I liked some of the kaleidoscope decks, personally I've started testing congregation at dawn, you can set up stacks like: Enlisted wurm > Bloodbraid elf > kitchen finks or just triple hierarch for life gain. That sort of swing is really hard to come back from, you can also fetch silver bullets like harmonic sliver.
Actually I almost never playtest and some of the cards in my deck were borrowed from a friend of mine. But I'll build a deck with what I have and we can playtest that if you feel it will help. When I'm online I can almost always be found in the casual-multiplayer room.
Some of the finest magic writing on the internet- have been catching up with the series today and it's been a pleasure. Thorough, diverting, and free of that sneering superior tone that characterises so many draft writeups. The effort taken with screencaps et al much appreciated: if the new split-article schedule helps you get these out more consistently I'm all for it!
Esper clearly now has the most brutal synergy of the strategies available in this block, when you combine strength of the interactions with depth of the relevant cards. I don't think it's therefore unreasonable that the hoser cards are that bit stronger. What you demonstrate nicely here is the importance drafting a good sideboard can make.
Yeah but it's not really a cost is it? You start an account and are forced to buy ten dollars worth of product. It's actually no different from buying ten dollars worth of product on your existing account. Well, no different, if you were planning on spending in the first place.
I'm not suggesting that it's happening a lot just pointing out that there isn't really a cost to setting up an account. It's not like you pay just for the account, you get product back.
Apart from everything you said (and thanks for everything you said by the way), will it be possible for you to playtest (heavily and intensely) a few decks this Friday and Saturday? If yes, let me know here or ingame.
i've talked to at least 2 folks that decided to take the plunge because of the game, as I was beating them soundly in drafts I made sure to tell them puremtgo.com. Thats awesome though that rhe game is working as planned!
Great article. Though I did note that despite your statement "But I can suggest you to go to Jund or Naya. They are the most secure places for someone who is after fortune and fame in the format. Examples? Here are some." you only give an example of Naya. TheKid's deck isn't really Aggro/Control it is control that uses cheap removal and some of the best creatures in the format to stall his opponent long enough for one of the more expensive spells or Ajani to win the game. It is significant that the only matches I lost in the last tourney were to TheKid and yet he never even drew an Ajani in any of our games. Once the Sprouting Thrinaxs are added the board often becomes bogged down until a Void clears the board often at value for the caster considering the Thrinaxs and Finks. (Notice nearly every creature worth playing and nearly every removal spell has a cmc of 3?) Snakeform is actually quite strong as it answers finks, Stillmoon, and Thrinax. Sygg has proven to be less then ideal for me though. It is too easy to clog up the ground and remove attackers so most of the time it just sits there unable to block anything at value and rarely drawing me cards. On the other hand Sarkhan Vol has been quite good for me considering that Naya has been seeing less play and control more. Primarily due to the first ability. When your opponent is constantly sweeping the board or voiding your hand giving every creature you draw +1/+1 and haste is huge.
It's great to hear that there could be many new players coming to MTGO, but do you think it's possible that a lot of people are just making new duplicate accounts for themselves to get more copies of the APAC lands you get for free just for logging in five times a month?
The main problem for me with any deck and a Platinum Angel Avatar is the cost, paying over $35 for just the avatar alone. I do like the Sphinx deck since the max cost is around 20 tix and thats if you don't have any of the pieces laying around. Where a Platinum deck might not cost you that much eaither but if you don't have the Angel already it's hard to justify dropping $35 to just make 1 fun deck.
Nice article. I didn't realize anyone actually played Vanguard - can't recall the last time I saw a game in the casual room. I'm tempted to try a deck now though...
Ok here's a rough build for a deck using Platinum Angel (I dont have the avatar yet), let me know what you think. Plat's going to be around for a while so I might go for it, not sure yet though.
Leave it to me to not know the Borderpost play since I don't own any and play the Shards tri-lands, Lorwyn lands with counters and Rupture Spire as my mana fixers.
On a side note about Enchantment hate, you could play Greater Auramancy to give all other enchantments you control shroud. Heck if you ran enough enchantment hate yourself with Enchanted Evening you could turn your deck into a weird land destruction control deck.
1- Arcanis, the Omnipotent (rotates out with M10)
2- Ashling the Pilgrim
3- Ashling, the Extinguisher
4- Birds of Paradise
5- Dauntless Escort
6- Elvish Champion (rotates out with M10)
7- Enigma Sphinx
8- Figure of Destiny
9- Goblin Warchief
10- Grinning Demon
11- Kresh the Bloodbraided
12- Maelstrom Archangel
13- Malfegor
14- Maralen of the Mornsong
15- Mayael the Anima
16- Mirror Entity
17- Murderous Redcap
18- Nekrataal (rotates out with M10)
19- Phage the Untouchable (rotates out with M10)
20- Platinum Angel
21- Prodigal Sorcerer
22- Reaper King
23- Royal Assassin
24- Serra Angel
25- Squee, Goblin Nabob (rotates out with M10)
26- Stonehewer Giant
i too fear the jank 6 card to 5 card hand and thusly will keep 2 land 7 card hands. yesterday i drafted acr and mulled 1 land to 1 land to 1 land puke! nothing better then a 3 land opener,.
As a rough estimate I'd say I don't make the mana 7 out of 10 games, of those 7 I would say that the game ends with Knell in hand maybe twice.
So it hoses me 2 out of 10 games, and yet it's castable in roughly 3 out of 10 games, however it's probably a game winner in only 1 out of those 3 times (figuring the other 2 I got the mana and was about to die anyways, and the other I got the mana and was about to win anyways so Knell was a mute point).
I'm not much of a tourney player and not even a serious deck builder so there are probably half a dozen better cards to use but when I do get Knell out its alot of fun and not something your opponent was expecting in the late game.
Hah. While reading this I logged on just to buy the staples for the enigma sphinx deck. Seems like a blast and it beeing budget I figure it'll make an excellent deck to try some constructed online. As an added bonus I can probably throw something Espery together for block while it's still there.
Good call, mm, when I'm mana shy I tend to think of mana elves as land, but cycling to take out the sewn-eye, attacking for 2, and leaving the pridemage back with threat mana up is a good play if I'm certain I'm not going to cycle the sylvan bounty.
re: poker: you can't fold in Magic, which definitely leads to some unpreventable losses that leave a bad taste in your mouth. But to say Magic is more luck-based than poker is just wrong.
I have no doubt my friend will agree with me the next time he has a bad run at the poker tables and a hot streak in the draft queues. ;)
I think it is a weakness of mine, I do not mulligan aggressively at all. I am willing to keep far too many 7 card hands I think, because I am always weary of going to 6, getting an unkeepable hand, and then ending up at 5 which is often a disaster. It's funny cause I actually view it as more of a gamble to keep a margial hand than to mulligan it away.
Maybe in a future article you could go into even more detail about Mulligans and your approach..
Metalman - While it is true that in No Limit Hold'em you can maneuver with less than good hands, it's often not the case in other games. Limit games, and games like 7-card stud where a LOT of information is available to your opponents, mean that you just can't do much without a solid hand. So while I do agree that there is a case to be made that getting mana screwed or flooded is just simply going to lose you the game a lot of the time, in many forms of poker this is also the case.
I liked some of the kaleidoscope decks, personally I've started testing congregation at dawn, you can set up stacks like: Enlisted wurm > Bloodbraid elf > kitchen finks or just triple hierarch for life gain. That sort of swing is really hard to come back from, you can also fetch silver bullets like harmonic sliver.
Actually I almost never playtest and some of the cards in my deck were borrowed from a friend of mine. But I'll build a deck with what I have and we can playtest that if you feel it will help. When I'm online I can almost always be found in the casual-multiplayer room.
Some of the finest magic writing on the internet- have been catching up with the series today and it's been a pleasure. Thorough, diverting, and free of that sneering superior tone that characterises so many draft writeups. The effort taken with screencaps et al much appreciated: if the new split-article schedule helps you get these out more consistently I'm all for it!
Esper clearly now has the most brutal synergy of the strategies available in this block, when you combine strength of the interactions with depth of the relevant cards. I don't think it's therefore unreasonable that the hoser cards are that bit stronger. What you demonstrate nicely here is the importance drafting a good sideboard can make.
Yeah but it's not really a cost is it? You start an account and are forced to buy ten dollars worth of product. It's actually no different from buying ten dollars worth of product on your existing account. Well, no different, if you were planning on spending in the first place.
I'm not suggesting that it's happening a lot just pointing out that there isn't really a cost to setting up an account. It's not like you pay just for the account, you get product back.
but as I said, it is not easy to peruse one's own writings and find errors. Painful is the word I'd use. And as he said he doesn't write much.
Apart from everything you said (and thanks for everything you said by the way), will it be possible for you to playtest (heavily and intensely) a few decks this Friday and Saturday? If yes, let me know here or ingame.
LE
Actually some time ago I wrote an article specifically about Platinum Angel. Check it out: http://puremtgo.com/articles/rogue-play-theoretical-musings
Maybe it will give you some ideas.
LE
i've talked to at least 2 folks that decided to take the plunge because of the game, as I was beating them soundly in drafts I made sure to tell them puremtgo.com. Thats awesome though that rhe game is working as planned!
With enough APAC lands you'll eventually offset the ten dollar cost right?
Great article. Though I did note that despite your statement "But I can suggest you to go to Jund or Naya. They are the most secure places for someone who is after fortune and fame in the format. Examples? Here are some." you only give an example of Naya. TheKid's deck isn't really Aggro/Control it is control that uses cheap removal and some of the best creatures in the format to stall his opponent long enough for one of the more expensive spells or Ajani to win the game. It is significant that the only matches I lost in the last tourney were to TheKid and yet he never even drew an Ajani in any of our games. Once the Sprouting Thrinaxs are added the board often becomes bogged down until a Void clears the board often at value for the caster considering the Thrinaxs and Finks. (Notice nearly every creature worth playing and nearly every removal spell has a cmc of 3?) Snakeform is actually quite strong as it answers finks, Stillmoon, and Thrinax. Sygg has proven to be less then ideal for me though. It is too easy to clog up the ground and remove attackers so most of the time it just sits there unable to block anything at value and rarely drawing me cards. On the other hand Sarkhan Vol has been quite good for me considering that Naya has been seeing less play and control more. Primarily due to the first ability. When your opponent is constantly sweeping the board or voiding your hand giving every creature you draw +1/+1 and haste is huge.
It's great to hear that there could be many new players coming to MTGO, but do you think it's possible that a lot of people are just making new duplicate accounts for themselves to get more copies of the APAC lands you get for free just for logging in five times a month?
I imagine Cursed Scroll or Tradewind Riders might be great picks too. Not sure how much over a Rolling Thunder though.
The main problem for me with any deck and a Platinum Angel Avatar is the cost, paying over $35 for just the avatar alone. I do like the Sphinx deck since the max cost is around 20 tix and thats if you don't have any of the pieces laying around. Where a Platinum deck might not cost you that much eaither but if you don't have the Angel already it's hard to justify dropping $35 to just make 1 fun deck.
RagMan
Nice article. I didn't realize anyone actually played Vanguard - can't recall the last time I saw a game in the casual room. I'm tempted to try a deck now though...
Another fantastic walk-through, although breaking it up into two articles really left us wanting more from last week. Keep up the articles.
Ok here's a rough build for a deck using Platinum Angel (I dont have the avatar yet), let me know what you think. Plat's going to be around for a while so I might go for it, not sure yet though.
1 Avatar - Platinum Angel
3 Ardent Plea
3 Bitterblossom
4 Oblivion Ring
3 Darksteel Colossus
3 Master Transmuter
4 Ethercaste Knight
4 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Master of Etherium
3 Mulldrifter
1 Sharuum the Hegemon
2 Enigma Sphinx
3 Tidehollow Strix
Leave it to me to not know the Borderpost play since I don't own any and play the Shards tri-lands, Lorwyn lands with counters and Rupture Spire as my mana fixers.
On a side note about Enchantment hate, you could play Greater Auramancy to give all other enchantments you control shroud. Heck if you ran enough enchantment hate yourself with Enchanted Evening you could turn your deck into a weird land destruction control deck.
RagMan
The Standard legal avatars are:
1- Arcanis, the Omnipotent (rotates out with M10)
2- Ashling the Pilgrim
3- Ashling, the Extinguisher
4- Birds of Paradise
5- Dauntless Escort
6- Elvish Champion (rotates out with M10)
7- Enigma Sphinx
8- Figure of Destiny
9- Goblin Warchief
10- Grinning Demon
11- Kresh the Bloodbraided
12- Maelstrom Archangel
13- Malfegor
14- Maralen of the Mornsong
15- Mayael the Anima
16- Mirror Entity
17- Murderous Redcap
18- Nekrataal (rotates out with M10)
19- Phage the Untouchable (rotates out with M10)
20- Platinum Angel
21- Prodigal Sorcerer
22- Reaper King
23- Royal Assassin
24- Serra Angel
25- Squee, Goblin Nabob (rotates out with M10)
26- Stonehewer Giant
LE
I always have issues working out which avatars are valid in Std, last time I played was when TSP was Std legal.
Please could some one confirm if the below are the Std legal ones at present, thanks
Avatar - Arcanis, the Omnipotent
Avatar - Ashling the Pilgrim
Avatar - Ashling, the Extinguisher
Avatar - Birds of Paradise
Avatar - Dauntless Escort
Avatar - Elvish Champion
Avatar - Enigma Sphinx
Avatar - Figure of Destiny
Avatar - Kresh the Bloodbraided
Avatar - Maelstrom Archangel
Avatar - Malfegor
Avatar - Maralen of the Mornsong
Avatar - Mayael the Anima
Avatar - Mirror Entity
Avatar - Murderous Redcap
Avatar - Nekrataal
Avatar - Phage the Untouchable
Avatar - Platinum Angel
Avatar - Reaper King
Avatar - Royal Assassin
Avatar - Serra Angel
Avatar - Squee, Goblin Nabob
Avatar - Stonehewer Giant
i too fear the jank 6 card to 5 card hand and thusly will keep 2 land 7 card hands. yesterday i drafted acr and mulled 1 land to 1 land to 1 land puke! nothing better then a 3 land opener,.
As a rough estimate I'd say I don't make the mana 7 out of 10 games, of those 7 I would say that the game ends with Knell in hand maybe twice.
So it hoses me 2 out of 10 games, and yet it's castable in roughly 3 out of 10 games, however it's probably a game winner in only 1 out of those 3 times (figuring the other 2 I got the mana and was about to die anyways, and the other I got the mana and was about to win anyways so Knell was a mute point).
I'm not much of a tourney player and not even a serious deck builder so there are probably half a dozen better cards to use but when I do get Knell out its alot of fun and not something your opponent was expecting in the late game.
RagMan
Hah. While reading this I logged on just to buy the staples for the enigma sphinx deck. Seems like a blast and it beeing budget I figure it'll make an excellent deck to try some constructed online. As an added bonus I can probably throw something Espery together for block while it's still there.
Good call, mm, when I'm mana shy I tend to think of mana elves as land, but cycling to take out the sewn-eye, attacking for 2, and leaving the pridemage back with threat mana up is a good play if I'm certain I'm not going to cycle the sylvan bounty.
re: poker: you can't fold in Magic, which definitely leads to some unpreventable losses that leave a bad taste in your mouth. But to say Magic is more luck-based than poker is just wrong.
I have no doubt my friend will agree with me the next time he has a bad run at the poker tables and a hot streak in the draft queues. ;)
I think it is a weakness of mine, I do not mulligan aggressively at all. I am willing to keep far too many 7 card hands I think, because I am always weary of going to 6, getting an unkeepable hand, and then ending up at 5 which is often a disaster. It's funny cause I actually view it as more of a gamble to keep a margial hand than to mulligan it away.
Maybe in a future article you could go into even more detail about Mulligans and your approach..
Metalman - While it is true that in No Limit Hold'em you can maneuver with less than good hands, it's often not the case in other games. Limit games, and games like 7-card stud where a LOT of information is available to your opponents, mean that you just can't do much without a solid hand. So while I do agree that there is a case to be made that getting mana screwed or flooded is just simply going to lose you the game a lot of the time, in many forms of poker this is also the case.