Wow, awesome. Obviously this deck is insane, but it actually looks pretty good to me. Definitely do include Firespout over Rune Snag though.
Edit: Oh yeah, definitely also cut Prismatic Omen. You can make this mana base work with just the lands (if nothing else, the Vivid mana base is always an option for you), no need to run do-nothing cards like that one.
Probably the most efficient creature in the block will be played more than a guy who's currently vying with Firemaw Kavu for the title of Worst 187 Creature in Standard.
One of the set's best cards it ain't, but I was way off on this one. I still don't think it's really good enough for Standard, but the man turns out to be quite a fine fellow in Block.
See this is the overall message that I pick up on whenever I read an article about enemy lands or any kind of duals at all, and it really frustrates me. WHY don't people want this stuff printed? If you don't have the money for them, you can still play your deck the way you were going to before the lands came out, so why begrudge those of us who DO have the money to get them?
Because it skews the game farther in favor of people who can afford to spend more money on it.
...So? One of the ascpects of competitive play is to be able to adapt against certain cards/strategies.
So they're maintaining a game, and games are meant to be played, and counterspells discourage that. Yeah, I know, it's a part of competitive magic, and the point of competition is not to generate lulz. But you know, competitive magic could do with a few more adults who play to have fun, even at high levels, and a few less nonshowering goobers who treat the game like a job.
The game needs counters as strong as the rest of the format.
Why? No other game that I've ever played or heard of encourages a griefing mechanic as an aspect of its balance. Why is Magic the sole exception?
I second Merfolk. Mutavault obviously goes in almost any deck, and it's very expensive, but you can scale the number of them to your (or your friend's, I guess) budget. The rest of that deck should come in well under $150, easy, I should think.
A sample size of 1,000 is good enough to determine the opinions of the entire population of the United States within an error margin of +/- ~3%. There are problems with the value of that poll, but sample size is not one of them.
Anyway, I think I have a compromise. The power of counterspells isn't was causes unfun metas, it's the number of them. So, I propose.
1. Counterspell in 11th.
2. No blue counterspells in future blocks stronger than the very weak Put Away.
3. Maybe, WHITE gets a Mana Leak-esque soft counter at 1W
I'd support this idea, minus the third part. In fact, I'll do you one better: pick any counterspell you want to fill that one-good-counter slot. Anything. Force of Will. Mana Drain. Whatever you want. I'd have no problem with it, as long as it wasn't part of a gauntlet of good counters. Want to hold off unprotected combo? Fine; one should be enough. Want to hold off every single spell someone attempts to play? Forget it. It's not fun, it's not balanced, it's not good game design, and you shouldn't be able to do it.
Quote from iRebel »
Take any logic class -- even entry level, and then get back to me.
I have taken logic classes, college-level, and you know what? This isn't a logic issue. It's a statistics one. I happen to have taken college-level statistics, as well, and you are just wrong, sir. Most nationwide polls of every kind have far fewer than fourteen thousand respondents, and are generally quite accurate. The problems of that poll have been discussed in the page and a half or so that you spent thinking up that wicked zinger; sample size is not among them.
The problem with these polls is they are based only on the opinion of those who feel the need to vote, it does not count the people who do not vote. If you think the game is fine and balanced in all areas, then you are less likely to feel the need to vote at all.
Right. So in actuality, it's just most people who read mtg.com and don't think the game is perfectly balanced who agree with me. Sorry for the shorthand.
14,xxx total votes out of millions of Magic Players is simply too small a sample size. It is, literally, the same as saying "I dated 3 blondes in New York, and they were all crazy, so most blondes are crazy."
So... you don't really know too much about statistics, then?
some day they'll like to have counter based decks again, just not now.
I don't understand comments like this. Hey guys, the best deck in type two right now is a counter-based deck.
Counter is something everyone has to learn how to play around, and strong counterspells really make the game much better overall.
Not really. In my (and apparently most people's, judging from the poll on Wizards' site) opinion, strong counterspells make the game insufferably boring and irritating. Every other game that is under constant revision constantly tries to find ways to minimize griefing, but Wizard's continually encourages it in Magic, by constantly reaffirming a strategy of stopping your opponent from even playing the game. It's one of the worst things about this game.
Pretty sure he meant that he'd like them to stop printing counterspells altogether, not round up every one ever printed and burn them so nobody could play them anymore in formats where they do exist.
Edit: Oh yeah, definitely also cut Prismatic Omen. You can make this mana base work with just the lands (if nothing else, the Vivid mana base is always an option for you), no need to run do-nothing cards like that one.
One of the set's best cards it ain't, but I was way off on this one. I still don't think it's really good enough for Standard, but the man turns out to be quite a fine fellow in Block.
1.5 = Legacy, meaning it doesn't really contain much if any discussion of Standard.
Good luck getting credit for this. I went through the same thing with stupid Bridge last year, and... well, it was an exercise in true frustration.
Because it skews the game farther in favor of people who can afford to spend more money on it.
The hint is carefully hidden somewhere on the cards Graven Cairns, Wooded Bastion, Fire-Lit Thicket, Sunken Ruins, and Mystic Gate.
Shock.
Sorry, a plurality.
So they're maintaining a game, and games are meant to be played, and counterspells discourage that. Yeah, I know, it's a part of competitive magic, and the point of competition is not to generate lulz. But you know, competitive magic could do with a few more adults who play to have fun, even at high levels, and a few less nonshowering goobers who treat the game like a job.
Why? No other game that I've ever played or heard of encourages a griefing mechanic as an aspect of its balance. Why is Magic the sole exception?
I'd support this idea, minus the third part. In fact, I'll do you one better: pick any counterspell you want to fill that one-good-counter slot. Anything. Force of Will. Mana Drain. Whatever you want. I'd have no problem with it, as long as it wasn't part of a gauntlet of good counters. Want to hold off unprotected combo? Fine; one should be enough. Want to hold off every single spell someone attempts to play? Forget it. It's not fun, it's not balanced, it's not good game design, and you shouldn't be able to do it.
I have taken logic classes, college-level, and you know what? This isn't a logic issue. It's a statistics one. I happen to have taken college-level statistics, as well, and you are just wrong, sir. Most nationwide polls of every kind have far fewer than fourteen thousand respondents, and are generally quite accurate. The problems of that poll have been discussed in the page and a half or so that you spent thinking up that wicked zinger; sample size is not among them.
Right. So in actuality, it's just most people who read mtg.com and don't think the game is perfectly balanced who agree with me. Sorry for the shorthand.
So... you don't really know too much about statistics, then?
I don't understand comments like this. Hey guys, the best deck in type two right now is a counter-based deck.
Not really. In my (and apparently most people's, judging from the poll on Wizards' site) opinion, strong counterspells make the game insufferably boring and irritating. Every other game that is under constant revision constantly tries to find ways to minimize griefing, but Wizard's continually encourages it in Magic, by constantly reaffirming a strategy of stopping your opponent from even playing the game. It's one of the worst things about this game.
Pretty sure he meant that he'd like them to stop printing counterspells altogether, not round up every one ever printed and burn them so nobody could play them anymore in formats where they do exist.