That tokens deck is really nice, and asonishingly cheap for what is a pretty competitive standard deck. Jubilation angel is a great addition, the main thing holding my tokens back previously was my reluctant to invest $40+ in the 4 drop slot (hero of bladehold), I think the angel is even better than the hero becuase it has an impact as soon as it hits the table and is a really nice addition to the deck.
As for the sideboard, memoricide looks pretty good against ratchet bomb which a huge percentage of decks will auto-sub in when they see tokens. Personally I've had an auto-sb plan of subbing in 2x stony silence and taking out the shrines in game 2 vs almost anything. Stony silence has great incidental value against a whole lot of cards (I've had more than one pod player just scoop after dropping this and blanking SoWAP is awesome) and taking the shrines out game 2 if you've revealed it game 1 will blank any artifact removal they've boarded in.
Not quite sure what the DoJ's are for - is there any aggro deck in the game which is going to be able to get around this token package, with sided in timely, backed up with TWELVE +1/+1 pump spells? I'd be tempted to use white sun's zenith to shore up the control matches even more (timely's don't do much for you there).
I also was excited about woldfire as well. It has become my hobby of making decks based around high cc mythic sorceries. Archangels light, Primal surge, and Worldfire will be no different. I dont plan on using AJ's tactics, though they are great ideas, i too like the excitement. Question of the week-the best 10th b-day was the supprise precon decks. WOTC hit a home run this time!
It seems it was based on how long your account has been active, I have 4 accounts and each are different. My oldest one has all 3, my newest one has only the alara pack, and inbetween is slivers.
It was suprising that the 3 decks were added. I have 3 accounts. Two of them got all 3 and one of my accounts only got the Slivers. I had not read that Wizards was going to give these decks away. Then I got a premium Alara pack added in the past 30 minutes.
Has anyone else noticed the premium deck in your mtgo account? I have a graveborn, slivers and the fire and lightning. These were added after todays, 20 June maintenance
Most of the videos I've seen on this format have been somewhere between bad and awful, yours at least sided closer to bad. The thing is, while I agreed with most of your picks, they were the really incredibly obvious picks, and the tougher picks seemed questionable. Most notably, P1P1, Stonewright is the best card in that pack by a million miles, and passing the Champion of Lambholt was insanely bad, you would take both of those every day of the week and twice on Sundays (given the context of what you had and what else was in those packs). Champion + Forcemage or Druid == WIN, and guess what, you had 4 of those. Overall, this draft was pretty much handed to you as you got a 4th pick Trusted Forcemage and a FIFTH PICK Druid's Familiar and FIFTH PICK Vanishment.
You congratulated yourselves in the videos for playing pretty well, but I would disagree. You made a couple of plays each match that were very questionable or just wrong. For example, at the end of match 3, you played Vanishment on the Gloomwidow, this was just wrong, you should have targeted the Wandering Wolf. You don't actually know that the last card in his hand isn't Peel from Reality, which you just lose to if you target anything but the wolf, and you have no reason whatsoever to target Gloomwidow and take the risk. You won because of the gifts you were given, not because you drafted or played particularly well. I'm not saying this to cut you down, but because you shouldn't draw the wrong conclusions from this experience.
"Which piece of the 10th Anniversary Celebration are you looking forward to?"
None of it. Sadly not qualified for the freebees and the drafts are typically beyond my reach.
Funny AJ I didn't even consider the religious connotations of that deck.
Eek. The deck you drafted turned out to be pretty good, but you totally misevaluated the Champion of Lambholt, and quite honestly it leads me to believe you haven't played much AVR limited. Champion is one of the top 10 cards in draft (even better in sealed) and is a first pick windmill slam bomb IMO. All in all, a good article, but still, that made me skeptical.
Thanks, this is great info! Some of these are cards that I've wanted to play but couldn't find the room, while others I just hadn't considered at all. A buddy of mine loves Envelop and I've seen it blow people out and rage quit. Good stuff. I'll see what i can do about giving these a shot.
I Forgot Blue. Like you I am not overly enamored with blue, and tend to not use it a ton, still I have a few cards to mention.
Kukemmsa Pirates- Not great, but to me they have a cool factor. Still stealing artifacts can be pretty handy if you can get them to connect.
Riptide Shapeshifter- Interesting way to cheat Eldrazi into play.
Envelop- In commander Sorceries just plain win games. Envelop stops sorceries, all at the bargain price of one blue. Nothing feels quite as good tapping that lone untapped island and stopping a giant Genesis Wave cold.
Infinite Reflection- It is a new card, but it can do some silly things. It is just fun.
Blinding Angel- Great little way to shut down an aggressive opponent, and force them to have an answer her if they ever want to attack again.
Puresteel Paladin- I guess you haven't really done a white equipment deck, but this guy is amazing in one.
Soltari Visionary- Good answer and prevention of enchants, and shadow also makes him especially nice in the white equipment decks.
Goblin Welder- he isn't amazing in EDH but he can provide some value in grabbing back power artifacts you lost, or forcing an opponent to toss out their good artifact for the armilary sphere they cracked earlier etc.
Goblin Sharpshooter- Maybe it is just me but a sharpshooter equipped with a basilisk collar puts a big grin on my face.
Imperial Recruiter- I see you have used him once, but that is just not enough. Almost any deck running any red should be running this guy. The tutor ability attached to him rocks on toast.
War Elemental- Ok I admit, I haven't found this to be that great, but I still love the card. He can get huge, and is very interesting in the right aggressive deck.
Dawn Charm- The ultimate versatility instant. All three modes on this card are good and all three have saved my bacon. I love this card.
Acidic Soil- Very few cards can pump out this much damage for such a low casting cost. If you are trying to be aggressive this card is great. It has been the finisher on some of my most epic Commander wins.
Heat Shimmer- This might be my all time favorite commander card. I am never unhappy to see this in my hand. It can be super powerful and super versatile. Copy an opponent early drop for incremental value, copy a Titan for Huge value, copy that big guy to give you the one more attacker you need to finish an opponent off, copy an enemy commander to kill them. This card can do so much.
Aura of Silence- I am a bit surprised you haven't used this, it seems a staple to me. Keeps a lid on all artifact and enchants, and if a problem one does appear, bam you kill it. Super handy.
Nevermore- There will always be that guy that brings the super nasty commander. This can shut them down, or at least make for a pretty good speed bump. It can be especially nasty in a 1v1 duel.
Reconnaissance- We have discussed this one before, but it is amazing. Lets you attack with impunity, and then stand everybody back up with pseudo vigilance.
Aether Flash- Not every deck wants this, but if you can make it work Aether flash can be a house. It will affect most decks pretty heavily, and shut some right down.
Repercussions- IMO reds most interesting "I win" card. It can finish people from nowhere, but I imagine not everybody is going to like it.
Arena of Ancients- If your commander doesn't need to untap to do it's thing this card is great. A must answer card for most decks.
Torpor Orb- IMO the is the ultimate hoser in Commander. So many decks lean very heavily on ETB critters to be effective. If you have a deck that doesn't then playing this card can put you in the drivers seat. Also it is tough to get rid of because so many people are counting on ETBs to be the answers for them. It can be tricky to use, but can pay off in spades.
Mask of Memory- Last but not least, the most criminally underplayed card in commander (IMO). I have mentioned it before, and I am sure I will mention it again. MoM provides amazing card advantage. Draw 2 discard the worst card in your hand? Sounds good to me. It cost very little mana to boot. Any deck planing to turn dudes sideways should at least consider the card, red and white decks especially.
That was such a great article! I plan to read it again. I have been playing with angels alot lately because of AVR. I read your big creature articles too but I like this one more because it is relevant and a source for deckbuilding. I hope that I can look forward to other similar stuff in the future. Two things; In your big baddie writes you mentioned multiplayer more, not just for EDH evaluation and I would like to have seen that here. Also about Bruna being hard to do a tribal aura deck, don't forget about "Call to the kindred"
Absolutely, but you pretty much need all of them to hit the 5-creature par in that deck. I'm not saying she's good value, but she's a fun little corner case for obscure off-colour deck fans. :)
looks like ya get an extra one anyway
That tokens deck is really nice, and asonishingly cheap for what is a pretty competitive standard deck. Jubilation angel is a great addition, the main thing holding my tokens back previously was my reluctant to invest $40+ in the 4 drop slot (hero of bladehold), I think the angel is even better than the hero becuase it has an impact as soon as it hits the table and is a really nice addition to the deck.
As for the sideboard, memoricide looks pretty good against ratchet bomb which a huge percentage of decks will auto-sub in when they see tokens. Personally I've had an auto-sb plan of subbing in 2x stony silence and taking out the shrines in game 2 vs almost anything. Stony silence has great incidental value against a whole lot of cards (I've had more than one pod player just scoop after dropping this and blanking SoWAP is awesome) and taking the shrines out game 2 if you've revealed it game 1 will blank any artifact removal they've boarded in.
Not quite sure what the DoJ's are for - is there any aggro deck in the game which is going to be able to get around this token package, with sided in timely, backed up with TWELVE +1/+1 pump spells? I'd be tempted to use white sun's zenith to shore up the control matches even more (timely's don't do much for you there).
And now I feel silly (But happy). :) I should have known the Wizos had something up their sleeves.
As far as responding to FFTR, its the only pod cast I listen to consistently. <3 you guys.
Well all this talk of PDS makes me pretty excited to log in. Stupid errands.
Just figured I'd leave a little announcement for anyone that sees it.
I'm working on a dual article focusing on IPA Draft and AVR Sealed for next week, so I hope you guys enjoy it.
I also was excited about woldfire as well. It has become my hobby of making decks based around high cc mythic sorceries. Archangels light, Primal surge, and Worldfire will be no different. I dont plan on using AJ's tactics, though they are great ideas, i too like the excitement. Question of the week-the best 10th b-day was the supprise precon decks. WOTC hit a home run this time!
It seems it was based on how long your account has been active, I have 4 accounts and each are different. My oldest one has all 3, my newest one has only the alara pack, and inbetween is slivers.
Sell your Entombs? With a flood of Graveborn decks, that could kill the value of Entomb online in the next week or so.
It was suprising that the 3 decks were added. I have 3 accounts. Two of them got all 3 and one of my accounts only got the Slivers. I had not read that Wizards was going to give these decks away. Then I got a premium Alara pack added in the past 30 minutes.
I have Slivers.
Has anyone else noticed the premium deck in your mtgo account? I have a graveborn, slivers and the fire and lightning. These were added after todays, 20 June maintenance
I appreciate your honesty and consistent response to our work. Thanks Paul!
Most of the videos I've seen on this format have been somewhere between bad and awful, yours at least sided closer to bad. The thing is, while I agreed with most of your picks, they were the really incredibly obvious picks, and the tougher picks seemed questionable. Most notably, P1P1, Stonewright is the best card in that pack by a million miles, and passing the Champion of Lambholt was insanely bad, you would take both of those every day of the week and twice on Sundays (given the context of what you had and what else was in those packs). Champion + Forcemage or Druid == WIN, and guess what, you had 4 of those. Overall, this draft was pretty much handed to you as you got a 4th pick Trusted Forcemage and a FIFTH PICK Druid's Familiar and FIFTH PICK Vanishment.
You congratulated yourselves in the videos for playing pretty well, but I would disagree. You made a couple of plays each match that were very questionable or just wrong. For example, at the end of match 3, you played Vanishment on the Gloomwidow, this was just wrong, you should have targeted the Wandering Wolf. You don't actually know that the last card in his hand isn't Peel from Reality, which you just lose to if you target anything but the wolf, and you have no reason whatsoever to target Gloomwidow and take the risk. You won because of the gifts you were given, not because you drafted or played particularly well. I'm not saying this to cut you down, but because you shouldn't draw the wrong conclusions from this experience.
"Which piece of the 10th Anniversary Celebration are you looking forward to?"
None of it. Sadly not qualified for the freebees and the drafts are typically beyond my reach.
Funny AJ I didn't even consider the religious connotations of that deck.
Spoiled by classic lol.
Nice article although I am a bit sad to see you writing about things that don't relate in some way to Tinkering for Blightsteel.
I can't wait to be there!!
Eek. The deck you drafted turned out to be pretty good, but you totally misevaluated the Champion of Lambholt, and quite honestly it leads me to believe you haven't played much AVR limited. Champion is one of the top 10 cards in draft (even better in sealed) and is a first pick windmill slam bomb IMO. All in all, a good article, but still, that made me skeptical.
Thanks, this is great info! Some of these are cards that I've wanted to play but couldn't find the room, while others I just hadn't considered at all. A buddy of mine loves Envelop and I've seen it blow people out and rage quit. Good stuff. I'll see what i can do about giving these a shot.
The Monthly report is sent by the email set in your account and gives you your currently lifetime mopr rewards.
I Forgot Blue. Like you I am not overly enamored with blue, and tend to not use it a ton, still I have a few cards to mention.
Kukemmsa Pirates- Not great, but to me they have a cool factor. Still stealing artifacts can be pretty handy if you can get them to connect.
Riptide Shapeshifter- Interesting way to cheat Eldrazi into play.
Envelop- In commander Sorceries just plain win games. Envelop stops sorceries, all at the bargain price of one blue. Nothing feels quite as good tapping that lone untapped island and stopping a giant Genesis Wave cold.
Infinite Reflection- It is a new card, but it can do some silly things. It is just fun.
Ok I can point out a few.
Blinding Angel- Great little way to shut down an aggressive opponent, and force them to have an answer her if they ever want to attack again.
Puresteel Paladin- I guess you haven't really done a white equipment deck, but this guy is amazing in one.
Soltari Visionary- Good answer and prevention of enchants, and shadow also makes him especially nice in the white equipment decks.
Goblin Welder- he isn't amazing in EDH but he can provide some value in grabbing back power artifacts you lost, or forcing an opponent to toss out their good artifact for the armilary sphere they cracked earlier etc.
Goblin Sharpshooter- Maybe it is just me but a sharpshooter equipped with a basilisk collar puts a big grin on my face.
Imperial Recruiter- I see you have used him once, but that is just not enough. Almost any deck running any red should be running this guy. The tutor ability attached to him rocks on toast.
War Elemental- Ok I admit, I haven't found this to be that great, but I still love the card. He can get huge, and is very interesting in the right aggressive deck.
Dawn Charm- The ultimate versatility instant. All three modes on this card are good and all three have saved my bacon. I love this card.
Acidic Soil- Very few cards can pump out this much damage for such a low casting cost. If you are trying to be aggressive this card is great. It has been the finisher on some of my most epic Commander wins.
Heat Shimmer- This might be my all time favorite commander card. I am never unhappy to see this in my hand. It can be super powerful and super versatile. Copy an opponent early drop for incremental value, copy a Titan for Huge value, copy that big guy to give you the one more attacker you need to finish an opponent off, copy an enemy commander to kill them. This card can do so much.
Aura of Silence- I am a bit surprised you haven't used this, it seems a staple to me. Keeps a lid on all artifact and enchants, and if a problem one does appear, bam you kill it. Super handy.
Nevermore- There will always be that guy that brings the super nasty commander. This can shut them down, or at least make for a pretty good speed bump. It can be especially nasty in a 1v1 duel.
Reconnaissance- We have discussed this one before, but it is amazing. Lets you attack with impunity, and then stand everybody back up with pseudo vigilance.
Aether Flash- Not every deck wants this, but if you can make it work Aether flash can be a house. It will affect most decks pretty heavily, and shut some right down.
Repercussions- IMO reds most interesting "I win" card. It can finish people from nowhere, but I imagine not everybody is going to like it.
Arena of Ancients- If your commander doesn't need to untap to do it's thing this card is great. A must answer card for most decks.
Torpor Orb- IMO the is the ultimate hoser in Commander. So many decks lean very heavily on ETB critters to be effective. If you have a deck that doesn't then playing this card can put you in the drivers seat. Also it is tough to get rid of because so many people are counting on ETBs to be the answers for them. It can be tricky to use, but can pay off in spades.
Mask of Memory- Last but not least, the most criminally underplayed card in commander (IMO). I have mentioned it before, and I am sure I will mention it again. MoM provides amazing card advantage. Draw 2 discard the worst card in your hand? Sounds good to me. It cost very little mana to boot. Any deck planing to turn dudes sideways should at least consider the card, red and white decks especially.
Hi all.
It is always fun to read you, Pete. Congrats.
One question on the other hand, where we could see our life Player Rewards Points? Thx.
That was such a great article! I plan to read it again. I have been playing with angels alot lately because of AVR. I read your big creature articles too but I like this one more because it is relevant and a source for deckbuilding. I hope that I can look forward to other similar stuff in the future. Two things; In your big baddie writes you mentioned multiplayer more, not just for EDH evaluation and I would like to have seen that here. Also about Bruna being hard to do a tribal aura deck, don't forget about "Call to the kindred"
Absolutely, but you pretty much need all of them to hit the 5-creature par in that deck. I'm not saying she's good value, but she's a fun little corner case for obscure off-colour deck fans. :)