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Magic: The Gathering |OT3| Enchantment Under the Siege

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OnPoint

Member
I liked Modern a lot more pre-RTR. I think Abrupt Decay ended up being a large net negative, weirdly enough.

The whole "we're not going to ban the super-obviously-problematic card for over a year" thing left a really bad taste in my mouth as well re: how the format is handled. (Deathrite.)

The whole not banning Deathrite thing was stupid. Did they really not ban it because people could still crack it open? Fuck that. The card was a problem. Should have been taken off the table asap. Looks like they at least learned their lesson with Dig and Cruise.
 
The whole "we're not going to ban the super-obviously-problematic card for over a year" thing left a really bad taste in my mouth as well re: how the format is handled. (Deathrite.)

Especially when you realize that the most cynical explanation was the most likely one for this decision: they wanted to sell packs.

In many ways, I'm surprised they were willing to ban Dig Through Time (although their hand was somewhat forced by just how awful Treasure Cruise was for the format and by how good Dig Through Time was clearly going to be in Twin/Jeskai Ascendancy combo decks).
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
The whole not banning Deathrite thing was stupid. Did they really not ban it because people could still crack it open? Fuck that. The card was a problem. Should have been taken off the table asap. Looks like they at least learned their lesson with Dig and Cruise.

We all agree on DRS, that's for sure. Still sort of wish Dig was allowed for a while longer. Just because goddamn it, it was fun.
 
My official banlist recommendations:

Ban:
Blood Moon
Fetchlands
Spellskite

Unban:
Dark Depths
Deathrite Shaman
Dig Through Time
Dread Return
Mental Misstep


A man can dream.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I feel like Think Twice is about as powerful as card draw can be without being completely fucked. Which is sort of lame,because it's so much fun, but when you can do it, why do anything else?

I dunno. I'm back on Infect and UWR Geist in modern since the great Podpacolyps of 2014. Modern is a little sadder now that my Kitchen Finks and Restos are sitting dormant.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
I know WotC can't do it, but you can't tell me that having one modern season with no banned or restricted wouldn't lead to the craziest, coolest shit ever.
 

Firemind

Member
Basically, Modern is awful. I'd rather draft Homelands/Fallen Empires.

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";160119475]Big green creatures are king. Dragons are great if you can't get green cards. Any sort of removal is good. Exploit and bolster are good, but don't overvalue synergy. Pick things that can fly. Have fun.[/QUOTE]
I'm coming around now. Green is one of the worse colours, if not the worst. Every colour has a dozen combat tricks and removal and the only impressive green creature at common is the elk. Otherwise you're staring down at 2/4s and 2/5s with deathtouch all day. Like, dang, 2/5 deathtouch for four mana is crazy impressive. AND black has access to a one mana instant to make all their other creatures Ukud Cobras. Seriously, that card has impressed me each time.
 

kirblar

Member
I feel like Think Twice is about as powerful as card draw can be without being completely fucked. Which is sort of lame,because it's so much fun, but when you can do it, why do anything else?

I dunno. I'm back on Infect and UWR Geist in modern since the great Podpacolyps of 2014. Modern is a little sadder now that my Kitchen Finks and Restos are sitting dormant.
I actually hate Think Twice- I might like it a bit more, though, if it were in a format where a semi-hard counter like Mana Leak or Silumgar's Scorn didn't exist.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
cmon bro, kitchen finks and anafenza, make the dream happen

I ain't Susan Boyle.

I actually hate Think Twice- I might like it a bit more, though, if it were in a format where a semi-hard counter like Mana Leak or Silumgar's Scorn didn't exist.

Okay, so we're just enemies now. Meet me by the flagpole at lunch.

[QUOTE="God's Beard!";160123351]So assuming the top 8 has 32 copies of Mental Misstep, which combo deck is most likely to win?[/QUOTE]

UR Infect with Blazing Shoal, natch
 

Yeef

Member
Heyo - i'm a massive MtG newb and am going to a draft with a friend this week.

Is there any advice/info you can give for drafting/playing this block? i'm going in expecting to lose, but i just don't want to wing it 100%.
If you're drafting Dragons of Tarkir it's more like a traditional draft than Khans was, so it's a better place to jump in if you've never drafted.

General Drafting Tips:
  • Prioritize removal (cards that get rid of creatures) and bombs (cards that can win games all by themselves, like Necromaster Dragon, for example)
  • Make sure you have a good mana curve for your creatures. You don't want too many cheap creatures, but you also don't want too many expensive creatures. Most of your creatures should fall into the 2-mana to 4-mana range.
  • Try to stick to 2 colors. Sometimes it's better to take a middling on-color card than a great off-color card; especially in the later packs. That said...
  • Don't be afraid to change colors in the first pack if one color is clearly more open than the others. Even if you get a really cool black rare for your first pick, for example, if you keep getting passed lots of good white cards and not many good black cards, it's probably a good idea to move into white instead.
  • Don't take a card just because it's rare if it's not good in your deck. If you need it for your collection (or it's worth a lot of money) then that's fine, but generally, you'll be better served by ignoring rarity and just picking the best card for your draft deck.
  • This is a bit trickier, but try to keep track of cards that you pass that you might end up playing against and which player you think is likely to pick them. That way, when you play that player you know what to play around.
  • When evaluating cards don't just think in terms of best-case scenario. Ask yourself how good the card is when you're in a losing position, a winning position or in a stalemate. You'll want more cards that are good at breaking stalemates and leveling out losing positions than cards that are good if you're already ahead.
  • Finally, cards that gain life and do nothing else are usually pretty bad. Sometimes they're okay in the right deck and the right match up, but as a beginner, it's best to just avoid them altogether.

Dragons of Tarkir Specific Drafting tips
  • When determining your creature curve, count morphs as 3-cost creatures (unless they cost less than 3 to play unmorphed; then you can count them as their regular cost).
  • Each dragon-clan is focused on an ally color pair (White-Blue, Blue-Black, Black-Red, Red-Green and Green-White). Try to stick to one of those color combinations if you can. It's possible to draft enemy color decks, but it's a lot harder to do so and you potentially miss out on some bombs (all of the gold cards are ally-colored in the first 2 packs).
  • If you want to play a more controlling deck, it's important to have good blockers early. Cheap creatures with 3 or more toughness are great because of morph. They can typically block profitably or stall early in the game.
  • There's a design rule that a morph that flips over for less than 5 mana will never beat another morph in a fight; they'll always either trade or bounce off of each other. Always pay attention to the amount of available mana your opponent has when dealing with their morphed creatures.
 
I know WotC can't do it, but you can't tell me that having one modern season with no banned or restricted wouldn't lead to the craziest, coolest shit ever.

Might as well go all in and run a season of all sets legal, no banned/reserved list, no card number limit and reduce the minimum constructed deck size to 40 cards.
 
Wait, level 2 meta deck:

12 Ancestral Recall
12 Black Lotus
1 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Fireball
6 Force of Will
6 Leyline of Anticipation


Turn zero kill every game.
 

Yeef

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";160125229]Wait, level 2 meta deck:

12 Ancestral Recall
12 Black Lotus
1 Yawgmoth's Will
3 Fireball
6 Force of Will
6 Leyline of Anticipation


Turn zero kill every game.[/QUOTE]Loses to Leyline of Sanctity.
 

Bandini

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";160121569]My official banlist recommendations:

Ban:
Blood Moon
Fetchlands
Spellskite

Unban:
Dark Depths
Deathrite Shaman
Dig Through Time
Dread Return
Mental Misstep



A man can dream.[/QUOTE]

I'm ok with a Blood Moon ban, although it would be rough for the fringe monored decks. However, banning Spellskite without banning Splinter Twin is just wrong.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";160121569]My official banlist recommendations:

Ban:
Blood Moon
Fetchlands
Spellskite

Unban:
Dark Depths
Deathrite Shaman
Dig Through Time
Dread Return
Mental Misstep


A man can dream.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, keep your breath held for that Dread Return unban. I legitimately think Jace, the Mind Sculptor should be unbanned. Its less oppressive than Twin is right now.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Cards like Batwing Brume are why you should always force a Twin player to play out their combo on MTGO.
 

Yeef

Member
StarCity is posting Modern States lists, and people on Twitter have already found some fun ones

Here is a Protean Hulk combo deck that I can't understand
Just by looking at the decklist, it looks like the game plan is to get a protean hulk, a mog fanatic and a revillark into your graveyard. The use use Goroyo's Footsteps to reanimate the hulk and sac it at end of turn.

When you sacrifice hulk, you can get a 5 drop (revillark or body double) and a 1 drop (viscera seer or fanatic). Then you use Seer to sacrifice Reveillark to get back a body double (copying reveillark) and a mogg fanatic (or another body double copying mogg fanatic or viscera seer). Then you sac the mogg fanatic for 1 damage to your opponent and sac the reveillark to the vicera seer to continue the loop.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
StarCity is posting Modern States lists, and people on Twitter have already found some fun ones

Here is a Protean Hulk combo deck that I can't understand

Here is a Puresteel Paladen Storm deck that is everything I love about Magic


Batwing Brume is one way to deal with Twin that I never thought of, lol

Seems like you use all the looting effects to play Hulk either from the GY or with Footsteps and use the Lark and Fanatic to get infinite damage. It also looks certifiably insane.
 

Yeef

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";160126582]12 Ancestral Recall
12 Black Lotus
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Wipe Away
2 Banefire
6 Force of Will
6 Leyline of Anticipation[/QUOTE]The problem is, they're likely to have multiple leylines to ensure they hit them in the opening hand, so you'll need multiple wipe aways. I think it makes more sense to just find a damage spell that doesn't target than it is to put in removal for the leylines. Something like Exanguinate.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
How the fuck did control decks ever win when Thrun was a legal card
 

kirblar

Member
Seems like you use all the looting effects to play Hulk either from the GY or with Footsteps and use the Lark and Fanatic to get infinite damage. It also looks certifiably insane.
Deck makes much more sense if you were familiar with Hulk Flash for the 1 brief period it was legal in.

Twinning End perfectly illustrates why I hate Twin being a slottable card.
 

Hero

Member
Deck makes much more sense if you were familiar with Hulk Flash for the 1 brief period it was legal in.

Twinning End perfectly illustrates why I hate Twin being a slottable card.

I think you and I are the only ones on this forum that want Twin banned.

I also said DRS was the correct ban when BBE took the hit and nobody in my circles believed me until it finally happened and they were like 'Yeah that card was dumb.'
 

kirblar

Member
I think you and I are the only ones on this forum that want Twin banned.

I also said DRS was the correct ban when BBE took the hit and nobody in my circles believed me until it finally happened and they were like 'Yeah that card was dumb.'
It was obviously the real culprit and they banned BBE anyway.
 
Since everyone seems to be discussing Twin, I have a dumb question/thought: why not just ban the creatures that work well with Twin IE ones with Flash? I mean, I say this partially because I kind of want to make a W/R Splinter Twin deck with my main bro Midnight Guard, and maybe forcing your opponent to have to drop the combo over 2 turns would reduce it's power? IDK, I'm just throwing out ideas.
 

Yeef

Member
Since everyone seems to be discussing Twin, I have a dumb question/thought: why not just ban the creatures that work well with Twin IE ones with Flash? I mean, I say this partially because I kind of want to make a W/R Splinter Twin deck with my main bro Midnight Guard, and maybe forcing your opponent to have to drop the combo over 2 turns would reduce it's power? IDK, I'm just throwing out ideas.
Because that means that they'd have to avoid printing cards like that ever again, even though they're fine in Standard. It's better to ban the problem card than it is to ban the cards it works with. It'd be like banning the fetches because Deathrite Shaman is too good with them.
 

Hero

Member
It was obviously the real culprit and they banned BBE anyway.

I wish you could've listened to the discussions I've had about it. I mean, I understand that they didn't want to ban it then because it was selling packs of RTR but c'mon. Birds of Paradise with a better Grim Lavamancer ability that randomly hoses creature reanimation and gains you life for G/B.
 
Please say they don't work for WotC.

I mean, one of them is an L1, but...not, they don't work for WotC.

I wish you could've listened to the discussions I've had about it. I mean, I understand that they didn't want to ban it then because it was selling packs of RTR but c'mon. Birds of Paradise with a better Grim Lavamancer ability that randomly hoses creature reanimation and gains you life for G/B.

The aforementioned players would retort "Yeah, that's just really efficient. You shouldn't ban creatures just because they're really efficient. It's a one-drop; there's no way it's banworthy!"
 

ironmang

Member
Since everyone seems to be discussing Twin, I have a dumb question/thought: why not just ban the creatures that work well with Twin IE ones with Flash? I mean, I say this partially because I kind of want to make a W/R Splinter Twin deck with my main bro Midnight Guard, and maybe forcing your opponent to have to drop the combo over 2 turns would reduce it's power? IDK, I'm just throwing out ideas.

I wouldn't have a problem with W/R twin existing if there was a way to ban current blue flash creatures that combo with twin and keep from printing them in the future. My biggest problem with U/R Twin is that it's the best overall deck and really has no bad matchups. Postboard any deck that seems problematic can be shut down when Twin turns into UR Moon Control.
 
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