Greetings, MTG players,
Has anyone ever been beaten by their own deck?
Today I attended a single elimination, regular REL, "last chance qualifier" for a big annual event hosted by my LGS. We needed 8 to fire the qualifier as sanctioned event, but only had 7. The big event is being held tomorrow and the 32 qualified players are guaranteed $100, with the 8 top players receiving prized ranging $200-$700 for first place...so obviously, I really wanted to qualify.
A store employee asked if anyone had a standard deck he could borrow so we could fire the event. I thought I would be a nice, and loaned him my deck, under the impression that he was just playing to fire a sanctioned event with a nice, even 8 players.
I won my first round and in the 2nd round, I was paired against the employee who borrowed my deck. I said something to the effect, "Well, this is awkward" at the start of the round. After 2 games, he handily defeated me. I was hoping he would still give me the win since he was using my deck, and after the match, I briefly discussed my desire to move on and asked if he intended to go to the big event the following day. I sorta asked if I could have the win, but he chose to take the win and moved on to the finals, where he lost.
On the bright side, I still got 26 packs, but felt pretty bummed that I didn't get to qualify for the big event.
Later, I went home and told one of my friends (who is a kitchen table only guy) how I was beat by a store employee using my deck. He didn’t think the situation was handled appropriately, given that the person was an employee of the store hosting the event, and only volunteered to make it sanctioned.
So, I know competitive players loan decks to each other all the time. I also know competitive REL events are very picky when it comes to "asking" for a match result at the start of the match.
Should it have been expected that the store employee concede? Is it appropriate to ask people to concede if they face against you with your own deck?
I’m interested in your thoughts
Looking at the MKM price chart it seems we've reached the bottom on most cards roughly 2 weeks ago, many are already climbing back (this is ignoring Standard legal cards where Gearhulks went up a lot after PT). Sol ring was as low as 60 Euro and now it's back to over 70, scroll rack went from 22 back to 28 etc. If you want to get the most from your Crucible I'd hold on to it for a while, at least until Kaladesh is no longer opened.
I may do that since it seems it's already hit it's floor. Most people are offering me only $80, and the people wanting to pay $90 fell through.
I opened it a few weeks after Pre-Release. A guy was interested and agreed that 120 was a fair price to pay, but said he was tapped out on cash. I decided to wait for him to save some more money, but in the meantime he acquired another through trades. I wasn't sure if I held off for a short time (maybe 4-6 months) it start to climb again. I listened to an episode oF MTG Fast Finance where they said the Inventions were near their floor and might start to see increases after Kaladesh stopped being opened. However, looking at Expeditions, I see most have only increased 20 over the course of a year, and since I only have one, I might be better off getting 90 now, as opposed to waiting a year and hoping it hits 120 again.
Hey, everyone! I'm wondering what everyone things the price future for the Kaladesh inventions?
Will they continue to drop or see a rebound in prices? I opened a crucible of worlds a coupel of weeks ago and I was going to sell it for $120.
Now, it's dropped to below $100 and I'm seriously considering offloading it at $90, unless someone thinks it will rebound...
Here's a deal I think I did well on over the past weekend.
Pile A
Geist of Saint traft
Spell Snare
Mox Opal
Gilt Leaf Palace
Meddlig Mage
Evolutionary Leap
Pile B
Stoneforge Mystic
Cash $60
I'm also debating on selling some cards that I tried to speculate on, but don't seem to be going anywhere or seemed to have reached their ceiling.
Some of the cards I'm thinking of selling.
KTK Fetches?
Atarka's Command
Anafenza, the foremost
Mantis Rider
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Just an FYI, if you use Paypal, tracking is only $2.
I still use it for my high value items (most stuff over $20), but I've been reconsidering, and I'm certainly not going to use it for anything less than $10. I've done hundreds of trades online for multiple gaming products...everything from 40k, heroclix, MTG, whatever. I don't believe I have ever had a failed delivery. Also, keep in mind that tracking doesn't help your package get delivered, it just tells you the status of package delivery. This is nice to avoid getting scammed, but there's really NO reason to scam someone on Pucatrade (one of the best things about the site)
I actually just today received a card that was mailed to me almost a month ago without tracking. After about 2 weeks the guy sent a second one (Saturday the 17th), but with tracking this time. This past Saturday arrives and I still haven't received the Strand so I ask for tracking #. He gives it to me, but is shows as an invalid #.
I received a flooded strand in the mail today in a PWE (no tracking) but assumed it was the second one. I took a pic and sent it to him, he says it was the first one. Funny thing is, it was postmarked for the 23rd of July?
I was debating on the Tropical Island trade. (FYI, I traded Pile A, to get Pile B in every trade). I'm always reluctant to trade duals, the main reason I did it was because I could use some of the cards in Commander, and the others (like DRS, Tasigur, etc) felt like good specs that might go up sometime in the hopefully not so distant future. Also, Tropical island has been trending down gradually since it's peak in early 2014.
However, I wonder if I should have asked for a bit more since I was "trading down". Though, I think I got good value out of the Abbot (I feel he was valued slightly higher than he's currently worth)
I'm also wondering if Crucible of worlds will drop gradually or start increasing in price.
Either way, I really appreciate the feedback. I hope I'll be able to utilize some of those cards in Modern decks, or they'll increase in price soon.
What do you guys think of these trades? Trade 1
Pile A
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Atarka's Command promo
1 Steam Vents
Pile B
1 Woodland Bellower
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Exquisite Firecraft
Trade 2
Pile A
1 Tropical Island (revised)
1 Abbot of Kerral Keep (PreRelease foil)
Pile B
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Batterskull
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Asceticism
1 Amulet of Vigor
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Boros Charm
2 Silvergill Adept
Gideon has the same price. But really, you're probably going to enjoy limited more if you treat it as an experience and try not to worry about whether you "made your money back".
At sealed, you don't want to go for archetypes. Archetypes is largely a draft term. Sealed doesn't let you get redundancy in certain effects and let you make a coherent strategy. Some characteristics might show up, but they won't characterize your deck. You might run get 1 Leaf Gilder and 1 Dynwen's Elite, but you'll play them because they are good cards on their own, not because you've opened "the elf deck".
There's a some amount of consensus that White (maybe red) has the best apparent overall sealed power level. But I don't think anyone thinks any color is so bad it will be a nightmare to play, except maybe those pessimistic about Black. If Green is your favorite color, feel free to pick it and have a ball. There's a balance between picking a preferred strategy and winning at all costs. And Green definitely pairs fine with both white and red, while giving you the flexibility to pick whichever of those colors you open cards for in your 6.
Also, try not to get overly dismayed by green's more subdued limited design philosophy. By design, it never gets all star removal or all star fliers that are easy for set reviewers to point at and get excited about. But it generally turns out fine.
I'm not super-concerned about "getting my money back". I'm all about having fun, but I also want to build a good sealed pool and win some prizes too! I may not even open anything of Value, but I would love to get the most of my experience too. For me, one of the most exciting thing about pre-releases was the chance to win a box, or at least more than the average prize pool! Also, I feel like initial assumption that White seems to be the best in terms of sealed power was correct. I'll still be happy with whatever I choose, but if I can increase the odds of a better sealed pool, I would probably do that. Also, Nissa is signficantly more than any of the other Planeswalkers. She's about $25-$30, last I checked, while Gideon is $10-$15.
I would like some help deciding what color to play.
At first, I was going to choose white because it seems to have decent removal, and the best commons and uncommons overall. Then, I switched to Green because it seemed to be a good "support" color for 3 different archetypes I felt I would probably lean towards playing if possible, WG Renown, GB Elves, and GR ramp/big creatures. Also, on the off-chance I get a Nissa, I've essentially made my money back (or even a profit)> I also chose green because it would have creatures with reach, which could potentially block all those Thopter tokens I expect to be flying around.
However, after reading the review by LSV, and a few other posts about Green, I think it might be one of the weaker colors, and perhaps I should stick to White, or even Red for my seed.
I personally had a long time deciding between 3 colors that I think look best IMHO, or seem to fit my playstyle.
Basically, it was down to these Red, White or Green.
White; The initial color I wanted to choose. It seems to have a very high amount of playable commons and uncommons and some great creatures.
Gideon could be awesome if I pulled him.
Red: nice removal suite and I could get a promo Goblin Piledriver, which I would love to use in my "almost complete" Standard Goblins deck
Green. Chance of getting Promo Nissa.
Seems to have the best chance of supporting one of the 3-4 colors/archetypes I'm considering building. GW Renown, GB Elves, GR Stompies.
In the end, I chose to go with Green, because it seems like a good support color for whatever I open in the rest of my packs. PLUS, a chance at getting a Money rare or a decent Bomb Rare.
I'm still considering white and I'm considering going to multiple prereleases, so we'll see what happens.
I was thinking of adding ThoughtLash to my Zedruu deck. I'm curious as to why you removed it and some of your other "take this" stuff. What errata are you referring to?
Has anyone ever been beaten by their own deck?
Today I attended a single elimination, regular REL, "last chance qualifier" for a big annual event hosted by my LGS. We needed 8 to fire the qualifier as sanctioned event, but only had 7. The big event is being held tomorrow and the 32 qualified players are guaranteed $100, with the 8 top players receiving prized ranging $200-$700 for first place...so obviously, I really wanted to qualify.
A store employee asked if anyone had a standard deck he could borrow so we could fire the event. I thought I would be a nice, and loaned him my deck, under the impression that he was just playing to fire a sanctioned event with a nice, even 8 players.
I won my first round and in the 2nd round, I was paired against the employee who borrowed my deck. I said something to the effect, "Well, this is awkward" at the start of the round. After 2 games, he handily defeated me. I was hoping he would still give me the win since he was using my deck, and after the match, I briefly discussed my desire to move on and asked if he intended to go to the big event the following day. I sorta asked if I could have the win, but he chose to take the win and moved on to the finals, where he lost.
On the bright side, I still got 26 packs, but felt pretty bummed that I didn't get to qualify for the big event.
Later, I went home and told one of my friends (who is a kitchen table only guy) how I was beat by a store employee using my deck. He didn’t think the situation was handled appropriately, given that the person was an employee of the store hosting the event, and only volunteered to make it sanctioned.
So, I know competitive players loan decks to each other all the time. I also know competitive REL events are very picky when it comes to "asking" for a match result at the start of the match.
Should it have been expected that the store employee concede? Is it appropriate to ask people to concede if they face against you with your own deck?
I’m interested in your thoughts
I may do that since it seems it's already hit it's floor. Most people are offering me only $80, and the people wanting to pay $90 fell through.
I opened it a few weeks after Pre-Release. A guy was interested and agreed that 120 was a fair price to pay, but said he was tapped out on cash. I decided to wait for him to save some more money, but in the meantime he acquired another through trades. I wasn't sure if I held off for a short time (maybe 4-6 months) it start to climb again. I listened to an episode oF MTG Fast Finance where they said the Inventions were near their floor and might start to see increases after Kaladesh stopped being opened. However, looking at Expeditions, I see most have only increased 20 over the course of a year, and since I only have one, I might be better off getting 90 now, as opposed to waiting a year and hoping it hits 120 again.
Will they continue to drop or see a rebound in prices? I opened a crucible of worlds a coupel of weeks ago and I was going to sell it for $120.
Now, it's dropped to below $100 and I'm seriously considering offloading it at $90, unless someone thinks it will rebound...
Pile A
Geist of Saint traft
Spell Snare
Mox Opal
Gilt Leaf Palace
Meddlig Mage
Evolutionary Leap
Pile B
Stoneforge Mystic
Cash $60
I'm also debating on selling some cards that I tried to speculate on, but don't seem to be going anywhere or seemed to have reached their ceiling.
Some of the cards I'm thinking of selling.
KTK Fetches?
Atarka's Command
Anafenza, the foremost
Mantis Rider
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
I still use it for my high value items (most stuff over $20), but I've been reconsidering, and I'm certainly not going to use it for anything less than $10. I've done hundreds of trades online for multiple gaming products...everything from 40k, heroclix, MTG, whatever. I don't believe I have ever had a failed delivery. Also, keep in mind that tracking doesn't help your package get delivered, it just tells you the status of package delivery. This is nice to avoid getting scammed, but there's really NO reason to scam someone on Pucatrade (one of the best things about the site)
I actually just today received a card that was mailed to me almost a month ago without tracking. After about 2 weeks the guy sent a second one (Saturday the 17th), but with tracking this time. This past Saturday arrives and I still haven't received the Strand so I ask for tracking #. He gives it to me, but is shows as an invalid #.
I received a flooded strand in the mail today in a PWE (no tracking) but assumed it was the second one. I took a pic and sent it to him, he says it was the first one. Funny thing is, it was postmarked for the 23rd of July?
I was debating on the Tropical Island trade. (FYI, I traded Pile A, to get Pile B in every trade). I'm always reluctant to trade duals, the main reason I did it was because I could use some of the cards in Commander, and the others (like DRS, Tasigur, etc) felt like good specs that might go up sometime in the hopefully not so distant future. Also, Tropical island has been trending down gradually since it's peak in early 2014.
However, I wonder if I should have asked for a bit more since I was "trading down". Though, I think I got good value out of the Abbot (I feel he was valued slightly higher than he's currently worth)
I'm also wondering if Crucible of worlds will drop gradually or start increasing in price.
Either way, I really appreciate the feedback. I hope I'll be able to utilize some of those cards in Modern decks, or they'll increase in price soon.
Honestly, though. I recommend Pucatrade too.
Trade 1
Pile A
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Atarka's Command promo
1 Steam Vents
Pile B
1 Woodland Bellower
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Exquisite Firecraft
Trade 2
Pile A
1 Tropical Island (revised)
1 Abbot of Kerral Keep (PreRelease foil)
Pile B
4 Deathrite Shaman
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Wooded Foothills
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Batterskull
1 Mystical Tutor
1 Asceticism
1 Amulet of Vigor
3 Young Pyromancer
2 Boros Charm
2 Silvergill Adept
Trade 3
Pile A
1 Day's Undoing
1 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
Pile B
1 Evolutionary Leap
1 Exquisite FireCraft
1 Animists' awakening
2 Abbot of Kerral Keep
1 Scab-Clan Bezerker
4 Goblin Glorychaser
4 Subterranean Scout
4 Frenzied Goblin
Trade 4
Pile A
$20
Pile B
Kytheon, Hero of Akros
Obelisk of Urd
Mana Confluence
Woodland Bellower
Thopter Spy Network
Pretty sure Pile A is the right choice in all of these. (I am trading Pile A to acquire PWhat do you guys think of these trades?
I'm not super-concerned about "getting my money back". I'm all about having fun, but I also want to build a good sealed pool and win some prizes too! I may not even open anything of Value, but I would love to get the most of my experience too. For me, one of the most exciting thing about pre-releases was the chance to win a box, or at least more than the average prize pool! Also, I feel like initial assumption that White seems to be the best in terms of sealed power was correct. I'll still be happy with whatever I choose, but if I can increase the odds of a better sealed pool, I would probably do that. Also, Nissa is signficantly more than any of the other Planeswalkers. She's about $25-$30, last I checked, while Gideon is $10-$15.
I would like some help deciding what color to play.
At first, I was going to choose white because it seems to have decent removal, and the best commons and uncommons overall. Then, I switched to Green because it seemed to be a good "support" color for 3 different archetypes I felt I would probably lean towards playing if possible, WG Renown, GB Elves, and GR ramp/big creatures. Also, on the off-chance I get a Nissa, I've essentially made my money back (or even a profit)> I also chose green because it would have creatures with reach, which could potentially block all those Thopter tokens I expect to be flying around.
However, after reading the review by LSV, and a few other posts about Green, I think it might be one of the weaker colors, and perhaps I should stick to White, or even Red for my seed.
What do you guys think?
Basically, it was down to these Red, White or Green.
White; The initial color I wanted to choose. It seems to have a very high amount of playable commons and uncommons and some great creatures.
Gideon could be awesome if I pulled him.
Red: nice removal suite and I could get a promo Goblin Piledriver, which I would love to use in my "almost complete" Standard Goblins deck
Green. Chance of getting Promo Nissa.
Seems to have the best chance of supporting one of the 3-4 colors/archetypes I'm considering building. GW Renown, GB Elves, GR Stompies.
In the end, I chose to go with Green, because it seems like a good support color for whatever I open in the rest of my packs. PLUS, a chance at getting a Money rare or a decent Bomb Rare.
I'm still considering white and I'm considering going to multiple prereleases, so we'll see what happens.