The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

[Cybren]

HEY GUYS I SET UP A STREAM WATCH ME CUBE HORRIBLY BADLY ON MODO
twitch.tv/cybren !!!!

[Kapol]

Well, I opened my box with my friends. It was a pretty good time all and all. We played draft (which I think I enjoyed the most), Sealed, and Pack Wars. I won the draft, the sealed, and one Pack Wars game. But I think I put a lot more thought into my decks then the others. The draft was a blue/green mainly mill deck revolving around the Jace I got passed to me. The sealed was a black/red exalted deck that just destroyed everything.

The big rares I got from the box (since I kept them all) were Liliana, Jace, foil Sands of Delirium, a few duel-lands, Guilded Lotus, Elderscale Wurm, Yeva (which I now have a playset of), Master of the Pearl Trident, Speltwine, Slumbering Dragon, Disciple of Bolas, and one of all of the legendary creatures besides Odric.

[vxicepickxv]

Disciple of Bolas is great. I want more of him, because of how awesome he is.

I trade a creature for +X life and +X cards? Okay.

Have Griselbrand out(Pay 7 life, Draw 7 cards), swing with Grislebrand(Gain 7 life), play Disciple, sacrifice Griselbrand, gain 7 life, and draw 7 cards.

[LackingSanity]

In unrelated news, holy shit Jitte hurts ow ow ow ow.


Cubing is fun!

[MowDownJoe]

I remember when Jitte was standard legal. Fun times...

[Kapol]

Disciple of Bolas is great. I want more of him, because of how awesome he is.

I trade a creature for +X life and +X cards? Okay.

Have Griselbrand out(Pay 7 life, Draw 7 cards), swing with Grislebrand(Gain 7 life), play Disciple, sacrifice Griselbrand, gain 7 life, and draw 7 cards.

Eh, I'd rather keep Griselbrand out myself. The 7 cards are nice, but will put you over 8 if you don't have an empty hand or play something. But it is a pretty solid card, and it goes GREAT with exalted. Make your 1/1 a 4/4 or so with exalted, play the Disciple, get 4 cards and 4 life for a 1/1 creature. Then blink the card over and over for more fun times.

In other news, I think I'm going to build a black/blue control/mill deck with the Jace and Liliana I got. Use Liliana's ultimate, play Sands of Dilerium (which I got a foil of ), mill you for 24-30 each turn at least. Or just play Jace and mill you for 10.

[vazhkatsi]

so, today at work I was really bored and decided to try to construct a standard legal deck around quirion dryad completely from memory. I has no internet at work, so it was pretty much just me writing down mana costs, names, numbers and figuring out my curve all on a tiny post-it note. I got some weird looks from my boss.

anyway (holy shit just got a cavern of souls in my first pack in a draft online) here it is.

I don't really have a lot of cards from SOM block, so I've been trrying to keep it 2012-now.

4- quirion dryad
2- snapcaster
2- archeomancer
3- rewind
3- cancel
2- devastation tide(not sure about this one)
4- Arbor Elf
2- alchemists refuge
2- roaring primadox
2- esssence scatter
2- downpour
2- jayemdae tome
2- talrand
3- outwit
3- second guess
3- rancor
11 islands
7 forests

the basic Idea is to get out a quirion, and then pump it by casting blue control to keep your oppenent shut down and unable to effectively counter your strategy. I think that Archeomancer is situationally even better than Snapcaster, but not enough for 4 of them, I grab some primadox to be able to recast snapcaster and archeomancer. I might need to check out M12 again to look for better control.

any suggestions?

[Jenelmo]

What is peoples opinion on the new MTGO Client???

[Lord Hosk]

I dont like the play field it makes the cards too small and your hand too large.

I agree with James that the life counter is too nondescript they should reduce the bottom section of "click here" box and the hand which would leave a bigger area for the personal info block and play field. The redzone is a cool idea but I don't think its necessary.

I like the chat window and how trades look. Overall its visualy appealing I just dont like how the GAME looks and thats what I want. Im not there for a slick drafting interface or good looking way to find a game, I have MTGO to play magic.

This being the "open beta" means they are stress testing it though so this will be how MTGO looks for the next 5 years. They ask for "suggestions and comments" which Im sure get forwarded directly to bob from accounting's spam folder, and bob got fired three weeks ago.

[vxicepickxv]

so, today at work I was really bored and decided to try to construct a standard legal deck around quirion dryad completely from memory. I has no internet at work, so it was pretty much just me writing down mana costs, names, numbers and figuring out my curve all on a tiny post-it note. I got some weird looks from my boss.

anyway (holy shit just got a cavern of souls in my first pack in a draft online) here it is.

I don't really have a lot of cards from SOM block, so I've been trrying to keep it 2012-now.

4- quirion dryad
2- snapcaster
2- archeomancer
3- rewind
3- cancel
2- devastation tide(not sure about this one)
4- Arbor Elf
2- alchemists refuge
2- roaring primadox
2- esssence scatter
2- downpour
2- jayemdae tome
2- talrand
3- outwit
3- second guess
3- rancor
11 islands
7 forests

the basic Idea is to get out a quirion, and then pump it by casting blue control to keep your oppenent shut down and unable to effectively counter your strategy. I think that Archeomancer is situationally even better than Snapcaster, but not enough for 4 of them, I grab some primadox to be able to recast snapcaster and archeomancer. I might need to check out M12 again to look for better control.

any suggestions?

Personally I'd go with Mist Ravens instead of Devastation Tide, because there's more variety with Mist Raven. Either bring back another creature of yours, or bounce an opponent's creature.

Yes, I konw it makes your 4 slot really loaded, but Devastation Tide can be a very bad deal sometimes.

[Volafortis]

so, today at work I was really bored and decided to try to construct a standard legal deck around quirion dryad completely from memory. I has no internet at work, so it was pretty much just me writing down mana costs, names, numbers and figuring out my curve all on a tiny post-it note. I got some weird looks from my boss.

anyway (holy shit just got a cavern of souls in my first pack in a draft online) here it is.

I don't really have a lot of cards from SOM block, so I've been trrying to keep it 2012-now.

4- quirion dryad
2- snapcaster
2- archeomancer
3- rewind
3- cancel
2- devastation tide(not sure about this one)
4- Arbor Elf
2- alchemists refuge
2- roaring primadox
2- esssence scatter
2- downpour
2- jayemdae tome
2- talrand
3- outwit
3- second guess
3- rancor
11 islands
7 forests

the basic Idea is to get out a quirion, and then pump it by casting blue control to keep your oppenent shut down and unable to effectively counter your strategy. I think that Archeomancer is situationally even better than Snapcaster, but not enough for 4 of them, I grab some primadox to be able to recast snapcaster and archeomancer. I might need to check out M12 again to look for better control.

any suggestions?

More lands. As someone who has been playing Control for the past 3 years of Standard, you'll want to run AT LEAST 25 lands.

Also, don't run so much bounce or tap. You don't have any real way to abuse the tempo gain, and Devastation Tide is just plain bad here.

Counterspells and Draw are what you want (Think Twice, Divination for draw; Negate, Rewind for counters)

Cantrips are also awesome, but most of the good one are rotating. Still, Augur of Bolas and Thought Scour are good options.

The colors that you've put yourself in are really bad for removal, which makes control an issue. You're better off going for a tempo or aggro style build in UG, and that would require are total deck rework.

[Lemegeton]

does anyone know if the Magic comic that IDW are currently putting out is any good?

[Kapol]

Decided, against better judgement, to pick up some packs today so I could draft and do a couple Pack Wars with a friend. Ended up getting another CatManDo, a Thundermaw Hellkite, a Cavern of Souls, a Rootbound Crag, a Fervor, and a Void Stalker. Pretty good for $17.

does anyone know if the Magic comic that IDW are currently putting out is any good?

I do not. Sorry. But, unless the cards they come with are really good/cool, I'd say it'd be silly to pick them up just for the cards.

[Lemegeton]

does anyone know if the Magic comic that IDW are currently putting out is any good?

I do not. Sorry. But, unless the cards they come with are really good/cool, I'd say it'd be silly to pick them up just for the cards.

oh no it had nothing to do with the cards. I read comics anyway so was just curious

[phlip]

does anyone know if the Magic comic that IDW are currently putting out is any good?

Eh, it's OK. It's really slow, in that would take about 2 or 3 issues of the comic to contain equivalent narrative to a single chapter of a words-type book, but I don't really read comics, so for all I know, that's kinda normal? I dunno. It's 5 issues in, and the story feels like it's only really getting started...

[Kapol]

I did... poorly at FNM this week. Poorly as in I've begun to really question if I want to go any deeper into Magic. The deck I was fairly proud of and thought it was going to do well just got utterly destroyed, and I've been feeling pretty depressed over just how badly it all went. Went 1 win, 3 losses. And each of the three loses were pretty much blowouts against me. The only one I almost won I lost because I'm an idiot, which only made me more depressed.

Soooo... yea. Bad day.

[vxicepickxv]

I did... poorly at FNM this week. Poorly as in I've begun to really question if I want to go any deeper into Magic. The deck I was fairly proud of and thought it was going to do well just got utterly destroyed, and I've been feeling pretty depressed over just how badly it all went. Went 1 win, 3 losses. And each of the three loses were pretty much blowouts against me. The only one I almost won I lost because I'm an idiot, which only made me more depressed.

Soooo... yea. Bad day.

Two questions before you decide if you want to quit.

1.How long have you been doing this?
2.Have you ever been in the top 50%?

If you answer yes to #2, then don't let a bad week get you down.

My playstyle is very chaotic compared to a lot of the other players around here. I can go from top 4 to bottom 4 in the blink of an eye.

I went from 28/36 to 1/18 in the span of 2 days, because of a combination of luck and skill. Don't let a few bad weeks get you down.

The only way you can be undefeated in this game is to quit after your first game(if you win). I didn't win a single game of magic for the first few months that I played.

[guidance]

I did... poorly at FNM this week. Poorly as in I've begun to really question if I want to go any deeper into Magic. The deck I was fairly proud of and thought it was going to do well just got utterly destroyed, and I've been feeling pretty depressed over just how badly it all went. Went 1 win, 3 losses. And each of the three loses were pretty much blowouts against me. The only one I almost won I lost because I'm an idiot, which only made me more depressed.

Soooo... yea. Bad day.

I really wouldn't worry to much about losing. I've only ever beaten 2 people while drafting, and I've drafted a lot. I really enjoyed drafting but I felt like it was time for a break, with the cards piling up and money disappearing. Once Ravinca comes in I will probably start drafting again, just need a little break which could be the same for you. Which reminds me, anyone living in the Richmond area want a crap ton of magic cards? I really want to get rid of most of them before Ravnica.

[Kapol]

Honestly, I doubt I'll quit in the near future. It was just that I got roughly beaten today in and out of magic, and seeing the deck I've been working on since I started just get beaten over and over made it a rough night. It just means I'll have to readjust it some more and figure out how to make it work best. The main problem is I don't have a way to realistically test it out against other decks until FNM.

As for your questions Icepick, the answer for the first is a few months. I started early on when Avacyn came out and have been playing since. That is, of course, part of the problem. A lot of people use cards from the block that are cycling out, like Birthing Pod or Wurmcoil Engine, that are good but I can't afford buying when they won't last for much longer. For the second... I'm not sure to be honest. I would say I'm normally around the 50% mark or a bit lower.

It's not that I think I'm bad per say. But a lot of the people I play with at FNM are better, have been playing much longer, and can spend a LOT more on cards then I can. So my chances are slim most of the time.

That said, and this is partly a response to Guidance, I really like Limited formats. Mostly because I think they're a very good mix of luck and skill. It also lacks something that Constructed has which really annoys me. Namely that the person with the deeper wallet has a (normally much) better chance of winning. Unfortunantly my shop only does Draft once every couple of months and normally it ends up just being when a set is release. So I'm rarely able to play it outside of pre-release/release events.

[phlip]

Luck of the golden gods... one of my prize boosters from the Standard tournament today.

I then proceeded to crack absolute rubbish in the actual draft afterwards, so I guess it balances out, but still.

[Lemegeton]

That said, and this is partly a response to Guidance, I really like Limited formats. Mostly because I think they're a very good mix of luck and skill. It also lacks something that Constructed has which really annoys me. Namely that the person with the deeper wallet has a (normally much) better chance of winning. Unfortunantly my shop only does Draft once every couple of months and normally it ends up just being when a set is release. So I'm rarely able to play it outside of pre-release/release events.

that's my problem with the store i play at too. their FNM and weekly tournament is all standard. They only run drafts and such at release events.

[vxicepickxv]

Honestly, I doubt I'll quit in the near future. It was just that I got roughly beaten today in and out of magic, and seeing the deck I've been working on since I started just get beaten over and over made it a rough night. It just means I'll have to readjust it some more and figure out how to make it work best. The main problem is I don't have a way to realistically test it out against other decks until FNM.

As for your questions Icepick, the answer for the first is a few months. I started early on when Avacyn came out and have been playing since. That is, of course, part of the problem. A lot of people use cards from the block that are cycling out, like Birthing Pod or Wurmcoil Engine, that are good but I can't afford buying when they won't last for much longer. For the second... I'm not sure to be honest. I would say I'm normally around the 50% mark or a bit lower.

It's not that I think I'm bad per say. But a lot of the people I play with at FNM are better, have been playing much longer, and can spend a LOT more on cards then I can. So my chances are slim most of the time.

That said, and this is partly a response to Guidance, I really like Limited formats. Mostly because I think they're a very good mix of luck and skill. It also lacks something that Constructed has which really annoys me. Namely that the person with the deeper wallet has a (normally much) better chance of winning. Unfortunantly my shop only does Draft once every couple of months and normally it ends up just being when a set is release. So I'm rarely able to play it outside of pre-release/release events.

It really is a shame your store is set up like that. I know the store I go to does 2 events for FNM, one draft and a constructed(normally standard).

[Volafortis]

Yeah, my LGS does standard constructed on FNM, then, afterward, if enough stay, he'll hold a booster draft. Then, on sundays, he hosts another booster draft at 1:30, and if enough stay after, he'll hold a second one, so I can draft 3 times a week, if I really want to.

[Lord Hosk]

I did a AVR swiss draft on MTGO today, I got a bye first round. Dropped after a bad draft? I dont know.

I played one game against my second opponent, I got a turn one Stonewright, turn two Nearheath Pilgrim, swing, 19-21. Turn three Mt. double swing double pump 14-26 He says "well thats just not fair" and drops

Round three my opponent plays two turns then disconnects for 8 and a half minutes, comes back finishes the game and beats me with like 10 minutes left on his clock, Plays three turns in round three and disconnects again.

I won three games and the draft in less than 15 turns

[vazhkatsi]

I had a deck I thought was great, with multiple ways to win by turn 4-5 I thought it was fast and good, but then when faced with people who could afford to buy 10 boxes at once, and who then were complaining about how they didn't get a full playset of the cards they wanted. anyway, I went 1-3, it was my first standard FNM in years, but damn man. my one good match, I got my turn 4 win combo off, but all the others I always kept drawing into more mana every turn, or I was starting with only 2 lands, and never drew a third.

The deck curved out at about 4 mana, with mostly 3 mana and lower stuff, it was very red aggro, but it wasn't a RDW. It's also frustrating playing against people with 700 dollar decks with my small budget deck.

anyway, I usually have work on friday nights so that was a once in a long while thing for me, but I'm working on a couple other decks now that should be better. Naya human aggro and miracle Gro.