To those who say there is no 'free' alternative to M:TGO: Isn't DotP free or essentially free?
(I could be wrong... but even if DotP isn't free, the cost for it is nominal - like three dollars.)
In any case, I don't think there exists a significant demographic worth catering to, that is both:
A) Not happy about paying the fee for DotP, when they can get it for free on Cockatrice.
B) Going to buy lots of cards IRL, when they can get it for free on Cockatrice.
I think this is a very logical move for WotC, especially with the rumors of them trying to sync up paper and online.
If you are a casual player, you have DotP. If you are a Spike, you have M:TGO.
If you are somewhere in between, and relying on Cockatrice?
There's a good chance you'll lean toward one way or the other... which I think is exactly the plan.
A good chance? Just because you try to succeed at Magic doesn't mean you can afford mtgo. I played on Cockatrice because I couldn't afford mtgo, that's all. The downside is in the quality of the players. All I ever did was test against my testing group.
Liliana on turn 3 tends to ruin their day. Most lists are running Cleansing instead of Detention Sphere so you'll be doing a lot of damage before they can remove it. It's been brutal against me and the only matches I've lost during my last 2 events have played turn 3 Liliana to win a game.
With thundermaw hellkite, and rancor running around I don't think that lingering souls is worth it anymore. I have dropped them completely. Do we like this move or not? I also am running 2 sorrin in he main.
I still find souls worthwhile until they land the hellkite. Besides, I usually only have 1-2 out when he lands, if any. That's half my card. Not too worried. Plus it's good in other match ups.
I would take him out if I expected a lot of hellkite play.
Went 4-0 last night with this. Played some good players. 2 UWR, Grixis Control and Spirits. Having Devour Flesh was huge. In my limited testing, I have a good match up against most aggro decks. Still nervous about them though.
Would like to MB 1 Jace, Memory Adept, but not sure what to remove. Thinking about switching all Nephalia Drownyards for Vault of the Archangel. Trading a soul for just about anything and getting life in the later game has been huge. Maybe a 2/1 split or 2/2, getting rid of an Island or going to 26 lands. Ghost Quarter would also be nice.
The mana seems pretty good. I really don't like having more than 25 lands; 27 is pushing it. I have yet to be mana screwed.
MB Geist of Saint Traft is huge. On the play, slamming him T3 just destroys some decks. He's another way to deal with opposing GoSTs. He often does some good damage or at least eats some cards like Azorius Charm on the angel.
Just wanted to throw in my deck list for some feedback, I'll take both negative and positive as it all helps!
I've also done a little write up on how I find some of the cards in the deck so you can see what my thoughts are, if you disagree feel free to let me know why!
Sideboard
Evil Twin for Giest of Saint Traft decks.
Wouldn't Geist of Saint Traft be better than twin? Not only is it cheaper, but it also serves a dual purpose as also being a Geist of Saint Traft. I find mill in the control mirrors to be two sided. Psychic Spiral is so good, you basically lose unless you counter it. You can psyche them out a bit by going from mill to GoST depending on how they sideboard game 2. There's a good amount of mill at my store, so maybe it's not the same for you. Still, GoST as an answer to GoST seems much better than Evil Twin.
Because Democracy. Theists vote, and their opinion on many issues is based on their religion and their belief in God. Therefore I believe it is my responsibility to try to sway them to my side of any debate. This is what Democracy is about.
Not saying I'm a douche about it. I generally wouldn't go around holding a sign or look for debate on the issue. But, for example, if a religious person posts something anti-gay or anything else on Facebook, I look at that as being open to debate (just something other than a religious meme type of thing). Although the homosexuality "issue" is something worth fighting for and I would openly debate the topic and be an ******* about it. Because it matters. Most of it doesn't matter so I just wouldn't openly debate it. Make sense?
Can't we just take out some Snaps for RiP? I've been running 3 in my sb and it does pretty good, although they can easily deal with it via Abrupt Decay. I don't run swords at all though, and it might be helpful to make them choose between a sword or a RiP. Wish I had more time to test before the GP this weekend.
I don't get the point of Syncopate. Early in the game (when Syncopate can be better than Dissipate), you should be tapping out, setting up to wipe the board and go over the top with the better creatures this deck runs..
Syncopate is for early bombs like St. Traft, which is why we run it. Dissipate is pretty much better but being able to counter St. Traft, among others, is important. I will run both.
Too many spells. Just run Fiend Hunter instead of Dismember and another 2 drop instead of Gather. Nearhearth Pilgrim is strong in many matches and is crazy with Silverblade Paladin. Unless you expect tokens I'd just run Day of Judgement instead of Ratchet Bomb. Hero of Bladehold should also be run. She wins games on her own, is great after a wipe, and can easily end a stall.
Dismember seems bad because of how much we want to race. O-ring and Fiend Hunter are doing the same thing, but Fiend Hunter is a hard to kill creature and O-ring hits anything.
If you have only 1 copy of any flip card (in this case Garruk Relentless, because you will never have multiples in play) can you have more in the deck? I assume not, but I need the actual ruling for this which I cannot find.
I did find it say that you must have the card, but no specification that you need them 1:1.
I see lots of newer players being ripped off in trades at the prerelease.
Someone should make a poster with the 5 shocks and the message "these cards are worth a lot".
A lot of new players don't even care.
Two weeks ago I traded a friend of mine two Lashwrithe for a Cavern of Souls. He doesn't play standard, just our casual and commander, but I told him it was an expensive card. He didn't care, looked through my entire collection and was happy with the Lashwrithes.
Also, being magic club president at my school, I see similar happen all the time with others. No one there (that I've seen) or myself ever try to swindle them, we just aren't going to force them to take more cards.
Psychosis Crawler seems like a real good blue card. It and any draw spell are pretty powerful. I used to play a deck with High Tide, Blue Sun's Zenith, Psychosis Crawler, Lab Maniac. It won quite often.
I have no problem beating GR aggro with W/u humans. I just play a more midrange style, and running Nearhearth Pilgrim, Timely, and Day of Judgement make it not so bad.
Having counter magic for the bonfires also helps, and using Haunt to refill the board after a bonfire or day also helps.
If you mean going to FNM, I wouldn't bother with experimental decks. You want to know the deck you are playing, know what plays need to be made.
Shortcuts are really important in magic, and you can only develop them by playing a deck a lot. Even if you're playing a developed top tier deck, it's a bad idea to switch to another top tier deck you have limited experience with even it's better for the meta.
Also, you won't work the kinks out of a little playtesting and an FNM run and 2 days. For your first PTQ, I would HIGHLY recommend playing a more developed deck that you have experience with. Later, with more experience, you should have more experience with reading the meta and you can try an experimental deck.
I don't think M13 has changed the meta enough to warrant an experimental deck at a PTQ. Also remember that, while Delver is about 30-40% of a PTQ, you will not play JUST delver.
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A good chance? Just because you try to succeed at Magic doesn't mean you can afford mtgo. I played on Cockatrice because I couldn't afford mtgo, that's all. The downside is in the quality of the players. All I ever did was test against my testing group.
I still find souls worthwhile until they land the hellkite. Besides, I usually only have 1-2 out when he lands, if any. That's half my card. Not too worried. Plus it's good in other match ups.
I would take him out if I expected a lot of hellkite play.
2 azorius charm
2 dimir charm
2 devour flesh
1 ultimate price
3 supreme verdict
2 terminus
3 forbidden alchemy
4 lingering souls
3 sphinx's revelation
3 dissipate
3 geist of saint traft
3 augur of bolas
Lands (25)
1 island
1 vault of the archangel
2 nephalia drownyard
3 watery grave
4 drowned catacomb
4 hallowed fountain
4 glacial fortress
2 isolated chapel
4 godless shrine
2 obzedat, ghost council
2 jace, memory adept
1 supreme verdict
2 blind obedience
2 feeling of dread
2 witchbane orb
1 terminus
1 devour flesh
2 negate
Went 4-0 last night with this. Played some good players. 2 UWR, Grixis Control and Spirits. Having Devour Flesh was huge. In my limited testing, I have a good match up against most aggro decks. Still nervous about them though.
Would like to MB 1 Jace, Memory Adept, but not sure what to remove. Thinking about switching all Nephalia Drownyards for Vault of the Archangel. Trading a soul for just about anything and getting life in the later game has been huge. Maybe a 2/1 split or 2/2, getting rid of an Island or going to 26 lands. Ghost Quarter would also be nice.
The mana seems pretty good. I really don't like having more than 25 lands; 27 is pushing it. I have yet to be mana screwed.
MB Geist of Saint Traft is huge. On the play, slamming him T3 just destroys some decks. He's another way to deal with opposing GoSTs. He often does some good damage or at least eats some cards like Azorius Charm on the angel.
Want to fit in Liliana of the Veil but don't know what to remove.
Any thoughts?
Wouldn't Geist of Saint Traft be better than twin? Not only is it cheaper, but it also serves a dual purpose as also being a Geist of Saint Traft. I find mill in the control mirrors to be two sided. Psychic Spiral is so good, you basically lose unless you counter it. You can psyche them out a bit by going from mill to GoST depending on how they sideboard game 2. There's a good amount of mill at my store, so maybe it's not the same for you. Still, GoST as an answer to GoST seems much better than Evil Twin.
Not saying I'm a douche about it. I generally wouldn't go around holding a sign or look for debate on the issue. But, for example, if a religious person posts something anti-gay or anything else on Facebook, I look at that as being open to debate (just something other than a religious meme type of thing). Although the homosexuality "issue" is something worth fighting for and I would openly debate the topic and be an ******* about it. Because it matters. Most of it doesn't matter so I just wouldn't openly debate it. Make sense?
Syncopate is for early bombs like St. Traft, which is why we run it. Dissipate is pretty much better but being able to counter St. Traft, among others, is important. I will run both.
Dismember seems bad because of how much we want to race. O-ring and Fiend Hunter are doing the same thing, but Fiend Hunter is a hard to kill creature and O-ring hits anything.
I did find it say that you must have the card, but no specification that you need them 1:1.
A lot of new players don't even care.
Two weeks ago I traded a friend of mine two Lashwrithe for a Cavern of Souls. He doesn't play standard, just our casual and commander, but I told him it was an expensive card. He didn't care, looked through my entire collection and was happy with the Lashwrithes.
Also, being magic club president at my school, I see similar happen all the time with others. No one there (that I've seen) or myself ever try to swindle them, we just aren't going to force them to take more cards.
Having counter magic for the bonfires also helps, and using Haunt to refill the board after a bonfire or day also helps.
Shortcuts are really important in magic, and you can only develop them by playing a deck a lot. Even if you're playing a developed top tier deck, it's a bad idea to switch to another top tier deck you have limited experience with even it's better for the meta.
Also, you won't work the kinks out of a little playtesting and an FNM run and 2 days. For your first PTQ, I would HIGHLY recommend playing a more developed deck that you have experience with. Later, with more experience, you should have more experience with reading the meta and you can try an experimental deck.
I don't think M13 has changed the meta enough to warrant an experimental deck at a PTQ. Also remember that, while Delver is about 30-40% of a PTQ, you will not play JUST delver.