Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[hasdgfas]

Marshall Sutcliffe and ex-Limited Resources cohost, ex-Wizards employee Jon Loucks have started Constructed Resources, with Episode 1 just having been released. Hopefully it can get to a similar level as Limited Resources is at.

[bv310]

I really enjoy LR, so I'm hoping this one will be just as good

[Thestatusquo]

I'll do anything to listen to Loucks. Loucks is awesome. He was the main reason I listened to that show. I completely stopped after B Wong came on, basically.

[bv310]

I enjoy Marshall, but I wasn't a regular listener before about a year ago, so I've only ever known Brian Wong.

[Thestatusquo]

Loucks is the best. Ryan was better than Brian. Marshall is worse than all three of them.

[bv310]

I like Marshall.

Unrelated, but this is the (probably awful) idea I'm looking to pick up to play around with post-Friday:

Creatures:17
4 Ornithopter
4 Chief Engineer
2 Jeering Instigator
4 Phyrexian Revoker
3 Scuttling Doom Engine

Spells:19
4 Ghostfire Blade
4 Ensoul Artifact
4 Magma Jet
4 Shrapnel Blast
2 Hammer of Purphoros
1 Bident of Thassa

Lands:24
4 Darksteel Citadel
7 Island
5 Mountain
4 Shivan Reef
4 Temple of Epiphany

Suggestions?

[InflatablePie]

I would personally go 6/6 for basics, but maybe that's wrong since Jeering/Shrapnel/etc are more lategame cards and Cheif/Ensoul are early-game. I'm terrible with manabases. Also depends on your board.

I feel like you can maybe cut a Ghostfire Blade and run 3/2 Lightning Strike/Magma Jet, but maybe the Scry is better since the deck is combo-y.

SB should probably include counterspells (Negate etc), maybe 2 Angers (even if they have the possibility to kill your own stuff), 1-2 Keranos for grindy matchups, one-of Chandra in the board can work maybe. I dunno. List looks fun though.

[PeregrineV]

Going to try for 3 pre-releases this weekend. Will also try to document it better for a post-game report and criticism.

Of course, sudden obligations turned this to just the Friday midnight release. And apparently if you miss the noon start time, there are no others.

Picked Mardu, based on mechanics I liked and colors I liked. Promo was the Goblin that steals when flipped up.
Went 2-2, but only because last opponent went home.

Won first match, lost 2nd one to stupid Anafenza, the Foremost who came out twice, once with the Molting Snakeskin on it. Since my removals were Arc, Utter end and 2 Killshots, that one did not end well.
3rd game I lost to multiple Ainok Bond-Kin and he got his goblin maker out.

Good news is I had very few mana issues running all three colors. Had a single triple land, and 2 or 3 duals, and ran one banner. Only mulliganed to 6 once in all hands, including practice hands. Black was slightly more dominant in terms of colors, with white and red being about the same.

Mardu was the most popular clan picked, followed by Azban. I played Mardu, Mardu, Azban. And won the first 2-0, rest went to 2-1.

But, I think I will be doing the release event (a single $30 sealed at 7pm Friday), so that will be fun. I will either try Temur or Azban, but only because I did Mardu already.

[bv310]

I would personally go 6/6 for basics, but maybe that's wrong since Jeering/Shrapnel/etc are more lategame cards and Cheif/Ensoul are early-game. I'm terrible with manabases. Also depends on your board.

I feel like you can maybe cut a Ghostfire Blade and run 3/2 Lightning Strike/Magma Jet, but maybe the Scry is better since the deck is combo-y.

SB should probably include counterspells (Negate etc), maybe 2 Angers (even if they have the possibility to kill your own stuff), 1-2 Keranos for grindy matchups, one-of Chandra in the board can work maybe. I dunno. List looks fun though.

I think I want the 7/5 split just to make sure I hit early Chief/Ensouls. Losing a Ghostfire for 2 Lightning Strike is a solid idea.

Sideboard-wise, I like Negate/Anger, and maybe a Chandra, but I think Keranos just falls over the line of being too slow for this. I'd kill for a Faithless Looting variant, tbh. Tormenting Voices maybe?

[hasdgfas]

Loucks is the best. Ryan was better than Brian. Marshall is worse than all three of them.

Loucks is also my favorite, although I didn't get to listen to Ryan, as I started after he left. Brian is still very good, although he is much less easy for me to connect with.

I really like Marshall too, but in a very different way. He's not trying to do the same job as Brian, Jon, or Ryan. Those guys are the experts. Marshall's the one who drives the discussion, asking leading questions towards the points that need to be made. I think it hurts the way he comes across in the podcasts a bit, but the cohosts carry their roles so well that I don't really blame him.

[Thestatusquo]

Marshall is kind of arrogant.

[Thestatusquo]

And not in an endearing way like John.

[Natirasha]

The more I've seen of Marshall, the more I've disliked him. He just sounds like a douche(and I've had it corroborated through stories that he kinda is).

[sthar8]

I got a t4 zurgo, t5 ride down, trumpet blast, become immense in the one prerelease I played in.

[Thestatusquo]

The more I've seen of Marshall, the more I've disliked him. He just sounds like a douche(and I've had it corroborated through stories that he kinda is).

In my dozen or so interactions with the guy (so small sample size here) he's come across as kind of disinterested in those around him who were not "name" players but not necessarily in a mean way?

[bv310]

So Melira Pod is really fun to play. Finally managed to grind/sell enough to get the whole thing on MTGO (Windswept Heaths over Misty Rainforests, though I need to wait for Khans to actually make that work). I've so far played 5 games on MTGO with it tonight. Played one against WUR Geist, and 4 against 8Rack, which is apparently a big thing now? I'm 4-1 currently. Dropped one to 8Rack because I'm new and missed a line of play that would have let me combo out.

[Natirasha]

People play 8-rack online because it's cheap and they don't want to play burn/merfolk like reasonable budget players.

[bv310]

Merfolk's so much fun too Poor fishies.

[Natirasha]

Merfolk is fun, but I got really bored of it.

I'm building Mono Green Devotion in modern right now. At least in DFW, there was literally no Pod or hard combo around, so I wanted to build a deck that could go over the top of BGx while having a good gameplan vs UWx.

Spoiler alert, Primeval Titan is hard for fair decks to beat. Especially when Summoning Trap'd in turn two off a Remand. Or sometimes you just Genesis Hydra for four and put Garruk Wildspeaker into play. Or Witness/Primal Command.

Go figure. Deck flat-loses to hard combo, though, lol. Slow combo is better if you go on the aggro plan(doable with 4x Strangleroot Geist).

Also, I'm like 17-3 in matches with Abzan Constellation vs randoms on cockatrice. Eidolon of Blossoms is an good card(and in stalled topdeck wars, holy shit), but Extinguish All Hope is the real reason to play the deck and I wish I could play it maindeck without hating life. Six mana Boardwipes are good when they are Plague Wind! This deck is so grindy by even midrange standards, though. It's win condition is pretty much attacking with 2/Xs and 1/1s, which can be pretty grueling when your opponents are playing 4/5s, 5/5, 3/5s and so on.

Spoiler: Current List

4 Eidolon of Blossoms
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Thoughtseize
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Banishing Light
4 Windswept Heath
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Plenty
2 Plains
3 Forest
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Caves of Koilos
3 Swamp
2 Doomwake Giant
3 Brain Maggot
2 Abzan Charm
1 Utter End
1 Murderous Cut
1 Herald of Torment
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
SB: 4 Drown in Sorrow
SB: 2 Extinguish All Hope
SB: 3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
SB: 2 Agent of Erebos
SB: 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
SB: 1 Garruk, Apex Predator
SB: 1 Liliana Vess
SB: 1 Restock

I might try a version with Leaf-Crowned Dryad over Brain Maggot because I really hate Brain Maggot a lot of the time, even though he does serve an important role early on, LCD actually has a board presence and provides so protection in the air--an issue this deck has. This is actually my newest list--I was running a list with 3x Abzan Ascendency, which was a pretty good card, but too hard to set up at times. I replaced them with a Hero's Downfall and the two Heralds.

I haven't come across Back to Nature, but I don't actually think the card is unbeatable vs this deck.

[bv310]

MGD with Genesis Hydra looks pretty tempting, tbh, but I've been in love with Pod since the days of Huntmaster of the Fells, so it was inevitable.

[Thestatusquo]

So Melira Pod is really fun to play. Finally managed to grind/sell enough to get the whole thing on MTGO (Windswept Heaths over Misty Rainforests, though I need to wait for Khans to actually make that work). I've so far played 5 games on MTGO with it tonight. Played one against WUR Geist, and 4 against 8Rack, which is apparently a big thing now? I'm 4-1 currently. Dropped one to 8Rack because I'm new and missed a line of play that would have let me combo out.

Yeah, the MTGO modern metagame has a disproportionate number of the "cheap" modern decks. Expect to see a lot of the following on MODO that you wouldn't necessarily see a lot of at a rl modern tournament (though some of these are also in RL because they're good in addition to being cheap)

Robots
Tron
Blue Tron
Merfork
8Rack
Burn
storm variants

Jund and junkesque decks with tarmogoyf are much more uncommon online than irl. Build your sideboard accordingly.

[bv310]

I expected a ton of Robots/Burn/Fish, but I didn't expect that much Tron/8Rack. Gonna up the Obstinate Baloths and maybe toss in a Sigarda against 8Rack. Pod up to Sigarda and they have literally no answer to it. Baloths are also hilarious against Turn 1 Raven's Crime.

[Thestatusquo]

Tron is HUGE online, especially the blue version. It makes up roughly 0.1% of the RL metagame and makes up like 10% of the online meta.

[bv310]

The other one I'm seeing a lot today is Bloom Titan. Really annoying matchup

[Shanba]

I have that deck online!

It's really fucking hard to play though.