Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Shadow1psc]

Oh sweet, you guys play. I'm a huge magic buff, both paper and online, and I've got decks in every format. Add me if you want, I'm JediShadow on mtgo.

[Shadow1psc]

FUCK MTGO

two games in a row i drew a hand with ONE LAND, only to mull into a hand with NO LANDS

fucking bullshit

I had this problem when I switched from paper to online. Because shuffling is not akin to 'true random', I've found that altering my land counts drastically reduces this effect.

[Shadow1psc]

A good mono-W deck's got you dead before you can even hit 10 mana to Alpha Brawl. :p

I'm assuming what you're calling "a good monowhite deck" is out of everyone's budget.

Monowhite tokens can be built for ~$7 on M:tGO. Monowhite Humans is the expensive version.

[Shadow1psc]

I'll second making cheap archetypes - Delver is one of the easiest things to replicate on a budget and still be decent (in Standard). You can get into other formats on the cheap too, but I wouldn't expect to win 2 mans.

[Shadow1psc]

Isn't the necessary core for making Delver work the most expensive part?

In standard? You can run delver without Snapcaster, but even if you wanted snapcaster, a playset isn't too expensive ($20). Again, I talk M:tGO prices, that's all I can play, my area is really dry for sanctioned paper M:tG.

For instance, I run my delver with delvers (of course), stalkers, stromkirk nobles, then all the necessary U/R instances, and runechanter's pike. Your meta mileage may vary though.

[Shadow1psc]

Ouch. Paper hurts...

I'm usually the person who can't stand to by digital content (music, games, movies). I love having the boxes, instruction manuals, art. And while I do own paper M:tG decks and played it for years in school with friends and at a LCS who hosted tournaments, something about M:tGO appeals more to the 25 year old adult in me. I can play any time I want, it's 1/5th or less the price, and it's stupid easy to find any card you want (once you know which stores to frequent).

If I wanted to play paper and get 75% of the enjoyment I get out of M:tGO, I'd have to drive an hour (I live in the farthest northern edge of Los Angeles county, about 45 minutes away from the major cities), only play on weekends, and you have to start talking about the gas cost, late nights that I can't quite put in like when I was younger, and trying to convince my Fiance that it it's worth doing (she plays casually with our paper cards, but I can't get her to touch her M:tGO account).

I just wish they would finish M:tGO v4 sooner rather than later, but maybe they're taking the time to get it right this time. M:tGO as it stands now is about as fast and intuitive as windows 95 would be to anyone born in the 90s.

[Shadow1psc]

On that note, anyone here live/play in SoCal, or does anyone know how I can find the best place to go for a draft? My little brother is turning 13, lives in Simi Valley with our parents, so I'm looking between Simi Valley to Northridge/Burbank/Glendale. I know there's going to be at least a couple good places to go, I want to take him to his first draft somewhere that's going to have a decent turnout. I know there's a store finder, but anyone have any advice on finding maybe the

best

store, or just a really good one? There's a dinky LGS that runs official events right in Simi, but I've been to that shop and you couldn't fit a decent group into that place if they were all standing. There's an LCS, but they aren't listed on wizards.com, and I don't think they run events anyway.

[Shadow1psc]

Exalted gives me a big 'meh' feeling. Maybe pair em with homicidal seclusion in control decks? I'm sure that's too inside the box to even be pertinent.

[Shadow1psc]

Single creature beat down *shrug*. I dunno, exalted doesn't begin to excite me, so I haven't put much thought into it.

[Shadow1psc]

B/W could pull that off in some manner.

[Shadow1psc]

I think you could make great use of barter in blood style cards + terminus and run stuff like said angel and nefarox. I guess you could run this mono black too.

[Shadow1psc]

Bombo works, too.

[Shadow1psc]

So uh. I just opened my collection, and I had two premium foil decks and a premium foil booster sitting there that I didn't buy. What is going on?

[Shadow1psc]

Yeah. Seriously. Did I win a contest? I got Premium Slivers, Premium Fire/Lightning, and a Premium Alara block booster. 135 foil cards.

[Shadow1psc]

I checked my girlfriends account, she had a premium Alara booster too.

[Shadow1psc]

I'll start drafting again this weekend I think.

[Shadow1psc]

For you paper players, what are your opinions on booster boxes in standard? For someone going from M:tGO to casual paper standard/FNM/occasional saturday events. I was considering buying a box each of Innistrad/DA/AR for my fiance and I. I figure it's a good way to get playsets of the good commons/uncommons, the occasional tradeable rare/mythic or two, and have enough cards to make decks we can play each other with/take to FNM. What would you guys do if you were starting from scratch today, and you had a budget of anywhere from $100-$300?

[Shadow1psc]

Depending on where you shop sure. I have no qualms with that really. Amazon isn't too bad as far as tax and shipping goes, though I'd check my local shop as well. So, disregarding the monetary investment 3 boxes would be, or rather, comparing that to what it would cost to build up your playsets of commons/uncommons for two people to make a variety of decks, and those people just starting out in paper. For instance, in M:tGO it's dead simple to build playsets of cards because they cost a penny each to maybe 10c at most, and there's no shortage of dealers. In real life, you don't have instant full access to a dealer with unlimited supply, and paper cards might cost 25c a common.

[Shadow1psc]

I was clued into buying playsets of unc/com via ebay. $25-$30 a set doesn't sound so bad, and I can just get rares in singles/trades. I think I'll go that way, and save buying boxes for group drafts.

[Shadow1psc]

On that note, is there a best place online to buy singles from one source (so that there isn't the need for so many different shipments to get started)?

[Shadow1psc]

I prefer just using tcgplayer. It lets you shop around between different stores

I like the idea of tcg player, but if I'm going to buy hundreds of cards in a fell swoop, I'm either going to take a loss combining shipping on a more expensive store that has everything, or get every card as cheap as possible and losing on a ton of shipping. I don't see where (in the case that I need playsets of EVERYTHING) eBay doesn't win @ $28 + free shipping to grab INN or DKA or AVR commons/uncommons x4 all at once.

[Shadow1psc]

Didn't see that option. Will check it out, thanks!

[Shadow1psc]

On that note, now I'm a little confused about what I do. Like, if I wanted to grab all commons from innistrad x4, is there a quick and easy way to bring this up?

[Shadow1psc]

So I see how the optimizer works, handy stuff, but is there an easier way now to mass add cards to my cart? From what it looks like, I told it to list all commons from Innistrad, but then I still have to type that I want 4 from x vendor, hit add to cart, then it auto takes me to my cart where I have to click continue shopping, scroll back to where I was, repeat. With only 12 commons I'm also already at $5, still seems like an ebay set is the way to go...

[Shadow1psc]

I don't get all the midnight duelist hate. I mean, obviously it's a dredge only card, but if you pick it up and you're running r/w, what makes it such an awful one drop? I'm not talking in an instance where you get to pick up Stonewrights, but as filler it seems ok (definitely not something to shoot for as a 3-of). Banners raised is definitely crap though... If you were just stretching to fill in a deck after getting a lot of pack 1 cathars/revolts, I could see how that came about.

[Shadow1psc]

The more I look at AGar's list there makes me think he did a lot of early red drafting and the white wasn't exactly trickling down. I'd be interested in hearing the order in which you picked those cards up.

[Shadow1psc]

I'm going to do an AVR swiss. Or an 8-4, not sure. Anyone else wanna play?

[Shadow1psc]

My name on mtgo is JediShadow

[Shadow1psc]

I don't know that I'm confident enough to go into an 8-4, I like that if I can go 2-1, my next draft is less than half price.

[Shadow1psc]

Gonna try that 8-4. I saw absolutely no blue come my way.

[Shadow1psc]

2-0 match one.

[Shadow1psc]

Made the plunge. Just bought playsets of every common/uncommon in ISD/DKA/AVR. Going to hand pick rares and go off and running into the world of paper magic again

[Shadow1psc]

I think Latch Seeker is underrated in Avacyn draft. In U/G soulbond or U/W it can get in against a lot of decks with few answers. Great card.

[Shadow1psc]

In avacyn draft vs. an unblockable? Hard removal is few and far between where black and red are the weakest colors and underplayed to begin with (in my experience).

[Shadow1psc]

Anybody around that wants to do an 8-4?

[Shadow1psc]

Ok, I just drafted what I think is a pretty ridiculously incredibly super ultra bad deck, and went 2-0 round one. Let's see if I can pull off more? I'll cap the list in the next round.

[Shadow1psc]

I don't know what to say about this draft right now. In the finals with the above deck.

edit:

So, I won. 2-0, 2-0, 2-1. I'm not even sure why.

[Shadow1psc]

So, my experience last night comes down to Zealous Conscripts being a huge bomb in limited. I pulled it in at least 5 games, and it outright won 4 with the opponent scooping as it came into play. Seraph of Dawn is an absolute workhorse, and Cloudshift makes for some silly offensive plays. That single Pillar of Flame saved me from Latch Seeker twice, and Angelic Armaments makes things like Thraben Sentry deadly. I think a lot of people are going in to Avacyn and really devaluing the few pieces of removal available, and pay for it. Everyone was running in-your-face aggro, but my sloppy picks turned into a measured deck that just stabilized then outpaced every game. I think evasion is paramount to Avacyn, not just fast/big creatures.

Fun facts:
-The last game took 17 turns, ended with Zealous Conscripts+Cloudshift stealing the opponents only two flying creatures, then getting in with all my angels after an interesting stalemate.
- Zealous Conscripts + Cloudshift won me two games. Zealous Conscript alone won me 3 other games.
- My very first pack had a Cavern of Souls and a Druid's Familiar. I actually meant to pick the Familiar, and probably would have drafted a completely different deck if I hadn't misclicked.
- That 3/3 spider with reach for 3 is sick. Every game I played ended up with maybe one answer to my flying creatures, but it was always enough to stall the game until I pulled something like Conscripts.
- Commander's Authority + Angel's Tomb worked out really well for me one game.
- That red 2/2 intimidate vampire for 4 is really good.
- Latch Seeker and Fettergeist is soooo strong.

[Shadow1psc]

I was thinking about trying a R/G reanimator. Would it be too unfocused to have that running birds (of paradise), hunstmaster, defy death AND/or unburial, and some meaty creatures (forward thinking, I'm staying away from Scars block in paper) like an Avacyn, Moldgraf Monstrosity... or w/e. I feel like there's too much going on maybe, but I guess having the right dual lands (Rootbound Crag, sunpetal grove, Dragskull Summit?) could make it cohesive? Maybe strangleroots and huntsmaster as early game, or I could go with burn, or black removal?

I'll proxy test this before I commit that much money, but suggestions?

[Shadow1psc]

mist raven
crippling

or just swinging anyway because they only have one blocker.
My deck is all about wining in the first 8 turns or going down in flames.

This is what everyone seems to be doing in avacyn drafts, and a well measured deck with a good curve and stabilization/pacing will destroy them.

[Shadow1psc]

I have 3 draft packs for 8-4, i'm going to pop at least one tonight, anyone interested?

[Shadow1psc]

Let's see how this pile does..

[Shadow1psc]

2-0 so far.

[Shadow1psc]

I got lumber knot out 4 times, soul bonded each. Twice to wing crafter, once to wurm, once to shieldmate. Lost 1-2 in finals to an INSANE Boros. Again my experience, stabilizing the table with big evasive creatures then turning things around with into the void/chill/ghostform etc makes for a smooth experience. I did loose to insanely fast Boros. Just ridiculous nice picks.

[Shadow1psc]

Alright, so this is where I ended up in SoM-less reanimator. It draws well and doesn't often leave me without something to do. I'm either ramping up with pilgrim and draws, pitching key things with Scholar (who can also beat face, but probably shouldn't be), or even hardcasting Sigarda to kick things off. I think dissipate helps a bit, but it can be slow, so I'm not sure if I'd keep it.

Tips on the mana base (it seems to work much better than my Green/Red/Black experiment) or early game improvement?

deck here: http://mtgdeckbuilder.net/Decks/ViewDeck/173178

[Shadow1psc]

I mean, that just means you got lucky. In general you want 6 or so ways to do any sort of gimmick, soulbond necessary guys being no exception.

In a 40 card deck with extra draw? Granted, not a whole lot of it, and I guess 4 is a little low. I never stopped to count how many made the cut, I just knew I had enough picks for it to work lol. Flying or hexproof lumberknot is so great though. It made me sad to watch other people in between pick up forcemages, but be playing green/black. Every deck that lost round one was playing x/black. The deck I trounced round one was mono black, and I didn't see a single homicidal seclusion anywhere.

[Shadow1psc]

i tried running red, I found faithless looting underwhelming. Arc Trail is leaving (I -LOVE- arc trail. The only reason I'm coming up with a new deck is because of the cripple budget delver is taking). You're right about forbidden alchemy being the card I want though, cheaper and definitely more efficient than amass. When I did my gatherer search I looked for things that say draw/discard. So that's a good get definitely. Lingering souls instead of Dissipate is great early game, absolutely dead card past turn 4-5, but I realize I'm looking for the early game improvement here, so maybe that IS the answer.

I hope to god BoP is getting reprinted in RtR, that would also change the deck up a little.

[Shadow1psc]

I think you'd probably be better served only running one of each reanimation target (or picking 2 and cutting down to just four total reanimation slots.) so you can run some more defensive spells. I'd consider timely reinforcements.

Griselbrand was just thrown in there for fun, I settled on 2 each of the angels, and it seems to be the right number to make sure I have one as a turn 4-5 target. Any less and run the risk of just never seeing one in a lot of games it feels like. The land base feels fluid and on the nose. I got rid of Think Twice completely, and I'm thinking mulch is even not needed as a 4-of. Timely Reinforcements isn't being reprinted, so that's out, and is the same reason I'm not just running Birds (yet).

If I cut down to 3 mulch instead of 4, I have 4 slots available for some kind of defense. Dissipate back in?

Spoiler: Deck

Lands:

3 Hinterland Harbor
3 Sunpetal Grove
2 Woodland Cemetery
2 Glacial Fortress
4 Forest
4 Island
3 Plains
2 Swamp

23 Lands

Creatures:

4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
2 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
2 Sigarda, Host of Herons
2 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
4 Civilized Scholar // Homicidal Brute

14 Creatures

Other Spells:

3 Mulch
4 Defy Death
4 Unburial Rites
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Lingering Souls

19 Other Spells

[Shadow1psc]

Shea's suggestion is a good one; you generally only need about 4 targets, and the rest should be defense and dig. Timely Reinforcements is good; Midnight Haunting is good, too. Dissipate I think is going to be too slow in the meta; when you're facing down a lot of aggro, Dissipate stops one threat if they don't have Cavern of Souls. Lingering Souls and Timely Reinforcements can block over several turns until you get your fatties out.

Again, unless I missed something, Timely Reinforcements is not legal in less than 12 hours. I thought about midnight haunting, but I can also hard cast a turn 4 sigarda, which if anything would maybe cause me to up that by 1, and then I only have 4 real 'reanimator' targets in 2x avacyn and 2x gisela.

[Shadow1psc]

Again, unless I missed something, Timely Reinforcements is not legal in less than 12 hours.

Pretty sure M12 doesn't rotate until October.

M13 is legal tomorrow.

[Shadow1psc]

Oh wow, m12 and m13 are both legal until Scars rotates? That's... odd, is that recent?. Either way, I don't plan on investing in m12 the same way I don't plan on investing in anything SoM. I'd just have to replace it sooner rather than later anyway.

As far as multiple reanimation targets, it's always nice to have options. Having Avacyn and Sigarda on the field at the same time is even something pretty desirable, if the opponent still feels like fighting that (Terminus, Day of Judgement, w/e). Terminus in particular I'd be worried about, but that's what sideboarding is for I guess. In my test draws, I really like the flow of the deck with 6 angels, I think it's just something I'm convinced about, but I do now have 4 slots open (I got rid of think twice and a mulch).

[Shadow1psc]

It's been that way for a few years now.

Also, see the edit above, you cheap fuck.

This has a little more to do with OCD than anything. If I buy anything from M12, I will be compelled just to order the complete m12 playset of unc/com so I can make a binder for it like I have for ISD block. Now you've got me thinking it's a good idea, when my m13 set will be here in a few days... *twitch*

[Shadow1psc]

In standard, M12 doesn't rotate out until October 5th.

What is the point of having Civilized Scholar, to be honest? It's not really going to reliably flip I don't think, so I don't think you're using it to be aggressive (which you really don't want in this deck anyways). and it's not exactly great for getting those creatures into the graveyard. I'd more aim for something like Armored Skaab, that can sit back and defend and mills 4 when it comes into play in this deck.

Similarly, I don't think Pilgrim is going to really help you ramp all that quickly, because unless you put Cavern in, you really don't want to try hard-casting your Angels. Mana Leak and Vapor Snag don't rotate until October and odds are more often than not, actual ramp decks are going to have their fatties out first.

Civilized Scholar isn't relying on the flip, I like his ability (and playing him turn 2). The nut draw would be something like Forest, Hinterland Harbor, Sunpetal Grove, Pilgrim, Scholar, Defy/Unburial and any angel. If you don't pull two more lands by turn 4 (odds are you'd pull one), you would have used scholar to pitch unburial turn 3 and you can pitch/reanimate your target turn 4. If you're stuck with defy death, you pitch the creature turn 3 and beat face if its available. You're not using Scholar with the thought of trying to get in with him. It'd be a rare plus, I just like the free card advantage per turn.

Maybe he's not the most elegant solution, but he's also a body. Mulch + Forbidden Alchemy is great though.

[Shadow1psc]

I think Skaab fits the purpose of the deck personally, especially with the defensive capabilities. Pretty much the same thing as Scholar, just up front instead.

I will try it!

[Shadow1psc]

Crap I just joined one. I'm living the dream too, screenshot coming in a sec.

Spoiler: And here's the deck

[Shadow1psc]

4 minutes, 2-0 round 1.

Opening hand game two was wingcrafter, wingcrafter, forcemage, familiar. I'm still afraid of boros.

[Shadow1psc]

Wow... played black with a splash of blue control deck. Got him to 1 the first game, 2 the second game. Flooded game one, didn't draw a single land game 2 (2 in starting hand). Win some, lose some.

[Shadow1psc]

Drafted M13 at FNM last night, first pack was a Thundermaw Hellkite. Went like 7-6 overall, but traded a Gilded Lotus + Rhox Faithmender for a Silverblade Paladin and two Zealous Conscripts for my boros deck, so I'm happy.

[Shadow1psc]

Im so hard for RtR.

In other news, I think white is great for drafting in m13. Ajani's Sunstriker, that bird for 1 that can only attack if you have a soldier/knight, and Odric's Crusader are just great. I drafted Boros since I first-picked Hellkite and it worked well. I find red pretty underwhelming though. I think White/Green is particularly strong.

[Shadow1psc]

Opinions on mono-blue mill post-SoM?

Running stuff like Jace's Phantasmal, Jace (Adept), Mind Sculpt, Dream Twist, Bloody Tome, and shriekgeist. Elixir for obvious utility, I figure Dissipate isn't too slow for this deck so missing mana leak doesn't hurt as much. There's that bounce spell for 1 in the ISD block, name escapes me. It's not exactly vapor snag, but it'll do. Thoughts?

[Shadow1psc]

Yeah, Erasure is great with think twice/amass/jace's abilities in general. Does losing it hurt

that

much?

This is where I'm currently at. I'll have to play test this when I get home, but I'd like to order my Jace's now so they're here for FNM/Saturday standard. Is there a hard-fast rule about # of planeswalkers in a deck? In a deck like this is Jace a 4-of? I figured 3 was good due to his cost.

Spoiler: Deck

[Shadow1psc]

I could be wrong, but I feel like you are gonna get murdered before you can do anything...

I feel like Phantasm is just too strong. It's fairly easy to get it into buffed status. Erasure is not in 2013.

[Shadow1psc]

Yeah, I realize the current meta is aggro, tempo, and more aggro. I just wanted something fun and cheap to do in FNM, I can run boros or tokens in any standard competitive scenario.

[Shadow1psc]

Lol... that's awesome. I may build that on MTGO for the price.

[Shadow1psc]

Yeah, Erasure is great with think twice/amass/jace's abilities in general. Does losing it hurt

that

much?

This is where I'm currently at. I'll have to play test this when I get home, but I'd like to order my Jace's now so they're here for FNM/Saturday standard. Is there a hard-fast rule about # of planeswalkers in a deck? In a deck like this is Jace a 4-of? I figured 3 was good due to his cost.

Spoiler: Deck

No Mindshrieker?

Hmm. I'm not sure if I like that better than having Jace's Phantasm. Paying 2 to mill one card seems counterproductive, my goal is not to aggro them to death, but it could be an alternate win condition. Flyers are always nice.

[Shadow1psc]

I'd probably sideboard it in if I wanted more bodies and the utility, I don't know what I'd replace in my list currently. Suggestions?

[Shadow1psc]

Yeah, it's certainly no vapor snag. I never intended it for flashing back, that's for sure.

[Shadow1psc]

It's not standard legal?

[Shadow1psc]

SOM block, ISD block, m12, m13 currently make up Standard.

In October, RTR block will replace SOM, so standard legal sets will include ISD block, m13, RTR block.

Extended (someone correct me if I'm wrong, it's changed since I last played) is now the last 4 blocks? Zendikar, Alara, SOM, and ISD + 2010-2013? Something like that.

Then there's modern, which (again, I don't remember exactly) is anything post 8th(9th?) edition I think. I should probably just look these up...

Oh hey, I was right. One tiny addendum, Modern is any core set after 8th + any block starting from Mirrodin and forward. Modern (currently) does not change, and I would think is named such because Mirrodin was about the time magic became more fast paced. Odyssey and Onslaught were still kinda slow, maybe not as slow as Invasion, but Mirrodin was a definite shift.

[Shadow1psc]

That also makes sense I guess.

[Shadow1psc]

Also, since Modern became a thing, I don't think anyone really plays Extended anymore.

Yeah, I miss the days of just type 1, 1.5 and 2.

[Shadow1psc]

So I made that green deck in MtGO, but substituted some things for what's not out from m13 yet. I put in champion of lambholdt and Garruk's horde... makes for hilarious plays. I am now also considering running two Primal Surge. JUST THINK ABOUT IT.

[Shadow1psc]

I've successfully played it on turns 5-7 a few times, and the opponent scoops right away.

Example: Vs. Titans, big creatures isn't the only answer!

[Shadow1psc]

It's really pretty, and very fast. I haven't run into any glitches, but it certainly did take me an entire day to get used to it. At first I hated what they were doing until I started getting the logic behind it. It DOES feel like they merely upgraded an 80s interface design to a 90s interface design, things are still convoluted, and huge collections can slow it down temporarily before you filter, but I'd say as it stands, I would take this over the old one because of the little automation improvements (especially in the way decks are handled).

[Shadow1psc]

So, I have 80% of a competitive dredge deck, I'm just missing Lion's Eye Diamond and City of Brass (the latter which I'll just pick up easy). Why is LED almost $100 x.x

[Shadow1psc]

I don't get the one woodland cemetery.

[Shadow1psc]

I don't get the one woodland cemetery.

To pay for Birthing Pod activations. I'm guessing he doesn't have more than 1.

But why one? You can't fetch it? Why not just put something else in the slot if you're not going for consistency?

[Shadow1psc]

Besides 3 more woodland cemeteries?

[Shadow1psc]

Besides 3 more woodland cemeteries?

You missed the word "budget" in the deck-title, I think.

Dual lands are budget. They're easy to trade for and usually $3-$4 a piece to fill in.

[Shadow1psc]

It's been mathematically proven as sound. You can google mtgo shuffler. Here, I did it for you http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=336524; if you believe that crap about a doom switch, I don't even xD

[Shadow1psc]

tcgplayer seems like the best place, sans hunting through ebay?

[Shadow1psc]

Rancor. Nuff said.

[Shadow1psc]

Boros is sick in general. I'm starting to have a little more respect for black in AVR draft though.

[Shadow1psc]

That's what I mean, if you're the person willing to take black at the table, you can construct some sick mono black decks, but I still think a couple seraph of dawns, or wingcrafter combos put up the good fight. It just really depends, but I often see people trying to run B/X, which doesn't tend to work.

[Shadow1psc]

I mean like, B/X where the X isn't a splash (B/U soulbond, when all the best things Black has going for it in AVR is stuff like Bonesplinters, Bloodflow C., Demonic Taskmaster etc)

[Shadow1psc]

You've got options with it though. Whenever it becomes cumbersome you can use it in bonesplinters, sac it to a BFC, even a lame pair with undying Butcher Ghoul. Obviously he's not your only win condition, but he's certainly a playable with outlets.

[Shadow1psc]

Because we don't live in a perfect world where you can draft 2-4 copies of each bomb in the set? You've gotta fill out a deck somehow, I'm just saying it's a playable card in AVR mono black draft.

[Shadow1psc]

Ok, I just drafted what I think is a pretty ridiculously incredibly super ultra bad deck, and went 2-0 round one. Let's see if I can pull off more? I'll cap the list in the next round.

And I won an 8-4 with this >.>; I've played and watched enough magic to know that having good cards is like, 1/3 of the battle. Playing smart (and the damn shuffler) are the rest.

[Shadow1psc]

See above!

[Shadow1psc]

Aww. Well, draft is the thing that interests me more anyway, guess I'll save my money and just play some MTGO. I get to do four newbie psuedodrafts before I use my two free real tickets.

How many decks are running vapor snag? Jund? R/G aggro? Boros? I dunno about your meta, but Delver is on the decline for now. Not to say don't worry about it, but that's what sideboard is for.

[Shadow1psc]

How much does this thing cost in the long run?

M:tGO on the whole you can take a lot farther faster than paper M:tG for sure. If I had $100 in M:tGO, I'd probably be set for a year, depending on what you like to do, whereas $100 is like the intro cost for paper magic and would get you your first (competitive) deck and through a few FNMs/Standard tournaments. So it really just depends on your budget and what you want to play, but I think in M:tGO you can definitely fit it in to any budget with how many cards you can get for a penny and/or free.

[Shadow1psc]

Aww. Well, draft is the thing that interests me more anyway, guess I'll save my money and just play some MTGO. I get to do four newbie psuedodrafts before I use my two free real tickets.

How many decks are running vapor snag? Jund? R/G aggro? Boros? I dunno about your meta, but Delver is on the decline for now. Not to say don't worry about it, but that's what sideboard is for.

He said he wants to play Standard, where Delver is still king, and Vapor Snag is still a thing for 2 more months.

If he's playing somewhere where a number, or majority of people are playing delver, not much is going to help him anyway.

[Shadow1psc]

Online, it's easier to roll hrough a bunch of drafts on onne initial investment if you play well.

I'd love to do that with you guys if someone can be nice and guide me through the procedure.
I've been eager to draft but I've nobody to draft with <.<

Are you looking for more of 'what to draft then how to put it together' or do you just need practice?

[Shadow1psc]

Neither, I need people I can draft with <.<
I mean, I have no drafting experience, but I have a decent grasp on deck-building >.>

I would recommend watching some of the pros who do videos and actually explain what they're doing (I like Marshall from Limited Resources, and I watch just about everything on MTGOAcademy.com).

[Shadow1psc]

Oh yes, I went there...

[Shadow1psc]

M13 swiss with Dramonic here, pulled this number...



m1g1 - Turn 3 centaur courser, turn 4 rancor+volcanic strength vs. a red deck, g2 same thing but on that 2/2 flying red dragon thing.

[Shadow1psc]

Counting the cards in play and graveyard, it would seem the person was running a deck bigger than 60 cards?

[Shadow1psc]

I love Primal Surge Ramp. Hopefully RtR keeps Birds in rotation.

[Shadow1psc]

Played Golgari at my event, and the stars aligned pretty heavily with the card synergy I got. pulled 3 mythics, two of which were actually useful (Jarad, that 6/5 flying demon with the +1/+1 whenever a creature of yours hits the opponent), plus Corpsejack promo of course, and topped it off with Death's Presence.

I absolutely trounced my first two opponents, but once I got to round 3 I was up against a pro, one who was just at worlds for that matter. He was very nice, but he had an absolutely sick populate deck with the land that turns into an 8/8 vigilance golem or w/e. As someone mentioned, Golgari has a huge problem with removal, despite scavenge. Jarad, thankfully, is a beast with Death's Presence, fun combo.

I wish I could have had more slitherheads, more daggerdome imps. Golgari really needs that fast early pressure, and late game the slitherheads turn into great fodder for Jarad with Death's Presence/Corpsejack in play, gives slum reaper a little more value. Ultimate Price did some work for me, as did the green 'kill target creature with flying, gain 2 life' bit. All in all, it was really fun. I had to leave early, and I didn't expect to top 8 after losing round 3, I probably could have though.

[Shadow1psc]

Oh, right, I typed it wrong, but definitely did read it correctly. Yeah, for 6 mana, it's a decent bomb in limited, but dies to some really stupid removal.