You're both wrong--Arena is something completely separate, focusing only on Standard and current limited formats. MTGO will stay around, since it includes non-Standard formats, and will still be required for top-level play, at least in the short term. Furthermore, since Arena isn't directly connected with Paper (and most-likely will have a flow from Paper to Arena via promo codes), trading doesn't exist, and it's competing with other digital games, cards will have to be cheaper. Obviously the super-long term goal will be to have Arena replace MTGO, but that requires Arena to be successful (not a given, especially since WotC will probably be walking the tightrope of trying not to kill Paper with it), it'll take years in the best case (even ignoring the actual cost of programming old cards/sets, WotC won't flood the market with product), and WotC will let you cash out or (more likely) merge with Arena when the time comes.
Open Fire because that is in a color that I'd want to play anyway and green was likely to get picked from the packs since there are two very good cards (one being a first pick) in that pack. If either of the green cards wouldn't be in the pack I'd pick the other green card. (for example if there wouldn't the Rhonas's Last Stand I'd pick Ambuscade since the card is better). The other way round I wouldn't really want that 5/4 for two mana but I'd pick it and then would see how it would go (would make a mental note that I passed Open Fire) and tried to stay off red.
(after today's Nationals I have to reevaluate Lethal Sting^_^, that card was good, but still Open Fire and Ambuscade are better)
And now the cards have to be bought again; https://youtu.be/T6lon9-8Fck - Magic: The Gathering Arena World Premiere Stream
MtgO will be phased out and become replaced with this, so wotc get to sell the history of mtg sets once again.
Playsets of staples, Lotuses, Liliana Veils, Jaces, Ports, etc, will have to be bought once again.
This will happen yet again in 10-12 years, then yet again 7-8 years after that, shorter cycles as time pass.
My ranking would be: Ambuscade, Open Fire, Lethal Sting, Rhonas's Last Stand. I would likely take Open Fire as P1p1 as either of the green would have green cut from the next pack, and there is no other good red.
Matignon, Wafo Tapa and Co were drafting the cards weeks and months before rest of world could even see them.
Easy to make full pic/colored cards with printer, glue on basic lands and using sleeves. Then make random boosters based on rarity piles. More than one print of each.
I finished 0-4, I had no advantage. I also qualified the night before the Pro Tour, there were no restrictions on tournament play at the time with my god book access.
Jason- Thanks for taking on my build! I like that you are finding improvements I hadn't thought of. The maindeck Curfew is brilliant. Harvest Pyre has made a number of my variants of this deck since outside of Skred, its important to shore up UR's weakness of dealing with large creatures. Curse of Chains is a great silver bullet as well, and you're right that its multi-color nature gives it an odd edge over Narcolepsy.
I think a couple of cards though on the original list though bear their merits:
1. Izzet Boilerworks: This is the big one. While you need to put an upper cap on your ETBT lands, karoo lands follow your deck's plan exactly since all of them have the hidden text, "draw a land", letting you get three mana from 2 cards. Being able to replay a ETB land is also such a valuable effect that I would even consider running an off-color Bojuka Bog in deck with good enough fixing since being able to rebuy it with your karoo lands is a great way to hedge against graveyard strategies without using up other valuable 75 slots.
2. Rolling Thunder vs. Kaverek's Torch: I go back and forth on these. The Thunder is helpful since you can use it as an expensive sweeper in an emergency, but since a vast majority of your games end with the X spell to the face, I prefer the Torch since it has built in counter protection.
3. Gorilla Shaman vs. Echoing Ruin: Cost is an issue, but Shaman is the best there is at what it does. I can see how Ruin has added utility vs. cards like Spire Golem and Pristine Talisman, but I prefer Shaman vs. Affinity and Boros Midrange.
4. Curse of the Pierced Heart: You're right that having a backup win condition could be a good idea. But the decks you'll need it against tend to be better at padding their life total vs a slow bleed than their library. I think this could be Jace's Erasure or Curse of the Bloody Tome and be more successful. Just be careful milling vs. Tron as you tend to be aiding the enemy unless you have a way to additionally exile the cards that hit the graveyard.
Maybe I'll return the favor and take one of your decks for a spin after we finish Modern Cube season.
Not to validate Hearts, but you admit to having god books while on the pro tour.
Unless everyone on the PT got them, WotC gave you (and however many other pros had access to the books via magazines they worked for) an advantage, not available to all.
This is the first time since Unnatural Selection was tweaked by the legendary supertype change in Kamigawa that you can have legendary and nonlegendary versions of permanents with the same name in play. It's a mythic, so won't get asked all that much.
I think the prerelease judges are going to get sick of answering the question, if I have 1 legendary jace and two nonlegendary Jaces in play, do I get to keep all of them?
That statement doesn't invalidate any of the facts Joshua stated so I am going to go with, if this is true it is on you. If you don't want to acknowledge facts, provable facts, then talking with you is a waste of everyone's time.
Gosh magazines sure were a strange thing. When I wrote for Scry I had multiple sets worth of god books. I was on the Pro Tour when I had Scourge and Onslaught books.
WotC exists to make and sell a profitable card game. Marketing, like giving godbooks to magazines for them to create hype for new sets, or giving sites spoilers helps to do that.
PureMTGO has on file with WotC a nondisclosure agreement. I have one file with them as well. Had I spoiled Scourge or Onslaught, I would have been in breach of that. I never shared with friends and go with writers that have earned trust for spoiler season. If they spoil it, it's on me and on the site.
I would argue that the hoops that WotC makes people go through to be a part of this special time for Magic makes them very professional. No NDAs, not prosecuting thieves (like for the recent leak) or not punishing those that break NDAs, would make them unprofessional.
Wotc willingly gave him the full godbook, and he was a pt player and working for a gamer magazine, other pt players didnt get to see the same previews while Matignon was on the PT himself.
They already have redemption. So cashing out is not that hard to believe.
And "...merge with Arena..." how is that different from what I said?
WotC will let customers cash out something ?
Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool...........
You're both wrong--Arena is something completely separate, focusing only on Standard and current limited formats. MTGO will stay around, since it includes non-Standard formats, and will still be required for top-level play, at least in the short term. Furthermore, since Arena isn't directly connected with Paper (and most-likely will have a flow from Paper to Arena via promo codes), trading doesn't exist, and it's competing with other digital games, cards will have to be cheaper. Obviously the super-long term goal will be to have Arena replace MTGO, but that requires Arena to be successful (not a given, especially since WotC will probably be walking the tightrope of trying not to kill Paper with it), it'll take years in the best case (even ignoring the actual cost of programming old cards/sets, WotC won't flood the market with product), and WotC will let you cash out or (more likely) merge with Arena when the time comes.
Open Fire because that is in a color that I'd want to play anyway and green was likely to get picked from the packs since there are two very good cards (one being a first pick) in that pack. If either of the green cards wouldn't be in the pack I'd pick the other green card. (for example if there wouldn't the Rhonas's Last Stand I'd pick Ambuscade since the card is better). The other way round I wouldn't really want that 5/4 for two mana but I'd pick it and then would see how it would go (would make a mental note that I passed Open Fire) and tried to stay off red.
(after today's Nationals I have to reevaluate Lethal Sting^_^, that card was good, but still Open Fire and Ambuscade are better)
You are wrong. All collections will be transported to the new system.
And now the cards have to be bought again;
https://youtu.be/T6lon9-8Fck - Magic: The Gathering Arena World Premiere Stream
MtgO will be phased out and become replaced with this, so wotc get to sell the history of mtg sets once again.
Playsets of staples, Lotuses, Liliana Veils, Jaces, Ports, etc, will have to be bought once again.
This will happen yet again in 10-12 years, then yet again 7-8 years after that, shorter cycles as time pass.
My ranking would be: Ambuscade, Open Fire, Lethal Sting, Rhonas's Last Stand. I would likely take Open Fire as P1p1 as either of the green would have green cut from the next pack, and there is no other good red.
yeah I guess glue, printers and sleeves didn't exist when I had access.
Matignon, Wafo Tapa and Co were drafting the cards weeks and months before rest of world could even see them.
Easy to make full pic/colored cards with printer, glue on basic lands and using sleeves. Then make random boosters based on rarity piles. More than one print of each.
I finished 0-4, I had no advantage. I also qualified the night before the Pro Tour, there were no restrictions on tournament play at the time with my god book access.
Hi SteveJeltz,
Couldn't resist trying out this strategy. I appreciate the kind words.
Your card suggestions are solid! I'm going to toy around with them when I can.
Thanks!
Jason- Thanks for taking on my build! I like that you are finding improvements I hadn't thought of. The maindeck Curfew is brilliant. Harvest Pyre has made a number of my variants of this deck since outside of Skred, its important to shore up UR's weakness of dealing with large creatures. Curse of Chains is a great silver bullet as well, and you're right that its multi-color nature gives it an odd edge over Narcolepsy.
I think a couple of cards though on the original list though bear their merits:
1. Izzet Boilerworks: This is the big one. While you need to put an upper cap on your ETBT lands, karoo lands follow your deck's plan exactly since all of them have the hidden text, "draw a land", letting you get three mana from 2 cards. Being able to replay a ETB land is also such a valuable effect that I would even consider running an off-color Bojuka Bog in deck with good enough fixing since being able to rebuy it with your karoo lands is a great way to hedge against graveyard strategies without using up other valuable 75 slots.
2. Rolling Thunder vs. Kaverek's Torch: I go back and forth on these. The Thunder is helpful since you can use it as an expensive sweeper in an emergency, but since a vast majority of your games end with the X spell to the face, I prefer the Torch since it has built in counter protection.
3. Gorilla Shaman vs. Echoing Ruin: Cost is an issue, but Shaman is the best there is at what it does. I can see how Ruin has added utility vs. cards like Spire Golem and Pristine Talisman, but I prefer Shaman vs. Affinity and Boros Midrange.
4. Curse of the Pierced Heart: You're right that having a backup win condition could be a good idea. But the decks you'll need it against tend to be better at padding their life total vs a slow bleed than their library. I think this could be Jace's Erasure or Curse of the Bloody Tome and be more successful. Just be careful milling vs. Tron as you tend to be aiding the enemy unless you have a way to additionally exile the cards that hit the graveyard.
Maybe I'll return the favor and take one of your decks for a spin after we finish Modern Cube season.
- SteveJeltz
Not to validate Hearts, but you admit to having god books while on the pro tour.
Unless everyone on the PT got them, WotC gave you (and however many other pros had access to the books via magazines they worked for) an advantage, not available to all.
Whoops! The card missing from my main deck is 1 Magma Spray.
This is the first time since Unnatural Selection was tweaked by the legendary supertype change in Kamigawa that you can have legendary and nonlegendary versions of permanents with the same name in play. It's a mythic, so won't get asked all that much.
The facts that spreading isnt prosecutable but theft is ?
Talking about such simple facts isn't interesting at all.
I mean we would probably agree on which celestial body is which, I'm not one to argue facts without you know, actually knowing facts!
I think the prerelease judges are going to get sick of answering the question, if I have 1 legendary jace and two nonlegendary Jaces in play, do I get to keep all of them?
That statement doesn't invalidate any of the facts Joshua stated so I am going to go with, if this is true it is on you. If you don't want to acknowledge facts, provable facts, then talking with you is a waste of everyone's time.
Me and you could look at the Sun or the Moon and we wouldn't agree on which one it is.
Gosh magazines sure were a strange thing. When I wrote for Scry I had multiple sets worth of god books. I was on the Pro Tour when I had Scourge and Onslaught books.
WotC exists to make and sell a profitable card game. Marketing, like giving godbooks to magazines for them to create hype for new sets, or giving sites spoilers helps to do that.
PureMTGO has on file with WotC a nondisclosure agreement. I have one file with them as well. Had I spoiled Scourge or Onslaught, I would have been in breach of that. I never shared with friends and go with writers that have earned trust for spoiler season. If they spoil it, it's on me and on the site.
I would argue that the hoops that WotC makes people go through to be a part of this special time for Magic makes them very professional. No NDAs, not prosecuting thieves (like for the recent leak) or not punishing those that break NDAs, would make them unprofessional.
Fixing now, thank you. I more than likely copied the wrong bit of code from the tool we use for this, thanks again!
Working on that now, thank you.
Mr Jahn writes about wotc and (being) professional.
I say; Matignon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Matignon
Wotc willingly gave him the full godbook, and he was a pt player and working for a gamer magazine, other pt players didnt get to see the same previews while Matignon was on the PT himself.
Wotc____isnt____the____slighest______proffessional.
Deck listed for Legacy, is the Modern Junk deck