I have a question. Have you tried out Basilisk Collar in either the Rock or mono-green decks. It seems to me that green would be the perfect color for it, as it really makes it hard for white/blue to stop attacks with shrouded creatures. It also is a way to boost your life total significantly against faster decks.
Funny article, but let's be realistic...what is to learn from it. The only lesson I learn is that when you draft with bad players, you have a good chance to win. I mean, pick 3 burst lightning first pack is already odd, but pick 6 in the second pack, rofl. And a marsh casualties pack 3, pick 4....
Also in pack 2 a late Shepherd, so if people are not evaluating cards right, and play not smart (like playing an oran rief and (kicked!) goblin bushwacker, but then no attack..., or just forget about a mark of mutiny which had been shown in an early game so throw away a sure win), it is easy to win.
And some had ways to get rid of Emeria (Mold Shambler!), but apparently didn't show up for him.
But I think your first pick was wrong, skyfisher is great, but marsh casualties pack 1...come on, you must hate black not to pick that one. Imagine black was flowing instead of white, you might have regret it. In the first pick you never know where it will lead to, so always take the stronger card (one sided mass removal).
But the deck was obviously very nice and it worked out well, but I prefer to read draft walkthroughs which are more realistic.
And by the way, second match was 2-1 in games instead of 2-0.
Arch; Crypt Rats with Basilisk Collar is just evil (but i like it)
i run the swampland and sword of light and shadow it a little cheaper
but that was pre WW can i stretch to collar for a Pre....hmm maybe it has room in my classic rats deck to justify the price
A few ideas that I've been thinking about for budget and non-budget decks
1) Rat deck, ie.. Crypt Rats with Basilisk Collar, add Swarmyard for fun. Basilisk Collar is practically the only expensive card in the deck.
2) Soldier or Kor - There are many directions you can go with these guys but turn 1 Kor Duelist or Kitesail apprentice followed by a turn 2 Bonesplitter is a very aggressive start.
3) Prismatic Omen and Valakut in a Treefolk deck.
4) Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Oracle of Mul Daya, Amulet of Vigor, and Gruul Turf.
5) Kavu Predator, Flametongue Kavu, Radiant Kavu, and Kavu Titan, with Punishing Fire and Grove of Burnwillows
6) Martyr of Sands, Ranger of Eos, Dark Confidant - Human life and death recursion deck.
thats a very interesting painter deck wish i had the cards i would def give it a try, i def prefer the mono-red painter decks you see in legacy, it seems too often that its like assumed painter decks have to be blue
glad to see the week turned out better, im def impressed with the bug deck, I have one too and its interesting to see the direction others take with the same tribe not to mention i realize i wasnt running swarmyard which is nuts, i like the loam look he's built there whereas mine is built more around the scute mobs and geopedes through harrow pumps
budget tribes aren't always easy to come by esp when you eliminate green.. can always try some of the old, plentiful tribes, like zombies, rats, and clerics, just for the fact that theyve been printed in so many sets that they're cheap
I need to add. I do agree with some of the sentiments towards trying to make these PREs more "fun".
I have noticed that some formats are simply too easy to abuse. One excellent example was a 2hg Classic PRE called "Hater's Ball". Speaking as a recent victor of that, and teammate of other victors, I can confidently say that the format is very broken, allowing for certain teamdecks to simply dominate without much challenge. Even other teamdecks designed to defeat the broken ones will lose about half the time depending on who wins the dice roll. Such metas are unhealthy for the event. Even winners and "abusers" (including myself) of these events consider them unfun (I just play competitively out of obligation to partner who actually wanted the tickets, and out of principle). It's unhealthy as I've heard more than once "That's it I guess" (or variants of that self-defeating quote) referring to the fact that these unfortunate opponent teams of these broken decks haven't had a chance to play a single land a good percentage of the time. It discourages newcomers from coming back to the event.
I do understand how too much "abuse" can be unhealthy for a format. I once even commented on how I thought ANT decktypes were terrible for the competitive 2HG environment (for instance, the new 2hg classic "PP" every Thursday at 7pm EST, join room "pp" and ask PrettyKitty for more details) while spectating a game where buddies Cashh and Voxen of Only Hell were playing an ANT teamdeck... and ended up almost offending one of them, as they misinterpreted my comment as my disapproval of their playing those decks (so my apologies, again). My comment and main concern was only about how ANT was unhealthy for the format, and had nothing against the fact that Cashh and Voxen chose to play those decks. It's a legal teamdeck for the format, so they have every right to use them if they want to win. They're not guilty of anything i'm not guilty of.
So I do sympathize with the frustration. I just don't think it's right to blame the "spikes". The organizers of the event share some responsibility, and should take some time and consideration on how to formalize methods to control the situation. Spikes, operating under such confines, can be good for a periodic event too, IMHO. At the very least they bring enthusiasm to the event and remind people that it is a "tournament" after all.
//3 players from a well known PE/DE attending clan (Team Rocket) showed up and won.//
//To say he was enraged would not actually be accurate. He seemed beyond rage.
But. Wait a minute! Just a darned tooting minute. It is a game. No one should get that worked up about a game right? Right. The games aren't important it is the people in the games that are important. Except that what Shard has been doing (and I and others have tried to support him to do this) is build a community of people who actually enjoy the format. Not merely a feeding pool for shark spikes looking for a quick fix to their ego after losing some major PE. (I'm guessing on this one because frankly I haven't the foggiest notion what possessed them to crash the party.) //
======
Oh come on. Was it really necessary to call us out and snipe at us? Granted, I wasn't at this event and haven't been able to attend these due to it being scheduled at bad times for me, so I don't know the entire picture, but the way we've been doing things was just informing each other of tourneys going on (including PREs). It's an active clan so of course we'd tell each other about events that might garner interest. It's always just been about notifying others of tourneys that they may be interested in, and helping support existing PREs, making them more popular. I've personally consider ShardFenix to be a buddy and wanted to advertise his event, and have advertised other events (such as Only Hell's "Partnered Pandemonium", Thursdays 7pm EST, 2hg Classic tourney, single game elimination, sponsored by MTGOTraders). Adverstising for other people, to other people (including those outside team rocket).
There was no collaborative effort to flood any particular "casual" player-run event or "crash a party", and I'm disappointed some of my clanmates are being thought of that way.
If there were rules, such as "casual decks only" then such things should have been made clear. As far as I know, it was a tournament, and you're bound to get some competitiveness in those. It didn't seem to be a problem when a very competitive classic Merfolk deck won Tribal Apocalypse many weeks ago, but suddenly it's a problem when too many people from the same competitive clan (a whopping three) attend?
All right, sorry about the rant, but I really didn't appreciate that some friends were being called out like that. I'm sorry if anyone actually feels that way about us. And I'll try to talk to ShardFenix directly. I'd like to help if possible understand and convey the rules, if there were certain unspoken rules/standards, and if certain cards/decktypes are deemed too powerful/abusive for the format.
I don't think competitive attitude itself should be discouraged from any "tournament" (and would not be able to help on that aspect), but then again it's not my event.
Ive been having lots of success with my eldrazi green build. Went 3-1 in 2 dailys yesterday.
My list looks like this:
4x Arbor elf
4x Joraga Warcaller
4x Lotus cobra
4x Nissa`s chosen
4x Leatherback baloth
4x Wolfbriar elemental
2x Lodestone golem
4x Vines of wastwood
3x Nissa Revane
4x Eldrazi monument
I skip the mana ramp aspect cobra and arbor very seldom dont let me have the mana for a quick baloth or nissa. The lodestones are a nod to UW and getting to live through their turn 5 is often crucial. On that note i often sb in tectonics against them to.
Vamps is a good matchup, but of course like rdw they will just sometimes have the nut draw and then you die.
I would never ever play a mono green deck in this format without 4 vines main. That card has singlehandedly won me so many games. They blank all removal and often let you sneak in for the last points of damage. That card truly shines in this deck.
The SB statuarys are mostly for UW which should be a favoured matchup, but usually a very close and prolonged one, the rule of never comiting more than 2 creatures still very much aply.
Good Luck on the new format Shard although is seems you didn't lose all the spikes, hope to give it a try again this Saturday if i can get my golems to play right that is (silly metal men not working atm).
Honestly your draws were just superior. Mana flood vrs mana shortage and in the end you drew lands before he drew relevant threats. Also it's obvious this guy was a weak limited player considering he was playing shieldmates blessings and cobra traps. His card quality was extremely low.
Never concede early in a match, sure; but also don't forget some players play Swiss because their limited game is very bad and they need improvement or just like to get 3 rounds. Not all players are good. Unfortunately ratings are not shown online anymore. I'm guess this guy was sub 1500 limited
A few points then you can go back to your tantrum-like rant:
1) Hiding behind a pseudonym to make your points somewhat negates their validity. How can we take you at your word when you hide?
2) Bringing shamans with high cost cards is hardly different from bringing some tier 1 classic shell. That said, as long as there is no rule against it, bring what you will. No one can really complain (as has been iterated over and over in this discussion (not whine session) because there are no hard and fast rules against bringing the big guns. That was kind of the point of starting said discussion. To talk about rules. Thanks for chipping in.
3) I think everyone agrees that Vial decks suck to play against. Not fun. That said what makes them hard to beat are the tapped out counters: Daze, FoW which are as you point out now high end and somewhat rare cards. Not for the small of pocket. Naturally such cards engender bad feelings when they are not readily available to all for a REASONABLE price. Btw grats on getting yours for cheap. Sadly I was offline for a year and half from right before Masters Ed till shortly before ARB so I missed out. Too bad for me eh?
4) Spread whatever gossip you feel is necessary to make yourself happy. Go ahead and rant behind a false name and badger those who are actually part of the discussion. Maybe there is a trolling award somewhere if you get enough flames headed your way. But meanwhile if you don't show up, I am going to go out on a limb and guess no one will notice or care.
"you know this event was made for the fun and enjoyment of a handful of people.ive played classic many times in the casual room but only invite those that i see are like-minded. This event isnt for everyone. If winning 4 tickets is really that important to you, dont play. The tickets were a nice gesture of hey you did well. Not way to go you carpet-bombed everyone else playing youre the master. Also no offense but if you have problem with this statement, too bad."
OK, so than instead of whining and complaining that some people have a different view of what is "Casual" than you do, why not invite only your buddies to this shindig, because obviously playing with only people that agree that Expensive=Bad is extremely important to you. Instead of making a big stink and stamping your feet like a toddler, grow up, grow a pair and just invite your friends list.
I am sorry, but I own a TON of (now) very expensive classic cards. I have never paid more than $10 for any card, including my 4x force of wills. I will NEVER have anyone tell me I can't play a card in my collection that I want to play because it "Isn't casual". Casual means there are no ratings on the line. THAT'S IT. If that means I want to build a U/G/r "shaman" tooth and nail deck using FOWS, Engineered Explosives, Trop/Volc/Taiga, Wastelands, Fire/Ice, fetches and tons of other expensive cards because they happen to support my strategy I am going to do so.
Personally, I am sick and tired of the constant whining! I have not ONCE complained about all of the "casual" decks running Aether Vial. Yeah, that is so completely original, no one else ever thought of putting together weenies and aether vial. But since you find it "fun" it is "casual".
Yes, I played in the event, no I wasn't a "shark". As a matter of fact, I was playing something goofy that wasn't using as many of my powerful cards, but one of your "casual" buddies complained because I had fetchlands and duals. I played against 2 of the "sharks" and they were nothing but friendly.
Guess what, your PRE's are losing myself and anyone else I can ever talk to if you keep this crap up.
I'm guess you just missed telling us something like the shoal serpent blocked this turn, but why was it dying to lavaball trap?
^ white may have been open a tabled 2/2 flyer for 2 is a pretty strong signal, hard to tell how it would have turned out though.
You are playing far too few forests for your chosen you need 11+ to make it happy. I really don't like it when you picked it in pack 2 pack 4 since to use it effectively you are making a heavy green commitment.
Also, not trying to be rude, but unless you're trying to follow the Gerry Thompson's school of article writing, you definlty come off as kind of a jerk when you basically list point by point your opponents misplays.
It just comes off as pretty condescending, and the way you build up to it with your comments about going on tilt and losing 0-4 in fnm it comes off as you just trying to stroke your epeen. (I don't think this was your intention but this is how it reads to me)
"I will admit, when a game is 99% locked up, I'll often try and play as if someone has a card better than anything that exists in the format (or even in Magic itself) and if there's a sequence of plays that mean I still win even then, I'll take it. That's better than playing almost perfectly safe but you forgot that ONE card in the format that really actually is good enough for him to turn the game around on you. Even if in your mind, you're playing around some jabberwock that combines Cryptic Command, Banefire, triple Seething Song, Jitte, and (Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil). With Superhaste."
While this is definitly better than forgetting about a trick, it is strictly worse than just knowing all the tricks (and if you're not sure you do, load up your collection, set type to regular, set the view to the block you are in, set it to owned >= 0, and look at instants and things with flash.) There's no reason to play around a card that is gift's ungiven, doomsday, black lotus, mind's desire and becon of destruction if you can just know what the best possible things he could have are.
Guys, regarding the Red background. I apologize if that's too hard to read on some eyes. You might want to copy the page, paste it in Microsoft Word, and set the option that comes up (at least it does in my 2003 version) to 'Copy text only.' That should reduce the glare. Another MS-Word idea is to set all the text in the Red boxes to white-colored text, which looks like an easier read too.
white does seem sickly open. Just looking at the available cards you could easily have white weenie built, but there was an obvious lack of journey's so pretty removal lite
Very nice article.
I have a question. Have you tried out Basilisk Collar in either the Rock or mono-green decks. It seems to me that green would be the perfect color for it, as it really makes it hard for white/blue to stop attacks with shrouded creatures. It also is a way to boost your life total significantly against faster decks.
Gotcha, just saw the new article up. Thanks :)
They are doing that for the Premier Events that still use packs.
Funny article, but let's be realistic...what is to learn from it. The only lesson I learn is that when you draft with bad players, you have a good chance to win. I mean, pick 3 burst lightning first pack is already odd, but pick 6 in the second pack, rofl. And a marsh casualties pack 3, pick 4....
Also in pack 2 a late Shepherd, so if people are not evaluating cards right, and play not smart (like playing an oran rief and (kicked!) goblin bushwacker, but then no attack..., or just forget about a mark of mutiny which had been shown in an early game so throw away a sure win), it is easy to win.
And some had ways to get rid of Emeria (Mold Shambler!), but apparently didn't show up for him.
But I think your first pick was wrong, skyfisher is great, but marsh casualties pack 1...come on, you must hate black not to pick that one. Imagine black was flowing instead of white, you might have regret it. In the first pick you never know where it will lead to, so always take the stronger card (one sided mass removal).
But the deck was obviously very nice and it worked out well, but I prefer to read draft walkthroughs which are more realistic.
And by the way, second match was 2-1 in games instead of 2-0.
Arch; Crypt Rats with Basilisk Collar is just evil (but i like it)
i run the swampland and sword of light and shadow it a little cheaper
but that was pre WW can i stretch to collar for a Pre....hmm maybe it has room in my classic rats deck to justify the price
yes i picked up 4 but he not the problem it is the fact that in 4 games i played last night i never went off by turn 6 which for that deck is bad.
A few ideas that I've been thinking about for budget and non-budget decks
1) Rat deck, ie.. Crypt Rats with Basilisk Collar, add Swarmyard for fun. Basilisk Collar is practically the only expensive card in the deck.
2) Soldier or Kor - There are many directions you can go with these guys but turn 1 Kor Duelist or Kitesail apprentice followed by a turn 2 Bonesplitter is a very aggressive start.
3) Prismatic Omen and Valakut in a Treefolk deck.
4) Azusa, Lost but Seeking or Oracle of Mul Daya, Amulet of Vigor, and Gruul Turf.
5) Kavu Predator, Flametongue Kavu, Radiant Kavu, and Kavu Titan, with Punishing Fire and Grove of Burnwillows
6) Martyr of Sands, Ranger of Eos, Dark Confidant - Human life and death recursion deck.
7) AEther Vial Haakon Stromgald Knight/Changeling deck
glad to see the continuation come so close together, great as always, and i kinda like the red bg lol
thats a very interesting painter deck wish i had the cards i would def give it a try, i def prefer the mono-red painter decks you see in legacy, it seems too often that its like assumed painter decks have to be blue
font forget about lodestone golem then
glad to see the week turned out better, im def impressed with the bug deck, I have one too and its interesting to see the direction others take with the same tribe not to mention i realize i wasnt running swarmyard which is nuts, i like the loam look he's built there whereas mine is built more around the scute mobs and geopedes through harrow pumps
budget tribes aren't always easy to come by esp when you eliminate green.. can always try some of the old, plentiful tribes, like zombies, rats, and clerics, just for the fact that theyve been printed in so many sets that they're cheap
If the sealed release event is tix only, why are they selling release packs from the store that have ZZZ/WWW + 8 tix?
I need to add. I do agree with some of the sentiments towards trying to make these PREs more "fun".
I have noticed that some formats are simply too easy to abuse. One excellent example was a 2hg Classic PRE called "Hater's Ball". Speaking as a recent victor of that, and teammate of other victors, I can confidently say that the format is very broken, allowing for certain teamdecks to simply dominate without much challenge. Even other teamdecks designed to defeat the broken ones will lose about half the time depending on who wins the dice roll. Such metas are unhealthy for the event. Even winners and "abusers" (including myself) of these events consider them unfun (I just play competitively out of obligation to partner who actually wanted the tickets, and out of principle). It's unhealthy as I've heard more than once "That's it I guess" (or variants of that self-defeating quote) referring to the fact that these unfortunate opponent teams of these broken decks haven't had a chance to play a single land a good percentage of the time. It discourages newcomers from coming back to the event.
I do understand how too much "abuse" can be unhealthy for a format. I once even commented on how I thought ANT decktypes were terrible for the competitive 2HG environment (for instance, the new 2hg classic "PP" every Thursday at 7pm EST, join room "pp" and ask PrettyKitty for more details) while spectating a game where buddies Cashh and Voxen of Only Hell were playing an ANT teamdeck... and ended up almost offending one of them, as they misinterpreted my comment as my disapproval of their playing those decks (so my apologies, again). My comment and main concern was only about how ANT was unhealthy for the format, and had nothing against the fact that Cashh and Voxen chose to play those decks. It's a legal teamdeck for the format, so they have every right to use them if they want to win. They're not guilty of anything i'm not guilty of.
So I do sympathize with the frustration. I just don't think it's right to blame the "spikes". The organizers of the event share some responsibility, and should take some time and consideration on how to formalize methods to control the situation. Spikes, operating under such confines, can be good for a periodic event too, IMHO. At the very least they bring enthusiasm to the event and remind people that it is a "tournament" after all.
//3 players from a well known PE/DE attending clan (Team Rocket) showed up and won.//
//To say he was enraged would not actually be accurate. He seemed beyond rage.
But. Wait a minute! Just a darned tooting minute. It is a game. No one should get that worked up about a game right? Right. The games aren't important it is the people in the games that are important. Except that what Shard has been doing (and I and others have tried to support him to do this) is build a community of people who actually enjoy the format. Not merely a feeding pool for shark spikes looking for a quick fix to their ego after losing some major PE. (I'm guessing on this one because frankly I haven't the foggiest notion what possessed them to crash the party.) //
======
Oh come on. Was it really necessary to call us out and snipe at us? Granted, I wasn't at this event and haven't been able to attend these due to it being scheduled at bad times for me, so I don't know the entire picture, but the way we've been doing things was just informing each other of tourneys going on (including PREs). It's an active clan so of course we'd tell each other about events that might garner interest. It's always just been about notifying others of tourneys that they may be interested in, and helping support existing PREs, making them more popular. I've personally consider ShardFenix to be a buddy and wanted to advertise his event, and have advertised other events (such as Only Hell's "Partnered Pandemonium", Thursdays 7pm EST, 2hg Classic tourney, single game elimination, sponsored by MTGOTraders). Adverstising for other people, to other people (including those outside team rocket).
There was no collaborative effort to flood any particular "casual" player-run event or "crash a party", and I'm disappointed some of my clanmates are being thought of that way.
If there were rules, such as "casual decks only" then such things should have been made clear. As far as I know, it was a tournament, and you're bound to get some competitiveness in those. It didn't seem to be a problem when a very competitive classic Merfolk deck won Tribal Apocalypse many weeks ago, but suddenly it's a problem when too many people from the same competitive clan (a whopping three) attend?
All right, sorry about the rant, but I really didn't appreciate that some friends were being called out like that. I'm sorry if anyone actually feels that way about us. And I'll try to talk to ShardFenix directly. I'd like to help if possible understand and convey the rules, if there were certain unspoken rules/standards, and if certain cards/decktypes are deemed too powerful/abusive for the format.
I don't think competitive attitude itself should be discouraged from any "tournament" (and would not be able to help on that aspect), but then again it's not my event.
Bazaar Trader can't donate enchantments. =[
Ive been having lots of success with my eldrazi green build. Went 3-1 in 2 dailys yesterday.
My list looks like this:
4x Arbor elf
4x Joraga Warcaller
4x Lotus cobra
4x Nissa`s chosen
4x Leatherback baloth
4x Wolfbriar elemental
2x Lodestone golem
4x Vines of wastwood
3x Nissa Revane
4x Eldrazi monument
11x Forest
4x verdant catacombs
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Oran Rief
SB
2x Dread Statuary
4x Slingshot trap
4x Tectonic edge
3x Natures claim
2x Lodestone golem
I skip the mana ramp aspect cobra and arbor very seldom dont let me have the mana for a quick baloth or nissa. The lodestones are a nod to UW and getting to live through their turn 5 is often crucial. On that note i often sb in tectonics against them to.
Vamps is a good matchup, but of course like rdw they will just sometimes have the nut draw and then you die.
I would never ever play a mono green deck in this format without 4 vines main. That card has singlehandedly won me so many games. They blank all removal and often let you sneak in for the last points of damage. That card truly shines in this deck.
The SB statuarys are mostly for UW which should be a favoured matchup, but usually a very close and prolonged one, the rule of never comiting more than 2 creatures still very much aply.
WOW after all the talk on here about Classic tribes is that what they gives us.... solves nothing about it's problems.
Good Luck on the new format Shard although is seems you didn't lose all the spikes, hope to give it a try again this Saturday if i can get my golems to play right that is (silly metal men not working atm).
Honestly your draws were just superior. Mana flood vrs mana shortage and in the end you drew lands before he drew relevant threats. Also it's obvious this guy was a weak limited player considering he was playing shieldmates blessings and cobra traps. His card quality was extremely low.
Never concede early in a match, sure; but also don't forget some players play Swiss because their limited game is very bad and they need improvement or just like to get 3 rounds. Not all players are good. Unfortunately ratings are not shown online anymore. I'm guess this guy was sub 1500 limited
A few points then you can go back to your tantrum-like rant:
1) Hiding behind a pseudonym to make your points somewhat negates their validity. How can we take you at your word when you hide?
2) Bringing shamans with high cost cards is hardly different from bringing some tier 1 classic shell. That said, as long as there is no rule against it, bring what you will. No one can really complain (as has been iterated over and over in this discussion (not whine session) because there are no hard and fast rules against bringing the big guns. That was kind of the point of starting said discussion. To talk about rules. Thanks for chipping in.
3) I think everyone agrees that Vial decks suck to play against. Not fun. That said what makes them hard to beat are the tapped out counters: Daze, FoW which are as you point out now high end and somewhat rare cards. Not for the small of pocket. Naturally such cards engender bad feelings when they are not readily available to all for a REASONABLE price. Btw grats on getting yours for cheap. Sadly I was offline for a year and half from right before Masters Ed till shortly before ARB so I missed out. Too bad for me eh?
4) Spread whatever gossip you feel is necessary to make yourself happy. Go ahead and rant behind a false name and badger those who are actually part of the discussion. Maybe there is a trolling award somewhere if you get enough flames headed your way. But meanwhile if you don't show up, I am going to go out on a limb and guess no one will notice or care.
"you know this event was made for the fun and enjoyment of a handful of people.ive played classic many times in the casual room but only invite those that i see are like-minded. This event isnt for everyone. If winning 4 tickets is really that important to you, dont play. The tickets were a nice gesture of hey you did well. Not way to go you carpet-bombed everyone else playing youre the master. Also no offense but if you have problem with this statement, too bad."
OK, so than instead of whining and complaining that some people have a different view of what is "Casual" than you do, why not invite only your buddies to this shindig, because obviously playing with only people that agree that Expensive=Bad is extremely important to you. Instead of making a big stink and stamping your feet like a toddler, grow up, grow a pair and just invite your friends list.
I am sorry, but I own a TON of (now) very expensive classic cards. I have never paid more than $10 for any card, including my 4x force of wills. I will NEVER have anyone tell me I can't play a card in my collection that I want to play because it "Isn't casual". Casual means there are no ratings on the line. THAT'S IT. If that means I want to build a U/G/r "shaman" tooth and nail deck using FOWS, Engineered Explosives, Trop/Volc/Taiga, Wastelands, Fire/Ice, fetches and tons of other expensive cards because they happen to support my strategy I am going to do so.
Personally, I am sick and tired of the constant whining! I have not ONCE complained about all of the "casual" decks running Aether Vial. Yeah, that is so completely original, no one else ever thought of putting together weenies and aether vial. But since you find it "fun" it is "casual".
Yes, I played in the event, no I wasn't a "shark". As a matter of fact, I was playing something goofy that wasn't using as many of my powerful cards, but one of your "casual" buddies complained because I had fetchlands and duals. I played against 2 of the "sharks" and they were nothing but friendly.
Guess what, your PRE's are losing myself and anyone else I can ever talk to if you keep this crap up.
I'm guess you just missed telling us something like the shoal serpent blocked this turn, but why was it dying to lavaball trap?
^ white may have been open a tabled 2/2 flyer for 2 is a pretty strong signal, hard to tell how it would have turned out though.
You are playing far too few forests for your chosen you need 11+ to make it happy. I really don't like it when you picked it in pack 2 pack 4 since to use it effectively you are making a heavy green commitment.
Also, not trying to be rude, but unless you're trying to follow the Gerry Thompson's school of article writing, you definlty come off as kind of a jerk when you basically list point by point your opponents misplays.
It just comes off as pretty condescending, and the way you build up to it with your comments about going on tilt and losing 0-4 in fnm it comes off as you just trying to stroke your epeen. (I don't think this was your intention but this is how it reads to me)
"I will admit, when a game is 99% locked up, I'll often try and play as if someone has a card better than anything that exists in the format (or even in Magic itself) and if there's a sequence of plays that mean I still win even then, I'll take it. That's better than playing almost perfectly safe but you forgot that ONE card in the format that really actually is good enough for him to turn the game around on you. Even if in your mind, you're playing around some jabberwock that combines Cryptic Command, Banefire, triple Seething Song, Jitte, and (Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Evil). With Superhaste."
While this is definitly better than forgetting about a trick, it is strictly worse than just knowing all the tricks (and if you're not sure you do, load up your collection, set type to regular, set the view to the block you are in, set it to owned >= 0, and look at instants and things with flash.) There's no reason to play around a card that is gift's ungiven, doomsday, black lotus, mind's desire and becon of destruction if you can just know what the best possible things he could have are.
Guys, regarding the Red background. I apologize if that's too hard to read on some eyes. You might want to copy the page, paste it in Microsoft Word, and set the option that comes up (at least it does in my 2003 version) to 'Copy text only.' That should reduce the glare. Another MS-Word idea is to set all the text in the Red boxes to white-colored text, which looks like an easier read too.
white does seem sickly open. Just looking at the available cards you could easily have white weenie built, but there was an obvious lack of journey's so pretty removal lite
Did anyone else notice he (you) got "ally fever" and just ignored the insane white being passed?