On the subject of Spellblade, it was actually one of my all time favorite ROE cards, and I immediately grabbed a set for my UR Kiln Fiend/Spellblade deck. As long as you can protect him he's an absolute beast. Even if not competitive, I love the flavor and enjoy playing him where I can.
@Westane - I bow to your superior lore knowledge ;)
@ LE - About the Genesis Wave decks, yes I can see that Roily is fantastic against them. Any deck high on creatures and low on removal (preferably completely lacking) sounds great. Although I'd imagine they'd at least have something like Brittle Effigy in the sideboard.
I agree that the Spellblade can die easily, but that's why I have the counters. Obviously any tier 1.5 or above deck will still deal with it easily, but in purely casual terms I found I was able to protect my creatures very adequately. If I was purely building the deck around the Surrakar, I'd have added Distortion Strike, and I like the idea of Steady Progress too, two counters for the price of one.
Yep, I pretty much agree with all your points, and hindsight is 20/20. It's strange, but drafting poorly and realizing it only makes me all the more anxious to draft again!
hey. i too was unable to watch videos but enjoyed the recap
p1p1, and p2p1: your choices are obvious but i think darksteel axe may be the second pick over the common removal spells. it's... really good.
P1, p6: barbed battle gear does support trainee. probably not worth picking, but you can build around them.
exanguate is barely playable. if you want to stay on colour, barrage ogre is the pick. otherwise neurok replica and carapace forger are defensible
culling daius is the pick, but after that it's necrogen censer or, again, carapace forger. you aren't playing the 2/1 haste so, even if it's a hate, hate the more powerful card (forger)
in regared to not raredrafting the GR duel, i'd take it here for one reason: sylvok replica. while you may not get any, getting and splashing some seems more likely than running the vampire. i could be wrong. i'm told i underrate vamps. still, there's some very late forgers which implies that sylvok replicas aren't going to be too desired by your cube mates. a duel, a copper myr, and a forest or two is perfect for splashing a replica
p2, p5: stinger isn't a good blocker as most of the fliers are 2/2s or 3/3s. fliers are going to be an issue for you but stinger really doesn't address that... i think razorgolem is the pick here though
p2, p7: sylvok lifestaff is better than it looks
p3, p8: lifestaff! you just got spikeshot elder meaning you really really want lifestaff. your deck also isn't really that aggressive so lifestaff will be about on par with lense and it makes spikeshot insane
I used to make them that way, but narrating afterwards proved to be difficult, but most people wanted narration. I can't make everyone happy, so for the most part I'll be sticking with this method of recording.
However, in the future I'll be making more of an effort to supply more ample written reports, and possibly just link to the video replay.
You have some interesting cards in that deck. Actually Roil Elemental is pure tech against mono Green Genesis Wave decks. Also it's very funny when Thada Adel steals a Wurmcoil Engine or Masticore (or both as in some cases). I suggest adding one or two more copies of that card to the sideboard.
The only card I object, though, is that Surrakar dude. It's just a tiny 2/1 which can be killed with basically everything.
Or you may think the other way: If you're playing a playset of that Surrakar, then you would want him do deal his damage so that you draw cards. And that's when two things come in handy: Unblockable enablers, and cards that add more counters (aka Proliferate).
Unblockable is easy if you play Distortion Strike and/or that new Neurok Invisimancer. Of course that Neurok dude works well with Venser too but that would be another deck.
Then you may want to play cards like Steady Progress and Thrummingbird to give your Surrakar even more counters. Steady Progress is especially interesting because it adds two counters on the Surrakar; one because its gametext says so and one because it's an instant.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I like the deck but that Surrakar dude in my opinion needs another deck to funtion properly.
Hey, I appreciate the draft walkthroughs, but I generally don't have enough time to watch a video. One thing I might suggest is that you make a video of the replay instead of the actual game, that way we aren't forced to wait while you or your opponent makes a decision, the videos would be significantly shorter and I'd be more inclined to watch.
Paul, I never got the feeling that S and P were teamed up, but I might be wrong. As for the token art, I guess you're right. I just don't get the same feeling of power looking at a blue electrical guy who is in a non-dynamic position just holding his stuff as I do when I see Urami and his threatening pose. Finding the Kaldra image in the graphics would be all right, but I don't have the time (and I'm guessing few people do) to do so.
I completely forgot about Land Tax, that's a good idea. I would probably re-work the manabase to include more basics if I did include the Tax, though.
I could have sworn that before the rules changes of M10, the Sword would remove the blocking creature from the game. There aren't too many creatures out there that can survive a hit from a 9/9, so it would seem awkward to put that ability on a piece of equipment otherwise. Who know, I'm probably misremembering.
Necrotic Ooze can also gain infect if there's a Vector Asp in someone's graveyard. Clone effects (Renegade Doppelganger) are kind of another way, but it's not really "granting" the ability.
Pretty much agree with all your points. I didn't realize just how amazing perilous myr was until after the fact. I also look forward to my next SoM draft XD.
Actually you can't "strike roil" as "The Roil" is actually an action, an environmental effect, that occurs on Zendikar rather than an actual elem... Never mind, I'll wait until my next lore article, lol.
Still loving the UB decks, I enjoyed your article again as always. Good stuff!
@ Paul - Thanks! I agree that both Roily and the Spellblade are 'bad' in the sense that they're aren't going to be winning pro tours any time soon (although we've got two sets from Mirrodin yet to come so who knows what interactions we'll see!), but they were both a lot less bad than I was expecting. And yes, I didn't see any mass removal, which was lucky, although that's what Negate's for. And both cards can provide sufficient value that by the time they're removed, you're already well ahead.
@Stealthbadger - Damn you're right about Myojin, look who didn't read the card well enough. Well in my defence it's been a long time since I've seen him in play. I loved the Spellblades, they were drawing me cards in almost every game I played with the deck. As I said, my biggest headache was which cards to discard in the end phase. Still never going to play Venser's Journal though.
I'm at work so can't watch the vids, but enjoyed the draft walkthrough.
I like Goblin Gaveleer a lot, can be pretty immense especially with Infiltration Lens. I drafted a couple of each in my last foray into Scars limited, and was very happy with them. Less happy that I didn't draw any of my removal or bombs, but hey that's another story.
You seemed to be aware of your pick mistakes in your walkthrough - pretty decent selections though given you were going in 'cold'. Takes a few drafts to work out what's what really, you just have to hope you're opponents are coming into it with the same level of naivete (or even better, are completely drunk).
pack 1 pick 3 i think the perilous myr is the pick battle gear is one of the better equipments but the myr is such an insane roadblock against poison and other aggressive metalcraft decks. pick 4 i think the decision should be between the barrage ogre and snapsail glider. pick 7 the infect trigon is fine as an artifact outside of infect decks letting you get chumpers who can give -1/-1 counters the dias is also an option but i personally am not a fan as it is a slow card that may cycle when your guy dies. pick 9 should be the golden myr while it is off color it is simply the best card in the pack moriok replica while fine as a grey ogre who can draw cards is not as good as ramping into 4 mana plays on turn 3 also you have no 2 drops at this point. Pack 2 pick 2 i believe the pick should be clone shell or the copper myr clone shell will be good in a deck with 2 flametongue kavus and a dragon and the myr will help you play those cards earlier while strider harness just continues to clog your manacurve at the 3 spot. pick 6 i think you make the correct decision taking a mana myr but if you had already taken either of the two you have already passed instill infection becomes the pick. pick 7 lifestaff is pretty underrated as it is a 1 mana cast and equip letting it slide nicely into your curve at pretty much any point in the game it also has value in racing situations. pick 8 would be the gavelleer if you had more than 1 equipment that works with it as is i think the clone shell should be the choice. pack 3 i actually agree with the picks you made but i would have taken the nihil spellbomb over the dross hopper pick 10 i dont see your deck wanting the 2/1 but drawing a card and playing an artifact to powerup metal craft is certainly good enough to make many decks.
as far as the deck you built i think the panic spellbomb should have made the cut with the goblins wanting to be agressive looks like the best idea i also think i would not have played the battlegear and instead played the glider sometimes its a grey ogre sure but sometimes its a wind drake and the guys who care about equipment in your deck die from battle gear just feels too awkward to me. forge master also has a pretty good body and i think i would play him over plague stinger these changes up your artifact count to 12 and allow the glider to become better than it would be if it was played with 9. i dont have time to watch the matches. but since no one else gave feedback on the draft i thought i would share my opinions. look forward to the next draft.
I always ends up including it if I in decks that can play it. Both pieces are among the very best cards early game (scroll racks effect is better than Top's - but the protection abillity of top naturally puts it ahead) and together they are unfair :)
I am pretty sure btw. that the stack has nothing to do with that sword interaction. You would still first deal damage and then the abillity of the sword would trigger, but the creature would still be dead. You first did damage as the damage resolved back then it used the stack...
Btw. regarding wurmcoil engine or other cards that has been released as a (p)release promo - or sometimes other kinds of promos. The promo is waaaaaay cheaper...
You can find the image for Keldra in your graphics folder and replace it I guess.
Grats on 30 articles. I think I am at 19 or so on pure. (I may have to count some day.) Roil Elemental does seem strictly bad but of course anything that can stick around due to heavy protection (counters and removal) will be much better than that which just dies to shock. Surrakar Spellblade is pleasantly useful without being very good but I agree that control is definitely where he belongs. I've used Distortion Strike (and tainted strike) in my surrakar tribal deck to some success. The problem again is protecting his little behind. You are a little lucky you didn't run across repeat pyroclasm action.
Fun times. Looked to me like S + P were a good team (ie: deliberately teamed up.) Still they were pretty dominated by the control decks. Probably very frustrating to sit through.
RE: the token art. The thing about art is that it is subjective. You dislike the token art for Kaldra but obviously someone loved it at R&D. I know that occasionally details like card art slip past those folks but generally they are fairly deliberate.
Is it me or does it seem like when someone is ganged up on or loosing they always say "I got to go."
it is a shame that numot is your only option for RWU because it's one of my top 3 three-color combinations
On the subject of Spellblade, it was actually one of my all time favorite ROE cards, and I immediately grabbed a set for my UR Kiln Fiend/Spellblade deck. As long as you can protect him he's an absolute beast. Even if not competitive, I love the flavor and enjoy playing him where I can.
Thanks as ever for the comments.
@Westane - I bow to your superior lore knowledge ;)
@ LE - About the Genesis Wave decks, yes I can see that Roily is fantastic against them. Any deck high on creatures and low on removal (preferably completely lacking) sounds great. Although I'd imagine they'd at least have something like Brittle Effigy in the sideboard.
I agree that the Spellblade can die easily, but that's why I have the counters. Obviously any tier 1.5 or above deck will still deal with it easily, but in purely casual terms I found I was able to protect my creatures very adequately. If I was purely building the deck around the Surrakar, I'd have added Distortion Strike, and I like the idea of Steady Progress too, two counters for the price of one.
Yep, I pretty much agree with all your points, and hindsight is 20/20. It's strange, but drafting poorly and realizing it only makes me all the more anxious to draft again!
hey. i too was unable to watch videos but enjoyed the recap
p1p1, and p2p1: your choices are obvious but i think darksteel axe may be the second pick over the common removal spells. it's... really good.
P1, p6: barbed battle gear does support trainee. probably not worth picking, but you can build around them.
exanguate is barely playable. if you want to stay on colour, barrage ogre is the pick. otherwise neurok replica and carapace forger are defensible
culling daius is the pick, but after that it's necrogen censer or, again, carapace forger. you aren't playing the 2/1 haste so, even if it's a hate, hate the more powerful card (forger)
in regared to not raredrafting the GR duel, i'd take it here for one reason: sylvok replica. while you may not get any, getting and splashing some seems more likely than running the vampire. i could be wrong. i'm told i underrate vamps. still, there's some very late forgers which implies that sylvok replicas aren't going to be too desired by your cube mates. a duel, a copper myr, and a forest or two is perfect for splashing a replica
p2, p5: stinger isn't a good blocker as most of the fliers are 2/2s or 3/3s. fliers are going to be an issue for you but stinger really doesn't address that... i think razorgolem is the pick here though
p2, p7: sylvok lifestaff is better than it looks
p3, p8: lifestaff! you just got spikeshot elder meaning you really really want lifestaff. your deck also isn't really that aggressive so lifestaff will be about on par with lense and it makes spikeshot insane
awesome work. keep 'em coming
As I have said before, the written word trumps video every time.
I used to make them that way, but narrating afterwards proved to be difficult, but most people wanted narration. I can't make everyone happy, so for the most part I'll be sticking with this method of recording.
However, in the future I'll be making more of an effort to supply more ample written reports, and possibly just link to the video replay.
You have some interesting cards in that deck. Actually Roil Elemental is pure tech against mono Green Genesis Wave decks. Also it's very funny when Thada Adel steals a Wurmcoil Engine or Masticore (or both as in some cases). I suggest adding one or two more copies of that card to the sideboard.
The only card I object, though, is that Surrakar dude. It's just a tiny 2/1 which can be killed with basically everything.
Or you may think the other way: If you're playing a playset of that Surrakar, then you would want him do deal his damage so that you draw cards. And that's when two things come in handy: Unblockable enablers, and cards that add more counters (aka Proliferate).
Unblockable is easy if you play Distortion Strike and/or that new Neurok Invisimancer. Of course that Neurok dude works well with Venser too but that would be another deck.
Then you may want to play cards like Steady Progress and Thrummingbird to give your Surrakar even more counters. Steady Progress is especially interesting because it adds two counters on the Surrakar; one because its gametext says so and one because it's an instant.
Anyway, just some thoughts. I like the deck but that Surrakar dude in my opinion needs another deck to funtion properly.
LE
Hey, I appreciate the draft walkthroughs, but I generally don't have enough time to watch a video. One thing I might suggest is that you make a video of the replay instead of the actual game, that way we aren't forced to wait while you or your opponent makes a decision, the videos would be significantly shorter and I'd be more inclined to watch.
Thanks!
Paul, I never got the feeling that S and P were teamed up, but I might be wrong. As for the token art, I guess you're right. I just don't get the same feeling of power looking at a blue electrical guy who is in a non-dynamic position just holding his stuff as I do when I see Urami and his threatening pose. Finding the Kaldra image in the graphics would be all right, but I don't have the time (and I'm guessing few people do) to do so.
I completely forgot about Land Tax, that's a good idea. I would probably re-work the manabase to include more basics if I did include the Tax, though.
I could have sworn that before the rules changes of M10, the Sword would remove the blocking creature from the game. There aren't too many creatures out there that can survive a hit from a 9/9, so it would seem awkward to put that ability on a piece of equipment otherwise. Who know, I'm probably misremembering.
seems really fun. Maybe I'll try to give it a spin.
Necrotic Ooze can also gain infect if there's a Vector Asp in someone's graveyard. Clone effects (Renegade Doppelganger) are kind of another way, but it's not really "granting" the ability.
Pretty much agree with all your points. I didn't realize just how amazing perilous myr was until after the fact. I also look forward to my next SoM draft XD.
Actually you can't "strike roil" as "The Roil" is actually an action, an environmental effect, that occurs on Zendikar rather than an actual elem... Never mind, I'll wait until my next lore article, lol.
Still loving the UB decks, I enjoyed your article again as always. Good stuff!
@ Paul - Thanks! I agree that both Roily and the Spellblade are 'bad' in the sense that they're aren't going to be winning pro tours any time soon (although we've got two sets from Mirrodin yet to come so who knows what interactions we'll see!), but they were both a lot less bad than I was expecting. And yes, I didn't see any mass removal, which was lucky, although that's what Negate's for. And both cards can provide sufficient value that by the time they're removed, you're already well ahead.
@Stealthbadger - Damn you're right about Myojin, look who didn't read the card well enough. Well in my defence it's been a long time since I've seen him in play. I loved the Spellblades, they were drawing me cards in almost every game I played with the deck. As I said, my biggest headache was which cards to discard in the end phase. Still never going to play Venser's Journal though.
Myojin of nights reach doesn't die quite as easily, what with him either being indestructible or your opponent having no cards!
Still, cool deck. I can't say I've ever seen anybody successfully draw cards off a spellblade before, so I guess that deserves some recognition!
I forgot to write that the token deck had 7 appearances in the daily events this week.
I'm at work so can't watch the vids, but enjoyed the draft walkthrough.
I like Goblin Gaveleer a lot, can be pretty immense especially with Infiltration Lens. I drafted a couple of each in my last foray into Scars limited, and was very happy with them. Less happy that I didn't draw any of my removal or bombs, but hey that's another story.
You seemed to be aware of your pick mistakes in your walkthrough - pretty decent selections though given you were going in 'cold'. Takes a few drafts to work out what's what really, you just have to hope you're opponents are coming into it with the same level of naivete (or even better, are completely drunk).
pack 1 pick 3 i think the perilous myr is the pick battle gear is one of the better equipments but the myr is such an insane roadblock against poison and other aggressive metalcraft decks. pick 4 i think the decision should be between the barrage ogre and snapsail glider. pick 7 the infect trigon is fine as an artifact outside of infect decks letting you get chumpers who can give -1/-1 counters the dias is also an option but i personally am not a fan as it is a slow card that may cycle when your guy dies. pick 9 should be the golden myr while it is off color it is simply the best card in the pack moriok replica while fine as a grey ogre who can draw cards is not as good as ramping into 4 mana plays on turn 3 also you have no 2 drops at this point. Pack 2 pick 2 i believe the pick should be clone shell or the copper myr clone shell will be good in a deck with 2 flametongue kavus and a dragon and the myr will help you play those cards earlier while strider harness just continues to clog your manacurve at the 3 spot. pick 6 i think you make the correct decision taking a mana myr but if you had already taken either of the two you have already passed instill infection becomes the pick. pick 7 lifestaff is pretty underrated as it is a 1 mana cast and equip letting it slide nicely into your curve at pretty much any point in the game it also has value in racing situations. pick 8 would be the gavelleer if you had more than 1 equipment that works with it as is i think the clone shell should be the choice. pack 3 i actually agree with the picks you made but i would have taken the nihil spellbomb over the dross hopper pick 10 i dont see your deck wanting the 2/1 but drawing a card and playing an artifact to powerup metal craft is certainly good enough to make many decks.
as far as the deck you built i think the panic spellbomb should have made the cut with the goblins wanting to be agressive looks like the best idea i also think i would not have played the battlegear and instead played the glider sometimes its a grey ogre sure but sometimes its a wind drake and the guys who care about equipment in your deck die from battle gear just feels too awkward to me. forge master also has a pretty good body and i think i would play him over plague stinger these changes up your artifact count to 12 and allow the glider to become better than it would be if it was played with 9. i dont have time to watch the matches. but since no one else gave feedback on the draft i thought i would share my opinions. look forward to the next draft.
I always ends up including it if I in decks that can play it. Both pieces are among the very best cards early game (scroll racks effect is better than Top's - but the protection abillity of top naturally puts it ahead) and together they are unfair :)
I am pretty sure btw. that the stack has nothing to do with that sword interaction. You would still first deal damage and then the abillity of the sword would trigger, but the creature would still be dead. You first did damage as the damage resolved back then it used the stack...
Btw. regarding wurmcoil engine or other cards that has been released as a (p)release promo - or sometimes other kinds of promos. The promo is waaaaaay cheaper...
You can find the image for Keldra in your graphics folder and replace it I guess.
Scroll Rack + Land Tax = insane old school card advantage.
Grats on 30 articles. I think I am at 19 or so on pure. (I may have to count some day.) Roil Elemental does seem strictly bad but of course anything that can stick around due to heavy protection (counters and removal) will be much better than that which just dies to shock. Surrakar Spellblade is pleasantly useful without being very good but I agree that control is definitely where he belongs. I've used Distortion Strike (and tainted strike) in my surrakar tribal deck to some success. The problem again is protecting his little behind. You are a little lucky you didn't run across repeat pyroclasm action.
Fun times. Looked to me like S + P were a good team (ie: deliberately teamed up.) Still they were pretty dominated by the control decks. Probably very frustrating to sit through.
RE: the token art. The thing about art is that it is subjective. You dislike the token art for Kaldra but obviously someone loved it at R&D. I know that occasionally details like card art slip past those folks but generally they are fairly deliberate.
just got jace, costly but worth it :-)