Magic: The Gathering,GO TEAM MS!

[hasdgfas]

Miracles seems like fun in casual where you just do really weird stuff.

At least it's not Annihilator.

[hasdgfas]

They're all pretty good. Not a ton of super-valuable cards besides mythics right now, iirc.

Rise of the Eldrazi is terrible, in my casual opinion.

[hasdgfas]

I hated RotE. The Eldrazi cards were poorly thought out, in my opinion. I don't mind Annihilator, so much as the additional abilities that come on them.

I hated Annihilator. No fun at all. Level up was ok, but I preferred it on Figure of Destiny because of the flavor.

[hasdgfas]

So, is the title supposed to have a typo?

[hasdgfas]

About to do a live 8p draft at the Reckoning. I bought a box, lets see how this goes

Jealous

[hasdgfas]

Neither of those look

terrible

. I've definitely drafted worse.

[hasdgfas]

Pack Rat is very, very good in Limited. If you open a Pack Rat, you're in black now.

[hasdgfas]

I love the flavor implications of this one.

[hasdgfas]

Good. Hexproof is like the biggest design flaw of magic as it is currently printed, and it certainly the most non-interactive and unfun mechanic.

Annihilator was also pretty terrible

[hasdgfas]

Friend and I found a hilarious bug in Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 today.
We were playing Planechase and were at this plane.

Instead of working correctly, the chaos ability triggered for every non-planeswalk roll of the planar die. You can imagine the results.

[hasdgfas]

I have a question about resolution:


if a card is indestructible (let's say rootborn defenses)

That doesn't prevent them from taking damage (in the cases of lifelink and shit)

It jus prevents them from DYING FROM damage, correct?


SO

Scenario:

My Rakdos Berserker deals 2 damage to an indestructible Husar Patrol

THEN

I reduce his P/T by -2/-2 with my Rix Maadi Guild mage.

NOW Chamber said if you reduce a creature's toughness to zero it doesn't matter if they are indestructible

so DOES IT DIE?

I don't think it does. It's a 0/2 with 2 damage on it. If it's indestructible, it shouldn't die. Damage doesn't lower toughness.

[hasdgfas]

Fate, have you played Duels of the Planeswalkers?

[hasdgfas]

I went to a prerelease, ran a Simic/Gruul combination deck that I liked a lot. I had probably 8 non-games of magic out of the 11 that I played. Went 1-3 because clearly I'm not allowed to actually draw lands. When I did draw lands and creatures and spells, the deck worked well.

[hasdgfas]

Fate duh I'm blending my RDW and White Weenies deck.

I went 2-2-1. Gamma just rolled me game one with LOL +9+9trample blood rush.

I rocked my match against Dimir. I had a guy kick my ass with Orzohov due to motherfucking Ghost Council + Treasury Thrull (seriously ghost council is too good)

The one match I'm mad about is vs Simic, I rolled him game 1 then we had a drawn out game 2, game 3 I had him down to 8 life with me still at 20, he asked how much time was left, I told him 8 minutes, then suddenly his turns started taking FOREEEEEVVVEERRR. We went to turns, and he turn 5d at 2 life left with my next draw being a Foundry Champion

You could have called a judge on him for slow play.

[hasdgfas]

ALSO I told someone at the pre-release something that is apparently wrong. The Gatecrash FAQ SPECIFICALLY said each time you pay to activate the keyrune's ability of turning it into a creature, it is a NEW creature with NO memory of its past self. aka if they enchant agoraphobia (i think the example was) on your shit, you let it resolve, then pay the activation cost to make it a NEW creature that ISNT agoraphobiad

FOLLOWING this logic, I told someone that they couldn't cipher encode onto a keyrune, well they could but it would be LOST once it turned back into an artifact because its encoded on the CREATURE keyrune, and once it turns back into a artifact all knowledge of that creature is gone forever, and no cipher.


But then the Magic site said you CAN encode onto a keyrune and it will stick...??? not following the rules logic here

The rules logic is that they decided that was the rules for cipher. Keywords have rulings, the ruling here was that you can cipher onto a keyrune and it'll stay

[hasdgfas]

Red's three drop options are what? Pyreheart Wolf and more 2 drops? 2 gets you Ash Zealot, plus some unleash and haste guys, and 4 gets you to Hellrider, but 3 is kinda blank if you don't play with the Wolf.

Boros Reckoner seems good.

[hasdgfas]

Hmm, I'll actually play RYOS, I think. I usually don't do constructed, but I could do this, even though I'll still do terribly.

[hasdgfas]

Then they cheated.

I must be missing how that's cheating. Seems pretty easy with shocklands. Unless you are referring to the fact that he actually means Burning-Tree Emissary instead of Shaman.

[hasdgfas]

I think the problem is that Boros bleeds the Gruul cards and Orzhov bleeds the Dimir cards. Simic probably should be open consistently. I drafted a solid Simic deck at work a couple weeks ago and only lost to a Boros deck, and only because I couldn't find a third land after mulling to 5 + being

just

a turn behind. Was able to win my other matchups against Orzhov and 5-color.

[hasdgfas]

I think Dimir will actually be quite good once people figure out how to draft it. I haven't quite done that yet.

[hasdgfas]

I think it would break the randomization of the packs if they had to include a code with each one that accurately marked each pack for what cards were inside. I suppose there's a way to do it via computer, but I feel like that'd be easily game-able.

And yeah, financially, they'd lose a ton of money if they did that.

The easy solution to that is not a marked code, but a code for "a pack".

[hasdgfas]

Or they could do it like the Pokemon TCG and it's online counterpart, where they just give you and code and the code gives you a pack that is randomized online.

That's what I just said.

[hasdgfas]

At that point it's double-rummage instead of double-loot, because you're discarding first.

[hasdgfas]

Winning is fun.

Yep. But not winning isn't inherently not fun.

[hasdgfas]

Also, I would agree with the commentary that "fun" and "winning" are not somehow exclusive, but are completely linked. Do you really have fun when you get outplayed at magic? I don't. It's an abysmal feeling to lose, and anyone who says it doesn't impact their fun negatively? Well, that's outside of my frame of reference I guess.

I play lots of things that I am not great at, but the urge to win is still the basic driving force behind any game play, right? Like, if we're not playing to win then why bother playing a competitive game at all? Why don't we play dominion to see if we can get one player to get all the provinces? Why don't we just all try to get one player the longest road we possibly can in Settlers? It's because those practices inherently do not provide the basic tension that makes game play interesting. I like interesting interactions and complex decks better than most people, and in fact if I had my druthers I'd run storm combo every single tournament I am in. (the decision trees! oh, the decision trees!) But losing with an interesting and outlandish deck just is not more fun than winning with a boring normal one. It's just not.

But I don't have fun winning because my opponent doesn't play a spell. I have fun when Magic feels like a battle of wits and the decisions actually matter. I drafted on Tuesday at work, and had way more fun losing g1 of round 2 because there were always decisions to make as opposed to g1 round 1 where I rolled because my opponent had nothing. Winning is more fun than losing, but losing doesn't mean you didn't have fun.

[hasdgfas]

You're making a false comparison. I too prefer good magic to bad magic. But when you're comparing losing a game with complex interactions to winning a game that wasn't really a game of magic, you're comparing apples to oranges. A much more illustrative question is do you prefer to win a game where one player doesn't actually get to play magic, or lose such a game?

I prefer winning. Like I said, I always prefer winning to losing, but losing doesn't mean you didn't have fun.

[hasdgfas]

I was hoping for a better UW commander for EDH than that for my guild EDH project. Might have to use Isperia

[hasdgfas]

I was hoping for a better UW commander for EDH than that for my guild EDH project. Might have to use Isperia

Rasputin Dreamweaver in a blink style deck. SO GOOD

Related: THAT CHAMPION GOES IN THAT DECK. lolol. Perma-detain EVERYTHING FOREVER

Nope. It's a

guild

EDH project, not a project to build EDH decks in the guild colors.

[hasdgfas]

I'm really not liking many of the double cards. Fuse is interesting, but their cost is such that they aren't useful at the point you'd be able to Fuse them.

They feel like Charms to me, in that you're paying extra for the convenience of options.

[hasdgfas]

I was hoping for a better UW commander for EDH than that for my guild EDH project. Might have to use Isperia

Rasputin Dreamweaver in a blink style deck. SO GOOD

Related: THAT CHAMPION GOES IN THAT DECK. lolol. Perma-detain EVERYTHING FOREVER

Nope. It's a

guild

EDH project, not a project to build EDH decks in the guild colors.

Go with Grand Arbiter Augstin IV then. Better than both Isperias, but will get you killed faster than either Isperia would

Augustin is too boring, I had already ruled him out. There's not any cool interactions with him.

[hasdgfas]

you blue white players make me sick

SICK

I'm making an EDH deck for every guild, so I wouldn't call me a "blue white player"

[hasdgfas]

Also, it's too bad EDH is a terrible boring format.

Different strokes for different folks.

[hasdgfas]

Playing this at the SCG open on sunday. Wish me luck.

4 Delver of Secrets
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Brainstorm
4 Daze
4 Force of Will
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Ponder
3 Spell Pierce
2 Spell Snare
4 Stifle
1 Sylvan Library
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Scalding Tarn
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
4 Wasteland

The one in Milwaukee? I think some friends from work may be going, but for the Standard portion. Good luck, I'll watch for you if I get a chance.

[hasdgfas]

You should go. we could chill.

I would, but I don't have a car.

[hasdgfas]

Drafted a Crackling Perimeter deck at a work draft today. Lots of fun.

[hasdgfas]

I have lost one match of IRL draft in the last 2 months. I have drafted every single guild at least 2 times in that time frame. I think that the heavy battalion deck is the third best in the format and the heavy bloodrush deck is the fourth best in the format. Frankly, I don't know what you're talking about. That said, I don't think gatecrash is good. I think it's meh. And boring. I also think RTR is meh and boring.

Also, you're proving my point. You just named 5 decks. That's all you can draft. (also, if you were drafting izzet as control you were doing it wrong) That's not real limited magic. That's not fun. You lose just because 2 guys 4 seats away from you whose signals you can't even read are picking the same gold cards as you. It's bullshit. It's drafting with training wheels. I can't wait til we can actually have real drafts again, where you can draft a good strategy and evolve with the draft instead of being like "Oh, one of the only 5 things I can possibly do in this format is being done by the guy in my left, better switch into the 2nd of the only 5 things I can do in this format and hope the guy to my right isn't in that one.

There's a reason I quit drafting guild archetypes about a month and a half ago. It's a boring format. I've had fun the last few weeks by forcing 5-color dumb decks like the Crackling Perimeter deck or mono-black.

[hasdgfas]

I mean, sure. But those decks aren't good, unless you get shipped the nuts.

They aren't good, but at least they keep things semi-interesting for me.

[hasdgfas]

6x DGM sealed is gonna be such a clusterfuck >_>

Sealed for this set should be 2-2-2, I think. AVR was different, since it was a large set.

Prerelease sealed is 1-1-4, with the 1s being guildpacks. That's going to be bizarre for sure.

[hasdgfas]

I proceeded to go 4-2 for the night with the goddamn Bronzebeak Moa + Eyes in the Skies + Armed//Dangerous combo. Swing for 2? No blocks? Eyes in the Skies pumps it to an 8/8, then I play Armed to make it a 9/9 with double strike.

But Armed is a sorcery?

Anyway, I went Simic, got Golgari, pulled Unexpected Results as my Simic rare AGAIN, but made up for it with a Jarad in the Golgari pack, so I went BUG. Went 3-0-1, took an ID in round 4 for prize splits. Turns out that aggressively trading off your creatures works out pretty well when you have Jarad. Also, Maze Glider is good in that sealed format.

[hasdgfas]

Why didn't you mention you were in Madison?

[hasdgfas]

Wait, fuck. I totally blanked that this is where you are. We were at misty mountain games.

Yeah, that's where I prerelease. Neat place.

[hasdgfas]

RIP Legend Rule

[hasdgfas]

Is "first Jace wins" a possible reason for this? The second player having to use theirs as a Dreadbore instead of being able to mini-FoF/Brainstorm/whatever seems like a huge tempo hit, and I could see Wizards not wanting this to happen, at least for Planeswalkers.

As far as actual legends? Hmm, still not a big fan.

[hasdgfas]

New Chandra is playable. Firebrand was almost there, and drawing a card each turn should be enough.

We'll see. I'm not quite sure where she fits. She doesn't seem to fit neatly into either aggro or midrange/control

[hasdgfas]

She's like a super-Domri, giving reach to aggressive decks with her 0(which is the ability you should be focusing on). Think of it this way--Domri only draws a card in the relevant decks like 50% of the time, while she will always draw a card and if you hit a land patch, she helps you get through it.

Her main competition is Jace AOT, but she gives functional card advantage to a more aggressive midrange deck, like the Naya lists or a slower RG list perhaps. I dunno, she seems really deceptively powerful to me.

She doesn't do much of anything the first turn she hits the field though. Ping a mana dork maybe, but otherwise? You're not going to have the mana to use her 0 then.

[hasdgfas]

you might want to re-read her +1 more thoroughly...

Falter a creature you've pinged is super unimpressive with domri in the format. Again, I just don't see the deck where she fits.

[hasdgfas]

you might want to re-read her +1 more thoroughly...

Falter a creature you've pinged is super unimpressive with domri in the format. Again, I just don't see the deck where she fits.

she's not going to see play until hellrider rotates probably, because they fight at 4 cmc, but she is definitely going to fit in red decks. Her abilities are super relevant

no one fucking listened to me about R/g aggro, so give me the credit here

I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm saying I don't see it. If I could predict Standard decks a month or two from now I'd price speculate some cards

[hasdgfas]

this new tuning fork thing is scary

I really want to draft a deck around that, even though it's likely going to be terrible. I like drafting the niche "terrible" decks, even though they don't always work out. Drafted gates/gatekeepers/hold the gates last night and it was incredibly fun

[hasdgfas]

Just had a bit of a frustrating encounter at a work draft, want to see what other people think.

I'm attacking with a 6/3 first strike Kithkin Greatheart and have a Blightspeaker on the field with 5-6 mana up. Opponent has Penumbra Spider token and about the same mana up. He says "Test of Faith, block." At this point, I try to respond to the Test of Faith by rebel-searching in a Bound in Silence to play on the Spider before blocks. At this point, he's insisting that he already blocked, but I said that he played Test of Faith first so I get to respond. We discuss the situation a bit, until he says "it's a casual game, you clearly know what I'm trying to do and should lighten up". Now, this guy and myself are both pretty laid back guys most of the time, so I'm a little taken aback by this. Yeah, it's casual, but I have a couple problems here. First, he clearly said(and acknowledged that he said) "Test of Faith, block", which, to me, is not clear that he's trying to block first. He may want to just be sure that Test of Faith resolved first before he blocked. Secondly, because he said it so quickly, I didn't have the chance to play anything between blocks and Test of Faith if I allowed them to be ordered that way.

At this point, we've discussed it a little bit, and he's not backing down, so I just rewind to after attacks have been declared. I could just rebel search for Bound and put it on spider because I know what's in his hand, but that feels a bit sleazy to me, since I know what he wanted to do at this point, so I let it play out the way he wanted it to. After this, I feel a bit taken advantage of because the situation clearly played out to his advantage as my creature died, and he's ticked because he thinks I'm being too much of a stickler in a casual game. What would others have done in this situation? Was I being unreasonable?

[hasdgfas]

With casual games, if there's a misplay, I just rewind it and take it back then give the option to act again with new information on the table.

Yeah, I do plenty of that also when it's totally clear what's happening. Earlier in the night I let someone take back an entire turn while playing Storm because I was tapped out and couldn't do anything. The difference in this case is that it wasn't clear to me that he was trying to do things the way he was trying to do things, but when I try to respond to what he actually said and did, he tried to change it. If he said "block, test of faith", I would have no issue at all. But he didn't, there are plenty of instances where test of faith before blocking makes sense, and I was holding up mana for rebel search for something exactly along the lines of what he was indicating that he was doing. Communication is just as important in casual as in competitive. Where's the line?

[hasdgfas]

I believe reading Maro talking about new card templates, so here we go, I guess?

At least for the gods.

[hasdgfas]

Went deep at my work draft tonight. 2 Elite Arcanist, 2 Silence, myriad of control cards

[hasdgfas]

Went deep at my work draft tonight. 2 Elite Arcanist, 2 Silence, myriad of control cards

did you get it online >_>

Yes. Pretty consistently. I think I got in on board in 5 of my 8 games. But I didn't even need to get it online with 2 Claustrophobia, Pacifism, Essence Scatter, Negate, 2 Disperse, 3 Archaeomancer, and some fliers.

[hasdgfas]

<________<


good thing you didnt draft with us last night. Literally NO one went blue. Frost breaths, claustrophobias, opportunities, the 2U card draw, that 3/4 aetherling pump thing, wheeled round and round.

Yeah, I had a bunch of those wheel as well. I ended with 4 Opportunity in my pool. It was absurd.

[hasdgfas]

Just got back from a sad excuse for a gameday. Got 2nd, and I only lost because I'm an IDIOT and I tapped the wrong amount of mana for Syncopate (tbf I think he should've let me tap an extra one because it's REL and I specifically asked him how much mana he had available but whatever).

Did you say "Syncopate for X" or just "Syncopate"?

[hasdgfas]

Anybody see Twoo's new Archangel of Thune deck? Looks really fun, and he did pretty well with it, but it's always hard to tell with a Twoo deck.

I've seen an Archangel deck. No idea whether it's Twoo's or not. Had Scavenging Ooze, Gavony Township, Trostani

[hasdgfas]

Drafted today. Was able to live a dream. Liturgy of Blood a Blightcaster, use leftover mana to Bogbrew Witch for a Newt, sac the newt to Bubbling Cauldron to kill a Giant Spider. Felt pretty great.

Shea, I assume the "almost" exception is Limited?

[hasdgfas]

GUYS, GUYS. Theros Card Image Gallery.

GUYS. THE FLAVOR:

[hasdgfas]

In all fairness, if you're new-ish and not looking for the greatest EV right away, 4-3-2-2s will help you lose less money overall, while still getting to draft.

Swiss are actually better EV than 4-3-2-2, from my understanding.

[hasdgfas]

I don't think you play her for the mill. I think you play her for stealing creatures.

[hasdgfas]

Pie, that's not a bad deck for M14 limited and it might work against slower decks but I can see GW, GR, or RW (basically if someone forced Slivers you're in trouble) running over you before you can do anything about it.

I find that decks running anyone over almost never happens in M14.

[hasdgfas]

4) Bestow cards weren't as good as I thought they were going to be. Monstrous was better than I thought it would be. The weapons cards were fine, but not amazing. I went in thinking that the bestow cards would almost always be card advantage, and I really just don't think that is the case. I think some of them are fine and some of them are quite good, but I certainly wouldn't want to play a card just because it has bestow. Monstrous on the other hand, because of the lack of quality removal, are waaaaay better than I thought they would be. being able to spend your turn making one of your dudes an 8/9 is just really really good in this format.

Which ones specifically did you play/see to give you that idea? Because I felt very differently about most of the bestow creatures I saw. Because bestow doesn't necessarily make a bad card good, it's just that a lot of the bestow cards are quite good on their own. All of the Emissary cards, for instance, I felt were quite good, and the B/U/R Nymphs impressed me a lot.

[hasdgfas]

I think some people are misinterpreting what I said. I wasn't saying bestow cards are bad. I was saying that the bestow mechanic isn't actually all that great, functionally. Obviously you still play bestow cards that do good things, but I think that waiting to play things for their bestow cost is wrong more often than it is right, and that means that functionally those cards play a little bit weaker than if they didn't have bestow, because they're just creatures that are weak to removal that other creatures are not.

Like, if you gave me a choice between the white promo card with bestow and without bestow, I would take it without, because I almost never wanted to bestow it, and as a creature its way harder to deal with the non-enchantment creature given the removal in this set. I'd still obviously play it either way.

I agree with you for the most part. You shouldn't necessarily wait to Bestow them, but if you draw them late and want a boost to a creature to get through, they give you that flexibility.

[hasdgfas]

Also, just noticed that I cracked like a box and a half without a single magma jet. FML.

it may be the mythic uncommon of the set

[hasdgfas]

And an ex-scummer wins the Legacy Championships!

Congrats to Ari Lax, aka armlx.

[hasdgfas]

I could see Large/Large/Large

[hasdgfas]

Drafted after work tonight. Went really deep. Favorite Theros deck I've drafted:

Spoiler: Deck images and a sample board state

[hasdgfas]

Don't get the point of counterfeiting when you can print proxies of any card.

Um. Some people play in tournaments.

[hasdgfas]

I mean EV wise... $25 for a tournament that only "pays out" to first place is just too much to justify.

I don't think this is a very good argument. You're paying for fun, you're paying for the experience. You're not paying because you have a good chance of qualifying.

[hasdgfas]

On a related note, here is what $2500 worth of cardboard looks like

Those are gorgeous.

[hasdgfas]

Ben Stark has been great on coverage in GP Sacramento this weekend. One round to go before T8 for those interested.

[hasdgfas]

Ben Stark is just about the most boring person I've ever heard on commentary.

I'm enjoying his analysis. He's not necessarily the most exciting person to listen to, but he's very interesting. At least for me.

[hasdgfas]

I agree that his limited skills are valuable, but if you're going to put him on the team you need the other team member to be a very charismatic person. Matt Sperling just isn't...

Leading to just a horrifically boring booth. If it were something like LSV, Caleb Durward and Ben S, maybe that would be sweet.

I think the problem was Sperling more than Stark. I just didn't like listening to Sperling. Stark and LSV for T8 draft and Quarters was great.

[hasdgfas]

Apparently there's an ARG or, at least, "ARG-lite" going on in the Magic world right now.

Take a peek. And keep an eye out for...weird cards at your prerelease.

[hasdgfas]

3-1 in the morning 1v1 with RU tempo. Best Cards: Nimbus Naiad, Oracle's Insight, Nyxborn Triton

2-2 in the afternoon 2HG with G, splash Xenagos. Best Cards: Xenagos, Arbor Colossus, Reverent Hunter

Things learned from the two tourneys: The red promo is probably the best promo. Infinite 3-drops is awesome, especially if over half of them can bestow later. Mana bases can hate you even if you're running one color or one-color with a light splash. 2HG is hard. Agent of the Fates is hard to beat in an infinite bestow deck.

- Perplexing Chimera is bad.

False

[hasdgfas]

So, Bitterblossom and Wild Nacatl coming off the ban list, Deathrite Shaman going on. Not sire if that's a net positive.

Sure seems like a net positive.

[hasdgfas]

Abrupt Decay is about the only good answer the format has picked up since the ban, really. And that seems like a real odd choice, since Bitterblossom is a 2 mana card that provides a lot of inevitability. But I suppose we'll see what happens.

Blasphemous Act-ish? Lots of other Pyroclasm-type effects? I don't think it'll be as big a problem as you do. It's a format with a ton of cards, I think there will be plenty of answers for Bitterblossom, and I think it opens up some interesting new decks.

[hasdgfas]

m14 is the best format they've had in a long time (m13 was fine, but not particularly interesting)

It was nice to have a format where the spells were finally better than the creatures again.

It was interesting. I was just awful at it.

I'm really enjoying BNG-Theros-Theros though. I feel like whatever I do goes well, even if it's "stall until I get either Chromanticore or Tromokratis out"

[hasdgfas]

M15 Prerelease was today. How'd people do?

I went 2-2 in both the 1v1 and the 2HG.

1v1 deck was RG big stuff. Worked pretty well, felt like the deck underperformed.

2HG I had a GW convoke deck with Spirit Bonds, 2 Triplicate Spirits, Feral Incarnation, it was just gross. Partner had red/black mono removal. Unfortunately, we had some bad draws(I mulled to 5 in one game) and our opponents had some good ones(gaining 20 life with Congregate and then making unblockable Phytotitan and Genesis Hydra was icky.)

[hasdgfas]

I really hated M14 limited, except the one draft where I had double Silence, double Elite Arcanist, which was incredible amounts of fun.

The one M15 draft I've done was quite fun. It's probably not quite M14, but I'm not sure first-pick Divination will be *wrong*.

[hasdgfas]

I did some Conspiracy with some friends earlier tonight and went super deep. It was a lot of fun:
Here's the deck

[hasdgfas]

We like dragons.
We like dragons.
We like dragons.
We like dragons.
We like dragons.

How dare the just-announced set be light on lore so far!

[hasdgfas]

flavor for the new set sucks zzzzz

It's bottom up. Mechanics came first, the flavor came later.

[hasdgfas]

What did you sell them for? I probably would have beaten it.

Probably, I was just looking to move them and my last VMA pack (ironically Mox + Force was my worst performance in a VMA draft) and rack up tickets for M15/Khans.

I probably would have sat on them for a while yet. I don't think those can do anything except go up once VMA leaves. I'm hanging onto all my duals for that reason.

[hasdgfas]

I went 3-0-1 in my first FNM in a LOOOOONG time(and probably less than half a dozen all time). Missed out on a top 2 slot and a promo on tiebreakers, unfortunately.

[hasdgfas]

Hmm. Detroit is close enough to tempt me towards maybe going. Not sure I'd play in the main event, but it would still be a fun trip...

[hasdgfas]

Hmm. Detroit is close enough to tempt me towards maybe going. Not sure I'd play in the main event, but it would still be a fun trip...

Not that you shouldn't come to Detroit but you know what's even closer to Madison (assuming that's still where you are)? Madison (Oct 10-11 2015, Limited)

That is rather close. I'll have to try to keep it in mind. Clearly I'm not paying enough attention to the GP schedule.

[hasdgfas]

Most of the issues I had with the website have been fixed since I gave Wizards feedback via the way they told us to give feedback. I'm still not a huge fan of it, but it's growing on me.

[hasdgfas]

Went to the PTQ in Madison today with some help from Shea's buddies. Went 2-3 with Affinity and then dropped. Was a fun experience and I'm glad I did it. Felt pretty comfortable playing the deck too, even though I hadn't before.

[hasdgfas]

I'm actually getting fairly excited for this set.

Me too. I have some

terrible

ideas for Standard decks that I plan to take to FNMs to get crushed, and Limited looks great. Lots of things that play nice together.

[hasdgfas]

I find myself wanting to try to put together the self-mill Empty the Pits deck. If you have Necromancer's Stockpile and Sidisi out, it's 1B to make two 2/2s, draw a card, and give you half of third zombie for Empty the Pits.

I'm at least getting a list together to take to FNM and iterate on, because I want it to work so badly.

[hasdgfas]

I liked morph a lot in TPF, it was quite bad in onslaught limited though. Really depends on the amount of it and whether they punish you for doing opposite things. I haven't looked at the spoiler enough to know here ( the cycle the flips by revealing a card of a given colour seems like the wrong way to do morph though).

There are no morphs that will straight-up eat a face-down creature in combat for less than 5 mana.

[hasdgfas]

He took the Filibuster tactic on a couple cards. I appreciated that.

Also, the Magic Editor stipulation was great. You can have a total of 40 words in your card names.

It's actually 60 words.

I loved Day9 filibustering BDM into getting to take the cards he wanted, at least at first. Stipulation drafts are among my favorite things. It's why I love watching LoadingReadyRun wacky drafts.

The stipulations were really high quality this year. A lot less linear than past years.

[hasdgfas]

Duplicate words count multiple times, according to the stipulation descriptions

[hasdgfas]

Not a fan of Jeskai Ascendency? It seems like a combo enabler to me. Now, granted, to take full advantage of it, you need creatures, but it can let you draw your entire deck.

[hasdgfas]

Hey speaking of Wisconsin, Cow, you gonna be at the Saturday morning pre-release at I'm Board? I'll be there in my ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ shirt reppin' Azban.

I was out of town this weekend, or I would've been there

I should be there for Fate Reforged though. Don't expect to have any trips early next year.

[hasdgfas]

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

[hasdgfas]

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

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

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

[hasdgfas]

In a move that shocks nobody, mono-black aggro looking strong at SCG post-rotation.

I was a bit surprised to see a lot of awkward 3-color control decks at FNM last night. Was able to go 1-1-1 against them with my ridiculous Necromancer's Stockpile deck, and I won the match against a more midrange-y GW heroic-based deck.

[hasdgfas]

Sure there were. Just no one used them because they were fucking stupid. Just like these ones.

Team America (BGU)

I hope you're joking. I would immediately assume Jeskai colors for "Team America".

I like the new names. RUG/BUG are fine, but the new players I've taught the game just gave RUG and BUG laughs, assuming I was joking about those names. The fact that they now have lore-based names is really helpful.

[hasdgfas]

Team America being bug colors is a legacy reference.

http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Team_America

Yeah. Still, that's a name that I consider a poor one.

[hasdgfas]

Nati, did you watch Caleb Durwards banned series? It was pretty informative stuff.

That was a fantastic series.

As far as Josh Utter-Leyton and Ascendency, he was talking about it on CFB's Magic TV last week. It wasn't so much that he

wants

it banned the same way he might for Bob/Goyf, but that he thinks it's actually broken and was a mistake to print that will

have

to be banned.

[hasdgfas]

Time Spiral, man. Shit got weird.

Time Spiral block was when I started playing magic. I blame it for my love of trying to do ridiculous things in magic.

[hasdgfas]

Rabblemaster is NOT a budget card. It's $20 now.

[hasdgfas]

Aww, Brian Wong's stepping down as cohost of LR. Planning to come on once per set-ish.

Hoping Jon Loucks comes back?

I doubt Jon Loucks has the time to prep thoroughly for two podcasts, since he does have a full time job. I expect some guest co-hosts for a couple weeks, especially with the PT right around the corner.

[hasdgfas]

I only do drafts on MTGO, and even then, only about once a week. I definitely empathize with people who have issues, and the issues are really bad, but I don't have them myself because of how rarely I play, and I kinda feel bad that I don't get as ragey as others about MTGO in general.

[hasdgfas]

Go armlx!

[hasdgfas]

Looking like we've got an armlx top 8.

[hasdgfas]

Was not is. But yeah. He was quite active at one point.

Mhm. He even partook of a few MS magic tournaments in the past as well.

[hasdgfas]

Tian's combo list is very different from the one LSV/Dave Williams/Matignon/etc were playing, since he's got things like Twinflame/Nissa instead of Altar of the Brood. It's very weird, and I think it actually takes more cards to go off than the Altar version.

[hasdgfas]

5 wins to go for him.

[hasdgfas]

Tian's combo list is very different from the one LSV/Dave Williams/Matignon/etc were playing, since he's got things like Twinflame/Nissa instead of Altar of the Brood. It's very weird, and I think it actually takes more cards to go off than the Altar version.

I don't like his list(it is succeptible to AEtherspouts, for one), but I think he did it so he can board into 'standard' RUG midrange deck.

I agree. I prefer the Altar of the Brood list, but I think the Nissa list is interesting.

[hasdgfas]

Wow. That was a heck of a final game. A joy to watch, and Armlx is 3 wins away.

[hasdgfas]

Yeah. I saw people complaining about Lee Shi Tian's excitement after winning in round 16 yesterday, which is absolutely ridiculous. The excitement and emotion is great to see. Did anyone not love Owen Turtenwald jumping up and down and hugging Huey Jensen when T8 was announced at PT M15?

Also, turns out Rabblemaster is a good card.

[hasdgfas]

Well. Serve broken by Ari Lax there.

They keep saying that Dig Through Time is the breakout card of the tournament, but it's so very clearly Siege Rhino.

I'm not sure it's a "breakout card" when everyone knew it was great. I don't think anyone knew

just

how good Dig Through Time was until this tournament. It was clearly good, but this good? I think its existence is what brought McLaren above the other Jeskai decks to the finals here.

[hasdgfas]

Lax runs over McLaren in game 3 to go up 2-1.

[hasdgfas]

That was a very good match.

Congrats to Armlx!

[hasdgfas]

This was a good read: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/adrienner ... evolution/

[hasdgfas]

The finals everyone expected from new Standard at GPLA: Mono-red versus GR Monsters.

[hasdgfas]

Has anyone else been reading the Killing a Goldfish reviews of Magic sets? I think they're fascinating, and it's really interesting to see someone who's not MaRo discuss Magic design.

[hasdgfas]

I just want the Planar Chaos color-shifted frames or the Future Sight future-shifted frames back

[hasdgfas]

Humphries gone for four years, Bertoncheaty for three. Good day.

[hasdgfas]

Went 2-1 with this: http://i.imgur.com/VI9EmVK.jpg

This was the most fun draft deck I've had in a

looooong

time.

[hasdgfas]

How'd Goblinslide/Quiet Contemplation treat you? You've got some pretty good cards in the board that I'd play over those.

They were fantastic, because I built around them. I first picked Jeskai Ascendancy, a pack came by with both of them, and I decided to go all in on noncreature spells. Picked Goblinslide since I knew I'd be light on creatures and Jeskai Ascendancy could make up for the fact that they're just 1/1s. Then Quiet Contemplation wheeled. I absolutely tempo'd out my opponents with a single creature and a single one of the three "noncreature spells matter" cards.

[hasdgfas]

My comments are intentionally dumb (and I only comment on LRR twitch chats). Things like when they have a longshot squad and put a 1/1 counter on a flier, commenting about how it can block fliers now that it has reach.

[hasdgfas]

I loved their draft last Thursday. They drafted and played Empty the Pits as well as Flying Crane Technique.

[hasdgfas]

I

really

hate Abzan Guide.

[hasdgfas]

It's a very good card. But I hate it. It just seems

so

much better than most of the other cards.

[hasdgfas]

It's a very good card. But I hate it. It just seems

so

much better than most of the other cards.

Uh.

Context?

I lost a game to it when literally nothing else could win him the game. Twice.

[hasdgfas]

Yaw and I used to play EDH on OCTGN pretty often (and sudo would join us sometimes as well). It's not actually that bad if you don't try to use the "features" they have for magic.

[hasdgfas]

Like the auto-counters and stuff?

The whole "stack" bit it has, auto-counters, essentially everything. I just drag cards from my hand onto the table, add counters myself when I need to, and then will do things like hit the "attack" hotkey or the "untap everything" hotkey or set something to not untap during the untap step.

[hasdgfas]

Fair enough. Here's hoping Wizards lets combo be a real thing again, though.

Given how much MaRo seems to hate anything that isn't midrange and wants to do his best to completely segregate the colour pie (going by recent comments on his blog) I doubt that'll happen.

Well, the color pie is an incredibly integral part of Magic. I'm with him on a lot of his color pie comments, although I think a little bleeding is ok. Colors are supposed to have weaknesses.

[hasdgfas]

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

He's the Pro Tour historian. I don't mind his commentary, but I still prefer most of the other commentators. Not Rashad Miller though.

[hasdgfas]

Yeah. There's a reason that I tend to pump once, let them confirm it to show they're passing priority to let it resolve, and then pump again. If you pump all at once you just get blown out.

[hasdgfas]

There are a good amount of exile effects recently(Utter End, Silence the Believers, Perilous Vault). And then you can always make their toughness 0 via things like Bile Blight(yes, I know you can just pump it at that point, I just mean in general)

[hasdgfas]

That's one of the shortcut things I guess I wasn't as familiar with. It makes sense(and I tend to do it explicitly anyway), but I can understand the confusion.

Who all saw the Jeskai Heroic/Ascendancy deck that took down SCG Oakland? What an interesting deck. Ascendancy is

really

good even when not being completely unfair, as it turns out.

[hasdgfas]

Oh, I didn't mean that some shortcuts are "not acceptable", just that it's a (generally accepted and understood) shortcut that I wasn't quite as familiar with the technical aspects of, and I can understand people (like Klazam and myself in this thread) being a little confused.

[hasdgfas]

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

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

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

Yes. However, you are not required to end the loop if it would require hidden information(say, a card in your hand). The reason MTGO crashed is that LSV and his opponent both F6'd. I believe LSV even mentioned that he could break the loop if he wanted to, but the F6 party don't stop.

[hasdgfas]

Cedric Phillips and Patrick Sullivan just had an excellent discussion about Treasure Cruise's impact on Legacy before they started Legacy Open coverage. That's why I watch SCG.

[hasdgfas]

So does MODO like to clump together lands or something, I am playing Boss Sligh and I am mulliganing more that I do when I play the paper version.

Welcome to real randomness instead of the faux-randomness of humans shuffling.

[hasdgfas]

I think Flying is super important in the format. There are way too many big butts that stick on the ground forever. I was having that discussion with a friend I draft with most Tuesdays, and I think because there's seemingly such a limited amount of flying, what is there is far more important.

[hasdgfas]

Does it include Zach Hill or BDM?

I would rather listen to those 2 over Rashad.

[hasdgfas]

Shea, what do you think of the cube in general? I've heard complaints about aggro decks in general (not specifically mono-red, which has supposedly been neutered a bit).

[hasdgfas]

I hadn't actually seen Marshall's complaints about it, I had just heard murmurs.

I think I agree with most of your comments. There are definitely interesting archetypes, and the Eldrazi feel out of place. I don't think there's enough ramp to make them good choices for the Show and Tell/Eureka deck, even, because they're just stuck in your hand too often(this is actually from experience).

Personally, I'm a big fan of the token subtheme in this cube. It's different from most cube archetypes I've seen, and it's fun. I drafted this deck, for instance


It went 3-0 and was super fun(no, I did not win every game off of Jitte. I only saw it once, and was already winning that game).

[hasdgfas]

FUCK TEAM USA! GO TEAM CANADA! (Seriously though, good luck to him!)

Team Canada is already eliminated.

[hasdgfas]

Was Canada or Japan the bigger shock to fail to get to Day 2? (And who's the biggest surprise if it's not one of those two?)

[hasdgfas]

Greg Hatch is something else

Yeah. I have no idea what that deck tech was, and I watched the whole thing. I'm still not sure I understand what the deck is doing.

[hasdgfas]

Went 3-1 in singles and 2-1-1 in 2HG today. My partner in 2HG opened Sidisi-Foil Windswept Heath in his Khans pack.

[hasdgfas]

I like building silly decks

[hasdgfas]

oooh, a Temur Ascendancy Combo deck on SCG today.

[hasdgfas]

I really liked seeing this story on the Wizards mothership today. Making a trans character where it seems to me(although I can't speak directly to that) to be handled with grace and care and where that is not the character's entire identity is a big step.

[hasdgfas]

Wow. GP San Jose just finished and was won by LSV/Paul Cheon/Eric Froehlich. Cheon had to WIN this GP to get to enough Pro Points to qualify for the PT next week. Just an absurd run. They somehow did it. Well done and congrats to Paul.

Paul had to

grind through

a Necropolis Fiend to win his match in the finals, but he did it. Just a completely insane final match. I definitely suggest watching it when it goes up on YT.

[hasdgfas]

whisperwood elemtental is a fun card

I put it in my newest Standard deck. I'm a big fan of it.

[hasdgfas]

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.

I've been really enjoying this PT, actually. I think the problem is that it's impossible to get rid of the goodstuff decks like old Jund or Abzan now.

[hasdgfas]

Don't let 2 Aven Surveyors and a Mistfire Adept wheel, folks:

[hasdgfas]

Twin is like the least linear "linear deck" ever. The threat of the Twin combo is the reason that the deck works so well as a tempo-y deck, but it's not a combo deck.

[hasdgfas]

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

[hasdgfas]

Went 3-0-1 with the deck I posted above at a 29-player Game Day. Got into T8 as second seed. Lost in the semifinals to RW aggro, after mana screw then mana flood. A good learning experience with the deck, I have a better feel of how it should play.

[hasdgfas]

This draft deck felt like a mess, but played gorgeously:
http://i.imgur.com/7ScrLvU.jpg

Some of the most fun I've had in the format.

[hasdgfas]

Could be worse, Tibalt. Dack isn't even pictured.

He's probably off stealing something or other. Gideon not being there shows a bigger problem with him, in my opinion.

[hasdgfas]

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.

I quit Magic when Rise of the Eldrazi came out, so I didn't get to play with it much, but it seems really sweet.

Narset-walker seems sweet, but I don't want another Sarkhan so quickly.

I also think that Megamorph is the silliest name for a mechanic they've had in a while. I don't want to say it.

[hasdgfas]

Anyone got experience with Mono-Black Humans? Could be a neat budget way for me to get back in.

If you want to see it played, SCG did a versus video with it

[hasdgfas]

This G/W Devotion mirror match makes me want to vomit.

I think it's hilarious. I don't want to see this often, but just once is great.

[hasdgfas]

I walk the fuck away from the table and call for an L2 to sort this out, while cursing at you loudly for managing to play all of those at once.

(realistically, it entirely depends on which order they entered play in as to which effects activate first/if the effects are even there TO activate.)

I'm pretty sure even an L2 would ask for help with this one.

Anyway, I'm running a couple prerelease events this weekend, and then if everything goes well, taking my L1 Judge Exam on Monday. Wish me luck!

[hasdgfas]

I got a good one from my judge mentor today:

If I make Hooting Mandrills a copy of Soulflayer through Polymorphous Rush, does Hooting Mandrills get the abilities of cards exiled to pay its delve cost while it is a copy of Soulflayer?

[hasdgfas]

My gut says no, because Polymorphous Rush doesn't change what the creature was cast as, but I'm honestly not sure.

It was cast as a Hooting Mandrills, which ALSO has Delve, just like Soulflayer.

[hasdgfas]

But the Delve ability was not "Soulflayer's Delve ability", so does it still matter?

Spoiler: Answer inside

So my judge mentor, a friend of mine, and I all initially thought that it was "no" because it's a different instance of Delve than it was cast with. But apparently the answer is that it

does

get the abilities of anything delved with it because, and I quote, "Soulflayer".

I've been trying to figure this out with rules explanation, and as best as I can figure out: Hooting Mandrillsflayer is a Souflayer here because a card's name on a card refers to "this card", so it sees that it was cast with Delve, and those count towards Hooting Mandrillsflayer's new second ability.

Basically, Soulflayer is super weird(also see: confusion over Soulflayer/Torrent Elemental right when Fate Reforged came out). It has been called a "stupid, made-up card"

[hasdgfas]

Actually, Supplant Form on a Warden of the First Tree doesn't come in as a 3/3 Human Warrior. When you copy something, you copy the base card, not any effects that have been applied to it. If you copy a Grizzly Bears that has had Giant Growth cast on it, the copy comes in as a 2/2. So Supplant Form on the Warden will come in as a 1/1.

Similarly, when you become a copy of Soulflayer, you have the latter ability of "If a creature with X was exiled with Delve to play this creature, you get specific abilities". Soulflayer does not have, say "Flying" printed on it, so you can't copy the Flying if that Soulflayer has Flying from a creature being exiled via Delve.

[hasdgfas]

Actually, Supplant Form on a Warden of the First Tree doesn't come in as a 3/3 Human Warrior. When you copy something, you copy the base card, not any effects that have been applied to it. If you copy a Grizzly Bears that has had Giant Growth cast on it, the copy comes in as a 2/2. So Supplant Form on the Warden will come in as a 1/1.

Similarly, when you become a copy of Soulflayer, you have the latter ability of "If a creature with X was exiled with Delve to play this creature, you get specific abilities". Soulflayer does not have, say "Flying" printed on it, so you can't copy the Flying if that Soulflayer has Flying from a creature being exiled via Delve.

On the Warden, the second ability sets the creature type and base power/toughness to 3/3. It's not an enchantment or counter that's being copied, it's had it's basic characteristics changed.

Similar with soulflayer, it doesn't "get" or "gain" the ability, it "has" the ability. So copying a soulflayer that "has" flying should give you a Flying Soulflayer.

the Delve part on the mandrills is a separate issue. I think since Delve cost is not tracked by creatures or purpose, it could lead to arguments/unresolvable disputes.

Looking again-
Card Text:
Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for 1.)
If a creature card with flying was exiled with

Soulflayer's delve ability

, Soulflayer has flying. The same is true for first strike, double strike, deathtouch, haste, hexproof, indestructible, Lifelink, reach, trample, and vigilance.

Based on the bolded, the cards exiled by Hooting Madrill's Devle ability are not the same cards exiled by (new-Soulflayer-but-used-to-be-Mandrills) delve ability. If the copy spell changed Mandrills, then the new Soulflayer is not green, nor no longer an Ape, so how it was cast would not be relevant to the New Soulflayer (who is only a copy of the old Soulfayer)
I think.

Anyways, that's probably why I'm not a judge.

That's not what "base" means in Magic. "Base" means starting point to build off of. It's so that when you Giant Growth it you get a 6/6 instead of a 4/4. It's a continuous effect that's setting P/T to specific values. If your 3/3 Warden dies, and is reanimated, is it still a 3/3? No, it's a 1/1. You copy the card, no extra effects applied to it(apart from other copy effects).

As far as Flayer/Mandrills, this is not the best thing to discuss about, since it's just a weird ruling. The ruling is that the creature was cast with Delve, so when it becomes a soulflayer, its ability to get abilities based on creatures delved works on the creatures you originally delved to play it.

[hasdgfas]

If you phyrexian metamorph a nissa'd forest, you get a forest.

I would think you get a 4/4 Basic Land- Forest Elemental Artifact creature with trample.

Well, you're wrong. Copy effects specifically work before anything else affecting a creature. Layers!

[hasdgfas]

This is a good read to learn more about this stuff to know how it works.

[hasdgfas]

Only person to get all the promos at my prerelease is the guy who just threw his dice so hard the board wobbled everything over. Also had a foil Narset and 3 foil Commands opened. Set seems pretty white slanted for sealed.

Meanwhile, we found from testing before any events that it was so easy to get a massive score that we'd run out if we handed out promos the way we're "supposed" to.

[hasdgfas]

I passed my L1 Judge exam today

[hasdgfas]

Grrrr....I'll solve this.

Solve which? The copy thing? If you don't believe the rest of us, load up MTGO and try it in a solitaire game, or go http://chat.magicjudges.org/mtgrules/ and ask the judges in JudgeChat.

I mean digging through the comprehensive rules understand how/what/where.

I started it, then got sidetracked by pre-release, but I think if I assign any and all effects/changes as effects that temporarily change a card (instead of thinking it's a permanent change like I fell is implied) then layers work fine, and I get it. I think I still disagree with it, but I get it.

This is a great way to think about it. Anything that's not printed on a card and isn't a characteristic-defining ability(that's a good thing to look up in the Comp Rules to try to understand this too) is a temporary effect. So are abilities that cards give to themselves if they're not CDAs.

[hasdgfas]

I really liked Theros

block

draft. Note, block draft. Triple Theros was miserable with all the 1-drop -> Ordeal -> GG games, and adding only Born of the Gods wasn't much better. Once Journey into Nyx made it a bit more diluted of a draft format, I felt like there was more you could do, and more interesting games.

[hasdgfas]

But Act on Impulse is unplayable!

[hasdgfas]

So I think I'm cashing out my MTGO account (except Modern Affinity) and buying a set of Mox Opals and a PS4. It scares me slightly that I own that much money in digital Magic cards.

what do you have on there? I might be interested.

[hasdgfas]

I'm very interested in Standard UW Heroic and Modern Living End right now(depending a little bit on what you're asking for). Both of those are probably the decks I'd put together if I wanted to start putting together an MTGO collection. The lack of Fulminators doesn't bother me at all for Living End, that'll happen over time.

[hasdgfas]

I'm very interested in Standard UW Heroic and Modern Living End right now(depending a little bit on what you're asking for). Both of those are probably the decks I'd put together if I wanted to start putting together an MTGO collection. The lack of Fulminators doesn't bother me at all for Living End, that'll happen over time.

Have you looked at modern living twin?

Yes, it's a hilarious deck, and if Splinter Twin + Kiki-Jiki weren't incredibly expensive, it's probably what I'd go for. It's at least good timing for MM15, because it'll probably have some cards that will help.

[hasdgfas]

It's funny, because I was having this exact discussion with a judge friend at FNM last Friday. We both knew the answer, but spent all night trying to find it in the rules.

While you do technically control a Dragon, the Comprehensive rules say this:

109.2 If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn't include the word "card," "spell," "source," or "scheme," it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

[hasdgfas]

I'll put the whole file up and let you pick through. Highlights include most of Modern Burn, all of Standard Atarka Sligh, all of Standard WU Heroic, and Modern Living End (wihtout Fulminators)

I'm very interested in Standard UW Heroic and Modern Living End right now(depending a little bit on what you're asking for). Both of those are probably the decks I'd put together if I wanted to start putting together an MTGO collection. The lack of Fulminators doesn't bother me at all for Living End, that'll happen over time.

I am still interested in these if you want to discuss something.

[hasdgfas]

Sorry, I didn't hear anything from anyone after I put up the Doc, so I flipped the whole thing to MTGO Traders for $700.

I thought I said something before you posted the doc

[hasdgfas]

I'm finding myself to be doing consistently poorly at DTK after doing incredibly during FKK and KKK drafts. I'm not even sure why. Maybe my card evaluation is off, or maybe I'm not very good at signals now that they're actually a thing.

[hasdgfas]

I really liked M14 because it was super weird. I got to draft a sweet double Elite Arcanist, Double Silence deck, as well as a deck with a couple Rods of Ruin and that Enchantment that makes all your opponent's creatures Illusions.

[hasdgfas]

I think you need some sort of interaction. Stratus dancer is not enough. You're going to lose to getting run over by more powerful decks. Cards like disdainful stroke seem potentially very good in your deck.

I agree with this. I ran this bant facedown list at Game Day, and it still wasn't enough interaction. I felt like I was goldfishing, and that...didn't go well.

[hasdgfas]

ooh hooded hydra seems sweet.

Hooded Hydra was great in the deck. It comboed with so many things, whether an End Hostilities out of the sideboard or extra value after a Whisperwood sacrifice, and a surprise 5/5 for 2 mana was great.

[hasdgfas]

I have been doing consistently poorly at this format, only going 2-1 when I drafted mono-white, 1-2 at best for all my other drafts. I'm not sure quite why I haven't yet figured out what I'm doing. This is the worst I've done in a format since RTR, and that was the first one since I started drafting regularly.

[hasdgfas]

Rules question-

Players may not rearrange the cards in their graveyards.

True or false?

This is a great question, because the answer is "both".

From the comprehensive rules:

404.2

Each graveyard is kept in a single face-up pile. A player can examine the cards in any graveyard at any time but normally can't change their order. Additional rules applying to sanctioned tournaments may allow a player to change the order of cards in his or her graveyard.

From the Magic Tournament Rules:

3.14 Graveyard Order

In formats involving only cards from Urza’s Saga™ and later, players may change the order of their graveyard at
any time. A player may not change the order of an opponent’s graveyard.

[hasdgfas]

It actually looks like a significantly better draft format than MM1 to me. The archetypes seem less "obvious". Less just "take all cards of a tribe. Deck is done" and more synergistic. I'm really looking forward to it, although I'm disappointed in the lack of a couple reprinted uncommons/commons.

[hasdgfas]

Rare redrafts are for cheap drafts with your friends where the rares are the only way you can do prize support. Rare redrafts are

not

for FNM, because I feel like a store should be obligated to have packs if they do prizes.

[hasdgfas]

The two times I've done without redraft all first place got was whatever the fnm promo was at the time.

Then your store is really, er, "frugal" with their prizes. Most places that don't do redrafts actually give you packs as prizes for doing well.

Unless its like a 9$ draft. My store does 9$ drafts on a weekday with redrafts.

Also, Modern Masters drafts will be redrafts a large amount of the time because of the cost.

Yeah. If it's super cheap, redrafts are ok. But regular price drafts with redrafts as "prizes"? No way.

I just don't see the point of playing if there isn't a redraft. There's no reason to even try to come first, just pick whatever is the most value and then leave.

I like, you know, playing Magic too.

[hasdgfas]

Rare redrafting is just such a kick in the teeth. "oh you're happy you opened that neat thing? Well screw you, Spike McPlaysMore gets it because he's been drafting this set nonstop since it came out online, if you want nice things you should just GET GUD NERD" (and to be clear, this is coming from the perspective of a guy who would probably be Spike McPlaysMore in this scenario)

Mhm. I host weekly rare redrafts at work, but it's $8 and everyone knows it's redraft. So while we have some people who run into that situation who are less experienced than others, it's caused several of them to improve significantly since they've starting coming just so that they can have decent picks.

[hasdgfas]

I mean there is no point as people aren't picking to make the best deck either which means you have a shittier set of decks.

*$18.

We have a Video Game Association that does $15 drafts at uni though which are much better run.

You do $18 drafts where the only prize support is rare redrafts? They're ripping you off.

Past like, the first pick of each pack, people are picking to make the best decks even if you don't rare redraft. It's really not that big an issue.

[hasdgfas]

I would like everyone to know that I unlocked an achievement today:

[hasdgfas]

Decided to impulse hop into an MM15 draft when I got home from work today. Think I made out alright



I am waiting for round 3 after an easy 2-0

[hasdgfas]

Decided to impulse hop into an MM15 draft when I got home from work today. Think I made out alright



I am waiting for round 3 after an easy 2-0

Hah! That is you in the LRR chat. Said it there, I'll say it here: That's some solid value, plus your deck looks sweet.

I have wondered if the bv310 is you, glad to get some confirmation. Yeah, deck was sweet. Ended up planning on splitting the finals and playing it out, but my opponent scooped to me after he had to run.

[hasdgfas]

I hate the idea to split. Seems unsporting.

it's unsporting to say "hey, let's get prizes to the best place for both of us"?

[hasdgfas]

Drafted my box of MM15 with the help of some friends today.

Mythics: Goyf, Kiki-Jiki, Ulamog

Rares of note: Noble Hierarch, Wilt-Leaf Liege, Cryptic Command, Fulminator Mage, Leyline of Sanctity

Overall: Super fun set to draft, feel like I got my money's worth, even if I didn't technically "make my money back", although it's pretty close.

[hasdgfas]

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

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

I'm really enjoying Standard. But maybe that's my local store meta and that fact that I'm building ridiculous decks every time I go to Standard Night.


Also, the old "Do I take the foil Tarmogoyf over Burst Lightning in the GP Vegas Top 8 Draft when I'm in RW?" question. Pascal Maynard's answer?

yes

[hasdgfas]

There's no way I'm strong enough to resist that. I'm a collector at heart. A top-8 stamped foil Tarmogoyf?