Considering that BRG is considered the ideal deck in Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension draft, try taking a different route. WUB is feasable. Pick up cards like Faith's Fetters, some black removal, fliers such as Snapping Drake and some card drawing. Late picks can be Grayscale Gharial and Sewerdreg. For pack two, concentrate on tempo cards like Repeal, Vacuumelt and Gigadrowse, try to get a Train of Thought, and seal the deal with a Droning Beaurocrat or Ostiary Thrull. Withstand is nice to pick up as well. When the final pack rolls around, you can draft more fliers and stall tactics, and even splash some red for a Wrecking Ball or something along those lines (assuming you picked up a signet or bounce land that produces red mana, though the zombie shaman could help here as well). Another overlooked option is WUG. You start out by drafting white and blue as previously mentioned, but pick up stuff like Civic Wayfinder and Seige Wurm instead of black removal. Second pack, take the same blue tempo cards and try to round out your curve. When the Dissension pack comes, you'll have a playable card in every pack that comes to you, and many will often come back around the table. Fill the skies as full and fast as you can, fetter their problem permanents, and ride tempo advantage to a win. Trygon Predator, Assault Zeppelid and Sky Hussar are all fantastic. Vigean Hydropon is very good, as your next five creatures will be bigger unless an opponent wastes removal on a creature that can't attack or block. Plaxcaster Frogling and Plaxmanta will wreck a deck full of creature kill, so don't pass these up. Finally, know when to hate draft. If you get passed a Savage Twister or something else brutal, draft that. It's better to send a card that might have made it into your deck away than to give your opponents exactly what they need to mop you up.
It's not obvious context at all. The last subject was "extended deck" and then he mentions Ichorid and Ashen Ghoul. I'm trying to point out that the editorial staff could use some help, but everyone seems to deny any error instead of simply fixing things. Still, the articles around here aren't as bad as the ones on Brainburst or Star City Games in terms of spelling, grammar and syntax.
I pretty much always bring at least 3 copies Circle of Protection: Red in my Standard sideboards, and it totally wrecks a lot of decks. Ivory Mask is also fantastic because it shuts off Yosei, Gifts Ungiven and Cranial Extraction in addition limiting burn to the field. The fact that with the mask out, Flames of the Blood Hand is totally dead and lifegain will go nuts only further reinforces my belief that a monored deck cannot hang in Standard at the moment. Besides, once Dissension is legal Black/Red decks are going to be all over the place, and no doubt stronger than a solid color red deck. Rakdos Pit Dragon is phenomenal, but is even better with something like Delirium Skeins alongside it. Running dual lands to support single cards like Naturalize is cool and everything, but having to spend burn on Dryad Sophisticates is a waste in my opinion. Also, where are the Pyroclasms in the author's deck? How else are you going to get rid of Silhana Ledgewalker, Giant Solifuge and Kodama of the North Tree (though having to double-clasm the latter is a pain)?
Mono red decks roll over and die these days because of the amount of lifegain being played, as well as huge creatures. The author says that it is possible to trade burn 1-for-1 with a Zoo deck, yet only Char can kill Kird Ape, Watchwolf, Burning-Tree Shaman and Loxodon Hierarch. These creatures, in that order, are a mainstay of the environment. Faith's Fetters wrecks mono red decks right along side Descendant of Kiyomaro and Paladin en-Vec. Why then no Flames of the Blood Hand? You could even run Rain of Gore in the sideboard (altering your mana base with dual lands and/or pain lands of course). This deck is great against everything except life gain. Too bad lifegain is so viable and widely played right now.
The inclusion of Jade Statue and Parallectric Feedback are fantastic, as they solve some huge problems the author addressed. Flames of the Blood Hand is worthy not just of sideboard slots, but maindeck slots to prevent this deck from laying down and dying to many of the decks that are sure to show up.
Quote from Soldancer »
That's like calling any old Black/Green deck "The Rock." Red Deck Wins was the archetype in Extended that won on the back of the threebest1-drops red has ever seen coupled with massivemanadisruption and a ridiculous artifact.
I agree that calling any Black/Green deck "The Rock" is misguided, but that's what most people do. However, Red Deck Wins is simply a catch all phrase that has been attributed to fast builds focused on burning out the opponent and has been in use since the beginning of Magic. I suppose it's possible that the first time you ever heard of it was in the context you mentioned, but that doesn't mean that was the first time such nomenclature had ever been applied to mono red concepts.
Loaming Shaman is cool for its efficient body, ability to reuse spent cards, and no restriction on the number of cards it can reshuffle. This card is good in Limited, and has potential for other formats. I think it's rare because of the 3/2 body for three mana and the ability to get back more than just a few cards. I don't necessarily agree with the rarity, but I can understand why. If these things showed up too often in Limited, it could be quite an irritating occurrence.
I also forgot to say... The pre-release was SOOOO much better without a spoiler out a month ahead of time! I hope the full spoiler hits this late for every set from now on.
I agree. I hadn't seen every card in the set, so when I opened packs, I was surprised. Furthermore, the surprise was mostly pleasant; the new cards were mostly cool, and definitely challenged me in my deckbuilding endeavours. I don't think I've ever had such a huge pool of playable cards. It also cut down on kids that were moaning and groaning about cards, or who had obviously mocked up and played with the cards ahead of time. The prerelease was very fair and very fun, I felt.
I definitely have to question Mohan's approach and execution towards card evaluation and deck construction. I'm a huge fan of Limited formats, and I've disagreed with Mohan in both of the articles pertaining to Sealed Deck. I wanted a complete cardlist to really get the discussion going, but I gather from Mohan's prior post that such an event is unlikely to happen.
A comprehensive card pool included within the article text would be preferrable. It would make evaluating the overall performance more interactive, intuitive and informative.
@Talan Lee: I certainly felt that your responses to "Why Kamigawa was the worst block since Homelands" were of higher quality than the article itself. I don't want to restart that debate, but just would like to say I'd love to see as much quality writing here as possible. Benefits for everyone, heh.
Agreed. Talen Lee has the best written posts on this site (after myself, naturally). They are always well thought out, spelled correctly and he's not some kind of syntax and grammar assasin. Also, anyone who wishes may feel free to send me some of their writing, as I will gladly proof-read it.
On a side note, what are the policies on posting articles written in languages other than English, if any?
The editorial staff could use some expanding. There are numerous spelling, grammatical and syntax errors in almost every article posted here. It's not as bad as Brainburst, but it's still there.
Forecast is crazy amazing in Limited formats. Repeatedly generating effects as beneficial as flying creatures and drawing cards without ever expending a card is phenomenal. When the actual card itself can still be played as a relevant creature, the deal is even better. Pride of the Clouds is especially good because you can make little flying critters and then play the Pride right afterwards and have an army in the sky with a massive threat included. Getting up to six mana in Limited is very easy, so you'll often be able to use the forecast ability and play the card during the Main Phase.
These are translations of Cards taken from the official Japanese MTG site.
Condemn W
Instant Uncommon
Put target attacking creature on the bottom of its owner's library. That creature's controller gains life equal its toughness.
Daren Bader
8/180
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV 2WU
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor Rare
White spells you play cost 1 less to play.
Blue spells you play cost 1 less to play.
Spells your opponents play cost 1 more to play.
2/3
Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
112/180
Biomantic Mastery 4 G/U G/U G/U
Sorcery Rare
Draw a card for each creature target player controls, then draw a card for each creature another target player controls.
Dan Scott
142/180
From the article in question:
"The popular Extended deck relies on dredge cards like Golgari Grave-Troll and Stinkweed Imp to fill up the graveyard with creatures such as Ichorid and Ashen Ghoul."
Try paying attention next time.
Spam Warning!
- Craven
The inclusion of Jade Statue and Parallectric Feedback are fantastic, as they solve some huge problems the author addressed. Flames of the Blood Hand is worthy not just of sideboard slots, but maindeck slots to prevent this deck from laying down and dying to many of the decks that are sure to show up.
I agree that calling any Black/Green deck "The Rock" is misguided, but that's what most people do. However, Red Deck Wins is simply a catch all phrase that has been attributed to fast builds focused on burning out the opponent and has been in use since the beginning of Magic. I suppose it's possible that the first time you ever heard of it was in the context you mentioned, but that doesn't mean that was the first time such nomenclature had ever been applied to mono red concepts.
Chronicles begs to differ.
Loaming Shaman is cool for its efficient body, ability to reuse spent cards, and no restriction on the number of cards it can reshuffle. This card is good in Limited, and has potential for other formats. I think it's rare because of the 3/2 body for three mana and the ability to get back more than just a few cards. I don't necessarily agree with the rarity, but I can understand why. If these things showed up too often in Limited, it could be quite an irritating occurrence.
Yes indeed. Simply respond to Cytoplast Root-kin's comes into play ability by activating Novijen, Heart of Progress.
I agree. I hadn't seen every card in the set, so when I opened packs, I was surprised. Furthermore, the surprise was mostly pleasant; the new cards were mostly cool, and definitely challenged me in my deckbuilding endeavours. I don't think I've ever had such a huge pool of playable cards. It also cut down on kids that were moaning and groaning about cards, or who had obviously mocked up and played with the cards ahead of time. The prerelease was very fair and very fun, I felt.
I definitely have to question Mohan's approach and execution towards card evaluation and deck construction. I'm a huge fan of Limited formats, and I've disagreed with Mohan in both of the articles pertaining to Sealed Deck. I wanted a complete cardlist to really get the discussion going, but I gather from Mohan's prior post that such an event is unlikely to happen.
Agreed. Talen Lee has the best written posts on this site (after myself, naturally). They are always well thought out, spelled correctly and he's not some kind of syntax and grammar assasin. Also, anyone who wishes may feel free to send me some of their writing, as I will gladly proof-read it.
On a side note, what are the policies on posting articles written in languages other than English, if any?
Condemn W
Instant Uncommon
Put target attacking creature on the bottom of its owner's library. That creature's controller gains life equal its toughness.
Daren Bader
8/180
Grand Arbiter Augustin IV 2WU
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor Rare
White spells you play cost 1 less to play.
Blue spells you play cost 1 less to play.
Spells your opponents play cost 1 more to play.
2/3
Zoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
112/180
Biomantic Mastery 4 G/U G/U G/U
Sorcery Rare
Draw a card for each creature target player controls, then draw a card for each creature another target player controls.
Dan Scott
142/180
http://mtg.takaratomy.co.jp/product/dissension/pre_4/index.html