Thanks God, I was able to experience un-play at least once during my lifetime and I'm pleased. That was a nice night of fun yet competetive play.
Good thing: I thought it will be a multiplayer like Unhinged but surprise - it was versus (which I approve and adore).
Played WU aggro with 7 contraptions and lots of Riveting Riggers and Chipper Choppers as core beaters. Cards I played the most: Blurry Beeble - I happen to wear glasses and most of my opponents weren't so it went to be extremely good. So good so one of my opponents decided to waste GO TO JAIL to it. GO TO JAIL is a god tier removal for W - most creatures somehow were unable to break free for the rest of the game. Also killed my opponent's Hydradoodle when it was finaly freed from the jail. Everythingamajig with "X to become an X/X construct" mode helped me to kill 9/8 augmented multi-headed host by adding me enough mana through coin flip with instant speed. Adorable Kitten is just an OP (and adorable) card even without any augments. Clocknapper is 100% waifu tier character, nothing feels better than stealing your opponent's beginning phase and then drawing, untapping permanents and cranking contraptions during his/her turn instead of him/her (efficent but not the only possible way to use it). I am in love. You should try it. Graveyard Busybody is totally okay though I didn't have any cards for graveyard interactions. By Gnome Means was what I expected it to be - a little but heplful version of Ghave, Guru of Spores. And I really, really like Bablovia Gnomes. No Gnome token cards for me though.
Playing Contraptions definetely added some spice but felt completely normal - I mean, normal for a black-bordered game.
Cards my opponents played:
One opponent used Spike, Tournament Grinder to fetch Smuggler's Copter. 200% Spike indeed.
Another opponent used Rules Lawyer I was unable to remove and game ended with a draw with my opponent's life total being far below zero. That wasn't very funny. Entirely Normal Armchair was used clever against me when I dropped my dice under the table and was distracted. I applaused. Gimme Five was played by players from different games and surely added some fun. Chivalrous Chevalier was used... Well, of course to compliment me but in kinda straightforward way. Eh, whatever. Urza, Academy Headmaster was in my opponent's deck but wasn't played ever thanks to mana screw. No one said playing 5 colors is easy...
Bad things: I thought an average difference between two six-sided dice results would be something like 3-4 points but it was always lower (Hard Hat Area and Boomflinger still worked well). Guess I am just not lucky enough.
Foil full art tokens were ok but where all un-tokens go? I have no idea. Numbing Jellyfish artwork looks too similar to Crafty Octopus (I am not that type of person who pays close attention to details and card names while drafting but that's my own fault).
Games lasted a bit too long (thanks to massive lifegain too) - we ended up with a draw twice due to timeout.
Overall, 2 wins (2-1 and 1-draw) and 1 draw (1-1-draw). Would play again.
PS. I almost forgot. One of players cosplayed MaRo and was surprisingly authentic.
I started just taking capital offense because its removal... I really lacked creatures pack one. other than Novellamental 2/1 flyier good enough. I wasn't super excited by many contraptions other than guest list I picked up, I really didn't have a way to assemble any.
This pack I had a focus on evasive creatures Spy Eye was an easy pick. whille picking up on colour rares. It was clear that GW and the host augment creatures were not popular. I was not taking contrapions with any priority. Last pack I felt I was struggling for real power but animate library was the threat I was looking for.
The games were both fairly normal and increable grinds, but I am not sure if that is the format or my deck.
First match i was playing an opponent also UB but with 4 subcontract. Tore my hand apart then hit a jamming device and killed my army of Novellamental and killbots. Game 2 it was Spy eyes at work, I could easy cast his deck. Game 3 was a grind and half, where we had this combination of board stall and unblockable creatures. He hit Dispatch Dispensary and I was under a clock.. he set up a Goblin Slingshot alpha next turn...but animate library.
Match 2 was a masssssive pain in the arse. Opponent was playing GW little kid, he wasn't a little kid (the little kids had far less annoying decks). Complete with huge amounts of life gain... and squirrels.. tons of squirrels. Game 1 I made the mistake of not blocking and killing the tokens then drew capital offense and couldn't kill them to live. He also had lots of main deck artifact destruction because first pick was his only way to assemble contraptionss. Game 2 I couldn't cast my animate library (I knew he had first pick) but I had to sllloooooowly kill my opponent with Novellamentals and spy eyes. Game 3.. lets just say my opponent cast side quest and had to give the creature to me because I was the only other player still in a silver boarded game :/.
Match 3 Opponent was ignoring the factions and playing UR control. Game one I drew really well and I jammed a bunch of junk into counters... then Mary O'Kill swaped with a Killbot onto the battlefield and quickly beat her way through my opponents collection of riggers. My opponent set up a Animate library + Duplication Device turn attempting a kill.. but Entirely Normal Armchair... I played my own animate library and killed my opponent.
We were both extremely late for our other Friday Night plans so he scooped.
3-0 (5-2)
MVP Entirely Normal Armchair: I won a whole bunch of games with the same trick of playing it behind my arm on the battlefield... my.. thinking arm. I enjoyed Spy eye and the thrill of finding answers in my opponents decks.
I won a little pack of promos.. including fatal push so yay.
There wasn't anything too crazy going on except that everyone in my pod except me misread capital offense and so I managed to nab 5 of them.
Blurry Beeble is very good. Hangman is very good. Especially when you pick words like xylitol. Although it did allow my opponent to sneak an armchair under his arm while I was writing down the word.
There was a special squirrel-themed prize for whoever dealt the most damage with squirrels that day.
Someone managed to do an infinite amount of damage with a squirrel by pumping with a contraption that gives it +X/+X, where X is the greatest power among your creatures... he also had an Infinity Elemental out.
Picked 2 Wild Crocodile in first three picks, just to get the fixation. Old-Fashioned Vampire was my second pick. Gradually, I shifted into red. In the second pack, I firstpicked a foil Swamp Switching to red was good idea, because people in the second pack sent me Three-Headed Goblin and Infinity Elemental. And Hydradoodle. I also managed to pick up THREE Top-Secret Tunnels, Inflation Station, and Quick-Stick Lick Trick.
The whole deck was augment/contraption. I had two Multi-Headed, Monkey, Serpentine, two Crocodiles, Big Boa Constrictor, and two Clever Combos.
If you are in Contraptions, Wrench Rigger is amazing thing. Going Contraptions working on T2 is great. Ground Pounder is also very good.
I won mainly on the back of three Top-Secret Tunnels that were basically giving my biggest critter unblockable every turn, eventually combined with one of the other pump-bonus contraptions. Biggest critter was usually at least 4/4, thanks to Serpentine Crocodile of Multi-Headed Crocodile.
Serpentine Crocodile is great. Thinning the deck and land drop every turn. And the "steal a guy, roll a die, guy gets +X/+0" is SICK.
First game:
vs. Blue-Black. Won game I through Top Secret Tunneled Three-Headed Goblin (9 damage!) and Hammer Helper-ed 7/1 Hoisted Hireling. In the decider he wrecked me badly with removal and I was dead next turn. He was at 11. But I had already eleven mana thanks to Serpentine Crocodile. Big Boa Constrictor in hand.
I draw Clever Combo. I play Big Boa Constrictor and roll a 6. Then I play Clever Combo for Multi-Headed and play it on the Constrictor. Since I rolled a die, I roll again EOT. And I roll a 5
Opponent played Numbing Jellyfish, that was really annoying and milled me out the second game.
Second game:
vs. blue-black. First game he screws on mana, second I am playing with X in my hand since T3, but the guy long remained on 4 mana and was not able to play anything of mine. Again stole a Hoisted Hireling and flew for 8 this time.
Third game:
A girl with UWb deck. I guessed Hangman's word in three tries. She never really recovered and unblockable lifelinked Three-Headed Goblin did the thing. Last game, she wsa so kind not to concede and allowed me to win with unblockable Infinity Elemental.
MVP: Top-Secret Tunnel (with fatties, of course)
Overall I enjoyed it a lot, though I was ashamed a bit of how my deck was smoothly working in almost a non-Un way. And I got a nice Crossbreed Labs poster
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
So pack 3, pick 1, I got a Spike. Had zero other black cards drafted to that point, but this is a fun set and I was going to play Spike.
Overall, I'm not that good at draft anyways especially with this.
Had an ok UW deck but nothing great, so I throw in two swamps and figure why not.
Game 1, I spend 12 life to get my Foil Smugglers copter in my hand T2, and play it T3. Opponent plays Go to Jail. End up not rolling doubles and lose with opponent at 4 life but the dust came off the Copter since standard ban.
Game 2, I open with Swamp, Swamp, Spike (4 life) on T2. T3 I get a copter (4 life). Opponent plays Go to Jail. T4, I get a SECOND copter (4 life). Opponent plays Go to Jail. T5 I roll doubles, but of-course, he has the wall which makes me reroll a dice.
So I lost both games, but it was enjoyable just being able to see a shiny Smugglers Copter for first time since ban. Was an interesting exercise trying to figure out what banned cards I had on me that I could use in colors I was playing.
Picked 2 Wild ...Crocodile in first three picks, just to get the fixation...
Generally, I might not first-pick the croc, but I agree it's a key player in this format: being one of the best mana fixers in the format, and being a host.
Well, there was nothing much else there. But people seemed to overlook him, they were going quite late around. I had three and I passed at least three more I also picked at least two First Picks in last three cards.
I was generally surprised how much people ignored certain cards. I mean the fatties. I got Hydradoodle, Infinity Elemental and 3-headed goblin as 4-5th picks. With Top-Secret Tunnel, those were crazy, really.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I did a draft and then a sealed on Saturday, did terrible both times (1-2 both times) but it was fun
I haven't really drafted much this year so I didn't really know how to draft a normal format let alone an un set. in my draft, I went rb, which was definitely the right colour choice since it was so open but I just couldn't do well. I had a really fun contraption theme though
in my sealed, my buddy bought a box and wanted to do sealed. I went GW but again didn't build a good deck.
Contraptions are realy fun but I dunno what to do in this format
We played on Monday for fun, drafting in four people four boosters each, and playing a free-for-all multiplayers afterwards.
Because of the craziness of the format, I built a RGb deck, and tossed both Urza and Summon the Pack into it, both of what I would not do otherwise.
Managed to cast Urza once, when I was facing a deadly attack from one player, He had two creatures, Mary O'Kill and Beast in Show. I tried -1 for Urza...and guess what I got? "Target player sacrifices two creatures." EPIC. Urza is such a genius that HE KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED.
I also managed to Summon the Pack once and drop 9 creatures from an Ixalan pack. With a Half-Squirrel-Half-Stegosaurus in pla, who nuked pretty much everything else on the table.
Overall a great evening, fully in the spirit of Unstable.
I know I'm a little late to the party, but my playgroup's schedule was already filled with stuff up through valentines day back when this set came out, so we finally played for the first time this past weekend.
I can safely say that week 1 of this unstable league was the worst MTG experience I've had in a long time.
So first off, I'm the only guy in the group of 8 players who doesn't wear glasses and got absolutely wrecked by Blurry Beeble, which 6 of my 7 opponents played just to have 1 drops ... 2 of them actually misread and thought it was unblockable by people who wore glasses, which makes sense since their vision is bad, but whatever, don't get me started on flavor.
We played 2 different games of 4 player FFA to start out the league. I was killed turn 5 in both games. During game 1, my turn 4 Earl of Squirrel was countered (2x Selfie Preservations resolved earlier). I followed up with a Shellephant, but that was countered too and I died the next turn of attacks from everybody stomping me since I still had an empty board. Game 2 was pretty terrible as well. I cast a turn 2 Selfie Preservation, then a turn 3 Shaggy Camel, which stopped the non-beeble ground beats. Turn 4, I put a Humming- on the camel and swung once at the guy with the highest life total. During her next turn, my wife stole my Humming-Camel. Turn 5 I played a Dr. Julius Jumblemorph on an empty board, which died immediately from a burn spell, then I died before my next turn from a 5/5 flying vampire, and more beeble beats.
Game 1 went on for 15 turns with the other 3 people, then about 3 more after the 2nd person was knocked out. Game 2 went on for 20 turns before the 2nd person was knocked out and ended by my wife decking and losing after 20+ turns.
Maybe I'm just disappointed because I played a total of 10 turns when everybody around me played at least 30 turns of magic that evening. Maybe it's because I lost horribly in two games with only attacking once for 5 damage and never having a board and getting pounded by pumped up unblockable creatures. I may be jaded from my memories of the fun I had playing the original 2 "Un" sets back when I was a kid and coming into this with unrealistic expectations. I didn't feel like there was anything unique about this set either other than the contraption stuff and I guess the hybrid creatures (but to be fair they are basically just enchantments that fuse to a specific type of creature).
I'm not sure if I will even finish the league. Has anybody had a similar experience and then stuck it out for it to get better? If it's going to be more of the same, I'd rather stay home and play video games or read a book. My wife seemed to enjoy it, so that's good at least.
Thanks God, I was able to experience un-play at least once during my lifetime and I'm pleased. That was a nice night of fun yet competetive play.
Good thing: I thought it will be a multiplayer like Unhinged but surprise - it was versus (which I approve and adore).
Played WU aggro with 7 contraptions and lots of Riveting Riggers and Chipper Choppers as core beaters. Cards I played the most:
Blurry Beeble - I happen to wear glasses and most of my opponents weren't so it went to be extremely good. So good so one of my opponents decided to waste GO TO JAIL to it.
GO TO JAIL is a god tier removal for W - most creatures somehow were unable to break free for the rest of the game. Also killed my opponent's Hydradoodle when it was finaly freed from the jail.
Everythingamajig with "X to become an X/X construct" mode helped me to kill 9/8 augmented multi-headed host by adding me enough mana through coin flip with instant speed.
Adorable Kitten is just an OP (and adorable) card even without any augments.
Clocknapper is 100% waifu tier character, nothing feels better than stealing your opponent's beginning phase and then drawing, untapping permanents and cranking contraptions during his/her turn instead of him/her (efficent but not the only possible way to use it). I am in love. You should try it.
Graveyard Busybody is totally okay though I didn't have any cards for graveyard interactions.
By Gnome Means was what I expected it to be - a little but heplful version of Ghave, Guru of Spores. And I really, really like Bablovia Gnomes. No Gnome token cards for me though.
Playing Contraptions definetely added some spice but felt completely normal - I mean, normal for a black-bordered game.
Cards my opponents played:
One opponent used Spike, Tournament Grinder to fetch Smuggler's Copter. 200% Spike indeed.
Another opponent used Rules Lawyer I was unable to remove and game ended with a draw with my opponent's life total being far below zero. That wasn't very funny.
Entirely Normal Armchair was used clever against me when I dropped my dice under the table and was distracted. I applaused.
Gimme Five was played by players from different games and surely added some fun.
Chivalrous Chevalier was used... Well, of course to compliment me but in kinda straightforward way. Eh, whatever.
Urza, Academy Headmaster was in my opponent's deck but wasn't played ever thanks to mana screw. No one said playing 5 colors is easy...
Bad things: I thought an average difference between two six-sided dice results would be something like 3-4 points but it was always lower (Hard Hat Area and Boomflinger still worked well). Guess I am just not lucky enough.
Foil full art tokens were ok but where all un-tokens go? I have no idea.
Numbing Jellyfish artwork looks too similar to Crafty Octopus (I am not that type of person who pays close attention to details and card names while drafting but that's my own fault).
Games lasted a bit too long (thanks to massive lifegain too) - we ended up with a draw twice due to timeout.
Overall, 2 wins (2-1 and 1-draw) and 1 draw (1-1-draw). Would play again.
PS. I almost forgot. One of players cosplayed MaRo and was surprisingly authentic.
I started just taking capital offense because its removal... I really lacked creatures pack one. other than Novellamental 2/1 flyier good enough. I wasn't super excited by many contraptions other than guest list I picked up, I really didn't have a way to assemble any.
This pack I had a focus on evasive creatures Spy Eye was an easy pick. whille picking up on colour rares. It was clear that GW and the host augment creatures were not popular. I was not taking contrapions with any priority. Last pack I felt I was struggling for real power but animate library was the threat I was looking for.
3 Novellamental
2 Killbots
1 Extremely slow zombie
1 Phoebe, Head of S.N.E.A.K
1 Sly spy
1 Defective detective
2 Spy eye
1 Old fashioned vampire
1 Mer man
1 Mary O'Kill
2 Entirely Normal Armchair
1 More or less
1 Incite insight
3 Capital offense
1 Time out
1 Animate library
Lands
3 Secret base
8 Island
6 Swamp
1 Guest list
1 Inflation station
1 Jamming device
1 Lacky recycler
1 Optical Optimiser
1 Quick-Stick Lick Trick
2 Top-Secret Tunnel
The games were both fairly normal and increable grinds, but I am not sure if that is the format or my deck.
First match i was playing an opponent also UB but with 4 subcontract. Tore my hand apart then hit a jamming device and killed my army of Novellamental and killbots. Game 2 it was Spy eyes at work, I could easy cast his deck. Game 3 was a grind and half, where we had this combination of board stall and unblockable creatures. He hit Dispatch Dispensary and I was under a clock.. he set up a Goblin Slingshot alpha next turn...but animate library.
Match 2 was a masssssive pain in the arse. Opponent was playing GW little kid, he wasn't a little kid (the little kids had far less annoying decks). Complete with huge amounts of life gain... and squirrels.. tons of squirrels. Game 1 I made the mistake of not blocking and killing the tokens then drew capital offense and couldn't kill them to live. He also had lots of main deck artifact destruction because first pick was his only way to assemble contraptionss. Game 2 I couldn't cast my animate library (I knew he had first pick) but I had to sllloooooowly kill my opponent with Novellamentals and spy eyes. Game 3.. lets just say my opponent cast side quest and had to give the creature to me because I was the only other player still in a silver boarded game :/.
Match 3 Opponent was ignoring the factions and playing UR control. Game one I drew really well and I jammed a bunch of junk into counters... then Mary O'Kill swaped with a Killbot onto the battlefield and quickly beat her way through my opponents collection of riggers. My opponent set up a Animate library +
Duplication Device turn attempting a kill.. but Entirely Normal Armchair... I played my own animate library and killed my opponent.
We were both extremely late for our other Friday Night plans so he scooped.
3-0 (5-2)
MVP Entirely Normal Armchair: I won a whole bunch of games with the same trick of playing it behind my arm on the battlefield... my.. thinking arm. I enjoyed Spy eye and the thrill of finding answers in my opponents decks.
I won a little pack of promos.. including fatal push so yay.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
Blurry Beeble is very good. Hangman is very good. Especially when you pick words like xylitol. Although it did allow my opponent to sneak an armchair under his arm while I was writing down the word.
There was a special squirrel-themed prize for whoever dealt the most damage with squirrels that day.
Someone managed to do an infinite amount of damage with a squirrel by pumping with a contraption that gives it +X/+X, where X is the greatest power among your creatures... he also had an Infinity Elemental out.
Gimme Five is a very strong card.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
Picked 2 Wild Crocodile in first three picks, just to get the fixation. Old-Fashioned Vampire was my second pick. Gradually, I shifted into red. In the second pack, I firstpicked a foil Swamp Switching to red was good idea, because people in the second pack sent me Three-Headed Goblin and Infinity Elemental. And Hydradoodle. I also managed to pick up THREE Top-Secret Tunnels, Inflation Station, and Quick-Stick Lick Trick.
The whole deck was augment/contraption. I had two Multi-Headed, Monkey, Serpentine, two Crocodiles, Big Boa Constrictor, and two Clever Combos.
If you are in Contraptions, Wrench Rigger is amazing thing. Going Contraptions working on T2 is great. Ground Pounder is also very good.
I won mainly on the back of three Top-Secret Tunnels that were basically giving my biggest critter unblockable every turn, eventually combined with one of the other pump-bonus contraptions. Biggest critter was usually at least 4/4, thanks to Serpentine Crocodile of Multi-Headed Crocodile.
Serpentine Crocodile is great. Thinning the deck and land drop every turn. And the "steal a guy, roll a die, guy gets +X/+0" is SICK.
First game:
vs. Blue-Black. Won game I through Top Secret Tunneled Three-Headed Goblin (9 damage!) and Hammer Helper-ed 7/1 Hoisted Hireling. In the decider he wrecked me badly with removal and I was dead next turn. He was at 11. But I had already eleven mana thanks to Serpentine Crocodile. Big Boa Constrictor in hand.
I draw Clever Combo. I play Big Boa Constrictor and roll a 6. Then I play Clever Combo for Multi-Headed and play it on the Constrictor. Since I rolled a die, I roll again EOT. And I roll a 5
Opponent played Numbing Jellyfish, that was really annoying and milled me out the second game.
Second game:
vs. blue-black. First game he screws on mana, second I am playing with X in my hand since T3, but the guy long remained on 4 mana and was not able to play anything of mine. Again stole a Hoisted Hireling and flew for 8 this time.
Third game:
A girl with UWb deck. I guessed Hangman's word in three tries. She never really recovered and unblockable lifelinked Three-Headed Goblin did the thing. Last game, she wsa so kind not to concede and allowed me to win with unblockable Infinity Elemental.
MVP: Top-Secret Tunnel (with fatties, of course)
Overall I enjoyed it a lot, though I was ashamed a bit of how my deck was smoothly working in almost a non-Un way. And I got a nice Crossbreed Labs poster
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Overall, I'm not that good at draft anyways especially with this.
Had an ok UW deck but nothing great, so I throw in two swamps and figure why not.
Game 1, I spend 12 life to get my Foil Smugglers copter in my hand T2, and play it T3. Opponent plays Go to Jail. End up not rolling doubles and lose with opponent at 4 life but the dust came off the Copter since standard ban.
Game 2, I open with Swamp, Swamp, Spike (4 life) on T2. T3 I get a copter (4 life). Opponent plays Go to Jail. T4, I get a SECOND copter (4 life). Opponent plays Go to Jail. T5 I roll doubles, but of-course, he has the wall which makes me reroll a dice.
So I lost both games, but it was enjoyable just being able to see a shiny Smugglers Copter for first time since ban. Was an interesting exercise trying to figure out what banned cards I had on me that I could use in colors I was playing.
Well, there was nothing much else there. But people seemed to overlook him, they were going quite late around. I had three and I passed at least three more I also picked at least two First Picks in last three cards.
I was generally surprised how much people ignored certain cards. I mean the fatties. I got Hydradoodle, Infinity Elemental and 3-headed goblin as 4-5th picks. With Top-Secret Tunnel, those were crazy, really.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I haven't really drafted much this year so I didn't really know how to draft a normal format let alone an un set. in my draft, I went rb, which was definitely the right colour choice since it was so open but I just couldn't do well. I had a really fun contraption theme though
in my sealed, my buddy bought a box and wanted to do sealed. I went GW but again didn't build a good deck.
Contraptions are realy fun but I dunno what to do in this format
Modern: (G/U)Infect (G/U)Tron
Legacy: (U/B)Tezzeret (U/B)(W/U)Miracles(W/U)(B/G)Dredge(R/W)
Commander:(U/R)Mizzix (U/R)(W/U)Sydri(U/B)(W/U)Zur(U/B)
Because of the craziness of the format, I built a RGb deck, and tossed both Urza and Summon the Pack into it, both of what I would not do otherwise.
Managed to cast Urza once, when I was facing a deadly attack from one player, He had two creatures, Mary O'Kill and Beast in Show. I tried -1 for Urza...and guess what I got? "Target player sacrifices two creatures." EPIC. Urza is such a genius that HE KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED.
I also managed to Summon the Pack once and drop 9 creatures from an Ixalan pack. With a Half-Squirrel-Half-Stegosaurus in pla, who nuked pretty much everything else on the table.
Overall a great evening, fully in the spirit of Unstable.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I can safely say that week 1 of this unstable league was the worst MTG experience I've had in a long time.
So first off, I'm the only guy in the group of 8 players who doesn't wear glasses and got absolutely wrecked by Blurry Beeble, which 6 of my 7 opponents played just to have 1 drops ... 2 of them actually misread and thought it was unblockable by people who wore glasses, which makes sense since their vision is bad, but whatever, don't get me started on flavor.
We played 2 different games of 4 player FFA to start out the league. I was killed turn 5 in both games. During game 1, my turn 4 Earl of Squirrel was countered (2x Selfie Preservations resolved earlier). I followed up with a Shellephant, but that was countered too and I died the next turn of attacks from everybody stomping me since I still had an empty board. Game 2 was pretty terrible as well. I cast a turn 2 Selfie Preservation, then a turn 3 Shaggy Camel, which stopped the non-beeble ground beats. Turn 4, I put a Humming- on the camel and swung once at the guy with the highest life total. During her next turn, my wife stole my Humming-Camel. Turn 5 I played a Dr. Julius Jumblemorph on an empty board, which died immediately from a burn spell, then I died before my next turn from a 5/5 flying vampire, and more beeble beats.
Game 1 went on for 15 turns with the other 3 people, then about 3 more after the 2nd person was knocked out. Game 2 went on for 20 turns before the 2nd person was knocked out and ended by my wife decking and losing after 20+ turns.
Maybe I'm just disappointed because I played a total of 10 turns when everybody around me played at least 30 turns of magic that evening. Maybe it's because I lost horribly in two games with only attacking once for 5 damage and never having a board and getting pounded by pumped up unblockable creatures. I may be jaded from my memories of the fun I had playing the original 2 "Un" sets back when I was a kid and coming into this with unrealistic expectations. I didn't feel like there was anything unique about this set either other than the contraption stuff and I guess the hybrid creatures (but to be fair they are basically just enchantments that fuse to a specific type of creature).
I'm not sure if I will even finish the league. Has anybody had a similar experience and then stuck it out for it to get better? If it's going to be more of the same, I'd rather stay home and play video games or read a book. My wife seemed to enjoy it, so that's good at least.
Pioneer: Spirits
EDH: Ur-Dragon + Lord Windgrace + Arixmethes + Atla Palani + Kalamax