Good article as innistrad looks to be a seriously fun format. Though Im think of running GU Kessig Cagebreakers/Splinterfright self mill.
The only downgrading is from the decklists. Now I know the cards arent linkable through mtgo traders yet, but you can at least move the text to put it in the right columns...
I hate Dredge. I hate playing with it; I hate playing against it. It often seems like games are blowouts either way. That said, round 2 was epic. Thanks for the continued Classic content!
Best part was Calavera's reaction... he was like, wtf, Dredge!? o.O He totally wasn't expecting you to be playing it. LOL
Alternatively, you could record some videos with commentary as to where you Loot and why. This comes up in "Pro" draft videos as well and they usually are fairly articulate about when to use it and their rationale for what they discard.
If you find it difficult to draft and record, you can find a friend/clanmate and play matches after the draft using the draft deck.
My choice for a sleeper card is Prey Upon. When I first saw Prey Upon, I thought it was a moderately playable limited card. Then I remembered that Phyrexian Obliterator and Wurmcoil Engine are in standard, and now I'm beginning to rethink things. Fight is a very powerful keyword ability and I can't wait to see if there is a "fight" equipment in the next set.
"what was I thinking when I named Realms Uncharted as the best Green card of Rise of the Eldrazi?!"
Eh, I had forgotten about that one! :) I remember being kinda convinced by you about it. I still have my four copies somewhere, although I never played with them a single time! :)
Everybody makes wrong calls, anyway. I think your choice for the sleeper is interesting (btw, even Splinter Twin was a big sleeper, it was just a casual card until Deceiver Exarch showed up; in fact, I bought 4 of them for 0.1 each, then sold months later for 4 tix. Good times).
My most recent prediction success story has to be Consecrated Sphinx. In the beginning, everybody - you included! - doubted it could be even played, let alone become a staple. But I had seen right, and ended up buying my full playset for a little more than half the current price of a single copy!
Interesting article, however red burn is going to change quite a bit with the new standard, so the timing of this article isn't all that convenient.
How can you mention all of the cards red decks fear without mentioning Kor Firewalker or Timely Reinforcements. The reason I stopped playing mono red burn decks in the 2-man standard queues is that I would reasonably often run up against a W/u weenie deck with 4x Firewalkers and 4x Timely Reinforcements and just lose, badly.
Also, Wurmcoil Engine is not an auto-loss. If you have Ember Hauler or Spikeshot Elder on the board, with mana available, you can usually chump block the wurm, kill or sacrifice your guy and prevent the life gain. This gives you more time to burn them out. If they don't attack, it gives you more time to draw enough burn to win or grow your Shrine of Burning Rage enough for the win.
Shrine of Burning Rage is good against an unprepared opponent, but most decks now have answers to it and it is best used as a red herring. I like to play with 2-3 because then my opponents can't side out answers but I'm also not stuck with a bunch of shrines buried under Oblivion Rings and Manic Vandals. Oh yeah, it's probably not going to be that great once Innistrad rotates in and Ancient Grudge comes back.
into the core is pretty amazing. Ive noticed most the standard decks in my local meta than run Wurmcoil also run everflowing chalice so not only do you take a wincon but also some of their excel
Thanks for the feedback! Red Sun's Zenith seems pretty cool, and I found another card I didn't know: Into the Core. These two cards can easily deal with Wurmcoil.
If Zenith put the creature in hand Id be more inclined to see it your way on the tutor analogy. Putting things directly onto the battlefield from hand/grave or library falls into another category imho. As far as the shuffling back goes, it is a cycle that does that so I guess vaguely in the flavor department but the re-usability is important particularly if you are good at manipulating your deck.
If it wasn't relevant in constructed people would have been running Chord of Calling over GSZ even at a higher cost because the convoke discount and instant speed and lack of color requirement, make it superior in every other way.
Or better yet......."There is no I in team, but there is a "me" spelled backwards in every cup we serve! Try "Cup of Team" to Mike Flores the competition.
In the board is about the best red option for Wurmcoil, while still giving you enough flexibility to be useful in other match ups. Try swapping out the Arc Trails for them and give it a run.
Congratulations! You've just invented a new internet meme: cup of team.
I can see it now:
"Sorry, dude, but your decklist is not good enough to get there.
It definitely needs a cup of team."
I was basing my argument on Erik Lauer's explanation of the banning. I think I read too much into the final comment he made about wanting to create diversity among green decks in the format. After rereading his commentary, I see that they are banning it bc it is too powerful and that they hope a side effect is to generate deck diversity.
I agree with banning it from a power level perspective, I just thought they were saying they were banning it for another reason that I wouldn't agree with.
just a note: birthing pod only works at sorcery speed. So your reaper from the abyss shenanigans aren't quite as exciting as you suggested. Still pretty cool though!
Also, I think what's most exciting about unburial rites is that if you mill yourself, you don't mind hitting your fatty and your reanimation spell, because it flashes back!
I meant the functionality of it was a tutor that added consistency without card disadvantage at the cost of mana, to me that's a demonic tutor. It isn't adding value, it just finds the card you need at slightly above cost, similar to demonic tutor, which costs more but also is less restrictive.
Survival is an entire engine, there is almost nothing to compare it to in all honesty.
The shuffling back aspect of the zenith cycle was designed either as flavor or to prevent flashback or some other abuse I can't think of, it is not particularly relevant in constructed since with 60 cards you aren't greatly changing your odds of hitting it multiple times except in very long games.
remember you can Cabal Therapy yourself to get dredgers into the gy. Also, unearthed Fatestitchers will never trigger Bridges from Below, they get exiled as soon as they leave play.
Good article as innistrad looks to be a seriously fun format. Though Im think of running GU Kessig Cagebreakers/Splinterfright self mill.
The only downgrading is from the decklists. Now I know the cards arent linkable through mtgo traders yet, but you can at least move the text to put it in the right columns...
I hate Dredge. I hate playing with it; I hate playing against it. It often seems like games are blowouts either way. That said, round 2 was epic. Thanks for the continued Classic content!
Best part was Calavera's reaction... he was like, wtf, Dredge!? o.O He totally wasn't expecting you to be playing it. LOL
haha. I guess it has been a while since I've posted.
It's runeliger!
I'm also @runeliger on twitter hahha
I knew twin was big waiting its time until they fixed extended. But even so I didn't expect exarch.
Alternatively, you could record some videos with commentary as to where you Loot and why. This comes up in "Pro" draft videos as well and they usually are fairly articulate about when to use it and their rationale for what they discard.
If you find it difficult to draft and record, you can find a friend/clanmate and play matches after the draft using the draft deck.
the jokes stay PG...cause I have some dirty-birdies brewing in my head about Cups o' Team....
This show makes 1/2 hour go by fast. I think there is nice overlap between you guys. That is one reason I like this cast.
nice subtle political commentary (If only I had $400K a year...).
Seb- MTGO user name?
Keya- that is just a filthy sealed pool...here is hoping I open something similar!!!
My choice for a sleeper card is Prey Upon. When I first saw Prey Upon, I thought it was a moderately playable limited card. Then I remembered that Phyrexian Obliterator and Wurmcoil Engine are in standard, and now I'm beginning to rethink things. Fight is a very powerful keyword ability and I can't wait to see if there is a "fight" equipment in the next set.
"what was I thinking when I named Realms Uncharted as the best Green card of Rise of the Eldrazi?!"
Eh, I had forgotten about that one! :) I remember being kinda convinced by you about it. I still have my four copies somewhere, although I never played with them a single time! :)
Everybody makes wrong calls, anyway. I think your choice for the sleeper is interesting (btw, even Splinter Twin was a big sleeper, it was just a casual card until Deceiver Exarch showed up; in fact, I bought 4 of them for 0.1 each, then sold months later for 4 tix. Good times).
My most recent prediction success story has to be Consecrated Sphinx. In the beginning, everybody - you included! - doubted it could be even played, let alone become a staple. But I had seen right, and ended up buying my full playset for a little more than half the current price of a single copy!
Why do you need the Viridian Emissaries with Heartless Summoning to cast a Turn 4 Grave Titan? I guess to ensure that you make your land drops?
Interesting article, however red burn is going to change quite a bit with the new standard, so the timing of this article isn't all that convenient.
How can you mention all of the cards red decks fear without mentioning Kor Firewalker or Timely Reinforcements. The reason I stopped playing mono red burn decks in the 2-man standard queues is that I would reasonably often run up against a W/u weenie deck with 4x Firewalkers and 4x Timely Reinforcements and just lose, badly.
Also, Wurmcoil Engine is not an auto-loss. If you have Ember Hauler or Spikeshot Elder on the board, with mana available, you can usually chump block the wurm, kill or sacrifice your guy and prevent the life gain. This gives you more time to burn them out. If they don't attack, it gives you more time to draw enough burn to win or grow your Shrine of Burning Rage enough for the win.
Shrine of Burning Rage is good against an unprepared opponent, but most decks now have answers to it and it is best used as a red herring. I like to play with 2-3 because then my opponents can't side out answers but I'm also not stuck with a bunch of shrines buried under Oblivion Rings and Manic Vandals. Oh yeah, it's probably not going to be that great once Innistrad rotates in and Ancient Grudge comes back.
into the core is pretty amazing. Ive noticed most the standard decks in my local meta than run Wurmcoil also run everflowing chalice so not only do you take a wincon but also some of their excel
Thanks for the feedback! Red Sun's Zenith seems pretty cool, and I found another card I didn't know: Into the Core. These two cards can easily deal with Wurmcoil.
You clearly put an amazing amount of effort into this! Good job!
great first article.
cup of team is definitely going to be on MTGO alot...if anything by me...
If Zenith put the creature in hand Id be more inclined to see it your way on the tutor analogy. Putting things directly onto the battlefield from hand/grave or library falls into another category imho. As far as the shuffling back goes, it is a cycle that does that so I guess vaguely in the flavor department but the re-usability is important particularly if you are good at manipulating your deck.
If it wasn't relevant in constructed people would have been running Chord of Calling over GSZ even at a higher cost because the convoke discount and instant speed and lack of color requirement, make it superior in every other way.
Or better yet......."There is no I in team, but there is a "me" spelled backwards in every cup we serve! Try "Cup of Team" to Mike Flores the competition.
In the board is about the best red option for Wurmcoil, while still giving you enough flexibility to be useful in other match ups. Try swapping out the Arc Trails for them and give it a run.
Congratulations! You've just invented a new internet meme: cup of team.
I can see it now:
"Sorry, dude, but your decklist is not good enough to get there.
It definitely needs a cup of team."
Maybe two.
Banning Misstep made me happy for nothing other than it made Goblins and High Tide a deck again.
Snapcaster Mage seems good in a lot of decks.
Morale low? Need fuel? "Cup of Team". It kicks your ***.
lolol
Nice article.
@Pete
I agree with your disagreement :D
I was basing my argument on Erik Lauer's explanation of the banning. I think I read too much into the final comment he made about wanting to create diversity among green decks in the format. After rereading his commentary, I see that they are banning it bc it is too powerful and that they hope a side effect is to generate deck diversity.
I agree with banning it from a power level perspective, I just thought they were saying they were banning it for another reason that I wouldn't agree with.
Thanks for listening!
just a note: birthing pod only works at sorcery speed. So your reaper from the abyss shenanigans aren't quite as exciting as you suggested. Still pretty cool though!
Also, I think what's most exciting about unburial rites is that if you mill yourself, you don't mind hitting your fatty and your reanimation spell, because it flashes back!
I meant the functionality of it was a tutor that added consistency without card disadvantage at the cost of mana, to me that's a demonic tutor. It isn't adding value, it just finds the card you need at slightly above cost, similar to demonic tutor, which costs more but also is less restrictive.
Survival is an entire engine, there is almost nothing to compare it to in all honesty.
The shuffling back aspect of the zenith cycle was designed either as flavor or to prevent flashback or some other abuse I can't think of, it is not particularly relevant in constructed since with 60 cards you aren't greatly changing your odds of hitting it multiple times except in very long games.
remember you can Cabal Therapy yourself to get dredgers into the gy. Also, unearthed Fatestitchers will never trigger Bridges from Below, they get exiled as soon as they leave play.