Magic the Gathering Arena

[spectre]

Indeed, companions need to go... into your sideboard.
Thankfully, that's just one rare wildcard in most cases.

I mostly played premier drafts and it's quite fun. Can be a tad imbalanced due to population problems (a mate decided to use their free token and was immediately paired with platinum dudes while being bronze)
The new mechanics give you that creative spark as you begin to wonder - what's the best thing to mutate over Barkhide Troll?

Well, you wanted mono red gone, I think it's mostly gone (only played a handful when ranking up to plat, can't be arsed to go higher as there's no historic ranked, and there was almost none in standard event).
Of course, there Lurrus Oven which will probably be the new mono red, but at least it comes in two color variants. Folds nicely to Leyline of the Void, so stock up.

I've read kiddies complain about Winota, and random youtubers tooting durr durr, broken, but honestly, it's there to be countered or die of removal. It's in the name. Win not, ah?
I'll show myself out.

Best thing is probably ChannelFrajerball put most of their shit behind paywalls, so peeople need to jump a few more hoops before getting the kosher netdeck list, though that might change once some high profile tourney results come in.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

Can be a tad imbalanced due to population problems (a mate decided to use their free token and was immediately paired with platinum dudes while being bronze)

oh yeah the matchmaking for premier is totally borked, I was getting matched against top 100 mythic players constantly as I was climbing through bronze/silver. Idk if they're even matching people based on rank, but it seems totally unfair to advertise it as a "ranked draft" but at the same time match silvers with mythics.

 

[Ranselknulf]

Companions don't seem that broken to me.

If anything I think they gimp players who build an entire deck around one card.

 

[spectre]

oh yeah the matchmaking for premier is totally borked, I was getting matched against top 100 mythic players constantly as I was climbing through bronze/silver. Idk if they're even matching people based on rank, but it seems totally unfair to advertise it as a "ranked draft" but at the same time match silvers with mythics.

It seems to be able to find me a gold ranked opponent every time in the first few games, after that, I expect the "number of wins" algorithm to take precedence because there will be a constant population problem with that mode.
Few guys will be able to affort the 10k shekel fee just like that, so there's going to be an extreme pileup of people in the gold rank, with very few players for lower and higher ranks to play with.
In any case, I'm seeing much fewer busted decks, so it seems human draft is not that exploitable.

Or is it the effect of ChannelFrajerball rankings being behind a paywall now? Folks are forced to use their own judgment for a change, rather than trackers telling them wot to fink?

In any ways, i'm having fun with this mode. The reward structure in particular is great.

Companions don't seem that broken to me.
If anything I think they gimp players who build an entire deck around one card.

I thing a good bunch of their alleged brokeness is imo alleveiated by the fact that you see them coming from a mile away, as early as on the mulligan.
I was skeptical about the limitations, particularly the ones chopping up your mana curve into odd and even, but it turns out with some work
you can stillplaying shit totally on curve by using ramp, taplands, cycling and abusing adventures. Made for a quite rewarding brewing process on my end.

 

[spectre]

New code: fnmathome appears to give two random cosmetics.

 

[Ranselknulf]

I just played a massively annoying game.

The guy had a 3000/3000 power / health lifelink creature, and I managed to consume it after throwing tokens at it for a few turns.

So we both had stupid hitpoint totals.

I managed to get a folio of fancies after like 20 turns and mill his deck down though.

It was ridiculous, we both could have run out of cards before any creatures we cast killed the other person. I literally had like 20 creatures out and it was pointless to attack.

 

[anvi]

I love games like that. I had a match like that, he had that green creature with hexproof while untapped, and the enchant which gives it vigilance so it was always hexproof. And then it kept doubling in size each turn so it ended up massive. But I blocked it every turn with something, and then I had a deathtouch creature out so he couldn't attack. Then I made him sac it and he rage quit.

 

[Ranselknulf]

I love games like that. I had a match like that, he had that green creature with hexproof while untapped, and the enchant which gives it vigilance so it was always hexproof. And then it kept doubling in size each turn so it ended up massive. But I blocked it every turn with something, and then I had a deathtouch creature out so he couldn't attack. Then I made him sac it and he rage quit.

We both had mirror shields effectively blocking deathtouch >_<

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

Yeah, seriously though, I think it's from the random fnm codes. I've seen people roll with a bunch of sleeves not available otherwise.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

My randoms were the wh*te non-exquisite sleeve, and a Jaya non-exquisite sleeve. Kind of a whiff.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

just 2 more drafts until I have all the godzilla arts then I can build the ultimate 100 card rainbow godzilla deck that never wins wooo

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

lukaszek
You should probably let the Lizard Wizard go. Pretty difficult cost, will strain that mana base. Leave on or two if you can't live without them.
Though, I play three in a straight UG flash and I would replace them with something else if I could.

Forget Growth Spiral, that shit wants 26 mana, and even then sometimes you'll fail to ramp consistently. Obviously, you want more ramp for turn three
Ambusher whenever possible, so Go Nightbondage, Go. Paradise Druid sorta works in this place, too, if you feel like you need more mana fixing.
Without the growing spiral of bad decisions, I think you can safely go 24 lands. I did 23 once with opts, but it felt like a gamble.
You also may have overdid it slightly with green mana sources, dial back on that temple of M'lady and get more blue mana sources on board.

And speaking of ramp, it's absolutely lovely when you put a few (2x) high cmc surprises in such a setup. Hydroid Krasis, Stonecoil Serpent, Big Ashiok, Nissa.
Just when they think you're out of cards and won' be doing bad things to them, drop one of those and keep the party going.

Also, don't skimp on Spectral Sailors, I tell you. Draw from this shit wins you the mirror.
Unless you are confident slitherwisp can deliver, but I have my doubts, and I'm telling you, you want three.

Does Magic Negro fuck up your day? You're a bit counterspell light, which is a logical approach when going tricolor.
Regardless, I'd pack some answers here - Ass Trophy is nice. I also think I'd move away from Quenches and go Neutralize instead.
You typically want to use removal on most shit, but when something needs countered, you need a reliable one.

Final consideration: in practice, how good are you with growing the spikey member on the Cutthroats?
I tend to move away from them if I don't have cheap instants like opt or unsummon.

Also, y u no love Dirge Bat Dark Destroyer and the Octopussy?

For reference, here's my finalized shit in vanilla UG. Managed to to a 7:1 standard event run with it just today, so it can't be all bad. Three last games were Fires, which is a cakewalk, but it seems to hold okay vs. most of the meta stuff.

Spoiler

Deck
4 Forest (ANA) 65
4 Gilded Goose (ELD) 160
4 Nightpack Ambusher (M20) 185
3 Spectral Sailor (M20) 76
2 Nissa, Who Shakes the World (WAR) 169
4 Quench (RNA) 48
3 Brazen Borrower (ELD) 39
3 Mystical Dispute (ELD) 58
3 Frilled Mystic (RNA) 174
8 Island (MIR) 336
4 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246
1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
3 Temple of Mystery (M20) 255
2 Castle Vantress (ELD) 242
2 Sea-Dasher Octopus (IKO) 66
3 Neutralize (IKO) 59
1 Essence Scatter (IKO) 49
2 Essence Capture (RNA) 37
1 Thornwood Falls (M20) 258
1 Thornwood Falls (ELD) 313
2 Cunning Nightbonder (IKO) 219

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[spectre]

And it turns a sexy sailor into an even sexier sailor. Especially with octopussy, you need more willing recipients with cheap flying. because otherwise it's simply not worth it.

Best thing about Dirge Bat is that it gives flying to creatures that may want it. I admit, the mutate cost isn't too exciting (though you usually pay it at eot anyways, and bondage can ramp into it).
It's nice card advantage when you ambush it in and kill a shmuck, then mutate something else under it. Probably wouldn't go out of my way to craft it, but I got two from draft.

With reclamation, you probably should be cramming the sharknado somewhere in there. I think it's a bit counter-intuitive, as you should get used to playing most of your shit at the opponents EoT anyway. Still, could be useful to tap out for a sailor draw, to use some utility lands, etc.

If you're on the fence with cutthroat, sometimes Faerie Vandal is easier to grow (comes pretty steady with the octopus draw, very often becomes the octopus to think like an octopus... or whatever, point being it's a nice self-contained package these two).
When I played cutthroats, I often would just trade it with an attacker and with all the Lurrus nonsense skulking about, I'm finding a size two behind to be rather important. When I started out with my build,
the Geese would do a lot of blocking in the matchup, and it would sometimes pay off to drop a +1/+1 counter on it with Essence Capture.

With all the cool toys in the 2 cmc slot, it's easy to overload it. I think that's one of the traps with this deck.

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

FINALLY

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Dawkinsfan69]

if only that pokemon style plains didnt ruin such a nice picture

you're right, it doesn't fit. this one's better:

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[new fucking guy]

for cuts consider the cutthroat, I think that card drags the archetype down, though I haven't played flash that much. note how simic flash only reached tier1 once they cut them for nissa and krasis
think about how good is the matchup vs fires and lurrus, and then how much the t2 cutthroat does there

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG