Hello everyone!
At the beginning of the year I posted a short piece on Magic streaming. It wasn't very much, but I wrote right as I was discovering the world of streaming, and how awesome and fun it can be. Since then I have come across a lot more streamers, and the whole thing has gotten far more popular. I used to have an issue where I wanted to watch high quality magic play out, but there's actually nothing great out there. YouTube doesn't really have any fantastic players posting up videos (and usually that leads me thinking angrily at the screen for poor deck/play choices), and watching SCG open archives, GP archives, or PT archives isn't really helpful either because you can't see the player's hands and therefor it's a lot harder to really know their line of thinking. Videos posted on websites like ChannelFireball and SCG are awesome, but they don't show up nearly as much as I would like.
[Streaming enters from stage right]
Streaming is perfect for everyone! For the people who run the streams, it requires a lot less work for them because they don't need to compile any files, ship any files online to either their website or YouTube, and they aren't under as much pressure to have a perfect series of games to be archived for eternity. Also when you're streaming you can relax a little more, put on awesome music, talk to the viewers on the chat, and have a little more fun in the process. Also, some streamers have a donate button set up so they can make a little money in the process.
For the viewers it's also awesome because now that there are so many streamers out there you have the luxury of selecting who and what you want to see whenever you sign on. Sure, when I'm up at 3am there's not a lot of choices, but there's other things to be worrying about at that point. When you're watching someone stream, the chat is there so you can joke around with players, argue different lines of play, discuss draft picks/card choices in a deck, or ask the player questions. If you don't have a Twitch.tv account, I highly recommend you make one, because every once in a while getting to chat is a very cool experience, especially when they have a great discussion with you!
Streaming is getting more and more popular with lots of top level players making streams. Just before Christmas we all received a free gift when Jon Finkel announced his new channel. This afternoon there will be a major event completely revolving around streaming that will be awesome! The MTGO Streamer's Championship is taking place today, and it's going to be awesome! 8 high quality players streaming an insane amount of magic is very exciting, and I look forward to watching 2 or 3 angles. My favorite players for the event are Tom Martell, Sam Black, and Cedric Phillips in that order.
I'm sorry I wasn't able to get an announcement up sooner, but I just got my wisdom teeth out 2 days ago, so I haven't been able to do much for the past few days. I'm looking forward to a day of relaxation and streaming, and hopefully I'm alive and well again to actually play some magic of my own IRL! My friend is lending me this sweet GW aggro deck for standard:
2x Arbor Elf
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
2x Ulvenwald Tracker
3x Strangelroot Geist
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
4x Sublime Archangel
2x Wolfir Silverheart
4x Rancor
2x Faith's Shield
3x Selesnya Charm
7x Forest
2x Gavony Township
6x Plains
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Temple Garden
Sideboard:
3x Centaur Healer
2x Intrepid Hero
1x Trostani, Selesnya's Voice
1x Nevermore
2x Oblivion Ring
2x Rest in Peace
1x Triumph of Ferocity
2x Rootborn Defenses
1x Garruk Relentless
I haven't played a single game of live standard since rotation because of school, so I'm hoping to get 2 or 3 FNMs in this break and get back into it! This deck has been doing very well on Cockatrice, and the Silverblade-Sublime interaction is absolutely brutal! This deck is fairly cheap, with just Sublime Archangel holding a big price tag, so I think it's actually a very good choice right now if you like punching people's teeth in, and winning out of nowhere!
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
All the Gatecrash Mechanics!
Hello Everyone!
The other day I posted about the first released mechanic from Gatecrash, Evolve, and since then we have also had this card spoiled with that mechanic on Monday:
However we both know this card is pretty terrible. It does do a good job showcasing the cool things we can expect to do with Evolve, and with this card in particular it does draw you a card for any reason so Scavenge or Increasing Savagery is pretty ballin value (and yes, Increasing Savagery will draw you 5 cards). When it comes down to it though, a 4 mana 1/1 with no self-protection isn't very playable. If you do want to force the deck, play black for Undying Evil. When the Fathom Mage undies it will draw a card because of the +1/+1 counter it returns with so it's protection and more value.
Fathom Mage was spoiled on Monday, and on Tuesday, WotC released this guy to the world:
Bloodrush doesn't seem to be the most exciting Mechanic at first, but I think it's actually awesome! Pump spells and combat tricks have always just a little short of being playable because while they play as removal, an actual removal spell is just better. However, when Selesnya Charm came out, all of a sudden we had a pump spell that had the flexibility to be anything you want it to be depending on the situation. Low and behold, I use it as a pump spell 70% of the time (removal 25%, dude 5%), and it's always awesome!
So coming back to Bloodrush, we have an ability that holds an incredible amount of value for no cost! Like Scavenge, it is simply an upside ability, so we have to evaluate any card with Bloodrush as if it didn't, and if it's a good rate, then Bloodrush is just the icing on the cake. It's a little hard to discern which way the machanic will go, but I think the cost will be variable from card to card and the pump will be based off the discarded creature's P/T. Here's two simple cards I would be interested in seeing printed:
~Name 1
RG
Bloodrush - 1RG
2/2
~Name 2
{R/G}
Bloodrush - 0
1/1
No, I don't think either are constructed playable, but they are both very limited playable. A turn 1 or 2 play in the early game to build a presence, but in the later game when they really no longer matter, they become a pump spell to trick the opponent and add more tension to game play. I really like this mechanic and hope we get a couple cards that become playable in constructed, but it will add a sweet new dimension to standard. If the bear has a Bloodrush of 1 mana I would legitimately consider it for constructed.
On Wednesday, We were graced with the Legion's Battalion:
This card has caused the most conversation in the online facebook group I'm in, and for good reason! Lightning Helix has basically never stopped seeing play since it was first released, and getting a free one for free every turn is insane (2 a turn if you go real deep with Aurelia, the Warleader). At first I didn't like this ability because it required investing too much to the board to make it active, and another guy made the comparison to Odric, Master Tactition and how he is completely unplayable. But then I started thinking about a Naya aggro deck and if you play this card turn 3 off an Arbor Elf. As the control player looking across the board from 3 lands, Avenger, Elf, and a couple cards in hand, do you Wrath? If you do, you didn't really gain much value off that Wrath, and they have a good size hand to put up a second round of threats, but if you don't then they can play something like Strangelroot Geist and swing for 9+.
This is a very high-risk, high-reward mechanic. The key is finding ways to reduce the risk such as Strangelroot Geist - he is haste so you can play him as the third creature to get at least one Battalion activation in, also when your opponent does wrath he can undie and continue the fight. Another card that I feel will see play along with Battalion is Lingering Souls. It creates the 2 other creatures at the price of only 1/2 a card, so if you have 2 sounds and a Firemane Avenger a wrath is trading 1 for 1.5, neutering the value on the wrath. This card and the mechanic as a whole definitely holds a lot of potential! One thing that is absolutely relevant with Firemane Avenger is acknowledging the existence of Restoration Angel. Even if that's enough to hold back Firemane for this current standard season, if things change going into next year's standard format, I can see this guy completely dominating creature matchups!
Outside of Firemane specifically I really like this mechanic and can see WRB tokens becoming a legitimate deck off the back of Battalion, especially if we get a decent cheap Battalion guy (guys gain +1/+0?) along with Midnight Haunting, Sorin, etc. This is mechanic we will be seeing a lot of going forward!
Thursday released what is probably my favorite mechanic in the entire set: Extort! When I first read it, I thought it was basically kicker where that spell could drain for 1, however after another reading I realized it makes ALL spells gain that kicker, it's value went up a lot. For the sake of arguing how good the mechanic is (because this card is bulk), I proposed this card:
~Name
{W/B}
Enchantment
Extort
To which everyone said that they would play. I always try to talk down how good cards are and shut down hype in our group, but I think Extort is a powerful enough mechanic that I too would play that card in constructed, given the right shell. A lot of discussion about which archaetype it would best fit in, and I thnk the answer is Combo/Control. In an aggro deck you want to build tempo on your opponent, and casting a bunch of Death of a Thousands Stings isn't how you get there, it just sets your entire deck 1 or more turns behind. Sure, if a good on-curve creature has Extort, you can play it as a bonus for additional reach going late, but you wouldn't play a below the curve guy because he has Extort.
Combo and Control is a different story. There is no combo deck right now that wants Extort (there really aren't any combo decks in general) but the comparisons to Tendrils of Agony can't be ignored, so keep your eyes open. In control decks, Extort is simply awesome! Imagine this cheap Extort enchantment exists, it's legitimately possible to have that be your win condition! The fact that standard has infinite life with all these Thragtusks, Centaur Healers, and Sphinx's Revelations makes this plan less effective, but it's still good to think about - a deck with lots of answers, some flashback spells like Think Twice, and cheap Extort cards. You can just contain your opponent as you slowly ping at their life total while also keeping your head above water. Because your deck has such a high density of counterspells and removal, your opponent will never be able to out-threat you and you can grind them until they're thoroughly dead.
Take note that Extort is a triggered ability which can be triggered multiple times off one spell if your have multiple permanents with Extort. Going late when you're completely flooded out, having 2 or 3 Extort cards + Think Twice makes for an incredibly short clock! Extort looks sweet, and while it's not flashy, it will be a major player in the future of standard control!
Last but not least, today we finished off with an interesting Dimir mechanic:
Cipher is a bizarre name for the ability, but regardless it's pretty cool. An instant/sorcery version of Haunt that like basically all other Instant/Sorcery based mechanics finds a way to cast it multiple times for cheap. However here it simply feels awkward. Blue and black have the least and second least amount of creatures respectively (though red is very close in the 3/4 slot with black), so having an entire mechanic designed around gaining advantage through your creatures feels wrong to me. That being said, there is a certain guy named Invisible Stalker that saw a ton of play last year which will jump right back into the center stage if there are any good Cipher cards, so we can't turn a blind eye to the mechanic.
I think one thing to really look out for when new Cipher cards are spoiled is to see if there are any playable instants. If you attack with a creature or two and they aren't blocked, then you can cast a Cipher spell before damage, Cipher it onto the unblocked creature and gain immediate value off it.
Thinking about potential Cipher cards actually has my head scratching. Blue is most known for drawing cards, bouncing things, and countering spells. We have Whispering Madness which draws cards, and we will surely get a Reach Through Mists (read: Curiosity), which leaves bouncing things and countering spells. Countering spells doesn't work with Cipher because damage is sorcery speed, which only leaving bouncing things. Maybe 2U Unsummon, Cipher or 2UU Eye of Nowhere, Cipher? Looking at black they have creature kill, hand disruption, and paying life for card advantage. So maybe we get a 4 mana Doom Blade, 2 mana Duress, and a Divination that shocks yourself?
The overall problem is UB decks have next to no creatures (besides UB fish which is all dudes), so having a mechanic that requires creatures that you think will survive is so awkward. I'm sure there will be a good few printed that see play, but I really don't know what to expect here.
Overall, I am very excited for Gatecrash and I'm already thinking about and preparing myself for all the sweet brews that will come out of the sweet cards and especially the mechanics! Here's my ranking from most awesome to least awesome for these 5:
5. Cipher (Dimir)
4. Bloodrush (Gruul)
3. Evolve (Simic)
2. Battalion (Boros)
1. Extort (Orzhov)
I think it's worth noting how 4 of the 5 mechanics revolve around creatures, which feels very high to me. RTR had 3 as well, but 4 is just overwhelming. It doesn't feel like there will be many options outside of lots of creatures and lots of combat math.
That's all I have for today! I'm really excited for GTC now that we had our first taste of the treats to be offered, and I can't wait for 1 more month to go by when we can start cracking packs! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
The other day I posted about the first released mechanic from Gatecrash, Evolve, and since then we have also had this card spoiled with that mechanic on Monday:
However we both know this card is pretty terrible. It does do a good job showcasing the cool things we can expect to do with Evolve, and with this card in particular it does draw you a card for any reason so Scavenge or Increasing Savagery is pretty ballin value (and yes, Increasing Savagery will draw you 5 cards). When it comes down to it though, a 4 mana 1/1 with no self-protection isn't very playable. If you do want to force the deck, play black for Undying Evil. When the Fathom Mage undies it will draw a card because of the +1/+1 counter it returns with so it's protection and more value.
Fathom Mage was spoiled on Monday, and on Tuesday, WotC released this guy to the world:
Bloodrush doesn't seem to be the most exciting Mechanic at first, but I think it's actually awesome! Pump spells and combat tricks have always just a little short of being playable because while they play as removal, an actual removal spell is just better. However, when Selesnya Charm came out, all of a sudden we had a pump spell that had the flexibility to be anything you want it to be depending on the situation. Low and behold, I use it as a pump spell 70% of the time (removal 25%, dude 5%), and it's always awesome!
So coming back to Bloodrush, we have an ability that holds an incredible amount of value for no cost! Like Scavenge, it is simply an upside ability, so we have to evaluate any card with Bloodrush as if it didn't, and if it's a good rate, then Bloodrush is just the icing on the cake. It's a little hard to discern which way the machanic will go, but I think the cost will be variable from card to card and the pump will be based off the discarded creature's P/T. Here's two simple cards I would be interested in seeing printed:
~Name 1
RG
Bloodrush - 1RG
2/2
~Name 2
{R/G}
Bloodrush - 0
1/1
No, I don't think either are constructed playable, but they are both very limited playable. A turn 1 or 2 play in the early game to build a presence, but in the later game when they really no longer matter, they become a pump spell to trick the opponent and add more tension to game play. I really like this mechanic and hope we get a couple cards that become playable in constructed, but it will add a sweet new dimension to standard. If the bear has a Bloodrush of 1 mana I would legitimately consider it for constructed.
On Wednesday, We were graced with the Legion's Battalion:
This card has caused the most conversation in the online facebook group I'm in, and for good reason! Lightning Helix has basically never stopped seeing play since it was first released, and getting a free one for free every turn is insane (2 a turn if you go real deep with Aurelia, the Warleader). At first I didn't like this ability because it required investing too much to the board to make it active, and another guy made the comparison to Odric, Master Tactition and how he is completely unplayable. But then I started thinking about a Naya aggro deck and if you play this card turn 3 off an Arbor Elf. As the control player looking across the board from 3 lands, Avenger, Elf, and a couple cards in hand, do you Wrath? If you do, you didn't really gain much value off that Wrath, and they have a good size hand to put up a second round of threats, but if you don't then they can play something like Strangelroot Geist and swing for 9+.
This is a very high-risk, high-reward mechanic. The key is finding ways to reduce the risk such as Strangelroot Geist - he is haste so you can play him as the third creature to get at least one Battalion activation in, also when your opponent does wrath he can undie and continue the fight. Another card that I feel will see play along with Battalion is Lingering Souls. It creates the 2 other creatures at the price of only 1/2 a card, so if you have 2 sounds and a Firemane Avenger a wrath is trading 1 for 1.5, neutering the value on the wrath. This card and the mechanic as a whole definitely holds a lot of potential! One thing that is absolutely relevant with Firemane Avenger is acknowledging the existence of Restoration Angel. Even if that's enough to hold back Firemane for this current standard season, if things change going into next year's standard format, I can see this guy completely dominating creature matchups!
Outside of Firemane specifically I really like this mechanic and can see WRB tokens becoming a legitimate deck off the back of Battalion, especially if we get a decent cheap Battalion guy (guys gain +1/+0?) along with Midnight Haunting, Sorin, etc. This is mechanic we will be seeing a lot of going forward!
Thursday released what is probably my favorite mechanic in the entire set: Extort! When I first read it, I thought it was basically kicker where that spell could drain for 1, however after another reading I realized it makes ALL spells gain that kicker, it's value went up a lot. For the sake of arguing how good the mechanic is (because this card is bulk), I proposed this card:
~Name
{W/B}
Enchantment
Extort
To which everyone said that they would play. I always try to talk down how good cards are and shut down hype in our group, but I think Extort is a powerful enough mechanic that I too would play that card in constructed, given the right shell. A lot of discussion about which archaetype it would best fit in, and I thnk the answer is Combo/Control. In an aggro deck you want to build tempo on your opponent, and casting a bunch of Death of a Thousands Stings isn't how you get there, it just sets your entire deck 1 or more turns behind. Sure, if a good on-curve creature has Extort, you can play it as a bonus for additional reach going late, but you wouldn't play a below the curve guy because he has Extort.
Combo and Control is a different story. There is no combo deck right now that wants Extort (there really aren't any combo decks in general) but the comparisons to Tendrils of Agony can't be ignored, so keep your eyes open. In control decks, Extort is simply awesome! Imagine this cheap Extort enchantment exists, it's legitimately possible to have that be your win condition! The fact that standard has infinite life with all these Thragtusks, Centaur Healers, and Sphinx's Revelations makes this plan less effective, but it's still good to think about - a deck with lots of answers, some flashback spells like Think Twice, and cheap Extort cards. You can just contain your opponent as you slowly ping at their life total while also keeping your head above water. Because your deck has such a high density of counterspells and removal, your opponent will never be able to out-threat you and you can grind them until they're thoroughly dead.
Take note that Extort is a triggered ability which can be triggered multiple times off one spell if your have multiple permanents with Extort. Going late when you're completely flooded out, having 2 or 3 Extort cards + Think Twice makes for an incredibly short clock! Extort looks sweet, and while it's not flashy, it will be a major player in the future of standard control!
Last but not least, today we finished off with an interesting Dimir mechanic:
Cipher is a bizarre name for the ability, but regardless it's pretty cool. An instant/sorcery version of Haunt that like basically all other Instant/Sorcery based mechanics finds a way to cast it multiple times for cheap. However here it simply feels awkward. Blue and black have the least and second least amount of creatures respectively (though red is very close in the 3/4 slot with black), so having an entire mechanic designed around gaining advantage through your creatures feels wrong to me. That being said, there is a certain guy named Invisible Stalker that saw a ton of play last year which will jump right back into the center stage if there are any good Cipher cards, so we can't turn a blind eye to the mechanic.
I think one thing to really look out for when new Cipher cards are spoiled is to see if there are any playable instants. If you attack with a creature or two and they aren't blocked, then you can cast a Cipher spell before damage, Cipher it onto the unblocked creature and gain immediate value off it.
Thinking about potential Cipher cards actually has my head scratching. Blue is most known for drawing cards, bouncing things, and countering spells. We have Whispering Madness which draws cards, and we will surely get a Reach Through Mists (read: Curiosity), which leaves bouncing things and countering spells. Countering spells doesn't work with Cipher because damage is sorcery speed, which only leaving bouncing things. Maybe 2U Unsummon, Cipher or 2UU Eye of Nowhere, Cipher? Looking at black they have creature kill, hand disruption, and paying life for card advantage. So maybe we get a 4 mana Doom Blade, 2 mana Duress, and a Divination that shocks yourself?
The overall problem is UB decks have next to no creatures (besides UB fish which is all dudes), so having a mechanic that requires creatures that you think will survive is so awkward. I'm sure there will be a good few printed that see play, but I really don't know what to expect here.
Overall, I am very excited for Gatecrash and I'm already thinking about and preparing myself for all the sweet brews that will come out of the sweet cards and especially the mechanics! Here's my ranking from most awesome to least awesome for these 5:
5. Cipher (Dimir)
4. Bloodrush (Gruul)
3. Evolve (Simic)
2. Battalion (Boros)
1. Extort (Orzhov)
I think it's worth noting how 4 of the 5 mechanics revolve around creatures, which feels very high to me. RTR had 3 as well, but 4 is just overwhelming. It doesn't feel like there will be many options outside of lots of creatures and lots of combat math.
That's all I have for today! I'm really excited for GTC now that we had our first taste of the treats to be offered, and I can't wait for 1 more month to go by when we can start cracking packs! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Friday, December 21, 2012
The Newest Evolution to Magic
Hello everyone!
Twitter is a wonderful way to keep in touch with the greater Magic community. People like Gavin Verhey, Mark Rosewater, and Aaron Forsythe bridge the gap between Wizards of the Coast and their consumers. They send out cool insights to the company, Rosewater has a daily comic called Tales from the Pit, and they all will frequently poll their followers on cool mtg related things. I also follow professional players like LSV, PVDDR, Chapin, etc who sometimes offer insights into current formats, and the behind the scenes of the pro life. Naturally financial writers like Corbin Holster, Paul Feudo, and Chas Andres can keep you up to the moment on the latest spiking cards.
Beyond the everyday things like that, whenever a story or event happens, Twitter can keep you up to the second on it. For example, this picture has been getting retweeted a ton in the past 30 minutes:
Simic Fluxmage
2U
Evolve
1U, tap: Move a +1/+1 counter from Simic Fluxmage onto target creature
1/2
Our first mechanic spoiler from Gatecrash! In case you can't read it, this is the Simic mechanic called Evolve. Evolve reads, "Whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control, if that creature has greater power or toughness than this creature, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature." This is a sweet mechanic!
The old Simic Mechanic was called Graft, which meant that a creature with graft would enter the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters (X determined by the number next to Graft) and that whenever another creature entered the battlefield you could pass 1 +1/+1 counter over to it. Evolve is basically reverse Graft. Just like how with Graft you can do things based on creatures having +1/+1 counters on them, in the same way Evolve can manipulate +1/+1 counters as well. As we can see with the Simic Fluxmage he can graft out a +1/+1 counter every turn so he will remain small, keep on accumulating +1/+1 counters, and distributes those counters to the rest of your team.
This actually makes me excited to see what other cards may come. Obviously Simic Fluxmage isn't constructed playable (random sidenote, you can pass a +1/+1 counter to your opponent's Undying/Unleash creature to turn them off), but consider this card:
Evolving Dude
G
Evolve
1/1
This card is insane! Think back to the Fervor Jund deck I made back when Domri Rade was spoiled. If we were playing that deck with this guy on the 1-drop slot we can go:
1 - Evolving Dude
2 - Strangelroot Geist, swing for 4
3 - Dreg Mangler/Flinthoof Boar, swing for 8
At the end of turn 3 we have our opponent at 8 life, and we have two 3/3s and a 2/1 Undying. That is a completely dominant board, and even if we get hit with a Supreme Verdict we have a 3/2 swinging our opponent down to 5 with the rest of our deck designed to beat down. This card has so much potential it's impressive. Even as a 0/1, it would still be able to pack a solid punch, though that would be noticeably worse.
I think the Evolve mechanic is a very exciting mechanic for constructed purposes if we get solid cheap guys. Even in limited it will be a very important mechanic to help build up a strong board against any opponent. That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
2 Man Drafts
Hello everyone!
It's been a while since I last posted, but since then I have entered into, and successfully escaped alive, from finals. It was a lot more pain and suffering than it was fun and joy, but there was one especially shameful moment - Sociology. I already hated the class and thought the professor was a complete joke, but then his final permanently cemented that for me. It was a true work of art how he managed to embarrass himself:
1 - First he registered the wrong day, time, and location of our final on the school website, telling us a completely different (and earlier) time in class.
2 - The final was held in the same room where we normally have class, which is completely full for his lectures. He decided to combine 2 classes together for the final pushing us all so close together you couldn't get up to walk around, and people were fully pressed against all four walls.
3 - The professor showed up 30 minutes late to tell us he forgot to print out the test and that's what he was working on now (100+ students in room, 10 page test)
4 - The test was all multiple choice with many questions having a blank being filled from the choices. Many of the questions didn't make complete sentences with any of the choices, and one question didn't even have enough choices to fill all the blanks on any choice. I asked the professor about one, and he couldn't figure it out either
So with that fabulous display of leadership, Arturo Ramos-Dalmau proved himself to be a true american hero, and a leader to us all!
On a more serious note, I am now back home and naturally celebrated with a 3 hour nap immediately followed up with a 14 hour nap, followed by a two-man draft. No one showed up for the scheduled 8-man, so myself and Nick decided to do a heads up draft which was actually incredibly fun!
I had done two-person drafts before during the Innistrad-Dark Ascension draft format. The way we did it then was with three piles (I don't know if there are any names for 2-man draft styles). First you have both players open the packs face down, take out the tokens, and then shuffle all 6 packs together. After shuffling, take the 6 packs and place them in a single pile on the table, then from that stack make 3 single card stacks in a line going away from the original stack. The three piles are numbered with the closest to the original stack being pile 1 and the furthest being pile 3.
The first player (determined by rolling) looks at pile 1 and can either keep it or pass. If they keep, they put all cards in that pile into their hand, take the top card of the stack, put it on the pile, and then pass to the other player. If they choose to not take the pile, then they take the top card from the stack, put it on top of the skipped pile, and then move to the next pile, repeating this process. If the player chooses they don't want the third pile they take the top card of the stack, put it on the third pile, and then take the top card of the original stack and put it into their hand. This process repeats until all cards have been used.
When I drafted against Nick though, we tried something new. This played out far more like a Rochester draft, and in the end I liked it a whole lot more. Both players start by opening their 3 packs face down, but this time you don't combine them. Instead each player shuffles their own 3 packs together separately, then makes two face-up piles next to their original stack and places one card in each. The first player can then pick any of the four piles and pull all cards in that piles into their hand, and pass to the other person. After each player takes a pile each pile gets one additional card from each player's respective stacks.
As I said, I liked this rochester-esque style of drafting much better. I won the roll and decided to go second. Nick and I were both in Golgari after the first 4 rounds of picks when Nick snagged a Vraska, the Unseen, so I knew I would have to get out of it quickly. A few picks later I was graced with a Supreme Verdict, and in combination with my Horncaller's Chant, I knew I was going down a much slower road. My deck wound up being a four color monstrocity being primarily Bant but splashing a Goblin Electromancer and Essence Backlash off a single Izzet Guildgate because of a lack of playables in my primary three. I had a lot of proliferate cards like Eyes in the Sky so my game plan was to invest as few cards as possible to build a board presence, gain card advantage through Supreme Verdict, and then go over the top to win. The plan worked worked very well as I was able to beat Nick's BRg deck 2-0.
If you're looking to try something new for drafting, but only have 1 other person to play with, I highly recommend trying the Rochester 1vs1 draft! I had tons of fun, and like a real Rochester there are tons of decisions to be made while picking your cards. I'm looking forward to playing tons of magic over the course of this next month, and bringing tons of reports and technology back to the blog! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
It's been a while since I last posted, but since then I have entered into, and successfully escaped alive, from finals. It was a lot more pain and suffering than it was fun and joy, but there was one especially shameful moment - Sociology. I already hated the class and thought the professor was a complete joke, but then his final permanently cemented that for me. It was a true work of art how he managed to embarrass himself:
1 - First he registered the wrong day, time, and location of our final on the school website, telling us a completely different (and earlier) time in class.
2 - The final was held in the same room where we normally have class, which is completely full for his lectures. He decided to combine 2 classes together for the final pushing us all so close together you couldn't get up to walk around, and people were fully pressed against all four walls.
3 - The professor showed up 30 minutes late to tell us he forgot to print out the test and that's what he was working on now (100+ students in room, 10 page test)
4 - The test was all multiple choice with many questions having a blank being filled from the choices. Many of the questions didn't make complete sentences with any of the choices, and one question didn't even have enough choices to fill all the blanks on any choice. I asked the professor about one, and he couldn't figure it out either
So with that fabulous display of leadership, Arturo Ramos-Dalmau proved himself to be a true american hero, and a leader to us all!
On a more serious note, I am now back home and naturally celebrated with a 3 hour nap immediately followed up with a 14 hour nap, followed by a two-man draft. No one showed up for the scheduled 8-man, so myself and Nick decided to do a heads up draft which was actually incredibly fun!
I had done two-person drafts before during the Innistrad-Dark Ascension draft format. The way we did it then was with three piles (I don't know if there are any names for 2-man draft styles). First you have both players open the packs face down, take out the tokens, and then shuffle all 6 packs together. After shuffling, take the 6 packs and place them in a single pile on the table, then from that stack make 3 single card stacks in a line going away from the original stack. The three piles are numbered with the closest to the original stack being pile 1 and the furthest being pile 3.
The first player (determined by rolling) looks at pile 1 and can either keep it or pass. If they keep, they put all cards in that pile into their hand, take the top card of the stack, put it on the pile, and then pass to the other player. If they choose to not take the pile, then they take the top card from the stack, put it on top of the skipped pile, and then move to the next pile, repeating this process. If the player chooses they don't want the third pile they take the top card of the stack, put it on the third pile, and then take the top card of the original stack and put it into their hand. This process repeats until all cards have been used.
When I drafted against Nick though, we tried something new. This played out far more like a Rochester draft, and in the end I liked it a whole lot more. Both players start by opening their 3 packs face down, but this time you don't combine them. Instead each player shuffles their own 3 packs together separately, then makes two face-up piles next to their original stack and places one card in each. The first player can then pick any of the four piles and pull all cards in that piles into their hand, and pass to the other person. After each player takes a pile each pile gets one additional card from each player's respective stacks.
As I said, I liked this rochester-esque style of drafting much better. I won the roll and decided to go second. Nick and I were both in Golgari after the first 4 rounds of picks when Nick snagged a Vraska, the Unseen, so I knew I would have to get out of it quickly. A few picks later I was graced with a Supreme Verdict, and in combination with my Horncaller's Chant, I knew I was going down a much slower road. My deck wound up being a four color monstrocity being primarily Bant but splashing a Goblin Electromancer and Essence Backlash off a single Izzet Guildgate because of a lack of playables in my primary three. I had a lot of proliferate cards like Eyes in the Sky so my game plan was to invest as few cards as possible to build a board presence, gain card advantage through Supreme Verdict, and then go over the top to win. The plan worked worked very well as I was able to beat Nick's BRg deck 2-0.
If you're looking to try something new for drafting, but only have 1 other person to play with, I highly recommend trying the Rochester 1vs1 draft! I had tons of fun, and like a real Rochester there are tons of decisions to be made while picking your cards. I'm looking forward to playing tons of magic over the course of this next month, and bringing tons of reports and technology back to the blog! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Friday, December 7, 2012
Counting to 10 in Legacy
Hello everyone!
Legacy infect is a deck that has been talked about a lot, but has never really become a thing. As a part of my quest to make everything playable, I have decided to turn my lens over to infect. Recently I have been giving lessons to some guys on my floor, and one of the things I start with is consistency and power. Power is basically, "what is the most powerful things your deck can do?" For infect that's a mulligan to 4 that wins on turn 2. Then the second part asks about consistency. Can your deck reliably get all the pieces together quickly enough? Can your deck fight through disruption? I think infect may actually be able to do those things too! Here's the list I'm currently on:
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Blighted Agent
4x Glistener Elf
1x Crop Rotation
4x Brainstorm
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Ponder
4x Daze
3x Vines of Vastwood
4x Might of Old Krosa
3x Berserk
4x Invigorate
4x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
4x Tropical Island
2x Pendelhaven
3x Centaur Garden
Sideboard:
3x Tormod's Crypt
4x Chain of Vapor
3x Tezzeret's Gambit
3x Force of Will
2x Ranger's Guile
I took this deck (-3 Tezzeret's Gambit +3 Leyline of Sactity) into an online Legacy 8-man, and by golly I won the whole thing! It was a legitimate win too, I wasn't playing against something like Kobolds combo anywhere. I played against Bant, BUG Deathrite, and Junk in that order, so there was A LOT of Tarmogoyf! It's a good thing this deck doesn't care about Tarmogoyf, otherwise I would have been bringing a knife to the gun fight as I saw 2 or 3 other Tarmogoyf decks while watching other games!
Here's a breakdown of the deck:
Dudes:
Glistener Elf - This is actually your worst infect dude because she doesn't have any evasion. It does only cost 1 mana though, and gives you a ton of game against the likes of Show and Tell or Storm by allowing the turn 2 kills to happen.
Blighted Agent - This is fantastic because your mana isn't tied up every turn and he will not be blocked. However, this guy dies to all kinds of removal including things like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Supreme Verdict
Inkmoth Nexus - While not completely unblockable, the lack of playable flying creatures (Delver, Vendilion, ...?) effectively makes this so. Abrupt Decay has seen a spike in play recently, especially in the BUG Deathrite Shaman deck, but Abrupt Decay can't hit lands so Inkmoth gains a lot of value. Dodging sorcery speed removal is awesome too, but the tradeoff is it can die to Wasteland, and it can tie up your mana a lot.
Noble Hierarch - When I saw this in Ari Lax's modern infect deck from the Pro Tour, I was skeptical, but in testing Hierarch is insane! This deck is so fast that it doesn't have enough time to hit enough lands drops to play out the whole hand, so doubling up on mana turn 1 is a huge help! The Exalted is another major boost as it allows you to play fair much better.
Pump:
Invigorate - This is your best pump spell. Life doesn't matter when you're killing in poison counters, so this is a 0 mana +4/+4. Simple, clean, elegant.
Might of Old Krosa - This is usually the first card to get sideboarded out in any matchup that plays creatures. Showing your hand and committing a creature to a pump spell during your main phase has a significant cost attached, but it very good on the Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus
Berserk - Playing Berserk after an Invigorate or a Might of Old Krosa makes a perfect 10. Besides that, the card is fairly bad which is why we only play 3. Having to sacrifice your guy at the end of turn is a significant disadvantage to the card, so use it only when winning.
Pendalhaven - This card is awesome! Like Noble Hierarch, it helps you push through incremental damage over the course of a couple turns and apply significant pressure on the opponent.
Centaur Garden - In an effort to stuff as much possible value in the deck as we can, we take a page out of Dredge's book. In my experience I find it is actually relatively difficult to accumulate 7 cards in your graveyard to activate the Garden, but it has also been integral for a couple grindy wins, so overall I have been pleased with it.
Other Spells:
Crop Rotation - This card has always been decent for me, but never insane. It offers you some Wasteland protection, it helps you get Threshold for Centaur Garden, it shuffles post-Brainstorm, and can tutor for an Inkmoth when in need. It's important to remember with Crop Rotation that you sacrifice the land before putting the spell on the stack so counterspells REALLY ruin your day!
Brainstorm - We're a blue combo deck with 7 fetch lands and Crop Rotation, obv playing best card in Legacy
Ponder - Like Brainstorm, we just want to find combo pieces and get there
Gitaxian Probe - Every combo player's best friend! This simply leaves nothing to the imagination and allow you to sculpt your game plan based on what they have.
Daze - A common mistake people make when building combo decks is to not have enough interaction with the opponent. That's why Belcher has never won anything and probably never will. We too are trying to ignore the opponent as much as possible, but Daze is simply to good to not have. Dazing your opponent's game plan, be it a Tarmogoyf or Jace is sweet, but Daze will also help you push pump spells through your opponent's disruption.
Vines of Vastwood - The primary responsibility of this card is to make a creature Hexproof and save it from a Swords to Plowshares/Abrupt Decay. The kicker is just gravy, but essential to remember. In the final game of the 8 man I was down to just a Vines in Hand because he had a Liliana of the Veil. He was at 1 Infect and I had a Blighted Agent in play. I topdecked a second Vines and was able to kick two of them to get in for the game!
Lands:
I decided that I really didn't want to have any basic lands in the deck because I felt there simply wasn't space or need. Usually people will try to save their Wastelands for your Inkmoth Nexus, which allow us to cast our cantrips and ignore the Waste.
Sideboard:
Tormod's Crypt - because Dredge is a bitch
Chain of Vapor - This is designed to be a catch-all for cards like Moat, Umezawa's Jitte, and other random goodies.Simple and straightforward, but I have been very pleased with it
Tezzeret's Gambit - This isn't tested, but it feels decent in theory. Basically I want to answer Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach by ignoring them, recouping my hand, and then just killing them anyways. I played Leyline of Sanctity in the 8-man, but never wanted to bring it in.
Force of Will - We have a very low blue count (19 in the main) so Force isn't the most reliable spell however in the matchups we want it, we want it BAD
Ranger's Guile - This is to back up Vines of Vastwood to help grind through a wall of removal. I went with a second Ranger's Guile over a fourth Vines because games with tons of removal are far grindier and we may only have 1 mana, so I want to get the extra point of power when I can.
I have been very pleased with this deck in testing, and reccommend it if you're looking for a combo deck no one is prepared for. Like I said, the decks I beat in the 8 man were Bant, BUG, and Junk all of which pack tons of disruption. Cards I had to fight through include: Swords to Plowshares, Daze, Force of Will, Abrupt Decay, Darkblast, Inquisition of Kozelik, and Liliana of the Veil. I feel this is a perfect sample to show the resiliency and power of the deck, two essential qualities of a good deck for Legacy.
When it comes to playing the deck, I find the best approach is to be slightly conservative. Obviously when your opponent plays a turn 1 Aether Vial off a mountain you can just dump your hand and go all-in, but unless you know exactly what you're up against, there's no need to get blown out. The deck can kill out of nowhere so feel free to take the extra turn and make sure you actually have a window of opportunity. In general a turn 1 Noble Hierarch is better than a turn 1 Glistener Elf, and a hand without an infect guy is basically unkeepable.
This has been a very fun deck to play, and I think it may have legs to be a fully competitive deck in the metagame! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Legacy infect is a deck that has been talked about a lot, but has never really become a thing. As a part of my quest to make everything playable, I have decided to turn my lens over to infect. Recently I have been giving lessons to some guys on my floor, and one of the things I start with is consistency and power. Power is basically, "what is the most powerful things your deck can do?" For infect that's a mulligan to 4 that wins on turn 2. Then the second part asks about consistency. Can your deck reliably get all the pieces together quickly enough? Can your deck fight through disruption? I think infect may actually be able to do those things too! Here's the list I'm currently on:
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Blighted Agent
4x Glistener Elf
1x Crop Rotation
4x Brainstorm
4x Gitaxian Probe
3x Ponder
4x Daze
3x Vines of Vastwood
4x Might of Old Krosa
3x Berserk
4x Invigorate
4x Inkmoth Nexus
4x Misty Rainforest
1x Polluted Delta
4x Tropical Island
2x Pendelhaven
3x Centaur Garden
Sideboard:
3x Tormod's Crypt
4x Chain of Vapor
3x Tezzeret's Gambit
3x Force of Will
2x Ranger's Guile
I took this deck (-3 Tezzeret's Gambit +3 Leyline of Sactity) into an online Legacy 8-man, and by golly I won the whole thing! It was a legitimate win too, I wasn't playing against something like Kobolds combo anywhere. I played against Bant, BUG Deathrite, and Junk in that order, so there was A LOT of Tarmogoyf! It's a good thing this deck doesn't care about Tarmogoyf, otherwise I would have been bringing a knife to the gun fight as I saw 2 or 3 other Tarmogoyf decks while watching other games!
Here's a breakdown of the deck:
Dudes:
Glistener Elf - This is actually your worst infect dude because she doesn't have any evasion. It does only cost 1 mana though, and gives you a ton of game against the likes of Show and Tell or Storm by allowing the turn 2 kills to happen.
Blighted Agent - This is fantastic because your mana isn't tied up every turn and he will not be blocked. However, this guy dies to all kinds of removal including things like Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Supreme Verdict
Inkmoth Nexus - While not completely unblockable, the lack of playable flying creatures (Delver, Vendilion, ...?) effectively makes this so. Abrupt Decay has seen a spike in play recently, especially in the BUG Deathrite Shaman deck, but Abrupt Decay can't hit lands so Inkmoth gains a lot of value. Dodging sorcery speed removal is awesome too, but the tradeoff is it can die to Wasteland, and it can tie up your mana a lot.
Noble Hierarch - When I saw this in Ari Lax's modern infect deck from the Pro Tour, I was skeptical, but in testing Hierarch is insane! This deck is so fast that it doesn't have enough time to hit enough lands drops to play out the whole hand, so doubling up on mana turn 1 is a huge help! The Exalted is another major boost as it allows you to play fair much better.
Pump:
Invigorate - This is your best pump spell. Life doesn't matter when you're killing in poison counters, so this is a 0 mana +4/+4. Simple, clean, elegant.
Might of Old Krosa - This is usually the first card to get sideboarded out in any matchup that plays creatures. Showing your hand and committing a creature to a pump spell during your main phase has a significant cost attached, but it very good on the Blighted Agent and Inkmoth Nexus
Berserk - Playing Berserk after an Invigorate or a Might of Old Krosa makes a perfect 10. Besides that, the card is fairly bad which is why we only play 3. Having to sacrifice your guy at the end of turn is a significant disadvantage to the card, so use it only when winning.
Pendalhaven - This card is awesome! Like Noble Hierarch, it helps you push through incremental damage over the course of a couple turns and apply significant pressure on the opponent.
Centaur Garden - In an effort to stuff as much possible value in the deck as we can, we take a page out of Dredge's book. In my experience I find it is actually relatively difficult to accumulate 7 cards in your graveyard to activate the Garden, but it has also been integral for a couple grindy wins, so overall I have been pleased with it.
Other Spells:
Crop Rotation - This card has always been decent for me, but never insane. It offers you some Wasteland protection, it helps you get Threshold for Centaur Garden, it shuffles post-Brainstorm, and can tutor for an Inkmoth when in need. It's important to remember with Crop Rotation that you sacrifice the land before putting the spell on the stack so counterspells REALLY ruin your day!
Brainstorm - We're a blue combo deck with 7 fetch lands and Crop Rotation, obv playing best card in Legacy
Ponder - Like Brainstorm, we just want to find combo pieces and get there
Gitaxian Probe - Every combo player's best friend! This simply leaves nothing to the imagination and allow you to sculpt your game plan based on what they have.
Daze - A common mistake people make when building combo decks is to not have enough interaction with the opponent. That's why Belcher has never won anything and probably never will. We too are trying to ignore the opponent as much as possible, but Daze is simply to good to not have. Dazing your opponent's game plan, be it a Tarmogoyf or Jace is sweet, but Daze will also help you push pump spells through your opponent's disruption.
Vines of Vastwood - The primary responsibility of this card is to make a creature Hexproof and save it from a Swords to Plowshares/Abrupt Decay. The kicker is just gravy, but essential to remember. In the final game of the 8 man I was down to just a Vines in Hand because he had a Liliana of the Veil. He was at 1 Infect and I had a Blighted Agent in play. I topdecked a second Vines and was able to kick two of them to get in for the game!
Lands:
I decided that I really didn't want to have any basic lands in the deck because I felt there simply wasn't space or need. Usually people will try to save their Wastelands for your Inkmoth Nexus, which allow us to cast our cantrips and ignore the Waste.
Sideboard:
Tormod's Crypt - because Dredge is a bitch
Chain of Vapor - This is designed to be a catch-all for cards like Moat, Umezawa's Jitte, and other random goodies.Simple and straightforward, but I have been very pleased with it
Tezzeret's Gambit - This isn't tested, but it feels decent in theory. Basically I want to answer Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach by ignoring them, recouping my hand, and then just killing them anyways. I played Leyline of Sanctity in the 8-man, but never wanted to bring it in.
Force of Will - We have a very low blue count (19 in the main) so Force isn't the most reliable spell however in the matchups we want it, we want it BAD
Ranger's Guile - This is to back up Vines of Vastwood to help grind through a wall of removal. I went with a second Ranger's Guile over a fourth Vines because games with tons of removal are far grindier and we may only have 1 mana, so I want to get the extra point of power when I can.
I have been very pleased with this deck in testing, and reccommend it if you're looking for a combo deck no one is prepared for. Like I said, the decks I beat in the 8 man were Bant, BUG, and Junk all of which pack tons of disruption. Cards I had to fight through include: Swords to Plowshares, Daze, Force of Will, Abrupt Decay, Darkblast, Inquisition of Kozelik, and Liliana of the Veil. I feel this is a perfect sample to show the resiliency and power of the deck, two essential qualities of a good deck for Legacy.
When it comes to playing the deck, I find the best approach is to be slightly conservative. Obviously when your opponent plays a turn 1 Aether Vial off a mountain you can just dump your hand and go all-in, but unless you know exactly what you're up against, there's no need to get blown out. The deck can kill out of nowhere so feel free to take the extra turn and make sure you actually have a window of opportunity. In general a turn 1 Noble Hierarch is better than a turn 1 Glistener Elf, and a hand without an infect guy is basically unkeepable.
This has been a very fun deck to play, and I think it may have legs to be a fully competitive deck in the metagame! That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Unbanning Legacy
Hello everyone!
As we approach the time of potential bannings and unbannings, everyone is getting speculative as to what may come or go next. I figured, hey I can play this game too! Looking at the Legacy banned list though, there really aren't many cards that can possibly be unbanned! I think that really speaks to the health of Legacy that there are so many cards and so many answers that it really isn't possible for a deck to be degenerate enough that it simply can't be dealt with! Here is the current Legacy banned list. Of the 60 cards that are on the banned list, 9 are ante cards (back in the day, magic was played with your friends for ante and a couple cards referenced the ante cards). The other 51 cards are all banned for various reasons, and offer a window of insight to what types of effects are overpowered in Magic.
Tutors (9):
One thing that the DCI has been trying to increase in legacy is variance by way of banning tutors. The most recent examples of this in 2010 was the bannings of Survival of the Fittest and Mystical Tutor. The tutors on the list include:
Demonic Consultation
Demonic Tutor
Goblin Recruiter - This card would let you stack your entire deck, which with Ringleader and Food Chain would allow you to go infinite and consistently kill your opponent on turn 3
Imperial Seal
Mystical Tutor - Storm, Reanimator, and other combo decks were terrifyingly consistent with this card
Oath of Druids - A 2 mana one-sided Show and Tell that also tutors for the fatty? Geez!
Survival of the Fittest - A Survival sitting in play for 2 turns by itself lets you tutor all your Vangevines and Rootwallas for an overly consistent 1 card combo deck
Tinker - 3 mana Blightsteel Colossus, go
Vampiric Tutor
Degenerate Card Draw (12):
Having card advantage is a good and healthy thing. However, there are some cards that do it too easily and efficiently, and those are terrifying! The degenerate card draw on the list include:
Ancestral Recall
Bazaar of Baghdad
Frantic Search - Sure, this nets you -1 card, but it also costs 0 mana
Gush - Another 0 mana card draw spell, this one can also save you from Wastelands and can make you "hit every land drop"
Library of Alexandria
Memory Jar
Necropotence
Skullclamp
Timetwister
Wheel of Fortune
Windfall
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Degenerate Mana Production (15):
Mana is the limiting resource in Magic. The entire game is designed around the fact that you can only play 1 land a turn and lands only produce 1 mana each. This is what allows there to be fast beatdown decks using a ton of quick little guys, and control decks that are slower but bigger. When something disturbs this peace too much, the game is broken. The degenerate mana production on the list includes:
Black Lotus
Channel
Earthcraft - Not completely obvious, but in a deck like Elves Earthcraft turns every creature into a haste Llanowar Elves and allows for other infinite combos
Fastbond - Fetchlands + Crucible lets you play every land in your deck, and that's only the beginning
Mana Crypt
Mana Drain
Mana Vault
Mishra's Workshop
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Sol Ring
Tolarian Academy
Other (15):
The last 15 cards on the banned list are made up of cards that are individually too powerful, but can't really be grouped with one another. They offer insights as to what kind of effects are too powerful for print, which kinds of cards will be powerful when looking at new spoilers, and ideas for deckbuilding.
Balance - By playing only artifact permanents before casting Balance, you will make your opponent discard their entire hand and sacrifice all their lands and creatures. I remember I read a Vintage article once where the author was on a mul to 4 and had Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl, Balance, Ancestral Recall on the play. His opponent kept a hand with no Force of Will, and the game was pretty embarrasing from there. In Legacy we have cards like Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and Mox Opal that would help us recreate that scenario.
Black Vise - This card can lead to some brutal blowouts! Turn 1 Ancient Tomb Black Vise, Black Vise will deal your opponent 8 before they take their first turn! If they play something like Land, Sensei's Divining Top, they will take 6 going into turn 2, going down to 6 life.
Chaos Orb - This is banned simply because of how it plays out. This card is not objectively judgable, and causes too many issues in play.
Falling Star - Banned for the same reason as Chaos Orb. Falling Star and Chaos Orb are 2 of 3 banned Vintage cards that aren't related to ante.
Flash - Flashing in Protein Hulk is a combo deck that can win on your opponent's first upkeep when you're on the draw. Even if you didn't get the nuts turn 0 kill, the deck is still a 2 card instant-speed combo for only 2 mana which kills immediately. This deck completely ravaged GP Columbus in 2007, and was promptly banned after. In case you are unaware of the combo, you flash in Protein Hulk and let it die, searching your library for 4 Disciple of the Vault and 5+ Shifting Wall/Phyrexian Marauder which instantly kills your opponent!
Hermit Druid - If your deck has no basic lands you can pay 1 mana to mill your entire deck. It's like your entire dredge deck or cephalid breakfast, but just as 1 card.
Mental Misstep - This was only legal in legacy for about 4 months before being banned to no one's surprise. Legacy is a fast format, and this counters every single card in the format, stripping away it's entire identity. GP Mental Misstep (Providence) was insanely slow, and the CFB crew brought a deck whose only win condition was Jace, the Mind Sculptor!
Mind Twist - A couple quick rituals and this can make you lose your entire hand, leading to a terrible 1 sided game.
Mind's Desire - If you could get yourself up to storm 5 or so, Mind's Desire would do all the work for you from there! Sometimes you reveal one Mind's Desire to another and things just go for infinite.
Shahrazad - This is the 3rd non-ante card banned in Vintage. Playing subgames of Magic causes tons of problems, including time. It's hard enough to finish a match in 50 minutes, never mind when there are sub games within those games! (Don't even get me started on when you cast Shahrazad during a sub-game)
Strip Mine - Basic lands are a safe haven in Legacy. The fact that there is almost no basic land hate makes decks like High Tide and Miracles solid choices because they won't get their mana disrupted. Adding Strip Mine will completely ruin this balance.
Time Vault - This + Voltaic Key = take every turn for the rest of the game
Time Walk - With the printing of Temporal Mastery, we have really learned how little of a deal taking an extra turn can be. But that's when you can't control it. When you can control your extra turn, simple turns become devastating blowouts, and there is too much opportunity for something degerate.
Worldgorger Dragon - I mentioned this card in my infinite mana article, in addition to being infinite mana, that combo can create an infinitely repeating game state that immediately result in a draw
Yawgmoth's Will - This card makes storm go from 0 to insanity all by itself. Being able to recurse all of your Lotus Petals, LEDs, even a fetch land makes this simply too good. Turn 1 Swamp, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, LED, Infernal Tutor is 10 storm with Yawgmoth's Will.
Of all the cards on the legacy banned list, I feel there are 2 that are worth considering for an unbanning. Those 2 are Black Vise and Mind Twist. I feel that Black Vise is safer than Mind Twist to happen, but I will present for both:
Black Vise - Yes, having 2 on turn 1 is sweet, but that's not very consistent or likely to happen. Having 1 on turn 1 on the play will deal probably 4 than 3 damage - not bad. However, let's say our opponent mulligans to 6 or 5, then we're dealing 3, 2 or 2, 1. The range of power there is quite dramatic! Now, let's say we're on the draw, that's the same as our opponent mulliganing as far as Black Vise is concerned. Let's Say our opponent keeps their opening 7 and plays Island, Sensei's Divining Top, go. Now you play Ancient Tomb, 2x Black Vise. On your opponent's upkeep they take 2 damage. 4 if that was a ponder instead of a Top. Nice nut draw. Now, lets say they mulligan to 6 on the play, and go Mountain, Aether Vial, go. You can play all 4 Black Vise on turn 1, they're still taking 0. Yes, Black Vise CAN be powerful, but its such an unlikely scenario and such an inconsistent turn 1 that I doubt it will even see play.
Mind Twist - When examining this card I look at Mind Shatter and Hymn to Tourach. Mind Shatter has never been playable, but Hymn to Tourach has been a good card for a very long time. What makes Mind Twist better than Hymn to Tourach is that it can hit more cards when more mana is invested in it. At 4 mana or more Mind Twist gains value. The best way to gain fast mana is Dark Ritual, so we could have an opening such as Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Mind Twist for 4. Ironically enough this hits the same number of cards as if we had 2 Hymn to Tourachs.
Obviously when it comes to discussing potential unbannings, there is always the fear that we may make a terrible mistake and allow a degenerate beast to come back from the pit and ravage constructed. Mind Twist has a lot more potential to be degenerate than Black Vise, but I feel that it may be too slow to be a significant player. Black Vise too is a very powerful card, which may make people become very worried, but as I explained I feel it isn't actually consistent enough to be playable
As for cards that need to be banned? Nothing right now is actually too degenerate. People were saying over the summer that Show and Tell needs to be banned, but that card has hardly been doing anything recently, and it doesn't do too well vs a Duress or Thoughtseize.
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
As we approach the time of potential bannings and unbannings, everyone is getting speculative as to what may come or go next. I figured, hey I can play this game too! Looking at the Legacy banned list though, there really aren't many cards that can possibly be unbanned! I think that really speaks to the health of Legacy that there are so many cards and so many answers that it really isn't possible for a deck to be degenerate enough that it simply can't be dealt with! Here is the current Legacy banned list. Of the 60 cards that are on the banned list, 9 are ante cards (back in the day, magic was played with your friends for ante and a couple cards referenced the ante cards). The other 51 cards are all banned for various reasons, and offer a window of insight to what types of effects are overpowered in Magic.
Tutors (9):
One thing that the DCI has been trying to increase in legacy is variance by way of banning tutors. The most recent examples of this in 2010 was the bannings of Survival of the Fittest and Mystical Tutor. The tutors on the list include:
Demonic Consultation
Demonic Tutor
Goblin Recruiter - This card would let you stack your entire deck, which with Ringleader and Food Chain would allow you to go infinite and consistently kill your opponent on turn 3
Imperial Seal
Mystical Tutor - Storm, Reanimator, and other combo decks were terrifyingly consistent with this card
Oath of Druids - A 2 mana one-sided Show and Tell that also tutors for the fatty? Geez!
Survival of the Fittest - A Survival sitting in play for 2 turns by itself lets you tutor all your Vangevines and Rootwallas for an overly consistent 1 card combo deck
Tinker - 3 mana Blightsteel Colossus, go
Vampiric Tutor
Degenerate Card Draw (12):
Having card advantage is a good and healthy thing. However, there are some cards that do it too easily and efficiently, and those are terrifying! The degenerate card draw on the list include:
Ancestral Recall
Bazaar of Baghdad
Frantic Search - Sure, this nets you -1 card, but it also costs 0 mana
Gush - Another 0 mana card draw spell, this one can also save you from Wastelands and can make you "hit every land drop"
Library of Alexandria
Memory Jar
Necropotence
Skullclamp
Timetwister
Wheel of Fortune
Windfall
Yawgmoth's Bargain
Degenerate Mana Production (15):
Mana is the limiting resource in Magic. The entire game is designed around the fact that you can only play 1 land a turn and lands only produce 1 mana each. This is what allows there to be fast beatdown decks using a ton of quick little guys, and control decks that are slower but bigger. When something disturbs this peace too much, the game is broken. The degenerate mana production on the list includes:
Black Lotus
Channel
Earthcraft - Not completely obvious, but in a deck like Elves Earthcraft turns every creature into a haste Llanowar Elves and allows for other infinite combos
Fastbond - Fetchlands + Crucible lets you play every land in your deck, and that's only the beginning
Mana Crypt
Mana Drain
Mana Vault
Mishra's Workshop
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Sol Ring
Tolarian Academy
Other (15):
The last 15 cards on the banned list are made up of cards that are individually too powerful, but can't really be grouped with one another. They offer insights as to what kind of effects are too powerful for print, which kinds of cards will be powerful when looking at new spoilers, and ideas for deckbuilding.
Balance - By playing only artifact permanents before casting Balance, you will make your opponent discard their entire hand and sacrifice all their lands and creatures. I remember I read a Vintage article once where the author was on a mul to 4 and had Mox Sapphire, Mox Pearl, Balance, Ancestral Recall on the play. His opponent kept a hand with no Force of Will, and the game was pretty embarrasing from there. In Legacy we have cards like Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, and Mox Opal that would help us recreate that scenario.
Black Vise - This card can lead to some brutal blowouts! Turn 1 Ancient Tomb Black Vise, Black Vise will deal your opponent 8 before they take their first turn! If they play something like Land, Sensei's Divining Top, they will take 6 going into turn 2, going down to 6 life.
Chaos Orb - This is banned simply because of how it plays out. This card is not objectively judgable, and causes too many issues in play.
Falling Star - Banned for the same reason as Chaos Orb. Falling Star and Chaos Orb are 2 of 3 banned Vintage cards that aren't related to ante.
Flash - Flashing in Protein Hulk is a combo deck that can win on your opponent's first upkeep when you're on the draw. Even if you didn't get the nuts turn 0 kill, the deck is still a 2 card instant-speed combo for only 2 mana which kills immediately. This deck completely ravaged GP Columbus in 2007, and was promptly banned after. In case you are unaware of the combo, you flash in Protein Hulk and let it die, searching your library for 4 Disciple of the Vault and 5+ Shifting Wall/Phyrexian Marauder which instantly kills your opponent!
Hermit Druid - If your deck has no basic lands you can pay 1 mana to mill your entire deck. It's like your entire dredge deck or cephalid breakfast, but just as 1 card.
Mental Misstep - This was only legal in legacy for about 4 months before being banned to no one's surprise. Legacy is a fast format, and this counters every single card in the format, stripping away it's entire identity. GP Mental Misstep (Providence) was insanely slow, and the CFB crew brought a deck whose only win condition was Jace, the Mind Sculptor!
Mind Twist - A couple quick rituals and this can make you lose your entire hand, leading to a terrible 1 sided game.
Mind's Desire - If you could get yourself up to storm 5 or so, Mind's Desire would do all the work for you from there! Sometimes you reveal one Mind's Desire to another and things just go for infinite.
Shahrazad - This is the 3rd non-ante card banned in Vintage. Playing subgames of Magic causes tons of problems, including time. It's hard enough to finish a match in 50 minutes, never mind when there are sub games within those games! (Don't even get me started on when you cast Shahrazad during a sub-game)
Strip Mine - Basic lands are a safe haven in Legacy. The fact that there is almost no basic land hate makes decks like High Tide and Miracles solid choices because they won't get their mana disrupted. Adding Strip Mine will completely ruin this balance.
Time Vault - This + Voltaic Key = take every turn for the rest of the game
Time Walk - With the printing of Temporal Mastery, we have really learned how little of a deal taking an extra turn can be. But that's when you can't control it. When you can control your extra turn, simple turns become devastating blowouts, and there is too much opportunity for something degerate.
Worldgorger Dragon - I mentioned this card in my infinite mana article, in addition to being infinite mana, that combo can create an infinitely repeating game state that immediately result in a draw
Yawgmoth's Will - This card makes storm go from 0 to insanity all by itself. Being able to recurse all of your Lotus Petals, LEDs, even a fetch land makes this simply too good. Turn 1 Swamp, Lotus Petal, Dark Ritual, LED, Infernal Tutor is 10 storm with Yawgmoth's Will.
Of all the cards on the legacy banned list, I feel there are 2 that are worth considering for an unbanning. Those 2 are Black Vise and Mind Twist. I feel that Black Vise is safer than Mind Twist to happen, but I will present for both:
Black Vise - Yes, having 2 on turn 1 is sweet, but that's not very consistent or likely to happen. Having 1 on turn 1 on the play will deal probably 4 than 3 damage - not bad. However, let's say our opponent mulligans to 6 or 5, then we're dealing 3, 2 or 2, 1. The range of power there is quite dramatic! Now, let's say we're on the draw, that's the same as our opponent mulliganing as far as Black Vise is concerned. Let's Say our opponent keeps their opening 7 and plays Island, Sensei's Divining Top, go. Now you play Ancient Tomb, 2x Black Vise. On your opponent's upkeep they take 2 damage. 4 if that was a ponder instead of a Top. Nice nut draw. Now, lets say they mulligan to 6 on the play, and go Mountain, Aether Vial, go. You can play all 4 Black Vise on turn 1, they're still taking 0. Yes, Black Vise CAN be powerful, but its such an unlikely scenario and such an inconsistent turn 1 that I doubt it will even see play.
Mind Twist - When examining this card I look at Mind Shatter and Hymn to Tourach. Mind Shatter has never been playable, but Hymn to Tourach has been a good card for a very long time. What makes Mind Twist better than Hymn to Tourach is that it can hit more cards when more mana is invested in it. At 4 mana or more Mind Twist gains value. The best way to gain fast mana is Dark Ritual, so we could have an opening such as Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Mind Twist for 4. Ironically enough this hits the same number of cards as if we had 2 Hymn to Tourachs.
Obviously when it comes to discussing potential unbannings, there is always the fear that we may make a terrible mistake and allow a degenerate beast to come back from the pit and ravage constructed. Mind Twist has a lot more potential to be degenerate than Black Vise, but I feel that it may be too slow to be a significant player. Black Vise too is a very powerful card, which may make people become very worried, but as I explained I feel it isn't actually consistent enough to be playable
As for cards that need to be banned? Nothing right now is actually too degenerate. People were saying over the summer that Show and Tell needs to be banned, but that card has hardly been doing anything recently, and it doesn't do too well vs a Duress or Thoughtseize.
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Monday, December 3, 2012
STOP...... Goblins Time!
Hello everyone!
Making updates to an established deck is a very touchy subject, especially when the deck were updating is the historically most significant deck in legacy - Goblins. Goblins has been up and down many roads and colors. I'm not thoroughly literate in goblin history, but here's some flavors I do know:
Onslaught Block Goblins:
This is basically the legacy goblins deck without Goblin Lackey. Piledriver, Warchief, Siege-Gang, Gempalm Incinerator, the works. Easily the most dominant deck in the format, it was a simple if you can't beat them, join them. Patriarch's Bidding make the deck go from 1 to insanity.
Mono-Red:
This version of goblins has a heavy mana denial plan, and is a very straightforward deck. No bells or whistles, but a consistent mana base and a consistent game plan.
Splash Green:
In order to beat artifacts, adding 1 Taiga to the deck allows you to play Tin-Street Hooligan
Splash Black:
Warren Weirding in the maindeck with Perish and Cabal Therapy in the sideboard gives you more game against a wider range of the field.
Splash White:
This version of Goblins came and went very quickly, but the theory is that Thalia would allow you to slow down combo decks enough to kill your opponent with all your pressure. While the green and black versions have been around for a while, the white version came and went very quickly.
Now the only thing missing from this list is a blue splash. A quick search on gatherer shows that there is really no playable blue goblins. Razorfin Hunter is just worse than Goblin Sharpshooter, while Goblin Electromancer and Goblin Flectomancer are quite useless. Force of Will is pretty terrible with no other blue cards, and other non-goblin cards dilute your deck too much for Goblin Ringleader to be effective. So what reason would we want to play blue goblins?
Standstill
Standstill is an interesting card - how can we push our advantage without casting spells? There's a couple ways to do this. In Merfolk Aether Vial can keep your threats coming (when everything costs 2 mana, Aether Vial is gold), while drawing Wastelands and Mutavaults can slow down the opponent and increase your threat density. In landstill decks, usually they will go aggressive with Mishra's Factories until the opponent can't take it any more. In control decks, you may have a planeswalker in play or Deathrite Shaman and slowly gain an advantage. Basically, if you're going to play Standstill in your deck, you have to have a plan.
Sidenote
{
If you want to learn more about how to fight against a Standstill, here is a fantastic piece by AJ Sacher I recommend watching.
}
End Aside
I think Goblins is actually the deck that can best use Standstill. While not a goblin, it is high impact enough that we can mise 1 and lock out a game, but if we never draw it, our game plan is strong enough without it that we're fine. How can we gain an advantage while under a Standstill? Eh, not too many...
Wasteland
Rishaden Port
Goblin Lackey
Aether Vial
Warren Instigator
Gempalm Incinerator
Krenko, Mob Boss
Siege-Gang Commander
Also, we have a deck that beats down very hard and puts a ton of pressure on the opponent very quickly. This creates the perfect storm where Standstill can shine. If we're winning, then we just can't lose. If we're in a stable board state with an effect that can gain us an advantage, then as the turns pass we can crawl ahead. As we pressure our opponent, we force them to do something, which makes us win.
A lot of people don't know how to play through a Standstill, and it can cause a ton of misplays that give free wins. As AJ says, it's like an Ancestral Recall Spliced onto several Time Walks. Against someone who does know how to beat a Standstill, it is either an Ancestral Recall or a couple Time Walks. Man... that's SO terrible....
So how can we make use of blue while not neutering our Ringleaders?
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Warren Instigator
2 Stingscourger
2 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Matron
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
4 AEther Vial
3 Standstill
3 Mountain
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
3 Rishadan Port
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Arid Mesa
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Volcanic Island
Sideboard
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Daze
3 Flusterstorm
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
Making updates to an established deck is a very touchy subject, especially when the deck were updating is the historically most significant deck in legacy - Goblins. Goblins has been up and down many roads and colors. I'm not thoroughly literate in goblin history, but here's some flavors I do know:
Onslaught Block Goblins:
This is basically the legacy goblins deck without Goblin Lackey. Piledriver, Warchief, Siege-Gang, Gempalm Incinerator, the works. Easily the most dominant deck in the format, it was a simple if you can't beat them, join them. Patriarch's Bidding make the deck go from 1 to insanity.
Mono-Red:
This version of goblins has a heavy mana denial plan, and is a very straightforward deck. No bells or whistles, but a consistent mana base and a consistent game plan.
Splash Green:
In order to beat artifacts, adding 1 Taiga to the deck allows you to play Tin-Street Hooligan
Splash Black:
Warren Weirding in the maindeck with Perish and Cabal Therapy in the sideboard gives you more game against a wider range of the field.
Splash White:
This version of Goblins came and went very quickly, but the theory is that Thalia would allow you to slow down combo decks enough to kill your opponent with all your pressure. While the green and black versions have been around for a while, the white version came and went very quickly.
Now the only thing missing from this list is a blue splash. A quick search on gatherer shows that there is really no playable blue goblins. Razorfin Hunter is just worse than Goblin Sharpshooter, while Goblin Electromancer and Goblin Flectomancer are quite useless. Force of Will is pretty terrible with no other blue cards, and other non-goblin cards dilute your deck too much for Goblin Ringleader to be effective. So what reason would we want to play blue goblins?
Standstill
Standstill is an interesting card - how can we push our advantage without casting spells? There's a couple ways to do this. In Merfolk Aether Vial can keep your threats coming (when everything costs 2 mana, Aether Vial is gold), while drawing Wastelands and Mutavaults can slow down the opponent and increase your threat density. In landstill decks, usually they will go aggressive with Mishra's Factories until the opponent can't take it any more. In control decks, you may have a planeswalker in play or Deathrite Shaman and slowly gain an advantage. Basically, if you're going to play Standstill in your deck, you have to have a plan.
Sidenote
{
If you want to learn more about how to fight against a Standstill, here is a fantastic piece by AJ Sacher I recommend watching.
}
End Aside
I think Goblins is actually the deck that can best use Standstill. While not a goblin, it is high impact enough that we can mise 1 and lock out a game, but if we never draw it, our game plan is strong enough without it that we're fine. How can we gain an advantage while under a Standstill? Eh, not too many...
Wasteland
Rishaden Port
Goblin Lackey
Aether Vial
Warren Instigator
Gempalm Incinerator
Krenko, Mob Boss
Siege-Gang Commander
Also, we have a deck that beats down very hard and puts a ton of pressure on the opponent very quickly. This creates the perfect storm where Standstill can shine. If we're winning, then we just can't lose. If we're in a stable board state with an effect that can gain us an advantage, then as the turns pass we can crawl ahead. As we pressure our opponent, we force them to do something, which makes us win.
A lot of people don't know how to play through a Standstill, and it can cause a ton of misplays that give free wins. As AJ says, it's like an Ancestral Recall Spliced onto several Time Walks. Against someone who does know how to beat a Standstill, it is either an Ancestral Recall or a couple Time Walks. Man... that's SO terrible....
So how can we make use of blue while not neutering our Ringleaders?
4 Goblin Lackey
3 Warren Instigator
2 Stingscourger
2 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Matron
4 Gempalm Incinerator
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Siege-Gang Commander
4 AEther Vial
3 Standstill
3 Mountain
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Wasteland
3 Rishadan Port
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Arid Mesa
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Volcanic Island
Sideboard
3 Red Elemental Blast
3 Relic of Progenitus
4 Daze
3 Flusterstorm
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
Yes, this is basically a stock Goblins list, but I feel it's very elegant. A straightforward aggressive deck with Standstill for value. One card that I did not include in this deck is Mutavault. Mutavault is insane in Merfolk because it's a mono-lords deck. Goblins only have Goblin Chieftan, so Mutavault is very unimpressive. It's only mediocre under a standstill. Rishaden Port gives you a lot more action and can help you drag out into the longer game where Ringleader chains do what they have always done - crush your opponent under the sheer weight of card advantage. In the sideboard I decided to include some counterspells that can help the famously dreadful combo matchup. Against combo decks, I usually board:
+4 Daze
+3 Flusterstorm
-3 Standstill
-1 Tuktuk Scrapper
-2 Stingscourger
-1 Gempalm Incinerator
Interestingly enough, removing 4 goblins from our deck hardly makes Ringleader any worse as the goblins we're removing are usually pretty terrible against combo anyways! The one card in the sideboard that I'm not too sure of is Red Elemental Blast. I feel like we're generally pretty good vs blue. The only card that can matter is Terminus, but that's white. I think we're fine vs creatures between Sharpshooter and Gempalm, so I don't think Pyrokinesis is where we want to be either. I want to find something that helps slog through fair decks better (if we were playing green I would recommend Horned Kavu to bounce Ringleader).
Obviously no deck is ever done testing, and soon I will have another update. In fact, I have a lot of minor updates on a lot of decks that I think is worth just piling together in an article together soon. Online, this goblins list has been doing very well for me, and Standstill has absolutely been pulling its weight! Turn 1 Aether Vial, turn 2 Standstill is as fantastic as it sounds! EOT drop in a Goblin Lackey, and you have the stone cold nuts.
That's all I have for today! I know I have hardly been posting recently, but that's because we're getting close to the end of the semester and there's a lot of tests and finals coming up. My time playing magic is basically all online and I have been tuning decks. I think my next piece will chronicle all these changes. Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
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