease? I feel like I have a (rough) grasp on the value of creatures, but non-creature stuff gets harder to evaluate for me. And for removal in particular... where's the cutoff for what's "good"? Like, Ixalan's Binding for example looks kind of expensive to me for what you get, but I don't know if that's a fair assessment or not...
SigmasonicX
Member
In Limited, something that deals 3 damage to creature or is stronger than that is an auto-include if you're playing that color, even if it's five mana.
if it's a clean removal (destroy or exile) you will happily pay 5 mana for it, which is the standard mana cost in limited for most removal of that kind. For damage-based removal, 1 mana per point of damage on a single target is a fair price in limited e: as SigmasonicX pointed out, you will probably still begrudgingly take the 3 damage for 5 mana sorcery
you need something to destroy their 4/4 flyer if you're behind on the board, or there's no way to come back. Or let's say you have this really sweet creature, and a simple 1/1 deathtouch on the other side prevents you from ever attacking. Removal is always very good to have
Ixalan's Binding is a high priority card in draft and an instant include in sealed
I'm perfectly fine with uncommon reality smasher staying right where it is. In fact I'd prefer if it was weaker
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I think I should put one of the old eldrazi titans into my Mairsil decks. I keep almost decking myself if commit // memory gets countered or exiled.
I only won today because my Jin Gitaxias discarded my opponents lab maniac which I then eternalized with Scarab God and brainstormed for the win.
Consecrated Sphinx is a hell of a card.
I also got to play a stony silence on a board with a mycosinth lattice which was fun. The only thing producing mana at this point were 2 Carpet of Flowers (1 of them a copy)
I only won today because my Jin Gitaxias discarded my opponents lab maniac which I then eternalized with Scarab God and brainstormed for the win.
Consecrated Sphinx is a hell of a card.
I also got to play a stony silence on a board with a mycosinth lattice which was fun. The only thing producing mana at this point were 2 Carpet of Flowers (1 of them a copy)
SigmasonicX
Member
Right.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Less damage though
Okay, just to finish up before I get ready to head out in a few hours:
To confirm on deck construction:
I saw that the recommended number is generally 17 lands to 23 other cards, yeah? So I assume with 2 colors that's pretty simple, in that you'd aim for a roughly even split, favoring whatever you put in more heavily (possibly going slightly less even if one color has an especially strong pull, I guess). But if I look at my cards and determine I need three colors... how should I break it down there? Should it presumably be a noticeably lower percentage of the third color all around, and potentially let treasures and other cards that can produce mana in whatever color needed do the heavy lifting for that third?
Also, for general curve, I saw this:
. Now, with all the treasure and crap around, would I be thinking right that you may potentially want to shift the curve more to the right, especially if you get lucky enough to hit on some good dinos and some stuff to help reduce cost and/or speed up your mana?
And just in general... should the amount of non-creatures in the deck be pretty small? Like, any kind of ideal ratio to look at there? Obviously that kind of thing will be highly variable based on what you get, but should it be kept, like, in the 3-5 range and focus on removal or something?
Sorry for kind of spamming the thread with all this stuff, btw. Just a bit nervous about doing a prerelease for the first time, as I kind of feel like, while I know how to PLAY the game (more or less), all the complexities at work here make me feel a little out of my depth.
To confirm on deck construction:
I saw that the recommended number is generally 17 lands to 23 other cards, yeah? So I assume with 2 colors that's pretty simple, in that you'd aim for a roughly even split, favoring whatever you put in more heavily (possibly going slightly less even if one color has an especially strong pull, I guess). But if I look at my cards and determine I need three colors... how should I break it down there? Should it presumably be a noticeably lower percentage of the third color all around, and potentially let treasures and other cards that can produce mana in whatever color needed do the heavy lifting for that third?
Also, for general curve, I saw this:
And just in general... should the amount of non-creatures in the deck be pretty small? Like, any kind of ideal ratio to look at there? Obviously that kind of thing will be highly variable based on what you get, but should it be kept, like, in the 3-5 range and focus on removal or something?
Sorry for kind of spamming the thread with all this stuff, btw. Just a bit nervous about doing a prerelease for the first time, as I kind of feel like, while I know how to PLAY the game (more or less), all the complexities at work here make me feel a little out of my depth.
About the number of lands: It depends on the format or your deck, but should be on the safe side with 17 lands. When it comes to the color split, don't feel forced to have an even distribution if it means you'd play more lower quality cards of your secondary color. Regarding the mana sources in your land base, don't get too greedy even if you're mostly running one color. You should still run 6-7 lands for your support color.
You usually want to have around 15 creatures in your deck. The fewer creatures you have, the worse Auras, Equipment, or spells that require a creature to function(such as a pump spell or the card Pounce). Removal spells are amazing, but in this format they lean on the expensive side for the most part and you'll probably see people running less of them because of that.
The factor of treasures and how effectively they fix your mana is a complicated issue that nobody is really able to answer day 0. It's gonna be interesting to find out if blue black decks actually have better mana fixing than green in Ixalan. Keep in mind that the mana treasures provide is only temporary, so I don't think it should they'll offset mana curves. It's important to figure out if the format is fast or slow. But that's too early to tell.
And don't be afraid to ask your neighbors questions during deck construction. If you notice a more experienced player who has already built their deck, go ahead and ask them to take a look at your pool!The most important piece of advice however, is to not overthink it and have some fun!
You usually want to have around 15 creatures in your deck. The fewer creatures you have, the worse Auras, Equipment, or spells that require a creature to function(such as a pump spell or the card Pounce). Removal spells are amazing, but in this format they lean on the expensive side for the most part and you'll probably see people running less of them because of that.
The factor of treasures and how effectively they fix your mana is a complicated issue that nobody is really able to answer day 0. It's gonna be interesting to find out if blue black decks actually have better mana fixing than green in Ixalan. Keep in mind that the mana treasures provide is only temporary, so I don't think it should they'll offset mana curves. It's important to figure out if the format is fast or slow. But that's too early to tell.
And don't be afraid to ask your neighbors questions during deck construction. If you notice a more experienced player who has already built their deck, go ahead and ask them to take a look at your pool!The most important piece of advice however, is to not overthink it and have some fun!
divisionbyzorro
Member
That's mostly true, but if you have fewer than three sources of any color, statistically you'll run into issues with being able to cast those spells. So even if you just have one splash, don't try to get away with 1-2 sources of that color (this is where cards like Evolving Wilds become so important).
Imperfected
Member
As a secondary and somewhat more complicated consideration, you should also look at your deck and consider when you need your mana.
If you're splashing three black spells in a R/G beaters deck to get some removal, but they're all CMC 5+, you've got some time to find your black sources. On the other hand, if you're on an aggro plan you can't afford to miss running out your low CMC creatures early on, even if they're the only cards you have in that color.
As such, seemingly "greedy" splashes ("I'm splashing for this big dumb 7 CMC card") can actually be much better deck-building decisions than seemingly modest ones ("I'm splashing black for Walk the Plank oh god what have I done").
If you're splashing three black spells in a R/G beaters deck to get some removal, but they're all CMC 5+, you've got some time to find your black sources. On the other hand, if you're on an aggro plan you can't afford to miss running out your low CMC creatures early on, even if they're the only cards you have in that color.
As such, seemingly "greedy" splashes ("I'm splashing for this big dumb 7 CMC card") can actually be much better deck-building decisions than seemingly modest ones ("I'm splashing black for Walk the Plank oh god what have I done").
Since I have a lot of days off work (thankfully) I decided to post my Alara-Tarkir minicubes over at MTGSalvation. I welcome any feedback/commentary in case anyone is interested. 
SigmasonicX
Member
Regisaur still makes me think of
Anyway, LSV's limited reviews should give you a good idea of what the bombs are. Speaking of which,
Green
Gold, Artifacts, Lands
He managed to finish before Saturday after all! (here, at least)
Anyway, LSV's limited reviews should give you a good idea of what the bombs are. Speaking of which,
Green
Gold, Artifacts, Lands
He managed to finish before Saturday after all! (here, at least)
I hope one of you fine lads and lasses is brave enough to play Old-Growth Dryads
So I had three creatures below 4 mana and all my bombs were green, so I just jammed ramp and made Gruul dinos with my good-ish cards, then got land flooded or mana screwed every game. Never drew my Regisaur in nine games.
This is the first time I've 0-4'd anything and I'm actually pretty mad. Fuck this prerelease.
Also LSV is wrong about Arguel's. How is "draw your entire deck then win" a bad card.
This is the first time I've 0-4'd anything and I'm actually pretty mad. Fuck this prerelease.
Also LSV is wrong about Arguel's. How is "draw your entire deck then win" a bad card.
SigmasonicX
Member
Yeah, I didn't get that at all. He must have misread the card in some way. Maybe he thought it tapped and was at sorcery speed?
Yeah that would suck. He's maybe too low on Deadeye Plunderers too.
May all your creatures be 6 cmc and none of your removal splashable.
I played a Zendikar pool with what was kinda the opposite of it- 4 Scythe Tigers. They actually beat down pretty hard even though I hit turn 4 with 2 lands once.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
friend of mine once 3-0d a draft by picking up 5 of those
I'm currently waiting for the last round to fire at my prerelease. I'm 1-2, but, like, a close 1-2.
I actually managed to make two decks, one GR Dinosaurs with a splash of white (for Gishath and the Sunwing) and one BW Vampires with a splash of blue (for Hostage Taker and some other bodies). Both were surprisingly solid. I've never managed to put two together like that so I'm happy with the experience.
I actually managed to make two decks, one GR Dinosaurs with a splash of white (for Gishath and the Sunwing) and one BW Vampires with a splash of blue (for Hostage Taker and some other bodies). Both were surprisingly solid. I've never managed to put two together like that so I'm happy with the experience.
It's not a 1.0, but I'm not excited about paying two life and two mana per card in a format with like a million aggressive common two drops.
HOLY CRAP! Managed to actually go 3-0 in my first ever prerelease... with what seemed to be a kinda crap deck, far as myself and the guys I went with could tell. Like, just Blue/Red "this is the best I've got" was the "theme". A lot of pirates, but no real synergy outside of having the one guy who got Menace and a cutlass in there. But mostly... I was just kind of playing creatures, and occassionally hijacking or whatever (had 1, and that was a helpful card!) Plus I was ultimately intimidated as hell by the deckbuilding despite all the advice I sought on here and kinda froze up, and strongarmed my one friend into pushing the process along... which he admitted later to only half-paying attention to.
But yeah, think everyone was on Dinos that I played. First guy admittedly got screwed enough on draws that he failed to play like anything twice in a row, so I went 2-0 on him. Then second guy was actual proper games that I again somehow went 2-0. Then finally I hit the third guy, and seeing everybody else do it and not being a gambling person, asked if he was cool with the "just call it a draw so we each get nice prizes" thing... and he bluntly was like "nope". He also kind of played in a weirdly... twitchy sort of way, like physically moving everything really fast (kind of wondering if he just had too much caffiene for the event or whatever), which was intimidating in a weird way. He crushed the hell out of me in the first match, so I thought that my miracle streak was at a brutal end... but then I somehow eeked out two close wins!
So yeah, somehow hit a near perfect record with an awkward, haphazardly constructed deck played against what seemed to be FAR more experienced players, which got me a nice 7 extra packs.
Plus, you know, it was a fun little experience. Still think I'll need to learn how to be less overwhelmed by the actual deck construction, but I could see doing such a thing again.
Favorite play of the night was probably using that X UU costing card to steal that third dudes 3/4 flying dinosaur... and then yoinking his Pterenadon Knight (or whatever the card is called) with Hijack (and I think maybe gave one the pirates cutlass, and I think over two turns technically, so not TOO crazy mana), thus letting me hit him for lethal by stealing his two flying creatures, leaving him with none.
But yeah, think everyone was on Dinos that I played. First guy admittedly got screwed enough on draws that he failed to play like anything twice in a row, so I went 2-0 on him. Then second guy was actual proper games that I again somehow went 2-0. Then finally I hit the third guy, and seeing everybody else do it and not being a gambling person, asked if he was cool with the "just call it a draw so we each get nice prizes" thing... and he bluntly was like "nope". He also kind of played in a weirdly... twitchy sort of way, like physically moving everything really fast (kind of wondering if he just had too much caffiene for the event or whatever), which was intimidating in a weird way. He crushed the hell out of me in the first match, so I thought that my miracle streak was at a brutal end... but then I somehow eeked out two close wins!
So yeah, somehow hit a near perfect record with an awkward, haphazardly constructed deck played against what seemed to be FAR more experienced players, which got me a nice 7 extra packs.
Plus, you know, it was a fun little experience. Still think I'll need to learn how to be less overwhelmed by the actual deck construction, but I could see doing such a thing again.
Favorite play of the night was probably using that X UU costing card to steal that third dudes 3/4 flying dinosaur... and then yoinking his Pterenadon Knight (or whatever the card is called) with Hijack (and I think maybe gave one the pirates cutlass, and I think over two turns technically, so not TOO crazy mana), thus letting me hit him for lethal by stealing his two flying creatures, leaving him with none.
the dirty little secret of limited, particularly sealed, is that skill doesn't matter all that much, as long as you avoid obvious missplays. Hope you get good cards, build a somewhat decent deck with it, win the dice rolls or coin toss on who gets to start first, play all your creatures and spells on curve, don't draw too many or too few lands, et voilà! And congrats on stomping the guy that didn't want to split
preach it. The sophisticated MTG player values tact, grace and finesse over mere brutish force
I have by far my most first place finishes in sealed, I do well almost every single time. It's a different skill set that a lot of players seem to lack, turning shit into gold basically. I find it also really exposes players who suck as you are all running around with a mess of a deck hoping to grab the one bomb you have and if you aren't a smart player who takes advantage of missteps and knows the best time to use combat tricks, you dead. But you are right in that there is always that one chucklefuck who opened a bunch of on color rares and always seems to draw his fucking planeswalker and you just gotta hope you are faster.
2 Mana (+2 for the enchantment that doesn't effect the board) + 2 Life per use are costs that add up fast. It will depend on how fast the format is though and how easy it is to regain life (it's easy to look at all the lifegain in the set in theory but I want to see it in practice).
Reading this in Peridot's voice is hilarious <3
TheBlackMarvel
Member
Just got home from the most absurd pre-release I've ever attended.
Decklist:
Wakening Sun's Avatar (FOIL)
Carnage Tyrant
Jade Guardian * 2
Tishana's Wayfinder
Ravenous Daggertooth
Ixalli's Keeper
Bishop's Soldier
Raptor Companion
Shaper Apprentice
Storm Fleet Aerialist
Siren Stormtamer
Jungle Delver
Adanto Vanguard
Huatli, Warrior Poet
Legion's Judgment
Savage Stomp
Chart a Course
Hierophant's Chalice
Opt * 2
Slash of Talons
New Horizons * 2
Ixalan's Binding
Unclaimed Territory * 2
Field of Ruin
Forest * 6
Island * 4
Plains * 4
Mountain
Went 3-0, only casting the Tyrant once and removing Wakening Sun's Avatar after game 2. Huatli and the 2 drops vampire with "Pay 4 life, gains indestructible until end of turn" were MVP's.
Opened prize packs and got Admiral Beckett Brass and some cool rares. The penultimate pack had a foil Jasic Island, a normal Jasic Island
Needless to say, pretty pleased right now.
Didn't get Arena codes though, need to have a word about that.
Decklist:
Wakening Sun's Avatar (FOIL)
Carnage Tyrant
Jade Guardian * 2
Tishana's Wayfinder
Ravenous Daggertooth
Ixalli's Keeper
Bishop's Soldier
Raptor Companion
Shaper Apprentice
Storm Fleet Aerialist
Siren Stormtamer
Jungle Delver
Adanto Vanguard
Huatli, Warrior Poet
Legion's Judgment
Savage Stomp
Chart a Course
Hierophant's Chalice
Opt * 2
Slash of Talons
New Horizons * 2
Ixalan's Binding
Unclaimed Territory * 2
Field of Ruin
Forest * 6
Island * 4
Plains * 4
Mountain
Went 3-0, only casting the Tyrant once and removing Wakening Sun's Avatar after game 2. Huatli and the 2 drops vampire with "Pay 4 life, gains indestructible until end of turn" were MVP's.
Opened prize packs and got Admiral Beckett Brass and some cool rares. The penultimate pack had a foil Jasic Island, a normal Jasic Island
and motherfucking Jace himself!
Needless to say, pretty pleased right now.
Didn't get Arena codes though, need to have a word about that.
TheBlackMarvel
Member
Ah cool!
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
not going to the HOU prerelease and now probably skipping Ixalan made me realize I really don't like sealed. I'd be all over draft prereleases though, you get 6 packs wish we could just 2 drafts with those instead.
wait I did begrudgingly play HOU prerelease since the usual crowd for commander opted to play that instead, I just hated it.
wait I did begrudgingly play HOU prerelease since the usual crowd for commander opted to play that instead, I just hated it.
Keru_Shiri
Member
Glad I'm not the only one that did this...
Went 2-1 before dropping in a 5 round format. Ended up going to a different store since the other couple we play with wanted to go to this one. Store got to off to a late start and we were finishing the 3rd round at 4:20 and the wife wasn't too keen on staying 2 more rounds. Started off R/W/G but after losing round 1 very quickly I dropped white and the night went much smoother. Curving out with even just decent dinos did work letting me win 2-0 in round 2 and 3. Opened a promo Growing Rites of Itlimoc which was $50+ when I went to bed this morning. Told myself if I woke up without setting an alarm then I'd maybe go to the 11:00 one but may just wait until this evening. Also, feels bad opening some of the bigger dinos and never seeing em.
I'd like to go to a prerelease again, sealed is relaxing. No need to worry about having to colorshift mid-pack 2, or the old "do I draft this off-color rare?" dilema. But it seems like I'm never anywhere near a game store when a new set releases
Got some nice cards there.
I'm going tonight with another gaffer and I hope to pull some good cards to at least be competitive. With my booster luck though, I'm guaranteed shit... lol.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
I like a semi controlled environment over one where I have to make do with what I open.
I've also never been glorybringer'd twice in a row in draft or gotten someone to pull a liliana with djeru but those are experiences that really ruined my last 2 sealed events.