I've been playing Dinos in ladder as well. BO1 definitely changes how I've built it. I'm running GRw though for Clarion and Banefire. This is giving me more game against some problem matchups. I finished tonight at Gold 3.
www.twitch.tv/powrdragn if you want to check out some of my games. I should be on tomorrow afternoon/evening for a bit as well.
I've taken this deck to various events in my area and it has a total record of 12-4 so far. And at least one loss was due to not having the card I needed early on when I was playing it. I end up facing a lot of heavy aggro (Vehicles, Monored) or serious control. Very little in the middle.
Rekindled Phoenix is *REALLY* good. It might be worth finding room for four of them. The sideboard is a bit questionable on a couple of choices, but truthfully, you should be building sideboards the way you like taking into account the local meta.
Most sideboard choices relied around taking out Ghalta/Carnage Tyrant against slower decks and bringing planeswalkers and more threats in against slower decks.
OK, so I've been playing different versions of this deck and managed to put up a record of 14-2 over a few weeks. It plays really well.
The extra removal has been really nice in this list. Being cheap and instant speed had made a huge bit of importance. I also have to wonder if Attune With Aether is the right card to play or not. Maybe squeezing 2-3 in could be worth it in exchange for a few lands, but who the heck knows.
very nice looking list. i've actually been thinking about main board bombardment since i keep seeing it online in a lot of decks. i might drop the 2 battlements or one of each basic and a blossoming defense for 3 attune with aether and try that out. although, your list really could use an island main if you're doing that as well.
I would only play an Island if I had Attune with Aether in the list. As it is, there are 11 blue sources main and I only need them for 3 copies of a creature and some sideboard cards. It's a fun and interesting list. It also has a lot of options and directions you can take it. I've been tweaking it a bit each week and it's been very solid. This version of the list has a fair amount of game against most popular lists.
Bombardment is great for the early turns against a few decks and even being able to cast it for 3 or 4 damage is great in WR Aggro matachups. Also, don't sleep on Aether Meltdown. The card is great in the mirror. It's even good against BG Delerium. Lots of neat things.
OK, so I've been playing different versions of this deck and managed to put up a record of 14-2 over a few weeks. It plays really well.
The extra removal has been really nice in this list. Being cheap and instant speed had made a huge bit of importance. I also have to wonder if Attune With Aether is the right card to play or not. Maybe squeezing 2-3 in could be worth it in exchange for a few lands, but who the heck knows.
I'll also admit that Attune With Aether could be correct. However, having that space freed up for other cards was important. I got room for more cards that were live draws. Just replacing two lands wouldn't be good enough for me I don't think. There are also several times, especially int he mirror on the draw that I want to have mana up for a Bombardment. That makes a big difference.
This could also be a difference in play styles as well. All I can say is so far I've managed 8-0 and I haven't missed it. Granted, that's a small sample size and at least three of the opponents in that count were of questionable skill level, so it's hard to take it for more than anything than face value at this point.
OK, so this is the second version of the deck I've taken to a 4-0 finish. This time I moved away from the combo for two reasons. If you're anticipating control, it's harder to get the pieces through, and they have a fair amount of removal options. The other is it frees up room for more cards that are much more versatile on their own.
Yesterday I beat:
Aether Reservoir 2-1 in some long games
RG Energy Aggro 2-1 took some tight play, but the extra removal and Aether Meltdown were spectacular
BG Delirium 2-1 Chandra and Chandra and Aether Meltdown were both good here
BG Discard Heavy Gonti deck. Somehow he was undefeated to this point, but I beat him 2-0.
I also had a Deadlock Trap in the sideboard over a Fevered Visions, because I was short one at the time, but the list worked out well and the Trap came into play heavily against BG Delirium. Fevered Visions is quite good against control decks in testing.
This version allows big attacks. I still had some turn 5 wins. But it now has more removal and have more game against control decks. Larger individual creatures and more that trample.
Here's another variant I've been messing around with today. This has Woodland Wanderer and gives a few sideboard options for some of the popular decks from the PT.
Also helps get around the need forLarger Than Life a little bit. And It now also gives you a pile of creatures that can do a good bit of damage with double strike.
Beat: UR Dynavolt Tower, RG Aggro, RW Vehicles, UR Control
So tonight I want to experiment with the Electrostatic Pummeler, but I dodn't want to be all in on it if things didn't work out for the night. I also am glad I had Chandra, Torch of Defiance as part of the deck. as part of the deck. I think she deserves to be main in this deck. She allows a lot of things to happen. She functions as card drawing. She also helps wipe out large toughness creatures. There's also the benefit of helping you recover after a Fumigate or something similar.
I did draw a good bit of land a few times which was annoying. The deck over mulligans pretty well, so no complaints there. I'd like to spend some time trying to find a way to get Chandra into the main deck this week.
I've done pretty well with the deck, but ran into a problem with UR Counter Burn. It's exactly what it sounds like. Efficient burn spells, several spell counters, card drawing, and the only creature is plays, I think, are Goblin Dark-Dwellers and Torrential Gearhulk. Played Kozilek's Return as well.
That's the list I've updated to. I've had solid game against most deck. Can even race down the Reservoir deck after they'd gained a bunch of life over a few turns. The Counter Burn deck is tough though. Their removal makes it hard to get your early guys to stick.
I have to agree. Pummeler might be OK, but you have to build with it in mind and I'd rather not do so.
Another thing to note is that the people seemingly having success with this deck, myself included, have forgone playing 1cc creatures. As much as this is an aggro build, you don't have to force the curve all the way through. Each card is powerful enough they they can make up for that lack of one drop. With the energy mechanic a lot of your creatures get to play bigger than they actually are.
I went 3-1 yesterday in an FNM and just threw this list together. Three opponents were pretty good players. One was a novice and missed a couple of plays, though I think I still would've won. Just putting facts in to keep things in perspective.
So, some quick points. Yes, it's 61 cards. I couldn't decide on the mana count or what I wanted to cut and I was tossing the deck together right before the event. The sidebaord was questionable as I had no real idea what to expect from the local crowd. The event was 24 players I believe.
Having a perfect curve isn't really necessary in your creature base. There are a lot of times you'll want to play a card and have mana up for a Blossoming Defense or to Harness Lightning something on their turn.
Incendiary Flow had a few times where being a sorcery was bad. You can't fight Smuggler's Copter with it. You can't burn something and block during combat. You can't stop opposing pump spells. It was good for dealing damage to the opponent and it was serviceable removal, but it does limit actions on your turn pretty seriously. I'm considering playing Welding Sparks in it's place. Yes, it costs more, but Instant speed makes a big different right now and it's easy to cast. The real answer though is likely still Fiery Temper since it can target the opponent.
I wasn't totally sold on Smuggler's Copter. It's a good card when it works, but honestly, there were a few times it just sat on the table and didn't do much. There were also a lot of tough loot decisions to be made. I think it's still worthwhile for some builds, just not sure it's where I want to be. I'd rather have a 4-5 slots that are some combination of Servant of the Conduit and Oviya Parishi, Sage Lifecrafter I think.
Both of the gearhulks (aka jaegers) were good. No real complaints about those. Mana was only an issue once during the night, so I'm not sure how much I'd be looking to adjust it.
The Hanweir duo was quite good. Being able to give haste to all your stuff is nice. I also melded the pair once. The Garrison is nice because opponents seem to get caught in a situation where they feel the need to block or deal with it in some way, leaving other creatures alone. If they have to block it, you still end up with two more attackers.
Larger Than Life got sided out almost every time. The 4th Bristling Hydra got sided in almost every time.
Next version might look like:
-3 Smuggler's Copter
-3 Larger Than Life
-3 Incendiary Flow
+1 Bristling Hydra
+3(4) Servant of the Conduit
+3(4) Fiery Temper
I played Junk today in a local Modern event. 21 players. Nothing huge, but the quality of play and decks was pretty good cause the prizes were strong. They included, set of Snacapsters, Force of Will, and Damnation, plus a bunch of packs and such.
Anyway, I finished 3rd overall. Going in all I knew of that there would be Boggles, Scapeshift, Tron, an affinity, a couple of control decks, and several burn decks. Didn't know much otherwise.
This wasn't a crazy exciting match. Which I had a good story. We went a long three games here and I lost due to ripping five straight lands while my opponent is at 2 and no counter magic in hand. Voice of Resurgence and Thalia were big players in this match.
Round 2 - Mono Green 2-1 1-1
This one went three games as well. Spent a lot of time playing defense in this matchup. I just played the control role and picked up threat while poking in a point of damage or two. The game I lose was due to my opponent topdecking a Createrhoof Behemoth . Nothing to be too upset about there. I do think this build could've used a few changes though. Golgari Charm did some fantastic work in this matchup. I was able to use all three modes.
Round 3 - Naya Aggro 2-0 2-1
I was once again relegated to the role of the control deck in this matchup. Had to be really careful with the shocks and fetches. Land management was key due to such large amount of damage. He was also playing land light (17 I believe), so he drew lots of gas and was able to function on two mana each game. All the removal and life gain was key in this fight. Tried to stay around 8 life and slowly fight back each time.
Round 4 - Soul Sisters 2-0 3-1
This round was interested. Normally with a smaller crowd and only four rounds I would attempt to draw in. That was not going to happen today. We ended p with 6 points or better going all the way to 12th place I believe, so no one wanted to risk being on the outside looking in. So we played.
He got early Soul Warden each game and got a Norin the Wary . Fortunately, I was able to get him to discard Ajani's Pridemate or I'd have been in real trouble. He got a Genesis Chamber in one of the games, but I was able to keep dropping creatures and use it against him. His guys had to chump a large Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze among other things, so I was slowly piling up the tokens. Golgari Charm was fanastic in this matchup.
Top 8 Monored 2-1 4-1
First game I got blasted out. I had to suffer too much damage from my lands and I couldn't gain any life. Not much to say there. Game two was a bit grindy. Took a few shots to the face and them slowly started climbing my way out and once I got back to 9 life with three 4+ power creatures my opponent was ready to go to the next game.
Game three was interesting. I had a reasonably playable hand, but decided to mulligan. My logic was that being on the draw, I'd need a hand that restricted what my opponent was able to do so I didn't fall too far behind early. I mulliganed into 1 Inquisition, 1 Duress, 1 Thalia, 1 Noble Hierarch, 2 lands. First three draws were Tarmogofy, land, Obstinate Baloth. My opponent was a bit bothered as he thought he was favored, which is might be, but I got away with one this time.
Top 4 Scapeshift 1-2 4-2
This match was standard fair. Sided in the extra discard and Aven Mindcensor. They did what they were supposed to. Unfortunately, in game three, I ended up in an awkward situation of having all 3cc cards in hand and only five mana. I had nearly complete information, so I knew if I could ever play two spells in a turn I could punch through the final damage, but it never happened. He eventually, got a chance to go for it and took me out.
Overall, I enjoyed the deck. I'm not sure what changes I would make as most of the cards were good at various points throughout the day. The lands probably need a slight adjustment for a few utility lands to take better advantage of Knight of the Reliquary. Stony Silence and Grafdigger's Cage were largely worthless throughout the day, but that was a matter of matchups more than anything else.
I'm curious as to your "credentials" because everything you've said is in direct opposition to my experiences and my conversations with store owners. Have you ever owned a store? Have you at least worked on that side of the counter and had a position where you saw the money coming in and tracked what was and was not popular? Have you been an event judge? How large of a player base?
Your points have all been brought up and have all been shot down in this thread already, so there isn't a need to shoot them down yet again.
Store owners are against this change. Players are against this change. The only people that seem to like it are people that don't like draft (then don't draft, duh) or people who have bad stores that apparently use all their pre-release allocation on drafts and never hold sealed events. In that case, it's a matter that should be handled between that store and WotC, rather than punishing the other stores and players.
My post-FNM Magic at Midnight draft event had 58 players, btw. Not a single one of them was forced into drafting. So stop acting like news are forced to draft or that draft is an unpopular format at a pre-release. On Saturday, I and one other judge ran a 105 player sealed main event, fired off 5 booster drafts throughout the day and had a 13 team 2HG event in the evening (while the final rounds of the sealed event were going on). We had no problems whatsoever. It's all about organization and resource allocation to make sure you have enough for each event.
Feel free to ask. I actually own a game store now, which has been in business since October of 1999. I've also done work for different companies in the industry. I've also written for a few websites and magazines. And as a player I've had some moderate success. I'm also on the Board of Directors and Board of Moderators for two different industry groups. No harm in asking.
So yes, I've worked the other side of the counter. Yes, I've been an event organizer. Yes, I've been an event judge, as wellas the scorekeeper, public relations guy, etc.etc.
I can tell you that on some industry forums, most store owners aren't that upset about the issue. More than anything, they are just concerned that they might upset a few customers by not having drafts available. Most retailers don't seem to have an overly negative opinion on the whole thing really. It's just a matter of not wanting to step on too many toes.
People disagreeing doesn't shoot down an argument. And again, I say let this prerelease roll by and see what the results are. In the past few years, WotC and Hasbro have made a lot of changes that many people on these very boards have complained about. They claimed some of them will be the death of the game. Hell, many of those posters declared they were quitting (which they didn't do). And yet, here we are looking at WotC/Hasbro moving MTG at an all-time high.
If it causes a flop, feel free to send me a personal e-mail and say "I told you so." I don't think this will be as bad as people think it is.
www.twitch.tv/powrdragn if you want to check out some of my games. I should be on tomorrow afternoon/evening for a bit as well.
Anyway, here's my list:
4 Drover of the Mighty
3 Thrashing Brontodon
2 Otepec Huntmaster
2 Deathgorge Scavenger
1 Gishath, Sun's Avatar
4 Regisaur Alpha
2 Rekindlded Phoenix
4 Ripjaw Raptor
3 Carnage Tyrant
2 Ghalta, Primal Hunter
3 Savage Stomp
3 Blossoming Defense
2 Abrade
2 Thunderherd Migration
Lands
4 Sheltered Thicket
4 Rootbound Crag
9 Forest
5 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Crook of Condemnation
1 Etali, Primal Storm
2 Heroic Intervention
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Blossoming Defense
1 Deathgorge Scavaenger
1 Thrashing Brontodon
2 Glorybringer
3 Sweltering Suns
1 Lightning Strike
Rekindled Phoenix is *REALLY* good. It might be worth finding room for four of them. The sideboard is a bit questionable on a couple of choices, but truthfully, you should be building sideboards the way you like taking into account the local meta.
Most sideboard choices relied around taking out Ghalta/Carnage Tyrant against slower decks and bringing planeswalkers and more threats in against slower decks.
My version has extra burn spells which have played quit nicely against them, plus I have extra Tramplers.
I would only play an Island if I had Attune with Aether in the list. As it is, there are 11 blue sources main and I only need them for 3 copies of a creature and some sideboard cards. It's a fun and interesting list. It also has a lot of options and directions you can take it. I've been tweaking it a bit each week and it's been very solid. This version of the list has a fair amount of game against most popular lists.
Bombardment is great for the early turns against a few decks and even being able to cast it for 3 or 4 damage is great in WR Aggro matachups. Also, don't sleep on Aether Meltdown. The card is great in the mirror. It's even good against BG Delerium. Lots of neat things.
The extra removal has been really nice in this list. Being cheap and instant speed had made a huge bit of importance. I also have to wonder if Attune With Aether is the right card to play or not. Maybe squeezing 2-3 in could be worth it in exchange for a few lands, but who the heck knows.
Anyway, here's the current version:
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Voltaic Brawler
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Bristling Hydra
3 Servant of the Conduit
3 Woodland Wanderer
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Harness Lightning
4 Galvanic Bombardment
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
5 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 Mountain
2 Ruinous Gremlin
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Dispel
2 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Fiery Temper
3 Fevered Visions
2 Aether MEltdown
I'll also admit that Attune With Aether could be correct. However, having that space freed up for other cards was important. I got room for more cards that were live draws. Just replacing two lands wouldn't be good enough for me I don't think. There are also several times, especially int he mirror on the draw that I want to have mana up for a Bombardment. That makes a big difference.
This could also be a difference in play styles as well. All I can say is so far I've managed 8-0 and I haven't missed it. Granted, that's a small sample size and at least three of the opponents in that count were of questionable skill level, so it's hard to take it for more than anything than face value at this point.
Yesterday I beat:
Aether Reservoir 2-1 in some long games
RG Energy Aggro 2-1 took some tight play, but the extra removal and Aether Meltdown were spectacular
BG Delirium 2-1 Chandra and Chandra and Aether Meltdown were both good here
BG Discard Heavy Gonti deck. Somehow he was undefeated to this point, but I beat him 2-0.
Here's the list I played
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Voltaic Brawler
3 Servant of the Conduit
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
3 Woodland Wanderer
3 Lathnu Hellion
1 Aethertorch Renegade
Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Galvanic Bombardment
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Aether Hub
5 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 Mountain
4 Botanical Sanctum
2 Ruinous Gremlin
2 Aether Meltdown
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Dispel
2 Commencement of Festivities
3 Fevered Visions
2 Ceremonious Rejection
I *THINK* Aethertorch Renegade is still good against the control decks, but I didn't see that many. But in most cases, I'm like to replace it for another Lathnu Hellion or Woodland Wanderer.
I also had a Deadlock Trap in the sideboard over a Fevered Visions, because I was short one at the time, but the list worked out well and the Trap came into play heavily against BG Delirium. Fevered Visions is quite good against control decks in testing.
This version allows big attacks. I still had some turn 5 wins. But it now has more removal and have more game against control decks. Larger individual creatures and more that trample.
Also helps get around the need forLarger Than Life a little bit. And It now also gives you a pile of creatures that can do a good bit of damage with double strike.
3 Bristling Hydra
2 Electrostatic Pummeler
4 Longtusk Cub
3 Servant of the Conduit
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Woodland Wanderer
Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Harness Lightning
4 Uncaged Fury
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
5 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 Mountain
2 Aether Meltdown
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Ruinous Gremlin
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
2 Arborback Stomper
2 Deadlock Trap
I've currently got Arboback Stomper(not great) and Deadlock Trap that we can use, but not much else.
Beat: UR Dynavolt Tower, RG Aggro, RW Vehicles, UR Control
So tonight I want to experiment with the Electrostatic Pummeler, but I dodn't want to be all in on it if things didn't work out for the night. I also am glad I had Chandra, Torch of Defiance as part of the deck. as part of the deck. I think she deserves to be main in this deck. She allows a lot of things to happen. She functions as card drawing. She also helps wipe out large toughness creatures. There's also the benefit of helping you recover after a Fumigate or something similar.
Here's where my list is at now:
4 Bristling Hydra
4 Electrostatic Pummeler
4 Longtusk Cub
3 Servant of the Conduit
3 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Voltaic Brawler
Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Harness Lightning
3 Larger Than Life
3 Built to Smash
3 Aether Hub
3 Cinder Glade
7 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 Mountain
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Ruinous Gremlin
3 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Savage Alliance
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
2 Arborback Stomper
2 Deadlock Trap
I did draw a good bit of land a few times which was annoying. The deck over mulligans pretty well, so no complaints there. I'd like to spend some time trying to find a way to get Chandra into the main deck this week.
4 Bristling Hydra
2 Combustible Gearhulk
2 Hanweir Garrison
4 Longtusk Cub
3 Servant of the Conduit
4 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Voltaic Brawler
Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
1 Deadlock Trap
3 Fiery Temper
4 Harness Lightning
2 Nature's Way
3 Aether Hub
3 Cinder Glade
7 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
5 Mountain
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Ruinous Gremlin
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
2 Savage Alliance
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
2 Arborback Stomper
2 Deadlock Trap
1 Fiery Temper
That's the list I've updated to. I've had solid game against most deck. Can even race down the Reservoir deck after they'd gained a bunch of life over a few turns. The Counter Burn deck is tough though. Their removal makes it hard to get your early guys to stick.
Was sadly thinking of swapping out the Nature's Way for two Rush of Adrenaline or Vines of the Recluse. Though Vines of the Recluse could potentially be a surprise at stopping Copters.
Hermit of the Natterknolls could work as a sideboard card here too potentially.
Another thing to note is that the people seemingly having success with this deck, myself included, have forgone playing 1cc creatures. As much as this is an aggro build, you don't have to force the curve all the way through. Each card is powerful enough they they can make up for that lack of one drop. With the energy mechanic a lot of your creatures get to play bigger than they actually are.
Won: BG Delerium, GR Artifact Aggro, Wx Aetherflux Resorvoir Lost: RW Dwarf Vehicles
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Voltaic Brawler
2 Hanweir Garrison
3 Bristling Hydra
4 Verdurous Gearhulk
2 Combustible Gearhulk
Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Harness Lightning
3 Incendiary Flow
3 Larger Than Life
3 Smuggler's Copter
3 Aether Hub
3 Cinder Glade
7 Forest
4 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
6 Mountain
2 Ruinous Gremlin
2 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Incendiary Flow
2 Collective Defiance
3 Magmatic Chasm
1 Bristling Hydra
3 Fleetwheel Cruiser
1 Woodweaver's Puzzleknot
So, some quick points. Yes, it's 61 cards. I couldn't decide on the mana count or what I wanted to cut and I was tossing the deck together right before the event. The sidebaord was questionable as I had no real idea what to expect from the local crowd. The event was 24 players I believe.
Having a perfect curve isn't really necessary in your creature base. There are a lot of times you'll want to play a card and have mana up for a Blossoming Defense or to Harness Lightning something on their turn.
Incendiary Flow had a few times where being a sorcery was bad. You can't fight Smuggler's Copter with it. You can't burn something and block during combat. You can't stop opposing pump spells. It was good for dealing damage to the opponent and it was serviceable removal, but it does limit actions on your turn pretty seriously. I'm considering playing Welding Sparks in it's place. Yes, it costs more, but Instant speed makes a big different right now and it's easy to cast. The real answer though is likely still Fiery Temper since it can target the opponent.
I wasn't totally sold on Smuggler's Copter. It's a good card when it works, but honestly, there were a few times it just sat on the table and didn't do much. There were also a lot of tough loot decisions to be made. I think it's still worthwhile for some builds, just not sure it's where I want to be. I'd rather have a 4-5 slots that are some combination of Servant of the Conduit and Oviya Parishi, Sage Lifecrafter I think.
Both of the gearhulks (aka jaegers) were good. No real complaints about those. Mana was only an issue once during the night, so I'm not sure how much I'd be looking to adjust it.
The Hanweir duo was quite good. Being able to give haste to all your stuff is nice. I also melded the pair once. The Garrison is nice because opponents seem to get caught in a situation where they feel the need to block or deal with it in some way, leaving other creatures alone. If they have to block it, you still end up with two more attackers.
Larger Than Life got sided out almost every time. The 4th Bristling Hydra got sided in almost every time.
Next version might look like:
-3 Smuggler's Copter
-3 Larger Than Life
-3 Incendiary Flow
+1 Bristling Hydra
+3(4) Servant of the Conduit
+3(4) Fiery Temper
Anyway, I finished 3rd overall. Going in all I knew of that there would be Boggles, Scapeshift, Tron, an affinity, a couple of control decks, and several burn decks. Didn't know much otherwise.
My list:
2 Doran, the Siege Tower
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Voice of Resurgence
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Thoughseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Doom Blade
1 Putrefy
4 Marsh Flats
3 Verdant Catacombs
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
2 Swamp
2 Forest
1 plains
2 Twilight Mire
2 horizon canopy
2 marsh flats
2 liliana of the veil
2 grafdigger's cage
2 duress
1 aven mindcensor
2 stony silence
2 golgari charm
2 obstinate baloth
1 linvala, keeper of silence
1 dismember
Round 1 - UWR Control 1-2 0-1
This wasn't a crazy exciting match. Which I had a good story. We went a long three games here and I lost due to ripping five straight lands while my opponent is at 2 and no counter magic in hand. Voice of Resurgence and Thalia were big players in this match.
Round 2 - Mono Green 2-1 1-1
This one went three games as well. Spent a lot of time playing defense in this matchup. I just played the control role and picked up threat while poking in a point of damage or two. The game I lose was due to my opponent topdecking a Createrhoof Behemoth . Nothing to be too upset about there. I do think this build could've used a few changes though. Golgari Charm did some fantastic work in this matchup. I was able to use all three modes.
Round 3 - Naya Aggro 2-0 2-1
I was once again relegated to the role of the control deck in this matchup. Had to be really careful with the shocks and fetches. Land management was key due to such large amount of damage. He was also playing land light (17 I believe), so he drew lots of gas and was able to function on two mana each game. All the removal and life gain was key in this fight. Tried to stay around 8 life and slowly fight back each time.
Round 4 - Soul Sisters 2-0 3-1
This round was interested. Normally with a smaller crowd and only four rounds I would attempt to draw in. That was not going to happen today. We ended p with 6 points or better going all the way to 12th place I believe, so no one wanted to risk being on the outside looking in. So we played.
He got early Soul Warden each game and got a Norin the Wary . Fortunately, I was able to get him to discard Ajani's Pridemate or I'd have been in real trouble. He got a Genesis Chamber in one of the games, but I was able to keep dropping creatures and use it against him. His guys had to chump a large Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze among other things, so I was slowly piling up the tokens. Golgari Charm was fanastic in this matchup.
Top 8 Monored 2-1 4-1
First game I got blasted out. I had to suffer too much damage from my lands and I couldn't gain any life. Not much to say there. Game two was a bit grindy. Took a few shots to the face and them slowly started climbing my way out and once I got back to 9 life with three 4+ power creatures my opponent was ready to go to the next game.
Game three was interesting. I had a reasonably playable hand, but decided to mulligan. My logic was that being on the draw, I'd need a hand that restricted what my opponent was able to do so I didn't fall too far behind early. I mulliganed into 1 Inquisition, 1 Duress, 1 Thalia, 1 Noble Hierarch, 2 lands. First three draws were Tarmogofy, land, Obstinate Baloth. My opponent was a bit bothered as he thought he was favored, which is might be, but I got away with one this time.
Top 4 Scapeshift 1-2 4-2
This match was standard fair. Sided in the extra discard and Aven Mindcensor. They did what they were supposed to. Unfortunately, in game three, I ended up in an awkward situation of having all 3cc cards in hand and only five mana. I had nearly complete information, so I knew if I could ever play two spells in a turn I could punch through the final damage, but it never happened. He eventually, got a chance to go for it and took me out.
Overall, I enjoyed the deck. I'm not sure what changes I would make as most of the cards were good at various points throughout the day. The lands probably need a slight adjustment for a few utility lands to take better advantage of Knight of the Reliquary. Stony Silence and Grafdigger's Cage were largely worthless throughout the day, but that was a matter of matchups more than anything else.
Feel free to ask. I actually own a game store now, which has been in business since October of 1999. I've also done work for different companies in the industry. I've also written for a few websites and magazines. And as a player I've had some moderate success. I'm also on the Board of Directors and Board of Moderators for two different industry groups. No harm in asking.
So yes, I've worked the other side of the counter. Yes, I've been an event organizer. Yes, I've been an event judge, as wellas the scorekeeper, public relations guy, etc.etc.
I can tell you that on some industry forums, most store owners aren't that upset about the issue. More than anything, they are just concerned that they might upset a few customers by not having drafts available. Most retailers don't seem to have an overly negative opinion on the whole thing really. It's just a matter of not wanting to step on too many toes.
People disagreeing doesn't shoot down an argument. And again, I say let this prerelease roll by and see what the results are. In the past few years, WotC and Hasbro have made a lot of changes that many people on these very boards have complained about. They claimed some of them will be the death of the game. Hell, many of those posters declared they were quitting (which they didn't do). And yet, here we are looking at WotC/Hasbro moving MTG at an all-time high.
If it causes a flop, feel free to send me a personal e-mail and say "I told you so." I don't think this will be as bad as people think it is.