The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 27 Feb 2015, 20:32

RadioshackRaider wrote:okay, I'm gonna call it right here and now that the Dragons of Tarkir story will involve Ugin waking up to the Dragon-lords bitching the other sentient races of Tarkir around, pissing him off. He'll then work on trying to even the balance yet again by trying to sever his connection to his home plane somehow, causing the dragon storms to occur, but with a drastically smaller intensity. Sarkhan, Sorin and the other 2 Planeswalkers of the block will be involved, after which Sorin tells Ugin of Nahiri's disappearance and the Rise of the Eldrazi.


I don't think that Ugin will leave the plane. He's a major part of it's ecosystem. Even 'asleep' he's what allows the dragons to exist. I do feel he's going to be annoyed when he wakes up by the 'balance' being broken. But when he's conscious, I think he'll have control over the dragon storms. It'll be more splitting up the non-dragons and dragons.

------------------------

I pulled off something in draft tonight that I really wanted to pull off. The board was my opponent was at 18, has two morphs, the 2/1 unblockable you can recast from graveyard if you're sultai, the 2/1 flier with prowess, and a Bond-Kin that's up to a 4/3. I was at 7 with a Jeskai Student and a Sage of the Inward Eye. He swings with the 2/1 unblockable and the Bond-Kin. I block with my Sage.

Then, I cast Arcbound on my Sage.

Wipe the board in a 5-for-3, gain 28 life, and deal 4 to my opponent seems really good. And draw a card. And, since that had been my plan for most of the game, I had six pieces of gas in hand to take off.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby RadioshackRaider » 28 Feb 2015, 09:52

Kapol wrote:
RadioshackRaider wrote:okay, I'm gonna call it right here and now that the Dragons of Tarkir story will involve Ugin waking up to the Dragon-lords bitching the other sentient races of Tarkir around, pissing him off. He'll then work on trying to even the balance yet again by trying to sever his connection to his home plane somehow, causing the dragon storms to occur, but with a drastically smaller intensity. Sarkhan, Sorin and the other 2 Planeswalkers of the block will be involved, after which Sorin tells Ugin of Nahiri's disappearance and the Rise of the Eldrazi.


I don't think that Ugin will leave the plane. He's a major part of it's ecosystem. Even 'asleep' he's what allows the dragons to exist. I do feel he's going to be annoyed when he wakes up by the 'balance' being broken. But when he's conscious, I think he'll have control over the dragon storms. It'll be more splitting up the non-dragons and dragons.

------------------------

I pulled off something in draft tonight that I really wanted to pull off. The board was my opponent was at 18, has two morphs, the 2/1 unblockable you can recast from graveyard if you're sultai, the 2/1 flier with prowess, and a Bond-Kin that's up to a 4/3. I was at 7 with a Jeskai Student and a Sage of the Inward Eye. He swings with the 2/1 unblockable and the Bond-Kin. I block with my Sage.

Then, I cast Arcbound on my Sage.

Wipe the board in a 5-for-3, gain 28 life, and deal 4 to my opponent seems really good. And draw a card. And, since that had been my plan for most of the game, I had six pieces of gas in hand to take off.


I don't think Ugin will leave for a while either. I just think that he will try to stop his presence from creating the Dragon Storms. I think he'll try to make them more of a regular force of nature, like a thunder storm or something similar. His strive for balance won't allow him to just simply leave, as that would cause the non-dragon Tarkiri (What is the plural/name for a resident of Tarkir?) to become the dominant force, but he can't let his mere presence cause them either as they would become a very large portion of the population. I also feel that his next step for the evolution of Morph will play into the balance thing. Maybe he'll give them a disguise that would make them look like and understand/speak Draconic. I'm pretty sure he will leave after he manages to bring a balance to Tarkir, which he will leave Sarkhan in charge of, giving his name it's true meaning. He'll then go off and find Sorin in a few blocks in his quest to find Nahiri or a replacement of.

Also, congrats on the major value. I hope you won that game.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 02 Mar 2015, 10:39

I think that it's possible Sarkhan will be put in charge, but I'm not sure they'll go that route. if they do, I'll be pretty disappointed. Keep in mind we just had "Big planeswalker becomes 'leader' of multiple multi-colored factions" with RTR. If Sarkhan is put in charge, it'll be a temporary thing until Ugin gets back from making the universe not be eaten.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Duckay » 03 Mar 2015, 19:21

I've argued at length with people about Ojutai's Command, but I still can't quite find a place to land on it.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby korvys » 03 Mar 2015, 19:26

I really like it, but then, I want to build a U/W deck with cheap creatures and counterspells, and it's just perfect for that.

Also, it looks like a group of people taking a picture with a selfie stick.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Duckay » 03 Mar 2015, 19:30

I saw someone on Facebook make that observation, too. Are you two in league together, did someone else make the observation publicly and I just missed it, or did you two just reach the same conclusion?
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby korvys » 03 Mar 2015, 20:16

I think I saw it on twitter this morning.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 03 Mar 2015, 21:14

I think if it had a targeting ability, it'd be awesome for U/W heroic. But oh well...

As it stands, I'm confident it'll see some standard play somewhere. It has counter and draw on the same card at worst. For limited, it seems fine. It'd mostly be used as a counterspell with draw a card taped on I feel with other options worst case. I don't think it'll be a bomb, but it'll make the cut in those colors almost every time. I don't know enough about other formats to make a definitive
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Utilitarian » 04 Mar 2015, 00:00

So, demonic tutor is too good even for legacy at 2 mana. Diabolic Tutor wasn't even good enough for most Standard decks at 4 mana. Where do folks feel a 3 mana tutor would land? What formats would it be not too good for?
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Jenelmo » 04 Mar 2015, 03:35

Grim Tutor sometimes sees play in Legacy
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Utilitarian » 04 Mar 2015, 09:57

Jenelmo wrote:Grim Tutor sometimes sees play in Legacy

Aye, tho it also has a hefty life cost too. I wonder if it would see any more play if it was just demonic/diabolic tutor style effect. Would it be good enough for modern? Too good for modern?
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby korvys » 04 Mar 2015, 14:15

The difference between 2 and 3 mana is pretty large. In modern, a lot of nice spells cost 2 or so mana. If you're casting a 3 mana spell, that's your entire 3rd or 4th turn. At 2 mana, you could cast Tutor and Bob, or Tutor and Goyf, or Tutor and keep up Mana Leak, on turn 4.

For modern, the Fundamental Turn of most decks is 4 or 5. Giving up a whole turn to search for a card is hard.

But, giving up your whole turn 3 is a lot less important than your whole turn 4. So I don't know, really. It's one of those effects that could be too much, or just break things. If you've always got a mana dork, for example, and search on turn 2, is there a combo deck that now has a consistent turn 3 kill? Or maybe it just makes some other turn 4 combo deck much more consistent? Could be too good, but modern is a big format. It's an effect that has a lot of risk.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Valkyrie-Lemons » 04 Mar 2015, 16:04

So I bought 4 Fate Reforged boosters today, and decided to make a constructed deck out of the cards I got (because why not?). I know there is probably an over abundance of lands, but I've gone for a risky high mana curve)

What do you guys think?

EDIT: If I was only going for a 40 card deck, it would be a Red/Green deck. The Black was include to boost it up to 60.

Click to Expand
= = (Name) / (Type) / (Race) / (Class) / (Attack) / (Defence)
1 ) Lightning Shrieker / Creature / Dragon / (Dragon) / 5 / 5
2 ) Lightning Shrieker / Creature / Dragon / (Dragon) / 5 / 5
3 ) Destructor Dragon / Creature / Dragon / (Dragon) / 4 / 4
4 ) Alesha, Who Smiles at Death / Leg. Creature / Human / Warrior / 3 / 2
5 ) Dragonrage / Ability / - / - / - / -
6 ) Hunt the Weak / Sorcery / - / - / - / -
7 ) Feral Krushok / Creature / Beast / (Beast) / 5 / 4
8 ) Abzan Beastmaster / Creature / Hound / Shaman / 2 / 1
9 ) Bloodfire Enforcers / Creature / Human / Monk / 5 / 2
10 ) Defiant Ogre / Creature / Ogre / Warrior / 3 / 5
11 ) Ambush Krotiq / Creature / Insect / (Bug) / 5 / 5
12 ) Frontier Mastodon / Creature / Elephant / (Beast) / 3 / 2
13 ) Abzan Kin-Guard / Creature / Human / Warrior / 3 / 3
14 ) Lightning Shrieker / Creature / Dragon / (Dragon) / 5 / 5
15 ) Frontier Mastodon / Creature / Elephant / (Beast) / 3 / 2
16 ) Archers of Qarsi / Creature / Naga / Archer / 5 / 2
17 ) Hunt the Weak / Sorcery / - / - / - / -
18 ) Temur Runemark / Enchantment / Aura / - / - / -
19 ) Feral Krushok / Creature / Beast / (Beast) / 5 / 4
20 ) Gore Swine / Creature / Bore / (Beast) / 4 / 1
21 ) Grim Contest / Ability / - / - / - / -
22 ) Grim Contest / Ability / - / - / - / -
23 ) Sultai Runemark / Enchantment / Aura / - / - / -
24 ) Tasigur, the Golden Fang / Leg. Creature / Human / Shaman / 4 / 5
25 ) Palace Siege / Enchantment / - / - / - / -
26 ) Wildcall / Sorcery / - / - / - / -
27 ) Tasigur's Cruelty / Sorcery / - / - / - / -
28 ) Sultai Emissary / Creature / Zombie / Warrior / 1 / 1
29 ) Sultai Emissary / Creature / Zombie / Warrior / 1 / 1
30 ) Gurmag Angler / Creature / Zombie / Fish / 5 / 5
31 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
32 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
33 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
34 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
35 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
36 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
37 ) Swamp / Land / - / - / - / -
38 ) Dismal Backwater / Land / - / - / - / -
39 ) Dismal Backwater / Land / - / - / - / -
40 ) Swiftwater Cliffs / Land / - / - / - / -
41 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
42 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
43 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
44 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
45 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
46 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
47 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
48 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
49 ) Forest / Land / - / - / - / -
50 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
51 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
52 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
53 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
54 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
55 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
56 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
57 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
58 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
59 ) Mountain / Land / - / - / - / -
60 ) Blossoming Sands / Land / - / - / - / -
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 04 Mar 2015, 16:12

Personally, I would say cut it down to 40 if you're just messing around. Mostly because that's more likely what you'd be working with if you just opened up a bunch of packs to play with in a competitive event.

Going to 40, I'd actually cut the red here. Tasigar, Gurmag, two grim contests, and the two Emissaries are better than your red I feel. I'd also overall recommend against playing lifelands for the sake of playing lifelands. They don't help with your fixing at all, and only slow you down. But I've seen differing opinions on this.

Going by 60... well, it's hard to say what to change without seeing everything. But with only 4 packs, you have to use almost 3/4 of what you open to make a full deck. So it's a tough situation.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Valkyrie-Lemons » 04 Mar 2015, 16:18

I'll be honest...I mainly did red for the Dragons. : P


And I only did this to see if I could make a half decent hand, rather than what I may do if I was playing someone. Plus I'm a person who often favours flavour then overall practicality; I just want to play for fun, so I don't mind if my deck isn't 'optimal'.

But thank you for your advice Kapol.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 04 Mar 2015, 16:20

That's fair. I was just trying to give feedback based on asking what we thought. There are much worse reasons to go a color than for the fun of it. :P
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby WickedBoy6 » 04 Mar 2015, 23:46

Okay, so I've been playing a variant of 8Rack at my FLGS during Modern days. I say "Variant" because I don't have the cash for Lilianas at the moment, nor willing to spend $80 on a playset of Thoughtseize after I plunked down all that green for everything else.

My girlfriend ended up buying some New Phyrexia event decks - $100 for two of each, mainly for the Stoneforge Mystics - and gave me one of the green ones. So, what should I do with these Mutagenic Growths, Glistner Elfs, and Apostles' Blessings?

Now, I have an amazing mono-green Infect deck, but it is getting a hell of a lot of hate at Modern nights, since people see the easy T3 kill coming a mile away, and they can't do anything about it. I feel bad about it, but should I? Infect is part of the game, and the shop owner - who claimed a victory over it last week - didn't tell me not to play it. So, should I feel bad for running Infect in Modern, a deck a lot of people seem to dislike?
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 05 Mar 2015, 07:25

Personally, I really dislike infect as a mechanic. Mostly because it basically halves your opponent's life total, as well as making combat kind of hellish for them.

That said... there should be answers in pretty much every situation. If you're consistently bringing it and doing well, there's no reason the meta shouldn't adapt to it being there. I feel like there's answers for it in pretty much every color, and it could easily be put into sideboards.

But this is coming from someone who, admittedly, doesn't know modern that well.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby fantôme » 05 Mar 2015, 10:13

I actually really like infect for those two reasons, its a challenge to play against. It draws a lot of hate firstly because it is potentially extremely powerful, but also because it is seen by many as "unfair" on fortunate draws - but like you've said, it is beatable and there are sideboard cards for it.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Utilitarian » 05 Mar 2015, 10:34

You could always try brewing up a more controlling infect deck, kind of like the legacy version Tom Ross played a while back.

As a rule, if I want to know what's hot in the world of infect, I look to Tom Ross -_^
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby Kapol » 05 Mar 2015, 11:00

fantôme wrote:I actually really like infect for those two reasons, its a challenge to play against. It draws a lot of hate firstly because it is potentially extremely powerful, but also because it is seen by many as "unfair" on fortunate draws - but like you've said, it is beatable and there are sideboard cards for it.


I'm perfectly fine with either of those things individually (as they had started out as). I think that, when put together, it's too much for one ability. It makes it too easy to just instantly-win if you have even a fairly good draw, not just a nuts one. Two or three solid pump spells can make for an easy T3 win. There are sideboard cards for it, so I think your meta is just being whiny if they refuse to adjust. But that doesn't mean it's not an annoying mechanic.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby SohNata » 05 Mar 2015, 11:30

So, any other runners doing GP Liverpool tomorrow/sat/sun?
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby fantôme » 05 Mar 2015, 13:36

Sadly I could not get the time off work. Do let us know how you get on though.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby WickedBoy6 » 05 Mar 2015, 16:24

Kapol wrote:I'm perfectly fine with either of those things individually (as they had started out as). I think that, when put together, it's too much for one ability. It makes it too easy to just instantly-win if you have even a fairly good draw, not just a nuts one. Two or three solid pump spells can make for an easy T3 win. There are sideboard cards for it, so I think your meta is just being whiny if they refuse to adjust. But that doesn't mean it's not an annoying mechanic.

TO be fair, I've been noticing that I've been failing on my starting hands more than I get good ones. I either don't get the green mana I need, nor the creatures. With the build, there's only 14 green sources and 16 creatures. And four of those cards - Inkmoth Nexus - overlap. If I don't hit an creature, a green source, and a pump spell in the opening hand, I usually mull, which could make it dangerous. I had to mull to 4 once. Still one, but it was actually close.

I was actually thinking of building THIS DECK. It looks fun as hell, seems more interactive than infect, looks more fair, and is completely unexpected. The only thing that's keeping me from making it right now is the 4 Aether Vials, and some cards in the sideboard. I DO want to run this, though. Badly.
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Re: The General Magic: The Gathering Thread

Postby guidance » 06 Mar 2015, 11:26

So new friday nights was great but was Paul really at Vancouver? Because I did not see him. He is the only one missing from my loadingreadyrun mat, I need him to sign it.
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