I've tested for my meta at FNM yesterday - many changes are in order! Only one Red deck is present, necessitating a dramatic reduction in preparations to beat it. Gone are the maindeck Fatal Pushes and the full set of Grasp of Darkness, allowing me to effectively target many more decks. The Heart of Kirans have also gone as they haven't been performing up to scratch at all. Having to use two cards to get a beater is just not where the WB deck wants to be, and there are very few cards in the list that I'm happy to crew with for more than 1 turn (the summoning sickness turn). With all this in mind, here is my list for tomorrow's Game Day:
Okay, I have moved to 4, Grasp in the main, with the rest of the spell package being 2x Push and 2x Transgress. I feel I need the spell package to lean towards dealing with Ramunap R because the rest of the deck has quite a few things that are soft to it - Matter Reshaper hates Magma Spray, Gideon AoZ just looks bad there and Heart of Kiran doesn't really help enough in terms of early blocking.
Sadly I have had no opportunity to test my list as I've been abroad, the first run will be FNM this week. I'm planning to load the sideboard with lots of removal and some Flaying Tendrils and Fumigates, plus Dispossess for the GPG and Gearhulk decks.
Something a little like this:
I know there will be at least 2 God-Pharoah's Gift decks around as well as mono-red, so have to be prepared for that, and Control is generally popular at my store. Not 100% sure on the SB yet, would like input on what needs to go there
Honestly I agree with the poster from earlier who said this has kinda ruined Ixalan - it's too much, too soon, while we haven't seen HOU yet and we've already seen a bunch of rares (the generally important cards).
Some of those rares are godaweful, pay 7 to draw 7.....What's wrong with a card that costs XUUU and draws X+3 cards? I mean even if it was instant it would still be bad.
Not to mention Daring Saboteur looks god awful for a rare....
How do you know its a rare? Its symbol its covered.
because we're looking at a rare sheet
WOTC don't mix rarities on a print sheet iirc
Has the two deck format been defined yet?
Zombies & Marvel?
Considering BG Energy has a better conversion rate than Zombies & Marvel combined I'm gonna go with "No".
Is that an entirely fair comparison? Zombies and Marvel between them are like 150 decks whereas BG energy was what, 10? There's obviously no way a big portion of 150 decks can D2 if spaces are capped
Nicol Bolas? Please cast someone with a non-descript accent. If a Magic movie (or even cartoon) is made, and Nicol Bolas has an UK english accent, I will scream. Screech, even.
If Nicol Bolas is in the MtG film and doesn't speak like a BBC newscaster I will be cripplingly disappointed.
This is coming from an Englishman with an RP accent too
You've been conditioned by Smaug. I'm just asking for a neutral accent. Is that too much to ask? =/
I don't know who Smaug is so I haven't been conditioned by anything, I just think a smooth British accent suits an arrogant, gloating evil for whatever reason...
Nicol Bolas? Please cast someone with a non-descript accent. If a Magic movie (or even cartoon) is made, and Nicol Bolas has an UK english accent, I will scream. Screech, even.
If Nicol Bolas is in the MtG film and doesn't speak like a BBC newscaster I will be cripplingly disappointed.
This is coming from an Englishman with an RP accent too
You might be well served to check out the "Humans" thread under the Established decks section...they are tending toward RW Exert.
Thanks, I gave that a look sadly I'm not after an Aggro deck, I would prefer something midrangier to focus on Glorybringers and Gideons while having plenty of removal for Aggro in the main and board
Hey guys, I'm brewing a list for AKH Standard based around Exert and the benefits of Always Watching.
I want the creatures to be good without AW, so only the better Exert creatures make the cut, while Combat Celebrant plays a sacrificial role and can temporarily keep things ticking over in terms of combat.
Gideon wasn't banned for some reason so I guess I have to run him
Selfless Spirit makes life a lot easier, gives me an extra flier, and hands me free wins in BG matchups
The spell package is open to tweaks and suggestions on nearly every card as it's currently geared to killing Mardu Vehicles, with Flow to give me reach vs. Control. I'd really appreciate feedback here!
Answered as well as I could.
Said that even though I enjoy midrange i wanted other archetypes to be standard playable so i can learn to play against them.
Coming in to agree with most of this thread, after a long time of trying hard not to...
A few things to clear up first: I adore Magic. In every way, every format, almost every set (looking at BFZ for an exception here...). I'm also a keen Midrange player, and have been since I started playing again (oddly enough, the week before BFZ dropped).
However, I don't like playing against 4 other midrange decks every FNM. I don't like crushing the control players because my Sylvan Advocates go under his counters or because my Selfless Spirit means she can't remove my Gearhulks. I don't like not having to make blocking decisions because Aggro's 1-drops can't get through my wall of 2/3s anyway. I don't like it when I decide to play control myself, and find that I can't beat Saheeli because every time I counter the combo I miss another turn of dealing with 13 Thopters that my lone Eldrazi can't hope to block (though that's more of a metagame issue there).
What I really want is to see these promised "answers" come through - because right now it's pretty much just Fatal Push that does what needs doing. Every Sylvan Advocate needs to be balanced by a Searing Spear, or even a Lightning Helix!
What I want is to sit down with my pile of bug dumb X/4s and actually have to think before I swing all out, because my opponent might have a Doom Blade or might be able to burn me out after the swing back. So while I still want to see big dumb X/4s, plz wizards, give my friends some toys too
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Shambling Vent
4x Aether Hub
4x Shefet Dunes
4x Ifnir Deadlands
2x Plains
2x Swamp
1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
Creatures: 22
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Ammit Eternal
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Thought-Knot Seer
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4x Reality Smasher
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spells: 9
3x Declaration in Stone
3x Grasp of Darkness
3x Transgress the Mind
1x Blessed Alliance
1x Transgress the Mind
2x Fatal Push
2x Stasis Snare
2x Flaying Tendrils
2x Fumigate
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3x Dispossess
Any last minute thoughts appreciated
Something a little like this:
2x Fumigate
2x Grasp of Darkness
1x Fatal Push
1x Transgress the Mind
2x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Dispossess
1x Aethersphere Harvester
4x Aether Hub
4x Shefet Sands
4x Ifnir Deadlands
4x Concealed Courtyard
4x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
2x Plains
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Matter Reshaper
4x Ammit Eternal
2x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2x Thought-Knot Seer
4x Reality Smasher
2x Liliana, the Last Hope
4x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Artifacts: 2
2x Heart of Kiran
Spells: 8
3x Fatal Push
3x Transgress the Mind
2x Grasp of Darkness
I know there will be at least 2 God-Pharoah's Gift decks around as well as mono-red, so have to be prepared for that, and Control is generally popular at my store. Not 100% sure on the SB yet, would like input on what needs to go there
and a lot of them don't look great tbh
because we're looking at a rare sheet
WOTC don't mix rarities on a print sheet iirc
Is that an entirely fair comparison? Zombies and Marvel between them are like 150 decks whereas BG energy was what, 10? There's obviously no way a big portion of 150 decks can D2 if spaces are capped
I don't know who Smaug is so I haven't been conditioned by anything, I just think a smooth British accent suits an arrogant, gloating evil for whatever reason...
If Nicol Bolas is in the MtG film and doesn't speak like a BBC newscaster I will be cripplingly disappointed.
This is coming from an Englishman with an RP accent too
Thanks, I gave that a look sadly I'm not after an Aggro deck, I would prefer something midrangier to focus on Glorybringers and Gideons while having plenty of removal for Aggro in the main and board
I want the creatures to be good without AW, so only the better Exert creatures make the cut, while Combat Celebrant plays a sacrificial role and can temporarily keep things ticking over in terms of combat.
Gideon wasn't banned for some reason so I guess I have to run him
Selfless Spirit makes life a lot easier, gives me an extra flier, and hands me free wins in BG matchups
The spell package is open to tweaks and suggestions on nearly every card as it's currently geared to killing Mardu Vehicles, with Flow to give me reach vs. Control. I'd really appreciate feedback here!
So, the list:
4x Inspiring Vantage
4x Needle Spires
10x Plains
6x Mountain
4x Glory-Bound Initiate
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Combat Celebrant
4x Glorybringer
4x Always Watching
Planeswalkers:
4x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spells:
2x Magma Spray
2x Blessed Alliance
4x Incendiary Flow
4x Stasis Snare
Thanks for reading, all comments appreciated
Said that even though I enjoy midrange i wanted other archetypes to be standard playable so i can learn to play against them.
A few things to clear up first: I adore Magic. In every way, every format, almost every set (looking at BFZ for an exception here...). I'm also a keen Midrange player, and have been since I started playing again (oddly enough, the week before BFZ dropped).
However, I don't like playing against 4 other midrange decks every FNM. I don't like crushing the control players because my Sylvan Advocates go under his counters or because my Selfless Spirit means she can't remove my Gearhulks. I don't like not having to make blocking decisions because Aggro's 1-drops can't get through my wall of 2/3s anyway. I don't like it when I decide to play control myself, and find that I can't beat Saheeli because every time I counter the combo I miss another turn of dealing with 13 Thopters that my lone Eldrazi can't hope to block (though that's more of a metagame issue there).
What I really want is to see these promised "answers" come through - because right now it's pretty much just Fatal Push that does what needs doing. Every Sylvan Advocate needs to be balanced by a Searing Spear, or even a Lightning Helix!
What I want is to sit down with my pile of bug dumb X/4s and actually have to think before I swing all out, because my opponent might have a Doom Blade or might be able to burn me out after the swing back. So while I still want to see big dumb X/4s, plz wizards, give my friends some toys too