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Magic the Gathering Arena

Cromwell

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Messages
5,443
why oh why have I to grind again, and why did you kill my Torch of Defiance you heartless bastards.
 

da_rays

Augur
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
382
Location
Filthy Pub , Quebec City
Well im very pleased to play Ravnica before heading out for the prerelease event .
Cracked a Ral and a Doom whisperer. Crafted another whisperer , they are just fucking awesome . Ral is also a solid addition for RU decks and surveil while not kickass game changer , is like a weak explore . Does the job for boosting Ral . jump startable cards amd flush excess lands if you already have a good enough mana base.
Dimir deck will be atrocious to play against , I can feel it .

And sadly yes , its grinding time again. Singleton weekend will be perfect to grind a bunch of cards. Just hope to not go against too much rats colony deck.
 
Self-Ejected

DakaSha V

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
436
So am i understanding correctly that you dont get all of those good cards now? (The gearhulks, glint sleeve siphoners etc)

Because if no, ive already lost interest
 
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da_rays

Augur
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
382
Location
Filthy Pub , Quebec City
Yeah all cards from Aether Revolt , Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation are cycling out . We have Guild of Ravnica already open and collectable on Arena . You still get all kind of neat cards from the new set . You ll have plenty of new cards to have fun with im sure . If you havent looked at Guild of Ravnica cards list , you might want to take a look , bunch of cool cards and a few new mechanic.
 
Self-Ejected

DakaSha V

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 16, 2017
Messages
436
Yeah all cards from Aether Revolt , Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation are cycling out . We have Guild of Ravnica already open and collectable on Arena . You still get all kind of neat cards from the new set . You ll have plenty of new cards to have fun with im sure . If you havent looked at Guild of Ravnica cards list , you might want to take a look , bunch of cool cards and a few new mechanic.

So youre saying they gave away other top tier cards to work with?
The whole reason beta made me optimistic was because those cards allowed you to build a top tier deck with minimal investment
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
Yeah all cards from Aether Revolt , Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation are cycling out . We have Guild of Ravnica already open and collectable on Arena . You still get all kind of neat cards from the new set . You ll have plenty of new cards to have fun with im sure . If you havent looked at Guild of Ravnica cards list , you might want to take a look , bunch of cool cards and a few new mechanic.

So youre saying they gave away other top tier cards to work with?
The whole reason beta made me optimistic was because those cards allowed you to build a top tier deck with minimal investment
It seems you are eventually still going to get the 15 precon decks for free, and they are giving away Ravnica and Core 2019 boosters as daily and weekly rewards as well. You also get a special reward from closed beta of 3 planeswalkers.

Its silly to expect them to gift something like that Kaladesh kit.

mtga022.jpg

Won by Vraska.

mtga023.jpg

Wow. But I would actually take the other Sarkhan card instead...


mtga024.jpg

Wish, granted!

mtga025.jpg

Shit, what about a dragon to go with that?
 
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v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
fuck me, are those starter decks bad

i keep losing to bad draw, lack of answers, prettz much everything

and i have shit to to change, and shit game knowledge on what to change :(
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2013
Messages
2,071
Location
Siberia
B&W with vampires is pretty good in singleton tho, throw in a couple of fliers and enchants and you are gucci.

8-1 with it so far, the only loss due to being manafucked (terrible first hand and even worse subsequent mulligans, just conceded two turns in).
 
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Cromwell

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2013
Messages
5,443
fuck me, are those starter decks bad

i keep losing to bad draw, lack of answers, prettz much everything

and i have shit to to change, and shit game knowledge on what to change :(

What I did when facing the same Problem was building my own theme deck. What I needed (in pretty much any deck I build ) was something to exile shit you cant kill, ways to kill stuff quick (either damage via red, kill cards via black, or enchantments via blue/white ) creatures to finish it. When I had all that I just played and looked if I was missing something ( if youstill lose to the same problem agaion and again like for example enchantments or artifacts) and if that was my mistake or a general weakness of the deck I build.

Since I am also a noob the others may know more but for me it worked while learning the game without it being to frustrating.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
The red and green decks are decent, didn't bother with the blue, white or black ones. When you are starting out you should mostly be matched with other starters so you shouldn't have many issues as long as you are using the green or the red.

I'm making out like a bandit in Singleton, pulled a Niv-Mizzet to go with Nicol Bolas. For Singleton I recommend some form of B/x. My B/g is pretty difficult to beat in this format, nearly every card creates advantage, and going down to two colors with cheap card draw and color fixing has solved most of the mana issues. Got lucky and pulled a Phyrexian Scriptures out of Dominaria, the card is a torpedo. Damnation except you get to save one of your creatures, then they hold cards in their hand which you discard with Mind Rot. Also got lucky and pulled a Forebearer's Blade, another giant bomb.

B/g Singleton v2

1 Diregraf Ghoul (M19) 92
13 Swamp (RIX) 194
1 Doomed Dissenter (M19) 93
1 Murder (M19) 110
1 Llanowar Elves (DAR) 168
7 Forest (RIX) 196
1 Elvish Rejuvenator (M19) 180
1 Prodigious Growth (M19) 194
1 Ghalta, Primal Hunger (RIX) 130
1 Slimefoot, the Stowaway (DAR) 205
1 Vraska, Golgari Queen (GRN) GR8
1 Foul Orchard (M19) 251
1 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
1 Assassin's Trophy (GRN) 152
1 Vine Mare (M19) 207
1 Grow from the Ashes (DAR) 164
1 Pilfering Imp (GRN) 81
1 Cast Down (DAR) 81
1 Dire Fleet Hoarder (XLN) 102
1 Dusk Legion Zealot (RIX) 70
1 Kitesail Freebooter (XLN) 110
1 Knight of Malice (DAR) 97
1 Walk the Plank (XLN) 130
1 Deadeye Tormentor (XLN) 98
1 Mind Rot (M19) 109
1 Duress (M19) 94
1 Glowspore Shaman (GRN) 173
1 Status // Statue (GRN) 230
1 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 249
1 Divest (DAR) 87
1 Burglar Rat (GRN) 64
1 Plaguecrafter (GRN) 82
1 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82
1 Phyrexian Scriptures (DAR) 100
1 Druid of the Cowl (M19) 177
1 Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma (M19) 186
1 Carnage Tyrant (XLN) 179
1 Izoni, Thousand-Eyed (GRN) 180
1 Ochran Assassin (GRN) 194
1 Forebear's Blade (DAR) 214
1 Merfolk Branchwalker (XLN) 197
1 District Guide (GRN) 128

I haven't used any more wild cards, everything's just coming from packs and rewards.

mtga026.jpg

A hardfought battle.
 

spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,382
The starter starters are pretty bad indeed, the decks awarded for daily quest at are much more workable.

I'd advise not to spend too many wildcards until you open two or three and get some idea what you have.
Made that mistake myself, crafted a playset of bolts only to get 3x from the UR precon.

I'm currently rocking a RDW for fast grinding (its very budget, but well able to go infinite in constructed) and a WIP UW control to spread some salt around.
I'm not particularly happy about UW. It works well enough vs. most of the shit I come against at lower ranks, but it's not good enough vs. a fully pimped out WR aggro, especially on the draw it feels futile. Good thing that thing takes a lot of rares to really take off.

Seems like WUR control just might be the shit, because it's got an early working sweeper in Deafening Clarion. I've always been an esper guy, but black doesn't seem to have a lot of going for it when it comes to mass removal.
BG seems to be the designer's darling post-rotation, but I don't see it coming together for me.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
idk, black seems like the bomb to me right now.

For sweepers, black has both Phyrexian Scriptures and Ritual of Soot (blows up tokens too). In Dimir, Ritual of Soot seems to fit naturally with Disdainful Stroke. Still wont stop Carnage Tyrant (but then neither will Deafening Clarion).

The only things exciting to me in red are Experimental Frenzy and Sarkhan's Unsealing. The game is sure giving me Dragon cards though.

Green has Elves and Nullhide Ferox. Turn 3 Ferox, turn 4 Ghalta is stupid fast.

White seems very badly off right now, outside of Boros/ Selesnya/ Vampire specific strategies. Mentor is destroyed by removal. I look at the white mythics and rares and they all seem way overcosted besides Lyra Dawnbringer and Settle the Wreckage.

... are you M0ckingb1rd?
 
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spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,382
Oh noes, you found me. Please don't tell anyone.

I kinda forgot about the scriptures, but I never really considered them. I usually want that wipe straight away cause you can seldom affort one more turn.
It's all right if you can get full value out of it, e.g. having a decent blocker on the table I guess, but I keep my control creature-less if I can help it.
Perhaps worth a shot for the graveyard exile, but that's even slower.
And Ritual of Soot has one problem for me - doesn't catch Vine Mares.

Bear i mind, I'm only looking at those from the standpoint of which tri-color to use for a blue control deck, and black seems a bit subpar.
I may be biased, because I see a lot of UB and it really doesn't stick together well.

By the way, if you haven't, punch in the code "PlayRavnica" for three free boosters.
Every little bit helps, as said the old woman pissing into the sea.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
You can always run that Keldon Horncaller (or whatever) and get Scriptures to go off in combat on the same turn as you cast it, which would put you in Grixis colors.

Ritual of Soot is a specialized sweeper- again, good for clearing out weenies and tokens. You usually want to be running your own Vine Mares and such in that case.

And Browbeat/ Risk Factor actually do suck. Basically you are letting your opponent start with a free Force of Will in their hand for 4 life. I'm sure anyone would take that deal. Even were Risk Factor 2 mana, it'd still be worse than Lightning Strike.

I'm not in love with the Dimir cards either. Since I'm really tempted to commit to Sultai (u/b/g) and play a Muldotha deck. Well, eventually. At this point just trying to be able to run two colors. Golgari did pretty well for me today, and Phyrexian Scriptures (I'm "lucky" to pull 2 from packs and rewards) plays very well in Golgari, playing the role of Pernicious Deeds. Duress is kicking ass right now as well.
 
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spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,382
Yeah, I am aware about the shortcomings of Browbeat, giving the opponent choice is bad yada yada. I think there was an entire article on it. I've been there when it came out first in Judgment or whatever and had exactly the same discussion.
In the end, it turned out to be playable in burn decks. I think this was even a thing in T1,5 at some point.

On it's own it's a bad card and I wouldn't go out of my way to pick it in draft. The thing is to create such an environment in which they're screwed whatever they choose. 4 life isn't much, but a threat of 8 due to the pseudo-flashback is considerable.
Guttersnipes, for example, help to give it an extra mileage. Yeah, modern formats can be funny like this, 4 damage for three is acceptable, 3 cards for 3 is also quite all right. It's a card for the deck that can run it.

Not going to try to convince you to love that piece of cardboard because there's not much to love. They forgot to give us back the Ferocidons after the rotation so I have to make do with what's available, and most of the 3 mana options for mono-red and burn suck cock.
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
and most of the 3 mana options for mono-red and burn suck cock.

I know you're already running them, but Chainwhirler? And you have Guttersnipes in there as well, and the Legion Warboss is another option. I'm not sure why you need more than 8 3cc drops in RDW. In hindsight, Red clearly lost the most in rotation.

Looking over a gatherer search, you might also consider:

Captain Lannery Storm
Direct Current

Then there's iffier stuff but still solid like Precision Bolt and Repeating Barrage. Izzet has much better 3cc options.
 
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spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,382
I need to take a second look at Legion Warboss. Theoretically, there's potential damage output nearly equal to Hanweir Garrisson, not to mention, decent fodder for munitions.
Lannery Storm was all right when going full pirate tribal, makeshift munitions, captivating crew, buccaneer's bravado, the works.

There is also Piston Fisting Cyclops which is 1 toughness short for my tastes. This one definitely needs a bunch of jump-start cards to work.

Hijack is an interesting choice for three, but that is entirely dependent on the other player's deck. Might as well be a dead card.
I'll play it as long as people are playing Galtas and that 5/4 elf thing. The more Vine Mares I see, the less I'll use it.
I tend to pair it with Makeshift Munitions which makes it more of a 4-cost card.

Problem with the good stuff is that a lot of the interesting stuff is rare, and I don't really feel like throwing more wildcards at RDW.
So far, it's fulfilling its purpose for me, I'm going infinite inconstructed, taking 30 minutes per run, and I don't feel like throwing any more wildcards at it.

Seems like there's more than one way to do a RDW. Not sure if I want to explore it in its entirety because I have a feeling it's a solid performer, but not a tier one deck.

Just putting the most recent list here for reference:

21 Mountain (DAR) 263

4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Rigging Runner (XLN) 157
2 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
4 Daring Buccaneer (RIX) 98
2 Skirk Prospector (DAR) 144

3 Goblin Instigator (M19) 142
4 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149
3 Makeshift Munitions (XLN) 151
1 Goblin Cratermaker (GRN) 103

1 Act of Treason (M19) 127
2 Hijack (XLN) 148
3 Goblin Chainwhirler (DAR) 129
1 Risk Factor (GRN) 113

4 Rekindling Phoenix (RIX) 111
2 Banefire (M19) 130
 

Scruffy

Ex-janitor
Patron
Joined
May 16, 2008
Messages
18,150
Codex 2012 Torment: Tides of Numenera Codex USB, 2014
I still wasn't able to brew the deck I wanted to, but here's the first attempt with the cards I have. It's the most fun deck I've played in a while. Yes, it also wins.

4 Siren's Ruse (XLN) 80
3 Abnormal Endurance (M19) 85
4 Elvish Rejuvenator (M19) 180
4 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82
2 Llanowar Elves (DAR) 168
2 Druid of the Cowl (M19) 177
2 Burglar Rat (GRN) 64
2 Fell Specter (M19) 96
2 Reclamation Sage (M19) 196
2 Rhox Oracle (M19) 198
1 Gravedigger (M19) 98
1 Vampire Sovereign (M19) 125
1 Psychic Symbiont (M19) 221
1 Hostage Taker (XLN) 223
1 Pelakka Wurm (M19) 192
1 Meteor Golem (M19) 241
1 Soul Salvage (DAR) 104
2 Chemister's Insight (GRN) 32

***

2 Island (RIX) 193
5 Forest (RIX) 196
5 Swamp (RIX) 194
4 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253
2 Woodland Stream (M19) 260
2 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 249
1 Hinterland Harbor (DAR) 240
1 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
2 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245
 

spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,382
No more wipes, but there's an issue of how they'll be handling rotation. Will all your rotated cards go fuck themselves, or will you still be able to use the ones that got reprinted. or will there be some kind of an Arena Modern.
Not really a problem for me, as I don't really plan on giving them any money past the introductory 5 bucks, but it could affect your pack-buying plan.
 

da_rays

Augur
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Messages
382
Location
Filthy Pub , Quebec City
Ho damn 5 other decks? I dont give a flying fuck about the decks , but thats gonna make a nice pool of cards to make decent decks with . I dont see the rush to spend money there aside from the starter option , they are very generous with packs , golds and decks.
 

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