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Title: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 01, 2005, 10:43:49 PM
Since a bunch of us are in leagues, discuss here.

My cards:

Qty,Card Name
1,Anaba Shaman
1,Angel's Feather
1,Aven Cloudchaser
1,Aven Fisher
1,Aven Flock
1,Battlefield Forge
1,Blaze
1,Coercion
1,Contaminated Bond
1,Crafty Pathmage
1,Craw Wurm
1,Dark Banishing
1,Demon's Horn
1,Demystify
1,Dragon's Claw
1,Dream Prowler
1,Elvish Berserker
1,Elvish Champion
1,Elvish Warrior
1,Enfeeblement
1,Fishliver Oil
1,Flame Wave
1,Flowstone Shambler
1,Foot Soldiers
8,Forest
1,Form of the Dragon
1,Giant Cockroach
1,Giant Growth
1,Giant Spider
1,Goblin Brigand
1,Goblin Piker
1,Goblin Sky Raider
1,Groundskeeper
1,Hill Giant
1,Holy Strength
1,Horned Turtle
1,Horror of Horrors
1,Inspirit
2,Island
1,King Cheetah
1,Lumengrid Warden
1,Mind Rot
12,Mountain
1,Natural Spring
1,Norwood Ranger
1,Panic Attack
1,Peace of Mind
1,Pegasus Charger
1,Plagiarize
1,Plague Beetle
1,Plains
1,Raging Goblin
1,Rampant Growth
1,Razortooth Rats
1,Reflexes
1,Reminisce
1,Sacred Nectar
1,Sage Aven
1,Samite Healer
1,Sea's Claim
1,Sengir Vampire
1,Serpent Warrior (premium)
1,Shatter
1,Sift
1,Slay
2,Swamp
1,Thieving Magpie
1,Time Ebb
1,Unholy Strength
1,Veteran Cavalier
1,Warrior's Honor
1,Wind Drake
1,Wood Elves
1,Yavimaya Enchantress
1,Zodiac Monkey

---

So, what do I see here? Solid green creatures but no evasion. Some giant red cards that are almost instant wins if I can cast them, but pretty thin red otherwise. Some blue flyers without much to go with them. Some white flyers without much to go with them. A couple decent removal spells in black along with so-so creatures.

So...I dunno. I don't think white+blue flyers would do the job, because they are all cost-innificient and I have no counters or anything like that, or any finishers. The second someone drops a real beater I'm toast. Guess it depends on how many real beaters there are. But a bunch of 1 and 2 power flying guys might not get the job done.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Hoax on September 01, 2005, 10:47:34 PM
White:
1)Savannah Lions
Holy Str
Honor Guard
Mending Hands
2)Vet. Cavalier
Glory Seeker
Pacifism
Master Decoy
Peace of Mind
3)Warrior's Honor
Pegasus Charger
Inspirit
4)Foot Soldiers

Blue:
1)Flight
Fugative Wizard
2)Lumengrid Warden
Remove Soul
3)Reminisce
Horned Turtle
4)Dream Prowler
Thieving Magpie
Dehydration
Aven Fisher
Sage Aven
5)Aven Windreader
6)Sea Monster
8)Tidal Kraken

Black:
1)Raise Dead
Unholy Str.
2)Bot Imp
Fear
Contaminated Bond
3)Coercian
Mind Rot
Slay
Looming Shade
Razortooth Rats
Scathe Zombies
5)Final Punishment
Horror of Horrors
Hollow Dogs

Red:
1)Firebreathing
2)Volcanic Hammer
Shatter
Goblin Brigand
Goblin Piker
Rogue Kavu
3)Stone Rain
Seething Song
Flowstone Shambler
Goblin Chariot
7)Flame Wave
x)Blaze

Green:
1)Groundskeeper
Reclaim
Llanowar Elves
2)Elvish Warrior
3)Rootwalla
Wood Elves
Yavimaya Enchantress
4)Giant Spider
King Cheetah
5)Kavu Climber
Seedborn Muse
6)Craw Wurm
8)Scaled Wurm

Artifact:
Angel's Feather
Demon's Horn
Dragon's Claw
Coat of Arms


Little help?  The best thing I've come up with currently is:

white:
Vet Cavalier
Mending Hands
Inspirit
Glory Seeker
Foot Soldiers
Pacifism
Master Decoy
Honor Guard
Holy Str.

Blue:
Lumengrid Warden
Fugitive Wizard
Sage Aven
Aven Fisher
Aven Windreader
Remove Soul
Flight
Dehydration

Green:
Yavimaya Enchantress
Scaled Wurm
Reclaim
Llanowar Elves
Kavu Climber
Groundskeeper

Artifact:
Coat of Arms

5xForest
5xIsland
6xPlains



Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: eldaec on September 02, 2005, 12:23:51 AM
Guys, sorting by colour means we don't need to reach through the screen and throttle you.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 02, 2005, 01:03:30 AM
Will edit when I get a chance. (Not till Monday)


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Raging Turtle on September 02, 2005, 11:08:09 AM
Quote
White:
1)Savannah Lions
Holy Str
Honor Guard
Mending Hands
2)Vet. Cavalier
Glory Seeker
Pacifism
Master Decoy
Peace of Mind
3)Warrior's Honor
Pegasus Charger
Inspirit
4)Foot Soldiers

Blue:
1)Flight
Fugative Wizard
2)Lumengrid Warden
Remove Soul
3)Reminisce
Horned Turtle
4)Dream Prowler
Thieving Magpie
Dehydration
Aven Fisher
Sage Aven
5)Aven Windreader
6)Sea Monster
8)Tidal Kraken

Black:
1)Raise Dead
Unholy Str.
2)Bot Imp
Fear
Contaminated Bond
3)Coercian
Mind Rot
Slay
Looming Shade
Razortooth Rats
Scathe Zombies
5)Final Punishment
Horror of Horrors
Hollow Dogs

Red:
1)Firebreathing
2)Volcanic Hammer
Shatter
Goblin Brigand
Goblin Piker
Rogue Kavu
3)Stone Rain
Seething Song
Flowstone Shambler
Goblin Chariot
7)Flame Wave
x)Blaze

Green:
1)Groundskeeper
Reclaim
Llanowar Elves
2)Elvish Warrior
3)Rootwalla
Wood Elves
Yavimaya Enchantress
4)Giant Spider
King Cheetah
5)Kavu Climber
Seedborn Muse
6)Craw Wurm
8)Scaled Wurm

Artifact:
Angel's Feather
Demon's Horn
Dragon's Claw
Coat of Arms

Your best stuff (which you won't play if there's not enough support for it)
White:  Pacifism, Master Decoy
Blue:  Thieving Magpie, Tidal Kraken
Green:  Um... Craw Wurm and Reclaim are nice.  Muse is ok but can't shine like it does when you build a deck around it. 
Red:  BLAZE, Volcanic Hammer, Flame Wave
Black:  Horror of Horrors is.... haha, no. 

You're playing Blaze no matter what.

I'm thinking G/W/r

White: 
Lions
Holy Strength
2x Vet. Cav. 
Glory Seeker
Pacifism
Master Decoy
2x Foot Soldiers
Inspirit
Pegasus Charger

Green: 
Llan Elves
Elvish Warrior
Wood Elves
Rootwalla
G. Spider
K. Cheetah
Kavu Climber
Craw Wurm
Scaled Wurm

Red
Blaze
Volcanic Hammer

Artifact:  Coat of Arms - actually works well in this deck, but look at the opponents creatures carefully before playing it. 

8x Plains
7x Forests
2x Mountains

That's a good deck.  I'm not sure how great the mana curve is but you can check that out online.   



Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 02, 2005, 11:19:46 AM
Guys, sorting by colour means we don't need to reach through the screen and throttle you.

When I save my stuff as a txt, even if I sorted by color before saving, it doesn't show up that way in the txt.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Johny Cee on September 02, 2005, 12:13:50 PM
Joined the league,  and managed to win my first game last night.  (Even if the server dumped everyone 90% of the way through round 3). 

Marble Titan + Master Decoy + enchantment that gives all my creatures vigilance = win.


For Hoax:

Master Decoy is good enough to be splashed for if you have no other white.  He's a game winner.  Pacifism is sweet, sweet stuff as well.  Magpie is a bomb,  if you're mana is stable enough.  Kraken is excellent in limited.

Yavimaya Enchantress is generally good enough to see play (enchantments are far more common in limited).  Running Holy Strength and Pacifism,  it's fairly likely that your enchantress would be at least a 3/3 (for 3 mana,  making it a bargain).

Turtle put together a good listing,  but I"m a little concerned about lack of removal combined with a small number of fliers.  Not much you can do with what they gave you, though.  :|



Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 02, 2005, 12:31:39 PM
It does seem like enchantments are pretty common now, so yes on the enchantress.

His blue has some decent flyers and dehydration, not sure if it is deep enough though. White is clearly the strongest color.

If playing green I would play the Muse. Think about this: You can play creatures on your turn, then untap and play King Cheetah or Inspirit on their turn. And it lets master decoy go again! Master Decoy + Muse is 90% towards winning the game. I would dump a Foot Soldiers and put in the Muse. Muse can win games, Foot Soldiers can't. Especially given that you don't have tons of evasion, the chance to use Master Decoy twice is too much to pass up.

Worse case scenario, you get muse instead of foot soldiers, is that you pay 1 more for a 2/4 and still get to untap everything during their turn.

Other than that the list looks pretty good.

Blue looks very tempting with some flyers, dehydration, etc., but it may not be deep enough. Maybe in later weeks it will improve a bit.

I will be willing to playtest with some people when I get back from vacation on Tuesday.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Hoax on September 02, 2005, 12:35:50 PM
I dont have two of anything, the numbers are the casting cost, just to let people see the mana curve easily.

If anyone will be around tonight to playtest (from 7pm pst on) I'd be happy to get some practice in. 


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: eldaec on September 02, 2005, 02:08:29 PM
Guys, sorting by colour means we don't need to reach through the screen and throttle you.

When I save my stuff as a txt, even if I sorted by color before saving, it doesn't show up that way in the txt.

Unfortunately there is no way around that - you have to type it out manually at the moment, programs are available once sets have been out a few weekseldaec to automatically convert the .csv outout into bbcode autocard links.

What we really need to do is bug schild to implement [card] tags ;)


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Shockeye on September 02, 2005, 02:34:24 PM
What we really need to do is bug schild Shockeye to implement [card] tags ;)

What exactly would the [card] tag do?


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Raging Turtle on September 03, 2005, 02:59:41 PM
For some reason I was thinking the muse only untapped land and not creatures.  So definitely play it - although by now it may be tough to get a game in your league


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Hoax on September 04, 2005, 12:05:02 AM
I found this to be the most effective of the many things I tried once it became obvious I am still very very rusty at all this.

1,Flight
1,Mending Hands
1,Savannah Lions
1,Goblin Piker
1,Volcanic Hammer
1,Remove Soul
1,Glory Seeker
1,Master Decoy
1,Pacifism
1,Flowstone Shambler
1,Goblin Chariot
1,Seething Song
1,Inspirit
1,Pegasus Charger
1,Warrior's Honor
1,Aven Fisher
1,Dehydration
1,Sage Aven
1,Thieving Magpie
1,Aven Windreader
1,Sea Monster
1,Tidal Kraken
1,Blaze
4,Mountain
5,Plains
8,Island

I found blue's counters to be great, and the flyers to be enough to make games very close even against two of the top10 players in the league.  But the power is just too low, whenever the chips were down I never drew anything but more f'ing land.  There are also some bad cards in this setup (sea monster, flight, goblin piker, warrior's honor) but frankly there wasn't anything else that was even sort of worth playing for those colors.  The other white I have would mean taking mana out of blue which due to the many UU costed cards breaks the deck completely.  The only blue or red I have that isn't ass in the sideboard = Stone Rain (which is debatable as ass), Goblin Brigand (useless unless you get him early, which you wont) and Phantom whatever, and with my lack of pumping that just didn't cut it.

As I write this I realize that I should have been playing firebreathing, but like I said I'm just really rusty I dont see the cards in terms of in-game performance because this week is literally the first time I've played in years.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: eldaec on September 04, 2005, 02:20:11 AM
What we really need to do is bug schild Shockeye to implement [card] tags ;)

What exactly would the [card] tag do?

[card] would turn...

[card]Wind Drake[/card]

into

Wind Drake (http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name=Wind[Drake)

It just means you can click on a card name to get the autocard image up.

The format of the link is....

http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name=cardname

With spaces replaced by '[', apostrophes with '@', and commas with '%2C'. There are codes for all the punctuation marks, but those three will get you 99% of the cards - and most of the remainder are in unglued or unhinged, which doesn't really count.





Apologies for not having a clue who really ran the show ;)


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Johny Cee on September 05, 2005, 08:04:39 PM
What we really need to do is bug schild Shockeye to implement [card] tags ;)

What exactly would the [card] tag do?

[card] would turn...

[card]Wind Drake[/card]

into

Wind Drake (http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name=Wind[Drake)

It just means you can click on a card name to get the autocard image up.

The format of the link is....

http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name=cardname

With spaces replaced by '[', apostrophes with '@', and commas with '%2C'. There are codes for all the punctuation marks, but those three will get you 99% of the cards - and most of the remainder are in unglued or unhinged, which doesn't really count.





Apologies for not having a clue who really ran the show ;)


Uh oh.... that sounds like a challenge!

I propose a knife fight between Schild and Shockeye.  In international waters where it would be legal, of course.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: schild on September 05, 2005, 08:06:32 PM
I really wish I didn't like the [card] idea.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 05, 2005, 08:21:08 PM
Looks like I'm not going to play any games in my league this week, I'll just start next week. Probably better because my pool is a bit weak now anyway.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Shockeye on September 05, 2005, 10:23:21 PM
I really wish I didn't like the [card] idea.

I'll see what I can do.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: schild on September 05, 2005, 11:55:04 PM
I really wish I didn't like the [card] idea.

I'll see what I can do.

Not for SMF though.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: eldaec on September 06, 2005, 07:50:45 AM
This is how wizards say it works (or they *said* it worked in 2002 anyway).


Quote
Here is how you can use this feature on your own website:

Put this in the top of your HTML page:

<script language="Javascript">
 function WizardsAutoCard (cardname) {
  windowName = "WotCWindow";
  params = "toolbar=0, location=0, directories=0, status=0,
   menubar=0, scrollbars=0, resizable=0, width=450, height=400";
  win = window.open
("http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name="+cardname,    windowName, params);
 }
</script>

And then you can make a card link like this:

<a href="javascript:WizardsAutoCard('Call of the Herd');">Call of the Herd[/url]


Further experimentation shows that adding (' ') around the card name, ie...

http://www.wizards.com/magic/autocard.asp?name=('Seizan, Perverter of Truth')

Saves all the messing about replacing punctuation with symbols.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 06, 2005, 09:02:30 PM
Ok, here is my league pool, sorted by color, and each color sorted by approximate  power.

WHITE
---
Aven Cloudchaser
Pegasus Charger
Veteran Cavalier
Samite Healer
Aven Flock
Inspirit
Foot Soldiers
Holy Strength
Warrior's Honor
Demystify
Peace of Mind
Sacred Nectar


RED
---
Anaba Shaman
Blaze
Form of the Dragon
Flame Wave
Flowstone Shambler
Hill Giant
Panic Attack
Goblin Sky Raider
Goblin Brigand
Goblin Piker
Raging Goblin
Reflexes
Shatter


GREEN
---
Giant Growth
Craw Wurm
Elvish Warrior
Elvish Champion
Wood Elves
Giant Spider
King Cheetah
Yavimaya Enchantress
Zodiac Monkey
Rampant Growth
Elvish Berserker
Norwood Ranger
Groundskeeper
Natural Spring

BLUE
---
Wind Drake
Aven Fisher
Crafty Pathmage
Sage Aven
Sift
Thieving Magpie
Dream Prowler
Horned Turtle
Plagiarize
Lumengrid Warden
Time Ebb
Fishliver Oil
Reminisce
Sea's Claim


BLACK
---
Dark Banishing
Enfeeblement
Sengir Vampire
Serpent Warrior
Giant Cockroach
Plague Beetle
Razortooth Rats
Unholy Strength
Coercion
Mind Rot
Horror of Horrors
Contaminated Bond
Slay


ARTIFACT/LAND
---
Battlefield Forge
Angel's Feather
Demon's Horn
Dragon's Claw


So, what do I see here?

White: Has some good stuff, no real bombs though. Mahybe 7-8 cards that should make a main deck.

Red: The first 4 cards listed are all game-changers to some extent. However the playable creature count is pretty low. Anaba Shaman, Hill Giant and Flowstone Shambler are the only creatures I really want to see in a main deck.

Green: Good number of playable creatures, a landwalker, Giant growth, some accel, etc. Looks good but very mid-rangey, not a lot of real beaters.

Blue: Some decent flyers, but not deep at all. Only 5 or so cards I would want in a main deck.

Black: 2 removal spells, some fear, some swampwalk, Sengir, etc. Unfortunately enfeeblement is BB, tough to splash. Only 5 creatures total, but all playable to some extent.

Overall: The cards here are very evenly distributed among the 5 colors, which is my big problem. If I play 2 color I basically have to play green because that's the only color with enough decent creatures. Otherwise I'll be making a deck with 10-12 average creatures. Red has the most game-changing cards. Form of the Dragon, Anaba Shaman and Flame Wave can all give me a big advantage, as can blaze to a lesser extent. (Good finisher) Green works well with red with Wood Elves and Rampant growth for accel, as FOrm of the Dragon, Flame Wave and Blaze are all pricey. So, I'm thinking green/red with maybe black splash just for Dark Banishing.

With that build, I'm hoping to get Flame Wave or Form of the Dragon and win right there, or get Panic Attack and push through some creatures.

Anyone have any better ideas?




Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: eldaec on September 07, 2005, 02:35:57 AM
I'd agree green-red is the way to go.

Anaba Shaman
Flowstone Shambler
Hill Giant
Raging Goblin
Goblin Sky Raider
Goblin Piker

Blaze
Form of the Dragon
Flame Wave
Shatter


Craw Wurm
Elvish Warrior
Elvish Champion
Wood Elves
Giant Spider
King Cheetah
Yavimaya Enchantress
Elvish Berserker
Norwood Ranger
Zodiac Monkey

Rampant Growth
Giant Growth

Dark banishing

8 Mountain
7 Forest
2 Swamp

I do worry that you don't have enough flyers to use form of the dragon safely until you're at around 5 life anyway (it's always iffy against red because you die to burn to the head, but you're at risk vs blue or white as well).

If you get more white creatures in boosters (and maybe a pacifism) you might be able to switch to red/white.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 07, 2005, 09:33:40 PM
Decided to start up in a 9th league.

White:
1 Holy Strength
1 Honor Guard
1 Infantry Veteran
1 Ivory Mask
1 Master Decoy
1 Pacifism
1 Pegasus Charger
1 Sanctum Guardian
1 Spirit Link
1 Warrior's Honor
1 Foot Soldiers
1 Gift of Estates
1 Glory Seeker
1 Mending Hands

Black:
1 Scathe Zombies
1 Bog Imp
1 Coercion
1 Fear
1 Highway Robber
1 Hollow Dogs
1 Looming Shade
1 Nekrataal
1 Raise Dead
1 Unholy Strength
1 Contaminated Bond

Blue:
1 Dehydration
1 Flight
1 Remove Soul
1 Sea Monster
1 Storm Crow
1 Tidal Kraken
1 Aven Fisher
1 Aven Windreader
1 Withering Gaze
1 Sage Aven
1 Fugitive Wizard
1 Lumengrid Warden
1 Tidings

Red:
1 Volcanic Hammer
1 Firebreathing
1 Flowstone Shambler
1 Goblin Chariot
1 Mana Clash
1 Pyroclasm
1 Rogue Kavu
1 Shatter
1 Stone Rain
1 Sudden Impact
1 Demolish
1 Goblin Piker
1 Goblin Brigand
1 Seething Song

Green:
1 Craw Wurm
1 Grizzly Bears
1 Groundskeeper
1 Kavu Climber
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Reclaim
1 Rootwalla
1 Scaled Wurm
1 Trained Armodon
1 Web
1 Wood Elves
1 Elvish Warrior
1 Seedborn Muse

Colorless:
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Coat of Arms
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Rod of Ruin
1 Urza's Tower

Unlike the 8th leagues I played in, I can see some nice cards in here. I really want to go White/Red, but there's not enough beef in there to finish someone. White/Green also seems viable.

Yay for 9th.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 07, 2005, 09:40:03 PM
The first deck I came up with. I haven't tried it yet.


9 Forest
1 Holy Strength
9 Plains
1 Bottle Gnomes
1 Coat of Arms
1 Craw Wurm
1 Grizzly Bears
1 Honor Guard
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Infantry Veteran
1 Ivory Mask
1 Kavu Climber
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Master Decoy
1 Pacifism
1 Pegasus Charger
1 Reclaim
1 Rod of Ruin
1 Rootwalla
1 Sanctum Guardian
1 Scaled Wurm
1 Spirit Link
1 Trained Armodon
1 Warrior's Honor
1 Web
1 Wood Elves
1 Foot Soldiers
1 Gift of Estates
1 Elvish Warrior
1 Glory Seeker
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Mending Hands


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 08, 2005, 01:55:21 PM
Strazos look for me tonight around 10 EST if you want to test your league deck against mine.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Johny Cee on September 08, 2005, 06:40:42 PM
It's 9:30 now,  and I'm on. 

We get a booster tonight at 10:41 as well.

Right now, my deck looks like this:

White--

Serra's Embrace
Spirit Link
Pacifism
Glory Seeker
Infantry Veteran
Marble Titan <-----***
Master Decoy <----***
Pegasus Charger
Venerable Monk

Blue--

Counsel of the Soratami
Sleight of Hand
Tidings <----***
Remove Soul
Archivist <---***
Aven Windreader
Sea Monster
STORM CROW (Bah at Turtle)

Black--

Enfeeblement
Bog Imp
Nekrataal <----***
Festering Goblin (this guy kicks ass)
Hollow Dogs
Highway Robber

Other--

Rod of Ruin
Adarkar Waste
Underground River


---------------------

My problem is all 5 of my colors are "pretty good" but not deep enough to go two colors.  Going 3 colors throws out quite a bit of my stuff (consume spirit, firebreathing, Sandstone Warrior).  Hopefully a booster will help fix this.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 08, 2005, 08:18:14 PM
Release leagues are only 1 week long! (Slaps self in head a dozen times)

I went 0-0-0...nice job genius!


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 08, 2005, 08:19:56 PM
Pwned by WotC!  :|


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 08, 2005, 10:35:42 PM
Sometimes these leagues really piss me off.

I have a deck with 2 master decoys, a pacifism and a volcanic hammer. In the last 6 rounds combined I maybe drew a total of 2 of these. Meanwhile my opponents are pulling out Hypnotic Spectres, Loxodon Warhammers, and all sorts of other miracle draws.

I played one guy who had literally 2 good cards in his deck, Ballista Squad and Gluttonous Zombie. In both rounds he pulls out both of those in the first 5 turns. He never played any other card that was even halfway decent or any sort of real threat. Meanwhile I'm sitting there hoping to draw Master Decoy, Pacifism or Hammer...nope. And of course Holy Strength, which is pure filler, I draw basically every round. Argh.

It's very frustrating to lose against 1 trick decks when you have plenty of answers and just get awful draws. (Including one game where I mulliganned down from 1 land to 1 land to 0 to 0 to 0 and eventually ended up with a hand of 1 forest and 1 wood elf)


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Hoax on September 09, 2005, 12:21:48 PM
I have to say the shuffler is an evil piece of shit.  I would point out specific examples of its bastardry but I'm sure everyone has experienced the same things.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Shockeye on September 10, 2005, 08:26:32 PM
Here is my card pool:

Artifact:
1 Aladdin's Ring
1 Phyrexian Hulk

Land:
1 Urza's Mine

Black:
1 Bog Wraith
1 Coercion
1 Consume Spirit
1 Contaminated Bond
1 Dark Banishing
1 Enfeeblement
1 Fear
1 Giant Cockroach
1 Hollow Dogs
1 Looming Shade
1 Mind Rot
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Soul Feast

Blue:
1 Aven Windreader
1 Boomerang
1 Crafty Pathmage
1 Evacuation
1 Fishliver Oil
1 Flight
1 Horned Turtle
1 Levitation
1 Lumengrid Warden
1 Mana Leak
1 Remove Soul
1 Sage Aven
1 Sift
1 Thought Courier

Green:
1 Anaconda
1 Craw Wurm
1 Creeping Mold
1 Elvish Berserker
1 Giant Growth
1 Giant Spider
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Naturalize
1 Reclaim
1 Rootwalla
1 Stream of Life
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Wood Elves
1 Zodiac Monkey

Red:
1 Balduvian Barbarians
1 Firebreathing
1 Flowstone Shambler
1 Goblin Piker
1 Hill Giant
1 Orcish Artillery
1 Panic Attack
1 Raging Goblin
1 Seething Song
1 Shatter
1 Volcanic Hammer
1 Whip Sergeant

White:
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Demystify
1 Foot Soldiers
1 Mending Hands
1 Pacifism
1 Pegasus Charger
1 Samite Healer
1 Sanctum Guardian
1 Serra's Blessing
1 Suntail Hawk
1 Veteran Cavalier
1 Warrior's Honor
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Wildfire

Here is my first deck:

Artifact:
1 Phyrexian Hulk

Land:
8 Forest
7 Island
1 Urza's Mine

Blue:
1 Boomerang
1 Evacuation
1 Flight
1 Horned Turtle
1 Levitation
1 Lumengrid Warden
1 Mana Leak
1 Remove Soul
1 Sage Aven
1 Sift
1 Thought Courier

Green:

1 Anaconda
1 Craw Wurm
1 Creeping Mold
1 Elvish Berserker
1 Giant Growth
1 Giant Spider
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Naturalize
1 Reclaim
1 Rootwalla
1 Stream of Life
1 Verduran Enchantress

You may now mock me.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 10, 2005, 08:37:02 PM
Not sure why you're playing the Urza piece. Also, I would have thrown in the Ring.

Also, keep Black in mind, you have a decent amount of removal in it.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Shockeye on September 10, 2005, 08:39:53 PM
Playing the Urza because I get sick of looking at normal boring lands.

Also, the ring costs too much, I don't see a reason to put it in there.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 10, 2005, 09:11:19 PM
If the game gets to the point where you can actually Use the ring, it can swing it for you quite quickly.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Shockeye on September 10, 2005, 09:15:48 PM
If the game gets to the point where you can actually Use the ring, it can swing it for you quite quickly.

And if I draw the card at the start then it's useless for a long time. I'd rather replace it with something else that can be a use to me sooner.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Strazos on September 10, 2005, 09:24:57 PM
You need to pull some mana acceleration from a booster.

BTW, I love my fancy green card.

(http://www.wizards.com/global/images/magic/9e/seedborn_muse.jpg)


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Shockeye on September 10, 2005, 09:26:37 PM
I can see replacing blue in my deck with black, but I hate to give up flying stuff.


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 11, 2005, 12:41:22 PM
If you are going to play blue, why aren't you playing Aven Windreader? That's basically your best blue card and it's not in your deck. IMO your blue is pretty weak overall.  I would probably play green/red, or else go 3 color.

Red has Volcanic Hammer and Orcish Artillery, which can win games almost by itself. The deck you made only has about 12 creatures, a bunch of which are not really threats. (Wood elves, etc) What is your plan to win? Get levitation and overwhelm with flyers?



Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Xilren's Twin on September 12, 2005, 06:10:44 AM
If you are going to play blue, why aren't you playing Aven Windreader? That's basically your best blue card and it's not in your deck. IMO your blue is pretty weak overall.  I would probably play green/red, or else go 3 color.

Red has Volcanic Hammer and Orcish Artillery, which can win games almost by itself. The deck you made only has about 12 creatures, a bunch of which are not really threats. (Wood elves, etc) What is your plan to win? Get levitation and overwhelm with flyers?

Agreed.  Red also has one of my favorites, Panic Attack.  Nothing like opening up a huge hole in you opponents defense to act as a finisher (plus it's really out of flavor for red and therefore unexpected).  Need more critters.

Xilren


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Raging Turtle on September 13, 2005, 07:25:20 PM
Since you invited the mocking...

Quote
Here is my card pool:

Artifact:
1 Aladdin's Ring
1 Phyrexian Hulk

Land:
1 Urza's Mine

Black:
1 Bog Wraith
1 Coercion
1 Consume Spirit
1 Contaminated Bond
1 Dark Banishing
1 Enfeeblement
1 Fear
1 Giant Cockroach
1 Hollow Dogs
1 Looming Shade
1 Mind Rot
1 Ravenous Rats
1 Soul Feast

Blue:
1 Aven Windreader
1 Boomerang
1 Crafty Pathmage
1 Evacuation
1 Fishliver Oil
1 Flight
1 Horned Turtle
1 Levitation
1 Lumengrid Warden
1 Mana Leak
1 Remove Soul
1 Sage Aven
1 Sift
1 Thought Courier

Green:
1 Anaconda
1 Craw Wurm
1 Creeping Mold
1 Elvish Berserker
1 Giant Growth
1 Giant Spider
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Naturalize
1 Reclaim
1 Rootwalla
1 Stream of Life
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Wood Elves
1 Zodiac Monkey

Red:
1 Balduvian Barbarians
1 Firebreathing
1 Flowstone Shambler
1 Goblin Piker
1 Hill Giant
1 Orcish Artillery
1 Panic Attack
1 Raging Goblin
1 Seething Song
1 Shatter
1 Volcanic Hammer
1 Whip Sergeant

White:
1 Circle of Protection: Red
1 Demystify
1 Foot Soldiers
1 Mending Hands
1 Pacifism
1 Pegasus Charger
1 Samite Healer
1 Sanctum Guardian
1 Serra's Blessing
1 Suntail Hawk
1 Veteran Cavalier
1 Warrior's Honor
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Wildfire

Here is my first deck:

Artifact:
1 Phyrexian Hulk

Land:
8 Forest
7 Island
1 Urza's Mine

Blue:
1 Boomerang
1 Evacuation
1 Flight
1 Horned Turtle
1 Levitation
1 Lumengrid Warden
1 Mana Leak
1 Remove Soul
1 Sage Aven
1 Sift
1 Thought Courier

Green:

1 Anaconda
1 Craw Wurm
1 Creeping Mold
1 Elvish Berserker
1 Giant Growth
1 Giant Spider
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Naturalize
1 Reclaim
1 Rootwalla
1 Stream of Life
1 Verduran Enchantress

You may now mock me

Good Stuff
White:  Peg. Charger, Pacifism, Weathered Wayf 
Blue:  Aven Windreader, Thought Courier, Sift, maybe levitation
Green:  Anaconda, Giant Growth, Giant Spider, Llan Elves, Rootwalla
Red:  Orc. Artillery, Volcanic Hammer
Black:  Bog Wraith, Consume Spirit, Dark Banishing, Enfeeblement

Things to mock in your deck:
Flight:  Crap.  Another creature is better
Evacuation:  Crap.  Your opponent can replay his creatures before you.
Sage Avegen and Lumegrid Warden:  These cards are (barely) playable but a good sign you should be looking in another color. 
Elvish Berserker:  A 1/1 with a bad ability = bad.  Zodiac monkey, a 2/1 for 1G with possible evasion = much better.
Stream of Life:  Very rarely, a lifegain card is worth playing because it is either extremely cost effiecient or repeatable.  This is not one of those cards.
Urza's Mine:  Maybe pretty to look, at but you will never, ever want to see it in a low-land opening hand.  Can only hurt your deck, never help it.   

What I would build:
Green is decent, as you noticed
1 Anaconda
1 Craw Wurm
1 Giant Growth
1 Giant Spider
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Naturalize
1 Reclaim - I don't always play this unless I'm low on creature removal, like your deck is.  Use this for getting back Volcanic Hammer and Dark Banishing. 
1 Rootwalla
1 Verduran Enchantress
1 Zodiac Monkey
1 Wood Elves - Not great but playable, and you have a few high casting cost creatures that can use it. 

Creeping Mold is out because you already have naturalize, and you can always sideboard it back in if you need to. 

Your Blue is too thin and lacks removal.  I'd go Black instead
1x Dark Banishing
1x Consume Spirit
1x Bog Wratih
1x Coercion - average card, good to side in if they have some bomb you otherwise have trouble with
1x Hollow Dogs - average creature filler
1x Enfeeblement
1x Giant Cochroach
1x Looming Shade - very average.  Be sure to pump one point at a time, to avoid cards like shock if all the pumps are on the stack. 
1x Rav. Rats
1x Mind Rot

Red:
1x Volcanic Hammer - Splashing for even a single burn spell is usually worth it, especially in a slow format like sealed (which is what league is)

Artifacts:
1x Phy Hulk - A nice fat body, this guy usually makes the maindeck.
I'm not sure about the Ring.  It'll win you some stalemates, but it'll also sit dead in your hand for at least 8-10 turns most games.  I say leave it out.     

Land:
8 Forest
8 Swamp
1 Mountain

When I splash a color, like red for the Hammer, I like to have at least two mana sources (be it a land or something like rampant growth), but both green and black are greedy here.   I thought about splashing for the pacifism but I don't think the mana base can support it.  Maybe if you get another pacifism or a Master Decoy in a later pack.   


Title: Re: 9th leagues
Post by: Margalis on September 15, 2005, 08:58:44 PM
Damn I'm getting destroyed now. Too many people have bombs and I don't. Check out this set of rares:

Karplusan Forest - Pain Land
Blood Moon - Anti-non-basic land tech.
Millstone - Milling!
Will o' the Wisp - A blocker!
Utopia Tree - a bad birds!
Oracle's Attendants - another blocker!

No matter what I do my deck is just too slow and eventually someone gets out something I can't deal with, while I have nothing they can't deal with. Looking at my limited cards the closest thing I have to a bomb is probably Thieving Magpie or Nekrataal. I have a fair number of fyers but any deck I put together with them is just too slow and someone rolls me over.

I ran into one guy who had a Shard Phoenix. Another one I had beat until he pulled 2 lava axes while I was beating him down. Another guy had 2 Master Decoys, an Icy Manipulator, and Wrath of God. No way to do real damage without exposing yourself to Wrath and an automatic loss.

I can't say that any deck I played this week was worse than mine. Maybe the guy who got the 2 lava axes. I dunno, maybe I should make a red/blue deck with flyers and firebreathing or something...my only hope is something novel because my card power just isn't there.