Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:42 am

I don't think treasure cruise needs to get banned in legacy. It seems pretty similar to me in use in terms of the time of the game you can use it to ancestral visions but is worse because you cant agent into it. It depletes resources fast enough that you can't reasonably play 2 in one turn very early in the game and creates some interesting tensions because most of the decks that want that sort of effect have some sort of graveyard interaction that they're already dependent on (team america: other delve cards, RUG delver: nimble mongoose and goyf, storm: past in flames shenanigans. BUG decks: Deathrite shaman and Goyf)

Time will tell though, and I haven't done any testing with it and haven't really played it in anything yet.

Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:05 am

Glittering wish might be the answer, since without it the deck loses quite a bit of its consistency. It's a 3rd turn kill probably around 50% of the time right now, I think axing wish lowers that number considerably.

Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:12 am

I think the deck is pretty strong without treasure cruise. I don't think its that strong without glittering wish.

Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:09 am

They banned seething song because they're the worst.

RIP my enduring Ideal deck.

Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:40 pm

Doran doesn't fit with the deck. If you want a doran deck build a doran deck. He doesn't solve any problems that the deck has.

I don't like that you cut a chord or voice of resurgence. Voice is close to your best card in the BG matchups and he's pretty great in aggro matchups and blue matchups as well. Abzan charm does not seem good enough to justify having 2 non creature slots in the maindeck. You need a critical mass of creature spells. Chord and a shriekmaw is almost surely better. Imagine this scenario that happens quite a bit with the deck your opponent has killed your creatures and you just need a creature to go off. You draw a.... Insert card here. Does that card win you the game from this spot? No? Then its bad. Thoughtseize might be a necessary evil ala angel pod but abzan charm is not strong enough imo. You have the best tutor engine in the format. Why include cards you cant tutor for?

Anafenza seems meh. In what situations will you want to pod for it? Against what matchups is it better than just kitchen finks with a gavony township?

Thu Oct 09, 2014 5:36 pm

not nearly as silly as jeskai ascendancy.

Fri Oct 10, 2014 9:47 am

Shanba how has treasure cruise impacted pauper?

Sat Oct 11, 2014 6:55 am

Standard legal viable combo deck makes me soooooo happy.

Sat Oct 11, 2014 3:53 pm

Its a very diverse format. And I mean actually diverse as in there are actually many different decks trying to do many different things, as opposed to just 4 different midrange decks of various different colors.

Also, second the GO ARMLX and GO PAUL GREEN.

Sat Oct 11, 2014 3:55 pm

I like armlx stylin' with white bordered 7th edition basics.

Sat Oct 11, 2014 4:10 pm

(10:08:41 PM) Shea: I think MS just locked our first ever Pro Tour top 8 competitor member
(10:08:42 PM) Shea: :-p

Yep!

Sat Oct 11, 2014 4:26 pm

Ari Lax aka Armlx

Sun Oct 12, 2014 5:49 am

To be fair to UB, Owen Turtenwald was in position to draw into top 8 and then got paired down and lost to yuuya.

Also PV on twitter seems to think that Tien's combo list isnt very good.

Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:08 pm

That was a pretty average topdeck, I think.

Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:11 pm

Thiago played very very well.

Testiment to his skill that he was even in that position, but elspeth off the top is probably just unbeatable in that board state

Sun Oct 12, 2014 1:14 pm

Because hes seen as kind of a douche sometimes. Known for being openly expressive when he wins/talkative in games, is seen as a little bit arrogant.

I don't know why this draws as much hate as he does

Mon Oct 13, 2014 4:31 am

BRUTAL ASS SEX was also pretty well known in gamer circles through being a pro gamer with the team Violent By Instinct.

I haven't heard anything about him on pro gaming circles lately, but then again I don't pay much attention to them.

I would imagine its possible we have some legitimately famous people on the site, but I would expect such people to be fairly quiet about their fame.

Thu Oct 16, 2014 3:32 am

Like any community you have to find the right part of it. There certainly are parts of the magic community that are as you describe. You can find the parts that aren't, though. Like MS vs. EpicMafia

Thu Oct 16, 2014 11:28 am

Cut the red.

Thu Oct 16, 2014 4:42 pm

In post 4841, Sudo_Nym wrote:I have the deep suspicion that any deck not playing Treasure Cruise or Dig Through Time is wrong.

*or courser of kruphix/sylvan caryatid

I agree with the above statement.

Fri Oct 17, 2014 4:47 am

Shanba and I were talking about dig through time and he asked me if I thought it was better than fact or fiction and I thought about it for a while and was like...Actually yeah. By a wide margin.

So that's saying something.

Fri Oct 17, 2014 8:11 am

Threshold and flashback are nicely balanced.

Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:00 pm

In post 4877, Llamarble wrote:I went to my first ever PTQ today!
I went 6-2, which was good for some packs but not top 8. My second match loss was pretty frustrating; I got a loss game 3 for forgetting to return 2 delved cards to my library between games. I won when we shuffled the cards in and played the game out. That's a mistake I won't be making again.
I was surprised I did so well; my pool felt pretty weak so I played 5 colors to avoid using bad cards. The alternatives were WGB (with no bombs or lategame) or UGR (with no 2 drops whatsoever and minimal removal). The things I did have going for me were strong fixing (I played 4 triple lands and 6 lifegain lands) and Ashcloud Phoenix, which stabilized / outright won several games for me.

I almost went to that!

Congrats on the good finish though.

Also, I um...I never thought I'd say this but um...Standard seems awesome right now.

Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:39 am

In post 4902, Sudo_Nym wrote:
In post 4897, Oman wrote:Went to my local gaming store for card sleeves. There was a sign, rule 4 and 5 were "Please shower before attending" and "Remember to use deoderant".

What the fuck, gaming nerds. What the fuck is wrong with us.

There's a certain subset of nerd who believe that being a nerd makes them an enlightened creature of intelligence and therefore above base physical needs like showering. It's certainly off-putting.

It's more that many people who happen to take part in so called "nerdy" activities tend to fall somewhere on the spectrum of anti-social personality disorder, and honestly how they smell has never occured to them

Mon Oct 20, 2014 6:24 am

In post 4905, Sudo_Nym wrote:
In post 4904, Thestatusquo wrote:
In post 4902, Sudo_Nym wrote:
In post 4897, Oman wrote:Went to my local gaming store for card sleeves. There was a sign, rule 4 and 5 were "Please shower before attending" and "Remember to use deoderant".

What the fuck, gaming nerds. What the fuck is wrong with us.

There's a certain subset of nerd who believe that being a nerd makes them an enlightened creature of intelligence and therefore above base physical needs like showering. It's certainly off-putting.

It's more that many people who happen to take part in so called "nerdy" activities tend to fall somewhere on the spectrum of anti-social personality disorder, and honestly how they smell has never occured to them

Okay, but I know from my game store at least two who are of the "enlightened" type, since they won't shut up about it.

The singularity is now.

Mon Oct 20, 2014 7:08 am

That's just like... Our FNM...

They used to fire all the draft pods at once, which was usually about 6-10 depending on the number of people, now they fire them as they fill up, which typically means that roughly 12 pods fire over the course of the night.

Tue Oct 21, 2014 3:51 am

We definitely dumped a dude in the lake at boyscout camp one summer.

Also, I fucking hate MaRO.

Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:41 am

Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:00 am

Treasure cruise is fine. Anything that makes creatures less playable is good.

Tue Oct 21, 2014 1:38 pm

In post 4939, Sudo_Nym wrote:Frankly, I don't see why any game should last longer than turn 3. As far as I'm concerned, if somebody hasn't comboed off by then, there's something wrong.

I actually think treasure cruise has done more to enable control/tempo decks than combo decks?

Wed Oct 22, 2014 4:02 am

Remember when stores would give you a new pack if you opened a mox because they were worthless and no one wanted them?

Wed Oct 22, 2014 5:01 am

Stasis.

Wed Oct 22, 2014 8:09 am

BBE was a really shitty banning though? So was seething song. They should have just unbanned jace and banned DRS.

Wed Oct 22, 2014 10:23 am

In post 4962, Klazam wrote:i dislike modern anyway

Then you're a fool. Modern is like the second most interesting format right now.

Wed Oct 22, 2014 10:51 am

I mean heres the thing. Treasure cruise is warping the format for sure, but I'm not sure its warping the format in a bad way. BUG hasn't been a deck in forever, really. It's pretty cool TC makes it viable.

Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:14 am

Hey look, once a piece of shit, always a piece of shit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/commen ... ed_at_scg/

Wed Oct 22, 2014 11:26 am

I don't know if thats true for delver anymore nati. Deck runs like 12 fetchlands.

Wed Oct 22, 2014 1:28 pm

In response to treasure cruise chord of calling for notion thief. GG mofo.

Thu Oct 23, 2014 5:39 am

There's a game store at the end of the universe, bv?

Thu Oct 23, 2014 7:49 am

So this was posted on a magic group I'm a part of. I don't think I'm good enough at recognizing shuffling cheats to be able to tell if this is legit or not. Will people tell me what they think? Is this legit? Do we think Jared is cheating?

watch how jared shuffles the deck he shuffles untill he finds a land on the bottom then reverses shuffles placing the very bottom card on top of the deck. then shuffles without changing the card he has places on the top
So with the recent drama at the SCG this past weekend I figured I'd add some more. While looking through footage a featured matches. I stumbled upon this. SCGProv - Leg - Quarterfinals - Jared Boettcher v…: http://youtu.be/Z39UYLpbWx8 SCGINVI - Invitational - Round 12 - Jared Boettch…: http://youtu.be/ffU9Uw1rBsE look at the 5,11,30 min mark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MGtexeawlg 4:04-4:30 trop on top, same pattern 6:40-7:00 Failed delver flip after fetch, same pattern following jared 180ing the deck to get a better look 9:30-9:45, failed delver flip, same pattern off fetch 14:30-14:50, wasteland off top after fetch when both players flooded, same pattern 45:21- Puts hymn to top when just holding bolt and lands are mostly gone. Same pattern

Thu Oct 23, 2014 9:34 am

Thestatusquo (15:02)
I notice that the top card doesn't change as he shuffles for the last 50% of the shuffle
Thestatusquo (15:02)
But I don't think he can see the bottom of the deck with the way its pointed.
chamber (15:02)
I think its probably lazy suffeling
chamber (15:02)
like assuming he doesn't come off as a sleezeball IRL
Thestatusquo (15:03)
So its the assertion that he is finding a land, shifting it to the top and then not changing the top card
Thestatusquo (15:03)
I can see how mechanically that might be whats going on, but I can't see where and how he would be finding said land.

Thu Oct 23, 2014 9:54 am

Ak, I don't think you've watched the video. He's not overhand shuffling, and he is only being accused of doing it with one card, We are not talking about the Humphrey's guy. That guy is a confirmed cheater in my eyes. I'm talking about Jared Boettcher, and I've linked several videos that someone on a magic group I'm in found suspect.

Full disclosure, Jared plays at the local store I play at in NY and I know him.

Thu Oct 23, 2014 10:19 am

Yeah. Humphries was no doubt. This is shady shuffling, but its hard to say definitively that hes cheating, because I can't actually see anywhere that he's actually looking at the deck in any of these videos.

Fri Oct 24, 2014 3:58 am

I don't know if this is real, but that seems like a lot seeing as bertoncini only got 12 months...

Fri Oct 24, 2014 4:44 am

Me too, LSV. Me too.

Fri Oct 24, 2014 10:56 am

I kinda agree with KoC/BV here I guess.

Like, ok. I am pretty opposed to permabans as a general principal. I don't like the idea that we give up on people and I don't like the idea that people can never changed.

But this guy? This guy clearly doesn't give a fuck. Clearly was, is and always will be unrepentant and clearly just intends to keep doing it. Why exactly would we let him back in?

Fri Oct 24, 2014 3:30 pm

Link?

Fri Oct 24, 2014 5:12 pm

I (as a general premise) agree with the idea that social media and outside magic activities should not be within the scope of the DCI except at a pro level, the way any sanctioning body can and does suspend members for breaches of the code of conduct.

Except for Bertoncinni though. Fuck that guy.

Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:12 am

I like a level down from that. AJ Sacher for instance will come at you if you're being an aggressively stupid person, but usually his chat interactions are pretty civil.

Sat Oct 25, 2014 7:52 pm

Yeah, no one here is claiming abzan guide is a multi-format all star.

I think its pretty clearly the best of the common morphs, though.

Sun Oct 26, 2014 5:48 am

I can ask around in the Chicago scene for you if you'd like.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:53 am

I sent you his info.

Guys, do we think treasure cruise is better than brainstorm? I would have said that's crazy talk, but now I'm not so sure.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:30 am

Caleb Durward built storm without Ad Naseum. He found with cruise and the catrip engine he didn't even need the ad nauseum effect.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 4:53 am

http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/c ... rm-cruise/

Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:18 am

In post 5060, chamber wrote:
In post 5055, Sudo_Nym wrote:Brainstorm is really only great if you have a shuffle.

Treasure cruise is only good with fetches too though, just for a different reason.

The cards to pretty different things. Brainstorm is actually usable on turn 2. I think treasure cruise is probably worse? not confident though which is really telling about just how busted treasure cruise is.

Yeah this was my thought process too.

The fact that we even feel like this is a "in the same ballpark" situation is crazy to me.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:06 am

Clearly you didn't play during urzas block.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:22 am

You could easily make your deck have play against that deck. Start maindecking 4 Thalia and 4 eidelon of rhetoric or something.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 10:50 am

That was the joke, yes.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:46 pm

No, linvala is that much because its a small set mythic that is played extensively in EDH and sees some fringe modern play.

Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:51 pm

That's Jace

Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:47 am

http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/commen ... shuffling/

It appears we might have been wrong.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 3:55 am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKvdBODvl6M#t=1136 this is the video that really seals it for me. You can finally see a video of him looking down at the cards directly as he shuffles, and the false cut that leaves the top cards alone is painfully obvious on this one.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 4:28 am

Look at the spin of the deck when he first picks it up too. That's a common slight of hand technique to look at the bottom card.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 7:09 am

Looks a lot like a scam.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 9:26 am

BTW, I should point out that klazam was clearly right about the slight of hand stuff. Should have listened to him to begin with.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 5:22 pm

In post 5113, bv310 wrote:I feel like that would just have the True-Name Nemesis issue again with the blue deck being sold out everywhere and the rest sitting on shelves.

They have made it perfectly clear that they are willing to print the shit out of commander products. Everyone who bought out that deck to sit on is pretty sad about it.

Some people will make the same mistake, but I wager not as many.

Wed Oct 29, 2014 3:03 am

Yeah, there's actually a couple of reasons, as the thread has pointed out.

People always want to jam fetches in mono colored decks for "thinning" but in general I think if you don't have extra reasons to run fetches (grim lavamancer, searing blaze, et al.) the point of life lost is going to be more likely to be relevant than the deck thinning you get off of one fetch.

Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:07 am

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/ar ... 2014-10-30

Welp...

Thu Oct 30, 2014 5:54 am

Yeah. I get that. I just feel like...Personally betrayed by him.

Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:50 am

http://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/commen ... boettcher/

What a jackass...

Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:45 am

In post 5144, PeregrineV wrote:We have a Grand Prix coming to town, and I'm thinking of entering it, but haven't been keeping up with standard lately.

Anyone going to it, or have any ideas for standard decks I should play? Not a big blue fan, but can do it if needed.

Already plan on looking at recent events, but it seems this group has some above average players, so would like to hear opinions.

If you're new to the format, I think your best bet is to either try to just have a deck with a solid matchup against everything (Abzan midrange) or a deck that if you win the no hate in sideboards lottery will just take it down (Jeskai combo)

I think jeskai burn is a bad deck for someone who is not very well versed in the format, since its a deck that is very much tuned for specific metagames.

I think you'd be giving up a lot of percentage points if you played it without knowing the expected field beforehand.

Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:43 am

List of cards that are tough for mono red to beat:
Silvan Caryatid
Courser of Kruphix
Rhino (comes down on turn three)
Sorin (10 point life swing)
Fleecemane lion
Deathdealer

Its a really bad matchup unless the deck gets a below average draw

Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:18 am

I assume if its banning it in Standard its because of a massive negative response to viable combo that some players tend to have.

I don't think ascendancy combo is busted in standard. Seems fine but not overpowered.

It might be broken in Modern, although the results don't really bear that out (delver seems to be the more busted treasure cruise shell)

Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:29 pm

Serious question:
Who the fuck is brian David marshall, and why does he get to do coverage? He's worthless at high level analysis, he's boring and the kicker is he has an obnoxiously annoying voice. He's like the actual opposite of who I would pick as a commentator.

Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:43 pm

Its really sad that we're now supposed to be excited about 5 mana conditional regeneratable board sweeps.

Fuck that.

Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:44 pm

Brian David Marshall
"So its like damnation and for only one more mana you get to keep your dragons!"

I hate everything.

Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:49 pm

It makes control basically unplayable?

Sat Nov 01, 2014 3:47 pm

Uh oh. A combo deck did well. EVERYONE CALL FOR BANNINGS.

I hate everyone.

Mon Nov 03, 2014 6:13 am

No, the judge is incorrect and iirc it hasn't worked this way in about 7-8 years.

What is happening is you are proposing a shortcut. I will pump this card then pump it again when I receive priority, then pump it again when I receive priority, then pump it again when I receive priority.

Your opponent has two options available to him. He can, at any point in the shortcut, interrupt the shortcut. I.e. he can interrupt you after the second pump and cast throttle. Or, he can let the shortcut go through all the way. He definitely cannot say "all of those go on the stack, in response to all of them I cast lightning strike so you wasted all your mana," since that is never a short cut that you were proposing. In magic it is always assumed you are passing priority unless you explicitly state that you are not. This is why you see so many new legacy players get blown out when they try to crack LED in response to an infernal tutor.

Mon Nov 03, 2014 7:14 am

TBH I can't imagine a judge possibly getting that ruling wrong, let alone two different ones. Not saying you're making it up buuuuuuuuut I think you're making it up.

Mon Nov 03, 2014 8:13 am

As an aside, I've been playing this and it. has. been. awesome.

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... ees-top-4/

Mon Nov 03, 2014 9:30 am

Basically you can propose any shortcut that follows a logical progression of the rules.

When you are saying "Pump this four times" you are saying "let us progress to the part of the game where I have pumped this creature four times"

The way the rules handles that is to say "Ok, all the default actions that would have happened between now and the time that we end the shortcut are taken" the default way activating an ability functions is "activate, pass priority" In order to hold priority you would have to explicitly state that you were doing so.

Its just like how you can say, if your opponent is at 6 "Bolt you twice" The default action is cast, pass priority, so your opponent wouldn't be able to say ok, those on the stack, flusterstorm them both.

Mon Nov 03, 2014 10:06 am

I was talking to cow, because his post made it seem like he thinks that there are some shortcuts that are "Acceptable" and some that are "not acceptable."

I was just trying to make it clear that you can really shortcut anything if both players agree to it and it follows the rules of the game.

Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:34 pm

You, can, however, shortcut melira vicera seer scrys.

Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:45 pm

If the budget version does not play siege rhino then its not worth playing fyi.

That is THE card in the deck.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:47 am

"This is the current interaction between Humility and Opalescence: The type-changing effect applies at layer 4, but the rest happens in the applicable layers. The rest of it will apply even if the permanent loses its ability before it's finished applying. So if Opalescence, Humility, and Worship are on the battlefield and Opalescence entered the battlefield before Humility, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments. (Opalescence). Layer 6: Humility and Worship each lose their abilities. (Humility) Layer 7b: Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4. (Opalescence). Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility). But if Humility entered the battlefield before Opalescence, the following is true: Layer 4: Humility and Worship each become creatures that are still enchantments (Opalescence). Layer 6: Humility and Worship each lose their abilities (Humility). Layer 7b: Humility becomes 1/1 and Worship becomes 1/1 (Humility). Humility becomes 4/4 and Worship becomes 4/4 (Opalescence)."

Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:48 am

TIME STAMPS IN LAYER 7b!!!!

Tue Nov 04, 2014 6:54 am

Sudo, what happens if you attack with an animated Inkmoth nexus with an equipped behemoth sledge and your opponent has a melira in play?

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:03 am

Nope. Melia's "your creatures lose infect" and nexus "I now have infect" both occur in layer 6, but nexus happens after melira time stamp wise, so it totally has infect when it swings into your opponent who controls melira.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:05 am

So, what happens?

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:10 am

Ah, searching for the ruling is cheating.

That is mostly correct. Your nexus gains infect and then checks timestamps with melira as is like yup totally still have effect. Then you swing in and deal three damage in poison which would not do anything to you because of meliras other ability, however you would gain three life because lifelink is "an effect of dealing damage other than life loss.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:11 am

In post 5259, Maestro wrote:What's "layer 6" mean?

http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazi ... /20091105a

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:17 am

In post 5263, Sudo_Nym wrote:What happens if you play Oblivion Ring targeting an Oblivion Ring which has removed an Oblivion Ring with no other non-land permanents on the board?

LSV did this and broke magic online.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:23 am

I mean, not necessarily. If one of you has the ability to break the loop then you may do so.

But an infinite loop that neither player can end results in a draw.

Modo does not know that as evidenced by the above video.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:41 am

Unfortunately not tournament legal by most judges standards, but still cool.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 7:47 am

Whats the point of playing magic then?

Tue Nov 04, 2014 8:24 am

In post 5272, Maestro wrote:lol

What's the point of playing League of Legends
if I don't care about Ranked?

EDIT: Having fun.

FTFY.

League is like the worst game ever made.

Tue Nov 04, 2014 10:49 am

I dont think I've ever heard shanba boast about anything...

Thu Nov 06, 2014 3:27 pm

I've got dazes I can ship you.

WTT for Khans fetches.

Thu Nov 06, 2014 3:28 pm

Also I have Korean standstills if you're playing a version of the deck that wants standstill.

Fri Nov 07, 2014 8:21 am

In post 5291, bv310 wrote:Any chance one of you guys wants to buy a Modern Burn list on MTGO? I have Eidolons and crap and have no desire to play it. I'll even kick in the stuff you need to convert to Legacy Burn for free.

Including Grim Lavamancers and Fetchlands and goblin guide in that?

Fri Nov 07, 2014 11:57 am

In post 5229, Thestatusquo wrote:As an aside, I've been playing this and it. has. been. awesome.

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... ees-top-4/

Mon Nov 10, 2014 5:58 am

So does anyone have some strands on MODO? All of my bots are sold out on the Khans ones and I don't want to drop 12 tix on the onslaught ones.

I basically just have the entire UW heroic deck from drafting sans strands and temples.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 5:58 am

It's like 70 tix even counting the lands.

If anyone is looking for a cheap entry point into standard online right now, that's a pretty good place to start I think.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 7:20 am

I like this list better:
http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... -cawblade/

Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:04 am

Yeah, chamber has it.

Its the main thing I disagree with about Jacob VLs list. I don't understand why you would give up protection for indestructable at way more mana.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:21 am

In post 5324, Sudo_Nym wrote:I think in current standard, protection and indestructible are more or less equivalent, right? Indestructible gets around End Hostilities, but doesn't stop Bile Blight, and protection is vice versa. So normally the cheaper effect is just better? Being able to strive to protect multiple creatures is nice, but I don't know how often the deck is going to have the mana to strive to protect more than two creatures at a time anyway.

This is not true when you're trying to swing past multiple blockers with one 9/9 threat for lethal. Indestructable does nothing in this situation, whereas protection straight up wins you the game.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:37 am

Wait, so there are pauper daily's again?

Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:50 am

Well, I'm going to sleeve it up in the standard daily tonight and see how it feels.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:50 am

Our avatars are actually disturbingly similar.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 10:38 am

Well, its obviously quite good against the green decks. I don't know how much of a presence they are online, though.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 3:56 pm

I lost to UB rd 1.

I was unaware this was even still a deck.

Mon Nov 10, 2014 6:49 pm

Didn't Ari beat UB twice in the top 8 to win the pro tour?

That matchup seems heavily favored for abzan. They can two for one you out of the game and then hit you with thoughtseize and despise.

Tue Nov 11, 2014 4:56 am

So I went 1-3 losing to UB, the mirror and Esper (yeah, I know. Wtf)

I just need to get a handle on how to play the deck. There are a surprising amount of decision points for a basically just pure cheese style deck.

Tue Nov 11, 2014 6:01 am

I don't think anything has a place in legacy right now if it doesn't play treasure cruise/have a good treasure cruise matchup.

If you're talking about the 5/3 guy I think its a shit ton of mana for a threat that is very fragile (boltable) and is mostly unnecessary and worse than the threats that deck already has available to it.

Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:33 am

Shanba explained why I think the matchup is in abzan's favor in a much more detailed way.

+1

Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:45 am

TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:20 am

What is your name, so we can know if you get on coverage?

Thu Nov 13, 2014 3:03 pm

Dredge seems... Like a phenomenally poor choice right now. The main decks in the format are those running dig through time and treasure cruise, and one of the ways decks are combating that is with maindeck graveyard hate, along with more yard hate in the board. I think dredge gets all sorts of splatter damage from delver-cruise hate right now. The main appeal of the deck is that you only have to win 1 game of real magic to win the match since the g1 is typically 90% in your favor. If that shifts to 70%, there is no way the deck is viable.

Also, I just don't think its a good idea to play a cheese deck for a 15 round tournament in general.

Do you have any other options?

Thu Nov 13, 2014 3:17 pm

Turn one mountain raging goblin. Turn two mountain mountain goblin goblin. Turn three mountain mountain mountain goblin goblin goblin.

Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:06 am

I hope you reported him to the judge. They can speak to his previous opponents and see if anyone remembers seeing those those cards from g1.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 5:03 am

There is nothing worse than people who complain post game.

I just want to reach across the table and shake them and say you know what would be a more productive use of your time than complaining about how many lands you drew? Trying to identify the missplays you made that game, because I counted about 20. Or why don't you analyze the gamestate of that game you lost while I was at 2 life and see if you missed damage somewhere?

Honestly, I think there is a very legitimate dividing line between players who complain post match and players who don't skill wise. Magic is a partially luck based game, sure. That means everyone gets bad luck. Bad player seem to think this is unique and bad luck ONLY happens to them. They also seem to think that their losses in magic happen due to luck WAY more often than they actually do. I play a lot of magic. I would say I've lost maybe 30 games to straight up luck in the past year or so? Out of hundreds. Any other game I felt I had lines to win if I could have seen them.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 5:41 am

lol oops all spells.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 7:49 am

I wasn't necessarily talking about you, just you made me want to talk about "that guy" who all he can talk about is how unlucky he got.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:54 am

Guy on stream right now has a foiled out version of miracles that is probably worth more than some houses.

Probably bugs him an unreasonable amount that there are no foil printings of REB.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 2:36 pm

In post 5380, Sudo_Nym wrote:Has anyone tried out Durward's RG Bees?

Yes. It's a real deck. Very fun to play.

Also, hornet queen a very fair card. It's 7 MANA.

Sat Nov 15, 2014 9:55 pm

win some boxes tomorrow!

Mon Nov 17, 2014 6:49 am

PTQing this weekend. KTK sealed.

I've played exactly 5 rounds of KTK sealed (pre-release)

Anyone have some pointers?

Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:14 am

In post 5389, Knight of Cydonia wrote:when in doubt, go 4/5 colour control

I mean, I think people misunderstand five color. I think a 2 color deck with 1-3 small splashes is viable, mainly if you can make splash colors be mostly late game bombs and morph creatures.

I don't think you want to have more than (at most) 3 (but preferably 2) types of basic land in your deck.

Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:41 am

I don't know why you guys think I'm suggesting not playing five colors?

I'm suggesting a base 2 color deck with splashes for morphs and bombs only in 1 2 or 3 other colors.

Mon Nov 17, 2014 7:44 am

I think a lot of the five color manabases I've seen people post are just completely unreasonable.

Like
5 island
3 plains
2 mountain
1 swamp
1 forest
6 non basics

is just not a viable manabase for casting your spells when they matter. I'd rather have a more consistant mana base and cut all the cards outside of the two base colors that aren't morphs or absurd.

Like
6 island
6 plains
6 non basics

Mon Nov 17, 2014 8:23 am

So what you're saying is that you got lucky? That mana will not work out over the long run. I don't know what you think you're proving, but that kind of mana is just not good. You're trying to cast double blue spells off of 4 blue sources. Yeah, they're late game, but there is some high percentage of games (probably like 50%) where you will never have double blue.

Mon Nov 17, 2014 8:23 am

Like, post the rest of the pool and I guarentee I can build a better deck than that.

Mon Nov 17, 2014 8:38 am

I would keep a light splash for Flying crane technique since its likely free anyway.

Weapon master and tracker are pretty easily cuttable, but there's a chance its correct to play the snowhorn riders off the free splash as well. The black is almost certainly replacable, and if it isn't you should almost certainly be only playing throttle of the cards he's playing.

Mon Nov 17, 2014 9:10 am

Knowing that the manabase you posted is bad is not format specific knowledge.

Mon Nov 17, 2014 10:07 am

I disagree chamber.

I think that a lot of the manabases I see are caused by lack of discipline. Morphs (aside from a few of them) are mostly interchangible. People choose to play ones that are slightly better when they're off color which is just wrong to me. you should be able to make all of your spells besides bombs and premium removal and all of your creatures besides the absolute bombs and morphs be in 1 of 2 colors. This allows the sort of mana base I'm talking about. I think all it takes is discipline. Like, given KoCs pool I could definitely make a 2 color deck splashing 3 colors that had totally acceptable mana using that formula (for instance, not trying to cast 2 double U spells off of 4 U sources.)

Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:57 am

It doesn't bother me as much as the fuckers who get them graded.

Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:13 am

If that makes y'all cringe, here's a piece of power recently purchased by someone on a magic group I'm in

Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:17 am

I think its pretty clearly still playable.

Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:17 am

Most vintage tournaments are unsanctioned with at least 10 proxies regardless though.

Tue Nov 18, 2014 10:56 am

tbf, Island is the best magic card ever printed sooooo

Tue Nov 18, 2014 11:30 am

Sudo is round those parts no?

Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:28 am

I like shanbas build a lot, though I think I might like the green better than he does.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:05 am

I think I like a temur build splashing white for crane kick and suspension field maybe.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 10:41 am

In post 5449, Sudo_Nym wrote:Not to doubt you guys, since I haven't played, but I've been doing research so I can get in when I have some money, and in limited, wouldn't it be best to try and limit yourself to 2 colors so that you can pick from 2 wedges? It seems that having 2 enemy colors as the base, picking up the best you can from the two wedges that contain the combination, and then maybe splashing some cards from whatever wedge you have extras from should be the best. I'm very open to the possibility that I'm wrong, though.

Yep DDDP nailed this one but I want to emphasize that your strategy is dead right in draft. Generally, you need to be going full pants on head taking all the lands super highly (hoping to end up with 8-11 of them) or trying to be as close to 2 colors or two colors with a splash as possible. It's never a good idea to try to back door a four or five color draft deck.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:51 am

Leaping master is the only one of that cycle that is actively good.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:58 am

Evasion is just so good in this format.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:49 pm

In post 5459, diginova wrote:
In post 5456, Thestatusquo wrote:Evasion is just so good in
limited
.

FTFY.

More so in this set than in most.

These games devolve into big dumb dudes on the ground more than almost any other format I've played.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 3:20 pm

Pick a deck and stick with it. Modern rewards familiarity more than anything else. Honestly my favorite modern strategy is still splinter twin especially the straight UR version. But just pick something and play it forever. You'll get good with it.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:25 pm

3 in the finals seems likely to be incorrect.

Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:33 pm

If you want tier one, burn is like actually pretty close and probably like 120 tix.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:28 am

Its worth noting that all the money cards in UR delver are directly transferable to several other archetypes so buying into delver gets you close to buying into twin, scapeshift, UWR control, storm etc, whereas that 65$ linvala isn't applicable anywhere else.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 8:54 am

modern format all-star village bell-ringer

Thu Nov 20, 2014 10:52 am

In post 5480, Shanba wrote:Aye but pestermite does not, and the bell ringer is playing pestermite's position, iirc.

I still like the UR version better. Village Bell Ringer might be a little better if the deck is trying to go off, but perstermite is WAY better in all the games you win without going off, which I can tell you from a lot of experience piloting the deck is at least 50% of the time.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:01 am

I played the UWR control version of the deck at GP Minneapolis. Similar to this list:

2xMountain
4xArid Mesa
4xCelestial Colonnade
1xHallowed Fountain
1xPlains
2xIsland
2xSacred Foundry
4xScalding Tarn
2xSulfur Falls
2xSteam Vents
2xSnapcaster Mage
4xWall of Omens
4xDeceiver Exarch
4xRestoration Angel
3xKiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
4xPath to Exile
4xRemand
4xSplinter Twin
4xLightning Bolt
3xLightning Helix
0x-----Sideboard-----
3xAnger of the Gods
2xSowing Salt
3xDispel
2xStony Silence
1xEngineered Explosives
2xSpellskite
1xWear Tear
1xLightning Helix

Wasn't a huge fan. You just have so much fluff in your deck g1 in terms of the combo that you can't play the control roll as well as you need to imo.

Certainly not ideal in a format full of UR delver.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:03 am

I was also playing another snapcaster and 2 cryptics in there somewhere.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:58 am

http://brainstormbrewery.com/conjured-c ... ew-jersey/

Worth a read. In general dealing with vendors at large events is an art not a science. Keep in mind you are not going to get retail for your cards you are going to get buylist. It might behoove you to try to trade with some of the less high value cards into some of the other less high value cards of the deck. I would definitely try to do some serious trading before you get down to the rest of this post. That way you're not hemorrhaging value.

Check out a this site to see what your cards are likely to get on the buylist:
http://www.quietspeculation.com/tt3/ (plug: run by Kelly Reid, a solid guy. QS insider is totally worth it!)

After you've got a good idea of what your cards are going to net you before you get to the GP you're ready to go. Once you get there you are going to be looking for two things: Vendors that offer a bonus on store credit as opposed to cash and vendors that have physical copies of their buylists that you can take and compare to see who is going to give you the best value. There are some vendors (most notably channelfireball) that always give 30% on top of their buylist price if you're willing to take credit and not cash. Since you're trying to buy cards with this money, vendors like this are probably your best option. Keep in mind the following: 1) You still need to shop around. Just because it has a credit bonus doesn't mean its the best value. If CFB is buying the card for 3 and scg is buying the card for 5 even with the 30% bonus SCGs price is still better. 2) Sometimes your time will be worth more than finding an extra quarter. If the booth you're selling 200 worth of stuff to is off by a dollar on something its probably not worth your time to go find the one place thats going to give you that 1$. 3) This is the most important part here and its why doing your homework before hand is most important. Those prices are not set in stone. Especially if you're selling a whole bunch to them. Don't haggle on every card, especially if its small stuff, but hey, if you're being offered 10 dollars on a card and you saw online the buylist was 14 high and a bunch of other vendors are offering 12, don't be afraid to say "hey, can you go 12 on that. The other booths are paying 12." This shows that you're paying attention and most of the time if your price is reasonable the dealer will accept it.

I hope that was helpful. A dealer I have had particular success dealing with before is ivory tower games, I don't know if they'll be there, but I sold off like a whole deck at richmond and they were great to work with. Also shout out MTG Card Market and my buddy Jameson Reeves. Again, don't know if hes gunna be there (if he is he'll be the dude behind the booth with the blue mohawk) but he's a great guy and runs a great shop.

Good luck dude.

Source: I buy and sell magic collections for a non-trivial amount of my income.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:59 am

btw, hang on to the thoughtseize if you can. They're going up long term for sure.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:55 pm

Did you make sure your sell prices are realistic? For instance, your coursers are worth (all prices in USD) 12-13 retail but no one is going to give you more than 6-7. Stormbreath is like fifteen but you'll probably be offered 8. Xenagos is 10 but buylists for around 4. These prices obviously get a lot better if you add a 30% bonus for trading.

A whole bunch of those rares you posted appear to be what dealers will consider bulk (i.e. cards that retail from 50-75 cents) and you will probably be offered .10-.25 cents on them.

I just want to make sure you're not completely shocked by the prices you're offered, as many first time sellers often are.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:13 pm

Alright sweet.

Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:13 pm

just trying to be as helpful as I possibly can!

Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:07 pm

price point for trades shouldn't matter as long as you use the same price guide for both sides.

Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:01 am

Absolutely excellent article by PV

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... aled-deck/

Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:19 am

Yeah I just watched one of his sealed breakdowns. Super helpful.

Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:35 am

In post 5503, PeregrineV wrote:
In post 5500, Thestatusquo wrote:Absolutely excellent article by PV

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... aled-deck/

I got excited, then realized I didn't write anything....

I thought about this when posting the comment.

You mean you're not a dashingly handsome, Brazilian, hall of fame magic player?

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:12 am

What the fuck deck plays hypnotic spector in what the fuck format?

Fri Nov 21, 2014 9:17 am

Chamber pointed out to me that cube is a thing right now.

Derp.

Fri Nov 21, 2014 11:24 am

In post 5513, diginova wrote:Anyone have a list for a good budget cube in the $200 range? I just taught my friends how to draft and they want to keep doing it, and I figure a cube is the best way.
It only has to be 360 cards as they are 6-person drafts.

The limited resources cube is a commons/uncommons cube with a few rares thrown in. It's designed to feel like regular limited and imo its quite good.

http://www.cubetutor.com/visualspoiler/9057

Fri Nov 21, 2014 11:28 am

Probably can cut a few cards:
Sun Ce, for instance, is like 40 bucks for no reason and could easily just be replaced by any five mana unblockable or flying 3/3

Nothing else looks exceptionally expensive except for sylvan library, but thats only like 20 bucks and is an effect you cannot replace easily.

Fri Nov 21, 2014 11:29 am

Or you could do what I did when I first started my cube which is proxy the whole thing out and then replace proxies with actual cards as you get them.

Fri Nov 21, 2014 11:47 am

http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/1141

here's the cube list mine is based off of. has a LOT of proxies.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:28 am

In post 5525, PeregrineV wrote:Going to ask in here, at the Grand Prix level, if time is called and th alast 5 turns are played, and both players are still alive at the end of those 5 turns, is it a draw, or is there a winner based on some criteria?

Couple things to keep in mind here. The most important point is 3. I have seen SO many newer players get DQd from tournaments for this when they had no idea they were even doing anything wrong.

1) The rules prescribe several scenarios. If it is game 2, then the player who won the first game wins the match 1-0. If it is game 1 or game 3 then the game is a draw.
2) However, it often correct etiquette in a grand prix setting (where a draw helps neither player, especially day 1) for one player to concede to the other one depending on if they felt that player was likely to win the game given more turns. This is often best brought up before the five turns are called, but don't be afraid to ask for a scoop if you feel like you were a huge favorite to win that game and don't be afraid to concede if you feel like you were a huge dog to win that game.
3) It's worth noting here that this ends up getting some players in trouble. It is illegal to use any outside method to determine the winner of a game. This includes flipping a coin, rolling dice, rock paper scissors, looking at the top X cards of your library to see what might have been drawn by each player. Anything that you can think of to determine that game of magic that was not public info at the time of that game of magic. If you do anything like this, it is improperly determining the outcome and you can and will be DQ'd if a judge sees you do it.
4) Some people will get upset if you ask for the win, just say something like "it's fine if you'd prefer to draw. I just asked because a draw helps neither of us and I was winning on board. But go ahead and mark the draw on the slip and I'll sign it. Some people will ask you to scoop and be upset when you don't do it. Use your best judgement here. I am likely to lose I always scoop, and if I was likely to win I always ask for a concession. If the outcome is unclear, I usually don't think either of these things should happen. Like I said. Use your judgement, don't get flustered by your opponent pressuring you.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:47 am

Sure.

BV:

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... drid-pods/ what do you think?

Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:57 am

1) Yes, it can be 1-0-1. Life totals are a gray area. I would say that its probably not improperly determining a winner, but I will also say that I think its a really shitty method for seeing who is going to win a game. Am I winning because I cracked 2 fetch lands and you cracked 3? Am I losing because you're an aggro deck and you got me down to 10 before I cast my board sweeper?

2) Of course. Scooping or not scooping is entirely a personal decision. I just tend to scoop if I'm behind because a draw is literally the same thing as a loss d1 of a GP. Likewise I ask for the scoop if I'm ahead. (noting this comes after the 5 turns. When the game is already a draw) You're not losing anything from scooping in that situation because, as I already said, you need 7 wins to get to day 2. You don't get any consolation for winning 6 games and drawing one. There are definitely plenty of games that at the end of 5 turns it is not apparent who would have won. But, its totally personal preference and its totally subjective whether you think its the right call. Don't ever scoop before the 5 turns are up either. Always play it out. It should be noted here that players being dicks to me is definitely a factor in my mind. Why should I help you out if you're being a douche? Answer: I wont.

3) Basically yes. Nothing outside the game can be used. Comparing hands and flipping over top cards of decks is considered (outside of the game) though they're more lenient on the hand thing. I still wouldn't do it though.

4) You'll find, shockingly, that a large portion of magic players are a) assholes and b) have a highly inflated sense of their own skill level. This leads to the behavior you're describing. I feel like there is a curve of skill level vs being a dick, where as someone gets better at the game up to a certain point they are more of a dick until they cross some threshold of skill and realize they don't need to be a dick to succeed at magic so they start become less of an asshole. Also, I think with more experienced large tournament players the idea of scooping out at the end of a draw is well known and you won't get any weird looks about it. Someone coming from FNM however is going to not understand and feel like the person is trying to take advantage of them, because in FNM draws matter, but in early rounds of GPs they don't.

Especially if you're like in the x-2 round and you go to time. One of you needs to scoop. There is no reason to draw and take both of you out of day two for no reason. This is why I'm always especially nice to my x-2 opponents! JK, but being nice does help.

it's not that its fair, its that it helps neither of you, so its really something you want to avoid if possible.

There are other considerations also. For instance, suppose your deck has a really bad matchup against UB control. The most likely decks to be in the draw bracket are UB control because UB-UB mirrors are the most likely matches to get draws. By drawing you are essentially making yourself have like a 10x more likely chance of playing against your worst matchup that way, so you should scoop to avoid the draw bracket.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 9:24 am

Seems unlikely to me. In my mind its only correct in the original example because you're not really giving anything up to improve your matchups. If you have to take a draw instead of a win then I think the value of -1 win is likely to be way more than the value of +2/3 favorable matchups.

Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:24 pm

If anyone has any cards they're looking to buylist, hit me up. I'll pay better than normal buy list prices. Mainly looking for EDH and standard cards.

I've got a friend who is opening up a store and he wants me to run the singles case in exchange for taking some off the top. Let me know if anyone has any standard stuff or edh stuff they'd like to dump for cash monies.

Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:41 am

In your version (with all the little mana dorks) it seems pretty much nonsense to not run wingmate roc (its not THAT expensive)

You're going to be able to trigger raid consistantly, and also the roc whip interaction with raid just nets you a free 3/4 flier.

Sat Nov 29, 2014 4:54 pm

wd.

what record?

Sat Nov 29, 2014 7:07 pm

Same!

Sat Nov 29, 2014 7:36 pm

Run the table. Get dat invite.

Sun Nov 30, 2014 9:46 am

Looks like he's dead, but still likely to cash if he wins out.

Tue Dec 02, 2014 8:55 am

Does it include Zach Hill or BDM?

Tue Dec 02, 2014 11:52 am

I guess that's fair. They're all in the running for the worst, though.

Tue Dec 02, 2014 5:58 pm

I was trying to force UR tempo with twin (or mono U tempo without, but then the red cards just kept flowing

Tue Dec 02, 2014 5:59 pm

Yes, I am aware 15 lands is a little loose with a 5 drop and 2 4 drops..

Wed Dec 03, 2014 4:31 am

I ended up siding out purphoros for brimstone volley in almost every matchup. Land count ended up being fine. I kept 2 1 landers and felt pretty ok doing so. I think that's generally where you want to be in a 15 land deck.

Lost to Andrew Shrout in the finals. G1 turn 5 eureka- progenitus-thragtusk-primevil titan was pretty good. He also showed me bonfire g1 so I I played around that g2 by pumping my figure instead of playing flamespeaker. G3 he had the tusk and I was still able to give my self three rips at a 3 damage or better burn spell but couldn't get there. Good games.

I actually haven't been liking mono red in this cube (though its usually what I force in cube (if there aren't signets. If there are signets 5c control all the way) because it just seems like this cube is less durdley an more creature strategy oriented, which means you have less good matchups to prey on. I've been REALLY liking mono U tempo/aggro in this iteration because 2/2 fliers are just SO good in this cube, as are bounce spells. Riftwing cloudskate is like the nut high and master of waves is SAVAGE especially if you can curve kira into it. I've been splashing red if I can get the twin package and enough lands to reasonably do so because pestermite and exarch are totally fine in the non red version of the deck so I don't mind speculatively picking them up mid pack which is generally where I see them go (which feels maybe wrong? I feel like twin is one of the most objectively powerful things you can be doing in this cube and it doesn't ask a whole hell of a lot of you, either.)

Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:48 am

I assume by "complaints about aggro decks" you mean "Marshall Suttcliffe will not shut the fuck up about it."

Fuck him. He thinks that just because the particular strategies that he likes to play aren't amazing that the cube is bad. That's just clearly not the case. I don't think aggro strategies are over powered. I think they were underpowered in previous iterations of the cube, and now they're not just byes for durdle-fest blue control, which they were before.

I think some of the design choices for this cube are interesting. Cutting the swords in particular is a move I really like. Some of the most boring games of cube go like this "turn two dude turn three sword turn four equip win" I know Chamber cut the swords entirely from his cube a long time ago and has been fairly happy with the results.

They've made white weenie a playable archetype, when before I feel like it was just sort of a "lolllll you tried to draft a different deck and didn't get there so you back doored some late white creatures" Thats sweet. Blue feels less good from a controlling standpoint and more good from an aggro standpoint, so I think that's where a lot of the complaints are coming from. I think they're just lazy. There is still a diversity of archetypes to play all over the spectrum. I wish they'd do more with green than just making it mana dorks and big green dudes, which feels super lame. Green is the hardest color to design well for cube I think, though. It just doesn't have a very straightforward identity, so that's a little bit forgivable.

Some of the card choices feel a little bit odd to me. The eldrazi in particular I feel like should have been cut when channel got the axe. They just don't do anything outside of one archetype (sneak/show/eureka) which means there are drafts where just no one wants them and there is not enough good mana ramp in this cube to reasonably cast them. Honestly I kind of just wish show and tell wasn't in the cube or the eldrazi weren't in the cube. It feels too easy to just do that and show and tell would be an interesting card if you weren't just emrakuuling. I wish there were storm support as well. I like combo in the cube but I really want people to work for it. Thats what makes it fun. Sneak attack/reanimator/eureka/twin don't really feel like enough work to me. (reanimator may be an exception)

Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:21 am

In post 5585, Sudo_Nym wrote:I'm not 100%, but I think you have to choose a target for Sower when it enters play. The bigger issue is that you have to play your creature before the opponent does, so they get to see your Sower before they decide what to put out.

All the choices of show and tell are made as the spell is resolving. None of the creatures come into play until after the show and tell has resolved, at which point they both come into play at the same time and any triggered effects will happen. The point is that sower will see Big Daddy Emra in order to target when it triggers.

This is why oblivion ring, sower of temptation and gilded drake are popular sb cards against show and tell in legacy (and why typically its safer to go for the sneak attack kill in post board games)

Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:22 am

and sudo, for show and tell all choices are made and then revealed at the same time. Your opponent should not know about sower until show and tell resolves.

Eureka on the other hand...

Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:51 pm

Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:57 pm

Guys make sure to root for Andrew Baekstrom for team USA. Good friend of mine. Great guy. Great magic player. GO TEAM USA!

Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:42 pm

Yeah, fairly astonishing failure to day 2 actually. Canada was one of the stronger teams imo.

Fri Dec 05, 2014 1:57 pm

Japan didnt day 2? They won their last round, did their tie breaks suck that bad?

Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:04 pm

Wow, yeah they came in 33. Rough beats. Not sure which is a bigger surprise.

France was a pretty big surprise too.

Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:40 pm

In post 5604, chamber wrote:
In post 5600, hasdgfas wrote:Was Canada or Japan the bigger shock to fail to get to Day 2? (And who's the biggest surprise if it's not one of those two?)

Is canada not day 2ing that big of a surprise?

I mean they have two pro tour winners on their team in Sean McLaren and Alexander Hayne.

They were a favorite to win it all. Seeing them not day 2 is definitely a shock.

Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:44 pm

The issue with Canadian magic isn't like top end quality. The top 3 of Jacob Wilson, McLaren and Hayne is as good as any top 3 in the world (better than most).

The issue is that outside of those three names there really aren't that many world caliber players. But in an event like this where you get to put your best 2 or 3 players, Canada is a powerhouse.

Sat Dec 06, 2014 9:11 am

vods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3FJzZh ... n&index=22
www.twitch.tv/magic for the top 8 and top 4 of worlds sunday at 2 am.

Sat Dec 06, 2014 12:59 pm

spectral possession seems borderline uncastable.

Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:47 pm

I'd play them both and cut a couple fours for another one drop.

Sat Dec 06, 2014 3:49 pm

http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/c ... r-draft-1/