On June 03 2017 09:05 TheYango wrote: It would seem Soniv has just discovered how arguing with certain people in the US Politics Thread is a waste of time.
Things I've never cared to confirm firsthand for 1000 Alex.
Red streak finally ended. Was at 9-0, now 11-1. It took a 6-man pod with 3 people in R (turns out passing Magma Spray for Regal Caracal and Start // Finish P1P1 and P1P2 gives your neighbour ideas even if you semi-cut afterwards), and the guy moving in U 'cause noone else is to be rewarded with P2P1 Drake Haven and P2P2 Glyph Keeper, then pack 3 UW land to splash Approach, and a Sniper.
Though in reality my first round opponent mulled to 5 game 2, and my match 3 opponent and I entered a topdeck war two turns before I won. Luck still in full effect. And the UB player won 4 games and had his only loss off flood/screw. Against me he went t1 Ruthless Sniper t3 Drake Haven both games, but it didn't matter 'cause I drew 5-6 spells and 8 lands (I did cast Forsake the Wordly on the Drake Haven in the first game as soon as I untapped, but U Trial+Cartouches with a Seeker of Insight digs pretty fast for Approach).
Despite people lauding RW, I think I prefer RB in this format. It's harder to build, but people aren't trying as hard to force it and it can be very brutal too. Blighted Bats are very decent creatures, B cartouche + Splendid Agony win aggro mirrors. It's harder to get a good deck because you require some specific B cards though. Then again, my BR and RG decks had 2 magma sprays and 2+ inciter/cartouche for busted starts, which wasn't the case here (still had t1 inciter on the play, t2 gust walker, t3 binding mummy to bait a trick but coulda went with spearmaster, t4 emberhorn minotaur, that game was gross and oppressive).
Still, that kinda shows my gripe with the format: it's not that U is abysmally bad, but there are almost no cards that'd pull me toward it, meaning it's rare that it happens early on and then even if I see there's an embarrassment of... well, not riches, but filler cards showing it's open, moving in is still gambling "I'll get whatever U the table opens, but let's pray for a bomb." If the format wasn't aggro enough to make Cartouche of Ambition / Splendid Agony match-up winners by themselves, Black would have a bit of the same issue (especially since good cards in its archetypes aren't necessarily good in others). In the end, whenever I see an UB deck perform it's pretty much "3-4 bombs (think Glyph Keeper or Angler Drake, not necessarily cycling-related ones), a bit of early interaction like bounce or essence scatter, and 10+ cycling cards to dig for the bombs asap and let them carry you." On one hand it's interesting because of how different it plays from other decks (stable, redundant game plan of steady aggression vs cycling a shitton of filler without affecting the board), on the other because it's so different I'm likely to screw up when I end up in it, which is even less incentive since the odds of it being open+decent cards opened so you aren't sitting on a pile, already low to begin with, wouldn't line up for it to happen twice.
The card that puts you in blue is Enigma Drake. UR spells is the actually-good blue archetype in the format, and getting the enablers for the deck isn't actually that hard (particularly since nobody not in the deck wants to touch blue with a 10-ft pole), it's really just the payoffs. If you get basically 2 or more of Enigma Drake, Warfire Javelineer, or Angler Drake, you can move in. Enigma Drake being the easiest since you don't have to take them early--you can just safely take good red cards and move in if it wheels (it usually does). You don't have to gamble on taking blue early, because you only have to move in once the Drake's made it all the way around.
UB isn't nearly as good as UR spells, mostly since B's early interaction isn't as good as R's.
Still, you're talking about a bunch of uncommons, one of them is double-coloured, and the warfire while usually a good card doesn't fit as well in your typical red deck in this format (see Final Reward, usually top tier common, here I take the first Splendid Agony higher). That's asking a lot more than for other colours of even pairs which can rely on commons.
How do you end up running the archetype though? Partly rely on flyers, and mix-and-match instant/sorceries and cycling cards to get the synergies going for your graveyard and to tempo your opponents? I mean, Compelling Argument looks like filler for once in that archetype (since it's a sorcery cycling for a single mana) and Winds of Rebuke's milling clause actually looks better in that archetype than in UW, but it feels like it only adds some upside if you're into that archetype, rather than make you want to be in it when you see these cards.
I'm probably more down on Shimmerscale Drake than I should, though. Whenever I've faced it I've simply been able to handle it with cheaper spells like Shed Weakness, Stinging Shot or Splendid Agony on a block. I guess it's still a card you could want 3-of in your deck despite it costing 5, which is remarkable in this format.
On June 03 2017 09:05 TheYango wrote: It would seem Soniv has just discovered how arguing with certain people in the US Politics Thread is a waste of time.