Magic: The Gathering

glennmagusharvey · 2022-01-31 10:43:17

*shake shake shake*

Stormtroper · 2022-03-01 01:49:51

So neo Kamigawa has some pretty ugly ass cards. I wonder what all the fuss is about.
Holy shit this is fucking awesome!!
Oh my God I'm the motherfucking Fist of the North Star Jesus Christ!
"The squirming is how you know it’s fresh." Fuck yes! You are the best sac outlet ever!
(Note: the cards are pretty, also unfortunately for the meme format no card references hunger.)
So yeah, I got around to drafting the set:

I ended up 6-3. I had doubts about splashing white, though in the end it worked out fine, although despite all the sagas Satsuki was useless. The Modern Age is surprisingly useful, even without a large amounts of ninjas

I ended up 4-3. I had doubts about Tribute to Horobi but left it in due to some website's advice, but after facing a ninja deck in game that used the rat tokens to trounce me, I immediately put it away.
Oddly enough I tried to do both the double-ninjutsu and the ninjutsu-at-end-of-combat tricks but the game wouldn't let me.

You'll notice this is a five-color pile with very few creatures, it started as GW but after I opened Hidetsugu on pack 2 and some goading I was made to splash black and red for it, then after losing once (or was it twice?) I made it all colors, more out of novelty than anything. On one hand if I had been more focused in my colors maybe I would've made a better deck, on the other hand I ended up 6-3 so no complaints. I also got to live the O-Kagachi dream once (twice if you count the time The Kami War got removed immediately) and I had no mana color issues at all (though I did get hurt once by drawing Rugged Highlands instead of any basic land).

I like reading these cards list and wonder what they'd come off as for somebody not acquainted with the sets' context.

It's surprising how nicely the cards play together. Funky interactions aren't rare in other sets, but in this set they're very common and happen without trying hard or downright by accident, so for example you saga creature was actually a Kappa Tech-wrecker, getting you the modified creatures count you needed this combat, then with the kappa's trigger you destroy their Touch the Spirit Realm to get back some artifact you didn't care much about but it triggers some enter-the-battlefield ability and now that you have both artifacts and enchantments you can...
That plus the mostly balanced colors and archetypes and allowing for both fast and grindy decks, yeah, it's a good time to draft.
I skipped most of Crimson Vow (and from the looks of it I didn't miss much, at least in limited it wasn't well-received) and I thought I'd leave for good but I think I'll make some more time for this, though I'm being hindered by the fact that the mobile client is not working on my phone.
Edit: Accidentally two words.

Stormtroper · 2022-09-18 05:40:00

So I finally got around to formatting and fixing this stuff. Unfortunately since it's been so long I don't remember these drafts at all and so I'm kind of guessing based on what I had saved as draft decks and what I had writen as (IJBM's) draft:

7-2 BR Goodstuff
Deck

?-? I forgot, I think it's this RBG aggro deck

7-1 GW Enchantments

3-3 UB Ninjas

7-1 UB The Saga of Ninjas

2?-3 RGwub aggro, once again The Kami War proved useful, and multicolor mana easy to get.

1-3 URw artifacts semi-control (the white splash was mainly for Farewell, which unfortunately did not quite work out)

5-3 WRu aggro (the blue splash was mainly for Tezzeret, which worked out splendidly)

So that's it for Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. I did not play New Capenna or Battle for Baldur's Gate at all (from what I heard both were awful, the latter for the same balance reasons its predecessor Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was awful)

Stormtroper · 2022-09-18 05:45:24

I heard Dominaria United was great, so I thought I would go back to the game. Here are my first Quick Draft results:

7-1 WUR

Danitha is love, but Micromancer isn't far behind.

1-3 WUR control. I forgot to save this deck and had to reproduce it from memory

3-3 RGWb aggro with some dominion.

In hindsight perhaps the black splash wasn't worth it

5-3 WUg go wide

1-3 WUB defenders

I'm disappointed, I thought I would get much better results with what's easily the most synergetic deck I've made.

6-3 White aggro with a little bit of black and green

I can't help but notice the format is quite slow. Also most decks I've seen are at least three colours, and it's not easy to see the individual archetypes shine through or otherwise be differentiated from each other, with them being some variant of domain, go wider, spellslinging and the occasional defenders deck. That said, I'm clearly in the minority that does not prefer that kind of line-blurring so it's not something that should be held against the set. Other than that, I've found it immensely fun so far.

Stormtroper · 2022-09-20 03:56:42

WB Aggro

6-3, my first take at drafting a decidedly aggro deck. Not bad I'd say, especially considering I lost a game due to a disconnection. Also obviously I thought Defiler of Faith was good, but after it took over one game I was about to lose, my respect for it has risen. I didn't get to use Serra Paragon's ability even once.

WGB aggro

4-3, extraofficially 5-2, my fifth victory was counted as a defeat, I believe this happened after cancelling the queue right before a match was found, I've had it happen before due to disconnects, at that point it'd be fair to say I lost but in this case I won fair and square and got a refund for it. I wanted to keep playing with that deck tho, also I heavily considered dropping green.

GU rampy domain

7-2, I thought I was going to get trounced, but apparently just playing whatever big stuff there is is enough to go head-to-head with most other decks.

WG Go wide aggro

5-3, after the previous draft results I thought this would be a 7 wins deck for sure, but drafting wouldn't be as good as it is if it were predictable.

I can't help but notice the format is quite slow.

That said, I find aggro decks to be viable if you force yourself into the more aggro, go wide cards.

lrdgck · 2023-01-04 19:59:33

Hey @Stormtroper, do you care much for the plotlines? I've dropped out of the loop somewhere around the Odyssey block and since then I only barely know what's the current premise, but I used to have a mild interest in what kind of story the cards are trying to tell.

Second question is, don't you have a feeling they'd stand on their own better than they do when everything is about planeswalker this or planeswalker that? Because whenever I try to read up on a given block's theme, sooner or later these fellas come out of the woodwork and it feels like executive meddling forced the writer to stuff some or another mascot character into the story, just so that it was included in the story. I guess that's not really what's happening, but it feels this way to me.

Stormtroper · 2023-01-04 22:01:14

Despite occassionally posting about plots, I don't pay much attention to the stories, but I do try to figure it out from the cards (see below), read the wiki and watch a YouTube video summarizing a set's plot.
From what I know, the writers still have much leeway in what they write and the result is still hit or miss, though as you noted the stories are much more based on planeswalker nowadays, who may or may not have anything to do with the plane the story takes place in and may or may not take attention away from it. The common comparison is that they're more like superhero plots now. It's a complain you often see online but apparently they do sell better.
As for other matters, they no longer sell books (presumably influenced by the disaster that was War of the Spark's novel) and the plot is told through short stories available online. As for the cards, they're much better at explaining the plots through the cards themselves (contrast with those times they wouldn't put spoilers on cards) (comparison: Antiquities and The Brother's War), also they're more willing to make game mechanics fit the story, also something like >20 cards per set are legendary creatures, but that has more to do with the popularity of Commander/EDH. But the biggest difference is that the stories are no longer centered around Dominaria, generally a different world of hats per block (which are single-set now), with varying degrees of stand-alone-ness and with the occasional return set and overarching story. Coincidentially right now the story takes place in Dominaria (see Brothers' War above) and is about to take place in something that resembles old Phyrexia.

I had this in my draft, I was halfway through writing down the results when I had a crash/blackout and never got around to finishing it, there's no way I'll manage to do so now:

UB Instants and sorceries

UR Instants and sorceries

Wrg Go-wide aggro

WB Go-wide aggro

(Draft I didn't record)

WB Go-wide aggro

WBg Aggro

WBR Go-wide aggro

GUWb Domain

Some UBWg mix of defenders and domain

GURw Domain

Stormtroper · 2023-01-04 22:57:58

Also, I totally should post about my experience with the 30th anniversary MTGA event (Premier Draft involving all premier sets), I had doubts about joining since those high-risk, high-reward stakes tend to make me tense and nervous, but in the end I did so as to at least get the sleeves reward for participating, and good thing I did because it ended up being my second 7-0 draft ever:

What little synergy it had, that was still more than most decks from that draft. Also turns out Thieves' Guild Enforcer is good even in an otherwise mill-less, rogue-less deck.
As for BRO, given that they're doing a "golden pack" promotion (tl;dr: buying boosters is more benefical now) I set out to use up my draft tokens in Premier Draft and save up on gold for packs instead, but... well, see "tense and nervous" above, that plus a general loss of interest with the game means I didn't commit to it. Nonetheless I did draft twice:

Ended up 2-3.

Ended up 1-3.

Both are disastrous results, though I guess I can't complain given how little preparation I did. Also it's kind of weird that there's so many pseudo-bombs in all colours at common and uncommon.
Regardless, I'll forever remember this set as the one with the spoiler season that resulted in Reddit thread titles like this.

Stormtroper · 2023-02-10 05:54:53

The new set's release is now compleat.
They're repeating the golden booster promotion with ONE so I'm spending my draft tokens here too (Premier Draft):

RG oil

UGb proliferate

GR oil - Oddly similar to my first deck but with fewer equipments.

WR aggro with some For Mirrodin!

I think red is the strongest color, though I feel it's well balanced. And everybody's right, if you don't cast a creature by turn two you should concede (hyperbolic, but not by too much). Also it's quite bomby, either that or I'm both grabbing and facing an unusual amount of bombs. Still, I don't feel it's a bad format so far, just one I have to get used to. I don't think I'll ever get used to the high-risk, high-reward nature of non-Quick Draft though.

My mother (of the machines) can't be this cute. Also @glennmagusharvey one of your favourite memes is not yet old enough not to come up again after all these years.

glennmagusharvey · 2023-02-10 13:27:15

Which meme? "My X can't be this cute"?

Stormtroper · 2023-02-10 14:47:02

Philosoraptor. (More like Philosopraetor amirite?)

lrdgck · 2023-02-10 16:25:34

And everybody's right, if you don't cast a creature by turn two you should concede (hyperbolic, but not by too much).

Speaking in general...

My experience has always been that I play a slow deck against all my buddies playing fast, so it happened that I conceded a turn or two quite commonly. All the meat, like, the enchantments or whatnot, needed me to build up some mana first and creatures often had to wait. Like, if I play it right now it dies to direct damage, so it's better if I suffer these few lives if by next turn it's under Lashknife Barrier or something that at least lets it survive a bit longer.

Hardly ever worked, so I guess it kind of proves the point. But I hate that part where you play creatures only to see them die in a turn. Sure, I usually kept in my deck a few first-turn creatures, but they never really amounted to more than a single block.

glennmagusharvey · 2023-02-11 00:37:41

Stormtroper wrote: »

Philosoraptor. (More like Philosopraetor amirite?)

Oh, heh.

Stormtroper · 2023-02-11 04:04:52

^^ FWIW it's very common nowadays for (edit: non-cheap) creatures to have enter-the-battlefield abilities or otherwise getting you value immediately or shortly after they resolve, so you'll often still get something out of them even if they get removed, which is a good thing because power creep applies to removal too.

lrdgck · 2023-02-11 21:53:41

Personally I've always found creatures with enter-the-battlefield abilities a bit of a "master of none" kind of situation, but I've also seen enough of them work that it really shouldn't sway my opinion of them.

You know, suddenly I realized I no longer struggle to understand the Oldhammer guys, I am the Oldhammer guy.

Stormtroper · 2023-04-05 22:44:56

I haven't posted this yet. I had doubts about joining Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered considering I never played either the original Innistrad or Shadows Over Innistrad, still and joined, and good thing I did because I ended up 7-0.

Nahiri is love, I didn't know what I was doing I just centered my draftin around her, though if I'm being honest the fact that my limited rank has fallen low probably had more to do with my results than anything I did.

That was a while ago, I haven't drafted since, probably due to an underlying desire not to "tarnish my record".

In other stuff, I thought I would stop playing by now but I'm kinda looking forward to March of the Machine.

Stormtroper · 2023-04-28 00:57:15

I knew the answer immediately.

Moooooom, let's draft.

UW Knights

WUBRG Bombs

RB Aggro

GRw Invasions

WR Not quite aggro with some Backup

For good measure here's my Midweek Magic sealed deck:

I gotta say it's been very fun so far, although very bomby too. It's probably a good assumption to play as if your opponent is always holding a bomb in their hand.

MOM Quick Draft starts on Friday, I'll try out and see if it's as profitable as ever, also since I already have some experience maybe it'll turn out better than it usually does? At least until Platinum rank.

Stormtroper · 2023-07-21 07:25:06

I haven't posted in a while.

Jumpstart reset without warning. Rest in Peace Balance Hoard, you're probably the deck I played the most, maybe one day some other deck will take your place.
Recreated from memory:

(For the new Jumpstart I got an Amass Sauron's deck and it's failing to take Balance Hoard's place)

Besides that, Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth Premium Draft:

I don't remember whether I got 7-2 or 6-3, but either way I'm pleased.

I also did a Quick Draft:

Unfortunately I left it at 3-2 for like a week, at which point I learned there's apparently a limit (besides the event ending) upon which your entry expires.

I played very little limited for this set (so far at least) but what I did get to see was fun. Also I gotta agree the flavor texts (which are drawn exclusively from the books) are great, even if they were limited in how much the books talked about each card's subject matter.

As of this post there was a Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Premier Draft, so I thought I'd check it out for good times' sake:

Not very synergistic, but I thought it'd do. Things got awry at first and I was 1-2, then I thought it'd suck to end up 1-3 so I decided to win six games in a row. My opponents did some dubious deckbuilding and deck piloting choices, I wonder how much of it has to do with being at Bronze and how much is this being an old draft.

Stormtroper · 2023-09-25 07:00:48

I thought I'd be over drafting (and maybe playing MtG altogether) but I did draft quite a lot this set. Unfortunately I didn't write down any of it and only have the results:

Ended up 5-3

Ended up 1-3

Ended up 3-3.

The following are Quick Drafts:

Ended up 7-1

I didn't write this one down, I did write something that suggests I only won one game but I'm pretty sure I won a different game, too.

Ended up 4-3

Ended up 4-3

Ended up 2-3, I had a rough time during the draft porting but I was hoping for a better result.

Ended up 6-3. I thought this was a 7-wins deck for sure, but I played like an idiot during several of those games (and made a fatal mistake during that third loss).
Also, I got an attacking 4/4 on turn two on the play thanks to Return Triumphant and my opponent's Hopeless Nightmare.

There's actually IIRC three more drafts but those were on another account and I can't retrieve those decks easily.
It's been an interesting set for limited, it's much lower on synergy and much higher on removal and combat tricks than usual, and it's very easy for board states to turn into an intricate mess. I wouldn't rank it among my favourites but it's certainly a good change of pace.
Also the set hasn't broken any format yet unlike it's predecessor, so that's a plus.

Stormtroper · 2023-11-26 06:07:18

I have a WOE deck saved that I didn't post, I think it was for some event:

So, Lost Caverns of Ixalan, in which we go back to the world of not-Aztecs, not-conquistadores*, not-Caribbean yes-pirates, the occasional dinosaur and whatever pre-Columbian culture the Merfolk are supposed to represent. Also the clothes of the underground dudes remind me of Incan clothing, so there's that.

* Translator's note: conquistador means conqueror

It's the closest an MtG plane has been to me geographically, especially if Orazca is still a thing. I kinda wanted to know what the original Ixalan was like (word on the street is that it sucked) so it's a welcome arrival, although unfortunately it got changed into not being a tribal set.

Apparently, I didn't save my first deck, but I reconstructed it not long after and it should be something like this:

4-3. Ehh, could have been worse. I was very undecided in my colours (between green, white and blue) until very late in the draft section.

Quick Draft:

Ended up 7-2
I was thinking Okinec Ahau was pretty useless but it did win me one game more or less on its own. I rarely drew Ojer Axonil, it wasn't useless but its opportunity to shine didn't come up and served up mostly as a 4/4 for 4. The real MVP were those Itzquinth. Also I think I got lucky with Discover, notably it happened twice that I discovered an Itzquinth with exactly two mana left and convenient targets.

Stormtroper · 2023-12-18 08:27:22

Edit: Apparently I did not post about another Lost Caverns of Ixalan Quick Draft in which I ended up 7-2. I did not save the deck, but as it happens I recorded it so I should be able to mostly reconstruct it, nonetheless here's what I remember from it:

End of edit.

I was thinking of quitting MtG but Khans of Tarkir got released. I'm getting fatigued of so many releases but Khans is one set I'm bummed about having missed out on back in 2014, so...

RBW Mardu

GUR Temur

BWR Mardu

I wonder what to think of it, it's much more different than recent set drafts than I expected, but the resulting decks don't feel very different from each other, predictably the set's/clan's mechanics don't play a big part in it, I imagine this gets old sooner than it would with current sets.

Nonetheless I'm hoping I can make more time for more Khans drafts, I'd be bummed if I only get to play two of the five clans.

Also I hadn't noticed power creep had gotten so bad (and power creep in Khans was already noticeable in reference to the time I started playing).

Edit: I keep confusing MVP with VIP.

Stormtroper · 2024-05-03 18:45:57

For some reason I was in an MtG mood today, so, first post of the year. First off, lol

Second of all, I wasn't very enthusiastic about playing Murders at Karlov Manor, but I did draft twice:

RW Aggro with a bit of blue and a green

Ended up 1-3. I was kinda miffed about it so I did another.

UGW Detectives

Ended up 7-0, but with those bombs and that low rating, it's not surprising.

Third of all, I wasn't very enthustiastic about playing Outlaws of Thunder Junction either but apparently a lot of people like the limited environment, so I drafted it once and probably will again in the future:

Ended up 2-3, no way I'm not playing at least one other draft to mend that outcome.

For some reason there seems to be lots of rares/mythics in packs:

Like many people, I'm getting fatigued of those "trope worlds", after the fairy tale world, the mesoamerica+Journey to the Center of the Earth world, the detective film world and now the cowboy world, it's easy to see why it may be too much.

lrdgck · 2024-05-03 20:05:35

Buddies invited me for a game, unfortunately I couldn't make an appearance. They were speaking of getting some new cards, so they'd beat my white-blue, slow-as-frick, all-defense-no-offense deck even more than they'd do otherwise, but anyway.

Talking about "trope worlds", you know what I dislike the most in new-ish Magic? The focus on planeswalkers. I think I spoke of it in some past post. Makes every plotline into a planeswalkers drama plotline.

(On the topic of planeswalkers as cards, that's a related issue, but I'm only now getting used to the concept of hybrid mana so I can concede I'm a bit of a grumpy old guy when it comes to new rules. And talking about that, new keywords. Those can get off my lawn anytime.)

Stormtroper · 2024-05-04 11:38:12

I think I spoke of it in some past post.

I vaguely remember that too. Nonetheless it's a common complaint, that it's less about the worlds themselves and more about its visitors, compounded by the visitors themselves being commonly recurring characters.
Supposedly with the recent omenpath multiverse shenanigans they're toning down on that, but doesn't feel that way just by looking at the cards (and also includes non-planeswalkers as recurring visitors).
Also Kellan has been in the past four sets what's up with that.

lrdgck · 2024-05-05 19:20:40

So, I managed to meet up with the buddies and we played three 2vs2 games. Two lost, one won. Surprisingly, thanks to me getting the right cards at the right moment. (Congregate and Rout, those two have always served me well.) But I still feel like I brought my vintage muscle car to a street race and found out everyone else got Porsche Carreras and Ferrari Testarossas.

Fug, I don't get the new Magic, the levels of power creep are like... the good cards I had are just passable nowadays. Or banned, I haven't checked, but that wouldn't surprise me with how things are going.

Stormtroper · 2024-05-06 01:33:52

It took me longer than it should have to realize "vintage" didn't refer to the MtG format.
It occurs to me that Rout should still be decent-ish (although perhaps not better than Sunfall, Farewell or Doomscar), after all a four mana unconditional mass removal with no downside is now considered too good to be printed in Standard.
That said, creature power creep still throws me off, it shows when things like Baneslayer Angel and Elder Gargaroth get printed in Standard and still fail to make a significant impact there.
Re: Trope worlds, I recently watched this:

Stormtroper · 2024-06-10 06:52:13

More about the stuff above:

Stormtroper · 2024-07-22 21:01:50

Yet another video on the matter:

Stormtroper · 2024-08-04 08:16:43

Bloomburrow is here; choose your furry.

The art department did a good job at it, including whoever they contracted for the trailer:

Wouldn't it be nice if one had all the time in the world to draft? Regardless, I made some time for one:

It's a really refreshing change of pace after four consecutive trope worlds.

I've been recording a bunch of these drafts, perhaps I should upload them to YouTube one of these days.

Edit: Oh yeah, I did some Modern Horizons 3 drafts this past month, I guess I should post them at some point.

Stormtroper · 2024-08-11 07:42:17

I made some time for more drafting.

GUw Jumping Frogs

BW Removal Tribal

Quick Draft is up, I haven't done any in ages (well, I think I did one in Outlaws at Thunder Junction, but that's it), and so I went at it:

BR Control

GU Jumping Frogs

BG Self-mill Squirrels

GR Raccoons Aggro

It occurs to me that this would have been considered a great draft format had it not been for its balance issues. Yet again blue is terrible, exacerbated by this being a two-color format.

In non-draft stuff, the Standard rotation took me by surprise, I thought it was going to be in September, nonetheless first thing I've noticed is that it's super fast (or at least, Best-of-One is), perhaps I can get the daily stuff done without spending too much time at it?

Howdy, Stranger!

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