I think it's another skill-testing card, as they made the cost and the drawback significant enough that it's not just an auto-include in any deck. But sometimes it's quite good.
The Liquimetal Coating is the same way - while I defended it above, if I didn't have 3 Auriok Sunchasers I wouldn't necessarily want the Coating in my deck. In the case of the Arbalest, I think you could actually argue that this deck, being fast aggro, is one where the Arbalest performs the poorest. It's "reach" because if they get blockers out you can't attack through, you can shoot a player for two. And it's removal, but it costs 7 mana to take out a 2/2 defender, so it's not aggressively paced like the rest of my deck. I could see cutting it here for something else, though it would sometimes turn on metalcraft for 3 mana & I'd want to swap for another artifact perhaps.
Basically though, the longer a game goes, the better the Arbalest gets. In board stalls, it's awesome. In games where you have 8 mana available, it's awesome. I had a control deck once with four Vedalken Certarch, three Volition Reins, countermagic, removal, etc. Since that deck could often force the game long, I was happy to run two Arbalests in there. My last match of the evening, with 4 creatures in play, I just removed everything my opponent played. He got out a 3/3, and I went shoot, equip other guy, shoot again. He finally got out a 5/5 dragon, and it was shoot, equip, shoot, equip, shoot. Dead dragon.
It's reasonable removal anyway in a format where so many things have 2 or less toughness (and those that don't may get shrunk). But I think it should definitely be sided in or sided out based on whether you're finding games going long or short against the opponent you're facing, and also on what kind & size of creatures he has. Against poison you'll have many good targets, against green fatties not so much.
Also if you're playing a poison deck, the Arbalest can become awesome. Even the worst poison creature (that would be Vector Asp) has the ability to place two -1/-1 counters on any creature at will, or place two poison counters on any player no matter how many blockers they held back. Pretty brutal.
So there's a lot of uses for it in the set - your idea of keeping a Juggernaut from attacking every turn is just one more I hadn't even thought of. I suppose you could protect one of your guys from Tangle Angler's lure ability the same way. But the main thing I like is that in any game that goes long, it gives you some inevitability, as given enough turns and mana you can wipe them out with it. I didn't even consider just shooting my opponent over and over with it in that game where I had 10 mana and got two Arbalests out. Perhaps that could have been an even faster win. But just two creatures and four mana open can take down most creatures in the format, given a little time to set up.
I did have 5 more infecters, which isn't ideal but 8 infecters including the 3 Corpse Cur is enough I think. Since the Corpse Cur can return other infecters and I can even just play 1 of them and start recurring it with another one which isn't unlikely with 3. I also havet he green trigon to give me more infecters.
I have only played poison in like 10-15% of my sealeds which shows I only go that rout if I really think it's the best option. It's actually hard to evaluate the infect decks because on theory they do look weaker than normal decks. However the few times I did play poison it actually played above my expectations. Maybe it's because it's a small sample compared to metalcraft decks but I guess that's what they wanted infect to be in sealed: a good/very good option a few times but most of the time just a weaker option.
I do think it's close as the RW did have a lot of removal like you said. But the infect deck abused more Mimic Vat (not that it needs anything to be good but it is better in the infect version in this pool) as well as nim deathmantle.
In the end what really pushed me to infect were the 3 corpse cur which creates a huge card advantage and the better use of equipment since I had 2 axes, 1 lifestaff and 1 nim deathmantle.
It was a lot better the Boros (R/W) version because although you had 3 Corpse Curs, It doesn't really matter if you don't have creatures to support them and you only had 2 more infecters, the Boros version had versatility, and a lot of quality removal in the form of 2x arrest, shatter and arc trail and you had a very good removal that if your opponent doesn't plays around it you can easily have a 3 for 1 like Turn to slag. When building a sealed infect deck you need to have focus, and a lot of support in the form of proliferate. I think your deck could be better and more consistent if you only played 2 colors. Nice article. :)
Too many variables. Do donut farm donuts taste the same? Are they as fresh - especially after people buy them and bring them back into town.
In any case, my example was that an error by a clerk did not make it ethical for me to underpay for the donuts. The real value of the donuts - well, I chose to drive into town and buy those donuts at the listed price. I thought they were worth it.
Grats on the Jace!!! I played in a couple of Zen/Worldwake sealed events not because I'm fond of the set but to try to crack something good. Didn't have much luck on getting anything decent though.
I got my Frost Titan's last week just before they doubled in price, intending to make the U/B build. I currently only have 3 Big Jace and probably won't opt for the fourth because of the money. As for the toolbox version, I don't know if it's really worth it honestly. The 1 Brittle Effigy/Elixir doesn't seem like it's worth it in most cases. Against RDW game one it'll def help to have an early cost blocker and elixir but I don't see where else it's as useful. What other mix of creatures were you looking to run? Couple of Frost Titan and Wurmcoil? Abyssal persecutor maybe? If you ever wanted to test, just throw me a message in game at drbenwayy. I'm trying to get the new Scars cards but I can run Valakut/Eldrazi Green/UGR/RDW/Uw/Ub/Ur..most decks in the format.
I broke down and sold some legacy staples to put together UB Control. I only wanted to sell enough to buy 2 jaces, luckily I bought 4 Worldwake boosters, cracked them and found my 3rd jace!!!!
I hope my investment pays off with UB as I've grown fond of Titan Ramp.
The real question becomes do I want to run a toolbox version with trinkets or not?
Yes. As the "Original" artwork was licensed by WotC, and CardKitty's was really just an extension of the original I didn't know whether or not I should take the time to credit anyone... Also I was at work when I wrote this *cough cough*.
As for "Budgeted Resources", I could have swore I did a search on that before I chose it. I'll find something else. My back up was "Decks for Cheap Bastards". I wonder if Joshua will have an issue with that XD.
I've already bagged Budgeted Resources my last article can be found here, but your more than welcome to continue it as I dont have time currently.
Nice article by the way I don't read any of the lore behind the game and was surprised to find out that Jeska is Phage.
Also I do love the art cardkitty does, that's who done the full art on Braids if you didn't know. Cardkitty has tones of nice altered cards on his/her site. Cardkitty
Nice walk through, I was just talking the other day with a buddy about how there seems to be so many garbage drafts put up here just to get articles up, but I always appreciate yours they have something of value in most cases.
My question is the appeal of the crossbow... I don't see it. It saved me in one game where Relic Putrescence was put on my Juggernaut and I used the bow to keep it tapped out so it didn't auto-attack. So what am I missing?
You're right, I re-read the article in disgust. NyQuil FTL I guess... In any event I'm glad you liked it, and will definitely be hitting Tempest block in the not so distant future.
Hannah as #1 was 100% opinionated and I hardly expected anyone to agree with me there :p
Regardless, I'm glad you really, uh, kinda liked the article XD.
That's because your spelling issues aren't mis-spelled words, but instead they are words that are words, but incorrect... "there's HERE fairly impressive legacy"
I had an interesting progression of feeling on this one... skeptical when I saw the article... ready to stop reading at the mention of cake (not because I dont like cake, I do, just don't really get the point)... excited and thrilled at the content of the article it was fantastic... yet slightly downgraded due to constant irritation of spelling errors... sorry
The Tempest block was the only one I read in its entirety and very much loved it, though I will disagree with Hanna as #1. She was great, but her ending was ridiculous by far and I never liked how they killed her off. Love the lore though, always an overlooked part of the game, wouldn't mind seeing more.
Thanks for the shout out! Sorry to hear about your financial woes. I might be in the market for a few cards, so send me a message in game.
Heresy!
I think it's another skill-testing card, as they made the cost and the drawback significant enough that it's not just an auto-include in any deck. But sometimes it's quite good.
The Liquimetal Coating is the same way - while I defended it above, if I didn't have 3 Auriok Sunchasers I wouldn't necessarily want the Coating in my deck. In the case of the Arbalest, I think you could actually argue that this deck, being fast aggro, is one where the Arbalest performs the poorest. It's "reach" because if they get blockers out you can't attack through, you can shoot a player for two. And it's removal, but it costs 7 mana to take out a 2/2 defender, so it's not aggressively paced like the rest of my deck. I could see cutting it here for something else, though it would sometimes turn on metalcraft for 3 mana & I'd want to swap for another artifact perhaps.
Basically though, the longer a game goes, the better the Arbalest gets. In board stalls, it's awesome. In games where you have 8 mana available, it's awesome. I had a control deck once with four Vedalken Certarch, three Volition Reins, countermagic, removal, etc. Since that deck could often force the game long, I was happy to run two Arbalests in there. My last match of the evening, with 4 creatures in play, I just removed everything my opponent played. He got out a 3/3, and I went shoot, equip other guy, shoot again. He finally got out a 5/5 dragon, and it was shoot, equip, shoot, equip, shoot. Dead dragon.
It's reasonable removal anyway in a format where so many things have 2 or less toughness (and those that don't may get shrunk). But I think it should definitely be sided in or sided out based on whether you're finding games going long or short against the opponent you're facing, and also on what kind & size of creatures he has. Against poison you'll have many good targets, against green fatties not so much.
Also if you're playing a poison deck, the Arbalest can become awesome. Even the worst poison creature (that would be Vector Asp) has the ability to place two -1/-1 counters on any creature at will, or place two poison counters on any player no matter how many blockers they held back. Pretty brutal.
So there's a lot of uses for it in the set - your idea of keeping a Juggernaut from attacking every turn is just one more I hadn't even thought of. I suppose you could protect one of your guys from Tangle Angler's lure ability the same way. But the main thing I like is that in any game that goes long, it gives you some inevitability, as given enough turns and mana you can wipe them out with it. I didn't even consider just shooting my opponent over and over with it in that game where I had 10 mana and got two Arbalests out. Perhaps that could have been an even faster win. But just two creatures and four mana open can take down most creatures in the format, given a little time to set up.
BLUE SUCKS...phew that felt good I just had to get it out of my system...
I did have 5 more infecters, which isn't ideal but 8 infecters including the 3 Corpse Cur is enough I think. Since the Corpse Cur can return other infecters and I can even just play 1 of them and start recurring it with another one which isn't unlikely with 3. I also havet he green trigon to give me more infecters.
I have only played poison in like 10-15% of my sealeds which shows I only go that rout if I really think it's the best option. It's actually hard to evaluate the infect decks because on theory they do look weaker than normal decks. However the few times I did play poison it actually played above my expectations. Maybe it's because it's a small sample compared to metalcraft decks but I guess that's what they wanted infect to be in sealed: a good/very good option a few times but most of the time just a weaker option.
I do think it's close as the RW did have a lot of removal like you said. But the infect deck abused more Mimic Vat (not that it needs anything to be good but it is better in the infect version in this pool) as well as nim deathmantle.
In the end what really pushed me to infect were the 3 corpse cur which creates a huge card advantage and the better use of equipment since I had 2 axes, 1 lifestaff and 1 nim deathmantle.
It was a lot better the Boros (R/W) version because although you had 3 Corpse Curs, It doesn't really matter if you don't have creatures to support them and you only had 2 more infecters, the Boros version had versatility, and a lot of quality removal in the form of 2x arrest, shatter and arc trail and you had a very good removal that if your opponent doesn't plays around it you can easily have a 3 for 1 like Turn to slag. When building a sealed infect deck you need to have focus, and a lot of support in the form of proliferate. I think your deck could be better and more consistent if you only played 2 colors. Nice article. :)
Too many variables. Do donut farm donuts taste the same? Are they as fresh - especially after people buy them and bring them back into town.
In any case, my example was that an error by a clerk did not make it ethical for me to underpay for the donuts. The real value of the donuts - well, I chose to drive into town and buy those donuts at the listed price. I thought they were worth it.
Grats on the Jace!!! I played in a couple of Zen/Worldwake sealed events not because I'm fond of the set but to try to crack something good. Didn't have much luck on getting anything decent though.
I got my Frost Titan's last week just before they doubled in price, intending to make the U/B build. I currently only have 3 Big Jace and probably won't opt for the fourth because of the money. As for the toolbox version, I don't know if it's really worth it honestly. The 1 Brittle Effigy/Elixir doesn't seem like it's worth it in most cases. Against RDW game one it'll def help to have an early cost blocker and elixir but I don't see where else it's as useful. What other mix of creatures were you looking to run? Couple of Frost Titan and Wurmcoil? Abyssal persecutor maybe? If you ever wanted to test, just throw me a message in game at drbenwayy. I'm trying to get the new Scars cards but I can run Valakut/Eldrazi Green/UGR/RDW/Uw/Ub/Ur..most decks in the format.
/microwave
lol sorry something about it just bothers me... maybe its the hat
Paul... First, "lol", second, glad to see you joined the cat club >.<
Here is Gavins deck
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maindeck:
Artifacts
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Prophetic Prism
4 Temple Bell
3 Voltaic Key
Instants
4 Galvanic Blast
3 Reverberate
3 Runeflare Trap
Legendary Artifacts
3 Mox Opal
Planeswalkers
3 Jace Beleren
Sorceries
4 Molten Psyche
4 Preordain
2 Pyroclasm
Basic Lands
3 Island
10 Mountain
Lands
3 Halimar Depths
4 Scalding Tarn
Sideboard:
2 Brittle Effigy
3 Lux Cannon
1 Trinket Mage
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Jace Beleren
2 Destructive Force
2 Pyroclasm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I broke down and sold some legacy staples to put together UB Control. I only wanted to sell enough to buy 2 jaces, luckily I bought 4 Worldwake boosters, cracked them and found my 3rd jace!!!!
I hope my investment pays off with UB as I've grown fond of Titan Ramp.
The real question becomes do I want to run a toolbox version with trinkets or not?
I doubt it. Cheap is only a curse word in some dialects.
There is medicine for that I hear. :p
That's a shame. My photo speaks very highly of you.
Double post
I am glad to see more and more commander and EDH get into the spotlight.
Thanks for the long comments on liquimetal in a beatdown deck, and how to watch other drafts. Very thorough and helpful!
Yes. As the "Original" artwork was licensed by WotC, and CardKitty's was really just an extension of the original I didn't know whether or not I should take the time to credit anyone... Also I was at work when I wrote this *cough cough*.
As for "Budgeted Resources", I could have swore I did a search on that before I chose it. I'll find something else. My back up was "Decks for Cheap Bastards". I wonder if Joshua will have an issue with that XD.
wow thats incredible I didn't know that site some fantastic stuff there
I've already bagged Budgeted Resources my last article can be found here, but your more than welcome to continue it as I dont have time currently.
Nice article by the way I don't read any of the lore behind the game and was surprised to find out that Jeska is Phage.
Also I do love the art cardkitty does, that's who done the full art on Braids if you didn't know. Cardkitty has tones of nice altered cards on his/her site. Cardkitty
Nice walk through, I was just talking the other day with a buddy about how there seems to be so many garbage drafts put up here just to get articles up, but I always appreciate yours they have something of value in most cases.
My question is the appeal of the crossbow... I don't see it. It saved me in one game where Relic Putrescence was put on my Juggernaut and I used the bow to keep it tapped out so it didn't auto-attack. So what am I missing?
You're right, I re-read the article in disgust. NyQuil FTL I guess... In any event I'm glad you liked it, and will definitely be hitting Tempest block in the not so distant future.
Hannah as #1 was 100% opinionated and I hardly expected anyone to agree with me there :p
Regardless, I'm glad you really, uh, kinda liked the article XD.
That's because your spelling issues aren't mis-spelled words, but instead they are words that are words, but incorrect... "there's HERE fairly impressive legacy"
I had an interesting progression of feeling on this one... skeptical when I saw the article... ready to stop reading at the mention of cake (not because I dont like cake, I do, just don't really get the point)... excited and thrilled at the content of the article it was fantastic... yet slightly downgraded due to constant irritation of spelling errors... sorry
The Tempest block was the only one I read in its entirety and very much loved it, though I will disagree with Hanna as #1. She was great, but her ending was ridiculous by far and I never liked how they killed her off. Love the lore though, always an overlooked part of the game, wouldn't mind seeing more.