"Better lucky than good" is also often said in sports, I'm quite fond of the saying. I really like what you said about burn and RDW, people often don't give it the credit it deserves in terms of the importance of proper play and sequencing.
As far as a banner, I'm not dying to have one, I was just throwing it out there in case someone was trying to get their art seen for some reason. Thanks for the offer though!
I've been known to do banners from time to time (cf: Conquerer and Commander, Freed From the Real and my own banners for various interviews I've done.) Just let me know what you want and we can discuss compensation (I take cards sometimes. :D)
In reference to luck: There is a strange mental dichotomy at work here. On the on hand it is not uncommon that good players draw better than their opponents and this leads to them having better games over all not just because they make great plays but because they play with their top deck/outs in mind. I often scoff at burn players who just toss their burn directly at me (I mentioned I like playing control right?) without even considering the threats I may field. Because I have been known to field threats that a little burn could help against.
Playing a deck like RDW blindly is begging to lose. Badly. Otoh playing correctly usually requires a decent understanding of not only what you are likely to draw but what your opponent can do about it when you get and play your good cards. So yeah top decking the exact card you need to kill your opponent is lucky. No one denies that but when it is a play you've set up for x turns knowing it was likely eventually to come about then you have played optimally and thus also can take credit for winning with skill.
Those who say "luck sack" either disclude that possibility because they lack true understanding of the game and you or because they are emotionally immature enough to not acknowledge what is staring them in the face.
A last thought. Back when I frequented the legendary Neutral Ground, NY, there was a saying many of the young lions used to say: "Better lucky than good." It wasn't said to be snarky or sarcastic but to acknowledge a basic truth that it doesn't really matter if people think you are a luck sack or amazingly skilled. The only thing that matters is that you win with integrity. At least that's how I understood it.
I do think red's Sigiled Skink has some potential. A piker with a nice upside in not to bad. Still I'm not sure if he makes the cut as a red aggro critter in most P&P cubes. I also personally really like Flurry of Horns, but I think that is mostly me. I just like the effect, it is kind of a red Talrands Invocation. That said, the CMC of 5 will probably keep it on the outside looking in.
Everyone seems high on the cockatrice, and I can certainly see why. It is a very powerful limited creature. Still it bores me to death, and it won't be making my cube. I was never a fan of Nimbus Swimmer either.
I am in love with Nyx Weaver though, and it's arrival inspired me to make a few other changes and shore up the golgari graveyard strategy in my cube.
I totally agree with this. I mentioned it in my article about sportsmanship, but many people will look for any reason to detract blame from themselves when they lose a game. This is an example of that.
Thanks very much! I used to have the same issue of scooping too early. Once I changed my mindset to playing to my outs, I have won so many games that I thought I had no chance to win. It really makes a difference. Thanks for reading!
I like these types of examples, because I tend to scoop to "unwinnable" situations too frequently - sometimes, even though the other guy just blew up your manland and wiped out your hand with discard and has a couple of guys in play. Then you drew a coalition relic (or something similar), ramp up, topdeck the Martial Coup, then a draw spell or a planeswalker, and win anyway.
Yeah that's my opinion. Owen Turtenwald actually wrote a paragraph on this subject in his most recent article about one of his famous top decks from the pro tour. Thanks for reading !
This whole article reminds me of the infamous Craig Jones Lightning Helix (worth looking up on YouTube if you're not familiar). It sounds more like you played to your outs and got rewarded than just straight up got lucky.
The beta client shows the seating around the table. After the tournament is over, you can replay the other players games and infer where each player ended up at.
That's New World Order for you. Most of the cards a new player sees will be the commons, so they strictly clamp down on how many of those cards can have complexity. I wouldn't expect to see much of a change on that front in the future, the only people who seem to have any issue with it are the Pauper players.
Nice review, although it's sad that we get very few interesting commons nowadays. I would agree on most of your picks besides Feast of Dreams, I believe it is a very strong sideboard card at the very least, so many targets for it in the metagame.
This is matt. It will be interesting to see what happens. A couple points to defend eidolon against aggro. Considering the deck would be played in (green) we have better blockers coming out the previous two turns (carytid and courser) eidolon is not intended to block unless desperately needed. What could be better than having a courser and eidolon of blossoms going into T5 against aggro? Another reason eidolon is great against aggro (and anything) is because she forces an answer on a 2/2 body that replaced itself already. That is so powerful when she isn't even your wincon. If aggro doesn't answer her then you have a much better chance at finding your answers. What kind of enchantments will be played in green? Creatures. When nearly every body in your deck has ETB "draw a card", aggro is going to have a bad day. And i think eidolon is much better than ephara in this set. Eidolon is a guaranteed body a color that supports her card draw. Ephara draws but doesn't support a aggressive build by being a 4 mana sideline enchantment. I have a deck I am working on, and feel is very powerful against aggro and elspeth with JOU cards using eidolon. Eidolon just needs the right shell ;).
Yeah, I made the angry Bird of Paradise joke myself in the Tribal article.
I guess a 3/2 for 2 is good. But white has so many good options at that point in the curve that the goblinoid clause of "can't attack alone" sounds almost insulting.
I really can't tell what their tribe policy is. I know the subtypes are mostly chosen by the creative team, not the R&D. Meaning that in certain cases the designers and developers might work with a card that they see as "big green dude", and then the creative team decides it'll be a Giant. They have some guidelines, but mostly it's about what happens in the ancillary material like the novels. There seems to be a plan for the focus tribes of a set/block. For instance, you can notice how Centaur, Satyr and Minotaur advanced equally over the course of the block. They made sure they all had an equal amount of new members.
But for the minor, unusual tribes, sometimes it looks like they're just using them for a joke, or to make someone in the team happy (not always MaRo, or there would be a lot more Squirrels). Like for the original Sheep, which was an artifact that could have easily been a Construct, but someone really wanted for it to be a Sheep. And it really doesn't get any more baffling than with Sable, where they took a real animal from Norther European cold climates and introduced it as a bronze statue in a Greek setting. I'd really like to know the chain of thoughts that lead to this result. There wasn't even any flavor to it, it was just a vanilla artifact. Why create a whole new subtype for such a thing?
Also, as far as I know (will be thankful if someone tests it again), Burning of Xinye is still bugged, and works on all opponents.
Strangely enough, in SUNCOM I had to ban Burning but we never experienced any issue with Mystifying Maze. Possibly because Spikes never play with it so they don't know it's bugged!
Other bugs I know of from the Tribal world:
- They never updated Goblin Warchief, which has the Warrior type since last January
- They never fixed Goldmeadow Harrier, which online counts neither as Kithin nor as Soldier
I think the new Cockatrice looks like an enraged Birds of Paradise. It's like BoP saying "So you guys tapped and untapped me for years without knowing my true nature. And now it's time to go berserk!! RAWRRR!!". Something like that.
I think you're undervaluing that two mana White Warrior (Sightless Brawler). A 3/2 for two is good no matter what and Warriors rarely attack alone. It may see play.
And I agree with the Lamia. It should have been mythic, doing something mythic-worthy.
This may just be an avid commander player's rant, but I am so sick of Mystifying maze being bugged in Commander. If you activate it on an opposing commander if that player does not chose to put their commander back in the command zone, the commander becomes exiled indefinitely.
For four mana, in any color deck, you can make it so a player has to recast their commander with an added 2 colorless more. It becomes infuriating because some people use it to their advantage. I used to be vehemently anti-land destruction but broke down and bought a Strip Mine solely so I could get rid of mystifying mazes.
Maze of Ith I do love beyond words, and isn't broken in commander games.
Lady Luck works in mysterious ways. Jealous of the Brimazs (Brimazi?) Thanks for reading!
"Better lucky than good" is also often said in sports, I'm quite fond of the saying. I really like what you said about burn and RDW, people often don't give it the credit it deserves in terms of the importance of proper play and sequencing.
As far as a banner, I'm not dying to have one, I was just throwing it out there in case someone was trying to get their art seen for some reason. Thanks for the offer though!
Thanks for reading!
I have played a LOT of draft and sealed, and even opened the occasional paper pack, and have never seen an Elspeth or Stormbreath Dragon.
Conversely, I've opened 3x Brimaz in far fewer packs.
It works in strange ways sometimes!
I've been known to do banners from time to time (cf: Conquerer and Commander, Freed From the Real and my own banners for various interviews I've done.) Just let me know what you want and we can discuss compensation (I take cards sometimes. :D)
In reference to luck: There is a strange mental dichotomy at work here. On the on hand it is not uncommon that good players draw better than their opponents and this leads to them having better games over all not just because they make great plays but because they play with their top deck/outs in mind. I often scoff at burn players who just toss their burn directly at me (I mentioned I like playing control right?) without even considering the threats I may field. Because I have been known to field threats that a little burn could help against.
Playing a deck like RDW blindly is begging to lose. Badly. Otoh playing correctly usually requires a decent understanding of not only what you are likely to draw but what your opponent can do about it when you get and play your good cards. So yeah top decking the exact card you need to kill your opponent is lucky. No one denies that but when it is a play you've set up for x turns knowing it was likely eventually to come about then you have played optimally and thus also can take credit for winning with skill.
Those who say "luck sack" either disclude that possibility because they lack true understanding of the game and you or because they are emotionally immature enough to not acknowledge what is staring them in the face.
A last thought. Back when I frequented the legendary Neutral Ground, NY, there was a saying many of the young lions used to say: "Better lucky than good." It wasn't said to be snarky or sarcastic but to acknowledge a basic truth that it doesn't really matter if people think you are a luck sack or amazingly skilled. The only thing that matters is that you win with integrity. At least that's how I understood it.
Not much I can disagree with here.
I do think red's Sigiled Skink has some potential. A piker with a nice upside in not to bad. Still I'm not sure if he makes the cut as a red aggro critter in most P&P cubes. I also personally really like Flurry of Horns, but I think that is mostly me. I just like the effect, it is kind of a red Talrands Invocation. That said, the CMC of 5 will probably keep it on the outside looking in.
Everyone seems high on the cockatrice, and I can certainly see why. It is a very powerful limited creature. Still it bores me to death, and it won't be making my cube. I was never a fan of Nimbus Swimmer either.
I am in love with Nyx Weaver though, and it's arrival inspired me to make a few other changes and shore up the golgari graveyard strategy in my cube.
I totally agree with this. I mentioned it in my article about sportsmanship, but many people will look for any reason to detract blame from themselves when they lose a game. This is an example of that.
Thanks very much! I used to have the same issue of scooping too early. Once I changed my mindset to playing to my outs, I have won so many games that I thought I had no chance to win. It really makes a difference. Thanks for reading!
people would rather attribute playing to your outs as just getting top decked, like there was no skill to making those decisions at all.
I like these types of examples, because I tend to scoop to "unwinnable" situations too frequently - sometimes, even though the other guy just blew up your manland and wiped out your hand with discard and has a couple of guys in play. Then you drew a coalition relic (or something similar), ramp up, topdeck the Martial Coup, then a draw spell or a planeswalker, and win anyway.
This is a good set of counter-examples, so bravo!
Yeah that's my opinion. Owen Turtenwald actually wrote a paragraph on this subject in his most recent article about one of his famous top decks from the pro tour. Thanks for reading !
This whole article reminds me of the infamous Craig Jones Lightning Helix (worth looking up on YouTube if you're not familiar). It sounds more like you played to your outs and got rewarded than just straight up got lucky.
Sorry about that ugly formatting. On a phone (and likely on pc too) it looks worse than it appeared in the editor for me :(
The beta client shows the seating around the table. After the tournament is over, you can replay the other players games and infer where each player ended up at.
That's New World Order for you. Most of the cards a new player sees will be the commons, so they strictly clamp down on how many of those cards can have complexity. I wouldn't expect to see much of a change on that front in the future, the only people who seem to have any issue with it are the Pauper players.
Nice review, although it's sad that we get very few interesting commons nowadays. I would agree on most of your picks besides Feast of Dreams, I believe it is a very strong sideboard card at the very least, so many targets for it in the metagame.
does the beta client actually tell you what colors other players are drafting, or that chart included your personal notes/assessments?
This is matt. It will be interesting to see what happens. A couple points to defend eidolon against aggro. Considering the deck would be played in (green) we have better blockers coming out the previous two turns (carytid and courser) eidolon is not intended to block unless desperately needed. What could be better than having a courser and eidolon of blossoms going into T5 against aggro? Another reason eidolon is great against aggro (and anything) is because she forces an answer on a 2/2 body that replaced itself already. That is so powerful when she isn't even your wincon. If aggro doesn't answer her then you have a much better chance at finding your answers. What kind of enchantments will be played in green? Creatures. When nearly every body in your deck has ETB "draw a card", aggro is going to have a bad day. And i think eidolon is much better than ephara in this set. Eidolon is a guaranteed body a color that supports her card draw. Ephara draws but doesn't support a aggressive build by being a 4 mana sideline enchantment. I have a deck I am working on, and feel is very powerful against aggro and elspeth with JOU cards using eidolon. Eidolon just needs the right shell ;).
:Why create a whole new subtype for such a thing?
You found them out. Wizards long awaited Mustelidae tribal block must be the next awaited set.
Last time I checked, Exclusion ritual didn't exclude the imprinted spell from being cast.
Yeah, I made the angry Bird of Paradise joke myself in the Tribal article.
I guess a 3/2 for 2 is good. But white has so many good options at that point in the curve that the goblinoid clause of "can't attack alone" sounds almost insulting.
I really can't tell what their tribe policy is. I know the subtypes are mostly chosen by the creative team, not the R&D. Meaning that in certain cases the designers and developers might work with a card that they see as "big green dude", and then the creative team decides it'll be a Giant. They have some guidelines, but mostly it's about what happens in the ancillary material like the novels. There seems to be a plan for the focus tribes of a set/block. For instance, you can notice how Centaur, Satyr and Minotaur advanced equally over the course of the block. They made sure they all had an equal amount of new members.
But for the minor, unusual tribes, sometimes it looks like they're just using them for a joke, or to make someone in the team happy (not always MaRo, or there would be a lot more Squirrels). Like for the original Sheep, which was an artifact that could have easily been a Construct, but someone really wanted for it to be a Sheep. And it really doesn't get any more baffling than with Sable, where they took a real animal from Norther European cold climates and introduced it as a bronze statue in a Greek setting. I'd really like to know the chain of thoughts that lead to this result. There wasn't even any flavor to it, it was just a vanilla artifact. Why create a whole new subtype for such a thing?
Also, as far as I know (will be thankful if someone tests it again), Burning of Xinye is still bugged, and works on all opponents.
Strangely enough, in SUNCOM I had to ban Burning but we never experienced any issue with Mystifying Maze. Possibly because Spikes never play with it so they don't know it's bugged!
Other bugs I know of from the Tribal world:
- They never updated Goblin Warchief, which has the Warrior type since last January
- They never fixed Goldmeadow Harrier, which online counts neither as Kithin nor as Soldier
I think the new Cockatrice looks like an enraged Birds of Paradise. It's like BoP saying "So you guys tapped and untapped me for years without knowing my true nature. And now it's time to go berserk!! RAWRRR!!". Something like that.
I think you're undervaluing that two mana White Warrior (Sightless Brawler). A 3/2 for two is good no matter what and Warriors rarely attack alone. It may see play.
And I agree with the Lamia. It should have been mythic, doing something mythic-worthy.
Demons and Shamans look pretty scary right now.
Manor Gargoyle is still bugged more than 6 months or maybe more.
It continues to have "indestructible" after it loses defender and gains flying and it can't be killed by any effects or creatures.
This may just be an avid commander player's rant, but I am so sick of Mystifying maze being bugged in Commander. If you activate it on an opposing commander if that player does not chose to put their commander back in the command zone, the commander becomes exiled indefinitely.
For four mana, in any color deck, you can make it so a player has to recast their commander with an added 2 colorless more. It becomes infuriating because some people use it to their advantage. I used to be vehemently anti-land destruction but broke down and bought a Strip Mine solely so I could get rid of mystifying mazes.
Maze of Ith I do love beyond words, and isn't broken in commander games.
The conundrum is really good. It will definitely raise some eyebrows. - Mission Maids