Im not 100% sure if this is the right place but i couldnt find an art forum so i figured id put it here.
I find this new trend of making the females all covered up and ugly really dumb. As a female player i dont really get what this i seven supposed to achieve. i started playing a month or two before return to Ravnica came out and ive never had a problem with the "sexualized" as some people put it art work. In fact some of my favorite pieces were and still are Innistrad vampires ,Liliana of the veil and Teysa envoy of ghosts(one of my top 5 favorite mtg arts) among others. And they looked good and we rent afraid to show some skin. Since a lot of these artworks showed creatures that were cool and at least somewhat powerful(not necessarily game play wise) i just kind of saw them showing of there body as a way to visually show that they were confident in themselves. Also having some characters in sexier out fits can be used as a design choice when creating characters to convey other things as well. Like not every female character needs to show some skin to look good but if theres no major reason they shouldn't then i dont see how its a problem. I always thought characters like Teysa and Liliana were really cool and probably how female characters should be designed for fiction in general. they were attractive with well designed art powerful confident and cunning but they still had flaws.
Ive been annoyed with the way theyve changed the art work were they feel a need make a lot of female art work bland and make them less beautiful. Also making Its not all bad like i really like Judith's and the new teysas art but there just seems to be alot more bland pieces nowadays and some are even cards like legendary creatures like new radha or admiral Becket brass. Also the whole thing where a bunch of female characters look like dudes i dumb to. like Why would even feminists want the girls to look like dudes dont they want more female representation. I just find the decline in art kindof sad because the cool art was part of what drew me in. And i also really liked the cool female character but im much less likeley to care about characters whose cards have bland art and design.
But the thing that maid me salty enough to make this post is the new teysa art work for the guild kits. Im not sure how they managed to mess it up is beyond me seeing how all her other arts have been good. Like they completely changed her design. her face looks wierd and not like teysa. They completely changed her outfit. All her other artwork gave the impression she was confident, charismatic, cunning, enigmatic and an aristocrat. Like she looked like she new she was better than everyone and liked it. now she looks like generic wizard.
Im just not sure why there changing it like this. i was never even aware this was a problem until they started changing it. Like even if they want cover up female characters to appease well certain demographics i see no reason why this should also involve bland composition and design.
Also just to be clear i really dont want to direct the criticism at the artists. Ive always had a huge respect for what they do. More so i think this change is the fault of art directors.
Im not 100% sure it was probably something like a tormented soul that i put in my m13 toolkit vampire deck as filler. But the first creature i ever cast in that deck that actually was a vampire was vampire nighthawk. I think i opened 3 in the tool kit. then it turned out casually vampire night hawk is a really good card.
If the phyrexians return to the height of there power or if they can corrupt the Titans then phyrexia. I'm not super sure about the specifics but I know at the height of physicians power it required like a gatewatch of old walkers. A bunch of powerful magical artifacts. And years of planning and preparation. And things like time travel. And that didn't even manage to completely destroy them.
Well if i run the slow reanimation spells i should probably run white as one of my colors not only for the flash back cost on burial rites but also to run defy death the most flavorful reanimation spell for the deck. Also could use cloudshift to save my angels from removal or more ashen rider triggers. Not sure what to do to make it play different than my regular orzhov midrangey decks besides the reanimator finish.
Im helping my dad build his dinosaur deck and trying to make it as good as can be but still be budget so no carnage tyrants. Theres no ban list or format restrictions only requirement is that the cards be reasonably priced. Im trying to spend 20-30$ upgrading it. He already has a lot of the dinosaurs though notably only 2 ripjaw raptor and no deathgorge scavenger. I have a couple ideas on how to up grade it but im not sure wich is best or if theres a better way.
My dad said he felt like the aggro approach was most effective so ill start with that.
One idea I have was to run it as gruul aggro deck that runs dinosaurs in the 3 drop slot. It would run wild nactl and burning tree-emissary. Along side the traditional dino cards. Im thinking of running a cascade spell at the top of the curve. Either bloodbraid elf or Bitumonous blast. The elf would make it so i could splash white to make nactl even better and let him play sunwing. Also a bit faster. However blast lets the deck cascade into 4 drops and is easier on my wallet. Though Im unsure if the blast would actually be better than charging monstrosaur in this case since thered already be plenty of card advantage from 4 ripjaw raptors and the blast is just a really over priced removal spell.
The other idea is to do an aggro plan that uses more white. This would let the deck runsiegehorn ceratops and the white one drops. Could still benefit from wild nactl. Though id take out burning tree. Mana is a bit awkward because it wants three colors and is an aggro deck. The unclaimed territories should help. It helps that he already owns most of the cards for this version so i may be able to fit some cheap duals in the budget though that would be a nonbo with nactl so id take her out.
Theres the jund dinosaur deck on strictly better mtg combining death touch from Status // Statue and the pinger dinosaurs. Seems fun but might be a bit slow and inconsistent. Does nothing turn 1. ramps turn 2. and plays a 4 drop turn 3. But then it also runs tetzimoc wich wants the deck to leave mana open while the deck wants to curve out. Im not sure if theres a way to improve the deck with cards outside of standard because its very different from the decks i play so dont really know cards for it.
Theres going all in on ramp. Or finding a way to cheat out gishath to play a bunch of the big dinosaurs as well.
anyways whats the best way to build dinosaurs on a budget. Those were the ideas i had for it.
I second the pauper deck idea I'm trying it myself because I'm in a similar situation. but also just think of a theme you want the deck to be your meta doesn't sound to competitive so it should work. Most of my decks are like that. And I also mainly play low powered games.
Would scavenging ooze or deathright shaman be better main deck. In a dinosaur deck. I was originally going to get him Tormods crypts because there cheap but they don't do anything against my other decks. Scooze seems nice cause it's also a threat he can main board. Also going to pick him up decleration In Stone to use instead of pacifism effects and orphans binding.
Ill consider dropping the ashen rider down to one. I think it's a really cool card so it will at least stay as a one of. Already it's not as degenerate as he was in the pox version I ran. It was brutal 1v1 and my opponents had no lands. And I had some other staxish angels like archangel of tithes and stoic angel.
I'm also consider running it as a more mid-range deck using everafter or unburial rites. And maybe some effects like final parting and corpse conesuer. And then whatever cheap(money and cmc wise) discard and removal that's in my colors to stall. I'm not sure if this would help though. Especially since my mid-range decks also tend to dominate due to how much disruption i like to pack. Like its nothing fancy. But 2mana removal spells and duress put in a lot of work.
what i consider casual is just playing with friends. Usually with cheap decks no ban lists or rotations just dont put in a bunch of expensive cards. Other than that its fair game play what you enjoy as long as its not super unfair. Decks mainly played cause we just think its a cool theme or strategy instead of what is the strongest possible deck to be played cheapley.
probably will do that. Will still probably pick up some cheap duals first because the land base in the deck is really bad and replacing some tap lands with things like painlands could help. Also might pick up some vampires when i do that since vampires is one of my main kitchen table decks anyways it wouldnt be much of a loss even if i didnt like it.
Cards you already own
Nothing really for modern . Have a bunch of the cheap aristocrats cards. A bunch of copies of 2 mana black removal spells and lingering souls. 2 vampire nocturnuses and a good amount of other vampires. Also 1 copy of fatal push and dismember.
Colors you like to play
My main colors are black and white. But every color brings something and I enjoy most of them though I usually like to have at least white or black. I love the Orzohv color pairing.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
Ive been a kitchen table player my favorite decks to play are probably b/w/x midrange, vampires ,reanimator, aristocrats, and various mono black decks. I play aggro sometimes but like to put in lots of disruption.
I'm also interested in tokens and 8rack though I've never really played either.
Budget you have $100
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Mainly looking to play at fnm level. But would also like to bring down the power level a bit for casual as well though not a must.
I'll probably do some drafts probably at least one draft at each store so I can ask around about each and see with I like better cause I haven't been to either in a while.
Also maybe show up to Saturday commander to. Cause I already have a bunch of good upgrades for edgar. So mainly just need to pick up some of the cheaper duals and maybe some more vamps. That I'd end up using kitchen table anyways even if I don't like the commander group. And the events free so why not.
I did not realize that about akroma. I'll probably have to switch her out for someone else. Or maybe run life//death instead of animate dead.
I'll probably put together some side boards for the decks. Because I find between duress and the draw from red I can usually get through the removal in most of the decks besides for the monoblack/orzhov midrange/control deck I sometimes have built. And the grave hate is a dead card against most of the decks.
Ive been playing magic since m13. But have mainly played kitchen table with my friends. However my friends I played mtg with are away at different colleges so i only have my dad to play with Id like to move into doing store events more often. I do do prerelease if the set interests me and im able to make it but other than that I dont play at my lgs. I did do a bit with standard back in theros block with a modified born of the gods event deck as well but that was a long time ago.
Im unsure how i should start playing at my lgs again. I could do drafts but like my experience with drafts is i dont actually use most of the cards i open after words and that 15$ could be spent on working on a constructed deck. Also it would be harder for me to go as often because of 15$ per event.
For constructed I have standard modern and edh to choose from.
My lgs offers a free commander event on Saturdays thats casual and they mention that its supposed to be very casual and they encourage new and inexperienced players to come. I have an edgar markov precon that i could upgrade a bit with cards i own from my collection plus picking up some cards. I have a lot of vampires and some other cards i think would go in well. I dont want to build my own deck until i get a feel for the format and meta. Out of the three precons i have Edgar Oloro and jeleva. edgar is probably my favorite and the one id have the easiest time upgrading.
Im not sure between standard or modern wich i would choose. My other lgs has free events for both on fridays. Im currently not really that interested in standard but that could change once my favorite guilds rakdos and orzhov come. As it is right now id probably play vampires. Im also not a fan of having to replace my deck with rotation. As much as i like being able to play new decks having to make new decks when standard rotates could get expensive. Modern on the other hand is a seep up front cost but i might be able to make a playable budget version of something like tokens, aristocrats, or 8 rack. Or maybe the abzan rites list on mtg goldfish. Those are the decks that interest me that might work as a starting point.
Anyways wich of these is the best option to start playing at my lgs without having to drop a ton of money. I want to figure out where i should put my money. Id probably want to spend about 100$ at the most to start for constructed though id be hesitant to spend that much on standard because of rotation.
I built this deck originally because I wanted to put deathpact angel and ashen rider in a deck and at 6and8 mana the most practical strategy seemed to be reanimator. SO i made angel reanimator. Its a very budget list.
The problem is its better than most of the other decks i play against lately. There also budget. Ive mostly been playing against my dad lately since my friends are away cause college and he plays dinosaurs. I also let him use my decks as well mainly ub pirates, various vampire decks, aristocrats, mono black and some duel decks. There all budget decks. This deck ends up beating these decks much of the time. Its just to fast unless it whiffs which it doesnt to much because of flash back on faithless looting. Its not that fun to play beyond the satisfaction of playing big angels because of this.
Ive ran it mono black before using pox and small pox as discard and archangel of tithes and stoic angel instead of some of the big beaters but it was very inconsistent and painted to much of a target on my head cause i played a lot more multiplayer when it was built like this. Ive also tried lowering the focus on reanimator and putting in cards like pack rats and lingering souls in with smallpox but that just dint work well. Also tried putting in less reanimation spells for more distruption and some 4 and 5 drops but i kept having to discard said 4-5 drops and then when it came time to reanimate i was just reanimating worse creatures later and it didnt work.
This list is generally what the deck is like. I do sometimes swap around my reanimation targets and mess with the ratio of reanimation and distruption but this is an idea of what the deck is like.
I got the selesnya one mainly for the alt art Trostani voja token and it looked fun. I enjoy it theycplay similarly to duel decks wich I really like. I'm hoping the ones for ravnica allegiance have teysa Orzohv scion as the alt art foil.
I find this new trend of making the females all covered up and ugly really dumb. As a female player i dont really get what this i seven supposed to achieve. i started playing a month or two before return to Ravnica came out and ive never had a problem with the "sexualized" as some people put it art work. In fact some of my favorite pieces were and still are Innistrad vampires ,Liliana of the veil and Teysa envoy of ghosts(one of my top 5 favorite mtg arts) among others. And they looked good and we rent afraid to show some skin. Since a lot of these artworks showed creatures that were cool and at least somewhat powerful(not necessarily game play wise) i just kind of saw them showing of there body as a way to visually show that they were confident in themselves. Also having some characters in sexier out fits can be used as a design choice when creating characters to convey other things as well. Like not every female character needs to show some skin to look good but if theres no major reason they shouldn't then i dont see how its a problem. I always thought characters like Teysa and Liliana were really cool and probably how female characters should be designed for fiction in general. they were attractive with well designed art powerful confident and cunning but they still had flaws.
Ive been annoyed with the way theyve changed the art work were they feel a need make a lot of female art work bland and make them less beautiful. Also making Its not all bad like i really like Judith's and the new teysas art but there just seems to be alot more bland pieces nowadays and some are even cards like legendary creatures like new radha or admiral Becket brass. Also the whole thing where a bunch of female characters look like dudes i dumb to. like Why would even feminists want the girls to look like dudes dont they want more female representation. I just find the decline in art kindof sad because the cool art was part of what drew me in. And i also really liked the cool female character but im much less likeley to care about characters whose cards have bland art and design.
But the thing that maid me salty enough to make this post is the new teysa art work for the guild kits. Im not sure how they managed to mess it up is beyond me seeing how all her other arts have been good. Like they completely changed her design. her face looks wierd and not like teysa. They completely changed her outfit. All her other artwork gave the impression she was confident, charismatic, cunning, enigmatic and an aristocrat. Like she looked like she new she was better than everyone and liked it. now she looks like generic wizard.
Im just not sure why there changing it like this. i was never even aware this was a problem until they started changing it. Like even if they want cover up female characters to appease well certain demographics i see no reason why this should also involve bland composition and design.
Also just to be clear i really dont want to direct the criticism at the artists. Ive always had a huge respect for what they do. More so i think this change is the fault of art directors.
My dad said he felt like the aggro approach was most effective so ill start with that.
One idea I have was to run it as gruul aggro deck that runs dinosaurs in the 3 drop slot. It would run wild nactl and burning tree-emissary. Along side the traditional dino cards. Im thinking of running a cascade spell at the top of the curve. Either bloodbraid elf or Bitumonous blast. The elf would make it so i could splash white to make nactl even better and let him play sunwing. Also a bit faster. However blast lets the deck cascade into 4 drops and is easier on my wallet. Though Im unsure if the blast would actually be better than charging monstrosaur in this case since thered already be plenty of card advantage from 4 ripjaw raptors and the blast is just a really over priced removal spell.
The other idea is to do an aggro plan that uses more white. This would let the deck runsiegehorn ceratops and the white one drops. Could still benefit from wild nactl. Though id take out burning tree. Mana is a bit awkward because it wants three colors and is an aggro deck. The unclaimed territories should help. It helps that he already owns most of the cards for this version so i may be able to fit some cheap duals in the budget though that would be a nonbo with nactl so id take her out.
Theres the jund dinosaur deck on strictly better mtg combining death touch from Status // Statue and the pinger dinosaurs. Seems fun but might be a bit slow and inconsistent. Does nothing turn 1. ramps turn 2. and plays a 4 drop turn 3. But then it also runs tetzimoc wich wants the deck to leave mana open while the deck wants to curve out. Im not sure if theres a way to improve the deck with cards outside of standard because its very different from the decks i play so dont really know cards for it.
Theres going all in on ramp. Or finding a way to cheat out gishath to play a bunch of the big dinosaurs as well.
anyways whats the best way to build dinosaurs on a budget. Those were the ideas i had for it.
Ill consider dropping the ashen rider down to one. I think it's a really cool card so it will at least stay as a one of. Already it's not as degenerate as he was in the pox version I ran. It was brutal 1v1 and my opponents had no lands. And I had some other staxish angels like archangel of tithes and stoic angel.
I'm also consider running it as a more mid-range deck using everafter or unburial rites. And maybe some effects like final parting and corpse conesuer. And then whatever cheap(money and cmc wise) discard and removal that's in my colors to stall. I'm not sure if this would help though. Especially since my mid-range decks also tend to dominate due to how much disruption i like to pack. Like its nothing fancy. But 2mana removal spells and duress put in a lot of work.
Nothing really for modern . Have a bunch of the cheap aristocrats cards. A bunch of copies of 2 mana black removal spells and lingering souls. 2 vampire nocturnuses and a good amount of other vampires. Also 1 copy of fatal push and dismember.
Colors you like to play
My main colors are black and white. But every color brings something and I enjoy most of them though I usually like to have at least white or black. I love the Orzohv color pairing.
Style you like to play (control, combo, aggro, midrange, tempo, ramp, rogue)
Ive been a kitchen table player my favorite decks to play are probably b/w/x midrange, vampires ,reanimator, aristocrats, and various mono black decks. I play aggro sometimes but like to put in lots of disruption.
I'm also interested in tokens and 8rack though I've never really played either.
Budget you have $100
Level you want to play at, or aim to build up to (causal, fmn, ptq)
Mainly looking to play at fnm level. But would also like to bring down the power level a bit for casual as well though not a must.
Also maybe show up to Saturday commander to. Cause I already have a bunch of good upgrades for edgar. So mainly just need to pick up some of the cheaper duals and maybe some more vamps. That I'd end up using kitchen table anyways even if I don't like the commander group. And the events free so why not.
I'll probably put together some side boards for the decks. Because I find between duress and the draw from red I can usually get through the removal in most of the decks besides for the monoblack/orzhov midrange/control deck I sometimes have built. And the grave hate is a dead card against most of the decks.
Im unsure how i should start playing at my lgs again. I could do drafts but like my experience with drafts is i dont actually use most of the cards i open after words and that 15$ could be spent on working on a constructed deck. Also it would be harder for me to go as often because of 15$ per event.
For constructed I have standard modern and edh to choose from.
My lgs offers a free commander event on Saturdays thats casual and they mention that its supposed to be very casual and they encourage new and inexperienced players to come. I have an edgar markov precon that i could upgrade a bit with cards i own from my collection plus picking up some cards. I have a lot of vampires and some other cards i think would go in well. I dont want to build my own deck until i get a feel for the format and meta. Out of the three precons i have Edgar Oloro and jeleva. edgar is probably my favorite and the one id have the easiest time upgrading.
Im not sure between standard or modern wich i would choose. My other lgs has free events for both on fridays. Im currently not really that interested in standard but that could change once my favorite guilds rakdos and orzhov come. As it is right now id probably play vampires. Im also not a fan of having to replace my deck with rotation. As much as i like being able to play new decks having to make new decks when standard rotates could get expensive. Modern on the other hand is a seep up front cost but i might be able to make a playable budget version of something like tokens, aristocrats, or 8 rack. Or maybe the abzan rites list on mtg goldfish. Those are the decks that interest me that might work as a starting point.
Anyways wich of these is the best option to start playing at my lgs without having to drop a ton of money. I want to figure out where i should put my money. Id probably want to spend about 100$ at the most to start for constructed though id be hesitant to spend that much on standard because of rotation.
The problem is its better than most of the other decks i play against lately. There also budget. Ive mostly been playing against my dad lately since my friends are away cause college and he plays dinosaurs. I also let him use my decks as well mainly ub pirates, various vampire decks, aristocrats, mono black and some duel decks. There all budget decks. This deck ends up beating these decks much of the time. Its just to fast unless it whiffs which it doesnt to much because of flash back on faithless looting. Its not that fun to play beyond the satisfaction of playing big angels because of this.
Ive ran it mono black before using pox and small pox as discard and archangel of tithes and stoic angel instead of some of the big beaters but it was very inconsistent and painted to much of a target on my head cause i played a lot more multiplayer when it was built like this. Ive also tried lowering the focus on reanimator and putting in cards like pack rats and lingering souls in with smallpox but that just dint work well. Also tried putting in less reanimation spells for more distruption and some 4 and 5 drops but i kept having to discard said 4-5 drops and then when it came time to reanimate i was just reanimating worse creatures later and it didnt work.
This list is generally what the deck is like. I do sometimes swap around my reanimation targets and mess with the ratio of reanimation and distruption but this is an idea of what the deck is like.
3x Reya Dawnbringer
4x Ashen Rider
2x Angel of Serenity
3x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
4x Animate Dead
4x Exhume
discard
4x Cathartic Reunion
4x Faithless Looting
1x Ultimate Price
3x Lightning Axe
4 Duress
4 Nomad Outpost
10 Swamp
10 Mountain