This isn't a bad article at all - the formating is a wee off, though.
I've attempted a classic WW deck in the past. Mine was a highly disruption deck. . .well, as far as white goes. It played Chrome Mox for a first turn Suppression field. It also played Isamaru, Sav Lions, Believers, Samurais, Hokori, and my favourite white card, The White Shoal. It was fun!
Well, Jitte is not just -1/-1. It's a big clock against a deck not trying to do anything relavant to the ground with its +4/+4. Not only that, it reloads with every hit and the life gain is relavant against decks trying to pull off tendrils or some sort of 20 damage. It's the card that makes ichorid look dumb, force decks to combo off in the next few turns and such. Singleton already has its inherent slowness and saying "hey.. go combo off in 2 turns or lose" is going to be tough especially with cards that don't do the same stuff. I'm not asying that it was that big a deal for it to be banned but it's one of the cards that can do so many things with so little mana and all parts may actually be relevant to the game state. Upheaval-Tog is not really a combo so as to speak. UB didn't try to go for the "combo" as though it had to. It didn't and upheaval just put the game in a very highly advantageous situation for it. Seriously, an academy ruins + triskelavus is sufficient to win games. You don't have to bother to upheaval. UB is a deck that won by its card advantage and mana advantage.
The reason why combo decks don't win now is that aggro decks are overly rampant. Control decks don't really have that much of a chance against for example: heartbeat of spring decks. It was possible to break through walls of countermagic with its cards and still pull it off. Control decks tend to have quite a relavant amount of creature hate in some form or the other which becomes dead against some combo decks. It is not ultimately easy for control decks to win even if they do simply because they have to rely on having anti combo tactics. The aggresive decks are a big force and they make combo decks less played simply because they need to go off turn 5 for example and some decks cannot fully utilize the dual lands to combo off faster because they bother so much of their life totals. If I were to play, I would definitely choose a control deck and have a minimal amount of cards against combo simply because they format itself places combo decks at a disadvantage. The decks to beat would simply be more of control and aggro decks.
Also, combo decks are almost thrice as hard to build as compared to a aggro/ control deck where they can simply jam pack the decks with good to subpar cards and still win. I enjoy reading what you say about the different formats but I do have to say that I am a little disappointed with your comments on the upheaval-tog,jitte and with regards countermagic pertaining to this article. Discard isn't that bad unless against storm based decks. If the combo can't survive simple stuff that everyone will play, it's not so much of a deck is it?
Oh and pre banning why not just run Upheaval-Tog as your "I win" combo? Two cards that are good by themselves and none of the bad tutors/combo cards that Flash needs. It costs more mana but getting the game there is what UB did, countermagic and creature removal.
People played Flash in Singleton PEs. They just never made t8. Much like the Singleton Desire decks it looks good on paper but has consistancy issues. I don't think everyone playing knew Flash could be run in Singleton but those that did and played it did not win. Counter magic is good vs the deck, discard is good vs the deck, and burn is good vs the deck.9/10 singleton decks are running at least one of those card types.
As far as the whole Flash being banned thing don't you think it should have broken the format before they banned it? But who knows maybe the Singleton world would collapse if a combo deck made top eight for the first time in months.
Also like many people you overstate Jitte's impact. The -1/-1 is the only super-relevant part of the card.
Crusher is pretty solid right now he is quite hyped but I think he might make a lasting impact in mutiple formats. Your price list seemed to have missed Shackles which shot up recently.
Oh and Aether Vial in response to a Brainstorm is cute but come on now... If they happen to brainstorm on turn four you can catch them with this. Vialing it out at EOT means they don't get to tutor first but they will next turn. If you only need to use it once to win why not just run some more tutors?
My hopes for crusher in Prix Aggro is that he fits the curve, is decently efficient and has a decent effect for the deck. The problem is where does he fit... his mana is a bit problematic in that most decks don't really want a Double Red creature... and he's competing against all the other 3cc critters. Pouring over some of the Prix Aggro decks, I'd be hard pressed to find a creature that can be cut for him while keeping the color distribution of the deck from slowing it down...
I could just be being overly optimistic about Countryside... but I have to imagine that some people will test him in their prix decks... just to test him :)
That's what I get for not looking up the Vesper Ghoul. I had thought it was 1 cc, like all the mana generators. What a crap common for 3 cc AND pay 1 life to get mana. Shrug.
Now, that's a list! i would really add decree of pain for mass removal and the 2 miojins (black and blu): i've played a neverending torment list for quite a long time and the black miojin was one of the few way to stop the threats my opponent had in hand, it's an enormous tempo advantage if you can cast it in the first turns, and can be paired with cards like mirokoro and skyscribing (you know, letting your opponent draw is never a good idea, sometimes is bad even if you have 2 underworld dreams out); also, i repeat, graceful adept is fantastic in this deck, they try to remove her, or she saves you some life chump blocking (or even blocking in the beginning of the game) and she's a wizard! if you splash green the great accelleration let you build mana in a moment, and traproot kami can save your day for a long time; a nice addiction if playing blu is the blu honden (and even the black one) that even works great with paradox haze; otherwise, if you go white, teferi's moat and the white muse, plus cards like ivory mask or circle of protection can help you through the game; and never forget miss martyr of sands, that can get you 20 life in a moment if you have 7 or 8 cards in hand; plus, necrotic sliver is a nice addiction if your opponent has some permanent that needs removing, life a planeswalker or something that prevent him to lose cause of milling (for example uba mask, or tomorrow, azami's familiar).
When I built my undying flame deck a long time ago, nobody saw it coming.
I used top,elder,reach for land/hand fix, congregation of dawn to get the a.wurm on the top at e.o.t. (1 card I'd draw and then 2 wurm next), then play undying flame next turn. So 28 damages in 2 turns. I added wog and also some seedspark to stall the game.
neverending torment deck is much more difficult to build though.
Amidst the recent negativity I thought I'd drop in and say I really enjoyed the recent article(s) on this. Can't wait to see the third in the series.
Amidst the recent negativity I thought I'd drop in and say I really enjoyed the recent article(s) on this. Can't wait to see the third in the series.
Combo beats aggro which beats control which beats combo. That is how it is supposed to work. If combo can't be aggro its not much of a deck is it?
Pre bannings control decks ruled the format not aggro.
I don't like steppe at all. And More fetch lands would do the same thing as flagstones, albeit at 1 life, but they wouldnt come into play tapped.
Whole new program!
The link to the installer is here: http://mtgoinstaller1.onlinegaming.wizards.com/mtgov3/MTGOIII_Helper.exe
And if you run into technical issues, the WotC tech help forums are here: http://forums.gleemax.com/forumdisplay.php?f=669
This isn't a bad article at all - the formating is a wee off, though.
I've attempted a classic WW deck in the past. Mine was a highly disruption deck. . .well, as far as white goes. It played Chrome Mox for a first turn Suppression field. It also played Isamaru, Sav Lions, Believers, Samurais, Hokori, and my favourite white card, The White Shoal. It was fun!
Well, Jitte is not just -1/-1. It's a big clock against a deck not trying to do anything relavant to the ground with its +4/+4. Not only that, it reloads with every hit and the life gain is relavant against decks trying to pull off tendrils or some sort of 20 damage. It's the card that makes ichorid look dumb, force decks to combo off in the next few turns and such. Singleton already has its inherent slowness and saying "hey.. go combo off in 2 turns or lose" is going to be tough especially with cards that don't do the same stuff. I'm not asying that it was that big a deal for it to be banned but it's one of the cards that can do so many things with so little mana and all parts may actually be relevant to the game state.
Upheaval-Tog is not really a combo so as to speak. UB didn't try to go for the "combo" as though it had to. It didn't and upheaval just put the game in a very highly advantageous situation for it. Seriously, an academy ruins + triskelavus is sufficient to win games. You don't have to bother to upheaval. UB is a deck that won by its card advantage and mana advantage.
The reason why combo decks don't win now is that aggro decks are overly rampant. Control decks don't really have that much of a chance against for example: heartbeat of spring decks. It was possible to break through walls of countermagic with its cards and still pull it off. Control decks tend to have quite a relavant amount of creature hate in some form or the other which becomes dead against some combo decks. It is not ultimately easy for control decks to win even if they do simply because they have to rely on having anti combo tactics.
The aggresive decks are a big force and they make combo decks less played simply because they need to go off turn 5 for example and some decks cannot fully utilize the dual lands to combo off faster because they bother so much of their life totals. If I were to play, I would definitely choose a control deck and have a minimal amount of cards against combo simply because they format itself places combo decks at a disadvantage. The decks to beat would simply be more of control and aggro decks.
Also, combo decks are almost thrice as hard to build as compared to a aggro/ control deck where they can simply jam pack the decks with good to subpar cards and still win. I enjoy reading what you say about the different formats but I do have to say that I am a little disappointed with your comments on the upheaval-tog,jitte and with regards countermagic pertaining to this article. Discard isn't that bad unless against storm based decks. If the combo can't survive simple stuff that everyone will play, it's not so much of a deck is it?
hey when V3 goes live will we have to re-download the program or just a patch? Also can someone link me to where to DL it? Thanks all
Was Auntie's Hovel not run for budget reasons or did you forget to add it?
Talking about the top eight would also be a good thing to add next time.
Oh and pre banning why not just run Upheaval-Tog as your "I win" combo? Two cards that are good by themselves and none of the bad tutors/combo cards that Flash needs. It costs more mana but getting the game there is what UB did, countermagic and creature removal.
People played Flash in Singleton PEs. They just never made t8. Much like the Singleton Desire decks it looks good on paper but has consistancy issues. I don't think everyone playing knew Flash could be run in Singleton but those that did and played it did not win. Counter magic is good vs the deck, discard is good vs the deck, and burn is good vs the deck.9/10 singleton decks are running at least one of those card types.
As far as the whole Flash being banned thing don't you think it should have broken the format before they banned it? But who knows maybe the Singleton world would collapse if a combo deck made top eight for the first time in months.
Also like many people you overstate Jitte's impact. The -1/-1 is the only super-relevant part of the card.
er scratch that, I get it 3-0-2... If you could, please say who you drew with too :P
I'm confused... how many rounds was this event, and how did you finish?
Great article, like always
Crusher is pretty solid right now he is quite hyped but I think he might make a lasting impact in mutiple formats. Your price list seemed to have missed Shackles which shot up recently.
Oh and Aether Vial in response to a Brainstorm is cute but come on now... If they happen to brainstorm on turn four you can catch them with this. Vialing it out at EOT means they don't get to tutor first but they will next turn. If you only need to use it once to win why not just run some more tutors?
My hopes for crusher in Prix Aggro is that he fits the curve, is decently efficient and has a decent effect for the deck. The problem is where does he fit... his mana is a
bit problematic in that most decks don't really want a Double Red creature... and he's competing against all the other 3cc critters. Pouring over some of the Prix Aggro decks, I'd be hard pressed to find a creature that can be cut for him while keeping the color distribution of the deck from slowing it down...
I could just be being overly optimistic about Countryside... but I have to imagine that some people will test him in their prix decks... just to test him :)
several things
1) most aggro prismatic decks run less than 100 land so its a small chance we will see Country side crusher
2) a bug i found that is worth adding to the list is spell weaver helix if you imprint any thing it will cause the game to crash
over all good article keep it up!
As usal, Hammy, great article. The only thing I notice missing off hand is the power/toughness of Fencer Clique.
That's what I get for not looking up the Vesper Ghoul. I had thought it was 1 cc, like all the mana generators. What a crap common for 3 cc AND pay 1 life to get mana. Shrug.
Please register. Why do you want to see him so badly?
Please post some kind of Avatar picture
totally missed that... give oyur opponent a hand of lands before the torment starts...
I am curious about these community profiles... are they just for players that do well in the PE setting or anyone who the community knows well enough?
Regardless I like these articles keep em' coming :)
Now, that's a list! i would really add decree of pain for mass removal and the 2 miojins (black and blu): i've played a neverending torment list for quite a long time and the black miojin was one of the few way to stop the threats my opponent had in hand, it's an enormous tempo advantage if you can cast it in the first turns, and can be paired with cards like mirokoro and skyscribing (you know, letting your opponent draw is never a good idea, sometimes is bad even if you have 2 underworld dreams out); also, i repeat, graceful adept is fantastic in this deck, they try to remove her, or she saves you some life chump blocking (or even blocking in the beginning of the game) and she's a wizard! if you splash green the great accelleration let you build mana in a moment, and traproot kami can save your day for a long time; a nice addiction if playing blu is the blu honden (and even the black one) that even works great with paradox haze; otherwise, if you go white, teferi's moat and the white muse, plus cards like ivory mask or circle of protection can help you through the game; and never forget miss martyr of sands, that can get you 20 life in a moment if you have 7 or 8 cards in hand; plus, necrotic sliver is a nice addiction if your opponent has some permanent that needs removing, life a planeswalker or something that prevent him to lose cause of milling (for example uba mask, or tomorrow, azami's familiar).
When I built my undying flame deck a long time ago, nobody saw it coming.
I used top,elder,reach for land/hand fix, congregation of dawn to get the a.wurm on the top at e.o.t. (1 card I'd draw and then 2 wurm next), then play undying flame next turn. So 28 damages in 2 turns. I added wog and also some seedspark to stall the game.
neverending torment deck is much more difficult to build though.