Sweet write up! As I recall, in our game 2, the Oaths were to bait your counterspells/claims so I could put out Vault Key. The bait worked, but you had an answer for the real thing, too. That turn 2 Jace finds lots of answers. I was not expecting a hardcasted Terastodon. What did you get for your prize?
Agree that sideboard in Commander would slow the game down or create quick combo kills. Both options are unfun. Sideboarding is done in 100 card singleton with Magic Online, but I'll pass at making a sideboard for my decks.
@Kumagoro42 and grandpoobah: I have similar feelings about netdecking. When I started playing (Mirrodin/8th edition) my nephew and I would create some truly worthless piles of junk, but it was fun. A Red deck that turned permanents into artifacts then Shattering them, a WG Elves deck, a mono blue counter-bounce deck; all were fun and contained only what we had available. It was kitchen table madness!
I understand the need to consistently hit the land drops (that's why I was not sure if there was actually an error in the decklisted lands). Still, four Ancestral Recalls (or at least four spells mimicking Ancestral Recall 80% of the times, including when you cast them on opponent golems, and just cycling themselves otherwise) also help land drops, no?
Maybe -1 land -1 Stoic Rebuttal -1 Palladium Myr -1 Volition Reins +4 Twisted Image?
I like to bring to battle some Steel Hellkites, at least in sb. I think it's a good mix of offense and control, of course functionally slower than Wurmcoil (and lacking the very important "judgment insurance"), but more versatile. I actually don't understand why there's so little Hellkite love out there.
Bringing sideboards to Commander would probably end up with Spawnsire of Ulamog banned, and that would be truly hilarious because it's otherwise the worst printed Eldrazi. :)
grandpoobah, I understand where your nostalgic sentiment comes from, and I've the same set of memories (since I play MTG since 1994 myself, even if I quit multiple times between 1999 and 2009). Still, it's just like remembering the good ol' days when your parents drove you around and every place you saw was new and exciting. That's a good thing to remember, but it's also good being an adult, owning your own car, and knowing the exact difference between Paris, France and Paris, Texas.
I've already submitted the next update: it took me a few hours but I'm confident I can actuallly keep up with this rythm.
What hit me about Hawk Smash is its ability to practically turn the four Glint Hawks in four more copies of Kor Skyfisher. That alone should work very well and togheter with the resiliency to Fume Spitter you noted it could really do well against Esper Control. It's a pity that plateddragon did not face any Esper player during the tournament.
MBS: I already saw a lot of good cards for Infect (the G one that gives trample could wreak havoc in Control's defenses, especially when used after a kicked - and resolved - Vines). I wish they included some more good metalcraft cards though; it just seems to me that this mechanic is too much neglected at common rarity.
I have to disagree with the sentiment that somehow having everybody playing the same netdecks is somehow "better." Sure, back in the days before Type I/Type II was invented, succeeding without big money cards was 10 times harder, but playing in tournaments was still 10 times more exciting to see what people cooked up. You'd go to a tournament with 50 people, and there would be 50 different decks. There might be 5 goblin decks or 5 merfolk decks, but they'd all be different. And without the internet and visual spoilers, you'd see Legends cards or Arabians cards that you'd never seen before, and you'd come home with ideas on how to make your favorite decks better if only you could get these impossibly rare cards. You couldn't order from eBay either; the only way to get these cards was to go to a tournament, because your local game store didn't have them, so you had to show up when a LOT of people were there. So every tournament was just as important as a chance to trade and build your collection. I remember, it was a big day when I finally tracked down my 4th Thunder Spirit (a $25 card back then, and virtually impossible to find, getting a playset was a big deal). Just such a different world I don't think the young'uns can appreciate it. But it was a lot more exciting and visceral. And more broken and degenerate. It wasn't all good.
Great read. I like the RW deck at the end. Are the Indomitable Angels absolutely necessary? Without them the deck can be built for around $5-10 at current prices.
The sideboard is also only 12 cards, what else can be put it? More shatters, Glimmerpoints and Precursers/Mimic Vats?
I feel this is a perfectly good weekly update, PiDave, don't sell yourself short. Just do your best to keep things coming regularly. It looks like this format is workable for weekly updates, so I encourage you to keep up the good work! Nice Hawk Smash highlight, too, I'll have to give that a try. I particularly like how, unlike Boros Landfall, most of the creatures aren't x/1 bodies that fall to Fume Spitter, which has been a bigger thorn in Boros's side than I expected.
Also, I agree that Standard Pauper is the best format :-) Just going through the MBS spoiler threads, I see more disappointment from Classic players and more hopefulness from Standard as there's more room for new sets to be relevant in Standard. Keep up the good work!
Which Wort are we talking about, I see Wort, Boggart Auntie a lot in dedicated Goblin decks. I'm the only person I've ever seen with a Wort the Raidmother deck, and mine is my typically squirrely mess.
I'm not a big fan of the sideboard idea for Commander either. I understand that you can't really prepare for every type of deck that you may face, but that's kind of the point. The variety is what keeps things going. There is always going to be a new deck out there that does something different, and the narrowness of specific answers to Commanders like Wort means that they can play what they want unless you really want to hate them.
Of course, if you play against the same people all the time due to a consistent schedule, you can always metagame against them specifically. There are people that run color hate main deck, and they are willing to suck it up if they get into a game with no Blue players. You do have 60 non-land cards to mess around with though.
That's basically the problem with any budget considerations. Card prices fluctuate. I would consider any price listings to be suggestions of the range where the card falls price-wise, not a hard and fast cost guide.
A fun deck in the archetype George likes could be something like this:
3 Trygon Predator <--takes care of enemy enchants/artifacts (a weak spot)
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind <-- one of with curiousity = win.
1 Invoke the Firemind <-- one of game ender
2 Sensei's Divining Top <--these can be pricy but I find as placeholders go there are none better
4 Remand <-- soft counter could be mana leak, negate or any number of other Ux spells.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder <--- could be coiling oracles. Basically fixes lands. Also considered adding Lorescale Coatls instead.
1 Curiosity <--singleton for combo with Niv-Mizzet. Just in to make the deck fun/interesting and still have some punch.
4 Lightning Bolt <--best burn in the game.
4 Grab the Reins <-- grabs creatures your ops control and or just use to kill your op with your own creatures.
3 Mystic Snake <-- harder counters. Basically considered fair in casual.
1 Intet, the Dreamer <-- One of to add flavor to the deck. Could be any number of cards that do similar things.
5 Forest <--seems right without testing.
3 Simic Growth Chamber <--bounce lands help depths and also mana diversity. could be replaced with duals.
2 Gruul Turf <--see simic growth chamber. I emphasized green in this list but could also be blue dominant too.
3 Island <--seems right without testing.
4 Brainstorm <-- pretty darned good instant speed draw.
4 Browbeat <-- conundrum for opponent if you have him on the ropes, otherwise a relatively cheap lava axe.
4 Mountain <--seems right without testing. You may want to tweak the numbers of basics to get the right draw.
3 Halimar Depths <-- helps with the draw same as
4 Terramorphic Expanse <-- mana fixing and deck thinning.
Basically this deck is not going to win vs well tuned classic/legacy decks but it might give them a run for the money, it is fun and fairly cheap with Tops being the most expensive card in it and brainstorms coming next.
I added it up and this deck with SB would cost $85.36 on MTGOTraders.com (not including basic lands). A far cry from $55 even if you take into account MTGOtraders generally higher than most prices.
Edit: a good read even with the misleading costing. :)
Venser blinks Myr Battlesphere, Precursor Golem, and Tumble Magnet, and anything of yours that has been Arrested or Volition Rein'ed. However in an Architect deck, Venser's unblockable ability becomes much more powerful as it can let through an army of Precursor Golems or a Myr Battlesphere when your opponent was planning on chump blocking for a couple of turns.
Also sideboard options become a lot better. Arrest is very good against Koth Red and Mono Blue and Revoke Existence is good against Volition Reins.
My idea was to make an Architect deck that doesn't roll over and die to UW control while still maintaining some advantages over Koth Red. To do that I needed Tumble Magnets to neuter opposing Sunblast Angels and once Tumble Magnets became part of the plan, Venser seemed like a great option.
Still, I haven't done enough testing to know if my theory-crafting is any good in real matches.
I still hate myself for that Tinker play :P
Or rather redirects the tap effect to the coating, well played sir! :p
They'll only be $0.20 a playset, I'm sure
the foil imperial seal that i had donated to the event. sigh. i was so close to the 4 foil scrolls.
Nice write up!
Indomtables become a 2 card combo with liqumetal...Your opponent will never be able to target anything on your board.
Ex. He targets my Archangel with tumble magnet. I lqiuimetal the angel. The tap effect fizzles.
Rinse and repeat for anything else your opponent wants to do.
Sweet write up! As I recall, in our game 2, the Oaths were to bait your counterspells/claims so I could put out Vault Key. The bait worked, but you had an answer for the real thing, too. That turn 2 Jace finds lots of answers. I was not expecting a hardcasted Terastodon. What did you get for your prize?
Taking Lapille's prize money . . . priceless :)
nice draft. good to see an unusual archetype in what otherwise feels like a stale format
I call it Commander-em? Har-mander? Com-Har-Der? Well, I call it something.
I dont know whether to praise or flame that. bit suggestive but i am leaning on the love it side.
Agree that sideboard in Commander would slow the game down or create quick combo kills. Both options are unfun. Sideboarding is done in 100 card singleton with Magic Online, but I'll pass at making a sideboard for my decks.
@Kumagoro42 and grandpoobah: I have similar feelings about netdecking. When I started playing (Mirrodin/8th edition) my nephew and I would create some truly worthless piles of junk, but it was fun. A Red deck that turned permanents into artifacts then Shattering them, a WG Elves deck, a mono blue counter-bounce deck; all were fun and contained only what we had available. It was kitchen table madness!
I understand the need to consistently hit the land drops (that's why I was not sure if there was actually an error in the decklisted lands). Still, four Ancestral Recalls (or at least four spells mimicking Ancestral Recall 80% of the times, including when you cast them on opponent golems, and just cycling themselves otherwise) also help land drops, no?
Maybe -1 land -1 Stoic Rebuttal -1 Palladium Myr -1 Volition Reins +4 Twisted Image?
I like to bring to battle some Steel Hellkites, at least in sb. I think it's a good mix of offense and control, of course functionally slower than Wurmcoil (and lacking the very important "judgment insurance"), but more versatile. I actually don't understand why there's so little Hellkite love out there.
Bringing sideboards to Commander would probably end up with Spawnsire of Ulamog banned, and that would be truly hilarious because it's otherwise the worst printed Eldrazi. :)
grandpoobah, I understand where your nostalgic sentiment comes from, and I've the same set of memories (since I play MTG since 1994 myself, even if I quit multiple times between 1999 and 2009). Still, it's just like remembering the good ol' days when your parents drove you around and every place you saw was new and exciting. That's a good thing to remember, but it's also good being an adult, owning your own car, and knowing the exact difference between Paris, France and Paris, Texas.
Thanks again Copperfield! :D
I've already submitted the next update: it took me a few hours but I'm confident I can actuallly keep up with this rythm.
What hit me about Hawk Smash is its ability to practically turn the four Glint Hawks in four more copies of Kor Skyfisher. That alone should work very well and togheter with the resiliency to Fume Spitter you noted it could really do well against Esper Control. It's a pity that plateddragon did not face any Esper player during the tournament.
MBS: I already saw a lot of good cards for Infect (the G one that gives trample could wreak havoc in Control's defenses, especially when used after a kicked - and resolved - Vines). I wish they included some more good metalcraft cards though; it just seems to me that this mechanic is too much neglected at common rarity.
I have to disagree with the sentiment that somehow having everybody playing the same netdecks is somehow "better." Sure, back in the days before Type I/Type II was invented, succeeding without big money cards was 10 times harder, but playing in tournaments was still 10 times more exciting to see what people cooked up. You'd go to a tournament with 50 people, and there would be 50 different decks. There might be 5 goblin decks or 5 merfolk decks, but they'd all be different. And without the internet and visual spoilers, you'd see Legends cards or Arabians cards that you'd never seen before, and you'd come home with ideas on how to make your favorite decks better if only you could get these impossibly rare cards. You couldn't order from eBay either; the only way to get these cards was to go to a tournament, because your local game store didn't have them, so you had to show up when a LOT of people were there. So every tournament was just as important as a chance to trade and build your collection. I remember, it was a big day when I finally tracked down my 4th Thunder Spirit (a $25 card back then, and virtually impossible to find, getting a playset was a big deal). Just such a different world I don't think the young'uns can appreciate it. But it was a lot more exciting and visceral. And more broken and degenerate. It wasn't all good.
Great read. I like the RW deck at the end. Are the Indomitable Angels absolutely necessary? Without them the deck can be built for around $5-10 at current prices.
The sideboard is also only 12 cards, what else can be put it? More shatters, Glimmerpoints and Precursers/Mimic Vats?
I feel this is a perfectly good weekly update, PiDave, don't sell yourself short. Just do your best to keep things coming regularly. It looks like this format is workable for weekly updates, so I encourage you to keep up the good work! Nice Hawk Smash highlight, too, I'll have to give that a try. I particularly like how, unlike Boros Landfall, most of the creatures aren't x/1 bodies that fall to Fume Spitter, which has been a bigger thorn in Boros's side than I expected.
Also, I agree that Standard Pauper is the best format :-) Just going through the MBS spoiler threads, I see more disappointment from Classic players and more hopefulness from Standard as there's more room for new sets to be relevant in Standard. Keep up the good work!
Which Wort are we talking about, I see Wort, Boggart Auntie a lot in dedicated Goblin decks. I'm the only person I've ever seen with a Wort the Raidmother deck, and mine is my typically squirrely mess.
I'm not a big fan of the sideboard idea for Commander either. I understand that you can't really prepare for every type of deck that you may face, but that's kind of the point. The variety is what keeps things going. There is always going to be a new deck out there that does something different, and the narrowness of specific answers to Commanders like Wort means that they can play what they want unless you really want to hate them.
Of course, if you play against the same people all the time due to a consistent schedule, you can always metagame against them specifically. There are people that run color hate main deck, and they are willing to suck it up if they get into a game with no Blue players. You do have 60 non-land cards to mess around with though.
I like the ideas you present...I never dismiss anything. Let me know how your testing goes.
That's basically the problem with any budget considerations. Card prices fluctuate. I would consider any price listings to be suggestions of the range where the card falls price-wise, not a hard and fast cost guide.
A fun deck in the archetype George likes could be something like this:
3 Trygon Predator <--takes care of enemy enchants/artifacts (a weak spot)
1 Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind <-- one of with curiousity = win.
1 Invoke the Firemind <-- one of game ender
2 Sensei's Divining Top <--these can be pricy but I find as placeholders go there are none better
4 Remand <-- soft counter could be mana leak, negate or any number of other Ux spells.
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder <--- could be coiling oracles. Basically fixes lands. Also considered adding Lorescale Coatls instead.
1 Curiosity <--singleton for combo with Niv-Mizzet. Just in to make the deck fun/interesting and still have some punch.
4 Lightning Bolt <--best burn in the game.
4 Grab the Reins <-- grabs creatures your ops control and or just use to kill your op with your own creatures.
3 Mystic Snake <-- harder counters. Basically considered fair in casual.
1 Intet, the Dreamer <-- One of to add flavor to the deck. Could be any number of cards that do similar things.
5 Forest <--seems right without testing.
3 Simic Growth Chamber <--bounce lands help depths and also mana diversity. could be replaced with duals.
2 Gruul Turf <--see simic growth chamber. I emphasized green in this list but could also be blue dominant too.
3 Island <--seems right without testing.
4 Brainstorm <-- pretty darned good instant speed draw.
4 Browbeat <-- conundrum for opponent if you have him on the ropes, otherwise a relatively cheap lava axe.
4 Mountain <--seems right without testing. You may want to tweak the numbers of basics to get the right draw.
3 Halimar Depths <-- helps with the draw same as
4 Terramorphic Expanse <-- mana fixing and deck thinning.
Basically this deck is not going to win vs well tuned classic/legacy decks but it might give them a run for the money, it is fun and fairly cheap with Tops being the most expensive card in it and brainstorms coming next.
I added it up and this deck with SB would cost $85.36 on MTGOTraders.com (not including basic lands). A far cry from $55 even if you take into account MTGOtraders generally higher than most prices.
Edit: a good read even with the misleading costing. :)
Venser blinks Myr Battlesphere, Precursor Golem, and Tumble Magnet, and anything of yours that has been Arrested or Volition Rein'ed. However in an Architect deck, Venser's unblockable ability becomes much more powerful as it can let through an army of Precursor Golems or a Myr Battlesphere when your opponent was planning on chump blocking for a couple of turns.
Also sideboard options become a lot better. Arrest is very good against Koth Red and Mono Blue and Revoke Existence is good against Volition Reins.
My idea was to make an Architect deck that doesn't roll over and die to UW control while still maintaining some advantages over Koth Red. To do that I needed Tumble Magnets to neuter opposing Sunblast Angels and once Tumble Magnets became part of the plan, Venser seemed like a great option.
Still, I haven't done enough testing to know if my theory-crafting is any good in real matches.