MTG Salvation

Bant hexproof has a pretty strong christmasland too.

T1 Pilgrim
T2 Geist
T3 Ethereal Armor + Unflinching Courage

That's a 6/6 trampling, first-striking, lifelinker. It even has edict protection. The only thing that gets past it is Terminus.

I think that beats Blitz even, since it's 6 life and 10 damage a turn... But I don't even know. They're both ridiculous.

OK, my turn to post a little list. I know it's not tested against some of the best decks, but I'll work on that. It's also currently 61 cards, and while I'd love to say that's because the deck has tons of thinning (and is susceptible to mill), it's also because I just don't know what to cut.



Gameplan is essentially to survive to 4 mana, then go nuts. Lili is surprisingly one of the best cards in this deck. She's drawing you an extra card each turn, and she guarantees you hit your land drops. She also thins the lands from your deck (which the Evolving Wilds do, too) so that when you drop a Chant, you're getting mostly money in the yard. Of course, Evolving Wilds would be there, too, but it still works. Lili is also removal if needed, and a HUGE pump when you've got an empty board to swing into. She's really, really good.

I used to run the Deathrites in the main, but they ate removal so frequently that it was worth it (to me) to just play more removal main and the DRS in the side for when I want graveyard hate.

In my opinion, the weakest cards are either Vraska the Unseen or Gaze of Granite. Probably Vraska. But when she's good, she is realllly good. I've won quite a few games off her ultimate. Gaze just costs so much, except against token decks, where it dominates.

Help me cut the card, or help me tweak it more?

I find it interesting that they're providing Shock but not Incinerate or Searing Spear. Hopefully that means we'll see fewer guys with toughness of 3 and more with 2. Otherwise... well, I suppose we also have Mizzium Mortars, but that's Sorcery speed. Ick.

If all it does turn 5 is 2 damage, then that means your opponent is only casting one of his spells, which is exactly what a deck running this card would want. One-sided Mana Barbs is a potent effect.

This card says, "I'll keep casting my spells, and you'll take damage if you want to do the same." Where is the issue?

Quote from Dobes

Here's a brew i've been working on only recently. I made a thread in deck creation, but no real feedback. Initial testing went pretty well, so i'm going to at least take it to FNM, but if it keeps consistent i plan on taking it to the TCG Gold at the end of the month.

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
//Lands 2 Dragonskull Summit 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Hallowed Fountain 3 Island 2 Isolated Chapel 3 Nephalia Drownyard 1 Plains 2 Sacred Foundry 4 Steam Vents 1 Transguild Promenade //Spells 4 Azorius Charm 2 Chromatic Lantern 3 Dissipate 1 Dreadbore 2 Far // Away 1 Rakdos's Return 4 Sphinx's Revelation 4 Supreme Verdict 1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage 2 Think Twice 3 Turn // Burn	//Creatures 3 Augur of Bolas 1 Obzedat, Ghost Council 2 Snapcaster Mage 1 Ætherling	//Sideboard 2 Slaughter Games 3 Pillar of Flame 2 Negate 2 Rest in Peace 1 Crypt Incursion 1 Rakdos's Return 1 Dispel 1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker 1 Jace, Memory Adept 1 Terminus

Just a couple things I see about your deck quickly. First, your mana base looks OK, but I'm not sure you really want Transguild Promenade. It's super slow, and even though it taps for all 4 of your colors, it costs you a lot to play it. It's absolutely the worst land to hit T4 when you want to be Verdicting. Consider something as similar as Shimmering Grotto if you absolutely need that any-color fixing, but I don't think you do. I'd just put in another land that won't cost you tempo, especially given your two Lanterns.

Next, do you really want Tamiyo? She's, again, slow. I've almost always found that in a deck like this, I'd rather have another draw engine, which is where Jace AoT comes in (a turn faster, too). And if what you're really looking for is a game winner, then why not just go all-in and maindeck your Bolas? Tamiyo just doesn't feel strong enough in today's meta, and she's realllllllly slow without other support.

Quote from Windexlol

Absolutely! And, if you aren't playing the game competitively, then you get to choose who you play against. You and your playgroup can play or not play certain kinds of cards or strategys if you deem them unfun. Casual play is very self regulating in this way and has been for a long time. So, it's unnecessary to demand that wizards doesn't print any of the cards i like playing with just because you don't like playing against them, especially if you are not a very tournament minded player. Larry94 is the one who doesn't want wotc to cater to everyone, not me.

Oh, you're totally right. I'm not vouching for his preferences more than yours, and I'm not suggesting that they not print certain types of cards. What I was pointing out was that you were seeming to show only one side of the argument and completely discounting the other side(s), just as he was.

I'm neutral in this "argument." I play tournaments, but I'm admittedly more Johnny than Spike. It makes for a rough mix.

I'd love to see some statistics based on this question.

What I mean is, I wonder what percentage of the time the deck on the play wins, and it could (should) be tracked across multiple levels of play: Pro Tour, SCG circuit, etc.

I bet that the difference is quite substantial, and favoring the "On the play" deck.
Which is, by the way, the reason most people prefer to be on the play.

Quote from Windexlol

You are just re-posting the exact same arguments without even reading what i posted in response...

We already covered this. No, that isn't true, stop attempting to make statements about what the entire playerbase can/can not enjoy based only on your own experience.



We also covered this. This is a fairly obviously fundamentally flawed depiction of what "fun" is. I already said, winning is fun for you, but losing isn't fun for the other guy. Casting instant speed spot removal when he goes to attack with his creature isn't fun for him, either. Basically, there are VERY few ways you can gain an advantage over your opponent and have that exact action be "fun" for both of you.



We also already talked about this. No, i am not trying to make my opponent feel or not feel anything. I just want to win, i want to play the game as competitively as possible within the rules, and all strategies are to me to be objectively viewed as tools to win. I am fond of the "control" strategy, as a tool to win with. It is not because i want you to cry in your ****ing cereal.

Right, so you're a Spike. That's very clear for anyone who knows the psychographic personalities. But not everyone is a Spike.

I think what people tend to forget is that not everyone plays Magic the same way or for the same reasons. You play to win. Cool. I'm glad there are people like that who play Magic, because it helps feed the competitive nature of the game. But others play to play: they want to cast the huge spells (Timmy) or play the cards no one else has thought of yet (Johnny) or experience the game's lore (Vorthos). The cool part of Magic is that that is FINE. It pleases multiple types of people.

I think you mis-characterize the people you're criticizing. Most don't care when a dude gets hit by removal because at least they got to play it. There's a difference there, and it's substantial, even if you hit it at instant-speed the same turn. It's different from counters. I can't explain it; removal simply doesn't affect people the same way.

So it's not that losing is unfun to all of them. Some people honestly don't care about that aspect of the game. They play to play, for the experience, for the journey, not the destination (outcome). We've got to accept that Magic isn't just for one type of person, and that Wizards is trying to please all of them ... except the LD crowd.

Quote from Evenoire

Honestly, the nubcake players here who say "permission is not fun" are the veyr poblem with magic right now. Ok you complain about counters, but what about creatures with rediculous ETB effects? What about cards like thragtusk that take 2 cards to kill. Oh and someone tried saying bounce spells. Do you even know how STUPID it is to use a bounce spell on creatures now that everything in their mother has a stupid ETB ability/LTB ability?? That is the definition of card disadvantage.


I swear, the aggro players here are just a group of children who don't like when they can't do what they want.

Oh, and to the people who said that the game got more popular without permission, the Numbers are actually AGAINST you. The most popular set in all of Magic History is (when it comes to sale numbers) Innistrad. When Innistrad dropped, it became an instant hit. And guess what was the biggest deck of the time? Delver... Oh and magic has gotten more and more popular after the whole Time Spiral debacle (granted I will say I liked Time Spiral but that is a whole different topic). And that happens to be in time with:

Fairies (Tempo/Control)
Cawblade (Tempo)
Splintertwin (Combo/Control)
Delver (Tempo/Control)

You're entitled to your opinion, as are all the people you so obviously despise. Luckily, Wizards tries to keep the game balanced enough to appease both sides of the argument -- of all arguments, really. There were tons of people who were upset when they started phasing out mass LD, for example.

Control is fine. Aggro is currently slightly too fast, so the Control players have a legitimate complaint. However, Aggro pays for that speed by sacrificing consistency, though not enough I think. They won't nut draw every game. Just remember that.

As it sits right now, Control has the tools it needs. The decks simply need to be tuned to the meta correctly, and that's harder than it used to be since, blessedly, the meta is so diverse.

Quote from Neuroticneurok

So "fun", as you define it, is nothing more than a slugfest between two aggro decks, because control elements aren't fun because they don't let you play the way you want. That sounds extremely boring to me, because every turn would be "Tap lands, play threat, turn other guys sideways, hit for X".

Let's be clear here, control is annoying, yes, but it's also incredibly fragile and limited. Most control is not permanent in effect - it's instants and sorceries that go in the graveyard after being used up. Control players have to constantly refresh their hands with draw effects, and it's impossible for any control player to completely counter or lock down every card in an opponent's library, particularly in Standard.

That's not what he was saying at all. He was specifically targeting permission, which is counter-magic. There are other ways to interact other than counters. You have point removal, wraths, bounce, edicts, threaten and steal, pump, and even prevention (stalls like Fog). It's all interactive, and it's all tricky. That's why combat tricks were so named.

Control decks don't need to focus so hard on permission. There are other types of cards that are still Control-friendly. He's just trying to point that out, too. Don't read too much into what he's actually saying by putting your slippery slope into his mouth.

I've started a few blog posts that I then marked as Drafts because I didn't have time to complete them, and I didn't want to post them unfinished.

However, after going back to edit them a bit, I noticed that I cannot just convert them into normal blog posts. In fact, the only thing I seem to be able to do is update the drafts, which don't do me much good, and the number of draft titles I keep seeing increases. So I guess I have a few questions:

1) Can I change a draft entry into a normal entry somehow?
2) If not, can I just delete the draft entries?

It seems like an interesting utility and function, but after I use the "Save Draft" function, what can I do with them? Am I just missing something, or is it not fully implemented?

Thanks.

But there is balance, of a sort. It's just not balance that you see every week. If you look at the larger meta across several weeks, you'll see the rise and fall, the ebb and flow, and that there is balance. It isn't like the days of Faeries, Caw Go, or even Delver where you played the deck (or the deck that beat that deck) or not at all.

There is balance, it's just that right now Control is down a bit. Combo is mostly nonexistant, though if you think of Bantalones as Combo it's not all gone. Hopefully Control adapts, or at least gets a few more tools in the next set (but not too many).

I like balance: even if I prefer not to play one style of deck or another, I want there to be a fair balance and representation across the board.
Except for LD. I'm glad that's gone.

That was disgustingly powerful. Then again, G2 was what Aristocrats has been capable before the G splash. Aristocrats has its nut draw too.

Esper also has Sever the Bloodline, which is even better against the token decks where VoR seems to be popping up.