Dude. All the judge does is open a pack, mark the contents, and put it into a facedown stack. That's it. Lasav isn't even a good card really.
This. Also with 300+ players, ridiculous **** just happens sometimes. In PT Barcelona, my day 2 draft consisted of FIVE Barter in Bloods, FOUR of which came in pack 1. You get stuff like that because people at the PT know to draft to do well, not hate draft to mess up signals and such.
Reason: It's clearly a battle between B/R and G/W. B/R is ranked ahead of G/W because of it's effect on the board without activating: it essentially reads early on "creatures you control are unblockable", due to his abilities costing little mana. The 2/2 body is more relevant in B/R decks too. Summary: Efficient, body is relevant, doesn't need to be activated to be super effective.
2) G/W Guildmage
Reason: I think the argument I have to make isn't why this card is number 2 but why isn't it number 1. Simply put, often it has no effect on the game till turn 6, when games can already be decided. Obviously if you make it turn 6 with this guy alive, he'll win you the game. Too often I see this guy die to removal on turns 4 or 5 and have 0 impact on the game. So in summary: Bomb like features, way too vulnerable though. You win games where you reach 6 but a lot of games you just don't reach 6 mana.
3) G/B Guildmage
Reason: While I'm not a huge fan of G/B compared to U/W decks, I will say that the G/B Guildmage is one of the cards that makes me want to play Golgari. I think he's better than the U/W Guildmage because his abilities are more relevant for the G/B deck, since giving flying when all your creatures already have flying is kind of useless, and his abilities are even a little better than the U/W Guildmages abilities. Flying and +1/+1 and Intimidate for one more mana is kinda close, although the edge definitely goes to +1/+1 because, like the R/B guildmage, you don't need to invest mana in order for the ability to become relevant. The sac ability and the detain ability are also very close and I feel they are probably equal considering U/W is often tempo and G/B often want's to sac it's scavenge betters. That being said, G/B is a nearbomb closer to G/W than it is to U/W.
4) U/W Guildmage
Reason: Flying is sometimes irrelevant, but thats kinda rare. However, the main problem is that it's ability costs 5 frickin mana. 5! It's not even that game changing sometimes since they can gum up the board and you can't really do anything because of that. Basically, it's great in your aggro draws but a lot of times it's the worst guildmage to have in a board stall. Also, it's abilites are worse than the top 3's. However, it's nice that his bodies relevant since quick beats can be important to a U/W tempo/flyers deck.
5) U/R Guildmage
Reason: He actually doesn't get enough love in my opinion. He's obviously the worse, but that's cause there's a high bar when it comes to these Guildmages. His body is actually relevant too since Izzet is often an aggro deck. As for his abilities, I am of the opinion that they are all good. The problem is they don't impact the board (loot) or they're too slow (copy). However, the copy ability is definitely backbreaking and underrated. The ability to copy an inaction injunction is actually pretty absurd and god forbid you copy a traitorous instincts. In short, not enough love, even if he is the worse.
I do think its kinda funny that scamp and flameslash were sided out so often when they were supposedly amazing must have cards that should never be cut under any circumstances ever.
The problem is that all the other cards are just... better in more situations.
But compared to the alternatives that you can run, Scamp and Slash are stronger than anything else.
I think the life loss from dismember MB was too big a draw back for Wong, and from the meta he faced in Seattle, I think he made the right call. If tempered steel is going to be a big contender, you don't want a removal spell to set you four life back in a race. Same deal when facing down Vamps, which is already a tough match up for us.
Flame Slash is strictly worse than dismember in many categories (Sorcery speed, doesn't kill fire walker, deals with less creatures). However, for what Wong was trying to accomplish, I think Slash is the better choice Game 1. Wong's list looks like it is heavily reliant on its creatures jamming into the red zone and connecting with the opponents life total. In order to make this work, Wong needed a spell that could reliably get rid of walls (Omens, Battlements), must kill high toughness creatures (Hero of Bladehold, pumped tempered steel artifact creatures) and the card that just shuts down red decks (spell skite).
For all of these categories, Flame Slash is just as efficient as dismember in dealing with these threats. Throw in the added bonus of charging shrine (huge in this list) and not costing life, and it seems clear why Wong went with Flame Slash.
If I got anything wrong, I'd love for Charles Wong to chime in and correct the errors in my thought process. I'm personally really looking forward to his SCG article (will it be on premium or is it going to be free?)
At first I was going to put in dismember over flame slash. Then I realized that the only time I ever wanted dismember over flame slash was when they were playing deciever exarch. Name one other matchup where you want dismember on a regular basis in game 1. Sure, there's the miser kor firewalker, but the life loss plus the not activating the shrine were much more relevant than losing out on one card in a good matchup. It's not like being an instant over being a sorcery is relevant any time else. Sure, I can't hit manlands or glint hawk idols, but that's not really the reason why I play Flame Slash/dismember.
Preboard, dismember is only better than flame slash against deciever exarch, with the exception of miser kor firewalkers. The life loss and the -1 to shrine when casting dismember is more relevant, especially against steel and the mirror. In addition, splinter twin is a good matchup for the list.
Postboard, you want both flame slash and dismember against valakut, RUG variants and tempered steel since slash takes care of both baloth and overgrown battlement, as well as spellskite and kor firewalker against steel.
Couldn't say, but I certainly don't. Three problems:
1) The presence of both Myr tokens and Infect dudes make non-evasive ground attackers substantially worse than usual. A 4/4's not bad, but it isn't going to win the game.
2) If the opponent has mana open you have to assume your Golem is really a 3/3 to avoid embarrassment in combat. This means it almost always blocks like a 3/3.
3) You can't get full value from the 1/1, because you don't want to lose it. (And let's face it, the main role of a 1/1 is to block.)
So yeah, I think Volt Charge would be the better card even if Master Splicer were Red.
Here's why I think Master Splicer > Volt Charge. And this might not make sense, but think of it this way.
You have Master Splicer + the Golem in Play. You attack with your golem, they kill your splicer with say, Volt Charge and then kill your golem with a 4/4. That's a complete blowout. Except, it was a 1 for 1. So my logic is, if the worst possible situation comes up and you get blownout, it's only a 1 for 1. That's how good the card is. You're never gonna get 2 for 1'd with that card. And that's the worst situation, where Volt Charge will be a 1 for 1 probably 90 percent of the time, whereas Master Splicer is better when your behind on the board, and usually will probably be a 2 for 1 roughly, say 30-50 percent of the time.
Also, to the guy who said Volt Charge is strictly better than Master, I completely disagree. Given that I'm in a certain given r/w deck in a draft with all the packs of magic, 5 power for 4 mana is as good as it's gonna get and is extremely hard to race when compared to other cards throughout Magic's history.
Other cards that are 5 power for 4 mana everytime: Blastoderm, Calcederm, Imperiousaur, Balduvian Hordes. You get the picture.
I mean, everyone has their own ideas, pet cards, etc. He likes vault skirge when most people don't, it's a process of learning through play and hopefully you improve. Sure, his list isn't the best, but if he learns why Grim Affliction is a first pick and why vault skirge isn't (removal is good because it removes troublesome cards, 1/1's for 1 arn't unless they have very super relevant abilities, see Spikeshot Elder, because they have little impact on the board) then we're doing our job as a community.
Also, for the person who wrote this list, it's ok to have cards that people think are "bad" in your top 10 list. For example, I think Neurok Commando is tied for the 2nd best blue card in Mirrodin Beseiged along with Vedalken Anatomist. However, by valuing cards correctly, you can pick them up at more reasonable spots rather than 1st or 2nd picking them. (Yeah, Neurok Commando is a boss).
It's just that people can tell that you're relatively inexperienced as a magic player.
I can say from personal experience that Ogre Menial is the nuts. He ends the game in one to two swings on an empty board. He trades with every creature in the format if blocked. Since he ends the game on his own, you don't even need to be an infect deck to run him effectively.
I'd have to agree more with this comment than the other ones. Don't think of him as Ichorclaw Myr or Cystbearer for you infect deck; think more Phyrexian Juggernaut with a hint of Blightwidow in a deck that runs roughly at least half mountains. More mountains is a plus.
The format is slow, and my best advice is go the color that you open a bomb in, i.e. Bestial Menace, Butcher of Malikar, or even something like Tideforce Elemental, that is if it's open. Random dudders like Marsh Threader and Halimar Excavator are pretty bleh. However, if it's open, Halimar Excavator + Join the Ranks is a viable option, but don't get too enamored with drafting allies. Cards like mysteries of the deep and pilgrims eye go up in value and in WWW, my favorite was mono green or green/blue with arbor elves.
Red is quite bad with the exception of some removal spells, but if you open Mordant Dragon, I guess you're in red. It pairs best with green because Summit Apes is ridiculous.
White is good with the best multikicker common creature, some solid, but unspectacular removal that you'll always play, and a handful of other flyers.
Black is solid, but not the same as black in Zendikar. Tomb Hex is fine and Bojuka Brigand is probably the best ally of the Worldwake common cycle, so getting a handful of Brigands can bring the hurt.
Blue is by far the best color, with Mysteries of the Deep and Mr. Ninja Turtle at common, as well as powerful uncommons such as Tideforce Elemental and Voyager and Horizon Drake, and let's not mention the best uncommon (a mind control variant). Blue also pairs well with white because Sejiri Merfolk dominates the ground pretty hard. Finding a late Goliath Sphinx is more common in drafts than one might think.
Green is fast and efficient, and a turn 2 Leatherback Baloth off an Arbor Elf is not an uncommon sight in WWW.
For those who say Karn is the best mythic, I would argue that Elesh Norn is better for this reason:
In those games where you are so so so far behind, and the average chance of you winning is, say 5%, Elesh has more impact on the board than Karn. Obviously, Elesh is more prone to removal, so she's not as good as when the board is stalled, or even when you're ahead, but if Karn makes a game where you're 50% to win to 80% while Elesh makes a game where you're 5% to win to 35%, Elesh would be the card because the 30% chance to win in those harder to win games is more valuable than the 30% in the coinflip games. Basically, they're both bonkers when you're ahead/tied, but my logic is Elesh is much more relevant when you're getting crushed.
Just would like to point out that Exanguinate is a straight up bomb if you arn't on the infect plan. Since the games generally go longer, it is not uncommon for you to "fireball" the opponents remaining 10-14 life at the low low cost of 7-9 mana.
Come and join the fun!
This. Also with 300+ players, ridiculous **** just happens sometimes. In PT Barcelona, my day 2 draft consisted of FIVE Barter in Bloods, FOUR of which came in pack 1. You get stuff like that because people at the PT know to draft to do well, not hate draft to mess up signals and such.
Reason: It's clearly a battle between B/R and G/W. B/R is ranked ahead of G/W because of it's effect on the board without activating: it essentially reads early on "creatures you control are unblockable", due to his abilities costing little mana. The 2/2 body is more relevant in B/R decks too. Summary: Efficient, body is relevant, doesn't need to be activated to be super effective.
2) G/W Guildmage
Reason: I think the argument I have to make isn't why this card is number 2 but why isn't it number 1. Simply put, often it has no effect on the game till turn 6, when games can already be decided. Obviously if you make it turn 6 with this guy alive, he'll win you the game. Too often I see this guy die to removal on turns 4 or 5 and have 0 impact on the game. So in summary: Bomb like features, way too vulnerable though. You win games where you reach 6 but a lot of games you just don't reach 6 mana.
3) G/B Guildmage
Reason: While I'm not a huge fan of G/B compared to U/W decks, I will say that the G/B Guildmage is one of the cards that makes me want to play Golgari. I think he's better than the U/W Guildmage because his abilities are more relevant for the G/B deck, since giving flying when all your creatures already have flying is kind of useless, and his abilities are even a little better than the U/W Guildmages abilities. Flying and +1/+1 and Intimidate for one more mana is kinda close, although the edge definitely goes to +1/+1 because, like the R/B guildmage, you don't need to invest mana in order for the ability to become relevant. The sac ability and the detain ability are also very close and I feel they are probably equal considering U/W is often tempo and G/B often want's to sac it's scavenge betters. That being said, G/B is a nearbomb closer to G/W than it is to U/W.
4) U/W Guildmage
Reason: Flying is sometimes irrelevant, but thats kinda rare. However, the main problem is that it's ability costs 5 frickin mana. 5! It's not even that game changing sometimes since they can gum up the board and you can't really do anything because of that. Basically, it's great in your aggro draws but a lot of times it's the worst guildmage to have in a board stall. Also, it's abilites are worse than the top 3's. However, it's nice that his bodies relevant since quick beats can be important to a U/W tempo/flyers deck.
5) U/R Guildmage
Reason: He actually doesn't get enough love in my opinion. He's obviously the worse, but that's cause there's a high bar when it comes to these Guildmages. His body is actually relevant too since Izzet is often an aggro deck. As for his abilities, I am of the opinion that they are all good. The problem is they don't impact the board (loot) or they're too slow (copy). However, the copy ability is definitely backbreaking and underrated. The ability to copy an inaction injunction is actually pretty absurd and god forbid you copy a traitorous instincts. In short, not enough love, even if he is the worse.
The problem is that all the other cards are just... better in more situations.
But compared to the alternatives that you can run, Scamp and Slash are stronger than anything else.
At first I was going to put in dismember over flame slash. Then I realized that the only time I ever wanted dismember over flame slash was when they were playing deciever exarch. Name one other matchup where you want dismember on a regular basis in game 1. Sure, there's the miser kor firewalker, but the life loss plus the not activating the shrine were much more relevant than losing out on one card in a good matchup. It's not like being an instant over being a sorcery is relevant any time else. Sure, I can't hit manlands or glint hawk idols, but that's not really the reason why I play Flame Slash/dismember.
Also, I have no idea
- Charles
P.S. - I'm not a very good writer.
Edit #2 Those cutting Flame Slash and Furnace Scamp are doing it wrong. I'd cut Bolt before Flame Slash.
Postboard, you want both flame slash and dismember against valakut, RUG variants and tempered steel since slash takes care of both baloth and overgrown battlement, as well as spellskite and kor firewalker against steel.
Here's why I think Master Splicer > Volt Charge. And this might not make sense, but think of it this way.
You have Master Splicer + the Golem in Play. You attack with your golem, they kill your splicer with say, Volt Charge and then kill your golem with a 4/4. That's a complete blowout. Except, it was a 1 for 1. So my logic is, if the worst possible situation comes up and you get blownout, it's only a 1 for 1. That's how good the card is. You're never gonna get 2 for 1'd with that card. And that's the worst situation, where Volt Charge will be a 1 for 1 probably 90 percent of the time, whereas Master Splicer is better when your behind on the board, and usually will probably be a 2 for 1 roughly, say 30-50 percent of the time.
Also, to the guy who said Volt Charge is strictly better than Master, I completely disagree. Given that I'm in a certain given r/w deck in a draft with all the packs of magic, 5 power for 4 mana is as good as it's gonna get and is extremely hard to race when compared to other cards throughout Magic's history.
Other cards that are 5 power for 4 mana everytime: Blastoderm, Calcederm, Imperiousaur, Balduvian Hordes. You get the picture.
However, I would still take Volt Charge because I like being in red and not white.
Also, for the person who wrote this list, it's ok to have cards that people think are "bad" in your top 10 list. For example, I think Neurok Commando is tied for the 2nd best blue card in Mirrodin Beseiged along with Vedalken Anatomist. However, by valuing cards correctly, you can pick them up at more reasonable spots rather than 1st or 2nd picking them. (Yeah, Neurok Commando is a boss).
It's just that people can tell that you're relatively inexperienced as a magic player.
I'd have to agree more with this comment than the other ones. Don't think of him as Ichorclaw Myr or Cystbearer for you infect deck; think more Phyrexian Juggernaut with a hint of Blightwidow in a deck that runs roughly at least half mountains. More mountains is a plus.
Red is quite bad with the exception of some removal spells, but if you open Mordant Dragon, I guess you're in red. It pairs best with green because Summit Apes is ridiculous.
White is good with the best multikicker common creature, some solid, but unspectacular removal that you'll always play, and a handful of other flyers.
Black is solid, but not the same as black in Zendikar. Tomb Hex is fine and Bojuka Brigand is probably the best ally of the Worldwake common cycle, so getting a handful of Brigands can bring the hurt.
Blue is by far the best color, with Mysteries of the Deep and Mr. Ninja Turtle at common, as well as powerful uncommons such as Tideforce Elemental and Voyager and Horizon Drake, and let's not mention the best uncommon (a mind control variant). Blue also pairs well with white because Sejiri Merfolk dominates the ground pretty hard. Finding a late Goliath Sphinx is more common in drafts than one might think.
Green is fast and efficient, and a turn 2 Leatherback Baloth off an Arbor Elf is not an uncommon sight in WWW.
My advice is to avoid red and probably black.
Also, 3 is not the magic number in WWW. 4 is.
In those games where you are so so so far behind, and the average chance of you winning is, say 5%, Elesh has more impact on the board than Karn. Obviously, Elesh is more prone to removal, so she's not as good as when the board is stalled, or even when you're ahead, but if Karn makes a game where you're 50% to win to 80% while Elesh makes a game where you're 5% to win to 35%, Elesh would be the card because the 30% chance to win in those harder to win games is more valuable than the 30% in the coinflip games. Basically, they're both bonkers when you're ahead/tied, but my logic is Elesh is much more relevant when you're getting crushed.