I keep going back and forth on volition reins, like any typical sideboard it is every changing. With most of the new spoilers out I expect to face a lot of aggro decks at the SCG event, so I might want to rethink things. For reference, here is my list : http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ub-control-72/
1x Consume the Meek
4x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
2x Disfigure
2x Doom Blade
4x Drowned Catacomb
3x Grave Titan
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
5x Island
2x Jace Beleren
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Mana Leak
1x Misty Rainforest
4x Preordain
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Smother
4x Spreading Seas
1x Stoic Rebuttal
3x Swamp
4x Tectonic Edge
1x Verdant Catacombs
your stax deck is too cute. it looks really fun, but your a little too all over the place. are you a lock down deck? a beat down deck? or a silver bullet deck? you cant be all 3. i would drop all those silly meta game cards like chains and in the eye of chaos and either concentrate on lock pieces, or more aggresiveness. With out moxes and a the blue cards, which are the only reasons to run blue in vintage, and especially no tangle wire. you dont have the best long game. hope you fix it up the way you like for the invitational, see ya there.
Yeah UB definitely has game against essentially the whole field no truly "bad" match ups if you have some main deck aggro hate. Although to be honest UW just does better with aggro. I feel that UW's biggest problem is Lotus Cobra which UB doesn't have much of a problem with.
The most recent UB list I ran after the vids was Patrick Chapin's which dropped the Frost Titans (which I assume were a meta game call for MTGO dailies). But against Caw go I follow Chapin's philosophy: (Quote from his article)
"+1 Volition Reins, +1 Doom Blade, +1Jace Beleren, +1 Vampire Nighthawk, +2 Duress, +3 Ratchet Bomb
-2 Disfigure, -2 Consume the Meek, -1 Grave Titan, -4 Spreading Seas "
Now your list may vary from his but the you can see his line of play.
Doomblade is an effective answer to Titans(not in all lists), Collonade and decent againt Gideon.
Jace: Gotta win that war
Nighthawks - Only decent answer to resolved Squadron Flock, also put pressure on opposing walkers if alone on board, while setting up a nice life cushion.
Duress: 1 Mana hand disruption is a huge
Ratchet Bombs: Another nod to Squadron Flock and in control matches you can set it early and work it up to 3 or so to keep them off either Jace.
Volition Reigns: Stealing Jace is nuts
Disfigure: ineffective only hits hawks and does so with horrible card disadvantage
Consume: Hits hawks and colonnades but is rather clunky at 5 mana and has a huge chance to just be dead.
Grave Titan is least effective against decks that have DOJ, you want to play him when you have things locked up(Usually not on turn 6)
Spreading Seas - Used to keep these in, they just tend to be really slow; I found I agreed with taking them out.
Thanks for the quick response, excellent points as well. I've been testing UB heavily for this upcoming tournament and I feel pretty confident in my aggro matchups. My list varies from yours a little bit, for instance I have no Frost Titans. I do run ratchet bomb maindeck which I've fallen in love with against aggro.
1. Vs Rug What hits turn 2 cobra effectively? (Inquisition, disfigure, doom blade, leak(on the play) )if your opening hand has none of these it probably isn't the best hand against many decks so it is a likely mulligan. Though if you do have a solid hand with a preordain or two I could be persuaded to stick with it, they dont always have cobra and sometimes the EV of a mulligan isn't worth it.
2.a Its a cop out; but with the exception of go for the throat and black suns zenith, I don't see too much changing with the current UB deck. The main point to take home in my opinion, is that sometimes decks don't survive the meta game shift that a new format presents. So will our core UB survive? Probably, but its not guaranteed and we don't know the full set yet.
2.b On Zenith BBX: X -1/-1 counters on each creature, SORC. While usually worse then consume the meek when x=3 the versatility of playing x for 1 or 2 makes me think it is a better inclusion, really putting the hurt on vampires and boros a few turns earlier.
3.UBs matchups as far as I'm Concerned (Can vary on build)
UB 55-60% / 45-40% Vala - Decent edge UB
UB 45-50% / 55-50% Boros - Slight edge Boros
UB 50-55% / 50-45% Vamps - Slight edge UB
UB 50-52% / 50-48% Caw-go - Tiny, tiny edge UB (Playing a lot of Caw-go this week, if you cant stop squadron its a huge pain)
UB 50 / 50 Rug - Don't see rug much online so I don't have too much experience, seems about even in my eyes, maybe slight advantage to UB.
I'm missing some but those are the match ups I see a lot on MTGO (with the noted exception).
Excellent vids, great work. I've been playing UB for awhile in paper (planning on running it at SCG Indy) and I just love the deck. A few questions for you.
1. Vs. RUG do you mull to find a t1 or t2 answer to Cobra? What is your typical play vs this deck
2. What do you think will improve the deck from Beseiged and what cards from Beseiged do you think should be worried about (obv Go for the Throat will Kill Titan)
3. What do you consider to be your best and worst matchups.
This isn't a suggestion of a card to include QUITE yet, but rather just a tidbit about a card that we MIGHT see at common in Scars block. I was an early contestant applicant in the Great Designer Search 2, and having passed the essay question I went on to the multiple choice test...which I failed by one or two questions.
Anyway, one of the questions I got right was about this hypothetical design (they asked which rarity was most appropriate, I answered common, and I was correct). It would be perfect for the Metalcraft Milling deck we're interested in. I hope they print this:
Annoying Bell
Artifact
Annoying Bell enters the battlefield with three charge counters on it.
T, Remove a charge counter from Annoying Bell: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Fits the same mold as Tumble Magnet and Necrogen Censer, so I'm assuming they meant to add a "3" in there somewhere. I'm crossing my fingers we see it in Mirrodin Besieged or New Phyrexia (or Mirrodin Pure if the war doesn't go my way!)
Just some ideas I came up with without going through all the options properly:
Option One:
Cadaverous Bloom + Squandered Resources (obv!) + Trace of Abundance + Urza Lands + maybe some mana creatures (such as Coiling Oracle or Llanowar Dead or Steward of Valeron) + Invoke the Firemind.
Then Esper Charm for card drawing, Pernicious Deed to stay alive, and maybe Supply/Demand as well for tutoring.
or
Option Two:
All those mana generators mentioned above again + Wargate. Like a Wargate with X=Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Or X=Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Or X=Angel of Despair. Or X= A very VERY big Supply/Demand (the Supply part).
Yeah maybe if there is a way to format the way the videos are presented on the web site so they are a bit easier on the eyes to look at. All in all great video, and obviously good playing with the 4-0.
I built some decks with Screeching Silclaw. It's actually quite good when it works. However, I did wind up cutting it in favor of more counterspells. I will say that Glint Hawk + Stonework Puma actually works very nicely. I was playing against Team America decks, and a good counterspell package seems necessary to keep up. If they keep burning off your allies, then your triggered abilities never stack up enough to matter. Every time I went to equip the Accorder's Shield, he burned my guy. Every single time over 5 games (probably like 10 times total). The nice thing about Silclaw is that he can work alone; he needs 3 artifacts, but it doesn't matter which ones, so you have more flexibility designing the deck.
I rather enjoyed these videos, spent most of the past hour watching them and talking to Agur on MTGOnline, he's a nice guy and I think he played really well in this 8 man.
I enjoyed watching the videos. I suggest that next time you post a deck listing, group them all by their type
Lands Creatures Planeswalkers Spells Sideboard
something like that, makes it look neater and easier to read for everyone, also it makes it easier for them to build the deck on MTGOnline and ensure they aren't missing something if they are trying to copy the deck directly.
Great first effort, I'll definitely watch any other videos you post.
Keep posting tournament videos, that's something I enjoy seeing, I like learning from what I'm seeing. More importantly than watching, I like learning the "why's" of things. Why did he do this, why did he do that? Maybe do a little writeup in addition to the videos, sometimes it can be better to write down your thoughts, it might even make your commentary a bit better.
Just some thoughts, and have fun making more videos!
Hey Jake welcome to pure. You should know there is a distinctive deck format we like to use here (though it's far from mandatory it does make lists look a little nicer and uniform.)
I wonder if there would be any mileage in a Prosbloom deck using invoke the firemind as the prosperity? what effects would we be missing/need to replicate?
Criptes! I didn't even consider this: "you're playing against accounts with multiple users who are grinding heavy for 20 hour days". I guess I'm too much a law-abiding citizen to think that this wouldn't be caught from seeing different IPs (it is against their rules). It's a scary thought though.
I see what you're saying about wanting to win AND keep a balance, I'm just saying, that's not really all too feasible (but what do I know ;) ) and that just playing to enjoy it and enjoy the other aspects of your life is better than the hamster wheel of grinding.
Anyway, good luck with your pursuit. I hope you CAN find that balance and success.
Alan221, if your gonna post spam, you could at least rate the article.
Anyways fun deck.
Some card suggestions
Horn of Greed. I have come to like this card in fun decks. Like Howling Mine and all the other card draws that help opponents, it works against you, but played right, it can be fun.
True Conviction: Helps in the lifelink and makes your creatures more threatening.
Gerrard Capashen: Adds to the lifelink theme and also works for some invasion. Also doubles as a stand in general if your looking for something different.
Yeah it'd be nice if they made some online tournaments big enough, like a WSOP event, where just winning just one would be a victory in and of itself. Technically, the MOCS is sort of like this, but with the caveat that you have to win at least like 3-15 "satellite" tournaments in order to qualify, which is no easy task, and then you have to win a larger satellite tournament, then you get to compete in the actual tournament, that is indeed worth a lot of money.
Actually travelling and taking a full day or more in paper Magic is tough, but MTGO is perfect for those who want to compete in a big tournament. I'd be willing to take 1-3 days off to win a PT-like tournament, even if Top 8 didn't involve cash prizes. Winning like 5,000 packs of SOM would be awesome!! Nix tix queues here I come!
As it currently exists, the current MOCS series is indeed a huge grind for practically everyone involved.
The sad thing is almost anyone can qualify, as long as you have enough time and money to spare. And the payout of like 6 packs + big-ticket card isn't all that alluring considering that some people, like myself, would probably have to spend like 80+ hours of grinding on MTGO to qualify.
Mmogg, I completely agree with your comments. MTGO can be an absolute grind. Even those of us who do grind at times would likely tell you that we win a lot more when we're having more fun and MTGO is "fresh" again. I suppose you could explain my random retirements by citing that. Playing MTGO certainly isn't worth putting aside your relationships, friendships, hobbies, and general regular living. It's easy to get caught up in it and all, but you need to control yourself, that's part of the balance.
I'm not sure playing at a balanced rate if anyone would be able to win a portion of the MOCS - considering that, in most cases, you're playing against accounts with multiple users who are grinding heavy for 20 hour days. I guess I'll find out.
Will I be abandoning anything important to chase an MOCS? Absolutely not. I guess what I'm trying to accomplish is to not abandon MTGO completely either. This is something I haven't been able to do in the past.
@ Grappling Farang
What chase are you more interested in haha? Yeah, I've never spent a summer playing any MTGO. I'm in Canada, and I'm not a huge fan of the cold, but I'm an outdoorsman, and the summer is the time for that. Winter seems like a good time for MTGO. Hopefully I can maintain a steady enough pace in the summer to keep the chances kicking.
I plan on following up this report post February 13th with a MOCS II report. It's extended. I currently have a deck, and I generally go rogue in MOCS with a heavy anit-red focus (for obvious reasons, 500 people in an EXT tournament = a lot of people looking for cheap options, and red is one of the only cheap options). Regardless, since I'll be going rogue, or a played deck with significant tweaks, I won't be posting an EXT report before.
Yeah, I suppose working within a non-Legacy envinronment, at least at the beginning of the deckbuilding process, can be the way people end up choosing Rampant Growth over the Elder, then forgetting about it just like you did. But I don't know, sometimes it seems like people is all, "What's green uses to tutor lands into play?", and the first answer is still Rampant Growth, even if green has dozens different ways to do that. Even Elder asides, Sylvan Scrying or Kodama's Reach/Cultivate would fit better many decks.
Classic card pool will most definitely give a new fresh air to the format and (a good) reason to people to play the format again. There are a lot of excellent old cards which will go right into competitive decks (or into casual ones of course).
But of course, the old card pool will entertain people only for a certain time. At the end they will also start to get boring. And that's why we always need new cards. As I said in the article, 20 new cards per year would be enough for this format to stay alive (considering they will be playable and not utter crap).
Oh and if I know anything about anything, then this will be how EVERY competitive Classic Kaleidoscope deck would look like:
I keep going back and forth on volition reins, like any typical sideboard it is every changing. With most of the new spoilers out I expect to face a lot of aggro decks at the SCG event, so I might want to rethink things. For reference, here is my list : http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/ub-control-72/
1x Consume the Meek
4x Creeping Tar Pit
4x Darkslick Shores
2x Disfigure
2x Doom Blade
4x Drowned Catacomb
3x Grave Titan
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
5x Island
2x Jace Beleren
3x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Mana Leak
1x Misty Rainforest
4x Preordain
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Sea Gate Oracle
1x Smother
4x Spreading Seas
1x Stoic Rebuttal
3x Swamp
4x Tectonic Edge
1x Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
1x Deprive
2x Disfigure
2x Duress
2x Flashfreeze
2x Memoricide
1x Mindbreak Trap
1x Ratchet Bomb
2x Skinrender
2x Vampire Nighthawk
your stax deck is too cute. it looks really fun, but your a little too all over the place. are you a lock down deck? a beat down deck? or a silver bullet deck? you cant be all 3. i would drop all those silly meta game cards like chains and in the eye of chaos and either concentrate on lock pieces, or more aggresiveness. With out moxes and a the blue cards, which are the only reasons to run blue in vintage, and especially no tangle wire. you dont have the best long game. hope you fix it up the way you like for the invitational, see ya there.
Yeah UB definitely has game against essentially the whole field no truly "bad" match ups if you have some main deck aggro hate. Although to be honest UW just does better with aggro. I feel that UW's biggest problem is Lotus Cobra which UB doesn't have much of a problem with.
The most recent UB list I ran after the vids was Patrick Chapin's which dropped the Frost Titans (which I assume were a meta game call for MTGO dailies). But against Caw go I follow Chapin's philosophy: (Quote from his article)
"+1 Volition Reins, +1 Doom Blade, +1Jace Beleren, +1 Vampire Nighthawk, +2 Duress, +3 Ratchet Bomb
-2 Disfigure, -2 Consume the Meek, -1 Grave Titan, -4 Spreading Seas "
Now your list may vary from his but the you can see his line of play.
Doomblade is an effective answer to Titans(not in all lists), Collonade and decent againt Gideon.
Jace: Gotta win that war
Nighthawks - Only decent answer to resolved Squadron Flock, also put pressure on opposing walkers if alone on board, while setting up a nice life cushion.
Duress: 1 Mana hand disruption is a huge
Ratchet Bombs: Another nod to Squadron Flock and in control matches you can set it early and work it up to 3 or so to keep them off either Jace.
Volition Reigns: Stealing Jace is nuts
Disfigure: ineffective only hits hawks and does so with horrible card disadvantage
Consume: Hits hawks and colonnades but is rather clunky at 5 mana and has a huge chance to just be dead.
Grave Titan is least effective against decks that have DOJ, you want to play him when you have things locked up(Usually not on turn 6)
Spreading Seas - Used to keep these in, they just tend to be really slow; I found I agreed with taking them out.
Love both of those plans. Wargate is one of my favorites.
Thanks for the quick response, excellent points as well. I've been testing UB heavily for this upcoming tournament and I feel pretty confident in my aggro matchups. My list varies from yours a little bit, for instance I have no Frost Titans. I do run ratchet bomb maindeck which I've fallen in love with against aggro.
What do you typically side in vs. UW decks?
Thanks for the comment!
1. Vs Rug What hits turn 2 cobra effectively? (Inquisition, disfigure, doom blade, leak(on the play) )if your opening hand has none of these it probably isn't the best hand against many decks so it is a likely mulligan. Though if you do have a solid hand with a preordain or two I could be persuaded to stick with it, they dont always have cobra and sometimes the EV of a mulligan isn't worth it.
2.a Its a cop out; but with the exception of go for the throat and black suns zenith, I don't see too much changing with the current UB deck. The main point to take home in my opinion, is that sometimes decks don't survive the meta game shift that a new format presents. So will our core UB survive? Probably, but its not guaranteed and we don't know the full set yet.
2.b On Zenith BBX: X -1/-1 counters on each creature, SORC. While usually worse then consume the meek when x=3 the versatility of playing x for 1 or 2 makes me think it is a better inclusion, really putting the hurt on vampires and boros a few turns earlier.
3.UBs matchups as far as I'm Concerned (Can vary on build)
UB 55-60% / 45-40% Vala - Decent edge UB
UB 45-50% / 55-50% Boros - Slight edge Boros
UB 50-55% / 50-45% Vamps - Slight edge UB
UB 50-52% / 50-48% Caw-go - Tiny, tiny edge UB (Playing a lot of Caw-go this week, if you cant stop squadron its a huge pain)
UB 50 / 50 Rug - Don't see rug much online so I don't have too much experience, seems about even in my eyes, maybe slight advantage to UB.
I'm missing some but those are the match ups I see a lot on MTGO (with the noted exception).
Excellent vids, great work. I've been playing UB for awhile in paper (planning on running it at SCG Indy) and I just love the deck. A few questions for you.
1. Vs. RUG do you mull to find a t1 or t2 answer to Cobra? What is your typical play vs this deck
2. What do you think will improve the deck from Beseiged and what cards from Beseiged do you think should be worried about (obv Go for the Throat will Kill Titan)
3. What do you consider to be your best and worst matchups.
I'll look into making the videos easier to watch, and work on the decklist posting, thanks for the comments folks.
This isn't a suggestion of a card to include QUITE yet, but rather just a tidbit about a card that we MIGHT see at common in Scars block. I was an early contestant applicant in the Great Designer Search 2, and having passed the essay question I went on to the multiple choice test...which I failed by one or two questions.
Anyway, one of the questions I got right was about this hypothetical design (they asked which rarity was most appropriate, I answered common, and I was correct). It would be perfect for the Metalcraft Milling deck we're interested in. I hope they print this:
Annoying Bell
Artifact
Annoying Bell enters the battlefield with three charge counters on it.
T, Remove a charge counter from Annoying Bell: Target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.
Fits the same mold as Tumble Magnet and Necrogen Censer, so I'm assuming they meant to add a "3" in there somewhere. I'm crossing my fingers we see it in Mirrodin Besieged or New Phyrexia (or Mirrodin Pure if the war doesn't go my way!)
Just some ideas I came up with without going through all the options properly:
Option One:
Cadaverous Bloom + Squandered Resources (obv!) + Trace of Abundance + Urza Lands + maybe some mana creatures (such as Coiling Oracle or Llanowar Dead or Steward of Valeron) + Invoke the Firemind.
Then Esper Charm for card drawing, Pernicious Deed to stay alive, and maybe Supply/Demand as well for tutoring.
or
Option Two:
All those mana generators mentioned above again + Wargate. Like a Wargate with X=Sphinx of the Steel Wind. Or X=Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker. Or X=Angel of Despair. Or X= A very VERY big Supply/Demand (the Supply part).
Those would be nice.
LE
Yeah maybe if there is a way to format the way the videos are presented on the web site so they are a bit easier on the eyes to look at. All in all great video, and obviously good playing with the 4-0.
Hope to see more vidz soon.
I built some decks with Screeching Silclaw. It's actually quite good when it works. However, I did wind up cutting it in favor of more counterspells. I will say that Glint Hawk + Stonework Puma actually works very nicely. I was playing against Team America decks, and a good counterspell package seems necessary to keep up. If they keep burning off your allies, then your triggered abilities never stack up enough to matter. Every time I went to equip the Accorder's Shield, he burned my guy. Every single time over 5 games (probably like 10 times total). The nice thing about Silclaw is that he can work alone; he needs 3 artifacts, but it doesn't matter which ones, so you have more flexibility designing the deck.
I rather enjoyed these videos, spent most of the past hour watching them and talking to Agur on MTGOnline, he's a nice guy and I think he played really well in this 8 man.
I enjoyed watching the videos. I suggest that next time you post a deck listing, group them all by their type
Lands Creatures Planeswalkers Spells Sideboard
something like that, makes it look neater and easier to read for everyone, also it makes it easier for them to build the deck on MTGOnline and ensure they aren't missing something if they are trying to copy the deck directly.
Great first effort, I'll definitely watch any other videos you post.
Keep posting tournament videos, that's something I enjoy seeing, I like learning from what I'm seeing. More importantly than watching, I like learning the "why's" of things. Why did he do this, why did he do that? Maybe do a little writeup in addition to the videos, sometimes it can be better to write down your thoughts, it might even make your commentary a bit better.
Just some thoughts, and have fun making more videos!
Yeah I was wondering how to do that, I knew that there was a way to from the other articles but I didnt see it, thanks!
Hey Jake welcome to pure. You should know there is a distinctive deck format we like to use here (though it's far from mandatory it does make lists look a little nicer and uniform.)
http://jamuraa.com/pure/deck_new.php <--using this to create it makes it nice and easy.
I wonder if there would be any mileage in a Prosbloom deck using invoke the firemind as the prosperity? what effects would we be missing/need to replicate?
Criptes! I didn't even consider this: "you're playing against accounts with multiple users who are grinding heavy for 20 hour days". I guess I'm too much a law-abiding citizen to think that this wouldn't be caught from seeing different IPs (it is against their rules). It's a scary thought though.
I see what you're saying about wanting to win AND keep a balance, I'm just saying, that's not really all too feasible (but what do I know ;) ) and that just playing to enjoy it and enjoy the other aspects of your life is better than the hamster wheel of grinding.
Anyway, good luck with your pursuit. I hope you CAN find that balance and success.
This has been a slightly better article then the last few. I would say drop the bad guy persona. It get's you nowhere.
Alan221, if your gonna post spam, you could at least rate the article.
Anyways fun deck.
Some card suggestions
Horn of Greed. I have come to like this card in fun decks. Like Howling Mine and all the other card draws that help opponents, it works against you, but played right, it can be fun.
True Conviction: Helps in the lifelink and makes your creatures more threatening.
Gerrard Capashen: Adds to the lifelink theme and also works for some invasion. Also doubles as a stand in general if your looking for something different.
Yeah it'd be nice if they made some online tournaments big enough, like a WSOP event, where just winning just one would be a victory in and of itself. Technically, the MOCS is sort of like this, but with the caveat that you have to win at least like 3-15 "satellite" tournaments in order to qualify, which is no easy task, and then you have to win a larger satellite tournament, then you get to compete in the actual tournament, that is indeed worth a lot of money.
Actually travelling and taking a full day or more in paper Magic is tough, but MTGO is perfect for those who want to compete in a big tournament. I'd be willing to take 1-3 days off to win a PT-like tournament, even if Top 8 didn't involve cash prizes. Winning like 5,000 packs of SOM would be awesome!! Nix tix queues here I come!
As it currently exists, the current MOCS series is indeed a huge grind for practically everyone involved.
The sad thing is almost anyone can qualify, as long as you have enough time and money to spare. And the payout of like 6 packs + big-ticket card isn't all that alluring considering that some people, like myself, would probably have to spend like 80+ hours of grinding on MTGO to qualify.
I only ment it as a option when connecting to a game. Much like when you set a game up as watchable or not.
A lot of games nowadays are making VoIP a standard.
Mmogg, I completely agree with your comments. MTGO can be an absolute grind. Even those of us who do grind at times would likely tell you that we win a lot more when we're having more fun and MTGO is "fresh" again. I suppose you could explain my random retirements by citing that. Playing MTGO certainly isn't worth putting aside your relationships, friendships, hobbies, and general regular living. It's easy to get caught up in it and all, but you need to control yourself, that's part of the balance.
I'm not sure playing at a balanced rate if anyone would be able to win a portion of the MOCS - considering that, in most cases, you're playing against accounts with multiple users who are grinding heavy for 20 hour days. I guess I'll find out.
Will I be abandoning anything important to chase an MOCS? Absolutely not. I guess what I'm trying to accomplish is to not abandon MTGO completely either. This is something I haven't been able to do in the past.
@ Grappling Farang
What chase are you more interested in haha? Yeah, I've never spent a summer playing any MTGO. I'm in Canada, and I'm not a huge fan of the cold, but I'm an outdoorsman, and the summer is the time for that. Winter seems like a good time for MTGO. Hopefully I can maintain a steady enough pace in the summer to keep the chances kicking.
I plan on following up this report post February 13th with a MOCS II report. It's extended. I currently have a deck, and I generally go rogue in MOCS with a heavy anit-red focus (for obvious reasons, 500 people in an EXT tournament = a lot of people looking for cheap options, and red is one of the only cheap options). Regardless, since I'll be going rogue, or a played deck with significant tweaks, I won't be posting an EXT report before.
Regardless, I plan on starting 3-0 via byes.
Nice! I'm gonna test your suggestions this very evening. :)
Edit: This is realative to Copperfield's post after the proposed list. I hit the wrong reply link. :p
Yeah, I suppose working within a non-Legacy envinronment, at least at the beginning of the deckbuilding process, can be the way people end up choosing Rampant Growth over the Elder, then forgetting about it just like you did. But I don't know, sometimes it seems like people is all, "What's green uses to tutor lands into play?", and the first answer is still Rampant Growth, even if green has dozens different ways to do that. Even Elder asides, Sylvan Scrying or Kodama's Reach/Cultivate would fit better many decks.
Classic card pool will most definitely give a new fresh air to the format and (a good) reason to people to play the format again. There are a lot of excellent old cards which will go right into competitive decks (or into casual ones of course).
But of course, the old card pool will entertain people only for a certain time. At the end they will also start to get boring. And that's why we always need new cards. As I said in the article, 20 new cards per year would be enough for this format to stay alive (considering they will be playable and not utter crap).
Oh and if I know anything about anything, then this will be how EVERY competitive Classic Kaleidoscope deck would look like:
25 - 26 lands
4x Bloodbraid Elf
4x Kitchen Finks
4x Gerrard's Verdict
4x Pernicious Deed
4x Esper Charm
14 - 15 other spells
:)
LE