Hello guys!
Please help me improve my new deck. I'm playing semi-regularly on MTGO, but have not seen this kind of deck before. It is another take at the Marionette Master kill. The deck is a blast to play, and fares reasonably well in the "Just for fun" room.
Purpose
The main path to victory includes landing a Sunbird's Invocation then playing a cheap Metalwork Colossus. At this point I usually either combo off and win or generate so big advantage that I win next turn.
Alternate win cons include beatdown with Colossus, or Marionette Master + treasures (without Sunbird).
Card explanations: Combo
Sunbird's Invocation - Allows deck to go off with Colossus, Improvise and Expertise.
Metalwork Colossus - Main purpose as a cheap/free trigger to Sunbird's Invocation and sac outlet to Marionette Master. Does a fair job as beater/blocker.
Marionette Master - Combo kill with treasures and Colossus in graveyard
Artifacts
Inspiring Statuary - MVP in accelerating deck.
Prophetic Prism - Mana fix, card draw and artifact for improvise.
Pendulum of Patterns - Life gain+artifact. Sac draw for emergencies/flooding.
Treasure Map, Orazca Relic, Thaumatic Compass, Cultivator's Caravan - These are fair artifacts that are subject to replacement, imo.
Sorceries
Sweltering Suns - Board clear is crucial against many decks. Cycles in a pinch. Surprisingly often functions as clearing the way for Colossus beatdown.
Bontu's Last Reckoning - Non-conditional wrath. No untap hurts. Should probably be replaced.
Baral's Expertise - This card has multiple uses: board clear, and double triggers for Sunbird's. Bouncing Colossus allows combo to continue. Can often bounce and replay Prism or Pendulum for value.
Cathartic Reunion - Card draw. Liability against counterspells. Can put Colossus in graveyard.
Tormenting Voice - As above, but both upside and downside smaller.
Pirate's Pillage - As above, but treasures synergise with combo, and often allows Sunbird's activations to continue.
Battle at the Bridge - Very good removal in this deck. Life gain matters. Kills indestructibles. Often taps out for big X to gain lots of life and/or trigger Sunbird's with large casting cost.
Lands
Pretty straightforward. All colorless lands except Inventor's Fair (and possibly Field of Ruin) seem to underperform. Prisms+Caravan+treasures mean I'm rarely color screwed.
Average cmc of creatures in Standard which have power >= 3: 4.46 (you may take my word for it or you can calculate that number for yourself; there are 351 of them out of about 711 in total, not counting creatures which are listed as */* or 0/0). Skywhaler's Shot. Given this set of circumstances, the removal is definitely more efficient that the creatures necessitating it. You even get a free scry.
Creatures coming in to attack? Impeccable Timing if they are smaller (average cmc of creatures which are x/3 or less = 2.81), Sandblast if they are bigger (average cmc of creatures which are x/5 or less = 3.17; there are 673 creatures in this category), or Farm in any other instance (average cmc of all creatures in Standard = 3.36). These also deal with blocking creatures, of course.
Your opponent cast Hazoret? Let her attack, chump-block her, Slaughter the Strong, then see if have another copy in hand. Tokens starting to get out of hand? Time for a reduced-cost Hour of Revelation.
Sufficient answers exist. I suspect the problem comes from people still trying to view Standard through the lens of Modern and the two formats are simply different beasts.
Lol, no. Narrow and conditional answers are usually bad because they are narrow and conditional. You can't stack your deck with Skywhaler's Shot AND Impeccable Timing AND Sandblast AND Farm AND Slaughter the Strong AND Hour of Revelation, just to have an answer to any threat you might end up facing. If you do, you end up playing a few silver bullets and a bunch of ineffective/useless blanks.
In general, any removal spell that requires your opponent to attack or block loses a lot of value, and a skilled opponent can play around these cards. Settle the Wreckage suffers from this. Fatal Push is great because against most decks you have targets, it is hard to play around, and it is mana efficient (trades with equal or higher mana cost). Vraska's Contempt and other exile effects at CC 4+ is playable largely due to the existence of the overpowered "un-killable" gods (Hazoret, Scarab), imo.
Wow @ Consuming Fervor! That card may singlehandedly make the red aggro deck great again. Unstable Mutation was awesome in blue, I can only imagine how powerful a red one is.
The powerlevel seems quite high so far. These are my thoughts:
-I think Fatal Push and Renegade Rallier may have chances in modern (with fetches).
-I like the "cast for free" cards, like cascade they probably have the potential to be broken.
-Vengeful Rebel looks deceptively powerful as a 3-power 187. I'm curious if the wording is correct (the triggered ability is mandatory)
-Greenbelt Rampager is fun. Could be abused with ETB or LTB (revolt) effects.
-Dark Intimations' playability is obviously dependent on the new not-yet-spoiled Bolas card. Having 3-4 DI in the graveyard when playing Bolas may be super powerful.
Of course blue gets the weaker version of the cycle...
Sorcery speed bounce for 5. Baral better be good.
Of course people are going to whine about how hard done up blue is whenever a cycle of anything is spoiled. This one is definitely better than the white and green ones. Clear the board and drop your own threat at the same time.
Uh....yea no...so far this is definitely the weakest one revealed so far.
Disagree. This is miles better than the green one, probably way better than the white one (unless a powerful token combo/synergy is found), and arguably better than the black one. In standard playing Baral's Expertise into planeswalker is probably backbreaking. Heck, it may even be vintage playable as a way to generate mana and/or storm count. Even pitches to FOW.
Just a short vent as I was recently reminded how bloody unfair sealed can be, having been trashed by game 1 Verdurous Gearhulk and game 2 Verdurous Gearhulk + Noxious Gearhulk. I don't know whether to cry or laugh...
In an earlier game I found out the hard way how oppressive it is facing a turn 2 Longtusk Cub on the draw.
Your rare and mythic pulls are astonishing! Quick run-through:
-white is deep in playables and has a bomb in Fumigate
-blue is deep, has removal, a major bomb in gearhulk, and possible game-changer in Padeem
-black is far too thin in playables, and has nothing worth splashing
-red is pretty weak, but has Harnessed Lightning that could be splashed
-green is low on playables, but the powerlevel is very high
-gold: Voyager and Rashi are both powerful and fit with your two best colors
-artifact/land: nothing particularly powerful. Cobra is decent, especially in green. Worth noting a Prism and a Hub if we consider splashing.
In sum, I believe you have to play UG. The main weaknesses then are a lack of early game plays and removal. I think NorthernPolarity's deck is fine, but I don't like Glassblower's Puzzleknot, Disappearing Act and Era of Innovation. I would replace these with 2x Eager Construct, Select for Inspection and Revolutionary Rebuff. Alternatively, if you're feeling bold, 1x Eager construct, Wild Wanderer, Harnessed Lightning and Saheeli (+1 Prism, +1 Mountain, -1 Forest, -1 Riparian Tiger).
A four-drop that stops 95% of attackers dead, has evasion and is impossible to race. Wow! I can only hope a Lightning Bolt-quality removal spell is printed, or this card will wreak havoc in standard.
As I've said before, I'm no expert in law, but I seriously question your claim that WotC has no control over the arrangement of public MtG tournaments - sanctioned or not. I'm guessing that WotC so far has had little incentive to meddle in unsanctioned events. But that does not mean that they could not interfere if they wanted to.
This is actually covered under copyright law. Once you buy something, you own that copy of that thing and can do with it what you want (for personal use). This is what lets libraries function, and what let video rental places function. You can't make your own copies of that thing, but WoTC can't tell you how to use it. So as long as a unsanctioned tournament did not use copyrightable assets in its marketing, there's no way for WotC to shut down a competing tournament organization. It's just literally people using the products they purchased for their intended purpose in an organized way. This is one of the reasons a lot of digital assets have terms of service - to prevent people from using the product (transferring ownership, reselling, etc) in a way other than intended. Even those ToS are a bit of a grey area, legally speaking. There's no ToS on opening a pack of Magic cards. Slap the Magic logo on a banner to advertise? That's copyright infringement (unless you get prior permission). Use the words "Magic: the Gathering" in advertising would be fair use (as you'll see in ads for many ancillary Magic products).
I'm not arguing that the players using their cards in a tournament is doing something illegal. But that the tournament organizer - which probably is a for-profit establishment - may not freely arrange "Magic: the Gathering" tournaments. In practice I don't think WotC wants to interfere in this business, it would probably be bad rep. However, if someone were to make MtG tournaments into big business - like making their own DCI - I'm fairly certain WotC would want some form of control that their product is used in a way that is not in conflict with their business.
2) create a non-profit organization as a 501(c)(6). This is defined as a "Business leagues, chambers of commerce, real estate boards, etc, created for the improvement of business conditions"
This is what the NHL and PGA exist under. This is legal. This organization would then be in charge of saying who was qualified to be a judge for its tournaments (instead of the for-profit company), and run the protour events. WoTC/Hasbro would be allowed to give the DCI money, but wouldn't be allowed to run it - Hasbro couldn't "own" the DCI for example. It would have to be functionally, and legally, distinct.
I still don't think it's accurate to compare to NHL and PGA. Those sports are much more generic than MtG. Some equipment like sticks and clubs are required, yes, but manufacturers of these items are numerous. It's not like to play a game of hockey you are required to use CCM sticks. I'm sure if someone started a "CCM hockey league" where you were required to use only CCM equipment, the CCM company would make sure this was done in a way that's ok with them.
I don't think it's fair to compare MtG to the PGA, NFL or any other organisation dealing with "ancient" well-established sports. MtG is a trademark, which probably means the DCI could never be fully independent of WotC. WotC designs and prints the cards, and defines the rules of the game. WotC has all rights related to promotional use and business of MtG products. I'm no expert in law, but I would guess a DCI non-profit organization could arrange Magic tournaments only at the permission from WotC. A non-profit DCI would exist at the mercy of WotC.
StarCityGames is actually a pretty strong counter to this argument. They have a huge tournament network and even run (or at least use to run) unsanctioned tournaments - such as 5-proxy legacy. These kind of events couldn't possibly be run with Wizard's approval. WoTC can't tell people they aren't allowed to play their game, and aren't allowed to run their own big tournaments. Right now, WoTC just controls their global ranking system and sets rules regarding who can be judges, and the tournament formats and banned/restricted lists. In theory, aside from demand, StarCityGames could create the National League, to WoTCs American league right now - define new tournament types, new banned and restricted lists, and have its own judge certification and global ranking system. WoTC would have no recourse to stop this from happening (and there would be no real incentive to them doing so either). MtG is a trademark, but you can use a trademark when describing the specific product or its use. It's only when you trying to claim that your product is ALSO Magic the Gathering, or to sell something with the name Magic the Gathering that trademark infringement occurs.
As I've said before, I'm no expert in law, but I seriously question your claim that WotC has no control over the arrangement of public MtG tournaments - sanctioned or not. I'm guessing that WotC so far has had little incentive to meddle in unsanctioned events. But that does not mean that they could not interfere if they wanted to.
In fact, if I understand correctly, the lawsuit is based on more or less the exact same reasoning: "WotC exerts its power to decide who are judges, therefore judges are considered WotC employees." Well, I say that - by design - WotC will dictate how the DCI operates. To think otherwise is delusional; it would probably require that WotC opens the license to make and print Magic cards. Which will never happen. As such, the plaintiffs' suggestion to form a non-profit DCI seems of little use; it would accomplish nothing.
Right, which is why if the DCI was formed as a new non-profit, then judges could STILL be volunteers. The problem is that there is an argument to be made that the judges are volunteering for a For-Profit company in the normal capacity of work for that company. THAT is illegal. But if the judges were doing the same thing for a non-profit, it wouldn't be illegal. But that does means that this new entity would have to handle all the judge certification, and tournaments rules, and managing global ranking etc, managing banned/restricted lists, etc. Leaving WoTC to *just* making cards.
My point is that since WotC is the only company making cards - and by implication the mechanics, the rules, etc. - WotC would by nature hold a lot of power over the so-called non-profit DCI. Therefore, in practice you could still end up in the same situation that we are now: that judges could be seen as employees of WotC.
Who exactly are the judges making the lawsuit? Are they L1/L2's who just want a pay day? Or are these L2/L3/L4/L5 Judges who have judged for many years and finally decided enough is enough?
I don't know how the program operates, but for Judges that regularly go to GPs and the ones that go to PT's, travel and lodging and food expenses come out of their own pocket, yes? How often does a judge receive promos? is it per event (GP/PT), monthly, quarterly? 'Cause if you are a L3 judge and you go to 10 american GPs, that is quite a lot of travel and lodging to pay for...if you only get promo's handed out every 3 months.
I believe WotC argues that the promos are not payment for the job, they are more or less perks for being in their judge program. WotC argues that judges are employed by the tournament organiser (TO), and hence, it's up to the TO to treat their employees according to their rights (payment, food breaks, etc.). The TO is typically the local store, StarCityGames, or similar.
I don't think it's fair to compare MtG to the PGA, NFL or any other organisation dealing with "ancient" well-established sports. MtG is a trademark, which probably means the DCI could never be fully independent of WotC. WotC designs and prints the cards, and defines the rules of the game. WotC has all rights related to promotional use and business of MtG products. I'm no expert in law, but I would guess a DCI non-profit organization could arrange Magic tournaments only at the permission from WotC. A non-profit DCI would exist at the mercy of WotC.
The DCI would be tied to WotC/Hasbro much more so than the PGA/NFL is tied to other organisations. Essentially, one could argue that the non-profit DCI are pawns of the multi-national huge-profit organisation that is WotC (as Blongoc points out above). Or that, in practice, the DCI is a sub-company of WotC, and consequently DCI employees still are employed by WotC. In which case separating the DCI from WotC makes no difference.
In fact, if I understand correctly, the lawsuit is based on more or less the exact same reasoning: "WotC exerts its power to decide who are judges, therefore judges are considered WotC employees." Well, I say that - by design - WotC will dictate how the DCI operates. To think otherwise is delusional; it would probably require that WotC opens the license to make and print Magic cards. Which will never happen. As such, the plaintiffs' suggestion to form a non-profit DCI seems of little use; it would accomplish nothing.
So, I have no clue of the merit of the judges' lawsuit, but assuming they win this case, what will the consequences be?
Obviously, any local (sanctioned) tournament will be more expensive, as judges now must be paid. But how much more?
Perhaps more important; will WotC want to sanction local tournaments anymore? It seems like there will be a lot of hassle. Even more so in non-US countries (making judges WotC-employees in other countries sounds like a recipe for bureaucratic disaster).
Assuming WotC drastically reduce the number of sanctioned tournaments (and make them more expensive), what will that mean for Magic? I would guess the popularity would plummet. Paper Magic as we know it would die. Ultimately, this may push WotC out of the physical world and fully into the digital domain (Magic Online). Magic Online is in my opinion only a pale reflection of the experience of paper Magic. So, in practice this means that everybody loses on this lawsuit.
Is this outcome likely? I have no idea. But the mere thought of it makes me shiver, and I sincerely hope the lawsuit is rejected; it jeopardizes the future of this game we all love.
Please help me improve my new deck. I'm playing semi-regularly on MTGO, but have not seen this kind of deck before. It is another take at the Marionette Master kill. The deck is a blast to play, and fares reasonably well in the "Just for fun" room.
Purpose
The main path to victory includes landing a Sunbird's Invocation then playing a cheap Metalwork Colossus. At this point I usually either combo off and win or generate so big advantage that I win next turn.
Alternate win cons include beatdown with Colossus, or Marionette Master + treasures (without Sunbird).
4 Sunbird's Invocation
Creatures:6
4 Metalwork Colossus
2 Marionette Master
Artifacts:16
1 Treasure Map
1 Orazca Relic
1 Thaumatic Compass
4 Inspiring Statuary
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Pendulum of Patterns
1 Cultivator's Caravan
Sorceries:14
3 Sweltering Suns
2 Baral's Expertise
1 Cathartic Reunion
1 Tormenting Voice
3 Battle at the Bridge
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
3 Pirate's Pillage
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Island
3 Swamp
5 Mountain
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Drowned Catacomb
1 Ifnir Deadlands
1 Field of Ruin
1 Grasping Dunes
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Sequestered Stash
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Marionette Master
1 Arguel's Blood Fast
2 Fatal Push
2 By Force
1 Consign/Oblivion
3 Duress
1 Herald of Anguish
2 Cut/Ribbons
Card explanations:
Combo
Sunbird's Invocation - Allows deck to go off with Colossus, Improvise and Expertise.
Metalwork Colossus - Main purpose as a cheap/free trigger to Sunbird's Invocation and sac outlet to Marionette Master. Does a fair job as beater/blocker.
Marionette Master - Combo kill with treasures and Colossus in graveyard
Artifacts
Inspiring Statuary - MVP in accelerating deck.
Prophetic Prism - Mana fix, card draw and artifact for improvise.
Pendulum of Patterns - Life gain+artifact. Sac draw for emergencies/flooding.
Treasure Map, Orazca Relic, Thaumatic Compass, Cultivator's Caravan - These are fair artifacts that are subject to replacement, imo.
Sorceries
Sweltering Suns - Board clear is crucial against many decks. Cycles in a pinch. Surprisingly often functions as clearing the way for Colossus beatdown.
Bontu's Last Reckoning - Non-conditional wrath. No untap hurts. Should probably be replaced.
Baral's Expertise - This card has multiple uses: board clear, and double triggers for Sunbird's. Bouncing Colossus allows combo to continue. Can often bounce and replay Prism or Pendulum for value.
Cathartic Reunion - Card draw. Liability against counterspells. Can put Colossus in graveyard.
Tormenting Voice - As above, but both upside and downside smaller.
Pirate's Pillage - As above, but treasures synergise with combo, and often allows Sunbird's activations to continue.
Battle at the Bridge - Very good removal in this deck. Life gain matters. Kills indestructibles. Often taps out for big X to gain lots of life and/or trigger Sunbird's with large casting cost.
Lands
Pretty straightforward. All colorless lands except Inventor's Fair (and possibly Field of Ruin) seem to underperform. Prisms+Caravan+treasures mean I'm rarely color screwed.
Sideboard
Can probably be significantly improved.
Lol, no. Narrow and conditional answers are usually bad because they are narrow and conditional. You can't stack your deck with Skywhaler's Shot AND Impeccable Timing AND Sandblast AND Farm AND Slaughter the Strong AND Hour of Revelation, just to have an answer to any threat you might end up facing. If you do, you end up playing a few silver bullets and a bunch of ineffective/useless blanks.
In general, any removal spell that requires your opponent to attack or block loses a lot of value, and a skilled opponent can play around these cards. Settle the Wreckage suffers from this. Fatal Push is great because against most decks you have targets, it is hard to play around, and it is mana efficient (trades with equal or higher mana cost). Vraska's Contempt and other exile effects at CC 4+ is playable largely due to the existence of the overpowered "un-killable" gods (Hazoret, Scarab), imo.
-I think Fatal Push and Renegade Rallier may have chances in modern (with fetches).
-I like the "cast for free" cards, like cascade they probably have the potential to be broken.
-Vengeful Rebel looks deceptively powerful as a 3-power 187. I'm curious if the wording is correct (the triggered ability is mandatory)
-Greenbelt Rampager is fun. Could be abused with ETB or LTB (revolt) effects.
-Dark Intimations' playability is obviously dependent on the new not-yet-spoiled Bolas card. Having 3-4 DI in the graveyard when playing Bolas may be super powerful.
Disagree. This is miles better than the green one, probably way better than the white one (unless a powerful token combo/synergy is found), and arguably better than the black one. In standard playing Baral's Expertise into planeswalker is probably backbreaking. Heck, it may even be vintage playable as a way to generate mana and/or storm count. Even pitches to FOW.
In an earlier game I found out the hard way how oppressive it is facing a turn 2 Longtusk Cub on the draw.
-white is deep in playables and has a bomb in Fumigate
-blue is deep, has removal, a major bomb in gearhulk, and possible game-changer in Padeem
-black is far too thin in playables, and has nothing worth splashing
-red is pretty weak, but has Harnessed Lightning that could be splashed
-green is low on playables, but the powerlevel is very high
-gold: Voyager and Rashi are both powerful and fit with your two best colors
-artifact/land: nothing particularly powerful. Cobra is decent, especially in green. Worth noting a Prism and a Hub if we consider splashing.
In sum, I believe you have to play UG. The main weaknesses then are a lack of early game plays and removal. I think NorthernPolarity's deck is fine, but I don't like Glassblower's Puzzleknot, Disappearing Act and Era of Innovation. I would replace these with 2x Eager Construct, Select for Inspection and Revolutionary Rebuff. Alternatively, if you're feeling bold, 1x Eager construct, Wild Wanderer, Harnessed Lightning and Saheeli (+1 Prism, +1 Mountain, -1 Forest, -1 Riparian Tiger).
I'm not arguing that the players using their cards in a tournament is doing something illegal. But that the tournament organizer - which probably is a for-profit establishment - may not freely arrange "Magic: the Gathering" tournaments. In practice I don't think WotC wants to interfere in this business, it would probably be bad rep. However, if someone were to make MtG tournaments into big business - like making their own DCI - I'm fairly certain WotC would want some form of control that their product is used in a way that is not in conflict with their business.
I still don't think it's accurate to compare to NHL and PGA. Those sports are much more generic than MtG. Some equipment like sticks and clubs are required, yes, but manufacturers of these items are numerous. It's not like to play a game of hockey you are required to use CCM sticks. I'm sure if someone started a "CCM hockey league" where you were required to use only CCM equipment, the CCM company would make sure this was done in a way that's ok with them.
As I've said before, I'm no expert in law, but I seriously question your claim that WotC has no control over the arrangement of public MtG tournaments - sanctioned or not. I'm guessing that WotC so far has had little incentive to meddle in unsanctioned events. But that does not mean that they could not interfere if they wanted to.
My point is that since WotC is the only company making cards - and by implication the mechanics, the rules, etc. - WotC would by nature hold a lot of power over the so-called non-profit DCI. Therefore, in practice you could still end up in the same situation that we are now: that judges could be seen as employees of WotC.
No one is arguing that, you're missing the point. The question is whether the judges are de facto WotC employees. WotC refuses this claim.
I believe WotC argues that the promos are not payment for the job, they are more or less perks for being in their judge program. WotC argues that judges are employed by the tournament organiser (TO), and hence, it's up to the TO to treat their employees according to their rights (payment, food breaks, etc.). The TO is typically the local store, StarCityGames, or similar.
The DCI would be tied to WotC/Hasbro much more so than the PGA/NFL is tied to other organisations. Essentially, one could argue that the non-profit DCI are pawns of the multi-national huge-profit organisation that is WotC (as Blongoc points out above). Or that, in practice, the DCI is a sub-company of WotC, and consequently DCI employees still are employed by WotC. In which case separating the DCI from WotC makes no difference.
In fact, if I understand correctly, the lawsuit is based on more or less the exact same reasoning: "WotC exerts its power to decide who are judges, therefore judges are considered WotC employees." Well, I say that - by design - WotC will dictate how the DCI operates. To think otherwise is delusional; it would probably require that WotC opens the license to make and print Magic cards. Which will never happen. As such, the plaintiffs' suggestion to form a non-profit DCI seems of little use; it would accomplish nothing.
So, I have no clue of the merit of the judges' lawsuit, but assuming they win this case, what will the consequences be?
Obviously, any local (sanctioned) tournament will be more expensive, as judges now must be paid. But how much more?
Perhaps more important; will WotC want to sanction local tournaments anymore? It seems like there will be a lot of hassle. Even more so in non-US countries (making judges WotC-employees in other countries sounds like a recipe for bureaucratic disaster).
Assuming WotC drastically reduce the number of sanctioned tournaments (and make them more expensive), what will that mean for Magic? I would guess the popularity would plummet. Paper Magic as we know it would die. Ultimately, this may push WotC out of the physical world and fully into the digital domain (Magic Online). Magic Online is in my opinion only a pale reflection of the experience of paper Magic. So, in practice this means that everybody loses on this lawsuit.
Is this outcome likely? I have no idea. But the mere thought of it makes me shiver, and I sincerely hope the lawsuit is rejected; it jeopardizes the future of this game we all love.
[/end rant]