Just looking at white, I agree with a lot of it but I think you're underrating Kinsbaile Skirmisher and Oreskos Swiftclaw. A 2/2 for 2 with upside and a 3/1 for 2 are both very solid.
Where's Gladecover Scout? Oh right! They wasted that spot with an useless rare!
Okay, there's so much that's just plain wrong about what you just said that I'm half convinced it was sarcasm. However, since your statement is indicative of a mindset a lot of Magic players seem to have, I'll take it seriously.
First and most importantly NOT EVERY RARE CAN BE CONSTRUCTED PLAYABLE.
Nor should they. Magic already has major noticeable power creep. The game needs some "bad" cards simply so that the good ones remain good. MaRo wrote a coupleof articles on the subject that are well worth a read. We're lucky that this particular rare is at least funny and will probably see some play on kitchen tables.
Secondly: Gladecover Scout? Gladecover Scout?! GLADECOVER SCOUT?!
Yeah, I like hexproof too but are you honestly saying that a french-vanilla 1/1 that was printed at common a year ago should be rare?
While I agree with what you're saying, he was unhappy that Gladecover Scout has had its only available spot taken in the number crunch, not that he wanted it to be rare.
Game 2 was my only game loss of the night, but as this was round 1 my memory is a little hazy. I think I lost to Lifebane Zombie and him preventing Thassa, God of the Sea from being active.
In game 3 I baited out his removal with Nightveil Specter and a Master of Waves for 4 managed to hit him for 10 damage on an empty board. He drew removal for the Master of Waves but he was too far behind at that point and I amassed a large board state including an active Thassa, God of the Sea which managed to kill him before he could stabilize with Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Round 2: RB Minotaurs
Not much to say here as I received the pair-down for round 2, so I was matched up against one of the more casual decks in the room. He mulliganed game 1, so he quickly ran out of gas after a Tidebinder Mage locked down his Minotaur Skullcleaver and his Rageblood Shaman was eaten mid-combat by a Rapid Hybridization. I didn't bother sideboarding and I quickly took game 2, as he failed to produce enough minotaurs to turn on his Mogis, God of Slaughter and a very large Master of Waves closed it out.
I still don't like the matchup and felt very lucky to win despite being on the draw. Game 2 I had the ideal game plan (multiple Master of Waves) but I still almost lost. Dictate of Kruphix is horrendous in this matchup and I was glad to never draw it in game 1.
Round 5: BW Midrange
My opponent for the finals was 3-0-1 and therefore we had to play it out. I had a losing record against my opponent and was one of the reasons I decided to go for the slower version of the deck. His game plan revolves around early removal spells to keep him alive before dropping haymakers such as Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Obzedat, Ghost Council, Desecration Demon and Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
Game 2 was exhausting and extremely close, but showed the power of Hypnotic Siren and Dictate of Kruphix. Without the two Dictate of Kruphix I played in this game, I would not have been able to handle his Whip of Erebos and Elspeth, Sun's Champion while also keeping his Desecration Demon at bay. Unfortunately I did not get to play against a control deck although there were a couple of UWr control players, so I do not have anything to say about that matchup.
Overall I liked the deck compared to the Cloudfin Raptor version, and I was impressed with Dictate of Kruphix. Hall of Triumph was also very good as a 1-of; despite the lack of 1-drop fliers, it is still insane with Master of Waves. I didn't see enough of Jace, Architect of Thought to offer an opinion as he was frequently sideboarded out. Prognostic Sphinx is very good against removal-heavy black decks. I like Dissolve as a catch-all that is also good at keeping them guessing when we pass the turn with 3 open mana up, as it could just be a Dictate of Kruphix.
Perhaps going Uw is just better with the slower deck as I'm playing 6 scrylands already, but I felt like the counterspells, Cyclonic Rift and Rapid Hybridization deal with most things sufficiently.
This is actually one of the better block seasons for deck diversity. In the past we've seen blocks where they didn't really think it out (post AVR for instance was over 50% Wolf Green). It's like playing limited with more packs.
Some decks, especially the heroic ones do feel like glorified draft decks but decks like Chapin's are far from it. I agree that the block seems diverse - a lot of BUG control was on camera because the superteams were playing it and we didn't see as many of the different decks like Raph Levy's too often.
No, I meant which ever Mythic stinks (RTR's Hellkite for example) my local store sells hundreds of boxes and tracks rarity with the buyers and we see that mythics that we know will suck are 3/4 times more common than Planeswalker mythics.
Your store records the rares opened in every single pack they sell to the general public?
I have experimenting with a black splash for Duskmantle Seer and removal spells that can deal with cards like Polukranos, World Eater that are outside of burn range.
In the game we just incidentally played on Cockatrice, I felt Vizkopa Guildmage warranted an answer when you had Whip of Erebos out. However, I do feel like it is just a bear without the Whip and as you said, probably too situational when there are a glut of good 2-drops to be playing.
While I agree with what you're saying, he was unhappy that Gladecover Scout has had its only available spot taken in the number crunch, not that he wanted it to be rare.
I was playing a Big Blue Devotion deck inspired by Tomoharu Saito, but I have tweaked a fair few things.
4x Tidebinder Mage
4x Frostburn Weird
4x Nightveil Specter
4x Thassa, God of the Sea
4x Master of Waves
1x Prognostic Sphinx
1x Rapid Hybridization
2x Cyclonic Rift
3x Dictate of Kruphix
2x Dissolve
1x Hall of Triumph
2x Jace, Architect of Thought
3x Temple of Deceit
3x Temple of Enlightenment
16x Island
2x Gainsay
2x Negate
2x Dispel
2x Jace, Memory Adept
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
1x Prognostic Sphinx
1x Ætherling
2x Rapid Hybridization
1x Domestication
Round 1: Mono-Black Devotion
I don't particularly remember game 1, but it involved several Master of Waves and Nightveil Specter straining his removal and an Overloaded Cyclonic Rift sealed the deal. I sideboarded out Jace, Architect of Thought and some number of Tidebinder Mage for Prognostic Sphinx, Dissolve, Domestication and Rapid Hybridization.
Game 2 was my only game loss of the night, but as this was round 1 my memory is a little hazy. I think I lost to Lifebane Zombie and him preventing Thassa, God of the Sea from being active.
In game 3 I baited out his removal with Nightveil Specter and a Master of Waves for 4 managed to hit him for 10 damage on an empty board. He drew removal for the Master of Waves but he was too far behind at that point and I amassed a large board state including an active Thassa, God of the Sea which managed to kill him before he could stabilize with Gray Merchant of Asphodel.
Round 2: RB Minotaurs
Not much to say here as I received the pair-down for round 2, so I was matched up against one of the more casual decks in the room. He mulliganed game 1, so he quickly ran out of gas after a Tidebinder Mage locked down his Minotaur Skullcleaver and his Rageblood Shaman was eaten mid-combat by a Rapid Hybridization. I didn't bother sideboarding and I quickly took game 2, as he failed to produce enough minotaurs to turn on his Mogis, God of Slaughter and a very large Master of Waves closed it out.
Round 3: Gb Hydras
Another 'homebrew' but a lot more competitive than the last one, with cards like Courser of Kruphix and Sylvan Caryatid ramping into Kalonian Hydra, with a black splash for Corpsejack Menace and removal spells, rounded out by solid cards such as Scavenging Ooze.
I kept my 2-land double Tidebinder Mage hand quickly, but as it turns out he never drew into a large threat after curving Sylvan Caryatid into Courser of Kruphix. Instead, they locked down two Scavenging Ooze and his removal was too strained to deal with all of my threats. I sideboarded in Rapid Hybridization and Dissolve for his Kalonian Hydra.
In game 2 he got two Corpsejack Menace on board and landed a Kalonian Hydra, but I had been slowrolling a Tidebinder Mage for it. Tidebinder Mage ate a removal spell but Cyclonic Rift kept it in check and a Hall of Triumph allowed a swarm of Elementals to close out the game. It is worth noting that Prognostic Sphinx had been fixing my draws. He had access to 4 Skylasher and 4 Mistcutter Hydra post-board but fortunately never drew any.
Round 4: Rw Burn
Back in the realm of tier 1 standard decks for round 4, against a good player. He won the die roll and landed a turn 2 Eidolon of the Great Revel on his mulligan to 6. That made things difficult for me but I just about managed to race him with a Frostburn Weird and a pair of Tidebinder Mage, as it only took a couple hits for 4 with Frostburn Weird after he tapped out for spells such as Chandra's Phoenix due to his Eidolon of the Great Revel and its mutual harm. I sideboarded in the counterspell package (minus Gainsay of course) for Dictate of Kruphix and Jace, Architect of Thought. I believe some number of Rapid Hybridization and Prognostic Sphinx came in for Thassa, God of the Sea as well.
He again played turn 2 Eidolon of the Great Revel which I had quickly discovered is much better than Ash Zealot in this matchup. I had kept a hand with double Master of Waves and a Frostburn Weird. I drew another Master of Waves and subsequently played one on turn 4 followed by another turn 5, avoiding taking damage from the Eidolon of the Great Revel. He didn't draw Chained to the Rocks but we ended up with us both at 9 life. He had a Chandra's Phoenix in play, 3 cards in hand and 5 lands. I thought I would lose to 7 points of burn in his hand but he could only Warleader's Helix me, without drawing a sixth land to finish me off with a Searing Blood. The third Master of Waves was more than enough to finish it off.
I still don't like the matchup and felt very lucky to win despite being on the draw. Game 2 I had the ideal game plan (multiple Master of Waves) but I still almost lost. Dictate of Kruphix is horrendous in this matchup and I was glad to never draw it in game 1.
Round 5: BW Midrange
My opponent for the finals was 3-0-1 and therefore we had to play it out. I had a losing record against my opponent and was one of the reasons I decided to go for the slower version of the deck. His game plan revolves around early removal spells to keep him alive before dropping haymakers such as Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Obzedat, Ghost Council, Desecration Demon and Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
In game 1 I curved out in traditional fashion, with Hypnotic Siren, Tidebinder Mage, Thassa, God of the Sea and Master of Waves. Master of Waves died but the small creatures continued to apply pressure as he lost life to Thoughtseize and Read the Bones. He played Obzedat, Ghost Council, putting him up to 7 so I cast Cyclonic Rift on the end step. He had a Lifebane Zombie on blocking duty, and I was in a position where drawing a 2-drop would allow me to make my Thassa, God of the Sea and Tidebinder Mage unblockable for the win. The scry revealed a Nightveil Specter so I kept it as it allowed me to put him to 1 with the unblockable god and the Hypnotic Siren. He then had no answer to the Hypnotic Siren. I sideboarded similarly to the mono-black matchup.
It had been quiet all night but it was game 2 in which Dictate of Kruphix shined. Due to the clunky nature of his game-winning spells, he could only cast one per turn whereas the accelerated card draw allowed me to play creatures to keep Thassa, God of the Sea active whilst leaving up mana for tempo plays. An unblockable Thassa, God of the Sea killed off an Elspeth, Sun's Champion quickly, but he followed up with a Whip of Erebos making his Lifebane Zombie and Soldier tokens harder to race. The Lifebane Zombie also allowed him to play around the Dissolve he knew about, as I had used a Cyclonic Rift on it early to push through damage. He managed to land two Desecration Demon, which I managed to slow down by bestowing Hypnotic Siren on his Lifebane Zombie and sacrificing to tap down a Desecraion Demon while maintaining devotion for Thassa, God of the Sea. The game developed to a point where we were both at 3 life. I had a Frostburn Weird to block his Mutavault and a Hypnotic Siren to block a Soldier so his one remaining Soldier could only put me to 2, the Desecration Demons were tapped down and I had Dissolve backup for any post-combat Obzedat, Ghost Council and I had enough to kill him on the swing back.
Game 2 was exhausting and extremely close, but showed the power of Hypnotic Siren and Dictate of Kruphix. Without the two Dictate of Kruphix I played in this game, I would not have been able to handle his Whip of Erebos and Elspeth, Sun's Champion while also keeping his Desecration Demon at bay. Unfortunately I did not get to play against a control deck although there were a couple of UWr control players, so I do not have anything to say about that matchup.
Overall I liked the deck compared to the Cloudfin Raptor version, and I was impressed with Dictate of Kruphix. Hall of Triumph was also very good as a 1-of; despite the lack of 1-drop fliers, it is still insane with Master of Waves. I didn't see enough of Jace, Architect of Thought to offer an opinion as he was frequently sideboarded out. Prognostic Sphinx is very good against removal-heavy black decks. I like Dissolve as a catch-all that is also good at keeping them guessing when we pass the turn with 3 open mana up, as it could just be a Dictate of Kruphix.
Perhaps going Uw is just better with the slower deck as I'm playing 6 scrylands already, but I felt like the counterspells, Cyclonic Rift and Rapid Hybridization deal with most things sufficiently.
Some decks, especially the heroic ones do feel like glorified draft decks but decks like Chapin's are far from it. I agree that the block seems diverse - a lot of BUG control was on camera because the superteams were playing it and we didn't see as many of the different decks like Raph Levy's too often.
Your store records the rares opened in every single pack they sell to the general public?
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Duskmantle Seer
1 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
3 Izzet Charm
2 Turn // Burn
2 Cyclonic Rift
2 Dissolve
3 Syncopate
2 Doom Blade
3 Shock
3 Mizzium Mortars
1 Ultimate Price
3 Temple of Deceit
3 Temple of Malice
3 Island
3 Mountain
4 Temple of Epiphany
2 Watery Grave
1 Blood Crypt
2 Negate
2 Counterflux
3 Skullcrack
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Far // Away
1 Mizzium Skin
I've had reasonable success on Cockatrice on it. It seems like a card like Aetherling may be necessary against UW/x control.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Duskmantle Seer is very good in a deck with cheap spells such as this one.
Worth considering/testing, though.