i liked Jalum Tome as a way to "cycle" through your deck till you hit a win condition when you get the dragon going.. to me its just like having a bazaar in it..
great article.. i loved the transformation.
also check out last rites.. its a way to discard a worldgorger if you have it in your hand. (or any other combo creature) it also serves two purposes a great card for singleton decks looking to get the most "bang for your buck"
This site makes me miss Karsten's weekly report less and less. Its sooo nice to have somewhere to read about onlines standard meta. Thanks for doing this.
Ok I know where "Pale Ale" came from. It was a beer from back home and I saw it on the same menu as Deadguy Ale, and transposed them together. I dunno HOW I managed to do that.
I think Worth's point is BW Pikula style decks are Rogue Deadguy Ale. No idea where Pale Ale came from. Kinda like burn decks being called RDW... For an eternal format Classic players sure don't know what to call decks :)
My dredge sideboard runs 4 leyline as even 3 was not consistant enough to have opening hand, so I bumped it to a playset. Tombstalker is ok...but I still believe there to be better choices like even the classic ghoul/breath finisher when you have trouble with sacrificing creatures such as moggs or ravagers. Needles work, but sometimes you want to hold back until you see a crypt hit board or not. Also against affinity, usually you never needle ravager as it goes crypt first post board, and then plating. The rest though I have to agree are still great cards for dredge sideboard.
Lesson has been learned. I was a little upset when I was auto-dropped, but you live and learn. Next time I will follow my own rules and not play in a PE that I know I can't complete. Great article!!!
Thanks for the feedback. The large paragraph is bad, I'll see if I can touch it up a little more today. I guess I could've put more testing info in, but I was kinda running long already, however, it's a fair request. I'll keep working to improve.
I know, it's not REAL Pale Ale :). But I really like Pikula's old tournament report, deck, and deck name, so as a tribute I barned the name. If all 10 duals are not in MED2, this opens us up to a Rav/GPT/DIS distribution style possibly? Could we get all the blue ones or most of them in the first two sets so that 2 of the 4 aren't horribly underopened?
I am actually about to edit this because I feel it is rather short, and I want to highlight the players that kicked butt in the issue as well. Thanks for the well wishes.
One thing I didn't like was that really long paragraph in the middle. You should (in my opinion) never do that, and I really have to start taking the advice I just gave.
By the way, don't concern yourself about my bad draws, that tends to happen when I play combo decks.
On a more positive note, the story was very well told.
I really hope you get better. Can someone give this man a week off to recover from the flu? I don't think we want him to get worse by having to sit in front of a computer when he should be resting.
hey, i was the person who timed out during the top 8 of the tribal 3x.
i was playing UW merfolk, and i followed that top 8 (which i fell asleep waiting for, heh), with a top 4 in the 2x tribal event that followed it, a few days ago. lost to faeries in the top 4, which i was 6-0 vs in the two tournies up to that point, bad draws on my part and topdecking on his part put me away. With back to back top 8's in 6+ round events, seems like UW merfolk is another solid contender for tribal (favorable matchups against UB and UG faeries, mono black zombies, GB elves, and i guess BR goblins, i'm 3-0 vs goblins altho it seems like it shouldnt be very good for me on paper. bad matchups include WW, and RW giants. i'm 1-0 vs the 4c elemental build that is starting to be played by some of the better players in the events (sti plays in, along with renappel, etc).
hey, i was the person who timed out during the top 8 of the tribal 3x.
i was playing UW merfolk, and i followed that top 8 (which i fell asleep waiting for, heh), with a top 4 in the 2x tribal event that followed it, a few days ago. lost to faeries in the top 4, which i was 6-0 vs in the two tournies up to that point, bad draws on my part and topdecking on his part put me away. With back to back top 8's in 6+ round events, seems like UW merfolk is another solid contender for tribal (favorable matchups against UB and UG faeries, mono black zombies, GB elves, and i guess BR goblins, i'm 3-0 vs goblins altho it seems like it shouldnt be very good for me on paper. bad matchups include WW, and RW giants. i'm 1-0 vs the 4c elemental build that is starting to be played by some of the better players in the events (sti plays in, along with renappel, etc).
The matchup against Mono-black variants is pretty decent, since you do have access to better creatures in general, however, sometimes they get that Duress, into Smallpox, into Smallpox, into the Rack and Duress -type hand. Monoblack has game, and it comes down to playing skill on both sides (as with any matchup I guess), being smart with your lands (don't crack fetchs until after they Pox or whatever, to leave lands in your deck to draw later) and oftentimes, who gets off the first Duress/Thoughseize to protect their hand.
The funky way I worded it was the cleanest I could make it to get it to work alongside the Steamflogger Boss. The card needs to do 2 things, both assemble a contraption and put a token creature into play. I can't say assemble a 1/1 creature, because that doesn't put it into play, and to say assemble a 1/1 contraption creature by putting a 1/1 token creature into play, is more wordy. I did the best I could considering I was trying to make the Steamflogger Boss useful in conjunction with the cards I designed. Harder than it looked.
Flames of the Blood Hand is a very weak answer to Pulse of the Feilds, more-so if your opponent knows you run it. Vortex is probably the best answer but you have to draw it and get it to stick.
You have one darling little one already... sell the other, buy her a puppy and blow the rest on MEDII. I mean... work some overtime at work I guess. Heh.
i liked Jalum Tome as a way to "cycle" through your deck till you hit a win condition when you get the dragon going.. to me its just like having a bazaar in it..
great article.. i loved the transformation.
also check out last rites.. its a way to discard a worldgorger if you have it in your hand. (or any other combo creature) it also serves two purposes a great card for singleton decks looking to get the most "bang for your buck"
This site makes me miss Karsten's weekly report less and less. Its sooo nice to have somewhere to read about onlines standard meta. Thanks for doing this.
some suggestions.
chrome mox could speed your mana and fix your colors.
buried alive can get all your key critters into your graveyard fast.
can you go over what cards you'd need in hand for the second turn win, and how you would play it out?
Ok I know where "Pale Ale" came from. It was a beer from back home and I saw it on the same menu as Deadguy Ale, and transposed them together. I dunno HOW I managed to do that.
I created those decklists using the sites deck function. All you need is .dec file, upload it to the site, and than copy paste the ensuing page.
I think Worth's point is BW Pikula style decks are Rogue Deadguy Ale. No idea where Pale Ale came from. Kinda like burn decks being called RDW... For an eternal format Classic players sure don't know what to call decks :)
My dredge sideboard runs 4 leyline as even 3 was not consistant enough to have opening hand, so I bumped it to a playset. Tombstalker is ok...but I still believe there to be better choices like even the classic ghoul/breath finisher when you have trouble with sacrificing creatures such as moggs or ravagers. Needles work, but sometimes you want to hold back until you see a crypt hit board or not. Also against affinity, usually you never needle ravager as it goes crypt first post board, and then plating. The rest though I have to agree are still great cards for dredge sideboard.
Decklists are so useful - really nice job.
Get well soon.
I see a new format for cards (view / buy). Is that the new standard? Will autocard create that, or should we be entering those links manually?
Lesson has been learned. I was a little upset when I was auto-dropped, but you live and learn. Next time I will follow my own rules and not play in a PE that I know I can't complete. Great article!!!
Thanks for the feedback. The large paragraph is bad, I'll see if I can touch it up a little more today. I guess I could've put more testing info in, but I was kinda running long already, however, it's a fair request. I'll keep working to improve.
I know, it's not REAL Pale Ale :). But I really like Pikula's old tournament report, deck, and deck name, so as a tribute I barned the name. If all 10 duals are not in MED2, this opens us up to a Rav/GPT/DIS distribution style possibly? Could we get all the blue ones or most of them in the first two sets so that 2 of the 4 aren't horribly underopened?
Good article. :) It was rogue Deadguy Ale, though...not pale ale.
And as far as duals in MED 2, yeah...they'll be there...but I'm not at all sure the complete 10 will be. :)
Honestly, that's mostly in R&D's hands.
I am actually about to edit this because I feel it is rather short, and I want to highlight the players that kicked butt in the issue as well. Thanks for the well wishes.
As a PE walkthrough, great article. As a deck analysis, you really need more and/or more detailed testing. Speaking of which, I need to do that.
This is about, basically, what I just said.
One thing I didn't like was that really long paragraph in the middle. You should (in my opinion) never do that, and I really have to start taking the advice I just gave.
By the way, don't concern yourself about my bad draws, that tends to happen when I play combo decks.
On a more positive note, the story was very well told.
I really hope you get better. Can someone give this man a week off to recover from the flu? I don't think we want him to get worse by having to sit in front of a computer when he should be resting.
Also, as 53N531 said, awesome data.
Massive data. Ownage.
i remmeber when this kid joined my clan and i taught him to start running 60 card decks decent decks LOL
hey, i was the person who timed out during the top 8 of the tribal 3x.
i was playing UW merfolk, and i followed that top 8 (which i fell asleep waiting for, heh), with a top 4 in the 2x tribal event that followed it, a few days ago. lost to faeries in the top 4, which i was 6-0 vs in the two tournies up to that point, bad draws on my part and topdecking on his part put me away. With back to back top 8's in 6+ round events, seems like UW merfolk is another solid contender for tribal (favorable matchups against UB and UG faeries, mono black zombies, GB elves, and i guess BR goblins, i'm 3-0 vs goblins altho it seems like it shouldnt be very good for me on paper. bad matchups include WW, and RW giants. i'm 1-0 vs the 4c elemental build that is starting to be played by some of the better players in the events (sti plays in, along with renappel, etc).
so, yeah, there ya go.
hey, i was the person who timed out during the top 8 of the tribal 3x.
i was playing UW merfolk, and i followed that top 8 (which i fell asleep waiting for, heh), with a top 4 in the 2x tribal event that followed it, a few days ago. lost to faeries in the top 4, which i was 6-0 vs in the two tournies up to that point, bad draws on my part and topdecking on his part put me away. With back to back top 8's in 6+ round events, seems like UW merfolk is another solid contender for tribal (favorable matchups against UB and UG faeries, mono black zombies, GB elves, and i guess BR goblins, i'm 3-0 vs goblins altho it seems like it shouldnt be very good for me on paper. bad matchups include WW, and RW giants. i'm 1-0 vs the 4c elemental build that is starting to be played by some of the better players in the events (sti plays in, along with renappel, etc).
so, yeah, there ya go.
The matchup against Mono-black variants is pretty decent, since you do have access to better creatures in general, however, sometimes they get that Duress, into Smallpox, into Smallpox, into the Rack and Duress -type hand. Monoblack has game, and it comes down to playing skill on both sides (as with any matchup I guess), being smart with your lands (don't crack fetchs until after they Pox or whatever, to leave lands in your deck to draw later) and oftentimes, who gets off the first Duress/Thoughseize to protect their hand.
Really nice article bud.
Whats been your testing vs Pure Monoblack Discard and Pox?
Grunt Def looks a V solid creature in the graveyard tastic decks in this weekends PE.
The funky way I worded it was the cleanest I could make it to get it to work alongside the Steamflogger Boss. The card needs to do 2 things, both assemble a contraption and put a token creature into play. I can't say assemble a 1/1 creature, because that doesn't put it into play, and to say assemble a 1/1 contraption creature by putting a 1/1 token creature into play, is more wordy. I did the best I could considering I was trying to make the Steamflogger Boss useful in conjunction with the cards I designed. Harder than it looked.
Flames of the Blood Hand is a very weak answer to Pulse of the Feilds, more-so if your opponent knows you run it. Vortex is probably the best answer but you have to draw it and get it to stick.
Sulfuric Vortex and/or Flames of the Blood hand can be used to combat Pulse of the Fields.
You have one darling little one already... sell the other, buy her a puppy and blow the rest on MEDII. I mean... work some overtime at work I guess. Heh.