I think this forum is sickly overmoderated already. You get infractions for even tiny missteps. Threads get deleted, moved, censored, whatever ...
Why would you want to start and categorize 3-0 draftdecks? That seems like another totally subjective procedure that just breeds hate.
On the semantics-commons issue (I don't know any of the guys):
I was honestly surprised by semantics reaction to commons nagging (is that the correct word? I am not a native english speaker).
If he really changed as much (or is in the process of) as he wants to make us and himself believe he probably should have taken it with a smile here, because what I get from this thread after that reaction is this:
'I (semantics) want to be the guy who set the groundwork for making each and every one a better player by "insert philosophical thoughts" - noone shall dare to derail this thread, for it is written, by me, semantics'.
It is basically a subliminaly written brag thread all by itself.
How ironic!
In MTG it is much more difficult to let results not affect your judgement than in Poker. In Poker it is a very easy calculation with a few unknowns like opponent's skill level and mood. MTG has a lot more variables. I don't think a computer could even be programmed to draft and play mathematically perfect. Afaik even the game of GO has not yet been 'solved' by a computer. The best players in that game are still human.
So, even it is true that results should not affect your judgement, there are not a lot of other ways. One would be to let the results of others also affect your judgement, which is why brag threads are actually helpful.
If you watch lsvs videos you will also notice that he oftentimes says 'I'd like to try that card' because seemingly the quality of a card in the format cannot be solved only in theory by a seasoned pro like him.
So basically he plays a certain card a few times and then judges that he is not 'too impressed by it' or finds it 'surprisingly good'. That is not an ideal procedure in an ideal world, but 'stepping back and thinking deeply and objectively about a deck/card' is very abstract and, I am afraid, not really possible.
Only a very bad player would not attack a Centaur Courser into a Sunstriker, with no expectation of tricks. 1 point of life swing is very much worth 0-for-1ing your opponent.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
I am saying that he attacks for 3 bringing you down to 17 f.e. and then you hit him back for 2 with lifelink leaving you at 19 and him at 18 (if both started with 20).
So you could basically race him and win the race (given no other cards are played anymore) - so he should not attack but leave his Centaur Courser back as a blocker if he cannot back it up with another guy.
Then I guess I was lucky finding one about every time I wanted.
But also think about this. Sunstriker can prevent a 3/3 (like centaur Courser) from attacking, because he hits you for 1 but gets hit back for 2 on the way back in the early turns. He can even keep pace with a 4/x (Watercourser f.e.).
Scorpion is mainly fine vs. Green and partly Red, while I consider green generally weak and not that much of a threat.
Maybe I was just lucky. I had overall better experiences with Sunstriker than with Scorpion but even 40 drafts is not a huge samplesize, because they were not all about Sunstriker and Scorpion, in fact I mostly tried to force UB.
A draft pays out 11 or 12 boosters while a sealed pays out 15 boosters.
It costs 4 packs instead of 3 packs and 2 tix, so it is about 1.5 tix more expensive but you get to open 4 packs not 3, which kinda makes up to for it.
So an average player wins 1,875 packs in a sealed and only 1,5 (1,375 in 4-3-2-2) packs in drafts.
I think sealed is a bit more luck based than drafts though, because you cannot built an edge by being good at picking the right cards. That is probably debatable.
This has been the exact opposite of my experience. Scorpion is excellent in most matchups and almost never gets sided out even against flyer-heavy decks.
Sunstriker, by contrast, is borderline unplayable outside an Exalted deck. It's basically never able to attack safely, so just ends up sitting there until it blocks something and dies. And unless the opponent is mono-Red it's usually a chump block too.
(I must admit I'm somewhat baffled by this. Weren't you saying in another thread you'd done 40 M13 drafts or something like that? What on earth are your opponents doing in these games that lets you hit them with Sunstriker?!)
I cannot argue with you. How many drafts did you play? Two?
You even considered Scroll Thief borderline unplayable. That baffles me.
I like Ajani Sunstriker with Ring of Thune which usually is not difficult to find.
In my games I had 8/8 and higher Sunstrikers. In UW you could make him an unblockable and hit four 4 lifelink unblockable.
And yes, he likes exalted. Guess what. Every white deck plays exalted guys.
That pool is amazing. In 5 or 6 sealed I have not had one pool that was even decent. That's why I went back to drafting although the EV is so much better in sealed. I would probably maindeck the elixir. It seems Mill is one of the view things that can break your neck.
I am very displeased with Giant Scorpion in M13. The vast majority of the time I get beaten in the air while the Scorpion does hardly anything.
Sunstriker I like more. Especially if we can find a Ring of Thune later on.
A lot of games are very close lifewise. A bit lifegain now and then does help.
In the first game, We exchange some beat, but the game goes long and I have my suit of angels and the spear, vs his harvester paired with wingcrafter. I swing in and get to kill his blocking harvesting card engine with a combat trick. He untaps and terminust the board. No cards in hand both side. I draw into a guy and equip with the spear. I should be able to ride that all the way, right?
Over three draws, he manages to top deck twodreadwaters for the win.
* pierrebai mad.
[Second game goes about the same, except the harvester made him basically draw is entire deck before terminus, so he already had his double dreadwaters in hand...)
Edit: ahah! The rules says no topdeck stories! So much for me!
How is that story better than the other three? Is it more interesting because it happened to you?!
It performed very favorably. The most notable contributions it made that night were the following:
1) Removal Lightning Rod - People tried to burn it down as quickly as possible. In this regard, it functioned a lot like a Slumbering Dragon, except you don't need red mana to run it.
2) Ring of X soft counter - Because this guy usually comes out some time from turn 1-3, he keeps pace with whichever creature a ring would be attached to and stalls them hard until you can do something about it.
3) Mana Sink - It's great to be able to use your mana if you don't draw enough gas to be tapping out every turn. Using resources optimally wins games.
I never got to swing much with it, but I expect that to be the 4th major contribution it could have made (obviously lol). Though it doesn't generally bash early, and for that reason might seem out of place here, I still liked it in my aggro deck due to the utility it provided and potential for reach (at only an initial investment of one mana). Its power level was simply a good amount higher than any other card I could have picked or played in its stead.
Generally speaking, I rate it as a mid-high pick, especially in pack 1 if you're debating between it and another card of similar power that you might not play due to color considerations. Also, the fabled Chronomaton and Trading Post deck seems like it'd be pretty absurd haha.
I used to rate it mid to high now i rate it a mid pick only. Its biggest bonus for me currently is its ability to block Bladetusk boar. There will be turns though where you can neither attack nor pump it. It is very vulnerable to unsummon obviously.
What I really don't understand about your argument is that Arms Dealer plays a similar role to Mutilate (in the sense that they're both removal and neither is a card someone would consider "aggressive"). Yeah, T2 Krenko's Command into T3 Arms Dealer and plays of the like are absolutely filthy and I've shut down entire games before with that combination, but that doesn't outweigh the fact that Mutilate is a star almost whenever you draw it (if you can't nuke a problem creature with Mutilate, it's likely you can't with the Dealer either). To just assume that you'll get passed more Krenko's Commands is pretty bad justification for the pick because we know that can't be a sure thing. Also, Mutilate is harder to interact with.
!
You can throw Arsonists too not just Krenko Goblins, you know? I gladly trade 1 Arsonist for 1 Serra Angel + 1 Knight of Glory.
You might even be on 2 swamps, 3 mountain on turn 6 or so with some X/3 or X/4 guys on your opponent's side. Then what?
How do you kill a fattie with Mutilate?
With Arms Dealer you just throw 2 guys at him (even Arms Dealer + Flunkies would be a good deal vs a Leviathan f.e.). Mutilate also kills your guys and after the drafters know you have it, they can play around it when they feel you hold back on creatures to Mutilate theirs. They cannot play around Arms Dealer.
Arms Dealer is a control card too, that is true. I find it plainly better than Mutilate. Even in a vacuum I value Arms Dealer higher.
After seeing the pic I have to agree (somewhat). The Rummaging Goblins are what your deck needs and the big red guy certainly helps too.
Mindclaw Shaman I do not like though. Could be sided in vs very sorcery/instant heavy decks but I would not maindeck it.
A red card that is in my top 3 commons is Bladetusk Boar and I would certainly play it. I won a lot games by it and lost to it as well.
So I would go:
+ Hellkite
+ Boar
+ 2x Rummager
+ Chandra's Fury
- 2x Encrust
- 2x Kraken Hatchling
- 1x Archaeomancer or 1xAugur of Bolas (you have only 4 spells, 5 with fury)
The problem with your logic, OP, is that Rewind stops Rancor in the following situation and in no other one:
They attempt to cast a Rancor on a guy when you have [This Card] in hand and 2UU open. This stops the Rancor and they keep their guy.
Murder, for example, stops Rancor in the same situation as below:
They attempt to cast a Rancor on a guy when you have [This Card] in hand and 1BB open. This stops the Rancor and they don't keep their guy.
Nobody is arguing that Murder is a good answer to Rancor, only that Rewind is a worse one. What we are saying is that inasmuch as you can ever use the phrase "strictly better" to describe something in Magic, Murder is strictly better than Rewind at dealing with Rancor, unless you are arguing that people will play around 1BB (three mana open) harder than 2UU (four mana open). Therefore you can't include Rewind as an answer to Rancor if you don't include Murder, because Murder does the job of answering Rancor better than Rewind does (since they work in exactly the same situation, but one is a blowout and costs less mana).
Like I said, Ring of Evos Isle would have been a clear win condition here.
Just stall and outgrow any potential blockers while being hexproof, besides that Talrand's Invocation (recasted once or twice with Archaeomancer) and 2 Faerie Invaders should be more than enough to remove 20 life points.
Annoying, yes. Stupid powerful, no.
Seems to me this deck may very well lose to any deck with removal, card advantage and/or bombs (planeswalkers, Staff of Nin, Rancor, etc)
3 Encrust > Rancor and Staff of Nin (okay they still draw quickly from maybe around turn 8 or 9 on)
Flyer and Sleep > Planeswalker
Why would you want to start and categorize 3-0 draftdecks? That seems like another totally subjective procedure that just breeds hate.
On the semantics-commons issue (I don't know any of the guys):
I was honestly surprised by semantics reaction to commons nagging (is that the correct word? I am not a native english speaker).
If he really changed as much (or is in the process of) as he wants to make us and himself believe he probably should have taken it with a smile here, because what I get from this thread after that reaction is this:
'I (semantics) want to be the guy who set the groundwork for making each and every one a better player by "insert philosophical thoughts" - noone shall dare to derail this thread, for it is written, by me, semantics'.
It is basically a subliminaly written brag thread all by itself.
How ironic!
In MTG it is much more difficult to let results not affect your judgement than in Poker. In Poker it is a very easy calculation with a few unknowns like opponent's skill level and mood. MTG has a lot more variables. I don't think a computer could even be programmed to draft and play mathematically perfect. Afaik even the game of GO has not yet been 'solved' by a computer. The best players in that game are still human.
So, even it is true that results should not affect your judgement, there are not a lot of other ways. One would be to let the results of others also affect your judgement, which is why brag threads are actually helpful.
If you watch lsvs videos you will also notice that he oftentimes says 'I'd like to try that card' because seemingly the quality of a card in the format cannot be solved only in theory by a seasoned pro like him.
So basically he plays a certain card a few times and then judges that he is not 'too impressed by it' or finds it 'surprisingly good'. That is not an ideal procedure in an ideal world, but 'stepping back and thinking deeply and objectively about a deck/card' is very abstract and, I am afraid, not really possible.
Oblivion Ring
Pacifism
Encrust
Mark of the Vampire
Tricks of Trade
Volcanic Strength
(Rancor)
All of those are played frequently.
I have no idea what you are talking about.
I am saying that he attacks for 3 bringing you down to 17 f.e. and then you hit him back for 2 with lifelink leaving you at 19 and him at 18 (if both started with 20).
So you could basically race him and win the race (given no other cards are played anymore) - so he should not attack but leave his Centaur Courser back as a blocker if he cannot back it up with another guy.
But also think about this. Sunstriker can prevent a 3/3 (like centaur Courser) from attacking, because he hits you for 1 but gets hit back for 2 on the way back in the early turns. He can even keep pace with a 4/x (Watercourser f.e.).
Scorpion is mainly fine vs. Green and partly Red, while I consider green generally weak and not that much of a threat.
Maybe I was just lucky. I had overall better experiences with Sunstriker than with Scorpion but even 40 drafts is not a huge samplesize, because they were not all about Sunstriker and Scorpion, in fact I mostly tried to force UB.
A draft pays out 11 or 12 boosters while a sealed pays out 15 boosters.
It costs 4 packs instead of 3 packs and 2 tix, so it is about 1.5 tix more expensive but you get to open 4 packs not 3, which kinda makes up to for it.
So an average player wins 1,875 packs in a sealed and only 1,5 (1,375 in 4-3-2-2) packs in drafts.
I think sealed is a bit more luck based than drafts though, because you cannot built an edge by being good at picking the right cards. That is probably debatable.
I cannot argue with you. How many drafts did you play? Two?
You even considered Scroll Thief borderline unplayable. That baffles me.
I like Ajani Sunstriker with Ring of Thune which usually is not difficult to find.
In my games I had 8/8 and higher Sunstrikers. In UW you could make him an unblockable and hit four 4 lifelink unblockable.
And yes, he likes exalted. Guess what. Every white deck plays exalted guys.
Sunstriker I like more. Especially if we can find a Ring of Thune later on.
A lot of games are very close lifewise. A bit lifegain now and then does help.
How is that story better than the other three? Is it more interesting because it happened to you?!
What an ironic post.
I used to rate it mid to high now i rate it a mid pick only. Its biggest bonus for me currently is its ability to block Bladetusk boar. There will be turns though where you can neither attack nor pump it. It is very vulnerable to unsummon obviously.
You can throw Arsonists too not just Krenko Goblins, you know? I gladly trade 1 Arsonist for 1 Serra Angel + 1 Knight of Glory.
You might even be on 2 swamps, 3 mountain on turn 6 or so with some X/3 or X/4 guys on your opponent's side. Then what?
How do you kill a fattie with Mutilate?
With Arms Dealer you just throw 2 guys at him (even Arms Dealer + Flunkies would be a good deal vs a Leviathan f.e.). Mutilate also kills your guys and after the drafters know you have it, they can play around it when they feel you hold back on creatures to Mutilate theirs. They cannot play around Arms Dealer.
Arms Dealer is a control card too, that is true. I find it plainly better than Mutilate. Even in a vacuum I value Arms Dealer higher.
After seeing the pic I have to agree (somewhat). The Rummaging Goblins are what your deck needs and the big red guy certainly helps too.
Mindclaw Shaman I do not like though. Could be sided in vs very sorcery/instant heavy decks but I would not maindeck it.
A red card that is in my top 3 commons is Bladetusk Boar and I would certainly play it. I won a lot games by it and lost to it as well.
So I would go:
+ Hellkite
+ Boar
+ 2x Rummager
+ Chandra's Fury
- 2x Encrust
- 2x Kraken Hatchling
- 1x Archaeomancer or 1xAugur of Bolas (you have only 4 spells, 5 with fury)
What he said.
Just stall and outgrow any potential blockers while being hexproof, besides that Talrand's Invocation (recasted once or twice with Archaeomancer) and 2 Faerie Invaders should be more than enough to remove 20 life points.
3 Encrust > Rancor and Staff of Nin (okay they still draw quickly from maybe around turn 8 or 9 on)
Flyer and Sleep > Planeswalker