I was running a pretty similar build with Sedris, the Traitor King - I basically just wheeled, play mana rocks, wheeled some more, played more mana rocks, then played my general, and won with creatures pulled from the grave (via my general). I like your plan slightly better since it doesn't rely as much on creatures, but it does force you to keep your general in play, which can be a bit awkward and require some protection, which can be tough to provide with a deck that wants to wheel a lot.
There were a few cards that were absolutely critical to my original plan, which I think are applicable here.
Wheel Effects:
The list is long here, there are a bunch of options, but the best ones are below. Wheel of Fate cannot be understated - setting that up on turn 2, only to wheel on turn 3 or 4 before it goes off again on turn 5 is pretty hilarious, and can pretty much ensure a win. Noone will expect you to wheel the turn before the other one comes off of suspend. But Molten Psyche is by far the best of all of the wheels when it comes to win-con's. Casting multiple wheels is the best defense against people making the most of the wheel effects - don't let them re-sculpt their hands and develop a new way to find a way to win.
* Time Spiral was a card that I didn't use because it defeated Sedris, but it may be a very good option in your build.
Acceleration:
This cannot be understated. This is the most important part of the deck by far - without acceleration this deck is easily targeted and picked apart in multiplayer or against 1v1 aggro. If you give a ton of cards to everyone then you need to be able to draw at least one mana-rock every time you wheel, so that you can play as much as your hand as possible and wheel again. I found the Signets to be especially clutch at filtering colorless mana from cards like thran dynamo and the like. I like to shoot for 20 mana rocks in this strategy, the key ones in my experience are listed below.
I can't stress how important these are - being able to go find a wheel ASAP is key. And putting Reforge the soul on top with mystical or Personal tutor was always clutch. Also, tutoring for artifact ramping was also key - ramp is really key to this type of deck winning, you need to be able to do multiple wheels in a turn if you want to win...otherwise people will just focus on you in multi-player once they see what is going on. If you could tutor on turn 1 or 2, while playing acceleration on either 1 or 2, then wheeling on turn 3 I found that it not only dramatically helped the game-plan of the deck, but it usually completely mana-screwed my opponents - so having that turn 3 (or even 4) wheel can be pretty clutch for this deck to win. If you're in a playgroup that utilizes paris mulligans this becomes SOOO much easier to do, but it can get annoying to your friends too - so proceed with caution. The reality is that any hand With Tezz' in it was typically a winning deck because I could start by un-tapping rocks and then go get memory Jar - so I wouldn't play this build without Tezz. Similar things could be said about Trinket mage - getting acceleration (sol ring) or fixing (arti-lands) makes this guy 100% crucial to success. Be careful not to get too caught up in a full trinx package though, because SDT is less than ideal in a wheel deck.
The importance of bringing back spells from the grave cannot be overstated here. Not only does this allow multiple uses from your tutored spells, but also it alleviates the pressure of determining whether or not you should wheel or not...the answer always becomes yes. Also, these are your finishers - so something that combo's with wheels can be important...although since your general already does that, it's less important in this deck than it was in my Sedris Build. I played more dudes in my Sedris build, but these were the guys that were key to the wheel effects. My other favorites included, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Olivia Voldaren, Thraximundar, Urabrask the Hidden, and Deadeye Navigator.
Bounce is the key here, IMO. Cheap delay tactics forcing stuff into people's hands before you wheel is great, and it gives some nice protection options to what can be pretty key creatures (like Niv, etc), or gives you reuse for snapcaster and your guys that get spells back from the grave...or it can just be a better answer to tough indestructible creatures. But sometimes you just need straight-out removal too. Ral is nice if you're trying to force through some damage or if you want to untap mana-rocks - if nothing else he may just be a good distraction. I've found counter magic to be relatively ineffective in a deck that is looking to wheel as often as possible - counter-spells lend themselves more to control decks that are looking sculpt their hands...this is not a control deck, it is a combo deck. There are a few exceptions (obviously) like cryptic command that can bounce and/or counter. The other nice piece of control is land destruction - it's not pervasive and repetitive...but it's nice to have another element that can delay your opponents. (Also, consider lands like Crosis's Catacombs, Dimir Aqueduct, Izzet Boilerworks, and Rakdos Carnarium so you can make multiple uses of bojuka bog if you need to - this helps against decks with heavy graveyard strategies, but also you can bounce a land if you are trying to force through something like devestation). I didn't ever play this whole list - I usually stuck to about 10 control cards and relied on tutors and wheel effects to go find them when I need them.
Sometimes there are just cards that you need to play with...these cards fall in that realm - some of them are absolutely critical (Geth's Grimoire), while others are just for funsies. It's actually pretty easy to set up a mill strategy here as well, but you need to be careful because you'll often be drawing more cards than the opponent, so that needs to be considered. My wins with this deck often occurred with less than 15 cards left in my library at turn 7 or 8. I really like cards like beacon and spelltwine because they can act as sideboard cards against graveyard decks or they can act as win-cons against combo decks.
I was running a pretty similar build with Sedris, the Traitor King - I basically just wheeled, play mana rocks, wheeled some more, played more mana rocks, then played my general, and won with creatures pulled from the grave (via my general). I like your plan slightly better since it doesn't rely as much on creatures, but it does force you to keep your general in play, which can be a bit awkward and require some protection, which can be tough to provide with a deck that wants to wheel a lot.
There were a few cards that were absolutely critical to my original plan, which I think are applicable here.
Tutors:
I can't stress how important these are - being able to go find a wheel ASAP is key. And putting Reforge the soul on top with mystical or Personal tutor was always clutch. Also, tutoring for artifact ramping was also key - ramp is really key to this type of deck winning, you need to be able to do multiple wheels in a turn if you want to win...otherwise people will just focus on you in multi-player once they see what is going on. If you could tutor on turn 1 or 2, while playing acceleration on either 1 or 2, then wheeling on turn 3 I found that it not only dramatically helped the gameplan of the deck, but it usually completely mana-screwed my opponents - so having that turn 3 (or even 4) wheel can be pretty clutch for this deck to win. If you're in a playgroup that utilizes paris mulligans this becomes SOOO much easier to do, but it can get annoying to your friends too - so proceed with caution.
The importance of bringing back spells from the grave cannot be overstated here. Not only does this allow multiple uses from your tutored spells, but also it alleviates the pressure of determining whether or not you should wheel or not...the answer always becomes yes. Also, these are your finishers - so something that combo's with wheels can be important...although since your general already does that, it's less important in this deck than it was in my Sedris Build.
The list is long here, there are a bunch of options, but the best ones are below. Wheel of Fate cannot be understated - setting that up on turn 2, only to wheel on turn 3 or 4 before it goes off again on turn 5 is pretty hilarious, and can pretty much ensure a win. Noone will expect you to wheel the turn before the other one comes off of suspend. But Molten Psyche is by far the best of all of the wheels when it comes to win-con's.
Bounce is the key here, IMO. Cheap delay tactics forcing stuff into people's hands before you wheel is great, and it gives some nice protection options to what can be pretty key creatures (like Niv, etc), or gives you reuse for snapcaster and your guys that get spells back from the grave...or it can just be a better answer to tough indestructible creatures. But sometimes you just need straight-out removal too. Ral is nice if you're trying to force through some damage or if you want to untap mana-rocks - if nothing else he may just be a good distraction. I've found counter magic to be relatively ineffective in a deck that is looking to wheel as often as possible - counter-spells lend themselves more to control decks that are looking sculpt their hands...this is not a control deck, it is a combo deck. There are a few exceptions (obviously) like cryptic command that can bounce and/or counter.
Sometimes there are just cards that you need to play with...these cards fall in that realm - some of them are absolutely critical (Geth's Grimoire), while others are just for funsies. It's actually pretty easy to set up a mill strategy here as well, but you need to be careful because you'll often be drawing more cards than the opponent, so that needs to be considered. My wins with this deck often occurred with less than 15 cards left in my library at turn 7 or 8.
This cannot be understated. This is the most important part of the deck by far - without acceleration this deck is easily targeted and picked apart in multiplayer or against 1v1 aggro. you need to be able to draw multiple mana-rocks every time you wheel, so that you can play as much as your hand as possible and wheel again. I found the Signets to be especially clutch at filtering colorless mana from cards like thran dynamo and the like.
I think duskmantle may prove to be very good against thragtusk, and other mid-range ramping strategem - but his play in legacy will be limited at best and he's probably a sideboard card in standard, I wouldn't expect him to stay above $5.
Reckoner is an obvious choice against tusk, so I think this will continue to be strong until tusk is pushed out of the format.
Ut may have something to do with the fact that the majority of cards banned across all formats are generally spells. Printing one or 2 powerful spells can completely warp eternal formats even if it doesn't effect standard at all. Power creep throughout the game is an issue, and if wotc starts trying to improve previously printed spells things could get ugly in a hurry.
Just like one of the above poster said - spell based win con's are really bad when only some spells in exactly 2 colors (so what, 20% of the cards in magic) can interact with these strategies. So when these decks are played the interacrion is destroyed and magic becomes a very different game. Until cards are printed to significantly interact with creatureless decks I'm surr WotC will limit the spells only strategem.
Feel free to play legacy or modern though- there are plenty of combo decks there.
Bah, this is nonsense. People are too friggin' uptight. If that was some Goblin broad with 1/2 a dozen male slaves crawling all over her I don't see that anyone would go out of their way to complain (well, they would now since WotC is setting a DUMB precedent). Objectifying women is what we do as a society - that's why strip clubs and porn exist. Banning a play mat isn't going to change it...and letting a play mat be legal isn't going to promote it. Magic simply isn't the lynch-pin of our society...
And who's taking it upon themselves to take the side of the women who enjoy being submissive? I mean, it's only a freakin' Christian value (love, honor, AND OBEY)! lol. This is just some broad in charge being obsessed with women's lib.
Unfortunately the way the rules are written pretty much anyone can ask you not to use a playmat (or flip it over) or non-WotC sanctioned item (tokens, etc) if they find it offensive. I have a friend that had to flip his playmat in the middle of a tourney because his opponent just wanted to be a d-bag. I'm still waiting for people to start complaining about people it my area using porn cards as tokens....whatev.
Also, as someone who was around at the time, The Dark sucked. As we've learned, new players hate cards with significant drawbacks, and drawbacks has been one way they've historically gave a set a "dark" or "evil" feel.
Personally, I'm liking the speculation that the set will be more gothic/Victorian themed. It's a popular style they haven't really done seriously before.
I don't think so - there are a lot of black cards that have done just fine with drawbacks...sign in blood? Bitterblossom? Necropotence? Yawg's Bargain? And the phyrexian mana seems to also be working out just fine.
I think developers have learned a lot about how to make a set feel dark without making it suck in the past couple of years.
Okay, this question might seem a little weird. Also, I don't know if this belongs here since it isn't strictly homework, but I figured it was better to post it in this thread instead of opening a new one. Anyway, here goes.
Although it may not sound like it from the description below, what I need is actually just a word synonymous with "maximum."
In a game, you have roll a dice and add a number, let's say 1d20 + 10. Once you have done that, you have to compare the number to a table to see how good your roll was.
If the result was 11-15, you earn 1 star. If the result was 16-20, you earn 2 stars. If the result was 21-25, you earn 3 stars. If the result was 26-30, you earn 4 stars. Okay, this is where the word I need comes into play. In the beginning of the game, you can't earn 4 stars - you just aren't cool enough to get that many stars yet. The maximum amount of stars you can earn is 2, even if the result of your d20 + 10 is greater than 20.
Okay, so, what word would you use synonymously with maximum. I've considered using apex or crest, but since English isn't my primary language, I figured I'd run it by some experts before deciding on a word.
I know it's sort of a weird question. : P
Thanks in advance!
Oh, and by the way. Thanks for the help with the grammar stuff. I passed! : D
English is my primary language, but I'm pretty poor when it comes to writing large documents on my own - despite the fact that it's my job for 40 hours a week. Fortunately, NOONE has to do their writing alone these days. Repeatedly using the same word is very common in large documents and can bore a reader quickly - or in a game text (which I've also had a fair share of writing) not being able to use certain words to limit confusion can also be important.
Dictonary.Com and Thesaurus.com are your best friends when you're looking to avoid repeated use of any given word. This website is the single best tool for writers that I've ever come across. (Wiki's are pretty good for material, but for actual words this site rocks).
There are a few things to remember in Canada. First of all
F = 5/9 * C + 32 (or, roughly double the Celcius temp and add 30 to get the F Temperature).
Secondly, Looney's and Tooney's. There is no 1-dollar bill in the canadian currency, and they have 1 and 2 dollar coins.
This is important for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that you can't put a coin in a g-string. So in canadian strip clubs you tip in 5's instead of 1's. You can be a total d-bag and bring american 1's if you want, but you may not get any attention from the strippers. Ultimately it means that you have to tip less often and bring more money. More on Canada strip clubs later.
The currency is also important because you have to remember to spend your change. In the US it's easy to think you're out of money when all you have is a pocket full of change...in Canada that is not the case. Ever come home after a night of drinking with a pocket full of 1's and 5's? Now immagine that those are all coins that are bigger than quarters....yeah.
Third - canadian fall starts in August and ends in September. Canadian winter starts in October and ends in April. I went to school on the canadian/NY border and it routinely hit freezing temperatures in October, and by November it was downright rediculous. It's going to suck for you because your body will not have time to adjust...dress for it.
Fourth -
Beer. Canadian beer is made with some of the cleanest water in the world, it can be kept cold for longer (because of the climate) so it doesn't skunk like american beer, and it's all brewed somewhat locally so it doesn't deal with shipping. Plus the alchol content of beer in Canada is generally higher. A US budwieser and a Candadian budwieser are completely different beers because of all of these things. All of these things mean canadian beer is simply fantastic. Drink as much as you can tollerate without offending your body or sensabilities.
Fifth -
Canadian strip clubs are superior to the clubs in many states, and are in many ways similar to that of Mexico, in that they don't have the pesky limitations regarding alchol and level of nudity that many US states harbor (for instance the stripper needs panties in NY if you're drinking alchol, and in New Jersey she can't show nipples either...mmm pasties and beer). Also, in Canada it's a consumer market. People come from all over NY and the north east to canada for strip clubs, the girls that understand this make a TON of money by understanding exactly what the value of currency is based on what they can do for you (by law...or not)...they are good at their jobs, be sure to enjoy it. Because there is so much demand and so much money to be had, the girls are f'ing smokin'. Go get some.
Sixth -
Canada is the the last great wilderness. It's clean, it's natural, it's simply beautiful. But you'll want to stay inside because it's f'ing cold. lol.
Lastly...
As for coming to NY...Why bother? There is nothing in NY that is close to where you'll be to even consider going to at that time of the year. Syracuse will be 4-6 hours away and you'll have to drive through worst places than Canada to get there (Governeur...sad place, really). If you're dying for some American College girls, you can always head to Potsdamn, NY...but it probably isn't worth it.
Ok, I'm not a cop, lawyer, or judge. However, in my first 10 years of driving I ammassed roughly 40 traffic violations, including everything from "driving too fast for the conditions", "failure to stop", to even a few more obscure violations for stuff like using the wrong license plates. I'm probably the worst driver on the planet, but I've still got my driver's license because I've NEVER plead guilty to ANYTHING. EVER. And NOONE EVER SHOULD.
I don't care if there are 35 witnesses when you ran over a bus-load of kids and their nun teachers coming out of a cathloic school, you don't plead guilty.
Ignore the legality completely. The reality is that many townships and counties rely on traffic tickets for funding. They just want your money. They will get your money. On the good side, most of the people involved (DA's, Judges, etc) understand that the system is completely F'd when it comes to traffic violations, so they will work with you.
You went through a stopsign, you broke the "law", once you acknoledge that you can move on and just work towards reducing the pentalties - but rest assured you will have a penalty in some form...you can hire a lawyer if you want, but then his fee will be your penalty, and you'll probably still end up paying something. You already took the right first step, you plead not-guilty. Your next step is to go to your court date and find out how your municipality works - do you need to send a letter to the DA, do you need to come back to court for "DA night", or can you negotiate a lesser charge with the judge?
However, no matter who you talk to, ignore the legality, and don't ever believe that you will walk out scott-free - it just isn't going to happen. You will pay something and be found guilty of something. Instead, focus on your story:
"I'm a college kid, I've never had a ticket before, I was driving careful (I always do), I don't have money, I can't afford the ticket, I can't afford the insurance change, I can barely afford school as it is, I do well in school....yadda, yadda, yadda." If you can, bring in a character witness, MOM OR DAD ONLY, to verify that you're a good kid. Noone wants to crucify a decent person because they didn't know there was black ice - if you need to, force some tears, whatever works. I once had my father bring a copy of my college grades to a DA...I was amazed how many charges were instantly dropped. Also, noone wants to spend a bunch of time haggling with a kid about failure to stop ticket...there are bigger fish to fry.
This is what you're looking to do - Plead guilty to a lesser charge, preferably something non-moving. Probably something like "failure to obey a traffic device" or "noisy muffler", and you want to get them to assign the minimum monetary penalty - maybe you can get them to waive part of the penalty with the right sob story, but you'll always pay at least a court fee of like $75. (the actual cost of the ticket goes to state coffers and the judge doesn't usually care about state money, but the court fees go to the local municipality so it is almost never waived, since this is how the local munipality survives).
It's an ugly system, but that's the way it works. Don't fight it too hard, just work it. Also, dress decent, be polite, turn off your phone, speak clearly, and don't act like you really understand what's going on. Above all, remember that these same people that you're dealing with are busy dealing with a-holes all day long that are really doing some aweful things, so try and be quick and consice with your statements and move things along - it will help.
I honestly cannot believe that this card will release 1 week prior to a legacy GP. It basically screws with 1/2 of the decks in the format. 1500 people just stopped and said - "ok, do I make room for it, add it, Change decks completely or just loose to it?"
If nothing else it's a free counterspell for Swords that can go in every aggro deck.
But the reality is now control has 8 answers to T1 plays when they are on the draw - which makes blue the redifined powerhouse in Legacy. Watch Force of will rise to $100 each. Counter-top...omg, I can't even begin to fathom the impact....
But there are such widespread implications for this card...it's so hard to explain. It is absolutely, 100% format defining.
This isn't a replacement for Stifle in legacy, it's a supplement.
It also shuts off the time-walk of Emmy, which seems relatively relevent across multiple formats.
Most important though is that it shuts off the fetching of Stoneforge Mystic.
My prediction is this card will see maindeck play in some deck somewhere that is cheating in creatures on the cheaps with big drawbacks - and it will have random impacts against a host of decks. Legacy Aluren pilots just died a little inside when they read this card.
Traditionally new cards have their highest value before they are released (with some notable exceptions). Card cost tends to go down over time as people really look at the card and say "oh, I guess it's not as good as I thought" or "oh, it's still sux when compared to 'goyf".
Shiny wears off.
Another way to look at it is this - when wizzards spoils a card there's an entire article where many people spend a bunch of time reading the article and being drawn to the site and exposed to wizzards marketing for other product. When those articles are about a card that has already been spoiled for a month...guess what? Yeah, people don't read the articles.
There are multiple reasons why wizzards wants to control the release of spoilers. Generally this hurts the marketing for wizzards...will it hurt sales of the individual product? Probably not. It will, however, reduce the amount of marketing face time they get with thier customers - which is a pain in the arse for them, and I sincerely doubt they are happy about it.
Lastly, it's all about anticipation. I assure you that anticipation does just as much for sales as actually showing people what's in the set. It does several things, not the least of which is skewing perception...when you've been waiting for something for a month and you finally see it, it's going to seem pretty cool....It's like when you haven't seen a girl all day because you go to school in an enginnering program, and then you go to a party and hook up with the first girl you see...but when you wake up in the morning and compare her to your past girlfriends you quickly realize the anticpation just wrecked your standards.
The nissa promo was severely abused - basically you could turn in your cupon to multiple stores in the same day because people were slow to enter the codes online. Sometimes people didn't even enter the code at all, meaning that you could go back to the same place multiple times....good fun. Also, Nissa was drastically overprinted - I'd expect nothing less from Hasbro on this one.
There were a few cards that were absolutely critical to my original plan, which I think are applicable here.
Wheel Effects:
The list is long here, there are a bunch of options, but the best ones are below. Wheel of Fate cannot be understated - setting that up on turn 2, only to wheel on turn 3 or 4 before it goes off again on turn 5 is pretty hilarious, and can pretty much ensure a win. Noone will expect you to wheel the turn before the other one comes off of suspend. But Molten Psyche is by far the best of all of the wheels when it comes to win-con's. Casting multiple wheels is the best defense against people making the most of the wheel effects - don't let them re-sculpt their hands and develop a new way to find a way to win.
* Time Spiral was a card that I didn't use because it defeated Sedris, but it may be a very good option in your build.
Acceleration:
This cannot be understated. This is the most important part of the deck by far - without acceleration this deck is easily targeted and picked apart in multiplayer or against 1v1 aggro. If you give a ton of cards to everyone then you need to be able to draw at least one mana-rock every time you wheel, so that you can play as much as your hand as possible and wheel again. I found the Signets to be especially clutch at filtering colorless mana from cards like thran dynamo and the like. I like to shoot for 20 mana rocks in this strategy, the key ones in my experience are listed below.
Tutors:
I can't stress how important these are - being able to go find a wheel ASAP is key. And putting Reforge the soul on top with mystical or Personal tutor was always clutch. Also, tutoring for artifact ramping was also key - ramp is really key to this type of deck winning, you need to be able to do multiple wheels in a turn if you want to win...otherwise people will just focus on you in multi-player once they see what is going on. If you could tutor on turn 1 or 2, while playing acceleration on either 1 or 2, then wheeling on turn 3 I found that it not only dramatically helped the game-plan of the deck, but it usually completely mana-screwed my opponents - so having that turn 3 (or even 4) wheel can be pretty clutch for this deck to win. If you're in a playgroup that utilizes paris mulligans this becomes SOOO much easier to do, but it can get annoying to your friends too - so proceed with caution. The reality is that any hand With Tezz' in it was typically a winning deck because I could start by un-tapping rocks and then go get memory Jar - so I wouldn't play this build without Tezz. Similar things could be said about Trinket mage - getting acceleration (sol ring) or fixing (arti-lands) makes this guy 100% crucial to success. Be careful not to get too caught up in a full trinx package though, because SDT is less than ideal in a wheel deck.
Dudes:
The importance of bringing back spells from the grave cannot be overstated here. Not only does this allow multiple uses from your tutored spells, but also it alleviates the pressure of determining whether or not you should wheel or not...the answer always becomes yes. Also, these are your finishers - so something that combo's with wheels can be important...although since your general already does that, it's less important in this deck than it was in my Sedris Build. I played more dudes in my Sedris build, but these were the guys that were key to the wheel effects. My other favorites included, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Olivia Voldaren, Thraximundar, Urabrask the Hidden, and Deadeye Navigator.
Control:
Bounce is the key here, IMO. Cheap delay tactics forcing stuff into people's hands before you wheel is great, and it gives some nice protection options to what can be pretty key creatures (like Niv, etc), or gives you reuse for snapcaster and your guys that get spells back from the grave...or it can just be a better answer to tough indestructible creatures. But sometimes you just need straight-out removal too. Ral is nice if you're trying to force through some damage or if you want to untap mana-rocks - if nothing else he may just be a good distraction. I've found counter magic to be relatively ineffective in a deck that is looking to wheel as often as possible - counter-spells lend themselves more to control decks that are looking sculpt their hands...this is not a control deck, it is a combo deck. There are a few exceptions (obviously) like cryptic command that can bounce and/or counter. The other nice piece of control is land destruction - it's not pervasive and repetitive...but it's nice to have another element that can delay your opponents. (Also, consider lands like Crosis's Catacombs, Dimir Aqueduct, Izzet Boilerworks, and Rakdos Carnarium so you can make multiple uses of bojuka bog if you need to - this helps against decks with heavy graveyard strategies, but also you can bounce a land if you are trying to force through something like devestation). I didn't ever play this whole list - I usually stuck to about 10 control cards and relied on tutors and wheel effects to go find them when I need them.
Misc:
Sometimes there are just cards that you need to play with...these cards fall in that realm - some of them are absolutely critical (Geth's Grimoire), while others are just for funsies. It's actually pretty easy to set up a mill strategy here as well, but you need to be careful because you'll often be drawing more cards than the opponent, so that needs to be considered. My wins with this deck often occurred with less than 15 cards left in my library at turn 7 or 8. I really like cards like beacon and spelltwine because they can act as sideboard cards against graveyard decks or they can act as win-cons against combo decks.
*Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth was key with Sedris, but it may not be as critical for your general.
Hope that my experience with Sedris helps with your deck development.
There were a few cards that were absolutely critical to my original plan, which I think are applicable here.
Tutors:
I can't stress how important these are - being able to go find a wheel ASAP is key. And putting Reforge the soul on top with mystical or Personal tutor was always clutch. Also, tutoring for artifact ramping was also key - ramp is really key to this type of deck winning, you need to be able to do multiple wheels in a turn if you want to win...otherwise people will just focus on you in multi-player once they see what is going on. If you could tutor on turn 1 or 2, while playing acceleration on either 1 or 2, then wheeling on turn 3 I found that it not only dramatically helped the gameplan of the deck, but it usually completely mana-screwed my opponents - so having that turn 3 (or even 4) wheel can be pretty clutch for this deck to win. If you're in a playgroup that utilizes paris mulligans this becomes SOOO much easier to do, but it can get annoying to your friends too - so proceed with caution.
Dudes:
The importance of bringing back spells from the grave cannot be overstated here. Not only does this allow multiple uses from your tutored spells, but also it alleviates the pressure of determining whether or not you should wheel or not...the answer always becomes yes. Also, these are your finishers - so something that combo's with wheels can be important...although since your general already does that, it's less important in this deck than it was in my Sedris Build.
Wheel Effects:
The list is long here, there are a bunch of options, but the best ones are below. Wheel of Fate cannot be understated - setting that up on turn 2, only to wheel on turn 3 or 4 before it goes off again on turn 5 is pretty hilarious, and can pretty much ensure a win. Noone will expect you to wheel the turn before the other one comes off of suspend. But Molten Psyche is by far the best of all of the wheels when it comes to win-con's.
Control:
Bounce is the key here, IMO. Cheap delay tactics forcing stuff into people's hands before you wheel is great, and it gives some nice protection options to what can be pretty key creatures (like Niv, etc), or gives you reuse for snapcaster and your guys that get spells back from the grave...or it can just be a better answer to tough indestructible creatures. But sometimes you just need straight-out removal too. Ral is nice if you're trying to force through some damage or if you want to untap mana-rocks - if nothing else he may just be a good distraction. I've found counter magic to be relatively ineffective in a deck that is looking to wheel as often as possible - counter-spells lend themselves more to control decks that are looking sculpt their hands...this is not a control deck, it is a combo deck. There are a few exceptions (obviously) like cryptic command that can bounce and/or counter.
Misc:
Sometimes there are just cards that you need to play with...these cards fall in that realm - some of them are absolutely critical (Geth's Grimoire), while others are just for funsies. It's actually pretty easy to set up a mill strategy here as well, but you need to be careful because you'll often be drawing more cards than the opponent, so that needs to be considered. My wins with this deck often occurred with less than 15 cards left in my library at turn 7 or 8.
Acceleration:
This cannot be understated. This is the most important part of the deck by far - without acceleration this deck is easily targeted and picked apart in multiplayer or against 1v1 aggro. you need to be able to draw multiple mana-rocks every time you wheel, so that you can play as much as your hand as possible and wheel again. I found the Signets to be especially clutch at filtering colorless mana from cards like thran dynamo and the like.
Hope that helps.
Reckoner is an obvious choice against tusk, so I think this will continue to be strong until tusk is pushed out of the format.
Just like one of the above poster said - spell based win con's are really bad when only some spells in exactly 2 colors (so what, 20% of the cards in magic) can interact with these strategies. So when these decks are played the interacrion is destroyed and magic becomes a very different game. Until cards are printed to significantly interact with creatureless decks I'm surr WotC will limit the spells only strategem.
Feel free to play legacy or modern though- there are plenty of combo decks there.
And who's taking it upon themselves to take the side of the women who enjoy being submissive? I mean, it's only a freakin' Christian value (love, honor, AND OBEY)! lol. This is just some broad in charge being obsessed with women's lib.
Unfortunately the way the rules are written pretty much anyone can ask you not to use a playmat (or flip it over) or non-WotC sanctioned item (tokens, etc) if they find it offensive. I have a friend that had to flip his playmat in the middle of a tourney because his opponent just wanted to be a d-bag. I'm still waiting for people to start complaining about people it my area using porn cards as tokens....whatev.
I don't think so - there are a lot of black cards that have done just fine with drawbacks...sign in blood? Bitterblossom? Necropotence? Yawg's Bargain? And the phyrexian mana seems to also be working out just fine.
I think developers have learned a lot about how to make a set feel dark without making it suck in the past couple of years.
The dark did suck though...lol.
Sim is a 3 for 1 for 4 mana, he'll see play. There are going to be way too many titans running around not to play him.
English is my primary language, but I'm pretty poor when it comes to writing large documents on my own - despite the fact that it's my job for 40 hours a week. Fortunately, NOONE has to do their writing alone these days. Repeatedly using the same word is very common in large documents and can bore a reader quickly - or in a game text (which I've also had a fair share of writing) not being able to use certain words to limit confusion can also be important.
Dictonary.Com and Thesaurus.com are your best friends when you're looking to avoid repeated use of any given word. This website is the single best tool for writers that I've ever come across. (Wiki's are pretty good for material, but for actual words this site rocks).
F = 5/9 * C + 32 (or, roughly double the Celcius temp and add 30 to get the F Temperature).
Secondly, Looney's and Tooney's. There is no 1-dollar bill in the canadian currency, and they have 1 and 2 dollar coins.
This is important for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that you can't put a coin in a g-string. So in canadian strip clubs you tip in 5's instead of 1's. You can be a total d-bag and bring american 1's if you want, but you may not get any attention from the strippers. Ultimately it means that you have to tip less often and bring more money. More on Canada strip clubs later.
The currency is also important because you have to remember to spend your change. In the US it's easy to think you're out of money when all you have is a pocket full of change...in Canada that is not the case. Ever come home after a night of drinking with a pocket full of 1's and 5's? Now immagine that those are all coins that are bigger than quarters....yeah.
Third - canadian fall starts in August and ends in September. Canadian winter starts in October and ends in April. I went to school on the canadian/NY border and it routinely hit freezing temperatures in October, and by November it was downright rediculous. It's going to suck for you because your body will not have time to adjust...dress for it.
Fourth -
Beer. Canadian beer is made with some of the cleanest water in the world, it can be kept cold for longer (because of the climate) so it doesn't skunk like american beer, and it's all brewed somewhat locally so it doesn't deal with shipping. Plus the alchol content of beer in Canada is generally higher. A US budwieser and a Candadian budwieser are completely different beers because of all of these things. All of these things mean canadian beer is simply fantastic. Drink as much as you can tollerate without offending your body or sensabilities.
Fifth -
Canadian strip clubs are superior to the clubs in many states, and are in many ways similar to that of Mexico, in that they don't have the pesky limitations regarding alchol and level of nudity that many US states harbor (for instance the stripper needs panties in NY if you're drinking alchol, and in New Jersey she can't show nipples either...mmm pasties and beer). Also, in Canada it's a consumer market. People come from all over NY and the north east to canada for strip clubs, the girls that understand this make a TON of money by understanding exactly what the value of currency is based on what they can do for you (by law...or not)...they are good at their jobs, be sure to enjoy it. Because there is so much demand and so much money to be had, the girls are f'ing smokin'. Go get some.
Sixth -
Canada is the the last great wilderness. It's clean, it's natural, it's simply beautiful. But you'll want to stay inside because it's f'ing cold. lol.
Lastly...
As for coming to NY...Why bother? There is nothing in NY that is close to where you'll be to even consider going to at that time of the year. Syracuse will be 4-6 hours away and you'll have to drive through worst places than Canada to get there (Governeur...sad place, really). If you're dying for some American College girls, you can always head to Potsdamn, NY...but it probably isn't worth it.
I don't care if there are 35 witnesses when you ran over a bus-load of kids and their nun teachers coming out of a cathloic school, you don't plead guilty.
Ignore the legality completely. The reality is that many townships and counties rely on traffic tickets for funding. They just want your money. They will get your money. On the good side, most of the people involved (DA's, Judges, etc) understand that the system is completely F'd when it comes to traffic violations, so they will work with you.
You went through a stopsign, you broke the "law", once you acknoledge that you can move on and just work towards reducing the pentalties - but rest assured you will have a penalty in some form...you can hire a lawyer if you want, but then his fee will be your penalty, and you'll probably still end up paying something. You already took the right first step, you plead not-guilty. Your next step is to go to your court date and find out how your municipality works - do you need to send a letter to the DA, do you need to come back to court for "DA night", or can you negotiate a lesser charge with the judge?
However, no matter who you talk to, ignore the legality, and don't ever believe that you will walk out scott-free - it just isn't going to happen. You will pay something and be found guilty of something. Instead, focus on your story:
"I'm a college kid, I've never had a ticket before, I was driving careful (I always do), I don't have money, I can't afford the ticket, I can't afford the insurance change, I can barely afford school as it is, I do well in school....yadda, yadda, yadda." If you can, bring in a character witness, MOM OR DAD ONLY, to verify that you're a good kid. Noone wants to crucify a decent person because they didn't know there was black ice - if you need to, force some tears, whatever works. I once had my father bring a copy of my college grades to a DA...I was amazed how many charges were instantly dropped. Also, noone wants to spend a bunch of time haggling with a kid about failure to stop ticket...there are bigger fish to fry.
This is what you're looking to do - Plead guilty to a lesser charge, preferably something non-moving. Probably something like "failure to obey a traffic device" or "noisy muffler", and you want to get them to assign the minimum monetary penalty - maybe you can get them to waive part of the penalty with the right sob story, but you'll always pay at least a court fee of like $75. (the actual cost of the ticket goes to state coffers and the judge doesn't usually care about state money, but the court fees go to the local municipality so it is almost never waived, since this is how the local munipality survives).
It's an ugly system, but that's the way it works. Don't fight it too hard, just work it. Also, dress decent, be polite, turn off your phone, speak clearly, and don't act like you really understand what's going on. Above all, remember that these same people that you're dealing with are busy dealing with a-holes all day long that are really doing some aweful things, so try and be quick and consice with your statements and move things along - it will help.
Good luck!
If nothing else it's a free counterspell for Swords that can go in every aggro deck.
But the reality is now control has 8 answers to T1 plays when they are on the draw - which makes blue the redifined powerhouse in Legacy. Watch Force of will rise to $100 each. Counter-top...omg, I can't even begin to fathom the impact....
But there are such widespread implications for this card...it's so hard to explain. It is absolutely, 100% format defining.
It also shuts off the time-walk of Emmy, which seems relatively relevent across multiple formats.
Most important though is that it shuts off the fetching of Stoneforge Mystic.
My prediction is this card will see maindeck play in some deck somewhere that is cheating in creatures on the cheaps with big drawbacks - and it will have random impacts against a host of decks. Legacy Aluren pilots just died a little inside when they read this card.
Shiny wears off.
Another way to look at it is this - when wizzards spoils a card there's an entire article where many people spend a bunch of time reading the article and being drawn to the site and exposed to wizzards marketing for other product. When those articles are about a card that has already been spoiled for a month...guess what? Yeah, people don't read the articles.
There are multiple reasons why wizzards wants to control the release of spoilers. Generally this hurts the marketing for wizzards...will it hurt sales of the individual product? Probably not. It will, however, reduce the amount of marketing face time they get with thier customers - which is a pain in the arse for them, and I sincerely doubt they are happy about it.
Lastly, it's all about anticipation. I assure you that anticipation does just as much for sales as actually showing people what's in the set. It does several things, not the least of which is skewing perception...when you've been waiting for something for a month and you finally see it, it's going to seem pretty cool....It's like when you haven't seen a girl all day because you go to school in an enginnering program, and then you go to a party and hook up with the first girl you see...but when you wake up in the morning and compare her to your past girlfriends you quickly realize the anticpation just wrecked your standards.