In the mid to late nineties, PTQs were overrun by teams of the already-qualified. These teams would concede matches left and right to their friends who hadn't yet qualified. This was just one reason WotC eventually prohibited people who had already qualified from participating in PTQs. This doesn't seem nefarious to me at all, just you deciding whether or not you want to concede to your opponent. Ultimately, if you make the correct plays and have luck on your side for the day, you'll make top 8, whether or not anyone concedes to someone.
The reserved list exists because the pressure on Wizards of the Coast to remove it is nonexistent. There are no social media campaigns, write in efforts, or any kind of organized action whatsoever. If those things existed, they would have already bowed to the pressure. We deserve better, and need someone to step up and begin the process.
The worst part about the reserve list is the feel bad factor. I play magic, I help pay those employees salaries, yet they spit in our faces with the reserve list time and time again. I play knowing full well I could keep playing every day, 24 hours a day with a free online program or with proxies in person. Yet for some reason, I still buy cards. But you know what? I don't buy anywhere what I used to buy, and that's only going to continue. I'll start buying more when they start respecting the demands of their customers more. I'm done being a stone cold sucker.
Firstly, their nonstop promotion of the Helvault is what got players excited about it's contents. Then, there was something that appeals to only 10% of the community inside, and most everyone was like, well, whatever. People who found out what was inside found out it was just another empty ploy with a 25 cent trinket inside. So oh well, if you go, you know what you're getting.
Then, we all find out that some people got $100 promos in their Helvault and you were given a spindown die? How does this inspire confidence in future products?
If everyone got nothing(as would be the case if there weren't premium helvaults) it would just be another failed promotion with more empty hopes and misleading advertising, nothing new. That wasn't enough for their marketing department. Instead they just decided to give away $100 to some people while the rest get nothing.
I'm done being toyed with. I just cancelled my AVR preorder, and if you're as annoyed with WotC as I am, I encourage you to do the same.
Its like going to a movie on opening night and receiving a little piece of film you can use as a bookmark. Then learning that one in a hundred theaters had a member of the cast and/or crew show up and give out free shirts and tickets to give to other friends to see the movie.
...
Anyone who went to the prerelease for the helvault should have walked away with this going "wow, I really loved being able to play magic!" Not: "Awh, I didn't get a $50 bill but the other guy did!"
Here's a question for ya'll: Did any of you out there complaining actually win your local event?
Yeah, I won my 18 packs this weekend, so that was great. That's actually irrelevant. This is about hyping a promotion to death, then having contain nothing that 95% of players care about. If you're going to excite the community, be prepared to deliver. They failed miserably. It's not that some people got something and others got literally nothing. It's that some players literally got nothing, and that is VERY frustrating as someone who throws a ton of money at Wizards. I've canceled my AVR preorder. Anyone else care to join in?
I would really like some constructive criticism about the deck, but I feel that I need to address a few things first.
Most games end with my opponent just taking 25 from Sharuum. Many other times, a Wurmcoil or Enigma Sphinx join the party, or I'll recur a Triskelion with Sharuum to get extra points in. That's how 85% of the games go with this deck. You can combo kill your opponent, which isn't very satisfying, unless they're trying to do the same, which is when it's nice to have.
I play 2 combo kills. In multiplayer and most 1v1 games, I try to avoid them until the game has more than matured if at all possible. The Helm/Line combo is there exclusively to kill people doing degenerate things / ruining EVERYONE's fun. The power artifact / braingeyser / monolith thing is there as well, and is an eventuality that will be used to end a game for 1 person. Those two are the only true combos in the deck.
Ommissions: I used to have Mindslaver in this deck, but it was only cool the first 3 times I did it, then it became unfun for both me and my opponent. This card is totally outrageous and it's not there for a reason. It's the same reason I will not play Magister Sphinx or Sorin Markov. They just don't lead to fun games. Philosophically, it may not seem much different than locking someone under the Abyss or Humility, but I've lost having either of those in play many times. The difference is that your opponent still has a great chance to remove the card, whereas with those others, the damage is done. I don't own a Timetwister or that would be in the deck as well. Sundering Titan is in my top 5 least favorite cards to see in commander, along with Teferi and Back to Basics. It just makes games unfun for me when I see it, so I've left it out.
Advice Wanted: I really would like some comments on what could be improved in my deck. Is there something to make the deck more consistent? Any artifact creatures that will help kill my opponent, or have great, reuusable effects? Finally, I need a way to permanently recur my deck. Elixir of Immortality has been considered, but it's such a dead card much of the time. Is there any way I can consistently recurse my deck without this? As always, any general commentary and questions are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Let me start off by saying that I DO play this deck in multiplayer, but 1v1 is my preferred format due to time constraints. That said, everyone I play with uses the normal banned list as defined by Sheldon, not as listed here. Even so, the deck will still work with some of the acceleration banned.
Before I get into deck operations, here is the list:
Two stories involving Phage. The first was a run of the mill Helm of Obedience activation targeting my opponent. He flips Phage, the Untouchable, game over, I lose. In another game, we'd been playing for like an hour or so and everyone had huge graveyards. I cast Living Death and low and behold, he had his Phage in the yard. This time, he dies. Not so crazy just entertaining.
1. There are players who prefer sealed and also like to draft.
2. There are players who prefer sealed and do not like to draft.
3. There are players who detest sealed and like to draft.
An official policy banning tournament organizers from satisfying group #3 only serves to alienate players.
Personally, I won't be attending the Dark Ascension prerelease and will actively be encouraging others to do the same, so long WOTC demands and not player demand are being met.
I think the appropriate response from WotC is to take a wait and see approach with reprints. I don't think it's bad for an old format to have $50-$60 nonland staples. People invest in a format and as long as the pricing doesn't threaten the viability of the format(as has happened with Vintage and Legacy), they will continue to do that.
The shocklands seem to be a big request around here for reprinting, yet alot of people don't realize that cards like reflecting pool and filter lands are both viable alternatives to fix your mana in alot of decks. Even glimmervoid is fine in affinity strategies. 2 or 3 life if fetched for an untapped land DOES matter in this format. Zoo finds itself at 12-14 by turn 3 alot of the time from it's own cards. Add to this that you can play cards like Dismember and other phyrexian cards whereas a shock heavy deck won't be able to get away with it and you get a legitimate competitor to shocklands in filters and pools.
If you were expecting $50 in cards like Elspeth Vs. Tezzeret, you might be disappointed, but lets think about it.
You get:
Nicol Bolas($15-20)
Ajani Vengeant($5-7)
Lightning Helix($3)
Profane Command($2)
I'm not saying more wouldn't have been welcome. What I do think is this is the perfect opportunity to add more value to the other duel deck that doesn't feature the prime reprints. This is a way for WotC to release a thankyou to the players. They're reprinting casual cards that many, many people want. It's also a way for many who'd like a Copy of Nicol Bolas but don't want to shell out $20 for one card to get it without feeling dirty. You're getting at least $30 value for 19.99 or less which is pretty solid. That doesn't take into account all the other rares and uncommons you get.
Please consider that this is WAY better than the knights vs. dragons which is actually the only one I can think of that's a real loss leader.
I'd just like to chime in on this subject as it pertains to modern. The announcement itself sent dealer inventory to it's knees and also helped make alot of money for LGS. Alot of dealers who use crystal commerce / tcgplayer have settings that allow them to hide a certain amount of inventory.
What this means is that if they've got 15 copies of Tarmogoyf, and 8 sell out at $75, the other 7 won't be automatically listed as in stock. Instead, they'll be notified and can adjust the price according to the market. What's great about this is so many LGS struggle from month to month, and while some are successful and have great customer bases, this kind of infusion can really have a large impact, especially during the waning months of summer.
As far as the reprints go, they will do it judiciously and slowly as far as I'm concerned. Anything less will undermine consumer confidence, something they've worked very hard to cultivate. As someone who already has most of the cards I need to play the format, I stand to lose value in the short term, but in the long term, the cards will go back up, assuming magic continues to become more and more popular.
The last point I'd like to address is that of the older crowd driving prices. I think this is an undwerweighted factor regarding price. Way back in 1997, Tempest was released, and several cards became valuable, such as Cursed Scroll($15) and Tradewind Rider($10). Coat of Arms($10) was from the previous set, Exodus. At the time, such a price for an in print rare was literally the ceiling. No one thought in print cards could ever be worth more. 14 years later, and about 44% inflation, cards are more expensive. The difference now is that people such as myself are older and have more disposable income. It also doesn't help that many magic players are destined to have higher paying jobs in professional settings. This means there is competition for the cards and cash flows more freely at higher amounts. In addition, if we are to believe that magic is more popular now than ever before, there are more people competing for the same cards, thus driving price up.
I think it's important to understand this mechanic, as well as the role speculators play in pricing. It can be frustrating to the average player just trying to acquire the cards they want. In the Modern era people need to be fully aware of all the factors affecting the price of our hobby. If you are ignorant to these and just angry about the way things are, it won't get you very far. If you're able to identify causes of price increases, demand bubbles and speculation vs. real price, it will go a long way in helping you build your Modern collection without getting burned.
Yet, it is not broken or banned nor will it be. Should be talking about what will be unbanned first than banned next. .
This. It's short sighted to think Tarmogoyf is going to be banned. It's existence keeps all decks honest in that they have to play removal that kills it(100 legal cards at least) or just win despite it, like combo. Saying Tarmo should be banned because it's better than everything else is like saying noble hierarch should be banned because it's that much better than llanowar elves.
Yeah rock, I started at the same point with the release of The Dark and also still play some legacy. It's just too big of a risk for me at this point. I've kept a dredge, metalworker and affinity deck but the rest of my stuff I unloaded this past weekend because I feel like we've hit bubble status and that modern is going to be well received enough to see substantial support from TO's. They stand to make ALOT of money on the singles from the new format and I suspect SCG and others are planning this right now.
I'm also hopeful that there will be a paper masters edition once a year to inject supply of cards that are needed, because though I've already got my stuff, starting out a format with $1000 playset of shocklands, goyfs and bobs isn't really attractive.
I know alot of people are speculating that Goyf will be reprinted in Innistrad, which seems realistic considering it's graveyard based and the rotation of Terramorphic and Zendikar fetchlands.
There are elitists who won't want this, but the fact is that if it is reprinted, it may have an impact in standard, but nowhere near as much as in legacy or modern. If they do go this route, I expect their value to settle in around 60 or so, which is at least attainable considering you can get one out of your box or whatever. We shall see shortly, I suppose.
The genesis of the Modern format is both the failure of new extended and the need for official support to a non-rotating format that is unaffected by the reserved list. Legacy is a dead man walking whether or not it happens a year from now or 10 years from now. So who is Modern aimed at?
It's clearly aimed at people who play legacy and have most of the higher end cards, people who liked old extended(since it's basicly that format + scars block, m11 and m12) and players who've been collecting over the last 8-10 years who've amassed a collection of cards that really don't fit in anywhere but Modern.
Non rotating formats are going to be faster and have higher octane decks than smaller rotating formats becuase the available card choices are so large that less effective options aren't viable. That said, it doesn't make sense to have a heavy handed approach after the pro tour in terms of bannings / unbannings. For the pro tour, the banned list is fine. Afterwards, there may be a few additions, but I Think Jace, Bitterblossom, and ancestral visions are all fine, but don't expect them all at once. They'll realize that the format is just too fast for these to dominate without free countermagic like Daze and FOW. How long it takes them to cop to this is anyone's guess.
Then, we all find out that some people got $100 promos in their Helvault and you were given a spindown die? How does this inspire confidence in future products?
If everyone got nothing(as would be the case if there weren't premium helvaults) it would just be another failed promotion with more empty hopes and misleading advertising, nothing new. That wasn't enough for their marketing department. Instead they just decided to give away $100 to some people while the rest get nothing.
I'm done being toyed with. I just cancelled my AVR preorder, and if you're as annoyed with WotC as I am, I encourage you to do the same.
Yeah, I won my 18 packs this weekend, so that was great. That's actually irrelevant. This is about hyping a promotion to death, then having contain nothing that 95% of players care about. If you're going to excite the community, be prepared to deliver. They failed miserably. It's not that some people got something and others got literally nothing. It's that some players literally got nothing, and that is VERY frustrating as someone who throws a ton of money at Wizards. I've canceled my AVR preorder. Anyone else care to join in?
Most games end with my opponent just taking 25 from Sharuum. Many other times, a Wurmcoil or Enigma Sphinx join the party, or I'll recur a Triskelion with Sharuum to get extra points in. That's how 85% of the games go with this deck. You can combo kill your opponent, which isn't very satisfying, unless they're trying to do the same, which is when it's nice to have.
I play 2 combo kills. In multiplayer and most 1v1 games, I try to avoid them until the game has more than matured if at all possible. The Helm/Line combo is there exclusively to kill people doing degenerate things / ruining EVERYONE's fun. The power artifact / braingeyser / monolith thing is there as well, and is an eventuality that will be used to end a game for 1 person. Those two are the only true combos in the deck.
Ommissions: I used to have Mindslaver in this deck, but it was only cool the first 3 times I did it, then it became unfun for both me and my opponent. This card is totally outrageous and it's not there for a reason. It's the same reason I will not play Magister Sphinx or Sorin Markov. They just don't lead to fun games. Philosophically, it may not seem much different than locking someone under the Abyss or Humility, but I've lost having either of those in play many times. The difference is that your opponent still has a great chance to remove the card, whereas with those others, the damage is done. I don't own a Timetwister or that would be in the deck as well. Sundering Titan is in my top 5 least favorite cards to see in commander, along with Teferi and Back to Basics. It just makes games unfun for me when I see it, so I've left it out.
Advice Wanted: I really would like some comments on what could be improved in my deck. Is there something to make the deck more consistent? Any artifact creatures that will help kill my opponent, or have great, reuusable effects? Finally, I need a way to permanently recur my deck. Elixir of Immortality has been considered, but it's such a dead card much of the time. Is there any way I can consistently recurse my deck without this? As always, any general commentary and questions are appreciated. Thanks in advance.
-Aaron
Before I get into deck operations, here is the list:
Lands:
Artifacts:
Sorceries:
Instants:
Enchantments:
Creatures:
Planeswalkers:
The in 1v1, the main focus of the deck is deal 21 points of damage to your opponent with Sharuum. Please see my comments in the next post!
1. There are players who prefer sealed and also like to draft.
2. There are players who prefer sealed and do not like to draft.
3. There are players who detest sealed and like to draft.
An official policy banning tournament organizers from satisfying group #3 only serves to alienate players.
Personally, I won't be attending the Dark Ascension prerelease and will actively be encouraging others to do the same, so long WOTC demands and not player demand are being met.
The shocklands seem to be a big request around here for reprinting, yet alot of people don't realize that cards like reflecting pool and filter lands are both viable alternatives to fix your mana in alot of decks. Even glimmervoid is fine in affinity strategies. 2 or 3 life if fetched for an untapped land DOES matter in this format. Zoo finds itself at 12-14 by turn 3 alot of the time from it's own cards. Add to this that you can play cards like Dismember and other phyrexian cards whereas a shock heavy deck won't be able to get away with it and you get a legitimate competitor to shocklands in filters and pools.
You get:
Nicol Bolas($15-20)
Ajani Vengeant($5-7)
Lightning Helix($3)
Profane Command($2)
I'm not saying more wouldn't have been welcome. What I do think is this is the perfect opportunity to add more value to the other duel deck that doesn't feature the prime reprints. This is a way for WotC to release a thankyou to the players. They're reprinting casual cards that many, many people want. It's also a way for many who'd like a Copy of Nicol Bolas but don't want to shell out $20 for one card to get it without feeling dirty. You're getting at least $30 value for 19.99 or less which is pretty solid. That doesn't take into account all the other rares and uncommons you get.
Please consider that this is WAY better than the knights vs. dragons which is actually the only one I can think of that's a real loss leader.
What this means is that if they've got 15 copies of Tarmogoyf, and 8 sell out at $75, the other 7 won't be automatically listed as in stock. Instead, they'll be notified and can adjust the price according to the market. What's great about this is so many LGS struggle from month to month, and while some are successful and have great customer bases, this kind of infusion can really have a large impact, especially during the waning months of summer.
As far as the reprints go, they will do it judiciously and slowly as far as I'm concerned. Anything less will undermine consumer confidence, something they've worked very hard to cultivate. As someone who already has most of the cards I need to play the format, I stand to lose value in the short term, but in the long term, the cards will go back up, assuming magic continues to become more and more popular.
The last point I'd like to address is that of the older crowd driving prices. I think this is an undwerweighted factor regarding price. Way back in 1997, Tempest was released, and several cards became valuable, such as Cursed Scroll($15) and Tradewind Rider($10). Coat of Arms($10) was from the previous set, Exodus. At the time, such a price for an in print rare was literally the ceiling. No one thought in print cards could ever be worth more. 14 years later, and about 44% inflation, cards are more expensive. The difference now is that people such as myself are older and have more disposable income. It also doesn't help that many magic players are destined to have higher paying jobs in professional settings. This means there is competition for the cards and cash flows more freely at higher amounts. In addition, if we are to believe that magic is more popular now than ever before, there are more people competing for the same cards, thus driving price up.
I think it's important to understand this mechanic, as well as the role speculators play in pricing. It can be frustrating to the average player just trying to acquire the cards they want. In the Modern era people need to be fully aware of all the factors affecting the price of our hobby. If you are ignorant to these and just angry about the way things are, it won't get you very far. If you're able to identify causes of price increases, demand bubbles and speculation vs. real price, it will go a long way in helping you build your Modern collection without getting burned.
This. It's short sighted to think Tarmogoyf is going to be banned. It's existence keeps all decks honest in that they have to play removal that kills it(100 legal cards at least) or just win despite it, like combo. Saying Tarmo should be banned because it's better than everything else is like saying noble hierarch should be banned because it's that much better than llanowar elves.
I'm also hopeful that there will be a paper masters edition once a year to inject supply of cards that are needed, because though I've already got my stuff, starting out a format with $1000 playset of shocklands, goyfs and bobs isn't really attractive.
I know alot of people are speculating that Goyf will be reprinted in Innistrad, which seems realistic considering it's graveyard based and the rotation of Terramorphic and Zendikar fetchlands.
There are elitists who won't want this, but the fact is that if it is reprinted, it may have an impact in standard, but nowhere near as much as in legacy or modern. If they do go this route, I expect their value to settle in around 60 or so, which is at least attainable considering you can get one out of your box or whatever. We shall see shortly, I suppose.
It's clearly aimed at people who play legacy and have most of the higher end cards, people who liked old extended(since it's basicly that format + scars block, m11 and m12) and players who've been collecting over the last 8-10 years who've amassed a collection of cards that really don't fit in anywhere but Modern.
Non rotating formats are going to be faster and have higher octane decks than smaller rotating formats becuase the available card choices are so large that less effective options aren't viable. That said, it doesn't make sense to have a heavy handed approach after the pro tour in terms of bannings / unbannings. For the pro tour, the banned list is fine. Afterwards, there may be a few additions, but I Think Jace, Bitterblossom, and ancestral visions are all fine, but don't expect them all at once. They'll realize that the format is just too fast for these to dominate without free countermagic like Daze and FOW. How long it takes them to cop to this is anyone's guess.