I'm logged on now and it doesn't appear as though you can enter limited queues with play points -- only phantom limited queues, which only pay out more play points at a terrible rate.
Why are they so afraid to give it away? Give us a matchmaking system that allows you to build your collection slowly by playing. People spend tons of money on the free-to-play Hearthstone. If they have to untie MTGO from paper Magic, I say so be it.
I have two Mox Sapphires I opened in drafts early on. I've been holding them thinking they would rise long term. Should I just get out now? Is there any support for this format?
I have two Mox Sapphires I opened in drafts early on. I've been holding them thinking they would rise long term. Should I just get out now? Is there any support for this format?
I want to invest in packs right now, since I feel draft was largely unaffected by the recent changes. THS packs already shot up 0.3 to 3.60. I'll be looking to sell these in about a month or two, in hopes that the standard market will have bottomed out.
Which packs would be the best bet? I'm thinking either THS or RTR.
Opponent had two copies of Oubliette on the field. One was exiling nothing, since I had protected the target with Benevolent Bodyguard. The second (and most recently cast) was exiling Loyal Cathar.
In the case of Oubliette, the exiled card appears in the "My Exiled Cards" box, and not underneath the Oubliette, as is the case with Oblivion Ring and Journey To Nowhere.
I drew Kor Sanctifiers, which I had boarded in for this occasion. There seemed to be no way to tell which Oubliette had my Loyal Cathar. I chose the one on the right, figuring it was the one most recently cast. Oubliette was destroyed, and it's triggered ability was put on the stack, but nothing happened.
My opponent went on to tell me that the card is just bugged and even if I'd picked the correct one, I wouldn't have got my creature back.
Plus it gives you the chance to try some cool creatures like Ballynock Cohort
A 2/2 for 3 that is sometimes a 3/3 is probably not better than a 3/4 for 3 that sometimes costs 2. Unless first strike outweighs vigilance.
With regards to the tron decks, I have yet to run into one in a daily but have lost to them in TP. Not sure if racing with War Falcon is viable after game 1. Electrickery pushed that card out of playable for me.
Haha yea I've been running well with the deck. My version is not necessarily optimal but I've played literally hundreds of games with it so I'm used to it's intricacies.
With regards to the land count:
- I only run 3 Guardian
- razor golem, at worst, is a 3 drop since I don't run any cycle lands
- you don't have to hit your 4-drop on 4, in fact you may not draw him at all
- the deck only needs 4 lands over an entire game. Every one after that is nearly a dead draw. It can function on 2 quite well a lot of the time.
- I am not afraid to mulligan a little more aggressively if it means I can play a threat every turn and not flood out.
- 10 one drops means I can keep one-landers more often. Land-1-1-1-2-2 would be a keep for instance.
- I don't like the cycle lands since they mean you're not playing a 1 drop on 1 or a 2 drop on 2, which is a lot like not drawing the land at all in a deck that wants establish an overwhelming board presence early.
Order of Leitbur is not necessarily better than loyal cathar against the field. I just wanted more action against mono black so I've been trying him to see if there's a big difference. They side in shrivel now anyway so he may not be worth it. Acolyte is the far better option in my opinion, but you can't really main deck him.
What does Benevolent Bodyguard do in this deck?
Do you just sac him to protect a creature? Or is he relevant offensively too?
I don't know, but the latter doesn't seem very important. A lot of creatures have evasion (flying and guildpact) and at the same time many decks run colored perms+artifacts (affinity obviously, MUC/Delver have the Golem, the Kitties run both white and red or blue).
He's a counterspell on legs. Don't forget he attack and blocks and can carry a Bonesplitter.
Like you said, many of our guys have evasion, which means they are hard to kill in combat and require a removal spell, which he can eat instead.
Sometimes he will allow your important threat to survive combat, essentially "trading up" for their 2 or 3 drop, which probably means they will just decide not to block at all.
On occasion, he can push an attacker through for the last couple of points.
The core right now is 20-22 plains, 4 javelineers, 2 Guardians, 4 Hawks, 4 Journeys, 4 Skyfishers, 4 Cathars.
I don't think Loyal Cathar is good enough at the moment to be a core card but that's only my opinion.
Lists vary on these things:
-Doomed Traveller People used to play 4, most lists on Dailies run 3 and Jason S. posted a list with only 2 of them. He compensates for them with 2 Safehold Elite.
I personally run 2. They are great in conjunction with a Prot. Black guy. But they are also secretly good against creature decks and affinity when you need to chump block for a bit while your flyers get it done. Chump blocking and having an additional 1/1 flying on offense the next turn can really swing a game sometimes as well.
The thing is you need the travellers to have something to sac. for edict effects. Also they are better after dying (gains evasion). Safehold elite is tougher to kill initially, but becomes worse.
-Benevolent Bodyguard Some lists eliminate them altogether, other lists play 2 or 3. The problem for all X/1 is the presence of Cuombajj Witches. At the same time however the Witches make a good target for Journeys
Bodyguard is one of my favourite cards in the deck. He's good in nearly every matchup. I run 4.
-War Falcon Great one drop if you can have him attack on T2, but that's not always the case. Especially since some lists eliminate Skyhunter.
-Leonin Skyhunter This card used to be a 4x, now it's mostly a 3x. He is vanilla, which bothers me. Jason S. runs none.
I like Skyhunter a lot; I run 4. 2 power in the air for 2 mana is the same reason you run 4 Kor Skyfisher, which - while a stronger card - occasionally has downside of setting you back a turn.
-Bonesplitter Lists used to run 4, now some lists run 3. I only know that's it's pretty terrible to have 3 of them in play - it means you have less creatures on the board.
My favourite card, perhaps in all of pauper But I cut down to 3 since the threats are more resilient and the deck isn't "all in" on cheap flyers (like mine used to be back in the Izzet Post/Storm/Infect metagame).
-Kor Sanctifier A lot of lists run 1 main and 1-2 on the sideboard. On the one side it's useful against MBC (they run Oubliette to increase devotion for Gary), on the other hand it's a lot of mana for the job.
-Razor Golem Most lists run 3, Jason S. runs 4. This card is not good against Affinity but great against MBC - they have nothing he can't block.
I've actually be siding him out VS MBC. Maybe I'm doing it wrong... I like him just as a big guy that doesn't die in combat very easily and survives some removal. He's 3-to-4-of for sure.
-Lone Missionary it's great that you get all the life gain up front, but I'm afraid he'd die easily to MBC. In some cases Hopeful Eidolon might be a better card (T1 Eidolon, T2 Bonesplitter, attack. Pick him up with a Skyfisher later in the game)
I tried Hopeful Eidolon vs MBC in my board and was not impressed. It doesn't generate much value if you don't get to attack the turn you bestow it (IE they kill your bestow target). It just becomes a 1/1 in a world of 2/2's and 2/4's. Not really worth a card. I think that MU is about creatures that generate value (bodyguard, traveler), protection guys (acolyte, order of leitbur, guardian), and flyers.
Is there a sideboard plan against Delver/MUC? You can end up in some terrible stallmates in these matches because of the 2/4 flier with affinity for islands. Older guides advise to use Trokair against them, but they have fallen out of favor, why?
My plan vs delver is:
1. Stick an early threat.
2. Resolve Squadron Hawk
3. Pressure them enough that they have to tap out for Spire Golem and have a removal spell ready. I side into 2 Sanctifiers & 2 Dust to Dust to deal with Golem and Serrated Arrows. They can't really remove your threats once they stick. They count on Spire Golem to be able to block.
If they are playing the creature-heavy version (which I have not seen much of as of late), you're in better shape since they will want to tap out for threats and you can establish a board. It's still all about Squadron Hawk.
Is there a way to make lands in the mid to late game useful? Does WW want that? What about Troubled Healer - he does seem strictly worse than prismatic strands but...
Just don't draw them lol. I play 20 Plains and mulligan every hand with 4 or more lands. Every land after 4 is basically a dead draw.
I'm considering Reviving Dose which doesn't really help VS mono black, and Seraph of Dawn which is probably too slow against burn, but likely pretty good against black.
Goat actually pay 18.01 and I think MTGOtraders should probably be higher than 16 then too
I don't see Mutavault increasing even more. mean yeah it's a coreset rare, but M14 has been drafted okay-ish it felt like,so I don't think that price can keep up. Obviously Mutavault sees tons of play now, but that might decrease when the meta shifts and/or the next set comes out.
Then again Mutavault can easily see more play than for example Thragtusk/Restoration Angel which kept high prices for quite some time, so I guess it's not too unreasonable for Mutavault so stay in the 15-20 ticket range for a few months^^
Maybe rickster has more insight on this.
On another note I'm thinking of dropping my pauper MBC which I played 1.5 years ago when I bought Crypt Rats @1.5 each^^ profit margin seems awesome. Then again I AM a blackmage....
Ended up selling at 18.75 each last night. I have my eye on Thoughtseize now...
Anymore upside on Mutavault? I happened to buy a few a while ago @6 for a standard mono red deck I'm no longer playing... bots are buying as high as 16 right now.
Ledgewalker in my experience does not present a fast enough clock on it's own to beat any post variant consistently before they stabilize and they can answer it if they need to.
What I'm saying is Hexproof is not feeling like a big enough deal to play a 1G 1/1. Not saying anybody's wrong for playing her, just trying to workshop this deck...
Silhana forces them to have a very particular card to answer it. And it is easy enough to play around Electrickery. Discounting Silhana just because it dies to 1 particular card is pretty suspect.
Keep in mind that they have Mystical Teachings in addition to 1-2 Electrickery. Between these and all their other card selection they will find it if they want to.
Ledgewalker in my experience does not present a fast enough clock on it's own to beat any post variant consistently before they stabilize and they can answer it if they need to.
All that being said I haven't seen a U/R post deck on the other side of the table in quite some time so I can't say it factors very heavily into my card choices. Building this deck to crank out as much damage as fast as possible is already a good strategy VS Post.
Why are they so afraid to give it away? Give us a matchmaking system that allows you to build your collection slowly by playing. People spend tons of money on the free-to-play Hearthstone. If they have to untie MTGO from paper Magic, I say so be it.
Which packs would be the best bet? I'm thinking either THS or RTR.
Thanks
Opponent had two copies of Oubliette on the field. One was exiling nothing, since I had protected the target with Benevolent Bodyguard. The second (and most recently cast) was exiling Loyal Cathar.
In the case of Oubliette, the exiled card appears in the "My Exiled Cards" box, and not underneath the Oubliette, as is the case with Oblivion Ring and Journey To Nowhere.
I drew Kor Sanctifiers, which I had boarded in for this occasion. There seemed to be no way to tell which Oubliette had my Loyal Cathar. I chose the one on the right, figuring it was the one most recently cast. Oubliette was destroyed, and it's triggered ability was put on the stack, but nothing happened.
My opponent went on to tell me that the card is just bugged and even if I'd picked the correct one, I wouldn't have got my creature back.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Thanks
Guardians' Pledge would likely be better most of the time.
A 2/2 for 3 that is sometimes a 3/3 is probably not better than a 3/4 for 3 that sometimes costs 2. Unless first strike outweighs vigilance.
With regards to the tron decks, I have yet to run into one in a daily but have lost to them in TP. Not sure if racing with War Falcon is viable after game 1. Electrickery pushed that card out of playable for me.
Cool let me know how he works out. Is there any matchup in particular in which you think he'll shine?
With regards to the land count:
- I only run 3 Guardian
- razor golem, at worst, is a 3 drop since I don't run any cycle lands
- you don't have to hit your 4-drop on 4, in fact you may not draw him at all
- the deck only needs 4 lands over an entire game. Every one after that is nearly a dead draw. It can function on 2 quite well a lot of the time.
- I am not afraid to mulligan a little more aggressively if it means I can play a threat every turn and not flood out.
- 10 one drops means I can keep one-landers more often. Land-1-1-1-2-2 would be a keep for instance.
- I don't like the cycle lands since they mean you're not playing a 1 drop on 1 or a 2 drop on 2, which is a lot like not drawing the land at all in a deck that wants establish an overwhelming board presence early.
Order of Leitbur is not necessarily better than loyal cathar against the field. I just wanted more action against mono black so I've been trying him to see if there's a big difference. They side in shrivel now anyway so he may not be worth it. Acolyte is the far better option in my opinion, but you can't really main deck him.
He's a counterspell on legs. Don't forget he attack and blocks and can carry a Bonesplitter.
Like you said, many of our guys have evasion, which means they are hard to kill in combat and require a removal spell, which he can eat instead.
Sometimes he will allow your important threat to survive combat, essentially "trading up" for their 2 or 3 drop, which probably means they will just decide not to block at all.
On occasion, he can push an attacker through for the last couple of points.
I don't think Loyal Cathar is good enough at the moment to be a core card but that's only my opinion.
I personally run 2. They are great in conjunction with a Prot. Black guy. But they are also secretly good against creature decks and affinity when you need to chump block for a bit while your flyers get it done. Chump blocking and having an additional 1/1 flying on offense the next turn can really swing a game sometimes as well.
I'd prefer Loyal Cathar over Safehold Elite, were I running either.
Bodyguard is one of my favourite cards in the deck. He's good in nearly every matchup. I run 4.
Not a fan of War Falcon. The deck needs more resilient threats that don't die to Electrickery, Cuombajj Witches, and Serrated Arrows.
I like Skyhunter a lot; I run 4. 2 power in the air for 2 mana is the same reason you run 4 Kor Skyfisher, which - while a stronger card - occasionally has downside of setting you back a turn.
My favourite card, perhaps in all of pauper
2 of in my SB at the moment. I could see one creeping into the main. There are a lot of relevant targets for this guy: Spire Golem, Myr Enforcer, Serrated Arrows, Journey To Nowhere, various equipment to name a few...
I've actually be siding him out VS MBC. Maybe I'm doing it wrong... I like him just as a big guy that doesn't die in combat very easily and survives some removal. He's 3-to-4-of for sure.
I tried Hopeful Eidolon vs MBC in my board and was not impressed. It doesn't generate much value if you don't get to attack the turn you bestow it (IE they kill your bestow target). It just becomes a 1/1 in a world of 2/2's and 2/4's. Not really worth a card. I think that MU is about creatures that generate value (bodyguard, traveler), protection guys (acolyte, order of leitbur, guardian), and flyers.
My plan vs delver is:
1. Stick an early threat.
2. Resolve Squadron Hawk
3. Pressure them enough that they have to tap out for Spire Golem and have a removal spell ready. I side into 2 Sanctifiers & 2 Dust to Dust to deal with Golem and Serrated Arrows. They can't really remove your threats once they stick. They count on Spire Golem to be able to block.
If they are playing the creature-heavy version (which I have not seen much of as of late), you're in better shape since they will want to tap out for threats and you can establish a board. It's still all about Squadron Hawk.
Just don't draw them lol. I play 20 Plains and mulligan every hand with 4 or more lands. Every land after 4 is basically a dead draw.
I'm running 2x Order of Leitbur main and 4x Obsidian Acolyte in the side and it's not enough if they draw 2 or 3 Grey Merchant of Asphodels or a timely Crypt Rats or Corrupt. They have too much life gain over the course of a game to reliably race.
In the case of Burn if I can "counter" two of their cards I can usually win. Prismatic Strands is ok and Standard Bearer usually just eats Searing Blaze which doesn't really help.
I'm considering Reviving Dose which doesn't really help VS mono black, and Seraph of Dawn which is probably too slow against burn, but likely pretty good against black.
Thanks for reading!
Ended up selling at 18.75 each last night. I have my eye on Thoughtseize now...
What I'm saying is Hexproof is not feeling like a big enough deal to play a 1G 1/1. Not saying anybody's wrong for playing her, just trying to workshop this deck...
Keep in mind that they have Mystical Teachings in addition to 1-2 Electrickery. Between these and all their other card selection they will find it if they want to.
Ledgewalker in my experience does not present a fast enough clock on it's own to beat any post variant consistently before they stabilize and they can answer it if they need to.
All that being said I haven't seen a U/R post deck on the other side of the table in quite some time so I can't say it factors very heavily into my card choices. Building this deck to crank out as much damage as fast as possible is already a good strategy VS Post.