So does anyone know when Wizards will fix the Electrolyze bug in replays? I'd like to record some replays of Electrolyze decks but it seems kind of pointless when the replays bug out. I've sent bug reports before and never got a response from Wizards.
Well, it's basically banned because it's unplayable without Top. Also it would have been worse if you had gotten excited brainstorming an idea for a deck around a card that was banned.
Nothing, I just wrote that Top and Counterbalance were banned in modern, and top is banned, CB is not, which slipped my mind at the time. I felt silly.
Nice! I loved Inquest, I read it all the time. Look at the prices and see how much a Balduvian Hordes was! I had collected four, and thought I was rich. It's a red Juzam with no life loss!!!!!!!
Thanks man! And I will try to fact-check better before I submit next time. :)
Speaking of Inquest, I found a copy of Issue #17 (Sept 1996) the other day and am re-reading it. Number one on their top ten most powerful magic cards of all time was Ancestral Recall. Their criteria eliminated the moxen and lotus because drawing them in late game isn't any good, but AR is great at any time.
That's a mistake on my part. I should have checked that first. I just knew that the counter-top combo wasn't modern legal, but that is obviously just because of top.
I suppose that without Jace, Ponder, Preordain, or Top, Counterbalance isn't even any good. I haven't played Modern in a long time, so I spaced it out I suppose. Very sorry.
I hope that the rest of the article was to your liking. Thanks for reading.
Had a great time doing the cast. AJ and Adam do a really great job. Hope I managed to add something to the conversation.
Would love to join you guys again some time.
I've briefly tested out Living Twin. I haven't really been blown away with it - just because you can get really awkward hands where you draw two Twins with nothing to do with them etc.
That said I would like to test it out a bit more. Having an alternate win condition in the deck does seem strong.
Workshops decks are indeed very good. If they are on the play, or if you have a slow start against them, you're probably going to lose.
Some decks like Oath don't need to play a ton of spells in one turn, and run a decent amount of lands, so they can handle paying the sphere taxes.
Delver decks and Mentor decks have a smaller mana base, and in the case of mentor, rely on 0 cmc artifact mana. Spheres and Lodestone Golem hurt them pretty bad, too.
When I first played matches of Vintage, I was always worried about the dreaded turn one win. In reality, the games that end on turn one in a literal sense are fairly rare. The games where the opponent plays Mishra's Workshop on turn one (or even Bazaar of Bagdad, for that matter) are effectively over on turn one, as you are unlikely to play any significant amount of spells for the rest of the game.
If I had a dollar for every match against Shops where I was just one measly mana short of breaking out with a Shattering Spree, Ancient Grudge, Serenity, or whatever, I'd be rich.
I also should point out that you can play with Ghost Quarter and do a lot of Damage in Vintage. Subtract the 200 tickets that Wasteland costs and Shops looks a lot more affordable.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again - Vintage is awesome. It's the most fun I've ever had playing Magic. Legacy is pretty much as fun too, but the crazy plays that occur in Vintage are insane. I've taken someone down from 20 in one turn with nothing but a Monastery Mentor, and I've done it when I was close to losing. You never know what will happen.
I actually played Living Twin during the last round of PreTQs on mtgo. If I recall correctly I went 3-2, the deck was a blast, and it plays really well, I'd try it again, because it is capable of doing some absurd things.
I like combo decks that have multiple paths to winning. Turn off my graveyard? Here's a bunch of exarchs. Turn off my twin, here is a living end.
Yes, it was a great day to be Living. I'm glad you came away as the champ in Overdrive! Have you had a chance to try out Living Twin, yet? I think the hybrid Living End/Splinter Twin deck would be absurdly awesome.
Thanks for the comment, olaw. I do mention the limitations of Demonic Dread in one of the videos, but it was just in passing. I like the idea of Dryad Arbor to help in making Dread better. I never saw the Dryad in a decklist and I never thought about adding it. I may just do that because there are times where I have to keep passing the turn in hopes of my opponent casting a creature.
Also, I just want you to know I really enjoy your article series Becoming a Modern Man. You provide great content! Thank you for that.
Yeah, like everything, it depends on the most relevant resource at the time. If card advantage is more important than tempo, Jace Brainstorm into Bolt is usually favorable for the blue mage. If tempo is more important, the same line is usually favorable for the red mage. But obviously context is king.
Pre-board, I would probably Fateseal if my opponent was representing an Instant that costs R on an open board just because Lightning Bolt is mathematically more likely than Pyroblast. Post-board in a similar situation, I would err on the side of Brainstorming because of Pyroblast.
So, you've remained neutral, and your opponent has lost one card. that is a plus one, you are correct. Without a fetch, you've locked in two turns of drawing your worst cards, and it cost you four mana, and one from your opponent.
I'd recommend fatesealing with jace if you smell a bolt, but that's just me. They could just as easily have a pyroblast.
You're right about it not being an altogether waste of a card. There are true blow-outs that can happen.
Hey man, since getting into Vintage, I've been checking out The Mana Drain forums a lot. They have forums for decks, strategy, the whole nine yards. They also have forums for Tournament Announcements!
So, I'm going to start a Ham on Wry thread on the Mana Drain, if that's ok with you. I already have an account, so it's easy. If you wanted to do it yourself, that is also an option.
There are a decent amount of MTGO players using the Mana Drain these days, I even post links to my articles there and get good feedback, so I think that this is a good idea.
So does anyone know when Wizards will fix the Electrolyze bug in replays? I'd like to record some replays of Electrolyze decks but it seems kind of pointless when the replays bug out. I've sent bug reports before and never got a response from Wizards.
Well, it's basically banned because it's unplayable without Top. Also it would have been worse if you had gotten excited brainstorming an idea for a deck around a card that was banned.
Nothing, I just wrote that Top and Counterbalance were banned in modern, and top is banned, CB is not, which slipped my mind at the time. I felt silly.
Nice! I loved Inquest, I read it all the time. Look at the prices and see how much a Balduvian Hordes was! I had collected four, and thought I was rich. It's a red Juzam with no life loss!!!!!!!
Thanks man! And I will try to fact-check better before I submit next time. :)
Yes, I like your writing style.
Speaking of Inquest, I found a copy of Issue #17 (Sept 1996) the other day and am re-reading it. Number one on their top ten most powerful magic cards of all time was Ancestral Recall. Their criteria eliminated the moxen and lotus because drawing them in late game isn't any good, but AR is great at any time.
What were you trying to play?
Thanks man. Keep up the good work.
I should also read the banned list one more time, apparently. :)
That's a mistake on my part. I should have checked that first. I just knew that the counter-top combo wasn't modern legal, but that is obviously just because of top.
I suppose that without Jace, Ponder, Preordain, or Top, Counterbalance isn't even any good. I haven't played Modern in a long time, so I spaced it out I suppose. Very sorry.
I hope that the rest of the article was to your liking. Thanks for reading.
In my opinion, if there's a good collected company deck, it has to be the abzan melira combo.
Counterbalance is NOT banned in Modern
Had a great time doing the cast. AJ and Adam do a really great job. Hope I managed to add something to the conversation.
Would love to join you guys again some time.
I've briefly tested out Living Twin. I haven't really been blown away with it - just because you can get really awkward hands where you draw two Twins with nothing to do with them etc.
That said I would like to test it out a bit more. Having an alternate win condition in the deck does seem strong.
Workshops decks are indeed very good. If they are on the play, or if you have a slow start against them, you're probably going to lose.
Some decks like Oath don't need to play a ton of spells in one turn, and run a decent amount of lands, so they can handle paying the sphere taxes.
Delver decks and Mentor decks have a smaller mana base, and in the case of mentor, rely on 0 cmc artifact mana. Spheres and Lodestone Golem hurt them pretty bad, too.
When I first played matches of Vintage, I was always worried about the dreaded turn one win. In reality, the games that end on turn one in a literal sense are fairly rare. The games where the opponent plays Mishra's Workshop on turn one (or even Bazaar of Bagdad, for that matter) are effectively over on turn one, as you are unlikely to play any significant amount of spells for the rest of the game.
If I had a dollar for every match against Shops where I was just one measly mana short of breaking out with a Shattering Spree, Ancient Grudge, Serenity, or whatever, I'd be rich.
I also should point out that you can play with Ghost Quarter and do a lot of Damage in Vintage. Subtract the 200 tickets that Wasteland costs and Shops looks a lot more affordable.
I've said it before, but I'll say it again - Vintage is awesome. It's the most fun I've ever had playing Magic. Legacy is pretty much as fun too, but the crazy plays that occur in Vintage are insane. I've taken someone down from 20 in one turn with nothing but a Monastery Mentor, and I've done it when I was close to losing. You never know what will happen.
Argh, I've been making my way through the Vintage Super League Season 2 over the last week, including all videos up to week 3, and you spoiled it! :)
I actually played Living Twin during the last round of PreTQs on mtgo. If I recall correctly I went 3-2, the deck was a blast, and it plays really well, I'd try it again, because it is capable of doing some absurd things.
I like combo decks that have multiple paths to winning. Turn off my graveyard? Here's a bunch of exarchs. Turn off my twin, here is a living end.
It was awfully nice.
Yes, it was a great day to be Living. I'm glad you came away as the champ in Overdrive! Have you had a chance to try out Living Twin, yet? I think the hybrid Living End/Splinter Twin deck would be absurdly awesome.
Thanks for the comment, olaw. I do mention the limitations of Demonic Dread in one of the videos, but it was just in passing. I like the idea of Dryad Arbor to help in making Dread better. I never saw the Dryad in a decklist and I never thought about adding it. I may just do that because there are times where I have to keep passing the turn in hopes of my opponent casting a creature.
Also, I just want you to know I really enjoy your article series Becoming a Modern Man. You provide great content! Thank you for that.
Thanks for letting me be a part of the article today blippy, if I ever win another one I'll have videos for you then too :D
I think you would like the collected company abzan deck.
It was a living end kind of day today.
Yeah, like everything, it depends on the most relevant resource at the time. If card advantage is more important than tempo, Jace Brainstorm into Bolt is usually favorable for the blue mage. If tempo is more important, the same line is usually favorable for the red mage. But obviously context is king.
Pre-board, I would probably Fateseal if my opponent was representing an Instant that costs R on an open board just because Lightning Bolt is mathematically more likely than Pyroblast. Post-board in a similar situation, I would err on the side of Brainstorming because of Pyroblast.
So, you've remained neutral, and your opponent has lost one card. that is a plus one, you are correct. Without a fetch, you've locked in two turns of drawing your worst cards, and it cost you four mana, and one from your opponent.
I'd recommend fatesealing with jace if you smell a bolt, but that's just me. They could just as easily have a pyroblast.
You're right about it not being an altogether waste of a card. There are true blow-outs that can happen.
I should build another Modern deck. I just got so annoyed with the pod ban.
Hey man, since getting into Vintage, I've been checking out The Mana Drain forums a lot. They have forums for decks, strategy, the whole nine yards. They also have forums for Tournament Announcements!
So, I'm going to start a Ham on Wry thread on the Mana Drain, if that's ok with you. I already have an account, so it's easy. If you wanted to do it yourself, that is also an option.
There are a decent amount of MTGO players using the Mana Drain these days, I even post links to my articles there and get good feedback, so I think that this is a good idea.