Instant (14)
3 Cast Down
3 Essence Scatter
2 Fungal Infection
1 Moment of Craving
1 Negate
4 Vraska's Contempt
Enchantment (7)
2 Arguel's Blood Fast
4 Disinformation Campaign
1 The Eldest Reborn
Land (25)
2 Dimir Guildgate
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Field of Ruin
6 Island
7 Swamp
4 Watery Grave
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Fungal Infection
1 Moment of Craving
2 Negate
1 The Eldest Reborn
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Duress
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Thief of Sanity
Not sure why I had to post this for you to make a comment though. I would have to guess you have probably seen this, and in conjunction with my description, probably could have deduced something lol.
Sadly, it seems like the limited section here is pretty stale, and very little strategy or discussion happens. Does anyone have any recs for some avenues where I can actually find some limited talks with some substance? TIA.
Even in paper magic though, who actually tries to assemble playsets by purchasing packs, and naturally opening the 4x of a rare you actually need/want? I dont think thats how most players go about it IRL and I dont think its necessarily the best option here.
I agree with you on some sort of visualization of how far along you are in your vault progress though. That would be immensely appreciated.
That's kind of the problem. If simply opening packs returns more Wildcards than the Vault ever will, what is your incentive to intentionally open duplicates? If I open 50 packs of DOM (of which I currently own basically none of the cards in the set) I will still net more Wildcards than what you'd find in the Vault, as well as actually opening 50 packs worth of cards, including 50 unowned rares/mythics. That seems like a far better return to me than intentionally opening 50 packs of GRN (of which I currently own most cards), earning the same amount of Wildcards as if I had opened DOM, but then ALSO watching every card I open in the packs magically disappear into the aether and turn into... 6 whole Wildcards. Wow.
Seriously though, don't intentionally open packs to get duplicates. It's just not good value.
Your theory operates under the assumption that you will open 50 unique rares/mythics. That is simply not true. Also, of those 50 rares, maybe only half are playable and then at that, maybe only 8 are specifically valuable to the decks you are trying to assemble. I feel like that is the flaw in your reasoning. A wildcard will always be more valuable than just arbitrary rare "x." Which is why generating them even slightly faster, is more beneficial to you. So now it seems we are back to, if both of our methods generate rares at the same rate, but mine also generates wildcards faster... lol. If you are looking to assemble a specific deck, the fastest way possible, you are doing it via opening duplicates. This also just isnt something I have come up with. Ill happily link multiple podcasts discussing this.
[quote}I think that was also me. I commented that they need to rework how they do the daily quests to de-incentivize winning and incentivize just playing. Right now finishing the daily quests just seems like a chore because the best strategy is to play your best deck all the time to win as quickly as possible. There's no variety.[/quote]
I guess I am getting different dailys than you are, because I sort of fail to see how "play 40 lands" is an indication of "only incentivizing winning." Im also not sure how "Play 20 blue or red spells" is is an exemplification of just play your best deck, because you need to win in order to satisfy your daily quests. In fact, both of those examples seem to be in stark contrast to what you are saying.
I ended up drafting at my LGS last night, another 3-0 for the month and a super sweet Murder promo for the binder!! lol. But now the weeks's limited prep is over, we are on to standard. I ran a bunch of playtesting when I got home and noticed something particularly concerning.
With the influx of UR Arclight, I saw a proverbial boat load of UB Surveil all evening. Now, its possibly I am playing the matchup incorrectly, but I went head to head with it 4 times and went 1-3, and the 1 match win, all ego aside, I felt like I was probably just a more skilled veteran than the opposing mage. If you guys have any insight on this specific matchup, Id love to hear it.
They just simply have too many must counter spells. They are running golden demise MD, rit soot MD, vraska contempt MD, one version has thought erasure MD.
All your guys opinions on my white splash aside, I didnt even have a favorable matchup with Conclave Tribunal and Shalai out of the board. It feels super bad to tribunal 3 demons and still lose.
From what I have heard, UR Arclight doesnt want to see this deck either. So where UR has spiked in popularity and value, I would assume UB surveil takes a higher position in the meta, which could be really bad news for us I think.
The act of opening a pack generates wildcards "naturally" at the same rate regardless of whose methodology you want to believe. If that is a constant, but my way also nets you more wildcards faster, over time via the vault...;)
Initially this was my stance as well. I have however become less enraged about this over time. With the Vault system being the way it is, the fact that you are forced into the pack type that corresponds to the event you are in doesnt bother me so much anymore. In the instance of GRN, the more packs I open of that set, the more multiples I get, which in turn opens the vault faster netting me more wildcards, ipso facto turning into the cards I want most. Even if I was able to switch out my packs, I almost want to say that strategically speaking, it actually makes more sense to open the same set repetitively.
There is no way in which opening duplicates is strategically sound with the current Vault system. You need to open an astronomical amount of duplicates to open your Vault, which contains a measly 1 Mythic Wildcard, 2 Rare Wildcards, and 3 Uncommon Wildcards. The Vault system is really just a mess and needs to be fixed soon.
This is literally how the vault works... Each rarity is assigned a value, when you open a duplicate, that value is credited to your vault total. When you reach 900 vault points, voila... vault opens. The more duplicates you open, the more the vault points you get, which is also why you should be picking uncommons as opposed to commons in drafts when the pick seems like it shouldnt matter, as their rarity value attributes to your vault total more than a common would. Therefor, a method that would allow you to open more duplicates, more frequently is actually to your collections benefit in the current scenario. Hope that helps.
My second complaint is comparatively quite simple; allow players to exchange prize packs for a pack of a previous set. Frankly, I just don't want to open GRN anymore, but it is currently the literal only prize pack I can earn without spending money. I don't see any reason why WotC should care if I take my winnings in Dominaria or Ixalan compared to Guilds of Ravnica. A digital pack is a digital pack.
Initially this was my stance as well. I have however become less enraged about this over time. With the Vault system being the way it is, the fact that you are forced into the pack type that corresponds to the event you are in doesnt bother me so much anymore. In the instance of GRN, the more packs I open of that set, the more multiples I get, which in turn opens the vault faster netting me more wildcards, ipso facto turning into the cards I want most. Even if I was able to switch out my packs, I almost want to say that strategically speaking, it actually makes more sense to open the same set repetitively.
2. Wizards share of revenue: I never understand why people complain about this. How is Wizards claiming all revenue from their own product an evil thing? Tradeable card on MTG Arena will create a market where real some people will make money of a Wizards product, and it is totally reasonable for Wizards to contruct a system that ensures that they alone make money of their property.
I honestly dont see how making digital singles tradable would net any person outside of wizards physical money.
I think you may have misinterpreted what I was saying regarding the mulligan. Teferi does not specifically add to any issue there. Specifically being the key word. What I was saying was that the Vancouver Mulligan was instituted to lessen the amount of games that felt super un-interactive. Teferi, in my opinion, epitomizes a card that is steeped with un-interactivity. What I was saying was that it seems contradictory to introduce mechanics that prevent that issue, only to print cards that exacerbate it.
In the manner that you are describing, I don't think Wizard's has some crazy insider trading insight into the "secondary market." I think we, the players dictate that. However, if there is no ceiling in terms of power, Wizard's has the ability to influence the primary market to an almost unethical degree. Where Call of the Herd was the nut high, for $20 a piece, and that just gave you two elephants sorcery speed, its concerning to me that wizard's can immediately influence the market, at their behest, just by printing this powerful cards. Like hey guys, looks like sales are down this quarter, so lets print something outrageous that sort of defies the ideology we have stuck to for years, because hey... we need profits. I can tell you first hand, this is not conducive to the garnering of new players.
Carney T @ 22 is reasonable for the nut high rare in the color. No issue with me here.
Jade Ranger @ 13 is reasonable for a staple in the most played deck currently. No issue with me here.
Being able to get a playset of the most powerful green rare in the format, for less than what I can get 2 Teferi for.... Big issue with me here. I think that should probably put some perspective on the problem.
As for the Ultimates... I understand the general premise... That said, it feels super clunky, pokemon-y, unmagic-like to me to win a game in that fashion. I have found myself in plenty of situations where I have been playing turbo fog against bg, both players with walkers set up, and its just a race to 'ultimate.' I feel like that deters from the strategy of the game when you can just, oops, I win like that. This is probably just the old, salty magic player in me, but even in my prime, if you beat someone with Phage the Untouchable, it wasnt really a mark of being a good player. Teferi, specifically, I sort of have an issue with the wording. Apparently there is a semantic rule difference between "when" and "whenever," which is somewhat unclear to me.
The issue with this is you need to be able to constantly go infinite on drafts (6 wins minimum to turn a profit) and it's really become a pain. There's an objectively best deck in the format in Dimir Surveil, but if you don't get passed the cards to make it (Disinformation campaign being the lynchpin) then your deck will lose to whoever did. If you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them, but every time I've played dimir I got paid, and every time I haven't the deck just loses to lockdown control.
I just haven't had that experience. In fact, quite the opposite. I think one thing to point out is that on the casual drafts, there is no sideboard. I understand that might be somewhat obvious. That said, the lack of sbing 100% effects the way I build my deck. Where I would probably never play a crushing canopy for example, main deck in the competitive format, I value it much higher in the "casual" format. I often play the green convoke, either get a 2/2 elf knight or blow up an enchant/artifact in gw and bg (if Im unlucky enough to have to play green lol).
I dont see UB housing me by any means on a regular basis. UR aggro beats DI on the regular for me, as does Boros. A trophy boros deck is extremely low to the ground: multiple hawks, stalwart, legionaire is how the deck should be built. You even get some debate from pros on playing the 4ww angel because of how slow she is and it how it doesnt fit into the ideology of what the deck wants to be doing. Low creatures, curve out, smash face, pray they arent MDing Meph Vapors.
All this taken into consideration, super aggressive aggro decks have been pretty successful for me in the casual format and I actually try to stay away from more control oriented strategies.
What's up, guys? I just started playing again and essentially need to start my collection over. Luckily, I came armed with my credit card.
I want to purchase all of the cards for a deck, from a single entity. I have noticed that the majority of websites now are just platforms for other players and stores to sell their cards. Unfortunately, due to the nuances of each site respectively, this is becoming super annoying.
I am trying to put together Mono Blue Tempo for standard. It seems like a good, cost effective way to start back into the mix. No $150 mana base. Mostly commons/uncommons. Because of that however, you rarely meet the minimum expenditure for many of the sellers, or otherwise, youre paying $4.99 shipping for 70 cents in commons.
Whats the easiest way to scoop up the majority of my singles for this deck online? What do you guys use to get your bulk stuff if not from your LGS?
4 Doom Whisperer
2 Dream Eater
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
Sorcery (7)
3 Ritual of Soot
4 Thought Erasure
Instant (14)
3 Cast Down
3 Essence Scatter
2 Fungal Infection
1 Moment of Craving
1 Negate
4 Vraska's Contempt
Enchantment (7)
2 Arguel's Blood Fast
4 Disinformation Campaign
1 The Eldest Reborn
Land (25)
2 Dimir Guildgate
4 Drowned Catacomb
2 Field of Ruin
6 Island
7 Swamp
4 Watery Grave
60 Cards
Sideboard (15)
1 Fungal Infection
1 Moment of Craving
2 Negate
1 The Eldest Reborn
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Duress
1 Search for Azcanta
4 Thief of Sanity
Not sure why I had to post this for you to make a comment though. I would have to guess you have probably seen this, and in conjunction with my description, probably could have deduced something lol.
I agree with you on some sort of visualization of how far along you are in your vault progress though. That would be immensely appreciated.
Your theory operates under the assumption that you will open 50 unique rares/mythics. That is simply not true. Also, of those 50 rares, maybe only half are playable and then at that, maybe only 8 are specifically valuable to the decks you are trying to assemble. I feel like that is the flaw in your reasoning. A wildcard will always be more valuable than just arbitrary rare "x." Which is why generating them even slightly faster, is more beneficial to you. So now it seems we are back to, if both of our methods generate rares at the same rate, but mine also generates wildcards faster... lol. If you are looking to assemble a specific deck, the fastest way possible, you are doing it via opening duplicates. This also just isnt something I have come up with. Ill happily link multiple podcasts discussing this.
[quote}I think that was also me. I commented that they need to rework how they do the daily quests to de-incentivize winning and incentivize just playing. Right now finishing the daily quests just seems like a chore because the best strategy is to play your best deck all the time to win as quickly as possible. There's no variety.[/quote]
I guess I am getting different dailys than you are, because I sort of fail to see how "play 40 lands" is an indication of "only incentivizing winning." Im also not sure how "Play 20 blue or red spells" is is an exemplification of just play your best deck, because you need to win in order to satisfy your daily quests. In fact, both of those examples seem to be in stark contrast to what you are saying.
With the influx of UR Arclight, I saw a proverbial boat load of UB Surveil all evening. Now, its possibly I am playing the matchup incorrectly, but I went head to head with it 4 times and went 1-3, and the 1 match win, all ego aside, I felt like I was probably just a more skilled veteran than the opposing mage. If you guys have any insight on this specific matchup, Id love to hear it.
They just simply have too many must counter spells. They are running golden demise MD, rit soot MD, vraska contempt MD, one version has thought erasure MD.
All your guys opinions on my white splash aside, I didnt even have a favorable matchup with Conclave Tribunal and Shalai out of the board. It feels super bad to tribunal 3 demons and still lose.
From what I have heard, UR Arclight doesnt want to see this deck either. So where UR has spiked in popularity and value, I would assume UB surveil takes a higher position in the meta, which could be really bad news for us I think.
This is literally how the vault works... Each rarity is assigned a value, when you open a duplicate, that value is credited to your vault total. When you reach 900 vault points, voila... vault opens. The more duplicates you open, the more the vault points you get, which is also why you should be picking uncommons as opposed to commons in drafts when the pick seems like it shouldnt matter, as their rarity value attributes to your vault total more than a common would. Therefor, a method that would allow you to open more duplicates, more frequently is actually to your collections benefit in the current scenario. Hope that helps.
Initially this was my stance as well. I have however become less enraged about this over time. With the Vault system being the way it is, the fact that you are forced into the pack type that corresponds to the event you are in doesnt bother me so much anymore. In the instance of GRN, the more packs I open of that set, the more multiples I get, which in turn opens the vault faster netting me more wildcards, ipso facto turning into the cards I want most. Even if I was able to switch out my packs, I almost want to say that strategically speaking, it actually makes more sense to open the same set repetitively.
I honestly dont see how making digital singles tradable would net any person outside of wizards physical money.
Also, because I am still playing with the white splash, conclave tribunal puts a hurting on UR Phoenix.
I think you may have misinterpreted what I was saying regarding the mulligan. Teferi does not specifically add to any issue there. Specifically being the key word. What I was saying was that the Vancouver Mulligan was instituted to lessen the amount of games that felt super un-interactive. Teferi, in my opinion, epitomizes a card that is steeped with un-interactivity. What I was saying was that it seems contradictory to introduce mechanics that prevent that issue, only to print cards that exacerbate it.
In the manner that you are describing, I don't think Wizard's has some crazy insider trading insight into the "secondary market." I think we, the players dictate that. However, if there is no ceiling in terms of power, Wizard's has the ability to influence the primary market to an almost unethical degree. Where Call of the Herd was the nut high, for $20 a piece, and that just gave you two elephants sorcery speed, its concerning to me that wizard's can immediately influence the market, at their behest, just by printing this powerful cards. Like hey guys, looks like sales are down this quarter, so lets print something outrageous that sort of defies the ideology we have stuck to for years, because hey... we need profits. I can tell you first hand, this is not conducive to the garnering of new players.
Carney T @ 22 is reasonable for the nut high rare in the color. No issue with me here.
Jade Ranger @ 13 is reasonable for a staple in the most played deck currently. No issue with me here.
Being able to get a playset of the most powerful green rare in the format, for less than what I can get 2 Teferi for.... Big issue with me here. I think that should probably put some perspective on the problem.
As for the Ultimates... I understand the general premise... That said, it feels super clunky, pokemon-y, unmagic-like to me to win a game in that fashion. I have found myself in plenty of situations where I have been playing turbo fog against bg, both players with walkers set up, and its just a race to 'ultimate.' I feel like that deters from the strategy of the game when you can just, oops, I win like that. This is probably just the old, salty magic player in me, but even in my prime, if you beat someone with Phage the Untouchable, it wasnt really a mark of being a good player. Teferi, specifically, I sort of have an issue with the wording. Apparently there is a semantic rule difference between "when" and "whenever," which is somewhat unclear to me.
I just haven't had that experience. In fact, quite the opposite. I think one thing to point out is that on the casual drafts, there is no sideboard. I understand that might be somewhat obvious. That said, the lack of sbing 100% effects the way I build my deck. Where I would probably never play a crushing canopy for example, main deck in the competitive format, I value it much higher in the "casual" format. I often play the green convoke, either get a 2/2 elf knight or blow up an enchant/artifact in gw and bg (if Im unlucky enough to have to play green lol).
I dont see UB housing me by any means on a regular basis. UR aggro beats DI on the regular for me, as does Boros. A trophy boros deck is extremely low to the ground: multiple hawks, stalwart, legionaire is how the deck should be built. You even get some debate from pros on playing the 4ww angel because of how slow she is and it how it doesnt fit into the ideology of what the deck wants to be doing. Low creatures, curve out, smash face, pray they arent MDing Meph Vapors.
All this taken into consideration, super aggressive aggro decks have been pretty successful for me in the casual format and I actually try to stay away from more control oriented strategies.
I want to purchase all of the cards for a deck, from a single entity. I have noticed that the majority of websites now are just platforms for other players and stores to sell their cards. Unfortunately, due to the nuances of each site respectively, this is becoming super annoying.
I am trying to put together Mono Blue Tempo for standard. It seems like a good, cost effective way to start back into the mix. No $150 mana base. Mostly commons/uncommons. Because of that however, you rarely meet the minimum expenditure for many of the sellers, or otherwise, youre paying $4.99 shipping for 70 cents in commons.
Whats the easiest way to scoop up the majority of my singles for this deck online? What do you guys use to get your bulk stuff if not from your LGS?
Thanks!!