The huge block of text does make a point - a lot of bug fixes have been made. Making people wear out their trackballs scrolling down shows that way more clearly than just saying "there's lots, click the links for proof."
Besides, Hammie gets paid by the word, doesn't he?
I don't see why you wouldn't go for Tezzeret in an Esper deck. His +1 ability has amazing interactions with tapping artifacts, can give your fatties vigilance, can tutor removal, and his final ability is a total bomb. 5-6 artifacts in play gives you a nearly automatic win.
A bunch of small comments, as I'm iffy on some of these picks:
-blood cultist an obvious choice over vithian stinger? I highly disagree. blood cultist can't damage players without swinging, it's 2 colors instead of 1, and it doesn't unearth, meaning you can't fuel your bone splinters while killing an extra 1/1 along the way. I'd have picked ex cap like you, though, as people will go rabid over the great RB cards they're seeing.
-p1p3 I choose the battlemage. Let the people with the pingers fight over the drake, cause I never see him stay alive long enough to get big.
-p1p5 you're hate drafting a druid at pick 5? I'd pick the capsule and be happier knowing I chose to make my deck better instead of taking a mid-pick from someone who will probably not play me in the draft.
-p1p11 I'd probably grab glaze fiend over the lookout. they're both sub-par, but there's a smalllll chance that glaze fiend could be enabled with enough artifacts. It's a throw-away pick anyway, might as well go for something you might play over something you're leaving out.
-p2p3 you HAVE to pick the esper panorama here over hindering light. Light's a late-pick card that you sideboard in and out depending on how many spells your opponent's using on you. After getting zero fixing pack 1 your fixing should be getting really important.
-p2p5 I think viscera dragger's an easy pick over courier's capsule. it gives you more options and you can hit your opponent with him. Besides, you could've used another 4-drop.
-p2p7 You know, you'd have a better deck if you spent more time thinking about your deck and less about taking away mid-power cards from your opponents. In the previous pick you watched Naya Battlemage pass by and didn't feel like hatedrafting that, so why on earth would you get scared of haste bears? Grixis battlemage>Crashers, yet you decide to pass on a good card for your deck to hide a marginal card from a random opponent. I don't get it.
-p3p7 Oh good, you think you should've hated yet another card. You resisted the urge though, so good for you. Screecher was needed.
-I think call to heel>hindering light, and would've left out light in your build. Call to heel affects the board and is way less situational. I mean, if an opponents trades creatures in combat, uses ex cap (or any other activated ability) on your creature, or has one too many blockers for you to win on a given turn, call to heel is great for you. Hindering light's great vs Cruel Ultimatum, but otherwise I'll get more use out of call to heel.
I definitely like seeing the draft, though. As for your top Conflux commons, you chose traumatic visions over gleam of resistance. That stuns me. Gleam dominated the board in every matchup I saw it come up during prerelease. I'd easily choose the untap and +1/+2 over a counterspell, though they're both nice. Also, scattershot archer wasn't as great as I thought it would be. Good player side out their 1-power flyers game 2 vs him. I'd have to sneak esper cormorants into this list, as 3/3 flying commons for 4 have been missed for a long, long time. Ember Weaver also deserves honorable mention, as a green ballynock cohort with reach is an abundance of usefulness. Finally, I'm not convinced that domain cards are auto-awesome, as I usually need 3 land types just to get many of them playable. Makes for nice late game plays, though. Despite that, I can't rate a card #1 if it leaves card disadvantage gaps via removal, so I wouldn't put call out might of alara as tops. It's cool, but not insane.
My top 6 commons:
6. Armillary Sphere
5. Esper Cormorants
4. Drag Down
3. fiery fall
2. Dark Temper
1. Gleam of resistance
honorable mention: scattershot archer, ember weaver, traumatic visions, might of alara, exploding borders
Wow I rambled on. Guess I have nothing better to do this weekend. Thanks!
I honestly watched you just pass Tezzeret and Punish Ignorance, for bad cards.... Mind you, O-Ring is not Bad, but, Tezzeret is mythic, and a card any Esper Deck pines for. I think you made some pretty bad picks.
You literally got passed the nuttiest Esper deck I have ever seen, and yet you somehow failed to see that... You even made picks, and then stated after that "you did not see, another, better card"... This is definitely not the draft I would have chosen to write an article about, no offense.
You take fixing quite highly and you draft quite defensively, so I think you ended up with a consistent but weak deck. It's just my personal preference but I don't like playing 3 steelclad serpents when I could be playing even more fliers.
I would've taken tezzeret for sure, O-ring is certainly first pick if you're playing white 99% of the time, but he's worth a few tix and he's actually a bomb in esper.
I don't know why you think grixis is the weakest shard, it has the most removal, the most evasion creatures, a lot of pingers, and can be played both aggro and control. I go grixis in ~50% of drafts and I do quite well.
Like the person above said, your valuations are quite strange. You took hindering light 3rd pick over solid removal/fixing and you took tar fiend (crappy in every non-jund deck) over a triland when you basically ended up with no fixing.
difference is, you legally own your money.
Wotc can ban you any day and you lose all the digital cards permanently. (or they can just go out of business) :)
paper cards are yours forever. digital cards that are tied to wotc servers aren't.
I have a few comments about the draft, but first I want to address what you said about Grixis being the worst shard. I think it is actually very strong, and I have had a lot of success with it. Grixis and Naya are by far my favorite shards to draft. I think Bant is the weakest by a very wide margin, to the point where it's usually unplayable. Now for my comments on the actual draft:
p1p2: I can stand behing the capsule pick here, but i just wanted to say that I think Vithian Stinger is much stronger than Blood Cultist, and it's not very close. Stinger is easier to cast and has better abilities.
p2p3: Hindering Light is really terrible imo. It's very conditional and doesn't even counter many of the common removal spells (O-ring, Bloodpyre, Capsule, any of the cycled resounding cards....). I would take Bone Splinters, Esper/Grixis Panoramas, Fleshbag, and probably even Angelic Benediction over Hindering Light.
p2p5: I think you made the right pick here, but I think you are overrating Blightning by quite a bit. That is in no way late. I wouldn't be happy picking a Blightning before about pick 8 or so.
p2p8: Crasher is not very good except in very heavy R/G decks. I would take the Battlemage here, as the looting ability can be very good. I would have played it maindeck over Dawnray Archer.
p3p2: Tar Fiend is fine here, but it's not great in your deck and there's an Arcane Sanctum here. Your deck was straight up 3 colors, and you had no fixing at this point. I don't think the 1 Esper Panorama you ended up with is sufficient enough to consistently cast spells in a deck with as many mana requirements as this one.
Price drop on those sets won't work. Unless the sets are less than a dollar, and even then, its a stretch. The sets are basically worthless other than the chase rares. Just ripping packs is never a good idea, and there isn't enough interest to make a viable limited landscape for those sets. MTGO is a money machine, that works well. They have tons of players for STD, current limited, EXT, pauper, and just about every other format, to create healthy environments, and queues that actually fire, and are more than likely extremely profitable (I have no idea, I haven't seen their balance sheet, I am just assuming from what I see with my own eyes). Classic is a fringe format (that I enjoy a lot), but to think that they are going to just start reprinting stuff so that they can grow a format that only a handful of people even participate in, when they could focus on growing formats that have wider interest, is pretty foolish. Look at moxes, lotuses, and all the rest of the T1 power cards, in extremely short supply, extremely expensive, a barrier to competitive play, NEVER reprinted, not even in the last 10 years with people begging for it, over and over. I am all for reprinting, I purchase my cards with my own money, I have no interest in selling them ever and do not view them as some sort of investment vehicle, yes, it would be nice if they gained value, but for the most part, they lose value. I love the game and will continue to play, so they have no real value to me other than play value, reprinting will only allow me to buy cheaper. With that being said, it will never happen.
I was an avid MVW drafter and I didn't mind one bit paying "full price" for the packs. In fact you could get a set for less than 11 tix from dealers. But regardless, I didn't play classic, or constructed at all for that matter, and it didn't matter to me that the sets weren't redeemable. The trading is so fluid online that turning those MVW cards into tix and then trading those tix for redeemable cards (if I so wished) was incredibly easy.
Also, the value of Mirage crap rares is still better than the value of Shards crap rares. Visions is even more valuable, and Weatherlight is off the charts. Horrendously crap rares in WL still go for as much as standard tournament staples. Just compare Ancestral Knowledge to Broodmate Dragon.
I also refuse to enter the classic format, due entirely to the either unavailability of the cards, or high price of these cards. If I cannot redeem these cards, and only use them in one format, there is little appeal to me to spend hundreds of dollars acquiring them. Not to mention having the specter of a format failing after I buy these overpriced digital objects. Standard for me....the lands are much cheaper, except for mutavault, and I don't see Standard failing anytime soon. Great article, love the debate going on!
You're right that there are digital collectors' items in various games, but I think they are somewhat different from traditional collectors items. If you buy a special mount in WoW, you get to ride it; or in Second Life, you actually get to use the real estate. Similarly for magic, we play with these collectors items.
A more traditional collectors item might be something that is special because it is rare, like a misprint, and is never used. If I remember correctly, when Elves vs. Goblins came out, there was a non-foil Siege-Gang Commander, which was quickly changed to a foil version. Those few Promo Siege-Gang Commanders would be more of a collectors' item in my mind, since they are a rare digital misprint. FoW on the other hand was not a misprint or other bug, and is meant to be played.
I love the Ham Jones, but can you mark when new sets are released? Because I am guessing that the big spikes I see are when the new sets came out and were added to the index, but I cannot quite be sure.
It's good to know that the Leviathan has been better for other players than it has been for me. It's just not going to single-handedly win the game when you're low on life and your opponent can just replay 3 of their threats next turn, regardless of how properly you play. Maybe I've been unlucky, maybe I've been playing poorly, but maybe having an 8 mana spell in your hand makes it more likely to be so far behind to begin with. I don't know the answer, and so I appreciate hearing your experiences, but sweeping conclusions about my play aren't very helpful.
As for the Spike: The "proper" way? Are you implying that you have the absolute answer? That way of thinking doesn't seem very conducive to improving your or anyone elses game. I think I need further explanation how deathtouch automatically makes your creature better than your opponents creature. This seems like a more appropriate description for Sigil of Distinction.
In the mirror, I usually swap 2 Twisted Abomination and 1 Tendrils of Corruption for 1 Death Denied, 1 Distress and 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi. Alternatively, you can side out all 3 Tendrils. A point can be made for siding out 1 or 2 Crypt Rats but they seem to work well for me in almost every matchup, so I leave all 4 in.
I'm new to MTGO...about 8 months now and i have to say...the classic drafts and Classic constructed formats are not appealing to me right now. I do find 4$ a pack for non-redeemable/out of print sets a little crazy. Not to mention....most of the cards are not worth playing. The cards needed to compete in the CC events are insanely priced...all for what...3-5 turns of play?!? I have to give props to the seasoned veterans of the Classic format though, they play well and they know the metagame very well.
Having said that...I am however a collector. I DO find value in collecting these digital objects and DO enjoy it. I just recently completed my Alara playset by means of drafting and competing in Daily Events and i really enjoyed that experience! As a collector i would like to build on the Classic formats but i just can't justify paying and crossing my fingers for a particular rare and getting nothing but garbage. I have tried a couple of the drafts but always got smoked by opponents who seemed to be experts in that block. I have to agree on many of the points Giraffe brought up on his 12:17 post as well.
I also keep reminding myself that I am new to MTGO and reading the many articles posted on this forum really helps me understand what is going on with MTGO. I sincerely thank all the people who write for PUREMTGO on a weekly basis. I find all the articles an interesting read and always look forward to the next arcticles. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK...all of you!
I love goblin assault, it becomes perfect with voracious dragon. Goblin assault can become a problem when playing goblins, i agree, but its a good card. First pick worthy, im not sure. Conflux cards support goblin assault very well, as well as old cards.
I can agree with those changes. If Slivers and other aggro were popping up more I'd want to keep the Decays. But with all the aggro around, I can agree!
Hey Giraffe, thanks for a great article! I like your idea about adding Nausea to MBC's sideboard, yet I'd remove anything but Duress, Distress or Okiba-Gang. From my experience, Echoing Decay is currently the least effective card, so I'd suggest removing 4 Decay for 3 Nausea and 1 Dross Golem/Death Denied.
Money itself is a digital object. When Google bought Youtube for 1.6 billion, do you reckon they rolled dozens of dump-trucks filled with crisp $100 bills up to their offices to deliver the payment? No, they just had a bank change some bits of data in a few hard drives. 97% of American currency is stored electronically, paper/coin money makes up 3% of the currency out there.
So arguing that it's "just data" and therefore shouldn't be valued is not just an old school way of thinking - it's silly. If you don't value your bank account, mind transferring it to someone who does? (Me!)
The huge block of text does make a point - a lot of bug fixes have been made. Making people wear out their trackballs scrolling down shows that way more clearly than just saying "there's lots, click the links for proof."
Besides, Hammie gets paid by the word, doesn't he?
I don't see why you wouldn't go for Tezzeret in an Esper deck. His +1 ability has amazing interactions with tapping artifacts, can give your fatties vigilance, can tutor removal, and his final ability is a total bomb. 5-6 artifacts in play gives you a nearly automatic win.
A bunch of small comments, as I'm iffy on some of these picks:
-blood cultist an obvious choice over vithian stinger? I highly disagree. blood cultist can't damage players without swinging, it's 2 colors instead of 1, and it doesn't unearth, meaning you can't fuel your bone splinters while killing an extra 1/1 along the way. I'd have picked ex cap like you, though, as people will go rabid over the great RB cards they're seeing.
-p1p3 I choose the battlemage. Let the people with the pingers fight over the drake, cause I never see him stay alive long enough to get big.
-p1p5 you're hate drafting a druid at pick 5? I'd pick the capsule and be happier knowing I chose to make my deck better instead of taking a mid-pick from someone who will probably not play me in the draft.
-p1p11 I'd probably grab glaze fiend over the lookout. they're both sub-par, but there's a smalllll chance that glaze fiend could be enabled with enough artifacts. It's a throw-away pick anyway, might as well go for something you might play over something you're leaving out.
-p2p3 you HAVE to pick the esper panorama here over hindering light. Light's a late-pick card that you sideboard in and out depending on how many spells your opponent's using on you. After getting zero fixing pack 1 your fixing should be getting really important.
-p2p5 I think viscera dragger's an easy pick over courier's capsule. it gives you more options and you can hit your opponent with him. Besides, you could've used another 4-drop.
-p2p7 You know, you'd have a better deck if you spent more time thinking about your deck and less about taking away mid-power cards from your opponents. In the previous pick you watched Naya Battlemage pass by and didn't feel like hatedrafting that, so why on earth would you get scared of haste bears? Grixis battlemage>Crashers, yet you decide to pass on a good card for your deck to hide a marginal card from a random opponent. I don't get it.
-p3p7 Oh good, you think you should've hated yet another card. You resisted the urge though, so good for you. Screecher was needed.
-I think call to heel>hindering light, and would've left out light in your build. Call to heel affects the board and is way less situational. I mean, if an opponents trades creatures in combat, uses ex cap (or any other activated ability) on your creature, or has one too many blockers for you to win on a given turn, call to heel is great for you. Hindering light's great vs Cruel Ultimatum, but otherwise I'll get more use out of call to heel.
I definitely like seeing the draft, though. As for your top Conflux commons, you chose traumatic visions over gleam of resistance. That stuns me. Gleam dominated the board in every matchup I saw it come up during prerelease. I'd easily choose the untap and +1/+2 over a counterspell, though they're both nice. Also, scattershot archer wasn't as great as I thought it would be. Good player side out their 1-power flyers game 2 vs him. I'd have to sneak esper cormorants into this list, as 3/3 flying commons for 4 have been missed for a long, long time. Ember Weaver also deserves honorable mention, as a green ballynock cohort with reach is an abundance of usefulness. Finally, I'm not convinced that domain cards are auto-awesome, as I usually need 3 land types just to get many of them playable. Makes for nice late game plays, though. Despite that, I can't rate a card #1 if it leaves card disadvantage gaps via removal, so I wouldn't put call out might of alara as tops. It's cool, but not insane.
My top 6 commons:
6. Armillary Sphere
5. Esper Cormorants
4. Drag Down
3. fiery fall
2. Dark Temper
1. Gleam of resistance
honorable mention: scattershot archer, ember weaver, traumatic visions, might of alara, exploding borders
Wow I rambled on. Guess I have nothing better to do this weekend. Thanks!
I honestly watched you just pass Tezzeret and Punish Ignorance, for bad cards.... Mind you, O-Ring is not Bad, but, Tezzeret is mythic, and a card any Esper Deck pines for. I think you made some pretty bad picks.
You literally got passed the nuttiest Esper deck I have ever seen, and yet you somehow failed to see that... You even made picks, and then stated after that "you did not see, another, better card"... This is definitely not the draft I would have chosen to write an article about, no offense.
You take fixing quite highly and you draft quite defensively, so I think you ended up with a consistent but weak deck. It's just my personal preference but I don't like playing 3 steelclad serpents when I could be playing even more fliers.
I would've taken tezzeret for sure, O-ring is certainly first pick if you're playing white 99% of the time, but he's worth a few tix and he's actually a bomb in esper.
I don't know why you think grixis is the weakest shard, it has the most removal, the most evasion creatures, a lot of pingers, and can be played both aggro and control. I go grixis in ~50% of drafts and I do quite well.
Like the person above said, your valuations are quite strange. You took hindering light 3rd pick over solid removal/fixing and you took tar fiend (crappy in every non-jund deck) over a triland when you basically ended up with no fixing.
I see no reason to play the Grixis panoramas in this deck. Your mana is not that bad and they only get two colors.
difference is, you legally own your money.
Wotc can ban you any day and you lose all the digital cards permanently. (or they can just go out of business) :)
paper cards are yours forever. digital cards that are tied to wotc servers aren't.
I have a few comments about the draft, but first I want to address what you said about Grixis being the worst shard. I think it is actually very strong, and I have had a lot of success with it. Grixis and Naya are by far my favorite shards to draft. I think Bant is the weakest by a very wide margin, to the point where it's usually unplayable. Now for my comments on the actual draft:
p1p2: I can stand behing the capsule pick here, but i just wanted to say that I think Vithian Stinger is much stronger than Blood Cultist, and it's not very close. Stinger is easier to cast and has better abilities.
p2p3: Hindering Light is really terrible imo. It's very conditional and doesn't even counter many of the common removal spells (O-ring, Bloodpyre, Capsule, any of the cycled resounding cards....). I would take Bone Splinters, Esper/Grixis Panoramas, Fleshbag, and probably even Angelic Benediction over Hindering Light.
p2p5: I think you made the right pick here, but I think you are overrating Blightning by quite a bit. That is in no way late. I wouldn't be happy picking a Blightning before about pick 8 or so.
p2p8: Crasher is not very good except in very heavy R/G decks. I would take the Battlemage here, as the looting ability can be very good. I would have played it maindeck over Dawnray Archer.
p3p2: Tar Fiend is fine here, but it's not great in your deck and there's an Arcane Sanctum here. Your deck was straight up 3 colors, and you had no fixing at this point. I don't think the 1 Esper Panorama you ended up with is sufficient enough to consistently cast spells in a deck with as many mana requirements as this one.
Price drop on those sets won't work. Unless the sets are less than a dollar, and even then, its a stretch. The sets are basically worthless other than the chase rares. Just ripping packs is never a good idea, and there isn't enough interest to make a viable limited landscape for those sets. MTGO is a money machine, that works well. They have tons of players for STD, current limited, EXT, pauper, and just about every other format, to create healthy environments, and queues that actually fire, and are more than likely extremely profitable (I have no idea, I haven't seen their balance sheet, I am just assuming from what I see with my own eyes). Classic is a fringe format (that I enjoy a lot), but to think that they are going to just start reprinting stuff so that they can grow a format that only a handful of people even participate in, when they could focus on growing formats that have wider interest, is pretty foolish. Look at moxes, lotuses, and all the rest of the T1 power cards, in extremely short supply, extremely expensive, a barrier to competitive play, NEVER reprinted, not even in the last 10 years with people begging for it, over and over. I am all for reprinting, I purchase my cards with my own money, I have no interest in selling them ever and do not view them as some sort of investment vehicle, yes, it would be nice if they gained value, but for the most part, they lose value. I love the game and will continue to play, so they have no real value to me other than play value, reprinting will only allow me to buy cheaper. With that being said, it will never happen.
Noknife
Great Article with good insights about the game and the draft.
Great article. Good luck in the Nix Tix Alara Championship!
I was an avid MVW drafter and I didn't mind one bit paying "full price" for the packs. In fact you could get a set for less than 11 tix from dealers. But regardless, I didn't play classic, or constructed at all for that matter, and it didn't matter to me that the sets weren't redeemable. The trading is so fluid online that turning those MVW cards into tix and then trading those tix for redeemable cards (if I so wished) was incredibly easy.
Also, the value of Mirage crap rares is still better than the value of Shards crap rares. Visions is even more valuable, and Weatherlight is off the charts. Horrendously crap rares in WL still go for as much as standard tournament staples. Just compare Ancestral Knowledge to Broodmate Dragon.
I also refuse to enter the classic format, due entirely to the either unavailability of the cards, or high price of these cards. If I cannot redeem these cards, and only use them in one format, there is little appeal to me to spend hundreds of dollars acquiring them. Not to mention having the specter of a format failing after I buy these overpriced digital objects. Standard for me....the lands are much cheaper, except for mutavault, and I don't see Standard failing anytime soon. Great article, love the debate going on!
You're right that there are digital collectors' items in various games, but I think they are somewhat different from traditional collectors items. If you buy a special mount in WoW, you get to ride it; or in Second Life, you actually get to use the real estate. Similarly for magic, we play with these collectors items.
A more traditional collectors item might be something that is special because it is rare, like a misprint, and is never used. If I remember correctly, when Elves vs. Goblins came out, there was a non-foil Siege-Gang Commander, which was quickly changed to a foil version. Those few Promo Siege-Gang Commanders would be more of a collectors' item in my mind, since they are a rare digital misprint. FoW on the other hand was not a misprint or other bug, and is meant to be played.
Ben Bleiwess at StarCityGames covered some similar issues a few months ago:
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/16737_Insider_Trading_Should_Wiz...
I love the Ham Jones, but can you mark when new sets are released? Because I am guessing that the big spikes I see are when the new sets came out and were added to the index, but I cannot quite be sure.
It's good to know that the Leviathan has been better for other players than it has been for me. It's just not going to single-handedly win the game when you're low on life and your opponent can just replay 3 of their threats next turn, regardless of how properly you play. Maybe I've been unlucky, maybe I've been playing poorly, but maybe having an 8 mana spell in your hand makes it more likely to be so far behind to begin with. I don't know the answer, and so I appreciate hearing your experiences, but sweeping conclusions about my play aren't very helpful.
As for the Spike: The "proper" way? Are you implying that you have the absolute answer? That way of thinking doesn't seem very conducive to improving your or anyone elses game. I think I need further explanation how deathtouch automatically makes your creature better than your opponents creature. This seems like a more appropriate description for Sigil of Distinction.
In the mirror, I usually swap 2 Twisted Abomination and 1 Tendrils of Corruption for 1 Death Denied, 1 Distress and 1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi. Alternatively, you can side out all 3 Tendrils. A point can be made for siding out 1 or 2 Crypt Rats but they seem to work well for me in almost every matchup, so I leave all 4 in.
Pretty good deck, i wish i had more ice age cards.
Great article.
I'm new to MTGO...about 8 months now and i have to say...the classic drafts and Classic constructed formats are not appealing to me right now. I do find 4$ a pack for non-redeemable/out of print sets a little crazy. Not to mention....most of the cards are not worth playing. The cards needed to compete in the CC events are insanely priced...all for what...3-5 turns of play?!? I have to give props to the seasoned veterans of the Classic format though, they play well and they know the metagame very well.
Having said that...I am however a collector. I DO find value in collecting these digital objects and DO enjoy it. I just recently completed my Alara playset by means of drafting and competing in Daily Events and i really enjoyed that experience! As a collector i would like to build on the Classic formats but i just can't justify paying and crossing my fingers for a particular rare and getting nothing but garbage. I have tried a couple of the drafts but always got smoked by opponents who seemed to be experts in that block. I have to agree on many of the points Giraffe brought up on his 12:17 post as well.
I also keep reminding myself that I am new to MTGO and reading the many articles posted on this forum really helps me understand what is going on with MTGO. I sincerely thank all the people who write for PUREMTGO on a weekly basis. I find all the articles an interesting read and always look forward to the next arcticles. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK...all of you!
I love goblin assault, it becomes perfect with voracious dragon. Goblin assault can become a problem when playing goblins, i agree, but its a good card. First pick worthy, im not sure. Conflux cards support goblin assault very well, as well as old cards.
I can agree with those changes. If Slivers and other aggro were popping up more I'd want to keep the Decays. But with all the aggro around, I can agree!
What SB swaps do you favor for the MBC mirror?
Hey Giraffe, thanks for a great article! I like your idea about adding Nausea to MBC's sideboard, yet I'd remove anything but Duress, Distress or Okiba-Gang. From my experience, Echoing Decay is currently the least effective card, so I'd suggest removing 4 Decay for 3 Nausea and 1 Dross Golem/Death Denied.
Money itself is a digital object. When Google bought Youtube for 1.6 billion, do you reckon they rolled dozens of dump-trucks filled with crisp $100 bills up to their offices to deliver the payment? No, they just had a bank change some bits of data in a few hard drives. 97% of American currency is stored electronically, paper/coin money makes up 3% of the currency out there.
So arguing that it's "just data" and therefore shouldn't be valued is not just an old school way of thinking - it's silly. If you don't value your bank account, mind transferring it to someone who does? (Me!)