I don't blame the guy. Thoughtsieze is the -snip- most overpowered card in standard right now. Playing it on turn 1 will make most people want to punch a kitten. Combine that with the fact that, for a time, every no talent hack was playing MBD. I don't condone his actions, but I do understand them.
Also, most UW control players have added their own twist to the deck. It isnt quite as cookie cutter as MBD.
In all honesty, he was probably sitting across the table from you, thinking that you didn't like playing the game, since you were playing a deck that takes very little skill or thought to play.
He still should have kept his comments to himself.
0 point warning for innapropriate language -DarkRitual
Nissa really isn't that strong for a three color control build. Kiora costs one cmc less, defends herself equally as well, has a better ultimate that is even easier to pull off. There is also elsepeth who is better in every single way while only costing one cmc more.
The only time I have seen nissa really shine is bringing darksteel citadel to life. However, its hard to play darksteel citadel in a three color control deck.
How can you have a control deck without counters? Counters are the most used and most versatile tool to control the tempo of the game.
I have a feeling it will be UBG, with Kiora, Garruk, or Nissa taking over for Elspeth, with kiora being the top pick. I also see Ensoul being a staple win condition.
Obviously this ignores what Khans might bring. I feel like wizards is going to push WUR for control, so we might see a 4 or 5 mana red sweeper.
I have won quite a few games using Blind Obedience in my Azorius control deck. It helps mutavault widdle down your opponent and adds needed survivability. I wonder why I don't see more people playing it. I main deck two of them.
The people saying she will only be good in mono green once shocks rotate are rediculous. Green is the easiest color to splash. All you will need is one forest and one elvish mystic and three of whatever to get her out. If she's not playable, then everything will be monocolored.
I play an Azorious Control deck and the single card that gives me the most trouble is Kiora, The Crashing Wave.
After that, the thing that gives me the most trouble is my opponent's strategy. Putting all your creatures out as fast as possible pretty much gives the game away. Control wins by generating a card advantage. When you trade 5 creatures for one supreme verdict, and maybe the 5 damage your creatures did the previous turn, you just gave up a huge card advantage. Now you are stuck topdecking it while your opponent continues to advance his position.
You should have more creatures than he has answers for. Make him use his supreme verdict or planar cleansing on your 3/1 you keep hitting with every turn. Creatures with haste and especially flash play well into this strategy, as this makes their one-for-removal harder to use. If you play that game, all you have to worry about is how long until they draw aetherling or one of their two elsepeth. If they get them out on turn 6,7, or 8, you were unlucky, as the odds were against them drawing one of those three cards so early. So just play the odds.
At least that is what I have noticed as a control player.
I've got them all, but they will most likely lose value.
Scry lands are good for control, and control will be taking a big hit when supreme verdict and sphinx's revelation rotate out. Control will need a reprint of Wrath or something along those lines to be playable. If they don't, the board wipes that will be available from the theros block will be cards like planar cleansing for 6 cmc and fated retribution for 7 cmc.
A lot of players seem think this might be a strict upgrade but these effects are in no way free, they come at the cost of slowing your deck down and you have to ask yourself whether these losses in tempo is ultimately worth it.
You're right Ux devotion is slower, and that's why I would think banishing light would be helpful. It gives you more survivability. When you have to scry that fourth land or not want to pay 2 life, it would be great to give you some extra breathing room. The longer the game goes, the better my matches seem to go. I need time to set up Bident, and get enough devotion out to take full advantage of master of waves.
As far as it being redundant, you're right, and that's why I like it. With just 4 detention spheres, you are in no way guaranteed to get one. In fact you are unlikely to draw one in a game. Further more, when you do draw one, you will often find yourself saving it for a bigger threat. If four are good, than eight just seem twice as good. I also rarely find myself saying, "Crap, I can't use another detention sphere". On the rare occasion that I really don't want one, I've got Thassa and scry lands to weed them out.
Now what do you loose for this utility? 4x Judge's Familiar, an almost useless card midgame, and at best a gnat early in the game.
Could someone explain to me the possible problems with running 4 Detention Sphere and 4 Banishing Light in a Uw devotion deck? I would most likely have them on the sideboard for creature heavy decks, or even against control decks to take out their detention sphere? I've been experimenting with running 4 Pacifism and 4 Detention Sphere and I seem to do better against creature heavy decks. For most match ups it seems far more useful than Dissolve.
Thanks for the post. I just tried to log on and need a place to complain.
Why must they perform maintenance several times a week? If the program is that messed up, and really needs the maintenance, why can't they do it at around 4:00 am? MTGO has been around for 12 years. All they have to do is add cards, and maybe change some mechanics each year. On top of that, we are talking about a very simple program. It doesn't have to do much. A third year computer science major should be able to write a comparable program. Doesn't WoTC make like 40% of their revenue from MTGO? What in the world is their problem?
While I'm at it, you should be able to redeem all your cards, not just complete sets. I would spend far more money on the game if I felt my "investments" were more tangible. It would also all but eliminate any difference in online and paper values.
Wow, and I thought I was ahead of the curve for a new player. You make it sound like everything I am suggesting as been beat to death. Maybe it has, and I just don't know where to look.
I was hoping for more theory based answers as to why my cards are worse than the UW devotion net deck. I assume they are, I just don't know why. For instance, Realmwright seems to solve so many more problems than Judge's Familiar does. Am I asking in the wrong section? I didn't see a beginners section on this forum for guidance.
The cards are already in the mail for this deck. You guys might have been able to save me some money if you could have explained some things like why the tokens Elspeth, Sun's Champion creates when Bident Of Thassa is out, won't draw me more cards than Jace, Memory Adept on average. Maybe this is like being on a sailboat forum asking what a jib sail is.
I'm new to the game. I bought my wife a M14 Fat Pack for Valentines Day with no experience with the game. We've had a lot of fun getting boosters and building up some decks. I started getting into MTGO and have been experimenting with a few decks. I had a lot of fun a decent success with this U Devotion build. I have been experimenting and adapting trying to find something that works better. The above deck is what I have come up with and I'm thinking of putting this together for real life play and getting my wife a G devotion deck, and going to try some FNM. Any advice on what I have come up with would be appreciated.
By mid game, this deck seems to draw a ton of cards and have plenty of mana. As long as I can survive an early onslaught, I seem to win the majority of my match ups. A deck that seems to give me a problem is Barely Boros Burn. If I take out two Elspeth, Sun's Champion and one Detention Sphere, and add three Dissolve, it is all depends on my luck.
Also, most UW control players have added their own twist to the deck. It isnt quite as cookie cutter as MBD.
In all honesty, he was probably sitting across the table from you, thinking that you didn't like playing the game, since you were playing a deck that takes very little skill or thought to play.
He still should have kept his comments to himself.
0 point warning for innapropriate language -DarkRitual
The only time I have seen nissa really shine is bringing darksteel citadel to life. However, its hard to play darksteel citadel in a three color control deck.
I have a feeling it will be UBG, with Kiora, Garruk, or Nissa taking over for Elspeth, with kiora being the top pick. I also see Ensoul being a staple win condition.
Obviously this ignores what Khans might bring. I feel like wizards is going to push WUR for control, so we might see a 4 or 5 mana red sweeper.
After that, the thing that gives me the most trouble is my opponent's strategy. Putting all your creatures out as fast as possible pretty much gives the game away. Control wins by generating a card advantage. When you trade 5 creatures for one supreme verdict, and maybe the 5 damage your creatures did the previous turn, you just gave up a huge card advantage. Now you are stuck topdecking it while your opponent continues to advance his position.
You should have more creatures than he has answers for. Make him use his supreme verdict or planar cleansing on your 3/1 you keep hitting with every turn. Creatures with haste and especially flash play well into this strategy, as this makes their one-for-removal harder to use. If you play that game, all you have to worry about is how long until they draw aetherling or one of their two elsepeth. If they get them out on turn 6,7, or 8, you were unlucky, as the odds were against them drawing one of those three cards so early. So just play the odds.
At least that is what I have noticed as a control player.
Scry lands are good for control, and control will be taking a big hit when supreme verdict and sphinx's revelation rotate out. Control will need a reprint of Wrath or something along those lines to be playable. If they don't, the board wipes that will be available from the theros block will be cards like planar cleansing for 6 cmc and fated retribution for 7 cmc.
You're right Ux devotion is slower, and that's why I would think banishing light would be helpful. It gives you more survivability. When you have to scry that fourth land or not want to pay 2 life, it would be great to give you some extra breathing room. The longer the game goes, the better my matches seem to go. I need time to set up Bident, and get enough devotion out to take full advantage of master of waves.
As far as it being redundant, you're right, and that's why I like it. With just 4 detention spheres, you are in no way guaranteed to get one. In fact you are unlikely to draw one in a game. Further more, when you do draw one, you will often find yourself saving it for a bigger threat. If four are good, than eight just seem twice as good. I also rarely find myself saying, "Crap, I can't use another detention sphere". On the rare occasion that I really don't want one, I've got Thassa and scry lands to weed them out.
Now what do you loose for this utility? 4x Judge's Familiar, an almost useless card midgame, and at best a gnat early in the game.
Why must they perform maintenance several times a week? If the program is that messed up, and really needs the maintenance, why can't they do it at around 4:00 am? MTGO has been around for 12 years. All they have to do is add cards, and maybe change some mechanics each year. On top of that, we are talking about a very simple program. It doesn't have to do much. A third year computer science major should be able to write a comparable program. Doesn't WoTC make like 40% of their revenue from MTGO? What in the world is their problem?
While I'm at it, you should be able to redeem all your cards, not just complete sets. I would spend far more money on the game if I felt my "investments" were more tangible. It would also all but eliminate any difference in online and paper values.
I was hoping for more theory based answers as to why my cards are worse than the UW devotion net deck. I assume they are, I just don't know why. For instance, Realmwright seems to solve so many more problems than Judge's Familiar does. Am I asking in the wrong section? I didn't see a beginners section on this forum for guidance.
The cards are already in the mail for this deck. You guys might have been able to save me some money if you could have explained some things like why the tokens Elspeth, Sun's Champion creates when Bident Of Thassa is out, won't draw me more cards than Jace, Memory Adept on average. Maybe this is like being on a sailboat forum asking what a jib sail is.
Why not?
4 Realmwright
4 Frostburn Weird
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Master of Waves
4 Thassa, God of the Sea
2 Ephara, God Of The Polis
Spells (14)
4 Dispel
4 Detention Sphere
4 Bident Of Thassa
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Temple Of Enlightenment
12 Island
4 Azorius Charm
2 Disperse
3 Dissolve
2 Domestication
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Rapid Hybridization
I'm new to the game. I bought my wife a M14 Fat Pack for Valentines Day with no experience with the game. We've had a lot of fun getting boosters and building up some decks. I started getting into MTGO and have been experimenting with a few decks. I had a lot of fun a decent success with this U Devotion build. I have been experimenting and adapting trying to find something that works better. The above deck is what I have come up with and I'm thinking of putting this together for real life play and getting my wife a G devotion deck, and going to try some FNM. Any advice on what I have come up with would be appreciated.
By mid game, this deck seems to draw a ton of cards and have plenty of mana. As long as I can survive an early onslaught, I seem to win the majority of my match ups. A deck that seems to give me a problem is Barely Boros Burn. If I take out two Elspeth, Sun's Champion and one Detention Sphere, and add three Dissolve, it is all depends on my luck.