I really like the Grand Entrance deck. And I really like that it can beat red burn. I had looked at decks on PDCMagic.com, but not that one, or it didn't make an impression on me if I did. But now that you've explained it to me, it's awesome.
Dangerlinto, on the Classic Quarter site, has an article that he updates regularly of cards that are staples of competitive Classic, and cards that are close. It's somewhat dense, but more complete than any top 10 article can be.
While I am sure this did happen in a pro tour I rarely care what they do so I am rather ignorant as to results or what someone does. This may be fine for the none competative classic games. In our current meta when your facing decks geared to hate Necro and Belcher, plus decks like Necro packing pre sideboard bounce just incase, actually getting one of these reanimated critters to stick will be very tough and expensive in a format that is all about "speed". Although I love seeing people go beyond the norm and win, its very risky esp with FOW and Daze holding 8 spots in alot of decks.
I am not sure if there is a PE this weekend but it should shed alot of light on the direction this format is going, I expect to see RDW, Necro, Painters, and Grow out in force.
I had a long and detaile dreply to this, but then my internet died and I lost the page. Totally lame.
The decks in question were built for metagames that do not feature COP: Black. As of the writing, only one deck, piloted by asmall population of palyers, even features it in the sideboard. To prepare a sideboard for a deck one very well won't face is wasting slots against matchups that need help.
That being said, I was too dismissive of the COP Black problem, but it is by no means insurrmountable.
I might have missed something but it is Gift's Given which is on the banned list. It was a promotion card last year (Their holyday gift card - This year it is Evil presents). Gift's Given is like Gift's Ungiven except it searches their deck for 4 cards (You still get them in your hand which is ageinst the rules - and proberly why it is banned).
First, I'm certainly not claiming to be a Classic expert. Looking over my last couple dozen TP matches, I played an almost even mix of Classic, Extended, Standard, Pauper and 100 Card Singleton - plus a couple Lorwyn drafts and a Shards sealed PE. Jack of all trades, if you will - and master of none. However, I can both play the format and read the Top 8 lists, and I have been writing about Magic for a long time. I can remember when these cards were released in paper.
As for the reanimate scenario: Unlikely - maybe. Of course, it did happen at a Pro Tour. Sure, Swords, Chain, Boomerang, Chrome Mox removing Counterspell, Underground Sea, Dark Ritual, Control Magic are all possible - but all of those spells can also be taken with Duress.
As for playing Necrostrom - I'm sure you are right. I haven't played it, but I do remember winning without Necro with other Necro combo decks, like Trix. You can certainly win, it is just a bit harder without a bunch of extra cards.
Hardcasting Force of Will - of course you can. In past tournaments, I can recall hardcasting every alternative casting cost card around, from Force to Snuff Out to Thwart and Foil.
I'm working on a White-Blue-Black control deck at the moment and already bought my copies of Reanimate, Diabolic Edict, Capsize, Dismiss, Intuition, Legacy's Allure, Winds of Rath and the 2 lands Salt Flats and Ancient Tomb.
I thought about Humility too as it fits perfectly to the control part of the deck but I didn't figure out (yet) how to win when my Akroma and/or Angel of Despair are 1/1's too (suggestions perhaps?).
so are you one million words as your handle? because im sorry but i have no recollection of the match your siting.(im sure it happened, but i play a lot of practise games in tp and i mean a lot to get ready for pe's when i tweak a deck) i like the article alot and i agree with 90% of your assumptions. How ever i feel as though your not quite accurate about the "speed" of the format.
yes necro is fast and degenerate and the only thing faster is a lucky belcher opening. but playing the format i can tell ya that decks like rock and landstill have very good chances of winning if built and piolted properly even with cards that cost 4-5-6 mana to use.
and a small nitpik on your picks.
scroll rack i think is goodenough
cursed scroll is not a bad choice in certain decks where you get to stalemates and can abuse it.(prolly not that good though)
alluren i think is good enough
reanimate i think may be chaffe for pe classic.
nice article though and you reminded me of cards i had forgotten about like bombardment. thx for the shout out as i am a glory hog and love seeing my name in articles that werent written by me.
First, NecroSpike is not totally dependent on Necropotence. In two top 8 appearances over this weekend with NecroSpike, I won many games off of Tombstalker or Tendrils without necro as I did with necro.
It's worlds better with necro, but if you go all-out on stopping necro (like mulligan to 4 for a pithing needle), it can still kill you.
Also, I find playing combo decks you don't want to think like, "In rare cases someone might hardcast FoW, but that almost never happens." You want to be open to the possibility of, say, hardcasting FoW off of 3 underground seas and a dark ritual.
And... at the risk of being confrontational, it seems like you're trying to be the PureMTGO authority on Classic. Although your knowledge of Classic is significant, it's not enough to qualify you to be the authority on Classic for anywhere.
For example, the turn 1 reanimate opening you hyped up is:
A) improbable. It requires (not counting lands) ritual, duress, therapy, big creature, reanimate - 5 cards. That's very unlikely - and even if you ignore the duress, having four specific cards is less likely than the opponent having FoW + blue card.
B) Not actually that good. It's a turn 3 win... if the opponent doesn't have a Swords to Plowshares, or a Chain of Vapor, or a way to take advantage of the fact that you're at 12 life and just kill you. (Or double Force of Will.)
I think this is a bit too dismissive to be your only comment in the entire article on COP: Black (especially since you do a large "weaknesses" section, and COP: Black is a HUGE one. This is true because almost every deck that sides COP: Black will be able to kill Dross Golem, and most can do so in a way even recursion won't be able to negate (e.g. Oblivion Ring). It is even more true because the one solution card you mention isn't even in your proposed deck or sideboard (not that it's the only solution, but it was the only one you noted, and you're not running any other solutions either).
Acutally, there has been a WW deck that has been making waves in classic recently, there is a thread on it at pdcmagic.com. Anyway great article!
Thanks for the kind words!
I really like the Grand Entrance deck. And I really like that it can beat red burn. I had looked at decks on PDCMagic.com, but not that one, or it didn't make an impression on me if I did. But now that you've explained it to me, it's awesome.
Dangerlinto, on the Classic Quarter site, has an article that he updates regularly of cards that are staples of competitive Classic, and cards that are close. It's somewhat dense, but more complete than any top 10 article can be.
http://www.classicquarter.com/articles/031_080917.asp
Does this article come out on a weekly basis? By far the most useful bit of info more MTGO players. Hope you keep it up.
While I am sure this did happen in a pro tour I rarely care what they do so I am rather ignorant as to results or what someone does. This may be fine for the none competative classic games. In our current meta when your facing decks geared to hate Necro and Belcher, plus decks like Necro packing pre sideboard bounce just incase, actually getting one of these reanimated critters to stick will be very tough and expensive in a format that is all about "speed". Although I love seeing people go beyond the norm and win, its very risky esp with FOW and Daze holding 8 spots in alot of decks.
I am not sure if there is a PE this weekend but it should shed alot of light on the direction this format is going, I expect to see RDW, Necro, Painters, and Grow out in force.
Congrats for this article....I love tempest, stronghold and exodus block....and yes, Love fractius too...lol
Why dont you make a article of "Top X cards that you must have for classic or extended?"
See u!
It's Gifts Given, a promotional card released last christmas.
I had a long and detaile dreply to this, but then my internet died and I lost the page. Totally lame.
The decks in question were built for metagames that do not feature COP: Black. As of the writing, only one deck, piloted by asmall population of palyers, even features it in the sideboard. To prepare a sideboard for a deck one very well won't face is wasting slots against matchups that need help.
That being said, I was too dismissive of the COP Black problem, but it is by no means insurrmountable.
@ Lord Erman: Elspeth, Decree of Justice, Mishra's Factory, Mutavault, etc are all great with Humility in play.
@ Tarmotog: Excellent article again, very thorough.
I might have missed something but it is Gift's Given which is on the banned list. It was a promotion card last year (Their holyday gift card - This year it is Evil presents). Gift's Given is like Gift's Ungiven except it searches their deck for 4 cards (You still get them in your hand which is ageinst the rules - and proberly why it is banned).
Couple quick points.
First, I'm certainly not claiming to be a Classic expert. Looking over my last couple dozen TP matches, I played an almost even mix of Classic, Extended, Standard, Pauper and 100 Card Singleton - plus a couple Lorwyn drafts and a Shards sealed PE. Jack of all trades, if you will - and master of none. However, I can both play the format and read the Top 8 lists, and I have been writing about Magic for a long time. I can remember when these cards were released in paper.
As for the reanimate scenario: Unlikely - maybe. Of course, it did happen at a Pro Tour. Sure, Swords, Chain, Boomerang, Chrome Mox removing Counterspell, Underground Sea, Dark Ritual, Control Magic are all possible - but all of those spells can also be taken with Duress.
As for playing Necrostrom - I'm sure you are right. I haven't played it, but I do remember winning without Necro with other Necro combo decks, like Trix. You can certainly win, it is just a bit harder without a bunch of extra cards.
Hardcasting Force of Will - of course you can. In past tournaments, I can recall hardcasting every alternative casting cost card around, from Force to Snuff Out to Thwart and Foil.
Congrats ont eh T8s, BTW
Use token producers in the deck perhaps?
Excellent article once again.
I'm working on a White-Blue-Black control deck at the moment and already bought my copies of Reanimate, Diabolic Edict, Capsize, Dismiss, Intuition, Legacy's Allure, Winds of Rath and the 2 lands Salt Flats and Ancient Tomb.
I thought about Humility too as it fits perfectly to the control part of the deck but I didn't figure out (yet) how to win when my Akroma and/or Angel of Despair are 1/1's too (suggestions perhaps?).
LE
so are you one million words as your handle? because im sorry but i have no recollection of the match your siting.(im sure it happened, but i play a lot of practise games in tp and i mean a lot to get ready for pe's when i tweak a deck) i like the article alot and i agree with 90% of your assumptions. How ever i feel as though your not quite accurate about the "speed" of the format.
yes necro is fast and degenerate and the only thing faster is a lucky belcher opening. but playing the format i can tell ya that decks like rock and landstill have very good chances of winning if built and piolted properly even with cards that cost 4-5-6 mana to use.
and a small nitpik on your picks.
scroll rack i think is goodenough
cursed scroll is not a bad choice in certain decks where you get to stalemates and can abuse it.(prolly not that good though)
alluren i think is good enough
reanimate i think may be chaffe for pe classic.
nice article though and you reminded me of cards i had forgotten about like bombardment. thx for the shout out as i am a glory hog and love seeing my name in articles that werent written by me.
First, NecroSpike is not totally dependent on Necropotence. In two top 8 appearances over this weekend with NecroSpike, I won many games off of Tombstalker or Tendrils without necro as I did with necro.
It's worlds better with necro, but if you go all-out on stopping necro (like mulligan to 4 for a pithing needle), it can still kill you.
Also, I find playing combo decks you don't want to think like, "In rare cases someone might hardcast FoW, but that almost never happens." You want to be open to the possibility of, say, hardcasting FoW off of 3 underground seas and a dark ritual.
And... at the risk of being confrontational, it seems like you're trying to be the PureMTGO authority on Classic. Although your knowledge of Classic is significant, it's not enough to qualify you to be the authority on Classic for anywhere.
For example, the turn 1 reanimate opening you hyped up is:
A) improbable. It requires (not counting lands) ritual, duress, therapy, big creature, reanimate - 5 cards. That's very unlikely - and even if you ignore the duress, having four specific cards is less likely than the opponent having FoW + blue card.
B) Not actually that good. It's a turn 3 win... if the opponent doesn't have a Swords to Plowshares, or a Chain of Vapor, or a way to take advantage of the fact that you're at 12 life and just kill you. (Or double Force of Will.)
Scroll Rack will see play in CounterTop decks. It also interacts very well with onslaught search lands. Top Tier card IMHO.
Much better to read than most of the previous installments, very nice!
The content was as great as always. :)
Pauper also uses these cards, as a Classic-based format. Otherwise, lots of fun.
This article is my favorite style of the ones you do. I like your analysis of cards and the way they may impact the formats.
I hope you will be doing more of your buy now / sell now articles soon. Those were my favorites! I especially liked them back in RAV block rotation.
The asterisks just indicate how many cards in each mana slot he's running. One asterisk = one card.
What's with all the red asterisks instead of card names?
**** ****** etc.
"White protective cards like Obsidian Acolyte and Circle of Protection: Black can be sidestepped with a Dross Golem."
I think this is a bit too dismissive to be your only comment in the entire article on COP: Black (especially since you do a large "weaknesses" section, and COP: Black is a HUGE one. This is true because almost every deck that sides COP: Black will be able to kill Dross Golem, and most can do so in a way even recursion won't be able to negate (e.g. Oblivion Ring). It is even more true because the one solution card you mention isn't even in your proposed deck or sideboard (not that it's the only solution, but it was the only one you noted, and you're not running any other solutions either).
This is one take on a standard deck, hope it helps
Standard MBC
2 Blister Beetle
4 Gravedigger
4 Phyrexian Rager
4 Ravenous Rats
2 Rendclaw Trow
4 Viscera Dragger
2 Warren Pilferers
22 creatures
4 Unmake
1 Violet Pall
2 Executioner's Capsule
4 Nameless Inversion
2 Onyx Goblet
2 Raven's Crime
15 other spells
23 Swamp
Sideboard
2 Beckon Apparition
4 Bone Splinters
2 Executioner's Capsule
2 Raven's Crime
4 Terror
1 Warren Pilferers
The missing cards in the first list are Warren Pilferers. Sorry about that.
-Alex