I'll be the first to admit that Celestial Purge was not the correct card choice for the sideboard, while Leyline Of Sanctity impresses me more each and every week. Also, I think that most of the time, the 3-3 counterspell split is better than 4-2, but the field looked particularly ripe to be Spell Pierced.
Over the course of the night, I noticed a few things:
1) When played well, this deck can be a nightmare for CawBlade.
- The simple fact of the matter is that you have the tools to really punish them for any time the waste early. Once they've been forced to absorb a rush or two, they have no reliable way of dealing with Glint Hawk Idol and Chimeric Mass. This makes their interaction with Tempered Steel and Steel Overseer all the more important.
2) Contested War Zone is too fragile.
- Speeding up the theoretical goldfish has not proven itself to be worth the risk that War Zone carries with it. Relying on War Zone against other aggressive decks is far too risky in game one of the match.
3) Inkmoth Nexus is the truth.
- While I spent weeks in the camp that championed the absolute need to maintain the deck's velocity, my testing and the thoughts of others have changed my mind. Nexus may seem counter-productive, but the truth is that it provides a way to win nearly unwinnable games as well as providing even more resiliency in the face of opponents' answers.
4) Once you learn to approach them correctly, every matchup in the format is winnable for us.
- I watch far too many Tempered Steel and Kuldotha Red players fall into the trap of believing that because they are the beatdown in a given match, they are expected to put all of their cards on the table and hope for the best. Learning the little things, such as holding your zero-drops in hand until you get the Tempered Steel in your hand online against RDW can make all the difference between dominating a match or getting Arc Trail'ed into oblivion.
This deck is definitely positioned well to benefit from New Phyrexia, but until then, that's what I've come to learn about the deck. Hopefully it's of use to someone.
I built a deck around Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker for my girlfriend, and I find him to be a very innocuous general until it's too late, making it a solid choice for political multiplayer games.
All Is Dust is a card that's in a great position to see play currently. One of the best homes for the card might be in the sideboard of the various Vengevine decks in the format, since they are much less impacted by the Wrath effect than other decks. Not only does it sweep creatures, but you can also salvage an absurd, planeswalker-laden board and/or eliminate Spreading Seas and Oblivion Rings that are containing your threats or your ability to deploy them.
Friday Night Magic - 03/12/10
42 Players - 6 Round Swiss, Cut to Top Eight
Round One: RG Nissa Aggro - (0-2)
(I mull to four on the play and get wrecked in Game One. In Game Two, I receive a taste of my own medicine when I get picked apart by a Cunning Sparkmage wearing a Basilisk Collar, as I was unable to find my own removal.)
0-1 Start.......Ouch. Time to buckle down.
Round Two: Mill Homebrew - (2-1)
(He manages to get a game by milling for exactly lethal the turn before dying, but a turn two Knight Of The Reliquary proved his worth by securing both of my wins.)
Round Three: Allies - (2-1)
(He's able to get a game by curving out very quickly and efficiently, but Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar bring the hammer down on his squad. Brave The Elements and Join The Ranks were good, but largely mitigated by my efforts to play around them.)
Round Four: Naya Lightsaber - (2-0)
(Although this is a pseudo-mirror, our decks immediately show us just how different they are. While my opponents 23 or 24 land build (I forgot to ask.) is short on mana, my 27 land build avoids any such stumbles and finishes the match in short order by deploying Knight Of The Reliquary, Bloodbraid Elf and Ranger Of Eos, often a turn ahead of schedule.)
Round Five: Jacerator - (2-0)
(In Game One, I apply as much early pressure as possible, then simply use Raging Ravine to close out the last 10 or so points of damage. In Game Two, I'm able to stick a turn two Knight Of The Reliquary that provides the bulk of my damage while a couple of Qasali Pridemage disrupt his Howling Mine effects.)
Round Six: Vampires - (2-0)
(Game One is entirely won by a single card: Behemoth Sledge. I manage to use the powerful equipment to stay ahead of her bears and I had a Path To Exile saved for the Vampire Nocturnus, which seals the game in my favor. Game Two is equally dominated by a single card, but this time the card is Cunning Sparkmage. After mowing down 4 or 5 small creatures, a Basilisk Collar joins the board and buys me plenty of time for my Bloodbraid Elf and Great Sable Stag to take the game.)
Top Eight: Jund - (2-0)
(Again, Game One is decided by Behemoth Sledge. I'm able to use the equipment to race his Abyssal Persecutor and take the game. Game Two is really a tribal affair, as my triple Bloodbraid Elf result in more threats than his marginal draw can answer.)
Top Four: Cash Prize Split
All-in-all, I'm very happy with the deck and it claimed its second Top Four split in as many weeks. I definitely recommend this list to those searching for a deck to play, as it combines the raw power of Tom Ross' list with the abundant, yet powerful mana philosophy behind Simon Gortzen's winning Jund deck.
If there was a card worth getting greedy for, (And I don't think there is) it would probably be Meddling Mage. It could hose Polymorph decks and preempt powerful spells like Jace, The Mind Sculptor and Maelstrom Pulse while providing another body to strap some equipment onto.
So far, the price of the Worldwake manlands are far below what they should be, given the power level of the cards. Raging Ravine is a great buy in particular. A powerful manland (Easily the most game-changing of the five) that is also a dual land shouldn't be selling for a paltry $6-7. Every one of these will see heavy amounts of constructed play, and as such, are great cards to invest in.
I hate to self-bump, but I was starting to get buried by a huge influx of threads.
The issue that I had with Halimar Depths wasn't related to the power level of the card (Which is quite high), but rather the fact that it makes my manabase more vulnerable to Tectonic Edge and/or Goblin Ruinblaster. The card is fantastic in the abstract, but I don't think that it works well with Sign In Blood and Gatekeeper Of Malakir.
As far as Mind Shatter is concerned, it's a powerful threat that utilizes the mana advantage provided by Everflowing Chalice and Rampant Growth. It's a great spell to land against control decks, while also posing a problem for both mid-range and aggro decks in the midgame.
This doesn't mean that I'm right on these issues by any means, but it explains my opinion of the cards and the reasoning behind it.
If anyone has any other thoughts, please feel free to add them!
Like many other players, I currently find myself trying to come up with the best Jace, The Mind Sculptor deck. While I may not have accomplished that goal, I did brew up a list that seemed unique enough and powerful enough to be worth sharing as a potential option. To give credit where it's due, I brewed this deck after the UBG color scheme was suggested by my good friend and playtest partner.
The deck is focused on harnessing the power of Jace, The Mind Sculptor to it's fullest, but there is much more to the deck's utility. The thing that I enjoy the most about the deck is that although many games unfold with this deck essentially playing the part of a Tap-Out Control sort of deck, you also have an ability to mise free wins with Abyssal Persecutor.
The one thing that I would like to mention is that although the green splash appears rather greedy (And it might be, in the end), the end product that collectively represents the splash is much more than the sum of its parts. Maelstrom Pulse provides versatile removal that addresses many of the deck's problem cards (Oblivion Ring, opposing Jaces, etc.), the fetchlands interact favorably with Jace while enabling the splash in the first place, and Rampant Growth allows you to play powerful threats like Jace and Abyssal Persecutor a turn early while providing a few more incidental shuffle effects to interact with Jace.
The sideboard is very bland for the time being and is really more of a placeholder than a crystallized plan.
It's still very early in my testing process, so if you have any thoughts, feel free to add them!
Considering how intelligent most of the Magic players I know are, I find it odd that so few of them are able to see the role that they themselves play in the economy of the game. If there is a high volume of demand for a finite product, it's clear that the price of the product is going to rise. Everyone acts in a way that, to some extent, serves one's own interests. It's not particularly fair to complain about the pricing of a $60 Jace if you wouldn't be willing to complain about how unfair a $5 Jace is rather than scooping it up and telling the story of your mise.
This is an ebb-and-flow that constantly affects the marketplace and the appropriate price will ultimately be decided by either the temperance and patience of the playerbase or by the fervor and desperation of those same players. In the end, the only realistic way to curb the obvious and ongoing cost creep of new cards is to do our best to limit the hype and early expectations we keep putting on them.
That really depends on your outlook. Not everyone can make a mountain of Tix by playing on MTGO, but it is definitely possible to stay in the black. Also, MTGO tightens your mechanics much more effectively than most IRL playtest sessions can.
Short answer: If you want to improve your game and you're willing to at least temporarily absorb the startup costs, absolutely.
Feel free to click the link. I'll wait.......OK, moving on!
This actually came about as part of a rant from a friend that I play FNM with. He was going off about how he's 0-X against me and that since I had gone to all the trouble of building this deck, he was going to play a deck full of Jund Charms, Relic Of Progenitus, and Shadowfeed just to irritate me. After confirming what in the hell Shadowfeed was, we had a good laugh and that was the end of the conversation. Later, though, I started looking at the cards practical applications and realized that it might be pretty good. I've been testing it for about two weeks now, and I'm really happy with it so far.
Here's my current sideboard, just to add some context:
4 Spreading Seas
2 Pithing Needle
4 Blister Beetle
3 Shadowfeed
2 Deathmark
It's a good option against the Boros and RDW decks because is basically trades 1-for-1 with a Hellspark Elemental or a Hell's Thunder, greatly increasing your chances of surviving to your critical turn. In addition, it has the added benefit of slowing your opponents development in the mirror. It's a far worse card in the GWB Junk matchup than Agony Warp, Deathmark or Disfigure, but I feel that this deck is fully capable of racing them, plus we are in desperate need of good answers to the Red decks.
Feel free to try it out and see how it works for you.
Just say, with Punishing Fire trigger on the stack I cast Extirpate or whatever other GY hate you have.
Just keep in mind that this interaction has two sides. The fact that you can activate a Grove Of The Burnwillows to return Punishing Fire in response to an Extirpate despite its Split Second is very important and not to be overlooked.
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Steel Overseer
4 Ornithopter
4 Signal Pest
4 Vector Asp
4 Glint Hawk
4 Memnite
4 Tempered Steel
4 Glint Hawk Idol
3 Chimeric Mass
Mana:
4 Contested War Zone
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Mox Opal
1 Island
8 Plains
4 Leyline Of Sanctity
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Celestial Purge
4 Spell Pierce
2 Unified Will
1 Island
I'll be the first to admit that Celestial Purge was not the correct card choice for the sideboard, while Leyline Of Sanctity impresses me more each and every week. Also, I think that most of the time, the 3-3 counterspell split is better than 4-2, but the field looked particularly ripe to be Spell Pierced.
Over the course of the night, I noticed a few things:
1) When played well, this deck can be a nightmare for CawBlade.
- The simple fact of the matter is that you have the tools to really punish them for any time the waste early. Once they've been forced to absorb a rush or two, they have no reliable way of dealing with Glint Hawk Idol and Chimeric Mass. This makes their interaction with Tempered Steel and Steel Overseer all the more important.
2) Contested War Zone is too fragile.
- Speeding up the theoretical goldfish has not proven itself to be worth the risk that War Zone carries with it. Relying on War Zone against other aggressive decks is far too risky in game one of the match.
3) Inkmoth Nexus is the truth.
- While I spent weeks in the camp that championed the absolute need to maintain the deck's velocity, my testing and the thoughts of others have changed my mind. Nexus may seem counter-productive, but the truth is that it provides a way to win nearly unwinnable games as well as providing even more resiliency in the face of opponents' answers.
4) Once you learn to approach them correctly, every matchup in the format is winnable for us.
- I watch far too many Tempered Steel and Kuldotha Red players fall into the trap of believing that because they are the beatdown in a given match, they are expected to put all of their cards on the table and hope for the best. Learning the little things, such as holding your zero-drops in hand until you get the Tempered Steel in your hand online against RDW can make all the difference between dominating a match or getting Arc Trail'ed into oblivion.
This deck is definitely positioned well to benefit from New Phyrexia, but until then, that's what I've come to learn about the deck. Hopefully it's of use to someone.
-Dave
4 Evolving Wilds
13 Mountain
7 Forest
4 Overgrown Battlement
2 Avenger Of Zendikar
4 Primeval Titan
3 Inferno Titan
4 Growth Spasm
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Cultivate
4 Explore
4 Obstinate Baloth
3 Mark Of Mutiny
4 Ratchet Bomb
4 Pyroclasm
4 Plated Geopede
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Putrid Leech
4 Vengevine
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
3 Mountain
4 Swamp
3 Forest
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
1 Lightning Bolt
4 Doom Blade
2 Manabarbs
4 Duress
Friday Night Magic - 03/12/10
42 Players - 6 Round Swiss, Cut to Top Eight
Round One: RG Nissa Aggro - (0-2)
(I mull to four on the play and get wrecked in Game One. In Game Two, I receive a taste of my own medicine when I get picked apart by a Cunning Sparkmage wearing a Basilisk Collar, as I was unable to find my own removal.)
0-1 Start.......Ouch. Time to buckle down.
Round Two: Mill Homebrew - (2-1)
(He manages to get a game by milling for exactly lethal the turn before dying, but a turn two Knight Of The Reliquary proved his worth by securing both of my wins.)
Round Three: Allies - (2-1)
(He's able to get a game by curving out very quickly and efficiently, but Cunning Sparkmage and Basilisk Collar bring the hammer down on his squad. Brave The Elements and Join The Ranks were good, but largely mitigated by my efforts to play around them.)
Round Four: Naya Lightsaber - (2-0)
(Although this is a pseudo-mirror, our decks immediately show us just how different they are. While my opponents 23 or 24 land build (I forgot to ask.) is short on mana, my 27 land build avoids any such stumbles and finishes the match in short order by deploying Knight Of The Reliquary, Bloodbraid Elf and Ranger Of Eos, often a turn ahead of schedule.)
Round Five: Jacerator - (2-0)
(In Game One, I apply as much early pressure as possible, then simply use Raging Ravine to close out the last 10 or so points of damage. In Game Two, I'm able to stick a turn two Knight Of The Reliquary that provides the bulk of my damage while a couple of Qasali Pridemage disrupt his Howling Mine effects.)
Round Six: Vampires - (2-0)
(Game One is entirely won by a single card: Behemoth Sledge. I manage to use the powerful equipment to stay ahead of her bears and I had a Path To Exile saved for the Vampire Nocturnus, which seals the game in my favor. Game Two is equally dominated by a single card, but this time the card is Cunning Sparkmage. After mowing down 4 or 5 small creatures, a Basilisk Collar joins the board and buys me plenty of time for my Bloodbraid Elf and Great Sable Stag to take the game.)
Top Eight: Jund - (2-0)
(Again, Game One is decided by Behemoth Sledge. I'm able to use the equipment to race his Abyssal Persecutor and take the game. Game Two is really a tribal affair, as my triple Bloodbraid Elf result in more threats than his marginal draw can answer.)
Top Four: Cash Prize Split
All-in-all, I'm very happy with the deck and it claimed its second Top Four split in as many weeks. I definitely recommend this list to those searching for a deck to play, as it combines the raw power of Tom Ross' list with the abundant, yet powerful mana philosophy behind Simon Gortzen's winning Jund deck.
3 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Ranger Of Eos
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Wild Nacatl
1 Scute Mob
1 Behemoth Sledge
2 Basilisk Collar
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Path To Exile
4 Stirring Wildwood
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Raging Ravine
4 Arid Mesa
2 Mountain
5 Forest
3 Plains
4 Cunning Sparkmage
1 Behemoth Sledge
4 Qasali Pridemage
4 Great Sable Stag
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Path To Exile
The issue that I had with Halimar Depths wasn't related to the power level of the card (Which is quite high), but rather the fact that it makes my manabase more vulnerable to Tectonic Edge and/or Goblin Ruinblaster. The card is fantastic in the abstract, but I don't think that it works well with Sign In Blood and Gatekeeper Of Malakir.
As far as Mind Shatter is concerned, it's a powerful threat that utilizes the mana advantage provided by Everflowing Chalice and Rampant Growth. It's a great spell to land against control decks, while also posing a problem for both mid-range and aggro decks in the midgame.
This doesn't mean that I'm right on these issues by any means, but it explains my opinion of the cards and the reasoning behind it.
If anyone has any other thoughts, please feel free to add them!
-Dave
Here's what I'm testing currently:
2 Sphinx Of Jwar Isle
4 Abyssal Persecutor
4 Jace, The Mind Sculptor
4 Everflowing Chalice
2 Rampant Growth
4 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Treasure Hunt
3 Sign In Blood
2 Mind Shatter
3 Smother
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Misty Rainforest
4 Creeping Tar Pit
5 Swamp
2 Forest
2 Island
3 Pithing Needle
4 Deathmark
4 Negate
4 Duress
The deck is focused on harnessing the power of Jace, The Mind Sculptor to it's fullest, but there is much more to the deck's utility. The thing that I enjoy the most about the deck is that although many games unfold with this deck essentially playing the part of a Tap-Out Control sort of deck, you also have an ability to mise free wins with Abyssal Persecutor.
The one thing that I would like to mention is that although the green splash appears rather greedy (And it might be, in the end), the end product that collectively represents the splash is much more than the sum of its parts. Maelstrom Pulse provides versatile removal that addresses many of the deck's problem cards (Oblivion Ring, opposing Jaces, etc.), the fetchlands interact favorably with Jace while enabling the splash in the first place, and Rampant Growth allows you to play powerful threats like Jace and Abyssal Persecutor a turn early while providing a few more incidental shuffle effects to interact with Jace.
The sideboard is very bland for the time being and is really more of a placeholder than a crystallized plan.
It's still very early in my testing process, so if you have any thoughts, feel free to add them!
-Dave
This is an ebb-and-flow that constantly affects the marketplace and the appropriate price will ultimately be decided by either the temperance and patience of the playerbase or by the fervor and desperation of those same players. In the end, the only realistic way to curb the obvious and ongoing cost creep of new cards is to do our best to limit the hype and early expectations we keep putting on them.
Short answer: If you want to improve your game and you're willing to at least temporarily absorb the startup costs, absolutely.
Shadowfeed
Feel free to click the link. I'll wait.......OK, moving on!
This actually came about as part of a rant from a friend that I play FNM with. He was going off about how he's 0-X against me and that since I had gone to all the trouble of building this deck, he was going to play a deck full of Jund Charms, Relic Of Progenitus, and Shadowfeed just to irritate me. After confirming what in the hell Shadowfeed was, we had a good laugh and that was the end of the conversation. Later, though, I started looking at the cards practical applications and realized that it might be pretty good. I've been testing it for about two weeks now, and I'm really happy with it so far.
Here's my current sideboard, just to add some context:
4 Spreading Seas
2 Pithing Needle
4 Blister Beetle
3 Shadowfeed
2 Deathmark
It's a good option against the Boros and RDW decks because is basically trades 1-for-1 with a Hellspark Elemental or a Hell's Thunder, greatly increasing your chances of surviving to your critical turn. In addition, it has the added benefit of slowing your opponents development in the mirror. It's a far worse card in the GWB Junk matchup than Agony Warp, Deathmark or Disfigure, but I feel that this deck is fully capable of racing them, plus we are in desperate need of good answers to the Red decks.
Feel free to try it out and see how it works for you.
Just keep in mind that this interaction has two sides. The fact that you can activate a Grove Of The Burnwillows to return Punishing Fire in response to an Extirpate despite its Split Second is very important and not to be overlooked.