I went to two prereleases this weekend. In the first (midnight), I went Temur and despite a mediocre pool, built a U/G deck splashing R and went 4-0, effectively "winning" the event.
I was stoked and vowed to do just as well in the second prerelease, going Jeskai this time. When I saw my pool I thought I was sure to go 5-0. Sage-Eye Avengers was my promo, but it only got better from there - Monastery Mentor, Citadel Siege, Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest, Cloudform, and 3x Sandsteppe Outcast were just some of the highlights.
I went with an agressive U/W deck, going for consistency, but lost my first match to a horrendous misplay. Opponent was attacking with a Rageform manifest and hit it with Ruthless Instincts to make it 4/4 and trampling. I untapped my Wandering Champion with Refocus, then cast Feat of Resistance to give it pro red. Turns out Manifest tokens are colorless - whoops! I did alright after that until match 4, when I overextended into a Crux of Fate and proceeded to go 3-2 for the event.
Though I'm sure part of my record was due to bad play compounded by tilt, I can't shake the feeling that I could have done a better job building my deck. I sometimes found it hard to use my amazing cards. I therefore have two questions. Within the U/W framework that I had, could I have built my deck better? And with the pool I had, could I have chosen my colors better?
Deck is organized by Creature/Noncreature, then CMC. Pool is organized by color, rarity, then notability (Sandsteppe Outcast above Aven Skirmisher).
Curve:
1
2 CCCSSSS
3 CCCCCCSS
4 CCCSS
5 S
6 CS
(this counts Will of the Naga as a 4-mana spell)
The biggest problems I noticed after the fact was that I really should have been playing Pressure Point (perhaps cutting a Refocus) and that my three-drop slot was a litle overloaded (though with all the awesome three-drops in my pool, it was hard not to play them all).
In the games, I often had trouble curving out and often found myself with five great cards in hand but playing one a turn thanks to a lack of mana. Maybe an extra land would have helped?
Black looks great with Brutal Hordechief, and Green had some good cards, but I figured I wanted to be consistent on mana so I could always play my awesome spells. Maybe not the best approach?
Here's what I'm guessing based on what happened in this UR. We know that many sparks ignite after a near-death experience and planeswalk their owner to somewhere else. It's also virtually confirmed that Sarkhan is going back in time to change the future of Tarkir. However, it seems unlikely that this will make a difference in the fates of other planes - if it did, the "butterfly effect" caused by Ugin being alive a long time ago would likely obliviate much of the storyline built up around the Eldrazi. So if time travel only affects beings on the same plane, then what better way to show the change then to have a character from the "original" version of the plane show up? This ties into the popular theory that Narset will become a planeswalker.
In short, I think Narset's spark ignited when she was struck down by Zurgo, and that she will show up again as a Planeswalker in Dragons of Tarkir to highlight the changes wrought by Sarkhan's meddling with time.
Lofty Perjurer 4R
Creature - Giant Advisor (U)
Haste WU,T: Look at each opponent's hand and the top card of each opponent's library.
4/3
Looks like decent costing and a good concept, but maybe this would work better on a smaller creature. Often you'd rather attack with a 4/3 then use a marginal ability on it.
Infernocane1RR
Legendary Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a tempest counter on Infernocane, then Infernocane deals X damage to each creature and player, where X is the number of tempest counters on Infernocane.
If there are no creatures in play, sacrifice Infernocane.
Guard Duty wants a word with you about making something that is strictly better than it. Perhaps a drawback is needed or a colorless mana added to the cost?
My intent was not to make it strictly better; if you use it as bad removal on an opponent's creature it's worse than Guard Duty. Maybe I should tone it down... does +1/+2 sound better? Now half the time it's a bad Holy Strength and half it's a bad Guard Duty. Maybe I should just kill the card...
Coming back to this, I realize that the runes were probably concepted wrong from the beginning. I was looking for something to replace instants and sorceries, but you guys are right in that the subtype doesn't accomplish anything. Probably the best fix would be just to remove the rune subtype.
Flare RuneR
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of each upkeep, Flare Rune deals 2 damage to enchanted creature.
With that in mind, how are these cards purely in terms of design value? Will they do a good job of semi-replacing some of the common instants and sorceries normally seen in Limited?
I'm working on an "all-permanents" set with a "primitive" flavor, and one of the things I'm using to "replace" spells like combat tricks and removal are a cycle of enchant creatures with the Rune subtype. How are these?
Guardian's RuneW
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has defender.
Ward Rune1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
When Ward Rune enters the battlefield, choose a color. 1W: Enchanted creature gains protection from the chosen color until end of turn.
Amnesia Rune2U
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay U. If you do, you may return enchanted creature to its owner's hand.
Might RuneG
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature 1G: Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn.
Edit: After several comments pointing out the pointlessness of introducing a new subtype with no mechanical significance, these cards are now simply Enchantment - Auras. Criticism on the cards themselves would be nice, however.
Remember that although Garruk's flipside is G/B, he fits in any deck with green mana. Not to say he wouldn't be good in both colors, but keep in mind that he only costs green.
So I've been working on a modified budget version of this deck. The basic idea is to use self-mill and ramp to pump out a large Spider Spawning, which works in combination with Arachnus Spinner and Arachnus Web to control the board. Alternatively, swing with a Kessig Cagebreakers. Wincons include Ghoultree (very easy to get through when you can web four creatures every turn) and Splinterfright. The deck has performed well on Cockatrice, but I'm still fine-tuning it, and would appreciate some input on the concentrations of some of the creatures and spells. Screeching Skaab, Deranged Assistant, and Viridian Emmisary are all fighting for spots as well as Mulch/Tracker's Instincts. I'm not sure whether Ghoultree or Splinterfright is better as well, but in all of these cases a mix seems to be appropriate. Also, the sideboard needs a lot of work.
That sounds like him. Everyone who worked on the project had gotten their cube, and there had been no legal trouble along the way. The fear, however unfounded, was definitely present in all of us.
I'm just sad my space cube box has QR codes of dead links to forum threads and visual spoilers that no longer exist. :'(
Actually, not everyone did... oh well. I at least have an archived copy of the visual spoiler.
I'd agree with this. There might be a few here and there that are looking online, but I'd imagine that by the time a casual/new player decided it was worth their time to start reading more into magic online, they've probably gotten the hang of any of the basics a column designed solely for new players would go in depth on.
Definitely a concern, but I wouldn't say the percent is quite as low as you think.
I would think that a google search would take a new player to that site before any others. In fact I know plenty of VERY casual players who really only read that site and avoid places like message boards and strategy sites.
That's more or less what I was thinking. I'd also add the many players who sign up for an account with MTGSalvation, asking questions like "how do I beat my brother with his unbeatable Elves deck?" Many respond from a veteran tournament player's perspective which is honestly quite unhelpful to someone with a limited cardpool and knowledge of the game. Instead, someone could link him to an article titled "defeating synergy" or something, which could explain strategies for defeating tribal and similar decks using board sweepers, control, and spot removal.
What you're looking for is the column formerly known as "Building on a Budget". Jacob Van Lunen, however, is a moron, and has rendered his column unreadable and useless.
In my opinion, BOAB does an okay (not great) job of providing players with decent Standard decks they can acquire for less than the price of Mythics.dec. What it doesn't do is help low-level casual players build decks with cards already in their collection.
After reading Maro's article about dailymtg, I started thinking about the column groups he began with: a Design and Development column, plus one for each of the three psychographics. Obviously this has grown to include a Vorthos column (Savor the Flavor), a MTG culture (not sure if this is right) column (The Week That Was), a Limited column (Limited Resources) and a budget deck building column (Building on a Budget). What struck me was the lack of a dedicated column for newer players. BOAB typically focuses on Standard stuff that requires quite a bit of understanding of metagames and advanced strategy, Serious Fun is fairly limited in focus and tends to assume the player has access to many cards, or covers fairly complicated formats, and From the Lab is just weird in addition to using many rares and hard-to-find cards.
What I'm proposing is a column dedicated to newer players who understand the game fairly well, but may not own many cards. The column could have articles on intro packs, providing play tips and suggestions to improve them (similar to Ertai's Lament), overviews of different commons and strategies involving them, and introduction of slightly more advanced concepts such as basic tournament structure and card advantage.
To be clear, the players this column is directed towards:
Already understand rules and basic strategy. They "get" the classic Giant Growth/Shock example, and some might understand the logic behind waiting to use your Prodigal Pyromancer until your opponent's turn.
Also understand basic deckbuilding concepts: 60 cards, no more than four of each, around 24 lands, a mix of creatures and noncreatures, a basic idea of the mana curve (play spells with a variety of mana costs).
Do not have a huge cardpool to draw from. Your average reader might have one or two intro packs with some cards switched around, and the fruits of three or four booster packs. On the high end, they might have three modified intro packs, two decks they made themselves, the rest of a M12 fat pack, a Garruk, Primal Hunter they pulled, a Platinum Angel they traded a friend for, and three other rares they're not using.
Does not play in tournaments. Some might have an Event Deck and have been to FNM a few times.
I suppose the biggest problem with this sort of column is its players don't spend as much time looking at MTG information on the internet (and also might be younger, with . It's definitely not viable for SCG to run this type of column, but it might be for DailyMTG, because it fits into Wizard's larger plan of acquisition.
Would something like this be viable?
Mana Domaination1U
Instant Domain - Counter target spell unless it's controller pays X, where X is the number of basic land types among lands you control.
Dunno if this has been posted before, but it is a slightly scaling Mana Leak in the Engineered Explosives U/xyz... control deck.
I was stoked and vowed to do just as well in the second prerelease, going Jeskai this time. When I saw my pool I thought I was sure to go 5-0. Sage-Eye Avengers was my promo, but it only got better from there - Monastery Mentor, Citadel Siege, Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest, Cloudform, and 3x Sandsteppe Outcast were just some of the highlights.
I went with an agressive U/W deck, going for consistency, but lost my first match to a horrendous misplay. Opponent was attacking with a Rageform manifest and hit it with Ruthless Instincts to make it 4/4 and trampling. I untapped my Wandering Champion with Refocus, then cast Feat of Resistance to give it pro red. Turns out Manifest tokens are colorless - whoops! I did alright after that until match 4, when I overextended into a Crux of Fate and proceeded to go 3-2 for the event.
Though I'm sure part of my record was due to bad play compounded by tilt, I can't shake the feeling that I could have done a better job building my deck. I sometimes found it hard to use my amazing cards. I therefore have two questions. Within the U/W framework that I had, could I have built my deck better? And with the pool I had, could I have chosen my colors better?
Deck is organized by Creature/Noncreature, then CMC. Pool is organized by color, rarity, then notability (Sandsteppe Outcast above Aven Skirmisher).
The Deck
1 Soul Summons
2 Wandering Champion
1 Cloudform
1 Monastery Mentor
3 Sandsteppe Outcast
1 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
2 Abzan Skycaptain
1 Lotus Path Djinn
1 Sage-Eye Avengers
Noncreatures
1 Feat of Resistance
2 Refocus
1 Valorous Stance
1 Crippling Chill
1 Jeskai Runemark
1 Citadel Siege
1 Enhanced Awareness
1 Channel Harm
1 Will of the Naga
1 Mystic Monastery
2 Tranquil Cove
8 Plains
6 Island
1 Abzan Advantage
1 Pressure Point
1 Cancel
1 Marang River Prowler
1 Scion of Glaciers
1 Enhanced Awareness
1 Great-Horn Krushok
2 Will of the Naga
Curve:
1
2 CCCSSSS
3 CCCCCCSS
4 CCCSS
5 S
6 CS
(this counts Will of the Naga as a 4-mana spell)
The biggest problems I noticed after the fact was that I really should have been playing Pressure Point (perhaps cutting a Refocus) and that my three-drop slot was a litle overloaded (though with all the awesome three-drops in my pool, it was hard not to play them all).
In the games, I often had trouble curving out and often found myself with five great cards in hand but playing one a turn thanks to a lack of mana. Maybe an extra land would have helped?
The Pool
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Citadel Siege
1 Valorous Stance
1 Channel Harm
2 Wandering Champion
3 Sandsteppe Outcast
1 Feat of Resistance
1 Soul Summons
1 Pressure Point
2 Abzan Skycaptain
1 Great-Horn Krushok
1 Abzan Advantage
2 Aven Skirmisher
Blue
1 Sage-Eye Avengers
1 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
1 Cloudform
1 Marang River Prowler
1 Scion of Glaciers
1 Lotus Path Djinn
2 Refocus
1 Crippling Chill
3 Will of the Naga
2 Enhanced Awareness
1 Jeskai Runemark
1 Cancel
1 Renowned Weaponsmith
1 Rakshasa's Disdain
1 Brutal Hordechief
1 Ruthless Ripper
2 Douse in Gloom
1 Gurmag Angler
1 Typhoid Rats
1 Ancestral Vengeance
1 Rite of the Serpent
1 Hooded Assassin
1 Shambling Attendants
1 Sultai Runemark
1 Tasigur's Cruelty
Red
1 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Break Through the Line
1 Goblin Heelcutter
1 Mardu Scout
1 Trumpet Blast
1 Temur Battle Rage
1 Swift Kick
1 Fierce Invocation
1 Ainok Tracker
1 Collateral Damage
1 Smouldering Efreet
Green
1 Hardened Scales
1 Temur Sabertooth
1 Destructor Dragon
1 Abzan Beastmaster
1 Winds of Qal Sisma
1 Fruit of the First Tree
1 Hunt the Weak
1 Dragonscale Boon
1 Formless Nurturing
1 Return to the Earth
1 Highland Game
1 Map the Wastes
2 Temur Runemark
1 Warden of the Eye
1 Master the Way
1 War Flare
1 Efreet Weaponmaster
1 Ethereal Ambush
1 Abzan Guide
1 Grim Contest
Artifacts
1 Jeskai Banner
Lands
1 Mystic Monastery
1 Nomad Outpost
2 Tranquil Cove
1 Scoured Barrens
2 Thornwood Falls
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Jungle Hollow
Black looks great with Brutal Hordechief, and Green had some good cards, but I figured I wanted to be consistent on mana so I could always play my awesome spells. Maybe not the best approach?
In short, I think Narset's spark ignited when she was struck down by Zurgo, and that she will show up again as a Planeswalker in Dragons of Tarkir to highlight the changes wrought by Sarkhan's meddling with time.
Hmm. Sounds like "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."
Looks like decent costing and a good concept, but maybe this would work better on a smaller creature. Often you'd rather attack with a 4/3 then use a marginal ability on it.
Infernocane 1RR
Legendary Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a tempest counter on Infernocane, then Infernocane deals X damage to each creature and player, where X is the number of tempest counters on Infernocane.
If there are no creatures in play, sacrifice Infernocane.
My intent was not to make it strictly better; if you use it as bad removal on an opponent's creature it's worse than Guard Duty. Maybe I should tone it down... does +1/+2 sound better? Now half the time it's a bad Holy Strength and half it's a bad Guard Duty. Maybe I should just kill the card...
Flare Rune R
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
At the beginning of each upkeep, Flare Rune deals 2 damage to enchanted creature.
With that in mind, how are these cards purely in terms of design value? Will they do a good job of semi-replacing some of the common instants and sorceries normally seen in Limited?
Guardian's Rune W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +3/+3 and has defender.
Ward Rune 1W
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
When Ward Rune enters the battlefield, choose a color.
1W: Enchanted creature gains protection from the chosen color until end of turn.
Amnesia Rune 2U
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Enchant creature
At the beginning of your upkeep, you may pay U. If you do, you may return enchanted creature to its owner's hand.
Enervation Rune 1B
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets -3/-3.
Venom Rune B
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has deathtouch.
Flare Rune R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
At the beginning of each upkeep, Flare Rune deals 2 damage to enchanted creature.
Spearthrowing Rune R
Enchantment - Aura (C)
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature gets +1/+0 and has first strike.
Hex-Zapper Rune G
Enchantment - Aura (U)
Flash
Enchant creature
Enchanted creature has hexproof.
Might Rune G
Enchantment - Aura
Enchant creature
1G: Enchanted creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. Play this ability only once each turn.
Edit: After several comments pointing out the pointlessness of introducing a new subtype with no mechanical significance, these cards are now simply Enchantment - Auras. Criticism on the cards themselves would be nice, however.
3 Armored Skaab
3 Arachnus Spinner
3 Kessig Cagebreakers
2 Splinterfright
2 Viridian Emissary
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Screeching Skaab
2 Deranged Assistant
2 Ghoultree
2 Mulch
4 Arachnus Web
3 Spider Spawning
2 Tracker's Instincts
11 Forest
5 Island
2 Swamp
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Spider Spawning
4 Postmortem Lunge
4 Autumn's Veil
4 Bramblecrush
My budget is very low so if you make any suggestions for addition I would prefer commons/uncommons and bulk rares.
Actually, not everyone did... oh well. I at least have an archived copy of the visual spoiler.
Definitely a concern, but I wouldn't say the percent is quite as low as you think.
That's more or less what I was thinking. I'd also add the many players who sign up for an account with MTGSalvation, asking questions like "how do I beat my brother with his unbeatable Elves deck?" Many respond from a veteran tournament player's perspective which is honestly quite unhelpful to someone with a limited cardpool and knowledge of the game. Instead, someone could link him to an article titled "defeating synergy" or something, which could explain strategies for defeating tribal and similar decks using board sweepers, control, and spot removal.
In my opinion, BOAB does an okay (not great) job of providing players with decent Standard decks they can acquire for less than the price of Mythics.dec. What it doesn't do is help low-level casual players build decks with cards already in their collection.
What I'm proposing is a column dedicated to newer players who understand the game fairly well, but may not own many cards. The column could have articles on intro packs, providing play tips and suggestions to improve them (similar to Ertai's Lament), overviews of different commons and strategies involving them, and introduction of slightly more advanced concepts such as basic tournament structure and card advantage.
To be clear, the players this column is directed towards:
Would something like this be viable?
It has, actually... by Wizards. Evasive Action.
Mind Hack UB
Sorcery
Target opponent discards a card.
Draw a card.
What if the discard was Duress or Despise-like?