Man, after seeing the full list I am pretty glad I resisted the urge to drop the money on a few boxes of Modern Masters. I only missing a few cards that are modern staples, and seeing that half of them are not getting printed in MM makes it much easier to resist it.
It looks like I will just spend the money I was contemplating on MM with to buy the last few singles I was waiting on...
for myself personally, I am rather...disappointed...at the mass freak out and speculation which is causing the current pricing pattern for boxes of Modern Masters. Sadly, I think we all could say we saw this coming though. As modern is my favorite format I was really hoping that Modern Masters was going to allow many other players to increase their card pools for the format. It turns out I was naive in that thought as many people in my area will not be willing to drop that kind of money on 24 expensive lottery tickets.
As for my LGS, the owner will not even give us a price quote on the set until it the week of release. It almost sounds as if he does not want to miss out on the profit that appears can come with the inflated pricing of boxes that is going on. Normally he is a pretty good guy with pricing (pricing boxes at better than most online prices and even better prices for those of us who buy full cases). As a loyal customer who purchases a case of each set and helps foster our community a lot I am a bit :swear:.
Unless the set turns out to be completely awesome across the board I have a hard time personally spending more than $200 on a box. At that price I would be willing to buy 3-4 boxes. But, since I have an extensive set of Modern that is missing only a few cards if the boxes run anymore expensive than that I will just use the money I would spend on them and purchase singles.
I actually keep all basic lands (foil and non) that I like the art of in 2 binders. Each specific card art has 1 page dedicated to it with up to 36 copies of each basic I like. Then as I am constructing a deck I flip through the basic land I need and pick the one out that best fits the theme (if there is one) of the deck I am running.
As for my favorites, in general I love the art on the Shards of Alara basic lands the most.
I will completely agree with Bloodgift Demon as a card currently in standard. In my Bgr control deck I run it as a 3 of as my finisher. Providing a Phyrexian Arena on a body that is beating my opponent to a pulp makes for a beautiful card!
To think about my first few tournaments (back in the 90s) is just a brutal thought. My deck of Llanowar Elves, Lightning Bolts, and Craw Wurms (with a single Force of Nature!! :cool2:) just didn't hold up to other decks. As others have said, almost all of us have had the experience of getting kicked all over the table at our first tournament(s).
While the new player tournament experience is not avoidable, there are many other things we, as experienced players, can do to make the rest of the experience positive for the "rookie". As one of the better players in my local area (without trying to sound conceited) I take it upon myself to introduce myself to any new face at our LGS, be it a new player or recently moved veteran. If it is a new player I always attempt to sit down with them, play a few games beforehand, give them pointer, etc. For drafts almost all of my commons and uncommons end up in the hand of a newer player. For the veteran that has recently moved to the area, just having that one person start a conversation helps them settle into their new gaming "home".
This is just my opinion, but I believe our job as veterans is to help foster our community at our LGS. Without a Magic community the FNM/tournament scene (especially in a small city) can just die. Besides, often times you manage to meet some pretty cool people, and friendships form.
While it sucks that your opponent had a horrible showing at your charity event, hopefully he will not walk away frustrated, but eager to learn more.
This past Friday was the first time since my return to MtG that I actually thought my opponent may have been trying to cheat.
I had just won game 1, and were we heading into game 2. I keep my hand, and he mulligans to 6, and then proceeds to mulligan to five. After him presenting and me shuffling his deck he draws his hand. I count them as he holding them to see he is holding 7 cards.
"Did you draw 7 cards?" I asked.
"No" he answered with a straight face. He then laid them down on the table, and said "Oh yeah I did, oops."
Normally I would think nothing, and believed it to be an error, since almost everyone at my LGS is pretty damn awesome to play with, but something about that moment struck a wrong chord with me. Needless to say that guy is on my watch closely list.
I do have to say that the general atmosphere of MtG is much better than it used to be when I was playing very competitively in late 90s/early 2000s. It seems that the players (even at the couple of GPs I have been to since returning) are fostering a much better environment than in the past. And, that can only be a positive.
Honestly, it's important to understand that a big part of why blue does well most seasons is that it has a huge player base willing to put in the work to develop the colour and solve its problems. No other colour has that ~ red has Patrick Sullivan, white has Paul Rietzl, green has Brian Kibler ~ pretty much everyone else defaults to blue when they can. Remember how bad Naya was last season, until Kibler put 5 months work in? And even then it took mtgo ages to tune the deck. It seems to take a lot to get players invested in the other colours, but everyone really wants to play blue.
I just wanted to quote this because there is quite a bit of relevance in this statement. Many of the top players (Finkel, Chapin, LSV) love playing blue, and are not shy about showing it.
I ran 4 Deathrite Shaman main deck in my Jund control deck that I won Game Day with Saturday. He is every bit worth his card slot.
1. He turns off so many interactions with the graveyard. Lingering Souls? Nope! Zombies? Nope! Snapcaster Mage? Nope! Reanimation? Nope!
2. He eats creatures in graveyards to keep a little trickle of life coming your way if needed.
3. While running 4 Evolving Wilds in my deck he allowed me to crack one turn two, and still manage to stay on curve to cast a removal spell while fixing my mana.
4. Against a Miracle deck he managed to be a threat all by himself shocking them for 2 points a turn, and my opponent wasting a board clearer (Terminus or Supreme Verdict) on just him.
I am so glad I pulled 4 of this little guy on release day, and decided to keep them around and try them out. He is a house of utility for a little CMC 1 card!
To me personally, white border cards are just plain ugly. With very few exceptions (i.e. duals) I will not not even think about putting a white bordered card in my deck.
I was so glad to learn that white borders had gone away when I came back to MtG.
I won my Game Day with a Jund Planeswalker control list I brewed up. My meta is overrun with people playing Mid-range decks, with a small showing of aggro and miracle control sprinkled in. After getting tired of my own Selesnya ramp deck, and the midrange board state stalls, I began to look into running something that could combat those decks, yet still perform against aggro and control.
Overall the deck only lost 2 games the whole day (one baaaad keep I had no business holding on to, and one mulligan to 5 on which I got mana hosed), and did not lose a single match. I made the deck up hoping it would show some potential into something that I could work on for the future, but it performed much better than I could have hoped!
Overall it was a great day, and the playmat looks pretty cool!
Nothing should be banned. Ancestral should have been off the ban list months ago. I think Jace is also safe to unban as I don't see it really dominating. Wild Nacatl also might be a possibility. Zoo has been pretty much non existent in the meta.
With Ponder and Preordain being banned I do not think WOTC wants a card that allows free a free Brainstorm every turn to be legal in the format. I would expect to see one of the other 2 cards to get unbanned before JTMS.
Personally I do not think anything needs to be banned.
As much as I thought the matches involving Cifka's deck was boring as a spectator I think he may have read the meta perfectly, and at the same time so many other pros completely disregarded the possibility of certain combo decks. This allowed him the opportunity to run over almost all of the field.
Although it was interesting to see the Second Breakfast deck take the win, I have to say the games that I watched with it participating were some of the most boring games of Magic I have ever watched.
It looks like I will just spend the money I was contemplating on MM with to buy the last few singles I was waiting on...
:symg:Rathmaker:symw:
As for my LGS, the owner will not even give us a price quote on the set until it the week of release. It almost sounds as if he does not want to miss out on the profit that appears can come with the inflated pricing of boxes that is going on. Normally he is a pretty good guy with pricing (pricing boxes at better than most online prices and even better prices for those of us who buy full cases). As a loyal customer who purchases a case of each set and helps foster our community a lot I am a bit :swear:.
Unless the set turns out to be completely awesome across the board I have a hard time personally spending more than $200 on a box. At that price I would be willing to buy 3-4 boxes. But, since I have an extensive set of Modern that is missing only a few cards if the boxes run anymore expensive than that I will just use the money I would spend on them and purchase singles.
:symg:Rathmaker:symw:
:symg:Rathmaker:symu:
Unlike a few people I have met I will not puke myself if someone else plays one in a game, but I will not play one unless I absolutely have to.
:symg:Rathmaker:symu:
As for my favorites, in general I love the art on the Shards of Alara basic lands the most.
:symg:Rathmaker:symu:
:symg:Rathmaker:symu:
While the new player tournament experience is not avoidable, there are many other things we, as experienced players, can do to make the rest of the experience positive for the "rookie". As one of the better players in my local area (without trying to sound conceited) I take it upon myself to introduce myself to any new face at our LGS, be it a new player or recently moved veteran. If it is a new player I always attempt to sit down with them, play a few games beforehand, give them pointer, etc. For drafts almost all of my commons and uncommons end up in the hand of a newer player. For the veteran that has recently moved to the area, just having that one person start a conversation helps them settle into their new gaming "home".
This is just my opinion, but I believe our job as veterans is to help foster our community at our LGS. Without a Magic community the FNM/tournament scene (especially in a small city) can just die. Besides, often times you manage to meet some pretty cool people, and friendships form.
While it sucks that your opponent had a horrible showing at your charity event, hopefully he will not walk away frustrated, but eager to learn more.
:symg:Rathmaker:symu:
I had just won game 1, and were we heading into game 2. I keep my hand, and he mulligans to 6, and then proceeds to mulligan to five. After him presenting and me shuffling his deck he draws his hand. I count them as he holding them to see he is holding 7 cards.
"Did you draw 7 cards?" I asked.
"No" he answered with a straight face. He then laid them down on the table, and said "Oh yeah I did, oops."
Normally I would think nothing, and believed it to be an error, since almost everyone at my LGS is pretty damn awesome to play with, but something about that moment struck a wrong chord with me. Needless to say that guy is on my watch closely list.
I do have to say that the general atmosphere of MtG is much better than it used to be when I was playing very competitively in late 90s/early 2000s. It seems that the players (even at the couple of GPs I have been to since returning) are fostering a much better environment than in the past. And, that can only be a positive.
Good gaming to all of you,
:symg:Rathmaker:symg:
I just wanted to quote this because there is quite a bit of relevance in this statement. Many of the top players (Finkel, Chapin, LSV) love playing blue, and are not shy about showing it.
:symg:Rathmaker:symg:
1. He turns off so many interactions with the graveyard. Lingering Souls? Nope! Zombies? Nope! Snapcaster Mage? Nope! Reanimation? Nope!
2. He eats creatures in graveyards to keep a little trickle of life coming your way if needed.
3. While running 4 Evolving Wilds in my deck he allowed me to crack one turn two, and still manage to stay on curve to cast a removal spell while fixing my mana.
4. Against a Miracle deck he managed to be a threat all by himself shocking them for 2 points a turn, and my opponent wasting a board clearer (Terminus or Supreme Verdict) on just him.
5. Deathrite Shaman's 2 toughness is relevant as he dodges Tragic Slip, and forces my opponent to use good removal against him. As a result one of my later threats (Vampire Nighthawk or Bloodgift Demon) was a harder target to remove.
I am so glad I pulled 4 of this little guy on release day, and decided to keep them around and try them out. He is a house of utility for a little CMC 1 card!
:symg:Rathmaker:symg:
I was so glad to learn that white borders had gone away when I came back to MtG.
:symg:Rathmaker:symu:
What I came up with was a list running Liliana of the Dark Realms, Garruk Relentless, and Vraska the Unseen paired with a few efficient creatures in Vampire Nighthawk, Bloodgift Demon, Thragtusk, and Deathrite Shaman. It was all backed up by removal in Tragic Slip, Dreadbore, Abrupt Decay, and Mutilate. The deck was designed to be pre-boarded against aggro and mid-range, and the Sideboard had a suite that came in against control.
Overall the deck only lost 2 games the whole day (one baaaad keep I had no business holding on to, and one mulligan to 5 on which I got mana hosed), and did not lose a single match. I made the deck up hoping it would show some potential into something that I could work on for the future, but it performed much better than I could have hoped!
Overall it was a great day, and the playmat looks pretty cool!
:symg:Rathmaker:symb:
With Ponder and Preordain being banned I do not think WOTC wants a card that allows free a free Brainstorm every turn to be legal in the format. I would expect to see one of the other 2 cards to get unbanned before JTMS.
:symg:Rathmaker:symg:
As much as I thought the matches involving Cifka's deck was boring as a spectator I think he may have read the meta perfectly, and at the same time so many other pros completely disregarded the possibility of certain combo decks. This allowed him the opportunity to run over almost all of the field.
I am curious if my combination of Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Deathrite Shaman, Ethersworn Canonist, and Bojuka Bog (post board) in my Melira Pod would have been enough to keep him from going off too fast? But I am relatively just a noob at modern.
:symg:Rathmaker:symg:
:symg:Rathmaker:symg: