MTG Salvation

And, if you can build a deck that keeps the soilshaper around long enough to do that, I'd love to see it!

Quote from big_spuds »

people who think dogpile is no good are people im afraid who dont understand ravnica draft or the boros guild.

Dude, you are one funny potato!




No, seriously, you are funny.

I'm not going to warn you because you're new but please read the guidelines.. a post should be on topic and/or contain an explanation as to why you feel the way you do - Raia

Does anyone know, is Wizards going to post decklists? And if so, when? I'm dying to see some Baottle of Wits decks.

And, you know, at the risk of sounding like a smart-a$$, Ravnica was nicknamed CONTROL by Wizards. Plus, like Canada man said, the set is new. Give it some time for Rav to get used to working with Kamigawa block and we'll see what happens.

Kamigawa is a slow/controlish block anyway.

Quote from Pedofeelya »

Well... Ive got a deck that im testing, it can "Go Off" on turn three, in current type 2.
I was just wondering if there was any deck that could compete offensively with that kind of speed.

(As I know there is plenty of defense...)

Show us a deck list...pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssssseeeeeeeeeeee...:)

Congrats, man. I like that deck (this is the first I've seen of it), it's a deck I would play. Part Johhny, part Spike, very cool.

Circu could have helped a lot in the draft I pulled him in. My opponenet was running 2 copies of Skynight Legionaire, Viashino Slasher and Gavanic Arc, along with 3 copies of Rally the Righteous. Had I gotten him in play early enough, he could have wrecked the guy, unfortunately, one game I came to him too late and another game my opponent had Arc in hand to cast the turn after I played Circu. He may not be Szadek, but he's pretty cool anyway. And the dimir deck I drafted had 4 Vedalken Entrancers and 3 Thoughtpicker witches and 1 lurking informant and 1 psychic drain. I was playing for the mill win.

Janelle, I would draft Dimir again without the bomb, if the cards were being passed to me. There's enough bounce and big bottomed creatures like drift of phantasms and tidewater minion floating around to stall out the ground attacks. I would worry about playing against Golgari decks the most. Thoughtpicker Witch is awesome when you have damage on the stack...oh, my drift is about to die, sac, control target players next draw step:). The commons are easy to pick up, but it's a fragile deck. Speed, or big fatties can ruin your day. Just remember to mill as many cards as you can against golgari (or any deck) and make them think twice about using their dredge cards.

Though, a bomb like circu wouldn't hurt...:)

I'm still unconvinced of the bounce lands playability. I'm going to agree to dissagree. I'd rather run 17 lands and have some form of consistency than run 16 with 2 bounce lands. You say they're playable, I say I'd rather not lose tempo, early or late in the game. I happen to like my 2 drops, especially if its a veteran armorer, a guildmage, or a boros swiftblade. Would you trade ANY of those for a bounce land?

Quote from TheOneEye »

Yes, you have the same amount of mana, but you have an extra card in your grip. The bounce lands change your mana ratios and are not truly but in a sense, card advantage. Sure it can be a tempo loss, but a lot fo the decks that want to play them (Golgari, Dimir), often don't have a turn 2 play anyway.

Not the best reason to run the bounce lands...are you playing against Saviors cards in your draft where your hand size matters? I'd rather have 2 lands to tap on turn 2 and 3 lands to tap on turn 3. If ANYONE can come up with a genuine reason to play the bounce lands, let me know.

Oh, and on the topic at hand. I did draft a Dimir deck once and took the first round against Golgari by decking my opponent. Thoughtpicker witch and Lurking Informant plus FOUR Vedalken Entrancers won me the round. Round 2 I went against a Boros deck. I took the first match before he could stabalize since he wasted 2 turns playing out signets. He took the next 2 matches though, by focusing on the short game. It was very close, and I feel the right Dimir deck, with or without a bomb rare can really clean up. Especially if you have Psychic Drain. I had a Psychic Drain and Circu. I could have won against the boros, but I did make a few mistakes (Last Gasping a 22 creature with first strike, only to have a Fangtail come out next turn:redface:) I was also the ONLY person playing Dimir at the table, and almost every card in my deck was from the guild. Just a couple of the flying drakes and the entrancers didn't have the cool watermark.

Quote from ThrivingMagpies »

Lastly, about the common "bounce land"
I think the Boros is possibly unplayable because you don't want to skip a turn,
But in Glogari for example, it actually help you to have more mana with lower land at the price of losing mana in current turn .. consider
turn 1 forest
turn 2 Glogari bounce land
turn 3 forest

then you have 3 mana again but with only 2 lands!
granted, it may not be good for agressive build
but it is not true that bounce land is that bad,
esp if you are drafting 3 colour!

Hey, that's still 3 land on TURN 3! Shouldn't that happen anyway. The bounce lands do nothing at all, long or short game. They only help if you are splashing a color and need the fix. You're not doing you're math right if you don't see the incredible tempo loss of those cards.

I played in 2 drafts at the pre-release, but had to much to do that weekend and I was unable to play in any sealed-deck tourneys. So, I am going to play in the sealed this weekend and hopefully get me a shiny promo card and try to win some packs.

What advice do you all have for sealed play in the Ravnica set? Is it possible to play a tight 2-color, one guild deck, or did most of you play 3 color cross guild decks? What are some of the rare bombs of the set?

Also, what cards are going to be great trade fodder and what should I be trading for? I know the dual-lands are high in demand, but what are some other choice rares?

Gifts can be wrecked once Ravnica hits with one little common card called Shred Memory. Ah...Mono-black control, you have a new side board friend.

And, come on, is Gifts REALLY gonna work in Standard?

I think B/G is actually over rated at this point, especially in draft. EVERYONE is playing those colors, so it's hard to get choice pulls. I played 2 drafts this weekend and I played B/G first and lost to the mirror match because my opponent played 2 of the 3/3 swampwalks and I didn't pull my removal fast enough. Second draft I opened Circu and decided to try out a mill deck. I played B/U mostly Dimir cards. It was awesome. If you have enough removal and fat bottomed creatures, you can really wreck someone. I had 4 Vedalken entrancers and 2 thoughtpicker witches. Those won me round one with no problems. Psychic drain finished things off in both matches that round. The only reason I didn't take the whole thing, is everyone was playing B/G and one guy pulled a R/W deck that kicked unholy amounts of butt. He had 3 rally the righteous' and 2 galvanic arcs. I did manage to stabalize quick in the first game and I milled him, but the second and third games he just outran me in the damage race.

My point is, B/U mill decks in draft can be amazing, and not many people take blue cards, 4 vadalken entrancers is fantastic!:)