I believe I read somewhere they *wanted* to reprint Lightning Helix, but didn't because of 2 things. The first is that Snapcaster is in standard, but that wouldn't have stopped them entirely because the rotation would happen sooner rather than later. The other factor is that they'd already put a lightning helix ability on a battalion trigger of Firemane Avenger.
Most money won by a magic pro player as far as I know is Kai Budde, and from what I know he has a regular job... So the idea of existing only on cashing from playing seems like it's not a realistic goal.
I was wondering about the interactions between Psychic Spiral and Rest in Peace. I'm wondering if it doesn't work like Helm of Obedience? They don't put any cards in their graveyard. Is it because it's not worded "They put cards from the top of their library into their graveyard until they've put x cards"? Is until the key word here?
Why is everyone SO focused on the skull? Have you guys seen WOTC's art descriptions for artists? The skull could have simply been flair added by the artist!
Now at that point I'm thinking that we should still draft that packs since I would've gotten 2nd (and 10th) pick and those cards could have a significant impact on my (and other) deck(s). I don't know if it was pack 1 or pack 3, but I know it was a pack going left.
Thanks.
I'd like to hear your evidence of this, I think the hardest pack to remember to open would be the first one.
I've seen and experienced instances of calling for a pass to Pack 1 Pick 2 and I instinctively pick up my second booster pack and crack it. It seems like an auto reflex at some of the tables, I just keep an eye out for it, make sure they don't get to look at the pack too much and have them keep it off to the side.
If people wanted to draft cards out of my entire pool I'd likely protest and if they try to make it happen I'd just leave and never return.
Midnight Prerelease
Go with my gut instinct for power Boros; am not disappointed one bit. Opened Legion Loyalist in my guild pack and Wrecking Ogre is my only other R/W rare. I'm not even mad because in place of rares I have an endless supply of 2 and 3 drops, we're talking 3 Halberdiers, 2 Ember Beasts, 3 Court street denizens, 2 Skinbrand Goblins. That's not everything that lands in my 2-3 drops, because I also get sweet removal. 2 Mugging, 2 Massive Raid, 1 Angelic Edict, 2 Arrows of Justice. I was very unsure of Madcap Skills but I ran 2 of them and while sometimes opening myself up to be 2-1'd I'll admit they punched through good amounts of damage while they lasted. I finished off my curve with the Foundry Champion, the Wrecking Ogre, Assault Griffon, that's all I remember for sure from that deck.
Result 5-0-1 (Split in finals because everyone in top 4 has the same type of Boros deck and I'm not confidant vs the guy I would be playing so hedge my bets and make a medium payout)
1st/2nd place +30 packs
Early morning flight
I was torn on which guild to pick, I'm a huge fan of Orzhov and Dimir guilds. Having seen the power of Boros in this style of sealed, I had to go with Boros again and I wasn't disappointed. Same type of deck with just a few different cards, still had 2 halberdiers (This guy is INSANE in how many games he put away), this time around however I landed 2 hellraiser goblins, and 2 skyknight legionnaire, and a frontline medic. Frontline medic was such a powerhouse and it seemed like people rarely had the removal soon enough to save themselves. I did get 1 madcap skills and it had done alright by me in the first one so I ran it and I'm not quite ready to preach the second coming of it but it's pretty powerful in limited.
Result 5-1
2nd Place +20 Packs
Boros seemed to be overpowered when your guaranteed 2 on color rares, guild gate, and the rest of 1 pack to be on color, +5 other packs to build a deck with.
The young wolf you listed would have multiple instances of persist. Multiple instances are redundant because they will all be satisfied with the same check "Did it have a +1/+1? Yes? Ok it stays dead". If you were to change the young wolf to a Kitchen Finks then it changes, each instance of Persist and Undying will trigger each time the creature dies, and it is likely to be able to create an infinite loop of a creature that will always be able to return from the graveyard.
Keep in mind that +1/+1's and -1/-1's only cancel each other out when state based actions are checked, for example if you control Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Kitchen Finks with a +1/+1 and I Black Sun zenith for 3 then the creature will have died with both +1/+1's and -1/-1's and thus will not return to either trigger.
If I take a creature with Soul Ransom
(2UB)
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
Discard 2 cards : Soul Ransom's controller sacrifices it, then draws two cards only an opponent may activate this ability.
and my opponent activates the ability by discarding 2 creatures, if I use an Altar's reap to sacrifice the creature will the rest of the ability try to resolve to the best of it's ability despite the soul ransom having gone to the graveyard or will it be countered?
There's a large difference between not needing to mark cards for a sealed pool that is registered -> passed -> confirmed -> recieved, and a draft where trying to track down who drafts which card on every pick is much more difficult.
I talked to a guy at a PTQ who had driven 5-6 hours with a group of people, he'd been paired down with a guy he'd driven up with who was supposed to be part of his "team". The guy he was paired against didn't concede and wanted to play it out because even though he was out of contention for top8, there was a prizing structure beyond top 8. From what I recall the guy was 5-1 and his "friend" was probably something like 4-1-1, he was pretty pissed off that the guy made him 5-2 and thus out of top 8 and I don't blame him one bit.
Your best bet if he's currently doing artwork for MTG he may be making an appearance at a large tournament.
When you send him a card have you talked to him about it? Many artists have their own website with email contact to get in touch with them. I'd think about making sure he's ok with doing it before I just mailed cards to an artist. Also are you including a stamped self addressed envelope for him to use to send it back to you?
I have a fairly consistent Ad Nauseam Doomsday Tendrils deck, Once you get the hang of making piles, and make sure the opponent is silenced stuff usually goes off without a hitch.
Just play normally. Honestly put yourself in the kids shoes, sure you like winning, but your opponent taking pity on you would be just the WORST.
I've been on lots of sides of this coin,
One instance less than a year ago, I watched a kid beat me down with some deck he'd netdecked the entire list, it was combo oriented, and I had to help him kill me. He hardly knew what he was doing, but I had to literally play for him, and help him destroy me. That was tough
One FNM standard tournament a 13-15yr old boy made it to the finals with me. I offered him a split and he declined because he wanted to go for "it". It took maybe 20 minutes and he lost 0-2. It was really tough to see him sit there, I knew I had an awesome SB against him and my preboard match was probably one of my best. That was really tough because I knew in a majority of settings that match would be easy, but I decided to offer him a split because I wanted to be nice. The kids face was so sad, and I'm sure if I'd offered him extra packs like we'd split he would have been really happy but I couldn't support that behavior. It was tough for him, tough for me to be on the opposite end of, and a tough lesson in general.
Last week, I was playing in the finals of FNM, my opponent declined a split and we played. When I won I thanked him for the game and offered "I hope you still get 2nd place", His response was that of surprise and curiosity. I told him that since his record was now 3-1 and there were going to be probably 3 or 4 others of those it just comes down to tiebreakers. That was also tough to see him make 3rd as someone else made 2nd off of tiebreakers.
Really my moral is, always split prizes, it's almost never a bad thing.
Please do not make purchase inquiries unless they are in the trading post or in private messages. -Uldan
I'd like to hear your evidence of this, I think the hardest pack to remember to open would be the first one.
I've seen and experienced instances of calling for a pass to Pack 1 Pick 2 and I instinctively pick up my second booster pack and crack it. It seems like an auto reflex at some of the tables, I just keep an eye out for it, make sure they don't get to look at the pack too much and have them keep it off to the side.
If people wanted to draft cards out of my entire pool I'd likely protest and if they try to make it happen I'd just leave and never return.
Go with my gut instinct for power Boros; am not disappointed one bit. Opened Legion Loyalist in my guild pack and Wrecking Ogre is my only other R/W rare. I'm not even mad because in place of rares I have an endless supply of 2 and 3 drops, we're talking 3 Halberdiers, 2 Ember Beasts, 3 Court street denizens, 2 Skinbrand Goblins. That's not everything that lands in my 2-3 drops, because I also get sweet removal. 2 Mugging, 2 Massive Raid, 1 Angelic Edict, 2 Arrows of Justice. I was very unsure of Madcap Skills but I ran 2 of them and while sometimes opening myself up to be 2-1'd I'll admit they punched through good amounts of damage while they lasted. I finished off my curve with the Foundry Champion, the Wrecking Ogre, Assault Griffon, that's all I remember for sure from that deck.
Result 5-0-1 (Split in finals because everyone in top 4 has the same type of Boros deck and I'm not confidant vs the guy I would be playing so hedge my bets and make a medium payout)
1st/2nd place +30 packs
Early morning flight
I was torn on which guild to pick, I'm a huge fan of Orzhov and Dimir guilds. Having seen the power of Boros in this style of sealed, I had to go with Boros again and I wasn't disappointed. Same type of deck with just a few different cards, still had 2 halberdiers (This guy is INSANE in how many games he put away), this time around however I landed 2 hellraiser goblins, and 2 skyknight legionnaire, and a frontline medic. Frontline medic was such a powerhouse and it seemed like people rarely had the removal soon enough to save themselves. I did get 1 madcap skills and it had done alright by me in the first one so I ran it and I'm not quite ready to preach the second coming of it but it's pretty powerful in limited.
Result 5-1
2nd Place +20 Packs
Boros seemed to be overpowered when your guaranteed 2 on color rares, guild gate, and the rest of 1 pack to be on color, +5 other packs to build a deck with.
Keep in mind that +1/+1's and -1/-1's only cancel each other out when state based actions are checked, for example if you control Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Kitchen Finks with a +1/+1 and I Black Sun zenith for 3 then the creature will have died with both +1/+1's and -1/-1's and thus will not return to either trigger.
(2UB)
Enchant creature
You control enchanted creature.
Discard 2 cards : Soul Ransom's controller sacrifices it, then draws two cards only an opponent may activate this ability.
and my opponent activates the ability by discarding 2 creatures, if I use an Altar's reap to sacrifice the creature will the rest of the ability try to resolve to the best of it's ability despite the soul ransom having gone to the graveyard or will it be countered?
When you send him a card have you talked to him about it? Many artists have their own website with email contact to get in touch with them. I'd think about making sure he's ok with doing it before I just mailed cards to an artist. Also are you including a stamped self addressed envelope for him to use to send it back to you?
Darksteel > Legacy Doomsday
I've been on lots of sides of this coin,
One instance less than a year ago, I watched a kid beat me down with some deck he'd netdecked the entire list, it was combo oriented, and I had to help him kill me. He hardly knew what he was doing, but I had to literally play for him, and help him destroy me. That was tough
One FNM standard tournament a 13-15yr old boy made it to the finals with me. I offered him a split and he declined because he wanted to go for "it". It took maybe 20 minutes and he lost 0-2. It was really tough to see him sit there, I knew I had an awesome SB against him and my preboard match was probably one of my best. That was really tough because I knew in a majority of settings that match would be easy, but I decided to offer him a split because I wanted to be nice. The kids face was so sad, and I'm sure if I'd offered him extra packs like we'd split he would have been really happy but I couldn't support that behavior. It was tough for him, tough for me to be on the opposite end of, and a tough lesson in general.
Last week, I was playing in the finals of FNM, my opponent declined a split and we played. When I won I thanked him for the game and offered "I hope you still get 2nd place", His response was that of surprise and curiosity. I told him that since his record was now 3-1 and there were going to be probably 3 or 4 others of those it just comes down to tiebreakers. That was also tough to see him make 3rd as someone else made 2nd off of tiebreakers.
Really my moral is, always split prizes, it's almost never a bad thing.