I used my builds where the originals were missing due to the fact the boards were archived not too long ago. In fact, the only list up there that is 100% mine is TDR. As far as Brute Force, I think that RG can be build differently so that it can incorporate the pump spell. Lots of cards go a long while before breaking through. I believe that Skargan Pit-Skulk was out for a good 3 months before anyone put it to use in Classic.
Its a nice article, although kind of short. It definitely hit on the main topics of deck editing. A suggestion for another type of article like this would be to start with a deck as an example and go through the whole process with that deck. Hope that helps.
Don't get me wrong, I love MBC. However, it never really warped the format around it. Rather, MBC rose to fame as a reaction to other decks. MBC's main selling points was that it could handle RG aggro and MUC through creature control and discard elements. MBC never really burst on to the metagame and proclaimed "Here I am" to the point that these other decks have. MBC is part of the reaction, similar to decks like UW Control Cogs which was a reaction to RG due to hard to answer answers and ability to generate massive card advantage. Other Reaction style decks include Pez/Fortify WW, which arose as a way to simply be faster than many of the decks out there.
... but there is one deck that I am wondering why it is not on there. Where is the MBC deck?
It's not as recent as the blink.dec and about as old as the TDR, so.. uhm.. why is it not there?
Otherwise a real good and informative article.
Blink was really a community deck. Orzhov was, for a long time, a top deck. When Momentary Blink was spoiled/became visible, people began talking about it all over the PDC room. Because of this, I am hesitant to credit any one individual with creating the deck. I picked LBS because she, as I said, is one of the better deck pilots out there today.
I don't think any one person can take credit for the Orzhov deck. After Guildpact came out, several people (myself included) simultaneously and independently developed some very similar Black/White decks that were based on re-using creatures with CIP effects. With the release of Time Spiral, splashing Blue for Momentary Blink was a pretty obvious idea. Everybody's version has their own quirks or innovations, but even if we could identify the first person ever to play it, I don't think it would be fair to say that the archetype in general was "their" idea. // Spike: I liked the article; good historical review of the format's most influential and enduring archetypes.
I thought Lunchbox Superhero was the first to successfully pilot BLink deck... I mean I don't care either way I just wanted to know who was actually the first with it... In my experience Lunchbox and Geoffrey were the first people I had ever seen use it and Geoffrey gave credit to Lunch... Like I said, I really don't care who you give credit to I'm just curious...
I have to say next to Multiplayer PDC is my next favorite format. I just wish the two would become sanctioned by Wizards. Awesome article by the way. To bad I didnt know you were here in Orlando where I live. We could of hooked up for some PDC beatdowns. Oh well catch me on the flip side.
I liked the article, particularly the card suggestions.
I am curious, however, why you would want 4 Terramorphic Expanses in a mono build, especially one that is aggro. It seems like there are enough cards to thin the deck already.
This is a great article but I really think that you could have made some different decisions. Spirit Link for a first pick???? You have to take the Circle or the Pyroclasm. I like your 3rd pick Hill Giant. Why would you take a Fellwar Stone over another Hill Giant. This format is fairly simple-big creatures win games. Once you locked in on RG why would you still pick the Gravedigger...Wood Elves are great and even the Flowstone Shambler would be a better pick than Gravedigger. (The only way I would see this being justified is if you thought that black was still a possibility.) Why pass on the giant Wurm on your 6th pick? Too early to be defensive. Creatures like the Wurm can be very tough for an opponent to get rid of. Overall, I think the concept of this article is great...I just think that you could have put a much better deck together.
Yeah don't worry I already pointed that out to Evan. I told him the videos were for puremtgo and not mtgotraders but this was after he made the video's. It is a tad confusing I must say to have 2 sites like this but I wanted to make something seperate from mtgotraders. He said his next videos will say puremtgo and not mtgotraders.com
There is only one thing I noticed and that the others didn't mention so far, your vid's don't say "puremtgo", but thats just a minor point since the rest is perfect, besides the djinn.
Hoping to see some more articles from you on this site.
Too bad you didn't discuss signaling in this issue. Your pack 1, pick 1 could be an excellent example on the importance of signaling. Do you take Pyro or Hammer and risk placing a weak signal? Or grab story circle and send a strong red signal? Kind of tough call. If you take Circle, somebody is going to grab a 3rd pick Hammer or Pyroclasm which just screams red is wide open.
Sucks that we know how the rest of the draft went, getting shipped two Hill Giants is pretty big.
@ Javasci - You are completely correct and I apologize for the error. However, you could still use Swift Silence with the Pact + Illuminatus to draw your deck. A little goofy, but something to consider :)
Like I said in the vid, I'm a huge fan of the store, so as long as I'm playing MTGO, I'll probably be shopping right here. Big thanks to Heath for the invite, and any suggestions on what you guys might like to see here is welcome.
Cool article, thanks for writing here! Just a thought about running a splash color. You have 10 ways of fixing mana (4x Expanse, 4x Search 2x Evolution) that makes it so you can run a couple mana of any color that you want to splash. White would give you mystic enforcer, black would let you run the Ana Battlemage, which seems like a neat card for this deck. Often by the time you have 5 mana they're playing defense, but Ana takes care of that, plus gets damage in. Kind of a back up for both the thundermare (tap blockers) and for the utopia vows, which clear out blockers.
Just something I've been tinkering with adding to the deck.
I used my builds where the originals were missing due to the fact the boards were archived not too long ago. In fact, the only list up there that is 100% mine is TDR. As far as Brute Force, I think that RG can be build differently so that it can incorporate the pump spell. Lots of cards go a long while before breaking through. I believe that Skargan Pit-Skulk was out for a good 3 months before anyone put it to use in Classic.
99% of this is common sense. Take out bad cards for good ones.
"Card Insertions are always accompanied by removal of the same number of cards as you insert" - Really?
Its a nice article, although kind of short. It definitely hit on the main topics of deck editing. A suggestion for another type of article like this would be to start with a deck as an example and go through the whole process with that deck. Hope that helps.
Any feedback for Java?
Strange that your examples are either "your build" or ancient version of old decks. The sense of time is awkward and clunky.
Currently, I am excited by the prospect of Brute Force, but that is just me.
It's been out for a while now... Whats to get excited about?
Don't get me wrong, I love MBC. However, it never really warped the format around it. Rather, MBC rose to fame as a reaction to other decks. MBC's main selling points was that it could handle RG aggro and MUC through creature control and discard elements. MBC never really burst on to the metagame and proclaimed "Here I am" to the point that these other decks have. MBC is part of the reaction, similar to decks like UW Control Cogs which was a reaction to RG due to hard to answer answers and ability to generate massive card advantage. Other Reaction style decks include Pez/Fortify WW, which arose as a way to simply be faster than many of the decks out there.
... but there is one deck that I am wondering why it is not on there. Where is the MBC deck?
It's not as recent as the blink.dec and about as old as the TDR, so.. uhm.. why is it not there?
Otherwise a real good and informative article.
Blink was really a community deck. Orzhov was, for a long time, a top deck. When Momentary Blink was spoiled/became visible, people began talking about it all over the PDC room. Because of this, I am hesitant to credit any one individual with creating the deck. I picked LBS because she, as I said, is one of the better deck pilots out there today.
I don't think any one person can take credit for the Orzhov deck. After Guildpact came out, several people (myself included) simultaneously and independently developed some very similar Black/White decks that were based on re-using creatures with CIP effects. With the release of Time Spiral, splashing Blue for Momentary Blink was a pretty obvious idea. Everybody's version has their own quirks or innovations, but even if we could identify the first person ever to play it, I don't think it would be fair to say that the archetype in general was "their" idea. // Spike: I liked the article; good historical review of the format's most influential and enduring archetypes.
nice article - keep the series going
Nice article, especially since it gives a nice summary of the different metas you can't find much place else.
I'm currently tweaking my own version of Orzhov Blink - it's fared pretty average, though.
I thought Lunchbox Superhero was the first to successfully pilot BLink deck... I mean I don't care either way I just wanted to know who was actually the first with it... In my experience Lunchbox and Geoffrey were the first people I had ever seen use it and Geoffrey gave credit to Lunch... Like I said, I really don't care who you give credit to I'm just curious...
Anyway Great article as always.
I have to say next to Multiplayer PDC is my next favorite format. I just wish the two would become sanctioned by Wizards. Awesome article by the way. To bad I didnt know you were here in Orlando where I live. We could of hooked up for some PDC beatdowns. Oh well catch me on the flip side.
I liked the article, particularly the card suggestions.
I am curious, however, why you would want 4 Terramorphic Expanses in a mono build, especially one that is aggro. It seems like there are enough cards to thin the deck already.
This is a great article but I really think that you could have made some different decisions. Spirit Link for a first pick???? You have to take the Circle or the Pyroclasm. I like your 3rd pick Hill Giant. Why would you take a Fellwar Stone over another Hill Giant. This format is fairly simple-big creatures win games. Once you locked in on RG why would you still pick the Gravedigger...Wood Elves are great and even the Flowstone Shambler would be a better pick than Gravedigger. (The only way I would see this being justified is if you thought that black was still a possibility.) Why pass on the giant Wurm on your 6th pick? Too early to be defensive. Creatures like the Wurm can be very tough for an opponent to get rid of. Overall, I think the concept of this article is great...I just think that you could have put a much better deck together.
Yeah don't worry I already pointed that out to Evan. I told him the videos were for puremtgo and not mtgotraders but this was after he made the video's. It is a tad confusing I must say to have 2 sites like this but I wanted to make something seperate from mtgotraders. He said his next videos will say puremtgo and not mtgotraders.com
I have tried it. It falls somewhere between discard and Enslave. Enslave seems better, and I don't think you really have room for both.
There is only one thing I noticed and that the others didn't mention so far, your vid's don't say "puremtgo", but thats just a minor point since the rest is perfect, besides the djinn.
Hoping to see some more articles from you on this site.
u should have taken the craw wurm instead of hating a 2/2 for 2W with a mana intensive ability
Too bad you didn't discuss signaling in this issue. Your pack 1, pick 1 could be an excellent example on the importance of signaling. Do you take Pyro or Hammer and risk placing a weak signal? Or grab story circle and send a strong red signal? Kind of tough call. If you take Circle, somebody is going to grab a 3rd pick Hammer or Pyroclasm which just screams red is wide open.
Sucks that we know how the rest of the draft went, getting shipped two Hill Giants is pretty big.
Thanks for the kind words everybody.
@ Javasci - You are completely correct and I apologize for the error. However, you could still use Swift Silence with the Pact + Illuminatus to draw your deck. A little goofy, but something to consider :)
Like I said in the vid, I'm a huge fan of the store, so as long as I'm playing MTGO, I'll probably be shopping right here. Big thanks to Heath for the invite, and any suggestions on what you guys might like to see here is welcome.
Cool article, thanks for writing here! Just a thought about running a splash color. You have 10 ways of fixing mana (4x Expanse, 4x Search 2x Evolution) that makes it so you can run a couple mana of any color that you want to splash. White would give you mystic enforcer, black would let you run the Ana Battlemage, which seems like a neat card for this deck. Often by the time you have 5 mana they're playing defense, but Ana takes care of that, plus gets damage in. Kind of a back up for both the thundermare (tap blockers) and for the utopia vows, which clear out blockers.
Just something I've been tinkering with adding to the deck.
Great article as always and good to see you writing for MTGOTraders
Replicate doesn't increase the storm count, as the copies aren't played with replicate, and storm looks for spells that were played.
Veerrryyy cooool dude, love the videos, ALOT more fun to watch and listen then read! =)