To some extent I am limited by my collection (as are we all right?) so probably no snappies any time soon but I like some of those ideas. I found recall to be good but not awesome. It saved my bacon at least once vs Vault/Key and more than a few times vs the Mud/Shops lock pieces. And when you can recall your own pieces and replay them for murderous amounts of mentor tokens/prowess pumps it is awesome but those times are rare.
I am definite going to try something a long the lines of your suggestion though I think I am 100% sold on 4x Mentor now. I've never drawn one and said "man if only this was xyz". More Knights + LftL could be great in combo with the sac lands though I wonder if dig + lftl would synergize all that much. I wish I had the 4x Wastelands to really make this thing fly.
Definitely hit me up in client if you want to tinker with ideas.
I've known of card shops that did ban players in spite of the loss of income from them. Their standpoint was, "I'd rather lose one customer than to lose ALL my customers."
I've also seen stores that didn't ban people who needed it and they indeed ran off all the other customers. Those people didn't want to hang around obnoxious jerks when there were other options available.
Yeah, so far Kytheon and Piledriver seem to be battling it out for the top spot. I agree that they are both likely to see a lot of play.
The tribal decks have seen a bit of a boost from Magic Origins, it'll be interesting to see where they stand once people have had a chance to experiment with the new cards.
I was perhaps a little harsh on the Militant as its ability is far from irrelevant but I've generally found it less impactful than I would like. I think the power level of Kytheon exceeds that of the Militant considerably and it is a far better late game drop if you are then in a position to flip it. I agree that it probably isn't the easiest to flip and that realistically you aren't going to sit with three mana up to protect your Kytheon most of the time. However, the reason that I compared it to Dryad Militant is that if you are in the market for a one-mana 2/1 anyway, Kytheon seem like a natural upgrade as it has such a big upside if you flip it. Whether it is strong enough to find a home beyond that I also remain skeptical without testing.
Day's Undoing does seem like the most powerful card in the set at least in the absract, but I would also like to test it. Harbinger possibly warranted a place on my list. I'm yet to be entirely convinced but I didn't like Tidebinder Mage when it was printed and that has done very well. Certainly should make an impact in Merfolk.
Evolutionary Leap is a card I actually like quite a lot the more I've thought about it. Definitely want to build some decks around it and see what can be achieved.
It was a lot of fun, and going over the results (which I thought I was going to use for an article, and then decided not to because of reasons.) really showed off a lot of neat things about the format.
I don't recall the last time I drafted. It's been a while, probably during the MM2015 release. Limited play for me, much like Standard, changed when I started to look at Magic like I did Warmachine.
Make the initial investment on the decks, and never really look back :D
I like the foundation of your lists. I think Tinker, Vault & Key are somewhat weak right now, but Knight is exciting. Life from the Loam and Dack could be a very powerful draw engine and recurring strip/waste effects are something we're always in the market for. Add some number of Regrowths/Snapcasters and a large number of delve spells and the dredging helps find action. Pridemage is similarly great. Clique is criminally underplayed since the Gush tempo decks that most want them have to really strain their manabase to afford them. I think there is a promising archetype here, but I would suggest trimming the fat. I like to play as few bad cards as possible. By bad, I mean cards that in often do nothing (not Null Rod, that actually does nothing). Thada, Mana Vault, Tinker, and Hurkyll's seem quite weak in the maindeck of #3 here.
I would be excited about brewing around a 4c control engine of
2-3 Life from the Loam
2-3 Dack Fayden
3-4 Dig
2-4 Regrowth
2-3 Knight of the Reliquary
2-3 Mentor
It's unclear if one could play a large number of Gush here. With a lot of Regrowths, Gifts becomes an option. The gameplan is to use land destruction and Fish elements to survive the early game, then a powerful recursive tutor/draw engine to be winning turns 4 onwards. Moving to a large manabase is positioning for the Shops matchup. Might be made to work yet.
The hate for Standard is strong. Not among the writers, streamers and pros. From the commentssections, the chats, forums and even some podcasts. It's a very loud faction of mid level players trying to sound smart.
I think your suggestion of keeping the title is a good idea. No one reads the comments except the other writers so I could even tease it and do a big reveal at the end of next week's article! Lol
I really like the idea of seasons too!
I will do my best to be on tomorrow night at that time (Eastern Time). Hope to see you then and thanks for the condolences. I've had many pets. Some have that extra human quality aND become like more than a cute pet that makes your heart warm. Princess was like that. Impossible that she's gone. We got her ashes yesterday and she took her last car ride on my lap just like her first car ride. It was strange. Not sad. Like it came full circle. I totally understand why I quit that tournament now. I knew even then there wasn't much time left with her.
Wow. Anyways
I have to remember to give a big shout out to TJ Collectibles.I left without redeeming my playmat voucher. I emailed them and they not only sent me the one for signing up, but a second limited edition one. Freaking great people.
Limited is the cheapest way to get qp if you get good at it and know when to sell your loot. It looks more expensive but if you draft the right formats you can clean up.
Actually I'm lying! I just want to play more limited! Good practice too for split format tournaments.
I'll definitely be heading back into Modern. If I'd seen the festival coming 3 months ago I would have shot for that. Looked like serious fun.
Kytheon - I'm not sure if Kytheon is a complete replacement to Dryad Militant. Militant's ability has strong potential in the developing meta - slows down the casting of Delve cards (the beaters and BI), inhibiting Snapcaster, splash damage on decks like UR Storm. Kytheon might be ok when ramming fair creature decks against each other, but he gets outclassed quickly against most beaters, 3 mana is pricey, and that trigger could be a struggle to attain. It'll take testing to be sure, but I'm not as excited as others.
Right now, I'd say Days Undoing or the Harbinger of Tides will be the easy upfront winners. My dark horses are Tainted Remedy (a casual all star), Evolutionary Leap and Dark Petition.
I'm actually not sure why you feel the need to stop calling your articles "Cracking the Code"? I know the original purpose reached a conclusion, but it's a very general name and can apply to the ongoing journey of a player battling for different goals. It's basically like seasons of a show - Season 1 was the GP, season 2 is MOCS. Season 3 could be to win a PTQ and Season 4 to become CHAMPION OF THE WORLD ('cause ya' know, power creep). Seriously though, I'd say stick with the name.
Not sure who hates on Standard so much? I mean, most other very competitive content makers play tons of Standard. It's kind of their job to grind and talk about it. Besides, it's usually just grumps or elitists that like to bash other formats. Like you said, each of the formats serves a different purpose and they all make Magic a richer game.
Very sorry about Princess Buttercup. As "one of those types of pet owners", it hurts my heart to think about it.
As for our unfinished business, I can be on tomorrow night between 8:30 and 9:30 if you will be free?
You don't have to play limited to q for the MOCS. I got all 35 of my points last season through Modern dailies and 8 players queues. While learning how to limited will make for a more well rounded player, sticking to what you know best I feel is the easiest way to earn the qualification.
Thanks for the shout-out. I like walker, but I see it as, at max, a 3 of. In a void, I can't imagine it being cast on T2 (Steel Overseer or Arcbound Ravager) or T3 (Master of Etherium, or Hardened Scales (if not out yet) and a 2 drop, or even Day's Undoing). T4 is usually kill turn.
I'm sorry to hear about Princess Buttercup. Sad news.
I am certain Languish and Hallowed Moonlight will be big. I expect them to never dip below the 5 tix range and they will probably be in double digits for a while after release.
the New twister looks more fun than good but I expect there may be some shenanigans involving madness or the like in Modern that will be really fun. (And still not at all good.) Maybe even madness and Underworld Dreams.
Already the pipeline has Piledriver leading a pack of crazed goblins on a charge through most of Modern and Standard as many a non goblin player gets razed in their feeding frenzy. I am not so sure of the hype on this one but it was a big deal once upon a time.
The flipwalkers are certainly intriguing but Nissa is the only one I've heard positive things about from Serious Magic Players. Speaking of which ease up a bit. Those guys are merely doing what people do. The GOOD magic player ignores dogma in favor of common sense.
I'm glad you liked it! It's not easy to explain when you should go for it because the more experiencied with the deck, the easier it is to know when to do it.
I think the best way to learn is actually going for it very often. With the exception of those situations you're almot sure it will go wrong, you should just go for it. That is how you learn. If you go for it, you get to see when it works and when it doesn't. If you don't go for it, you don't know for sure. Later, you'll have a better idea when to wait and you can start doing that.
Yes, I know, I've done it before. I'm just lazy to do it!
Well, some players like switching and trying new things while I prefer sticking to something that has been working for me and get better and better with it.
Yes, Shops will beat us on the play when they have the nut draw but they there's very few things that doesn't beat anyway. Every other game Oath is favoured.
Heres a great way of getting off the MTG drama, not visiting reddit lol. I think my IQ has dropped since I discovered the MTG reddit. The sub reddit is completely toxic and people really believe the garbage on there has real meaning. All the "issues" in the mtg "community" are all started by a bunch of punks who have no life and just spam reddit all day long with nonsense. I think my life has been better since I stopped visiting that subreddit since that subreddit has no real correlation of what real life mtg is like. My mtg "community" is not that great, but it doesnt represent what mtg life is like worldwide. I been to some stores that are decent to good, but the super garbage ones that have a similar voice to a majority of reddit, yeah just awful for anyones mental being.
Nice analysis of the new cards. At the time of me writing this Piledriver and Kytheon are tied. I think either way, both those cards are going to see a tremendous amount of play in Modern. I can't wait to see the war between Elves and Goblins, too.
Keep up the solid work, olaw.
Thank you for this primer! I had built your exact list a little while ago and I enjoy the deck. I've only played it in one daily so far. I would play it more but it's hard since Vintage dailies are not easy to come by. I've challenged Joe Fiorini to a couple matches before so he could give me some pointers on how to play the deck better (thanks, Joe!), and now after reading this article I feel a lot more comfortable with the deck.
I feel my biggest problem with it is knowing when to go for the combo. I'm still a little gun shy with it, but like you said, I'll feel more comfortable the more I play with the deck.
Also, Thanks for the sideboard guide. The next chance I get to participate in a daily you can bet this article will be loaded up and ready to go since I'm not familiar with the Vintage meta and don't know exactly how to sideboard. Anyways, thanks again and I'll be sitting here impatiently waiting for your next article!
Just email someone there, they are all cool people for the most part!
Honestly, I think I just got lucky that first time. It was my first Vintage tournament ever. Then after that, I kept getting close but not close enough, if you know what I mean.
I commend you for sticking with the deck though, I honestly think that I may have hurt my chances overall by switching decks too much. I mean, I've played A LOT of Vintage decks, and I haven't been playing the format for a year yet.
My favorite thing about Oath is the Shops match up. All you need to do is resolve an Oath, and they can't counter it. Sure, they can play cage, but that turns your Missteps on. In fact, Oath is the only deck that I wouldn't side Misstep out against Shops in that match up. Other than Cage, they have only Sol Ring as a Misstep Target. (This also is why they can Chalice on one all day every day and just laugh about it!)
Keep up the good work, and feel free to hit me up for some play-testing any time you want.
Yes, one Misdirection could certainly be good, especially if decks with Decay get more popular but it's so expensive right now that I can't justify it.
I understand. It's easy to get unlucky in the first couple tournaments and give up on the deck because it seems bad.
And I agree, the mirror is pretty bad, especially when you don't know you are playing the mirror, play Oath without Orchard and they play Orchard.
I have a TMD account but I keep forgetting my password!
To some extent I am limited by my collection (as are we all right?) so probably no snappies any time soon but I like some of those ideas. I found recall to be good but not awesome. It saved my bacon at least once vs Vault/Key and more than a few times vs the Mud/Shops lock pieces. And when you can recall your own pieces and replay them for murderous amounts of mentor tokens/prowess pumps it is awesome but those times are rare.
I am definite going to try something a long the lines of your suggestion though I think I am 100% sold on 4x Mentor now. I've never drawn one and said "man if only this was xyz". More Knights + LftL could be great in combo with the sac lands though I wonder if dig + lftl would synergize all that much. I wish I had the 4x Wastelands to really make this thing fly.
Definitely hit me up in client if you want to tinker with ideas.
I've known of card shops that did ban players in spite of the loss of income from them. Their standpoint was, "I'd rather lose one customer than to lose ALL my customers."
I've also seen stores that didn't ban people who needed it and they indeed ran off all the other customers. Those people didn't want to hang around obnoxious jerks when there were other options available.
Thanks Jay.
Yeah, so far Kytheon and Piledriver seem to be battling it out for the top spot. I agree that they are both likely to see a lot of play.
The tribal decks have seen a bit of a boost from Magic Origins, it'll be interesting to see where they stand once people have had a chance to experiment with the new cards.
You're probably right. I just like the idea of combining Walker with Hardened Scales but it may still be a bit too slow.
Thank for the comment Gio.
I was perhaps a little harsh on the Militant as its ability is far from irrelevant but I've generally found it less impactful than I would like. I think the power level of Kytheon exceeds that of the Militant considerably and it is a far better late game drop if you are then in a position to flip it. I agree that it probably isn't the easiest to flip and that realistically you aren't going to sit with three mana up to protect your Kytheon most of the time. However, the reason that I compared it to Dryad Militant is that if you are in the market for a one-mana 2/1 anyway, Kytheon seem like a natural upgrade as it has such a big upside if you flip it. Whether it is strong enough to find a home beyond that I also remain skeptical without testing.
Day's Undoing does seem like the most powerful card in the set at least in the absract, but I would also like to test it. Harbinger possibly warranted a place on my list. I'm yet to be entirely convinced but I didn't like Tidebinder Mage when it was printed and that has done very well. Certainly should make an impact in Merfolk.
Evolutionary Leap is a card I actually like quite a lot the more I've thought about it. Definitely want to build some decks around it and see what can be achieved.
It was a lot of fun, and going over the results (which I thought I was going to use for an article, and then decided not to because of reasons.) really showed off a lot of neat things about the format.
I don't recall the last time I drafted. It's been a while, probably during the MM2015 release. Limited play for me, much like Standard, changed when I started to look at Magic like I did Warmachine.
Make the initial investment on the decks, and never really look back :D
I like the foundation of your lists. I think Tinker, Vault & Key are somewhat weak right now, but Knight is exciting. Life from the Loam and Dack could be a very powerful draw engine and recurring strip/waste effects are something we're always in the market for. Add some number of Regrowths/Snapcasters and a large number of delve spells and the dredging helps find action. Pridemage is similarly great. Clique is criminally underplayed since the Gush tempo decks that most want them have to really strain their manabase to afford them. I think there is a promising archetype here, but I would suggest trimming the fat. I like to play as few bad cards as possible. By bad, I mean cards that in often do nothing (not Null Rod, that actually does nothing). Thada, Mana Vault, Tinker, and Hurkyll's seem quite weak in the maindeck of #3 here.
I would be excited about brewing around a 4c control engine of
2-3 Life from the Loam
2-3 Dack Fayden
3-4 Dig
2-4 Regrowth
2-3 Knight of the Reliquary
2-3 Mentor
It's unclear if one could play a large number of Gush here. With a lot of Regrowths, Gifts becomes an option. The gameplan is to use land destruction and Fish elements to survive the early game, then a powerful recursive tutor/draw engine to be winning turns 4 onwards. Moving to a large manabase is positioning for the Shops matchup. Might be made to work yet.
I don't bash other formats at all. I'd even play them if I didn't mind rotations and extensive banned lists. They're fun sometimes!
The hate for Standard is strong. Not among the writers, streamers and pros. From the commentssections, the chats, forums and even some podcasts. It's a very loud faction of mid level players trying to sound smart.
I think your suggestion of keeping the title is a good idea. No one reads the comments except the other writers so I could even tease it and do a big reveal at the end of next week's article! Lol
I really like the idea of seasons too!
I will do my best to be on tomorrow night at that time (Eastern Time). Hope to see you then and thanks for the condolences. I've had many pets. Some have that extra human quality aND become like more than a cute pet that makes your heart warm. Princess was like that. Impossible that she's gone. We got her ashes yesterday and she took her last car ride on my lap just like her first car ride. It was strange. Not sad. Like it came full circle. I totally understand why I quit that tournament now. I knew even then there wasn't much time left with her.
Wow. Anyways
I have to remember to give a big shout out to TJ Collectibles.I left without redeeming my playmat voucher. I emailed them and they not only sent me the one for signing up, but a second limited edition one. Freaking great people.
Limited is the cheapest way to get qp if you get good at it and know when to sell your loot. It looks more expensive but if you draft the right formats you can clean up.
Actually I'm lying! I just want to play more limited! Good practice too for split format tournaments.
I'll definitely be heading back into Modern. If I'd seen the festival coming 3 months ago I would have shot for that. Looked like serious fun.
Yea, I am sure my analysis of Days Undoing is waaayyyy off, but it was fun to write.
Thanks for your sympathy. Always appreciated.
And as always, my rants are strictly for entertainment purposes. If I were every as angry as I pretend to be I'd be in the E.R.
I hate Red and I hate Goblins but I have to give that card it's due. Much like Zergo, it's Deceptively simple.
Fun to see your thoughts on the new set.
Kytheon - I'm not sure if Kytheon is a complete replacement to Dryad Militant. Militant's ability has strong potential in the developing meta - slows down the casting of Delve cards (the beaters and BI), inhibiting Snapcaster, splash damage on decks like UR Storm. Kytheon might be ok when ramming fair creature decks against each other, but he gets outclassed quickly against most beaters, 3 mana is pricey, and that trigger could be a struggle to attain. It'll take testing to be sure, but I'm not as excited as others.
Right now, I'd say Days Undoing or the Harbinger of Tides will be the easy upfront winners. My dark horses are Tainted Remedy (a casual all star), Evolutionary Leap and Dark Petition.
- Gio
I'm actually not sure why you feel the need to stop calling your articles "Cracking the Code"? I know the original purpose reached a conclusion, but it's a very general name and can apply to the ongoing journey of a player battling for different goals. It's basically like seasons of a show - Season 1 was the GP, season 2 is MOCS. Season 3 could be to win a PTQ and Season 4 to become CHAMPION OF THE WORLD ('cause ya' know, power creep). Seriously though, I'd say stick with the name.
Not sure who hates on Standard so much? I mean, most other very competitive content makers play tons of Standard. It's kind of their job to grind and talk about it. Besides, it's usually just grumps or elitists that like to bash other formats. Like you said, each of the formats serves a different purpose and they all make Magic a richer game.
Very sorry about Princess Buttercup. As "one of those types of pet owners", it hurts my heart to think about it.
As for our unfinished business, I can be on tomorrow night between 8:30 and 9:30 if you will be free?
Can't wait for the next one!
- Gio
You don't have to play limited to q for the MOCS. I got all 35 of my points last season through Modern dailies and 8 players queues. While learning how to limited will make for a more well rounded player, sticking to what you know best I feel is the easiest way to earn the qualification.
Thanks for the shout-out. I like walker, but I see it as, at max, a 3 of. In a void, I can't imagine it being cast on T2 (Steel Overseer or Arcbound Ravager) or T3 (Master of Etherium, or Hardened Scales (if not out yet) and a 2 drop, or even Day's Undoing). T4 is usually kill turn.
I'm sorry to hear about Princess Buttercup. Sad news.
I am certain Languish and Hallowed Moonlight will be big. I expect them to never dip below the 5 tix range and they will probably be in double digits for a while after release.
the New twister looks more fun than good but I expect there may be some shenanigans involving madness or the like in Modern that will be really fun. (And still not at all good.) Maybe even madness and Underworld Dreams.
Already the pipeline has Piledriver leading a pack of crazed goblins on a charge through most of Modern and Standard as many a non goblin player gets razed in their feeding frenzy. I am not so sure of the hype on this one but it was a big deal once upon a time.
The flipwalkers are certainly intriguing but Nissa is the only one I've heard positive things about from Serious Magic Players. Speaking of which ease up a bit. Those guys are merely doing what people do. The GOOD magic player ignores dogma in favor of common sense.
As always a hilarious riot-- er read.
Flusterstorm is how I win counterwars usually.
Since this was called Blast from the past, thought i would just pop by and say hello
I'm glad you liked it! It's not easy to explain when you should go for it because the more experiencied with the deck, the easier it is to know when to do it.
I think the best way to learn is actually going for it very often. With the exception of those situations you're almot sure it will go wrong, you should just go for it. That is how you learn. If you go for it, you get to see when it works and when it doesn't. If you don't go for it, you don't know for sure. Later, you'll have a better idea when to wait and you can start doing that.
Yes, I know, I've done it before. I'm just lazy to do it!
Well, some players like switching and trying new things while I prefer sticking to something that has been working for me and get better and better with it.
Yes, Shops will beat us on the play when they have the nut draw but they there's very few things that doesn't beat anyway. Every other game Oath is favoured.
Thank you.
Heres a great way of getting off the MTG drama, not visiting reddit lol. I think my IQ has dropped since I discovered the MTG reddit. The sub reddit is completely toxic and people really believe the garbage on there has real meaning. All the "issues" in the mtg "community" are all started by a bunch of punks who have no life and just spam reddit all day long with nonsense. I think my life has been better since I stopped visiting that subreddit since that subreddit has no real correlation of what real life mtg is like. My mtg "community" is not that great, but it doesnt represent what mtg life is like worldwide. I been to some stores that are decent to good, but the super garbage ones that have a similar voice to a majority of reddit, yeah just awful for anyones mental being.
Nice analysis of the new cards. At the time of me writing this Piledriver and Kytheon are tied. I think either way, both those cards are going to see a tremendous amount of play in Modern. I can't wait to see the war between Elves and Goblins, too.
Keep up the solid work, olaw.
Thank you for this primer! I had built your exact list a little while ago and I enjoy the deck. I've only played it in one daily so far. I would play it more but it's hard since Vintage dailies are not easy to come by. I've challenged Joe Fiorini to a couple matches before so he could give me some pointers on how to play the deck better (thanks, Joe!), and now after reading this article I feel a lot more comfortable with the deck.
I feel my biggest problem with it is knowing when to go for the combo. I'm still a little gun shy with it, but like you said, I'll feel more comfortable the more I play with the deck.
Also, Thanks for the sideboard guide. The next chance I get to participate in a daily you can bet this article will be loaded up and ready to go since I'm not familiar with the Vintage meta and don't know exactly how to sideboard. Anyways, thanks again and I'll be sitting here impatiently waiting for your next article!
Just email someone there, they are all cool people for the most part!
Honestly, I think I just got lucky that first time. It was my first Vintage tournament ever. Then after that, I kept getting close but not close enough, if you know what I mean.
I commend you for sticking with the deck though, I honestly think that I may have hurt my chances overall by switching decks too much. I mean, I've played A LOT of Vintage decks, and I haven't been playing the format for a year yet.
My favorite thing about Oath is the Shops match up. All you need to do is resolve an Oath, and they can't counter it. Sure, they can play cage, but that turns your Missteps on. In fact, Oath is the only deck that I wouldn't side Misstep out against Shops in that match up. Other than Cage, they have only Sol Ring as a Misstep Target. (This also is why they can Chalice on one all day every day and just laugh about it!)
Keep up the good work, and feel free to hit me up for some play-testing any time you want.
Yes, one Misdirection could certainly be good, especially if decks with Decay get more popular but it's so expensive right now that I can't justify it.
I understand. It's easy to get unlucky in the first couple tournaments and give up on the deck because it seems bad.
And I agree, the mirror is pretty bad, especially when you don't know you are playing the mirror, play Oath without Orchard and they play Orchard.
I have a TMD account but I keep forgetting my password!