Sure, we're talking about something that Blippy might approve (or not) months from now, if not the next year entirely (but I think the sheer number of comments welcoming a change will speed up the process).
Also, the idea wasn't to ditch Endangered entirely (even if I have an idea to transform its current ruling for the better as well), but to replace it half the times, i.e. every other month.
If it's not too complicated for Blippy or too confusing for the occasional player, the ideal solution would be to start rotating 3 or 4 different variants on a monthly basis, maybe with Endangered recurring every other month, and the other variants taking turns when Endangered is in the off-month. But they still have to be variants easy to understand and build for the casual player even at the last minute (so, not Heirloom; and also not something that says "you must have a planeswalker set in the deck", because it would be elitist), not too banal but also not gimmicky for the sake of a gimmick. They should make sense in describing different aspects of the tribal world.
I've seen people play Azami decks that put a ton of abilities on the stack. It doesn't win unless it goes off and most players are smart enough to keep it from doing that. At best, blue is a support color in Commander. I like Hinder, Spell Crumple and Spin Into Myth, but I won't go much further into control than that.
I don't think you should tell people to not play blue, or even play less blue. Simply point out that they REALLY need to be on top of things if they are playing blue.
Yeah, I guess 2 other things that I think I could have mentioned are 1. try and make sure you have a good internet connection and 2. try and make sure that you aren't going to have any other distractions. I think those 2 are the biggest culprits for waiting forever during the first couple turns.
I've had the foil animation off for so long I kind of forgot about it. That's a good suggestion, as lag definitely increases when there's a lot going on.
Collective Voyage and the like are interesting suggestions. I think some of the more competitive players may like having the leg up that playing with a lot of accel gives them though. But they will definitely speed things up!
I really need to get Oath of Lieges in a deck soon...
I totally agree with walkerdog, Boin should be mentioned as he was a dominate force when pauper's only support was player run events. And Digwen became a powerhouse when WOTC started supporting pauper.
Hey :) I remember proposing that last year! :) Oh wait no my idea was a double sized deck (120 cards) with 40 minimum creatures 20 each of 2 different tribes.
Not sure if 20 double type creatures is all that different from what we now but :), could still be interesting.
I just want to leave one final comment here. KaraZorEl has another article up on the main page which is very well done. I don't know enough about the subject matter (Modern) to know whether the new article is truly insightful, but it is well formatted, well presented, and she took some feedback to heart. Don't know if she actually read my feedback or not, but one way or another this discussion seems to have helped her go in the right direction.
And lastly, for KaraZorEl, I am going to quote part of my original post:
"6) If you play magic as badly as you do, you might want to reconsider making videos and putting them on the internets for everyone to see."
This actually wasn't meant as an insult, but I bring it up again as you have stated that this whole affair makes you want to quit magic. I'm guessing you are not a regular commenter or participant on other sites, but internet blogs, forums or anywhere where people can post comments (especially anonymously) tend to be full of harsh, scathing, and sometimes insulting people. If these comments hurt you in a way that makes you want to quit magic, a game you presumably love, then do some soul searching. Play magic because you love playing magic. Write articles because you love writing articles. Don't quit one because you run into a jackhole while doing the other. But if either one is affecting you in a seriously negative emotional way, it's not worth it. Being an actor, being a writer, these things require that you handle rejection and criticism well. If that's not you, don't put yourself through it, and you will be a happier person for it.
Your gripe is answered by one of my suggestions to make games go quicker. Play with Collective Voyage. In addition to what the card says, it also has the added benefit of removeing about 30 minutes of boring game when everyone is trying to build a mana base. All of a sudden everyone jumps ahead to where the game gets really interesting. Rites of Flourishing, Oath of Lieges, or even a Howling Mine can work in a similar way.
I'd also suggest using F2 as a hotkey. For me it seems easier just to hit F2 rather then taking the time to click "OK".
And for me and my older computer, turning off the foil animation also helps my computer run faster and hopefully decreases lag.
*Polymorph + Pyromancer- You have to be careful when combining two different strategies in one deck. Though you seemingly have more outs, the consistency of the deck is messed up. It increases your chances of dead draws along w/ making the deck more vulnerable b/c the defensive slots are occupied by the other combo and vice versa.
*white leyline- though it may shield you in some games should ultimately be dropped. It slows down the deck when sided in by removing pieces and mucking up your draws which actually helps your opponent. Some of the other players made good possible suggestions about what to use. Perhaps more blood mooons/red magus? Take a look at the old extended dragonstorm lists again, even though its a different meta perhaps it'll help some with the sideboard.
Well, I have to come in here and give you some applause; after I gave you a hard time on the last article, this one is great. I'm not an expert on Modern at all, but as a reader I get the feeling that you know what you're talking about this time. You got the videos embedded correctly, you have a little text which makes up for the silence (and you warned us on the silence), and I didn't find even one broken card link! There's a lot of content here and it seems well presented. So all around kudos.
Was a good read about most of the guys I get my idea's from:D. I would also like to mention Digwen and Paul Denton as well.. They also make their presence very known in the dailies.
I agree about Pyromancer in the polymorph list. It just doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot, other than making the opponent think you are playing storm. I can certainly see that being useful in that regard, it doesn't seem to be helping you get your combo.
Faithless looting certainly would be a decent replacement, but if I were playing it, I think I would put either Remand (because the tempo gain probably wins you the match, and it cantrips) or Dispel/Spell Pierce. Either way, it protects your combo at a very minimal cost to you.
Since your little dudes are so vulnerable to spot removal, being able to counter something killing one in response to polymorph should make piloting it all less of a gamble and certainly once they have seen what your combo is and figured out you don't have any other creatures at all, I don't see them tapping out to let you go off safely, so a 1 mana backup would be great.
Alternatively, Remand is just the nuts, just a little bit pricier.
I usually just cast Peer Through Depths on my own turn in case I find (Gitaxian Probe). If I'd sideboarded it out, then I do it EOT. Also...I really suck at math. :p
Great stuff, the part that always bugs me the most is during the first 3 turns when very little is played and yet we still kill 10m off someone's clock.. that's the most frustrating part for me, time wasted when no play occurs
You mention that Ascension is good in Modern. That's true, when it's in Storm decks. However, Ascension is unnecessary for Polymorph. Substitute Faithless Looting as an excellent filter spell (you really can't get enough of these) and as a way to dump any dudes that may have ended up in your hand.
Other things:
-There's really no reason to cast Peer on your own turn unless you're planning to combo out that same turn.
-You missed an on-board kill in match 1 (turn 4).
-"...This makes seven total. Use two more to cast the ritual from your hand and you've got nine..." Actually, that puts you at eight mana. 7-2+3=8.
Pretty sure you'd meet Kumagoro and a few others if you tossed some fruit out of your window. Or so I've gathered from talking to him. Lots of Genoese online.
Frag the only long roadtrips you would have is if you went from Genoa-area down to Messina (or one of the islands). That's based off of looking at this:
Sure, we're talking about something that Blippy might approve (or not) months from now, if not the next year entirely (but I think the sheer number of comments welcoming a change will speed up the process).
Also, the idea wasn't to ditch Endangered entirely (even if I have an idea to transform its current ruling for the better as well), but to replace it half the times, i.e. every other month.
If it's not too complicated for Blippy or too confusing for the occasional player, the ideal solution would be to start rotating 3 or 4 different variants on a monthly basis, maybe with Endangered recurring every other month, and the other variants taking turns when Endangered is in the off-month. But they still have to be variants easy to understand and build for the casual player even at the last minute (so, not Heirloom; and also not something that says "you must have a planeswalker set in the deck", because it would be elitist), not too banal but also not gimmicky for the sake of a gimmick. They should make sense in describing different aspects of the tribal world.
I've seen people play Azami decks that put a ton of abilities on the stack. It doesn't win unless it goes off and most players are smart enough to keep it from doing that. At best, blue is a support color in Commander. I like Hinder, Spell Crumple and Spin Into Myth, but I won't go much further into control than that.
I don't think you should tell people to not play blue, or even play less blue. Simply point out that they REALLY need to be on top of things if they are playing blue.
Yeah, I guess 2 other things that I think I could have mentioned are 1. try and make sure you have a good internet connection and 2. try and make sure that you aren't going to have any other distractions. I think those 2 are the biggest culprits for waiting forever during the first couple turns.
I've had the foil animation off for so long I kind of forgot about it. That's a good suggestion, as lag definitely increases when there's a lot going on.
Collective Voyage and the like are interesting suggestions. I think some of the more competitive players may like having the leg up that playing with a lot of accel gives them though. But they will definitely speed things up!
I really need to get Oath of Lieges in a deck soon...
I totally agree with walkerdog, Boin should be mentioned as he was a dominate force when pauper's only support was player run events. And Digwen became a powerhouse when WOTC started supporting pauper.
One thing I forgot to mention in the article, and have been asked a few times already:
These Events are FREE to enter.
please pre-register me the event sounds fun!
Hey :) I remember proposing that last year! :) Oh wait no my idea was a double sized deck (120 cards) with 40 minimum creatures 20 each of 2 different tribes.
Not sure if 20 double type creatures is all that different from what we now but :), could still be interesting.
I just want to leave one final comment here. KaraZorEl has another article up on the main page which is very well done. I don't know enough about the subject matter (Modern) to know whether the new article is truly insightful, but it is well formatted, well presented, and she took some feedback to heart. Don't know if she actually read my feedback or not, but one way or another this discussion seems to have helped her go in the right direction.
And lastly, for KaraZorEl, I am going to quote part of my original post:
"6) If you play magic as badly as you do, you might want to reconsider making videos and putting them on the internets for everyone to see."
This actually wasn't meant as an insult, but I bring it up again as you have stated that this whole affair makes you want to quit magic. I'm guessing you are not a regular commenter or participant on other sites, but internet blogs, forums or anywhere where people can post comments (especially anonymously) tend to be full of harsh, scathing, and sometimes insulting people. If these comments hurt you in a way that makes you want to quit magic, a game you presumably love, then do some soul searching. Play magic because you love playing magic. Write articles because you love writing articles. Don't quit one because you run into a jackhole while doing the other. But if either one is affecting you in a seriously negative emotional way, it's not worth it. Being an actor, being a writer, these things require that you handle rejection and criticism well. If that's not you, don't put yourself through it, and you will be a happier person for it.
I think the special week doesn't have to be decided immediately. Maybe endangered week in one month, trying one of these suggestions the other month.
My suggestion is: double tribal. That is, the 20 creatures have two share two creature types, like goblin warrior or zubera spirit.
Your gripe is answered by one of my suggestions to make games go quicker. Play with Collective Voyage. In addition to what the card says, it also has the added benefit of removeing about 30 minutes of boring game when everyone is trying to build a mana base. All of a sudden everyone jumps ahead to where the game gets really interesting. Rites of Flourishing, Oath of Lieges, or even a Howling Mine can work in a similar way.
I'd also suggest using F2 as a hotkey. For me it seems easier just to hit F2 rather then taking the time to click "OK".
And for me and my older computer, turning off the foil animation also helps my computer run faster and hopefully decreases lag.
Great idea for an article, I enjoyed the read.
glad to have y'all back again!
*Polymorph + Pyromancer- You have to be careful when combining two different strategies in one deck. Though you seemingly have more outs, the consistency of the deck is messed up. It increases your chances of dead draws along w/ making the deck more vulnerable b/c the defensive slots are occupied by the other combo and vice versa.
*white leyline- though it may shield you in some games should ultimately be dropped. It slows down the deck when sided in by removing pieces and mucking up your draws which actually helps your opponent. Some of the other players made good possible suggestions about what to use. Perhaps more blood mooons/red magus? Take a look at the old extended dragonstorm lists again, even though its a different meta perhaps it'll help some with the sideboard.
Well, I have to come in here and give you some applause; after I gave you a hard time on the last article, this one is great. I'm not an expert on Modern at all, but as a reader I get the feeling that you know what you're talking about this time. You got the videos embedded correctly, you have a little text which makes up for the silence (and you warned us on the silence), and I didn't find even one broken card link! There's a lot of content here and it seems well presented. So all around kudos.
Was a good read about most of the guys I get my idea's from:D. I would also like to mention Digwen and Paul Denton as well.. They also make their presence very known in the dailies.
I agree about Pyromancer in the polymorph list. It just doesn't seem to be doing a whole lot, other than making the opponent think you are playing storm. I can certainly see that being useful in that regard, it doesn't seem to be helping you get your combo.
Faithless looting certainly would be a decent replacement, but if I were playing it, I think I would put either Remand (because the tempo gain probably wins you the match, and it cantrips) or Dispel/Spell Pierce. Either way, it protects your combo at a very minimal cost to you.
Since your little dudes are so vulnerable to spot removal, being able to counter something killing one in response to polymorph should make piloting it all less of a gamble and certainly once they have seen what your combo is and figured out you don't have any other creatures at all, I don't see them tapping out to let you go off safely, so a 1 mana backup would be great.
Alternatively, Remand is just the nuts, just a little bit pricier.
I usually just cast Peer Through Depths on my own turn in case I find (Gitaxian Probe). If I'd sideboarded it out, then I do it EOT. Also...I really suck at math. :p
Great stuff, the part that always bugs me the most is during the first 3 turns when very little is played and yet we still kill 10m off someone's clock.. that's the most frustrating part for me, time wasted when no play occurs
You mention that Ascension is good in Modern. That's true, when it's in Storm decks. However, Ascension is unnecessary for Polymorph. Substitute Faithless Looting as an excellent filter spell (you really can't get enough of these) and as a way to dump any dudes that may have ended up in your hand.
Other things:
-There's really no reason to cast Peer on your own turn unless you're planning to combo out that same turn.
-You missed an on-board kill in match 1 (turn 4).
-"...This makes seven total. Use two more to cast the ritual from your hand and you've got nine..." Actually, that puts you at eight mana. 7-2+3=8.
Pretty sure you'd meet Kumagoro and a few others if you tossed some fruit out of your window. Or so I've gathered from talking to him. Lots of Genoese online.
If control is a really big problem for you, you can try Defense Grid.
I know, I know... we just dislike to drive more than a couple hours :)
you got me. I somehow missed that even though i read it a few times. go go go brain power.
The 4-0 Mind's Desire challenge is still going and foil Flash is a pretty sweet prize so get it while you can with no shop in format.
Frag the only long roadtrips you would have is if you went from Genoa-area down to Messina (or one of the islands). That's based off of looking at this:
http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/compare/US/IT