Although, if I have any qualms, it's that you've fallen into the Magic Trap of looking at the future through the eyes of today. Heh, that would make a good fortune cookie...
Meaning that while you did cover, and cover quite well, what changes will likely come to established archetypes, there are some very powerful cards that just might spawn completely new block decks.
Like the 1UG Draw a card->+1/+1 counter guy. He's Alara's Quirion Dryad, and could be hands down insane, especially with cards like Elvish Visionary and the UG draw a card on damage guy... courier's capsules... etc. He's pretty good with cycling too. In U/G/b you could even run the pulses to kill planeswalkers, I guess, but you could probably figure out other ways of dealing with them as well.
There's a lot of new, powerful cards that don't yet fit into a deck that I could certainly see making some headway into the format. I think.
Fine article. My only disagreement is about your opening claim that the best cards in a block are always at the end. In Kamigawa block, the two best cards were clearly Gifts and Jitte, neither of which were in the last set. In Ravnica block, the best card was probably Dark Confidant, which was in the first set. For Mirrodin, the best cards were Ravager and Skullclamp. Just saying. I agree with you on Goyf. : )
Hi(sorry for my english), I have a problem. In Wizards homepage(in FAQ) I read about activation account. And I read there, they wrote about two ways to activate. First is pay $9.99, and Second is to use activation code wich is add to cards in 9th Edition Core Set. And then I don't get a coupon, but digital version of cards form this deck. By when I tried to create an account, I can't see anywhere, where can I put this code. In their FAQ they write about two ways to activate, but I only see one of them(pay $9.99). It's sick.
I was thinking Phosphorescent Feast in the SB against fast aggro. It's a solid a pretty good deal of life if you're leaving the Primalcrux and Oversoul Maindecked.
Yes, it's vulnerable to decks that focus on getting quick creatures on the board and blasting with direct damage. Land destruction can be especially frustrating because the deck needs a lot of mana to function well.
Nev's Disk and Ved Shackles are huge. In those match-ups, Tez generally plays to search for Shackles. I find myself winning most games against aggro thanks to creatures like Solemn Simulacrum, Man-o'-War, Trinket Mage, Venser and Sower of Temptation. I went back and added Tolaria West because Riptide Laboratory works so well with the Sower and other wizards (as well as Academy Ruins).
Oblivion Stone is a card I've gone back and forth on. It's true that it works well against aggro but I cut it in favor of mana artifacts and more powerful sorceries. The nice thing about playing against aggro is that you just have to survive that initial wave.
Lan D. Ho made T8 of GPKC with CounterSlivers, but did not win the whole thing. He lost to Jon Finkel (playing High Tide) in the quarterfinals. Mark Gordon won that event with Price of Progress RDW.
Seems extremely vulnerable to aggro. I run UW counter control and I still have trouble with dedicated aggro and that's with Shackles, Moat, 6 Wraths, Swords, Condemn, Path to Exile, etc.
How do you handle a quick rush? I see Disk, Shackles, Evacuation, and a couple others. No Oblivion Stone? That can be a nice recurring lock with Academy Ruins.
Not only wasting removal on it - but that you got him so flustered that he used his Magma Spray in it and not on the Drumhunter. Really bad decision on his part. Really funny for you!
My favorite comment to those people! "According to you, I suck pretty bad. But I beat you, so . . ."
Great synopsis. Love that you show the profitability of these drafts.
-25 packs and 76 tickets for 7 QP (ignoring the refund coupons, which I dont know what they are worth). That makes the QP quite expensive for drafting, unless youre very good and lucky to boot.
Do you have a summary of what the product was worth that you pulled out of the packs? Seems like a lot of work but in the 30 drafts what is approximately the value of the cards you got? Are you close to even?
Great article Whiffy. Always look forward to reading about the updates on the classic scene. I have been running the cephalid breakfast deck & loving it. I will have to take the druid hermit version for a spin & see how it matches up to the CB.
I luckily opened 3 dream halls that have been sitting around, so i may try that conflux deck out as well.
Thanks again.
Montolio
Nice job so far. The first week I was playing drafts to try to get QPs but than I decided to play T2 because it's easier to go infinite with constructed, it takes less time and it's actually easier to win.
Goblin Mountaineer is nice in those red mirrors if you play it first turn. But it's better if you also have a few exalted guys. Godtoucher however I've never seen it being played.
About refunds: don't be afraid to ask for them. If you are right they'll always give it to you. Even for 5 dollars I think it's worth it because it's fast and you can do it while waiting for a queue to fire or between rounds. I've even had refunds from stuff I was 90% I wouldn't get but I still tried and I got them. I've only been denied a refund twice: once because it was a rules misunderstanding by my part and I thought it was a bug and the second one was a misclick I didn't notice so I thought it was a bug too.
they said they were going to keep nixpax for the sets draftlife. Unfortunately its really boring to draft which means the cards will be very rare. Not a good strategy i would think, but maybe wotc has data that says otherwise.
But online, I'm always meeting Esper, Naya, or 5-color in the finals. When I reach the finals, no one is ever grixis. I did do about 25 AAC online, and that is the conclusion I reached.
And while I know there are partial comps, frankly I felt the time would be better spent playing than filling out forms for $5, especially when I wasn't sure if customer service would honor requests if I went totally overboard on coupons, no matter how legit.
Thanks for your comments, even if I don't agree with them.
Fantastic article, as always!
Although, if I have any qualms, it's that you've fallen into the Magic Trap of looking at the future through the eyes of today. Heh, that would make a good fortune cookie...
Meaning that while you did cover, and cover quite well, what changes will likely come to established archetypes, there are some very powerful cards that just might spawn completely new block decks.
Like the 1UG Draw a card->+1/+1 counter guy. He's Alara's Quirion Dryad, and could be hands down insane, especially with cards like Elvish Visionary and the UG draw a card on damage guy... courier's capsules... etc. He's pretty good with cycling too. In U/G/b you could even run the pulses to kill planeswalkers, I guess, but you could probably figure out other ways of dealing with them as well.
There's a lot of new, powerful cards that don't yet fit into a deck that I could certainly see making some headway into the format. I think.
Fine article. My only disagreement is about your opening claim that the best cards in a block are always at the end. In Kamigawa block, the two best cards were clearly Gifts and Jitte, neither of which were in the last set. In Ravnica block, the best card was probably Dark Confidant, which was in the first set. For Mirrodin, the best cards were Ravager and Skullclamp. Just saying. I agree with you on Goyf. : )
Hi(sorry for my english), I have a problem. In Wizards homepage(in FAQ) I read about activation account. And I read there, they wrote about two ways to activate. First is pay $9.99, and Second is to use activation code wich is add to cards in 9th Edition Core Set. And then I don't get a coupon, but digital version of cards form this deck. By when I tried to create an account, I can't see anywhere, where can I put this code. In their FAQ they write about two ways to activate, but I only see one of them(pay $9.99). It's sick.
Please help me.
Another great article for the format. Keep them coming, they are my primary source of information and refference.
Yes. Also thank you.
No, I hadn't even thought of Panoptic Mirror! I'm going to put it in and give it a try.
I was thinking Phosphorescent Feast in the SB against fast aggro. It's a solid a pretty good deal of life if you're leaving the Primalcrux and Oversoul Maindecked.
Did you consider trying Panoptic Mirror?
congratulations for this awesome article, simply a must to be rade.
Yes, it's vulnerable to decks that focus on getting quick creatures on the board and blasting with direct damage. Land destruction can be especially frustrating because the deck needs a lot of mana to function well.
Nev's Disk and Ved Shackles are huge. In those match-ups, Tez generally plays to search for Shackles. I find myself winning most games against aggro thanks to creatures like Solemn Simulacrum, Man-o'-War, Trinket Mage, Venser and Sower of Temptation. I went back and added Tolaria West because Riptide Laboratory works so well with the Sower and other wizards (as well as Academy Ruins).
Oblivion Stone is a card I've gone back and forth on. It's true that it works well against aggro but I cut it in favor of mana artifacts and more powerful sorceries. The nice thing about playing against aggro is that you just have to survive that initial wave.
Yes, I meant Sapphire Medallion.
Lan D. Ho made T8 of GPKC with CounterSlivers, but did not win the whole thing. He lost to Jon Finkel (playing High Tide) in the quarterfinals. Mark Gordon won that event with Price of Progress RDW.
Seems extremely vulnerable to aggro. I run UW counter control and I still have trouble with dedicated aggro and that's with Shackles, Moat, 6 Wraths, Swords, Condemn, Path to Exile, etc.
How do you handle a quick rush? I see Disk, Shackles, Evacuation, and a couple others. No Oblivion Stone? That can be a nice recurring lock with Academy Ruins.
Not only wasting removal on it - but that you got him so flustered that he used his Magma Spray in it and not on the Drumhunter. Really bad decision on his part. Really funny for you!
My favorite comment to those people! "According to you, I suck pretty bad. But I beat you, so . . ."
The deck looks fun, I will have to take it out for a spin, again and again.
re: anon, i'm sure he meant sapphire.
Not emerald medallion?
Unless I'm missing something.
Part three will answer that question. It will have a value summary that includes the better rares/singles I pulled.
Great synopsis. Love that you show the profitability of these drafts.
-25 packs and 76 tickets for 7 QP (ignoring the refund coupons, which I dont know what they are worth). That makes the QP quite expensive for drafting, unless youre very good and lucky to boot.
Do you have a summary of what the product was worth that you pulled out of the packs? Seems like a lot of work but in the 30 drafts what is approximately the value of the cards you got? Are you close to even?
-M
total bug with the aqua, i tanked a draft when i morphed it into 5/1 and poof! it dissapeared, refund link plz
Classic has become too expensive for me to get back into... thanks wizards.. I hope the forced scarcity makes you money...
Great article Whiffy. Always look forward to reading about the updates on the classic scene. I have been running the cephalid breakfast deck & loving it. I will have to take the druid hermit version for a spin & see how it matches up to the CB.
I luckily opened 3 dream halls that have been sitting around, so i may try that conflux deck out as well.
Thanks again.
Montolio
Nice job so far. The first week I was playing drafts to try to get QPs but than I decided to play T2 because it's easier to go infinite with constructed, it takes less time and it's actually easier to win.
Goblin Mountaineer is nice in those red mirrors if you play it first turn. But it's better if you also have a few exalted guys. Godtoucher however I've never seen it being played.
About refunds: don't be afraid to ask for them. If you are right they'll always give it to you. Even for 5 dollars I think it's worth it because it's fast and you can do it while waiting for a queue to fire or between rounds. I've even had refunds from stuff I was 90% I wouldn't get but I still tried and I got them. I've only been denied a refund twice: once because it was a rules misunderstanding by my part and I thought it was a bug and the second one was a misclick I didn't notice so I thought it was a bug too.
they said they were going to keep nixpax for the sets draftlife. Unfortunately its really boring to draft which means the cards will be very rare. Not a good strategy i would think, but maybe wotc has data that says otherwise.
Yes, really. It's dumb. I don't know what they're thinking.
The only way this could make even a shred of sense, is if they keep the nix-pax limited events running through 2011. But even then, wtf is going on?
But online, I'm always meeting Esper, Naya, or 5-color in the finals. When I reach the finals, no one is ever grixis. I did do about 25 AAC online, and that is the conclusion I reached.
And while I know there are partial comps, frankly I felt the time would be better spent playing than filling out forms for $5, especially when I wasn't sure if customer service would honor requests if I went totally overboard on coupons, no matter how legit.
Thanks for your comments, even if I don't agree with them.