i was thinking maybe the baleful should be main deck.
Sb=
3 Dark betrayal
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 nighthowler
3 ordeal of Erebos
3 Guardians of meletis
2 abhorrent overlord
if not the baleful main deck, than perhaps the Guardians. let me know what u think.
I haven't tested B/W yet (have everything but the Elspeth). For mono black I have Mogis's Maruader, Dark Betrayal, another Hythonia, Abhorrent Overlord. The sideboard is very much in flux at the moment - I haven't felt like bringing in the Maruader was ever right and so it will like be cut. I am considering Defender of Meletis for the sideboard at this point as it blocks nearly everything in the format all day. I am also think of filling up on Baleful Eidolon as my original deck desperately needs more low drops.
Sadly, Commander 2013 product doesn't get onto MTGO until December 20! Kind of a long wait but I assume they're testing things out to work out the bugs. Oh well.
I am not sure if 4 Nykthos is right. I've been testing out a mono black deck (my list runs the full 4 of Read the Bones, Thoughtseize, and Hero's downfall as well as Pharika's Cure) and running 3 sometimes seems a bit much. At 4 the risk of having 2 in the opener as an auto-mull seems too high. Return from the underworld so far has been very unimpressive for me (I run a singleton of it) though it occasionally does sick things. It does not trigger Agent of the fates though.
Everything you said makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely try to post a follow-up draft in which I get all of the black goodies in the future. And yes, I've grown to appreciate the Grey Merchand a lot more.
As far as favorite colors go, the most ridiculous drafts I've had in the format were all uber-aggressive WR Heroic (the one on that screenshot up there certainly qualifies), so mine is probably one of those.
Excellent work! Being Greek, i can help you about the "Purphoros", its a composite word, comes from the words "pur" which means fire in greek and "phoros" which means "the one who bears (holds)", so it actually means the one who holds the fire!
Welcome to the site! Really great to have another Pauper writer on the site.
I think your article was well written and looked good. The metagame will also contain a strong control element, lead by various blue decks (MUC, UB Trinket, UB Control etc) and MBC. We have also learnt that combo is far from dead, with the ghost of familiar storm geting results even now.
And, for the record, that RB Tortured Existence deck is damn easy to misplay as I have famously done on my YouTube channel :)
That sounds great actually, it could definitely substitute for some of the money cards like Nylea. Good catch I completely forgot about the primordials.
Yeah, I apologize for that. Cards were still coming online as I wrote this so I looked at paper prices for most of them. And like Paul mentioned I have full faith that a lot of the cards will become bulk within the coming months.
I like the worldspine wurm. I was think of something similar but I wanted to include sylvan primordial, I was thinking of turn on elvish mystic, followed by two burning-tree emissary then a reverent hunter. 7/7 on turn turn. follow with sylvan for a land destruction plus added land two you.
The deck still comes in at around $80, which is a fair bit higher than most budget builds. Just because other standard decks are super expensive doesn't mean anything cheaper is budget.
With you back, my articles, Dan's new "Modern Noob" series and if Olaw finds time to write again as well, does this site become the most concentrated source of Modern writing on the web? ;)
Posted in Rick's:
"I watched the drafting portion right now, will watch the games later.
Black was underdrafted pack 1, the person passing to you even gave up an Abhorrent Overlord, so it made perfect sense that you jumped straight into it. Packs 2 and 3 were not so open though, I think people moved into that color, so I wouldn't say that mono-b was heavily underdrafted here.
You're missing out on Gray Merchant of Asphodel. You passed on at least two of them. It's the card that makes mono-b tick and is far better than the likes of Insatiable Harpy. I'd need Wizards confirmation, but I'm 90% sure the reason why mono-b has many slightly under the curve cards in its pool is because Read the Bones and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are two of the best limited cards and are both black commons. He's THAT good, in my opinion. If you snag multiple Read the Bones and 3+ Gray Merchant in a draft, you've got an uber deck. Toss in a Rescue From the Underworld and if you target two gray merchants with it, that 8 lifedrain just with them, 12 if you have a Disciple of Phenax out as well or an Insatiable Harpy, etc. Nutty!
I'll say that, while I think Black is very good if you can nab those cards in multiples, it's also a shallow color for the same reason. If you're not being passed those two commons then you're left with some very crummy commons that can't support a good deck.
Personally, I think Blue is the best color overall. As you said, bounce is at its best in Theros since unlike other "removal" it's not overcosted and trades with enchantments and resets heroic/monstrous. Voyage's End, Griptide, Nimbus Naiad, Prescient Chimera, Vaporkin, Omenspeaker, are all commons and fit in about any archetype, so it can support multiple blue drafters quite easily (I also like Benthic Giant, Aqueuous Form, and Mnemonic Wall!).
Aaaand now I have to get to work so good videos and I'll check out the rest soon!"
I checked out his draft and responded there. You're right, it's in the middle, as I didn't elaborate on my opinion of mono-b.
Basically as I mentioned in the intro, mono-b has a ton of subpar cards in its pool. But then it has two of the best commons in the set, Read the Bones and Gray Merchant. That makes the pool shallow, meaning it can't support too many drafters. If the color is open, you rake in multiple copies of the two premium commons and have a crazy good deck. If it's drafted heavily, you'll get little/none of those two crucial cards passed and will be left with the large quantity of subpar cards which by themselves cannot support a good deck.
The best color in my opinion is Blue because it has the deepest pool of powerful blue commons.
I watched the drafting portion right now, will watch the games later.
Black was underdrafted pack 1, the person passing to you even gave up an Abhorrent Overlord, so it made perfect sense that you jumped straight into it. Packs 2 and 3 were not so open though, I think people moved into that color, so I wouldn't say that mono-b was heavily underdrafted here.
You're missing out on Gray Merchant of Asphodel. You passed on at least two of them. It's the card that makes mono-b tick and is far better than the likes of Insatiable Harpy. I'd need Wizards confirmation, but I'm 90% sure the reason why mono-b has many slightly under the curve cards in its pool is because Read the Bones and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are two of the best limited cards and are both black commons. He's THAT good, in my opinion. If you snag multiple Read the Bones and 3+ Gray Merchant in a draft, you've got an uber deck. Toss in a Rescue From the Underworld and if you target two gray merchants with it, that 8 lifedrain just with them, 12 if you have a Disciple of Phenax out as well or an Insatiable Harpy, etc. Nutty!
I'll say that, while I think Black is very good if you can nab those cards in multiples, it's also a shallow color for the same reason. If you're not being passed those two commons then you're left with some very crummy commons that can't support a good deck.
Personally, I think Blue is the best color overall. As you said, bounce is at its best in Theros since unlike other "removal" it's not overcosted and trades with enchantments and resets heroic/monstrous. Voyage's End, Griptide, Nimbus Naiad, Prescient Chimera, Vaporkin, Omenspeaker, are all commons and fit in about any archetype, so it can support multiple blue drafters quite easily (I also like Benthic Giant, Aqueuous Form, and Mnemonic Wall!).
Aaaand now I have to get to work so good videos and I'll check out the rest soon!
i was thinking maybe the baleful should be main deck.
Sb=
3 Dark betrayal
2 Erebos, God of the Dead
2 nighthowler
3 ordeal of Erebos
3 Guardians of meletis
2 abhorrent overlord
if not the baleful main deck, than perhaps the Guardians. let me know what u think.
You think that card could be any good?
Having troubles beating the mono white aggro deck
I haven't tested B/W yet (have everything but the Elspeth). For mono black I have Mogis's Maruader, Dark Betrayal, another Hythonia, Abhorrent Overlord. The sideboard is very much in flux at the moment - I haven't felt like bringing in the Maruader was ever right and so it will like be cut. I am considering Defender of Meletis for the sideboard at this point as it blocks nearly everything in the format all day. I am also think of filling up on Baleful Eidolon as my original deck desperately needs more low drops.
What kind of sideboard would u go with?
It's kind of weird that a product born out of MTGO will have to take back seat to paper. But at least it'll be a Christmas gift!
Sadly, Commander 2013 product doesn't get onto MTGO until December 20! Kind of a long wait but I assume they're testing things out to work out the bugs. Oh well.
I am not sure if 4 Nykthos is right. I've been testing out a mono black deck (my list runs the full 4 of Read the Bones, Thoughtseize, and Hero's downfall as well as Pharika's Cure) and running 3 sometimes seems a bit much. At 4 the risk of having 2 in the opener as an auto-mull seems too high. Return from the underworld so far has been very unimpressive for me (I run a singleton of it) though it occasionally does sick things. It does not trigger Agent of the fates though.
Everything you said makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely try to post a follow-up draft in which I get all of the black goodies in the future. And yes, I've grown to appreciate the Grey Merchand a lot more.
As far as favorite colors go, the most ridiculous drafts I've had in the format were all uber-aggressive WR Heroic (the one on that screenshot up there certainly qualifies), so mine is probably one of those.
Excellent work! Being Greek, i can help you about the "Purphoros", its a composite word, comes from the words "pur" which means fire in greek and "phoros" which means "the one who bears (holds)", so it actually means the one who holds the fire!
Thanks for the comment. I planned doing standard as well as pauper. My xspilt is broke at the moment once I get that fixed *I plan on adding videos.
Welcome to the site! Really great to have another Pauper writer on the site.
I think your article was well written and looked good. The metagame will also contain a strong control element, lead by various blue decks (MUC, UB Trinket, UB Control etc) and MBC. We have also learnt that combo is far from dead, with the ghost of familiar storm geting results even now.
And, for the record, that RB Tortured Existence deck is damn easy to misplay as I have famously done on my YouTube channel :)
That sounds great actually, it could definitely substitute for some of the money cards like Nylea. Good catch I completely forgot about the primordials.
Yeah, I apologize for that. Cards were still coming online as I wrote this so I looked at paper prices for most of them. And like Paul mentioned I have full faith that a lot of the cards will become bulk within the coming months.
Solid deck! Always good to see novel builds that incorporate the old favorites and the newest of the new.
Sorry for the spelling errors.
I like the worldspine wurm. I was think of something similar but I wanted to include sylvan primordial, I was thinking of turn on elvish mystic, followed by two burning-tree emissary then a reverent hunter. 7/7 on turn turn. follow with sylvan for a land destruction plus added land two you.
How do you think that would work.
If we get cool elemental charms that when combined form Captain Planet or some equally absurd avatar - I'm in!
If not...meh. ;)
The deck still comes in at around $80, which is a fair bit higher than most budget builds. Just because other standard decks are super expensive doesn't mean anything cheaper is budget.
As for the deck, it seems fun if clunky.
Yeppers. I do believe it does. We should form a club. :)
I'm glad you didn't totally disappear as well!
With you back, my articles, Dan's new "Modern Noob" series and if Olaw finds time to write again as well, does this site become the most concentrated source of Modern writing on the web? ;)
Posted in Rick's:
"I watched the drafting portion right now, will watch the games later.
Black was underdrafted pack 1, the person passing to you even gave up an Abhorrent Overlord, so it made perfect sense that you jumped straight into it. Packs 2 and 3 were not so open though, I think people moved into that color, so I wouldn't say that mono-b was heavily underdrafted here.
You're missing out on Gray Merchant of Asphodel. You passed on at least two of them. It's the card that makes mono-b tick and is far better than the likes of Insatiable Harpy. I'd need Wizards confirmation, but I'm 90% sure the reason why mono-b has many slightly under the curve cards in its pool is because Read the Bones and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are two of the best limited cards and are both black commons. He's THAT good, in my opinion. If you snag multiple Read the Bones and 3+ Gray Merchant in a draft, you've got an uber deck. Toss in a Rescue From the Underworld and if you target two gray merchants with it, that 8 lifedrain just with them, 12 if you have a Disciple of Phenax out as well or an Insatiable Harpy, etc. Nutty!
I'll say that, while I think Black is very good if you can nab those cards in multiples, it's also a shallow color for the same reason. If you're not being passed those two commons then you're left with some very crummy commons that can't support a good deck.
Personally, I think Blue is the best color overall. As you said, bounce is at its best in Theros since unlike other "removal" it's not overcosted and trades with enchantments and resets heroic/monstrous. Voyage's End, Griptide, Nimbus Naiad, Prescient Chimera, Vaporkin, Omenspeaker, are all commons and fit in about any archetype, so it can support multiple blue drafters quite easily (I also like Benthic Giant, Aqueuous Form, and Mnemonic Wall!).
Aaaand now I have to get to work so good videos and I'll check out the rest soon!"
I checked out his draft and responded there. You're right, it's in the middle, as I didn't elaborate on my opinion of mono-b.
Basically as I mentioned in the intro, mono-b has a ton of subpar cards in its pool. But then it has two of the best commons in the set, Read the Bones and Gray Merchant. That makes the pool shallow, meaning it can't support too many drafters. If the color is open, you rake in multiple copies of the two premium commons and have a crazy good deck. If it's drafted heavily, you'll get little/none of those two crucial cards passed and will be left with the large quantity of subpar cards which by themselves cannot support a good deck.
The best color in my opinion is Blue because it has the deepest pool of powerful blue commons.
I watched the drafting portion right now, will watch the games later.
Black was underdrafted pack 1, the person passing to you even gave up an Abhorrent Overlord, so it made perfect sense that you jumped straight into it. Packs 2 and 3 were not so open though, I think people moved into that color, so I wouldn't say that mono-b was heavily underdrafted here.
You're missing out on Gray Merchant of Asphodel. You passed on at least two of them. It's the card that makes mono-b tick and is far better than the likes of Insatiable Harpy. I'd need Wizards confirmation, but I'm 90% sure the reason why mono-b has many slightly under the curve cards in its pool is because Read the Bones and Gray Merchant of Asphodel are two of the best limited cards and are both black commons. He's THAT good, in my opinion. If you snag multiple Read the Bones and 3+ Gray Merchant in a draft, you've got an uber deck. Toss in a Rescue From the Underworld and if you target two gray merchants with it, that 8 lifedrain just with them, 12 if you have a Disciple of Phenax out as well or an Insatiable Harpy, etc. Nutty!
I'll say that, while I think Black is very good if you can nab those cards in multiples, it's also a shallow color for the same reason. If you're not being passed those two commons then you're left with some very crummy commons that can't support a good deck.
Personally, I think Blue is the best color overall. As you said, bounce is at its best in Theros since unlike other "removal" it's not overcosted and trades with enchantments and resets heroic/monstrous. Voyage's End, Griptide, Nimbus Naiad, Prescient Chimera, Vaporkin, Omenspeaker, are all commons and fit in about any archetype, so it can support multiple blue drafters quite easily (I also like Benthic Giant, Aqueuous Form, and Mnemonic Wall!).
Aaaand now I have to get to work so good videos and I'll check out the rest soon!
Welcome back, Blippy.
We have missed your Modern articles here.