Eh, that final was a pure showcase of Magic's bad side. Mize scrys 10+ times in game 2 and can't find one of his 12 instants that would win the game, and then has to mull to 3 in game 3 and can't draw a second land. Massive favourite in the matchup, gets beaten entirely by his own bad luck. Always a shame to see, especially as Tuan had lucksacked his way past Mirriam in the previous round too despite making error upon error upon error. <Must be nice to win a Top 8 even though you play like ***** because your opponents get screwed over by chance.>
Anyway, I'm slightly disappointed by the decks present to be honest, but I think I've just been spoiled by both Khans and Dragons previously. Not much innovation. The 5-Colour Rally deck was hilarious but was always going to start losing when people realised what he was doing (it reminded me of that Jeskai Ascendancy Heroic combo deck a few months back in that once you knew the plan, you could stop it). The only actually interesting new brew was the UW Thopter deck, but again that might just be because Hoogland is a really good player. I remember him absolutely tearing it up with a UR Dragons deck post-DTK that looked the bees knees, but in actuality amounted to nothing at all - it was just that Hoogland overperformed with it because he's excellent at the game.
We'll have to see what comes of the metagame, but from this it looks like the two best decks in the format (Abzan Control and Gr Devotion) are still the uncontested best decks in the format.
Please keep the criticism constructive. Thanks! -- Lugger
Of course there's no innovation. All the big names are keeping their best kept secrets for the Pro Tour. People like Brad Nelson and Ross Mirriam were playing a deck for the sake of playing. Give it a couple weeks and The real innovations from origins will come to bare.
And another thing: New innovative decks also take time to develop. You can't expect that a new standard format is figured out on day 1.
This is an important point to keep in mind, as already there was quite a bit of innovation, comparatively. Did ya'll not see the Turbofog deck, the Rally deck, or the U/W Thopter control deck on screen? Looking at the top 64 (or even top 32) provides a view of even more diversity! Big red, mono white devotion, elves, etc. And this was one of the biggest open series events ever! Pretty diverse top 64 when you think of that. Sure, top 8 was still dominated by similar decks, but in a new meta, that is to be expected. The new decks are still going through major development and fine-tuning. For a pre-Pro Tour event with a brand new meta, that was a actually really diverse.
You completely miss the point of the criticism, dude. Saying it isn't competitve is one thing, but you don't have to be a jerk about it. Just read the posts with the constructive critism if you really lack any clue about what would be good to say to someone in the OP's shoes.
Something tells me you're just an insecure douche if you would even feel the urge to laugh at someone like that. Sorry, didn't want to sugar coat it for you.
I still like the akki goblins from Kamigawa best in terms of design, but the Tarkir ones are pretty good.
Those akki seem very suited to being in red, more so than most goblins, which can be kinda generically red, if that makes any sense. This inadvertently underscores again why the Tarkir goblins are cool, too, because they are more white-red-black oriented due to being in Mardu, which goes along with how they are all different colors themselves, even with an ability outside red as well with Ankle Shanker.
Wizards does some fine creative work tryin' to keep it fresh all these years, huh?
I love the way they goblins from Tarkir look, being all furry/hairy and not just stereotypicaly green skinned but all kinds of skin tones, like there are many different goblin cultures or something, all the while simultaneously looking more badass and more cute than any goblin I can remember. They're like little hobbit-dwarf-goblins or somehing. Just wondering if anyone else feels the love for them (or hate for that matter). Also wondering if this take on the goblins has some other fantasy world precedent.
Whatever the utility of it, do you honestly think that kind of thing comes off as professional to people who put a lot of stock in "being professional"?
Sweet pirmer! I've been eyeing this deck a bit lately as a way for me to get into modern but I am worried about your warning: does the deck really draw that much hate? More than other control decks? Do people hate it like they hate fog decks?
I understand the ruling, but don't like it either. Dude seems to be intentionally misrepresenting the board state. Still, it's competiive play so the RTFC argumet could be made: it is one you to know how many counters Ashiok comes in with.
Hornet Queen
A. Costs 1 less.
B. Is a Whip of Erebos target once milled, killed or countered.
C. Leaves behind tokens leaving you protected against 1 for 1 removal.
D. Gives you a handy army of blockers against large creatures.
E. Is played alongside mana dorks and Courser of Kruphix to ramp into of which Ugin would eat with his 2nd ability.
It's like Quacker says. Serious enablers need to be printed with him to make him viable or else he is just Garruk, Apex Predator Mk II. A high impact card that's too hard to cast and is easily removed or countered by much easier to cast cards. The fact that both will be the main face/character of the set they're in is a striking comparison too.
Thanks for addressing the main point of my argument, which was if Bolas was worth money, then how could Ugin not be?
If Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker saw enough play to maintain a $5 price while in Standard, then Ugin has an even better shot. Bolas is harder to cast, fits in fewer decks (saw standard play in 2 different fringe decks (thragfirr and grixis control), and was even a reprint. Also, people are hard casting Hornet Queen in this standard. And although Bolas is a bit more iconic, Ugin being wrapped up in that mythos will help it a ton. I see it at least following the same price trajectory as Bolas.
Based on the unique draft strucute, fetchlands will definitly be in Dragons of Tarkir now. No way would they only have them in the small set and not the second big set, which it alone will be drafted with. Which fetches, though?
I have had all the above happen to me too lately. Running ios 8.1 on 4s. However, a trick I learned was that right after the page loads, if I click reload and then press stop immediately after safari just keeps me on the same page and I don't get redirected.
Yeah, I'm in the camp that (in EDH) if someone is doing something you don't like, then that's their ass! So, ggo after him! You gotta have fun, too.
And this is coming from someone that likes to play group hug occasionally.
If that is no good, then just level with these group-huggers and ask as if you can get it your way sometimes and just have a non-group-hug game going. Might be tough at some LGS, though.
This is an important point to keep in mind, as already there was quite a bit of innovation, comparatively. Did ya'll not see the Turbofog deck, the Rally deck, or the U/W Thopter control deck on screen? Looking at the top 64 (or even top 32) provides a view of even more diversity! Big red, mono white devotion, elves, etc. And this was one of the biggest open series events ever! Pretty diverse top 64 when you think of that. Sure, top 8 was still dominated by similar decks, but in a new meta, that is to be expected. The new decks are still going through major development and fine-tuning. For a pre-Pro Tour event with a brand new meta, that was a actually really diverse.
Something tells me you're just an insecure douche if you would even feel the urge to laugh at someone like that. Sorry, didn't want to sugar coat it for you.
Yeah, even Spirit of the Labyrinth would be better.
Those akki seem very suited to being in red, more so than most goblins, which can be kinda generically red, if that makes any sense. This inadvertently underscores again why the Tarkir goblins are cool, too, because they are more white-red-black oriented due to being in Mardu, which goes along with how they are all different colors themselves, even with an ability outside red as well with Ankle Shanker.
Wizards does some fine creative work tryin' to keep it fresh all these years, huh?
Those look scary to me, as does almost anything from Mirrodin/New Phyrexia.
Pick your battles...
Thanks for addressing the main point of my argument, which was if Bolas was worth money, then how could Ugin not be?
And this is coming from someone that likes to play group hug occasionally.
If that is no good, then just level with these group-huggers and ask as if you can get it your way sometimes and just have a non-group-hug game going. Might be tough at some LGS, though.