I am excited for M15, more so then most core sets. I do like what they have done recently with them, but I usually find core set drafting a little bland. This one looks like they are taking a lot of good ideas from M14 and making it better. I like the limited focused uncommon lords and Kird Apes.
Been drafting quite a bit of VMA (About 10 drafts and 2 sealed) and I really like that format except Battle Screech at common. It is just way too good in limited for that rarity.
Thank you for taking me in. I am looking forward to contributing to the clan.
What formats have you guys been drafting most recently? I am up for anything as I understand VMA is a bit pricey to just grind out for a lot of people.
I recently had to move back to a tiny island town in Alaska. I was very competitive in Anchorage but there is no competitive scene here. I have friends that play modern at a competitive level, but the meta is very focused on what deck we want to build in our 8 man pod.
So I was thinking I wanted to really start with MTGO but was mostly going to focus on limited play, so this seems like a nice fit for me. I'd love to join. I have a pretty good eye for limited (IMO) but am always willing to work with others to get better. I know I am headed to SLC for the M15 Grand Prix and possibly Orlando as well. I would love a group to draft with and play with as I am going to need the practice to win
The deck is variant of a deck I used to great success in standard during Scars/Innistrad. I always thought Grand Architect was under valued. It threatens to drop a massive threat into play, while at the same time buffing your weenie plan. Sometimes, just a couple architects will win you the game.
Obviously, this is very budget. I put in the ninja package because it is strong enough to win some games and difficult for certain control decks to race. There is quite a bit of room to play with the list, even still in the budget discussion. Metamorphs add a lot to the package and are only $3 atm, so I would probably add them first.
All in all, there is a lot I would change with the deck. I run a pure blue modern version of this that powers out wurmcoils and phyrexian metamorphs on turn 3. Anyways, tell me what you guys think.
Assume that no one has playtested it all you want, but I was underwhelmed with the PW when it was revealed and I was the only one at my LGS that hated it after it came out.
I played U/W control at rotation and then switched to Esper to put in thought-seize and Ashiok. And it underwhelmed me in almost every match up. I almost could never play it on turn three and even watching GPs it seems to languish in people's hands for much longer then it should.
People say it's a finisher and you shouldn't have to play it on turn three... yeah, well there are a lot of finishers in the format that have an immediate effect on the board state which are just way better.
I played a lot with Nephalia Drownyard, and I loved it. Annoying win-con but it did it's job. Ashiok is not the same, especially with a format that has more playable cards that can directly kill PW.
Would maindeck 1 more Ghost Council, find another slot for Blind Obedience, Maindeck a Drownyard or two and make my sb better against Control and Planeswalkers.
Round 3: 2-0 Esper Control (Was a mill win con secondary, and almost milled me out both times as I have very little interaction with Planeswalkers)
Round 4: 2-0 B/W Tokens/Exalted. (Full package of Knights of X, Cathedral of War, High Priest of Penance, Targeted removal)
Round 5: 2-0 R/W Miracles Aggro? This one confused me (Legion Loyalist, Silverblade Paladin, Boros Charm, Angelic Skirmisher, Gisela, Aurelia)
Round 6: 2-1 Naya Aggro (Domri Rade, Huntmaster, Wolfir Silverheart, Mana Dorks, Lightning Mauler, Burning Tree Emmisary, Thundermaw Hellkite)
Musings: Blind Obedience is amazing. It was relevant in every match up and was never angry about drawing multiples. It would often hit for 10+ damage in a game, and it was what won me the mirror match against the other Esper control.
Against R aggro, it was amazing and bought me many turns to pull clutch sweepers. It stopped so many attacks dead and would open the field up for a quick hit with my Ghost Council. I will be running a full package of them next time.
Domri Rade is still not great, but better then expected. Obviously the deck has to to made to him, but i'd watch people let him just tick right up to his ultimate, and the game was over. Like Liliana of the Dark Realms, people under estimate him.
Aurelia's Fury is, as expected, pretty bad. The decks that used it, where using it wrong trying to supplement aggro and it usually wouldn't be as swingy as people wanted. I think it belongs in the RWB Control list and that is about it at the moment, maybe it will find a list it really does work in. Sell them now
Obzedat, Ghost Council was really great in this format, as it seemed most people were running sorcery removal. Will up my count to 3 next list.
Boros Reconer is... a card. It can put the right decks in a hard situation, but I didn't see it run games. It's still probably the best 3 drop for the RDW.
Gideon... did nothing for any of the people I saw run it. His time is not now.
I can see why it runs flayer husk, but doing some testing myself where I switched out the Flayer Husks for Chimeric Mass it seemed to run a lot better. I also ended up putting Koth in there for a big threat and something to do if you don't go off. It was a toss up between him or Chandra the Firebrand, but he generated a much larger threat and would usually provided more mana then Chandra.
I went to a Midnight pre-release and one at 1 pm. I am very tired...
In the first one, I pulled a Sorin, but White and Black we unplayable, and I was forced into G/U/r. I had an Elder of Laurels and as most people know, he was insane and got me off to 4-0, but alas I stalled and lost some easy games to bad mana draws and went 5-2 overall and took 12th. My pity pack was a Binding Blade and another Sorin, so I wasn't to angry about it.
My second pre-release, I pulled jank across the board, but got very strong G/W. I had a couple of the new Morbid Bears that would come down and pump my fliers, giving me a major air presence, but I also had Increasing Savagery.
At first I was not a fan of this card and kind of glanced over it, but after running it today, I take it back. I was just thinking about the amount of removal that was in 6 packs of ISD, but with DKA the complete kill spells seem to not be floating around as much.
This made a 4 turn Savagery on a 2/2 really run the board and put some serious hurt down. And if they did get an answer the flashback happened quite a few times and it would go on a flier and usually end the game then and there. I did not loose a single game when I got this card down on turn 4, it was just to big.
Another card that surprised me was Wolf Bitten Captive. I know I have seen quite a bit of positives about this card, but I was just not sure how well it would play in the sealed format and I was skeptical on it awesomeness. Turns out it plays extremely well and will usually hit for 3 on turn 2 and flip, unless your opponent flipped it first (which was usually the case) and the it only got in for 2, but still posed an amazing threat and was able to run boards and play a lot of mind tricks with opponents since I had a lot of morbid creatures.
In the end I went 5-1-0 beating out the only undefeated player left in the tournament in the final round to secure first place. All my winnings equaled out to about a Box and a half over the two events, not bad work.
I am really liking green in DKA, which I usually avoided in 6 ISD sealed. It feels better rounded out and the new werewolf mana dork also curves you out really well if you are lucky enough to pull a couple. I am liking DKA and am looking forward to going drafting with this set.
I've seen it said here a couple of times, and I will just go on record saying that white is the strongest color and W/U decks are the best.
While my pre-release didn't draft, we did sealed, all the top decks ran white and my winning deck was white blue. Games were usually over by turn 5.
Geist of Saint Traft is amazing. If you have any sort of protection for him, he can often with the game by himself. Maybe not as good as Olivia as a singleton, but his colors agree with more cards, imo.
Invisible Stalker + Butchers clever/Geist Flight/Sharped Pitchfork/Bonds of Faith/Ternipation Blade/Silver Inlaid Knife or whatever (You get the idea) is almost a scoop for most decks. He works with just about anything and is a solid MVP.
Fiend Hunter/Smite the Monstrous I think is obvious. So many large creatures in this format. Never even had problems with Werewolves with these cards. After they wasted their turn to transform their creature, it was easily dealt with.
Elite Inquisitor. Another fantastic card. Can rule the board for a long time, and often did. This with the equipment is obviously very strong.
I was suprised by some of the cards preformances. Morukut Banshee didn't seem to be quite as good as I had hoped. I saw it change a couple of games, but it seemed to hard to get out and too conditional to really change the course a whole lot.
Really dissapointed with Werewolves. Did not see them do anything really worth while. Unless you get the Moonmists and Full Moon Rises they just seem to conditional to me :S
I am excited for M15, more so then most core sets. I do like what they have done recently with them, but I usually find core set drafting a little bland. This one looks like they are taking a lot of good ideas from M14 and making it better. I like the limited focused uncommon lords and Kird Apes.
Been drafting quite a bit of VMA (About 10 drafts and 2 sealed) and I really like that format except Battle Screech at common. It is just way too good in limited for that rarity.
Thank you for taking me in. I am looking forward to contributing to the clan.
What formats have you guys been drafting most recently? I am up for anything as I understand VMA is a bit pricey to just grind out for a lot of people.
Interesting wording, and I could honestly see it going either way, but I am leaning twords the combos work a little bit more.
But we shall see.
I recently had to move back to a tiny island town in Alaska. I was very competitive in Anchorage but there is no competitive scene here. I have friends that play modern at a competitive level, but the meta is very focused on what deck we want to build in our 8 man pod.
So I was thinking I wanted to really start with MTGO but was mostly going to focus on limited play, so this seems like a nice fit for me. I'd love to join. I have a pretty good eye for limited (IMO) but am always willing to work with others to get better. I know I am headed to SLC for the M15 Grand Prix and possibly Orlando as well. I would love a group to draft with and play with as I am going to need the practice to win
Anyways, thanks for the consideration.
4 Ninja of the Deep Hours
4 Wingcrafter
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Phantasmal Bear
2 Myr Battlesphere
1 Steel Hellkite
4 Mana Leak
4 Izzet Charm
3 Lightning Bolt
4 Vapor Snag
7 Mountain
Cost: $9.85
The deck is variant of a deck I used to great success in standard during Scars/Innistrad. I always thought Grand Architect was under valued. It threatens to drop a massive threat into play, while at the same time buffing your weenie plan. Sometimes, just a couple architects will win you the game.
Obviously, this is very budget. I put in the ninja package because it is strong enough to win some games and difficult for certain control decks to race. There is quite a bit of room to play with the list, even still in the budget discussion. Metamorphs add a lot to the package and are only $3 atm, so I would probably add them first.
All in all, there is a lot I would change with the deck. I run a pure blue modern version of this that powers out wurmcoils and phyrexian metamorphs on turn 3. Anyways, tell me what you guys think.
I played U/W control at rotation and then switched to Esper to put in thought-seize and Ashiok. And it underwhelmed me in almost every match up. I almost could never play it on turn three and even watching GPs it seems to languish in people's hands for much longer then it should.
People say it's a finisher and you shouldn't have to play it on turn three... yeah, well there are a lot of finishers in the format that have an immediate effect on the board state which are just way better.
I played a lot with Nephalia Drownyard, and I loved it. Annoying win-con but it did it's job. Ashiok is not the same, especially with a format that has more playable cards that can directly kill PW.
It's just not that good of a card.
Would maindeck 1 more Ghost Council, find another slot for Blind Obedience, Maindeck a Drownyard or two and make my sb better against Control and Planeswalkers.
Round 1: 2-0 Naya Aggro (Huntmaster, Silverblade Paladin, Boros Charm, Strangleroot Geist)
Round 2: 2-0 RDW (Pyreheart Wolf, Stromkirk Noble, Vexing Devil)
Round 3: 2-0 Esper Control (Was a mill win con secondary, and almost milled me out both times as I have very little interaction with Planeswalkers)
Round 4: 2-0 B/W Tokens/Exalted. (Full package of Knights of X, Cathedral of War, High Priest of Penance, Targeted removal)
Round 5: 2-0 R/W Miracles Aggro? This one confused me (Legion Loyalist, Silverblade Paladin, Boros Charm, Angelic Skirmisher, Gisela, Aurelia)
Round 6: 2-1 Naya Aggro (Domri Rade, Huntmaster, Wolfir Silverheart, Mana Dorks, Lightning Mauler, Burning Tree Emmisary, Thundermaw Hellkite)
Musings: Blind Obedience is amazing. It was relevant in every match up and was never angry about drawing multiples. It would often hit for 10+ damage in a game, and it was what won me the mirror match against the other Esper control.
Against R aggro, it was amazing and bought me many turns to pull clutch sweepers. It stopped so many attacks dead and would open the field up for a quick hit with my Ghost Council. I will be running a full package of them next time.
Domri Rade is still not great, but better then expected. Obviously the deck has to to made to him, but i'd watch people let him just tick right up to his ultimate, and the game was over. Like Liliana of the Dark Realms, people under estimate him.
Aurelia's Fury is, as expected, pretty bad. The decks that used it, where using it wrong trying to supplement aggro and it usually wouldn't be as swingy as people wanted. I think it belongs in the RWB Control list and that is about it at the moment, maybe it will find a list it really does work in. Sell them now
Obzedat, Ghost Council was really great in this format, as it seemed most people were running sorcery removal. Will up my count to 3 next list.
Boros Reconer is... a card. It can put the right decks in a hard situation, but I didn't see it run games. It's still probably the best 3 drop for the RDW.
Gideon... did nothing for any of the people I saw run it. His time is not now.
That is all the observations I took from my FNM.
2 Butcher's Cleaver
That is enough right there for the win, short of a Blasphemous Act.
In the first one, I pulled a Sorin, but White and Black we unplayable, and I was forced into G/U/r. I had an Elder of Laurels and as most people know, he was insane and got me off to 4-0, but alas I stalled and lost some easy games to bad mana draws and went 5-2 overall and took 12th. My pity pack was a Binding Blade and another Sorin, so I wasn't to angry about it.
My second pre-release, I pulled jank across the board, but got very strong G/W. I had a couple of the new Morbid Bears that would come down and pump my fliers, giving me a major air presence, but I also had Increasing Savagery.
At first I was not a fan of this card and kind of glanced over it, but after running it today, I take it back. I was just thinking about the amount of removal that was in 6 packs of ISD, but with DKA the complete kill spells seem to not be floating around as much.
This made a 4 turn Savagery on a 2/2 really run the board and put some serious hurt down. And if they did get an answer the flashback happened quite a few times and it would go on a flier and usually end the game then and there. I did not loose a single game when I got this card down on turn 4, it was just to big.
Another card that surprised me was Wolf Bitten Captive. I know I have seen quite a bit of positives about this card, but I was just not sure how well it would play in the sealed format and I was skeptical on it awesomeness. Turns out it plays extremely well and will usually hit for 3 on turn 2 and flip, unless your opponent flipped it first (which was usually the case) and the it only got in for 2, but still posed an amazing threat and was able to run boards and play a lot of mind tricks with opponents since I had a lot of morbid creatures.
In the end I went 5-1-0 beating out the only undefeated player left in the tournament in the final round to secure first place. All my winnings equaled out to about a Box and a half over the two events, not bad work.
I am really liking green in DKA, which I usually avoided in 6 ISD sealed. It feels better rounded out and the new werewolf mana dork also curves you out really well if you are lucky enough to pull a couple. I am liking DKA and am looking forward to going drafting with this set.
While my pre-release didn't draft, we did sealed, all the top decks ran white and my winning deck was white blue. Games were usually over by turn 5.
Geist of Saint Traft is amazing. If you have any sort of protection for him, he can often with the game by himself. Maybe not as good as Olivia as a singleton, but his colors agree with more cards, imo.
Invisible Stalker + Butchers clever/Geist Flight/Sharped Pitchfork/Bonds of Faith/Ternipation Blade/Silver Inlaid Knife or whatever (You get the idea) is almost a scoop for most decks. He works with just about anything and is a solid MVP.
Fiend Hunter/Smite the Monstrous I think is obvious. So many large creatures in this format. Never even had problems with Werewolves with these cards. After they wasted their turn to transform their creature, it was easily dealt with.
Elite Inquisitor. Another fantastic card. Can rule the board for a long time, and often did. This with the equipment is obviously very strong.
I was suprised by some of the cards preformances. Morukut Banshee didn't seem to be quite as good as I had hoped. I saw it change a couple of games, but it seemed to hard to get out and too conditional to really change the course a whole lot.
Really dissapointed with Werewolves. Did not see them do anything really worth while. Unless you get the Moonmists and Full Moon Rises they just seem to conditional to me :S