Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Fate]

I mean have you seen Dimir's 6 drop cipherables? If they control the board until then, undercity plague or whatever (SACRIFICE A PERMANENT OH AND NOW MY ROGUE MAKES YOU SACRIFICE SHIT AND DISCARD SHIT EACH TIME IT SWINGS UNBLOCKABLULZ) rapes ****, the stolen identity rapes **** a bunch of their shit rapes and it isn't that hard to get to turn 6 with Basilica guards, the 2/3 denizens, and control.

[Fate]

btw Reck I'll trade you an Aurelia's Fury for 2 Stomping Grounds <.<

[Debonair Danny DiPietro]

Went 2-4 with a Dimir deck; had all the good top end stuff but between a mediocre early game, my rustiness, and my usual terrible luck didn't fair so well.

Lost the first to a Boros deck that was just better in the first round, guy went either 4-2 or 5-1.
Ran roughshod over a pair of Orzhov decks in rounds 2 and 3.
Against Gruul in round 4, drew no mana in my opening hand at 7, mulled to 6, no mana, had to play a bad 5 hand to start and lost the first because of that; screwed up the second round when I somehow kept myself in it despite him dropping 7/6 wurms on me... twice but got overly aggressive in endgame and screwed it up.
Round 5 was an Orzhov deck that beat me clean in the first match, second match I had a massive advantage but in what ended up being late game I drew seven consecutive lands with no hand and that'll allow anyone to climb back in the game.
Round 6 I didn't care any more and got beat by a better Simic deck.

[Shanba]

I mean have you seen Dimir's 6 drop cipherables? If they control the board until then, undercity plague or whatever (SACRIFICE A PERMANENT OH AND NOW MY ROGUE MAKES YOU SACRIFICE SHIT AND DISCARD SHIT EACH TIME IT SWINGS UNBLOCKABLULZ) rapes ****, the stolen identity rapes **** a bunch of their shit rapes and it isn't that hard to get to turn 6 with Basilica guards, the 2/3 denizens, and control.

Stolen identity is a super strong limited card, and undercity plague isn't bad either (I think, not 100% sure) - but both of these are 6 drop rares, of which you can expect to maybe get one of either across an entire draft - the real proof is in the commons and uncommons, and I think most of these are too slow/don't have a big enough impact on the board when they are played to the point where the card advantage that you might theoretically be generating from them becomes irrelevant. Hands of binding is good, though, I think. It's worth noting that while all these effects become significantly more powerful if you can guarantee to connect with the opponent, some of them are unplayable garbage if you can't (call of the nightwing? Mental Vapors?) and will sit in your hand doing very little until you can establish a board presence. I'm not sure the upside beats out the downside there.

[xRECKONERx]

btw Reck I'll trade you an Aurelia's Fury for 2 Stomping Grounds <.<

nope

[xRECKONERx]

if anyone cares to play, me/Gamma/Pie/myko are trying to do a GTC netdraft for lulz tonight, so lemme know

[petroleumjelly]

Just came back from Prerelease, placed first (4-0) with Orzhov splashing Red for Aurelia's Fury and Cinder Elemental. I hadn't been there in so long (been almost a half a year) that they convinced me to go again tonight

and

tomorrow. Looks like I'll be playing Orzhov again tonight, but Boros tomorrow for a change of pace.

[Fate]

Reck wait for us to get home we have two more rounds

[bv310]

3-2 today with Boros. Took highest of the 3-2s though, since both of my losses were to people who went 5-0. Highlight of the pool was a Watery Grave and an Aurelia's Fury. Traded the Fury after the tourney for a Godless Shrine and a Stomping Ground. Also managed to swap a Mind Grind for a Thespian's Stage for EDH.

[Fate]

Simic+Orzovh OP we win bitches

[Sudo_Nym]

Play Simic with a Gruul splash. Went 3-3, but feel like I deserved better. The deck was awesome, and a lot of fun to pilot; a lot of evasion shenanigans with Madcap Skills and Bloodrush rolled over people. Of the three matchs I lost, 2 were because I got mana screwed (no joke, 5 times today, I kept a three land hand, and then drew no more lands), and one to the guy who dropped Obzedat and Guildmage on every game. I had a tough time dealing with bombs, in general, since the only removal spells I opened in my packs was a one-of Pit Fight, and a one-of Totally Lost. No Mugging or Smite or anything, which means that I tended to fold in games where I couldn't outaggro them, or one game with the Dimir Unblockable/Cipher combo.

Gatecrash sealed feels a lot more fun than Ravnica sealed did, though, so it was fun all around, anyway.

[xRECKONERx]

gruuul is op as fuck in limited guys

[chamber]

gruuul is op as fuck in limited guys

I predict, without playing it, that its less OP than it seems. I think the way their mechanic plays is just sufficiently different enough from normal magic to catch people off guard. When people learn how to play against it properly it should seem less OP.

[Sudo_Nym]

Extort is also a lot more powerful than it seems at first glance. The fact that it can buy you the time you need to stabilize is really nice for a format like limited where having a perfect curve is uncommon anyway.

[petroleumjelly]

Played Orzhov again tonight, went 3-1. Definitely like it -- it has some of the best removal in the format to get you to the mid-game/late-game, and by then you can Extort for the win. Treasury Thrull was best friends with my Death's Approach. <3

Only games I dropped across 8 matches with 3 to Simic (2 of them the match I lost) and 1 to Boros. I should also mention that at the morning tourney, the three people who went 4-0 (our store always only has 4 rounds, so there can be a lot of events through the day) were

all

Orzhov. I don't know the makeup of the winners of the evening tourney, though.

[petroleumjelly]

And went 3-1 with Boros, losing in third round to a Dimir deck of all things (first against the black Primordial that brought back my milled Aurelia, and then to a 2/3 flier that he ciphered with the discard Cipher and the 1-life-1-card-1-permanent Cipher.)

I was far less impressed with Boros than Orzhov; when Boros is

off

it is just

off

. Every single one of my matches went to three games, and often whoever started won. The most interesting match was the Boros mirror I played in the last round by far; lots of stuff to think about.

[InflatablePie]

Orzhov is amazing. Didn't pull any great rares bomb-wise. Got a Godless Shrine, white Primordial, black primordial, Biovisionary, Unexpected Results, Legion Loyalist.

Match 1 - 2:0 vs Boros. Don't remember this match tbh.
Match 2 - 2:0 vs Dimir. Opponent mulled to 5 both games.
Match 3 - 1:1:1 vs. Simic. We both were playing slow. Played out game 3 and I would have won.
Match 4 - 2:1 vs Orzhov. Game 3 went to 5-turns. I had discarded/milled him for two Treasury Thrulls, the Angel that grants flying/lifelink/first strike, and a white Priomordial. On my last turn I topdecked a Syndic, extort-casted him, swung in for 5 flying (Kingpin's Pet + Madcap Skills) and a 2/2 Rat with him at 7. He blocked the rat with all his remaining creatures, I casted Smite on my rat and Extort for the remaining damage.
Match 5 - 2:0 vs Orzhov. Game 1: T1 land, T2 Syndic, T3 Madcap Skills Extort swing 5 (14), T4 Holy Mantle swing 7 (7), he scooped. Madcap Skills wins games.

Won 5 packs. Pulled a Master Biomancer and a Foil Breeding Pool (!!).

Awesome day.

[bv310]

I doubt this will help, but if any of you played during Kamigawa and have copies of Eight-and-a-Half Tails, I would happily trade you for 2-3.

[Thestatusquo]

Stalling isn't a petty annoyance. It is cheating. If your opponent is cheating, call the judge over.

If you don't want to say anything in front of your opponent because you feel like its rude, it is totally within your rights to ask the judge to speak to you away from the match, and ask him to watch for slow play. That way, the opponent, if they are not playing slowly on purpose, will not receive any penalty, because the judge can judge whether they should be told to speed up or not. That's probably the best way to handle a slow playing opponent.

[xRECKONERx]

That's actually really really good advice, Shea.

[Nuwen]

Guardian of the gate less plus both activates on b/w guildmage wombo combos into deal 16 damage while blocking fate's gruul deck

[bv310]

Nice.

For Modern players, what do you think of this list? I'm looking to make Gifts Ungiven work in a non-Snapcaster/Remand/Spell Snare shell:

3 Qasali Pridemage
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Wall of Roots
1 Wurmcoil Engine
2 Avacyn's Pilgrim

4 Lingering Souls
2 Unburial Rites
1 Raven's Crime

4 Gifts Ungiven
4 Path to Exile
2 Abrupt Decay

4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Watery Grave
3 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Breeding Pool
4 Forest
1 Tectonic Edge
2 Treetop Village
3 Plains
1 Island
2 Stirring Wildwood

SB: 2 Aven Mindcensor
SB: 3 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Torpor Orb
SB: 2 Krosan Grip
SB: 2 Ghostly Prison
SB: 2 Grafdigger's Cage
SB: 1 Sundering Titan
SB: 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind

[Thestatusquo]

It just seems to me like you're not playing those cards just to not play those cards. The shell of the deck seems to be the exact same, but with worse cards substituted. I dunno. What advantages do you get from running that version as opposed to the 4 color gifts deck thats popular right now?

[bv310]

Redundancy. The deck can win without having to resolve a Gifts. It can hardcast all of the cards in the deck quickly, and can beat down with KotR as a backup plan.

[Fate]

I need legion loyalists Pie don't give them to Reck hue
I STILL HAVE THAT TEMPLE GARDENS