Dom is right, as usual, but, like...Terminus? You do library manipulation even!
Ooooor compare to Hallowed Burial, which was good when I ran it (that slot is currently the dragon choice wrath)
Sets Spoilers Over Innistrad (Digest)
- Thread starter Aoret
- Start date
Ooooor compare to Hallowed Burial, which was good when I ran it (that slot is currently the dragon choice wrath)
Dom Harvey
Contributor
Hallowed Burial is the right choice
this art tho:
ayy lmao(-kagachi)
this art tho:
ayy lmao(-kagachi)
is it just me, or this is this just about the Hardest Draft Format Ever? after doing exactly one draft, and having three different enchantments that had two triggered or activated abilities each, my mind is still reeling
This format is super sweet, I've been drafting it whenever I've had the chance and I love all the nuances to it. There isn't a clear-cut best strategy to force, the most synergistic pile usually pulls it out. I've drafted UW Flyers twice, GW Aggro and RB Aggro (which I did tonight). There are just so many different strategies to try out. A friend of mine 3-0ed with Call the Bloodline + Sanitarium Skeleton loop, went 2-0 split at a store with UR Rise From the Tides. This is my favorite format in a long while.
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
I have to concurr. A lot of really neat little interactions.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
I basically had the same thought as Ahabadans after the prerelease, and Hier is indeed what you want usually
I haven't followed this set at all. Is there a post somewhere with all the good graveyard cards? Or can somebody dump them?
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
http://magiccards.info/query?q=o:graveyard+e:soi/en&v=card&s=cname
There's a ton of lists on page 1 of this thread.
There's a ton of lists on page 1 of this thread.
Aoret
Developer
Yeah that was kind of my original vision for the thread, to separate "here's the cards I'm testing" from the discussion. But hey, who am I to try to avoid a derailed riptide thread
I guess it's natural that discussion would follow the list posting.
It only took one draft for me to sour on Diregraf Colossus. It seems really parasitic, a bum of a card without gravecrawler, and even then you need a sac outlet to really break it.
I've done a couple of SOI events online and thought it would be cool to show how each of my decks did. Sort of like what I did with the Legendary Cube. All of these drafts were made possible by my large gain of Play Points from the Legendary Cube. Thank you sweet price, you served me well (and I still have 500PP left as of now).
So first off, I did a friendly league, which is 9 rounds, you get to add a booster after every 3 rounds, so by the end the deck is pretty good. Mine didn't change much throughout the extra boosters. I changed out a Cult of the Waxing Moon for an additional Angelic Purge and I think that was it. Here was the beast:
GW Pack Purge (7-2)
The double Pack Guardian and Ulvenwald Mysteries I opened dragged me into green. White had the best support and early game in my pool to support these cards. I was pretty happy with the deck when I first built it. I went through all my games again to see any sweet plays. I decided to write up on all of them since I was looking at them all anyway. If you are going to skip these writeups (most are small) then I ask that you read Match 4 and 8 as have the most pictures.
I was going to mention what drafts I had done too (there was only 3), but this took me way to long to write out as it was.
Cards that overperformed:
They say that limited is defined by the commons, and while this is true in a sense, uncommons are where the real power lies. All of these cards are just insane. They all combine to work with each other to activate delirium, push through damage or gain card advantage. If I ever played an Ulvenwald Mysteries on turn three while having a creature on board I almost felt like I couldn't lose. Card is just insane, and I wonder if it could be good enough to be a part of Sigh's value grind engine. It is a tad slow for your typical cube but man, does it lead to some interesting grindy games. I feel that match 4 showed this off pretty well.
Now if you could excuse me I need to get away from this computer, I feel like I am about to fall asllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
So first off, I did a friendly league, which is 9 rounds, you get to add a booster after every 3 rounds, so by the end the deck is pretty good. Mine didn't change much throughout the extra boosters. I changed out a Cult of the Waxing Moon for an additional Angelic Purge and I think that was it. Here was the beast:
GW Pack Purge (7-2)
The double Pack Guardian and Ulvenwald Mysteries I opened dragged me into green. White had the best support and early game in my pool to support these cards. I was pretty happy with the deck when I first built it. I went through all my games again to see any sweet plays. I decided to write up on all of them since I was looking at them all anyway. If you are going to skip these writeups (most are small) then I ask that you read Match 4 and 8 as have the most pictures.
Game 1: I get beaten down to 6 by a Intrepid Provisioner with a Spiteful Motives and True-Faith Censor. I get to Bound By Moonsilver it and starting throwing out blockers for the other creatures. He runs out of gas and a lone Pack Guardian gets him from 16 to 0 while he is digging for things to do.
Game 2: My board gets cleared by a Lightning Axe and Avacyn's Judgment (gross) and I almost recover by stalling the floor, but a Gibbering Fiend comes down while I am at 4 and I can't find a way to remove it and die.
Game 3: I keep a two lander and whiff on the third land, which is pretty bad with a Lambholt Pacifist in play. So I need to burn my Confront the Unknown to stop the flip and get an extra draw for next turn. This is what it looks like for me on turn 4:
Luck seems to go my way after that, as I get my plains and start just trying to survive. He seems to be just getting lands and I stabilize at 7 life. I get some flyers to start chipping away and let my Soul Swallower start growing, throw a Gryff's Boon on it and he can't stop that in two turns and dies.
He then shows me his hand of Avacyn's Judgment, which would have killed me, all he needed as a discard outlet. Phew, luck definitely went my way in that one.
Game 2: My board gets cleared by a Lightning Axe and Avacyn's Judgment (gross) and I almost recover by stalling the floor, but a Gibbering Fiend comes down while I am at 4 and I can't find a way to remove it and die.
Game 3: I keep a two lander and whiff on the third land, which is pretty bad with a Lambholt Pacifist in play. So I need to burn my Confront the Unknown to stop the flip and get an extra draw for next turn. This is what it looks like for me on turn 4:
Luck seems to go my way after that, as I get my plains and start just trying to survive. He seems to be just getting lands and I stabilize at 7 life. I get some flyers to start chipping away and let my Soul Swallower start growing, throw a Gryff's Boon on it and he can't stop that in two turns and dies.
He then shows me his hand of Avacyn's Judgment, which would have killed me, all he needed as a discard outlet. Phew, luck definitely went my way in that one.
Game 1: I need to put a Gryff's Boon on my Thraben Inspector to stop the Lambholt Pacifist from flipping and it keeps getting in there for chip damage. The villian then Might Beyond Reason his Hermit of the Natterknolls to beat in for 7. I rip theAngelic Purge off the top to deal with it and start dropping Dauntless Cathars. He can't outrace the fliers and concedes at 8 life.
Game 2: I get to Bound By Moonsilver a Byway Courier with Spiteful Motives and get to Pack Guardian to suprise his 2/2. That leaves him down too many cards and once I drop Reaper of Flight Moonsilver he concedes at 10 life with only one 2/2 creature in play.
Game 2: I get to Bound By Moonsilver a Byway Courier with Spiteful Motives and get to Pack Guardian to suprise his 2/2. That leaves him down too many cards and once I drop Reaper of Flight Moonsilver he concedes at 10 life with only one 2/2 creature in play.
Game 1: Opponent says I am playing constructed:
I reply with the witty 'Dauntless Cathar is played in standard'? He plays some more plains and dies.
Game 2: I keep a 6-land hand and get stuck behind a Bygone Bishop + True-Faith Censor. He decides to swing it into my Reaper of Flight Moonsilver and spirit token, then drops his own reaper. So now I need to outrace his angel and stop drawing lands. The Ulvenwald Mysteries allows me to get aggressive by turning my sacrificial attacks to card draw. I hit a Kessig Dire Swine, the opponent can't find any green source (in 7 draw steps over two games) and is surprisingly unsalty for a person who had 'salt' in their username. He proceeds to crush his next two rounds (so he tells me).
I reply with the witty 'Dauntless Cathar is played in standard'? He plays some more plains and dies.
Game 2: I keep a 6-land hand and get stuck behind a Bygone Bishop + True-Faith Censor. He decides to swing it into my Reaper of Flight Moonsilver and spirit token, then drops his own reaper. So now I need to outrace his angel and stop drawing lands. The Ulvenwald Mysteries allows me to get aggressive by turning my sacrificial attacks to card draw. I hit a Kessig Dire Swine, the opponent can't find any green source (in 7 draw steps over two games) and is surprisingly unsalty for a person who had 'salt' in their username. He proceeds to crush his next two rounds (so he tells me).
Game 1: I keep a 5-land hand, get an early Vessel of Ephemera and start beating down with spirits while he loots continuously with Reckless Scholar. He then drops Sigarda, Heron's Grace and he hit a standstill. The next turn he plays Jace, Unravler of Secrets and just keeps digging with the Scholar and Jace. After what seems like eternity, I get an Angelic Purge and get rid of the Sigarda only to have him convert his graveyard into soldiers. He then gets to flip his Pious Evangel and bring an Inspired Captain and start beating in with this huge army:
I don't believe I can survive the swing and concede. So that was a long drawn out game and he only had 6 cards left in his library. So I decide to side into my blue bomb, Startled Awake:
Hopefully this works.
Game 2: I get pretty aggressive with Quilled Wolf and Dauntless Cathar followed by Ulvenwald Mysteries. That is until Sigarda comes down on turn 6. I get a Reaper of Flight Alabaster to keep it from swinging in, but just like last game it is followed closely by Jace and we hit stall war again. He gets an Altered Ego of my Reaper (7/7), so I need a way to deal with it. I draw a Confront the Unknown and with that I swing in. He blocks, so I confront, which turns on delirium, sac some clues to get some soldiers and eat them to keep my angel alive.
So now I have a threat that can eat up all of his flyers and should be able to win from here. He does nothing and passes. I rip some clues and find a Compelling Deterrence and remember most of his deck from last game and realise I should be fine. So I go to combat, swing in and bounce the Sigarda. Then, just like a scene of a horror film the mistress of hell herself comes to ruin the party.
He then beats in with everything. I just make sure I take as little damage as possible, then Avacyn flips and ruins my board (I forget to save my reaper). Now I am on digging duty. I have nothing that can save me now except for Startled Awake. I get it with the last turn to stay alive and realise I can't cast it. Mmmm, must be a MTGO error, so I crack another clue, still can't cast it. Mmm... Go to second main, still can't cast. Then it hits me. Sigarda. Sigarda gives you hexproof. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. So close yet so far. Who the heck opens that many mythics? I mean seriously. Now on serious tilt I go to match 5.
I don't believe I can survive the swing and concede. So that was a long drawn out game and he only had 6 cards left in his library. So I decide to side into my blue bomb, Startled Awake:
Hopefully this works.
Game 2: I get pretty aggressive with Quilled Wolf and Dauntless Cathar followed by Ulvenwald Mysteries. That is until Sigarda comes down on turn 6. I get a Reaper of Flight Alabaster to keep it from swinging in, but just like last game it is followed closely by Jace and we hit stall war again. He gets an Altered Ego of my Reaper (7/7), so I need a way to deal with it. I draw a Confront the Unknown and with that I swing in. He blocks, so I confront, which turns on delirium, sac some clues to get some soldiers and eat them to keep my angel alive.
So now I have a threat that can eat up all of his flyers and should be able to win from here. He does nothing and passes. I rip some clues and find a Compelling Deterrence and remember most of his deck from last game and realise I should be fine. So I go to combat, swing in and bounce the Sigarda. Then, just like a scene of a horror film the mistress of hell herself comes to ruin the party.
He then beats in with everything. I just make sure I take as little damage as possible, then Avacyn flips and ruins my board (I forget to save my reaper). Now I am on digging duty. I have nothing that can save me now except for Startled Awake. I get it with the last turn to stay alive and realise I can't cast it. Mmmm, must be a MTGO error, so I crack another clue, still can't cast it. Mmm... Go to second main, still can't cast. Then it hits me. Sigarda. Sigarda gives you hexproof. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. So close yet so far. Who the heck opens that many mythics? I mean seriously. Now on serious tilt I go to match 5.
Game 1: I get an early Ulvenwald Mysteries which gains me slight advantages when all by creatures keep trading. I have to drop Pack Guardian during my turn to stop a Breakneck Rider from flipping.. It gets Lightning Axed, but I have Bound by Moonsilver to stop it anyway. He keeps on being aggressive, which lets me trade a Convicted Killer for two soldier tokens. I then get to flash in my Pack Guardian into an Ember-Eye Wolf and Geier Reach Bandit to leave him boardless. I get in one swing with my Dauntless Cathar and Pack Guardian before he concedes.
Game 2: I keep a fairly average hand with two forests and get punished by a Quilled Wolf, Inexorable Blob and Spiteful Motives. I die missing my forth land drop have 5 white cards and 2 green four drops in hand.
Game 3: This time I keep a 3 forest hand and rip the plains right off the top to start doing things. He gets off to a strong start with Quilled Wolf into Breakneck Rider into Geier Reach Bandit. I get to trade with the bandit while the rider gets chumped knocking my Unruly Mob to 3/3. I play a Briarbridge Patrol and decide to swing with the mob. This ends up being a bad idea as he has a Voldaren Duelist and beats me down to 10. I decide to swing with the Mob again (I don't know why) and drop a Reaper of Flight Alabaster. He swings with the team again. I try and block favourably but my Reaper gets taken down by a Rush of Adrenalin and I go to 5. I have to Angelic Purge away the Breakneck Rider, which allows me to stabilise. I get a Soul Swallower, he drops a werewolf that I Rabid Bite next turn anyway. Swing in with my 6/6 trampler. He draws his card and concedes. Removal is good.
Game 2: I keep a fairly average hand with two forests and get punished by a Quilled Wolf, Inexorable Blob and Spiteful Motives. I die missing my forth land drop have 5 white cards and 2 green four drops in hand.
Game 3: This time I keep a 3 forest hand and rip the plains right off the top to start doing things. He gets off to a strong start with Quilled Wolf into Breakneck Rider into Geier Reach Bandit. I get to trade with the bandit while the rider gets chumped knocking my Unruly Mob to 3/3. I play a Briarbridge Patrol and decide to swing with the mob. This ends up being a bad idea as he has a Voldaren Duelist and beats me down to 10. I decide to swing with the Mob again (I don't know why) and drop a Reaper of Flight Alabaster. He swings with the team again. I try and block favourably but my Reaper gets taken down by a Rush of Adrenalin and I go to 5. I have to Angelic Purge away the Breakneck Rider, which allows me to stabilise. I get a Soul Swallower, he drops a werewolf that I Rabid Bite next turn anyway. Swing in with my 6/6 trampler. He draws his card and concedes. Removal is good.
Game 1: I keep a really slow hand with nothing until turn 4. He keeps beating in with a Quilled Wolf and stopping everything I do. I get to 10 life before I stabilise thanks to Briarpack Patrol. We keep building up our boards and once I get Kessig Dire Swine I start to go on the offensive. He doesn't block the first attack and goes down to 7. I only have 3 types in my graveyard at this point but know I can push through with my instant if he just chumps. So I attack with all my big guys, he only blocks the Dire Swine with a 2/2 so I Confront the Unknown and push through the rest of the damage. Turning on delirium with instants is awesome.
Game 2: We both play a forest and he concedes. He must have been scared of my forest as it's art was clearly superior in every way (or kept a 1-lander and didn't draw a land?).
Game 2: We both play a forest and he concedes. He must have been scared of my forest as it's art was clearly superior in every way (or kept a 1-lander and didn't draw a land?).
Game 1: We keep slowish hands and keep removing each others boards. Not really mush to talk about other than double Pack Guardian helped me convert my lands to threats to overcome all his spot removal and I win with a Gryff's Booned Guardian crashing in through the air.
Game 2: He gets aggressive early with a Crow of Dark Tidings beating me in the air. I drop Soul Swallower and when the opponents Rottenheart Ghoul dies I forget to discard the land to turn on delirium. But it dies to a Puncturing Light later anyway :\ A silly Inquisitor's Ox keeps beating me down, so I have to Angelic Purge it. I then get my Reaper with dilirium active so i can start being aggressive. I get to bring back my Gryff's Boon (that I discarded to the ghoul instead of the land) onto my Pack Guardian and he can't stop my huge air beaters.
Game 2: He gets aggressive early with a Crow of Dark Tidings beating me in the air. I drop Soul Swallower and when the opponents Rottenheart Ghoul dies I forget to discard the land to turn on delirium. But it dies to a Puncturing Light later anyway :\ A silly Inquisitor's Ox keeps beating me down, so I have to Angelic Purge it. I then get my Reaper with dilirium active so i can start being aggressive. I get to bring back my Gryff's Boon (that I discarded to the ghoul instead of the land) onto my Pack Guardian and he can't stop my huge air beaters.
Game 1: I remove everything he gets early and get beating down until Sin Prodder comes down. I take 4 from stopping him drawing a Solitary Hunter. The next turn I stop him drawing a mountian and he swings in with it and an Insolent Neonate. I try and kill the prodder but am met with Uncaged Fury and go to 15. I attack with my Reaper of Flight Alabaster and hold up Pack Guardian for his turn. I Prod away a Silverfur Partisan then my Angel gets Malevolent Whispers.
I can't survive this at all because of dilirium so I concede.
Game 2: I get to go nuts with Ulvenwald Mysteries and Thalia's Lieutenant.
I even get to Sin Prodder away his Malevolent Whispers this game. He decides to block with everything and I clear his board. He can't recover and an army of 1/1's beat him down.
Game 3: Remember game 1?
Yeah, it happens I guess, although I don't think I was going to beat that Slayer's Plate anyway.
I can't survive this at all because of dilirium so I concede.
Game 2: I get to go nuts with Ulvenwald Mysteries and Thalia's Lieutenant.
I even get to Sin Prodder away his Malevolent Whispers this game. He decides to block with everything and I clear his board. He can't recover and an army of 1/1's beat him down.
Game 3: Remember game 1?
Yeah, it happens I guess, although I don't think I was going to beat that Slayer's Plate anyway.
Game 1: I keep a 5 land hand. Only see two more spells and have to deal with a Sigarda and a Reaper of Flight Moonsilver. Yeah, not a good way to start the final round.
Game 2: I get an early Ulvenwald Mysteries which lets me be recklessly aggressive. Briarpack Patrol also allows for reckless abandon as you get to replace it anyway. I start to get behind on board presence due to his abundance of combat tricks, but I find Gryff's Boon and put it on a Dauntless Cathar to start pushing through but he gets a Reaper of his own to stop me. I then rip a Thalia's Lieutenant and start going to human grind town:
I attack with the team, he loses too much stuff and concedes when he draws his card.
Game 3: We both flood out, but I have the early removal to keep the pressure on. Even if he has a True-Faith Censer (man that card is annoying).
I had just sacrificed a land to shift the Bound By Moonsilver over, what I should have done is sac the Lieutenant as then I would have turned on dilirium. But it didn't matter as my opponent attacked in and let me chump so the wurm could start growing. I attack with everything next turn and he concedes.
Game 2: I get an early Ulvenwald Mysteries which lets me be recklessly aggressive. Briarpack Patrol also allows for reckless abandon as you get to replace it anyway. I start to get behind on board presence due to his abundance of combat tricks, but I find Gryff's Boon and put it on a Dauntless Cathar to start pushing through but he gets a Reaper of his own to stop me. I then rip a Thalia's Lieutenant and start going to human grind town:
I attack with the team, he loses too much stuff and concedes when he draws his card.
Game 3: We both flood out, but I have the early removal to keep the pressure on. Even if he has a True-Faith Censer (man that card is annoying).
I had just sacrificed a land to shift the Bound By Moonsilver over, what I should have done is sac the Lieutenant as then I would have turned on dilirium. But it didn't matter as my opponent attacked in and let me chump so the wurm could start growing. I attack with everything next turn and he concedes.
I was going to mention what drafts I had done too (there was only 3), but this took me way to long to write out as it was.
Cards that overperformed:
They say that limited is defined by the commons, and while this is true in a sense, uncommons are where the real power lies. All of these cards are just insane. They all combine to work with each other to activate delirium, push through damage or gain card advantage. If I ever played an Ulvenwald Mysteries on turn three while having a creature on board I almost felt like I couldn't lose. Card is just insane, and I wonder if it could be good enough to be a part of Sigh's value grind engine. It is a tad slow for your typical cube but man, does it lead to some interesting grindy games. I feel that match 4 showed this off pretty well.
Now if you could excuse me I need to get away from this computer, I feel like I am about to fall asllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
Any thoughts on
- Instant speed blowouts are hilarious
- typically translates into ": chump block 2 attackers; deal 4 damage as you choose divided among any number of creatures or players", which is a fairly acceptable rate of return
- The tokens can always be used offensively
- Pyromancer's Goggles
Devils' Playground also intrigues me, but sorcery speed makes it feel a little too miserable at..
- Instant speed blowouts are hilarious
- typically translates into "
: chump block 2 attackers; deal 4 damage as you choose divided among any number of creatures or players", which is a fairly acceptable rate of return- The tokens can always be used offensively
- Pyromancer's Goggles
Devils' Playground also intrigues me, but sorcery speed makes it feel a little too miserable at
..
Huh?
Once I realized the 2
ability on ongoing investigation also investigates, I fell in love.2 set blocks have me afraid that great mechanics like Investigate won't get enough cards/time to really shine. Likewise, I'd love to see more delirium and madness cards coming in Eldritch Moon.
Hopefully not everything ends up like landfall did, going from 27 cards in Battle for Zendikar to... 2 cards in Oath.
Trample is a "you may" ability, so sadly nope. They'll just assign all damage to the devil as a vanilla creature would.
So I have been doing some drafts online due to having a decent amount of play points (as said above in the sealed).
Then we get to tonight, where I did three drafts in a row losing all of them in the first round. Each game had a mana flood/screw problem game. The other game I just couldn't push through. Each of these went to 3 games though, so they at least did something once.
It is a little disheartening that all that hard work of winning have now run itself dry due to my one night of bad luck. I should have just stopped after the first game, but variance has to swing back eventually right?
I'll talk about my sealed escapades next time (I did 3 SOI Limited Championship Qualifiers) because since this is a cube forum I thought that the drafts would be more relevant due to being more synergistic.
The last thing I want to talk about is these two three drops:
vs
For some reason I feel like this cards have defined the limited format for me. They are creatures that allow for quick clocks that have relevant value when they die so you can be reckless with them. This is why anything with 4 toughness is great (and probably why I like the Ox so much). My question is which of these do you think is better in a vacuum? Is a 1/1 flyer better than a card (probably not) but the fact that you can get the spirit from incidental value (self-mill/discard) helps push it up so they are almost even. I am really loving Byway Courier. So simple, such elegant design and is the focal point of many decisions in limited when it is on the table. Should be a pauper staple goddammit!
God knows how this managed to win any games. It never won by mill and I didn't have much else to put in instead of the fleeting memories. It was pretty much Nibilis of Dusk and Incorrigible Youths just just continually beat in while the combat tricks kept the coast clear. Quad Tormenting Voice made the deck hum along great. Would recommend.
I won my first game by putting Equestrian Skill on a Nibilis of Dusk and riding it to victory. The second game the angel of hell herself (Archangel Avacyn) comes and blows me out one combat and I can't recover. The third game I keep a 6-lander and rip 3 lands in a row and rage quit.
M1G1 I get him to 3 before he stabilised and I start to flood out. He gets Sorin, Grim Nemesis to gain some life and I can't find my Odric to let my Intrepid Provisioner swing over in the air.
M1G2 I flood out again and rip a Pack Guardian at the right time to save my bacon. I also get to tech play of saving it with a Just the Wind (from a throttle). I still can't find the Odric I need to make my team fly over for lethal in 8 turns. I have to play the time game as he is only on 1 min left and manage to hang on while he times out.
M2G1 I get grinded out by Call the Bloodline and Accursed Witch.
M2G2 He mulls to 5, goes aggressive but Watcher in the Woods (SB) stalls him. I can then start to beat down with Inrepid Provisioners with Veteran Cathars double strike.
M2G3 I mull to 6, see a 1-lander with a Fork in the road and a lot of two drops. Risk it. Don't hit the second land for 3 turns :\
M1G2 I flood out again and rip a Pack Guardian at the right time to save my bacon. I also get to tech play of saving it with a Just the Wind (from a throttle). I still can't find the Odric I need to make my team fly over for lethal in 8 turns. I have to play the time game as he is only on 1 min left and manage to hang on while he times out.
M2G1 I get grinded out by Call the Bloodline and Accursed Witch.
M2G2 He mulls to 5, goes aggressive but Watcher in the Woods (SB) stalls him. I can then start to beat down with Inrepid Provisioners with Veteran Cathars double strike.
M2G3 I mull to 6, see a 1-lander with a Fork in the road and a lot of two drops. Risk it. Don't hit the second land for 3 turns :\
Deck was awesome. Never cast Descend Upon Sinful as never needed to. I won one game with a Rancid Rats chipping in for 5 damage in as many turns during a board stall. Skulk is an awesome mechanic. Byway Courier is also a greatly designed card. It lets you be recklessly aggressive, as you don't really care if it dies as generally anything will die to that 3 power and you get another card later. Plus 3 damage getting through is a pretty quick clock. True-Faith Censer is slowly climbing up my pick order too, never thought too much of vigilance before but it seems to be great in this format. Plus putting this on a Byway Courier is one of my guilty pleasures.
I kept getting passed so many cool rares that I couldn't decide what to be in (I also picked Olivia and thought about splashing red at one point). I won my first game thanks to Sigarda then lost to not finding any creatures in game 2 after seeing every piece of removal. Then lost game three after getting stuck on three for too long and couldn't maintain my board position.
Having Vessels of Ephemera aren't great when you are playing against werewolves and his creatures jsut generally outclassed mine in the first game. The second game I keep a 4 lander and see land in 4 out of the next 6 draws and he curves out perfectly. If I saw any of my removal in either of the games I think I may have stood a decent chance, but I wasn't favoured by any means. Never drafting mono white again.
Win the first game with a pile of flyers. Game 2 I can't find any creatures to block and my tricks run dry and I die. Game 3 I get stuck on 3 land with 4 cards in hand that cost 4+ and get overrun.
I'll talk about my sealed escapades next time (I did 3 SOI Limited Championship Qualifiers) because since this is a cube forum I thought that the drafts would be more relevant due to being more synergistic.
The last thing I want to talk about is these two three drops:
vs For some reason I feel like this cards have defined the limited format for me. They are creatures that allow for quick clocks that have relevant value when they die so you can be reckless with them. This is why anything with 4 toughness is great (and probably why I like the Ox so much). My question is which of these do you think is better in a vacuum? Is a 1/1 flyer better than a card (probably not) but the fact that you can get the spirit from incidental value (self-mill/discard) helps push it up so they are almost even. I am really loving Byway Courier. So simple, such elegant design and is the focal point of many decisions in limited when it is on the table. Should be a pauper staple goddammit!
I think dauntless cathar is the more fun card, it has both the dies-benefit and being a fun card to get into your graveyard from anywhere. Could be discard, could be selfmill, could be from it trading of with an opposing creature.
How has Olivia, Mobilized for War been for people?
I've been running Dauntless Cathar and Nearheath Chaplain, they are not that strong but very playable in my cube. Good in aggro decks as dudes that become more fuel, good in control as blockers that trade into card advantage. Add to human Counts, work in token decks, theoretically good in graveyard as redundancy for Lingering Souls.
Clues are stronger than they read, too. Shortcutting Byway Courier to - 3/2, when it dies draw a card is so far from the truth. The extra card costs sure, but you'll need it when you can afford to pay to draw a card!
I think we will look back to SOI and think "wow, that limited format was really high power". I love the synergy intricacies and importance of tempo (cough) in SOI. This probably means Wizards will consider it a failure because it was too complex and vow to never do something so awesome again. Ah well, I live for their mistakes.
Edit: BTW I 5-1'd my prerelease (without promos, thanks Brazilian customs) with this deck which I thought was crap: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/401988#paper
I don't think there's anything else that could be done with that pool, and I think I just bluffed my way to 5-1. Maybe I'm being harsh with it and the deck is actually good?
Clues are stronger than they read, too. Shortcutting Byway Courier to
- 3/2, when it dies draw a card is so far from the truth. The extra card costs sure, but you'll need it when you can afford to pay to draw a card!I think we will look back to SOI and think "wow, that limited format was really high power". I love the synergy intricacies and importance of tempo (cough) in SOI. This probably means Wizards will consider it a failure because it was too complex and vow to never do something so awesome again. Ah well, I live for their mistakes.
Edit: BTW I 5-1'd my prerelease (without promos, thanks Brazilian customs) with this deck which I thought was crap: http://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/401988#paper
I don't think there's anything else that could be done with that pool, and I think I just bluffed my way to 5-1. Maybe I'm being harsh with it and the deck is actually good?