I agree with what Phyrre said. Scythe Tiger isn't really that terrible, but you have to evaluate it as a 5 drop 3/2 with shroud, which isn't that exciting either... If it was a 3/3 I'd play it.
Rising....In the games I described it was game 1 when I had the means to kill Nighthawk if I wanted to straight out 2-1 myself. I know he's worth it, but with Burst Lightning kicking online after only 2 hits I figured I would go for the 1-1 and get a guy down to start dealing some damage. Then Warpaint made the game out of reach by the time I hit 6 mana so I could 2-2 him.
I would have done what you did, and waited on 5 mana to kick burst lightning on it in game 1. In game 2, though, after he beats you with nighthawk/war-paint game 1, I would hold off, and 2 for 2 him in response to the war-paint.
Its like the decks just play themselves, and there is little to no decision making that can turn a game once its in motion.
To be honest, I haven't found this to be true at all. I'm speaking mostly from the perspective of sealed*, as I've done nearly as many sealed pools as drafts, but I've found there to be a lot of skill-intensive interactions.
Yeah, I mean sometimes your opponent plays a nighthawk on turn 3 and just turns it sideways until game over, but most games I've played involve fairly skill-based decisions of who to attack with, how many creatures to send, how to block, etc. In any limited format, bombs can win games almost solely by themselves. In this format, it happens to be a 2/3 for 3 at uncommon, which makes it so more prevalent and so more quickly accessible
*as an aside, I really love Zendikar Sealed, as much as one can love the randomness of sealed. I at least enjoy it far more than any other sealed format I've played. There seems to be a very healthy rock/paper/scissors type of metagame. There are the standard RB or RW aggro decks, the Gx decks that can shut those down, and then the UW/UB decks that beat the crap out of the Gx decks.
That feels like the kind of situation that you can't ever say "X is the right play". Playing the Bite on your Crypt Ripper means you give him an extra turn, even if he can't kill you yet. Playing it on the unblocked means you kill him this turn, barring the hideous end.
I think the best play is to try to get a read on your opponent. How many cards in hand? Has he been holding back, etc.? What turn is it? How many cards are in his library? How long has Living Tsunami been on the board? Long enough, and he probably has a fistful of land...
To be honest, though, you probably lose in either scenario. Play it on the Crypt Ripper and pump once. He plays hideous end on your Hellfire Mongrel. You go to 10 life (+6, -2). He takes 1, goes to 4, and loses a kraken. The following turn, he hits for 6 again, taking you to 4. Unless you draw anything relevant, the best you can do is hit him for 3, taking him to 1. Gatekeeper would cause him to sac his illusion, and he can come back in the following turn for 4 flying and you lose. Based on that, I think going for the win that turn is the right play, because if he has hideous end, you lose in either scenario.
I still like Turntimber Ranger, but Oracle is definitely better than Journey for our deck. A single piece of off color removal is going to do roughly nothing in our deck. Are there any other white cards we would possibly want to go for? I'm thinking no. So pass on Journey, thanks..
If you're playing green and can also play white for Shepherd, then I would pretty much never take Oran Rief Recluse over it. You can pay 6 mana to kill a flier and leave a weak body behind or you can pay 5 mana to keep your opponent from attacking you profitably and also deal 3 damage a turn.
Out of that list I would take Rampaging Baloths over it (and other green rares, not mentioned). Shepherd is better than all the other cards except in specific scenarios.
I don't like Journey to Nowhere. Having 1 piece of removal is basically like having no pieces of removal. Let's stick to the plan of taking bomb green cards and beating our opponents over the face with them.
I assume he swung with it, which would be the fatal mistake (as when you have a Machete and 2 2 power evasive creatures, an opponent is just as dead at 4 as he is at 2).
Actually, he never should have equipped machete to mosquito. Mosquito can block maurader. He's just as dead to Mark+Burst Lightning (7 damage). So he should have swung with Marauder equipped with Machete (as if the opponent has Mark, the Marauder swings as a 5/3, which doesn't die to mosquito, thus making it almost impossible to lose).
The best you could do with Mark+Burst if you did that would be to swing with the Marauder, then use Burst to kill it, thus passing the turn with 2 life left, a clear board, and the opponent controlling a machete, which is a terrible situation to pass a turn in.
It's not a fatal mistake. The only way he could prevent himself from taking damage from a Mark of mutiny would be to pass the turn without attacking when you have two creatures and your opponent has nothing. THAT seems like a fatal mistake. If he swings with just the marauder, then his mosquito can be taken with a mark of mutiny and swings in unhampered. If he swings with just the Mosquito, then the Marauder can be taken with the Mark of mutiny and swing in unhampered.
The correct play for him was almost certainly to swing with both creatures. SapioMatic had 3 cards in hand. One of them could certainly be a piece of removal, and if you swing with only one creature and it gets blasted, you miss out on damage for no reason.
Having the machete on the heartstabber was also correct. It prevents it from dying to a marsh casualties, disfigure, or burst lightning unless kicked.
I disagree. Nissa's Chosen and River boa can't block Bladtusk Boar, Umara Raptor, Surrakar Marauder, etc. Gladehart neutralizes creatures that are otherwise big problems for green decks. He can't really block, but he does frequently get in for 2, considering how often your opponent is (trying to be) turning all their guys sideways. And if they aren't, then you're in good shape.
I don't know the details, obviously, but it sounds like a mistake, not fraud. If you cheated your opponent at Worlds, would you come up to them afterward and ask them why they let you cheat them? Probably not. More likely is that he thought it was a may ability and wondered why his opponent didn't utilize it in the most advantageous fashion.
Staying in green is definitely correct right now. It's likely we will end up as the only green drafter doing this, but if we show that we aren't going to pick a green card every single pack we open the door to someone else stepping in.
Once it's like 4 picks in, we can grab off color stuff because people will likely have committed to colors by then. Although I'm honestly fine just rocking mono green.
Somewhere between 12th and 14th pick. Unless you have it in your opening hand, it's hard to get online, and mostly irrelevant as well.
I would have done what you did, and waited on 5 mana to kick burst lightning on it in game 1. In game 2, though, after he beats you with nighthawk/war-paint game 1, I would hold off, and 2 for 2 him in response to the war-paint.
Opponent: Swamp, Vampire Lacerator
Obviously you have to draft a Nissa's Chosen or two, but she is actually quite good if you do.
I would probably take Machete->Nissa->Hideous End->Blademaster but I could be wrong.
To be honest, I haven't found this to be true at all. I'm speaking mostly from the perspective of sealed*, as I've done nearly as many sealed pools as drafts, but I've found there to be a lot of skill-intensive interactions.
Yeah, I mean sometimes your opponent plays a nighthawk on turn 3 and just turns it sideways until game over, but most games I've played involve fairly skill-based decisions of who to attack with, how many creatures to send, how to block, etc. In any limited format, bombs can win games almost solely by themselves. In this format, it happens to be a 2/3 for 3 at uncommon, which makes it so more prevalent and so more quickly accessible
*as an aside, I really love Zendikar Sealed, as much as one can love the randomness of sealed. I at least enjoy it far more than any other sealed format I've played. There seems to be a very healthy rock/paper/scissors type of metagame. There are the standard RB or RW aggro decks, the Gx decks that can shut those down, and then the UW/UB decks that beat the crap out of the Gx decks.
I think the best play is to try to get a read on your opponent. How many cards in hand? Has he been holding back, etc.? What turn is it? How many cards are in his library? How long has Living Tsunami been on the board? Long enough, and he probably has a fistful of land...
To be honest, though, you probably lose in either scenario. Play it on the Crypt Ripper and pump once. He plays hideous end on your Hellfire Mongrel. You go to 10 life (+6, -2). He takes 1, goes to 4, and loses a kraken. The following turn, he hits for 6 again, taking you to 4. Unless you draw anything relevant, the best you can do is hit him for 3, taking him to 1. Gatekeeper would cause him to sac his illusion, and he can come back in the following turn for 4 flying and you lose. Based on that, I think going for the win that turn is the right play, because if he has hideous end, you lose in either scenario.
I still like Turntimber Ranger, but Oracle is definitely better than Journey for our deck. A single piece of off color removal is going to do roughly nothing in our deck. Are there any other white cards we would possibly want to go for? I'm thinking no. So pass on Journey, thanks..
Out of that list I would take Rampaging Baloths over it (and other green rares, not mentioned). Shepherd is better than all the other cards except in specific scenarios.
I don't like Journey to Nowhere. Having 1 piece of removal is basically like having no pieces of removal. Let's stick to the plan of taking bomb green cards and beating our opponents over the face with them.
Bushwacker hits for 2. 7 damage.
It's not a fatal mistake. The only way he could prevent himself from taking damage from a Mark of mutiny would be to pass the turn without attacking when you have two creatures and your opponent has nothing. THAT seems like a fatal mistake. If he swings with just the marauder, then his mosquito can be taken with a mark of mutiny and swings in unhampered. If he swings with just the Mosquito, then the Marauder can be taken with the Mark of mutiny and swing in unhampered.
The correct play for him was almost certainly to swing with both creatures. SapioMatic had 3 cards in hand. One of them could certainly be a piece of removal, and if you swing with only one creature and it gets blasted, you miss out on damage for no reason.
Having the machete on the heartstabber was also correct. It prevents it from dying to a marsh casualties, disfigure, or burst lightning unless kicked.
Once it's like 4 picks in, we can grab off color stuff because people will likely have committed to colors by then. Although I'm honestly fine just rocking mono green.