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.
Showing posts with label Look Up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Look Up. Show all posts
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Stop the world and listen in, something great is happening
After some pondering on Look Up, I decided against Favorable Winds and here's why: I had to make a choice between a more aggressively leaning deck or a more controlling one and the cards in there tilted toward control. Putting in Favorable Winds would have just diluted the controlling elements.
My adjustments were: +1 Vendilion Clique, +2 Guardian Seraph. Here's why: Vendilion Clique is more disruptive to most control strategies (and I own one more) and Guardian Seraph is a pain in the butt for aggro ones. It's a kind of reverse lifegain but with a better effect; all of your damage, gets -1 and that impacts any creatures, plus red and black. Plus: attacking for 3.
After these changes I was paired up against the same U/W deck I lost to last week. This time: it wasn't even questionable. I went 2-0 on the strength of well timed Humbles and my opponent's inability to deal with Thieving Magpie.
Thieving Magpie is possibly the secret weapon of Look Up. Ding for 1, draw a card. Doesn't seem like much but keeping a hand full of threats and never worrying about running out of answers was a big deal.
My second opponent, Merrick, identified that this would be a problem. Playing a mono-R dragon-themed build, she set fire to those Magpies whenever possible.
I drew Sea Sprites in all three games against her; the first game had her land flooded and unable to deal with the protection from red creature.
Game 2 was not to work the same, as you can see in the photo. That green glass bead represents my one creature; a U/W 1/1 flying bird. Everything else I'd cast either died to Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle triggers or were sacrificed to block Balefire Dragon.
I had creatures but not any form of disruption and my Magpies were Bolted. The game went long and her creatures were better than mine.
Game 3 came down to a critical turn four, I believe, when she cast Dragonspeaker Shaman. I had a Condescend in hand. Do I counter this spell or do I counter the next spell that comes along, one that will likely be a dragon that can block my creatures and are likely better than mine?
I decided to counter the Shaman on the grounds that with the turns she would need to continue to develop her mana, I could develop my threat count and maybe get enough pressure on to win the game. Plus, using Condescend's Scry ability I could get closer to the second Plains I needed to drop a Guardian Seraph, which could present problems later.
My decision turned out correct and lead me to win that game, going 2-1 vs the dragons. I think I got a little lucky but it worked out so I'm not going to complain.
My adjustments were: +1 Vendilion Clique, +2 Guardian Seraph. Here's why: Vendilion Clique is more disruptive to most control strategies (and I own one more) and Guardian Seraph is a pain in the butt for aggro ones. It's a kind of reverse lifegain but with a better effect; all of your damage, gets -1 and that impacts any creatures, plus red and black. Plus: attacking for 3.
After these changes I was paired up against the same U/W deck I lost to last week. This time: it wasn't even questionable. I went 2-0 on the strength of well timed Humbles and my opponent's inability to deal with Thieving Magpie.
Thieving Magpie is possibly the secret weapon of Look Up. Ding for 1, draw a card. Doesn't seem like much but keeping a hand full of threats and never worrying about running out of answers was a big deal.
My second opponent, Merrick, identified that this would be a problem. Playing a mono-R dragon-themed build, she set fire to those Magpies whenever possible.
I drew Sea Sprites in all three games against her; the first game had her land flooded and unable to deal with the protection from red creature.
Game 2 was not to work the same, as you can see in the photo. That green glass bead represents my one creature; a U/W 1/1 flying bird. Everything else I'd cast either died to Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle triggers or were sacrificed to block Balefire Dragon.
I had creatures but not any form of disruption and my Magpies were Bolted. The game went long and her creatures were better than mine.
Game 3 came down to a critical turn four, I believe, when she cast Dragonspeaker Shaman. I had a Condescend in hand. Do I counter this spell or do I counter the next spell that comes along, one that will likely be a dragon that can block my creatures and are likely better than mine?
I decided to counter the Shaman on the grounds that with the turns she would need to continue to develop her mana, I could develop my threat count and maybe get enough pressure on to win the game. Plus, using Condescend's Scry ability I could get closer to the second Plains I needed to drop a Guardian Seraph, which could present problems later.
My decision turned out correct and lead me to win that game, going 2-1 vs the dragons. I think I got a little lucky but it worked out so I'm not going to complain.
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