I love when people play cascade, hit removal, and feel obliged to cast the spell despite there being no valid targets on their opponent's board. I had an empty board, my opponent played the elf, hit terminate, and promptly killed his elf as though he had no choice. His buddy tells him after the game "you know you don't have to play the cascaded spell. you could have just put it on the bottom with the rest." he was quite frustrated.
Not only that, he couldn't have legally targetted his elf with the Terminate as it wasn't in play yet.
Not sure if you think it's out of your price range or not, but Nether Traitor is probably my favorite of the black shadow creatures. Just keeps coming back.
Other than that, I think adding some equipment would be a great inexpensive way to improve the deck. Some ideas:
Gloryscale was the nastiest threat I saw most of the day. If he picks up flying/trample or is able to attack into an empty board, it's nearly always GG.
Upping the Oblivion Ring count to 4 is a cheap adjustment that I think will definitely help out.
I think bumping up to 4 Path to Exiles is a good idea too. It's definitely expensive, but PtE is likely to be a staple card for quite awhile. They hold their value well, which is of course good, and they will probably fit into many of your future decks.
The deck has flavor, but lacks focus I think. Mostly because of the milling - mill is just such an all or nothing strategy.
It essentially has no impact on anything until the last card is flipped and you suddenly win the game. Most of the time you end up helping your opponent by putting stuff into their graveyard. Unearth, reanimation, etc. - there are so many interactions with the graveyard in MTG.
So you've got to mill aggressively for the win or not at all. Right now, the deck is smack in the middle. You've got enough to fill up their yard and give them free ammo, but not enough to really finish them off.
Demonic Dread - Again, cascade is stupid, this gives you a relevant effect and finds you a bear of some sort, which is exactly what the br deck needs. This deck's biggest problem is an early block with a big butt, and this solves that problem and nets advantage at the same time. Going to be really amazing.
Maybe I'm way off (probably), but I actually thought this was probably one of the worst of the Cascade spells. Cascade is so much stronger on the backs of an instant, like the RG one. They swing, you pump your guys and get a surprise blocker out of nowhere. Even the guy that comes into play gets the pump too. Of course anything with Cascade is still very playable in limited, but I can't see Demonic Dread being a top pick common.
Etherwrought Page - this one looks hard to evaluate, but it's really not. 2 life a turn is probably the most backbreaking of these abilities, and it equates to easily over 10 life in most games. When it's not pulling you back from the brink, it's usually going to be improving you card selection, and when you absolutely need it, it's killing your opponents. Card does everything.
Hm, I'm still not sold on this card. If you asked me, would I play Onyx Goblet and Marble Chalice rolled into one card with an ugly mana cost - I'd say no. The saving grace here is the sifting ability, but is that enough to push push it over the edge? The other drawback is you need it out early for it to really have an effect. Can Esper afford missing a critical early turn drop? I dunno. I rate this card as 20th to 23rd insertion in an Esper deck. Am I way off here?
Agree with most of the rest though, thanks for the evaluation! Always helpful to read these.
What are people's thoughts on Winged Coatl? Everyone seemed to be crapping their pants over it when it was first spoiled, but now it seems like it isn't even on most radars. Not a lot of decks will be able to play it, but there's definitely potential there.
Read some of the ARB card evaluation threads in this forum. They might not always be 100% correct, but they'll give you a good basis of how to value the cards you open.
We had someone stupid enough to put a german Bull Cerodon into his deck in a draft with only english product oO
/facepalm
/facepalm
/facepalm
/facepalm
I can't copy and paste that enough times. Just sad.
I'm not sure if this guy was intentionally cheating, but they passed out the prerelease promo at an Onslaught prerelease (it was Silent Specter) with the sealed deck packs. First guy I play is using his prerelease stamped Silent Specter.
As you stated in the first post, you are pretty much the only show in town. While they may be slightly disgruntled, I don't think you are at risk of losing the hardcore guys. There's no where for them to go (save online). If they're not complete morons, they'd recognize that keeping the player base high is what continues to pay for their prizes anyways.
You need to focus on keeping the more casual players interested. Put yourself in their shoes. At the end of the day they are paying more for their packs and they can't even keep the stuff they opened. How demoralizing. They'd be better off just buying the packs at Wal-Mart and opening them at home than drafting with your crew.
When you changed the policy to include rare-redrafting, I'd bet that your hardcore players were the ones most excited about it. The casual players probably just went along with it, not knowing what they were getting into and what the impact of it was. To you, the net result probably looked overwhelming positive since there were no 'nay' votes. Over time, though, the casual players probably started to catch on. To a new player, a couple drafts in a row where they get absolutely blown out and lose $10 with nothing to show for it but a pile of crap commons is devastating.
I am really not understanding why the hardcore players are unhappy with the current prize structure anyways. Between the 4-2-2 and the rare redraft, that already seems pretty steep.
Not only that, he couldn't have legally targetted his elf with the Terminate as it wasn't in play yet.
Other than that, I think adding some equipment would be a great inexpensive way to improve the deck. Some ideas:
Bonesplitter
Banshee's Blade (will get a lot of counters in this deck)
Grafted Wargear
Mask of Memory (awesome card draw in a deck with unblockable creatures like this)
Nightmare Lash
Specter's Shroud
Quietus Spike
Gloryscale was the nastiest threat I saw most of the day. If he picks up flying/trample or is able to attack into an empty board, it's nearly always GG.
I think bumping up to 4 Path to Exiles is a good idea too. It's definitely expensive, but PtE is likely to be a staple card for quite awhile. They hold their value well, which is of course good, and they will probably fit into many of your future decks.
It essentially has no impact on anything until the last card is flipped and you suddenly win the game. Most of the time you end up helping your opponent by putting stuff into their graveyard. Unearth, reanimation, etc. - there are so many interactions with the graveyard in MTG.
So you've got to mill aggressively for the win or not at all. Right now, the deck is smack in the middle. You've got enough to fill up their yard and give them free ammo, but not enough to really finish them off.
If you want specific advice, posting your sealed pool and then the deck you built out of it would be a great starting point.
Maybe I'm way off (probably), but I actually thought this was probably one of the worst of the Cascade spells. Cascade is so much stronger on the backs of an instant, like the RG one. They swing, you pump your guys and get a surprise blocker out of nowhere. Even the guy that comes into play gets the pump too. Of course anything with Cascade is still very playable in limited, but I can't see Demonic Dread being a top pick common.
Hm, I'm still not sold on this card. If you asked me, would I play Onyx Goblet and Marble Chalice rolled into one card with an ugly mana cost - I'd say no. The saving grace here is the sifting ability, but is that enough to push push it over the edge? The other drawback is you need it out early for it to really have an effect. Can Esper afford missing a critical early turn drop? I dunno. I rate this card as 20th to 23rd insertion in an Esper deck. Am I way off here?
Agree with most of the rest though, thanks for the evaluation! Always helpful to read these.
What are people's thoughts on Winged Coatl? Everyone seemed to be crapping their pants over it when it was first spoiled, but now it seems like it isn't even on most radars. Not a lot of decks will be able to play it, but there's definitely potential there.
/facepalm
/facepalm
/facepalm
/facepalm
I can't copy and paste that enough times. Just sad.
I'm not sure if this guy was intentionally cheating, but they passed out the prerelease promo at an Onslaught prerelease (it was Silent Specter) with the sealed deck packs. First guy I play is using his prerelease stamped Silent Specter.
Add Greater Gargadon. Sac your board to it in response to the Restore Balance leaving one time counter on it. Fun times.
You need to focus on keeping the more casual players interested. Put yourself in their shoes. At the end of the day they are paying more for their packs and they can't even keep the stuff they opened. How demoralizing. They'd be better off just buying the packs at Wal-Mart and opening them at home than drafting with your crew.
When you changed the policy to include rare-redrafting, I'd bet that your hardcore players were the ones most excited about it. The casual players probably just went along with it, not knowing what they were getting into and what the impact of it was. To you, the net result probably looked overwhelming positive since there were no 'nay' votes. Over time, though, the casual players probably started to catch on. To a new player, a couple drafts in a row where they get absolutely blown out and lose $10 with nothing to show for it but a pile of crap commons is devastating.
I am really not understanding why the hardcore players are unhappy with the current prize structure anyways. Between the 4-2-2 and the rare redraft, that already seems pretty steep.