Haunted Crossroads can be a bomb in a reanimater deck. Combos well with Lurking Predators. It also has more value in commander simply for getting utility cards back like Eternal Witness.
I think you may be underselling dust bowl. repeatable destruction is just so handy. It seems especially good in mono colored decks that can start chucking basics to deal with problem lands. Total staple IMO.
I also don't see Haunted crossroads making to big of an impact. Phyrexian Reclamation is similar, and I think a better card, but it doesn't get all that much play.
I'll be interested to see just how much of an impact Tower of the Magistrates will have. It seems like it could just hose certain popular decks and strategies. But I think the same about Homeward Path, and it still isn't played a ton. I certainly plan on giving the tower a try though, it seems like fun.
I need to sit down with the MM lists proper and pick out the tings I am interested in. It looks like you hit most of them, but I feel like there may be 1 or 2 more that might have been missed. I am a bit afraid Rhystic study might be all over the place now, but we will see.
But new patch is coming out to help with the horrible hit detection currently in the game. It is going to be a massive patch, so it won't be out for a while, but I shouldn't need 4 hit markers on a b!tch with a type 95 and then he gets up, turns around and shoots me once in the head.
Type 95 is a very good gun, but it's not for my style. I like to run head first into the action and you can't do that with a semi-auto gun. Although the 60 bullets in the ACR is very hindering and causes me to usually go 3:1 in games because I run out of bullets and run head first into a guy sitting in a line of grass for the past 30 minutes.
And I got Battlefield because it was supposedly the "greatest game ever" and "a new call". It was supposed to be better than MW3 and so I bought it. I sold it back to gamestop though and got like $35 in credit and then bought it. But I waited in line for an hour just for that damn game.
But bro, you need to relax during drafting. I have never heard someone who is so depressed playing the game. I like to spice things up by playing MW3, playing mill decks, etc.. And you need to play something other than Swiss. Swiss is like putting a noob tube on a gun with scavenger, and with a rating of 1800+ that you have, you should be playing 8-4's.
Bro, check you my youtube (I'm not promoting it) I just want to show you how to "enjoy" yourself a little more while playing. You sound so sad, it makes me want to buy you a puppy or something. It's TERROl2BradCarter (Lower Case L), but I play music, make fun of the other player, talk about how big the hole is between Ms Kardashian's leg's are, talk about how much the opponent sucks, watch sports, etc.. I think you should enjoy yourself more, and take this a little less seriously.
**I guess I'm not the bad guy like everyone thinks I am... You hear that Josh and Whiffy? I'm a nice guy, just don't make my K/D go below 2.5 or I will kill you for realizies.
Sorry for the double post, but that needed mentioned multiple times. You should join Wizards development team since ISD was based on Supernatural, the next set (Dark Ascension) will be based on Gossip Girls and they need to figure out a new planeswalker.
Man, you need to mention the best card in Masques as your Masques card of the day... Squirrel Wrangler. It makes F***ING SQUIRRELS!!!!!!
But I'm surprised you haven't seen the RBg deck in ISD Block Constructed yet. There are 3 different versions.
But the base is having Lilliana, Garruk, and if you are playing it, Olivia. But some decks use Manor Gargoyle, or they use Snappy the Snapcasting Mage to get things back. Either way, it's control the game with Lilliana, attack with Garruk (As if he is Gideon jura in UW Control). But it certainly never maindecks Curse of Deaths Hold.
And it's funny how quickly things change. A week ago everyone was talking about WG Humans, now WG Humans are being beat to shreds by WR humans.
I want to know where that next deck is coming from in STD though. I think most of the cards and color combo's aren't being used to their greatest potential and there is room for new decks, I just haven't seen any although I did pretty well yesterday with a Uw Illusions deck losing to only a Wu and RWG Ramp Run.
*And question of the week. I see Snappy the Snapcasting Mage, based on my charts, dropping to as low as $5 and even possibly lower. Where do you see the bottom? I think it has the potential to be a $4-5 card with lowest being $3.50. Opinions anyone?
Remember, Thrun was $3 at one point and Hero of Bladehold was also only $3. If only we had time machines... But I would use it first to kill J.J. Abrahams to stop him from making Lost and therefor having no chance for a miserable ending.
"Q: Ok, but what if there are 20 non-Druid Elves and 20 non-Elf Druids?
A: Damn you, kid! Can't you just build a normal deck, for God's sake? Anyway, if you end up having a deck that qualifies for two different tribes at once (or more, but I dare you to build such a deck!)..."
60 card Elf-Human-Dryad Tribal deck
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Joraga Warcaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Dryad Sophisticate
4 Vine Dryad
4 Shanodin Dryads
4 Rushwood Legate
4 Magus of the Candelabra
4 Simic Initiate
4 Magus of the Vineyard
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Martyr of Spores
As for my pseudo-slug deck, I only had 3 Molder Slugs before the event so I threw a Fire-Belly Changling in as a placeholder so I could do some test matches before the event stated. Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the placeholder when I added the the 4th Molder Slug. Had the placeholder card been removed as intended there would not have been a shape shifter majority, making it a valid slug deck.
I love that this is viable. I am also happy that Daze has already gone down to about 6 tix since Masques is going to be released....This kind of deck makes.me.so.happy.
First off, I apologize for 'attacking' you. Attribute it to being the first thing I read this morning, and before my brain had entirely kicked in. What can I say? I'm a grumpy old fart. :)
So...
Hi! We play Modern format on MTGO on Saturdays at 1200 GMT (euro-friendly time slot) and Mondays at 830PM Eastern (US-friendly time slot). The tournament format is 1v1 single elimination. You can join by coming to the /join Overdrive! (with the !) chat room in the hour prior to the event, and PMing me your decklist. You can find out more about these events - including winning & runner-up decklists - here:
Please feel free to come join us! If I knew your MTGO playername, I could also PM you my "hour to go" message, which I do to everyone on my buddy list.
Modern is also played at these events, but I have no details:
Sanctioned daily and premier events:
Standard: 40+ per week
Momir, Block and Pauper: around 30 per week
Classic: an average of 2 per week.
Modern: in the last month, zero online, but Worlds
Legacy: zero
Singleton, 100 card singleton, etc: also zero
I only track sanctioned events played for prizes, whether those are online or major paper events like SCG Opens, GPs or Pro Tours. I also occassionally talk about minor events that I am personally playing in, like drafts or the Classic League, when something interesting happens.
I don't try to report on PREs or local store tourneys, or store FNM events. I avoid these for a number of resaons. First, the larger the event, and the higher the cost to enter, the more likely that the winning decks will be serious staples of the metagame, and not a fluke. Second, finding decklists for these other events is usually a lot of trouble, and takes a lot more time than I have available. Third, I provide metagame coverage so people have some idea what they might face in onine dailies and PEs. If there are no DEs and PEs, I don't tend to cover it.
I also tend to cover formats that I understand and play. I don't play Pauper, so I don't cover it. (I also passed on that format because several other writers on this site were covering it quite well.)
FWIW, I have played a fair amount of Classic, a lot of standard, tons of limited, maybe a dozen sanctioned block matches and a couple sanctioned Pauper matches in the last year. I have also sat in some modern queues that didn't fire. However, I don't recall playing any serious Legacy in the past year. I'm not sure how that makes me a "legacy fanatic."
After Worlds, I included the Modern decks coming out of that event in cutting edge tech. I covered a few decks in the weeks leading up to worlds, too. After worlds, there have been no events which report results and decklists that I can find. I have no bias against other formats - when something significant happens in any format, I will report on it. However, PREs are not significant in and of themselves.
A suggestion - and this goes for everyone - if you want your format covered, instead of ripping into me for not finding you, try inviting me into your format. A simple message saying something like "Hi. we play ~this format~ here, at ~time~. You can enter by ~doing this~, and you can find out about the format and the decks ~here~. Please join us." works a whole lot better than an ad hominem attack. It worked for the Classic League.
Here's the deal: I'll mention anything that might interest the readers - just let me know. I'll provide cutting edge tech for anything I'm sure is the real deal. It's the real deal if it does really well at a large event (e.g. a 500 player SCG open, or a 1500 player GP), or even a PE. I will also report interesting decks from Dailies, if I know enough about the format to understand the deck. And if I play in something else, like a league, a cube draft or a PRE, and I think it's worth talking up, I'll cover that, too. It may not be cutting edge tech, though - it might just be a weekly highlight or the like.
one caveat, though: if you want something included, let me know early in the week, and I will try to squeeze something in.
"Modern: Modern was played at Worlds. It has not been played since"
"Modern prices are moving around – a fair amount of churn given that the format is not doing anything at all."
Lies! Untruths! Both of these statements are patently false!
While the DEs (Now SEs) have not fired (yet), the sanctioned 8-mans and 2-mans HAVE fired. A lot. And the non-sanctioned PREs (Overdrive!, Eurodrive!, SilverBlack, & Modern PDC) are alive & well, and gathering players left and right. In fact, there is so much interest, and so many requests, I am considering giving up my Sundays for yet *ANOTHER* Modern PRE in a more conventional style.
Modern discussion & development is in full swing on the non-wizards forums I frequent, and are some of the most active sections in those forums. I'm seeing many interesting and potentially powerful "rogue brews" coming through my doors. A Modern "clan" has formed on one.
While I understand your "anti-Modern bias", with you being a Legacy fanatic and all, you are spreading rumours that have no basis in fact. Take off your Legacy-tinted glasses! Look at what's actually happening in the Modern world instead of pointing to the SEs and saying "Look, Ma! No Modern!"
Hmm, I think the last 2 mana producing lands were the common Ravnica bounce lands for each guild and before them there was Temple of the False God, so no, it wasn't as far back as Exodus that they were willing to try 2 mana lands. =p
One either likes Classic and plays, or doesn't. It isn't just "I don't have Forces, I won't play because I can't play blue". Getting into Classic takes a lot of grit. Earning through DEs and 2-mans is a good way to accumulate a collection IF you're a good enough player. Being a part of a Classic-focused clan is also nice as once you build relationships, very often you can borrow cards to fill out decks. Once you understand the format, you can build decks that penetrate the meta's weak points. Then once you're "into" Classic, you start watching the market and buying and selling to help your collection grow, especially if you don't play other formats.
The thing I like, which others like Naoto probably don't, is that blue ISN'T king in Classic. It's good and viable, but so are Dredge and Shops. I like how it isn't a "play blue or go home" format. It makes it a heck of a lot easier for new players to break in.
Looks like about 5 modern 2 mans are firing for every....40-50 standard 2 mans.
Haunted Crossroads can be a bomb in a reanimater deck. Combos well with Lurking Predators. It also has more value in commander simply for getting utility cards back like Eternal Witness.
I have played in a couple 8-mans at this point...
But you are correct, generally it is mostly 2-mans
BTW- I have seen you in DE standings. You are a machine!!!
Thanks.
only 2 mens are firing,not 8mens
both modern and legacy are dead righ now. as someone said modern killed legayc and then committed a suicide.
I think you may be underselling dust bowl. repeatable destruction is just so handy. It seems especially good in mono colored decks that can start chucking basics to deal with problem lands. Total staple IMO.
I also don't see Haunted crossroads making to big of an impact. Phyrexian Reclamation is similar, and I think a better card, but it doesn't get all that much play.
I'll be interested to see just how much of an impact Tower of the Magistrates will have. It seems like it could just hose certain popular decks and strategies. But I think the same about Homeward Path, and it still isn't played a ton. I certainly plan on giving the tower a try though, it seems like fun.
I need to sit down with the MM lists proper and pick out the tings I am interested in. It looks like you hit most of them, but I feel like there may be 1 or 2 more that might have been missed. I am a bit afraid Rhystic study might be all over the place now, but we will see.
I hate double posting, sorry.
But new patch is coming out to help with the horrible hit detection currently in the game. It is going to be a massive patch, so it won't be out for a while, but I shouldn't need 4 hit markers on a b!tch with a type 95 and then he gets up, turns around and shoots me once in the head.
Type 95 is a very good gun, but it's not for my style. I like to run head first into the action and you can't do that with a semi-auto gun. Although the 60 bullets in the ACR is very hindering and causes me to usually go 3:1 in games because I run out of bullets and run head first into a guy sitting in a line of grass for the past 30 minutes.
And I got Battlefield because it was supposedly the "greatest game ever" and "a new call". It was supposed to be better than MW3 and so I bought it. I sold it back to gamestop though and got like $35 in credit and then bought it. But I waited in line for an hour just for that damn game.
But bro, you need to relax during drafting. I have never heard someone who is so depressed playing the game. I like to spice things up by playing MW3, playing mill decks, etc.. And you need to play something other than Swiss. Swiss is like putting a noob tube on a gun with scavenger, and with a rating of 1800+ that you have, you should be playing 8-4's.
Bro, check you my youtube (I'm not promoting it) I just want to show you how to "enjoy" yourself a little more while playing. You sound so sad, it makes me want to buy you a puppy or something. It's TERROl2BradCarter (Lower Case L), but I play music, make fun of the other player, talk about how big the hole is between Ms Kardashian's leg's are, talk about how much the opponent sucks, watch sports, etc.. I think you should enjoy yourself more, and take this a little less seriously.
**I guess I'm not the bad guy like everyone thinks I am... You hear that Josh and Whiffy? I'm a nice guy, just don't make my K/D go below 2.5 or I will kill you for realizies.
Btw, Harry Potter TCG FTW!
Sorry for the double post, but that needed mentioned multiple times. You should join Wizards development team since ISD was based on Supernatural, the next set (Dark Ascension) will be based on Gossip Girls and they need to figure out a new planeswalker.
Man, you need to mention the best card in Masques as your Masques card of the day... Squirrel Wrangler. It makes F***ING SQUIRRELS!!!!!!
But I'm surprised you haven't seen the RBg deck in ISD Block Constructed yet. There are 3 different versions.
But the base is having Lilliana, Garruk, and if you are playing it, Olivia. But some decks use Manor Gargoyle, or they use Snappy the Snapcasting Mage to get things back. Either way, it's control the game with Lilliana, attack with Garruk (As if he is Gideon jura in UW Control). But it certainly never maindecks Curse of Deaths Hold.
And it's funny how quickly things change. A week ago everyone was talking about WG Humans, now WG Humans are being beat to shreds by WR humans.
I want to know where that next deck is coming from in STD though. I think most of the cards and color combo's aren't being used to their greatest potential and there is room for new decks, I just haven't seen any although I did pretty well yesterday with a Uw Illusions deck losing to only a Wu and RWG Ramp Run.
*And question of the week. I see Snappy the Snapcasting Mage, based on my charts, dropping to as low as $5 and even possibly lower. Where do you see the bottom? I think it has the potential to be a $4-5 card with lowest being $3.50. Opinions anyone?
Remember, Thrun was $3 at one point and Hero of Bladehold was also only $3. If only we had time machines... But I would use it first to kill J.J. Abrahams to stop him from making Lost and therefor having no chance for a miserable ending.
"Q: Ok, but what if there are 20 non-Druid Elves and 20 non-Elf Druids?
A: Damn you, kid! Can't you just build a normal deck, for God's sake? Anyway, if you end up having a deck that qualifies for two different tribes at once (or more, but I dare you to build such a deck!)..."
60 card Elf-Human-Dryad Tribal deck
4 Joraga Treespeaker
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Joraga Warcaller
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Dryad Arbor
4 Dryad Sophisticate
4 Vine Dryad
4 Shanodin Dryads
4 Rushwood Legate
4 Magus of the Candelabra
4 Simic Initiate
4 Magus of the Vineyard
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Martyr of Spores
As for my pseudo-slug deck, I only had 3 Molder Slugs before the event so I threw a Fire-Belly Changling in as a placeholder so I could do some test matches before the event stated. Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the placeholder when I added the the 4th Molder Slug. Had the placeholder card been removed as intended there would not have been a shape shifter majority, making it a valid slug deck.
Anyway, great article as always.
I love that this is viable. I am also happy that Daze has already gone down to about 6 tix since Masques is going to be released....This kind of deck makes.me.so.happy.
I might actually join a DE with this....
Thanks again, Mikey.
For being willing to cover something else.
I am the person who started the Modern clan that Blippy mentioned too.
However, I am writing something to submit to Mr. Claytor by monday.
You can cover it more if you want to, but I plan on doing so.
I appreciate your hard work on this series, sir. Have a wonderful weekend of house repairs!!
AND...you are right. Not a single Modern DE (SE whatever) has fired since 10/3, but there are 2-man and 8-mans firing.
Man you'd think I didn't even bring slugs to this event. :/
First off, I apologize for 'attacking' you. Attribute it to being the first thing I read this morning, and before my brain had entirely kicked in. What can I say? I'm a grumpy old fart. :)
So...
Hi! We play Modern format on MTGO on Saturdays at 1200 GMT (euro-friendly time slot) and Mondays at 830PM Eastern (US-friendly time slot). The tournament format is 1v1 single elimination. You can join by coming to the /join Overdrive! (with the !) chat room in the hour prior to the event, and PMing me your decklist. You can find out more about these events - including winning & runner-up decklists - here:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75846/28525551/Alphabot_presents:_Eurodrive!_~_1v1_Modern_Single_Elimination_~_Saturdays_@_1200_GMT
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75846/28222469/Alphabot_presents:_Overdrive!_~_1v1_Modern_Single_Elimination_~_Mondays_@_830PM_EST530PM_PST
Please feel free to come join us! If I knew your MTGO playername, I could also PM you my "hour to go" message, which I do to everyone on my buddy list.
Modern is also played at these events, but I have no details:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75846/28274697/Modern_SilverBlack_-_Wed_6:30pm_EST_(22:30_UTC)_-_30tix_in_Prizes_-_Sponsored_by_The_MTGO_Bazaar
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75846/28725273/Modern_PDC_1....!
EDIT: I have no clue why it auto-linked the last, but not the first 3. Or why it didn't "wrap" the long lines.
Sorry, thought Dual Nature only effected the controller. Not nearly as good as I wanted it to be. My bad.
Wow... lost for words here. Especially since I'm a huge fan of LSV and Conley as well.
Thanks for the support!
Just wanted to let you know that you are currently #3 on my list of most entertaining people to watch draft vids of.
#1 LSV
#2 Conley Woods
#3 Ricardo Longo
#4 Brian Kibler
#5 Owen Turtenwald
That's some pretty good company my man.
Thanks for making these for us and all the time you put in!
So yeaaa...
Okay, I'll face the facts:
Sanctioned daily and premier events:
Standard: 40+ per week
Momir, Block and Pauper: around 30 per week
Classic: an average of 2 per week.
Modern: in the last month, zero online, but Worlds
Legacy: zero
Singleton, 100 card singleton, etc: also zero
I only track sanctioned events played for prizes, whether those are online or major paper events like SCG Opens, GPs or Pro Tours. I also occassionally talk about minor events that I am personally playing in, like drafts or the Classic League, when something interesting happens.
I don't try to report on PREs or local store tourneys, or store FNM events. I avoid these for a number of resaons. First, the larger the event, and the higher the cost to enter, the more likely that the winning decks will be serious staples of the metagame, and not a fluke. Second, finding decklists for these other events is usually a lot of trouble, and takes a lot more time than I have available. Third, I provide metagame coverage so people have some idea what they might face in onine dailies and PEs. If there are no DEs and PEs, I don't tend to cover it.
I also tend to cover formats that I understand and play. I don't play Pauper, so I don't cover it. (I also passed on that format because several other writers on this site were covering it quite well.)
FWIW, I have played a fair amount of Classic, a lot of standard, tons of limited, maybe a dozen sanctioned block matches and a couple sanctioned Pauper matches in the last year. I have also sat in some modern queues that didn't fire. However, I don't recall playing any serious Legacy in the past year. I'm not sure how that makes me a "legacy fanatic."
After Worlds, I included the Modern decks coming out of that event in cutting edge tech. I covered a few decks in the weeks leading up to worlds, too. After worlds, there have been no events which report results and decklists that I can find. I have no bias against other formats - when something significant happens in any format, I will report on it. However, PREs are not significant in and of themselves.
A suggestion - and this goes for everyone - if you want your format covered, instead of ripping into me for not finding you, try inviting me into your format. A simple message saying something like "Hi. we play ~this format~ here, at ~time~. You can enter by ~doing this~, and you can find out about the format and the decks ~here~. Please join us." works a whole lot better than an ad hominem attack. It worked for the Classic League.
Here's the deal: I'll mention anything that might interest the readers - just let me know. I'll provide cutting edge tech for anything I'm sure is the real deal. It's the real deal if it does really well at a large event (e.g. a 500 player SCG open, or a 1500 player GP), or even a PE. I will also report interesting decks from Dailies, if I know enough about the format to understand the deck. And if I play in something else, like a league, a cube draft or a PRE, and I think it's worth talking up, I'll cover that, too. It may not be cutting edge tech, though - it might just be a weekly highlight or the like.
one caveat, though: if you want something included, let me know early in the week, and I will try to squeeze something in.
PRJ
pete.jahn@gmail.com
"Modern: Modern was played at Worlds. It has not been played since"
"Modern prices are moving around – a fair amount of churn given that the format is not doing anything at all."
Lies! Untruths! Both of these statements are patently false!
While the DEs (Now SEs) have not fired (yet), the sanctioned 8-mans and 2-mans HAVE fired. A lot. And the non-sanctioned PREs (Overdrive!, Eurodrive!, SilverBlack, & Modern PDC) are alive & well, and gathering players left and right. In fact, there is so much interest, and so many requests, I am considering giving up my Sundays for yet *ANOTHER* Modern PRE in a more conventional style.
Modern discussion & development is in full swing on the non-wizards forums I frequent, and are some of the most active sections in those forums. I'm seeing many interesting and potentially powerful "rogue brews" coming through my doors. A Modern "clan" has formed on one.
While I understand your "anti-Modern bias", with you being a Legacy fanatic and all, you are spreading rumours that have no basis in fact. Take off your Legacy-tinted glasses! Look at what's actually happening in the Modern world instead of pointing to the SEs and saying "Look, Ma! No Modern!"
Harry Potter TCG? You're a wizard, Jace!
while your correct, you can not play those lands on t1 and tap them for mana.
Hmm, I think the last 2 mana producing lands were the common Ravnica bounce lands for each guild and before them there was Temple of the False God, so no, it wasn't as far back as Exodus that they were willing to try 2 mana lands. =p
One either likes Classic and plays, or doesn't. It isn't just "I don't have Forces, I won't play because I can't play blue". Getting into Classic takes a lot of grit. Earning through DEs and 2-mans is a good way to accumulate a collection IF you're a good enough player. Being a part of a Classic-focused clan is also nice as once you build relationships, very often you can borrow cards to fill out decks. Once you understand the format, you can build decks that penetrate the meta's weak points. Then once you're "into" Classic, you start watching the market and buying and selling to help your collection grow, especially if you don't play other formats.
The thing I like, which others like Naoto probably don't, is that blue ISN'T king in Classic. It's good and viable, but so are Dredge and Shops. I like how it isn't a "play blue or go home" format. It makes it a heck of a lot easier for new players to break in.
@Naoto, awesome work here. =)
Thanks for pointing that out Joe! And even more congratulations to Mr. WhatNow!! :-)