The only reason i see to explain why seal, dtutor & vtutor are restricted and DC isnt is flash decks : flash being restricted, the only way to play flash is to tutorize your deck enough to find it. So any full playset of universal tutor is broken in this case. but DC is too risky to be ran in flash (if flash is removed from the game because of a bad DC, the game is over). If the other combo's win conditions were restricted (brain freeze, tendrils, and some other), DC would not be broken. But if you are running a full playset of win conditions, DC is clearly broken to my eyes. That is the case of ANT & Necrospike decks, and almost any other combo deck currently.
I dont think to restrict any combo's win conditions would be good for the meta (it is nice to be able to run either aggro, or combo, or control), but i am convinced that if DC was restricted, the meta would feel better.
the jailer is a good option vs dredge if you are running an aggro deck, but usualy it is not as effective to me as are some other graveyard hate cards (Tormod, Relic, LofV ...). Plus, these others options are much more polyvalent : they are less expansive in mana, and they will help you to deal with recursive agressions (generated by crucible of worlds, academy, eternal witness or many other cards) by removing the cards from the game. This is really useful if your running against thresh engine for example... so jailer is an additional threat for dredge, but underpowered against any other deck, and this is the reason why jailer is not so much played imo.
I do not think classic is healthy. Demonic Consultation is evil. Hard to understand why vampiric/demonic tutor is restricted and consultation isn't. The only problem with Demonic Consultation would be if you try to search for something restricted. So, let's take a look at what combo piece is restricted in classic:
* Flash
* Demonic Tutor
* Imperial Seal
* Mana Crypt
* Vampiric Tutor
Flash? Conclusion: Demonic Consultation will be fueling combo decks in classic until it gets the axe.
i mean sometimes you are so enervated by the lock that you are focusing to destroy the CB or the the Top to quietly go on to play although you could only focus on your opponent ftw ... a countertop is a awesome counter engine but it could never kill you by itself. Even with a full countertop lock on the board, sometimes your opponent wont manage to find his CMC2 or CMC3 spells to counter yours although you are considering your spell as countered for sure... It is different in each situations though. :)
...and as yet the metagame is embryonic. Much of my article output to date has focused more on Tribal Classic, a format without sideboards: I've gotten used to not including them. For the U/G deck, Kitchen Finks would be an option against aggro, Guttural Response against control, Trygon Predator against Esper decks or Teferi's Moat.
Solution #9 is not a real solution : it is a question to well manage priorities in a classic deck. The aim is not to harm to this usual lock, but still to win the game...
Would you say that it is important to present threats regardless of the lock, and not so urgent to destroy the lock? :)
As I have ABSOLUTELY nothing useful to add to the conversation, I can only suggest the following:
Your first decklist has the name of the deck on top and then in small fonts the player(NECRO SPIKE - Prolepsis9). But from there you wrote the name of the player on top and then the deck name in small fonts. And when I was reading I was like "Timthehappy? What a strange deck name. Nofxdarkside2? Those classic decks sure have weird names". Just at Anders_T.deck(!) which was played by Elf Combo(!) I realized that something was not right :)))).
So maybe you should put the name of the deck on top just like you did for Necro Spike and then the player name.
And yeah, this is all I can say about a classic article.
Thank you all for your kind and supportive comments. I am happy with the templating for the article but am still looking to find the right blance. Jacobs I like your suggestion of linking to the sample hands and will implement this next time out.
I am interested to hear others views on the Wake Thrasher - Whiffy you propose a strong counter argument.
L0urs just to clarify the decks listed have made Top 8 in Recent Daily Events - There are no Progenitus or Thresh decks, not because they are not competitive but simply because they did not land the money slots this time out.
I hope replays will be up in client soon as I plan to take the Wisdoms up a notch when they are.
Thanks all for reading and keep the discussion coming.
Loving the articles and focus on the new format. I'm getting quite excited myself. :)
Just wondered what sort of thing is likely to be in the sideboards for the decks, especially the U/G Retrace deck. Have been playing it (as you saw) and loving it. Some comment on the kind of sideboard cards for the format would be useful though.
Well... I like where it is going but to be brutally honest this "here is what I'll be playing" preface to your upcoming tournament reports is fairly uninteresting. However, you should know that I don't play constructed Magic at all. I do enjoy reading thorough tournament reports though, regardless the format, so I'll look forward to your future articles about this.
Great stuff Andy, I like the new format( compared to older wisdoms) and believe this is your best wisdom yet.
Wake thrasher is played for a couple of reasons.
1. It is huge and can rumble with tarmos and stalkers.
2. it has a 3 cc so it dodges snare, and balance for the most part as well as E.E.(since most people want to set it at 2)
3. It may seam a bit "win more" but i can tell you from expereince that against a good opponent or hand some times the game state becomes even and the only thing that can win you the game is the thrasher as he will often be large enough to force bad trades or simply force tarmo to chump block, it also comes down later in the game when your opponent has exhausted their opening slavos of removal.
On the point of merfolk I have been running sower of temptation in my decks and its fantastic. Never have i enjoyed an experimental test more then the 2/2 flying Control Magic.
well, this article is a real exhaustive overview of main powerful decks in the current meta.
Some personnal comments
> Dredge : there are no Street Wraith in these lists. Even if the wraith isnt a decisive card on itself, it also a great tool in dredge : dredge is becoming very powerful when some cards with dredge are the gy, but you usualy have to wait for the next turn to replace your draw by these cards to generate a self mull. But wraithes allow you to do that on the first turn, without mana which is pretty handy most of the time and provides a very nice acceleration in my experience
> Merfolk : the wake trasher could be discussed, that's absolutly true. To me, the aim of the trasher is double : he's a good finisher (pretty powerful on your turn, easly 7/7 or more in merfolk deck) and he's also a rod to any removal (would i remove his lord or his trasher ?). But i agree, it could be replaced.
> Missing decks : it is interesting to observe that there is no Thresh list and no landstill list, which are pretty effective in Legacy irl. Maybe it is because these decks are so famous that it does not need to be presented, maybe they are simply underplayed in our meta. But these deck are still relevant in our meta... There is also one deck underplayed but very good actualy : the blue progenitus (aggro/control based on polymorphing some little creature to cast the progenitus monster in play for free... it has already been deck of the week, and i wont be really surprised to see it in the futher PE...
This article is packed to the max with good information. I particularly enjoy reading about the various deck types played in competitive magic although I myself never make time to play in tourneys due to time constraints.
I have a challenge for you if you want one..... maybe you could add a feature in your next article that allows us to view a sample hand for each deck you post? You can see what I mean by looking at the article that was just posted entitled "Target Rome Part 1." If you could somehow keep your current display format, but add that feature, it would rock Ricky Bobby style.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to compile this work. It is top-notch quality.
I haven't played this format since I built a few decks following the announcement of prizes in this format. So I haven't encountered the arguments/disputes about legality of certain cards. Must be funny, I'd imagine.
I look forward to playing this format in the tournament practice room 4/29 onward. I felt bad crushing players who didn't have Paruns, or sometimes, any rares at all in the casual room.
The only reason i see to explain why seal, dtutor & vtutor are restricted and DC isnt is flash decks : flash being restricted, the only way to play flash is to tutorize your deck enough to find it. So any full playset of universal tutor is broken in this case. but DC is too risky to be ran in flash (if flash is removed from the game because of a bad DC, the game is over). If the other combo's win conditions were restricted (brain freeze, tendrils, and some other), DC would not be broken. But if you are running a full playset of win conditions, DC is clearly broken to my eyes. That is the case of ANT & Necrospike decks, and almost any other combo deck currently.
I dont think to restrict any combo's win conditions would be good for the meta (it is nice to be able to run either aggro, or combo, or control), but i am convinced that if DC was restricted, the meta would feel better.
Btw : 5 decks of the last top 8 were combo, 50% of the top 8 are necro decks ....
(http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/events.aspx?x=mtg/daily/decks/mol3...)
Looking forward to parts 2 and 3.
the jailer is a good option vs dredge if you are running an aggro deck, but usualy it is not as effective to me as are some other graveyard hate cards (Tormod, Relic, LofV ...). Plus, these others options are much more polyvalent : they are less expansive in mana, and they will help you to deal with recursive agressions (generated by crucible of worlds, academy, eternal witness or many other cards) by removing the cards from the game. This is really useful if your running against thresh engine for example... so jailer is an additional threat for dredge, but underpowered against any other deck, and this is the reason why jailer is not so much played imo.
thank you for this precision hammer. So thresh is amazingly underplayed ...
I do not think classic is healthy. Demonic Consultation is evil. Hard to understand why vampiric/demonic tutor is restricted and consultation isn't. The only problem with Demonic Consultation would be if you try to search for something restricted. So, let's take a look at what combo piece is restricted in classic:
* Flash
* Demonic Tutor
* Imperial Seal
* Mana Crypt
* Vampiric Tutor
Flash? Conclusion: Demonic Consultation will be fueling combo decks in classic until it gets the axe.
i mean sometimes you are so enervated by the lock that you are focusing to destroy the CB or the the Top to quietly go on to play although you could only focus on your opponent ftw ... a countertop is a awesome counter engine but it could never kill you by itself. Even with a full countertop lock on the board, sometimes your opponent wont manage to find his CMC2 or CMC3 spells to counter yours although you are considering your spell as countered for sure... It is different in each situations though. :)
...and as yet the metagame is embryonic. Much of my article output to date has focused more on Tribal Classic, a format without sideboards: I've gotten used to not including them. For the U/G deck, Kitchen Finks would be an option against aggro, Guttural Response against control, Trygon Predator against Esper decks or Teferi's Moat.
Keep reading further and u realize point out their mistakes.
What's really rich about that dude going on crazy monkey tilt about your 7th land is you can't actually do anything with that land.
Anyone else notice that our protagonist gets to sit on his pocket ultimatums for a turn with either UBBBRRR or UUBBRRR up?
Solution #9 is not a real solution : it is a question to well manage priorities in a classic deck. The aim is not to harm to this usual lock, but still to win the game...
Would you say that it is important to present threats regardless of the lock, and not so urgent to destroy the lock? :)
I just wanted to give you 5 stars. :) I can't say it any better than you did!
your card links dont work
Great article as usual, loads of useful information.
Wouldn't Yixlid Jailer be a good sideboard card against Dredge (not to mention Unearth and Flashback)??
While I am on the subject of interesting cards, how about one that sweeps the board of all planeswalkers and tokens? AEther Snap.....
As I have ABSOLUTELY nothing useful to add to the conversation, I can only suggest the following:
Your first decklist has the name of the deck on top and then in small fonts the player(NECRO SPIKE - Prolepsis9). But from there you wrote the name of the player on top and then the deck name in small fonts. And when I was reading I was like "Timthehappy? What a strange deck name. Nofxdarkside2? Those classic decks sure have weird names". Just at Anders_T.deck(!) which was played by Elf Combo(!) I realized that something was not right :)))).
So maybe you should put the name of the deck on top just like you did for Necro Spike and then the player name.
And yeah, this is all I can say about a classic article.
sry :(
LE
i like your article and the title you have alot of good ideas and i would like your input on building my own deck and what type i should run.
Thanks for writing this :) , really enjoying it, and I also think it's your best wisdom.
I believe hermit could impact the meta if combined with the correct shell. :D
Thank you all for your kind and supportive comments. I am happy with the templating for the article but am still looking to find the right blance. Jacobs I like your suggestion of linking to the sample hands and will implement this next time out.
I am interested to hear others views on the Wake Thrasher - Whiffy you propose a strong counter argument.
L0urs just to clarify the decks listed have made Top 8 in Recent Daily Events - There are no Progenitus or Thresh decks, not because they are not competitive but simply because they did not land the money slots this time out.
I hope replays will be up in client soon as I plan to take the Wisdoms up a notch when they are.
Thanks all for reading and keep the discussion coming.
Loving the articles and focus on the new format. I'm getting quite excited myself. :)
Just wondered what sort of thing is likely to be in the sideboards for the decks, especially the U/G Retrace deck. Have been playing it (as you saw) and loving it. Some comment on the kind of sideboard cards for the format would be useful though.
Cheers again, awesome article. :)
Well... I like where it is going but to be brutally honest this "here is what I'll be playing" preface to your upcoming tournament reports is fairly uninteresting. However, you should know that I don't play constructed Magic at all. I do enjoy reading thorough tournament reports though, regardless the format, so I'll look forward to your future articles about this.
Great stuff Andy, I like the new format( compared to older wisdoms) and believe this is your best wisdom yet.
Wake thrasher is played for a couple of reasons.
1. It is huge and can rumble with tarmos and stalkers.
2. it has a 3 cc so it dodges snare, and balance for the most part as well as E.E.(since most people want to set it at 2)
3. It may seam a bit "win more" but i can tell you from expereince that against a good opponent or hand some times the game state becomes even and the only thing that can win you the game is the thrasher as he will often be large enough to force bad trades or simply force tarmo to chump block, it also comes down later in the game when your opponent has exhausted their opening slavos of removal.
On the point of merfolk I have been running sower of temptation in my decks and its fantastic. Never have i enjoyed an experimental test more then the 2/2 flying Control Magic.
Thanks for a great article and a wonderful read.
honestly, i am dispointed they didnt do anything about Demonic Consultation...
only my opinion
well, this article is a real exhaustive overview of main powerful decks in the current meta.
Some personnal comments
> Dredge : there are no Street Wraith in these lists. Even if the wraith isnt a decisive card on itself, it also a great tool in dredge : dredge is becoming very powerful when some cards with dredge are the gy, but you usualy have to wait for the next turn to replace your draw by these cards to generate a self mull. But wraithes allow you to do that on the first turn, without mana which is pretty handy most of the time and provides a very nice acceleration in my experience
> Merfolk : the wake trasher could be discussed, that's absolutly true. To me, the aim of the trasher is double : he's a good finisher (pretty powerful on your turn, easly 7/7 or more in merfolk deck) and he's also a rod to any removal (would i remove his lord or his trasher ?). But i agree, it could be replaced.
> Missing decks : it is interesting to observe that there is no Thresh list and no landstill list, which are pretty effective in Legacy irl. Maybe it is because these decks are so famous that it does not need to be presented, maybe they are simply underplayed in our meta. But these deck are still relevant in our meta... There is also one deck underplayed but very good actualy : the blue progenitus (aggro/control based on polymorphing some little creature to cast the progenitus monster in play for free... it has already been deck of the week, and i wont be really surprised to see it in the futher PE...
waiting for the next article !!
This article is packed to the max with good information. I particularly enjoy reading about the various deck types played in competitive magic although I myself never make time to play in tourneys due to time constraints.
I have a challenge for you if you want one..... maybe you could add a feature in your next article that allows us to view a sample hand for each deck you post? You can see what I mean by looking at the article that was just posted entitled "Target Rome Part 1." If you could somehow keep your current display format, but add that feature, it would rock Ricky Bobby style.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to compile this work. It is top-notch quality.
- Jacobs
I haven't played this format since I built a few decks following the announcement of prizes in this format. So I haven't encountered the arguments/disputes about legality of certain cards. Must be funny, I'd imagine.
I look forward to playing this format in the tournament practice room 4/29 onward. I felt bad crushing players who didn't have Paruns, or sometimes, any rares at all in the casual room.