The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[LokiTheLiar]

-2 Curse of the Swine
-2 Gold-Forged Sentinel
+4 Ornithopters
+2 Negate + 2 Disdainful Stroke in the sideboard.
Other good addition to the deck would be the Ghostfire Blade cause it can make some of your draws extremely explosive and hard to deal with for the opponent.

Also your deck will have problems in fast matchups because most of your threats are really mana consuming, so a good option would be to try and make it a little bit faster so that it can keep up. That also gives you more chance in the control matchups, when you're kinda trying to go under and overwhelm them before they can stabilize themselves.
Here's a list I came up with for the artifact theme in Standard.
Unfortunately it's hard to stay artifact based in the current meta, because there is no card that can take this deck over the top, like Siege Rhino or Dragonlord Ojutai. Have you considered shifting it a little bit more toward Mono Blue Devotion?

[phlip]

Random thought: How much do you think would be fair to pay for an Enchantment that reads "{G}: Add {2} to your mana pool"?

[LokiTheLiar]

probably 3 mana, because it doesn't require tapping.

[Kapol]

That's an interesting question. Honestly, I don't know if that enchantment would be that great no matter what. Only being able to double green mana, and even then only turning into colorless, doesn't seem amazing to start. It seems hard to really get to work in any multi-color deck. Mono-green would like the ramp. But I don't know if it would be better than, say, devotion was for green.

I guess I would say the GG or maybe 2G would be the right price. But I don't know. That could be too cheap and the enchantment could be busted.

[RadioshackRaider]

So I'm able to buy a box of Mirrodin Besieged this week for £80. I sthis a good idea or not? If I do I'll probably just draft it if possible, and if not, I'll open the whole thing.

[AdmiralMemo]

I say go for it.

[LokiTheLiar]

Yup, I would say it's probably worth the money. Even if you don't open all the bonkers rares, it will be a blast to draft.

[Volafortis]

MBS wall the small set of the block, so ideally if you can also find a box of SOM for fairly cheap, that's the best way to draft it. (I feel like New Phyrexia didn't support the themes for the block draft very well, though. I prefer SOM block draft as just 3 SOM or 2 SOM, 1 MBS. Either way, GB Infect was insanely fun to draft, honestly, just because of how much fun I had with the deck, I love this format more than most people do. Cystbearers for life.)

If you do just draft 3 MBS, I still stand behind my GB Infect recommendation. Rot Wolves, Septic Rats, Blightwidows, and Viridian Corrupters still can make a good deck.

[fantôme]

Question: what's the absolute minimum number of lands I can run in a sixty card deck to reliably hit two lands on turn 2? The deck's curve tops out at cmc 2, and there are rituals - so ever hitting a third land is not an issue.

I'm building modern grixis storm feat. Blistercoil Mantle.

[steric hindrance]

UR Storm plays 16 lands, albeit with 16 one-mana cantrips (4 Serum Visions, 4 Sleight of Hand, 4 Gitaxian Probe, 4 Thought Scour).

[eostby]

So I'm looking at finally going to my first Legacy tournament, and I have two potential options coming up in the next couple weeks. Both of them are at stores I've never been to before. The one closer to me is this week, costs $25, and will definitely be offering prizes to top 8 (possibly more than that), up to a Wasteland and store credit for first place. The one farther away is next week, costs $10, and has a variable prize structure depending on how many people show up. I almost certainly won't be going to both, so which one seems like the better option for me to try?

[Volafortis]

How much farther away is it, and how confident are you in your Legacy deck?

I personally would go for the $25 one, but if you have an untested brew, rather than an actual tier deck you're practiced with, I'd recommend the $10 one, as it's likely a better way to just get some deck experience.

[eostby]

It's about a 20 minute difference, and while I don't have a tier 1 deck, I think it's comfortably hanging out in the (rather large) tier 2 of Legacy (it's Solidarity, if that helps; Reset Tide if it doesn't).

[Volafortis]

Okay, I know Solidarity can be rough in a meta that packs a lot of disruption, how do you feel about your ability to beat opposing Force of Wills, do you have anything akin to Snap in your sideboard to play through hate bears, like Thalia/Gaddock Teeg? How do you feel about your sideboard in general?

Typically, I find combo deck such as Solidarity are as competitive as their sideboard is, so if it's tuned well, you can expect to do well.

[eostby]

This is my current list (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/09-11-14-solidarity/). The only thing I might want to dig through my cards for is an Echoing Truth, but I don't know what I'd cut from the current board to fit it in (and I don't really think moving a sideboard card main to go 61 is correct right now).

[Volafortis]

Oh, I'd never suggest going to 61.

Obviously I don't know the metagame, but your deck list looks well equipped to play through hate with the mainboard Flusterstorms and the ability to Cunning Wish for sideboard tech.

[eostby]

Yeah, having never been to this store before, I'm not really sure what to expect as far as meta considerations, so I'm figuring on the most generic sideboard I can, plus the two Blue Blasts as a hedge against any red hate cards. With the rise in OmniTell recently, I might see if the store has a Surgical Extraction for sale on Sunday, just in case I want something else there, but it's not a top priority.

[Volafortis]

Makes sense.

How does the deck seem to run against dredge? Obviously they help you out some by reducing your mana/storm needed, but I think it might be worth sticking in a second Ravenous Trap. Surgical Extraction is good against Dredge, but it's not a game breaker for them, and I like the have at least 2 actual game winners against them in the board, particularly going to an unknown meta, since Dredge is a fairly common deck, due to the low price of it.

[eostby]

I don't really know. Probably depends on the draw a bit, but as long as I can combo off and not die immediately to combat, I think I'll be fine. Worst case, I hope to have a Turnabout to tap down the team if it looks threatening.

[Phi]

So I am relatively new to magic and I have am building an esper dragons variant for standard. I have been trying to figure out if it is better for me to be on the play or on the draw in my matches. I expect the games to go long, and I prefer the card advantage, but it is worth giving my opponents the advantages that come with being on the play?

[AdmiralMemo]

Unless there's a specific reason you want to be on the draw, I always recommend being on the play, when possible.

[Volafortis]

You want to be on the play. That way you have mana advantage for casting your counters/removal.

[Phi]

I see. Thanks for the advice

[LokiTheLiar]

in case of esper dragons it's really not worth it to let your opponent play first, because a lot of your land come in to play tapped. being on the play means you can first turn thoughtseize/duress your opponent or more often play a tapped land, which potentially lets you play and untapped land on your second turn and pass it to your opponent keeping up Silumgar's Scorn.

[WickedBoy6]

Yeah, it all depends on the deck. With Esper Dragons, I would agree that you would want to be on the play first for mana purposes. You'll be drawing a bit, so the card loss shouldn't matter.

It's all about what deck you use, and what would bring the most advantage to you. . My Modern infect wants to go first, since it's hyper-aggro, and wants the least resistance from my opponent. However, my modern 8-Rack wants to go second, since they won't draw a card, and playing another, so there's less cards I need to make them discard.