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[kirblar]

Is Sultai even good against RW decks? RW is the current Standard leader in terms of decks played. I mean, I guess Sultai Charm can blow up Outpost Siege/Mastery of the Unseen, but still.

It's much better against those decks than U/B precisely because it can blow up those problem enchantments. (Ugin works as well.)

 

["God's Beard!"]

GB, what's your current Sultai list? I feel like beating around some RW decks this evening.

Sultai Midrange

Creatures(21):

• 4 Satyr Wayfinder
• 4 Courser of Kruphix
• 4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
• 3 Torrent Elemental
• 3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
• 3 Hornet Queen

Spells(12):

• 4 Bile Blight
• 2 Hero's Downfall
• 3 Sultai Charm
• 3 Murderous Cut

Enchantments(2):

• 2 Whip of Erebos

Land(25):

• 4 Opulent Palace
• 3 Temple of Malady
• 2 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 3 Swamp
• 2 Island
• 1 Forest
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 2 Llanowar Wastes
• 2 Yavimaya Coast

Sideboard(15):

• 3 Thoughtseize
• 3 Drown in Sorrow
• 2 Crux of Fate
• 3 Disdainful Stroke
• 3 Negate
• 1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death

Is Sultai even good against RW decks? RW is the current Standard leader in terms of decks played. I mean, I guess Sultai Charm can blow up Outpost Siege/Mastery of the Unseen, but still.

Bile Blight, Drown, Blocks tokens better than any other midrange deck because of sidisi, gains life sometimes. I think Sultai Midrange is better than control right now vs RW. Having a crap ton of answers to Stormbreath is nice as well, and Torrent Elemental just trumps all the control decks running around. I upped the negate count in the side because I do get burned out a bit.

 

[keeblerdrow]

I was almost tempted to roll with some copies of Polis Crusher in my sideboard because of all the copies of Chained to the Rocks running around my LGS lately.

 

[Firemind]

Why play polish crusher when stormbreath has flying, haste and protection from rhinos?

 

["God's Beard!"]

I was almost tempted to roll with some copies of Polis Crusher in my sideboard because of all the copies of Chained to the Rocks running around my LGS lately.

An SCG Versus video just went up where BBD kills 4 Chained to the Rocks by -1ing Ugin lol

 

[Angry Grimace]

I was almost tempted to roll with some copies of Polis Crusher in my sideboard because of all the copies of Chained to the Rocks running around my LGS lately.

Peak Eruption is the manly way to free your guys from their bonds.

 

["God's Beard!"]

It just seems like Abzan could do all of that, except better.

Abzan Charm and Utter End are much worse cards than Sultai Charm in the matchup. Siege Rhino and sidisi both have advantages and disadvantages in the matchup. Satyr wayfinder trading for a goblin is also relevant.

Hornet Queen and Whip are also better stabilizers than Elspeth and Sorin, but they do get worse post board.

I have to give the advantage to sultai mainly on the back of Sultai Charm and counters out of the board. Otherwise the decks are pretty similarly constructed.

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";153969569]Abzan Charm and Utter End are much worse cards than Sultai Charm in the matchup. Siege Rhino and sidisi both have advantages and disadvantages in the matchup. Satyr wayfinder trading for a goblin is also relevant.

Hornet Queen and Whip are also better stabilizers than Elspeth and Sorin, but they do get worse post board.

I have to give the advantage to sultai mainly on the back of Sultai Charm and counters out of the board. Otherwise the decks are pretty similarly constructed.[/QUOTE]When I say "better" I mean that Abzan is simply a better deck playing better cards in general.

 

[charlequin]

They already did this in M15 and it wasn't all that interesting.

They... didn't do anything like what I'm talking about, though?

That seems weird that'd they'd waste new keyword real estate on that. Just keep it as morph and let the cards have "as dragon dude is turned face up put a +1/+1 counter on it."

If you do it that way you get a bunch of commons with this weird unconnected text on them and no way to tell that it's a universal theme across the set.

"Therefore, I reviewed our options and made ​​a decision: Dragons of Tarkir would use the theme of enemy colors." And then he goes on to explain that it doesn't happen (someone told him that enemy colors was dumb and not for terribly great reasons as far as I can tell).

Drafting an enemy pairs set is basically the exact same as drafting a wedge set, since you pick two colors to start and then figure out which of two others to spread out into as the packs go on. If you want the two draft formats to feel different you have to move to allied pairs. If it were a shard set, conversely, you'd have to move to enemy pairs.

 

[Angry Grimace]

They... didn't do anything like what I'm talking about, though?



If you do it that way you get a bunch of commons with this weird unconnected text on them and no way to tell that it's a universal theme across the set.



It's just boring if all the face-down cards in the set work that way. You'd have to do a set with at least two of the "mechanic slots" dedicated to face-downs, so you could have regular morphs (or another morph variant) plus this.



Drafting an enemy pairs set is basically the exact same as drafting a wedge set, since you pick two colors to start and then figure out which of two others to spread out into as the packs go on. If you want the two draft formats to feel different you have to move to allied pairs. If it were a shard set, conversely, you'd have to move to enemy pairs.

There are cards in M15 that are Plane-specific and adding watermarks to them wouldn't really do anything terribly interesting other than add a watermark. 10 Planes is way too many to have a coherent mechanical theme for each plane the way I see it.

 

[charlequin]

There are cards in M15 that are Plane-specific

There are cards in every core set that are plane-specific. There's a difference between that and using a specific structural approach to showing off different planes.

 

[Angry Grimace]

There are cards in every core set that are plane-specific. There's a difference between that and using a specific structural approach to showing off different planes.

You kind of cut off the second part - I don't think there's enough cards to do anything terribly interesting with it. It took two large sets to do that with RTR.

 

[The Technomancer]

That Spanish article is almost certainly genuine, but while reading it I had a lot if fun imagining it was someone parodying Rosewater's style as if it were a broken Spanish translation

 

[red13th]

So, I have this sad robot in my cube:

But I hate the artwork. Should I replace it with the new art?

 

[Angry Grimace]

That Spanish article is almost certainly genuine, but while reading it I had a lot if fun imagining it was someone parodying Rosewater's style as if it were a broken Spanish translation

I wanted to see the card

 

[Angry Grimace]

I've been having a ton of fun with an R/W list that's just the regular list but with more Brimaz and Dictate of Heliod instead of Stormbreath. It doesn't *seem* like it should work so well, but it does.

Edit: some MTGO guy just got super salty that I played Dictate of Heliod :lol

 

[The Technomancer]

Potluck draft!

Four separate people brought Saviors

 

[ThLunarian]

I need 1000 card sleeves for the cube I'm building. I would love recommendations on which brand will last the longest and where I can get the best deal. Thanks.

 

[charlequin]

You kind of cut off the second part - I don't think there's enough cards to do anything terribly interesting with it. It took two large sets to do that with RTR.

I just don't think what's necessary to make a full-set return interesting is the same as what it takes to show off the flavor of a world as part of a set that does a whirlwind tour. Time Spiral manages to showcase the flavor of like 50 different random things from Magic's history in just a few cards each.

Four separate people brought Saviors

why are you friends with people who hate you

 

[The Technomancer]

why are you friends with people who hate you

Three of them weren't playing during Saviors and didn't know what they were doing

The first rare opened was One With Nothing

I swear I'm not joking

 

[keeblerdrow]

The prize support box at FNM tonight was an old pre-order no one picked up. Fetch in every pack. I got 2 of them and was the one who spotted the pattern. Was a good guy and pointed it out to the store runner. They're using the remaining pack to generate revenue for the store.

Before he left, and before it was discovered, first place had traded his 12 packs for a star wars playmat. We are all messaging him on Facebook now.

 

[ultron87]

I shall never tire of Crater's Clawing people for exactsies.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Split the finals of FNM again, glad too because I woulda got fucked up by Sultai control lol. Matchup is harder than UB, which I wasn't expecting.

Played against:
Chromantiflayer
GR Monsters
UB control
RW Aggro
Abzan Midrange
Sultai Control(split)

I wanted to use the payout to get a Phyrexian Dreadnaught for my Tiny Leaders deck but they only had the expensive promo one

And nobody ever has Bitterblossoms goddamn

 

[Angry Grimace]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";154014386]Split the finals of FNM again, glad too because I woulda got fucked up by Sultai control lol. Matchup is harder than UB, which I wasn't expecting.

Played against:
Chromantiflayer
GR Monsters
UB control
RW Aggro
Abzan Midrange
Sultai Control(split)

I wanted to use the payout to get a Phyrexian Dreadnaught for my Tiny Leaders deck but they only had the expensive promo one

And nobody ever has Bitterblossoms goddamn[/QUOTE]You need to play at a different store if you 5-0 every single week.

As for Bitterblossom, I have four of them but you can have them. ;-) (They 40 fucken bucks anyways)

 

[Angry Grimace]

FNM report: 4-0-1. Brought my generic Abzan deck and had a ton of fun just doing generically powerful things all day.

I might get bored playing a pile of goodstuff, but I like winning too.

 

["God's Beard!"]

You need to play at a different store if you 5-0 every single week.

As for Bitterblossom, I have four of them but you can have them. ;-) (They 40 fucken bucks anyways)

I don't 5-0 every single week. To be honest I only show up to FNMs every once in a while. You never remember the times I post about getting fucked, though lol. I try to be honest about my performance. That said, I rotate every once on a while between three stores in the area.

All things considered, I don't even think I'm that good of a player. I make way too many mistakes. If I had to rate myself in different formats over the past three months here's where I'd put my skill level:

Standard: C-
Modern: B+
Legacy: F
Draft: B+

I've still got a ton to improve. You're totally right, I'm a Pro Tour wanna-be. I don't know if it's been because I've been improving or getting sloppy, but I notice more and more mistakes I'm making and it's really frustrating. I try to be more deliberate to make up for it, but I got a warning for slow play at the last PTQ. I'm always trying to tighten up, but it's a slow process.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

So I haven't really played MtG in about 4 years or so, but my local comic shop was having an impromptu draft tonight, and I decided to jump in on it. Despite not knowing the current set beyond the fact that it was tri-color focused, and not even bothering to splash in a third color until I had already finished the first pack, I still managed to get 3rd place in a field of around 10 players, going 2-1 for the night. Should I take this as a sign from the gods to fall off the wagon and start doing cardboard crack again?

BTW, here's my draft from tonight:

Lands:
Plains x2
Forest x3
Swamp x5
Blossoming Sands x4
Scoured Barrens

Creatures:
Qarsi High Priest x2
Highland Game
Longshot Squad
Mardu Hordechief
Archers' Parapet
Merciless Executioner
Alpine Grizzly (foil)
Sultai Emissary
High Sentinels of Arashin
Salt Road Patrol
Firehoof Cavalry

Other:
Dragonscale Boon
Grave Strength
Map the Wastes
Savage Punch
Abzan Ascendancy
Ancestral Vengeance
Siegecraft
Cached Defenses
Temur Runemark
Formless Nurturing x2
Molting Snakeskin
Kin-Tree Invocation

Sideboard (aka shit I didn't bother using):
Unyielding Krumar
Fascination
Rakshasa's Disdain
Wetland Sambar
Smite the Monstrous
Molting Snakesking
Scout the Borders
War Behemoth
Sibsig Host
Winds of Qal Sisma
Venerable Lammasu
Sultai Banner
Rite of the Serpent

 

[Firemind]

welcome back!

and wth is tiny leaders lol

speaking of bad at formats, is two-headed dead or something? i mean it's no team sealed, but it was fun as a diversion. i only see two-headed existing at prereleases and side events at gps now. kind of funny how it went from gp format to at the brink of death.

 

[Matriox]

Decided to play in the Tcg 5k in Columbus this morning. Playing 5 color good stuff, because why not.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

and wth is tiny leaders lol

A shitty EDH knockoff that SCG is pushing hard so they can jack up the price of so-called "staples."

 

[OnPoint]

A shitty EDH knockoff that SCG is pushing hard so they can jack up the price of so-called "staples."

That's part of the reason I refuse to try it

 

[ThLunarian]

A shitty EDH knockoff that SCG is pushing hard so they can jack up the price of so-called "staples."

I think that's an unfair characterization. I thought it sounded dumb at first too, but it has some compelling features.

The rules are that you still have a Commander with the same color restrictions, but your deck must be 50 cards and nothing in the deck can have a converted mana cost greater than three. You start with 25 life, and the banned list is designed around one-on-one play.

What this means is that the decks are much easier to assemble, the games are easier to organize, the games are much faster and to the point, and stupid combos are both rarer (because of the cmc restriction) and easier to disrupt (because discard and counterspells are actually good in 1v1).

Another bonus is that suddenly some cards that would otherwise be useless now become very relevant. Black Sun's Zenith, Gaze of Granite, and Forced March, for example, are all-stars because they're some of the only Wrath effects that are legal in the format.

I'm trying to put together a Pharika deck right now, designed around wrathing the board repeatedly while playing threats that either don't die or can be recurred indefinitely.

 

[phazedplasma]

A shitty EDH knockoff that SCG is pushing hard so they can jack up the price of so-called "staples."

Didn't know this. That's so dumb.

 

[Firemind]

There is no Sultai general for three mana so they invented a blank legendary creature. :lol

Also why is Derevi banned as a general but Edric isn't, yet Edric is on the general banlist? Doesn't make sense. :lol

 

[ThLunarian]

There is no Sultai general for three mana so they invented a blank legendary creature. :lol

Also why is Derevi banned as a general but Edric isn't, yet Edric is on the general banlist? Doesn't make sense. :lol

Makes perfect sense if you buy the underlying assumptions. Edric can't be played period and is apparently too strong even in the maindeck. Derevi is too strong as a general but is fine in the maindeck.

If you're challenging the assumptions then that's something else, but I'm guessing you don't have much experience with the format to be able to do that properly based on what you've said so far.

The blank legendary creature thing is kind of gimmicky but it's the best solution they have I think.

 

[Firemind]

Oh, that's what they meant? Of course I know Edric is way too good lol. That's why I was confused it was banned as a normal card but not as a commander (since it's not on the commander banlist). They should have just added it both to the normal banlist and the commander banlist. :lol

 

[ThLunarian]

Ohhh yeah I see the confusion. They should probably clear that up, I agree.

I'm a little bit skeptical that it's too good in the maindeck, considering that it's a two-player format. Coastal Piracy and Bident of Thassa do the same thing for one more mana and they're way harder to kill. And Edric isn't exactly tearing it up in Legacy, which is as much an analog to TL as Commander is.

I haven't really played the format though so I guess I can't say for sure.

 

[Angry Grimace]

There is no Sultai general for three mana so they invented a blank legendary creature. :lol

Also why is Derevi banned as a general but Edric isn't, yet Edric is on the general banlist? Doesn't make sense. :lol

They got rid of that distinction a while back didn't they?

 

[divisionbyzorro]

So I'm watching the Modern Open. And some guy just cast Gifts Ungiven and only searched for three cards.

 

[Firemind]

I can't remember. All I know it was a clusterfuck a while back because Kokusho, Braids and Rofellos were dancing back and forth between being banned and not banned.

 

[kirblar]

So I'm watching the Modern Open. And some guy just cast Gifts Ungiven and only searched for three cards.

Yeah, if you're getting 3, why not 4?

 

[bigkrev]

So I'm watching the Modern Open. And some guy just cast Gifts Ungiven and only searched for three cards.

....

....

What round was this so I can check the archive. I need to see what happened to believe it.

 

[ThLunarian]

They got rid of that distinction a while back didn't they?

That was in Commander. Tiny Leaders still differentiates.

Yeah, if you're getting 3, why not 4?

Only reason I can think of is to keep your hand size smaller. Or maybe to increase the density of threats remaining in your deck if you're just searching for utility cards that are specifically good with graveyard interaction. Weird play though.

 

[red13th]

what an amazing game, Gerard Fabiano vs Ben Green

 

[SigmasonicX]

Isn't it a common play to just search for two cards with Fact or Fiction so that both go to the graveyard? It could be that he wanted at least one of two particular cards in the graveyard and a third in his hand.

On another note, I came across a terrible joke on the Penny Arcade Magic thread. Paraphrased: Jace thought he was with Emmara wearing a white and gold dress, but it was really Lazav in a Dimir dress.

And lastly, would this card be too good in this Standard?

Super Anger Punch - 1BR
Instant
Super Anger Punch deals 5 damage to target creature. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead, then search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as it and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

 

[Joe Molotov]

\Super Anger Punch - 1BR
Instant
Super Anger Punch deals 5 damage to target creature. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead, then search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for all cards with the same name as it and exile them. Then that player shuffles his or her library.

RIP Siege Rhino

 

[sibarraz]

I bought the kiora vs elspeth dual deck, seems like fun decks to play with friends, I will think if I will try to complete them just to make them more competitive, if is cheap though.

The cards that were released on theros could be used on standard?

 

[kirblar]

Wow @ boswell just punting the hell out of that game.

 

[charlequin]

and wth is tiny leaders lol

It's the fast single-player version of Commander. Because it's small decks and low-priced cards it plays much more like a weird Legacy than a big casual multiplayer format. I kind of like the idea of a format with commander-like deckbuilding restrictions but fast two-player play. It's good for keeping people busy after they get knocked out of long commander games, lol.

And lastly, would this card be too good in this Standard?

I mean, it's super aggressive. I can't think of any spell that does 5 damage for 3 mana without an additional cost. Given Eradicate it'd probably be okay (if still super aggressive) at 2BR though.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Wow @ boswell just punting the hell out of that game.

Sometimes a man just absolutely positively has to cast and resolve a planeswalker that does nothing to help him win the game and has medicocre impact on the board state.