General [GRN] Guilds of Ravnica

[Peter LaCara]

Part Two:

That's 40 freaking cards. Obviously I'm not going to have room for all of them, but there are so many interesting designs in this set that it's like I'm a kid in a candy store. This is a far cry from where I was a year ago with Ixalan where I wanted to add like five cards. I think what I'm going to do is play with the cards for a bit, and then do a complete cube redesign from the ground up after re-calibrating each of my multicolored sections.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

That's 40 freaking cards. Obviously I'm not going to have room for all of them, but there are so many interesting designs in this set that it's like I'm a kid in a candy store. This is a far cry from where I was a year ago with Ixalan where I wanted to add like five cards. I think what I'm going to do is play with the cards for a bit, and then do a complete cube redesign from the ground up after re-calibrating each of my multicolored sections.

Yeah, set looks deep. To be fair though, my cube still counts 12 cards from Ixalan (and a further 11 from Rivals of Ixalan). Not that bad actually! (Eesh, did a quick check, and Battle for Zendikar (2 cards) and Oath of the Gatewatch (3 cards) have really fallen by the wayside.)

 

[Velrun]

Yeah, set looks deep. To be fair though, my cube still counts 12 cards from Ixalan (and a further 11 from Rivals of Ixalan). Not that bad actually! (Eesh, did a quick check, and Battle for Zendikar (2 cards) and Oath of the Gatewatch (3 cards) have really fallen by the wayside.)

I bet you had like 10 cards from Battle for Zendikar but have later realized some of those should never have been included

 

[Onderzeeboot]

I bet you had like 10 cards from Battle for Zendikar but have later realized some of those should never have been included

Most definitely.

 

[Velrun]

I often face the same ‘problem’

Although I am sometimes doing an Ahadabans and proxying cards to test in a tournament before I make the purchase.

 

[Onderzeeboot]

Yeah, I rebooted my cube when Kaladesh hit, and since then I've been more diligent in testing my adds before purchasing them.

 

[fozzy fosbourne]

What is Ral holding?

 

[Chris Taylor]

I'm not sure I like Electrostatic Field. While 0/4 is nice, I think thermo-alchemist will end up doing a lot more damage while defending nearly as well, unless there's a lot of 3 power creatures

 

[yan]

hopefully gideons indestructibility
tired of that fool and his same cards

 

[Alfonzo Bonzo]

I'm definately down for:

murmuring mystic this is super cool, and I'll replace talrand for it. The toughness is great and I love you can clone it for fun and profit.

radical idea swapping out think twice. Like it's cheaper, like it's another discard outlet.

venerated loxodon I think this will be cool with the self bounce and token themes. Recurring this should be fun.

chamber sentry vivid and tri land mana base makes this fun. More removal for Simic control. Some small counter placement to pump it up. Cog searchable and recursive. Fun times.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

What is Ral holding?

A handkerchief maybe?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

What is Ral holding?

A dead, deflated seal pup.

 

[Peter LaCara]

A dead, deflated seal pup.

 

[yan]

went izzet
opened beamsplitter and murmuring mystic . runaway steam-kin promo
made five color value got sucked into six gate trap.

won match one barely boringly with value fliers
flooded vs screw and lockets into more lands

changed deck up and lost match two

went izzet splash green pumps match three. shouldve beamsplittered from the start. fishing for alpha strikes. sneak in beamsplitter with maximize velocity and another pump spell for five six mana



arclight phoenix
murmuring mystic
legion warboss
wojek bodyguard
2 leapfrog
fresh-faced recruit
passwall adept
vedalken mesmerist
fire urchin
ornery goblin
goblin electromancer

2beamsplitter mage
2 pack's favor
might of the masses
status // statue
maximize velocity
sure strike


sprouting renewal
disdainful stroke
lava coil

2 izzet gate, 1 golgari gate, 1 dimir gate
2 forests, 6 island, 6 mountain


i shouldve traded more pump spells for their creatures when i had two creatures out including beamsplitter and they blocked or attacked into. i instead wait for damage. and mulliganed more.

prob would go deeper on the spells too with less creatures like passwall adept, fresh recruit, leapfrog, wojek bodyguard and arclight phoenix. had sb:
direct current
sonic assault
beacon bolt
response // resurgence
command the storm
runaway steam-kin
assassin's trophy
severed strands
boros guildgate
selesnya guildgate
take heart
conclave tribunal
guild summit
plains
swamp

they looked so weak alone but my dumbass was evaluating them alone during building a goddamn combo
didnt encounter much opposing removal mightve been fine with low creature count hindsight but then weary of the aggro curving out perfect. n i didnt match up with any boros

i was playing high school kids n im reminding them their triggers. this guy played the 1g beetle as a 1/1 bc it had no others targets. rusty havnt played in a year. nutured yung saproling instead of proceeding to the no mercy kill mode take a forty minute break

2-0 golgari
0-2 dimir
1-2 selesnya
2-1 selesnya
2-1 dimir

pretty easy matchups. got finished by that 9/9 pump spell once. come back w the beamsplitter and maximize velocity into murmuring mystic token then jumpstart haste the new token then might of the masses

 

[Heymaker]

Arrived a bit late. They ran out of Selesnya and Golgari, but Izzet sounded like the most fun to play anyways (when izzn't it). Ended up 3-0 after first three rounds and then matched up against a pretty unrelenting Selesnya deck, who 2-0'd me with a surprise Bounty of Might game one and being stuck on 2 mana game 2 after a mulling to 6. All around very fun and grindy games. Boros games usually had me down to 5 or less life (went down to 1 during one game), slowly stabilizing and drowning the opponent in card selection, card draw, and safe creatures.

Lots of duplicates in my pool and the removal was absolutely key in not getting run over. Direct Current cleaned up the board of smaller creatures very well, Lava Coil is just kinda nutso for 2 mana, and Capture Sphere was very much my premium removal piece to save for the scary threats. Disdainful Stroke was backbreaking some games, but got boarded out for Boros matches. Expansion // Explosion was very swingy and a card I definitely was underrating (once cast as Expansion to copy an opponent's Lava Coil, twice cast as Explosion for X=3 & 5). Casting Explosion always felt like the win was inevitable. Quasiduplicate felt very questionable in my list given my creature density and their impact, so was boarded in for slower matchups. I boarded in a Leapfrog one game and copied two of them to swing in for 9 in the air the following turn. Never got to live the dream copying my Watcher in the Mist, but turn 5 Watcher into 6 Quasiduplicate x2 is just mean. Thoughtbound Phantasm was a perfectly fine early drop and usually traded with a two drop. The Fire Urchins were in there just as two-drop bodies and often would start chipping in reliably for 2 or 3 each turn after stabilizing. I occasionally sided in Leapfrop and Wishcoin Crab.

Also, opened up an Assassin's Trophy (sweet) so was happy to have that since I didn't really get a ton of bombs for guild.
Looking forward to seeing more of how this format evolves, which felt a bit on-rails to me at first and very matchup oriented between guilds, but we shall see!

Izzet Control

 

[Onderzeeboot]

After seeing LSV's first match (

, 5:35), I want to add Pilfering Imp even more, and Nightveil Predator even less.

 

[Velrun]

I don’t think anyone ever wanted to include Nightveil Predator It is neither interesting, powerful or interactive. Just plain boring except for the fact that it is new.

 

[Velrun]

On the other hand I think you were right all along with the Imp. Would you be so kind as to test it and see how well it carries equipments?

 

[Onderzeeboot]

On the other hand I think you were right all along with the Imp. Would you be so kind as to test it and see how well it carries equipments?

I don't get to play my cube that much, but I'm certainly going to try it out, yeah!

 

[Peter LaCara]

After seeing LSV's first match (

, 5:35), I want to add Pilfering Imp even more, and Nightveil Predator even less.

That last game makes me wish Disinformation Campaign wasn't so parasitic. That card is sweet, but I'm not sure you can run it outside this set.

 

[Velrun]

Yeah Disinformation Campaign is just the sweetest card. Like a more fun Esper Charm.

 

[Chris Taylor]

How do we feel about this comparison?

vs vs
Every now and again I've got an effect I want more than one of in my cube (like snapcaster) but I'm not sure simply adding additional copies would be good power level wise, so I add a similar card that's a bit less powerful.

So I think 2.0 snapcaster mages might be a bit much, but would mission briefing be good as like, 1.75 snapcasters?

 

[Velrun]

More like a 0,70 Snapcaster The surveil should work out quite well. Especially because it actually comboes with the flashback (that they didn't name Flashback this time) but the mana cost is a bit steep compared. And it can't flash block any 2-toughness creature. And it can't carry equipments. Etc.

I am not against the card. It is just not even remotely close to Snapcaster in power. If your cube supports lower power then go for it!

 

[Chris Taylor]

My thought was more do you recommend that or flood of recollection for the purposes I've described?

 

[safra]

My thought was more do you recommend that or flood of recollection for the purposes I've described?

I wouldn't stoop so low as Flood of Recollection IMO. I don't think I would want to take an early turn off to cast this in your format. For 'second snapcaster', I'd like to see Torrential Gearhulk, Mission Briefing, or even Dire Fleet Daredevil.