So I am about to start my first Magic Online experience and I have heard horror stories of how awful misclicks can be as well as the fact that the interface seems to be designed for people who are not from Earth. I thought that perhaps a blog taking you through what I encounter might be useful for those who haven't used MTGO and I may even find things that seasoned veterans might want to know about, though that is unlikely. I am going into this with an open mind.
So getting the account was easy. I like that. They give me a free pack. Sweet. It is M12. Not so sweet. But still, I can just get 2 more M12 packs and join a draft queue. It is either that or hope to open Garruk and that is likely not happening. Well, I joined for the increased limited availability. Let us draft!
My packs were all boring. My deck is decent but not full of bombs. I essentially rare drafted instead of taking functional sideboard cards. Hopefully even if I do poorly I will be able to move some of the things I got for tickets to keep drafting. I also grabbed some of the buddy lands. If I do decide to ever actually play on MTGO, they might not be bad to have. Oh! Round One is up. Let me see if I misclick my way through everything. Be right back.
Okay so I won games 1 and 2 against a white green aggro deck. That was kinda cool. 1 pack, in the bag. Now lets see what happens next. I did Paulo and mis mulligan though. oh well. In paper magic, my opponent usually asks me if I want to keep. If I want to keep, I say yes. MTGO asks me if I want to mulligan. This may take some getting used to. We were the last match to finish so I am off to the races again. Wish me luck. Yeah, I know this already happened. Just do it.
So I lost round 2 in what felt like an unwinnable match up. I blame you, readers, for not wishing into the past well enough. Hexproof is pretty good, turns out. I did not pick up a pack, looks like I will not be going infinite off of this. Maybe my rares will get me there but unlikely. I also feel like 17 lands may be too many, which is odd. I was rather flooded for those games.
Round 3, I proceed to not win any die rolls. That I can handle. This deck is starting to feel like the extra card might not be too bad. Maybe I will pick up a pack here. [about 29 minutes go by] This is what raging via blogging looks like. I am annoyed. I did not mess up my mulligan but I do need to put more stops in. Stops pause the game whenever priority shifts, ensuring you have a chance to respond. When you are tapping things down, to ensure that you do not lose, and you foolishly did not have a "Enter Combat" stop placed, you just lose. Womp Womp. That was totally my bad. I'm learning.
So I have a single M12 pack. What should I do with it? Buy more M12 and draft again or just open it? Open it, you say? That will save me from drafting M12 again and I love that idea. Oh look, Throne of Empires. Value. Oh well. Perhaps I will have better luck in Innistrad Swiss.
Alright kids. Instead of step by stepping this one for you, I will instead tell you the things I learned from my first Innistrad Swiss Draft.
Firstly, 15 land plus a Traveler's Amulet is totally enough. MTGO, it would seem, shuffles better than humans do. When it rains, it pours. You will either have too few or too many land. This works well for the present format as you can build a deck that goes: 1 drop, 2 drop, 3 drop, Beat-Beat-Beat and never need more than three land. I feel like that is where you want to be.
Secondly, there is a button upon your keyboard that will save you approximately all the time if you know about it. However, if you do not, be quick clicking through your stops. I actually lost a match due to time out in game three when I was literally about to beat for lethal. This magical button is "F6". No, not the car, snow ski, or plane. Just a button. And when I finally remembered it, my turns went so much more quickly. However at one juncture I became a little "F6" happy and maybe, kinda, just a little bit missed a land drop. Derp.
All in all, MTGO seems like a good resource for those of us who may have to travel and for the Holidays but I cannot imagine giving up paper magic for this. To me, it is comparable to jonesing to play some Skyrim and instead enjoying some sweet Rapala Tournament Fishing. While also a nature simulator, it isn't what you wanted.
Well guys, thanks for reading. Hopefully you learned something besides the fact that I eventually get tired of drawing land after land. You can, as always, contact me via Twitter. If you just can't get enough of what I have to say, when you are done rereading my brilliant blog you can listen to the dulcet tones of my voice in Planeswalker Asylum, a podcast about how awesome we are and occasionally Magic: the Gathering.
Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your lands right on time.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Collecting the Price of Progress
My last article focused on what you should be playing in RDW in Standard. In this article, I intend to take you through my thought process in card selection for the Burn list I played in Kansas City.\
Now the first steps were easy. One mana should equal 3 damage, as much as possible. Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike, and Rift Bolt (Don't forget, you can cast Rift Bolt for 3 if you really have to. It is still 3 damage!) all fit this line of thought. These cards were natural 4 ofs.
Now why not play Shard Volley? One mana. 3 damage. Instant speed. It seems like exactly what the deck wants. However it requires you to sack a land. Given that I am playing Fireblast, this seems fine. It is not. First, this deck frequently doesn't see a second land until turn 3 or 4, which is where you start playing your 2 mana spells and move from winning by a narrow margin to winning like an unstoppable ball of fire. Delaying that by even a turn is not what you want to be doing for 3 damage. All told, the cost is too high.
Keeping with the one mana plan, I took a look at mans that generate the most value, which in my case translated into direct damage. Goblin Guide, Grim Lavamancer, and Figure of Destiny were natural choices. Here is where some actual design began to take place.
Creatures can generate value for my opponents as well. For example, many of my Goblin Guide attacks were met with "in response to the trigger, Brainstorm." I decided that playing a red spell that said "the first time this creature attacks, defending player discards a card and draws a card" was worth 4 slots.
Next I took a long hard look at Grim Lavamancer. Here is where I take a wild leap away from the traditional Red mentality. What I found was, in the deck I wanted to play, Grim Lavamancer did nothing. Maybe it would get in for a total of 3 between an attack phase and an activation. However, with so many decks running around with Stifle and Snapcaster Mage, I could not safely run the Fetch Lands I needed to power the Lavaman, nor could I guarantee an activation with any reasonable reliability. Additionally, the card is a nonbo-anti synergetic-with the Barbarian Rings I wanted to run. The Lavamancer got the Lava Axe (I know, mechanically that makes no sense. Shut up and chuckle at my bad joke.) in the end, with zero spots in the total 75.
If you have actually seen my list, you will be surprised by what comes next. Figure of Destiny was not good enough for the ideal of the deck. You pay one mana for zero damage. That is very bad for a deck entitled Burn. You do get to sink mana into it in the mid game, but honestly if you are in the mid game with a deck like this, you have probably lost or you are slow rolling that Bolt like a champion. Thus the total spots awarded to this fine fellow are zero. Wait. I lied. Due to the urging of a friend of mine, I squeezed in three of these mans at the last minute. I found out two things by doing so. First, I was right. This is not a good card for Burn. Second, it is a ridiculous threat that must be countered or killed as soon as possible. Which meant that the three Figures I played read: "1 Red. Sorcery. Target opponent loses one life and discards two blue cards." (Force of Will). This meant that whenever I needed to resolve any other spell, I could try, knowing they were at least one counterspell down. If Mental Misstep ever becomes unbanned, my first change to this deck will be to cut one mountain for the 4th Figure.
Now I am out of 1 mana ~ 3 damage spells and 1 mana value creatures. Time to move on to the 2 drops. The first 2 mana men I looked at were Keldon Marauders and Stormblood Berserker. Keldon Marauders does two sweet things. First he is 2 mana for a guaranteed 2 damage. This seems like awful value but I can say that more than once, my opponent was at one or two life and could not deal with a Marauder. Additionally, this man has the option to turn into Lava Axe, or to eat a Wild Nacatl or block a Tarmogoyf. I got to stall a goyf for 4 whole turns with this man, playing burn spells like mad, knowing the Keldon had my back.
Now the first steps were easy. One mana should equal 3 damage, as much as possible. Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Lava Spike, and Rift Bolt (Don't forget, you can cast Rift Bolt for 3 if you really have to. It is still 3 damage!) all fit this line of thought. These cards were natural 4 ofs.
Now why not play Shard Volley? One mana. 3 damage. Instant speed. It seems like exactly what the deck wants. However it requires you to sack a land. Given that I am playing Fireblast, this seems fine. It is not. First, this deck frequently doesn't see a second land until turn 3 or 4, which is where you start playing your 2 mana spells and move from winning by a narrow margin to winning like an unstoppable ball of fire. Delaying that by even a turn is not what you want to be doing for 3 damage. All told, the cost is too high.
Keeping with the one mana plan, I took a look at mans that generate the most value, which in my case translated into direct damage. Goblin Guide, Grim Lavamancer, and Figure of Destiny were natural choices. Here is where some actual design began to take place.
Creatures can generate value for my opponents as well. For example, many of my Goblin Guide attacks were met with "in response to the trigger, Brainstorm." I decided that playing a red spell that said "the first time this creature attacks, defending player discards a card and draws a card" was worth 4 slots.
Next I took a long hard look at Grim Lavamancer. Here is where I take a wild leap away from the traditional Red mentality. What I found was, in the deck I wanted to play, Grim Lavamancer did nothing. Maybe it would get in for a total of 3 between an attack phase and an activation. However, with so many decks running around with Stifle and Snapcaster Mage, I could not safely run the Fetch Lands I needed to power the Lavaman, nor could I guarantee an activation with any reasonable reliability. Additionally, the card is a nonbo-anti synergetic-with the Barbarian Rings I wanted to run. The Lavamancer got the Lava Axe (I know, mechanically that makes no sense. Shut up and chuckle at my bad joke.) in the end, with zero spots in the total 75.
If you have actually seen my list, you will be surprised by what comes next. Figure of Destiny was not good enough for the ideal of the deck. You pay one mana for zero damage. That is very bad for a deck entitled Burn. You do get to sink mana into it in the mid game, but honestly if you are in the mid game with a deck like this, you have probably lost or you are slow rolling that Bolt like a champion. Thus the total spots awarded to this fine fellow are zero. Wait. I lied. Due to the urging of a friend of mine, I squeezed in three of these mans at the last minute. I found out two things by doing so. First, I was right. This is not a good card for Burn. Second, it is a ridiculous threat that must be countered or killed as soon as possible. Which meant that the three Figures I played read: "1 Red. Sorcery. Target opponent loses one life and discards two blue cards." (Force of Will). This meant that whenever I needed to resolve any other spell, I could try, knowing they were at least one counterspell down. If Mental Misstep ever becomes unbanned, my first change to this deck will be to cut one mountain for the 4th Figure.
Now I am out of 1 mana ~ 3 damage spells and 1 mana value creatures. Time to move on to the 2 drops. The first 2 mana men I looked at were Keldon Marauders and Stormblood Berserker. Keldon Marauders does two sweet things. First he is 2 mana for a guaranteed 2 damage. This seems like awful value but I can say that more than once, my opponent was at one or two life and could not deal with a Marauder. Additionally, this man has the option to turn into Lava Axe, or to eat a Wild Nacatl or block a Tarmogoyf. I got to stall a goyf for 4 whole turns with this man, playing burn spells like mad, knowing the Keldon had my back.
"Fields can be replanted. Settlements can be rebuilt. Burn it all."
—Latulla, Keldon overseer
Now to Stormblood Berserker. What I noticed about this fellow was that he guaranteed zero damage, similar to the Lavaman that did not make the cut. While he is essentially unblockable in the Legacy metagame, he still has to resolve and live through my next upkeep. This simply wasn't good enough for the deck. So what do I put in its place? A good friend of mine suggested I take a look at a hasty fellow by the name of Hellspark Elemental. I did and I was happy with what I found. This dude usually got in for the full 6 damage, could kill himself against Dredge with their Bridge from Below laden graveyard, and only stole one card from my threshold count if I had to activate Barbarian Ring. This is a sweet man. In the original draft of the list, both the elemental and the marauders were 4 ofs. However eventually I cut one mountain and one of each of those fine men to fit in the abomination that was Figure of Destiny.
Now the fun part of the deck! 3 spells that I absolutely don't ever want to play without.
First was a game winning all star: Fireblast. After playing with the card for probably three rounds, I realized that it had a converted mana cost of 6! Do you know how many 6 drops the typical Counterbalance deck runs? Did you guess the same number as the amount of Grim Lavamancers a good burn deck runs? If so, you were correct! Between that and the ability to put 3 cards in my graveyard to turn on my Rings, the fact that this spell does 4 damage at instant speed is almost unimportant. Except that is 4 damage. At instant speed. SO FAST! Needless to say, this was an auto 4 of.
Next was the decidedly slower version of 4 damage for 2 mana: Flame Rift. Aside from the two games I dropped in the swiss portion, The most damage done to me was from this spell. That means that 4 to you is entirely insignificant. 4 to your opponent, however, brings them to a life threatening 16 life. The fact that it is Sorcery speed is the only complaint I have about this spell. But one more mana for one more damage on Lava Spike seems worthy of 4 slots in any burn deck I intend to build in the near future.
If you don't like sorcery speeds, Sam, why not consider Magma Jet? 2 mana. 2 damage. (Already I am underwhelmed.) Instant speed! And I can scry 2! That seems sweet. Now what do I want to scry to or from? I have two land so I could pitch the lands away, keeping my draws live. However, getting mountain number 3 can keep me in the game after I Fireblast, so rarely do I want to hide those precious resources, especially if someone ever gets a Rishadan Port active against my sparse land count. And I certainly don't want to scry away from burn spells. I could pitch that turn 4 Goblin Guide but in all honesty, in burn, if you must, you can clear the way for your men with all the direct damage and if you don't have to clear the way, drawing a dude is just like drawing a spell. I would rather just wait until my turn to cast Flame Rift. The scry is a useful thing but it doesn't have a place in this deck.
"Target opponent discards 1 or 2 blue cards or loses the game." That is the text on Price of Progress. This card,and you will excuse my subtlety here, is good. I play a mountain and pass against Ian Ellis. He draws his card, plays a swamp and casts Thoughtsieze. In response, I Lightning Bolt him to the face. He looks at me and says "I think I heard about you." then looks at my hand and just stares at the Price sadly, knowing that if he doesn't strip it from my hand it will certainly end game 1 without much trouble. At the Top 8 players meeting, Alex Bertoncini straight up asks me how many Prices I am running. When I reply 4 in the main, he scowls and says "I don't want to play you." The player reactions alone told me that this card is straight up phenomenal. The fact that it, on a regular basis, was 4-8 damage at instant speed for just two mana means that seeing that in my opener or off the top took me to a magical land full of winning whatever game I was playing. Once it was dead against mono blue, which just made finding a spot for 4 Pyroblasts out of the side really easy. I wish I could play 8 of this card but since 4 is the maximum legal number, I settled for 4. Unless legacy vastly changes to mono colored decks or 100% basic land, this card will remain an all star.
You will note that there are no Volcanic Fallouts or Sulfuric Vortexs and here is why. Those spells are just fine. Actually they are both really solid spells. But first, they cost 3 (That is double infinity for this deck), and secondly, The mana to damage ratio is already so finely tuned that you can't cut spells to find a spot in this deck and for 3 mana you certainly cannot cut land either. In the Legacy format, there are simply more efficient spells to be cast.
All told, I ended up with 19 lands, 13 men, 12 instants, and 16 sorceries in my deck. To see the full 75, look here! This deck was probably the most fun thing to play with since I started playing Magic in any competitive sense and I feel I can say, with relative certainty, that I am officially a red mage.
Hopefully those of you who intend to play Burn! this Sunday in Las Vegas will take a gander at this and find some help or inspiration. You can always find me on Twitter and listen to my podcast over on Couch Pirate Radio! Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your mana to damage ratio low.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Red Deck Wins. Seriously.
As some of you may have heard, I took 8th at Star City Kansas City in the Legacy portion of the event. It was pretty exciting for me, as I, as of now, have played 16 games of legacy. Yes, my first time playing Legacy was when I sleeved up the red cards that I had shipped to site-awesome service but more on that later. This post will not actually be about my time at Kansas City but as that time was very influential, I feel like I need to mention a few people that helped shape that event for me.
First, a big shout out to Daniel Dusang, one of my travel companions and fellow blogger. He top 16ed the Standard portion of the event and ended up 22nd in the Legacy Open. I was very impressed by his showing over both days and if we are lucky, he may share some of his tech with us in the coming days. Secondly, I got to meet Gavin Verhey, who is one of the reasons why I am writing this very moment. Thirdly, I got to play against Star City Writer and Pro Gerry Thompson. He is an immensely skilled player and was very cool. He and I actually got a feature match which you can find here. I intend to buy premium just to see what this man has to say and honestly, you might want to as well. Will Craddock took down the first draft open, which is kind of a big deal. And a special thanks is owed to Kyle for convincing me to fit 3 Figure of Destinies into my list, which you can find on the Star City Top 16 deck lists. Those puppies ate the turn one Force of Will just like they were supposed to, clearing the way for a ton of sweet burn. Lastly, but certainly not least, a big shout out goes to Ryan Daly. This young man is a talented player, no doubt, and despite what many people think, Dredge takes no small amount of skill to pilot, as I found out. I hope to see him on the top 16 deck list page more often!
Before I move on to the main event, I must talk about the Star City Ship to Site set-up. It is possibly one of the best things that Star City offers. Having the ability to go to an open and easily acquire your cards is fantastic. I literally had to do next to nothing to get them. The exchange went as follows:
Me: "I have an order to pick up. How do I make this so?"
Helpful Star City Employee: "Show me your I.D. and I can find your order."
Me: *Shows I.D.* "Should be a bunch of red cards."
At this point the man wanders away for about 15 seconds and then returns, my cards in hand.
Helpful Star City Employee: "You had a whole box! Here you go."
It was the most painless process I have had with online ordering as it felt like I essentially called in my order to a Chinese place and showed up a bit later to get it. And they gave me free egg rolls. It was awesome. If you need something you can't find at your local store (because you should support that place where you play, seriously guys) and intend on going to an open any time soon, I highly recommend this!
Now lets get down to some sweet burn spells! I am going to focus on Standard for this entry and then perhaps take a step into Legacy for my next entry.
I faced down a Red deck in Kansas City, round one of Standard. While he took the victory from me, there was one card that he was not playing main deck that I think would have vastly increased his win percentage across the day. This card is Gut Shot.
Gut Shot has about 1 trillion uses. They mostly involve dealing one damage to things, obviously. It takes care of a turn one Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elf, clearing the way for your one drop while slowing the tempo of Wolf-Run Ramp or any Pod list, and making it even harder to find those two mans needed to stop the inevitable march of your Stormblood Berserker. It can also make sure that the Lashwrithe of Mono Black Infect never makes it to any of their 1/1 fliers that wreck your day.
Speaking of that blood crazed man, Gut Shot can be the 1 drop you need to make sure that Stormblood is a thirsty fellow when he enters the battlefield. Going turn one Mountain-Go can lull your opponent into an incredibly false sense of security that can be shattered quickly as they find themselves facing down a 3/3 with an ill equipt hand and an empty board.
Now Red can easily handle everything with Toughness 1-3, but once that rear end hits 4, red gets mighty awkward. Hero of Bladehold can make even the most experienced player sweat when you only have-as red so often does-2 mountains on your side of the field. In the glory days of Lightning Bolt, this was no problem, but now that we are paying two to make 3 damage happen, the free Gut Shot looks a lot better than taking a minimum 7 from a Hero swinging at the face.
As far as red goes, we have no end of things that target, forcing that pesky Phantasmal Image to take a rest in the graveyard. However, pointing an Incinerate at him can feel a tiny bit wasteful, knowing you could send it to your opponents face, making the game vastly more winnable, if it weren't for that silly Image in your way. Gut Shot again comes to the rescue you are now using it as "Pay 2 life: destroy target giant threat" which can be a massive advantage for red in games that can seem entirely unwinnable.
The last reason to be playing Gut Shot is possibly the strongest. Shrine of Burning Rage. I am going to let that sit for a moment. This card grows your shrine at instant speed. For free. Activating Shrine costs 3 mana. That is practically infinity, especially when you want to keep playing things to keep that pressure up and make your opponent feel the burn. Now you can leave that 3 open, not worrying about a huge blow out to artifact destruction, and still maintain an ability to respond to potential threats as they might come up. More importantly is the reach that they give Shrine in the mid game. Having a shrine at 5 and an opponent at 10 makes your opponent feel like they have a few turns to draw an answer. Get in for 3, even if you have to make bad attacks, puts your opponent at 7. Gut Shot drops them to 6 and grows your Shrine to 6. Wait. Those are the same number. And you won another game.
The fact that this card is almost never a disappointing top deck should be a huge indicator that you should be playing it in your monored list. It is a hugely versatile card and it forces your opponent to do nearly impossible guestimations on combat math that make even the most experienced control player very uncomfortable. Gut Shot offers creature control in multiple ways, tricky midgame and combat choices for your opponent, and the ability to kill your opponent out of no where. It is exactly what Red wants in a 1 mana burn spell (that isn't Bolt).
Thanks for reading! You can contact me on Twitter to enjoy more of my wit. If you would prefer to just sit back and listen to the soothing sound of my voice, check out the podcast in which I partake. Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your shipping free!
First, a big shout out to Daniel Dusang, one of my travel companions and fellow blogger. He top 16ed the Standard portion of the event and ended up 22nd in the Legacy Open. I was very impressed by his showing over both days and if we are lucky, he may share some of his tech with us in the coming days. Secondly, I got to meet Gavin Verhey, who is one of the reasons why I am writing this very moment. Thirdly, I got to play against Star City Writer and Pro Gerry Thompson. He is an immensely skilled player and was very cool. He and I actually got a feature match which you can find here. I intend to buy premium just to see what this man has to say and honestly, you might want to as well. Will Craddock took down the first draft open, which is kind of a big deal. And a special thanks is owed to Kyle for convincing me to fit 3 Figure of Destinies into my list, which you can find on the Star City Top 16 deck lists. Those puppies ate the turn one Force of Will just like they were supposed to, clearing the way for a ton of sweet burn. Lastly, but certainly not least, a big shout out goes to Ryan Daly. This young man is a talented player, no doubt, and despite what many people think, Dredge takes no small amount of skill to pilot, as I found out. I hope to see him on the top 16 deck list page more often!
Before I move on to the main event, I must talk about the Star City Ship to Site set-up. It is possibly one of the best things that Star City offers. Having the ability to go to an open and easily acquire your cards is fantastic. I literally had to do next to nothing to get them. The exchange went as follows:
Me: "I have an order to pick up. How do I make this so?"
Helpful Star City Employee: "Show me your I.D. and I can find your order."
Me: *Shows I.D.* "Should be a bunch of red cards."
At this point the man wanders away for about 15 seconds and then returns, my cards in hand.
Helpful Star City Employee: "You had a whole box! Here you go."
It was the most painless process I have had with online ordering as it felt like I essentially called in my order to a Chinese place and showed up a bit later to get it. And they gave me free egg rolls. It was awesome. If you need something you can't find at your local store (because you should support that place where you play, seriously guys) and intend on going to an open any time soon, I highly recommend this!
Now lets get down to some sweet burn spells! I am going to focus on Standard for this entry and then perhaps take a step into Legacy for my next entry.
I faced down a Red deck in Kansas City, round one of Standard. While he took the victory from me, there was one card that he was not playing main deck that I think would have vastly increased his win percentage across the day. This card is Gut Shot.
Gut Shot has about 1 trillion uses. They mostly involve dealing one damage to things, obviously. It takes care of a turn one Birds of Paradise or Llanowar Elf, clearing the way for your one drop while slowing the tempo of Wolf-Run Ramp or any Pod list, and making it even harder to find those two mans needed to stop the inevitable march of your Stormblood Berserker. It can also make sure that the Lashwrithe of Mono Black Infect never makes it to any of their 1/1 fliers that wreck your day.
Speaking of that blood crazed man, Gut Shot can be the 1 drop you need to make sure that Stormblood is a thirsty fellow when he enters the battlefield. Going turn one Mountain-Go can lull your opponent into an incredibly false sense of security that can be shattered quickly as they find themselves facing down a 3/3 with an ill equipt hand and an empty board.
Now Red can easily handle everything with Toughness 1-3, but once that rear end hits 4, red gets mighty awkward. Hero of Bladehold can make even the most experienced player sweat when you only have-as red so often does-2 mountains on your side of the field. In the glory days of Lightning Bolt, this was no problem, but now that we are paying two to make 3 damage happen, the free Gut Shot looks a lot better than taking a minimum 7 from a Hero swinging at the face.
As far as red goes, we have no end of things that target, forcing that pesky Phantasmal Image to take a rest in the graveyard. However, pointing an Incinerate at him can feel a tiny bit wasteful, knowing you could send it to your opponents face, making the game vastly more winnable, if it weren't for that silly Image in your way. Gut Shot again comes to the rescue you are now using it as "Pay 2 life: destroy target giant threat" which can be a massive advantage for red in games that can seem entirely unwinnable.
The last reason to be playing Gut Shot is possibly the strongest. Shrine of Burning Rage. I am going to let that sit for a moment. This card grows your shrine at instant speed. For free. Activating Shrine costs 3 mana. That is practically infinity, especially when you want to keep playing things to keep that pressure up and make your opponent feel the burn. Now you can leave that 3 open, not worrying about a huge blow out to artifact destruction, and still maintain an ability to respond to potential threats as they might come up. More importantly is the reach that they give Shrine in the mid game. Having a shrine at 5 and an opponent at 10 makes your opponent feel like they have a few turns to draw an answer. Get in for 3, even if you have to make bad attacks, puts your opponent at 7. Gut Shot drops them to 6 and grows your Shrine to 6. Wait. Those are the same number. And you won another game.
The fact that this card is almost never a disappointing top deck should be a huge indicator that you should be playing it in your monored list. It is a hugely versatile card and it forces your opponent to do nearly impossible guestimations on combat math that make even the most experienced control player very uncomfortable. Gut Shot offers creature control in multiple ways, tricky midgame and combat choices for your opponent, and the ability to kill your opponent out of no where. It is exactly what Red wants in a 1 mana burn spell (that isn't Bolt).
Thanks for reading! You can contact me on Twitter to enjoy more of my wit. If you would prefer to just sit back and listen to the soothing sound of my voice, check out the podcast in which I partake. Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your shipping free!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
We're not in Kansas anymore. Cause puns and stuff.
By the time this post goes up, I should be somewhere north of my Norman home, on the way to Kansas City to sling some spells. For the past few months I have been behind the wheel of a self made Red list that I am quite comfortable with. That being said, I intend to take a Red deck to the legacy portion of the event Sunday as well. My Standard list for Saturday will be as follows:
Mans: 19
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Stormblood Beserker
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Reckless Waif
Instants: 13
4 Incinerate
4 Gut Shot
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Ancient Grudge
Artifacts: 4
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
Planeswalkers: 1
1 Koth of the Hammer
Lands: 23
4 Rootbound Crag
17 Mountain
Sideboard: 15
3 Blasphemous Act
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Reckless Waif
3 Arc Trail
3 Vulshok Refugee
2 Burn the Impure
As for the Legacy portion of the event, I will be making even more red mana enter my pool and turn into some sweet direct damage with the burn list that follows.
Mans: 12
4 Goblin Guide
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Hellspark Elemental
Instants: 12
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fireblast
4 Price of Progress
Sorcerys: 16
4 Lava Spike
4 Chain Lightning
4 Flame Rift
4 Rift Bolt
Lands: 20
2 Barbarian Ring
18 Mountain
Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Smash to Smithereens
4 Pyroblast
2 Reverberate
We will see how playing mono red works out for two days running. I know I will auto lose to tendrils going off before turn 3. However 4 mind break traps will do nothing for my success so I'm just going to try and push as much damage as possible and get my pyropillars on line. I feel as if my deck should have a surprise element against everything (mostly the players) in Kansas City, so maybe I'll take down some matches.
As a special bonus, you will be getting a review of the Star City deliver to tournament site mechanic, as my entire legacy deck, besides the goblin guides, is "in the mail". Here's hoping I actually get to play some legacy. Next week I will have some evaluations on the Legacy and Standard meta games and an adapted standard list for how to beat those Dungrove Elders.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @samdavisboyhero and I will attempt to live tweet as much of Star City Kansas City as possible! Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your creatures unblocked.
Mans: 19
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Stormblood Beserker
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Reckless Waif
Instants: 13
4 Incinerate
4 Gut Shot
3 Brimstone Volley
2 Ancient Grudge
Artifacts: 4
4 Shrine of Burning Rage
Planeswalkers: 1
1 Koth of the Hammer
Lands: 23
4 Rootbound Crag
17 Mountain
Sideboard: 15
3 Blasphemous Act
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Reckless Waif
3 Arc Trail
3 Vulshok Refugee
2 Burn the Impure
As for the Legacy portion of the event, I will be making even more red mana enter my pool and turn into some sweet direct damage with the burn list that follows.
Mans: 12
4 Goblin Guide
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Hellspark Elemental
Instants: 12
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Fireblast
4 Price of Progress
Sorcerys: 16
4 Lava Spike
4 Chain Lightning
4 Flame Rift
4 Rift Bolt
Lands: 20
2 Barbarian Ring
18 Mountain
Sideboard: 15
3 Tormod's Crypt
3 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Smash to Smithereens
4 Pyroblast
2 Reverberate
We will see how playing mono red works out for two days running. I know I will auto lose to tendrils going off before turn 3. However 4 mind break traps will do nothing for my success so I'm just going to try and push as much damage as possible and get my pyropillars on line. I feel as if my deck should have a surprise element against everything (mostly the players) in Kansas City, so maybe I'll take down some matches.
As a special bonus, you will be getting a review of the Star City deliver to tournament site mechanic, as my entire legacy deck, besides the goblin guides, is "in the mail". Here's hoping I actually get to play some legacy. Next week I will have some evaluations on the Legacy and Standard meta games and an adapted standard list for how to beat those Dungrove Elders.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @samdavisboyhero and I will attempt to live tweet as much of Star City Kansas City as possible! Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your creatures unblocked.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
A Limited View of Limited (Part 1)
Drafting can be one of the best ways to expand your skills as a player for a multitude of reasons. However good experiences come from good practice and you cannot practice things that you don't know about. It is doubtful that those of you reading this are professional Magic players and while I hope you all one day will sit down with 7 other folk and draft at a professional level, I am going to start at the very beginning and talk you through drafting, outlining how good drafting works and pointing out what isn't good drafting.
So you walk in to your local store and pay approximately $15 to participate in a sanctioned draft. Given that it is a local store, there will be between 6 and 30 other people there for any given draft, depending on how strong your Magic community is and how many people in that community like drafting. The draft will start and you will, hopefully, sit around a table with 7 other people, making a pod of 8. Three packs will be set in front of you. If the store owner sees new faces, he or she will likely ask if everyone knows how to draft. Some people will jokingly say no. If you have questions that are not covered in the words above and below, now would be the perfect time to ask said store owner. After that has resolved, he or she will tell everyone to begin.
Now take a moment and look around. How many people are drafting? Is it just your table or is there another pod or two? How many people are actually at your table? What do the people at your table generally like to play? All of these things are important to note. If this is one of your first drafts, I will understand if you don't know the playstyle and colour preference of every player. Instead just check to see how many people are in your pod and if there is another pod.
Now that you know those seemingly insignificant details, you can open your first pack. Look at all the cards in the pack. Pick the card that seems best. If it is one of your first drafts of your life, or of a new set, you will be tempted to auto pick the rare that is worth 5-10 dollars (I have been guilty of this). Don't do it unless you think you will be playing it. It is pack one, pick one. You have a lot more cards to look at. Generally, taking "removal" effects like Doom Blade or Lightning Bolt are good first picks and even though they are commons, don't feel bad about taking them. You likely will not see another.
Place your card in front of you and pass the remaining cards face down to the left in one pile. Don't get these piles mixed up and if at all possible try not to back up packs on a person. Just because you know which one they should be picking up doesn't mean that the person you are passing to knows which stack they should be picking up.
The pile that was just passed from your right will now have one fewer cards, clearly. As a general rule, I like to look at the uncommons in packs first as they, more often than not, determine how reliable and solid your deck will turn out to be. Take a card and pass the pack down. We all learned this in 1st grade so hopefully this concept should be easy to grasp. Oh and you must take one card and only one card. Easy enough.
Try and stay in one or two colours in your first pack if possible. Now if you note that there seem to be a lot fewer good cards of one colour or that there are no cards of that colour (Green), you can likely assume that the people to your right are in that colour. Congratulations! You have just read your first signal. Signaling is an important part of drafting as it allows everyone to build functional decks without stepping on anyone's toes. This creates a better experience for everyone over all.
Now that you have picked the last card from your first pack, take a moment to look at the cards you have been drafting. Things you need to look at are the number of creatures you have compared to the number of good solid spells you have and what the average converted mana cost of your picks is so far. That seems like a lot and for the first several times you draft, it will be. Eventually you will do this almost automatically and note that you seem to have a serious lack of creatures or that somehow you only drafted cards with CMC 4 or above. This will let you know what you need to be looking for in this next pack. Keep in mind that you only have about half a minute to really check this over.
Now you are opening your second pack. For the sake of this article, you open a sweet rare that is in your colours. That is called "packing" a card. It is a good feeling. Savor it. Pass the remainder of the pack to the right this time. I know, I switched it up on you. Pick up the pack being passed from your left. Look it over and pick a card. Do it again. And now you are on pick 4 of pack 2. Suddenly you notice that there are no super solid picks for your deck. However there is a super sweet card in another colour (Green).
Now you will be tempted to "hate draft" that card. Think back to just before the draft. Was there more than one pod? If yes, don't pick that card. Now I know you are thinking "But what if the player to my left takes it then kills me with it?" However you might as well be thinking "What if a player in the other pod has 15 Lightning Bolts?" You cannot control with whom you are being paired to play against and as such, hate drafting loses a lot of its power. Instead take a look at the cards that are in your colours and decide what card, even if you don't intend to place it in your main deck, might benefit you. Take that card instead, pass the pack and check to see if the person to your right smiles or picks a card very quickly. If they do, pat yourself on the back. It means you correctly read that he or she was in Green and you got them a present.
Look over your cards again and see if you now have a more comfortable amount of creatures to spells and if you have corrected your "curve". The idea of the curve can be difficult to grasp. If you can, think of a line graph. Think of how many cards you have costing one. Then 2, 3, ect. If you make a reasonable hill on this graph then you are doing just fine. However if you again note that you still only have very mana intensive cards, Try to correct this with the upcoming pack.
Open up that last pack, pick a card and pass it back to the left. Finish out the selection process and proceed to building your deck. Your deck must be a minimum of 40 cards, including land. I personally do not recommend going over this except in very rare circumstances. I suggest you play 23 cards and 17 land, if you are just starting, or the format is new. Once you know that you really like playing an aggressive deck you can go up to 24 cards and 16 land (because generally aggro decks have a lower converted mana cost and thus will require less land). Similarly if your deck has 18 removal spells and 4 sweet dudes that cost 4-7 mana, I would suggest playing 22 cards and 18 land to ensure that when you want to play your "bomb" you will be able to have removal spell mana available to you as well. However these nuances take time to learn in different formats, even for experienced players.
Now that you have built your deck, you are ready to play some Magic. In the second installment, I will be taking you through some common play mistakes and some secret tech as far as playing and the drafting process. If you can't get enough of me, you can pester me on Twitter or relax and listen to one of our podcasts.
Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your foils flat.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
You have to start somewhere
Hi. I'm Sam. I play, and now write and podcast about, Magic: The Gathering. Under my belt I have only a year of "competitive" play, largely at my local store in Norman, Oklahoma. If you're ever in the area you can find me slinging the spells most Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at Wizard's Asylum. I have managed such hi-jinks as Top 8ing the M12 Gameday while only winning one actual game in the Swiss rounds. However, I feel that there are enough Magic blogs that are chocked full of war stories so I will attempt to spare you most of the details of my actual play and instead focus on hi-lighting decks I want to be playing, and that you, dear reader, may desire to be playing. I also would like to share with you my opinions of sets, individual cards, and the Metagame as a whole.
This being my first post, I want it to be something that is unrelated to the current metagame and a solid post that players both new and old might be able to garner something from. Essentially, everything that follows should be timeless advice that I have collected on my road to being an ever so slightly better player than the person who brought Red/Green Kiln Fiend to the M11 Game Day.
1. Play a deck that fits you.
I know that this seems obvious, and if you missed the Standard that included the Zendikar and Scars of Mirrodin blocks you may not fully understand what exactly I mean, however the easiest way to put this is: if a control deck is dominating the format and you are not a control player, don't play that deck. Play your Tier 2 combo deck or your Tier 1.5 aggro list. Your comfort level with the deck will show through over the course of a long tournament. After 5 rounds of Magic, sitting down with a deck that feels fun and suits you compared to sitting down with a deck that grinds your mind and exhausts you can be the difference of making Day 2 of a tournament or wondering why you bothered to get that extra night at the hotel.
2. Think about your play.
Another seemingly obvious suggestion, two seconds before making plays can make all the difference in the world. When you look at your opening seven, count your cards even if it is a snap keep and think about the first few plays. Before making the obvious play, two seconds to see what else you could do can open up a better line of play. Even before dropping a land, make sure it plays to whatever you could draw the next turn. If you have double white cards you can draw and no turn one play, drop the plains. Next turn you can drop the mountain and play the (1)R dude in your hand without a problem. Rather than drop your mountain and bluff a burn spell then look at your hand in sadness with a superior WW dude off the top of your library.
3. Draft
If you desire to become a better player, go to your local store and spend $15 when you can, and draft. You will find interactions you will never see just looking at the cards in a visual spoiler or even in constructed Magic. Don't confuse these interactions as being constructed playable. Instead just realize that the more you get to think about cards, which draft lends itself to 100%, the better you understand the game of Magic and the better you will become as a player.
4. Losing happens
This can be especially hard to learn. Games you feel like you "should" win and lose because your opponent topdecks their single copy of whatever card blows you out of the game will happen. It will happen more than you feel is statistically likely. You will get land flooded and land lite more than you think you should. It doesn't matter. That is part of the game of Magic. Shuffle up your cards and go to the next game. Next time you sit down across from a player, just remember that anything can happen in your game and you should never be overconfident.
5. Magic is a community.
While this advice does not technically make you a better player, remembering this when you walk into your local store can have a huge impact on your game in the long term. Playing Magic with people you like, traveling to tournaments with people you like, and spending time with people you like makes the Magic experience worth whatever time you invest into it. You will make friends with people at the shop you frequent and they will often have more or different experiences with the game than you will. Listening to them and learning what you can has the potential to make you a better player. You should also remember that people will talk amongst themselves and if you super undercut someone on a trade or seem like you might be cheating in a round, many of the store regulars will know about it. Be a good person and play nice with others. That is the best advice I can give for Magic, and life.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below and check out my next post which should cover the deck I think I should be playing after States, this coming Saturday. You can contact me on Twitter @samdavisboyhero and if you cannot wait until Monday, check out the most recent podcast of Planeswalker's Asylum over on Couch Pirate Radio.
Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your hand full.
This being my first post, I want it to be something that is unrelated to the current metagame and a solid post that players both new and old might be able to garner something from. Essentially, everything that follows should be timeless advice that I have collected on my road to being an ever so slightly better player than the person who brought Red/Green Kiln Fiend to the M11 Game Day.
1. Play a deck that fits you.
I know that this seems obvious, and if you missed the Standard that included the Zendikar and Scars of Mirrodin blocks you may not fully understand what exactly I mean, however the easiest way to put this is: if a control deck is dominating the format and you are not a control player, don't play that deck. Play your Tier 2 combo deck or your Tier 1.5 aggro list. Your comfort level with the deck will show through over the course of a long tournament. After 5 rounds of Magic, sitting down with a deck that feels fun and suits you compared to sitting down with a deck that grinds your mind and exhausts you can be the difference of making Day 2 of a tournament or wondering why you bothered to get that extra night at the hotel.
2. Think about your play.
Another seemingly obvious suggestion, two seconds before making plays can make all the difference in the world. When you look at your opening seven, count your cards even if it is a snap keep and think about the first few plays. Before making the obvious play, two seconds to see what else you could do can open up a better line of play. Even before dropping a land, make sure it plays to whatever you could draw the next turn. If you have double white cards you can draw and no turn one play, drop the plains. Next turn you can drop the mountain and play the (1)R dude in your hand without a problem. Rather than drop your mountain and bluff a burn spell then look at your hand in sadness with a superior WW dude off the top of your library.
3. Draft
If you desire to become a better player, go to your local store and spend $15 when you can, and draft. You will find interactions you will never see just looking at the cards in a visual spoiler or even in constructed Magic. Don't confuse these interactions as being constructed playable. Instead just realize that the more you get to think about cards, which draft lends itself to 100%, the better you understand the game of Magic and the better you will become as a player.
4. Losing happens
This can be especially hard to learn. Games you feel like you "should" win and lose because your opponent topdecks their single copy of whatever card blows you out of the game will happen. It will happen more than you feel is statistically likely. You will get land flooded and land lite more than you think you should. It doesn't matter. That is part of the game of Magic. Shuffle up your cards and go to the next game. Next time you sit down across from a player, just remember that anything can happen in your game and you should never be overconfident.
5. Magic is a community.
While this advice does not technically make you a better player, remembering this when you walk into your local store can have a huge impact on your game in the long term. Playing Magic with people you like, traveling to tournaments with people you like, and spending time with people you like makes the Magic experience worth whatever time you invest into it. You will make friends with people at the shop you frequent and they will often have more or different experiences with the game than you will. Listening to them and learning what you can has the potential to make you a better player. You should also remember that people will talk amongst themselves and if you super undercut someone on a trade or seem like you might be cheating in a round, many of the store regulars will know about it. Be a good person and play nice with others. That is the best advice I can give for Magic, and life.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below and check out my next post which should cover the deck I think I should be playing after States, this coming Saturday. You can contact me on Twitter @samdavisboyhero and if you cannot wait until Monday, check out the most recent podcast of Planeswalker's Asylum over on Couch Pirate Radio.
Until next time, keep your sleeves clean and your hand full.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)