Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[AGar]

Now you've all got me re-interested in this. JUST as I was about to get rid of my cards too ...

[AGar]

My understanding of Soulbond is "Card with Soulbond comes into play, is paired with another card you control in play. Both get buffed in some fashion as long as they are in play."

[AGar]

Got to the store to play draft last night and they started 45 minutes early, so we couldn't play...

Well at least there was a bar down the corridor?

[AGar]

God I wish there was a lgs around here. :/

[AGar]

So would there be any interest in trying to do that whole netdraft thing again?

[AGar]

http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=22032

We're organizing shit here atm. JOIN USSS

[AGar]

Fat pack?

[AGar]

Actually I got the impression that Reck plays more than casually, which makes that a legitimate question.

[AGar]

I guess spending a few hours practicing drafts online and via phone app paid off.

Were you using the MtG draft sim online? And what phone app?

[AGar]

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a17/st ... tled-7.jpg

Drew the finals for 14 packs in 2 drafts. On a roll.

TWO BLESSINGS OF HARVEST?

FUCK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I'd rather find out how he managed two Mist Ravens.

[AGar]

That is ridiculous.

[AGar]

/in

[AGar]

If we get people to go in on a box, yeah, we can do a draft at the house. Or we can just go to an actual FNM draft. We'd probably have enough people to get our own pod.

This could be fun.

[AGar]

Boxes are $100 + shipping, right?

[AGar]

We should draft OTJ.

Best block.

[AGar]

Drafting Unhinged/Unglued would be hilarious.

[AGar]

I'd pretty much be up for drafting anything pre-8th edition.

[AGar]

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

[AGar]

Oh, online.

Yeah the Delver build LSV just won his WMCQ with was like.. $560. Playset of Snapcasters is like $90 alone.

[AGar]

Windows 95 isn't that bad....

But yeah. I feel your pain with regards to paper. It's an hour for me to the nearest LGS that does anything worthwhile, and Walmart or KMart are my options for buying cards. It sucks, because me and my friend want to find other people who play but there's really no way of finding said people when there's not even a LGS here to begin with, let alone one that does anything like FNM or Prereleases.

[AGar]

Local gaming store

[AGar]

If anyone has 3 AVR packs & 2 Tix or the 14 tix (I think?) needed to do a draft, I'm gonna join an 8man AVR draft either tonight late or tomorrow during the day if anyone else wants to join me.

[AGar]

Mono black so fun.

MTGO glitches, not so much.

[AGar]

God I hate UG.

[AGar]

M13's pushing Exalted

really

hard, from the spoilers I've seen so far.

[AGar]

The only way I see it working is if you can snap up 4x Cathedral of War and a moderate sized creature with Exalted to drop on with Homicidal Seclusion, you're getting a nice boost then.

[AGar]

Creature with Exalted swings alone, creature gets +1/+1 no?

Really haven't played with Exalted pretty much at all.

[AGar]

Like I said - there's a land that has Exalted. So 4of that, Hom Seclusion + something like Sublime Archangel, now I'm swinging with a 12/9 with Flying and Lifelink.

But that'd be a hell of a situation to get that to all drop right, and it's definitely not something I'd expect to be consistently good.

[AGar]

Got the reimbursement from last night so gonna do another draft soon.

[AGar]

I've got work tonight so it won't be tonight. Probably next Tuesday or Wednesday when I'm off again.

[AGar]

Curiously awaiting the results.

[AGar]

Oh wow.

[AGar]

Shit, nice. Wish I wasn't terribad at drafting :/

[AGar]

JOIN US RECK.

Also, I'll be doing a few drafts over Tues-Wed-Thurs. Got like 5 hours OT this week so I have some extra cash.

[AGar]

Working tonight

[AGar]

Peg wasn't around was he.

[AGar]

I'm probably /in for drafting as well tonight.

[AGar]

I can do that. Someone make sure peg will be around to motivate us.

[AGar]

I approve of the title change.

[AGar]

So what are the benefits of a clan in MTGO? Any?

[AGar]

Ah ok. Wasn't sure.

[AGar]

We all mostly do drafting so you'll be right at home with Limited.

[AGar]

12-6 queues for Draft for the next week.

[AGar]

12-6 queues for Draft for the next week.

Cost normal?

I believe so.

[AGar]

Does it?

[AGar]

You're basically paying an extra pack in to possibly win 50% more packs back.

I'd say it's a good deal.

[AGar]

Fired up for an 8-4. Gonna be really frustrated if I don't do decently with this deck

[AGar]

I ended up doing shit, yeah.

Thought I was doing well, but yeah, bad drafting. Oh well, Draft 2 also ended up in RW and bombed out again, but managed to snag a Tamiyo in Pack 2 to just pay for the draft back and then some (17 tix).

[AGar]

Do a 12-6, or an 8-4 if you don't have the extra 3 tix.

[AGar]

Two Commanders? Wow.

[AGar]

UT, I'm down for like 11 pm eastern or so.

[AGar]

I fell asleep anyways :/

[AGar]

My work week restarts this week so I'm out.

[AGar]

its not hard to imagine passing avacyn... You make it sound like it should never be done, but I think it should be done like at least half the time.

Especially pack 3, that's really not all that unsurprising.

Elgaud underrated? I don't think anyone says it's a bad card, but it's not a bomb.

Latch Seeker gives me nightmares in Limited.

[AGar]

Yeah there's stuff to deal with it, but you have to have the removal first. When you're heavy into a RB Aggro deck that didn't really pick up much burn/removal, a 3/1 unblockable isn't really a fun thing to deal with, then he added the +3/+0 equip so 3 turns later I was deader than dead.

[AGar]

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.

[AGar]

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.

[AGar]

Skaab seems so mediocre.

1/4 3 drop that mills 4. In a deck that's going to want to stall and get bombs into the graveyard so that you can summon them from the graveyard, seems like a good fit?

It's not a format staple by any means, but it fits the niche pretty well I'd think.

[AGar]

Rakdoooosssss.

[AGar]

Modern is named Modern because it's all the cards that use the new card frames (the redesign occurred with 8th Edition).

[AGar]

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

[AGar]

Oh man, is that the beta? It looks so pretty.

IT'S SO FUCKING PRETTY.

Also, did someone say bad standard combo deck?
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/deadeye-combo-1/

Saw that on Reddit, thought it'd be hilarious to actually pull off.

[AGar]

Besides 3 more woodland cemeteries?

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

[AGar]

oh.

Well the shuffler on MTGO is well known to be broken.

Truly random != broken

MTGO shuffles catch paper-players off guard more often than not because, in actuality, your paper shuffles aren't truly 100% randomized. So when put into an environment where the shuffles

are

100% randomized, this throws some players.

[AGar]

I mean... I'm not going to splash B for Taskmaster, but... it's not a patently bad card. Definitely better than Bloodflow C (which I highly overrate because I pulled off fun tricks in a RB deck one draft), and a lot of the other black cards. 4/3 fliers for 3 aren't exactly fun to face.

[AGar]

Grimm's ONLY constructed deck has gone missing... but mysteriously, there are ten empty blue sleeves laying around. Garruk is missing, Terminus is missing, etc.

this kind of shit pisses me the fuck off

And MS is the best place to take this one!

[AGar]

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.

[AGar]

That deck was pretty misleading being titled "UW Miracles" given there were four total miracles in it.

[AGar]

I never said decks would be '46 miracles, 24 land.' I said that they'd see play. And miracle cards were fairly essential to that deck's success.

I don't think anyone argued Miracles wouldn't see play. It was argued that they were gimmicky and wouldn't be widespread/core to multiple deckbuilding strategies/archetypes.

[AGar]

I'd be interested as well.

[AGar]

the fuck.

just did a draft on MTGO, won game 1, lost game 2, went to play game 3 and it said I had been eliminated.

what the fuck.

Log a complaint? I got glitched out of a draft like the first time I did it, and they gave me my shit back because I reported the bug and such.

[AGar]

... I am nervous about this upcoming saturday, going to Star City Games Dallas... yay... xD

Let me know how it goes, I've been toying around with the idea of going to an SCG Open.

[AGar]

once GTC is fully spoiled, I'd like to do another league to get people used to the new limited format, but I'd like to participate in this one. I can run it/generate sealed pools, if I need to, but people would have to realize that I would generate my own too and just trust the honor system to work

Hit me up on AIM later, we'll talk.

[AGar]

LOOK HOW HAPPY YOU ARE

FOR

A MAGIC CARD

LOL

LOOK HOW DESPERATE YOU ARE

FOR

ACCEPTANCE

LOL

[AGar]

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... o-7-drops/

Holy shit I want to try this.

[AGar]

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... o-7-drops/

Holy shit I want to try this.

As much as I like TWoo, I think this deck is just a bad version of the junk reanimator deck that was popular right after return came out. How exactly is red better than thragtusk/mulch/trackers instincts/mana dorks/craterhoof?

I don't think it is.

I really just like the concept of "LOL7DROPS." more than anything. I'm not saying it's a great deck, definitely looks to have its holes, it just looks fun to me.

[AGar]

I'm getting a new laptop in the next 7-10 days, so I'll be able to play by then.

I'm game for whatever format.

[AGar]

I'd enjoy giving T1 or T1.5 a try, personally. But I appear to be in the minority.

[AGar]

I'm getting my laptop Monday/Tuesday. Got my tax return in today.

We need a decklist keeper, no? I'm willing to handle the standings and shit if need be.

[AGar]

I'm making the thread now, for the record. I'm just slow.

[AGar]

http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=25635

Bam.

[AGar]

3 more people should sign up for the RYOS tournament.

That'd be fun.

16 is a nice number.

[AGar]

Yeah but 16 is such a nice number...

[AGar]

I was gunna stream tonight, but then I realized that my net blows, so that will have to wait for another time.

Out of curiosity, who would be interested in watching such a thing?

Possibly?

[AGar]

I'm entertaining the idea of putting together a gimmicky Standard deck and bringing it to a FNM sometime soon.

How bad did I do?

Planeswalkers (4)
4x Vraska the Unseen

Creatures (10)
3x Bloodline Keeper
3x Thraben Doomsayer
4x Attended Knigh

Spells (22)
4x Growing Ranks
4x Lingering Souls
2x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Midnight Haunting
2x Parallel Lives
4x Rootborn Defenses
4x Druid's Deliverance

Land (24)
3x Golgari Guildgate
3x Orzhov Guildgate
1x Evolving Wilds
1x Gavony Township
3x Swamp
5x Forest
8x Plains

Basic concept of the deck is to produce tokens, populate and the ideal win con is through the Vraska ultimate.

[AGar]

Very. Four Vraska is miserable, as planeswalkers are obviously terrible in multiples, and Vraska isn't good enough to justify drawing her dead a large amount of time.

Being that idea I focused this deck around was Vraska's ultimate (possibly a poor choice, I am willing to admit), what would be an appropriate amount here?

Second, if you're running a token deck, why would you not run the anthem? I forget what its called, but 2/2 tokens seems better than 1/1 tokens.

I have no idea what this card is to be entirely honest. I know I wanted Lingering Souls as a 4of because of the flashback effect. If this puts out 2/2 tokens, I'd probably replace the Gathers/Hauntings with a 4of for this?

Third, I think your mana is awful, but thats probably just a function of not having shocks. If thats the case, make one of the three colors a splash and cut the gates and pick up a few of the buddy lands. The W/G is like 2$

I'll have to go for this. Figuring out how to tweak the mana is probably more difficult for me than it should be.

Fourth, no pack rat? you misplayed.

Big gaffe on my part.

Lastly, I don't think you need that much of the druids deliverance/rootborn/growing ranks effect. I think I would play like 3 rootborn 3 deliverance 2 growing ranks, which gives you room for removal like fiend hunter or oblivion ring.

I'll look into this.

[AGar]

There are these magical things called MWS and OCTGN.

For drafting, I think Netdeck still is a thing? Or something like that.

[AGar]

Yeah, Shea's right on the money.

[AGar]

yeah Shea's pretty right.

Hell even if you sell your cards to a vendor for cheap (or on Ebay) and THEN switch to MTGO we'd probably make a profit Reck.

its just pretty dangerous to have access to my addiction on my computer... the hell else would I do with my time >_>

Sell yourself to fund your addiction.

[AGar]

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/A ... ily/rc/237

Fate, that deck looks like it might be something you'd be interested in.

[AGar]

I don't see why they would do that personally. They'd lose money I would think.

[AGar]

The promo requires the beta client?

Welp that's unfortunate.

[AGar]

It's not about winning or losing, it's about having fun.

There's just no fun in losing.

[AGar]

I didn't peg you as someone with any

Timmy

Johnny tendencies Shea.

E: Helps if I remember which is which.

[AGar]

You sir, are a strange person.

He's just an extreme Johnny.

[AGar]

Bad Standard combo I REEEEEALLLY wanna try:

Breeding Pool
Galvanic Alchemist + Arbor Elf with Illusionist's Bracers equipped.
Mind Grind.

Create 30ish mana.

Mind Grind your opponent.

Win the game.

[AGar]

AGar: Infinity on a Budget

Not sure if that's where you got the idea or not. Either way, as someone who piloted a Primal Surge/Lab Maniac deck, I wanna try this. I don't have the mana-base (the harbors anyway) but I don't suppose it's THAT necessary.

Also I feel like Alchemist's Refuge would be okay as a two-of here for SURPRISE FLASH DOUBLE LAB MANIAC HUE

Yeah Infinity on a Budget is where I got the idea for the Breeding Pool/Galvanic Alchemist/Arbor Elf/Bracers half of it.

But I like mill (I'm potentially running a cobbled together mill deck tonight at FNM depending on what time I get done with work) and grind is a cool effect and I saw Mind Grind in an article and was like "Oooh, I could have fun with that," and I was trying to work out a BUG ramp list to make it work.

[AGar]

Kingpin Pet.

Card is goood.

So first FNM tonight.

Got out of work early so I headed down and got there in time for the 3 o'clock stuff. Draft didn't fire so I played a free Standard tournament with a cobbled-together-the-night-before mill deck. Went 0-3. Won 1 game where I managed to get my Undead Alchemist going really well. The game before I took a Rakdos' Revenge for 20 to the face out of a 4-color deck. Lesson learned: Attack the Lilliana BEFORE she can ultimate. But I got a foil Farseek and Skyknight Legionnaire as random door prizes.

Draft fired at 6. I didn't draft as well as I could've but I didn't think I drafted terribly. Ended up in Dimir running mill again (I really like mill...) because it was fairly open. First match I got paired against the other guy playing Dimir. Game 1 I got mana flooded like a baus, and he also had a Nightveil Specter with Call of the Nightwing and a Sage's Row Denizen raping my face repeatedly. Game 2 I managed to cipher 2 Paranoid Delusions onto one of my guys and just kept grinding him down effectively and won it. Game 3 we got into a race, his beats against my mill. Unfortunately, my mill was missing (hitting all lands and spells, no creatures) and his Basilica Screecher + Call had my back against the wall and by the time I was able to actually get Death's Approach off, he had me down to one. I scooped with 5 lands down and a Mind Grind in my hand. Had I cast it, I would've milled him down to two. >_> Second match Gruul just rocked my shit because Bloodrush is insane. That and G2 I stalled at 4 mana with a TON of cards in his graveyard and a Consuming Aberration in my hand. Womp.

Overall, had a great time and I'm gonna go back again. A few guys tossed some mill cards my way that they didn't want/need, and one dude was unloading dice and gave me 8 so now I have things to use as counters.

[AGar]

Isn't mill sort of a trap in Limited? It feels like it's really hard to pull off when you're just kind of taking what comes.

Usually it can be, but Dimir makes it more accessible with things like cypher and shit like Aberration. Literally had I hit my fifth land drop, I win that second game and force G3 in my second match. First match if I get Death's Approach sooner, I probably come out ahead in that game as well and likely win.

[AGar]

Are you running a board Shea?

[AGar]

Think Twice just feels like a bad card.

[AGar]

Wait, Shanba, that was a real thing?

Think Twice just feels like a bad card.

/
What is it that you THINK Think Twice should be doing, but isn't?

I'm more not seeing what it could do for you. Seeing as how you were worried about Unsummon losing you tempo, I feel like this card does... the exact same thing. Maybe I'm just not seeing a situation where it gains you anything, but right now it just looks like a 2 mana loot, which while not terrible, doesn't put you ahead until later turns where you have more mana to use. But looking at your deck, I don't want any part of seeing Think Twice in my opening 7 or any of my first three or four draws probably.

Edit: For some reason I misread 2 as 4 (I've been really out of it from whatever head cold I've managed to catch, so I'm blaming that), so as a 2-of, it's probably not bad.

[AGar]

If you want to keep mana open for a counterspell, having a card like think twice (instant speed card draw) available to allow you to do something even if they dont play anything you want to counter or searing spear or whatever.

There's a reason I don't play decks that are more reactive, and it's mainly because I don't tend to think like this.

[AGar]

Its not even that. It's just that its inherent card advantage. Its not amazing, but its always a 2 for 1 that gives you something to do with excess mana.

I'm not seeing the 2-for-1 aspect, unless we're specifically talking within the confines of this particular deck?

[AGar]

Wow..

No comment.

[AGar]

these sorts of things actually matter, agar.

My no comment was to me being that stupid.

Really having an off day today.

[AGar]

I'm still hellbent on running Mill.

[AGar]

No I mean a pure Mill deck. That's my wincon. I mean, I have a secondary in Consuming Aberration. And technically Undead Alchemist can win games without fully milling them out.

But yes. Mill mill mill mill mill.

[AGar]

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/grindmill-01-04-13-1/

In theory, it can win by Turn 6 if I can just go off.

[AGar]

Shea is that a spinoff of the recent Woo Brew?

[AGar]

People need to read posts.

Like, seriously.

[AGar]

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/digital/Ma ... e/calendar

[AGar]

GL shea, let us know how it goes.

RUG Delver has always intrigued me for some odd reason.

[AGar]

Hey guys, let me pick your brains a bit. I'm trying to come up with something viable for the Standard FNM tournament at my LGS that isn't too expensive.

Here's what I've got so far:

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/gatecras ... 4-04-13-1/

Invisible Stalker/Deathcult Rogue and Paranoid Delusions.

Creatures with evasion and ciphered mill are a pretty nice 1-2 punch.

[AGar]

The Dimir legendary is going to be nice if you can hold off until T5 in theory. Hitting them for the equivalent of a X=4 mind grind just by swinging is pretty crazy shit. Figure if he's attacking T6, most decks will be at about 3-5 lands on the board, roughly 3 swings with him can do enough to deck them out if you've been hitting other mill cards on earlier turns.

Breaking//Entering is going to nullify any need for Mind Sculpt in U/B Mill.

[AGar]

I mean, I'm sure its not worth playing because its "easier" to play value decks where just playing your cards down will carry you through games in which you are equally matched or of lesser skill.

You really have to be on your game to win as an aggro deck. You can't just dick around and expect to have positive results, you have to play well and you can't make mistakes.

I think you've got it backwards. I remember reading that one of the reasons Delver was so popular was because the deck basically rewarded the better player when played.

[AGar]

If I'm remembering correctly (the article link is broken from what I've tried), it was LSV.

And I'm going to take LSV's opinion over yours.

[AGar]

Don't ask advice and then ridicule those who give it simply because they don't agree with your narrow view points.

This.

[AGar]

Yeah I actually enjoyed AVR drafting.

[AGar]

I feel like in DGM it would be hard to do anything cohesive to triple draft it.

[AGar]

No. Armed is a bad card.

Why would I play a +1/+1 at Sorcery speed for 1R when for 1G I can get +4/+4 at instant speed? Please, tell me.

Yes, it has a decent synergy with Rancor... and that's it. That's the only reason to play the card, and that's not a compelling reason in my book.

It's sorcery speed. Double strike is a useless gain at sorcery speed.

PEdit: Gaining 1 extra damage on trample is NOT a huge amount of burst. Again - if you have trample (Rancor, creature is keyworded)... do you rather have +1/+1 or +4/+4 for the same exact mana cost.

This is pretty obvious to me.

[AGar]

Did you

miss

the part where it says

double strike

because I think you did.

You all seriously can;t be this terrible

Double strike is a useless gain at sorcery speed.

Nope, I saw it.

[AGar]

Oh wait, I think I see the issue here...


Fate, how do you think double strike works when no one blocks?

[AGar]

Is Crag in UR just a cost thing?

[AGar]

I think it's so he can feasibly cast the Dangerous side of Armed // Dangerous, but I honestly don't think it's worth it.

Dangerous is only good in conjunction with Nivix Cyclops by what I'm seeing... Which really doesn't seem all that good for the card.

But I could be missing the purpose here.

[AGar]

also it's actually less likely to pull a shock in DGM than it is in RTR/GTC so *hitoshrug*

All DGM boosters have either a Gate, a Shock or Maze's End instead of a basic land. Not sure what the odds were in RTR/GTC but they had to be worse than what it's gonna be in DGM?

[AGar]

This is a stupid conversation.

[AGar]

I cracked 0 mythics and 0 shocks in my fat pack today.

But I got the DGM cards I needed and the other cards to round out the SB for my mill deck. We'll see how it does Friday night.

[AGar]

Warning: Brag post below.

Bought a box tonight because I thought why the hell not.

Ended up pretty much paying for itself:

Spoiler: Let's see here...

[AGar]

Wow, that really blows, Shea.

[AGar]

Late night drafts...

Just won a match because I was able to topdeck a mountain...

[AGar]

Aaaaand Magic Online pisses me off yet again. Not like I wanted to use my instants on his turn or anything.

[AGar]

Fucking Long Island.

[AGar]

B) So we've finally reached the point where magic has been dumbed down enough that we're making rule changes with the idea of enriching a shitty durly offshoot variant? Eff that.

For what it's worth, nowhere did the devs say that this was a change influenced by Commander. It just so happens to help some kinks in that format as well.

The "why" from one of the developers.

[AGar]

Yeah Shea was looking to run something similar, but he scrapped it if I recall.

[AGar]

GL, Jund should be pretty solid.

[AGar]

It bothers me more than it should to see hybrid-mana backgrounds on cards without hybrid mana...

[AGar]

That list looks interesting.

[AGar]

Tarmogoyf in my second pack of MM from my box. P good.

[AGar]

P sure I could make half the cost of this box back and I've only opened 4 packs.. o.O

[AGar]

I think you're probably better off running two more mountains than those two Temple Gardens.

[AGar]

The temple gardens are great, do you have experience with the deck at all AGar?

No, I was going off of what I saw in deck composition vs mana base.

[AGar]

well with only 8 green lands there are more games than id like with dead rampagers and flinthoof boars in hand. Temple smooths that out more

Fair enough then.

[AGar]

Her +1 is great because those fast aggro decks want to run around shit like Thragtusk. When aggro decks get put into topdeck mode, her 0 is going to be incredibly useful. And when the enemy is at like 6 life and has just board wiped, that extra card draw can win you the game... and if that can't, her ultimate definitely can.

Her and Thragtusk will be simultaneously legal for all of 3 months.

[AGar]

Yeah I used my trade credit from my MM clearing at SCG to start getting shocks. Between current standard and they'll be relevant in Modern too, it was worth it.

[AGar]

I mean the money spent on drafting probably adds up, but we'd be doing that anyway for fun right?

Yes, but it appears as if Shea is talking straight costs for solely maintaining a standard competitive deck, a la buying singles. Not to mention you can't always guarantee you're going to get the right product for your decks via drafting. You guys have had good breaks that way, but I know I've had shit luck for drafting netting me anything worthwhile for constructed.

[AGar]

hmmm

let me put it this way:

its probably more cost efficient to save up for legacy and then haev ad eck that will always be good with few changes to play with

its more fun efficient to draft and buy/trade a little bit toward your deck each season >___>b

Boils down to a matter of what you prefer doing at that point.

[AGar]

I believe reading Maro talking about new card templates, so here we go, I guess?

[AGar]

I really thought Extended was already dead with the advent of Modern, so to find out it was being officially retired today was a strange shock.

[AGar]

I feel like a modern BUG Pod deck could abuse the fuck out of that card.

[AGar]

Yes. Also, no idea why I included U in that. Probably because I was trying to think of ways to abuse Battle of Wits at the same time.

[AGar]

World Champs != World Magic Cup.

[AGar]

Reck, MTGS has a pretty good primer for Modern Infect in their tournament forums.

[AGar]

signed up. Should be on for playtesting later tonight.

[AGar]

Pairings!

Looks like me, Shea, Sudo, Reck, Kdowns, DDD are all in. Did I miss anyone? We all seemed to avoid R1 pairings.

[AGar]

My opponent is being a bum.

[AGar]

Ok finally got an answer... He can play at 2 AM my time. Oh joy.

[AGar]

Wow, you went 20.5 hours without noticing that?

God damn dude, step up your game.

[AGar]

If I'm betting money by the way, the "large profile legendary permanent cycle" is the weapons of the gods as equipment.

[AGar]

Go team.

Seek out PEG for guidance.

[AGar]

Can I just go on record saying that "post-rotation" lists without the next set being fully spoiled are fucking stupid? A large set brimming with 229 cards is going to be coming in about a month, I'm sure it'll have shit that fits into your archetype du jour.

[AGar]

brb brewing pyromancer/akroan crusader

Yeahhhh that was my first thought when I saw this thought.

[AGar]

Can I just go on record saying that "post-rotation" lists without the next set being fully spoiled are

fucking stupid?

A large set brimming with 229 cards is going to be coming in about a month, I'm sure it'll have shit that fits into your archetype du jour.

What's fucking stupid is waiting until some netlist spoonfeeds you a complete deck post-rotation, when the core cards will be at premium.

There's no shame in speculating a future core. We are losing

three

sets and only gaining

one

. There won't be a 1-1 replacement for every Standard playable card, which means that most of the post-rotation Standard core already exists. Plan, buy, and brew now.

You're talking about figuring out what cards are going to be valuable/brewing based off of spoilers. I have no qualms about that.

What I said was "fucking stupid" was making a list that literally is never going to be optimum. "Post rotation" lists prior to full (or even partial) spoilers are pointless. There is never a point in time where that list will be the best. The list Reck posted uses RTR/M14. Right now, until September 27th, INN, M13, RTR and M14 are all legal. On September 27th, RTR/M14/THS will be legal.

There is never going to be a single point in time where RTR/M14 will be the only legal cards. Ever.

I do not see a point in trying to construct a deck list out of only that block + core set. You're literally handicapping yourself for no good reason. Play M13/INN cards until they're not legal. Sure, speculate all you want on what cards are going to explode when THS drops. Pinpoint what cards you want to aim for out of THS spoilers.

But for the love of god, if you're so eager to brew and combine your resources for the future rotation, don't waste time on lists you will never realistically play.

[AGar]

You also don't know what cards in THS are going to be good in combination with cards from RTR/M14 you haven't considered. You don't know for sure whether THS is going to have a kickass backbone or not. That's my point - there are a lot of variables, and trying to figure out "Oh this will probably be good" (or "Wow, these cards kick ass, they will definitely be good no matter what.") is one thing.

Posting a 60/75 of cards strictly from 4 of the 5 sets without seeing the 5th set is just, in my opinion, asinine.

[AGar]

I don't think deckbuilding is as simple as "Cut the rotating cards and look for replacements." You're going to be brewing in a new environment, and the interactions and meta are going to be different. Simply saying "Okay, this is sorta similar, so use it to replace" isn't going to work out very well.

[AGar]

Do 8-4s.

[AGar]

I had read Ashiok was doing some work in the control mirror on Twitter yesterday (which is kinda where I figured it would fit) but not much else.

[AGar]

I read it as there's a paid prerelease and a free prerelease. Which would make more sense.

[AGar]

Oh. The store I played at did that too.

[AGar]

Also, from MaRo:

While design was working on Theros, I started a weekly meeting where Ethan and Shawn, with a little guidance from me, were going to start working on "Huey" (2014's large October set). The idea was that we would work on something a year ahead of time. This would allow us the freedom to work on a project that wasn't time sensitive. If Ethan and Shawn failed, we would still have our normal design time, but if they succeeded we could use their work once Huey design began.

I decided to start by talking through with them where Huey stood. When I laid out the seven-year plan to Aaron several years before, I had sold Huey on a unique block structure. I explained to them what this block structure was and then I asked them to figure out a block where this structure made sense.

Large-Large-Large sets? Or 2 (or 4) sets?

Eh, I don't think he'd do Large/Large/Large - he's said before he wouldn't do anything for the sake of box checking, and in separate questions he said that Large/Large/Large would be just something to do for box-checking. 4 sets has kinda/sorta been done, so I don't think he's going to do that. Can't start with a Small for draft environment purposes... I actually have no clue what this could mean.

[AGar]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-v ... big-670529

Ummmmmm.....

MaRo has said nothing about this.

[AGar]

Yeahhhh.

[AGar]

I'm more concerned with the massive card counterfeiting ring that was just exposed in china. but whatever.

http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/73 ... na-give-us

[AGar]

FWIW, everything I've read points to fetches being pretty much necessary, so you're gonna need to buy them eventually if you end up playing modern seriously, Pie.

This also reminds me I need to look into that Melira Pod list again.

[AGar]

Yeah Mox Opals are the thing that kept me away from Robots.

[AGar]

What did his final record for Day 1 look like?

[AGar]

Oh wow. I saw a few tweets about end records for Day 1 from some people so I thought it ended.

[AGar]

How bad are fetches at the moment, bev?

[AGar]

Holy. Fuck. Dat Izzet fetch.

Was Minny the most recent modern GP?

[AGar]

It looks really good. Hoping that I can get my financials sorted out in the next month so that I can get a few drafts in.

[AGar]

FNM, depending on your LGS environment, can be a great way to learn, play against a variety of stuff, and have fun.

[AGar]

We like dragons.
We like dragons.
We like dragons.
We like dragons.
We like dragons.

[AGar]

I want to try and hit Charlotte (and might even be able to afford a deck by then!) so that'll be fun.

[AGar]

So yeah... http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/ar ... amorphosis happened today.
That may give me the jumpstart I need to get back into Magic.

TL;DR: M15 is the last core set. Khans is the last 3-set block. Two 2-set blocks a year, Standard rotates after 18 months.

Sooo they retooled core sets in order to ensure that new players have a strong resonating front with which to acquaint themselves to the game.

And then they go "Fuck you!" and just abolish core sets.

>_>

[AGar]

ALL OF THE BOXES.

[AGar]

Damn, DDD, that's awesome.

[AGar]

Man, I really enjoyed AVR Draft, but it's pretty consistently shit on as awful.

You could do some fun (read: dumb) shit in AVRx3. Like Bloodflow Connosieur + Thatcher Revolt. or Butcher Ghouls. or Undead Executioners.

[AGar]

Oh hell yeah next block is Innistrad 2. Apart from the reversible cards that was my favorite block in a long time.

Huh? Where did you see this?

[AGar]

Hmmm. Kinda concerned to see that this soon, not gonna lie.

[AGar]

MaRo has repeatedly said they won't go back to Kamigawa because the set didn't "test well" or something to that effect - the feel of the set and flavor wise didn't do what they wanted it to.

[AGar]

I've milled out a bunch of opponents, back when I thought Turbo Fog was a fine thing to bring to a card shop.

You mean it's not?

[AGar]

Didn't Eggs get banned for pretty much the same reason as Pod and now Twin?

[AGar]

No?

Eggs got banned mainly because it was a logistical nightmare for tournaments. Games were going to turns and then the eggs player would take a 30 minute turn after time going off. Tournaments were running over by hours.

Eggs was never nearly as good as pod or twin.

Ah, gotcha. I knew time was a concern to some extent, but I wasn't 100% certain on the entire reasoning or if that was it.

[AGar]

also, life complete.

[AGar]

Does anyone else have a jank problem. I make janky decks. I particularly enjoy alternate win conditions.

Did somebody say UB Zombie Mill?

[AGar]

Does anyone else have a jank problem. I make janky decks. I particularly enjoy alternate win conditions.

Did somebody say UB Zombie Mill?

Undead Alchemist is probably my favorite card I guess.

I'm not saying this deck was good, but it was

fun

.

[AGar]

The red line isn't in the design its to show where the print cut line is.

Any feedback would be most welcome.

Didn't they sell this deck as a premade after that win?

I'm pretty sure I bought this deck as a premade.