Second Sphere

Wargames => Other Wargames => Topic started by: Narric on March 14, 2014, 02:31:01 PM

Title: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on March 14, 2014, 02:31:01 PM
Found a really old yet unopened Magic: The Gathering strarter set at the local YMHA Charity shop.
(http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/073/1/e/001_by_narric_sb0-d7a4u80.jpg)

I will be honest, i know nothing of M:tG so if anybody who knows stuff can tell me how old this set is that would be great :P

Are the cards still usable? I assume friendly games they're ok. If I don't open the packets would a TCG Collector be interested?

Also, M:tG thread :P
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: CoffeeGrunt on March 14, 2014, 02:33:17 PM
Ewwww, MtG!

I'd look at the packaging, there's almost guaranteed to be a date there, likely wherever the Wizards of the Coast trademark guff is.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Narric on March 14, 2014, 02:36:22 PM
1993-2000 doesn't tell me much. As I don't know anything about MtG, I don't even know what Ruleset Edition that would be.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: CoffeeGrunt on March 14, 2014, 02:51:14 PM
It tells you that it was printed in 2000. 1993 is when the trademark started, 2000 is the date of print, (because it'd be a bit cocky to put 2014 or whatever in!) :P

A quick Google search for MtG starters in 2000 yields this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starter_(Magic:_The_Gathering) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starter_(Magic:_The_Gathering))

It seems the format these followed died around 2000, so you could be holding either something pretty valuable, or a pile of junk.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Narric on March 14, 2014, 03:02:26 PM
I shall hold fire unwrapping the stuff any further then.

I could put it up on eBay. I only paid 99p for it at the shop, and surely a collector would want it. Everything is present, as it still had its shrinkwrap covering when I bought it.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: CoffeeGrunt on March 14, 2014, 03:13:25 PM
I've got a friend I can ask who knows his Magic stuff, I'll check with him.

In the mean time, can you just take a load of pictures of it? Might help identify it.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Arguleon-veq on March 14, 2014, 11:07:00 PM
Your pretty much always better opening the packs and then putting each card into the search engine on a site like Magic Madhouse to get their value, I cant tell what set it is from the cover but some sets have very expensive cards in, particularly older sets like this as the very best cards retain their value for formats of the game that use most card sets.

As I cant really tell what it is though it may be one of those sets where you don't get any rares, which would be a problem as that's were the value is. What does it say on the packs that you actually get?
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Narric on March 14, 2014, 11:22:47 PM
It came with two 15-card "Starter decks" with a second "Advanced deck" per player, in addition there are two playing mats. The Rules come in a book (I think), and there is a DVD. The Box picture is the special card:

Quote from: RhoxCard: Green, shiny border but image not shiny.
Name: Rhox
Mana: 4 (two trees)
Creature - Beast
May deal damage as if unblocked
and for 2 mana (1 must be a tree) gains regenerate
5/5

This is mostly assumption, based loosely on when I played Duel Masters :P but it sounds like a fairly decent mid-game card for dealing blows to your opponent with many blocking cards.
Regenerate I assume relates to the second number, being the cards HP?

Thinking about it, when I said trees, is the correct term "Forest" in this game?

I haven't looked inside the starter packs, as I'm unsure whether I should keep the set for myself, or sell onwards on eBay.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Arguleon-veq on March 14, 2014, 11:56:22 PM
Well Rhox is worth about £2 so your already up in terms of what you paid :P

Id keep them if your interested in the game. I played about 12 years ago but finally picked it up again a year or two back and whilst I play fairly competitive decks I don't want to put the money in required to really place at proper pro tour qualifiers, I have still managed placings at Friday Night Magic events [which usually have 30-50 players, its like a one night tournament every Friday] and won boosters from it.

Theres a group of us who play and although 2 of the guys put a lot of money into the game the rest of us just play casual and pickup a booster here and there, there are lots of different formats to suit however you want to play. Standard is hard to keep up with as it has to be current cards.

Me and a few of the group have started to play a friendly format called Commander [EDH] which is much cheaper to play, stops a lot of silly combos as you can only have 1 of each card and its just more fun really.

What I do like about Magic in general is that its so easy to pick up and play/pack away etc. Quite often when we are sat around after doing something else we will just have a few games as its so easy to get a game going. I think its well worth doing if its something your group would be into just as a little side game to pass the time now and again and if you all keep it casual and not put loads of money into it and go for killer decks it can stay very fun.

Duel Decks are often a fun way of getting into the game. Its sets they release with 2 decks in and each deck has a certain theme, ive had lots of fun just using the original decks from duel deck sets against a person using the other.

If your looking to start, the duel deck 'Phyrexia vs the Coalition' is probably the cheapest [can get it for as low as £8 new usually] and I really enjoyed the completely different playstyles in the decks.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: silverfuge on March 15, 2014, 09:53:31 AM
Most starter packs have nothing mega so best opening and selling individually as previously stated. I would suggest mtg as its a good quick game.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Narric on March 16, 2014, 09:16:11 AM
Spoke to MT, who has said its best as a starter deck for me :P No real value selling on. I've opened the two player packs, and the cards seem alright. If I combine the two decks I think I am a few cards shy of the minimum 60. Got cards of all colours of Mana :P

Will have to see if there is a MtG group somewhere around.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Arguleon-veq on March 16, 2014, 07:42:12 PM
Another good thing about the game is that there are groups almost everywhere, any gaming shops usually have a place to play it or to do Friday Night Magic events. The ones that don't usually organise them to be held at local pubs.
Title: Re: Magic: The Gathering
Post by: Narric on March 16, 2014, 07:44:57 PM
The closest gaming groups near me are on the other side of the City. It would be a little hard to justify the trvael :( When I move in one of the larger towns I'll see about a group. Might be a good idea to start looking now :P
Title: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 24, 2015, 11:36:50 PM
Thanks to some friends I've now not only had my first few games of Magic, the Gathering, but also have a deck to call my own, which has won all three games I have currently played with it.

I had borrowed my friends Red/Blue deck, which is what I ended up enjoying the most and is what inspired my choices for the deck I have now.

I will post the contents of my 70card deck, but I would love to hear what others think of it, and indeed see what others include in their own Decks.

Narric's Red/Blue Deck
Lands:
14x Mountain (Red)
14x Island (Blue)
1x Swiftwater Cliffs (Red/Blue)

Red:
2x Bladetusk Boar
2x Riot Devils
2x Goblin Roughrider
2x Goblin Arsonist
Gore Swine
Tenement Crasher
Krenko's Enforcer
Borderland Marauder
Searing Spear
Pursuit of Flight
Weapon Surge
Lightning Strike
Cleaver Riot
Chandra's Fury
Bolt of Karanos

Blue:
2x Kraken Hatchling
Jeskai Windscout
Quickling
Omenspeaker
Wind Drake
Mahamoti Djinn
Jeskai Sage
Gryff Vanguard
2x Divination
2x Cancel
Mind Sculpt
Unsummon
Jace's Inqenuity
Sleep
Hydrosurge

Dual Colours:
2x Cunning Strike
Master of the Way

I'm in need of trying to play against people I don't already now. Hopefully the local MEta isn't too harsh on us Newbs :P

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing what people think, and seeing what other decks people use :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on January 24, 2015, 11:41:00 PM
You might find Pin to Earth useful. Enchantment Aura, Enchanted creature gets -6/-0. A nice bit of pseudo removal.

I shall have to dig mine out of the box an actually make a list of it. It's a bigger deck, nearer 90 cards, which isn't ideal, but it is very balanced and reliable.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 24, 2015, 11:56:59 PM
Quote from: The Man They Call Jayne on January 24, 2015, 11:41:00 PM
You might find Pin to Earth useful. Enchantment Aura, Enchanted creature gets -6/-0. A nice bit of pseudo removal.
I think I saw that amongst my friends collection, but at the time it didn't strike me as that useful. It shall be interesting to see how Booster Packs change the nature of my Deck in future :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on January 25, 2015, 01:53:33 AM
Given that most creatures won't get above 6 unless the deck is built around that mechanic, knocking it down to 0 can really help, or maybe getting it down to a 2 or 3.

Blue, as you may have learned is very much about control. You decide what can be played and when and by who. You decide what can attack and what can't.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on January 25, 2015, 02:26:00 AM
Ok, proper post to have a little show and tell.

Black/White Tax Deck

Creatures:
Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts x4
Rhox Faithmender x4
Basilica Screecher x4
Heliods Pilgrim x4
Souls of the Faultless x2
Atheros, God of Passage x1
Grand Abolisher x3
Champion of Stray Souls x1

Enchantment Creatures:
Archetype of Finality x2
Grim Guardian x4

Enchantments:
Sphere of Safety x4
Painful Quandry x4
Sanguine Bond x1

Auras:
Gift of Orzohva x2
Sunbond x2
Spectra Ward x2

Artifacts:
Whip of Erebos x1

Instants:
Riot Control x4

Land:
Vault of the Archangel x1
Radiant Fountain x1
Scoured Barrens x4
Plains x16
Swamps x 15

Against this deck, if you want to do anything, you are going to have to pay for it. In return you will be beaten to death by unblockable flying lifelinkers whos power doubles every time they attack. And you will be unable to counter anything that I play in my turn.

Assuming of course, that all goes to plan.

Sphere of Safety and Painful Quandry are the core of this deck. Making me impossible to attack in any real numbers, and attempting to remove them will cost you life or cards. Or both.

While that is keeping me safe, I am fixing Gift of Orzohva, Sunbond and Spectra Ward to a creature, preferably Teysa. That way she doesn't tap to attack, and my life point shoot up so that I don't have to even bother blocking, which means the attacking creature dies and grows my army.

This is not the fastest deck out there, and again serious Agro, you are probably going to suffer unless you get lucky. However with this deck I have had life totals of over 2000 and creatures with p/t over 1300.

What this deck does is lock out the rest of the game and isolates you until you are ready to play on your terms, and slowly kills your opponents in the process.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on January 25, 2015, 04:45:06 AM
Your Spark has ignited.  Welcome to the Multiverse.

Let's look at a few things in general before I go into detail about your deck.

To begin with, welcome to the game.  It's a lot of fun and I've met a load of people through it whom I wouldn't have done so otherwise.  Like Warhammer/40k, it's going to be something that you can spend a lot of money on, but you don't have to.  Whilst Magic releases new sets four times a year (with a couple of extra products here and there) you DON'T need to keep buying them.  Yes, if you don't then your decks' power levels will go down, but unless you're planning on playing a lot outside of your group of friends then it's not too terrible.  One of the biggest traps is getting into the "I must have the new cards" mindset, which will drain your bank balance quickly.  One of the other pitfalls that you and your gaming group should recognise is that of escalation; if one person starts spending a load of money on cards then everyone else will start to feel that they need to keep up so will start doing so too.  Then, that first person may well escalate the situation further by buying ever more expensive cards, your other friends will retaliate by doing the same, and suddenly everyone's broke.  Keep an eye out for that.

Before we go any further, I suppose I should discuss formats.  One of the things that keeps Magic fresh is that it has a multitude of different formats.  There isn't really any analogy to this in 40k terms.  Basically, a format defines which cards you can and can't use in a game.  Let's take a look at the most common ones:


If you intend to play your deck against people outside of your playgroup then you'd be well off trying to make your deck fit into one of these categories.  It'll be tough, because you won't necessarily be able to use all of your cards and what you do create probably won't do too well to begin with (especially if you try and enter one of the older formats like Legacy or Vintage).

Okay, with all that out of the way, let's take a look at your deck.

Blue/Red is an interesting combination of colours, though not always the easiest to play.  Traditionally, Blue and Red have the worst and second-worst creatures and the best and second best Sorceries and Instants (compared to the other three colours).  Unfortunately, a lot of kitchen table games are decided by creatures hitting your opponent, which does put you at a slight disadvantage.  But that can hopefully be made up in other ways.

Let's take a look at some basic deck design concepts that a lot of newer players miss or choose not to follow.

Percentages.  If you have an awesome card in your deck then you want to draw it as often as you can.  The best way to maximise this is to have the absolute minimum deck size.  That means 60 in Constructed games and 40 in Limited games.  Yes, that means you don't get to run all of your cool cards but it gives you the highest chance of drawing your best cards.

Land.  Start with 40% land in your deck.  That's 24 land cards in Constructed and 17 in Limited (though Khans Limited probably needs 18 because of the multicolour theme).  Yes, it means that you can't run all of your cool cards but without enough land you won't be able to play them.  When you get more experienced then you can start to play around with this percentage but for now you'll want 40%.

Consistency.  The best decks act in a very consistent manner.  This can be done from having multiple similar cards in your deck.  But at the lower levels of play, this is done by following the Rule of Nine: pick 9 cards, get four copies of each of them, add 24 lands, and you have a deck.  Yes, this means that you can't use all of your best cards, since you've only got one or two of them, but the consistency and redundancy that you get makes up for it.  Alternatively, try and get the full four copies of your best cards (sometimes easier said than done).

Mana curve.  Mana curve is an extremely important thing.  Basically, if you lay out all of your spells in a row, with your 1-cost spells in one column, your 2-cost spells in a column next to that, and so on, then what you should get in your average deck is a bell curve.  You should have a couple of 1-drops, several 2-drops, a good number of 3- and 4-drops, and only a handful of 5- and 6- (or more) drops.  Statistically, you don't want too many 1-drops, because in the late game they won't have to power to help you win, and you don't want too many 5-drops or higher since they can clog up your hand in the early game and make you lose before you've even had a chance to cast them.  Some decks don't need to have a bell curve but for now this is good advice to follow in general.

Lifegain sucks.  Life is not a score.  When you win the game you do not score bonus points for having 100 life instead of 1.  The only important life point is the last one.  Don't put cards in your deck that exist solely to gain you life, such as Feed the Clans (from Khans) or Congregate (from M15).  There are numerous reasons why they are bad, that I can go into if you want me to.  Incidental lifegain, where you gain life from cards that have other functions, such as creatures with Lifelink or spells like Warleader's Helix, can be useful, though, as long as the card has other functions than just gaining you life.

Mill sucks.  Milling, the act of forcing your opponent to take cards from the top of his Library and put them into his or her Graveyard, isn't a great strategy.  It seems like it to newer players, because you're both taking steps towards winning the game as well as denying your opponent his resources.  The main problem with mill is that it doesn't stack with any other forms of damage and isn't really all that efficient.  Look at it this way: your opponent has 20 life and 60 cards in his deck.  If you get a 2/2 Flying creature out then you'll need to hit him 10 times to win the game.  To do the same with mill, you'd need to mill an average of 4.3 cards per turn over the course of those 10 turns.  But hitting him with a creature doesn't stack with the milling; it's like they have two separate life totals, you only need to reduce either of them to zero, but you're attacking both of them simultaneously, watering down your attacks.


Looking at your deck specifically, there are a number of cards that you should cut.  Hydrosurge, Kraken Hatchling, Mind Sculpt, Cleaver Riot, and maybe Tenement Crasher could do with being cut.  These are all substandard cards that you really don't need (not to mention that you're over 60 cards to begin with).  You have too many lands, too, so those need to be cut down somewhat.  Try and get three more copies of Swiftwater Cliffs so that you can run the full four of them.  That will help you out a little with your mana.  You could do with few more 4-drops as your mana curve dips significantly in that spot, perhaps dropping a couple of your 1-drops and 5-drops to do so.

One final thing.  I've uploaded a copy of your deck to Tapped Out.  Located at tappedout.net (http://tappedout.net) it's a great place to write deck lists since you can even just playtest with the deck right there.  Your deck can be found here (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/narrics-deck/) and you should be able to see it and to playtest it.  I'd recommend signing up (or just linking your Facebook account, though I don't let it post to my wall) just so you can keep a record of your decks.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 25, 2015, 09:59:41 AM
Thats a lot of info :P

I did know I was over 60, but I was told that Non-torny decks where 60+ Cards. As I was going a two colour deck, I figured going 20 of each colour, plus a suitable amount of land (30) would be the most advantageous for friendly games. This deck is not intended to beat my opponent senseless, but more to just have a fun game with some humourous moments.

A couple of your cards do have uses in my mind. Kraken Hatchling is a useful defencive card with 0/4, Hydrosurge has protected me from any damage or lose of Creatures (from a 5/6 with Deathtouch), Cleaver Riot helped take out a quarter of my opponents life with two monsters. Tenement Crasher and Mind Sculpt have yet to be played despite playing three games with this deck, though at present I'm partial to keeping them in. :)

Nox (The friend, I can't be asked constantly refering to him as my friend) gave me basic understanding of Mana Curve, and infact he keeps his collection of cards in Mana curve order, will Creatures and Non-creatures seperate.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on January 25, 2015, 11:52:34 AM
There's nothing wrong with a deck being over 60 cards, tournament or otherwise.  It's just not optimal.  If you had one awesome card in your deck that guaranteed you won the game whenever you drew it, would you rather have a 1/60 chance of getting it or a 1/69?  It's like asking whether you'd rather have a 6+ Armour Save or a 2+ Armour Save on a 40k model (albeit taken to an extreme for the sake of illustrating the point).

When you create a two colour deck there are a lot of factors to take into consideration regarding the colour balance.  Simply taking 50% of one colour cards and 50% of the other colour isn't really the best way to do it.  My first decks were something similar, though.  I had a variety of cards spread throughout all of the colours so I built three approximately even sized decks out of all of the cards that I had: I had the most Green so that was a mono-Green deck, then I also had a Blue/White deck and a Black/Red deck simply because their numbers were approximately even.  Mind you, this was back in 1995 when I was a lot younger and innocent about things.

Amongst other things you need to consider WHEN you're going to need the card.  If you have a lot of Red 1-drops, for example, then you're going to want a disproportionately large number of Red mana sources in the deck to try and get you Red mana available from turn 1.  If you have a lot of double Blue cards (such as Mindreaver) then you need to increase the number of Blue sources because otherwise you won't be able to cast them on time.

Generally, the mix of colours in your deck should be however you want it to be and not an arbitrary 50/50 mix of the two, and after you've decided on your spells you should try and make your land mix match up.

Regarding those individual cards:

Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 25, 2015, 12:11:46 PM
You have good points. Though I'm gonna be t the mercy of Booster packs for what change and when.

A few more games will also help me decide what is useful and not :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Railgun Convention on January 25, 2015, 03:54:38 PM
So here's my old red/white deck. (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/railguns-old-redwhite-deck/) It needs a lot of polishing, but it won a lot of games back when I played a lot. I have a bunch of cards from RtR I need to build into it now.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 26, 2015, 11:32:46 PM
Found the Starter set from 2000, which by internet is 6th ed and Nemesis. Decided there was no harm creating a couple "Prototype" decks that included the cards from that set.

My Gaming deck, plus additional Red and Blue cards: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/apprentice-redblue-6th-cards/
The spare cards from the set: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/6th-ed-spares/

I was seeing a fair number of cards that haven't been reproduced for later sets, so if I was to use the these two decks, I'd look for cards with similar stats and abilities.

[Update]
Had a bit further look into what makes up my deck, and realised a good portion of it is no longer standard :P

[Update 2]
Got my Core set and have been messing around with my Deck structure, and have created my second deck as well.
My first deck is now Standard legal, though I'm sure my mojo with it has been royally messed up. A few games should help me figure out what I need.
- http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/redblue-part-2/

Also created a White/Green Deck, Partly becuase I couldn't go Mono-White, but also becuase they seemed like a decent combination.
- http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/07-02-15-the-forests-light/

Mana Curves are a right nuisance to try and get right.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on March 17, 2015, 03:36:50 PM
I've managed to interest a friend and classmate to start playing Magic. He's so far only got the 2015 core set, but his Black Green Deck is fairly strong. Used his spare Red and White cards to make a quick deck to play against him with, and lost due to him getting eight creatures on the field, including Terrastomper.

I've also scrapped my past decks, and rebuilt two, which I'll be adding to and refining from now on, rather than just building multiple decks. A Tricolour (Red/Blue/White), and a Black/Green.




On a more open note, who is going to be attending the Dragons of Tarkir Prerelease events? I'd personally love to be able to go, but work makes it so I can't :(
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on March 19, 2015, 05:30:49 PM
Quote from: Narric on March 17, 2015, 03:36:50 PM
On a more open note, who is going to be attending the Dragons of Tarkir Prerelease events? I'd personally love to be able to go, but work makes it so I can't :(

I'm going to all four that my local store is running.  It's tough because all of the product is in Japanese but I'll muddle my way through it somehow.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on March 29, 2015, 03:02:40 PM
Quote from: Masked Thespian on March 19, 2015, 05:30:49 PM
Quote from: Narric on March 17, 2015, 03:36:50 PM
On a more open note, who is going to be attending the Dragons of Tarkir Prerelease events? I'd personally love to be able to go, but work makes it so I can't :(

I'm going to all four that my local store is running.  It's tough because all of the product is in Japanese but I'll muddle my way through it somehow.

Surprisingly, I did rather well at them.  The first one went poorly, going 1-2 (if you've never been to an event, you play a number of matches (in this case, three), and you play until either time runs out or a player wins two games, so I lost the first match 2-0, lost the second match 2-0, and in the third match I won it 2-0).

The second one, however, I went 3-0 (2-1, 2-0, 2-0) and came in second overall in the whole event.  The third one I went 3-0 (2-0, 2-0, 2-0) and came first in the event.  The fourth one I went 3-0 again (2-0, 2-0, 2-1) and came in third overall.

This is uncharacteristically good for me, as usually I don't do all that well, usually going 1-2 or, if I'm having a bit of a lucky day, 2-1.  I've never gone 3-0 before, let alone three times in a row, or without even losing a single game (in the third prerelease).

Somehow...  this is going to come around and bite me in the rear end...
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on March 29, 2015, 06:25:49 PM
I'll likely avoid tournaments in M:tG for a long while. My two friends (the one that got me into Magic, and my college friend who I got into magic) are both beating pretty easily, and thats usually before they get their Planeswalkers out. I've had to go out and buy the Elspeth and Kiora Duel Decks, and even then I doubt those two are going to help against Ugin.

Currently planning on buying a Dragons of Tarkir Fat PAck when I get paid from work. Cutting close to the end of Waylands easter promotion, but £21 for a Fat PAck is too good to pass up.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on March 30, 2015, 06:15:34 AM
Quote from: Narric on March 29, 2015, 06:25:49 PM
I'll likely avoid tournaments in M:tG for a long while.

Even if you decide to avoid tournaments, I highly recommend going to Prereleases.  Whilst some stores can make them a little cut throat, they're supposed to be events for everyone including newer and less experienced players.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on April 01, 2015, 04:14:13 PM
I have the Kiora deck, and I have modified it a bit from the box, but it is a wonderfully good deck for annoying people because they can't keep anything on the table.

Have finally signed up with tappedout too and uploaded my first proper deck.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/01-04-15-FPk-death-and-taxes/
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 02, 2015, 10:00:20 PM
Faced a very interesting deck today. By the players description, seven planeswalkers, only five basic lands, and a regular ability to Scry his deck.

Had to face Ashiok (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373500) very early on in all my games, followed usually by Ugin (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=394086). Its a good thing my deck has such a high card count, but repeatedly I lost y own planeswalker, either to being Exile-Milled by Ashiok, or when I actually had her in my hand, my opponent would look at my hand an send her to the Graveyard.

Another opponent got me by having a plentiful supplyof low-drop creatures, particular note being Typhoid Rat which he managed to get up to about 8/8, and had flying, which hindered my defence as my high defence creatures don't have flying.

I had bought five booster packs (2x Tarkir Dragons, 2x Khans and 1x Fate. Should have bought another Fate :P) and I've now organised my deck to have the non-aligned cards seperate from my aligned cards. (not sure if there is a proper word for it, so I'm sticking with that until I'm corrected.) My Tri-colour now leans more towards Jeskai tactics, which suits me better as I prefer blanket effect cards and Prowess boosts the effectiveness of my sorceries and instants.

My new deck is posted up to Tapped Out here (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/elspeth-and-the-jeskai/).
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 08, 2015, 11:14:48 PM
Looks like the next set for Magic will be "Magic Orgins (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/announcing-magic-origins-2015-02-08)." Coming out Mid July. I'm looking forward to this, as hopefully I'd be able to attend this launch!
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on April 09, 2015, 03:12:56 PM
Yep.  Magic Origins is the final Core set that Wizards are making.  When September rolls around, we're going to return to the adventure world of Zendikar that had eldritch horrors released upon it the last time we were there in Battle For Zendikar.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 09, 2015, 03:44:03 PM
I was curious when I read Kiora's backstory in the Elspeth v Kiora Duel Deck box set. I personally haven't really devled much into Magic's lore, so this will be interesting for me :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on April 10, 2015, 04:09:48 AM
Zendikar? Isn't that the whole Eldrazi thing?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 10, 2015, 08:11:39 AM
What is the whole Eldrazi thing? Evil Planeswalkers?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on April 10, 2015, 04:30:39 PM
Lovecraftian abomination that lay waste to any plane they come across. One of the biggest threats, if not THE biggest threat around.

I am currently working on an Eldrazi deck.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on April 10, 2015, 07:29:46 PM
The Eldrazi are the only creatures native to The Blind Eternities, the maelstrom of energy that exists between planes.  Planeswalkers and Eldrazi are the only beings that can move through the Blind Eternities without being utterly destroyed.  There are three known major Eldrazi, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193452), , Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193632), and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=261321).  They are gigantic eldritch abominations that move from plane to plane devouring everything they find before moving to the next one.

Around 5000 years before the current timeline, three Planeswalkers banded together to trap the Eldrazi on the plan of Zendikar: Sorin Markov, Nahiri the Lithomancer, and Ugin the Spirit Dragon.  But, a short while ago (five years in real world time, probably less in-universe), three Planeswalkers accidentally opened the Eye of Ugin where the Eldrazi had been trapped: Jace Belaren, Chandra Nalaar, and Sarkhan Vol.  The Eldrazi are now free to resume devouring the multiverse one plane at a time.

Battle For Zendikar, this autumn's main release, will likely cover the return to the plane of Zendikar and the battle against the Eldrazi and their spawn.  Several Planeswalkers have been searching for aid in these battles, including Kiora, who visited Theros to find giant monsters, and Gideon Jura, who visited Ravnica to find allies but got caught up in the politics of the Guildless (citizens of Ravnica who don't belong to one of the ten Guilds).
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 24, 2015, 12:45:29 AM
Bought my first Fat Pack today. Dragons of Tarkir (obviously). Didn't get either of the Planeswalkers, but I did get Dragonlord Kolaghan. Not sure which Dragon deck I could/should make :P

My Khans of Tarkir collecton box is slowly filling up. i'm roughly 50% full now.
picture so people know what i'm talking about
(https://ageekytripdowntherabbithole.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/in-the-box.jpg)

Really wanting to grab a Fate Reforged Fat Pack off Wayland (http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/fate-reforged/20915-mtg-fate-reforged-fat-pack) right now as well.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 29, 2015, 11:28:01 PM
Is no one doing muc in the Magic scene? :P

Been doing a fair amount of building, rebuilding and just plain messin' about with my cards. Have ended up doing a couple Dragon Clan, and Ravnica guild decks :3

Clan Silumgar

Creature (23)
Spoiler
1x Ancient Carp
1x Custodian of the Trove
1x Deathbringer Regent
2x Hand of Silumgar
1x Hand of Silumgar
1x Minister of Pain
1x Palace Familiar
3x Qarsi Sadist
2x Ruthless Deathfang
1x Sidisi's Faithful
3x Silumgar Butcher
1x Silumgar Sorcerer
1x Silumgar Spell-Eater
1x Silumgar, the Drifting Death
1x Ukud Cobra
1x Wandering Tombshell
1x Youthful Scholar

Instant (10)
Spoiler
2x Butcher's Glee
3x Coat with Venom
2x Foul-Tongue Shriek
1x Gravepurge
1x Learn from the Past
1x Ultimate Price

Sorcery
(1)
1x Defeat

Land (27)
Spoiler
2x Dismal Backwater
11x Island
13x Swamp
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Enchantment (5)
Spoiler
1x Illusory Gains
3x Mirror Mockery
1x Virulent Plague

Acquireboard
Spoiler
Acid-Spewer Dragon
Dutiful Attendant
Marang River Skeleton
Necromaster Dragon
Profaner of the Dead
Rakshasa Gravecaller
Silumgar's Command
Silumgar's Scorn

Ravnica Guild - Rakdos

Creature (16)
Spoiler
1x Bladetusk Boar
1x Bloodfray Giant
1x Corpse Hauler
1x Dead Reveler
1x Deathgaze Cockatrice
1x Goblin Arsonist
1x Grim Roustabout
1x Maze Abomination
1x Necropolis Regent
1x Nightwing Shade
1x Ogre Jailbreaker
1x Rix Maadi Guildmage
1x Sire Of Insanity
1x Splatter Thug
1x Ubul Sar Gatekeepers
1x Vampire Warlord

Sorcery (8)
Spoiler
1x Cleaver Riot
1x Flames of the Firebrand
1x Mind Rot
1x Rise of the Dark Realms
2x Skull Rend
1x Slaughter Games
1x Toil / Trouble

Instant (3)
Spoiler
1x Chandra's Fury
1x Grim Contest
1x Searing Spear

Enchantment (7)
Spoiler
1x Dark Favor
2x Deviant Glee
1x Grave Betrayal
1x Mark of the Vampire
1x Stab Wound
1x Underworld Connections

Land (26)
Spoiler
1x Jungle Hollow
11x Mountain
1x Rakdos Guildgate
1x Scoured Barrens
1x Scoured Barrens
11x Swamp

United guilds of Ravnica

Creature (27)
Spoiler
1x Ajani's Chosen
1x Archweaver
1x Bronzebeak Moa
1x Brushstrider
1x Centaur Healer
1x Centaur's Herald
1x Doorkeeper
1x Faerie Impostor
1x Fencing Ace
1x Giant Spider
1x Gobbling Ooze
2x Kraken Hatchling
1x Loxodon Smiter
1x Lyev Skyknight
1x Messenger Drake
1x New Prahv Guildmage
1x Opal Lake Gatekeepers
1x Rubbleback Rhino
1x Selesnya Sentry
1x Seller of Songbirds
1x Suntail Hawk
3x Vassal Soul
1x Wind Drake
1x Woodborn Behemoth

Sorcery (9)
Spoiler
1x Coursers' Accord
1x Enlarge
1x Horncaller's Chant
1x Hunt the Weak
1x Inaction Injunction
1x Lyev Decree
1x Mind Sculpt
1x Seek the Horizon
1x Slime Molding

Enchantment (5)
Spoiler
1x Bred for the Hunt
2x Knightly Valor
1x Sphere of Safety
1x Verdant Haven

Artifact (3)
Spoiler
1x Azorius Cluestone
1x Selesnya Cluestone
1x Selesnya Keyrune

Instant (9)
Spoiler
1x Aerial Predation
1x Chorus of Might
1x Dramatic Rescue
2x Druid's Deliverance
1x Giant Growth
1x Pay No Heed
1x Swift Justice
1x Unsummon

Land (34)
Spoiler
2x Azorius Guildgate
2x Evolving Wilds
12x Forest
6x Island
7x Plains
1x Thornwood Falls
4x Tranquil Cove

I'm growing of the opinion that decks centred around a common watermark (be it a Guild, Clan or similar) that a strong deck can be developed. Of course its not something everyone needs to follo, but they do sign post a potentially strong deck for a player to use, especially when the cards are properlly used and combined. Not sure if I'll collect anymore Racniva Block cards. i do have an Izet Guild Deck as well, but I haven't put it online yet.




Something that came to mind the other day was howdoes MtG's mechanics relate to its narrative? A friend stated that the player is basically a "Planeswalker," and the deck being called your "Library" made me think of how the game Mechanics relate to Game Narrative.

Headcannon bubble
As a Planeswalker, you're regularly walking between the various planes (duh) and as you do so, you come across the same or similar species and creatures, but they have developed in unique ways regarding the plane they inhabit (example, elves, orcs, humans, etc). Your library is filled with spellsbooks that relate to creatures, individuals, and powers, and from these spellbooks, spellcards are created, allowing the player/planeswalker to summon/cast duplicates of the creatures or powers they witness.

Lands literally represent the lands the player/planeswalker has seen in their travels. Your hand represents how easy it is to reconnect with these areas of powerful magic, sometimes leading to to great and ease to conenct to lands (a starting hand thats all Lands) or great difficulty in reconnecting (a hand filled with nonland cards).
The player draws on the energy of the lands through their spark, which then allows them to use the magic to cast the spells. Sometimes powerful creatures and spells are more easy to connect to, but without enough land also connect, the player cannot cast them.

Unlike a noral creature or power, Planeswalkers are not duplicated, but in fact are temporarily pulled from their own timeline. When the player summons another Planeswalker, the loyalty counter is literal. The Planeswalker likely has other things it wants to achieve. When the summoned Planeswalker is reduced to zero, it isn't killed but instead at the last moment escapes through the planes, possibly to regain their strength (until the player resummons them). The player can't summon more than one of each Planeswalker, becuase the MtG universe is not "paradox space" meaning an indivudal cannot be in two places at once, or in the same place twice. This accounts for multiple timelines of a character (see Narset and Sarkhan from the Khans of Tarkir block) and magic not being strong enough to pull a Planeswalker from its own timeline in more than one point.
Legendary cards (from what I learned today) work in a similar maner, due to the amount of power the individual/creature/location embodies.

I've kinda run out of steam with that, but I look forward to hearing other peoples opinions on the matter :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on May 03, 2015, 10:45:57 PM
IIRC your library represents your memory as a Planeswalker. Your hand represents the spells that you can remember right now, and you can be hit with spells that make you forget them, mainly blue stuff.  You manifest these spells to battle your opponent.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on May 19, 2015, 02:33:50 PM
Quote from: Narric on April 29, 2015, 11:28:01 PM
Is no one doing muc in the Magic scene? :P

Nah, been on my honeymoon.  Will be attending Grand Prix Chiba next weekend, though.

Quote from: Narric on April 29, 2015, 11:28:01 PM
Headcannon Bubble

As a Planeswalker, you're regularly walking between the various planes (duh) and as you do so, you come across the same or similar species and creatures, but they have developed in unique ways regarding the plane they inhabit (example, elves, orcs, humans, etc). Your library is filled with spellsbooks that relate to creatures, individuals, and powers, and from these spellbooks, spellcards are created, allowing the player/planeswalker to summon/cast duplicates of the creatures or powers they witness.

Close.  Most Planeswalkers don't actually carry spellbooks; Wizards wants to get away from the stereotypical "Gandalf"-style wizard, so rarely, if ever, shows its spellcasters as having pointy hats, long, grey beards, wands, or any of the other usual accoutrements, including spellbooks.  Your Library represents the total sum of your spellcasting knowledge in your head at the moment of battle.  Your hand represents the spells you can recall at this very moment.  Draw spells represent you digging further into your pool of knowledge to try and recall an appropriate spell for the occasion.  Discard and mill spells represent you assaulting your opponent's mind and forcing them to forget the spells they know, either in the short-term memory (discard) or in the long-term memory (mill).

Your creature spells...  That's changed over time.  Initially, you actually summoned the actual creature to fight for you, but now I believe it's considered that you "remember" a core essence of the creature and summon a construct made of mana around that core essence, essentially creating a copy of that creature that is under your control.

Quote from: Narric on April 29, 2015, 11:28:01 PM
Lands literally represent the lands the player/planeswalker has seen in their travels. Your hand represents how easy it is to reconnect with these areas of powerful magic, sometimes leading to to great and ease to conenct to lands (a starting hand thats all Lands) or great difficulty in reconnecting (a hand filled with nonland cards).
The player draws on the energy of the lands through their spark, which then allows them to use the magic to cast the spells. Sometimes powerful creatures and spells are more easy to connect to, but without enough land also connect, the player cannot cast them.

Lands represent links to natural stores of mana.  Each of the types of mana are considered to naturally pool in places of their basic land type (White mana gathers on Plains, Blue mana gathers near Islands, etc.).  Whenever a Planeswalker travels they can create a mana link to one of these stores of mana and call upon it at a later date.  Land destruction represents the severing of this mana link.

Quote from: Narric on April 29, 2015, 11:28:01 PM
Unlike a noral creature or power, Planeswalkers are not duplicated, but in fact are temporarily pulled from their own timeline. When the player summons another Planeswalker, the loyalty counter is literal. The Planeswalker likely has other things it wants to achieve. When the summoned Planeswalker is reduced to zero, it isn't killed but instead at the last moment escapes through the planes, possibly to regain their strength (until the player resummons them). The player can't summon more than one of each Planeswalker, becuase the MtG universe is not "paradox space" meaning an indivudal cannot be in two places at once, or in the same place twice. This accounts for multiple timelines of a character (see Narset and Sarkhan from the Khans of Tarkir block) and magic not being strong enough to pull a Planeswalker from its own timeline in more than one point.
Legendary cards (from what I learned today) work in a similar maner, due to the amount of power the individual/creature/location embodies.

Pretty much.  A Planeswalker card represents a Planeswalker who is a friend or is otherwise in your debt.  The spell you cast (the Planeswalker card) represents you sending a message saying, "Hey, I'm calling in that favour.  I need your help, NOW!" (which is also why the Planeswalker card can be countered, because you counter the spell that sends the message).  Hence why Planeswalkers have "Loyalty counters" - they literally represent how loyal they are to you.  When the Loyalty counters are all gone, the Planeswalker isn't literally dead, but goes, "Sod this for a packet of biscuits," and leaves you to your own devices.  Different Planeswalker cards represent different facets of the character, whether through the progression of time (Ajani started as his angry RW version Ajani Vengeant, moved into his White personae Ajani, Caller of the Pride and Ajani Goldmane, moved into his GW persona on Theros as Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, and has finally come out the other side of the Theros story as Ajani Steadfast) or by how much power they feel like granting you access to at any given time (Jace, the Mind Sculptor is Jace bringing his full power to bear, whereas his other versions are probably when you called him whilst he was having a shower and is annoyed at you for disturbing his personal time).

Again, Legendary cards used to be like other creature cards, that you summoned the actual creature to fight for you, but the newer interpretation muddies the waters a bit.  Now, it's the same "core essence" idea but that doesn't give quite as concrete a reason as why you can only have one at a time.  I think the current interpretation is that Legendary Creatures' "core essence" is so taxing that your "core essence" memory can only support one of them at a time.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on May 19, 2015, 04:00:47 PM
Woohoo, wasn't far off in a few aspects :P Thanks for the corrections. I was curious, as card games like YUGIOH and Duel masters often have some sort of story that explains how the mechanics work narratively, and so far as I've seen, Magic didn't have that.

Speaking of libraries, my collection has almost filled the Khans of Tarkir collection box I bought just after Xmas. I have my Jace Deck (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/jace-the-azorius/), a new untested Kiora Deck (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/the-crushing-wave/), a Birds Deck (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-05-15-of-a-feather/), and currently working on building up a Elemental Deck, Boros/Rakdos Deck, and a Pure Black Vampire themed deck :3

I need to sort out my collection though. I currently have only so much set aside from the mono-coloured cards, such as the Khan and Dragon Clans and Ravnica guilds, along with Artifacts, Gold Cards, and Non-Basic Lands. Thinking of seperating the various Blocks out, so i have Return to Ravnica Block and Theors Block, and then all the stuff that is in standard.

One thing thats been fun is finally attending some Friday Night Magic nights. Have to go to the Birmingham night in Forbidden Plane,t but the Waterstones in Solihull is looking to start their own one soonish :3  I poked Jayne about joing me and my friends at the local library, but maybe FNM would be more rewarding for him to come to?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on May 19, 2015, 04:34:09 PM
The only thing I'm going to say about going to FNM is that you need to be prepared to lose.  You will be going from a very insular environment, where you and your friends are all used to each others' decks and will likely have formulated strategies against them, but at an FNM you will likely going up against strategies that you've never even considered before.  You'll be the proverbial small fish moving to a very big pond and it can be quite surprising when you do.

Also, you'll possibly come up against jerks who won't hesitate to try and make you feel bad for your homebrewed decks and/or sub-par card choices.  Ignore them; they're just bigger (yet just as mature) versions of school bullies, trying to bring other people down in order to make themselves feel better.

Also, FYI...

Quote from: Narric on May 19, 2015, 04:00:47 PM
Speaking of libraries, my collection has almost filled the Khans of Tarkir collection box

The proper name of that is the Khans of Tarkir Holiday Gift Box, if you were interested.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on May 19, 2015, 05:23:07 PM
I've had my arse thrashed by more experienced players before. It makes a nice change from facing the same thing.

Quote from: Masked Thespian on May 19, 2015, 04:34:09 PM
Quote from: Narric on May 19, 2015, 04:00:47 PM
Speaking of libraries, my collection has almost filled the Khans of Tarkir collection box

The proper name of that is the Khans of Tarkir Holiday Gift Box, if you were interested.
Meh, Collection box for me as i keep my collection in it :P
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on May 19, 2015, 10:05:46 PM
You've gone a very different way with you Kiora Deck than I have. Interesting to see. I have gone rather top heavy and based my deck around Quest for Ulas Temple and Clock Spinning to get out some seriously big beasties for free in every end phase.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on May 20, 2015, 07:32:04 AM
The one game I've played it with, I got Kiora out fairly early, and soon managed to use her ultimate with two Loyalty counters remaining. MY Wife was not so happy about her few creatures regularly being made useless. Kinda wish Kiora's ability could target my own creatures, but oh well :P



[Edit]
Had a good bit of luck yesterday with some Boosters. got myself the Theros God, Mogis. Not sure if I will make a deck around hime, as I currently have potentially too many builds ready to use.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on May 28, 2015, 10:02:36 PM
[Really wishing this thread got more love :P]

A group I'm a part of had a small Meetup and I had a good number of games today. I played mainly against the same opponent, but he and I both had multiple decks to throw at eachother, so a good variety of styles and libraries to face.

Learnt that most of my decks are midgame effective, which meant Iwas regularly taking heavy life loss to my opponents Red/Black deck which focused getting lots of one-drop mana creatures out.

I think I need to restructure my decks, partle to account for the weaknesses I've seen, but also to reduce the active number of decks I have. I keep seeming to forget this lesson :P
Control and Detain is still a pretty fun tactic.

Duel Anecdote
- Was playing my Kiora deck with Kiora out fairly early on. My opponent was steadily gathering a good number of creatures on the field, and I still only had four land out. I used Kiora's -1, and drew my Second Kiora (I have the Born of the Gods and Duel Decks). First Kiora was killed, and in my following turn i summoned the second, who went on to use her Ultimate.

Funnies
Using my Kiora again, I had played Nessian Asp, and summoned and equipped Fleatfeather Sandals to it. So I had a creature with Reach and Flying :P

Another game, same deck, I had Nessian Asp out with Perplexing Chimera, and kept using the enchantment Aura "Stratos Walk" to primarily draw a card, but the imagery of Nessian Asp regularly starting to fly to then suddenly drop down to the ground, and still be combat effective was highly enteraining.

Third game I had got out Godhunter Octopus out, but my opponent didn't have any Enchantments or Enchanted Permanents. that is until they played Pacifism on Godhunter Octopus. So my opponent basically activated GO to be able to attack, whilst simultaneously preventing them from attacking. It would have been spectactular, had they done it on purpose.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on June 01, 2015, 06:46:02 AM
I am currently look at building a deck based on Avatar of Woe and Thornbite Staff. Allows me to wipe the field any time I choose. Combined with Blood Artist and God Favoured General, it has MASSIVE abuse potential.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 02:54:34 PM
Quote from: Narric on May 28, 2015, 10:02:36 PM
[Really wishing this thread got more love :P]

It's pretty much just the three of us posting and it's been quiet for me (went on my Honeymoon at the end of April).

Quote from: Narric on May 28, 2015, 10:02:36 PMLearnt that most of my decks are midgame effective, which meant Iwas regularly taking heavy life loss to my opponents Red/Black deck which focused getting lots of one-drop mana creatures out.

Cool.  Generally, the rule of thumb is that Aggro beats Control, Midrange beats Aggro, Combo beats Midrange, and Control beats Combo.  This is a very basic idea of it, but it generally holds true.

Quote from: Narric on May 28, 2015, 10:02:36 PMI think I need to restructure my decks, partle to account for the weaknesses I've seen, but also to reduce the active number of decks I have. I keep seeming to forget this lesson :P

That can be a problem.  Especially as the more decks you have the less you play with each of them individually which makes you less experienced in using each of them.

Quote from: Narric on May 28, 2015, 10:02:36 PM- Was playing my Kiora deck with Kiora out fairly early on. My opponent was steadily gathering a good number of creatures on the field, and I still only had four land out. I used Kiora's -1, and drew my Second Kiora (I have the Born of the Gods and Duel Decks). First Kiora was killed, and in my following turn i summoned the second, who went on to use her Ultimate.

Sweet!  Usually people scoop (concede) when their opponent is about to ultimate.


Quote from: The Man They Call Jayne on June 01, 2015, 06:46:02 AM
I am currently look at building a deck based on Avatar of Woe and Thornbite Staff. Allows me to wipe the field any time I choose. Combined with Blood Artist and God Favoured General, it has MASSIVE abuse potential.

Wouldn't it be easier with smaller, cheaper creatures that have Deathtouch?    Heck, why not use Bitterheart Witch or Vampire Nighthawk, both of whom are Shamans with Deathtouch which means that the Thornbite Staff will attach itself to either of them for free.


=========

As for me, today I got home from Grand Prix Chiba, one of three simultaneous Grands Prix across the world to celebrate the release last weekend of Modern Masters 2015.  In addition to Chiba, Japan, there were also Grands Prix held in Las Vegas, USA, and Utrecht, The Netherlands.  Chiba set a record for selling out to its limit of 4000 attendees in under 10 hours whilst Vegas set a record for the largest number of Magic players in a single tournament (somewhere around 7,500, I think).  I'm sure there were other records broken as we set out to #MakeMagicHistory.  SORCK!  Why don't hashtags work here?   :P

I did well to begin with, winning my first two rounds.  I almost messed things up though: with my first action of the first game of the first round of my first big event, I almost gave myself a game loss.  I played an Evolving Wilds and tapped and sacrificed it, then searched my library for a Mountain, showed it to my opponent and said the Japanese word for "Mountain", then promptly put it face down in my hand.  I immediately raised my hand and yelled out "JUDGE!" (as you're supposed to do if there's a problem or a mistake).  The problem here is that I took a card from my deck and put it in my hand.  At casual REL, which your local game store plays at, that's not too big of a problem, but GPs are played under Competitive REL, which is much stricter.  It would have been a game loss had I not remembered that I showed it to my opponent before putting it in my hand as it would have been unidentifiable, but thankfully I showed it and said it aloud.  I received a Warning, which does nothing until I do the same thing three times, at which point I get a game loss.  Fortunately, I didn't do it again but it was a very silly thing to do right at the start.

I lost my next three rounds and dropped out, because I'd been going for around 11 hours on only 3.5 hours of sleep, and I'd made a sweet 5-colour control deck that went to time on four out of those five and I was exhausted.  In retrospect, I should have stayed in because later I really wanted to keep playing Magic.

GP Chiba was hit by a magnitude 8.5 earthquake at around 8.30pm on the Saturday evening.  It lasted for a short time but the ground continued to roll for at least 5 minutes.  The Japanese players were so used to earthquakes that they had to be explicitly instructed to stop playing.

Overall I had a great time.  If you get the chance to visit a GP, even if you don't play in it, I heartily recommend it.

Oh, and if you didn't see it on the live stream, you guys might want to check this out. (http://www.twitch.tv/magic/v/5595821?t=2h42m40s)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on June 01, 2015, 06:57:31 PM
Avatar doesn't have to attack to make the kill, and with Grand Abolisher on my field, me using the abilities can't be countered.

Gratz on the honeymoon though :D
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 07:25:26 PM
Ah, I forgot the tap part.  That's fair.  There are also a number of artifacts and enchantments that grant such a tap ability, but at that point I'd be trying to make it a three card combo.

Still, with one of the two cards of the two card combo being Avatar of Woe, it's still going to be tricky to pull off.

And, thank you   :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on June 01, 2015, 07:51:32 PM
Well right now I am going with Skyship Weatherlight to allow me to get the staffs and some avatars out.

Then putting a staff on Avatar of Woe, Ballynock Trapper, God Favoured General and Servant of Tymeret. In principle, Avatar and any of the other 3 can make this work in a variety of different way. Got a few Diabolic Tutors to increase my chances of getting what I need.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 08:02:08 PM
Weatherlight seems too easy to disrupt.  One Shatter or other artifact destruction spell and those cards you tutored for are gone forever.  Plus, you're not really saying how you're casting Avatar of Woe.  Are you honestly just planning on getting up to 8 mana?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on June 01, 2015, 08:30:36 PM
[Aargh, too much love!!]

With Tarkir, there is a lot of Artifact destruction around, though Fate Forgoten is two mana more tan Revoke Existance, yet does exact same thing :P Considering Theros Block is still in standard, why would you use Fate Forgoten?

I tend to not plan for getting further than six mana. By that pointhe game is either decided already or you're too evenly matched for the round. Heck, most of my Legendaries are only four mana iirc.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 08:41:50 PM
Remember that cards exist for a number of reasons.  Not all cards are made for you.  And sometimes there are things you don't see.  In this case, both Fate Forgotten and Revoke Existence exist as safety nets in both Limited and Standard in case artifacts or enchantments get too powerful.  In Limited, especially, they're so important that pretty much every set has at least one artifact removal spell and at least one enchantment removal spell (sometimes doubling up).  Also, you've missed that whilst Fate Forgotten costs one more mana than Revoke Existence, it's an Instant as opposed to a Sorcery.  Finally, there's a chance that this is intentional design that will only become clear once Theros Block rotates out, making cards in Khans block worth different values in Standard than they were before.

Also,

Quote from: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 02:54:34 PM
Oh, and if you didn't see it on the live stream, you guys might want to check this out. (http://www.twitch.tv/magic/v/5595821?t=2h42m40s)

Didn't either of you check this link out?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on June 01, 2015, 09:34:28 PM
Quote from: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 08:41:50 PM
Also,

Quote from: Masked Thespian on June 01, 2015, 02:54:34 PM
Oh, and if you didn't see it on the live stream, you guys might want to check this out. (http://www.twitch.tv/magic/v/5595821?t=2h42m40s)

Didn't either of you check this link out?
I did, though at present the other guy doesn't mean much to me :P

Was cool to see you own him in such a limited card game XD
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on June 01, 2015, 11:07:14 PM
I tend to play in multiplayer games, usually 4-6 people. So they go on longer and having lots of mana is far from uncommon. Also means that there are more things going to the graveyard anyway, so getting the cheaper cost is easier.

And nice game there. Nicely done.

Looks like a fun little mini game.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on June 02, 2015, 05:36:10 AM
Mini-Masters is a fun way to open new boosters.  You open the booster, remove the token/ad card, then without looking at any of the cards shuffle them into a set of 3 of each Basic Land (you can sleeve the cards upside down first if you want to protect them).  Then, play a game against your opponent who's done the same with the added rule that neither of you can lose the game by drawing from an empty library.

Truthfully, the game there was an excuse for him to interview me, a setting so to speak.

I've had some people contact me asking for more information and suggesting an AMA (Ask Me Anything, essentially an interview via Reddit) so I'm thinking of setting one up.  I wouldn't have thought that anyone would have been interested in me and my story but apparently there are.  I'm just happy to have been on the GP coverage   ;D
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on June 05, 2015, 07:44:29 AM
Ok, my prototype Avatar of Woe deck.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/get-away-from-me/

Currently named the FYA (Fire) deck, or the Fuck You All.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on July 12, 2015, 08:29:44 PM
[Warning, potentially very long post]

Had an excellent night at my recent FNM.

Played a mono-blue Modern deck with Jace Architect of Thought featured.
Modern Deck Composition



Creature (12)
2x Clinging Anemones
1x Dirgur Nemesis
1x Doorkeeper
1x Hover Barrier
2x Mindscour Dragon
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Monastery Flock
1x Sage's Row Denizen
1x Torrent Elemental
1x Wall of Frost
Instant (12)
4x Cancel
1x Learn from the Past
1x Nullify
4x Rakshasa's Disdain
1x Statute of Denial
1x Stymied Hopes
Land (25)
25x Island
Planeswalker (1)
1x Jace, Architect of Thought
Enchantment (12)
2x Chronic Flooding
1x Claustrophobia
1x Encrust
1x Evanescent Intellect
1x Illusory Gains
3x Mirror Mockery
2x Reduce in Stature
1x Singing Bell Strike
Sorcery (3)
1x Mind Sculpt
2x Thassa's Bounty

For my first game of the night I faced an opponent who had up to that night was undefeated. He plays (played) a Mono-Red Tribal Goblin deck focues around Krenko Mob Boss (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=386339). He also plays with a 100 card deck.

I severely reduced the effectiveness of his offensives, and was only reduced down to roughly 10-14 Life Points.

I predominantly had Defenders and Jace out, so very little offensive, and the combination of Jace's +1 and my defenders I only lost a single life point per my opponents turn. He almost played a Shiven Dragon, but thankfully I had a Rakshas's Disdain and a large graveyard to counter it.

I also used Jace's ultimate at 8 loyalty to summon a Krenko Mob Boss from my opponents deck, in addition to a Mindscour Dragon from my own deck.

The game was looking like a stalemate, with me slowly amassing my own goblin army, and wittling his life point and deck down with Mindscour Dragon flying over his non-reach, non-flying goblin army.

He however finished the game by playing a Mob Rule when I didn't have any counter spells in my hand.

As you can tell I didn't beat him. It was he next opponent that final took him down from his undefeated status.




My second game I lost due to just not getting any decent cards out.




Third game was a Two Headed Giant. My partner was using a five-colour Dragon-tribal focus deck, with Xenagos, The Reveler (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=373502) as a featured Planeswalker.

My opponents had a, iirc, a Pure White Ajani Steadfast (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=383180&type=card) & Cats deck. He didn't get a great deal out. Mainly Serra Angel who didn't do much.
The other opponent was playing a Red/Blue Disruption deck. He mainly got Jeskai cards out, such as Mistfire Adept, Jeskai Windscout, and Lotus Path Djinn.

Both opponents had a good portion of their decks milled by me, whilst my partner amassed a Dragon flock, including Ojutai, Sul of Winter, Atarka, World Render, Harbinger of the Hunt, Mindscour Dragon, Savage Ventmaw and Silumgar Drifting Death.

After waiting a few turns, which our opponents used to throw creatures with lifelink at us, we unleashed the dragon horde and easily decimated our opponents.




Fourth game was against the Red/Blue Disruption player.
I ended up making several of my opponents creatures useless, with either Mirror Mockery of his Goblin tokens, Cluastrophobia, or Reduce in Stature, Encrust or Illusory Gains and Singing Bell Strike.

Singing Bell was a delitful turn two play. It also used up a good amount of my opponents mana, but once he kept drawing land, it began to become less of an obstacle for him.

This game lasted a long while (as did my first ad third game), and in fact I won the game by deck out of my opponent.




After that game I had a look at the Red/blue players deck, and discussed how it could be improved. I gave him all the blue cards from my Elspeth and Kiora cards, which would ceretainly bolster his blue strength.
He also bought a Theors Red/Blue constructed deck, and managed to beat me.






Since then I've made an alternate for the Modern Blue to make it Standard Legal (at least until Theros Block is out of standard). I do think its lost a bit of the Mill and Defend edge, but the addition of a few Artifacts and Renowned Weaponsmith should help give the deck a bit more offensive capability.

Standard Deck Composition



Creature (9)
1x Custodian of the Trove
1x Dirgur Nemesis
2x Mindscour Dragon
1x Mnemonic Wall
1x Monastery Flock
1x Renowned Weaponsmith
1x Torrent Elemental
1x Wall of Frost
Instant (15)
4x Cancel
1x Crippling Chill
1x Learn from the Past
1x Nullify
4x Rakshasa's Disdain
1x Statute of Denial
1x Stymied Hopes
2x Whisk Away
Land (25)
25x Island
Artifact (5)
1x Cranial Archive
1x Spidersilk Net
2x Stormrider Rig
1x Vial of Dragonfire
Enchantment (9)
1x Encrust
1x Evanescent Intellect
1x Illusory Gains
3x Mirror Mockery
2x Reduce in Stature
1x Singing Bell Strike
Sorcery (3)
1x Mind Sculpt
2x Thassa's Bounty

I have also experimented with a Standard Mono-Red Deck. It is currently untested, and I'm waiting for thew next local FNM to play it.

Standard Mon-Red Deck Composition



Creature (12)
1x Bloodfire Expert
2x Defiant Ogre
3x Gore Swine
1x Hardened Berserker
1x Monastery Swiftspear
1x Stormcrag Elemental
2x Summit Prowler
1x Summit Prowler
Instant (11)
2x Arcbond
1x Bring Low
2x Dragonrage
1x Friendly Fire
2x Rending Volley
1x Sarkhan's Rage
1x Shatter
1x Tail Slash
Land (26)
26x Mountain
Artifact (1)
1x Gate Smasher
Enchantment (3)
1x Break Through the Line
2x Impact Tremors
Sorcery (12)
1x Act of Treason
1x Arc Lightning
2x Bathe in Dragonfire
1x Descent of Dragons
1x Fierce Invocation
2x Magmatic Chasm
2x Pyrotechnics
1x Seismic Rupture
1x Vandalize
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on September 30, 2015, 06:12:03 PM
Fellow Planeswalkers of the Second Sphere, I bring news from the realms of Magic.

I've recently started a new YouTube channel called "Crack a Pack a Day".  If you're unfamiliar with the term, a "crack a pack" is when you take a pack of Magic cards, open it, and pretend that you're in a three-pack booster draft, just about to take a card from your first pack.  Usually, you discuss and evaluate the cards in the pack and make a choice as to which one you think you'd take if you were actually drafting.  As the name implies, I'm going to be opening a pack and evaluating the contents every day.

As of right now I have eleven videos on my channel: one video each day since last Monday as well as a single bonus video.  Since the current set (for the next two days, at least), is Magic Origins, those are the packs I've been opening for the most part.  On Throwback Thursdays I'm going to be opening a pack from Magic's history instead of the most recent set, so last Thursday I opened a pack of Journey into Nyx (as if I were in a full Theros block draft).  Also, as I won a Japanese pack of Battle for Zendikar at last weekend's prerelease I opened that on camera as a bonus video.  From Monday I'll be opening Battle for Zendikar packs regularly.

The videos are aimed at the newer player looking to start drafting or who's already started drafting but is a little bit lost.  I try to explain all of my decisions and why certain cards are better than others.  I'm looking to add more content for more experienced players a little later (probably additional, shorter, less explanation-filled videos).

You can find my channel on YouTube here: Crack a Pack a Day (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCan62KZlcVtqomvFBFEuhAA).  I post updates whenever a new video is uploaded on both Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CrackAPackADay) and Twitter (@crackapackaday (https://twitter.com/crackapackaday)) so if you're interested in keeping up to date with this project then you've got three places where you can do so.

I'm just an amateur at this (both YouTube and evaluating cards in a pack) but I welcome any kind of comments, questions or criticisms that people have.  If you think these videos are a good thing then please feel free to share the links to your other Magic-playing friends.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on October 01, 2015, 02:52:02 AM
Ok, I have watched the first two videos and I approve. I like what you are doing with the videos, although if I had one worry it would be that occasionally you are using terminology that a new player might not understand.

In your first posted video for example you say about Kytheons Tactics: "If you've got a white weenie deck, and you are planning on going wide rather than tall". Now, I know what a weenie deck is, but I have no clue what wide rather than tall means. Am I planning on doing that? I don't know, so does this card help me?

It might be useful to either explain some of the slang, which players are going to come across, so they might as well learn what it means, or simplify your terms.

I understand that is would be second nature to you as an experienced player of course.

Alternatively, once a week maybe, do a video on player slang and terms that new player might be thrown by. I know that I have browsed MtG forums and just thought "What the hell are you guys talking about?".

Of course, if you do in fact change that behaviour in videos that I have not yet seen, then I retract my concern.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on October 01, 2015, 05:57:31 AM
Quote from: The Man They Call Jayne on October 01, 2015, 02:52:02 AM
In your first posted video for example you say about Kytheons Tactics: "If you've got a white weenie deck, and you are planning on going wide rather than tall". Now, I know what a weenie deck is, but I have no clue what wide rather than tall means. Am I planning on doing that? I don't know, so does this card help me?

It might be useful to either explain some of the slang, which players are going to come across, so they might as well learn what it means, or simplify your terms.

I understand that is would be second nature to you as an experienced player of course.

Alternatively, once a week maybe, do a video on player slang and terms that new player might be thrown by. I know that I have browsed MtG forums and just thought "What the hell are you guys talking about?".

Terminology isn't something that I'd considered but it is something that I will have to think about.  I already have plans for a weekly or fortnightly additional "Toolbox Tuesday" video that will help newer players with card evaluation concepts but I can see myself extending it to things like slang as well.

Thanks for the suggestion.  It's something that I'm definitely going to take into account for future videos.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on December 12, 2015, 10:55:23 PM
So a couple official spoilers for Oath of the Gatewatch have been released, confirming that there is now a new symbol for Colourless Mana, which is specifically NOT generic mana.

As I understand it from MaRo, lands and cards that could generate (1), previously meaning generic mana or similar now generate (<>) mana.

This doesn't affect converge, or similar mana-coliur related spells, as Colourles is not a colour. So if someone tells you their six-drop converge creature gets six +1/+1 counters (is there on that does this?) you can turn to them and flatly say that that is not what would happen, as (<>) is not a colour :P
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on December 13, 2015, 07:37:05 PM
Correct.  Colourless is not, and has never been, a colour.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 24, 2016, 11:17:39 PM
So I had my first taste of a Tourny environment today, and I only got one warning (played a Sorcery like an instant, first game).

Pulled Kalitas, and Flayed Drone, and gravitated towards a Black/Red Aggro deck.
Sealed Deck List
Tapped Out Decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/pptq-sealed-1/




Creatures (10)
1x Flayer Drone
1x Goblin Freerunner
1x Hedron Crawler
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Maw of Kozilek
2x Slaughter Drone
1x Sludge Crawler
1x Valakut Predator
Sorcery (5)
1x Flaying Tendrils
1x Oblivion Strike
1x Sparkmage's Gambit
1x Swarm Surge
1x Witness the End
Instant (5)
1x Complete Disregard
1x Consuming Sinkhole
1x Reality Hemorrhage
1x Sure Strike
1x Tar Snare
Enchantment (1)
1x Visions of Brutality
Artifact (2)
2x Seer's Lantern
Land (17)
7x Mountain
7x Swamp
1x Unknown Shores
2x Wastes

Remaining cards as sideboard
1x Affa Protector, 1x Anticipate, 1x Birthing Hulk, 1x Bonds of Mortality, 1x Cinder Hellion, 1x Cloud Manta, 1x Containment Membrane, 1x Corpse Churn, 1x Cultivator Drone, 1x Earthen Arms, 1x Eldrazi Devastator, 1x Endbringer, 1x Expedition Raptor, 1x Fertile Thicket, 1x Forest, 1x Gravity Negator, 1x Grovetender Druids, 1x Hedron Alignment, 1x Infuse with the Elements, 2x Island, 1x Kazuul's Toll Collector, 1x Kor Sky Climber, 2x Kozilek's Pathfinder, 1x Lithomancer's Focus, 1x Loam Larva, 1x Makindi Aeronaut, 1x Mighty Leap, 1x Natural Connection, 1x Negate, 1x Netcaster Spider, 1x Nirkana Assassin, 1x Omnath, Locus of Rage, 1x Ondu Greathorn, 1x Plains, 1x Planar Outburst, 1x Plated Crusher, 1x Pulse of Murasa, 1x Pyromancer's Assault, 1x Relentless Hunter, 1x Resolute Blademaster, 1x Roil's Retribution, 1x Saddleback Lagac, 1x Salvage Drone, 1x Sandstone Bridge, 1x Scion Summoner, 1x Searing Light, 1x Seek the Wilds, 1x Snapping Gnarlid, 1x Spawnbinder Mage, 1x Spell Shrivel, 1x Stonefury, 1x Strider Harness, 1x Tears of Valakut, 1x Thought-Knot Seer, 1x Tide Drifter, 1x Timber Gorge, 1x Umara Entangler, 1x Unity of Purpose, 1x Untamed Hunger, 1x Wall of Resurgence, 1x Zendikar Resurgent

My mana curve was basically a block sitting on 2-drops, 3drops, and 4-drops.

As is my luck, i lost every game. Some were close to a win for me, but I seemed to lose steam (begin top-decking) and then lose.

A couple players were kind enough to go over my deck and give me pointers. One of the last players pointed out my strong green pulled, alongside Omnath, plus the two Red/White & White/Green gold cards would have made for a decent Naya deck.





Adding my PPTQ pulls to my previous Booster pulls, i made the following deck.
Grixis of Zendikar
Grixis of Zendikar: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/grixis-of-zendikar/




Creature (25)
3x Benthic Infiltrator
1x Breaker of Armies
2x Dominator Drone
1x Eldrazi Aggressor
2x Eldrazi Devastator
2x Endbringer
1x Flayer Drone
2x Gravity Negator
1x Herald of Kozilek
1x Kozilek's Channeler
2x Maw of Kozilek
1x Mindmelter
2x Silent Skimmer
2x Slaughter Drone
2x Tide Drifter
Land (24)
1x Blighted Fen
1x Blighted Gorge
1x Crumbling Vestige
2x Island
1x Mortuary Mire
4x Mountain
2x Shivan Reef
1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
1x Skyline Cascade
1x Spawning Bed
1x Submerged Boneyard
4x Swamp
1x Unknown Shores
3x Wastes
Instant (5)
2x Adverse Conditions
1x Reality Hemorrhage
2x Spell Shrivel
Sorcery (4)
2x Oblivion Strike
2x Touch of the Void
Enchantment (4)
2x Molten Nursery
1x Pyromancer's Assault
1x Visions of Brutality

I'm looking forward to throwing this at friends to see how effective it is.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on January 25, 2016, 12:16:29 AM
Did you have fun?  That's the important thing.  And don't worry about the warning: it means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Looking at the deck, the main problem I see with it is that you have too few creatures and too many non-creature spells.  Generally, limited decks need 13-17 creatures, and aggro decks can go even higher than that.  The Hedron Crawler and 2 Seer's Lanterns are also completely out of place, seeing as you have no spells above a CMC of 4; those spells are best to get you to the higher CMCs and let you cast your best cards ASAP.

Endbringer is a bomb and should have been in the deck.  Likewise, Omnath is pretty good, like the other people mentioned.  I don't think you have enough dual-lands to say that Naya is the best choice, but that colour combination certainly does have your most powerful cards in it.  There are times when you have to play your most powerful cards, regardless of how good your mana fixing is, and just pray that you don't get colour screwed in games.

Overall, it certainly seems like you've learned from this event.  I hope you're inspired to go to other events in the future   :)
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 26, 2016, 06:35:28 PM
I lost with a smile on my face, and enjoyed all the games.

Would certainly want to do another Sealed event, but I think I need to get playing FNM more regularly. Hopefully some changes at work will let me do that :3





Played my Grixis deck today against a Ojutai and the Dragonlords deck, and a Red Green Landfall deck with Omnath. Some games I was getting the draws I needed, but I think playing against two people simultaneously is my main downfall.
Another weakness seems to be the fact of I just wasn't getting the mana I needed. thinking of buying a couple OGW Unknown Shores, as they would help best considering I do getland, just not in the colours I need. Might swap out the wastes for the Shores if/when I do that.

On that note I'll take what I've learned from play and go an build a Red/Green Landfall deck with a splash of white :3
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on January 26, 2016, 07:59:14 PM
Quote from: Narric on January 26, 2016, 06:35:28 PM
Played my Grixis deck today against a Ojutai and the Dragonlords deck, and a Red Green Landfall deck with Omnath. Some games I was getting the draws I needed, but I think playing against two people simultaneously is my main downfall.

I absolutely hate 3-way multiplayer games.  With 1-on-1 you know who your opponent is.  In 4+ player multiplayer usually a player has to amass a huge advantage in order to assail all of the other players simultaneously, lest they leave themselves open to counterattacks from all of their opponents.  But a 3-way is just small enough that a player can relatively easily amass the power to overpower the other two in one go, whilst being able to deflect attention off of them due to good misdirection.  I've often played games against two opponents that basically boiled down to one of my opponents convincing my other opponent that I was the threat, then that second opponent tried to kill me, and the first opponent swooped in and killed both of us.

I just don't find 3-way multiplayer games fun unless there's an "attack left only" or "attack right only" rule.  It just becomes an exercise in pointlessness otherwise.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 26, 2016, 08:23:32 PM
Quote from: Masked Thespian on January 26, 2016, 07:59:14 PM
I just don't find 3-way multiplayer games fun unless there's an "attack left only" or "attack right only" rule.  It just becomes an exercise in pointlessness otherwise.

I for one don't like the Attack in one direction rule any better. If you only allowed to play defensively against the person who is constantly on the offencive against you, how can you effectively go on the offencive towards the other player?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on January 26, 2016, 10:35:53 PM
At least you're only having to defend yourself from a single direction.

The answer, I suppose, is to bulldoze through the player you're allowed to attack.  Vigilance probably helps a lot.  I wouldn't actually know; my playgroup in Japan never wanted to do "attack left only" or "attack right only," only "free-for-all" which is what led to my dislike for it as a format.

Also, "attack left/right only" doesn't mean you cant cast spells at the person who can attack you.  Feel free to use your removal on their creatures or Planeswalkers, or any other applicable spells.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 26, 2016, 11:29:31 PM
I'll keep that in mind.

My Grixis deck has been updated, and I'll slot that in this post, or my next reply. Realized I was playing an Eldrazi deck without my titan, Ulamog :P

Grixis of Zendikar Mk2
Tapped Out Decklist: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/grixis-of-zendikar/



Creature (20)
2x Cultivator Drone
2x Endbringer
1x Endless One
1x Flayer Drone
1x Herald of Kozilek
1x Kozilek's Channeler
2x Maw of Kozilek
1x Mindmelter
1x Sifter of Skulls
2x Silent Skimmer
2x Slaughter Drone
1x Thought-Knot Seer
2x Tide Drifter
1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Land (24)
1x Blighted Fen
1x Blighted Gorge
1x Crumbling Vestige
3x Island
1x Mortuary Mire
5x Mountain
1x Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
1x Skyline Cascade
1x Spawning Bed
1x Submerged Boneyard
4x Swamp
1x Unknown Shores
3x Wastes
Enchantment (4)
2x Molten Nursery
1x Pyromancer's Assault
1x Visions of Brutality
Sorcery (4)
1x Gruesome Slaughter
1x Swarm Surge
2x Touch of the Void
Instant (8)
2x Adverse Conditions
1x Grave Birthing
1x Reality Hemorrhage
1x Spatial Contortion
2x Spell Shrivel
1x Titan's Presence
Sideboard
1x Breaker of Armies
1x Complete Disregard
2x Eldrazi Devastator
1x Flaying Tendrils
2x Oblivion Strike
2x Scour from Existence
2x Swarm Surge
1x Witness the End
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on January 29, 2016, 11:41:03 AM
Rather specific question, but does anyone know of any black or white, or black/white enchantments that can either prevent milling, or reflect the mill back on its caster? I ask because that is now the one thing my Tax deck is really vulnerable too.

I can make it almost impossible to attack, and I can reflect damage from instants and sorceries back at the caster. I can prevent lifegain and make life that would be gained get taken from you. I just have nothing that can stop spells that don't deal damage.

I have an Aegis of the Gods, which is great, but it does stop them casting anything at me, which means I cannot redirect the damage back at them, which defeats the point.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on January 29, 2016, 12:00:58 PM
(Assuming Modern) Depends on how they're milling. Arrest (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=397723) can prevent creatures from activating milling abilities. Wheel of Sun and Moon (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146740) is Hybrid for two white/green, and seems to just put the card that would be milled onto the bottom of your library.

Looking at the Gatherer, and other card to do with your library or graveyard has green or blue in its cost.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on January 29, 2016, 01:32:45 PM
Wheel of Sun and Moon is perfect. Exactly what I was looking for.

I hadn't been looking at green hybrids.

Finally I have a single deck that is capable of handling any deck I am likely to face at Phoenix.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: The Man They Call Jayne on March 21, 2016, 02:50:20 AM
I will certainly be looking to draft a few cards from the new RNN release.

I am a big fan of Tromple. And Spronghack. And I definitely want more spells.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/scienceandtech/14276-Magic-The-Gathering-Cards-Made-by-Artificial-Intelligence
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on March 26, 2016, 12:10:10 AM
Just posted these on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter, but I figured that people here might not see them there.

I've typed up a number of Instant-speed tricks sheets for Shadows over Innistrad.  The full set was spoiled today and I've gone through all the cards and noted down which ones your opponent/s could have in hand to surprise you with.  All of them are presented in landscape format and half of them are for people with black and white only printers.

Here are the main Instant-speed tricks you'll come up against:

SOI Instant-speed tricks sheet, colour. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m2CsLBBTBkOWQxZUx3N3M1dTA/view?usp=sharing)

SOI Instant-speed tricks sheet, no colour. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m2CsLBBTBkNVRSeWNBbXJLWUk/view?usp=sharing)

The following two sheets collect the information of all the Madness cards in the set that could not otherwise be cast at Instant speed, but can be done so if used in combination with Instant-speed self-discard outlets:

SOI Madness cards, colour. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m2CsLBBTBkUEZBSU93dFRnRVU/view?usp=sharing)

SOI Madness cards, no colour. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m2CsLBBTBkMEhSclBTUkNqS2M/view?usp=sharing)

These final two sheets collect the information for Instant-speed tricks and the Madness cards together.  They're best best printed duplex so you only need to use a single sheet of paper

SOI Instant-speed tricks and Madness cards, colour. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m2CsLBBTBkbEd6OWo2OUVQUkE/view?usp=sharing)  For what it's worth, this is the sheet that I'll be printing and using myself at prerelease events.

SOI Instant-speed tricks and Madness cards, no colour. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8m2CsLBBTBkc09CX2FRWXpqV0E/view?usp=sharing)

Please remember that you can't refer to these sheets during your games but you can look at them between games and between rounds.

If you have any questions, comments, or corrections then please feel free to reply.  In particular, with prerelease events coming up next weekend, if there are any errors then I'd be very grateful if anyone would let me know so I can amend the sheets in time.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on March 26, 2016, 12:35:46 AM
Those look excellent. Unfortunately I won't be attending any local prereleases, so I'll have to wait for my toolkit to arrive before I can get my charred claws on some SOI cards :3
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 27, 2016, 07:17:44 PM
So did anyone else watch the Pro Tour this past weekend?

I somewhat now understand why some find the game boring, as just watching it can be XD

Dismantled an built a few decks inspired by what was played. My Deck List is now as follows:
- Colourless Eldrazi Ramp
- MarZan Vampires
- G/B Sacrifice
- G/W Tokens (Splash Red)
- Mono-Blue Mill

- My Eldrazi deck is okay against non-aggro decks. ITs weakness is that a number of its mana sources are weak mana-dorks. Also has a little difficulty with flyers.
- Vampires is a fun one to play, especially with Sideboards enabled. The Main Deck is Mardu, but doing a full Sideboard swap shifts it to Abzan. At present some of the Green cards in the sideboard may end up migrating to the G/B Sacrifice deck.
- Sacrifice is intended to make use of any creature death, by it by my opponents doing, or my own. Presently its untested, so not sure how well it curves out.
- G/W Tokens features both Nissa and Gideon, with Nahiri added for the red splash, who has shown to be very good at removal in a short test match.
- Mono-blue Mill currently doesn't have much staying power. By that I mean I've lost by Life Total each game. I have slow-down creatures, but likely not enough card draw. Startled Awake, 3x Vessel of Paramnesia, and 3x Dreadwatersmake up the mill portion. Also there is Jace, Unraveler of Mysteries to help with Card Draw.

Currently out of the FNM circles due to coursework, but in a couple weeks I'll be back in, and hopefully I'll be able to play a few Games Days, or PPTQs over summer :3

Anyone else been experimenting with the new cards from SOI as well?
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on April 28, 2016, 01:14:55 AM
Quote from: Narric on April 27, 2016, 07:17:44 PM
So did anyone else watch the Pro Tour this past weekend?

I somewhat now understand why some find the game boring, as just watching it can be XD

I did.  I caught a bit of the action on Friday and Saturday and watched most of the matches on Sunday.  Seemed quite good, to me.

Most hobbies are more fun to do than to watch.  Tabletop wargaming, for another...   :P

Quote from: Narric on April 27, 2016, 07:17:44 PM
- Vampires is a fun one to play, especially with Sideboards enabled. The Main Deck is Mardu, but doing a full Sideboard swap shifts it to Abzan. At present some of the Green cards in the sideboard may end up migrating to the G/B Sacrifice deck.

Yeah...  That's not what sideboards are for, usually.  You should use your sideboard to shore up the weaknesses in your deck and/or bring in specific hate cards against strategies that you know work well against you.  Don't make a transformative sideboard just because you can.  About the only times it's acceptable are when you're playing sealed (and thus the element of surprise works really well for you, not to mention that your limited card pool might have two relatively evenly-powered decks in it) or if you're playing a deck in one of the older formats that has a very specific strategy to win, and you change the strategy so that your opponent's sideboarding is far less effective.

Quote from: Narric on April 27, 2016, 07:17:44 PM- Mono-blue Mill currently doesn't have much staying power. By that I mean I've lost by Life Total each game. I have slow-down creatures, but likely not enough card draw. Startled Awake, 3x Vessel of Paramnesia, and 3x Dreadwatersmake up the mill portion. Also there is Jace, Unraveler of Mysteries to help with Card Draw.

Mill isn't really a strategy in the current Standard environment.  At best it's a win condition in a slow control deck (through Sphinx's Tutelage) but it's not something that you should be including all of those cards for.

Quote from: Narric on April 27, 2016, 07:17:44 PMAnyone else been experimenting with the new cards from SOI as well?

Not really.  I've been too divorced from the Standard scene for around 2 years now, when my gaming group in Japan started to break up due to people moving away.  I've not kept up to date with buying cards and certainly not kept up to date with buying them.
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Narric on April 28, 2016, 08:07:32 AM
I can see what you mean about the Vampire Deck. I would like to try it out in a full FNM environment though, and see if the game 1 to 2 switch can throw the match in my favour :P Chances are after that I'll adjust it for the more common and proper purpose for sideboards :3
Title: Re: Planeswalker Libraries [Magic, the Gathering]
Post by: Masked Thespian on October 13, 2016, 01:27:20 PM
So last weekend I went to GP London.  We only really get 2 Grands Prix a year in the UK, with GP Manchester back in May being Constructed Standard and this one being Limited Kaladesh.

I had an absolutely fantastic time. I only went 2-3-1 in the main event before I dropped but I did a lot of side events, including three Chaos Drafts and all three Conspiracy 2 drafts (Friday and Saturday at 7pm and Sunday at 6pm).

My best moment of the weekend happened during the main event itself. It was game 2 of match 1 and I'd won the first round. The battlefield was clogged up with a whole bunch of creatures on the ground, so neither of us could attack. I'd cast a Cloudblazer (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=417749) a couple of turns earlier so I was starting to break the deadlock, and I also had a Torrential Gearhulk (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=417640) that I'd Flashed in a few turns before that to eat an attacker. My opponent cast Revoke Privilege (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=417599) on the Cloudblazer to stop it from attacking. In his End Step I cast the Acrobatic Maneuver (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=417574) that I'd sideboarded in for game 2, targeting the Gearhulk. I flickered the Gearhulk, drew a card off of the Acrobatic Maneuver, and put it into the Graveyard. I put the Gearhulk's ETB trigger onto the stack, targeting the now-in-Graveyard Acrobatic Maneuver, and cast it (without paying its mana cost) targeting the Cloudblazer. The Cloudblazer went to exile, the opponent's Revoke Privilege went to his Graveyard, then the Cloudblazer returned to the battlefield. I drew another card off of the Acrobatic Maneuver and exiled it. Then, I put the Cloudblazer's ETB trigger onto the stack and resolved it. When all was said and done, I'd drawn 4 cards, gained 2 life, and blanked one of my opponent's best pieces of removal for the cost of 2W and a card. My neighbour said, "I have no idea what you're doing, but I like the sound of it." Upon telling the story to a friend later in the day, he said, "I didn't realise they'd reprinted Sphinx's Revelation (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=253534) in Kaladesh." This was the best value play that I've ever made, and I doubt I'll ever get to make a play with as much value ever again.

In terms of what I came away from the event with, here's my haul.

(http://i.imgur.com/TgSmBuE.jpg)

The box of Conspiracy and the 8 packs of Kaladesh were what I got off of the Prize Wall or traded for using the proceeds of my Prize Wall winnings, whilst I bought the Cardboard Crack 6-book set myself, and the deckbox and the sleeves were as part of the event entry. I seem to have missed out on taking a photo of the GP playmat, but you can see that here (http://gplondon.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016-gpLondong-playmat-preview.jpg) if you'd like.

In terms of the big block of cards at the bottom of the screen, I've taken a few more photos of them.

(http://i.imgur.com/3BAeyDH.jpg)

Here are my pulls from my Chaos Drafts, with the Caustic Hound, Vines of Vastwood, Vedalken Archmage, and Eye of Ugin all in foil (and the Grim Reminder being what I was passed as the final pick on a pack at one point); the Fire-Lit Thicket is my first ever "filter" land that I've ever pulled or even owned, so that made me pretty happy.

(http://i.imgur.com/hBiFAbJ.jpg)

Here are my pulls from my three Conspiracy 2 drafts, with the Bronze Sable (along with its two non-foil brothers all having Firebreathing from Incendiary Dissent (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=416765) and "Deal combat damage to a player, pay U to draw a card" from Hired Heist (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=416762)), Goblin Tunneler, Opaline Unicorn, Kiln Fiend, and Gang of Devils all in foil; the Sovereign's Realm (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=416767) was my pack-1-pick-1 in the Friday night draft, and I proceeded to draft Removal.dek including three Garbage Fire (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=416809)s on 3, 4, and 7 (all in pack 2) but the Duskmantle Seer (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=416959) ended up being my downfall (as I was on 6 life and revealed my only 6-drop, the Harvester of Souls).

(http://i.imgur.com/FtCVVm7.jpg)

Here's the event promo which I'm quite pleased to finally get a copy of.

(http://i.imgur.com/jT2PtxF.jpg)

And finally, here are my Kaladesh pulls across the whole weekend, with the Fairgrounds Trumpeter, Armorcraft Judge, Fortuitous Find, and Plains all being foil.

(http://i.imgur.com/Cd8owb0.jpg)

Why, yes, that is a Masterpiece Chromatic Lantern, that I actually got in my main event pool (and as it's the first ever Expedition or Masterpiece I've ever pulled, I'm extremely happy with it).

Overall I had a great time.  Anyone who's never been to a GP before should try it as, at the worst, it's like a Magic convention (similar to a GW Games Day) where you can talk about, and play, Magic with loads of people you've never met before.