I really wanted to switch out Ivory Tower for Basilisk Collar - but only thought of it after the round had closed. I'll be tweaking my list over the next week or so, since I actually really enjoyed the way Molten Psyche played out. Neat card. Though I did have to explain the rules almost every time I cast it.
Yeah... me not used to not getting any votes at all :crying:.
I guess it's my turn to ask why that unfortunate event took place ?
frankly, I avoided all the psychosis crawler builds, I felt it competed too much with psyche for becoming the "core card" of the deck. despite the obvious synergy between them, I just wasn't a fan
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Why I'm not even listed in there? I know, i didn't wrote anything about the decks (no time, I'm a bussy man) - so is that the reason? I respect your votes, but I'll me more glad having 0 points than "excluded from ratings".
you weren't excluded, but simply got no votes into the top 8, much like fdtori. I understand why it appears like exclusion when the votes were spread like that. ^^
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Each reality is but the dream of another, and each sleeper a god unknowing.
We define the boundaries of reality; they don't define us.
frankly, I avoided all the psychosis crawler builds, I felt it competed too much with psyche for becoming the "core card" of the deck. despite the obvious synergy between them, I just wasn't a fan
When I was building the deck and decided to build with Magus of the Jar+Aether Vial+Evacuation, etc, I searched for all the other creatures at CMC 5 that could compliment a Molten Psyche strategy... the Crawler kept staring at me from the Magiccards.info page... Obvious yes, but in more ways than one. I feel I would have more trouble explaining to someone why I didn't put it in :rolleyes:.
Besides, most of the decks in this round didn't rely exclusively on the "core" card to deal all the damage, was Black Vise more logical? Underworld Dreams? Sizzle? Shrapnel Blast? Runeflare Trap? Galvanic Blast? Niv-Mizzet(!!!)?
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
Because it steals the focus of the deck away from Molten Psyche.
And Niv-Mizzet, Underworld Dreams, etc, don't?
They have the same functionnality as the Crawler... at least the Crawler has the benefit of being an artifact, So what's your point? I mean, I read ExpiredRascals reasoning the first time so...
Next round I'll build a deck where the round's card will be the only one that's relevant, all the other won't interact with it too much, so as not to steal the focus away, we'll see how that works out ;)...
Primary and only casual rule: "any rule that is fine for the most part of the playgroup, is a fine rule". So any further thread with: "if somebody uses/does .... in a casual game, is it ethical/ok?", read the answer above.
- Being a "Johnny/Spike" means you like self-torture. You win often in casual, so everybody hates you; you loose often in competitive, so you hate yourself.
Oops - completely forgot to update my SB into my original post
I'm really suprised nobody used some form of Cascade + Wheel of Fate combo .... not too creative honestly, but it seemed quite obvious to me.
/edit: also, I don't see the reason why dlink didn't make it T8, his (her?) deck seemed to be the most fun and well tuned deck among all posted ones. Actually I liked his deck even more than my own
I think that my list may have inadvertently preempted the cascade builds because I figured out that you can just run panoptic mirror
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I have to comment on this, since I believe I'm the only one who used the Firemind...
The thing is, my deck used to have both in it. But I did feel that Crawler completely stole the focus from Molten Psyche, while the dragon didn't for some reasons:
- The words "each opponent". 'Nuff said.
- Niv-Mizzet has more restrictions: being legendary, mana cost and color heavy, p/t don't grow with your hand, targeted, etc.
- Crawler is more of a "build around me" card than Niv-Mizzet, at least to me.
- Niv-Mizzet was "in-color" in my deck, so it felt more natural. Dealing damage instead of causing life loss also felt more consistent with the theme.
Overall, I reduced the amount of "hand size" cards, that I had in there just for Crawler. This allowed me to focus on the sorcery, and support it. I even considered ditching Niv-Mizzet for Bazaar Trader, in order to donate the sphinx, but it wasn't good with anything else, so I dropped the idea.
/edit: also, I don't see the reason why dlink didn't make it T8, his (her?) deck seemed to be the most fun and well tuned deck among all posted ones. Actually I liked his deck even more than my own
Well I'm glad somebody liked it. I'm actually surprised too since I thought I tuned the deck quite well to Casual and the Card for this round. It's my only non-top 8 week, but I am quite ashamed to say I got beat out by a deck running quadruple Wheel of Fortune, and as others have said before me, it's shocking to see how many cards that outshine Molten Psyche are in here.
I'd like to know exactly what the judges didn't like about my deck - was it card adherence? Were people thinking that a Turn 1 Warren Instigator into a Turn 2 Wort, the Raidmother was deviating from the Molten Psyche strategy too much? I've already stated in my description that attacking by swarming was not the wise way to go, as I didn't have Lords and none of my creatures had evasion. Warren Instigator was a mere assist card to setup combos like Sensation Gorger + Goblin Recruiter in 1-shot or put out Goblins for the Conspire on Wort, the Raidmother. Trust me, you couldn't win with this deck by using Aggro strategies.
If not card adherence, then was it because I ran 3 copies of Goblin Recruiter? Did people think it resembled a normal Goblin deck too much? I'd like to know, because I feel that it was a relatively unique take on Goblins, and certainly better than the rest of the decks packing the typical Howling Mine + Font of Mythos strategy with Runeflare Trap, Black Vise, Underworld Dreams etc. Decks running those are popular and well-established archtypes in Casual and even in Constructed formats (Owling Mine), and I don't think a cookie-cutter deck should have passed any preliminary top-8 judgment.
Edit: Btw, I'm a guy. I certainly hope no girl's username is named after a Router. A decision I regret to this day
I was one of the ones that did vote for you dlink but I gotta be honest that I almost didn't. It wasn't exactly one thing in particular that didn't mesh with me but a number of smaller things. I'm not sure if your semi-diluted focus effected it with other judges or not. I also kinda was put off by the repeated use of a wish sideboard
I don't think having the key card as the win con really is the make or break difference to the judges. My build can only win using the key card and yet received no votes beyond my own. After the 3rd round I stopped trying to understand what the judges look for when voting for top 8. Now that I am a judge myself I can understand more why it is so opinionated. Some of the builds that made it in with 3 votes I thought were terrible or had little focus on the key card. I also personally first counted the number of artifacts + how easy it was to get them on the field (and keep them there) in the deck to achieve metalcraft. I then looked at how much their deck was focused around winning with the key card. Finally I went by how the deck felt to me.
I felt like your deck was just unlikely to care about molten psyche dlink, it just looked like aggroing out with the goblins was gonna be stronger and more effective. I did love that draw goblin tho.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
I am quite ashamed to say I got beat out by a deck running quadruple Wheel of Fortune
I guess that must be directed at me. What's wrong with 4x Wheel of Fortune? The synergy with Molten Psyche is obvious... 14 damage for 6 mana? Yes please.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Creativity/Originality: 4.5
Chandra, Command, Anvil, a green splash.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
The deck can win by simply aiming burn at the op. MP isn't really needed, but atleast it's a very smooth addition.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
I'm not sold on the green splash and that's about it. The only other thing is that Command isn't that great of a Madness enabler costing five mana itself.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid and very fun to pull off. Chandra's ultimatum for 1 Wheel, 1 Command and 1 MP -> Game? and that's a very simple stack.
Interaction/Protection: 4
Expected porblems with non-creature spells, else - le'me quote a hot fire mage: "I think ‘toast' is an appropriate description."
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
kingT: 13.5
Creativity/Originality: 2
sorry, but how did this make the top8?
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
By the virtue of having no other way to harm the op. (I guess one can't aim all Blasts at the op.) - yes.
Synergy/Tuning: 2.5
A full dozen accel trinkets? Mass bounce is nice with MP. Else random (Blast?) to uninspired.
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Against non-zoo agro surprisingly good, ('bounce all?') else not so much.
Interaction/Protection: 2
mass bounce.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
necroticah: 17.5
Creativity/Originality: 3
Underworld Dreams was expected, the deck doesn't present any new gadegts.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Dream decks are known to function without Molten Psyche, but it fits excellently (safe a minor nitpick, but read on).
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Solid choices for control, again nothing fancy. I rarely lament on landbases, but here I feel compelled to: Graven Cairns. Absolutely vital when you want to cast BBB and 1RR cards in the same deck.
You had too many of the same artifacts imo, and Spellbook is as useless as always (atleast here you have good reasons to use it over Tower), what you wanted is Anvil of Bogardan.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid performance, had expected issues with non-creature spells...
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
As mentioned problems with non-creature spells.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
solid list that could've used a tad more fine tuning.
PeterRiviera: 18.5
Creativity/Originality: 4
Not so much single card choices, but the deck a s whole. Arcane Denial is nice, so is Champion.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Sword wielding pro-colour 2/2, are a detterent, but as much for the op. as for you.
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
The deck is lacking ways to fill up hands for max. impact of MPs, but as Trap is there as backup, as well as boring combat damage, it's not quite as needed as in the more straight foreward builds.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid, diverse, surpring and strong.
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
Champions make for good defenders, a problems with bigger spells.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
@ link to Conley Woods's deck: He could enter, if he wanted to. =P Fun coincidence in time.
Gaea's Regent: 16
Creativity/Originality: 3.5
Expected Wheel and Deal & (Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
Yup.
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
I don't like Sphinx in here. For one it's quite high on the curve, and then it draws massive amounts of cards, that can't be used because one doesn't have the mana, and because there is no need to. If Magus - why not the original? Only 21 lands... Collar is used criminally under its potential, with only Niv as really good target. -> Wasted tool-box slot. I like Mikokoro, Jar (allthough only Magi) and Bell over Mine.
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Losing to missed land drops sucks hard, it wouldn't as much, if there were more land and no unjustified high end critters *cough*Sphinx. Board control as also quite lackluster. The deck also had problems dealing with (almost) any pressure.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Minimally in the form of Leak & Blast. Niv clearing the board is wishfull thinking, rather than a real option. The deck needs more.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Killem2: 16.5
Creativity/Originality: 4.5
Hive Mind, and the lovely Field/Wheel combo, not so original on itself, but very fitting.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
When the only other option is to Sizzle op.s, yes.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Paradigm Shift feels out of place, because it's most likely to leave you in the worst spot. *?* Metalcraft is hard to assemble and even harder to keep.
Power/Capacity to win: 0.3*1+0.7*3~=2.5
Horrible in 1v1, a benevolent 'medicore' in multiplayer. As it's intended for multi, that weighting is higher.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
Wheel/Field is actualy nti-interaction, but alas, it keeps you alive. Too bad it's hard to keep on the board in mutliplayer.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
maserati: 14
Creativity/Originality: 4
Forced Frutition is a good idea.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Honestly the list felt more like a built for FF, and not even specially so. I'll come to why in the next criteria.
Synergy/Tuning: 2.5
The ideal scenario, is to cast MP with a Leyline and FF out. Sounds like a winner. It is quite an accomplishment to get FF out without any accel. Without FF MP is underperforming hard, as the op.'s hand's too small. The Liquimetal mini-combo, feels and plays like tacked on and with only two slots each also lacks consistency needed. The rest is about random. I acknowledge the MtM toolbox, Delay as a way to ship a spell into a later turn, the diversification of Keg/Bomb and that one can play a Golem in response to the first to get two. But that's cute at best.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
No victory to be reported.
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
Yup, but surprisingly it didn't help much.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Saben: 17
Creativity/Originality: 4
The cutt-troath approach to powerfull cards has to be appreciated smewhere.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Yes.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Foru Mox Opal is about two too much, givne the speed you cycle through the deck. Chrome one's would've made for a good subsistute. Pyrtie Spellbomb fells out of place simply because it's compared to the rest such a weak card. Again, gegting to 6 mana was one of the bigger tasks with only 20 lands, atleast here a Mox could help and the D7s made sure you hit most of the land drops.
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
Not as explosive as expected, mainly due to the lack of fast mana.
Interaction/Protection: 1.5
A bit burn... Scepter to some extent.
Format/Thematic: 0
No minus for playsets of both Wheel of Fortune and Timespiral, because the deck isn't broken. If the Moxen were diversified and some fast mana added, I'd have substracted points.
good round, lots of different approaches. I'm surprised no phyrexian 'Underworld-Brain-Maro' list made it into the top8. the card fits so good.
Really sorry to take so long but I had a coworker's father die and as such I have been covering his shifts and mine as well. Have't had enough time to playtest and still have a good two hours to do tonight (which I promise I will do). Still need to finish up 3 people.
Again I apologize but things happen IRL that I have no control of.
Really sorry to take so long but I had a coworker's father die and as such I have been covering his shifts and mine as well. Have't had enough time to playtest and still have a good two hours to do tonight (which I promise I will do). Still need to finish up 3 people.
Again I apologize but things happen IRL that I have no control of.
Seriously not a problem dude, take your time. My condolences to your coworker.
Thank you for the patience. Not sure what happened to the other judges but hope you will get their scores soon.
King T 12
Creativity/Originality 2/5
Ehhh mass bounce? Not much else
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3/5
With the exception of WoF and some attempts to meet metalcraft nothing else really. Still the obvious intent was a kill using psyche.
Synergy/Tuning 3/5
To many mana producing artifacts. Scroll rack was not needed as a 4 of (try 2 next time). Not sure why you chose two mass bounce spells over 1 mass bounce and ANTHING else to give yourself some protection options.
Power/Capacity to win 2/5
I won 1 game and came really close twice. Other than that I really had no chance. Underpowered and underprotected. I wasn’t always helpless at least since I could stall with mass bounce.
Interaction/Protection 2/5
Two different mass bounce spells were good at stopping some aggro decks even though by the time you got to use a washout you were half dead. The blast was alright and gave me something to do with my useless extra artifacts.
Gaea's Regent 15.5
Originality/Creativity 4/5
The deck did have a fresh feel to it but contained nothing revolutionary. Wheel and deal was a great choice for this round but was pretty expected.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
The majority of this deck was definitely built with psyche in mind and it showed. The deck was kinda better at making me draw than the opponent though so this score really couldn’t go any higher for me.
Synergy/Tuning 3/5
Many times this deck just didn’t feel good to me. It was hard to get enough mana to do what I needed until I started drawing so many cards I couldn’t even begin to use them all. I didn’t really like the sphinx in here and I feel it would have been better as some lower CC useful card.
Power/Capacity to win 2.5/5
I had difficulty with this deck surving. It’s hard to get a combo going that requires 7 mana before you are dead against many opponents. I won a couple games and the damage from a wheel and deal/psyche combo was very nice.
Interaction/Protection 2/5
This deck didn’t have enough answers to basically all the other deck types it faced. It really was only alright against a slower janky combo deck my buddy has. I wasn’t really impressed
Saben 17
Creativity/Originality 3/5
Effective, efficient choices to reach the end going of mass draw for a big psyche. Not really any attempts at anything truly unique though.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
Most of this deck definitely has psyche in mind. When I got them off wheel of fortune off with a psyche the effects are devastating. I didn’t really think thoughtcast was needed in here with all the other draw going on. Would have been better as some other form of artifact mana.
Synergy/Tuning 3.5/5
I wasn’t sure how to score this as it seemed liked it worked alright but just not very well. It was a bit slow and could use some more artifact mana. You are running quad wheel of fortune but couldn’t put in one sol ring? Mox opal was a dead card in my hand often (legendary playset?)
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
Really not as over the top broken as I expected. It took a bit too long to get to get a psyche and WoF off in the same turn. The protection was decent but nothing crazy. Runeflare trap was very nice in here I must say.
Interaction/Protection 3.5/5
I liked the protection in here at times but at other times still it felt like I needed more. Some form of sweep would have been nice.
*Just as a side note. I had more people quit out of me using this deck than has ever happened to me before testing these contest decks. Perhaps using 4 of a card that is so overpowered isn’t a great idea. Shame that a deck wielding such power used it in such a poor way.
Necroticah 14
Creativity/Originality 2/5
Nothing in here really blew my mind. It just seemed like some attempt and making the opponent draw a bunch of cards to hurt with underworld dreams. With no way to psyche on their turn it really hurt the power of the deck. No cards or interactions were anything special.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 2.5/5
The dual purpose of drawing artifacts to work with psyche was appreciated. Aside from that nothing particularly meshed with psyche.
Synergy/Tuning 2.5/5
The deck didn’t really have a flowing feel to it. Kinda like each piece did it’s thing 1st and worked with the rest of the deck 2nd.
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
I won a couple games but never very convincingly aside from the one time the opponent spend the first 5 turns with two mana. The inability to use psyche to it’s full potential hurts this score as well. Still I was in each game I played in.
Interaction/Protection 4/5
Lots of removal everywhere. I was able to protect myself very nicely a few games. Issues with non-creature decks though.
Maserati 18.5
Originality/Creativity 4/5
There were some good ideas in here and Forced Furition is one of my favourite cards in all of magic. You used it against the opponent very well.
Effectivness/Card Adherence 3.5/5
There was good focus towards psyche but nothing over the top. Perhaps a bit more draw would have been nice.
Synergy/Tuning 4/5
Cards like protection options ended up being able to stall just long enough for me to get my combo’s going. Had some issues a few times getting all the cards I needed to get lethal though. Still it worked better than I originally thought it would.
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
The protection was decent in this and it kept me in the game. The only issues was without a leyline out I had no decent way of going lethal.
Interaction/Protection 4/5
Undo and delay ended up being perfect to stall just long enough for me to get off my combos. The other forms of protection in here took care of any and all threats most games. It did have some trouble against larger creatures though.
Killem2 14.5
Creativity/Originality 3.5/5
We’ve seen the field/wheel combo before. There were some attempts at originality but nothing revolutionary.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 2.5/5
What was in here kinda worked with psyche but really nothing spectacular. It hit metalcraft everytime almost instantly which was nice. Still it was just as much a hive mind deck as a psyche deck.
Synergy/Tuning 3.5/5
The deck worked well together as a whole. Nothing crazy but a good feeling deck.
Power/Capacity to win 2.5/5
I unfortunately had no chance to test this in multiplayer so the score will reflect that. Two games were won outright the moment I achieved the field/wheel lock. One was from damage from the psyche(with the help of hive mind) in a very brutal fashion. The rest of the time I was doomed.
Interaction/Protection 2.5/5
With the field/wheel combo I was laughing. Without it I was crying. Nuff said.
Hamsta 19
Originality/Creativity 5/5
Chandra madness w/ opponent draw effects and an ultimate that makes psyche go insane. Absolutely loved it. It broke Chandra better than most other attempts I’ve played with/against.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3.5
While everything kind of worked with molten psyche it seemed the true strategy needed Chandra more than a psyche.
Synergy/Tuning 4.5/5
The various madness enablers worked with many cards in here very nice. Using Chandra as a wincon with psyche can be an amazing amount of damage.
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
A lack in protection meant I dropped easily to the earlier decks. Once I was able to combo up with a Chandra ultimate it was always game over. That wasn’t very easy at times though. The games I won using chandra’s ultimate were brilliant though. Various madness enabled damage spells were nice though.
Interaction/Protection 3/5
The command was a saviour to me many times and I found the Moment’s Peace underwhelming. Need a better answer to early aggro. Without creature defense it needed a better form of defense against them. I was generally able to mount some form of defense but just not enough.
PeterRiviera 19.5
Creativity/Originality 4/5
Instant draw to combo into molten psyche. Life gaining layered in. Efficient creature beating face with an equipment perfect for this deck. Draw lands. Yes please can I have some more.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4.5/5
The overwhelming majority of the deck is geared exactly towards Molten Psyche. Not much really to say. Exceptionally done.
Synergy/Tuning 5/5
This entire deck worked as one beautiful unit for me. I don’t know if the testing I did just had perfect draws in 40% of the games I played but it just felt so good. It almost felt to good those games but maybe that’s just what a 5 feels like to me.
Power/Capacity to win 3.5/5
I won a number of games with this deck and in a very convincing fashion a couple times. Some issues with aggro and didn’t have a decent answer to a flying deck with creatures out of the range of galvanic blast/slagstorm.
Interaction/Protection 2.5/5
Not really that much in here but also not helpless. Some things the champion was a great blocker for, some not so much. Could have used one more option for protection just due to the lack of creature defense in here.
I got hit by term papers and so fell a bit behind. Just finished testing. Will compose scores and post soon.
EDIT: Damn, didn't finish the write-ups before I needed to get to work on my last paper :/
I'll finish and post them tomorrow. I'm so sorry for the delay, this is the one crazy week that I get each quarter for being PoliSci.
Just got to say, you've definitely earned distinction as an MTGS hero
Quote from Stardust »
Because he's the hero MTGS deserves, and the one it needs right now. So we'll global him. Because he can take it. Because he's not just our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. An expired rascal.
Quote from LuckNorris »
ExpiredRascals you sir are a god-like hero.
Quote from Lanxal »
ER is a masterful god who cannot be beaten in any endeavour.
Just wanted to say that I was very happy with this round's decks. Some of these decks are true viable decks to play with. In terms of combo vs combo many definitely can bang with the big boys. I was a bit disappointed that I received no votes for the top 8 but after playtesting it and playtesting these builds (with the exception of a couple decks) mine was just not as good as some others when you take all categories into account.
I consider a 5 a very hard score to get since it's perfection in that category. Both PeterRiviera and Hamsta earned one from me so extra congratulations to both of them.
Also, I'm sorry this round I didn't make an "overall" section for each deck but just didn't have any time. I don't want to write one now just as it's been days since I've played some of these decks. If anyone would like my opinion on their deck just let me know and I can either PM it or post it (your call).
I'm rather baffled by the two "Capacity two win" scores so far. This is one of the CDCC decks that I've won more games with in MODO's Casual Room. You guys must have some seriously broken metas.
I believe that it was for last round that at least one of them revealed, that he used MWS or a similar program to test with. Since there are no restrictions on cardpool in those, you can end up against T1 vintage/legacy decks (or even genuinely broken stuff).
I just state in my join message (when I host games) that I'm looking for a Casual game with no P9. Generally works. You do see an awful lot of original duals and all that horse****. Quitting isn't a bad option if you express the format you play in.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
frankly, I avoided all the psychosis crawler builds, I felt it competed too much with psyche for becoming the "core card" of the deck. despite the obvious synergy between them, I just wasn't a fan
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
you weren't excluded, but simply got no votes into the top 8, much like fdtori. I understand why it appears like exclusion when the votes were spread like that. ^^
When I was building the deck and decided to build with Magus of the Jar+Aether Vial+Evacuation, etc, I searched for all the other creatures at CMC 5 that could compliment a Molten Psyche strategy... the Crawler kept staring at me from the Magiccards.info page... Obvious yes, but in more ways than one. I feel I would have more trouble explaining to someone why I didn't put it in :rolleyes:.
Besides, most of the decks in this round didn't rely exclusively on the "core" card to deal all the damage, was Black Vise more logical? Underworld Dreams? Sizzle? Shrapnel Blast? Runeflare Trap? Galvanic Blast? Niv-Mizzet(!!!)?
Anyway let's hope for better next round...
And Niv-Mizzet, Underworld Dreams, etc, don't?
They have the same functionnality as the Crawler... at least the Crawler has the benefit of being an artifact, So what's your point? I mean, I read ExpiredRascals reasoning the first time so...
Next round I'll build a deck where the round's card will be the only one that's relevant, all the other won't interact with it too much, so as not to steal the focus away, we'll see how that works out ;)...
I think that my list may have inadvertently preempted the cascade builds because I figured out that you can just run panoptic mirror
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
I have to comment on this, since I believe I'm the only one who used the Firemind...
- The words "each opponent". 'Nuff said.
- Niv-Mizzet has more restrictions: being legendary, mana cost and color heavy, p/t don't grow with your hand, targeted, etc.
- Crawler is more of a "build around me" card than Niv-Mizzet, at least to me.
- Niv-Mizzet was "in-color" in my deck, so it felt more natural. Dealing damage instead of causing life loss also felt more consistent with the theme.
Overall, I reduced the amount of "hand size" cards, that I had in there just for Crawler. This allowed me to focus on the sorcery, and support it. I even considered ditching Niv-Mizzet for Bazaar Trader, in order to donate the sphinx, but it wasn't good with anything else, so I dropped the idea.
My YouTube Channel
Well I'm glad somebody liked it. I'm actually surprised too since I thought I tuned the deck quite well to Casual and the Card for this round. It's my only non-top 8 week, but I am quite ashamed to say I got beat out by a deck running quadruple Wheel of Fortune, and as others have said before me, it's shocking to see how many cards that outshine Molten Psyche are in here.
I'd like to know exactly what the judges didn't like about my deck - was it card adherence? Were people thinking that a Turn 1 Warren Instigator into a Turn 2 Wort, the Raidmother was deviating from the Molten Psyche strategy too much? I've already stated in my description that attacking by swarming was not the wise way to go, as I didn't have Lords and none of my creatures had evasion. Warren Instigator was a mere assist card to setup combos like Sensation Gorger + Goblin Recruiter in 1-shot or put out Goblins for the Conspire on Wort, the Raidmother. Trust me, you couldn't win with this deck by using Aggro strategies.
If not card adherence, then was it because I ran 3 copies of Goblin Recruiter? Did people think it resembled a normal Goblin deck too much? I'd like to know, because I feel that it was a relatively unique take on Goblins, and certainly better than the rest of the decks packing the typical Howling Mine + Font of Mythos strategy with Runeflare Trap, Black Vise, Underworld Dreams etc. Decks running those are popular and well-established archtypes in Casual and even in Constructed formats (Owling Mine), and I don't think a cookie-cutter deck should have passed any preliminary top-8 judgment.
Edit: Btw, I'm a guy. I certainly hope no girl's username is named after a Router. A decision I regret to this day
R: Copypasta Sauce {Browbeat}
UR: Mana Cache , One Spell to Bind them All {Magnetic Theft}
UG: Epic Struggle , All-In-Poison {Metamorphosis}
UW: Planar Overlay , Decree of the Bailiff {Saprazzan Bailiff}
BG: Thought Gorger , Dark Chroma {Umbra Stalker}
UBR: Dwarven Shrine
WUBRG: Dissipation Field , Maelstrom Nexus
I don't think having the key card as the win con really is the make or break difference to the judges. My build can only win using the key card and yet received no votes beyond my own. After the 3rd round I stopped trying to understand what the judges look for when voting for top 8. Now that I am a judge myself I can understand more why it is so opinionated. Some of the builds that made it in with 3 votes I thought were terrible or had little focus on the key card. I also personally first counted the number of artifacts + how easy it was to get them on the field (and keep them there) in the deck to achieve metalcraft. I then looked at how much their deck was focused around winning with the key card. Finally I went by how the deck felt to me.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
I guess that must be directed at me. What's wrong with 4x Wheel of Fortune? The synergy with Molten Psyche is obvious... 14 damage for 6 mana? Yes please.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
Indeed. It is banned in Legacy and restricted in Classic and Vintage.
Perhaps he meant Wheel and Deal?EDIT: Just realized he was talking about the very restriction.
My YouTube Channel
hamsta: 19.5
Chandra, Command, Anvil, a green splash.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
The deck can win by simply aiming burn at the op. MP isn't really needed, but atleast it's a very smooth addition.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
I'm not sold on the green splash and that's about it. The only other thing is that Command isn't that great of a Madness enabler costing five mana itself.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid and very fun to pull off. Chandra's ultimatum for 1 Wheel, 1 Command and 1 MP -> Game? and that's a very simple stack.
Interaction/Protection: 4
Expected porblems with non-creature spells, else - le'me quote a hot fire mage: "I think ‘toast' is an appropriate description."
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
kingT: 13.5
sorry, but how did this make the top8?
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
By the virtue of having no other way to harm the op. (I guess one can't aim all Blasts at the op.) - yes.
Synergy/Tuning: 2.5
A full dozen accel trinkets? Mass bounce is nice with MP. Else random (Blast?) to uninspired.
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Against non-zoo agro surprisingly good, ('bounce all?') else not so much.
Interaction/Protection: 2
mass bounce.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
necroticah: 17.5
Underworld Dreams was expected, the deck doesn't present any new gadegts.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Dream decks are known to function without Molten Psyche, but it fits excellently (safe a minor nitpick, but read on).
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Solid choices for control, again nothing fancy. I rarely lament on landbases, but here I feel compelled to: Graven Cairns. Absolutely vital when you want to cast BBB and 1RR cards in the same deck.
You had too many of the same artifacts imo, and Spellbook is as useless as always (atleast here you have good reasons to use it over Tower), what you wanted is Anvil of Bogardan.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid performance, had expected issues with non-creature spells...
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
As mentioned problems with non-creature spells.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
solid list that could've used a tad more fine tuning.
Peter Riviera: 18.5
Not so much single card choices, but the deck a s whole. Arcane Denial is nice, so is Champion.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3.5
Sword wielding pro-colour 2/2, are a detterent, but as much for the op. as for you.
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
The deck is lacking ways to fill up hands for max. impact of MPs, but as Trap is there as backup, as well as boring combat damage, it's not quite as needed as in the more straight foreward builds.
Power/Capacity to win: 4
Solid, diverse, surpring and strong.
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
Champions make for good defenders, a problems with bigger spells.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
@ link to Conley Woods's deck: He could enter, if he wanted to. =P Fun coincidence in time.
Gaea's Regent: 16
Expected Wheel and Deal & (Z->)90° - (E-N²W)90°t.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4.5
Yup.
Synergy/Tuning: 3.5
I don't like Sphinx in here. For one it's quite high on the curve, and then it draws massive amounts of cards, that can't be used because one doesn't have the mana, and because there is no need to. If Magus - why not the original? Only 21 lands... Collar is used criminally under its potential, with only Niv as really good target. -> Wasted tool-box slot. I like Mikokoro, Jar (allthough only Magi) and Bell over Mine.
Power/Capacity to win: 2.5
Losing to missed land drops sucks hard, it wouldn't as much, if there were more land and no unjustified high end critters *cough*Sphinx. Board control as also quite lackluster. The deck also had problems dealing with (almost) any pressure.
Interaction/Protection: 2
Minimally in the form of Leak & Blast. Niv clearing the board is wishfull thinking, rather than a real option. The deck needs more.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Killem2: 16.5
Hive Mind, and the lovely Field/Wheel combo, not so original on itself, but very fitting.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
When the only other option is to Sizzle op.s, yes.
Synergy/Tuning: 3
Paradigm Shift feels out of place, because it's most likely to leave you in the worst spot. *?* Metalcraft is hard to assemble and even harder to keep.
Power/Capacity to win: 0.3*1+0.7*3~=2.5
Horrible in 1v1, a benevolent 'medicore' in multiplayer. As it's intended for multi, that weighting is higher.
Interaction/Protection: 2.5
Wheel/Field is actualy nti-interaction, but alas, it keeps you alive. Too bad it's hard to keep on the board in mutliplayer.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
maserati: 14
Forced Frutition is a good idea.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 3
Honestly the list felt more like a built for FF, and not even specially so. I'll come to why in the next criteria.
Synergy/Tuning: 2.5
The ideal scenario, is to cast MP with a Leyline and FF out. Sounds like a winner. It is quite an accomplishment to get FF out without any accel. Without FF MP is underperforming hard, as the op.'s hand's too small. The Liquimetal mini-combo, feels and plays like tacked on and with only two slots each also lacks consistency needed. The rest is about random. I acknowledge the MtM toolbox, Delay as a way to ship a spell into a later turn, the diversification of Keg/Bomb and that one can play a Golem in response to the first to get two. But that's cute at best.
Power/Capacity to win: 1
No victory to be reported.
Interaction/Protection: 3.5
Yup, but surprisingly it didn't help much.
Format/Thematic: 0
none.
Saben: 17
The cutt-troath approach to powerfull cards has to be appreciated smewhere.
Effectiveness/Card adherence: 4
Yes.
Synergy/Tuning: 4
Foru Mox Opal is about two too much, givne the speed you cycle through the deck. Chrome one's would've made for a good subsistute. Pyrtie Spellbomb fells out of place simply because it's compared to the rest such a weak card. Again, gegting to 6 mana was one of the bigger tasks with only 20 lands, atleast here a Mox could help and the D7s made sure you hit most of the land drops.
Power/Capacity to win: 3.5
Not as explosive as expected, mainly due to the lack of fast mana.
Interaction/Protection: 1.5
A bit burn... Scepter to some extent.
Format/Thematic: 0
No minus for playsets of both Wheel of Fortune and Timespiral, because the deck isn't broken. If the Moxen were diversified and some fast mana added, I'd have substracted points.
good round, lots of different approaches. I'm surprised no phyrexian 'Underworld-Brain-Maro' list made it into the top8. the card fits so good.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
Well, I actually build my decks on MTGO, so Magus was all I could afford.
My YouTube Channel
Ah. I use Cockatrice.
And I was just speaking in general. With no restrictions, Memory Jar is like candy.
Again I apologize but things happen IRL that I have no control of.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
Seriously not a problem dude, take your time. My condolences to your coworker.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts
King T 12
Ehhh mass bounce? Not much else
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3/5
With the exception of WoF and some attempts to meet metalcraft nothing else really. Still the obvious intent was a kill using psyche.
Synergy/Tuning 3/5
To many mana producing artifacts. Scroll rack was not needed as a 4 of (try 2 next time). Not sure why you chose two mass bounce spells over 1 mass bounce and ANTHING else to give yourself some protection options.
Power/Capacity to win 2/5
I won 1 game and came really close twice. Other than that I really had no chance. Underpowered and underprotected. I wasn’t always helpless at least since I could stall with mass bounce.
Interaction/Protection 2/5
Two different mass bounce spells were good at stopping some aggro decks even though by the time you got to use a washout you were half dead. The blast was alright and gave me something to do with my useless extra artifacts.
Gaea's Regent 15.5
The deck did have a fresh feel to it but contained nothing revolutionary. Wheel and deal was a great choice for this round but was pretty expected.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
The majority of this deck was definitely built with psyche in mind and it showed. The deck was kinda better at making me draw than the opponent though so this score really couldn’t go any higher for me.
Synergy/Tuning 3/5
Many times this deck just didn’t feel good to me. It was hard to get enough mana to do what I needed until I started drawing so many cards I couldn’t even begin to use them all. I didn’t really like the sphinx in here and I feel it would have been better as some lower CC useful card.
Power/Capacity to win 2.5/5
I had difficulty with this deck surving. It’s hard to get a combo going that requires 7 mana before you are dead against many opponents. I won a couple games and the damage from a wheel and deal/psyche combo was very nice.
Interaction/Protection 2/5
This deck didn’t have enough answers to basically all the other deck types it faced. It really was only alright against a slower janky combo deck my buddy has. I wasn’t really impressed
Saben 17
Effective, efficient choices to reach the end going of mass draw for a big psyche. Not really any attempts at anything truly unique though.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4/5
Most of this deck definitely has psyche in mind. When I got them off wheel of fortune off with a psyche the effects are devastating. I didn’t really think thoughtcast was needed in here with all the other draw going on. Would have been better as some other form of artifact mana.
Synergy/Tuning 3.5/5
I wasn’t sure how to score this as it seemed liked it worked alright but just not very well. It was a bit slow and could use some more artifact mana. You are running quad wheel of fortune but couldn’t put in one sol ring? Mox opal was a dead card in my hand often (legendary playset?)
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
Really not as over the top broken as I expected. It took a bit too long to get to get a psyche and WoF off in the same turn. The protection was decent but nothing crazy. Runeflare trap was very nice in here I must say.
Interaction/Protection 3.5/5
I liked the protection in here at times but at other times still it felt like I needed more. Some form of sweep would have been nice.
*Just as a side note. I had more people quit out of me using this deck than has ever happened to me before testing these contest decks. Perhaps using 4 of a card that is so overpowered isn’t a great idea. Shame that a deck wielding such power used it in such a poor way.
Necroticah 14
Nothing in here really blew my mind. It just seemed like some attempt and making the opponent draw a bunch of cards to hurt with underworld dreams. With no way to psyche on their turn it really hurt the power of the deck. No cards or interactions were anything special.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 2.5/5
The dual purpose of drawing artifacts to work with psyche was appreciated. Aside from that nothing particularly meshed with psyche.
Synergy/Tuning 2.5/5
The deck didn’t really have a flowing feel to it. Kinda like each piece did it’s thing 1st and worked with the rest of the deck 2nd.
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
I won a couple games but never very convincingly aside from the one time the opponent spend the first 5 turns with two mana. The inability to use psyche to it’s full potential hurts this score as well. Still I was in each game I played in.
Interaction/Protection 4/5
Lots of removal everywhere. I was able to protect myself very nicely a few games. Issues with non-creature decks though.
Maserati 18.5
There were some good ideas in here and Forced Furition is one of my favourite cards in all of magic. You used it against the opponent very well.
Effectivness/Card Adherence 3.5/5
There was good focus towards psyche but nothing over the top. Perhaps a bit more draw would have been nice.
Synergy/Tuning 4/5
Cards like protection options ended up being able to stall just long enough for me to get my combo’s going. Had some issues a few times getting all the cards I needed to get lethal though. Still it worked better than I originally thought it would.
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
The protection was decent in this and it kept me in the game. The only issues was without a leyline out I had no decent way of going lethal.
Interaction/Protection 4/5
Undo and delay ended up being perfect to stall just long enough for me to get off my combos. The other forms of protection in here took care of any and all threats most games. It did have some trouble against larger creatures though.
Killem2 14.5
We’ve seen the field/wheel combo before. There were some attempts at originality but nothing revolutionary.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 2.5/5
What was in here kinda worked with psyche but really nothing spectacular. It hit metalcraft everytime almost instantly which was nice. Still it was just as much a hive mind deck as a psyche deck.
Synergy/Tuning 3.5/5
The deck worked well together as a whole. Nothing crazy but a good feeling deck.
Power/Capacity to win 2.5/5
I unfortunately had no chance to test this in multiplayer so the score will reflect that. Two games were won outright the moment I achieved the field/wheel lock. One was from damage from the psyche(with the help of hive mind) in a very brutal fashion. The rest of the time I was doomed.
Interaction/Protection 2.5/5
With the field/wheel combo I was laughing. Without it I was crying. Nuff said.
Hamsta 19
Chandra madness w/ opponent draw effects and an ultimate that makes psyche go insane. Absolutely loved it. It broke Chandra better than most other attempts I’ve played with/against.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 3.5
While everything kind of worked with molten psyche it seemed the true strategy needed Chandra more than a psyche.
Synergy/Tuning 4.5/5
The various madness enablers worked with many cards in here very nice. Using Chandra as a wincon with psyche can be an amazing amount of damage.
Power/Capacity to win 3/5
A lack in protection meant I dropped easily to the earlier decks. Once I was able to combo up with a Chandra ultimate it was always game over. That wasn’t very easy at times though. The games I won using chandra’s ultimate were brilliant though. Various madness enabled damage spells were nice though.
Interaction/Protection 3/5
The command was a saviour to me many times and I found the Moment’s Peace underwhelming. Need a better answer to early aggro. Without creature defense it needed a better form of defense against them. I was generally able to mount some form of defense but just not enough.
PeterRiviera 19.5
Instant draw to combo into molten psyche. Life gaining layered in. Efficient creature beating face with an equipment perfect for this deck. Draw lands. Yes please can I have some more.
Effectiveness/Card Adherence 4.5/5
The overwhelming majority of the deck is geared exactly towards Molten Psyche. Not much really to say. Exceptionally done.
Synergy/Tuning 5/5
This entire deck worked as one beautiful unit for me. I don’t know if the testing I did just had perfect draws in 40% of the games I played but it just felt so good. It almost felt to good those games but maybe that’s just what a 5 feels like to me.
Power/Capacity to win 3.5/5
I won a number of games with this deck and in a very convincing fashion a couple times. Some issues with aggro and didn’t have a decent answer to a flying deck with creatures out of the range of galvanic blast/slagstorm.
Interaction/Protection 2.5/5
Not really that much in here but also not helpless. Some things the champion was a great blocker for, some not so much. Could have used one more option for protection just due to the lack of creature defense in here.
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
EDIT: Damn, didn't finish the write-ups before I needed to get to work on my last paper :/
I'll finish and post them tomorrow. I'm so sorry for the delay, this is the one crazy week that I get each quarter for being PoliSci.
Body Count: GRRRUUUUUUUUUUU
إن سرقت إسرق جمل
Level 1 Judge
My Cube for use with 6th ed. Rules
I consider a 5 a very hard score to get since it's perfection in that category. Both PeterRiviera and Hamsta earned one from me so extra congratulations to both of them.
Also, I'm sorry this round I didn't make an "overall" section for each deck but just didn't have any time. I don't want to write one now just as it's been days since I've played some of these decks. If anyone would like my opinion on their deck just let me know and I can either PM it or post it (your call).
The Mimeoplasm
Maga, Traitor to Mortals
Rhys the Redeemed
Merieke Ri Berit
Nekusar, the Mindrazer
Cromat Wurm Tribal
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Looking for Green friendly EDH players/groups in the Toronto area. PM me if this is you.
My YouTube Channel
I just state in my join message (when I host games) that I'm looking for a Casual game with no P9. Generally works. You do see an awful lot of original duals and all that horse****. Quitting isn't a bad option if you express the format you play in.
Multiplayer:
MonoBlack
Mono-Red
Cycling
Crush of Wurms
Zoo
Immortal Coil
Control
Reanimator
Mono-G
Cruel Ascension
Landfall
Esper Spirits/Tokens
Phantom Vigor
Not Explicitly Multiplayer:
Allies
Bant
Artifacts