About the effect of clans on my experience. In the beta I played as Telir as a member of NYMagic the top rated clan in the game at the time. But after that the clan never reformed and I don't think any of us really cared. Many of us are friends or acquaintances irl and so perhaps that was really enough for us. During the beta it was perhaps in the spirit of comraderie and competition that we banded together so well and supported each other. But even then it wasn't much just casual conversation in chat and discussions of the various formats metagames for the most part. I might have missed some of the more fun stuff as I joined late, having to wait during the open beta for the game client to finally be downloaded for me. (My ISP at the time was a terrible dialup.)
I created my clan 'Magic Samurai' as a goof and invited a few friends all of whom joined. But the chat didn't work. Does it now? I never see my friends online to find out. Magic Samurai is the name I coined many years back during an email exchange and then in articles as a term used on players whom I felt made an positive impact on the game and I decided when I came back to V3 that it would be a good clan name. However, I am not convinced clans are even relevant. Friendship is and the Buddy List is. But the clan is simply a meeting place. You can do that regardless of your affiliations just by entering any chat room that isn't already named.
Magic Online seems mostly a solo effort for me with some cooperation when helping new players or just chatting/shooting the breeze. But for serious magic play (if I were interested in that) I would take it offline. For fun, I let my friends invite me to multiplayer games they make. I don't much care to expend the energy to be an active multiplayer myself. I don't know. Not saying you are wrong but I think MODO is many things to many people. While I like a lot of the players I meet, however some get blocked. That isn't to say I am a total island but there isn't a lot of community online past sites like this and some of the forum activities. I certainly can't keep up with the more serious players who are trying to qualify every week for the next championship etc. I am not sure I would want to.
All this to say that while the IDEA of clans is interesting to me, (I have run quite a few in other online games, and been a member of many more.) it doesn't seem integral to MODO nor a needed part. Fraternity is great and companionship invaluable but I find those things anyway. Clans as a TEAM seems to be useful to those of a serious mind but otherwise not so useful. Perhaps I am wrong. *shrugs*
Ok first of all thank you for writing about the history of 5C. I summarized it in platipus10s article I think but you really got to the meat of it and with a lot more detail. Kurt joined a 5 player chaos game I was in during PT NY fall 2001 (using a chaos deck in the middle to simulate world events) and he was a fun player but I had no idea he was the inventor of 5c until much later. Your article fills in some gaps and explains some things I didn't quite get at the time about the format. Like why people played with ante. That alone kept me from playing it myself, though I did build a deck before giving up paper magic entirely.
Is prismatic a dead format or merely taking a rest? I have to agree that it is an intimidating process to build a decent prismatic deck (one that actually draws lands occasionally that are relevant to cards in hand) and find good company in casual to play with on top of that. The Deck Editor which I expected to be better in version 3 is actually worse imho than version 2.5. But all that aside the idea is a fun one that I think will live on and eventually the issues will be fixed.
As far as bad behavior in casual I love the ability to block people who are obnoxious or unreasonable. I can't be bothered finking on morons who waste my time. I'd rather just avoid them completely and let someone else deal with them. When I am in the mood to play I don't want to be angry and hassled. But my experience with people who like the format is that they are intelligent and congenial. Very rarely do I find someone in prismatic worthy of baleetion. Maybe because I just recently came back (the end of April) to MODO I have missed a lot of the shenanigans as the players who wrecked it for you have stopped playing it entirely.
I do have to admit being someone who owns a few expensive cards and a lot of cheap cards that Prismatic isn't a format I could play competitively with my current collection. Given another couple hundred bucks worth of cards maybe I could. And maybe that says the worst thing about the format. Having to be Mr. Suitcase to have a chance in tournament is not fun. I will continue playing with the cards I have and building interesting decks (to me) and playing them casually though. I just hope WotC doesn't change the UI to the worse and lose the ability to even minimally support large decks.
I don't see the new Merfolk lord in M10 being a huge improvement. While the pump is nice against Zoo, as you said, I think 12 lords might just be overkill. LoA comes down faster plus makes your team unblockable vs Blue. Reejerey comes out at the same time, but can make all your other merfolk untap a land or tap a blocker. The new lord's 2nd ability is really only good with Wake Thrasher.
I always love reading about Classic. Keep 'em coming.
Nice to see my zoo replay back on this site... Small remark I had a very slow hand (no turn 2 play, one turn 1 play)... but I agree stax is a bad matchup
I am in agreement about the Deadshot in general but I think it is possible to have a style that is less overtly obnoxious than calling someone captain obvious while not even logged in. I could be wrong but it seems you auto lose this argument by flaming instead of being reasonable. Correct me if you think I am mistaken.
Also I think it is not an invalid argument for him to say he thinks one thing and others think another. He doesn't even have to admit to being wrong. No need to berate him for something you disagree with him on..just disagree and support your argument without acrimony. Maybe he will see your point.
you say that everyone "sees value where others don't"
however, your card analysis doesn't show much "value where others don't" - everyone knows a 4/4 for 4 is pretty aggressive priced on mana. or that 3/4 cycler that does 3 damage to a flyer... well, does 3 damage to flyers .. oh and it cycles! thanks captain obv.
I've actually drafted A/C/R quite a bit - the problem with doing these articles is that its hard to assume when things will exactly be taken - I've gotten terminates 8th pick before... However, when giving a pick order, I'm simply when abouts I wouldn't feel dirty to take any given card. There are a few rares that I just haven't seen for whatever reason, so those can be troubling too... not to mention that everyone drafts differently and or sees value where others don't.
As for the timely-ness of these articles, it's just one of those things... I try and get the first of the series out as soon as possible, but even writing weekly it doesn't take long before the sets been out for a month or two... As far as M10 goes - I'm going to take a slightly different approach that hopefully keeps things a bit fresher - look for it next week.
the blue nusiance is a very solid deck ,it can race ,disrupt,and control..the sb of sower is huge often times a single duder swiped is lethal for the opponent the sss' are great at stoping swords,vials,clamps,duress/thoughtsieze,,etc
But I imagine just like Armageddon, Pox, Necropotence, Disk and other cards that have severe drawbacks they hurt your opponent more. Being able to know when it is coming and preparation is key I think.
Woo, had to get that off out. This deck rocks! It rocks my socks it's so much fun.
I've been playing with a blue splash for Pendrell Mists, which I like better than Magus of the Tabernacle because it can't be removed with Swords, Path to Exile, and I can easily cast Armageddon without worrying about mana.
The Elf matchup is a bit tricky even with all the hate, as they can easily cast Squirrel Nest and Earthcraft, make a bunch of Squirrels, untap for his turn, and combo off with the Squirrels providing mana with Earthcraft. I wasn't running Suppression Field, but if you don't get one in time, that may happen too.
Moat would be another good consideration, as almost all decks in Classic don't have flyers (Tombstalker is the only one I can think of). It's definitly good as a one-of to replace or supplement Humility, which is also a bomb.
I liked the video commentary for the most part but in the third game when your opponent played a one mana elf into chalice I stopped watching. I can't see why you would include a game where the opponent makes such an obvious play error if it is at all possible to not do so.
Cool article. I love playing Stax in both Vintage and Legacy, and it's cool to see how a deck like this fights some strong components of the metagame. I'd love to see a follow-up article with sideboard plans and ways to fight the decks you aren't so good against.
Balance is going to be awesome. I hope fastbond and strip mine are in FTV too so it will be all drop huge control bomb and draw go's... I'm serious about this
I like how you didnt corner yourself into playing blue just because you took the persuasion early. You stuck with green a little too long, but I can see the appeal of the cards you took. If you find cards you like, pick em and make the best deck for you. The gems you found in the second half of every pack and smart gameplay were key to your victory.
Some of the picks are really confusing to me and it seems like you passed up Red and Green, which were viable colors. But you won! Congrats. Your skill at the table evidently covers up (the many) drafting mistakes you may have made.
Well done, again, on the article presentation. Easy to read and follow, as always.
I did think about covering a standard version but I don't play standard very much so I was worried about being completely off-base. In fact it does OK against Kithkin extended but I think I haven't seen any top tier decks of that type in this format. I expect it would falter without the good mana base of extended lands though. I will take a look at how it might perform in standard and see if I can build a version that is viable and yet not uncasual. Thanks for commenting! :)
I had a few doubts before I made it whether it suited Casual play but it definitely does. It is a bit stronger than average but it does not eliminate your opponent's play. Good casual decks can give it trouble as well as an aggro start on their part. Plus as I mentioned the sweepers give it some trouble. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Just curious why your articles are always posted over a month after it happened?
I mean it doesn't really matter for XXX draft, just wondering why they're so delayed?
About the effect of clans on my experience. In the beta I played as Telir as a member of NYMagic the top rated clan in the game at the time. But after that the clan never reformed and I don't think any of us really cared. Many of us are friends or acquaintances irl and so perhaps that was really enough for us. During the beta it was perhaps in the spirit of comraderie and competition that we banded together so well and supported each other. But even then it wasn't much just casual conversation in chat and discussions of the various formats metagames for the most part. I might have missed some of the more fun stuff as I joined late, having to wait during the open beta for the game client to finally be downloaded for me. (My ISP at the time was a terrible dialup.)
I created my clan 'Magic Samurai' as a goof and invited a few friends all of whom joined. But the chat didn't work. Does it now? I never see my friends online to find out. Magic Samurai is the name I coined many years back during an email exchange and then in articles as a term used on players whom I felt made an positive impact on the game and I decided when I came back to V3 that it would be a good clan name. However, I am not convinced clans are even relevant. Friendship is and the Buddy List is. But the clan is simply a meeting place. You can do that regardless of your affiliations just by entering any chat room that isn't already named.
Magic Online seems mostly a solo effort for me with some cooperation when helping new players or just chatting/shooting the breeze. But for serious magic play (if I were interested in that) I would take it offline. For fun, I let my friends invite me to multiplayer games they make. I don't much care to expend the energy to be an active multiplayer myself. I don't know. Not saying you are wrong but I think MODO is many things to many people. While I like a lot of the players I meet, however some get blocked. That isn't to say I am a total island but there isn't a lot of community online past sites like this and some of the forum activities. I certainly can't keep up with the more serious players who are trying to qualify every week for the next championship etc. I am not sure I would want to.
All this to say that while the IDEA of clans is interesting to me, (I have run quite a few in other online games, and been a member of many more.) it doesn't seem integral to MODO nor a needed part. Fraternity is great and companionship invaluable but I find those things anyway. Clans as a TEAM seems to be useful to those of a serious mind but otherwise not so useful. Perhaps I am wrong. *shrugs*
Ok first of all thank you for writing about the history of 5C. I summarized it in platipus10s article I think but you really got to the meat of it and with a lot more detail. Kurt joined a 5 player chaos game I was in during PT NY fall 2001 (using a chaos deck in the middle to simulate world events) and he was a fun player but I had no idea he was the inventor of 5c until much later. Your article fills in some gaps and explains some things I didn't quite get at the time about the format. Like why people played with ante. That alone kept me from playing it myself, though I did build a deck before giving up paper magic entirely.
Is prismatic a dead format or merely taking a rest? I have to agree that it is an intimidating process to build a decent prismatic deck (one that actually draws lands occasionally that are relevant to cards in hand) and find good company in casual to play with on top of that. The Deck Editor which I expected to be better in version 3 is actually worse imho than version 2.5. But all that aside the idea is a fun one that I think will live on and eventually the issues will be fixed.
As far as bad behavior in casual I love the ability to block people who are obnoxious or unreasonable. I can't be bothered finking on morons who waste my time. I'd rather just avoid them completely and let someone else deal with them. When I am in the mood to play I don't want to be angry and hassled. But my experience with people who like the format is that they are intelligent and congenial. Very rarely do I find someone in prismatic worthy of baleetion. Maybe because I just recently came back (the end of April) to MODO I have missed a lot of the shenanigans as the players who wrecked it for you have stopped playing it entirely.
I do have to admit being someone who owns a few expensive cards and a lot of cheap cards that Prismatic isn't a format I could play competitively with my current collection. Given another couple hundred bucks worth of cards maybe I could. And maybe that says the worst thing about the format. Having to be Mr. Suitcase to have a chance in tournament is not fun. I will continue playing with the cards I have and building interesting decks (to me) and playing them casually though. I just hope WotC doesn't change the UI to the worse and lose the ability to even minimally support large decks.
I don't see the new Merfolk lord in M10 being a huge improvement. While the pump is nice against Zoo, as you said, I think 12 lords might just be overkill. LoA comes down faster plus makes your team unblockable vs Blue. Reejerey comes out at the same time, but can make all your other merfolk untap a land or tap a blocker. The new lord's 2nd ability is really only good with Wake Thrasher.
I always love reading about Classic. Keep 'em coming.
I'd love a follow up article with more videos. Stax is my favorite Vintage deck.
Nice to see my zoo replay back on this site... Small remark I had a very slow hand (no turn 2 play, one turn 1 play)... but I agree stax is a bad matchup
I am in agreement about the Deadshot in general but I think it is possible to have a style that is less overtly obnoxious than calling someone captain obvious while not even logged in. I could be wrong but it seems you auto lose this argument by flaming instead of being reasonable. Correct me if you think I am mistaken.
Also I think it is not an invalid argument for him to say he thinks one thing and others think another. He doesn't even have to admit to being wrong. No need to berate him for something you disagree with him on..just disagree and support your argument without acrimony. Maybe he will see your point.
you say that everyone "sees value where others don't"
however, your card analysis doesn't show much "value where others don't" - everyone knows a 4/4 for 4 is pretty aggressive priced on mana. or that 3/4 cycler that does 3 damage to a flyer... well, does 3 damage to flyers .. oh and it cycles! thanks captain obv.
you have a calm soothing voice
I've actually drafted A/C/R quite a bit - the problem with doing these articles is that its hard to assume when things will exactly be taken - I've gotten terminates 8th pick before... However, when giving a pick order, I'm simply when abouts I wouldn't feel dirty to take any given card. There are a few rares that I just haven't seen for whatever reason, so those can be troubling too... not to mention that everyone drafts differently and or sees value where others don't.
As for the timely-ness of these articles, it's just one of those things... I try and get the first of the series out as soon as possible, but even writing weekly it doesn't take long before the sets been out for a month or two... As far as M10 goes - I'm going to take a slightly different approach that hopefully keeps things a bit fresher - look for it next week.
the blue nusiance is a very solid deck ,it can race ,disrupt,and control..the sb of sower is huge often times a single duder swiped is lethal for the opponent the sss' are great at stoping swords,vials,clamps,duress/thoughtsieze,,etc
usually hone up to it and try to learn from my missteps.
- it's "own up to it."
But I imagine just like Armageddon, Pox, Necropotence, Disk and other cards that have severe drawbacks they hurt your opponent more. Being able to know when it is coming and preparation is key I think.
staxxless staxx looks good , but doesnt your field hurt the elspeth,mishras ,canopy, and wastelands?
I LOVE CHALICE DECKS!
Woo, had to get that off out. This deck rocks! It rocks my socks it's so much fun.
I've been playing with a blue splash for Pendrell Mists, which I like better than Magus of the Tabernacle because it can't be removed with Swords, Path to Exile, and I can easily cast Armageddon without worrying about mana.
The Elf matchup is a bit tricky even with all the hate, as they can easily cast Squirrel Nest and Earthcraft, make a bunch of Squirrels, untap for his turn, and combo off with the Squirrels providing mana with Earthcraft. I wasn't running Suppression Field, but if you don't get one in time, that may happen too.
Moat would be another good consideration, as almost all decks in Classic don't have flyers (Tombstalker is the only one I can think of). It's definitly good as a one-of to replace or supplement Humility, which is also a bomb.
I liked the video commentary for the most part but in the third game when your opponent played a one mana elf into chalice I stopped watching. I can't see why you would include a game where the opponent makes such an obvious play error if it is at all possible to not do so.
Cool article. I love playing Stax in both Vintage and Legacy, and it's cool to see how a deck like this fights some strong components of the metagame. I'd love to see a follow-up article with sideboard plans and ways to fight the decks you aren't so good against.
Good work man
Balance is going to be awesome. I hope fastbond and strip mine are in FTV too so it will be all drop huge control bomb and draw go's... I'm serious about this
I just checked classicquarter. Here it is:
Maindeck # Card Name
2 Flooded Strand
3 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Polluted Delta
4 Underground Sea
4 Wasteland
4 Cursecatcher
4 Lord of Atlantis
4 Merrow Reejerey
4 Silvergill Adept
2 Spellstutter Sprite
1 Sygg, River Cutthroat
4 Æther Vial
1 Brainstorm
3 Daze
4 Force of Will
1 Pithing Needle
2 Spell Snare
4 Standstill
1 Stifle
Sideboard # Card Name
2 Chalice of the Void
1 Controlled Instincts
3 Engineered Plague
2 Hurkyl's Recall
2 Hydroblast
2 Perish
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Do you have the latest list with the undgerground seas+perish? Or could anyone post a link to it please.
I love this kind of articles. Agree with "plz write the names of the cards under the draft picks" cause I got the pics blocked at work.
Thanks still!
I like how you didnt corner yourself into playing blue just because you took the persuasion early. You stuck with green a little too long, but I can see the appeal of the cards you took. If you find cards you like, pick em and make the best deck for you. The gems you found in the second half of every pack and smart gameplay were key to your victory.
Some of the picks are really confusing to me and it seems like you passed up Red and Green, which were viable colors. But you won! Congrats. Your skill at the table evidently covers up (the many) drafting mistakes you may have made.
Well done, again, on the article presentation. Easy to read and follow, as always.
I did think about covering a standard version but I don't play standard very much so I was worried about being completely off-base. In fact it does OK against Kithkin extended but I think I haven't seen any top tier decks of that type in this format. I expect it would falter without the good mana base of extended lands though. I will take a look at how it might perform in standard and see if I can build a version that is viable and yet not uncasual. Thanks for commenting! :)
I had a few doubts before I made it whether it suited Casual play but it definitely does. It is a bit stronger than average but it does not eliminate your opponent's play. Good casual decks can give it trouble as well as an aggro start on their part. Plus as I mentioned the sweepers give it some trouble. I am glad you enjoyed it.
Just curious why your articles are always posted over a month after it happened?
I mean it doesn't really matter for XXX draft, just wondering why they're so delayed?