I think that this could go poorly, especially for people outside the US who need to adjust their currency. maybe I'm just more worried than I should be and am used to Canadians already paying more but I guess we'll see
I acquired a lot of newer cards (as in Guilds of Ravnica, Dominaria and M19) by using prize wall tickets at GP Montreal last fall. Got the common/uncommon stuff I needed and a lot of the rares I needed and was able to trade for a lot of the rest using stuff I didn't need
If GPs aren't an option for you, drafting and prize packs are probably your best bet. I find people in my area just leave their unwanted cards just lying around after drafts or FNMs
Hi Everyone!
This Sunday I am playing a mid-season Top 16 final at my LGS. It's Modern and I'm brings GDS.
Since it's a local store and invite only I know what decks will show up. But I have only played GDS at this store once.
I am looking for tips on sideboard-plan and maybe some tweaks to the main deck.
Also adding draft of sideboard plan with current sideboard. Welcoming input there as well! (Please view attachment with sideboard plan)
Any thoughts on how a sufficient Sideboard / Maindeck could look like knowing only these decks are going to play?
Thanks a million in advance!
2 izzet staticcaster and 1 pyroclasm seems a bit weird at first but every time I look at the expected meta, it seems fine. You considered anger of the gods at all to hit bigger creatures?
from my experience at GP Toronto, I saw a lot of Izzet Phoenix naturally. There was a fair bit of burn due to the new cards it got in Allegiance (light up the stage and skewer the critics) but from what I heard, people seemed prepared to beat burn. I know a few people who either played burn in the main and regretted it or made night before changes to something else. A lot of the grinders I know have were either on Izzet for a while before the event or made last minute switches to it
I don't have enough experience with the deck to say just how powerful it is or if it's broken but it's really been putting up numbers
This thread is from over a year ago, so I will be locking it. If you wish to continue discussion on this topic, please create a new thread rather than posting in an old one.
Hi everyone, long ago Magic player just now getting back into it after about 20 years away. Loving it!
In retrospect, I should have just bought a UM Booster Box, but had been randomly picking up 3 pack blister packs off and on from Target (weirdly prices ranging from $30 to $49). Each pack I was amazed at the quality of the cards inside - great mythics, rares and foil mythics and rares too. Then, with Target inventory gone, I decided to do one more little tranche of buying and picked up 8 boosters from an online store. Not a huge thing, but still over $100 spent. Opened each one and everything was crap! Each foil was a common. One crap mythic. Each rare was pretty much the lowest demand/weakest rares. It was such a different experience than every other pack I had opened up to that point. These were loose boosters not the 3 pack blister.
So, I'm wondering about the things I've seen mentioned but havent researched since I've been back about box or pack mapping. Is it possible when buying loose packs of recent sets for them to have been somehow sorted out from strong to weak? Is there a lesson that you should either not buy loose boosters or only from certain online shops? Just looking for some general insight and guidance on how this all works nowadays.
Thanks!
I do not like buying loose boosters online. Too many potential ways (sometimes real or imagined) to cheat me, the customer.
my buddy got burnt from a MMA 2015 boy he bought from Ebay when the set was new but that set was way too easy to repack
I suggest to the OP to check for signs of glue or damage on the pack before being quick to judge. Otherwise the sample size is too small and probably more of a coincidence rather than a sign of repack
I think that this was a pretty reasonable choice tbh.
I didn't play much BO1 but just the idea of playing against any Nexus deck seemed annoying. Trying tp push Magic as an E-Sport seems counter intuitive when you can play a deck that can essentially "lock" your opponent of the game
I haven't really looked much into what the market would consider signed cards as I don't go out of my way to look for signed cards and would never consider moving my signed cards, as I use them in a lot of decks (signed playsets of thoughtseize and Liliana of the Veil), but most places I know consider them as damaged rather than LP. I have a sharpied volcanic island that is also considered damage
played the Friday Mythic Qualifier at Magic Fest Toronto to 3-2 and the main event to 5-3, probably could have made day 2 if I played a bit better
I'll start with the Mythic Qualifier
round 1 I lose to dredge 1-2. Had no opponent for first 8 minutes, turns out he was a few table down so he got the game 1 loss. I got run over game 2, then g3 I mulled to 5 in search of leyline of the void but never find one.
0-1
Round 2 I beat Jeskai conrol 2-1. He ticks a teferi to 8, then I scoop in response to Jace. Game 2 I manage to ride an early a few shadows to victory. Game 3 I ride an early gurmag to victory
1-1
Round 3 I easily 2-0 blue moon the Kiki combo. He didn't draw much game 1 and I beat him. He was stuck on 2 lands g2 and by the time he drew his third it was too late.
Round 4 I 2-1 Amulet titan. he runs me over game 1. g2, I have an he trinket mages for an EE, leaving a mana open which he uses to cast ancient stirrings instead of the ee. I top decked a snapcaster to thoughtseize the ee away and ran him over after. Game 3 I won after using double shadow to block his primeval titan. After that he was never able to recover. He might have been too greedy by getting khalni heart garden to make a blocker instead of ee when he transmuted tolaria west. He says he didn't have enough mana to play and crack though
3-1
Round 5 i get paired against amulet again. I offer the draw since neither of us can top 8, wanted to see if he wanted to get the same amount of prize tickets. Turned out I was paired down. I quickly lose. G1 I mull to 5 and lost because he had both pact of negation and summoner's pact, so i couldn't stop him. G2 I couldn't get much going
3-2 at the end
In the Main I went 5-3
R1 I get paired against Humans. g1 he kept a slow hand but I drew 3 anglers so I couldn't really race the 3 mana thalia. Might have been better off if the third angler was a second shadow. Game 2 he had auriok champion, 2 mana thalia and an image copying the champion. I believe he also had 1 champion of the parish. I managed to draw an engineered explosives. Knowing how Thalia tax worked in this situation, I set X=1, then the Thalia tax would apply so sunburst would put 2 counters on. Thus I blew up most of the annoying stuff but leaving with a Champion of the Parish which I believe had 4 counters on before I won. Then he untaps and drops 2 more champions. I'm in rough shape. somehow the new ones got one and 2 counters on them or something like that. I was able to abrade-snap abrade to get rip of the smaller ones or something like that, leaving a huge one behind. My shadow kept it at bay for a while, me at 3 him at 28. I drew a thoughtseize which I used to fake removal. I drew a second shadow, so I thoughtseize his empty hand to take 2, bringing me to one. I then attack, he takes it going to 16. I drop the second shadow, leaving still the TBR he knows about. He had a slow draw game 3 and I won because of it. My logic with the thoughtseize at 3 was that I was dead to mantis rider anyways so I decided to take the high risk play to shorten the clock, even in the odd case he did have gut shot
1-0
Round 2 I lose 1-2 to spirits. game 1 I mull to 6 and kept a no lander with street wraith and bauble, my logic being even in a 17 land deck, the scry and draws would get me a land. I wasn't so lucky. TBR got me g2. G3 he was on the play and got 2 geist of saint traft. I untap, thoughtscour into an angler and hope he doesn't have path, which he does. I then take 8 after exalted and a lord pump. I never stabilize.
1-1.
I get paired against elves next and he makes pretty short work. I never get a threat after ripping his hand apart game 1. he explodes game 2
1-2. No more losses to give
Round 3 I lose to hardened scales 1-2. He makes quick work of me game 1, don't really remember what happened. Game 2 was grindy, I remove his threats and win off grim lavamancer activations. Game 3 I keep a reasonable hand with both bolt and push but he leads with llanowar reborn, then uses it to cast scales after it untaps and plays another of the same land. next turn drops another scales, worker and inkmoth nexus. bolt is dead now because of the counters. I push the worker and hope for another hard removal spell. which I don't and die.
1-3, dead but decide to play to avoid paying for more events
round 5 I run over titanshift in 15 minutes. He keeps a 6 with one ramp spell and double titan g1, take the ramp spell of course. G2 he keeps 6 with a valakut and no green. I take the ramp, by the time he can make a game of it he's done
2-3
next I get burn, who didn't know this match. Punted my way through g1, used a watery grave to cast thoughtscour instead of my steam vents and can't cast my angler, plus another punt or two. g2 I use stubborn denials without ferocious to make him decide if he wants to use his rift bolts off suspend or cast something else. Two turns of this saves me a bit of damage and I push through. G3 I get an early lavamancer, he suspended a rift bolt turn 2, when it came off turn 3. I asked him if he wanted to target me or my lavamancer, he decides the lavamancer. I believe I won at 5. His turn before I won I would have been dead if both the cards in his hand were spells rather than creatures but he had a goblin guide which I battle raged over
3-3. Doesn't matter but I'm even at this point
round 7 I 2-0 the opponent no show.
4-3, hoping to get the 5th win to at least feel better about staying in the whole thing
round 8 I 2-1 blue moon with breach package. G1 he breaches me on curve. I don't remember g2 but g3 was a combination of him blood mooning himself off cryptic and me tearing a lot of his hand apart the stuff he could cast
5-3. turned an awful start into the best non day 2 finish I could
surgical is one of those cards that I've had my two of since they came out and don't pay attention to the price of since I've always been fine with just 2. Part of me wishes I got colonnades this weekend but didn't
not impressed with the price tag on hydroid krasis right now. Pulled one in my prize wall box at GP Toronto and traded for another. Too bad it and carnage tyrant are super good right now, I probably don't see either dropping anytime soon
If GPs aren't an option for you, drafting and prize packs are probably your best bet. I find people in my area just leave their unwanted cards just lying around after drafts or FNMs
2 izzet staticcaster and 1 pyroclasm seems a bit weird at first but every time I look at the expected meta, it seems fine. You considered anger of the gods at all to hit bigger creatures?
what's your opinion on 0 surgical extraction?
I don't have enough experience with the deck to say just how powerful it is or if it's broken but it's really been putting up numbers
my buddy got burnt from a MMA 2015 boy he bought from Ebay when the set was new but that set was way too easy to repack
I suggest to the OP to check for signs of glue or damage on the pack before being quick to judge. Otherwise the sample size is too small and probably more of a coincidence rather than a sign of repack
I didn't play much BO1 but just the idea of playing against any Nexus deck seemed annoying. Trying tp push Magic as an E-Sport seems counter intuitive when you can play a deck that can essentially "lock" your opponent of the game
I'll start with the Mythic Qualifier
round 1 I lose to dredge 1-2. Had no opponent for first 8 minutes, turns out he was a few table down so he got the game 1 loss. I got run over game 2, then g3 I mulled to 5 in search of leyline of the void but never find one.
0-1
Round 2 I beat Jeskai conrol 2-1. He ticks a teferi to 8, then I scoop in response to Jace. Game 2 I manage to ride an early a few shadows to victory. Game 3 I ride an early gurmag to victory
1-1
Round 3 I easily 2-0 blue moon the Kiki combo. He didn't draw much game 1 and I beat him. He was stuck on 2 lands g2 and by the time he drew his third it was too late.
Round 4 I 2-1 Amulet titan. he runs me over game 1. g2, I have an he trinket mages for an EE, leaving a mana open which he uses to cast ancient stirrings instead of the ee. I top decked a snapcaster to thoughtseize the ee away and ran him over after. Game 3 I won after using double shadow to block his primeval titan. After that he was never able to recover. He might have been too greedy by getting khalni heart garden to make a blocker instead of ee when he transmuted tolaria west. He says he didn't have enough mana to play and crack though
3-1
Round 5 i get paired against amulet again. I offer the draw since neither of us can top 8, wanted to see if he wanted to get the same amount of prize tickets. Turned out I was paired down. I quickly lose. G1 I mull to 5 and lost because he had both pact of negation and summoner's pact, so i couldn't stop him. G2 I couldn't get much going
3-2 at the end
In the Main I went 5-3
R1 I get paired against Humans. g1 he kept a slow hand but I drew 3 anglers so I couldn't really race the 3 mana thalia. Might have been better off if the third angler was a second shadow. Game 2 he had auriok champion, 2 mana thalia and an image copying the champion. I believe he also had 1 champion of the parish. I managed to draw an engineered explosives. Knowing how Thalia tax worked in this situation, I set X=1, then the Thalia tax would apply so sunburst would put 2 counters on. Thus I blew up most of the annoying stuff but leaving with a Champion of the Parish which I believe had 4 counters on before I won. Then he untaps and drops 2 more champions. I'm in rough shape. somehow the new ones got one and 2 counters on them or something like that. I was able to abrade-snap abrade to get rip of the smaller ones or something like that, leaving a huge one behind. My shadow kept it at bay for a while, me at 3 him at 28. I drew a thoughtseize which I used to fake removal. I drew a second shadow, so I thoughtseize his empty hand to take 2, bringing me to one. I then attack, he takes it going to 16. I drop the second shadow, leaving still the TBR he knows about. He had a slow draw game 3 and I won because of it. My logic with the thoughtseize at 3 was that I was dead to mantis rider anyways so I decided to take the high risk play to shorten the clock, even in the odd case he did have gut shot
1-0
Round 2 I lose 1-2 to spirits. game 1 I mull to 6 and kept a no lander with street wraith and bauble, my logic being even in a 17 land deck, the scry and draws would get me a land. I wasn't so lucky. TBR got me g2. G3 he was on the play and got 2 geist of saint traft. I untap, thoughtscour into an angler and hope he doesn't have path, which he does. I then take 8 after exalted and a lord pump. I never stabilize.
1-1.
I get paired against elves next and he makes pretty short work. I never get a threat after ripping his hand apart game 1. he explodes game 2
1-2. No more losses to give
Round 3 I lose to hardened scales 1-2. He makes quick work of me game 1, don't really remember what happened. Game 2 was grindy, I remove his threats and win off grim lavamancer activations. Game 3 I keep a reasonable hand with both bolt and push but he leads with llanowar reborn, then uses it to cast scales after it untaps and plays another of the same land. next turn drops another scales, worker and inkmoth nexus. bolt is dead now because of the counters. I push the worker and hope for another hard removal spell. which I don't and die.
1-3, dead but decide to play to avoid paying for more events
round 5 I run over titanshift in 15 minutes. He keeps a 6 with one ramp spell and double titan g1, take the ramp spell of course. G2 he keeps 6 with a valakut and no green. I take the ramp, by the time he can make a game of it he's done
2-3
next I get burn, who didn't know this match. Punted my way through g1, used a watery grave to cast thoughtscour instead of my steam vents and can't cast my angler, plus another punt or two. g2 I use stubborn denials without ferocious to make him decide if he wants to use his rift bolts off suspend or cast something else. Two turns of this saves me a bit of damage and I push through. G3 I get an early lavamancer, he suspended a rift bolt turn 2, when it came off turn 3. I asked him if he wanted to target me or my lavamancer, he decides the lavamancer. I believe I won at 5. His turn before I won I would have been dead if both the cards in his hand were spells rather than creatures but he had a goblin guide which I battle raged over
3-3. Doesn't matter but I'm even at this point
round 7 I 2-0 the opponent no show.
4-3, hoping to get the 5th win to at least feel better about staying in the whole thing
round 8 I 2-1 blue moon with breach package. G1 he breaches me on curve. I don't remember g2 but g3 was a combination of him blood mooning himself off cryptic and me tearing a lot of his hand apart the stuff he could cast
5-3. turned an awful start into the best non day 2 finish I could