Lol what a difference a day makes. 2 days ago, people were testing eldrazi stompy, 1 day ago they wanted to see what recruiter D&T would be like. Today, I can see this fitting a stompy shell much better (with double W, running chrome mox or petals).
One of the issues is with all the tutoring, our deck is getting slower (more 3 drop bombs). This can be a serious issue in the early game with clunky opening hands. We need to balance power with consistency and speed.
yup, dont make the mistake of packing too many 3 drops just because we can now reliably search them. imo you shouldnt go over 9-10 3 drops max(!) in the mainboard if you dont have some kind of mana acceleration in D&T. 3 THC, 3 flickerwisp, 2 of the new tutor and 1-2 flex hate bear slots is what i will be testing with. and in the sideboard a toolbox of the best 2-3 drops for the current metagame. the sideboard is going to change a lot as time goes on though. adjusting to the metagame has always been important for D&T especially.
I agree with this as an initial impression. This makes the deck slower and more dependent on vial, especially those who are planning on running 3-4 and planning on doing 3 mana hatebears (mangara, stonecloaker).
My initial testing will be for 2 as well, likely replacing 1 beater spot (because I see it mainly being used as a flickerwisp army) and 1 phyrexian revoker (because revoker is my whipping boy).
Yeah, Frenadol, I was amazed how perfectly it fits into the shell. It can find pretty much everything we would possibly want to run, notable exceptions being Brimaz, Displacer, Avenger, and Resto.
Honestly, it replaces brimaz and avenger in the beater role. I see it as a flickerwisp squadron hawk mainly, with upside of having occasional hatebear tutoring. It rarely happens, but sometimes a turn 4 -insert hatebear here- can turn the tide of the game. Keep in mind that unless you are lucky enough to have a vial on 3, this eats up an entire turn too (without port shenanigans).
Recruiter of the Guard 2W
Creature - Human Soldier
When *name* enters the battlefield, search library for creature with toughness 2 or less, put into hand.
1/1
Fighting for more slots? I like that they did toughness since we always malign that we always get x/1's
Wow. I watched all 3 videos, guy pulls 70 foil rusted relics. Feel bad for the dude, but it was entertaining.
Can you imagine what will happen at GP: Vegas if this stuff happens? Imagine having to fix problem packs like this for some of the 7000+ people that will be opening packs.
I am slowly building this deck right now, and was wondering what you guys think are the advantages/disadvantages of the slower lists vs the faster, low-curve aggressive lists.
I enjoy the more slower lists in terms of playstyle, but if it is not nearly as viable as the aggresive lists then I'd prefer to just go that direction.
The holiday season is making mail really tough to deal with and slow. I went to the post office today and all 3 of the drop off boxes were so full that they wouldn't open anymore. I was a little scared to be mailing out these 50$ packages.
I think I'm going to take a break and try to hit the local trade scene for a couple weeks and hold off on Puca (in and out) for now. Unfortunate that I just paid for silver, but I can wait it out
The new playable conspiracy foils have all done this. It happened first with Foil Dack, then Foil Marchesa (up from 45 to 90), and now council's judgement. I didnt think it would happen with judgement because it was rare not mythic.
Okay, tournament write up time! Yesterday I took 23rd at the Legacy Open in DC with my Aggro Taxes list from a few pages ago (3x Avenger, 4x Crusader). Here's the short version, then I'll talk about some specific plays and situations from the event.
Round 1: Bye
Round 2: MUD: 2-1.
Round 3: Burn 2-0
Round 4: Lands 1-1-1
Round 5: UR Delver 2-1 (off camera feature match)
Round 6: UWR Delver 1-0-1 (Seth Manfield, backup on-camera match for most of game 2)
Round 7: D&T 0-2 (Shahar Shenhar)
Round 8: D&T 2-0
Round 9: Jund 2-1
In round two against MUD, I had the opportunity to trade my Thalia and Germ token for a Wurmcoil Engine. At the end of combat, I cracked a Ratchet Bomb for zero to kill his two wurm tokens, a Chalice of the Void on one, and a Mox Opal. Value!!!
In round 6 against UWR Delver, I got to live the dream and get an on camera two-for-one with Council's Judgment. Seth really was struggling with how the card worked, and the judge could only explain the mechanics of the card and had to be very careful in his phrasing to avoid coaching. Seth thought he figured out the card, but then second guessed himself at the last minute and I ate both a TNN and a Jitte.
In round 7 I played the mirror against Shahar Shenhar. When I sat down against him, I assumed he would be on a 2-3 color controlling deck of some nature, and I let that influence my mulligan decision. I kept a hand on the draw with two Wastes, two Ports, a Plains, a Mirran Crusader, and a SoFaI. He started with Plains and Vial on turn 1, and missed his next 3 land drops or so. I lost that game pretty hard, obviously.
In game two of round 7, I felt how bad it is to be the D&T deck without the Manriki in the mirror. Shahar had a Manriki Gusari in play and it ate my Jitte, putting me way behind. A few turns later I managed to put him into a position where he had to pass without equipping the Manriki to Port me. During my upkeep I faced a difficult decision. I had to choose between activating my Stoneforge to put a Batterskull in play or casting a Council's Judgment that turn since he Ported me. If I use the Stoneforge and rip a white source (~30% chance), I have a Batterskull and get to cast a Council's Judgment to exile his Manriki; I would be way ahead on board and likely win the game. However, if I failed to rip a white source, I would lose my Batterskull to the Manriki if he saw the line of Porting me to take me off my third mana to bounce it; without that Batterskull, I would likely lose the game. I took the more conservative line and didn't put in the Batterskull and was immediately punished by drawing a Plains.
In round 8 I played the mirror again, and my 12 Plains manabase was extremely relevant. I got to Waste my opponent off his Horizon Canopies, Wastelands, and Cavern of Souls while I got to cast my spells. I won those games pretty handily.
In round 9 I was playing against Jund for top 32, which was a little nerve wracking. In game one, my opponent flipped Goyf, Goyf, Goyf off his Dark Confidants and was at seven life before stabilizing. I got a little wrecked by a Diabolic Edict, which was something I didn't know they even maindecked.
In game three against Jund, I got the hard read on the contents of his hand and completely wrecked my opponent. He led on Swamp and passed. He played Taiga and passed. This tells me that his hand is full of answers to my cards or 3/4 drops like Liliana and Bloodbraid. I Waste him and pass, opting not to play a RiP, Thalia, or Stoneforge. My call was correct, and he just had to pass his turn. I then deployed a Thalia with Karakas backup. He played a Deathrite, and I answered with a RiP. The order of those last two might have been opposite, but either way, it was devastating. He conceded a turn or two later after discarding some cards.
As a whole, I played against a large number of fair decks this weekend, and I wish I had some number of Mangaras in the deck. Now it may just be that I hit an unusually high streak of fair decks, but if this trend continues, Mangara is coming back in my 75. Council's Judgment once against over-performed, and that also makes me lean towards wanting a Mangara or two in the main.
After playing a few more rounds with the deck, I feel like the aggro taxes version is still great. Crusader under-performed this weekend as compared to my last three events, but that was likely a function of playing decks where he wasn't just an all star. I'll likely cut 1 Crusader before my next event for the sake of some diversity.
Congrats on your finish. Shouldnt you have made top ten if you were X-1-1?
With the new legends rule it basically gives you the ability to fetch any white shock when you play a second one. Not bad for decks running white. I'd guess that's why it's seeing more love.
... but under the old rule you got to get two of them. The new rule makes it worse.
The new rule means that you don't lose tempo by playing the second one.
Before the rule change:
Play 2nd copy, both copies die and you get two lands tapped. (Can't tap second land for mana before Legend rule.)
After the rule change:
Play 2nd copy, first copy dies and you get 1 land tapped. (Can tap second land for mana, as it stays on field.)
It also shuts down D&T Flickerwisping away targets, Mother of Runes protecting targets, Spellskite for that one user who loves that card, or doing any of our aether vial shenanigans. Because its a 3 Mana sorcery, I'm beginning to suspect that this may hurt our deck far more than help it.
So Council's Judgement seems like it is the strongest card previewed thus far for 1v1 formats. It's an automatic 2 for 1, that allows you to pick a nonland permanent to exile without targeting, then your opponent has to essentially sacrifice a non land permanent to it, all for three mana.
Not a 2 for 1. You pick first, so your opponent will probably pick the permanent you pick.
I agree with this as an initial impression. This makes the deck slower and more dependent on vial, especially those who are planning on running 3-4 and planning on doing 3 mana hatebears (mangara, stonecloaker).
My initial testing will be for 2 as well, likely replacing 1 beater spot (because I see it mainly being used as a flickerwisp army) and 1 phyrexian revoker (because revoker is my whipping boy).
Honestly, it replaces brimaz and avenger in the beater role. I see it as a flickerwisp squadron hawk mainly, with upside of having occasional hatebear tutoring. It rarely happens, but sometimes a turn 4 -insert hatebear here- can turn the tide of the game. Keep in mind that unless you are lucky enough to have a vial on 3, this eats up an entire turn too (without port shenanigans).
Creature - Human Soldier
When *name* enters the battlefield, search library for creature with toughness 2 or less, put into hand.
1/1
Fighting for more slots? I like that they did toughness since we always malign that we always get x/1's
NO full art lands in holiday boxes. Per a member of Wizards: See Here
"A number of people have asked about full-art lands in the BFZ Gift Box. I can confirm that there will NOT be full-art lands in The Gift Box."
Wow. I watched all 3 videos, guy pulls 70 foil rusted relics. Feel bad for the dude, but it was entertaining.
Can you imagine what will happen at GP: Vegas if this stuff happens? Imagine having to fix problem packs like this for some of the 7000+ people that will be opening packs.
Perfect 64/64 Brainstorm count
I enjoy the more slower lists in terms of playstyle, but if it is not nearly as viable as the aggresive lists then I'd prefer to just go that direction.
The holiday season is making mail really tough to deal with and slow. I went to the post office today and all 3 of the drop off boxes were so full that they wouldn't open anymore. I was a little scared to be mailing out these 50$ packages.
I think I'm going to take a break and try to hit the local trade scene for a couple weeks and hold off on Puca (in and out) for now. Unfortunate that I just paid for silver, but I can wait it out
Congrats on your finish. Shouldnt you have made top ten if you were X-1-1?
The new rule means that you don't lose tempo by playing the second one.
Before the rule change:
Play 2nd copy, both copies die and you get two lands tapped. (Can't tap second land for mana before Legend rule.)
After the rule change:
Play 2nd copy, first copy dies and you get 1 land tapped. (Can tap second land for mana, as it stays on field.)
Not a 2 for 1. You pick first, so your opponent will probably pick the permanent you pick.