"God's Beard!"
Member
My problem with mill is that I churn through my own deck so fast that I deck from cantrips before I get close to milling my opponents.
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Magic: the Gathering - Shadows over Innistrad |OT| Blue's Clues
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
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My problem with mill is that I churn through my own deck so fast that I deck from cantrips before I get close to milling my opponents.
I think black being "evil" is a matter of perspective. Thirst for power and the means justifying the pursuit of those things at any cost and interest of the self over all else are black traits. Society has taught us that the opposite of those things is good. We're definitely more green/white aligned in terms of ideals. So naturally we could see those things as evil. Truth is every color is able to take its base characteristics too far -- white in particular has been guilty of some pretty awful stuff in the MtG universe (and in real life if you want to have that discussion). They simply choose not to go that path often. I'd like to see a green villain myself.
As for the zombies being green debate? I think where creatures fall in color pie is much different than the mainline characters being in color pie based on personality. Whoever said that most undomesticated animals would be green if they went this path is right: That's why you don't apply the color pie philosophy for personality to wild creatures -- it would be boring as shit if every creature was green.
A zombie (usually) is black because it was made using powers that require black mana. The reanimation of something deceased goes against usual cycle of life (green) and is decidedly a black situation. Subverting the laws (natural or otherwise) to get what you want and cheat death is super black. Those elements supersede "personality", and I think rightly so.
I won't get deeply into why I love the color pie applications for character personality ,but I think it's one of the smartest aspects of the game and, while I don't think they always get it right, it's pretty great for defining motives and explaining actions.
Oh, you mean Senior Mustache-Twirler himself? He absolutely would, and pretty much has.
As for the zombies being green debate? I think where creatures fall in color pie is much different than the mainline characters being in color pie based on personality. Whoever said that most undomesticated animals would be green if they went this path is right: That's why you don't apply the color pie philosophy for personality to wild creatures -- it would be boring as shit if every creature was green.
A zombie (usually) is black because it was made using powers that require black mana. The reanimation of something deceased goes against usual cycle of life (green) and is decidedly a black situation. Subverting the laws (natural or otherwise) to get what you want and cheat death is super black. Those elements supersede "personality", and I think rightly so.
I won't get deeply into why I love the color pie applications for character personality ,but I think it's one of the smartest aspects of the game and, while I don't think they always get it right, it's pretty great for defining motives and explaining actions.
Oh, you mean Senior Mustache-Twirler himself? He absolutely would, and pretty much has.
A Serious Man
Member
B/W life drain is kind of a deck. I've seen a lot of it around lately and, at the very least, it's a solid budget option (it can function just fine without Gideon) for standard. It looks fairly unimpressive but it's actually hard to get ahead of.
My current build:
It's very much in progress but the win rate is surprisingly high. Cliffhaven Vampire is by far the MVP in this thing, he basically doubles the damage of all your drain triggers and when you have two or three going off every turn, the game is over pretty quickly. You can also just sac everything with Ayli when he's on the board to finish off someone. I had more removal initially but you gain enough life that you aren't forced to address most threats. If you can stall the board state, you've basically won.
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";201538018]My problem with mill is that I churn through my own deck so fast that I deck from cantrips before I get close to milling my opponents.[/QUOTE]
That's what Epitaph Golem is for. He goes pretty late too, I can usually wheel him.
My current build:
It's very much in progress but the win rate is surprisingly high. Cliffhaven Vampire is by far the MVP in this thing, he basically doubles the damage of all your drain triggers and when you have two or three going off every turn, the game is over pretty quickly. You can also just sac everything with Ayli when he's on the board to finish off someone. I had more removal initially but you gain enough life that you aren't forced to address most threats. If you can stall the board state, you've basically won.
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";201538018]My problem with mill is that I churn through my own deck so fast that I deck from cantrips before I get close to milling my opponents.[/QUOTE]
That's what Epitaph Golem is for. He goes pretty late too, I can usually wheel him.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I'll walk back a bit of what I said on Nahiri. She's hard as fuck to kill and her minus is randomly really useful, and her plus is really good in a deck like Hoogland's Mardu control where you drop a dude your opponent doesn't want you to bounce to begin with, basically Goblin Dark-Dwellers. That card is just killer that deck, especially since it lets you go fat on lands since you just dump them to draw.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Reminds me I have to try jeskai next but painful truths is just so good.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Speaking of awesome planeswalkers, the more I play with Ob, the better he becomes.
I've been high on him ever since they revealed him.
But then he saw no play.
I was a sad panda for that.
I fear a similar trajectory for Sorin.
ThLunarian
Member
Man... not that I'm a lawyer, but I just read through the complaint that was actually filed for the class action suit and it seems pretty solid. The gist of the argument is that tournaments are a marketing vehicle for WOTC, and judges are necessary to carry out those marketing activities, and WOTC oversees the certification of judges, and can penalize them all the way up to 'firing' them, therefore they have an employer-employee relationship.
The PR statement that WOTC put out doesn't even seem to be responding to the allegations and just uses language to get the community on their side. I am curious to see what their defense in court will be.
The PR statement that WOTC put out doesn't even seem to be responding to the allegations and just uses language to get the community on their side. I am curious to see what their defense in court will be.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Tireless Tracker is a dumb card.
White weenie really is tough to beat with control shells.
White weenie really is tough to beat with control shells.
Joe Molotov
Member
Trying to figure out what to play for States but I don't wanna play CoCo and I'm not really excited about Humans either. I've got W/B Midrange assembled, but maybe I should push it more towards Control. What do?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
The reason why I've been doing pretty well with Hoogland's Mardu brew (that has Nahiri in it) is because Radiant Flames kicks ass.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
you gotta draw and have the triple at turn 3 preferably on the play and even then Town Gossip Mongers only need 1 anthem effect to outgrow it.
Trying it in a temur shell atm.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
You can Languish too. It's not like they are killing you Turn 3.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Not in temur I can't. Ended up winning the 2nd match up against white weenie, partially due to a bug/misclick. Opponent was salty af.
Some interesting thoughts from Corbin Hosler (in response to this video from Tolarian Community College) about prominent reprints in Standard:
(Sorry for the annoying formatting. It was a series of tweets. Someone's asked him to write an article about it now, so maybe that'll provide more depth.)
I think the standout question he poses, "Why would anyone care about Standard?" is interesting, but also has an easy answer: variance and variety. I think a lot of players, maybe the majority of players, like the fact that Standard is a constantly shifting environment, with different mechanics and play styles becoming dominant and fading away as blocks rotate in and out. He's also ignoring draft, which seems to be a big pack pusher.
How much of MtG's revenue comes from entrenched collectors vs. new players vs. casual players vs. serious hobbyists?
(Sorry for the annoying formatting. It was a series of tweets. Someone's asked him to write an article about it now, so maybe that'll provide more depth.)
I think the standout question he poses, "Why would anyone care about Standard?" is interesting, but also has an easy answer: variance and variety. I think a lot of players, maybe the majority of players, like the fact that Standard is a constantly shifting environment, with different mechanics and play styles becoming dominant and fading away as blocks rotate in and out. He's also ignoring draft, which seems to be a big pack pusher.
How much of MtG's revenue comes from entrenched collectors vs. new players vs. casual players vs. serious hobbyists?
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Yeah I think where I diverge from him is in the idea that its commonly accepted that "Modern and Legacy are superior to standard"
divisionbyzorro
Member
I think there's an almost mystical quality to them that is attractive, although people who play all of the formats recognize that each format has a unique set of pros and cons.
Besides, we all know that the objectively best format is Cube.
Jace is meh bro
Giant Panda
Member
Just a week ago people were saying he was awesome.
He doesn't have a home yet.
Giant Panda
Member
So what you're saying is... buy now?
in 2-4 months.
edit: Wheel of Sun & Moon was bought out - instinct is telling me I have them even though I don't see it in my email orders. Fingers crossed.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Wasn't that already a pretty popular casual card?
That whole problem would be solved if they just reprinted like 1-2 good cards for older formats in news set in each standard. That way lots of standard packs get opened for those cards but market prices wouldn't be able to crash anyway because mtythics still cost 70-80$ if they're in high demand. Like expeditions, those didn't crash the prices of older versions AND they drived a bit down the cost of standard because of the demand for said expeditions. Despite this, that standard was still one of the most expensive of all times because of the battlelands+fetches+jace but whatever.
divisionbyzorro
Member
The problem is that only the super powerful cards are the ones people want reprinted. So you risk polluting standard environments with toxic cards (see Thoughtseize and Mutavault).
It's been a SB card on occasion in Modern.
divisionbyzorro
Member
It does. If it's actually becoming a part of modern, it tells me that people are betting that breaking the "graveyard-matters" mirror is going to be important (i.e., you don't want to blow up your own Thopter combo with something like Rest in Peace or Stony Silence).
A Serious Man
Member
Anyone else going to be awake at the ungodly hour the PT starts?
I only want to watch Standard so meh
SigmasonicX
Member
I forgot if this was mentioned in an article or just on social media, but this is one thing that Wizards has wanted to avoid. One reason why Theros was perceived as low-power is because one of the most powerful cards of the format, Thoughtseize, was a reprint. According to Wizards, this had a direct impact on player excitement for the set, since they were less interested in the cards that were actually new.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Nope! Fortunately Wizards traditionally is very good about quickly uploading the matches to YouTube, so hopefully I won't have to scrub through the Twitch archives to start catching up.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
you mean morning? CET ftw.
Being in the UK the PT lines up perfectly with my day off (I'll miss half of Sunday and Friday, but Saturday is all mine)
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Lol +1 Sorin, reveal Linvala. Perfect.
What time does it start?
A Serious Man
Member
Lol +1 Sorin, reveal Linvala. Perfect.
We can argue about how playable Sorin is in standard but there is no doubt his +1 is one of the most feel good abilities in awhile. When you reveal a sweeper or Ob Nixilis or some other bomb, oh man. So deliciously evil.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
If games go long against my esper list I might have ShadowsJace, Narset and Sorin out at the same time. Kinda hilarious. Came close to getting both Erayo emblem and narset emblem before my opponent scooped.
TheBlackMarvel
Member
Damn, that's gorgeous.
charlequin
Banned
Yes, and that claim is ridiculous.
It shades into red, for sure.
Yeah, I don't think you would actually get close to a consensus on that. Part of the backlash against the modern PT is the idea that Standard is actually better as a competitive format for a high-level event like a PT.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Yes, and that claim is ridiculous.
It shades into red, for sure.
Well doesn't seem like we'll reach an agreement on this issue. Looking at folklore and general motives I can't classify demons as evil.
If you mean by shade you mean exactly what they do sure.
Clearly.
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