MTG Salvation

Quote from glurman »

Aaaaaaand now we're back to square one with DTT banned. Might have to abandon this deck entirely.

Quote from Artyom »

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/september-28-2015-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2015-09-28

Dig banned, Vise unbanned.

Quote from Gul_Dukat »

do you guys have any tips to combo faster on MTGO? I just got it recently and lost game last night cause opp was at 80 life and counldn't make enough deceivers in time

Quote from SirHappyBob »

I live in the area, so i'll be there whether I play in the main event or not. I've never been to a GP and also never played legacy before. Do you guys think it makes sense to start throwing something together now, or just play in the side events?

Quote from KrYo42 »

Quote from dzns0fmuffinz »

Hey Kyro, mind giving a play by play if you can remember? Would give some insight on how Day's did against Burn and Grixis Twin!

Did not take any notes on this tournament, but :
Playing against burn was quite straight forward. If i remember correctly i finished first game at around 10 lifes, and the second at 15.
The key point is that actual burn builds plays like 15 creatures, none with flying.
If they cast their creature, they dont blast you. If they blast you, they dont kill your creatures.
Welding jar is your ally. Always blast Eidolon.
I played my master beeing sure that they could not blast it.
Activate your moths only if they are full tap.
Day's can be awfull agains burn, but if you cast it befor turn 3 (for him), they will never have enough mana to kill you with a fresh hand. You will next have enough artifacts to kill with master/cranial/ravager.

Twin was another amazing game.
I started first.
Played darksteel, mox, 2 memnites, drum. Took one blue from mox, played another mox, cast master.
Passed turn.
Opponent played an island and a serum vision, passed turn
Top decked day's... Atacked for 10, played day's
My opponent played a fetch and passed turn.
Flushed my hand and a cranial (countered) for the win.

Game 2
He started, played a fetch.
I played inkmoth, orni, mox, drum, pest and keeped darksteel, ravager and day's in hand.
He fetched a steam vents, played an island, passed turn.
Draw cranial. Played cranial, countered. played ravager. Attacked for 2 poisons.
He played an serum and passed turn.
Draw blinkmoth. Played it and swing for victory with sacrificing my board for ravager and inkmoth.

Planning to play 2 small moderns next week. Will try to take some notes.
But i think my opponents will prepare a sidebord against my build.

Quote from OMN|POTENT »

I'd like to quote one of the first lines of the IPGs (the document which guides Magic Judges' way of solving these kind of issues at Competitive events).

"If a minor violation is quickly handled by the players to their mutual satisfaction, a judge does not need to intervene."

So don't lose your sleep.

Please note the minor violation wording. Do not try to solve yourself a Ponder which became a Brainstorm for example, or shuffling your hand into your library (I swear, it happens). But a Spreading Seas who forgot its way to the graveyard and wasn't really affecting anything? Sure, be my guest.

And yes, "I better not call the judge or I may got a Game Loss" is A Very Bad Thing. Other than the obvious ethical fail, you not only risk of getting Disqualified from the event, but also Suspended from further events. If you mess up, just bear the responsibility of your actions and face eventual consequences (which range from a "silly boy!" to a Warning to a Game Loss), exactly like when you misplay and lose a creature, or a game, or a match.

It's just a game. Keep it fair, keep it fun!

-Will, L2 Judge

Quote from Alix444 »

The situation is I'm playing RUG scapeshift in modern, facing abzan coco.

My opponent has just untapped and we are in his upkeep. His board state is kitchen finks and viscera seer. I cast quicken, in response he casts chord of calling, in response I cast another quicken. He lets the second quicken resolve. Upon resolution do I get a chance to cast another spell before chord of calling resolves?

I don't understand how priority and active player stuff works on my opponents turn I guess is what is causing this misunderstanding.

Can anyone help me with this?

• If the stack is empty and a spell can be cast, active player has initial priority.
• After a spell is successfully cast, the player who cast the spell has initial priority.
• After a spell resolves, active player has initial priority.

• You could have only cast Quicken if your opponent had first past priority.
• After it goes on the stack, you get priority.
• You pass priority, and your opponent casts Chord of Calling.
• After it goes on the stack, your opponent gets priority.
• Your opponent passes priority, and you cast a second Quicken.
• After it goes on the stack, you get priority.
• You both pass, and the second-cast Quicken resolves.
• Your opponent gets priority.
• Your opponent passes priority, and you now can cast another spell.
• If you pass, Chord of Calling will resolve.

Quote from Alix444 »

Quote from Nikachu_ »

Quote from Alix444 »

What is the best card to bring in vs you guys? I was thinking it was probably it was engineered explosives. I also like nature's claim but is ancient grudge even worth bringing in?

Most important question first, what archetype are you playing?

Anyone crying about Supreme Verdict is obviously not playing around it. Vs Supreme Verdict decks you can be very patient and just attack with 1 creature over and over until they deal with it. Put them in a position to use sweepers at 1 for 1 value. Sure if you put 3-4 creatures out at once you're asking to lose the game. The only problem is when a deck you don't suspect has supreme verdict ends up playing it (like ad nauseam). Usually it's obvious.

I have access to RUG colors

Quote from Lejoon »

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Quote from Lejoon »

I already pointed out the pilot bias as a confounding variable in the statistics. But I also think that it has to do with the better pilots having good reasons for picking RUG instead of Grixis, which is reinforced by my own experience of having played Grixis Twin before the two latest got a Grixis fad. There is no absolute measure of which deck is better since we don't have the underlying data (Wizards does) and we can't account for the confounding variables.

That is my point exactly, the statistics here however are extremely blunt and do not show a decks viability/expected results in a current meta, it has a REALLY bad predictability rating. See for example UR Twin which got a ressurgency two PTs ago. Before everyone said the days of UR Twin were gone, it dropped in popularity and it had abysmal support. Then Antonio del Moral Leon won the PT and it SPIKED to being #1, everyone wanted to play it and suddenyl everyone said it was the best deck. In fact nothing had changed, many of the good players knew exactly what was going on in the background. Now people think that Grixis Twin is "the" Twin deck given how many big profile people who are not natural Twin players play it and the low conversion rate and my own experience lead me to believe otherwise.

I really don't see the problem here. The tier descriptions almost explicitly state that these are just tiers used to describe a metagame, not predict one. They are extremely descriptive in that they give you a sense of what you are likely to encounter at a major event. But at no point do they claim to predict anything. It would be one thing if we promised a system that would predict the best deck and then failed to deliver it: that would be more problematic. But we are just saying "here are the most-played decks" and that's exactly what we show.

We don't even have enough data to make a predictive system, at least one that isn't arbitrary and highly subjective. If we reliably collected MWP data (it's hard to do on MTGO), Day 1 to Day 2 conversion data (Wizards doesn't publish Day 1s), or any sub-Top 8 data at tournaments (Again, not published), then I'd happily change the system to account for it. But in the absence of that data, we use what we have and what we have are metagame shares.

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Quote from Lejoon »

I already pointed out the pilot bias as a confounding variable in the statistics. But I also think that it has to do with the better pilots having good reasons for picking RUG instead of Grixis, which is reinforced by my own experience of having played Grixis Twin before the two latest got a Grixis fad. There is no absolute measure of which deck is better since we don't have the underlying data (Wizards does) and we can't account for the confounding variables.

That is my point exactly, the statistics here however are extremely blunt and do not show a decks viability/expected results in a current meta, it has a REALLY bad predictability rating. See for example UR Twin which got a ressurgency two PTs ago. Before everyone said the days of UR Twin were gone, it dropped in popularity and it had abysmal support. Then Antonio del Moral Leon won the PT and it SPIKED to being #1, everyone wanted to play it and suddenyl everyone said it was the best deck. In fact nothing had changed, many of the good players knew exactly what was going on in the background. Now people think that Grixis Twin is "the" Twin deck given how many big profile people who are not natural Twin players play it and the low conversion rate and my own experience lead me to believe otherwise.

I really don't see the problem here. The tier descriptions almost explicitly state that these are just tiers used to describe a metagame, not predict one. They are extremely descriptive in that they give you a sense of what you are likely to encounter at a major event. But at no point do they claim to predict anything. It would be one thing if we promised a system that would predict the best deck and then failed to deliver it: that would be more problematic. But we are just saying "here are the most-played decks" and that's exactly what we show.

We don't even have enough data to make a predictive system, at least one that isn't arbitrary and highly subjective. If we reliably collected MWP data (it's hard to do on MTGO), Day 1 to Day 2 conversion data (Wizards doesn't publish Day 1s), or any sub-Top 8 data at tournaments (Again, not published), then I'd happily change the system to account for it. But in the absence of that data, we use what we have and what we have are metagame shares.

With all due respect, I think what you are doing is great. It is a great tool when you wonder what you are supposed to expect at big tournaments. However as I quoted you where you basically say that Grixis is better than RUG based on your numbers. Thats how I see alot of people applying these tier statistics also. For what it is worth I think its wrong to call them tiers.

Quote from Alix444 »

Quote from ktkenshinx »

Temur/Tarmo (RUG) Tempo Twin

Can we get Future Sight Goyfs for the love of all that is good?

Quote from rayo »

Hi I've been testing the deck for quite some time now and really really like it so far.
I'm on AshtonKutcher's (props to you!) list with 2x Curiosity and 4x Shoal.
But I started wondering if Gitaxian Probe really is the right card for this deck. I mean a free cantrip is certainly good, and getting Information is always relevant but the 2 life can sum up with all the fetching we do, we don't play Young Pyromancer and I just often find my self wanting another cantrip with card selection over Probe.
So has anybody tested Sleight of Hand (which is the second best cantrip after Visions as far as I know) instead of Probe in this build yet?
I'll probably try it out anyway, but I just thought I'd ask if anyone already tested it

Quote from Bagnold »

my stomach tells me that delay is stronger than it seems on the paper, whenever i counter something with mana leak i can not remember that the game went on like another 3 turns anyway and a tron player can easily play around this spell when he knows/ expects you to hold it in hand which is very common when you leave two mana up all day in fear of Wurmcoil Engine which is the primäry reason to play mana leak i think.

Maybe someone can explain me a little further why delay is in general much worse than Leak? or has someone experiences with this card in a tempo Deck?

Delay hard counters other counter spells (U Tron matchup)! Delay can hard counter specific spells that targets creatures on your side of the board, the opponent does not want to kill them any longer because he then needs to target his own creatures when you have no more. Sound like this card can be good in certain situations.

Quote from Alix444 »

Quote from ashtonkutcher »

Quote from Alix444 »

@ashton
It's not really the selling point of ghost quarter, and in g2 and g3 you really do want to hit 4 lands but I do think you may be underestimating the amount of ravines, tarpits, blinks, inks and arbors you want dead.

I'd rather have Blood Moon than Ghost Quarter against Ravine and Tar Pit decks. And I'd rather have better plans than Ghost Quarter against Blinkmoth and Arbor decks.

Ok maybe revelry and blood moon are better answers, but blood moon and ghost quarter aren't mutually exclusive. It's fine comparing them but there is no reason to say we have to pick one or the other especially when in one case we are talking about sideboard slots and in another we are talking about a maindeck land spot.

Quote from Bagnold »

When day's undoing is hitting my local store i will switch the mana leak's for delay's, or is this an absolutely no go?

For better or worse playing delay also incentivizes us towards playing redirect effects since we get to ensure we have mana open for their removal spell also, if we played delay than I could easily justify playing trickbind to counter the suspend trigger (mostly kidding.) But honestly if Day's breaks modern then obviously it would be worth playing if UR Delver Days (or whatever it's going to be) is 20% of the meta like UR delver was.
You gotta try it out for yourself! If it's good let me know and I'll buy the foils asap