Yeah, there is no way Research is better than AK (even in the early game). Wraith is pretty interesting at common. There should be some Pauper decks that want him. He would have been solid in combo before the ban. MM seems like an interesting set for sure. I just don't see enough EV yet to justify people drafting it a lot online. Time will tell.
It wouldn't count as Mongoose unless you play more Mongeese than Shapeshifters. So if you had 12 Mongoose and 11 Shapeshifters, I think that's allowed.
And thanks for your opinion on the challenges.
Is that a picture of Meat Loaf in your avatar? If so, I never realized how much he kinda looked like Corey Feldman in the eyes/nose.
IF I am playing mongoose as an underdog tribe, can I run more than 8 changelings if I run all 12 mongoose? Otherwise, a deck I really like and would be interested in playing would be illegal because I run 4 taureen mauler, 4 chameleon Colossus, 2 changeling berserker and 2 changeling titan in addition to 12 mongoose.
its been a long time since I have been able to play in a tribal wars event, so feel free to take what I have to say with a grain of salt-
the idea of the deck challenges isn't to just get free stuff, it is about the creativity required to make it work. I would have never in my life thought of using bird as the creature type. I had R/G goblins (goblin king, scarwood goblins, goblins of the flarg and mons goblin raiders with hurricane and stone rain, but I forgot ice storm.), I had B/W knights (white knight, black knight, order of the ebon hand, order of lietbur and something from legends I forget, backed by swords and hymn to tourach), I even at one point looked into an orc deck.
Difficult is good. Restriction breeds creativity. Personally I always wanted to see you do a challenge with no non-creature cards other than lands. IT would definitely be a very tribal wars appropriate deck.
1. Kuma pointed out in email that MTG Goldfish is also a good site to check pricing trends. I've used it, and it is good at checking the price over a long period. What I like about Pete's articles is that it gives a snapshot of all the staples at once and lets me see which ones took a price tumble that I was waiting to purchase.
2. Kuma slightly modified the original rules to make the deckbuilding restriction a much more clean and absolute rule. I was initially trying to avoid wading into the quagmire of noncreature permanents transforming or being transformed into creatures, because there are so many variations of that in the game and I wasn't sure how to catch all of them if I tried. So I should clarify now that under the rules as Kuma printed them, which will be the rules in effect, the rule against non-flanking creatures prevents you from playing cards such as: Mishra's Factory, Jade Statue, Angel's Tomb, and either Gideon. Since we're "in for a penny, in for a pound" on this rule, you are ALSO prevented from playing Living Lands, Life /// Death, Kormus Bell, Animate Artifact, Tezzeret, and all other cards that have the ability to turn noncreature permanents into creatures. I'm sure everybody understands the spirit of the challenge, and I hope that additional clarification makes it clear.
3. I want to solicit some feedback about the Deckbuilding Challenges. Any response would be helpful.
First, I've had an idea about adding a small-ish bonus prize that could be obtained by accomplishing some Challenges in a particularly difficult way. For instance, maybe there's a challenge that will require 3 or 4 colors in the deck, and the prize is worth 3-4 tix, but if you do it with only Vivid lands and basics I'll throw in a bonus prize worth 1-2 tix. Or I have a challenge where you have to use at least 12 creatures from some category, but if you use 24 creatures from that category you get a bonus prize. Would that make it more interesting, or just make it too complex?
Secondly, do people think the challenges are currently too hard, too easy, or just right?
Third, what kind of challenges are the most interesting? Right now, I've done them built around a block twice (Kamigawa, and Old Fogey -- considering standalone expansions as a block), a particular card twice (Uril and Pox), and a mechanic once (flanking). I've had some ideas that aren't really practical when you have to run a twenty creature tribal base, that kind of prevents some of the wackier ideas from being used.
4. AJ, I think I caught myself in the deck tech when talking about Grey Ogre vs Hill Giant, but I'm constantly switching them up in my head and probably screwed it up in the live match commentary. I did have some bizarre affection for Roc of Kher Ridges at age 16 for some reason, goofy art and all. Shivan Dragons were hard to come by, which was likely part of it
Your article made me think that something has to be done about MM block cards : port & misdirection are way over-expansive ... both are good, playable and played cards, but they still are niche card at the moment and nothing regarding the game itself could justify their price.
Sure we're not blind, availably and supply/demand can explain that, but still ... 1 port = 3 tropical island ... really ?
Other possible honorable mention :
- Mijae Djinn : both flipping coin card & djinn, 6/3 for 3cmc wasnt a bad deal back in the day, and at the very least, a good defender although not flying
- Junun Efreet : a T1 dark ritual into 3/3 flying threat was also interesting sometime, and a good complement to T1 ritual/specter strategies, even if BB upkeep cost made it out of the range of real competitive playable card
It's all in the thread you link to, but mathematically the proper entry fee for the normal MMA drafts would be 4 tickets (25 total), not 9 tickets. Otherwise these queues are truly terrible value compared to the 64 player drafts, which at least allow a chance for a second draft and higher prizes, and have similar prizes on the bottom end.
It's so far off from reality and so unlikely to work, I wonder if it's a copy/paste error that they've been slow to correct.
The Songs of the Damned Pauper deck (albeit a very rare 3-1 in the Dailies) surely welcomes Street Wraith (as does Tortured Existence, as Blake pointed out)
I run Gatherling.com where most of the mentioned PRE's here are held. If you want a Euro-friendly PRE, I would suggest creating one. I would be happy to set you up in Gatherling.com and would explain to you how to get prize support etc for your event. Leave me an offline message on MTGO if you are interested.
The biggest reason why there aren't as many Euro-friendly PRE's is because there aren't as many Euro-players who are willing to host them.
I agree wholeheartedly. PRE's are a great way to build up a collection, as there is no entry fee, and still prizes. It's also a way to hone your deckbuilding skills, since it forces you to be creative with a limited set of cards usually.
I won quite a few limited mirage games on the back of Emberwilde Caliph. All you need are a lot of burn/removal (incinerates, X spells, splitting earth, fireblast, etc..) and a few man o'war or Undo to set the tempo. With a 4/4 flyer in an environment with hardly ANY good flyers, even one that hurts you, winning the race is easy. You do side him out when the opponent is also blue with Breezekeepers though. (He tramples over Tef's Drake, always a good chump block to see.)
On that note, Orcish Captain is *HUGE* when you have other orcs. You haven't been using him right. For one mana, you put that trash orc in the red zone outside its weight class. If not blocked... great! If you win, it's a trade... your junky guy took down something that might be a later problem. Also, if you have any effects to boost toughness, then the ability suddenly become extra damage, because you can afford to fail once. (Yeah, I played that FE Spirit Shield if I got this guy.) I killed so many Jungle Wurms with attacking Brassclaw Orcs, just because I had a captain, back in the day...
In a modern context, both cards are trash, but when everything else is also of similar power level, these cards were useful in dominating limited.
I don't even remember the difference between "banding" and "band with others" (or why they really felt it was necessary to have two different banding abilities). I guess it's because about 19 years have passed since the last time I had one of those abilities on the table.
On the other hand, I always found hilarious that the wording for the coin flips ask you to call heads or tails "while the coin is in the air". You can't toss the coin, cover it and ask the opponent! It has to be "in the air"! Preferably spinning in slow motion with an ominous sound effect playing in the background.
Now I expect for you to find the right occasion to talk about Chaos Orb and Falling Star, and the legend of people shredding the former into confetti to obliterate everything on the opponent's side.
I can't normally play during weekends. but that would suit the other Europeans quite well. What I am really looking for is office-hours GMT+1 PREs (and perhaps Euro evenings on weekdays as well). I realize that is a pretty dead time interval on MTGO so I can understand why there are no PRE's then. But if there were, I would do some videos on them for sure
Yeah, there is no way Research is better than AK (even in the early game). Wraith is pretty interesting at common. There should be some Pauper decks that want him. He would have been solid in combo before the ban. MM seems like an interesting set for sure. I just don't see enough EV yet to justify people drafting it a lot online. Time will tell.
It wouldn't count as Mongoose unless you play more Mongeese than Shapeshifters. So if you had 12 Mongoose and 11 Shapeshifters, I think that's allowed.
And thanks for your opinion on the challenges.
Is that a picture of Meat Loaf in your avatar? If so, I never realized how much he kinda looked like Corey Feldman in the eyes/nose.
IF I am playing mongoose as an underdog tribe, can I run more than 8 changelings if I run all 12 mongoose? Otherwise, a deck I really like and would be interested in playing would be illegal because I run 4 taureen mauler, 4 chameleon Colossus, 2 changeling berserker and 2 changeling titan in addition to 12 mongoose.
its been a long time since I have been able to play in a tribal wars event, so feel free to take what I have to say with a grain of salt-
the idea of the deck challenges isn't to just get free stuff, it is about the creativity required to make it work. I would have never in my life thought of using bird as the creature type. I had R/G goblins (goblin king, scarwood goblins, goblins of the flarg and mons goblin raiders with hurricane and stone rain, but I forgot ice storm.), I had B/W knights (white knight, black knight, order of the ebon hand, order of lietbur and something from legends I forget, backed by swords and hymn to tourach), I even at one point looked into an orc deck.
Difficult is good. Restriction breeds creativity. Personally I always wanted to see you do a challenge with no non-creature cards other than lands. IT would definitely be a very tribal wars appropriate deck.
A few extra notes for this week:
1. Kuma pointed out in email that MTG Goldfish is also a good site to check pricing trends. I've used it, and it is good at checking the price over a long period. What I like about Pete's articles is that it gives a snapshot of all the staples at once and lets me see which ones took a price tumble that I was waiting to purchase.
2. Kuma slightly modified the original rules to make the deckbuilding restriction a much more clean and absolute rule. I was initially trying to avoid wading into the quagmire of noncreature permanents transforming or being transformed into creatures, because there are so many variations of that in the game and I wasn't sure how to catch all of them if I tried. So I should clarify now that under the rules as Kuma printed them, which will be the rules in effect, the rule against non-flanking creatures prevents you from playing cards such as: Mishra's Factory, Jade Statue, Angel's Tomb, and either Gideon. Since we're "in for a penny, in for a pound" on this rule, you are ALSO prevented from playing Living Lands, Life /// Death, Kormus Bell, Animate Artifact, Tezzeret, and all other cards that have the ability to turn noncreature permanents into creatures. I'm sure everybody understands the spirit of the challenge, and I hope that additional clarification makes it clear.
3. I want to solicit some feedback about the Deckbuilding Challenges. Any response would be helpful.
First, I've had an idea about adding a small-ish bonus prize that could be obtained by accomplishing some Challenges in a particularly difficult way. For instance, maybe there's a challenge that will require 3 or 4 colors in the deck, and the prize is worth 3-4 tix, but if you do it with only Vivid lands and basics I'll throw in a bonus prize worth 1-2 tix. Or I have a challenge where you have to use at least 12 creatures from some category, but if you use 24 creatures from that category you get a bonus prize. Would that make it more interesting, or just make it too complex?
Secondly, do people think the challenges are currently too hard, too easy, or just right?
Third, what kind of challenges are the most interesting? Right now, I've done them built around a block twice (Kamigawa, and Old Fogey -- considering standalone expansions as a block), a particular card twice (Uril and Pox), and a mechanic once (flanking). I've had some ideas that aren't really practical when you have to run a twenty creature tribal base, that kind of prevents some of the wackier ideas from being used.
4. AJ, I think I caught myself in the deck tech when talking about Grey Ogre vs Hill Giant, but I'm constantly switching them up in my head and probably screwed it up in the live match commentary. I did have some bizarre affection for Roc of Kher Ridges at age 16 for some reason, goofy art and all. Shivan Dragons were hard to come by, which was likely part of it
That makes two on two that Rex mixes Hill Giant and Gray Ogre. Rex, you need to revisit your basic knowledge of historical red junk! :P
With Roc of Kher Ridges, I think you mean 'Hill Giant with flying' rather than Gray Ogre.
Perilous Research looks brilliant for when you have to chump block in sealed.
always a pleasure to read this series. Always.
Your article made me think that something has to be done about MM block cards : port & misdirection are way over-expansive ... both are good, playable and played cards, but they still are niche card at the moment and nothing regarding the game itself could justify their price.
Sure we're not blind, availably and supply/demand can explain that, but still ... 1 port = 3 tropical island ... really ?
I like your articles, ty for that.
Other possible honorable mention :
- Mijae Djinn : both flipping coin card & djinn, 6/3 for 3cmc wasnt a bad deal back in the day, and at the very least, a good defender although not flying
- Junun Efreet : a T1 dark ritual into 3/3 flying threat was also interesting sometime, and a good complement to T1 ritual/specter strategies, even if BB upkeep cost made it out of the range of real competitive playable card
It's all in the thread you link to, but mathematically the proper entry fee for the normal MMA drafts would be 4 tickets (25 total), not 9 tickets. Otherwise these queues are truly terrible value compared to the 64 player drafts, which at least allow a chance for a second draft and higher prizes, and have similar prizes on the bottom end.
It's so far off from reality and so unlikely to work, I wonder if it's a copy/paste error that they've been slow to correct.
The Songs of the Damned Pauper deck (albeit a very rare 3-1 in the Dailies) surely welcomes Street Wraith (as does Tortured Existence, as Blake pointed out)
Soon they will change the rules so that everyone starts with 5 lands in play :) No more mana screw!
It was our first, I had been watching some :D
I run Gatherling.com where most of the mentioned PRE's here are held. If you want a Euro-friendly PRE, I would suggest creating one. I would be happy to set you up in Gatherling.com and would explain to you how to get prize support etc for your event. Leave me an offline message on MTGO if you are interested.
The biggest reason why there aren't as many Euro-friendly PRE's is because there aren't as many Euro-players who are willing to host them.
Haha! I don't remember if this was our first game together, or our third. If it was the third, you should have known what was coming...
Monday pauper Deck Challenge is a Standard Pauper PRE at a Euro friendly time. Get the details in the Standard forum of PDCMagic.com.
I really should have played that game differently rather than trying to spread the damage out.
I agree wholeheartedly. PRE's are a great way to build up a collection, as there is no entry fee, and still prizes. It's also a way to hone your deckbuilding skills, since it forces you to be creative with a limited set of cards usually.
FYI - Frenetic Efreet was printed 3 years before the stack (and damage going on the stack) existed.
No love for the newbie Ral Zarek for the coin flipping mechanic?
Innnnteresting.
I won quite a few limited mirage games on the back of Emberwilde Caliph. All you need are a lot of burn/removal (incinerates, X spells, splitting earth, fireblast, etc..) and a few man o'war or Undo to set the tempo. With a 4/4 flyer in an environment with hardly ANY good flyers, even one that hurts you, winning the race is easy. You do side him out when the opponent is also blue with Breezekeepers though. (He tramples over Tef's Drake, always a good chump block to see.)
On that note, Orcish Captain is *HUGE* when you have other orcs. You haven't been using him right. For one mana, you put that trash orc in the red zone outside its weight class. If not blocked... great! If you win, it's a trade... your junky guy took down something that might be a later problem. Also, if you have any effects to boost toughness, then the ability suddenly become extra damage, because you can afford to fail once. (Yeah, I played that FE Spirit Shield if I got this guy.) I killed so many Jungle Wurms with attacking Brassclaw Orcs, just because I had a captain, back in the day...
In a modern context, both cards are trash, but when everything else is also of similar power level, these cards were useful in dominating limited.
I don't even remember the difference between "banding" and "band with others" (or why they really felt it was necessary to have two different banding abilities). I guess it's because about 19 years have passed since the last time I had one of those abilities on the table.
On the other hand, I always found hilarious that the wording for the coin flips ask you to call heads or tails "while the coin is in the air". You can't toss the coin, cover it and ask the opponent! It has to be "in the air"! Preferably spinning in slow motion with an ominous sound effect playing in the background.
Now I expect for you to find the right occasion to talk about Chaos Orb and Falling Star, and the legend of people shredding the former into confetti to obliterate everything on the opponent's side.
Here is a good suggestion for a Standard Pauper deck that we have been brewing: http://www.paupertothepeople.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=brew&action=d...
I can't normally play during weekends. but that would suit the other Europeans quite well. What I am really looking for is office-hours GMT+1 PREs (and perhaps Euro evenings on weekdays as well). I realize that is a pretty dead time interval on MTGO so I can understand why there are no PRE's then. But if there were, I would do some videos on them for sure