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I had to get home too early to play in the tourney. My deck went 0-2 before the person dropped, and a lot of that I feel was due to not knowing the deck very well. But it's fair. I just hope the guy had fun before he dropped. He seemed super into the deck, which made me giddy.

As for the horde... well, I rofl-stomped them even on hard mode solo. With the hero letting me play 2 lands a turn, and the one letting me dig, and the one I can exile to untap and give all creatures +1/+1, it didn't stand much of a chance against mono-green. I just shot out too many threats for it to deal with effectively. That said, it was close to hitting me hard when it got the 'deathtouch' and '+2/0 and FS' cards. But then it hit the 'deal 3 damage' card and wiped most of it's own board (this was on hard mode, where it was casting 4 spells a turn, and I was able to easily keep up).

Forgot to mention, some of us decided to try hard-mode Hydra vs. hard-mode Horde while waiting for other rounds to finish. Hydra has a funny advantage of having rather nice blockers and being able to deal 8 damage to the Horde before any minotaurs get played, but the Horde started making a huge comeback after popping the "deal 3 to everything" sorcery (we decided gaining health meant putting said number of random cards from the Horde's graveyard at the bottom of the library).

And then the next round started and we couldn't finish the match. Time to try this again on my own.

Pulled a "kill everybody at once" move with my casual mono-black deck when I finally got my friend group back together again. I durdled about with a couple Baleful Eidolons deterring attacks until I became a somewhat large target when I played out Fate Unraveler, though the Red-White weenies player and the Simic grow-mah-dudes player were largely distracted by the fourth member of our group who had managed to get out one of the big honkin' tokens from Grove of the Guardian and was proliferating it at least once per turn. I managed to get out a Pyxis of Immortality fairly early and was using a Witch's Eye to manipulate my own quadrant of pandora's boxis, while my friends thought it was hilarious and were looking forward to me breaking the thing open.

3 Gary's and a number of other black permanents that ratcheted my devotion up more than high enough to insta-kill everybody. Boof!

Just found the card Shielding Plax on Gatherer. That is one letter away from being hilarious.

So I picked up a copy of the Battle the Hoard deck. I realize that, like the hydra, it becomes really easy to beat late-game. Thankfully, the hoard is easier to finish off when you're flooded with creatures, since you can actually make sure it dies.

I've also made my own variant where I play the two at the same time. I call it the 'clifftop battle.' I have it set up where both the hydra and the hoard are on hard mode (hydra starts with 5 heads. Hoard starts playing after your second turn). I start at 30 life, and allow myself to have 4 hero cards. At that point, it's just facing both at the same time. It's pretty rough if they get a good start.

Also, I found out that the explorer is pretty (really) good. Ramping every turn without a way for the hoard or the hydra to stop you? That's a strong ability. Since the biggest issue is getting creatures out and stabilizing, it makes it a lot easier because you can play more creatures faster.

Also, I ended up writing a story based on the fight, because I was bored and thought it'd be interesting. I'm going to put it in the writing thread if anyone is interested in reading it. It also has a detailed (if rough) description of how things actually played out.

So I got a bunch of nice trades today. A foil Thassa (soooo happy to have it), a Brimaz, a Kiora, a Sensei's Divining Top, and a Thassa to complete my playset (I threw one in for the foil. The guy was gonna do it for just a Xenagos, The Reveler, but I threw in the Thassa and a Karametra). Pretty good hull all and all. Then picked up a foil Temple of Triumph and a foil Angel of Serenity as well.

Best trade I ever made was when my old roommate traded me a Jace, the Mind Sculptor to order him a pizza when he was broke. Still haven't been able to top that one for value.

Volafortis wrote:Best trade I ever made was when my old roommate traded me a Jace, the Mind Sculptor to order him a pizza when he was broke. Still haven't been able to top that one for value.

Snap trade.

So I just went 3-0 in a draft. I beat the guy I drew with the last two times I drafted, both of which times we tested and he beat me. He was not happy. But I went U/G as I always do it seems. I started in blue, then wasn't sure what to go into... but a P1P4 of Scavenging Ooze kind of sealed the deal. Keep in mind, that's pick four of the first pack with only six drafters.

There was an older player who doesn't know many new rules. He got pretty pissed when someone stole the game from him. He didn't block a blood Barin (the one you can sac a creature to give it +2/+2) and it got more than enough of a boost to kill him. He didn't understand why the guy could sac the creatures after blockers were declared. It became a big ordeal, to the point he threatened to never come back to the store. He seems like a good guy, but he got really tilty because he felt cheated. That kind of thing just makes everyone uncomfortable.

Anyone have a link to the Nico Brolas deck or stuffy doll games?

Pop-A-Lot is running a free $1500 draft event for the top 32 from the 2013 Pop-A-Lot Super-Series. I did not know until I saw the announcement that I am ranked 11.

So it's agreed, you'll send me every brimaz you open.

Dibs on XenaGods.

yep

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mrloganrhoades/man-goes-to-magic-the-gathering-tournament-poses-next-to-but

*sigh*

This is not cool. It's funny (especially the poses), but it's not ok to be mocking people when they want to be out enjoying their hobby, and it does nothing but hurt the game. And, no, I don't the think anonymity of the subjects changes that.

I've seen people defending this by saying that people with their butts hanging out hurt the game too, which is true, but if you have an issue with a player's appearance or hygiene, that's something for the judges/TO to deal with.

Drafted a little bit ago. First pick from my first two packs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BilfH8MCYAA-R6P.jpg

STILL LOST.

Well at least you got your money's worth

Gonna try out my Bosh Commander this weekend. It's only version 1, as it's pure artifact, and key ones don't exist in it yet - like Wurmcoil Engine, Umezawa's Jitte, etc. - but I think it might be able to hold it's own. If nothing else, it'll be fun as hell to play.

CrazyMax46 wrote:Drafted a little bit ago. First pick from my first two packs.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BilfH8MCYAA-R6P.jpg

STILL LOST.

Honestly, the gods aren't astounding in limited. It's a lot harder to get the devotion to make them creatures. In fact, pulling two can make you greedy. Unless you were already in those colors (which is unlikely), it means you either don't play a god (a wasted pick, even if it's value), you move into that second color (first packs second-color picks are useless now), or you go three-color (always risky in a mono-focused set unless you pick up a good amount of fixing, which takes up spots for cards that might not be as good).

In most cases, I'd actually rather just have the weapons for actual limited play. The weapons are often more useful than the gods in a limited deck. The exception being if you manage to get a lot of devotion in their colors (unlikely if you're more than splashing a second color).

-For white, I'd rather have the constant +1/+1 and repeatable destroy effect than vigilance and 2/1s.
-Blue I'd actually prefer Thassa, just because scry is even better in limited, and unblockable is powerful. But card draw and being able to force your opponent to attack is also strong.
-For black, lifelink plays a big role in limited, as does being able to reanimate threats. Your opponent being unable to gain life won't normally be relevant. And you need to be careful about life totals in terms of the card draw.
-For red, I'm aggressive. I want to have haste, and be able to make my mana-flood not kill me. The two damage from Purphoros could be very good, as could the pump, but it's a lot more dependent on having creatures. Red would like to have a decent amount of burn too.
-And for green, trample and an overcosted pump isn't as good in my opinion than making sure most, if not all, of your attacks are trades. And the versatility of the bow puts in a lot of work. there are a lot of two-toughness or less fliers to kill. Gaining three life a turn makes it hard for your opponent to catch up. Being able to boost any creature for 2 mana is pretty strong. And you don't have to worry as much about someone going on the mill plan.

Thassa is hugely relevant in limited. Heliod less so, but I would find it hard to turn down the pick if I were in white. Personally I think Thassa and Purphoros are the best gods in limited.

I wouldn't pass any god if they were in my colors. But the only god I would switch colors for or even just hate-pick is Thassa. She wins games by herself. Unblockable just wins games, and scrying is so relevant. I do agree that those two are the best limited gods though, even with the new five.

My point was more just that some players really tend to overvalue gods. They're good, and they ARE bombs, but I feel like Thassa is the only one that I'd value super-super highly. I was giving the example of valuing the weapons higher than the gods as an example.


In related news, I just got back from a BTT draft. P1, I saw my rare... Phenax. And I was just like 'Whelp, I guess I'm going on the mill plan.' Ended up going 2-0-1. Also got a 6th-pick Chromanticore pack one. I was incredibly tempted to just say eff-it and go for the gold. U/G/b with a bunch of fixing for Chromanticore. It would have been hilarious, but I felt like actually winning.

They were my first two packs. So I went to White Blue.

Better news. Went to the finals of a draft tonight and finished second with BGR deck and in one of my packs I pulled a Lilliana. Good day overall.

Picked up my Jace vs Vraska decks, and I'm really starting to dig the art for the planeswalkers; I remember not being that impressed with it at first but now that I'm looking at them with the complete foil finish I'm down.

The most I've done with them though is assemble the deck boxes (which have some gorgeous color choices) and put the cards in. Didn't even take the shrink wrap off of the cards.

I have to agree, the new planeswalker art looks much better in actual card form.

Also, the Jace deck seems much better than Vraska, after a few matches, although I did draw Jace stupidly often, but that's to be expected when you run card draw.

Also, the foiling seems much better on these cards than in previous Duel Decks.

You see, I ran two games, and found Vraska's deck was just too fast for Jace to deal with. But both times the hands were pretty much the same, and Jace got screwed on mana two times in a row. So I'd have to play more to get a good feel.

As for the cards, I agree on all points. The foiling looks great. And even 'Bond Villain' Jace looks nice in this form. I really think Vraska looks much nicer in this version. It kind of plays off her character a lot more, and I think it works great.