Hey, don't go knocking on Conservator. Back in the Revised days, before they errataed it, it had the distinction of being the only way to prevent effects that caused outright loss of life, as opposed to mere damage. It still sucked, but at least it was interesting. Then it lost even that. :(
I've been running 19-20 lands, but have had a lot of Green w/ multiple vastwood zendikars and some manlands. 2nd rd twice and just won a draft with GR. FWIW, Claws of Valakut were a beating.
Oh, yeah, Peach Garden Oath definitely fit into the "Legends/Portal Threepeat mash-up" overall theme for the set.
But it's the only time they broke the rule and reprinted something in an MED set that really didn't NEED to be in there. Either because limited needs Giant Growths and Disenchants and there's none not online, or to complete a theme like Kobolds or Elder Dragons or Green Faeries.
There's like 80 other bad lifegain cards they could have reprinted instead. So I think that they just forgot that this one had snuck into 8th edition, and when compiling the ME3 set, they threw it in along with other cards from the Portal Three Kingdoms list.
Yea I understand, at some point you gotta say, "Enough is enough" and just conclude the research. This is exactly why I stopped at 47 decklists. I was thinking to myself, oh my gosh when is this going to end. There were so many rogue decks that finally I just decided on two that looked appealing and placed well in their respective tournament.
Maybe a 2nd article is needed to cover the rogues?
Your hyperbole is humorous if unnecessary. I am not going to sit here and judge you, that is only for your conscience to decide on. I am merely pointing out that what you call a gray area some people consider vile. Just as George Baxter got lots of flack for his similar advice in his book.
The history of you growing up around pro poker players explains a lot of your view point. (Perhaps that should have been included in the article.)
I totally understand, just like with ArchGenius' articles it's sometimes hard to categorize.. to give an insight what I did was tally numbers from 09 Legacy decks and ordered them from the most played to the least played.. then in an attempt to make this a little shorter then it could have been I narrowed it to top 24 deck types and grouped the rest into a 25th "Other" group lol perhaps a little silly, but it saved time because those could all have their own group, but there was even many more "rogue" decks that I didn't list in the other group it's really crazy how many types can be shown, perhaps it'd fit in another article lol thanks for the feedback I appreciate it
@lildan: i think i now agree with all the above commenters. coming around to their viewpoint, i don't think Faceless Butcher is the correct choice for Removal. however, i do still like Brownscales maindeck over Imps, just because they do have 2 power, so they can beat down much better. i have started going with 10 discard SB, 4 duress, 4 augur, and 2 cloak of confusion for storm.
Eh, don't play paper anymore. To many people breaking to many rules, not to mention I grew tired of looking at all the zits.
Poker is the only true card game for me!
And don't use such big words as dastardly, it makes me feel inferior and then I gotta google the crap and I'm not supposed to use the computer at work......if I get fired I hold you fully responsible!
Thanks Raddman - BTW,...you should turn yourself in for such a dastardly play! :) (Kidding)
You have to understand, my father was a pro poker player back when it wasn't considered, "Cool" - I grew up in casinos...reading people/opportunities isn't really "trying" - it's quite easy when you've always done it. Thanks for reading!
Lol I was so thinking the same thing about the Sin comment. Ok onto the article. I have read the entire thing and want to thank you for the hard work and effort you put into it. I know how much time it takes to properly edit the info and how frustrating the editor can be (no not Josh lol). I know you already made comments about your "Other" category, but I think some of them needed their own piece of the pie.
Team America seems like it needs its own category, so does Stax (White and green). I know when I did my research Fish decks were all over the map, but they really should have their own as well imo.
Also I am assuming you included dredge in the reanimator category and I think dredge needs its own.
I want to be clear that I am not complaining about the content, I think you did a tremendous job on that, just wanted to comment on the pie chart.
Also, it seems to me that UGW Thresh is heading more into the ProBant category, running a Natural Order/Progenitus package. When I did my research I did the same thing you did, seperated the two. I think tho that maybe this is the future of UGW Thresh.
I can honestly say I have never thought of EvaGreen as a rock varient lol......Guess I am still a noob at heart.
Great job, lots of great information easily accessible with tons of decklists to spark interest in the format.
Thanks for the support I was feeling kinda bad about those two obvious errors lol that made me feel better, I'm glad you're enjoying the articles
As for the name lol well it was a motto for me and friends way back in high school.. Just Sin.. an easier way to kinda say live life without bounds and have fun since it always seems that the fun things are viewed as sinful.. I took it and used the name for my website and in game name
Playing on the emotions of others and their body language has made many poker players very successful. There is nothing wrong with utilizing information your opponent is giving you to your advantage. Going out of your way to look at the reflections in someone glasses is more or less a moral issue. I would like to think I am good enough at reading body language and don't need to focus on that kind of advantage.
Is it wrong to use that type of information to your advantage? Nope. Just as long as you can live with the fact that you aren't good enough to win via normal means.
My pride just gets in the way and if I noticed that advantage I can honestly say I doubt I would focus on it. You are better off focusing on your own game play to avoid mistakes while also reading your opponents.
Their eyes, do they slump in their chair, do they look too comfortable, are they on the edge of their seat, what story does their face tell you.
Interesting article.......I've done that tap mana, untap mana thing before to represent something I don't have. The other day I did it to represent I had stifle when someone cracked their land. I tapped land, untapped, he passed the turn. I topdecked thoughtseize to find some goodies in his hand that he had held back in fear of me having open mana. The problem with that technique is that it never works against an unskilled opponent.
Only because Heath has posted prices does not mean that those are useful or accurate in any way. He often puts up arbitrary prices before a set is released just to fill the columns. Raging Raving, Stoneforge Mystic, etc. have never been 1.5 and the price chart for the Worldwake part is therefor completely of. One disadvantages of basing price charts on lists from one dealer instead of taking average buy and sell prices on classified into account.
Love your articles and have been reading them for some time now. Thanks for your contributions. Side note -why do you make it a point to emphasize SIN in your name? I know it's just a name and shouldn't matter to anyone so much, but for some reason it sits uneasy with me. Maybe if I understood the mystery of why you are emphasizing it, I could move on to more important things to think about. LOL.
...there's no price differentiation based on card; *all* the rares are at 1.5, and *all* the mythics are at 4. I agree; it's good to know where the prices are now, but it doesn't make sense to put these on the charts of movers when you couldn't actually buy them at those 'default' prices at any point.
not really last week those were the prices heath had posted...true the set only released last weekend but the prices were accurate according to mtgotraders.
man I'm winning big points here today :( ... yes Banefire can be redirected, I guess I had a slip of mind there because that I knew, whereas Standstill Grip I didn't.... apologies again and thanks for the correction
I meant this article as a way to (at least with the peek/reflection) let people know how vulnerable THEY may be with real/paper magic...something I only play now a few times a year. But perhaps I should change my physical-magic-playing-ways...to avoid any possible advantages...
For example:
1 -The next time my opponent’s eyes light up when drawing a card - I should call a judge over and inform them both that he obviously just top decked, so now that I know, and the judge knows....perhaps I should be given a match loss for being observant, or perhaps we should start the game over again...hell, the entire tourney should be restarted multiple times, however many is needed for this Mr. Rodgers mentality to go over better...
2 -The next time my opponent makes an attack error, and audibly says, "Man I really screwed up..." I should throw down my hand and concede immediately- as I shouldn’t be aware of his mindset during a match...because obviously that would be a huge advantage, unless of course he's bluffing, then in that case, WOTC should make a mandatory polygraph table for each player of each match, this would only cost a few million per year, (raising the booster pack price to about 72 dollars each)...and then, each match could take 4 hours to analyze in reverse by a new panel of judges, and whenever a player has any possible outside advantage, (excluding diet and exercise) they're immediately disqualified...and then given a new foil, 'Hurt Feelings' token - and when you have 4 of these in your deck, you get free therapy for life!! :)
It's nice that they removed formatted text from the adds, but it would also be nice if you could enlarge the types at will while looking at the adds, because the default size is really small and pretty difficult to read, especially in yellow.
umm just to correct you on one part in rule #1 you said that peach garden oath did not fit a theme....However the card is based off The Oath of Peach Garden from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Where Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei made their oath to be brothers. Oh and it was originally printed in Portal: Three Kingdoms, which was the main theme of ME3
Hey, don't go knocking on Conservator. Back in the Revised days, before they errataed it, it had the distinction of being the only way to prevent effects that caused outright loss of life, as opposed to mere damage. It still sucked, but at least it was interesting. Then it lost even that. :(
Yeah nonsensical charts. Someone bring me back in a time machine to where you could buy Ravine's for 1.5
I've been running 19-20 lands, but have had a lot of Green w/ multiple vastwood zendikars and some manlands. 2nd rd twice and just won a draft with GR. FWIW, Claws of Valakut were a beating.
Oh, yeah, Peach Garden Oath definitely fit into the "Legends/Portal Threepeat mash-up" overall theme for the set.
But it's the only time they broke the rule and reprinted something in an MED set that really didn't NEED to be in there. Either because limited needs Giant Growths and Disenchants and there's none not online, or to complete a theme like Kobolds or Elder Dragons or Green Faeries.
There's like 80 other bad lifegain cards they could have reprinted instead. So I think that they just forgot that this one had snuck into 8th edition, and when compiling the ME3 set, they threw it in along with other cards from the Portal Three Kingdoms list.
Yea I understand, at some point you gotta say, "Enough is enough" and just conclude the research. This is exactly why I stopped at 47 decklists. I was thinking to myself, oh my gosh when is this going to end. There were so many rogue decks that finally I just decided on two that looked appealing and placed well in their respective tournament.
Maybe a 2nd article is needed to cover the rogues?
Your hyperbole is humorous if unnecessary. I am not going to sit here and judge you, that is only for your conscience to decide on. I am merely pointing out that what you call a gray area some people consider vile. Just as George Baxter got lots of flack for his similar advice in his book.
The history of you growing up around pro poker players explains a lot of your view point. (Perhaps that should have been included in the article.)
I totally understand, just like with ArchGenius' articles it's sometimes hard to categorize.. to give an insight what I did was tally numbers from 09 Legacy decks and ordered them from the most played to the least played.. then in an attempt to make this a little shorter then it could have been I narrowed it to top 24 deck types and grouped the rest into a 25th "Other" group lol perhaps a little silly, but it saved time because those could all have their own group, but there was even many more "rogue" decks that I didn't list in the other group it's really crazy how many types can be shown, perhaps it'd fit in another article lol thanks for the feedback I appreciate it
It's the very conditioned responce I wrote about...I've done it forever...like telling someone not to blink when you poke their eye...just automatic
@lildan: i think i now agree with all the above commenters. coming around to their viewpoint, i don't think Faceless Butcher is the correct choice for Removal. however, i do still like Brownscales maindeck over Imps, just because they do have 2 power, so they can beat down much better. i have started going with 10 discard SB, 4 duress, 4 augur, and 2 cloak of confusion for storm.
I'm just waiting for my #1 favorite card of all time to be reprinted. Norritt from Ice Age!
Eh, don't play paper anymore. To many people breaking to many rules, not to mention I grew tired of looking at all the zits.
Poker is the only true card game for me!
And don't use such big words as dastardly, it makes me feel inferior and then I gotta google the crap and I'm not supposed to use the computer at work......if I get fired I hold you fully responsible!
Thanks Raddman - BTW,...you should turn yourself in for such a dastardly play! :) (Kidding)
You have to understand, my father was a pro poker player back when it wasn't considered, "Cool" - I grew up in casinos...reading people/opportunities isn't really "trying" - it's quite easy when you've always done it. Thanks for reading!
Lol I was so thinking the same thing about the Sin comment. Ok onto the article. I have read the entire thing and want to thank you for the hard work and effort you put into it. I know how much time it takes to properly edit the info and how frustrating the editor can be (no not Josh lol). I know you already made comments about your "Other" category, but I think some of them needed their own piece of the pie.
Team America seems like it needs its own category, so does Stax (White and green). I know when I did my research Fish decks were all over the map, but they really should have their own as well imo.
Also I am assuming you included dredge in the reanimator category and I think dredge needs its own.
I want to be clear that I am not complaining about the content, I think you did a tremendous job on that, just wanted to comment on the pie chart.
Also, it seems to me that UGW Thresh is heading more into the ProBant category, running a Natural Order/Progenitus package. When I did my research I did the same thing you did, seperated the two. I think tho that maybe this is the future of UGW Thresh.
I can honestly say I have never thought of EvaGreen as a rock varient lol......Guess I am still a noob at heart.
Great job, lots of great information easily accessible with tons of decklists to spark interest in the format.
Thanks again for the hard work!
Thanks for the support I was feeling kinda bad about those two obvious errors lol that made me feel better, I'm glad you're enjoying the articles
As for the name lol well it was a motto for me and friends way back in high school.. Just Sin.. an easier way to kinda say live life without bounds and have fun since it always seems that the fun things are viewed as sinful.. I took it and used the name for my website and in game name
Playing on the emotions of others and their body language has made many poker players very successful. There is nothing wrong with utilizing information your opponent is giving you to your advantage. Going out of your way to look at the reflections in someone glasses is more or less a moral issue. I would like to think I am good enough at reading body language and don't need to focus on that kind of advantage.
Is it wrong to use that type of information to your advantage? Nope. Just as long as you can live with the fact that you aren't good enough to win via normal means.
My pride just gets in the way and if I noticed that advantage I can honestly say I doubt I would focus on it. You are better off focusing on your own game play to avoid mistakes while also reading your opponents.
Their eyes, do they slump in their chair, do they look too comfortable, are they on the edge of their seat, what story does their face tell you.
Interesting article.......I've done that tap mana, untap mana thing before to represent something I don't have. The other day I did it to represent I had stifle when someone cracked their land. I tapped land, untapped, he passed the turn. I topdecked thoughtseize to find some goodies in his hand that he had held back in fear of me having open mana. The problem with that technique is that it never works against an unskilled opponent.
Only because Heath has posted prices does not mean that those are useful or accurate in any way. He often puts up arbitrary prices before a set is released just to fill the columns. Raging Raving, Stoneforge Mystic, etc. have never been 1.5 and the price chart for the Worldwake part is therefor completely of. One disadvantages of basing price charts on lists from one dealer instead of taking average buy and sell prices on classified into account.
Love your articles and have been reading them for some time now. Thanks for your contributions. Side note -why do you make it a point to emphasize SIN in your name? I know it's just a name and shouldn't matter to anyone so much, but for some reason it sits uneasy with me. Maybe if I understood the mystery of why you are emphasizing it, I could move on to more important things to think about. LOL.
...there's no price differentiation based on card; *all* the rares are at 1.5, and *all* the mythics are at 4. I agree; it's good to know where the prices are now, but it doesn't make sense to put these on the charts of movers when you couldn't actually buy them at those 'default' prices at any point.
not really last week those were the prices heath had posted...true the set only released last weekend but the prices were accurate according to mtgotraders.
man I'm winning big points here today :( ... yes Banefire can be redirected, I guess I had a slip of mind there because that I knew, whereas Standstill Grip I didn't.... apologies again and thanks for the correction
why bother posting those wildly innaccurate price charts? The "Last week" prices for all those WWK cards are completely incorrect.
Banefire CAN be redirected.
You can call me Nantuko then...shady...lol :)
I meant this article as a way to (at least with the peek/reflection) let people know how vulnerable THEY may be with real/paper magic...something I only play now a few times a year. But perhaps I should change my physical-magic-playing-ways...to avoid any possible advantages...
For example:
1 -The next time my opponent’s eyes light up when drawing a card - I should call a judge over and inform them both that he obviously just top decked, so now that I know, and the judge knows....perhaps I should be given a match loss for being observant, or perhaps we should start the game over again...hell, the entire tourney should be restarted multiple times, however many is needed for this Mr. Rodgers mentality to go over better...
2 -The next time my opponent makes an attack error, and audibly says, "Man I really screwed up..." I should throw down my hand and concede immediately- as I shouldn’t be aware of his mindset during a match...because obviously that would be a huge advantage, unless of course he's bluffing, then in that case, WOTC should make a mandatory polygraph table for each player of each match, this would only cost a few million per year, (raising the booster pack price to about 72 dollars each)...and then, each match could take 4 hours to analyze in reverse by a new panel of judges, and whenever a player has any possible outside advantage, (excluding diet and exercise) they're immediately disqualified...and then given a new foil, 'Hurt Feelings' token - and when you have 4 of these in your deck, you get free therapy for life!! :)
It's nice that they removed formatted text from the adds, but it would also be nice if you could enlarge the types at will while looking at the adds, because the default size is really small and pretty difficult to read, especially in yellow.
umm just to correct you on one part in rule #1 you said that peach garden oath did not fit a theme....However the card is based off The Oath of Peach Garden from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Where Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei made their oath to be brothers. Oh and it was originally printed in Portal: Three Kingdoms, which was the main theme of ME3