Editorial Section:
I'm not sure why, but a lot of my local play group has recently dipped their toes into the world of MTGO. Something I've noticed is that there is a lot of good information about MTGO, but it's really scattered across sites and authors. So I figure that with my new found dedication to improving my MTGO ratings I would take on the task of accumulating as many as I know about in order to help others that may be on the same path as myself. Also, I'll throw in some things I've seen from my recent perspective of watching paper players get more involved on MTGO.
The first, and probably most important for budding players is the MTGOnline.com page. If you haven't seen this page, it's one of the portals for MTGO information. But far more pertinent to our needs is the recent events list on the right side of the page (scroll down). This list has all the top decks of recent events and is invaluable for people trying to get a handle on the MTGO metagame for their playing needs.
Standard is a bit pricier than usual right now, largely due to the MTGO PTQ season being... Standard. As such, a slightly less imposing format is Block Constructed. Of course you do still have Jace to deal with... and Wall of Omens and counters, mass removal and whatnot so it's not super cheap but it is certainly cheapER than Standard is right now. For anyone interested in getting Block Constructed ChannelFireball.com's FFfreaky Friday (Brad Nelson) writes about that subject pretty often and is a pretty vocal proponent of the format for 'going infinite'.
If you are getting into MTGO for fun and profit running your deck in a Daily Event is probably one of the better EV's you'll find online. To track down your upcoming events keep a close eye on the Magic Online Event Schedule.
Some quick things to throw out for those migrating into MTGO from paper:
If you're buying high value cards post a buying advertisement in the Classifieds section (Menu -> Community -> Message Board). You can usually shave off a few tickets per playset of the high value cards this way. Not a huge discount, but every bit helps.
Become accustomed to bots, and trading cards in and out of them. Selling high value cards in the Classifieds generally works well, much like the buying tip above, but for small cards, the bots are great.
Learn the interface and play the deck a LOT before you hop into a paying queue. Losing sucks. Losing to having incorrect stops or not knowing the interface is downright infuriating.
Be prepared to lose... the best of the best use MTGO for testing. If there's money on the line it's possible that you'll have a fantastic opponent. Far better than your average local players. Unless your local players are really, really good.
Now, to continue on my quest I had challenged myself to get into the queues and play at least ONE event with prizes on the lines so I forced myself to jump into a 2 Man Queue with a similar deck as last week. I actually tweaked my sideboard a bit to be a bit more 'my style' and went in with guns a'blazen!
This puts me at 2-0 vs Naya + Vengevine having defeated it in the Tournament Practice room as well. I don't know if this match-up should wind up as good as it has been so far, but I was happy to win the pack and quickly flipped it back into tickets. This brings my rating up to 1622, which is still painfully low, but better than this time last week, I suppose.
Discussion Items: Rules of multiple players on one account?
This is one of those recurring topics on the MTGO boards that really boils down to morals and ethics and what each person thinks is the right way to play MTGO. There are people on both sides of the topic. Some who think that any amount of people on either side of the screen is completely fine and the other side that feel that MTGO should be just like MTG and not allow any outside assistance in any fashion. I have to admit I was in the latter group before but have gotten to the point where I don't see the issues as nearly as big of an issue as it once was... although I do still understand the feelings of those that despise the practice.
No more Weekday PE's:
Well, mostly, anyway. There will still be some on occasion; but by and large, they've been removed due to lack of firing often enough.
Card Price Discussion:
The results of Grand Prix DC are in, and MTGO prices are moving as one might expect after the deck lists have been posted. U/W Control was already pretty highly priced, and didn't really move around a whole lot, but other decks really showed off some of their power and have seen people moving to them to avoid the cost of U/w. Enter Vengevine (for Naya with Vengevines). Also Lotus Cobra has been doing some great things in Mythic decks. Lavaclaw, Abyssal, and Sarkhan are sharing some deck time in B/R control style decks (along with All is dust). Linvala moved up on the back that she's a great sideboard card to really mess with mana elf style effects and whatnot. Iona hates against mono decks and is a great card in the Polymorph decks to really hurt RDW and Vamps... should they every show up again.
Some other Mythics decided to move down, which might indicate that there were unnecessarily high, probably due to the mass effect of buying on the upswing of a card on hype.
In the second game of the Devastating Red match you can actually win regardless of whether his last card is lightning bolt. Play the Teetering Peaks, float 4 red, cast Devastating Summons sacrificing 4 lands, play your second Devastating Summons sacrificing 1 land, then play the kicked Goblin Bushwhacker. You now have two 5/4 creatures and three 2/1 creatures. The best he can do is to bolt one of the 2/1s, but that still leaves you with 14 power of creatures, which kills him.
Is it a big job to put together the draft set EV stats. I often ask for these, becouse I find them very useful, to decide what draft to do.
If they're a lot of work, then doing them once every few weeks is fine, but if not, I'd really appreciate them each week. ;-)
Also, good work on a start to a new players guide. Just this week I had someone in game ask me about getting started. I had to find the MTGOFAQ link, and pointed him to this site and MTGOTraders.
I think it would be very useful to have a single webpage containing links to everything (in order) that a new player would need, eg FAQ, shortcuts, tips on setting stops, how to use bots, the "how to manage your MTGO budget" that was on this site earlier in the week etc.
In general, wouldn't it be better to put the peak's power boost on a smaller creature so 1 removal spell like Path to Exile couldn't stop as much damage.
1. Summons for 1 (1/1 1/1)
2. Peaks a on Summons (3/1 1/1)
3. Tap all lands, Summons for 4 (4/4 4/4 3/1 1/1 Floating RR)
4. Bushwacker kicked (5/4 5/4 4/1 2/1 2/1)
It's the same result, but slightly stronger against a Path to Exile. Of course there are times when you want to be stronger against a Lightning Bolt.
Seeing as how opp tapped only white source to cast Venge, Path isn't a possibility - you definitely want to be stronger against Bolt and both iterations would have the same result: victory.
Wow. I played that like a newb, and still won! Kind of a testament to the power of the deck, I guess. :)
Thinking about that last turn gives me a lot more options about how to win AND how not to get blown out by removal and still have a backup plan...
The Duel deck comes out September 3rd. People need Elspeths now, not three months in the future. I have no idea why everyone thinks that this should influence the prices of today's Standard.
well as im sure you know not everyone who owns an elspeth uses them. For those people that just have them lying around it would be best to sell now in light of this announcement
14 Comments
Very nice info! You pilot RDW very well and I really enjoy the videos. They help greatly when explaining why you make each play.
In the second game of the Devastating Red match you can actually win regardless of whether his last card is lightning bolt. Play the Teetering Peaks, float 4 red, cast Devastating Summons sacrificing 4 lands, play your second Devastating Summons sacrificing 1 land, then play the kicked Goblin Bushwhacker. You now have two 5/4 creatures and three 2/1 creatures. The best he can do is to bolt one of the 2/1s, but that still leaves you with 14 power of creatures, which kills him.
Hi
Is it a big job to put together the draft set EV stats. I often ask for these, becouse I find them very useful, to decide what draft to do.
If they're a lot of work, then doing them once every few weeks is fine, but if not, I'd really appreciate them each week. ;-)
Also, good work on a start to a new players guide. Just this week I had someone in game ask me about getting started. I had to find the MTGOFAQ link, and pointed him to this site and MTGOTraders.
I think it would be very useful to have a single webpage containing links to everything (in order) that a new player would need, eg FAQ, shortcuts, tips on setting stops, how to use bots, the "how to manage your MTGO budget" that was on this site earlier in the week etc.
Cheers!!
Optimal Play on that last game last turn.
(At least if I didn't make any mistakes :D)
1. Summons for 4 (4/4 4/4 RRR floating)
2. Peeks a summon ( 6/4 4/4 RRR)
3. Summons for 1 ( 6/4 4/4 1/1 1/1 RR)
4. Bushwacker kicked (7/4 5/4 2/1 2/1 2/1)
18 Damage total and the only legal out is fog which I'd bet he isn't playing :P
Thanks for the article
In general, wouldn't it be better to put the peak's power boost on a smaller creature so 1 removal spell like Path to Exile couldn't stop as much damage.
1. Summons for 1 (1/1 1/1)
2. Peaks a on Summons (3/1 1/1)
3. Tap all lands, Summons for 4 (4/4 4/4 3/1 1/1 Floating RR)
4. Bushwacker kicked (5/4 5/4 4/1 2/1 2/1)
It's the same result, but slightly stronger against a Path to Exile. Of course there are times when you want to be stronger against a Lightning Bolt.
Seeing as how opp tapped only white source to cast Venge, Path isn't a possibility - you definitely want to be stronger against Bolt and both iterations would have the same result: victory.
Bleh nm waking up here lol
no change with elspeth huh?
The announcement of the duel decks and the consequences from said announcement probably had not occurred when the price points were taken.
The Duel deck comes out September 3rd. People need Elspeths now, not three months in the future. I have no idea why everyone thinks that this should influence the prices of today's Standard.
well as im sure you know not everyone who owns an elspeth uses them. For those people that just have them lying around it would be best to sell now in light of this announcement
Or, as we've seen with Mox Diamond, it takes a while for prices to adjust. People are impatient.
i had three, sold one for 32, figure ill catch up later one. 2 should be enough for casual fun for now