@darknesslwk This site is sponsored by one of the major bots, so we can't really mention or recommend any other bots on here. But PM me or TheRegularGangster in game and we'll point you in the right direction.
Anyway, along the lines of what I said in my last post, tonight I played in 3 more drafts. I spent 36 tix and played in UUL, MI-VI-WL, and UUL again. I rare-drafted my a$$ off, winding up with so-so decks the first two times, but wound up with a really strong deck the third time. The so-so decks lost in really close games, then the good deck clobbered a couple people before losing to mana screw in the finals. I went 0-1, 0-1, and 2-1, winning 3 packs, right on my average of about 1 pack a draft, and the cards I got would have cost about $30, $25, and $17 respectively at the major bots. On the last one, over half of the value came from the commons: I grabbed Rancor, Cloud of Faeries, Frantic Search, Dark Ritual, 2x Crop Rotation, and Priest of Titania--it adds up. So for my 36 tix, I got about 72 tix worth of cards and 3 boosters so I can enter another UUL for free. And I *easily* could have wound up with a lot more boosters; my decks had solid chances of winning despite rare-drafting (I lost 2-1 in close matches when I lost).
This seems reasonably typical for how an evening of drafting goes for me.
Hello, i read your article and i find it great, however the only problem i have is i cant find bots that want to buy urza cards and it it kind of hard to sell to human players as they only want type 2 cards normally, was hoping some bots could be reccomended. Thank in advance.
I tried Animator in a daily couple weeks ago. The deck is good with Tutors, Mysticals and Bazaar, but It is game 2 and 3 against Leyline that is the hard part. The plan of not using GY is the key. Oath is just the best deck of all time if you want to cheat fatties. Bazaar is the best GY deck evar if you want to use the bin.
SnT plan is kind of bad against Oath(the card and the deck) and opponents randomly Time Vault off of it or dredge keeps a Stinkweed in hand.
You can still probably play it as tutoring up answers is a lot easier then dredge has it and there are no real aggro decks like Merfolk to clock you. Dredge has an easier time against Shops since they dont play spells.
Shops are going to be a nightmare Match Up and If they Chalice+Crypt/Relic and play anything else it's close to game. Barring any On the play hands with Entomb, Daze, Reanimate or Entomb, FoW, Mystical->Reanimate.
thanks for responding. i have all those cards. maybe i'm confusing classic with legacy in terms of that deck. even with that being said i still havent seen it place in awhile. maybe i'll utilize my cards elsewhere. thanks again.
As someone who's gone infinite off constructed, I created this account just to say that this is by far the best article I've ever read on this site. Bible of limited grinding on modo.
I wont lie or sugar caot it. Reanimator is not powerful in terms of where the metagame is. You have to expend a lot of cards to make a creature that is your win condition, while also utilizing your graveyard. This combination of things seems like 2 straight marks against the deck.
However, with that being said, the deck could be powerful and if you build it with a competitive metagame in mind it could work.
I would look at these cards as helpers to get you there
entomb
bazaar
thirst for knowledge
gifts ungiven
frantic search
are reanimator decks still a threat in classic tournaments? i haven't seen any posted in tournament standings for awhile now. as a mostly classic player i'm ready to step into the world of classic tourneys and was wanting to bring reanimator if it still stands a chance.
Mono-U vs Mono-B in past seasons was decided by knowing the matchup and the counters that the U deck played. Rav Rats didn't matter that much b/c often U could tap out to bounce the ninja you'd try to follow it with and then play a 2/4 boss. The way to beat mono-u at that time was with expensive spells, oddly enough. Mono-U ran a counter suite of counterspell + typically 1 faerie trickery, plus a ton of situational counters that couldn't stop your Corrupts if you played smart. If you DID play smart, you used Warren pilfs to bait out their "good" counters as they'd typically use the cantrip-creature counters on the cheaper critters, then Corrupt them 2-3 times ftw. Rav Rats was relevant, but not so much for the card-advantage it brought as for the beats + threat to ninja (not that big of a deal, but it mattered if you got it off) if they refused to bounce or tap some to play a blocker. You basically either baited 3/5 of their hard counters out and hoped that tendrils would keep you alive long enough to corrupt them 2x, or you'd discard a hard counter or two to get the corrupts through for 7+ each.
Monogreen no, but I think Monored control can be done. You have lots of removal and access to Mana Flare effects. Plus you have access to the best land destruction outside of the unfun Armageddon style cards. Also, I think warp world and other red chaos based decks are a form of control. The Red Chaos deck is trying to win by setting up a chaotic environment and then being better than his opponents at dealing with the warped world.
Yeah, I must add that my guess does not include Mirrodin Besieged since the question was asked before the set has been released. So it would be 26 if you include MB :)
I must have missed this when it was first published, glad you liked the idea.
A lot of my decks are in the beatdown area. I think one of the things a beatdown player needs to do is remember the political nature of commander. The guy with the Uril deck needs to do 63 damage because he's gonna have a huge target on his head as soon as he drops his commander. A less threatening commander can often hang back and let some of the other players do the heavy work.
The format is pretty open right now.
LED unrestricted is disturbing with YWill and offers turn 1 blow outs with; Petal,Ritual,Swamp,Duress,LED,Infernal or Demonic gets YWIll gg.
Gifts,Scroll and Mystical are all under played.
New Oath and Tinker target coming soon in BSC.
Memory Jar should be fueling Shop decks as a 3 of.
Edit; Dredge and Shops are great budget options for Classic.
There is no clear best deck as of now. They are the best decks on a budget.
Shops are the most placing right now.
Bazaar is retarded.
GW has a weak Dredge match up and it needs a lot of cards that would diminish valuable slots for other decks so preparing for it is not worth it for GW as even E Tutors and 6+ cards may still not be enough. Serra is terrible there for every reason.
Great! Do more of these. The answer to the trivia is obviously 2: Urza's (UZ & UL) is the only real block that has been released since Classic was announced.
I might have you beat. I was once passed a Lion's Eye Diamond (they were ~60) and the very next draft I was passed a Phyrexian Dreadnought (then worth ~30).
I love getting passed money rares. It doesn't happen nearly as much with the new sets, because often the money rares are also limited bombs, so even if you don't know value, you know that you want to add that Titan or Planeswalker to your deck.
yes i'm using my old accout name because it just got changed by wizo's, but my answer is kinda like ranths but,
33 if you count the new set, and 32 if you don't :)
Here's another suggestion. Im pretty sure I saw that Tempest Block was going to be nix tixing at the end of February. How about a draft guide before then?
during the christmas events of Tempest block...I pulled all kinds of goodies. The best part was someone passed me a City of Traitors. :-P
Since we're so close to the release of Mirrodin Besieged I have to state the answer kinda odddly but!
36 if you count Mirrodin Besieged
However the answer is 35 if you don't.
Nice podcast guys i hope you keep it up.
@darknesslwk This site is sponsored by one of the major bots, so we can't really mention or recommend any other bots on here. But PM me or TheRegularGangster in game and we'll point you in the right direction.
Anyway, along the lines of what I said in my last post, tonight I played in 3 more drafts. I spent 36 tix and played in UUL, MI-VI-WL, and UUL again. I rare-drafted my a$$ off, winding up with so-so decks the first two times, but wound up with a really strong deck the third time. The so-so decks lost in really close games, then the good deck clobbered a couple people before losing to mana screw in the finals. I went 0-1, 0-1, and 2-1, winning 3 packs, right on my average of about 1 pack a draft, and the cards I got would have cost about $30, $25, and $17 respectively at the major bots. On the last one, over half of the value came from the commons: I grabbed Rancor, Cloud of Faeries, Frantic Search, Dark Ritual, 2x Crop Rotation, and Priest of Titania--it adds up. So for my 36 tix, I got about 72 tix worth of cards and 3 boosters so I can enter another UUL for free. And I *easily* could have wound up with a lot more boosters; my decks had solid chances of winning despite rare-drafting (I lost 2-1 in close matches when I lost).
This seems reasonably typical for how an evening of drafting goes for me.
In fact: http://mymtgo.com/view_deck.php?did=1886
15mins worth of thinking about it.
Woops realized afterward that I missed a banned card (Staff of Domination) so just stick the obvious one I missed in there: Eternal Witness.
Other Cards omitted that could be in it: Smokestack, Plow Under, Primal Command, Genesis Wave, Sylvan and Worldly Tutors, etc.
Hello, i read your article and i find it great, however the only problem i have is i cant find bots that want to buy urza cards and it it kind of hard to sell to human players as they only want type 2 cards normally, was hoping some bots could be reccomended. Thank in advance.
oh monogreen control can be done...i know it. just have to figure out how...
I tried Animator in a daily couple weeks ago. The deck is good with Tutors, Mysticals and Bazaar, but It is game 2 and 3 against Leyline that is the hard part. The plan of not using GY is the key. Oath is just the best deck of all time if you want to cheat fatties. Bazaar is the best GY deck evar if you want to use the bin.
SnT plan is kind of bad against Oath(the card and the deck) and opponents randomly Time Vault off of it or dredge keeps a Stinkweed in hand.
You can still probably play it as tutoring up answers is a lot easier then dredge has it and there are no real aggro decks like Merfolk to clock you. Dredge has an easier time against Shops since they dont play spells.
Shops are going to be a nightmare Match Up and If they Chalice+Crypt/Relic and play anything else it's close to game. Barring any On the play hands with Entomb, Daze, Reanimate or Entomb, FoW, Mystical->Reanimate.
thanks for responding. i have all those cards. maybe i'm confusing classic with legacy in terms of that deck. even with that being said i still havent seen it place in awhile. maybe i'll utilize my cards elsewhere. thanks again.
Great Article. I prefer sealed and constructed over draft, but this was very informative. I eagerly await your advice for release.
As someone who's gone infinite off constructed, I created this account just to say that this is by far the best article I've ever read on this site. Bible of limited grinding on modo.
I wont lie or sugar caot it. Reanimator is not powerful in terms of where the metagame is. You have to expend a lot of cards to make a creature that is your win condition, while also utilizing your graveyard. This combination of things seems like 2 straight marks against the deck.
However, with that being said, the deck could be powerful and if you build it with a competitive metagame in mind it could work.
I would look at these cards as helpers to get you there
entomb
bazaar
thirst for knowledge
gifts ungiven
frantic search
all the tutors
vault/key
fow
duress
thoughtseize
animates
guys
bounce or natures claim.
are reanimator decks still a threat in classic tournaments? i haven't seen any posted in tournament standings for awhile now. as a mostly classic player i'm ready to step into the world of classic tourneys and was wanting to bring reanimator if it still stands a chance.
And the decklist links / metagame breakdown are a nice bonus. Keep em coming.
Mono-U vs Mono-B in past seasons was decided by knowing the matchup and the counters that the U deck played. Rav Rats didn't matter that much b/c often U could tap out to bounce the ninja you'd try to follow it with and then play a 2/4 boss. The way to beat mono-u at that time was with expensive spells, oddly enough. Mono-U ran a counter suite of counterspell + typically 1 faerie trickery, plus a ton of situational counters that couldn't stop your Corrupts if you played smart. If you DID play smart, you used Warren pilfs to bait out their "good" counters as they'd typically use the cantrip-creature counters on the cheaper critters, then Corrupt them 2-3 times ftw. Rav Rats was relevant, but not so much for the card-advantage it brought as for the beats + threat to ninja (not that big of a deal, but it mattered if you got it off) if they refused to bounce or tap some to play a blocker. You basically either baited 3/5 of their hard counters out and hoped that tendrils would keep you alive long enough to corrupt them 2x, or you'd discard a hard counter or two to get the corrupts through for 7+ each.
I love reading/hearing articles about Classic. There are just so few of these around, keep at it Magic Eternal.
BTW, Whiffy, I think you'll have to hurt me now ;)
Trivia Question: 28
Monogreen no, but I think Monored control can be done. You have lots of removal and access to Mana Flare effects. Plus you have access to the best land destruction outside of the unfun Armageddon style cards. Also, I think warp world and other red chaos based decks are a form of control. The Red Chaos deck is trying to win by setting up a chaotic environment and then being better than his opponents at dealing with the warped world.
Yeah, I must add that my guess does not include Mirrodin Besieged since the question was asked before the set has been released. So it would be 26 if you include MB :)
I must have missed this when it was first published, glad you liked the idea.
A lot of my decks are in the beatdown area. I think one of the things a beatdown player needs to do is remember the political nature of commander. The guy with the Uril deck needs to do 63 damage because he's gonna have a huge target on his head as soon as he drops his commander. A less threatening commander can often hang back and let some of the other players do the heavy work.
That is ridiculous. Bah. Thats why older formats are better for drafting
Nice stuff guys.
The format is pretty open right now.
LED unrestricted is disturbing with YWill and offers turn 1 blow outs with; Petal,Ritual,Swamp,Duress,LED,Infernal or Demonic gets YWIll gg.
Gifts,Scroll and Mystical are all under played.
New Oath and Tinker target coming soon in BSC.
Memory Jar should be fueling Shop decks as a 3 of.
Edit; Dredge and Shops are great budget options for Classic.
There is no clear best deck as of now. They are the best decks on a budget.
Shops are the most placing right now.
Bazaar is retarded.
GW has a weak Dredge match up and it needs a lot of cards that would diminish valuable slots for other decks so preparing for it is not worth it for GW as even E Tutors and 6+ cards may still not be enough. Serra is terrible there for every reason.
Dark Times has a great Dredge MU.
Great! Do more of these. The answer to the trivia is obviously 2: Urza's (UZ & UL) is the only real block that has been released since Classic was announced.
I might have you beat. I was once passed a Lion's Eye Diamond (they were ~60) and the very next draft I was passed a Phyrexian Dreadnought (then worth ~30).
I love getting passed money rares. It doesn't happen nearly as much with the new sets, because often the money rares are also limited bombs, so even if you don't know value, you know that you want to add that Titan or Planeswalker to your deck.
yes i'm using my old accout name because it just got changed by wizo's, but my answer is kinda like ranths but,
33 if you count the new set, and 32 if you don't :)
What no MonoRed Control or MonoGreen control...im disappointed. Though I also doubt they exist.
I'll top your City of Traitors with a passed Foil Manabond (and too many normal ones to count) and a passed Wasteland after opening Intuition ;)
I'm going to do the UUL primer first, but a TSE primer won't be ruled out before they go back into Nix Tix.
Here's another suggestion. Im pretty sure I saw that Tempest Block was going to be nix tixing at the end of February. How about a draft guide before then?
during the christmas events of Tempest block...I pulled all kinds of goodies. The best part was someone passed me a City of Traitors. :-P
Since we're so close to the release of Mirrodin Besieged I have to state the answer kinda odddly but!
36 if you count Mirrodin Besieged
However the answer is 35 if you don't.
Nice podcast guys i hope you keep it up.