so i am supposed to write about storm. my playtest mate recently brought a modern pyromancer ascension deck to our playtest night but nobody want to play with him. little update about myself. i been busy flying around and busying myself with my grandpa's passing. i be flying off to australia in 2 weeks time. i missed one of my best friend's jason lau's wedding while i am in brunei and i am going to miss my good sis's wedding while i am in australia. i also missed my taxi-mate and good friend, fish ceyi's wedding due to it being too close to my grandpa's passing. today one of my mac friends,ziwei and his wife to be, qiuru, whom i knew for very long invited me to his wedding. i guess i am going to miss that too because i am going to my playtest mate and good bro jasonnnnnn's wedding. apparently i agreed to be one of his brother but i was caught up with my my grandpa's funeral that i forgot all about it. too busy already. what to do? i always get in this kind of situation, sandwiched.
ok now back to storm. just like my life i been through quite a number of storm. now just let me go through some of the storm deck ive played. firstly i want to put it clear here. STORM IS A DECK NOBODY WANT TO PLAY AGAINST. ITS A SELF MASTURBATE DECK. THE ONLY TESTING YOU NEED TO DO IS WITH YOURSELF. ok now i said this i am going to be under quite a lot of fire, but thats ok i guess... for someone whos played with the ultimate version of the original storm cards. its like im saying i played with the purest most powerful version of jund with punishing fire and bloodbraid elf. for testing purposes if you think you need to play with an opponent to test your deck then you have failed. the objective of this kind of decks is to eliminate interactions. the little the better. so that you can sculpt your hands, charge some mana, draw some cards and cast your spells. theres a term called "goldfishing" coined just for this kind of decks. it means you playing in front of your goldfish at home, against your opponent, the goldfish. because no matter what you do it wont do anything other than passing the turn back to you. LOLX
most of the storm decks play stuffs like tutors, cantrips, rituals, mana rocks, protections such as counterspells/discards and the defining kill spells. so lets jump into my time machine
UW desire, UB desire
back in 2004 my first gp singapore that year i played astral slide but the desire decks were up there in tier 1 so much so that i played trinisphere and gilded light in my sideboard. desire refers to mind's desire a 4UU storm card that sort of says "i win" unless you flip like 6 lands. sapphire medallion, nightscape familiar(UB) and sunscape familiar(UW) makes your blue spells cost 1 less. then you pay U to play things like snap and cloud of faeries. pay 1 to untap 2 lands. snap cloud of faeries and generate some storm and mana to mind desire to draw brain freeze(UW)/tendrils of agony(UB)
intuition tendrils/long/The Perfect Storm(TPS) father of The Extended Perfect Storm
yay vintage. the land of power and dark ritual and ultra powerful tutors. in year 2006 portal, three kingdoms, starter was being made legal to eternal formats. then people broke grim tutor. heehee then i joined vintage, buying into duals and forces. and i joined ns and met my future playtest partners. when playing this deck, the only objective is just to play 9 spells and have 4 mana and tendrils of agony in hand. plays like intuition for 3x dark rituals, or 2x dark rituals and black lotus, or hurkyl's recall all your moxes, lotus and sol ring and mana crypt and mana vault while floating mana and replay all your 0 mana cost artifacts. my favorite is play demonic tutor, sacrifice lion's eye diamond in response to pay for yawgmoth's will, the most powerful card i have ever held in my hands. all of these protected by free counterspells like force of will and the most powerful discard of its time, duress.
dragonstorm
my playtest partner played this. cantrip to sculpt a good hand then rite of flame and seething song to generate mana to cast dragonstorm with 3 storm look for 4x bogardan hellkites to deal 20damage. or just plain old casting a dragon on the end of your opponent's turn and swing for 5. thats a 10 damage swing! remember kids! lotus bloom or ancestral visions cast off suspend is counted as a spell! later technologies include spinerock knoll, a land which lets you cast a card for free when you deal 7 or more damage that same turn. most of the time a dragonstorm, bogardan hellkite or a lethal grapeshot.
arcane storm
basically just keep casting things like fertile ground, wild growth and stuffs like that on forest and then using arcane spells to splice psychic puppetry to generate lots of mana by using 3 mana to untap a forest which taps for 5+ mana. this allows you to draw your deck and play all your spells and kill your opponent with a lethal grapeshot. nothing much after 5 games with my team i dismantled that deck and left it at home. favorite play is to remand my own grapeshot, leaving the stormed copies of grapeshot and cast grapeshot again for lethal
pyromancer ascension
play pyromancer ascension, get it online by playing spells that are already in the graveyard. it sculpts the hand by using spells to draw and discard into the graveyard, things like izzet charm and desperate ravings and/or mill like thought scour.then once online, any sorcery or instant will be copied. more mana will be generated and more cards drawn and more spells played and eventually getting there with a lethal grapeshot. occasionally also getting there with goblin electromancer.
all these decks require lots of practice to pilot well. but they do not require a living player to sit in front of you. once your opponent is tapped out you are free to do whatever thing you want because there isnt any countermagic that cost nothing other than pact of negation and disrupting shoal which are not regularly played in most lists.
finally it is torturous for them to look at you while you go through the motions and combo off. worse still is you spent 10mins to go through a couple of loops and fizzle. fizzle means you failed to get your combo going and lie flat on the beach. with the sun baking you most of the time you wont make it back alive. some decks dont get fizzled easily, some decks fizzle easily but can still make it back alive while some decks wont ever make it back.
well thats all. good luck for everyone not to get paired with a combo deck. continue to struggle!
Monday, September 08, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
lingo team infinity style
hi people. today we have another guest post from one of our top players. it is a brief introduction to the lingos used in our playgroups and perhaps in singapore as well. without further ado, here goes
Hi everyone. Today I will be compiling a list of commonly used lingo in this Team Infinity Glossary. Team Infinity is a Modern playgroup comprising of Wengggg (podmaster), Medic (young pyromancer), Cwwwww (tiago lau), Pssssss (modern newbie) and myself Qsssss (greatness at no cost). Without further ado, let’s move on to the glossary. For every lingo, I will provide an instance where the word/phrase is used.
Grind/Night of the Long Knives
The way most modern matches pan out these days. To grind means to take the game long and hope to win through incremental advantage over your opponent. Most midrange decks today such as Jund, UWR, Tarmo-Twin, Pod are designed to take the game long if need be and such matchups are said to be grindy.
Value
Value refers to the additional benefit one gets out of the card. 4 life from Finks? Value check. 2 life 2/2 wolf, 2 dmg to player and creature from Huntmaster? Extra value check. Snapcaster electrolyze to off 2 mana dorks? Ultimate value. Value cards offer incremental advantage to the player that wields them.
Over the top
Refers to cards that pushes existing cards/decks straight to top tier status. Bloodbraid Elf and Deathrite pushed Jund over the top in modern, which is why they are banned. Ponder and Preordain push storm over the top, which is why they are banned.
Can also refer to cards that make an otherwise stalemate game into an easy win such as SplinterTwin/Exarch combo.
Unmolested
Refers to creatures which are able to stick without being killed. Note that these creatures are usually killed in most circumstances. If creatures such as Dark Confidant, turn 1 birds/hierarch are unmolested, it usually spells bad news for the opponent.
editor's note: also normally means those creatures or permanents that shouldnt see another turn of play. things like deathrite shaman comes into mind.
Whiff
Inquisition or Thoughtseize that fail to make opponents discard a card from their hand. Not a good feeling to whiff.
editor's note: also means if you +1 liliana of the veil and opponents puts an obstinate baloth, loxodon smiter or wiltleaf liege into play
Snap keep
Opening hand that is playable without having second thoughts. Note this could be destroyed with a timely pinpoint discard though.
Trade 1/2/3 for 1
To trade means to use 1 of your card in exchange for 1 or more of your opponent’s resources. The best example of trading 1 for 1 is rock style decks where discard trades for opponent’s threats.
Scoop
Simply means concede. Refers to the action in which a player picks up his card when defeat is imminent.
Struggle
Characterised by one of our team members. Struggle means to hang on to the game even though one might be way behind your opponent in terms of board state, resources etc. Struggling may or may not be futile as the player might be able to eke out a win at times.
Mistake
Another word for misplay.
Under costed
Check Tarmogoyf under Gatherer to find out what this means.
Fatty/fats
Big monsters that can swing the game to your favour. The baseline for fatty has to be x/4 or otherwise bolt proof.
Redundancy
Multiple copies of the same card in your hand. Especially useful when facing pinpoint discard. Especially bad when you do not want the same card in your hand, for e.g. legendary creatures.
Bait
To bait means to lure your opponent to do something prematurely or an act that does not yield him or her any benefits. Throwing out a creature to bait removal, keeping a redundant card in hand to
bait discard are all examples of bait.
editor's note: often accompanied by facial/body expressions. best used with struggling expressions to play dead. professionally its done with tapping your lands. different ways of tapping and untapping your lands could means different things to your opponents so please take note.
Wipe
Short for board wipe. Refers to cards such as Wrath of God, Engineered Explosives and the likes that clear the board of pesky permanents.
Exile
New way of saying remove from game. Immortalised by the namesake card Path to Exile.
editor's note: apparently wizards thinks this will save space on the cardboard itself
Bob/snap
Used as verb, which means to fulfil the ability of Dark Confidant and Snapcaster Mage. These cards are so ubiquitous to our game that we simply use triggered actions as verb.
editor's note: should have separated this two. to bob means to reveal a card and lose life equal to the converted mana cost of the revealed card. to snap means to cast a instant/sorcery card in the graveyard with flashback granted by snapcaster mage
Mull
Short for mulligan.
Mana dorks
Creatures that produce mana and best played on turn 1. Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch are the 2 key mana dorks in the format. Goodbye Deathrite Shaman. You had to go because you are more than a mana dork.
Cantrip
Refers to card that replaces itself. Serum Visions, Wall of Omens are some of the commonly played cantrips in the format.
Thalia
One of our member’s girlfriend is referred to as Thalia because of the “tax” he has to pay in order to play a game of magic with his friends. Taxes vary depending on girlfriend. The word tax refers to the deck Death and Taxes
editor's note: some people have to complete their homework before they can play, some people have to change their schedule here and there in order to play etc etc.
DIAM DIAM la
Created by Eng Giap of GH, now more commonly used by one of our members when he is provoked by taunts from other members. It is a friendly way of saying shut up. Best effect achieved when said with gusto.
Free wins
Kiki and Resto, Twin and ExarchMite when all seem lost equal free win.
editor's note: doesnt feel good on the receiving end. often accompanied by "why you topdeck that kind of b*ll$hit?" after someone pulled a free win
Clog the board
To clog the board or the ground means to have so many creatures that opponent cannot attack profitably. The best answer would be a board wipe.
FUG OFF, FUG OFF NOW!
What a particular cardshop owner will say when it is closing time and players are still playing. Also used when one wishes to emphasize overreaction.
Alright that’s all from me for now. Do add on to the list where necessary. Till next time!
Qs
Hi everyone. Today I will be compiling a list of commonly used lingo in this Team Infinity Glossary. Team Infinity is a Modern playgroup comprising of Wengggg (podmaster), Medic (young pyromancer), Cwwwww (tiago lau), Pssssss (modern newbie) and myself Qsssss (greatness at no cost). Without further ado, let’s move on to the glossary. For every lingo, I will provide an instance where the word/phrase is used.
Grind/Night of the Long Knives
The way most modern matches pan out these days. To grind means to take the game long and hope to win through incremental advantage over your opponent. Most midrange decks today such as Jund, UWR, Tarmo-Twin, Pod are designed to take the game long if need be and such matchups are said to be grindy.
Value
Value refers to the additional benefit one gets out of the card. 4 life from Finks? Value check. 2 life 2/2 wolf, 2 dmg to player and creature from Huntmaster? Extra value check. Snapcaster electrolyze to off 2 mana dorks? Ultimate value. Value cards offer incremental advantage to the player that wields them.
Over the top
Refers to cards that pushes existing cards/decks straight to top tier status. Bloodbraid Elf and Deathrite pushed Jund over the top in modern, which is why they are banned. Ponder and Preordain push storm over the top, which is why they are banned.
Can also refer to cards that make an otherwise stalemate game into an easy win such as SplinterTwin/Exarch combo.
Unmolested
Refers to creatures which are able to stick without being killed. Note that these creatures are usually killed in most circumstances. If creatures such as Dark Confidant, turn 1 birds/hierarch are unmolested, it usually spells bad news for the opponent.
editor's note: also normally means those creatures or permanents that shouldnt see another turn of play. things like deathrite shaman comes into mind.
Whiff
Inquisition or Thoughtseize that fail to make opponents discard a card from their hand. Not a good feeling to whiff.
editor's note: also means if you +1 liliana of the veil and opponents puts an obstinate baloth, loxodon smiter or wiltleaf liege into play
Snap keep
Opening hand that is playable without having second thoughts. Note this could be destroyed with a timely pinpoint discard though.
Trade 1/2/3 for 1
To trade means to use 1 of your card in exchange for 1 or more of your opponent’s resources. The best example of trading 1 for 1 is rock style decks where discard trades for opponent’s threats.
Scoop
Simply means concede. Refers to the action in which a player picks up his card when defeat is imminent.
Struggle
Characterised by one of our team members. Struggle means to hang on to the game even though one might be way behind your opponent in terms of board state, resources etc. Struggling may or may not be futile as the player might be able to eke out a win at times.
Mistake
Another word for misplay.
Under costed
Check Tarmogoyf under Gatherer to find out what this means.
Fatty/fats
Big monsters that can swing the game to your favour. The baseline for fatty has to be x/4 or otherwise bolt proof.
Redundancy
Multiple copies of the same card in your hand. Especially useful when facing pinpoint discard. Especially bad when you do not want the same card in your hand, for e.g. legendary creatures.
Bait
To bait means to lure your opponent to do something prematurely or an act that does not yield him or her any benefits. Throwing out a creature to bait removal, keeping a redundant card in hand to
bait discard are all examples of bait.
editor's note: often accompanied by facial/body expressions. best used with struggling expressions to play dead. professionally its done with tapping your lands. different ways of tapping and untapping your lands could means different things to your opponents so please take note.
Wipe
Short for board wipe. Refers to cards such as Wrath of God, Engineered Explosives and the likes that clear the board of pesky permanents.
Exile
New way of saying remove from game. Immortalised by the namesake card Path to Exile.
editor's note: apparently wizards thinks this will save space on the cardboard itself
Bob/snap
Used as verb, which means to fulfil the ability of Dark Confidant and Snapcaster Mage. These cards are so ubiquitous to our game that we simply use triggered actions as verb.
editor's note: should have separated this two. to bob means to reveal a card and lose life equal to the converted mana cost of the revealed card. to snap means to cast a instant/sorcery card in the graveyard with flashback granted by snapcaster mage
Mull
Short for mulligan.
Mana dorks
Creatures that produce mana and best played on turn 1. Birds of Paradise, Noble Hierarch are the 2 key mana dorks in the format. Goodbye Deathrite Shaman. You had to go because you are more than a mana dork.
Cantrip
Refers to card that replaces itself. Serum Visions, Wall of Omens are some of the commonly played cantrips in the format.
Thalia
One of our member’s girlfriend is referred to as Thalia because of the “tax” he has to pay in order to play a game of magic with his friends. Taxes vary depending on girlfriend. The word tax refers to the deck Death and Taxes
editor's note: some people have to complete their homework before they can play, some people have to change their schedule here and there in order to play etc etc.
DIAM DIAM la
Created by Eng Giap of GH, now more commonly used by one of our members when he is provoked by taunts from other members. It is a friendly way of saying shut up. Best effect achieved when said with gusto.
Free wins
Kiki and Resto, Twin and ExarchMite when all seem lost equal free win.
editor's note: doesnt feel good on the receiving end. often accompanied by "why you topdeck that kind of b*ll$hit?" after someone pulled a free win
Clog the board
To clog the board or the ground means to have so many creatures that opponent cannot attack profitably. The best answer would be a board wipe.
FUG OFF, FUG OFF NOW!
What a particular cardshop owner will say when it is closing time and players are still playing. Also used when one wishes to emphasize overreaction.
Alright that’s all from me for now. Do add on to the list where necessary. Till next time!
Qs
Friday, July 11, 2014
gbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgbgb arbeit macht frei
this week i was running something that is said to give jund a hard time. first off i would like to share a link my playtest mate QS shared with me
so yeah if tl:dr then the main point of that article is jund get beaten by spirit jund, spirit jund get beaten by thundermaw hellkite jund. then deathrite shaman got banned and people thought jund is dead and played twin. and now jund is back.
seriously... jund is just a goodstuff midrange deck. even if you ban this ban that, ultimately something is going to take its place. the GB shell is just too good. QS played pure GB for a while and he said he didnt even miss lightning bolt. i wonder does he miss terminate and anger of the gods against pod. is scavenging ooze really enough?
speaking of GB, recently i lent out my whole(!) uwr kiki control deck to CW because he was bored of regular uwr midrange. therefore i built a gbw junk with whatever i have left. here's what i played these 2 weeks
4x verdant catacombs
3x misty rainforest
4x marsh flats
2x overgrown tomb
1x temple garden
1x godless shrine
2x ghost quarters
1x twilight mire
1x stirring wildwood
2x forest
1x swamp
1x plains
4x knight of the reliquary
4x tarmogoyf
4x birds of paradise
4x scavenging ooze
3x courser of kruphix
4x liliana of the veil
1x garruk relentless
4x lingering souls
2x thoughtseize
2x inquisition of kozilek
2x abrupt decay
2x golgari charm
1x dismember
basically a gb deck without dark confidant. god i hate that card. oh well at least its good removal bait. i know it is a good card. but it just doesnt work well for me. it always kills me! therefore i decided to try white, knight of the reliquary and lingering souls for a change since jund is on the uprise again. sort of not like what willy edel suggested. but what am i trying to do is to go over the top. most of the time whenever i played it its at least a 5/5. whenever i untap with it i usually win... baring some disgusting topdeck from the opponent. then at that point onwards it becomes something opponent must answer. i also feel he dig as hard as, if not harder than courser of kruphix. they kind of ensure you draw spells after spells. he feels like... psychatog. lol
garruk relentless have to go. its neither a removal when i need it nor ramp when i need it. i also wanted more removals. i only have 5 removals... not very good for a midrange deck. at some point of the games i felt like i was playing mono green stompy. hilarious. i feel this deck has more potential that it looks. perhaps more testing and tuning will tell. sideboard is also very rough now therefore i didnt want to put up here. i definitely like what willy edel has done. he has like at least 7 cards to bring in for each tier 1 decks. gut gemacht!
last night QS brought RUG twin. to me it feels like RUG good stuffs with twin combo built in. usual goyfs, oozes, snapcaster mages and pestermite/deceiver exarch. he told me he is trying to play it like tempo. but most of the time i feel like he have to keep answering my threats. i dont feel any pressure at all. he keep countering my threats. when he lands something it got eaten by liliana of the veil or being forced into a bad block. typical turns goes like this. i played goyf he spell snare. i play ooze he remands. he play goyf i play liliana of the veil. he snap bolt to my liliana of the veil and i abrupt decay on snapcaster mage etc. the RUG twin aint tempoing me out. if he run out of answers i win. if i run out of answers he win. if hes trying to 1for1 me then most likely gbx or any other midrange will pull up ahead.
RUG twin is like a tempo deck with a midrange plan. late game reach is difficult unless you already have some board presence. drawing a cryptic command without anything on the board is nothing but a fog. RUG twin doesnt have a liliana of the veil or knight of the reliquary to take over the game. things like liliana of the veil, tarmogoyf, scavenging ooze and knight of the reliquary are things that take over the game.
last night was a game of topdecks. 1 game he topdecks a spellsnare. the other game was cryptic command. some games was some swords, splinter twins and KERANOS!!! and nice nonland rips from the top of the deck to burn me off. keranos isnt bad is it? nevertheless i had some godly draws of my own too. multiple goyfs, oozes and lilianas. liliana is disgusting when shes a 2for1.
all in all i think in this turn4 format, gbx is still the king. snapcaster mage and restoration angel are still a far second. its really hard for tempo to survive and prosper in this format even with the unbanning of the most powerful tempo card, bitterblossom. although the loss of deathrite shaman is tragic but gbx decks are defintely still playable just that it is not very forgiving as before. over time i think more anti jund decks will pop out. things like tron and death and taxes and stuffs like that. but one is for sure. jund will not die off.
so yeah if tl:dr then the main point of that article is jund get beaten by spirit jund, spirit jund get beaten by thundermaw hellkite jund. then deathrite shaman got banned and people thought jund is dead and played twin. and now jund is back.
seriously... jund is just a goodstuff midrange deck. even if you ban this ban that, ultimately something is going to take its place. the GB shell is just too good. QS played pure GB for a while and he said he didnt even miss lightning bolt. i wonder does he miss terminate and anger of the gods against pod. is scavenging ooze really enough?
speaking of GB, recently i lent out my whole(!) uwr kiki control deck to CW because he was bored of regular uwr midrange. therefore i built a gbw junk with whatever i have left. here's what i played these 2 weeks
4x verdant catacombs
3x misty rainforest
4x marsh flats
2x overgrown tomb
1x temple garden
1x godless shrine
2x ghost quarters
1x twilight mire
1x stirring wildwood
2x forest
1x swamp
1x plains
4x knight of the reliquary
4x tarmogoyf
4x birds of paradise
4x scavenging ooze
3x courser of kruphix
4x liliana of the veil
1x garruk relentless
4x lingering souls
2x thoughtseize
2x inquisition of kozilek
2x abrupt decay
2x golgari charm
1x dismember
basically a gb deck without dark confidant. god i hate that card. oh well at least its good removal bait. i know it is a good card. but it just doesnt work well for me. it always kills me! therefore i decided to try white, knight of the reliquary and lingering souls for a change since jund is on the uprise again. sort of not like what willy edel suggested. but what am i trying to do is to go over the top. most of the time whenever i played it its at least a 5/5. whenever i untap with it i usually win... baring some disgusting topdeck from the opponent. then at that point onwards it becomes something opponent must answer. i also feel he dig as hard as, if not harder than courser of kruphix. they kind of ensure you draw spells after spells. he feels like... psychatog. lol
garruk relentless have to go. its neither a removal when i need it nor ramp when i need it. i also wanted more removals. i only have 5 removals... not very good for a midrange deck. at some point of the games i felt like i was playing mono green stompy. hilarious. i feel this deck has more potential that it looks. perhaps more testing and tuning will tell. sideboard is also very rough now therefore i didnt want to put up here. i definitely like what willy edel has done. he has like at least 7 cards to bring in for each tier 1 decks. gut gemacht!
last night QS brought RUG twin. to me it feels like RUG good stuffs with twin combo built in. usual goyfs, oozes, snapcaster mages and pestermite/deceiver exarch. he told me he is trying to play it like tempo. but most of the time i feel like he have to keep answering my threats. i dont feel any pressure at all. he keep countering my threats. when he lands something it got eaten by liliana of the veil or being forced into a bad block. typical turns goes like this. i played goyf he spell snare. i play ooze he remands. he play goyf i play liliana of the veil. he snap bolt to my liliana of the veil and i abrupt decay on snapcaster mage etc. the RUG twin aint tempoing me out. if he run out of answers i win. if i run out of answers he win. if hes trying to 1for1 me then most likely gbx or any other midrange will pull up ahead.
RUG twin is like a tempo deck with a midrange plan. late game reach is difficult unless you already have some board presence. drawing a cryptic command without anything on the board is nothing but a fog. RUG twin doesnt have a liliana of the veil or knight of the reliquary to take over the game. things like liliana of the veil, tarmogoyf, scavenging ooze and knight of the reliquary are things that take over the game.
last night was a game of topdecks. 1 game he topdecks a spellsnare. the other game was cryptic command. some games was some swords, splinter twins and KERANOS!!! and nice nonland rips from the top of the deck to burn me off. keranos isnt bad is it? nevertheless i had some godly draws of my own too. multiple goyfs, oozes and lilianas. liliana is disgusting when shes a 2for1.
all in all i think in this turn4 format, gbx is still the king. snapcaster mage and restoration angel are still a far second. its really hard for tempo to survive and prosper in this format even with the unbanning of the most powerful tempo card, bitterblossom. although the loss of deathrite shaman is tragic but gbx decks are defintely still playable just that it is not very forgiving as before. over time i think more anti jund decks will pop out. things like tron and death and taxes and stuffs like that. but one is for sure. jund will not die off.
Friday, March 14, 2014
thoughts on gp richmond
another gp just passed and it was the biggest constructed ever. 4000+ players? i do not wish to repeat what others have reported on the format. but here it is. that column seems like the old top decks column by Mike Flores
anyway 5 pod decks in the top 8. the last time we seen a deck this dominant is the bloodbraid elf jund era. and it ended up... hahaz. what i personally feel is that we will have to wait and see what happens in the tournament. how i wish this format is a cyclical metagame where the next tournament will be dominated by the decks designed to beat pod. something reminiscence of the power9 vintage tournaments of old... where workshop decks beat combo decks and combo decks beat oath decks and oath decks beat workshop/welder decks. i seriously do hope wizards doesnt use the banned list to be a pseudo rotation. it suck. i am definitely not surprised if the metagame swings to uwr variant decks again :)
pod decks arent as invincible as it looks. as my team mate QS will have said, keep the board clean, keep the graveyard cleaner. do not let anything sticks. pod decks are just decks with powerful interactions and value creatures on their own. do not let the fear gets you. sometimes you just have to kill that bird/hierarch. like i will say, just practise much and you will naturally know what priority of creatures to kill and what to let them keep.
back to my intended topic of this post. gp richmond. 4000+ players. largest constructed events. with each tier1 decks hitting at least $1000 or more. how is that possible? are all magic players loaded with vitamin M? what causes this? and what are the main culprits? and why? and what should we do to prevent this mistake?
recently QS put up a couple of stuffs for sale so therefore he checked the prices on starcitygames.com. holy mama this is what he found out.
arid mesa 59.99 out of stock
marsh flats 59.99 1 in stock
verdant catacombs 59.99 xx in stock
misty rainforest 99.99 xx in stock
scalding tarn 99.99 xx in stock
all the above prices in USD.
wow! just wow! if you play uwr you would have played 4x scalding tarn and 4x arid mesa. easily 600usd there. if you play blue moon thats 800usd there. lands are the most important parts of a deck. you wouldnt want your first few turns to skip land drops dont you? you wouldnt want your first lands to NOT produce the colors you want dont you? fetchlands are the some of the most powerful lands in the game. even in vintage why do decks play 8 fetchlands and say 3 ABU duals? they are just that powerful. they fix your mana and let you have perfect mana. anybody played reflecting pool in lorwyn block? fetch+shock is almost strictly better other than the life loss. not to mention the shuffle effects and tectonic edge protection.
they are expensive because every multicolor deck wants them. they are in higher demands than the onslaught fetchlands(polluted delta and gang) because they can be played in more formats. the onslaught fetchlands can only be played in vintage and legacy whereas zendikar fetchlands can be played in vintage, legacy and modern! and modern have more official wizards support than the other 2 formats. therefore i would also not be surprised if one day they would cost more than the onslaught fetchlands.
while i wont advise readers to hoard cards but please keep in mind that lands are really fundamental to any other decks. the 2-3 points of life are really worth the guarantee that your early mana color production is correct. i have had many experience that lands jumped price the highest. onslaught fetchlands, wasteland, shocks, zendikar fetchlands, worldwake manlands they all went through the same story. they dipped when they rotate and they picked up after they appear in winning decklists and once people started playtesting them they realise the power of the fetchlands. then their price soared without looking back. i also wont advise readers to buy in now as... please read below.
i think you the reader should be able to google why fetchlands are so good yourself. its easy eh? if you are able to come this page then you should know how to use google?
but in regards to the prices now i do hope that the people who have RTR shocks please dont sell them. you will never know when you will need the shocks again. while you can always sell your stardard cards which have rotated out, it isnt the same as lands. keep the lands if they are good. sooner of later once the supply dries up then it will definitely pick up.
ps.
some guy got a snapshot of the modern event deck. while i am not sure whether is it real or fake, it seems like a token decks of some sort. while i dont harbor thoughts of a marsh flats inside, to quote another mtgs user...
"even if its goyf and 59 lands, i will still buy that product."
how true? even if its marsh flats and some rares and lands i will still buy it.
pss.
i heard rumors that the onslaught fetchlands are coming back in the summer block this year. i believe if it really happens, the zendikar fetchlands will drop in price. look what happened to thoughtseize. i would hope readers to adopt a player's mentality, not a speculator mentality. please this is a game, not a currency of some sorts.
with my ending i would like to share this comic from carcboard crack.com
http://cardboard-crack.com/post/78401240638/fetch-lands
ill try to get the picture up as soon as possible?
see ya guys
anyway 5 pod decks in the top 8. the last time we seen a deck this dominant is the bloodbraid elf jund era. and it ended up... hahaz. what i personally feel is that we will have to wait and see what happens in the tournament. how i wish this format is a cyclical metagame where the next tournament will be dominated by the decks designed to beat pod. something reminiscence of the power9 vintage tournaments of old... where workshop decks beat combo decks and combo decks beat oath decks and oath decks beat workshop/welder decks. i seriously do hope wizards doesnt use the banned list to be a pseudo rotation. it suck. i am definitely not surprised if the metagame swings to uwr variant decks again :)
pod decks arent as invincible as it looks. as my team mate QS will have said, keep the board clean, keep the graveyard cleaner. do not let anything sticks. pod decks are just decks with powerful interactions and value creatures on their own. do not let the fear gets you. sometimes you just have to kill that bird/hierarch. like i will say, just practise much and you will naturally know what priority of creatures to kill and what to let them keep.
back to my intended topic of this post. gp richmond. 4000+ players. largest constructed events. with each tier1 decks hitting at least $1000 or more. how is that possible? are all magic players loaded with vitamin M? what causes this? and what are the main culprits? and why? and what should we do to prevent this mistake?
recently QS put up a couple of stuffs for sale so therefore he checked the prices on starcitygames.com. holy mama this is what he found out.
arid mesa 59.99 out of stock
marsh flats 59.99 1 in stock
verdant catacombs 59.99 xx in stock
misty rainforest 99.99 xx in stock
scalding tarn 99.99 xx in stock
all the above prices in USD.
wow! just wow! if you play uwr you would have played 4x scalding tarn and 4x arid mesa. easily 600usd there. if you play blue moon thats 800usd there. lands are the most important parts of a deck. you wouldnt want your first few turns to skip land drops dont you? you wouldnt want your first lands to NOT produce the colors you want dont you? fetchlands are the some of the most powerful lands in the game. even in vintage why do decks play 8 fetchlands and say 3 ABU duals? they are just that powerful. they fix your mana and let you have perfect mana. anybody played reflecting pool in lorwyn block? fetch+shock is almost strictly better other than the life loss. not to mention the shuffle effects and tectonic edge protection.
they are expensive because every multicolor deck wants them. they are in higher demands than the onslaught fetchlands(polluted delta and gang) because they can be played in more formats. the onslaught fetchlands can only be played in vintage and legacy whereas zendikar fetchlands can be played in vintage, legacy and modern! and modern have more official wizards support than the other 2 formats. therefore i would also not be surprised if one day they would cost more than the onslaught fetchlands.
while i wont advise readers to hoard cards but please keep in mind that lands are really fundamental to any other decks. the 2-3 points of life are really worth the guarantee that your early mana color production is correct. i have had many experience that lands jumped price the highest. onslaught fetchlands, wasteland, shocks, zendikar fetchlands, worldwake manlands they all went through the same story. they dipped when they rotate and they picked up after they appear in winning decklists and once people started playtesting them they realise the power of the fetchlands. then their price soared without looking back. i also wont advise readers to buy in now as... please read below.
i think you the reader should be able to google why fetchlands are so good yourself. its easy eh? if you are able to come this page then you should know how to use google?
but in regards to the prices now i do hope that the people who have RTR shocks please dont sell them. you will never know when you will need the shocks again. while you can always sell your stardard cards which have rotated out, it isnt the same as lands. keep the lands if they are good. sooner of later once the supply dries up then it will definitely pick up.
ps.
some guy got a snapshot of the modern event deck. while i am not sure whether is it real or fake, it seems like a token decks of some sort. while i dont harbor thoughts of a marsh flats inside, to quote another mtgs user...
"even if its goyf and 59 lands, i will still buy that product."
how true? even if its marsh flats and some rares and lands i will still buy it.
pss.
i heard rumors that the onslaught fetchlands are coming back in the summer block this year. i believe if it really happens, the zendikar fetchlands will drop in price. look what happened to thoughtseize. i would hope readers to adopt a player's mentality, not a speculator mentality. please this is a game, not a currency of some sorts.
with my ending i would like to share this comic from carcboard crack.com
http://cardboard-crack.com/post/78401240638/fetch-lands
ill try to get the picture up as soon as possible?
see ya guys
Thursday, March 06, 2014
powerful interactions in modern
hi everybody today we have a guest article from my great playtest partner, qs
Powerful interactions in Modern
Hi everyone. Today I would like to share with you some powerful interactions that every modern player should take note of. These interactions have become second nature to us that we hardly pay much attention to it. While some are well established since the inception of Modern, others are relatively new to the scene due to recent unbanning and arrival of Born of the Gods. I will attempt to categorise these interactions by deck types for easy reference. Without further ado, here goes.
Discard + 2 drop powerhouse in GBx decks (Jund, Junk, BG midrange, Rock)
What makes good old rock styled decks so powerful? Shouldn’t the banning of DRS send GB decks on a path to exile? Before you write them off, let’s not forget that a turn 1 discard followed by a ¾ goyf is nothing to scoff at. A turn 2 crit that is out of bolt range is a problem to many decks without a dedicate removal suite. Moreover, the turn 1 discard would have cleared any possible ways to remove the lhurgoyf. Barring a godly top deck, the opponent can be said to be ‘behind’ in the race.
Snapcaster + Lightning Bolt in URx decks (Twin, UWR, RUG, UR Delver, Blue Moon)
Affectionately known as Snap bolt within our circle, this is one of the most devastating things you can do in modern. End turn bolt, snap bolt (4 mana only), main turn swing with snapcaster is a whopping 8 damage. Without DRS to keep graveyards in check, Tiago will only grow stronger and stronger. Looking at how suicidal modern decks can be with fetches and thoughtseizes, bolt snap bolt is a nightmare for many.
Urzatron + Karn on T3 (RG Tron, Mono U Tron)
One of the reasons to play Tron is the possibility of landing a Karn on T3. While the opponent is still finding a footing in the game, you have already landed a monstrous Planeswalker which threatens to either, mana screw your opponent by exiling a dual colour land or simply attack the opponents’ hand and have Karn’s loyalty simply out of reach for burn and creature swings. Without a timely maelstrom pulse, do reach for your sideboard for the next game.
T1 Wild Nacatl into T2 Goblin Guide and another 1 drop (Variants of Zoo)
With the unbanning of Wild Nacatl, Zoo is poised to make a comeback in the modern meta. What makes Zoo so powerful? Is it simply its creature suite backed up by removal? What we may forget is the fact that Zoo can simply sneak in so many power 1 drops in the first 2 turns of the game. This is what makes Zoo a nightmare for Faeries because Faeries does not have an answer for 3 creatures without spending 3 removal
spells mainboard. While the opponent has been softened by kitty scratches and goblin prodding, what is left for the Zoo player is just direct damage to the dome.
Cheap robots (Affinity)
Similar to the idea of zoo, affinity aims to throw everything out in the first few turns and watch the opponent struggle against the overwhelming number of permanents on the board. The synergy for affinity is really self-explanatory so I will not go into details here.
Card advantage generators (Dark Confidant, Chandra Pyromaster, Courser of Kruphix)
Bob and new Chandra have been discussed in my earlier article so I would like to discuss about Courser instead. I believe this is the breakout card from BNG. 3 mana for a 2/4 body with useful abilities is an enticing proposition to sleeve up a playset. Playing with the top card of your deck revealed is not a liability in a deck like Jund since every card would be used to trade with your opponent (unlike control styled decks, Jund does not really need the element of surprise). In fact, this could be a blessing since you can fetch a land to shuffle away the card that you do not want. While the second ability does not allow you to put an additional land into play, it does allow you to “play off the top of your library”, netting you an additional card while you discard the land you have in hand to Liliana. The last ability restores precious life and when you have 2 coursers in play, things can get a bit crazy. But that’s not all there is to Courser. 2/4 body means it can block Zoo, treetop,finks all day. It also means it can survive an Anger of the Gods. Even in death, it pumps up your own goyf. Try it today to feel its power. Did I mention Bob, Chandra and Courser in play?
Birthing pod chains (Melira and Kiki Pod)
Podding your creature to upgrade to a better one is one of the best interactions in modern. Birds outlived its usefulness once you have the lands? Upgrade to VOR. Feeling the heat from opposing beatdown? Upgrade to finks. A pesky creature you want to remove? Upgrade to redcap. Want to grind the midrange game? Upgrade to Reveillark. If you have not won the game then, simply chord for the remaining piece to combo off. An active pod wins game. Period.
Playing the resource game (Blue Moon, Hatebears, decks with Tectonic Edge, Prison styled cards such as Ghostly Prison and Suppression Field)
I would like to end today’s article with an interaction which I deemed most important, mana denial. Mana denial works in various ways. It could be a result of you being too greedy with the mana base and as a result not draw the right colours. However, the focus here is on you actively disrupting your opponents’ resources. This can be
achieved through ‘enchant world’ effect such as Blood Moon, targeted effects through Spreading Seas, Tectonic Edge, Ghost Quarter, Molten Rain) or taxing effects through Thalia, Ghostly Prison etc. Magic is a resources game. Whoever gains access to resources first gets to cast his spells first. Elementary right? Whoever gets to cast spells and yet deny opponent the chance to do so? This is an art. Before forming a deck in modern, always ask yourself, is my deck able to fight back against such denial effects? Am I too greedy with the non basics?
Hope you have enjoyed reading this article and feel free to share with me what is your favourite interaction in Magic. Till next time.
Qs
Powerful interactions in Modern
Hi everyone. Today I would like to share with you some powerful interactions that every modern player should take note of. These interactions have become second nature to us that we hardly pay much attention to it. While some are well established since the inception of Modern, others are relatively new to the scene due to recent unbanning and arrival of Born of the Gods. I will attempt to categorise these interactions by deck types for easy reference. Without further ado, here goes.
Discard + 2 drop powerhouse in GBx decks (Jund, Junk, BG midrange, Rock)
What makes good old rock styled decks so powerful? Shouldn’t the banning of DRS send GB decks on a path to exile? Before you write them off, let’s not forget that a turn 1 discard followed by a ¾ goyf is nothing to scoff at. A turn 2 crit that is out of bolt range is a problem to many decks without a dedicate removal suite. Moreover, the turn 1 discard would have cleared any possible ways to remove the lhurgoyf. Barring a godly top deck, the opponent can be said to be ‘behind’ in the race.
Snapcaster + Lightning Bolt in URx decks (Twin, UWR, RUG, UR Delver, Blue Moon)
Affectionately known as Snap bolt within our circle, this is one of the most devastating things you can do in modern. End turn bolt, snap bolt (4 mana only), main turn swing with snapcaster is a whopping 8 damage. Without DRS to keep graveyards in check, Tiago will only grow stronger and stronger. Looking at how suicidal modern decks can be with fetches and thoughtseizes, bolt snap bolt is a nightmare for many.
Urzatron + Karn on T3 (RG Tron, Mono U Tron)
One of the reasons to play Tron is the possibility of landing a Karn on T3. While the opponent is still finding a footing in the game, you have already landed a monstrous Planeswalker which threatens to either, mana screw your opponent by exiling a dual colour land or simply attack the opponents’ hand and have Karn’s loyalty simply out of reach for burn and creature swings. Without a timely maelstrom pulse, do reach for your sideboard for the next game.
T1 Wild Nacatl into T2 Goblin Guide and another 1 drop (Variants of Zoo)
With the unbanning of Wild Nacatl, Zoo is poised to make a comeback in the modern meta. What makes Zoo so powerful? Is it simply its creature suite backed up by removal? What we may forget is the fact that Zoo can simply sneak in so many power 1 drops in the first 2 turns of the game. This is what makes Zoo a nightmare for Faeries because Faeries does not have an answer for 3 creatures without spending 3 removal
spells mainboard. While the opponent has been softened by kitty scratches and goblin prodding, what is left for the Zoo player is just direct damage to the dome.
Cheap robots (Affinity)
Similar to the idea of zoo, affinity aims to throw everything out in the first few turns and watch the opponent struggle against the overwhelming number of permanents on the board. The synergy for affinity is really self-explanatory so I will not go into details here.
Card advantage generators (Dark Confidant, Chandra Pyromaster, Courser of Kruphix)
Bob and new Chandra have been discussed in my earlier article so I would like to discuss about Courser instead. I believe this is the breakout card from BNG. 3 mana for a 2/4 body with useful abilities is an enticing proposition to sleeve up a playset. Playing with the top card of your deck revealed is not a liability in a deck like Jund since every card would be used to trade with your opponent (unlike control styled decks, Jund does not really need the element of surprise). In fact, this could be a blessing since you can fetch a land to shuffle away the card that you do not want. While the second ability does not allow you to put an additional land into play, it does allow you to “play off the top of your library”, netting you an additional card while you discard the land you have in hand to Liliana. The last ability restores precious life and when you have 2 coursers in play, things can get a bit crazy. But that’s not all there is to Courser. 2/4 body means it can block Zoo, treetop,finks all day. It also means it can survive an Anger of the Gods. Even in death, it pumps up your own goyf. Try it today to feel its power. Did I mention Bob, Chandra and Courser in play?
Birthing pod chains (Melira and Kiki Pod)
Podding your creature to upgrade to a better one is one of the best interactions in modern. Birds outlived its usefulness once you have the lands? Upgrade to VOR. Feeling the heat from opposing beatdown? Upgrade to finks. A pesky creature you want to remove? Upgrade to redcap. Want to grind the midrange game? Upgrade to Reveillark. If you have not won the game then, simply chord for the remaining piece to combo off. An active pod wins game. Period.
Playing the resource game (Blue Moon, Hatebears, decks with Tectonic Edge, Prison styled cards such as Ghostly Prison and Suppression Field)
I would like to end today’s article with an interaction which I deemed most important, mana denial. Mana denial works in various ways. It could be a result of you being too greedy with the mana base and as a result not draw the right colours. However, the focus here is on you actively disrupting your opponents’ resources. This can be
achieved through ‘enchant world’ effect such as Blood Moon, targeted effects through Spreading Seas, Tectonic Edge, Ghost Quarter, Molten Rain) or taxing effects through Thalia, Ghostly Prison etc. Magic is a resources game. Whoever gains access to resources first gets to cast his spells first. Elementary right? Whoever gets to cast spells and yet deny opponent the chance to do so? This is an art. Before forming a deck in modern, always ask yourself, is my deck able to fight back against such denial effects? Am I too greedy with the non basics?
Hope you have enjoyed reading this article and feel free to share with me what is your favourite interaction in Magic. Till next time.
Qs
Thursday, February 13, 2014
banned list update.
so as the title says... deathrite shaman banned, wild nacatl and bitterblossom unbanned. what now?
firstly, some rants.
why the hell did they ban deathrite shaman? this ban is very unusual as it doesnt follow the criteria for banning a card. to quote wizards themselves...
"Having a strong attrition-based deck as a large portion of the metagame makes it difficult for decks that are based on synergies between cards instead of individually powerful cards. We believe that removing Deathrite Shaman from the format will leave more room for future innovation."
it is neither about warping the format nor breaking the turn 4 rule anymore. they are banning it just for the sake of future innovation? what the fuck? then now what? are they going to ban the next most powerful card just so that it will leave more room for future innovation? this ban shatters the confidence of what people have for modern. its not like i dont know the power level of the 1 mana planeswalker, the prince of gbx. like for standard bans at least they stuck with the banning guidelines when they banned stoneforge mystic and jace the mind sculptor. perhaps at least let the format solve themselves first before banning anything. then if more people join them rather than beat them then you know you have a problem... when the solution isnt any better than the problem.
hopefully pod and snapcaster mage arent the next in line for the firing squad.
/end rants
now lets talk about what about rise up to the top tier and what will happen to the big brothers of the format, especially the biggest brother, Jund. already there are a couple of decks that will shake the pillars of modern. variants of zoo, be it small naya, big naya, gruul, big gruul, countercats etc. and variants of faeries, be it straight ub, u/x or 3color implementation
faeries
read this primer written by some of the good people over at mtgs modern section here
apparantly everybody is saying that this deck is going to be damn strong. the magical christmasland of
turn 1: inquisiton of kozilek/thoughtseize
turn 2: bitterblossom
turn 3: spellstutter sprite
turn 4: (opponent's upkeep) mistbind clique to timewalk the opponent
and there you have it the nut draw. while you might not get this kind of nut hands very often but roughly power level is there. i would say this is near to tier1 if it is really able to beat whatever flavor of UWR like what they say on the forums. basically bitterblossom is the card that makes all the difference. once you resolve a bitterblossom it'll eventually start gaining too much advantage for your opponent to overcome. sound like some other card? yes. dark confidant. just that its way harder to remove this time. once the faeries player got you to commit resources to their 1/1s they'll sweep you up with their countermagic and whatnot. dont underestimate a small 1/1 flying. the last time i played UWR it suffered to lingering souls. bitterblossom is like a angrier lingering souls
ALL faeries either have BOTH FLYING AND FLASH. so if either 1 or more of them slip through you then you are in for a good time. do read lantern's writeup on how his zoo is fighting against faerie. seems like ignoring the general plan is to go aggro rather than wait to answer the faerie deck. probably more testing will reveal...
zoo
"its so easy to play. decks like this which dont need to think one just puke your whole hand onto the table and push as much damage through as possible. but i dont like this feeling of not having cards in my hand" - qs, song of all, canto 10022014
i played domain zoo a while ago when i lent out my fetches and other cards to my good buddy cheewei. when the hand is good its good la. but when the hand is bad and your draw is lousy not even raphael levy or craig jones with his godly lightning helix topdeck would save you. i chose domain zoo because it has boros charm and the power of snapcaster mage and the number 1 ghost geist of saint traft. the idea goes like this. a fully powered might of alara on a Geist of saint traft and his angel token and boros charm double strike is just nice 20 damage.
but then this version will lose to those decks that tries to 1for1 you. jund and uwr of all flavors eat this deck alive. fast forward to the wild nacatl unban. qs played fast naya. laying down crits after crits and smashing hard. no longer 1for1 is a viable strategy. paying 2 mana to kill a 1 mana crit is tempo loss. moreover bolt/helix will not kill a ghorclan rampager-ed crit. if you hit crit A with path to exile they'll ghorclan rampager the crit B. fast and furious. i played junk that night and it was horrible. so many dead cards in my deck. dark confidant, liliana of the veil, discards are dead draw against loxodon smiter, abrupt decay on a kird ape feels... dumb. you get the idea.
but BUT... 2for1s and sweeps are becoming good again! removals in response to a rancor or a ghorclan rampager feels so value :) even killing a goblin guide after revealing a land feels so value :) clearing 3 creatures for the 1x 3cmc card feels so value :) you just have to hold them until you can fight back. remember there are no card advantage machine in zoo other than snapcaster mage, ghorclan rampager and ranger of eos. fortunately they cost a bit more to play and one of the most basic characteristics of zoo is that it seldom have more than 3 lands in play so if they play one of those then feel free to remand them if you are still hellbent on playing remand after reading this post. just dont get 2for1-ed by zoo and side in some life gain and you'll be fine.
post ban, this modern season is going to be very interesting and we shall continue to see which deck will be on top of the metagame.
lastly to end this... bitterblossom is 49.99usd out of stock, noble hierarch is 59.99usd out of stock, vendillion clique is 49.99usd out of stock for morningtide and MM dark confidant is 99.99usd while RAV dark confidant is 79.99usd. all prices are from starcitygames.
firstly, some rants.
why the hell did they ban deathrite shaman? this ban is very unusual as it doesnt follow the criteria for banning a card. to quote wizards themselves...
"Having a strong attrition-based deck as a large portion of the metagame makes it difficult for decks that are based on synergies between cards instead of individually powerful cards. We believe that removing Deathrite Shaman from the format will leave more room for future innovation."
it is neither about warping the format nor breaking the turn 4 rule anymore. they are banning it just for the sake of future innovation? what the fuck? then now what? are they going to ban the next most powerful card just so that it will leave more room for future innovation? this ban shatters the confidence of what people have for modern. its not like i dont know the power level of the 1 mana planeswalker, the prince of gbx. like for standard bans at least they stuck with the banning guidelines when they banned stoneforge mystic and jace the mind sculptor. perhaps at least let the format solve themselves first before banning anything. then if more people join them rather than beat them then you know you have a problem... when the solution isnt any better than the problem.
hopefully pod and snapcaster mage arent the next in line for the firing squad.
/end rants
now lets talk about what about rise up to the top tier and what will happen to the big brothers of the format, especially the biggest brother, Jund. already there are a couple of decks that will shake the pillars of modern. variants of zoo, be it small naya, big naya, gruul, big gruul, countercats etc. and variants of faeries, be it straight ub, u/x or 3color implementation
faeries
read this primer written by some of the good people over at mtgs modern section here
apparantly everybody is saying that this deck is going to be damn strong. the magical christmasland of
turn 1: inquisiton of kozilek/thoughtseize
turn 2: bitterblossom
turn 3: spellstutter sprite
turn 4: (opponent's upkeep) mistbind clique to timewalk the opponent
and there you have it the nut draw. while you might not get this kind of nut hands very often but roughly power level is there. i would say this is near to tier1 if it is really able to beat whatever flavor of UWR like what they say on the forums. basically bitterblossom is the card that makes all the difference. once you resolve a bitterblossom it'll eventually start gaining too much advantage for your opponent to overcome. sound like some other card? yes. dark confidant. just that its way harder to remove this time. once the faeries player got you to commit resources to their 1/1s they'll sweep you up with their countermagic and whatnot. dont underestimate a small 1/1 flying. the last time i played UWR it suffered to lingering souls. bitterblossom is like a angrier lingering souls
ALL faeries either have BOTH FLYING AND FLASH. so if either 1 or more of them slip through you then you are in for a good time. do read lantern's writeup on how his zoo is fighting against faerie. seems like ignoring the general plan is to go aggro rather than wait to answer the faerie deck. probably more testing will reveal...
zoo
"its so easy to play. decks like this which dont need to think one just puke your whole hand onto the table and push as much damage through as possible. but i dont like this feeling of not having cards in my hand" - qs, song of all, canto 10022014
i played domain zoo a while ago when i lent out my fetches and other cards to my good buddy cheewei. when the hand is good its good la. but when the hand is bad and your draw is lousy not even raphael levy or craig jones with his godly lightning helix topdeck would save you. i chose domain zoo because it has boros charm and the power of snapcaster mage and the number 1 ghost geist of saint traft. the idea goes like this. a fully powered might of alara on a Geist of saint traft and his angel token and boros charm double strike is just nice 20 damage.
but then this version will lose to those decks that tries to 1for1 you. jund and uwr of all flavors eat this deck alive. fast forward to the wild nacatl unban. qs played fast naya. laying down crits after crits and smashing hard. no longer 1for1 is a viable strategy. paying 2 mana to kill a 1 mana crit is tempo loss. moreover bolt/helix will not kill a ghorclan rampager-ed crit. if you hit crit A with path to exile they'll ghorclan rampager the crit B. fast and furious. i played junk that night and it was horrible. so many dead cards in my deck. dark confidant, liliana of the veil, discards are dead draw against loxodon smiter, abrupt decay on a kird ape feels... dumb. you get the idea.
but BUT... 2for1s and sweeps are becoming good again! removals in response to a rancor or a ghorclan rampager feels so value :) even killing a goblin guide after revealing a land feels so value :) clearing 3 creatures for the 1x 3cmc card feels so value :) you just have to hold them until you can fight back. remember there are no card advantage machine in zoo other than snapcaster mage, ghorclan rampager and ranger of eos. fortunately they cost a bit more to play and one of the most basic characteristics of zoo is that it seldom have more than 3 lands in play so if they play one of those then feel free to remand them if you are still hellbent on playing remand after reading this post. just dont get 2for1-ed by zoo and side in some life gain and you'll be fine.
post ban, this modern season is going to be very interesting and we shall continue to see which deck will be on top of the metagame.
lastly to end this... bitterblossom is 49.99usd out of stock, noble hierarch is 59.99usd out of stock, vendillion clique is 49.99usd out of stock for morningtide and MM dark confidant is 99.99usd while RAV dark confidant is 79.99usd. all prices are from starcitygames.
Tuesday, February 04, 2014
jund jund jund part 2
its been a busy and sad week for me. we lost another one of our favorite elf. i really dont have time to vet through this gem of a article. many of us know what is inside a jund deck but do not know why they are there. lets read... with mournful tears.
Jund, the King of Midrange. Part 2 of 3
Hi everyone, I am back with Part 2 of my analysis of what I think is the best deck of the Modern format, Jund. I will be sharing my deck list as well as an analysis of the individual cards. Without further ado, here is the 75 I have been playing,
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Marsh Flats
3 Treetop Village
2 Raging Ravine
2 Blood Crypt
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
24 Lands
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
16 Creatures
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Inquistion of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Terminate
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Forked Bolt
20 Spells
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Wrench Mind
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Shatterstorm
1 Go for the Throat
15 Sideboard cards
There you have it. This is a pretty stock list modelled after the highly successful Jund list piloted by Reid Duke with minor overall changes. I have taken the liberty to cut 1 Pyromaster and 1 Blightning in favour of 2 Huntmaster of the Fells as well as substituted Pillar of Flame with Forked Bolt. As to why I made the changes will be explained later. The recent Jund list suggests that players have eschewed Chandra in favour of the legendary vampire Olivia in mainboard. Going forward, I might see myself trying that out.
Individual card analysis
I will be doing the breakdown according to the mana cost of the cards with the intention of showing how Jund is powerful early in the game and remains so all the way through mid to late game.
The lands
Fetch lands: An integral component of modern mana bases. No explanation needed. Why the 1 copy of Misty and not all 4 copies of Marsh Flats? The deck requires access to green mana more often than not and misty allows the Jund player to fetch stomping ground, overgrown tomb and forest. No green means no early beats with tarmogoyf or treetop, helping ooze scavenge, cast huntmaster, etc.
Shocklands: 2 Blood Crypt, 1 Overgrown Tomb and 1 stomping ground. The 2 Blood Crypts are there to ensure third turns Liliana and fourth turns Chandra.
SOM fast lands: I love Blackcleave Cliffs. Period. Turn 1 into DRS or IOK, painless and absolutely devastating.
Manlands: They are one of the reasons that makes Jund so powerful. Wrath of God? No problem. Heavy creature removal? No problem. Treetop Village is especially good against lingering souls with the trample. Ravine can grow monstrously huge without paying any ridiculous monstrosity cost. One thing to note is that the Jund player needs to know when to play this land so that you will not deprive yourself of mana when you need it. The feeling is terrible when you want to cast huntmaster and you are stuck with ravine in hand, wishing that you had laid that instead of the shockland.
Basics: 2 Swamp 1 Forests. Increase chances of turn 1 DRS, IOK, Seize etc. No Mountain because of Blood Moon.
The creatures
Dark Confidant: Greatness, at any cost, can sometimes mean card advantage, at no/minimal cost. A must kill creatures for your opponents, a game changer for the Jund player. It draws, attacks, blocks when it has outlived its usefulness. If you are able to land one after both players have exhausted their cards, this card will win the game for you. Absolute all star.
Tarmogoyf: 2 mana creature that can grow to 4/5 with ease. Tarmogoyf into Tarmogoyf can be back-breaking for your opponents. As a rule of thumb, always try to cast it as a ¾ so it does not die to a stray bolt. This creature defines what a beatstick should be. While some players raised the concern of this creature dying to removal, for example Path to Exile, my advice to them is just play Bogles.
Deathrite Shaman: The 1 mana Planeswalker! This is the utility creature of Jund which requires the player to activate his abilities at the right time to disrupt any graveyard based strategy. Ramping into a turn 3 Liliana through him is one of the most disgusting play you can make. It is simply powerful as a turn 1 play or a late game play where you drain your opponent bit by bit. Long live DRS and hope he never gets banned.
Scavenging Ooze: Can outgrow a goyf if left unchecked. Ensures that there are no scraps left in all graveyards. Its main weakness is its mana dependent ability. Without sufficient green sources, ooze will often fall prey to bolt. 2 is a good number to run.
Huntmaster of the Fells: I call him the roti prata creature because of his transform ability. Huntmaster represents value. It is at its best when both players are in the top deck mode, making it easy for Huntmaster to flip. I have had good results using him in the main board and would pick him as my first choice 4 drop over Olivia, Thrun and Baloth.
The spells
Liliana of the Veil: Modern’s greatest planeswalker. Liliana applies so much pressure on her opponents and it’s not just because of her sultry looks. Her first ability pressures her opponents to cast cards to risk them being discarded. If you are forced to cast a creature, then it will be “edicted” by her second ability. Her ultimate is not an instant win but it certainly helps speed up the inevitable. 3 mana 3 loyalty points make her simply irresistible.
Lightning Bolt: Best removal for creatures, burn to the face, and whatever that you want to do, all at instant speed for 1 mana.
Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize: 6 copies is a comfortable number to run. Jund wants to strip opponent of their key cards as soon as possible and running 3 copies of each pinpoint discard increases your chances. Depending on what you are up against, decide whether to go with IOK or Seize first to avoid a whiff. The way I see it, Jund is essentially trading 1 mana for your opponent’s best card. Wicked!
Terminate: The premier in removal spells. BR, destroy target creature, no regeneration. No conditions, no drawback. Jund needs 2 to deal with the myriad fatties that are in format. Works extremely well against manlands too, which cards like Smother, Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse cant hit.
Maelstrom Pulse: While this is no Vindicate, Pulse has strengths of its own. It can hit multiple tokens or when you are lucky, catch 2 creatures of the same name. More importantly, it increases our chances against an early Karn. Planeswalkers are hard to deal with, especially if their loyalty points are out of bolt range. Pulse is our catch all answer to that and more.
Chandra, Pyromaster: She can certainly take over games with her card advantage engine. Her first ability is useful in pinging off the many X/1s in the format, win goyf wars, render a blocker useless to push through the final damage etc etc. 4 mana 4 loyalty means she will survive a colonnade strike. Running 2 is not advisable as you might “draw” into the second copy when using her card advantage ability. When the board is liliana and Chandra, you know your opponent is in for trouble.
Forked Bolt: This is a concession to Affinity and opposing turn 1 DRS. I want to ensure that Jund has a more than decent rate of survival against Affinity game 1 and thus Forked Bolt. I also want to
have more ways to kill Turn 1 DRS against BGx decks. I have once used Forked Bolt to off opposing confidant and a 1 loyalty liliana. Shiok!
Sideboard
Kind of tired typing this lengthy review so I will just cut to the chase on sideboard.
4 Fulminator Mage: Could be a 2/2 split with Sowing Salt but I prefer Mage because it is a turn faster. This is a concession to Tron, which is one of our worst matchups. If you are able to recur this with Sword of Light and Shadow, you are in good shape.
2 Wrench Mind: Modern’s Hymn to Tourach. Devastating against UWR decks without Leyline, combo, artefact light control decks. This is usually a 2 for 1. I have no plans of replacing it so far.
2 Anger of Gods: Against pod, tokens, soul sisters or the resurgent u/r delver decks. Exiling creatures is a nice touch, though that means your ooze will have to go hungry.
The 1 ofs
These are customisable and depends on what I feel like adding to prepare for a tourney. The lavamancer is good against creature based strategies, the swords against lingering souls and uwr decks, grudge and shatterstorm is my respect for affinity decks, go for the throat as extra removal. Olivia and Baloth are there to shore up any midrange mirrors.
Hope you have enjoyed reading my breakdown of my favourite deck Jund. I am pleased to say that sticking to this deck for months in a row has really improved my skills piloting Jund. I can now make key decisions quicker and play this deck with more confidence. Yes there are bad matchups which I do not like to face but overall I feel confident playing Jund against an unknown field, knowing that my IOK and Seize will light the way ahead. Once the plan is revealed, the Jund player can then plot his way to victory.
My trusty Jund deck will take a break while I try out other decks. When the time comes though, I will not hesitate to join a tourney with this deck though.
Best regards,
Qs
Jund, the King of Midrange. Part 2 of 3
Hi everyone, I am back with Part 2 of my analysis of what I think is the best deck of the Modern format, Jund. I will be sharing my deck list as well as an analysis of the individual cards. Without further ado, here is the 75 I have been playing,
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Marsh Flats
3 Treetop Village
2 Raging Ravine
2 Blood Crypt
2 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
24 Lands
4 Dark Confidant
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Deathrite Shaman
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Huntmaster of the Fells
16 Creatures
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Inquistion of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Terminate
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Forked Bolt
20 Spells
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Wrench Mind
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Shatterstorm
1 Go for the Throat
15 Sideboard cards
There you have it. This is a pretty stock list modelled after the highly successful Jund list piloted by Reid Duke with minor overall changes. I have taken the liberty to cut 1 Pyromaster and 1 Blightning in favour of 2 Huntmaster of the Fells as well as substituted Pillar of Flame with Forked Bolt. As to why I made the changes will be explained later. The recent Jund list suggests that players have eschewed Chandra in favour of the legendary vampire Olivia in mainboard. Going forward, I might see myself trying that out.
Individual card analysis
I will be doing the breakdown according to the mana cost of the cards with the intention of showing how Jund is powerful early in the game and remains so all the way through mid to late game.
The lands
Fetch lands: An integral component of modern mana bases. No explanation needed. Why the 1 copy of Misty and not all 4 copies of Marsh Flats? The deck requires access to green mana more often than not and misty allows the Jund player to fetch stomping ground, overgrown tomb and forest. No green means no early beats with tarmogoyf or treetop, helping ooze scavenge, cast huntmaster, etc.
Shocklands: 2 Blood Crypt, 1 Overgrown Tomb and 1 stomping ground. The 2 Blood Crypts are there to ensure third turns Liliana and fourth turns Chandra.
SOM fast lands: I love Blackcleave Cliffs. Period. Turn 1 into DRS or IOK, painless and absolutely devastating.
Manlands: They are one of the reasons that makes Jund so powerful. Wrath of God? No problem. Heavy creature removal? No problem. Treetop Village is especially good against lingering souls with the trample. Ravine can grow monstrously huge without paying any ridiculous monstrosity cost. One thing to note is that the Jund player needs to know when to play this land so that you will not deprive yourself of mana when you need it. The feeling is terrible when you want to cast huntmaster and you are stuck with ravine in hand, wishing that you had laid that instead of the shockland.
Basics: 2 Swamp 1 Forests. Increase chances of turn 1 DRS, IOK, Seize etc. No Mountain because of Blood Moon.
The creatures
Dark Confidant: Greatness, at any cost, can sometimes mean card advantage, at no/minimal cost. A must kill creatures for your opponents, a game changer for the Jund player. It draws, attacks, blocks when it has outlived its usefulness. If you are able to land one after both players have exhausted their cards, this card will win the game for you. Absolute all star.
Tarmogoyf: 2 mana creature that can grow to 4/5 with ease. Tarmogoyf into Tarmogoyf can be back-breaking for your opponents. As a rule of thumb, always try to cast it as a ¾ so it does not die to a stray bolt. This creature defines what a beatstick should be. While some players raised the concern of this creature dying to removal, for example Path to Exile, my advice to them is just play Bogles.
Deathrite Shaman: The 1 mana Planeswalker! This is the utility creature of Jund which requires the player to activate his abilities at the right time to disrupt any graveyard based strategy. Ramping into a turn 3 Liliana through him is one of the most disgusting play you can make. It is simply powerful as a turn 1 play or a late game play where you drain your opponent bit by bit. Long live DRS and hope he never gets banned.
Scavenging Ooze: Can outgrow a goyf if left unchecked. Ensures that there are no scraps left in all graveyards. Its main weakness is its mana dependent ability. Without sufficient green sources, ooze will often fall prey to bolt. 2 is a good number to run.
Huntmaster of the Fells: I call him the roti prata creature because of his transform ability. Huntmaster represents value. It is at its best when both players are in the top deck mode, making it easy for Huntmaster to flip. I have had good results using him in the main board and would pick him as my first choice 4 drop over Olivia, Thrun and Baloth.
The spells
Liliana of the Veil: Modern’s greatest planeswalker. Liliana applies so much pressure on her opponents and it’s not just because of her sultry looks. Her first ability pressures her opponents to cast cards to risk them being discarded. If you are forced to cast a creature, then it will be “edicted” by her second ability. Her ultimate is not an instant win but it certainly helps speed up the inevitable. 3 mana 3 loyalty points make her simply irresistible.
Lightning Bolt: Best removal for creatures, burn to the face, and whatever that you want to do, all at instant speed for 1 mana.
Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize: 6 copies is a comfortable number to run. Jund wants to strip opponent of their key cards as soon as possible and running 3 copies of each pinpoint discard increases your chances. Depending on what you are up against, decide whether to go with IOK or Seize first to avoid a whiff. The way I see it, Jund is essentially trading 1 mana for your opponent’s best card. Wicked!
Terminate: The premier in removal spells. BR, destroy target creature, no regeneration. No conditions, no drawback. Jund needs 2 to deal with the myriad fatties that are in format. Works extremely well against manlands too, which cards like Smother, Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse cant hit.
Maelstrom Pulse: While this is no Vindicate, Pulse has strengths of its own. It can hit multiple tokens or when you are lucky, catch 2 creatures of the same name. More importantly, it increases our chances against an early Karn. Planeswalkers are hard to deal with, especially if their loyalty points are out of bolt range. Pulse is our catch all answer to that and more.
Chandra, Pyromaster: She can certainly take over games with her card advantage engine. Her first ability is useful in pinging off the many X/1s in the format, win goyf wars, render a blocker useless to push through the final damage etc etc. 4 mana 4 loyalty means she will survive a colonnade strike. Running 2 is not advisable as you might “draw” into the second copy when using her card advantage ability. When the board is liliana and Chandra, you know your opponent is in for trouble.
Forked Bolt: This is a concession to Affinity and opposing turn 1 DRS. I want to ensure that Jund has a more than decent rate of survival against Affinity game 1 and thus Forked Bolt. I also want to
have more ways to kill Turn 1 DRS against BGx decks. I have once used Forked Bolt to off opposing confidant and a 1 loyalty liliana. Shiok!
Sideboard
Kind of tired typing this lengthy review so I will just cut to the chase on sideboard.
4 Fulminator Mage: Could be a 2/2 split with Sowing Salt but I prefer Mage because it is a turn faster. This is a concession to Tron, which is one of our worst matchups. If you are able to recur this with Sword of Light and Shadow, you are in good shape.
2 Wrench Mind: Modern’s Hymn to Tourach. Devastating against UWR decks without Leyline, combo, artefact light control decks. This is usually a 2 for 1. I have no plans of replacing it so far.
2 Anger of Gods: Against pod, tokens, soul sisters or the resurgent u/r delver decks. Exiling creatures is a nice touch, though that means your ooze will have to go hungry.
The 1 ofs
These are customisable and depends on what I feel like adding to prepare for a tourney. The lavamancer is good against creature based strategies, the swords against lingering souls and uwr decks, grudge and shatterstorm is my respect for affinity decks, go for the throat as extra removal. Olivia and Baloth are there to shore up any midrange mirrors.
Hope you have enjoyed reading my breakdown of my favourite deck Jund. I am pleased to say that sticking to this deck for months in a row has really improved my skills piloting Jund. I can now make key decisions quicker and play this deck with more confidence. Yes there are bad matchups which I do not like to face but overall I feel confident playing Jund against an unknown field, knowing that my IOK and Seize will light the way ahead. Once the plan is revealed, the Jund player can then plot his way to victory.
My trusty Jund deck will take a break while I try out other decks. When the time comes though, I will not hesitate to join a tourney with this deck though.
Best regards,
Qs
Thursday, January 16, 2014
about myself
like an oracle update i would like to do to myself. my name is weng rongcan. close friends from NS calls me affectionately as weng. close friends from my workplace calls me alex. close friends from my secondary school calls me rongcan pronounced as rong chan. close friends from my poly and uni calls me rongcan pronounced as rongcan. LOL
I am an avid Magic player and have been in the game since primary school days. I started out as a black player but eventually i fell in love with blue. probably because i like to think too much. blue cards are always about thinking. brainstorm, ponder, think twice etc. last time i was a noob and wasnt so familiar with the rules and with the things that blue could do. blue was just so powerful that it could do everything to the point that people suggested island should be banned.
i started with playing a mono black control deck with hynoptic specter and vampires like sengir vampire and krovikan vampire. a 1st turn dark ritual into hypnotic specter is so damn shiok! then came urza's saga in my secondary school days and OMG all the powerful black cards!!! duress, corrupt, darkest hour, yawgmoth's will, yawgmoth's bargain... but it didnt last long as yawgmoth's bargain and necropotence was banned :(. my friend's capsize deck couldnt even beat me. hahahaz.
i then stopped for a while because that woman threw away my deck when i quarrelled with her. and also due to me not hanging out with my secondary school players anymore. it was until i went to work at mac then i got my paycheck back and met my longtime playtest partner wenjun. i built the rebel deck and went to my first friday night magic (FNM) at serene center. i lost badly but i saw a lot of decks there. i could still remember my first match up against enchantress which i didnt even know how to beat! my second match up was against a UW control with weathered wayfarer. it had rewind and decree of justice. i immediately fell in love. that deck could say go and then think of what to do at the opponent's end of turn. therefore i built it and played it all the way till the first extended GP singapore. i bought flooded strands that time was S$10ea.
i needed an extended deck for gp singapore but i couldnt finish my psychatog deck in time so i borrowed pieces from my friends to build slide deck. i traded away my flooded strands for windswept heath at no top up:(. i scrubbed and decided to drop and go meet my gf. qs told me he was at that tourney too but i didnt see him. lol. then after this tourney my friends suddenly decide to take a break from magic and i took too. but i didnt desert the game. i did complete my 'tog deck but his mortal enemy was printed. sad.
fast forward to my army days. it was a twist of fate that I should meet qs who reignited the Magic player in me. Our conversation ever since then never fails to bring up the game but this is the story for this post. i played roughly all the blue decks in extended because i couldnt afford a set of tarmogoyfs. i sold away the windswept heaths and bought back flooded strands for S$12ea. eventually i top S$2 to turn those flooded strands into "溢れかえる岸辺". i also bought polluted delta at $28ea. i even bought another set for 1 of my friend who said he wanted it. he didnt buy from me in the end :)
in army days i played izzet tron with original antiquities 12 different tron artworks and usually got my tron pieces vindicated and extirpated by qs who's playing a zoo deck. after that i had a little success playing reveillark deck. then we moved on to extended where we had the most fun. we went to bishan's asia card shop as it was still called. my bobs which were borrowed from james never helped me to win games and often lost me the games...but won me games in tourneys... a theme which continued to this day. cwwwww didnt have to top to use counterbalance and i always topped to 3 lands. i couldnt afford goyfs that time so i played something that could eat goyfs alive... jotun grunts. that deck stayed with me all the time until i sold most of the bulk away. that was another turning point of my life. i loved those jap onslaught fetchlands and jap counterbalance so much.
so we played until we ord. then we took a break from compettive but still invested in a bit and got all the zendikar fetchlands for S$140.
i broke up with my girlfriend and in a folly 看不开 and sold all my prized possessions. even those goyfs i bought for S$50 when i helped qs to clear. all except my whole set of zendikar fetchlands and here i am now. upgraded and my life turned for the better. i improved in every aspect of my life, even in the aspect of struggling. ive gotten myself a wonderful girlfriend. i got a job which allowed me to get what i am playing now. i thank God.
then extended officially died and modern came along. but i only have fetchlands and i found out that my fetchlands have quadrupled in price! hahaz. during one of the reservists at the request of qs i brought in 2 of my decks to play and one of my section mates asked me this famous quotes..."weng, why got proxies ar? no money buy ar?" at this point my mind snapped. it triggered something in me. i went out to prove to him that is not i dont have the money to buy but i needed to test before buying the cards. anyway thanks birdman :) and the rest is history
I am an avid Magic player and have been in the game since primary school days. I started out as a black player but eventually i fell in love with blue. probably because i like to think too much. blue cards are always about thinking. brainstorm, ponder, think twice etc. last time i was a noob and wasnt so familiar with the rules and with the things that blue could do. blue was just so powerful that it could do everything to the point that people suggested island should be banned.
i started with playing a mono black control deck with hynoptic specter and vampires like sengir vampire and krovikan vampire. a 1st turn dark ritual into hypnotic specter is so damn shiok! then came urza's saga in my secondary school days and OMG all the powerful black cards!!! duress, corrupt, darkest hour, yawgmoth's will, yawgmoth's bargain... but it didnt last long as yawgmoth's bargain and necropotence was banned :(. my friend's capsize deck couldnt even beat me. hahahaz.
i then stopped for a while because that woman threw away my deck when i quarrelled with her. and also due to me not hanging out with my secondary school players anymore. it was until i went to work at mac then i got my paycheck back and met my longtime playtest partner wenjun. i built the rebel deck and went to my first friday night magic (FNM) at serene center. i lost badly but i saw a lot of decks there. i could still remember my first match up against enchantress which i didnt even know how to beat! my second match up was against a UW control with weathered wayfarer. it had rewind and decree of justice. i immediately fell in love. that deck could say go and then think of what to do at the opponent's end of turn. therefore i built it and played it all the way till the first extended GP singapore. i bought flooded strands that time was S$10ea.
i needed an extended deck for gp singapore but i couldnt finish my psychatog deck in time so i borrowed pieces from my friends to build slide deck. i traded away my flooded strands for windswept heath at no top up:(. i scrubbed and decided to drop and go meet my gf. qs told me he was at that tourney too but i didnt see him. lol. then after this tourney my friends suddenly decide to take a break from magic and i took too. but i didnt desert the game. i did complete my 'tog deck but his mortal enemy was printed. sad.
fast forward to my army days. it was a twist of fate that I should meet qs who reignited the Magic player in me. Our conversation ever since then never fails to bring up the game but this is the story for this post. i played roughly all the blue decks in extended because i couldnt afford a set of tarmogoyfs. i sold away the windswept heaths and bought back flooded strands for S$12ea. eventually i top S$2 to turn those flooded strands into "溢れかえる岸辺". i also bought polluted delta at $28ea. i even bought another set for 1 of my friend who said he wanted it. he didnt buy from me in the end :)
in army days i played izzet tron with original antiquities 12 different tron artworks and usually got my tron pieces vindicated and extirpated by qs who's playing a zoo deck. after that i had a little success playing reveillark deck. then we moved on to extended where we had the most fun. we went to bishan's asia card shop as it was still called. my bobs which were borrowed from james never helped me to win games and often lost me the games...but won me games in tourneys... a theme which continued to this day. cwwwww didnt have to top to use counterbalance and i always topped to 3 lands. i couldnt afford goyfs that time so i played something that could eat goyfs alive... jotun grunts. that deck stayed with me all the time until i sold most of the bulk away. that was another turning point of my life. i loved those jap onslaught fetchlands and jap counterbalance so much.
so we played until we ord. then we took a break from compettive but still invested in a bit and got all the zendikar fetchlands for S$140.
i broke up with my girlfriend and in a folly 看不开 and sold all my prized possessions. even those goyfs i bought for S$50 when i helped qs to clear. all except my whole set of zendikar fetchlands and here i am now. upgraded and my life turned for the better. i improved in every aspect of my life, even in the aspect of struggling. ive gotten myself a wonderful girlfriend. i got a job which allowed me to get what i am playing now. i thank God.
then extended officially died and modern came along. but i only have fetchlands and i found out that my fetchlands have quadrupled in price! hahaz. during one of the reservists at the request of qs i brought in 2 of my decks to play and one of my section mates asked me this famous quotes..."weng, why got proxies ar? no money buy ar?" at this point my mind snapped. it triggered something in me. i went out to prove to him that is not i dont have the money to buy but i needed to test before buying the cards. anyway thanks birdman :) and the rest is history
- i topped up $8ea to upgrade my ur, ug and gb fetchlands to jap
- i bought jap shocks at S$10ea when people were still playing innistrad cards.
- i bought jap deathrite shaman for S$8ea when they were not popular in modern yet.
- i bought english tarmogoyfs at S$100 and people said im crazy. furthermore i paid S$45ea to upgrade all of them to jap goyfs. so how is it? still laughing at me?
- i bought jap dark confidants at S$75ea and people also laughed at me.
- i bought jap liliana of the veil at S$50ea and people still laughed at me.
- i bought jap lorwyn thoughtseize at S$50 after averaging out the price for the first 3. go ahead and laugh but we'll see when it rotates ><
Thursday, January 09, 2014
Dies to removal
Jason: U willing to spend how much on goyf?
Player x:At most $200ea
Player x: But I kinda feel reluctant to pay so much for a card that gets pathed lol.
Me: Then play bogle lo
(Bonus) player x: haha then I can cont buying FS boosters. Since daybreak coronet also from there.
To the above player x. I would say. Just quit playing magic la. You can go open whatever packs you want with your abnn friend but I don’t care la. Just don’t drag my friend into opening packs with you just so that when he open good stuffs you can buy it for “friendship price” from him. Or I can sell you my path to exile for 200.01sgd, since path kills goyf so path should be more expensive here right? Knnbccb your money eye will never see the true value of the cards la.
/rant
What is dies to removal? Why do so many people use this argument all the time? Why sometimes dies to removal is a good thing? Why does tarmogoyf and some other creatures still cost so much more money than some of the best removal spells in the format?
All decks except combo decks play removals. However combo decks like tron, twins, pod play “wipes” or try to incorporate tempo elements and play “pinpoint” removals. So what are wipes and pinpoint
removals? Why play them? Why play one over the other?
Seasoned players can skip the next few paragraphs
/*****************************************************
Removals are separated into wipes and pinpoint.
Wipes are also known as sweeps, resets and “wrath”. They do things to each and/or all stuffs. They cost a bit more, they clear a bunch of things at the cost of 1 card. Sometimes they deal damage across the board. Sometimes they do -X/-X across to everyone, sometimes they just outright destroy stuffs.
Pinpoint are removals that “target”. Things like do this to target stuffs. They tend to be cheaper but they are often clear 1 thing at the cost of 1 card, unless... sometimes they do damage to target creature or player; sometimes they just outright destroy/remove the creature.
*****************************************************/
For some reasons I decided to not talk about edicts as they do require some kind of setups in order to function ideally.
Dies to removals means it goes into the graveyard. Anything and everything can go into the graveyard. Creatures with backside <3? burn. Creatures with backside >3? Destroy effects. Shroud/hexproof? Wipes. Indestructible? Remove/exile them, edict them or bounce(return to their hand) them.
Most people use “dies to removal” just to offset their own thoughts that that creature is lousy, useless and ineffective. I have casted hundreds of snapcaster mages and they usually died anyways. Even dark confidant sometimes takes a bolt for the team. And when he don’t, he wins the game for me… but he sometimes also loses it for me. So does dark confidant deserve his price tag?
There’s this class of creatures so powerful that they CANNOT be allowed to stick for even a turn. This class of creatures either comes with insanely strong abilities that take you so far ahead than the opponent, or have a godly come-into-play/enter-the-battlefield ability or merely undercosted. They must die once you see them. Dark confidant, deathrite shaman are some things that exist in this class. They generate so much advantage that it’s hard to get back on. This class of creatures at the very least helps take a removal that is intended for something else. This is when they dies to removals is actually a +point.
eg.1 i have a dark confidant and a tarmogoyf. i know you got 1x abrupt decay so if i play dark confidant first then you will use your abrupt decay on it then i can play tarmogoyf safely.
eg.2 if you spent 2 mana to kill a 1cc creature then I am ahead. I can then spend my 1 mana to do something else.
But what if your opponent play something that puts 2 permanents into play? For example your opponent spent 4 mana to play huntmaster of the fells. You play lightning bolt on the huntmaster of the fells itself but you still have got to take care of the wolf token! Although you have spent lesser mana but In this case you would be a card down. wouldn’t it be better if you played a pyroclasm or a electrolyze and get a card back?
Whenever you play a removal spell, try to get an advantage here and there so it adds up and hopefully it will take you ahead enough for you to win the game. try not to get 2for1 in the huntmaster of the fells example above.
So does a creature still seems bad even if it “dies to removal”? I don’t think so.
Player x:At most $200ea
Player x: But I kinda feel reluctant to pay so much for a card that gets pathed lol.
Me: Then play bogle lo
(Bonus) player x: haha then I can cont buying FS boosters. Since daybreak coronet also from there.
To the above player x. I would say. Just quit playing magic la. You can go open whatever packs you want with your abnn friend but I don’t care la. Just don’t drag my friend into opening packs with you just so that when he open good stuffs you can buy it for “friendship price” from him. Or I can sell you my path to exile for 200.01sgd, since path kills goyf so path should be more expensive here right? Knnbccb your money eye will never see the true value of the cards la.
/rant
What is dies to removal? Why do so many people use this argument all the time? Why sometimes dies to removal is a good thing? Why does tarmogoyf and some other creatures still cost so much more money than some of the best removal spells in the format?
All decks except combo decks play removals. However combo decks like tron, twins, pod play “wipes” or try to incorporate tempo elements and play “pinpoint” removals. So what are wipes and pinpoint
removals? Why play them? Why play one over the other?
Seasoned players can skip the next few paragraphs
/*****************************************************
Removals are separated into wipes and pinpoint.
Wipes are also known as sweeps, resets and “wrath”. They do things to each and/or all stuffs. They cost a bit more, they clear a bunch of things at the cost of 1 card. Sometimes they deal damage across the board. Sometimes they do -X/-X across to everyone, sometimes they just outright destroy stuffs.
Pinpoint are removals that “target”. Things like do this to target stuffs. They tend to be cheaper but they are often clear 1 thing at the cost of 1 card, unless... sometimes they do damage to target creature or player; sometimes they just outright destroy/remove the creature.
*****************************************************/
For some reasons I decided to not talk about edicts as they do require some kind of setups in order to function ideally.
Dies to removals means it goes into the graveyard. Anything and everything can go into the graveyard. Creatures with backside <3? burn. Creatures with backside >3? Destroy effects. Shroud/hexproof? Wipes. Indestructible? Remove/exile them, edict them or bounce(return to their hand) them.
Most people use “dies to removal” just to offset their own thoughts that that creature is lousy, useless and ineffective. I have casted hundreds of snapcaster mages and they usually died anyways. Even dark confidant sometimes takes a bolt for the team. And when he don’t, he wins the game for me… but he sometimes also loses it for me. So does dark confidant deserve his price tag?
There’s this class of creatures so powerful that they CANNOT be allowed to stick for even a turn. This class of creatures either comes with insanely strong abilities that take you so far ahead than the opponent, or have a godly come-into-play/enter-the-battlefield ability or merely undercosted. They must die once you see them. Dark confidant, deathrite shaman are some things that exist in this class. They generate so much advantage that it’s hard to get back on. This class of creatures at the very least helps take a removal that is intended for something else. This is when they dies to removals is actually a +point.
eg.1 i have a dark confidant and a tarmogoyf. i know you got 1x abrupt decay so if i play dark confidant first then you will use your abrupt decay on it then i can play tarmogoyf safely.
eg.2 if you spent 2 mana to kill a 1cc creature then I am ahead. I can then spend my 1 mana to do something else.
But what if your opponent play something that puts 2 permanents into play? For example your opponent spent 4 mana to play huntmaster of the fells. You play lightning bolt on the huntmaster of the fells itself but you still have got to take care of the wolf token! Although you have spent lesser mana but In this case you would be a card down. wouldn’t it be better if you played a pyroclasm or a electrolyze and get a card back?
Whenever you play a removal spell, try to get an advantage here and there so it adds up and hopefully it will take you ahead enough for you to win the game. try not to get 2for1 in the huntmaster of the fells example above.
So does a creature still seems bad even if it “dies to removal”? I don’t think so.
Friday, January 03, 2014
jund jund jund.
this time we have a guest writer to just got top 8 the first tourney of the year 2014! jason chen! without much ado... lets enjoy the first of this 3 part gem!
Jund, the King of Midrange. Part 1 of 3
As the title suggests, this will be an unabashed overview of my favourite deck in the Modern format. Having played this deck intensively for almost 3 months, I would like to share some of my insights with my friends and team mates and should they choose to pilot it or play against it in the future, to understand its intricacies. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my long-time playtest partner Alex Weng for creating this wonderful sharing platform. It is the beginning of many more personal anecdotes, tips, tricks and strategies of Magic: The Gathering.
Before I delve deeper into the subject proper, allow me to give an introduction of myself and my Magic history. Friends who have known me long enough or in NS call me Qs. I am an avid Magic player and have been in the game since secondary school days. I started out as a green player, literally and figuratively. Literally because Green was and still is one of my favourite colours in Magic. Having cards with real life parallels made Green a colour I could identify with. I had many fond memories of my Green Stompy deck, not much by today’s standards, but it was immensely satisfying to swing across the battlefield with an oversized fatty. Figuratively, I was considered a greenhorn because I would occupy myself with trivial details such as the flavour text and artist rather than how the card actually interacted with other cards in my deck. I guess this was another reason why I was attracted to green. It allowed me to put together a deck with little to no synergy, and still win me games. I wasn’t much of a Constructed player back then, though I did play in the 2007 Grand Prix Singapore piloting a Blue Green Madness deck (discarding Wonder to Wild Mongrel to give it flying was considered cool). After that, I tinkered a bit with a Temporary Solution deck (a toolbox of sorts held together by the search engine Enlightened Tutor) before I decided to stop playing Magic for good. Magic is a game where you need an active group of friends around you to keep it alive. It just wasn’t that popular among my friends back then.
Fast forward to my NS days, it was a twist of fate that I should meet Weng who reignited the Magic player in me. Our conversation ever since then never fails to bring up the game but this is a story for another post. To cut the story short, I played almost every standard deck that was good during those days. It was the Ravnica-Time Spiral block and I had access to some of the most powerful spells in Magic that are still causing problems today. We eventually ventured into the Extended format, which I will leave it to Weng to share our exploits and fun filled games. After NS, I took a hiatus from Magic again and it wasn’t until last reservist that my love for the game was once again reignited. I guess you can call me a fanatic at heart. You can take away my cards but you cannot take away my accumulated knowledge of the trivial details. Weng can attest to that. Having experimented with numerous Modern decks, I finally settled on a black-green-red midrange deck from a shard of Alara. This deck is notorious in the format for good reasons, and this leads me to my article, Jund, the King of Midrange.
In the first of a three part series, I will begin by explaining to you why Jund is so strong a deck. Rather than reiterate what experts have already commented about the deck, this article aims to provide personal insights while playing the deck and dare I say add on to the immense literature that the deck currently has. In part two, I will share my list here and explain my card choices. In the final instalment, I will provide an overview of how Jund fares against the rest and some advice on piloting as well as going against Jund. I hope you will enjoy reading these articles as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
Jund is at its core a midrange deck. What this means is that it does not seek to win by turn 4 (Modern is a 4 turn format) nor does it benefit if the game drags on infinitely (though Jund can certainly hold its own in these games). In my opinion, it does 3 simple things extremely well, brutal if I may even call it. They are removing opponent’s creatures, disrupting your opponent’s game plan and landing its own game winner. As to which cards serve these purposes will be covered in Part 2. I will now attempt to go through the strengths of Jund based on these 3 facets of the deck.
Strength
Qs [Symbol]
Jund, the King of Midrange. Part 1 of 3
As the title suggests, this will be an unabashed overview of my favourite deck in the Modern format. Having played this deck intensively for almost 3 months, I would like to share some of my insights with my friends and team mates and should they choose to pilot it or play against it in the future, to understand its intricacies. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my long-time playtest partner Alex Weng for creating this wonderful sharing platform. It is the beginning of many more personal anecdotes, tips, tricks and strategies of Magic: The Gathering.
Before I delve deeper into the subject proper, allow me to give an introduction of myself and my Magic history. Friends who have known me long enough or in NS call me Qs. I am an avid Magic player and have been in the game since secondary school days. I started out as a green player, literally and figuratively. Literally because Green was and still is one of my favourite colours in Magic. Having cards with real life parallels made Green a colour I could identify with. I had many fond memories of my Green Stompy deck, not much by today’s standards, but it was immensely satisfying to swing across the battlefield with an oversized fatty. Figuratively, I was considered a greenhorn because I would occupy myself with trivial details such as the flavour text and artist rather than how the card actually interacted with other cards in my deck. I guess this was another reason why I was attracted to green. It allowed me to put together a deck with little to no synergy, and still win me games. I wasn’t much of a Constructed player back then, though I did play in the 2007 Grand Prix Singapore piloting a Blue Green Madness deck (discarding Wonder to Wild Mongrel to give it flying was considered cool). After that, I tinkered a bit with a Temporary Solution deck (a toolbox of sorts held together by the search engine Enlightened Tutor) before I decided to stop playing Magic for good. Magic is a game where you need an active group of friends around you to keep it alive. It just wasn’t that popular among my friends back then.
Fast forward to my NS days, it was a twist of fate that I should meet Weng who reignited the Magic player in me. Our conversation ever since then never fails to bring up the game but this is a story for another post. To cut the story short, I played almost every standard deck that was good during those days. It was the Ravnica-Time Spiral block and I had access to some of the most powerful spells in Magic that are still causing problems today. We eventually ventured into the Extended format, which I will leave it to Weng to share our exploits and fun filled games. After NS, I took a hiatus from Magic again and it wasn’t until last reservist that my love for the game was once again reignited. I guess you can call me a fanatic at heart. You can take away my cards but you cannot take away my accumulated knowledge of the trivial details. Weng can attest to that. Having experimented with numerous Modern decks, I finally settled on a black-green-red midrange deck from a shard of Alara. This deck is notorious in the format for good reasons, and this leads me to my article, Jund, the King of Midrange.
In the first of a three part series, I will begin by explaining to you why Jund is so strong a deck. Rather than reiterate what experts have already commented about the deck, this article aims to provide personal insights while playing the deck and dare I say add on to the immense literature that the deck currently has. In part two, I will share my list here and explain my card choices. In the final instalment, I will provide an overview of how Jund fares against the rest and some advice on piloting as well as going against Jund. I hope you will enjoy reading these articles as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
Jund is at its core a midrange deck. What this means is that it does not seek to win by turn 4 (Modern is a 4 turn format) nor does it benefit if the game drags on infinitely (though Jund can certainly hold its own in these games). In my opinion, it does 3 simple things extremely well, brutal if I may even call it. They are removing opponent’s creatures, disrupting your opponent’s game plan and landing its own game winner. As to which cards serve these purposes will be covered in Part 2. I will now attempt to go through the strengths of Jund based on these 3 facets of the deck.
Strength
- Removing opposing creatures does not warrant a big hooha from any critic but the very fact that Jund does this extremely well and is able to capitalise from it deserves a mention. With so many removals packed in the deck, opposing creatures are not expected to stick around for long (read Bob and DRS). With the path clear, Jund’s very own beatstick will make short work of the opponent in no time.
- Being able to disrupt your opponent’s game plan is perhaps one of the most powerful things you can do in Magic. Imagine keeping a hand with a key card that you prayed very hard that you could cast only for it to be stripped away by a certain 1 mana sorcery. Imagine this feeling amplified throughout that game as Jund continues to find ways to strip your hand of key cards. Good game. The fact that Jund is able to disrupt opponent’s game plan makes it favourable in almost every matchup. But other decks could run the same suite of disruption you say. Well, as with the previous point, Jund is able to capitalise profitably after said removal and/or disruption. Not many decks can do that effortlessly.
- Landing game winners is usually the stuff control decks are made of. Hold the fort until you can land a Baneslayer Angel or the sorts to seal your opponent’s fate. Well, sorry to disappoint but Jund could do that on the second turn with a Tarmogoyf. When left unanswered, several of Jund’s cards will threaten to take over the game. Again, I dare say that not many decks in Modern have the capability of boasting several game winners in their list of 75.
- Jund has several 1 drops that are absolutely devastating in their own ways. Lead with a DRS and you are ahead. Lead with pinpoint discard and you have information and most likely have disrupted your opponent’s game plan. If all else fails, putting a tapped manland is not bad at all. You know the manland will cause some trouble come turn 3 onwards. Being able to land 1 drops consistently is a powerful thing to do. You are raising the tempo of the game rather than sit back and “draw-go”. It brings the fight to your opponent’s door step.
- The quality of Jund’s 2 drops is unquestionable. Magic has been referred to as the game of 2 drops. You are applying pressure early in the game with either goyf or the “must-kill” Bob. Either way, your opponent will feel uneasy if any sticks. While other 2 drops fade away or become obsolete as the game progresses, Jund’s 2 drops “strangely” gets better over the course of the game. I wonder why [Symbol]
- Planeswalkers are a pain in the butt. They often force the opponent to deal with it or risk having the planeswalker take over the game entirely. Jund is blessed with Modern’s most powerful planeswalker, Liliana of the Veil.
- Jack of all trades, master of none. Jund does everything well yet does not shine in a single department. No deck has more removals than a UWR control with Snapcaster shenanigans thrown in. No deck has more creatures than Pod, whose creatures double as midrange attackers by day and combo wannabes by night. No deck is more disruptive than Mono black discard/8 rack. Jund cannot and does not claim to be better than these decks in a specific department. Yet it can win against these decks simply because it can do a strong follow up after a “specific action”. Burn and swing, disrupt and land a winner etc etc.
- Unlike many other decks, Jund does not have a linear strategy. It seeks to sin through “fair” play by removing, disrupting and good old creature interactions in the red zone. While this means that Jund cannot outrightly (though it can at times) win against other decks, it also means that it does not fold to a specific hate strategy. You can make life difficult for Jund, but you cannot shut it out entirely. Decks like Affinity, Storm, Combo variants are examples of decks that can be hated out.
Though there are many many more points, I simply cannot write everything. I would like to end off the strengths of Jund with what I believe is its greatest quality, depth. It is resilient against board sweeps (manlands, planeswalkers), aggro rush (tons of removal), fatties (cheap removals), control decks (early pressure with Tarmogoyf), graveyard based strategies (DRS and Ooze). Anything else there is always pinpoint discard. It is a deck with so much raw power that the player is often spoilt for choice as to how to dismantle the opponent’s strategy. In the next part of this series, I will share with you my deck list and do a breakdown of the individual cards in the list. In such a powerful deck, cards need to justify their place just like a Real Madrid team.
Qs [Symbol]
Thursday, January 02, 2014
report sgcard 1/1/2014
its the new year day. qs and me from my team went to sgcards as medic jio-ed us. ask us to ask for permission say its his bday or what but then he himself never go. end up both of went to do battle. i even brought the cards that terence want to borrow from me. straight to the games. i try to keep it short. i played this list
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/25854_Jamming-Modern.html
scroll down to the uwr geist list 2nd at protour qualifier except for the following changes.
mb
-2x sphinx revelation +2x remand (i like remand, it won me lots of games i should be losing)
sb
2x negate
1x izzet charm
3x leyline of sanctity
1x path to exile
1x tectonic edge
2x supreme verdict
2x engineered explosives
1x lightning helix
2x wear/tear
(wrath of god can be countered, nobody plays thrun anymore... i have seen affinity fighting through stony silence wtih etched champion so its not a "i win" card. we have a good matchup against tron anyways, so sowing salt and stony silence are not needed. wear/tear fights affinity and bogles and twins and spellskites. not bad. izzet charm is a spell pierce with burn for DRS and sometimes you can catch a scavenging ooze with its pants down)
round 1 tokens he's new but his friend the ns guy playing jund keep giving him advice. i told him to shut up. i said sorry to him after that anyways.
game 1 tidehollow sculler keep taking my path to exile. he then played intangible virtue and attacked me with tidehollow sculler, i should have blocked with GST#1 end up i block the 3/3 vor token. i swing back with GST#2 and vcliques and colonnade(13dmg!) when i see his hand has nothing to push through damage. he left 1. he top deck intangible virtue...
game 2 i side in sweeps, negate and wear/tear. turn 1 ee for 0. counter and burn any thing that try to stick. thats that
game 3 he starts with vor, then vor, then vor. i burn, supreme verdict and then stabilise at 1 life. i had a bolt for the last vor and ee for 0. but i cant crack fetch for R. so thats that.
1-2, 0-0-1
round 2 rg aggro. some one from ahjianz team
game 1 i had a starting hand of 2x tectonic edge, 1x island, 1x mountain and no bolt and cryptics. hes got no gguide. made a mistake to electolyze AFTER he declare attacker so he ghorclan rampager bloodrushed 1x burning-tree emissary. eventually he got there.
game 2 i side in life gain, cheap removals and ee i thought i stabilised... then he topdeck..... flinthoof boar. anything that deals 3 dmg would get him there anyway so...
0-2, 0-0-2
round 3 bye
2-0 , 1-0-2
round 4 jund qs my playtest partner. gave him the win so he can go top 8. i cant play top 8 anyway
game 1 usual kill whatever that tries to stick. and tiago cryptics got me there
game 2 side in all point removals. usual kill whatever that tries to stick. goyf slips through and got him there
game 3 usual kill whatever that tries to stick. and tiago cryptic chains got me there.
0-2, 1-0-3
round 5 mill. friendly mode already
game 1 turn 2 glimpse the unthinkable me. i turn 3 GST. he turn 3 thoughtseize me and scoops
game 2 side in leyine of sanctity and counters. he archive trap me and surgical extract my leyline, tiago and cryptics. jace, memory adept got him there
game 3 same as game 2. i thought i stablised but he topdeck..... jace, memory adept and got there.
1-2, 1-0-4
got 2 packs. qs paid the entry for me so i returned him 10.5 instead of 15 for a pack. as for him...
qs played
round 1 ahjianz seismic loam
round 2 some black deck with blasting station and gravecrawler
round 3 jund mirror
round 4 me
round 5 id
quarters grixis
play of the day
qs had 2 lands and a treetop village in play. he had a blackcleave cliffs in his hand . he then swinged with treetop village on turn 4. it got destroyed and second main phase he played the blackcleave cliffs UNTAPPED. good play.
to end it off. this is a start to log our team's adventure. this place is also to share some tips and tricks and decklists and strategies and metagames and probably organise some team activities. please asking whether is it time to buy "insert card here" or anybody selling or "insert card here" price ok or not is strongly discouraged~ political stuffs still ok~
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/25854_Jamming-Modern.html
scroll down to the uwr geist list 2nd at protour qualifier except for the following changes.
mb
-2x sphinx revelation +2x remand (i like remand, it won me lots of games i should be losing)
sb
2x negate
1x izzet charm
3x leyline of sanctity
1x path to exile
1x tectonic edge
2x supreme verdict
2x engineered explosives
1x lightning helix
2x wear/tear
(wrath of god can be countered, nobody plays thrun anymore... i have seen affinity fighting through stony silence wtih etched champion so its not a "i win" card. we have a good matchup against tron anyways, so sowing salt and stony silence are not needed. wear/tear fights affinity and bogles and twins and spellskites. not bad. izzet charm is a spell pierce with burn for DRS and sometimes you can catch a scavenging ooze with its pants down)
round 1 tokens he's new but his friend the ns guy playing jund keep giving him advice. i told him to shut up. i said sorry to him after that anyways.
game 1 tidehollow sculler keep taking my path to exile. he then played intangible virtue and attacked me with tidehollow sculler, i should have blocked with GST#1 end up i block the 3/3 vor token. i swing back with GST#2 and vcliques and colonnade(13dmg!) when i see his hand has nothing to push through damage. he left 1. he top deck intangible virtue...
game 2 i side in sweeps, negate and wear/tear. turn 1 ee for 0. counter and burn any thing that try to stick. thats that
game 3 he starts with vor, then vor, then vor. i burn, supreme verdict and then stabilise at 1 life. i had a bolt for the last vor and ee for 0. but i cant crack fetch for R. so thats that.
1-2, 0-0-1
round 2 rg aggro. some one from ahjianz team
game 1 i had a starting hand of 2x tectonic edge, 1x island, 1x mountain and no bolt and cryptics. hes got no gguide. made a mistake to electolyze AFTER he declare attacker so he ghorclan rampager bloodrushed 1x burning-tree emissary. eventually he got there.
game 2 i side in life gain, cheap removals and ee i thought i stabilised... then he topdeck..... flinthoof boar. anything that deals 3 dmg would get him there anyway so...
0-2, 0-0-2
round 3 bye
2-0 , 1-0-2
round 4 jund qs my playtest partner. gave him the win so he can go top 8. i cant play top 8 anyway
game 1 usual kill whatever that tries to stick. and tiago cryptics got me there
game 2 side in all point removals. usual kill whatever that tries to stick. goyf slips through and got him there
game 3 usual kill whatever that tries to stick. and tiago cryptic chains got me there.
0-2, 1-0-3
round 5 mill. friendly mode already
game 1 turn 2 glimpse the unthinkable me. i turn 3 GST. he turn 3 thoughtseize me and scoops
game 2 side in leyine of sanctity and counters. he archive trap me and surgical extract my leyline, tiago and cryptics. jace, memory adept got him there
game 3 same as game 2. i thought i stablised but he topdeck..... jace, memory adept and got there.
1-2, 1-0-4
got 2 packs. qs paid the entry for me so i returned him 10.5 instead of 15 for a pack. as for him...
qs played
round 1 ahjianz seismic loam
round 2 some black deck with blasting station and gravecrawler
round 3 jund mirror
round 4 me
round 5 id
quarters grixis
play of the day
qs had 2 lands and a treetop village in play. he had a blackcleave cliffs in his hand . he then swinged with treetop village on turn 4. it got destroyed and second main phase he played the blackcleave cliffs UNTAPPED. good play.
to end it off. this is a start to log our team's adventure. this place is also to share some tips and tricks and decklists and strategies and metagames and probably organise some team activities. please asking whether is it time to buy "insert card here" or anybody selling or "insert card here" price ok or not is strongly discouraged~ political stuffs still ok~
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