RE: Fireball
This is going to be controversial, but honestly I think Fireball is overrated. Yes, it sometimes wins games, yes once in a while it two for ones small creatures, and yes its super versatile. However, people treat this card like it is the second coming of a deity. Most of the time it is just an excellent card, and not a *bomb*. That is why Mind Control is certainly better, and I would argue both Air Servant and Serra Angel too. However, this pick is still extremely close since Triskelion is not a bomb either (without damage stacking). Triskelion really shines in aggro decks where it lets you attack into any board position, and can finish off an opponent at low life. I'm gonna stick to my guns and say that though Triskelion is a worse card in a vacuum, I don't live in a vacuum and it is better than a Fireball+splash in this particular deck. (note: I'm also taking into consideration that I was WG at this point, since I had no way of knowing I would get like six white playables *extremely* late. See last four picks.)
RE: Lightning Bolt
Again we are looking at a splash vs a solid card. If you read the GP Portland coverage from this past weekend I think it supports my pick fully, as many pros championed Infantry Veteran as the most underrated card in M11, and I believe it was LSV who said it was the third best white common.
Very interesting stuff. I enjoy playing Pauper, but I've often wished there was a format that had a larger, more varied card pool but still was cheap to play. Setting a price point (per rarity, if you must) seems like the most direct way to limit cost while maximizing card pool size. For example, while pauper's "filter" is simple (has to be common) it is wasteful because there are uncommons or even rares that are cheap but not allowed, and as the price of pauper staples show, it doesn't always solve the problem of being cheap.
The Heirloom format has these properties:
1) cheap
2) large pool (similar to "real" magic)
3) dynamic
1 and 2 are certainly good things, but 3 seems to be where most of the concern lies. I admit that a dynamic card pool (meaning cards can rotate in and out of legality somewhat frequently) poses significant problems that need to solved, however, like Xaoslegend has pointed out, I think it is necessary.
I think if you want 1 and 2 then you have to have 3. At first I thought it would be better to form an eternal list of legal cards per set. This would be much simpler, but I think that if Heirloom became popular at all then this would end up failing to be cheap. In any format, you start to see the same (most powerful) cards appear over and over in competitive decks. This will drive up the price. We see this in Pauper, but it would be even worse if the format allowed rares because rares are much less common than commons. Crypt Rats is expensive but it's still common, if the same kind of demand was put on a rare card the price would go up even higher. In addition to price this makes all the competitive decks feel the same. The dynamic pool solves both the price and "netdeck" type feel to tier one decks.
I personally love to build my own decks. I'm always a little disappointed to know that the most optimal solution usually already exists and furthermore is probably expensive. In a format where the most powerful cards and decks will always be rotating out, the deckbuilder will be rewarded and the netdecker will have less success. To me, this is a very cool feature.
But on to the problems.
1) frequent format shifts
Players spend time grokking the format; this is an important part of the game. You really become a better deckbuilder when you know what cards exist in the format. With a format of this size that is a very challenging task. If the format is constantly changing this makes this way too difficult and frustrating. Also, even though this is a budget format, people want to protect their investments. They want to know that they'll see some use out of their purchases.
I think this problem is entirely solvable. The first step is to do what has already been done and post a "static" list of legal cards. This is the law, the definitive list. Players don't even have to care about the formula determining legality, they just know these are legal and they're cheap. If you need to check a card for legality just see if it's in the list.
The other part of solving this problem has also been discussed. You have to freeze the format for periods of time. This can be done by updating the list only once a month, but I think quarterly updates would be better. Yes, this makes the format slightly less dynamic but I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
You could time the format updates with set releases. So, maybe two weeks after each set is released on MTGO you post the new format list which includes the new cards and new bans. You need to have a central location (website) for the definitive list which has the dates the list will be legal and when the next update will be made. If I have three months to grok a format (at least) and three months to play with the cards I buy (at least) then I'm cool with dynamic format. I feel pretty strongly that a definitive, complete list and approximately quarterly change is important to the success of the format. If you update the format with every set release then Heirloom doesn't change any more than any other format!
2) difficulty in deck construction
This is also a major problem. Players need to be able to search and browse legal cards efficiently. This is how you build decks. I suspect this is preventing people from trying the format.
At first I thought the solution was to build our own deckbuilding tool. Then I thought we could just get a high quality open source tool and modify it to filter the legal cards based on the posted legality list. Then I realized an amazing program already exists that will do everything we need.
That program is Magic Assistant. I just downloaded it today, but as far as I can tell it does at least everything the built in deck editor does. And the best part is you can import the Heirloom legal list as a "collection" then filter only over that collection when building Heirloom decks. Very cool!
Here's how to build deck's for Heirloom with Magic Assistant:
1) Download Magic Assistant: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mtgbrowser/
2) Make sure you have Jave Runtime Environment installed: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
3) Run Magic Assistant
4) Create a new card collection: From Card Navigator right click collections.. new
5) Right click, import this* text file (wait a moment). Now you have the Heirloom format
6) To filter/search click the arrows in the top right.
Make sure you are filtering on the Heirloom collection not the entire database. You should see "of 7307 cards".
3) difficulty in deck validation
This is less of a problem than the first two but it would be annoying to have to check all the decks you've already built for legality every (hopefully) three months. I'm not sure the best route to take here, but some options include:
1) Build a deck validation tool which loads in a .dek file and compares it to the legal list. The only trick here would be to map the "card id" in the .dek files to card name.
2) Post a list of newly banned cards with each format change. People should pretty much know what cards are in their decks and if they read the banned list they should be able to know which decks they need to modify.
I'm excited about this format. Maybe I'll build a deck or two and see some of you online!
Westane- Ah ha! Yah that was a crazy match. My deck has a decent win percentage. Most of the time I win through Scapeshift though. That was what I was going to do against you, but for some odd reason I felt compelled use my mystical tutor to bounce that pithing needle. Once I got Echoing Truth to my hand I was like ok... now what... gah! After that I figured it was time to take my stubborn ass to bed heh.
Whiffy- Yah Foil FOW is just silly as far as price is concerned and people that are trading them treat them like they just found the Dead Sea Scrolls or something. I have yet to see a foil Promo Tormod's Crypt for trade anywhere. But good luck with getting the rest of your foils. Might want to cut down to 1-ply Toilet Paper to save money for those foil FOW :)
i had obtained 1 foil fow for 155 which was 90 after selling a regular fow, however i sold it for 40o tix in value when regs were 150. i got my pset of oaths for 319, which was killer when a pset was worth 600. now my oaths are only worth 280 but im sure that they will bounce back up to 400-600 if we get p9 in med 4.
the 8 cards im missing from my md are
4x fow
2x jace tms
1x show and tell
1x demonic tutor.
Generally, Trike is a 2-for-1, killing two small creatures and chumping - very solid stuff, no doubt. But Sign in Blood is the same 2-for-1, and that's not an "absolute bomb" . . . just another solid role-player.
Fireball is more flexible - goes to the face, works at any point in the game, and steals games you have absolutely no business winning. Sure, Fireball isn't as solid in M11 as it was in M10 because the format is faster and you have less opportunity to have X=9 or whatever, but that same speed makes Trike less effective (because it costs 6).
I agree though, that the Bolt was the pick over Veteran earlier, which makes Fireball a windmill slam.
I didn't play the M11 drafts only sealed and my judgment is only based on playing M10 drafts and those sealed. The draft is pretty straightforward - White is heavy underdrafted. The only problem is that you have almost no removal.My comments on some picks:
First Pick - Wild Griffin vs Cloud Crusader - I saw Cloud Crusaders tabling. I think the W less mana is much more important for your tempo.
P3P1 - Vanguard vs Griffin - Maybe more controversial, but I still think you should lower your mana curve in White aggro.
P5P1 - I totally agree, people seem to really don't value fixing.
P2P2 - you don't even mention White Knight. I think it's really underestimated card and with all the crusaders flying around one more first striker can make you stop everything and it just wins with the black guys.
P3P2 - Lightnig Bolt FTW. Veteran is really not so good and you really don't have anything green worth playing plus you have the expanse.
P6P2 - I would probably take combust with the lightning bolt taken before. It wouldn't be good coz I wouldn't have enough playables, though I still find it close.
P1P3 - Are you kidding me ?
Playing this way you would have wonderful WR weenie deck with really low curve. 2x Vanguard and 2x White Knights for the ground stall. Double fireball, lightning bolt and pyroclasm for board control.
As for the deck building - pyroclasm should be main played over solemn offering - its a little Wrath of God, you just have to play it whenever you can. Sure it doesn't go well with your aggro strategy and most of your creature die to it, but it's still a board sweeper.
Quote: "Allbright Mind Rots my last two cards away and falls to 8 on my next attack. I just have a land and pass. Allbright has the dreaded Air Servant but is forced to trade with Assault Griffin or drop to a measly 2 life. Instead, he’s left at 5 and again has Mind Control for my Cloud Crusader. I continue to draw land and his Rise from the Grave on Air Servant shortens the clock considerably. From there I have four draws to find Fireball, but it is not to be and I fall to allbright’s sick uncommons."
He doesn't say anything about frantically digging for a Trike. Nuff said...
Sorry Lenny, have to disagree with you here completely. Trike is an absolute bomb in limited and for me fireball isn't worth the splash in this deck, if he got the bolt earlier then maybe but Trike was definitely the right pick here for me.
I remember while on a cracking pack addiction, I ripped a foil oath of druids. I had someone immediately offer me 130 for it, but had seen one go for 165 just a week earlier. For weeks I tried to get 150 for it but never did. In a mode of desperation and stupidity I ended up selling it for 70 after the prices had crashed. That simply must of been my worse mtgo moment of all times. Then again, can't complain, I did crack it! For awhile there I could of sworn the print runs of that set had been changed. I was cracking packs (some of my clanmates can attest to this) and I was ripping oaths, nightmares and survivals like no ones business. It must of been the hottest crack run I've ever had!
At p2p3, when you pass the Lightning Bolt for an Infantry Veteran, your green cards are Spined Wurm, Plummet, Naturalize and a Sunpetal Grove to make it all work.
All four of those cards are worse in your deck than the Bolt.
W/x aggro is quite a viable strategy, and splashing for cards like Bolt is the best way to run it. Spined Wurm has no place in the deck. Obviously it's a bit results-oriented, but you yourself seem to understand the power of the archetype when selecting the 2nd Fireball to go W/r - had you selected the bolt and first fireball, the deck is instantly much better, with increased reach and a better ability to remove things like (reanimated) Cloud Crusaders that otherwise shut down the deck.
Additionally, in this format, Triskelion is not even close to on par with Fireball - Trike is a relic of a bygone era, and he's playable but unexciting in this format. He's a 6-mana Arc Lightning - he'll always make the team, but hardly spectacular. Fireball is spectacular, especially in the white deck.
I haven't tried playing Mass Polymorph in my Oath/Poly build. For that mana cost I rather use the one that is instant Reweave. Which I don't due to the mana cost.
Not to fond of the current Tournament decks. Mono red tends to trump a lot of my decks too haha.
I am tempted to use that life gain enchantment though.
I think the "Keep" or "Mulligan" idea is very wise. It is much more intuitive and would alleviate situations such as this. I don't know if has been suggested in the mtgo forums or elsewhere before but I believe it should be a simplistic fix and well worth the minimal effort.
Whiffy- Ecks... foiling out an oath deck? How many of the foil FOW have you managed to obtain thus far? I can't recall how much I got my foil Oath for, but pretty sure you got yours during the height of the Oath craze since legacy wasn't around yet.
Foiling out a deck on MTGo and IRL seemed to be about the same for me. In real life instead of bots we have Starcity type sites and ebay.
For the past 5 months I have been having a lot of fun pimping out my 100 card singleton deck. It's fun for me since all I need is "1" copy. And I usually just trade off my non-foil to help fund for the foil version.
I would have to agree that foiling out some of the promo cards were the most difficult. Getting a hold of a foil promo copies of Thirst for Knowledge, Electrolyze, Wrath of God, Maze of Ith, and MOCS Jace Beleren can be a daunting task, but were all eventually obtained. But a lot of trading was involved to get to that point.
All I have left to get a foil copy of the MOCS Mutavault haha. And people seemed to be clinging onto those like crazy.
Here is a copy paste of a spreadsheet of what I have been working on for 5 Months... janky deck but fun to play. I just feel bad for those that haven't figured out they can turn off the animation for the foils online... instant headache heh.
Sidenote to AJ suggestions are very welcomed by me. I know you are more of a Tribes/Commander player, but always enjoyed your insight to certain cards.
Artifacts:
1 Foil Chrome Mox - MOCS PROMO
1 Foil Coalition Relic
1 Foil Mox Diamond - FTV
1 Foil Proteus Staff
1 Foil Sensei's Divining Top -FTV
1 Foil Sword of the Meek
1 Foil Thopter Foundry
Enchantments:
1 Foil Awakening Zone
1 Foil Oath of Druids
1 Foil Oblivion Ring
1 Foil Sylvan Library
1 Foil Sterling Grove
Creatures
1 Foil Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Foil Progenitus
or just a new keyword
Scraplust: if an opponent controls three or more artifacts, this permanent has....
I miss beebles or another stupid race
Goblin intellijunze 1RR
Sorcery
Destroy all artifacts
scraplust, if an opponent controls three or more artifacts, you may return goblin intellijunze from your graveyard to your hand
"I have an idea"
"Is it the same as last time when you left a big mess?"
"Yes sir"
"Let's hear it!"
@KoRnZYSIEK - True, shield is also great, but I felt that's already a very well known and talked about deck, I wanted to show something a bit different. Shield decks can suffer more against white though - O Ring, Pacifism, Journey etc.
@Windcoarse - I agree, I'd suffer some scalding if it meant we'd get leagues back. Does that help, Wizards?
Oh darn, guess I shouldn't bring that deck then. :p Personally I love Jhoira, if you don't like what's coming you can counter it, kill it, fetter it, etc. I do dislike Emrakul immensely so I am with you on that one. I don't think playing with specific combos or cards automatically violates any sort of contract. As far as online players are concerned there IS no contract until they agree to one. Just setting up a queue or joining one is not acceptance unless the joined queue says something about the rules for the game ("Gents only") for example. I do find combo obscene in friendly games but how is someone to know how friendly to be when the message is so inconsistent?
I am not knocking your quit but I doubt very much the player understood anything but that there are sensitive jerks online. (Sensitive because he somehow upset them and jerks because they quit.) Which isn't news. Not saying you guys were jerks or being overly sensitive but that is one perspective of how it might be taken. As an overly sensitive jerk I totally get what people mean when they say that.
Rule number one when dealing with unknown people, do not assume they think the way you do. I think that is what is missing from this discussion. Everyone seems to assume that those who are misbehaving know the contract and are deliberately ignoring it.
That guy who acted as a spoiler in scar's game sounds like he has been abused quit often and decided to deal with it by being the dog in the manger. He won't give any quarter and I doubt he expects any. Probably a spike taking a break from tourneys to do something "fun."
I do agree that quitting is far more effective but not as a deterrent but as an aleviant. If you aren't happy why continue for someone else's ego gratification?
RE: Fireball
This is going to be controversial, but honestly I think Fireball is overrated. Yes, it sometimes wins games, yes once in a while it two for ones small creatures, and yes its super versatile. However, people treat this card like it is the second coming of a deity. Most of the time it is just an excellent card, and not a *bomb*. That is why Mind Control is certainly better, and I would argue both Air Servant and Serra Angel too. However, this pick is still extremely close since Triskelion is not a bomb either (without damage stacking). Triskelion really shines in aggro decks where it lets you attack into any board position, and can finish off an opponent at low life. I'm gonna stick to my guns and say that though Triskelion is a worse card in a vacuum, I don't live in a vacuum and it is better than a Fireball+splash in this particular deck. (note: I'm also taking into consideration that I was WG at this point, since I had no way of knowing I would get like six white playables *extremely* late. See last four picks.)
RE: Lightning Bolt
Again we are looking at a splash vs a solid card. If you read the GP Portland coverage from this past weekend I think it supports my pick fully, as many pros championed Infantry Veteran as the most underrated card in M11, and I believe it was LSV who said it was the third best white common.
If Damage still stacked Trike would be a bomb,otherwise just a solid pick and in no way would i take it over fireball
The filter is just the list Xaos posted with a "X1" at the end of each line. This forum won't let me post it. Try this: http://wimg.co.uk/hfv.txt.
Very interesting stuff. I enjoy playing Pauper, but I've often wished there was a format that had a larger, more varied card pool but still was cheap to play. Setting a price point (per rarity, if you must) seems like the most direct way to limit cost while maximizing card pool size. For example, while pauper's "filter" is simple (has to be common) it is wasteful because there are uncommons or even rares that are cheap but not allowed, and as the price of pauper staples show, it doesn't always solve the problem of being cheap.
The Heirloom format has these properties:
1) cheap
2) large pool (similar to "real" magic)
3) dynamic
1 and 2 are certainly good things, but 3 seems to be where most of the concern lies. I admit that a dynamic card pool (meaning cards can rotate in and out of legality somewhat frequently) poses significant problems that need to solved, however, like Xaoslegend has pointed out, I think it is necessary.
I think if you want 1 and 2 then you have to have 3. At first I thought it would be better to form an eternal list of legal cards per set. This would be much simpler, but I think that if Heirloom became popular at all then this would end up failing to be cheap. In any format, you start to see the same (most powerful) cards appear over and over in competitive decks. This will drive up the price. We see this in Pauper, but it would be even worse if the format allowed rares because rares are much less common than commons. Crypt Rats is expensive but it's still common, if the same kind of demand was put on a rare card the price would go up even higher. In addition to price this makes all the competitive decks feel the same. The dynamic pool solves both the price and "netdeck" type feel to tier one decks.
I personally love to build my own decks. I'm always a little disappointed to know that the most optimal solution usually already exists and furthermore is probably expensive. In a format where the most powerful cards and decks will always be rotating out, the deckbuilder will be rewarded and the netdecker will have less success. To me, this is a very cool feature.
But on to the problems.
1) frequent format shifts
Players spend time grokking the format; this is an important part of the game. You really become a better deckbuilder when you know what cards exist in the format. With a format of this size that is a very challenging task. If the format is constantly changing this makes this way too difficult and frustrating. Also, even though this is a budget format, people want to protect their investments. They want to know that they'll see some use out of their purchases.
I think this problem is entirely solvable. The first step is to do what has already been done and post a "static" list of legal cards. This is the law, the definitive list. Players don't even have to care about the formula determining legality, they just know these are legal and they're cheap. If you need to check a card for legality just see if it's in the list.
The other part of solving this problem has also been discussed. You have to freeze the format for periods of time. This can be done by updating the list only once a month, but I think quarterly updates would be better. Yes, this makes the format slightly less dynamic but I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
You could time the format updates with set releases. So, maybe two weeks after each set is released on MTGO you post the new format list which includes the new cards and new bans. You need to have a central location (website) for the definitive list which has the dates the list will be legal and when the next update will be made. If I have three months to grok a format (at least) and three months to play with the cards I buy (at least) then I'm cool with dynamic format. I feel pretty strongly that a definitive, complete list and approximately quarterly change is important to the success of the format. If you update the format with every set release then Heirloom doesn't change any more than any other format!
2) difficulty in deck construction
This is also a major problem. Players need to be able to search and browse legal cards efficiently. This is how you build decks. I suspect this is preventing people from trying the format.
At first I thought the solution was to build our own deckbuilding tool. Then I thought we could just get a high quality open source tool and modify it to filter the legal cards based on the posted legality list. Then I realized an amazing program already exists that will do everything we need.
That program is Magic Assistant. I just downloaded it today, but as far as I can tell it does at least everything the built in deck editor does. And the best part is you can import the Heirloom legal list as a "collection" then filter only over that collection when building Heirloom decks. Very cool!
Here's how to build deck's for Heirloom with Magic Assistant:
1) Download Magic Assistant: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mtgbrowser/
2) Make sure you have Jave Runtime Environment installed: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
3) Run Magic Assistant
4) Create a new card collection: From Card Navigator right click collections.. new
5) Right click, import this* text file (wait a moment). Now you have the Heirloom format
6) To filter/search click the arrows in the top right.
Make sure you are filtering on the Heirloom collection not the entire database. You should see "of 7307 cards".
3) difficulty in deck validation
This is less of a problem than the first two but it would be annoying to have to check all the decks you've already built for legality every (hopefully) three months. I'm not sure the best route to take here, but some options include:
1) Build a deck validation tool which loads in a .dek file and compares it to the legal list. The only trick here would be to map the "card id" in the .dek files to card name.
2) Post a list of newly banned cards with each format change. People should pretty much know what cards are in their decks and if they read the banned list they should be able to know which decks they need to modify.
I'm excited about this format. Maybe I'll build a deck or two and see some of you online!
Westane- Ah ha! Yah that was a crazy match. My deck has a decent win percentage. Most of the time I win through Scapeshift though. That was what I was going to do against you, but for some odd reason I felt compelled use my mystical tutor to bounce that pithing needle. Once I got Echoing Truth to my hand I was like ok... now what... gah! After that I figured it was time to take my stubborn ass to bed heh.
Whiffy- Yah Foil FOW is just silly as far as price is concerned and people that are trading them treat them like they just found the Dead Sea Scrolls or something. I have yet to see a foil Promo Tormod's Crypt for trade anywhere. But good luck with getting the rest of your foils. Might want to cut down to 1-ply Toilet Paper to save money for those foil FOW :)
No Charmin Brand Toilet Paper for you!
i had obtained 1 foil fow for 155 which was 90 after selling a regular fow, however i sold it for 40o tix in value when regs were 150. i got my pset of oaths for 319, which was killer when a pset was worth 600. now my oaths are only worth 280 but im sure that they will bounce back up to 400-600 if we get p9 in med 4.
the 8 cards im missing from my md are
4x fow
2x jace tms
1x show and tell
1x demonic tutor.
Generally, Trike is a 2-for-1, killing two small creatures and chumping - very solid stuff, no doubt. But Sign in Blood is the same 2-for-1, and that's not an "absolute bomb" . . . just another solid role-player.
Fireball is more flexible - goes to the face, works at any point in the game, and steals games you have absolutely no business winning. Sure, Fireball isn't as solid in M11 as it was in M10 because the format is faster and you have less opportunity to have X=9 or whatever, but that same speed makes Trike less effective (because it costs 6).
I agree though, that the Bolt was the pick over Veteran earlier, which makes Fireball a windmill slam.
I didn't play the M11 drafts only sealed and my judgment is only based on playing M10 drafts and those sealed. The draft is pretty straightforward - White is heavy underdrafted. The only problem is that you have almost no removal.My comments on some picks:
First Pick - Wild Griffin vs Cloud Crusader - I saw Cloud Crusaders tabling. I think the W less mana is much more important for your tempo.
P3P1 - Vanguard vs Griffin - Maybe more controversial, but I still think you should lower your mana curve in White aggro.
P5P1 - I totally agree, people seem to really don't value fixing.
P2P2 - you don't even mention White Knight. I think it's really underestimated card and with all the crusaders flying around one more first striker can make you stop everything and it just wins with the black guys.
P3P2 - Lightnig Bolt FTW. Veteran is really not so good and you really don't have anything green worth playing plus you have the expanse.
P6P2 - I would probably take combust with the lightning bolt taken before. It wouldn't be good coz I wouldn't have enough playables, though I still find it close.
P1P3 - Are you kidding me ?
Playing this way you would have wonderful WR weenie deck with really low curve. 2x Vanguard and 2x White Knights for the ground stall. Double fireball, lightning bolt and pyroclasm for board control.
As for the deck building - pyroclasm should be main played over solemn offering - its a little Wrath of God, you just have to play it whenever you can. Sure it doesn't go well with your aggro strategy and most of your creature die to it, but it's still a board sweeper.
Quote: "Allbright Mind Rots my last two cards away and falls to 8 on my next attack. I just have a land and pass. Allbright has the dreaded Air Servant but is forced to trade with Assault Griffin or drop to a measly 2 life. Instead, he’s left at 5 and again has Mind Control for my Cloud Crusader. I continue to draw land and his Rise from the Grave on Air Servant shortens the clock considerably. From there I have four draws to find Fireball, but it is not to be and I fall to allbright’s sick uncommons."
He doesn't say anything about frantically digging for a Trike. Nuff said...
Sorry Lenny, have to disagree with you here completely. Trike is an absolute bomb in limited and for me fireball isn't worth the splash in this deck, if he got the bolt earlier then maybe but Trike was definitely the right pick here for me.
Azure Drake > Assault Griffin every time. Better luck next time.
I had to stop reading this after the comment on Trike vs. Fireball.. Sorry bro. It's not even close
I remember while on a cracking pack addiction, I ripped a foil oath of druids. I had someone immediately offer me 130 for it, but had seen one go for 165 just a week earlier. For weeks I tried to get 150 for it but never did. In a mode of desperation and stupidity I ended up selling it for 70 after the prices had crashed. That simply must of been my worse mtgo moment of all times. Then again, can't complain, I did crack it! For awhile there I could of sworn the print runs of that set had been changed. I was cracking packs (some of my clanmates can attest to this) and I was ripping oaths, nightmares and survivals like no ones business. It must of been the hottest crack run I've ever had!
At p2p3, when you pass the Lightning Bolt for an Infantry Veteran, your green cards are Spined Wurm, Plummet, Naturalize and a Sunpetal Grove to make it all work.
All four of those cards are worse in your deck than the Bolt.
W/x aggro is quite a viable strategy, and splashing for cards like Bolt is the best way to run it. Spined Wurm has no place in the deck. Obviously it's a bit results-oriented, but you yourself seem to understand the power of the archetype when selecting the 2nd Fireball to go W/r - had you selected the bolt and first fireball, the deck is instantly much better, with increased reach and a better ability to remove things like (reanimated) Cloud Crusaders that otherwise shut down the deck.
Additionally, in this format, Triskelion is not even close to on par with Fireball - Trike is a relic of a bygone era, and he's playable but unexciting in this format. He's a 6-mana Arc Lightning - he'll always make the team, but hardly spectacular. Fireball is spectacular, especially in the white deck.
I haven't tried playing Mass Polymorph in my Oath/Poly build. For that mana cost I rather use the one that is instant Reweave. Which I don't due to the mana cost.
Not to fond of the current Tournament decks. Mono red tends to trump a lot of my decks too haha.
I am tempted to use that life gain enchantment though.
I think the "Keep" or "Mulligan" idea is very wise. It is much more intuitive and would alleviate situations such as this. I don't know if has been suggested in the mtgo forums or elsewhere before but I believe it should be a simplistic fix and well worth the minimal effort.
HA! I got to see that deck first hand last night XD. Was a very fun match.
Whiffy- Ecks... foiling out an oath deck? How many of the foil FOW have you managed to obtain thus far? I can't recall how much I got my foil Oath for, but pretty sure you got yours during the height of the Oath craze since legacy wasn't around yet.
Foiling out a deck on MTGo and IRL seemed to be about the same for me. In real life instead of bots we have Starcity type sites and ebay.
For the past 5 months I have been having a lot of fun pimping out my 100 card singleton deck. It's fun for me since all I need is "1" copy. And I usually just trade off my non-foil to help fund for the foil version.
I would have to agree that foiling out some of the promo cards were the most difficult. Getting a hold of a foil promo copies of Thirst for Knowledge, Electrolyze, Wrath of God, Maze of Ith, and MOCS Jace Beleren can be a daunting task, but were all eventually obtained. But a lot of trading was involved to get to that point.
All I have left to get a foil copy of the MOCS Mutavault haha. And people seemed to be clinging onto those like crazy.
Here is a copy paste of a spreadsheet of what I have been working on for 5 Months... janky deck but fun to play. I just feel bad for those that haven't figured out they can turn off the animation for the foils online... instant headache heh.
Sidenote to AJ suggestions are very welcomed by me. I know you are more of a Tribes/Commander player, but always enjoyed your insight to certain cards.
Artifacts:
1 Foil Chrome Mox - MOCS PROMO
1 Foil Coalition Relic
1 Foil Mox Diamond - FTV
1 Foil Proteus Staff
1 Foil Sensei's Divining Top -FTV
1 Foil Sword of the Meek
1 Foil Thopter Foundry
Enchantments:
1 Foil Awakening Zone
1 Foil Oath of Druids
1 Foil Oblivion Ring
1 Foil Sylvan Library
1 Foil Sterling Grove
Creatures
1 Foil Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Foil Progenitus
Planeswakers:
1 Foil Ajani Vengeant - PROMO
1 Foil Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Foil Garruk Wildspeaker - DUELS
1 Foil Jace Beleren - MOCS PROMO
1 Foil Jace, the Mind Sculptor
Instants:
1 Foil Echoing Truth
1 Foil Electrolyze - Extended Art Promo
1 Foil Enlightened Tutor
1 Foil Fact or Fiction - PROMO
1 Foil Fire/Ice - PROMO
1 Foil Force of Will
1 Foil Impulse
1 Foil Lat-Nam's Legacy
1 Foil Lightning Bolt
1 Foil Magma Jet
1 Foil Mana Drain
1 Foil Mana Leak
1 Foil Memory Lapse
1 Foil Muddle the Mixture
1 Foil Mystical Teachings
1 Foil Mystical Tutor - FTV
1 Foil Negate
1 Foil Pact of Negation
1 Foil Path to Exile - PROMO
1 Foil Remand
1 Foil Repulse
1 Foil Spell Pierce
1 Foil Swords to Plowshares - PROMO
1 Foil Telling Time
1 Foil Thirst for Knowledge - Extended Art Promo
1 Foil Tithe
1 Foil Brainstorm - Extended Art Promo
Sorcery
1 Foil Ancestral Vision
1 Foil Call of the Herd
1 Foil Duress - PROMO
1 Foil Firebolt - PROMO
1 Foil Firespout
1 Foil Gaea's Blessing
1 Foil Mind Twist
1 Foil Polymorph
1 Foil Ponder
1 Foil Wargate
1 Foil Vindicate
1 Foil Bribery
1 Foil Scapeshift
1 Foil See Beyond
Lands:
1 Foil Arid Mesa
1 Foil Badlands
1 Foil Blood Crypt
1 Foil Breeding Pool
1 Foil Celestial Colonnade
1 Foil Faerie Conclave
1 Foil Flooded Strand
1 Foil Forbidden Orchard
1 Foil Halimar Depths
1 Foil Hallowed Fountain
1 Foil Karakas
1 Foil Khalni Garden
1 Foil Marsh Flats
1 Foil Maze of Ith - MOCS PROMO
1 Foil Mishra's Factory - PROMO
1 Foil Misty Rainforest
1 Foil Mountain - PROMO
1 Foil Mountain - PROMO
1 Mutavault MOCS- Erghh... not foiled out yet
1 Foil Plateau
1 Foil Polluted Delta
1 Foil Raging Ravine
1 Foil Sacred Foundry
1 Foil Savannah
1 Foil Scalding Tarn
1 Foil Scrubland
1 Foil Steam Vents
1 Foil Stirring Wildwood
1 Foil Stomping Ground
1 Foil Taiga
1 Foil Temple Garden
1 Foil Tolaria West
1 Foil Treetop Village - PROMO
1 Foil Tropical Island
1 Foil Tundra
1 Foil Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle - PROMO
1 Foil Volcanic Island
1 Foil Wasteland
1 Foil Windswept Heath
1 Foil Wooded Foothills
Sideboard:
1 Foil Blue Elemental Blast - PROMO
1 Foil Dispel
1 Foil Engineered Plague
1 Foil Flashfreeze
1 Foil Gainsay
1 Foil Hydroblast
1 Foil Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Foil Krosan Grip
1 Foil Moat
1 Foil Pyroblast
1 Foil Pyroclasm
1 Foil Sphere of Law
1 Foil Thoughtseize
1 Foil Warmth
1 Foil Wrath of God - Extended Art Promo
or just a new keyword
Scraplust: if an opponent controls three or more artifacts, this permanent has....
I miss beebles or another stupid race
Goblin intellijunze 1RR
Sorcery
Destroy all artifacts
scraplust, if an opponent controls three or more artifacts, you may return goblin intellijunze from your graveyard to your hand
"I have an idea"
"Is it the same as last time when you left a big mess?"
"Yes sir"
"Let's hear it!"
"Hopefully there will be some powerful enough anti-artifact cards to keep the other decks in line."
Sure there will - in the last set of the next block there will be that block's version of Kataki. :wink:
The new Myr lord will actually make myr playable.
@KoRnZYSIEK - True, shield is also great, but I felt that's already a very well known and talked about deck, I wanted to show something a bit different. Shield decks can suffer more against white though - O Ring, Pacifism, Journey etc.
@Windcoarse - I agree, I'd suffer some scalding if it meant we'd get leagues back. Does that help, Wizards?
Oh darn, guess I shouldn't bring that deck then. :p Personally I love Jhoira, if you don't like what's coming you can counter it, kill it, fetter it, etc. I do dislike Emrakul immensely so I am with you on that one. I don't think playing with specific combos or cards automatically violates any sort of contract. As far as online players are concerned there IS no contract until they agree to one. Just setting up a queue or joining one is not acceptance unless the joined queue says something about the rules for the game ("Gents only") for example. I do find combo obscene in friendly games but how is someone to know how friendly to be when the message is so inconsistent?
I am not knocking your quit but I doubt very much the player understood anything but that there are sensitive jerks online. (Sensitive because he somehow upset them and jerks because they quit.) Which isn't news. Not saying you guys were jerks or being overly sensitive but that is one perspective of how it might be taken. As an overly sensitive jerk I totally get what people mean when they say that.
Rule number one when dealing with unknown people, do not assume they think the way you do. I think that is what is missing from this discussion. Everyone seems to assume that those who are misbehaving know the contract and are deliberately ignoring it.
That guy who acted as a spoiler in scar's game sounds like he has been abused quit often and decided to deal with it by being the dog in the manger. He won't give any quarter and I doubt he expects any. Probably a spike taking a break from tourneys to do something "fun."
I do agree that quitting is far more effective but not as a deterrent but as an aleviant. If you aren't happy why continue for someone else's ego gratification?
Sacrilege. Spontaneous combustion is a perfectly acceptable sacrifice for leagues. Other than that, nice article.
I may still bust out an article every once in a while. I am planning on at least one tribal appearance when some of the new myr are finally legal.