Ral Zarek's closest equivalent is Ajani Vengeant. Both are 4 mana multi-color planeswalkers with similar abilities and share a color (red). Let's take a quick comparison of the 2 cards.
Ajani Vengeant - 3 Starting Loyalty (fine)
+1: Protection. Keeps a threat to him tapped down or can keep your opponent off a color.
-2: Lightning Helix. Gains life on top of the Bolt effect.
-7: one-sided Armageddon. This seems like a game-winner to me.
Ral Zarek - 4 Starting Loyalty (slightly better)
+1 - More aggressive, but doesn't protect him. The permanent still gets to untap next turn.
-2: Lightning Bolt. Strictly Worse than Ajani's -2.
-7: Average 2.5 extra turns, adjusted one way or the other for luck. May or may not win you the game depending on the board state.
Overall, I don't see Ral Zarek making a big splash outside of Standard and there's no guarantee he'll even make a splash there. I would expect him to settle around $10 unless a deck comes around that features him.
I'm aware I'm a few pages behind, but I wanted to point something out:
As someone who went to GenCon and played in Legacy Champs last year (and who will be going to GenCon again this year), you have to book early in order to get a decent hotel, etc, which means also buying your badges early. Luckily for me, I bought my girlfriend and I's badges mostly off of GenCon Credit from last year's unused tickets. It sucks that there's no Legacy Champs, but I only played that, one Win-a-Box, and one Commander pod last year anyway. I'd rather spend the time hanging out with friends.
Legacy Champs being somewhere else sucks and should have been announced MUCH earlier (like in January) but it's not the end of the world.
The annoying part is the next 2 weeks won't have Legacy either. I've written to SCG to say that to block 4 non-legacy weekends in a row is far too long.
So at FNM tonight I was playing a rather slow deck (eggs) vs another slow deck (pox) and game 1 ran just over 42 minutes with me winning it. My opponent wanted to play game two anyways so after getting three minutes for shuffling we started game two on extra turns We each go through our turns, and I was on the last turn of the game. My deck had the ability to win that turn and I attempted it and it worked. As I played through the combo, the TO said I was taking too long in extra turns and that if I couldn't win right then it would be marked down as a game loss for me stretching the match out.
The end result was my round got marked down as a 1-1 tie even though I had hit the point where the combo wouldn't fizzle and I was clearly going to win the game.
Are there any rules I could use the appeal this? The game started after the round timer so it should have been a 1-0, and I had the ability to even get the 2-0 in the extra turns.
This sounds like something you should report to the DCI. He can give you a Slow Play warning if it's warranted, but even so, he can't game loss you for that unless you've had one during the tournament. Also, if this is FNM, Slow Play warnings don't actually exist because you're playing at Regular REL.
I was under the impression that when a game ends from turns it is neither a win, lose, or draw. It just ended without a result.
As in if Player A wins game one and then game two ends from both going to 0 life at the or an infinite o-ring loop or such then the round ends before they start their next game the match result is 1-0-1 in Player A's favor.
But if Player A wins game one and then game two ends from turns then the match result is 1-0-0 in player A's favor.
Is this wrong?
It is. A draw in a game occurs if at the end of 5 turns once time is called, there is no winner.
That's not true. The problem is some people insist on focusing on the intent, and not the outcome or result. I don't know of any other game played for the $$ MTG is played for where intent matters when determining the penalty for breaking the rules. Traveling is traveling in basketball, regardless of whether or not it was an accident or deliberate. An illegal strike is an illegal strike in MMA, regardless of whether or not it was an accident or deliberate
When you break the rules, you broke the rules. I could care less whether or not it was accidental or deliberate. You gained an unfair advantage by breaking the rules, you should be held accountable for that.
Name calling, huh? Stay classy.
And in no other game can the judge decide it was "just an accident" and give out a lighter penalty. Rules are rules, everyone who breaks them should get the same penalty.
And there are no referees in MTG. The players are expected to act as thier own referee's, which is frankly ludicrous.
Intent only matters for UPGRADING a penalty to Cheating. Nice try though.
So, today was a strange day. I finished building death and taxes. Got all of the Karakas I need. So....what do I build now? I wan something with kiln-fiend (a man can dream) if possible. But, I am really looking for a deck that I can get passionate about building. I like being able to see progress (without dropping hundreds of dollars in Goyfs). I already own 4 wastelands, and 4 rishadan ports. So those ends are of no object to me. I'm expecting to get more money in April, so I could make decent headway on burn, elves, or even stifle-naught. Suggestions?
Also, I have enough aether vial decks .
Decks with a community around them are my favorite. It's one of the reasons I like DnT.
If you have the money to get a Tabernacle, you could always build Lands.
So, in comparison to my build, you like Mirri's Guile over Enlightened Tutor, you did a bit of rebalancing and threw in some fetches and Horizon Canopies, to arrive at a pretty similar decklist except for exceeding the budget by more than $100, while my decklist is just under $70 below the budget. (prices from TGCPlayer)
Now maybe TGCPlayer isn't the cheapest site out there (I'm not from the US so I really don't know), and with some smart buying/trading you might actually be able to get your decklist for the promised $350. It's still not all that different from my build (I'm not saying mine's better, only saying they're not that different), while my build will still be a lot cheaper (I reckon when a person asks for a budget version, they usually rather see a decklist cheaper than their limit rather than exactly on said limit.)
But ok, your version will probably fare better. Just couldn't let the "quite a ways off" go eventhough yours is quite similar to mine
Edit: I threw in ESG as cheap mana ramp, using more of the budget I would MUCH RATHER go with Exploration instead. But again, I wanted to keep the total price low. Thanks for the advice though, pretty sound.
Enlightened Tutor is terrible because it's card disadvantage. Sure, it gets your bullets, but then you have to have it AND hope the bullet doesn't get countered. On top of that, Mirri's Guile isn't dead when you play it later in the game and will replace itself.
You had no bullets or Replenishes in the maindeck and a completely unfocused sideboard. Our weakest matchup, even fully geared out, is Combo, and should be dealt with accordingly.
Exploration isn't that good either, as once you get to late-game you want your lands in hand to throw to Solitary anyway, instead of them all being on the board, and it's not giving you a Turn 1 Enchantress, either.
Elvish Spirit Guide's *only* use is to play a Turn 1 Enchantress, and is basically a mull to 6 to do so. Card quality and value is a thing, and it should never be played.
"$70 over TCGPlayer" isn't that relevant because you can get cards at 25% or more less than TCGPlayer the vast majority of the time in trades, on EBay, or through private sale. They're stores, they're upcharging, what else is new? The only cards in the list over $10 are the Fetches and the Enchantresses.
I stopped playing Enchantress a little while ago and I typed this out from the top of my head, so forgive me if this isn't all that it could be, but it's a nice setup containing all of the essentials nonetheless (imo at least). I also included a sideboard for you with a couple of great silver bullets/life savers in there.
Because I typed this up pretty quickly the balance of some elements may be a tad off but I think most people will agree that this isn't too bad for a budget list. Hope it helps
It's quite a ways off. You can actually build most of the deck other than Duals/Moat/Karakas even on a $350 budget.
So you guys increase the shipping option because if say, an order came in damaged, you'd replace it? And for the lower shipping options that has a higher chance of happening?
Correct. (In a lot of cases, additionally, higher end cards are more difficult for stores to replace.)
I scooped up a japanese foil Puppeteer Clique but I couldn't find a value of it anywhere. Also, english copies are pretty dried up on the internet, so I was curious if anyone knows the value on it? thanks
Last time I bought one was $20ish a while back. Pretty sure it hasn't increased much if at all.
Ajani Vengeant - 3 Starting Loyalty (fine)
+1: Protection. Keeps a threat to him tapped down or can keep your opponent off a color.
-2: Lightning Helix. Gains life on top of the Bolt effect.
-7: one-sided Armageddon. This seems like a game-winner to me.
Ral Zarek - 4 Starting Loyalty (slightly better)
+1 - More aggressive, but doesn't protect him. The permanent still gets to untap next turn.
-2: Lightning Bolt. Strictly Worse than Ajani's -2.
-7: Average 2.5 extra turns, adjusted one way or the other for luck. May or may not win you the game depending on the board state.
Overall, I don't see Ral Zarek making a big splash outside of Standard and there's no guarantee he'll even make a splash there. I would expect him to settle around $10 unless a deck comes around that features him.
As someone who went to GenCon and played in Legacy Champs last year (and who will be going to GenCon again this year), you have to book early in order to get a decent hotel, etc, which means also buying your badges early. Luckily for me, I bought my girlfriend and I's badges mostly off of GenCon Credit from last year's unused tickets. It sucks that there's no Legacy Champs, but I only played that, one Win-a-Box, and one Commander pod last year anyway. I'd rather spend the time hanging out with friends.
Legacy Champs being somewhere else sucks and should have been announced MUCH earlier (like in January) but it's not the end of the world.
This weekend won't; Nashville will. (19th)
This sounds like something you should report to the DCI. He can give you a Slow Play warning if it's warranted, but even so, he can't game loss you for that unless you've had one during the tournament. Also, if this is FNM, Slow Play warnings don't actually exist because you're playing at Regular REL.
Not to mention VERY easily able to become marked due to the way they're notched on the sides.
Command Tower got slapped down because of the Commander's Arsenal reprint. I expect it would be a lot more expensive if not for that.
I expect the Recruiter to stay around $100 or so for quite a while, as there's plenty of demand for them.
It is. A draw in a game occurs if at the end of 5 turns once time is called, there is no winner.
Intent only matters for UPGRADING a penalty to Cheating. Nice try though.
If you have the money to get a Tabernacle, you could always build Lands.
Enlightened Tutor is terrible because it's card disadvantage. Sure, it gets your bullets, but then you have to have it AND hope the bullet doesn't get countered. On top of that, Mirri's Guile isn't dead when you play it later in the game and will replace itself.
You had no bullets or Replenishes in the maindeck and a completely unfocused sideboard. Our weakest matchup, even fully geared out, is Combo, and should be dealt with accordingly.
Exploration isn't that good either, as once you get to late-game you want your lands in hand to throw to Solitary anyway, instead of them all being on the board, and it's not giving you a Turn 1 Enchantress, either.
Elvish Spirit Guide's *only* use is to play a Turn 1 Enchantress, and is basically a mull to 6 to do so. Card quality and value is a thing, and it should never be played.
"$70 over TCGPlayer" isn't that relevant because you can get cards at 25% or more less than TCGPlayer the vast majority of the time in trades, on EBay, or through private sale. They're stores, they're upcharging, what else is new? The only cards in the list over $10 are the Fetches and the Enchantresses.
It's quite a ways off. You can actually build most of the deck other than Duals/Moat/Karakas even on a $350 budget.
4 Utopia Sprawl
4 Wild Growth
4 Argothian Enchantress
4 Enchantress's Presence
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Words of War
1 Sigil of the Empty Throne
3 Elephant Grass
3 Solitary Confinement
1 Blind Obedience
1 Sphere of Safety
Tutor/Enchantment Protection/Card Filtering (8)
4 Sterling Grove
2 Mirri's Guile
2 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Choke
1 Ground Seal
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Stony Silence
Lands (20)
6 Forest
4 Windswept Heath
3 Plains
2 Serra's Sanctum
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Rest in Peace
2 Blind Obedience
1 Humility
1 Karmic Justice
1 Stony Silence
1 Aura of Silence
1 Ground Seal
1 Blood Moon
1 Choke
Also, Elvish Spirit Guide is terrible. Stop playing it.
Correct. (In a lot of cases, additionally, higher end cards are more difficult for stores to replace.)
Bought for 800, sold for 950, moved that cash to finish my set of Jap foil Windswept Heaths.
Last time I bought one was $20ish a while back. Pretty sure it hasn't increased much if at all.