My vote for hottest angels are Matthew Wilson's: Herald of Serra and Serra Advocate.
Leviathan, I'd like to see a small section at the end of your articles (maybe as part of the conclusion) where you mention some cards you saw as MVPs, especially cards you don't see often (that others play, of course).
I dunno, I think Razia is pretty reasonable. She's got some good muscle and it's not like her stomach goes in or anything(or are you just looking at her ta-ta's, hrmm?). Cerianly women that are a bit more substantial are still great looking but heck I like all sorts of types of women so long as they have that certian something. (just don't tell my wife that lol)
$163 being budget is still silly, $20-50 I think could be considered budget in constructed, once you get beyond that to a significant degree its just degrees of rediculousness.
If you only ever had to play that one $163 deck then sure it's budget, but you don't if you want to be competitive (and probably not even then since something more expensive is probably better in the format) you have to switch out based on the state of the meta, usually taking hard losses to sell and rebuy or getting deeper and deeper into investment as you accumulate more staples.
If you have the time to play several events a week or more than these things change a bit, but in any case playing in Standard imo is a very expensive form of entertainment if youre going to only play one to two events a week whether you're buying the "budget" deck that returns you few prizes or the "Top Teir" deck that returns you prizes but can never get you beyond the cost of the bankroll you had to invest in to start the format.
Just my two cents anyway. If you're single or fairly wealthy than I think it's fine to play at the top level, but otherwise it seems like the finances vs entertainment are not healthy.
Though if you're someone who really enjoys this sort of thing by all means be happy and keep on truckin.
great article, you also have a good understanding of women. razia is indeed too skinny. If i'd fight for an angel that would be the cutie on the art of glorious anthem
I certianly agree with players about the black. I didnt want to make too strong a case for it though since two very strong black signals were in the pack (p1p3) both of which were not splashable so I didn't want to make a big deal about it since the arguement that maybe its good to just pass it along and stay out of it altogether seems valid to me too even if it's not how I would have gone.
I do think people force blue white too much, especially people that post draft articles/reports in various places. blue white is very strong to be sure, but there is a market effect in draft of supply/demand and the demand for blue white decks is very high so you often want to go with the less popular colors to get the better of a worse combination.
After submiting this article I read the downtime notes and there is going to be some big big changes to the prize structures of tournaments.
"Additional Organized Play Updates
We have examined the results of the past few months of organized play data and based on our findings we have decided to make the following changes to our prizes structures following our scheduled maintenance downtime on October 20:
-All Core Constructed Formats (Standard, Extended, and Legacy), excluding Block formats, will switch to Scars of Mirrodin booster packs for their prizes
-All Block Constructed Formats will award booster pack prizes from the corresponding block
-All Specialty Constructed Formats (Standard Singleton, Pauper, 100-Card Singleton, and Classic) will switch to Magic 2011 booster packs for their prizes
-All Limited Formats will continue to award booster pack prizes from the corresponding block"
100 Singleton tournaments will get M2011 prize packs on October 20th. Yeah...... Time to tell your friends.
I'm not one to be so arrogant as to think my opinion is the only one that matters but I think this approach will make the format more enjoyable all around.
Maybe it will become a bit more spikey but at least everyone can pat each other on the back when a match and/or event is over without wondering who was bending the rules more. (Not that everyone will in any case but it makes it induces that sort of tone far more I think)
Thanks for the fireballs and positive remarks. I certianly appreciate the community accreditation.
It has really been a strong group effort to get this format going and that continues to give it such life and nothing I've been doing would matter if not for all the interest, activity and support of the MTGO community for this format.
It's great that this is a format someone can jump head first into no matter what their collection status is. I like the fact that all types of MTG player can come together on equal footing here in the Heirloom format.
I look forward to watching your efforts to dominate future HPREs.
I look forward to seeing what the brew is this time, slowly but surely I think your dedication to the format is giving you the advantages needed to succeed in the events more and more. I expect you to pull off an event win before too long.(not that that's the only thing worth playing the events for. Personally I love seeing the fun decks and people that just enjoy the innovation and johnnyness of the format as well and in the future I doubt the only approach I'll take to the events I play in to be one of the spike)
The next article will cover the 5th PRE and the next event will be PRE6 so there is a little bit of a delay between these and real time events.
I assume that anyone actually going to the events checks the mothership official announcement thread for the very rapid update on decks played the last event, results and other commentary.
I think giving each PRE it's own article even if a little delayed allows the players fromt hsoe events a little time before the reflection and newer or non-tournament Heirloom players a rewarding read in any case.
I would've made a couple of different picks (mostly as discussed above), but by and large we were mostly in agreement. I probably would've switched to black early on, but I think you're almost always justified in picking Aether Adept, the card is just plain good (and you certainly got value from it).
Why do I never get these drafts where people don't show, and your finals opponent from the sounds of things can barely play? Why am I always paired with the guy with three titans and a thousand doom blades!
Maybe the merfolk player was just using the tournament as playtesting for legacy since MTGO obv doesn't support the eternal format lol. Ok all joking aside, where are these legacy tournaments that pay out thousands of dollar?????
I don't even play tribal, probably never will, but until you make clearly defined rules people will play within those boundaries even if there is a gentlemen's agreement.
If this guy wasn't a regular and hadn't known better would we still be having this conversation? Or are we really complaining because this player should of known better?
One FNM place I play at is semi competitive/casual, the other is really competitive, so should I tone down my Valakut Ramp deck at the first place because it appears to have a gentlemen's agreement?
It is crazy to complain about someone who has clearly played within the rules, especially rules where you guys have the ability to control.
good stuff as always, I totally agree with your ending there, with the exception of one Std Singleton even where I came in third and a legacy daily I don't perform well in tournies, but PREs I usually do much better so I totally feel where you're coming from on the name change, I like your articles a lot for the reason that you often talk pre
You are all missing the bigger picture here.... and that's complimenting me on the awesome angel deck duh! clearly what is missing is the awesomeness that is all the foils and promos... Thank you all for the praise *pats self on back* this was the deck I had brought out to play in one of the first attendances I had with this PRE where I beat LE (2-0 I believe) and then disconnected and couldn't get back to keep playing.. I did some updating as I got the second Tithe and the baneslayers and still plan on updating the rav duals to regular duals.. ok enough self love
I was perhaps the loudest of the players bitching about the merfolk deck and I stand by it. I also agree with whiffy 100%.. people can feel free to bring what they want, but I have an equal right to complain... bitching is an inevitable part of the game of Magic and I'm allowed that right as much as anyone else... I beat the elf-drazi ramp deck in the first round 2-1 and I bitched about it being played, but I played the games out always will
My issue here isn't the fact that these shouldn't be allowed (though I agree to the banning of Vial and FoW even if FoW isn't really a big player) and my issue isn't to say that people shouldn't be competitive in this event... but you're playing in an event where the winner gets 3 tix.... and you're bringing a deck that often wins legacy events that pay out thousands of dollars... doesn't that seem a bit off to anyone else? Several regulars to this PRE have brought strong competitive decks using creative ideas without resorting to bringing out lists seen regularly in legacy tournaments
Agreed about not needing the perfect hand. During my testing the deck wins t4 even without quest, although I smile much more often when seeing quest in the opening 7. Multiples of quest are a waste though.
I want to thank everyone for the work they've done to make this format happen. I look forward to starting soon. I recently sold my collection but miss deck building, which makes this perfect.
I am trying to design a Desolation deck with flash fearies and instants. I hope to be on this page next time.
Either make a clearly-defined list of what's allowed and what isn't (and subsequently, don't lament over losing to a deck that played cards that were allowed)
or
Keep this as a tight-knit, kitchen table type of group with your own, vague rules about what's expected and what isn't. I think it's pretty lame that under the current rules, someone can decide to join the tournament for the first time, toss together a powerful deck, and then be emotionally ousted from the environment because they crushed someone's Cat or Goat deck.
I understand what you're trying to accomplish with Tribal magic. But you're trying to meld casual and competitive, and it's causing a rift. Choose a side.
Nice to see the rest of the infect analysis. It sounds like G/U might be an interesting approach to take, though certainly not something to fight for. Trinket mage could help you find your equipment, and riddlesmith and the sky eel school can help you find your other infect and proliferate cards. Twisted image could be kind of nasty on a tangle angler. Of course the proliferate ability works not only on the poison counters, but on any creatures that have -1/-1 counters from run ins with infect creatures.
One white card you didn't mention that seemed worth considering in an infect build is fulgent distraction. Normally this card looks a bit lame, but given the importance of getting in the last few points of poison, it might be a way to get there in an infect deck.
No you are right it depends on your background in the game and how you look at building decks.
I was referring to the general crowd which come from Std (the new players)into tribal. I'm aware that a lot of the older players don't come from this back ground, most of them are pre Lorwyn.
I think it depends what you are brought up with set wise.
great report though it is a bit difficult to follow since some cards are not linked (naturally). I lost to a Geth in the prerelease. so sick
Are we going to have a wet feather competition?
My vote for hottest angels are Matthew Wilson's: Herald of Serra and Serra Advocate.
Leviathan, I'd like to see a small section at the end of your articles (maybe as part of the conclusion) where you mention some cards you saw as MVPs, especially cards you don't see often (that others play, of course).
There's always Deathless Angel heh.
I dunno, I think Razia is pretty reasonable. She's got some good muscle and it's not like her stomach goes in or anything(or are you just looking at her ta-ta's, hrmm?). Cerianly women that are a bit more substantial are still great looking but heck I like all sorts of types of women so long as they have that certian something. (just don't tell my wife that lol)
X-
Or Heirloom!
$163 being budget is still silly, $20-50 I think could be considered budget in constructed, once you get beyond that to a significant degree its just degrees of rediculousness.
If you only ever had to play that one $163 deck then sure it's budget, but you don't if you want to be competitive (and probably not even then since something more expensive is probably better in the format) you have to switch out based on the state of the meta, usually taking hard losses to sell and rebuy or getting deeper and deeper into investment as you accumulate more staples.
If you have the time to play several events a week or more than these things change a bit, but in any case playing in Standard imo is a very expensive form of entertainment if youre going to only play one to two events a week whether you're buying the "budget" deck that returns you few prizes or the "Top Teir" deck that returns you prizes but can never get you beyond the cost of the bankroll you had to invest in to start the format.
Just my two cents anyway. If you're single or fairly wealthy than I think it's fine to play at the top level, but otherwise it seems like the finances vs entertainment are not healthy.
Though if you're someone who really enjoys this sort of thing by all means be happy and keep on truckin.
X-
great article, you also have a good understanding of women. razia is indeed too skinny. If i'd fight for an angel that would be the cutie on the art of glorious anthem
by the way why no mark of mutiny?
I certianly agree with players about the black. I didnt want to make too strong a case for it though since two very strong black signals were in the pack (p1p3) both of which were not splashable so I didn't want to make a big deal about it since the arguement that maybe its good to just pass it along and stay out of it altogether seems valid to me too even if it's not how I would have gone.
I do think people force blue white too much, especially people that post draft articles/reports in various places. blue white is very strong to be sure, but there is a market effect in draft of supply/demand and the demand for blue white decks is very high so you often want to go with the less popular colors to get the better of a worse combination.
X-
After submiting this article I read the downtime notes and there is going to be some big big changes to the prize structures of tournaments.
"Additional Organized Play Updates
We have examined the results of the past few months of organized play data and based on our findings we have decided to make the following changes to our prizes structures following our scheduled maintenance downtime on October 20:
-All Core Constructed Formats (Standard, Extended, and Legacy), excluding Block formats, will switch to Scars of Mirrodin booster packs for their prizes
-All Block Constructed Formats will award booster pack prizes from the corresponding block
-All Specialty Constructed Formats (Standard Singleton, Pauper, 100-Card Singleton, and Classic) will switch to Magic 2011 booster packs for their prizes
-All Limited Formats will continue to award booster pack prizes from the corresponding block"
100 Singleton tournaments will get M2011 prize packs on October 20th. Yeah...... Time to tell your friends.
Hey Flippers,
Glad to hear it.
I'm not one to be so arrogant as to think my opinion is the only one that matters but I think this approach will make the format more enjoyable all around.
Maybe it will become a bit more spikey but at least everyone can pat each other on the back when a match and/or event is over without wondering who was bending the rules more. (Not that everyone will in any case but it makes it induces that sort of tone far more I think)
Have a good one,
Mike-
Hey jeremy812,
Thanks for the fireballs and positive remarks. I certianly appreciate the community accreditation.
It has really been a strong group effort to get this format going and that continues to give it such life and nothing I've been doing would matter if not for all the interest, activity and support of the MTGO community for this format.
It's great that this is a format someone can jump head first into no matter what their collection status is. I like the fact that all types of MTG player can come together on equal footing here in the Heirloom format.
I look forward to watching your efforts to dominate future HPREs.
X-
I'm clearly talking paper legacy noobface lol where did you disappear to these days??
Thuh-Nagarjuna!,
Tx for the positive words, always appreciated.
I look forward to seeing what the brew is this time, slowly but surely I think your dedication to the format is giving you the advantages needed to succeed in the events more and more. I expect you to pull off an event win before too long.(not that that's the only thing worth playing the events for. Personally I love seeing the fun decks and people that just enjoy the innovation and johnnyness of the format as well and in the future I doubt the only approach I'll take to the events I play in to be one of the spike)
The next article will cover the 5th PRE and the next event will be PRE6 so there is a little bit of a delay between these and real time events.
I assume that anyone actually going to the events checks the mothership official announcement thread for the very rapid update on decks played the last event, results and other commentary.
I think giving each PRE it's own article even if a little delayed allows the players fromt hsoe events a little time before the reflection and newer or non-tournament Heirloom players a rewarding read in any case.
X-
I would've made a couple of different picks (mostly as discussed above), but by and large we were mostly in agreement. I probably would've switched to black early on, but I think you're almost always justified in picking Aether Adept, the card is just plain good (and you certainly got value from it).
Why do I never get these drafts where people don't show, and your finals opponent from the sounds of things can barely play? Why am I always paired with the guy with three titans and a thousand doom blades!
Great conclusion to the set review, a real quality article.
Maybe the merfolk player was just using the tournament as playtesting for legacy since MTGO obv doesn't support the eternal format lol. Ok all joking aside, where are these legacy tournaments that pay out thousands of dollar?????
I don't even play tribal, probably never will, but until you make clearly defined rules people will play within those boundaries even if there is a gentlemen's agreement.
If this guy wasn't a regular and hadn't known better would we still be having this conversation? Or are we really complaining because this player should of known better?
One FNM place I play at is semi competitive/casual, the other is really competitive, so should I tone down my Valakut Ramp deck at the first place because it appears to have a gentlemen's agreement?
It is crazy to complain about someone who has clearly played within the rules, especially rules where you guys have the ability to control.
good stuff as always, I totally agree with your ending there, with the exception of one Std Singleton even where I came in third and a legacy daily I don't perform well in tournies, but PREs I usually do much better so I totally feel where you're coming from on the name change, I like your articles a lot for the reason that you often talk pre
You are all missing the bigger picture here.... and that's complimenting me on the awesome angel deck duh! clearly what is missing is the awesomeness that is all the foils and promos... Thank you all for the praise *pats self on back* this was the deck I had brought out to play in one of the first attendances I had with this PRE where I beat LE (2-0 I believe) and then disconnected and couldn't get back to keep playing.. I did some updating as I got the second Tithe and the baneslayers and still plan on updating the rav duals to regular duals.. ok enough self love
I was perhaps the loudest of the players bitching about the merfolk deck and I stand by it. I also agree with whiffy 100%.. people can feel free to bring what they want, but I have an equal right to complain... bitching is an inevitable part of the game of Magic and I'm allowed that right as much as anyone else... I beat the elf-drazi ramp deck in the first round 2-1 and I bitched about it being played, but I played the games out always will
My issue here isn't the fact that these shouldn't be allowed (though I agree to the banning of Vial and FoW even if FoW isn't really a big player) and my issue isn't to say that people shouldn't be competitive in this event... but you're playing in an event where the winner gets 3 tix.... and you're bringing a deck that often wins legacy events that pay out thousands of dollars... doesn't that seem a bit off to anyone else? Several regulars to this PRE have brought strong competitive decks using creative ideas without resorting to bringing out lists seen regularly in legacy tournaments
Agreed about not needing the perfect hand. During my testing the deck wins t4 even without quest, although I smile much more often when seeing quest in the opening 7. Multiples of quest are a waste though.
I guess my point is, if people don't think $163 is budget, then this game is probably not for them or they might be better served playing casual.
I'm curious if there is any research data showing the average cost of competitive decklists before mythics and planeswalkers.
I want to thank everyone for the work they've done to make this format happen. I look forward to starting soon. I recently sold my collection but miss deck building, which makes this perfect.
I am trying to design a Desolation deck with flash fearies and instants. I hope to be on this page next time.
Great coverage.
I'll add my opinion to the mix:
Either make a clearly-defined list of what's allowed and what isn't (and subsequently, don't lament over losing to a deck that played cards that were allowed)
or
Keep this as a tight-knit, kitchen table type of group with your own, vague rules about what's expected and what isn't. I think it's pretty lame that under the current rules, someone can decide to join the tournament for the first time, toss together a powerful deck, and then be emotionally ousted from the environment because they crushed someone's Cat or Goat deck.
I understand what you're trying to accomplish with Tribal magic. But you're trying to meld casual and competitive, and it's causing a rift. Choose a side.
I would of jumped into black P1P3. You werent committed yet to blue. Huge signal that black was open
Hey Xaos,
great coverage as always! Really looking forward for the next article and the upcoming event on saturday! Have a brand new deck to bring up!
CU
I enjoyed the article. I was literally thinking of writing a simliar article. I actually admire that bluff by mike long.
Nice to see the rest of the infect analysis. It sounds like G/U might be an interesting approach to take, though certainly not something to fight for. Trinket mage could help you find your equipment, and riddlesmith and the sky eel school can help you find your other infect and proliferate cards. Twisted image could be kind of nasty on a tangle angler. Of course the proliferate ability works not only on the poison counters, but on any creatures that have -1/-1 counters from run ins with infect creatures.
One white card you didn't mention that seemed worth considering in an infect build is fulgent distraction. Normally this card looks a bit lame, but given the importance of getting in the last few points of poison, it might be a way to get there in an infect deck.
No you are right it depends on your background in the game and how you look at building decks.
I was referring to the general crowd which come from Std (the new players)into tribal. I'm aware that a lot of the older players don't come from this back ground, most of them are pre Lorwyn.
I think it depends what you are brought up with set wise.