426 Reply by elpablo

(19 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

tav2smart4u wrote:

A few words of advice. Friends don't let friends play mill.

too true.

FNM is usually standard which means only cards from RTR block, m14 and now theros.  You'll have to limit your card selection down to those sets unless your store plays modern.  Also, it's been said many times on these forums.  You don't play "mill", you play control, with a mill win condition.  Throwing every card that says "mill" into a deck doesn't make it playable, no more than throwing everything in your fridge into a blender makes a milkshake. 

You have to have a plan.  Mill decks (while not popular and not particularly competitive or effective) can still work. At this point you'd have to be UB or Esper (BUW), you might even be able to do grixis (UBR). You must have a way to deal with opposing creatures, removal and board wipes.  You must have a way to deal with opposing planes walkers, removal and counterspells. You must have a way to deal with opposing control, card advantage and counter spells. 

You're really looking to build a list similar to this.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat … ckID=59588

and then just replace the other win conditions with a little mill.  Instead of Ætherling you'd want jace memory adept, and perahaps anotehr mill creature like consuming aberration.  This type of deck also lost a key card in standard when rotation happened. Nephalia drownyard.  You can't play that in anything but modern now, and mill really isn't a valid strategy there to win an FNM.

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427 Reply by elpablo

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

There's usually a slight premium on the japanese version for people trading in the states. That's true of all foreign language cards.

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428 Reply by elpablo

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

right right... more like a keyword ability, flying or unblockable than a type. 

probably won't come up much anyway.  Not a lot of monsterous creatures seeing play at the moment.  Fleecemane and emberswallower is all I can think of.

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429 Reply by elpablo

(7 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it actually adds an additional "type" to the monster so for fleecemane it would actually be a Monstrous Creature - Cat, in the type area of the card.

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430 Reply by elpablo

(7 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Alms beast and blood baron are fine, what he needs to turn them on is erebous there's a decent discussion about this type of deck in the link below.

You'd want whip and other things that turn on the god for an extra beater, I like the idea of underworld connections instead of read the bones.  It's BB so is lifebain and the whip. Also, underworld is slightly less damage than than RTB which could be morelevent depending on how long it takes you to get your lifegain on board.

http://modernnerddom.blogspot.com/2013/ … ter.html#!
http://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments … e_for_scg/

Diabolic tutor is terrible advice.  You shouldn't not be trying to tutor in a standard legal deck. It's a huge tempo loss and should only be done if you have some sort of wacky combo strategy.  You woudl basically tutor and do nothing for a turn and gain no value.

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431 Reply by elpablo

(2 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Usually things that are relevant to the format.  For standard right now it's going to be Boars, Soldiers, Swine (pigs?), maybe Zombies. 

Spirits are out in standard.  IDK about the other formats.

Also, to be honest, a lot of people just print their tokens and are usually only interested in alters from well known MTG artists.

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432 Reply by elpablo

(8 replies, posted in Site Discussion)

2nd this.

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433 Reply by elpablo

(14 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Other people are doing it and it _is_ a good idea. tongue

I think you would understand the reason for a full set of Domri in the deck if you saw it in action.  Your math from what I can tell is basically right, but you _DO_ want to see domri as often as possible and the example TB~ gave was spot on. 

Domri is/can be removal, but more importantly he's card advantage in a heavy creature based deck.  IMO, i would ramp to domri turn 2, then cast a big fatty turn 3. 

I'm sorry, but your advice is just not relevant in this instance.  In other midrange decks or control decks your right.  You don't usually want a 4 of planeswalker.  You just need to be able to get to them when you need them.  Two domri's in an opening hand is fine as long as you have other action, or even just land and ramp.  He is a prime target for removal and he's an important cog in the machine.  Redundancy is exactly what you need in this case.

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434 Reply by elpablo

(14 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

TBittenbender wrote:

@EGANN you obviously haven't had the chance to -2 domri and fight, then cast another domri -2 that domri fight again and then swing out with everything.. watch the reaction on their face as you pull that stunt on them.

Even worse if you do it with a reckoner.  Though Naya is a big shaky atm.

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435 Reply by elpablo

(14 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Egann wrote:

FOUR planeswalkers? Of the same type? That's like, $75 of card you can't play at any given time. Especially considering Rade is primarily a support planeswalker.

Personally, I don't ever put more than one planeswalker of a certain type in any given deck, although for a particularly badass one I can see grounds for a pair.

Think of it this way: as is you have SIX pair combinations of cards you cannot possibly cast. If you replaced half your Domri Rade's with Garruk Relentless (for example: it'd transform into a black card) there would only be two card combinations you couldn't cast: the pairs. The other four pair combinations would actually wind up with some fair card synergy, as after Garruk takes damage he's spouting deathtouch wolf tokens which Rade's -2 power can force onto particular permanents. Decent removal, especially because it's not using any of your cards or mana.

The difference goes up even more if you assume you draw three or four of the cards. With three planeswalker cards you're guaranteed to be able to play two of them, as opposed to one right now. With four you're guaranteed to be able to play half of them, as opposed to a quarter of them right now.

4 Domri's is pretty standard for a RG aggro deck.  And i'm pretty sure he wants to stay standard/ for rotation.

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436 Reply by elpablo

(9 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

How are your gods getting destroyed they're indestructable? tongue

Auramancer is garbo, you don't need it.   You need your 3 drops to be aggressive.  A good utility spell is brave the elements.

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437 Reply by elpablo

(3 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Here's my .02

I don't like the mist cutter in an aggressive deck the X cost is going to be a problem if you draw it early. 

The reason scooze worked in keibler aggro before was because you could board wipe a little easier.  Scooze is gonna be a little harder to manage now for RG.  Though, It's not bad and if you go with a little more green it could help for another combo off burning tree.  *shrug* testing will tell.

Instead of madcap think about the red ordeal.  Go a little lower on your mana curve imo.  Rakdos cackler, expirment one, burning tree into an ordeal seems pretty darn good.  You can easily get damage through quickly with it.

Also, I don't think I like reckoner in the deck. While he combos with domri he's hard to cast in the deck.

Everyone has been singing the praises of magma jet, but for me so far, it hasn't done hardly anything.  The damage is almost irrelevant in the format, you need 3 or more to even come close to killing most stuff and one of the biggest matchups you'll face right after rotation is white aggro, and fiendslayer is immune to the jet.  I'd switch these for mizziums.

Edit, I like ty's suggestion of the reverent hunter, particularly over reckoner since he's easy to cast. And he combos really well, with exp 1, burning tree.

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438 Reply by elpablo

(9 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

The shocklands are gonna be in standard for the next year and they're played heavily in the eternal formats.  You're doing yourself a disservice by not picking them up.  Both in helping your mana base and future value.

Why golgari charm?  Really the better hexproof deck is GW to be honest and it's really not all that "hexproofy" anymore.  It just runs tons of aggressively costed creatures and efficient enchants.

Also, the "ordeals" are amazing value, but imo the best ones are the red and white ones.

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439 Reply by elpablo

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

IDK, I think there are too many cards that stone wall agro in limited. Lots of high toughness.

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440 Reply by elpablo

(10 replies, posted in DFW Mages)

I played at Denny's as well.  I tried the whirlwind spot and it wasn't competitive enough for me.  It felt kind of like beating up a bunch of kids for their lunch money and the prize payout was abysmal.  No offense to whirlwind they have to support the group of people that show up. just not for me.

Evo off mcart does modern every Monday, and you can always find people up there playing modern/willing to play.  They draft for $10 every Wednesday and FNM has pretty decent pay out for standard.  Got 22 packs at a "super FNM" a couple weeks ago.

I"m hedging towards modern jund, but it's gonna be a long haul.  As long as they keep reprinting cards like thoughtseize i'll get there.

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441 Reply by elpablo

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Elspeth has been featured in a couple (or more) articles on the big websites.  Kind of fueling their own fire a little.

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442 Reply by elpablo

(15 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

ZebN wrote:
Lukecelmare wrote:

P.S. perhaps drop vile rebirth and add Wild Guess? i feel like i have to draw a lot of cards for this deck

I would probably use Dragon Mantle actually.  With your token generation you will most likely have a target for it, and it makes your guy better while drawing a card for one red.

I don't like either of those options really. Wild Guess requires you to have cards in hand so it's a dead draw if you're handless and Dragon mantle can replaces itself, but doesn't provide card advantage.  It provides a mediocre pump ability.  If you need a mana dump you're better off with something like Hammer of Porphuros and it makes land draws later in the game live draws instead of mana flooding.

If you need card draw on color then something like read the bones is probably good.  Also if you get a hold of Porphuros, God of fiery stuff then you might consider something like Xathrid necro along side young pyro.

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443 Reply by elpablo

(9 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Black, because thoughtseize! smile

Really though, black has a good promo and it has some of the only common direct removal in the set.  I hope to get decent black/blue or red.

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444 Reply by elpablo

(11 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

buying singles is always more efficient, but there's something to be said about cracking a pack, its like scratching a winning lottery ticket when you open something good.  Also, opening cards in packs can present interesting trading opportunities.

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445 Reply by elpablo

(11 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

typically when people say "build a deck for $X" it means the total value of the deck in question.  Only you know what you have in your inventory.

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446 Reply by elpablo

(11 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

When you say build a deck for $50 and hold up at an FNM, do you mean win?  I would say no.  There are budget decks out there,  an RDW is probably still going to be pretty cheap, but if you cap yourself so low I'd say your chances aren't good. 

Check out the article below.  The red decks you see there will be pretty "budget", but they're not the greatest.
http://southfloridamagic.com/archives/burn-baby-burn

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447 Reply by elpablo

(15 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

A couple notes on your card selections. With the upcoming release of theros, there's better direct damage cards like Magma jet. it's a solid 2 damage and scry 2.  Anger of the gods is almost just flat better than annihilating fire.  It's only draw back is sorcery.

Dump, ultmiate price and vile rebirth, they aren't doing much for you here.  I'd recommend trying to get some desecation demons and a couple phurous (red god) when the new set comes out.

I know you said budget, but thoughtseize is better than duress if you can get them. Same for the shocks, blood crypts will help you a lot here.

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448 Reply by elpablo

(10 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Remember the better your card draw/quality the faster you can find your answers so you can cut some of the removal/counters here no problem. 

One note on heroes down fall.  Holding open 3 mana, 1 dual, 1 swamp, 1 island, represents a counter and removal... strategically it's the right call to leave as much open as possible because if you only leave 2 open your kind of tipping your hand a little.

Also... against aggro, jace, AoT helps and he can provide excellent card advantage.  I'd play him over the new walker all day every day.

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449 Reply by elpablo

(10 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Hey, glad I could help.  The deck looks okay seems like it would play pretty consictently.  Looks like you're fine tuning now...

I might diversify your removal pakage a little more, I would include 1-2 of the new heros downfall, for plainswalkers.  I'm always scared to run 4 doomblades incase you see that mono black.deck. 

Blue didn't get a good replacement for thinktwice unfortunetly, but I still think you need a tad more draw card utility,  you might try read the bones since your in black, or inspiration. 

I like a couple thought seize maindeck, just my $.02.  And since black didn't get a sweeper, what are you doing about fast agro decks?

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450 Reply by elpablo

(4 replies, posted in Decks and Deckbuilding)

Hope it helps, i've been collecting info in a document and saving it thought this would be a good time to share some of it.

As far as tournaments go, most FNMs are standard but not all.  Some are modern or legacy, though it's harder to find people willing to play legacy because a competitive deck (sometimes even a fun one) can be as or more expensive than a top tier standard deck.  If you use wizards event page you can probably find shops and tournaments in your area that are the desired format. 

Playing with friends is good, but playing against other people challenge you and force you to think differently about the plays you make.

Deck construction can be a tricky thing... there are plenty of reasons to only run 1 of a particular card in a deck.  However, it's all about statistics.  If there is a card in your deck and you really need it to win, then having only one in the deck drives the likelihood of drawing it down and makes it statistically invalid. A lot of decks that run a card at a 1 of or a 2 of, only need those cards late in the game or run other cards that provide similar but different effects so that one card or the other may be slightly favored in a given situation. 

Your deck as it's constructed is really kind of all over the place.  A more focused plan will make the deck more consistent and fun to play.  Right now it's like you're playing a deck of cards with only one "4" and six Jacks. Your chances are all lopsided and the math won't work in your favor.

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