Totally awesome preview style! They gave this preview opportunity to the right guy. I'm really glad you show it off in this funny, playful way. Just imagine how annoying it would be to hear Mike Flores or Evan Erwin gushing about how we are going to be playing this card "for years to come" and all those other overused expressions they use for every card they preview. But this time the card is the real deal.
Glad to hear you guys having fun as usual. One word via the new enchantment. Or make that two and an apostrophe: Grafdigger's Cage. That card chafes my itch very badly. I'd like to have words with the person who came up with that...in private, in the dark. And an alibi. Btw nice banner! :D
For block? Anything not involving the graveyard. In particular I love the new wolf so maybe wolves tribal in block. (No weres just wolves, well except maybe the mayor and cackling counterpart.)
The problem is, when recording, my mic is so much lower than my friends, so i have to use camtasia to buff my audio and lower theirs.. It never usually pans out well.
Very nice! Also really annoys polymorph, natural selection, tooth and nail, et cetera. Can be used positively with Boldwyr Heavyweights. I presume it isn't a hard lock with Omen Engine since that exiles.
would have been better if it stopped fetchlands but still pretty good, it even keeps ancient grudge honest as long as this is the only artifact youre running
so i kind of don't like pauper but i like watchin the vids sometimes anyway, but pretty important for me, the voices of the two commenter need to be closer in volume, one of you was like 3 times louder than the other the whole time, also I'll burn down the building, it's my stapler hurm hurminy hurm
you should add the monetary prize support for paper vs. online. There is no comparison at this point for prize structure of paper vs online, paper has that by a LANDSLIDE. So really in your equation at the end, should have a line of "possibility of winning money" added at least. Nice article though, good info for newer players looking to get into Legacy.
The next edition of Mana Maze has me covering one archetype in depth (since I've been trying to force it every time to see what it's all about). I think it'll be an interesting growth from this one. Look for it soon! ;)
Glad you liked it. It was fun to write from the perspective of an honest novice for once. I've been playing Magic for more than 18 years, so it's not often I get to approach a subject like this!
Your conclusion doesn't seem to follow from the drafts as you described them. "Multiple avenues" is a very good way to trainwreck in ISD limited - instead, you need to focus on finding an archetype and drafting a deck, not just a pile of cards. That's the skill most rewarded in 3x ISD.
For example - deck 1 is a graveyard deck with no enablers. Now, Murder of Crows is a fine secondary plan no matter what, but you can't draft 4 cards requiring the yard and nothing to put dudes into the yard and expect anything positive to happen. Also, Victim is completely fine in that deck - you have most of the Zombies! (Also, guess what is the best answer to Bloodgift Demon?)
You properly acknowledge this in your look-back on draft 1 - the key, though, is that you needed to focus MORE on the plan, and not create additional "avenues" (that will all be weaker than one well-formed plan).
Similarly, the deck that wrecked you in draft 2 has a plan: G/W aggro has amazing synergy. G/R midrange, which is seemingly where you ended up, often is aimless. If you wound up with no removal, what happened? Did you pass Prey Upons (which are great in a midrange shell)? Were you cut from the R removal (easily splashed)? If so, you could have splashed the Devil's Play pretty easily. You also could have splashed Garruk pretty easily - this format (with its Amulets and Grottos) is very splash-friendly. Would that have helped formulate a cohesive plan?
This was a very solid write-up though - a very cool look into a fresh jump into the format. Thanks for writing it, and I hope this food for thought helps a little.
Welcome back Ith. Glad to see your pc troubles are over. I think a trainwreck is almost guaranteed when you draft a set blind (or semi blind as the case may be.) I am not a fan of draft stories usually but this one was entertaining.
Greetings from spain! I have just created my account to say you thank you for your effort. I love your articles, they are funny to read, and your decks are REALLY funny to play, :-p
Nemesis: I hear you about the Christmas event, next year we'll have to think it through or switch to something else. The Elf vs. Goblin event was better than expected though, and kinda well-received.
The 4-deck rule for the Invitational isn't too complicated when you think of it this way:
1st round: you can't play your best deck just yet (you have to prove you're more than your best deck), and you have to play kinda endangered (the difference between "Endangered" and "non-Top 16" tribe is actually interesting)
2nd and 3rd rounds: you play your best decks
4th round: you have to come up with a new deck entirely, since in the final round you have to show up your deckbuilding skill, not just your playing skill
I wanted this strongly because I don't want for an Elfball player to win all the way through just because the pairings happen to be favorable
Also: let's make the Wednesday practice a thing, it should also help consolidate the tribal community.
It may not be good enough to make hate bears competitive with the busted decks but it's effect has been amazing for me in testing, thorn of amethyst and glowrider just shut down a large number of classic decks. It's a strict upgrade or additional sphere effect for the hatebears, again it's proably not quite enough but it's getting there, having first strike is pretty darn sweet in classic as well with all the snappies, confidants, mutavaults and delvers running around trying to trade with your ground pounders.
A couple years back, I told Heath to give my preview card to Hammie and AJ on the podcast. I wanted to help boost their listenership. Since then, we have passed previews around at times. This time, I seriously considered throwing our preview card to you or the YSO crew, because the card is absolutely a Classic staple. In the end, I could not give it away, because it is just insane.
Don't bother looking for that classic must have card elsewhere. I have it.
Bee You Tea Full!! Great article, great card! I'm drooling uncontrollably....
Totally awesome preview style! They gave this preview opportunity to the right guy. I'm really glad you show it off in this funny, playful way. Just imagine how annoying it would be to hear Mike Flores or Evan Erwin gushing about how we are going to be playing this card "for years to come" and all those other overused expressions they use for every card they preview. But this time the card is the real deal.
It's too early to decide about the block deck. I'm sure Grafdigger's Cage has changed a lot of players' mind.
Glad to hear you guys having fun as usual. One word via the new enchantment. Or make that two and an apostrophe: Grafdigger's Cage. That card chafes my itch very badly. I'd like to have words with the person who came up with that...in private, in the dark. And an alibi. Btw nice banner! :D
For block? Anything not involving the graveyard. In particular I love the new wolf so maybe wolves tribal in block. (No weres just wolves, well except maybe the mayor and cackling counterpart.)
Thanx wotc :) i've been forced to play black far too often just for the most efficient yard hates..
The problem is, when recording, my mic is so much lower than my friends, so i have to use camtasia to buff my audio and lower theirs.. It never usually pans out well.
Very nice! Also really annoys polymorph, natural selection, tooth and nail, et cetera. Can be used positively with Boldwyr Heavyweights. I presume it isn't a hard lock with Omen Engine since that exiles.
would have been better if it stopped fetchlands but still pretty good, it even keeps ancient grudge honest as long as this is the only artifact youre running
so i kind of don't like pauper but i like watchin the vids sometimes anyway, but pretty important for me, the voices of the two commenter need to be closer in volume, one of you was like 3 times louder than the other the whole time, also I'll burn down the building, it's my stapler hurm hurminy hurm
Best preview card ever!
You were right. This car is amazing.
roar card is pretty crazy.
you should add the monetary prize support for paper vs. online. There is no comparison at this point for prize structure of paper vs online, paper has that by a LANDSLIDE. So really in your equation at the end, should have a line of "possibility of winning money" added at least. Nice article though, good info for newer players looking to get into Legacy.
I truly applaud how much time you put into these and I at least always enjoy the numbers great stuff
and yea I don't know how you DON'T understand why the prices for paper and mtgo are different... well explained paul
The next edition of Mana Maze has me covering one archetype in depth (since I've been trying to force it every time to see what it's all about). I think it'll be an interesting growth from this one. Look for it soon! ;)
Glad you liked it. It was fun to write from the perspective of an honest novice for once. I've been playing Magic for more than 18 years, so it's not often I get to approach a subject like this!
Your conclusion doesn't seem to follow from the drafts as you described them. "Multiple avenues" is a very good way to trainwreck in ISD limited - instead, you need to focus on finding an archetype and drafting a deck, not just a pile of cards. That's the skill most rewarded in 3x ISD.
For example - deck 1 is a graveyard deck with no enablers. Now, Murder of Crows is a fine secondary plan no matter what, but you can't draft 4 cards requiring the yard and nothing to put dudes into the yard and expect anything positive to happen. Also, Victim is completely fine in that deck - you have most of the Zombies! (Also, guess what is the best answer to Bloodgift Demon?)
You properly acknowledge this in your look-back on draft 1 - the key, though, is that you needed to focus MORE on the plan, and not create additional "avenues" (that will all be weaker than one well-formed plan).
Similarly, the deck that wrecked you in draft 2 has a plan: G/W aggro has amazing synergy. G/R midrange, which is seemingly where you ended up, often is aimless. If you wound up with no removal, what happened? Did you pass Prey Upons (which are great in a midrange shell)? Were you cut from the R removal (easily splashed)? If so, you could have splashed the Devil's Play pretty easily. You also could have splashed Garruk pretty easily - this format (with its Amulets and Grottos) is very splash-friendly. Would that have helped formulate a cohesive plan?
This was a very solid write-up though - a very cool look into a fresh jump into the format. Thanks for writing it, and I hope this food for thought helps a little.
Welcome back Ith. Glad to see your pc troubles are over. I think a trainwreck is almost guaranteed when you draft a set blind (or semi blind as the case may be.) I am not a fan of draft stories usually but this one was entertaining.
Greetings from spain! I have just created my account to say you thank you for your effort. I love your articles, they are funny to read, and your decks are REALLY funny to play, :-p
Sorry about my english! Is not as good as I wish!
Thanks to all of you for the comments!
Nemesis: I hear you about the Christmas event, next year we'll have to think it through or switch to something else. The Elf vs. Goblin event was better than expected though, and kinda well-received.
The 4-deck rule for the Invitational isn't too complicated when you think of it this way:
1st round: you can't play your best deck just yet (you have to prove you're more than your best deck), and you have to play kinda endangered (the difference between "Endangered" and "non-Top 16" tribe is actually interesting)
2nd and 3rd rounds: you play your best decks
4th round: you have to come up with a new deck entirely, since in the final round you have to show up your deckbuilding skill, not just your playing skill
I wanted this strongly because I don't want for an Elfball player to win all the way through just because the pairings happen to be favorable
Also: let's make the Wednesday practice a thing, it should also help consolidate the tribal community.
You would lol!
It may not be good enough to make hate bears competitive with the busted decks but it's effect has been amazing for me in testing, thorn of amethyst and glowrider just shut down a large number of classic decks. It's a strict upgrade or additional sphere effect for the hatebears, again it's proably not quite enough but it's getting there, having first strike is pretty darn sweet in classic as well with all the snappies, confidants, mutavaults and delvers running around trying to trade with your ground pounders.
psh I for one like enchantress
Seriously.
A couple years back, I told Heath to give my preview card to Hammie and AJ on the podcast. I wanted to help boost their listenership. Since then, we have passed previews around at times. This time, I seriously considered throwing our preview card to you or the YSO crew, because the card is absolutely a Classic staple. In the end, I could not give it away, because it is just insane.
Don't bother looking for that classic must have card elsewhere. I have it.
I can't wait until Tuesday.
Stax no Sneak/Show I believe I have most of it.