2 of the sideboard are incomplete. Forests and Factories are not grouped under lands, and a number of cards are not linked. The zoo deck is not formatted at all. Why not list the techy folk deck rather than linking to it?
I am not sure I agree that ANT is more played than Necro and I dont think I like the reasoning with cost - sure any deck would be cheaper if you cut the expensive cards.
Overall I like the message of this article, in that classic is beginning to grow up and the metagame is becoming slighlty more defined.
The real mistake began with p1p3 by dismissing Branching bolt...you could have a pretty good naya deck.
Your mistake is clearly by choosing your archetype with the second pick. And the bolt is also better than your bone splinters and you would still be open for various archetypes. Dont choose your shard too early.
..find a way to identify official quotes visually, like a colored background or a different text color ?
And the price tables could need some layout improvements too, imho. You will be using them every week so that should be some time worth invested.
Wow, I didn't know there were so many decent card choices out there. I missed Odyssey-Ravnica so I never knew Suppression Field existed.
Children of Korlis seems like a good idea. It basically says "W, 1/1, sac this permanent to gain 10 life". And that should either make it easier for them to fizzle or cause them to wait longer to combo off. Although, against Grapeshot, the first Grapeshot will ping it, then the next 20 will be aimed at you. And I am SO MAD that Angel's Grace is a failure because they'll never revisit split second. An uncounterable spell that says "Counter target one big turn" would be nice at a cost lower than 4UU.
Stopspell and discard for me. :) I like your articles because I think fears of Counterbalance/Top and storm are discouraging people from trying classic. By showing people how to play around storm you're making it seem not so hopeless. (Of course, Classic still suffers from expensive staples. Countertop isn't the biggest problem.)
Yea. This is pretty terrible in my opinion. Elspeth is definitely a bomb, but forcing esper based soley on a bone splinters (which is marginal in esper) is silly. By pack 2 you've simply gone crazy.
The confusion stems from the fact that the cards that link in the price charts are not to the promos, so people think it's regular versions going up. Not sure if this is something you can remedy or not.
i like the article indeed. point though, i dont think if i sold out my cards i would get what you are stating, i mean people are paying 1 for a terror? and not the promo one??
My Stronghold release participation was lower than any Classic set ever and I have no desire to keep up with Stronghold. I'll probably try to get some good stuff out of MED3, but really, there's not a lot pulling me to Classic right now... not when Block and Standard are quite a fun experience and have a lot less costs...
About Classic stuff, some of the staples of the formats are just too expensive for even people interested in classic to get into. You have to drop at least 500 dollars to get a deck that isn't "budget" or "random" .. Putting dual lands into a bigger MED set was a mistake IMO.
I don't know, I like classic, its just a lot of work to keep up with it ( you get an extra 3 sets ontop of all the other MTGO releases a year) its just hard for even diehards to keep up when there are release events every month.
Not to be a nitpicker, but I believe you are referring to the new Cascade mechanic, and not exalted. As always, thanks for your hard work and insight, Hammy.
The most fun I ever had in draft (although I only made it to the second round of a 4-3-2-2) was a BRW deck. I don't remember what was in the deck, but I know I had a lot of removal, a couple Shambling Remains, and a Bull Cerodon. I think the deck ended up getting destroyed by an Esper deck.
"The breakout of the week? Hypergenesis As folks drive its price up on the speculation of it being worth more in the next Extended world where you can hit it off a turn 2/3 exalted trigger and dump a handfull of faties into play. In theory, of course. Will it shake out? Who knows, but it's a pretty awesome mix, that's for sure."
It's being tested as an Extended combo card with the new Exalted Mechanic. If testing proves good, it might go up further, or it might falter.
But you're looking at dropping a turn 3 proggy, and akroma, and simic sky-swallower ... whatever else you have in hand at the time it resolves.
2 of the sideboard are incomplete. Forests and Factories are not grouped under lands, and a number of cards are not linked. The zoo deck is not formatted at all. Why not list the techy folk deck rather than linking to it?
I am not sure I agree that ANT is more played than Necro and I dont think I like the reasoning with cost - sure any deck would be cheaper if you cut the expensive cards.
Overall I like the message of this article, in that classic is beginning to grow up and the metagame is becoming slighlty more defined.
Good Job Sir.
very interesting article
just about "menage a troi" you should write it "menage a trois" ;)
While we're on the subject, make your excel plots prettier. Or just send them to me and I'll take care of them.
The real mistake began with p1p3 by dismissing Branching bolt...you could have a pretty good naya deck.
Your mistake is clearly by choosing your archetype with the second pick. And the bolt is also better than your bone splinters and you would still be open for various archetypes. Dont choose your shard too early.
Fun deck! I played a few rounds with it in the casual room and had a blast. It's not everyday you get to take people out with poison counters!
Do you have any other old block decks that you've changed to fit other formats?
..you just don't like me or my combo deck. :/
..find a way to identify official quotes visually, like a colored background or a different text color ?
And the price tables could need some layout improvements too, imho. You will be using them every week so that should be some time worth invested.
Wow, I didn't know there were so many decent card choices out there. I missed Odyssey-Ravnica so I never knew Suppression Field existed.
Children of Korlis seems like a good idea. It basically says "W, 1/1, sac this permanent to gain 10 life". And that should either make it easier for them to fizzle or cause them to wait longer to combo off. Although, against Grapeshot, the first Grapeshot will ping it, then the next 20 will be aimed at you. And I am SO MAD that Angel's Grace is a failure because they'll never revisit split second. An uncounterable spell that says "Counter target one big turn" would be nice at a cost lower than 4UU.
Stopspell and discard for me. :) I like your articles because I think fears of Counterbalance/Top and storm are discouraging people from trying classic. By showing people how to play around storm you're making it seem not so hopeless. (Of course, Classic still suffers from expensive staples. Countertop isn't the biggest problem.)
Yea. This is pretty terrible in my opinion. Elspeth is definitely a bomb, but forcing esper based soley on a bone splinters (which is marginal in esper) is silly. By pack 2 you've simply gone crazy.
The confusion stems from the fact that the cards that link in the price charts are not to the promos, so people think it's regular versions going up. Not sure if this is something you can remedy or not.
"Anyway... looking at the data this week we see the promo cards have been surging quite nicely (Terror, Helix, Force Spike, etc)."
The Helix, Spike, and Terror that went up were the Promo versions. :)
That was a lot more eloquent than what I was going to type: That idea dumber than Paris Hilton while high on prescription painkillers.
i like the article indeed. point though, i dont think if i sold out my cards i would get what you are stating, i mean people are paying 1 for a terror? and not the promo one??
Restore Balance was my first thought as well, as with a planeswalker it seems easy to really mess up the whole balance of the card.
Either way, I think those Cascade cards are going to be a lot of fun... somewhere. :)
Yep, I'm in the same boat as you, more or less.
My Stronghold release participation was lower than any Classic set ever and I have no desire to keep up with Stronghold. I'll probably try to get some good stuff out of MED3, but really, there's not a lot pulling me to Classic right now... not when Block and Standard are quite a fun experience and have a lot less costs...
and I tought people would just try and break restore balance since it isn't symetrical :)
About Classic stuff, some of the staples of the formats are just too expensive for even people interested in classic to get into. You have to drop at least 500 dollars to get a deck that isn't "budget" or "random" .. Putting dual lands into a bigger MED set was a mistake IMO.
I don't know, I like classic, its just a lot of work to keep up with it ( you get an extra 3 sets ontop of all the other MTGO releases a year) its just hard for even diehards to keep up when there are release events every month.
I played in a 4 player draft last night. It is different. But Ive been sitting here for like an hour, and no one has joined. Maybe its just too early?
look up ^^
You're four minutes too late to mock me! :p
New exalted mechanic????
Do you mean Cascade?
you don't know how to draft :(
whats with that gassy pack where u take visionary? terrible... id be ashamed to post this if i were you
Bah! You're right! :) I was thinking of the Exalted granting Cascade spell when I was typing and transposed the keywords. :p
Not to be a nitpicker, but I believe you are referring to the new Cascade mechanic, and not exalted. As always, thanks for your hard work and insight, Hammy.
The most fun I ever had in draft (although I only made it to the second round of a 4-3-2-2) was a BRW deck. I don't remember what was in the deck, but I know I had a lot of removal, a couple Shambling Remains, and a Bull Cerodon. I think the deck ended up getting destroyed by an Esper deck.
"The breakout of the week? Hypergenesis As folks drive its price up on the speculation of it being worth more in the next Extended world where you can hit it off a turn 2/3 exalted trigger and dump a handfull of faties into play. In theory, of course. Will it shake out? Who knows, but it's a pretty awesome mix, that's for sure."
It's being tested as an Extended combo card with the new Exalted Mechanic. If testing proves good, it might go up further, or it might falter.
But you're looking at dropping a turn 3 proggy, and akroma, and simic sky-swallower ... whatever else you have in hand at the time it resolves.