Peregrin Griffin's value is not in being a 2/4 flyer for 5. That would obviously be unexciting. Adding in First Strike makes it much more spicy. It has a comparable effect to Serra Angel almost every game I've played it in, although you have to choose between your attacks and defenses. First strike makes them either try blowing tricks (pump spells) to kill it or attacking with a team into untapped mana so you can remove something then firststrike something lesser. I'm not saying he's a bomb of any sorts, but he's really solid. He also has four toughness, so your Griffin Rider isn't ambushed by cards like Incinerate or Shock or something.
this is the type of comment I need to hear, and probably another reason I don't just 8-4.
I have a general sense of deck archetypes as well. Let me try to give some insight on why I picked the way I did, or at least what was going through my mind:
WhenI saw pack 1, I saw there was a lot of powerful red cards and a Serra Angel. I knew Serra was a bomb, and that people would probably be fighting over the red cards in the pack, making something else useful wheel.
I knew I was white at that point, and I think many people here were right. I need to stay open, while drafting good white cards. Focus.
As far as what I was thinking about Pacifism vs. Alabaster Mage, I wanted to stay aggressive and gain some life at the same time. I was green/white at this point (in my mind, not that it was correct).
I figured people were going to fight over the Red cards, and I should have stayed open to blue. Those were my biggest downfalls in this draft.
I appreciate the "armchair quarterbacking". This is what I am asking people to do.
First some general advice regarding your picks. You decided too quickly to try and force green/white auras. This is not one of the best archetypes, and I wouldn't recommend diving into this plan until at least part way through pack 2. Also, I saw you were picking a lot of fatties without having sufficient acceleration to play them. M12 is very tempo driven, so at the very least if you are taking green fat you have to make an extra effort to draft as many accelerators such as rampant growth as you can, otherwise you will lose well before you can ever cast them. You passed rampant growth at least 3 times in the draft.
I think one of your key decision points was Pack 1, P3. You could have taken mana leak, rampant growth, or one of a couple decent black cards here. All of these would have been a better choice than the crocodile at this point, given you weren't in green yet and the crocodile isn't all that great. Blue/white fliers is still a good deck if you took the mana leak, and taking a rampant growth will give a green deck with better speed and consistency. Getting rampant growths early on helps you decide the character of a green deck if you go that way, and can help splashing for a bomb such as the fireball that showed up later in the draft.
You were getting passed a lot of good red in pack one and thereafter. The pack 1, pick 5 shock was an early signal in this regard. If you had stayed flexible, you could have either done a good G/R/W deck, or even dropped the green and gone with R/W, which is a strong deck type.
Given that you decided to go with G/W, there are still a few poor picks. In pack 3, p6, I would have taken the thran golem. It's a bomb in a G/W auras deck. I also would have taken pacifism over the alabaster mage in P2/P1 - you really need some removal, though the alabaster mage is certainly good. Finally, even if going G/W, you should have taken the fireball in P3/P3. It's easy to splash, and is excellent.
I appreciate that it's always easier to "armchair quarterback" these drafts, but I think overall you need to grab removal a little quicker, stay flexible a little longer, and watch your curve more closely.
Finally, there's no shame in drafting 4-3-3-2 rather than 8-4 when you are a beginning drafter. When your odds of making the finals are low and you're still getting experience, it's sometimes a lot easier to make it past one round than to make it past two. That said, the swiss drafts are the best for you. They have a better payout, give you the maximum amount of experience for your $$ and allow you to grab a few packs here and there while you are building up your skill.
@char94d
I actually have a general sense of "pick orders" and I read/follow LSV, Conley, and Paul Cheon pretty closely. I find I do better if I immediately draft after watching their vids. I also take their set evaluations to heart, although they are susceptible to oversight like anyone else. I thank you for your direction, sir.
I try to practice draft on magicdraftsim.com. It is pretty useful.
@this isn't the name I chose-
1st. Love the name.
2nd. It is pressure. I know if I can just win the first round, that I can recover 2 packs at least and then use cards to trade for the 3rd to do another draft. I guess I shouldn't focus on that if I am trying to get better though. Thank you for the comment.
Keep it coming guys. I think I am going to do a Standard Daily next actually and write it up, then by next weekend I will post another draft.
Yeah, this core set is a bit different. Some decisions which, in the past, were fairly obvious, are very difficult in M12. Like you said, curve considerations warp your picks in pack 3 so you can find ridiculous stuff wheeling.
I still haven't sorted out the white fliers chess game, for example. While Stormfront Pegasus is the most aggro, it is blanked hard by Grif Sentinel and keeps you off of rider in the future, while Sentinel is blanked by Assault Griffin which trades poorly with Pegasus. Even though Peregrine Griffin is only deterred by the Sentinel, it's at a spot in the curve where you only want Angels, Vampires, or Mind Control.
I really need some help figuring this out since White Flier aggro mirrors are obviously at least 80% of the format right now lol...
I don't agree with some of his rankings, particularly blue and black, but it is a good place to start.
Also, I find Overrun is vastly overrated since you end up trading so many creatures over the course of a game due to the aggressive nature of the set. It is still a good card, but I would take solid removal over it in white, black or red.
Tyler- I had trouble with the Jade Mage vs Spirit Mantle. I thought the mantle would be awesome on the Hexproof guys. I kicked myself until I saw the next pack, where i quickly snapped the Jade Mage from that pack.
Thanks for the direction.
@ Firemind- this is EXACTLY what I need. I know that about Fireball. It is easy to splash. I 2-1'd another one the other night with UG Hexproof splash Fireball. I am going to post another by next week. I will include a final deck on the next one too.
I will take the picks you guys suggested here, keep them in mind, and hopefully do better in the next set of vids.
I will consider going 8-4 too. It just feels like a lot of pressure to win 2 to get a return. I can do it though. I believe in me.
Thank you so much guys. I hope to hear from more people.
Agreeing with most of the posters above me, Jade Mage is a total bomb though, sacred wolf is usually bad and trades with everything.
I would probably try to cut red P1P1 over Angel given the composition of the pack. If the other commons were red, I would take the Angel, it is actually not much better than Incinerate since a 5 mana 4/4 is not that great in this format. It also helps that red has an insane number of playables at common, and fireball at uncommon is no slouch. Certain cards might not seem good but are actually awesome, Wring Flesh is one of them, it is the second best black common.
I also would advocate taking sideboard cards aggressively over filler depending on your color, specifically Plummet, Celestial Purge and Deathmark. I just took down a draft where I was Black/Green due to an early Stingerfling and Doom Blade, and I ended up with 2 Deathmarks and a Plummet. I went against a much stronger UW Fliers deck in the finals, but I got to sideboard in 3 removal cards and cruised to an easy victory. Celestial Purge is the strongest of the three in a vacuum because GoreHorn Minotaurs just end games.
So I don't usually jump into forum arguments or post much, but you were looking for feedback and I thought you could learn from my experiences? I'm only going to comment on pack 1 since what you get would change had you gone with these picks:
P1P1: Angel. Incinerate for the hardcore red-cutters and there are still 3 good white fliers in the pack.
P1P2: Boots or Veteran. I feel like the Vet could wheel but cutting white couldn't hurt.
P1P3: Mana Leak or Wring Flesh. Crocodile usually wheels and is no reason to jump into green.
P1P4: Griffin if you took Wring Flesh P3, otherwise Looter or Drake. This is a definite blue signal.
P1P5: Archivist! He is insane and maybe people don't realize it yet but this cements the blue signal.
P1P6: Griffin. Easy pick.
P1P7: Master Thief. No, he's not maindeck material. But he is a blowout when you bring him in. Ice Cage is barely a consideration as everyone plays a maindeck pump or enchant.
P1P8: Negate. Combust is bad for us, but having a board-able out to Fireball, Overrun, Mind Control is warranted.
P1P9: The three white fliers are gone, but Chasm Drake remains. Take it and be happy you're in blue!
The rest of pack 1 is dregs, save for the sentinel.
P2P1 is Pacifism over Alabaster Mage for sure. After Pack 1 I could say white won't be open (4 drafters according to P1P9), but blue should give you upwards of 15-17 playables, so you should be fine.
P2P2 is Stave off, follow-up picks are Azure Mage, Mana Leak, and Skywinder Drake
P3P3 is interesting, if you had 4 or more unsummon effects I would take archivist over Fireball, but that isn't the case here.
I hope you can glean some insight from my opinions, or they could be as useful to you as a sledgehammer in a tree farm. Blue was pretty open, don't know why you wanted to be green so badly.
P2P1 you took the third-best White card...
p2p2 stave off for protecting your Serra
P3p1 jade mage is better, but I can see the temptation for your wolves.
p3p10 take the naturalize. It helps you beat some cards that can give you trouble.
I notice that when you use jace beleren's ability (e.g. ~25.00 in the first vid) when the ability appears on the stack at the left of the window, it has JTMS picture! weird!
First, a caveat: I have not been playing any Standard in the last month or two, so I'm not your best source.
My first thought - and you confirmed this in your comments - was that this deck could have trouble with aggro decks. You have lots of ways of removing specific threats, but aggro decks have a ton of them. When they draw Goblin Guides or Mirran Crusaders, and you draw Surgical Extractions, they are going to get ahead.
You have a mix of cards, some good in some matchups and some good in others. Some method of filtering those cards might help. Maybe Ponder?
As for aggro, adding some cheap removal, like Into the Roil or Disfigure might help.
Finally, is 22 lands enough? You are trying to cast Titans and BSZ. I would think 25-26 lands, plus Ponder / Preordain would be the minimum.
With Splinter Twin and Pyromancer decks being the same color and sharing some cards, is it possible to have a sideboard where you can make the deck interchangeable? LIke You can start with Splinter twin, then the opponent sideboards in his ways of getting rid of creatures, and then you change it up into a pyromancer deck.
I've been trying to put it together, but I can't make it work yet. I mean if there is a way, wouldn't that give you a massive advantage in Daily's?
And I'm trying to make the U/B control deck work. Please tell me what is wrong with this:
4x Duress
2x Despise
4x Pre-Ordain
4x Surgical Extraction (This card can pretty much end every deck out there except Valakut)
1x Twisted Image
4x Go for the Throat
4x Mana Leak
3x Dismember
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
3x Jace, Memory Adept
2x Frost Titan
2x Grave Titan
2x Black Sun Zenith
22x Lands
Sideboard
1x Black Sun
3x Flash Freeze
2x Mental Misstep
3x Psychic Surgery (before you say anything, try using fetch lands with this out on turn 2)
2x Smallpox
3x Spellskite
1x Torbor Orb
So far the decks works a good amount of the time, but by the time I am set to play anything, a red deck will have me down to 10 life. Although I have yet to lose to CawBlade, and lost to valakut. I also haven't lost to Splinter Twin or Pyromancer. And against White or Red decks that are low on mana, the Frost Titan dominates.
Just help me out here. And card price isn't an option. I just like the idea that my deck keeps other control decks at bay and then the finished with Jace, either as card drawing, or milling.
I just want to take this deck from Tier 87 to Tier 1-1.5
I must say I just started playing magic 8 months ago and since I stumbled onto this site and your articles I've been inspired. I'm in love with your MWC build it's just simply amazing.
The question I have is what would you put in or substituted now that M12 is out?
Hey man, love the blog post. Made an account just to be able to respond! I have been playing my own version of U/W Control until recently when I aquired 3 Mind Sculptors and 4 Mystics in a trade and decided to convert it to a legacy Caw-Blade, but that's besides the point.
I was out of a standard deck because of that and I love the idea of a Dungrove elder. I only just put it together but here's what I have:
I play alot of can't be countereds and hexproof things. Until I get around to getting them manaramping and little critters keep me alive, little worried about flyers though as I haven't really tested this yet in an FNM. Hunter's insight is awesome if you have an empty hand and you swing in with a 7/7 Hexproof Pro. Creatures dungrove elder to give you more fuel for the war effort.
The swords idea seemed very tasty too, but I'm not sure about what to replace them for really. I'm thinking I'll probably try to adopt the swords of vengeance and the basilisk collar too, but I'm afriad I'd have to replace too much if I don't play blue to fetch them with trinket mages. I'd rather just get a massive dungrove elder and get through defenses with spirit mantle, the sword of vengeance would make that especially tasty.
It's also alot of fun when you already have a heavy dungrove elder to bring in a Gaea's Revenge and then copy either of them with metamorph next turn to make for quite a few number of really hard hitters, all of which canpotentially be creature proof with spirit mantle.
I only play 2 plains because I have a million ways to fetch them anyway.
I felt like match 4 game 2 tapping out for grave titan was a little risky. Especially with 2 counters in hand. I know you needed to get a clock going but you could have played solemn, for ramping into liliana with counter magic open and then g titan with counter magic open, especially since you could effectively strip their hand at this point with l. vess. G titan is a finisher and ends the game and that's why hes has that role and does a good job, :. I'm pretty confident that that extra turn or two is worth the wait, because you have the game won at this point, you're playing to not lose via by tapping out.
Also you have a knack for preordaining, putting two cards on the bottom and then solemning the next turn thus shuffling your library giving you a chance to draw those 2 useless cards. Just a note that I saw happen multiple times. Not completly horrible but the other way would be better.
Overall Good job I thourghly enjoyed these. This deck needs a life's finale in the 75 tho as a catch all oh shit moment bail out.
keep em coming.
Very good job sir! I always watch your videos with pleasure and you actually improved a lot with the land-zooming thing. Seriously, you're doing great both as writer/producer as well as player. Keep 'em coming! :-)
Peregrin Griffin's value is not in being a 2/4 flyer for 5. That would obviously be unexciting. Adding in First Strike makes it much more spicy. It has a comparable effect to Serra Angel almost every game I've played it in, although you have to choose between your attacks and defenses. First strike makes them either try blowing tricks (pump spells) to kill it or attacking with a team into untapped mana so you can remove something then firststrike something lesser. I'm not saying he's a bomb of any sorts, but he's really solid. He also has four toughness, so your Griffin Rider isn't ambushed by cards like Incinerate or Shock or something.
Do you guys want to hear my voice/different music on these vids. I could use feedback in that regard.
Thanks, guys.
this is the type of comment I need to hear, and probably another reason I don't just 8-4.
I have a general sense of deck archetypes as well. Let me try to give some insight on why I picked the way I did, or at least what was going through my mind:
WhenI saw pack 1, I saw there was a lot of powerful red cards and a Serra Angel. I knew Serra was a bomb, and that people would probably be fighting over the red cards in the pack, making something else useful wheel.
I knew I was white at that point, and I think many people here were right. I need to stay open, while drafting good white cards. Focus.
As far as what I was thinking about Pacifism vs. Alabaster Mage, I wanted to stay aggressive and gain some life at the same time. I was green/white at this point (in my mind, not that it was correct).
I figured people were going to fight over the Red cards, and I should have stayed open to blue. Those were my biggest downfalls in this draft.
I appreciate the "armchair quarterbacking". This is what I am asking people to do.
Thank you for watching.
First some general advice regarding your picks. You decided too quickly to try and force green/white auras. This is not one of the best archetypes, and I wouldn't recommend diving into this plan until at least part way through pack 2. Also, I saw you were picking a lot of fatties without having sufficient acceleration to play them. M12 is very tempo driven, so at the very least if you are taking green fat you have to make an extra effort to draft as many accelerators such as rampant growth as you can, otherwise you will lose well before you can ever cast them. You passed rampant growth at least 3 times in the draft.
I think one of your key decision points was Pack 1, P3. You could have taken mana leak, rampant growth, or one of a couple decent black cards here. All of these would have been a better choice than the crocodile at this point, given you weren't in green yet and the crocodile isn't all that great. Blue/white fliers is still a good deck if you took the mana leak, and taking a rampant growth will give a green deck with better speed and consistency. Getting rampant growths early on helps you decide the character of a green deck if you go that way, and can help splashing for a bomb such as the fireball that showed up later in the draft.
You were getting passed a lot of good red in pack one and thereafter. The pack 1, pick 5 shock was an early signal in this regard. If you had stayed flexible, you could have either done a good G/R/W deck, or even dropped the green and gone with R/W, which is a strong deck type.
Given that you decided to go with G/W, there are still a few poor picks. In pack 3, p6, I would have taken the thran golem. It's a bomb in a G/W auras deck. I also would have taken pacifism over the alabaster mage in P2/P1 - you really need some removal, though the alabaster mage is certainly good. Finally, even if going G/W, you should have taken the fireball in P3/P3. It's easy to splash, and is excellent.
I appreciate that it's always easier to "armchair quarterback" these drafts, but I think overall you need to grab removal a little quicker, stay flexible a little longer, and watch your curve more closely.
Finally, there's no shame in drafting 4-3-3-2 rather than 8-4 when you are a beginning drafter. When your odds of making the finals are low and you're still getting experience, it's sometimes a lot easier to make it past one round than to make it past two. That said, the swiss drafts are the best for you. They have a better payout, give you the maximum amount of experience for your $$ and allow you to grab a few packs here and there while you are building up your skill.
@char94d
I actually have a general sense of "pick orders" and I read/follow LSV, Conley, and Paul Cheon pretty closely. I find I do better if I immediately draft after watching their vids. I also take their set evaluations to heart, although they are susceptible to oversight like anyone else. I thank you for your direction, sir.
I try to practice draft on magicdraftsim.com. It is pretty useful.
@this isn't the name I chose-
1st. Love the name.
2nd. It is pressure. I know if I can just win the first round, that I can recover 2 packs at least and then use cards to trade for the 3rd to do another draft. I guess I shouldn't focus on that if I am trying to get better though. Thank you for the comment.
Keep it coming guys. I think I am going to do a Standard Daily next actually and write it up, then by next weekend I will post another draft.
The picks you got wrong were discussed so I wont relist them.
My problem is you are doing 4322s instead of swiss/84.
4+3+2+2=11
8+4=12
3+2+2+2+1+1+1 = 12
4322s are for people who cannot add to 12, are you one of those?
Yeah, this core set is a bit different. Some decisions which, in the past, were fairly obvious, are very difficult in M12. Like you said, curve considerations warp your picks in pack 3 so you can find ridiculous stuff wheeling.
I still haven't sorted out the white fliers chess game, for example. While Stormfront Pegasus is the most aggro, it is blanked hard by Grif Sentinel and keeps you off of rider in the future, while Sentinel is blanked by Assault Griffin which trades poorly with Pegasus. Even though Peregrine Griffin is only deterred by the Sentinel, it's at a spot in the curve where you only want Angels, Vampires, or Mind Control.
I really need some help figuring this out since White Flier aggro mirrors are obviously at least 80% of the format right now lol...
If you are looking to do 8-4's, I really suggest reading some limited strategy on picks first. While it is all context to a degree, check out http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/feature-article-thoughts-on-m12-...
I don't agree with some of his rankings, particularly blue and black, but it is a good place to start.
Also, I find Overrun is vastly overrated since you end up trading so many creatures over the course of a game due to the aggressive nature of the set. It is still a good card, but I would take solid removal over it in white, black or red.
Yeah. I had a feeling that the people here would be helpful.
This is true. I am finding myself without good SB cards a lot of time because people are snapping them up.
this format seems to reward curves, aggression, good trades, and SB'ing. I actually like it.
thanks for the comment.
Wow, I didn't even know i was published!!
Tyler- I had trouble with the Jade Mage vs Spirit Mantle. I thought the mantle would be awesome on the Hexproof guys. I kicked myself until I saw the next pack, where i quickly snapped the Jade Mage from that pack.
Thanks for the direction.
@ Firemind- this is EXACTLY what I need. I know that about Fireball. It is easy to splash. I 2-1'd another one the other night with UG Hexproof splash Fireball. I am going to post another by next week. I will include a final deck on the next one too.
I will take the picks you guys suggested here, keep them in mind, and hopefully do better in the next set of vids.
I will consider going 8-4 too. It just feels like a lot of pressure to win 2 to get a return. I can do it though. I believe in me.
Thank you so much guys. I hope to hear from more people.
Agreeing with most of the posters above me, Jade Mage is a total bomb though, sacred wolf is usually bad and trades with everything.
I would probably try to cut red P1P1 over Angel given the composition of the pack. If the other commons were red, I would take the Angel, it is actually not much better than Incinerate since a 5 mana 4/4 is not that great in this format. It also helps that red has an insane number of playables at common, and fireball at uncommon is no slouch. Certain cards might not seem good but are actually awesome, Wring Flesh is one of them, it is the second best black common.
I also would advocate taking sideboard cards aggressively over filler depending on your color, specifically Plummet, Celestial Purge and Deathmark. I just took down a draft where I was Black/Green due to an early Stingerfling and Doom Blade, and I ended up with 2 Deathmarks and a Plummet. I went against a much stronger UW Fliers deck in the finals, but I got to sideboard in 3 removal cards and cruised to an easy victory. Celestial Purge is the strongest of the three in a vacuum because GoreHorn Minotaurs just end games.
So I don't usually jump into forum arguments or post much, but you were looking for feedback and I thought you could learn from my experiences? I'm only going to comment on pack 1 since what you get would change had you gone with these picks:
P1P1: Angel. Incinerate for the hardcore red-cutters and there are still 3 good white fliers in the pack.
P1P2: Boots or Veteran. I feel like the Vet could wheel but cutting white couldn't hurt.
P1P3: Mana Leak or Wring Flesh. Crocodile usually wheels and is no reason to jump into green.
P1P4: Griffin if you took Wring Flesh P3, otherwise Looter or Drake. This is a definite blue signal.
P1P5: Archivist! He is insane and maybe people don't realize it yet but this cements the blue signal.
P1P6: Griffin. Easy pick.
P1P7: Master Thief. No, he's not maindeck material. But he is a blowout when you bring him in. Ice Cage is barely a consideration as everyone plays a maindeck pump or enchant.
P1P8: Negate. Combust is bad for us, but having a board-able out to Fireball, Overrun, Mind Control is warranted.
P1P9: The three white fliers are gone, but Chasm Drake remains. Take it and be happy you're in blue!
The rest of pack 1 is dregs, save for the sentinel.
P2P1 is Pacifism over Alabaster Mage for sure. After Pack 1 I could say white won't be open (4 drafters according to P1P9), but blue should give you upwards of 15-17 playables, so you should be fine.
P2P2 is Stave off, follow-up picks are Azure Mage, Mana Leak, and Skywinder Drake
P3P3 is interesting, if you had 4 or more unsummon effects I would take archivist over Fireball, but that isn't the case here.
I hope you can glean some insight from my opinions, or they could be as useful to you as a sledgehammer in a tree farm. Blue was pretty open, don't know why you wanted to be green so badly.
P2P1 you took the third-best White card...
p2p2 stave off for protecting your Serra
P3p1 jade mage is better, but I can see the temptation for your wolves.
p3p10 take the naturalize. It helps you beat some cards that can give you trouble.
Very random thing;
I notice that when you use jace beleren's ability (e.g. ~25.00 in the first vid) when the ability appears on the stack at the left of the window, it has JTMS picture! weird!
First, a caveat: I have not been playing any Standard in the last month or two, so I'm not your best source.
My first thought - and you confirmed this in your comments - was that this deck could have trouble with aggro decks. You have lots of ways of removing specific threats, but aggro decks have a ton of them. When they draw Goblin Guides or Mirran Crusaders, and you draw Surgical Extractions, they are going to get ahead.
You have a mix of cards, some good in some matchups and some good in others. Some method of filtering those cards might help. Maybe Ponder?
As for aggro, adding some cheap removal, like Into the Roil or Disfigure might help.
Finally, is 22 lands enough? You are trying to cast Titans and BSZ. I would think 25-26 lands, plus Ponder / Preordain would be the minimum.
That's just my $0.02, without playing the deck.
If I get time later this week, I may try it.
good luck with this.
With Splinter Twin and Pyromancer decks being the same color and sharing some cards, is it possible to have a sideboard where you can make the deck interchangeable? LIke You can start with Splinter twin, then the opponent sideboards in his ways of getting rid of creatures, and then you change it up into a pyromancer deck.
I've been trying to put it together, but I can't make it work yet. I mean if there is a way, wouldn't that give you a massive advantage in Daily's?
And I'm trying to make the U/B control deck work. Please tell me what is wrong with this:
4x Duress
2x Despise
4x Pre-Ordain
4x Surgical Extraction (This card can pretty much end every deck out there except Valakut)
1x Twisted Image
4x Go for the Throat
4x Mana Leak
3x Dismember
2x Phyrexian Metamorph
3x Jace, Memory Adept
2x Frost Titan
2x Grave Titan
2x Black Sun Zenith
22x Lands
Sideboard
1x Black Sun
3x Flash Freeze
2x Mental Misstep
3x Psychic Surgery (before you say anything, try using fetch lands with this out on turn 2)
2x Smallpox
3x Spellskite
1x Torbor Orb
So far the decks works a good amount of the time, but by the time I am set to play anything, a red deck will have me down to 10 life. Although I have yet to lose to CawBlade, and lost to valakut. I also haven't lost to Splinter Twin or Pyromancer. And against White or Red decks that are low on mana, the Frost Titan dominates.
Just help me out here. And card price isn't an option. I just like the idea that my deck keeps other control decks at bay and then the finished with Jace, either as card drawing, or milling.
I just want to take this deck from Tier 87 to Tier 1-1.5
I must say I just started playing magic 8 months ago and since I stumbled onto this site and your articles I've been inspired. I'm in love with your MWC build it's just simply amazing.
The question I have is what would you put in or substituted now that M12 is out?
I'd probably run Green Sun's Zenith and a toolbox if I was going to build a deck around a green card. Just a passing thought.
Hey man, love the blog post. Made an account just to be able to respond! I have been playing my own version of U/W Control until recently when I aquired 3 Mind Sculptors and 4 Mystics in a trade and decided to convert it to a legacy Caw-Blade, but that's besides the point.
I was out of a standard deck because of that and I love the idea of a Dungrove elder. I only just put it together but here's what I have:
20 Forest
2 Plains
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Spirit Mantle
4 Rampant Regrowth
4 Sylvan Ranger
4 Viridian Emissary
3 Hunter's Insight
4 O-Ring
4 Dungrove Elder
3 Phyrexian Metamorph
2 Thrun, The Last Troll
2 Gaea's Revenge
I play alot of can't be countereds and hexproof things. Until I get around to getting them manaramping and little critters keep me alive, little worried about flyers though as I haven't really tested this yet in an FNM. Hunter's insight is awesome if you have an empty hand and you swing in with a 7/7 Hexproof Pro. Creatures dungrove elder to give you more fuel for the war effort.
The swords idea seemed very tasty too, but I'm not sure about what to replace them for really. I'm thinking I'll probably try to adopt the swords of vengeance and the basilisk collar too, but I'm afriad I'd have to replace too much if I don't play blue to fetch them with trinket mages. I'd rather just get a massive dungrove elder and get through defenses with spirit mantle, the sword of vengeance would make that especially tasty.
It's also alot of fun when you already have a heavy dungrove elder to bring in a Gaea's Revenge and then copy either of them with metamorph next turn to make for quite a few number of really hard hitters, all of which canpotentially be creature proof with spirit mantle.
I only play 2 plains because I have a million ways to fetch them anyway.
What do you think? ;)
I felt like match 4 game 2 tapping out for grave titan was a little risky. Especially with 2 counters in hand. I know you needed to get a clock going but you could have played solemn, for ramping into liliana with counter magic open and then g titan with counter magic open, especially since you could effectively strip their hand at this point with l. vess. G titan is a finisher and ends the game and that's why hes has that role and does a good job, :. I'm pretty confident that that extra turn or two is worth the wait, because you have the game won at this point, you're playing to not lose via by tapping out.
Also you have a knack for preordaining, putting two cards on the bottom and then solemning the next turn thus shuffling your library giving you a chance to draw those 2 useless cards. Just a note that I saw happen multiple times. Not completly horrible but the other way would be better.
Overall Good job I thourghly enjoyed these. This deck needs a life's finale in the 75 tho as a catch all oh shit moment bail out.
keep em coming.
I think they went for greatest hits?
Im pretty sure some people will try merfolk or possibly faeries with vial in the new format...
and the Ons-Mir standard vial was huge in goblins if i remember....
When Looter is good he is great. I think most correct place for him now is in UB with Gravediggers.
Otherwise, he does not seem a snap-include like he did before.
Very good job sir! I always watch your videos with pleasure and you actually improved a lot with the land-zooming thing. Seriously, you're doing great both as writer/producer as well as player. Keep 'em coming! :-)
i dont like valakut either, its meen. no sir i dont like it!