MTG Salvation

i've heard some bad things about equipment as well... are there certain card types to just avoid? is a control build even viable in draft, or would most people just run aggro? and if they aren't raredrafting... what stops people from just trying to grab all the rares? Should I just be trying to build a deck around the rares I pick up? and is it possible to play proliferate with a focus on charge counters instead? how important are dual lands to drafting?

thanks for all your responses!

What deck size should I be going for? We get 45 cards from the draft, but have a minimum 40 card deck size, so should i just be grabbing everything i can and slimming it down once i have the cards in my hand? are we allowed sideboards? how big are they?

Hey MTGS,

I'm planning to attend my first draft ever this coming Sunday. I've been playing magic for the past 7 years or so, though I was only ever really involved between odyssey to mirrodin, and after that I just played with cards pre-mirrodin. That being said I have a pretty good understanding of magic, just not necessarily the standard environment.

Like I said i'm going to the prerelease draft and I was wondering if you guys had any tips for someone going into his first draft. I've read up on stuff like BREAK, but do you guys have any other advice?

Also, do you know if we get to keep the commons/uncommons used in the deck, or only the rares from rarepick?

I'm thinking of trying to go for a RW metalcraft/kutholda (i took a look at the scars/beseiged spoilers), just because Mirran appeals to me a bit more. Advice?


Thanks!

Why don't you just make an enchantress deck (using Verduran Enchantress or Enchantress's Presence) and focus on making one heck of a big Uril? You can use enchant creatures like Armadillo Cloak, and Empyrial Armor

you might also like yavimaya enchantress as an alternative Uril

Thanks for your response, that clears things up.

Hi,

I had a question about a couple softlock cards I was planning to include in my new deck...

if I have a Rhystic Tutor in play, and say my opponent casts a spell and decides to not pay the extra 1 to prevent my draw, can I then counter the spell and still draw the card?

My same question applies to Mystic Remora, which is worded kind of weirdly with "successfully casts". So if my opponent decides to pay the extra 4 to prevent my draw, can I still counter the card?

Thanks,

Winterlocke

wow... i definitely haven't heard of those lands before, though I don't think i'll be able to run the stronghold simply because of cost, though I'll be looking at including bad rivers.

You mentioned that I'm running low in terms of threats... do you have any suggestions for other creatures/win conditions that would run along the theme of lock/control? And by the way, the weirding is there for an eventual lock, where I'd be gaining life via warhammers, so that I can deny all my opponent's draws and continue dealing damage.

PS thanks a lot, your posts are extremely helpful. Please share some more insight!

Thanks for the comment. I've definitely considered mind stone, but I feel like it takes up the valuable 1-3 drops that this deck needs for other stuff (softlocks, counters). Is disrupt really too narrow? I've always felt like there were more spells kicking around than creatures...

At this time I guess I'm just wondering what I need more of (since I have a about 3-4 spots left in my deck). More lands, removal, counter, or creatures?

One thing I guess I forgot to mention (in terms of constraints) is that I really dislike the newer sets, so I try not to include anything past ravnica. And yeah, i realize the irony with Terramorphic expanse, but I'm just trying to justify not spending money on onslaught fetchlands =P

i still have my nightmare horror deck from Torment, and I remember I splashed red for some burn + Petravarks/Petradons, as well as a Chainer, Dementia Master so that I could bring creatures back from both graveyards. if you splash red with Urborg, your tendrils/coffers could still be pretty viable...

Hey everyone,

So heres a new decklist I came up with recently for a UB lock/control kind of game. The deck tries to get a softlock as quickly as possible with Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora, and countering/removing/controlling with Recoil and Hypnotic Specter. The "win condition" centers on Cephalid Constables with Loxodon Warhammers to bounce practically everything my opponent has to their hand, either forcing a concede or allowing me to aggro them to death.

I went into this deck thinking of making a UG Aggro-Control, which became a UG Lock/Control after I realized how much I liked Rhystic Study/Mystic Remora.

Please comment and let me know what you think!! Should I add more pump spells for the constables, or take out the Soul Kisses? I also have problems trying to figure out what to play in turns 1-4, because so any of my cards are 1-3 curve. Any tips?

PS. this deck is budget like nothing else, it probably cost me under $20, so please take that into consideration when commenting.


Thanks!

I personally thought Invasion to Onslaught were the golden ages... before that, tournaments were pretty much dominated by one or two decks, while those blocks showed a few decks that were pretty capable of winning.

I've ordered bulk from them once and it was alright, though i probably won't do it again. I bought a mix of 1000 cards, but 300 of them ended up being copies of the same three cards (crafty pathmage, counsel of the soratami, and contaminated bond. I got a ridiculous amount of red cards (maybe 20 white, 20 black (excluding contaminated bonds), and it was not uncommon to have 5-12 copies of the same card. I did get one rare though (Panglacial wurm) but it was just not what I was hoping for.

Beyond the bulk piles I've been very happy with T&T. Their rares pricing is very good, and I'm especially happy with their shipping rates. I have noticed that condition tends to be pretty bad, compared to other vendors though.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Hi I had a question about shroud which I have been confused about for a while... I checked on the mtgsalvation wiki as well but I couldn't find a good answer.

If a permanent gains shroud, it cannot be targeted by enchantments (and therefore cannot be enchanted by anything coming into play after it has gained shroud). But what about a permanent that has already been enchanted, then gains shroud? For some reason I remember reading somewhere that all enchantments would drop off, but then that doesn't make sense in cases like Alexi's Cloak.

What about protection? If a creature has protection from black, it can't be enchanted by black enchantments, but what if it had a black enchantment on it before it gained protection from black? I know Tattoo Ward specifically states that the Protection from Enchantments ability wouldn't affect Tattoo Ward, so does that mean if a creature gains protection, the affected enchantments would drop?

Thanks,

Winter

are you kidding? Book burning has got to be the most reliable threshold gainer ever. Book burning + 6 decked cards is instant threshold, and if your opponent takes the damage, they just took 6 damage for 2 mana, which becomes a really effective burn spell.

If you're looking for a threshold deck, include creatures like springing tiger, krosan beast, and metamorphic wurm, all of which are great creatures even before they get threshold (but Odyssey standards/pre-Leatherback Baloth at least)