I have still some questions and improvements regarding the FAQ.
First at all, if I´m in a Subforum it is not possible to go to the latest posting of a thread. Maybe, I´m just to dumb to find it. If this feature isn´t in yet, you should upgrade the FAQ in this point.
EDIT: Dumb me found it
Second, in the FAQ, if you are using the Black Version of the Forum, the font colour isn´t correct. There are some points, where the font colour is black although it should be white.
Sincerly,
Kathal
PS: The new Forum is pretty insane, love it
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
As a theoretical standpoint, Communism is equally fair to everyone, since it (should) treats everybody the same. Compared to every other system, alone from the theoretical standpoint it is impossible. Sure, in practise we all (should) know, that this is not the case.
Even than, the point you are making is basically irrelevant. There is not a single deck, which is even remotely competitive, in Modern which is absolutely ban proof. New printings happen, unbans happen, meta shifts happen. Eye of Ugin was for the most parts in its existent in Modern borderline garbage and only saw play in Tron cause it was capable to find Wurmcoil Engines and sometimes Emmi. Than Battle of Zendrika happened, it got banned 6 months later. Totally innocent card at first, busted in the end.
Second Sunrise as another example, KCI too, heck, even something as garbage as Summer Bloom got banned, cause of one deck and the interaction it provided. For example, you are playing Red Prison, what happens if Chalice/Blood Moon suddenly gets to an oppressive status due to different printings/unbans? What happens if SSG suddenly enables broken things and thus warps the whole format? Nah, rather hold of a manual fix of an format and watch it burn (different Standard formats e.g. (Faeries e.g.)) and hope for the best instead of doing something.
Sure, many things are quite easy to judge after a longer time period, that is history. But the question at the moment, when you need to pull the trigger or not, that is always a lose-lose scenario.
Given this, there will always be bans, it is the fundamental flaw of the game.
To get to the initial point: What is better:
a) Have a fix for one of the fundamental flaws of the games (amount of none games due to RNG) while running into the risk of maybe (!) needing to correct the meta of one (!) format?
b) Do nothing and accept, that the best fix for your issue (which this is) may not work, cause you need to do corrections to some formats.
Wizards want to promote Arena, Wizards wants to promote MTG as the premier TCG Esport (instead of Heartstone). Making the formats, which see solely play on THE premier platform (Arena), overall more enjoyable for everyone is the biggest reason for this change (besides fixing a long standing issue of the game). While Modern has a massive player base, people play Modern cause they enjoy Modern AND want to play with an extended card pool without the financial investment of Legacy. Sure, a portion of players might get pissed when somebody gets banned, some others will celebrate, others will not care, but keep in mind, that those cards, which would get banned with that Mulligan Rule (if at all) would slow the format down, which is something many people wish, if you take a look at the best 2+ years.
Will I be sad/mad when I see MY pet deck get banned into oblivion (Griselbanned)? Sure, but that is a sacrifice at least I would be willing to take to bring Magic forward on a fundamental problem.
Greetings,
Kathal
PS: And just as a note: I honestly do not think, that the overall changes to the powerlevel of different decks will be that influential, the sum of the changes is the important aspect and nobody is capable to judge those.
Greetings,
Kathal
When the card is good, it is broken level good. Had a draw against Amulet Titan where I went Pool -> Nactl (one lander) into double Obsession where the opp had to start jumping with Azusas/Tribe Scout just to not die from the card advantage.
However, the other side of the coin is a dark place, a very dark one. There are lots of situations (and also match-ups) where the card just sucks, where it is basically a dead draw (Elves are a great example for this btw). Basically, in every match-up where we need to even remotely need to play the Control route, the card is a dead draw.
Because of this I will change the package going forward (I might try it once more though). However, what that packaged showed me is, how potent Blossoming Defense is. That is a card, that I will continue using, cause it does so much. At worst, it is a G Shock, at best it is a G Negate (with a Shock sticked on it). So, list update looks like this:
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Flooded Strand
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Steam Vents
1 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
//Creatures
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Hooting Mandrills
1 Snapcaster Mage
4 Serum Visions
3 Opt
1 Faithless Looting
1 Thought Scour
//Interaction
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
2 Blossoming Defense
3 Spell Pierce
1 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
1 Boros Charm
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Damping Sphere
1 Spell Pierce
1 Dispel
1 Mana Leak
1 Condemn
1 Pyroclasm
1 Kozilek's Return
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Destructive Revelry
So, lots of standard stuff, the few noteworthy things:
- Only 17 lands: Xerox says hi. I added 2 additional cantrips basically instead of the 18th land, which (overall) fells really good. The deck never really wants to draw the 4th land (but in the SB situation with Huntmaster and Snap + Leak) so I still have the feeling, that this is the correct number of lands for my playstyle of the deck. Sure, I have my fair share of mulligans, but I honestly do not know, what I would cut for the 18th land but a spell, which makes (again) Delver worse.
- Condemn: I really need and want a 5th/6th Path in the deck for decks like Phoenix, Dredge, Hardening Scales and GDS (lots of them in my current meta), Condemn is the best one out there for one mana. If (in theory) there would be a better two mana removal spell, which doesn't give the opponent life, I would play it above Condemn, but for now I have to deal with the life gain of it. Sucks, but what can you do?
- Boros Charm: Ol' goody, which I always try to cram in. Would love to have a second one of them (to be able to compensate the life gain of Condemn). The only card which I consider to cut for the 18th land (or the 4th Bolt).
- Faithless Looting: While I absolutely love that card in this deck, I'm considering cutting it for the 4th Opt. Instant speed Cantrip is really nice, especially since the alternative (Sleight of Hands) isn't really better (and no, I won't run more Thought Scour, I'm not playing RUG Delver).
The Sideboard is in a flux basically, since I need to figure suff out first, aka against what do I need what. I noticed, that I have a lot of good (and also overlapping) cards in the SB for a variety of match-ups, I do not have those "oof" cards to say it this way. Because of this I usually want to board in a lot of cards but simply do not have the slots for it. Basically, I need to rework the SB to fit my (and the decks) needs for the given (and required) match-ups.
Greetings,
Kathal
Stylistically, that is exactly the form of Ramp the deck wants, it is a guranteed (mostly) ramp on turn 1 without being able to get interacted with (par with Counters) to enable a turn 2 Seismic Assault on the draw. Sure, it eats a full Shock, which kinda sucks, but on the other hand, it also enables Crusher on turn 2, which allows the deck to race combo better.
Besides this, I would need to actually test the (pure) Vortex list to get a better grasp of it, but honestly, the fact that the deck (still) folds to a Surgical on Loam or a Needle on Vortex sucks big time. In my opinion, the deck has already suck a good main plan (against close to everything but combo) adding elements which help you, when the main plan gets shut down (Needle/exiled Loams) should be the main goal.
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
This is logistically not possible due to a lot of reasons.
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
Greetings,
Kathal
For Game 1 it is a huge bummer, for game 2 & 3 it is okay, especially if it is only the cards included the deck, not the quantity.
Greetings,
Kathal
Two possible Pig versions: All-in Pig vs Midrange Pig. All in Pig should be lethal with Griselbrand cause of Fury of the Hordes, but Griselbrand is usually already lethal with it so basically Pig is unnecessary. Emmi + Pig is usually also Lethal, but against flying Blockers where you can repeat it next turn (if you have not cheated Pig in) it sucks, cause with a cheated Pig you do not get the Annihilation trigger, which is the biggest appeal from Emmi.
So All-in Pig looks kinda wonky, cause when you already have a pay off creature which you can cheat it, you should have won already. Pig makes only sense, if you want to use it as a TTB 5-8, which is interesting, especially Post Board when graveyard hate is comming in from the opponent, since you are capable of cutting all the Goryo's while still having enough "cheat" spells.
However, this requires more Pentad Prism, since you have more 5 drops you want to cheat on turn 3 ideally. So a Playset Pentad Prism between the main/SB is a must as some numbers of Gemstone Cavern and SSG to have redundancy. Historically speaking, Pentad Prism was always iffy, cause it was just a bad ramp card, since it could get removed rather easily. So meh.
The Midrange build is kinda interesting, especially combined with LotV, pitching Pig does not harm you, it just slows you down by 2 turns realistically (you will have at least one redraw usually). Pig there is both a value beater (which is usually the biggest beater but flipped TiTi and Shadows) as a cheat spell. What creatures to cheat in that sort of build is an interesting question. The obvious ones, Griselbrand and Emmi are not really that good with it, you would want something like Rakdos the Defiler or Obzedat, Ghost Council to get the max benefits out of it. However, Rakdos sucks as a cheat creature and Obzedat is fine, but you would rather want to play it in a dedicated Midrange shell (like the Esper one, which saw play). Basically, Pig would be Goryo's 5-8 in that deck, which is fine, but not necessary (regarding the Esper shell).
So since Piggy is not that interesting in an all in version (since you always need another creature to actually do something) and decent in the Midrange build (cause of the anti-synergies with most cheat creatures you would want to play in that shell but Obzedat), something in the middle is needed. Basically a shell, where a TTB/Goryo's creature has as big of an influence as an creature cheated in via Piggy. I have ad-hoc no idea which creature this could be (Griselbrand is still the best one imo, cause it gives you redraws), the only one is Razaketh, the Foulblooded which is kinda a lackluster as a TTB target since it needs another creature to be able to generate a tutor chain (you TTB him, sac a creature to grab Goryo's to Goryo's him next turn for 16 damage).
So many things to ponder around, but for the time being I would want to test Piggy in a non Powder shell as TTB 5-6 pre board and TTB 5-8 post board.
Greetings,
Kathal
- Griselbanned is a mediocre deck (due to the consistency), but can have a Turn 1 win.
- The Nutdraws of Counter-Cat/RUG Delver are freaking disgusting for 90% of the decks out there, but they do not happen that often
What does this show? It solely depends on the match-up and the ceiling a deck has and not what the average is. A nutdraw from UW Control still folds to an decent draw from Tron, just because the match-up is such lopsided.
Greetings,
Kathal