Quote from DarkRitual »As someone that watches a lot of "e-sports". I feel like SCG (technically everyone in the game), is really lacking as well. I watch a lot of Starcraft tournaments. And the BIGGEST thing that they do over Magic tournaments is they have VODs. So I can go back later, click on individual matches and watch how it panned out. I don't even watch the tournaments live for this reason.
Now I know you can watch the replays of some of the matches, but it's all clumped together. It would take a bit of organizing and video editing, and you might have to hire a few more commentators if you wanted to get more than 1 or 2 games at a time. But the flip side to that is that SCG could (and should) charge money for a service like that.
That is such a great point! How often to people have to hunt through 9 hours of footage for the match they wanted to link or something!?
2BB
+1: Each player discards a card. If you discard a creature in this way, put a 2/2 Zombie Creature Token into play.
-3: Target creature's controller sacrifices it. (might be opponent's creature)
-7: Put 50 2/2 Zombies into play.
Loyalty: 4
Ball is in the air, I'll await the sound of my "swish" on Monday.
It's not that they're using the same 8 lands... they are using the same 24 card shell. 100% of the decklists are:
4x Eye
4x Temple
4x Mimic
4x Endless one
4x TKS
4x Smasher
1+ Urborg
1+ Cavern of souls.
Your example of legacy is totally unfounded, as this is not apples:apples. FoW and Brainstorm are glue in a format that would run rampant with combo if they were not prevalent, or everyone would be forced to run thoughtseize/therapy/hymn.
I find it hard to believe that you truly think the recent results are fine when more than 50% decks have the same shell. And its not just this event - check the lists from recent IQs, PTQ, PT. People aren't just looking for a way to beat eldrazi, they're just taking the right starting 30 and jamming 30 other cards on top of it. This promotes lazy deckbuilding in a solved format. Go back and look at modern events before OGW - there was TONS of diversity. No deck used the same shell with different versions.
And not for nothing - but the deck is the easiest deck in the format to play - and its not even close. Play your biggest dude as quickly as possible. Even burn has more lines than this garbage.
Fetchland > Bounce your dude? In standard?
As I understand, the grand prix byes adjustment will be taking place for GP events AFTER 11/30/14. Since I've never actually earned byes prior to this year, I'm confused as to how my byes will be affected for the GP in New Jersey in early November.
Here's my scenario:
In the PREVIOUS season (Jun 02, 2014 - Aug 24, 2014), I earned somewhere around 800 points. Does this mean I qualify for the 2 byes as per this criteria for the legacy seasonal byes?
400 Planeswalker Points: 1 bye
750 Planeswalker Points: 2 byes
1,500 Planeswalker Points: 3 byes
OR do I instead qualify for whatever my Yearly total (something like ~1000, which isn't good for ANY byes).
I don't know if it will count last season, and I have no way to "verify" if I have byes or not, since that update hasn't happened as far as I can tell on WOTC's site since 6/22/14.
4x Snapcaster Mage
1x Spellskite
3x Deceiver Exarch
3x Pestermite
2x Vendilion Clique
1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Spells
1x Dispel
1x Flame Slash
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Serum Visions
2x Twisted Image
4x Remand
1x Electrolyze
2x Cryptic Command
4x Splinter Twin
1x Desolate Lighthouse
4x Island
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Mountain
4x Scalding Tarn
4x Steam Vents
1x Stomping Ground
2x Sulfur Falls
2x Tectonic Edge
2x Relic of Progenitus
2x Ancient Grudge
2x Combust
1x Negate
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Blood Moon
1x Counterflux
1x Batterskull
2x Keranos, God of Storms
Why UR Tempo Twin:
I have been testing All In Twin, RUG Twin, UR Delver, Blue Moon, RUG Delver, and different variations/configurations of UR decks for the past several months. I like different things about all of them, but the reasons I chose this version are as follows:
1. Consistency - A 2 color mana base is great in this format. It only takes a small amount of land disruption or a timely spreading seas to throw off your game plan.
2. Blood Moon - for the same reason as above, being able to throw down the moon was a huge draw
3. Vendilion Clique - I play blue. I need information about your hand, and the clique is my favorite way to get it.
4. Oops I win - I want to play twin because I enjoy playing control decks. However, there are some matchups when you just need to end it, and this deck does exactly that.
5. Sideboard - I think this deck has amazing sideboard options to shore up its poor matchups.
Butterflies in my stomach at my first GP (that's a lie, I went to one 10 years ago when I was a casual player). When they posted the pairings for round 1, I said to myself "One game at a time. Analyze and execute." I muttered that to myself 8 more times this day.
G1: My opponent leads with a Inkmoth Nexus, Springleaf Drum, Ornothopter, and Signal Pest on the draw. I think long and hard about what he could be playing before I decide he's on GW hatebears (just kidding). Luckily, the hand I kept enabled a T2 Spellskite. I didn't know it at the time, but Spellskite was the best possible card for me to play at that moment. His next turn he dropped 2! Arcbound Ravagers, followed by a 3rd the following turn! Spellskite enabled me to Lightning Bolt his team one at a time, slowly stabilizing. I am tapping dudes with Pestermites, blocking with Deceiver Exarchs, and bought time with Snapcaster Mage. I drew a Desolate Lighthouse which allowed me to dig dig dig until I finally found Splinter Twin and ended the game with counter backup. 42 minutes for our first game left me less than happy even though I had won, because a draw is essentially a loss on Day 1.
SB IN:
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
SB Out:
1 Dispel
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Remand
G2: He has a great start, but I have a T4 combo in hand (if I can draw a land). T3 he plays 2 cranial platings, equipping 1 and dropping me to 14. I stall a turn with Exarch, but can't draw my 4th land in time. I quickly scoop when I realize this and we go to game 3 after a 5 minute bout. 7:00 left on the clock by the time we start G3.
SB: No Changes
G3: Another game of stall stall stall, Anger of the Gods slammed down on T3 to set him back, giving me time to set up. I play Pestermite to follow, and start beating with it. I was able to save my bolts due to Anger, and he wasn't able to play any manlands so the air was all mine. I kept chipping away until time was called with my opponent at about 12, and me in full control of the game. I beat him down to 5 on my last turn, and his attack which would have been lethal was responded to with BOLTSNAPBOLT for the win. What a start!
Result: 2-1
Record:1-0
G1: My opponent leads with T1 Fetch > Godless Shrine > Thoughtseize, taking my remand and leaving me with bolt, snap, serum, and 3 lands. I wonder why he takes the remand over snapcaster for a moment until T2 he Inquisition of Kozileks me twice! Left with a lone Pestermite I've drawn, he plays a T3 Liliana of the Veil, and I die a slow grueling death to Scavenging Ooze and a few Soul tokens.
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
2 Relic of Progenitus
SB Out:
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kiki-Jiki
1 Dispel
1 Electrolyze
G2: Started as it should, with me lining up my top 2 with Serum, his first turn IOK took a bolt. He IOK's me 2nd turn as well with only 1 land in play, and I think long and hard before remanding it. Naturally, I draw blood moon off of remand, and he has his 2nd black source in hand which then takes the freshly drawn blood moon. Had that been one card deeper, I could have dropped it T3 and won this game. Instead, I draw both my keranos and get stuck on 3 land without much action before he attritions me away. Not a great draw, but that's what I get for running 2 Keranos. Both Keranos and a Batterskull hit the board at one point, but it was too late to come from behind.
Result: 0-2
Record: 1-1
G1: Kept a hand with T4 Combo, remand, and cryptic command, snapcaster mage. I would've liked some removal, but didn't really matter as my opponent was revealed to be on URW Control. Unfortunately, the removal suite for my oppenent was almost perfectly lined up. I attempted to tempo him out, but he hit more land drops than I and I couldn't apply enough pressure. I eventually went for the combo with dispel backup when he had 2 cards in hand and about 30 untapped lands, and he had both Cryptic Command (which was dispel'd) and path to exile. I had nothing left after that, and Celestial Colonnade finished me off.
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
1 Negate
1 Counterflux
2 Combust
SB Out:
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kik-Jiki
1 Flame Slash
2 Twisted Image
1 Electrolyze
G2: Sideboard plan came to action. I durdled around for a while, cantripping and building my mana base when my opponent attempted to swing with a colonnade. I happily took 4 against his 2 untapped mana and dropped a blood moon with negate for his mana leak. Batterskull joined the party shortly after, and it was GG.
G3: I landed some guys on his end step, and he had removal for all but 1 exarch. That exarch dealt 9 damage in this game. A Keranos hit the table (with counter backup of course) and finished off my opponent who had clearly run into a bit of a flood.
Result: 2-1
Record: 2-1
G1: Much like the previous round, however this opponent was ballsy enough to attack with a colonnade and only 2 untapped mana (one of which was tapped by my end step exarch). He floated a white off of me tapping his colonnade, and attempted to path the exarch. Dispel met Path, and his other source was a steam vents. I Combo'd off next turn. Big mistake by my opponent, not very often do you get to combo against URW!
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
1 Negate
1 Counterflux
2 Combust
SB Out:
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kik-Jiki
1 Flame Slash
2 Twisted Image
1 Electrolyze
G2: In spite of my opponents playstyle, I of course took out the combo and went to control the game. Blood moon landed about Turn 6-7, and that was all she wrote. Opponent did not play around it, so his bevvy of shocklands and colonnades turned into the Andes. Keranos followed by B-Skull mopped up.
Result: 2-0
Record: 3-1
G1: Leads with a Noble Hierarch (YAY!), which turns on my freshly drawn twisted image. T2 he plays strangleroot geist and starts beating down. I keep him down for a couple turns (he doesn't have pod), and he keeps a single red source up for what feels like ever while developing his board with nasty kithen finks and a huntmaster. My only creature at this point is a pestermite, which I don't want to get bolted. I wait until the turn before lethal, close my eyes and slam the twin. He doesnt have the bolt! Well played, sir. PHEW
SB In:
1 Ancient Grudge
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Anger of the Gods
SB Out:
1 Dispel
4 Remand
G2: Opponent again leads with a hierarch, and I don't have the image this time. I canrtip, then keep remand up for his huntmaster on T3 after he had already dropped T2 finks. I have a ton of removal and interaction in my hand, but no splinter twin. I bolt finks and strangleroot geists, and with triggers on the stack blow my relic of progenitus. Big value on that play bought me time to draw into Anger of the gods which wiped both our boards. I'm up on cards at this point, but he draws and plays Qasali Pridemage, which meant splinter twin was now a dead card. Next turn I drew Kiki-Jiki - man I'm good at this.
Result: 2-0
Record: 4-1
G1: Another junk matchup left me with a bit of a sick feeling in my stomach, as this was not a good matchup for me. We played a quick game one that saw a T2 4/5 tarmogoyf who ended up as a 6/7 before we were done. That lone tarmogoyf dealt all 20 or so damage to me. I lived for a while, and threatened the combo at one point as my only out, but Abrupt Decay ended that pipe dream.
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
SB Out:
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kik-Jiki
G2: This game is how I expected to work agains Junk and Jund. I played end-step creatures including a T3 Clique, and he was 2 removal spells short of being able to keep up. Eventually a blood moon hit and that was it.
G3: T1 IOK took my blood moon, but I drew a 2nd one just after and played it on T3 after fetching 2 islands. He had a Liliana in play at the time, but lightning bolt kept her at bay and pestermite ate her face. Pestermite died to a lightning bolt, but Batterskull found the table and did his work. Happy to get a win vs. GBx
Result: 2-1
Record: 5-1
G1: We had a great match overall. I have little experience vs. Scapeshift as it is almost non-existent in my meta. We traded counterspells back and forth for a while, and I landed a couple dudes to apply pressure, but ultimately he was able to combo off before me.
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
1 Negate
1 Counterflux
SB Out:
3 Splinter Twin
1 Kiki-Jiki
1 Flame Slash
2 Twisted Image
G2: I'm not really sure how to sideboard against this deck. I feel like I want to combo, but obviously all the counterspells and repeals make it difficult. I had a great hand to tempo him out, and proceeded to do just that. Early bolts found his face, T3 V-Clique cleared out a scapeshift, and I was able to beat with faeries for the win. Still a very close game as he was at 7 mana when he died, but luckily I had a counterspell for his last chance scapeshift.
G3: I brought the combo back in for g3, because we were running low on time and I wouldn't be able to be the control deck on the draw. I bought some time with Remand against Search for Tomorrow a couple times, but he hard cast them after which opened me up to do some things. I didn't have much pro-activity going on, with only a trio of Exarchs hitting for 2-3 each turn. I got him down to about 8 when time was called. I kept him from combo-ing while beating down, but it wasn't enough. We would have drawn, but after my opponent chose not to concede to me upon my request, I conceded to him and wished him luck. (found out later he went 0-2 the rest of the day and I was PISSED! lol)
Result 1-2
Record 5-2
G1: This round was an interesting one. I was playing against a "group" of people, because my opponent was handicapped (he needed someone to shuffle/search/etc). They were the nicest people and man we had some fun! Super friendly and at this point in the day that was welcomed by me. Anyway - Game 1 he played very cautiously around the combo, end-stepping Resto angels against me. I remanded Resto angel 3 different times, and he passed during his turn without any action each time. I sculpted my hand and eventually was able to drop a combo down with dispel/snap/dispel/remand backup (it was all necessary LOL).
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
1 Negate
1 Counterflux
SB Out:
2 Twisted Image
1 Kiki-Jiki
4 Splinter Twin
G2: My opener had Blood Moon & Negate, so I knew my plan was wait till 5 Mana and jam it. I baited some removal with an end step pestermite/clique that both got bolted. He got stuck on lands and by the time I dropped my 5th land, his land configuration was: Arid Mesa, Scalding Tarn, Steam Vents. Here is where he lost the game - I play blood moon, which he responds with a fetch for a Hallowed Fountain untapped (that's it). He lets blood moon resolve, and tries to Wear // Tear it, which I negate. He then spell snares the negate, but I point out that he has no blue sources since Blood Moon is now in play. He realized he failed to crack the Tarn for an island, and slumps down when he realized he has to work with mountains for the rest of the game. I follow up with B-Skull and shortly after Keranos, so he was obviously far in the hole. He extended his hand with a concession, and wished me luck. I was in great spirits heading into my last round.
Result 2-0
Record 6-2
While smoking a cigarette outside between the last 2 rounds, my friend asked what I hoped to see the last round. My response was pretty vague, and I was prepared for anything. After beating Junk, affinity, and URW, i had all the confidence that the deck can stand against anything. After that spiel, I thought "it'd be nice to face Tron. I think that's a good matchup." Low and behold, that was my final round for day 1. It wend like this:
G1: I'm on the play, and have T4 combo in hand. I almost jump for joy when he plays a T1 Mine. On his T3, I played Exarch during his upkeep to tap his tower, and lucky for me because he had T3 tron naturally. He plays a sphere and ancient stirrings, but nothing else. I untap and drop twin for the win.
SB In:
1 Negate
1 Counterflux
2 Blood Moon
1 Ancient Grudge
SB out:
2 Twisted Image
1 Flame Slash
1 Dispel
1 Electrolyze
G2: We get deck checked after Game 1, and I am furious about it. I'm on edge, low on energy and focus, and now I have to sit there for 10 minutes and wait for them to deck check... they won't even let me get up and walk around! Anyway, I take a deep breath when our decks are returned, mutter to myself "one round at a time. Analyze and execute."
Interestingly, I had hoped for this matchup because I thought it was a good one for me (which it is). However, I don't have a lot of experience against it so I'm very nervous about the random SB tech that he's bringing in.
He leads with a tower/egg. My hand is decent, cantrips, a remand, a negate, and a snapcaster. I draw into the correct land configuration I need and sculpt away. He has Tron online turn 5, but had to work for it so his bombs aren't coming down yet. He has 4 mana and an egg open. During my turn, I lay down a snapcaster and flashback serum visions, digging for the combo. I stack my scry so I'll be able to combo in 2 turns, but I don't think I'm going to make it that long. At my end step, he cracks his egg for R, and draws a card. Without putting it into his hand, he casts his freshly drawn Boil! I take a moment to read the card, and check with a judge to verify legality, and then proceed to negate it. He untaps and casts another boil that he was sandbagging.... I am dumbfounded as my lands get wiped off the table (all but 1), and lose shortly after to a Sundering Titan.
G3: I almost tilted here. After the deck check and playing a great matchup, I just assume the worst will happen. However, deep breath, one round at a time, analyze and execute.
My hand for this game did not have and splinter twins, but was very interactive with counterspells, a cantrip, bolt, and snapcaster. What really made this a great game was the clique I drew on T3, which I played during his draw step. I see he has the means to get tron online, however I let him keep the hand as he has no "bombs" to play after getting tron online and I don't want him to draw into them. (he had Mine/tower in play, and sylvan scrying/expedition map in hand). Clique/Pestermite beat him down to 8 life, and during my end step my hand is bolt, bolt, snapcaster - and I have Vents, Tec Edge, Island, Sulfur falls untapped. I'm 1 R short of finishing him. He Ghost quarters my tec edge during my end step, which I responded by floating a colorless, tutoring up a mountain, and finishing day 1 with a flurry of Lightning bolts to my opponents throat. What a finish to day 1! Obviously I don't show my excitement quite yet because I'm not a jerk, and have a nice conversation with my opponent who revealed his hand that could have brought him back (Oblivion stone, Wurmcoil Engine) the next turn if the bolts had not finished the job.
Result: 2-1
Record: 7-2
Day 2 did not go as planned. This is where I show my lack of experience, preparation, and my relatively mediocre skill level compared to people who have done this before.
G1: Storm took it down T4, and my lone remand wasn't enough to interact. I could have taken a different line here and tapped one of his lands with exarch, but chose to keep a remand instead. Neither would have been enough as my opponent revealed what his hand was, so I lost to the nut.
SB In:
1 Counterflux
1 Negate
2 Relic of Progenitus
Sb out:
1 Flame Slash
1 Spellskite
2 Twisted Image
G2: I am able to remand his T2 Pyromancer ascension, T3 tap his land with pestermite, and combo off T4 on the play. Textbook.
G3: I look long and hard at my hand of Remand, Pestermite, Snapcaster, and 4 land. I decide to keep, which in hindsight was a mistake - however it probably wouldn't have mattered as he played T2 Goblin Electromancer, and T3 he made 18 goblins. I did some quick math after drawing for my turn to see if I could live till the next one, and the answer was a resounding "no".
Result: 1-2
Record: 7-3
G1: Opponent on the play opens with T1 Thoughtseize (remand), T2 Inquisition (Snapcaster), T3 Liliana of the Veil. I still had a bolt in my hand, but it didnt do much good. On his T4, I played Pestermite end step which got bolted. Then he played a Dark confidant (bolt), followed by a Prophetic Flamespeaker (Snap/Bolt), followed by another flamespeaker (no answer) and a Tarmogoyf(no answer). I just had no chance in this game.
SB In:
2 Keranos
1 Batterskull
2 Blood Moon
1 Anger of the Gods
SB Out:
4 Splinter Twin
1 Kik-Jiki
1 Dispel
G2: I had to Mull to 5 here, and never got off the ground. I threatened a blood moon at one point, but he had the abrupt decay to eat it in response. By the end of this game my opponents board was: Liliana(6 counters), Chandra (7 counters), 2 Tarmogoyfs, and a Prophetic Flamespeaker. Yikes.
G1: I am able to combo him out G1 after a long while building up resources. Delver is not kind to him and stays a 1/1 for quite some time.
SB In:
1 Negate
2 Anger of the Gods
SB Out:
2 Twisted Image
1 Kiki-Jiki
G2: I keep a 1 lander with serum visions on the draw, and I screwed up my scry so I didnt see my 3rd land in time. Stuck on 2 lands, I almost come back but his wee army of elemental tokens took this one down. Went into G3 with about 7m left on the clock.
G3: Mull to 6, and keep: Snapcaster, Steam Vents, Serum Visions, Remand, Anger, bolt. Great hand imo, would keep it again in this matchup. Serum finds my 2nd land which I get stuck on for a while, but with bolt and remand I'm able to deal with his few threats. I draw my 3rd land just as he starts ramping up his token count and flooding the board. Before I anger, I cast V.Clique during his end step (he had open mana and let it hit, which immediately concerned me), to reveal his hand of: Remandx3, Snapx2. Ouch. I had 5 lands in play at this point, so my life slowly ticked away as my angers got remanded and his token count grew. He eventually finished me off.
This was a tough one to take because I knew I had outplayed my opponent several different times, and even pointed out his missed pyromancer triggers because I'm "that guy". Oh well, moving on. Not so nice next time.
After an 0-3 start to today, I'll take this one. Used the time to meet some of the artists I had been to busy to visit and shop some singles etc. It was good to clear my head, and led to me finishing strong.
Result: 2-0
Record: 8-5
"One round at a time. Analyze, execute."
G1: My keep was fine, and turned out to be nuts against my opponent. He played ornothopter (twisted image). He played signal pest & manland - electrolyze with trigger on the stack when he attacked next turn. Ravager got bolted. He was left with an etched champion, but I was able to combo off before his cranial dealt lethal.
SB IN:
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Anger of the Gods
SB Out:
1 Dispel
2 Vendilion Clique
1 Remand
G2: This was a wierd game. He had a relatively slow start, which I was OK with. By T3, his board was Ravager, signal pest, springleaf, opal, glimmervoid, and a manland. Anger of the gods wiped the board for me, and he followed up with another ravager, and etched champion the turn after. I kept him at bay with Deceiver Exarch and lightning bolt/snapcaster, but his cranial found an ornothopter later and he was beating for 5 per turn. I couldn't draw an answer, and tried to slam splinter twin on my lone exarch with no cards in hand. He had the Galvanic Blast to disrupt and I conceded to move to G3.
G3: I had a great hand here, was able to bolt his T1 play, Twisted image a signal pest, electrolyze his ravager, and was way up on cards. However, this is affinity, and crazy things happen. He comes back to a decent board state against my Pestermite/Exarch/Snapcaster. I need to chump block a few times while I have twin in hand. He keeps a Glimmervoid open for several turns, making me think he has Galvanic blast again. I know I need to jam Twin to win, but serum visions shows leaves me with an ancient grudge on top of my deck. I wait till next turn, and cast splinter twin with 2 open lands, knowing that if it gets disrupted I can still ancient grudge his cranial plating and live a few more turns. Instead of Galvanic Blast, he has Spell Pierce (his last card), which I of course pay 2 for. Twin hits an exarch and I pull out a win.
Result: 2-1
Record: 9-5
G1: Opponent leads with a Noble Hierarch, and I smile as I draw Twisted Image. Hierarch gets wiped off the board. I have some remand and lightning bolt interaction with some of his creatures, pestermite gets eaten by a hard cast Murderous Redcap. Ultimately I find the combo pieces I need, and clear away his abrupt decay with a vendilion clique. Twin hits the board Turn 6ish and Game 1 goes to me.
SB In:
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Ancient Grudge
SB Out:
3 Remand
1 Dispel
G2: This game I had the nut. Twisted image 2for1, Electrolyze 3for1, he kept a 1 land hand because he had 3 dorks, and I ate all of them. It wasn't long before I set up a Deceiver Exarch > Kiki-Jiki for the win. Felt bad for my opponent, that's a tough way to lose your last match.
Result: 2-0
Record: 10-5
Reflection - Looking back, I could have prepared for this event better (specifically Day 2). My goal was to make day 2, which I did - so I'm happy about that. I have never played in such a long event, and now that I have I am confident in my ability to improve and continue to advance my skill level.
Changes - I liked my build in an open meta, and the main deck would probably remain the same. I might cut Flame Slash for Dismember, and depending on the meta the 2 Twisted Image could become 2 Peek. The single dispel I was usually happy to see, but I think that could be a candidate to change too. I liked 4x Splinter Twin and 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.
For the sideboard, 2 Keranos, God of Storms was too much. I drew both too often. He is a card that you never want in your opener, and hope to draw AND play on turn 5. As I was convinced by one of my opponents, he is too slow to rely on as a 2 of, because now you have 2 5 drops that do nothing when they come into play. I think I might make space for a different 5 drop. Maybe Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir. I also think I'm going to cut Counterflux, because the UUR requirement can be tough since I'm running 3 colorless lands. Probably add a 2nd negate there. With 2x Negate, and 1 Main deck Dispel, that gives me a fighting chance against a lot of combo-ish stuff.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I had a helluva time and can't wait to grind Modern on tuesday night so I can get better and start prepping for my next PTQ. I also wanted to throw kudos to TJ Collectibles, vendors, and especially the amazing Judge staff. While there was room for improvement in some of the logistics, an event of this size and structure was run EXTREMELY well. Well done. DCU Center kind of sucked though, to be honest.
Archetype: Match Record (Game W-L):
Pod 2-0 (4-0)
Affinity 2-0 (4-2)
Tron 1-0 (2-1)
GBx 1-2 (2-4)
UR Delver 0-1 (1-2)
URW Control 3-0 (6-1)
Scapeshift 0-1 (1-2)
Storm 0-1 (1-2)
Finished 185/2400 or so. Met my personal goals, so I'm happy about that.
Squid wall is awesome, and I had enough little guys and acceleration to get to 2-3 bombs every game. Went 4-0 easily.
Start w/ Coursers, Polukranos, Stormbreaths, Sylvan Caryatid, and go from there. I have most of the black stuff & lands from JUND monsters already, so it shouldn't be hard to finish if I get the standard bodies.
"Following the convention, a limited number of NERF/Magic the Gathering sets will be available on HasbroToyShop.com."
I don't know what a "limited" number is, but it would seem that you don't have to attend SDCC to obtain these.
I'd like to start playing standard again. I'm fine with building a deck with cards that will rotate, but I'd prefer to build something that can keep some of the staples valid post rotation.
Budget isn't a main concern, but I don't want to put in a bunch of $$$ that will become crap when RTR rotates. Bonus points to decks that use cards that will be good in Modern and/or Legacy as I have no issue at all spending money on cards like that. I am open to playing the most difficult decks, but need time to learn them so prefer decks that have a high skill cap.
My preferable play style is, in order:
Tempo
Combo/Control
Combo
Control
Aggro
Now, of course I know that the meta will change and not all decks that are recommended will remain competitive, but if I can have a good base going into the fall that'd be great.
So, my question is, can this wonderful community recommend any decks that would fit my criteria as a Standard n00b? My initial inclination is build something like BUG control, which would keep some elements of a tempo game, utilize powerful cards like thoughtseize and have access to what I think the most powerful color in std is (green), with blue as more of a splash for things like prophet/counters/bounce.
@ Magix
@Snaggy P
- Thank you both so much for taking the time to critique my list and play styles. This is a new bag for me so I definitely have misunderstood some of the game plan. Feeling much more comfortable after these explanations - you guys ROCK!
Edit: Please note I am brand new to legacy, and I am going to go through a long period of being terrible based on limited meta knowledge and play skill, in combination with my budget issue below.
I'm close to being done building BUG delver, with the exception of $1000 worth of dual lands (3x Underground Sea, 2x Bayou). Going to be a while before I can afford, so my question is - can I play this at a semi-competetive event with shocks and/or basics? Of course things like Daze are going to suck, and I'll auto lose to burn (which is a bad matchup already), but I'm wondering if I'll at least be able to hang while playing these lands.
I know there's a thousand threads similar to this already, but couldn't find one specifically for team america.
Unfortunately, my inclination is that I will lose almost every game, with legacy being as tight as it is already when it comes to fighting resources. BUG doesnt seem like the type of deck that has budget friendly alternatives, especially when it comes to the manabase.
Here's my list for reference:
4x Deathrite Shaman
4x Delver of Secrets
4x Tarmogoyf
1x True-Name Nemesis
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Daze
4x Abrupt Decay
4x Force of Will
4x Hymn to Tourach
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4x Misty Rainforest
4x Verdant Catacombs
2x Scalding Tarn (no deltas yet)
4x Wasteland
3x Watery Grave
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Tropical Island
Sideboard is work in progress, but shouldn't really affect the deck for the questions i'm posing.
Also, any tips on my build, or replacement cards based on my land configuration are helpful.
There is no way they could introduce a new basic land without having the appropriate color balance, which there have been enough spoilers to disprove.
Here's an article explaining the design troubles with introducing a new color:
http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/386
Can't find the one where they said they would not do this in the forseeable future (I believe that was 2013 statement).