Thanks for your feedback. I do have Camtasia but my computer can't handle MTGO + that. When I get a new computer I'll do some videos too. I actually prefer videos but nowadays there are so many people opting for videos that I it's nice to have some writen articles too because some people like reading them at work and videos are not a good idea there lol.
MTGOTraders.com is kind enough to supply a spreadsheet with all the prices. Counting foils and non-foils, that spreadsheet has slightly over 30,000 entries. Sorting by price is easy enough, but finding price changes would require exporting each week's pricelist into a csv, then loading it into some form of database and running a script. Then I would have to write a report to pick out significant price changes. After all, if some random common goes from $0.02 to $0.05, that is a 250% price increase, but it is meaningless. Some sort of filter - like highest % increase in an uncommon starting at >$1.00, etc.
Doable, but first I have to buy a database program, then relearn it. It has been at least five years since I did any serious work in Access.
I should, but when the choice is relearn database programming or draft...
Just wanted to say, I look forward to this article every week. Your price lists are the S&P 500 of the MTGO market. Out of curiosity, how straightforward is it to create a list of the top ten price swings each week? I was stunned to see how high Shrine of Burning Rage has jumped, for example.
I would try this,the ironsmiths do work good if early, i just did that but w/ black. the green seems to be the color w/ the power in isd, spiders grasp is solid money because of all those pesky fliers and man there is alot of them. As far as the flip cards being weak that unspeakable said, I think that will change over the next expansions, only time will tell. See you in the future!
Love the deck, but I think it's missing some things. Like Tom the Scud mentioned, Travel Prep is pretty big game and Ancestral Mask is insane in any deck running this many enchantments. That being said, I think it's probably worse than Snake Umbra and Cloak, so fitting it in may be tough. Commune with Nature might be pretty good here if you end up cutting the Priest since it lowers your creature count so much that you could end up not drawing enough critters.
A real problem with this deck, by the way, is that you can end up drawing all critters, in which case you suck, or all auras, in which case you suck, and there's not really a lot you can do about it.
Prophetic Prism is a good idea. I've been running Utopia Sprawls in my two versions. Big problem is that you typically put a lot of cards into one creature, and if your opponent manages to get enough stuff out there to block and kill your guy, you can't afford to attack with him. Had that happen the other day with a goblin deck - I had a huge beater with arma cloak, but he had a big enough pile of goblins to kill him. We sat there staring at each other, and he drew his bushwhacker before I drew my treetop bracers.
Pentach ward seems like a very good idea just for the evasion (and protection from sweepers; I've also had a 5/5 bogle killed by a crypt rat before, though I won that one); otherwise if you pile your enchantments on one of the non-ledgewalker critters, you're in danger of getting into a stupid creature standoff where you can't afford to send your dude in to die, and the other deck is probably going to have more flexibility in breaking it. Beastmaster's Magemark (all enchanted creatures you control get +1/+1 and if they are blocked get +1/+1 for each creature that blocks them) has some possiblities as a creature standoff breaker as well. I was toying with going 3 color with blue (infiltrator's magemark and spectral flight mainly) for evasion.
Travel prep is pretty big, by the way. +4/+4 total in one card, though only 2 of it stacks on one guy. And it can't be pulled off of your critter short of blocking and killing it (or killing it with a sweeeper). Doesn't combo well with the magemarks, though.
Ancestral Mask is a possibly 2-off aura, especially if you use utopia sprawl for mana-fixing/ramp. (+2/+2 for every other enchantment in play) EDIT: whoops, is a Mercadian Masques card. So not for another week or two.
Seriously though, great article. And well timed. I've been working on an Essence of the Wild deck for the past week. I went the Green/Black route and included the cagebreakers and spider spawnings.
Here is my list:
1 Woodland Cemetary
11 Swamp
12 Forest
4 Rampant Growth
4 Moan of the Unhallowed
1 Creeping Renaissance
2 Spider Spawning
1 Army of the Damned
It plays okay. Aside from mana problems (Although the shuffler seems to have a grudge against me lately. I don't know how with 24 lands I can have one 7 round game where I draw 1 land and the next game I draw 10 lands?) I have a 50% or so win rate.
This article gave me a lot of ideas to try. In particular if I step away from the Spider Spawning and Kessig Cagebreakers like you did, I'll be able to replace a lot of the creatures with more useful sorceries and instants.
Thanks everyone for the comments and sorry for not being able to reply sooner.
First, it's good to hear that not everyone in the casual room are using Hello and Good Luck as a trap to "lure" people to their cutthroat Tier-1 decks. I love those decks, I play them myself all the time but the question is this: Do they belong to the casual room? Maybe yes, maybe no. But Paul you're right, I don't mind playing against them. Not even with my totally casual decks.
Mike and 2of1, I'm glad you guys like the series. If what you saw this far was good, then be ready for some awesome stuff coming in the next two weeks. I just finished Part V and working on Part VI now, and I know that you'll like what I'll show you next week and the week after that.
Grandpoobah, I think the name of the article is good in giving the correct message about the article. It basically says all what I'm doing in the article. So I think I'll keep it for a while (until those "..., Part #" part becomes boring). And thank you for the compliment; I think Building on a Budget is a very good series already, and even the fact that you compare my articles to it, is a big compliment for me.
And finally Whiffy, we will have a chat very soon. Oh and yes, it'll be about the format you know best. Not today, not tomorrow but soon.
I don't like Pilgrim here as you are giving them something to do with all the removal you where trying to turn into dead cards with all the hexproof creatures.
Better to run prophetic prism to cycle and filter mana to be honest.
The only card you are trying to ramp is a tutor for your aura's.
Better off just raw drawing in that case and not bother with the ramp.
Most of the deck has a low cmc anyway.
Blue does have a 2/2 hexproof flyer, and guardian of the guildpact comes close to being the same.
There seems to be a shortage of viable auras though.
I'd keep 3 Rancors or at least 2 rancor and a few other auras with the same return ability for feeding to annihilator.
I've played a few handfuls of drafts and so far my best results have been from boros like red/white weenie.
In that it's easy to draft several 2 drops that flip into 3 power beaters and plenty of 2-3 drop evasion.
With a little burn and some tapping/blocker prevention it can prove to be fast enough most of the time.
Blue/black in all forms seems over drafted and hard to build.
Blue/green has potential but seems to always be just one turn too slow, mayor and delver make a nice pair for an aggro start when it works though.
Have yet to have the cards for burning vengence or tokens come my way in draft.
They seem to get snapped up fast.
I enjoyed this article as well, and thought the approach for a relatively weak archetype was very sensible, with a good analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the common cards for this deck. The fact is, you don't always get the cards you want for one of the stronger archetypes, and it's good to have the skill to be able to make a solid deck with whatever is coming your way. I'm actually a little surprised that WOTC chose to provide relatively weak cards for the archetype that is most based on one of the flagship mechanics for this set - transform.
A couple additional comments on the werewolf deck. First, I'm starting to think that the feral ridgewolf isn't as bad as I first thought. The combination of trample and pump can provide the final, breakthrough damage needed to end a game in your favor with werewolves. That said, it's still definitely a late pick.
Second, one of the few times I ended up playing a R/G werewolf deck, my opponent had essentially the same thing, rendering all of my moonmists completely useless. That was quite irritating, and led to prompt removal of all of them to the sideboard.
Finally, a deck with multiple ironsmiths and reckless waifs is capable of blowing you out fast if you aren't able to play a spell on the first couple turns. This shouldn't happen often, but when it does it is a pretty savage beating.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to write this. I find archetype analysis and primers extremely useful, as I only play online and usually by the time new expansions hit MTGO, everyone else has become an expert in the format.
However, I must say why spend time covering an archetype which you clearly have an extreme dislike for? Why would someone want to read about an archetype that, according to you, is extremely weak? By reading this article I get the impression a primer isn't going to save you anyway, as it seems certain doom will fall on you if you happen to get caught in RG werewolves.
I mean this constructively, and have enjoyed your articles in the past. Keep it up!
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Very enjoyable - I haven't seen the G/W move so quickly and efficiently before, those Spectral Riders and Geists I've been a little bit adverse to because of the WW casting cost... now I can see how strong they are!
I've been wanting to do a new ISD draft, but I'm out of tickets and no one has been interested in the cards I'm listing on classifieds (the last couple of drafts didn't work very well so I got no packs left either).
Good commentary - thanks!
*EDIT* I finally got to play an ISD draft last night, went G/W and won all 3 round (6 out of 7 games, the loss was the very first). It came together good, especially with 2 x Knights and 2 x Eldar Cathar's - I didn't get any Travel Prep (only saw 1 as a first pick, I'm sure you'll understand why I took the Angelic Overseer) and no Chapel Geists, 2 of each would have made the deck super-killer.
I am just saying to add like a paragraph or 2 (not too long. it is a magic article). But something that caught your attention in the week, some anecdote, or something just funny.
@JB- Thanks, man. I know Trent is into doing more scores now since he is an independent and you gotta get work somehow. I appreciate the tip.
@Paul- I have been really tempted to see if you want to have a go in Blippy's standard 2HG event some week. I even have a deck.
And "can't suck too much" = "zomg! the best thing to ever give me an ear-gasm"
:P lol
I am still working on an article for the site promoting Modern and my clan (may be a dumb battle, but I want to fight it). I fully expect all three of you to chime in on the good and bad.
I am ambivalent about the release of said movie. On the one hand when I was recovering this summer (cf: pox) I read all three books and was like...they could never do these books justice. On the other hand the series does lend itself somewhat to the modern genre of suspense movies.
I guess I wait and see like everyone else. :) NiN isn't my favorite band but they do some good stuff. The music can't suck too much.
Thanks for your feedback. I do have Camtasia but my computer can't handle MTGO + that. When I get a new computer I'll do some videos too. I actually prefer videos but nowadays there are so many people opting for videos that I it's nice to have some writen articles too because some people like reading them at work and videos are not a good idea there lol.
MTGOTraders.com is kind enough to supply a spreadsheet with all the prices. Counting foils and non-foils, that spreadsheet has slightly over 30,000 entries. Sorting by price is easy enough, but finding price changes would require exporting each week's pricelist into a csv, then loading it into some form of database and running a script. Then I would have to write a report to pick out significant price changes. After all, if some random common goes from $0.02 to $0.05, that is a 250% price increase, but it is meaningless. Some sort of filter - like highest % increase in an uncommon starting at >$1.00, etc.
Doable, but first I have to buy a database program, then relearn it. It has been at least five years since I did any serious work in Access.
I should, but when the choice is relearn database programming or draft...
This was one of the best articles (and probably the best) I have ever read in a long time.
Thanks!
LE
Just wanted to say, I look forward to this article every week. Your price lists are the S&P 500 of the MTGO market. Out of curiosity, how straightforward is it to create a list of the top ten price swings each week? I was stunned to see how high Shrine of Burning Rage has jumped, for example.
I love your rimshot-tastic sense of humor!
I would try this,the ironsmiths do work good if early, i just did that but w/ black. the green seems to be the color w/ the power in isd, spiders grasp is solid money because of all those pesky fliers and man there is alot of them. As far as the flip cards being weak that unspeakable said, I think that will change over the next expansions, only time will tell. See you in the future!
Love the deck, but I think it's missing some things. Like Tom the Scud mentioned, Travel Prep is pretty big game and Ancestral Mask is insane in any deck running this many enchantments. That being said, I think it's probably worse than Snake Umbra and Cloak, so fitting it in may be tough. Commune with Nature might be pretty good here if you end up cutting the Priest since it lowers your creature count so much that you could end up not drawing enough critters.
A real problem with this deck, by the way, is that you can end up drawing all critters, in which case you suck, or all auras, in which case you suck, and there's not really a lot you can do about it.
Prophetic Prism is a good idea. I've been running Utopia Sprawls in my two versions. Big problem is that you typically put a lot of cards into one creature, and if your opponent manages to get enough stuff out there to block and kill your guy, you can't afford to attack with him. Had that happen the other day with a goblin deck - I had a huge beater with arma cloak, but he had a big enough pile of goblins to kill him. We sat there staring at each other, and he drew his bushwhacker before I drew my treetop bracers.
Pentach ward seems like a very good idea just for the evasion (and protection from sweepers; I've also had a 5/5 bogle killed by a crypt rat before, though I won that one); otherwise if you pile your enchantments on one of the non-ledgewalker critters, you're in danger of getting into a stupid creature standoff where you can't afford to send your dude in to die, and the other deck is probably going to have more flexibility in breaking it. Beastmaster's Magemark (all enchanted creatures you control get +1/+1 and if they are blocked get +1/+1 for each creature that blocks them) has some possiblities as a creature standoff breaker as well. I was toying with going 3 color with blue (infiltrator's magemark and spectral flight mainly) for evasion.
Travel prep is pretty big, by the way. +4/+4 total in one card, though only 2 of it stacks on one guy. And it can't be pulled off of your critter short of blocking and killing it (or killing it with a sweeeper). Doesn't combo well with the magemarks, though.
Ancestral Mask is a possibly 2-off aura, especially if you use utopia sprawl for mana-fixing/ramp. (+2/+2 for every other enchantment in play) EDIT: whoops, is a Mercadian Masques card. So not for another week or two.
What is this "casual" room you speak of?
Seriously though, great article. And well timed. I've been working on an Essence of the Wild deck for the past week. I went the Green/Black route and included the cagebreakers and spider spawnings.
Here is my list:
1 Woodland Cemetary
11 Swamp
12 Forest
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Veridian Emissary
4 Ambush Viper
4 Jade Mage
2 Bloodline Keeper
2 Kessig Cagebreaker
4 Essence of the Wild
4 Rampant Growth
4 Moan of the Unhallowed
1 Creeping Renaissance
2 Spider Spawning
1 Army of the Damned
It plays okay. Aside from mana problems (Although the shuffler seems to have a grudge against me lately. I don't know how with 24 lands I can have one 7 round game where I draw 1 land and the next game I draw 10 lands?) I have a 50% or so win rate.
This article gave me a lot of ideas to try. In particular if I step away from the Spider Spawning and Kessig Cagebreakers like you did, I'll be able to replace a lot of the creatures with more useful sorceries and instants.
Thanks!
Thanks everyone for the comments and sorry for not being able to reply sooner.
First, it's good to hear that not everyone in the casual room are using Hello and Good Luck as a trap to "lure" people to their cutthroat Tier-1 decks. I love those decks, I play them myself all the time but the question is this: Do they belong to the casual room? Maybe yes, maybe no. But Paul you're right, I don't mind playing against them. Not even with my totally casual decks.
Mike and 2of1, I'm glad you guys like the series. If what you saw this far was good, then be ready for some awesome stuff coming in the next two weeks. I just finished Part V and working on Part VI now, and I know that you'll like what I'll show you next week and the week after that.
Grandpoobah, I think the name of the article is good in giving the correct message about the article. It basically says all what I'm doing in the article. So I think I'll keep it for a while (until those "..., Part #" part becomes boring). And thank you for the compliment; I think Building on a Budget is a very good series already, and even the fact that you compare my articles to it, is a big compliment for me.
And finally Whiffy, we will have a chat very soon. Oh and yes, it'll be about the format you know best. Not today, not tomorrow but soon.
Thanks again everyone for reading and commenting.
LE
I don't like Pilgrim here as you are giving them something to do with all the removal you where trying to turn into dead cards with all the hexproof creatures.
Better to run prophetic prism to cycle and filter mana to be honest.
The only card you are trying to ramp is a tutor for your aura's.
Better off just raw drawing in that case and not bother with the ramp.
Most of the deck has a low cmc anyway.
Blue does have a 2/2 hexproof flyer, and guardian of the guildpact comes close to being the same.
There seems to be a shortage of viable auras though.
I'd keep 3 Rancors or at least 2 rancor and a few other auras with the same return ability for feeding to annihilator.
I've played a few handfuls of drafts and so far my best results have been from boros like red/white weenie.
In that it's easy to draft several 2 drops that flip into 3 power beaters and plenty of 2-3 drop evasion.
With a little burn and some tapping/blocker prevention it can prove to be fast enough most of the time.
Blue/black in all forms seems over drafted and hard to build.
Blue/green has potential but seems to always be just one turn too slow, mayor and delver make a nice pair for an aggro start when it works though.
Have yet to have the cards for burning vengence or tokens come my way in draft.
They seem to get snapped up fast.
5 colourless cards in the top 10! Why are mono-coloured decks not doing better in this environment?
I enjoyed this article as well, and thought the approach for a relatively weak archetype was very sensible, with a good analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the common cards for this deck. The fact is, you don't always get the cards you want for one of the stronger archetypes, and it's good to have the skill to be able to make a solid deck with whatever is coming your way. I'm actually a little surprised that WOTC chose to provide relatively weak cards for the archetype that is most based on one of the flagship mechanics for this set - transform.
A couple additional comments on the werewolf deck. First, I'm starting to think that the feral ridgewolf isn't as bad as I first thought. The combination of trample and pump can provide the final, breakthrough damage needed to end a game in your favor with werewolves. That said, it's still definitely a late pick.
Second, one of the few times I ended up playing a R/G werewolf deck, my opponent had essentially the same thing, rendering all of my moonmists completely useless. That was quite irritating, and led to prompt removal of all of them to the sideboard.
Finally, a deck with multiple ironsmiths and reckless waifs is capable of blowing you out fast if you aren't able to play a spell on the first couple turns. This shouldn't happen often, but when it does it is a pretty savage beating.
Thanks for taking the time and effort to write this. I find archetype analysis and primers extremely useful, as I only play online and usually by the time new expansions hit MTGO, everyone else has become an expert in the format.
However, I must say why spend time covering an archetype which you clearly have an extreme dislike for? Why would someone want to read about an archetype that, according to you, is extremely weak? By reading this article I get the impression a primer isn't going to save you anyway, as it seems certain doom will fall on you if you happen to get caught in RG werewolves.
I mean this constructively, and have enjoyed your articles in the past. Keep it up!
I'm not so good at writing comments on blog and do hesitate often to do so but if an individual is performing kind off work for their visitors only than how can I be so unfair? I mean, I do write on this subject too but for my clients so sometime I also do want some help from outside. In performing the exact same work I came across to your blog and buddy, I need to say that you're quite great at it even batter than anybody else. This is among the finest blog ever on this topic, which I've come across. Thanks for it.
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Awesome! And this not by any means biased by the fact that I'm Italian, of course! ;-)
"Skypesucks... playing against you kinda sucks." LOL.
Very enjoyable - I haven't seen the G/W move so quickly and efficiently before, those Spectral Riders and Geists I've been a little bit adverse to because of the WW casting cost... now I can see how strong they are!
I've been wanting to do a new ISD draft, but I'm out of tickets and no one has been interested in the cards I'm listing on classifieds (the last couple of drafts didn't work very well so I got no packs left either).
Good commentary - thanks!
*EDIT* I finally got to play an ISD draft last night, went G/W and won all 3 round (6 out of 7 games, the loss was the very first). It came together good, especially with 2 x Knights and 2 x Eldar Cathar's - I didn't get any Travel Prep (only saw 1 as a first pick, I'm sure you'll understand why I took the Angelic Overseer) and no Chapel Geists, 2 of each would have made the deck super-killer.
I am just saying to add like a paragraph or 2 (not too long. it is a magic article). But something that caught your attention in the week, some anecdote, or something just funny.
I can help you if you need anything. apaulogy@gmail.com
@JB- Thanks, man. I know Trent is into doing more scores now since he is an independent and you gotta get work somehow. I appreciate the tip.
@Paul- I have been really tempted to see if you want to have a go in Blippy's standard 2HG event some week. I even have a deck.
And "can't suck too much" = "zomg! the best thing to ever give me an ear-gasm"
:P lol
I am still working on an article for the site promoting Modern and my clan (may be a dumb battle, but I want to fight it). I fully expect all three of you to chime in on the good and bad.
Thanks guys.
I am ambivalent about the release of said movie. On the one hand when I was recovering this summer (cf: pox) I read all three books and was like...they could never do these books justice. On the other hand the series does lend itself somewhat to the modern genre of suspense movies.
I guess I wait and see like everyone else. :) NiN isn't my favorite band but they do some good stuff. The music can't suck too much.
Game mats randomly change to match your opponents for reasons I haven't figured out. It's been happening like that for the longest time.
I don't the pauper format right now is good for attacking with green creatures that don't have infect, or named Carapace Forger.