Looks like Gifts is actually down for the week. Also, is there any chance of getting % changes from last week alongside the $ changes? A $0.40 change is somewhat meaningless on, say, Force of Will, but quite a lot on something like Echoing Truth.
Strip Mine has already been printed in From the Vault Exiled, so I doubt it would get the FTV treatment again. Still this new FTV has the potential to be quite the goldmine. I doubt I will ever be able to get one in paper, but I think there will be 99% chance of me getting it on mtgo. (crosses fingers for wasteland)
I want to echo your coments about the negativity in the forums. My predecessor at State of the Program was a staple in the forums. He often reported on interesting threads and discussions. I wanted to continue that, but the forums are such an acidic and unpleasant place I just don't visit very often, and have no interest in contributing.
The people still hanging out in the forum regularly talk about how the forums are dying, and how to save them. They should implement one simple rule - any caustic, negative comments in reaction to a post or message should be banged out in an email, and sent only to fellow trolls. Fellow trolls are the only one who will appreciate them, anyway. Any comments actually posted in the forums should be at least civil, if helpful is too much to ask.
Old saying: if you can't say something nice, STFU. If people want to save the forums, that's how it can be done.
Was hoping you'd point out the MOCS debacle. It filled and suckers like me couldn't get in to the tournament despite working long and hard to get to the 15 points required. As a result, a regular player and spender like me is left pissed off. Not good business on WotC's part. And I wouldn't even have minded not getting into the MOCS if I got an "opt out" package, but of course they removed those packs as well.
Very sad to see trip dka go it was my best limited format to date, I played 20 drafts and won 13 of them, scrubbed 2, 2nded 4 times and lost round 2 once. I forced red green for 17 of them, one of my scrubs was where I didn't the other the other guy got the better of me with another red green deck that worked out better.
Wild hunger is so stupidly good in the format, removal isn't even great at all and a lot of people didn't get that, wild hunger + fling won me so many games from a bad position it isn't even funny. The pick order was: red/green/splashable bombs, wild hunger, the red green aggro staples at 1-3cc, fling, removal,, other tricks and dudes... It was way too easy to exploit the fact that the pros hardly made any instructional videos for people that can't evaluate formats themselves.
I love how Modern is shaping up. The strong decks are still easily disrupted. I don't know where the Mox Opal or Plating ban rumors are coming from, but the circles I run in are whispering of Past in Flames getting the ax.
I could go either way here but I do hate Storm for its lack of interactivity. I also think it is necessary since it is the only "real" combo deck that can race Zoo and Burn decks , which beat your Tron's and its ilk.
Nice round up.I love the amount of work you have done gathering data. Definitely my favorite MTGO PRE Pimp.
Sigh. I haven't opened up a single Foiled Huntmaster or Foil Sorin, and I have only opened 1 of each. Like I have won a lot, but I keep opening up Geralf's Mindcrusher. Literally every 3x DKA draft I expected to open a Geralf's Mindcrusher. I have 12 of them. Anyone want 10 for $0.50? Haha.
The new 4 pack sealed with ISD/DKA is fun though. It is much better than draft since DKA is just a much more fun set.
Ah good ol' mono red. It is nice to see you playing around with it. I have also tried and failed to put together a Maraxus deck that works. He is so cool, and I want to run him, but being limited to red cards really restricts his generalship. I certainly can't blame you for moving into Godo, he is just plain solid.
I have played enough red commander that I have played a fair amount with almost every card in your list. One thing that I do want to try now is Kuldoltha Phoenix. My main mono red deck runs enough artifacts, that it would probably be a pretty solid addition.
You are right about Balefire Dragon, he is a total beating. He really is one of the cooler dragons in awhile. That 1 tix+ price is a recent development too. When ISD was new you could get them for as low as .25 tix.
I love seeing the Vulshock Battlemaster in there. That is a fun card, and can hit like a ton a ton of bricks if the board is good.
My main suggestion, and I think I have said it before, is Mask of Memory. The card is dirt cheap, has tiny mana costs, and can provide incredible card advantage. I still can't believe I have never seen anybody but me running it. For me it is practically an auto include in any non blue deck that is looking to get into the red zone.
My last suggestion is give Heat Shimmer a whirl. It is just a personal favorite of mine. I may not seem all that special, but I love the card to pieces. It has saved my butt, or won me games, or provided huge swings more times than I can remember. I am never unhappy to draw it, and I just can't seem to cut it from my decks. I just wish red had some more cards that were similar.
Consider me a Jack@ss all you want sir. I standby the fact that content on this site is not as good as it could be.
I contribute to this site and I am sure there are typo's in my work too. We all should be looking to improve and take pride in the work we publish here. I spend many hours researching and writing this classic review - is it perfect - no. Am I open to critism - yes. Did I set the bar for review articles on the format - id like to think so.
I also like 3xDKA - my track record shows I'm not very good at it, but because it was so limited I went into it a lot more than other queues, especially elimination ones (which I loose the first round more than 50% of the time). Also got really bored of ISD, and only ever seemed to get worse and worse at it, so DKA-ISD-ISD isn't very attractive to me (especially to try and build up the DKA collection).
I managed to pick up 3 Huntmasters, one of them foil but not a single Sorin. Go figure :)
My last draft was heavy green with an Ooze (he's so awesome that guy!) and 2 Strangleroot Geists... I might have won the final round if I didn't disconnect. I've played this format quite a bit but still get confused on what does and doesn't work - when the picks seem great and deck very solid I'm bound to loose, if I'm totally unsure then I win.
I tried Markov Blademaster in the deck at first, but it just wasn't as good without the Swords. So I took it out for Cyclops Gladiator. Don't think there is anything else from Dark Ascension that would have fit in here. But Balefire Dragon was a beast!
I would have picked up a few gather the townsfolk at times over some of the other picks, loyal cathar and drogskul captain i think. Also dont really like the red splash.
Just to let you know in match 2 your opponent had 4 white open and you had the skirsdag flayer, you still attack with him because hollowhenge is not a may ability, even if he plays the card as a trick he must remove your flayer from combat therefore saving him if he has it or not. Small tidbit but every little bit helps.
Always a good read. I also liked reading a game report with some of the newer cards. It sounds like all the players were trying things from the new sets.
I always like your draft videos, and 3XDKA. I'm sad it's gone. I don't know why they don't just run it longer. Good job on the Sorin, I managed to pull 2 but they never hit the board, because i tryed to splash. Which makes me want to agree with other guy on the red splash thing he said. Splashing in draft is so frusterating, not a fan. Well i hope you post some good drafts on the next set, until next time!
Hehe I do that. Been playing for 33 years+ and sometimes all the practice I get is playing during a commercial in front of the pc or in the midst of a show I am not totally engrossed in. But then I tend to lose myself in the music when I get started. My difficulty with videos is that they are not written which is my preferred medium for learning. As for entertainment I find m:tg to be less fun to watch than to play.
I am glad you posted your thoughts. I don't think Mikey should be discouraged. It takes some amount of Ego and courage to stand up and post stuff that you know may get knocked. It is a good thing to hear from those who love what is being done.
-If you can't take criticism, don't post anything on the web. Once you've put something out there for the world to see you have given people, including trolls, a license to give their opinion. I see people on here get all butt-hurt because people flamed them or some other writer, but really it just goes with the territory.
-I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a writer to proofread their stuff before posting. Am I a "grammar nazi"? No, but at the same time I expect a so-called writer to care enough to put out a polished product.
-As for decklists, I want a decklist regardless of whether or not there is a video. I've commented on this before to other writers and they always say, "The decklist is in the video." That's all fine, well, and good but it is not the same thing. I agree with apaulogy on this one: "People want them. It also helps promote sales for the site. Win/Win" If I see a decklist I like, I can click on the link and the site can make a sale. How is that a bad thing?
Enough. Leave hammer alone. He was merely trying to help, although not very constructively at first. I love Mikey, but more than enough of you are nerd raging for no reason. You can't tell me you have never trolled. Live and let live. This lynch mob mentality has to go.
Looks like Gifts is actually down for the week. Also, is there any chance of getting % changes from last week alongside the $ changes? A $0.40 change is somewhat meaningless on, say, Force of Will, but quite a lot on something like Echoing Truth.
Thanks appreciate this info. Yes they should have posted on their site, not twitter.
Lee Sharpe posted on twitter that anyone who wanted to join but couldn't should contact customer service.
Not sure twitter was the best place to put that...
If everyone signs up early you'll still have frequent customers out of luck due to the cap on tourney entry.
Strip Mine has already been printed in From the Vault Exiled, so I doubt it would get the FTV treatment again. Still this new FTV has the potential to be quite the goldmine. I doubt I will ever be able to get one in paper, but I think there will be 99% chance of me getting it on mtgo. (crosses fingers for wasteland)
I want to echo your coments about the negativity in the forums. My predecessor at State of the Program was a staple in the forums. He often reported on interesting threads and discussions. I wanted to continue that, but the forums are such an acidic and unpleasant place I just don't visit very often, and have no interest in contributing.
The people still hanging out in the forum regularly talk about how the forums are dying, and how to save them. They should implement one simple rule - any caustic, negative comments in reaction to a post or message should be banged out in an email, and sent only to fellow trolls. Fellow trolls are the only one who will appreciate them, anyway. Any comments actually posted in the forums should be at least civil, if helpful is too much to ask.
Old saying: if you can't say something nice, STFU. If people want to save the forums, that's how it can be done.
Excellent article, BTW,
Great article! I'm actually halfway through so far, it's packed with good stuff. And now I want to play wolves myself!
Nice to see you do this kind of articles too, besides the interviews.
that does suck, next time you know to sign up well in advance of the start time.
Was hoping you'd point out the MOCS debacle. It filled and suckers like me couldn't get in to the tournament despite working long and hard to get to the 15 points required. As a result, a regular player and spender like me is left pissed off. Not good business on WotC's part. And I wouldn't even have minded not getting into the MOCS if I got an "opt out" package, but of course they removed those packs as well.
Very sad to see trip dka go it was my best limited format to date, I played 20 drafts and won 13 of them, scrubbed 2, 2nded 4 times and lost round 2 once. I forced red green for 17 of them, one of my scrubs was where I didn't the other the other guy got the better of me with another red green deck that worked out better.
Wild hunger is so stupidly good in the format, removal isn't even great at all and a lot of people didn't get that, wild hunger + fling won me so many games from a bad position it isn't even funny. The pick order was: red/green/splashable bombs, wild hunger, the red green aggro staples at 1-3cc, fling, removal,, other tricks and dudes... It was way too easy to exploit the fact that the pros hardly made any instructional videos for people that can't evaluate formats themselves.
I already have the PiF/Grapeshot ban ramblings done for next one. I was going to include it in this one, but decided to break it up.
I love how Modern is shaping up. The strong decks are still easily disrupted. I don't know where the Mox Opal or Plating ban rumors are coming from, but the circles I run in are whispering of Past in Flames getting the ax.
I could go either way here but I do hate Storm for its lack of interactivity. I also think it is necessary since it is the only "real" combo deck that can race Zoo and Burn decks , which beat your Tron's and its ilk.
Nice round up.I love the amount of work you have done gathering data. Definitely my favorite MTGO PRE Pimp.
Finally got a decklist from Boise. What I had as Tempered Steel is actually Affinity. Meta adjusted accordingly.
Sigh. I haven't opened up a single Foiled Huntmaster or Foil Sorin, and I have only opened 1 of each. Like I have won a lot, but I keep opening up Geralf's Mindcrusher. Literally every 3x DKA draft I expected to open a Geralf's Mindcrusher. I have 12 of them. Anyone want 10 for $0.50? Haha.
The new 4 pack sealed with ISD/DKA is fun though. It is much better than draft since DKA is just a much more fun set.
Ah good ol' mono red. It is nice to see you playing around with it. I have also tried and failed to put together a Maraxus deck that works. He is so cool, and I want to run him, but being limited to red cards really restricts his generalship. I certainly can't blame you for moving into Godo, he is just plain solid.
I have played enough red commander that I have played a fair amount with almost every card in your list. One thing that I do want to try now is Kuldoltha Phoenix. My main mono red deck runs enough artifacts, that it would probably be a pretty solid addition.
You are right about Balefire Dragon, he is a total beating. He really is one of the cooler dragons in awhile. That 1 tix+ price is a recent development too. When ISD was new you could get them for as low as .25 tix.
I love seeing the Vulshock Battlemaster in there. That is a fun card, and can hit like a ton a ton of bricks if the board is good.
My main suggestion, and I think I have said it before, is Mask of Memory. The card is dirt cheap, has tiny mana costs, and can provide incredible card advantage. I still can't believe I have never seen anybody but me running it. For me it is practically an auto include in any non blue deck that is looking to get into the red zone.
My last suggestion is give Heat Shimmer a whirl. It is just a personal favorite of mine. I may not seem all that special, but I love the card to pieces. It has saved my butt, or won me games, or provided huge swings more times than I can remember. I am never unhappy to draw it, and I just can't seem to cut it from my decks. I just wish red had some more cards that were similar.
Thanks for the heads up. I think the fact that it's not a may ability may be quite relevant in a lot of limited matches.
Consider me a Jack@ss all you want sir. I standby the fact that content on this site is not as good as it could be.
I contribute to this site and I am sure there are typo's in my work too. We all should be looking to improve and take pride in the work we publish here. I spend many hours researching and writing this classic review - is it perfect - no. Am I open to critism - yes. Did I set the bar for review articles on the format - id like to think so.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/2011-classic-review-year-time-vault-tanglewire
- Hammer proud to be a Jack@ss if it helps improve the quality @ PUREMTGO.
I also like 3xDKA - my track record shows I'm not very good at it, but because it was so limited I went into it a lot more than other queues, especially elimination ones (which I loose the first round more than 50% of the time). Also got really bored of ISD, and only ever seemed to get worse and worse at it, so DKA-ISD-ISD isn't very attractive to me (especially to try and build up the DKA collection).
I managed to pick up 3 Huntmasters, one of them foil but not a single Sorin. Go figure :)
My last draft was heavy green with an Ooze (he's so awesome that guy!) and 2 Strangleroot Geists... I might have won the final round if I didn't disconnect. I've played this format quite a bit but still get confused on what does and doesn't work - when the picks seem great and deck very solid I'm bound to loose, if I'm totally unsure then I win.
Ahhhh Magic...
I tried Markov Blademaster in the deck at first, but it just wasn't as good without the Swords. So I took it out for Cyclops Gladiator. Don't think there is anything else from Dark Ascension that would have fit in here. But Balefire Dragon was a beast!
I would have picked up a few gather the townsfolk at times over some of the other picks, loyal cathar and drogskul captain i think. Also dont really like the red splash.
Just to let you know in match 2 your opponent had 4 white open and you had the skirsdag flayer, you still attack with him because hollowhenge is not a may ability, even if he plays the card as a trick he must remove your flayer from combat therefore saving him if he has it or not. Small tidbit but every little bit helps.
Always a good read. I also liked reading a game report with some of the newer cards. It sounds like all the players were trying things from the new sets.
I always like your draft videos, and 3XDKA. I'm sad it's gone. I don't know why they don't just run it longer. Good job on the Sorin, I managed to pull 2 but they never hit the board, because i tryed to splash. Which makes me want to agree with other guy on the red splash thing he said. Splashing in draft is so frusterating, not a fan. Well i hope you post some good drafts on the next set, until next time!
Hehe I do that. Been playing for 33 years+ and sometimes all the practice I get is playing during a commercial in front of the pc or in the midst of a show I am not totally engrossed in. But then I tend to lose myself in the music when I get started. My difficulty with videos is that they are not written which is my preferred medium for learning. As for entertainment I find m:tg to be less fun to watch than to play.
I am glad you posted your thoughts. I don't think Mikey should be discouraged. It takes some amount of Ego and courage to stand up and post stuff that you know may get knocked. It is a good thing to hear from those who love what is being done.
-If you can't take criticism, don't post anything on the web. Once you've put something out there for the world to see you have given people, including trolls, a license to give their opinion. I see people on here get all butt-hurt because people flamed them or some other writer, but really it just goes with the territory.
-I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a writer to proofread their stuff before posting. Am I a "grammar nazi"? No, but at the same time I expect a so-called writer to care enough to put out a polished product.
-As for decklists, I want a decklist regardless of whether or not there is a video. I've commented on this before to other writers and they always say, "The decklist is in the video." That's all fine, well, and good but it is not the same thing. I agree with apaulogy on this one: "People want them. It also helps promote sales for the site. Win/Win" If I see a decklist I like, I can click on the link and the site can make a sale. How is that a bad thing?
Enough. Leave hammer alone. He was merely trying to help, although not very constructively at first. I love Mikey, but more than enough of you are nerd raging for no reason. You can't tell me you have never trolled. Live and let live. This lynch mob mentality has to go.