I mentioned in a previous comment that my use of "Villain" stems from standards for hand discussions on poker forums. "Hero" and "Villain" are the established terms for "player whose hand you can see" and "opponent." (google "poker hero villain" for many examples)
There are a couple reasons for this standard in poker discussions, and they apply to Magic as well:
* It allows for some gender neutrality (although I cop to slipping "he" in my articles all the time)
* You don't have to look up or remember how to spell frequently ridiculous usernames
* It makes for better-flowing prose. We all read aloud in our heads to some extent, and "What could Villain have here?" just flows better than "What could xtat1kka_82 have here?"
* Stripping away the importance of the players' usernames with generic "we/they" terms is a way of saying, "the names aren't important here: the plays are."
I'm sorry it bugs you to the point of not reading, and I hope you are a tiny minority. It's just me applying standard poker shorthand to Magic.
I get the kneejerk response. I too have pet peeves but generally speaking Godot does this consistently with ALL of his articles and it doesn't come off as disrespectful or discourteous (to my mind). I am used to reports where the people played are people I know but perhaps MODO makes it harder to do this. Giving them some anonymity makes it generally easier without having to give details of their play style, personality etc which you might not even remember in your brief encounter. I recommend ignoring this in order to enjoy some of the more entertaining prose on drafting online.
Incidentally 'villain' is derived as a reference to one who lives in a village so it isn't as derogatory as modern usage makes it seem. On the other villains in those day were little better than serfs socially and had little money or influence so perhaps it could be construed as insulting that way.
As I see it, Godot is using 'villain' as a wry form of shortcut. A self conscious acknowledgment that he perhaps doesn't have the patience or time or willingness to post people's names. (Possibly he seeks to avoid a permissions issue.)
Guile is so much fun but I really do with that he was a 2/4 for 4cc dood that just had the countering ability and not the rest (That might make him too good though hehe). He's such a beast when he resolves you either dont get time/mana to counter things before hes removed or he just beats for the win.
My best non-guile win was a Gather Specimens on a stack of Enlisted Wurm which cascaded into Bloodbraid Elf which cascaded into Boggart Ram-Gang. My opponent quickly quit when it all resolved, it was quite hilarious.
I've been running the deck more in 2hg now because of the speed of the game and life I get more mileage out of Guile and Gather Specimens. I even played it in a bunch of Extended 2hg games with a friend who runs a CounterTop deck with Guile which made it even more fun. I didn't even update the deck for EXT just played it in the STD form.
Because you're really missing out. Look back at other tournament reports. Do you get turned off when other writers use the term bad guy? How about Some Guy? How about nameless guy who I can not remember?
The point of my little rant is that it adds flair to a report, it's not done in a bad way, it is the writer saying that he wants to be the hero/good guy/person you remember.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but I giggle everytime I see it.
U have air elemental, slime and doom blade... (pacifism is out cos u probably wun wanna play GW)
U've already passed one doom blade so you could actually give it to him since the guy on your left would probably take it and you might not meet anytime soon.
I'm thinking air elemental here.
While UG is not a very easy combi to play, it is possible if you want to make it happen.
I think bombs > removal cos removals might not find your bombs and there are some games where you can simply ride on them (the bombs) for the win.
Also another thing to note is that your pack had tons of green cards so you may have to jump ship if you're not sent green soon (not likely u'd find too many good things in p2).
Black makes a good splash most of the time but having black as a 2nd color requires commitment.
It's rather early in the draft to say anything but I would probably take the air elemental and see how the next few packs come.
Kird Ape cause of the is a common but still dont count for some reason at some point yes we will see kird ape in pauper but not soon. So keep wishing Wizards fixs this. Other then that most of exiled is released already online or was going to soon be. Ill still buy my 4 copys of it namely balance and lackeys early but. Still I think they could have done acouple better picks with some of the cards
the fact that you call your opp villain really annoys me so much that every time i see it I just stop reading the articles. They are just another player, not a villain.
P1P3, i take the oryx or seismic strike. you are not in black at all, stay mono G until you are dissuaded otherwise.
P1P5, Windstorm. super strong against the deck you will inevitably face with all the WU flyers, and hell even if its just an instant speed "kill one flyer" that's good enough for me.
P1P9 Jump over creeper obv. Jump rules, splash for it.
P2P1 Hyppie, but interesting to note that fog is the ONLY G card in the pack.
P2P2 Visionary works amazing with overrun, but still has to be Giant Spider I think
P2P8, i just take the Mist Leopard i think. more dudes is better and he is ok
P2P10, as much as Sign in Blood has been a pet card of mine, I still take the recluse. You will sometimes lose to an opponent going T2 Pegasus, T3 Drake. But more importantly, the Recluse is cheap, and tends to stall out the board. People just hate attacking into him. This is pretty optimal when you are the one saving up guys and mana for the big Overrun.
P3P2 I take Elvish Visionary here because Big Bill the Wolf Chucker has bad flavor.
Great stuff as always. I really am undecided on if I Overrun or not in R1G2#3.. I don't think I do. While we do have a lot of info telling us that he doesn't have removal, he is not really putting enough mana-free pressure on us to worry about it. If we do Overrun/Alpha and he can take out our Creeper, we are in a really bad spot. We have the board at the time, and we can just let him cast a spell or 2 which would most likely bring him into range where he dies to Overrun even if he does take out the Creeper in response. Also, we have some cheap guys in our deck we can cast, and that greatly increases our chances of winning with Overrun. Even though I agree with your "read" that he didn't have the removal, I am just not compelled to risk it.
RE: your quiz thing at the end. Wow super tough choice.... or not. Doomblade, lock it up.
I now follow you on Twitter, why don't you tweet more?
lol@your modified Bramble Creeper btw, I didn't notice it at first. Wall of Wood ftw.
I agree with people that Doom Blade should be the card you take. You should get one of those green cards back on the wheel and you don't want to give the opponent directly to your left two Doom Blades to take care of your Ant Queen when you are finally able to cast her. You should be able to find more acceleration throughout the rest of the draft if that is what you were looking for in the elf and Doom Blade is a better splash against creatures such as the Ant Queen because Pacifism does not limit her token generating ability.
The Urban Dictionary entry for Tireless Tribe is live...and has three thumbs down? I hope not from *my* readers! Help a brother out with some up-thumbs, eh?
Drudge Skeletons, Assassinate, Doom Blade (if I oak up a green creature), Unsummon, Ice Cage (Giant Growth is my only targeted spell or ability I would want to blow on a caged creature), Deadly Recluse, Naturalize (mid-combat), Entangling Vines, Blinding Mage, Excommunicate, Divine Verdict, and Pacifism all make me very unhappy to have an Oakenformed creature.
In conditional cases, Tendrils of Corruption in heavy black, Seismic Strike in heavy red, Lightning Bolt if Villain has R up when I attempt to cast the aura, and Safe Passage plus a gang block.
Those are just the commons. At uncommon there's also Deathmark if it's on a greenie, White Knight if it's on a non-bat black creature, Wall of Bone, Wall of Frost, Mind Control (OUCH), Acidic Slime, Cudgel Troll, Fireball, Wall of Fire in monored, Undead Slayer (on vamp, skeleton, or zombie), Celestial Purge (on black), Righteousness, a well-used Harm's Way, and Gorgon Flail all wrecking Okenformy fun.
That's why I started it in the board and didn't take it over other playables. There's also the fact that with Overrun.dek, two 3/3s are going to turn into 12 damage, while a 3/3 with Oakenform will only turn into 9 damage. Mind you, if I am short just one more playable, it makes the main deck over Naturalize and Deathmark. If I can, though, I like to start Oakenform in the board and assess the opponent's deck before exposing myself to frustrating 2:1s. Blinding Mage is *everywhere*.
Finally, the format is young, and I am more likely to stick to classic rules of thumb like, "An aura that doesn't replace itself, grant evasion, or grant immunity to removal is a high-risk, high-reward play, and should be avoided if possible." If experience in the format proves a card like Oakenform to be an exception to the rule, I'll adapt, but I generally approach new formats from my baseline principles of limited Magic and adjust from there.
Sure, once in a while you'll get lucky and catch someone without removal, but I avoid oakenform like the plague. You're really just asking for a 2-1 trade. And if you're opponent does NOT have removal, you're still better off playing another threat, in my opinion.
well they wont be banning anything from classic. going into this you have to expect 4 of 5 unprinted cards are restricted. as for 100c? im guessing that tinker is banned and the other 3 get to play.
And knowing wotc they won't ban stuff until a few months in to insure that people buy more than one copy of the set. Then ban it after they make some sales.
Nice article, and you see some pretty impressive (cough) things in M10 swiss. Since a rollercoaster experience in sealed decks (doing 3-1 a few times, crashing and burning on others) I decided my nerves could use a lower-risk lower-reward M10 limited experience, so i started doing the swisses. Also I'm an addicted raredrafter (even with rares that dont have much $ value) and i'm constantly tempted to warp my choices around gold symbols.
As for the question, doom blade for sure. solid removal, splashable if necessary.
the set is good i need the lackeys ,the gifts,3balls,petals n zerks in foil yes plz x4
I mentioned in a previous comment that my use of "Villain" stems from standards for hand discussions on poker forums. "Hero" and "Villain" are the established terms for "player whose hand you can see" and "opponent." (google "poker hero villain" for many examples)
There are a couple reasons for this standard in poker discussions, and they apply to Magic as well:
* It allows for some gender neutrality (although I cop to slipping "he" in my articles all the time)
* You don't have to look up or remember how to spell frequently ridiculous usernames
* It makes for better-flowing prose. We all read aloud in our heads to some extent, and "What could Villain have here?" just flows better than "What could xtat1kka_82 have here?"
* Stripping away the importance of the players' usernames with generic "we/they" terms is a way of saying, "the names aren't important here: the plays are."
I'm sorry it bugs you to the point of not reading, and I hope you are a tiny minority. It's just me applying standard poker shorthand to Magic.
I get the kneejerk response. I too have pet peeves but generally speaking Godot does this consistently with ALL of his articles and it doesn't come off as disrespectful or discourteous (to my mind). I am used to reports where the people played are people I know but perhaps MODO makes it harder to do this. Giving them some anonymity makes it generally easier without having to give details of their play style, personality etc which you might not even remember in your brief encounter. I recommend ignoring this in order to enjoy some of the more entertaining prose on drafting online.
Incidentally 'villain' is derived as a reference to one who lives in a village so it isn't as derogatory as modern usage makes it seem. On the other villains in those day were little better than serfs socially and had little money or influence so perhaps it could be construed as insulting that way.
As I see it, Godot is using 'villain' as a wry form of shortcut. A self conscious acknowledgment that he perhaps doesn't have the patience or time or willingness to post people's names. (Possibly he seeks to avoid a permissions issue.)
Guile is so much fun but I really do with that he was a 2/4 for 4cc dood that just had the countering ability and not the rest (That might make him too good though hehe). He's such a beast when he resolves you either dont get time/mana to counter things before hes removed or he just beats for the win.
My best non-guile win was a Gather Specimens on a stack of Enlisted Wurm which cascaded into Bloodbraid Elf which cascaded into Boggart Ram-Gang. My opponent quickly quit when it all resolved, it was quite hilarious.
I've been running the deck more in 2hg now because of the speed of the game and life I get more mileage out of Guile and Gather Specimens. I even played it in a bunch of Extended 2hg games with a friend who runs a CounterTop deck with Guile which made it even more fun. I didn't even update the deck for EXT just played it in the STD form.
RagMan
I vote for Pacify or Palace guard.
Because you're really missing out. Look back at other tournament reports. Do you get turned off when other writers use the term bad guy? How about Some Guy? How about nameless guy who I can not remember?
The point of my little rant is that it adds flair to a report, it's not done in a bad way, it is the writer saying that he wants to be the hero/good guy/person you remember.
I'm sorry you feel that way, but I giggle everytime I see it.
U have air elemental, slime and doom blade... (pacifism is out cos u probably wun wanna play GW)
U've already passed one doom blade so you could actually give it to him since the guy on your left would probably take it and you might not meet anytime soon.
I'm thinking air elemental here.
While UG is not a very easy combi to play, it is possible if you want to make it happen.
I think bombs > removal cos removals might not find your bombs and there are some games where you can simply ride on them (the bombs) for the win.
Also another thing to note is that your pack had tons of green cards so you may have to jump ship if you're not sent green soon (not likely u'd find too many good things in p2).
Black makes a good splash most of the time but having black as a 2nd color requires commitment.
It's rather early in the draft to say anything but I would probably take the air elemental and see how the next few packs come.
thats so funny, as i read this its cause i lost my draft for the night, to overrun
*he got his out in game three be4 i got mine out :0
Kird Ape cause of the is a common but still dont count for some reason at some point yes we will see kird ape in pauper but not soon. So keep wishing Wizards fixs this. Other then that most of exiled is released already online or was going to soon be. Ill still buy my 4 copys of it namely balance and lackeys early but. Still I think they could have done acouple better picks with some of the cards
the fact that you call your opp villain really annoys me so much that every time i see it I just stop reading the articles. They are just another player, not a villain.
P1P3, i take the oryx or seismic strike. you are not in black at all, stay mono G until you are dissuaded otherwise.
P1P5, Windstorm. super strong against the deck you will inevitably face with all the WU flyers, and hell even if its just an instant speed "kill one flyer" that's good enough for me.
P1P9 Jump over creeper obv. Jump rules, splash for it.
P2P1 Hyppie, but interesting to note that fog is the ONLY G card in the pack.
P2P2 Visionary works amazing with overrun, but still has to be Giant Spider I think
P2P8, i just take the Mist Leopard i think. more dudes is better and he is ok
P2P10, as much as Sign in Blood has been a pet card of mine, I still take the recluse. You will sometimes lose to an opponent going T2 Pegasus, T3 Drake. But more importantly, the Recluse is cheap, and tends to stall out the board. People just hate attacking into him. This is pretty optimal when you are the one saving up guys and mana for the big Overrun.
P3P2 I take Elvish Visionary here because Big Bill the Wolf Chucker has bad flavor.
Great stuff as always. I really am undecided on if I Overrun or not in R1G2#3.. I don't think I do. While we do have a lot of info telling us that he doesn't have removal, he is not really putting enough mana-free pressure on us to worry about it. If we do Overrun/Alpha and he can take out our Creeper, we are in a really bad spot. We have the board at the time, and we can just let him cast a spell or 2 which would most likely bring him into range where he dies to Overrun even if he does take out the Creeper in response. Also, we have some cheap guys in our deck we can cast, and that greatly increases our chances of winning with Overrun. Even though I agree with your "read" that he didn't have the removal, I am just not compelled to risk it.
RE: your quiz thing at the end. Wow super tough choice.... or not. Doomblade, lock it up.
I now follow you on Twitter, why don't you tweet more?
lol@your modified Bramble Creeper btw, I didn't notice it at first. Wall of Wood ftw.
Kird ape is currently not pauper legal - rarities on promo cards are just for show and are not checked for legality.
Actually according to one of the ORCs, pauper doesn't allow you to run Kird ape because the promo cards aren't accepted for some reason.
I agree with people that Doom Blade should be the card you take. You should get one of those green cards back on the wheel and you don't want to give the opponent directly to your left two Doom Blades to take care of your Ant Queen when you are finally able to cast her. You should be able to find more acceleration throughout the rest of the draft if that is what you were looking for in the elf and Doom Blade is a better splash against creatures such as the Ant Queen because Pacifism does not limit her token generating ability.
The Urban Dictionary entry for Tireless Tribe is live...and has three thumbs down? I hope not from *my* readers! Help a brother out with some up-thumbs, eh?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tireless+Tribe+
Drudge Skeletons, Assassinate, Doom Blade (if I oak up a green creature), Unsummon, Ice Cage (Giant Growth is my only targeted spell or ability I would want to blow on a caged creature), Deadly Recluse, Naturalize (mid-combat), Entangling Vines, Blinding Mage, Excommunicate, Divine Verdict, and Pacifism all make me very unhappy to have an Oakenformed creature.
In conditional cases, Tendrils of Corruption in heavy black, Seismic Strike in heavy red, Lightning Bolt if Villain has R up when I attempt to cast the aura, and Safe Passage plus a gang block.
Those are just the commons. At uncommon there's also Deathmark if it's on a greenie, White Knight if it's on a non-bat black creature, Wall of Bone, Wall of Frost, Mind Control (OUCH), Acidic Slime, Cudgel Troll, Fireball, Wall of Fire in monored, Undead Slayer (on vamp, skeleton, or zombie), Celestial Purge (on black), Righteousness, a well-used Harm's Way, and Gorgon Flail all wrecking Okenformy fun.
That's why I started it in the board and didn't take it over other playables. There's also the fact that with Overrun.dek, two 3/3s are going to turn into 12 damage, while a 3/3 with Oakenform will only turn into 9 damage. Mind you, if I am short just one more playable, it makes the main deck over Naturalize and Deathmark. If I can, though, I like to start Oakenform in the board and assess the opponent's deck before exposing myself to frustrating 2:1s. Blinding Mage is *everywhere*.
Finally, the format is young, and I am more likely to stick to classic rules of thumb like, "An aura that doesn't replace itself, grant evasion, or grant immunity to removal is a high-risk, high-reward play, and should be avoided if possible." If experience in the format proves a card like Oakenform to be an exception to the rule, I'll adapt, but I generally approach new formats from my baseline principles of limited Magic and adjust from there.
Sure, once in a while you'll get lucky and catch someone without removal, but I avoid oakenform like the plague. You're really just asking for a 2-1 trade. And if you're opponent does NOT have removal, you're still better off playing another threat, in my opinion.
what should he do? Cut two critters for 2 Oakenform? Overrun needs critters to win, and Oakenform on a critter spells 2 for 1 for villian.
Thanks (to you and Basic Land)for the heads with how to "Bling" up a draft deck with different basic lands - I'm looking forward to using my Guru's
Good article as always too.
well they wont be banning anything from classic. going into this you have to expect 4 of 5 unprinted cards are restricted. as for 100c? im guessing that tinker is banned and the other 3 get to play.
And knowing wotc they won't ban stuff until a few months in to insure that people buy more than one copy of the set. Then ban it after they make some sales.
Im going to go back and read the rest of the article but had to stop and say WTH? how do you not run oakenform and let the other 2 go by in the draft
Kird ape is playable in pauper. The promo, for Magic Player reward, is set at common so it is playable.
Nice article, and you see some pretty impressive (cough) things in M10 swiss. Since a rollercoaster experience in sealed decks (doing 3-1 a few times, crashing and burning on others) I decided my nerves could use a lower-risk lower-reward M10 limited experience, so i started doing the swisses. Also I'm an addicted raredrafter (even with rares that dont have much $ value) and i'm constantly tempted to warp my choices around gold symbols.
As for the question, doom blade for sure. solid removal, splashable if necessary.
Anyone know the answer to this?