|
On April 28 2017 22:56 Thieving Magpie wrote:Show nested quote +On April 27 2017 23:33 WindWolf wrote:
Wasn't the regular ban announcement just a couple of days ago? I know remember why the only constructed format I played was Commander. Ban announced monday, and put in place Monday because Amonkhet released on MODO monday. Copycat gets 40% of the 5-0's in leagues over 48 hours (such sample size, I know) and they do an emergency ban on cat instead of saheeli because... reasons?
Forgot to mention but I have only loosely kept up with what is going on in Magic as of late.
However, my point was that I don't see a reason to buy into a "proper" constructed format in Magic when Wizards is so happy to ban cards out of the blue and frequently. How do I know that what I buy into day isn't banned tomorrow?
|
On April 28 2017 22:56 Thieving Magpie wrote:Show nested quote +On April 27 2017 23:33 WindWolf wrote:
Wasn't the regular ban announcement just a couple of days ago? I know remember why the only constructed format I played was Commander. Ban announced monday, and put in place Monday because Amonkhet released on MODO monday. Copycat gets 40% of the 5-0's in leagues over 48 hours (such sample size, I know) and they do an emergency ban on cat instead of saheeli because... reasons?
Banning an uncommon is less painful and the cat is the main enabler of the combo. Saheeli was almost useless pre AER. Standard is still gonna be dumb and being in such a weird place without a good control deck to keep the other decks in check.
EDH ,modern and kitchen table are still the places to hide in.
|
On April 28 2017 23:17 WindWolf wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2017 22:56 Thieving Magpie wrote:On April 27 2017 23:33 WindWolf wrote:
Wasn't the regular ban announcement just a couple of days ago? I know remember why the only constructed format I played was Commander. Ban announced monday, and put in place Monday because Amonkhet released on MODO monday. Copycat gets 40% of the 5-0's in leagues over 48 hours (such sample size, I know) and they do an emergency ban on cat instead of saheeli because... reasons? Forgot to mention but I have only loosely kept up with what is going on in Magic as of late. However, my point was that I don't see a reason to buy into a "proper" constructed format in Magic when Wizards is so happy to ban cards out of the blue and frequently. How do I know that what I buy into day isn't banned tomorrow?
Banning Felidar guardian is not an out of the blue banning. Everyone expected it to be banned on the 24th.
|
On April 28 2017 23:17 WindWolf wrote:
Forgot to mention but I have only loosely kept up with what is going on in Magic as of late.
However, my point was that I don't see a reason to buy into a "proper" constructed format in Magic when Wizards is so happy to ban cards out of the blue and frequently. How do I know that what I buy into day isn't banned tomorrow?
Bannings are extremely rare and a last resort for WotC. Prior to the January 2017 banning of Emrakul, Reflector Mage, and Smuggler's Copter, the last banning was in 2011 when Jace the Wallet Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic were banned.
Prior to that, the last one was in 2005 when Affinity got fucked in its shiny robotic ass.
2005 to 2011 is six years. 2011 to 2017 is another six years. That's not something that I would consider "out of the blue and frequently."
|
On May 01 2017 08:09 Eternal Dalek wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2017 23:17 WindWolf wrote:
Forgot to mention but I have only loosely kept up with what is going on in Magic as of late.
However, my point was that I don't see a reason to buy into a "proper" constructed format in Magic when Wizards is so happy to ban cards out of the blue and frequently. How do I know that what I buy into day isn't banned tomorrow? Bannings are extremely rare and a last resort for WotC. Prior to the January 2017 banning of Emrakul, Reflector Mage, and Smuggler's Copter, the last banning was in 2011 when Jace the Wallet Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic were banned. Prior to that, the last one was in 2005 when Affinity got fucked in its shiny robotic ass. 2005 to 2011 is six years. 2011 to 2017 is another six years. That's not something that I would consider "out of the blue and frequently."
The only thing I dislike is not that bannings happened--its the lack of openness in what they look for when banning cards. There's no reason they couldn't have just banned Felidar on Monday (Although, banning Saheeli would have been better) And instead showing that they are willing to ban as a gut reaction to temporary data from 2 days worth of experience.
It shows a trigger finger that wasn't there before--and its a bad precedent
|
On May 01 2017 08:09 Eternal Dalek wrote:Show nested quote +On April 28 2017 23:17 WindWolf wrote:
Forgot to mention but I have only loosely kept up with what is going on in Magic as of late.
However, my point was that I don't see a reason to buy into a "proper" constructed format in Magic when Wizards is so happy to ban cards out of the blue and frequently. How do I know that what I buy into day isn't banned tomorrow? Bannings are extremely rare and a last resort for WotC. Prior to the January 2017 banning of Emrakul, Reflector Mage, and Smuggler's Copter, the last banning was in 2011 when Jace the Wallet Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic were banned. Prior to that, the last one was in 2005 when Affinity got fucked in its shiny robotic ass. 2005 to 2011 is six years. 2011 to 2017 is another six years. That's not something that I would consider "out of the blue and frequently."
It's kinda crazy how few Standard bans there have actually been with how many freaking cards Wizards has put out, lol.
If anyone was legitimately concerned about having pieces of their Standard decks banned and did any amount of research they would very quickly have come to the same conclusion that the vast majority of the casual and competitive and professional players had in AER: Felidar was gonna be banned.
The majority of the time I see someone complain about bans (especially for Standard right now) it's for them to feel justified in not playing whichever format, for not playing Magic at all, or for no longer being able to walk over other players. Kind of like when StarCraft players shout about "this is why I don't play ___ anymore, such a bad game" when they're really just implacable, petulant, need something to point at for their own shortcomings, or what-have-you.
Miracles is a tad different, of course. But, because there are so many viable Modern decks and that the deck was so powerful up until the ban announcement, I don't see the deck falling so hard that it can't be tweaked and still be moderately successful. It could very well, however, be much less fun for the majority of players since it won't be as easy to play or as powerful in the same ways that it has been. + Show Spoiler +I don't feel too bad though, a bunch of the winning players in my area would play Miracles or Foil Jund and never care about much other than dominating other people at the shops, them getting a nerf is so incredibly good for all of the other players around here that even the other (more jovial) Miracles players are happy to experiment without Top or find a new deck or switch to Standard for a while.
On May 01 2017 10:15 Thieving Magpie wrote:
The only thing I dislike is not that bannings happened--its the lack of openness in what they look for when banning cards. There's no reason they couldn't have just banned Felidar on Monday (Although, banning Saheeli would have been better) And instead showing that they are willing to ban as a gut reaction to temporary data from 2 days worth of experience.
It shows a trigger finger that wasn't there before--and its a bad precedent
There is, actually, a reason they didn't ban Felidar on Monday. From Wizards' Addendum:
"Since the initial announcement, for the first time ever, we pre-released a new card set on Magic Online before the formal release date. This happened on Monday. What we expected to take a few weeks to understand has ended up taking two days to form a clear picture of a metagame unbalanced by the Copy Cat combo..."
They changed the way that they released new sets on Magic Online and were unclear about how they should proceed with the way that they do B&R Announcements (which has also been changed). Both of these together mean they have to approach things differently, and since there is a problematic card involved it can't be expected that they do everything perfectly the first time all of stars align. Them making the addendum for Felidar so quickly, to me, shows that they know how to quickly adjust, learn, and solve problems with confidence as a team, not that they have an itchy trigger finger. And, again, most people outside of WotC knew that Cat Combo was a problem, so if anything they're late, not early (though, for reasons they discuss themselves in the Addendum, I agree with them waiting until AKH/now).
|
I'm a Vintage only player so I'll talk about the vintage restrictions here.
Gush and Gitaxian Probe both got restricted.
I completely agree with the Gitaxian Probe restriction. It basically meant any deck could basically play 56 cards and gain intel of everything in your opponents hands, FOR FREE. It made paradoxical storm way too strong as well as Mentor decks.
Gush. Two cards for zero mana in a format with moxes/lotus/ring with the only draw back of returning 2 islands to your hand was broken as hell. It hoses wastelands. It made mentor decks completely broken and could give wins 1-2 turns earlier than any deck could deal with. Definitely needed to be restricted, AGAIN. not sure why they unrestricted it the first time.
Now there is one card they should have hit with a restriction but didn't.
That card is Monastery Mentor. The card goes tall and wide. The fact that mentor tokens get prowess even when mentor isn't in play is BROKEN. It should have been restricted. The jeskai mentor decks would have just replaced the other 3 slots with Young Pyromancer anyway which would still keep the token archetype alive.
Even after the gush/probe restriction, a Monastery Mentor deck still finished 1st place at a 30 person paper vintage event on 4/29/17. WOTC made the wrong call in not restricting mentor and i firmly believe we will see a ton of blue mages still playing the jeskai mentor archetype. Hopefully it won't continue to be 20%-35% of the meta ><
|
Miracles is a tad different, of course. But, because there are so many viable Modern decks and that the deck was so powerful up until the ban announcement, I don't see the deck falling so hard that it can't be tweaked and still be moderately successful. It could very well, however, be much less fun for the majority of players since it won't be as easy to play or as powerful in the same ways that it has been.
But Miracles is a Legacy deck and one of the most difficult decks in the format to play. Top's been banned in Modern since it's inception.
While the concerns with Top are valid, the ban nonetheless belies a lack of perspective on how it might negatively affect the format. Miracles had a fairly important position as a lynchpin keeping together the balance of Legacy as a format, and it's not clear what the health of the format looks like without it.
|
Top was once banned in Extended (the format before Modern) because it was annoying: it caused too many games to go to time and was generally a pain in the ass for players and tourney organizers. It was perfectly balanced; just annoying.
Fast forward to 2017, and Sensei's Divining Top is the key piece of the most powerful control deck in Legacy. Not only is it annoying, but it's overpowered now as well. It was a double whammy that did in the Top. :D
|
On May 01 2017 12:20 TheYango wrote:Show nested quote +Miracles is a tad different, of course. But, because there are so many viable Modern decks and that the deck was so powerful up until the ban announcement, I don't see the deck falling so hard that it can't be tweaked and still be moderately successful. It could very well, however, be much less fun for the majority of players since it won't be as easy to play or as powerful in the same ways that it has been. But Miracles is a Legacy deck and one of the most difficult decks in the format to play. Top's been banned in Modern since it's inception. While the concerns with Top are valid, the ban nonetheless belies a lack of perspective on how it might negatively affect the format. Miracles had a fairly important position as a lynchpin keeping together the balance of Legacy as a format, and it's not clear what the health of the format looks like without it.
Legacy! I meant Legacy! And I meant switch to Modern, not Standard, some Legacy players here are switching to Modern for a while. I'm glad I didn't go on about Miracles in Standard, wow. -___-
Despite my brainfart, I still stand by it being easy to play because of Top, or perhaps I should say extremely convoluted to play without it?
For a Legacy deck it was ridiculously good. Like, absurdly good. If I recall correctly, it had twice the winrate of any other deck on MTGO for quite some time and as I said my personal experience was that it crushed outside of MTGO as well. I don't feel that the bop is going to hurt things, that doesn't make much sense to me. With it melding in further with UW(X) Control, Stoneblade, and Thopters now, or possibly replacing Top with Halimar Depths or Scry effects, I think the format will be fine.
I will say that it feels similar to how Manaless Dredge felt to me as Dredge decks evolved over the years in that the effect is problematic but also very weird and interesting and fun to build a deck around, the deck can't exist in the same way anymore, and seeing that aspect of any Magic format take a hit is sad. Random but kinda related: when Kaladesh was announced I remember there was a lot of oohing at the idea of a "fixed" Senpai's Deducing Gyroscope, maybe someone at WotC will try a little harder to get one into a future set.
|
|
|
I know it's a longshot but, are any vintage players in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area going to the MTG Eternal Weekend Trial in Maryland at Alternate Worlds? It is a sanctioned qualifier for Eternal Weekend, no playtest cards allowed, 1st place gets a 1st round bye at eternal weekend. There are also prizes as well depending on attendance. I'm looking to carpool with someone. I can help pitch in for gas/tolls etc. If you are, please send me a PM. Thanks
|
July to Sept FNM promos
I rather like renegade rallier art. Guess I will buy them on the secondary market. Sept is for the spi.kes with the promo being pushy.
The less said about July the better. Just enjoy summer.
|
How do you guys feel about standard after the pro tour?
I think people will better prepare for RDW at the next GP and more U/R control will appear at the top end
|
Disagree. Mono-red is manageable. It will happen like the zombi breakthrough last pro tour. It's the problem when the pro tour happens right into the beginning of an expansion rather than by the end of it, the aggro decks that want to play their plan are highly favored.
|
Anybody here going to play Ixalan tonight/this weekend? Had a wrench thrown in my plans and couldn't make it, would love to see what other people are getting to build or if any other stores are running a 2-Headed Giant sealed alongside the prerelease.
|
On September 23 2017 12:34 blunderfulguy wrote:
Anybody here going to play Ixalan tonight/this weekend? Had a wrench thrown in my plans and couldn't make it, would love to see what other people are getting to build or if any other stores are running a 2-Headed Giant sealed alongside the prerelease.
I'll be posting a report of my weekend once I'm done as usual so if you're interested check the blogs after Sunday.
|
Going on Sunday, should be fun.
|
Played 2 pods. Pirates are the best tribes imo followed by dino then merfolks then vampires. Flying is good while lifegain is a trap for IXA limited. Best mechanics will be raid > explore > enrage.
3 colours decks are fast enough.If you can force UBR, do it.
|
I feel like life gain overall is a trap for limited as well. Outside of using it to fill in a very good pool of 3+ cmc white green or white black cards with few explorers, I haven't seen anyone really make use of it. Vampires also seem to be used to fill in decks rather than build any tribal or combo deck around in limited.
Dinos and pirates look sweet in any format, in limited it looks like a lot of people are getting to build 3 color decks just swimmingly because of explore and treasure. Speaking of swimming, I saw a list of one of the decks from my lgs they called "Temurfolkasaurs." Yeah. My gosh it looked janky but oddly powerful and super fun.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
