The firebreather would have been nice but over a sparkmage?
I didn't consider that synergy. However, the first stone giant I couldn't possibly take over a bordeline ranger or an assassinate. Even the second one over a llanowar elves when I still don't have act of treason seems wrong. I took Act after that and I should probably have take stone giant over goblin piker. Goblin piker becomes better with siege-gang, but once I untap with siege-gang usually having one more goblin to sacrifice won't make a difference. Act of treason, however, becomes way better with a sacrifice outlet. In P2P3 should I have taken act? I had no stone giants at this point and already had 1 act so I took sparkmage. With one giant and if I had noticed this interaction I would certainly pick act here. P3P5 I could pick stone giant but not even with 2 acts I would pass seismic strike.
It certainly could have been a bit better but not way better making this draft look terrible. Thanks for the serious reply!
The Stone giant has synergy with act of treason. You could have had 2 of each that make a combo of grab your guy and sack him as he flys across. The firebreather 2/2 for 3 would have been nuts in your deck and also works well with the stone giants.
Those are things I would consider when drafting a deck like this.
It has probably been worth around that much the whole time, but, since the shop didn't have any to sell, they never bothered pricing it. I am a little curious about Probe and Opposition, however.
2 comments basically saying the draft is terrible. You could actually say where I should have done something different instead of just saying it's terrible.
About 17 lands: with 16 there were more chances I would be screwed and besides tell me which card I should play instead of a land. I prefer having 1 more land than 1 bad card.
Great article.
Hopefully after a month or two of drafting I'll be able to run some of these decks. Not holding my breath on the ones with cobra though :p.
RW landfall looks pretty similar to a deck I was messing with in beta, and I'll probably do something similar if only because it's affordable.
I've got a soft spot in my heart for shroudy sphinx, it's a shame more cards in block don't take advantage of his ability. Lot's of fun in standard though :).
Really only 4 this time? Wow, that's truely disappointing I have to admit. I promise to work harder in the coming weeks on this and will not let this happen again.
There is one thing you miss about Gatekeeper and Hexmage. Gatekeeper kills my lone Sphinx; end of the story. Hexmage, however, doesn't destroy my Ascension. It only removes the counters. Which only means that the game will last a little bit longer.
And please do not forget that it is much easier to play an Ascension and to protect it with Cancel and/or Into the Roil against all kinds of threats, than it is to play AND protect the Sphinx. Also the bounce spell doesn't work on the Sphinx.
You can't never stop yourself from saying an idiotic entrance comment to every single article you comment? Not a record!
Anyway Erman, it was a lovely read as always, nice decks, wish they would see more battle soon enough. Can't wait for tomorrow's release to start making my own ones (got some great "outlooks" already)! :)
And even though everything is permantly stored on the server, there is a large collection download as you log in, which may be what he's worried about.
I'm interested by your logic in swapping jwarr Isle out for Ascenscion in order to get around gatekeeper of malakir. Surely once your vampire opponent notes that you're playing ascenscion rather than sphinx, he'll just hold back hexmage instead? I see that you'll have a couple of turns to deal with hexmage before it becomes an issue, but that's only because it takes a few turns to activate ascension. It is easier to drop with cancel mana up though, which is what could be relevent in my opinion. Interestingly, I decided to test Conquerer's pledge as a 2-of in a similar deck (I split 2-pledge, 2-sphinx of JI). It's decent post mass-removal, and is very good against the boros style decks. Not as stunning against vampires, but against vampires, tapping out for anything seems to be met by malakir bloodwitch, which is why I'm still so keen on sphinx.
Anyway, interesting article. I have an interesting Valakut "combo" deck which I might post up later.
What a terrible draft, your oppononents must have been really lousy to lose to such a crap deck.
Why bother with 17 lands when you are mono-red and only have 5 spells that cost more than 4, bah, can't believe I wasted the time to read this piece of garbage.
Paul is right. You would never play these deck builds in tournament. Stuffy Doll and Mayael were both Standard Vanguard staples that had nothing to do with their abilities. As a tourney player of vanguard I can tell you, that finding abusive ways to use the avatars that have nothing to do with their actual abilities is what vanguard is all about. That being said, I do have a causal Malestrom Angel deck that I think uses the ability better. The fact that it creates the token at random while still using the exact same mana cost AND colors, means running creatures with more than one color is totally the way to go. When I smash you with my Wooly Thoctar, the chance is right around 80% I'm going to randomly get ANOTHER Thoctar. Hitting with Angel of Despair fetches another Angel of Despair. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Ways to beat Crypt Rats:
1: Counter it (Faerie Trickery is best, anything can work).
2: Wear protection (Pro Black isn't all that rare in the board, as is Benevolent Bodyguard)
3: I'll continue... Circle of Pro: Black, Prismatic Strands, etc.
There are a fair number of ways to deal with crypt rats beside those 2, and I know it takes away room for innovation, but look at any top 8 and there will be Slivers, Goblins, Elves, Cloak, Thresh, Affinity, etc.
Not to mention the Fish decks, PPS, and Teachings.
Look at top 8 or two to see whether a card is broken before suggesting banning it, please.
really good article and love the history of the deck. you need to make more articles with this kind of length and evolution of the archtype.
you mentioned video play by plays you have coming those would be awesome something whiffy should try as well.
one more thing you said
("This is also my deck of choice in vintage as it virtually has no horrific matchups")
workshop decks are what were traditionaly made to prey upon the tog/gush decks with tons of "free spells" and even more 0 and 1 cc they were succeptible to trinisphere/sphere of resistance decks.
An interview with MaRo on puremtgo (which was a great interview by the way), was one of the best things I've seen here. It could even be the best one, I'm not sure.
Thanks for the additional info and links, Trick! Great stuff! Also, it was awesome meeting you and Evan in Austin, I hope we'll all cross paths again soon! :)
I dont see how bant would have a poor time, It has access to hindering light!(which is probably my most guilty pleasure when it comes to counterspells.) Hindering light pretty much handles any of the -real- removal spells (terminate, bit blast, maelstrom pulse) while lightning bolt and resounding thunder cant touch the toughness of the funky war monk-y. I smell bant making a comeback at some point... on paper, it just looks good.
The firebreather would have been nice but over a sparkmage?
I didn't consider that synergy. However, the first stone giant I couldn't possibly take over a bordeline ranger or an assassinate. Even the second one over a llanowar elves when I still don't have act of treason seems wrong. I took Act after that and I should probably have take stone giant over goblin piker. Goblin piker becomes better with siege-gang, but once I untap with siege-gang usually having one more goblin to sacrifice won't make a difference. Act of treason, however, becomes way better with a sacrifice outlet. In P2P3 should I have taken act? I had no stone giants at this point and already had 1 act so I took sparkmage. With one giant and if I had noticed this interaction I would certainly pick act here. P3P5 I could pick stone giant but not even with 2 acts I would pass seismic strike.
It certainly could have been a bit better but not way better making this draft look terrible. Thanks for the serious reply!
All the passed stone giants for stuff like llanowar elf and goblin pikers, They would of looked a lot better than those minotaurs in your 4 drop slot.
The Stone giant has synergy with act of treason. You could have had 2 of each that make a combo of grab your guy and sack him as he flys across. The firebreather 2/2 for 3 would have been nuts in your deck and also works well with the stone giants.
Those are things I would consider when drafting a deck like this.
Probe is a key component in what is likely the best pauper deck. It has been steadily rising for the last 6+ months.
Opposition, I believe, is going to be a key card in the new Core Set Constructed format. I think this is what is causing the spike here.
Hammy, good work as usual. I can't wait until Friday when I get my favorite article back (I know, only a 1 week hiatus, but still).
It has probably been worth around that much the whole time, but, since the shop didn't have any to sell, they never bothered pricing it. I am a little curious about Probe and Opposition, however.
Why did the serra angel avatar went up so much?
2 comments basically saying the draft is terrible. You could actually say where I should have done something different instead of just saying it's terrible.
About 17 lands: with 16 there were more chances I would be screwed and besides tell me which card I should play instead of a land. I prefer having 1 more land than 1 bad card.
Great article.
Hopefully after a month or two of drafting I'll be able to run some of these decks. Not holding my breath on the ones with cobra though :p.
RW landfall looks pretty similar to a deck I was messing with in beta, and I'll probably do something similar if only because it's affordable.
I've got a soft spot in my heart for shroudy sphinx, it's a shame more cards in block don't take advantage of his ability. Lot's of fun in standard though :).
Really only 4 this time? Wow, that's truely disappointing I have to admit. I promise to work harder in the coming weeks on this and will not let this happen again.
There is one thing you miss about Gatekeeper and Hexmage. Gatekeeper kills my lone Sphinx; end of the story. Hexmage, however, doesn't destroy my Ascension. It only removes the counters. Which only means that the game will last a little bit longer.
And please do not forget that it is much easier to play an Ascension and to protect it with Cancel and/or Into the Roil against all kinds of threats, than it is to play AND protect the Sphinx. Also the bounce spell doesn't work on the Sphinx.
So I'm still thinking that my logic is correct.
LE
Yeah I'm kind of excited by the possibilities of red/white, blue/black, and I guess green land fall decks.
Red/white
X3 Goblin Bushwhacker
X4 Steppe Lynx
X4 Plated Geopede
X3 Sky Fisher
X3 Whitemane Lion
X4 Kor Hookmaster
X3 Kor Cartographer
24
X4 Incinerate
X4 Lightning Bolt
X2 Double Cleave
X2 Rally the Righteous
X4 Fire at Will
16
X1 Kabira Crossroads
X2 Teetering Peaks
X2 Boros Garrison
X9 Plains
X6 Mountain
X4 Terramorphic Expanse
24
Blue/black
X4 Dreamscape Artist
X4 Windrider Eel
X4 Hagra Crocodile
X4 Grave Scrabbler
X4 Mulldrifter
20
X4 Diabolic Edict
X4 Grim Discovery
X4 Probe
X4 Muddle the Mixture
16
X1 Piranha Marsh
X1 Soaring Seacliff
X3 Dimir Aqueduct
X10 Islands
X5 Swamps
X4 Terramorphic Expanse
24
Green
X4 Wild Mongrel
X4 Tilling Treefolk
X4 Territorial Baloth
X4 Thallid Germinator
X4 Krosan Tusker
20
X4 Hallow
X4 Evolution Charm
X4 Strength in Numbers
X4 Wildsize
16
X2 Turntimber Grove
X4 Tranquil Thicket
X4 Terramorphic Expanse
X14 Forest
24
Word! honestly a terrible draft
You can't never stop yourself from saying an idiotic entrance comment to every single article you comment? Not a record!
Anyway Erman, it was a lovely read as always, nice decks, wish they would see more battle soon enough. Can't wait for tomorrow's release to start making my own ones (got some great "outlooks" already)! :)
Right on the money as usual, nate.
And even though everything is permantly stored on the server, there is a large collection download as you log in, which may be what he's worried about.
Hippos are amazing!
Only 4 "dear readers" this week? A record!
I'm interested by your logic in swapping jwarr Isle out for Ascenscion in order to get around gatekeeper of malakir. Surely once your vampire opponent notes that you're playing ascenscion rather than sphinx, he'll just hold back hexmage instead? I see that you'll have a couple of turns to deal with hexmage before it becomes an issue, but that's only because it takes a few turns to activate ascension. It is easier to drop with cancel mana up though, which is what could be relevent in my opinion. Interestingly, I decided to test Conquerer's pledge as a 2-of in a similar deck (I split 2-pledge, 2-sphinx of JI). It's decent post mass-removal, and is very good against the boros style decks. Not as stunning against vampires, but against vampires, tapping out for anything seems to be met by malakir bloodwitch, which is why I'm still so keen on sphinx.
Anyway, interesting article. I have an interesting Valakut "combo" deck which I might post up later.
What a terrible draft, your oppononents must have been really lousy to lose to such a crap deck.
Why bother with 17 lands when you are mono-red and only have 5 spells that cost more than 4, bah, can't believe I wasted the time to read this piece of garbage.
Your collection already is on the server and does not reside on your machine currently.
Paul is right. You would never play these deck builds in tournament. Stuffy Doll and Mayael were both Standard Vanguard staples that had nothing to do with their abilities. As a tourney player of vanguard I can tell you, that finding abusive ways to use the avatars that have nothing to do with their actual abilities is what vanguard is all about. That being said, I do have a causal Malestrom Angel deck that I think uses the ability better. The fact that it creates the token at random while still using the exact same mana cost AND colors, means running creatures with more than one color is totally the way to go. When I smash you with my Wooly Thoctar, the chance is right around 80% I'm going to randomly get ANOTHER Thoctar. Hitting with Angel of Despair fetches another Angel of Despair. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Ways to beat Crypt Rats:
1: Counter it (Faerie Trickery is best, anything can work).
2: Wear protection (Pro Black isn't all that rare in the board, as is Benevolent Bodyguard)
3: I'll continue... Circle of Pro: Black, Prismatic Strands, etc.
There are a fair number of ways to deal with crypt rats beside those 2, and I know it takes away room for innovation, but look at any top 8 and there will be Slivers, Goblins, Elves, Cloak, Thresh, Affinity, etc.
Not to mention the Fish decks, PPS, and Teachings.
Look at top 8 or two to see whether a card is broken before suggesting banning it, please.
really good article and love the history of the deck. you need to make more articles with this kind of length and evolution of the archtype.
you mentioned video play by plays you have coming those would be awesome something whiffy should try as well.
one more thing you said
("This is also my deck of choice in vintage as it virtually has no horrific matchups")
workshop decks are what were traditionaly made to prey upon the tog/gush decks with tons of "free spells" and even more 0 and 1 cc they were succeptible to trinisphere/sphere of resistance decks.
An interview with MaRo on puremtgo (which was a great interview by the way), was one of the best things I've seen here. It could even be the best one, I'm not sure.
Excellent job.
LE
Well done, Hammy. Great interview.
Great interview Hammy. Lots of questions I was happy to hear from Mark Rosewater
Thanks for the additional info and links, Trick! Great stuff! Also, it was awesome meeting you and Evan in Austin, I hope we'll all cross paths again soon! :)
I dont see how bant would have a poor time, It has access to hindering light!(which is probably my most guilty pleasure when it comes to counterspells.) Hindering light pretty much handles any of the -real- removal spells (terminate, bit blast, maelstrom pulse) while lightning bolt and resounding thunder cant touch the toughness of the funky war monk-y. I smell bant making a comeback at some point... on paper, it just looks good.