My overall pick would be Sensei's Divining Top. It's conservative, works well against aggro, and plays nice with a ramp strategy (lots of shuffle effects assuming we continue with cultivate, etc).
Why? Filtering is very very important. Even more so against an aggro red deck that can really push into R/W aggro + ravages of war the manabase before we do anything. Low risk. Good to filter and we sure as 'heck have the open mana to do so constantly. The quilt still allows us to continue to pickup Gx. Don't force colors unless we know for sure what we're doing.
Now to play devil's advocate and share my thought process....
If we WANT color, go with City of Brass instead. As someone mentioned earlier, City will be key for either deck to possess. The larger argument I have is "what are we doing as a deck?"
Before A's current pick, UG meluko and lands.dec looked like the 2-color strategy. However, more vision has me thinking BG control/midrange could be viable. Toxic ruins the aggro plan. Vamp Tutor is very clutch. It would be a strong contrast against (what we can believe will turn into) RW aggro. You can even shift the focus of the deck to include Geist and Skeleton as further early game buffers. The only issue is the lack of a G or B bomb. Karn could still be what we build into. It would be nice to see Thragtusk or something (mitigating life loss and working well with the black options present).
TL; DR: Top is my more conservative pick as it provides much-needed filtering.
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I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I like City of Brass here. It's a card both decks will want, so better to pick it now while we have the chance. Karn, Cultivate, Meloku, and probably Top will still be there for us later, but we can't necessarily say the same for City.
I concur with City of Brass. In this format--at least, the version I'm used to doing--it can be surprisingly difficult to make a streamlined 1.5-to-2 color deck. City of Brass is arguably even more important for our aggro alter ego, so this works as a hatedraft, too.
I gotta say, I am absolutely floored by the love for City of Brass. It seems to me if we wanted to get fixing for a second color, the pick would be Cultivate. The painland I just don't see as being that good for us. Green has it easiest in picking up a second color, and we aren't likely to end up in a Five-Color-Good-Stuff deck.
I can see the argument for Meloku, but I'm not convinced that he's much better vs aggro and I'm hesistent to commit to blue as 2nd color right now. I kinda wanna pair with white or black as our removal/wrath colors.
I gotta say, I am absolutely floored by the love for City of Brass. It seems to me if we wanted to get fixing for a second color, the pick would be Cultivate. The painland I just don't see as being that good for us. Green has it easiest in picking up a second color, and we aren't likely to end up in a Five-Color-Good-Stuff deck.
I just don't see it.
I discussed this more detailed in my previous post. You can take this as a pro-multicolor choice for the green ramping deck or a hatedraft card.
The red aggro deck will become RW given the quality of choices on the field. Having the ability to curve without color issues is a big deal for the RW deck than Gx deck. However, Gx already can shift into UG or BG midrange.
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I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I gotta say, I am absolutely floored by the love for City of Brass. It seems to me if we wanted to get fixing for a second color, the pick would be Cultivate. The painland I just don't see as being that good for us. Green has it easiest in picking up a second color, and we aren't likely to end up in a Five-Color-Good-Stuff deck.
I just don't see it.
City of Brass being a perfect fixer doesn't make it suitable for 5 color decks only. It will be worth its weight in gold for any deck with more than 1 color, and I don't think it's possible to go mono in this format. On top of that, it's a land, and as such improves your deck without taking a spell slot.
So this pick seems to go between a card that's good for player A and unplayable for player B, and a card that's perfect for either deck. It's no contest for me.
For me, it's a choice between City of Brass and Ravages of War, with Wheel of Fortune next in line.
Since Player A will likely take City of Brass next, however, it should definitely be prioritized. And we need speedy mana to make this deck work against the ramp-Karn deck, so it fits perfectly even if we're only in two colors.
I had a feeling Sir Thrags alot was somewhere in the quilt. City of Brass fo sho.
Building this player towards the clear-cut RW beatdown. Ravages is tempting but the mana fixing is crucial. SO MANY RED TOYS my goodness
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I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I see what you meant now (in my defense, I was on my phone so didn't have a good view of the quilt).
Still, I wouldn't pick Siege-Gang for an aggro deck, so I'd wait until it's more clear exactly how fast the deck will turn out to be.
I was discussing this quilt with some buddies. Our picks so far haven't exactly screamed 'aggro' to me. Everything has been more than three cmc except our single one-drop. The stuff on the board is more on the fringe of agro, support and such that would help an agro deck, but there aren't the creatures visible right now. That situation I start to default to a more mid-range strategy. But my buddies made some good points about sticking with the agro strategy. No need to change my pick because I'm sure City, Ravages, or something will get the votes, but I see Player Bs choices in a better light now.
I think that should be our next pick, but we need the fixing first...
Also, I've found in quilting that it's nearly impossible to build a streamlined aggro deck of the kind you'd make in a regular 8-man draft. It's closer to the kind of deck you'd build in a Winston draft, simply because you see so many fewer cards overall. In other words, we're not likely to be gifted six 1-drop creatures...
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You are picking for player A
1 Lotus Cobra
2 Sylvan Caryatid
1 Stromkirk Noble
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
Calvin and Hobbes
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The Ice Cube
My overall pick would be Sensei's Divining Top. It's conservative, works well against aggro, and plays nice with a ramp strategy (lots of shuffle effects assuming we continue with cultivate, etc).
Why? Filtering is very very important. Even more so against an aggro red deck that can really push into R/W aggro + ravages of war the manabase before we do anything. Low risk. Good to filter and we sure as 'heck have the open mana to do so constantly. The quilt still allows us to continue to pickup Gx. Don't force colors unless we know for sure what we're doing.
Now to play devil's advocate and share my thought process....
If we WANT color, go with City of Brass instead. As someone mentioned earlier, City will be key for either deck to possess. The larger argument I have is "what are we doing as a deck?"
Before A's current pick, UG meluko and lands.dec looked like the 2-color strategy. However, more vision has me thinking BG control/midrange could be viable. Toxic ruins the aggro plan. Vamp Tutor is very clutch. It would be a strong contrast against (what we can believe will turn into) RW aggro. You can even shift the focus of the deck to include Geist and Skeleton as further early game buffers. The only issue is the lack of a G or B bomb. Karn could still be what we build into. It would be nice to see Thragtusk or something (mitigating life loss and working well with the black options present).
TL; DR: Top is my more conservative pick as it provides much-needed filtering.
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Especially since one player (red aggro) needs it more than the other.
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I just don't see it.
The Ice Cube
I can see the argument for Meloku, but I'm not convinced that he's much better vs aggro and I'm hesistent to commit to blue as 2nd color right now. I kinda wanna pair with white or black as our removal/wrath colors.
I discussed this more detailed in my previous post. You can take this as a pro-multicolor choice for the green ramping deck or a hatedraft card.
The red aggro deck will become RW given the quality of choices on the field. Having the ability to curve without color issues is a big deal for the RW deck than Gx deck. However, Gx already can shift into UG or BG midrange.
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Calvin and Hobbes
Cube Tutor
So this pick seems to go between a card that's good for player A and unplayable for player B, and a card that's perfect for either deck. It's no contest for me.
You are now picking for player B
1 Lotus Cobra
2 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Karn Liberated
1 Stromkirk Noble
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
Calvin and Hobbes
Cube Tutor
We also know that Thragtusk and Counterspell won't be picked this quilt unless it's the absolute last pick.
The Ice Cube
Since Player A will likely take City of Brass next, however, it should definitely be prioritized. And we need speedy mana to make this deck work against the ramp-Karn deck, so it fits perfectly even if we're only in two colors.
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Building this player towards the clear-cut RW beatdown. Ravages is tempting but the mana fixing is crucial. SO MANY RED TOYS my goodness
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Thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=512410
Player B got super lucky here.
EDIT: player B needs to keep his mitts off Siege-gang. It's too slow and unlocks Thragtusk, which player A will gobble up.
Acolyte: why on earth wouldn't tusk be played? It's absolutely perfect for him.
It A takes Thragtusk, he gives B a sword of protection from his primary color.
The Ice Cube
Still, I wouldn't pick Siege-Gang for an aggro deck, so I'd wait until it's more clear exactly how fast the deck will turn out to be.
gg!
I was discussing this quilt with some buddies. Our picks so far haven't exactly screamed 'aggro' to me. Everything has been more than three cmc except our single one-drop. The stuff on the board is more on the fringe of agro, support and such that would help an agro deck, but there aren't the creatures visible right now. That situation I start to default to a more mid-range strategy. But my buddies made some good points about sticking with the agro strategy. No need to change my pick because I'm sure City, Ravages, or something will get the votes, but I see Player Bs choices in a better light now.
The Ice Cube
I think that should be our next pick, but we need the fixing first...
Also, I've found in quilting that it's nearly impossible to build a streamlined aggro deck of the kind you'd make in a regular 8-man draft. It's closer to the kind of deck you'd build in a Winston draft, simply because you see so many fewer cards overall. In other words, we're not likely to be gifted six 1-drop creatures...
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You are picking for player A
1 Lotus Cobra
2 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Karn Liberated
1 Stromkirk Noble
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
3 City of Brass
Calvin and Hobbes
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