I basically only managed to get trample and vigilance on my team. Hexproof/indestructible/lifelink sounds insane.
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Magic: the Gathering - Shadows over Innistrad |OT| Blue's Clues
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
- Start date
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The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Oh man my friends are regaling me with pre-release stories :/
One guy got two kills with Triskaidekaphobia
Another ended the day with two Sorins and a Nahiri
One guy got two kills with Triskaidekaphobia
Another ended the day with two Sorins and a Nahiri
SigmasonicX
Member
Prerelease didn't go too well for me, and I went 3-3. I ran a black-red madness deck, but I lost my first three matches, two of them 0-2. After that point, I reexamined by deck and realized that I was half-aggro, half-control, and I made some small adjustments to favor control. If I was going to go aggro, then black-green would have been stronger, due to the number of two-drops, but I wanted to actually play with my madness spells, and black-red had all the discard and madness cards. I pulled Sorin and Startled Awake as my mythics, but neither white nor blue were that good otherwise.
I can't tell if my adjustments to my deck actually helped, since my last three opponents were all beginner players who weren't very good. That also makes it hard for me to evaluate how well cards did and such. Still, I did use the madness cost of many cards successfully, including From Under the Floorboards.
I can't tell if my adjustments to my deck actually helped, since my last three opponents were all beginner players who weren't very good. That also makes it hard for me to evaluate how well cards did and such. Still, I did use the madness cost of many cards successfully, including From Under the Floorboards.
Built a sweet WU control deck heavy on investigate. Got Avacyn and Jace in the same pack and Thing in the Ice in another pack. Also had the Mill 3 when you sack a clue enchantment and two of the 1/3 fliers that double your investigations. One game I flipped Thing in the Ice and milled an opponent out at the same time. Good times.
Best sealed match I ever played was the first prerelease of the day though. It was a UB zombie mirror match and we were both splashing green; him for Gitrog, me for Altered Ego. Game 1 I lost to color screw. Game 2 I won by bouncing his Gitrog after he sacked his only green source to it. Game 3 he played Compelling Deterrence on one of my creatures, which I then used to discard Welcome to the Fold and steal his Gitrog. A few turns later, after making some trades, i Macabre Waltzed into From Under the Floorboards, making 5 zombies (the turn after he'd made 5 zombies from Rise from the Tides. He was able to swing in and kill me, but two rounds later I was reminded that From Under the Floorboards also gains life; so I should have had that game.
Best sealed match I ever played was the first prerelease of the day though. It was a UB zombie mirror match and we were both splashing green; him for Gitrog, me for Altered Ego. Game 1 I lost to color screw. Game 2 I won by bouncing his Gitrog after he sacked his only green source to it. Game 3 he played Compelling Deterrence on one of my creatures, which I then used to discard Welcome to the Fold and steal his Gitrog. A few turns later, after making some trades, i Macabre Waltzed into From Under the Floorboards, making 5 zombies (the turn after he'd made 5 zombies from Rise from the Tides. He was able to swing in and kill me, but two rounds later I was reminded that From Under the Floorboards also gains life; so I should have had that game.
phazedplasma
Member
I went 3-3 too. I was originally BW with bomb removal and shit creatures. Didn't go well.
I eventually switched to UG beaters with clues and temp cards and found my calling.
LSV and Josh Utter Layton were there. Didnt even realize it till i literally walked into him looking at pairings.
I eventually switched to UG beaters with clues and temp cards and found my calling.
LSV and Josh Utter Layton were there. Didnt even realize it till i literally walked into him looking at pairings.
I actually got some great pulls - a foil Westvale Abbey, the new Olivia, the Drownyard, the GW land - but the resulting deck was complete ass. I did get a kill with Ormendahl, but went 1-3 overall.
I do love that little box though. Definitely going to get some use out of that.
I do love that little box though. Definitely going to get some use out of that.
Went 3-1 today at mine running a Boros beat down. I had 2 drops but played with people who also had drops and won those games.
I had a pretty decent deck I think, but I was a little short on playables. The good thing I had was removal and I was able to take out a bunch of threats before building my flying cards.
Opened up flame blade angel, Westvale abbey, bygone bishop and the 2 drop that flips and has its power equal the total number of creatures on the battlefield.
Final match was great I played against a decent gb aggro deck and was down to 1 life while he was at 20. I was able to stabilize the board, flip the 2 drop that makes a token every turn and bring out flame blade angel. Eventually pulling out the victory. Eventually equipped up flame blade with the butchers cleaver and swung in for 9 one turn and 10 the next dropping my opponent to 1. Won the match the next turn.
I had a pretty decent deck I think, but I was a little short on playables. The good thing I had was removal and I was able to take out a bunch of threats before building my flying cards.
Opened up flame blade angel, Westvale abbey, bygone bishop and the 2 drop that flips and has its power equal the total number of creatures on the battlefield.
Final match was great I played against a decent gb aggro deck and was down to 1 life while he was at 20. I was able to stabilize the board, flip the 2 drop that makes a token every turn and bring out flame blade angel. Eventually pulling out the victory. Eventually equipped up flame blade with the butchers cleaver and swung in for 9 one turn and 10 the next dropping my opponent to 1. Won the match the next turn.
I went cray and did 3 events today. 3-1, 1-3, and 2-1 so far. Pretty much lost to players having two of the same plans walkers for some reason. Seriously, one opponent had 2 Jaces and the other 2 Sorins. All the mythics just seems absurdly broken in this set, even more so than previous sets.
SigmasonicX
Member
What we lost
mikeburnsillustration asked: Hey Mark! What are the odds of us seeing an Alligator that investigates in Eldritch Moon? I want an Investigator!
Investi-gator was in the set for a little while.
Beaniedude
Member
Put together a deck that I thought was average but did surprisingly well.
I won 2-1, 2-0, 2-0 but had to drop the last game because of dinner plans.
MVP was definitely the vampire that turned into mist. I also had the equipment that flipped when the creature it was attached to flipped. 7/7 unblockable damage is not fun.
I won 2-1, 2-0, 2-0 but had to drop the last game because of dinner plans.
MVP was definitely the vampire that turned into mist. I also had the equipment that flipped when the creature it was attached to flipped. 7/7 unblockable damage is not fun.
Went 5-0-1 on prerelease. We split the top 8 so each of us got 11,5 boosters (me and my bro shared the half since we both placed in it). Played some GW zoo with Sigarda, Hydra and a few werewolves/humans.
Prize boosters were pretty meh, but I did get Avacyn on the flip slot in last pack.
Prize boosters were pretty meh, but I did get Avacyn on the flip slot in last pack.
Infinite Stars
Member
In playtesting, Bygone Bishop is legitimately awesome as a card. I love Investigate so much as a mechanic, as it even helps to reduce the number of "I've got nothing to do but Top-Deck" that my decks usually run into.
Pulled some better rares this time (which wasn't difficult at all) and managed to get 3rd place again in a smaller field. Rares were:
Epiphany at the Drownyard (prerelease foil)
Goldnight Castigator
Avacyn's Judgement
Burn from Within
Drownyard Temple
Markov Dreadnight
Rattlechains
Went UBr, splashing red for Avacyn's Judgement, Burn from Within, and Reduce to Ashes. Only match I lost was against the Avacyn, From Under the Floorboards and Anguished Unmaking deck that hit all 3 in both games while I couldn't draw a spell. Most other games were pretty easy since people just played bad cards. 2/2s and 2/3s isn't where you want to be against the 1/3, 3/3, and 3/5 deck.
Traded in a lot of my winnings for some of the more expensive ramp pieces to try and finish that deck (or perhaps mono red eldrazi with westvale abbey... still unsure of what I'll be playing.) Was thinking of hitting one of the short sunday prereleases tomorrow afternoon but everybody is sold out. This set was a lot more anticipated than I thought it'd be being a spring set and without expeditions.
Liking this limited format a lot better than Oath, which I did enjoy, given what I feel to be a drop in power level. Dealing with the small set rare Endbringer all the time started to destroy my soul.
Epiphany at the Drownyard (prerelease foil)
Goldnight Castigator
Avacyn's Judgement
Burn from Within
Drownyard Temple
Markov Dreadnight
Rattlechains
Went UBr, splashing red for Avacyn's Judgement, Burn from Within, and Reduce to Ashes. Only match I lost was against the Avacyn, From Under the Floorboards and Anguished Unmaking deck that hit all 3 in both games while I couldn't draw a spell. Most other games were pretty easy since people just played bad cards. 2/2s and 2/3s isn't where you want to be against the 1/3, 3/3, and 3/5 deck.
Traded in a lot of my winnings for some of the more expensive ramp pieces to try and finish that deck (or perhaps mono red eldrazi with westvale abbey... still unsure of what I'll be playing.) Was thinking of hitting one of the short sunday prereleases tomorrow afternoon but everybody is sold out. This set was a lot more anticipated than I thought it'd be being a spring set and without expeditions.
Liking this limited format a lot better than Oath, which I did enjoy, given what I feel to be a drop in power level. Dealing with the small set rare Endbringer all the time started to destroy my soul.
I got 4-0 in Sealed but I'll freely admit that I won half of my games off the back of Westvale Abbey. Won 14 packs and the Avacyn flip playmat, so a good outing there. Went 1-1-1 in Two Headed Giant, no prizes but two of those matches were close games that went to rounds at the end so fun games all around.
I'll freely admit that Westvale Abbey is broken in Limited. Typically I'd drop it the turn I could crack it to almost guarantee the 18 point life swing, the element of surprise was backbreaking and tilt-inducing.
Can't wait to draft this set. Sealed shows the promise of synergistic archetypes but they just aren't there in six packs.
I'll freely admit that Westvale Abbey is broken in Limited. Typically I'd drop it the turn I could crack it to almost guarantee the 18 point life swing, the element of surprise was backbreaking and tilt-inducing.
Can't wait to draft this set. Sealed shows the promise of synergistic archetypes but they just aren't there in six packs.
If I see the Abbey, I'm holding removal.
Specifically, I got the target player sacs a creature card both prereleases. I went 6-2 (both records together), scored about 9 extra packs between both.
I pulled Sorin, Sigarda, the green recall mythic, and a TON of Odrics (including a foil!) for my Boros.dec. In fact, the deck is almost entirely built after one prerelease except for Nahiri and the Abbeys.
Someone got it off on me once, swung for 9 lifegain back up to 11 health, but I had 14 worth of power on the board.
You gotta use it wisely.
Specifically, I got the target player sacs a creature card both prereleases. I went 6-2 (both records together), scored about 9 extra packs between both.
I pulled Sorin, Sigarda, the green recall mythic, and a TON of Odrics (including a foil!) for my Boros.dec. In fact, the deck is almost entirely built after one prerelease except for Nahiri and the Abbeys.
Someone got it off on me once, swung for 9 lifegain back up to 11 health, but I had 14 worth of power on the board.
You gotta use it wisely.
Don't let them get to 5 creatures. Also, there's a ton of bounce in this set.
A Serious Man
Member
Commons that deal with Ormendahl:
Angelic Purge
Gone Missing
Just The Wind
Sleep Paralysis
Structural Distortion
Clip Wings
If you see someone refusing to chump block or taking unusual measures to maintain their creature count, it'd be wise to leave up mana for Clip Wings or Just the Wind. Sorcery speed solutions obviously mean you're going to have to eat 9 but if you can survive you're probably going to be way ahead on board.
Giant Panda
Member
It will be interesting to see if this deck actually works out. The question seems to be though whether to keep the full aggro with only 1-3 drops, or to make it more midranged so you can play Gray Merchant.
I went 3-0-1 with R/G not quite Aggro yesterday. The real standout to me is the 4R 5/4 common Werewolf that flips into a 6/5 Menace- I won more than 1 game because my opponent did not realize it had Menace, and made attacks that left them dead on board. I also had 3 copies of Geistblast along with a single U/G dual land to allow me to power up my Reduce to Ashes late in the game. Duskwatch Recruiter is also an insane card- in my 3rd round matchup, I knew the exact order of my deck because I had activated him 8 times over the course of the game.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Playing THG atm and already drawed twice. Won the 3 round tho.
After winning the 4th round we lost to triskaidekaiphobia by 1 damage.
After winning the 4th round we lost to triskaidekaiphobia by 1 damage.
Attleborotaco
Member
I think you'd have to make it more midranged and go the gray merchant route. Alot of zombies have so much devotion, it just makes more sense.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Grimace inspired me to do my own GB Eldrazi deck, so here it is using my mono black as a base:
I've played about half a dozen matches with it so far and this is the list I've gotten to.
Mindwrack Demon with Gitrog on the board is so dumb. Best Mulldrifter ever.
I tried 23 lands since I have the 8 dorks, but I just wasn't all that happy with it.
The Wu Humans decks are annoying. Having the extra acceleration and the manlands is great, but the extra tapped sources are annoying and I should probably have one more green source somewhere for the Deathcaps.
11 Deathtouch creatures has to be some kind of record in Standard.
I've played about half a dozen matches with it so far and this is the list I've gotten to.
Mindwrack Demon with Gitrog on the board is so dumb. Best Mulldrifter ever.
I tried 23 lands since I have the 8 dorks, but I just wasn't all that happy with it.
The Wu Humans decks are annoying. Having the extra acceleration and the manlands is great, but the extra tapped sources are annoying and I should probably have one more green source somewhere for the Deathcaps.
11 Deathtouch creatures has to be some kind of record in Standard.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Yeah, only a single draw. I had misread the card and thought that Gitrog was the most bonkers GB card ever, but it's still pretty good with the single trigger. I started to suspect that I wasn't doing it right when I drew 4 cards off dredging a grave troll lol.
Yeah, I thought he'd be too good otherwise.
You can still draw your whole deck though with Dakmore Salvage and a discard outlet right? You discard the Salvage, put a draw trigger on the stack, then can dredge with that trigger. If you dredge a land, you get another draw trigger which you can resolve to actually draw. Repeat this process, toss in a Kozilek/Ulamog/Emrakul to never run out of a deck and be able to filter your deck to just be lands more or less.
If you play Explore and have a Lotus Cobra out, you can then play all of your lands if you have 2 mana open. Pretty neat!
If you play Explore and have a Lotus Cobra out, you can then play all of your lands if you have 2 mana open. Pretty neat!
Giant Panda
Member
Maybe something like this?
### Creature (21)
* 3 [Diregraf Colossus]
* 3 [Diregraf Ghoul]
* 3 [Geralf's Messenger]
* 4 [Gravecrawler]
* 4 [Gray Merchant of Asphodel]
* 4 [Relentless Dead]
### Instant (6)
* 3 [Geth's Verdict]
* 3 [Go for the Throat]
### Planeswalker (3)
* 3 [Liliana of the Veil]
### Sorcery (6)
* 3 [Damnation]
* 3 [Inquisition of Kozilek]
### Land (24)
* 24 [Swamp]
"God's Beard!"
Member
By far the most fun of all my test drafts with SOI:
I wound up not needing the Pyre Hounds, I could have mained 2 more removal spells. Definitely enough removal and card draw that I didn't need the higher cost dudes.
Lategame I was attacking for 4 with the mage and flipping thing in the ice the turn after I played it lol
I actually decked myself one game because I drew 14 cards deeper than my opponent
I wound up not needing the Pyre Hounds, I could have mained 2 more removal spells. Definitely enough removal and card draw that I didn't need the higher cost dudes.
Lategame I was attacking for 4 with the mage and flipping thing in the ice the turn after I played it lol
I actually decked myself one game because I drew 14 cards deeper than my opponent
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Ended up going 3-2-2 in thg, not even sure we'll get any prize.
Last game we got subsequently boardwiped and outvalued by the white and green mythic. You don't get 4 or 5 for 13ed very often.
Last game we got subsequently boardwiped and outvalued by the white and green mythic. You don't get 4 or 5 for 13ed very often.
It seems that people just aren't used to playing around it yet. I was fortunate enough to play Red Green tokens with it, Devils' Playground was my foil promo and I had two copies of Dance with Devils and a Cult of the Waxing Moon with lots of werewolves for support. It was really easy to get my creature count up and twice I was able to EOT Dance with Devils, drop Westvale Abbey and crack it for an instant win. Since I was heavy on werewolves I put on lots of early pressure and a couple times my opponent had answers to the demon, but at Sorcery speed. It's not good enough.
I suppose I had a great build for the card but really you can slam it in any Limited deck and have an oops I win condition at very little opportunity cost.
As stated if you can hold off on playing the Abbey the element of surprise was brutal.
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";200028990]By far the most fun of all my test drafts with SOI:
I wound up not needing the Pyre Hounds, I could have mained 2 more removal spells. Definitely enough removal and card draw that I didn't need the higher cost dudes.
Lategame I was attacking for 4 with the mage and flipping thing in the ice the turn after I played it lol
I actually decked myself one game because I drew 14 cards deeper than my opponent[/QUOTE]
GB we need some games brah, I gots to test my Erebos deck
I wound up not needing the Pyre Hounds, I could have mained 2 more removal spells. Definitely enough removal and card draw that I didn't need the higher cost dudes.
Lategame I was attacking for 4 with the mage and flipping thing in the ice the turn after I played it lol
I actually decked myself one game because I drew 14 cards deeper than my opponent[/QUOTE]
GB we need some games brah, I gots to test my Erebos deck
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Oh shit, I didn't even realize the Abbey doesn't enter the battlefield tapped. I'm so used to that being a rider on anything like this even remotely good
phazedplasma
Member
who wants to test STD decks on cockatrice? I have a UW humans brew im thinking might be good.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Play around it, don't let them count to 5 guys. The decks that can interact with it profitably are white or blue, if you don't have bounce or the sac-exile spell just scoop if they get Ormendahl out. Yep, in a 2 color deck you can run 4 of them if you really want to, but you have to be careful about getting blown out with the Demon unless you just use Secure to get the sac fodder out. The card is going to be a thing in Standard though, its just ultra powerful for a land.
"God's Beard!"
Member
He's saying limited. Much harder to play around.
phazedplasma
Member
startled awake seems hard to play around if youre not blue.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
I wonder if Eldritch Moon will introduce any graveyard hate. Its obvious why they didn't include much in this set, but I'm curious if they'll shake things up
EYEL1NER
Member
I just finished up my pre-release. Did better than the Origins pre-release where I only won a single game, so I am pleased. I placed fourth and got three boosters.
I didn't pull enough themed cards to try to run say, a vampire deck or a werewolf deck. None of the cards I pulled had a common unifying mechanic that could have tied a 40-card deck together. And I didn't get hardly any 1 or 2 mana drops either. The only colors I had where I pulled a good number of 1 or 2 mana creatures was green and blue, so I did a green-blue deck. A couple green werewolves that were transforming non-stop and some blue cards that milled my opponent were what won me anything (and the equipment card that transforms when the card it is attached to transforms).
My first round was just one game, and it didn't even finish by the end of the hour. We were working on our first game when time came up and I had the worse field position at that time so I conceded. The guy entering results said something about possible draws at that point but I was like "Naw, I don't think I would have won it had it kept going." Round two was 2-1. My opponent at one point had a ton of life but was getting milled pretty bad by me. I ended up decking him. Round three I went 1-2. His Odric was punishing me in all three of those games.
I am pleased with my performance this time as it was better than last time. And I think I built a better deck this time, with what I had to work with. I didn't go 3+ turns without a creature at the beginning since I kept some pretty basic and solid deck-building mechanics in mind while constructing. The shop owner was happy too; he sold out all three events for the weekend.
I didn't pull enough themed cards to try to run say, a vampire deck or a werewolf deck. None of the cards I pulled had a common unifying mechanic that could have tied a 40-card deck together. And I didn't get hardly any 1 or 2 mana drops either. The only colors I had where I pulled a good number of 1 or 2 mana creatures was green and blue, so I did a green-blue deck. A couple green werewolves that were transforming non-stop and some blue cards that milled my opponent were what won me anything (and the equipment card that transforms when the card it is attached to transforms).
My first round was just one game, and it didn't even finish by the end of the hour. We were working on our first game when time came up and I had the worse field position at that time so I conceded. The guy entering results said something about possible draws at that point but I was like "Naw, I don't think I would have won it had it kept going." Round two was 2-1. My opponent at one point had a ton of life but was getting milled pretty bad by me. I ended up decking him. Round three I went 1-2. His Odric was punishing me in all three of those games.
I am pleased with my performance this time as it was better than last time. And I think I built a better deck this time, with what I had to work with. I didn't go 3+ turns without a creature at the beginning since I kept some pretty basic and solid deck-building mechanics in mind while constructing. The shop owner was happy too; he sold out all three events for the weekend.
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!";200041350]He's saying limited. Much harder to play around.[/QUOTE]
That's what I'm saying - you play around Ormendahl by going out of your way to not let them get to 5 sac targets (because putting out clerics with the Abbey is slow).
If you're not playing white or blue with specific cards in your deck you have no way to directly answer Ormendahl; you just lose. There's one common Exile card and one common bounce card.
That's what I'm saying - you play around Ormendahl by going out of your way to not let them get to 5 sac targets (because putting out clerics with the Abbey is slow).
If you're not playing white or blue with specific cards in your deck you have no way to directly answer Ormendahl; you just lose. There's one common Exile card and one common bounce card.
Infinite Stars
Member
Wait, the Fat Sculptor? Is this the SoI Jace? Why the nickname?
well, bouncing two dudes and still live to tell the tale is pretty much jtms level.
i'm not sure how santiako could have lost with him :3
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Someone needs to stop me just ordered FTV 20...
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
I don't know why he needs a nickname when just referring to him as JUS rolls off the tongue so well
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
He's the fixed version that does everything worse at 1 more CMC
I'm calling him that because of +2 Loyalty and +1 CC.
The +1 is really, really good, it's not brainstorm, but it's close enough, and starting at 5 and being able to -2 to 3 or +1 to 6? Super duper good.
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