that's a good idea but I have limited play time this week and want to get in a lot of games with esper before doing the article, the best way to learn a deck's weaknesses is definitely to play it. The short answer though is "play maze's end" which seems like a good idea when the esper deck is making up nearly 50% of the winning meta in the stats so far for this week (35/80 decks). Maybe that will normalise a bit by the end of the week, we'll see...
Interestingly, I posit that RDW seemed to be slightly underplayed given that it has a decent esper matchup. In my weekly stats so far for this week, esper's fallen back to 25% while Rx blitz is over 30% so it seems others agree :).
Thanks for the feedback mate, it really is appreciated. I know it's a bit of a pain, but it would be nice if people left feedback on the puremtgo articles from time to time, so the editors there see it too :).
re: esper, I'm actually really excited about the article this week, after a fair bit of playing I feel I have some insights to share at least. and have certainly identified some weaknesses, which will be well known to many (esp those that play it) but, still.
re: gruul, I track "gruul blitz" which is the 3rd most popular aggro archetype (way behind mono red and, usually, boros). It always runs ghor-can rampager, seldom domri and usually in the board only.
Esper was the best before DGM. Then they got Far/Away, Blood Baron, Aetherling, and Sin Collector. I love playing the deck but I agree the format is stale. Mirror matches and mono red is all I play. I wish they didn't give esper so many new tools.
I don't think the format is quite that bad guys. It's a shame my next article hasn't gone up yet, but in the weekly stats there esper has dropped WAY down from the previous week (43% -> 28%), while mono red and non-esper UW control had big increases. Also, there were seven different decks in the top 8 of the most recent premier, including some very underplayed deck types:
2x UWR control
Esper
Grixis
Maze's end
Naya blitz (mono red splash boros charm and ghor-clan rampager essentially)
Gruul blitz
GW midrange
Last night I played in a daily where I ran into mono red, junk midrange, maze's end and grixis - no esper at all.
I agree that esper is the best deck in the format, but the margin isn't huge and it has a fundamentally bad mono red matchup unless it warps the deck in ways which hurt it in the mirror and against control in general (eg. maindeck precint captain... ugh).
Also, sin collector is in the top 3 cards in block imo, and is an absolute house against esper.
Also also, can grixis play notion thief in the sideboard to negate the fact that it can't play revelation? That feels like it might be on the verge of being a real deck, it has certainly started to get a bit of buzz going.
I think you're being overly pessimistic here Mua. THe meta isn't just eating itself, the rise of non-esper UW control decks and, especially, grixis in the past week has been a new development and those control decks are inherently better against mono red than esper, which is pushing mono red's numbers back down this week compared to last. This certainly isn't just re-hashing the first week.
We also had another premier event with 7 different decks in the top 8, including a "super-removal" BWR deck which looks weak to me but obviously did ok and could herald the deck's return to the meta (from my reading, it has 8 cards in the 75 to beat aetherling, which makes sense seeing as that was the card which made the "reactive control" strategy unviable in the first place).
2x GW midrange
Esper
UWR
BWR
Naya
Mono red
Junk
Also a jund aggro deck with exava 4-0ed yesterday which is an underexplored archetype.
I guess, in the end, my problem with block right now is that the skill edge is a fraction of what it was before DGM and is right now in standard. The decision trees are shallow and it comes down to just playing the cards you draw and hope they're better than your opponent's cards. It's just...... boring. I might as well roll a die
I fail to see how this issue has become worse since DGM. Magic is an inherently complex game, I never buy arguments that it's easy and i personally lose games all the time when I make mistakes and get punished. I think it's almost a truism to say that formats with a smaller card pool will be less skill intensive and complex than those with larger card pools (vintage/classic > legacy > modern > standard > block), I can't see how adding to the block's card pool here has reduced the skill level. Aetherling is no less unbeatable than angel loops, it just ends the game quicker. Also, I really like the element that sin collector has added to the meta, it opens up quite a lot of extra decision making both on what to exile and how to play based on more information.
I featured a grixis deck as a rogue deck, but it seems like it was more of a leading indicator based on what's happening since I wrote it.
Nice articles.
Have you considered an article on the orzhov guild? It seems like they have two great build-around cards in blood baron and obzedat, but the guild itself isn't able to stand much on its own.
I'd really be interested to see what you could brew.
Have you considered an article on the orzhov guild? It seems like they have two great build-around cards in blood baron and obzedat, but the guild itself isn't able to stand much on its own.
I'd really be interested to see what you could brew.
Thanks
It's literally impossible to build a pure orzhov deck thanks to the afore-mentioned blood baron. Check out the first vid here for an idea of just how depressing that card is if you're entire deck is black and white:
It's literally impossible to build a pure orzhov deck thanks to the afore-mentioned blood baron. Check out the first vid here for an idea of just how depressing that card is if you're entire deck is black and white:
Interesting video. What are your thoughts on an orzhov deck in general?
EDIT: How would you approach an Orzhov deck, assuming that your opponent wasn't running a blood baron?
pure-guild decks in block are pretty easy to build. there's not enough cards worth considering to really make for tough decisions. Your creature base would probably be keyword bingo:
4 thrull parasite
4 Tithe drinker
4 syndic of tithes
4 kingpin's pet
4 sin collector
3 crypt ghast
3 obzedat (or baron, not sure which is better - obzedat probably, and doesn't die to wrath, but you might conceivably get above 30 life for baron which makes it attractive)
Then some removal:
4 devour flesh
3 orzhov charm
And 3x underworld connections to finish, + 24 lands.
i don't think that's a real deck (it's hideously and unavoidably weak to wrath, extort relies on a critical mass of creatures), but something like that if you really want to build orzhov. Blind obedience is also worth thinking about, to develop your board without creatures. Perhaps instead of thrull parasite. I'd stay away from pontiff of blight - it's just too expensive and you have an over abundance of good options at 5. I'd much rather run more baron/obzedat's than a 6 drop.
What if you weren't restricted to guild aligned cards, but just black and white cards in block. Do you think you'd try for aggro, midrange, control, or something else in between?
pure-guild decks in block are pretty easy to build. there's not enough cards worth considering to really make for tough decisions. Your creature base would probably be keyword bingo:
4 thrull parasite
4 Tithe drinker
4 syndic of tithes
4 kingpin's pet
3 sin collector
3 crypt ghast
4 blood baron (or obzedat, not sure which is better - obzedat probably, but you might conceivably get above 30 life for baron which makes it attractive)
Then some removal:
4 orzhov charm
4 devour flesh
2 grisly salvage
and 24 lands.
i don't think that's a real deck (it's hideously and unavoidably weak to wrath, extort relies on a critical mass of creatures), but something like that if you really want to build orzhov. Blind obedience is also worth thinking about, to develop your board without creatures. Perhaps instead of thrull parasite. I'd stay away from pontiff of blight - it's just too expensive and you have an over abundance of good options at 5. I'd much rather run more baron/obzedat's than a 6 drop.
i wasn't only using guild-symbol cards, that's what I'd choose in those colours. It's a midrange deck, grindy and can play a long game with extort and underworld connections (you quoted my list before I remembered and edit-ed in connections!)
i wasn't only using guild-symbol cards, that's what I'd choose in those colours. It's a midrange deck, grindy and can play a long game with extort and underworld connections (you quoted my list before I remembered and edit-ed in connections!)
Sorry my mistake. I just assumed you were making an effort to use mostly watermarked cards. Thanks for your input, I'll see if there's anything interesting I can brew using your advice.
Will you talk about RTR -> standard transition after M14? Or will it be pointless, as M14 doesnt have dual lands and we dont know what kind of lands Theros will bring?
I really enjoyed this week's article, although I will admit to losing more tix than usual in testing it in the 2-person queues. Although the deck's solid, I did have a string of losses sometimes due to mana screw, sometimes due to misplay sometimes just because (unlike testing esper where I went on a massive tear). I refer to a standard grixis list by chapin in the article, here it is for reference - it's interesting how similar the core is to the block deck:
Funny you ask, after I finish my individual deck spotlights (I think there's two more to come), I was planning on doing a block -> standard transition article or two. I might first do a financial article, looking back at the history of the ISD -> RtR standard transition to see if there's any lessons and then hopefully after M14 is released and the standard meta starts shaping up, I'll have a look at some standard decks which can be built without investing in anything expensive that's about to rotate. Obviously you can never be totally sure where things will head, but I believe that the block meta will give some insights into the future standard meta.
Also, I mention in my latest article that GW is dying out because of far / away and blood baron in esper. If you want to play that deck right now, you should be playing the ultra agressive version with judge's familiar (no scion/gyre sage) and hope you curve out well.
Just came across this series today, and loving it! Pretty late to the party but as I'm new to playing Block online this whole series is really helping me with my play, deck building and hope to see more of this stuff in the future.
I'll be doing a M14 set review next week with an eye to how M14 cards might interract with existing block decks for the post-rotation meta. there's actually not too much that's catching my eye, most of the currently hyped cards in the set are reliant on synergies with ISD block cards.
Article 18 is up, it's a M14 set review with a difference - I review the cards based on their synergy with RTR block cards, ignoring ISD block cards. I think it gives some insight about how things might shape up post-rotation.
I agree with the "transitioning to New Standard" with M14 and whatever Theros spoilers we have.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-12-red-deck-redux
Interestingly, I posit that RDW seemed to be slightly underplayed given that it has a decent esper matchup. In my weekly stats so far for this week, esper's fallen back to 25% while Rx blitz is over 30% so it seems others agree :).
In your mono-red research, have you seen anyone lightly splashing green for Domri Rade or perhaps Ghor-Clan Rampager?
re: esper, I'm actually really excited about the article this week, after a fair bit of playing I feel I have some insights to share at least. and have certainly identified some weaknesses, which will be well known to many (esp those that play it) but, still.
re: gruul, I track "gruul blitz" which is the 3rd most popular aggro archetype (way behind mono red and, usually, boros). It always runs ghor-can rampager, seldom domri and usually in the board only.
2x UWR control
Esper
Grixis
Maze's end
Naya blitz (mono red splash boros charm and ghor-clan rampager essentially)
Gruul blitz
GW midrange
Last night I played in a daily where I ran into mono red, junk midrange, maze's end and grixis - no esper at all.
I agree that esper is the best deck in the format, but the margin isn't huge and it has a fundamentally bad mono red matchup unless it warps the deck in ways which hurt it in the mirror and against control in general (eg. maindeck precint captain... ugh).
Also, sin collector is in the top 3 cards in block imo, and is an absolute house against esper.
Also also, can grixis play notion thief in the sideboard to negate the fact that it can't play revelation? That feels like it might be on the verge of being a real deck, it has certainly started to get a bit of buzz going.
We also had another premier event with 7 different decks in the top 8, including a "super-removal" BWR deck which looks weak to me but obviously did ok and could herald the deck's return to the meta (from my reading, it has 8 cards in the 75 to beat aetherling, which makes sense seeing as that was the card which made the "reactive control" strategy unviable in the first place).
2x GW midrange
Esper
UWR
BWR
Naya
Mono red
Junk
Also a jund aggro deck with exava 4-0ed yesterday which is an underexplored archetype.
I fail to see how this issue has become worse since DGM. Magic is an inherently complex game, I never buy arguments that it's easy and i personally lose games all the time when I make mistakes and get punished. I think it's almost a truism to say that formats with a smaller card pool will be less skill intensive and complex than those with larger card pools (vintage/classic > legacy > modern > standard > block), I can't see how adding to the block's card pool here has reduced the skill level. Aetherling is no less unbeatable than angel loops, it just ends the game quicker. Also, I really like the element that sin collector has added to the meta, it opens up quite a lot of extra decision making both on what to exile and how to play based on more information.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-13-esper-control
I featured a grixis deck as a rogue deck, but it seems like it was more of a leading indicator based on what's happening since I wrote it.
Nice articles.
Have you considered an article on the orzhov guild? It seems like they have two great build-around cards in blood baron and obzedat, but the guild itself isn't able to stand much on its own.
I'd really be interested to see what you could brew.
Thanks
It's literally impossible to build a pure orzhov deck thanks to the afore-mentioned blood baron. Check out the first vid here for an idea of just how depressing that card is if you're entire deck is black and white:
http://www.mtgoacademy.com/building-blocks-esper-control-in-the-new-rtr-block/
EDIT: How would you approach an Orzhov deck, assuming that your opponent wasn't running a blood baron?
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-14-rg-midrange
pure-guild decks in block are pretty easy to build. there's not enough cards worth considering to really make for tough decisions. Your creature base would probably be keyword bingo:
4 thrull parasite
4 Tithe drinker
4 syndic of tithes
4 kingpin's pet
4 sin collector
3 crypt ghast
3 obzedat (or baron, not sure which is better - obzedat probably, and doesn't die to wrath, but you might conceivably get above 30 life for baron which makes it attractive)
Then some removal:
4 devour flesh
3 orzhov charm
And 3x underworld connections to finish, + 24 lands.
i don't think that's a real deck (it's hideously and unavoidably weak to wrath, extort relies on a critical mass of creatures), but something like that if you really want to build orzhov. Blind obedience is also worth thinking about, to develop your board without creatures. Perhaps instead of thrull parasite. I'd stay away from pontiff of blight - it's just too expensive and you have an over abundance of good options at 5. I'd much rather run more baron/obzedat's than a 6 drop.
Again, thanks for your thoughts.
Sorry my mistake. I just assumed you were making an effort to use mostly watermarked cards. Thanks for your input, I'll see if there's anything interesting I can brew using your advice.
Keep up the good work on the articles
Also why is GW dying out?
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-15-grixis-control
I really enjoyed this week's article, although I will admit to losing more tix than usual in testing it in the 2-person queues. Although the deck's solid, I did have a string of losses sometimes due to mana screw, sometimes due to misplay sometimes just because (unlike testing esper where I went on a massive tear). I refer to a standard grixis list by chapin in the article, here it is for reference - it's interesting how similar the core is to the block deck:
3 Blood Crypt
2 Cavern of Souls
3 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Nephalia Drownyard
4 Steam Vents
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Watery Grave
Creatures (8)
2 Aetherling
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Olivia Voldaren
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Blast of Genius
1 Devil's Play
2 Dissipate
3 Divination
2 Dreadbore
4 Far // Away
2 Gilded Lotus
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Pillar of Flame
2 Turn // Burn
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Ral Zarek
2 Barter in Blood
2 Cremate
2 Dissipate
1 Izzet Staticaster
2 Negate
1 Notion Thief
1 Psychic Spiral
1 Reap Intellect
1 Rolling Temblor
1 Tribute to Hunger
@Pedros
Funny you ask, after I finish my individual deck spotlights (I think there's two more to come), I was planning on doing a block -> standard transition article or two. I might first do a financial article, looking back at the history of the ISD -> RtR standard transition to see if there's any lessons and then hopefully after M14 is released and the standard meta starts shaping up, I'll have a look at some standard decks which can be built without investing in anything expensive that's about to rotate. Obviously you can never be totally sure where things will head, but I believe that the block meta will give some insights into the future standard meta.
Also, I mention in my latest article that GW is dying out because of far / away and blood baron in esper. If you want to play that deck right now, you should be playing the ultra agressive version with judge's familiar (no scion/gyre sage) and hope you curve out well.
thanks :). i too really enjoyed playing the deck, and that probably came through in my analysis of it.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-15-bant-and-uwr-control
Keep up the good work man.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-17-mazes-end
I'll be doing a M14 set review next week with an eye to how M14 cards might interract with existing block decks for the post-rotation meta. there's actually not too much that's catching my eye, most of the currently hyped cards in the set are reliant on synergies with ISD block cards.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-18-m14-set-review