I still have Opt for draw/scry. The Vampire Hexmages might come out and be re-replaced with Tasigur, the Golden Fang's or Street Wraiths, or maybe 2 more land if it seems to be running short, though I still think that Vampire Hexmage is a solid card by itself. Playing a more classic list, at 19 land I always felt flooded. I might even replace or sideboard the Clockspinning (I really like Surgical Extraction)for a surgical extraction and a couple of Dismembers. I'm also wondering if a couple of Muddle the Mixtures might make it more consistent.
Assuming I'm going to leave Thing in the Ice in the deck, how would you work with that and what - if any - support would you put in for it?
Here's what I'll be trying out over the next few days. I'm working on the idea that GDS is a bit slower than DSJ, and using Thing in the Ice similar to Tarmagoyf. He starts off a bit weaker (looking at a 0/4 compared to a 3/4 on turn 2), but should come online about the same time (turn 3-4)and his flip effect is nice enough, especially if you have something like TBR in hand. The Clockspinning and Hexmage might be overkill, but we'll see how it plays out in testing. Theoretically, Hexmage is solid as a 2/1 first strike. I felt like Wraiths burned me out too fast, so I dropped them. It's an experiment, we'll see how it plays out.
I got a Whirling Catapult that I counted as a uncommon (assuming it was printed on the rare sheet by your question). If you have information on sheets, I can check my commons myself and see if I have enough that were printed on uncommon sheets to make up for the missing uncommons.
Is that likely though? Or is it more likely that they're repacks? I'm not that guy who complains about rolling the dice and losing - it's all part of the game - as long as the dice aren't loaded. I'm trying to find out whether these packs are legit or not, as I've never bought repacks before so I don't know what to look for. The website didn't advertise these as repacks (if they had, I would have avoided), so I'm trying to figure out how to tell if they're repacks or not. Evidence so far:
1) loose packaging - loose enough I could hold the pack by the wrapper on the front
2) Packaging was harder to open than normal - I don't know if this applies, but compared to modern packs they were much harder to open
3) The thing with the rares and uncommons - were it just one rare missing, or one uncommon etc... it would be understandable, but 1 rare and 4 uncommons seems like a stretch.
The first packs I ever opened were Invasion, and I've never had a problem like this, so I just want to know from people more familiar with those older sets if these are things that were common back in the day, or if it looks like I got scammed.
edit: watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5EKHBFJB9w and the wrapping on the packs still seems pretty tight. Should have taken a video myself of the loose wrapping.
That's fair on the searching and rares, but then shouldn't there be 16 uncommons and 4 rares in that case? That still leaves 5 cards of uncommon+ missing from packs. While getting a uncommon instead of a rare is understandable, missing that many seems unlikely.
Long story short, I bought some Alliances boosters and when they came in the packs were really loose. It's an older set, but I think the packing should still be tight, correct? I only came away with 11 uncommons and 4 rares (over 5 packs) which makes it seem even more likely, but idk what wizards quality control was like back then. I got the packs through Troll and Toad (mixed reviews, but a decent amount of positive, so I thought I would take the chance). If the boosters are fair, no complaints, that's the way of boosters, but these don't seem legit.
Assuming I'm going to leave Thing in the Ice in the deck, how would you work with that and what - if any - support would you put in for it?
3x Clockspinning
2x Deprive
3x Fatal Push
2x Kolaghan's Command
3x Opt
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Temur Battle Rage
3x Thought Scour
Creature (16)
4x Death's Shadow
2x Gurmag Angler
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Thing in the Ice
2x Vampire Hexmage
2x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Island
4x Polluted Delta
3x Scalding Tarn
1x Steam Vents
1x Swamp
2x Watery Grave
Sorcery (5)
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
Planeswalker (1)
1x Liliana of the Veil
2x Ceremonious Rejection
2x Collective Brutality
1x Disdainful Stroke
1x Echoing Ruin
1x Engineered Explosives
2x Flaying Tendrils
2x Fulminator Mage
1x Izzet Staticaster
1x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Surgical Extraction
Here's what I'll be trying out over the next few days. I'm working on the idea that GDS is a bit slower than DSJ, and using Thing in the Ice similar to Tarmagoyf. He starts off a bit weaker (looking at a 0/4 compared to a 3/4 on turn 2), but should come online about the same time (turn 3-4)and his flip effect is nice enough, especially if you have something like TBR in hand. The Clockspinning and Hexmage might be overkill, but we'll see how it plays out in testing. Theoretically, Hexmage is solid as a 2/1 first strike. I felt like Wraiths burned me out too fast, so I dropped them. It's an experiment, we'll see how it plays out.
1) loose packaging - loose enough I could hold the pack by the wrapper on the front
2) Packaging was harder to open than normal - I don't know if this applies, but compared to modern packs they were much harder to open
3) The thing with the rares and uncommons - were it just one rare missing, or one uncommon etc... it would be understandable, but 1 rare and 4 uncommons seems like a stretch.
The first packs I ever opened were Invasion, and I've never had a problem like this, so I just want to know from people more familiar with those older sets if these are things that were common back in the day, or if it looks like I got scammed.
edit: watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5EKHBFJB9w and the wrapping on the packs still seems pretty tight. Should have taken a video myself of the loose wrapping.
Thoughts on that and how to proceed?