I've been hanging out at Gold level with the following Merfolk deck that I have spent only uncommons on (although I have randomly picked up a Hinterland Harbor). Something like this might be worth a shot.
What also makes it difficult is that even in the unranked, no rewards, basic play mode everyone is playing tier one netdecks. I mean, what the **** is wrong with you? Take that ***** to ranked mode. I have no patience for this, yet ironically I will rope you every turn if you take your Izzet Drakes deck to the casual play mode. Seriously you suck. I'm trying to test out a new jank deck. Go away.
One of the issues of why I wasn't winning was because I was trying too hard to make top 8 decks and play those top 8 decks. Instead of listening to the common mundane "suggestion" by others to play a top 8 deck (because an experienced player won with it ), I just made my own...and whatdoyaknow, today I have had more wins..
What also makes it difficult is that even in the unranked, no rewards, basic play mode everyone is playing tier one netdecks. I mean, what the **** is wrong with you? Take that ***** to ranked mode. I have no patience for this, yet ironically I will rope you every turn if you take your Izzet Drakes deck to the casual play mode. Seriously you suck. I'm trying to test out a new jank deck. Go away.
Seriously? This thread proves that it isn't "everybody."
What is wrong with someone wanting to practice a competitive deck with no stakes? It's a free universe. They are doing what they want and so are you. They are giving you some good testing data. You want to control your matchups? Challenge a friend. I think there is no excuse for deliberately roping someone. You don't want to play it out? Concede.
I'm not sure why people would bother with a basic play mode. Just do Constructed, its very easy to 'go infinite' especially when you are earning your Daily Quest rewards as you do it.
This is what I'm running and its decent against Burn, Phoenix, Explore, UWR/Esper/UW Control, and White Aggro. Really unless you get blitzed out right off the first 4 or 5 turns, or you choke on mana (this mana is not perfect, too many wildcards needed) you are always in it. Gaea's Blessing is a gem.
Wouldn't one issue be, testing a tier deck in basic play mode. If you got matched up against jank (quite often the case), the player slaughters the jank player and then thinks "oh, this deck works" then takes it to serious play and loses against all the tier decks in serious play? Testing against janky piles isn't a great way to confirm if a deck is solid or not, I would have thought?
For most people, I hope, learning the patterns in a casual setting would take a few games at most. Then you have those who just want to stomp on people, and you cannot help them.
I'm not sure why people would bother with a basic play mode. Just do Constructed, its very easy to 'go infinite' especially when you are earning your Daily Quest rewards as you do it.
I've found the Arena community to be pretty toxic and obnoxious. I mean everyone complains about the stalling and roping that happens all the time. But I also run into players that spam emotes, usually 1 in 4 games will be an emote spammer. The best are the ones who spam emotes while stalling and playing a Nexus deck. Cool guys I gotta imagine. I'm also playing a guy, right now, who as "1488" in his username. I guess what I'm saying is I dont think the MTG Arena community is the best people, so wasting their time playing Bant Nexus decks in casual mode is not beneath them.
Could you tell me what happened with rankings recently? I am again at Bronze 4. I haven't played for last two weeks, so you have to contiously play or you drop in rank?
Not that it is that important for me, I mainly play unranked, but last time it took me two months just to get into silver 4...
Another question, is it possible to play more "flavored" game in Arena? For example only decks for specific Ravnica guild, or only Merfolk deck from Ixalan expansion.
I just don't get it when I see Dimir cards in Izzet deck, let alone non Ravnica cards in Gruul deck (Llanowar Elves or Carnage Tyrant)...
For special deck building restrictions, you will have to hope for limited time events like the Ravnica block constructed that we had with RNA release. There are no permanent options like this. If you know others that are interested in similar decks, you could of course play direct challenges with them.
For special deck building restrictions, you will have to hope for limited time events like the Ravnica block constructed that we had with RNA release. There are no permanent options like this. If you know others that are interested in similar decks, you could of course play direct challenges with them.
How interesting that the "scale" isn't uniform across all tiers. The top three tiers all slide down to Gold while Gold simply slides down to silver and bronze. I don't think I ever got above Silver so it's right back to Bronze anyways. I kind of thought everyone would slide down, at most, one or two tiers.
Geez... it's like throwing a piece of cheese in a pit full of starving rats. The next few days or so is going to be a giant cluster.
Back to the topic of Arena too difficult, a lot of this is Magic by design. Cards are pushed to make certain decks "competitive" and this means that certain decks are so far and away beyond anything else you can make in terms of power that they can't be beaten unless you play with another tier one deck. And naturally you will rarely, if not never see anyone NOT playing a tier 1 deck on Arena. I cant remember the last time I played against someone who wasnt playing one of the big tier 1 decks. It never happens in this game. So if you dont have a perfectly tuned deck, you dont stand a chance. SO the whole goal of Arena is to somehow amass the WCs needed to build yourself a Tier 1 deck, and then hope you like it because its really all you can play. (Not to mention that the game is rigged with weird card distribution happening constantly, but yeah, enjoy)
I play only unranked, and technically I spent money because I bought all four Ravnica and Allegiance planeswalker decks. Now I am upgrading them from packs I buy for gold (I currently have 150 diamonds, from three drafts I ever played, all of them 0:3, but that is because I never drafted and simply don't know how to).
Still, in unranked play I have no problems to play for fun and occasionally win (30-40% maybe). Of course even in unranked I sometimes meet super deck that decimates or lockes me in first three turns, but generally the unranked is quite good when playing for fun.
Back to the topic of Arena too difficult, a lot of this is Magic by design. Cards are pushed to make certain decks "competitive" and this means that certain decks are so far and away beyond anything else you can make in terms of power that they can't be beaten unless you play with another tier one deck. And naturally you will rarely, if not never see anyone NOT playing a tier 1 deck on Arena. I cant remember the last time I played against someone who wasnt playing one of the big tier 1 decks. It never happens in this game. So if you dont have a perfectly tuned deck, you dont stand a chance. SO the whole goal of Arena is to somehow amass the WCs needed to build yourself a Tier 1 deck, and then hope you like it because its really all you can play. (Not to mention that the game is rigged with weird card distribution happening constantly, but yeah, enjoy)
So people are playing competitive decks in a competitive format? Gee, what a shocker. It's almost like dangling LITERALLY ten million dollars in front of people is able to encourage them to be competitive for a slice of that pie. Go figure.
As for cards being pushed to being competitive? Okay, you make it sound like that's different from any other CCG out there. Wizards has a general idea of what cards are going to be really good, but going through even their not-too-distant history there are examples upon examples upon examples of times they've missed the mark entirely. What are you trying to prove here, that good cards are good?
You clearly have no interest in Arena and don't want to bother with it. Please leave and let the rest of us have fun.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Back to the topic of Arena too difficult, a lot of this is Magic by design. Cards are pushed to make certain decks "competitive" and this means that certain decks are so far and away beyond anything else you can make in terms of power that they can't be beaten unless you play with another tier one deck. And naturally you will rarely, if not never see anyone NOT playing a tier 1 deck on Arena. I cant remember the last time I played against someone who wasnt playing one of the big tier 1 decks. It never happens in this game. So if you dont have a perfectly tuned deck, you dont stand a chance. SO the whole goal of Arena is to somehow amass the WCs needed to build yourself a Tier 1 deck, and then hope you like it because its really all you can play. (Not to mention that the game is rigged with weird card distribution happening constantly, but yeah, enjoy)
So people are playing competitive decks in a competitive format? Gee, what a shocker. It's almost like dangling LITERALLY ten million dollars in front of people is able to encourage them to be competitive for a slice of that pie. Go figure.
As for cards being pushed to being competitive? Okay, you make it sound like that's different from any other CCG out there. Wizards has a general idea of what cards are going to be really good, but going through even their not-too-distant history there are examples upon examples upon examples of times they've missed the mark entirely. What are you trying to prove here, that good cards are good?
ed why
You clearly have no interest in Arena and don't want to bother with it. Please leave and let the rest oHe asked why f us have fun.
WHy asked why Arena was hard you ******* dork. Jesus Christ dude, sorry some people dont <<SNIP>>.
2 Jade Bearer
4 Kumena's Speaker
2 River Sneak
4 Silvergill Adept
1 Deeproot Elite
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Merfolk Mistbinder
3 Watertrap Weaver
2 Jungleborn Pioneer
2 Jadelight Ranger
1 Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca
1 Seafloor Oracle
1 Dive Down
1 Disperse
1 River Herald's Boon
2 Deeproot Waters
2 Sleep
Land
7 Island
6 Forest
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Woodland Stream
2 Evolving Wilds
3 Unclaimed Territory
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
2 Gravel-Hide Goblin
2 Kruul Harpooner
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Zhur-Taa Goblin
2 Clamor Shaman
2 Gruul Spellbreaker
3 Nullhide Ferox
2 Frenzied Arynx
2 Skizzik
3 Lava Coil
3 Rhythm of the Wild
10 Mountain
10 Forest
2 Gruul Guildgate
1 Rootbound Crag
What is wrong with someone wanting to practice a competitive deck with no stakes? It's a free universe. They are doing what they want and so are you. They are giving you some good testing data. You want to control your matchups? Challenge a friend. I think there is no excuse for deliberately roping someone. You don't want to play it out? Concede.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
This is what I'm running and its decent against Burn, Phoenix, Explore, UWR/Esper/UW Control, and White Aggro. Really unless you get blitzed out right off the first 4 or 5 turns, or you choke on mana (this mana is not perfect, too many wildcards needed) you are always in it. Gaea's Blessing is a gem.
1 Breeding Pool
3 Temple Garden
1 Sunpetal Grove
3 Hallowed Fountain
3 Glacial Fortress
6 Island
3 Forest
3 Plains
4 Growth Spiral
4 Revitalize
2 Opt
2 Gaea's Blessing
//Enchant
3 Wilderness Reclamation
2 Search for Azcanta
//Removal
2 Cleansing Nova
2 Settle the Wreckage
3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
//Draw
2 Chemister's Insight
2 Blink of an Eye
//Counter
2 Negate
2 Quench
2 Sinister Sabotage
//Win
2 Warrant // Warden
1 Carnage Tyrant
Spirits
Spirits
I've found the Arena community to be pretty toxic and obnoxious. I mean everyone complains about the stalling and roping that happens all the time. But I also run into players that spam emotes, usually 1 in 4 games will be an emote spammer. The best are the ones who spam emotes while stalling and playing a Nexus deck. Cool guys I gotta imagine. I'm also playing a guy, right now, who as "1488" in his username. I guess what I'm saying is I dont think the MTG Arena community is the best people, so wasting their time playing Bant Nexus decks in casual mode is not beneath them.
People who rope..I dont get it, I mean its their time too and guess what? I can alt-tab and browse while you are wasting time. GG.
Spirits
Maybe they the same ones who stall for eternity when I attack, then Settle the Wreckage my two Concordia Pegasus 5 mins later and say "oops".
Could you tell me what happened with rankings recently? I am again at Bronze 4. I haven't played for last two weeks, so you have to contiously play or you drop in rank?
Not that it is that important for me, I mainly play unranked, but last time it took me two months just to get into silver 4...
Another question, is it possible to play more "flavored" game in Arena? For example only decks for specific Ravnica guild, or only Merfolk deck from Ixalan expansion.
I just don't get it when I see Dimir cards in Izzet deck, let alone non Ravnica cards in Gruul deck (Llanowar Elves or Carnage Tyrant)...
Bronze Tier -> Bronze Tier 4
Bronze Tier 3 -> Bronze Tier 4
Bronze Tier 2 -> Bronze Tier 4
Bronze Tier 1 -> Bronze Tier 3
Silver Tier 4 -> Bronze Tier 3
Silver Tier 3 -> Bronze Tier 3
Silver Tier 2 -> Bronze Tier 2
Silver Tier 1 -> Bronze Tier 2
Gold Tier 4 -> Bronze Tier 1
Gold Tier 3 -> Silver Tier 4
Gold Tier 2 -> Silver Tier 3
Gold Tier 1 -> Silver Tier 2
Platinum Tier 4 -> Silver Tier 1
Platinum Tier 3 -> Gold Tier 4
Platinum Tier 2 -> Gold Tier 4
Platinum Tier 1 -> Gold Tier 3
Diamond Tier 4 -> Gold Tier 3
Diamond Tier 3 -> Gold Tier 2
Diamond Tier 2 -> Gold Tier 2
Diamond Tier 1 -> Gold Tier 1
Mythic -> Gold Tier 1
For special deck building restrictions, you will have to hope for limited time events like the Ravnica block constructed that we had with RNA release. There are no permanent options like this. If you know others that are interested in similar decks, you could of course play direct challenges with them.
W(W/U)U Ephara - Flash & Taxes W(W/U)U || B(B/G)G Meren - Circle of Life B(B/G)G
RGW Marath - Ever shifting Wilds RGW || (U/R)C(W/B) Breya - Artificial Dominion (U/R)C(W/B)
UBR Becket Brass - take what you can, give nothing back UBR
How interesting that the "scale" isn't uniform across all tiers. The top three tiers all slide down to Gold while Gold simply slides down to silver and bronze. I don't think I ever got above Silver so it's right back to Bronze anyways. I kind of thought everyone would slide down, at most, one or two tiers.
Geez... it's like throwing a piece of cheese in a pit full of starving rats. The next few days or so is going to be a giant cluster.
I play only unranked, and technically I spent money because I bought all four Ravnica and Allegiance planeswalker decks. Now I am upgrading them from packs I buy for gold (I currently have 150 diamonds, from three drafts I ever played, all of them 0:3, but that is because I never drafted and simply don't know how to).
On top of that, my decks must be "flavored", so no Skewer the Critics or Carnage Tyrant in my Gruul deck, no Lightning Strike or Lava Coil in my Izzet deck. I think that way my decks are even less competitive.
Still, in unranked play I have no problems to play for fun and occasionally win (30-40% maybe). Of course even in unranked I sometimes meet super deck that decimates or lockes me in first three turns, but generally the unranked is quite good when playing for fun.
So people are playing competitive decks in a competitive format? Gee, what a shocker. It's almost like dangling LITERALLY ten million dollars in front of people is able to encourage them to be competitive for a slice of that pie. Go figure.
As for cards being pushed to being competitive? Okay, you make it sound like that's different from any other CCG out there. Wizards has a general idea of what cards are going to be really good, but going through even their not-too-distant history there are examples upon examples upon examples of times they've missed the mark entirely. What are you trying to prove here, that good cards are good?
You clearly have no interest in Arena and don't want to bother with it. Please leave and let the rest of us have fun.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
WHy asked why Arena was hard you ******* dork. Jesus Christ dude, sorry some people dont <<SNIP>>.