"So I made sure to chat plenty and used F6 every chance I could to wear down his clock. Doing things like activating your ranger every turn can really add up!"
Good job, I guess. In a paper tourney, you'd be DQ'd for Stalling for doing this. The clock online is a totally legitimate constraint (and the primary difference between paper and digital play), but going out of your way to purposefully manipulate the rate of play is pretty low. Encouraging others to do likewise in an article is even worse.
If you go back and look at the chat log in the video, you can see that your finals opponent is clearly aware of (and unhappy about) you gaming the clock in what is probably a lost position. Sure, it's a premier event and it's competitive play and there are prizes on the line, but do you honestly feel like you won that game? You're clearly a good player with a strong deck that demolished a fair number of people along the way to the finals, and maybe I'm old fashioned, but I just feel like that should be the thing that matters.
I realize you're right about Shinen of Life's Roar, taking into account your advice and will try to do some upgrade to the deck, if possible.
:)
Good article
ADMIN: your rundown still says "MAN FEATURES" - I brought this text error up months ago. Any link to the site shows this, and doesn't speak well of puremtgo, when the summary for each article is:
PureMTGO is dedicated to purely MTGO, Magic the Gathering Online only content. Read MTGO Based Articles or Become a Writer for PureMTGO and earn some credit! The site features the complete package for you to write articles including man features that make writing magic articles easy and fun!..
Good to see you back. Deck looks like fun but I would like to see more mass removal that doesn't just hit critters. Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk, that type of thing. These will help give you time to set up your combos. The card draw you mention is a great idea as well. Interested to see where you go with it!
Not sure why I don't recognize your username, as I have done a ton of these drafts. Your evaluations are pretty good. I think you are undervaluing Despondency, Opportunity, Veiled Serpent, Slow Motion and overvaluing Grim Monolith (sure, if you ramp into Multani, you win, but if you ramp into Argothian Treefolk, so what?) and Cloud of Faeries. I am much, much happier running Slow Motion than Cloud in any sort of control deck (although obviously I am not adverse to raredrafting clouds). I basically never WANT to maindeck clouds and, if I do run them, I am cycling them a very high percentage of the time.
Slow Motion makes the cut at least 80% of the time in my decks. It does most of the things that Pendrell Flux does, but has the added benefit of being relevant all the way until your opponent hits 7 mana or so. Slow Motioning a Winding Wurm is always a blowout, but even just hitting an angelic page, goblin raider, or any 2-3 drop on turn 3 puts an opponent in a serious conundrum. In addition, although you don't usually want to maindeck multiples (just like the flux), there are decks that are basically cold to multiple slow motions.
Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. Sorry for the spelling mistakes etc. I think I probably should have spent a little more time proof reading. I'm glad you enjoyed the article and hopefully I'll have a few more written soon.
As Naproxen says I'm sure the cards that left will come back around eventually, and I certainly think we gained more than we lost.
Also, Chris I think you're probably right, it was a very hastily thought up decklist. 5/5s are pretty difficult to kill in this format, Gathan Raiders is probably a good pick. Dread Statuary over Gargoyle Castle also seems like a good call.
Excellent article, and thanks for the mention! I have been playing a bit more Urza lately in spite of myself, though now with the BBB drafts (which I love and hate simultaneously) it's on the backburner for a bit. I look forward to your future articles on this subject.
Good article, now if only Urza's drafts would fire more often.
My general strategy in Urza's draft is this.
a) If I get a Pestilence, cut black hard.
b) If I don't get a Pestilence, take red and white removal over similarly powerful black removal.
c) I play blue only if I can get Hermetic Study or as a supporting color if it is severely under-drafted.
Of course, I generally lean towards more aggressive strategies in draft and contstructed so my bias shows.
I've been eyeing the Rock deck after I was experimenting along similar lines. What I want to know is with Ezuri, Renegade Leader isn't being played with Viridian Emissary and Glissa the Traitor. Regenerating Glissa can be huge and the overrun ability seems to be game breaking.
Great article as usual. I just finished building the Standard version of Forgemaster. The only problem I see with your list is that you have no way to put Blightsteel into your library if you draw it. The standard list uses Jace to solve that problem. I realize this is block so Jace isn't going to work obv. Has this been an issue for you thus far?
It's so nice to be able to read about Heirloom on here again, thanks for that Olaw :)
You have some interesting deck ideas on here that I may have to try out. I like some of the changes you made to my Discard list. I do think taking out the Gathan Raiders is a bad idea tho, they are big bodies that have won me more than a few games and they are great to get rid of late game discard you draw when the opponents hand is empty. Also since Dread Statuary is legal now I think I will be taking out the Gargoyle Castle for those.
I will definatly try out the Jund deck and tweek it to my liking :)
A lot of new and exciting cards to play around with now, looking forward to all the new deck lists that will be showing up on Sunday afternoons.
Anyone wanting to play test Heirloom decks PM me online and I will be more than happy to play.
I read both your series (if we count this article as one) and I must say your the best writer I read on this site. I know you put effort to have well organized text and thoughts and it is very effective. Continue your great work!
Such a great article, I started playing online mostly just to play this format so Im a sucker for the topic. This is a really good resource article and there are lots of deck ideas I haven't thought of yet. I really like calcite snapper with deft duelist for a control deck, maybe I'll just put my Dumb Blund blue jund deck away for next week and play something with them.
Hey great article. Good to see you writing again. I really like the first deck (because I have a soft spot for trolls? :P). I agree with your premise about playing strength being greatly affected by your morale and outlook. People have said that to me a lot because I go from such extremes of being pretty good to being ridiculously bad. I always just assumed I was having off days/weeks/months. After all people go through slumps. When I am happy and on top of the world outside of magic you can tell because I am much harder to beat or at least a challenge. When I am down in the dumps it shows in my scrubness.
In re the trades: The first looks a bit more over the top. The 2nd trade is really a value trade for both sides. I don't know the exact card prices for the cards but based on a general idea of the range they seem within fairness. A lot of trading after we do some basic math is about personal value not commercial value. And in those trades I can see the other person walking perfectly happy with their end. No one is going to be able to convince them you ripped them off though they may be perfectly aware you got the better end of it.
This is awesome.. good job! I only wish this had been sent to me privately instead of published in a place where it can be read by hundreds of people who I will have to face in the queues.
I wish there had been a few more pictures of the cards or descriptions. The places where you had the pictures were great. But there were some long sections where I had to click on each card to see what it did. Really the problem here is that puremtgo does not have the "hover over" technology.
Hey, puremtgo guys, if you're reading this, make it so the cards will appear when you hover over a link!
A really good article.
I was also sad to see Eldrazi Conscription go, as my own Heirloom Conscription deck did fairly well (relatively to my poor skills).
Prices change quite often... we'll see those cards back in the legal list someday.
I'm not a fan of standard, but this was still an interesting read. Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one that uses some mizer's cards in their maindeck for tournament play. Thats what I call heart :p.
This is one of the problems with MtGO...
"So I made sure to chat plenty and used F6 every chance I could to wear down his clock. Doing things like activating your ranger every turn can really add up!"
Good job, I guess. In a paper tourney, you'd be DQ'd for Stalling for doing this. The clock online is a totally legitimate constraint (and the primary difference between paper and digital play), but going out of your way to purposefully manipulate the rate of play is pretty low. Encouraging others to do likewise in an article is even worse.
If you go back and look at the chat log in the video, you can see that your finals opponent is clearly aware of (and unhappy about) you gaming the clock in what is probably a lost position. Sure, it's a premier event and it's competitive play and there are prizes on the line, but do you honestly feel like you won that game? You're clearly a good player with a strong deck that demolished a fair number of people along the way to the finals, and maybe I'm old fashioned, but I just feel like that should be the thing that matters.
I realize you're right about Shinen of Life's Roar, taking into account your advice and will try to do some upgrade to the deck, if possible.
:)
Good article
ADMIN: your rundown still says "MAN FEATURES" - I brought this text error up months ago. Any link to the site shows this, and doesn't speak well of puremtgo, when the summary for each article is:
PureMTGO is dedicated to purely MTGO, Magic the Gathering Online only content. Read MTGO Based Articles or Become a Writer for PureMTGO and earn some credit! The site features the complete package for you to write articles including man features that make writing magic articles easy and fun!..
Eric - Any knowledge about "DAZE"? Is it ever going to be reprinted in the near future? Should I wait to buy or splurge?
Good to see you back. Deck looks like fun but I would like to see more mass removal that doesn't just hit critters. Oblivion Stone, Nevinyrral's Disk, that type of thing. These will help give you time to set up your combos. The card draw you mention is a great idea as well. Interested to see where you go with it!
Not sure why I don't recognize your username, as I have done a ton of these drafts. Your evaluations are pretty good. I think you are undervaluing Despondency, Opportunity, Veiled Serpent, Slow Motion and overvaluing Grim Monolith (sure, if you ramp into Multani, you win, but if you ramp into Argothian Treefolk, so what?) and Cloud of Faeries. I am much, much happier running Slow Motion than Cloud in any sort of control deck (although obviously I am not adverse to raredrafting clouds). I basically never WANT to maindeck clouds and, if I do run them, I am cycling them a very high percentage of the time.
Slow Motion makes the cut at least 80% of the time in my decks. It does most of the things that Pendrell Flux does, but has the added benefit of being relevant all the way until your opponent hits 7 mana or so. Slow Motioning a Winding Wurm is always a blowout, but even just hitting an angelic page, goblin raider, or any 2-3 drop on turn 3 puts an opponent in a serious conundrum. In addition, although you don't usually want to maindeck multiples (just like the flux), there are decks that are basically cold to multiple slow motions.
jvs
Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. Sorry for the spelling mistakes etc. I think I probably should have spent a little more time proof reading. I'm glad you enjoyed the article and hopefully I'll have a few more written soon.
As Naproxen says I'm sure the cards that left will come back around eventually, and I certainly think we gained more than we lost.
Also, Chris I think you're probably right, it was a very hastily thought up decklist. 5/5s are pretty difficult to kill in this format, Gathan Raiders is probably a good pick. Dread Statuary over Gargoyle Castle also seems like a good call.
Thanks everyone!
Excellent article, and thanks for the mention! I have been playing a bit more Urza lately in spite of myself, though now with the BBB drafts (which I love and hate simultaneously) it's on the backburner for a bit. I look forward to your future articles on this subject.
Very Glad to have this guide Thanks!
Fun Article Thanks!
Good article, now if only Urza's drafts would fire more often.
My general strategy in Urza's draft is this.
a) If I get a Pestilence, cut black hard.
b) If I don't get a Pestilence, take red and white removal over similarly powerful black removal.
c) I play blue only if I can get Hermetic Study or as a supporting color if it is severely under-drafted.
Of course, I generally lean towards more aggressive strategies in draft and contstructed so my bias shows.
I've been eyeing the Rock deck after I was experimenting along similar lines. What I want to know is with Ezuri, Renegade Leader isn't being played with Viridian Emissary and Glissa the Traitor. Regenerating Glissa can be huge and the overrun ability seems to be game breaking.
Great article as usual. I just finished building the Standard version of Forgemaster. The only problem I see with your list is that you have no way to put Blightsteel into your library if you draw it. The standard list uses Jace to solve that problem. I realize this is block so Jace isn't going to work obv. Has this been an issue for you thus far?
Thanks for your great overview, a lot of awsome cards we got here ;-)
It's so nice to be able to read about Heirloom on here again, thanks for that Olaw :)
You have some interesting deck ideas on here that I may have to try out. I like some of the changes you made to my Discard list. I do think taking out the Gathan Raiders is a bad idea tho, they are big bodies that have won me more than a few games and they are great to get rid of late game discard you draw when the opponents hand is empty. Also since Dread Statuary is legal now I think I will be taking out the Gargoyle Castle for those.
I will definatly try out the Jund deck and tweek it to my liking :)
A lot of new and exciting cards to play around with now, looking forward to all the new deck lists that will be showing up on Sunday afternoons.
Anyone wanting to play test Heirloom decks PM me online and I will be more than happy to play.
Thanks for the great article Olaw :)
I read both your series (if we count this article as one) and I must say your the best writer I read on this site. I know you put effort to have well organized text and thoughts and it is very effective. Continue your great work!
Thanks for the comments guys, article took a loooooooooong time to write with all the pictures and linking. I will try and get the next one out ASAP.
Such a great article, I started playing online mostly just to play this format so Im a sucker for the topic. This is a really good resource article and there are lots of deck ideas I haven't thought of yet. I really like calcite snapper with deft duelist for a control deck, maybe I'll just put my Dumb Blund blue jund deck away for next week and play something with them.
I had to give my own article 5 stars. That is purely sad.
Hey Olaw good to see you here. :) Welcome to the puremtgo (dysfunctional) family. :D
Hey great article. Good to see you writing again. I really like the first deck (because I have a soft spot for trolls? :P). I agree with your premise about playing strength being greatly affected by your morale and outlook. People have said that to me a lot because I go from such extremes of being pretty good to being ridiculously bad. I always just assumed I was having off days/weeks/months. After all people go through slumps. When I am happy and on top of the world outside of magic you can tell because I am much harder to beat or at least a challenge. When I am down in the dumps it shows in my scrubness.
In re the trades: The first looks a bit more over the top. The 2nd trade is really a value trade for both sides. I don't know the exact card prices for the cards but based on a general idea of the range they seem within fairness. A lot of trading after we do some basic math is about personal value not commercial value. And in those trades I can see the other person walking perfectly happy with their end. No one is going to be able to convince them you ripped them off though they may be perfectly aware you got the better end of it.
This is awesome.. good job! I only wish this had been sent to me privately instead of published in a place where it can be read by hundreds of people who I will have to face in the queues.
I wish there had been a few more pictures of the cards or descriptions. The places where you had the pictures were great. But there were some long sections where I had to click on each card to see what it did. Really the problem here is that puremtgo does not have the "hover over" technology.
Hey, puremtgo guys, if you're reading this, make it so the cards will appear when you hover over a link!
...but I love my wizard mentors that table! *cries in the corner*
I look forward to seeing what you write about white.
A really good article.
I was also sad to see Eldrazi Conscription go, as my own Heirloom Conscription deck did fairly well (relatively to my poor skills).
Prices change quite often... we'll see those cards back in the legal list someday.
I'm not a fan of standard, but this was still an interesting read. Also, I'm glad I'm not the only one that uses some mizer's cards in their maindeck for tournament play. Thats what I call heart :p.