|
Went red, got a foil chandra, easy 4-0 for six packs. Removal spells were good, needed zero two drop creatures in my deck (my colors didn't have any).
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 00:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 20:37 |
|
|
1st time I went Black and opened good a white support pool so I ended up playing a BW tokens/convoke thing. I went 2-1-1 with a draw and loss in two close matches, one an almost mirror and the other against a sick lifegain/nissa thing. In white I was impressed with the consistency of getting Seraph of the masses out turn 4 or 5 with Raise the alarm/Triplicate Spirits tokens. Convoke felt like playing agro as it was fast and powerful, especially with Selfless Carthas doing some work. In black, Black cat caused people to play around it a lot and was also perfect fodder for sacrificing to Indulgent Tormentor turning mu opponents hopes of an extra card into a discard. I also had a lot of flyers in black and white that performed well. In my 2nd pool I chose green and ended up G/R. Phytotitan's toughness was not a problem when I used Burning Anger to tap him instead of bothering to attack. Rummaging Goblin also was superb for burning through cards to get what I wanted. 2-2 with this less impressive but fun deck and I did get annihilated by that crazy 8/8 blue islandwalk/make your lands islands thing... what ever that was. I had a blast and am looking forward to draft next friday already 
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:09
|
|
|
Jon Loucks, the former Wizards MTGO / R&D guy who has now left the company, did a write up about why he's left Wizards. It sounds like it was a sort of complicated mix of him having personal issues outside Wizards, not jiving well with Wizard's dev cycle, and of course frustration about MTGO that seemed to be driven in part by the previous. e: Here's probably the most interesting sections quote:When you feel like there’s a missing or poorly implemented feature on Magic Online, Wizards probably agrees with you. They would love to give it to you. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, and in ways that I never fully understood, they don’t have the resources to give it to you right now. You can argue that they should be able to give you the features you want, but I promise you that they want to give you those features just as much. quote:I would describe Wizards as “siloed.” Each department is fairly disconnected from the others. There are strict channels of communication, and the departments tend to look out for themselves. There are a lot of documents being “thrown over the wall” to other departments, without a lot of communication. The set spec, at the time, was one of these documents. basically: corporate!! 
Zorak fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Jul 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:10
|
|
|
Picked red as the color. In my packs Red and green had the only good creatures, while black had some decent removal but few and terrible creatures, white and blue were both terrible all around. Ended up picking red green, ramping into huge guys. Went 2-2 winning against black / green (which had Lilliana and Nissa) and another red / green ramp deck, losing to junk flyers (double hornets nest is too good) and red / blue counters + goblins (triple goblin rabble master is ridiculous). Format seems really slow. Fast decks were steamrolling everyone.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:12
|
|
|
Zorak posted:Jon Loucks, the former Wizards MTGO / R&D guy who has now left the company, did a write up about why he's left Wizards. Yeah, I've always had the feeling that the reason MTGO fails to evolve at a decent pace has been because of miles and miles of red tape. Well, lots of things besides that too, but it seems super frustrating to work on it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:29
|
|
|
Zorak posted:Jon Loucks, the former Wizards MTGO / R&D guy who has now left the company, did a write up about why he's left Wizards. MTGO is a successful piece of technology in my opinion. But like all legacy systems, it's missing the bleeding edge UI polish that people assume it should have. And it's not quite what people expect out of a videogame. Jon probably wanted MTGO to compete with the best of the best without understanding how insane the codebase is to extend. It sounds like the guy had good intentions but didn't have the clout to implement his vision.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:34
|
|
|
Went white and picked up green as my second color with a splash of red solely for the soul (which was stupid, I know). loving white removal out the rear end, Devouring Light, Constricting Sliver, and Pillar of Light just kept on giving as the night went on. Warden of the Beyond became a house of bricks. On top of that, I pulled a foil Nissa and so after completely walling out even the most aggressive red decks, I was able to go into the late game and completely step all over most decks. The time I lost was some guy running red blue artifacts. Let me tell you, being hit for 17 in one turn thanks to Scuttle Engine with Shrapnel Blast is pretty rough, life resetting angel or no.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:35
|
|
|
Didn't drop a single game in 5 rounds on the way to a top 8 split with a GR deck with Chandra, the green promo and a pile of 2 and 3 mana 2/1s and 2/2s. My removal suite was a single Lightning Strike and one Cone of Flame, which is pretty absurd in this format.
Rollie the Guar fucked around with this message at 05:24 on Jul 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:43
|
|
|
Standard Ultra Pros really suck. 10+ split over the course of the day (in my deck alone). They're trash. I need to try out drafting. I really enjoyed myself today and a limited format that's a bit less random seems awesome, even if harder. It's also cheaper, only 3 boosters per person right?
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:48
|
|
|
Rinkles posted:Standard Ultra Pros really suck. 10+ split over the course of the day (in my deck alone). They're trash.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 01:52
|
|
|
Went black at the prerelease and chose blue as a second color. Haunted Plate Mail was my MVP, making my every weenie creature into a serious threat. Jubai Murk Lurker tipped a lot of damage races in my favor, and Amphin Pathmage broke through gummed up board states every time he saw play. Took 7th place with a 3-1 record. My prize packs contained Garruk, Nissa, and Chord of Calling 
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:00
|
|
|
Rinkles posted:Standard Ultra Pros really suck. 10+ split over the course of the day (in my deck alone). They're trash. What color? I split blue ones all the loving time and never split any black, green, or red.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:01
|
|
|
kizudarake posted:What color? I split blue ones all the loving time and never split any black, green, or red. Black.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:02
|
|
|
neetengie posted:Also, Use KMC's Hyper Matte's for sleeves. Great stuff. These are pretty much the only sleeves I use and I'm probably more excited than I should be that they just came out with dark green ones.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:18
|
|
|
Hopping Ghost posted:These are pretty much the only sleeves I use and I'm probably more excited than I should be that they just came out with dark green ones.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:26
|
|
|
Went 4-1 at my prelease today. Picked green and ended up going GW with some ridiculous token/Convoke-based deck with Spirit Bonds (which combo'd well with Phytotitan), 2 copies of Triplicate Spirits (which, as others have mentioned, are great to chain off of one another), and some copies of the Runeclaw Bear and that lifegain pegasus. Several times I would have multiple 1/1 spirits out and then drop that +2/+1 to all your creatures Instant or Overwhelm and kill an opponent with 30+ damage out of nowhere. I also pulled a single sliver in the entire sealed pack: Constricting Sliver. Along with two copies of Sliver Hive.  That was a magical experience.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:27
|
|
|
I lost to a guy who beat me with ornithopter & ensoul artifact (and insisted it was the best strategy ever) after I flooded out in two straight games. So salty.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 02:59
|
|
|
3-1 trip report: Soul of Shandalar is really good (it needs to activate exactly once to be the best card in your deck by a lot), cheap attackers and burn spells are still an excellent deck, but unfortunately as Goblin Rabblemaster just wins the game unless removed within a turn I didn't get to go 4-0.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 03:08
|
|
|
Zorak posted:Jon Loucks, the former Wizards MTGO / R&D guy who has now left the company, did a write up about why he's left Wizards. quote:I still feel some guilt about it, though I’m starting to recognize that it wasn’t entirely my fault. It was a tough project to work on. In my time on Magic Online, three other designers had left the team, so I wasn’t the only one.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 03:14
|
|
|
3-0-1 split report. Went B/W picking black. Oppressive rays is indeed oppressive and shut down so many creatures that I would have had problems with. Warden of the beyond is also solid especially if you have any halfway decent auras and/or a way to exile your opponents cards. I used those maggots that exile critters from the graveyard and it worked great. Never saw a single soul in four rounds.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 03:19
|
|
|
Best play at my prerelease today was a guy killing a Siege Dragon by Shrapnel Blasting an Ensoul Artifact'd Hot Soup. Dude dumped a walking pot of soup on a dragon and the soup won.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 03:41
|
|
|
Zonekeeper posted:Best play at my prerelease today was a guy killing a Siege Dragon by Shrapnel Blasting an Ensoul Artifact'd Hot Soup. Dude dumped a walking pot of soup on a dragon and the soup won. To be more specific, he lit a magical bomb underneath a boiling pot of soup, turning it into a molten soup grenade. Then he blew a dragon's head off with it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 03:51
|
|
|
Went 3-0-1, Soul of Theros is not a fair card, but instead sometimes I just beat people down with a pile of two drops. Avacyn is pretty good too, but she's no Soul of Theros.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:20
|
|
|
Went 3-1 my second prerelease. I had a mediocre BW tokens build with Triplicate Spirits and Sound the alarm (I had spirit bonds but never cast it. same with the white promo.) the 3/3 B flyer for 3 mana that deals 3 damage to you is great and so is the 5 mana 4/3 vampire that gains flying 2 life a turn. I got smacked in the face by my friend who ended up winning the whole thing. He had 2 of those rediculus white auras that givs protection from all colors, a Chadra and a Soul of new phrexia. Just couldn't compete with that level of cards.
mcmagic fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Jul 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:26
|
|
|
Zonekeeper posted:Best play at my prerelease today was a guy killing a Siege Dragon by Shrapnel Blasting an Ensoul Artifact'd Hot Soup. Dude dumped a walking pot of soup on a dragon and the soup won. I saw a motherfucker at another table Shrapnel Blast saccing his Doom Engine for 11 to the face to win. It was disgusting.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:35
|
|
|
4-0 trip report (offered to split with 4th round opponent but she was feeling confident  ): Soul of Theros, Scuttling Doom Engine, Illusory Angel, and Military Intelligence/First Response/Raise the Alarm all own. Having 2x Ajani's Pridemate plus incidental lifegain was great because opponents would blow their premium removal out of concern for them getting out of hand, leaving my bombs basically unkillable. I did much better than I was expecting with basically 0 non-bounce/Solemn Offering removal. The white promo angel saved my rear end a lot, although the mirror matches were an awful slog.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:38
|
|
|
Managed to go 4-0-1 split in the first pre-release, picked the red pack got very little removal, but managed to get just enough quality white (2x Triplicate, 2x Sound the Alarm, 1x white paragon), that I was able to run a pretty strong aggro deck. Always nice to be able to get there with a deck running no rares besides the promo, but some of that was probably lucky pairing. Second pre-release was oddly short on people, so only fired with 8. I took a white pack and I went 2-0-1 split. Went G/W, basically weeny creatures & Hornet Queen plus Sunblade Elf to finish people off. One thing that stood out was that, even more than a typical prerelease, everyone looked at their pools and said some variation of "this is awful/my deck is terrible". The person I split with in the first event and I both had the same reaction,, but I guess ours were less terrible. Of course he had Soul of Theros in a life gain-centric deck, so he was probably just being whiny.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:49
|
|
|
Tezzeract posted:It sounds like the guy had good intentions but didn't have the clout to implement his vision. Yeah, it sounded like he came in expecting to be able to identify and solve a ton of problems right away. But with a project that size and that age, there's no way one person is going to just step in and fix everything in any sort of reasonable timeframe, and that frustrated him. Makes a lot of sense that he's moved onto a much smaller team where his ideas can be turned into results much more quickly. Also, this stood out to me: quote:Lastly, can you please stop begging Wizards to “fire the design team” or “fire the programmers”? I was at Wizards longer than most of these people have been in their roles. They’re trying their best, and they’ve been handed the same program as you. So most of the people currently designing and implementing MTGO have been doing so for less than a year. That either implies they've taken steps recently to shake things up and get new people in there, or those jobs just have a high rate of turnover.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:51
|
|
|
UberJew posted:I saw a motherfucker at another table Shrapnel Blast saccing his Doom Engine for 11 to the face to win. It was disgusting. Thanks bub, now I must do it, or it will be done to me. I welcome any sort of Red agression, however.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:52
|
|
|
Nibble posted:Yeah, it sounded like he came in expecting to be able to identify and solve a ton of problems right away. But with a project that size and that age, there's no way one person is going to just step in and fix everything in any sort of reasonable timeframe, and that frustrated him. Makes a lot of sense that he's moved onto a much smaller team where his ideas can be turned into results much more quickly. Given the state of the job market for developers I'm going to guess that people are leaving for offers of twice as much cash, unlimited vacation time, beer in the fridge, stock options, paid trips to conferences, etc. etc.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:53
|
|
|
3-0 split for my Pre-release. Went red, ended up going Gruul. Lots of aggro cards, blah, blah, similar to how everyone elses went it sounds like. Who cares. The person I split with had an insane sealed pull. His first pack was Chord of Calling and Foil Chord of Calling. At one point he chord of call'inged for a Hornet nest and blocked a 5/5 dude.  The real fun was drafting afterwards with prizes.  Ended up with a Simic deck. I loving love Frost Lynx, Quickling and Invasive species. Slowed the game down to a crawl against all my opponents. Favorite play of the night, echoing from my opponents play earlier, Chord of Calling for 7, pulling out a Hornet Queen against a fullboard swing and clearing them out. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 04:57
|
|
|
Went 4-1 at my LGS with red/black. Somehow I ended up with two Goblin Rabblemasters. I'm not sure how that card will end up in constructed, but in limited it's crazy how it keeps pressure up if the opponent can't get rid of it. Also had an Ob Nixilis who basically made people nervous about killing off goblin tokens once he hit the board, and Burning Anger, which is great for many different things including feeding Ob Nixilis to making Typhoid Rats a hilarious creature removal pair.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 05:38
|
|
|
Mercury Crusader posted:Somehow I ended up with two Goblin Rabblemasters. I'm not sure how that card will end up in constructed There's a lot of goblins in standard right now. Could be good, I can see Modern Goblins potentially being A Thing now, at the very least.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 05:54
|
|
|
Went 3-0-1, Splitting the final match because it was late. Went Red and ended up essentially getting the dream R/G Prerelease Sealed pool with 3 Lightning Strikes, Cone of Flame, Soul of Shandalar, Goblin Rabblemaster, Generator Servant, 2 Meteorites and some decent green big dude uncommons to fill out the deck.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 07:16
|
|
|
Does anyone have any experience/advice with Mono-U Devotion/Aggro in Standard? I think it looks really interesting but find it a little intimidating and was wondering if anyone had any advice on piloting it.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 09:08
|
|
|
I wouldn't call Mono U devotion an aggro deck really, although it could be really explosive if you get a few Cloudfins and Judges out early. I would call it almost a tempo deck, just because I run a few maindeck Negates to stop big Planeswalker/kill spell threats. Let them use their removal on your little things, just because you get most of your devotion from things that are harder to remove (Thassa, Bident, Jace) and then grind it out because you will always get better draws through that Jace/Thassa/Bident card draw machine. Then drop a Master when they are spent and swarm through any creatures they have, or wait for your overloaded Cyclonic Rift at the end of their turn.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 09:28
|
|
|
I picked red, put together a 20-creature RW aggro deck, and went 5-1, with my only loss to a WG midrangish deck that had lifegain walls and Ajani. I never got to cast my dragon, so my prerelease rare had no positive impact on my results. (my only other playable rare was that mine-laying goblin, I had a bunch of garbage in my rare slot) Maybe its a small sample size, but red seems absurdly strong to me. The other 4 colors (except white's token makers) look really slow to me, and a good red deck can steamroll everyone. It'll probably even out as people catch on and so many people fight over red that no one gets that deck in drafts, but until then, pick red, force red, and turn your goblins sideways. The creatures in the set are smaller than normal, which makes red's removal and cheap creatures awesome. There are plenty of 3-power efficient red creatures as well. I ran into a pretty decent blue control deck that was trying to hold me off and dig for bombs, but even that deck quickly ran out of gas and melted down from my assault. Northjayhawk fucked around with this message at 10:18 on Jul 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 10:15
|
|
|
GoutPatrol posted:I wouldn't call Mono U devotion an aggro deck really, although it could be really explosive if you get a few Cloudfins and Judges out early. I would call it almost a tempo deck, just because I run a few maindeck Negates to stop big Planeswalker/kill spell threats. Let them use their removal on your little things, just because you get most of your devotion from things that are harder to remove (Thassa, Bident, Jace) and then grind it out because you will always get better draws through that Jace/Thassa/Bident card draw machine. Then drop a Master when they are spent and swarm through any creatures they have, or wait for your overloaded Cyclonic Rift at the end of their turn. Do you have a link to your list? I've seen a few different ways to build it and would love to see a more tempo based list. E: also what do you look for in a solid opening hand?
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 11:03
|
|
|
 Look at this old nerd man, he probably buys his cards with his pension money, along with that rad Spongebob T-shirt. I wonder if he even knows what the colour pie is. Picture taken at the employee prerelease, and he says that it's not the NERF version, and slightly smaller than a to-scale replica. VV: You're right, I misread. His post states it's NOT the NERF version. Fixed. Serperoth fucked around with this message at 15:21 on Jul 13, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 12:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 6, 2024 20:37 |
|
|
Serperoth posted:
I'm pretty sure that that isn't the Nerf version, which'll be smaller. Even Maro isn't that tiny.
|
|
#
?
Jul 13, 2014 12:39
|
|
