I present: two articles on draft picks for the Transformers TCG.
Character cards.
Battle cards.
Let's go through these really fast because there's some unhelpful stuff here and that's a real shame-but it also comes out of a) a new format being new and b) possibly someone who hasn't done a lot of drafting.
First, mentioning rare cards isn't extremely helpful. In a TCG, rare cards are supposed to be good, better than the common ones. That's why they're rare. So informing your audience that Private Hot Rod is good isn't exactly guidance-because of course your top picks should be powerful cards. This is like telling us that Lord Megatron or Pocket Processor is good: Yes, we know, that's why you pick those as soon as you can.
What we need to evaluate, especially with Battle Cards, are the common rarities because that's what we end up using to execute our strategies.
So are there enough actions in the format for us to build around Private Hot Rod? Is the ability actually worth something? No case is made.
Contrast this with the argument for Raider Spinster-at Uncommon, you're pretty likely to see one and while there are only four Battle Masters in the set, you have a decent shot at snagging one of those too, as they are also Uncommon.
This happens a couple times: Mirage is sold as a top pick but if you contrast that with the Battle Cards list, 3 of the 8 have the black Pierce icon, which Mirage does nothing for and zero Secret Actions on that list, of the mere two secret actions at common, only one of which has a blue icon. So where is Mirage getting any of it's power from? Heck, there are only three cards with blue icons in the entire set! With all those black icons, why isn't Raider Nova Storm getting more attention?
And it's important to look at this as a whole: of the battle cards suggested there isn't a single blue icon on them. So how does that mesh with the character recommendation of Mirage? Showing Off is sold as a high pick, but not a single recommended character has a great flip ability! Why would you pick that card unless you had a character like Sergeant Springer or Raider Chop Shop?
Another example: Kinetic Converter and Kinetic Whip need to flip to be really great-where are the Characters that mesh with this, since everyone's going to get a chance to pick those commons?
Where is the analysis of the format at large? It doesn't look like there's much Upgrade removal in this set and this seems incredibly relevant when Captain Astrotrain-at common-is available.
There seem to be some important, overlooked themes from Siege II and I'm not saying that these articles are easy to write. Clearly the author is going of his own experience-same as me. However, it isn't my experience that says there are only three common cards with blue icons: That's just me looking at the set and telling you a fact. Compare that to ten common cards with black icons, three of which have double black! I think you can see how the set is tilted.
And I chalk all of this up to the game being really new, and people still trying to get a grip on how drafting works. Because it's different in this game than in Magic. Character cards and battle cards have to work together, so generating a plan is extremely challenging-as I learned a couple weeks ago.
Hopefully, as more experience is gained, articles with sharper focus will emerge.
Showing posts with label draft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label draft. Show all posts
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
3-3
I participated in a release day draft for Transformers: Rise of the Combiners event and this is what I built (but first, a link to the spoiler list, so you can see what I did):
1 copy:
Rapid Conversion
Escape Route
Mining Pick
Armored Plating
Press the Advantage
Testify
Espionage
Evasive Maneuvers
2 copies:
Spare parts
Surprise Attack
Noble's Blaster
Enemy Combat Analysis
Primary Laser
Enforcement Batons
Bashing Shield
Pep Talk
Erratic Lightning
3 copies of Field Repair
4 copies of Cooling Vents
Characters
Air Raid
Silverbolt
Dead End
Megatron, Arrogant Ruler
Looking back, I see what I should've done though: my draft pool included two Bolt of Lightning, a Leap of Faith and a Universal Network Access, along with two Vandalize. I I had cut Dead End and run five star cards, I think I would've had a better deck.
Similarly, if I'm cutting Dead End, then cut Megatron for the Grapple I was passed and fill in with the best star cards (UNA, Bolt, Leap) then again, possibly a stronger deck. Megatron was REALLY good though.
But as always, play skill matters. In my first game, I was still finding the rhythm of the TCG again. It had been months since I had played and I don't think I made the best choices due to some rust in the gears. Couple that with trying to use the new green battle icons properly and yeah, I made some mistakes. Heck, having to note the cards I'd flipped and decide which to pull, if any, was not a simple task.
Game two was an absolute nail biter but my opponent had wisely drafted a heavily defensive deck and I just couldn't quite get there fast enough.
My third and fourth games went better for me; I felt more focused and had a better sense of how my deck played out, so I was able to look at what my opponent was doing and focus on the weak points in his strategy.
The fifth game I managed to pull out but the sixth I lost on time and I lost that game because I didn't attack my opponent's weak point. He was running the new Skywarp and, despite him telling me his deck was "One seventh zero icons", instead of going for his support cards I kept trying to knock out Skywarp. If I'd focused instead on Ironhide and Sludge, I might've won out. I still might've won if time had not been an issue but that's life.
In addition, I missed some of my green icon and character attacking triggers. Some of that is about the new mechanic, some of that is about my own inexperience.
Final Thoughts
So far, I like where Rise of the Combiners is going; the new mechanics add depth in positive ways, expanding the strategic element without making things too complex. The foldable cards, so far, are strong enough to endure a bit of use which I also appreciate. They feel sturdy!
The rules clarifications section needs some work. The use of FAQ and Rules Roundup pages at Facebook is clunky. While those posts help promote the game, they aren't easy to search through and getting answers to questions like "can I interact with Characters in the K.O. area?" has been very difficult for me to find. We just need databases set up for things like this.
The use of the green icons do slow the game down a little. However, I believe that this is because it's a new mechanic we have to pay attention to, and less because it's a massive drag on the combat portion of the game. The games I played still went at a brisk pace and felt engaging. I look forward to playing more games!
1 copy:
Rapid Conversion
Escape Route
Mining Pick
Armored PlatingPress the Advantage
Testify
Espionage
Evasive Maneuvers
2 copies:
Spare parts
Surprise Attack
Noble's Blaster
Enemy Combat Analysis
Primary Laser
Enforcement Batons
Bashing Shield
Pep Talk
Erratic Lightning
3 copies of Field Repair
4 copies of Cooling Vents
Characters
Air Raid
Silverbolt
Dead End
Megatron, Arrogant Ruler
Looking back, I see what I should've done though: my draft pool included two Bolt of Lightning, a Leap of Faith and a Universal Network Access, along with two Vandalize. I I had cut Dead End and run five star cards, I think I would've had a better deck.
Similarly, if I'm cutting Dead End, then cut Megatron for the Grapple I was passed and fill in with the best star cards (UNA, Bolt, Leap) then again, possibly a stronger deck. Megatron was REALLY good though.
But as always, play skill matters. In my first game, I was still finding the rhythm of the TCG again. It had been months since I had played and I don't think I made the best choices due to some rust in the gears. Couple that with trying to use the new green battle icons properly and yeah, I made some mistakes. Heck, having to note the cards I'd flipped and decide which to pull, if any, was not a simple task.
Game two was an absolute nail biter but my opponent had wisely drafted a heavily defensive deck and I just couldn't quite get there fast enough.
My third and fourth games went better for me; I felt more focused and had a better sense of how my deck played out, so I was able to look at what my opponent was doing and focus on the weak points in his strategy.
The fifth game I managed to pull out but the sixth I lost on time and I lost that game because I didn't attack my opponent's weak point. He was running the new Skywarp and, despite him telling me his deck was "One seventh zero icons", instead of going for his support cards I kept trying to knock out Skywarp. If I'd focused instead on Ironhide and Sludge, I might've won out. I still might've won if time had not been an issue but that's life.
In addition, I missed some of my green icon and character attacking triggers. Some of that is about the new mechanic, some of that is about my own inexperience.
Final Thoughts
So far, I like where Rise of the Combiners is going; the new mechanics add depth in positive ways, expanding the strategic element without making things too complex. The foldable cards, so far, are strong enough to endure a bit of use which I also appreciate. They feel sturdy!
The rules clarifications section needs some work. The use of FAQ and Rules Roundup pages at Facebook is clunky. While those posts help promote the game, they aren't easy to search through and getting answers to questions like "can I interact with Characters in the K.O. area?" has been very difficult for me to find. We just need databases set up for things like this.
The use of the green icons do slow the game down a little. However, I believe that this is because it's a new mechanic we have to pay attention to, and less because it's a massive drag on the combat portion of the game. The games I played still went at a brisk pace and felt engaging. I look forward to playing more games!
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Chaos Draft: 4-0
Lauriel had a birthday event and her request: Chaos Draft.
There were packs of Magic: Origins, Weatherlight, Conspiracy, Homelands, Ice Age, Modern Masters, Planar Chaos: you get the idea.
I opened terrible rares: my first pick was Rix Maadi Guildmage, FFS! It didn't matter though, because about halfway through the round I realized that nobody was taking green or red in a serious way and went full on into those colors. I figured, when in doubt, go red/green beatdown.
This is the deck I settled on:
One of the nice things about playing weird cards in constructed decks is that I have worked with very strange (or bad) cards that I might've overlooked otherwise. Madcap Skills, for example, is a pretty sweet deal in a format that is so creature combat driven and I know that because Fuz plays a deck with it. Retribution as removal is another sweet deal. I'd played enough of Origins that I knew Pharika's Disciple was going to be a problem. Volcano Hellion was a surprisingly useful card-I had hoped but this was my first time really using the card.
My first matchup was against a BG deck that was trying to use some lifegain and discard to extend the game. My creatures were just better though, and she played a little too aggressively: attacking me for 3 and taking 6 isn't as good as chump blocking and living to see another turn.
My second game was against a UW flyers deck. Game one I was on the GR swarm plan but in game two, I stalled out on finding a second Mountain and I had a hand full of cards that cost XRR. Game three had me capitalizing on the advantage of my opponent mulliganing to five cards. Madcap Skills on a Borderland Marauder did some heavy lifting for me in this game.
By game three, I was starting to get antsy. My opponents was a fellow I'd played a few times in League last year; a good player who knew how to build solid decks. Plus, I was winning. For whatever reason, winning creates some anxiety in me and I haven't figured out how to manage that without going for a brisk walk or having a stiff drink.
Still, I sat down against a WBR control deck and, in game one, found myself overrun by my own forests. It wasn't an easy game for him but I never really felt in it. Game two, however, was more of a contest. I'll let my opponent sum it up: "You had one more creature than I had removal spell." I'd also like to give Retribution the nod for MVC there. Game three had me storming out of the gate quickly with my bears and by the time he could stabilize at three life, I was casting an Outland Colossus.
My final matchup was against a UR artifact deck. I was very surprised to see this archetype available, considering the chaos draft format but she had all the basics to get it going! Unfortunately, she didn't have much removal and without removal, lots of 2/2 creatures will get the job done.
I wish I could translate this kind of general skill into play more often. 4-0 is a good record, no matter how you cut it and I feel like I should be able to leverage this kind of experience into better play.
There were packs of Magic: Origins, Weatherlight, Conspiracy, Homelands, Ice Age, Modern Masters, Planar Chaos: you get the idea.
I opened terrible rares: my first pick was Rix Maadi Guildmage, FFS! It didn't matter though, because about halfway through the round I realized that nobody was taking green or red in a serious way and went full on into those colors. I figured, when in doubt, go red/green beatdown.
This is the deck I settled on:
Gnarlid PackThere were maybe 10 cards, maybe less, that I took outside my colors: Oblivion Ring (early on when I thought White might be viable), Moor Fiend (when I thought Black might be useful) but for the most part, I was able to stick to my colors-or deal with that last card chaff.
Drudge Beetle
Outland Colossus
Timberpack Wolf
Bloodrock Cyclops
Skitter of Lizards
Simian Spirit Guide
Pharika's Disciple x 2
Rhox Maulers
Borderland Marauder
Volcano Hellion
Sawtooth Ogre
Scab-Clan Charger
Kitesail
Madcap Skills
Lightning Javelin
Orcish Cannonade
Cone of Flame
Chandra's Fury
Retribution
Nissa's Pilgrimage
Lose Calm
Titanic Growth
One of the nice things about playing weird cards in constructed decks is that I have worked with very strange (or bad) cards that I might've overlooked otherwise. Madcap Skills, for example, is a pretty sweet deal in a format that is so creature combat driven and I know that because Fuz plays a deck with it. Retribution as removal is another sweet deal. I'd played enough of Origins that I knew Pharika's Disciple was going to be a problem. Volcano Hellion was a surprisingly useful card-I had hoped but this was my first time really using the card.
My first matchup was against a BG deck that was trying to use some lifegain and discard to extend the game. My creatures were just better though, and she played a little too aggressively: attacking me for 3 and taking 6 isn't as good as chump blocking and living to see another turn.
My second game was against a UW flyers deck. Game one I was on the GR swarm plan but in game two, I stalled out on finding a second Mountain and I had a hand full of cards that cost XRR. Game three had me capitalizing on the advantage of my opponent mulliganing to five cards. Madcap Skills on a Borderland Marauder did some heavy lifting for me in this game.
By game three, I was starting to get antsy. My opponents was a fellow I'd played a few times in League last year; a good player who knew how to build solid decks. Plus, I was winning. For whatever reason, winning creates some anxiety in me and I haven't figured out how to manage that without going for a brisk walk or having a stiff drink.
Still, I sat down against a WBR control deck and, in game one, found myself overrun by my own forests. It wasn't an easy game for him but I never really felt in it. Game two, however, was more of a contest. I'll let my opponent sum it up: "You had one more creature than I had removal spell." I'd also like to give Retribution the nod for MVC there. Game three had me storming out of the gate quickly with my bears and by the time he could stabilize at three life, I was casting an Outland Colossus.
My final matchup was against a UR artifact deck. I was very surprised to see this archetype available, considering the chaos draft format but she had all the basics to get it going! Unfortunately, she didn't have much removal and without removal, lots of 2/2 creatures will get the job done.
I wish I could translate this kind of general skill into play more often. 4-0 is a good record, no matter how you cut it and I feel like I should be able to leverage this kind of experience into better play.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
I planned for Jason but not for Sean
I'm going to write up a cast list soon, I think.
On Tuesday I went to do a Khans draft with Jason and was stuck in a ten person pod. Typically, draft pods only have eight people so what that meant was: I saw far less consistency out of the packs than I would have liked. I don't understand draft very well, though so after first-picking a Butcher of the Horde, I thought: OK, go red-white-black if I can.
And because I kept thinking: 'play to build the best deck' instead of 'grab all the rares' I just kept pounding away at the W/B cards I got, failing to acquire anything in red (or green, the other support color) worth the effort. When I finally built my deck, I don't believe I had a single rare in it.
This was extremely discouraging and led to discouraging matchups, where I was frankly overpowered. I managed to take every game to three but at the end of the night, I was 0-3 in matches. Jason and I played next to each other at the low table though, my opponents were all nice and we got some really helpful advice from the judge at Shane's so I am trying to come away from the experience in a positive way.
I just didn't like drafting that set. I need to give it another shot but I really don't feel inclined to do so. Good money after bad, if you take my meaning.
The day after Thanksgiving Jason and I went to my friend Sean's place where we got in about two games of constructed before Sean persuaded us to draft his cube.
I didn't do so well at that, either and I was in R/W/B again. Only this time I actually could play all my colors. The glories of cube draft: Everything is useful. Jason was new to and loved this format and got a lot of good advice from Sean about how to build one. He's planing on making a multiplayer focused one and that should be very interesting, indeed.
I suppose I just don't understand draft very well and will have to practice it. If nothing else, this means I have to get my own cube complete so I can practice for free.
The constructed games I got in didn't go very well either, unfortunately. Sean likes to draft and when he doesn't have a draft deck he has some high-powered blue-oriented combo decks. I really haven't prepared for that and I quickly found myself presenting too big a threat for multiplayer and thus swiftly eliminated.
If my metagame involved playing Sean often, I would probably brought some very different decks. Hell, I'd build some very different decks. Ah well; next time!
Hope everyone had a nice vacation!
On Tuesday I went to do a Khans draft with Jason and was stuck in a ten person pod. Typically, draft pods only have eight people so what that meant was: I saw far less consistency out of the packs than I would have liked. I don't understand draft very well, though so after first-picking a Butcher of the Horde, I thought: OK, go red-white-black if I can.
And because I kept thinking: 'play to build the best deck' instead of 'grab all the rares' I just kept pounding away at the W/B cards I got, failing to acquire anything in red (or green, the other support color) worth the effort. When I finally built my deck, I don't believe I had a single rare in it.
This was extremely discouraging and led to discouraging matchups, where I was frankly overpowered. I managed to take every game to three but at the end of the night, I was 0-3 in matches. Jason and I played next to each other at the low table though, my opponents were all nice and we got some really helpful advice from the judge at Shane's so I am trying to come away from the experience in a positive way.
I just didn't like drafting that set. I need to give it another shot but I really don't feel inclined to do so. Good money after bad, if you take my meaning.
The day after Thanksgiving Jason and I went to my friend Sean's place where we got in about two games of constructed before Sean persuaded us to draft his cube.
I didn't do so well at that, either and I was in R/W/B again. Only this time I actually could play all my colors. The glories of cube draft: Everything is useful. Jason was new to and loved this format and got a lot of good advice from Sean about how to build one. He's planing on making a multiplayer focused one and that should be very interesting, indeed.
I suppose I just don't understand draft very well and will have to practice it. If nothing else, this means I have to get my own cube complete so I can practice for free.
The constructed games I got in didn't go very well either, unfortunately. Sean likes to draft and when he doesn't have a draft deck he has some high-powered blue-oriented combo decks. I really haven't prepared for that and I quickly found myself presenting too big a threat for multiplayer and thus swiftly eliminated.
If my metagame involved playing Sean often, I would probably brought some very different decks. Hell, I'd build some very different decks. Ah well; next time!
Hope everyone had a nice vacation!
Thursday, November 6, 2014
(Limited) Mechanical Animals
So I said this at Reddit's Magic forum, in response to revelation of Angelic Field Marshall.
People didn't like that. For those of you who don't want to click the link, here's what I said:
It's strange that people took such a dislike to what I said, because I wasn't rude about it. I just had an opinion: All cards made for Magic should be fully playable in any game of Magic. It isn't a radical idea. Hell, it's even really easy to fix! Just have the Angelic Field Marshall ability be contingent on controlling a Legendary creature. Boom. It's even a much better ability.
But then, of course, WotC wouldn't get to shove Planeswalkers as Commanders in and have the Lieutenant ability work. And to that I say: So what? I would rather have a card that I can use in any format of Magic than the Glory Of Cool Things.
What was worse was that it felt like nobody really read what I wrote. I had people asking me if I had an issue with cards that were only usable in Draft like Ainok Tracker or thought that I hated Conspiracy.
Ainok Tracker is fully playable in any format of Magic and yes, I wish that the cards in Conspiracy that had abilities that were only playable in draft (the Constructs being the clearest example) they had found a way to make playable in every format. However, the impact of that Draft mechanic was shallow and so long as it stays that way I'm comfortable with it. In addition, I rather enjoyed the set.
Those aren't radical notions but they certainly seem to create havoc. Which had me fighting to not be reactionary because people were being...people.
Comprehension before response. This might be a good mantra. Wise in reading, wise in Magic.
People didn't like that. For those of you who don't want to click the link, here's what I said:
I generally do not like mechanics that are focused on specific formats-I think that any Magic card should be useful/playable in any format. (This is setting aside questions of 'quality'). AFM's ability only triggers in Commander and I think that's a negative.
This mechanic is also a clear reply to the problems that Oloro presented that people (rightly, in my opinion) complained about. It should be interesting to see how the next Commander set tries to set against what we don't like about this Commander set.
However, so long as cards with this kind of drawback are infrequent, I can't fault WotC for poking around in that design space a little and this card is a pretty solid one. Giving all your dudes Vigilance is a nice way to mess with combat math.
But then, of course, WotC wouldn't get to shove Planeswalkers as Commanders in and have the Lieutenant ability work. And to that I say: So what? I would rather have a card that I can use in any format of Magic than the Glory Of Cool Things.
What was worse was that it felt like nobody really read what I wrote. I had people asking me if I had an issue with cards that were only usable in Draft like Ainok Tracker or thought that I hated Conspiracy.
Ainok Tracker is fully playable in any format of Magic and yes, I wish that the cards in Conspiracy that had abilities that were only playable in draft (the Constructs being the clearest example) they had found a way to make playable in every format. However, the impact of that Draft mechanic was shallow and so long as it stays that way I'm comfortable with it. In addition, I rather enjoyed the set.
Those aren't radical notions but they certainly seem to create havoc. Which had me fighting to not be reactionary because people were being...people.
Comprehension before response. This might be a good mantra. Wise in reading, wise in Magic.
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Cube
After a loooooong gestation period, I have continued to build a cube. I think I started picking cards for this in September of last year and then just let them sit for awhile. It's time to get this set going though.
Don't worry, don't worry: I haven't left One Shot At Glory in the dust, I just haven't had a moment to play that deck since the Legacy event, with the Conspiracy drafting and the Commander play. I'll get on that deck again this weekend, if all goes well and will have the final post about it on Tuesday.
But the cube: I decided I would pull the worst (but still potentially playable) card I could find from every color, from every set I owned. The card had to be bad (or boring) but it couldn't be bad and unplayable; think Flowering Lumberknot as an example for something that is bad and unplayable in the cube I'm building. About halfway through (Mercadian Masques, I think) I realized that I probably wanted to pull two bad cards from each color from the larger sets, just to ensure that I would have enough cards and creatures to make it work!
Shortly after that, I recognized that I was putting in a ton of really expensive, difficult to cast cards, so I started to ramp up the artifact mana fixing, just to make it playable. I want people to play shitty cards; if they can't then I'm going against my purpose.
In the meantime, I've started to make a spreadsheet for the cube, so I can see what's in there and what is needed. It's not finished yet but I should have all the entries done in a few days. I can see which large blocks I only have one card from (Ice Age through Urza's Saga being the most likely) and that might allow me to add in some cards that will give the cube some balance.
White, for example, has a ton of instants; probably too much and I can easily see that's an issue, so it can be tweaked to add more card types. In a set like Innistrad (one which many drafters consider to be one of the best draft sets ever) the number of creatures in a 249 card set is approximately 133, and this is without counting spells that make tokens. So it seems like I want to have a little over half my cards to be creatures in this cube. The spreadsheet will hopefully make managing all the information a task I can actually accomplish.
Don't worry, don't worry: I haven't left One Shot At Glory in the dust, I just haven't had a moment to play that deck since the Legacy event, with the Conspiracy drafting and the Commander play. I'll get on that deck again this weekend, if all goes well and will have the final post about it on Tuesday.
But the cube: I decided I would pull the worst (but still potentially playable) card I could find from every color, from every set I owned. The card had to be bad (or boring) but it couldn't be bad and unplayable; think Flowering Lumberknot as an example for something that is bad and unplayable in the cube I'm building. About halfway through (Mercadian Masques, I think) I realized that I probably wanted to pull two bad cards from each color from the larger sets, just to ensure that I would have enough cards and creatures to make it work!
Shortly after that, I recognized that I was putting in a ton of really expensive, difficult to cast cards, so I started to ramp up the artifact mana fixing, just to make it playable. I want people to play shitty cards; if they can't then I'm going against my purpose.
In the meantime, I've started to make a spreadsheet for the cube, so I can see what's in there and what is needed. It's not finished yet but I should have all the entries done in a few days. I can see which large blocks I only have one card from (Ice Age through Urza's Saga being the most likely) and that might allow me to add in some cards that will give the cube some balance.
White, for example, has a ton of instants; probably too much and I can easily see that's an issue, so it can be tweaked to add more card types. In a set like Innistrad (one which many drafters consider to be one of the best draft sets ever) the number of creatures in a 249 card set is approximately 133, and this is without counting spells that make tokens. So it seems like I want to have a little over half my cards to be creatures in this cube. The spreadsheet will hopefully make managing all the information a task I can actually accomplish.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Conspiracy Draft (final)
Last Sunday I got to hold a draft of Conspiracy with the box I'd bought; we had nine players and all in all, things were pretty cool!
Once again, though, I got a lesson in seeing things from the other player's point of view.
Lauriel has 3 Lurking Automatons on the board set to 9/9. So that's scary. Caitlin has the most life, at 31 via Sevala shenanigans. Merrick is sitting tight with token creatures and Scott has all but nothing going on and is dwindling on life until he takes my Magus of the Mirror, via Extract from Darkness.
Well, someone's got to get this party started, right? So I cast Drakestown Forgotten, netting me a 15/15. Nobody does anything for a bit except Caitlin, who starts building up walls including Vent Sentinels.
I put Unquestioned Authority on the Forgotten and now I have a choice; attack Lauriel, who's got the most (and largest) creatures on board or Caitlin, to bring her down to a regular life total so that when Scott activates the Magus, he doesn't just leap ahead. I'm at 13 life.
And I choose poorly, attacking Caitlin with not nearly enough mana available to me to keep her Vent Sentinels from doing damage to me.
Scott has no reason to take Caitlin's life, Caitlin proceeds to do 15 damage to me via Sentinel and I'm out.
Sigh. The correct play would be to wait until I had all my mana open, then attack Lauriel. I'm threatening but until I take action, I'm nothing and Lauriel couldn't kill me outright without opening herself up to losing, unlike Caitlin's board state. Let Scott swap Caitlin's life and be (briefly) the hero of the day for eliminating the swarm of huge creatures that were going to end us all.
I swear, one of these days I'll get it right.
Once again, though, I got a lesson in seeing things from the other player's point of view.
Lauriel has 3 Lurking Automatons on the board set to 9/9. So that's scary. Caitlin has the most life, at 31 via Sevala shenanigans. Merrick is sitting tight with token creatures and Scott has all but nothing going on and is dwindling on life until he takes my Magus of the Mirror, via Extract from Darkness.
Well, someone's got to get this party started, right? So I cast Drakestown Forgotten, netting me a 15/15. Nobody does anything for a bit except Caitlin, who starts building up walls including Vent Sentinels.
I put Unquestioned Authority on the Forgotten and now I have a choice; attack Lauriel, who's got the most (and largest) creatures on board or Caitlin, to bring her down to a regular life total so that when Scott activates the Magus, he doesn't just leap ahead. I'm at 13 life.
And I choose poorly, attacking Caitlin with not nearly enough mana available to me to keep her Vent Sentinels from doing damage to me.
Scott has no reason to take Caitlin's life, Caitlin proceeds to do 15 damage to me via Sentinel and I'm out.
Sigh. The correct play would be to wait until I had all my mana open, then attack Lauriel. I'm threatening but until I take action, I'm nothing and Lauriel couldn't kill me outright without opening herself up to losing, unlike Caitlin's board state. Let Scott swap Caitlin's life and be (briefly) the hero of the day for eliminating the swarm of huge creatures that were going to end us all.
I swear, one of these days I'll get it right.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
A Conspiracy Draft and The Diversion
Noah got a box of Conspiracy and was willing to draft a 4 person pod so we broke packs and went after it.
Drafting with four people is a different animal, since you really can go mono-colored if you want to; Noah ran a pretty strong mono-Green deck that had just enough color fixing via Secrets of Paradise to run the occasional powerful offshot like Fires of Yavimaya. The other two players both went B/W but only one of them understood that the format was a multiplayer one. This meant that he let cards like Syphon Soul go, while she snapped them up.
I went U/R, because I had a couple Volcanic Fallouts passed my way, and while one player was collecting a ton of artifacts, I was getting Torch Fiend. Eventually, I was able to cast Fact or Fiction and turn a Dack's Duplicate into a Terastodon and that solidified my position for the game.
I think I would have preferred the eight-player draft though, just because it would have made deckbulding decisions a little more challenging. That said, the Conspiracy format has legs and I think will enjoy playing the box that I bought, especially if I can get a full group together.
..........
I got in a game with the Legacy deck, losing 1-2 to a Hypergenesis/Show & Tell combo. I foolishly sideboarded in Pernicious Deed instead of Diabolic Edict in game 3 and lost because of Blazing Archon.
There were also a few test games against Fuz; he piloted WW and Delver (R and B based) and I got trounced hard in the WW games. I've cut Garruk Wildspeaker and Duress for a Progenitus and Inquisition of Kosilek but I think the Sideboard really needs to do bad things to White Weenie. Namely: I need the global reset of Pernicious Deed to appear. It just absolutely has to show up.
That may mean cutting the Pithing Needles for another Deed, to maximize my chances and perhaps putting in another Thragtusk to give me time and negate the power of Swords to Plowshares.
Another likely necessity? Silklash Spider. The ability to block fliers and kill small nasty creatures like Aven Mindcensor is probably worth the price right there.
Drafting with four people is a different animal, since you really can go mono-colored if you want to; Noah ran a pretty strong mono-Green deck that had just enough color fixing via Secrets of Paradise to run the occasional powerful offshot like Fires of Yavimaya. The other two players both went B/W but only one of them understood that the format was a multiplayer one. This meant that he let cards like Syphon Soul go, while she snapped them up.
I went U/R, because I had a couple Volcanic Fallouts passed my way, and while one player was collecting a ton of artifacts, I was getting Torch Fiend. Eventually, I was able to cast Fact or Fiction and turn a Dack's Duplicate into a Terastodon and that solidified my position for the game.
I think I would have preferred the eight-player draft though, just because it would have made deckbulding decisions a little more challenging. That said, the Conspiracy format has legs and I think will enjoy playing the box that I bought, especially if I can get a full group together.
..........
I got in a game with the Legacy deck, losing 1-2 to a Hypergenesis/Show & Tell combo. I foolishly sideboarded in Pernicious Deed instead of Diabolic Edict in game 3 and lost because of Blazing Archon.
That may mean cutting the Pithing Needles for another Deed, to maximize my chances and perhaps putting in another Thragtusk to give me time and negate the power of Swords to Plowshares.
Another likely necessity? Silklash Spider. The ability to block fliers and kill small nasty creatures like Aven Mindcensor is probably worth the price right there.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Conspiracy Video & Khans of Tarkir Spoiled.
I don't draft often: I find the format a bit too expensive for my blood but I understand the attraction. It's very dynamic and full of choices that reward or punish you right away.
I do like the direction that Wizards has taken the Conspiracy set, though. There's a very cool video of it in action here, and though it's long I think it's a really nice way to give players a taste for what the set is about.
Conspiracy feels a bit like WotC's take on the draft format, in much the same way that Commander sets are their method of approaching the Commander (formerly EDH) format. The video even mentions the 'Command Zone' as a space for the Conspiracies that can be drafted and used, which I think is a very clever way to add to the draft format without creating more rules complexity. Kudos to WotC for coming up with such an elegant solution.
I also like that they're reprinting some critical spells for the eternal format, like Brainstorm, Misdirection and Fact or Fiction. Which, of course, I also don't like because those spells do not have correspondingly powerful analogs in the other colors.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. The important part is that some valuable staples are being reprinted in a format where the goal is to open packs, not to build constructed decks. And besides, it's not true; cards such as Exploration, Swords to Plowshares, Vampire Hexmage and Decimate (a fantastic Commander card) are also being included. These are all useful cards many of which have gotten expensive and if reprints can help keep or bring the prices down, all the better.
Except for Tarmogoyf. Jesus that card is insane.
Next we have the Khans of Tarkir fall set announcement and yeah, there's very, very little to go on.
But here's what I am deducing: the set's symbol and name suggest a Persian influence which is exciting to me for multiple reasons.
First, this harkens back to one of the earliest, actually I believe the first Magic expansion, Arabian Nights. That is an area of culture that Magic hasn't touched on in a long, long time and after Arabian Nights was completed, they decided they wouldn't use established settings for a Magic set again, so Arabian Nights occupies a fairly unique place in Magic's history. This could be a way for Wizards to reclaim some of that history.
There is also a high possibility of a Mongolian theme instead and that works for me as well because I believe it's important for Magic to reach into worlds that are not dominated by white people, which they have been for 2 of the past 3 sets, and Western concepts for 3 of the past 3. And that's the other part that's exciting to me: a chance to see a Magic spin on different myths from cultures I'm very unfamiliar with, because there will inevitably be some brief discussion about where those myths spawn from. A chance for me to learn something interesting is always cool.
There is a huge maybe of the opportunity for Magic to reclaim juuuuust a little bit of the Arabian Nights history via this set, even if it does tilt heavily towards a Mongolian vibe. Allusions, if you will, which I think would be an opportunity for cool little Easter eggs.
I do like the direction that Wizards has taken the Conspiracy set, though. There's a very cool video of it in action here, and though it's long I think it's a really nice way to give players a taste for what the set is about.
Conspiracy feels a bit like WotC's take on the draft format, in much the same way that Commander sets are their method of approaching the Commander (formerly EDH) format. The video even mentions the 'Command Zone' as a space for the Conspiracies that can be drafted and used, which I think is a very clever way to add to the draft format without creating more rules complexity. Kudos to WotC for coming up with such an elegant solution.
I also like that they're reprinting some critical spells for the eternal format, like Brainstorm, Misdirection and Fact or Fiction. Which, of course, I also don't like because those spells do not have correspondingly powerful analogs in the other colors.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. The important part is that some valuable staples are being reprinted in a format where the goal is to open packs, not to build constructed decks. And besides, it's not true; cards such as Exploration, Swords to Plowshares, Vampire Hexmage and Decimate (a fantastic Commander card) are also being included. These are all useful cards many of which have gotten expensive and if reprints can help keep or bring the prices down, all the better.
Except for Tarmogoyf. Jesus that card is insane.
Next we have the Khans of Tarkir fall set announcement and yeah, there's very, very little to go on.
But here's what I am deducing: the set's symbol and name suggest a Persian influence which is exciting to me for multiple reasons.
First, this harkens back to one of the earliest, actually I believe the first Magic expansion, Arabian Nights. That is an area of culture that Magic hasn't touched on in a long, long time and after Arabian Nights was completed, they decided they wouldn't use established settings for a Magic set again, so Arabian Nights occupies a fairly unique place in Magic's history. This could be a way for Wizards to reclaim some of that history.
There is also a high possibility of a Mongolian theme instead and that works for me as well because I believe it's important for Magic to reach into worlds that are not dominated by white people, which they have been for 2 of the past 3 sets, and Western concepts for 3 of the past 3. And that's the other part that's exciting to me: a chance to see a Magic spin on different myths from cultures I'm very unfamiliar with, because there will inevitably be some brief discussion about where those myths spawn from. A chance for me to learn something interesting is always cool.
There is a huge maybe of the opportunity for Magic to reclaim juuuuust a little bit of the Arabian Nights history via this set, even if it does tilt heavily towards a Mongolian vibe. Allusions, if you will, which I think would be an opportunity for cool little Easter eggs.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
BotG Draft 4-0
Sorry, everyone; I meant to get this out on Tuesday but I was sick as a dog. I'll try and get two posts up today so I'm back on schedule.
Built this in an all Born of the Gods draft:
4x Excoriate
Bolt of Keranos
Pinnacle of Rage
Glimpse the Sun God
Fated Retribution
Acolyte's Reward
2x Fall of the Hammer
2x Loyal Pegasus
2x Impetuous Sunchaser
Great Hart
God-Favored General
Hero of Iroas
Akroan Skyguard
Akroan Phalanx
Reckless Reveler
Thunder Brute
Pharagax Giant
Eidolon of Countless Battles
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
9 Plains
7 Mountains
And, uh, it was pretty insane. Now, I was a little lucky because in a 10 person event, we were split into two five-person pods. That means that normally, 4x Excoriate is not going to come my way. In addition, with no Theros to break it up, the consistency levels were off the scale. Still, this was as good a setup as I could ever ask for and it paid off because not only did I go 4-0, I won all my matches straight out, 2-0.
My sideboard consisted of Dawn to Dusk and Scouring Sands. It wasn't much but it was enough to get me there.
What was surprising to me was how often Impetuous Sunchaser did great work. It was annoying how little damage was being dealt but opponents kept having issues with it. Combined with the occasional awesomeness of Akroan Phalanx, I was able to get a lot of pressure put on people who played against me.
RW aggro seems to be way, way better right now than RB or RG aggro, which is...a little weird but OK, we can run with that.
Built this in an all Born of the Gods draft:
4x Excoriate
Bolt of Keranos
Pinnacle of Rage
Glimpse the Sun God
Fated Retribution
Acolyte's Reward
2x Fall of the Hammer
2x Loyal Pegasus
2x Impetuous Sunchaser
Great Hart
God-Favored General
Hero of Iroas
Akroan Skyguard
Akroan Phalanx
Reckless Reveler
Thunder Brute
Pharagax Giant
Eidolon of Countless Battles
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
9 Plains
7 Mountains
And, uh, it was pretty insane. Now, I was a little lucky because in a 10 person event, we were split into two five-person pods. That means that normally, 4x Excoriate is not going to come my way. In addition, with no Theros to break it up, the consistency levels were off the scale. Still, this was as good a setup as I could ever ask for and it paid off because not only did I go 4-0, I won all my matches straight out, 2-0.
My sideboard consisted of Dawn to Dusk and Scouring Sands. It wasn't much but it was enough to get me there.
What was surprising to me was how often Impetuous Sunchaser did great work. It was annoying how little damage was being dealt but opponents kept having issues with it. Combined with the occasional awesomeness of Akroan Phalanx, I was able to get a lot of pressure put on people who played against me.
RW aggro seems to be way, way better right now than RB or RG aggro, which is...a little weird but OK, we can run with that.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Theros Draft
And now that I've gotten one whole draft done...I don't really care. I managed to make a U/B deck that I thought had enough cheap flyers to make an interesting aggro deck but it never panned out. I had opened Curse of the Swine in pack one so I figured; hey why not? I also included in my build a Triton Fortune Hunter that probably shouldn't have been there. I probably should have played more black, as I had some discard and decided not to play it thinking that a 1/3 creature for 4 really wasn't worth my time. My error was not realizing that discard was a form of removal. On further reflection, I was seeing a lot of green early on and probably should have gone into that color over black.
Other things I've learned: Bestow is a pain in the ass. It made all the games go long and felt very grindy and uninteresting. I have a dude. Three turns later I have a much bigger dude. You're killing my dude so now I have a smaller one that isn't all that awesome. Great.
Big effects are ugly; Noah drafted a deck that essentially got to 6 mana and then blew opponents out of the water. It worked (it certainly helped that he had an Elspeth), and kudos to him for taking that strategy but it didn't really feel very engaging when I played him to make decisions that didn't matter for 5+ turns and then lose.
I guess this would be a drawback for most of my games: I would play weaker creatures, try to get a toehold in and then wait and wait until I could Bestow bad creatures in order to try and Voltron a decent creature. Sometimes that worked but mostly it just wasn't much fun, even when it did. Waiting too long means the opponent has time to get their board set up and I didn't have effects that could really recover from that, despite having more Griptides and Voyage's Ends than I knew what to do with. The scry never felt like it mattered and Griptiding a creature that has been Bestowed means that yes, they have weaker creatures now...but they also have more.
Maybe I should try it again but I don't really feel encouraged to do so: this format didn't scratch an itch in my brain. Perhaps the Theros-Born of the Gods run will be different and I'll take a swing at it then.
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