This is the best limited article I can remember reading on this site. I didn't choose every pick the same but picks where I disagreed had solid explanations of the opposing view. Keep it up! Just as long as I don't face solebush, he's beaten me on more than one occasion.
Nice to see new blood, and good to get fresh articles. I dont know if it comes off as cocky but like to see your next tourny report. If you did get good draws well thats the nature of the game, good and bad it happens. Nice match ups we have all had them here and there, thats just how these tourneys play out. Heck you can play the same deck next week and go 0-2 and drop, we have all been there. Good play and congrats though, hope to see you next week.
I'm not sure I agree with this. Intimidation tactics get results. I hate being on both sides of it though.
One reason I like MTGO is that it is much easier to ignore this sort of thing. But make no mistake intimidation, mind tricks, misdirection, poker faces have a massive impact on the game. When I play IRL I lose often times because of this.
I just wanted to point out that there are a lot of good reasons to be a "jerk" at the table. Even on MTGO you can gain some advantages. Again, I don't condone it, but to say that there is no excuse for it does not strike me as accurate.
Two playsets of P9: both my wife and I play. If we both play in the same event - and we do - we need two sets.
Lots of duals: heck, yes, we need lots of copies. I have some in my 5color deck, some in EDH decks, plus some in various legacy and multiplayer decks. Nearly every copy of every land is in a deck. Remember, unlike online, a single card cannot exist in several decks at once.
Besidees, it's a choice - online or paper. Frankly, an EDH session with other judges at a Pro tour is just a lot more fun than playing 100 card singleton online. My budget stretches to cover travel expenses, but not travel and a complete online set. Another issue - I got the duals back when you could still buy revised boosters in most stores, but I could not get online until Mirrodin. I'm still getting caught up online, which also males online cost more. (And before anyone asks - we could not get online until our telephone company upgraded the phone lines. Prior to the upgrade, the best speed we could get was 14-18kbps - meaning that downloading MODO at that time would have taken, literally, weeks of connect time.)
Congrats on the win. I read parts of the article (I don't play Classic currently so it wasn't entirely relative to me.) One recommendation for you is to try to avoid the white space next to the card pics. You can do this by organizing the tables around. (I should talk - my last article had a lot of white space, but the editor wasn't showing me where the pictures were so I blame that for the inability to format better.)
The best thing about this is your decklist. I know next to nothing about Classic so I'm not saying that it is a brilliant idea or something profound. I just like the fact that it won without Underground Sea & Force of Will. The price of those cards makes me think I can never play Classic, but to see this list do well (even if it was through 'lucky draws') is somewhat inspiring. The list makes me think that I can get into Classic eventually (though I do see the Format as having rough spots since the 'cost of entry'-barrier will only go up.)
General note: Stop drafting for colors only, but for strategy. Your deck kind of mixes esper control with Grixper aggro. In addition to that, start thinking about splashing. It will strengthen your draft picks so much more. Don't be as risk aversive. Power is necessary to win this format consistently.
Pack 1, Pick 1: really up to personal preference how you play, but TG is ok. KC of Eos can be annoying, but you need a bomb to ramp up to with that guy buying you turns. Otherwise, he's meh. (Dies to magma spray!)
The debate about Fleshbag is interesting: Fleshbag is good against more control-ish decks because they tend to have fewer creatures and each creature is worth more. Giving your opponent the choice of what creature to sacrifice sucks against Naya aggro, Jund, Grixis or Bant players; they just take out whatever they like the least as well, usually a grizzly bear, a token, an unearth creature or the worst player out of a bant team; not exactly what I want to remove. I think TG is the correct choice because it leaves you with the most number of playable formats you can try drafting: Esper aggro (Glaze Fiends up the wazoo), Esper control, Grixper aggro and Bant control.
Strangely, if it was in an 8-4, i might consider Magma spray and start hating red for pack #2. Not so sure about the effectiveness of signaling in 4-3-2-2, but i'd probably end up taking TG cuz so few people can in fact deal with a 4/4 flyer. That, and also taking the TG P1 P1 definitely leaves a playable P1 P9. (There are at least 8 playables in the pack after TG, and enough so that you will get a good 9th pick out of it)
Pack 1, Pick 2: Grixis Charm over Salvage Titan. This pick also tells you the guy next to you doesn't mind signaling and passing rares. Always a good sign that this guy will respond to your signals pack 2.
Pack 1, Pick 5: Metallurgeon. It will help you defend the ground long enough to draw into TG and fly over. It's a good defensive creature in any deck that plays white.
Pack 1, Pick 7: Take Angelic Benediction; you might only be swinging with one attacker at a time depending on the board. Guardians of Akrasa is simply not good in grixper aggro or esper UW control
Pack 1, Pick 11: Take Obelisk of Naya: It helps you splash white and red, your splash colors. Grixper aggro is a really good deck in triple shards.
Pack 2, Pick 1: Don't be afraid to take the Ogre here. It's still early in the draft where I'd value power over consistency. (particularly if you played Obelisk of Naya from P1, P11). You can still draft fixers at this point in the draft.
Pack 2, Pick 2: Take Bloodpyre; you can still splash red.
Pack 3, Pick 1: Pithian Stinger is actually good if you stayed open to Red. Glaze Fiend isn't bad either if you drafted esper aggro. 2/3 flier on defense the entire game isn't bad for 2 mana with your conjurer. Just not a first pick.
Pack 3, Pick 9: Umm... Glaze fiend for the win? (im not sure how many playables you've drafted so far with glaze fiend... but yeah)
Pack 3, Pick 10: Glaze fiend again if you have enough artifacts (not sure how many you have)
Deckbuilding:
Land: -1 swamp, + 1 necropolis: the red enables you to splash vithian stinger, or at the very least use the battlemage's "can't block" ability. Imagine green fat ramp: if thoctar can't block, what do they usually have on the board? Drumhunter (which they don't want to block with) druid of the anima (again, they don't want to block with that either) etc...
Non-land: -1 call to heel, +1 Vithian stinger (maybe...)
During the game:
First game first screenshot:
Is there any reason why you have 2 plains out instead of 2 swamps? you have so much more black in your deck that that play may become a liability later. (1 turn excutioners capsule requires 2 black, and I would rather keep the triland untapped as much as possible)
ElwoodPDowd: Soul's fire is not better than Skeletonize or Bone Splinters. Actually it's the card that would get better in pack 2 or 3. Yes, I think Soul's Fire is underrated but that actually helps it staying around later than it should.
About Spike: no, it's not nearly as good as Sigil (surely the best limited card in shards of alara and I've heard it's the best limited card since jitte!). Spike is decent in most decks because is some situations it will be good in other it will be bad. The only deck that really wants Spike is a deck with pingers. The best thing about spike isn't making your opp lose half life. It's deathtouch which makes pingers have tap: destroy target creature. That's what wins games. After slaughtering your opp's army it will rarely matter if they die in 3 or 10 turns.
Those are great suggestions. With a little more experience under my belt with the deck, I will look into writing a follow-up article with matchups, etc.
See on the one hand you are saying that this was a last-minute build and on the other hand you and your collegues are talking about how there are special card choices for the different matchups you were expecting. How about some deeper explanation then ? Like, for example, why do you think that running a one of BTS is a good idea and why you would not even cut it in retrospect ?
And rather than writing a round for round report, which can only be like "I played some dorks and burned him down" with Zoo, how about analyzing the different matchups and how they affect your plan or your opening hand choices. You played against a diverse meta, make use of it.
It was a good recap of your matches, wish I had all of those classic cards online. For future articles I would suggest on your card links, make them open in another window. I am just less likely to keep reading if it keeps navigating away from the page. You can change the option to open _blank.
Also, reread your article for grammatical errors, and card links. If it doesn't link, respell it or take away the parentheses. I look forward to the next one.
i don't see a problem in this article. well, i have no clue about classic, but i really like the way you recap your games. if you win a tourney you can very well write about it, and it isn't "showing off".
I agree with your points about the price of classic, just as I agreed with dangerlinto. The thing I don't get is how you personally can say you have two sets of P9 and 100+ dual lands and not be able to afford classic cards on MODO. I'm not by any means implying you're rolling in cash, just that you could easily sell any one piece of power, or even twenty duals in order to finish your duals on MODO. No one needs 100+ duals.
Unfortunately, Worth promised not to reprint Force of Will, so their hands are tied with that card. The only way for them to add more to the system is as a promo, which I think they will need to do eventually. However, while Force of Will is practically a prerequisite for any classic deck running blue, the dual lands are going to be a prerequisite for any deck running more than one color, which is most of them. In paper, Wizards did print the dual lands in four different sets - Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, and Revised. I think they should continue to release the duals in any future MED sets and as promos periodically to keep a steady supply in the system for new comers. If the supply is regulated, I don't see the price of duals dropping all that much. Anywhere from $15-$35 in the long run seems fair to me, anything less and there are just too many in the system.
For Mirage that's a valid argument. Putting Dreadnaught in a precon would accomplish exactly what putting Jitte in a precon did. (Kill the value of the card and set in question. Though Jitte was an accident.)
Master's Editions I would argue are completely different. The MED series is like what paper did with both Chronicles and Renaissance. I think of the MEDs as being more like JvC or From the Vault: Dragons - mere excuses to provide the players with specific single cards that they demand. Basically, Wizards is selling single cards like foil Chandra and Kokusho directly to the consumer. (And then denying it, whatever.)
Underground Sea in a ME2 precon probably would hurt he value of the card and cause less drafts. But the problem is not with the "boxed set", it's with the boosters. MED boosters are as horrible as Chronicles boosters were. The limited experience is crap, and value of the cards is a total lottery ticket. Everyone rare drafts duals, and they only draft because of the duals. Horse shit. And one of the old print runs involved cracking a series of Taiga + Necro + Mana Crypt.
In my opinion, if the boosters suck, but are hurt more by the presence of good boxed sets, then the solution is to abolish the boosters and let the boxed sets do their thing. For reference: Daze and Gush. I do not want to see MED3 boosters.
I agree that the cards should be collectible and expensive, but not like this. And not on the digital server. Pretty soon Legacy is going to go on the "unsanctioned" list that Vintage is unofficially on. Legacy gets what, one event per year? This March might be the last one, ever. (Sell your Forces before then!) This is not about making the digital duals into Cracker Jack prizes. Mr. Anonymous is being facetious. It's about how in print cards like Dreadnaught and Sea are impossible to find. If something costs $100 + 3 hours of shopping then people won't do it.
It's always the same people I see in every Classic and Pauper event. The economy is so small that hoarding is possible. We're really more like the local scene in one large city. Classic and Pauper obviously have fewer than 1000 players. I think there was a 50% turnout rate for the first Pauper PE. In other words, I think there are fewer than 300 people on the whole planet who are interested in a pauper PE.
Something that is seriously wrong with digital cards is that Wizards burns unsold cards. Right now on EBay there are booster boxes of Time Spiral and Fifth Dawn for under $60 buy-it-now. That such prices are common for non-Standard boosters puts an upper-bound on singles prices. You know the Aether Vials are out there, and you don't have to pay $10 for an Aether Vial from anyone. You don't even have to pay $5 if you don't want to. But online, you just have to pay whatever the price is. There are not enough vendors, and not enough cards. Also, digital cards are surprisingly easier to "destroy" than paper ones.
This is the best limited article I can remember reading on this site. I didn't choose every pick the same but picks where I disagreed had solid explanations of the opposing view. Keep it up! Just as long as I don't face solebush, he's beaten me on more than one occasion.
P.S. Tri-land vs Spike is not close. At all.
why didnt u run living death in your deck?
Nice to see new blood, and good to get fresh articles. I dont know if it comes off as cocky but like to see your next tourny report. If you did get good draws well thats the nature of the game, good and bad it happens. Nice match ups we have all had them here and there, thats just how these tourneys play out. Heck you can play the same deck next week and go 0-2 and drop, we have all been there. Good play and congrats though, hope to see you next week.
I'm not sure I agree with this. Intimidation tactics get results. I hate being on both sides of it though.
One reason I like MTGO is that it is much easier to ignore this sort of thing. But make no mistake intimidation, mind tricks, misdirection, poker faces have a massive impact on the game. When I play IRL I lose often times because of this.
I just wanted to point out that there are a lot of good reasons to be a "jerk" at the table. Even on MTGO you can gain some advantages. Again, I don't condone it, but to say that there is no excuse for it does not strike me as accurate.
Two playsets of P9: both my wife and I play. If we both play in the same event - and we do - we need two sets.
Lots of duals: heck, yes, we need lots of copies. I have some in my 5color deck, some in EDH decks, plus some in various legacy and multiplayer decks. Nearly every copy of every land is in a deck. Remember, unlike online, a single card cannot exist in several decks at once.
Besidees, it's a choice - online or paper. Frankly, an EDH session with other judges at a Pro tour is just a lot more fun than playing 100 card singleton online. My budget stretches to cover travel expenses, but not travel and a complete online set. Another issue - I got the duals back when you could still buy revised boosters in most stores, but I could not get online until Mirrodin. I'm still getting caught up online, which also males online cost more. (And before anyone asks - we could not get online until our telephone company upgraded the phone lines. Prior to the upgrade, the best speed we could get was 14-18kbps - meaning that downloading MODO at that time would have taken, literally, weeks of connect time.)
Where exactly do you get these numbers for your middle paragraph?
I've never seen your wife and I don't care what she looks like - if she likes to buy dual lands and Power Nine, she's smokin' hot!
With a nose that large.
Also, good article. I like the turn-around time. Also, don't sweat the haterz.
Congrats on the win. I read parts of the article (I don't play Classic currently so it wasn't entirely relative to me.) One recommendation for you is to try to avoid the white space next to the card pics. You can do this by organizing the tables around. (I should talk - my last article had a lot of white space, but the editor wasn't showing me where the pictures were so I blame that for the inability to format better.)
The best thing about this is your decklist. I know next to nothing about Classic so I'm not saying that it is a brilliant idea or something profound. I just like the fact that it won without Underground Sea & Force of Will. The price of those cards makes me think I can never play Classic, but to see this list do well (even if it was through 'lucky draws') is somewhat inspiring. The list makes me think that I can get into Classic eventually (though I do see the Format as having rough spots since the 'cost of entry'-barrier will only go up.)
Good work - keep up with the writing!
and you can use a right-click->open in another tab or simply click your mouse mid button under Firefox.
Btw I liked this article, and i don't see how it was cocky. Just a hint tho : your avatar is really weird :]
General note: Stop drafting for colors only, but for strategy. Your deck kind of mixes esper control with Grixper aggro. In addition to that, start thinking about splashing. It will strengthen your draft picks so much more. Don't be as risk aversive. Power is necessary to win this format consistently.
Pack 1, Pick 1: really up to personal preference how you play, but TG is ok. KC of Eos can be annoying, but you need a bomb to ramp up to with that guy buying you turns. Otherwise, he's meh. (Dies to magma spray!)
The debate about Fleshbag is interesting: Fleshbag is good against more control-ish decks because they tend to have fewer creatures and each creature is worth more. Giving your opponent the choice of what creature to sacrifice sucks against Naya aggro, Jund, Grixis or Bant players; they just take out whatever they like the least as well, usually a grizzly bear, a token, an unearth creature or the worst player out of a bant team; not exactly what I want to remove. I think TG is the correct choice because it leaves you with the most number of playable formats you can try drafting: Esper aggro (Glaze Fiends up the wazoo), Esper control, Grixper aggro and Bant control.
Strangely, if it was in an 8-4, i might consider Magma spray and start hating red for pack #2. Not so sure about the effectiveness of signaling in 4-3-2-2, but i'd probably end up taking TG cuz so few people can in fact deal with a 4/4 flyer. That, and also taking the TG P1 P1 definitely leaves a playable P1 P9. (There are at least 8 playables in the pack after TG, and enough so that you will get a good 9th pick out of it)
Pack 1, Pick 2: Grixis Charm over Salvage Titan. This pick also tells you the guy next to you doesn't mind signaling and passing rares. Always a good sign that this guy will respond to your signals pack 2.
Pack 1, Pick 5: Metallurgeon. It will help you defend the ground long enough to draw into TG and fly over. It's a good defensive creature in any deck that plays white.
Pack 1, Pick 7: Take Angelic Benediction; you might only be swinging with one attacker at a time depending on the board. Guardians of Akrasa is simply not good in grixper aggro or esper UW control
Pack 1, Pick 11: Take Obelisk of Naya: It helps you splash white and red, your splash colors. Grixper aggro is a really good deck in triple shards.
Pack 2, Pick 1: Don't be afraid to take the Ogre here. It's still early in the draft where I'd value power over consistency. (particularly if you played Obelisk of Naya from P1, P11). You can still draft fixers at this point in the draft.
Pack 2, Pick 2: Take Bloodpyre; you can still splash red.
Pack 3, Pick 1: Pithian Stinger is actually good if you stayed open to Red. Glaze Fiend isn't bad either if you drafted esper aggro. 2/3 flier on defense the entire game isn't bad for 2 mana with your conjurer. Just not a first pick.
Pack 3, Pick 9: Umm... Glaze fiend for the win? (im not sure how many playables you've drafted so far with glaze fiend... but yeah)
Pack 3, Pick 10: Glaze fiend again if you have enough artifacts (not sure how many you have)
Deckbuilding:
Land: -1 swamp, + 1 necropolis: the red enables you to splash vithian stinger, or at the very least use the battlemage's "can't block" ability. Imagine green fat ramp: if thoctar can't block, what do they usually have on the board? Drumhunter (which they don't want to block with) druid of the anima (again, they don't want to block with that either) etc...
Non-land: -1 call to heel, +1 Vithian stinger (maybe...)
During the game:
First game first screenshot:
Is there any reason why you have 2 plains out instead of 2 swamps? you have so much more black in your deck that that play may become a liability later. (1 turn excutioners capsule requires 2 black, and I would rather keep the triland untapped as much as possible)
ElwoodPDowd: Soul's fire is not better than Skeletonize or Bone Splinters. Actually it's the card that would get better in pack 2 or 3. Yes, I think Soul's Fire is underrated but that actually helps it staying around later than it should.
About Spike: no, it's not nearly as good as Sigil (surely the best limited card in shards of alara and I've heard it's the best limited card since jitte!). Spike is decent in most decks because is some situations it will be good in other it will be bad. The only deck that really wants Spike is a deck with pingers. The best thing about spike isn't making your opp lose half life. It's deathtouch which makes pingers have tap: destroy target creature. That's what wins games. After slaughtering your opp's army it will rarely matter if they die in 3 or 10 turns.
If you hold down the Control key when clicking on a link in Internet Explorer, it will open the link in a new tab.
Those are great suggestions. With a little more experience under my belt with the deck, I will look into writing a follow-up article with matchups, etc.
Thank you for the suggestions. I will look into the separate window thing.
See on the one hand you are saying that this was a last-minute build and on the other hand you and your collegues are talking about how there are special card choices for the different matchups you were expecting. How about some deeper explanation then ? Like, for example, why do you think that running a one of BTS is a good idea and why you would not even cut it in retrospect ?
And rather than writing a round for round report, which can only be like "I played some dorks and burned him down" with Zoo, how about analyzing the different matchups and how they affect your plan or your opening hand choices. You played against a diverse meta, make use of it.
It was a good recap of your matches, wish I had all of those classic cards online. For future articles I would suggest on your card links, make them open in another window. I am just less likely to keep reading if it keeps navigating away from the page. You can change the option to open _blank.
Also, reread your article for grammatical errors, and card links. If it doesn't link, respell it or take away the parentheses. I look forward to the next one.
The bar for winning a tournament isn't so high these days - even I've done it recently.
i don't see a problem in this article. well, i have no clue about classic, but i really like the way you recap your games. if you win a tourney you can very well write about it, and it isn't "showing off".
How does that constitute counselling? those poor kids probably needed counselling after your "lay down while i spit in your eye" game lol
wouldve been more normal if it were just poop
I agree with your points about the price of classic, just as I agreed with dangerlinto. The thing I don't get is how you personally can say you have two sets of P9 and 100+ dual lands and not be able to afford classic cards on MODO. I'm not by any means implying you're rolling in cash, just that you could easily sell any one piece of power, or even twenty duals in order to finish your duals on MODO. No one needs 100+ duals.
Unfortunately, Worth promised not to reprint Force of Will, so their hands are tied with that card. The only way for them to add more to the system is as a promo, which I think they will need to do eventually. However, while Force of Will is practically a prerequisite for any classic deck running blue, the dual lands are going to be a prerequisite for any deck running more than one color, which is most of them. In paper, Wizards did print the dual lands in four different sets - Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, and Revised. I think they should continue to release the duals in any future MED sets and as promos periodically to keep a steady supply in the system for new comers. If the supply is regulated, I don't see the price of duals dropping all that much. Anywhere from $15-$35 in the long run seems fair to me, anything less and there are just too many in the system.
For Mirage that's a valid argument. Putting Dreadnaught in a precon would accomplish exactly what putting Jitte in a precon did. (Kill the value of the card and set in question. Though Jitte was an accident.)
Master's Editions I would argue are completely different. The MED series is like what paper did with both Chronicles and Renaissance. I think of the MEDs as being more like JvC or From the Vault: Dragons - mere excuses to provide the players with specific single cards that they demand. Basically, Wizards is selling single cards like foil Chandra and Kokusho directly to the consumer. (And then denying it, whatever.)
Underground Sea in a ME2 precon probably would hurt he value of the card and cause less drafts. But the problem is not with the "boxed set", it's with the boosters. MED boosters are as horrible as Chronicles boosters were. The limited experience is crap, and value of the cards is a total lottery ticket. Everyone rare drafts duals, and they only draft because of the duals. Horse shit. And one of the old print runs involved cracking a series of Taiga + Necro + Mana Crypt.
In my opinion, if the boosters suck, but are hurt more by the presence of good boxed sets, then the solution is to abolish the boosters and let the boxed sets do their thing. For reference: Daze and Gush. I do not want to see MED3 boosters.
I agree that the cards should be collectible and expensive, but not like this. And not on the digital server. Pretty soon Legacy is going to go on the "unsanctioned" list that Vintage is unofficially on. Legacy gets what, one event per year? This March might be the last one, ever. (Sell your Forces before then!) This is not about making the digital duals into Cracker Jack prizes. Mr. Anonymous is being facetious. It's about how in print cards like Dreadnaught and Sea are impossible to find. If something costs $100 + 3 hours of shopping then people won't do it.
It's always the same people I see in every Classic and Pauper event. The economy is so small that hoarding is possible. We're really more like the local scene in one large city. Classic and Pauper obviously have fewer than 1000 players. I think there was a 50% turnout rate for the first Pauper PE. In other words, I think there are fewer than 300 people on the whole planet who are interested in a pauper PE.
Something that is seriously wrong with digital cards is that Wizards burns unsold cards. Right now on EBay there are booster boxes of Time Spiral and Fifth Dawn for under $60 buy-it-now. That such prices are common for non-Standard boosters puts an upper-bound on singles prices. You know the Aether Vials are out there, and you don't have to pay $10 for an Aether Vial from anyone. You don't even have to pay $5 if you don't want to. But online, you just have to pay whatever the price is. There are not enough vendors, and not enough cards. Also, digital cards are surprisingly easier to "destroy" than paper ones.
Oh good, I thought it might be something weird...