"To most people this block is all about a boring Faeries deck and an annoying Kithkin deck."
Sigh..I even win AGAIN last week with the little buggers and all the respect they get is "annoying" :(
Great article though Glad to see you make a quick run down of the blocks :) Hopefully we'll get more players.
actually without the lands im going to say affinity out and out sucked. I mean out of all the affinity cards out there only 3 saw massive play (thoughtcast, enforcer, frogmite) with a few others seeing mediocre amounts(Broodstar, somber hoverguard, furnace dragon).
" It may be a gods hand but a turn two Kiln Fiend followed on turn three by 2 bolt spells and a Fireblast results in 20 damage if they don't have a blocker"
No god hand needed Shard honestly the power of fiend is that fact that I can aim a burn spell at their creature to kill it then use the remaining burn in hand to if no finish the game there certainly do a unreasonable amount of damage. Using 3 1 mana 3dmg spells as an example kiln has 10 power and assuming that you used one bolt on a opponents creature thats 6 more spell damage. So 16 damage in on turn 3 is not uncommon as the deck has 14 such spells.
It certainly is, but there's a lot of ridiculousness in the game. In eternal formats, games over by turn 3 or 4 are fully possible. Seen on that scale, the Eldrazi combo decks are just another powerful combo.
I maintain that the Eldrazi push this over the edge of reasonableness. I believe R&D was desperately looking for a new edge (or hook if you will) and they went too far assuming that players will forgive anything. Affinity was a mistake. In particular with the lands but even without the lands it was an aknowledged mistake. The Eldrazi are another. You have said it yourself: The annihilator:x ability is ridiculous.
Although Sneak Attack doesn't allow the time walk.
Eldrazi are big and brutal, but their CMCs are a significant obstacle. There aren't that many options for cheating them, still fewer for cheating them and getting the ETB bonus as well. It's certainly doable, but there are plenty of gigantic world-destroying monsters that can be similarily cheated.
As an apologist for the Eldrazi your argument lacks substance. Sure you want to defend your new pets but seriously there is NOTHING else in magic that compares to a 15/15 with annihilator:6 that is immune to most instant speed removal and time walks.
If I'm not mistaken PDT would be 9:30am. Also I don't know how much it helps but Flippers_Giraffe, AJ_Impy, and Melissafey are all european/england based. Im sure if you found one of them they may be able to give you an exact time.
GMT should be 4:30pm for the event.
I got it, but my point was your problem HAS to be with Sneak Attack, in this specific case: with a Sneak Dragon deck's turn 5 like the one I mentioned, you would end dead anywhere, AND with no cards in hand. You can't specifically blame the Eldrazis for this effect. And besides, dead is dead, it isn't?
To avoid any miscalculation or misunderstanding, you could add a PDT time equivalence when announcing the meeting schedules : that is the time permanently mentionned on the MTGO server status screen. With that basis, no possible mistakes as everyone could one check his time zone by taking a quick loook on the page, whatever any local summer's time variables.
Maybe I am the only european player (or maybe the only that missed to correctly read the hour) but it would be awesome as it would be much more confortable...
EDIT : This was a reply to shard as well, but I also need to learn to read my keyboard. That is definitly key :)
Since it is swiss format and we have no sideboards the one game thing will probably have to be done simply for time limits regardless. And the plan was to randomly pair people of similar records into new teams each round.
Personally I don't play a ton of slivers but i have horro stories about both them and cloudpost so I will keep an eye on them if anyone else mentions them.
Yay 2HG tribal!
Here are my suggestions for the format.
-Do random pairings and teams each round. That way the format is also how well your deck plays with others, as well as how it plays on it's own.
-Don't do matches, just do one game, these games will take longer.
-Throw in a 3HG game rather than giving two people by's.
-No slivers.
-No Cloudposts. (In 2HG games they really warp the format, It sucks seeing a turn 5 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn hardcast. Happened to me in extended 2HG the other day, no fun.)
If anyone wants to try decks, I'm always up for 2HG. PM me. MTGO online: themonkey.
CHK could be very good in the right block...I would think CHK, LRW, and M2010 may make a decent Merfolk deck, though you do lose the Lord of Atlantis, but Gain Kira and Jitte, possibly meloku as a one of. Oh and Threads of Disloyalty. Overall though TSP may be better giving you LRW, TSP, and m10 since then you get Lord and Goyf...um yeah CHK really does suck..lol
Blah... see it's still EST time here in the EST at least as far as times on tv shows and such...Ive never noticed EDT on really anything in the states, though if someone could tell my the UTC time it may be better posted as such...im guessing 5:30pm UTC...but im probably wrong
I can personally vouch for how great Boros is as Rav Zen, I ran it in 2.01 with M10 and was pretty successful until I met Iona
but do you really think Enduring Ideal can be put together in BYOS? In order to use the dragon win con you usually ran confinement which sets you in that block
Yeah my problem wasn't with Sneak Attack, its with the Eldrazi... when you play a spell that destorys almost all of your opps permanents and does 11 damage or whatever thats too one sided
No comment, Ranth. ;)
talkin about in the first week filbana or whatever was running em with eldrazi spawn to get her out early
Wait who was running Iona? I dont think i managed to pull her out at all during the tourney did i?
"To most people this block is all about a boring Faeries deck and an annoying Kithkin deck."
Sigh..I even win AGAIN last week with the little buggers and all the respect they get is "annoying" :(
Great article though Glad to see you make a quick run down of the blocks :) Hopefully we'll get more players.
actually without the lands im going to say affinity out and out sucked. I mean out of all the affinity cards out there only 3 saw massive play (thoughtcast, enforcer, frogmite) with a few others seeing mediocre amounts(Broodstar, somber hoverguard, furnace dragon).
well yeah but mine was just showcasing the possibility to out and out win on turn 3. Ive seen your matches doing 16 is not bad either
" It may be a gods hand but a turn two Kiln Fiend followed on turn three by 2 bolt spells and a Fireblast results in 20 damage if they don't have a blocker"
No god hand needed Shard honestly the power of fiend is that fact that I can aim a burn spell at their creature to kill it then use the remaining burn in hand to if no finish the game there certainly do a unreasonable amount of damage. Using 3 1 mana 3dmg spells as an example kiln has 10 power and assuming that you used one bolt on a opponents creature thats 6 more spell damage. So 16 damage in on turn 3 is not uncommon as the deck has 14 such spells.
It certainly is, but there's a lot of ridiculousness in the game. In eternal formats, games over by turn 3 or 4 are fully possible. Seen on that scale, the Eldrazi combo decks are just another powerful combo.
I maintain that the Eldrazi push this over the edge of reasonableness. I believe R&D was desperately looking for a new edge (or hook if you will) and they went too far assuming that players will forgive anything. Affinity was a mistake. In particular with the lands but even without the lands it was an aknowledged mistake. The Eldrazi are another. You have said it yourself: The annihilator:x ability is ridiculous.
Although Sneak Attack doesn't allow the time walk.
Eldrazi are big and brutal, but their CMCs are a significant obstacle. There aren't that many options for cheating them, still fewer for cheating them and getting the ETB bonus as well. It's certainly doable, but there are plenty of gigantic world-destroying monsters that can be similarily cheated.
see, just chalk all this up to the whole dumb american stigma
As an apologist for the Eldrazi your argument lacks substance. Sure you want to defend your new pets but seriously there is NOTHING else in magic that compares to a 15/15 with annihilator:6 that is immune to most instant speed removal and time walks.
UK time its 17:30 as we are now in BST (British Summer Time)
But yes GMT would be 16:30 outside of summer time lol
If I'm not mistaken PDT would be 9:30am. Also I don't know how much it helps but Flippers_Giraffe, AJ_Impy, and Melissafey are all european/england based. Im sure if you found one of them they may be able to give you an exact time.
GMT should be 4:30pm for the event.
I got it, but my point was your problem HAS to be with Sneak Attack, in this specific case: with a Sneak Dragon deck's turn 5 like the one I mentioned, you would end dead anywhere, AND with no cards in hand. You can't specifically blame the Eldrazis for this effect. And besides, dead is dead, it isn't?
Fun is fun, doesn't matter if it's a paper product or a mouse your touching
To avoid any miscalculation or misunderstanding, you could add a PDT time equivalence when announcing the meeting schedules : that is the time permanently mentionned on the MTGO server status screen. With that basis, no possible mistakes as everyone could one check his time zone by taking a quick loook on the page, whatever any local summer's time variables.
Maybe I am the only european player (or maybe the only that missed to correctly read the hour) but it would be awesome as it would be much more confortable...
EDIT : This was a reply to shard as well, but I also need to learn to read my keyboard. That is definitly key :)
Since it is swiss format and we have no sideboards the one game thing will probably have to be done simply for time limits regardless. And the plan was to randomly pair people of similar records into new teams each round.
Personally I don't play a ton of slivers but i have horro stories about both them and cloudpost so I will keep an eye on them if anyone else mentions them.
Yay 2HG tribal!
Here are my suggestions for the format.
-Do random pairings and teams each round. That way the format is also how well your deck plays with others, as well as how it plays on it's own.
-Don't do matches, just do one game, these games will take longer.
-Throw in a 3HG game rather than giving two people by's.
-No slivers.
-No Cloudposts. (In 2HG games they really warp the format, It sucks seeing a turn 5 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn hardcast. Happened to me in extended 2HG the other day, no fun.)
If anyone wants to try decks, I'm always up for 2HG. PM me. MTGO online: themonkey.
Yep communication is key in any good relationship.
CHK could be very good in the right block...I would think CHK, LRW, and M2010 may make a decent Merfolk deck, though you do lose the Lord of Atlantis, but Gain Kira and Jitte, possibly meloku as a one of. Oh and Threads of Disloyalty. Overall though TSP may be better giving you LRW, TSP, and m10 since then you get Lord and Goyf...um yeah CHK really does suck..lol
Blah... see it's still EST time here in the EST at least as far as times on tv shows and such...Ive never noticed EDT on really anything in the states, though if someone could tell my the UTC time it may be better posted as such...im guessing 5:30pm UTC...but im probably wrong
I can personally vouch for how great Boros is as Rav Zen, I ran it in 2.01 with M10 and was pretty successful until I met Iona
but do you really think Enduring Ideal can be put together in BYOS? In order to use the dragon win con you usually ran confinement which sets you in that block
Yeah my problem wasn't with Sneak Attack, its with the Eldrazi... when you play a spell that destorys almost all of your opps permanents and does 11 damage or whatever thats too one sided
Very nice article!