me and a friend were trying to put together a deck with painters servant, vamp noct, and mirror entity. But no deck with vampire nocturnus is going to be tourney caliber, even the 400$ deck that you made in your article.
1- The Vampire Aristocrat isn't very inspiring; not for me at least. Since years we're playing it under another name and also I just personally had enough of tokens recently. Therefore I just skipped that card. Of course one can use it in a Jund deck with Sprouting Thrinax and Dragon Fodder and such stuff but that's another story.
2- Paul, Seshiro is an insane avatar that I also love a lot. Elves, Goblins, Elementals as you also mentioned, Fae, especially spirits which is my favorite tribe for that avatar (Devouring Greed+many many many 1/1 spirit tokens?) and even Snakes are the first tribes I would use it with. But it can also be used with Vampire Nocturnus and I just wanted to mention both that possibility and also the avatar itself. It's such a fantastic avatar.
is my favorite Rebels vanguard card. :) I am glad to be an owner of that fine avatar. Of course Id use him for Elementals not vampires but that's me. Btw that font is off the hook. Very cool graphics.
You clearly don't keep up with the times. Lord Erman's article while a worthy endeavor and a sneaky look at his tech thinking for standard is by far NOT the first article written in this style. In fact the company that makes this game we play has published a number of articles like this by its employees. Mark Rosewater being the primary culprit. If you really object so much to the chocolate in your peanut butter don't mix it. Don't read these articles. Seriously...there is a rock calling your name. Go hide under it.
That said Nice Article LE! Keep em coming...I liked the last deck the best of the bunch...very nasty indeed.
I Like this rock deck looks like a blast, but hard times perhaps against burn range and affinity. I really like the Evincar's Justice, and I use it but it just doesn't quite cut it imo as a main deck sweeper.
I like the deck regarding pro-artifact decks they can own a lot of decks perhaps the best stopper white offers is Aura of Silence, but it's can be a dead card as well.
Aaron:
I do hope you were not inferring that Evincar's Justice was to help the Slivers match-up. Beyond needing only two defense pump slivers by turn four (after using your bolts) for their team to survive, both Thrill of the Hunt and Prismatic Strands are still main-deck versus you.
I like that you get readers to take a look at new decks (or at least not mainstream decks), but I just had to make this point in case this was what you were saying.
I don't mind the departure from the normal format at all here fwiw, I like the extra in depth stuff on the picks. Man that first Shards pack in sealed would be sooooo good...
Maybe I am just not a big fan of Cruel Ultimatum in draft, but I see how you wanted to veer away from Naya a bit, and also Cruel is a bomb (if it resolves). I have played it in Sealed before, and it is just a devastating spell to resolve obviously. I will say that to me it's the exact type of spell I avoid like the plague in Draft because it is SO oppressively hard to cast. In fact when I see them go by, I am hoping someone else picks them up so they can hold it in their hand the whole game while I smash face.
The casting cost on a spell like that has 3 main drawbacks: 1. It's 7 mana: That's just a lot of mana in general. In most cases, you are casting this on Turn 7 at the earliest. That's quite late and also unlikely to happen. 2. It's color intensity: Obviously having all 7 mana being a specific color is quite oppressive. Fixing the mana just right can be extremely difficult (especially if you don't end up with 2 Armillary Spheres). 3. It puts you in one shard with very little flexibility for splashes. I mean you got a friggin Uril, one of the best creatures in the format (There are like what, 2 spells that can kill him?), but it's really not feasible to splash him even with your great fixing because of that dang Cruel Ultimatum.
I think the key with early picks like this is to remain flexible to not using it. I personally wouldn't build around it just because it's so hard to cast. I will however say that it does satisfy the bomb requirements you put forth, once it finally resolves.
Moving on, I probably take the Tidehollow Strix over the Infest. I do remember you having a good success with it in a previous article, but overall it just feels too weak in this format. I would be tempted to Sideboard it in against appropriate decks. I remember specifically one game where your opponent had one annoying creature (Stun Sniper) that you should have killed and finally did end up killing with the Infest. Maybe I am just greedy, but I want that pick to just do more somehow.
Next pick was another that looks like it would have been good to open in sealed. Tar Fiend + Goblin Assault is pretty cool. I would take the Assault here too.
Skipping ahead, interesting spot with the Controlled Instincts vs Countersquall pick. I agreed at first that you probably should have gone with Controlled Instincts. But I also had an interesting thought. I often take Countersquall late in drafts when I am in Esper or Grixis, and I sideboard it in. Why? Well I don't want to maindeck it against a heavy creature based deck, but against a deck with a lot of removal or say, for example, a *Cruel Ultimatum*, having a Countersquall seems pretty good. My point? That you essentially cut this card from a player like me who is looking to SB it in against your deck. I think that pretty much makes it the pick over Controlled instincts, as half of the cards in your deck are there to set up a potential Cruel. It would be pretty epic to Countersquall a Cruel (haven't done it myself).
I lol'd @ the Mind Funeral pick, I read your comments on the article you linked and I knew you wouldn't have actually taken it. It is so good to read someone saying the truth about cards like that. I get so sick of people saying that it's a broken awesome card and running one of them in your draft deck is the nuts. It's just not. If you doubt what Godot is saying here, you should re-read it, and if you *still* don't agree, then re-evaluate your views on Magic.
I was however surprised to see that you took the 'post over the Skyclaw Thrash. That's a good card! (It's the Grixis Bull Cerodon!! ;). But ya it seemed like just the right card at the right time. Again, I think that cursed Cruel Ulitmatum was pushing you to more fixing just to support it.
Like you noted, I also take the Pouncer. Good card for the reasons you stated.
About your final build, it's really hard to say from my armchair position here as opposed to your post draft views, but my guta tell me that you should just run Uril and Fusion Elemental over the Cruel.
I really can't wait to see the games (assuming they get replays back up and that you can actually replay the games).
Keep it up, and don't be afraid to mix up the column like this, I will read whatever you write.
The vampire BRG deck really cant be better than its Bloodbraid Elf Cascade or Dragon versions, can it? Just too much competition in those colors to make a Vampire deck a better choice. Esp when its not even a budget deck.
Can you instead abuse the "top card is revealed" part? Seems like there should be a way to abuse that in a fun Vampire controlling the world fashion.
Also, the Vampire Aristocrat is the new Nantuko Husk. Couldnt you roll with a token deck designed around him with the Nocturnis making him fly in for the win?
Both of those takes may be better than making a weaker than current standard BRG variation.
Very nice, creative and still covered some great topics of M2010.
Personally I cant wait to play Elves in M2010, I've always loved the green guys and cant wait to pump all that mana into Mirror Entity or Protean Hydra. Burrenten is great but still need a way to live through the early infest that is sure to see more play with so many control decks coming up.
This interview article is worse than if Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-il had a child....I mean really....You are having interviews with MAGIC CARDS! It's a great game but in all honesty don't you think you are pressing on a few mental issues if you are sitting down and crafting articles about you and a magic card having a face to face?
Spit soda on the screen indeed. Oh the woes of going with Cruel Ultimatium when such a juicy Naya deck was there for the taking...
Wonder what would have occurred if you had taken the Jund Charm pack 1 pick one. I'd think that was the most powerful single card in a set with a bunch of 3/2 2-drops in about every deck. Would you agree?
I'd have taken the thunder also myself.
In pick two you could have considered the Soul Fire. Then you are just taking red-only at the time. I probably would have taken the rare, Rhox Charger, or Souls Fire. I really wouldnt consider the Bant Charm. Its just such a tough to draft shard. Its a very difficult choice though.
Pick 4...Ive played with Goblin Assault. Its ok. Id clearly play it if I drafted it. But the Tar Fiend is a better card both for the signal and the card itself I'd think.
I probably take the Rakeclaw pick 5 and look for 5-color or just straight up abandon the Cruel. Rakeclaw affects the late game just as much as turn 5...I mean, you usually want 6 mana before you cast him anyway since T5 you'd drop a different 5-power 5 drop. I hate the Oblesks though so Im biased.
Of course I probably wouldnt have noticed the two Creepers and how they most likely will table...That's a drafting skill ppl dramatically underestimate. They blindly take the Rakeclaw and then are like "what the hell...the Creepers tabled!"
Again, though, good draft analysis. Enjoyed it as usual.
man i will never get tired of hearing stuff like that, thanks so very much for the endorsment. Im so glad that Joshua and Heath have allowed me to keep writing on the site . Not only is the credit nice to bolster my classic collection but it allows me to have a creative outlet while gaining more mileage from my magic hobby. on top of all that i like to try to get more and more people into the format.
was awesome again. Love your articles. Alot of the actual "play" articles, I dont feel like I gain alot from. Your detailed analysis gives me that. Personally, I find myself forcing either naya or jund. Red/green just seems to have the flat out BEST spells in reborn. And reborn is by far the most powerful set in this format. I spit soda all over my screen when I saw the 12th or whatever pick might. Your love affair with collossal might is not unwarranted. Every once in a while if you overplay it you give your opponent a 2-1. That rarely happens to a good player though, and if it does and your not expecting it, your opponent probably deserves to win. 99% of the time you are getting terror + 2-3 damage when you cast it. Or winning the game flat out. Which seems good.
Eva Green is a different deck from the one piloted by dunkle_stille which is BG Pox. I still call it Eva Green cuz for all intensive purposes, it tells me which cards I can expect to see: Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Hymn to Tourach, Smother/Diabolic Edict, Thoughtseize/Duress, and Wasteland.
I dislike 'pump' in this format and would've taken Vithian Renegades or Deadshot Minotaur as your removal is lacking quite significantly and you are asking for a 2 for 1 while the 'Twinclaws' assumption shouldn't be judged as you should look at your whole deck rather than specifically talking about how good a card can be with one specific card.
Generally, Id agree with that statement. However, the Colossol Might giving Trample makes it so significantly better than all the other pump so its my pick also. And not just for the Twinclaws. Its for any fatty trampling through.
Everyone knows that Esper is great and they take mid and late pack artifact hate. The Esper player or players have to fight through those hate drafts, which many players would just rather avoid alltogether. Hence, the late Esper picks.
On the draft itself I also have to disagree with splashing into blue. The other picks are pretty defendable, including the 3/3 5-drop flyer. Hes a very overlooked card.
Good review but a little more detail on the matches would have been nice, I'll agree. With replays disabled, giving your typical matchup ups and downs might be worth considering.
I definitely agree with your reasoning in picking an aggro deck for this format. It is always great to hear advice on how to improve your game in ways that aren't specifically magic related (realizing your mind wouldn't be as sharp as it otherwise might be), because every little bit helps.
Esper Cormorants, Trailblazer or Ember Wevaer. I still don't know what the correct pick is. I agonized over this one. I felt with the cycling on Resounding Silence, and having an obelisk, a splash for U wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Then again, Trailblazer is a threat as well and Ember Weaver would be a 3/3 first strike most of the time.
I didn't even see the Plowbeast, that would have been a great thing to have. Thanks for the comment.
This draft was in Season IV. However, I only had 3-4 points and it was the last week of the season. I didn't Q for season 3 or 4, not enough time, and I don't have a competative deck for the constructed portion. M2010 sealed in season V is what I am shooting for. I have 4 QP from the first week off of more 10th ed drafts. You can follow my QP points on twitter or wait until next weeks article where I give a condensed view so far.
QP Bandwagon mainly followed season II and was way too many articles for that, so I will try and fix that in future.
Nice evaluations. Thank you for the comments.
P1P2, I can see taking the Panorama there, it's just really early and I was planning on getting some land cyclers in Reborn.
P1P5, I think Cannonist and Cylian Elf are about even here. the deck was leaning GW, and Cannonist also takes a pick away from the Esper players. It also helps as you aren't planning on playing more than one fat spell a turn. But also dies to artifact removal.
P2P1, I might have even taken the Ember Weaver here, still not sure the correct pick. This has gotten alot of comments.
P2P2, I struggled with this as well.
P2P4, I think Aerie Mystics is too good to pass up here. It stole one game for me and puts the opponent on a tough clock.
I like the style very much and enjoyed reading this article. Good job!
me and a friend were trying to put together a deck with painters servant, vamp noct, and mirror entity. But no deck with vampire nocturnus is going to be tourney caliber, even the 400$ deck that you made in your article.
I don't see why you didn't include the Goblin Artillerys in #2. They are amazing. I would take them over picks like Weakness and Jackal Familiars.
Thank you very much for all the comments.
1- The Vampire Aristocrat isn't very inspiring; not for me at least. Since years we're playing it under another name and also I just personally had enough of tokens recently. Therefore I just skipped that card. Of course one can use it in a Jund deck with Sprouting Thrinax and Dragon Fodder and such stuff but that's another story.
2- Paul, Seshiro is an insane avatar that I also love a lot. Elves, Goblins, Elementals as you also mentioned, Fae, especially spirits which is my favorite tribe for that avatar (Devouring Greed+many many many 1/1 spirit tokens?) and even Snakes are the first tribes I would use it with. But it can also be used with Vampire Nocturnus and I just wanted to mention both that possibility and also the avatar itself. It's such a fantastic avatar.
And thanks again for the comments.
LE
is my favorite Rebels vanguard card. :) I am glad to be an owner of that fine avatar. Of course Id use him for Elementals not vampires but that's me. Btw that font is off the hook. Very cool graphics.
You clearly don't keep up with the times. Lord Erman's article while a worthy endeavor and a sneaky look at his tech thinking for standard is by far NOT the first article written in this style. In fact the company that makes this game we play has published a number of articles like this by its employees. Mark Rosewater being the primary culprit. If you really object so much to the chocolate in your peanut butter don't mix it. Don't read these articles. Seriously...there is a rock calling your name. Go hide under it.
That said Nice Article LE! Keep em coming...I liked the last deck the best of the bunch...very nasty indeed.
I am so laughing at the Nick### comments, i remember those Rants well...
I Like this rock deck looks like a blast, but hard times perhaps against burn range and affinity. I really like the Evincar's Justice, and I use it but it just doesn't quite cut it imo as a main deck sweeper.
I like the deck regarding pro-artifact decks they can own a lot of decks perhaps the best stopper white offers is Aura of Silence, but it's can be a dead card as well.
I like some of Nick's suggestions.
Aaron:
I do hope you were not inferring that Evincar's Justice was to help the Slivers match-up. Beyond needing only two defense pump slivers by turn four (after using your bolts) for their team to survive, both Thrill of the Hunt and Prismatic Strands are still main-deck versus you.
I like that you get readers to take a look at new decks (or at least not mainstream decks), but I just had to make this point in case this was what you were saying.
I don't mind the departure from the normal format at all here fwiw, I like the extra in depth stuff on the picks. Man that first Shards pack in sealed would be sooooo good...
Maybe I am just not a big fan of Cruel Ultimatum in draft, but I see how you wanted to veer away from Naya a bit, and also Cruel is a bomb (if it resolves). I have played it in Sealed before, and it is just a devastating spell to resolve obviously. I will say that to me it's the exact type of spell I avoid like the plague in Draft because it is SO oppressively hard to cast. In fact when I see them go by, I am hoping someone else picks them up so they can hold it in their hand the whole game while I smash face.
The casting cost on a spell like that has 3 main drawbacks: 1. It's 7 mana: That's just a lot of mana in general. In most cases, you are casting this on Turn 7 at the earliest. That's quite late and also unlikely to happen. 2. It's color intensity: Obviously having all 7 mana being a specific color is quite oppressive. Fixing the mana just right can be extremely difficult (especially if you don't end up with 2 Armillary Spheres). 3. It puts you in one shard with very little flexibility for splashes. I mean you got a friggin Uril, one of the best creatures in the format (There are like what, 2 spells that can kill him?), but it's really not feasible to splash him even with your great fixing because of that dang Cruel Ultimatum.
I think the key with early picks like this is to remain flexible to not using it. I personally wouldn't build around it just because it's so hard to cast. I will however say that it does satisfy the bomb requirements you put forth, once it finally resolves.
Moving on, I probably take the Tidehollow Strix over the Infest. I do remember you having a good success with it in a previous article, but overall it just feels too weak in this format. I would be tempted to Sideboard it in against appropriate decks. I remember specifically one game where your opponent had one annoying creature (Stun Sniper) that you should have killed and finally did end up killing with the Infest. Maybe I am just greedy, but I want that pick to just do more somehow.
Next pick was another that looks like it would have been good to open in sealed. Tar Fiend + Goblin Assault is pretty cool. I would take the Assault here too.
Skipping ahead, interesting spot with the Controlled Instincts vs Countersquall pick. I agreed at first that you probably should have gone with Controlled Instincts. But I also had an interesting thought. I often take Countersquall late in drafts when I am in Esper or Grixis, and I sideboard it in. Why? Well I don't want to maindeck it against a heavy creature based deck, but against a deck with a lot of removal or say, for example, a *Cruel Ultimatum*, having a Countersquall seems pretty good. My point? That you essentially cut this card from a player like me who is looking to SB it in against your deck. I think that pretty much makes it the pick over Controlled instincts, as half of the cards in your deck are there to set up a potential Cruel. It would be pretty epic to Countersquall a Cruel (haven't done it myself).
I lol'd @ the Mind Funeral pick, I read your comments on the article you linked and I knew you wouldn't have actually taken it. It is so good to read someone saying the truth about cards like that. I get so sick of people saying that it's a broken awesome card and running one of them in your draft deck is the nuts. It's just not. If you doubt what Godot is saying here, you should re-read it, and if you *still* don't agree, then re-evaluate your views on Magic.
I was however surprised to see that you took the 'post over the Skyclaw Thrash. That's a good card! (It's the Grixis Bull Cerodon!! ;). But ya it seemed like just the right card at the right time. Again, I think that cursed Cruel Ulitmatum was pushing you to more fixing just to support it.
Like you noted, I also take the Pouncer. Good card for the reasons you stated.
About your final build, it's really hard to say from my armchair position here as opposed to your post draft views, but my guta tell me that you should just run Uril and Fusion Elemental over the Cruel.
I really can't wait to see the games (assuming they get replays back up and that you can actually replay the games).
Keep it up, and don't be afraid to mix up the column like this, I will read whatever you write.
The vampire BRG deck really cant be better than its Bloodbraid Elf Cascade or Dragon versions, can it? Just too much competition in those colors to make a Vampire deck a better choice. Esp when its not even a budget deck.
Can you instead abuse the "top card is revealed" part? Seems like there should be a way to abuse that in a fun Vampire controlling the world fashion.
Also, the Vampire Aristocrat is the new Nantuko Husk. Couldnt you roll with a token deck designed around him with the Nocturnis making him fly in for the win?
Both of those takes may be better than making a weaker than current standard BRG variation.
Just a thought.
-M
Very nice, creative and still covered some great topics of M2010.
Personally I cant wait to play Elves in M2010, I've always loved the green guys and cant wait to pump all that mana into Mirror Entity or Protean Hydra. Burrenten is great but still need a way to live through the early infest that is sure to see more play with so many control decks coming up.
RagMan
This interview article is worse than if Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong-il had a child....I mean really....You are having interviews with MAGIC CARDS! It's a great game but in all honesty don't you think you are pressing on a few mental issues if you are sitting down and crafting articles about you and a magic card having a face to face?
Spit soda on the screen indeed. Oh the woes of going with Cruel Ultimatium when such a juicy Naya deck was there for the taking...
Wonder what would have occurred if you had taken the Jund Charm pack 1 pick one. I'd think that was the most powerful single card in a set with a bunch of 3/2 2-drops in about every deck. Would you agree?
I'd have taken the thunder also myself.
In pick two you could have considered the Soul Fire. Then you are just taking red-only at the time. I probably would have taken the rare, Rhox Charger, or Souls Fire. I really wouldnt consider the Bant Charm. Its just such a tough to draft shard. Its a very difficult choice though.
Pick 4...Ive played with Goblin Assault. Its ok. Id clearly play it if I drafted it. But the Tar Fiend is a better card both for the signal and the card itself I'd think.
I probably take the Rakeclaw pick 5 and look for 5-color or just straight up abandon the Cruel. Rakeclaw affects the late game just as much as turn 5...I mean, you usually want 6 mana before you cast him anyway since T5 you'd drop a different 5-power 5 drop. I hate the Oblesks though so Im biased.
Of course I probably wouldnt have noticed the two Creepers and how they most likely will table...That's a drafting skill ppl dramatically underestimate. They blindly take the Rakeclaw and then are like "what the hell...the Creepers tabled!"
Again, though, good draft analysis. Enjoyed it as usual.
-M
man i will never get tired of hearing stuff like that, thanks so very much for the endorsment. Im so glad that Joshua and Heath have allowed me to keep writing on the site . Not only is the credit nice to bolster my classic collection but it allows me to have a creative outlet while gaining more mileage from my magic hobby. on top of all that i like to try to get more and more people into the format.
Huzzah!
According to the link that you have posted, M10 goes on sale on August 3rd, not directly after the July 29th downtime
was awesome again. Love your articles. Alot of the actual "play" articles, I dont feel like I gain alot from. Your detailed analysis gives me that. Personally, I find myself forcing either naya or jund. Red/green just seems to have the flat out BEST spells in reborn. And reborn is by far the most powerful set in this format. I spit soda all over my screen when I saw the 12th or whatever pick might. Your love affair with collossal might is not unwarranted. Every once in a while if you overplay it you give your opponent a 2-1. That rarely happens to a good player though, and if it does and your not expecting it, your opponent probably deserves to win. 99% of the time you are getting terror + 2-3 damage when you cast it. Or winning the game flat out. Which seems good.
True.
Eva Green is a different deck from the one piloted by dunkle_stille which is BG Pox. I still call it Eva Green cuz for all intensive purposes, it tells me which cards I can expect to see: Tarmogoyf, Tombstalker, Hymn to Tourach, Smother/Diabolic Edict, Thoughtseize/Duress, and Wasteland.
Pack 3 Pick 4:
I dislike 'pump' in this format and would've taken Vithian Renegades or Deadshot Minotaur as your removal is lacking quite significantly and you are asking for a 2 for 1 while the 'Twinclaws' assumption shouldn't be judged as you should look at your whole deck rather than specifically talking about how good a card can be with one specific card.
Generally, Id agree with that statement. However, the Colossol Might giving Trample makes it so significantly better than all the other pump so its my pick also. And not just for the Twinclaws. Its for any fatty trampling through.
Everyone knows that Esper is great and they take mid and late pack artifact hate. The Esper player or players have to fight through those hate drafts, which many players would just rather avoid alltogether. Hence, the late Esper picks.
On the draft itself I also have to disagree with splashing into blue. The other picks are pretty defendable, including the 3/3 5-drop flyer. Hes a very overlooked card.
-M
Grats on 6-2. Paper Magic you'd make it to day 2.
Good review but a little more detail on the matches would have been nice, I'll agree. With replays disabled, giving your typical matchup ups and downs might be worth considering.
I definitely agree with your reasoning in picking an aggro deck for this format. It is always great to hear advice on how to improve your game in ways that aren't specifically magic related (realizing your mind wouldn't be as sharp as it otherwise might be), because every little bit helps.
Esper Cormorants, Trailblazer or Ember Wevaer. I still don't know what the correct pick is. I agonized over this one. I felt with the cycling on Resounding Silence, and having an obelisk, a splash for U wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Then again, Trailblazer is a threat as well and Ember Weaver would be a 3/3 first strike most of the time.
I didn't even see the Plowbeast, that would have been a great thing to have. Thanks for the comment.
This draft was in Season IV. However, I only had 3-4 points and it was the last week of the season. I didn't Q for season 3 or 4, not enough time, and I don't have a competative deck for the constructed portion. M2010 sealed in season V is what I am shooting for. I have 4 QP from the first week off of more 10th ed drafts. You can follow my QP points on twitter or wait until next weeks article where I give a condensed view so far.
QP Bandwagon mainly followed season II and was way too many articles for that, so I will try and fix that in future.
Nice evaluations. Thank you for the comments.
P1P2, I can see taking the Panorama there, it's just really early and I was planning on getting some land cyclers in Reborn.
P1P5, I think Cannonist and Cylian Elf are about even here. the deck was leaning GW, and Cannonist also takes a pick away from the Esper players. It also helps as you aren't planning on playing more than one fat spell a turn. But also dies to artifact removal.
P2P1, I might have even taken the Ember Weaver here, still not sure the correct pick. This has gotten alot of comments.
P2P2, I struggled with this as well.
P2P4, I think Aerie Mystics is too good to pass up here. It stole one game for me and puts the opponent on a tough clock.