The 3rd event did fire and we had 32 players suggesting that Anathamancer was keeping a few people from the format. Naya and Jund aggro continue to dominate and Putrid Leech has become a Jund mainstay. I did see more counterspells this time but Necrogenesis is cheap enough to get in around counters and tends to dominate the game. It also helps vs persist and those unpleasant occasions when you finally manage to kill Oversoul of Dusk and they just Naya Charm it back. Life gain has proven to be very popular, I saw a lot more Loxodon Hierarchs this time around and even a Mycoid Shepherd. Centaur Safeguard may be next. I got top 4 again and lost a close 3rd game to double Lightning Helix. Maybe I'll keep better track of my matches next time and submit a report to this site.
More of the great stuff that has me coming back every week.
Re: your question at the end. I would prefer to have it in the same format and weekly still please, kthanks. JK obviously, seriously though, I really like the format how it is and wouldn't hate it if it was bi-weekly as long as I could get the same coverage.
comments on your picks:
Bone Splinters is pretty good, although it would have been awful in this deck, color considerations aside. Make sure you don't overlook it though.
Matca Rioters were awesome in CCC when everyone was 5 color, but they aren't anymore unless you are 5c imo. Not saying they aren't ~solid, but they aren't really that good.
Rupture Spire- I would have taken that one over the Rioters. My mentality was that you could NOT run one of the Spheres in that case. However I think you may have been correct after all. I don't like running Sphere unless I really have to, but with your deck being pretty mana hungry, consistently hitting land drops turn after turn is good. Interestingly it also was your biggest concern in most games, cause you had to use most of turn 2 and the next on it. Thoughts?
Once again, great article. I'm kinda bummed to hear that you're taking a "break". You are, by far, the best writer on Pure. I like the idea you submitted too though. Having others send in "what's the play" scenarios seems like a cool idea too. You could just sift through the bad/good ones and put them up for us to discuss. Maybe that would be better suited for the forums though, I don't know.
About the draft. I can't believe how many 5 power creatures came your way, and really good ones too. I'm a huge fan of Rakeclaw, and Slinger is a bomb in Naya in cases I've come across it. I'm sitting here thinking that your deck looks almost good enough for 40 card constructed man. lol Good job!
As a casual prismatic player I and some others think all the hybrid cards made it way to easy to play monocolored (or close to monocolored) decks. This seems to me to go against what the format is all about. I would like to see some type of deck construction rule change that would keep the format more multicolored, which is what it was all about before the advent of hybrid cards.
-mullaccm
I forgot to explicitly call out the lack of M10 play-changers, but as you point out, there were none that I saw in any of the games. I had Cylian Sunsinger and Colossal Might (which never showed up!) to make it potentially relevant for me, and Magma Spray and Fiery Fall as instant-speed burn that could potentially make it matter for my opponent. That makes 12 straight limited matches with no M10 combat impact for me personally, and I play a lot of pump.
WAT worked out for me, but you are right, it put on a best-case showing. I can't call it a bomby strategy or anything, but I'm glad I had a spot to give it a try. I ran 7 five-power creatures to make it work, which feels roughly like the quantity you are going to want to have for it, and that is really the major problem: it's a five-drop that wants 7+ *other* five drops in your deck to be happy, and that is going to make for a tough curve, and a tough match against any kind of quality Esper builds or aggro decks.
Accordingly, Valley Rannets and, if you are in or splashing for black, Igneous Pouncers seem great for it because of their dual function as a two drop. I had also been hoping for one or two Wild Leotaus in Conflux to give me some five-powered four drops.
If I find myself with an early Ancients pick that makes sense in the future, I will put a higher value on Druid of the Anima and Trace of Abundance, and to a lesser extent, Obelisks, Sunseed Nurturer and Exuberant Firestoker. Acceleration seems critical in a deck sporting 8+ cards at 5cc or above.
Oh, also...you ask why he discarded Captured Sunlight in Game one of match one. Well, last time I checked that card cost Green Mana, which he didnt have since you punked his Obelisk of Bant.
Yeah, I like your current style but do what is good for you. These are probably the best draft walkthoughs, barring play by play recordings, I've seen ever.
I missed the comment about M10 rules not affecting any games. I even re-read the article to see if I missed it. heh. This deck even had the potential to make it happen with the Cyclian elf guy but it doesnt look like it did.
On the draft the only pick I really disagreed with was pack 3 pick 6. Just seemed like your deck wanted a 2-drop 3/2 guy over the mediocre 5/4 exalted guy. Got kinda lucky to have one wheel for you so it didnt affect the final deck but could have if the other players had taken the guy you got pack three pick 11.
Also a comment on Where Ancients Tread...This is the best case use of the card. I have drafted that card a number of times and every time I ended up playing it the card was never as good as in these games. The deck I drafted was very similar to this one also. However, that was before Shards with the extra land cycling 5-power guys so mabye its quite a bit better now...dunno.
For FoW: The reason there are no or few Blue control decks on classic is that you have to play FoW, which mean you have to pay 250 tix, on a good day, for four cards. 200 more that 4 goyfs or earthcrafts. and atleast 100 more than mox diamonds. i have no problem with there being a "most expensive card" but when you can build an elves deck for about the cost of one FoW. its pretty crazy. if Fow was more in the 30 range like mox and such, i would expect to see the number of blue decks atleast double. From fish/thresh to dreadnought decks to most combos you have to have FoW. The only reason i play zoo in PEs is because of this reason. So yeah if FoW was cheaper i would play them and i think most of the other players would too. But seeing how they wont get to the range they need to be, players will just settle for a cheaper equally powerful non-FoW deck like elves and Loam. Its not a matter of cant play FoW, as most of the good player can get and play them, its just a matter of wont. Think of it this way: 750 for a blue deck, prize is about 3 tix per pack = 1st place finishes in 11 PEs. so about one year just to break even on the initial buy in for the deck. its just not worth it unless all you wanna do is have fun. As for FoW Control decks(countertop) i think it would be a top3 deck, pushing loam out, but not either people play it.
Anonymous
JJonasN on Modo
P.S. i top 8ed a PE with zoo and forgot to put in Nacatls and Bolts... LOL...
Nope nope, not until this weekend! There was a gatherer 'glitch' that spoiled all the reprints, but WotC hasn't released the 'official' list yet, and probably won't until either Friday night or sometime this weekend when the pre-release events are running.
Kaleidoscope is a format that is played with gold cards only. Basic lands cause inconsistent mana bases and ruin some early plays. You have a Mountain and a Forest in play and a Putrid Leech in hand. You just can't play it! But if you have a Pillar of the Paruns and a Reflecting Pool, you can play ANY two drop you would like to play.
So now people will play a lot of 4 or 5 color decks WITHOUT having the fear of getting mana screwed.
I didn't play in the third Kaleidoscope event but tested for it (did it fire by the way?). I saw some very good 5 color aggro decks, some 5 color mid range decks that were playing ALL the best cards available in the format. That happened after the departure of Anathemancer.
We will see the biggest change in the format after Onslaught fetchlands rotate out actually. They are the key for some of the real fast aggro decks and the key to having gigantic Knight of the Reliquarys. Most probably with the fetchlands, Knight of the Reliquary and decks that rely on it will rotate out from the format as well.
Thank you and keep it up! I never cared for the Ancients rare much until I see how you played it. 5/x + 5 damage is a nice play (pseudo-cascade?). And I agree with the other posters - keep the high-level of analysis and go to every other week. I will look forward to them!
Nice article. It was a nice glance at the meta and gave me some good information. I'm interested in cobbling together a decent kaleidoscope deck as it seems possible to do so for a reasonable price. If anything, I felt like it was missing a definitive opinion on what's dominating the format, but with such a small sample size doing so probably would have been premature. Thanks for a good read.
Based on one of your previous articles about how format warping Anathemancer is, I'm wondering how different you think the metagame will be Post-Anathemancer?
Yeah, your columns are currently the perfect package of limited coverage and analysis. Breaking this up in any way will be a disappointment. For that reason, I'd urge you to just write less often but keep the same depth to your articles.
The 3rd event did fire and we had 32 players suggesting that Anathamancer was keeping a few people from the format. Naya and Jund aggro continue to dominate and Putrid Leech has become a Jund mainstay. I did see more counterspells this time but Necrogenesis is cheap enough to get in around counters and tends to dominate the game. It also helps vs persist and those unpleasant occasions when you finally manage to kill Oversoul of Dusk and they just Naya Charm it back. Life gain has proven to be very popular, I saw a lot more Loxodon Hierarchs this time around and even a Mycoid Shepherd. Centaur Safeguard may be next. I got top 4 again and lost a close 3rd game to double Lightning Helix. Maybe I'll keep better track of my matches next time and submit a report to this site.
More of the great stuff that has me coming back every week.
Re: your question at the end. I would prefer to have it in the same format and weekly still please, kthanks. JK obviously, seriously though, I really like the format how it is and wouldn't hate it if it was bi-weekly as long as I could get the same coverage.
comments on your picks:
Bone Splinters is pretty good, although it would have been awful in this deck, color considerations aside. Make sure you don't overlook it though.
Matca Rioters were awesome in CCC when everyone was 5 color, but they aren't anymore unless you are 5c imo. Not saying they aren't ~solid, but they aren't really that good.
Rupture Spire- I would have taken that one over the Rioters. My mentality was that you could NOT run one of the Spheres in that case. However I think you may have been correct after all. I don't like running Sphere unless I really have to, but with your deck being pretty mana hungry, consistently hitting land drops turn after turn is good. Interestingly it also was your biggest concern in most games, cause you had to use most of turn 2 and the next on it. Thoughts?
Keep up the good work!
Once again, great article. I'm kinda bummed to hear that you're taking a "break". You are, by far, the best writer on Pure. I like the idea you submitted too though. Having others send in "what's the play" scenarios seems like a cool idea too. You could just sift through the bad/good ones and put them up for us to discuss. Maybe that would be better suited for the forums though, I don't know.
About the draft. I can't believe how many 5 power creatures came your way, and really good ones too. I'm a huge fan of Rakeclaw, and Slinger is a bomb in Naya in cases I've come across it. I'm sitting here thinking that your deck looks almost good enough for 40 card constructed man. lol Good job!
Doesn't have to be weekly. I love these articles. They are fantastic.
Doesn't have to be weekly. I love these articles. They are fantastic.
i don't get the point of your comment motu.
There. Now when the article is tweaked as far as it goes im back to playing/tweaking the deck again ^^
As a casual prismatic player I and some others think all the hybrid cards made it way to easy to play monocolored (or close to monocolored) decks. This seems to me to go against what the format is all about. I would like to see some type of deck construction rule change that would keep the format more multicolored, which is what it was all about before the advent of hybrid cards.
-mullaccm
food for thought ... i picked up a nemesis and then 3 funerals in SH/CON/ARB 2 weeks ago. That's when mind funeral can work
I forgot to explicitly call out the lack of M10 play-changers, but as you point out, there were none that I saw in any of the games. I had Cylian Sunsinger and Colossal Might (which never showed up!) to make it potentially relevant for me, and Magma Spray and Fiery Fall as instant-speed burn that could potentially make it matter for my opponent. That makes 12 straight limited matches with no M10 combat impact for me personally, and I play a lot of pump.
Good call.
WAT worked out for me, but you are right, it put on a best-case showing. I can't call it a bomby strategy or anything, but I'm glad I had a spot to give it a try. I ran 7 five-power creatures to make it work, which feels roughly like the quantity you are going to want to have for it, and that is really the major problem: it's a five-drop that wants 7+ *other* five drops in your deck to be happy, and that is going to make for a tough curve, and a tough match against any kind of quality Esper builds or aggro decks.
Accordingly, Valley Rannets and, if you are in or splashing for black, Igneous Pouncers seem great for it because of their dual function as a two drop. I had also been hoping for one or two Wild Leotaus in Conflux to give me some five-powered four drops.
If I find myself with an early Ancients pick that makes sense in the future, I will put a higher value on Druid of the Anima and Trace of Abundance, and to a lesser extent, Obelisks, Sunseed Nurturer and Exuberant Firestoker. Acceleration seems critical in a deck sporting 8+ cards at 5cc or above.
Keep up the good work, I always enjoy this column
Oh, also...you ask why he discarded Captured Sunlight in Game one of match one. Well, last time I checked that card cost Green Mana, which he didnt have since you punked his Obelisk of Bant.
-M
Yeah, I like your current style but do what is good for you. These are probably the best draft walkthoughs, barring play by play recordings, I've seen ever.
I missed the comment about M10 rules not affecting any games. I even re-read the article to see if I missed it. heh. This deck even had the potential to make it happen with the Cyclian elf guy but it doesnt look like it did.
On the draft the only pick I really disagreed with was pack 3 pick 6. Just seemed like your deck wanted a 2-drop 3/2 guy over the mediocre 5/4 exalted guy. Got kinda lucky to have one wheel for you so it didnt affect the final deck but could have if the other players had taken the guy you got pack three pick 11.
Also a comment on Where Ancients Tread...This is the best case use of the card. I have drafted that card a number of times and every time I ended up playing it the card was never as good as in these games. The deck I drafted was very similar to this one also. However, that was before Shards with the extra land cycling 5-power guys so mabye its quite a bit better now...dunno.
-M
ty again
For FoW: The reason there are no or few Blue control decks on classic is that you have to play FoW, which mean you have to pay 250 tix, on a good day, for four cards. 200 more that 4 goyfs or earthcrafts. and atleast 100 more than mox diamonds. i have no problem with there being a "most expensive card" but when you can build an elves deck for about the cost of one FoW. its pretty crazy. if Fow was more in the 30 range like mox and such, i would expect to see the number of blue decks atleast double. From fish/thresh to dreadnought decks to most combos you have to have FoW. The only reason i play zoo in PEs is because of this reason. So yeah if FoW was cheaper i would play them and i think most of the other players would too. But seeing how they wont get to the range they need to be, players will just settle for a cheaper equally powerful non-FoW deck like elves and Loam. Its not a matter of cant play FoW, as most of the good player can get and play them, its just a matter of wont. Think of it this way: 750 for a blue deck, prize is about 3 tix per pack = 1st place finishes in 11 PEs. so about one year just to break even on the initial buy in for the deck. its just not worth it unless all you wanna do is have fun. As for FoW Control decks(countertop) i think it would be a top3 deck, pushing loam out, but not either people play it.
Anonymous
JJonasN on Modo
P.S. i top 8ed a PE with zoo and forgot to put in Nacatls and Bolts... LOL...
Nope nope, not until this weekend! There was a gatherer 'glitch' that spoiled all the reprints, but WotC hasn't released the 'official' list yet, and probably won't until either Friday night or sometime this weekend when the pre-release events are running.
Thanks for the comments.
Kaleidoscope is a format that is played with gold cards only. Basic lands cause inconsistent mana bases and ruin some early plays. You have a Mountain and a Forest in play and a Putrid Leech in hand. You just can't play it! But if you have a Pillar of the Paruns and a Reflecting Pool, you can play ANY two drop you would like to play.
So now people will play a lot of 4 or 5 color decks WITHOUT having the fear of getting mana screwed.
I didn't play in the third Kaleidoscope event but tested for it (did it fire by the way?). I saw some very good 5 color aggro decks, some 5 color mid range decks that were playing ALL the best cards available in the format. That happened after the departure of Anathemancer.
We will see the biggest change in the format after Onslaught fetchlands rotate out actually. They are the key for some of the real fast aggro decks and the key to having gigantic Knight of the Reliquarys. Most probably with the fetchlands, Knight of the Reliquary and decks that rely on it will rotate out from the format as well.
LE
Thank you and keep it up! I never cared for the Ancients rare much until I see how you played it. 5/x + 5 damage is a nice play (pseudo-cascade?). And I agree with the other posters - keep the high-level of analysis and go to every other week. I will look forward to them!
Nice article. It was a nice glance at the meta and gave me some good information. I'm interested in cobbling together a decent kaleidoscope deck as it seems possible to do so for a reasonable price. If anything, I felt like it was missing a definitive opinion on what's dominating the format, but with such a small sample size doing so probably would have been premature. Thanks for a good read.
Based on one of your previous articles about how format warping Anathemancer is, I'm wondering how different you think the metagame will be Post-Anathemancer?
Yeah, your columns are currently the perfect package of limited coverage and analysis. Breaking this up in any way will be a disappointment. For that reason, I'd urge you to just write less often but keep the same depth to your articles.