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[Firemind]

Looking through the three color cards from Khans there are still a decent amount of generic three color cards (see:

I mean you can't even say the size justified the three colors, 5 mana for 6 PT is not crazy for green)
but it feels less egregious than shards because there weren't the fuckton of two color cards alongside them

Speaking of half-assed Temur cards

Like Bear's Companion, there's no red in those cards!

Meanwhile, alternate timeline Surrak gets haste as a mono green creature. LOL

 

[divisionbyzorro]

This will likely be my last Cube for this go-around. I first-picked Swords to Plowshares, second-picked Griselbrand, then third-picked Monastery Mentor and decided I would build around it. The end result was this RW pile:

The Armageddons did work round one against a UB control deck. The games weren't even really close, although I had to play pretty deliberately to keep tempo and pressure his mana enough to deploy the haymakers.

Round two I faced a GR Ramp deck, and got to curve Firefist Striker into Mentor in both games. Game one I beat down my opponent's T3 Xenagos by playing a T4 Wargear and attacking past the Satyr token, and my opponent never caught back up. Game two my opponent played T3 Purphoros, T4 Siege-Gang Commander (doming me for 8!) but my T4 Helix into Dragon Fodder meant I could attack past the three tokens while making a giant board of my own. He Flame Slashed the Mentor and played out a couple of duders, but T5 I played Ajani Goldmane into my board of 5 creatures, 2 of which had prowess. My opponent commented on how "unreal" my deck was (he was actually quite nice and didn't really seem salty) and then scooped.

Round three I played a pseudo-mirror - a mono-white weenie deck. Game one things just worked out perfectly for me, with my threats lining up against what he was trying to just well enough to win the race behind a Hellrider and an Ajani, with Thundermaw Hellkite doing work against a Baneslayer Angel to push the last bit of damage through. I sided out the Wire and one of the Geddons, bringing in Pillar of Flame and Gore-House Chainwalker to lower my curve. I got daggered by a Mana Tithe on my Mentor in the second game, lost a board of tokens to a Parallax Wave, and never really had a chance. I sided out Firefist Striker for Phyrexian Revoker - faltering one blocker against him probably isn't going to do it, and naming Wave against him gives me outs. Game three I had to mulligan to five, but I drew perfectly, curving Porcelain Legionnaire into Blade Splicer, then backing it up with Journey, Swords, and Path. The critical moment of the game was when he played Leonin Relic-Warder to pick up my Journey, putting an Exalted Angel back on the table, followed by me topdecking Pillar of Flame to remove the Relic-Warder and the Exalted Angel again. I played around Mana Tithe religiously, and was rewarded with a 3-0.

 

[Hero]

Speaking of half-assed Temur cards

Like Bear's Companion, there's no red in those cards!

Meanwhile, alternate timeline Surrak gets haste as a mono green creature. LOL

Red gets both cannot be countered and trample.

 

[kirblar]

Red actually has a history of massive creatures with Flash, doesn't it? (See: Bogarden Hellkite, that common from Time Spiral.) You don't see that in green. These are also the 3 colors with "can't be countered" in their pie in some form.

 

[Joe Molotov]

Green has Cloudthresher.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Red gets both cannot be countered and trample.

Doesn't every color get cannot be countered? I guess white doesn't.

 

[kirblar]

Doesn't every color get cannot be countered? I guess white doesn't.

White/Black don't. Would have had to be stretched to it in order to make the RTR cycle a 10-guild cycle. (I suspect it'd be an uncounterable discard spell, a la Distress.)

 

[Angry Grimace]

White/Black don't. Would have had to be stretched to it in order to make the RTR cycle a 10-guild cycle. (I suspect it'd be an uncounterable discard spell, a la Distress.)

I was thinking about Abrupt Decay, but yeah, I guess the black is the destroy and the green is the "can't be countered." Same with Smiter.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Doesn't every color get cannot be countered? I guess white doesn't.

Technically, the way it's laid out is:
Green - creatures can't be countered
Red - instants and sorceries can't be countered
Blue - constructed pushed cards can't be countered

Anyway, Extra Credits did a live video discussing Dragons of Tarkir as a design case study. Haven't gotten around to watching this, but apparently they don't start talking about Magic until 14 minutes in.

 

[Firemind]

Red gets both cannot be countered and trample.

Secondary, yeah. There's nothing red about clan leader Surrak.

Red actually has a history of massive creatures with Flash, doesn't it? (See: Bogarden Hellkite, that common from Time Spiral.) You don't see that in green. These are also the 3 colors with "can't be countered" in their pie in some form.

There was Scryb Ranger in the same set and Skylasher recently. Oh, massive. Do tokens count?

 

[Angry Grimace]

Updated my dragon FNM deck. I'll grant you this ain't winning a GP or something, but hey, I saw three different guys running Ass Formation decks at our last FNM. Atarka is probably pushing it (and hell, regular Atarka is probably better), but dammit a dragon deck needs a Dragonlord.

//
//

Deck: Sarkhan Dragon Party

//CREATURES
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Thunderbreak Regent
1 Dragonlord Atarka

//SPELLS
2 Sarkhan Unbroken
3 Draconic Roar
4 Crater's Claws
3 Stubborn Denial

//LANDS
3 Shivan Reef
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Temple of Abandon
2 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Temple of Epiphany
2 Mana Confluence
4 Frontier Bivouac

//Sideboard
3 Display of Dominance
3 Roast
2 Seismic Rupture
2 Whisperwood Elemental
2 Encase in Ice
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Nissa, Worldwaker

Display deck statistics

 

[kirblar]

Both are small, though. (All 3 colors get flash critters.) Red's the one where they tend to be significantly larger than the norm. The only green one I can think of is Cloudthresher, and you were normally evoking him anyway.

It's actually a good 3-color design because there's massive overlap on all these abilities from all 3 colors. (Except Trample, which is not-Blue.)

 

["God's Beard!"]

You guys update your decks with Dragons of Tarkir yet?


Sultai Midrange

Creatures(21):

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

Spells(12):

• 4 Bile Blight
• 2 Hero's Downfall
• 2 Sultai Charm
• 3 Murderous Cut
• 1 Crux of Fate

Enchantments(2):

• 2 Whip of Erebos

Land(25):

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

Sideboard(15):

• 3 Thoughtseize
• 3 Drown in Sorrow
• 1 Crux of Fate
• 3 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Negate
• 1 Display of Dominance
• 2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

I can't decide if I want Crux or Deathbringer Regent in the main deck. Regent is so situational and expensive, but milling the crux when I need it is so bad. I guess I could play a den protector? I dunno, I want the flex spot in my main to be some sort of value card that I can tutor for some part of the time since Whip/Queen aren't always relevant targets for Sidisi. I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe I'll just play an Ultimate Price or Anticipate to have an extra 2-drop.

 

[kirblar]

I'm gonna play Dragon Control. When Shaheen and my buddy James are both wrecking with a deck, it's a sign I should play it.

Also a sign that Counterspell is a really really good card.

I also didn't realize that they printed TWO sac effects in this set. One on the hoser, the other the edict that gives you +4 life. Jeeez

 

["God's Beard!"]

I'm gonna play Dragon Control. When Shaheen and my buddy James are both wrecking with a deck, it's a sign I should play it.

Also a sign that Counterspell is a really really good card.

I also didn't realize that they printed TWO sac effects in this set. One on the hoser, the other the edict that gives you +4 life. Jeeez

What does Dragon Control look like?

 

[f0rk]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";157987171]What does Dragon Control look like?[/QUOTE]

http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/esper_control_with_shaheen_soo.html

 

[Etrian Oddity]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";157984687]You guys update your decks with Dragons of Tarkir yet?


Sultai Midrange

Creatures(21):

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

Spells(12):

• 4 Bile Blight
• 2 Hero's Downfall
• 2 Sultai Charm
• 3 Murderous Cut
• 1 Crux of Fate

Enchantments(2):

• 2 Whip of Erebos

Land(25):

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

Sideboard(15):

• 3 Thoughtseize
• 3 Drown in Sorrow
• 1 Crux of Fate
• 3 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Negate
• 1 Display of Dominance
• 2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

I can't decide if I want Crux or Deathbringer Regent in the main deck. Regent is so situational and expensive, but milling the crux when I need it is so bad. I guess I could play a den protector? I dunno, I want the flex spot in my main to be some sort of value card that I can tutor for some part of the time since Whip/Queen aren't always relevant targets for Sidisi. I feel like I'm missing something. Maybe I'll just play an Ultimate Price or Anticipate to have an extra 2-drop.[/QUOTE]
I play MtGO almost exclusively and DTK isn't released for another two weeks online. I think Undead Vizier is the only card I'm going to add, though.

Btw, how does your deck fair against Heroic/token aggro? No Doomwake Giant or 2-drops looks like it'd kill you. I only ask because I encounter a TON of tokens online.

 

["God's Beard!"]

I play MtGO almost exclusively and DTK isn't released for another two weeks online. I think Undead Vizier is the only card I'm going to add, though.

Btw, how does your deck fair against Heroic/token aggro? No Doomwake Giant or 2-drops looks like it'd kill you. I only ask because I encounter a TON of tokens online.

I dropped Doomwake because it was too slow to beat Tokens.

 

[pelicansurf]

I'm having trouble finding solid mono red Afro DTK decks. Anyone find anything good?

 

[charlequin]

Like Bear's Companion, there's no red in those cards!

Meanwhile, alternate timeline Surrak gets haste as a mono green creature. LOL

Red gets trample as a secondary and green gets haste as a tertiary on rare cards. I don't think either of these is a color pie problem!

With Surrak in particular, his exact card design would feel kind of weird as a Simic card. While there isn't technically anything that a green/blue card couldn't do, his design as a an undercosted aggro boss feels better with red in it.

Looking through the three color cards from Khans there are still a decent amount of generic three color cards

Yeah, there's a few: Sultai Soothsayer, Sage of the Inward Eye, Mardu Roughrider, Abzan Guide. But it's way, way, way less bad than Alara.

 

[Arksy]

Perth had a healthy, vibrant Magic scene. I live in the suburbs of Houston, Texas now, and there aren't that many stores near me. I've visited a couple of them and was not impressed; I've heard good things about the one in the middle of town, but that's a huge drive.

Different cities have different scenes. I hear good things about Seattle, NY, LA, Denver, etc, but Houston isn't exactly a hotbed of Magic. :/

That's somewhat surprising. I would've assumed a big city like Houston would've had a big MTG scene. That's kind of upsetting because Austin is one of the cities I might be moving to.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

That's somewhat surprising. I would've assumed a big city like Houston would've had a big MTG scene. That's kind of upsetting because Austin is one of the cities I might be moving to.

It might in other places - the problem is that Houston is huge. I live in one of the larger suburbs, and it takes me an hour to commute downtown to my office. From what I can tell by looking at the Store Locator, I just happen to live in a "dead spot," and the closest store to me is in a kinda sketchy spot and I didn't particularly enjoy the experience when I went there.

Also, don't be discouraged. Houston and Austin are nothing alike in general.

 

[duxstar]

I don't know why but I get discouraged when decks like Reid Dukes and Jacob Wilson's do well. I'm not and will never be in any super competitive scene or anything and I can't exactly explain it, because it doesn't affect me in any way. I guess there's just certain decks I like over others and when they are completely non-competitive at the top level (Temur this standard) I tend to root against the ones that win all the time (sultai, anzan) and certain decks just rub me the wrong way, maybe it's certain cards I find pushed I don't know anymore.


Just wanted to see Thunderbreak or Sarkhan in a deck this weekend.

.

 

[Jhriad]

That's somewhat surprising. I would've assumed a big city like Houston would've had a big MTG scene. That's kind of upsetting because Austin is one of the cities I might be moving to.

I've got a few friends in Austin that play magic. I'd be willing to bet the Magic scene is pretty healthy there.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

There are plenty of top-level players who feel the same way you do (Kibler and Wescoe come to mind), in the sense that there is a style of deck that they love and they'll always play it. It's fine to feel that way; you just have to accept that you'll sometimes end up playing suboptimal decks.

Just make sure that you're not using it as a crutch to lower expectations. In my (brief) foray into Standard a couple of years ago, I found myself drawn to tier two decks. It took a while for me to realize it, but that appeal was that it could always feel good about myself. If I won, I did it with a sweet deck. If I lost, it's not my fault - it's just because I didn't play the "best" deck. I had to get past that mentality before I started actually getting better (I basically had to accept that losses were my fault).

 

[Firemind]

Red gets trample as a secondary and green gets haste as a tertiary on rare cards. I don't think either of these is a color pie problem!

With Surrak in particular, his exact card design would feel kind of weird as a Simic card. While there isn't technically anything that a green/blue card couldn't do, his design as a an undercosted aggro boss feels better with red in it.

Surrak doesn't even have trample. He gives other creatures trample, which doesn't seem like something red would do.

I just think it's hilarious how everything is seemingly in green's colour pie nowadays. Army of deathtouch fliers? Sure. Oblivion Ring? No problem. Dark Ritual? Okay.

 

[Matriox]

I don't know why but I get discouraged when decks like Reid Dukes and Jacob Wilson's do well. I'm not and will never be in any super competitive scene or anything and I can't exactly explain it, because it doesn't affect me in any way. I guess there's just certain decks I like over others and when they are completely non-competitive at the top level (Temur this standard) I tend to root against the ones that win all the time (sultai, anzan) and certain decks just rub me the wrong way, maybe it's certain cards I find pushed I don't know anymore.


Just wanted to see Thunderbreak or Sarkhan in a deck this weekend.

.

Jeff Hoogland got 15th with a UR Dragons list, granted no Sarkhan I'm wondering how viable it would be if it added green. It did have Thunderbreak though, it was pretty fun to watch when it was on camera yesterday.

 

[Hero]

Surrak doesn't even have trample. He gives other creatures trample, which doesn't seem like something red would do.

I just think it's hilarious how everything is seemingly in green's colour pie nowadays. Army of deathtouch fliers? Sure. Oblivion Ring? No problem. Dark Ritual? Okay.

Bro we just had a red creature do it last block.

 

[Firemind]

Ah, but it gives all your creatures trample. Surrak doesn't.

I can only think of one instance where a red lord doesn't give the bonus to itself and that's because he's royalty (Goblin King).

Edit: oh yeah and this gal

LOL #flavorfail

 

["God's Beard!"]

Sultai Midrange about to win the invitational :3


edit: Reid duke is a nub :-(

 

[Arksy]

Ok so pre-order price for Modern Masters 2015 is $350 AUD...which comes out to $15 a booster pack if I pre-order a box.

Fucking hell.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";158008036]Sultai Midrange about to win the invitational :3


edit: Reid duke is a nub :-([/QUOTE]
I fn love this deck. Twice in a row, I've come back from less than 5 (one time 1!) life to pull out the win against W/R aggro.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Bought a booster box, and the best cards were a foil Dragonlord Kolaghan and a Sarkhan Unbroken. Not a bad box I got.

 

[y2dvd]

Went 3-0-1 in drafts today, and the only reason it went to a draw is because the guy had to read every single card played out. Kinda annoying. Can't complain about my pulls though.

1xSoulfire Grand Master
1xPalace Familiar
1xSultai Emissary
1xMonastery Loremaster
1xOjutai Interceptor
1xZephyr Scribe
1xSilumgar Spell-Eater
1xPitiless Horde
1xOrc Sureshot
1xYouthful Scholar
1xAven Surveyor
1xDragonlord Ojutai
1xSidisi, Undead Vizier

1xSilumgar Monument
1xDeathwind
1xNegate
1xButcher's Glee
1xWhisk Away
1xSandblast
2xFoul-Tongue Invocation
1xReduce in Stature
1xContradict

1xDismal Backwater
3xPlains
5xSwamps
8xIslands

-Mainboarding Negate won me so many games.
-Someone casted Pacifism on my hard casted Pitiless Horde, which pinged me for a crapload of damage lol. I had to Anticipate and search for a 2nd island to be able to cast -Aven Surveyor and bounce my Pitiless Horde and save myself.
-Silumgar Monument was totally worth it as my "18" land. 4/4 flyer late game ain't no joke and I was able to ramp to Ojutai T4 one match. Would play again.
-Soulfire was able to recycle Sandblast late game. Gaining 5 life, killing things, and getting the spell back was pretty dirty.
-I only had 3 white cards with no mana fixing to it. Is 3 Plains right? Fortunately, I had no real mana issues today and I had some ways to filter cards, but I'm not sure if I should've ran more Plains.

I traded my alt promo Ugin for a Thunderbreak Regent, revised Plateau and Scrubland. Lost on the trade but I couldn't move promo Ugin and I have to hope it goes down and those lands goes up in the long run.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

I traded my alt promo Ugin for a Thunderbreak Regent, revised Plateau and Scrubland. Lost on the trade but I couldn't move promo Ugin and I have to hope it goes down and those lands goes up in the long run.

It's rarely a bad plan to trade for lands that are played in Legacy/Modern.

 

[WanderingWind]

I'm going deep on this mono-white deck. I really need DTK to release on MODO already so I can test the crap out of it. It's the future bros. Believe.

 

[red13th]

look Cheon drafted another blue whatever deck

 

[divisionbyzorro]

look Cheon drafted another blue whatever deck

I get annoyed watching his cube drafts on his stream. He's pathological; he simply refuses to draft anything but UW(r), even when it's not open.

 

[Firemind]

I don't know why he likes to pick mana rocks higher than card draw. You pass blue cards meaning the player left of you has a bigger chance to be on blue and gets to cut you off next pack. After the first pack he only has one blue card. And mana rocks mean nothing if you don't draw any action. You can play all the mana dorks in the world, but they don't do anything if your opponent has an answer to your one or two actual threats.

 

[bigkrev]

Full Tempest Remastered spoiler is up

They shifted a ton of rarities- a bunch of rares to Uncommon, a bunch of uncommons to rare, ect. Wasteland and City of Trators are both Rare, and Volrath's Stronghold is at Mythic (The enemy painlands are at uncommon)

 

[Joe Molotov]

Full Tempest Remastered spoiler is up

They shifted a ton of rarities- a bunch of rares to Uncommon, a bunch of uncommons to rare, ect. Wasteland and City of Trators are both Rare, and Volrath's Stronghold is at Mythic (The enemy painlands are at uncommon)

Can't wait to get my hands on this bomb-ass dragon.

Or you could just pick up Greven for your EDH deck and have a Commander that's an actual Commander.

 

[GregLombardi]

So I've been thinking about this for a while -- is Force of Will effectively more powerful than the power 9? I feel like it should be labeled as a power card. It is more insane than most other cards in magic.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Full Tempest Remastered spoiler is up

They shifted a ton of rarities- a bunch of rares to Uncommon, a bunch of uncommons to rare, ect. Wasteland and City of Trators are both Rare, and Volrath's Stronghold is at Mythic (The enemy painlands are at uncommon)

Cataclysm is now Mythic (LOVE this card). Humility is another personal favorite. I will re-buy the shit out of it. Always liked Death Pits of Rath. Oath of Druids... probably works better than Defense of the Heart. God I love Grindstone and Lotus Petal. I used to have Mox Diamonds, they were damn good.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

I don't know why he likes to pick mana rocks higher than card draw. You pass blue cards meaning the player left of you has a bigger chance to be on blue and gets to cut you off next pack. After the first pack he only has one blue card. And mana rocks mean nothing if you don't draw any action. You can play all the mana dorks in the world, but they don't do anything if your opponent has an answer to your one or two actual threats.

I really like the 2CC rocks in blue decks (Mind Stone, Chalice) because they give you things to do early and get you moving towards your late game plays. Getting to play a Glen Elendra Archmage and hold up an activation on T4 is really good, for example. But I don't really like the 3CC rocks as high picks in reactive decks (and certainly not the way this cube is structured).

So I've been thinking about this for a while -- is Force of Will effectively more powerful than the power 9? I feel like it should be labeled as a power card. It is more insane than most other cards in magic.

It's better than Timewister (or it's at least applicable to a greater number of decks), but not better than the other 8.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

So I've been thinking about this for a while -- is Force of Will effectively more powerful than the power 9? I feel like it should be labeled as a power card. It is more insane than most other cards in magic.

It's not power 9, but I'd say close. Power 9 will always be the power 9. But I do think Force of Will will be somewhere in the group right behind it. Easily the best counterspell ever made.

 

[bigkrev]

FYI, Tempest Remastered is online only (blame the reserved list)

So I've been thinking about this for a while -- is Force of Will effectively more powerful than the power 9? I feel like it should be labeled as a power card. It is more insane than most other cards in magic.

It's only as powerful as the cards it's countering. I don't think putting Force of Will into Magic Origins would break standard, for example (though you clearly would ban it in Modern). It's the same reason Mental Misstep had to be banned in Modern/Legacy but was fine for Standard.

 

[y2dvd]

It's rarely a bad plan to trade for lands that are played in Legacy/Modern.

So when we did the trade, I hastily made my decision and just took the other guys word for what the values were for. He used some app and I just agreed to it. I decided to look up the prices myself and put this together.

So going by everything except CFB, I lost out pretty big actually. Everything seems to be all over the place lol. I don't know what to make of the sources.

 

[Firemind]

I really like the 2CC rocks in blue decks (Mind Stone, Chalice) because they give you things to do early and get you moving towards your late game plays. Getting to play a Glen Elendra Archmage and hold up an activation on T4 is really good, for example. But I don't really like the 3CC rocks as high picks in reactive decks (and certainly not the way this cube is structured).

I only pick mana rocks high if I have Upheaval or Sphinx's Revelation. Otherwise tapping out for an artifact and setting myself up to get blown out by aggro is not something I want to do. The only one that is acceptable in the current cube is Gilded Lotus as you can still hold a counterspell when you're tapped out. But otherwise, Fact or Fiction and Impulse all day.

 

[bigkrev]

So when we did the trade, I hastily made my decision and just took the other guys word for what the values were for. He used some app and I just agreed to it. I decided to look up the prices myself and put this together.

So going by everything except CFB, I lost out pretty big actually. Everything seems to be all over the place lol. I don't know what to make of the sources.

1 year from now, it's going to be far easier to move the dual lands than a promo Ugin

 

[Firemind]

So when we did the trade, I hastily made my decision and just took the other guys word for what the values were for. He used some app and I just agreed to it. I decided to look up the prices myself and put this together.

So going by everything except CFB, I lost out pretty big actually. Everything seems to be all over the place lol. I don't know what to make of the sources.

Plateau is probably the least played dual and Scrubland is not far behind. Ugin is probably not going much higher, but knowing more about the eternal scene wouldn't have hurt. There's always the EDH tryhards I guess.