Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[Natirasha]

Searing Blaze.

[Natirasha]

I actually wonder if Tezzerator is good in modern right now. Challice seems like the hottest card ever right now and it gets to tutor them up.

[Natirasha]

I'm telling you, man, RIPbears is where it's at.

[Natirasha]

I wonder if all these scandals will cause an uptick in judges shuffling decks.

[Natirasha]

In a way it kinda annoys me, because I've always had trouble shuffling decks of any cards and I'm always tripping over myself when shuffling. I swear it's not intended, but it just happens!

[Natirasha]

So, all commander spoilers are out.

Fairly enough due to last year, black got kinda hosed. Sad no full command cycle reprint. Containment Priest is okay and probably going to see some measure of play.

[Natirasha]

That entire time I lived in Texas, and never once mentioned you lived in the area, PV! I am disappointed

Given it's Texas, expect RG monsters and Abzan to be the decks to beat. I know the DFW crowd really loves Stormbreath and Siege Rhino decks, although there will be some Jeskai players.

I actually think the tier 2 decks are strong right now, Sultai/4c Reanimator, Ascendency combo and especially UB control would be the 'meta' decks IMO. Mono Red is a bad idea, I think. I've been wrong before though.

[Natirasha]

Only reason ascendency isn't seeing play is due to burn+delver being the two decks to beat. I've decided I don't think the deck is OP though. It hinges way too hard on Caryatid most of the time.

I've been playing with Tezzerator and it's been going decently. Destroys burn(seriously I don't know how they win), favored vs Twin, is slightly unfavored vs Delver.

[Natirasha]

I mean, at least Black is in the color to actually take care of SBD and Sarkhan. I am very disappointed the wrath is that bad, although I will play it.

In MaRo's card post-mortem, he mentioned that they were going to reprint Logic Knot, but they cut it because they just made a 'normal' counterspell with Delve and put it in the file during development.

I suspect it's in Fate Reforged(or they cut it for Disdainful Stroke, I guess).

[Natirasha]

UB is not a good deck, but it is a good deck too because Perilous Vault is actually really good and it's the only shell that can play it(I've actually wondered if a tuned Abzan list could play vault as well).

I suspect post-FRG the lists will play some Crux of Fate and some Vaults.

Also, although I am sad 4-mana wraths have disappeared, I also haven't personally felt the pain of a five-mana wrath. The times I've cast End Hostilities, it's functioned pretty much just as well as when I cast Wrath of God.

[Natirasha]

They're stupid for holding priority between each activation.

[Natirasha]

I forget the intricacies of the combo, but isn't it illegal just because of the amount of time it takes due to repeating the same action x times with a meaningful change in boardstate or something?

[Natirasha]

I don't plan on doing the GP/PTQ circuit anymore. It's just so expensive and unfulfilling and takes forever. I realized that at the last SCG I went to.

I might still do limited GPs, I guess, because I'm 1. Actually good at limited and 2. feel like my entry fee doesn't go completely to waste.

Otherwise, I think I'm content atm to be an FNM hero.

[Natirasha]

I actually like standard because the rotating card pool is actually a neat concept and gets around the e-sports problem of intentionally fucking up balance to prevent meta stagnation(same reason limited is fun).

As an antecedent, I await the day that WotC finally gets serious about their digital staff and makes MTGO a core product. One of the reasons MTGO sucks so much, I think, is because they have the IRL scene to protect.

[Natirasha]

UB is a good deck simply because it's so underpowered no one plans for it, lol.

Perilous Vault is super tech!

[Natirasha]

UB is really really good vs green. Like, I legit don't think, say, Abzan, can win if they get down T4 Vault.

[Natirasha]

I agree but it's one of those things where if you play one threat at a time, they'll just outdraw you then jam Loch Ness. Whn you're going big and plan on playing Wingmates and Rhinos and Elspeths, well, that gives UB time to set up. I think the Deathdealer builds are better suited in that aspect to beat them. And Perilous Vault still just wipes the board. I'm not saying UB is a great deck, but it is good at exactly one thing and that is eating up slow midrange decks.

Also Ari beat UWR twice in the PT.

[Natirasha]

I mean, sometimes you get bad beats and just want to rant. In ISD-RTR standard I was in a PTQ playing a deck with 4x Devour Flesh, 4x Liliana of the Veil, 4x Mutilate and 2x Parasalene in the board(I really don't like losing to Hexproof). It's game two vs hexproof and I lost the first one. He mulls to five, I duress his Abudant Growth sticking him on basic forest, Geist and two creature enchantments. He draws Fountain into Sunpetal and I don't draw one of my ten hate cards before he kills me. You could say it was in bad taste, but seriously, some situations are just so frustrating that you can't really help it.

[Natirasha]

Beeboy, watch mj's recent streams then so the exact opposite of what he says.

[Natirasha]

I would like to see the pool, yeah. I suspect the red is cuttable(and the black too mostly).

But anyways, sealed is pretty slow. You almost 100% want to play blue because blue is so strong. Even if it's just a singleton Treasure Cruise in your Mardu deck, play it. Seriously.

[Natirasha]

Spoiler: How I'd Build That Pool

2x Snowhorn Rider
1x Avalanche Tusker
1x Jeskai Windscout
1x Kheru Spellsnatcher
2x Alpine Grizzly
1x Sagu Archer
1x Archer's Parapet
1x Efreet Weaponmaster
1x Sultai Flayer
1x Highland Game
-----
2x Crippling Chill
1x Temur Ascendency
1x Savage Punch
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Dig Through Time
1x Flying Crane Technique
1x Bring Low
1x Singing Bell Strike
1x Weave Fate
-----
1x Frontier Bivouac
1x Tranquil Cove
1x Swiftwater Cliffs
1x Dismal Backwater
1x Jungle Hollow
1x Bloodfell Caves
1x Rugged Highlands
1x Plains
4x Island
5x Forest
1x Mountain

Manabase is off(may need another White, but Weaponmaster can be a morph and FCT is a finisher) and there is a strong argument for going deeper into black, but I think this overall is the strongest.

[Natirasha]

You are not going to have a sealed pool where you can be one or two colors upwards on 90% of the time, shea. This set is very janky in sealed and due to all the fixing rewards going deep in multiple colors.

The deck I posted is something similar to what you are suggesting and is about as close as you can get to a focused 2-color deck in sealed in this format without the god-pool.

Like, go watch Cheon or MJ or any of the streamers streaming the PTQQ and you'll see some wild manabases.

Draft is completely different, of course, and I think the closer to two colors you get in draft the better.

[Natirasha]

PV is!

[Natirasha]

This is my group's cube. It's pretty okay, but I disagree with a few things that the owner's done(mainly, included Storm, which is really parasitic and easy to draft). Mind Twist is also really unfun, but I know it's getting swapped out for Booster Tutor soon(we're in the process of upping it to a 500ish card cube).

[Natirasha]

I really hope all the commanders in this next set aren't as boring as the spoiled one!

[Natirasha]

Damn, that's like the exact same spread I went at my first GP. Into day 2 7-2, ended up 9-6.

I didn't get props from the pros, though.

[Natirasha]

Id have cut Purph for a land, maybe one of the 2 drops too. Dualcaster, Figure, Fireblast and Flamespeaker all don't mind having a few extra lands around.

[Natirasha]

I'm probably hanging up my Magic cap for pretty much good(for now). The Pittsburgh community are pretty much all xenophobic.

They literally told me to go away to my face. Like, seriously.

[Natirasha]

Yeah, I don't know. I'm sure there's a good store somewhere here, but I've been to three of them now and the communities are all nor very welcoming.

[Natirasha]

I've heard good things about them, yeah. It's a mostly function of distance due to the fact I only really reliable transportation two or three days a week and they're a good hour away.

[Natirasha]

More forests for most degenerate card in cube, probably.

Not playing Mirari's Wake is probably a mistake.

Mentor+commune seem sketch.

Otherwise looks okay, add forest+Mirari's over those two and you'd have an okay deck. Maybe cut Linvala(eases up your white burden) and put in Wildspeaker or something.

[Natirasha]

This is an interesting set.

I really want to draft it.

[Natirasha]

I mean, another morph-like mechanic is going to be in Dot too.

[Natirasha]

I'm working on two decks atm--Mono R Devotion and UB Control.

UB is sweet, but I think it is actually unfavored vs abzan post-frf. I think it's even or positive vs most other decks, though(Although some decks, like Blue-Whip, comes down to 'How many times do I have to kill that damn Torrent Elemental'). I'm playing 2 Vault/3 Crux, with 4 Ashiok/1 Liliana/1 Ugin as wincons(main, I have Silumgar+PLA in the side).

Mono R Devotion is more tentative, but is performing okay. I feel it's missing something before i build it irl, but this deck should be on radars I think now.

[Natirasha]

Fleecemane/Rakshasa Abzan, rather than Caryatid/Courser Abzan, yeah.

EDIT: Whip decks pretty much come down to 'do they resolve Whip', so I'm not turbo-worried. Sidisi is the worse of the two because Torrent Elemental is an asshole.

[Natirasha]

My prerelease tonight went well. I chose Sultai because I'm on the hunt for UB control rares and I was not left disappointed. Went 3-1, only dropping games to this dude who somehow had Daghatar+Siege Rhino+Warden of the First Tree.

In the end, my spoils of the night were
2x Silumgar(checked off the list)
1x Crux of Fate(2 more to go!)
1x Polluted Delta(my sealed pool was amazing)
1x Brutal Hordechief(not for UB but notable)

The rest were either unremarkable or actively bad--in the nine packs I opened overall, I got 2 Scroll of the Masters and a Dragon Throne of Tarkir. :///

In any case, I'm just 2 Ashioks, Ugin and 3 Polluted Deltas away from having all the money cards for UB now, so I'm getting there.

[Natirasha]

Wow, those bans...

[Natirasha]

I just spent six months trading for Pod on PucaTrade. All of my Modern staples besides Pod stuff went out. I'm pretty much out of Magic in paper entirely now.

Now what?

I think atm you have to move over to GW Hatebears. That shouldn't be ~too~ terrible on the budget all things considered(ie, yes it sucks).

I honestly don't mind the Pod ban, but it really is a middle finger to any player who doesn't have a store or company providing them with staples. I know six or seven people in your position right now. This ban, more than most others, shows that wizards really doesn't know how to provide for their players. Like, anyone who says 'economics shouldn't play a role in metagame development' should literally be pointed directly to this ban.

Also, the corellary: never invest in modern staples that don't see play in Legacy, because Wizards will ban your deck eventually.

In other news--with two of it's worst matchups gone, Mono G Devotion and Merfolk are back!

[Natirasha]

Man, I've been messing with various Sultai 'random card' shells and it's really fun. I like opening my trade binder and saying 'I want to play all of it'

Courser of Kruphix has somehow gone from cool to boring and back to hot new tech again.

[Natirasha]

I'll just copy past my comment from reddit.

It was a good tale, but the conclusion didn't work for me because the protagonist in the story was the orc and he didnt actually have a conclusion.

[Natirasha]

I mean, Zurgo is pretty much the exact opposite of nameless orc-bro in every way, but sure.

[Natirasha]

M13 is the best coreset for drafting purposes, imo.

[Natirasha]

Paul.

[Natirasha]

I just looked up some decks on mtggoldfish, and this looks pretty okay and cheap. Swiftspear and Stoke are the 'money' cards, but they aren't hard to find and you could probably replace them with more burn or Arena Athletes or something.

[Natirasha]

I think the lackluster nature of this PT is just more proof Modern is a dead format.

I give them three years before extended returns.

[Natirasha]

I'm less complaining about the format, but the attitude.

Pretty much no one--coverage or players looked happy to be there. There was very little excitement in the room(compare to PTKTK, which was absolutely exciting!). This extended to most of the places I was reading chat at, as well.

No one

cares

about modern. The format has been roughly 'solved': pick either Abzan or your favorite linear strategy(Burn, Infect, Bloom Titan, Merfolk and Twin are all sides of the same coin) and go.

It's more-or-less like RTR-Theros Standard. The format wasn't 'broken', but it was just to the point that no one cared because the format was dumb and solved. Coming off a degenerate season of modern, and before that a similarly boring format, it just is kinda broke. Throw in the fact that past mistakes like Goyf(I mean 'mistake' in a meta sense) will forever keep a good portion of players out of the format, especially since there is a valid worrying that WotC will ban your pet deck(and tank the value of your cards) if they perceive it to be 'too good' and you get this awkward lame-duck of a format that most people neither want to play and Wizards doesn't want to stream. Remember--this PT was originally scheduled to be Standard, but changed by public outcry after PTBNG last year(fresh off the DRS ban).

I hate a lot of Wizards' design directives and how they perceive the game of Magic, but I will say that THS-KTK standard is pretty fucking awesome and proves that, yes, Wizards can make a tightly-controlled format that is fun, interactive and healthy(something I was very skeptical of since ZEN-SOM and SOM-ISD were defined by development mistakes, INN-RTR was middling and RTR-THS was legitimately the worst format I've ever played).

Reinstating Extended, I feel, would give them the ability to have their tightly-controlled-for-maximum-'fun' format while simultaneously 'supporting' players by giving their cards longer-term value. The fact they won't have to deal with financial snafus like Goyf nor deal with developmental mistakes like Twin or Storm is just icing. The only awkward point is that they've done two Modern Masters sets now, and they have to nominally support them for some amount of time, which is fine since they need to get enough of the new mini-blocks to be able to support extended anyways.

[Natirasha]

INN-RTR was, on the surface level, okay. It had a lot of problems in the nitty-gritty mechanical level inasmuch that there were too many 'value' cards in the format that kind of pushed true control and aggro decks out, though(which is really my only complaint about ISD, it waaay overly rewards midrange decks to the expense of everything else).

[Natirasha]

#unbanSword

[Natirasha]

It's just, like, is thopter foundry even good with Abrupt Decay in the format?

[Natirasha]

(Extended would not have the same secondary market problems)

[Natirasha]

(They're never going to bring back Extended)

(I still haven't heard an argument for why they won't)

[Natirasha]

(Because MaRo is still in charge)

I don't think MaRo has any interaction with modern or the DCI/policy-making outside of R&D.

And, real question, do you think Modern is a mistake? I obviously think the answer is yes.

[Natirasha]

Absolutely not. No one played Extended.

Because they distinctly went out of their way to kill the format.

[Natirasha]

I'd grant that twin is pretty nonlinear, but I really don't know how you can make the argument Bloom Titan is not a linear strategy?

[Natirasha]

It'd be Abzan vs Jund(I'm not convinced Abzan is better) vs 4c Midrange(no blue) vs UWR control vs Mardu Burn vs Black Devotion.

[Natirasha]

Thragtusk, Sphinx's Revelation, Siege Rhino AND Grey Merchant of Asphodel are all in the format, though.

[Natirasha]

BW Tokens is my tech in Modern right now, I think. Sort of.

Bad vs twin+Bloom Titan, Insane vs Abzan+affinity, Positive vs Burn+Control, ? vs Infect.

[Natirasha]

I was actually speaking from personal experience this week. I actually won the only infect match I played, but it was close and I could see it being worse.

I actually picked up the deck sort of from the PT. I'm more or less a Stanislav Cifka fangirl(I think he's the strongest active player in the game right now) and the one match on camera looked seriously powerful against Abzan.

Like, Intangible Virtue, new Sorin and Zealous Persecution all look seriously amazing in the meta right now.

[Natirasha]

I'm running this for Gameday. Anyone else planning to go do a Gameday? What are you playing?

Glad you asked, because I'm actually playing a cool deck.

Spoiler: Sultai 'My Rare Binder'

4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Satyr Wayfinder
3 Hero's Downfall
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Murderous Cut
3 Thoughtseize
1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
4 Opulent Palace
4 Polluted Delta
2 Crux of Fate
4 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Mystery
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Llanowar Wastes
3 Island
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Bile Blight
3 Sultai Charm
1 Torrent Elemental
1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
3 Dig Through Time
SB: 1 Garruk, Apex Predator
SB: 3 Negate
SB: 1 Palace Siege
SB: 1 Silence the Believers
SB: 1 Torrent Elemental
SB: 1 Hero's Downfall
SB: 2 Drown in Sorrow
SB: 1 Bile Blight
SB: 1 AEtherspouts
SB: 1 Crux of Fate
SB: 1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
SB: 1 Kiora, the Crashing Wave

I started this season wanting to play UB control, but I didn't like how binary it was--It either ran hot or ran super cold every game. Perilous Vault is a terrible Magic card, you had no strong, consistent lifegain. It just didn't play well vs anything on the field except Abzan and even that...blegh.

So, thankfully, G Fab played that Sultai control list and I tried that out. It was definitely better, but I didn't like a lot of the card choices he played, found I was stalling on mana way too much(since it wanted to hit seven/eight to win the game), and it stilled had the lifegain problem(resorting to even playing cards like Feed the Clan post board...).

So I put Courser of Kruphix in. Of course, I understand why G Fab built the deck the way he did--he wanted to turn off as much removal as possible in g1--but I honestly didn't like that strategy. Tasigur and Courser have done a lot to help me find more success with the deck, because they actually do a good job of blanking threats as well. I don't lose to the red decks drawing out all their burn spells as I slowly + with ashiok or something nearly as much now, I'm finding, and Courser just in general makes the deck way more smooth.

The other creatures came after testing(I've been on this deck since FRF came out)--Silumgar, I found, I always wanted every matchup. He's much better here than in the control shells, his huge butt is disgustingly unkillable and essentially guarantees you'll win the game in most matchups. Torrent Elemental was because I wanted another proactive win condition, and he actually pushes through damage on your 2/4s and 1/1s. The problem with running Wayfinder with a bunch of 1-of threats is sometimes you end up dumping those threats in the yard. I tried playing some weird things to fix this--at one point, even running Pharika's Mender--but it just didn't work out. With the amount of Delve, Torrent Elemental just works though(not to mention he simply makes UB look real silly as they Vault him away). I honestly think I want two of them over the Kiora main, but I go back and forth. The fact he matches up well vs Stormbreath on defense is also important. This card is four dollars right now and criminally underplayed.

Sultai Charm is the best charm in standard right now. Abzan is the more powerful, but the ability to kill most creatures and naturalize is huge at the moment. Whether you're blowing up Frontier Siege, Jeskai Ascendancy, Whip of Erebos or the Perilous Vault, no one really expects it and it's huge. Love the card.

So, why play this over Abzan? It's the combination of card draw(one thing I didn't touch on was Dig vs Cruise--tried both, it doesn't matter which you play), Ashiok(yes, some games you just t3 ashiok and win) and Sultai Charm, mostly. Wayfinder is a way better creature than Caryatid(if they are even running that). It's sad missing out on Rhino, but I can't say I've missed the other white components of the deck.

[Natirasha]

Due to snowstorms, only four people showed up.

Won vs Temur Ascendancy and Mardu
Lost vs Mono R Heroic

[Natirasha]

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... th-modern/

We're growing!

[Natirasha]

Modern would be pretty cool if Disrupting Shoal was a playable magic card.

[Natirasha]

XMage is good too.

Twin is probably the ~best~ deck in modern, but Abzan is definitely the most consistent.

[Natirasha]

One day of spoilers and I'm already super hyped.

Rebound is, like, my favorite mechanic of all time. I even designed a set with it as a main mechanic(in BR, actually).

All the other cards look sweet, too, though. Sidisi is, like, the coolest mono Black general I've ever seen. Silumgar is fine enough. I will be very interested to see if he sees standard play, because the power is there for it to. Stratus Walker is the most hilariously disjointed rare I've seen in a while(since 'I can also graveyard hate' Anafenza, at least). The rest are limited stuff(I'm terrified of the 5/4 dasher at common, though--I know I'm going to lose so many games to it).

Also, Sarkhan and Narset as the walkers...boring.

[Natirasha]

I don't really care about Megamorph.

Another cycle of commands, though!!!

[Natirasha]

They are taunting me with all these almost-playable UB cards.

Seriously, fuck Wizards.

[Natirasha]

I strongly agree with that killinggoldfish guy about Zendikar being an exercise in suffering.

Magic Origins is looking sweet already though. I can't wait to play with Liliana of the Veil mk2!

[Natirasha]

The new hot thing is to splash green for Sultai Charm.

[Natirasha]

I almost went to GGP Clrveland, but I spent my fun budget this month on that new 'Force of Will' game instead.

[Natirasha]

Destroying them certainly isn't wise, UGIN?

I'M ON TO YOU

To be fair, Doug Beyer literally dismissed the idea he is an eldrazi.

More to the point, Ugin is not going to have a heel-face turn due to his position as a major player in both the Nicol Bolas and Eldrazi storylines. I do think his days are numbered because Ugin is kind of in the position of being so powerful a force of good they have to kill him off. I kind of suspect that he will die due to Bolas's interference next block killing Ulamog(because, if you think Ulamog doesn't die in B4Z you're dumb).

I actually have a suspicion Battle For Zendikar will have more planeswalkers than normal. Like, possibly an entire cycle. Gideon's confirmed, Nissa is practically confirmed, Sorin & Ugin are likely en-route(we'll know for sure next week since Doug confirmed next week's UR is Sorin's visit to Tarkir in DTK), Kiora is a distinct possibility, Ob Nixilis is going to make a presence in some form and Nahiri is a big mystery(it's confirmed her story is not over).

After B4Z is interesting, though. I'm very curious to what storyline they'll pick up. The secondary cast right now is too big to just continue ignoring all of them, and you can't have another major plot beat so soon after B4Z(it's been acknowledged that putting ROE and New Phyrexia so close to each other was a mistake). It'll probably be a new plane, with Chandra as the primary protagonist if I had to make a guess.

[Natirasha]

Got first at prerelease with Silumgar control. Had a decent deck--six cantrip dudes, 3 Butchers and 5 dragons of various shades.

Sealed is pretty nutso favored for UB. The four UB players took up the top four positions.

This set sucks for value, though. I opened Narset, Ojutai Exemplars, Dragon Whisperer and Shorecrasher Elemental as the only value cards in the sixteen packs opened tonight.

[Natirasha]

No one at my shop got the Foe-Razer Regent promo. I got the closest with 18 points.

I think the shop owner was wrong on the rules, though, because instead of the composite total of both throws, she took the best throw out of two?

[Natirasha]

Went to Sunday prerelease. Took Kolaghan, played infiniteremoval.dec again.

Got first again, won eight packs woo. Opened foil Dromaka's Command, Thunderbreak Regent and Collected Company.

I need worthy opponents in sealed.

[Natirasha]

Lavalanche. Bonfire is probably the best one, though.

[Natirasha]

Drafted UW Narset at FNM tonight.

This just in--Icefall Regent, Narset and Brutal Hordechief are good!

Got first, opened shit.

[Natirasha]

I'm having flashbacks to Resto-Tusk with this stupid GW devotion deck.

[Natirasha]

Sprinting Warbrute is disgusting and I still can't believe it's a common.

Red gas two lava axes at common! And they other have upside!

[Natirasha]

I know it's come up before, but the new Kill Review on Return to Ravnica is one of the best explainations of the disenfranchisement I(and other enfranchised players) have with Magic as it is today.

[Natirasha]

Yeah, it's shifted to be 'safe'. Every set since ISD has been 'safe'. There have been no real attempts at dangerous things since ISD(And, before that, Lorwyn).

The gameplay mechanics shift is part of it, because they want these sets to be safe and digestible to the casual player, but it's not the whole picture.

[Natirasha]

Which isn't to say playing it safe is bad--I agree that KTK block is really fun and the best standard we've had since original Ravnica(yeah I went there)--but it isn't an intellectually

deep

block.

[Natirasha]

(And speaking as someone who cares about lore, Dragons has shaped up to be the worst execution of a classic story as possible)

[Natirasha]

I actually think that the fact it isn't the exact same game it was as 2002 (when i started) is a good thing.

ideas, archetypes, paradigms evolved, making the game feel organic.

Yes, they are playing it safe. (wait, are they?)

Treasure Cruise, Thragtusk, Delver of Secrets, Jeskai ascendancy, Mental misstep, Jace the Wallet Sculptor, Walletslayer Angel, Titan cycle (all post Lorwyn, most post ISD) are example of newer really strong cards. Psychatog, Astral Slide, are examples of older strong cards. What I'm getting at is that the game at its core is still the same, with its silly strong cards, and standardized archetypes.

If you're experiencing "disenfranchisement" from this- just find a new hobby, you're burnt out on M:tG. This is a natural thing for a game that has been around since 1993, not everyone can play for that long without feeling bored.

That's not what I'm talking about at all. Anyone can make a Good card. Like, fuck, I have been designing my own set in my own time and it's easy to make good cards. It's about execution of a theme. There are a thousand ways they could have executed Return to Ravnica in such a way that it was great--I mean, the second set was named 'Gatecrash'. That's a great evolution of original Ravnica's theme!

We got a maze and the status quo. Because the status quo sells. It's cynical.

[Natirasha]

How? It was just more of the same, there was no payoff at all!

Like, fuck, at least Theros killed Elspeth!

[Natirasha]

The pacing of DTK so far hasn't worked out. I'm fine with the 'subversion' of Dragons being a shittier timeline for everyone besides Sarkhan, but it's just not working out. Anafenza, for instance, her whole story was completed on her card. Having an entire week dedicated to her just ruins the pacing. If we have a week about Taigam, I don't know what I'll do. We just really haven't seen the payoff of the timeline changing in any noticeable way. Ugin's alive, but the status quo is still just enforced.

I'm not even saying you can't make a story set in a status-quo world, but you do have to have some impetus--I actually think you could make a 'character study' of sorts out of a Magic set(I mean, that was the supposed goal of Theros...), but they don't. It's all hype for the sake of hype.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much in terms of artistic depth from my pre-packaged extremely-popular card game. :/

[Natirasha]

Weatherlight was pretty awful actually, imo. It veered too much in the opposite direction and became kinda self-servicing.

The best two stories in Magic were prob Kamigawa and Lorwyn. How much of that is due to being self-contained, though, who knows(also I have a special attachment to Lorwyn so I'm not the best judge). OG Ravnica was a very serviceable political thriller, too(part of why LOLMAZE is so absolutely abominable). Mirrodin sucked soooo much though. Those books had no thought put into them and were such a mess. A somewhat hot mess though--it was so fucked up and plot thread-crashing that the third novel literally began with Glissa falling asleep for 2 years and completely retconning the first two books. I was like ten at the time and even I could tell that this wasn't how it should be. It's telling that when we returned to Mirrodin, Slobad(the other protagonist) was killed offscreen by goblins--we only knew he died at all because Brady Dommermouth used to post WoG on the WotC forums! And that's not even going into the hot mess that was

Quest for Karn

!

I actually think the Mirrodin novels are why I love consuming dramatically poor media.

I don't have much hope for Origins, although I can't wait to see the walkers. I actually don't think the overarching storyline is too bad. I mean, it's schlock, but that's okay. You can make good schlock(ISD is a good example of that!). It's when the schlock is also stupid(RTR) or boring(THS) that you have problems.

[Natirasha]

Oh right, I forgot about all the pre-revision stuff.

Yeah, those were probably the best.

[Natirasha]

Got third at draft tonight with a subpar RB deck.

Turns out Dragonlord Dromoka is unbeatable.

[Natirasha]

Removal has been on a downward trend in quality to the old days, but going back and trying, say, Mirrodin draft sometimes feels like suffering because it's a lesson in who opens the most removal wins.

Theros was dealt an extraordinarily bad hand, because Heroic and Bestow demanded removal be bad to be good mechanics. See, I actually agree with a lot of what you are saying Shanba. I actually like Heroic as a mechanic--it's an absolutely fine filler mechanic--but it just doesn't have a lot to it, demands the set be twisted around it to accommodate it, and isn't very flavorful.

My favorite thing about Innistrad is the art. Yes, it's still in the same house style as all the other sets now, but besides that, look at this. or this. or this. or this or this. I could go on, but the art in ISD is all interesting angles--close-ups, sometimes low-to-the-ground, they all focus on making the cards, be it a 1/1 cantripper or shitty fog effect.

For a block with no real story, it's cards were most effective at telling one. The fact the cards all played well together, too and tied into thematic themes(humans banded together and used their ingenuity to banish the monsters, vampires literally fed on their opponent's lifeforce to get stronger, werewolves in general were a sweet execution of the day/night theme, the zombie deck was full of weird piecemail creatures, the other weird archtypes like Spider Spawning...they

felt

like you were losing your sanity making it all work. And

thats

what made Innistrad work. It tied the mechanics to the flavor together in such a way to create an intricate piece of art!

[Natirasha]

Oh, absolutely, Lorwyn is my other favorite block. I actually ordered bulk of this island and this swamp so I can always just use those land. My first two commanders were Oona, Queen of the Fae and Ashling the Pilgrim. It had a similar thing where it had a specific theme and it executed it really well. The day/night flip to Shadowmoor was done much better and much more interesting than the Khans-to-Dragons, too.

That said, Khans isn't a bad block. Quite the opposite, I think it's a pretty good block compared to most recent blocks--I'd say it's the third best post-Lorwyn block after Innistrad and Scars. It didn't hit all the notes, but they tried.

I think it's Morph--morph is just a really fun, interesting mechanic that in another world would be evergreen.

Scars is actually interesting as foil to Khans--they are both good blocks, but Scars is fun because it's a huge hot mess of half-baked but interesting ideas, while Khans is good because they took a really easy, if uninspired theme and just focused on making it good.

[Natirasha]

I once did a grab bag that was Masques-Betrayers-Born of the Gods right when BNG came out.

It was misery, but so miserable for everyone it kinda became cool again. Did you know that they printed a card called Embargo in Masques, and it's text reads 'Each player can't cast spells. You lose the game." It was very fun to play with. My only win condition was Shimmering Glasskite I think?

[Natirasha]

Mercadian Masques--the only block that doesn't want you to play Magic.

(I actually don't think Resource Denial is a terrible theme, but holy shit)

[Natirasha]

This protour was the most boring thing oh my god.

[Natirasha]

No innovation.

This standard, while solid, is not as fun as pre-DTK.

[Natirasha]

I have non-Coumbajj-Witch MBC if needed. It's from pre-theros so I guess I don't have Garys too.

[Natirasha]

I feel like a sellout building dragon control.

I miss playing fun cards like Satyr Wayfinder.

[Natirasha]

I actually was trying a one-of Sunscorch in UB dragon control and it did lots of work.

[Natirasha]

Play monogreen devotion. Primal command and Ewitness tend to make burn cry.

[Natirasha]

UU in your RG deck seems rough.

[Natirasha]

I went back to Sultai Courser Control because I felt too lame being on UB dragons.

[Natirasha]

I agree, in weak formats(which I think DTK counts as), the best strat usually is 'pick the rare'.

[Natirasha]

It's flawed, but not as bad as I think most think. It's fun in the same way The Room is a good movie or something.

[Natirasha]

Also, Shea, did you typo M14 and mean M13, because M14 was a pretty forgettable format (not bad) while M13 was super amazing and the only reasons people don't remember it is because ISD was right before and it's a coreset.

[Natirasha]

M14 was sweet because it was weird, but M13 was better because the format was DEEEEEEEEP. Like, holy hell, UR counterburn was a viable deck! When has that ever been a thing? Even by the end of the format(and no joke M13 is the draft format I played the most because it was amazing), I was still finding new uses for the cards and I think I played every card in the set at least once. All the colors were balanced, it was just...so good!

[Natirasha]

Eh, just wait til near rotation, although I guess there isn't much more time for dtk to be drafted...

[Natirasha]

MM2015 seems kind of disappointing.

I'd be fine with it if packs were still just $7, but at $10 a pack, I'm not interested in paying $40 for less value than MMA, even if the draft format seems cool(BG Eldrazi represent!).

[Natirasha]

Comet Storm could have easily been Through the Breach.

[Natirasha]

I just got a friend to bankroll my draft irl. I mean, our cards are pretty much communal anyway.

[Natirasha]

I collect these two because they're the bestest.

[Natirasha]

Cool thing about Titan is that sometimes you just play land and cast him for six mana.

[Natirasha]

I'm not sure about that, bv. Crackling Doom is, like, the reason to play Mardu, no?

[Natirasha]

One of the stores I used to show up to in texas closed because they refused to not redraft.

Was so dumb.

[Natirasha]

Yeah, I mean, I hate my store here's payout and I always win draft FNM because there are like two players capable of keeping up with me, but I always feel bad that they do 8-4s for draft FNM with a sizable contigent of young kids there.

But that goes back to my store's 'core group' being rotten assholes. I mean, they tried to stop us from having a 10 man FNM draft because 'it messes up the pick order' despite usually hosting 6-7 man pods. They only relented because I called up the store owner at home and informed her that they were about to lose ten people's business lol. So now I'm on their hatelist but that's okay.

[Natirasha]

I opened a Daybreak Coronet and Mox Opal. Gave the Coronet to my creditor and managed to come up with a free Mox Opal.

[Natirasha]

Maybe they should do that in other sports. Maybe NFL teams should just split the Lombardi trophy this year. They can play the first half out for fun, then leave for dinner.

Team sport vs individual events. Additionally, Magic players don't have million dollar sponsorship contracts that make them money regardless of performance. I'm obviously speaking out my ass here, but money plays less of a role in other major individual sports likely because the events don't have prizes or have auxiliary prizes with the expectation the athletes are covered by their organizational sponsors.

[Natirasha]

I drafted a Fulminator and Bitterblossom last night! Also turned my Mox Opal into a lot of random EDH stuff I wanted.

Was sweet.

[Natirasha]

I'd gladly trade standard trash below value for goyfs.

Especially when standard is as trash as it is right now.

[Natirasha]

Whenever someone whines about Standard, it makes me feel old.

To be fair, I've whined about standard since Lorwyn.

Although I only started consistently whining about it in RTR.

[Natirasha]

Heh heh

Drafted V Clique and foil Spellskite.

[Natirasha]

I am 12/10 mad the Aurora was made into a stupid giant EDH spell.

Not even an interesting one!

[Natirasha]

No...drawing 7 is functionally the same as draw 6+Scry 1 except you get to draw the scry card instead.

[Natirasha]

Scry isn't really 6.5 cards.

I really don't think the Scry effects the keep-or-mulligan thing at all.

[Natirasha]

Would anyone be interested in me doing a limited set review?

[Natirasha]

I didn't think it was possible, but WotC actually made standard fun again after Dragon of Oh God This is So Fucking Boring!

I'm playing Sultai Thopter Spy Network control. It actually has so much game and I can't wait for the pros to dash my hopes at the PT.

Mana is a little shakey(since it's a 3 color deck with 4 colorless lands), but I'm splashing for two copies of Sultai Charm (beats Gaea's Revenge) and a Conclave Naturalist out of the board.

Hangarback Walker is amazing and is my big speculation target for the PT (it's seriously nutso). TSN is cool and will be awesome as long as Darksteel Citadel is in the format. It's literally Bitterblossom that also draws you cards. Tomb of the Spirit Dragon is a good card and definitely a land worth boarding in against aggressive decks. I'm running one Jace in the board as my other Origins card (and a Languish bleh), and he's been decent but not amazing.

But, seriously, fuck Gaea's Revenge and especially fuck you dude on Cockatrice who boarded in 2 Terra Stompers, 4 Revenges and 1 Mistcutter Hydra. What is even your problem?

[Natirasha]

Misery, bison bucks and occasionally a good game of Magic.

[Natirasha]

Well,

that

was unexpected, but I'm not surprised.

I didn't think it possible, but Origins made Standard fun again!

[Natirasha]

Force of Will is like Magic if they designed it like Yu-Gi-Oh.

[Natirasha]

I more meant it's Magic, except the designers went for the ridiculous Yu-Gi-Oh thing where the decks are all super linear or the cards are just stupid broken(Cheshire Cat is a 1CMC brainstorm on an 0/2 that shuffles into your library on death).

Also, one of the few things MaRo is not lying about is that, as much as it's a feel-bad at times, having inconsistent land drops is

very very very

important to Magic. It's what allows the different timing decks to exist in the game. Force of Will rejects that premise while keeping all the other aspects the same, making the game even more snowbally.

My own personal card game I'm working on gets around the problem by giving you a fixed amount of resources per turn, but not enough except in the lowest of curve decks to dodge running land.

[Natirasha]

Yeah but then I have to play against Seismitoad.

[Natirasha]

Is there any simple sideboard tech in mardu against rally decks?

Agent of Erebos if you're insane.

Also, bleh to the Zendikar mechanics.

[Natirasha]

Im just really mad that Ugin doesn't kill Eldrazi, Devour or whatever it is is a really stupid trigger, Awaken is cool but kind of boring/limited filler, and Landfall is landfall. Also, I still hate Allies.

New Kiora will hopefully carry the set, though.

[Natirasha]

Battle for Zendikar thoughts so far

+Art in this set is great
+The mechanics will be fun in limited
+Ulamog's design is fucking great
+Converge is sunburst but cool
+Adding Ingest and Devoid to 1/2 Flyers actually makes their design compelling
-The Eldrazi mechanic is so fucking stupid
-Allies are stupid and parasitic designs
-Awaken is really stupid.
-Ruinous Path is more or less the stupidest fucking card they could have printed.
-Serious, the Eldrazi don't consume and use your resource against you. That's Phyrexia's thing. The Eldrazi just devour planes and dgaf about things. Why the fuck would you use the awesome exile-matters space with them.
-The flavor text in this set is really, really bad.
-Hero of Goma Fada is actually the worst name I have ever seen on a card.
-Zendikar Expeditions is such a fucking pandering cash grab I hate it, even if I also can't resist wanting them.
-Jace is so unnecessary in this block
-all of the mechanics this block are seriously boring and irrelevant
-Seriously, Ingest is really really really bad.
-Most of the designs in this set are really really boring and obvious.
-That landtypefall hydra is actually offensive to my eyes

[Natirasha]

Izzet v Golgari was pretty even in my playing.

[Natirasha]

Kiora is like a 12/10 planeswalker design and I can't wait to play Sultai midrange with Kiora all season.

Still kinda mad she isn't Sultai colored though

[Natirasha]

Scars of Mirrodin was far more interesting than Mirrodin was.

[Natirasha]

To be fair, I tend to overestimate Scars. It's a very weird and interesting block.

[Natirasha]

...This might be the worst day of spoilers I've ever seen.

[Natirasha]

X/X for X is like actually the least rare card I've ever seen.

[Natirasha]

I'd say the golden age started with Ravnica and ended with Innistrad. That being said, a seven-year streak is really good.

Also for formats, as someone who has grinded and almost-cashed-out GPs, I'd rate the last few sets(since Innistrad I guess)

ISD
M13
--("God Tier" formats)
DKA
KTK
---(The above are what I'd consider "Really Good")
M14
ORI
---(This is the line where I'd say I stopped really enjoying the format)
JIN
FRF
DGM
---(This is the line where I'd start saying the formats are "Bad")
M15
RTR
DTK
---(Guttertrash tier)
THS
AVR
GTC
BNG

Funnily, if you roughly stratified these by the prevalence of strong removal, this is sort of their rankings too.

[Natirasha]

Yeah but I ascribe to the Magic-as-Art view and reject the constraints of Wizards. If I could actually find people who wanted to create and draft custom sets, I'd do that. Hell, I actually am working on a custom set.

Also, this card is actually the worst designed card in every aspect I have ever seen.



Only perk, it describes B4Z well.

[Natirasha]

I dunno, that card does say draw a card on it...and the name+art+flavor text aren't all terrible....

[Natirasha]

Um, did you even see Horribly Awry's dude's eyes? That's case in point right there.

[Natirasha]

>Cancel with upside is rare lol

[Natirasha]

Actually, I thought about it and it's fine. Hard Counterspell with a creature attached has traditionally been a rare effect(Draining Whelk, Mystic Snake), but Scatter to the Winds in particular feels weird because the Cancel is the main mode. If it was a 4/4 4UU evoke 1UU it'd look better as a rare.

EDIT: This set is looking real good for EDH, yeah. 7 mana vindicate, GOD TIER UB MYTHIC, Hedron Archive, all the spell lands(Blighted Cataract is a card of my dreams).

[Natirasha]

This set's limited makes my head ache.

[Natirasha]

This format is...deep? At first glance. I've been jamming a lot of it since the spoiler came out. It's really weird and you kind of have to throw out all your normal expectations. Roil Spout is the best non-rare in the set, I'm pretty sure, as is WU control the best type overall, but oh my god there is so much going on.

[Natirasha]

Merfolk is fun, it's my modern deck. I have a love-hate relationship with it, though.

Pros of the deck
+It has a strong proactive gameplan
+half of your deck draws cards
+Immune to land hate strategies, all your lands come into play untapped for no life loss
+Lots of moving parts to metagame with
+Can easily splash if wanted
+Lots of nuance to the deck, once you know the deck inside out you start to see how versatile it is and how complex the decision tree is(Merfolk ends up playing more like the old style of Delver decks, except you play 2/2s for 2 instead on 3/2 flyers for 1)

Cons
-The deck is overall very straightforward. You will be executing the same maneuvers every game, even if those maneuvers themselves have a lot of complexity. It gets boring.
-You sometimes have to keep some jank-ass hands.(Mutavault/Vial/lords is common and a tentative keep in most situations)
-Combo matchups are horrendous. Affinity is either impossible or easy depending on your variant, Kolaghan's Command decks are technically in your favor but you also have to play incredibly tightly to make it happen.
-If you want to try a different deck, none of the Merfolk cards can move decks.
-Your plays in general just feel weaker than what opponents are doing due to card quality(see back to the Delver analogy)

There are three major archtypes I've found that work.
Mono U: This is the "traditional" list. Go look on MTGGoldfish or something.
WU: The one I use. The white splash is more or less completely free, but most pros and other players espouse this weird view where the white splash isn't worth it except for Choke protection. I don't get it. Wanderwine Hub+Seachrome Coast takes care of all your color issues, I throw in a single Hallowed Fountain to smooth things out(giving you 9 out of 20 land for the splash). Stony Silence completely wrecks Affinity+Tron(I once outgrinded a t3 Karn with the deck), RIP is great and lets you laugh at Anglers and Tasigur all day, Judge of Currents gives you a strong edge in aggro. There are lots of other cards too for those so inclined.
CoCoFolk: Kind of stupid. It's a lot grindier than the other versions, but you also get to be all toolboxy and play sick cards like Skaab Ruinator or Thassa! I actually had a lot of success with this version, but my WU list is just so tuned that I went back to it.

My list something like this at the moment--this is off the top of my head mind you so if numbers are off sorry

Spoiler: WU Merfolk circa Origins

4x Wanderwine Hub
4x Seachrome Coast
1x Hallowed Fountain
4x Mutavault
1x Cavern of Souls
6x Island
--
4x Cursecatcher
4x Silvergill Adept
4x Lord of Atlantis
4x Master of the Pearl Trident
2x Harbinger of the Tides
2x Phatasmal Image
4x Merrow Reejerey
1x Kira, Great Glass Spinner
2x Master of Waves
--
3x AEther Vial
4x Spreading Seas
1x Mana Leak
1x Spell Snare
1x Silumgar's Scorn
1x Echoing Truth
1x Path to Exile
1x Valorous Stance

SB
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
2x Judge of Currents
1x Spellskite
1x Tidebinder Mage
1x Monastery Siege
1x Swan Song
1x Disenchant
1x Dispel
1x Valorous Stance
1x Jace, Architect of Thought

As usual, I'll take questions on specific cards.

[Natirasha]

I played vs an starfield of nyx control deck last night and it was cool.

In standard I'm between Grixis+Ojutai dragons and Mono Green Landfall/Eldrazi.

[Natirasha]

I opened, cumulatively amongst all pre-release winnings, an entire box.

I got 1 Ulamog, 2 Oblivion Sowers, 1 Greenwarden of Murasa, 1 Sanctum of Ugin, 1 Smoldering Marsh, 2 Fathom Feeders(1 foil), 3 Felidar Sovereigns and 4 Prism Arrays. I was very annoyed.

[Natirasha]

Alright, it's time for Nati's pre-format brew decklist.

So, the first one is Grixis dragons+Ojutai. I'm not going into it because it's boring and obvious. It's really good overall though, so def try it if you want to play something conventional. Make sure to play the 4x Thunderbreak version and not the SilumgarDD version, Thunderbreak does relevant things: Silumgar doesn't.

Anyways, the cooler list and what has more or less "Broken the format" for me is this spicy Bant brew.

Spoiler: Bant Landfall Midrange

4x Rattleclaw Mystic
4x Hangarback Walker
4x Den Protector
2x Dragonlord Ojutai
2x Oblivion Sower
1x Stratus Dancer
--
4x Retreat to Kazandu
2x Stasis Snare
1x Quarantine Field
--
4x Dromoka's Command
3x Coastal Discovery
1x Valorous Stance
--
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
--
4x Lumbering Falls
4x Flooded Strand
4x Windswept Heath
4x Canopy Vista
3x Prairie Stream
2x Blighted Woodland
3x Forest
2x Plains
1x Island

SB
4x Cleric of the Forward Order
2x Gaea's Revenge
1x Dragonlord Dromoka
1x Quarantine Field
1x Silkwrap
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Negate
1x Kiora, Master of the Depths
1x Planar Outburst
1x Swift Reckoning

So, this list started as mono green eldrazi ramp that my friend made. I tweaked after seeing how powerful it was(and it was pretty solid at going Ulamog->Sac Ugin's Sanctum->Ulamog) to not fall over to aggro decks by including Undergrowth Champions. They felt really powerful, so I tweaked the deck again to add Retreat to Kazandu to make use of all the excess ramp spells/mana dorks around. Eventually, I felt that I just didn't have any interaction and the deck was just so weak to aggro and faster midrange strats, so I added blue to have some minimal interaction/card draw. That was fun for a while, but I was already running some white lands so I could fetch blue off Windswept Heath and by this point I was seriously getting beat in the grindy games and aggro because I was playing 4/4s on turn 3 while my opponents were doing actually relevant things. So, I put in Dromoka's Commands. Then I just realized that I could cut the ramp package and huge Eldrazi and play actually relevant spells. The final major change was when I decided that Undergrowth Champion was just worse than the Retreats--Retreats turned all my creatures into Undergrowth Champions and I could use those slots on cards that generated value.

The deck is still a WIP, obviously, but it's starting to feel right. It's a very skill-intensive deck overall, knowing how to sequence your land drops and having so many modal spells forces you to think through a lot of decision trees. The upside is that you get to go larger than most of the other midrange decks in the format: Retreat makes Rhinos trade with Rattleclaws and causes your Thopter tokens to be as large as opponent's dragons. Also, since Retreat is an Enchantment, you get to play the second best endgame trump in Quarantine Field(best is Ulamog but that doesn't really count) and Stasis Snare without fear of Dromoka's Command. Vs control decks, every card in your deck is a threat or roadblock(two Retreats out make Silumgar and Ojutai look silly) and you Lumbering Falls is more or less unbeatable--it's immune to wraths, immune to kill spells and it's large enough to punch through most defenses(esp if you get a +1/+1 counter on it). The only ways to really kill it are sacrifice effects(and most decks I'm seeing are playing the draw 2 land instead, leaving only Foul-Tongue) or having a deathtoucher(Fathom Feeder--a card this deck is a bit weak to overall), which are both deal-able with all the other spells in your deck.

The aggro matchup is a bit tougher. Retreat helps to fog, but it's not a strong answer to 3 4/X attackers backed by Atarka's Command on turn 4. I'm playing Cleric of the Forward Orders over Arashin Cleric or other cards because the aggro decks I've seen have been skimping on removal and I think a 2-power dude trades better overall(not to mention the occasional game where you get to Wombo off and gain 4 life!). I had Jaddi Offshoots in this slot, but they were just too useless overall.

I'm pretty confident that the mainboard mostly makes sense at a glance. Coastal Discovery might be the most questionable card on there, but the truth is 6-mana 4/4 Mulldrifter is still Mulldrifter, especially since sometimes that Mulldrifter is actually an 8/8. Oblivion Sower is just a good value card. He gums up the board and gains 2 life/puts a +1/+1 counter on something. You don't want to play too many though, because Discovery is better overall, but he really shines in some matchups(specifically, the Red ones).

Funnily enough, Dragonlord Ojutai is the worst card in the maindeck I think. I'm like 60% sure he should just be Wingmate Rocs(or possibly Greenwardens, but eh), but the 40% is holding me back.

[Natirasha]

Physical cards are better overall, although depending on your area, MTGO will be easier to find people to play with.

MTGO is just a shitty program.

[Natirasha]

Cocktrice or X-Mage are free programs that a lot of people play Magic on, but if you're just learning it's no the best.

[Natirasha]

In every world, at every time.

Abzan wins the pro tour.

I'm not too mad though because I'm doing well in testing against it.

[Natirasha]

"Netdecking" is what you get when you introduce a competitive aspect to a card game. Or, really, any game. Even shit like the Pokemon video games does it--certain strategies prove themselves to be good and then you have 60% of teams running Choice Band Scissor.

Literally every competitive game or sport does this. Some strategies are simply more proven and better than others.

Perhaps someone sees Dark Jeskai in a tournament and it appeals to them--you get to play all the most powerful spells, there is a lot of play to the deck. They want to check it out. They want to win. Playing a weird Bant Landfall Midrange deck is much harder--the deck might be good, but you simply don't have as much time and effort able to put into it and it won't be as well tuned. The person netdecking Dark Jeskai is probably going to have a higher winrate, too.

Pretty much, it goes back to that stupid David Sirlin thesis: Play to Win.

[Natirasha]

I disagree. I play with people who don't give it their all all the time, and it really bothers me and has ruined my enjoyment partially because I like playing cutthroat. It's more a matter of ideals than a clear-cut matter.

[Natirasha]

In an obligatory multiplayer game this kind of atmosphere decreases the actual quality of the game as a whole.

I was responding to this point? I think netdecking in general is just an offshoot of 'tryhard' behavior and trying to decry one without the other is ultimately folly.

Tryhard by the way is a pretty shitty term.

[Natirasha]

Scrub means someone who doesn't play to win and complains about outside factors to justify their loss.

Conveniently, exactly what Ythan is doing here. But I don't really subscribe to the classic play to win theory hence why I said tryhard is a bad term.

[Natirasha]

? Academically, in competitive gaming, that is literally the meaning of scrub. I think you're being overly silly and not understanding the words you use and have different ideals when it comes to Magic, but I'm not offended.

[Natirasha]

I haven't touched Pokémon since Gen V, and really my hayday was Gen IV, where classic Band Scizor was pretty much the best.

[Natirasha]

Esper tokens is a sick deck and I've been jamming it since GFab got second in an event last week with it.

[Natirasha]

Unique & Fun Tier

Karlov, Mazirek, Daxos

Interesting Take On an Archtype Tier

Ezuri, Meren of Clan Bad Names

Snakeman Tier

Kasoto

At Least Her Name Is Cool Tier

Kalemne, Mizzix the Shizzix

Can WR Do Things Besides Turn Sideways Tier

Random Forgettable Angel Lady

Completely Pointless Tier

Arjun, the Sifting Flame

Also all the decks except UG and BG are pointless, especially the god-awful 'Let's reprint all of Theros block' WB deck. Moreover, why would you not put Black Market & Solemn Simulacrum in the sacrifice deck?

[Natirasha]

Bonus Round, I've been designing a custom set, right? Here is my cool WR Commander design that is far better than anything they did.

Mithos, Executor Admiral 1WWRR
Legendary Creature--Human Marine
Haste, Vigilance, Lifelink
T: Mithos, Executor Admiral deals damage equal to his power to target creature or player.
3/3

See, it still turns sideways, but it also does cool things like Lifelink-Soul's Fire! Progress!

[Natirasha]

We'll get Return to Lorwyn before Kamigawa, count my words.

In fact, I suspect we'll never get RTKamigawa, I know I've heard rumors from semi-official sources that, if they revisit the far-east plane, they intend to just filter the good aspects of Kamigawa and make a new plane.

Kinda like how they recycled parts of Mhonsoon(or whatever it was) into Tarkir.

[Natirasha]

Seems like a good place to put this conversation I had recently.

Spoiler:

Contessa: No, Joihra of the Ghitu
Contessa: friendly reminder she is still living on Dominaria, too.
✿ fremy: truu
✿ fremy: fuckin missed opportunity right there
Contessa: I mean her and Teferi are totally chilling in their time castle fucking right now
✿ fremy: ha
✿ fremy: theyre like beyonce and jay-z
Contessa: Except ageless time wizards
✿ fremy: so they ARE beyonce and jay-z
Contessa: But yeah, they did their important stuff years ago and now just live lives of hedonism now thst the multiverse has passed them by
Contessa: Like JayZ and Beyonce too, they live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

[Natirasha]

I hope it's good. Oath already is on shaky terms with the revelation it's 2HG-focused.

[Natirasha]

I've literally never had a good 2HG experience.

[Natirasha]

Anyone in Pitt for the GP?

[Natirasha]

Ah, damn. I would have come down if I knew people were in town.

Although I've heard that it's about the worst GP ever?

[Natirasha]

I thought about going, but $60 entry fee+$10 train ride downtown was a bit steep for me.

[Natirasha]

I grabbed Meren she's very fun to play.

EDIT: my current decks are

BG Meren sac/midrange
WUBRG Horde of Notions Planeswalkers/Elemental toolbox
UB Oona Ramp/Mill
UG Horizon Chimera pauper control

[Natirasha]

Maelstrom Wanderer in general is just kinda bullshit. He'd be broken as just an 8 CMC Cascade x2, but to also fervor and be giant...fuck you Wizards.

[Natirasha]

So, it took introducing a completely new color of Magic to get Wizards to actually push some cards.

I love it.

[Natirasha]

So, I have a question for everyone here.

My EDH partner and I've had a bit of a falling-out lately due to the fact I win upwards of 90% of our matches(this extends to non-edh formats, too). Her because losing sucks, me because I don't like playing things with a near-fixed outcome and I don't like hurting my friend's feelings. We are also both each other's only Magic partner, so we effectively don't play Magic anymore due to it.

But, I'm having trouble diagnosing the cause of

why

or figuring out how to fix the apparently win rate disparity. She has nearly three times the collection I do and she plays semi-competitively in other formats so it's not a card-evaluation issue nor an availability issue. We can swap and play each other's decks, and I'll still maintain my win rate, so its not really a deckbuilding issue.

Which really only leaves a skill discrepancy, which is weird considering we've also both played for similar amounts of time. I guess it's a mindset issue(I'm very Spike-y and she's very Johnny), but I don't know how to fix this in a way that doesn't involve me just throwing matches(which feels so gross and I directly hinders my enjoyment of the game)...

[Natirasha]

I mean, yes, if you reduce the statement to it's basic root, yeah, I guess.

That's still rude, though. Contrary to what some people on this site say, I'm not actually a narcissistic sociopath.

Pauper EDH is a great way to level the playing field if you both don't want to spend a lot, plus playing brand-new decks will help you find the discrepancy a little better. If you're both using decks on the same power level, you can look for differences in how you'd play.

Alternatively, try going to an LGS and playing some 2-Headed Giant with her. Then you can see exactly what she's doing.

We tried this and actually were having fun, but it was partially because I don't have most good commons and we both just stopped playing it because the commanders were a lot less interesting in general(although I really loved Horizon Chimera!).

Thanks for the advice, everyone, though.

[Natirasha]

Also the Kalemne deck is the only one with Blade of Selves

We found the precon tier list went GB>UG>WB>RW>UR. It was pretty fun, though.

[Natirasha]

Oh yeah, can I just say Hissing Quagmire is the most hilarious card name we've had in a while.

[Natirasha]

Ridiculous.

[Natirasha]

To be honest, and I'm probably in a minority here, but thank fuck Twin is gone.

People will argue that is wasn't broken, but it and Pod both dominated the circuit in such a way that it was obvious they were on a higher level than the other tier 1 decks(ie multiple copies in every single top 8 regardless of meta) and pretty clearly warped Modern around them(you could say the same about Jund pre-DRS ban too)

They also didn't have easy answers because the combo was so prevalent in the deck(you always had to be in fear of them comboing off) but it could also function--and be a really good deck!--without the combo. Unlike, say, affinity, you can't just throw in a couple Stony Silence and autowin.

Tron will probably get a ban after OGW probably, or maybe not. It depends on how prevalent people are willing to fight with Spreading Seas.

Sucks for the people who bought into it though.

[Natirasha]

I'm not going to say Twin made modern undiverse, but I am going to stay strong to my statement that a deck that is a good tempo/control deck that also happened to have an easy 'Oops I win' button that you have to consistently hold up cards for is on a much higher level than every other deck in the format. Twin didn't have any easy answers--you can put Seas or Blood Moon in for Tron, you can put in Stony Silence for Affinity, you can put in any number of anti-storm cards for storm, you can even put in huge grindy lategame threats for BGx. You can't do that for Twin, the deck's plan is just so incidental.

And for the record, I would support a Rhino ban in standard and a Brainstorm ban in Legacy soooo yeah. I'd also ban fetchlands in every format if I had my way.

[Natirasha]

Eye of Ugin is gonna be the next big ban probably, so have fun for now.

[Natirasha]

kek

[Natirasha]

I'd also ban fetchlands in every format if I had my way.

I've come to think that Fetchlands are the single worst development mistake that R&D has

ever

made(and been forced to propogate--shit like Jitte and JTMS are obv worse, but they've acknowledged it). They're god-awful for logistical reasons, they're the reason mana bases 'don't matter', they're the reason Brainstorm has like a 97% penetration rate in Legacy, they're just the best lands you could possibly make and it's so dumb.

[Natirasha]

I think hexproof is a worse development mistake that they keep propagating.

They've mostly 'fixed' Hexproof, though. The way they've used Hexproof since Theros is solid and really hasn't hurt anything. They've already said we'll never get anything on the level of Invisible Stalker or Geist ever again.

I doubt it. The deck had a big burst of popularity because it was new and unknown. It'll settle around the same level as Bogles once people get used to it.

The reason it'll eat the ban is that it hurts Tron too.

[Natirasha]

That is irrelevant to the question.

[Natirasha]

I'd be fine if they unbanned half the banlist, but it's not happening obviously(and hasn't been since Song was banned) so you just gotta embrace the philosophy.

[Natirasha]

I thought shuffling was the main reason to ban fetches?

[Natirasha]

Not the actual shuffling, but the time it takes to do it.

That's what I meant.

Also, PVDDR had a good article on the twin ban today. I...actually agree with his conclusion--Modern is still a busted format(remember when I said we just need to re-implement extended?) and they probably should have just banned out half the decks in the format vs just twin.

[Natirasha]

There's also the issue where literally everyone hated Eggs. I remember the coverage during the time, anytime Eggs came close to being on screen even the announcers would start shit talking it.

[Natirasha]

I loved eggs.

That deck was awesome.

There is a vocal group of people that freaks out anytime magic is more interesting than HERP DERP I PLAY MY 4 DROP CREATURE AND YOU PLAY YOUR REMOVAL SPELL THEN YOU PLAY YOUR 4 DROP CREATURE WHICH IS THE SAME THING BUT IN DIFFERENT COLORS. HERP DERP.

Eggs was a victim of that vocal group. Fuck those guys, they're the reason magic is now terrible and there is literally only one deck legal in standard, just 10 different versions playing different colors trying to execute the same boring creature midrange strategy.

I legit have never seen this.

The vocal minority is people who want to go back to spells and combo being king..? What are you smoking?

[Natirasha]

EDIT: Double posted

[Natirasha]

I deliberately worded my statement in such a way as to not imply you are part of that group. Believe or not, we've discussed high concepts in Magic enough that I have a good understanding of the type of Magic you like(and I agree that standard has been sufficiently dumbed down in recent years).

The voices I always see are people who seem to think Force of Will vs Storm matches are the epitomy of Magic, I've never seen someone ever say 'damn, I really wish Wizards printed more midrange beaters'

[Natirasha]

My favorite deck is the Kuldotha deck. Back in 2012, I actually had a hand in the continued evolution of the deck- was the first person to add Guardian of the Guildpact to the deck(and win dailies). I feel like it's my little baby ever since.

If I didn't have a strict no- MTGO clause now, I'd probably start playing pauper again, especially since they banned the card they should have banned over Temporal Fissure. Seriously, I have the posts from 2012 on mtgs begging for WotC to ban Cloud of Faeries because it's 60% of the reason the top 2 decks were FissurePost and Mono U Delver.

[Natirasha]

Yeah Twin wouldn't stop this, although I think banning Twin did likely make this deck come about because the portion of pros who wouldn't think and just play Twin didn't have Twin to play.

I think this deck was partly a good meta call since everyone was playing linear combo decks and it's just a Bigger Linear Combo Deck, but also I don't see anything on the unban list that would really stop this deck(outside of lolCloudpost or lolHypergenesis) so yeah. Maybe Sword of the Meek? TKS takes care of most of the good answers, anyway.

Like, this deck honestly seems almost on Legacy power level. All it's missing is Ancient Tomb.

EDIT: Probably Stoneforge Mystic, because the deck struggles against Batterskulls and doesn't really run removal.

[Natirasha]

In what way is this deck a combo deck?

Are you joking?

To be honest, the line between 'linear combo deck' and 'linear aggro deck' is pretty thin. I guess Eldrazi is closer to aggro than combo, though. I'd classify Infect and Burn as combo decks, though.

[Natirasha]

Maybe I can finally actually pick up a Force of Will for my Dralnu deck.

[Natirasha]

I do like the spells that have discard costs to play. That's an addition I do enjoy. Problem is, as typical with Innistrad blocks, blue is weaker in this set, while black and white are much more powerful.

Blue was the second best color in the set after green? There's a reason(besides Spider Spawning just being hilariously fun) that the format devolved into 7 of 8 drafters every pod were running for UG. The worst color in original ISD was red by a pretty large margin.

[Natirasha]

It's only regarded as one of the top 3 blocks in Magic's history~

also, cockatrice had SoI drafts and my first draft deck did not disappoint.

[Natirasha]

There's nothing I love more than drafting maximum-durdle mill control, be it Thassa's Devourer(JIN), Vedalken Entrancer(M13), Grindstone(M14), or Sphinx's Tutelage(ORI). When that mill engine also happens to draw me cards, oh my god Wizards what have you done??

[Natirasha]

His draft deck was ridiculous.

[Natirasha]

The one he posted on twitter with Olivia and the 3 bloodsworns, yeah. Seemed like the sort of deck where you just smile and accept the 3-0.

[Natirasha]

I mean technically last season was less that and more 'I have three different creatures in my hand and I can't cast any of them'.