Magic the Gathering Arena

[anvi]

Dimir is tough now. The only opponent I regularly struggle against is mono red queers.

 

[anvi]

That fucking rdw, just did 17 damage to me on turn 2. This game can be so shit at times. I also lost my last game to bad draw against a shitty noob deck that I beat 99% of the time, which pained me to see win. Besides that... I am climbing the ranks again, nearly Diamond. Got a couple of new decks that are pretty good but they are so boring to play.

 

[anvi]

They made red way too powerful :/ It annoys me to see these maggots winning so easy with such dumb decks. Play a bunch of hasted 1/1s with 3/2 one mana instants to buff them. Can't board wipe my way out of it anymore because it is so fast and that mf creature that drops tokens when it dies.

 

[Jason Liang]

Red is the new player color. It's always needed

 

[anvi]

It sucks, but I just made a new deck called FuckAggro which is hilarious. 6 wins in a row including one against a Doom deck.

 

[lobsterfrogman]

That fucking rdw, just did 17 damage to me on turn 2.

I'm pretty sure it's impossible.

 

[anvi]

Turn 2 for me, turn 3 for him. When I got to play my third land I had 3 hp.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[anvi]

Thanks I used to get by with carnarium and board wipes, maybe some of those kaya enchants that drain 3 health. But it is so fast now I need some 1 and 2 mana stuff. I might start using that little 1/2 black dude with deathtouch that creates a 1/1 flyer when it dies. I always used to like it but stopped using it because of all the Questing Beast and flying stuff which doesn't seem as common now.

 

[spectre]

If you're running red, try Scorching Dragonfire for this particular matchup, you need to cleanly answer both Steam Kun and Xanax pretty much immediately and it does just that. I would usually use Lava Coils
but it turns out it does the job just as good and instant speed is always preferable for a possible 2 for 1.
Stacking on boardwipes isn't enough, cause you'll basically need to draw two in a row, and you'll still be hit by a bunch of tokens (and sometimes they get a draw out of Shatter the Sky which makes it less optimal).
Xanax usually wants special treatment with an exile effect for optimal result. I probably wouldn't use shit like Epic Downfall or Revoke Existence, but Glass casket should give you good enough reach.
Being an enchantment makes him a bit more vulnerable and certain things like Thrashing Brontodon or Knight of Autumn might hit him before he goes all hard in the forge.

I'm a big fan of mono red, but I admit, it's not good for the game when it's a solid tier one, cause it guarantees this shit will be everywhere. I think I hit a streak of ten RDWs before I hit platinum and
decided I'm not touching standard fucking ranked this season.

 

[Jason Liang]

You definitely can't just play tap lands for two turns. Muh pirates consistently got turn 4 kills, ESPECIALLY against dimir. They turn 1 shockland tapped, turn 2 shockland tapped, I cast Freebooter to grab their T3 play, Drill Bit their T4 play, good game.

spectre I have a friend grinding for Mythic Invitational, any suggestions?

 

[anvi]

I don't play red, I think it is faggotry. I don't mind some ilharg deck or something but nobody plays that anymore because the retarded devs made 5+ mana cards worthless. They made it so people can win in 4 turns by playing a bunch of little creatures, so that is what 99% of people are playing now. I keep thinking if you can't beat them, join them, but I'd rather play something else than a dumbass aggro deck. I have a deck that wins about 55% in ranked so it is enough to climb, but it is tedious and I hate losing to these mindless rdw. And every time I play an anti aggro deck, it matches me with control decks that piss all over it. I think red was where it should be before Theros. Cavalcade type decks were fast which kept you on your toes. But now it is just retarded. Robber of the Rich is annoying as fuck. A bunch of low mana 2/2 hasted creatures are a nuisance enough to deal with, without them exiling a land from my draw pile that I absolutely needed, or stealing a counterspell and using it against me or a teferi or something. And even that is nothing compared to some of the red decks now. 17 damage on turn 3 is easily doable if your opponent is busy playing lands. I often get rekt by red decks down to a few health before they even play Torbran. When that comes out it is total overkill.

Part of me enjoys the challenge of finding a control deck which is fast enough to beat these rush decks, yet can handle longer games too. But really the game is a lot less fun than it was before Theros. The diversity is just gone completely, it is really about 99% red now. Hoping some tournament winner figures out a more interesting deck and everyone switches to that.

 

[Jason Liang]

you know Paolo won with Azorius control right

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2766038#paper

Creatures (2)
1 Archon of Sun's Grace

1 Dream Trawler

Planeswalkers (6)
2 Narset, Parter of Veils

4 Teferi, Time Raveler

Spells (15)
3 Dovin's Veto

4 Absorb

2 Mystical Dispute

3 Thirst for Meaning

3 Shatter the Sky

Enchantments (12)
4 Omen of the Sea

3 The Birth of Meletis

2 Banishing Light

3 Elspeth Conquers Death

Lands (25)
3 Castle Ardenvale
1 Castle Vantress
2 Fabled Passage
1 Field of Ruin
4 Hallowed Fountain
7 Island
3 Plains
4 Temple of Enlightenment
Sideboard (15)
4 Aether Gust

2 Cerulean Drake

1 Dovin's Veto

1 Glass Casket

2 Mystical Dispute

1 Narset, Parter of Veils

2 Archon of Sun's Grace

2 Commence the Endgame

 

[anvi]

Yeah I have that exact deck, it is pretty good but still too slow against red. You can't get away with playing no removal/blockers until turn 3 anymore. I made a different version that I think wins more but still way behind how I was doing before Theros. I have a new deck that might be the solution though.

 

[spectre]

anvi
It's pretty much the same shit since the last time RDW was top tier contender before rotation. The queue was nothing but RDW and WUR control specc'd to beat it.
You would actually see people maindeck shit like Fungal Infection.
Since RDW is the gatekeeper deck and you either pack enough hate to have decent game vs it, or you're going to have a bad time. The meta should self adjust,
but not in Bo1 it won't, because it's still about getting as many cunting wins as possible. What bothers me the most is that plenty of interesting deck ideas are downright unplayable because of this.
For instance, I've been thinking of making a bogles-like deck, but this shit won't fly outside of unranked.

So, just start getting into Bo3. You should have a decent enough pool of cards by now and it's the only way (IMO) to retain some semblance of interactivity other than - do you have an exile effect on turn three?
Poor you if you don't.

It's also better for ranking up, I lost 1 hour of my life in Gold 1, stuck on a perfect 50% winrate on the two final pips, at least in Bo3 you advance in two-pip increments
which lets you keep your sanity somewhat.

spectre I have a friend grinding for Mythic Invitational, any suggestions?

Yeah, just tell him fucking not to. Or, more seriously, just tell him to stick to Bo3. See above for reasons.

 

[anvi]

Shit I would fill my deck with that Fungal Infection! :D And yes, lots of interesting deck ideas are just totally useless now. Aggro decks were fine before because it was rare they would win before turn 4, so as long as you can reliably get a board wipe on turn 4, maybe have a few 3 mana things to help you get there (prisons, kayas, carnarium, etc), then it was a reasonable chance to survive. But now it is not even worth trying. I am mostly dead on turn 3, and there is nothing I can do. Even a bunch of carnarium/banishing lights wont help survive to turn 4 because they have so many little creatures. And every 1 or 2 drop card just makes the deck weak as hell against the inevitable fires/az control or whatever. It is a shitshow. Thanks for the advice about bo3, I am gonna finally give that a try. I really like the casualness of bo1 because I play a match, it takes 20 minutes because control is slooooow, and then I am done. I also have Fae of Wishes in almost every deck I play so I am used to being able to have 60 cards +15 in each match. But I think bo3 would be worth it for the more interesting games. I am gonna try it.

 

[anvi]

spectre I have a friend grinding for Mythic Invitational, any suggestions?

this https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/2781080#arena
or the rakdos one with regisaur and embercleave. but easy wins.

 

[Jason Liang]

There's a survey on the mothership website. I have to look up when I started playing Arena:\

 

[spectre]

anvi
If you're looking for a control list, here's what I threw together for Bo1 based on the championship winner.
I had solid performance out of it in platinum, with decent game vs RDW and Fires (haven't met a mirror).

Not sure if you consider it titillating enough, but it runs nicely and has a bunch of amusing interactions.

Spoiler

Deck
2 Castle Ardenvale (ELD) 238
2 Dream Trawler (THB) 214
5 Plains (MIR) 331
4 Tranquil Cove (M20) 259
3 The Birth of Meletis (THB) 5
4 Omen of the Sea (THB) 58
2 Thirst for Meaning (THB) 74
2 Castle Vantress (ELD) 242
3 Elspeth Conquers Death (THB) 13
4 Shatter the Sky (THB) 37
4 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
2 Narset, Parter of Veils (WAR) 61
4 Teferi, Time Raveler (WAR) 221
2 Glass Casket (ELD) 15
4 Banishing Light (THB) 4
1 Commence the Endgame (WAR) 45
1 Temple of Enlightenment (THB) 246
4 Island (MIR) 336
1 Blast Zone (WAR) 244
1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244
1 Field of Ruin (XLN) 254
2 Archon of Sun's Grace (THB) 3
2 Dovin's Veto (WAR) 193
1 Realm-Cloaked Giant (ELD) 26

Obviously, I'm short on Temples, but otherwise I've gotten solid performance out of it in platinum.
Compared to the winrar list, I'm using two more board wipes, which I absolutely need in the Bo1 aggro meta.
I've also gotten good mileage out of Thirst for Meaning, because people haven't caught on how important Narset can be.
It enables a bunch of tricks, like buffing the Trawler for three and dumping stuff to reanimate with Elspeth Out of the Ditch.
I was skeptical about Archon, but it's really decent as a stabilizer and a quick win condition, because you have plenty of constipation triggers.

 

[lobsterfrogman]

spectre I have a friend grinding for Mythic Invitational, any suggestions?

Well, I am not spectre but I am having tons of fun and nice results playing Jeskai Super Friends, so I would recommend that deck.

And for people who are bored and want to try unorthodox decks I played yesterday vs Grixis selfmill which packed a combo of Kroxa and Lazarus the Nefarious (or whatever that dimir legend which copies creatures out of graveyard is called). I have no idea if this is legit but it at least looked like it might be viable.

 

[Cromwell]

So is there any optimal way to grind for the crafting wildcards?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Cromwell]

As such dont bother with getting mono red aggro to bank wild cards, just work towards what you like.

I like mono red. I invested a few wildcards already in it so will stay with it until its done and afterwards I will check if I can get a good black/red deck or monoblack. Blueplayers are still subhuman scum.

 

[spectre]

You only get those from boosters, so it pretty much boils down to making money. And when it comes to making money, just do your dailies, try and re-roll them every now and then.
Identify cards that you want and sort them by expansion, then buy boosters from those expansions - this way you'll be getting wildcard progress and possibly the cards you want.

It's a long grind which is more about endurance than anything else. Sure, you can try earning some in paid-in events, but that's difficult to do reliably even if you have a decent collections.
It gets easier once you get one or two top tier decks to work with, but in the end, a few hundred shekels more or less doesn't really matter that much in the long run.
You can go full assburger and re-roll all quests until they're 750 shekels, but in the end it will just wear you out.

Also, see if you can get decent at drafting. It's good to reach gold in contructed and limited by the end of the season.

 

[anvi]

Opponent just did 25 damage on turn 4 (turn 3 for me). I countered one of his spells and then he sneaked out an embercleave. Game is retarded now.