I still find myself disagreeing with the same things I didn't like in your last build. I think the grottoes hurt your mana development and are unnecessary in 2 colours. I think you fail to commit to the theme. What it needs is more evasion and more things to do with 1 mana. I believe you need less forbidden alchemy and more ghoulcaller's chant. Delver of Secrets gives you options for evasion and against ww flyers so you avoid bulking out the deck with stuff that's not part of the theme, myrs, scarecrows etc. I think you also underestimate Walking Corpse in this deck to achieve a critical mass of Zombies. The more you try to make this a control deck the less zombies are the right choice, this should curve out as an aggro deck.
ymmv
I prefer DEs too but I haven't been able to play much and this time I was only able to join an 8 man, which was about to fire, instead of waiting about 2 hours for the daily and play for 3+ hours after that.
Maybe you're correct. It's just that I haven't played many times against Pod that I'm still learning the match up.
I don't think "Caw" ever meant bird specifically. I was always under the impression it was the sound a bird would make, and just helped make a good name for a deck with Squadron Hawks in it. This is a really nice report by the way. I try and stay away from 8 mans because the EV just isn't as good as DEs, but I do sneak some in on occasion.
I also think your match 3 sideboarding plan should have possibly been different. I like the 7 cards you're bringing in, but I'm not sure about the ones you're taking out. Perhaps just taking out the 4 Haunting and 3 Swords would have been stronger, and allowed you to play a more controlling position. Sphinx/Snapcaster/Zenith can certainly go the distance by themselves, and if you've got more counters you're eventually just going to shut down all pod's threats. Testing would have to confirm this, but it seems like the route I'd go.
I have formed a clan dedicated to Modern format (inspired by whiffypenguin's Clan Magic Eternal). We have 31 members and we have been running the 2-mans. I know this is no where near alive, but I have noticed it is easier to get a duel lately (could be the upcoming PTQ season.).
I am working on an article to submit this week, if I can find time to do REAL editing.
The Modern Events not firing are due to a couple of misperceptions created by the early stages of the format and the ban list.
1) Modern is a combo oriented format.
This was true, but banning Rite of Flame, Ponder, and Preordain really helped. Storm is still a t3 deck sometimes, but a lot easier to control (g1 it punts to Rule of Law or Canonist, g2 it has to draw an out or a Thoughtseize to fight those cards plus Mindbreak Trap)
2) Zoo is dominant.
Again, this is true, and the mana bases allow Zoo to meta game the same way a control deck does. It is still an aggro deck that loses to a fair amount of disruption. Again, banning GSZ was a good idea.
3) You need Tarmogoyf to be competitive
This one baffles me. Tarmo is the most efficient beater ever printed, I am not questioning that. What ever happened to all the people who used to say, "Creature is terrible because it dies to everything." While he doesn't auto-die to burn spells, he literally dies to every single :B: "destroy target creature" spell ever printed. Yes, he requires an answer, but there are many trumps if you can survive initial onslaughts of creatures.
I am working on starting a Modern league (inspired by MMOG). I already have some prizes put together but I will accept more (lol).
If anyone is interested in the clan, modern, or my league, please email me @ apaulogy@gmail.com
tweet me @apaulogy
The odd thing is that Modern fracturing the Legacy community and then commiting seppuku (because people hate combo-based formats) has meant that Classic is doing better now than it has in years. It is firing 3+ events a week now, more than any non-STD non-budget format. The format is powerful and diverse and I would love to see more people join us for events!
Great outlook - I think the 'legates' will see play out of aggro sideboards. Much rather have infect on the rise than the 'slow paced droolings' of Izzet post.
The reason me and other people call this caw blade is because it's similar to the caw blade deck. Just like people keep calling RW deck boros or UWB esper even though the sets with the guilds and shards aren't even legal in Standard!
One of the (few) good features of the client is being able to reverse the sort order by clicking on the deckname column header, so you could have simply brought Zombies rule to the top with one extra click.
In draft #2, again, I disagree with a lot of your picks.
P1P2: You seem to significantly overvalue the banshee. Usually it's a terrible pick, and taking it 2nd overall is pretty bad. That said, that pack was crap, and the only other choice was Village Bellringers. Also, BW is one of the best color combinations overall, so it's reasonable in context.
P1P3: This is Reckless Waif, every time. Waif is one of the best cards in the format, and you take it over everything except win-on-their-own bombs or big-money rares. And the rest of that pack was crap anyway. Vampire Interloper is something you NEVER want to take pick 3, it's a 5-8 kind of pick. The 2nd pick here is Rolling Tremblor, 3rd is Doomed Traveler, 4th is probably a toss up between Neonate and Interloper and Cathar, depending on your colors. But Waif is a no brainer, by a huge margin.
P1P4: The best cards here are 1) Darkthicket Wolf, 2) Spider Spawning (unless you know you're playing black, then maybe Spawning first), 3) tie between Ambush Viper and Victim of the Night, 4) Past in Flames (Burning Vengeance decks are viable in draft, and if you have it, this value shoots way up obviously).
P1P5: The best cards here are 1) Avacyan's Pilgram, 2) Rolling Tremblor, 3) Abattoir Ghoul. If you'd taken the Waif and Wolf, then you'd be really happy to take the pilgrim here, looking to make a GRw deck.
P1P7: You say you don't think BW is very good, but it can be amazing. Rebuke is the only choice here regardless.
P1P12: Cathar every time. It might actually make your deck, and hell, you already picked the Banshee. Spare From Evil is a possibility, it has an outside chance. The curse will pretty much never get played.
P2P2: If you hadn't been forcing black, you'd obviously take the priest here instead. With the BW deck the unburial rights is probably the right call.
P2P3: This is pretty much Darkthicket Wolf or Caravan Vigil (based on you being in green). Blue looks REALLY open too. Silent Departure is not a bad choice here. The fensnake shouldn't be taken much higher than halfway through, certainly not pick 3.
P2P4: This pick is more sensitive to what came before. If you took Silent Departure P3 and are moving into blue, then it's all Goliath here. For the RGw deck, it's the Crossway Vampire. This early you're counting on getting enough red to justify double red, and the other picks aren't good enough to pull you away from it.
P2P5: This is Ambush Viper followed by Pitchburn Devils. The Devils are obviously better with sac outlets, and you can usually pick them up later. If you took blue, and you're doing BWu then Feeling of Dread is solid here. Altar's Reap is a terrible pick here as this draft demonstrates--you easily got two more later.
P2P6: If you've moved into blue, take Curiosity. If you're in green, take the Spiders.
P2P7: And now you're kicking yourself for not taking the mythic, as the burning vengeance shows up. Oh well, 20/20 hindsight. This is a tough pick between Prey Upon and the Villagers. Since you took the pilgrim P1P5, the value of the villagers goes up--the potential T1 Pilgrim, T2 Villagers, T3 flip is so powerful.
P2P8: Spidery Grasp all the way.
P2P9: If you've taken the blue route, then you take the delver. If you're on the GRw track, you take the clutches.
P2P10: Ahh, this is what's great about GR drafting, you get great playable cards 10th pick! Feral Ridgewolf all the way.
P2P11: And again! Furor of the Bitten, although it's close with Caravan Vigil, since we are doing 3 colors.
P2P12: You might play the revelers, depends on if we pick up a Rakish Heir pack 3.
P2P13: Now hopefully we took the Furor and can pick up a Vigil 13th pick!
P3P3: Again, you're taking the interloper WAY too high. You want to be grabbing these like 5th+ unless the rest of the choices suck. You have a Hauberk, so this is Sentry all the way.
P3P5: Now we get a shot at the cultist; if we took the Pitchburn Devils P2P5 then take the cultist, otherwise the Harvest Pyre. For your BW deck, I think the Manor Skeleton is the correct choice here.
P3P6: Seeing as how we took a Priest P2P2, we take our 2nd Rebuke here instead.
P3P7: We practically shit ourselves getting an Outlaw this late. And here's our shot at a 2nd Burning Vengeance--that deck was totally doable.
P3P8: Since we already have a Spidery Grasp, and other good removal, we go ahead and pick up a cobbled wings here. The scarecrow is fine for what you built, but for the RGW deck, the cobbled wings are better.
P3P9: Again, super happy to pick up an Orcahard Spirit here.
P3P10: We'll take the Grave Bramble, just in case. Nothing much else good here anyway.
P3P13: We'll take the Bramble Crush, again fine SB card.
Ok, and now the final RGW Deck:
1-Drops:
Avacyan Pilgrim
Reckless Waif
Caravan Vigil
Furor of the Bitten
Amazingly enough, Harvest Pyre, Spidery Grasp, and Cobbled Wings wind up in the SB. The mana can be a tiny bit funky, but with the pilgrim and the vigil it should work out (and BTW that's why 6 forests and 4 plains rather than 5/5). Anyway, this deck can realistically win on Turn 4. If you play Outlaw Turn 3, and then he flips and you play and equip the Hauberk turn 4, that's 14 (likely unblockable) damage on Turn 4. If you connected with a flipped waif on T2 and T3, that's game. Between the Priest, the Bonds, the Crossway Vampires, and the Clutches, you should take down most opponents before they stabilize, and you still have some decent late game with the Monk, the Hauberk and the Sentry. A flipped Sentry with the Hauberk is a 9/6 Trampler, possibly attacking T4 (with a Pilgrim to accelerate). Also, a T2 Villagers on the play and the game is often over before it started. Also remember that Ambush Vipers and Midnight Haunting are excellent ways to flip your dudes--do nothing on your turn with wasting a turn by playing on your opponents turn.
At any rate, your BW deck would probably lose before the Morkut Banshee/Unburial Rites engine was able to grind out the card advantage it needs to win. A T1 Reckless Waif would have put you on 14 or 11 life pretty fast. T1 Waif- T2 Furor- T3 Crossway- T4 Clutches - T5 Flashback Clutches line of play is pretty brutal.
And finally I would point out that it's impossible to say what other good RG cards would have come by Packs 2&3 if you'd been drafting this way.
Oh, and it's interesting to watch the videos and debate the picks. If I didn't make it clear earlier, thanks for taking the time to make them!
EDIT: Oh, and see the previous draft where I actually recommended cards that I chastise you on here. The difference? Pick number. I recommended a Rotting Fensnake like pick 11 or so, and a Vampire Interloper pick 5. That's where you want to get those cards, but not before pick 5 usually, which you did a couple of times here.
I haven't watched through draft #2 yet, but in the first one, it seems like you failed to appreciate the advantage of speed. That said, the picks you questioned yourself on I think were right. Taking the Moorland Haunt is, I believe, the correct choice, and taking the Bloodline Keeper is *also* the correct choice. However, trying to actually shoehorn the keeper into your deck was a really *REALLY* bad idea. However, if you'd made better choices earlier, you would have had an amazing BWg deck:
P1P3: After getting Garruk, money drafting would not be unreasonable, and snatching up all the duals wouldn't be a bad idea. Once you're in WG the cleaver is really good, but I think the priest is the right call.
P1P6: The grizzled outcasts are a bad card that you will have plenty of opportunity to grab later. Tribute to Hunger or Ashenmouth Hound are the good choices here. As it turns out you will lots of opportunities to grab good red cards, but you wind up opening the black bomb.
P1P10: Markov Patrician is the clear choice here.
P2P3: If you'd taken the Tribute and the Patrician previously, then this becomes Victim of Night, easily.
P2P6: When hate drafting, take the things that will cause you trouble. You have passed a number of neonates, so take the Crossway Vampire so you don't get blown out by aggressive red decks.
P2P9: Woodland Sleuth is very so-so, and you'll probably get another crack. Mask should be the clear choice.
P2P11: The Rotting Fensnake is the clear choice here. It would actually be a playable card if you'd taken the previous black cards.
P2P12: You're playing humans, hate draft the hasty vampires.
P3P5: As great as the Sentries are, at this point you need to be watching your curve, and if you'd been building up black along the way, then the Interlopers or the Alters Reap are the right choices; given the BLKeeper, take the interloper.
P3P7: Cloistered Youth is almost always the pick here, and given your high curve it definitely is. After that, given your potential mana problems, take the Spirit over the Geist. You might also take the Cannibals in order to even out your colors (if you'd been taking black all along).
In the end, you wind up with an amazing BWg deck, splashing green for Garruk, Gavony Township, Orchard Spirit, Hamlet Captain, and maybe a Grizzled Outcasts (but probably not). You have plenty of removal, 3 huge bombs that can win the game on their own (Garruk, BLK, and Township), a solid curve and reasonable mana.
Bloodline Keeper
Garruk Relentless
Galvanic Juggernaut
Slayer of the Wicked
Mausoleum Guard
Rotting Fensnake
17 Lands:
Gavony Township
8 Plains
5 Swamps
3 Forests
As you'll see, you've got 17 creatures, 3 of which double as removal, plus 3 removal spells (Victim, Tribute, and Garruk). You have very solid early, aggressive plays (T1 Traveler, T2 Youth, T3 flip youth, play and equip dagger, attack for 7 etc). You have plenty of evasion, and with Patrician and Tribute you're in a good position to race anybody, and with the Amulet, a decent number of artifacts, and a low curve (nothing over 4) you should have no mana problems. Play 17 lands because we count Township as a spell here and because we have double mana in 2 colors. Finally, you have enough 1 and 2 drops that fast Werewolf decks won't catch you with your pants down, and if your opponents hickup it'll be over before it's started.
Against slower decks, side out the dagger for the Hauberk. Against decks with lots of flying, obviously bring in the cobbled wings.
ok normally i dont comment much on the draft videos but the first draft was terrible. You were passed two TWO travel preparations and still were too obsessed with splshing a double black lord of lineage? really?!? c'mon man focus. You were passed a pretty sick WG deck and threw it away for stupid fantasies.
How do you feel about the 5 titans and wurmcoil then? Living Death? Dual lands are pretty ubiquitous too and without them the sketchy 3-5 color decks surely would falter.
There are literally hundreds of cards that are shoehornable into Tribal Wars. People will bring whatever degeneracy they can think of and afford and it is the rare person who plays for style points rather than just the win.
I have seen few stoneforge mystics in comparison to primeval titan and the unique Eldrazi. I have seen a lot of swords but that is probably because they tend to be a nice maindeck sideboard against certain archetypes and THAT is what makes TWL so hard and interesting. The lack of an actual sideboard means you have to predict the meta very carefully.
Swords help sidestep that a little. Are they bannable? No more imho than Moat was. That isn't saying much since apparently people whined until it was banned. So maybe if people make enough noises all the other objectionable cards will be banned as well.
I agree that Glimpse was one of the most powerful things you can do in tribal. I mainly avoided it because it's best in elves and I don't like playing elves.
Stoneforge Mystic is not broken, and it is not great in every tribe. It's good in small weenie tribes. It's not so great in big creature tribes. Angels, Giants, and Dragons don't necessarily need equipment to make them better. Ramp decks don't really need them either.
Also, equipment can be dealt with reasonably well with Maze of Ith in any deck. Compared with everything else that has been banned, Stoneforge Mystic doesn't really compare. You are never going to win on turn 2 with a Stoneforge Mystic. It just makes for a strong turn 2 play.
A little more on the subject of Stoneforge, and again I have taken a huge break from the format so this is just based on my experience...Stoneforge is not overpowered in any particular archetype, it is just very powerful in nearly every archetype. Again, this goes just by personal experiences, but I feel like a very big part of the metagame is off-tribe stoneforge and swords package attached to 20 bodies to carry the sword on. I am not sure this would warrant a banning, but it should definitely have attention called to it. If people were playing Kor or Artifacers I do not think I would see anything from them using the best one, but because it is so easily attached to any tribe and will make the deck better 95% of the time, I feel like it should have attention brought to it.
My guess is after the initial excitement of something new to do online people were just not that into it. Classic is the same thing but according to many players, better. Modern isn't filling the gap that well but it does have a solid core of casual players. Legacy is really a competitor's format but doesn't have enough unique attractiveness to keep up the tension and energy. (This is all just wild guessing on my part.)
The other possibility is the lack of advertisement. Duals WERE insane for a while and some of the rush to join the legacy crowd online might have been blunted by that. That they have dropped to very reasonable prices isn't getting through to those who might be interested in the DEs and PEs. (Again wildly guessing.)
I don't know why Legacy events aren't firing (I don't play it myself), but it can't be supply, because there are plenty of duals for sale at MTGOTraders, and at historically low prices. Maybe everyone's waiting for Masques? I'd say it was Modern, but those events aren't firing either. Curious...
There are answers to the swords cycle. They are certainly painful to play against and I wouldn't be that sad to be unable to play my one Sword of the Body & Mind but I think many players would be. I am loath to suggest more bannings. Especially when there is no ONE deck that just dominates with that strategy.
I still find myself disagreeing with the same things I didn't like in your last build. I think the grottoes hurt your mana development and are unnecessary in 2 colours. I think you fail to commit to the theme. What it needs is more evasion and more things to do with 1 mana. I believe you need less forbidden alchemy and more ghoulcaller's chant. Delver of Secrets gives you options for evasion and against ww flyers so you avoid bulking out the deck with stuff that's not part of the theme, myrs, scarecrows etc. I think you also underestimate Walking Corpse in this deck to achieve a critical mass of Zombies. The more you try to make this a control deck the less zombies are the right choice, this should curve out as an aggro deck.
ymmv
I prefer DEs too but I haven't been able to play much and this time I was only able to join an 8 man, which was about to fire, instead of waiting about 2 hours for the daily and play for 3+ hours after that.
Maybe you're correct. It's just that I haven't played many times against Pod that I'm still learning the match up.
I don't think "Caw" ever meant bird specifically. I was always under the impression it was the sound a bird would make, and just helped make a good name for a deck with Squadron Hawks in it. This is a really nice report by the way. I try and stay away from 8 mans because the EV just isn't as good as DEs, but I do sneak some in on occasion.
I also think your match 3 sideboarding plan should have possibly been different. I like the 7 cards you're bringing in, but I'm not sure about the ones you're taking out. Perhaps just taking out the 4 Haunting and 3 Swords would have been stronger, and allowed you to play a more controlling position. Sphinx/Snapcaster/Zenith can certainly go the distance by themselves, and if you've got more counters you're eventually just going to shut down all pod's threats. Testing would have to confirm this, but it seems like the route I'd go.
this is the truth. very strange but true.
I have formed a clan dedicated to Modern format (inspired by whiffypenguin's Clan Magic Eternal). We have 31 members and we have been running the 2-mans. I know this is no where near alive, but I have noticed it is easier to get a duel lately (could be the upcoming PTQ season.).
I am working on an article to submit this week, if I can find time to do REAL editing.
The Modern Events not firing are due to a couple of misperceptions created by the early stages of the format and the ban list.
1) Modern is a combo oriented format.
This was true, but banning Rite of Flame, Ponder, and Preordain really helped. Storm is still a t3 deck sometimes, but a lot easier to control (g1 it punts to Rule of Law or Canonist, g2 it has to draw an out or a Thoughtseize to fight those cards plus Mindbreak Trap)
2) Zoo is dominant.
Again, this is true, and the mana bases allow Zoo to meta game the same way a control deck does. It is still an aggro deck that loses to a fair amount of disruption. Again, banning GSZ was a good idea.
3) You need Tarmogoyf to be competitive
This one baffles me. Tarmo is the most efficient beater ever printed, I am not questioning that. What ever happened to all the people who used to say, "Creature is terrible because it dies to everything." While he doesn't auto-die to burn spells, he literally dies to every single :B: "destroy target creature" spell ever printed. Yes, he requires an answer, but there are many trumps if you can survive initial onslaughts of creatures.
I am working on starting a Modern league (inspired by MMOG). I already have some prizes put together but I will accept more (lol).
If anyone is interested in the clan, modern, or my league, please email me @ apaulogy@gmail.com
tweet me @apaulogy
I am just happy about all of these. Here is hoping the drafts can pick up enough people to actually make a significant spike in supply of these cards.
The odd thing is that Modern fracturing the Legacy community and then commiting seppuku (because people hate combo-based formats) has meant that Classic is doing better now than it has in years. It is firing 3+ events a week now, more than any non-STD non-budget format. The format is powerful and diverse and I would love to see more people join us for events!
Great outlook - I think the 'legates' will see play out of aggro sideboards. Much rather have infect on the rise than the 'slow paced droolings' of Izzet post.
The reason me and other people call this caw blade is because it's similar to the caw blade deck. Just like people keep calling RW deck boros or UWB esper even though the sets with the guilds and shards aren't even legal in Standard!
Just a nitpick, but I don't see a single Caw (bird) in the deck? I thought "Caw" - by definition - meant bird...
Nice read!
Keep them coming.
One of the (few) good features of the client is being able to reverse the sort order by clicking on the deckname column header, so you could have simply brought Zombies rule to the top with one extra click.
In draft #2, again, I disagree with a lot of your picks.
P1P2: You seem to significantly overvalue the banshee. Usually it's a terrible pick, and taking it 2nd overall is pretty bad. That said, that pack was crap, and the only other choice was Village Bellringers. Also, BW is one of the best color combinations overall, so it's reasonable in context.
P1P3: This is Reckless Waif, every time. Waif is one of the best cards in the format, and you take it over everything except win-on-their-own bombs or big-money rares. And the rest of that pack was crap anyway. Vampire Interloper is something you NEVER want to take pick 3, it's a 5-8 kind of pick. The 2nd pick here is Rolling Tremblor, 3rd is Doomed Traveler, 4th is probably a toss up between Neonate and Interloper and Cathar, depending on your colors. But Waif is a no brainer, by a huge margin.
P1P4: The best cards here are 1) Darkthicket Wolf, 2) Spider Spawning (unless you know you're playing black, then maybe Spawning first), 3) tie between Ambush Viper and Victim of the Night, 4) Past in Flames (Burning Vengeance decks are viable in draft, and if you have it, this value shoots way up obviously).
P1P5: The best cards here are 1) Avacyan's Pilgram, 2) Rolling Tremblor, 3) Abattoir Ghoul. If you'd taken the Waif and Wolf, then you'd be really happy to take the pilgrim here, looking to make a GRw deck.
P1P7: You say you don't think BW is very good, but it can be amazing. Rebuke is the only choice here regardless.
P1P12: Cathar every time. It might actually make your deck, and hell, you already picked the Banshee. Spare From Evil is a possibility, it has an outside chance. The curse will pretty much never get played.
P2P2: If you hadn't been forcing black, you'd obviously take the priest here instead. With the BW deck the unburial rights is probably the right call.
P2P3: This is pretty much Darkthicket Wolf or Caravan Vigil (based on you being in green). Blue looks REALLY open too. Silent Departure is not a bad choice here. The fensnake shouldn't be taken much higher than halfway through, certainly not pick 3.
P2P4: This pick is more sensitive to what came before. If you took Silent Departure P3 and are moving into blue, then it's all Goliath here. For the RGw deck, it's the Crossway Vampire. This early you're counting on getting enough red to justify double red, and the other picks aren't good enough to pull you away from it.
P2P5: This is Ambush Viper followed by Pitchburn Devils. The Devils are obviously better with sac outlets, and you can usually pick them up later. If you took blue, and you're doing BWu then Feeling of Dread is solid here. Altar's Reap is a terrible pick here as this draft demonstrates--you easily got two more later.
P2P6: If you've moved into blue, take Curiosity. If you're in green, take the Spiders.
P2P7: And now you're kicking yourself for not taking the mythic, as the burning vengeance shows up. Oh well, 20/20 hindsight. This is a tough pick between Prey Upon and the Villagers. Since you took the pilgrim P1P5, the value of the villagers goes up--the potential T1 Pilgrim, T2 Villagers, T3 flip is so powerful.
P2P8: Spidery Grasp all the way.
P2P9: If you've taken the blue route, then you take the delver. If you're on the GRw track, you take the clutches.
P2P10: Ahh, this is what's great about GR drafting, you get great playable cards 10th pick! Feral Ridgewolf all the way.
P2P11: And again! Furor of the Bitten, although it's close with Caravan Vigil, since we are doing 3 colors.
P2P12: You might play the revelers, depends on if we pick up a Rakish Heir pack 3.
P2P13: Now hopefully we took the Furor and can pick up a Vigil 13th pick!
P3P3: Again, you're taking the interloper WAY too high. You want to be grabbing these like 5th+ unless the rest of the choices suck. You have a Hauberk, so this is Sentry all the way.
P3P5: Now we get a shot at the cultist; if we took the Pitchburn Devils P2P5 then take the cultist, otherwise the Harvest Pyre. For your BW deck, I think the Manor Skeleton is the correct choice here.
P3P6: Seeing as how we took a Priest P2P2, we take our 2nd Rebuke here instead.
P3P7: We practically shit ourselves getting an Outlaw this late. And here's our shot at a 2nd Burning Vengeance--that deck was totally doable.
P3P8: Since we already have a Spidery Grasp, and other good removal, we go ahead and pick up a cobbled wings here. The scarecrow is fine for what you built, but for the RGW deck, the cobbled wings are better.
P3P9: Again, super happy to pick up an Orcahard Spirit here.
P3P10: We'll take the Grave Bramble, just in case. Nothing much else good here anyway.
P3P13: We'll take the Bramble Crush, again fine SB card.
Ok, and now the final RGW Deck:
1-Drops:
Avacyan Pilgrim
Reckless Waif
Caravan Vigil
Furor of the Bitten
2-Drops:
Avacyan Priest
2x Darkthicket Wlf
2x Ambush Viper
Bonds of Faith
Nightbird Clutches
3-Drops
Kruin Outlaw
Villagers of Estwald
Crossway Vampire
Feral Ridgewolf
Orchard Spirit
2x Rebuke
Midnight Haunting
4-Drops
Demonmail Hauberk
Thraben Sentry
Mausoleum Guard
5-Drops
Geist-Honored Monk
Lands
7 Mountain
6 Forest
4 Plains
Amazingly enough, Harvest Pyre, Spidery Grasp, and Cobbled Wings wind up in the SB. The mana can be a tiny bit funky, but with the pilgrim and the vigil it should work out (and BTW that's why 6 forests and 4 plains rather than 5/5). Anyway, this deck can realistically win on Turn 4. If you play Outlaw Turn 3, and then he flips and you play and equip the Hauberk turn 4, that's 14 (likely unblockable) damage on Turn 4. If you connected with a flipped waif on T2 and T3, that's game. Between the Priest, the Bonds, the Crossway Vampires, and the Clutches, you should take down most opponents before they stabilize, and you still have some decent late game with the Monk, the Hauberk and the Sentry. A flipped Sentry with the Hauberk is a 9/6 Trampler, possibly attacking T4 (with a Pilgrim to accelerate). Also, a T2 Villagers on the play and the game is often over before it started. Also remember that Ambush Vipers and Midnight Haunting are excellent ways to flip your dudes--do nothing on your turn with wasting a turn by playing on your opponents turn.
At any rate, your BW deck would probably lose before the Morkut Banshee/Unburial Rites engine was able to grind out the card advantage it needs to win. A T1 Reckless Waif would have put you on 14 or 11 life pretty fast. T1 Waif- T2 Furor- T3 Crossway- T4 Clutches - T5 Flashback Clutches line of play is pretty brutal.
And finally I would point out that it's impossible to say what other good RG cards would have come by Packs 2&3 if you'd been drafting this way.
Oh, and it's interesting to watch the videos and debate the picks. If I didn't make it clear earlier, thanks for taking the time to make them!
EDIT: Oh, and see the previous draft where I actually recommended cards that I chastise you on here. The difference? Pick number. I recommended a Rotting Fensnake like pick 11 or so, and a Vampire Interloper pick 5. That's where you want to get those cards, but not before pick 5 usually, which you did a couple of times here.
I haven't watched through draft #2 yet, but in the first one, it seems like you failed to appreciate the advantage of speed. That said, the picks you questioned yourself on I think were right. Taking the Moorland Haunt is, I believe, the correct choice, and taking the Bloodline Keeper is *also* the correct choice. However, trying to actually shoehorn the keeper into your deck was a really *REALLY* bad idea. However, if you'd made better choices earlier, you would have had an amazing BWg deck:
P1P3: After getting Garruk, money drafting would not be unreasonable, and snatching up all the duals wouldn't be a bad idea. Once you're in WG the cleaver is really good, but I think the priest is the right call.
P1P6: The grizzled outcasts are a bad card that you will have plenty of opportunity to grab later. Tribute to Hunger or Ashenmouth Hound are the good choices here. As it turns out you will lots of opportunities to grab good red cards, but you wind up opening the black bomb.
P1P10: Markov Patrician is the clear choice here.
P2P3: If you'd taken the Tribute and the Patrician previously, then this becomes Victim of Night, easily.
P2P6: When hate drafting, take the things that will cause you trouble. You have passed a number of neonates, so take the Crossway Vampire so you don't get blown out by aggressive red decks.
P2P9: Woodland Sleuth is very so-so, and you'll probably get another crack. Mask should be the clear choice.
P2P11: The Rotting Fensnake is the clear choice here. It would actually be a playable card if you'd taken the previous black cards.
P2P12: You're playing humans, hate draft the hasty vampires.
P3P5: As great as the Sentries are, at this point you need to be watching your curve, and if you'd been building up black along the way, then the Interlopers or the Alters Reap are the right choices; given the BLKeeper, take the interloper.
P3P7: Cloistered Youth is almost always the pick here, and given your high curve it definitely is. After that, given your potential mana problems, take the Spirit over the Geist. You might also take the Cannibals in order to even out your colors (if you'd been taking black all along).
In the end, you wind up with an amazing BWg deck, splashing green for Garruk, Gavony Township, Orchard Spirit, Hamlet Captain, and maybe a Grizzled Outcasts (but probably not). You have plenty of removal, 3 huge bombs that can win the game on their own (Garruk, BLK, and Township), a solid curve and reasonable mana.
Final deck:
1-Drops:
Doomed Traveler
Selfless Cathar
Silver-Inlaid Dagger
Traveler's Amulet
2-Drops:
Avacyan Priest
Cloistered Youth
Victim of Night
Vampire Interloper
Hamlet Captain
Silverchase Fox
Mask of Avacyan
3-Drops:
Fiend Hunter
Tribute to Hunger
Orchard Spirit
Chapel Geist
Elder Cathar
Markov Patrician
4-Drops
Bloodline Keeper
Garruk Relentless
Galvanic Juggernaut
Slayer of the Wicked
Mausoleum Guard
Rotting Fensnake
17 Lands:
Gavony Township
8 Plains
5 Swamps
3 Forests
As you'll see, you've got 17 creatures, 3 of which double as removal, plus 3 removal spells (Victim, Tribute, and Garruk). You have very solid early, aggressive plays (T1 Traveler, T2 Youth, T3 flip youth, play and equip dagger, attack for 7 etc). You have plenty of evasion, and with Patrician and Tribute you're in a good position to race anybody, and with the Amulet, a decent number of artifacts, and a low curve (nothing over 4) you should have no mana problems. Play 17 lands because we count Township as a spell here and because we have double mana in 2 colors. Finally, you have enough 1 and 2 drops that fast Werewolf decks won't catch you with your pants down, and if your opponents hickup it'll be over before it's started.
Against slower decks, side out the dagger for the Hauberk. Against decks with lots of flying, obviously bring in the cobbled wings.
ok nevermind i commented just from the video. I see you basiclly said the same thing in the paragraph afterwards.
ok normally i dont comment much on the draft videos but the first draft was terrible. You were passed two TWO travel preparations and still were too obsessed with splshing a double black lord of lineage? really?!? c'mon man focus. You were passed a pretty sick WG deck and threw it away for stupid fantasies.
You had way too many 4 drops. I would have taken 2-3 drops that were white/blue and just splash green for garruck. That's just me though.
How do you feel about the 5 titans and wurmcoil then? Living Death? Dual lands are pretty ubiquitous too and without them the sketchy 3-5 color decks surely would falter.
There are literally hundreds of cards that are shoehornable into Tribal Wars. People will bring whatever degeneracy they can think of and afford and it is the rare person who plays for style points rather than just the win.
I have seen few stoneforge mystics in comparison to primeval titan and the unique Eldrazi. I have seen a lot of swords but that is probably because they tend to be a nice maindeck sideboard against certain archetypes and THAT is what makes TWL so hard and interesting. The lack of an actual sideboard means you have to predict the meta very carefully.
Swords help sidestep that a little. Are they bannable? No more imho than Moat was. That isn't saying much since apparently people whined until it was banned. So maybe if people make enough noises all the other objectionable cards will be banned as well.
I agree that Glimpse was one of the most powerful things you can do in tribal. I mainly avoided it because it's best in elves and I don't like playing elves.
Stoneforge Mystic is not broken, and it is not great in every tribe. It's good in small weenie tribes. It's not so great in big creature tribes. Angels, Giants, and Dragons don't necessarily need equipment to make them better. Ramp decks don't really need them either.
Also, equipment can be dealt with reasonably well with Maze of Ith in any deck. Compared with everything else that has been banned, Stoneforge Mystic doesn't really compare. You are never going to win on turn 2 with a Stoneforge Mystic. It just makes for a strong turn 2 play.
A little more on the subject of Stoneforge, and again I have taken a huge break from the format so this is just based on my experience...Stoneforge is not overpowered in any particular archetype, it is just very powerful in nearly every archetype. Again, this goes just by personal experiences, but I feel like a very big part of the metagame is off-tribe stoneforge and swords package attached to 20 bodies to carry the sword on. I am not sure this would warrant a banning, but it should definitely have attention called to it. If people were playing Kor or Artifacers I do not think I would see anything from them using the best one, but because it is so easily attached to any tribe and will make the deck better 95% of the time, I feel like it should have attention brought to it.
Modern killed Legacy, then Modern killed itself. That simple.
My guess is after the initial excitement of something new to do online people were just not that into it. Classic is the same thing but according to many players, better. Modern isn't filling the gap that well but it does have a solid core of casual players. Legacy is really a competitor's format but doesn't have enough unique attractiveness to keep up the tension and energy. (This is all just wild guessing on my part.)
The other possibility is the lack of advertisement. Duals WERE insane for a while and some of the rush to join the legacy crowd online might have been blunted by that. That they have dropped to very reasonable prices isn't getting through to those who might be interested in the DEs and PEs. (Again wildly guessing.)
I don't know why Legacy events aren't firing (I don't play it myself), but it can't be supply, because there are plenty of duals for sale at MTGOTraders, and at historically low prices. Maybe everyone's waiting for Masques? I'd say it was Modern, but those events aren't firing either. Curious...
There are answers to the swords cycle. They are certainly painful to play against and I wouldn't be that sad to be unable to play my one Sword of the Body & Mind but I think many players would be. I am loath to suggest more bannings. Especially when there is no ONE deck that just dominates with that strategy.
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