My local game store has started a weekly paper pauper event with the common list of magic online, and it is a lot of fun.
However, monoblack seems to have taken over the metagame, and I am having trouble finding a deck that can beat monoblack with ease which is functional against other decks - particularly delver based decks, which are also popular. I figured going to the forums would be easier than sitting and brewing a bunch of decks, since surely others have had this problem.
A lot of casual control decks just contain far too many answers and not enough threats. When I first started playing with a friend of mine, he had a blue black deck that had two creatures, twenty counterspells, eight board wipes, and eight draw spells. Every game involved a long series of nothing happening, followed by him losing. It was the worst.
It took me a while to find any enjoyment in playing against well tuned control decks that could actually win, because the memories of not playing magic were so fresh in my mind.
I have never passed on a Reveillark p1p1 in any cube I have played... but not this theoretical time.
Purphoros is powerful, presents a strong clock, and is difficult to remove. With the low curve in this cube and aggressive red creatures, I feel like its the best choice.
The flavor of magic cards only works on a one to one basis, period. Gravedigger is flavorful because he is digging graves, even though that makes no sense if the creature was milled.
What bothers me are cards that almost never resemble flavorful sense, like swords to plowshares.
Its all well and good when you cast it on a human or a soldier, but it ends there. Did you turn that dragons teeth into shovels? Is the bloodthirsty kavu now only interested in farming and eating beets?
A long time ago in standard, I was playing against a vengevine deck.
He cast a turn two squadron hawk, getting the full set and discarding two vengevines.
On turn four he cast a squadron hawk, picked his deck up, proudly announced "Fail to find!" and shuffled his deck. Then, he cast the other, picked the deck up again, and said "Yeah, free shuffle".
As far as I can tell, he was being serious. He was actually ecstatic that he was able to pick his deck up and give it two more shuffles.
You're playing casual, he didnt feel like doing a bunch of actual nothing for a while so he quit and told you why.
I dont see why thats a problem. I act similarly when someone does something like mass land destruction that primarily serves the purpose of making a game take eight billion years to resolve.
My LGS has popular commons and uncommons for seventy five cents to a dollar, pre sorted and ready to go.
There are also boxes of commons and uncommons, sorted by set and nothing else, from the most recent blocks - ten cents for a common and twenty five for an uncommon.
When you pay a dollar for a doom blade, you are paying for the time it took for someone who has better things to do. Someone went through a bunch of garbage from core sets to pick out those cards.
A team of skilled players spend a lot of time constantly playtesting against each other, suggesting new options from new perspectives and new angles, and trying out decks they would not normally consider at their teammates suggestion.
Having a good team is actually incredibly useful for competitive play.
Bad cards also teach people what good cards look like.
I have seen many new players go nuts for the giant expensive effects that dont actually do anything, and after using them and losing a few times they understand first hand what a good and bad card look like.
For one, the Horde format described in that article works wonderfully with multiplayer, and in fact is best played with multiple players. They described this format as being simply incompatible with multiples.
However, monoblack seems to have taken over the metagame, and I am having trouble finding a deck that can beat monoblack with ease which is functional against other decks - particularly delver based decks, which are also popular. I figured going to the forums would be easier than sitting and brewing a bunch of decks, since surely others have had this problem.
It took me a while to find any enjoyment in playing against well tuned control decks that could actually win, because the memories of not playing magic were so fresh in my mind.
Even then, in my experience, some decks are actually unable to ever beat the hydra and some simply cant lose.
Purphoros is powerful, presents a strong clock, and is difficult to remove. With the low curve in this cube and aggressive red creatures, I feel like its the best choice.
What bothers me are cards that almost never resemble flavorful sense, like swords to plowshares.
Its all well and good when you cast it on a human or a soldier, but it ends there. Did you turn that dragons teeth into shovels? Is the bloodthirsty kavu now only interested in farming and eating beets?
If they are brand new and learning the game, its probably with a deck I handed them, which has basics for lands and no mana rocks.
If they understand the core rules and are playing mana rocks and colorless lands this should be something very easy to learn.
I see no issue.
He cast a turn two squadron hawk, getting the full set and discarding two vengevines.
On turn four he cast a squadron hawk, picked his deck up, proudly announced "Fail to find!" and shuffled his deck. Then, he cast the other, picked the deck up again, and said "Yeah, free shuffle".
As far as I can tell, he was being serious. He was actually ecstatic that he was able to pick his deck up and give it two more shuffles.
Other than long time vintage staple Sign in Blood?
I dont see why thats a problem. I act similarly when someone does something like mass land destruction that primarily serves the purpose of making a game take eight billion years to resolve.
There are also boxes of commons and uncommons, sorted by set and nothing else, from the most recent blocks - ten cents for a common and twenty five for an uncommon.
When you pay a dollar for a doom blade, you are paying for the time it took for someone who has better things to do. Someone went through a bunch of garbage from core sets to pick out those cards.
Having a good team is actually incredibly useful for competitive play.
I have seen many new players go nuts for the giant expensive effects that dont actually do anything, and after using them and losing a few times they understand first hand what a good and bad card look like.
This is almost certainly different than that.
For one, the Horde format described in that article works wonderfully with multiplayer, and in fact is best played with multiple players. They described this format as being simply incompatible with multiples.