Magic: The Gathering

[Human Snorenado]

You left out the best card



White Weenie screwing over RDW and Jund

[Human Snorenado]

Also, I've been playing at the local nerd shop pretty regularly- they do drafts on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and then of course there's FNM.  Since I didn't own any physical cards I just bought what I needed to put a Stupid Valakut Tricks deck together- only cost me about $30 and it's fun to see people's faces when I deal 20 damage or so in a turn to them.  After tuning it I'm doing pretty well with it- placed 5th out of 21 people a couple days ago. 

Limited is another story altogether, tho.  I must have gotten really, really good at evaluating draft picks, because I'm consistently winning drafts now.  I guess it helps when people in my pod inexplicably DON'T DRAFT BLACK AT ALL when it's easily the best color in triple Zendikar draft.  Yesterday I drafted a SICK mono black deck- 3 disfigures, 2 hideous ends, gatekeeper of malakir, vampire nighthawk, malakir bloodwitch etc etc.  I've been piling up store credit from my draft wins and am gonna put together a White Weenie deck and probably a Vampires deck.  Stupid fetchlands are expensive, tho.

[Saint Cornelius]

Limited is another story altogether, tho.  I must have gotten really, really good at evaluating draft picks, because I'm consistently winning drafts now.  I guess it helps when people in my pod inexplicably DON'T DRAFT BLACK AT ALL when it's easily the best color in triple Zendikar draft.  Yesterday I drafted a SICK mono black deck- 3 disfigures, 2 hideous ends, gatekeeper of malakir, vampire nighthawk, malakir bloodwitch etc etc.  I've been piling up store credit from my draft wins and am gonna put together a White Weenie deck and probably a Vampires deck.  Stupid fetchlands are expensive, tho.

I tried going monoblack in a sealed tourney online and got my fucking ass handed to me. I'm on a bad luck streak right now  :'(

[Human Snorenado]

Limited is another story altogether, tho.  I must have gotten really, really good at evaluating draft picks, because I'm consistently winning drafts now.  I guess it helps when people in my pod inexplicably DON'T DRAFT BLACK AT ALL when it's easily the best color in triple Zendikar draft.  Yesterday I drafted a SICK mono black deck- 3 disfigures, 2 hideous ends, gatekeeper of malakir, vampire nighthawk, malakir bloodwitch etc etc.  I've been piling up store credit from my draft wins and am gonna put together a White Weenie deck and probably a Vampires deck.  Stupid fetchlands are expensive, tho.

I tried going monoblack in a sealed tourney online and got my fucking ass handed to me. I'm on a bad luck streak right now  :'(

There was only one other decent drafter at the table, to be honest.  There's no other explanation for like half the table WANTING TO DRAFT GREEN in a triple Zendikar draft and ignoring black to the extent that they did.  For instance, in the first pack, fourth pick I had to choose between Surrakar Marauder and Heartstabber Mosquito.  I took the Marauder because I like early, evasive beats in triple Zendikar but kind of regretted letting the mosquito get away.  Lo and behold, the damn thing wheeled around.  It was at that point I realized I was going to destroy everyone else in the draft because they didn't have a damn idea what they were doing.  Sure enough, I 2-0'ed every match and in a couple games the only thing that did any damage to me were my own Vampire Lacerators.

[Saint Cornelius]

How high do you value a Trusty Machete? I'll pick that up over just about anything.

[Human Snorenado]

How high do you value a Trusty Machete? I'll pick that up over just about anything.

I'd take a Machete over just about anything not named Vampire Nighthawk.

[Saint Cornelius]

I'd take a Machete over just about anything not named Vampire Nighthawk.

Yeah Vampire Nighthawks are just fucking ill. I'm so happy whenever I get my hands on one of those.

[T234]

Any kind of equipment is back-breaking in limited. Much less something like Umezawa's Jitte or Sword of Fire and Ice.

[Saint Cornelius]

What are yawls' thoughts on allies in Limited? 

[T234]

I haven't drafted enough ZEN to be able to say.

[Saint Cornelius]

What's your thing, T234? Constructed?

[Human Snorenado]

Allies can be good but in my experience they're tough to do.  Triple Zendikar draft is a very fast, aggressive format and if you try to play a three color allies deck in my experience more often than not you're gonna get hosed.  Heck, even playing a two color deck where your cards are evenly split between the two colors can get you stomped.  I like going heavy in one color (usually black or red) and splashing a second color, with hopefully no more than six cards in the secondary color.

[tehjaybo]

I'm having second thoughts on going to Extended PTQ honestly..  I don't think I'm good enough to place, and while I enjoy playing, I really like playing in a slower format where the game isn't over with me at negative one million life in three turns.  I may just hold out for Worldwake and hang out with womenfolk this weekend. 

But that being said, I'm very tempted to make a blue white mill deck.  I just need to wait for the rest of Worldwake to HURRY UP AND BE SPOILED so I can check out the Allys.  It will probably be a Ally mill deck, because I have some unreasonable hardon for mill. 

[Human Snorenado]

I'm having second thoughts on going to Extended PTQ honestly..  I don't think I'm good enough to place, and while I enjoy playing, I really like playing in a slower format where the game isn't over with me at negative one million life in three turns.  I may just hold out for Worldwake and hang out with womenfolk this weekend. 

But that being said, I'm very tempted to make a blue white mill deck.  I just need to wait for the rest of Worldwake to HURRY UP AND BE SPOILED so I can check out the Allys.  It will probably be a Ally mill deck, because I have some unreasonable hardon for mill. 

I've been thinking about something like this, too.  Here's my preliminary list:

4 x Hedron Crab
4 x Halimar Excavator
4 x Ondu Cleric (life gaining white ally)
4 x Makindi Shieldmate (defender white ally that gets a +1/1 counter each time an ally comes into play)
4 x Join the Ranks (the white instant that puts two 1/1 kor soldier allies into play for 3W)
4 x Wall of Denial
4 x Tome Scour
4 x Archive Trap
2 x Jace Beleren
2 x Divination
3 x Misty Rainforest
3 x Scalding Tarn
3 x Arid Mesa
3 x Marsh Flats
6 x Island
6 x Plains

I dunno, it looks kind of expensive with all of those fetch lands, but Hedron Crab is pretty awesome if your goal is to mill someone to death.  Honestly, I might try to toss in some Trapmaker's Snares just because everybody plays fetch lands at my local shop, so hitting people with Archive Traps is pretty important.

But try this out:

Turn 1 Island, Hedron Crab
Turn 2 fetch, pop and mill you for six, cast Halimar excavator mill you for 1
Turn 3 fetch, pop and mill you for six, cast Makindi Shieldmate and mill you for 2
Turn 4 fetch, pop and mill you for six, cast Join the Ranks, mill you for four twice (each ally token will trigger the Excavator, and since they "see each other" as they're coming into play that's how it works)

That's 29 cards milled by the end of turn four, not counting any Archive Traps.  And it gets grosser if you cast a second Excavator in turn three.

[Saint Cornelius]

Dude if I can pull one 'Crab during a draft, I've got a good chance of winning. TWO Crabs is just disgusting... but combined with an Archive Trap, oof! Just sick. 

[Fragamemnon]

I wish I had the time to even play online anymore . My work schedule basically wipes out any chance of ever playing FNM again to boot.

M:TG's constructed format is so great because of the diverse metagame-when they don't have too much degenerate cards in the rotating sets, there's a whole swath of valid decks, and unless you are playing in a PTQ or something you can bring in homebrew and do OK as long as you test it well.

[Saint Cornelius]

M:TG's constructed format is so great because of the diverse metagame-when they don't have too much degenerate cards in the rotating sets, there's a whole swath of valid decks, and unless you are playing in a PTQ or something you can bring in homebrew and do OK as long as you test it well.

See, I feel the exact opposite about constructed. Anytime I've played "serious" constructed, there's no way you can bring in a homebrew deck - you've gotta play the metagame that's popular at the moment. Constructed is fun when it's not serious, but when it is, it's just boring. In my opinion.

Which is why I love limited so much, because you're never sure what you're going to get / what you're going to go up against.

[Human Snorenado]

I prefer limited as well, specifically draft.  I like the challenge of actively building my deck from a limited pool of cards. 

However, I do think that standard is a little more wide open than you give it credit for.  Sure you're not gonna be able to homebrew something that will compete at the top level, but that's more a function of the fact that people far smarter and better at the game than you or I have spent a lot of time perfecting and refining top decks in the format.  But there's lots of variety among the top tier standard decks. 

For example, here are the decks that have won our FNM in the past several weeks:

Jund
Four Color Cascade
Vampires
Vampires
Eldrazi Green

Decks that have finished in the top four during that time period also include:  White Weenie, Red Deck Wins, Boros, UWr control, Jacerator and a slightly homebrewed Bloodchief Ascension deck, and probably a couple more that I'm forgetting.  That's a good variety of decks and strategies represented, imo.  Just because YOU didn't create it doesn't mean they're not worth playing.

[Saint Cornelius]

I guess I'm still bitter about when your constructed deck had to have Psychotog x4, Wild Mongrel x4, etc. etc.

[Fragamemnon]

You can also add personal touches on existing decks to give them your own sort of flair. Especially in standard, lists aren't so tight that there isn't room for the sort of subtle creativity that can actually be really game changing. Especially with sideboard tech that can hit unexpecting players out of nowhere.

I never thought of standard as being stagnant-the constant addition and mass removal of cards always keeps things fresh unless there are really degenerate cards around. Then it sucks, just like playing an RTS with overpowered units/strategies suck since if you want to have a chance everyone has to do the same thing.

[Human Snorenado]

Won another draft today. 

Started out trying to force black, cause, well, you know it's the best color in triple Zendikar draft.  Got some semi-ok black cards out of the first pack- Marsh Casualties, Hideous End, Heartstabber Mosquito and Hagra Diabolist.  Green was open late cause it sucks, so I took an Oran-Rief Survivalist and Recluse late.  Pack two proceeds to SHUT DOWN for black... I think I took one black card, and it was a Nimana Sell-Sword.  Which turned out to be awesome, cause the green allies just kept flooding to me.  After it was all said and done, I ended up running this:

4 x Oran-Rief Survivalist
2 x Tajaru Archer (the bomb, I don't mind telling you)
1 x Hagra Diabolist
1 x Nimana Sell-Sword
1 x TURNTIMBER RANGER, UNF UNF UNF
1 x Joraga Bard, cause why not run 10 allies in a deck?
1 x Mold Shambler
1 x Oran-Rief Recluse
1 x Baloth Woodcrasher
1 x Vampire Nighthawk (SO GOOD)
1 x Heartstabber Mosquito
1 x Soul Stair Expedition
1 x Hideous End
1 x Marsh Casualties
1 x Blazing Torch
1 x Harrow
1 x Primal Bellow
1 x Gigantiform (SO GOOD)
11 x Forest
7 x Swamp

Naturally I crushed faces from go.  The last round I hit turn four Gigantiform on a Survivalist off of a turn three Harrow, and that was all she wrote.  Got more store credit and was pleased to discover that they dropped the prices on Marsh Flats (black/white fetchland) since they've got so damn many in stock, so I picked up two.  Got a sealed deck on Friday night, should be fun.

[Human Snorenado]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Selective Memory
3U (rare)
Remove any number of nonland cards in your library from the game, then shuffle your library.

+

[Human Snorenado]

OMGWTFBBQ



Halimar Excavators 5-8

MILL MILL MILL

[Saint Cornelius]

The whole set has been spoiled!

I'm looking forward to some righteous Ally action this weekend.

[Ganhyun]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Selective Memory
3U (rare)
Remove any number of nonland cards in your library from the game, then shuffle your library.

+

(Image removed from quote.)

So, so I'm not misunderstanding,

Those 2 cards let you basically pull any non land card u want from your library to your hand? Sorry, its been too long since I played Magic.

[Human Snorenado]

Yeah, and fill your hand up with land cards, which you can, oh I don't know, pitch to your Seismic Assault or whatever.  GG, bro.

Overall I'm kind of underwhelmed by the set, but it looks really fun for limited play and I'm a way better limited player than constructed anyhow so there you go.  Pre-release should be fun on Saturday, anyway.

[Saint Cornelius]

Hopefully you don't live in a place that is being affected by weather gnarliness!

[Human Snorenado]

Nah, it's gonna be rainy and in the mid 40's here tomorrow, but our pre-release is still going on.

Hope I pull an Abyssal Persecutor or Jace, since those are the only cards that will be worth anything out of this cruddy set.  I guess maybe a man-land, too.

[Saint Cornelius]

Why do you think it's cruddy? I think it's cool - sticks with the themes introduced in Zendikar and goes from there!

[Human Snorenado]

It's only cruddy for Standard, really.  For limited it will be really fun, and honestly I like limited more than constructed anyhow.  But after Magic 2010 and Zendikar it's kind of a letdown tbh, especially if you want to buy a box or more and make money off of it.

Hope that a competitive allies deck emerges out of this, but we'll see.

[Saint Cornelius]

It's only cruddy for Standard, really.  For limited it will be really fun, and honestly I like limited more than constructed anyhow. 

Yeah so do I... on constructed.

I'm not trying to be difficult (for once!) but... I don't understand how it's cruddy for standard. Like, it's not going to add much for the, uh, standard Standard decks, you mean?

[T234]

This set is FANTASTIC in my playgroup/legacy/vintage though! (No banned/restricted list)

[Human Snorenado]

Yeah, there aren't a lot of cards that will have much of an impact on standard.  The Kor Firewalker will help make WW a better deck I suppose, and obviously Jace will help control builds out.  I guess the man-lands could go in a couple of decks, too.

Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed that Rise of the Eldrazi is supposedly going to abandon the stuff (landfall, allies, etc) that have made Zendikar block so awesome so far.  Allies especially, just another relatively cheap White ally that got +1/1 counters would have made it a valid WW deck.

[Human Snorenado]

This set is FANTASTIC in my playgroup/legacy/vintage though! (No banned/restricted list)

Ugh, that's such a turn-off.  HEY I'VE BEEN PLAYING THE LONGEST/SPENT THE MOST MONEY, WHO WANTS TO LOSE TO A CHANNEL/FIREBALL???

[Saint Cornelius]

Oh, okay. I see what you're saying now.

Honestly, I'm kind of disappointed that Rise of the Eldrazi is supposedly going to abandon the stuff (landfall, allies, etc) that have made Zendikar block so awesome so far.  Allies especially, just another relatively cheap White ally that got +1/1 counters would have made it a valid WW deck.

Yeah, me too. What not just finish off the block with the same techniques established with Zendikar, and save all the Eldrazi shit for the next block?

[Human Snorenado]

I mean, I kind of play standard by default since it's what most people at the shop seem to want to play.  So I kind of care about the format by default, since everyone else does too.  At first I was just content to play my goofy Valakut deck, but half the people who show up to FNMs are playing actual decks and I hate losing so put a Vampires deck together this week.  If it were up to me we'd be drafting for FNM, but not everybody wants to do that, plus it costs $15 each time, blah blah blah.  Our shop does have an EDH playgroup tho, and I'm gonna put together a cheap-ish EDH deck sometime in the near future for shits and giggles.  Seems like it's right up my alley.

[T234]

This set is FANTASTIC in my playgroup/legacy/vintage though! (No banned/restricted list)

Ugh, that's such a turn-off.  HEY I'VE BEEN PLAYING THE LONGEST/SPENT THE MOST MONEY, WHO WANTS TO LOSE TO A CHANNEL/FIREBALL???

Weirdly, the quickest combo deck (around here) is turn three. Meanwhile, there is a Onslaught-era Goblin deck with Vials and Skullclamps in it, Beast Zoo, and my mono-black which is as fast as the Goblins.

[tehjaybo]

I know Billy hates the idea, but I'm excited to try the Blue White Ally Mill.  I think it would be fun, as well as having little soldiers on the board to keep me from taking a beating/beat them.  It's just nice to have a backup strategy.

"But a Mill deck mills, it doesn't attack for wins "

Yes, BUT.  Mill decks DO strip important cards from libraries, meaning the opponent is less likely to draw their big angry kill my face card.  So who cares if I damage them to death or mill them to death?  A win is a win.  Especially with creature control, counter, and mill.   

[Saint Cornelius]

So did yawl do the prerelease? I did! Pulled a Abyssal Persecutor and a Bazaar Trader - holy shit, I wanted to pull off that combo so badly but it never happened (I did beat my 1st opponent by smashing them with the 'Persecutor until they were -1, and then I used my own removal spells on it). It was 7 rounds, swiss, and I went 2-3 before I dropped.

I'll be playing again tomorrow... hope I do better!

[T234]

So did yawl do the prerelease? I did! Pulled a Abyssal Persecutor and a Bazaar Trader - holy shit, I wanted to pull off that combo so badly but it never happened (I did beat my 1st opponent by smashing them with the 'Persecutor until they were -1, and then I used my own removal spells on it). It was 7 rounds, swiss, and I went 2-3 before I dropped.

I'll be playing again tomorrow... hope I do better!

Did you pull any Amulet of Vigors? I want them bad.

[Saint Cornelius]

Did you pull any Amulet of Vigors? I want them bad.

No! Never even saw one.

[Human Snorenado]

UGH.  Just got back from the pre-release less than an hour ago.  We played six rounds of swiss, then cut to the top 8.  Only people in the top 8 got packs of Worldwake as prizes, and out of 34 players I placed... 10th.  By tiebreakers.  Went 4-2 with a really strong red/black deck, and if my sealed deck hadn't played like it had 12 lands instead of 18 in the middle two rounds of the swiss I almost certainly would have made top 8.  Got some ok rares in my initial sealed pool, including Kalastria Highborn (traded it after the tournament for a Omnath since it's being bought for more, and 2 Kor Firewalkers since my stated goal walking in today was:  WALK OUT WITH FOUR KOR FIREWALKERS.), Death's Shadow (big stupid 13/13 for one black mana, traded for two more Kor Firewalkers and a bunch of junk) and the g/w manland, which I kept.  Out of my Zendikar packs I opened a FREAKING FOIL ELDRAZI MONUMENT.  UNF UNF UNF.  That was my mvp of the day in my sealed pool.  Got another Emeria Angel, too.

So the top 8 decided to chop up the prize pool instead of play it out, and they each got 11 packs.  We had a draft for shits 'n giggles immediately after they decided to chop, a zen-wwk-wwk draft.  I decided to play since I rule at draft.  Sure enough, I drafted a good blue/white tempo weenie deck.  I also got some good rares in the draft:  Marshal's Anthem (INSANE in limited when kicked), Chain Reaction, Terra Eternal and Anowon the Ruin Sage.  I managed to make it to the finals of the draft and the dude I was playing agreed we should draw, since we were playing over who got to get 5 packs and who got to get 3.  So we each got four.  In those four packs, I pulled the blue/white man-land, the black/red man-land, the stupid legendary mythic rare blue/black kraken and a FREAKING ADMONITION ANGEL.  Two mythics and two man-lands out of four packs, nice!

Still pissed that my sealed pool didn't draw well enough in the middle rounds to propel me into the top 8, would have walked away with 15 packs instead of 4.  But in the end, it was cool since I walked out with some man-lands, some other good rare trade bait and most importantly... MY FOUR FREAKING KOR FIREWALKERS.  Also got two Everflowing Chalices and three Hada Freeblades.  Only regret is that I didn't manage to pull or trade for any Jwari Shapeshifters (the ally clone).  One of my buddies totally ripped some kid off, gave him five bucks for an Abyssal Persecutor.  Two Jaces opened in the store today as well.

Time for some freaking sleep.

[Phoenix Dark]

NERD

[Vizzys]

says the WoW addict

[Human Snorenado]

NERD

Difference is I actually interact with real live people in this hobby, and can MAKE money at it instead of pissing away $15 a month.

[Ichirou]

Can't wait to see PD's rebuttal to that.

[Phoenix Dark]

well I had sex with your gf!

[T234]

I'm pretty sure PD has never sexed anybody's girlfriend!

[tehjaybo]

I'm pretty sure PD has never sexed anybody

I'm pretty sure BillyOfCourse went to the PTQ and the Pre-release, but I haven't heard how he did at either.  So I suppose you guys will find out about the same time I do.  I didn't go because it was pretty snowy outside and my Cavalier was not cool with driving 45 minutes twice on slick snowy interstate.

[The Sceneman]

mutherfucking yeah drafting a box of the new set tonite

looking forward to the beer and burgers mainly

[tehjaybo]

I was considering going to the draft tomorrow for Worldwake, but there's a concert with some friends the same night.  Decisions decisions...   

[Human Snorenado]

I'm drafting tomorrow night, then Saturday is the release event and I guess I'll probably play in the sealed.

Dude opened a box today with THREE Jaces in it.  Everyone wanted to punch him.

[The Sceneman]

had a fantastic draft, just got home. Got a Jace (who removed a couple of libraries from the game) and I stood on the winner's podium  Some really fun stuff in Worldwake thats for sure. Vapor snare is surprisingly good! Esp. with those blue lands where you can look at the top three cards of your library.

the burger and beers were good too!

[billyofcourse]

I'm drafting tomorrow night, then Saturday is the release event and I guess I'll probably play in the sealed.

Dude opened a box today with THREE Jaces in it.  Everyone wanted to punch him.

opened my four boxes yesterday and was thrilled that I got one in every box.  That's just ridiculous.

[Human Snorenado]

I'm drafting tomorrow night, then Saturday is the release event and I guess I'll probably play in the sealed.

Dude opened a box today with THREE Jaces in it.  Everyone wanted to punch him.

opened my four boxes yesterday and was thrilled that I got one in every box.  That's just ridiculous.

You lucked out!  I know a couple dudes who bought cases at the shop and only got about one per two boxes, which honestly is about right in a small set.  One dude just hung out at the shop all day Friday and whenever someone would open a Jace, he'd offer them like 12 packs of Worldwake as a trade, actually got two that way.  SMH @ nerbs.

Played in another sealed and a draft today, pulled CRAP for rares in all of my packs.  Well, I got another Celestial Colonnade so I guess that's cool.  Placed 5th in the sealed, 2nd in draft.  The prize packs I got all had crap in them, I'm pretty much done taking WWK packs as prizes.  Store credit only from now on.

edit:  the funny thing is, the dude who opened the three Jaces SPLIT that box with a buddy, who didn't get off of work before the first guy.  First guy called his buddy and the buddy told first guy, sure go ahead and open your half.  Bet he's kicking himself now.

[Saint Cornelius]

SO, Rise of the Eldrazi prerelease tomorrow. Anyone care?

[tehjaybo]

I pretty much stopped playing.  I never really feel like driving 45 minutes to a tournament alone.

I think FoC said he pretty much stopped playing as well.  I was talking to him about it a while back.

[Saint Cornelius]

Damn you were all gung-ho a few months ago, what happened?

[tehjaybo]

I don't like going to tournaments alone.  And, generally speaking, since I work the hours I do, I would have to drive to tournaments by myself.  Just isn't worth it, I guess.

I actually haven't played a game of Magic in months.  Since before the last set released. 

[Saint Cornelius]

Yeah, my one and only friend that liked Magic moved to the east coast a few months ago, so now I'm back to going to tourneys all by my lonesome. It's weird, man. I fucking LOVE the game but I can't really handle the people who play it.