Just as a note, a number of players have had success with Briber's Purse over Cornucopia. It can be cast for 0 for the infinite loop and it has a relevant ability to get attackers through. I plan on making the switch as well.
I don't think any of the Knight Lords (Wilt-Leaf Liege, Knight of New Alara) are any issue to beat Knights. But only, Stillmoon Cavalier as protection in K-scope format is a huge element.
I'm not saying we should ban it as there are few ways to kill it, like Golgari Charm, Void, Firespout or Savage Twister. Limited, but still exist.
I'm only pointing this to understand the real power behind the Knight decks. It is just the protection advantage. Previously, we have to pass Oversoul of Dusk & Stillmoon Cavalier. Now, only Cavalier.
Don't worry about it Longtimegone, Alex Ullman and Delux... whatever you spell his name take ideas from other peoples builds and still do not credit them. As for this stompy that was pretty regular build for that deck few months back when it fell out of favour.
:Pro 2 - Adds 2 devotion to Gary. This seems to me it would be very helpful in the mirror, where it's a game of attrition and who plays bigger Garys makes a difference.
This made the difference to get to lethal in 2 close games for me this weekend.
:Pro 3
Don't forget a Nettle Sentinel and his little Rancor too.
:What surprised me over the weekend, really, was how many MBC decks ran Tendrils
I took two different MBC decks 3-1 this weekend, first one with more traditional cheaper removal, then one of the Tendrils/Corrupt builds. The tendrils gave a *lot* of comeback potential, they come online a bit later, but they are usually able to gain back more life than you lost to the delay.
Looking back, there were 2 people that weekend that placed with that exact 75, _Andi and jeffdmk. If I'd noticed that jeffdmk was the first of the two to place with that list, I'd have listed his name, but I didn't notice it when writing this.
I changed the dead weight to disfigure because dead weight is better at killing atog, but as your data shows, affinity isn't played and disfigure is better against ninja of the deep hours and spell stutter sprite.
Hmmm, I think there is more to it than that. Maybe a quick pros and cons:
Con 1 - Fights for space in 3cmc spot.
Con 2 - No longer bugged, so can be destroyed and opp can get creature back.
Con 3 - Sorcery speed.
Pro 1 - The only removal being run in MBC that does something other than send a creature to GY. Good against recursion decks including TE, others.
Pro 2 - Adds 2 devotion to Gary. This seems to me it would be very helpful in the mirror, where it's a game of attrition and who plays bigger Garys makes a difference.
Pro 3 - Targeted removal that kills anything in one spell including Young Wolf, Stormbound Geist, Loyal Cathar, etc.
There are good points on both sides, but I think the benefits are enough that running 2x seems like a pretty good call, alongside another suite of faster, lower-cmc removal.
What surprised me over the weekend, really, was how many MBC decks ran Tendrils.
While possible, I don't think it's likely. Oubliette is a holdover from when the card was bugged and, while fine, fights so many other cards at the three drop slot.
I think this might be a case of Information Cascade working to the detriment of a deck.
Typically it takes a few weeks after a set is released ONLINE before the images become available on pure. However you can use gatherer.wizards.com (or another site) and link to them manually which is what most authors on here do.
Once they are up on mtgotraders, you can link to them manually on there too which helps to direct traffic there.
From a numbers perspective, I do think he has a point, although at face value, it seems like an insult. Per his data, 40 decks of MBC went 3-1/4-0, but only 4 of those are 4-0 decks (36 3-1). He compares it to Delver, which has the same amount of popularity, but had more 4-0 decks (8 out of 34). If both have a similar power level (which I would assume so given the popularity of each), then they should have equal amounts of success. Given that this isn't the case (at least so far), then one can say that skill/build is what is keeping back 3-1 pilots from going 4-0. Unless Delver is a far superior deck than MBC, then it feels like MBC is underachieving in terms of 4-0 pilots. That's what I took from it.
Seraph of the Masses is on the list but I did forget the Spectra Ward. I will rectify this in my final piece of the article. I like to got through a set thoroughly so comments like this adds fuel to the engine. Thanks again!
I think he has a point, though it could have been worded better.
The two top decks in the format are clearly MBC and Delver, and MBC is significantly cheaper to build. I think this leads to a lot of inexperienced players running the deck, and many of them still doing OK with it because the deck has a lot of innate power. It's not so much that there are not some good MBC players, but there might be a lower average skill level among it's players for the reason I mention above.
Great article! You did leave out one other pretty noteworthy card though, Seraph of the Masses! I still got a lot of use out of this ranking and really like the way you broke the cards down. I look forward to your future articles!
I concur with Kuma's statement here. He loves opening Pandora's Box far more than trying to rebottle the genie.
I'm entirely in favour of shaking things up every now and then to avoid complacency and saminess. Elves and Goblins should always have a target painted on them because they have a high degree of ubiquity and tribal synergy, as should any tribe which has had six or more sets worth of tribe-enhancing cards tailored to them.
I support banning lackey on the grounds that it makes Goblin decks less appealing.
We've done all of those already (except Wizards/Warriors). We do 1 or 2 of the Duel Events per year, but they're not very popular, I wouldn't recommend make it a permanent feature. People don't like to be forced to build a particular deck (= buy cards they didn't plan to buy).
I know this wasn't really touched on here and I don't really know if this is up for debate still but in regards to alternate types of tribal tourneys to potentially replace kaleidoscope (I know that doing a regular tribal in place has been a thing, and I fully support that) I think maybe some themed tourneys would be fun. I saw something about a plants vs zombies tourney, and that's a cool idea especially if the community could come up with/vote for a theme for upcoming tourneys. Angels/demons, cats/birds, wizards/warriors, there are a bunch of possibilities. So there is my idea...
Yeah people get excited when they think things are going to go out of their control. However as we can see Lackey only recently made any kind of splash and that's because of who decided to show up and what they brought. Honestly I hate playing against Goblins, and Elves. I have always called them "easy button" tribes and always will. BUT as you have said in the past and quite correctly they are easy because they are very accessible.
WotC's no group of fools when it comes to printing cards. They know that goblins and elves are popular precisely because they fit the budget paradigm. So no megaexpensive cards get printed in their vein. Or they print a balancer that makes that $ go up and down as metas shift. Players need a baseline and thats our little green men (Of both green and red mana)
I don't think there should even be a question of banning Lackey. People just need to be mindful of what the tourney is about for them.
Just as a note, a number of players have had success with Briber's Purse over Cornucopia. It can be cast for 0 for the infinite loop and it has a relevant ability to get attackers through. I plan on making the switch as well.
I don't think any of the Knight Lords (Wilt-Leaf Liege, Knight of New Alara) are any issue to beat Knights. But only, Stillmoon Cavalier as protection in K-scope format is a huge element.
I'm not saying we should ban it as there are few ways to kill it, like Golgari Charm, Void, Firespout or Savage Twister. Limited, but still exist.
I'm only pointing this to understand the real power behind the Knight decks. It is just the protection advantage. Previously, we have to pass Oversoul of Dusk & Stillmoon Cavalier. Now, only Cavalier.
These are my humble opinions for this case.
Don't worry about it Longtimegone, Alex Ullman and Delux... whatever you spell his name take ideas from other peoples builds and still do not credit them. As for this stompy that was pretty regular build for that deck few months back when it fell out of favour.
:Pro 2 - Adds 2 devotion to Gary. This seems to me it would be very helpful in the mirror, where it's a game of attrition and who plays bigger Garys makes a difference.
This made the difference to get to lethal in 2 close games for me this weekend.
:Pro 3
Don't forget a Nettle Sentinel and his little Rancor too.
:What surprised me over the weekend, really, was how many MBC decks ran Tendrils
I took two different MBC decks 3-1 this weekend, first one with more traditional cheaper removal, then one of the Tendrils/Corrupt builds. The tendrils gave a *lot* of comeback potential, they come online a bit later, but they are usually able to gain back more life than you lost to the delay.
Looking back, there were 2 people that weekend that placed with that exact 75, _Andi and jeffdmk. If I'd noticed that jeffdmk was the first of the two to place with that list, I'd have listed his name, but I didn't notice it when writing this.
I changed the dead weight to disfigure because dead weight is better at killing atog, but as your data shows, affinity isn't played and disfigure is better against ninja of the deep hours and spell stutter sprite.
Hmmm, I think there is more to it than that. Maybe a quick pros and cons:
Con 1 - Fights for space in 3cmc spot.
Con 2 - No longer bugged, so can be destroyed and opp can get creature back.
Con 3 - Sorcery speed.
Pro 1 - The only removal being run in MBC that does something other than send a creature to GY. Good against recursion decks including TE, others.
Pro 2 - Adds 2 devotion to Gary. This seems to me it would be very helpful in the mirror, where it's a game of attrition and who plays bigger Garys makes a difference.
Pro 3 - Targeted removal that kills anything in one spell including Young Wolf, Stormbound Geist, Loyal Cathar, etc.
There are good points on both sides, but I think the benefits are enough that running 2x seems like a pretty good call, alongside another suite of faster, lower-cmc removal.
What surprised me over the weekend, really, was how many MBC decks ran Tendrils.
While possible, I don't think it's likely. Oubliette is a holdover from when the card was bugged and, while fine, fights so many other cards at the three drop slot.
I think this might be a case of Information Cascade working to the detriment of a deck.
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/fundamentals/12201_Information_Cascad...
Every single MBC 3-1 and 4-0 list this past weekend had 2x Oubliette in the main. Maybe they know something you don't, and not the other way around?
Typically it takes a few weeks after a set is released ONLINE before the images become available on pure. However you can use gatherer.wizards.com (or another site) and link to them manually which is what most authors on here do.
Once they are up on mtgotraders, you can link to them manually on there too which helps to direct traffic there.
The links to Khans of Tarkir cards aren't working. My apologies. The content of the article should remain unaffected.
Love the Wait, what...? deck. Beauty in motion.
From a numbers perspective, I do think he has a point, although at face value, it seems like an insult. Per his data, 40 decks of MBC went 3-1/4-0, but only 4 of those are 4-0 decks (36 3-1). He compares it to Delver, which has the same amount of popularity, but had more 4-0 decks (8 out of 34). If both have a similar power level (which I would assume so given the popularity of each), then they should have equal amounts of success. Given that this isn't the case (at least so far), then one can say that skill/build is what is keeping back 3-1 pilots from going 4-0. Unless Delver is a far superior deck than MBC, then it feels like MBC is underachieving in terms of 4-0 pilots. That's what I took from it.
Seraph of the Masses is on the list but I did forget the Spectra Ward. I will rectify this in my final piece of the article. I like to got through a set thoroughly so comments like this adds fuel to the engine. Thanks again!
Sorry, I should have qualified this - They were $10 at rotation in paper. On MTGO they averaged 4.9 dollars/tickets at the time Theros was released.
I think he has a point, though it could have been worded better.
The two top decks in the format are clearly MBC and Delver, and MBC is significantly cheaper to build. I think this leads to a lot of inexperienced players running the deck, and many of them still doing OK with it because the deck has a lot of innate power. It's not so much that there are not some good MBC players, but there might be a lower average skill level among it's players for the reason I mention above.
"MBC deserves better builds and better pilots."
-As a MBC pilot, I'm currently not exactly a big fan of yours.
I remember when they were much much higher too
Remember when Snapcaster Mages were $10? yes about 10mins ago on traders.
Great article! You did leave out one other pretty noteworthy card though, Seraph of the Masses! I still got a lot of use out of this ranking and really like the way you broke the cards down. I look forward to your future articles!
Another thing about Dig Through Time is that you're opponent doesn't get the information of the cards in your hand.
I concur with Kuma's statement here. He loves opening Pandora's Box far more than trying to rebottle the genie.
I'm entirely in favour of shaking things up every now and then to avoid complacency and saminess. Elves and Goblins should always have a target painted on them because they have a high degree of ubiquity and tribal synergy, as should any tribe which has had six or more sets worth of tribe-enhancing cards tailored to them.
I support banning lackey on the grounds that it makes Goblin decks less appealing.
We've done all of those already (except Wizards/Warriors). We do 1 or 2 of the Duel Events per year, but they're not very popular, I wouldn't recommend make it a permanent feature. People don't like to be forced to build a particular deck (= buy cards they didn't plan to buy).
I know this wasn't really touched on here and I don't really know if this is up for debate still but in regards to alternate types of tribal tourneys to potentially replace kaleidoscope (I know that doing a regular tribal in place has been a thing, and I fully support that) I think maybe some themed tourneys would be fun. I saw something about a plants vs zombies tourney, and that's a cool idea especially if the community could come up with/vote for a theme for upcoming tourneys. Angels/demons, cats/birds, wizards/warriors, there are a bunch of possibilities. So there is my idea...
Yeah people get excited when they think things are going to go out of their control. However as we can see Lackey only recently made any kind of splash and that's because of who decided to show up and what they brought. Honestly I hate playing against Goblins, and Elves. I have always called them "easy button" tribes and always will. BUT as you have said in the past and quite correctly they are easy because they are very accessible.
WotC's no group of fools when it comes to printing cards. They know that goblins and elves are popular precisely because they fit the budget paradigm. So no megaexpensive cards get printed in their vein. Or they print a balancer that makes that $ go up and down as metas shift. Players need a baseline and thats our little green men (Of both green and red mana)
I don't think there should even be a question of banning Lackey. People just need to be mindful of what the tourney is about for them.