I actually took the non-Elspeth version for a spin last weekend, and ended up 2-2. I timed out against Esper and lost to the mirror. I agree that Esper is a really great matchup. Think I am going to upgrade to the version you write about here (3x Elspeth can't be a bad investment) and try it out some more.
First of all, thanks for reading. I agree that a decision to mull has more to do with math--thus the "can I win" category. What you discussed falls into that. If I knew my opponent was playing burn or rdw, for instance, I'd never keep that hand. Thanks for the input!
In spite of all your laborious math and excellent reasoning, I am going to go with "it's an artform." I think you make a case for how to reason out hands where you aren't sure but your gut is probably almost never wrong if you play enough (win/lose or draw).
Also intuitively, that starting hand seems terrible if your opponent has the right hand. (If they are on the play, they may have removal waiting for your elf, which isn't necessarily a bad plan if they are able to capitalize on the delay that causes.) Knowledge of your opponent, their style and what they are playing is equally as important as knowing whether you are likely to draw the land you need in a timely fashion. All this not to demean what you have written as it has strong value but for many players I think experience is the key factor in most mulligan decisions, not merely reasoned math. If anything the math should confirm what you gut already knows.
Journey needs to not be as weak as BNG was. BNG didn't really add much to Standard, and it made draft and sealed worse imo. Hopefully it's a stronger set than BNG.
I cant say I find planechace as fun as you seems to find it. It was a great read but I think I would like to read more about "normal" magic.
The theme-dual-decks is an awsome topic though!
I thought this deck ended up really good. I probably would have went all in on the Aspect of Hydra early on. Getting the Agent was huge, and so was getting the Reaper in Pack 3. I would be happy to get this deck. Good job winning as usual!
1) Kozilek because it can draw cards. In this deck that's typically more important than the ability to blow things up with Ulamog. Also, the 1 mana makes a difference.
2) Primal Hunter and Soul's Majesty both cost 5 mana. Hunter's Insight is only 3, while Prowess gives a power/toughness boost that matters when Xenagos is in play. Primal Hunter might make the cut I guess, but I wouldn't play it over the other 2.
3) I did have a couple of games where Xenagos got tucked, but it wasn't a huge issue. I was still able to smash with big dudes. It wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful though. If I was really worried about it I could add something like Summoner's Pact or Green Sun's Zenith. But it wasn't as big an issue as you might think.
Kaleidoscope-Singleton voting.
Players are being asked the question: "Do you want for Kaleidoscope to replace HALF the Singleton events from now on?" (resulting in 6 Singleton events + 6 Kaleidoscope events per year)
The current tally will be update below. 30 votes needed before a decision will be taken.
I'm for staying with singleton, and for two linked reasons.
Singleton events promote a less repetitive game experience due to the additional variance. By contrast, Kaleidoscope Tribal has a severely restricted pool of cards that are worth playing at all, pushing people to play a lot of the same sort of cards.
I've been making this argument for some years now, but always get berated and "proven wrong" by the Classic players....their standard argument of "its a big investment but lasts forever" seems to be the only side they see. For some unexplicable reason they can't see that people simply won't shell out 400$ for a play set of FoW, even knowing they only have to do so once, because it is too much at one time. This is what is killing the eternal formats and keeps people like me from playing them. I would much rather spend 50$ a month and play some drafts and standard than save that money for 8 months to get FOW, etc. This is not considering all of the hoarders and speculators and people who simply quit online magic that may have a copy or two of these types of cards which takes many of them out of circulation and drives up the price, making it even more prohibitive for new player entry, especially when those new players don't even know for sure if they want to play with Necropotence or Cadverous Bloom, etc. decks. They sure aren't going to spend $1500 on a Legacy/Vintage type deck when they've never played with most of the cards before, and considering the market has no guarantees, the fear of buying said cards and then they drop 10 to 20 bucks is just not worth it.
I am totally against changing Singleton to Kaleidoscope, even if it's 50% of the time.
A) Singleton is my most favoured Special Tribal Event
B) I have no Kaleidoscope Tribal Deck at all
Oh yeah, Bloodghast/Cabal was good, you did it in our match.
It's just that those Dragons really scream Recurring. Trying and hardcasting them (with just 2 not-too-reliable Towers and 2 very frail and not so fast Ghasts, which probably get killed on sight) was probably the main issue, wasn't it?
Plus, if you can't recur Kokusho, why should you even want to kill him, except when your opp is down to 5 life?
I think it'd be more in your style to turn this into Orzhov Rock with Obzedat as a centerpiece and curve-topper. By dropping Dragons, Angels and Ghasts you get 9 slots you can fill with good beater and utility Spirits. At CMC 4 you get strong options that may fit an Obzedat deck like Windborn Muse, Graveborn Muse, Guardian of the Guildpact, and Hokori, Dust Drinker. Even Razorjaw Oni can make sense with the white Muse around, considering Obzedat usually doesn't block, and Bloodghast can't already.
The game mentioned above (Oloro vs. Gaddock Teeg vs. Augustin) wasn't ready by the time I submitted the article, so I'll try and link it from this comment later. [EDIT: Didn't happen. We can thank the disappearance of the replays for that.]
Correct. (You should have also received the newsletter in the meantime.)
- 4 Changelings creatures are allowed to any tribe
- 8 to tribes with 3 members
- any number to Shapeshifter decks
- Mistform Ultimus counts as a Changeling creature
- noncreature Changeling cards aren't affected by this ruling
I don't think playing Wood Elves is silly in a ramp deck. Playing Llanowar Elves certainly is (in Commander in general). Wood Elves (and Yavimaya Dryad for redundancy) is one of the prime choices for ramping, since you spend only 2 mana (one is given back to you), fetch any color via dual, then are left with a very important body that you can do many things with like drawing 2 cards with Skullclamp, protect your crucial creature from an edict effect, equip a Sword or Jitte on it if you don't have anything else available, stop that Luminarch Ascension from getting online, chump block, and so on. Yavimaya Elder can't do any of these things without losing half its purpose, and it doesn't really ramp. I've so outgrown Yavimaya Elder in late years.
Questions:
1) Why Kozilek over Ulamog? I see this choice sometimes but it usually strikes me as not wanting to go overboard in casual-friendly decks, while still wanting an Eldrazi for reshuffling purposes. You deck doesn't seem to pull any punches, though. It's something you could easily go to the final table with in SUNCOM. :)
2) Shouldn't it be better to use power-based card-drawing effects that don't require successful combat damage, like Garruk, Primal Hunter and Soul's Majesty?
3) Didn't you feel like you needed something to protect your Xenagos from Deglamer effects? I'm afraid to play with Gods as commanders for this very reason (I tried once, the God got Deglamered the turn I dropped it!)
I actually took the non-Elspeth version for a spin last weekend, and ended up 2-2. I timed out against Esper and lost to the mirror. I agree that Esper is a really great matchup. Think I am going to upgrade to the version you write about here (3x Elspeth can't be a bad investment) and try it out some more.
First of all, thanks for reading. I agree that a decision to mull has more to do with math--thus the "can I win" category. What you discussed falls into that. If I knew my opponent was playing burn or rdw, for instance, I'd never keep that hand. Thanks for the input!
In spite of all your laborious math and excellent reasoning, I am going to go with "it's an artform." I think you make a case for how to reason out hands where you aren't sure but your gut is probably almost never wrong if you play enough (win/lose or draw).
Also intuitively, that starting hand seems terrible if your opponent has the right hand. (If they are on the play, they may have removal waiting for your elf, which isn't necessarily a bad plan if they are able to capitalize on the delay that causes.) Knowledge of your opponent, their style and what they are playing is equally as important as knowing whether you are likely to draw the land you need in a timely fashion. All this not to demean what you have written as it has strong value but for many players I think experience is the key factor in most mulligan decisions, not merely reasoned math. If anything the math should confirm what you gut already knows.
I have been waiting for a while to get a PW in those colors.
I think the Ajani that was spoiled tonight is one of my most favorite cards printed ever.
In some ways, it really made the draft environment unfun. I think the next set will spice things up in a good way (Hope so, anyway).
Journey needs to not be as weak as BNG was. BNG didn't really add much to Standard, and it made draft and sealed worse imo. Hopefully it's a stronger set than BNG.
Good Podcast AJ & Josh.
One of the interesting cards that is currently spoiled is "Dakra Mystic". This card attracts me more that Boros God, somehow.
Also, I'm especially looking forward for your comments & evaluations about "Godsend" next week.
Oo, good one. You can even replicate the self-damage with the regenerate ability. Not that you'd want to, but still.
Kezzerdrix
I cant say I find planechace as fun as you seems to find it. It was a great read but I think I would like to read more about "normal" magic.
The theme-dual-decks is an awsome topic though!
2of1
I hope you'll also write set review article(s) for upcoming Journey into Nyx. Your previous set reviews were great and they're missed.
I thought this deck ended up really good. I probably would have went all in on the Aspect of Hydra early on. Getting the Agent was huge, and so was getting the Reaper in Pack 3. I would be happy to get this deck. Good job winning as usual!
1) Kozilek because it can draw cards. In this deck that's typically more important than the ability to blow things up with Ulamog. Also, the 1 mana makes a difference.
2) Primal Hunter and Soul's Majesty both cost 5 mana. Hunter's Insight is only 3, while Prowess gives a power/toughness boost that matters when Xenagos is in play. Primal Hunter might make the cut I guess, but I wouldn't play it over the other 2.
3) I did have a couple of games where Xenagos got tucked, but it wasn't a huge issue. I was still able to smash with big dudes. It wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful though. If I was really worried about it I could add something like Summoner's Pact or Green Sun's Zenith. But it wasn't as big an issue as you might think.
Kaleidoscope-Singleton voting.
Players are being asked the question: "Do you want for Kaleidoscope to replace HALF the Singleton events from now on?" (resulting in 6 Singleton events + 6 Kaleidoscope events per year)
The current tally will be update below. 30 votes needed before a decision will be taken.
Pro-Kaleidoscope: romellos, Gq1rf7, mihahitlor, AJ_Impy, justcanceled, RexDart, Winter.Wolf, brettmemphis1989
TOTAL: 8
Pro-Singleton: MisterMojoRising, Dawwy, ML_Berlin, Gonzzy, longtimegone
TOTAL: 5
Abstained: Lord Erman
TOTAL: 1
TOTAL VOTES: 14
I'm for staying with singleton, and for two linked reasons.
Singleton events promote a less repetitive game experience due to the additional variance. By contrast, Kaleidoscope Tribal has a severely restricted pool of cards that are worth playing at all, pushing people to play a lot of the same sort of cards.
I've been making this argument for some years now, but always get berated and "proven wrong" by the Classic players....their standard argument of "its a big investment but lasts forever" seems to be the only side they see. For some unexplicable reason they can't see that people simply won't shell out 400$ for a play set of FoW, even knowing they only have to do so once, because it is too much at one time. This is what is killing the eternal formats and keeps people like me from playing them. I would much rather spend 50$ a month and play some drafts and standard than save that money for 8 months to get FOW, etc. This is not considering all of the hoarders and speculators and people who simply quit online magic that may have a copy or two of these types of cards which takes many of them out of circulation and drives up the price, making it even more prohibitive for new player entry, especially when those new players don't even know for sure if they want to play with Necropotence or Cadverous Bloom, etc. decks. They sure aren't going to spend $1500 on a Legacy/Vintage type deck when they've never played with most of the cards before, and considering the market has no guarantees, the fear of buying said cards and then they drop 10 to 20 bucks is just not worth it.
I am totally against changing Singleton to Kaleidoscope, even if it's 50% of the time.
A) Singleton is my most favoured Special Tribal Event
B) I have no Kaleidoscope Tribal Deck at all
Oh yeah, Bloodghast/Cabal was good, you did it in our match.
It's just that those Dragons really scream Recurring. Trying and hardcasting them (with just 2 not-too-reliable Towers and 2 very frail and not so fast Ghasts, which probably get killed on sight) was probably the main issue, wasn't it?
Plus, if you can't recur Kokusho, why should you even want to kill him, except when your opp is down to 5 life?
I think it'd be more in your style to turn this into Orzhov Rock with Obzedat as a centerpiece and curve-topper. By dropping Dragons, Angels and Ghasts you get 9 slots you can fill with good beater and utility Spirits. At CMC 4 you get strong options that may fit an Obzedat deck like Windborn Muse, Graveborn Muse, Guardian of the Guildpact, and Hokori, Dust Drinker. Even Razorjaw Oni can make sense with the white Muse around, considering Obzedat usually doesn't block, and Bloodghast can't already.
The game mentioned above (Oloro vs. Gaddock Teeg vs. Augustin) wasn't ready by the time I submitted the article, so I'll try and link it from this comment later. [EDIT: Didn't happen. We can thank the disappearance of the replays for that.]
Correct. (You should have also received the newsletter in the meantime.)
- 4 Changelings creatures are allowed to any tribe
- 8 to tribes with 3 members
- any number to Shapeshifter decks
- Mistform Ultimus counts as a Changeling creature
- noncreature Changeling cards aren't affected by this ruling
I don't think playing Wood Elves is silly in a ramp deck. Playing Llanowar Elves certainly is (in Commander in general). Wood Elves (and Yavimaya Dryad for redundancy) is one of the prime choices for ramping, since you spend only 2 mana (one is given back to you), fetch any color via dual, then are left with a very important body that you can do many things with like drawing 2 cards with Skullclamp, protect your crucial creature from an edict effect, equip a Sword or Jitte on it if you don't have anything else available, stop that Luminarch Ascension from getting online, chump block, and so on. Yavimaya Elder can't do any of these things without losing half its purpose, and it doesn't really ramp. I've so outgrown Yavimaya Elder in late years.
Questions:
1) Why Kozilek over Ulamog? I see this choice sometimes but it usually strikes me as not wanting to go overboard in casual-friendly decks, while still wanting an Eldrazi for reshuffling purposes. You deck doesn't seem to pull any punches, though. It's something you could easily go to the final table with in SUNCOM. :)
2) Shouldn't it be better to use power-based card-drawing effects that don't require successful combat damage, like Garruk, Primal Hunter and Soul's Majesty?
3) Didn't you feel like you needed something to protect your Xenagos from Deglamer effects? I'm afraid to play with Gods as commanders for this very reason (I tried once, the God got Deglamered the turn I dropped it!)
Correction. Registration for QT #2 of the 2014 CQ League Season 1 is now open and will close at 11:59:59pm EDT on Saturday April 5th.
Just to make sure: I can use "16x tribe members + 4x changeling" in Underdog event, even though the tribe has enough members, right?
I don't know about Modern, but I can imagine some standard formats (esp. without strong combo decks) where Force of Will is just another card.