Magic: The Gathering - Page 396

On June 14 2013 07:19 micronesia wrote:
I watched a draft and the 7 games afterwards. As you mentioned earlier judicator, the thing that throws me is the value of cards within the format. Sometimes he says 'oh this card's great' and I'm thinking 'huh? why?' so by watching a few more hopefully I'll learn more about how 'good' each card is and why. Obviously how good they are depends on the situation.

On June 14 2013 07:19 micronesia wrote:
I watched a draft and the 7 games afterwards. As you mentioned earlier judicator, the thing that throws me is the value of cards within the format. Sometimes he says 'oh this card's great' and I'm thinking 'huh? why?' so by watching a few more hopefully I'll learn more about how 'good' each card is and why. Obviously how good they are depends on the situation.

On June 14 2013 12:11 DarthXX wrote:

Out of curiosity, which cards specifically are you talking about that he thought were good and you didn't understand why

On June 14 2013 12:21 Judicator wrote:
Hysterical Blindness best pick in DKA-ISD-ISD draft.

On June 14 2013 12:44 DarthXX wrote:

I am a bigger fan of fleeting distraction so many blowouts with that card, so many cards drawn ahuehue

On June 14 2013 22:53 Judicator wrote:
Funnily enough Shotcoder, after our little talk I decided to try building RUG, your best card are Acidic Slime and Thoughtflare from the 10 or so matches I played with the deck. Thoughtflare actually does a pretty good job smoothing out your draws so you can dump extra lands out of your hand and dig 4 cards deep which is pretty significant for a RG ramp deck splashing blue. Aetherling is underwhelming in this deck since you have access to Wolf-run. Clone's pretty good main board. Planeswalkers feel like a giant trap, although I think this is where 4-Garruk is his best. My original list included Bonfire but I think Mizzium might be better. Progenitor Mimic is alright and so is Thragtusk.

Overall the deck is "fine", the power is there, but I am essentially trading down in card quality to have access to Wolf-run. I can see where the development path for RUG went. I have very little doubt that people started in RUG control, realized the futility of it with Esper/Bant Run being better, then went into the RUG flash version with Yeva, Avengers, Silverheart to give the deck a lot of play, a lot earlier since they could easily get outcarded and wrathed out of the game.

Back to tweaking Woo's build of Izzet. Realized that I have been playing the Looting all kinds of wrong since my only experience with that card has been with Reanimator, hurray for preconceptions-ruining-play.

On June 15 2013 13:47 micronesia wrote:
I just did a Friday Night Magic. There was a modern masters draft going on simultaneously with my Ravnica Block draft, so there were only 12 participants. I put together what I think is a pretty good deck:

Gates: Izzet, Azorius, Boros

Land: UUUURRRRRWWWWW

White: Riot Control, Azorius Arrester, Hold the Gates, Concordia Pegasus, Assault Griffin, Azorius Justiciar, Seller of Songbirds, Aerial Maneuver

Blue: Runner's Bane, Way of the Thief, Spell Rupture, Isperia's Skywatch

Red: Maze Rusher, Bomber Corps, Furious Resistance, Ember Beast, Batterhorn, Scorchwalker

Multi: Jelenn Sphinx, Judge's Familiar, Skymark Roc, Ordruun Veteran, Frostburn Weird, Dragonshift

Total Cards: 41

I got paired up against my friend in round 1 and beat him 2-0. In the second round I won 2-1, then in the third round I won 2-0, except vs a guy who was 1-1 since there were an odd number of people with 6 points, I think. In round four I was up against the other 9 point player, and lost 2-0 due to him playing very well. However, due to tiebreakers I got third instead of second and there were only prizes for the top two finishers. According to my friend, he felt the level of play was comparable to other nights, even though the pool of players was smaller.

For me the highlight was my first game in round three. Almost all of my creatures were stubbornly sitting in my deck, and I was close to defeat. I started sandbagging lands and acting like I had instant spells prepared for when he attacked me. There were two turns in a row I would have lost if he just swung (I only had one creature out and was low on health), but I was able to fool him (not specifically by saying anything, though) into being more careful, until I got the cards I needed.

On June 15 2013 15:13 DarthXX wrote:

Bolded the cards I am not a fan of.

Riot Control - not maindeckable imo, although this can be a very good sideboard card against certain decks

Hold the Gates - in 99% of situations I would rather have another creature than this thing heh. It's only less bad in decks with lots of gates, and if you are running lots of gates the chances are you have much better things to do than drop this enchantment

Concordia Pegasus - This guy is slightly better in the DGR format but still he is mostly the borderline 23rd card that usually doesn't, make the cut for me. The problem is that a lot of the fliers in this format are 3 power. He does trade with drakewing though so I guess that's a thing occasionally

Runner's Bane - one of those cards that people either love or hate. Personally I'm not a fan of it, but it is very good sideboard tech against aggro decks

Bomber Corp - not a terrible card but not that good,if you can ping a creature off it is nice but mostly it just dies to anything that can block

Furious Resistance - more conditional red version of smite which is already a fairly weak removal spell

Batterhorn - Is slightly better in the DGR format, however he costs a lot but may be decent in the sideboard against opponents with really terrible mana bases that rely heavily on cluestones

Judge's Familiar - 1/1s for 1 in limited are generally terrible and i dont think this is an exception, can be good sometimes if you need an evasive creature for cipher or what not but doesnt look like you have that in this deck

Maze Rusher - I feel he is the weakest of the maze runner cycle but still can be decent, the haste on turn 6 is almost not relevant as it only affects creature that come into play after him, by that point you are probably quite low on cards. However he is still a decent 6 power haster out of nowhere which is sometimes all you need

Just my opinions the other cards are fine imo Skymark Roc is a bamf, won me so many games.

What were your first picks if you can remember?

edit: also dont run more than 40 cards unless you are playing lost in the woods

On June 15 2013 13:47 micronesia wrote:
I just did a Friday Night Magic. There was a modern masters draft going on simultaneously with my Ravnica Block draft, so there were only 12 participants. I put together what I think is a pretty good deck:

Gates: Izzet, Azorius, Boros

Land: UUUURRRRRWWWWW

White: Riot Control, Azorius Arrester, Hold the Gates, Concordia Pegasus, Assault Griffin, Azorius Justiciar, Seller of Songbirds, Aerial Maneuver

Blue: Runner's Bane, Way of the Thief, Spell Rupture, Isperia's Skywatch

Red: Maze Rusher, Bomber Corps, Furious Resistance, Ember Beast, Batterhorn, Scorchwalker

Multi: Jelenn Sphinx, Judge's Familiar, Skymark Roc, Ordruun Veteran, Frostburn Weird, Dragonshift

Total Cards: 41

I got paired up against my friend in round 1 and beat him 2-0. In the second round I won 2-1, then in the third round I won 2-0, except vs a guy who was 1-1 since there were an odd number of people with 6 points, I think. In round four I was up against the other 9 point player, and lost 2-0 due to him playing very well. However, due to tiebreakers I got third instead of second and there were only prizes for the top two finishers. According to my friend, he felt the level of play was comparable to other nights, even though the pool of players was smaller.

For me the highlight was my first game in round three. Almost all of my creatures were stubbornly sitting in my deck, and I was close to defeat. I started sandbagging lands and acting like I had instant spells prepared for when he attacked me. There were two turns in a row I would have lost if he just swung (I only had one creature out and was low on health), but I was able to fool him (not specifically by saying anything, though) into being more careful, until I got the cards I needed.

On June 15 2013 15:31 DEN1ED wrote:
There is no way you shouldnt have been playing the pack rat. 39 swamps and rat is probably as good or better than what you played.

On June 15 2013 15:34 Cel.erity wrote:


You need to place a higher priority on drafting creatures, especially good creatures. You have only 5 substantial threats in that deck, and no good tricks to back them up besides Dragonshift. Mediocre 1/1s and 2/2s, and guys like Ordrunn Veteran do not win games.

Also, in general, you should try to avoid being three colors, but it can be challenging for a new player to read the signals and figure out an appropriate two-color deck. Just try to minimize your third color as much as possible.