I started the next set of tests with Late for the Kill, feeling especially positive about it. After some playtests with Jason, I told him I just wasn't quite thrilled with it yet, specifically the Sovereigns of Lost Alara. He liked the concept, mixing Exalted with the controlling Dueling Grounds elements.
He suggested the obvious fix: Add in more Battlegrace Angel and another Rhox Charger. It was so simple I was a bit dumbstruck. It's always this kind of thing that I overlook. Jason also suggested Finest Hour, which, after a little rules verification, I discovered that you could attack twice in a turn with a single creature. I was surprised but apparently it's kosher.
I didn't like it for my deck but I think I'll see something Jason is using in the near future with Finest Hour.
After the changes, I took this up against a Blood Artist deck built by Fuz. Exquisite Blood, Sanguine Bond and zombies were involved, including Shepard of Rot.
I lost the first game due to mana issues but in game two I hit my creature drops, blew up the Exquisite Blood with a Qasali Pridemage and the Battlegrace Angel's lifelink kept me in the game and mopped up. Game three started a little rougher but I had Aven Squires on turns 2 and 3 so though my mana wasn't cooperating, I still had some action. Fuz wasn't as lucky, stalling out at two lands and not having much else. Eventually I found a Forest, brought a Rhox Charger up and I thought I had this wrapped up pretty nicely, until the Vampiric Tutor happened at the end of my turn. Turns out, it was just for a Doom Blade, which wasn't enough to stall my win.
He changed decks to a R/U deck with Cloudstone Curio and I got stormed out with him playing Kobolds until Grapeshot could kill me. This is also what happened in the second game.
Oh, Storm. You suck so bad. Despite what people say about the deck being interesting, like baseball or soccer, it really isn't unless you're playing it.
The problem is, while it's great at seeing the thought process of the combo player (illustrating the decisions needing to be made on his part) from the point of "Untap. Draw Grim Tutor. That's how we do it!" there are roughly 809 words and only two points of interaction: Cabal Therapy and Daze. Everything else is the storm player's internal monologue. There is no consideration of what's on the board, nor is there in the entire DECK an acknowledgement that one has to consider the other player's permanents.
You know what the other player is thinking: I'm watching you do mental gymnastics, which is boring and even worse; any spell I cast helps to pave your avenue to victory. All I can do is hope you whiff.
Why? Because neither deck is attempting to interact with the other, they're merely racing. And you can have two decks working the spells angle, or two decks working the permanents angle but you can't have them ignore each other and still have a compelling experience for both players.That's just not how to build a fun game and I have yet to be convinced that watching someone go through this process is interesting.
Showing posts with label Late For The Kill Early For The Slaughter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Late For The Kill Early For The Slaughter. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Away and Home again
I'll be on the road starting this weekend through Wednesday, which means I won't have an opportunity to play much Magic. Since that's the case, I'll take the next week to re-play the decks from the past few weeks, including more work on Ratchet, the acquisition of cards to change Late For The Kill, further tests with Look Up, the exploration of a Eureka! moment I had for New World Disorder, and the cultivation of hydras in Golden Blunders.
I may not have much to talk about even next Thursday but hopefully there will be some Magic news to discuss, perhaps even the necessity to eat humble pie on my evaluation of Rakdos. Possibly G/W decks too because everyone seems to be all funny in the pants about Populate but...I still don't see it and the data from last week's States event convince me to change my mind. While I did see quite a few RBG and mono-Red decks I didn't see many people trying to push a mechanic.
What I know now, that I didn't when I wrote about Return to Ravnica, is that all of the guilds will have their mechanic extended in the third set. This could be the 'missing piece' to help boost those mechanics into a more heavyweight position and I look forward to it.
I may not have much to talk about even next Thursday but hopefully there will be some Magic news to discuss, perhaps even the necessity to eat humble pie on my evaluation of Rakdos. Possibly G/W decks too because everyone seems to be all funny in the pants about Populate but...I still don't see it and the data from last week's States event convince me to change my mind. While I did see quite a few RBG and mono-Red decks I didn't see many people trying to push a mechanic.
What I know now, that I didn't when I wrote about Return to Ravnica, is that all of the guilds will have their mechanic extended in the third set. This could be the 'missing piece' to help boost those mechanics into a more heavyweight position and I look forward to it.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
I Don't Care How It Bleeds
I didn't get too much testing in with Late For The Kill--everyone has 'lives' all of a sudden--but I was still able to get some games in yesterday against a mono-B goblins deck and a U/W flicker/detain deck and those matchups taught me a few things I wasn't expecting at all.
The goblin games were quick: mana flood on his part and no removal meant that when I dropped the Dueling Grounds, he had no recourse. My creatures rapidly became bigger and harder to block than his and it went pretty fast after that.
The UW games were more complex, including one mistake for me that worked out. I was attacking with a 6/6 Aven Squire when it was hit with Azorus Charm, putting it on top of my library. I sighed, put it on top and passed the turn. That's when I noticed Bant Charm in my hand, which could have countered that spell.
But on his turn he tapped out to cast Archon of the Triumvirate. I was able to use Bant Charm to hide that gnarly beast and my Squire came out next turn to add to a mighty swing from a second Aven Squire.
Better lucky than good, I suppose and I went on to win that matchup.
Here's what I learned:
First: Sovereigns of Lost Alara don't fly. I know it looks like they ought to, with the clouds and the wispy art but they don't. So there was a tactical mistake that I made in the goblins game that I won't make again.
Second: Covenant of Minds will draw three cards. I was able to play this spell three times and each time my opponent said: Take 'em. There was never even a question of allowing me to draw five unknowns. This may change, the more matchups I play but I have a feeling it won't. Still, 5 mana for 3 cards isn't a bad deal, with Concentrate and Inspiration as counterpoints. But one isn't splashable and the other isn't that great of a deal. So I'll stick with it for now.
Third: I never wanted Sovereigns of Lost Alara. Whenever I drew it, I just felt like: What is the point of this? I need something else to help me overwhelm people and the Sovereigns, who were there to help fetch Eel Penumbras can be something equally useful and less expensive, I'm sure of it.
The goblin games were quick: mana flood on his part and no removal meant that when I dropped the Dueling Grounds, he had no recourse. My creatures rapidly became bigger and harder to block than his and it went pretty fast after that.
The UW games were more complex, including one mistake for me that worked out. I was attacking with a 6/6 Aven Squire when it was hit with Azorus Charm, putting it on top of my library. I sighed, put it on top and passed the turn. That's when I noticed Bant Charm in my hand, which could have countered that spell.
But on his turn he tapped out to cast Archon of the Triumvirate. I was able to use Bant Charm to hide that gnarly beast and my Squire came out next turn to add to a mighty swing from a second Aven Squire.
Better lucky than good, I suppose and I went on to win that matchup.
Here's what I learned:
First: Sovereigns of Lost Alara don't fly. I know it looks like they ought to, with the clouds and the wispy art but they don't. So there was a tactical mistake that I made in the goblins game that I won't make again.
Second: Covenant of Minds will draw three cards. I was able to play this spell three times and each time my opponent said: Take 'em. There was never even a question of allowing me to draw five unknowns. This may change, the more matchups I play but I have a feeling it won't. Still, 5 mana for 3 cards isn't a bad deal, with Concentrate and Inspiration as counterpoints. But one isn't splashable and the other isn't that great of a deal. So I'll stick with it for now.
Third: I never wanted Sovereigns of Lost Alara. Whenever I drew it, I just felt like: What is the point of this? I need something else to help me overwhelm people and the Sovereigns, who were there to help fetch Eel Penumbras can be something equally useful and less expensive, I'm sure of it.
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