Interesting lab. I am surprised you didn't add in Deadbridge Chant which seems like a natural fit if a little pricy. The end game is phenomenal if it hits though.
The two finalists both steamrolled my poor beasts on the way to the prize. I guess I feel less bad knowing they did it to everyone else too. Though I did have a close match with the slivers deck and game 3 could have gone either way with better land draws. Grats to both for doing so well as new PREers.
That's never going to happen. wizards tolerates and sometimes gives minor support to PREs becuase they're not actual tournaments, they're glorified practice games with small donated prizes on the line. But there's no entry fees (PREs are specifically banned from charging them), no significant prizes, no official rankings (mocs) or any real support.
Wizards will never let anyone but themselves run real tournaments with entry fees and significant prizes on mtgo. They're providing the shop, they won't let other stores come in and run tournaments on their floor space - I've heard that mtgotraders and others like SCG have been explicitly prohibited from running proper tournaments in MTGO for this reason. WoTC has a monopoly on them and is never going to give it up.
Also, the beta client has a rudimentary personal stats tracking feature implemented which tracks w/l record in various types of events (customisable filters). It's a little broken at the moment which is probably why they haven't advertised it, but I'm sure they intend this to be a part of the v4 launch features.
the activity promo is playing in an event with > 2 people, the store promo is $20 for the regular and $40 for the foil. I believe you get both the foil and regular store promo if you spend $40 but not 100% sure, and also don't know what happens if you spend multiples of that.
As my subject title says, I was another one of those "vehemently against the v4 RAWR GO AWAY!" type players at one point. I logged onto it a few weeks back, and...was pleasantly surprised by the smoother interactions I had experienced from the last time several months ago (I too was part of the closed Beta, and I couldn't even play on the closed beta due to "insta-freeze"). I won't say that it's perfect and ready for deployment here, because quite frankly it isn't, and still has a lot of room to improve. But it's certainly not as bad as others would make it out to be. However that said I can't play games on it myself at the moment because my laptop just doesn't meet the minimum specs (only have a 1.0 processor) so I can navigate and watch things, but playing is out of the question.
Anyway. I just wanted to say the v4 is just a step in the right direction and with many more of the right steps, it will be a fantastic platform to play our favourite game on. But this will take time.
I have to agree with your assessment on the beta client 100% Marcos. In fact I was so annoyed by it, I simply stopped using it. The new client looked very cheesy to me, especially while playing games. I too was very annoyed at the targeting system and struggled to figure out what was targeting what. I attempted to play in a PRE and lost my opening game on time because the client just kept crashing. I have no idea why we are changing the time limits to 25 min and 40 min from 30 min. Is there some reason why we can't just have a user specified time instead of being confined to pre-set limits?
Overall I found the beta client to be very unplayable and quit using it after a couple weeks.
That being said let us remember that the current client was also extremely unplayable when it was first released. So much so that I quit playing MTGO for about 4 months when it was initially released because of how annoyed I was that it kept crashing on me. So in comparison the new beta does seem to be much further along in its development at this stage.
I personally wish they wouldn't have changed so much in the new client. I think a smarter approach would have been to make it a better version of the existing client and then slowly migrate new functionality into it. Either that or found a way to start morphing the existing client to slowly be more like the new beta. That way players would have a chance to adjust to the new way in which things work.
I also use the stats button, a lot! I find it an invaluable tool when deck building.
And lastly I can't help but believe that Wizards is simply trying to accomplish TOO much with its client. The client should be used only for the following features:
1) building your collection
2) deck building
3) playing games
All tournaments, leagues, etc should be run using a separate website such as Gatherling.com or pdcmagic.com. This would make the tournament/league functionality separate from the client and would allow for ever more creative event structures. As well websites like Gatherling.com and pdcmagic.com allow players to play in innovative new formats that can be quickly and easily created using Gatherling's format editor. Gatherling currently ranks players by their performance in each format, allows players to track their achievenments and the success of their decks. Maintains both a record for the player and the deck list. Has full meta breakdown of each event. And the list goes on.
You could easily enough create the ability for the client and gatherling to pass the needed information back and forth so that players don't need to manually enter data into gatherling. I think this approach to augment play on the MTGO client with a website has a lot of benefits and should be explored.
I like that even Spark Fiend doesn't manage to properly satirize these texts, because it still feels neatly templated and rational enough: you get the point of what that text is saying. A better parody would be something like that:
"You can play Cardname by casting it from your hand. When you do, opponent discards a card from play. Put that card into the graveyard pile. Put Cardname into play under your control as though it were just cast. Put a Whatever counter on Cardname: Cardname gets -3/+2 permanently and opponent chooses a creature among the ones he or she owns and put a +3/-2 counter on it permanently as well. Mark those counters with counters".
Nice article...brings me back to my paper days. Some of the wording was so convoluted back then... I love homelands, collected the whole set. Not a single good card though (Aside from Autumn Willow and Baron Sengir at the time).
I wish I had saved my old Inquest magazines. Particularly, I would like to have framed this one page from their original Homelands review, in which they called Marjhan a really powerful new card.
It's a simple opportunity cost argument. "what else could you be doing with your time"? It's not just about doing something else which makes you money, it's about all of the other possible things you could be doing with your time.
I don't bother myself with specs becuase I don't find it a fun use of my time. It's not an activity I find in and of itself enjoyable, so the only reason I'd do it is if I wanted to make money out of it. If I wanted to do something that wasn't enjoyable but made me money, I could do just about any other type of paid employment - eg. casual data entry, which you do at home and pays by the character, or speccing on the actual stock exchange - and make more money. So speculating like this wouldn't be a good use of my time.
Of course, if I found the activity enjoyable of itself it'd be a different story. But as it is, I keep an eye on trends to try to maximise my collection-buying dollar but don't personally go in for card speculation.
I have seen an almost similar eggs deck that you have made and went 4-0 in FNS I actually copied it but only make 3-1 but mine was missing the snapcaster mage because i really don't have that much money to invest in it.I hope you can pilot your brews in some PRE or even scheduled events and show how it goes in actual competition. Tnx for the new deck ideas and article.
Aetherling is just superior. Being able to save itself from removal is quite the ability. Also unblockable and pumpable means a short game if it does stick.
Mizzit is sweet if you untap with him, trouble is he dies to almost every single removal spell in the format. dreadbore, verdict, sphere, charm - i'd so much rather wait another turn and play an aetherling than spend 6 on him.
I use Niv Mizzet in my Grixis list, he's almost like a Sphinx's Rev with the card advantage he gains. Although I can see why 4 power is better in case of Charm.
Interesting. It's pretty funny that 4 power is preferable to 5 in that case due to selesnya charm. GW is dying down a bit so I probably wouldn't recommend it, but it is a pretty nice one to keep in mind.
The land in the eggs deck seems highly suspect as well as the claim it went smoothly at 19. You have 7 green sources and 10 of the 13 cantraips are green and the 2 mana fixers as also green. With an almost 40% chance to not have green in the opener it just seems very off. Reaching the 6 or even 4 mana for the flayer or faith's reward also seems very inconsistant.
Another possible finisher if really wanted is Hypersonic Dragon. I used it in the RTR only meta because GW had no real answer to it. Obviously Aetherling is better almost everytime but Grixis does have one other finisher that can be handy.
Interesting lab. I am surprised you didn't add in Deadbridge Chant which seems like a natural fit if a little pricy. The end game is phenomenal if it hits though.
The two finalists both steamrolled my poor beasts on the way to the prize. I guess I feel less bad knowing they did it to everyone else too. Though I did have a close match with the slivers deck and game 3 could have gone either way with better land draws. Grats to both for doing so well as new PREers.
That's never going to happen. wizards tolerates and sometimes gives minor support to PREs becuase they're not actual tournaments, they're glorified practice games with small donated prizes on the line. But there's no entry fees (PREs are specifically banned from charging them), no significant prizes, no official rankings (mocs) or any real support.
Wizards will never let anyone but themselves run real tournaments with entry fees and significant prizes on mtgo. They're providing the shop, they won't let other stores come in and run tournaments on their floor space - I've heard that mtgotraders and others like SCG have been explicitly prohibited from running proper tournaments in MTGO for this reason. WoTC has a monopoly on them and is never going to give it up.
Also, the beta client has a rudimentary personal stats tracking feature implemented which tracks w/l record in various types of events (customisable filters). It's a little broken at the moment which is probably why they haven't advertised it, but I'm sure they intend this to be a part of the v4 launch features.
the activity promo is playing in an event with > 2 people, the store promo is $20 for the regular and $40 for the foil. I believe you get both the foil and regular store promo if you spend $40 but not 100% sure, and also don't know what happens if you spend multiples of that.
originally I was simply trying to pre-sideboard against aggro, where disfigure is easier on the manabase.
As my subject title says, I was another one of those "vehemently against the v4 RAWR GO AWAY!" type players at one point. I logged onto it a few weeks back, and...was pleasantly surprised by the smoother interactions I had experienced from the last time several months ago (I too was part of the closed Beta, and I couldn't even play on the closed beta due to "insta-freeze"). I won't say that it's perfect and ready for deployment here, because quite frankly it isn't, and still has a lot of room to improve. But it's certainly not as bad as others would make it out to be. However that said I can't play games on it myself at the moment because my laptop just doesn't meet the minimum specs (only have a 1.0 processor) so I can navigate and watch things, but playing is out of the question.
Anyway. I just wanted to say the v4 is just a step in the right direction and with many more of the right steps, it will be a fantastic platform to play our favourite game on. But this will take time.
How do you get the activity and store activity promos? Just log in and buy something? Or is "activity" mean a tournament?
I have to agree with your assessment on the beta client 100% Marcos. In fact I was so annoyed by it, I simply stopped using it. The new client looked very cheesy to me, especially while playing games. I too was very annoyed at the targeting system and struggled to figure out what was targeting what. I attempted to play in a PRE and lost my opening game on time because the client just kept crashing. I have no idea why we are changing the time limits to 25 min and 40 min from 30 min. Is there some reason why we can't just have a user specified time instead of being confined to pre-set limits?
Overall I found the beta client to be very unplayable and quit using it after a couple weeks.
That being said let us remember that the current client was also extremely unplayable when it was first released. So much so that I quit playing MTGO for about 4 months when it was initially released because of how annoyed I was that it kept crashing on me. So in comparison the new beta does seem to be much further along in its development at this stage.
I personally wish they wouldn't have changed so much in the new client. I think a smarter approach would have been to make it a better version of the existing client and then slowly migrate new functionality into it. Either that or found a way to start morphing the existing client to slowly be more like the new beta. That way players would have a chance to adjust to the new way in which things work.
I also use the stats button, a lot! I find it an invaluable tool when deck building.
And lastly I can't help but believe that Wizards is simply trying to accomplish TOO much with its client. The client should be used only for the following features:
1) building your collection
2) deck building
3) playing games
All tournaments, leagues, etc should be run using a separate website such as Gatherling.com or pdcmagic.com. This would make the tournament/league functionality separate from the client and would allow for ever more creative event structures. As well websites like Gatherling.com and pdcmagic.com allow players to play in innovative new formats that can be quickly and easily created using Gatherling's format editor. Gatherling currently ranks players by their performance in each format, allows players to track their achievenments and the success of their decks. Maintains both a record for the player and the deck list. Has full meta breakdown of each event. And the list goes on.
You could easily enough create the ability for the client and gatherling to pass the needed information back and forth so that players don't need to manually enter data into gatherling. I think this approach to augment play on the MTGO client with a website has a lot of benefits and should be explored.
I like that even Spark Fiend doesn't manage to properly satirize these texts, because it still feels neatly templated and rational enough: you get the point of what that text is saying. A better parody would be something like that:
"You can play Cardname by casting it from your hand. When you do, opponent discards a card from play. Put that card into the graveyard pile. Put Cardname into play under your control as though it were just cast. Put a Whatever counter on Cardname: Cardname gets -3/+2 permanently and opponent chooses a creature among the ones he or she owns and put a +3/-2 counter on it permanently as well. Mark those counters with counters".
And Merchant Scroll!
And Sengir Bats! (The scourge of Scryb Sprites everywhere.)
and Serrated Arrows...
Nice article...brings me back to my paper days. Some of the wording was so convoluted back then... I love homelands, collected the whole set. Not a single good card though (Aside from Autumn Willow and Baron Sengir at the time).
Having never played it I can't say for sure but Path to Exile seems like the strongest removal card in the format. Grats on 2nd place.
I wish I had saved my old Inquest magazines. Particularly, I would like to have framed this one page from their original Homelands review, in which they called Marjhan a really powerful new card.
Thanks I also host MPDC on Mondays for those who like Standard pauper
It's a simple opportunity cost argument. "what else could you be doing with your time"? It's not just about doing something else which makes you money, it's about all of the other possible things you could be doing with your time.
I don't bother myself with specs becuase I don't find it a fun use of my time. It's not an activity I find in and of itself enjoyable, so the only reason I'd do it is if I wanted to make money out of it. If I wanted to do something that wasn't enjoyable but made me money, I could do just about any other type of paid employment - eg. casual data entry, which you do at home and pays by the character, or speccing on the actual stock exchange - and make more money. So speculating like this wouldn't be a good use of my time.
Of course, if I found the activity enjoyable of itself it'd be a different story. But as it is, I keep an eye on trends to try to maximise my collection-buying dollar but don't personally go in for card speculation.
Here is the link to the MTGSalvation thread:
forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=521008
I have seen an almost similar eggs deck that you have made and went 4-0 in FNS I actually copied it but only make 3-1 but mine was missing the snapcaster mage because i really don't have that much money to invest in it.I hope you can pilot your brews in some PRE or even scheduled events and show how it goes in actual competition. Tnx for the new deck ideas and article.
Aetherling is just superior. Being able to save itself from removal is quite the ability. Also unblockable and pumpable means a short game if it does stick.
Mizzit is sweet if you untap with him, trouble is he dies to almost every single removal spell in the format. dreadbore, verdict, sphere, charm - i'd so much rather wait another turn and play an aetherling than spend 6 on him.
I use Niv Mizzet in my Grixis list, he's almost like a Sphinx's Rev with the card advantage he gains. Although I can see why 4 power is better in case of Charm.
You would think so, but from testing it though it did pretty well. The deck doesn't mulligan very well though.
Interesting. It's pretty funny that 4 power is preferable to 5 in that case due to selesnya charm. GW is dying down a bit so I probably wouldn't recommend it, but it is a pretty nice one to keep in mind.
The land in the eggs deck seems highly suspect as well as the claim it went smoothly at 19. You have 7 green sources and 10 of the 13 cantraips are green and the 2 mana fixers as also green. With an almost 40% chance to not have green in the opener it just seems very off. Reaching the 6 or even 4 mana for the flayer or faith's reward also seems very inconsistant.
Another possible finisher if really wanted is Hypersonic Dragon. I used it in the RTR only meta because GW had no real answer to it. Obviously Aetherling is better almost everytime but Grixis does have one other finisher that can be handy.