It is a shame that singleton does not work out well in TWL. I suspect part of the reason is because the tribes viability gets cut when you take consistency into consideration. In a 4x each creature deck you can rely on the quirks of your tribe working in your deck's favor if you build around them. But in singleton, unless you are running a tutor heavy tribe (like Humans, Elves and Goblins all of which have their recruiters and fetchers) the lack of consistency makes it hard to even find a theme much less a theme that wins.
I do think if people were more focused on enjoyment and experimenting the format could work but if the goal is merely to win/excel/be top dog, of course only the spikiest and thus least fun (imho) strategies will do. This isn't a criticism of Spikes. Natures being what they are, everyone plays to theirs. Unfortunately there is no way to sculpt the rules (same problem as Kaleidoscope in that sense) to make the format work.
TLR, did you read the next article? We're past countries as the only possible factor. Each team chooses its reasons to be a team. And yes, an event with the unified deck construction rules is what I was thinking about. It's actually been scheduled on the calendar for December 30 all along, but I guess nobody noticed. :)
Yeah, I felt really bad after this draft and didn't even want to post it. I know my picks weren't great, but I feel it is necessary to not just post the winning decks, but the bad ones too.
I would love to see this working, and I've been scratching my head to try and get an idea on how we could make teams. So far, I can't reach a conclusion.
If we make the teams by countries, I'm afraid I would play alone (as would others), so that can't be. By continents? Doesn't look fair. Only reasonable thing I can think of is to let players get their teams together. So maybe create teams of 3 players? And maybe play some unified tribal 3vs3 like in team events irl?
Thx for the comment.
As for Jace or other mono colored decks. Those usually cost about 200-300 tix and there are few cards like three that in total cost 150 in total or something. For example in mono blue it would be Force of Will, Mystic Confluence and Misdirection, in mono green let's say Karn, Exploration, Wasteland but you can usually do ok without those so Jace can be a budget option if you are willing to pay 30 tix for the general.
Actually in our community many new players were usually picking up JVP for some reason. I never asked why a new player was always starting on that (if people start with Legacy they usually start with Burn, so this is the Burn in EDH). On the other hand I've seen those players play the deck while not really knowing what to do and they were doing just fine. The deck is linear and strong enough to do something...On Magic Online I'd probably be more wary about what deck to pick at the beginning. I'd rather go for Sidisi if I were new to the format.
Also, you took the Torment of Venom (over two good white cards that you should have taken had you stayed on track drafting GW in pack 1), and then take a mediocre card over Ammit Eternal that got passed to you. It was unfortunate what happened in the actual matches, especially round 2, but I think your deck would have been much better if you had a more cohesive pile of cards. Best of luck on the next one :)
I stopped reading after P1P3. Why would you ever take a blue card over a Dauntless Aven in that situation? It pairs with the bomb rare you first picked and keeps you on color.
Also, Sifter Wurm is really bad outside a ramp deck, after taking Pride, I'd probably take the Stalwart and try to be aggressive.
Thanks for the article. Always nice to get to know yet another mtgo luminary. If there is one thing I miss about writing articles on here, it is writing about other magic players. I think the interviews I did stand on their own but it is great to see other people bringing the cool to the site, this way.
I agree about the Breya ban comment. Seems like they were going for cautious surgery rather than making sure they got all the broken stuff.
Jace hardly seems like a budget option but I guess mono blue in general is pretty cheap. I'd be worried about lackluster draws in this format though. While mono blue has great draw cards in the format, it can also just durdle a lot. Also seems like a more advanced strategy than I'd recommend to a newcomer.
I found it strange that you are proselytizing for Snopes.com, as it is not MTG related. I find their conclusions to be biased and incorrect at times due to their biases. Perhaps you did not notice this because you share the same bias? I would definitely NOT support Snopes.com.
To be fair I did get a lot more complementary ones. In fact some from people whom I didn't expect to hear from. Sadly mostly I remember just cringing at the "You've got mail!" thing from compuserv after posting an article. I didn't hate the interactions but it was definitely stressful because I'd get passionate about the discussions and have verbal fist fights with people sometimes. Not my best moments for sure.
Plus there was that one time I was threatened with a law suit for calling someone obnoxious in a tourney report :p
i just read it now. Somehow I was looking for info in the reports after this event and didn't see it.
It is a shame that singleton does not work out well in TWL. I suspect part of the reason is because the tribes viability gets cut when you take consistency into consideration. In a 4x each creature deck you can rely on the quirks of your tribe working in your deck's favor if you build around them. But in singleton, unless you are running a tutor heavy tribe (like Humans, Elves and Goblins all of which have their recruiters and fetchers) the lack of consistency makes it hard to even find a theme much less a theme that wins.
I do think if people were more focused on enjoyment and experimenting the format could work but if the goal is merely to win/excel/be top dog, of course only the spikiest and thus least fun (imho) strategies will do. This isn't a criticism of Spikes. Natures being what they are, everyone plays to theirs. Unfortunately there is no way to sculpt the rules (same problem as Kaleidoscope in that sense) to make the format work.
I blame this solely on me not playing paper magic anymore, and therefore forgetting that the Welcome Decks are a thing that actually exist.
I do believe our dear editor was being rhetorical. IE: Who bothers looking up the welcome decks?? (Also rhetorical so don't say you do.:p)
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&set=[%22Welcome%20Deck%202017%22]
Ugh. Who knows what are in those things?
TLR, did you read the next article? We're past countries as the only possible factor. Each team chooses its reasons to be a team. And yes, an event with the unified deck construction rules is what I was thinking about. It's actually been scheduled on the calendar for December 30 all along, but I guess nobody noticed. :)
Yeah, I felt really bad after this draft and didn't even want to post it. I know my picks weren't great, but I feel it is necessary to not just post the winning decks, but the bad ones too.
A quick correction: Bloodhunter Bat was actually in the Welcome Deck 2017, so it isn't eligible for the category.
Player made teams is how the pros do it. Seems like it works well enough.
I would love to see this working, and I've been scratching my head to try and get an idea on how we could make teams. So far, I can't reach a conclusion.
If we make the teams by countries, I'm afraid I would play alone (as would others), so that can't be. By continents? Doesn't look fair. Only reasonable thing I can think of is to let players get their teams together. So maybe create teams of 3 players? And maybe play some unified tribal 3vs3 like in team events irl?
Thx for the comment.
As for Jace or other mono colored decks. Those usually cost about 200-300 tix and there are few cards like three that in total cost 150 in total or something. For example in mono blue it would be Force of Will, Mystic Confluence and Misdirection, in mono green let's say Karn, Exploration, Wasteland but you can usually do ok without those so Jace can be a budget option if you are willing to pay 30 tix for the general.
Actually in our community many new players were usually picking up JVP for some reason. I never asked why a new player was always starting on that (if people start with Legacy they usually start with Burn, so this is the Burn in EDH). On the other hand I've seen those players play the deck while not really knowing what to do and they were doing just fine. The deck is linear and strong enough to do something...On Magic Online I'd probably be more wary about what deck to pick at the beginning. I'd rather go for Sidisi if I were new to the format.
Also, you took the Torment of Venom (over two good white cards that you should have taken had you stayed on track drafting GW in pack 1), and then take a mediocre card over Ammit Eternal that got passed to you. It was unfortunate what happened in the actual matches, especially round 2, but I think your deck would have been much better if you had a more cohesive pile of cards. Best of luck on the next one :)
I stopped reading after P1P3. Why would you ever take a blue card over a Dauntless Aven in that situation? It pairs with the bomb rare you first picked and keeps you on color.
Also, Sifter Wurm is really bad outside a ramp deck, after taking Pride, I'd probably take the Stalwart and try to be aggressive.
Thank you. I tried to come up with something meaningful to say but I failed...so thank you again for you kind words.
Thanks for the article. Always nice to get to know yet another mtgo luminary. If there is one thing I miss about writing articles on here, it is writing about other magic players. I think the interviews I did stand on their own but it is great to see other people bringing the cool to the site, this way.
I agree about the Breya ban comment. Seems like they were going for cautious surgery rather than making sure they got all the broken stuff.
Jace hardly seems like a budget option but I guess mono blue in general is pretty cheap. I'd be worried about lackluster draws in this format though. While mono blue has great draw cards in the format, it can also just durdle a lot. Also seems like a more advanced strategy than I'd recommend to a newcomer.
David has been doing an outstanding job and I appreciate his efforts!
Amazing article!
I found it strange that you are proselytizing for Snopes.com, as it is not MTG related. I find their conclusions to be biased and incorrect at times due to their biases. Perhaps you did not notice this because you share the same bias? I would definitely NOT support Snopes.com.
Get out there and brew, you two! I'd love to see where you can find a home for these guys. I'm like the SPCA of Pauper.
This is def one of the best articles I have read in a good while, great job!!!!!!!!!
Great job SJ! You didn't miss a thing :)
To be fair I did get a lot more complementary ones. In fact some from people whom I didn't expect to hear from. Sadly mostly I remember just cringing at the "You've got mail!" thing from compuserv after posting an article. I didn't hate the interactions but it was definitely stressful because I'd get passionate about the discussions and have verbal fist fights with people sometimes. Not my best moments for sure.
Plus there was that one time I was threatened with a law suit for calling someone obnoxious in a tourney report :p
Those emails.
I got those too. I do not miss them much at all.
It's not the destination, it's the journey.
Most people can probably say that their younger selves were immature and stupid. Knowing that means you're on the right path.