Is there a reason why the articles will be monthly? If it's because of time issues, maybe someone else could continue weekly event coverage. I have to say that although I can't participate in these events, I nevertheless like reading about the format and will miss the weekly articles. ;_;
Great article of course, really a delight to read this account of your experiences and thoughts about Heirloom. No doubt people know that when you join an event that the top spot may already be spoken for.
The most recent event was actually won by Warp World to add to the Johnny cred of Heirloom heh. There were initially a lot of apprehensions about how the format would actually wind up materializing once it went live but as you present so well if you look at the state of things in the constructed events it's just a fantastic format.
I've been hoping to make one of these events one of these days, maybe next weekend or the one after since I'll finally have some more time.
Jellyfish are pretty funny as a tribe, such weird creatures. More and more of them are out there in the oceans as overfishing has killed their natural competitors.
The joint event will be in late January, so plenty of time to find a good build for it =)
Always nice to read about Heirloom, as it is a great solution for kitchen table games (which I play mostly), whick leads me to my question: How well do you think your 5cc will work in kitchen table? It seems rather slow.
I have truly enjoyed this format. It forces me to be creative and look at cards I've never seen played before. It's been run very smoothly; I thank all of you who've put so much effort into making it such a success.
Really good article summing up a lot of aspects about heirloom. I joined in recently being quiet new to mtg myself. It is a really good place to start off and the deck buidling part is not that hard to master as it first seems. The best thing is ... you can experiment and learn a lot in this format for a really moderate price. The league is already quiet busy and you can do a lot of fun games in the evening.
I've never played Heirloom, but just looking at the decks, I can say it is a format I could definitely get into. Being able to play a deck with low-cost rare and uncommon cards appeal to me in a way high-cost pauper decks cannot.
What price guide is used to determine "legality"? Is there a list of legal cards? If so, can you provide a link? How often is it updated? Are premium versions of cards legal if the non-premium version is at or below the cost listed at the beginning of the article?
I may dust off some of Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar's old Building on a Budget decks, tweak, and grab some games! Magnivore, Ghazi-Glare, and Solar Flare all sound so, so good because of the cards the decks contain. Castigate, Glare of Subdual, Zombify, Watchwolf. These are cards I loved playing but do not make the cut in Legacy and have disappeared from Extended.
Heirloom sounds like a budget deck builder's dream.
I'll admit that Heirloom has been much more successful than I originally thought it was going to be, and that is likely due largely on the effort that Xaoslegend and others have put into the format.
It definitely peaks my deckbuilding personality. I really like your Eldrazi conscription deck and I've been tweaking it along with trying to figure out how to use Necrotic Ooze effectively.
@Arwido: Hmm good point, that is very odd. The only explanation I can think of is that I saved the deck, then decided to put the Carrion Call in and when I loaded the decklist for the article it was the older saved version. Its actually risen a lot in my eyes and I would definitely play it main now.
As this article was delayed there is also something else that you need to be aware of which is that the Tribal Apocalypse articles will now be going monthly rather than weekly.
Any questions let me know and please use the group http://community.wizards.com/tribalapocalypse as that will be my main point of contact with the player base between articles. It currently has the schedule, banned list and payout structure. I will also try and add the stats there as well depends on how well the forum handles it.
The prizes are correct for this weekends event as we played four rounds of swiss you can see the updated prize structure in the wizards group http://community.wizards.com/tribalapocalypse
Note I may be changing the prize structure again for 8-20 players in the near future as I dont want to be paying out more credits than there are players.
You forgot to mention the meanest interaction on my deck, due to the way that Mangara is worded, I can slide her out in response to her ability, allowing me to remove all my opponent's permanents, starting with the lands, so they get quickly locked up by a Ghostly Prision (In fact this is how I beat Kurrant's elves, there was no way on earth I could have slided so many opposing creatures).
Also, I would like to let you know that there seems to have been a mistake with the prizes. I recieved a 3 dollars gift certificate, when according to the event description I should have recieved 2 dollars. I suspected that maybe my prize and the event's winner prize got mixed up, but Nagarjuna posted at the wizards forums, and he got 4 dollars. So in the end, I'm really confused :-p
Awsome article about the format we both love I guess :-)
I'm always looking forward to what kind of deck you bring to an event - those decks are always tier 1! #
I linked the article on mtgoheirloom.webs.com, I hope that`s fine for you!:-)
I wrote an article introducing Heirloom with a metagame breakdown for the first season and stuff for mtgoacademy. It is scheduled late for Dec. so it will be an old hat after this read.
That's a good point, Gimli. And it's not like anyone else is writing about Block anywhere on the web, so I am grateful to the author for initiating discussion. With all the mono-colored decks around, I really like this format as it reminds me of simpler days. Sucks there is basically no playable green deck around, otherwise this format would be 10/10.
Is there a reason why the articles will be monthly? If it's because of time issues, maybe someone else could continue weekly event coverage. I have to say that although I can't participate in these events, I nevertheless like reading about the format and will miss the weekly articles. ;_;
Our-Lord-Erman,
Great article of course, really a delight to read this account of your experiences and thoughts about Heirloom. No doubt people know that when you join an event that the top spot may already be spoken for.
The most recent event was actually won by Warp World to add to the Johnny cred of Heirloom heh. There were initially a lot of apprehensions about how the format would actually wind up materializing once it went live but as you present so well if you look at the state of things in the constructed events it's just a fantastic format.
X-
Another great event report,
I've been hoping to make one of these events one of these days, maybe next weekend or the one after since I'll finally have some more time.
Jellyfish are pretty funny as a tribe, such weird creatures. More and more of them are out there in the oceans as overfishing has killed their natural competitors.
The joint event will be in late January, so plenty of time to find a good build for it =)
X-
Hello LE
Always nice to read about Heirloom, as it is a great solution for kitchen table games (which I play mostly), whick leads me to my question: How well do you think your 5cc will work in kitchen table? It seems rather slow.
I have truly enjoyed this format. It forces me to be creative and look at cards I've never seen played before. It's been run very smoothly; I thank all of you who've put so much effort into making it such a success.
Really good article summing up a lot of aspects about heirloom. I joined in recently being quiet new to mtg myself. It is a really good place to start off and the deck buidling part is not that hard to master as it first seems. The best thing is ... you can experiment and learn a lot in this format for a really moderate price. The league is already quiet busy and you can do a lot of fun games in the evening.
The Legal card list was linked in the article and can be found here:
http://puremtgo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2008&sid=10c2228d4b4466ac...
That list is the only relevant source for legality. It's only updated after a new set is released and checks prizes on mtgotraders.
If a regular card is legal u can play any version of it.
For all information check the articles by xaoslegend (linked in the article) or mtgoheirloom.webs.com :-)
I've never played Heirloom, but just looking at the decks, I can say it is a format I could definitely get into. Being able to play a deck with low-cost rare and uncommon cards appeal to me in a way high-cost pauper decks cannot.
What price guide is used to determine "legality"? Is there a list of legal cards? If so, can you provide a link? How often is it updated? Are premium versions of cards legal if the non-premium version is at or below the cost listed at the beginning of the article?
I may dust off some of Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar's old Building on a Budget decks, tweak, and grab some games! Magnivore, Ghazi-Glare, and Solar Flare all sound so, so good because of the cards the decks contain. Castigate, Glare of Subdual, Zombify, Watchwolf. These are cards I loved playing but do not make the cut in Legacy and have disappeared from Extended.
Heirloom sounds like a budget deck builder's dream.
I'll admit that Heirloom has been much more successful than I originally thought it was going to be, and that is likely due largely on the effort that Xaoslegend and others have put into the format.
It definitely peaks my deckbuilding personality. I really like your Eldrazi conscription deck and I've been tweaking it along with trying to figure out how to use Necrotic Ooze effectively.
@Arwido: Hmm good point, that is very odd. The only explanation I can think of is that I saved the deck, then decided to put the Carrion Call in and when I loaded the decklist for the article it was the older saved version. Its actually risen a lot in my eyes and I would definitely play it main now.
It's not possible, but when heirloom is on Sunday, then it works!!
Carrion Call is not in your deck, yet you manage to draw it G1M1.
I'm really bad at math, so I was wondering, is it possible to play the Tribal Apocalypse PRE and Heirloom on the same day?
As this article was delayed there is also something else that you need to be aware of which is that the Tribal Apocalypse articles will now be going monthly rather than weekly.
Any questions let me know and please use the group http://community.wizards.com/tribalapocalypse as that will be my main point of contact with the player base between articles. It currently has the schedule, banned list and payout structure. I will also try and add the stats there as well depends on how well the forum handles it.
The prizes are correct for this weekends event as we played four rounds of swiss you can see the updated prize structure in the wizards group http://community.wizards.com/tribalapocalypse
Note I may be changing the prize structure again for 8-20 players in the near future as I dont want to be paying out more credits than there are players.
@Flippers_Giraffe:
You forgot to mention the meanest interaction on my deck, due to the way that Mangara is worded, I can slide her out in response to her ability, allowing me to remove all my opponent's permanents, starting with the lands, so they get quickly locked up by a Ghostly Prision (In fact this is how I beat Kurrant's elves, there was no way on earth I could have slided so many opposing creatures).
Also, I would like to let you know that there seems to have been a mistake with the prizes. I recieved a 3 dollars gift certificate, when according to the event description I should have recieved 2 dollars. I suspected that maybe my prize and the event's winner prize got mixed up, but Nagarjuna posted at the wizards forums, and he got 4 dollars. So in the end, I'm really confused :-p
Hi Nagarjuna
A Heirloom Tribal joint event has been agreed and we have a date, more to follow in a future article :)
Hi Flie yes Emrakul will also be unbanned for that event.
Hi Flippers
If Iona is unbanned for the BYOS Tribal special event, I guess that little Emrakul is going to be unbanned too. Am I wrong?
Greetings. Fliebana
Kumagoro, hide the Beebles, he's on to us!
Hey flip!
Great read as always!
It's a great idea to combine Tribal Wars with BYOS! Maybe there is a chance to see other combinations as well ;-)
Hey LE!
Awsome article about the format we both love I guess :-)
I'm always looking forward to what kind of deck you bring to an event - those decks are always tier 1! #
I linked the article on mtgoheirloom.webs.com, I hope that`s fine for you!:-)
I wrote an article introducing Heirloom with a metagame breakdown for the first season and stuff for mtgoacademy. It is scheduled late for Dec. so it will be an old hat after this read.
Cheers
Naga
I'm pleased to see Moat finally get it's commupance. Non-flying tribes rejoice!
That's a good point, Gimli. And it's not like anyone else is writing about Block anywhere on the web, so I am grateful to the author for initiating discussion. With all the mono-colored decks around, I really like this format as it reminds me of simpler days. Sucks there is basically no playable green deck around, otherwise this format would be 10/10.
I 100% agree with MTGO ratings being pointless.
Large sets of data are just as prone to bias as small sets are.
Anyone could go an entire year winning events, have an off week, and drop a couple hundred points.
Anyone could go an entire year punting events, have a hot week, and jump a couple hundred points.
Any 1500 player can beat any 1800 player on any given day.
There is a lot of luck involved in this game. What purpose does it serve measuring luck?