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Post by yugular on Aug 10, 2013 14:09:44 GMT -5
I couldn't do any drafts before this weekend. Format seems slow and lacking 2-drops I want to draft and play...
My one opponent was pretty strange in Swiss queue. Game1 the board is kinda stalled and not much happening, both of us have been hitting land drops etc. I have 17 life and he has 12 life + 6 cards in hand and suddenly concedes at his end step? Game two I play T1 Gladecover Scout and T3 Witchstalker and he snapconcedes.. lol. He was GW aura deck based on what I saw in game1.
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Post by Fan of History on Aug 10, 2013 20:59:14 GMT -5
It is definitely the slowest format in some time.
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Post by yugular on Aug 11, 2013 14:29:54 GMT -5
It is slow. After playing three events and watching some videos my thoughts about the format: 1. Blue is the deepest color, followed by green. 2. Slivers seem to be worth playing only if you can get the "key slivers" early. (Predatory + rares) 3. Rod of Ruin has lots of targets, and seems to be undervalued as I am able to get these as pick 5-6 in swiss queues. 4. Because the format is slow, managing clock is important in some matchups. 5. Cards that add inevitability are more important than in other formats. Make sure you have at least one card that can win the game if it goes long.
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ckangas
Raging Brainstorm
Posts: 69
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Post by ckangas on Aug 12, 2013 9:07:23 GMT -5
I'm hesitant to say green is the second strongest color (bombs, and hence removal seem to be stronger than usual, and G is limited to a poor 4 CC option). I view it on-par with W B & R. I'll gladly agree with the rest however. I'll certainly second that U is the strongest and deepest color.
Concerning slivers, I'll rarely try to force it - even if my first pick lines up. Typically, I try to wait for signals in picks 5-8 in the first pack. You really need 3+ (ideally 5+) pump slivers to makes things work. I've had success with the archetype, but only when you can be reasonably sure you're the only one in it - or at least you're going to have 5+ picks from packs being the only sliver deck. Obviously, predatory slivers are good (and sentinel playable) in non-sliver decks, so the signals can be a tad muddled at times.
I've also won a few matches due to the clock on MTGO. Normally it's only due to disconnects, but you need to watch the time remaining if you're a slow (or ponderous?) player.
Outside evasion, the format is *extremely* slow. This makes bombs (and as a result removal) even better than normal. The sliver subtheme (as well as other cards) makes enchantment based removal such as pacifism and claustrophobia weaker than average. Still, enchantment hate is limited in the format, and the aforementioned cards should be high picks. Cards like grindstone which I would never consider playing under normal circumstances, can actually be decent.
The BR in bread is even more important than usual. Furthermore, cards like divination are quite good, and it can be difficult to build aggressive decks without lots of evasion or combat tricks. It's a durdly world : /.
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dom
Raging Brainstorm
Posts: 59
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Post by dom on Aug 12, 2013 12:36:05 GMT -5
I would agree with most of the statements above. Blue is definitley head and shoulders above every other color. Green is a close second for me, only because of the hight quality of creatures compared to the other colors (no other color's creatures, not even at uncommon, can really successfully tangle with a Rootwalla or a Baloth). I think white is the weakest one by far. Apart from Pacifism, the only high quality commons are aggressive ones (Master of Diversion, Charging Griffin), which are not supported whatsoever in white (your only aggressive two, the backbone of aggro in limited, is the Sliver. Capashen Knight is a joke in aggro). This makes white wanting to beat down but being unable to.
Slivers is no real deck. You can, once in a blue moon, end up with 3x Predatory Sliver and maybe a Battle Sliver or two, but i don't think it's worth it. 3 colour slivers is the worst and does rarely work out. In general, I am certain that you don't want to splash in this format, barring a mono green build with like 2-3 Lay of the Lands (the deck Brian Wong likes to draft).
While I do think it's a slow format (and you want to draw first in most matchups), I love to draft RU aggro. The deck tries to win with Firecats / Condors / Coral Merfolks / Shortcutters, punching them through with Frost Breath / Lightning Talons and Seismic Stomps. I think it's a very strong archetype, especially because most people have found out that the format is so slow, thus they might be unprepared for aggro strategies.
The draftable archetypes for me are:
WU Control WB Enchantments / Lifegain (Niche archetype, but strong if it works) WR Fortify / Hive Stirrings (Not sure, but I'd like to try) WG Aggro (bad deck, but with enough 2 drops it should work)
UB Tempo (Black has the most 2 power 2 drops, which makes it strong with U's tempo cards) (Mono) U Control (either with a R or B splash or 3 colours. Spell.dec / Archaeomancer.dec, maybe with an elixir mixed in. Sam Black's fav. deck) UG Cards (No synergies but strong cards overall. I hate these kinds of decks tho). UR Tempo (The best!! Condors and Firecats.dec)
Mono B (If you get the Tenacious D / Sac Outlet / Dark Prophecy / Corrupt combo, this is one of the strongest decks you can get) BR Sac. (Best synergy deck in the format. Nic their shit and sac it. Very strong deck)
RG Beasts (More like RG cards - Not a lot of synergy but strong after all)
Mono G/x (Howl of the Nightpack.dec with a splash of whatever)
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Post by yugular on Aug 12, 2013 12:55:53 GMT -5
Good stuff! My first 3-0 in this format was this deck:
18 Lands: 12x Island 6x Plains
15 Creatures:
1x Coral Merfolk // Angelic Wall (Merfolk in mb but I sided Wall in almost every game) 1x Tidebinder Mage 1x Auramancer 1x Phantom Warrior 1x Scroll Thief 1x Wall of Frost 1x Griffin Sentinel 3x Charging Griffin 2x Nephalia Seakite 1x Water Servant 1x Air Servant 1x Siege Mastodon
7 Spells: 2x Sensory Deprivation 1x Disperse 1x Essence Scatter 1x Claustrophobia 1x Time Ebb 1x Devout Invocation
Notable sideboard cards: 1x Angelic Wall 1x Solemn Offering 1x Dawnstrike Paladin 1x Frost Breath 1x Negate
Blue wasn't very open since I faced a blue deck in each round and it was hard to get enough playables actually, but I got the cards that I wanted after P1P2 Devout Invocation. I just decided to build around it if I see any white or blue cards that fit. My P1P1 was Nephalia Seakite from very weak pack. I also wasted my P2P1 and P3P1 to Liliana and Lifebane Zombie...
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dom
Raging Brainstorm
Posts: 59
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Post by dom on Aug 12, 2013 14:33:38 GMT -5
that's a solid deck, although I would probably have played the paladin over something, either disperse or auramancer. I didn't like paladin first, but came around liking it quite a bit.
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Post by yugular on Aug 13, 2013 0:18:43 GMT -5
that's a solid deck, although I would probably have played the paladin over something, either disperse or auramancer. I didn't like paladin first, but came around liking it quite a bit. I sideboarded it around with Siege Mastodon when I wasn't playing against green. I just wanted to hedge my bets against green in mb. I really hate the paladin against green decks and generally im just not a fan of the card. Usually it's better than Mastodon, but in Devout Invocation deck I just like the body that Mastodon gives. Disperse was really good because it can buy me time and I actually used it to deal with creatures like Colossal Whale, which is huge tempogain. Auramancer is borderline playable with only three good enchantments, but those enchantments were really crucial for my gameplan and hence I really liked Auramancer. I was able to get Sensory Deprivation back with it quite often. 18 Lands was right decision btw and I am really proud I made it. One of my biggest "problems" in limited is the inability to see if I must play 16/18 lands instead of 17. Servants and Devout Invocation made this decision easy and I am really glad I did it
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Post by jcrodd7776 on Aug 16, 2013 9:48:44 GMT -5
G/W howlpack lock down board with dudes then congregate then howlpack could feel the hate from my opponent through computer screen
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dom
Raging Brainstorm
Posts: 59
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Post by dom on Aug 18, 2013 17:28:54 GMT -5
I have a new favourite deck in the format! Remember hearing about that Sam Black mono blue elixir brew... it is awesome. You can actually never lose a long game ever, and your opponents will start cursing at you after you cast 3 Opportunities, 4 Divination and feelingly 12 Counterspells, eventually decking them by aiming Opportunity at them. It's the most fun i had in a while playing limited. Here's what an average deck could look like:
2 Seacoast Drake 1 Wall of Frost 1 Archaeomancer 1 Nephalia Seakite 1 Messenger Drake 1 Air Servant 2 Armored Cancrix
1 Elixir of Immortality 1 Sensory Deprivation 2 Essence Scatter 1 Negate 3 Cancel 2 Divination 1 Claustrophobia 1 Staff of the 'Blue' Magus 1 Opportunity
22 Island
You want all the Divinations (Over anything), Essence Scatters (take over Claustrophobia after having one and/or a deprivation), and Cancels you can get. Opportunity over anything (best Uncommon in the set) and you should get an Elixir and a Staff everytime because nobody wants them. Creatures are interchangable, take the ones who block good (cancrix is fine - wall of frost and seacoast drake are awesome). You DONT want Time Ebb, Disperse, Frost Breath and Trained Condor. Pair it with Red or Black if needed, White works too. You almost always draw first (you should anyways in this format) except against super aggro (which doesn't really exist in the format).
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ckangas
Raging Brainstorm
Posts: 69
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Post by ckangas on Aug 18, 2013 19:21:36 GMT -5
Slivers is no real deck. You can, once in a blue moon, end up with 3x Predatory Sliver and maybe a Battle Sliver or two, but i don't think it's worth it. 3 colour slivers is the worst and does rarely work out. I've gone slivers four times. Out of those four, I've taken three firsts. One was in a swiss queue, so it doesn't count (as they are substantially easier), but the other two were in 8-4s. The fourth time was a second place in an 8-4. All three times the deck was Naya, so 3-colors (not to suggest 2 colors isn't viable - if you get enough key cards, go right ahead). This is obviously much better than my results with most other archetypes. If you don't have at *least* 4 pump slivers (things like bonescythe and thorncaster), you shouldn't force it; I'm rather adamant that 4 is the minimum, unless you get some excellent removal. Normally, I won't be happy with my deck unless there's at least 5-6. If you just toss a ton of sentinel, blur, hive stirrings, etc. together the deck won't work; it's more about which slivers you have than how many. The lack of evasion on slivers will hurt you too much without sufficient pump or bombs. You'll also want manaweft and additional land-fixing, but it typically goes quite late, so it tends not to be a problem. I've gone P1P1 megantic and ended up not going slivers (and actually, it was a pretty easy call not to try to force it). I've probably hedged slivers twice as often as I've gone into it. Likewise, battle sliver is fine on its own, but it isn't a card I'm likely to pick in the first few selections. Slivers is an archetype that you can't force; you have to read it. It's also one that you must be willing to take a few exploratory picks, that you'll abandon if the signals turn the other way. A turn 6 battle certainly piques my interest, and I'll usually take it just to see what wheels out of the packs. Sentinel or similar slivers that are playable bears are roughly the same at pick 7 - if white appears open I'll often grab it and examine the signals from the rest of the wheels. If you're not seeing sliver uncommons and rares (in naya) go fairly late (picks 4-5), you shouldn't be in the archetype. Furthermore, one battle and three predatories is arguably a "bad" sliver deck - not a "lucky" one. One battle / one other bomb sliver / 3 predatories is probably more common for what you'll end up with if the archetype is open. If it isn't open, or enough people are "hedging", you'll end up with a poor deck. You just need to be in the archtype because it is open, not because a rare lined up with it or because you want to try it out.
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Post by yugular on Sept 7, 2013 2:13:22 GMT -5
For some reason I decided to try 84 queue last night while Finland was facing Spain in football WC-qualifiers. P1P1 Shadowborn Demon from a pack that had 5 awesome blue cards in it. P1P2 very dry pack, only playables were Water Servant and Elvish Mystic pretty much (I will not pick white cards and didn't even look at them). P1P3 Claustrophobia. So all good cards but not a place where you want to be after three picks All need double U/B. Black wasn't flowing so I moved to draft green cards and got p5 & p6 Deadly Recluse P2P1 Howl of the Nightpack vs. Briarpack Alpha. I know most people are tempted to take the creature as my deck wasn't clearly monogreen or even close to it. I still decided to go with the Howl as it's a card that can win a game that goes long and moved to draft cards that support it. I also got Enlarge in P3 which is my another wincon/finisher. R1 against RB. His deck didn't seem too special, weak creatures and few good removal spells. G1 goes long board stall. My Giant Growth allows me to attack and take out what I need to turn the BF into my favor. Howl made me 4 tokens which was enough to win at this time. G2 A race, both players just attack and I'm down with that having Enlarge in my hand. It wins me the game in t6. R2 against UR. His deck was sweet. All the powerful spells like Opportunity, Divination, Shock & 3x Chandras Outrage + Young Pyromancer. G1 Long game, I lose on t18 when he has drawn almost all of his cards. G2 Enlarge to win. G3 I keep a hand that is superb but needs forest. I know his deck is propably better and I need to curve out well and have some luck with me. He demolishes my first forest, but I manage to draw another and lay of the land for third. I deploy all my best threads he has some amount of removal but I play Enlarge and follow it next turn to Howl 3x Wolves into BF. Rod of Ruin finishes him off in t14. Final Round against GW. I didnt see much of his deck, he had Archangel of Thune and nothing else. G1 He gets advocate of the beast + 2 beasts engine going, but I manage to deal with them with disperse and removal. Wall of Frost stabilizes ground and he concedes on t17 for some reason. I was slightly ahead on board... G2 Essence Scatter his Archangel of Thune and eat a guy with Giant Growth. Next turn Enlarge for snap concede So I went 3-0 (2-0;2-1;2-0) with very mediocre deck but my choices in the draft (to abandon black and take Howl over Briarpack Alpha) seemed good in hindsight and I was rewarded. I managed to go long and build lethal board with Howl or just crash opponents with Enlarge because the card is silly! My deck had only 22 playables and maindeck Rod of Ruin & Naturalize for example I still love Rod of Ruin and especially in some matchups (like round two where it killed about 5 creatures), but I must admit that its not a card that should always be in MD. edit: I have drafted M14 6 times: 3-0: 3 times 2-1: 2 times 1-2: 1 time pretty satisfied with that
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Post by yugular on Sept 12, 2013 2:30:08 GMT -5
Anyone else noticed that RW aggro is somekind of a thing now? I have faced this kind of deck in three consecutive events now! It's not a good deck, but if you stumble on mana it will punish. Losing to Lava Axe or two is not fun
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