Magic the Gathering Arena

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Jason Liang]

i didnt realize that beckett can be dropped after combat. Sounds meh since you give up +1/+1 bonuses but its very good when you expect enemy not to block with current board.

Feb 7, 2019 at 12:58 AM - @Jason Liang: admiral brass
Feb 7, 2019 at 12:58 AM - @Crispy: Have you abandoned PF, luka?
Feb 7, 2019 at 12:58 AM - @lukaszek: admiral is cool but... mythic? id rather increase my planeswalker collection
Feb 7, 2019 at 12:58 AM - @lukaszek: i still play pf crispy
Feb 7, 2019 at 12:59 AM - @Jason Liang: thats true. its a good 1 of
Feb 7, 2019 at 12:59 AM - @Jason Liang: the +1/+1 is always good and you can frequently sneak in the creature theft
Feb 7, 2019 at 1:00 AM - @Jason Liang: since you can attack first, and then if they don't block, cast brass and take their guy end of turn
Feb 7, 2019 at 1:00 AM - @lukaszek: i think that wildcarding admiral over vraska would kill me
Feb 7, 2019 at 1:01 AM - @Jason Liang: siren's ruse + hostage taker
Feb 7, 2019 at 1:01 AM - @lukaszek: hmmm

Best deal is if you can somehow give Brass flash, and drop her after blockers are assigned but before damage... she should have had flash...

Insanely lucky to win this match ~

First three lands were 2X Unclaimed Territory and Blood Crypt so I had trouble casting spells.

His turn 1: mountain
Turn 1: Unclaimed Territory, cast rigger
His turn 2: mountain, he casts electrostatic wall
My turn 2: Unclaimed Territory, cast Firebrand and attack with both Firebrand and Rigger, get 1 damage and spectacle but forgot I can't actually cast spells with Territory so I cast a 2nd Rigger
His turn 3: mountain, he casts Risk Factor for 5
My turn 3: blood crypt shocks me for 2, this is where I get lucky, since I accidentally named pirate to both territories so I have a judith in my hand that I can't cast, I attack, he blocks the 2/2 rigger, I can cast either Light up the stage, lightning strike OR Cannonade and I choose Cannonade to kill his Wall over Stage for mana efficiency. Turns out that had I cast Judith instead of Cannonade, Judith would have died and then I would have died from the Elctrostatic wall pings
His turn 4: mountain, he casts Risk Factor for 4, then Lights up the Stage into a Shock and a Mountain
My turn 4: I attack for 4 (taking him to 13), cast Light Up the Stage, get land and Scoundrel. Cast Scoundrel, Drill Bit and take a Shock from his hand
His turn 5: He jumpstarts Risk Factor for 4, and Shocks me with the Light Up the Stage Shock that he would lose at the end of the turn, taking me to 3
My turn 5: Drop Judith, and he has no burn to kill her (since I drill bitted the shock in his hand), attack for 10, lightning strike to the face for victory

Killing his Electrostatic Wall early and holding Judith until the end turned out to be the correct plays, and it was through a stupid mistake that I ended up with the correct play

Some other matches this week~

Sweet win on 2 lands

Nut draw, turn 4 win

Ridiculous turn completely raped my opponent's hand. I ended up casting Freebooter, Rigger, Drill Bit and a Skewer. Not bad for 5 mana. He ended up casting the two Siege Gang Commanders though so it ended up being a close game (that I barely won).

Worst beat all week. Not only do I draw nearly every 3cc spell in the deck, as it turns out Siren Stormtamer is a pirate.

Current version of the deck, I think the spells are in more or less the right balance now. Would like to play one more Drill Bit or Light up the Stage but I can't cut a creature. Still missing 2 dual lands

2 Theater of Horrors (RNA) 213
2 Judith, the Scourge Diva (RNA) 185
1 Captain Lannery Storm (XLN) 136
2 Ruin Raider (XLN) 118
2 Dire Fleet Captain (XLN) 221
1 Dire Fleet Poisoner (RIX) 68
4 Kitesail Freebooter (XLN) 110
4 Daring Buccaneer (RIX) 98
4 Fanatical Firebrand (RIX) 101
2 Rigging Runner (XLN) 157
2 Grasping Scoundrel (RIX) 74
1 Skewer the Critics (RNA) 115
2 Light Up the Stage (RNA) 107
2 Drill Bit (RNA) 73
3 Fiery Cannonade (XLN) 143
4 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149
3 Dragonskull Summit (XLN) 252
3 Blood Crypt (RNA) 245
4 Unclaimed Territory (XLN) 258
8 Mountain (RIX) 195
4 Swamp (RIX) 194

 

[Scruffy]

favorite combo in draft: footlight fiend + bladebrand
favorite moment of the week: guy plays departed deckhand, the next turn puts curious obsession on it

 

[Projas]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl...banned-and-restricted-announcement-2019-02-14

lol

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Projas]

It's still played, in Bant mostly, also seen a new Simic list recently. But yeah, I don't think it was so prevalent that it would warrant a ban.

 

[Steezus]

It definitely needed a ban and in fact still needs one in Bo3.

I want to play a card game against an opponent. Not passively watch some dork cycle through his deck without a real win condition.

 

[Jason Liang]

On paper Nexus is in fact overcosted for its effect. Its the fact that it recurs itself that makes it problematic.

I'm a little irked that the players cheese enough to wildcard a playset of Nexuses get those wildcards back but I suppose that's subjective

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

I always thought it was funny to read people complaining about getting trolled for hours with some infinite loop nexus meme.

Oh well

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[illuknisaa]

I just beat he singleton event with this esper pile:

1 Thief of Sanity (GRN) 205
1 Basilica Bell-Haunt (RNA) 156
1 Settle the Wreckage (XLN) 34
1 Smothering Tithe (RNA) 22
1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria (DAR) GR6
1 Mortify (RNA) 192
1 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
1 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223
1 Hostage Taker (XLN) 223
1 Chemister's Insight (GRN) 32
1 Psychic Symbiont (M19) 221
1 Seal Away (DAR) 31
1 Conclave Tribunal (GRN) 6
1 Cleansing Nova (M19) 9
1 Lyra Dawnbringer (DAR) 26
1 Opt (DAR) 60
1 Blink of an Eye (DAR) 46
1 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
1 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54
1 Shimmer of Possibility (RNA) 51
1 Quench (RNA) 48
1 Dawn of Hope (GRN) 8
1 Revitalize (M19) 35
1 Ritual of Rejuvenation (XLN) 32
1 Sanguine Sacrament (XLN) 33
1 Clear the Mind (RNA) 34
1 Thought Collapse (RNA) 57
1 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
1 Murder (M19) 110
1 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82
1 Price of Fame (GRN) 83
1 Consecrate // Consume (RNA) 224
1 Duress (M19) 94
1 Treasure Map (XLN) 250
1 Primal Amulet (XLN) 243
1 Azor's Gateway (RIX) 176

4 Plains (RIX) 192
4 Swamp (RIX) 194
2 Island (RIX) 193
1 Memorial to Genius (DAR) 243
1 Godless Shrine (RNA) 248
1 Isolated Chapel (DAR) 241
1 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
1 Forsaken Sanctuary (M19) 250
1 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
1 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
1 Submerged Boneyard (M19) 257
1 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
1 Fountain of Renewal (M19) 235
1 Azorius Guildgate (RNA) 243
1 Meandering River (M19) 253
1 Orzhov Guildgate (RNA) 252
1 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 245

The alt art cards use reused art. Duress uses original art and ghalta is some store championship promo.

 

[Squid]

Not passively watch some dork cycle through his deck without a real win condition.

God I hate that shit. Glad I haven't seen it on Arena. Reminds me of blue players in EDH going for Omniscience + Enter the Infinite + Lab Maniac and just a bunch of draw spells and counterspells.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Just lost GRN draft to a guy with a perfect fucking izzet drake deck what the hell

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Jason Liang]

Tough win against Golgari. He gained 12 life off of that bs Wildgrowth Walker. Lucky to pull a Drill Bit to get rid of of mama Vraska before he could cast it. On his turn he topdecked Vraska's Contempt and nuked my Kitesail that was holding Find/ Finality and he decided to cast Find. On my turn I drew Judith and he conceded before I could get a screencap and burn him out.

 

[Scruffy]

soooo, anyone's got a singleton deck that can constantly pull 5-1 or 5-0?

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

seems really fucking hard to get 5 wins in that. You can only lose twice and everyone's running some meta crap. most games I've played, every creature my opponent puts down is some mythic legendary and they're all running like 2 planeswalkers it's total bs

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

^^ tbh i don't think it's worth the time just for 2 cards.. Maybe getting duress for one win is worth it but I wouldn't spend a ton of time worrying about the event. Even if you're good and have a great deck if you get screwed twice it's over.

BTW does draft match you against better decks the further you get? I swear every time my first 4-5 games are pretty easy then I get matched against like 3 perfect drafts in a row

 

[new fucking guy]

Here's my singleton deck, currently 22-5 https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1660647#online

 

[spectre]

Sexy singletons in my area generally bore me out of my skull. Thankfully, I only really wanted the alt art Durex set cause I have fond memories of the art from Urza block, so I don't plan on playing it a lot.

Generally speaking, the format is very random, but much slower, so you want to put as many midrange value cards as possible, all the planeswankers, etc., if possible emulating a top tier deck from standard, brutalizing the list a bit.
Say, you want to ape some form of Esper start with 4x Absorb, you pick one, and the other three will be Cancel, Thought Collapse and Sinister Sabotage. For 4 Magic Negros, you pick one, next comes a Tezerret, a Karn, and perhaps a Dovin,
proceed as follows depending on what you got.
Expect to see Rats and Persistent Petitioners. A single Gay's Blessing should be sufficient for the latter to take a hint and fuck off, although it helps to have a few boardwipes.

I did a 5:0 run with this just to see what the alt art looks on the Galta, it's a bit like every BG list ever devised thrown together. I tried to tidy it a bit but decided to sod it.
At the very least, maybe you will find the approach to mana base hopeful.

Spoiler

4 Forest (RIX) 196
4 Swamp (RIX) 194
1 Island (RIX) 193
1 Foul Orchard (RIX) 188
1 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
1 Dimir Guildgate (GRN) 246
1 Field of Ruin (XLN) 254
1 Woodland Cemetery (DAR) 248
1 Gateway Plaza (RNA) 247
1 Unknown Shores (XLN) 259
1 Golgari Guildgate (GRN) 248
1 Memorial to Folly (DAR) 242
1 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
1 Submerged Boneyard (M19) 257
1 Evolving Wilds (RIX) 186
1 Overgrown Tomb (GRN) 253

1 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
1 Divest (DAR) 87
1 Duress (M19) 94
1 Drill Bit (RNA) 73
1 Kitesail Freebooter (XLN) 110

1 Find // Finality (GRN) 225
1 Dead Revels (RNA) 71
1 Gaea's Blessing (DAR) 161

1 Dead Weight (GRN) 67
1 Cast Down (DAR) 81
1 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79
1 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129

1 Arguel's Blood Fast (XLN) 90
1 Midnight Reaper (GRN) 77
1 Plaguecrafter (GRN) 82
1 Phyrexian Scriptures (DAR) 100
1 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82
1 Vona's Hunger (RIX) 90
1 Hostage Taker (XLN) 223
1 Llanowar Elves (DAR) 168
1 Adventurous Impulse (DAR) 153
1 Druid of the Cowl (M19) 177
1 Incubation Druid (RNA) 131
1 Naturalize (M19) 190
1 Thorn Lieutenant (M19) 203
1 Jadelight Ranger (RIX) 136
1 Reclamation Sage (M19) 196
1 Thrashing Brontodon (RIX) 148
1 Tendershoot Dryad (RIX) 147
1 Vivien Reid (M19) 208
1 Carnage Tyrant (XLN) 179
1 Status // Statue (GRN) 230
1 Assassin's Trophy (GRN) 152
1 Vraska, Golgari Queen (GRN) 213
1 Vraska, Relic Seeker (XLN) 232
1 Golgari Findbroker (GRN) 175
1 Hydroid Krasis (RNA) 183
1 Doom Whisperer (GRN) 69

 

[new fucking guy]

If you're brewing to win, you should note that there's not much playable enchantment removal in the format. I went WBG just so I can use most of it and also win with unchecked Divine Visitation and Ethereal Absolution.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Jason Liang]

Yes but those Dreamcaller Sirens could be Hostage Takers instead

You should cut 2-3 check lands for Unclaimed Territories

Should run the blue spells! Pirates have Siren's Ruse as well as two great pirate counterspells. The uncommon one will help you beat mass removal more than March of the Drowned

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG