If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Next week I plan to look at the midrange wasteland and some of the reasons midrange archetypes are so tough to get working in block atm. note that I personally classify WBR deck as control not midrange.
Thanks for the feedback. I probably should have focussed more on why a lot of the things which are good against mono red aren't good against jund. Mugging doesn't hit very much, mortars for 6 doesn't wipe the board when there's experiment one's and demon's in the mix, dreg mangler's haste and scavenge helps you rebuild after a wipe and golgari charm from the board gives you more resilience.
One issue with trying to be too definitive though is that the list is still very much a work in progress. Unlike mono red where there is a very well defined list, making sideboarding and strategies very much set, I feel that the strategy with the jund aggro list is going to be a lot about figuring out the right mix of cards.
Anyway, I'll take your comments on board for the next article, thanks.
PS. I should add that the article series wasn't solely meant to be a strategy series, it's meant to highlight some of the big picture features of the block format to give an insight into it going forward, and also possibly some points to keep in mind for the post-rotation standard format. It's also meant to just highlight the various competitive deck options for people interested in trying out the format and giving a sense of where they fit in the metagame.
I like the history part because it gives credit where it's due. I feel it's important that originators get recognition. Maybe you could add a header labeled history then people who don't care about it can skip it.
I also second the sentiments that the later half is lacking. You should have added a how to play it and how to beat it section like your previous article. Jund aggro has been out for 2 weeks, if you don't feel that's enough time to write strategy on it then you probably should have put that article on the back burner and wrote about something else. The how to play/beat it parts are very very good.
Next week I plan to look at the midrange wasteland and some of the reasons midrange archetypes are so tough to get working in block atm. note that I personally classify WBR deck as control not midrange.
I'm glad you are saving BWR for the control article. You're going to like the way new BWR looks, I guarantee it.
So far, better article series than Gard's Building Blocks on mtgoacademy, and on par with Whiffy Penguin's puremtgo series.
Thanks for the feedback rick. I will try to include a how to play/beat section in all future articles.
In terms of the map of future articles my current plans are:
* Midrange - selesnya, big naya, junk
* non-blue control - BWR
* UW control - Straight UW
* UWx control - bant, esper and american (might need to split this more if American gets more popular, could perhaps do an Izzet/Izzet splash white article - izzet decks have a pretty distinct flavour from the other UW decks given the focus on staticcaster and more counterspells)
* Rogue - will require more research, but atm consuming abberation/dimir is the main one I have in mind.
I'm glad you are saving BWR for the control article. You're going to like the way new BWR looks, I guarantee it.
Great :). I hear you're at 0 keyrunes now, I'll be interested to see what other changes are in the works. The last version I saw of yours had too many basic plains for my liking (the only thing they are needed for is obzedat, they don't help cast removal in the early turns), but I liked the devour flesh's.
Yeah BWR was more mid range when it started out now it's pretty controlish. Royal's latest build is very control oriented (he hasn't made it public yet).
I think you should separate esper as well. There's sub group that runs fewer black sources (fewer guild gates) and just splashes for main board obzedat and sideboard orzhov charm. Obzedat is really hard to deal with in block, so it's worth playing a semi worse mana base than UW. But it's not worth playing 8 guild gates like other esper decks. So the UW obzedat decks give up some ground to esper decks (it can't play specter) but UW obezdat is better vs aggro since it has better mana than true esper decks, and can play precinct captain.
I played against that guy's dimir deck, it's really bad. It's playing classics like realmwright and codex shredder. It can't beat revelation.
Point noted re: esper. I don't want to spend too many weeks talking about the various iterations of sphinx's revelation.dek, so I'll have to work out how to approach them when I get up to it.
the abberation/dimir deck I'm thinking of is this one. It's not exactly budget, but I'm not sure that it's all that good either. It uses some sweet rogue cards though:
But yeah, I'll be looking to dig a bit deeper for that article. What I'm going to try to find is some decks that feature interesting build around me cards which, while they might not be consistent players, might be able to come along and steal a few games here or there and place in a daily. You can't get much more budget than mono red, and pretty much everything outside of that and jund aggro is going to feature a pricy mythic or two so I'm not sure there's much more space to explore the budget side of things.
Yeah, DEFINITELY at least doing 2, and possibly 3 on revelation decks. I'm actually quite interested in these american lists (static-caster, assemble the legion, counterflux) that have been cropping up, I think they have real promise. I'll hvae to do more research before deciding finally how I split revelation decks up and cover them properly.
I would love to see your take on an orzhov extort deck that could do well in a standard environment. It doesn't seem like pure orzhov decks are getting much play in block, let alone standard. (I'm talking about orzhov style decks, not the b/w zombies that pop up from time to time).
Another interesting recent development is junk, a reference to BWG colours not the quality of the deck. I actually think this deck could have some real promise, and I'm surprised it hasn't put up more showings. It is a relatively new deck though, so perhaps it just hasn't had time.
Junk has been around since the start of GTC. Royal won a daily with it a week after GTC was released
It's not popular probably because it can't beat revelation decks. I wish I could play against junk every round. These midrange decks have to curve out or they're going to have a hard time beating revelation. Vraska is just not enough card advantage to beat jace or revelation. If you look at the junk list the guy doesn't even have vraska main, the card is that bad.
Yeah, unfortunately I realised after submission that the searches I had been doing on that archetype were giving incorrect results. It seems almost like junk was the first obzedat.deck that royal and others tried out, but then moved over to BWR as the better shell.
I agree that vraska is pretty poor, she's only ok against other midrange strategies, she's very good at breaking boad stalls.
Anyway, there's not too many weeks of this format left so it'll probably be BWR then UW/esper then bant/american to round out this iteration of the format, followed by a week or two of rogue deck and spoiler analysis/prediction before the full block format comes out. I can't wait for PT San Diego, last year's PT Barcelona was a great showcase of block (the format was pretty diverse there before degenerating into a solved, jund-based, format after that) and hopefully this year's PT will be the same.
I've never found combat medic that good against revelation because it just gets d-sphered, wrathed or even just charmed. It's not enough of a threat on its own to worry about, so the control play has plenty of time to find removal and then follow up with a revelation. I could be playing it wrong, but it just hasn't been that strong for me as a revelation counter.
Medic's effectiveness varies on the control player's draw. If the control player has all skynights/specters, lands and revelations, medic is going to end the game shortly. If the control player has wrath, charm, sphere or just counters the medic, then it's not going to do much. So most of the time medic is pretty bad.
Though if the naya person is on the play and curves 1 drop, 2 drop, medic, and holds boros charm on turn 4, the control player is going to have a hard time winning. However curving out that way is not very likely since the naya lists posted don't play that many low curve creatures.
Subsequent to submitting the article, I played the BWR vs esper matchup a few more times and began to understand royal's latest "all removal" list a bit better. I probably undersold it a bit in the article, but I definitely see where it's coming from now. I also came to the realisation that Rakdos's return really needs keyrunes to work properly, which I probably should have highlighted a bit more.
the abberation/dimir deck I'm thinking of is this one. It's not exactly budget, but I'm not sure that it's all that good either. It uses some sweet rogue cards though:
Awsome, that's my deck :).
The grixis deck i have been playing is much more competetive though. Dreadbore, mortars, rakdos's return, rakdos keyrune, along with the abberations, wights, etc... It still has big problems against mono red though (I guess mugging and izzet staticaster aren't enough :-/), and it can't remove enchantments. So the matches against the uwr decks using assemble the legion are very difficult.
I'm looking to bug control for post dgm block. We just need to get an infest-like card and it'll be good to go. Though that kind of card will make alot of decks possible.
I have also been reading all of your articles, and I really like them. I especially like how you talk about how to play the decks and how to beat them.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
thanks for the feedback ipwn :). I'm about to fill out my jace playset, so i'll be taking dimir for a spin. If you have a grixis list you'd like to share then feel free to shoot it my way, but I'm actually attracted to the idea of straight dimir given how annoying 3 colour mana bases are.
I like it better than dimir because it can deal with planeswalkers, which dimir can't, has way better removal, and plays the anti-control package of rakdos's return and slaughter games.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
With the way the DGM timing has worked out, this will actually be the last pre-DGM article I do.next two weeks will be spoiler analysis with some speculative decklists.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-1-introduction-rtr-block-mono-red
Happy to hear any feedback here or in the article itself.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
I've submitted #2 which looks at multicoloured aggro decks in general and the new jund aggro specifically. should be up in the next few days.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-2-multicolour-aggro-and-new-jund-menace
Next week I plan to look at the midrange wasteland and some of the reasons midrange archetypes are so tough to get working in block atm. note that I personally classify WBR deck as control not midrange.
One issue with trying to be too definitive though is that the list is still very much a work in progress. Unlike mono red where there is a very well defined list, making sideboarding and strategies very much set, I feel that the strategy with the jund aggro list is going to be a lot about figuring out the right mix of cards.
Anyway, I'll take your comments on board for the next article, thanks.
PS. I should add that the article series wasn't solely meant to be a strategy series, it's meant to highlight some of the big picture features of the block format to give an insight into it going forward, and also possibly some points to keep in mind for the post-rotation standard format. It's also meant to just highlight the various competitive deck options for people interested in trying out the format and giving a sense of where they fit in the metagame.
I also second the sentiments that the later half is lacking. You should have added a how to play it and how to beat it section like your previous article. Jund aggro has been out for 2 weeks, if you don't feel that's enough time to write strategy on it then you probably should have put that article on the back burner and wrote about something else. The how to play/beat it parts are very very good.
I'm glad you are saving BWR for the control article. You're going to like the way new BWR looks, I guarantee it.
So far, better article series than Gard's Building Blocks on mtgoacademy, and on par with Whiffy Penguin's puremtgo series.
In terms of the map of future articles my current plans are:
* Midrange - selesnya, big naya, junk
* non-blue control - BWR
* UW control - Straight UW
* UWx control - bant, esper and american (might need to split this more if American gets more popular, could perhaps do an Izzet/Izzet splash white article - izzet decks have a pretty distinct flavour from the other UW decks given the focus on staticcaster and more counterspells)
* Rogue - will require more research, but atm consuming abberation/dimir is the main one I have in mind.
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Great :). I hear you're at 0 keyrunes now, I'll be interested to see what other changes are in the works. The last version I saw of yours had too many basic plains for my liking (the only thing they are needed for is obzedat, they don't help cast removal in the early turns), but I liked the devour flesh's.
I think you should separate esper as well. There's sub group that runs fewer black sources (fewer guild gates) and just splashes for main board obzedat and sideboard orzhov charm. Obzedat is really hard to deal with in block, so it's worth playing a semi worse mana base than UW. But it's not worth playing 8 guild gates like other esper decks. So the UW obzedat decks give up some ground to esper decks (it can't play specter) but UW obezdat is better vs aggro since it has better mana than true esper decks, and can play precinct captain.
I played against that guy's dimir deck, it's really bad. It's playing classics like realmwright and codex shredder. It can't beat revelation.
www.twitch.tv/cabfederal/b/384060702?t=124m15s
I guess it's more of a budget deck that a competitive rogue deck. I'd probably make a budget article instead of a rogue article.
the abberation/dimir deck I'm thinking of is this one. It's not exactly budget, but I'm not sure that it's all that good either. It uses some sweet rogue cards though:
http://decks.mtgoacademy.com/Deck/167275
But yeah, I'll be looking to dig a bit deeper for that article. What I'm going to try to find is some decks that feature interesting build around me cards which, while they might not be consistent players, might be able to come along and steal a few games here or there and place in a daily. You can't get much more budget than mono red, and pretty much everything outside of that and jund aggro is going to feature a pricy mythic or two so I'm not sure there's much more space to explore the budget side of things.
http://www.mtgo-stats.com/decks/54031
but yeah the one you linked plays less embarrassing cards
i think you should devote a bit of time to revelation decks, maybe a 2 parter, it's such a strong archetype with the most amount of play
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-3-midrange-spotlight
Junk has been around since the start of GTC. Royal won a daily with it a week after GTC was released
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/5019863
And the forum discussed junk in this thread:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=493477
It's not popular probably because it can't beat revelation decks. I wish I could play against junk every round. These midrange decks have to curve out or they're going to have a hard time beating revelation. Vraska is just not enough card advantage to beat jace or revelation. If you look at the junk list the guy doesn't even have vraska main, the card is that bad.
I agree that vraska is pretty poor, she's only ok against other midrange strategies, she's very good at breaking boad stalls.
Anyway, there's not too many weeks of this format left so it'll probably be BWR then UW/esper then bant/american to round out this iteration of the format, followed by a week or two of rogue deck and spoiler analysis/prediction before the full block format comes out. I can't wait for PT San Diego, last year's PT Barcelona was a great showcase of block (the format was pretty diverse there before degenerating into a solved, jund-based, format after that) and hopefully this year's PT will be the same.
Enjoyed this week's article.
Though if the naya person is on the play and curves 1 drop, 2 drop, medic, and holds boros charm on turn 4, the control player is going to have a hard time winning. However curving out that way is not very likely since the naya lists posted don't play that many low curve creatures.
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-4-bwr-control
Subsequent to submitting the article, I played the BWR vs esper matchup a few more times and began to understand royal's latest "all removal" list a bit better. I probably undersold it a bit in the article, but I definitely see where it's coming from now. I also came to the realisation that Rakdos's return really needs keyrunes to work properly, which I probably should have highlighted a bit more.
Awsome, that's my deck :).
The grixis deck i have been playing is much more competetive though. Dreadbore, mortars, rakdos's return, rakdos keyrune, along with the abberations, wights, etc... It still has big problems against mono red though (I guess mugging and izzet staticaster aren't enough :-/), and it can't remove enchantments. So the matches against the uwr decks using assemble the legion are very difficult.
I'm looking to bug control for post dgm block. We just need to get an infest-like card and it'll be good to go. Though that kind of card will make alot of decks possible.
I have also been reading all of your articles, and I really like them. I especially like how you talk about how to play the decks and how to beat them.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
I like it better than dimir because it can deal with planeswalkers, which dimir can't, has way better removal, and plays the anti-control package of rakdos's return and slaughter games.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
http://puremtgo.com/articles/around-block-5-sphinxs-revelationdek
With the way the DGM timing has worked out, this will actually be the last pre-DGM article I do.next two weeks will be spoiler analysis with some speculative decklists.