Magic the Gathering Arena

[spectre]

The guess is easy, I think. Just assume it's mono red. Most of the time it's going to be it.
If you guess wrong vs. control, the other guy will have a similar number of dead cards and you have some time to draw the right stuff.
If it happens to be aggro and you guessed wrong, it ends the game quickly and you have very little allowance for dead cards.

When it comes to UB vs WUB, it is true that discard based interaction sucks vs. mono red and it would be best to play Bo3 and board all this shit out.
UB may not be that bad. For one, you don't need to be killing yourself with shocklands just to keep up. It may be necessary to maindeck shit like Aether Gust which always feels bad. A card that's often overlooked
here is Fae of Wishes, this thing can block everything up to Xanax and will usually trade two for one giving you the choice then to bounce it and do it all over again.

I'm not seeing that much UG ramp to give you an opinion, a few past days were pretty much mono red, ug control and a few clover decks here and there.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

I've been playing BO3 only and *knock on wood 1000000x* haven't seen mono red in over a week thank god

That said I've been playing much much less lately

 

[spectre]

Yeah, Bo3 has always been a safe haven for the times when the regular queue is all rdw.

With all the Cerulean Drakes, Aether Gusts, Archons and Decrees waiting to pop in from the sideboard, mono red isn't that great in games 2 and 3.
From what I read, it's gotten quite a thrashing in the recent bigger events.

Not to mention, the target audience for RDW seems to want their wins fast with none of this sideboarding nonsense.

 

[spectre]

Historic Anthology 2 list is up:
https://gamerant.com/magic-the-gathering-arena-historic-anthology-2-new-cards-release-date-price/

I'm really happy about getting cycling lands in this bunch, though just as with the previous anthology, I think I'll just be getting what I need with wildcards.

 

[Monkeysattva]

Really starting to dislike this meta. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like the number of jenky decks you can construct has somehow been cut down by a lot. And for me, this version of mono-red is the most obnoxious in a long time. Makes me long for chain-whirler.

 

[anvi]

That's exactly how I feel. I got to Mythic last season with a few different homebrews that were no slouch. They took me months of tweaking to get to the point that I could win regularly with them. Red was fast enough to win in 3 or 4 turns if he drew what he needed, but I could stand a chance thanks to cards like Deafening Clarion, Carnarium, Oath of Kaya, etc. One of those would let me survive to turn 4 and then I had regular board wipes, so I could handle aggro decks most of the time. But the way it is now, the net decks are just too strong. Nothing I try will stop them and it isn't even close. I used to always feel ooooh so close! so I could tweak and tweak until I finally got ahead of the curve. But now I am on 3 life on turn 3 and nothing I can do will stop it. Oath is useless because it only kills 1 thing and they usually have about 5 things out by turn 3. Board wipes are useless because they need turn 4 which is too late, and even if you do survive to that point, board wipes are no good anymore because he always ends up with tokens popping out after the wipe, or hasted shit that can finish me off next turn. It is just too strong.

It also sucks because it is really 99% of my opponents. I hardly ever see anything else. I occasionally get that white enchants deck which is easy for me to beat but I hardly ever see it anymore. It is always that red shit or the UG Nissa deck which pisses me off too. The problem with the Nissa deck is that he pumps out a bunch of creatures in the first 2 or 3 turns, and the Nissa comes out and it is basically game over for me at that point. If I board wipe, Nissa just keeps sending hasted 3/3's at me each turn which can easily finish me off. And if I kill the Nissa then he still has lots of creatures. So I have to be able to kill the Nissa first and then board wipe and somehow survive the time it takes to do both things so early in the game.

I really lost interest. I think bo3 would be a good solution but I don't even have a deck that seems to work in that. Most of my decks rely on something that is easy to beat if you know about it beforehand. I feel like the game doesn't give a shit about control anymore. It is forcing you to just play decks full of creatures which for me is a waste of this game.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

the draw 2 deck I posted earlier made it to plat in BO3 but I think it dies there.. for whatever reason every deck I get matched against in plat is mainboarding 4x narset which is basically the hard counter to the deck. and geesh, every deck I play against is some type of UW or UWB or simic control and it's just not fun sitting there for 10 turns while they counter everything.

so I think I'll take a long break from ranked. really I've only been logging in every 3 days to do the daily quest thing anyway, I haven't even been getting the weekly 15 wins for mastery pass lol

I can imagine how awful BO1 is with red staying far from that crap idk why WOTC allows decks like that to be so strong.

 

[new fucking guy]

Historic Anthology 2 list is up:
https://gamerant.com/magic-the-gathering-arena-historic-anthology-2-new-cards-release-date-price/

I'm really happy about getting cycling lands in this bunch, though just as with the previous anthology, I think I'll just be getting what I need with wildcards.

I love these. Much more of a "best of mtg" list than the last one. Waste Not! Designed by the Magic community!
I've been trying some esper humans builds in GRN, just because the manabase allowed it. Thalia and Meddling Mage are big news.
Ranger of Eos has to be one of my favourite cards in the game, though mostly relegated to edh by now. But he's at his best when he's a weird 6 mana curve topper, and there's no obvious support for him... I may craft one for brawl anyway.
And don't get me started on the fucking pack rat.

 

[spectre]

Bit of a shame they didn't give us Life from the Loam, since we're getting the full package around it. Oh well, there's still Terravore to play with, and Crucible of Worlds is already in. Imma brew me some jank.

Funny they should give us Ancestral Mask before giving us an actual Bogle. Still a bit meh, since we have All that Glitters.

 

[Scruffy]

i case someone here hasn't done the event yet,. this net me a quick 3-0 in like 5 minutes

Deck
3 Grumgully, the Generous (ELD) 192
9 Forest (THB) 254
2 Ravager Wurm (RNA) 200
4 Paradise Druid (WAR) 171
9 Mountain (THB) 253
2 Nikya of the Old Ways (RNA) 193
4 Oakhame Adversary (ELD) 167
4 Questing Beast (ELD) 171
4 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner (WAR) 232
3 Fling (ELD) 126
3 Sure Strike (GRN) 118
2 Risk Factor (GRN) 113
4 Stomping Ground (RNA) 259
2 Temple of Abandon (THB) 244
3 Affectionate Indrik (GRN) 121
2 Incubation Druid (RNA) 131

 

[Ranselknulf]

I've been trying to perfect a max size deck (250 cards), can't seem to get past diamond tier though.

Having a huge deck is nice because it can handle most contingencies in the long game as long as I save my deck searching plays until late in the game.

 

[Jason Liang]

Should wait for Battle of Wits

 

[anvi]

I've been trying to perfect a max size deck (250 cards), can't seem to get past diamond tier though.

Having a huge deck is nice because it can handle most contingencies in the long game as long as I save my deck searching plays until late in the game.

Are you doing that in historic or just normal ranked? I used to have a deck like that a long time ago. I'd like to make more use of Wishclaw.

 

[spectre]

I've been trying to perfect a max size deck (250 cards), can't seem to get past diamond tier though.

Are you trying to game the matchmaker? I thought only flies in "Play"?

No reason to perfect it, cause it's inherently shit and polishing it is pointless. If you want additional protection vs. milling (who the fuck plays mill outside Gold?) just put in some Clear the Mind. Preferably in the SB, fetchable with Fae,
cause you don't need that shit in every game. Fae wishboard also lets you 'handle most contingencies' instead of deliberately shittening your deck.

I won't harp about muh consistency, just consider this - in a typical game you'll draw 20-30 cards at the most. If you manage to draw through 100, which is nearly twice the size of a normal deck and less than a half of this contraption,
it means you landed some powerhouse draw and you're just fucking around in a game that was already won many turns ago. If you can easily draw 50+ cards don't durdle, just drop a Jace or Thassa's Oracle and win.

Hopefully, they'll give us Battle of Wits next Anthology.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

ugh well it's been 3 nice mtg-free days now I need to do the stupid dailies..

 

[Doktor Best]

It also sucks because it is really 99% of my opponents. I hardly ever see anything else.

Thats because you still play BO1.

I really lost interest. I think bo3 would be a good solution but I don't even have a deck that seems to work in that. Most of my decks rely on something that is easy to beat if you know about it beforehand. I feel like the game doesn't give a shit about control anymore. It is forcing you to just play decks full of creatures which for me is a waste of this game.

Well the most successfull BO3 deck is a control deck right now so i cannot really agree. Why dont you paste your deck here and see if someone can help you with a decent sideboard? And why are you so averse to creatures?

 

[anvi]

Cuz creatures are dumb. I wouldn't mind if they had interesting effects but they don't seem to do that anymore. I did a few bo3, it was ok but it took all day. My decks take a long time even for a single match, getting locked into 2 or 3 against the same douche can be un-fun, especially if they are simic flash counterspells.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Yeah daily deals + not playing is fucking me up

 

[Cromwell]

I feel like I lose a very high amount of games being either flooded or starved with mana so who gives a fuck what people play, this shit is broken.

 

[anvi]

Not surprised, all my decks have 27 lands. It is the only way. And even with 27 it is super rare that I get 3 lands in my starting hand. The game also somehow pairs you with the worst possible opponent for your deck.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Cromwell]

more like in meat space people cheat by sorting without lands, then putting lands in to have perfect ratio, then sorting just a bit

I dont even know what that means. How can you cheat when building your deck?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG