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[WanderingWind]

Post in the Magic: The Gathering thread on a video game forum while at the Happiest Place on Earth, brehs

 

[Angry Grimace]

A few other things in MTGO testing. Even it you have a solid play group, your competition likely did a lot of testing there. The meta on MTGO is very inbred and tends to solve itself into a suboptimal state pretty quickly - you need to know what the online grinders are doing when approaching a tournament.

The same can be true for a testing group. You can get stuck in ruts, playing against the same players with the same tendencies. Getting some reps in against a different set of players can be hugely valuable.

That being said: the tourney practice room and the 2-man queues are crap. The DEs are where the competition is, and it's not necessarily easy to schedule that in.

And I'm typing this from my phone at Disney's Animal Kingdom. While riding the Animal Safari tour. I just saw some actual mandrills and they actually hooted at me. So I feel like I'm an expert now.

The Daily Events are quite hard actually. 2 mans tend to be a wave of cheapie aggro decks and brews. I almost never saw monoblack in a 2 man.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

God, with the memories of Invasion, I'd love to make an Invasion deck. I wonder if that can be effective even up against today's cards.

 

["God's Beard!"]

So sorry I didn't have psychic powers to know about your on-demand playgroup of professional level players. C'mon, man.

I just feel bad because I make ridiculous statements all the time and you respond with sarcasm which I have to defend against because the things you're saying are actually true which only makes me look more arrogant lol

I just use this thread to share my experiences because you all trained me up from some dude with an FNM mill deck. I just happened to have a pretty decent run recently and I'm surrounded with quality play to get better from.

Anyway, MTGO is down and I'm getting the shakes from not having my fix.

 

[Firemind]

Your first real deck was a mill deck?

youarealreadydead.jpg

 

[ThLunarian]

God, with the memories of Invasion, I'd love to make an Invasion deck. I wonder if that can be effective even up against today's cards.

I really, really love the idea of the Bring Your Own Standard format. One day when I have a respectable collection, I'd like to build some of my favorite classic decks and find someone else who's done the same.

To answer your question, I think a Fires of Yavimaya deck would hold up pretty well in today's Standard. That deck was kind of sick.

 

[ultron87]

Your first real deck was a mill deck?

youarealreadydead.jpg

That's just one of the decks that everyone has to try in their Magic career. It's like an Elves deck. Everyone had an Elves deck.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Your first real deck was a mill deck?

youarealreadydead.jpg

God, that deck was so much fun.

Breaking // Entering, Jace, Memory Adept, Consuming Aberration + Rogue's Passage. It felt like a burn deck, so good.

But yeah, before INN/RTR I only played limited. I still like limited better, but constructed has grown on me.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I really, really love the idea of the Bring Your Own Standard format. One day when I have a respectable collection, I'd like to build some of my favorite classic decks and find someone else who's done the same.

To answer your question, I think a Fires of Yavimaya deck would hold up pretty well in today's Standard. That deck was kind of sick.

I'm not sure I understand what "Build Your Own Standard" is. Does the store just choose some blocks and say, "this is the 'standard?'" Because that sounds like something that would be fun on MODO, but not necessarily work in real life where you have to have cards.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

GB used to brew the hottest of messes. It's been fun watching him grow up. *sniff*

 

[Angry Grimace]

GB used to brew the hottest of messes. It's been fun watching him grow up. *sniff*

He still uses Hooting Mandrills in constructed decks

 

[ultron87]

I'm not sure I understand what "Build Your Own Standard" is. Does the store just choose some blocks and say, "this is the 'standard?'" Because that sounds like something that would be fun on MODO, but not necessarily work in real life where you have to have cards.

I believe each player individually picks two blocks for their deck. And they don't have to be consecutive so you can do something like Return to Ravnica/Invasion or anything else. I assume anything that has been banned in Standard at any point has to stay banned otherwise Mirrodin/Scars of Mirrodin would let you put together a nasty Affinity pile.

 

[red13th]

yeah IIRC Build Your Own Standard was an alternative to Modern back before they created Modern. you could do stuff like Urza's/Mirrodin or Masques/Kamigawa.

 

[Joe Molotov]

And I'm typing this from my phone at Disney's Animal Kingdom. While riding the Animal Safari tour. I just saw some actual mandrills and they actually hooted at me. So I feel like I'm an expert now.

I bet Disney can afford to hardcast them.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I believe each player individually picks two blocks for their deck. And they don't have to be consecutive so you can do something like Return to Ravnica/Invasion or anything else. I assume anything that has been banned in Standard at any point has to stay banned otherwise Mirrodin/Scars of Mirrodin would let you put together a nasty Affinity pile.

Mirrodin by itself would be pretty insanely dumb if there weren't any Standard bans. The format sounds pretty problematic anyways though due to the number of interactions that aren't banned in Standard, but shouldn't be legal when paired with some other format. You know, like forcing Dredge or some shit.

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

Oh hey look what I just found for $3 at rite aid.

Should I even open it?

edit: opened it got a master transmuter

 

[Firemind]

I never played mill to be honest. Even as a prepubescent kid I knew milling meant your opponent started at 40+ life instead of 20. It's like a bad burn deck. Unless you were Stroking for a million during Black Summer. The only milling I did was myself. Swans of Bryn Argoll Seismic Assault BFF.

Mirrodin by itself would be pretty insanely dumb if there weren't any Standard bans. The format sounds pretty problematic anyways though due to the number of interactions that aren't banned in Standard, but shouldn't be legal when paired with some other format. You know, like forcing Dredge or some shit.

I'm pretty sure without bans Urza block would crush Mirrodin. Urza could win on t2 or failing that on t3 pretty easily.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I never played mill to be honest. Even as a prepubescent kid I knew milling meant your opponent started at 40+ life instead of 20. It's like a bad burn deck. Unless you were Stroking for a million during Black Summer. The only milling I did was myself. Swans of Bryn Argoll Seismic Assault BFF.


I'm pretty sure without bans Urza block would crush Mirrodin. Urza could win on t2 or failing that on t3 pretty easily.

Urza/Mirrodin Standard

Also, Merry Christmas, MagicGAF

 

[OnPoint]

Urza/Mirrodin Standard

Also, Merry Christmas, MagicGAF

[IMGhttp://i.imgur.com/NlDheRo.jpg[/IMG]

Hah people have such creative ideas sometimes.

 

["God's Beard!"]

He still uses Hooting Mandrills in constructed decks

 

["God's Beard!"]

Did you try the Holiday Cube yet? (Speaking of shitty MODO 2-mans, that's where you get the dudes playing mill decks in a competitive environment. Trust me, that's the only place you'll be seeing the vaunted Wall of Frost/Phenax combo deck.)



I'm not sure I understand what "Build Your Own Standard" is. Does the store just choose some blocks and say, "this is the 'standard?'" Because that sounds like something that would be fun on MODO, but not necessarily work in real life where you have to have cards.

I feel so bad passing a disc.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Chapin's article on cheating from SCG was brought into the free side given how much demand there was for it. It's a good read.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29952_Cheating-At-The-Magic-World-Championship.html

 

["God's Beard!"]

God, when my opponent's first play was Thalia I thought I was gonna go 0-1 lol


edit: by the way, I passed vault key. Am I fucked?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";144421399]edit: by the way, I passed vault key. Am I fucked?[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily. That was really dumb though.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Not necessarily. That was really dumb though.

I saw the key in pack two and it wheeled so I figured it was safe. Then I really wanted cryptic command in pack three :-(

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";144421399]God, when my opponent's first play was Thalia I thought I was gonna go 0-1 lol


edit: by the way, I passed vault key. Am I fucked?[/QUOTE]

I mean, why would you? 2 card "I win." Costs 4 mana total and there's several other enablers around in the format if you don't have key - Tezz can tutor it and untap it by himself.

 

[kirblar]

You don't pass Time Vault in this cube.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Definitely would have helped me when I just lost to green/red stompy on turn ~50,000 through revelation, jace, ajani and terminus. He did Song of the Dryads my Detention Sphere which let me cast Kitchen Finks, though lol

 

[red13th]

Chapin's article on cheating from SCG was brought into the free side given how much demand there was for it. It's a good read.

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29952_Cheating-At-The-Magic-World-Championship.html

Great read

 

[divisionbyzorro]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";144429136]Definitely would have helped me when I just lost to green/red stompy on turn ~50,000 through revelation, jace, ajani and terminus. He did Song of the Dryads my Detention Sphere which let me cast Kitchen Finks, though lol[/QUOTE]

So he just 0-for-1d himself and you still lost? Son, I am disappoint.

 

["God's Beard!"]

So he just 0-for-1d himself and you still lost? Son, I am disappoint.

My only flyer being cloudgoat really hurt me. I terminus'd him and he got back vengevine and stuck a sword on it the next turn -_-

 

[Firemind]

To be fair, his deck is kind of fair.

I don't completely understand how the Double Nickle stacking cheat works. I'm aware that pile shuffling isn't proper randomization, but Chapin says you will always have hands with a decent split between spells and lands, but isn't pile shuffling a number of times at least a bit of randomization? Or does he mean before you start to pile shuffle, the deck is split between lands and spells, with a few amounts of cuts through side shuffling. So when you pile shuffle once, the lands and spells will be split between five piles, and when you pile shuffle for a second time, the lands and spells will be ordered in a way that doing a few cuts won't screw you from getting a keepable hand.

 

[kirblar]

To be fair, his deck is kind of fair.

I don't completely understand how the Double Nickle stacking cheat works. I'm aware that pile shuffling isn't proper randomization, but Chapin says you will always have a decent split between spells and lands, but isn't pile shuffling a number of times at least a bit of randomization? Or does he mean before you start to pile shuffle, the deck is split between lands and spells, with a few amounts of cuts through side shuffling. So when you pile shuffle once, the lands and spells will be split between five piles, and when you pile shuffle for a second time, the lands and spells will be ordered in a way that doing a few cuts won't screw you from getting a keepable hand.

You need to pile shuffle in a number that isn't divsiible by your deck. (i.e.- do 7 piles)

 

[Haly]

I don't completely understand how the Double Nickle stacking cheat works.

http://fivewithflores.com/2009/05/how-to-cheat/

 

[Angry Grimace]

To be fair, his deck is kind of fair.

I don't completely understand how the Double Nickle stacking cheat works. I'm aware that pile shuffling isn't proper randomization, but Chapin says you will always have hands with a decent split between spells and lands, but isn't pile shuffling a number of times at least a bit of randomization? Or does he mean before you start to pile shuffle, the deck is split between lands and spells, with a few amounts of cuts through side shuffling. So when you pile shuffle once, the lands and spells will be split between five piles, and when you pile shuffle for a second time, the lands and spells will be ordered in a way that doing a few cuts won't screw you from getting a keepable hand.

Its because Pile Shuffling is not in fact random at all unless you randomly distribute the cards to each pile (I do this, but most people don't). It does a better job of splitting up spells and land before you do a few mashes or riffles if you're into that kind of thing.

If someone pile shuffled and then did nothing else I'd be pretty suspicious. But I wouldn't know on just sight - I haven't cheated at Magic since 1996 when I was 13 and wanted to assemble Land Tax into some kind of insane 4 card combo, and my method of cheating was literally something along the lines of pointing behind my buddies and saying "oh, its Ashley, damn she looks hot today," and then I put Land Tax on top of the deck when they turn around to look.

 

[Firemind]

You need to pile shuffle in a number that isn't divsiible by your deck. (i.e.- do 7 piles)

Aha. I never thought about this before. I always pile shuffle in seven piles, simply because that was what's considered standard practice at the time, but I do sometimes notice players do five piles. Huh. I'll make sure to riffle/mash shuffle my opponent's decks now.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Aha. I never thought about this before. I always pile shuffle in seven piles, simply because that was what's considered standard practice at the time, but I do sometimes notice players do five piles. Huh. I'll make sure to riffle/mash shuffle my opponent's decks now.

I never even consider riffling an opponents deck. Then again, I never even consider shuffling my opponents deck at all.

 

[charlequin]

I believe each player individually picks two blocks for their deck. And they don't have to be consecutive so you can do something like Return to Ravnica/Invasion or anything else. I assume anything that has been banned in Standard at any point has to stay banned otherwise Mirrodin/Scars of Mirrodin would let you put together a nasty Affinity pile.

It's any two blocks from Ice Age onwards plus any one core set from Fifth onward, and a banned list including any card that's ever been banned in any Standard format. The only official time the format was used was right after Time Spiral so there's no official answer for how it works with things like Lorwyn/Shadowmoor or how it would adapt to the future two-block setup.

Aha. I never thought about this before. I always pile shuffle in seven piles, simply because that was what's considered standard practice at the time, but I do sometimes notice players do five piles.

I always do five piles at least once since that makes it easy to verify that your deck's the right size.

 

[Firemind]

I always do five piles at least once since that makes it easy to verify that your deck's the right size.

You can verify easily with seven piles too! Seven piles of 8 is 56, so the last card finishes at the fourth (top right) pile. With a 40 card deck, it's seven piles of 5 (35). Last card finishing at the fifth (bottom right) pile.

One reason I don't really want to riffle shuffle my opponent's deck is because I'm terrible at it. Sometimes they use new sleeves, so I have to be super careful not to accidentally flip and reveal a card and receive a warning. Another reason is I don't want to damage my opponent's cards by bending them. If my opponent was forcibly bending my cards to the point of an arc developing in the middle of the cards, I'd be pissed. Corners are okay if it's not bent too upwardly.

http://fivewithflores.com/2009/05/how-to-cheat/

Thanks, the graphs helped a lot. Flores is kind of a dick by intentially trying to give his opponents a game loss though.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Ok, so I've done two pretend drafts in the new player zone and one Holiday Cube draft. Time for the fourth draft of the day...


A KTK 8-4! Let's go ^_^

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";144444982]Ok, so I've done two pretend drafts in the new player zone and one Holiday Cube draft. Time for the fourth draft of the day...


A KTK 8-4! Let's go ^_^[/QUOTE]

Win that, then enter the online PPTQ (I think its KTK Sealed) and then play Hooting Mandrills at PT Dragons of Tarkir. I'll eat an entire playset of Hooting Mandrills if you can make this happen. I believe in you!

 

["God's Beard!"]

Wheeeeeeeee! Time to tap some duders! Where's all the removal though :-(

 

[kirblar]

Why the hell are you playing the Mantis?

 

["God's Beard!"]

Why the hell are you playing the Mantis?

Cause it rocks and I got passed a bunch of white lands.


Anyway, I lost 1-2 in the finals to the mirror match. I was at 4 life with a briber's purse out and lethal next turn, but I decided to play two Experts instead of leaving up briber's purse to play around force away and set adrift that he played in the previous games. Instead he had feat of resistance and swung for 5 unblockable with his own expert.

I don't think I made the wrong play, but them's the breaks.

 

[kirblar]

3 is not a bunch, and those lands prevent you from curving out w/ the tempo deck.

 

["God's Beard!"]

3 is not a bunch, and those lands prevent you from curving out w/ the tempo deck.

The problem is that I'm gonna need them for Leaping Master anyway. I don't have enough interaction, so I need to raise my power level and run people down. The mantis is a strong flyer that helped me out a bit, and since my spell count is too low my windscouts get brickedwalled by that white vigilant flyer dude.. Valley Dasher was the MVP of the deck, though. That and having three windscouts out at the same time basically every game.

 

[kirblar]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";144460888]The problem is that I'm gonna need them for Leaping Master anyway. I don't have enough interaction, so I need to raise my power level and run people down. The mantis is a strong flyer that helped me out a bit, and since my spell count is too low my windscouts get brickedwalled by that white vigilant flyer dude.. Valley Dasher was the MVP of the deck, though. That and having three windscouts out at the same time basically every game.[/QUOTE]
Didn't see Master. Run them for him, but don't run Mantis. Your deck is not going to see enough cards, and the Mantis is not high-impact enough to make the risk pay off. Master is still useful without the ability.

 

["God's Beard!"]

By the way, after the first game of the second match, MODO crashed due to memory issues. Are the memory leaks really as bad as people say? Crashing after only a day of having an account is pretty gross. It's not like my computer is terrible.

Didn't see Master. Run them for him, but don't run Mantis. Your deck is not going to see enough cards, and the Mantis is not high-impact enough to make the risk pay off. Master is still useful without the ability.

The other problem is a lack of strong payables in my side. I'd have to run a cancel or something even worse. Being able to match a kirin wound up being huge when two of my opponents had them.

 

[kirblar]

They are indeed.

 

["God's Beard!"]

They are indeed.

Man, and I was actually having a bunch of fun, too. That's scary. I've seen a couple Travis Woo videos where he loses matches because modo crashed.