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abanytar (venerable_bede) 2-0 hacofo

GGs, friend!

Big thanks to hacofo for being patient with me. I missed our time on Thursday, and hacofo was gracious enough to be available today.

Game 1: My fliers had the bigger butts, which allowed my allies to form a cohort of life gain and life drain on the ground.

Game 2: We both kept two landers, and I was the one to draw into land first. I wondered why my Felidar Cub suffered Gideon's Reproach, but then the Stasis Snare came out to imprison my Cliffhaven Vampire and it all made sense. Victory came by having the right removal at the right time.

scores at end of round 7:

(6-1-0) abanytar
(3-4-0) AdmiralMemo
(1-6-0) Atifexe
(3-4-0) Auserker
(5-2-0) DeathNDecay
(2-5-0) Hacofo
(3-4-0) KeiranLC
(3-4-0) Omega Lairon
(6-1-0) Randus2003
(3-4-0) SaloAbraxas

round 8 of 8 pairings:

abanytar vs KeiranLC
Randus2003 vs Hacofo
DeathNDecay vs Atifexe
AdmiralMemo vs SaloAbraxas
Auserker vs Omega Lairon

So this is it 'the final week' and at this moment there is a 2 way tie for 1st will that stand in the final scores, will there be a three way tie in the end, will our Eldrazi overlords deem 1 competitor above the rest, will Worth wreck havoc on our draws, or does any of it matter given we are all just here to have fun?

Oh and before I forget we have about a mouth to plan out how we will handle Shadows (clean slate vs add packs, QTY of packs, try something new i.e. add packs as we go, allow packs from other sets, and I'm sure we can come up with other things to effect how this next season plays out), so lets start talking now.

DeathNDecay 2-0 Atifexe

Game 1: Mana flood vs mana drought. I survived getting hit by one bala ged and the summoning of another. Quite a fun match

Game 2: Worth strikes hard against Atifexe.

Lets see if we can get a 3 way tie

KeiranLC 2-0 abanytar (venerable_bede)

GGs, friend!

Game 1 came down to the wire. I just needed one more untap step, but hope died when the Wasteland Strangler arrived.

Game 2 I was beginning to think I might have a chance before the Ruin Processor showed up.

Overall, I'm very, very pleased with how this deck performed this season. I'm a bit sad to be leaving Zendikar behind, but after watching the pre-prerelease, I'm getting pretty stoked for the next set.

Oh, and now we're one step closer to that three way tie. It's up to you, Randus. Don't bus it up.

AdmiralMemo 1 - 2 SaloAbraxas

Game 1 I had a nice draw with some flyers and removal that allowed me to win a close race.

Game 2 all my removal was in the top half of my library and all my creatures were in the bottom half, and well, apparently you need creatures at some point if you don't want to lose.

Game 3 was looking to be a board stall until a Swarm Surge-enabled alpha strike and a strong follow up attack brought me to 2. But then an 8/8 that allows me to bottom lands and turn my board into evasive threats saved the day.

Fun season, with an even 4-4 record for me. Though I never got to live the dream of flipping an Emeria Shepherd to Deceiver of Form, playing a Plains, and bringing my entire graveyard back. On the plus side, I never flipped a Drana and sacrificed my entire board to the legendary rule, which I only just realized would have happened.

Randus2003 2-0 Hacofo

game 1 was a lesson in what happens when your 1st real play is a 5 drop on turn 5 while your opponent curves out with in R/G glass (there my of been 2 of 3 nettle drones in play)

game 2 was a little closer on the front end w/ them flying high while I pecked in on the ground...then while my Girl decided she wanted Roasted Chicken for dinner....and well suffice to say the flyer went out in a blaze of glory with them Falling along with the Titians (no actual Titians saw play but I'm sure Daddy would of come running if I needed him to in say a game 3)

sorry guys but I guess I bussed up that whole tie thing....all hail Newlamug my lord and.....I'm sure you know the rest....

side posting: to take a page out of the LRR Fan Draft book, I figured I would try something new here and post the monster (or so my opponents told me) I actually played (whole pool can be found in an earlier post) and encourage the rest of you to do the same after your last in season game.

Auserker [0 - 2] Omega Lairon

Some solid matches to end out the league. There was a spot of mana stalling on the opposing battlefield for game 1, but it really is a testament to their deck's staying power that there was still plenty of fierce resistance. Game 2 was a bit more even, I did manage to throw down Resolute Blademaster for that sweet double damage value, but he came down with a fatal case of ChandraBolt not long after. Still, the remaining troops proved sufficient (especially with a very lrrSACK Gideon's Reproach to save me from an otherwise imminently fatal strike.


As for the SOI league question, I'm pretty sure we've just done "new block, fresh start" in the past, and it's what I'd be voting for this time as well. And similar to when BFZ league started, it's probably most fair to not use an "actual" sealed event pool (the extra rare might be a bit much), but just to rip 6 packs.

I was also very happy with the last round of games, deck didn't shine but got to face a very cool deck that kept me thinking.

For SOI we should start fresh with 6 packs, considering how fun the pre-pre-release looked I think that it will be a great sealed environment.

An idea I had as well is we could be able to cash in 2 loses for a pack ie; 0-2 at week 2 can add a pack to their pool, and someone else who goes 2-2 week 4 can add 1 (These players couldn't add another pack until they were 0-4 or 2-6 respectively). I think something like this could keep it fresh if anyone has an issue with their pool feeling weak, since on average each player would add 1 pack each season unless they were at 6-1 going into the last round.

Auserker wrote:An idea I had as well is we could be able to cash in 2 loses for a pack ie; 0-2 at week 2 can add a pack to their pool, and someone else who goes 2-2 week 4 can add 1 (These players couldn't add another pack until they were 0-4 or 2-6 respectively). I think something like this could keep it fresh if anyone has an issue with their pool feeling weak, since on average each player would add 1 pack each season unless they were at 6-1 going into the last round.

So I like the idea and wouldn't mind something like this but I think it would need a buffer (i.e. the first loss or 2 can't be redeemed) the catch is not everyone has the disposal income to take advantage of it even if we said you could....so I would want a vote with pool submittal based on affordably and probably a hard line of if not everyone is ok with it we can't do it - again 1 of the reasons this was started was to allow people to get more bang for there preverbal mtgo buck.

Well, the first game my small stuff seemed to be still asleep. ^^
Keeping a 3 Land hand with 3 Highdrops was a gamble, that didn't pay off.

And after game two, well my PC still smells of grilled Chicken
Thanks again for the game.


Restarting from Fresh with SOI sounds good.

I like the Idea of trading in 2 Losses for a new Pack. (shouldn't be too surprising with my record ^^)

With the "2 losses = extra pack" thing, I'm not entirely sold on the idea. I guess it might just be that it felt like the bulk of my losses ended up being down to just unlucky draws or opponents countering well and being in a position to follow up. Basically, problems that wouldn't really be solved by throwing more cards at it unless I got lucky with an on-colour bomb rare. It also seemed like we all had pretty decent decks, and that no-one was ever really in a position to just run ham over everyone else.

That said though, what's true of this league may not be true of the next... we *might* have a disproportionately powerful deck emerge, or there might be a relatively weak pool floating around. It's tricky.

How about this... 2 losses gets you the OPTION of adding a pack. That way if it feels like you need that extra rare to make the experience fun / not be mercilessly run over every week, then it's an option. Likewise, if you feel like the losses have just been bad luck or maybe the budget's a bit tight, then nothing's compelling you to add more cards.



Also, since I'm here anyway, here's basically the "final cut" of what I ended up running for most of this league.

Omega Lairon wrote:With the "2 losses = extra pack" thing, I'm not entirely sold on the idea. I guess it might just be that it felt like the bulk of my losses ended up being down to just unlucky draws or opponents countering well and being in a position to follow up. Basically, problems that wouldn't really be solved by throwing more cards at it unless I got lucky with an on-colour bomb rare. It also seemed like we all had pretty decent decks, and that no-one was ever really in a position to just run ham over everyone else.

that's why I was thinking about the buffer of '1st 2ish losses couldn't count toward this' because sometimes you get stuck on 3 for 10 turns or hit every land drop though turn 12 (I've done both over the years many times and more cards isn't the answer).

also how did the freerunners work out for you? asking b/c I haven't had a lot of luck with them in other sealed events on mtgo.

Randus2003 wrote:also how did the freerunners work out for you? asking b/c I haven't had a lot of luck with them in other sealed events on mtgo.

Honestly, a lot of the time they were just sorta there filling in numbers. I paid retail for 'em far more often then I did at surge cost, but hey, 3R for a 3/2 with menace is still a solid creature. As an ally though, they tended to be a bit of a non-bo. Like, I'm either paying 3R for them pre-combat to get rally triggers, or I hold back the mana for a combat trick, and then surge 'em in for main 2, wherein the triggers no longer matter. Maybe if I was in the cantrip > surge in main 1 plan, but that wasn't really what this deck was doing.

They definitely shine with support from other allies though, specifically Resolute Blademaster (*drool*), or maybe Kor Bladewhirl / Ondu Champion. Menace + almost anything makes a seriously dicey blocking decision, any day of the week.

So TL;DR - Favourable, but not exceptional. I would hesitate to cut them from most red decks unless your pool is just disgustingly good.

This was fun, even though I didn't win very many games. I'm not sure if that's a result of me getting either overly careless or overly careful when up a game, or if it was something else I was missing. I was impressed with the frequency with which I drew Bane of Bala Ged, and though I didn't manage to cast it every single time I drew it, I did manage to cast multiple in single games in humorous ways. I also learned that I enjoy Magic far more when there are no prizes to fight for and no entry fee to invest - without those concerns, I don't feel like I have to win in order for the event to be worth it. I'm taking that as a pretty clear indication that it's time for me to build a Cube.

My financial situation hasn't really improved since the beginning of the Oath round, so I can't really participate in the League of Shadows (or comment on the add a pack mechanic). Once I'm in the money again, I'll sponsor someone else for a round and in the mean time I look forward to reading everyone's battle reports (and many thanks to everyone who included more information on how games went this time!).

scores at end of round 8:

(6-2-0) abanytar
(3-5-0) AdmiralMemo
(1-7-0) Atifexe
(3-5-0) Auserker
(6-2-0) DeathNDecay
(2-6-0) Hacofo
(4-4-0) KeiranLC
(4-4-0) Omega Lairon
(7-1-0) Randus2003
(4-4-0) SaloAbraxas

whelp there you have it another season in the books and shadows is just around the corner hope to see you all (and even more people) then.

and in regards to SOI:

In 2 Weeks I'll post the pool submission deadline and guidelines in the meantime spread the word about our little thing here and lets try and get some more people involved (or back involved for that matter next season. Also feel free to keep the conversation going right here.

I'll be back next season.

Woo, I did the worst! No one else can match my ability to lose! XD

Also, it seems people like having a punching bag opponent. I've received another sponsorship offer for this round, so barring anything changing, I'll be taking part in this round after all.

But it's interesting that no one had a 0-8 record... or an 8-0 record, for that matter. Everyone has both lost and won at least once.

AdmiralMemo wrote:But it's interesting that no one had a 0-8 record... or an 8-0 record, for that matter. Everyone has both lost and won at least once.

And that's why variance is a good thing

AdmiralMemo wrote:But it's interesting that no one had a 0-8 record... or an 8-0 record, for that matter. Everyone has both lost and won at least once.

Well, not this time anyway

On that note, I'll say I would like to be in for SOI Runners League.

Throwing my two cents into the ring. When you feel that your pool is super weak and their is nothing you can do, that sucks. However buying additional packs every two losses seems a bit silly since statistically most of us will go 4-4, resulting in two additional packs. Sometimes weak sealed decks are weak because of the pool or how the deck is constructed or Worth wrecking us. Id rather wait and after the season is over (and the eldritch moon expansion is out) and allow additional packs based on the final record. If you went 0-8 or 1-7 you could add two additional boosters of your choice, and if you went 3-5 or 2-6 you could add 1 booster of your choice (shadows or eldrich). I know its more conservative, but it allows for sealed league power levels not to change during a season, making it sometimes unfair to those who play certain people early vs late.

Another option could be a rare lottery. All players after obtaining their sealed pools could opt to put unwanted rares into a hat. Once everyone who wants to take this option has done so, they could pull rares out of the hat depending on how many they put into the hat. This would allow people who couldn't buy additional packs a way to possibly strengthen their pool before the league starts.

I'm up for joining again for SOI. I didn't play much oath, but got quite lucky with mythics so I have a lot of tickets to play with.

I'm definitely up for playing SOI. I don't have a strong opinion about the booster packs issue so I'll go with what we settle on.

I'll join in again.