oof sorry man. v much agree on the challenge with land count.
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 5 October 2017 18:29 (six years ago) link
what decks did you put together?
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 5 October 2017 18:45 (six years ago) link
we had one very good dinosaurs deck w/ huatli + settle the wreckage, one pretty good BR pirates deck that I played and one mediocre UG merfolk tempo deck that could steal matches from bad players but was underpowered. my deck needed to be 16 lands and the merfolk deck actually needed to be 15 lands. I got pretty unlucky regardless - I had some good rares (captivating crew, barrage) but I was basically never in a spot to really benefit from them - I had captivating crew on board twice over 9 rounds, once as a chump blocker, and once in a game where he resolved the draw 7. I drew into 9/10 lands so many times in the tournament that I lost count.
I think our cardpool was solid, so mostly bummed about misbuilding our decks / getting fairly unlucky. I didn't even feel like I made many in-game misplays since I just didn't have any opportunities to. with such an enormous sideboard I think there's lots of room to 'misplay' in not boarding in the right 8 cards - I think that's the area where the pros really get their edge in this format.
one weird thing was how everyone seemed to match our seating configuration - our dino deck was center, and he played against like 5-6 dino decks. I played pirates and played against 5-6 pirate decks.
― iatee, Thursday, 5 October 2017 19:14 (six years ago) link
huh that is weird. and i guess the way the tribes are distributed you are almost guaranteed everyone has 1 dino deck, 1 pirate, and then whatever's best out of what's left. also, variance in team sealed for this type of set has to be huge, some people are just going to open disgusting full-on synergy decks.
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 5 October 2017 19:37 (six years ago) link
ha yeah we sat next to PGO r7 at 5-2 and next to PVD/Stark/Efro r8 and I was like "well if these guys are doing horribly too, maybe all that matters is whether you open up an insane tribal pool" - d2 results seemed to suggest otherwise...
― iatee, Thursday, 5 October 2017 20:26 (six years ago) link
I'm thinking of locking in ramunap as my deck choice for the pt, it seems like the format probably won't be broken in any other direction by then and the deck seems easier to play than temur emergy.
― iatee, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 00:00 (six years ago) link
as long as people aren't maindecking hate i think that deck will be good
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 00:18 (six years ago) link
It's a reasonable choice, although I think energy is stronger. But then I've been playing an assortment of control varieties, so what do I know?
― Moodles, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 00:20 (six years ago) link
I feel like red gives me the best chance at just getting lucky and hazoreting people out, whereas energy requires playing super well. I have still played 0 games of standard in my life fwiw, though I'm gonna start grinding leagues soon I guess.
― iatee, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 01:04 (six years ago) link
my other plan is to have everyone pass me this deck again:
https://i.imgur.com/qAG9AfB.jpg
― iatee, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 01:07 (six years ago) link
I think Ramunap is a good choice for someone with not much experience. I played Block Constructed Robots at PT Nagoya for the same reason: I never play constructed, it was easy to play, it required little format knowledge. OTOH, my 4-color control deck at the next PT was a train wreck because I never knew what was a threat. If I ever make it back to the PT, I'm just playing the easiest deck
― Vinnie, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 01:14 (six years ago) link
i suspect this red deck is harder to play than most standard RDWs
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 10 October 2017 01:20 (six years ago) link
seems like all the pros are pretty dismissive about remunap now...
― iatee, Wednesday, 11 October 2017 16:07 (six years ago) link
There are some good options for lifegain, good answers to Hazoret, and ways to blow up their desertsAll combined, red is definitely weaker in current standard.
― Moodles, Wednesday, 11 October 2017 16:15 (six years ago) link
rdw is always better than people say it is
― ciderpress, Wednesday, 11 October 2017 16:28 (six years ago) link
yeah also everyone agreeing that it's bad might actually make it a good time to play it
― iatee, Wednesday, 11 October 2017 23:03 (six years ago) link
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/mono-red-at-worlds/
pvddr comments at the end basically boil down to red is still just fine, tier 1, although he wouldn't necessarily recommend it
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, 12 October 2017 12:53 (six years ago) link
i honestly don't know how true that is - the rug decks mostly rely on landing a single threat that you're opponent can't answer and then just riding it to victory whereas red requires you to make some real tough decisions about sequencing. also i think there's more skill to the mirror. i think its a good deck - its likely what im playing at nationals this wekend - but like most standard decks it has real play to it
fwiw i wouldnt lock in my deck this early - there's almost no benefit to doing it this far out and nothing in standard is complex enough that you couldn't pick it up closer the the event and still become proficient. also format knowledge as a whole is more important than deck knowledge imo so just playing lots of ~this standard~ with any reasonable deck has real value. finally a lot of yr % is going to come from the flex slots you use to tune yr deck and you're going to make better choices just playing the format for three weeks and not having blinders on
also if you want to borrow standard cards on mtgo msg me ive been playing lots in prep as well
― ( ^_^) (Lamp), Friday, 13 October 2017 01:01 (six years ago) link
I 5-0d my first standard league with it monored so clearly it's the best deck haha. I def got a sense of how the deck has nuanced sequencing decisions, though I think that's probably a skill that's fairly transferable from the decks/formats I play a lot, more than like, midrange mirror sideboarding in standard would be. I may take you up on borrowing stuff, I have access to red/temur on a friend's account but not control stuff. I'm all ears on advice in general.
― iatee, Friday, 13 October 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link
anyone have any deep thoughts on standard? I've been brewing this deck with a friend who's also going: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/801143#paper
it has okay temur/red matchups but gets super wrecked by that stupid abzan token deck, which I keep playing again and again online. not sure deep down if it's a better call than monored, or maybe even mardu vehicles. I don't really want to play temur.
I do feel like I have a pretty good sense of standard after grinding a ton of leagues online, though I really have no clue what to play.
― iatee, Monday, 23 October 2017 02:19 (six years ago) link
tokens deck seems like the sort of deck thats overrepresented online due to being cheaper than other decks + gimmicky
― ciderpress, Monday, 23 October 2017 02:20 (six years ago) link
Mono red has pretty much dried up over here. I've been seeing tons of both temur and sultai energy, a fair amount of control variants, and then just dribs and drabs of other decks. Tokens is absolutely not a big player IRL.
― Moodles, Monday, 23 October 2017 02:34 (six years ago) link
lamp, any chance you have mardu vehicles stuff online? (or anyone else)
― iatee, Monday, 23 October 2017 02:43 (six years ago) link
okay I've decided to lock in monored
― iatee, Thursday, 26 October 2017 01:09 (six years ago) link
I'm doing alright with it online and the temur matchup isn't unwinnable or anything
yeah i came to the same conclusion though there might be a good heart of kiran deck too
― ciderpress, Thursday, 26 October 2017 01:22 (six years ago) link
Modern GPs in Hartford, Providence and Toronto next year, maybe it's time for me to relearn that format
― ciderpress, Thursday, 26 October 2017 17:01 (six years ago) link
yeah modern seems kinda fun right now actually, that new humans deck is cool. I think unclaimed territory might open up some other tribal strategies eventually. the format still has the same core issues it always has w/ super linear strategies / sb cards etc. but overall the meta is a little less 'burn/tron/valakut/affinity' than it used to be.
― iatee, Friday, 27 October 2017 19:10 (six years ago) link
well i'm one of the valakuts so
― ciderpress, Friday, 27 October 2017 19:14 (six years ago) link
you don't have to be...
― iatee, Friday, 27 October 2017 19:33 (six years ago) link
sorry iatee i dont look at ilx v much anymore - coincidentally i have been playing vehicles this week and can lend you the deck on mtgo if you still want
― ( ^_^) (Lamp), Friday, 27 October 2017 21:21 (six years ago) link
are you preparing for this anyone btw? i can ask abt adding you to our group chatz if you want
― ( ^_^) (Lamp), Friday, 27 October 2017 21:22 (six years ago) link
I have 2 guys that I'm going with so kinda, but we're not a formal team or anything. I'd be up for joining your chat if it's nbd.
how are you feeling about vehicles? the sense I've gotten from playing against it is that it's a little too clunky after rotation, also has pretty bad mana. but it does play a lot of sledgehammer cards. I've liked monored in testing, I don't feel like the temur matchup is unwinnable or anything.
― iatee, Friday, 27 October 2017 21:38 (six years ago) link
the online meta is weird though, I think it might be really misleading. competitive leagues are...not really that competitive.
― iatee, Friday, 27 October 2017 21:39 (six years ago) link
there's been a lot of players - even really good players - trying extremely fringe-seeming strategies in the comp leagues. i've been playing against u/b/x tezzeret decks all standard season and they've basically put up no 5-0 lists which makes me think its eitger a) they really are bad or b) are so good that ppl are deliberately conceding to conceal info
of all the hazoret decks i think its the most versatile and powerful. the mana is better than last season's although its still worse than your other options. unclaimed territory is legit good and dragonskull summit also helps. i played a small warm-up tournament and two leagues with it and have only lost once and convinced someone else to play two leagues to a 9-1 record but im the only one in our group that really likes the deck still because it can just be so clunky and poorly-matched based on how it draws. conversely it nuts really hard and feels unbeatable with a good draw
― ( ^_^) (Lamp), Friday, 27 October 2017 22:14 (six years ago) link
I think I can actually just make the deck online, I have monored and can just rent hearts / courtyards.
do you have a list you like?
― iatee, Saturday, 28 October 2017 01:46 (six years ago) link
I just top 8'd the Hong Kong GP! My top 8 draft deck was excellent - thought I had a shot of winning the whole thing (I think they'll have it up on the website soon.) Lost in the quarterfinals in three close games, even after my opponent mulled to 5 game 3. I think I could have played a bit differently, and luck played a part, but obv the weekend was a success on the whole
― Vinnie, Sunday, 29 October 2017 14:20 (six years ago) link
that's fantastic, congratulations!
― Roberto Spiralli, Sunday, 29 October 2017 14:39 (six years ago) link
congrats vinne!
― iatee, Sunday, 29 October 2017 15:23 (six years ago) link
whoa congrats
― ciderpress, Sunday, 29 October 2017 16:29 (six years ago) link
awesome, great job!
― Moodles, Sunday, 29 October 2017 16:57 (six years ago) link
Thanks y'all
― Vinnie, Sunday, 29 October 2017 23:38 (six years ago) link
damn homie gj. ilx takes over the pt
iatee - I'm on my phone but I'll send you a list I liked. I 5-0d a league this wknd but idk how good the deck is. when do you leave for NM?
― ( ^_^) (Lamp), Monday, 30 October 2017 01:18 (six years ago) link
thurs morning - I'm prob just gonna play monored tbh, since it's what I know and I'm not gonna have a lot of time to test in the next few days
― iatee, Monday, 30 October 2017 02:02 (six years ago) link
GOOD LUCK ILXORS
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Saturday, 4 November 2017 01:20 (six years ago) link
Went 3-5, felt like I got pretty unlucky overall, wasn't super outplayed or anything. Most of my matches went to G3. My friends who decided not to wimp out and stuck with that mono white vampires deck we were brewing ended up doing pretty well (8-2 in matches) and were all over the coverage. That deck really isn't that good though, I've played like 15 leagues with it.
― iatee, Saturday, 4 November 2017 01:38 (six years ago) link
I mean it's okay. But they def had good hands and the deck has some real bad ones.
― iatee, Saturday, 4 November 2017 01:39 (six years ago) link
Oh cool, that was your team? That's rad!
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Saturday, 4 November 2017 01:46 (six years ago) link
PTs don't have a day 2 cutoff anymore, right? Good luck tomorrow, you can still place well
― Vinnie, Saturday, 4 November 2017 01:54 (six years ago) link
no, 4-4's the cut off :(
my draft deck was a pretty good but not insane merfolk deck - a 2-1 deck that I 1-2d with. my only rare was the control magic, but I had a lot of cheap creatures and 4 run agrounds. merfolk seemed pretty open but I opened poorly. I won r1 vs ur pirates, getting him with the +5/+5 spell out of nowhere. lost to legion's landing r2g1 and got color screwed r2g3. lost to a ub deck that splashed sunbird's invocation r3 - just got buried in card advantage.
with monored I won the mirror pretty cleanly r4, lost to black cartouche on a hydra out of 4c energy r5, lost a close mirror r6 where my opponent mulling helped him get his hazoret online first. r7 lost again to 4c energy, actually beat a cartouche g2 but g3 he just had too many good cards. and won my pride match r8 vs esper reanimator.
I got to play magic arena, which was pretty cool. I think it'll be big.
― iatee, Saturday, 4 November 2017 03:21 (six years ago) link