1700 and never looking back (plus TTP notes)

[Margalis]

So my limited rating is now 1703 after winning a TTP draft. Finally! I was at 1699 at one point...been really itching to make it to a milestone number.

I like drafting TTP more than TTT. Pretty fun. I had some horrible busted drafts a couple nights ago where nobody knew what they were doing, ended up seeing 3 Stingscourgers in a row go by. Seems like a lot of people were switching colors or acting weird because I had a few drafts where colors would just totally dry up after looking good for a long while.

The deck I finally won with was a UR control deck, kind of bad, but it had a Shapeshifter, Fathom Seer, Pyrohemia (red pestilence), Chronozoa and some defensive goodies. In my typical games I would get down to between 2 and 6 life before stabilizing and winning. Basic plan was to stall until I could get card draw going with Shifter + Seer, or copy some awesome creature, or wait for Chronozoa to multiply, or just pestilence away everthing then attack.

Before that I had an insanse deck that was running the Red Akroma, Firemaw Kavu, Kaervek and some others but I had some bad draws against a really fast deck and lost in the second round.

My brief thoughts on TTP:

Can play a more controlling style.
Green got better with some good commons and uncommons.
Blue has some great picks but is not as deep as it was in TTT, still good though.
Red has some good commons and uncommons and got better.
White is a bit hard to play because the TT packs want aggro but the P pack is more control.
Black is as bad or even worse than it was in TTT, just like in TTT you have to pray for nice uncommons and rares.
Overall there are a lot more sources of card advantage.

So basically blue got a bit worse, white got different (maybe worse a bit, just due to the clash of styles), green and red got better and black stayed where it was or got even worse if such a thing is possible.

[schild]

Grats dude. I'll never hit 1700. I'm too in love with sealed deck tourneys, and the possibility of getting fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked is super high.

[eldaec]

Green is definitely the big limited winner in PC.

Creatures are more aggressive than usual (flying and haste ftw), card draw is available, and it even gets playable common removal (Utopia Vow).

Plus from TS it already had all the colour fixing in a format where mana can be desparately difficult to come by.

All things being equal, green plus minor red, white, or black, seems like the best place to be.

I'm not keen on blue in the new format, too many early TS cards drag the rest of the table into blue, and every colour bar black (which is at least underdrafted) can now do most of what blue brings to the table.



Grats on 1700 :)

[Strazos]

Yeah, I got boned way too many times in league play to ever think about coming close to 1700.

[Raging Turtle]

I briefly broke 1830 back in OLS, and went infinite for a while.  I probably still have that whole damn set memorized.

Right now I think I'm 1620 or something, but I haven't played in months.  Always got my ass kicked in Time Spiral when I did play 

[Margalis]

I don't really do leagues any more.

Yeah I really like green, the card advantage in PC is nice. The Woodreaders (come into play draw effect), Deadwood Treefolk (double raise dead), the Anaba Battle Mage (kicker to discard or tap), flat out card draw, etc. A lot less one-dimensional than it is in TTT.

[Johny Cee]

Very nice man.  Made it up to high 1600s in a streak of RGD,  but sunk back to sub 1600 after that.  It's a great achievement!  You to the point where drafting makes you money yet?

_______________________________

Been out of the loop drafting for a few weeks.  TS has been so-so.  Streaks of wins, fair amount of losses.  Don't make it out of round 2 very often.

Drafting now with R/B, and boy is it a doozy.  Kaervek, Fury Sliver, Trampling Sliver, black 3/3 block fliers sliver, the new hellion that does damage when it comes into play, the guy that makes thrull tokens, basal sliver for accel (turn 5 Kaervek is good game...).  Sound slow?

2 x strangling soot, 2 x melancholy, 2 x premature burial, 2 x feebleness, a shit ton of burn.  The red bounce guy, Flamecore Elemental, and a host of other decent stall cards (the 2 cc red guy that bounces people, with echo).

No one drafted B, and I dug in heavily in R.  Even hate drafted a Wurmcalling.

POUNDED 1700+ player who cursed me out for my crappy deck while I pounded him game 2 for the win.  Now to idle for 42 minutes for the next round.... 

He was really pissed game one when I used basal sliver to drop a turn 5 (his turn 4) Kaervek,  who then controlled the board like it was his job.

[Margalis]

I like Basal Sliver. When I play RB I often have a Basal Sliver or two and maybe the Ghostflame (RB) as well. There is a lot you can do with a lot of black mana: Kaervek, Avatar of Woe, Lim-Dul, etc. A 2/2 for 3 in black isn't bad and a 2/2 for 2 (Ghostflame) is quite good.

Red bounce guy (AKA Stingscourger) is awesome.

I played a really funny match against a guy who was RB and I was RGb.

Game 1: Neither of us played anything for about 6 turns other than lands. I had Citandul Woodreaders in hand and figured I would play them with kicker and my deck was not an aggro deck. I finally cast something and he killed it. I cast Red Akroma, he killed it. Cast Kaervek, he killed it. Used Enslave on a fat green guy to beat me finally.

Game 2: I don't do anything other than play *3* Woodreaders with kicker. He finally gets a storm with 6 goblins and 2 Coal Stoker- my board is empty! On my turn I play Firemaw Kavu to kill a token, then don't pay echo and kill a stoker. I then cast Evolution charm to bring him back to my hand, cast him to kill another token then kill another stoker when he leaves play. I still have about 6 cards in hand and he is out, I drop Kaervek and roll over him. (Evolution charm + awesome creatures = good)

Game 3: After two drawn out control games I drop Mire Boa on turn 2 and he goes the whole way while I hide behind a Spider! This was really hilarious, in game one he killed Red Akroma, Kaervek, a Baloth and at least one other big creature, this game he gets beat down by a 2/1. I never even have to regenerate him! I have no idea what was in his hand, he played a couple of mediocre creatures that I could either remove or block but I guess he just got a really horrible draw - totally anti-climactic.

[Margalis]

UN FUCKING BELIEVABLE!

I am losing to a 1512 rated player in straight games. Game 1 I get stuck on 2 mana and he gets out Krosan, Stonebrow Hero immediately. Game 2 I draw 2 non land cards in the first 10 turns. My rating is going back below 1700 for sure...argh!

Edit: FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

1690! Jesus. I dropped like 15 points!

[schild]

Yow. Want to change the topic title? I'd suggest:

1700. I saw you on the train. Did you see me? I was wearing the blue shirt and losing at Magic. You were wearing something totally hot. I was drunk. Plz reply!

[Margalis]

Problem with drafting TTP is that nothing is worth anything. The average value of a TSP or PC pack is probably 50 cents. There are very few money rares which is annoying. In Rav I did well and I also picked up duals that I could sell for 12+ a pop. The most I've ever gotten for any TSP/PC card was 4 or 5 for Teferi or Psionic Blast.

[Johny Cee]

Problem with drafting TTP is that nothing is worth anything. The average value of a TSP or PC pack is probably 50 cents. There are very few money rares which is annoying. In Rav I did well and I also picked up duals that I could sell for 12+ a pop. The most I've ever gotten for any TSP/PC card was 4 or 5 for Teferi or Psionic Blast.

I've noticed this.  Probably the only money card from TS is Call of the Herd?  There's a few cards at the 4 to 6 tix range (Dragonstorm, Teferi, Psi blast),  but no real money cards.

Just Rav had duals, Hierarch, loads of others I'm blanking on.

Last draft,  turn 1 pack 1 drafted Teferi.  Drafted some red,  got blue cut out from under me, switched to white.  Yeesh.

[Margalis]

The draft queues seem full of people who randomly switch colors. I've had a lot of drafts where halfway through one or both colors totally dried up after being clearly open.

Call of the Herd, Damnation in PC although that is probably going to drop because it isn't in many decks. I just sold off everything of value in my TSP and PC collection and got basically nothing for it. (70 tix total about)

[Johny Cee]

Been on a pretty good run lately.  Mostly make it to the finals,  which means a free draft.  Sitting in the 1630s.

Lost in round 2 today to someone with a crazy WRG deck, running loads of bombs.  Serra Avenger, lots of decent burn, tons of decent critters. 

I cast Pthisis on a creature, which should have been the win.  That's when he busted out the 6/6 rescue guy to pull the game out.  Yeesh.

Flamecore Elemental gets my vote for most underdrafted decent card.  I don't care if it has echo,  it's a huge and credible threat your opponent must deal with.  Safely out of range of most burn and weenie killing spells, too.

[Margalis]

4 toughness is the magic number in TTP draft, as it was in TTT. At 3 you are vulnerable to strangling soot, grapeshot to some degree, rift bolt and the PC white 3 damage sorcery. At 4 toughness not much can kill you outside of paralize type effects.

Flamecore is not bad, you can get them very late and they often make main deck. The RR cost is a bit tricky but other than that is fairly solid.

Pthisis goes very late in draft now, I've seen it 13th pick! The rescue creatures hurt it. The last time I cast it on someone they Willbendered it back at me to win the game. Black is just a horrible color, have to pray for Damnation, Enslave, Kor Dirge and other goodies because PC black is crap.

[Margalis]

Ok I looked back - but now I'm back to 1713 after ripping up all challengers to come in 1st.

[Margalis]

God stupid mana problems. I was up to 1735 then lost 3 in a row in the first round to mana screw/flood. I had some awesome decks too.

Deck with Plague Sliver, Mirri, Solkanar the Swamp King and a bunch of removal, drew a hand with one land, shipped it back for all land, then another with no land. Lost that game. Game 3 I drew nothing but land.

Next draft same damn thing, in the second game I had 13 lands on the board with 22 or so cards left in my deck. Which means 13 out of the top 18 cards in my deck were lands our of 17 lands total. The guy I was playing had a rating of 1450! 1450!

1450!

Really frustrating to lose like that.

[Morat20]

God stupid mana problems. I was up to 1735 then lost 3 in a row in the first round to mana screw/flood. I had some awesome decks too.

Deck with Plague Sliver, Mirri, Solkanar the Swamp King and a bunch of removal, drew a hand with one land, shipped it back for all land, then another with no land. Lost that game. Game 3 I drew nothing but land.

Next draft same damn thing, in the second game I had 13 lands on the board with 22 or so cards left in my deck. Which means 13 out of the top 18 cards in my deck were lands our of 17 lands total. The guy I was playing had a rating of 1450! 1450!

1450!

Really frustrating to lose like that.

I went 2-1 in a tournament match the same way. Jack shit for mana the first game, all freaking mana the last game. Second game I ripped him to shreds in 4 or 5 turns. Guy didn't have a chance.

What's the proper land ratio for a two-color deck? I vaugely recall something like 1 in 4, but I'm a bit iffy on that.

[eldaec]

God stupid mana problems. I was up to 1735 then lost 3 in a row in the first round to mana screw/flood. I had some awesome decks too.

Deck with Plague Sliver, Mirri, Solkanar the Swamp King and a bunch of removal, drew a hand with one land, shipped it back for all land, then another with no land. Lost that game. Game 3 I drew nothing but land.

Next draft same damn thing, in the second game I had 13 lands on the board with 22 or so cards left in my deck. Which means 13 out of the top 18 cards in my deck were lands our of 17 lands total. The guy I was playing had a rating of 1450! 1450!

1450!

Really frustrating to lose like that.

I went 2-1 in a tournament match the same way. Jack shit for mana the first game, all freaking mana the last game. Second game I ripped him to shreds in 4 or 5 turns. Guy didn't have a chance.

What's the proper land ratio for a two-color deck? I vaugely recall something like 1 in 4, but I'm a bit iffy on that.

40%.

Par in limited is 17 land, in constructed, 23.

Time Spiral is very sensitive to mana, because loads of cards have double colour costs, so I'd normally try to run 18 in this block limited.

[Johny Cee]

God stupid mana problems. I was up to 1735 then lost 3 in a row in the first round to mana screw/flood. I had some awesome decks too.

Deck with Plague Sliver, Mirri, Solkanar the Swamp King and a bunch of removal, drew a hand with one land, shipped it back for all land, then another with no land. Lost that game. Game 3 I drew nothing but land.

Next draft same damn thing, in the second game I had 13 lands on the board with 22 or so cards left in my deck. Which means 13 out of the top 18 cards in my deck were lands our of 17 lands total. The guy I was playing had a rating of 1450! 1450!

1450!

Really frustrating to lose like that.

I went 2-1 in a tournament match the same way. Jack shit for mana the first game, all freaking mana the last game. Second game I ripped him to shreds in 4 or 5 turns. Guy didn't have a chance.

What's the proper land ratio for a two-color deck? I vaugely recall something like 1 in 4, but I'm a bit iffy on that.

In Limited formats (draft or sealed), you generally want between 16 and 18 land.  It depends on the set and your deck.  As eldaec said,  TS is a little more land/mana hungry so 17 or 18 is good.  Also,  try to stick to two colors played.  Not much color fixing.

With a more aggro, lower CC deck, you can go 16 for more even drawing of threats.

I generally play 17 land,  or 18 land if I have a few expensive bombs, in TS.  Rav draft you could run 3 colors no problem, because of casting cost and the plethora of mana fixers.

[Morat20]

Okay -- I'll rearrange my decks then. Oh, and I hate stuffy dolls. Is there a counter to those I'm just not seeing, or is it a constant "you eat your biggest attacker's damage" annoyance?

[eldaec]

Okay -- I'll rearrange my decks then. Oh, and I hate stuffy dolls. Is there a counter to those I'm just not seeing, or is it a constant "you eat your biggest attacker's damage" annoyance?

Spells and abilities that give -X/-X or evasion basically.

[Margalis]

Fly over it, use flankers (give it -1/-1 and it dies to blocking) or use some other -X/-X effect like Shaper Parasite, Sudden Death, Erratic Mutation, etc. Also something with trample can assign 1 damage to it and the rest to the opponent.

[Morat20]

Fly over it, use flankers (give it -1/-1 and it dies to blocking) or use some other -X/-X effect like Shaper Parasite, Sudden Death, Erratic Mutation, etc. Also something with trample can assign 1 damage to it and the rest to the opponent.

Oh that's right -- I used to annoy the crap out of players with big tramplers with one of those "All damage done to X is reduced to zero" creatures and such -- can't trample over that.

I have a few -- very few -- cards with a -X/-X that I've been using to get rid of annoyances, I just don't think it popped up against that stupid doll.