You don't necessarily need countermagic to beat Upheaval. Suspended creatures, flash creatures, instant speed removal for their creature and alike can be cast while floating mana during upheaval.
On top of that there are proactive ways to beat it, cards like Duress and Teeg.
I like the story but I do admit I had no idea what was going on at the start especially with the decklists. #1 was kinda confusing but #2 was nice (grotesque actually) and we actually see the solemn simulacrum shown here. Feels like a gamebook as every end is like flipping to the next number. I don't find myself reading much fiction nowadays so I'm quite happy to see this. It's beyond me what kind of player the decklists suit though. =x (the rich casual player?)
I agree with spg here. It should be set to non-concede games, that might help to keep this in check, though I can still see friends banding together (bands with other?) gaming it that way as well. But it would be harder to accomplish as a method of hording promos.
Welcome back, even though I was never around when you were writing before, it's great to read your article, it's easy to read and quite useful.
I've been gazing and drooling at the constructed Alara format since it came out, thinking about a dip in the pool, but I haven't been able to get a read on the meta at all, which seems to be changing super-quickly compared to monoliths like standard.
I really like the read on the meta from the queues, which is something that I'd like to do for standard but since the relaunch I have been busy as a bee with non-MTGO stuff, barely playing in the one tournament that I run each week.
They're not really about the strategy or the deck building or anything of that nature. I like to think of them more as a custom built short story for the PureMTGO audience.
Why?
I don't know. But I started them for the same reason I started State: no one was doing it, and I wanted to see it done. :)
The only real end result that I hope for from these is that they are hopefully entertaining to some of the readers. A little entertainment and diversion can be a good thing. :)
Erik - I don't get these man, but I always appreciate seeing a new article posted. Thanks for taking the time to write week in and week out. Thanks to everyone else who writes too. If I had more time, I would contribute articles too.
I shudder at the idea of needing to play 1,000 casual games to get a single promo card though... And you know that you'll have people gaming the system in that cast - start up a game, do the minimum required for it to count as "a game" from a rewards point of view, and then moving onto the next one...
I guess my issue with Jitte is that it's cheap enough mana wise to fit in almost any deck and once it start to get loaded with counters you're in big trouble. I accept that you do get a little time before those counters can be applied but in the non focused world that is S100 it still felt too random at times. Mind you I think it was a close call to banning it or not and which side of the fence you end up on is personal prefference. I don't mind not being able to play it any more. I'll not miss Skullclamp either.
However I'd love to see the reasoning behind Imperial Seal as I'll miss that a lot from my deck. Still, lets wait for the next article where you have already promised to share your thoughts on the actual bannings.
It's nice to se your perspective before the banning, I share many of your points of view (specially Jitte, which i consider fair enough). I don't agree however on gifts, it's to big of an advantage in artrition matchups and make some games feel mechanicaly the same, also with gifts cards like loam, ruins and soon wasteland and volrath stronghold become a problem and make lot's of games the same (recuring shriekmaw against agro for example).
I'm still undecided about the black tutors however (imperial and vampiric), they were surely very powerful but they also fuleled some decks that can't exist without them.
Let me put it this way. There are many artifacts that aggro can potentially lose to, with Jitte being the most swingy. Some decks have Vedalken Shackles and there are probably a few more. Having maindeck hate is good because it is the opposite from being totally ignorant. It's probably healthier to have Jitte in the format because control decks can capitalize on it as well because the weaker players tend to use it too early and the tempo swing can determine the game sometimes. Unless they bring back sideboards, it is healthier for the format if it has diverse threats and decks respect that. Now, maindecking artifact hate is not really good against some matchups (like aggro vs aggro if they don't play artifacts) so it becomes very difficult to have healthy splash damage. Jitte spoiled games because most people chose not to use cards that are less affected by it or work against it. Sure I get knocked about by Jitte sometimes but more often than not, I don't find myself losing to it because it does not an auto-win card but simply a very powerful card.
My point about Singleton 100 is that it should be (in my opinion) a format that prevents degeneration (like near unstoppable situations) while allowing maximum card play like a mini-vintage. Jitte can't smash you on the turn it comes out even if it can kill a creature or two. You can at least untap or do something to the creature during the combat phase which would give you another turn before it gets counters.
I'll try to think of an easier way to show a deck but I don't think I'll be able to implement it in bulk if it is too troublesome. I myself don't really like looking at 100 card lists even if I tend to be more appreciative of long decklists. I'll see what I can do.
Does chalice being all over the place factor into the equation? Chalice for 1 kills 15 cards, Chalice for 2 kills 16. Seems bad for you. Also, did you try slice and dice in anything else? UR tron, maybe. Fire spout and jund charm dont seem like bad answers either, esp accessed by glittering wish in something rockish. Don't think mono red burn is a bad idea as a meta game deck, but best deck in format?
It's a shame this came out after the actual bannings but never mind. your thoughts on potential problem cards were still interesting.
I do feel that you contradicted yourself just a little by saying that Jitte was not ban worthy in the first section and then saying "Decks that engage in combat very often MUST have artifact hate or an active Umezawa's Jitte will make the game unwinnable" in the hate section. In my mind the fact that you must run hate for a card that fits into almost any deck means it probably needs banning. However it's probably one of those 'too close to call' things anyway. From experience my goblin deck usually looses to a resolved Jitte and usually wins when it resolves it's Jitte so I'm not sorry to see it go.
Another point not related to your content is the graphic for the deck listings. I find it difficult to really see the deck as a whole entity when looking at them. I know that S100 decks, by their very nature, are just a list of card names so perhaps there isn't much that can be done. I'm sure most regular readers know all the cards by name anyway so don't have the same problems I do.
Keep up the good work. I like reading about S100 and you're doing a good job.
Thnx for the comment LE! Hope u enjoy ur time playing singleton 100. I personally like the format mainly for the same reason as you. 1x is always cheaper than 4x. I like playing with powerful cards but I can't really afford a playset of everything to be at a competitive level so even t2 is horrible for me. I hope I'm going in the right direction with my articles as I prefer not to be prescriptive deckwise so that people will try different things.. For the competitively hungry, One 00 will gear towards tournament prep in #4.
Great Article! It is great to see you back, I've followed your articles for a long time now. Glad your in the block spirit like the rest of us :) Good luck in your tournaments, maybe we will meet soon :)
Im a newbie and I dunno mutch.
Tho Im just wanted to ask could you make a Standard Mono Black Control deck?
Well if you do or not thanks for this :)
Helps a little xD
Ty
You don't necessarily need countermagic to beat Upheaval. Suspended creatures, flash creatures, instant speed removal for their creature and alike can be cast while floating mana during upheaval.
On top of that there are proactive ways to beat it, cards like Duress and Teeg.
I am trying to load it...and when it comes to open it ,,, it wont open...why? cause i have vista?
You know, I *thought* that seemed a bit low...
The next one that FtK bumped out would have been:
Beacon of Unrest, lastweek:2, thisweek:2.5 Up 25%
Yeah that was a pricing error on our part. Sorry about that Erik I forgot to tell you about that.
I like the story but I do admit I had no idea what was going on at the start especially with the decklists. #1 was kinda confusing but #2 was nice (grotesque actually) and we actually see the solemn simulacrum shown here. Feels like a gamebook as every end is like flipping to the next number. I don't find myself reading much fiction nowadays so I'm quite happy to see this. It's beyond me what kind of player the decklists suit though. =x (the rich casual player?)
Great definition for banding.
FTK 1400%?!? More important how could that übercard go down to 0.2 anytime anywhere. Anyway glad i haven't sold em.
I remain as dedicated as ever to classic itself, just not to keeping up the clan.
The CQ will have even more available for classic in the coming months...
I agree with spg here. It should be set to non-concede games, that might help to keep this in check, though I can still see friends banding together (bands with other?) gaming it that way as well. But it would be harder to accomplish as a method of hording promos.
Do what you do man. I'm sure there are lots of other readers that do like these quite a bit. Thanks for explaining.
Welcome back, even though I was never around when you were writing before, it's great to read your article, it's easy to read and quite useful.
I've been gazing and drooling at the constructed Alara format since it came out, thinking about a dip in the pool, but I haven't been able to get a read on the meta at all, which seems to be changing super-quickly compared to monoliths like standard.
I really like the read on the meta from the queues, which is something that I'd like to do for standard but since the relaunch I have been busy as a bee with non-MTGO stuff, barely playing in the one tournament that I run each week.
These articles are a strange thing.
They're not really about the strategy or the deck building or anything of that nature. I like to think of them more as a custom built short story for the PureMTGO audience.
Why?
I don't know. But I started them for the same reason I started State: no one was doing it, and I wanted to see it done. :)
The only real end result that I hope for from these is that they are hopefully entertaining to some of the readers. A little entertainment and diversion can be a good thing. :)
Erik - I don't get these man, but I always appreciate seeing a new article posted. Thanks for taking the time to write week in and week out. Thanks to everyone else who writes too. If I had more time, I would contribute articles too.
- Mike
I shudder at the idea of needing to play 1,000 casual games to get a single promo card though... And you know that you'll have people gaming the system in that cast - start up a game, do the minimum required for it to count as "a game" from a rewards point of view, and then moving onto the next one...
I guess my issue with Jitte is that it's cheap enough mana wise to fit in almost any deck and once it start to get loaded with counters you're in big trouble. I accept that you do get a little time before those counters can be applied but in the non focused world that is S100 it still felt too random at times. Mind you I think it was a close call to banning it or not and which side of the fence you end up on is personal prefference. I don't mind not being able to play it any more. I'll not miss Skullclamp either.
However I'd love to see the reasoning behind Imperial Seal as I'll miss that a lot from my deck. Still, lets wait for the next article where you have already promised to share your thoughts on the actual bannings.
Keep up the good work.
It's nice to se your perspective before the banning, I share many of your points of view (specially Jitte, which i consider fair enough). I don't agree however on gifts, it's to big of an advantage in artrition matchups and make some games feel mechanicaly the same, also with gifts cards like loam, ruins and soon wasteland and volrath stronghold become a problem and make lot's of games the same (recuring shriekmaw against agro for example).
I'm still undecided about the black tutors however (imperial and vampiric), they were surely very powerful but they also fuleled some decks that can't exist without them.
Let me put it this way. There are many artifacts that aggro can potentially lose to, with Jitte being the most swingy. Some decks have Vedalken Shackles and there are probably a few more. Having maindeck hate is good because it is the opposite from being totally ignorant. It's probably healthier to have Jitte in the format because control decks can capitalize on it as well because the weaker players tend to use it too early and the tempo swing can determine the game sometimes. Unless they bring back sideboards, it is healthier for the format if it has diverse threats and decks respect that. Now, maindecking artifact hate is not really good against some matchups (like aggro vs aggro if they don't play artifacts) so it becomes very difficult to have healthy splash damage. Jitte spoiled games because most people chose not to use cards that are less affected by it or work against it. Sure I get knocked about by Jitte sometimes but more often than not, I don't find myself losing to it because it does not an auto-win card but simply a very powerful card.
My point about Singleton 100 is that it should be (in my opinion) a format that prevents degeneration (like near unstoppable situations) while allowing maximum card play like a mini-vintage.
Jitte can't smash you on the turn it comes out even if it can kill a creature or two. You can at least untap or do something to the creature during the combat phase which would give you another turn before it gets counters.
I'll try to think of an easier way to show a deck but I don't think I'll be able to implement it in bulk if it is too troublesome. I myself don't really like looking at 100 card lists even if I tend to be more appreciative of long decklists. I'll see what I can do.
Thank you! I hope to write as often as I can but with my currently VERY limited card pool, that will be a monthly article most probably.
LE
Does chalice being all over the place factor into the equation? Chalice for 1 kills 15 cards, Chalice for 2 kills 16. Seems bad for you. Also, did you try slice and dice in anything else? UR tron, maybe. Fire spout and jund charm dont seem like bad answers either, esp accessed by glittering wish in something rockish. Don't think mono red burn is a bad idea as a meta game deck, but best deck in format?
That said, good ideas and good article.
It's a shame this came out after the actual bannings but never mind. your thoughts on potential problem cards were still interesting.
I do feel that you contradicted yourself just a little by saying that Jitte was not ban worthy in the first section and then saying "Decks that engage in combat very often MUST have artifact hate or an active Umezawa's Jitte will make the game unwinnable" in the hate section. In my mind the fact that you must run hate for a card that fits into almost any deck means it probably needs banning. However it's probably one of those 'too close to call' things anyway. From experience my goblin deck usually looses to a resolved Jitte and usually wins when it resolves it's Jitte so I'm not sorry to see it go.
Another point not related to your content is the graphic for the deck listings. I find it difficult to really see the deck as a whole entity when looking at them. I know that S100 decks, by their very nature, are just a list of card names so perhaps there isn't much that can be done. I'm sure most regular readers know all the cards by name anyway so don't have the same problems I do.
Keep up the good work. I like reading about S100 and you're doing a good job.
Thnx for the comment LE! Hope u enjoy ur time playing singleton 100.
I personally like the format mainly for the same reason as you. 1x is always cheaper than 4x. I like playing with powerful cards but I can't really afford a playset of everything to be at a competitive level so even t2 is horrible for me.
I hope I'm going in the right direction with my articles as I prefer not to be prescriptive deckwise so that people will try different things.. For the competitively hungry, One 00 will gear towards tournament prep in #4.
Just wanted to let you know that I'm following your articles and just because of them I started playing Singleton.
Well, just because of them and bacause of the fact that 1x Wrath of God for example is much cheaper than a playset of course :).
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for posting these articles.
LE
Great Article! It is great to see you back, I've followed your articles for a long time now. Glad your in the block spirit like the rest of us :) Good luck in your tournaments, maybe we will meet soon :)
The second pick is clearly the land. There's not even any room for debate here.