this article smells the perfection ... wow, awesome work andrea, really awesome !
your draft is really solid also. Just 2 questions :
P2P2 : i agree that the triland would have been the best pick. But supposing you dont take it, wouldnt be capsule a good pick also ? Blood c. is pretty nice, but capsule is really helpful. Isnt it ?
P3P11 : here i would probably have choosen kathari (you already have picked suicidal charge). To me this like creature is a pretty solid defender, plus it is a flyer.
Great sum of the month you've been away. Congratz on winning a place on PT honululu, hope u do well on that one!
Good mix of themes, as you talk standart, block and draft on the same article
thumbs up
BTW, LSV is right, kathari is an awsome card, if you get it online, it always calls them to destroy him, as single-handedly he WILL keep their creatures at bay (one exception is if they have a first striker, in that case it's only a 1 for 1)
I'm a big fan of Zur myself. Back when he was in standard, I had a lot of fun with a deck I built around him. I even have a very old article here somewhere on puremtgo about him.
And a friendly criticism: As someone mentioned before me, you need to hit ENTER more often when writing. Shorter paragraphs are easier for the eyes. Especially those two very big "walls of text" at the beginning are not looking good.
Whilst I understand how people are feeling about the pre-release and it's effect on standard I'm not sure that I really buy the argument of... "A tournament where certain players have access to cards that others have no way of obtaining is not a level playing field."
Now that sttement is pretty much 100% accurate. It is not a level playing field unless everyone has a full playset of everything. That's a fact. However lets be a little more realistic about this. What you are really saying is that for the deck you want to play you will be missing the best cards IF those cards come from 'reborn'.
To be honest everyone has the same chance of obtaining those cards. There is no selection process going on about who can play in the pre-release other than the most basic one of available money. I do accept that many people will be in a position where $30 is above what they can (or want) to spend on a pre-release. However this is really no different from the situation many players (and I'm certainly one) find themselves in all the time. They (I) do not have the ability to build some decks because of the price of the cards that go in them. I like the classic format a lot but I can't really play much other than casual. I certainly can't play blue with all the best cards due to the cost of Force of Will. I can't play Zoo very well because of the cost of all the dual lands and Goyf. There is a long list of decks I can't build with all the best cards. I play goblins and support the black splash with Auntie's hovel rather than Badlands. It's the effect on the 'game' that the 'collectable' portion of it will always have.
If you want a totally level playing field then you need to look at things like Chess, Bridge, or even kitchen table Magic with proxies. you will never get it in online Magic.
Great article. Just wanted to say that the 5kRM tournament should not be looked at with too much weight cos despite the payout and the name, it din get more than 20 plus people from what I heard.
I just read your article on the other site. I have made several posts to that thread you cited on the MTGO forums, and I noticed you did not cite any of my posts. I believe you picked the weakest of the arguments among the very vocal anti pre-release crowd and chose to reply to them in a place that you cannot be rebutted. Why not post your arguments on the original forum?
I will not be playing constructed Magic this weekend because I have no way of obtaining the cards I need to compete. There are other formats than standard, and there are rare / epic cards that will be staples in some tournament decks. A tournament where certain players have access to cards that others have no way of obtaining is not a level playing field.
I did post that argument - roughly 4k words worth. It's on another site. Goggle Yawgmoth's Whimsy #275.
The really, really big cards are Zealous Inquisition and another Zealous Inquisition. "Both" uncommons. Should be no problem to get, if you really need them.
Reason - BW tokens is tearing up the PTQ season. ZI is great in that deck - so play it or play something to beat that deck.
As for getting it - Alara Reborn has 40 uncommons. 144+ foils will be opened every prerelease. I expect a lot of prereleases to be played, and a lot of the players to sell their cards. Go buy some - or just scan the PTQ T8 lists for some of the decks that don't use Reborn cards.
"The place to start looking, of course, is in the rares. You are looking for bombs - but, when I am doing it, I am also looking for constructed playables"
I admit that 'Sort by Rarity' is often the first thing I do when I've opened a sealed pool on MTGO but after close to 100 2-man ACR Sealed tournaments on the beta server, I now look at what lands I have, first and foremost, hoping for 4-5 Panorama/Ruptured Spires/Tri-lands. Due mostly to:
"The format appears to punish mana screw badly, so build your decks accordingly."
I have found when I have the ample manafixing and can go domain-ish, I generally do very well because my quality of spells are going to trump my opponents due to the fact that I won't have mana restrictions on what I can play. When I have 0-2 manafixing lands and am generally restricted in what colors/spells I can play, my outcome generally isn't as good.
I think the point is in order to get the same access, you have to shell out $30 and the secondary market on the first weekend will be highly inflated for those cards.
That said, I don't see the issue. If I shell out the $30, I get 3 packs of new cards. It's not like I'm going to be able to build some format warping deck with 45 cards.
I tried Orzhov Pontiff as a way to combat Stillmoon Cavaliers in the Mirror, but it doesn't work out that well, in most cases you'd rather just have another Stillmoon of your own for 3 mana. Also Castigate and Scullers give you some limited protection against planeswalkers and protection creatures. After Alara Reborn comes out, Zealous Persecution will be the key sideboard card for the Mirror match as it kills Stillmoons, Nips, and Mimics all for 2 mana, and it's an instant.
> the BW deck is the deck i am running since 2 weeks and i like it too much. Zur is one of my favorite card and i tried many time to play it in classic also. So the MatchUp are very interesting to me, and i could compare with my deck result (my build is pretty close to yours). But there are some major weakness in BW : protection from B&W (miror with stillmoon against you is a real nightmare) & planeswalkers (to not have any cards to deal with could be a problem imho). In response to these weakness, i often SB hit/run with good results (with the rainbow land, getting 1 red mana isnt so harmful). About planeswalker, i am currently trying to SB pure/simple with honorable (but not great) results... There are probably better solutions anyway.
> the matches looks really good : it is simple, and enjoyable to read.
this article smells the perfection ... wow, awesome work andrea, really awesome !
your draft is really solid also. Just 2 questions :
P2P2 : i agree that the triland would have been the best pick. But supposing you dont take it, wouldnt be capsule a good pick also ? Blood c. is pretty nice, but capsule is really helpful. Isnt it ?
P3P11 : here i would probably have choosen kathari (you already have picked suicidal charge). To me this like creature is a pretty solid defender, plus it is a flyer.
gg & GL for the PT, i wish you the victory :)
+1 for removing the promos
I agree.
A regular reader's request: Please remove those promo cards from your charts completely. Just continue with the regular versions.
LE
I think you should to remove promos from your rankigs. They are messing the whole thing.
Very good.
Like all your articles. I'm waiting for the next one.
Great sum of the month you've been away. Congratz on winning a place on PT honululu, hope u do well on that one!
Good mix of themes, as you talk standart, block and draft on the same article
thumbs up
BTW, LSV is right, kathari is an awsome card, if you get it online, it always calls them to destroy him, as single-handedly he WILL keep their creatures at bay (one exception is if they have a first striker, in that case it's only a 1 for 1)
Oh yes the Smell. I have only been twice in prerelease and the 1st time I made a mistake of telling my wife where it is.
She showed up and went red and left in less than 2 seconds. She called me and asked how can I be there?
Oh the smell.
I'm a big fan of Zur myself. Back when he was in standard, I had a lot of fun with a deck I built around him. I even have a very old article here somewhere on puremtgo about him.
And a friendly criticism: As someone mentioned before me, you need to hit ENTER more often when writing. Shorter paragraphs are easier for the eyes. Especially those two very big "walls of text" at the beginning are not looking good.
LE
Whilst I understand how people are feeling about the pre-release and it's effect on standard I'm not sure that I really buy the argument of... "A tournament where certain players have access to cards that others have no way of obtaining is not a level playing field."
Now that sttement is pretty much 100% accurate. It is not a level playing field unless everyone has a full playset of everything. That's a fact. However lets be a little more realistic about this. What you are really saying is that for the deck you want to play you will be missing the best cards IF those cards come from 'reborn'.
To be honest everyone has the same chance of obtaining those cards. There is no selection process going on about who can play in the pre-release other than the most basic one of available money. I do accept that many people will be in a position where $30 is above what they can (or want) to spend on a pre-release. However this is really no different from the situation many players (and I'm certainly one) find themselves in all the time. They (I) do not have the ability to build some decks because of the price of the cards that go in them. I like the classic format a lot but I can't really play much other than casual. I certainly can't play blue with all the best cards due to the cost of Force of Will. I can't play Zoo very well because of the cost of all the dual lands and Goyf. There is a long list of decks I can't build with all the best cards. I play goblins and support the black splash with Auntie's hovel rather than Badlands. It's the effect on the 'game' that the 'collectable' portion of it will always have.
If you want a totally level playing field then you need to look at things like Chess, Bridge, or even kitchen table Magic with proxies. you will never get it in online Magic.
Great article. Just wanted to say that the 5kRM tournament should not be looked at with too much weight cos despite the payout and the name, it din get more than 20 plus people from what I heard.
Loved seeing 2.5 articles in one.
well, that\'s a 2-man. good luck stumbling on what you need in a pre-release flight.
I just read your article on the other site. I have made several posts to that thread you cited on the MTGO forums, and I noticed you did not cite any of my posts. I believe you picked the weakest of the arguments among the very vocal anti pre-release crowd and chose to reply to them in a place that you cannot be rebutted. Why not post your arguments on the original forum?
I will not be playing constructed Magic this weekend because I have no way of obtaining the cards I need to compete. There are other formats than standard, and there are rare / epic cards that will be staples in some tournament decks. A tournament where certain players have access to cards that others have no way of obtaining is not a level playing field.
Taking this baby to regionals.
added 1xQuillspike for the fun factor.
kept 2 Pithing Needles in the board
Good luck to everyone,
I have a feeling I'm gonna get rocked...
I'll be seeing black and white...
I did post that argument - roughly 4k words worth. It's on another site. Goggle Yawgmoth's Whimsy #275.
The really, really big cards are Zealous Inquisition and another Zealous Inquisition. "Both" uncommons. Should be no problem to get, if you really need them.
Reason - BW tokens is tearing up the PTQ season. ZI is great in that deck - so play it or play something to beat that deck.
As for getting it - Alara Reborn has 40 uncommons. 144+ foils will be opened every prerelease. I expect a lot of prereleases to be played, and a lot of the players to sell their cards. Go buy some - or just scan the PTQ T8 lists for some of the decks that don't use Reborn cards.
"The place to start looking, of course, is in the rares. You are looking for bombs - but, when I am doing it, I am also looking for constructed playables"
I admit that 'Sort by Rarity' is often the first thing I do when I've opened a sealed pool on MTGO but after close to 100 2-man ACR Sealed tournaments on the beta server, I now look at what lands I have, first and foremost, hoping for 4-5 Panorama/Ruptured Spires/Tri-lands. Due mostly to:
"The format appears to punish mana screw badly, so build your decks accordingly."
I have found when I have the ample manafixing and can go domain-ish, I generally do very well because my quality of spells are going to trump my opponents due to the fact that I won't have mana restrictions on what I can play. When I have 0-2 manafixing lands and am generally restricted in what colors/spells I can play, my outcome generally isn't as good.
Lands > Rares in this block!!
I think the point is in order to get the same access, you have to shell out $30 and the secondary market on the first weekend will be highly inflated for those cards.
That said, I don't see the issue. If I shell out the $30, I get 3 packs of new cards. It's not like I'm going to be able to build some format warping deck with 45 cards.
against*
I play esperlark and i was wondering why you have no stillmoon cavalier in your deck it is very very very good agains almost any deck (-RDW)
I would like to add to that: dont draft while you are drinking. You make bad, bad choices.
Grats on the placement.
BR Husk was always a favorite of mine. I ran it a lot in TPDC 7.x. It was definately a deck that you have to know your math with.
Hopefully your next run will be more successful.
Yes, if you check my decklist, there is one copy in the main deck
did you try Steel of the Godhead ? Even in classic i am running it with Zur : a 3/5 flying, lifelink & unblockable Zur is really nice :)
I tried Orzhov Pontiff as a way to combat Stillmoon Cavaliers in the Mirror, but it doesn't work out that well, in most cases you'd rather just have another Stillmoon of your own for 3 mana. Also Castigate and Scullers give you some limited protection against planeswalkers and protection creatures. After Alara Reborn comes out, Zealous Persecution will be the key sideboard card for the Mirror match as it kills Stillmoons, Nips, and Mimics all for 2 mana, and it's an instant.
I really enjoyed this article for 2 reasons :
> the BW deck is the deck i am running since 2 weeks and i like it too much. Zur is one of my favorite card and i tried many time to play it in classic also. So the MatchUp are very interesting to me, and i could compare with my deck result (my build is pretty close to yours). But there are some major weakness in BW : protection from B&W (miror with stillmoon against you is a real nightmare) & planeswalkers (to not have any cards to deal with could be a problem imho). In response to these weakness, i often SB hit/run with good results (with the rainbow land, getting 1 red mana isnt so harmful). About planeswalker, i am currently trying to SB pure/simple with honorable (but not great) results... There are probably better solutions anyway.
> the matches looks really good : it is simple, and enjoyable to read.
Waiting the next article, gl & hf :)
The prerelease events run for 29 hours Friday night and pretty much all of Saturday and they are open to everyone.
Why do people keep saying they don't have access to the cards? Sounds like everyone has the SAME access.