I would start by getting rid of the Gate Keepers, and any of the dual cards you have where you cant cast both halves.

This is terrible advice.  Do not get rid of cards like Turn/burn or Far/away.  These two cards imparticular are some of the best in class removal of its kind.  They see play at the highest levels of competative magic they are snap includes if you are in Blue, black, red or any combination. 

The only problem I see with playing these cards is you're strictly UR (blue red) and you can only support turn/burn, but I'd play a few copies of it.

I do agree with TRZ on the gate keepers. 

You're also way over 60 cards and you need to trim down to 60.

Take a look at this article by Travis Woo.  He's a notorious magic deck brewer and it seems like using his deck as a template could help you stream line your build a little.  It's a little older and could use some updating, but the strategy of the deck is still valid.

http://www.channelfireball.com/articles … zet-blitz/

i might stay away from bitcoins.  I've heard the government might be getting ready to crack down on the buying and selling of bitcoins.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/52 … -backlash/

I like your UG list the best, but you can make some small changes to improve on it still.

What to do:
1. Frost burn weird doesn't belong in the deck if you're not doing devotion.  Cut them, gyre sage and the raptors for some sylvan cyratids or voyaging satyr's at the least. 

2. A few counters would help the deck a lot.  A couple essence scatter and syncopates instead of disperse. 

3. Bow of nylea is really good in a deck like this.  I'd put in a couple of those. 

4. Go up a land if you're worried about the land count, guessing you don't have 4 breeding pools?  Temple of Mystery?

5. +2 cyclonic rift.

6. +1 chimera, -1 prophet.

7. +3 divination

Why:
1. You're already clogging the ground with wall of frost, and the ramp and extra mana will help you cast things like primespeaker and hold up counters.  The ramp, and extra mana you can get from plasm capture will help with pulkranos (spelling?)

2. 99.99999% of people are going to try and kill you with a creature.  Escence scatter is easy to cast and is pure value against most decks. Syncopate is most likey just as useful as escence scatter and can catch other things like planes walkers, which you don't have a real good way to deal without side of just beating them down.

3. Have you every played trading post?  Bow of Nylea is like a green better trading post.  It makes all your attacks deadly for your opponent, gains life, places counters... it's juicey juicey goodness for a deck like this.

4. yeah so, lands help a lot... no real explanation needed.

5. So gods are hard to deal with, except they are permanents and you can kind of tempo them, with cyclonic rift.  And over loaded rift against a mono blue devotion board would be devastating for them.

6. the life gain you get from the chimera is pretty good, and necessary, The prophet inst a win condition and it doesn't really advance your life total or your board. It's good, but not that good, and 2 of the creatures that matter already have flash... the big benefit here is flashing in a prime speaker, which is just kinda "cute", but not really back breaking.

7. you're in blue, you need to utilize it.  If not divination then something like inspiration.  You need to be able to draw additional cards and 2 prime speakers won't cut it.

updated lists with more for trade.

I'm playing RWB.  I made 2nd place the other day, but when we cut to top 8.  I had a tough match against UW-master of waves/control.  I ended up losing, but here's some things I learned.  I let my opponent turn on devotion to thassa twice to chain her up to some rocks, then proceed to wipe the rest of the board. 

While master of waves is pro red his tokens aren't and that's where the beating comes from.  Other than pro-red he's a 4 mana 2/1 which is not a real threat from most decks.  it's not unstoppable by any means, but it's good and you _HAVE_ to have an answer for it when it comes down.  The trick is almost any answer will do outside some narrow red cards.

bump, added clarification to post.

407

(8 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

I think everyone just wants to be updated regularly.  It's a popular feature and it's missed on the website. 

Everyone appreciates the work deckbox does to help foster growth in the community.

Note: Prefer to Modern for Modern and Standard for Standard.  Will trade some standard cards for modern if you're willing to go that route, but not Modern for standard.

Standard Wants - GR Devotion
http://deckbox.org/sets/74955?s=j&o=d
Stormbreath
Xenagos
Domri

Modern Wants - Affinity list Starting from Square one.  Would prefer to trade for most expensive first.
http://deckbox.org/sets/502486

Trading for moxes, looking for Ravagers and Lands

Sorry to hear that, but don't get discouraged. 

Mill usually isn't a viable win condition against most decks.

410

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I agree, I wouldn't want them to spend time fixing the old tool, but removing it before the new one was ready doesn't sound good either. 

I don't know about the financials associated with this site.  It's a fantastic tool for the MTG community.  So I don't want to speak for them if they can't afford the bandwidth required by the old tool okay... sure. *shrug* I just don't remember reading the why of it and people keep asking where the tool went. Seems like there's a bit of popular demand for it.

411

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I am not a developer or an admin, however.

To me the advantage provided by the tool was the main reason to visit the site.   I can't imagine what kind of performance issues would have been bad enough to take down one of the most popular features.

Not trying to be a jerk.  I really don't understand how slower performance impacts the way the site works.  I never saw anyone complain that it ran slowly or caused any issues.

412

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Do we know why the old one was taken down in the mean time?  I can't remember seeing an explanation for that.

413

(1 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

JUNK (GWB) is built to beat your style of control.  It's going to be a tough match up.  Omen speakers are good, but they won't save you from smiters.  The first SCG open after rotation the 2nd place UW used yoked ox as a sideboard card against aggro.  Something like that can work for RDW, but not for junk.

One of the best sideboard cards against junk is Glare of Heresy.  It stops voice tokens and it can remove a smiter for 2 CMC. You also, have to have 4 copies of supreme verdict.  You're just dead without it right now. 


You just have to be careful about how you play against junk.  Voice is going to punish you for playing cards like cyclonic rift and celestial flare.

there's a feature currently missing that they're working returning.  If you're a member of some of the groups on here, then it should show you trading opportunities for those groups at the bottom of your profile.

Also, you need to understand that you're just hedging your bets against control.  It's a little like rock paper scissors.  Aggro>Control>mid-range>aggro.....  You can do everything you can, and still have tough games.  It's not unwinable, but I'm just making sure to point out that you know you have to play better than normal going in.

for the control vs. control match-up, jace is fine.  Also you'd want to pack in more counters.  Those games can be grueling and will often come down to card advantage.

hosj321 wrote:

I hate having too many lands though, because when it gets sketchy midgame and I'm drawing lands it pretty much means my demise.

Sphinx's rev loves land... trust us here.

The Pithing needle maindeck has pretty much always seemed like a good move for me. It nukes Planeswalkers and black pretty much has no way of dealing with it. It's easier to just let a planeswalker resolve and then pithing needle it the next turn for 1. I will get 2 more dissolves for sure. I may swap out a cancel or two for an Essence Scatter, not a bad idea.

essence scatter yes.  You don't need pithing maindeck with 4 detentions spheres and counters.  Also Ætherling kills planeswalkers dead.

I am working on at least 1 more verdict and 1 more sphinx.

yup

Seraph of the sword allows me to survive mid game against demons / little flyers / etc.

something like omen speaker is good against aggro, digs a little and can be saced to the demon later?  not ideal, but something to think about.  Also, eslspeth generates enough tokens to keep demon locked down.  If you're gonna play seraph for that another elspeth would just be better.

The Paladin is great against the red & black decks I'm running up against + immune to doom blade / hero's downfall.

but not anger of the gods,  fiendslayer is a good card.  to me a precinct captain would do the same thing and occasionally create tokens for you.  Not a huge fan of either strat though.  If you play fewer creatures you blank a lot of their removal.

Thassa would never become a creature, not sure if the scry every turn is worth it. Aetherling already is unblockable for 2.

Yeah probably not thassa, if you can't get another jaceaot, then perhaps a memory adept would be sufficient.  It's an extra card a turn, with a possible alternate win condition. *shrug*

Should I swap a dissolve / cancel or two for a render silent?

Nah, 2 disolve, 2 syncs, 2 escence scatters would be a standard counter spell package here.  Most decks are tapping out or very nearly tapping out every turn these days.  Preventing them from playing spells and making it harder to cast isn't a good idea.

You're light on lands.  You need to go up to 25-26 minimum.  Control decks need to reliably get to 10-ish mana.  You could put in a couple mutavaults here too.  You don't need encroaching wastes.  There is no kessig wolf run or cavern to blow up anymore.  You'd basically be targeting mutavault, which you block with your own vault or chump with omen speakers potentially.

I don't think you maindeck a pithing needle.  That's usually for the side.  You're deck has lots of answers built in already. 

Dissolve is a strictly better cancel... if you're going to run cancel why not go up to max dissolve?  (which I'm not suggesting that you do, I think you should cut all the cancels and put in two essence scatters).  Essence scatter is extremely efficient removal for this type of deck.  4 celestial flares seems overboard.  I'd cut it to at least 2.

banisher priest and fiendslayer paladin are good cards, but not what this deck wants to be doing.  You could include omen speaker, but I'm not a huge fan of that.  Seraph of the sword seems out of place. I think you want more bombs here or something that provides card advantage.  thassa maybe (since your missing a jace or two)?  Prognostic Sphinx?

I do think you need 3 sphinx's revs and 3-4 verdicts though.  I'd make that a priority.  Another jace wouldn't kill you either.

we can view each other collections.  Otherwise what's the point of having a trading website right?  smile

With your selection being pretty slim, IDK what help I could offer.  Just evaluate your cards and find as much synergy as possible.

well, speaking from experiance, if budget is a factor then you need to focus on one deck at a time.

I am MORE than willing to trade. But the problem with that is that no one would want what I have to offer.

Cheer, up you're a nice guy.. there's someone for everyone. tongue J/K

Uhh, chandra and ralzarek, and the blood crypt aren't doing you much good if you want to play control with a mill win condition.  I'm sure you can offer those and get some bites.  Now is a good time to trade chandra she just spiked 15 bucks.  She won't get much better.

Well, DRS is an eternal card... sounds like in your case they were just trying to haggle aggressively over the value of the cards.  DRS doesn't see much standard play it's price is souly based on Modern/legacy.

Auto_D wrote:

I appreciate the advice given here, but to repeat what I said to the last guy, this is a casual play deck. I've given up hope on winning anything. I have too few rare cards, and no funds.

Also, I only have one Consuming Aberration, and only two Planeswalkers: the most resent Chandra and Ral Zarek.


Well, which is it?  Casual or FNM? In my mind (and most other peoples) casual is just with friends and kitchen table magic.  FNM is a level of competition.  Not a high one, but depending on your area, it can be pretty competitive.

To the issue of budget, there is only so much you can do if you're not willing to trade and buy more cards.  You can take the advice given here and try to apply it the best you can, but the cards suggested are suggested because they're the best at what they do.  You can substitute but it won't be as good.

Also the major piece of advice still stands.  You don't play "mill" you play "control" with a mill win condition.  That's the biggest take away from your thread right now.

Jesse_Custer wrote:

its hard to find cards that will remain useful for the long haul, which is why Legacy and Modern retain such high costs, the cards stop being just a card, and become more like an investment, which is strange to think of since its just a game.


To this point, people probably said the same thing about sports memorabilia or Star Wars actions figures.  As long as people play magic and "value" the cards there will be investment potential and you really have to consider that aspect.  If you came across a signed Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth would you throw it away?  I don't play sports, don't follow it, don't really care, but I know someone does.

Relevant
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/mickey-mantle-signed-card

It's not a matter of "jacking stuff" up it's a matter of supply / demand.  Some people like the foreign ones and there just aren't many here.  I have seen people clamor over foreign cards, and even trading battles to get a foil Korean rare.  It's also about knowing your area, if there are a lot of eastern Europe immigrants in your area, there might be a premium on German or Russian cards.  I don't buy into the hype, I avoid trading for them but to each their own. *shrug*

I'm not sure what you mean by cross format trading?  If you mean cards that are standard legal or modern etc.. then if they don't play standard or they're trading cards that are played in eternal formats then there is an intrinsic value to those.  They will hold value over a card like say Thragtusk.  I traded for it at 14 it's now 4 after rotation.  That's part of the game.  Someone might value a Thoughtseize a little higher right now than the retail price because they know it will hold its value over time.  Thoughtseize is played in modern and legacy, it'll never go out of style.

The market is in flux right now too, since rotation just happened, card prices will stabilize in a month or so.

Also, you really can't be mad at people for valuing something they own.  (have you seen pawn stars? tongue)  You can try to negotiate with them but in the end if they value something higher than you do, what can you do? All you can do is thank them for their time and move on.