I feel as though Wizards should toward the end of a standard season release successful decklists throughout the format in their FFL. It'd be incredibly interesting to see the directions they thought the format would go and any oversights they had and ultimately if we missed anything during the course of the season.
This thought came about for me when I began wondering: "I wonder what decks did well for them they didn't include Thragtusk or was Zombies?" I'm sure they existed or else Thragtusk may not have seen print, but, it'd be interesting to know considering how tough it is to make that kind of deck now.
Let's not forget the famous instance of during the Zendikar-Scars standard where they said the deck rampaging in the FFL was a mono-G Infect, while they had no idea that Caw-Blade could be an issue.
Didn't they also think UB Zombies was going to be a huge mover? I know they have a much smaller pool of players to pull ideas and theories from but some of the stuff I've read about this FFL seems ridiculous.
I think people miss the point of the FFL. Sure, they had dominant decks that end up being horrible once players get the cards (like Burning Vengeance) but they are also playing with versions of the cards with different numbers. Who knows what the costs on the things they were playing with were, or what other cards ended up being scrapped for whatever reason?
They missed: Valakut, Cawblade, SplinterTwin and UWDelver. Do you really care what they played? The 4 best decks in the last two years all went undetected.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I write for Channel Fireball now! Read my CFB articles here. Read my Dies to Removal articles here. Read the definitive Red Deck Wins Primer here.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
Didn't they also think UB Zombies was going to be a huge mover? I know they have a much smaller pool of players to pull ideas and theories from but some of the stuff I've read about this FFL seems ridiculous.
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
I think one of the ways to tell what FFL decks were doing well is by checking out the promos that are meant for Standard. For instance, Glistener Elf was one, even though mono-G Infect never really took off. This obviously isn't an exact science, since they'll be able to make some changes and adapt once a meta is settled, but I'm pretty sure they have to make the decisions of what cards to promo-ize quite a bit in advance.
Ah, again the ragging at FFL. Who is to say Burning Vengeance didn't initially deal 3 damage but then got scaled back? Who is to say Stoneforge Mystic wasn't costed at 2WW first? There's a lot of tweaking done after the FFL plays. Who knows, if they hadn't done a thing we might've had something else dominating the game completely and in an even more oppressive way. We can't be sure though.
Also, everyone is posting based on hindsight. I call BS on everyone claiming they KNEW from the moment it was spoiled that Valakut, Delver, SplinterTwin and CawBlade would be insta-tier-1 materia. Mostly because most of those decks didn't have all their toys available immediately. A card appearing mostly innocent at first can be broken later, and everyone on the internet has a LOT more time to catch it then the FFL.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Commander decks:
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
Ah, again the ragging at FFL. Who is to say Burning Vengeance didn't initially deal 3 damage but then got scaled back? Who is to say Stoneforge Mystic wasn't costed at 2WW first? There's a lot of tweaking done after the FFL plays. Who knows, if they hadn't done a thing we might've had something else dominating the game completely and in an even more oppressive way. We can't be sure though.
Also, everyone is posting based on hindsight. I call BS on everyone claiming they KNEW from the moment it was spoiled that Valakut, Delver, SplinterTwin and CawBlade would be insta-tier-1 materia. Mostly because most of those decks didn't have all their toys available immediately. A card appearing mostly innocent at first can be broken later, and everyone on the internet has a LOT more time to catch it then the FFL.
People knew splinter twin was going to be a deck as soon as devicer exarch was spoiler. It was too similar to Kiki-mite extended deck (what it looked like at FFL level was anyones guess)
Cawblade on the other hand seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided the whole meta
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks
Standard BEtched Champion/InfectB WSoilders/knightsW WUVenser SplicerWU RRDWR GFeed the Pack comboG WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH GEzuri, Elf OverrunG BGeth, GraverobberB UThada Adel, ThiefU RUrabrask, Big RedR WElesh Norn, CrusadeW WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
Yeah, this is silly; there are a lot of changes that happen from FFL to print. I mean, they said JTMS was very different before being "pushed" to sell worldwake and Delver was a green dude w/o flying who flipped with other dudes. Who's to say what we'd be playing if we had their versions of cards.
I will admit, they have something of an impossible task. How could they ever achieve the kind of decks created by the MTG internet hive-mind?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sig by Dark Night Cavalier at Heroes of the Plane Studios!
There is something to be said for keeping these decks secret... and it's not because they all suck (many of these guys and gals used to be pros remember)... it's because it would give just too much information to the public that doesn't need to be shared. Any business is like that. Who's to say they don't go back and look at cool deck ideas and try to make them work in other environments somehow?
I think they are giving us TONS more info than they used to just by having Event Decks (which can be argued are toned down versions of FFL decks), in depth articles, and even gunslinging events.
Just goes to show that no matter how transparent WOTC tries to be, it'll always be "not enough."
Mono G infect was tier 1.5 for a few weeks. Unsure how exactly that happened, it was basically an easily disrupted combo deck that kinda worked....kinda.
I guess OP wants it to be 'keyworded' like "dies" was. What word would you replace ETB with though?
When Aegis Angel is born?
When Huntmaster of the Fells arrives?
When Kitchen Sphinx lands?
When Faerie Imposter busts in?
When Dread Cacodemon pops in?
When Malfegor shows up?
Mono G infect was tier 1.5 for a few weeks. Unsure how exactly that happened, it was basically an easily disrupted combo deck that kinda worked....kinda.
Rancor was reprinted.
For a few months anyone and everyone at my lgs was running it for fnm.
Im just imagining all of the salty faces I sent home at the two ptqs I topped 8 with the deck :cool2:, I also know of plenty of people that qualified with it big guy
Im just imagining all of the salty faces I sent home at the two ptqs I topped 8 with the deck :cool2:, I also know of plenty of people that qualified with it big guy
The deck was fine in multiple permutations before rancor was printed, rancor just pushed it over the top
I guess OP wants it to be 'keyworded' like "dies" was. What word would you replace ETB with though?
When Aegis Angel is born?
When Huntmaster of the Fells arrives?
When Kitchen Sphinx lands?
When Faerie Imposter busts in?
When Dread Cacodemon pops in?
When Malfegor shows up?
Even if you recruited the "best" players to help test and such you still couldn't catch everything. Hell many of the best players totally glazed right over delver.
The problem is they just need to print a wider variety of hate cards instead of trying to just predict what they will need.
This thought came about for me when I began wondering: "I wonder what decks did well for them they didn't include Thragtusk or was Zombies?" I'm sure they existed or else Thragtusk may not have seen print, but, it'd be interesting to know considering how tough it is to make that kind of deck now.
Mabbz on MTGO | Demgrinds on Twitch & Twitter | Helpdesk
This this this. FFL would lose a lot of what's left of its credibility among players.
Want to see me in action? Check out my stream! Currently broadcasting Boros Burn in Standard. Full archive available.
Want to play better magic? Come join us at diestoremoval.com
UB zombies was doing decently for a while.
Well clearly Tom LaPille is a master among the FFL and we are noobs for not playing BV.
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
Also, everyone is posting based on hindsight. I call BS on everyone claiming they KNEW from the moment it was spoiled that Valakut, Delver, SplinterTwin and CawBlade would be insta-tier-1 materia. Mostly because most of those decks didn't have all their toys available immediately. A card appearing mostly innocent at first can be broken later, and everyone on the internet has a LOT more time to catch it then the FFL.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Oops! All Chandras.
Prime Speaker Zegana - Draw for Power.
Pir & Toothy - Counterpalooza.
Arcades, the Strategist - Another Brick in the Wall.
Zacama, Primal Calamity - Calamity of Double Mana.
Edgar Markov - Vampires Don't Die.
Child of Alara - Dreamcrusher.
People knew splinter twin was going to be a deck as soon as devicer exarch was spoiler. It was too similar to Kiki-mite extended deck (what it looked like at FFL level was anyones guess)
Cawblade on the other hand seemed to come out of nowhere and blindsided the whole meta
BEtched Champion/InfectB
WSoilders/knightsW
WUVenser SplicerWU
RRDWR
GFeed the Pack comboG
WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH
GEzuri, Elf OverrunG
BGeth, GraverobberB
UThada Adel, ThiefU
RUrabrask, Big RedR
WElesh Norn, CrusadeW
WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
Extended
WGElvesWG
Legacy
RGoblinsR
UBGFariesUBG
UBGRaffinityUBG
I will admit, they have something of an impossible task. How could they ever achieve the kind of decks created by the MTG internet hive-mind?
I think they are giving us TONS more info than they used to just by having Event Decks (which can be argued are toned down versions of FFL decks), in depth articles, and even gunslinging events.
Just goes to show that no matter how transparent WOTC tries to be, it'll always be "not enough."
Probably playing real magic with the rest of us.
Mono G infect was tier 1.5 for a few weeks. Unsure how exactly that happened, it was basically an easily disrupted combo deck that kinda worked....kinda.
Rancor was reprinted.
For a few months anyone and everyone at my lgs was running it for fnm.
BUG Reanimator
BWG Nic-Fit
BGR Punishing Nic-Fit
Im just imagining all of the salty faces I sent home at the two ptqs I topped 8 with the deck :cool2:, I also know of plenty of people that qualified with it big guy
The deck was fine in multiple permutations before rancor was printed, rancor just pushed it over the top
Wild defiance
Canopy cover , ancient stirrings its been around for awhile broheim in many permutations like I stated...
Even if you recruited the "best" players to help test and such you still couldn't catch everything. Hell many of the best players totally glazed right over delver.
The problem is they just need to print a wider variety of hate cards instead of trying to just predict what they will need.