next week i'll play a modern tournament. last time i built unwin's list and did pretty badly, losing twice from pod and once from scapeshift.
i wanna make some changes for this next one.
I am gonna take out from MB the 2x sphinx's revelation to add the third remand and the third path to exile. Not sure if i should find some place for cmc1 counters like spell snare (situational) or spell pierce (devastating, but risks to be a wasted card after turn 3/4)
Spell pierce isn't really situational any more than GFtT is. It's just... specific about what it hits. We play in a game where the two drops hold much of the fear. Cranial Plating, Bob/Goyf, the eggs (and yeah, they're not the main target but countering them does slow eggs down) or a poorly cast reshape/twincast, prismatic omen (again, buying time... no one wants valakut to be counting to 6), Melira, etc.
Spell Pierce doesn't really get as lost as you'd think. Tron is desperate enough to resolve things that they've won, frequently and every deck has noncreature threats you'd love to see stamped on.
Here Draft is $14 with 1 pack prize support and constructed is $8 with 2 packs prize support.
Good lord, that's horrible.
$12 Saturday Drafts have that kind of support round here.
FNM at the $15 level do a bit better (2 per)
The thing about my store that may make all of the difference is that they treat packs as being $3 for the purposes of sealed. So, you pay $9 to get in and the rest is for the prize support. Prizes are in packs or in store credit (although, sadly, you can't save store credit up), and the only real "downside" is the fact that packs saved up to redraft are valued at ~$2.50.
There has always been answers/hate for BB, and its been ran MD also, yet BB seems to be a top player in any format its played in.
The best fae decks in extended didn't even run BB and it wasn't dominant there, just competitive.
The fact that MD-able (that is to say entirely opportunity cost-free) enchantment removal that is immune to counters is already being run by one of the main decks that would beat the snot out of fae.
The fast decks (ie, what used to eat fae decks) are faster than they were in Standard, the tempo decks are better at tempo than fae and run tons of burn, including burn that can hit more than one target and the midrange/rock decks are already maindecking uncounterable removal that can target any nonland permanent.
Trostani's Summoner poops out 10 power and 10 toughness's worth of creatures...for 5GW and a primary 1/1 body. (The bodies are split between a 1/1, a vigilance 2/2, a 3/3, and a trample 4/4.) Sigh...if Armada Wurm doesn't see play here...
I'm a big Guardian Games fan myself, although I also go to Time Vault because hey, drafting on Sunday before I head off to the beer and pretzels games we play at 4:30 is pretty sweet.
And, the 4CMC wrath is UNCOUNTERABLE. So, that justifies the blue in the casting cost, I would say.
But counterspells (and the urge to play blue because of it) are far worse than they have been traditionally, which means that being uncountable is less of an advantage and running blue is more of a cost.
The only time that pile shuffling is appropriate is once during your g1 shuffle (at any point in the shuffle process) and once to your opponent's deck when presented to you.
This only serves to count the number of cards in the deck quickly and efficiently without revealing any hidden information.
As far as riffles go... I'll only ever riffle an unsleeved deck myself because a) if it's not sleeved then they're not expressing interest in the integrity of their cards and b) because sideshuffling sleeveless cards varies somewhere between been completely impossible to do effectively and being worse for the cards than a riffle.
As far as other people... anyone who isn't willing to side shuffle a sleeved deck more is not a good sportsman and after a polite request to do so, if an opponent continued to be rough with cards I'd likely call a judge, much like I'd do the same if someone kept tapping my cards when indicating them and declined to stop.
2) they would be loved exclusively by people that had access to the ftv; basically store owners and the ~1% of the magic fanbase that can actually buy ftv for near msrp
Or people who don't care that we're spending more than MSRP and are just happy to have the cards in fresh, foiled, art.
I ran affinity a few times at my shop and did fairly decently went 3-1 both times, then all of a sudden everyone is running UWR. I just can't get a creature to stick outside of trying to play around counters for etched champion.
Yeah, we're most assuredly a meta call against some but not all of the top decks and as a lawnmower for the jank decks.
It damn well better be a regular rare. It's a utility manland. Good grief!
Spell pierce isn't really situational any more than GFtT is. It's just... specific about what it hits. We play in a game where the two drops hold much of the fear. Cranial Plating, Bob/Goyf, the eggs (and yeah, they're not the main target but countering them does slow eggs down) or a poorly cast reshape/twincast, prismatic omen (again, buying time... no one wants valakut to be counting to 6), Melira, etc.
Spell Pierce doesn't really get as lost as you'd think. Tron is desperate enough to resolve things that they've won, frequently and every deck has noncreature threats you'd love to see stamped on.
Good lord, that's horrible.
$12 Saturday Drafts have that kind of support round here.
FNM at the $15 level do a bit better (2 per)
The thing about my store that may make all of the difference is that they treat packs as being $3 for the purposes of sealed. So, you pay $9 to get in and the rest is for the prize support. Prizes are in packs or in store credit (although, sadly, you can't save store credit up), and the only real "downside" is the fact that packs saved up to redraft are valued at ~$2.50.
Ravnica is a plane where Niv Mizzet very carefully extincted all of the other sentient dragons.
Still, we got hypersonic. I'm sure a few more will crop up.
I mean, sac a bob? not that great, but if removal has already been played maybe worth it. Recycle a goyf? Not terrible.
The tragedy being, of course, that he lacks hexproof.
The best fae decks in extended didn't even run BB and it wasn't dominant there, just competitive.
The fact that MD-able (that is to say entirely opportunity cost-free) enchantment removal that is immune to counters is already being run by one of the main decks that would beat the snot out of fae.
The fast decks (ie, what used to eat fae decks) are faster than they were in Standard, the tempo decks are better at tempo than fae and run tons of burn, including burn that can hit more than one target and the midrange/rock decks are already maindecking uncounterable removal that can target any nonland permanent.
I'm just not sure where you're going with this.
She's a somewhat gimpy uberlich. That's a tad bit different than your run of the mill crippled human.
Lich's do have some presence at 2 power, but tend to be pretty hefty beaters.
She should have cost 6 or something. 5 with the same cost as ghost dad 2 would have also been a possibility.
It's got better synergy with Reveilark?
Alternately, given that their stuff sucks, main phase burn anytime they tap out where feasible.
But counterspells (and the urge to play blue because of it) are far worse than they have been traditionally, which means that being uncountable is less of an advantage and running blue is more of a cost.
This only serves to count the number of cards in the deck quickly and efficiently without revealing any hidden information.
As far as riffles go... I'll only ever riffle an unsleeved deck myself because a) if it's not sleeved then they're not expressing interest in the integrity of their cards and b) because sideshuffling sleeveless cards varies somewhere between been completely impossible to do effectively and being worse for the cards than a riffle.
As far as other people... anyone who isn't willing to side shuffle a sleeved deck more is not a good sportsman and after a polite request to do so, if an opponent continued to be rough with cards I'd likely call a judge, much like I'd do the same if someone kept tapping my cards when indicating them and declined to stop.
Or people who don't care that we're spending more than MSRP and are just happy to have the cards in fresh, foiled, art.
Yeah, we're most assuredly a meta call against some but not all of the top decks and as a lawnmower for the jank decks.