I look over decklists, sideboards, and watch videos (GPs, PTs, MTGO streams, etc). For this PTQ season, I've built a rogue deck that I feel has really good matchups against the majority of the field. But since it isn't a netdeck, I can't just "watch the top players" play it in various matchups, so I've been putting in a lot of time in the tournament practice room on MTGO to see its strengths, weaknesses, and best way to disrupt other decks.
I second (in addition to the obvious things like primers and practice) watching videos. What I do sometimes is watch the video, but pause it frequently and ask myself "what would I do in this situation?" I then resume watching and see how what they do is different, if at all, and if it works out for them, and if I could have done it better if it doesn't work out.
the two major issues in that regard that I'm aware of are Don't Ask Don't Tell, which he was precisely the right amount of forcefullness on to get it overturned without a lot of resentment, and Gay marriage, which is wholly outside of his sphere of governance, and thus being "forcefull" on the issue has no affect.
Is there another issue I'm missing?
I never said he wasn't forceful at all, rather that he could have done more to control his party and take advantage of the congressional supermajority when they had it. I certainly approve of his performance based on what I can reasonably expect from a president. In other words, I think he could have been more forceful in using his indirect power as president, but I didn't have some expectation that he would which was violated. I'm just talking "ideal world." Does this clarify where I'm coming from?
He does have the ability to press for anti-discrimination legislation, even if it is not in his direct power to immediately effect change in this area. Whether a group of people is a constitutionally protected class is relevant, but not directly, to enacting such legislation. Whether something is a constitutionally protected class is a matter of jurisprudential interpretation, but one can immediately codify a protected class via a statute. This is the sort of anti-discrimination law that is proposed.
I consider myself firmly more "liberal" than Obama, but I don't think I can realistically expect much more out of our political system, and he's been fairly good so far. Being gay myself, I wish he was more forceful on those issues, but I can't say I'm surprised given where most of the world is still at on most issues. I'll definitely be voting for him come November, as realistically he's by far the least-bad option for me.
I love Signal Pest as much as the next guy, but I just don't find myself using him much, really. Instead of casting pest, I'd rather cast a Drum so I can (usually) get a MoE or Champ out on turn 2.
Now, I'm not saying this works all the time, because I need to have a Mox, a Land, and a Drum. But even without, I just feel Pest is slightly less win-more than Disciple when we have other potential beatstick/quickwin/evasive cards.
I can see where you're coming from, but I still prefer Pest to anything else we'd reasonably put in that slot, because in addition to the evasiveness, he helps power out other artifacts, and can be utilized by Drum.
As for MoE, I tried him and didn't like him very much for this version of the deck (for reference, I'm playing the primarily Red version, not the Tezzeret version). Yes, he gets big fast, and makes your other guys bigger, but unless you're in a clock battle with Storm or Splinter Twin, I find that JUST having big creatures at that stage isn't enough given the fact I'd have to take something else out to get MoE in. At least fairy godmother has various tricks up its sleeve. But so far I've found that in the pure clock matchups it's too slow and takes a slot that could go to something that is more focused (given the deck's plan), and for the other matchups I just can't usually straight-up out-battle my opponent on the creature front; I need some kind of trickiness, whether it be evasion, Ravager shenanigans, etc.
Maybe your experience with the deck differs, but I've found that the largest amount of the time I do something crazy/explosive and win with some combination of speed and trickiness, a smaller chunk of the time I actually engage the opponent conventionally, and then the rest of the time I just fizzle and play blanks.
This could be because I was incorporating MoE wrong though. What did you remove to fit him in?
I used to use a variety of sleeves; KMC, Dragonshield, etc. However, for the past two years I've been using Ultra Pro matte sleeves, and like many others have said, I've quite liked them. I use black and pink personally (the pink is for Affinity).
Arcbound Ravager - I've played Affinity in so many formats over the years that this might seem like a simple, obvious choice, but I also have an emotional attachment to the card that I can't quite explain.
Wild Mongrel - Madness was a great deck, but it wasn't one of my all time favorites or one other people I know came to associate me with. Again, I have some emotional attachment to this card that I can't quite explain. I guess I love great two-drops at heart.
All counters - I collect various counters, as they simply fill me with malicious glee. I still insist on playing a (modified/updated) version of Dralnu du Louvre in many casual games, and though I'm flexible, I will always have a place in my heart for obstinate blue control as one of my favorite archetypes.
Slivers - I know they're generally considered a "noob" tribe, and I haven't played with them for ages, but I played with them a lot when I was younger, and they still have a place in my heart. I still collect them and couldn't bear to part with mine.
I'm running a RW version of the deck that has been pretty successful in my local meta, the white being for Steelshaper's Gift in the main (there is also Dispatch and Ethersworn Canonist in the sideboard). I've found that in effect having 6 Cranial Platings is making me fizzle by just drawing blanks less than I was before, which is a very real problem the deck can face. Has anyone else found success with this build?
Also, this is not the Fling/Atog version. I've found that following the various bannings, there are less games where I'm in a sheer clock battle (where the Fling/Atog package was useful) and more where I have to just get over the "hump" of other more interactive decks.
Also, I concur with Destiny's recommendation to not run Disciple. I tried it and unless you're running a full-on black version of the deck like tich does, it is very much a "win more" card. Signal pest, being an artifact with a form of evasion (you can strap Plating to it or feed it to Ravager), I find absolutely critical both to getting fast starts and to getting over/around the more interactive decks, which we can have trouble with if we play too interactively. It's also saved me by turning an army of Ornithopers, Memnites, Nexuses and Frogmites that I've coughed onto the board (and then found nothing on my next draw) into a moderately threatening force, at least early game.
Hello MTG Salvation members, my name is Valdyr, and it's good to be here. Something I noticed when browsing this forum just prior to joining pleasantly surprised me; just how many bronies there are here! As one might be able to tell from my avatar, I'm one myself.
Moving on to magic stuff, I've been playing since Mirrodin block. I was in elementary school. I started playing again in the last couple months, following a year-long hiatus or so (my last taste of competitive play had been Alara/Zendikar standard). One of the things that brought me back to the game was the advent and prevalence of the Modern format, which is now easily my favorite. For my tastes, it strikes the perfect balance among various factors, including card pool/diversity (doesn't rotate too), affordability (not Legacy) and power level (also not Legacy). It was interesting timing, as it was during the Scars of Mirrodin block, while I first starting playing during the original Mirrodin block. Maybe this explains my affinity for, well...Affinity.
I second (in addition to the obvious things like primers and practice) watching videos. What I do sometimes is watch the video, but pause it frequently and ask myself "what would I do in this situation?" I then resume watching and see how what they do is different, if at all, and if it works out for them, and if I could have done it better if it doesn't work out.
I never said he wasn't forceful at all, rather that he could have done more to control his party and take advantage of the congressional supermajority when they had it. I certainly approve of his performance based on what I can reasonably expect from a president. In other words, I think he could have been more forceful in using his indirect power as president, but I didn't have some expectation that he would which was violated. I'm just talking "ideal world." Does this clarify where I'm coming from?
He does have the ability to press for anti-discrimination legislation, even if it is not in his direct power to immediately effect change in this area. Whether a group of people is a constitutionally protected class is relevant, but not directly, to enacting such legislation. Whether something is a constitutionally protected class is a matter of jurisprudential interpretation, but one can immediately codify a protected class via a statute. This is the sort of anti-discrimination law that is proposed.
I can see where you're coming from, but I still prefer Pest to anything else we'd reasonably put in that slot, because in addition to the evasiveness, he helps power out other artifacts, and can be utilized by Drum.
As for MoE, I tried him and didn't like him very much for this version of the deck (for reference, I'm playing the primarily Red version, not the Tezzeret version). Yes, he gets big fast, and makes your other guys bigger, but unless you're in a clock battle with Storm or Splinter Twin, I find that JUST having big creatures at that stage isn't enough given the fact I'd have to take something else out to get MoE in. At least fairy godmother has various tricks up its sleeve. But so far I've found that in the pure clock matchups it's too slow and takes a slot that could go to something that is more focused (given the deck's plan), and for the other matchups I just can't usually straight-up out-battle my opponent on the creature front; I need some kind of trickiness, whether it be evasion, Ravager shenanigans, etc.
Maybe your experience with the deck differs, but I've found that the largest amount of the time I do something crazy/explosive and win with some combination of speed and trickiness, a smaller chunk of the time I actually engage the opponent conventionally, and then the rest of the time I just fizzle and play blanks.
This could be because I was incorporating MoE wrong though. What did you remove to fit him in?
Wild Mongrel - Madness was a great deck, but it wasn't one of my all time favorites or one other people I know came to associate me with. Again, I have some emotional attachment to this card that I can't quite explain. I guess I love great two-drops at heart.
All counters - I collect various counters, as they simply fill me with malicious glee. I still insist on playing a (modified/updated) version of Dralnu du Louvre in many casual games, and though I'm flexible, I will always have a place in my heart for obstinate blue control as one of my favorite archetypes.
Slivers - I know they're generally considered a "noob" tribe, and I haven't played with them for ages, but I played with them a lot when I was younger, and they still have a place in my heart. I still collect them and couldn't bear to part with mine.
Also, this is not the Fling/Atog version. I've found that following the various bannings, there are less games where I'm in a sheer clock battle (where the Fling/Atog package was useful) and more where I have to just get over the "hump" of other more interactive decks.
Also, I concur with Destiny's recommendation to not run Disciple. I tried it and unless you're running a full-on black version of the deck like tich does, it is very much a "win more" card. Signal pest, being an artifact with a form of evasion (you can strap Plating to it or feed it to Ravager), I find absolutely critical both to getting fast starts and to getting over/around the more interactive decks, which we can have trouble with if we play too interactively. It's also saved me by turning an army of Ornithopers, Memnites, Nexuses and Frogmites that I've coughed onto the board (and then found nothing on my next draw) into a moderately threatening force, at least early game.
Moving on to magic stuff, I've been playing since Mirrodin block. I was in elementary school. I started playing again in the last couple months, following a year-long hiatus or so (my last taste of competitive play had been Alara/Zendikar standard). One of the things that brought me back to the game was the advent and prevalence of the Modern format, which is now easily my favorite. For my tastes, it strikes the perfect balance among various factors, including card pool/diversity (doesn't rotate too), affordability (not Legacy) and power level (also not Legacy). It was interesting timing, as it was during the Scars of Mirrodin block, while I first starting playing during the original Mirrodin block. Maybe this explains my affinity for, well...Affinity.
Anyway, it's great to be here!