Well, Pridemate is not Ideal but he is Budget. I am currently using him now and he gets pretty huge. My plan is to build something closer to the decklist I posted. I will be testing as much as I can. Thank for reading :)
Yes 3 mana for 3 tokens is better however with the Conquistador and Monument I am getting a token as well. And filling my hand with more creatures. This deck is still under construction so I will be testing a ton of different cards.
I recommend removing all the Conquistadors (and adding for example more Spectral Processions). I am not a fan of the Conquistadors, even with anthem effects.
Thanks David! Yes I will now be looking into pauper per your suggestion. I can't believe I never placed that you are writing as well! That is great to here. I will now be going back to read your stuff for some information. I hope you are doing well!
Yes, the greaves and thousand year elixir definitely help, but my point is that they aren't nearly as broken as the commanders that are already dominating the format and unbanning them isn't going to have as much of an impact as banning the tutors.
No, you don't have time for casting those cards and equipping. the format is FULL of disruption, removal (artifact heavy) and permission. the 4c decks are the true beasts since it can simply play the best cards in those three categories. Arcum and Yisan are good in non-interactive or blue (like mono blue) environment. But among Breyas and Tymnas/Kraums...I'm not sure if they can be viable. The problem is that you need to use their abilities in order to make the deck work. The 4c decks don't even need those even if that would be how you usually die. both arcum and yisan are bad without their generals.
well, it will be up to us to figure out if these generals can make it to the metagame.
I wasn't a huge fan of the competitive change either, that is kinda one of the factors that allowed me to sell my baral stuff, it got to expensive for my poor self to play.
The main problem with Yisan and Arcum is the same problem that Sisay has. Your general is small with a tap ability and the current meta game is full of removal. Most Breya decks will easily kill your general 2-3 times before you get a chance to tap it for value.
Yisan is an evil general. That one can just t4 Craterhoof Behemoth for the win. I played against Yisan a lot and it was one of the nightmares I faced...
As for Arcum Dagsson. That's well tinker on a stick. it's the kind of control deck you can't do anything about. it just finds a way to generate infinite mana (Power Artifact/Grim Monolith), infinite draw(add let's say Staff of Domination) and in the end just kill. This may be a bit tricky on Magic Online but you don't usually need infinite mana. Ever heard of Possessed Portal (tymnas will really love that)? Have you ever feared for your lands when Mycosynth Lattice entered play? Darksteel Forge and Nevinyrral's Disk?
I don't know if this is too weak for 1v1 EDH on MODO but if you think that Yisan is strong know that this is the deck that was keeping Yisan in check and is a real powerhouse. Unlike Yisan that just simply kills fast and efficiently this General is seriously pain in the ***. If I were to choose between facing Baral decks and this. I'd choose Baral.
tl;tr
I just wanted to say that Arcum is very powerful, and even more annoying.
Back in the day, the impact of the Demon additions was extreme: It took the online quotient to where they could be played as a tribe, after Grinning Demon, Havoc Demon and Reiver Demon from the preceding two blocks.
I was (and still am!) utterly in love with Kamigawa's setting. I know Mark Rosewater routinely says the audience found it too 'weird' and not very resonant, but that's precisely what I loved about it. I ended up getting pretty interested in Japanese folklore and mythology, and even had a brief manga phase, all because of the plane and its lore.
It's too bad the block's design and development are admittedly pretty bad.
Standard is just the beginning, the rest will come along gradually.
Do not think of "standard only" as something that nullifies what I say.
Even if it becomes standard only the mtgo investments will still be lost in full(because mtgo becomes a ghostland). And WPN/Pro Tours will never have anything but standard(and limited) (if Arena restricts to standard).
Like I said, MTGO will become a ghost town and Arena will become pay-it-all-over-again, Lotuses, Wastelands...you name it.
MTGO kept for older constructed formats ? Even if it wont matter, mtgo will become abandoned/horrible place like current free/unrated games room in mtgo.
I like the XLN draft format, I currently have 7 trophies in the Intermediate draft league, and a limited rating of 1831.
I would prioritize differently during your initial picks.
P1P1: I would go for the Imperial Aerosaur. It is a very cheap flying creature in a format with few other flying creatures. I don’t think I usually get enough of 1 creature type to make the Banner work. But it seems to work for you.
P1P2: The Hammerskull is fine. I have a preference for Conqueror’s Galleon. It is a good blocker and it brings a lot of value late game with card draw or fetching removal repeatedly from your graveyard.
P1P3: I like playing with the Headstrong Brute.
P1P4: I like the red removal. So I would have taken the Unfriendly Fire. But Skulduggery is a very good combat trick.
P1P5: Ok. The Paladin is one of my favorites so I often play Vampires if it is open.
P1P6: Ok. I very often prioritize the Skymarch Bloodletter because it is a nice flying creature for early game.
P1P7: Ok.
P1P8: I would play the Wanted Scoundrels in any black deck, I would pick it very early, and it works great with the
Skulduggery you picked earlier (and the Vampire’s seal you pick later). The downside of the card is not too bad. The Anointed Deacon is likely to come again later in the draft (and I would only play one even in a pure Vampire deck). The Scoundrels is not.
P1P9: Ok. You should also consider Skittering Heartstopper. Deathtouch is great. So I would pick that.
P1P10: Adanto Vangaurd is ok, especially if you need it for optimizing your curve, but you are underestimating the Dire Fleet Interloper. Menace and explore are great. I would play 1-3 copies of this card in a black deck (depending on the rest of my curve). I really like explore cards.
P2P1: You should give some consideration to the Dreadnought. It is one of the only vehicles that I would play.
P2P10: Again, consider the Skittering Heartstopper. But Queen’s agent is also nice.
P3P1: I would probably go with the Inspiring Cleric it is a good card. But Bishop’s Soldier is good as well and fits your deck.
P3P4: I would not pick the Duskborne Skymarcher. I don’t like playing with it, not even in a vampire deck. It is not very good early in the game because you don’t want spend mana pumping your creature, you want to play creatures from your hand. And later the +1/+1 does very little to win the game. I would maybe still go for the Paladin. Did the Duskborne Skymarcher work out for you?
P3P5: I would probably pick the Queen’s Commissioner because the body of the vehicle is too small. But then again, I would not play more than max 2 copies of the Commissioner.
It seems that I might have ended up in white and red. It would have killed me to pass 2 copies of the Snapping Sailback, I really like that card but they came a little too late and I would not have first picked the Ranging Raptors over the Aerosaur.
I highly doubt that old cards would be forcibly changed/lost. Even if there is a small chance of expanding to older formats (and I speculate the chance is fairly high), it would be really bad to lose those cards.
Such a strong stance at this point seems...premature. If (and I agree it is a big if) the animations are done properly, players who don't care about them will not notice.
There's nothing saying Wizards won't give beta testers a better starting collections or some free drafts once the system goes live.
There's no way to practically turn animations off--not only are they eye candy for the casual viewer, they would have to be mutually turned off to have any time impact. If they make the animations non-intrusive it's all upside, but that's hard (look at Hearthstone--but that has a card that makes the turn timer super-short for both players, a awful design decision on par with Yu-Gi-Oh's card that wins you the whole match if you win a game with it).
Well, Pridemate is not Ideal but he is Budget. I am currently using him now and he gets pretty huge. My plan is to build something closer to the decklist I posted. I will be testing as much as I can. Thank for reading :)
Yes 3 mana for 3 tokens is better however with the Conquistador and Monument I am getting a token as well. And filling my hand with more creatures. This deck is still under construction so I will be testing a ton of different cards.
Ajani's Pridemate is sad.
I recommend removing all the Conquistadors (and adding for example more Spectral Processions). I am not a fan of the Conquistadors, even with anthem effects.
The missing flashback weeks are: 3x INN; INN standard; 3x Lorwyn
Ripjaw Raptor
Thanks David! Yes I will now be looking into pauper per your suggestion. I can't believe I never placed that you are writing as well! That is great to here. I will now be going back to read your stuff for some information. I hope you are doing well!
Yes, the greaves and thousand year elixir definitely help, but my point is that they aren't nearly as broken as the commanders that are already dominating the format and unbanning them isn't going to have as much of an impact as banning the tutors.
No, you don't have time for casting those cards and equipping. the format is FULL of disruption, removal (artifact heavy) and permission. the 4c decks are the true beasts since it can simply play the best cards in those three categories. Arcum and Yisan are good in non-interactive or blue (like mono blue) environment. But among Breyas and Tymnas/Kraums...I'm not sure if they can be viable. The problem is that you need to use their abilities in order to make the deck work. The 4c decks don't even need those even if that would be how you usually die. both arcum and yisan are bad without their generals.
well, it will be up to us to figure out if these generals can make it to the metagame.
so invest in a pair of lightning greaves and swiftfoot boots then?
I wasn't a huge fan of the competitive change either, that is kinda one of the factors that allowed me to sell my baral stuff, it got to expensive for my poor self to play.
The main problem with Yisan and Arcum is the same problem that Sisay has. Your general is small with a tap ability and the current meta game is full of removal. Most Breya decks will easily kill your general 2-3 times before you get a chance to tap it for value.
Yisan is an evil general. That one can just t4 Craterhoof Behemoth for the win. I played against Yisan a lot and it was one of the nightmares I faced...
As for Arcum Dagsson. That's well tinker on a stick. it's the kind of control deck you can't do anything about. it just finds a way to generate infinite mana (Power Artifact/Grim Monolith), infinite draw(add let's say Staff of Domination) and in the end just kill. This may be a bit tricky on Magic Online but you don't usually need infinite mana. Ever heard of Possessed Portal (tymnas will really love that)? Have you ever feared for your lands when Mycosynth Lattice entered play? Darksteel Forge and Nevinyrral's Disk?
I don't know if this is too weak for 1v1 EDH on MODO but if you think that Yisan is strong know that this is the deck that was keeping Yisan in check and is a real powerhouse. Unlike Yisan that just simply kills fast and efficiently this General is seriously pain in the ***. If I were to choose between facing Baral decks and this. I'd choose Baral.
tl;tr
I just wanted to say that Arcum is very powerful, and even more annoying.
Works for me.
Back in the day, the impact of the Demon additions was extreme: It took the online quotient to where they could be played as a tribe, after Grinning Demon, Havoc Demon and Reiver Demon from the preceding two blocks.
Overall, good changes and I might brave the format again since they made it competitive, that change I didn't like.
Still a little surprised they haven't touched Mr I draw 7, you draw 1, Leovold.
I was (and still am!) utterly in love with Kamigawa's setting. I know Mark Rosewater routinely says the audience found it too 'weird' and not very resonant, but that's precisely what I loved about it. I ended up getting pretty interested in Japanese folklore and mythology, and even had a brief manga phase, all because of the plane and its lore.
It's too bad the block's design and development are admittedly pretty bad.
Thanks for the shoutout!
Standard is just the beginning, the rest will come along gradually.
Do not think of "standard only" as something that nullifies what I say.
Even if it becomes standard only the mtgo investments will still be lost in full(because mtgo becomes a ghostland). And WPN/Pro Tours will never have anything but standard(and limited) (if Arena restricts to standard).
Wow! Black Lotus and Wasteland in Standard? I did not know that.
Like I said, MTGO will become a ghost town and Arena will become pay-it-all-over-again, Lotuses, Wastelands...you name it.
MTGO kept for older constructed formats ? Even if it wont matter, mtgo will become abandoned/horrible place like current free/unrated games room in mtgo.
I like the XLN draft format, I currently have 7 trophies in the Intermediate draft league, and a limited rating of 1831.
I would prioritize differently during your initial picks.
P1P1: I would go for the Imperial Aerosaur. It is a very cheap flying creature in a format with few other flying creatures. I don’t think I usually get enough of 1 creature type to make the Banner work. But it seems to work for you.
P1P2: The Hammerskull is fine. I have a preference for Conqueror’s Galleon. It is a good blocker and it brings a lot of value late game with card draw or fetching removal repeatedly from your graveyard.
P1P3: I like playing with the Headstrong Brute.
P1P4: I like the red removal. So I would have taken the Unfriendly Fire. But Skulduggery is a very good combat trick.
P1P5: Ok. The Paladin is one of my favorites so I often play Vampires if it is open.
P1P6: Ok. I very often prioritize the Skymarch Bloodletter because it is a nice flying creature for early game.
P1P7: Ok.
P1P8: I would play the Wanted Scoundrels in any black deck, I would pick it very early, and it works great with the
Skulduggery you picked earlier (and the Vampire’s seal you pick later). The downside of the card is not too bad. The Anointed Deacon is likely to come again later in the draft (and I would only play one even in a pure Vampire deck). The Scoundrels is not.
P1P9: Ok. You should also consider Skittering Heartstopper. Deathtouch is great. So I would pick that.
P1P10: Adanto Vangaurd is ok, especially if you need it for optimizing your curve, but you are underestimating the Dire Fleet Interloper. Menace and explore are great. I would play 1-3 copies of this card in a black deck (depending on the rest of my curve). I really like explore cards.
P2P1: You should give some consideration to the Dreadnought. It is one of the only vehicles that I would play.
P2P10: Again, consider the Skittering Heartstopper. But Queen’s agent is also nice.
P3P1: I would probably go with the Inspiring Cleric it is a good card. But Bishop’s Soldier is good as well and fits your deck.
P3P4: I would not pick the Duskborne Skymarcher. I don’t like playing with it, not even in a vampire deck. It is not very good early in the game because you don’t want spend mana pumping your creature, you want to play creatures from your hand. And later the +1/+1 does very little to win the game. I would maybe still go for the Paladin. Did the Duskborne Skymarcher work out for you?
P3P5: I would probably pick the Queen’s Commissioner because the body of the vehicle is too small. But then again, I would not play more than max 2 copies of the Commissioner.
It seems that I might have ended up in white and red. It would have killed me to pass 2 copies of the Snapping Sailback, I really like that card but they came a little too late and I would not have first picked the Ranging Raptors over the Aerosaur.
I highly doubt that old cards would be forcibly changed/lost. Even if there is a small chance of expanding to older formats (and I speculate the chance is fairly high), it would be really bad to lose those cards.
Such a strong stance at this point seems...premature. If (and I agree it is a big if) the animations are done properly, players who don't care about them will not notice.
There's nothing saying Wizards won't give beta testers a better starting collections or some free drafts once the system goes live.
There's no way to practically turn animations off--not only are they eye candy for the casual viewer, they would have to be mutually turned off to have any time impact. If they make the animations non-intrusive it's all upside, but that's hard (look at Hearthstone--but that has a card that makes the turn timer super-short for both players, a awful design decision on par with Yu-Gi-Oh's card that wins you the whole match if you win a game with it).