Something this week's format made me think about: It's often the case that Land Rule means multicolored cards are Just Better than monocolored cards, since a large part of their designed cost is thrown out the window. This probably isn't interesting enough to be a whole format, but it made me think about something along the lines of "Costs are increased by 1 (or maybe 4 life, or something?) for each color of mana they require beyond the first." (note that this hits activation costs etc. as well). In the current meta, this format would probably just lead to even greater polarization around Dark Depths than usual, so maybe add "Only colored cards may be submitted."
I haven't been around for a 2HG round if it's been done, sounds fun! (And @Superbajt, the 2HG suggestion was for a normal single-player format, not a team format).
As for actual teams, could be interesting... I think it might need to be an external thing though? Like maybe some months of the now-established Limited PHM game could be Team Sealed, with teams of 3 say, and you have to submit decks from one sealed pool that don't overlap, and which are only scored against decks from other teams.
Well, you DID do better against the field, except the mirror! Angel was definitely on my radar, but I anticipated more removal – there was actually none outside of Superbajt's deck! It's certainly a fine choice.
It's kind of amazing that three people wanted to run land hate that would've been really good, but then no one did. I thought about it in the abstract too but for some reason didn't get as far as planning out decks – I started out looking at counterspell builds, and then at "can't be countered" builds, and that led me to Summoning, and then I was too excited about Summoning + Voidstone to consider anything else.
We all agree that I win when I'm on the draw, right?
No, my writeup has us at 2-2, with the same logic you wrote up above regarding why we draw when I'm on the draw. When you're on the draw, I was saying that I think even though you get to attack with 6 when I have only Voidstone, I go 10 -> 4 -> 2 -> stable. Am I missing something?
Voidstone Gargoyle is pretty good against 3 cards with the same name. 6-0
2) CalvinSchwa
Iona, Shield of Emeria / Leyline of Lifeforce // 3x Lotus Vale
Voidstone is also good against only one card. 6-0
3) Magus of the Aesthetic :: I Didn't Playtest This At All
Rude Awakening / Progenitus // 3x Lotus Vale
As above. 6-0
4) ManyCookies
Angel of Sanctions / Savage Summoning / Voidstone Gargoyle // 2x Lotus Vale
Cool deck! I think we draw? If someone plays Summoning, the opponent will respond with Summoning and then Gargoyle on the other card, then two Gargoyles will stare at each other. If we trade, I do nothing until you play Sanctions, and then Sigarda is bigger. 2-2
See below, 6-0
5) MyNameIsFourteen :: Banned Cards May Be More Legal Than They Appear
Render Silent / White Sun's Zenith // 3x Lotus Vale
Looking at ManyCookies's logic above, on the draw I could end up with a 6/6 Sigarda and a 3/4 Void vs your 6 cats. That does not allow me to race. Come to think of it, it doesn't allow ManyCookies to race either - 5 2/2s kills in two turns, a 3/3 and a 4/5 in 3. However, it does let me survive: You swing with 6 and I block and kill 2, going to 12. Then you swing with 4 and I block and kill 2, going to 8. Then I would win, so, instead, you don't do that.
On the play, you get to attack before I have two things, but it's still enough to block and survive. I go to 10, then to 4, and then to 2, but survive. I think this is likely the same for ManyCookies? 2-2
If you ever tap out to get Hammer back, I play Sigarda. You have to council. Then I can Savage + Void naming hammer and win. Oh actually even before you tap for Hammer, I can just Savage + Void naming Judgment right away, and the 4/4 Gargoyle easily races Hammer. 6-0
I imagine the idea is that Black Only pushes you heavily towards discard, which invalidates a lot of strategies. The Library clause just opens up the format, it's not really something you can take advantage of (since it says "controlled by a player's opponent").
pick 1: I think mutavault is a potentially strong pick that you've omitted, since it's ELR. Gaea's Touch is also a surprisingly real card, I think. Overall I do agree that Mobilization is the clear strongest from an overall weak pack, and I also picked it. Notably, nobody ran anything else from this pack.
Donate is obviously potentially very strong, but it's a weird card to pick blind, you're so totally at the mercy of the rest of the draft. Immortal Coil probably just isn't good enough, either, it's too easy to have things in your graveyard or not take damage. I think it's more or less gotta be Illusions. This is the kind of thing that makes me a bit skeptical about the draft format.
pick 2: I was in the same spot as you for this pick, and was also very tempted by Maelstrom Pulse. I really value versatility in PHM in general and especially in a limited-info format like this, so I ended up going for the slightly slower version that's also a wincon, and more easily recurrable. Beacon was the other card I considered seriously, honestly everything else seemed kinda meh. I think it's really a cut above all the other cards you listed. It's also the only nonsliver from this pack that saw any success - somehow nobody ran Pulse! Though I bet several people drafted it.
pick 3: this pick was very straightforward for me since I had sliver, but I did spend some time agonizing about Skull Fracture. In the end I figured pitching sliver to it was fine with anurid, and it was such a scary card that probably other people would draft to avoid it. This doesn't seem to have really happened, as Skull Fracture scored quite well.
I kinda skimmed over Constant Mists, but you're right, it's worth considering. Though not amazing against Skull Fracture.
pick 4: kinda surprised to see that Sorin did the best of cards played from this pack. I thought Anachronity's Summer Bloom call was going to be great when I first saw it, but it seems not so much. Overall this pack had nothing for me, I think Frosty is a slightly stronger card than Capsize and therefore picked it, but it was between those two. I guess I was wrong though, the one Capsize outplaced the one Frosty.
Battlemage is powerful but I agree with your assessment that it's way too slow in this draft.
pick 5: obviously agree with your pick :) I think you were a little too scared of Dread in your analysis, since it was so early in the draft and we didn't know there wouldn't be any Paths (aside from Ulamog) in the draft. In the end I think it would've been quite strong actually.
Hey thanks for doing that MyNameIsFourteen! I'ma try to read and respond to some of it later.
For now I just wanted to point out, in case anyone didn't notice: Four of us picked Arcane Denial, and we came in 1st-4th. I spent the whole draft feeling the lack of countermagic, and when the best one suddenly showed up in pack 5 I had to force myself to slow down and read the rest of it just to make sure.
Oh yeah and my other two picks were Mobilization and Frost Titan, if anyone's curious. I wasn't happy with Titan, but I was pretty sure I wasn't running anything from that pack anyway, and it was at least something that had the potential to do two things – lock something down and also win.
this one definitely felt more interesting than the last one, it's unfortunately been too long for me to remember my exact thought processes, but i remember feeling like i had a sense of the shape of the options and could make choices in light of what i expected to be strong. so whatever changes you made, good job!
Hm, seems like people are pretty ready for Dark Depths these days. 0-6
3) Magus of the Aesthetic
Field of Ruin / Innocent Blood / Scythe Tiger
On my play I can get Marit past Field on turn 6, and then either you played Tiger and thus can't Blood, or you didn't and I have time to get another one before you can win. On your play, you can lead with Tiger and still activate Field on turn 4, which means I don't get Marit until 6. You then hit me for the 6th time on your turn 7, which isn't quite enough. 6-0.
4) ManyCookies :: Swan Dive
Dark Depths / Swan Song / Thespian's Stage
3-3
5) MyNameIsFourteen :: Depths is Gonna Wreck Me
Delirium Skeins / Mental Misstep / Riftwing Cloudskate
Actually I think Cloudskate is good enough when you're on the play? We can't make Marit until turn 4. 3-3
This was quite fun, but I'm not sure I think the draft format was really why. It's kind of annoying to try to guess what's going to show up later based on what's here now, knowing that a knowledgeable player made the decision but not knowing for sure what decision they made. It makes it feel more like we're playing against Feyd than each other.
Pick 5 was also kind of annoying – I felt like I'd better have a playable deck by pick 4, and drafted accordingly, but then nothing in pack 5 felt like it could really fit.
I honestly think what we really want is sealed rather than draft. I've done quite a lot of duplicate-sealed PHM privately, and it's very fun. We've never done designed pools, we usually pick like 20 cards at random, weighted towards higher rarities so the cards are more interesting, but I think it could work very well with a designed pool too.
Basically, I think what's interesting here is PHM with a very small pool and PHM with designed tension in the pool, but not so much PHM with limited information about the future.
Nyxathid is a cute way to have a legal 2-turn clock, but I dunno about Scales with two 3-CMC guys. On your play, if you start with Scales I start with just Boldwyr. If you attack, I block one and win. If you don't, I just wait for Scales to eat your guys and itself. If you don't start with Scales, I start with Bitterblossom, and the 1/1s can chump if you attack. If you don't, they win in the air. On my play, I start with just Boldwyr, and if you don't start with Scales I can play Bitterblossom t2, and then if you play Scales I Claim it. If you do start with Scales, it's the same as on your play. 6-0.
I spent some time thinking about gaining infinite life, and some time thinking about Aristocrat as a sac outlet, but didn't quite make it here. This is very nice. 0-6.
5) Magus of the Aesthetic :: Look Ma, No Lands!
Blighted Agent / Clout of the Dominus / Pithing Needle
7) MyNameIsFourteen :: Chad Tribal
Gideon of the Trials / Gideon, Ally of Zendikar / Soldevi Digger
As you say, 6-0.
9) WhammeWhamme
Enduring Renewal / Necrotic Sliver / Thran Dynamo
Start with nothing, Claim Renewal, and then whichever of my threats survives is enough. Claim is an instant so you can't do anything fancy with holding Renewal. 6-0.
As for actual teams, could be interesting... I think it might need to be an external thing though? Like maybe some months of the now-established Limited PHM game could be Team Sealed, with teams of 3 say, and you have to submit decks from one sealed pool that don't overlap, and which are only scored against decks from other teams.
It's kind of amazing that three people wanted to run land hate that would've been really good, but then no one did. I thought about it in the abstract too but for some reason didn't get as far as planning out decks – I started out looking at counterspell builds, and then at "can't be countered" builds, and that led me to Summoning, and then I was too excited about Summoning + Voidstone to consider anything else.
No, my writeup has us at 2-2, with the same logic you wrote up above regarding why we draw when I'm on the draw. When you're on the draw, I was saying that I think even though you get to attack with 6 when I have only Voidstone, I go 10 -> 4 -> 2 -> stable. Am I missing something?
Savage Summoning / Sigarda, Host of Herons / Voidstone Gargoyle // 2x Lotus Vale
vs.
1) Anachronity
Bargain / Serra Ascendant / Serra Ascendant / Serra Ascendant // 1x Lotus Vale
Voidstone Gargoyle is pretty good against 3 cards with the same name. 6-0
2) CalvinSchwa
Iona, Shield of Emeria / Leyline of Lifeforce // 3x Lotus Vale
Voidstone is also good against only one card. 6-0
3) Magus of the Aesthetic :: I Didn't Playtest This At All
Rude Awakening / Progenitus // 3x Lotus Vale
As above. 6-0
4) ManyCookies
Angel of Sanctions / Savage Summoning / Voidstone Gargoyle // 2x Lotus Vale
Cool deck! I think we draw?
If someone plays Summoning, the opponent will respond with Summoning and then Gargoyle on the other card, then two Gargoyles will stare at each other. If we trade, I do nothing until you play Sanctions, and then Sigarda is bigger. 2-2See below, 6-0
5) MyNameIsFourteen :: Banned Cards May Be More Legal Than They Appear
Render Silent / White Sun's Zenith // 3x Lotus Vale
Looking at ManyCookies's logic above, on the draw I could end up with a 6/6 Sigarda and a 3/4 Void vs your 6 cats. That does not allow me to race. Come to think of it, it doesn't allow ManyCookies to race either - 5 2/2s kills in two turns, a 3/3 and a 4/5 in 3. However, it does let me survive: You swing with 6 and I block and kill 2, going to 12. Then you swing with 4 and I block and kill 2, going to 8. Then I would win, so, instead, you don't do that.
On the play, you get to attack before I have two things, but it's still enough to block and survive. I go to 10, then to 4, and then to 2, but survive. I think this is likely the same for ManyCookies? 2-2
See below, 1-4
6) Superbajt
Council's Judgment / Disallow / Hammer of Bogardan // 2x Lotus Vale
If you ever tap out to get Hammer back, I play Sigarda. You have to council. Then I can Savage + Void naming hammer and win. Oh actually even before you tap for Hammer, I can just Savage + Void naming Judgment right away, and the 4/4 Gargoyle easily races Hammer. 6-0
8) WhammeWhamme
Dark Depths / Disallow / Disallow / Thespian's Stage // 1x Lotus Vale
I can block Marit a couple times but it doesn't matter. 0-6
7 | 6 6 6 6 1 6 X 0 | 31
ManyCookies, take a look at my match vs MyNameIsFourteen, I think it's a little different than you said. Though probably the same score.
pick 1: I think mutavault is a potentially strong pick that you've omitted, since it's ELR. Gaea's Touch is also a surprisingly real card, I think. Overall I do agree that Mobilization is the clear strongest from an overall weak pack, and I also picked it. Notably, nobody ran anything else from this pack.
Donate is obviously potentially very strong, but it's a weird card to pick blind, you're so totally at the mercy of the rest of the draft. Immortal Coil probably just isn't good enough, either, it's too easy to have things in your graveyard or not take damage. I think it's more or less gotta be Illusions. This is the kind of thing that makes me a bit skeptical about the draft format.
pick 2: I was in the same spot as you for this pick, and was also very tempted by Maelstrom Pulse. I really value versatility in PHM in general and especially in a limited-info format like this, so I ended up going for the slightly slower version that's also a wincon, and more easily recurrable. Beacon was the other card I considered seriously, honestly everything else seemed kinda meh. I think it's really a cut above all the other cards you listed. It's also the only nonsliver from this pack that saw any success - somehow nobody ran Pulse! Though I bet several people drafted it.
pick 3: this pick was very straightforward for me since I had sliver, but I did spend some time agonizing about Skull Fracture. In the end I figured pitching sliver to it was fine with anurid, and it was such a scary card that probably other people would draft to avoid it. This doesn't seem to have really happened, as Skull Fracture scored quite well.
I kinda skimmed over Constant Mists, but you're right, it's worth considering. Though not amazing against Skull Fracture.
pick 4: kinda surprised to see that Sorin did the best of cards played from this pack. I thought Anachronity's Summer Bloom call was going to be great when I first saw it, but it seems not so much. Overall this pack had nothing for me, I think Frosty is a slightly stronger card than Capsize and therefore picked it, but it was between those two. I guess I was wrong though, the one Capsize outplaced the one Frosty.
Battlemage is powerful but I agree with your assessment that it's way too slow in this draft.
pick 5: obviously agree with your pick :) I think you were a little too scared of Dread in your analysis, since it was so early in the draft and we didn't know there wouldn't be any Paths (aside from Ulamog) in the draft. In the end I think it would've been quite strong actually.
For now I just wanted to point out, in case anyone didn't notice: Four of us picked Arcane Denial, and we came in 1st-4th. I spent the whole draft feeling the lack of countermagic, and when the best one suddenly showed up in pack 5 I had to force myself to slow down and read the rest of it just to make sure.
Oh yeah and my other two picks were Mobilization and Frost Titan, if anyone's curious. I wasn't happy with Titan, but I was pretty sure I wasn't running anything from that pack anyway, and it was at least something that had the potential to do two things – lock something down and also win.
this one definitely felt more interesting than the last one, it's unfortunately been too long for me to remember my exact thought processes, but i remember feeling like i had a sense of the shape of the options and could make choices in light of what i expected to be strong. so whatever changes you made, good job!
Dark Depths / Serene Remembrance / Thespian's Stage
vs
1) CalvinSchwa
Maze of Ith / Pithing Needle / Words of War
Needle + anything gets me, 0-6.
2) knobbodi
Ensnaring Bridge / Mishra's Workshop / Stuffy Doll
Hm, seems like people are pretty ready for Dark Depths these days. 0-6
3) Magus of the Aesthetic
Field of Ruin / Innocent Blood / Scythe Tiger
On my play I can get Marit past Field on turn 6, and then either you played Tiger and thus can't Blood, or you didn't and I have time to get another one before you can win. On your play, you can lead with Tiger and still activate Field on turn 4, which means I don't get Marit until 6. You then hit me for the 6th time on your turn 7, which isn't quite enough. 6-0.
4) ManyCookies :: Swan Dive
Dark Depths / Swan Song / Thespian's Stage
3-3
5) MyNameIsFourteen :: Depths is Gonna Wreck Me
Delirium Skeins / Mental Misstep / Riftwing Cloudskate
Actually I think Cloudskate is good enough when you're on the play? We can't make Marit until turn 4. 3-3
7) Superbajt
Anurid Scavenger / Kolaghan's Command / Path to Exile
Agree. 0-6.
6 | 0 0 6 3 4 X 0 | 12
This was quite fun, but I'm not sure I think the draft format was really why. It's kind of annoying to try to guess what's going to show up later based on what's here now, knowing that a knowledgeable player made the decision but not knowing for sure what decision they made. It makes it feel more like we're playing against Feyd than each other.
Pick 5 was also kind of annoying – I felt like I'd better have a playable deck by pick 4, and drafted accordingly, but then nothing in pack 5 felt like it could really fit.
I honestly think what we really want is sealed rather than draft. I've done quite a lot of duplicate-sealed PHM privately, and it's very fun. We've never done designed pools, we usually pick like 20 cards at random, weighted towards higher rarities so the cards are more interesting, but I think it could work very well with a designed pool too.
Basically, I think what's interesting here is PHM with a very small pool and PHM with designed tension in the pool, but not so much PHM with limited information about the future.
Bitterblossom / Boldwyr Heavyweights / Nature's Claim
vs.
1) Anachronity
Lavaborn Muse / Lavaborn Muse / Merieke Ri Berit
Muse is a pretty sweet find. 0-6.
2) CalvinSchwa
Aura of Silence / Lodestone Goldem / Phyrexian Revoker
As you say. 6-0.
3) Feyd_Ruin
Culling Scales / Nyxathid / Nyxathid
Nyxathid is a cute way to have a legal 2-turn clock, but I dunno about Scales with two 3-CMC guys. On your play, if you start with Scales I start with just Boldwyr. If you attack, I block one and win. If you don't, I just wait for Scales to eat your guys and itself. If you don't start with Scales, I start with Bitterblossom, and the 1/1s can chump if you attack. If you don't, they win in the air. On my play, I start with just Boldwyr, and if you don't start with Scales I can play Bitterblossom t2, and then if you play Scales I Claim it. If you do start with Scales, it's the same as on your play. 6-0.
4) knobbodi
Falkenrath Aristocrat / Kitchen Finks / Melira, Sylvok Outcast
I spent some time thinking about gaining infinite life, and some time thinking about Aristocrat as a sac outlet, but didn't quite make it here. This is very nice. 0-6.
5) Magus of the Aesthetic :: Look Ma, No Lands!
Blighted Agent / Clout of the Dominus / Pithing Needle
As you say. 6-0.
6) Mogg
Opalescence / Parallax Wave / Venser, Shaper Savant
Very cool combo. Results as you say, 0-6.
7) MyNameIsFourteen :: Chad Tribal
Gideon of the Trials / Gideon, Ally of Zendikar / Soldevi Digger
As you say, 6-0.
9) WhammeWhamme
Enduring Renewal / Necrotic Sliver / Thran Dynamo
Start with nothing, Claim Renewal, and then whichever of my threats survives is enough. Claim is an instant so you can't do anything fancy with holding Renewal. 6-0.