MTG Salvation

Quote from Solune

What happens if my opponent and i both have a notion thief in play and i cast think twice ?

You just draw normally. They cancel each other out, basically.

You cast think twice. Opponent's Thief would try to replace think twice, and now, he's about to draw, then your thief replaces his draw with you drawing a card.

Basically cancels out, as replacement effects can't apply more than once.

Quote from DrewReaLee

I bought the Elspeth and traded for a Wurmcoil. I managed to haggle the Elspeth down to $28 because I knew the store and I just really needed it for my EDH. Thanks for the tip anyway.

Nice nice. It's never too soon to pick up cards for EDH, so I consider it money well-spent.

Quote from Tormod

Whats your sideboard strategy and game plan vs Jund?

I haven't been fair well against that deck at all and could use some good advice.

He explains it on the last page. Though if he has more to say on it, I too would like to learn a thing or two. My match-up against them feels 50/50. Sometimes if they open really strongly, they'll win it, but if they open with anything else, we win it fairly handidly.

vvvvvv quoting what he said below vvvvvvv

Quote from Aenesidem

For a stock esperblade list, see the lists from Vidianto Wijaya. His list is considered the standard and most played list.
The decks playing DRS are deathblade decks and play entirely different from the typical esperblade deck. The deck also plays dark confidants and lilianas and is much more proactive.

To my experience, jund isn't a weak matchup at all. Unless they have punishing fire and get it active. Against a normal jund deck you want to side in strong topdecks like extra lingering souls, elspeth, geist, extra removal (perish, verdict, pte, darkblast). Against a punishing fire version you want ways to remove their P.fire or their groves: vindicate, surgical extraction etc...

I personally just side in perish, zealous persecutin a sword of feast and famine and my geists. And i side out all counters. They can't deal with geist and certainly not when you equip a sofaf on it. The only creature they have that can block geist without trading 1 for 1 is goyf, so getting those out of the way should lead to a swift victory.

Quote from Xaios

Fastlands were only that expensive because they were the *only* option for fast mana fixing at the time. If they were still Standard legal, they would see very little play by comparison because they're completely outclassed by Shocklands both in a vacuum and considering other cards, and they don't exist in enemy colors.

Checklands have the advantage of having synergy with Shocklands, which means they'll always be relevant, unlike Fastlands.

I highly disagree. Especially with the bolded. You are looking at them only in Standard, which is irrelevant, as Scars have now been rotated, and soon Checklands will rotate as well. Just because they have synergy with Shocks does not necessarily mean they will be run at all in older formats. Scars is more useful in modern and some of the other older formats.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/ptrtr12/topmoderndecks

Here is a sample top modern decklists. Checklands aren't even run in any of those builds, whereas Scars lands at least show up a few times in a number of decks. And those scars lands are still really cheap. Because of this, I don't think checks will retain much value. They'll probably be $3-5 post-rotation. I don't see them being $7-10 like they are right now.

Not that I think Checklands are bad...they're good, but I wouldn't say they're relevant in many/any of the other formats.

Quote from Rayman420

She is very good, and as long as you dont assume you can always cast her, especially early, she can be a great addition. She is a great follow up to a board wipe mid game, and can lock the game down into late game and beyond. I find Esper Planeswalkers work well together, and can really shut a game down.

And if you run cards with flashback, her discard has synergy.

^This, really.

Quote from TheWhiteHat

I have tried play testing with Liliana and I have encountered problems
I think I am doing something wrong

I know there are lists with lingering souls / sorin - just not sure how I'm supposed to play Liliana - maybe its a skill thing, but it was almost always painful to +1 her.

and sometimes I would tap out to play her, +1 - opponents turn a haste thing will come out of no where and slam her - it was painful

like for example late game after a board wipe, having a dissipate and ultimate price in my hand it some how feels bad to + liliana - and discarding a land seems bad if they get her off the table.

It's definitely a skill/experience thing. Not saying you're bad...>.> Just try playing with her more. It may take some getting use to.

I've been playing with her since she first came out. Used her in Solar Flare, UB Control, Esper Superfriends last season. And I've been playing her in Esper ISD-RTR. I've never encountered a problem with her +1; even without flashback cards, it's not that difficult to figure out which card to discard.

She's not as simple as windmill slamming her whenever and wherever, and mindlessly using her abilities each turn. Sometimes it's ok not to use her abilities; however, don't be afraid to use her +1; I've played mirror matches where my opponent resolved an early Lili, and had he used her +1 more liberally, it would've completely WRECKED my board position (all I had were counterspells and no active cards -- he would've had time to +1 to her ult and not only strip away a lot of my counters, but screw my lands -- which is gg in the control mirror). He wussed out and never used her abilties at all because he wanted to keep everything in his hand. Gave me enough time to draw into a threat, resolve my own cards, and combat her.

You have to be in the mindset -- you say it's painful to +1 her. It just sounds like you're being greedy and wanting to keep all of your cards in hand, which is the wrong mindset. You have to be willing to sacrifice cards, knowing full well that they're losing something of (relatively) equal value. That, and a threat of ult'ing with her will force them to make awkward plays -- you don't even need to ult. Just the threat of ulting is enough. Getting her to like, 5 loyalty, then forcing opponent to drop 2 burn spells on her, or even 1 burn spell, 1 haste attacker is fairly good news for you.

Like, you have 2 Terminus and 2 Supreme Verdicts in hand, then maybe Azorius Charm. Generally, you won't need all of those cards. You can afford to lose 1 Terminus. Or 1 Verdict. Just read the situation.

That's the next important thing. Just know the situation you're in. And ask yourself, "Do I NEED these cards to win?" If the answer is no, +1 away. If the answer is yes, then just sit on her for a turn or two; she's still at 3 loyalty. And if it's after a board wipe, what's the harm? They're only gonna be able to drop maybe one creature at a time.

As for the situation you're talking about: post-boardwipe, Liliana, Dissipate, and Ultimate Price. That's one hell of a good hand and good board position. There's no way in hell you should be losing that barring some shenanigans. Depending on how much mana you have available...drop Liliana, keep mana up for Dissipate and/or Ultimate Price. No need to +1. Now, your hand size IS low...so no need to stress it any further. Besides, their hand size is low as well. And your cards are too pivotal to dump. Just sit and wait like a good control player would.

As for discarding lands...you said this is late game didn't you? By then you should already have a critical mass of lands. And against something like aggro, you're not gonna need 9+ lands unless you want like, 3 nephalia activations or something...but come on...more lands will be coming your way...1 drownyard activation per turn is still more than enough to kill them. Don't get miserly now. Dump the land. You made it to late game.

If you DON'T have the number of lands you would like, then yeah...don't discard. But even then, sitting on 5 mana or so isn't that bad. Just depends on the situation. And control lists are running like, 26-28 lands anyway...you'll draw into another soon enough (well...take this advice with a grain of salt; again, it's situational, and it requires that you read the game state).

As for dropping her and then her immediately dying...yes that does suck. Probably the most difficult part about playing her. I wouldn't say "guess" but try to predict what kind of plays may happen in the near future. Sometimes it's right to drop her turn 3 (like, say if you're on the play), other times it's wrong (sometimes on the draw against something like RDW it might be really bad -- Hellrider turn 4 is far too likely).

Sometimes it's not about resolving her on an open field, because she might be better served as a sorcery speed edict with a taunt attached to it (if they attack it, then hey, you lost no life; if they don't, then they open up an opportunity for you to +1 and potentially -2 again...).

Sometimes it IS about resolving her on an open field and then she just wins the game by herself -- if opponent falls behind in tempo, it's only gonna get worse with Liliana's grip tightening on your opponent's...crotch area.

It's up to you to decide when it's time to tap out turn 3 to drop her, or when to wait till turn 5-6 to drop her with countermagic/kill spell backup.

Granted, with the new cards from Gatecrash (Boros Charm), things might change with her...but I think she can be very effective if played with smartly.

Not to say she doesn't have her own weaknesses; she CAN be awkward against aggro...I don't mind her there though, but that's my personal opinion.

I only felt awkward playing her against...Omni-Door, because their lategame is stronger and more swingy; topdecking something ridiculous is still...ridiculously possible. T-T Other than Omni-Door, she breaks control mirrors wide open.

It's about weighing the pros and cons of each +1 activation. Usually should be in your favor. Playing her is like playing a game of mercy with your opponent -- keep upping the stakes, and then see which deck croaks first.

For me, I'd much rather deal with their 1 card to my 3, than their 3 cards to my 5. Idk, I like to simplify the game.

One last thing, do keep in mind that the +1 tends to be better when your hand size is either equal to or greater their hand size. If it's lower, by maybe one or two, that's not too bad either, but any lower, and you'll have to be careful about +1'ing.

Edit: Sorry for the massively long post. She's just a very dynamic card, and she requires special attention to use right. Depending on the meta, sure it might not be best to run her at all; however, she definitely deserves attention and consideration in our 75.

This set should be called Innistrad masters.

Can we say that this set is better then the first Modern Masters now? The upshift is somewhat a surprise. Either way, it was a definite needed reprint.

Hey, remember that time when WOTC spoiled this thing and said it was for kitchen table players? That it was there for the Timmies who wanted to resolve big guys without worrying about counterspells?
Yeah. Good times.

That's some pretty sweet looking art! Happy for the reprint.

I miss the days when people could play with whatever they wanted to without the player base whining and complaining that having their cards countered is "cancerous" or unfun.

I miss control because of the time period of magic it represents for me. When everybody didn't send wizards mad tweets and found ways to beat decks they didn't like outside of "ban it" "needs to be banned " "ruins my fun".

Inb4 Snappy, Lilli, and Damnation. (And subsequent fury at rarity shifts)

The problem with MM2017 is the box art and pack art card reveals. Even if the set is really good, putting low value cards on the card art is not screaming "buy me!" to the magic community. Under better circumstances this probably wouldn't matter, but they've been pitching misses for the last year and everyone is getting wary of WoTC making smart decisions with their sets. The cards they should have put on pack art are Voice of Resurgence, Liliana of the Veil, and Snapcaster mage. If they did that people would be a bit more confident in pre-ordering boxes.

Otherwise it feels like someone is doing the trust game where you have a complete stranger at your back and you fall backwards, hoping they catch you. My confidence level in Wizards is at the level of "I'm falling backwards while he's watching the Television eating a burger."

I just want WoTC to prove myself and many others wrong about them and do good releases.

disappointment is what i expect, as always..

Quote from pierrebai »

You can replace "Legacy" in all these replies with any non-rotating format. Modern is an alternative and in a lot of places you are more likely to find a larger group of players. It's a little bit more risky because the format changes more than legacy and legacy is so high-powered that bans are rarer.

For the price of a legacy mana base, you can have a full modern deck. (Some modern deck are very expensive too, but not having to play 50-100 per land makes it cheaper.)

I understand that you'd like to promote Modern (Modern is fun!), but I'm going to explicitly disagree with you here. Modern has two more avenues than Legacy for cards to lose value - reprints and bans. Modern Masters is a biannual set that is designed specifically to get more copies of Modern cards to players. Modern also has a banlist that's touched much more frequently than Legacy, and has a habit of kicking the legs out of some of the best decks.

I'm not saying that Modern is inherently inferior to Legacy, but the OP's two criteria were as follows:
1) Highly competitive.
2) Collection can't crash in value.

1) Lets out EDH (the OP has already tried it, and hasn't found a competitive enough group)
2) Lets out Modern, a format where reprints are not only possible but frequent. If you're holding Modern staples when a Masters set comes out, you will lose value. Maybe it'll come back, but you will lose value.

Legacy is the answer to this particular question.

It better be...