MTG Salvation

Quote from Pringlesman »

Black acrylic paint mixed with just a little bit of white to tone down the gloss. Use thin layers.

Quote from izzetmage »

Try this, maybe? I expect it'll be more fiddly since you're basically gluing four strips instead of one, and if the centering is off, there will be uncovered regions on the altered card.
http://imgur.com/a/UXyhL

Funnily enough, there are people who do the exact opposite: white-border all their cards, instead of black-bordering them.
http://imgur.com/FoAWjaL

Sweet! I'm totally going to investigate these. Thank you!

Quote from Ebonclaw »

Um.....looking for a way to convincingly alter an UL card to look like Beta to the point that you'd have to inform someone it's been altered is really sketchy dude. I mean, how many commons from UL are stuck in white border only anyway? Maybe specific land arts? Even so, you're never going to get an identical border unless the card is printed that way. Stick with sharpies, it's about as close as you can reasonably get with minimal effort and doesn't try too hard to look real.
If you want sometime looking more real than that, or something that looks as close to beta as possible, that's sketchy. How do any of us know you're not looking for advice on how to upgrade your UL Sea to a Beta anyway? Do we just take your word for it? Even if it could be done, why would we share that information? Isn't that just asking for widespread forgeries?

Well, you don't. All I can tell you is that I just want my four copies of Unlimited Dark Rituals (and a handful of other commons), since all I play in paper is Pauper, to be convincing as Beta(-like) to me.

If you don't want to suggest anything, that's fine. But what I do with my cards is up to me, and if anyone in the future happens to be looking through my cards and says to me, "DUDE! FOUR BETA DARK RITUALS?!?!?!" I'll have to sadly inform him or her that they're actually worthless alters.

My trade feedback on this site and others is 100% positive and I have never sought to deceive anyone about any aspect of any trade, ever. I think it's safe to say that my reasons for asking this of the community are above reproach.

Maybe how about this? If anyone has a better suggestion than a Sharpie, they can PM me about it. That way you can sleep soundly tonight knowing that no one out there is doping your market with harmless suggestions.

Please note, this isn't for any nefarious purposes--I just have a bunch of Unlimited commons that I play in my Pauper decks which are jarringly white-bordered. I want to blacken the margins so they look more like Beta cards. If I ever want to trade them, I will of course let any interested party know that they've been altered.

I've tried Sharpies, but the finish is too glossy.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Maybe someone who is also bugged by white borders and has done the same thing?

Hi everyone! I've been working on a Pauper UG tempo/Delver list for about a month now. However, Werebear and Mandrills are a pretty bad nonbo, despite the fact that they are very clearly perfect for the shell of this style of deck. I can usually make it work by just playing the hand I am dealt (i.e. drop the Mandrills as soon as I can and just keep loading up the graveyard, but there are some rare situations in which I draw both and ***** gets ugly. Here is my current list:



Any ideas? Should I just pick one of those creatures and work toward that only? I mean, it's totally possible to keep just being very careful about how I execute my turns.

So, what do you guys think? Should I just pick one and build toward a list which plans for it? The two cards have one thing in common—they both like full graveyards. With Mandrills, however, that full graveyard gets a lot less full quickly.

I can also just leave it as-is and pay much closer attention to the executions of my plays and their effects on future turns.

Thoughts? Experience? Thanks in advance for any commentary

Quote from Gerschenson »

Simply not enough time to test it out as we would have wished and as he was crucial on winning preboard against hatebears and sometimes affinity we let 4 pyromancer stay,also against ur delver he was kinda ok as they didnt play electrickery usually.

Did any of you secretly slip in an Aura of Silence just prior to registration, just in case you encountered another member of your group in the field?

Quote from mrc_jr »

I've been following the thread for a while...and no iw got the permission to reply...
i need suggestions on my list..and how to beat Heroic...in my lgs there's plenty of them...UW or RW...

this is what my 75 looks like..

DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Lands 3 Flooded Strand 2 Island 2 Mountain 2 Plains 3 Shivan Reef 1 Temple of Epiphany 4 Mystic Monastery 4 Temple of Triumph 2 Battlefield Forge 1 Mana Confluence Creatures 3 Seeker of the Way 4 Mantis Rider 4 Goblin Rabblemaster 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos	Planeswalkers 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker 1 Chandra, Pyromaster Spells 4 Lightning Strike 3 Magma Jet 4 Stoke the Flames 4 Jeskai Charm 1 Gods Willing 2 Dig Through Time 2 Banishing Light	Sideboard 3 Suspension Field 3 Disdainful Stroke 3 Anger of the Gods 4 Magma Spray 2 Hushwing Gryff

tks mates!!

It looks like you're well-equipped, with Magma Spray, Anger of the Gods, and Suspension Field in the sideboard.

What version of Heroic is giving you trouble? WR? WU? Jeskai?

Good Heroic players, when playing against decks with a lot of burn or removal, will sometimes wait until T2 or later to drop a mob. That's so they can have mana open for Gods Willing or whatever else they have in hand.

The best line of play to beat them is to run them out of cards. Once they're topdecking, their mobs aren't going to get any bigger unless they keep drawing only auras or protection spells, which is unlikely.

Circle of Flame is another option, and might hold them off for a turn or two. It gets better in multiples. But after the first few turns, it's nearly useless.

Void Snare is decent them as well, as any auras attached to the target will go to the bin, and any counters will evaporate.

I would find room for a fourth Magma Jet.

As a poster above noted, Eidolon of the Great Revel will punish their cute little combat tricks. It also sucks for us, however, as the only cards in our lists that won't damage us are Stoke the Flames and our planeswalkers.

Singing Bell Strike is almost removal, and Ajani's Presence is nerfed by it.

Cards with high CMC's, such as Aetherspouts and End Hostilities, are just too slow for this matchup. By the time you cast it, you're probably at < 5 life anyway. Granted, you still may be able to pull out of that, but if they have any burn you are toast.

Sarkhan is okay here. Same story...you may be able to burn away a mob but you are probably on turn 5, or worse: you missed a land drop and it's turn 6 or 7.

Brimaz is pretty good here as none of their mobs tend to have trample.

Something that is probably overlooked is Glare of Heresy. Especially on the off chance that they are using something like Return to the Ranks in their sideboard. It hits all their guys except for Monastery Swiftspear, and can also blow away Banishing Light or Suspension Field.

I hope this helps!

Against the Heroic decks we have a hard time because their "counters" to our removal are so much cheaper than our actual removal. Last FMN I was playing against a kid on RW Heroic. Here's a play-by-play summary of one of his combat damage steps:

Him: Before damage, I'll Defiant Strike my Favored Hoplite.
Me: Magma Spray in response.
Him: Gods Willing, naming red.
Me: Lightning Strike in response.
Him: Ajani's Presence.
Me: ...
Him: Take 6?
Me: ...Yep.

Their deck is full of plays like that. End Hostilities is bad against the UW version because they can (and will) counter it.

Aetherspouts? Too slow.

IDK.

Quote from Talroma »

Only thing I've recently been thinking of changing is going to 23 lands since I cut sarkhan/SBD

I definitely would. I went down to 23 after cutting all the walkers (except for two Chandra in the sideboard) and I still occasionally get flooded.

Quote from Talroma »

Only thing I've recently been thinking of changing is going to 23 lands since I cut sarkhan/SBD

I definitely would. I went down to 23 after cutting all the walkers (except for two Chandra in the sideboard) and I still occasionally get flooded.

Quote from Concordant »

Yes, RIP definitely helps a bit, but that was not in the scenario you presented. What you said was that you'd be safe by having T0 leyline followed by T2 Sterling Grove, and that simply isn't the case. Besides, I already listed RIP as one of the cards that affect the opponent's possibility of going off. If the scenario is T0 leyline, T2 Rest in Peace, T3 Sterling Grove, then I agree that you are fairly safe, but that means you are using 3 pieces of protection (just like i said you would need). However, the probability that you find all three cards is small.

You can normally GSZ for Teeg on turn 2 just like you could GSZ for an enchantress. Although Teeg shuts down some of our wincons, ANT literally can't win while he is in play. So either they get rid of it, or we have time to dig for our Emrakul, Words of War or Karakas. There is also the option of killing the opponent by attacking 10 times.

I'm not arguing with you or presenting scenarios for you to prove or disprove.

I just find it hard to swallow that these combo decks are going to have everything going right for them in each of these cases.

But I defer more to folks with more Legacy experience than I.

Quote from contumaz »

Quote from Tapped Out »

Sorry for the double post, but here's my most recent list. I haven't been playing Sultai for a while now (I was on Temur for a minute there), so I would love to hear what folks think about this configuration:

Sultai Walkers/Control by Tapped OutMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures (10): 4 Courser of Kruphix 2 Prognostic Sphinx 4 Sylvan Caryatid Planeswalkers (6): 3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver 2 Kiora, the Crashing Wave 1 Nissa, Worldwaker Instants & Sorceries (19): 1 Aetherspouts 3 Bile Blight 2 Dig Through Time 4 Hero's Downfall 1 Silence the Believers 4 Sultai Charm 4 Thoughtseize	Land (25): 3 Forest 2 Island 3 Swamp 4 Opulent Palace 4 Polluted Delta 4 Temple of Malady 4 Temple of Mystery 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth	Sideboard 2 Bow of Nylea 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Dissolve 4 Drown in Sorrow 1 Negate 3 Nylea's Disciple 1 Phenax, God of Deception

Looking forward to any and all feedback. Thanks in advance!

i wonder, is the main purpose of ashiok to force weird attacks? i know that against midrange decks (with a bit of luck)it is great.
SB plan against aggro ? have you tested it against U/W heroic o you don´t see that deck too much ?

Ashiok is multi-purposed, I would say. He forces them to make weird attacks, yes. He also recruits threats directly from their deck. And if left unchecked, his ultimate is pretty back-breaking.

If they're killing your CMC-3 planeswalker they are allowing you latitude to develop your board further that you may not have had otherwise.

It is important to note that Ashiok on the play can't be killed by any combination of attackers in current Standard. They can get him to 2 or even 1, but not zero.

Sideboard plan against aggro is—

- 4 Thoughtseize
- 3 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
+ 4 Drown in Sorrow
+ 3 Nylea's Disciple

I haven't tested against UW Heroic, but if I do start seeing it (or other Heroic variants), I suspect I will probably bring Aetherspouts back up to 2-3 main with more in the board.

Quote from ukyo_rulz »

Quote from Tapped Out »

here's my most recent list. I haven't been playing Sultai for a while now (I was on Temur for a minute there), so I would love to hear what folks think about this configuration

I liked most of what I saw in your list, except for the large number of Planeswalkers. I tried them all and wasn't impressed. Kiora was way too easily dealt wirh. Her low starting Loyalty and the proliferation of flying threats made it difficult to keep her alive. Nissa was a fast an efficient finisher, but she didn't help to stabilize the game and by the time she gets good a Sphinx usually would have finished the game also. Ashiok was great against midrange but Sultai was already great against midrange even without him. Also sometimes he just did nothing.

My list has been mostly unchanged. I played it in a couple of tournaments and did pretty well. The latest one was a 3-round FNM of roughly 20 people in Machida (near Yokohama). I beat Abzan Midrange, then Abzan Aggro, then Mardu Midrange. This continues the same pattern of Sultai being a heavy favorite against midrange strategies. The only games I lost were lost due to mana issues. Aggro strategies were slightly bad game 1 and got significantly better post-board. I also played against UB Control in a tournament and lost to it pretty badly. The match-up is certainly winnable but it's not good by any stretch of the imagination. Here is the latest incarnation of my list:

MD:
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Reaper of the Wilds
4 Prognostic Sphinx
4 Thoughtseize
4 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
2 Dissolve
3 Dig Through Time
1 Bow of Nylea
4 Opulent Palace
4 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Mystery
3 Temple of Deceit
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Yavimaya Coast
3 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Urborg

SB:
4 Drown in Sorrow
3 Nylea's Disciple
3 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Silence the Believers
2 Unravel the AEther
1 Bow of Nylea

The list has 58 cards with a 17-card sideboard. The idea is to bring in two SB cards based on the predicted metagame. My meta has tons of midrange so I normally start with two Silence the Believers.

Ah, thank you for the feedback.

One difference between this season and last is that you can't rely on your PW's to stabilize the game for you. I'm not 100% sure I want any at all. But left unchecked, any of them will win the game!

Abzan is one of our better matchups because our late-game answers are cheaper than their late-game threats. Our starting strategies are nearly the same (T1 Tapland; T2 Land, Caryatid, maybe Thoughtseize, T3 something else). Which means the threats they play are inefficient in light of our cheapr removal.

If it were your deck, would you cut all of the PW's?

What's ML?

Quote from Talroma »

Mine is the 6th place list. The sideboard wasnt 100% right. I forgot to put in elspeth in the board.

In my actual list I play elspeth over the end hostilities. That may or may not be wrong.

http://magic-league.com/deck/86343/khans_standard_t2.html

Ooooo nice. How many people partook of that event? Just curious.

Hmm. I guess you also get a lot more sideboard options too, e.g. Huntmaster and Thrun, if you want them. Plus it also allows us to play Engineered Explosives with more latitude, a thing I greatly appreciate.