But you could always begin with something like Classic Dredge, which is competitive enough to win you tournaments. Yeah, it may cost you $100 or so, but you won't have to do much tweaking, and when you win, you can pour your winnings into other formats.
I think getting into Standard on a budget is really hard no matter how you do it, but there are a lot of other constructed formats you have mentioned that are competitive and fun and much cheaper, like BYOS and stuff like Heirloom. So, in your above response to mine, are you equating "constructed" with "Standard"? If so, then I agree with you that it's too hard to get into over a period of time because of the ever-shifting meta. Then again, it will never be easy to get into Standard without a sizable down payment on a deck. As boring as cascade was, Jund seems a lot friendlier to budget players than Jace vs Titan Standard.
Hey mr...you didn't even notice I plugged your last article about videos in mine...
Anyway Yes Changelings are legal. I don't think they count for bonus purposes. Forget whether people care though. It is strictly cut throat. Bring your best or lose.
I have a couple questions. I'm actually looking at participating in my first PRE!!! For Tribal, what are the views on using Changelings? Are they legal? Are the frowned upon? Will they invalidate the deck from getting the Tiamat bonus? I'm was looking at using just one changeling (4 copies) but wasn't sure if that's Kosher. Thanks!
EDIT: I got a Capcha, and it was iTuxx... the Unix fan in me is both confused and delighted...
good points. I am apt to agree with both of them. Asp really isn't that great for my deck. Trigon of Rage is really great for my deck. I would only get three hits with it, though. It would have done more than the rats would have.
I find it hilarious that someone picked an uncommon over Skithiryx.
P1P5: Both Copper Myr and Moriok Replica are better picks I think. I would take the Myr.
P2P1: Now this was bad. Corpse Cur is the clear pick here. Ratchet Bomb is not even that great.
P2P5: You already have 2 equipments so I think it's just better to take Tainted Strike
P2P7: And here you decided to take a card that is decent against you in the sideboard instead of a much better equipment than bladed pinions
P2P13: You really need to take the Tainted Strike here.
P3P4: I doubt you'll be playing the Wall. Instill Infection is a pretty decent card.
P3P6: If you had a Lifestaff already this would be fine. Otherwise it isn't.
P3P9: WOW. You didn't take Carrion Call here?
P3P10: Here it's just better to hate the Ogre.
Yeah I think the idea is flawed if we are splitting between the fun decks and the power decks. Better to have mandatory rules to follow. It certainly is no one's fault for running their best deck.
P3P3 - I would have taken Trigon of Rage over the Ichor Rats. Makes blocking a lot harder for your opponent and lets you make proactive choices in combat.
P2P6 - I would take the Wing Puncture over Vector Asp - conditional removal that will at least make the sideboard. Your deck can't deal with fliers at all except with Skittles, and he needs to be connecting with your opponent.
Unfortunately it looks like, overall, card quality for infect just wasn't that high. Taking the Cur P2P1 to send a signal that infect was take might have increased the quality coming through in pack 3.
I'd just like to say that special events are additional challenges for that week, while the theme weeks like the upcoming Endangered tribal event are mandatory.
The theme weeks are a risk due to our small player base, if these don't take off then they will have to be canned straight away as I don't want to turn players away. We only just managed to fire the event this week, thanks go out to Kayil who I managed to grab 2 mins before the event started.
The special events on the other hand don't affect the general weekly running of the event from a players perspective you either bring a deck to comply with the challenge or you don't and play what you want to that week, that way there is no pressure on any of the players.
Blippy's comment was that yes he needs the tickets and hey he was going to bring slugs but couldn't get the deck together in time and Gobs were just easier.
No problem! It's natural to make those mistakes in the first few sealeds.
Golem Artisan is realy awsome and the only decks that don't want it are infect deck and maybe a deck with like 5 or 6 bombs costing 5 or more already (and I might still play it anyway). Saberclaw is certainly weaker.
I like those fliers, the thing is you could have more metalcraft if you don't play them. Glint hawk requiring an artifact you'd probably play it turn 3 or 4 and skyguard requiring double white makes it not come out on turn 3 as often as you'd want. Glint Hawk also lacked anything to recharge. They're good cards but I think your pool would benefit more from having chrome steed and a few more artifacts.
About metalcraft guys: for cards like chrome steed and glider: you usually want at least 12 artifacts (and not many of them being expensive), with 14 being optimal. Hippogriff counts as 1 more and myrsmith probably counts like 2 unless you have few artifacts. More than 14 just makes it even more likely to hit even through removal. After that there are cards like the 2/2 for 1G that becomes 4/4 and most of the others. Those I really want something like 16-17 artifacts. I usually end up cutting those from my sealed simply because I can't cut removal, bombs or all around solid coloured spells and cutting artifacts would only hurt those. I do end up running the 2/4 white guy and sometimes others but I never play the blue tapper because it's just a 1/1 that does nothing without metalcraft and once it becomes active they can probably deal with it, but if it doesn't then they save thei removal for something else.
Lol well the 5 tix is a result of writing here and not spending these credits on this project. I’m actually looking for more then play testing; I’m looking for someone willing to guest write a small section for my article regarding the “playability” of these promo decks.
Seriously its theme week. Why be a douche and bring goblins or anything of that kind of power. Are you that hellbent on winning. It makes no sense. At least people have some sort of sense of fun. And yes I also think that theme week should be a mandatory deck built for the theme.
Next week should be a good read for me. I was cracking packs of unlimited back in the day, and after briefly getting into the tournament scene, I quit the game sometime around Mirage. Mainly, I just couldn't find enough people (my age) to play against. I then discovered MTGO during the Odyssey days and was hooked...until my daughter arrived and I couldn't find the time. I have been back full bore since late July, and I am truly loving the game more than ever.
Speaking of Odyssey, I really, really loved block play back then, and now might be a good time to check out SOM block. I started my journey back by playing alot of pauper, and now I have made the investment into competitive standard. I also play a little bit of classic/legacy, but I think I could find some time for block as well.
I really wanted to play in this event because of the theme involved. I was working on a Demon Deck with the core being dredge/Extractor Demon/Renegade Doppelganger but being Halloween weekend, the wife made plans for our family. I can see how you would be frustrated running the deck you did against decks like goblins. I think that fun and theme decks do have a place in the tourney but the same argument arises as before as to what people are playing and what power level they are bringing. The only way to guarantee that everyone played a theme deck would be to make it mandatory, like the upcoming endangered event. I honestly think that would be a better solution, although I don't know if turnout would be great enough as some players won't buy cards they need to make these decks.
I do really like the theme week idea though and it makes those weeks much more interesting and I'm hoping to take part in the next ones.
I own Jace vs Chandra and Garruk vs. Liliana. If playtesting is all you need, just pm me on Saturday. I think I'll be online most of the day and we can test.
LE
PS: I don't need a poor man's 5 tix just to help him playtest :).
Hey guys I'm also looking for a fellow writer who would be willing to volunteer to help me out with my week 3 article. I'm offering 5tix for someone willing to make a guest apperance and help write a brief section about the precons (ie Jace v Chandra) and their playability. My hope would be that you own them to actually play test, but not required I guess. Look me up in game if you want to help JustSin or PoorMansMagic or on AIM - EyeJustSin, on the off chance I get more then one willing helper who meets the requirements I'll go with first come first serve.
thx for doing this, it´s so funny and nostalgic for me. When i started with magic as a kid in 1994-5 I always bought the cheap packs - homelands and fallen empires.....
I´m really looking forward to next weeks article and will read the series over again!
Maybe one solution (not always viable, it depends on the numbers of theme deck players/overall players showing up) is to split the tourney into 2 sections, the first one with only theme decks battling each other, and the second one with only non-theme decks, then have a final match between the two winners to establish the ultimate winner.
1- Memoricide. That card is awesome when you use it and devastating when you are the target. And every clever opponent would remove my Demons before my Koths. The demons do much more harm than Koth does. So what happens if I'm left with zero Demons? Trigon is surely not the same thing but it's better than nothing.
2- Mana curve. Having too many 6 drops without a way to mana ramp is not something I like a lot. Even now I have six such cards and I'm definitely not happy about it. I'm already thinking of replacing Hoard-Smelter Dragon with Shatter (and moving the dragon to the sideboard). So a 4 mana trigon is nice to have and can be played earlier than the demons. Which sometimes can even determine the winner.
But you could always begin with something like Classic Dredge, which is competitive enough to win you tournaments. Yeah, it may cost you $100 or so, but you won't have to do much tweaking, and when you win, you can pour your winnings into other formats.
I think getting into Standard on a budget is really hard no matter how you do it, but there are a lot of other constructed formats you have mentioned that are competitive and fun and much cheaper, like BYOS and stuff like Heirloom. So, in your above response to mine, are you equating "constructed" with "Standard"? If so, then I agree with you that it's too hard to get into over a period of time because of the ever-shifting meta. Then again, it will never be easy to get into Standard without a sizable down payment on a deck. As boring as cascade was, Jund seems a lot friendlier to budget players than Jace vs Titan Standard.
But in my RPG's knives often have the best caster stats on them... Wait I may be getting my signals crossed...
Great to have you back! We missed you. This is probably the best column in the site's history.
Also congratulations :)
Yes do not bring the knife to the RPG fight. It is not recommended. I will be bringing my RPG next time.
Hi Westane looking forward to seeing you join the event.
Changelings are fine there are no rules against them and they can be used to make up your dragon tribe for the Tiamat event.
You might get a few comments for using them from other players but I have no problems with them.
Hey mr...you didn't even notice I plugged your last article about videos in mine...
Anyway Yes Changelings are legal. I don't think they count for bonus purposes. Forget whether people care though. It is strictly cut throat. Bring your best or lose.
I have a couple questions. I'm actually looking at participating in my first PRE!!! For Tribal, what are the views on using Changelings? Are they legal? Are the frowned upon? Will they invalidate the deck from getting the Tiamat bonus? I'm was looking at using just one changeling (4 copies) but wasn't sure if that's Kosher. Thanks!
EDIT: I got a Capcha, and it was iTuxx... the Unix fan in me is both confused and delighted...
P1P5. I feel like I want to agree with you, but something is telling me I shouldn't.
P2P1: I had no idea at the time. I had never seen Ratchet Bomb. I doesn't do what I thought it did at the time.
P2P5: I have to really disagree here. Bladed Pinions is awesome with my deck.
p2p7: I already agreed with you in the article.
p2p13: I'm just not seeing the need for tainted strike unless I am 50/50 or less in infect. Convince Me.
p3p4: I think my deck was too slow. I thought I would need that wall desperately.
p3p6: Lifestaff gets more play than I would have suspected. It is better than I thought, but not by that much.
p3p9: Already discussed above. I should have taken the Carrion Call.
p3p10: Do you mean the Hellion? I had too little defense in the air, and plenty for the ground. Neither card has beaten me yet (in five tournaments).
good points. I am apt to agree with both of them. Asp really isn't that great for my deck. Trigon of Rage is really great for my deck. I would only get three hits with it, though. It would have done more than the rats would have.
I find it hilarious that someone picked an uncommon over Skithiryx.
P1P5: Both Copper Myr and Moriok Replica are better picks I think. I would take the Myr.
P2P1: Now this was bad. Corpse Cur is the clear pick here. Ratchet Bomb is not even that great.
P2P5: You already have 2 equipments so I think it's just better to take Tainted Strike
P2P7: And here you decided to take a card that is decent against you in the sideboard instead of a much better equipment than bladed pinions
P2P13: You really need to take the Tainted Strike here.
P3P4: I doubt you'll be playing the Wall. Instill Infection is a pretty decent card.
P3P6: If you had a Lifestaff already this would be fine. Otherwise it isn't.
P3P9: WOW. You didn't take Carrion Call here?
P3P10: Here it's just better to hate the Ogre.
Yeah I think the idea is flawed if we are splitting between the fun decks and the power decks. Better to have mandatory rules to follow. It certainly is no one's fault for running their best deck.
P3P3 - I would have taken Trigon of Rage over the Ichor Rats. Makes blocking a lot harder for your opponent and lets you make proactive choices in combat.
P2P6 - I would take the Wing Puncture over Vector Asp - conditional removal that will at least make the sideboard. Your deck can't deal with fliers at all except with Skittles, and he needs to be connecting with your opponent.
Unfortunately it looks like, overall, card quality for infect just wasn't that high. Taking the Cur P2P1 to send a signal that infect was take might have increased the quality coming through in pack 3.
I'd just like to say that special events are additional challenges for that week, while the theme weeks like the upcoming Endangered tribal event are mandatory.
The theme weeks are a risk due to our small player base, if these don't take off then they will have to be canned straight away as I don't want to turn players away. We only just managed to fire the event this week, thanks go out to Kayil who I managed to grab 2 mins before the event started.
The special events on the other hand don't affect the general weekly running of the event from a players perspective you either bring a deck to comply with the challenge or you don't and play what you want to that week, that way there is no pressure on any of the players.
Blippy's comment was that yes he needs the tickets and hey he was going to bring slugs but couldn't get the deck together in time and Gobs were just easier.
No problem! It's natural to make those mistakes in the first few sealeds.
Golem Artisan is realy awsome and the only decks that don't want it are infect deck and maybe a deck with like 5 or 6 bombs costing 5 or more already (and I might still play it anyway). Saberclaw is certainly weaker.
I like those fliers, the thing is you could have more metalcraft if you don't play them. Glint hawk requiring an artifact you'd probably play it turn 3 or 4 and skyguard requiring double white makes it not come out on turn 3 as often as you'd want. Glint Hawk also lacked anything to recharge. They're good cards but I think your pool would benefit more from having chrome steed and a few more artifacts.
About metalcraft guys: for cards like chrome steed and glider: you usually want at least 12 artifacts (and not many of them being expensive), with 14 being optimal. Hippogriff counts as 1 more and myrsmith probably counts like 2 unless you have few artifacts. More than 14 just makes it even more likely to hit even through removal. After that there are cards like the 2/2 for 1G that becomes 4/4 and most of the others. Those I really want something like 16-17 artifacts. I usually end up cutting those from my sealed simply because I can't cut removal, bombs or all around solid coloured spells and cutting artifacts would only hurt those. I do end up running the 2/4 white guy and sometimes others but I never play the blue tapper because it's just a 1/1 that does nothing without metalcraft and once it becomes active they can probably deal with it, but if it doesn't then they save thei removal for something else.
Lol well the 5 tix is a result of writing here and not spending these credits on this project. I’m actually looking for more then play testing; I’m looking for someone willing to guest write a small section for my article regarding the “playability” of these promo decks.
Seriously its theme week. Why be a douche and bring goblins or anything of that kind of power. Are you that hellbent on winning. It makes no sense. At least people have some sort of sense of fun. And yes I also think that theme week should be a mandatory deck built for the theme.
Just great...now I am interested in SOM block.
Next week should be a good read for me. I was cracking packs of unlimited back in the day, and after briefly getting into the tournament scene, I quit the game sometime around Mirage. Mainly, I just couldn't find enough people (my age) to play against. I then discovered MTGO during the Odyssey days and was hooked...until my daughter arrived and I couldn't find the time. I have been back full bore since late July, and I am truly loving the game more than ever.
Speaking of Odyssey, I really, really loved block play back then, and now might be a good time to check out SOM block. I started my journey back by playing alot of pauper, and now I have made the investment into competitive standard. I also play a little bit of classic/legacy, but I think I could find some time for block as well.
I'm in...thanks.
I really wanted to play in this event because of the theme involved. I was working on a Demon Deck with the core being dredge/Extractor Demon/Renegade Doppelganger but being Halloween weekend, the wife made plans for our family. I can see how you would be frustrated running the deck you did against decks like goblins. I think that fun and theme decks do have a place in the tourney but the same argument arises as before as to what people are playing and what power level they are bringing. The only way to guarantee that everyone played a theme deck would be to make it mandatory, like the upcoming endangered event. I honestly think that would be a better solution, although I don't know if turnout would be great enough as some players won't buy cards they need to make these decks.
I do really like the theme week idea though and it makes those weeks much more interesting and I'm hoping to take part in the next ones.
Good catch. I have blinders for that card. I didn't deem it playable. I should have considered it.
Nice insite about the missing 2-drops. This was my first and only experience with infect so far. It was missing something.
I own Jace vs Chandra and Garruk vs. Liliana. If playtesting is all you need, just pm me on Saturday. I think I'll be online most of the day and we can test.
LE
PS: I don't need a poor man's 5 tix just to help him playtest :).
Hey guys I'm also looking for a fellow writer who would be willing to volunteer to help me out with my week 3 article. I'm offering 5tix for someone willing to make a guest apperance and help write a brief section about the precons (ie Jace v Chandra) and their playability. My hope would be that you own them to actually play test, but not required I guess. Look me up in game if you want to help JustSin or PoorMansMagic or on AIM - EyeJustSin, on the off chance I get more then one willing helper who meets the requirements I'll go with first come first serve.
Hello,
thx for doing this, it´s so funny and nostalgic for me. When i started with magic as a kid in 1994-5 I always bought the cheap packs - homelands and fallen empires.....
I´m really looking forward to next weeks article and will read the series over again!
Maybe one solution (not always viable, it depends on the numbers of theme deck players/overall players showing up) is to split the tourney into 2 sections, the first one with only theme decks battling each other, and the second one with only non-theme decks, then have a final match between the two winners to establish the ultimate winner.
I have two reasons for using that lone Trigon:
1- Memoricide. That card is awesome when you use it and devastating when you are the target. And every clever opponent would remove my Demons before my Koths. The demons do much more harm than Koth does. So what happens if I'm left with zero Demons? Trigon is surely not the same thing but it's better than nothing.
2- Mana curve. Having too many 6 drops without a way to mana ramp is not something I like a lot. Even now I have six such cards and I'm definitely not happy about it. I'm already thinking of replacing Hoard-Smelter Dragon with Shatter (and moving the dragon to the sideboard). So a 4 mana trigon is nice to have and can be played earlier than the demons. Which sometimes can even determine the winner.
LE