Pretty sure it isn't showing results properly at least right away. It could be some problem with caching but I am thinking it's something else. I am looking at the article after voting on the first one (Hazoret was my vote) and it shows just one (Chandra).
Going to the strawpoll site itself allows you to vote properly and it then does register the vote here but apparently there is a problem with using it inside an iframe.
Three quick addenda I thought of after submitting:
Mind Twist 3/4 (usually worth a splash)
Mana Drain 3/4 (strict upgrade to a p1p1able card)
Show & Tell 1/4 (but can be improved with discard spells, can be good in the sb, and can work in storm)
Wow. Just coming off reading your Hot Corner here. It's... Strong. And it touched something for me.
I have been on and off Magic since Unlimited. I never really fell into the rabbit hole though. I was too poor when I was young to afford to play it competitively, and only did a few tournaments. And when I graduated from college, I immediately became an expatriate, and the game was just not available to me (no, Magic is not universal, not even access to MODO. Not when you're in Central Asia, the bad bits of the Middle East or West Africa 20 years ago). But it stayed with me, an obsession I couldn't get rid off even when there were no cards in sight. I'd read about it whenever I could, imagining playing it in my head. Heck, I even had the gall of posting on the old forums.
And then the world changed, and internet became a thing everywhere, even in the most remote locations. I could play Magic online! It wasn't easy mind you, I always ended up in places where the time difference made finding players difficult. I remember once sitting on the floor at 4 in the morning in front of my laptop, trying to keep awake waiting for my opponent to reconnect for about half an hour. That might sound like an unpalatable experience, but I was in southern Pakistan and playing Magic, it was a dream.
But I still had a high-stress, time-consuming job that did not pay very well, so playing competitively on MODO was still elusive. And then that changed too. I got a posting that was calmer, very well paid, and in a place where internet was ok and I was aligned with European players. I could afford to throw hundreds of dollars at the game AND have the time to actually play it. I went full in.
I played Legacy league upon Legacy league, Legacy being my favorite format. I started modestly but I improved. My first time going 5-0 is as memorable as anything in my life. I started looking at getting into the MOCS, branching into other formats. I was spending all my evenings and non-negligible part of my weekends playing the one game.
It lasted about 4 months, after which my wife came back home one evening and started crying when she saw me on my computer. I didn't really understand at first: she had always been very independent, and in 10 years of marriage, she never complained about any of my other obsessive hobbies, whether video games, painting minis, or anything. It turned out that by that stage, she was SCARED of what my resultwould be in whatever competition I might be playing. She told me my mood swings had become dramatic, that I was either extremely elated or deeply depressed, every evening. That my rants against my screens were getting louder. And in neither case was it fun to be around me, for even when I was elated, I couldn't talk about much else than my latest victory.
It took a bit of work to process this, especially as it was the first time I had seen my better half in that state (and I don't use the term "better half" lightly). But it was so very true. I remembered occasion when I had made a bad misplay, conceding instead of winning, and it had obsessed me for a couple of days, at home, at work. I felt so bad, I couldn't manage my team properly or take a decision, because clearly, I was worthless. In a very short while, who I was, my worth, had become entirely defined by my time in Magic.
I still play now, but I have forsaken competition. I had the luck of finding another expat who is fond of the game, and we brought back a bunch of packs. We play for fun, in a bunch of formats, from drafts to Duels decks. We take it easy. I still read about Magic a lot, heck, I still have a subscription with the Starcity website. But I keep it in check. I don't know what it is about this game that can take you in so fully. It remains absolutely unique, and I am happy it exists, even if I'm a bit sad when I think about it can do to me.
Anyway, sorry for the very long post, but your article stirred up some memories. Cheers!
But even in unranked, my deck full of drafted cards, decks for which I did not burn wildcards, was repeatedly matched against decks full of rares and mythics...
Ranked matchmaking doesn't take deck strength into account (and shouldn't). Unranked does try to do deck strength, but it's based on number of wildcards used.
<3 Pete at having you back in the writing saddle however briefly that may be. Thanks for writing this.
In regards to the Matchmaking:D+ commentary: I really get what you are saying but I would mark this down as a major problem with Arena over all as a F2P version of the game. Fremium almost always disadvantages the new player. And matchmaking is really hard to do based on card availability. I have a fairly large arena collection and yet it is not on par with competitive accounts because I have not bought into the system and I have only a few gems. (100 I think, which isn't enough to buy a coffee much less a game.)
I have watched friends play who *have* large competitive collections and the vast majority do so because they have paid into the system. IE: It only really works for a mtg player if that player is willing to pay to play. Notice I don't claim that it is pay to win. Though I do think pay to win as a concept includes this pay wall problem. I stopped playing because I found similar issues with playing and also because I did not want to be stuck on the hamster wheel of "must play x games each day or I fall behind" problem which is *how* the free to play system keeps things in line with those who pay to play.
I will say I think MTGA is the most impressive video game version of the game to date. Still not on par with MTGO but that's a matter of time I am sure. It is my actual hope to never be able to say otherwise because I like enjoying my MTGO collection and I would hate to see it disappear in a digital vapor trail because MTGA took over the business entirely. I doubt there could be enough compensation from WOTC if that did happen. It would probably be the last I ever played of the game again. But as I said, solid and impressive compared to all past attempts.
It didn't come up in the article, but Meren's pet in the art is her clan's signature undead dragon Scourge of Nel Toth, which could have been interesting in the deck, especially with Fauna Shaman fetching it into the graveyard.
Shamans are always going to be combo-centric and as such it is just a matter of deciding which combos work best with which pieces. I used to run shamans every now and then when I could manage to be awake at the time of the apocalypse with varying degrees of success (no event wins but some 2-1/3-0s I think.)
I appreciate the work you fellows put into this series. Thank you and keep it coming. :D
Because no wants to spend money on cards anymore, and with the rise of lending services, cards will spike like this as lending services look to get their demand met.
Coupled with the lack of people opening product, spikes like this will happen.
I am almost positive it is what happened to Wrenn and Six
Because of monogreen dominating Pioneer?
She was on the rise in Standard as well, many decks had a few copies in the sideboard at the last Mythic Championship. She makes the difference between a Beanstalk Giant being nullified by a token or winning the game on the spot. And she kills planeswalkers without wasting any resource (except loyalty).
Yes, I fully agree with this. There should definitely be removal for them. I honestly would just like to see them go though, although I know it will never happen.
Quirion Ranger approves of this deck.
Pretty sure it isn't showing results properly at least right away. It could be some problem with caching but I am thinking it's something else. I am looking at the article after voting on the first one (Hazoret was my vote) and it shows just one (Chandra).
Going to the strawpoll site itself allows you to vote properly and it then does register the vote here but apparently there is a problem with using it inside an iframe.
Are you sure? I tried a random one just now and it showed when I refreshed the results.
I voted, but the polls didn't update :/
Three quick addenda I thought of after submitting:
Mind Twist 3/4 (usually worth a splash)
Mana Drain 3/4 (strict upgrade to a p1p1able card)
Show & Tell 1/4 (but can be improved with discard spells, can be good in the sb, and can work in storm)
Cotton is always a good read :D
Wow. Just coming off reading your Hot Corner here. It's... Strong. And it touched something for me.
I have been on and off Magic since Unlimited. I never really fell into the rabbit hole though. I was too poor when I was young to afford to play it competitively, and only did a few tournaments. And when I graduated from college, I immediately became an expatriate, and the game was just not available to me (no, Magic is not universal, not even access to MODO. Not when you're in Central Asia, the bad bits of the Middle East or West Africa 20 years ago). But it stayed with me, an obsession I couldn't get rid off even when there were no cards in sight. I'd read about it whenever I could, imagining playing it in my head. Heck, I even had the gall of posting on the old forums.
And then the world changed, and internet became a thing everywhere, even in the most remote locations. I could play Magic online! It wasn't easy mind you, I always ended up in places where the time difference made finding players difficult. I remember once sitting on the floor at 4 in the morning in front of my laptop, trying to keep awake waiting for my opponent to reconnect for about half an hour. That might sound like an unpalatable experience, but I was in southern Pakistan and playing Magic, it was a dream.
But I still had a high-stress, time-consuming job that did not pay very well, so playing competitively on MODO was still elusive. And then that changed too. I got a posting that was calmer, very well paid, and in a place where internet was ok and I was aligned with European players. I could afford to throw hundreds of dollars at the game AND have the time to actually play it. I went full in.
I played Legacy league upon Legacy league, Legacy being my favorite format. I started modestly but I improved. My first time going 5-0 is as memorable as anything in my life. I started looking at getting into the MOCS, branching into other formats. I was spending all my evenings and non-negligible part of my weekends playing the one game.
It lasted about 4 months, after which my wife came back home one evening and started crying when she saw me on my computer. I didn't really understand at first: she had always been very independent, and in 10 years of marriage, she never complained about any of my other obsessive hobbies, whether video games, painting minis, or anything. It turned out that by that stage, she was SCARED of what my resultwould be in whatever competition I might be playing. She told me my mood swings had become dramatic, that I was either extremely elated or deeply depressed, every evening. That my rants against my screens were getting louder. And in neither case was it fun to be around me, for even when I was elated, I couldn't talk about much else than my latest victory.
It took a bit of work to process this, especially as it was the first time I had seen my better half in that state (and I don't use the term "better half" lightly). But it was so very true. I remembered occasion when I had made a bad misplay, conceding instead of winning, and it had obsessed me for a couple of days, at home, at work. I felt so bad, I couldn't manage my team properly or take a decision, because clearly, I was worthless. In a very short while, who I was, my worth, had become entirely defined by my time in Magic.
I still play now, but I have forsaken competition. I had the luck of finding another expat who is fond of the game, and we brought back a bunch of packs. We play for fun, in a bunch of formats, from drafts to Duels decks. We take it easy. I still read about Magic a lot, heck, I still have a subscription with the Starcity website. But I keep it in check. I don't know what it is about this game that can take you in so fully. It remains absolutely unique, and I am happy it exists, even if I'm a bit sad when I think about it can do to me.
Anyway, sorry for the very long post, but your article stirred up some memories. Cheers!
This was a good read, thanks!
But even in unranked, my deck full of drafted cards, decks for which I did not burn wildcards, was repeatedly matched against decks full of rares and mythics...
Ranked matchmaking doesn't take deck strength into account (and shouldn't). Unranked does try to do deck strength, but it's based on number of wildcards used.
<3 Pete at having you back in the writing saddle however briefly that may be. Thanks for writing this.
In regards to the Matchmaking:D+ commentary: I really get what you are saying but I would mark this down as a major problem with Arena over all as a F2P version of the game. Fremium almost always disadvantages the new player. And matchmaking is really hard to do based on card availability. I have a fairly large arena collection and yet it is not on par with competitive accounts because I have not bought into the system and I have only a few gems. (100 I think, which isn't enough to buy a coffee much less a game.)
I have watched friends play who *have* large competitive collections and the vast majority do so because they have paid into the system. IE: It only really works for a mtg player if that player is willing to pay to play. Notice I don't claim that it is pay to win. Though I do think pay to win as a concept includes this pay wall problem. I stopped playing because I found similar issues with playing and also because I did not want to be stuck on the hamster wheel of "must play x games each day or I fall behind" problem which is *how* the free to play system keeps things in line with those who pay to play.
I will say I think MTGA is the most impressive video game version of the game to date. Still not on par with MTGO but that's a matter of time I am sure. It is my actual hope to never be able to say otherwise because I like enjoying my MTGO collection and I would hate to see it disappear in a digital vapor trail because MTGA took over the business entirely. I doubt there could be enough compensation from WOTC if that did happen. It would probably be the last I ever played of the game again. But as I said, solid and impressive compared to all past attempts.
5 fireballs like in the olden days!
It didn't come up in the article, but Meren's pet in the art is her clan's signature undead dragon Scourge of Nel Toth, which could have been interesting in the deck, especially with Fauna Shaman fetching it into the graveyard.
Ahh, pre-nerf post decks. Fun times, but the nerfs have done their job. Priest of forgotten gods might be fun to pair with Meren.
Shamans are always going to be combo-centric and as such it is just a matter of deciding which combos work best with which pieces. I used to run shamans every now and then when I could manage to be awake at the time of the apocalypse with varying degrees of success (no event wins but some 2-1/3-0s I think.)
I appreciate the work you fellows put into this series. Thank you and keep it coming. :D
Yeah, that should change. :)
It was actually always wrong to call it an Eternal format, by the way.
The thought occurs that Modern is no longer the smallest nonrotating set.
The point of Gold Mine (and the other "Legacy" card) is that you only get to use it five times ever (for that physical version).
Cool beans on the Columbian tribal news hook up! :D Thanks for the interview :)
All these answers are disturbing and ring true :(
Because no wants to spend money on cards anymore, and with the rise of lending services, cards will spike like this as lending services look to get their demand met.
Coupled with the lack of people opening product, spikes like this will happen.
I am almost positive it is what happened to Wrenn and Six
Because no one opened M20 on MTGO.
Because of monogreen dominating Pioneer?
She was on the rise in Standard as well, many decks had a few copies in the sideboard at the last Mythic Championship. She makes the difference between a Beanstalk Giant being nullified by a token or winning the game on the spot. And she kills planeswalkers without wasting any resource (except loyalty).
Vivien, Arkbow Ranger M20 Mythic 68.77 <---wow this is incredible. Why is this card so pricy??
I had not seen it. But agreeing with Jon Finkel can never be a bad thing. Glad I'm just not alone on this it had been bothering me for a while.
Yes, I fully agree with this. There should definitely be removal for them. I honestly would just like to see them go though, although I know it will never happen.