Side topic: Why do I find Pia to be such an underwhelming card? Like I know she's good, her play rate is very simple proof of that, but I just can't figure out what makes her so universally used over other, cheaper creatures.
I'm moderately surprised that the 4 Alms of the Pain variant with more access to black mana isn't topping as much as the more general "probably just runs unlicensed and scrounger" route.
Could it be that the fact that the Alms variant very much needs to have smouldering marsh slows it down, while the more normal variant can rely on hub?
Or is Alms just not as good as I thought, even with key/copter. To be fair, Alms builds usually can't fit in incendiary flow.
Why exactly are people running 4 Aether hub (at least at SCG) instead of 4 smouldering marsh? Is it because aether hub is always live?
The way I see it, having something which is permanently an RB dual is more valuable to me than a card which gives me one red or black one time unless I get another hub, yet always comes in untapped.
Can some invalidate my thought process? Most people are running Hub so it must be good, please explain why it's better than marsh.
Honestly the only way I think it could work is a deck based around Fleeting Memories, because it's easily abusable with some of the more interesting clue cards (Tamiyo's Journalcomes to mind).
Startled Awake is quite good too, but Minister is too slow, and Vessel/Manic Scribe really wouldn't do much to further the win condition, you'd be better off just running a Clue engine and other ways to get your cards out.
I've modified the deck pretty heavily, and thus changed the name.
It's now a lot more human-centric with a much nicer, lower mana curve, increasing the consistency and allowing me to win quite a bit earlier than I was previously able to.
I'm quite new to competitive magic, and this is my first success (at least according to my playtesting) at building a deck. Obviously it's not going to be perfect, as I don't have the card knowledge to realize what great cards could be added. Hopefully you can help me with this
Originally the deck was a lot more Angel-based, however I've moved it much more heavily towards Humans, as they have a lower mana curve and my two main clue based creatures are Humans. I still retain the angels, as Brisela is an incredible meld and Sigarda/Avacyn work well with this deck, but I keep them in reduced quantities and no longer see them as my end game.
The deck revolves around utilizing cards with Investigate in order to produce clues, giving you increased draw power when you sacrifice the clues. It also runs a bunch of cards which allow you to gain other types of advantage whenever you sacrifice a clue, such as creating tokens, +1/+1 counters and life gain. Because of the decks ability to spam 1/1 Human Soldiers once you have more than one copy of Mysteries on the field, I added a reasonable lineup of human support.
The deck basically wins by overpowering the enemy with card advantage. Its main weakness is aggro decks with a lower or equal mana curve to this, such as RW Vehicles. Mass destruction also hurts, but the deck can recover fairly easily.
Regarding basic lands, does it matter what set they are from? For instance, i'm assuming i can use an Island from Time Spiral in the current standard format?
A sideboard is exactly 15 cards. Between games, you are allowed to swap cards from your main deck and your sideboard on a one-for-one basis. At the beginning of each match, you main deck must be brought back to its original state.
Transforming means to turn the DFC over to the other side of it.
I'm a little confused as to what happen in your game with that Garruk.
Ahhh now I get it. Creatures and Plainswalkers that can transform are double sided, and due to sleeves people use placeholder cards that they keep separate from the deck.
As to what happened with the Garruk, it was on Cockatrice. I have never used a two-faced card on the program, so is it possible that transforming doesn't work as it should?
In a tournament, your sideboard consists of up to 15 legal cards. In the first game of a match you may not use your sideboard, but after that, you may swap cards in your deck for cards in your sideboard on a one-to-one basis. In Sealed, your sideboard consists of all the cards you opened that are not in your deck.
You swap them mid game, or after game one before game two?
At first I imagined they worked as they do in Yugioh, meaning after a match you may swap out cards from your side deck with your main deck so your deck is moreso suited to beat the opposing player. Recently, someone I was playing against had out a Garruk Relentless, and grabbed his transformed form from the sideboard.
So I effectively have two questions. One, how does transforming work, and what is the limit to a side board? Is it like an extra hand of 15 cards that you can always use or...what?
Side topic: Why do I find Pia to be such an underwhelming card? Like I know she's good, her play rate is very simple proof of that, but I just can't figure out what makes her so universally used over other, cheaper creatures.
Am I just using her wrong?
Could it be that the fact that the Alms variant very much needs to have smouldering marsh slows it down, while the more normal variant can rely on hub?
Or is Alms just not as good as I thought, even with key/copter. To be fair, Alms builds usually can't fit in incendiary flow.
The way I see it, having something which is permanently an RB dual is more valuable to me than a card which gives me one red or black one time unless I get another hub, yet always comes in untapped.
Can some invalidate my thought process? Most people are running Hub so it must be good, please explain why it's better than marsh.
Startled Awake is quite good too, but Minister is too slow, and Vessel/Manic Scribe really wouldn't do much to further the win condition, you'd be better off just running a Clue engine and other ways to get your cards out.
It's now a lot more human-centric with a much nicer, lower mana curve, increasing the consistency and allowing me to win quite a bit earlier than I was previously able to.
I'm considering moving into sort of a Bant type deck, mostly for things like Reflector Mage, Negate and Glimmer of Genius, as well as Tamiyo, Field Researcher.
Do you think it's worth running more than 2, since I only have 2 Tamiyos?
Made a small change to the main and added a sideboard par your suggestions, plus a few of my own thoughts.
Originally the deck was a lot more Angel-based, however I've moved it much more heavily towards Humans, as they have a lower mana curve and my two main clue based creatures are Humans. I still retain the angels, as Brisela is an incredible meld and Sigarda/Avacyn work well with this deck, but I keep them in reduced quantities and no longer see them as my end game.
The deck revolves around utilizing cards with Investigate in order to produce clues, giving you increased draw power when you sacrifice the clues. It also runs a bunch of cards which allow you to gain other types of advantage whenever you sacrifice a clue, such as creating tokens, +1/+1 counters and life gain. Because of the decks ability to spam 1/1 Human Soldiers once you have more than one copy of Mysteries on the field, I added a reasonable lineup of human support.
The deck basically wins by overpowering the enemy with card advantage. Its main weakness is aggro decks with a lower or equal mana curve to this, such as RW Vehicles. Mass destruction also hurts, but the deck can recover fairly easily.
2 Tamiyo's Journal
Creatures - 19
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Tireless Tracker
Enchantments - 10
2 Quarantine Field
2 Stasis Snare
4 Ulvenwald Mysteries
2 Weirding Wood
4 Canopy Vista
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
4 Fortified Village
9 Plains
Sorceries - 5
3 Declaration in Stone
2 Fragmentize
3 Graf Mole
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
2 Authority of the Consuls
2 Stasis Snare
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Blossoming Defense
1 Fragmetize
2 Fumigate
4 Doomed Traveler
3 Drogskol Captain
3 Sturmgeist
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Midnight Haunting
3 Negate
4 Think Twice
4 Glacial Fortress
9 Island
2 Moorland Hunt
8 Plains
3 Ponder
First Deck post. Its U/W SpiritDelver with some draw-power to boost up Sturmgeist.
Currently, its only issue is dealing with Sword of War and Peace.
Ahhh now I get it. Creatures and Plainswalkers that can transform are double sided, and due to sleeves people use placeholder cards that they keep separate from the deck.
As to what happened with the Garruk, it was on Cockatrice. I have never used a two-faced card on the program, so is it possible that transforming doesn't work as it should?
You swap them mid game, or after game one before game two?
So I effectively have two questions. One, how does transforming work, and what is the limit to a side board? Is it like an extra hand of 15 cards that you can always use or...what?
What are the major Tier 1 decks in the current rotation for Standard?