Magic: The Gathering C/D

i'm one of those people with upkeep stops, i added them way back when i was playing delver last season and i've gotten so used to them now that whenever i try to take them off i always accidentally F2 through my first main phase

i think opponent's upkeep is a normal thing to have though - self upkeep was only to thought scour away cards after you see them with delver but before you draw, which happened enough that i kept it on.

also self upkeep occasionally comes up when you have a card that can tap your control opponent's lands (e.g. deceiver exarch) and you want to resolve a spell in your first main phase (e.g. kiki-jiki)

i have yet to play a game of constructed on MTGO so i guess my perception is a bit skewed. i don't think i've ever seen anyone use an upkeep effect on either player.

playing instant speed stuff on your opponent's upkeep if they leave mana up during your turn is a pretty common thing! it forces them to use their mana less efficiently if they have a counterspell or bounce spell or whatever, while not giving them another draw step to find one if they don't actually have it. you should even do it in limited at times if it's relevant

i've used gridlock on my opponent's upkeep for some reason when i was still drafting gtc although i cant remember why i thought that was necessary. i think the only time i've used upkeep stops on my own turn was during ISD for stuff like memory's journey. typically though i only havde combat and end step stops turned on

i've also been more into trying to Q for the MOCS this year so that requires playing more dailies and fewer draft queues

yeah i've been playing solely limited since the new season started and only have like 9 QPs although i also have three on a different account which is irritating. forgbs i don't know how you play only limited on mtgo my match win % since the start of the new season is over 60% and i still am down tickets

maybe i should be playing more limited actually, i only have 2 QPs this season after playing a ton of constructed for 2 weeks. i used to feel like i had a more significant edge at constructed but post-GTC i feel like i have much less with burning-tree decks and reanimator being the 2 most popular decks and both having an 'oops i win' quality to a lot of their wins

Rare drafting like a fiend can really do it. I got a ton of Epic Experiments passed in RTR draft which sells for 2 tix easily. You get passed shocklands a lot. Also people dont seem to be aware of the value of foil mythics (doesn't matter which one). Plus having some diligence as to what cards to hold on to and what not to. For example Silverblade Paladin is something I could have dumped at a ticket apiece but I held on to them until I could get like 4. Abrupt Decay now sells to the bots for like 3 tix apiece and that was one of the few rares I actually tried to buy in bulk in anticipation of a price jump. Even with the duels you can kind of jump on trends - for example Stomping Ground is probably at a real high point since Burning-Tree decks are everywhere. Dump planeswalkers immediately since the price on those drops hard if no one plays them (but they always start out high). Get lucky pulling money mythics when your ticket supply gets low. I'm sure I'm still down on the year (my first year on MTGO by the way) but for the amount of drafting I do it's a pretty small amount.

looks like some shop got their buy-a-box promos early:

Render Silent
WUU
Instant
Counter target spell. Its controller can't cast spells this turn.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHGKoy_CYAAf-5z.jpg

sort of lame to treat this thread like a bad beat repository but i just went 0-2 with maybe the best M13 sealed pool i've ever had losing in the first round to someone playing triple bond beetle w/o primadox (or giving him the benefit of the doubt w/o him ever drawing his primadox) and round two to a person playing index. i'm stuck on 12 QPs and kinda just wanna give up on this month/magic in general. i played like garbage both games and probably had some outs i missed but it's just like gah. i really wish i hadn't preregistered for the WMCQ in two weeks cuz i think i need a break for a bit

yeah I've been through the same and it sucks, just no fun at all. kinda like a massive downswing in poker, not only is it frustrating when you get super unlucky but you also start to really doubt yourself. I dunno I'd just say take a break and try to come back with a fresh head in 2 weeks. a month is a long time.

anyway. the Izzet general was just spoiled and he's a doozy. 1UR for a 2/2 unblockable, every time it hits your opponent you either deal 2 damage divided or draw a card. sorry I can't find a picture right now

yeah Lamp i'm going through the exact same thing right now. haven't cashed a standard daily in about a month and i've played lots of them. stuck on 5 QPs when i've put in as much time as i did the month i got 30 QPs. hate GTC limited now because there's no room for personal preference, you either draft the deck that's correct for your seat or lose, and i don't want to lose when i'm at less than 15 QP.

on the bright side, DGM preview weeks start tonight. i love preview weeks.

the one thing i've learned about standard during this though is that there are no good decks, so you should just pick a non-terrible one that you like and master it. i haven't figured out what that deck is for myself yet, before GTC it was xMiMx humans for sure but i'm really souring on the post-burning-tree version of it.

are you playing his new version of humans? at some point he was like 12-0 in dailies with it.

i thought the izzet general was a fake off /tg/? i saw the scan last night and had no opionion either way but iirc it was a 2/2 unblockable electrolyze which seems... better... than the officially spoiled gruul champion at least.

if its real it's gonna result in some lame games in limited

that was my first thought too. there are plenty of ways to take care of a 2/2 in both sets, but if you don't have one it'll be real dumb. if its a fake it's a damn good one..scan looked good to me

yeah i have no real basis for judging but that seemed to be the consensus. it is seriously nuts in limited although i'm not sure how good he is in constructed rn.

that card image that was going around was very clearly photoshopped to my eyes, the lightning and perspective were all off and the typeface on the card looked like it had been resized digitally to get the angle right for the perspective

re: xmimx, i was running the build he top 4ed the ptq and premier event with last weekend. it's okay but you get so many awkward draws and he's cut back on the huntmasters/restos which makes it more difficult to play from behind. i get that it's a necessary evil to have a chance vs the reanimator and UWR decks that are popular, but i feel like it's lost its status as the aggro deck that crushes the aggro mirror which is what i liked about it in the first place.

lightning = lighting

also yeah it looked like it was just a 3 mana soft-lock in limited which is not something they would likely do at regular rare

oh man I was just assuming it was mythic. at rare it would be a huge mistake.

humph. the guy who posted it just deleted it. so perhaps y'all are right. doesn't feel like a soft-lock to me though - you can still target him!

http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?p=10013462#post10013462

thank god

xp the guild champions are presumably all rares, since the gruul one they previewed at pax was regular rare and it would be weird to not balance rarity across such a high profile cycle. also ral zarek is pretty much confirmed as the izzet mythic

i think making the guild champions rare is a really good idea fwiw just in terms of growing the game but it does mean that none of them will be too busted

is ral zarek the u/r planeswalker from the comic books or novels or w/e?

no thats dack fayden

ral zarek was in last year's DotP game but nothing else until now

he's featured in all the dgm promo art so yeah you'd think it's a done deal

Ral Zarek just got spoiled (officially), plus the actual Melek (way more expensive and gimmicky). Ral looks pretty good!!

oh wow those new split cards

Yeah, I'm psyched for fuse, definitely a very cool idea!

ral's +1 ability is really hard to evaluate - it looks kind of unimpressive but ajani vengeant's looked similarly unimpressive on first glance and ended up being quite strong.

my first thought is that it works best in a tempo deck where you play a couple threats on turns 1-3 then drop him on turn 4 and tap your opponent's blocker while untapping your island for an unsummon or whatnot. i feel like 90% of the time you're going to be using him as a double-bolt though in current standard.

yeah i really like the card although i thought of a bunch of 'blue' + abilities that i'd rather have than tapping permanents. the ultimate is suitably terrible and the - ability seems fair. its the first planeswalker in a long time that i was excited to use so theres that

looking over the spoilers the card that i most want to play is the u/w common tho, i feel like i am going to first pick that a bunch

So excited about all these cards - Beck/Call joining the Whispering Madness club of 'print a banned card for 1 extra different-coloured mana' too. Is there anything for elves in blue? Coiling Oracle?

I also dig the u/w common feel like the right deck is gonna be v v happy to see that

it's interesting how the fake spoiler the other day had the real art *conspiracy*

yeah i really like the card although i thought of a bunch of 'blue' + abilities that i'd rather have than tapping permanents. the ultimate is suitably terrible and the - ability seems fair. its the first planeswalker in a long time that i was excited to use so theres that

Ultimate seems good to me! You average between 2 and 3 extra turns, how does that not win you the game? Plus it's an extra card for my coinflip commander deck. I would guess this often is going to come out, bolt a creature, and maybe build up from there? Its playability depends entirely on how many X/3s it's going to take out (and obviously isn't very good vs. Boros Reckoner).

there are always potential combos with 'untap target permanent'

2 and 3 extra turns can sometimes just mean 2 or 3 extra cards

plus 2 or 3 more activations of Ral, if you leave a counter on it

I question what kind of deck wouldn't be able to do anything with 2 extra turns!

it's not *bad* but if you're behind on board it might be more of a stabilize than win

you generally don't get to ultimate a planeswalker when you're behind on board

pretty sure ral fits best in an aggressive/tempo deck anyway, with a slight nod to control decks who will just use the +1 to add a card to their sphinx's revelations

you generally dont cast Revelation on your turn though do you?

you do if it's going to give you an extra card!

alternately, you can do like...t4 play this, bolt their guy, then t5 you can wrath and still leave 2 mana up for a counter/removal for their follow-up play

the more i think about it, i think he's going to be one of the best walkers in standard

that sequence of plays makes no sense though, forget i posited it

i hope Beck is good enough to make elf combo a deck in modern, though if it is it might just get banned

I've heard some people complaining about fuse as being basically entwine, but if both halves have different casting costs and power levels (like Beck and Call does) it's really kind of different isn't it? I'm a fan just for the goofy frame, I love when they modify the look of the cards like that.