Good article! I actually think that the badness of Red is somewhat over-stated. I've had a bit of success with Red in Triple Theros. In addition to Lightning Strike at the Cyclops, I also like to stock up on Borderland Minotaurs (who often wheel), and a copy or two of Dragon Mantle in a heavy red deck can be quite good. At least early on, I won't be afraid to go in on Red if it seems open!
As per usual an inspirational read (too bad this wasn't about inspired creatures so that could be a pun. :P) But seriously every time I read a Lord Erman article I want to read another! Great job and welcome back. I hope you can find the time to do this more often.
I totally love the gorgon theme and while I don't care to face reaper across the red line, it is because it has that pesky ability that no one else seems to be aware of. Gaze is awesome, and I need to find more space in decks for it. (I've been playing with Unexpected Results so much that I avoid x spells now a days, but it is definitely quality non-white removal.)
Thank you! I have gone back and forth on the card images a ilttle bit. The smaller thumbnails are clickable, but much smaller and very difficult to see. The larger images are a little too unruly, so I've been using the images from the Draft Converter. I can get better about adding more text links to my picks so maybe I'll work on that. I can certainly post my record following each game!
Nice to see you back Lord Erman! I'm trying to get some inspiration for some wacky decks right now too, but Wizards doesn't seem to print good build around me cards anymore... It's all tourney staples or win-more cards at the rare and mythic rare position.
That said, even though your deck is a BIT on the higher cost side for the JFF room, it still feels very casual and I love it. Vraska is awesome, and I can't wait for Jace vs Vraska so I can finally give her a spin in my EDH deck. Great win % too, with the expected loss to the American Planeswalkers deck (or Super Friends or whatever it goes by these days).
And yes, that life gain + mythic rarity is why Sphinx's Revelation is so dang expensive. It helps control decks "not lose" which is the whole point of their deck. They don't try to win, they just win by not losing. :P
There are a few tribute guys who really suck and the rest are pretty decent. The interesting thing is the counters give you something fun to do with your guys.
One of those articles was mine. I had Josh delete it because as you said they responded really quickly. I am really hoping that we see TWL back on the client this week. If not I think I will have to fire up my writing skills again and get some bonfires under their buttocks. After all it is all well and good to say they are going to do something and another to actually get it done.
I am enjoying Chromanticore.dec plenty of building/brewing room.
Wizards won't give out much more info. They never do. I wasn't there, but I would guess what happened was something sketchy, the HJ talked to the players and didn't find enough to justify a DQ, but got more info later. With the additional info, the HJ decided the DQ was justified. That can happen.
Here's a simple example, which I am making up out. Any resembalence to actual events is coincidence.
Pretend I'm head judge of a Legacy event. In one of the later rounds, I see Joe put a creature hit by Swords to Plowshares in the graveyard instead of the exile zone. That's a common mistake, especially late in the day. The players were playing quickly, not being really precise, my discussion with Joe didn't raise any alarms and Joe's deck is GW aggro beats. Tere are lots of creatures in the graveyard and no Goyfs in play or in Joe's hand. Joe hasn't received a warning for this sort of error earlier in the tournament. All this makes it seems like this was just sloppy play, so I give Joe a warning for game play error - game rule violation, move the creature into the exile zone and let them play on. However, when I discuss this with another judge, that judge mentions that GW aggro has just started running Miraculous Recovery. (4W, Instant, reanimate target creature.) I check Joe's decklist and he does indeed run Miraculous Recovery, so there is some advantage to having a creature in the gy instead of exiled. Next I have the scorekeeper pull up Joe's previous round opponents, and talk to one or two. Joe made the same "mistake" against them, but they didn't call a judge. Now, with this other data, Joe's mistake looks a bit different. I talk to Joe some more, decide this was deliberate and I DQ him. It's a round or so late, but in I got there in the end.
As for manufacturing a DQ to move Paulo into the T8 - really unlikely. IF tyhat happened, the amount of PR damage if that got out would be much, much greater than any potential benefit of having name in the T8. And it's a Legacy GP, after all. Not all that any people will watch coverage for that, in any case.
I am not sure xenagos will replace elspeth and the reason why is that both white and green recieved easy answers to god's in unravel the aether and revoke existence. However, this is likely more of an argument for playing only 2 xenagos. I think if GRw stops it will be because of aggro/deovtion which will power up mono black again as well.
Guys, they did a "Get Rid of Your Warmarks" event a few months back: free tournaments where you would just use the warmarks, with no tix required (and essentially no prizes, but who cares). That's how I cleaned up my collection of all those damn things!
I think it was more, "That damn menu really needed some pruning", and they got carried away with their Spring cleaning. And now they're rushing to the street to salvage some valuable item they carelessly threw into the garbage can.
I'm glad they got rid of all those formats. People weren't playing them, and all we had was this huge, bulky, useless list of dead formats. Sure, I could theoretically think of uses for them, like a battle of the blocks format where everyone brings their own decks, but that seems pointless. I wouldn't mind having Standard Singleton, but it makes sense that no one played it, and if you run a PRE for it, and you can still enforce the banned list.
I think that trimming down this list is a great precedent. Maybe they'll get rid of all the stinking warmarks next.
For practical purposes, I don't really care that they canceled all those formats. I've never played Mirage block constructed, for example, and if I did put together a deck, I'm not sure who I'd play against.
But as a completionist (who also wants those last 800 early cards online), I wish they'd keep everything simply to make the options available. Can't those niche formats just be put in a sub-menu to ease up the clutter and make them less visible to new players?
Good article! I actually think that the badness of Red is somewhat over-stated. I've had a bit of success with Red in Triple Theros. In addition to Lightning Strike at the Cyclops, I also like to stock up on Borderland Minotaurs (who often wheel), and a copy or two of Dragon Mantle in a heavy red deck can be quite good. At least early on, I won't be afraid to go in on Red if it seems open!
As per usual an inspirational read (too bad this wasn't about inspired creatures so that could be a pun. :P) But seriously every time I read a Lord Erman article I want to read another! Great job and welcome back. I hope you can find the time to do this more often.
I totally love the gorgon theme and while I don't care to face reaper across the red line, it is because it has that pesky ability that no one else seems to be aware of. Gaze is awesome, and I need to find more space in decks for it. (I've been playing with Unexpected Results so much that I avoid x spells now a days, but it is definitely quality non-white removal.)
I am so offended by Jesus or God being mentioned in this article.
Thank you! I have gone back and forth on the card images a ilttle bit. The smaller thumbnails are clickable, but much smaller and very difficult to see. The larger images are a little too unruly, so I've been using the images from the Draft Converter. I can get better about adding more text links to my picks so maybe I'll work on that. I can certainly post my record following each game!
Thanks for reading!
Beautiful. Surprised you didn't go with Maga, Traitor to Mortals in the ninth circle, though.
Welcome back. I'm looking forward to read your new articles.
As a fellow countryman, you have inspired me a lot. It's really good to see you here, once again.
Delighted to see you writing again! I like the look of the deck, I may have to try and conjure up something along these lines.
Nice to see you back Lord Erman! I'm trying to get some inspiration for some wacky decks right now too, but Wizards doesn't seem to print good build around me cards anymore... It's all tourney staples or win-more cards at the rare and mythic rare position.
That said, even though your deck is a BIT on the higher cost side for the JFF room, it still feels very casual and I love it. Vraska is awesome, and I can't wait for Jace vs Vraska so I can finally give her a spin in my EDH deck. Great win % too, with the expected loss to the American Planeswalkers deck (or Super Friends or whatever it goes by these days).
And yes, that life gain + mythic rarity is why Sphinx's Revelation is so dang expensive. It helps control decks "not lose" which is the whole point of their deck. They don't try to win, they just win by not losing. :P
already BOG prices are half of what was listed....
hey, why dont the conspiracy cards have the new frame?
There are a few tribute guys who really suck and the rest are pretty decent. The interesting thing is the counters give you something fun to do with your guys.
One of those articles was mine. I had Josh delete it because as you said they responded really quickly. I am really hoping that we see TWL back on the client this week. If not I think I will have to fire up my writing skills again and get some bonfires under their buttocks. After all it is all well and good to say they are going to do something and another to actually get it done.
I am enjoying Chromanticore.dec plenty of building/brewing room.
Welcome to the site! I liked this article. Lots of useful tips.
Two suggestions --
Could you make the card images bigger, or perhaps clickable? I can't read those and don't know what all of them do from their images yet.
Also, could you add your win/loss record after each game? Makes things easier to follow.
Wizards won't give out much more info. They never do. I wasn't there, but I would guess what happened was something sketchy, the HJ talked to the players and didn't find enough to justify a DQ, but got more info later. With the additional info, the HJ decided the DQ was justified. That can happen.
Here's a simple example, which I am making up out. Any resembalence to actual events is coincidence.
Pretend I'm head judge of a Legacy event. In one of the later rounds, I see Joe put a creature hit by Swords to Plowshares in the graveyard instead of the exile zone. That's a common mistake, especially late in the day. The players were playing quickly, not being really precise, my discussion with Joe didn't raise any alarms and Joe's deck is GW aggro beats. Tere are lots of creatures in the graveyard and no Goyfs in play or in Joe's hand. Joe hasn't received a warning for this sort of error earlier in the tournament. All this makes it seems like this was just sloppy play, so I give Joe a warning for game play error - game rule violation, move the creature into the exile zone and let them play on. However, when I discuss this with another judge, that judge mentions that GW aggro has just started running Miraculous Recovery. (4W, Instant, reanimate target creature.) I check Joe's decklist and he does indeed run Miraculous Recovery, so there is some advantage to having a creature in the gy instead of exiled. Next I have the scorekeeper pull up Joe's previous round opponents, and talk to one or two. Joe made the same "mistake" against them, but they didn't call a judge. Now, with this other data, Joe's mistake looks a bit different. I talk to Joe some more, decide this was deliberate and I DQ him. It's a round or so late, but in I got there in the end.
As for manufacturing a DQ to move Paulo into the T8 - really unlikely. IF tyhat happened, the amount of PR damage if that got out would be much, much greater than any potential benefit of having name in the T8. And it's a Legacy GP, after all. Not all that any people will watch coverage for that, in any case.
At least, that's my $0.02.
I may be viewing a cached page but it's still showing up for me
Curiouser and curiouser. I wonder what happened?
Article for GP Paris has been taken down
I am not sure xenagos will replace elspeth and the reason why is that both white and green recieved easy answers to god's in unravel the aether and revoke existence. However, this is likely more of an argument for playing only 2 xenagos. I think if GRw stops it will be because of aggro/deovtion which will power up mono black again as well.
Hmmmmmmm I must have missed that :(
Hope they'll give us another chance to get rid of 'em eventually! :P
I got rid of mine years ago. On both accounts. Didn't win much but it was interesting as the format we were forced to play was Scars Block.
Guys, they did a "Get Rid of Your Warmarks" event a few months back: free tournaments where you would just use the warmarks, with no tix required (and essentially no prizes, but who cares). That's how I cleaned up my collection of all those damn things!
They will never take our warmarks :(
I think it was more, "That damn menu really needed some pruning", and they got carried away with their Spring cleaning. And now they're rushing to the street to salvage some valuable item they carelessly threw into the garbage can.
And those gold bordered cards....Shred'em
I'm glad they got rid of all those formats. People weren't playing them, and all we had was this huge, bulky, useless list of dead formats. Sure, I could theoretically think of uses for them, like a battle of the blocks format where everyone brings their own decks, but that seems pointless. I wouldn't mind having Standard Singleton, but it makes sense that no one played it, and if you run a PRE for it, and you can still enforce the banned list.
I think that trimming down this list is a great precedent. Maybe they'll get rid of all the stinking warmarks next.
For practical purposes, I don't really care that they canceled all those formats. I've never played Mirage block constructed, for example, and if I did put together a deck, I'm not sure who I'd play against.
But as a completionist (who also wants those last 800 early cards online), I wish they'd keep everything simply to make the options available. Can't those niche formats just be put in a sub-menu to ease up the clutter and make them less visible to new players?