I play with mixed playsets in Paper mostly because some cards are german and some are english but also because of different artworks. I've only played this way maybe 70 matches but it has NEVER made a difference. I do hate it online when my playsets don't have the same artwork but I doubt it has a significant impact on the game.
on the subject of matching playsets, I picked up my four copies of daze one or two at a time, choosing the cheaper ones. I didn't realize the prices shifted a bit, and now I have two of each version, and it's too expensive to replace. so, I'm stuck :(
I'm exicted for UB control... been playing it since KTK came out, already got my vaults and ashiok playsets. Now all i need is crux of fate playset and an Ugin or two and I'll be set. Gonna draft a lot i think, so hopefully i can grab a couple during that process.
I have a Izzet Delver deck that splashes for goyf, it's the first legacy deck I made. it is very different from canadian thresh/rug delver/temur delver. it doesn't have the resource denial plan. I want to make that temur deck, but wasteland is too much for me.
I think the Temur delver is supposed to be an updated version of canadian thresh, which was called rug delver for a while. I think the kird ape is more replacing the Nimble Mongoose, but i still wonder why it's better than swiftspear.
and playing with tarmogoyf and treasure cruise takes some advanced planning, i'm always checking both graveyards to see if I can afford to play cruise and what I can and can't afford to delve away.
As far as the regular list goes, what happens if our list had Umbra Mantle in it? As far as Red Elves go, turn one goblin lackey if not answered immediately normally results in a win, but Krenko could be the more powerful card. There are also tons of ways in the format to fight against turn one lackey.
Also an interesting note, my goblin list cost 1/10 the price of the Kobolt list.
Im not a huge fan of the Shredder idea but I like the idea of maybe being able to compact what isn't useful. (Sort of like putting stuff in a box and putting that box in your attic which is I imagine how players deal with real life cards they don't/can't sell. I ended up throwing out much of mine.)
If you could compact a card or group/set of cards you could uncompact it as needed but in the meantime they wouldn't clutter your editor/trade windows.
In fact instead of compacting just mark them as "don't include" on searches and they magically disappear. This would mean youd have to be a little careful of what you marked but you could always unmark stuff and you could have a checkbox in all the search areas that says "include marked cards".
I also like the donation bot idea except for the following: WOTC would never do this and Id be afraid that the bot wouldn't work properly if they did... Of course that also applies to any changes they make in the client via the collection issues.
Ah if only they could do stuff with programming without the curse applying its nasty effects.
Yeah, I agree it's a tough call. Remand really is great and drawing a card is really useful. As you say the only real problem with Remand is that sometimes you want a permanent answer to a problem, whereas Remand is only a tempo play. I can really see arguments for running either or even a combination of the two.
3 Genesis Hydra
3 Chromanticore
3 Siege Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Nyx Weaver
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Liliana Vess
1 Jace, the Living Guildpact
1 Temple of Malice
3 Temple of Mystery
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Abandon
3 Banishing Light
1 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Treasure Cruise
1 See the Unwritten
Added a spider for a little early grave milling and added 2 cruises. So far the deck works like a charm in just for fun, against some top tier builds. (Maybe they aren't actually top tier anymore though.)
And the new Art of War (the 3rd edition) will be held Sunday, February 15, 2015, at 19:00 GMT. Registration already open on Gatherling.
See you there, Vorthoses!
Well I do not agree that it's not fun to play. I tried out other decks (UB reanimator and hexproof) and I just like playing this deck way more. The other decks seem boring to me.
I do not really understand what you mean with having to draw exactly the right cards. When I used to play UW TurboFog I would sometimes lose because I wasn't able to find a fog and that can still happen but Moment's Peace and Treasure Cruise have made this deck very very consistent.
You are absolutely correct about people complaining but I do not mind that at all.
splinter twin is six tix right now. that's why I started picking them up. if bans neuter delver and/or pod, twin might just jump back up in price. it might be worth it to pick one or two up here and there just in case.
I have a feeling that the deck will see a resurgence soon.
I'm always shocked at how few people play this combo. When I'm playing Modern, even with Thoughtseized and Abrupt Decay In my deck I get nervous when I see a Pestermite. Other combos tend to be telegraphed. Twin is like, "his mana looks suspicious, I'm probably dead". Even Jeskai Ascendancy doesn't give me the same gut wrench as playing vs Twin because at least there's the time element to Jeskai that makes me hope I can still win if they take too long. Twin could be game set match in six minutes.
When I'm done being bled dry by Standard, I'm building a Twin deck.
Funny, I did a whole section on Torrent Elemental but cut it at the last minute because I was having a love hate problem with that card and it was muddy and confusing.
My make or break card is Warden of the First Tree. It's either going to be the one drop from hell out of every Abzan Deck or it will be a 3/3 with an unfulfilled promise of so much more. I guess it's at least a hedge against missing your 4 drop or Downfall bait. Plus it's still a decent draw late.
Good job on the article . You pretty much nailed it.
You don't mention what it's like playing the deck, or playing against the deck from a fun pov. Having the one plan to win can become boring. You're also very dependent on drawing exactly the right cards, and often can have no out when the opp draws an answer. Opponents can be hostile out of frustration. Clearly none of this is relevant if you're selecting a deck for a tournament, but even then it won't be for everybody.
I've toyed around with the idea of mana leak over remand. It's a tough call. the cantripping on remand is really good in a tempo deck that's trying to fill it's 'yard for cruise. It sucks to Remand say, a Siege Rhino, and not have another counterspell. mana leak would have dealt with it, and it's tough to beat a rhino without path or something similar.
Temples make the Hydra a little better if you don't mind playing one the turn you tap for it.
Treasure Cruise is of course an idea but I worry it will be too slow without some way to dump stuff quickly to the graveyard. But with Torrent Elemental on the way Delve spells get a big boost.
Also the one worry I have about the big aggro environment is that a good control deck is waiting in the wings and will also splash damage on 5 color midrange decks too. Well it might make it less fun to play 5 colors anyway since countering a treasure cruise with 5-7 delved cards is harsh.
I usually try to preface by saying 'in the current Standard' before every judgmental statement, but yes it's a fine card. The comparison with Chord is more to show that for 8 mana you can tutor an exact target, rather than get a 6/6 ground and pound and a gamble of dropping something sweet. I've used both cards, separately, extensively and never quite felt Genesis Hydra was reliable enough. My point was not that is was bad (I do overemphasize it for comic effect), but that it was over hyped pre-release. I certainly don't breathe a sigh of relief when an opponent plays it for 8 mana! Lol!
I think a five color deck is coming to standard soon. There's too many great cards with a one color mana plus colorless cost all the way up to 4 mana (and beyond really with Treasure Cruise being a prime example) to not give it a try. The mana base can support it. Especially if the Zen fetch lands come in the next release. I think the mistake in building it would be including too many three color cost cards. If I can run a deck with Sidisi plus Siege Rhino and have double green, double black and double white costed cards, it may not be a far stretch to rock a 4 color splash That 5th color style deck as it is right now. With the right mix of tri lands, mana confluence and fetch it could work. Might have to give up temples to do it but...
Not only Umbral Mantle, but we had a change in the legality of the swords too, didn't we? What if a player's top deck contained swords?
I play with mixed playsets in Paper mostly because some cards are german and some are english but also because of different artworks. I've only played this way maybe 70 matches but it has NEVER made a difference. I do hate it online when my playsets don't have the same artwork but I doubt it has a significant impact on the game.
on the subject of matching playsets, I picked up my four copies of daze one or two at a time, choosing the cheaper ones. I didn't realize the prices shifted a bit, and now I have two of each version, and it's too expensive to replace. so, I'm stuck :(
I'm exicted for UB control... been playing it since KTK came out, already got my vaults and ashiok playsets. Now all i need is crux of fate playset and an Ugin or two and I'll be set. Gonna draft a lot i think, so hopefully i can grab a couple during that process.
I have a Izzet Delver deck that splashes for goyf, it's the first legacy deck I made. it is very different from canadian thresh/rug delver/temur delver. it doesn't have the resource denial plan. I want to make that temur deck, but wasteland is too much for me.
I think the Temur delver is supposed to be an updated version of canadian thresh, which was called rug delver for a while. I think the kird ape is more replacing the Nimble Mongoose, but i still wonder why it's better than swiftspear.
and playing with tarmogoyf and treasure cruise takes some advanced planning, i'm always checking both graveyards to see if I can afford to play cruise and what I can and can't afford to delve away.
As far as the regular list goes, what happens if our list had Umbra Mantle in it? As far as Red Elves go, turn one goblin lackey if not answered immediately normally results in a win, but Krenko could be the more powerful card. There are also tons of ways in the format to fight against turn one lackey.
Also an interesting note, my goblin list cost 1/10 the price of the Kobolt list.
Lately I've been playing delver in legacy. So awesome.
Im not a huge fan of the Shredder idea but I like the idea of maybe being able to compact what isn't useful. (Sort of like putting stuff in a box and putting that box in your attic which is I imagine how players deal with real life cards they don't/can't sell. I ended up throwing out much of mine.)
If you could compact a card or group/set of cards you could uncompact it as needed but in the meantime they wouldn't clutter your editor/trade windows.
In fact instead of compacting just mark them as "don't include" on searches and they magically disappear. This would mean youd have to be a little careful of what you marked but you could always unmark stuff and you could have a checkbox in all the search areas that says "include marked cards".
I also like the donation bot idea except for the following: WOTC would never do this and Id be afraid that the bot wouldn't work properly if they did... Of course that also applies to any changes they make in the client via the collection issues.
Ah if only they could do stuff with programming without the curse applying its nasty effects.
Red gobos and White gobos and surprise tactics from Kobold land...I feel like Gygax is rolling over in his grave somewhere in Wisconsin...
Yeah, I agree it's a tough call. Remand really is great and drawing a card is really useful. As you say the only real problem with Remand is that sometimes you want a permanent answer to a problem, whereas Remand is only a tempo play. I can really see arguments for running either or even a combination of the two.
3 Genesis Hydra
3 Chromanticore
3 Siege Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
1 Whip of Erebos
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
3 Courser of Kruphix
1 Nyx Weaver
1 Xenagos, God of Revels
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Liliana Vess
1 Jace, the Living Guildpact
1 Temple of Malice
3 Temple of Mystery
2 Temple of Plenty
1 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Temple of Abandon
3 Banishing Light
1 Swamp
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Flooded Strand
1 Bloodstained Mire
2 Treasure Cruise
1 See the Unwritten
Added a spider for a little early grave milling and added 2 cruises. So far the deck works like a charm in just for fun, against some top tier builds. (Maybe they aren't actually top tier anymore though.)
And the new Art of War (the 3rd edition) will be held Sunday, February 15, 2015, at 19:00 GMT. Registration already open on Gatherling.
See you there, Vorthoses!
Great Event!
The worst art ever is Rashka the Slayer. Has the artist not seen before what a shoulder and an arm look like?
Link to the card here: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3024
Well I do not agree that it's not fun to play. I tried out other decks (UB reanimator and hexproof) and I just like playing this deck way more. The other decks seem boring to me.
I do not really understand what you mean with having to draw exactly the right cards. When I used to play UW TurboFog I would sometimes lose because I wasn't able to find a fog and that can still happen but Moment's Peace and Treasure Cruise have made this deck very very consistent.
You are absolutely correct about people complaining but I do not mind that at all.
splinter twin is six tix right now. that's why I started picking them up. if bans neuter delver and/or pod, twin might just jump back up in price. it might be worth it to pick one or two up here and there just in case.
I have a feeling that the deck will see a resurgence soon.
I'm always shocked at how few people play this combo. When I'm playing Modern, even with Thoughtseized and Abrupt Decay In my deck I get nervous when I see a Pestermite. Other combos tend to be telegraphed. Twin is like, "his mana looks suspicious, I'm probably dead". Even Jeskai Ascendancy doesn't give me the same gut wrench as playing vs Twin because at least there's the time element to Jeskai that makes me hope I can still win if they take too long. Twin could be game set match in six minutes.
When I'm done being bled dry by Standard, I'm building a Twin deck.
Funny, I did a whole section on Torrent Elemental but cut it at the last minute because I was having a love hate problem with that card and it was muddy and confusing.
My make or break card is Warden of the First Tree. It's either going to be the one drop from hell out of every Abzan Deck or it will be a 3/3 with an unfulfilled promise of so much more. I guess it's at least a hedge against missing your 4 drop or Downfall bait. Plus it's still a decent draw late.
Nice deck. Seen it in action. If I can play next PCT I'll be ready with that flaring pain thing. Did not know the card till now. LOL
Good job on the article . You pretty much nailed it.
You don't mention what it's like playing the deck, or playing against the deck from a fun pov. Having the one plan to win can become boring. You're also very dependent on drawing exactly the right cards, and often can have no out when the opp draws an answer. Opponents can be hostile out of frustration. Clearly none of this is relevant if you're selecting a deck for a tournament, but even then it won't be for everybody.
Just PM me on MTGO and I'll gladly help you out.
I've toyed around with the idea of mana leak over remand. It's a tough call. the cantripping on remand is really good in a tempo deck that's trying to fill it's 'yard for cruise. It sucks to Remand say, a Siege Rhino, and not have another counterspell. mana leak would have dealt with it, and it's tough to beat a rhino without path or something similar.
i told you kiki pod was good.
Temples make the Hydra a little better if you don't mind playing one the turn you tap for it.
Treasure Cruise is of course an idea but I worry it will be too slow without some way to dump stuff quickly to the graveyard. But with Torrent Elemental on the way Delve spells get a big boost.
Also the one worry I have about the big aggro environment is that a good control deck is waiting in the wings and will also splash damage on 5 color midrange decks too. Well it might make it less fun to play 5 colors anyway since countering a treasure cruise with 5-7 delved cards is harsh.
I usually try to preface by saying 'in the current Standard' before every judgmental statement, but yes it's a fine card. The comparison with Chord is more to show that for 8 mana you can tutor an exact target, rather than get a 6/6 ground and pound and a gamble of dropping something sweet. I've used both cards, separately, extensively and never quite felt Genesis Hydra was reliable enough. My point was not that is was bad (I do overemphasize it for comic effect), but that it was over hyped pre-release. I certainly don't breathe a sigh of relief when an opponent plays it for 8 mana! Lol!
I think a five color deck is coming to standard soon. There's too many great cards with a one color mana plus colorless cost all the way up to 4 mana (and beyond really with Treasure Cruise being a prime example) to not give it a try. The mana base can support it. Especially if the Zen fetch lands come in the next release. I think the mistake in building it would be including too many three color cost cards. If I can run a deck with Sidisi plus Siege Rhino and have double green, double black and double white costed cards, it may not be a far stretch to rock a 4 color splash That 5th color style deck as it is right now. With the right mix of tri lands, mana confluence and fetch it could work. Might have to give up temples to do it but...