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GoutPatrol

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Oct 30, 2017
1,691
I'm actually curious about their algorithms for matchmaking. I've spent the last week playing nothing but pure jank (5-color decks, mill, Revel in Riches, Dinos Tribal, basically just the worst semi-reasonable decks I can make) and tanking tons of losses as a result, and I'm still seeing nothing but Izzet Drakes, Mono-Blue, and White Weenies.

Play jank, vs. jank.

Play good decks, vs. good deck.

also it counts rare or something
 

Imperfected

Member
Nov 9, 2017
11,737
It does seem to love mirror matches, which is absolute torture when playing things like Aziz's Mono-Chromatic Black list. I really don't want to see someone who's never even fully read Mastermind's Acquisition trying to run non-Blue Control.

I'm seriously tempted to run nothing but Boros just so I can (hopefully) get opponents who can finish a turn without burning rope.
 

Poppy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
18,268
richmond, va
if you have the chance to play sigarda in limited just play it

feels unbeatable

just stop what you're doing and go green white
 
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Crocodile

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,071
I know I'm super late but nonetheless, congrats Ashodin on becoming a featured streamer!

Dunno why magic manga continue to go the card battle route when theres obvious long story material to be had.

Yeah most of the actual Magic plotlines with the planeswalkers would make great manga if you got the right writers and artists. But I guess it would be too hard to coordinate with the actual card game releases if you start tapping into the plotline while if you do a manga about "kids playing cards" its easier to do whatever you want separate of what's going on in the card game.
 
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,470
"Destroy All Humanity. It Can't Be Regenerated." seems like it's more intended to be a quirky romance, like the creators' other works, that happens to use the early Japanese Magic scene as a backdrop.

BTW, I generally like to keep track of threads that pop up on EtcetEra, and this is one.
 

Boogiepop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,966
So what do you guys think the odds are of Merfolk upgrading from a fringe standard deck to a legitimate tier 1 contender next set, since their colors are up in the next set? Because honestly I've loved the art on them of late, and they have plenty of great cards with solid synergy, but they're just not quite there from what I've seen. I guess the biggest issue is that a single Cleansing Nova or Ritual of Soot will pretty much dismantle them, and to a lesser but still troublesome degree the same is true of Deafening Clarion and Settle the Wreckage. Obviously they'll at least get a consistency boost from the shockland, but this is my first time around with Ravnica, so no idea if this is a stupid question due to what the guild focuses on or whatever.
 

Imperfected

Member
Nov 9, 2017
11,737
Depends on what the Simic mechanic ends up being. If it's something that cares about +1/+1 counters it kind of only hits half the tribe and probably doesn't change that much.
 

Deleted member 16849

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
1,167
I don't think Pirates will get better but the other 3 Ixalan block tribes will get better from the next set even if its just a mana base bump. Merfolk and Dinos left unchecked are very explosive and i think Merfolk will be the one to watch. Pick up your Merfolk card pieces while they are cheap, Deeproot Champion and Deeproot Elite are very cheap now and can potential got up. Even if they turn out to be duds they are that cheap at the moment where you can put some casual deck together.
 

Yeef

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,439
New York
We'll almost certainly get a WB sweeper in the next set. I'm hoping for something like:

1WBB
Sorcery
All creatures get -3/-3 until end of turn. Whenever a creature dies this turn, you gain 1 life.
 

Deleted member 2809

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
25,478
That seems way weak for a 4 CMC wrath (put it next to fumigate for instance) and somewhat redundant with finality ?
 

Yeef

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,439
New York
Finality is 6 mana and in different colors. Fumigate is 5 (and not in standard). Those closest comparisons in Standard would be Golden Demise and Ritual of Soot.
 

Deleted member 2809

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25,478
Soot is mono color 3CMC, demise can be one sided, so imo it's pretty far from that
A 4 mana gold wrath with a small downside should be stronger than this imo.
 
Ravnica Allegiance planeswalker art
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,470
Dtc54bsWwAAMUq2.jpg:small

DtfPClfUwAAdS_U.jpg:small

w8o143ktk2221.jpg


Ravnica Allegiance art, showing Kaya (Ghost Assassin), Domri Rade, and what appears to be a Simic elf. I don't think they're a legend, but maybe a Guildmage.
 

Boogiepop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,966
Hey, so two questions. First off, is there any way to actually reliably look for Ultimate Masters draft events around me outside of contacting all the various stores nearby? Kind of want to try it once for the hell of it with a buddy, but it's been kind of a pain trying to track down.

The other... I'm considering the idea of going after a second Commander deck to go alongside the cats one that I modified for an equipment focus. Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking Merfolk (I want to build SOMETHING with them at least, just no idea what), Allies, or maybe Dinos. Just want something dumb and fun with cards that seem neat. Any thoughts on which to go with, or any other cool options? Main concern is budget honestly, as I don't really want to escape the $100 range. Also... one of the 2 consistent, always around players in my tabletop group plays full on white/black control. Like he nukes the hell out of crap, and 99% of all cards get exiled rather than sent to the graveyard. So that's a thing. (Would also say Angels would be on the table as I LOVE MTG angels, but I already have a friend who plays Gisela... and I'm sure that deck would probably break the budget, too.)
 
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SigmasonicX

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,470
First off, is there any way to actually reliably look for Ultimate Masters draft events around me outside of contacting all the various stores nearby? Kind of want to try it once for the hell of it with a buddy, but it's been kind of a pain trying to track down.
It's on a store by store basis, unfortunately. Wizards does list schedules for stores, but they're often vague or don't get updated.
 

keeblerdrow

Member
Dec 17, 2017
92
Hey, so two questions. First off, is there any way to actually reliably look for Ultimate Masters draft events around me outside of contacting all the various stores nearby? Kind of want to try it once for the hell of it with a buddy, but it's been kind of a pain trying to track down.

I literally only use Facebook for MTG events anymore. All my local stores have a page or their own discussion group and they post their events. I hit interested and then just use FB as my calendar. So check your local stores on FB and see if they've posted their drafts and times.
 
Oct 28, 2017
6,119
Hey, so two questions. First off, is there any way to actually reliably look for Ultimate Masters draft events around me outside of contacting all the various stores nearby? Kind of want to try it once for the hell of it with a buddy, but it's been kind of a pain trying to track down.

The other... I'm considering the idea of going after a second Commander deck to go alongside the cats one that I modified for an equipment focus. Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking Merfolk (I want to build SOMETHING with them at least, just no idea what), Allies, or maybe Dinos. Just want something dumb and fun with cards that seem neat. Any thoughts on which to go with, or any other cool options? Main concern is budget honestly, as I don't really want to escape the $100 range. Also... one of the 2 consistent, always around players in my tabletop group plays full on white/black control. Like he nukes the hell out of crap, and 99% of all cards get exiled rather than sent to the graveyard. So that's a thing. (Would also say Angels would be on the table as I LOVE MTG angels, but I already have a friend who plays Gisela... and I'm sure that deck would probably break the budget, too.)

I don't know the cost, but I've played a friend's Zacama deck and it's super fun for Dino's. I played it at a somewhat competitive table (most decks $700-1200+) and still did okay (though nowhere close to winning). I'd imagine it'd be fantastic at a casual table.
 

Imperfected

Member
Nov 9, 2017
11,737
The other... I'm considering the idea of going after a second Commander deck to go alongside the cats one that I modified for an equipment focus. Just off the top of my head, I'm thinking Merfolk (I want to build SOMETHING with them at least, just no idea what), Allies, or maybe Dinos. Just want something dumb and fun with cards that seem neat. Any thoughts on which to go with, or any other cool options? Main concern is budget honestly, as I don't really want to escape the $100 range. Also... one of the 2 consistent, always around players in my tabletop group plays full on white/black control. Like he nukes the hell out of crap, and 99% of all cards get exiled rather than sent to the graveyard. So that's a thing. (Would also say Angels would be on the table as I LOVE MTG angels, but I already have a friend who plays Gisela... and I'm sure that deck would probably break the budget, too.)

Angels is way more expensive than Dinos, yeah.

I have a friend who plays Dinos (he's played both Zacama and Gishath), and it wins more often than it probably should, mostly because it's a pretty unassuming deck and doesn't tend to present much of a threat until it gets a value engine online. Allies is similar, but honestly it seems like people are better at identifying when it's about to shift gears from "lol that guy's playing allies" to "oh shit all the things"; it's the sort of deck that "gets" people once when they really don't know what it's trying to do, and then probably never again.

I would recommend Elves over Merfolk personally, as Merfolk top out at "trivial" in terms of Commander whereas Elves actually sort of goes somewhere, and they're otherwise virtually identical. Merfolk is more of a Canadian Highlander deck than an EDH deck.

That said, you seem to be sort of fixated on tribal decks, and while I love tribal decks that's a really narrow band to be working in, especially if you're just automatically disqualifying the tribes that have actually been well-represented in Commander products for whatever reason (Vampires, Zombies, Dragons, etc.). You might want to try looking at mechanic-driven decks rather than tribal ones.
 

Boogiepop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,966
Angels is way more expensive than Dinos, yeah.

I have a friend who plays Dinos (he's played both Zacama and Gishath), and it wins more often than it probably should, mostly because it's a pretty unassuming deck and doesn't tend to present much of a threat until it gets a value engine online. Allies is similar, but honestly it seems like people are better at identifying when it's about to shift gears from "lol that guy's playing allies" to "oh shit all the things"; it's the sort of deck that "gets" people once when they really don't know what it's trying to do, and then probably never again.

I would recommend Elves over Merfolk personally, as Merfolk top out at "trivial" in terms of Commander whereas Elves actually sort of goes somewhere, and they're otherwise virtually identical. Merfolk is more of a Canadian Highlander deck than an EDH deck.

That said, you seem to be sort of fixated on tribal decks, and while I love tribal decks that's a really narrow band to be working in, especially if you're just automatically disqualifying the tribes that have actually been well-represented in Commander products for whatever reason (Vampires, Zombies, Dragons, etc.). You might want to try looking at mechanic-driven decks rather than tribal ones.
Ah, thanks for this, and thanks to everyone else who replied too! I'm trying to hit a overlap of cards that seem cool to me/I like aesthetically with budget and of course just not sucking. Zombies aren't really my kind of thing at all, and vampires and dragons are sort of "taken" in my local group (though I may be able to force dragons). Elves is an interesting one I wasn't considering, though. But yeah, definitely open to non-tribal, just less sure of where to approach. I know Storm is a thing, but that feels like the kind of thing that just gets everybody angry at you and sorta ruins the environment from what I hear, and my Cat deck is honestly really actually an equipment deck. But I was out of Magic for so long that... I honestly just don't know what else there is out there. Any suggestions/particularly good ways to look (that'll ideally also make it clear if something is outside of my budget)?
 

Imperfected

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Nov 9, 2017
11,737
I know Storm is a thing, but that feels like the kind of thing that just gets everybody angry at you and sorta ruins the environment from what I hear, and my Cat deck is honestly really actually an equipment deck.

Storm's a deck you probably get to go off with once and then spend the next 5-6 games you play it getting taken out early because it durdles around too long and no one's really buying your "I just didn't draw any action" act anymore, yeah. If I'm playing a creature-heavy deck I tend to just roll over our local Storm player to make him either change decks or at least keep him "honest" (making him play early removal instead of just sitting around until he goes off).

But I was out of Magic for so long that... I honestly just don't know what else there is out there. Any suggestions/particularly good ways to look (that'll ideally also make it clear if something is outside of my budget)?

The easiest way honestly is to just browse potential Commanders (ie, Legendary Creatures) and just ask yourself what kind of deck you might want to build around them. Like, looking at Gonti, Lord of Luxury you just sort of naturally say, "Oh, I could play a deck that's more about playing my opponent's cards, and I'd probably want effects that blink my own creatures." Looking at Muldrotha, you naturally sort of want to trend toward a deck that plays a variety of permanent types and tries to stock the graveyard, etc.

Most decks can be built on a budget if they aren't reliant on a single-block or Commander-only mechanic (Proliferate, Affinity, etc.), and honestly the difference between budget lists and pimped-out decks in Commander is often pretty trivial. If you want decks that are more likely to be cheap to build, you can narrow your focus to just Commanders that have been printed in the last 3-4 years, as those are likely to have enough cards to support their archetype that are still reasonably cheap from being recently-out-of-Standard.

Like, right now Kaladesh and Amonkhet-centric decks are probably going to be pretty cheap to build, if you want to throw together something like Scarab God, Gonti, Neheb, etc.
 

Deleted member 29293

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Nov 1, 2017
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Only now got around to listening to the newest LR and some of those comments regarding the Arena team and their decisions are really frustrating. A lot of wishful thinking and bending of reality to fit their decisions. Explains a lot how some of the bad decisions where able to persist for so long.
 

Bigkrev

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Oct 25, 2017
12,302


People are selling OUT of mtgo
I really wonder how Arena is going to do once standard is not great, and how it's going to be when it's an actual BAD standard format
 

Imperfected

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Nov 9, 2017
11,737


People are selling OUT of mtgo
I really wonder how Arena is going to do once standard is not great, and how it's going to be when it's an actual BAD standard format


Probably fine.

Hearthstone's gone through some pretty trash format shifts. And frankly, I don't think Standard's even that good, it's just a "breath of fresh air" situation after two years of unmitigated Kalatrash.

The bigger concern would be "what if the FTC actually does something about lootboxes?"
 
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Angry Grimace

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,539
So what's the ETA on putting in literally any effort into Arena?

The ladder is still busted, the 5th card problem is still annoying and there's still no actual progression whatsoever even in terms of cosmetic rewards. It's a fucking FTP game that has 12 total avatars and 5 total emotes and the only alternate card art you could even get was the Closed Beta reward Planeswalkers, which you can't get anymore. There is literally no reason those are not in the fucking game. Can't I get at least a unique avatar for getting to Gold on the ladder in limited or constructed? And that's just the low effort stuff - there's no reason why there isn't a higher end tournament with some kind of ladder requirement that has a bigger payout.
 

ZealousD

Community Resettler
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Oct 25, 2017
2,303
Remember when the reception to Arena was overwhelmingly negative and everybody was complaining about how the cards tap?

Good times.
 

ZealousD

Community Resettler
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Oct 25, 2017
2,303
That wasn't a legitimate complaint though, that was just people griping before the game was even out.

Right. I'm just pointing out how all the dumb complaints about the interface and other non-economy related details were all over the place and people were whining that WotC was dumbing down Magic or that new players would start doing 45 degree taps in paper or whatever else nonsense people were complaining about. All that stuff vanished once people actually got their hands on it.
 

Angry Grimace

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,539
Right. I'm just pointing out how all the dumb complaints about the interface and other non-economy related details were all over the place and people were whining that WotC was dumbing down Magic or that new players would start doing 45 degree taps in paper or whatever else nonsense people were complaining about. All that stuff vanished once people actually got their hands on it.
I feel like the lack of any real progression is a legitimate issue though.
 

Angry Grimace

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
11,539
My opponent thinks I'm being a dick for making him play out Kiki-Jiki into Felidar Guardian but it's because I have Settle the Wreckage with Cryptic Command backup and I have four wraths in my deck so I have legit outs
 

Imperfected

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Nov 9, 2017
11,737

I generally agree with his conclusions. The growth in Magic has mostly been in casual Limited (ie, 10 year olds playing Sealed events) and Commander, both of which are kind of anti-competitive formats. I'm routinely the only one at tables I play at who knows or cares even the slightest bit about professional play.

That might shift a bit with Arena refocusing a lot of new players on competitive play, though.
 
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