I identify a lot with Leviathan, even moreso now that I know he's a guy who loves kids. Growing up with older brothers, one of whom was pretty... prolific, to put it nicely... I grew up as a guy who really loves kids, and it usually caused me issues (people look at me funny because I'm smiling at their kid or making faces with them), so it's good to see others of the same bent (even if not of the same experiences). Plus his views of Commander and mine are nigh-identical - we both pretty much solely play Commander, we both love the beatdown, and we both love us some green :-D Now if only I could write as often as he does :-D
One other thing that I completely agree with is the whole dropping-while-triggers-are-on-the-stack-or-are-about-to-trigger. In one game a week or so ago, this one guy basically targeted me from the get-go (I was playing Animar, and I guess to him I was the biggest threat). Basically, right when I'm about to get back the things he stole from my deck / my board, he quits - and then has the cajones to say "Scoop-countering is a legit strategy". These are the people that I block, and I'm sure Leviathan would agree.
So will the new Planchase decks be released online? I know the ones a few years ago weren't. It would be a big shame to not get the new cards, but do they even have the ability or inclination to implement something like Planechase functionality online?
I won't be playing in Angels VS Demons event, but am just wondering: will there be a special ban list? Cards like COP:Black, Absolute Grace, Gloom, Anarchy (totally worth splashing red for) etc. seem like too exploitative if you know that your opponent is playing black/white.
Plus respect for articles Kumagoro, they're my favourite series here.
Hey Pete,
I have a TON of mtgo ISD packs and a bunch of DKA as well. Last I checked, ISD was selling at 3.64 per pack. I was wondering if I should hold onto them and wait for them to go up ala Scars, or if I should jump ship now and unload them. Any ideas?
Bannings, etc: I haven't forgotten. I will make my announcement on June 20th to coincide with the WotC B&R announcement. Any future bannings will follow that cycle as well. Until then, the list stays as is. We can discuss after tribal tomorrow.
Tribal Singleton: No special bannings. Regular bannings waived. We'll try Tribal Singleton with NO BANNED LIST WHATSOEVER, and see how it goes.
Double Tribal: Some hammering out still needs to be done. One could do Druid/Warrior and still run Elves? This type of scenario must be avoided.
Angels vs Demons: Blarg! Have I been doing this that long? o.0
I'm glad that you wrote this article - as you said, we would love to see some new players, and articles like that are one of the best ways to accomplish this (it's also how I got interested in the format).
Heirloom is one of my favourite formats since you get to play with a wide range of different cards and you get to play for cheap (if you win a tournament you can basically build a new deck with the award). It's also great to have an environment where you don't need to compromise your deck strength based on your budget and be less competitive as a result.
Lymph Sliver is pretty good. Give that guy a second look if TPF drafts ever come up again. Needing an extra damage to kill it helps so much. And if you get two of them down, it's 5 damage to kill one. And it's immune to any Pestilence-style effects. And if it's double blocked, it prevents 1 damage from each blocker. The best part about it is since "absorb" isn't a real ability, nobody seems to know how to play against that thing. It won me a few games during those drafts. Of course, in your picks here, you had better cards in the packs it was in.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the article. I guess there has been a bit of power creep with the increased price limits though I don't think the format is broken, though it would be interesting if someone could break it.
I'm not entirely sure what prompted the change of price limits but I think it was simply because fairly staple cards such as Lightning Bolt, Journey to Nowhere and Oblivion Ring were being priced out of the format. I think the format is more powerful now but it also allows for more deck possibilities.
You forgot about Cursecatcher when listing off counterspells in Merfolk.
What's up with straight up Stax decks these days? With all these creature decks running around, shouldn't stax swoop in? It can power out bigger dudes faster than a delver list.
1) Although this deck looks a lot like a Legacy deck, it actually plays better in classic IMHO because classic decks like to cheat their manabases more than legacy ones do, which is basically what this deck is built to exploit. I chose this deck because I have vast experience with tempo-oriented aggro control (I have been playing tempo decks for over a decade since Merolk/GayPhish was good in Vintage and Madness/Thresh was crushing Std 10 years ago, so this is the type of deck I am most practiced with). Last league I went with a control Tezzerator build, but felt much more uncomfortable with the decision tree--so this time I decided to stick with what I knew.
2) A lot of times in classic playing delver turn one is absolutely not the right call, unlike in Legacy where you always windmill slam it when you draw it. In this deck delver is a lot more like nimble mongoose in that he is a cheap powerful threat that can come down in the midgame (turn 3 or so) while leaving you counter mana up for the inevitable firefight that follows him.
3) I went with Trygon predator for a couple of reasons: A) He is there to ease the intrinsic tension in the deck between Lavamancer and Tarmogoyf. There are a lot of times where you get those two down by turn 2 or 3 and then you are stuck with the awkward situation where using lavamancer shrinks your goyf, which is not exactly ideal. B) He is also there because I cut the nature's claim copies from 3 to 1 and wanted extra utility that pitched to FoW. He has actually proved quite good thus far as I got paired against shops round 2 and 3. This deck can stop the shop player from executing their gameplan for the first few turins, but eventually their mana advantge and bigger creatures become a problem. If you can stick a Predator turn 3 or 4 your life generally beomes much easier. Plus, he kills all kinds of annoying nonsense that other decks try to do as well. I have really liked him so far.
4) The MD cages have not been useful at all YET, but judging from the top 8 that may change before it is all said and done. I went with the Lavamancer as my snapcaster substitute because I expected to see a lot of Fish creatures, and I have not been dissappointed thus far. Lavamancer basically won one top 8 game vs Uvatha all by himself.
5) I am super exited to try and make temporal mastery (and maybe the 5 damage miracle bolt) work in this deck. I feel like that will require some SDT, but I feel like it might be worth it for those effects.
Welcome back Olaw. I haven't played Heirloom in a few years but it still resonates. Not so sure I like the increased price limits but I guess that was always arbitrary to begin with. Just allows more broken cards in that would otherwise be on the edge or out.
Glad to have you back in the format again olaw! It's great to see you writing about Heirloom again. Great and informative article for anyone looking to play Heirloom, thanks for writing it :)
I also wanted to throw out there that I host both of the Heirloom events. If you are interested in joining in on the fun you can message me with any questions you may have and am hoping to see some new players at our events soon!
My first booster that I opened after a long hiatus from the game was 8th edition where I was lucky enough to open Okk. I got so annoyed that I started collecting them (to the point of taking them from people's trade binders, which they were fine with). I got up around 300 or so eventually.
I'm sure you had a very sic Krark's Thumb/Mana Clash deck during Mirrodin STD.
Wizards says they will be released online.
I don't really know. I'm in the same boat - and I don't know what to do. My gut feeling is that people like drafting Inn., so they may stay valuable.
I identify a lot with Leviathan, even moreso now that I know he's a guy who loves kids. Growing up with older brothers, one of whom was pretty... prolific, to put it nicely... I grew up as a guy who really loves kids, and it usually caused me issues (people look at me funny because I'm smiling at their kid or making faces with them), so it's good to see others of the same bent (even if not of the same experiences). Plus his views of Commander and mine are nigh-identical - we both pretty much solely play Commander, we both love the beatdown, and we both love us some green :-D Now if only I could write as often as he does :-D
One other thing that I completely agree with is the whole dropping-while-triggers-are-on-the-stack-or-are-about-to-trigger. In one game a week or so ago, this one guy basically targeted me from the get-go (I was playing Animar, and I guess to him I was the biggest threat). Basically, right when I'm about to get back the things he stole from my deck / my board, he quits - and then has the cajones to say "Scoop-countering is a legit strategy". These are the people that I block, and I'm sure Leviathan would agree.
delver decks are what killed off stax in the first place. a 3/2 flyer on turn 1 races spheres really well.
So will the new Planchase decks be released online? I know the ones a few years ago weren't. It would be a big shame to not get the new cards, but do they even have the ability or inclination to implement something like Planechase functionality online?
I won't be playing in Angels VS Demons event, but am just wondering: will there be a special ban list? Cards like COP:Black, Absolute Grace, Gloom, Anarchy (totally worth splashing red for) etc. seem like too exploitative if you know that your opponent is playing black/white.
Plus respect for articles Kumagoro, they're my favourite series here.
Hey Pete,
I have a TON of mtgo ISD packs and a bunch of DKA as well. Last I checked, ISD was selling at 3.64 per pack. I was wondering if I should hold onto them and wait for them to go up ala Scars, or if I should jump ship now and unload them. Any ideas?
One at a time...
Bannings, etc: I haven't forgotten. I will make my announcement on June 20th to coincide with the WotC B&R announcement. Any future bannings will follow that cycle as well. Until then, the list stays as is. We can discuss after tribal tomorrow.
Tribal Singleton: No special bannings. Regular bannings waived. We'll try Tribal Singleton with NO BANNED LIST WHATSOEVER, and see how it goes.
Double Tribal: Some hammering out still needs to be done. One could do Druid/Warrior and still run Elves? This type of scenario must be avoided.
Angels vs Demons: Blarg! Have I been doing this that long? o.0
This is nice, battle against great magic will see each other to contest who is the best.
I found that your trick is hard to do,but it be done by numerous repeatedly doing it.
"møøse", not "m00se". :)
I'm glad that you wrote this article - as you said, we would love to see some new players, and articles like that are one of the best ways to accomplish this (it's also how I got interested in the format).
Heirloom is one of my favourite formats since you get to play with a wide range of different cards and you get to play for cheap (if you win a tournament you can basically build a new deck with the award). It's also great to have an environment where you don't need to compromise your deck strength based on your budget and be less competitive as a result.
Needs more narration and less card zooming. That RW deck was great. Haven't watched the other one yet.
Lymph Sliver is pretty good. Give that guy a second look if TPF drafts ever come up again. Needing an extra damage to kill it helps so much. And if you get two of them down, it's 5 damage to kill one. And it's immune to any Pestilence-style effects. And if it's double blocked, it prevents 1 damage from each blocker. The best part about it is since "absorb" isn't a real ability, nobody seems to know how to play against that thing. It won me a few games during those drafts. Of course, in your picks here, you had better cards in the packs it was in.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the article. I guess there has been a bit of power creep with the increased price limits though I don't think the format is broken, though it would be interesting if someone could break it.
I'm not entirely sure what prompted the change of price limits but I think it was simply because fairly staple cards such as Lightning Bolt, Journey to Nowhere and Oblivion Ring were being priced out of the format. I think the format is more powerful now but it also allows for more deck possibilities.
You forgot about Cursecatcher when listing off counterspells in Merfolk.
What's up with straight up Stax decks these days? With all these creature decks running around, shouldn't stax swoop in? It can power out bigger dudes faster than a delver list.
Couple of things:
1) Although this deck looks a lot like a Legacy deck, it actually plays better in classic IMHO because classic decks like to cheat their manabases more than legacy ones do, which is basically what this deck is built to exploit. I chose this deck because I have vast experience with tempo-oriented aggro control (I have been playing tempo decks for over a decade since Merolk/GayPhish was good in Vintage and Madness/Thresh was crushing Std 10 years ago, so this is the type of deck I am most practiced with). Last league I went with a control Tezzerator build, but felt much more uncomfortable with the decision tree--so this time I decided to stick with what I knew.
2) A lot of times in classic playing delver turn one is absolutely not the right call, unlike in Legacy where you always windmill slam it when you draw it. In this deck delver is a lot more like nimble mongoose in that he is a cheap powerful threat that can come down in the midgame (turn 3 or so) while leaving you counter mana up for the inevitable firefight that follows him.
3) I went with Trygon predator for a couple of reasons: A) He is there to ease the intrinsic tension in the deck between Lavamancer and Tarmogoyf. There are a lot of times where you get those two down by turn 2 or 3 and then you are stuck with the awkward situation where using lavamancer shrinks your goyf, which is not exactly ideal. B) He is also there because I cut the nature's claim copies from 3 to 1 and wanted extra utility that pitched to FoW. He has actually proved quite good thus far as I got paired against shops round 2 and 3. This deck can stop the shop player from executing their gameplan for the first few turins, but eventually their mana advantge and bigger creatures become a problem. If you can stick a Predator turn 3 or 4 your life generally beomes much easier. Plus, he kills all kinds of annoying nonsense that other decks try to do as well. I have really liked him so far.
4) The MD cages have not been useful at all YET, but judging from the top 8 that may change before it is all said and done. I went with the Lavamancer as my snapcaster substitute because I expected to see a lot of Fish creatures, and I have not been dissappointed thus far. Lavamancer basically won one top 8 game vs Uvatha all by himself.
5) I am super exited to try and make temporal mastery (and maybe the 5 damage miracle bolt) work in this deck. I feel like that will require some SDT, but I feel like it might be worth it for those effects.
Go Go, Magic Eternal!
Welcome back Olaw. I haven't played Heirloom in a few years but it still resonates. Not so sure I like the increased price limits but I guess that was always arbitrary to begin with. Just allows more broken cards in that would otherwise be on the edge or out.
Glad to have you back in the format again olaw! It's great to see you writing about Heirloom again. Great and informative article for anyone looking to play Heirloom, thanks for writing it :)
I also wanted to throw out there that I host both of the Heirloom events. If you are interested in joining in on the fun you can message me with any questions you may have and am hoping to see some new players at our events soon!
Heirloom is awesome! I love formats with lots of innovation. :)
Hello all, before submitting this article, it seems I forgot to put a description in. Sorry about that.
My first booster that I opened after a long hiatus from the game was 8th edition where I was lucky enough to open Okk. I got so annoyed that I started collecting them (to the point of taking them from people's trade binders, which they were fine with). I got up around 300 or so eventually.
I'm sure you had a very sic Krark's Thumb/Mana Clash deck during Mirrodin STD.
It's the heart of the combo. Living End/Hypergenesis by themselves are just mediocre. Casting them for free at instant speed not so much.
I see now. Hadn't really considered cascade initially. Thanks.