speaking of that, I've still got plans to brew something ridiculous in U/G, just haven't thought what yet. not sure if it would involve Snapcasters. edit: I did awesome against U/B because my maindeck is built to troll (literally) control decks. even with black sun's zenith, that 2B sacrifice instant, and plenty of the usual U/B control business, he had a ton of trouble dealing with 7 hexproof dudes. Plus, I was drawing very well - all night I was pretty much always ramping 1 or 2 times in the first 3 turns, and hitting critical drops like Garruk and Primeval or Wurmcoil very early.
I'd be willing to buy standard and modern-legal singles off you guys. Can you post your list / prices?
Nah cause when I said I was selling them all for 800, I meant... there was a guy at my door with 800 dollars in his hands. worth more, but too lazy to singles em. My housemate is selling all of his though. http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/clt/2688454870.html
I recently sold pretty much all my Standard and a bunch of Modern stuff, too. Not for lack of competition, the scene has really grown around here, I'd just rather do other things. My life was consisting of work and Magic, and I didn't like that, lol. Still rock EDH though. Omnath, Locus of Mana and The Mimeoplasm ftw.
I'm going to move off most of my standard stuff around January once Modern PTQ season picks up and I get more events to play in. I'd rather have goods for a long-run eternal format and get value from my standard collection well ahead of rotation (next October) before any declines start. Awww. This is why I quit and sold my first collection after 8th grade, ~10 years ago. Is your housemate willing to take offers for individual cards? I see a bunch of stuff I want.
A lot of firsts for me in the past few days. Today was my first 3-0 in Sealed deck (or in any limited format) since I started playing again last July. I had a UB zombie deck with Moan of the Unhallowed, Army of the Damned, Undead Alchemist (never got this guy going), a lot of the blue "exile gy cards" zombies, a bit of removal, some self-milling and flashback effects. I liked the deck a lot.
QUADRUPLE POST BITCHES I'm going to run this exact list tonight. I know it's nothing original, but again it's got my own variations compared to the "stock" version, especially the sideboard, because my meta is shifting back towards aggro (especially UR Delver and GW tokens / generic GW aggro), with the only control I consistently see being UB - and I already dominate that matchup. 25 lands: 4 Rootbound Crag 4 Copperline Gorge 2 Kessig Wolf Run 2 Inkmoth Nexus 1 Ghost Quarter 10 Forest 2 Mountain 17 creatures: 3 Thrun, the Last Troll 1 Birds of Paradise 4 Viridian Emissary 1 Acidic Slime 3 Primeval Titan 1 Wurmcoil Engine 4 Solemn Simulacrum 18 spells: 4 Rampant Growth 4 Garruk, Primal Hunter 1 Batterskull 4 Slagstorm 3 Green Sun's Zenith 2 Red Sun's Zenith SB: 1 Wurmcoil Engine SB: 1 Acidic Slime SB: 1 Viridian Corrupter SB: 1 Tree of Redemption SB: 2 Sword of Feast and Famine SB: 2 Sword of War and Peace SB: 2 Arc Trail SB: 2 Ratchet Bomb SB: 2 Surgical Extraction SB: 1 Blasphemous Act I may swap a few cards in the board for Ancient Grudges, but we'll see. Most likely to go in their favor would be Tree, SOW&P.
Welp. 3-1 with the above. 2-0 against U/w Illusions 0-2 against Kessig Wolf ThRunGrove Ramp (the worst matchup for the above deck is... its own "mirror"! I knew that... just hoped to see more aggro decks instead) 2-0 against UR Delver 2-0 against another UR Delver So... yeah. Tons of blue decks tonight, had to force a lot of stuff down their throats (Thrun, Titans while they're tapped out) to get it done. They were more aggressive blue decks which was fine as I had tons of removal and life gain. They ran out of Innistrad and my prize packs were shit (I got M12).
garruk relentless will help your mirror issues. also, i'll play my u/r list against yours on mws or something if you want.
that'd be fine. I keep changing it up though. went back to Dungrove version on Sunday for a slightly more competitive series. I went 3-2 (all 3 game, close matches) and missed top 4. beat UW Humans, Burning Vengeance, and UB Control. lost to UB Control + Bloodline Keeper (second time in the last week) and RDW.
Worlds in San Francisco this weekend, biiitccchheeesss. I'm gonna go participate tomorrow and Sunday, most likely.
Loving the new Modern Banned/Restricted updates. Nacatl and Punishing Fire, in their own separate but similar ways, were choking off other aggressive strategies and horribly narrowing the format. Tons of things, including tribal aggro and monocolor aggro of all kinds, have just become viable with these two bannings. Suddenly you don't have to justify every decision with "but how do I beat turn 1 Nacatl? Is this better?" or "Shoot, this has 2 toughness, that means it dies to Punishing Fire" or "Well shit, this creature costs (X > 1) mana and doesn't even have 3 power so it can't even trade with Nacatl". Aggro can move out of exclusively Naya. Zoo decks will truly split into large (more Bant-esque) versions and small (Ape/Lion/Lynx) ones, but won't have that lethal medium where they could run Nacatl+Goyf+KOTR+anything and be great.
Just finished my W weenie life gain modern deck. Only tested online so far but finally have all the cards. It's a lot of fun to play. Creatures (21) 2 Figure of Destiny 4 Martyr of Sands 4 Ranger of Eos 4 Serra Ascendant 4 Squadron Hawk 2 Student of Warfare 1 Weathered Wayfarer Enchantments (3) 3 Ghostly Prison Instant (4) 4 Path to Exile Sorcery (7) 4 Proclamation of Rebirth 3 Wrath of God Planeswalker (2) 2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant Land (23) 2 Emeria, the Sky Ruin 4 Ghost Quarter 2 Mistveil plains 15 plains
Yeah, Martyr Proc has been rocking online recently. My mono-green homebrew from this past summer (when the format was still in its infancy) has undergone a ton of changes for the better. It also has a splash. I feel like it is very close to "competitive" but can't say for sure until my shop starts regular Modern tournies again. Old (budget version): New: 21 lands: 14 Forest 4 Verdant Catacombs 1 Temple Garden 1 Pendelhaven 1 Treetop Village 26 creatures + planeswalkers: 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Tarmogoyf 4 Dungrove Elder 2 Eternal Witness 4 Garruk Wildspeaker 13 instants/sorceries: 2 Path to Exile 2 Beast Within 3 Harmonize 2 Primal Command 2 Plow Under Sideboard is incomplete since I don't know what my awful matchups are, but ideas include: nature's claim (and/or krosan grip) additional BW or PTE boseiju kitchen finks OR obstinate baloth cloudthresher if faeries become a thing scryb ranger (good against faeries/merfolk and anything running cryptic command) mindbreak trap (may be too narrow; only for Storm decks) choke against U/x control Acidic Slime or Veridian Emissary, tutorable with Primal Command Vexing Shusher, same as above additional Commands to replace Plows against aggro tormod's crypt OR relic of prog (former is better with goyf or ewit)
I day 2'd, and nearly t64'd, GP Orlando this weekend. Was a fun weekend and my first tournament of the year started well. Beat some pros, Michael Poszgay tried to cheat against me and Gerard Fabiano called a judge, lost to Ben Stark in a heartbreaking game 3, and was constantly at the top tables. Awesome weekend.
Great job man. I don't think I'll be doing anything fancy until a February 25th PTQ here at Superstars. Just simple weekly events until then.
theres a ptq coming up in march. going to tampa in february for scg tampa. pretty stoked on this season.
I don't normally have any reason to discuss my mundane exploits with Bant Birthing Pod from FNM here, but I must say a bit about tonight: Round 1: Faced a guy who's been playing Wolf Run variants for months, and who in fact had Conley's exact list from GP Orlando. He ravaged me. Round 2: I decimated a mono-black infect player. Round 3: I get paired against a guy who, between the previous two rounds, was discussing the Birthing Pod deck he and his friends were building, and so he happened to go into the match knowing my entire deck and sideboard. Eh, whatever. After a few turns I realized he was Grixis Control. Game 1, his Olivia did nasty things to me. Game 2 I wrecked him with stuff like Karn, Mimic Vat, and Sun Titan. Game 3 I was all set to do the same, but we went to time. If I had one more turn it was obvious I was going to kill him. So we signed the match slip and drew. Then I found out he was 0-2 and had been paired up. So... he was already out of prizes anyways and playing for shiggles. If I'd known this, instead of going to 1-1-1 and him going to 0-2-1, I'd have asked for a concession based on the friendly demeanor during the match and the board state obviously in my favor. Whatever, I end up shrugging it off. I can still play for 2-1-1 which is a few packs. Round 4: My match is a Jund Wolf Run deck, not quite Conley's list but definitely using Black Sun and some spot removal. Long game 1, with me out-resourcing him thanks to Mimic Vat. Long game 2, he ends up out-resourcing me. Game 3, I get off to a hot start, gut shot his birds, and keep him off Titan mana for a while, all the time rolling with active Birthing Pod and Mimic Vat. I get to the point where I've got Acidic Slime under Mimic Vat, so the game is fairly locked down. It goes to turns, and people want to close the store, so there's a bit of added pressure. I make a hasty Slime and shoot his SOWAP which was just lying there, instead of his SOFAF that was equipped to a BOP... and then pod my Wurmcoil (which I didn't, but should've to gain life since I was at 5, attacked with) into Elesh Norn. His bird lives, due to equipped sword. I'm at 5 life and he's got Inferno Titan on the board. I pass, he goes, plays another SOFAF. He can't afford to equip, but whatever. In my mind, I'm seeing a board of 2 unblockable damage in the air, and an Inferno Titan that will deal me 3 on attack. Concluding this, I scoop. but motherfuck, I'm bad at Magic his Bird had 0 power. It would not have hurt me. In ADDITION to that, I have a 5-power lifelinking token, which would've put me outside lethal range anyways. So, double-whammy of terrible board awareness on my part.
I hope I don't screw up like that tomorrow. There's a Grand Prix Trial at Channel Fireball (I say that interchangeably with Superstars), Modern format, for Grand Prix Lincoln (Nebraska, I think, lol). First prize is airfare and some byes. I wouldn't go so the byes would be useless, but I'd get cash or credit instead of the airfare. Either way, it'll be a great way to get some grinding practice in against the format. I'll be playing my Bant Dungrove Elder + Planeswalkers deck. Hope it gets there. I don't think I have any auto-loss matchups. The list: // Lands 4 [ZEN] Misty Rainforest 4 [RAV] Temple Garden 4 [DIS] Breeding Pool 4 [ZEN] Verdant Catacombs 1 [LRW] Island (1) 1 [BRB] Plains (9) 5 [8E] Forest (3) // Creatures 4 [M12] Dungrove Elder 4 [FUT] Tarmogoyf 1 [FD] Eternal Witness 4 [CFX] Noble Hierarch 3 [CHK] Sakura-Tribe Elder 2 [8E] Birds of Paradise 1 [M11] Obstinate Baloth 1 [FNM] Qasali Pridemage // Spells 2 [ALA] Elspeth, Knight-Errant 1 [M11] Garruk Wildspeaker 3 [M11] Jace Beleren 2 [LRW] Primal Command 2 [ALA] Bant Charm 1 [M12] Gideon Jura 2 [CFX] Path to Exile 3 [ZEN] Spell Pierce 1 [M12] Oblivion Ring // Sideboard SB: 2 [M11] Obstinate Baloth SB: 2 [8E] Plow Under SB: 2 [MBS] Thrun, the Last Troll SB: 2 [TSB] Tormod's Crypt SB: 2 [CHK] Ghostly Prison SB: 2 [TSP] Trickbind SB: 2 [TSP] Krosan Grip SB: 1 [LRW] Austere Command
you get cash payouts, not airline tickets. took 2nd at an IQ just now. Guy had to have all of his answers to prevent me from finishing him with a war and peace in game 3, BUT it happens. Relic warders and o-rings for days. Got 125 bucks (split the cash/prizes before playing, just played for the invite) and pulled 2 snapcasters. Not a bad 7 days of magic for ole whs.
Good job whs. Looks like I'll be getting back into standard with Dark Ascension, haven't played since pre-Innistrad. Probably the best deck that uses Huntmaster , and I'd like to use Mayor too, I got some Jap foil ones . Maybe a RUG build. Looking forward to it. What are your guys' thoughts on Grafdigger's Cage? Opinions on it seem all over the place, trying to figure out whether to pre-order a set at $8 ea. My initial reaction was $3-4 rare, but I dunno. And there is a GP in Vancouver in June, which I'm pretty stoked for. Biggest event I've been to is a Nat's Q, so it should be quite an experience. Format is Avacyn Restored Sealed, which is fine by me, I don't think I'd be taking the main event that seriously, in any case.
GDC will eternally be a hate card, but probably in the $4-5 range most of the time. Bear in mind that it hates on NO RUG and all green aggro variants (that run GSZ) in Legacy, besides just the dredge and reanimator hate that people initially see out of it.
It's actually a $2 card: http://store.tcgplayer.com/product.aspx?id=13726 and Leyline of the Void hates on fewer decks, and does so essentially in only the classic formats. Grafdigger's Cage hits *anything* involving a tutor, flashback cost, or any kind of reanimation. It is relevant in Standard, Modern, and Legacy. edit: and it actually denies one of its own answers very effectively: you can't flashback Ancient Grudge to take one out.
cage won't be relevant in standard. on a side note, didn't drop a match and split top 4 with my u/b zombie brew. deadfish.dec get there.
vaguely continuing that cage discussion, i was recently told by an RnD member that cage was printed as an immediate hoser to pod. In future league testing pod was wrecking everything, so they printed it to stop pod from continuing its dominance. Only it didn't dominate. Also, this pro tour top8 is spectacular. I've never been more excited.
fuck http://www.superstarsgamecenter.com/?p=2438 San Jose PTQ (for Barcelona, not like I could even go) is this weekend and I'm pretty much at square one. why? my deck / archetype (Bant Aggro-Control) cannot fucking beat Affinity to save its life, and I'll probably see 3+ Affinity decks in the swiss rounds. like, I've been playing / changing / testing this deck for 3 months. I never really put much thought into just how bad that matchup is. steel overseer, arcbound ravager, etched champion, cranial plating, always-active galvanic blasts... god damnit. what beats affinity? faster combo decks, anything that can run ancient grudge and has a decent clock (Jund, Zoo)... blargh. playing mid-range aggro-control is great for having all-around good matchups, especially against traditional aggro like small Zoo, but I can't handle "explosive" decks. if I compromise my deck/sideboard quality, I can load up on match-specific hate. but it just seems so backwards to dedicate 25% or more of a sideboard to 1 matchup. edit: ok, relax, it's not as bad as I thought. I played like 7 more games. if I play patiently, and bring these in post-board: 2 gut shot 2 nature's claim 2 suppression field 2 ghostly prison and just play defense with my 4 planeswalkers, 3 board sweepers, 4 path to exile, 2 bant charm and 3 spell pierce, I can stall them out and win on card advantage, usually following a sweep in which my graveyard recursion guys come back.
PTQ attendance: 163 8 rounds, cut to top 8, but top 32 would get prizes I promptly went 1-3-1 and dropped. I'll post my 75 tomorrow; gotta go do some other stuff. Also, the above post is ironic because first round I stomped Affinity.
My friend and I picked up some cards. The game is incredibly fun, but my issue is how often the cards go obsolete and become "illegal". We like to play for little money, and neither of us are really willing to dump a bunch of money in to it (at least?) once a year. I guess that doesn't matter since we only play with other friends and haven't done any tournaments (at least yet). I think I'd like it more if it was like Yu Gi Oh, which if I remember right they just banned cards that were too OPed. I haven't played that more or less since it came out, so I'm not sure.
cards rotate frequently, and the 'eternal' formats (the ones where cards don't rotate) frequently shift in the meta and have an extremely high entry barrier, cost-wise. however, if you want to play at a competitive level without spending a ton of money, getting good at limited is something you can look at. drafts cost 12-15 bucks a piece and everyone starts on relatively level playing grounds, so it's not like the guy who has everyone standard staple is going to have an advantage against you. however if you just want to play casual then there are no formats, just build decks with your friends and have fun.
it's pretty surprising how much effort is put into each set specifically for the casual player and kitchen table magic, so you can play and have a ton of fun just doing that. however me, norbert, cheez and i'm sure a few others play pretty competitively in both constructed and limited so we're not going to be the best people to ask questions about in terms of casual magic.
I am fairly competitive but casual as well. I have a Cube, a Type 4 stack, and a bunch of EDH decks, but I still play FNM pretty much every week and PTQs/GPs when I can. norbert88
aye here's the archetypes that top 8'd my PTQ: 1st: UW Tron2nd: Affinity3/4th: Zoo, UW Tron5th-8th: RG Aggro, Affinity, UR Faeries, Mono U Faeries
did horrible in the scg event, but i ran back a win a box and crushed people while simultaneously fixing up my deck list for the r/g meta. also, have a modern deck for the ptqs in a few weeks get there.
Yeah my friend and I have been basically just playing at my place. We got some other people on it, too. I may look in to lower level tournies.
