General Great Games of Magic (Videos)

Beautiful Miracles / Storm matchup in the day 2 GP Prague finals. Tholance is on a fairly stock Predict Miracles build (2 Mentor, 3 Snaps, and he's running 3 literal Counterspells) and Togores is on a PFT build(1) with 2 Past in Flames, 1 Sensei's Divining Top, and a Rain of Filth as the fifth Dark Ritual (implying he's happy to go into the late game). For once in a blue moon, the commentary team have good chemistry.

https://www.twitch.tv/magic/v/72065074

(1) PFT lists are derived from ANT but drop Ad Nauseam for additional Pasts in Flames and more reliance on the graveyard.
 

Dom Harvey

Contributor
Riley just prattles inanely, Simon's analysis is always solid but he's not the type to have good chemistry

that 3rd game is great though, it's weird to think he had the strategic vision to see how things had to end but mistapped a land and made it much harder for himself
 

Dom Harvey

Contributor
'Piloting through a storm of hate' implies his deck was functioning but he had to bob and weave around hate cards. Here he just took the only option available to him at every point and his opponent played badly

This match is great, especially G5 (IIRC):

 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
Some fun drafts

1.) The Legendary Conley Woods "gimmick draft"


ONE TIME DEEAAAAALLLLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

M2g1 is the best. I think everyone is high in these videos.

2.) The blast of genius draft with Ben Stark


The best part is the m3g2 mulligan argument.

1.) LSV's Zen, Zen, WW Lorthos Draft, because 8 drops was what Zendikar limited was all about.

 

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
1.) The Legendary Conley Woods "gimmick draft"

Currently watching this with my morning coffee... At first, this video is just a reminder of how miserable this draft format was. "We're gunna open these packs and make the funnest, weirdest deck possible."..."Well, all we've got so far is bombs"
 
Ben Stark was pretty unfun. I guess he sort of compliments LSV by being completely oblivious to humour.

I agree - you need a straight man to LSV's constant stream of jokes but Stark barely seems to notice them. BDM is a little the same way but he's said that he's refusing the give LSV the satisfaction of a response, which plays a little better in video than it does in audio. Stark is a one-note Spike, telling LSV how to win - which he hardly seems to need.

That mulligan decision was great though.

e: Cedric Phillips + Patrick Sullivan is the best caster duo I've heard. I wish there was better colour commentary in MTG coverage, something I also think is kind of lacking.
 
Cedric and Patrick are great, I'd love to see them on the PT coverage team but I don't know if that's possible or not.

I like LSV and Gaby Spartz as well, and I think LSV and Marshall would probably make a good team too as they're pretty great on LR. I think they usually team up with a third for the later rounds of the PT top 8?
 

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
I agree - you need a straight man to LSV's constant stream of jokes but Stark barely seems to notice them. BDM is a little the same way but he's said that he's refusing the give LSV the satisfaction of a response, which plays a little better in video than it does in audio. Stark is a one-note Spike, telling LSV how to win - which he hardly seems to need.

That mulligan decision was great though.

So is there somewhere in this draft that's really good? Or is just LSV having a lot of fun. I was hoping there'd be some stupid blast of genius plays.
edit: ah right, I see. I should watch the muligan argument.
edit 2: Yeah this is actually great. I was wrong.
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
I agree - you need a straight man to LSV's constant stream of jokes but Stark barely seems to notice them. BDM is a little the same way but he's said that he's refusing the give LSV the satisfaction of a response, which plays a little better in video than it does in audio. Stark is a one-note Spike, telling LSV how to win - which he hardly seems to need.

That mulligan decision was great though.

e: Cedric Phillips + Patrick Sullivan is the best caster duo I've heard. I wish there was better colour commentary in MTG coverage, something I also think is kind of lacking.

There just aren't a lot of charismatic mtg players :/

Its too often unsmiling faces, mono-tone voices, and bursts of nervous laughter peppered by an unhealthy fear of being judged for taking "suboptimal lines."
 
I dislike online Magic, but it is considerably more enjoyable to watch as a spectator.

It's less about lack of charisma IMO and more about having a hard time reading cards I'm not familiar with, waiting for shuffles (which take forever), being able to immediately calculate effects and creatures sizes, etc.
 

James Stevenson

Steamflogger Boss
Staff member
There just aren't a lot of charismatic mtg players :/

Its too often unsmiling faces, mono-tone voices, and bursts of nervous laughter peppered by an unhealthy fear of being judged for taking "suboptimal lines."

I'm a fan of LSV. If you watch his old videos, he's way less charismatic, funny, or energetic.. It's a really cool transition he's gone through. I wonder if he's actually gone through a personal transition and become more confident, or if he's just become a better presenter. I like to think it's the former, but it's hard to judge somebody's personal life by their online content.
 

Grillo_Parlante

Contributor
I think he went through a bit of a personal change. I know he lost a lot of weight at one point, and that it was a big deal for which he got a lot of support. Probably all of the positivity he got from excelling at the game was really good for him, and helped him open up more.

At least I like to think something like that happened.
 
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