I am really not a huge fan of statistical analysis particularly in small numbers (but really not at all) but this was an interesting read. You had some typos but over all it was educational. I haven't played ANY Zendikar limited and I don't play standard or block so my understanding of the value of some of the cards you covered is different than what you show here. I feel like I learned something. Nice article and 5x fireball at you.
I liked the achievements section the most, altho the entire article was well thought out and insightful.
If MTGO achivements existed, I would definitely be more inclined to play more MTGO, but this would come at a cost of me playing less paper magic. I don't really know which is the better (more profitable) move for wizards in the long run.
The lack of achivements on MTGO is currently the only reason for me to hang on to paper magic. The only reason that I buy and maintain a paper card collection, parallel to my mtgo collection, is so that I can attend the tournaments where all the glories are, PTQ, Regionals, States etc. I make a pretty decent living so winning money or packs isn't much of a motivating factor for me, but the sheer competition and glory of winning is a huge motivating factor for me. (see my avatar)
Very awesome Erman as a semi budget player a.k.a. I psend tickets when i get them like they are going out of style and love new decks, you have some amazing ten dollar decks here. Though one criticism, dont knock the Hive Mind. It's surprisingly good just not in standard. Me and Runeliger are both running hivemind/pact decks to surprising results.
OH SNAP!! William Spaniel!!! I remember I sed to read you all the time back on "that other site". Glad to see you writing again. Great article btw. Though i was expecting more of the curmudgeon-ness.
Excellent article,as someone with a very limited budget who often gets thumped when i play anything but my budget boros deck its nice to see some new budget decks that can compete i hope some day to learn enough about the game and cards to build decks like this.
You're right in that this data is geared towards sealed and not draft. While I do think it has a lot of external validity towards that format as well, you should be looking at these results as from sealed deck tournaments--because that is where they are from.
I really enjoyed your article and the challenge you gave yourself to play casually. However, take any of your decks into the casual room an play against Vampires or Jund 7 times in a row, and let me know how you feel then. That seems to be the norm for me more than not. I get so pissed off to the point that I just conceed at the first sight of a Bloodbraid Elf anymore. Half the time, it's after I post a description not to play them.
Does anyone else get as frustrated when trying to play a "good" casual deck?
There is one bit of a flaw in that you didn't mention what the format is. I'm guessing the PTQ was sealed deck? It does skew the results, because a red splash is MUCH more likely in sealed than it is in draft; I've rarely seen anyone actually splash a third color in ZZZ, so mountains shouldn't be as prevalent in draft as in sealed, making the cliff thread slightly worse.
Also, it's hearsay, not heresy. Probably just a typo that the inline corrector didn't spot because heresy is also a word, but meanings are worlds apart.
Besides that, I'd like to commend you for your dedication. I'm curious to see the rest of the data, even though I think the information might not be all that useful. It's plenty interesting, at least, and the analysis is pretty good.
At a Grand Prix, you can open a pool of cards that is underwhelming and still make Day 2. Then, you make Top 8 based on your drafting skills. However, in a 10-Round PTQ that is sealed only, you can not expect to go 9-1 or better with a bad sealed pool. Perfect play and good draws permitting, even a great pool has to get a little lucky to go 9-1 against a field full of competent opponents.
In a live Sealed PTQ, the field will usually be full of worse players than MOL and generally smaller than 400 people, unless it occurs at a PT or Grand Prix side event. In these cases, I've made plenty of Top 8's with weak pools. In addition to all of this, you can't intentionally draw in a MOL PTQ (or any tournament), forcing you to play even more rounds than you would normally have to in real life.
Unfortunately that is just the nature of the beast. Sealed is very random and as a result the power level of pools varies greatly. This variance easily outweighs the difference between perfect play and good play.
Other than block constructed for older sets WotC could also start to seriously consider Build Your Own Standard or Build Your Own Block as formats. There is a lot of possibility for interest here. I can see either of these formats easily being more popular than extended currently is and they would be on about the same power level.
I agree, it is definitely an internal issue and I am sure that it will get resolved eventually and I have no doubt that the MTGO team knows how ridiculous it sounds to say they can't do promos that have not already been done in paper. Eventually they will get the correct people convinced that it is a ridiculous policy.
Yeah, that was likely an oversight. That combo no longer works due to an errata to Zodiac Dragon. The original wording on Zodiac Dragon would allow for some Survival shenanigans though.
I would say yes it is manageable
8 fetches requires only one of and any of the opposing lands 9 black 12 white.
emeria and Master are hard to deal within a format where aside from the tons of removal the plan is to race. you are not out racing token generators and token generating removal..the dies to everything phrase is a bit comical in this age
Zealous is a decent card that deals with 1/1's like boros..scute mob,few elves,nobles/bop..but could possibly be replaced with something else. either way it is solid against boros if nothing else.
The biggest reason to play in the Exodus release events is Tempest's Wasteland. It's currently selling for $10 on mtgotraders.com. It is one of the most important lands there is for the older formats and most importantly it is an uncommon.
Even if the price of Wasteland falls to $5-$6, that still makes it the best rare-drafting reasons to play Tempest block.
A $6 uncommon is much greater than a $20 rare in the long run.
* 3 3/4 cups AP Flour
* 3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
* 3/4 cups vegetable oil
* 3 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon red food coloring
* 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
* Frosting, recipe follows
For the cake:
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans and line each pan with a round of parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl
Cream the butter, sugar and oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beat until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla, vinegar and food coloring.
Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pans. Let cool completely before frosting. Slice each cake into 2 layers and frost.
Frosting:
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
* 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
Combine the cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove the vanilla bean and discard. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened to a paste, about 2 minutes. Scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours.
Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and the sugar is totally dissolved, about 6 minutes. Add the cold paste, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture and whip until light and fluffy.
I am really not a huge fan of statistical analysis particularly in small numbers (but really not at all) but this was an interesting read. You had some typos but over all it was educational. I haven't played ANY Zendikar limited and I don't play standard or block so my understanding of the value of some of the cards you covered is different than what you show here. I feel like I learned something. Nice article and 5x fireball at you.
Bah that 'hearsay' is heresy :p
I am wondering where our test games went? I enjoyed testing your decks with you, and thought we had some interesting games. Nice article as usual!
I liked the achievements section the most, altho the entire article was well thought out and insightful.
If MTGO achivements existed, I would definitely be more inclined to play more MTGO, but this would come at a cost of me playing less paper magic. I don't really know which is the better (more profitable) move for wizards in the long run.
The lack of achivements on MTGO is currently the only reason for me to hang on to paper magic. The only reason that I buy and maintain a paper card collection, parallel to my mtgo collection, is so that I can attend the tournaments where all the glories are, PTQ, Regionals, States etc. I make a pretty decent living so winning money or packs isn't much of a motivating factor for me, but the sheer competition and glory of winning is a huge motivating factor for me. (see my avatar)
Very awesome Erman as a semi budget player a.k.a. I psend tickets when i get them like they are going out of style and love new decks, you have some amazing ten dollar decks here. Though one criticism, dont knock the Hive Mind. It's surprisingly good just not in standard. Me and Runeliger are both running hivemind/pact decks to surprising results.
OH SNAP!! William Spaniel!!! I remember I sed to read you all the time back on "that other site". Glad to see you writing again. Great article btw. Though i was expecting more of the curmudgeon-ness.
Excellent article,as someone with a very limited budget who often gets thumped when i play anything but my budget boros deck its nice to see some new budget decks that can compete i hope some day to learn enough about the game and cards to build decks like this.
Glad to see you writing again!!! Interesting read, and looking forward to the rest. Can we anticipate more articles than simply these 5?
You're right in that this data is geared towards sealed and not draft. While I do think it has a lot of external validity towards that format as well, you should be looking at these results as from sealed deck tournaments--because that is where they are from.
I really enjoyed your article and the challenge you gave yourself to play casually. However, take any of your decks into the casual room an play against Vampires or Jund 7 times in a row, and let me know how you feel then. That seems to be the norm for me more than not. I get so pissed off to the point that I just conceed at the first sight of a Bloodbraid Elf anymore. Half the time, it's after I post a description not to play them.
Does anyone else get as frustrated when trying to play a "good" casual deck?
There is one bit of a flaw in that you didn't mention what the format is. I'm guessing the PTQ was sealed deck? It does skew the results, because a red splash is MUCH more likely in sealed than it is in draft; I've rarely seen anyone actually splash a third color in ZZZ, so mountains shouldn't be as prevalent in draft as in sealed, making the cliff thread slightly worse.
Also, it's hearsay, not heresy. Probably just a typo that the inline corrector didn't spot because heresy is also a word, but meanings are worlds apart.
Besides that, I'd like to commend you for your dedication. I'm curious to see the rest of the data, even though I think the information might not be all that useful. It's plenty interesting, at least, and the analysis is pretty good.
Wow, that is a recent change and I'm totally bummed out by it. Oh well Survival is still insane.
At a Grand Prix, you can open a pool of cards that is underwhelming and still make Day 2. Then, you make Top 8 based on your drafting skills. However, in a 10-Round PTQ that is sealed only, you can not expect to go 9-1 or better with a bad sealed pool. Perfect play and good draws permitting, even a great pool has to get a little lucky to go 9-1 against a field full of competent opponents.
In a live Sealed PTQ, the field will usually be full of worse players than MOL and generally smaller than 400 people, unless it occurs at a PT or Grand Prix side event. In these cases, I've made plenty of Top 8's with weak pools. In addition to all of this, you can't intentionally draw in a MOL PTQ (or any tournament), forcing you to play even more rounds than you would normally have to in real life.
Unfortunately that is just the nature of the beast. Sealed is very random and as a result the power level of pools varies greatly. This variance easily outweighs the difference between perfect play and good play.
Other than block constructed for older sets WotC could also start to seriously consider Build Your Own Standard or Build Your Own Block as formats. There is a lot of possibility for interest here. I can see either of these formats easily being more popular than extended currently is and they would be on about the same power level.
I agree, it is definitely an internal issue and I am sure that it will get resolved eventually and I have no doubt that the MTGO team knows how ridiculous it sounds to say they can't do promos that have not already been done in paper. Eventually they will get the correct people convinced that it is a ridiculous policy.
Yeah, that was likely an oversight. That combo no longer works due to an errata to Zodiac Dragon. The original wording on Zodiac Dragon would allow for some Survival shenanigans though.
Really ?
I was playing warriors
i love how you state that if you dont (even a gp type player) open a killer pool, you will never t8 a ptq, luck shouldnt be the varible here
I would say yes it is manageable
8 fetches requires only one of and any of the opposing lands 9 black 12 white.
emeria and Master are hard to deal within a format where aside from the tons of removal the plan is to race. you are not out racing token generators and token generating removal..the dies to everything phrase is a bit comical in this age
Zealous is a decent card that deals with 1/1's like boros..scute mob,few elves,nobles/bop..but could possibly be replaced with something else. either way it is solid against boros if nothing else.
*senses a recipe for xmas time coming up.*
The biggest reason to play in the Exodus release events is Tempest's Wasteland. It's currently selling for $10 on mtgotraders.com. It is one of the most important lands there is for the older formats and most importantly it is an uncommon.
Even if the price of Wasteland falls to $5-$6, that still makes it the best rare-drafting reasons to play Tempest block.
A $6 uncommon is much greater than a $20 rare in the long run.
Red Velvet Cake
* 3 3/4 cups AP Flour
* 3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
* 3/4 cups vegetable oil
* 3 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon red food coloring
* 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
* Frosting, recipe follows
For the cake:
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans and line each pan with a round of parchment paper.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl
Cream the butter, sugar and oil in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beat until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla, vinegar and food coloring.
Add the flour mixture to the batter in 3 batches alternating with the buttermilk, mixing well after each addition. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pans. Let cool completely before frosting. Slice each cake into 2 layers and frost.
Frosting:
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
* 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
Combine the cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove the vanilla bean and discard. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, until thickened to a paste, about 2 minutes. Scrape into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 2 hours.
Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and the sugar is totally dissolved, about 6 minutes. Add the cold paste, a few tablespoons at a time to the butter mixture and whip until light and fluffy.
"aggro to midrange when needed" - I meant control, not midrange. No edit function :(