That's basically what was going through my head the entire article. The article has useful information, but at no point do you ever reference what the league exporter thing is (although I have a pretty good idea).
Could you at least include a brief summary at the top?
I had written a very long comment yesterday about lots of picks but somehow it wouldnt post :(
I agree with the guy that commented after that, except for the lens issue.
You can get evolution charm in pc and edge of autumn in fs for fixing and/or acceleration
I think overal I would have gone more for the Thalid theme than the rebels, cause with rebels you really want to go WB for blighspeakers, trappers and such stuff.
Why did you think the Giant would table? there were 5 cards far worse than the giant in that pack.
You shouldn't expect stuff to table unless the pack is extraordinary good with lots of playables
Reflex vs Shade, seriously, relfex is not that great.
Sure you want him in a dedicated sliver deck, but at that point, you didnt have any and the chance of seeing sinews after that is slim. also having 1 poultice and 1 sinew wouldnt want to make me play the reflex.
Aangel in 33 is the obvious right pick but if it wasnt there I think sprout swarm is 10000xxxxx better than luminid.
It's a fine guy, dont get me wrong but it simply doesnt win you games like swarm does
pack 35, whip spine over ancient? Like I said, i;d have gone for a more thallid themed deck but taking whip spine cause it;s less mana just doesnt work for me,. it costs 6 total to play and unmoprh, which is more than ancient.
Obviously you have a wewak spot for 5 mana 3/3 flyers, which is fine cause they are great, but having synergy in your deck shouldnt be underestimated.
Hi there... I just wonder what the combo in Project X is exactly? I guess it has something to do with Saffi Eriksdotter kills Crypt Champion which gets Saffi Eriksdotter back?
Pick 3 is a nightmare for any drafter. I think my head would have exploded right there. Hermit is definitely awesome by himself and in combination with Sprout Swarm, but a pick 3 Ephemeron is a clear signal that Blue is open, and Sulfurous Blast is insanely good. Hermit is a great pick and it's on-color, but I probably would have taken Ephemeron for WU or Blast for RG here. In the end, it looks like your color combination was flowing best, so the Hermit worked out well.
Pick 4: Scout is a great pick here, especially with the Moa. As you noted later, your WG deck got stuffed with fat, and the Scout is a great complement to that. It can summon up little dorks to hold the early game while you wait for the mana to cast your fat.
Pick 11: I think Dryad was the right pick here, even if it doesn't make your maindeck.
Pick 17: I agree with your assessment that Vow would have been a better pick. You already have Thallids and Rebels, so Magus will probably hurt you more than your opponent.
Pick 19: I think Shade was the right pick here. I don't think Reflex Sliver is that good...
Pick 24: Dawn Charm all the way! Fog is ok. But Fog OR save your best guy OR prevent a game-winning burn spell is just sick. I will almost always play 1 Dawn Charm if I have them. Its won me several games.
Pick 33: I see no reason to question this pick. Angel of Salvation is every bit as good as Hellkite, and possibly better [in limited]. Convoke means it comes out when you need it, and it always does sick things when it does. You can Convoke it out before blockers, prevent damage to itself, and kill their best flyer, or Convoke it out after blockers, save your dudes, and start swinging. In my FS release event, I had a 4-1 worthy pool that went 2-3 because I faced two pools with Angel. My record in those matches when Angel was absent: 2-0. And when it showed up? 0-4. Hellkite may be better in constructed for its instant-win-of-awesomeness, but Angel rules the skies in limited. If I'm in White, I'll take it over almost anything else.
Evolution Charm's strength is in its versatility; being able to either fix mana OR regrow a threat is extremely valuable. Last Gasp, in current Classic, is quite good. If the meta shifted towards tokens more (as the meta is in Standard), then Echoing Decay would be the right call. However, the ability to give -3/-3 is significantly stronger than giving a creature -2/-2. Seeing as how MBC is a very popular deck right now, I want to kill those Twisted Abominations dead. I do not see how Pit Keeper is eating at my card advnatage bank, seeing as how the goal is to use the graveyard as a second library, not as a pure Threshold bank. Finally, Okiba-Gang is a sick card against control- while 187 creatures obviously make it better, simply using him is also quite good. And yes, Werebear is always a savage beating.
We've spent time working on this deck the last couple of days and came to the same conclusions as you. Evolution charm is surprisingly playable, the land fixing is relevant often enough to make it worthwhile and I'v even used the flying modal a few times. The rest of your comments are valid though, barring the question about Okiba Gang. We don't run that in any deck to enable 187 creatures, we instead run it because it has a very large impact on most games and can occasionally win the game all by itself. I'll speak to Spike about getting an updated list posted.
Wait...Evolution charm? Shouldn't that be the other 2 copies of revival? Is the ability to search for lands and grant flying that important? Are the last gasps that much better than horobi's whisper? Or Echoing Decay, for that matter? Isn't the Pit Keeper canabalizing your primary card advantage mechanic? Shouldn't that be a Phyrexian Rager? Do you have enough 187 creatures to justify Okiba-Gang? Do you achieve threshold fast and consistantly enough to justify Werebear?
I don't play a lot of Classic Pauper, but that last deck just seems confused to me.
Pack 1 Pick - I'm okay with taking the scout here, as it is an efficient beater in the worst case and a form of card advantage in the best. My quesion is more about the value of the Lens. It seems like a very good pick that should at least be considered here, certainly over Herd Gnarr. I mean, there isn't that much fixing in PLC or FUT, and you're not likely to have much passed to you at this point in TSP. The artifact accellerates and fixes, and makes Teneb a much easier pick, to say nothing about making it easier to splash power later on and use higher casting cost creatures. Why is it not even considered here?
Pack 1 Pick 11 - You took the squire over the Dryad, even though you were in green. Is the dryad really THAT bad? I mean, it's a 3 power 3 drop that might have evasion.
Pack 3 Pick 1 - You've taken a mana tithe and a Shade of Troikair over an Uktabi Drake, but now you are seriously considering Aven Mindsensor, which has the same P/T. Is the Drake that bad? I would think it's ability to play nice with the dust elemental would help, and at worst it's a quick flyer that messes up combat math.
Hi there... I just wonder what the combo in Project X is exactly? I guess it has something to do with Saffi Eriksdotter kills Crypt Champion which gets Saffi Eriksdotter back?
Hi there... I just wonder what the combo in Project X is exactly? I guess it has something to do with Saffi Eriksdotter kills Crypt Champion which gets Saffi Eriksdotter back?
I always enjoyed reading your articles. And I was curious and tried a TFP draft and got beat first match. ehh
I tried to make a blue/black deck, and at the end I was overwhelmed by big red/black creatures. Does black and blue not work too well for this set? I seem to think that way for this set because his red cards far outweightted the usefulness of my blue spells.
Or maybe it was cause the person next to me already took all the good black/red creatures(korlash/raider/ and etc)
Any extra advice for new drafters?
(and I didn't actually lose anything from that draft since I got damnation and Urborg and other rares :D)
Sweet article. You definately beat me down with that deck. I'll have to see if I can create something solid in extended to deal with it. Mostly I've been playing pauper standard. I do think the deck is solid and a worthy contender.
Thanks. That clears it up a bit and seems more on-target with what I would have expected.
Noobie question 1: When you draft and create a deck, you get to keep all the cards you draft, right? So even if you lose horribly, at least get to keep the cards you drafted?
Noobie question 2: What's the difference between 8-4 and 4-3-2-2? Which is better for a noobie?
That's only, of course, when you lose in the first round, which coupled with the actual drafting of cards takes about an hour (all drafts are single-elimination). If you're going to do a draft, you should probably set aside at least 3 hours of time to complete it, though it may or may not take that long. For new players it can be a hard lesson learned, though, so if it's your first draft, be sure to read up on drafting strategy. Start drafting 10th edition before you move on to other sets, since with core sets, the power level of cards are far easier to decipher.
Yeah, the touch doesn't trigger until the end of your turn, which means no matter when you cast it on your opponents turn you still get an attack step before you have to blink it. And as stated earlier, if you don't blink it, it doesn't die, it just gets returned to your hand. I made a casual deck with touch/angel of despair/skeletal vampire shortly after dissension came out and it was pretty good. Just funny to see what I deemed a strictly casual card making the top tables so long after it was introduced to the enviornment.
Aethermages Touch does not kill the creature, it makes it go back to the owners hand at end of turn. Crucial detail because he can sometimes get extra tricks out of this. (Flip Venser, bounce something, let venser return to hand. Cast him again, bounce something, blink him, bounce something, ...) Extra bounce. Same can go for Hellkite.
If your good it can be pretty time consuming. Honestly it depends on how far you get. Usually for me it doesn't take more than an hour but I rarely win drafts.
I really don't get why anyone would take offense to this. The cards exist in the game to be played. It doesn't even really matter if ones intent when building decks such as these is to infuriate your opponent. Would it be any different if the intent was to make them happy? No, not really, the deck is the same. I agree with dragonmage's rebuttle that nasty decks are most definately seperate from poor sportsmanship. Sure these kinds of decks may not be fun to play against, but they are part of the game, and if the player who created the deck is having fun, then that is all that should matter.
"Uh... What are you talking about"
That's basically what was going through my head the entire article. The article has useful information, but at no point do you ever reference what the league exporter thing is (although I have a pretty good idea).
Could you at least include a brief summary at the top?
I had written a very long comment yesterday about lots of picks but somehow it wouldnt post :(
I agree with the guy that commented after that, except for the lens issue.
You can get evolution charm in pc and edge of autumn in fs for fixing and/or acceleration
I think overal I would have gone more for the Thalid theme than the rebels, cause with rebels you really want to go WB for blighspeakers, trappers and such stuff.
Why did you think the Giant would table? there were 5 cards far worse than the giant in that pack.
You shouldn't expect stuff to table unless the pack is extraordinary good with lots of playables
Reflex vs Shade, seriously, relfex is not that great.
Sure you want him in a dedicated sliver deck, but at that point, you didnt have any and the chance of seeing sinews after that is slim. also having 1 poultice and 1 sinew wouldnt want to make me play the reflex.
Aangel in 33 is the obvious right pick but if it wasnt there I think sprout swarm is 10000xxxxx better than luminid.
It's a fine guy, dont get me wrong but it simply doesnt win you games like swarm does
pack 35, whip spine over ancient? Like I said, i;d have gone for a more thallid themed deck but taking whip spine cause it;s less mana just doesnt work for me,. it costs 6 total to play and unmoprh, which is more than ancient.
Obviously you have a wewak spot for 5 mana 3/3 flyers, which is fine cause they are great, but having synergy in your deck shouldnt be underestimated.
gl next draft
Hi there... I just wonder what the combo in Project X is exactly? I guess it has something to do with Saffi Eriksdotter kills Crypt Champion which gets Saffi Eriksdotter back?
- Hans
Pick 3 is a nightmare for any drafter. I think my head would have exploded right there. Hermit is definitely awesome by himself and in combination with Sprout Swarm, but a pick 3 Ephemeron is a clear signal that Blue is open, and Sulfurous Blast is insanely good. Hermit is a great pick and it's on-color, but I probably would have taken Ephemeron for WU or Blast for RG here. In the end, it looks like your color combination was flowing best, so the Hermit worked out well.
Pick 4: Scout is a great pick here, especially with the Moa. As you noted later, your WG deck got stuffed with fat, and the Scout is a great complement to that. It can summon up little dorks to hold the early game while you wait for the mana to cast your fat.
Pick 11: I think Dryad was the right pick here, even if it doesn't make your maindeck.
Pick 17: I agree with your assessment that Vow would have been a better pick. You already have Thallids and Rebels, so Magus will probably hurt you more than your opponent.
Pick 19: I think Shade was the right pick here. I don't think Reflex Sliver is that good...
Pick 24: Dawn Charm all the way! Fog is ok. But Fog OR save your best guy OR prevent a game-winning burn spell is just sick. I will almost always play 1 Dawn Charm if I have them. Its won me several games.
Pick 33: I see no reason to question this pick. Angel of Salvation is every bit as good as Hellkite, and possibly better [in limited]. Convoke means it comes out when you need it, and it always does sick things when it does. You can Convoke it out before blockers, prevent damage to itself, and kill their best flyer, or Convoke it out after blockers, save your dudes, and start swinging. In my FS release event, I had a 4-1 worthy pool that went 2-3 because I faced two pools with Angel. My record in those matches when Angel was absent: 2-0. And when it showed up? 0-4. Hellkite may be better in constructed for its instant-win-of-awesomeness, but Angel rules the skies in limited. If I'm in White, I'll take it over almost anything else.
Evolution Charm's strength is in its versatility; being able to either fix mana OR regrow a threat is extremely valuable. Last Gasp, in current Classic, is quite good. If the meta shifted towards tokens more (as the meta is in Standard), then Echoing Decay would be the right call. However, the ability to give -3/-3 is significantly stronger than giving a creature -2/-2. Seeing as how MBC is a very popular deck right now, I want to kill those Twisted Abominations dead. I do not see how Pit Keeper is eating at my card advnatage bank, seeing as how the goal is to use the graveyard as a second library, not as a pure Threshold bank. Finally, Okiba-Gang is a sick card against control- while 187 creatures obviously make it better, simply using him is also quite good. And yes, Werebear is always a savage beating.
-Alex
We've spent time working on this deck the last couple of days and came to the same conclusions as you. Evolution charm is surprisingly playable, the land fixing is relevant often enough to make it worthwhile and I'v even used the flying modal a few times. The rest of your comments are valid though, barring the question about Okiba Gang. We don't run that in any deck to enable 187 creatures, we instead run it because it has a very large impact on most games and can occasionally win the game all by itself. I'll speak to Spike about getting an updated list posted.
Wait...Evolution charm? Shouldn't that be the other 2 copies of revival? Is the ability to search for lands and grant flying that important? Are the last gasps that much better than horobi's whisper? Or Echoing Decay, for that matter? Isn't the Pit Keeper canabalizing your primary card advantage mechanic? Shouldn't that be a Phyrexian Rager? Do you have enough 187 creatures to justify Okiba-Gang? Do you achieve threshold fast and consistantly enough to justify Werebear?
I don't play a lot of Classic Pauper, but that last deck just seems confused to me.
I've got some questions:
Pack 1 Pick - I'm okay with taking the scout here, as it is an efficient beater in the worst case and a form of card advantage in the best. My quesion is more about the value of the Lens. It seems like a very good pick that should at least be considered here, certainly over Herd Gnarr. I mean, there isn't that much fixing in PLC or FUT, and you're not likely to have much passed to you at this point in TSP. The artifact accellerates and fixes, and makes Teneb a much easier pick, to say nothing about making it easier to splash power later on and use higher casting cost creatures. Why is it not even considered here?
Pack 1 Pick 11 - You took the squire over the Dryad, even though you were in green. Is the dryad really THAT bad? I mean, it's a 3 power 3 drop that might have evasion.
Pack 3 Pick 1 - You've taken a mana tithe and a Shade of Troikair over an Uktabi Drake, but now you are seriously considering Aven Mindsensor, which has the same P/T. Is the Drake that bad? I would think it's ability to play nice with the dust elemental would help, and at worst it's a quick flyer that messes up combat math.
Hi there... I just wonder what the combo in Project X is exactly? I guess it has something to do with Saffi Eriksdotter kills Crypt Champion which gets Saffi Eriksdotter back?
- Hans
Hi there... I just wonder what the combo in Project X is exactly? I guess it has something to do with Saffi Eriksdotter kills Crypt Champion which gets Saffi Eriksdotter back?
- Hans
i love that you put The Deck decklist. whole article was a nice read.
As always, another great article. Very cool that we get to preview a card!
I think it is really cool that the site got to do a preview card. I'm even jealous that I did not get to write about it, but Pete did a great job. :)
I really like the idea of ME on MTGO, it lets me play with cards that I was a total nublet with when I started to play.
Whoops forgot to edit that when I read over it. Thanks!
You gain 2 life when you sac a land to the Zuran Orb. Not 3. But it's still a great card...
I always enjoyed reading your articles. And I was curious and tried a TFP draft and got beat first match. ehh
I tried to make a blue/black deck, and at the end I was overwhelmed by big red/black creatures. Does black and blue not work too well for this set? I seem to think that way for this set because his red cards far outweightted the usefulness of my blue spells.
Or maybe it was cause the person next to me already took all the good black/red creatures(korlash/raider/ and etc)
Any extra advice for new drafters?
(and I didn't actually lose anything from that draft since I got damnation and Urborg and other rares :D)
Sweet article. You definately beat me down with that deck. I'll have to see if I can create something solid in extended to deal with it. Mostly I've been playing pauper standard. I do think the deck is solid and a worthy contender.
JB
Thanks. That clears it up a bit and seems more on-target with what I would have expected.
Noobie question 1: When you draft and create a deck, you get to keep all the cards you draft, right? So even if you lose horribly, at least get to keep the cards you drafted?
Noobie question 2: What's the difference between 8-4 and 4-3-2-2? Which is better for a noobie?
That's only, of course, when you lose in the first round, which coupled with the actual drafting of cards takes about an hour (all drafts are single-elimination). If you're going to do a draft, you should probably set aside at least 3 hours of time to complete it, though it may or may not take that long. For new players it can be a hard lesson learned, though, so if it's your first draft, be sure to read up on drafting strategy. Start drafting 10th edition before you move on to other sets, since with core sets, the power level of cards are far easier to decipher.
I thought it was fun. I like making people mad too though..........
Yeah, the touch doesn't trigger until the end of your turn, which means no matter when you cast it on your opponents turn you still get an attack step before you have to blink it. And as stated earlier, if you don't blink it, it doesn't die, it just gets returned to your hand. I made a casual deck with touch/angel of despair/skeletal vampire shortly after dissension came out
and it was pretty good. Just funny to see what I deemed a strictly casual card making the top tables so long after it was introduced to the enviornment.
So you draft, play, and complete everything in about an hour? That's shorter than I thought...
Aethermages Touch does not kill the creature, it makes it go back to the owners hand at end of turn. Crucial detail because he can sometimes get extra tricks out of this. (Flip Venser, bounce something, let venser return to hand. Cast him again, bounce something, blink him, bounce something, ...) Extra bounce. Same can go for Hellkite.
If your good it can be pretty time consuming. Honestly it depends on how far you get. Usually for me it doesn't take more than an hour but I rarely win drafts.
I really don't get why anyone would take offense to this. The cards exist in the game to be played. It doesn't even really matter if ones intent when building decks such as these is to infuriate your opponent. Would it be any different if the intent was to make them happy? No, not really, the deck is the same. I agree with dragonmage's rebuttle that nasty decks are most definately seperate from poor sportsmanship. Sure these kinds of decks may not be fun to play against, but they are part of the game, and if the player who created the deck is having fun, then that is all that should matter.