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By: Plainswalker83, Plainswalker83
Nov 05 2015 12:00pm
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I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
      "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

     A hero cannot dictate the events of life, but what he/she can do is react and fight on against the obstacles that stand in the way. Frodo is one of the best examples on the accidental hero. He does not choose the adventure or even want to take it on at all. He does so out of a sense of duty and knowing that there are things worth fighting for and he will do what he can to make things right in the world.

     My adventure is a bit different. When I had to sell my collection I had two choices in front me. I could either give up playing MTGO or work hard at starting over and trying to help others along the way. I obviously chose the latter option.  It was a task that was set before me and I tackled it head on. Weeks later and I learned something else. A hero cannot succeed without help.

     One thing that Frodo had going for him is that he did not have to tackle the problem ahead of him on his own. Even leaving the Shire was an adventure and he had the aid of his faithful friend Samwise Gamgee. Merry and Pippin joined up and soon the four hobbits were on an adventure of a lifetime. Along the way they met more allies and because of those friends and allies the mission succeeded.

     I want to start this off by saying thank you to a few groups of people that have helped me continue this journey and help me continue to fight. MTGO Traders was amazing in the selloff. They gave me a fair price and were very quick to send the check.  I owe them a ton of gratitude.

     Secondly I want to thank our editor and chief, Josh. I have been doing articles for over a year now and he has been patient and very helpful in the whole process. Trust me I don't always make it easy. This site is the main reason I am able to play magic online and has reignited my passion for brewing and making the game fun.

     Lastly I want to thank the other writers on this site and you the readers. I will forget some if I try to name all of the people that have been helpful whether it be through support or just a kind word. However there are some names that I feel I have to name. First there is the reason I am on this site to begin with. He may not know it but Olaw is why I began to write for PureMTGO.com. I stumbled upon his articles when I was searching for Modern decks. I talked to him and he told me about writing for the site. The rest is history. Gio AKA Procrastination is someone else I want to thank. He has let me borrow cards in the past and has always had a kind word or a constructive criticism. It is a pleasure to write/work alongside the writers of this site and I look forward to doing it as long as possible. You as the readers have also been great. I have encountered some of you and even had the pleasure of playing against you on MTGO. I hope you continue to read and enjoy this series.

      Ok all of that leads to what I am now playing. I mentioned last week that I wanted to play Jeskai and I built a token strategy until I was able to get a few more cards. I am a few fetches short but here is my Noyan Dar list.

 

Noyan Dar Ascendancy
 
Creatures
4 Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper
3 Soulfire Grand Master
  7 cards

Other Spells
4 Magmatic Insight
4 Jeskai Ascendancy
2 Anticipate
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Treasure Cruise
2 Dig Through Time
2 Dispel
3 Wild Slash
4 Radiant Flames
23 cards
Lands
4 Mystic Monastery
1 Battlefield Forge
2 Shivan Reef
4 Polluted Delta
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Mountain
2 Island
2 Plains
3 Prairie Stream
1 Smoldering Marsh
23 cards

Jeskai Ascendancy

     This deck has been a blast to play and I have been playing it in paper as well. The main draw was that it had cards that I can either use in Modern as well, like the fetches or use to trade in and build other decks. My goal is to rebuild my collection so I don't want to keep selling things off but I will do what I can to make some good trades and get value for what I have. In paper I changed the sideboard so that I could board in cards like Mantis Rider, Crackling Doom, and Tasigur, the Golden Fang. Most times when I use the combo in game 1 my opponent will bring in things to stop it. So in order to combat that I usually side out the combo and side in the aggressive Jeskai Black cards. It has been working pretty great so far and I will most likely try the same thing online.

     The actual combo is pretty sweet and can kill an opponent even when they are at a very high life total. Let me break it down for you.

     The first way you can win is if you have these cards in play.

                                          Jeskai Ascendancy            Noyan_Dar_Roil_Shaper.jpg

    Basically every instant or sorcery you play turns a land into a creature, untaps that land, and gives it +1 +1. You can then tap that land for mana and continue on your merry way. The deck has a ton of cheap spells and Treasure Cruise is 99% always being cast for 1. Because of that if you have 6 mana when you play Noyan Dar you can usually combo off that turn. It takes practice balancing triggers and such but it is very rewarding.

     The other way to win is having Soulfire Grand Master out with Noyan and 2 Ascendancies. With that and 7 lands you can end up making infinite mana and casting a Wild Slash about a million times. Online that is a much tougher path to victory due to the clock and clicking the various triggers. But it is still a ton of fun.

     The deck has been playing well and when I get the other fetches I may finally be ready to enter competitive magic again and start some 2 mans and build up my play points to do 8 mans and the eventual daily. 

     Next up is the Modern deck that I have been working on.

     This is still moving along nicely and by next week might be complete. I really do need the Stony Silence for the board and possibly a (Mark of Asylum) as well. Other than that I have been pretty happy with it. It ends up being fast enough to beat a deck that stumbles and it can race other aggro decks. The eventual goal is to build up some sort of zoo deck again because to be honest it feels weird to not have Wild Nacatl in my collection. The biggest hurdle will be getting fetches, shocklands, and cards like Eidolon of the Great Revel but it will be worth it when I finally do.

    It has only been 3 weeks since I started this quest and I am already able to play magic in two different formats. That alone is pretty exciting but of course I still have a long way to go. I wanted to be back in the thick of competitive play but that may take a few more weeks of preparing. I am also going to start picking up some more Modern staples as opposed to Standard once I fully complete the Noyan Dar deck. After this Standard rotation I may have to take a break from Standard unless I start doing well enough and winning packs that I can trade in more tickets. Standard will start to get expensive and only be viable for a shorter amount of time. Though I am pretty excited that Shadows over Innistrad was spoiled as the next block. If they reprint some of the great white weenie cards that they had before I will be super excited to play that archetype in Standard. Especially if they reprint a card like Brave the Elements or even Faith's Shield.

     Lastly if anyone has any MTGO finance tips for me or knows of any other ways I can build up my collection please let me know. That help would be greatly appreciated. Until next time!

2 Comments

As always, you are most by Procrastination at Fri, 11/06/2015 - 00:09
Procrastination's picture
3

As always, you are most welcome. If there is anything that you need to borrow for Modern to speed things along, let me know and I might be able to help.

Now for some constructive criticism! You stated your reason for starting over "Hero" style for your articles, but I think they are missing somethings:

Use of Budget: The main struggle of a usual "MTG Hero Challenge" is that they are extremely limited on budget. Every purchase, trade, store credit and prize really matters. I know you already stated your budget (~$25 a week), but it would be nice to see how and where you are using it. How much are you focusing on Standard? On Modern? Any card prices climb to a point that you couldn't pass up selling to acquire more cards? Watching the collection grow and the decks become optimal is part of the charm. Also, how are you entering events? Used some of your budget for tickets? Already living off of Play Points alone? Give us some details.

Measurable Goals: I know you want to rebuild your collection, but what else are you trying to accomplish exactly? 70% win rate in 2-Mans? Enough Play Points to enter infinite Leagues? I know you want to compete, but at what actual level? Is the goal to win packs, or just keep doing well? There are a lot of different ways to succeed, so what goals are you trying to accomplish? Right now, it's a vague, broad, "Just work right up to Dailies", but those steps in between are what demonstrate progress. One does not simply walk into Mordor, you know? ;) Setting some goals/checkpoints could provide focus for your articles and even build in a bit of suspense? Can you get out of the 2-Mans before spending $25 dollars on fees? Can the deck chain 3 Leagues together? Start out small and work your way up, but make it clear what success/failure means so that we the readers can follow along.

Game Descriptions: Right now you're on a journey, but you never tell us about anything that happens on that journey. Don't be afraid to talk about some actual matches. Or maybe a time where a sub-optimal card helped you? Part of the adventure is the growing pains of a mish-mash deck trying to work. The story isn't as interesting if the characters are already "level 10" before you even get out of the small town; why would we want to wait until you've mostly optimized the deck to hear about it? The underdog WW deck versus the evil hoards of Tier 1 Modern is something we don't hear about everyday either, so regale us a little.

That's plenty to think about, but I hope you explore some options to flesh out the series a bit.

PARTING SHOT: In WW, you should be using Sundering Growth instead of Disenchant since you might Populate a token from Precinct Captain every so often.

- Gio

Thanks Gio by Plainswalker83 at Fri, 11/06/2015 - 12:37
Plainswalker83's picture

All very good points and I was realizing that as well. I will be doing more of that in the weeks to come. And good call with Sundering Growth. I think I totally forget about that card sometimes.