- jnewhouse
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Member for 18 years, 2 months, and 15 days
Last active Sun, Nov, 5 2017 16:32:38
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Sep 1, 2015jnewhouse posted a message on The Magic Street Journal: Glitter, Gimmicks, and Glamours - Wizards' Reprint ShenanigansSales increase by continuing to grow the player base.Posted in: Articles
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Aug 31, 2015jnewhouse posted a message on The Magic Street Journal: Glitter, Gimmicks, and Glamours - Wizards' Reprint ShenanigansI disagree with almost everything in here. There's no bubble. Wizards decided that there should be something ultra rare, and it is something that doesn't actually give an in game advantage. Magic continues to grow. That isn't because of new gimmicks, but because more people are playing then ever. I have friends who maybe learned the rules 15 years ago who now buy boxes just to draft because the game is fun. The kids that were playing in 2000 are now adults with jobs that allow them to spend money. This is some chicken little stuff, which I suppose has always been endemic in the MTG community. For instance look at the declarations of doom that preceded the introduction of Play Points on MODO.Posted in: Articles
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was wondering if anyone had any tweaks to suggest. I really haven't changed it at all in about 9 months. Also, there is nothing more satisfying than a hive mind player casting Gitaxian probe on you and seeing angel's grace. =)
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/04232012d
MonoG is the way to go
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Genesis Wave
1 Kodama's Reach
16 Forest
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Terastodon
1 Wood Elves
1 Natural Order
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Overgrown Battlement
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Restock
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Troll Ascetic
1 Cultivate
1 Awakening Zone
1 Show and Tell
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Goblin Welder
1 Nostalgic Dreams
1 Vinelasher Kudzu
1 Seal of Primordium
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Sarkhan the Mad
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Hystrodon
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Dauthi Slayer
1 Stonewood Invocation
1 Great Sable Stag
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Palladium Myr
1 Carnophage
1 Sinkhole
1 Genesis
1 Tattermunge Maniac
1 Etched Oracle
1 Stomping Ground
1 Mind Stone
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Batterskull
11 Forest
1 Eternal Witness
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Phantom Centaur
1 Vengevine
1 Farseek
1 Fertile Ground
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 Behemoth Sledge
1 Birthing Pod
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Wasteland
1 Vorapede
1 Awakening Zone
1 Tooth and Nail
1 Plains
1 Windswept Heath
1 Explore
1 Summoning Trap
1 Stonewood Invocation
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 Searing Blaze
1 Forest
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Torch Fiend
1 Shrine of Burning Rage
1 Beacon of Destruction
1 Disenchant
1 Savannah Lions
1 Agony Warp
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Lotus Petal
1 Slith Firewalker
1 Pulse of the Forge
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Dark Ritual
1 Unearth
1 Thoughtseize
1 Fertile Ground
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Smokestack
1 Search for Tomorrow
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Terastodon
1 Wood Elves
1 Natural Order
1 Garruk, Primal Hunter
1 All Is Dust
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Cultivate
1 Primal Command
1 Mindslaver
17 Forest
1 Regrowth
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Summoning Trap
1 Awakening Zone
1 Moment's Peace
1 Dissipate
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Skinrender
1 Hex Parasite
1 Naturalize
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Molten-Tail Masticore
1 Seething Song
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Volcanic Island
1 Firespout
1 Ruhan of the Fomori
1 Mana Tithe
1 Dream Halls
1 Windswept Heath
1 Blastoderm
1 Careful Consideration
1 Goblin Trenches
1 Mold Shambler
1 Genesis
1 Wall of Roots
1 Channel
1 Vinelasher Kudzu
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Wood Elves
1 Search for Tomorrow
15 Forest
1 Arbor Elf
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Razormane Masticore
1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Joraga Treespeaker
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Mindslaver
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Sundering Titan
1 Summoning Trap
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Genesis Wave
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Ghitu Encampment
1 Dissipate
1 Desertion
1 Forest
1 Skeletal Scrying
1 Masticore
1 Hex Parasite
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Sneak Attack
1 Momentary Blink
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Thunderscape Battlemage
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 All Is Dust
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Ratchet Bomb
1 Power Sink
1 Strangleroot Geist
1 Wall of Roots
1 Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
1 Search for Tomorrow
16 Forest
1 Strip Mine
1 Devoted Druid
1 Terastodon
1 Indrik Stomphowler
1 Natural Order
1 Lotus Cobra
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Great Sable Stag
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Karn Liberated
1 Cloudthresher
1 Mindslaver
1 Restock
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
1 Survival of the Fittest
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Plow Under
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Thornling
1 Burning of Xinye
1 Show and Tell
1 Gamble
1 Putrid Leech
1 Priest of Urabrask
1 Phyrexian Obliterator
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Heartbeat of Spring
1 Loxodon Hierarch
1 Isochron Scepter
1 Slagstorm
1 Steppe Lynx
1 Iona, Shield of Emeria
1 Tangle Wire
1 Stonewood Invocation
1 Devastating Dreams
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
1 Firestorm
1 Woolly Thoctar
1 Call the Skybreaker
1 Cabal Coffers
The basic idea is incredibly simple: mono green ramp into cards that win games. The two best ramp cards are rofellos and channel, letting you do ridiculous things like Genesis Wave for 14 on turn 4 (hit Avenger of Zendikar, Vinelash Kudzu, Karn), or Karn on turn 3. Even without these, you can get ridiculous plays like turn 5 Kozilek. The strategy is orthogonal enough to most "good stuff" strategies that you are able to get the cards pretty regularly. Anyway, if Cube comes back, I'll definitely be working this again.
I've talked to him, he started with my list. He also t8ed a premier event on Sunday. He added the card draw plus a mox opal.
-LockSmith requires creatures, so any creature destruction/DD they main deck gets sent at it, instead of just being a dead draw (I don't actually care if they kill sculptor).
-KCI gives you 8 sac outlets, rather than just reshape. This lets you play wellsprings, terrarion, and often sac the darksteel citadels. The extra 6 eggs you can play really contribute to the redundancy of the deck.
-KCI quickly gives you a ton of mana. This is particularly relevent in the current meta, where the two main counters are mana leak, spell pierce and remand. It takes a little work to get WWWW, but you can set up so your second sunrise gets around any blue opponent with 2 mana untapped.
-KCI can give you "oops, I win" situations if it revolves, with banefire. It is such an engine that a control opponent is going to feel obligated to counter it. Riddle smith and locket aren't the same level of threats.
-Kind of covered, but with KCI out you can reshape into wellspring to draw two cards. 2 cards is huge when going off.
Round 1: Played affinity, he dropped the nuts on me both games. I was a turn behind each time.
Round 2: Jund, I won this one 2-1. I felt a little bad because I cast reshape for pithing needle to deal with nihil spellbomb, and he didn't know he didn't have time to respond, but I don't think he would have known to.
Round 3: Merfolk, he beat me 2-0. I was in a good position game two but just failed to find the next second sunrise, and was stuck at exactly 20 minutes. Why couldn't he have been playing pain?
Round 4: UR Storm, either 2-0 or 2-1. He went off really quickly game 1. the other game I lost, I kept a suspect hand because it had 2x telemind performance, which reads "I win", but never resolved one.
It was a little frustrating, I felt that the deck wasn't clicking the way it does when I play online. I also wouldn't be surprised if part of my lack of success was not being practiced in playing irl. You have different things to keep track of than online, and there is no pressure to communicate with your opponents what you are doing, taking time to think when you need it. Next time, I would have a better way to track mana, probably a grid with spots for numbers 1-20, and move beads between slots. Writing it down doesn't work because there is a lot of down-up in the mana.
Round 1: mikeman29 UR Tron, 2-0.
Game 1: good opening hand with SS, sphere, ichor, etherium. had 2 second sunrises turn 3, decided to pop one to accelerate. Turn 4 I miscount and pop the third ghost quarter with no basics in hand. This prevents me from floating 2x(WW1), as I had the 2 SS in hand. He drops a Kozilek, leaving one land open. Tron doesn't play spell pierce, and I go off ftw.
Game 2: Keep a hand full of eggs+noxious revival. I lay stuff, he does nothing for a while. I hhave noxious, silence and KCI in hand when he Eye of Ugins for Emerakul, then casts through the breach. I sac a bunch of lands plus some auto-draw eggs. Decide to go in and pop the other eggs, getting a SS on the last draw.cast silence for protection, pop everything and cast second sunrise. Noxious revival the silence and proceed to go off the next turn.
Round 2: SPottenger UB Control, 2-1.
Game 1:
keep a good hand of lotus, reshape, elsewhere flask, OtV. Bloom gets inquisitioned though. snapcaster to discard reshape. I try to go off eventually, but choose to reshape for lotus to bait a counter/have more for mana leak. should have reshaped for an egg to draw, as had the mana and another SS was on top. as is SS gets cryptic commanded. Lose to snapcaster/clique
Game 2: keep a 4 egg/3 land hand. pretty good for minimizing the pain of discard. 2 straight defense grids get countered, with me holding OtV in hand and a nihil spellbomb on his side. he chooses to Vendilion Clique a schromatic star instead of OtV, and I noxious revival a defense grid and stick it. OtV gets thoughtsiezed eventually. I drop KCI, next turn reshape to pithing needle with SS in hand. draw OtV next turn, which he lets resolve, and I win.
Game 3: Keep hand of KCI, defense grid, land and eggs. defense grid gets countered, and SS gets cliqued, but still a ton of eggs. He drops ratchet bomb, and I sac a couple spheres before pithing needling it. I resolve KCI with second sunrise in hand (he said it was a misclick). I sac ichor wellspring in preperation to go off, draw banefire, and realize I can banefire for lethal next turn. I wait, then do so.
Round 3: SaradinDR, CawBlade, 2-1.
Game 1: Keep money hand of 2x terrarion, reshape, chromatic sphere, SS, banefire, GQ, and draw a lotus first turn. stuck on one land for a while, he only has 2 untapped when the bloom citp, I go for it, and he doesn't have any answers besides path on sculptor.
Game 2: He drops first turn relic of progenitus, then squadron hawks, I never find a space to go off. tried to be able to double SS around relic, but never worked.
Game 3: keep needle, SS, reshape, KCI, sphere, land. turn 4 I bait a mana leak with ichor wellspring. He taps out so I try to go off. Get two second sunrises, but misclick a reshape, getting lotus instead of ichor wellspring. Costs me 4 draws, and have to sit pat, but with needle on relic and echoing truth in hand. he taps out trying to put me on a clock, and I go off ftw.
Round 4: hot_milk, Boros Aggro, 2-1. (Finally not control)
Game 1: On turn 3, I'm at 10 at he's got goblin guide, steppe lynx, chandra' phoenix and figure of destiny out. I figure I have to go off. with only 1 white available, I decide to sac terrarion to KCI instead of filtering somehow (I could have dropped pyrite or bauble to get the extra mana). This ends up costing me. luckily, he can't kill me, a lotus comes in and I cast OtV to win.
Game 2: I keep a reshape, 2 KCI, no eggs hand and pay the price.
Game 3: he apparently sided in shrines, which was silly. I'm sitting on just bauble and SS and noxious revival in hand. he's slow though. his turn 5 he casts duergar hedge-mage to kill my lotus, so i pop SS to get it back. it's a close thing, as mana is tight, but I cast noxious revival 3 times, despite only two in deck to reshape into lotus and eventually KCI, then win.
It was pretty awesome. And yes, I do go 0-2 or 2-2 in dailies, I just don't like to write about it. My deck was the same as it has been, except +2 early frost, -1 silence, -1 angel's grace in the board. Also, for someone above, UR storm doesn't run lightning bolt, so grace is safe, and dodges counters, unlike silence.
Also, here is my reason against Edge of Autumn, because I think someone asked:
If you want a cycling card, you might as well go with Gitaxian Probe, as knowing what is in their hand can really help. Moreover, unless you have a lot of lands, you only really want to cast Edge of Autumn on the turn you're comboing. This means it is pretty much a dead card until you are already drawing a bunch, and it just doesn't seem worth it.
Aven Mindcensor kind of screws you, you've got some outs in pyrite spellbomb, banefire to get rid of it, or just try to play around it. Of course, if it is take a chance or die the next turn, take the chance.
Turn 4 usually, occasionally Turn 3 if you have the pieces for it, usually Ghost Quarter, Reshape, Second Sunrise and a couple eggs. Usually though, you are going to try to go off when 1 of 2 things are true:
1- You will likely or surely die the next turn. Against some decks this is obvious, against others, not so much.
2- You have a better chance going off now then later. Usually against a tapped out opponent with counters or when you know there is hate that could land.
As far as mulliganing goes, I very rarely mulligan, as almost any hand with a single land is keepable. Others may disagree, but for 1 land hands with at least 1 of chromatic star or egg or conjurer's bauble, I like to just drop that egg turn 1, then if I don't get a second land turn 2, go ahead and pop the egg. Although this loses something that can't be second sunrised, you probably have a hand full of gas. If you hit that second land, then great, if you don't then that means you would have spent next turn screwing around on one land as well. I'd say I mulligan about one in 6-8 hands, and seldom feel like I should have.
You could move up to 2 Misty Rainforests, but any more than that and you'll run out of islands to grab with it and Ghost Quarter pretty quickly. Any Rainforests you have sitting in your deck you will then draw instead of getting to search them out, plus you don't get the extra mana.
The one plains is a fetch target for ghost quarter. First of all, it can be helpful if you need W to cast Silence or Angel's Grace. Secondly, sometime you'll have only a ghost quarter and a chrome star or sphere to get to WW, and it can grab the plains you need to cast the Sunrise.
What do people think about sharing some play strategies? The deck has a ton of complexity, and it might be nice to hear some unorthodox things that you find work. Mainly situations that come up repeatedly, not triple reshape into Vault into Banefire, although I did pull that off today.
One of my favorites is the 2nd turn sunrise for acceleration. Basically, you have something like citadel/GQ/CS or Island/GQ/CS out. Then, you reshape and pop GQ, and cast second sunrise. Very ocassionally, this will allow you to combo out, but usually not. However, you'll have an untapped land or two, and next turn you'll be completely set up. This is especially useful if you have another sunrise/open the vault in your hand. Also, if your opponent is running mana leak or spell pierce, this will give you the mana to overcome those.
Also, anyone have changes they think should be made? I haven't added Lab Maniac just because I play online and don't want to have to draw my whole deck every time. I bought it irl though, and am about go play thursday night then PTQ on Saturday.
Also, I went 3-1 in a daily again today. Wins were against UR Storm twice and Martyr Proc, which is probably the best matchup. Loss was against a midrange UB deck with counters/discard/deceiver/bob. I had some terrible luck in one game, without sunrise/vaults in the top 30 cards. Made up for it by pulling an insane topdeck in the last round for the win.
Echoing Truth: Completely necessary. I almost always bring in at least one for games 2 and 3. For one thing, it completely negates Leyline of Sanctity. Seeing your opponent drop 2x Leyline is like them taking a double mulligan. Once you go off, you'll find the Echoing Truth. I'll board in more if I think there is other likely permanent hate, usually when they are playing white or have showed stuff before.
Pithing Needle: This i there to deal with Tormad's Crypt, relic of progenitus, necromancer's spellbomb, along with anything else that pops up (I dropped it on a fetchland once on a hunch and had him stuck on no land for a few turns, which let me win). It also makes a great reshape target, as the opponent doesn't have a chance to react after they let it resolve, and frequently won't guess that you're grabbing a needle.
Angle's Grace: First, there are two matchups which, while rare, this is an auto win: Hive Mind and Ad Nauseum. Few things are more satisfying than this. It's also helpful against most of the UR Combo decks, as it will often give you an extra turn. A little harder against SplinterTwin than Storm because of SplinterTwin's tappig, but I've found that ghostquartering a darksteel citadel for plains in response is pretty effective. Angel's Grace is nice because frequently these decks run counters, and if you can get them to tap out in an attempt to combo out, it leaves you free to try to win. This is negated a bit by Gitaxian Probe.
Defense Grid/Silence: The meta has shifted a bit since I put these in, so maybe a move to Leylines makes since. However, they are a good response against decks running a ton of counters, against which you are otherwise pretty vulnerable. Silence is better if you are going to want to cast it on their turn for some reason, and is also clutch against living end decks/decks with lotus.
I'm a kind of awful deck builder, and really just enjoy piloting decks (I usually choose the most complicated combo deck in the format). If anyone has suggestions for changes, please share.
1. KCI is awesome. Yes, the others are pretty much useless, although remember that if you have the mana, you can make up the cost of casting it with a single SS. The multiples also help against control and discard. It is very satisfying to hold a hand that is like 2x KCI and Second Sunrise, where you know they need to counter all three of those spells. I would not take out the KCIs for anything.
2-3. I've found that you face very little hate in the first game. Occasionally you get a maindeck canonist which can be a pain. Thus, the deck is built to be balls out in the first game, and I probably win about 70% of game 1s. After that, the first cards to go are almost always 2xEtherium Sculptor, as it is not necessary and 1x Lotus Bloom. For any more cards, it depends. I often go with an Open the Vault or Noxious, but if I'm feeling like taking an egg, I usually go for conjurer's bauble. I don't like taking out the 2 mana eggs, as drawing as they're played is really helpful.
Round 1: Merfolk, 2-0. First game, I suspend a lotus. Turn 4 he has lethal on the board with a curse catcher and 3 untapped lands, 2 cards in hand. I cast KCI, which he spellpierces, so I pop the lotus. He doesn't have any other counters, so I win. Game 2 he drops a relic of progenitus, but is mana screwed. He taps out on turn 3 for lord of Atlantis, so I go off while he is tapped out instead of waiting for the lotus. It works, I win.
Round 2: Melira Combo 0-2. Game 1 he pins my Open The Vault underneath a Tidehollow Sculler. I have a hand full of reshapes, eggs and a KCI. I decide to start popping eggs with KCI, as I have a pyrite spellbomb. Eventually I kill the sculler but am one mana short of casting open the vaults, so he wins. Game 2 I try to go off turn 4 with just eggs and KCI but fail. He combos out. This matchup is much different in real life, because you can answer the infinite life by removing combo pieces with noxious revival/banefire, then getting infinite mana for the kill, or spellbomb loop.
Round 3: Bant Midrange, 1-2. I got off one game, but he had a lot of hate, with Thorn of Amethyst, Canonist, Pridemage, and put me on too tight of a clock. I think I misplayed though.