Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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In post 5739, bv310 wrote: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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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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 onecaresabout 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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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In post 5797, bv310 wrote:(They're never going to bring back Extended)
(I still haven't heard an argument for why they won't)Natirasha is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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In post 5800, Sudo_Nym wrote:(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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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In post 5803, bv310 wrote:Absolutely not. No one played Extended.
Because they distinctly went out of their way to kill the format.Natirasha is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha Jack of All Trades
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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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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In post 5836, hasdgfas wrote: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'
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 is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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Natirasha is just a vestige, it's Contessa now.-
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