I only play Standard. I have played only once in the last 4-5 months, a trip to a GP that was planned ahead.
The primary reasons for not playing have little to do with Magic. But...when putting together decks for the GP, my son and I spent time figuring out what non-Jace decks we could play because we didn't want to pony up the $300 each we'd need for a playset. The virtual free color splashing is also not attractive to me, not so much because of the cost of lands, but because deck building choices become less difficult: really want to play Jace because it's the best card out there, but don't want to give up the power of Abzan, just splash blue and play four colors. No worries.
I paid attention to the Oath spoilers, but not in the same attentive manner that I have to past spoilers. I thought there was plenty to like, but nothing that will shake things up. Nothing that has said to me "you need to come back to try this".
I did not think of it when the new rotation schedule was announced, but I think it is going to drive more people to Modern. Most players don't avidly follow the week-to-week changes in Standard (when there are week-to-week changes) or get to play themselves every week. With rotation happening every six months instead of every year, each Standard will be shorter and more casual players won't be able, or won't want to, keep current as easily (or cheaply). Much easier to keep your deck current when you play every couple weeks when you're playing Modern.
Me? I'm actually thinking about selling off my collection. Maybe keeping some lands, but probably not. If I were to decide to start playing Standard again in a few months, I'd mostly have to start from scratch anyway and the Standard legal lands (the ones that are still Standard legal) won't likely be more expensive in 6 or 12 months than they are now.
I want to emphasize that the recent sets and rotation change have not driven me from the game. Other circumstances have caused me to play less often and the changes made it easier for me to just walk away.
"Pile shuffling" does not "create patterns", it just doesn't remove patterns.
After a game, it certainly does. Say I played out 12 lands during a very grindy game and start by pile shuffle with the stack of lands on top of the deck. They will be distributed 2 at the bottom of each pile in a six pile shuffle. You now have groups of 2 lands located at regular intervals.
That's not pattern creation, that's just changing 12 in a row to six groups of 2 in a predictable way. You haven't randomized or "unrandomized", you've just redistributed in a known way.
(2) A pile shuffle is absolutely a shuffle. In fact, it's theoretically very similar to a riffle shuffle. In fact, it's kind of identical. A perfect riffle shuffle is mathematically identical to a 2-pile pile shuffle. The main issue with a pile shuffle is that it's entirely predictable. If you wanted to, you could preset a deck ahead of time so that after one n-stack pile shuffle you would know precisely what the final order of the deck was. But the same is true of any number of perfect riffle shuffles, if you can do a perfect riffle shuffle.
"Perfect riffle shuffle" is something of an oxymoron. As you say, if you "perfectly" alternate every other card, you are not randomizing. So, it is not a perfect shuffle. I don't know if there is a mathematical definition of shuffle, but a lay definition would include a randomizing effect...which is not present in the "perfect riffle shuffle".
Arguing over semantics is fun and all but think of it another way; consider that pile shuffling creates patterns, some are subtle but they are there (i.e. land distribution, etc). We know this is not random. Similarly, if memory serves me, I recall from my poker playing days that 7 times is the magic number for randomization assuming tight shuffling skills. More than 7 shuffles, and the deck will begin to de-randomize and fall back into patterns again. My skills shuffling with sleeves has never been very good so I tend to throw in a couple extras shuffles and call it good. The only time I pile shuffle is after deck construction prior to a couple of goldfish hands. Seems to work for me.
"Pile shuffling" does not "create patterns", it just doesn't remove patterns.
7 riffle shuffles is sufficient for a deck of 52 cards. (Actually, I think 5 "good" riffle shuffles is sufficient but 7 is recommended because people don't riffle shuffle well, but I could be remembering incorrectly.) Extra riffles do not undo the randomization, the extra riffles just don't add to the randomization.
I have to admit that if I saw my opponent do less than 7 piles, I consider some sketchy shuffling.
"Pile shuffling" isn't really shuffling, it is counting. Problems arise when people think of it as shuffling (whether it is you or your opponent doing the piling).
Yes, lots of people think of it as shuffling. I've seen people do multiple "pile shuffles" and I've seen people "pile shuffle" after a mulligan. Both these are just a waste of time, of course.
I've seen kids who treat packs like lottery tickets. Lots of kids and some adults. I've seen kids win packs/cards, trade them in for store credit, use the store credit for more packs, lather, rinse, repeat.
I've also seen kids who sour on the game, then drop a bunch of money on creating a new Standard deck because they want to get back into the game, only to sour again a few weeks later.
$200 to $500 is not that much in Magic terms.
Speaking as a Magic player and the parent of a Magic player, ending the hobby at 12 and moving on to something else could easily be the right thing to do.
I'm curious where the scales players went. Perhaps they are just content with things as they are, so no more need to discuss?
I haven't played a single match of Magic since GP Quebec. The nine-week PPTQ break means there are no special events around here which lessens the incentive to get out to practice on Friday nights or to keep current.
Any thoughts on my Bant list? That's the one I'm most likely to use in the PPTQ. Playing it and getting all my creatures removed by Silkwrap/Ultimate Price/Abzan Charm made me feel like I need to play this more Heroic-style, where I don't put out a creature unless I have a protection spell to keep them alive, except that wouldn't work with only 6 protection spells... so really I just have to play it like DanielPhelps played his.
I haven't played Bant Hardened Scales, but I have played Temur with counter magic. My approach is to use the counter magic only when it is going to make a real difference. I generally don't fight over one for one removal, we're supposed to be able to put forth more threats than they have removal. Counter magic is devastating when they are counting on Languish or similar to remove multiple targets. It's also very good for use against draw spells to keep them from gaining card advantage.
Yeah for some reason I wrote 1 plains and then 5 cards below I wrote 1 plains again. Was kinda a heart breaker to hear that, considering I had beaten over half that top 8 in the swiss rounds. But overall the run was still great and bant scales felt unstoppable.
David, congratulations. And, thanks for visiting this thread, it's nice to hear directly from those who are having success rather than speculate on things.
I seem to recall reading in your Top 8 profile that you wouldn't change a thing (except for maybe registering the right list!). Do you still feel that way? Any standout performing cards or soft performing cards? Any SB all-stars? I realize you were feeling unbeatable, but there must have been some decks you felt better against than others. Would you share?
Again, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
I've been wondering how viable the Explosive Vegetation / Nissa's Pilgrimage is in Temur (I forget what the three colored combinations with tri-lands are called...shards?). It seems to be easier in Naya because there are two useful fetches that include green.
I was browsing through my binder sorting some cards (I hadn't reorganized it since standard rotated) and I came across Surrak, the Hunt Caller. I had completely forgotten about this guy! You can't tell me a ferocious trigger off of See the unwritten with him and Dragonlord Atarka doesn't sound spicy. He isnt an elemental but even without those 3 elemental slots I'm still running 14 Elementals which is more than enough to still call it my elemental deck, not to mention Omnath, Locus of Rage makes his own. I think he is honestly as close to a turn 3 Polukranos, world eater as I'm going to get for this set and making something hasty (including himself) sounds divine. He is going to bait removal on himself less they face fast aggro in the midrange turns. Going to try him out this Thursday and see the results. I also definitely think I'm going to go with Rending Volley as well as my mantis rider solution.
Surrak is probably even better with the other Atarka. Oh for Xenagos. But, that combination never took off, so maybe this one won't either.
Also @thg - Atarka's Command drops any land of your choice onto the battlefield from your hand.
Ah, yes. But, I was thinking more along the lines of finding it in the library and putting it into play. Ways to find those multi-colored lands and get them into play. All the spells that allow placing extra basics into play mean that the land base has to have lots of basics. Sylvan Scrying plus Atarka's Command, I guess.
The "change" would be much more useful if it were color coded so that a quick scan could reveal the winners and the losers. Perhaps, green for gainers, dark green for cards that have gained more than 10% (or whatever is deemed significant enough to be something other than normal fluctuation) and the same for losers with red and dark red. The arrows aren't good for quickly highlighting something.
Change for just the most recent period (3 or 4 days) is not enough. The charts should include some amount of historical data, covering at least the last two weeks. Seeing a series of green numbers means something even if all the gains are small; if a card is up a nickel one week and down the next, flip-flopping around a price, that means something too.
The primary reasons for not playing have little to do with Magic. But...when putting together decks for the GP, my son and I spent time figuring out what non-Jace decks we could play because we didn't want to pony up the $300 each we'd need for a playset. The virtual free color splashing is also not attractive to me, not so much because of the cost of lands, but because deck building choices become less difficult: really want to play Jace because it's the best card out there, but don't want to give up the power of Abzan, just splash blue and play four colors. No worries.
I paid attention to the Oath spoilers, but not in the same attentive manner that I have to past spoilers. I thought there was plenty to like, but nothing that will shake things up. Nothing that has said to me "you need to come back to try this".
I did not think of it when the new rotation schedule was announced, but I think it is going to drive more people to Modern. Most players don't avidly follow the week-to-week changes in Standard (when there are week-to-week changes) or get to play themselves every week. With rotation happening every six months instead of every year, each Standard will be shorter and more casual players won't be able, or won't want to, keep current as easily (or cheaply). Much easier to keep your deck current when you play every couple weeks when you're playing Modern.
Me? I'm actually thinking about selling off my collection. Maybe keeping some lands, but probably not. If I were to decide to start playing Standard again in a few months, I'd mostly have to start from scratch anyway and the Standard legal lands (the ones that are still Standard legal) won't likely be more expensive in 6 or 12 months than they are now.
I want to emphasize that the recent sets and rotation change have not driven me from the game. Other circumstances have caused me to play less often and the changes made it easier for me to just walk away.
"Perfect riffle shuffle" is something of an oxymoron. As you say, if you "perfectly" alternate every other card, you are not randomizing. So, it is not a perfect shuffle. I don't know if there is a mathematical definition of shuffle, but a lay definition would include a randomizing effect...which is not present in the "perfect riffle shuffle".
"Pile shuffling" does not "create patterns", it just doesn't remove patterns.
7 riffle shuffles is sufficient for a deck of 52 cards. (Actually, I think 5 "good" riffle shuffles is sufficient but 7 is recommended because people don't riffle shuffle well, but I could be remembering incorrectly.) Extra riffles do not undo the randomization, the extra riffles just don't add to the randomization.
Yes, lots of people think of it as shuffling. I've seen people do multiple "pile shuffles" and I've seen people "pile shuffle" after a mulligan. Both these are just a waste of time, of course.
I've also seen kids who sour on the game, then drop a bunch of money on creating a new Standard deck because they want to get back into the game, only to sour again a few weeks later.
$200 to $500 is not that much in Magic terms.
Speaking as a Magic player and the parent of a Magic player, ending the hobby at 12 and moving on to something else could easily be the right thing to do.
I haven't played Bant Hardened Scales, but I have played Temur with counter magic. My approach is to use the counter magic only when it is going to make a real difference. I generally don't fight over one for one removal, we're supposed to be able to put forth more threats than they have removal. Counter magic is devastating when they are counting on Languish or similar to remove multiple targets. It's also very good for use against draw spells to keep them from gaining card advantage.
Even on sealed merchandise, stores have established a bulk discount -- most sell packs for something more than 1/36 the price of a box.
My guess is that you will have more success with the smaller sellers than with the big sellers.
David, congratulations. And, thanks for visiting this thread, it's nice to hear directly from those who are having success rather than speculate on things.
With that in mind, is this an accurate list?
I seem to recall reading in your Top 8 profile that you wouldn't change a thing (except for maybe registering the right list!). Do you still feel that way? Any standout performing cards or soft performing cards? Any SB all-stars? I realize you were feeling unbeatable, but there must have been some decks you felt better against than others. Would you share?
Again, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
Take a look at the land base here.
I've been wondering how viable the Explosive Vegetation / Nissa's Pilgrimage is in Temur (I forget what the three colored combinations with tri-lands are called...shards?). It seems to be easier in Naya because there are two useful fetches that include green.
Also, is Animist's Awakening going to be a thing at some point? If played for X=3 so the same cost as Explosive Vegetation or Nissa's Pilgrimage in a deck with 25 lands, it seems to me that it is just as good as Pilgrimage.
Surrak is probably even better with the other Atarka. Oh for Xenagos. But, that combination never took off, so maybe this one won't either.
Ah, yes. But, I was thinking more along the lines of finding it in the library and putting it into play. Ways to find those multi-colored lands and get them into play. All the spells that allow placing extra basics into play mean that the land base has to have lots of basics. Sylvan Scrying plus Atarka's Command, I guess.