MTG Salvation

My (admittedly) janky meta consists of tons of fast red decks, a bunch of mono-white (what?) and then a player or two with valakut and caw-blade. I find myself grabbing SoWaP very often. I havent had a chance to test batterskull very much though. If my mystic is a little late, I'll grab FaF, and try to swing to get a gideon on the field... This is all dependent on board position of course, but turn two against an unknown opponent I'll usually go WaP.

They're not fun if someone is ripping your hand apart. But if you're on the other side its awesome...

I find it unfun that my opponent drops baneslayers. I mean 5/5 lifelink and all that other ☺☺☺☺? It's very irritating to build up a good presence only to have my plans dashed by a big fatty.

Edit: double post sorry...

The reason its so good, is because it doesn't take up any more slots than you'd already be using anyways for land. You'll either have a swamp or a mountain in that spot, why not replace it with a dual land that can animate into a creature when you're in a pinch or running out of gas? That's the reason man-lands are so good. You ALREADY want dual lands in your deck, plus its a threat that doesn't take up any slots! (effectively). What else could you want your land to do?

I am using an iMac for MTGO. I use parallels with windows XP. To be legit, yes you have to pay for parallels AND a copy of windows. Now, if you were the sort of unscrupulous individual that could get a hold of these things some other way, well that works too. Not that I endorse that or anything *ahem* I'd go with windows xp since its not as much of a resource hog as vista/7. This matters because if you're running both OS's at the same time it can bog your computer down.

I run one mb. I love sun titan and am never sad to see him late-game. Bring back destroyed swords? yes please. Bring back used tec edges or man lands that have been edged/ killed? please! Bring back baby jace to kill their jace that got through your counter wall? a big YES!

Honestly I think he is a great card, not only a bomb but brings card advantage with him. I've won many a game by bringing back a dead hawk to equip and fly over a clogged board. Definitely worth a slot in the MB.

Best way to think of it is not a net "loss". You're trading one value (money) for two, the cards and the fun of playing them. The only way that you will "break even" is by winning tournaments, drafts or by trading. All of these things require a significant monetary and time investment. Honestly the best way to gain value is by taking the cards you have, and trading them for more valuable cards. If you're really in tune to the competitive market you can gain tons of value by trading for cards you know are going to become hot. I mean look at the recent rise of Stoneforge Mystic, if you had known that card was going to explode and become a staple in 60% of the field you could have gained tons of value. Again, this requires a massive time investment and isn't really worth it imo.

long post short: Don't try to gain value in the cards, gain value with the enjoyment you get out of the game.

I absolutely love Preordain.

Not just because its incredibly useful (which it is!). But because of how I imagine it in my head. You use some of your mana to power your brain, and think of two ideas. You get to say, hmm, I'll do this *spell*, and then when I have a chance, I can throw this at them! Or you can say no! those ideas aren't what I need, what else can I think of...

I just think its an incredibly useful card, that matches the flavour of a blue planeswalker to boot. If they don't reprint Preordain in M12 I'm going to be a very sad control player

I think Scornful Egotist has awesome flavour. The flavour text just puts it over the top for me.

I want to replace the two Sphinxes with Gideon when funds allow. Gideon is just wayy too awesome against all decks.

I'm having a bit of a conundrum with Jace, I really really want to move him up to 3, but I am fairly set on the rest of my deck. I don't want to mess with my board control cards, they seem great where they are at. But on the other hand I don't want to go down in counters, I won't remove any leaks, they have just been way too great for me. I don't want to remove any pierces as I don't want to have to be a lucksack to draw them in the early game where they are relevant. I may consider removing one hard counter, but I just can't find a good enough reason too. They are great to have in the late game...

Hmm.. maybe someone can provide some insight to help me make a decision?

She didn't lose as a result of the bolt, she conceded the match. Thats not your fault, it was her mistake.

I don't know... If I'm going to swing with birds and that is gunna put me in a bad position I just Tec Edge it... Doesn't seem like its worth the slot imo, mana fixing & tec edge is more important. Plus we already have Condemn so it kinda seems a little redundant...

The thing you have to understand is that the "net-decks" have many many hours poured into them, hundreds if not thousands of test games, and the scrutiny of pretty much every semi-competitive magic player out there. These decks have under gone rigorous stress testing against all types of decks, and have prevailed. They usually have a good win/loss ratio against all of the other netdecks out there.

You really can't hope to compete with that kind of high profile. On the off hand that you have discovered tech of worth in your deck, there's probably a pro or two who have figured it out, tested it extensively and dismissed it as being not as consistent at winning as another deck.

I find homebrew decks are best left for the kitchen table, or depending on your meta - FNM. Sometimes if you go to a little "out of the way" card shop you can play in a meta where not every control player is running squad hawks w/ 4 Jace. It's all dependent on where you go.

Of course, this is for having fun. If you are practicing for a PTQ, then you best be playing to WIN. You pick a proven, well playtested deck and practice and practice with it. 99% of the people there are going to be playing net decks as well, so if you want to be competitive you must bring a deck that has a great chance of winning each game. If you do bring a home brew, you must ensure it has a positive win/loss ratio against most of the field. If it doesn't, why are you playing that deck?

In a control deck, jace's ultimate is a great clock against your opponent. Once you have taken control of the game and have generated significant card advantage. Fateseal your opponent to keep them off threats until you can either swing with gideon or use jace's ultimate.

It really just comes down to what you need:

blocker on turn two against aggro? WoO

card quality even though it comes a turn later? SGO

If you run Oust/Condemn mainboard in significant numbers I'd say you should go with SGO, if not then run WoO