1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
~70 person prerelease. Went 3-1. Lost in the final round to consecutive mana screw. game records were: 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 0-2
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Legionnaire and slash panther were amazing
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
not sure i noticed any that underperformed
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Pristine talisman was obscene. Just crazy tempo advantage.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
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Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
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ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
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ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
1. I went 3-1-0 with a BWg build, going 2-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-0.
2. Porcelain Legionnaire lived up to its high expectations for me. No one wanted to block it, no one wanted to attack into it. It came out as early as turn two, and was still a decent turn three play. On top of that, it helped get metalcraft running for my deck.
3. I splashed green for Glissa's Scorn and boarded them out most of the time; I felt that there wasn't as many must-kill artifacts out there, which reduced the effectivity of the card.
4. Rotted Hystrix, of all things. As a 3/6, he was impossible to get past as a ground blocker (without sacrificing something, at least), and it just felt wrong wasting removal on a vanilla creature. As he stalemated the game every time I ran into him, he's moved up on my list of "things to kill".
[card]
Vault Skirge[/card] was a close second - the lifelink brought me out of burn rage in one game, and he's a viable turn one play because he will gain you back that lost life.
1. 5 rounds, 4-1.
2. Artillerize. 5 damage is a lot.
3. Gremlin Mine. More narrow than I would have expected.
4. Maul Splicer. Lacking any other 7-drops, this guy performed very very well.
Midnight sealed was very solid cards, this afternoons not so much.
#1 Five rounds. I went three sweeps, a 1/0/0 win, and was swept once. Placed in top 8 everyone agreed to split pot.
#2 5/1 trample artifact/G creature. (Don't have cards from this match with me) He was a solid body that at worst drew removal or sat there to stall attacks until I could hit my bombs. He was a very serious threat that had to be played around.
#3 The infect regenerating snake. Was there and gone immediately every game.
#4 Mutagenic growth. I only had one but I was playing a late game body deck and it tipped the scales at least once a match.
Second set I had no real bombs. I id play three rares but none of them did me any good. Lived and died by my commons.
#1 Four rounds. Three sweeps and lost 1/2. Placed top four and we split packs once again.
#2 Tie between Binding Souleater and Apostles Blessing. Soul Eater using phrexian mana to tap is simply amazing and an absolute must include in any deck that splashes or mains white and debatable in decks that don't. Apostles Blessing was always around for combat shenanigans or counter removal, sometimes in a two for one capacity.
#3 Pith Driller. Served his purpose as a two for one twice in four rounds but mostly ended up as an over cost 2/4. A decent blocker but not the answer I expected him to be, however that may have just been my opponent pool and not the card.
#4 Impaler Shrike. Calm down now, Being an x/1 I expected him to whiff to removal or at best be "that threat" that changes the way an opponent plays for a turn or two. Instead Through various shenanigans I snuck him through almost every time I put him down and he was an amazing tempo boost. I was very aware it was a good card but I expected him to whiff or trade for an opposing flier much more often than he did.
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
4 rounds. I ended up 4-0. I had one buy, but since my other three matches were won 2-0, I don't think it was that bad of an advantage.
Just for some background info, I ran a rainbow deck based in Black and Red for removal (and Chancellor of the Dross) and heavily utilized phyrexian mana.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Gremlin Mine. 2 for 4 damage is sweet even with its limitations. Plus, its got enough utility to find a place against lots of different decks.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Thundering Tanadon. Don't get me wrong, the card is good, it just didn't blow me away. 4 life is a lot to pay late-game, and I definitely felt the hurt a couple of times.
Mortis Dog also didn't wow me. The first time I saw this card, I thought it was terrible. After looking at it again, I thought it was awesome. Now, I don't think its all that great. Its superb in a very aggressive deck, but its a dead draw later in the game.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Pristine Talisman. If anyone has doubts about this card, bury them. This card won me a lot of games. In hindsight, I don't know why I didn't think this card was good. I guess 3 mana for 1 without any fixing doesn't seem appealing at first, but trust me, this card can be a game changer.
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"In the beginning, MTG Salvation switched to a new forum format.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
It was at that moment that I realized: I'm kinda just making these things up. We can just write the rules the way we want them to work. People will have fun, and people will get it.
I went 5-1 in 6 rounds of sealed, playing a U/G deck; not much removal but some good bounce and counters, and a Contagion Clasp and a Ratchet Bomb. Lost to a crazy good R/G poison deck in the fourth round, but otherwise mostly won pretty easily.
I expected Spire Monitor to be good, and it was amazing. Especially since I also had counters and a Darksteel Sentinel in the deck, I could get out a very early creature like Vault Skirge and just pull miles ahead in tempo before my opponent could do much of anything.
Porcelain Legionnaire wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. Granted, I was playing it in the wrong deck, purely as a colorless spell with no damage prevention or pump effects, so it was hard to take advantage of its strengths. It was still a pretty good card in my deck, but never nearly what I was hoping for it to be. I wouldn't draft it quite as highly in a deck without combat tricks.
(As far as uncommons go, I had Triumph of the Hordes in the deck also, and it was almost always a dead card. I wouldn't bother playing it again in a non-infect deck unless it had a real heavy token theme.)
[ca]Death-Hood Cobra[/c] was much better than I gave it credit for being. Lots of the time people wanted to hide behind Walls of Tanglecord and Neurok Replicas and Ogre Menials to make it into the later turns, and the Cobra made that almost impossible.
My deck was super weak to Cystbearer, though, which cost me three separate games through the tournament, including a match loss.
Wit's End is the PERFECT answer to your opponent's Monomania however.
Just hold on to your Wit's End when they Monomania, so you can Wit's End them on your next turn!!!
I think this is fairly reminiscent of the "Jace Battles" we have seen in past standards.. My guess is we will soon witness the great Monomania-Wit's End battles.
1. NPH-NPH-NPH draft. 2-1, but man I was close to 3-0.
2. Mycosynth Wellspring
I noticed on online draft clients that this card was always getting picked in the top three and couldn't figure out why until I played with it. And Beast Within'd it when my opponent attacked. And got all five lands for the quasi-sunburst mythic.
3. Forced Worship
Luckily my R1 opponent didn't realize he could still block, or else this card would have been completely useless.
4. Leeching Bite
Two for one all day long in this format. My god I love this card. Kill a splicer and make my 2/x big enough to kill a golem.
2. thundering tanodon, pith driller. pith driller i expected to be solid, and turned out to be a two for one almost every time he came down.
3. i thought forced worship would be bad. it was worse than that. it was awful.
4. HOVERMYR! cute little thing was a monster in my tempered steel deck, even without T. steel out. same for spined thopter, i guess i underestimated it. also Mortis Dogs were a workhorse in draft, especially with artillerize (13 damage!)
I went 3-1 (only 14 people for the midnight prerelease, might be more at noon today).
1. Toxic Nim worked out pretty well for me. He's a mite bit expensive, but infect + 4 power + regenerate is not to be messed with. Helped me deal with Myr Battlesphere without losing any creatures, although I still lost that game (taking 6 without needing to actually attack with the creatures... kinda hurts).
2. Chained Throatseeker turned out better than I had thought. I was afraid of having an expensive blocker, but I ended up not really having a hard time getting my opponent poisoned. I guess getting two Tainted Strikes kinda helped since I also had some non-infecties that I could punch through with.
3. Nothing really underperformed that much. Closest would be Blind Zealot, but that was just a case of me not reading the card closely enough. The first match I got him out, I killed my opponent's creature without sacrificing the Zealot. Then in the second game my opponent noticed it. Judge gave us both a warning for the first game and (obviously) made me sacrifice it in the second game.
The sac effect on the zealot is a may, not a must, I found it worth keeping him around most of the time.
1. I played 2 pre-releases, 3x Som/3x Nph for both.
First one I went 3-1-1 Due to huge bombs such as moltensteel dragon, geth, and koth.
Second one I went 4-2, cut to top 8. Went 3-0 in top 8 with 6-0 in games.
2. Porcelain legionaire - Gets the beats in fast, nuff said
3. Immolating Souleater - too many -1/-1 counter effects and gut shot to make this guy playable.
4. Maul Splicer - A 3 for 1? This card is fantastic, anything your opponent uses to answer it is giving him huge card disadvantage. There are no relevant sweepers in nph or som, so definitely keep that in mind. Having 2 of these along with 2 other splicers and golem artisan & darksteel sentinel was absolutely amazing.
1. Have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
2. Stubbornly argue for at least 1 page of posts.
3. Regurgitate things you read on Starcitygames or Channelfireball.
4. Hate all netdeckers
5. Claim your 2nd place FNM deck broke the format and Delver is not even that good.
6. Tell everybody that MBC is coming back every time a new black card is released.
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
4 rounds went 3-1
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Pristine talisman, won me games all day. I had two in my sealed pool. It also helped that I had an unwinding clock in my pool as well. If they didn't have any removal for it I was healing constantly.
Another card that won me many games was vault skirge. Getting in early with it helped so much, I did a draft after and managed to draft 4 of them. Real painful for your opponent when you have 3 1/1 flying lifelink creatures up turn 2
1. 5 but I had a bad day. 1-4
2. Porcelain Legionnaire he delivers. A lot.
3. Immolating Soul eater. It just never impressed really.
4. Mortis dogs, all the way. In triple NPH draft I picked up 5 and 3 pieces of recursion. He kicked serious ass. Noone wants to block him. The only time ever disappointed me was when my opponent had disposable 1/1's. I went 3/0 in the draft.
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Check out the thread for my cube if you have the time, and tell me how terrible it is.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
1. 5 rounds 5-0 ( r/w deck with only 2 playable rares sadly. White chancellor and mimic vat. The colors gave me great removal though and had some good interactions with the vat. My nph packs were very underwhelming.)
2. Porcelain legionnaire, guy was awesome turn two and even later.
3.Thundering Tanadon. Even turn 4, with so much removal in the set he would die right away and leave me minus 4 life.
4. Tormentor exarch. Was never sad to draw this guy. I think I used his -0/-2 ability every time.
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
4-0-1. Got 2nd place out of 50 ppl.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you? Pristine Talisman. I figured life would matter a bit more with NPH, and it does. Opponents don't play infect as much and the PHM costs add up. It help your ramp, helps your metalcraft, and generally gives you an extra 8-12 life. That combined really adds up.
(Funny story: I hit it on the end of his turn just to get the life out of it. He calls "mana burn". I politely inform him that there is no such thing as mana burn any more. He *****es at his friend next to him why he didn't tell him about that.)
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations? Vault Skirge. Never ended up getting too far with this guy. Figured he would ping for a while for free damage and life, but he either died too easily, or the flyers prevented him from getting through. I think I chumped him twice.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions? Porcelain Legionnaire. I thought this guy would just die too easily, but he would actually stay on the board for a while. Being able to cast him on Turn 2 and just aggro him with 6-9 damage is a big deal. 3/3 on the board? So what!
That and Shattered Angel (even though it's an uncommon). Good evasive flyer for 3/3 and forces the opponent to think about every land drop.
3. Nothing really underperformed that much. Closest would be Blind Zealot, but that was just a case of me not reading the card closely enough. The first match I got him out, I killed my opponent's creature without sacrificing the Zealot. Then in the second game my opponent noticed it. Judge gave us both a warning for the first game and (obviously) made me sacrifice it in the second game.
The sac effect on the zealot is a may, not a must, I found it worth keeping him around most of the time.
Which means that the judge was a f'ing idiot if he didn't read the card himself.
Friend at the game was just talking about a bad decision because of that "Spellkite targets an illegal target to fizzle" thing that can't happen. I told him that we were just talking about it here on the forums and the Magic rules says no.
Bad judges ruin entire games. If you're a judge here, PLEASE be careful of that stuff. (Actually considering judgeship myself, since I've known the rules for MTG far longer than I've played semi-professionally.)
(What the hell did you RL MTG players do to Portal? Did you hate it so much that you had deck burning bonfires to get rid of the cards, thus increasing the rarity and prices? Did people mail back their fat packs to WotC in droves, demanding refunds?)
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
Five rounds, 4-1, took 5th out of 21/22 people.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you? Artillerize. Do I really need to explain why?
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations? Spined Thopter. I think it was because of the nature of Sealed, that dropping it turn 2 was a misstep on my end. Every time I drew it in my opening hand, I wasn't exactly thrilled to do so. I imagine it will be far superior in an aggressive deck, though.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions? Numbing Dose. Most people poo-poo the anti-untap ability, but adding in a clock was just gravy. This card was saving my butt and helping me race at the same time. It was a beautiful thing.
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
I played six of six rounds even though I was 1-2 and most likely out of the prize after three rounds. Finished 3-3 for 14th place out of 36.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you? Porcelain Legionnaire was a house for me even in black/red, and always a hassle to see on the other side of the table as well.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I knew that Geth's Verdict was going to have a wide range of power level depending on the opponent's board, but it was pretty awkward sometimes (eat a Memnite, huh).
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
I would say Immolating Souleater. I just wasn't all that impressed with him and didn't include him in my initial build, but after a couple of round I was convinced to main him. I found him trading up a lot of the time, and with a Nim Deathmantle out he made it difficult for my opponent to attack profitably (except with the aforementioned Porcelain Legionnaires).
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
Only played 4 rounds, and went 1-2-1. I also went 2-1 in triple NPH Draft.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Blighted Agent was insane if they didn't have an answer. Throw a Necropouncer into the mix, and if they're tapped out, that's basically a win in the late game. Grim Affliction saved my ass on many occasion as well.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I figured Parasitic Implant would be awesome splashable removal for any creature, but alas, the turn it takes to go off can really mess you up.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
6 Rounds, then single elimination playoffs with top 16. I was the only 6-0 in the rounds, and then went to the finals and lost, taking 2nd out of 52.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you? Blinding Souleater. My god he's so awesome. Taps any threat, and also clears the way for 1 mana or 2 life. Love this guy. Also, Gremlin Mine is insane. 4 damage to an artifact creature for 2? Yes please.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I actually had no problem with any of the NPH cards that I ran.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions? Sensor Splicer. I thought at first, giving a small 3/3 golem vigilance isn't going to help much but damn, it did. Especially when I had 3 other splicers and a Rusted Relic, this guy let me go all out offense while still having a big defense, too.
I played 4 rounds with a pretty sick UR deck, and I ended up going 2-2 due to my last two opponents both having SoWaP and I have no non-red removal to deal with it (no Shatters in my pool).
Probably Slash Panther. I didn't think a 4/2 haste dude would do that much, but it's just so punishing if you can drop one turn 4 and 5 and they don't block them.
Porcelain Legionnaire. Having 1 toughness just made it too hard to stay on the field for long, with all the -1/-1 counters and pingers I faced.
Pristine Talisman. Incremental lifegain is huuuge in this format, much bigger than I thought it was gonna be.
Commons that lived up to expectations: Spire Monitor. The flash was always relevant, and he messes up combat math something fierce.
Common that underperformed: Impaler Shrike. There are more 1/X fliers in the format now, and the 1 toughness on a 4-drop really does hurt with Pith Driller essentially being in every deck. It's still a fine card, but it's nowhere near as strong as the Monitor, and I thought it would be close.
Common that overperformed: Suture Priest. I hate Soul Wardens in limited, but given that my deck HAD to race to win, as it had a decent amount of evasion but no removal or bombs, this put a decent amount of pressure on, especially in the face of Splicers.
Honorable mention for overperformer: Thundering Tanadon. I was never unhappy to pay 4 life for this guy, as he trades with basically anything else huge in the format and can dominate the board when played early. I never lost a game in which I played him turn 4.
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Providing a plethora of pompous and pedantic postings here since 2009.
:dance:Fact or Fiction of the [Limited] Clan:dance:
Signalling is like farting: it's a natural thing that helps people avoid being where you are, and if you try to do it deliberately, things turn to crap fast.
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I hereby found the American Chapter of the Zealots of Semantics. All glory to The Curmudgeon.
1. 5 rounds (4-1-0 placed 2nd out of about 20 players, playing R/W)
2. Mutagenic growth worked everytime. Makes combat a bit of a nightmare for opponent if he knows you're packing them. I ended up with many favourable combats just because opponent feared what would happen if I had growth
3. Spined thopter I guess, everytime I saw it it died immediately and usually people weren't even bothering to pay the 2 life for it. I had one that I chose not to include (note procelain legionaire was great everytime and often people paid 2 life for it, so not sure if this was just a fluke on the thopter).
4. Hover Myr for sure. I considered it basically unplayable but never liked seeing it against me. Great with equipment, vigilance lets it ping and chump, metalcraft enabler, etc.
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record?
4 rounds. Final record was 3-0-1/
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Have to say Spire Monitor and Artillerize.
I had 2 Spire Monitors in my pool, and majority of the time, they flashed in as a surprise blocker. Artillerize was just always a beating whether I was saccing a Wellspring to dome them, saccing a small creature for their big creature, or saccing something due to it being targeted by removal.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I don't think there was any single card that underperformed for me. I feel like I had a pretty good grasp on what would be good and what wouldn't... it held true when I was playing.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions? Impaler Shrike. I knew this card would be good, but when I'd get it down turn 4, then bash on turn 5, I was always happy to sacrifice it. 3 damage and 3 cards for 4 mana is fine with me.
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"Two magi could trade spells all day and never crown a victor. The real battle is not one of power but of will. If your confidence breaks, so too shall you.”
1. How many rounds of Sealed Deck did you play during the prerelease? (If you dropped at some point, do mention that.) What was your final record? 3 rounds. 2-1 and took second.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you? Grim Affliction! Always has something to kill, works doubly well in infect, tumble magnet, shrines, etc.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations? Nothing really underperformed in my sealed.
In draft Spinebiter was pretty bad though. It just comes down too late most of the time.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions? Mycosynth Wellspring and Pristine Talisman.
~70 person prerelease. Went 3-1. Lost in the final round to consecutive mana screw. game records were: 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 0-2
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Legionnaire and slash panther were amazing
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
not sure i noticed any that underperformed
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Pristine talisman was obscene. Just crazy tempo advantage.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
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My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
1. I went 3-1-0 with a BWg build, going 2-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-0.
2. Porcelain Legionnaire lived up to its high expectations for me. No one wanted to block it, no one wanted to attack into it. It came out as early as turn two, and was still a decent turn three play. On top of that, it helped get metalcraft running for my deck.
3. I splashed green for Glissa's Scorn and boarded them out most of the time; I felt that there wasn't as many must-kill artifacts out there, which reduced the effectivity of the card.
4. Rotted Hystrix, of all things. As a 3/6, he was impossible to get past as a ground blocker (without sacrificing something, at least), and it just felt wrong wasting removal on a vanilla creature. As he stalemated the game every time I ran into him, he's moved up on my list of "things to kill".
[card]
Vault Skirge[/card] was a close second - the lifelink brought me out of burn rage in one game, and he's a viable turn one play because he will gain you back that lost life.
2. Artillerize. 5 damage is a lot.
3. Gremlin Mine. More narrow than I would have expected.
4. Maul Splicer. Lacking any other 7-drops, this guy performed very very well.
Midnight sealed was very solid cards, this afternoons not so much.
#1 Five rounds. I went three sweeps, a 1/0/0 win, and was swept once. Placed in top 8 everyone agreed to split pot.
#2 5/1 trample artifact/G creature. (Don't have cards from this match with me) He was a solid body that at worst drew removal or sat there to stall attacks until I could hit my bombs. He was a very serious threat that had to be played around.
#3 The infect regenerating snake. Was there and gone immediately every game.
#4 Mutagenic growth. I only had one but I was playing a late game body deck and it tipped the scales at least once a match.
Second set I had no real bombs. I id play three rares but none of them did me any good. Lived and died by my commons.
#1 Four rounds. Three sweeps and lost 1/2. Placed top four and we split packs once again.
#2 Tie between Binding Souleater and Apostles Blessing. Soul Eater using phrexian mana to tap is simply amazing and an absolute must include in any deck that splashes or mains white and debatable in decks that don't. Apostles Blessing was always around for combat shenanigans or counter removal, sometimes in a two for one capacity.
#3 Pith Driller. Served his purpose as a two for one twice in four rounds but mostly ended up as an over cost 2/4. A decent blocker but not the answer I expected him to be, however that may have just been my opponent pool and not the card.
#4 Impaler Shrike. Calm down now, Being an x/1 I expected him to whiff to removal or at best be "that threat" that changes the way an opponent plays for a turn or two. Instead Through various shenanigans I snuck him through almost every time I put him down and he was an amazing tempo boost. I was very aware it was a good card but I expected him to whiff or trade for an opposing flier much more often than he did.
4 rounds. I ended up 4-0. I had one buy, but since my other three matches were won 2-0, I don't think it was that bad of an advantage.
Just for some background info, I ran a rainbow deck based in Black and Red for removal (and Chancellor of the Dross) and heavily utilized phyrexian mana.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Gremlin Mine. 2 for 4 damage is sweet even with its limitations. Plus, its got enough utility to find a place against lots of different decks.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Thundering Tanadon. Don't get me wrong, the card is good, it just didn't blow me away. 4 life is a lot to pay late-game, and I definitely felt the hurt a couple of times.
Mortis Dog also didn't wow me. The first time I saw this card, I thought it was terrible. After looking at it again, I thought it was awesome. Now, I don't think its all that great. Its superb in a very aggressive deck, but its a dead draw later in the game.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Pristine Talisman. If anyone has doubts about this card, bury them. This card won me a lot of games. In hindsight, I don't know why I didn't think this card was good. I guess 3 mana for 1 without any fixing doesn't seem appealing at first, but trust me, this card can be a game changer.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."
Comic Book Set
Archester: Frontier of Steam (A steampunk set!)
A Good Place to Start Designing
I expected Spire Monitor to be good, and it was amazing. Especially since I also had counters and a Darksteel Sentinel in the deck, I could get out a very early creature like Vault Skirge and just pull miles ahead in tempo before my opponent could do much of anything.
Porcelain Legionnaire wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. Granted, I was playing it in the wrong deck, purely as a colorless spell with no damage prevention or pump effects, so it was hard to take advantage of its strengths. It was still a pretty good card in my deck, but never nearly what I was hoping for it to be. I wouldn't draft it quite as highly in a deck without combat tricks.
(As far as uncommons go, I had Triumph of the Hordes in the deck also, and it was almost always a dead card. I wouldn't bother playing it again in a non-infect deck unless it had a real heavy token theme.)
[ca]Death-Hood Cobra[/c] was much better than I gave it credit for being. Lots of the time people wanted to hide behind Walls of Tanglecord and Neurok Replicas and Ogre Menials to make it into the later turns, and the Cobra made that almost impossible.
My deck was super weak to Cystbearer, though, which cost me three separate games through the tournament, including a match loss.
2. Mycosynth Wellspring
I noticed on online draft clients that this card was always getting picked in the top three and couldn't figure out why until I played with it. And Beast Within'd it when my opponent attacked. And got all five lands for the quasi-sunburst mythic.
3. Forced Worship
Luckily my R1 opponent didn't realize he could still block, or else this card would have been completely useless.
4. Leeching Bite
Two for one all day long in this format. My god I love this card. Kill a splicer and make my 2/x big enough to kill a golem.
2. thundering tanodon, pith driller. pith driller i expected to be solid, and turned out to be a two for one almost every time he came down.
3. i thought forced worship would be bad. it was worse than that. it was awful.
4. HOVERMYR! cute little thing was a monster in my tempered steel deck, even without T. steel out. same for spined thopter, i guess i underestimated it. also Mortis Dogs were a workhorse in draft, especially with artillerize (13 damage!)
The sac effect on the zealot is a may, not a must, I found it worth keeping him around most of the time.
First one I went 3-1-1 Due to huge bombs such as moltensteel dragon, geth, and koth.
Second one I went 4-2, cut to top 8. Went 3-0 in top 8 with 6-0 in games.
2. Porcelain legionaire - Gets the beats in fast, nuff said
3. Immolating Souleater - too many -1/-1 counter effects and gut shot to make this guy playable.
4. Maul Splicer - A 3 for 1? This card is fantastic, anything your opponent uses to answer it is giving him huge card disadvantage. There are no relevant sweepers in nph or som, so definitely keep that in mind. Having 2 of these along with 2 other splicers and golem artisan & darksteel sentinel was absolutely amazing.
1. Have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.
2. Stubbornly argue for at least 1 page of posts.
3. Regurgitate things you read on Starcitygames or Channelfireball.
4. Hate all netdeckers
5. Claim your 2nd place FNM deck broke the format and Delver is not even that good.
6. Tell everybody that MBC is coming back every time a new black card is released.
4 rounds went 3-1
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Pristine talisman, won me games all day. I had two in my sealed pool. It also helped that I had an unwinding clock in my pool as well. If they didn't have any removal for it I was healing constantly.
Another card that won me many games was vault skirge. Getting in early with it helped so much, I did a draft after and managed to draft 4 of them. Real painful for your opponent when you have 3 1/1 flying lifelink creatures up turn 2
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=488912
2. Porcelain Legionnaire he delivers. A lot.
3. Immolating Soul eater. It just never impressed really.
4. Mortis dogs, all the way. In triple NPH draft I picked up 5 and 3 pieces of recursion. He kicked serious ass. Noone wants to block him. The only time ever disappointed me was when my opponent had disposable 1/1's. I went 3/0 in the draft.
Generals meant to be drafted first in a single pack of 6 cards.
And here is the actual cube, meant to be drafted in 4 regular sized packs. (60 card decks)
2. Porcelain legionnaire, guy was awesome turn two and even later.
3.Thundering Tanadon. Even turn 4, with so much removal in the set he would die right away and leave me minus 4 life.
4. Tormentor exarch. Was never sad to draw this guy. I think I used his -0/-2 ability every time.
4-0-1. Got 2nd place out of 50 ppl.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Pristine Talisman. I figured life would matter a bit more with NPH, and it does. Opponents don't play infect as much and the PHM costs add up. It help your ramp, helps your metalcraft, and generally gives you an extra 8-12 life. That combined really adds up.
(Funny story: I hit it on the end of his turn just to get the life out of it. He calls "mana burn". I politely inform him that there is no such thing as mana burn any more. He *****es at his friend next to him why he didn't tell him about that.)
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Vault Skirge. Never ended up getting too far with this guy. Figured he would ping for a while for free damage and life, but he either died too easily, or the flyers prevented him from getting through. I think I chumped him twice.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Porcelain Legionnaire. I thought this guy would just die too easily, but he would actually stay on the board for a while. Being able to cast him on Turn 2 and just aggro him with 6-9 damage is a big deal. 3/3 on the board? So what!
That and Shattered Angel (even though it's an uncommon). Good evasive flyer for 3/3 and forces the opponent to think about every land drop.
Which means that the judge was a f'ing idiot if he didn't read the card himself.
Friend at the game was just talking about a bad decision because of that "Spellkite targets an illegal target to fizzle" thing that can't happen. I told him that we were just talking about it here on the forums and the Magic rules says no.
Bad judges ruin entire games. If you're a judge here, PLEASE be careful of that stuff. (Actually considering judgeship myself, since I've known the rules for MTG far longer than I've played semi-professionally.)
Five rounds, 4-1, took 5th out of 21/22 people.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Artillerize. Do I really need to explain why?
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Spined Thopter. I think it was because of the nature of Sealed, that dropping it turn 2 was a misstep on my end. Every time I drew it in my opening hand, I wasn't exactly thrilled to do so. I imagine it will be far superior in an aggressive deck, though.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Numbing Dose. Most people poo-poo the anti-untap ability, but adding in a clock was just gravy. This card was saving my butt and helping me race at the same time. It was a beautiful thing.
Past Ruminations
Links are broken, will fix in near future.
- Kaladesh
- Zendikar
- Rise of the Eldrazi
- Alara Reborn
- Innistrad <- Personal Favorite
- Dark Ascension
- Avacyn Restored
- Theros
- Return to Ravnica
- Tarkir
I played six of six rounds even though I was 1-2 and most likely out of the prize after three rounds. Finished 3-3 for 14th place out of 36.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Porcelain Legionnaire was a house for me even in black/red, and always a hassle to see on the other side of the table as well.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I knew that Geth's Verdict was going to have a wide range of power level depending on the opponent's board, but it was pretty awkward sometimes (eat a Memnite, huh).
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
I would say Immolating Souleater. I just wasn't all that impressed with him and didn't include him in my initial build, but after a couple of round I was convinced to main him. I found him trading up a lot of the time, and with a Nim Deathmantle out he made it difficult for my opponent to attack profitably (except with the aforementioned Porcelain Legionnaires).
UW UW Gideon Control WU
UWR Loose Control RWU
GR Scapeshift RG
RU Storm UR
Only played 4 rounds, and went 1-2-1. I also went 2-1 in triple NPH Draft.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Blighted Agent was insane if they didn't have an answer. Throw a Necropouncer into the mix, and if they're tapped out, that's basically a win in the late game. Grim Affliction saved my ass on many occasion as well.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I figured Parasitic Implant would be awesome splashable removal for any creature, but alas, the turn it takes to go off can really mess you up.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Viridian Betrayers won me a handful of games, dropping it right after a Blight Mamba or a Blighted Agent is just scary.
6 Rounds, then single elimination playoffs with top 16. I was the only 6-0 in the rounds, and then went to the finals and lost, taking 2nd out of 52.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Blinding Souleater. My god he's so awesome. Taps any threat, and also clears the way for 1 mana or 2 life. Love this guy. Also, Gremlin Mine is insane. 4 damage to an artifact creature for 2? Yes please.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I actually had no problem with any of the NPH cards that I ran.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Sensor Splicer. I thought at first, giving a small 3/3 golem vigilance isn't going to help much but damn, it did. Especially when I had 3 other splicers and a Rusted Relic, this guy let me go all out offense while still having a big defense, too.
Deckbox
Probably Slash Panther. I didn't think a 4/2 haste dude would do that much, but it's just so punishing if you can drop one turn 4 and 5 and they don't block them.
Porcelain Legionnaire. Having 1 toughness just made it too hard to stay on the field for long, with all the -1/-1 counters and pingers I faced.
Pristine Talisman. Incremental lifegain is huuuge in this format, much bigger than I thought it was gonna be.
Won majority of my games from T6: Hasted Skittle, T7: Elesh, Swing with skittle for the win.
Removal: Double Grasp, Double Skinrender, Double Tumble magnet
Top Commons: Pith Driller, Remember the Fallen, Pestilent Souleater
Flop Commons: Geth's Verdict
Final Record: 4-1, 2nd place. Lost to winner who had Battlesphere, Sunblast, Elesh AND Jin-Gitaxias.
Commons that lived up to expectations: Spire Monitor. The flash was always relevant, and he messes up combat math something fierce.
Common that underperformed: Impaler Shrike. There are more 1/X fliers in the format now, and the 1 toughness on a 4-drop really does hurt with Pith Driller essentially being in every deck. It's still a fine card, but it's nowhere near as strong as the Monitor, and I thought it would be close.
Common that overperformed: Suture Priest. I hate Soul Wardens in limited, but given that my deck HAD to race to win, as it had a decent amount of evasion but no removal or bombs, this put a decent amount of pressure on, especially in the face of Splicers.
Honorable mention for overperformer: Thundering Tanadon. I was never unhappy to pay 4 life for this guy, as he trades with basically anything else huge in the format and can dominate the board when played early. I never lost a game in which I played him turn 4.
:dance:Fact or Fiction of the [Limited] Clan:dance:
2. Mutagenic growth worked everytime. Makes combat a bit of a nightmare for opponent if he knows you're packing them. I ended up with many favourable combats just because opponent feared what would happen if I had growth
3. Spined thopter I guess, everytime I saw it it died immediately and usually people weren't even bothering to pay the 2 life for it. I had one that I chose not to include (note procelain legionaire was great everytime and often people paid 2 life for it, so not sure if this was just a fluke on the thopter).
4. Hover Myr for sure. I considered it basically unplayable but never liked seeing it against me. Great with equipment, vigilance lets it ping and chump, metalcraft enabler, etc.
4 rounds. Final record was 3-0-1/
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Have to say Spire Monitor and Artillerize.
I had 2 Spire Monitors in my pool, and majority of the time, they flashed in as a surprise blocker.
Artillerize was just always a beating whether I was saccing a Wellspring to dome them, saccing a small creature for their big creature, or saccing something due to it being targeted by removal.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
I don't think there was any single card that underperformed for me. I feel like I had a pretty good grasp on what would be good and what wouldn't... it held true when I was playing.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Impaler Shrike. I knew this card would be good, but when I'd get it down turn 4, then bash on turn 5, I was always happy to sacrifice it. 3 damage and 3 cards for 4 mana is fine with me.
Currently Playing:
U/W Delver
3 rounds. 2-1 and took second.
2. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, actually did perform well for you?
Grim Affliction! Always has something to kill, works doubly well in infect, tumble magnet, shrines, etc.
3. In your opinion, what single common card that you expected to perform well, failed to live up to your expectations?
Nothing really underperformed in my sealed.
In draft Spinebiter was pretty bad though. It just comes down too late most of the time.
4. In your opinion, what single common card performed far better than your initial neutral (or negative) impressions?
Mycosynth Wellspring and Pristine Talisman.
Mycosynth Wellspring makes it very easy to splash when paired with mana myr. I ran one of these, and one copper and iron myr in my UB and was able to splash R for Galvanic Blast and G for Sylvok Replica.
Pristine Talisman kept me from taking first. Any little dudes getting into the red zone are nullified. I had to drop 2 Spined Thopter, a Necrogen Scudder and a Barbed Battlegear to get him to 12 even. This is like turn 8 or 9 by the way...
Sig & Avvy by Disappointing Signets Inc.
CCC&G BRAGGING RIGHTS
Mafia Statistics
I collect pacifism: 228