Sparkmage Apprentice was very overvalued. Stone Giant was very undervalued. After passing so much red, it was odd that you were still getting passed things like Seismic Strike pick 5 and pick 8. Missing replays does not justify the lack of game reports. Sometimes I get drafts like this one, but I don't find them indicative of optimal draft strategy and tight play.
I tested all the decks in this article (and in the previous one). Some more than the others and that Zensper deck belongs to the "more" category and not "the others" one as it fits my playstyle so well.
And yes, it is very important to draw cards when playing that deck. I saw that I had to have always some kind of removal in hand, as most of the time I was playing against Aggro decks (and some really fast ones). You would be amazed to see how fast you "spend" your cards and sit with an empty hand unless you do something extra. Of course the deck started with the shroud sphinx but testing showed that I need more cards.
And yes, I'm aware that Goblin Guide is a rare :).
First, that comments about white fetching lands like no time in history... i believe there a tax assessor that would like to have a word with you and verify that you don't own more lands than he does.
Second, Goblin Guide is a rare. An undestandable omission since it certainly doesn't feel like one, spoiled as we are with 2/2 for one mana left and right.
Third, I take it that the Sphinx of Lost Truths "draw 3" makes it more important than having a shrouded 5/5 body in the Control v2 and Zensper? Have you tested it or was it so obvious that it doesn't warrant (not warrent :) ) testing?
i think the market will be much more flooded with zendikar than m10 or ME3 or any prior set in mtgo history, with online PTQ's that uses zendikar sealed AND people practicing for an entire paper PTQ season of zendikar sealed. the amount of interest out there in zendikar limited formats on mtgo is pretty much unprecedented.
Heh sorry Rushmore didn't mean to irritate you with repetition. I have a feeling alot of 100s players may have trouble in putting up competitive test decks for this in particular. (Hence my comment, as I am fairly sure I am far from alone in this.) If all the CCC players want is people to play against on the other hand I am there.
The only complaint I have is the battle phase doesn't seem symmetrical.
For example, declaring attackers is the same as normal: You have to declare all of them and then they'll change position (here, it's moving to the edge of the Red Zone). Declaring blockers, on the other hand, moves them to/from the Red Zone *as you select/unselect them*. If it were me giving her an opinion directly, it's to treat the battle declarations symmetrically.
But this _is_ a demo just to show the different parts and is nowhere _near_ a working model for a full-version game, plus this is a fairly minor thing for me. Overall, I'm excited by the totally new interface!
But my Spider/Rhino picks weren't just based on hate, but also on your comments about "considering Mono Red" ("considering" is not "absolutely") and "hoping for more Green next pack"
If you took those two and the Windstorm over Djinn (over Sparkmage) you actually would have had a playable G/R deck
Thanks for your comment. While I understand the logic of your points I can't agree with the situations you wanted me to hate a card. I would have 3 less playables if I had picked the way you said (1 more from the giant but 3 less from the 3 hate cards and 1 less from ignite disorder).
M10 certainly isn't my forte. I don't think I drafted it more than 10 times and made just 2 sealeds. One of those sealeds was a ptq shootout and I ended up not playing because I clicked submit and for some reason it didn't accept my submission so I played with all the cards g1. I lost g1 and than g2 screw so I just dropped as going 5-0 with a gameloss every round didn't seem a likely situation. At least I got the refund. Now I'll start doing zendikar drafts as I need to draft it more seriously because of ptqs and GP Paris.
About the replays not working: I have had situations were 1 or 2 games are missing but even than I would have 4 games at least to cover. When 2 replays are missing and other 2 are not working it certainly hurts. The replays not working had never happened to me.
Hammie and I are going to be playing against WotC folks at WotC HQ in two weeks.
WE NEED HELP!
When we are online, we will be sitting in /join CCC - a room devoted to building and testing decks for the formats.
The formats are why we need help. They are both UNIFIED constructed - meaning that we can only have four copies of any specific card spread among all 8 Standard decks, and 1 copy spread among all 8 100 card singleton decks.
We have a playtest gauntlet over on the WotC forums - check out the threads for unified standard and unified 100CS for decklists and links. Grab one and play against us, or against each other. If you play each other, just post the results in the forums. We need all the help and advice we can get.
Just one request - don't play your best 100CS tournament deck against us. Yes, you will win, because you won't have split the best cards among 8 decks. But that's the format we were given, and that's what we need to test.
P1P5, as already pointed out, Elf over Stone Giant was just the all around wrong call. What are you looking to excelerate into?
P1P6, Siege Mastadon over Act of Treason. Mastadon is a beefy wall against a deck that plans to attack on the ground. Act of Treason is almost always around until P8-12 and is not usually good enough to make the final 23 while Mastadon blanks about 90% of G/R critters
P1P11 starting with Siege-Gang, I can see picking up a few extra goblins, but not when there is a much more playable Red critter in the pack. Stone Giant was the right call.
P2P6, you already have a Spearhunter, and one is usually enough. If you are planning on Mono R at this point, Giant Spider is still the right call as 1) it blanks 99% of the Mono R deck you have built so far 2) you have it in the sideboard in case you do decide on a G/R build
P2P7, I probably would have hated the blowout Safe Passage rather than the Mindrot. If you are playing Mono R, chance are that you won't have any cards in hand after Turn 5, where Mindrot ends up being a blank card for them. Safe Passage has the potential of blowing you out in combat.
P3P1, not only does Djinn of Wish blank 90% of your deck, it attacks for 4 above your ground pounders and presents possible card advantage. Sparkmage was 100% the wrong call. Even Windstorm is better than the Sparkmage in case you still go G/R.
P3P2, you already have Llanowar and Ranger from earlier packs. If you are still wavering between Mono and G/R, Rhino is the right pick here.
P3P6, Ignite Disorder over your 4th Sparkmage. Again, you have no protection against fliers, which are almost all U/W.
In the future, you may want to check that your replays are working before choosing a certain draft to write up.
All of this being said, content is always appreciated. Tighten up some of the drafting holes and I think you're good to go.
This is how everyone gets better; by reading, learning, revising, revisiting.
Yeah I noticed that most negative comments are anonymous.
I understand I underrated the giant but if I went green it wouldn't have been as good. I saw it as an hill giant that could send guys flying to get some damage when the board is stalled, and that it can also help block fliers. But I failed to see that the +1 toughness and the interaction with act.
But still p1p3 it's between assassinate and ranger not giant. Giant even wheeled here and red being a weak color it's only natural that something other than a bomb or removal with double red wheels. The mistake was taking goblin piker over giant there. In p1p5 I went for the card I knew. I certainly wouldn't take hill giant over llanowar so that was my thinking at the time.
As for the guy saying I picked the 2/1 over the spider and than took the fog over shatter. There is a huge difference: shatter is for the sideboard while the 2/1 is for the main. If I don't have a shatter to side in it's no big deal. If I lack playables it is a big deal. So I took a very small risk taking fog.
And to the guys talking about jackals: I could have taken them over the 2 cards I hated but I felt the deck wasn't gonna end up the deck that wants jackals.
i think there is a decent not competitive but decent bant or naya theme allied deck...the black ones just seem to week. White and green have hands down the best allies. So from there its only if you want draw and control or burn...oh and the ally lord is red.
Apart from the unusual Golems I played I do also have a most unusual Nephilim deck... Unfortunately the mana base is a complete nightmare and it vary rare i even play a card .... so it un-loved :(
I am now looking into a Avatar deck ... but again the mana base looks more expensive than what i would like to pay for a casual deck
other decks i am looking at is another version of angels this time using Multicolour ones and the new allies but i think we need more Zen block yet to see their true power
Just a few ideas to add to the pot
And hopefully i will be back for the Apocalypse this week
I just want to say what a wonderful job you have done bringing us regular updates from the Pro Tour. I have enjoyed all of the posts and there is some very good information. It was a great idea for you to be invited and you have risen to the challenge. A*Grand Job!
I'm not sure if it's me or if some higher power doesn't want me to play pauper but I get worked in the queues, even against the decks that this is supposed to have a good matchup against. This is true of all the pauper decks I have played (I seem to do fine in other formats just not pauper).
My matchups were:
2-man #1 Affinity
game 1: I have a so-so to decent draw but keep because I have a crypt rats and a diabolic edict. I then proceed to watch him lay down some dudes and I expend my removal while I put out a few of my own guys. He then proceeds to kill me with krark-clan shaman and 2x disciple of the vault by saccing everything.
game 2: I open 5 lands. I mull to 5: I squeak this one out by taking out his shaman and 1 disciple while holding off his hover guard and 2x enforcers and only survive because I top deck like a champ.
game 3: I open with 6 lands. I mull to 6 keeping 4 land and 2 spells. I draw 2 business spells and then 10 land in a row and die to the same krark-clan and 2x disciple combo.
how should I sideboard for this matchup?
2-man #2 MBCu
I don't remember the games exactly with this match but I was never in any of them. I had to mull in both games and despite ripping 2 probes out of his hand and hitting him with an okiba his draw was too much and he just could recover faster than me after exhausting both of our hands. Not sure what else I could have done with this one.
2-Man #3 Goblins & Burn
This deck was different than most builds and used cards that generated multiple tokens like dragon fodder with a new goblin in Zendikar that gives all his creatures +1/+0 when he comes into play. This is backed up with burn as well.
This went to three games with me mulling in at least 2 games (see a trend here?). I remember that I had trouble with the fact that I would stabilize on too low of a life total and end up very susceptible to being burned out. With all the burn that the deck packed I had a hard time getting blockers to stick as well as him having multiple pump guys which made blocking unprofitable not to mention the fact that I was doing a ton of damage digging for answers with a bunch of cards that hurt myself. I only saw maybe 2 tendrils in all three games and I ended up dead before I could use corrupt in the last game.
Any tips on how to sideboard for specific matchups? I find that I often don't have the time to play a lot of the cards in the deck before I am too far behind to use some of them. When I get to about 5 mana I end up in too many situations where I either have to tendrils a guy only to have him replace that guy the next turn or I can play a guy to block and hope my opponent doesn't have removal. In either case I feel like I am often on the back foot fighting to stay in the game.
I've been doing a lot of M10 (over 1900). I would of likely ended up BR. In response to some of the negative comments. Although sparkmage doesn't shine in every match up I would be comfortable running 4 easily. I'm on board with your p3p1 and I'm not flinching. I don't advocate hate drafting early in the pack when there are good cards for your deck.
I just bast through these articles unless its Godot as he tends to write a lot so I have this inner literary self that wants to read long articles in hoping to learn, write and express myself better in writing.
To your article. As everyone mentioned... But besides that- 4 Seismic Strikes... Crazy. I played someone with 3 and was overwhelmed when he had Stone Giants + Artillery and Act of Treason. I have no complaints about your draft other than what others mentioned.
It doesnt really matter. You won! Good Job! Till your next article :)
I like the Naya deck! I think it's really powerful. Is lotus cobra really all its cracked up to be?
Sparkmage Apprentice was very overvalued. Stone Giant was very undervalued. After passing so much red, it was odd that you were still getting passed things like Seismic Strike pick 5 and pick 8. Missing replays does not justify the lack of game reports. Sometimes I get drafts like this one, but I don't find them indicative of optimal draft strategy and tight play.
Good luck on your next draft report!
I tested all the decks in this article (and in the previous one). Some more than the others and that Zensper deck belongs to the "more" category and not "the others" one as it fits my playstyle so well.
And yes, it is very important to draw cards when playing that deck. I saw that I had to have always some kind of removal in hand, as most of the time I was playing against Aggro decks (and some really fast ones). You would be amazed to see how fast you "spend" your cards and sit with an empty hand unless you do something extra. Of course the deck started with the shroud sphinx but testing showed that I need more cards.
And yes, I'm aware that Goblin Guide is a rare :).
Thanks for the comment dear reader :).
LE
First, that comments about white fetching lands like no time in history... i believe there a tax assessor that would like to have a word with you and verify that you don't own more lands than he does.
Second, Goblin Guide is a rare. An undestandable omission since it certainly doesn't feel like one, spoiled as we are with 2/2 for one mana left and right.
Third, I take it that the Sphinx of Lost Truths "draw 3" makes it more important than having a shrouded 5/5 body in the Control v2 and Zensper? Have you tested it or was it so obvious that it doesn't warrant (not warrent :) ) testing?
Great article, my dear writer.
i think the market will be much more flooded with zendikar than m10 or ME3 or any prior set in mtgo history, with online PTQ's that uses zendikar sealed AND people practicing for an entire paper PTQ season of zendikar sealed. the amount of interest out there in zendikar limited formats on mtgo is pretty much unprecedented.
The lack of being able to right click seems like a huge hindrance. I right click on EVERYTHING in MTGO.
Heh sorry Rushmore didn't mean to irritate you with repetition. I have a feeling alot of 100s players may have trouble in putting up competitive test decks for this in particular. (Hence my comment, as I am fairly sure I am far from alone in this.) If all the CCC players want is people to play against on the other hand I am there.
great show guys ... always enjoyable : )
@Paul Leicht (derived from multiple chat boards)
We get it already ... your collection isn't where you wish it was ...
~ rushmore111 (I always have problems signing in ... it's so hard to figure out.
The new UI is looking great.
The interview was cool but somethings were a little confusing.
The only complaint I have is the battle phase doesn't seem symmetrical.
For example, declaring attackers is the same as normal: You have to declare all of them and then they'll change position (here, it's moving to the edge of the Red Zone). Declaring blockers, on the other hand, moves them to/from the Red Zone *as you select/unselect them*. If it were me giving her an opinion directly, it's to treat the battle declarations symmetrically.
But this _is_ a demo just to show the different parts and is nowhere _near_ a working model for a full-version game, plus this is a fairly minor thing for me. Overall, I'm excited by the totally new interface!
This is where being able to proxy cards online would really come in handy. Having such huge gaps in my collection I doubt I would be much use. :(
But my Spider/Rhino picks weren't just based on hate, but also on your comments about "considering Mono Red" ("considering" is not "absolutely") and "hoping for more Green next pack"
If you took those two and the Windstorm over Djinn (over Sparkmage) you actually would have had a playable G/R deck
Thanks for your comment. While I understand the logic of your points I can't agree with the situations you wanted me to hate a card. I would have 3 less playables if I had picked the way you said (1 more from the giant but 3 less from the 3 hate cards and 1 less from ignite disorder).
M10 certainly isn't my forte. I don't think I drafted it more than 10 times and made just 2 sealeds. One of those sealeds was a ptq shootout and I ended up not playing because I clicked submit and for some reason it didn't accept my submission so I played with all the cards g1. I lost g1 and than g2 screw so I just dropped as going 5-0 with a gameloss every round didn't seem a likely situation. At least I got the refund. Now I'll start doing zendikar drafts as I need to draft it more seriously because of ptqs and GP Paris.
About the replays not working: I have had situations were 1 or 2 games are missing but even than I would have 4 games at least to cover. When 2 replays are missing and other 2 are not working it certainly hurts. The replays not working had never happened to me.
Thanks for your continued hard work and efforts, Erik!
Hammie and I are going to be playing against WotC folks at WotC HQ in two weeks.
WE NEED HELP!
When we are online, we will be sitting in /join CCC - a room devoted to building and testing decks for the formats.
The formats are why we need help. They are both UNIFIED constructed - meaning that we can only have four copies of any specific card spread among all 8 Standard decks, and 1 copy spread among all 8 100 card singleton decks.
We have a playtest gauntlet over on the WotC forums - check out the threads for unified standard and unified 100CS for decklists and links. Grab one and play against us, or against each other. If you play each other, just post the results in the forums. We need all the help and advice we can get.
Just one request - don't play your best 100CS tournament deck against us. Yes, you will win, because you won't have split the best cards among 8 decks. But that's the format we were given, and that's what we need to test.
We want to beat WotC, so we need help.
Thanks.
CC_1M_Words is my Challenge Cup account online.
I felt you made a fair amout of suboptimal picks.
P1P5, as already pointed out, Elf over Stone Giant was just the all around wrong call. What are you looking to excelerate into?
P1P6, Siege Mastadon over Act of Treason. Mastadon is a beefy wall against a deck that plans to attack on the ground. Act of Treason is almost always around until P8-12 and is not usually good enough to make the final 23 while Mastadon blanks about 90% of G/R critters
P1P11 starting with Siege-Gang, I can see picking up a few extra goblins, but not when there is a much more playable Red critter in the pack. Stone Giant was the right call.
P2P6, you already have a Spearhunter, and one is usually enough. If you are planning on Mono R at this point, Giant Spider is still the right call as 1) it blanks 99% of the Mono R deck you have built so far 2) you have it in the sideboard in case you do decide on a G/R build
P2P7, I probably would have hated the blowout Safe Passage rather than the Mindrot. If you are playing Mono R, chance are that you won't have any cards in hand after Turn 5, where Mindrot ends up being a blank card for them. Safe Passage has the potential of blowing you out in combat.
P3P1, not only does Djinn of Wish blank 90% of your deck, it attacks for 4 above your ground pounders and presents possible card advantage. Sparkmage was 100% the wrong call. Even Windstorm is better than the Sparkmage in case you still go G/R.
P3P2, you already have Llanowar and Ranger from earlier packs. If you are still wavering between Mono and G/R, Rhino is the right pick here.
P3P6, Ignite Disorder over your 4th Sparkmage. Again, you have no protection against fliers, which are almost all U/W.
In the future, you may want to check that your replays are working before choosing a certain draft to write up.
All of this being said, content is always appreciated. Tighten up some of the drafting holes and I think you're good to go.
This is how everyone gets better; by reading, learning, revising, revisiting.
Yeah I noticed that most negative comments are anonymous.
I understand I underrated the giant but if I went green it wouldn't have been as good. I saw it as an hill giant that could send guys flying to get some damage when the board is stalled, and that it can also help block fliers. But I failed to see that the +1 toughness and the interaction with act.
But still p1p3 it's between assassinate and ranger not giant. Giant even wheeled here and red being a weak color it's only natural that something other than a bomb or removal with double red wheels. The mistake was taking goblin piker over giant there. In p1p5 I went for the card I knew. I certainly wouldn't take hill giant over llanowar so that was my thinking at the time.
As for the guy saying I picked the 2/1 over the spider and than took the fog over shatter. There is a huge difference: shatter is for the sideboard while the 2/1 is for the main. If I don't have a shatter to side in it's no big deal. If I lack playables it is a big deal. So I took a very small risk taking fog.
And to the guys talking about jackals: I could have taken them over the 2 cards I hated but I felt the deck wasn't gonna end up the deck that wants jackals.
Great job Hammy
i think there is a decent not competitive but decent bant or naya theme allied deck...the black ones just seem to week. White and green have hands down the best allies. So from there its only if you want draw and control or burn...oh and the ally lord is red.
Apart from the unusual Golems I played I do also have a most unusual Nephilim deck... Unfortunately the mana base is a complete nightmare and it vary rare i even play a card .... so it un-loved :(
I am now looking into a Avatar deck ... but again the mana base looks more expensive than what i would like to pay for a casual deck
other decks i am looking at is another version of angels this time using Multicolour ones and the new allies but i think we need more Zen block yet to see their true power
Just a few ideas to add to the pot
And hopefully i will be back for the Apocalypse this week
Great Job Hamtastic.
I just want to say what a wonderful job you have done bringing us regular updates from the Pro Tour. I have enjoyed all of the posts and there is some very good information. It was a great idea for you to be invited and you have risen to the challenge. A*Grand Job!
I'm not sure if it's me or if some higher power doesn't want me to play pauper but I get worked in the queues, even against the decks that this is supposed to have a good matchup against. This is true of all the pauper decks I have played (I seem to do fine in other formats just not pauper).
My matchups were:
2-man #1 Affinity
game 1: I have a so-so to decent draw but keep because I have a crypt rats and a diabolic edict. I then proceed to watch him lay down some dudes and I expend my removal while I put out a few of my own guys. He then proceeds to kill me with krark-clan shaman and 2x disciple of the vault by saccing everything.
game 2: I open 5 lands. I mull to 5: I squeak this one out by taking out his shaman and 1 disciple while holding off his hover guard and 2x enforcers and only survive because I top deck like a champ.
game 3: I open with 6 lands. I mull to 6 keeping 4 land and 2 spells. I draw 2 business spells and then 10 land in a row and die to the same krark-clan and 2x disciple combo.
how should I sideboard for this matchup?
2-man #2 MBCu
I don't remember the games exactly with this match but I was never in any of them. I had to mull in both games and despite ripping 2 probes out of his hand and hitting him with an okiba his draw was too much and he just could recover faster than me after exhausting both of our hands. Not sure what else I could have done with this one.
2-Man #3 Goblins & Burn
This deck was different than most builds and used cards that generated multiple tokens like dragon fodder with a new goblin in Zendikar that gives all his creatures +1/+0 when he comes into play. This is backed up with burn as well.
This went to three games with me mulling in at least 2 games (see a trend here?). I remember that I had trouble with the fact that I would stabilize on too low of a life total and end up very susceptible to being burned out. With all the burn that the deck packed I had a hard time getting blockers to stick as well as him having multiple pump guys which made blocking unprofitable not to mention the fact that I was doing a ton of damage digging for answers with a bunch of cards that hurt myself. I only saw maybe 2 tendrils in all three games and I ended up dead before I could use corrupt in the last game.
Any tips on how to sideboard for specific matchups? I find that I often don't have the time to play a lot of the cards in the deck before I am too far behind to use some of them. When I get to about 5 mana I end up in too many situations where I either have to tendrils a guy only to have him replace that guy the next turn or I can play a guy to block and hope my opponent doesn't have removal. In either case I feel like I am often on the back foot fighting to stay in the game.
Interesting draft.
I've been doing a lot of M10 (over 1900). I would of likely ended up BR. In response to some of the negative comments. Although sparkmage doesn't shine in every match up I would be comfortable running 4 easily. I'm on board with your p3p1 and I'm not flinching. I don't advocate hate drafting early in the pack when there are good cards for your deck.
I just bast through these articles unless its Godot as he tends to write a lot so I have this inner literary self that wants to read long articles in hoping to learn, write and express myself better in writing.
To your article. As everyone mentioned... But besides that- 4 Seismic Strikes... Crazy. I played someone with 3 and was overwhelmed when he had Stone Giants + Artillery and Act of Treason. I have no complaints about your draft other than what others mentioned.
It doesnt really matter. You won! Good Job! Till your next article :)
I would imagine anything that runs on Vista will work on Windows 7.