Yes, in my zealous excitement to write about a new format I mistakenly thought that Kaleidoscope would draw from the same sets as pauper. It seemed to make sense in my head anyway. My fact checking skills need a bit of work...
That esper is the hardest deck to build correctly in Block. I have seen many esper decks in the top 8 of events thanks to the decks of the week on the mothership, but unlike Fae in standard or WW in block (where there are a lot of core cards in each deck then 7-10 slots for player customization that no one can ever agree on) esper just goes from one extreme to the other.
I've seen decks with 23 men and decks with 9 in them. I'm thinking the 9 man build esper is the more correct as the deck I feel wants to be a control deck.
Based on some of them though, I think we actually feel very much the same about some of the cards. I keep struggling with how to set up my rankings system, and I like how I use it now, but it is a little awkward as it serves two purposes - both to give a general idea about when to take a card - but I also use it to rate the card in general - so sometimes, with say Wandering Goblins, I'll give it a ranking based more on the cards value than when abouts it should be taken - I don't think its so bad as to be unplayable - which would make it a 10+, so I've hemmed myself into calling it a 6-9, though I'd never want to take it until 9. Whew - sorry if that was a little convoluted - I'm going to try and revise my ranking system a little more to try and further clarify the situation.
So...looks like its not a good deck? Any thoughts or comments about whether its viable or not and what you would change?
By the way...I thought an interesting Esper deck was the one on the Wizards web site. Played combo with the bounce guy. Wondering how that deck plays out in block.
Alara Reborn will probably cover a lot of the holes we see in this format right now. I bet it provides a land fetcher, a Wrath equivalent, and spot removal, like maybe a reprint of terminate? And I'd expect to see a functional reprint of Pillar. The first couple of weeks of this format before Alara Reborn hits should be wild and wooly and a lot of fun, then things will settle down after Alara fills in the holes for the various deck archtypes.
No matter what, i think this will be an awesome casual format.
who never does have a mana anomaly in his deck ?
I did a lot of time. Thank to experience, i am managing often to avoid this problem nowadays. Maybe also because we got an huge amount of solution in classic (dual, moxes ...).
However, all stuff about deck optimization is useful for all of us, whatever the format :)
Yes, apparently I need to spend a little more time fact checking. Most of my comments on Kaleidoscope were based on initial impressions. I haven't had much time to practice because I'm still trying to get a decent mana base.
What an article! Nice coverage. I've been looking for an article like this for some days. I'm glad that I did the homework to dig for the gems of the format and I could find them at reasonable prices.
There is just one card I didn't buy and I'd like to see some comments: Pillar of the Paruns!
WOTC is going to release a complete multicolor set and they are not going to reprint it? I doubt and I really think its going to come as uncommons since its what u need to play the draft format.
Am I wrong?
The rules of the format are made clear after I submitted the article. It will be the normal constructed deck building with 60 cards main, 15 cards sideboard and max 4 copies of each card.
I have seen many trying a mono-red deck by the way. It exists and it is definately playable (even though not for my taste).
The format will turn into an expensive format but not because of the cards you play but because of the cards that let you play your cards (aka lands). 4x Pillar of the Paruns, 4x Reflecting Pool, 4x Exotic Orchard, 4x Ravnica shockland of your choice and you spend already more than $150. Maybe this is another reason why people try mono-red decks (because of its relatively cheap manabase).
But the price of the other non-land cards are mostly at acceptable levels. For example 5 color control decks like to play Trial/Error (Uncommon), Countersquall (Uncommon), Voidslime (rare-reasonable price), Agony Warp (Common) etc.. and then win with Broodmate Dragon (rare-reasonable price) and/or Cruel Ultimatum (rare-reasonable price). So if you can manage to afford the manabase, the rest shouldn't be much of a problem.
Thanks for fleshing out this series... looking forward to your gold and colorless reviews. I'm curious how you feel about Kaleidostone vs. Boundaries, and how Cormorants compare to Faerie Mechanist in the Espier archetype.
Overrated:
Wandering Goblins. This card is terrible. You should never be taking it 9th-- if anything, look for it in picks 2-5, and figure out if you can wheel it if you really need creatures.
Voracious Dragon
The toughest thing about VD is that double-red is really hard to hit consistently.
Quenchable Fire. Because of the weird timing on this card, it's actually quite bad-- your opponent can use their main-phase mana fixing even if you launch it at them while they're tapped out. It's okay against decks that don't play Blue, but those decks (Naya aggro, Naya 5-power, Jund devour/creature kill, GW aggro) are so fast/play such good creatures that you may be giving up a lot of tempo to play a 4-mana red sorcery.
Hellspark Elemental
I give a fist pump every time this is played against me. It's such a bad topdeck, and if your opponent can get to the late game, they can keep back a relevant creature to stop it. It is excellent at racing, and much more efficient than Quenchable Fire.
Dragonsoul Knight
This guy is really much inferior to his white counterpart. It seems he dies to removal all the time, and getting domain mana from a red base (where he would really shine) is hard work. If you're looking for a late game beater in non-red-based 5-color, there are better options available later (5-power Naya cyclers, Fusion Elemental, etc.)
Underrated:
Viashino Slaughtermaster.
Basically a bear for Red (which has such poor creatures that bears are terrific picks). It trades with bears, it's a big threat late game... really does it all. The only drawback is dying to ping and Suicidal Charge. I really like this card. 3rd-5th easily for me. I'd never feel bad taking it 2nd, really.
Goblin Razerunners.
If you can support the mana (Red-heavy Jund, 5-power Naya, 5-color control), this is a 1st-3rd pick easy. Has the all-important 4-toughness (which easily ramps to 5 to trump a removal spell).
Fiery Fall
I have no problem picking Fall 1st. It's okay as a bad removal spell in 5-color or Naya as well. (5th-7th in those decks.)
Spot-on:
Worldheart Phoenix.
This is such a nice card for 5-color-- i've drafted it several times, and been thrilled to get it as late as 4th or 5th.
This was a great article. I've only been playing online since November, and already I feel like I've been through a similar cycle to you.
Magic generally broke-even in real life, (as I play no constructed irl and sold any cards I got), and it was always fun.
I got addicted to drafting when I first got online. I spent loads of money, and became a bit emotionally involved, as I was keen to try and get "infinite".
Realising this, I started playing more casual and constructed, and love playing Block 2 mans now. they're fun, even if you lose! Also as someone noted above, the Swiss draft queues are great to combat these problems, as the prize structure is the flatest, and you get to play 3 rounds no matter what. On a side note, this is also a good way to learn a format, as 3 games gives you a much better idea of what works and what doesn't.
Thanks again for the article. I've bookmarked it, as it seems like something I'd want to remind myself of every few months or so! :-)
Just finished reading the article, and just wanted to say good job. I liked the article and thought you covered the topic well. Im sad I missed out on Pillar while it was ~$2. I'll probably invest in them before too long. I cant wait for this upcoming format and hope that it shows promise with popularity in the MTGO community. The pauper PE fired this weekend with 107 people. The MTGO formats can do well if set up properly. Hopefully Kaleidoscope will be one of those formats. I plan on building my first attempt at a deck this week and plan on using several of the cards suggested in this format. I potentially see this format turning into an expensive one quickly.
I would play something aggressive like monored/red+ something (rb,rw,rg) all seem enticing)in the format..
assault/battery(timeshifted),figures,gourgers,demigod.. (efficient=win cos most gold cards cost 2 mana at least)
i think the key to winning in the format is to recognize that it's not meant to actually be a prismatic deck. I would predict that the more successful decks are decks that can focus on getting cards that are minimally clunky and those would beat up the "greatly slower" decks until people start to figure out that they have to start to focus on getting efficient cards to work.
the problem is that there are not that many cards in ext that are actually multi-colored and they are mainly concentrated in rav block, shadowmoor and alara. I doubt mana issues are going to be prominent yet (until fetchlands go away) since it is possible to make the most crazy mana base if you have 4x this and that.
I knew there was a card that let you tutor for a multi-coloured card in your deck. It kinda seems weird that Wizards says that is okay, but not Glittering Wish? Maybe the one extra mana is enough to make a difference, but last I checked they upped Demonic Tutor to 4 mana from 2, not to 3 mana.
Anyway, I immediately bought a couple playsets of Trial//Error and Supply//Demand. I failed to do this for Pillar of the Paruns cause I thought it wouldn't shift that much, and I regretted it. Besides, these were dirt cheap anyway.
Are there any other land calculators out there besides this one that are available either to download or to run online?
Are you the girl in the picture or the guy?
LOL Im at 1498, so maybe I should just quit drafting? Yeah, I suck.
Yes, in my zealous excitement to write about a new format I mistakenly thought that Kaleidoscope would draw from the same sets as pauper. It seemed to make sense in my head anyway. My fact checking skills need a bit of work...
The available technology covers stuff like this easily, no need to support 'M$-Flash' here, imho.
I hover between 1730 and 1800. I have kept statistics in google docs since May 2008
I have played in 340 drafts and won 1.68 packs per draft.
this is an extended cardpool format no deed.
yeah, useful informations for players
we could guess results, but with written numbers, it is easier to be sure
Interesting article man - I respect anyone able to do this kind of numbers crunching.
That esper is the hardest deck to build correctly in Block. I have seen many esper decks in the top 8 of events thanks to the decks of the week on the mothership, but unlike Fae in standard or WW in block (where there are a lot of core cards in each deck then 7-10 slots for player customization that no one can ever agree on) esper just goes from one extreme to the other.
I've seen decks with 23 men and decks with 9 in them. I'm thinking the 9 man build esper is the more correct as the deck I feel wants to be a control deck.
Just my thoughts though.
As always, thanks for the comments man.
Based on some of them though, I think we actually feel very much the same about some of the cards. I keep struggling with how to set up my rankings system, and I like how I use it now, but it is a little awkward as it serves two purposes - both to give a general idea about when to take a card - but I also use it to rate the card in general - so sometimes, with say Wandering Goblins, I'll give it a ranking based more on the cards value than when abouts it should be taken - I don't think its so bad as to be unplayable - which would make it a 10+, so I've hemmed myself into calling it a 6-9, though I'd never want to take it until 9. Whew - sorry if that was a little convoluted - I'm going to try and revise my ranking system a little more to try and further clarify the situation.
Thanks again for the comments
So...looks like its not a good deck? Any thoughts or comments about whether its viable or not and what you would change?
By the way...I thought an interesting Esper deck was the one on the Wizards web site. Played combo with the bounce guy. Wondering how that deck plays out in block.
-M
I'm guessing the Chase rares will be in Reborn.
Alara Reborn will probably cover a lot of the holes we see in this format right now. I bet it provides a land fetcher, a Wrath equivalent, and spot removal, like maybe a reprint of terminate? And I'd expect to see a functional reprint of Pillar. The first couple of weeks of this format before Alara Reborn hits should be wild and wooly and a lot of fun, then things will settle down after Alara fills in the holes for the various deck archtypes.
No matter what, i think this will be an awesome casual format.
who never does have a mana anomaly in his deck ?
I did a lot of time. Thank to experience, i am managing often to avoid this problem nowadays. Maybe also because we got an huge amount of solution in classic (dual, moxes ...).
However, all stuff about deck optimization is useful for all of us, whatever the format :)
Yes, apparently I need to spend a little more time fact checking. Most of my comments on Kaleidoscope were based on initial impressions. I haven't had much time to practice because I'm still trying to get a decent mana base.
I think culling sun might an important board clearer too
What an article! Nice coverage. I've been looking for an article like this for some days. I'm glad that I did the homework to dig for the gems of the format and I could find them at reasonable prices.
There is just one card I didn't buy and I'd like to see some comments: Pillar of the Paruns!
WOTC is going to release a complete multicolor set and they are not going to reprint it? I doubt and I really think its going to come as uncommons since its what u need to play the draft format.
Am I wrong?
Besides that, good one.
The rules of the format are made clear after I submitted the article. It will be the normal constructed deck building with 60 cards main, 15 cards sideboard and max 4 copies of each card.
I have seen many trying a mono-red deck by the way. It exists and it is definately playable (even though not for my taste).
The format will turn into an expensive format but not because of the cards you play but because of the cards that let you play your cards (aka lands). 4x Pillar of the Paruns, 4x Reflecting Pool, 4x Exotic Orchard, 4x Ravnica shockland of your choice and you spend already more than $150. Maybe this is another reason why people try mono-red decks (because of its relatively cheap manabase).
But the price of the other non-land cards are mostly at acceptable levels. For example 5 color control decks like to play Trial/Error (Uncommon), Countersquall (Uncommon), Voidslime (rare-reasonable price), Agony Warp (Common) etc.. and then win with Broodmate Dragon (rare-reasonable price) and/or Cruel Ultimatum (rare-reasonable price). So if you can manage to afford the manabase, the rest shouldn't be much of a problem.
LE
Thanks for fleshing out this series... looking forward to your gold and colorless reviews. I'm curious how you feel about Kaleidostone vs. Boundaries, and how Cormorants compare to Faerie Mechanist in the Espier archetype.
Overrated:
Wandering Goblins. This card is terrible. You should never be taking it 9th-- if anything, look for it in picks 2-5, and figure out if you can wheel it if you really need creatures.
Voracious Dragon
The toughest thing about VD is that double-red is really hard to hit consistently.
Quenchable Fire. Because of the weird timing on this card, it's actually quite bad-- your opponent can use their main-phase mana fixing even if you launch it at them while they're tapped out. It's okay against decks that don't play Blue, but those decks (Naya aggro, Naya 5-power, Jund devour/creature kill, GW aggro) are so fast/play such good creatures that you may be giving up a lot of tempo to play a 4-mana red sorcery.
Hellspark Elemental
I give a fist pump every time this is played against me. It's such a bad topdeck, and if your opponent can get to the late game, they can keep back a relevant creature to stop it. It is excellent at racing, and much more efficient than Quenchable Fire.
Dragonsoul Knight
This guy is really much inferior to his white counterpart. It seems he dies to removal all the time, and getting domain mana from a red base (where he would really shine) is hard work. If you're looking for a late game beater in non-red-based 5-color, there are better options available later (5-power Naya cyclers, Fusion Elemental, etc.)
Underrated:
Viashino Slaughtermaster.
Basically a bear for Red (which has such poor creatures that bears are terrific picks). It trades with bears, it's a big threat late game... really does it all. The only drawback is dying to ping and Suicidal Charge. I really like this card. 3rd-5th easily for me. I'd never feel bad taking it 2nd, really.
Goblin Razerunners.
If you can support the mana (Red-heavy Jund, 5-power Naya, 5-color control), this is a 1st-3rd pick easy. Has the all-important 4-toughness (which easily ramps to 5 to trump a removal spell).
Fiery Fall
I have no problem picking Fall 1st. It's okay as a bad removal spell in 5-color or Naya as well. (5th-7th in those decks.)
Spot-on:
Worldheart Phoenix.
This is such a nice card for 5-color-- i've drafted it several times, and been thrilled to get it as late as 4th or 5th.
Volcanic Fallout
This was a great article. I've only been playing online since November, and already I feel like I've been through a similar cycle to you.
Magic generally broke-even in real life, (as I play no constructed irl and sold any cards I got), and it was always fun.
I got addicted to drafting when I first got online. I spent loads of money, and became a bit emotionally involved, as I was keen to try and get "infinite".
Realising this, I started playing more casual and constructed, and love playing Block 2 mans now. they're fun, even if you lose! Also as someone noted above, the Swiss draft queues are great to combat these problems, as the prize structure is the flatest, and you get to play 3 rounds no matter what. On a side note, this is also a good way to learn a format, as 3 games gives you a much better idea of what works and what doesn't.
Thanks again for the article. I've bookmarked it, as it seems like something I'd want to remind myself of every few months or so! :-)
Just finished reading the article, and just wanted to say good job. I liked the article and thought you covered the topic well. Im sad I missed out on Pillar while it was ~$2. I'll probably invest in them before too long. I cant wait for this upcoming format and hope that it shows promise with popularity in the MTGO community. The pauper PE fired this weekend with 107 people. The MTGO formats can do well if set up properly. Hopefully Kaleidoscope will be one of those formats. I plan on building my first attempt at a deck this week and plan on using several of the cards suggested in this format. I potentially see this format turning into an expensive one quickly.
I would play something aggressive like monored/red+ something (rb,rw,rg) all seem enticing)in the format..
assault/battery(timeshifted),figures,gourgers,demigod.. (efficient=win cos most gold cards cost 2 mana at least)
i think the key to winning in the format is to recognize that it's not meant to actually be a prismatic deck. I would predict that the more successful decks are decks that can focus on getting cards that are minimally clunky and those would beat up the "greatly slower" decks until people start to figure out that they have to start to focus on getting efficient cards to work.
the problem is that there are not that many cards in ext that are actually multi-colored and they are mainly concentrated in rav block, shadowmoor and alara. I doubt mana issues are going to be prominent yet (until fetchlands go away) since it is possible to make the most crazy mana base if you have 4x this and that.
I knew there was a card that let you tutor for a multi-coloured card in your deck. It kinda seems weird that Wizards says that is okay, but not Glittering Wish? Maybe the one extra mana is enough to make a difference, but last I checked they upped Demonic Tutor to 4 mana from 2, not to 3 mana.
Anyway, I immediately bought a couple playsets of Trial//Error and Supply//Demand. I failed to do this for Pillar of the Paruns cause I thought it wouldn't shift that much, and I regretted it. Besides, these were dirt cheap anyway.