Maidens of the Kaleidoscope

~Beyond the Border~ => Akyu's Arcade => Topic started by: Zirene on April 17, 2013, 08:55:48 AM

Title: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: Zirene on April 17, 2013, 08:55:48 AM
Pro Tour Dragon's Maze (http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour) is streaming all weekend on twitch. The format's are Return to Ravnica block constructed and Return to Ravnica draft.

Also I'm looking for a play test partner on MTG Online. I'm going to a 5k in Dallas next weekend and since I'll be on the road I won't be able to test paper. Let me know if you're interested or if you're going we can work something out. 

Any of my fellow maidens play Magic Online or paper Magic now days? I'm looking for  test partners and people to chat Magic with, since my local game store closed and the next closest is 35 miles away. Quick background, I got my first cards when I was 11 have been playing for 13 years on and off.

My MTGO screen name: Pork_a_later (Got it from the name of a gun that turns people into pigs in some FPS). Feel free to add me and just put your MotK name in the message so I know who you are.

anyway some Magic ramblings.
Current standard (Innistrad Block, M13, RTR, GC) is one of the healthiest formats I've ever seen. They are also amazing draft sets. Innistrad Block and Return to Ravnica are both very powerful and have tons of cards to build around, which leads to many viable archtypes.

From Mono Red/RGW aggro, Midrange BRG and UWR decks, to UWB control decks that only mill you out, anything can win. There is some combo and WGB reanimator (best deck imo) as well.

For Magic Online. If you've got an account I'd love to play test serious games with you or I can build some casual deck to battle with for fun. Hell I can probably give/loan some cards out to people I know I can trust to get them started. There's also a free trial mode where you can battle with premade decks.

So anything goes MTG wise in this thread talk about: Spoilers, Decklists, and Tournament, best decks, rules questions (I'm a level 1 Judge) and amazing plays. Even little stuff like what kind of card sleeves are best or how to prepare for a tournament. This is getting long so I'll share my stories after someone responds.

MTGO Maiden Handles
Zirene: Pork_a_later
Parallaxal: Parallaxal
yuyukos: hatofhats
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Tamashii Kanjou on April 17, 2013, 05:22:26 PM
Rare to see MtG threads popping up.

I play the Magics; both actual cards, and on Steam. (Got the 2013 one as a gift.) Puppy plays too. XD

Got involved with MtG properly during Innistrad; was on the build up to Dark Ascension's release. Been enjoying my time playing; haven't really entered many tournaments, but the two I did, I finished 6th & 3rd respectively. {Green/Red Werewolves & Blue/White Spirits.} No one was able to deal with flyers that tournament, I just screwed up the first match, then won all the others 2-0. Was most frustrating. Surprisingly, I only lost 1 match in both tournys, so I guess I'm building them right. XD

I have a mixture of standard legal and non-standard decks (all of which I made myself); along with 3 out of 4 Planechase decks, and the Riku Commander deck. It's fun to get into; can get expensive if you constantly buy stuff, hence why pacing yourself between releases is vital. I don't play seriously, even in the two tournaments I took part in; then again, that was because I wasn't expecting to do well at all, I got a little more serious the further I got. :V

So yeah, nice to see another MtG player. ^^
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 17, 2013, 05:36:17 PM
What's your MTGO name and Puppy's if she doesn't mind? We can play test and I can help you with some cards possibly. I've been on a roll drafting. Started with 9 packs 8 Tickets and I'm up to 25 Packs.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Edible on April 17, 2013, 05:37:12 PM
I'm an old hand.

Started playing way back during Unlimited.  Been playing on and off since then (mostly off).  Last time I was into the game was Zendikar/Scars.  Nowadays I keep to the DotP cardgame if I want a fix, as it no longer involves me purchasing cardboard.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Pesco on April 17, 2013, 05:49:00 PM
[H] 4x GPT Steam Vents

[W] I dunno. Willing to trade for games on Steam.

Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 17, 2013, 05:58:56 PM
Edible if you feel like downloading the PC program you can do something similar to DotP with trial decks and I wouldn't be adverse to loan you some cards to get started with a deck that can compete with most decks. One thing that would be cool would be if we could get a MotK draft together or a multiplayer/FFA game.

Oh yea! There is a Pauper format which is commons only. Cheap format and a blast to play. Hell I have so many of some commons (not all the old ones) I might be able to give someone a decent pauper deck first come first serve.

Also Commander is really cool (singleton) format. choose a Legendary Commander, with a lot of diplomacy and easy to get into with the precons which are 30$ and worth every penny. The Precons are actually pretty competitive now and almost always come with a Planeswalker.

Everyone! Post your MTGO name so I know who's who!
Started playing way back during Unlimited. 
Still have the cards? Any dual lands or power?
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Edible on April 17, 2013, 06:02:11 PM
All my really good cards (dual lands etc) I've sold at some point, usually to buy more cards.  I still have a bunch of old crap in a box but I doubt much of it is worth anything.

I did play Commander for a bit since it was new the last time I was playing.  Great fun.

I probably won't be getting into MTGO though... but drafting is my favorite format by far.  Hm.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: hyorinryu on April 17, 2013, 07:12:32 PM
I got into it a little after Innistrad. I have a few intro packs, but none are really updated. I'd play MtGO, but I'm broke, so for the most part, I've been sticking to DN for my cardgaming needs.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: theshirn on April 17, 2013, 07:26:19 PM
I live with and hang around with a number of very active players.  I never really got into it but I'll occasionally draft with them (preferably cube draft) or play Commander and will usually get slaughtered.  One of my friends has a particularly hilarious deck with Azusa, Lost but Seeking as the commander. :V

I do have a box back home with a ton of old cards, including a handful of dual lands, though...
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 18, 2013, 01:09:11 AM
Even for you guys who don't play anymore there's a Dragon's Maze prerelease April 27-28. Those are always a great way to get back into the the groove or just have fun one weekend. Also this block Return to Ravnica is probably my second favorite block of all time, original Ravnica being first.
I still have a bunch of old crap in a box but I doubt much of it is worth anything.
You would be surprised. I found 4 Wastelands in the bottom of my box and quite a few legacy/modern staples at a garage sale (Dark Confidant, Thoughtseize, and a LOT of shock lands)

One thing they are doing that's nice is making mana fixing plentiful, consistant, easy to acquire, and making land plentiful. Mana bases can sometimes be half your decks price.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Yukarin on April 18, 2013, 01:17:59 AM
Standard here.

I've been trying to build a Bant tempo deck but all the components for it (shocks, thragtusks, etc) are so expensive it's going to take a while.

Also Ral is OP as fuck
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 18, 2013, 03:29:11 AM
currently trying to set up a flicker deck

Cloudshift
Thrull Parasite
Orzhov charm
Revoke Existence
Soul's Attendant
Vault of the Archangel
Obzedat Ghost Council
Restoration Angel

ill decide on the amounts later on. basic idea is flicker and extort. Im also making it so i can swap this deck around to be vintage or standard because temporal extortion fits the theme so well

im also looking for a planeswalker atm
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Parallaxal on April 18, 2013, 06:11:13 PM
I'm on MTGO as well. I love drafting, but haven't had much time to play as of late between med school board exams and other interests. Username is also Parallaxal.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 18, 2013, 07:29:36 PM
One thing I really love doing is building decks with other people's idea or testing other's decks to tweak them. If you would like, post your idea for a deck you want to make or a deck you already made and I'll "doctor it. It would help me if you let me what you want to use it for and what format you'd like it legal in. For example, kitchen table magic, Friday night magic, or Pro Tour/GP caliber lists.

currently trying to set up a flicker deck

This would be my version of flicker, considering the metagame right now.

24 Creatures
4 Cathedral Sanctifier (ETB gain 3 life)
3 Ravenous Rats (ETB opponent discards 1 card)
4 Cartel Aristocrat (Power house and sacrifice outlet, this card is big game)
1 Skirsdag High Priest (Makes killing your creatures and attacking a nightmare for them)
1 Mentor of the Meak (Draw trigger triggers of off 17 creatures)
3 Fiend Hunter (Exile a creature, return it when FH dies)
4 Restoration Angel (ETB, flicker a non-Angel)
2 Disciple of Bolas (ETB Sac another creaturn, gain life and draw x where x=sac creatures power)\
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council (ETB drain 2, may exlie at EOT [your's only] and return it battlefield during upkeep, it gains haste)

13 Non-Creatures
2 Cloudshift
2 Tragic Slip
3-4 Orzhov Charm (Love this one!)
4 Lingering Souls
1-2 Sorin, Load of Innistrad (Here's your Planeswalker!)

23 Land
5 Swamp
7 Plains
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Godless Shrine
2 Vault of the Archangel
1 Cavern of Souls (Naming human covers 13 creatures and naming Advisor covers 6 to make them uncounterable)

Sideboard tentative and based on my meta evaluation:
3 Duress
2 Blind Obedience (Very underrated, there are many good haste creatures right now)
2 Underworld Connections
1 Tragic Slip
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Rest in Peace
2 Oblivion Ring
1 Obzedat
1 Skirsdag High Priest

Lots of cool things going on here. Playing a Feind hunter and blinking it, with the exile a creature trigger on the stack, causes the creature to be exlied permanently, so you get rid of 2 creatures at once. Orzhov charm can bring back 11 different creatures, makes 2 of the modes very good. With Lingering Souls and Sorin's Emblem (+1/+0 for the rest of the game) you can come out of nowhere and kill someone.

I really don't like the Thrull Parasites or the extort. You'll be using most of you mana every turn and with Vault you have something to do with an empty hand.



Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 18, 2013, 08:05:19 PM
I was actually considering adding restoration angel but too expensive :derp:. I was just thinking of just adding the actual card flicker and use the planeswalker sorin lord of innistrad. Those permanent emblems are really good especially with cards going in and out of exile.

Im also scraping the standard, i almost never go to friday night magic and my friends play vintage.

Also I remember reading some where if I block with a creature and use cloudshift right before damage is resolved my creature takes no damage right?

The reason behind extort was because im also some what on a budget but I already have most of the cards so far. But I guess I could turn it to a pure flicker deck

edit: i actually just saw you recommended sorin also :V
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 18, 2013, 08:36:21 PM
Also I remember reading some where if I block with a creature and use cloudshift right before damage is resolved my creature takes no damage right?

That worked back when damage stacked. Once M10 came out the rules changed back to no damage on the stack You could put damage on the stack and blink your creature, save your and kill theirs. Now you just assign blocker order and damage, then it resolves right after that. So basically damage happens at land tapping speed.

You could replace a color with blue. Ghostly Flicker flickers 2 artifacts, creatures, or lands. Voidwalk can also flicker but the creature doesn't return until the end of the turn. It is a sorcery but it has Cipher (Place a copy of the spell every time the Ciphered creature deals damage to an opposing player). So if you put it on a flyer they are in a lot of trouble.

There is also tradition bounce like Unsummon, Silent Departure, and Saving Grasp as well. And as usual, adding blue gives you access to the games best cards, counterspells.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 18, 2013, 09:12:11 PM
yea i could do that but i already have a pure blue control deck.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 18, 2013, 09:54:48 PM
I probably won't be getting into MTGO though... but drafting is my favorite format by far.  Hm.
I have some packs waiting for you if you sign up~~~
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Parallaxal on April 19, 2013, 08:23:14 AM
This calls for a new signature.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 19, 2013, 10:53:32 AM
This calls for a new signature.

Hot damn that is awesome. I love Tamiyo even if she isn't too good right now I still try to jam one in so I can Ancestral Recall when she ultimates.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Yukarin on April 19, 2013, 03:29:46 PM
Id tap izzet and rakdos
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Parallaxal on April 19, 2013, 03:44:17 PM
Nah, Simic-tan is the best. Dem glasses.

Yesterday night was a good night for Dragon's Maze previews. We got Armadillo Cloak and Morphling 2.0. Feels like Time Spiral all over again with the nostalgia.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Yukarin on April 20, 2013, 05:06:31 AM
Ah! I didn't notice Simic-tan had megane. ;-;

First thing that struck me was Izzet-tan.

I'm really just waiting for Dragon's Maze before I build a Bant Tempo deck.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Parallaxal on April 20, 2013, 07:56:43 AM
Yeah, it's hard to see when it's tiny like that. Here's the original. (http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=950752)
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: hyorinryu on April 20, 2013, 06:57:26 PM
One thing I really love doing is building decks with other people's idea or testing other's decks to tweak them. If you would like, post your idea for a deck you want to make or a deck you already made and I'll "doctor it. It would help me if you let me what you want to use it for and what format you'd like it legal in. For example, kitchen table magic, Friday night magic, or Pro Tour/GP caliber lists.

Sure. This is basically the Blue Black Starter from Mirroden Besieged. I tried changing things around a bit, but I wasn't sure what direction I wanted it to have. I'm thinking I want it to fill it with a bunch of floater-people that give me draws that activate Psychosis Crawlers effect.

Creatures

[1]Flayer Husk  (sort of a floater, he's cheap and makes other guys tougher)
[2] Fume Spitter  (cheap removal, or makes other guys weaker)

[2] Myr Sire
[3] Oculus
[1] Reassembling Skeleton
[2] Devouring Swarm
[1] Jace's Archivist
[2] Phyrexian Rager
[1] Bonehoard
[2] Pierce Strider
[1] Skinrender

[1] Phychosis Crawler

[1] Chancellor of the Dross


Other Stuffs

[1] Gitaxian Probe
[1] Ponder
[1] Tragic Slip

[2] Contagion Clasp
[1] Doom Blade

[3] Vivisection

[1] Corrupted Conscience
[1] Mind Control
[1] Spread the Sickness

So far, I want more cheap stuff. Vivisection's really awkward to use here. I want to replace them with Altars reap or the blue one that does the same thing. I want more Tragic slips too, the creatures here die a lot. The Myr Sires are cool, but I think I could go for something better.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 20, 2013, 08:27:06 PM
Star City Games, one of the largest secondary retailers of Magic cards, has 5k tournaments every week. They stream them throughout the weekend. It is a great chance to watch over a highly skilled player's shoulder and maybe see a new deck or line of play.  I don't work for SCG so I'm not trying to advertise, just sharing some cool, useful content.  :D

Here a link: http://www.starcitygames.com/events/130420_seattle.html
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Pesco on April 20, 2013, 08:43:29 PM
SCG premium account is also really worth the money.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 21, 2013, 12:31:24 AM
SCG premium account is also really worth the money.
It really is worth it. The play test session are nice but, Sam Black's articles feel the most like insider information to me. I've won quite a few matches with his creature sacing brews.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: yuyukos on April 21, 2013, 01:14:37 AM
I mainly use MTGO for PTQs and Prerelease/Release events. Feel free to add me at hatofhats
Also, Selesnya Onee-sama :blush:
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 21, 2013, 02:20:15 AM
So far, I want more cheap stuff. Vivisection's really awkward to use here. I want to replace them with Altars reap or the blue one that does the same thing. I want more Tragic slips too, the creatures here die a lot. The Myr Sires are cool, but I think I could go for something better.

What are you going to do with this deck? Are you just playing some fun kitchen Magic or are you play with certain old sets? Basically what are your constraints for card selection between 1-10, 1 being as cheap as possible and 10 being power 9 please, what are you willing to spend without divulging actually dollar amounts since its the internet? :D Also remember you can always proxy expensive or rare cards on a basic land. Hell I almost always proxy cards and test them before I trade for or buy them unless I think its a good investment (Like my friend who bought 4 Tarmogoyf's, 1 foil, for 10 dollar back in the day).

Also how competitive do you want it? Do you want to do cool stuff with a powerful deck and unique combo, something to crush people with, or something a little more budget with more bang for the buck type cards for some fun games?

I could do both, I really love building deck, its a great exercise, and even played a lot with the deck I made for Dr Rawr on MTGO to some success. Moar Couldshift blowouts. It feels like there is something there with Mentor of the Meek and Disciple of Bolas but I think Sphinx's Reveltion just does it better even it it can't win the game on its own.  There's something there with Obezdat though, with Cavern of Souls you have so much inevitability.

At my local game store we play Invasion, Oddesey and 7th edition standard because it has too many fun decks and great cards (Upheavel). Greats like The Rock, Fires of Yavamiya, Beasts, UG Madness, RG Aggro, Mirrari's Wake, Squirrel Opposition and of course PSYCHATOG. So making your own formats or playing old ones can be a lot of fun and cheap so its your call.

I've lived the ultimate Dragon's Maze dream.  You don't have to believe me but I opened a DGM pack and got a Voice of Resurgence and a Blood Crypt instead of the guild gate in the same pack! in addition I opened a Hallowed Fountain and a Blood Baron of Viskopa. In total I opened 3 RTR and 3 DGM packs so half mythics is nuts.

I guess its my lucky day I bought Rock Band and Rock Band 2 for PS3 for $1 each. Both work from little testing and there's no visible scratches. Love those garage sales, I just go looking for games and cards and always find sweet deals. Buying someone's old MTG collection really got me started by giving me enough trade fodder to get a deck going.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 21, 2013, 02:37:01 AM
Double Post.  :colonveeplusalpha: Delete if possible.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: hyorinryu on April 21, 2013, 03:00:22 AM
What are you going to do with this deck? Are you just playing some fun kitchen Magic or are you play with certain old sets? Basically what are your constraints for card selection between 1-10, 1 being as cheap as possible and 10 being power 9 please, what are you willing to spend without divulging actually dollar amounts since its the internet? :D Also remember you can always proxy expensive or rare cards on a basic land. Hell I almost always proxy cards and test them before I trade for or buy them unless I think its a good investment (Like my friend who bought 4 Tarmogoyf's, 1 foil, for 10 dollar back in the day).

Also how competitive do you want it? Do you want to do cool stuff with a powerful deck and unique combo, something to crush people with, or something a little more budget with more bang for the buck type cards for some fun games?

I could do both, I really love building deck, its a great exercise, and even played a lot with the deck I made for Dr Rawr on MTGO to some success. Moar Couldshift blowouts. It feels like there is something there with Mentor of the Meek and Disciple of Bolas but I think Sphinx's Reveltion just does it better even it it can't win the game on its own.  There's something there with Obezdat though, with Cavern of Souls you have so much inevitability.

At my local game store we play Invasion, Oddesey and 7th edition standard because it has too many fun decks and great cards (Upheavel). Greats like The Rock, Fires of Yavamiya, Beasts, UG Madness, RG Aggro, Mirrari's Wake, Squirrel Opposition and of course PSYCHATOG. So making your own formats or playing old ones can be a lot of fun and cheap so its your call.

Just casual play with random friends. I don't really have anyone who plays so it's not that high a priority. As for my constraints, I'll prolly go 2-3, maybe 4 if I do stuff over a long period of time. As for competitiveness, I don't really know. I'm not going into tournaments anytime soon, but I'd like it to feel cohesive. As for set constraints, I don't mind as long it's cheap, though I would like most of it to keep to the scars and innistrad. More importantly though, I want it to keep the horror feel, so I wouldn't want stuff like mentor of the meek there, if possible.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Yukarin on April 21, 2013, 03:24:17 AM
Yeah, it's hard to see when it's tiny like that. Here's the original. (http://safebooru.org/index.php?page=post&s=view&id=950752)

Oh my god Simic-tan is so cuteeeeeeeeeeeeee

Oh, I also sent you a PM regarding things.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on April 21, 2013, 03:42:16 AM
Once we get enough people from here on MTGO, we can get a game of multiplayer EDH going or something. Anyone else here play EDH/Commander? If so, what are some of your favorite decks?

One of my favorites is a UR deck with Nin the Pain Artist as the general. The general is actually not important, I just wanted someone cheap. The deck's colors is just an excuse for me to cram every single copy and clone effect I could get my hands on into a single deck. Yeah, I could have gone with Riku, but I didn't want to go 3 colors, and green didn't have nearly as many copy effects to offer as blue and red did. Besides, I want to copy my opponent's things. It's a hilarious deck to play, because it never plays the same way twice. What it does is heavily dependent on what everyone else is playing, which fits the chaotic nature of the Izzet colors perfectly.

The nice thing about clone effects is that I have so many ways to kill enemy commanders via the legend rule. It's also why I'm always on the lookout for new clone effects with each set. Just added Stolen Identity to the deck when Gatecrash came out.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Yukarin on April 21, 2013, 05:07:50 AM
suggest shit for a standard competitive bant deck
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on April 21, 2013, 05:47:01 AM
What does your budget look like? Thragtusks and Restoration Angels and Sphinx's Revelations don't exactly come cheap.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Yukarin on April 21, 2013, 05:55:40 AM
I can save up for them easily. It takes some time, but I'm willing to go that far for it.

I want some sort of Bant Aggro/Control. I'm not sure how i'm going to do that, but i'll do it.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on April 21, 2013, 06:24:43 AM
There are several flavors of Bant you can take in Standard right now. For starters, you can use these as a resource.

Bant Control (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=497915)

Bant Enchant (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=450612)

Bant Delver (http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=488404)

Bant Enchant is more aggro, Bant Control is more control (of course). Delver is an aggro-control median between the two, which is probably what you're going for (cheap aggro creatures backed by lots of removal/counters/tempo spells). I especially like the Quiron Dryad + Hands of Binding interaction.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Yukarin on April 21, 2013, 07:00:50 AM
Holy shit bant delver

I'd probably go for Bant Control. Dem Kessig Wolf Runs make everything so deadly.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and Offline
Post by: Zirene on April 21, 2013, 01:40:05 PM
UB Decklist.

Oh New Phyrexia and Innistrad have plenty in store to keep that horror feel. I'll get to work!

Here is your deck Hyorinryu. I tried my best to keep costs down, a few bulk rares(13 to be exact, all cheap except lands). You've chosen the best ability in magic DRAWING CARDS!

Killing your opponents while drawing cardssounded like fun so that the theme for this deck. I tried to keep as many cards from the original list as possible.

Hyorinryu's UB Psychosis Crawler

Creatures 13
1 Fume Spitter (Early Defense, activates Morbid)
3 Perilous Myr (Early Defense, prevent a lot of attack, saccable to Phyrexia's Core)
2 Jace's Achivist (A Blue Suns Zenith would go well here)
2 Skinrender (Kill stuff, decent body)
2 Sturmgeist (Psychosis Crawler #2, evasion and card draw to fuel Crawler)
3 Psychosis Crawler (A hand with two seems really clunky)

Non-Creature Artifacts 9
4 Ichor Wellspring (These Wellsprings are your engine)
2 Mychosynth Wellspring (Don't forget about Phyrexia's Core)
3 Pristine Talisman (Ramping to 5 mana on turn 4 is great for us.The life gain can get out of hand since mana burn is gone)

Non-Artifact Spells 15
4 Ponder (Banned in Modern it is so good)
2 Sign in Blood (BB is kind of demanding on turn 2 and aggro is very fast these days(\)
1 Amass the Components (Blue Sun's Zenith would be way better as BSZ  is an instant speed Fireball if Crawler is out)
2 Tragic Slip
2 Go for the Throat
1 Doom Blade
2 Stoic Rebuttal
1 Mind Control

]Lands 23
4 Drowned Catacombs (the M10, M11 ect Duals are good investments, not necessary but good dual lands that won't do you any damage)
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Phyrexia's Core
2 Nephalia Drownyard (Secondary win condition)
6 Islands
4 Swamps

There is lots of room to change land around, depending on what kind you have. Land bases can be the most expensive parts of some decks. Darkslick Shores, Dimir Guildgate and Watery Graves can replace Evolving Wilds. I would seriously consider those Nephalia Drownyards. Sometime the game stalls up and milling 6 a turn makes people start to play too aggressively. Also you get to see their whole deck and possible mill some kill conditions. Black Sun's Zenith, even just 1 or 2, would make aggro match ups much easier.

Blue Sun's Zenith seems like an all star with Psychosis. If you feel like deviating from the SOM/INN card pool Dimir Charm and other Dimir spells could be useful.

This deck does some cool stuff I think. Draws a ton of cards so you will have a lot of consistency and so much card draw allows you to play only 23 land as your Wellsprings give you land and Talismans give you mana. 15 cards in this deck draw cards and BSZ is a fire ball. I'll give it some games on MTGO and see how it does.

Let me know if you like it and if you'd like a sideboard, that will take some playing to figure out but Clone will be in there as well as Evil twin.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: hyorinryu on April 21, 2013, 09:12:37 PM
That does seem fun. I just need a way to playtest it. Does anyone here know how to use Cockatrice or Magic Workstation? They sound great but I don't know how to use them.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 21, 2013, 09:25:07 PM
last time i checked cockatrice was down or something like that
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: hyorinryu on April 21, 2013, 09:31:04 PM
last time i checked cockatrice was down or something like that

Yeah, they changed hands or something. I think the new one is with woogerworks or something like that. It might be called servitrice now too.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 21, 2013, 11:35:26 PM
That does seem fun. I just need a way to playtest it. Does anyone here know how to use Cockatrice or Magic Workstation? They sound great but I don't know how to use them.
I may be wrong but I think WotC's lawyers have contacted the Cockatrice guys so I might be going away for a while or for good. If you want to sign up for MTGO most of these cards for the UB deck I have more than 4 of so you could play with those. If you sign up shoot me a message and post it here.

The reason behind extort was because im also some what on a budget but I already have most of the cards so far. But I guess I could turn it to a pure flicker deck
I'll work on an extort version later. It will be much slower though.

Also someone come draft with me edibleIt'll be fun

Legacy on right now http://www.starcitygames.com/events/130420_seattle.html. The best and most fun format you can't afford. :(
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 22, 2013, 02:24:29 AM
There is another cockatrice server up and running which I use. I play standard in paper but my deck is rather lacking in a critical catagory namely a complete lack of sphinx's revelations.

I did not prioritize my buys well.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 23, 2013, 01:39:22 AM
There is another cockatrice server up and running which I use. I play standard in paper but my deck is rather lacking in a critical catagory namely a complete lack of sphinx's revelations.

I did not prioritize my buys well.
I picked up my Rev's early online but I only have 1 IRL that I cracked :(. Lucky for me I love Jund.

What are you playing right now?  Speaking of what is everyone playing right now? Let's see some deck lists, any format! Since I played back in regular Ravnica I have most of the Jund dual lands so I've been playing Jund Aggro and Jund. I picked my Liliana's up really early. Traded a Gilded Drake for 2 of them. Otherwise I wouldn't be playing standard, half of the deck fell into my lap.

One of my "good friends" sold all my MTGO account about 4 years ago for tickets and drafted it all away. To pay me back he gave me his brothers collection which was stuff from Fallen Empires to Invasion. I got the way better end of the deal but it sucked man. That why I have the trade fodder I have to get standard decks now a days. Paying for Thragtusks, Huntmaster, Olivia, and 5-7 Planeswalker is just too much money. But I've been playing Jund Aggro lately so I need a few more cards for it.

Here's my Jund Aggro list for Standard (mostly inspired by Cedric Phillips build from the SCG Open in Seattle last weekend

Creatures (31)
4 Arbor Elf
3 Borderland Ranger
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Gyre Sage
3 Thundermaw Hellkite
1 Wolfir Silverheart (This is an experiment and I've been liking the results so far)

Spells (6)
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Bonfire of the Damned
2 Dreadbore

Lands (23)
4 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Overgrown Tomb
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground

Sideboard
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Ground Seal
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Domri Rade (Control Nightmare)
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Thragtusk
2 Golgari Charm (Supreme Verdict what?)
1 Rakdos's Return (Drawing 2 is so bad I won't play more than 1)
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: yuyukos on April 23, 2013, 01:55:15 AM
Playing Reanimator because killing on turn 4 happens.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 23, 2013, 11:39:27 AM
I've been playing Esper control for the past few months and I can't really afford to move out of the colors at all at this point. Anyways the list.

3 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Angel of Serenity
4 Augur of Bolas
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
4 Think Twice
2 Tragic Slip
4 Azorius Charm
2 Devour Flesh
1 Dimir Charm
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Godless Shrine
3 Evolving Wilds
1 Swamp
1 Island
2 Plains
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Watery Grave
2 Syncopate
SB: 2 Witchbane Orb
SB: 3 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 3 Terminus
SB: 2 Detention Sphere
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Negate

Landbase is kinda terrible but I lack the funds to make it what i'd like to make it.

EDIT: Welp signed up for DGM prerelease because why not. Is anyone else going to be going to it? I picked Azorius as my guild
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 23, 2013, 10:22:39 PM
i wish i had money for restoration angels =/
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 23, 2013, 10:24:08 PM
At least you don't need a playset of Sphinx's revelation
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 23, 2013, 10:32:51 PM
my only regret http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p4069.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC1&_nkw=mtg+mana+drain&_sacat=0&_from=R40
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 24, 2013, 03:29:09 AM
At least you don't need a playset of Sphinx's revelation
Yea that and round length are what is keeping me from Esper. I have all the lands and creatures from playing Delver last season but no Rev's. I did open a non foil and foil Jace, AOTS but it was after the vaule dropped. :( No revs cracked yet. Just got 1 in a trade, only 3 more.  :ohdear:

I'm looking forward to this guy Sire of Insanity http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sire+of+Insanity (http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardsearch.php?singlesearch=Sire+of+Insanity) in Jund with more ramp. There could be more Arbor Elfs but I want some Rakdos Keyrunes if this guy is in my list, probably as a 2 of. Just throw haymakers like Planeswalkers, Sire, Thragels and Rakdos's Return every turn.

Ideal scenario they have no instant removal and cards in their hand and you have few cards if any. If you are ahead on board and play a Sire, or if playing him puts you ahead, they have about 2-3 turns to draw an answer or lose. If you have a Kessig Wolf Run gg. I'm getting my set this weekend for sure.

What guild are you for the prerelease? I'm going Gruul since I love attacking and my best finished have always been RG decks. I love this land in every pack idea. Eventually Shock lands will be 2-3 dollars like the M10-13 duals and that's how it should be.

PUTREFY is back yay Jund! I still can't believe they didn't print Mortify. Reanimator would be so amazing with both of those available. All possible hate except Tormod's Crypt would be covered. I also think Council of the Absolute naming Sphinx's Revelation is going to happen a lot. a 2/4 block plenty well. Naming Restoration Agel, playing a resto for 2, then naming Rev would feel pretty dirty. What else looks good from this set?
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: yuyukos on April 24, 2013, 01:26:01 PM
I'll be trading for Council of the Absolute, Render Silent, Voice of Resurgence, Beck/Call, and undervalued Ral Zarek.
Putrefy, Turn/Burn, and Wear/Tear will be quality uncommons.
Overall, this feels like a low value set, similar to GTC.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on April 24, 2013, 03:58:37 PM
I care less about the power of the set for standard/modern/legacy and more for the draft environment. I missed out on drafting original Ravnica block, and RTR/GTC weren't quite the whole "gotta draft 3 color awesome" that original RAV was, so I'm excited for the full RGD draft.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 24, 2013, 04:40:13 PM
Just noticed the Shock Lands will have their original expansion symbol from Dragon's Maze packs, great decision.

Plasma Capture and Gaze of Granite are my sleepers for this set. All the UG counters have been pretty lame but this is an over costed Mana Drain that lets you choose your mana colors. Bant Control made a small splash, with and without Prime Speaker Zegana, if it dones't find a home there then probably won't anywhere. Plasma Capture a 4 or 5 drop and have 9-10 mana next turn to Sphinx's Revelation, doesn't seem too hard to do and you probably win that game.

Gaze of Granite may be a 1 or 2 of in Jund. Pernicious Deeds was a power house back in the day and while this has to payed for all at once. Clearing the board for 6-8 (Esper plays Planar Clensing) isn't horrible in a deck like Jund that can buy so much time. The existence of Abrupt Deck, Dreadbore, and now Putrefy will probably make this unnecessary but without it I think it'd be played a lot.

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch looks ok, but I don't think better than Hellrider. If you build around Exava it could work. Sin Collector could see play in older formats where it would almost always hit. I want to play with this and Momentary Blink.  Obzedat's Aid has a lot potential too. Reanimate anything is dangerous (Omniscience or Nicol Bolas) and Becon of Unrest saw a little play but this is miles better.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on April 24, 2013, 04:53:20 PM
Quote
I love this land in every pack idea. Eventually Shock lands will be 2-3 dollars like the M10-13 duals and that's how it should be.
oh wow maybe now i dont need to spend 100$+ on three color decks just because of lands
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 24, 2013, 05:13:22 PM
oh wow maybe now i dont need to spend 100$+ on three color decks just because of lands
I bet they will end up being just a bit more expensive than the M10-13 duals. The blue ones being the most expensive. I hope one day I open 3 dual lands or just rares, a foil, a regular rare, and a land.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 24, 2013, 11:32:47 PM
oh wow maybe now i dont need to spend 100$+ on three color decks just because of lands

But Rawr

Onslaught Fetches

You know you want them.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: hyorinryu on April 25, 2013, 07:25:08 PM
Zirene, want another deck to play with? This one was the Blue Green starter from Dark Ascension.

Creatures
2 Ghoultree
3 Splinterfright*
4 Armored Skaab
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Wingcrafter
4 Viridian Emissary
2 Elgaud Shieldmate
2 Deranged Assistant

Instants
2 Artful Dodge
3 Tracker's Instincts
2 Nightshade Peddler
1 Boneyard Wurm
2 Acidic Slime

Instants and Sorceries
3 Think Twice
1 Grim Flowering
2 Prey Upon
2 Simic Charm


Lands
8 Forest
8 Island
2 Simic Guildgate
1 Alchemist's Refuge


The price for everything is higher than I'd like, but I have a lot of the stuff already. Italicized stuff is stuff I don't have.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 25, 2013, 09:23:16 PM
I may be able to get a pair of Sphinx's revelations. If I do it'll be weird finally actually having the card that makes my deck actually run :V
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion PRERELEASE WEEKEND!
Post by: Zirene on April 26, 2013, 05:49:02 AM
Prerelease weekend! If you're a Magic player and haven't played in a while these are always the best way to get back into it, or just have a fun weekend playing. These RTR prereleases have been the best with the guild thing, much better than the Helvault promotion IMO. I be looking to pick up some Sire of Insanitys and Master of Cruelties. Ral Zarak will be cheaper in the future I believe, I'll grab those later.
Zirene, want another deck to play with? This one was the Blue Green starter from Dark Ascension.

The price for everything is higher than I'd like, but I have a lot of the stuff already. Italicized stuff is stuff I don't have.
I'd love to! Chronic Flooding turbo mill myself is a really fun strategy. I'm going to use try to use the "fill the graveyard" theme to the fullest. Boneyard Worm feels like Tarmogoyf when the deck is really churning. I remember a bad beats story involving Artful Dodge and Ghoultree from a prerelease, games 1 and 2 to take the match. That's a nice 2 card kill.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Jam-Kiske on April 26, 2013, 05:56:38 AM
HI HELLO. I have some random cards basically from cards my friends didn't want, and I've meaning to try to see what I can come up with from them, but I haven't had the time.

Perhaps if I have the time I can post the list of everything and you guys can give me some advice? I dunno what the heck I'm doing so... It's 3 boxes of set decks and some random stuff I believe, so there should be enough bases to build off of.

I'm sure if I went to the game store they'd help me out cuz when my roommate went and mentioned she was just starting they gave her free cards and a box but... I can't get there without hitching a ride anyway bluh. Plus I'm busy tomorrow night so I can't just go creepily watch my friends at Friday Night Magic...
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 26, 2013, 03:09:08 PM
Is it mostly old or new stuff? Hopefully newer, Magic wasn't a very beginner friendly game 13 year ago when I started played. If you want post what you have I'll see what can be made from it, but typing out your whole collection might take a while. Unless you just started playing then maybe that's possible.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 26, 2013, 06:02:59 PM
Okay I have 2 copies of Sphinx's Revelation.

It's time to be land screwed or flooded every game at FNM tonight.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 26, 2013, 08:35:54 PM
Is it just me or does Ral Zarek look like he is rubbing his nipples? I really can't see what else he could be doing, holding on to some straps like if you had a back pack on maybe.
Okay I have 2 copies of Sphinx's Revelation.

It's time to be land screwed or flooded every game at FNM tonight.
Rev makes land floods good, especially with win condition lands!
The first time you Rev into another Rev it feels so good. If you're not immediately dead you've pretty much won (except other Esper decks).
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 27, 2013, 04:48:52 AM
Okay I went 2 and 3 at FNM but it was more from my poor play and not much from mana screw. I managed to pick up a pair of shocks from trading my Angel of Serenity so as a whole I think my deck is much stronger now. I also changed my sideboard a little off of some suggestions I got elsewhere.

3 Nephalia Drownyard
1 Ghost Quarter
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Augur of Bolas
4 Snapcaster Mage
3 Restoration Angel
4 Think Twice
2 Tragic Slip
4 Azorius Charm
4 Supreme Verdict
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Godless Shrine
1 Swamp
1 Island
2 Plains
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Watery Grave
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Detention Sphere
1 Murder
1 Terminus
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
2 Sphinx's Revelation
1 Dissipate
SB: 1 Witchbane Orb
SB: 2 Tormod's Crypt
SB: 2 Terminus
SB: 1 Detention Sphere
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Negate
SB: 2 Dispel
SB: 1 Evil Twin
SB: 1 Oblivion Ring
SB: 1 Psychic Spiral

I can't wait to get some use out of Evil Twin as for Esper Mirror I am not worried about that at all in my local meta because I am like the only one I have seen playing Esper control at my lgs.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Jam-Kiske on April 28, 2013, 04:12:33 AM
Is it mostly old or new stuff? Hopefully newer, Magic wasn't a very beginner friendly game 13 year ago when I started played. If you want post what you have I'll see what can be made from it, but typing out your whole collection might take a while. Unless you just started playing then maybe that's possible.
I have no idea?
One box says copyright 2005 and the others say 2006. That's all I got.
I don't mind just making a long list, but it wouldn't be till like a week or so probably haha
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on April 29, 2013, 07:33:53 PM
Welp I got my playmat now...

So does anyone else have any cards in DGM that caught their eyes? Aside from Ral Zarek (http://magiccards.info/dgm/en/94.html) i'm eying AEtherling (http://magiccards.info/dgm/en/11.html) and Far // Away (http://magiccards.info/dgm/en/127a.html)
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: hyorinryu on April 30, 2013, 03:33:38 PM
As awesome as real is, arent there supposed to be 2 planes walkers per set? I was hoping I would se Kiora atua.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: yuyukos on April 30, 2013, 04:49:54 PM
As awesome as real is, arent there supposed to be 2 planes walkers per set? I was hoping I would se Kiora atua.
The general rule is 5 per block.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on April 30, 2013, 08:57:21 PM
Dragon's Maze is the biggest EDH/Commander set I've ever seen. I don't play those formats much, but I'm glad there is a lot of cards for those EDH players. The art on the gates, how it's panned back more for DGM art and reveals the underbelly of the guild is so cool. Some people think adding the guildgates in lieu of a basic land (or maybe a shock land!) was an after thought to make RGD drafting have enough mana fixing. The Cluestones may have been a late addition. I think it's pretty obvious they've planned the gates. Even the secret code in the gate's flavor text points to that, which was also really cool.

Voice of Resurgence... wow.  They really pushed the power level on this one. Sure Pillar of Flame takes care of him nicely but once that's gone, I think he could be a real powerhouse. I think he will see play in basically any GW deck that isn't a control deck. Prime Speaker Bant probably doesn't want this for example. It's possible this guy and Advent of the Wurm could get a tokens strategy going.

Notion Thief is going to make the Esper Mirror interesting. I'm not really sure what is the best number to play or the best way to deal with him in addition to casting a Rev, but stealing a big chunk of cards on top of a 3/1 Flash seems really strong.

Sire of Insanity feels like just that, insane. If you're ahead on board, you plop this guy down and they don't kill it, gg except top decks. I've been play this aggressive Jund deck for a few weeks now and this guy seems perfect as a curve topper, he might be too expensive though. However, if I power him out with Gyre Sage, it seems almost oppressive for control decks.  It seems too expensive for the main deck and Thundermaw Hellkite is my curve topper right now, both cards are good when the opponent has no instant removal, the Hellkite usually ends the game though. Probably a 1-2 of in the sideboard for now. I'll post my list at the end of this post.

Sin Collector looks very good. 2/1 Duress on a stick is already probably playable but it's a Human and it removes the instant or sorcery, both very relevant for this Standard format. His cost is also lets him come down before most Wrath effects. I think a few copies of this guy slides right into The Aristocrats deck, main or sideboard i'm not sure.

Ascended Lawmage (3/2 Flying Hexproof) might make a splash in some kind of Bant Hexproof Auras deck, but I really hope not as that deck isn't fun to play or play against IMO. Speaking of auras, I think Runner's Bane could be a niche removal option for blue down the road, deals with Boros Reckoner quite nicely.

I feel like there is a home for Lavinia of the Tenth in some kind of aggressive deck as a Falter of sorts, the fact that its ETB ability hits planeswalkers could be relevant to this strategy too. There were UW human decks pre RTR maybe this guy could breath some life into the archtype.  If you can cast this guy against red you probably win, but there are far better 5 and 4 drops to be casting against red right now.

Overall I like the set, not as much as RTR but more than GTC. I also think this falls in the middle on power level, with RTR being the most powerful of the 3 sets in the block. Time will tell on this one but I love multicolored cards, I loved Invasion block and the original Ravnica so what's not to love here!

Creatures 30
4 Arbor Elf
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
4 Gyre Sage
3 Borderland Ranger
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Thundermaw Hellkite

Non Creature Spells 7
1 Dreadbore
2 Mizzum Mortars
2 Domri Rade
2 Bonfire of the Damned

Land 23
4 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Swamp
4 Stomping Ground
3 Rootbound Crag
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Kessig Wolf Run

Sideboard
3 Pillar of Flame (an early nod to Voice of Resurgence)
1 Abrupt Decay
2 Garruk Relentless
2 Golgari Charm (These are so sweet)
1 Zealous Conscripts
2 Thragtusk
2 Ground Seal
1 Sire of Insanity
1 Rakdos Return

If I had to register for an unknown meta this is what I would register. I really like how much mana this deck makes with creatures that are still good in combat. Gyre Sage and Borderland Ranger make sure you can cast your spells. I tried 3 Dreg Mangler over Borderlands but this deck really needs to get to 5-6 mana on time to cast dragon's and overload mortars.

The reason for so many 1 and 2 ofs in the sideboard is unknown meta and it's tough to take much out and still be aggressive.

It was 4 Bonfire but Blood Baron of Vizkopa shuts me down so it's 2 Mizzium Mortars 2 Bonfire for now. I don't think Blood Baron is that good but the few games I tested against it, it was beating if I can't kill after 1 swing. Only the 7 fliers or a big Gyre Sage can rumble with him, but again I think Obzedat is so much better that I don't know why you'd play this guy unless it's a mana issue.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Tamashii Kanjou on May 01, 2013, 08:24:06 AM
The Commander player in me is screaming out to get a fat pack once I have the money; I have so many ideas I want to throw around!

Speaking of Commander, with the fact they released the 'Commander Arsenal' last year, and all these Commander-esque cards in the whole Ravinca block, I'm sort of hoping they'll announce new Commander decks at some point. They have made reference to them every so often, so surely it's only a matter of time. Plus, it would make sense with all of these, well, ridiculous releases; as far as certain cards go. XD
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 02, 2013, 12:48:56 AM
someone at school told me there was a one mana instant poison card out there. anyone recall the name of the card? would go pretty well with my isocron scepter deck
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on May 02, 2013, 01:51:05 AM
someone at school told me there was a one mana instant poison card out there. anyone recall the name of the card? would go pretty well with my isocron scepter deck
It's always nice to see people doing non-broken stuff with Isocron Scepter. I used to play an Orim's Chant scepter deck in Extended a loooong time ago that had to be miserable to play against.

There's two instants that cost B I can think of but they work differently. There is Tainted Strike that gives a creature +1/+0 and Infect until EOT. There is also Virulent Wound that give a creature a -1/-1 counter and if it dies this turn it's controller get a Poison counter. Tainted Strike on a stick seems good. Tainted Strike is from Scars of Mirrodin Virulent Wound is from Mirrodin Besieged, both are common.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 02, 2013, 01:58:40 AM
Quote
Orim's Chant scepter
uhhhhh sureeeeeeee i dont do anything broken (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=107315)  :smug:
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Firestorm29 on May 02, 2013, 07:19:13 AM
Ugh, Isocron Scepter... I've seen that thing do too much nightmares, like doom blades, Tribute to Hunger, Fire/Ice... though the Fire/Ice one was pretty cool.

Now I do happen to own some decks of my own :3


I'll edit those in once I make up the lists for them.

My first deck is a red/blue that I pretty much made from scratch and have modified over time:

4 Iron Myr
2 Perilous Myr
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Myr Galvanizer
1 Darksteel Myr
3 Palladium Myr
1 Treasure Mage
1 Argent Sphinx
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Hellkite Igniter

2 Silent Departure
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Red Sun Zenith
1 Izzet Charm
3 Think Twice
2 Traitorous Blood
1 Sleep
1 Essence Backlash
1 Cerebral Eruption

1 Chimeric Mass
1 Voltaic Key
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Prototype Portal

1 Chandra, the Firebrand

9 Mountain
12 Island
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Steam Vents

I'll post my others later, my battery is running rather low right now... ^^;
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: hyorinryu on May 02, 2013, 02:13:29 PM
Ugh, Isocron Scepter... I've seen that thing do too much nightmares, like doom blades, Tribute to Hunger, Fire/Ice... though the Fire/Ice one was pretty cool.

Now I do happen to own some decks of my own :3


I'll edit those in once I make up the lists for them.

My first deck is a red/blue that I pretty much made from scratch and have modified over time:

4 Iron Myr
2 Perilous Myr
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Myr Galvanizer
1 Darksteel Myr
3 Palladium Myr
1 Treasure Mage
1 Argent Sphinx
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Darksteel Sentinel
1 Myr Battlesphere
1 Hellkite Igniter

2 Silent Departure
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Red Sun Zenith
1 Izzet Charm
3 Think Twice
2 Traitorous Blood
1 Sleep
1 Essence Backlash
1 Cerebral Eruption

1 Chimeric Mass
1 Voltaic Key
1 Elixir of Immortality
1 Prototype Portal

1 Chandra, the Firebrand

9 Mountain
12 Island
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Steam Vents

I'll post my others later, my battery is running rather low right now... ^^;

If you do fire/ice, can you choose which one to do, or do you have to choose the same one each time?
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Pesco on May 02, 2013, 02:46:44 PM
You choose the half. That's why is was so powerful.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 02, 2013, 03:25:31 PM
Quote
doom blades
why would i use doom blades? (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368491)
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Amraphenson on May 02, 2013, 08:01:16 PM
because no red.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 02, 2013, 08:29:20 PM
because no red.
iscrons dont need to follow the original cost of the card. its just 2 colorless mana and you cast it. If there is a kicker you can pay it to activate it, but overload is a no go. with dual cards you can activate either side when you cast it with iscoron scepter but at least one side must be a 2 mana instant so you can imprint it. also point was theres worse out there then doom blade or fire/ice

Quote
1 Myr Galvanizer
i was thinking why you only had one but then i realized there isnt much you can do with infinite myr mana in your deck :V
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Rikter on May 02, 2013, 10:09:26 PM
Okay so i'm up to my 3rd Sphinx's Revelation and have a pair of AEtherlings and Far // Away preordered.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Firestorm29 on May 03, 2013, 05:59:48 AM
i was thinking why you only had one but then i realized there isnt much you can do with infinite myr mana in your deck :V
Could always prototype portal more if I really needed it  :D

Speaking of Myrs, I do have a blue/white tribal Myr:

4 Myr Servitor
2 Perilous Myr
2 Gold Myr
3 Hover Myr
2 Myr Retriever
1 Myrsmith
2 Palladium Myr
2 Myr Propagator
2 Shimmer Myr
3 Myr Galvanizer
1 Lodestone Myr
1 Myr Battlesphere

1 Genesis Chamber
2 Bladed Pinion
1 Semblance Anvil
1 Myr Reservoir
1 Myr Matrix
1 Myr Turbine
1 Mirrorworks

3 Stoic Rebuttal
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Detention Sphere
1 Bonds of Quicksilver
1 Tempered Steel
1 Growing Ranks
1 Counterbore
1 Touch of the Eternal

1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Elspeth Tirel

9 Plains
10 Islands
1 Esper Panorama
1 Crystal Vein

The deck is a few over 60, and I think I'm missing a Myrsmith. Other than that, I really like this deck quite a bit. It gives me lots of options and I can keep mana open for counters and if I find nothing worthy of a rebuttal, I can always just dump it into token making.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Tamashii Kanjou on May 04, 2013, 11:43:31 PM
So does anyone else have any cards in DGM that caught their eyes?

Actually, I had a couple to watch out for; if only because I enjoy making them work. (And having fun, as you do.)

So, in a strange twist of fate, I got hold of a Fat Pack today; it was the last one in store. No really, it was the only one sitting there. (The shop had held a Magic draft tourny earlier today, so we were very lucky to get it.) We split the cost of it (money troubles and what not) and opened it at home. 3 Mythics out of 9 boosters; certainly best ratio out of all my Fat Packs so far. The mythics included : Legion's Initiative (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369066), Progenitor Mimic (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369001), and Master of Cruelties (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368981). The latter two I had been eyeing up during the previews; so imagine my joy opening them up.

All in all, very much worth it. Also got a red dice with green numbers, which has been dubbed the Yuuka dice; even more smiles for me.

So yeah, looking forward to some fun building shenanigans. Black/Red for the first time since I built a Vampire deck and gave it to Puppy... who then it made it her main deck and came 6th in a tourny with. (Amusingly enough, losing to me in the final round of matches. Imagine Puppy's reaction on that announcement~ :V )
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on May 06, 2013, 07:37:34 AM
If you're playing Return to Ravnica limited, I'd like to point out an unusual card interaction that doesn't come up often, as a card like Turn // Burn (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369080) (makes a creature 0/1 and loses all abilities) hasn't seen print or play in a long time. This interaction will occur a lot in RTR limited, as Evolve and Scavenge put +1/+1 counters on stuff all the time. Counters still apply to increases in Power and Toughness after Turn has resolved. Three times I've seen people either waste Turn // Burn (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369080) or lose a creature in combat because they don't know that the +1/+1 counters still increase the P/T of a creature. I can easily see how people make this mistake, it's not an obvious interaction. Just think of the counters as independent of the card. Honestly the only reason I knew this is from playing with Humility (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=4881) for so long.

I didn't make it out to the card store this weekend since I have finals this week but I did watch some coverage. It seems like, for the time being, G/B/X is where you want to be in Standard. Junk (G/B/W) or Jund (G/B/R) would be my choice going forward right now, and I'm in the process of acquiring the cards for Junk Reanimator now. Early in formats, where decks to beat and tiers aren't established, do something powerful and proactive if you can. Reanimating a creature is powerful, Sire of Insanity (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369068) is powerful, Burning-Tree Emissary (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366467) into any 2 drop is powerful, Boros Reckoner (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366385) into Blasphemous Act (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=222206) is still powerful ect.

Has anyone found a home for Voice of Resurgence (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368951) yet? This card seems so powerful I just don't know where to put it yet.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Tamashii Kanjou on May 06, 2013, 10:07:58 AM
Has anyone found a home for Voice of Resurgence (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368951) yet? This card seems so powerful I just don't know where to put it yet.

My initial thought when I saw it during the previews was 'Populate decks are going to love you.' More so when you realise it's not a legendary.
After that, any deck that can spawn tokens or play a lot creatures would benefit too; players who want quick decks full of 3 mana or less creatures would scoop it up. Heck, since it's green/white, a Sun Titan (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=241833) would be fun just in case anything bad happened to it; but we're talking more mana for that. And if you have a Populate deck built properly enough, you shouldn't need him. :V
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Yukarin on May 06, 2013, 01:50:40 PM
my god dual lands like glacial fortress are so expensive goddamit

also i'm having fun with my bant control deck still which is pretty nice. i'm fed up with playing aggro
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on May 09, 2013, 06:52:31 AM
Well it looks like Slivers (http://mythicspoiler.com/m14/) are making a return in M14. I hope they are competitive, I know players love tribal decks. That Shadowborn Apostle (http://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/shadowborn-apostle/) could be a popular card too. Relentless Rats (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205082) was a big hit, as it allows players to break a fundamental rule of the game (only 4 copies of a card), which is always exciting. I don't think it will be but who knows, maybe a quick Griselbrand (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=239995) is good enough.

I think Voice of Resurgence (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368951) has found its first home. It looks like Bant Flash could be a very strong deck once the metagame is established. Matt Costa played an interesting list this weekend with Voice in it, here is his updated list from an article today.

Creatures (10)
2 Restoration Angel
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Voice of Resurgence

Spells (25)
1 Runechanter's Pike
4 Advent of the Wurm
4 Azorius Charm
2 Rewind
2 Selesnya Charm
3 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Syncopate
4 Thought Scour
3 Unsummon

Lands (25)
1 Island
4 Breeding Pool
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Hinterland Harbor
1 Moorland Haunt
3 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden

Counterspells and Voice put the opponent in a really awkward position. Either play on your turn and risk having spells countered and letting your opponent untap with you tapped out or make tons of tokens for your opponent. Advent of the Wurm (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369036) and Runechanter's Pike (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244681) also let you kill people out of nowhere.
Title: Re: Magic: the Gathering Online and General Magic Discussion
Post by: Zirene on May 18, 2013, 12:51:34 AM
Pro Tour Dragon's Maze (http://www.twitch.tv/magicprotour) is on right now through the weekend. There have been a few good games today and since the format Return to Ravnica block constructed and Return to Ravnica limited, this is the first time both of those have seen tournament play so everything is going to be new.

Jace, Architect of Thought is looking like a key card. It's ok in Standard but it's +1 ability is WAY better than it is in standard, so I think his vaule will go up with block season rolls around.

E: and Melissa Del Tora is playing right now. She's awesome she has a poker face like no one I've ever seen, and isn't a pun, she really is unreadable.
Title: Re: General Magic Discussion Pro Tour Dragon's Maze Streaming this Weekend
Post by: yuyukos on May 18, 2013, 03:22:19 AM
There isn't a block season under the current scheduling. Block constructed really only sees play at its 1 PT and occasionally as a MOCS format on MTGO.
Title: Re: General Magic Discussion Pro Tour Dragon's Maze Streaming this Weekend
Post by: Zirene on May 18, 2013, 04:10:32 AM
There isn't a block season under the current scheduling. Block constructed really only sees play at its 1 PT and occasionally as a MOCS format on MTGO.

Yea I shouldn't have said season, I meant for MOCS. I was using season as in "the whole block is out and the PT happened, now is when RTR block tournaments will happen". Block is a Magic Online thing for me mostly as it's cheap. I think block is the best EV and has been shown to have the best EV. Not many people spend much time on it but if you do you'll win a lot.

After watching today I saw a lot of UW decks, Bant and Esper control decks. Some had lots of multicolor stuff and some had lots of Renounce the Guilds (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368993). There's a brutally fast Selesnaya deck. There was a pretty sweet 4 color (-red) brew with Deadbridge Chant (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369003) and Maze's End (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369038) acting as a Thawing Glaciers (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=159106). Then just filled it wth and all kinds of good stuff.

Very diverse block format compared to the last one that had about 2-3 decks because mana fixing is so much better in RTR. There is even a few people playing the 10+ gate Maze's End (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369038) deck, one is Alexander Hayne who won a Pro Tour.

I'm not going to focus on it till after this 5k but I will after for online purposes.
Title: Re: General Magic Discussion Pro Tour Dragon's Maze Streaming this Weekend
Post by: Parallaxal on May 22, 2013, 02:55:14 AM
I think Zhur-Taa Druid is fast becoming my new favorite card. It just does everything I want out of a 2-drop. It ramps me into awesome 4-drops on turn 3 and pings the opponent down relentlessly while fueling an ungodly Clan Defiance or something.
Title: Re: General Magic Discussion Pro Tour Dragon's Maze Streaming this Weekend
Post by: Zirene on May 23, 2013, 05:08:11 AM
I think Zhur-Taa Druid is fast becoming my new favorite card. It just does everything I want out of a 2-drop. It ramps me into awesome 4-drops on turn 3 and pings the opponent down relentlessly while fueling an ungodly Clan Defiance or something.
He also plays very well Burning-Tree Emissary (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366467). I feel like there's some sort of turbo ramp strategy out there with this guy, Farseek (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=87970) and Gyre Sage (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366289). Maybe accelerating into a quick Ruric Thar (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369025) or Sire of Insanity (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=369068) would be strong, both of them end games quickly if unanswered. A few Clan Defiance (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366468) would be a beating but Bonfire of the Damned (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bonfire%20of%20the%20damned) (Bonfire's price has halved in the last few months) might just be better, although Clan Defiance (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=366468) is better at going to the dome and is more reliable.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on May 25, 2013, 03:22:52 AM
Oh yes, I cannot ask for a better turn 2 than Burning-Tree Emissary into Zhur-Taa Druid (unless it's multiple Burning Tree Emissaries). Throw in a Ghor-Clan Rampager or a Deadbridge Goliath on turn 3, and you've got yourself a fun time.

I originally wanted to play the Druid in some sort of ramp deck, but right now it's doing fine work in a more lean aggro/midrange deck. Just accelerating out that big 4-drop on turn 3 is great, and the extra damage he gets in over the course of the game is crucial when backed up by burn to the face.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Pesco on May 25, 2013, 07:43:14 AM
But Para, when you do that, you empty your hand into topdeck mode. What if the other guy has a little ramp and plays a board sweeper?
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on May 25, 2013, 08:07:04 AM
You obviously have to always be assessing your opponent and playing around likely threats/answers. You have to be able to gauge whether the "what if" you're asking is likely or not, and what it would cost you to play around it. There are an endless number of "what ifs" out there, and if you play in fear of all of them, you're never going to win anyway.

If you think they have a wrath, then you're still going to play out enough of your threats and force them to use it. If they have it, then you weren't going to win anyway without playing your threats. If they don't have it, then they die. You still want to put the responsibility on them to have it. There are no wrong threats, only wrong answers. If in doubt, it is always better to pose your threats, because it puts pressure on your opponent to have the answer for it.

Although personally, I've found that the deck has enough reach to still function reasonably well after a wrath, given the mixture of burn, recurring effects (Deadbridge Goliath), and mana sinks.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Pesco on May 25, 2013, 08:12:13 AM
All I'm seeing lately is aggro, midrange and control. Where is the burst damage combo :qq:
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Sixten on May 25, 2013, 01:19:56 PM
Oh hey guys, I'm Sixten, the doujin artist behind the MTG/Toho crossover 4-koma Lotus Cobra is Evil (http://www.houseofsixten.com/hcstaff/?p=2134) (and by extension, the Tamiyo Reisen (http://www.houseofsixten.com/hcstaff/?p=3017) picture Parallaxal used as his avatar). There are also some rather blatant MTG references (http://www.houseofsixten.com/stealth/cirno/lunasa/page027.jpg) in my Toho works as well.

When it comes to playing Magic, I'm partial to ramp strategies. I sometimes joke that Primeval Titan is my wife. For current Standard however, my FNM deck is a fast Selesnya deck. From proxy testing Voice of Resurgence works great in it, often evolving Gyre Sage and Experiment One twice with hardly any effort. Now actually acquiring 4x Voice of Resurgence is not going to be cheap...
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: yuyukos on May 25, 2013, 01:20:25 PM
All I'm seeing lately is aggro, midrange and control. Where is the burst damage combo :qq:
I think A (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368485)+B (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227087)+C (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=240027) is what you're looking for.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Pesco on May 25, 2013, 01:30:57 PM
I think A (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=368485)+B (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227087)+C (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=240027) is what you're looking for.

Nope. The U/R big storm turn kind of stuff is my style.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Zirene on May 25, 2013, 03:01:48 PM
Just about to start round 1 of starcitygames 5k open Dallas. I'm playing a very midrange jund deck so i like my chances. I hope I get on camera and if I do ill let y'all know. Wish me luck I'm gonna need it!
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 25, 2013, 03:21:20 PM
HELL YEA SLIVERS ARE BACK. already have 4 of every sliver in my deck :V(except plague sliver)... its a huge deck and its more like a pile of cards i just play with

also they look pretty cool with that humanoid form of theres
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Parallaxal on May 25, 2013, 04:48:55 PM
Oh hey guys, I'm Sixten.

Oh hi there! Love your work. Lotus Cobra is Evil is hilarious, especially when one can get all the jokes from both sides of each fandom.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Dr Rawr on May 26, 2013, 06:36:38 AM
I got my hands on some booster tutors and considering isocroning them.... i have 5 worldwake boosters too. chances of getting jayce :V
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Zirene on June 04, 2013, 08:56:46 AM
This is post was way longer than I wanted it to be but I tried to trim the fat, so enjoy my tournament report from SCG Dallas even though I didn't do too well. Day 1 I was 2-0 and drew and thought "This is great I'm playing a Jund deck with tons of hate for control main deck and even more in the side!". Nope, I ended up drawing 3 more times due to my opponents playing slow, not illegally slow (except 1 instance) but too slow if your plan is to mill me 3 cards at a time. One round I did call a judge after losing game 1 because he slowed WAY down for game 2. If you suspect your opponent is doing this, just call a judge to watch the match. SCG events have plenty of judges and I explained to him that game 1 took almost 30 minutes and I wanted to make sure we could finish. After that I lost to Bant Hexproof putting me out of day 1 a 2-1-3.

Day 2 was much better. I started 3-0 then lost the mirror match, which is just a haymaker punch fest. He got to his Rakdos's Returns (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?multiverseid=253574) game 1 and 2 faster than I did and that's all she wrote. My next round was interesting, don't be this guy I'm about to describe.

Game one he didn't mulligan and got stuck on 2 land after I killed his mana elf, despite casting a Mulch (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?name=mulch), it happens. So while we are sideboarding he is already starting to bitch about how good his hand was, how good of a player he is, and how I can't possibly win if he doesn't get mana screwed. I used to play sports so shit talking doesn't phase me, in fact I kind of enjoy it because I know he's not going to play his best Magic while on tilt like that, so I just smirked while he complained and just said stuff like "Yea that was pretty unlucky".

Game 2 was basically impossible for him to win my draw was so good. He was playing a WBG Reanimator deck that depends on Unburial Rites (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=227087) and Angel of Serenity (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=253627) to win. I play a turn 2 Ground Seal (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=289156), a turn 4 Slaughter Games (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=290532) naming said Angel, then Rakdos's Return (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?multiverseid=253574) for 3 killing his planeswalker and making him discard the rest of his hand the next turn. This deck won the SCG event the week before and has been tearing up standard lately so I was very ready for it, playing all 4 Ground Seals between main and side and 2 Slaughter Games (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=290532) sideboard as well. Rakdos's Return (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?multiverseid=253574) is a card that seems bad against a deck that wants it's card in the graveyard but I kept the 1 I was playing in to hedge against possible planeswalkers and it's one of those "oops I win" cards that I love so much.

At this point he lost it. He called me a scrub then turned around to his friend who was watching saying something like "can you believe this kid beat me, I never lose to people this bad". So I figured he's on tilt, why not push him over the edge? I asked him "Hey we should play a match of Magic to see who's better... oh wait we just did" then I filled out the match slip and while I was writing the 0 next to the number of games he won I said something like "That was your chance of winning anyway, good try though." He refused to sign the slip and walked off so I called a judge who had to make him come back and sign the slip and gave him a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.

So I'm 4-1 in a 9 round tournament feeling good and then the wheels fell off. I played against the fastest aggro deck in the format (Naya Blitz) and had to mulligan to 4 game one on the play and didn't have a chance. This is one of my best match ups too, my deck is all removal, value creatures, and life gain. Game 2 was close but I drew a few too many lands and he beat me. I didn't do anything like the kid above me, I signed the match slip, shook his hand and said good game and good luck. Next round I played against that damn Bant Hexproof deck again and didn't draw enough of my untargeted removal and died in quick fashion so my day was done. END OF TOURNAMENT REPORT, read below for some random rambling if you don't care about the report.

All in all it was a fun weekend, made some good trades, a few new friends, and got to see some old college buddies. I don't get to play in many large tournaments since I live in Arkansas so it was nice to play in a 500+ person event again. I wore my Touhou shirt the second day and 2 people recognized it, one even ran me down and showed me his super awesome Seiga playmat and I told him about this place so maybe he'll register.

I had two observations from the weekend. First one was Magic players don't seem to smell as bad as they used to. I played in a GP in Dallas during the summer 9 years ago and they booked an event site that was way too small for the 650 that showed. I was only 15 so my mom drove me and some friends down and she usually watches me play but she almost threw up when we walked in there the smell was so bad and she went back to the hotel, so props to Magic players for showering more and using deodorant!

The other was I've noticed there seems to be a lot more women playing competitive Magic than when I started playing. Maybe it has something to do with Jackie Lee winning a Grand Prix and Melissa Del Tora top 8ing a Pro Tour recently, either way I'm glad to see more women playing. I read some where that the DCI (the body that runs Wizards competitive events) said that the amount of women registering with them went up about 3-4x last year than years before. I'd say out off the 500+ people there were at least 20+ girls playing in the event. 10 years ago when I started playing seeing 2 women in the same tournament was unheard of.

Holy crap that was a long post, I'm going to sleep but tomorrow I want to ramble a little about the M14 rules changes (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/248e)!

E: Oh yea the deck I played (http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=56139). The main deck is 1 card off of what I played, the sideboard was a little different but not much. I think it was a good choice, if I ran it back I'd play the same deck with a few changes.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Yukarin on June 04, 2013, 04:06:45 PM
seiga playmat

need pictures please

Also I'm planning to build a Naya deck but my wallet's dying.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Zirene on June 05, 2013, 11:12:09 PM
Nope. The U/R big storm turn kind of stuff is my style.
Unfortunately I heard Mark Rosewater say in an interview that they had a list of rules for making cards in the R&D room. The number one rule was "Don't print any more cards with storm". Legacy and Vintage are really your only options for storm combo now. Seething Song (http://seething song) and all the good cantrips are banned in modern so I think storm combo isn't coming back any time soon, if ever.

Honestly while I'm ok with that, I think that WotC could come up with something like storm, I'm just not sure what it would look like. Decks like Legacy Dredge and Storm aren't fun to play against (WotC has said many times that they regret dredge). Dredge obviously isn't working the way they wanted it to, it was supposed to be a draw back. The only dredge card that they got right is Life from the Loam (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89001). The way dredge plays the cards might as well be blank except for the Dredge 6 part of it. Anyway playing against those decks you sit there while your opponent plays some other non-Magic solitaire like game and if you don't have a Force of Will (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/details.aspx?name=force%20of%20will) or quick graveyard hate, you lose. Non interactive Magic is what they are trying to get away from, that's why they've been printing such powerful creatures and midrange spells lately, so people can play interactive Magic.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Zirene on June 06, 2013, 04:04:49 AM
seiga playmat need pictures please
I really wanted to take one but pairings just got posted and they were going nuts with people not getting to their seat on time. Usually it's 3 minutes but I saw someone get a game lose for sitting down at  2:30. I don't know the specifics, as I was playing a tough match up, but I thought they were a bit harsh on that. He didn't appeal it (that's something a lot of people don't know about) and should of. Even his opponent, who obviously benefited, was like man I thought it was three minutes too are you sure its really a game loss? Love seeing sportsmanship like that among player, however he knew he had the game win so take it as you will.
Also I'm planning to build a Naya deck but my wallet's dying.
Voice of Resurgence (http://store.channelfireball.com/products/search?query=Voice+of+Resurgence) is the main culprit, that site has only one 1 for $55. After playing against the card for a while, it's bonkers goodl. It's the new Tarmogoyf (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=136142). I was going nuts when I opened it and a Blood Crypt in the same pack. And of course the lands are expensive as they are almost all rare. I might play it if I can get the other three voices because I played this Zoo (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=52468) in original ravnica at that States and the rest isn't too much.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion
Post by: Zirene on July 25, 2013, 07:31:04 PM
I seriously considered making a new topic but this topic has a lot of information in it and I don't want to be a Necro bumper, but I feel this is better way to do it. Tell me if I'm wrong.

Anyway the reason I want to go on a rant is Magic is going through a rules change, some very significant ones and I want to discuss those. If no one is really interested that's ok but I felt it would be nice to let you guys know about the rules changes, how they will impact gameplay, and how I feel about them.

So here is the article (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/248e) from Wizards that explains the rules changes in general, it's pretty long so I want to condense it here. I'd love to hear what you guys think about it because I think they are all good for the game in the long run. There's was "The sky is falling" when combat damage was no longer on the stack. The legend rule change to what it is now was another "The sky is falling". Wizards is a hell of a company(and my dream Job), they know what they're doing.

Change 1 "The Legend Rule"
Before the M14 rules changes, if you played a legendary permanent or Planeswalker with the same name, both would die due to state based effects, it happens immediately. Now with the M14 rules changes both players can control the same legendary permanent or Planeswalker. This is MASSIVE, I can't overstate how much this changes the game.

The best Planeswalker ever Jace, the Mind Sculptor (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jace,+the+Mind+Sculptor) if your opponent played one first and you played your own to kill their's, yea you're down a few cards but you're at board parity hopefully. Now If I play Jace first and they follow up with one, they are MORE far behind than if he killed both of ours. I get 1 more activation of my Planeswalker, and the nature of Planeswalkers is the more they are in play, your chances of winning go up FAST.

I want to present another change that affects the Legend rule. For example, your opponent has 2 creatures on board and you really want to kill them both. Let's say I have a Liliana, of the Veil (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=235597) in play and one in hand that I can cast. Before the new Legend rule, if I -2 Sacrifice a creature and she doesn't die, I can't play my other Liliana because they would both die. Now with the M14 Legend rule if you control 2 Legendary permanents you choose 1 of them and sacrifice it. You can choose either the new or old one. So with M14, I -2 Sacrifice a creature, play my new Liliana and choose the old one the sacrifice, and now I have a fresh Liliana.

As you can see this is a big change to how the game has been played for almost 7 years. This is the most important rules change and has made my matches much more mentally intensive when I can't just answer their Legend or Planeswalker with my own.

There are more examples to get into but I want to keep this brief so I'm moving on.

Rule Change 2: Sideboards in Constructed Tournaments.
Before the rules change. Your deck could be 60 cards or more and your sideboard 0 or 15 cards. Under the new rules the sideboards don't need to be 15 cards. For example I could present a deck with 62 cards and 13 cards in the Sideboard.

This does two things. The first thing it does is prevent unnecessary game losses by forgetting to sideboard out 1 card and present an illegal deck which is a game loss, this changes makes that no issue and it's a good change. It also opens up a small window for strategy also. For example you know your playing a bad match up and you need a good draw to win. It might be worth it to sideboard in 2-3 cards to increase the spell density in your deck. Yes you will have a lower chance of drawing the necessary lands, but if you do you have 3 spells more than they do and that could win you the match up. It's going to be gutsy, but an option. I also think siding in 1 card will be an option some people consider. I'm going to post a chart of what is a legal deck to present and an illegal deck to present


Game 1   Subsequent Games   Legality
60/15   60/15   Legal
60/15   61/14   Legal
60/15   75/0   Legal
75/0   60/15   Legal
60/10   63/7   Legal
250/15   60/205   Illegal
60/15   50/25   Illegal
As you can see this opens up new strategies and gives players more options, which is great.

The next two are kind of fluff but I'll give a short description.
Rules change #3 Indestructible Promoted to Keyword and #4 to Keyword Unblockable Demoted to Definitely Not a Keyword

#3 From the article, "I frequently get asked why indestructible isn't a keyword. The answer has always been because it doesn't need to be. It's just an English word with a definition, slightly modified for use in Magic." Basically if you know nothing about Magic and I tell you this is indestructible, you'd understand it can't be killed (well except Exile). It just a simplification for players. Good change! A little more info on a case.

Case 1: A permanent is made indestructible by another spell or ability (for example, Withstand Death (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=withstand%20death)), and then it loses all abilities. Previously, it would still be indestructible, because that was just something true about the permanent. It wasn't an ability the permanent had. With the change, the permanent will no longer have indestructible.

#4 Keyword Unblockable Demoted to Definitely Not a Keyword. Before M14 cards would say there were "Unblockable". Now instead they will read "can't be blocked." It will function the same way.
That's all there is to it.

#5 Playing Additional Lands
This change is bigger than 3 and 4 but not 1 and 2. Basically it simplifies the number of land drops you get per turn. I'll give and example. Say I have an Oracle of Mul Daya (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185737) in play. Before the rules change If I had and Oracle of Mul Daya (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185737) in play, I could play 2 lands and if they killed my Oracle of Mul Daya (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185737) I could play another one and play a 3rd land.

Under the M14 rules the game checks constantly for your allowed "land drops" take the above situation. When I have Oracle of Mul Daya (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185737) in play I am allowed what is called "2 land drops". They kill my Oracle of Mul Daya (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=185737) and I play another. The game checks again for how many land drops I have and it's only 2 so I can't play the 3rd lands.

That's basically it. Let me know if you guys like this kind of stuff, this was big so I wanted to share it. If you want me to help with decks, talk about the game in general, or the different formats, I'd love to, I love this game. I want to know what you guys what me to do. If you want me to record some Constructed and Draft video to watch I'd love to, I stream a little. I hope you'd enjoy my commentary and content, I've been playing for 14 years and I've rededicated myself to this game. I got second in an Invitational qualifier that I wanted to win so bad, the real kick in the nuts what instead of the $250 travel voucher they give out, he got cash.

Anyway that's my rant. I hope it's not too long but these are big changes.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: Firestorm29 on July 27, 2013, 02:08:17 PM
That Legend rule change is really wow for me... being at the wrong side of Eldrazi and not being able to use something like Clone to remove them or other planeswalkers is just nasty. Also nerfs Mirror Gallery (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74555) quite a bit.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: Rikter on July 27, 2013, 04:39:02 PM
Took advantage of those new sideboard rules and the Planeswalker uniqueness change last night at FNM. I sided in my second copy of Jace, Memory adept every game and one I casted my second copy just to mill 20 in one turn.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: Edible on July 27, 2013, 05:39:55 PM
That Planeswalker unique change is huge and certainly upends more than 7 years of tradition.  If it's for Legends as well, that's a rule that has been in place since 1994.  This is as big as allowing more than one Legend in a deck in the first place.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: Zirene on July 28, 2013, 07:05:29 PM
Have you guys seen these new blacked-out, foil M14 Planeswalkers (http://www.landivision.net/images/mtg-sdcc.png) they sold at Comic Con? They look so cool and already are worth a ton of cash. I don't like the way they went about distributing them in such a limited amount at just 1 event, but I'm glad they're out there either way.
That Legend rule change is really wow for me... being at the wrong side of Eldrazi and not being able to use something like Clone to remove them or other planeswalkers is just nasty. Also nerfs Mirror Gallery (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74555)
I like it so far, mostly because cards like Phantasmal Image (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220099) and other clones are no longer such a good catch all Legend killers. Hopefully they'll print something that deals with those hard to deal with Legends like Eldrazi and Thrun, The Last Troll (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214050). I bet they'll reprint Hero's Demise (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=74465) or something like it that can deal with Hexproof and other protection. This new change makes Evil Twin (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=229965) pretty awesome now too.
If it's for Legends as well, that's a rule that has been in place since 1994.
Wow, I guess it's has been 10 years since they changed the Legend rule, I feel old :ohdear:. The original Legend rule was when a Legend came into play, the second one died due to state based effects. I never played the Rebels mirror, but when it was the best deck whoever played a Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21271) first won every time, from stories I've heard. Then in 2004 when Champions of Kamigawa came out they changed it to both Legends die since there were so many Legends in that block.

The next block Theros is going to be based on Greek Mythology, which from the artwork they revealed at Comic Con looks amazing. I'm sure there will be a lot of Legendary cards in Theros just like Kamigawa. I can't wait to attack with a Zeus or an Athena.
Took advantage of those new sideboard rules and the Planeswalker uniqueness change last night at FNM. I sided in my second copy of Jace, Memory adept every game and one I casted my second copy just to mill 20 in one turn.
Nice one! I never thought of that. Are you still on Esper Rikter? I'm playing Jund Midrange (http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=57834) right now. My version is a little different, as my local metagame has lots of aggro decks but the core is the same. I'm just praying that Burning Earth (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=370696) doesn't become popular as the only decent answer I've found is Golgari Charm (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=golgari%20charm) and my deck only has 1 basic forest. Luckily I've avoided it so far.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: yuyukos on July 28, 2013, 11:01:17 PM
Quote from: Zirene
Quote from: Edible
If it's for Legends as well, that's a rule that has been in place since 1994.
Wow, I guess it's has been 10 years since they changed the Legend rule, I feel old :ohdear:. The original Legend rule was when a Legend came into play, the second one died due to state based effects. I never played the Rebels mirror, but when it was the best deck whoever played a Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=21271) first won every time, from stories I've heard. Then in 2004 when Champions of Kamigawa came out they changed it to both Legends die since there were so many Legends in that block.

The original legend rule was that if a legend was in play, no other player could even cast a second copy of that same legend. The Lin Sivvi mirrors first pointed out the problem with the rule but the more significant event was PT Venice about 10 years ago and the Akroma vs Akroma matches. The following year with Kamigawa block brought the change to legends SBE killing another legend with the same name.
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: Zirene on July 29, 2013, 01:15:24 AM
I wasn't playing back then but I think we're basically saying the same thing. As I understand it you could still cast the Legend under the original rules, then the spell would fail. "The "legend rule," created back in Magic's earliest days as support for a new creature type?Legend, has long been on the minds of R&D. The rule makes a lot of sense from a flavor standpoint?should you try to summon a Legend that is already on the battlefield, your spell will fail." (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/af31) That sentence is a little vague though, I'm not sure if "fail" means return the card to your hand if you attempted to cast it or put it in your graveyard. Obviously this should almost never come up unless you make a mistake or need a creature in your graveyard for some reason. As far as I know the only time you can't cast a spell is if something like Meddling Mage (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=179547) or a similar effect is in play. But like I said I didn't start playing until 2000 so I might be wrong.

Ah, good ole Onslaught block. I remember following PT Venice coverage, that "Veggies" (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=sideboard/ptven03/t8decks) deck was everywhere. I ended up losing in the semifinals of a PTQ for Venice playing Beasts with Feral Throwback (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=34263) so I could either Provoke or use Contested Cliffs (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=40540) to fight Akroma (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193871). That deck was probably bad with Feral Throwback (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=34263) but I got really, really lucky that day.

Ahhh it feels good to talk about the old days of Magic again somewhere besides MTG Salvation, that place has too many trolls for some reason but it's getting better, thanks guys.

Anyway, have any of you guys ever Cube drafted? If not you're missing out on what, in my opinion, is the most fun format Magic has to offer, and it recently became recognized by Wizards. They Cube Drafted at the Player's Championship last year for the first time. Basically you make your own draft set with whatever cards you want and draft as usual but there can only be 1 copy of a card in the whole pool. Most pools are between 540-720 cards as a 360 card cube would be the same cards every time. The Cube is on MTG: Online 6(I think) times a year and they update it with new cards each time.

Here is a cube list (http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/1223) put together by Justin Parnell, who has been an advocate of cube for a long time so his list is pretty refined. You can mock draft cubes on that website, which is good practice and a lot of fun. The best part is everyone's cube is different. One of the most fun cubes I've drafted was an all commons cube. I've seen combo cubes, a zombie cube, cubes with the Power 9, the possibilities are endless. Here's an example of an insanely good cube deck (http://static.starcitygames.com/www/images/article/072313JParnell02.jpg) from Justin's cube just as an example.

I'm in the process of building a 540 draft cube myself (a tribal cube) but obviously that takes a lot of time and money (although I use print out proxys of expensive cards). I think there's even enough support for a GW Cat tribal deck and if you draft some equipment and a Raksha, Golden Cub (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73569) it could be pretty competitive. What other format can you play a Cat deck in? That actually got me thinking, there's a lot of good Cats in Modern, 12 good 1 drops that can hit for 2. There might be a decent Cat deck out there I'm going to try to find out. Maybe something with Kemba, Kha Regent (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215091) and Konda's Banner (https://www.google.com/search?q=konda's+banner&rlz=1C1DVCJ_enUS450US450&oq=konda's+banner&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j0l3j69i62.2610j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) to turn the kittens into cats and make some 4/4 cats every turn.

Some other cool news, they are doing another round of Commander decks. Instead of doing "Shards" they are doing "Wedges" basically 3 allied colors using WUBRG. Here are two of the generals (http://www.mtgsalvation.com/commander-2013-spoiler.html).
Title: Re: General Magic: the Gathering Discussion BIG Rules Update
Post by: commandercool on July 30, 2013, 12:08:13 AM
Anyway, have any of you guys ever Cube drafted? If not you're missing out on what, in my opinion, is the most fun format Magic has to offer, and it recently became recognized by Wizards. They Cube Drafted at the Player's Championship last year for the first time. Basically you make your own draft set with whatever cards you want and draft as usual but there can only be 1 copy of a card in the whole pool. Most pools are between 540-720 cards as a 360 card cube would be the same cards every time. The Cube is on MTG: Online 6(I think) times a year and they update it with new cards each time.

Here is a cube list (http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/1223) put together by Justin Parnell, who has been an advocate of cube for a long time so his list is pretty refined. You can mock draft cubes on that website, which is good practice and a lot of fun. The best part is everyone's cube is different. One of the most fun cubes I've drafted was an all commons cube. I've seen combo cubes, a zombie cube, cubes with the Power 9, the possibilities are endless. Here's an example of an insanely good cube deck (http://static.starcitygames.com/www/images/article/072313JParnell02.jpg) from Justin's cube just as an example.

I'm in the process of building a 540 draft cube myself (a tribal cube) but obviously that takes a lot of time and money (although I use print out proxys of expensive cards). I think there's even enough support for a GW Cat tribal deck and if you draft some equipment and a Raksha, Golden Cub (http://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=73569) it could be pretty competitive. What other format can you play a Cat deck in? That actually got me thinking, there's a lot of good Cats in Modern, 12 good 1 drops that can hit for 2. There might be a decent Cat deck out there I'm going to try to find out. Maybe something with Kemba, Kha Regent (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=215091) and Konda's Banner (https://www.google.com/search?q=konda's+banner&rlz=1C1DVCJ_enUS450US450&oq=konda's+banner&aqs=chrome.0.69i57j0l3j69i62.2610j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8) to turn the kittens into cats and make some 4/4 cats every turn.

I have a Ravnica cube that's supposed to roughly simulate a Ravnica block draft, although it's only ever been played once so it didn't get nearly enough playtesting to ever become polished. I really should just sell it because it's fairly bulky sleeved and I can never get enough people interested at once to play it.