Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[InflatablePie]

Daze is okay but I think I'd rather run MemLapse tbh. Aim of the deck is to get a dude down and protect it, and getting Time Walked just wrecks some decks, notably Burn (chittering rats can die in a fire) which seems to be common in League/2-mans. Plus Daze is $$$.

Spire Golem is fine too. I think I'd rather run Stormbound Geist maybe.

[Thestatusquo]

I don't know how the meta has shifted in the last 2 years since I played seriously, but it would have to have shifted a lot for me to think that stormbound geist could ever be run over spire golem in a mono blue deck.

Have you read that card?

[bv310]

They're both really strong. I'd try to make a 4/2 Golem/Geist split, if you can swing it.

[InflatablePie]

Eh, maybe Spire Golem's better than I think it is. Makes Lonely Sandbar worse in a deck that curves out at ~3 though.

4x Delver
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Ninja of the Deep Hours
4x Jeskai Sage
3x Spire Golem

4x Ponder
4x Preordain
4x Counterspell
2x Deprive
2x Memory Lapse
1x Exclude
4x Snap
1x Bonesplitter
2x Gush

17x Island

SB:
4x Dispel
4x Hydroblast
3x Stormbound Geist
[4 something. 2x Curse of Chains, 2x Mulldrifter?]

Maybe drop MemLapse for another Gush and a Vapor Snag? Maybe Phantasmal Bear isn't worth it? idk.

[Thestatusquo]

I think lonely sandbar is usually good in decks that need to hedge against flooding out. At 17 lands and cards like gush and deprive I don't really think that's a huge issue for your deck.

[InflatablePie]

got matched into a Burn mirror and my opponent led off with some related puns. we traded fire/temperature puns and jokes all match, discussed sideboards, asked him(her?) if you next level someone in the mirror by siding in Smash for Golden Urn*, etc., and now I have an MTGO friend.

and then the next match I slaughter my opponent, he says "ghey" and concedes the match after g1.

oh, magic online.

---

*
That brings up something interesting though. How often do you next level someone going into sideboarding (as per my example, siding in artifact removal if they commonly play artifacts in the board)? Have you ever gone two levels deep expecting your opponent to go only one level deep?

In my match, I personally didn't side Smashes in against possible Golden Urn, because it's not in every sideboard. I was tempted to side in one or two out of the four I carry, though.

(ps - The Ulamog Gambit is good reading, if I didn't link it here a while ago.)

[Klazam]

I'd go level 0 on both of them. I dont bluff, i dont believe opponent bluffs as a rule. i would rather to lose straight up than next level myself out of the game.

[Klazam]

sideboarding, tho. defintely respond to what the opponent may have n their sideboards.

[Shanba]

Surprises me that lapse is better than daze against burn. Lapse is a 2 mana counter, daze is a 0 mana one. I think calling it a time walk is ambitious when it's likely 2 mana trading for 1 and a card for a card. I'm not sure how much it matters though, when I've played mono blue decks in pauper against burn I've found the matchup incredibly good regardless.

Stormbound geist was tech when mono black was the most popular deck. I'm not up to date with the meta so I don't know if that's still the case. It's also decent against that w/r bouncey stuff deck, where it's bigger than all their flyers and trades with two burn spells, where spire golem likely gets flame slashed or galvanic blasted. Really depends, people prep for four toughness creatures because of affinity and it's lodestone myrs and carapace forgers. I saw some people boarding it in in the mono blue mirror, which I sort of get - that mirror can get very stalemate-y thanks to the existence of spire golem, but you wouldn't be trading it FOR spire golem, because spire golem is the best card in that matchup. Mostly I think it's a sideboard card.

If you see a lot of tron then I'd say you want lapse over daze, that's the matchup where that trade seems good.

I don't mind bear. People were taking it out when stompy was everywhere, because getting it killed by a random zero tempo gather courage is annoying and getting it killed by a quirion ranger activation even worse, but if that's not the case or you're happy to weaken that matchup then I think it does good work at getting pressure down.

IDK I'm sort of excited to see what banning cloud of faeries does to the format, even though I loved the flicker combo deck. I might even start playing again. I think it hurts some of the decks I like though.

[Thestatusquo]

Is there decent support on mtgo again, shanba? I mean, I know the leagues exist but their prizes are shit. Are there regular dailies I can play in again? If so I'd love to get back in and brew with you.

I sold out though so I'd have to buy back in which would be annoying.

[Shanba]

Looks like it's just leagues still. Found an EV calculator, says you need 54% to break even, but you're still getting a weird mix of tickets and play points which probably ends up siphoning value away. I guess it smooths out after you invest a bit, if you can maintain the winrate.

http://www.goatbots.com/ev_calculator.php

[Shanba]

Looking at that calculator again, the value they have for packs seems extremely high. I haven't played mtgo in a while, but it would be quite shocking if packs were able to maintain a sell price over 3 tix a pack. And it doesn't allow me to adjust for that :/. Or to put it another way, new sets have higher booster prices and as they drop the value of these events will drop too.

[InflatablePie]

Thanks for the opinions Shanba.

I also want to brew some kind of Jund brew. Midrange or Delve/Dredge or something. Pauper has re-awakened my love for brewing decks.

[Ythan]

Prototype portal + timesifter is the next big thing.

[Shanba]

Have you considered a tortured existence shell? There are good r/b and r/g tortured existence decks, and I could see making a 3 colour variant work.

Tortured existence also happens to be one of my all time favourite pauper cards so, biased here.

[Shinobi]

Pulled an Ancient Tomb and Horizon Canopy Expeditions yesterday. I'd say its the luckiest I've been opening packs.

Dat value. Nice pulls

The only good thing about the Splinter Twin ban is that I don't have to spend money/time building it only to have it banned when I actually had it.
Is UR still viable in modern outside of twin?

Yep. Delver gained a new 2-drop beater in Stormchaser Mage, and a Kiki-Jiki deck is likely still strong.

Is there a decklist for UR Delver floating around? It sounds interesting but idk if it'd be solid enough to play against top tier stuff - I already run G/R ramp in standard so Tron is/was my other modern option outside of Twin.

Something along the lines of:

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Stormchaser Mage
1 Grim Lavamancer

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Serum Visions
4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Remand
2 Spell Snare
2 Izzet Charm
2 Electrolyze
1 Cryptic Command
1 Mutagenic Growth

4 Scalding Tarn
4 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
3 Steam Vents
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Island
1 Mountain

with a Sideboard that includes at least 2-3 Blood Moons

Grixis could be spicy too, with Gurmag Angler, Kolaghan's Command, Thoughtseize, Terminate, and Tasigur.

I'm building this now.
I'd build Tron but that'll probably be gibbed next.

[DeathNote]

I will probably go to my first ever GP in Houston a month from now!

[bv310]

Looking at that calculator again, the value they have for packs seems extremely high. I haven't played mtgo in a while, but it would be quite shocking if packs were able to maintain a sell price over 3 tix a pack. And it doesn't allow me to adjust for that :/. Or to put it another way, new sets have higher booster prices and as they drop the value of these events will drop too.

Because of the switch to playpoints, pack prices are quite high. 3tix seems fairly reasonable except in the month before a release.

[Ythan]

Can anyone confirm that a spell copy cast by isochron scepter triggers spellweaver helix?

[hasdgfas]

Can anyone confirm that a spell copy cast by isochron scepter triggers spellweaver helix?

If you can somehow Spellweaver Helix an Instant or Isochron Scepter a Sorcery, which neither of the cards allow you to do.

[Klazam]

Spellweaver helix in play, sorcery imprinted on panoptic mirror, ischeon secpter in play, karn animating both the secpter and the mirror, and a mirrorweave making all creatures your creature a ischron secoter.

Then you can use the mirror-which-is-a-scepter-now to cast a sorcery, which gets spellweaved.

Edit: actually, any card that can imprint a sorcery, and that isnt chrome mox can do this instead of panoptic mirror

[Ythan]

Yes? Thanks.

[T-Bone]

Hey so uhhh I'm going to a magic draft in a few hours, I've never done one before (or any sort of deck building). Anyone willing to give me a crash course heh?

[DeathNote]

Prioritize the following:
1.) Bombs
2.) Removal
3.) Value

Everything else is pretty whatever. In my first pack, I often find myself taking stuff like oblivion strike first because removal is just so important but if you have something like a reality smasher in your opening pack, then take it and win.

[Klazam]

Evasion is also nice occasionally.

Pay attention to your 4 mana slot. very often you end up with way too much 4 mana cards in this format.