Daze backup? Wow wouldn't that be nice in MODERN? (Its a legacy/classic only card.) Wait no the deck needs all it's slots for the combo cards with no room for cards that just cause a mulligan.
Jace and Stoneforge being put in the same category as Skullclamp is ridiculous, and saying Hypergenesis (always a Turn 3, sometimes turn 2 Combo deck with Daze backup) is a "maybe" is ridiculous.
I think you could probably make a case for banning stoneforge -- Stoneforge decks were certainly tier 1, and were very good (though cards like Ancient Grudge and Bloodbraid Elf are very tough for them to beat). Jace is a powerful card...but at 4CC, it damn well better be.
I could definitely see Artifact Lands, one of the dredge cards, Mental Misstep (still don't understand this ban), Jace, Bitterblossom, and Ancestral Vision getting the unbanned after the pro tour.
The "Red" cards are definitely Hypergenesis, Glimpse, Skullclamp, Top, and part of the Sword/Thopter combo (You could probably make a case for Depths here, but Sword/Thopter was a huge part of what made that deck tick).
Overextended isn't to be ignored, but it really is not the same format; it's similar to trying to extrapolate standard next season based on Scars block decks; you can do it, but it's going to turn out differently than scars block by a bit.
I think he misses the mark on some of his analysis with statements like, "Jace, the Mind Sculptor seems to be paired with Stoneforge since its one of the most played Blue cards in Legacy, making it one of the most powerful cards ever printed."
Now, granted, when you look at the immmense card pool, Jace is certainly in the top .01 percent of cards ever printed, but so is every legacy staple, or just about every card played in that format. Mental Misstep, Force of Will and Brainstorm all see more Legacy play than Jace, and by a fairly wide margin. Decks play blue for access to Brainstorm and FOW, decks aren't splashing for Jace.
That's not to say he isn't a powerful card, he certainly is, I think people just have lost perspective on him because he had a good run in standard due to a very limiting environment. He isn't even on the radar of being banned in older eternal formats while other blue cards such as Show and Tell are raising concerns. Ancestral, Flash or Tinker he is not.
The comment about Watchwolf was a joke, although I'm not sure why that card was in there in the first place.
10 years ago netdecks were quite the rage. It was in fact a bone of contention amongst certain circles. That now it is merely commonplace is just a matter of adjustment.
I hear your complaint about Planeswalkers but can only really shrug because they really aren't as insane as your first impression makes them seem. All planeswalkers die to direct damage or creature damage. Some protect themselves too nicely and probably those were mistakes but for the most part you are paying 4-5 mana and NOT winning that turn. Power Creep has made that not as good as it once was.
Though now adays we see primeval titans coming out and dominating even they don't win right away. Planeswalkers are mostly merely good and in some cases downright bad. In 1 case JTMS got himself banned but that was a clearly overpowered card and it is soon to be rotating out anyway. I say give it another chance and read up on articles about how to play in the meta.
See I have made a lot of deck, but I quit 10 years ago and started playing when SOM came out. I left when Type 2, as it was called then, was wide open, although blue did have slight dominance.
But then I come back to the worst thing that has ever happened to this game. Back when I played, there were no Planeswalkers. Now I start playing SOM and see my first planeswalker ever, turns out to be Venser, What was Wizards thinking?
Now I know you guys have had planeswalkers for a while now and are used to it, but what the hell? Seriously? A thing like that shouldn't exist. Not to mention before I quit, decks weren't posted online, so you couldn't copy it. Computers weren't as big as they are now. "I think I had Dial-up" at the time. So I think there were more decks out there.
But saying "don't buy STD cards and buy non-cycling formats, well how is someone going to get the cards that eventually replace the cards currently used in Modern or Legacy? I can tell you right now that Garruk might very well be a card used for years, and Spellskite, Dismember, Torbor Orb, etc. will be used in those formats right? I mean new cards come around all the time and I'm sure they will be used in these formats.
I don't know. I like STD. Classic, tournament wise, won't change. I refuse to spend whatever the amount is for Force of Will, even though I have them in paper, and back when they came out, everyone had tons. But just look at the deck prices of STD compared to every other format. I have the money to pay, I even have money left on one of those MTGO gift cards, but I would rather spend $100 in all, and most of that is just the planeswalkers, of which you only need 4, and they can be used in a multitude of decks.
I am good at deck building btw. I spent $2 last night because it was stuck inside and made a STD zombie deck. In two matches, I beat Valakut and CawBlade. Not bad for $2.
Lol it feels funny that vendilion clique was validified by the vintage gush-bob deck. I don't recall what exactly made me play vendilion clique going into the DE. :x
On the topic of flash, I wonder if the flash kill would be the perfect fit for a new gush deck that i'm trying to figure out. It feels like merchant scroll is much less powerful without an ancestral recall in the format.(probably why scrolls can remain unrestricted) A blue instant win con can push that card up. Playing flash would be kinda wierd in today's meta with all the md removal going around together with creatures which would make the sac based flash (which can b fixed by having more dead combo pieces) and sliver kill considerably weaker. However, having access to 4x brainstorm means that this window of classic would be where the deck might ever be viable enough. It's probably very unforgiving to play compared to the other decks in the format but that won't stop interested people from trying.
@Eldarock Thank you too, yeah the deck can use some work and the spellskites really help keep your lord alive.
@oh snap – yeah red seems not so great, I dont think I like splinter twin either because exarch becomes an instant speed cheap shriekmaw if you haven't comboed yet.
@Zaspacer – sorry I usually do include a text version, it just totally slipped my mind this time. And thank you for the commment :D
@silverwyvern4 – Thanks!
@Inneutral – Thanks really appreciate the comment, while I still have a ways to go in improving my game, I have learned quite a bit about game theory from others and hope to pass that on.
@char49d yeah I saw that other list, its very interesting but seems disjointed in its own way. Without the architect you can get some very strange draws. (But this deck has awkward draws too) I decided for this week just to go for this all-in strategy. On the 8 filters yeah its really weird, I don't plan on sticking to this archetype so I haven't put much thought in how to solve it; but it really does help its #1 plan of sticking a phanstasmal lord of the unreal.
@The Cable – most definitely, the list could use a lot of polish. This is probably the last time I will ever play an illusion deck, but who knows? :D
That decklist is so rough. It looks like the very first list people make when want to try some new idea, just add 4x of everything you can find in that theme and hope it works. 4-of sideboard kind of confirms that theory.
I honestly think that guy just made a list without proper testing and got kinda lucky. It's not a *bad* list, but obviously can be improved.
You should check out the version of this deck with Phyrexian Metamorph and Grand Architect. I like both of those creatures a lot more than Renegade Doppleganger, who hasn't been good since Dredgevine.
I also agree that there are too many filters for this kind of aggressive deck. Preordain is still probably worth running regardless, but 8 of those effects slow your deck down too much. You need those effects a lot less when your deck runs so many redundant aggressive creatures, as opposed to more conditionally powerful cards like Mana Leak, DOJ, Titans and Timely Reinforcements, for example.
Standard usually has decks that look like their Block counterparts, and an interesting block constructed environment usually breeds a healthy standard environment, and vice versa.
Back in Alara block, there were very clear shard decks, all of which were competitive standard decks, although Jund was quite dominant for a while. Lorwyn Block had faeries, tokens and kithkin which all transitioned well. Zendikar block was Vampires and RUG, which was an effective deck until the engine, Jace, was taken from standard. SOM block was a rather boring Tempered Steel and Puresteel, both of which transitioned but were rather similar and uninteresting.
Valakut was a crappy block deck - until Primeval Titan was printed and suddenly it became a dominant strategy. That's just the nature of standard, the decks are new but we've seen them all before. Even decks that seem completely out of nowhere, like the Open the Vaults deck from a while ago was nothing new to someone who had played with Replenish from Urza's Saga.
It all starts to blur after a while, but it is all magic. Ultimately, standard and draft remain the most popular, not only due to their accessibility but because they see the most rapid shift in metagames as new releases and rotations have a huge impact on the format.
The article was about how to enforce the agreement as well as refining it to be balanced for online play (Using buddies etc). Or that is what I got from it.
It is definitely the case that Standard requires a good deal of money or luck/skill to be able to compete in. Certainly it is not for someone with shallow pockets. The power cards are almost immediately expensive online whereas offline there is a small grace period while the meta sorts itself out. The end result is you have to put $$ in to get a reasonable deck. THAT said RDW is one of the cheaper decks out there and it does place in the money. So some knowledge of deck building helps as does having friends who will help you by loaning cards and advice. Building advice is invaluable.
Innovation comes at a price. People have to sometimes lose to find what works and what doesn't. That is why innovators are harder to come by. The ones that are successful do their best to not give away the farm when they present their decks. So you may only see innovation in small increments outside of casual where the meta is loose and full of 2nd rate stuff.
re: Sundial, That article is a Lord Erman article ...search on the archives for his articles.
Just wanted to pay a compliment to you as a card slinger. You consistently make plays I wouldn't even have considered (e.g., I'd have copied the Wurmcoil Engine, not the Primeival), ones that bespeak a confidence with the deck that can't possibly have come from experience (given this being such a different deck from anything we've seen in standard yet) but rather must come from you possessing a genuine talent for the game.
First, I think standard is very much wide open at the moment. You completely omit archetypes that have won major tournaments (Birthing Pod, U/B control, Puresteel, Mono Red).
Second, I think you are ignoring much of the deck building going on in standard by just looking at top 8 decks. You want innovative decks that also take down major tournaments? No, you cannot have your cake and eat it to. The nature of modern magic is that top players spend the bulk of their time playing and perfecting complex decks, not building new ones to navigate blindly. Since this is a tough game to play, those top tier players end up in the top 8 with their "stagnant" decks even over innovators with perfectly fine rogue shells. So I think you are looking for innovation in the wrong place (top 8s).
Third, I feel like you have probably not built many decks in your career (maybe I'm wrong). As a (bad) deck builder, I see tectonic shifts within the archetypes you just listed -- Cawblade with Blade Splicer and Hero of Bladehold is a radically different deck from one with just 4 hawk, and 2 spellskites. Mono red burn demands a very different response than Goblins, TwinPod is fundamentally a distinct deck from Twin with Consecrated Sphinx which is fundamentally different from the pure combo versions with 4 preordains, 4 ponders, 4 Shrines of Piercing Visions, etc. If you limit yourself to seeing decks only as broad archetypes and not as complex machines that can very wildly in their game play from the change of just a few cards out of 75, you gloss over much of the diversity in standard.
Fourth, I think you are making a negative conclusion about modern from too small a data set. Dragonstorm combos out on turn 2 only rarely. It doesn't matter if it is capable of turn 1 land, 4x rite of flame, dragonstorm 4% of the time if the other 96% of games are fun and interactive and their combo is capable of being disrupted. The fact is that there are a huge number of viable decks, some that stomp combo, but wilt to aggro; some that destroy creature-based decks, but fold to counter magic; some that punish control, but die to combo. And within each of those matchups there is a ton of room for tight play to salvage victory from probable defeat. It's a very vibrant format at the moment, if MTGO and pro commentary means anything.
Fifth, I don't think "standard is cheap and modern is expensive" flies. Modern demands a large upfront investment that is unlikely to depreciate. Standard demands a smaller investment that is guaranteed to depreciate. Compare Baneslayer to Tarmogoyf. The former never reached the peak that the latter is hovering at, but it also crashed to nothingness. I would argue that if you are not financially positioned to lose a bunch of money on magic, you should avoid standard like the plague and focus on eternal/non-rotating formats.
Innovation
Look, if Wizards was banning cards, I think they should have not just banned Jace the Wallet Sculptor and Stoneforge, how about we just move cards like that to classic and also ban the cards that were being used the most. One's like Valakut, That 2/2 goblin for 1 mana, Pyromancers Ascension, and Splinter Twin.
I feel like people who play Legacy/Modern/Classic have a lot more money, or they have been playing for a longer time, that those who now play standard. If you look, a lot of the decks in STD that aren't Tier 1 look SOM block inspired, which looks like they might be getting made up by guys who came on during SOM block, like I did.
For people who joined before ZEN, then Legacy or Modern is for you, but STD is kind of dying. I feel like Modern is just another format where people with money or old cards can just use combo's again. I mean a modern deck with storm wins on turn 2. That sure sounds like a ton of fun. A classic deck wins on turn 2 using unlimited combos, and Legacy is no different.
I think we are watching a very stale standard atm.
Valakut
Pyromancers Ascension
Splinter Twin
White Steel
Oh look, there is a caw blade.
First turn of 90% of games played: 1 dual land that has to have blue in it, tap it, preordain.
I'll admit I made some speculative buys and made money. I bought JTMS at 35 a piece the day it was banned.
But STD is still the format that is affordable for 90% of the MTGO community. If they keep spending their time making these formats for guys who have been playing a while, STD will slow to a halt.
There is absolutely no way I am spending $200 to get lands just to make my "squirrel" or whatever it is, a 3/3 by turn 2. I'm not going to start buying up dual lands and Mana Crypts, and I would like a little more innovation in STD.
When I saw the guy win yesterday with the Illusions deck, sure, if someone had side-boarded in a tumble magnet the game might have been over, but still, it was new. It's more fun than being able to tell what your opponent is going to do before he does it.
It may be a rant here and I apologize, but there should be an award given out to people who make new standard decks. Let's bring some life into the format. And on top of that, I will never play Legacy/Modern/Classic and it's simple. I won't because I don't enjoy making everything in the game come down to my opening hand, then someone bringing out 5 dragons on the second turn, each deals 5 damage to me, and I'm dead turn 2.
**Btw, I swear there was a post on this site about "Sundial of the Infinite" being broken. whatever happened to that?
I'm not sure if I can include this comment elsewhere, but I have problems with certain cards not linking despite being quite sure they are spelled correctly and in parenthesis. Any help with that would be appreciated.
Daze backup? Wow wouldn't that be nice in MODERN? (Its a legacy/classic only card.) Wait no the deck needs all it's slots for the combo cards with no room for cards that just cause a mulligan.
Jace and Stoneforge being put in the same category as Skullclamp is ridiculous, and saying Hypergenesis (always a Turn 3, sometimes turn 2 Combo deck with Daze backup) is a "maybe" is ridiculous.
I think you could probably make a case for banning stoneforge -- Stoneforge decks were certainly tier 1, and were very good (though cards like Ancient Grudge and Bloodbraid Elf are very tough for them to beat). Jace is a powerful card...but at 4CC, it damn well better be.
I could definitely see Artifact Lands, one of the dredge cards, Mental Misstep (still don't understand this ban), Jace, Bitterblossom, and Ancestral Vision getting the unbanned after the pro tour.
The "Red" cards are definitely Hypergenesis, Glimpse, Skullclamp, Top, and part of the Sword/Thopter combo (You could probably make a case for Depths here, but Sword/Thopter was a huge part of what made that deck tick).
Overextended isn't to be ignored, but it really is not the same format; it's similar to trying to extrapolate standard next season based on Scars block decks; you can do it, but it's going to turn out differently than scars block by a bit.
Cuz WW used to be a Zoo staple in the day and has a sweet promo to put in the picture?
I think he misses the mark on some of his analysis with statements like, "Jace, the Mind Sculptor seems to be paired with Stoneforge since its one of the most played Blue cards in Legacy, making it one of the most powerful cards ever printed."
Now, granted, when you look at the immmense card pool, Jace is certainly in the top .01 percent of cards ever printed, but so is every legacy staple, or just about every card played in that format. Mental Misstep, Force of Will and Brainstorm all see more Legacy play than Jace, and by a fairly wide margin. Decks play blue for access to Brainstorm and FOW, decks aren't splashing for Jace.
That's not to say he isn't a powerful card, he certainly is, I think people just have lost perspective on him because he had a good run in standard due to a very limiting environment. He isn't even on the radar of being banned in older eternal formats while other blue cards such as Show and Tell are raising concerns. Ancestral, Flash or Tinker he is not.
The comment about Watchwolf was a joke, although I'm not sure why that card was in there in the first place.
10 years ago netdecks were quite the rage. It was in fact a bone of contention amongst certain circles. That now it is merely commonplace is just a matter of adjustment.
I hear your complaint about Planeswalkers but can only really shrug because they really aren't as insane as your first impression makes them seem. All planeswalkers die to direct damage or creature damage. Some protect themselves too nicely and probably those were mistakes but for the most part you are paying 4-5 mana and NOT winning that turn. Power Creep has made that not as good as it once was.
Though now adays we see primeval titans coming out and dominating even they don't win right away. Planeswalkers are mostly merely good and in some cases downright bad. In 1 case JTMS got himself banned but that was a clearly overpowered card and it is soon to be rotating out anyway. I say give it another chance and read up on articles about how to play in the meta.
See I have made a lot of deck, but I quit 10 years ago and started playing when SOM came out. I left when Type 2, as it was called then, was wide open, although blue did have slight dominance.
But then I come back to the worst thing that has ever happened to this game. Back when I played, there were no Planeswalkers. Now I start playing SOM and see my first planeswalker ever, turns out to be Venser, What was Wizards thinking?
Now I know you guys have had planeswalkers for a while now and are used to it, but what the hell? Seriously? A thing like that shouldn't exist. Not to mention before I quit, decks weren't posted online, so you couldn't copy it. Computers weren't as big as they are now. "I think I had Dial-up" at the time. So I think there were more decks out there.
But saying "don't buy STD cards and buy non-cycling formats, well how is someone going to get the cards that eventually replace the cards currently used in Modern or Legacy? I can tell you right now that Garruk might very well be a card used for years, and Spellskite, Dismember, Torbor Orb, etc. will be used in those formats right? I mean new cards come around all the time and I'm sure they will be used in these formats.
I don't know. I like STD. Classic, tournament wise, won't change. I refuse to spend whatever the amount is for Force of Will, even though I have them in paper, and back when they came out, everyone had tons. But just look at the deck prices of STD compared to every other format. I have the money to pay, I even have money left on one of those MTGO gift cards, but I would rather spend $100 in all, and most of that is just the planeswalkers, of which you only need 4, and they can be used in a multitude of decks.
I am good at deck building btw. I spent $2 last night because it was stuck inside and made a STD zombie deck. In two matches, I beat Valakut and CawBlade. Not bad for $2.
Lol it feels funny that vendilion clique was validified by the vintage gush-bob deck. I don't recall what exactly made me play vendilion clique going into the DE. :x
On the topic of flash, I wonder if the flash kill would be the perfect fit for a new gush deck that i'm trying to figure out. It feels like merchant scroll is much less powerful without an ancestral recall in the format.(probably why scrolls can remain unrestricted) A blue instant win con can push that card up. Playing flash would be kinda wierd in today's meta with all the md removal going around together with creatures which would make the sac based flash (which can b fixed by having more dead combo pieces) and sliver kill considerably weaker. However, having access to 4x brainstorm means that this window of classic would be where the deck might ever be viable enough. It's probably very unforgiving to play compared to the other decks in the format but that won't stop interested people from trying.
I'll add that to the list. It takes some time, but once the M12 release events end, and prices stabilize, sure.
Good read... seeing the profiles is a lot of fun. I'm glad to be on board for season 2!
@Eldarock Thank you too, yeah the deck can use some work and the spellskites really help keep your lord alive.
@oh snap – yeah red seems not so great, I dont think I like splinter twin either because exarch becomes an instant speed cheap shriekmaw if you haven't comboed yet.
@Zaspacer – sorry I usually do include a text version, it just totally slipped my mind this time. And thank you for the commment :D
@silverwyvern4 – Thanks!
@Inneutral – Thanks really appreciate the comment, while I still have a ways to go in improving my game, I have learned quite a bit about game theory from others and hope to pass that on.
@char49d yeah I saw that other list, its very interesting but seems disjointed in its own way. Without the architect you can get some very strange draws. (But this deck has awkward draws too) I decided for this week just to go for this all-in strategy. On the 8 filters yeah its really weird, I don't plan on sticking to this archetype so I haven't put much thought in how to solve it; but it really does help its #1 plan of sticking a phanstasmal lord of the unreal.
@The Cable – most definitely, the list could use a lot of polish. This is probably the last time I will ever play an illusion deck, but who knows? :D
Thanks All!
That decklist is so rough. It looks like the very first list people make when want to try some new idea, just add 4x of everything you can find in that theme and hope it works. 4-of sideboard kind of confirms that theory.
I honestly think that guy just made a list without proper testing and got kinda lucky. It's not a *bad* list, but obviously can be improved.
You should check out the version of this deck with Phyrexian Metamorph and Grand Architect. I like both of those creatures a lot more than Renegade Doppleganger, who hasn't been good since Dredgevine.
I also agree that there are too many filters for this kind of aggressive deck. Preordain is still probably worth running regardless, but 8 of those effects slow your deck down too much. You need those effects a lot less when your deck runs so many redundant aggressive creatures, as opposed to more conditionally powerful cards like Mana Leak, DOJ, Titans and Timely Reinforcements, for example.
Standard usually has decks that look like their Block counterparts, and an interesting block constructed environment usually breeds a healthy standard environment, and vice versa.
Back in Alara block, there were very clear shard decks, all of which were competitive standard decks, although Jund was quite dominant for a while. Lorwyn Block had faeries, tokens and kithkin which all transitioned well. Zendikar block was Vampires and RUG, which was an effective deck until the engine, Jace, was taken from standard. SOM block was a rather boring Tempered Steel and Puresteel, both of which transitioned but were rather similar and uninteresting.
Valakut was a crappy block deck - until Primeval Titan was printed and suddenly it became a dominant strategy. That's just the nature of standard, the decks are new but we've seen them all before. Even decks that seem completely out of nowhere, like the Open the Vaults deck from a while ago was nothing new to someone who had played with Replenish from Urza's Saga.
It all starts to blur after a while, but it is all magic. Ultimately, standard and draft remain the most popular, not only due to their accessibility but because they see the most rapid shift in metagames as new releases and rotations have a huge impact on the format.
@greyes3
plz never join one of my games then... mmk?
@Mmogg, You're talking to a brick wall in this case i believe.
The article was about how to enforce the agreement as well as refining it to be balanced for online play (Using buddies etc). Or that is what I got from it.
It is definitely the case that Standard requires a good deal of money or luck/skill to be able to compete in. Certainly it is not for someone with shallow pockets. The power cards are almost immediately expensive online whereas offline there is a small grace period while the meta sorts itself out. The end result is you have to put $$ in to get a reasonable deck. THAT said RDW is one of the cheaper decks out there and it does place in the money. So some knowledge of deck building helps as does having friends who will help you by loaning cards and advice. Building advice is invaluable.
Innovation comes at a price. People have to sometimes lose to find what works and what doesn't. That is why innovators are harder to come by. The ones that are successful do their best to not give away the farm when they present their decks. So you may only see innovation in small increments outside of casual where the meta is loose and full of 2nd rate stuff.
re: Sundial, That article is a Lord Erman article ...search on the archives for his articles.
Just wanted to pay a compliment to you as a card slinger. You consistently make plays I wouldn't even have considered (e.g., I'd have copied the Wurmcoil Engine, not the Primeival), ones that bespeak a confidence with the deck that can't possibly have come from experience (given this being such a different deck from anything we've seen in standard yet) but rather must come from you possessing a genuine talent for the game.
First, I think standard is very much wide open at the moment. You completely omit archetypes that have won major tournaments (Birthing Pod, U/B control, Puresteel, Mono Red).
Second, I think you are ignoring much of the deck building going on in standard by just looking at top 8 decks. You want innovative decks that also take down major tournaments? No, you cannot have your cake and eat it to. The nature of modern magic is that top players spend the bulk of their time playing and perfecting complex decks, not building new ones to navigate blindly. Since this is a tough game to play, those top tier players end up in the top 8 with their "stagnant" decks even over innovators with perfectly fine rogue shells. So I think you are looking for innovation in the wrong place (top 8s).
Third, I feel like you have probably not built many decks in your career (maybe I'm wrong). As a (bad) deck builder, I see tectonic shifts within the archetypes you just listed -- Cawblade with Blade Splicer and Hero of Bladehold is a radically different deck from one with just 4 hawk, and 2 spellskites. Mono red burn demands a very different response than Goblins, TwinPod is fundamentally a distinct deck from Twin with Consecrated Sphinx which is fundamentally different from the pure combo versions with 4 preordains, 4 ponders, 4 Shrines of Piercing Visions, etc. If you limit yourself to seeing decks only as broad archetypes and not as complex machines that can very wildly in their game play from the change of just a few cards out of 75, you gloss over much of the diversity in standard.
Fourth, I think you are making a negative conclusion about modern from too small a data set. Dragonstorm combos out on turn 2 only rarely. It doesn't matter if it is capable of turn 1 land, 4x rite of flame, dragonstorm 4% of the time if the other 96% of games are fun and interactive and their combo is capable of being disrupted. The fact is that there are a huge number of viable decks, some that stomp combo, but wilt to aggro; some that destroy creature-based decks, but fold to counter magic; some that punish control, but die to combo. And within each of those matchups there is a ton of room for tight play to salvage victory from probable defeat. It's a very vibrant format at the moment, if MTGO and pro commentary means anything.
Fifth, I don't think "standard is cheap and modern is expensive" flies. Modern demands a large upfront investment that is unlikely to depreciate. Standard demands a smaller investment that is guaranteed to depreciate. Compare Baneslayer to Tarmogoyf. The former never reached the peak that the latter is hovering at, but it also crashed to nothingness. I would argue that if you are not financially positioned to lose a bunch of money on magic, you should avoid standard like the plague and focus on eternal/non-rotating formats.
Thanks for sharing, Ebonlocke. "What do you think?" can sometimes be a dangerous question to ask me... sometimes you'll expect a quick opinion and you'll get a full post instead! My thoughts on your deck are here: http://www.outsydergaming.com/2011/08/bugrove-elder-comments-on-green-wh...
Yes, Green Sun's Zenith should have been in the deck all along... and it's in my new version (which I'll be submitting sometime tonight).
Innovation
Look, if Wizards was banning cards, I think they should have not just banned Jace the Wallet Sculptor and Stoneforge, how about we just move cards like that to classic and also ban the cards that were being used the most. One's like Valakut, That 2/2 goblin for 1 mana, Pyromancers Ascension, and Splinter Twin.
I feel like people who play Legacy/Modern/Classic have a lot more money, or they have been playing for a longer time, that those who now play standard. If you look, a lot of the decks in STD that aren't Tier 1 look SOM block inspired, which looks like they might be getting made up by guys who came on during SOM block, like I did.
For people who joined before ZEN, then Legacy or Modern is for you, but STD is kind of dying. I feel like Modern is just another format where people with money or old cards can just use combo's again. I mean a modern deck with storm wins on turn 2. That sure sounds like a ton of fun. A classic deck wins on turn 2 using unlimited combos, and Legacy is no different.
I think we are watching a very stale standard atm.
Valakut
Pyromancers Ascension
Splinter Twin
White Steel
Oh look, there is a caw blade.
First turn of 90% of games played: 1 dual land that has to have blue in it, tap it, preordain.
I'll admit I made some speculative buys and made money. I bought JTMS at 35 a piece the day it was banned.
But STD is still the format that is affordable for 90% of the MTGO community. If they keep spending their time making these formats for guys who have been playing a while, STD will slow to a halt.
There is absolutely no way I am spending $200 to get lands just to make my "squirrel" or whatever it is, a 3/3 by turn 2. I'm not going to start buying up dual lands and Mana Crypts, and I would like a little more innovation in STD.
When I saw the guy win yesterday with the Illusions deck, sure, if someone had side-boarded in a tumble magnet the game might have been over, but still, it was new. It's more fun than being able to tell what your opponent is going to do before he does it.
It may be a rant here and I apologize, but there should be an award given out to people who make new standard decks. Let's bring some life into the format. And on top of that, I will never play Legacy/Modern/Classic and it's simple. I won't because I don't enjoy making everything in the game come down to my opening hand, then someone bringing out 5 dragons on the second turn, each deals 5 damage to me, and I'm dead turn 2.
**Btw, I swear there was a post on this site about "Sundial of the Infinite" being broken. whatever happened to that?
I think you are confusing my opinion with the author's opinion. I don't think there is a problem with EDH online; he does.
Thanks
I'm not sure if I can include this comment elsewhere, but I have problems with certain cards not linking despite being quite sure they are spelled correctly and in parenthesis. Any help with that would be appreciated.