Quote from Life_Weaver »Each of the planeswalker cards, except the nicol bolas one, are hieroglyphic in the art style.
The nicol bolas one, from what I can tell, is actively etching each of the gatewatch members into stone.
Man imagine if these had been the style of the Invocations
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I think he got...carried away.
How does one use a vacuum seal?
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My problem with Puctrade is the wait. There's no telling when you'll get the card you want. Though that was fine maybe in early 2015-mid 2015, it's not really acceptable now. 1-2 months is kinda ok...sometimes a little longer for bigger wants is fine...2-3 months isn't the worst thing ever...but if it's taking 4+ months to get anything, then until you "cash in the pucapoints," you're stuck with useless currency.
There's a line between patience and being a chump IMO. If it takes 4+ months to move the points to the Wasteland/Dark Confidant/whatever it is that you want...IMO you can just sell/trade away the card you don't want and get the card you need in that same time-frame, if not sooner.
Exact dollar values might not match up, but IMO time's a precious resource you can't afford to just waste.
Yeah, that about nails it. Also, though it's not perfect, I wouldn't mind using the current MTGS website for trading if the traffic and activity on here was higher; I've done several trades on here with the new website and it's alright. It's not perfect, but it got the job done.
These days finding people who actually have the stuff I want is the hard part.
It's such a shame; I'm used to the old style of trading on MTGS and Pojo.com and the like...
I can't seem to find many good Facebook trading groups; most are local players and they don't always have what I need. lol I kinda liked having a (seemingly) near-global scale of trading. But I may just be biased.
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^^This. I'm wasting a lot of time sifting through post after post praying for a nugget of useful information. Instead I get almost nothing but Nahiri vs. non-Nahiri. It's like the equivalent of "NA vs. EU" bs in Twitch chat. At least with Twitch, you know it's mostly satirical...
Yeah...I don't know about that; some of these posts come off rather aggressive. I don't mind the posting of non-Nahiri decklists and discussing.
It's the "Is Nahiri even worth running," attitude that bothers me. Btw, the answer to that question is, "Yes, yes she is. Whether or not you want to is another story. Next question please?"
Of course, questioning the "norm" or "established builds" is one of the step towards innovating. But damn man, I've never seen this much resistance from its own pilots in any other deck archetype. I know they mean well, but IMHO, I think they're just asking the *wrong* questions.
Since this is a control deck, with generally a reactive game plan, I think it's more than reasonable to sideboard a lot of cards in -- so long as the cards sided in is better than the ones coming out. Because we're a deck of answers more than anything, it's fine to change a lot of the moving gears and parts of the deck.
If we were playing something like aggro or Suicide Zoo, then we wouldn't want to side in too many answers and counter-answer cards, because we have a very set and specific way we want to play (and need to play). You don't want to dilute your game plan. In the case of Jeskai Control, our game plan is more or less, tower defense. So anything that disrupts them from winning is always gonna set us ahead.
When playing against burn with Jeskai Control, there's nothing I love more than seeing my opponent not be able to cast spells, because they're stuck on a hand full of Destructive Revelries...all because they saw one Spellskite game 2.
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I think that is more because the card exiles itself then comes back, regardless of whether or not it transformed.
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1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2-Drop Creatures: 4
1 Moorland Drifter
1 Guardian of Pilgrims
1 Sigardian Priest
1 Lone Rider
2-Drop Spells: 5
2 Blessed Alliance
1 Long Road Home
1 Grotesque Mutation
1 Vessel of Malignity
1 Kindly Stranger
1 Dawn Gryff
3-Drop Spells: 2
1 Angelic Purge
1 Ironwright's Cleansing
4-Drop Creatures: 6
2 Haunted Dead
2 Fiend Binder
1 Sanctifier of Souls
1 Weirded Vampire
8 Plains
8 Swamps
Sealed pool felt pretty good -- if not great. Could've used some more oomph here and there, but it was a solid pool with two bomb mythics. Only went 2-2, because I sucked hard. 2nd round game 2, I felt I punted real hard (forgot Avacyn had vigilance, forgot her trigger, made some poor decisions). 3rd game I mulled to 5 and all the hands were terrible. Didn't want to mull to 4 on the draw. Tl;dr: I'm garbage. Props to my opponent though. He played well.
The other match I lost, she was a solid player who also had a bomb-ass pool, with Olivia and Hanweir Garrison. Mad crazy combos with the Vampire that gave +1/+1 to all her Vamps as well. Along with several other solid cards. I never want to face another Hanweir Garrison in limited ever again. Sheesh.
Avacyn and Liliana performed as expected (READ: Amazing). Ruined several people's night with those two. Liliana's +1 controls the board well, even if it doesn't outright kill. Her -2 is a nice form of card advantage. Pretty close to backbreaking in Limited (and we're just getting back 2/2 vanillas with it!). Also gets Delirium going, fuels delve, and can load your graveyard with flashback spells. Furthermore, I like that it basically lets you dig for creatures if you're lacking in bodies; if you didn't draw a creature that turn, and you want more board presence, then -2 and hope you hit one. And it's not like Tasigur, where your opponent gets to choose what to add to hand. To be fair, I found myself +1'ing her a lot, because I wasn't too familiar with this format; I didn't want to get Liliana killed to a shock or bolt or haste creature. Most already know, but her ult is game-winning in most scenarios. Fantastic card.
I really like Emerge as a concept. Seems really strong. Didn't *quite* live up to expectations tonight, but it's no doubt a good/cool mechanic. Kinda wish I had more Emerge cards in my colors. The other 3 Emerge cards were in blue.
Mindbender:
1) Mindbender comes down rather late
2) Good effect, but slightly late; need it to affect the board usually, but it can't.
3) Solid body, but I don't always like sac'ing my guy(s); may just be awkward luck, but I usually wanted to keep the guys I was gonna sac.
Sanctifier of Souls underperformed for me, but it has potential. Faith Unbroken, Haunted Dead, Fiend Binder were great. I can see Fiend Binder being awkwardly bad though; 4-drop, fragile body. Long Journey Home has an average EV but high return ceiling. Blessed Alliance is good, though I might be jaded because of Hanweir Garrison (Alliance sucks royally against that card).
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I think Bearscape felt that Harbinger sounded better, when he was proofreading the primer. So I guess his vote changed. -1 Nahiri, +1 Harbinger. I probably would've given the nod to Harbinger as well, albeit it was a close call either way (I like both names).
Comparing Ingram's and Jim's list, though they are both very similar, I also think Jim's list is slightly better. (I'd rather have Geists in my sideboard from Ingram's list though, but he's kinda my pet card.
We had some discussion beforehand, but they're worth looking into again. Maybe once Eldritch Moon prerelease happens, discussion might pick up more on the card(s).
Not gonna lie, I'm getting pretty damn tired of people coming in *right after* we just had a long discussion about an alternate build and going, "Hey uh, guys, uh, I've been thinking........what if we ditched Nahiri?" Or, "Hey, what if we do Nahiri + Emmy + Kiki + Resto. It's like, totally different from just Nahiri + Emmy." Sometimes I wish they'd just make their own thread in Developing Competitive. I mean, I don't actually mind discussing different builds but man, I kinda hate seeing repeated and tired discussions over the exact same thing.
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Well. Guess since no one's biting, I'll try and help. I'll use my deck and side deck as reference. Before we start, this is by no means comprehensive. Hell, I don't even think I side the exact same way against even the same deck...some card choices can be argued both ways.
My list that I ran at GP Charlotte (9-5-1 finish):
4 Snapcaster Mage
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells: 30
4 Serum Visions
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Lightning Helix
2 Electrolyze
1 Dispel
2 Spell Snare
2 Mana Leak
3 Remand
2 Cryptic Command
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scalding Tarn
2 Steam Vents
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Glacial Fortress
2 Sulfur Falls
2 Island
1 Plains
1 Mountain
1 Desolate Lighthouse
1 Vendilion Clique
2 Negate
1 Counterflux
1 Lightning Helix
1 Wear//Tear
2 Crumble to Dust
1 Stony Silence
1 Timely Reinforcements
1 Celestial Purge
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Wrath of God
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
VS Jund:
In:
+1 Counterflux
+1 Lightning Helix
+1-2 Crumble to Dust (Depends on how badly you want to beat Manlands; I don't normally side this in vs. Jund, but it's not a bad call to do so)
+1 Timely Reinforcements
+1 Celestial Purge
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
*Anger of the Gods would seem tempting, but it doesn't kill any of the big threats that they run (Kalista, Goyf, Scooze with counters).
Out:
-1-2 Lightning Helix (It's either siding out this or Electrolyze)
-1-2 Electrolyze (See above)
-1 Cryptic Command
-1-x Remand (Depends on how you feel about counters in this match-up; I like my Remands here just fine)
-1 Dispel (I'm more worried about their creatures, so this is an easy cut)
-x Mana Leak (Same as Remand)
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Infect:
In:
+2 Negate
+1 Lightning Helix
+1 Wear//Tear
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Wrath of God
Out:
-2 Cryptic Command
-2 Mana Leak/Remand (exchange them for Negates -- player preference here though; sometimes you might rather have Leak/Remand over Negate)
-2 Spell Snare (Hmm...could be wrong, but I'm not confident it hits enough stuff I want it to. Hits Apostle's Blessing, Blighted Agent, and Spellskite...good cards...not sure if it's good enough though)
If you're insistent on numbers matching, then maybe for card #7, I'd cut 1 Nahiri or Electrolyze (the card is expensive to cast).
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Affinity:
In:
+1 Stony Silence
+1 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Wear//Tear
+1 Lightning Helix
Out:
-3 Remand
-2 Cryptic Command/Nahiri, the Harbinger
-1 Dispel
-1 Vendilion Clique/Mana Leak (Hell, maybe cut 2 Leaks instead)
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Naya Burn: (A weird match-up, where it's easy to sideboard...but at the same time, you kinda want everything)
In:
+1 Timely Reinforcements
+2 Anger of the Gods
+1 Wrath of God
+1 Lightning Helix
+1-2 Negate (kinda better vs. straight Burn...but it carries some weight)
Out:
-2-3 Remand (On the play, I don't mind this card)
-1-2 Cryptic Command/Nahiri, the Harbinger (Depends on whether or not you side boarded out your other counters)
-2 Mana Leak (I don't mind them on the play though)
-1 Dispel (I like the card vs. Burn in general. Not sure about Zoo though. It's potentially strong but also potentially really weak)
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Suicide Zoo: Should be similar to Naya Burn. See above.
Merfolk: Same as Naya Burn, really. Staticaster is actually kinda good in this match-up too (card's also good vs. Infect and a lot of aggro decks)
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Tron: Ugh, basically unwinnable
In:
+1 Vendilion Clique
+2 Negate
+1 Counterflux
+2 Crumble to Dust
+1 Stony Silence
Out:
-1 Dispel
-2 Lightning Helix
-1-x Lightning Bolt/Path (You kinda want to side some quantities of these out. I tend to do a 2/2 split)
Sucks because siding out burn makes the bolt-snap-bolt plan a lot worse (need a clock here), but you need the counters and disruption.
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Scapeshift: Similar to Tron. Just don't side in Stony Silence.
Ad Nauseum: Similar to Tron.
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Control:
In:
+1 Vendilion Clique
+2 Negate
+1 Counterflux
+1-2 Crumble to Dust (player preference; I don't side these in, but killing Colonnades is nice)
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion (big, clunky, expensive. Yes, but a haymaker that you can try and overload them with)
Out:
-2 Lightning Helix
-1-2 Path to Exile
-1-2 Lightning Bolt (side 1 out if siding 2 paths out, and vice versa)
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Collected Company: Similar to the creature decks above. I'd actually side out Spell Snares here though and add in Negates, as you don't really care about their 2-drops. They're good, but the killer cards are the instant speed tutors (Chord, CoCo).
There you have it. General guidelines to sideboarding vs. most of the meta. I can do more later if you want. Out of time now. Remember, some of this is player preference and build-specific.
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Maybe it's not quite *that* good, but it's an extremely solid card.
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Sell it to a card store. Most often for 50% of the value.