Love these fantastic work and well worth the wait. I'm all for another Zendikar draft as I have no suggestions on a Theory article and prefer thsoe discussions between you and Ryan in the podcast :) A PTQ report would be fantastic if you play in one. Thanks again, Luke
Recsur has to be one of my all time favorite archetypes. Rock before it is a close 2nd. Tradewind Survival was fun for a while but doesn't hold a candle to Recsur imho. Now I haven't played paper magic since 01 so later versions may have changed quite a bit. Nice to see you have a decent grasp on the history of the game. Tis tough to remember all those little things in detail. I built (a strict casual) deck modeled after RecSur (using few of the cards in it though) I called (r)Evolutionary Conspiracy. One of these days I'll put up an article on it, though it isn't playable online (yet).
Interesting editorial this week. I am one of the people who proposed the extended move for Tribal Wars so I am all for that option. I am also interested in seeing the b/r list reworked if at all possible in addition to the move to ext. Having been on the recieving end of the Sulieman's Evolution trick I am not a huge fan of it. Anything that both Wraths and prevents casting is too strong. On the other hand it is a 3 color 2 card combo with 4cc and it isn't the only one in that deck Tivadar's crusade + shields of vellis vel do almost the same thing. Well it's a one sided wrath.
I am not sure what should be done but I too would like to see a less combo intensive environment but with the caveat that Combo should still be viable. Viable but not turn 1-4 wins. And by win I mean unstoppable without counter magic. On the other hand if we cripple combo to be viable but not deadly then does "stupid deadweight" aggro just take over? I know the format is about creatures but the fun part about it is the variety of strategies available within certain types. Thus I like moving the format to extended despite losing quite a few options now that my collection has slid towards the Classic Abyss.
The legacy list option is interesting but I am not intimately familiar with it so I couldn't say for sure whether that would fix our dilemma. Overall nice analysis Hammy. And once again I am baffled by what is up and what is down on the price lists. Go Wargate! :D
Tarmotog, I have seen you play this format since quite a while, and yet I am a bit shocked about your comments after reading all this.
Esp the comments regarding life from the loam and gifts.
Both card were banned at the same time (together with clamp, jitte and some other stuff). Tempest was not even released at that point, so Wasteland was out of the equation. It was simply absurdely powerful to find Lftl, Genesis a cycling land and whatever else you want. It basicly reads - search your library for 4 cards and win the game. Intuition is not worse than Gifts, its BETTER than Gifts, especially if u have LFTL unbanned like you want.
Mana Crypt - like the guy above said, its absurdely powerful if u have it turn 1. The life loss doesn't even matter. There are ways to get rid of it later in the game.
Comparing Jitte with other equipments is like comparing Mana Drain with Mana Leak ...
Last but not least: Survival and Oath of Druids.
Survival will be banned soon, I am sure about this. This is the card with the greatest impact on the format.
Oath of Druids - when you write about a format (Highlander), the readers here would expect that you play it.
With the comments on this one, I really doubt that you ever did. Oath of Druids decks are some of the best paper highlander decks and no, its not hard to build a deck around it. No matter that there are less card available, the tools for the Oath deck are there and it will be noticed very soon, I am sure.
What i'm wondering, is what the importance is off the fact that cheaper cards are more on the battlefield then more expenisive cards. Especcially for the fact that games are lost by manaflood/manascrew
Very good job. As a late commentary I think everything about this article has been discussed. Your points of view and argumentation are good and well thought, it seems.
I will follow others and dont hesitate to give this one 5 fireballs.
As someone mentioned I would very much like to see the ideas perform with a ext. cardpool.
Anyways, im off to get myself playsets before these get too well known
This is a really great article with very useful information. I also appreciate the fresh approach.
It'd be great if you could get some kind of screen scraper going so you didn't have to gather data by hand. It'd be enough to scrape just the text/comments portion, which would give you every card in the match. It's probably worth your time to hunt around for a coder to do this for you. It's technically a violation of the client usage agreement tho.
I think the "Bold Defense Problem" is a big flaw that you should be emphasizing as you go forward. Lots of cards would have a lower percentage if you considered that they were in hands at end of game. Some (Cancel comes to mind) might have higher. For instance Iona probably will show like a 90% win, but that doesn't mean it should be in your deck.
A lot of Avatars have retained some value despite the fact that WotC has basically the tournaments that use them, so there has to be some collectors out there who find them value.
Personally I like changing my avatar occasionally, and I like getting avatars as a bonus prize.
Do I think this is a more appetizing promotion idea than a half price tournament? No in a million years. But it is something that will appeal to some players, myself included.
I think I have to disagree with Anon above and say I like the new Spaniel. I think this kind of analysis is interesting, although I think that outside of release weekends, for most people draft data is more relevant than sealed. Regardless, I have to commend you for the amount of effort that had to go into compiling this much data.
Ok only problem i keep losing to conqueror's pledge when plan playing the Glory of Warfare deck its annoying...lol and voracious dragon is no good...maybe Predator Dragon instead
Unfortunately Vulshok Sorcerer is 1RR, which could be a bit difficult to generate on T3, no? I agree though that pinging your own life total seems like a double edged sword goblins.
Anyhow, great article Mr. Ullman.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on some lesser played cards:
Hunting Cheetah seems like they would be pretty solid in a rancor-centric deck. Avenging Druid would be pretty slick with rancor + threshold/flashbacks.
Seriously, am I the only one who uses Mesmeric Orbs in his Vore deck? Using Stitch Together and Death, you can make a Vore deck hum with only BB on the table. Add Anger to give Terry and Mort a leg up.
Actually I think Malfegor was pretty much fine in game 4. It sucked that he couldn't help me finish the game quicker, but I was winning anyway - and if my opponent cast any creatures of note then I could have taken care of them and gotten a bonus 6/6. I would have happily discarded my other Malfegor, but my opponent didn't have anything worth killing.
Love these fantastic work and well worth the wait. I'm all for another Zendikar draft as I have no suggestions on a Theory article and prefer thsoe discussions between you and Ryan in the podcast :) A PTQ report would be fantastic if you play in one. Thanks again, Luke
If someone can point me in the direction of a person who can program such a screen scraper, I would consider using it.
Recsur has to be one of my all time favorite archetypes. Rock before it is a close 2nd. Tradewind Survival was fun for a while but doesn't hold a candle to Recsur imho. Now I haven't played paper magic since 01 so later versions may have changed quite a bit. Nice to see you have a decent grasp on the history of the game. Tis tough to remember all those little things in detail. I built (a strict casual) deck modeled after RecSur (using few of the cards in it though) I called (r)Evolutionary Conspiracy. One of these days I'll put up an article on it, though it isn't playable online (yet).
hold up, so now shards are all three sets in one pack? why did they do this?
One tutor is from the theme decks I think and was thus valued much lower than its real price since they had none in stock.
Interesting editorial this week. I am one of the people who proposed the extended move for Tribal Wars so I am all for that option. I am also interested in seeing the b/r list reworked if at all possible in addition to the move to ext. Having been on the recieving end of the Sulieman's Evolution trick I am not a huge fan of it. Anything that both Wraths and prevents casting is too strong. On the other hand it is a 3 color 2 card combo with 4cc and it isn't the only one in that deck Tivadar's crusade + shields of vellis vel do almost the same thing. Well it's a one sided wrath.
I am not sure what should be done but I too would like to see a less combo intensive environment but with the caveat that Combo should still be viable. Viable but not turn 1-4 wins. And by win I mean unstoppable without counter magic. On the other hand if we cripple combo to be viable but not deadly then does "stupid deadweight" aggro just take over? I know the format is about creatures but the fun part about it is the variety of strategies available within certain types. Thus I like moving the format to extended despite losing quite a few options now that my collection has slid towards the Classic Abyss.
The legacy list option is interesting but I am not intimately familiar with it so I couldn't say for sure whether that would fix our dilemma. Overall nice analysis Hammy. And once again I am baffled by what is up and what is down on the price lists. Go Wargate! :D
He linked to the Sovereigns deck, but here it is again
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/68
Can someone please tell me why Sovereigns of Lost Alara went up that much? Is there some sort of deck breaking out with it?
Also, the price charts for Enlightened tutor show a jump from 8-9 in one and 5-8 in another.
Tarmotog, I have seen you play this format since quite a while, and yet I am a bit shocked about your comments after reading all this.
Esp the comments regarding life from the loam and gifts.
Both card were banned at the same time (together with clamp, jitte and some other stuff). Tempest was not even released at that point, so Wasteland was out of the equation. It was simply absurdely powerful to find Lftl, Genesis a cycling land and whatever else you want. It basicly reads - search your library for 4 cards and win the game. Intuition is not worse than Gifts, its BETTER than Gifts, especially if u have LFTL unbanned like you want.
Mana Crypt - like the guy above said, its absurdely powerful if u have it turn 1. The life loss doesn't even matter. There are ways to get rid of it later in the game.
Comparing Jitte with other equipments is like comparing Mana Drain with Mana Leak ...
Last but not least: Survival and Oath of Druids.
Survival will be banned soon, I am sure about this. This is the card with the greatest impact on the format.
Oath of Druids - when you write about a format (Highlander), the readers here would expect that you play it.
With the comments on this one, I really doubt that you ever did. Oath of Druids decks are some of the best paper highlander decks and no, its not hard to build a deck around it. No matter that there are less card available, the tools for the Oath deck are there and it will be noticed very soon, I am sure.
What i'm wondering, is what the importance is off the fact that cheaper cards are more on the battlefield then more expenisive cards. Especcially for the fact that games are lost by manaflood/manascrew
Very good job. As a late commentary I think everything about this article has been discussed. Your points of view and argumentation are good and well thought, it seems.
I will follow others and dont hesitate to give this one 5 fireballs.
As someone mentioned I would very much like to see the ideas perform with a ext. cardpool.
Anyways, im off to get myself playsets before these get too well known
This is a really great article with very useful information. I also appreciate the fresh approach.
It'd be great if you could get some kind of screen scraper going so you didn't have to gather data by hand. It'd be enough to scrape just the text/comments portion, which would give you every card in the match. It's probably worth your time to hunt around for a coder to do this for you. It's technically a violation of the client usage agreement tho.
I think the "Bold Defense Problem" is a big flaw that you should be emphasizing as you go forward. Lots of cards would have a lower percentage if you considered that they were in hands at end of game. Some (Cancel comes to mind) might have higher. For instance Iona probably will show like a 90% win, but that doesn't mean it should be in your deck.
Well, not all promotions appeal to everyone.
A lot of Avatars have retained some value despite the fact that WotC has basically the tournaments that use them, so there has to be some collectors out there who find them value.
Personally I like changing my avatar occasionally, and I like getting avatars as a bonus prize.
Do I think this is a more appetizing promotion idea than a half price tournament? No in a million years. But it is something that will appeal to some players, myself included.
I think I have to disagree with Anon above and say I like the new Spaniel. I think this kind of analysis is interesting, although I think that outside of release weekends, for most people draft data is more relevant than sealed. Regardless, I have to commend you for the amount of effort that had to go into compiling this much data.
Ok only problem i keep losing to conqueror's pledge when plan playing the Glory of Warfare deck its annoying...lol and voracious dragon is no good...maybe Predator Dragon instead
Unfortunately Vulshok Sorcerer is 1RR, which could be a bit difficult to generate on T3, no? I agree though that pinging your own life total seems like a double edged sword goblins.
Anyhow, great article Mr. Ullman.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on some lesser played cards:
Hunting Cheetah seems like they would be pretty solid in a rancor-centric deck. Avenging Druid would be pretty slick with rancor + threshold/flashbacks.
The first thing I mentioned from that game was that he played an Ooze Garden.
"Reading is tech" they say.
LE
Yup, really miss the curmudgeonly, cynical William Spaniel. Good article though.
because death and destruction are awesome! seriously though destruction is pretty sweet
Seriously, am I the only one who uses Mesmeric Orbs in his Vore deck? Using Stitch Together and Death, you can make a Vore deck hum with only BB on the table. Add Anger to give Terry and Mort a leg up.
"...I do some other sinister and mean thing and play my Mold Shambler which destroys his enchantment."
If you're not going to mention him playing an enchantment (much less what it was), why bother mentioning you destroyed it?
Actually I think Malfegor was pretty much fine in game 4. It sucked that he couldn't help me finish the game quicker, but I was winning anyway - and if my opponent cast any creatures of note then I could have taken care of them and gotten a bonus 6/6. I would have happily discarded my other Malfegor, but my opponent didn't have anything worth killing.
HAHAHA!
Malfegor's promo is 30 cents, and his normal version is $1.
Because of course, the promo won't help you redeem a set. He's definitely an under-loved card when that condition becomes true.
double post