I stop by each day in part to see if my own Pauper Standard article I submitted has been published, and in part to see if your updates have been published as well. I think you've edged me out, but that's fine with me. By now, posting mine would be quite redundant as you've covered all the bases.
With regard to proofreading, I didn't see too many errors. The most egregious error I saw was the word "casted." This is not a word, but it's an easy mistake to make. English, like Magic, breaks its own rules frequently. Just keep in mind that the past tense of "cast" is not "casted." It's just "cast." This can be seen on the cards themselves. It's best seen in the rules text for Storm:
"When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn."
The first instance of the word refers to the future tense; the second instance refers to the past tense.
It's a crazy word that has many different definitions and uses. You can cast a fishing line if you're a fisherman; you can cast a shoe off if you're a horse; you can cast an actor in a leading role if you're a director; you can cast a ballot if you're a voter. The list goes on and on, and even somebody whose first language is English can find a new use for the word.
To wit, I just found out that it can used as a noun with regard to falconry: A "cast" can also mean a pair of hawks put in flight together. So if you end up getting two Squadron Hawks onto the battlefield in a single turn, you've literally just cast a cast! Go figure :-)
I'm glad you liked it as usual, Copperfield. I'm still punching myself for a couple of mistakes in the article. Three proofreadings are still not enough. :(
I was absolutely fascinated by Caw Go last week: it has so many commons that the desire to "make it pauper" is still burning in my heart. However the Money Standard ( btw: I LOVE this definition! :D ) has so many multi-purpose cards...the manlands and the Planeswalkers are just awesome. And sadly, irreplaceable.
Great to see these updates coming up so quickly. Props to the editors of PureMTGO for getting this up so fast and to you for pumping it out right after the tournament.
I like the connection you make between Money Standard's Caw Go deck and how this idea is "ported" to Pauper. This happened last season with Soul Sisters as well. Both variants are specific answers to well-defined metagames. I think that in our case, the heavy counter magic suite is a perfect foil for the Gravedigger-based Esper and 4CC decks. There's just no other way to halt the recursion except to counter it outright. So rather than go all-out Esper, it looks like FlxEx decided to keep the Oracle-Skyfisher-Hawk skeleton and cut out black altogether in favor of seven maindeck hard counters. Smart move!
I must say I disagree with you about Go For The Throat being a good printing for the STD vampires deck. A lot of the strength of that deck is that it is totally immune to the commonly played doom blade. It will certainly make the mirror match less frustrating though! (Oh look, I'm holding 2 doom-blades.. *vomit*)
I can see sangromancer maybe making the sideboard for aggro matchups, but I don't think it will make the cut to the maindeck, as I think it just seems like a worse nighthawk (which I don't think you'd run more than 4 of) unless you're running a lot of discard. The discard clause doesn't seem that relevent to me anyway, as you can't drop this before turn 4 (by which point discard spells aren't hugely impressive).
I will absolutely agree with you that Distant Memories is absolutely shockingly stunningly poop. I initially thought that the card got exiled face down, which would have made it bad but at least generate some fun mind games. As it is, it's both uninteresting and utterly useless.
The article was submitted last Thursday and I'm hoping it drops very soon. Any kind of "tone" was removed from the writing of it and it is very systematic. Please enjoy and post whatever comments you have when it goes live. I'm in the process of writing the third installment as we speak (at work!).
I too am looking forward to the first installment of the series. I'm always open to learning new tricks to keep my time on MTGO as financially painless as possible. I'm really not concerned with your tone - as long as you back it up with real substance.
I sort of wonder about whether you could somehow set up a situation where you cast praetor's counsel off a mind's desire, allowing for a bit more faffing around with rituals, and then another, bigger mind's desire! I suspect it's not really required for that though, and is probably just to give green EDHers an absolutely ridiculous late game reload.
Also, remember that Hero of Oxid Ridge gets your team in past any walls of omens or overgrown battlements, both of which are either maindecked or tend to get boarded in against mono-R. For that reason, I could potentially see it getting standard play ('though it's definitely a push).
That decklist really just isn't very good unfortunately. It's supposed to bash the Frantic Search deck and still loses to it far too consistently. Goblins and Affinity get a walk against a decklist that looks like that. Aurochs Heard? How about t3 enforcer & atog after t2 disciple & frog. No chance.
Green Sun's Zenith in Legacy isn't just a different take on Chord of Calling? (Which I still like better because of Convoke. And instant speed. And not being limited to green creatures).
So, you don't trust Praetor's Counsel. I'm still on the fence about it, I've to give it a try in a dedicated deck. It's clearly not block material, though, but it's actually nice to have a mythic card which doesn't just say, "I'm here to make this block better for its own sake". Eternal formats need to be impacted more and more by new sets, even if I understand that's getting harder and harder each year.
I agree about Thrun being overrated. I also usually hate 2-mana regeneration, since it either slows down my play or it's just something I have to ignore pretty much always but the occasional game-changing situation. That said, he's still a good block beater tough.
"...great for us player as no longer we are completely cut from one color simply because we do not want to spend four hundred dollars on some mythics": you're so right!
Indeed. What I was saying is that those two big stars can't cover 8 slots for us, so we'll have to figure out something else.
No thoughts about Praetor's Counsel?
A little bit, yeah. :)
And what if you manage to put the myr tokens out on turn 3 with a Shape Anew in your hand, and both the cheap artifact and its fetchers didn't show up yet? Do you risk to have all your complex combo resulting in cheating Darksteel Axe into play through the most massive card disadvantage move ever? :)
Also, good call the Inkmoth Nexus, but I don't know if I will be that comfortable to try and sacrifice a valuable land drop (one capable of winning the game by itself, btw) for a combo who could backfire in one hundred ways. That's also the reason I never use Dryad Arbor with Natural Order. God bless Khalni Garden.
if you make the cheap artifact a darksteel axe, they can't even blow it up in response! Also, you could run stoneforge mystic, I guess, although this deck is beginning to sound a bit silly...
I'm upset, because I was excited to find a monogreen deck pushing me to play some Pauper again, and after reading all the comments, I don't even get if the deck is worth a try or not. :)
Liked that first draft for a BG Midrange deck, something I would like to try and build. I think we need some more personality there, though. Something that defines the deck better. Also, Thrun and Glissa are both awesome, but 8 legendary slots are surely too much, aren't they?
Also, I'm looking forward to hear some opinions about Praetor's Counsel (a.k.a. the bonus Mythic green got). I can't decide if it will be the most amazing and Eternal-affecting SOM card (I agree with TheRegularGangster about the little effect SOM block will have on Eternal formats: SOM is fun, but surely it's no Mirrodin), or just completely bogus.
they are not free. you get points based on the purchases you make from the store and events you join, rounds you played etc...
I love these articles, my favorite part of a new set :)
I don't know about anyone else but there was no promo reward for me for December. So not so free after all.
I stop by each day in part to see if my own Pauper Standard article I submitted has been published, and in part to see if your updates have been published as well. I think you've edged me out, but that's fine with me. By now, posting mine would be quite redundant as you've covered all the bases.
With regard to proofreading, I didn't see too many errors. The most egregious error I saw was the word "casted." This is not a word, but it's an easy mistake to make. English, like Magic, breaks its own rules frequently. Just keep in mind that the past tense of "cast" is not "casted." It's just "cast." This can be seen on the cards themselves. It's best seen in the rules text for Storm:
"When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn."
The first instance of the word refers to the future tense; the second instance refers to the past tense.
It's a crazy word that has many different definitions and uses. You can cast a fishing line if you're a fisherman; you can cast a shoe off if you're a horse; you can cast an actor in a leading role if you're a director; you can cast a ballot if you're a voter. The list goes on and on, and even somebody whose first language is English can find a new use for the word.
To wit, I just found out that it can used as a noun with regard to falconry: A "cast" can also mean a pair of hawks put in flight together. So if you end up getting two Squadron Hawks onto the battlefield in a single turn, you've literally just cast a cast! Go figure :-)
I never thought about it that way! Thanks.
I really like consecrted sphinx in block. I may be totally wrong but it has a sizable body and a great ability.
Wow, that was quick! O_O
I'm glad you liked it as usual, Copperfield. I'm still punching myself for a couple of mistakes in the article. Three proofreadings are still not enough. :(
I was absolutely fascinated by Caw Go last week: it has so many commons that the desire to "make it pauper" is still burning in my heart. However the Money Standard ( btw: I LOVE this definition! :D ) has so many multi-purpose cards...the manlands and the Planeswalkers are just awesome. And sadly, irreplaceable.
There's a big difference between XG and XGGG, the Chord was pretty much limited to elf decks, the Zenith can potentially see play in any green deck.
Great to see these updates coming up so quickly. Props to the editors of PureMTGO for getting this up so fast and to you for pumping it out right after the tournament.
I like the connection you make between Money Standard's Caw Go deck and how this idea is "ported" to Pauper. This happened last season with Soul Sisters as well. Both variants are specific answers to well-defined metagames. I think that in our case, the heavy counter magic suite is a perfect foil for the Gravedigger-based Esper and 4CC decks. There's just no other way to halt the recursion except to counter it outright. So rather than go all-out Esper, it looks like FlxEx decided to keep the Oracle-Skyfisher-Hawk skeleton and cut out black altogether in favor of seven maindeck hard counters. Smart move!
Keep up the good work!
Go For the Throat is definitely NOT good news for Vampires - I agree. Vampires, however, is fading fast anyways.
I must say I disagree with you about Go For The Throat being a good printing for the STD vampires deck. A lot of the strength of that deck is that it is totally immune to the commonly played doom blade. It will certainly make the mirror match less frustrating though! (Oh look, I'm holding 2 doom-blades.. *vomit*)
I can see sangromancer maybe making the sideboard for aggro matchups, but I don't think it will make the cut to the maindeck, as I think it just seems like a worse nighthawk (which I don't think you'd run more than 4 of) unless you're running a lot of discard. The discard clause doesn't seem that relevent to me anyway, as you can't drop this before turn 4 (by which point discard spells aren't hugely impressive).
I will absolutely agree with you that Distant Memories is absolutely shockingly stunningly poop. I initially thought that the card got exiled face down, which would have made it bad but at least generate some fun mind games. As it is, it's both uninteresting and utterly useless.
Anyway, good review!
Hey Welfare,
The article was submitted last Thursday and I'm hoping it drops very soon. Any kind of "tone" was removed from the writing of it and it is very systematic. Please enjoy and post whatever comments you have when it goes live. I'm in the process of writing the third installment as we speak (at work!).
Cheers,
TRG
I too am looking forward to the first installment of the series. I'm always open to learning new tricks to keep my time on MTGO as financially painless as possible. I'm really not concerned with your tone - as long as you back it up with real substance.
I sort of wonder about whether you could somehow set up a situation where you cast praetor's counsel off a mind's desire, allowing for a bit more faffing around with rituals, and then another, bigger mind's desire! I suspect it's not really required for that though, and is probably just to give green EDHers an absolutely ridiculous late game reload.
Also, remember that Hero of Oxid Ridge gets your team in past any walls of omens or overgrown battlements, both of which are either maindecked or tend to get boarded in against mono-R. For that reason, I could potentially see it getting standard play ('though it's definitely a push).
That decklist really just isn't very good unfortunately. It's supposed to bash the Frantic Search deck and still loses to it far too consistently. Goblins and Affinity get a walk against a decklist that looks like that. Aurochs Heard? How about t3 enforcer & atog after t2 disciple & frog. No chance.
Green Sun's Zenith in Legacy isn't just a different take on Chord of Calling? (Which I still like better because of Convoke. And instant speed. And not being limited to green creatures).
So, you don't trust Praetor's Counsel. I'm still on the fence about it, I've to give it a try in a dedicated deck. It's clearly not block material, though, but it's actually nice to have a mythic card which doesn't just say, "I'm here to make this block better for its own sake". Eternal formats need to be impacted more and more by new sets, even if I understand that's getting harder and harder each year.
I agree about Thrun being overrated. I also usually hate 2-mana regeneration, since it either slows down my play or it's just something I have to ignore pretty much always but the occasional game-changing situation. That said, he's still a good block beater tough.
"...great for us player as no longer we are completely cut from one color simply because we do not want to spend four hundred dollars on some mythics": you're so right!
Indeed. What I was saying is that those two big stars can't cover 8 slots for us, so we'll have to figure out something else.
No thoughts about Praetor's Counsel?
A little bit, yeah. :)
And what if you manage to put the myr tokens out on turn 3 with a Shape Anew in your hand, and both the cheap artifact and its fetchers didn't show up yet? Do you risk to have all your complex combo resulting in cheating Darksteel Axe into play through the most massive card disadvantage move ever? :)
Also, good call the Inkmoth Nexus, but I don't know if I will be that comfortable to try and sacrifice a valuable land drop (one capable of winning the game by itself, btw) for a combo who could backfire in one hundred ways. That's also the reason I never use Dryad Arbor with Natural Order. God bless Khalni Garden.
I will try the deck... i just need to buy a few commons.
it also drops tez himself to a nice burnable 2-loyalty.
if you make the cheap artifact a darksteel axe, they can't even blow it up in response! Also, you could run stoneforge mystic, I guess, although this deck is beginning to sound a bit silly...
this place is slowly birthing more trolls than 4chan
Well I never said I'd play 4 of each :P
I'm upset, because I was excited to find a monogreen deck pushing me to play some Pauper again, and after reading all the comments, I don't even get if the deck is worth a try or not. :)
Liked that first draft for a BG Midrange deck, something I would like to try and build. I think we need some more personality there, though. Something that defines the deck better. Also, Thrun and Glissa are both awesome, but 8 legendary slots are surely too much, aren't they?
Also, I'm looking forward to hear some opinions about Praetor's Counsel (a.k.a. the bonus Mythic green got). I can't decide if it will be the most amazing and Eternal-affecting SOM card (I agree with TheRegularGangster about the little effect SOM block will have on Eternal formats: SOM is fun, but surely it's no Mirrodin), or just completely bogus.
4 Masters call, 4 Inkmoth nexus, 4 Trinket mage, plus 1 cheap artifact seems like enough to "Shape" a Colossus. Thats 13 sources, add Ponders, Jaces, ect......