Honestly, this is really just depressing to watch since neither you or any of the classic players online are apparently any good at magic. It is clear that all of the great players simply can't afford paying $1000 to play a format which barely has any support. No offense meant or anything, its just that as a regular Vintage player, I cannot possible recommend people watch any of these for fear of people making the same play mistakes.
I missed Tolarian Academy and Strip mine from the Legacy Banned cards, they can be had for $14.00 and $2.75 bumping the total upgrade cost of a Legacy Led deck to $96.20.
Also in Rd 3 Game 2 I conceeded too early. After seeing a comment and watching the replay, I should have played yawg will and led. Crack led, play tutor for led giving me 4 mana to tinker into key and activate it.
Any chance Lion's Eye Diamond is being hoarded? It's getting absurdly pricey compared to it's paper counterpart, where it's usually the opposite for Legacy cards, and can't be found anywhere. Same goes for Vindicate. I get that FoW falls into that category, but the limited number that are online explains it's price. It seems odd to me because certain bots/traders in the classifieds seem to have higher prices on those cards before well-known bot chains do lately. By as much as nine tickets. Maybe I've just been checking those cards too often and I'm simply wrong. Any thoughts?
Like Fenix, I too will jump on a blue player from the outset, provided there isn't a more dangerous general at the table - although frequently they are blue anyway (Arcum, Azami).
I do have to disagree about the late-game use of Land Tax. Tax/Rack is probably the most broken card-advantage white has available. If you're willing to run the tutors, and have an Elixir or similar to ensure a reshuffle if either piece gets binned, then the Tax is worth an extra 3 cards a turn. Amazing.
Also, Jotun Grunts is great, but sometimes you absolutely HAVE to exile problem cards. Putting Zur's solitary confinement on the bottom of their deck is not enough.
Overall, great article. I probably disagree on the overall power of white - it is definitely better than most Red decks, but the other three colours have access to a lot more card-advantage and in the long run that can make more difference than numerous sweepers.
Nice vids. Displays the power that the broken cards in this format can have (FoW, Bargain/Necro, LED, SaT, etc.). As someone with out the majority of those cards, namely the $850+ juggernaut that is playsets of FoW and LED), I was disappointed to see that you sufficiently dismissed bactgutz's Metalworker MUD list with relative ease. I do think that this deck, and anything that can leverage the cards listed above, looks like one of the premier deck in classic right now.
It seems bizzare to me how much more expensive a lot of std Mythics are online than in paper. Lotus Cobra is $14 in paper and most of the titans and other mthics are half price. I know that this is b/c redemption throws off the rare-mythic ratio, but it would seem to me that if the mythics were worth less in paper, that ppl would stop redeeming sets and they would come back down. Anyone have any other insight into this?
I just started Legacy as well but because I finally stopped denying that 100CS is all but dead. Most people, myself included, can't plunk down the moolah for a set of FoW and a pair of Big Jace. Then again I plunked down for sets of Wasteland and Scrubland and lots of players can't do that either. I was looking at non-blue options and ended up with Black-White. It has a weak aggro matchup but I 3-1'd in ½ of my dailies. I'm considering building Naya or WG next but don't look forward to coughing up the tickets for a set of Goyfs.
I'm confused about why you insist on playing 2-man queues before doing a DE. SSM booster prize support in 2-player makes it a negative EV. I've only done DEs and no 2 player queues.
I like BUG over RUG as well, mostly because we have colorless answers to sworded creatures, but not Titans. Black has better sideboard options, and honestly, even though Inferno Titan is great, Grave Titan is still probably the best titan that doesn't fetch Valakuts. Precursor Golem and Grave Titan also put players in an awkward situation, there just isn't removal to handle all of the threats BUG has, and with Duress and Inquisition, there is no guarantee you will have the right removal when you need it.
Interesting Caw-list, personally I have found 4 spell pierce to be too much, and only two pieces of equipment to be too little. Do you find that much removal maindeck instead of Tumble Magnet to work out? I actually cut a Gideon from the main and moved Sun Titan there, and I couldn't be happier. He can't be spell pierced and he trumps Gideon nicely. I also like hero of bladehold as the fifth jace. The deck is designed to hit with swords on turn 4, and Hero is the best 4 mana play other than Jace the deck can make. It is also much better than jace in aggro matchups, and you can do all sorts of interesting plays, like sword her up, but have her tokens attack a planeswalker. Much like Jace, if you untap with her, it's usually game.
Well if the game is making money hand over foot...thats pretty damn successful. If you bitter that the game isnt as popular as say texas hold em, well thats a personal issue
Apologies for that Paul, I will put them in this post for posterity (no idea why they don't show up):
Pack 1 missing: Argothian Elder
Pack 2 missing: Rune of Protection: Green
Pack 3 Missing: Rune of Protection: Red
Pack 4 missing: Rune of Protection: Red (seeing a theme here...)
Thanks for taking the time to check it out Paul, will try to be cleaner next time :)
I wasnt aware that magic was seeing a ton of success at the moment. Where I live there is only one comic shop for a county of 500,000 people, with 1 tourney weekly. 20 people average per tourney. I wouldnt consider that successful. Mtgo has maybe 10000 active users, out of the whole world. Not too succesful either (compare to WOW with millions of users).
Yes, wotc is making money hand over foot,so in that regard they are very successful, but no I wouldnt consider magic to be "seeing so much success".
I conscionable be in compassion with your weblog! Very gracious post! Notwithstanding you can do individual things to enrich it, and i gift be rearwards
So that's where my foil Bargain went! Now it's famous. :)
Honestly, this is really just depressing to watch since neither you or any of the classic players online are apparently any good at magic. It is clear that all of the great players simply can't afford paying $1000 to play a format which barely has any support. No offense meant or anything, its just that as a regular Vintage player, I cannot possible recommend people watch any of these for fear of people making the same play mistakes.
I missed Tolarian Academy and Strip mine from the Legacy Banned cards, they can be had for $14.00 and $2.75 bumping the total upgrade cost of a Legacy Led deck to $96.20.
Also in Rd 3 Game 2 I conceeded too early. After seeing a comment and watching the replay, I should have played yawg will and led. Crack led, play tutor for led giving me 4 mana to tinker into key and activate it.
Any chance Lion's Eye Diamond is being hoarded? It's getting absurdly pricey compared to it's paper counterpart, where it's usually the opposite for Legacy cards, and can't be found anywhere. Same goes for Vindicate. I get that FoW falls into that category, but the limited number that are online explains it's price. It seems odd to me because certain bots/traders in the classifieds seem to have higher prices on those cards before well-known bot chains do lately. By as much as nine tickets. Maybe I've just been checking those cards too often and I'm simply wrong. Any thoughts?
Like Fenix, I too will jump on a blue player from the outset, provided there isn't a more dangerous general at the table - although frequently they are blue anyway (Arcum, Azami).
I do have to disagree about the late-game use of Land Tax. Tax/Rack is probably the most broken card-advantage white has available. If you're willing to run the tutors, and have an Elixir or similar to ensure a reshuffle if either piece gets binned, then the Tax is worth an extra 3 cards a turn. Amazing.
Also, Jotun Grunts is great, but sometimes you absolutely HAVE to exile problem cards. Putting Zur's solitary confinement on the bottom of their deck is not enough.
Overall, great article. I probably disagree on the overall power of white - it is definitely better than most Red decks, but the other three colours have access to a lot more card-advantage and in the long run that can make more difference than numerous sweepers.
Nice vids. Displays the power that the broken cards in this format can have (FoW, Bargain/Necro, LED, SaT, etc.). As someone with out the majority of those cards, namely the $850+ juggernaut that is playsets of FoW and LED), I was disappointed to see that you sufficiently dismissed bactgutz's Metalworker MUD list with relative ease. I do think that this deck, and anything that can leverage the cards listed above, looks like one of the premier deck in classic right now.
Top notch, Whiffy
It seems bizzare to me how much more expensive a lot of std Mythics are online than in paper. Lotus Cobra is $14 in paper and most of the titans and other mthics are half price. I know that this is b/c redemption throws off the rare-mythic ratio, but it would seem to me that if the mythics were worth less in paper, that ppl would stop redeeming sets and they would come back down. Anyone have any other insight into this?
http://www.mtgotraders.com/store/PRM_Morphling.html <--.4 morphling :) So far have the great fallen.
I like the vids a lot. Keep 'em coming!
Lol, I will admit that I'm one of the kill blue on site guys. I'm just waiting for the RW legend out of NPH to start my next deck.
I just started Legacy as well but because I finally stopped denying that 100CS is all but dead. Most people, myself included, can't plunk down the moolah for a set of FoW and a pair of Big Jace. Then again I plunked down for sets of Wasteland and Scrubland and lots of players can't do that either. I was looking at non-blue options and ended up with Black-White. It has a weak aggro matchup but I 3-1'd in ½ of my dailies. I'm considering building Naya or WG next but don't look forward to coughing up the tickets for a set of Goyfs.
I'm confused about why you insist on playing 2-man queues before doing a DE. SSM booster prize support in 2-player makes it a negative EV. I've only done DEs and no 2 player queues.
I like BUG over RUG as well, mostly because we have colorless answers to sworded creatures, but not Titans. Black has better sideboard options, and honestly, even though Inferno Titan is great, Grave Titan is still probably the best titan that doesn't fetch Valakuts. Precursor Golem and Grave Titan also put players in an awkward situation, there just isn't removal to handle all of the threats BUG has, and with Duress and Inquisition, there is no guarantee you will have the right removal when you need it.
Interesting Caw-list, personally I have found 4 spell pierce to be too much, and only two pieces of equipment to be too little. Do you find that much removal maindeck instead of Tumble Magnet to work out? I actually cut a Gideon from the main and moved Sun Titan there, and I couldn't be happier. He can't be spell pierced and he trumps Gideon nicely. I also like hero of bladehold as the fifth jace. The deck is designed to hit with swords on turn 4, and Hero is the best 4 mana play other than Jace the deck can make. It is also much better than jace in aggro matchups, and you can do all sorts of interesting plays, like sword her up, but have her tokens attack a planeswalker. Much like Jace, if you untap with her, it's usually game.
Its the sickest tech in the meta.
Actually mtgo splits cards up if they are from different sets, one of my mystics is WWK.
I like the 3 Stoneforge Mystics, plus 1 Stoneforge Mystic plan.
agreed
Loved that draft recording technology - first time I've seen it; pretty elegant. Keep 'em coming.
Well if the game is making money hand over foot...thats pretty damn successful. If you bitter that the game isnt as popular as say texas hold em, well thats a personal issue
yay. been waiting a wkile for this. you mentioned that your sorry for missing games. i hope recording means videos. keep it up guy.
Apologies for that Paul, I will put them in this post for posterity (no idea why they don't show up):
Pack 1 missing: Argothian Elder
Pack 2 missing: Rune of Protection: Green
Pack 3 Missing: Rune of Protection: Red
Pack 4 missing: Rune of Protection: Red (seeing a theme here...)
Thanks for taking the time to check it out Paul, will try to be cleaner next time :)
Zach
It's weird that your picks seem to be missing several cards in the swiss.
You are right, it doesn't work with the eldrazi. Just with the "enters the battlefield" cards. I was probably misremembering.
It's correct. I checked with my level 2 judge/mentor and he confirmed it with me. Must be an MTGO bug.
I wasnt aware that magic was seeing a ton of success at the moment. Where I live there is only one comic shop for a county of 500,000 people, with 1 tourney weekly. 20 people average per tourney. I wouldnt consider that successful. Mtgo has maybe 10000 active users, out of the whole world. Not too succesful either (compare to WOW with millions of users).
Yes, wotc is making money hand over foot,so in that regard they are very successful, but no I wouldnt consider magic to be "seeing so much success".
I conscionable be in compassion with your weblog! Very gracious post! Notwithstanding you can do individual things to enrich it, and i gift be rearwards
gurjeet guri