Yep people are. It's an expensive game if you don't want to get spanked in non-limited modes, which is all you can do without spending money.
The whole point of the game is to suck if you don't spend money.
I don't mind spending money -- just not stupidly. I've spent 1000s of dollars on mtgo and paper but I won't just leave it to the magic gods to "hope" I get the cards I want to build a standard deck. I probably would've spent 200 bucks in the past month on individual cards or so but with the current format every pack I crack in WotS has the same exact unplayable rotating 3 chase rares.
So I ended up just getting a jewelers loupe on amazon and I matched with another taiga and all 3 lower case Rs had the same exact rosette pattern on the feet(these all came from different parts of the US). I also weighed them and they way identically to a revised terror. The light also shown through with the same amount of visibility. I also did the UV black light and they seemed to all have the same amount of reflectiveness... I think I've done enough due diligence to confirm they are real but if there's anything I could've missed it would be helpful.
I attached comparison image (I think a revised terror and 96 arena land) any help would be awesome. If you need any more information I'm more than happy to post.
I've spent like 40 bucks and while it is fun to play I don't really like having to work so damn hard to play constructed competitively. I'm not putting in another cent just gonna finish my boros feather deck and then try and go free to play infinite.
I do have Leylines in the sideboard (which is usually gg against burn?) and if you play the deck right you usually only take about 3 damage on average from your lands by the time you go off.
I have tried Ulamog but I found it makes the deck a turn slower as you have to discard him the turn you goryos. Would need to run spirit guides?
My argument for Emrakul over Griselbrand is protection from instants, doesn't shuffle the graveyard and does nearly twice as much damage. Basically you sacrifice card advantage of griselbrand for an insurance of doing damage 13 or or so damage. Increase bolt count and collective brutality?
It does make sense to run serum visions over ancient stirrings as it keeps the card count in your hand up.
All very fine points i would like to add the main draw is that resolving either eldrazi with fist of suns is a win -- whereas griselbrand won't necessarily get you there. Again an older variant of this deck did do quite well... I just wanted to bring it back into discussion.
This is something I've been working on that's a variation of an old modern deck called "Tin Fists."
If people are interested I can write a primer on this deck but I'm still fiddling around with it.
If you draw a halfway decent hand you can win turn 3-5 but if you don't play it exactly right you can screw yourself. Easy to screw things up by burning a Thoughtseize on turn 1 when you don't have a discard outlet or grabbing the wrong card from an ancient stirrings. Other cards I have tested are serum visions, simian spirit guide and different combinations of the above list. One note as crazy as the mana base it almost always has 5 colors by turn 5.
The burn match up is horrible. Archive traps are useless, crypt incursion is useless since they typically aren't running very many creatures. I haven't figured out a good strategy for burn outside of splashing white. I added 2 spellkites (which is fun when you're playing against boggles too! :0 ) figuring its better than nothing... but thats the only strategy i've come up with so far...
I just went 4-1 with this in league... Might swap the darkness with cyclonic rift. I only lost to two poor draws against storm and little that I had that could interact with them.
I don't mind spending money -- just not stupidly. I've spent 1000s of dollars on mtgo and paper but I won't just leave it to the magic gods to "hope" I get the cards I want to build a standard deck. I probably would've spent 200 bucks in the past month on individual cards or so but with the current format every pack I crack in WotS has the same exact unplayable rotating 3 chase rares.
Scrubland Back
https://ibb.co/TcTK4HD
Scrubland Front
https://ibb.co/Nt74J62
Badlands Back
https://ibb.co/8x1H4V8
Badlands front
https://ibb.co/TYWYTV2
Scrubland Corner
https://ibb.co/6PrzHkQ
I have tried Ulamog but I found it makes the deck a turn slower as you have to discard him the turn you goryos. Would need to run spirit guides?
My argument for Emrakul over Griselbrand is protection from instants, doesn't shuffle the graveyard and does nearly twice as much damage. Basically you sacrifice card advantage of griselbrand for an insurance of doing damage 13 or or so damage. Increase bolt count and collective brutality?
It does make sense to run serum visions over ancient stirrings as it keeps the card count in your hand up.
https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/545496-varolz-vials
If people are interested I can write a primer on this deck but I'm still fiddling around with it.
If you draw a halfway decent hand you can win turn 3-5 but if you don't play it exactly right you can screw yourself. Easy to screw things up by burning a Thoughtseize on turn 1 when you don't have a discard outlet or grabbing the wrong card from an ancient stirrings. Other cards I have tested are serum visions, simian spirit guide and different combinations of the above list. One note as crazy as the mana base it almost always has 5 colors by turn 5.
Anyways I'd love to get people's thoughts.
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Emrakul, the Promised End
4 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells:
4 Goryo's Vengeance
4 Faithless Looting
4 Ancient Stirrings
2 Izzet Charm
2 Lightning Bolt
2 Thoughtseize
1 Collective Brutality
1 Chart a Course
1 Through the Breach
Artifacts:
4 Fist of Suns
Land:
1 Field of Ruin
1 Creeping Tar Pit
3 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
4 Mana Confluence
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Steam Vents
1 Stomping Ground
1 Watery Grave
1 Swamp
1 Island
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Ancient Grudge
1 Collective Brutality
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Through the Breach
1 Damping Sphere
1 Lightning Axe
2 Bontu's Last Reckoning
2 Spell Pierce
3 Leyline of Sanctity
:0 ) figuring its better than nothing... but thats the only strategy i've come up with so far...1 Field of Ruin
1 Verdant Catacombs
4 Watery Grave
4 Polluted Delta
2 Island
2 Ghost Quarter
3 Flooded Strand
3 Shelldock Isle
3 Drowned Catacomb
1 Swamp
Critters
2 Snapcaster Mage
4 Hedron Crab
4 Archive Trap
4 Glimpse the Unthinkable
2 Fraying Sanity
2 Darkness
3 Fatal Push
3 Surgical Extraction
4 Visions of Beyond
3 Mind Funeral
Artifacts
4 Mesmeric Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Crypt Incursion
2 Damnation
1 Grafdigger's Cage
4 Jace's Phantasm
1 Thoughtseize
4 Set Adrift