Yep same here, initially I thought the hand was terrible. I was two seconds away from clicking 'mulligan = yes' and two seconds later I'm thinking, "oh wait, first turn kill".
I did it once too. i couldnt beleive it. I was sitting there looking at what seemed to be a godawful hand and i was just like wait a sec. if i have another tendrils i can win.
so i did and it was an utter beating puting my opponent on tilt for the next game.
I agree with names like these being difficult on the eyes....It took me 3 or 4 reads to figure it out as Rebel Warrior...lol I read an article about similar names in regards to online poker. Psychologically, people who choose leet-speak names show that they are not confident with their skills as to need to try to confuse their opponents with a name that is difficult on the eyes. In MTGO, where the name is printed so very tiny, there would be little effect if any at all, especially if you have the chat window closed.
Congrats Alex on your placing, and thanks for the recap.
Another great article Steve. Thanks for bringing Galepowder Mage to my attention (I'm thinking it will fit in nicely with Incandescent Soulstoke/Fusion Elemental......) Video would just make it that much better.
I can't wait to see what you do with the new Conflux cards and the infinite mana combo from Master Transmuter.
How the combo works is that painter's servant turns all cards in all libraries one color (blue inthis case.) It does other stuff that's important, but that's the essential part of the combo. The Grindstone mills a few cards from a library, then repeats if some of those cards are the same color. With the painter's servant, even three basic lands are all the chosen color, so the milling keeps going until there are no cards in the opponents library. Whence they lose.
Yeah it was definitely not a common hand, and I almost didn't even know what to do with it =) I was so used to NecroSpike that it's really easy to just ignore the turn one storm win option. I definitely will be more careful about looking for it in the future though.
Great round-up; as I mentioned on the pdc boards, I like the deck.
One point I have to undeniably agree with: the leet-speak names. I have edited websites for video game tournaments for years and the names with numbers are the most annoying thing to ever arrive in print media. Dump the names, people!
Sorry if I wasn't clear - the turn one kill was on the draw. I ended up with this hand:
Underground Sea, Lotus Petal, three Dark Rituals, Demonic Consultation, Tendrils, Tendrils
Land + Petal + 3x Ritual = 8 mana. Consultation takes me down to seven, Cabal Ritual brings me back up to eight, and then double Tendrils with six and seven storm for the win.
I wish the replays of daily events didn't go away so quickly in v3! They used to stay around forever, it would be so much better if you guys could just go watch the match... Maybe next time I'll make a video?
Donate for MED3! That card is so Johnny-awesome and there aren't enough substitutes for it.
If I were the Flash player, I would've said to myself "This is not happening." Then I'd be sure to bring 2 Heart Slivers and 3 Virulent Slivers next time. :)
What a good event! I couldn't believe the amount of people who showed up. I started 1-3 and was committed to trying to go 4-4, just as a personal victory. However, my client crashed and I was distracted by someone else. And without my client open I was never prompted to sit down and play another game. D'oh! But then again, I only let myself become distracted because I wasn't winning. If I were 3-1 I wouldn't have left my chair. :)
A winning record is something to be proud of, regardless of what you're playing. And winning packs in this case is even more applause worthy. Some people with a winning record didn't make the top 32.
I don,t see how you could win on turn one with that hand,2 dark rituals + consult + a land + lotus petal + 2 tendrilses=7 cards and after cabal ritual you,d have only 6 mana after paying for consult.I,m sure i missed something tho....
Will do man, I'll do my best to include some sideboard options/discussion in the future.
Thanks for the feedback.
Great article(s)!!
The whole Explorations series is one of my favorites to read through.
Keep up the good work.
One notice only. I would love if you could spare some ideas for sb on the decks you are proposing...
Thanks
Yep same here, initially I thought the hand was terrible. I was two seconds away from clicking 'mulligan = yes' and two seconds later I'm thinking, "oh wait, first turn kill".
I did it once too. i couldnt beleive it. I was sitting there looking at what seemed to be a godawful hand and i was just like wait a sec. if i have another tendrils i can win.
so i did and it was an utter beating puting my opponent on tilt for the next game.
I didn't mean to imply I hold any ill will towards Rebel- he's (she's?) a nice person and a great competitor- I just hate typing the name.
-Alex
I agree with names like these being difficult on the eyes....It took me 3 or 4 reads to figure it out as Rebel Warrior...lol I read an article about similar names in regards to online poker. Psychologically, people who choose leet-speak names show that they are not confident with their skills as to need to try to confuse their opponents with a name that is difficult on the eyes. In MTGO, where the name is printed so very tiny, there would be little effect if any at all, especially if you have the chat window closed.
Congrats Alex on your placing, and thanks for the recap.
Another great article Steve. Thanks for bringing Galepowder Mage to my attention (I'm thinking it will fit in nicely with Incandescent Soulstoke/Fusion Elemental......) Video would just make it that much better.
I can't wait to see what you do with the new Conflux cards and the infinite mana combo from Master Transmuter.
Awesome deck .... you are now the place to look for interesting deck ideas.
How the combo works is that painter's servant turns all cards in all libraries one color (blue inthis case.) It does other stuff that's important, but that's the essential part of the combo. The Grindstone mills a few cards from a library, then repeats if some of those cards are the same color. With the painter's servant, even three basic lands are all the chosen color, so the milling keeps going until there are no cards in the opponents library. Whence they lose.
That's right, I said 'whence.'
Cool man, let me know how it goes - also let me know if you figure out any good card choices that I missed!
Yeah it was definitely not a common hand, and I almost didn't even know what to do with it =) I was so used to NecroSpike that it's really easy to just ignore the turn one storm win option. I definitely will be more careful about looking for it in the future though.
That,s quite a hand then 3 rituals petal a land AND 2 tendrilses nice.
Great round-up; as I mentioned on the pdc boards, I like the deck.
One point I have to undeniably agree with: the leet-speak names. I have edited websites for video game tournaments for years and the names with numbers are the most annoying thing to ever arrive in print media. Dump the names, people!
Unfortunately Heart Slivers cost 1R, so you'd only be able to do 2x Heart Sliver, 2x Virulent Sliver off of Protean Hulk.
Sorry if I wasn't clear - the turn one kill was on the draw. I ended up with this hand:
Underground Sea, Lotus Petal, three Dark Rituals, Demonic Consultation, Tendrils, Tendrils
Land + Petal + 3x Ritual = 8 mana. Consultation takes me down to seven, Cabal Ritual brings me back up to eight, and then double Tendrils with six and seven storm for the win.
I wish the replays of daily events didn't go away so quickly in v3! They used to stay around forever, it would be so much better if you guys could just go watch the match... Maybe next time I'll make a video?
Thanks for the feedback guys!
Do you ever make a deck with
blackblue and withoutBitterblossomCryptic Command?Just kidding. If you're packing maindeck (Colfenor's Plans) and (Immortal Coil) you're entitled to a little power to make the deck work.
Donate for MED3! That card is so Johnny-awesome and there aren't enough substitutes for it.
If I were the Flash player, I would've said to myself "This is not happening." Then I'd be sure to bring 2 Heart Slivers and 3 Virulent Slivers next time. :)
Wait, he said "few" dark rits. That was probably 3?
B/c you'd consult for Dark Ritual probably.
Wait a sec....consultation doesn,t put cards in the graveyard but removes them from the game so once again i don,t understand how you got 8 mana?
Ops nvm i checked what demonic consultation does :)
What a good event! I couldn't believe the amount of people who showed up. I started 1-3 and was committed to trying to go 4-4, just as a personal victory. However, my client crashed and I was distracted by someone else. And without my client open I was never prompted to sit down and play another game. D'oh! But then again, I only let myself become distracted because I wasn't winning. If I were 3-1 I wouldn't have left my chair. :)
A winning record is something to be proud of, regardless of what you're playing. And winning packs in this case is even more applause worthy. Some people with a winning record didn't make the top 32.
I mean you need 8 mana to pay for 2 tendrilses and you had 6?
I don,t see how you could win on turn one with that hand,2 dark rituals + consult + a land + lotus petal + 2 tendrilses=7 cards and after cabal ritual you,d have only 6 mana after paying for consult.I,m sure i missed something tho....
I really liked the article. Reminded me of Ben. :) I really liked the deck, and I'm stealing (net-decking if you will) your deck. SCCRREEEAAAWWWW